Herb and spinach fritters

Have you ever cooked something because you missed someone?

After watching a concert on TV, I could not stop thinking about my mom – she and my father met on one of that singer’s presentations, back in 1975. My way of dealing with it was preparing something I knew she’d love: it had to be something packed with veggies or fruit.

These fritters come from DH mag #29 and were perfect for the occasion.

Herb and spinach fritters
from Donna Hay magazine

1 cup (140g) self-rising flour, sifted
2 eggs
1 ½ tablespoons (21g) unsalted butter, melted
¼ cup (60ml) milk
salt and freshly ground black pepper
¼ cup chopped chives
½ cup chopped basil leaves
½ cup chopped flat-leaf parsley leaves
1 cup spinach leaves, packed, torn or chopped
vegetable oil for shallow-frying

Place the flour, eggs, butter, milk, salt and pepper in a large bowl and whisk to combine – a batter will form. Fold through the chives, basil, parsley and spinach. Place two tablespoons of the oil in a large frying pan and heat over medium heat. Add tablespoons of the mixture to the pan and cook for 1-2 minutes each side or until bubbles appear on the surface – avoid making tall or very large fritters because they might not cook completely on the inside. Set aside.
Add another two tablespoons of oil and repeat with the remaining mixture.

Serves 4 – I got 10 fritters

Coconut and white chocolate chip cookies

I know there are lots of people out there who can’t stand coconut – Ivonne wrote something about that the other day. I understand the coconut haters but do not agree with them – hand me anything made with coconut and I am in heaven! Can’t wait for the weather to warm up so I can make some coconut ice cream, yum... :D

These cookies are delicious, easy to put together and the recipe yields a lot, too – enough to convert at least one coconut hater. :D

Coconut and white chocolate chip cookies
from Donna Hay magazine

125g unsalted butter, room temperature
1 cup + 1 tablespoon (212g) caster sugar
½ teaspoon vanilla extract
1 egg
1 cup (140g) all-purpose flour
1 cup (140g) self-raising flour
1 cup (90g) unsweetened desiccated coconut*
⅔ cup (105g) white chocolate chunks or chips

Preheat oven to 180ºC/350ºF; line two large baking sheets with baking paper.

Beat the butter, sugar and vanilla in an electric mixer until light and creamy. Add the egg and beat well. At low speed, add the plain and self-raising flours and coconut and mix until a soft dough forms – my dough was too crumbly, so I added 1 tablespoon milk and it came together. Add the chocolate and mix at low speed or using a wooden spoon.

Using your hands, mold 1 ½ tablespoons of dough into balls. Place on the prepared sheets, 5cm (2in) apart, and press lightly using moistened fingers. Bake for 15 minutes or until light golden on the bottom. Allow to cool on baking sheets.

* I used 50g unsweetened desiccated coconut + 40g sweetened shredded coconut

Makes 28

Dark and white chocolate chunk cookies and your opinion about a magazine

Kristen left me a comment a while ago, asking my opinion about Bon Appétit’s new “look”. To be honest, I’m not so thrilled with the magazine anymore. The issues are getting thinner and thinner and each time there are more ads instead of interesting recipes and articles. Such a bummer. :(
Now I would love to hear your opinion, too – how do you like the magazine?

I did find something of my liking on their new website, though – you know me, I cannot resist a cookie recipe. Especially when the cookies are studded with big chunks of white chocolate. :)

Dark and white chocolate chunk cookies
from Bon Appetit magazine

2 2/3 cups bittersweet or semisweet chocolate chunks, divided
¼ cup (½ stick/57g) unsalted butter, room temperature
2 large eggs
½ cup (88g) packed golden brown sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
¾ cup (105g) self-rising flour
3 ½ oz (98g) high-quality white chocolate, very coarsely chopped – there was some left

Preheat oven to 175ºC/350ºF. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.

Stir 2 cups chocolate chunks with butter in heavy small saucepan over low heat until melted and smooth; cool 10 minutes. Beat eggs and sugar in large bowl until well blended. In low speed, beat in melted chocolate mixture and vanilla, then flour. Stir in remaining 2/3 cup chocolate chips; let stand 10 minutes – this is a very important step, since the dough is fluid and won’t set until the chocolate cools.

Drop cookie dough by rounded tablespoonfuls onto prepared baking sheets, spacing cookies 2 inches (5cm) apart. Press white chocolate pieces into top of cookies, dividing equally. Bake until cookies look puffed and slightly dry on top, about 13 minutes. Cool cookies on sheets, then carefully peel them off the paper using a wide metal spatula.

Makes about 2 dozen - I got 17 large cookies

Orange syrup cake

Remember Jim Profit?? He was a bad, bad guy. I think he and Patty Hewes could go hand in hand with their cruelty. Come to think of it... Who am I kidding? No one could ever match Patty Hewes. :)

I had been meaning to make this recipe for months – the magazine I got it from (DH #35) is from November/2007!

The original calls for blood oranges but since I have never seen them in Brazil, I used regular oranges instead. I remember trying blood orange juice when I was in Berlin last year, it was so refreshing and good! Too bad I can’t find it here.

I don’t know if regular oranges would match blood oranges in this cake – if someone tries it, I’d love to hear it!

Gently cook the oranges in the syrup and try not to stir them too much, so they will look nice and pretty on the cake.

Orange syrup cake
from Donna Hay magazine

- metric and imperial measurements found in the magazine; I used my scale

4 eggs
1 cup (220g/7 ¾oz) caster sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup (150g/5 ¼oz) self-raising flour
150g (5 ¼oz) unsalted butter, melted and cooled
1 cup (110g/3¾ oz) almond meal
1 tablespoon lemon zest

Sticky orange topping:
1 cup (220g/7 ¾ oz) caster sugar
½ cup (125ml/4 fl oz) water
2 large oranges, thinly sliced

Preheat the oven to 160ºC/320ºF. To make the sticky orange topping, place the sugar and water in a large non-stick frying pan (I used a regular stainless steel pan) over medium heat and stir until sugar is dissolved. Add the oranges and simmer for 10-15 minutes or until the oranges are soft. Remove from heat and set aside.
Place the eggs, sugar and vanilla in the bowl of an electric mixer and whisk for 8-10 minutes or until thick, pale and tripled in volume. Sift the flour over the egg mixture and fold through. Add the butter, almond meal and lemon zest and fold through.
Grease and double line the base and sides of a 20cm (8in) round cake pan with non-stick baking paper – make sure you use a deep pan and leave about 1inch (2.5cm) paper hanging out of it to hold the cake batter once it starts rising. Arrange the orange slices on the base and around the sides, reserving the syrup. Pour over the cake batter and bake for 50-60 minutes or until cooked when tested with a skewer. Turn the cake onto a wire rack and spoon over some of the reserved syrup. Allow to cool before serving and serve the remaining syrup in a separate bowl.

Serves 8