As the title suggests, we've had a busy couple of weeks, and I've been a little quiet on the posting front!

We've had our lovely Niece Brittany and our cheeky Nephew Braedyn staying here a couple of days a week, and between having fun with them, housework, baking and catching up on other stuff, I've had very little time to sit at the PC let alone post!

But I have been up to a few interesting things that I will share with you...

First of all, Broc, Brittany and I took a trip out to the lovely Liffey Falls Reserve, staring in awe along the way at all the destruction and mayhem the recent flash flooding had caused, especially to the road surfaces and bridges...

We did the return walk from the main carpark to the bottom of the falls.  Always stunning!



 On the return drive via. Deloraine, we were lucky enough to spot a little Echidna foraging around on the roadside, so we stopped to introduce ourselves.

These made a lovely addition to Gift Bags for friends and family with hairy 4-legged members!

I think this recipe still needs a little more work, but Harry and Abby insist it's good enough to post as is!

Harry Supervises

Ingredients
1 Cup Rolled Oats
1 Cup Plain Wholemeal Flour
1/2 Cup Plain Flour
1 Teaspoon Salt
1/2 Teaspoon Baking Soda (Bicarb)
3 Tablespoons Natural Sugar-Free Yogurt
1/3 Cup Olive Oil
1/4 Cup Water
1/4 Cup Flavorings (See Note)

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 150°C
2. Combine the Oats, Flours, Salt and Baking Soda in a bowl.
3. Add in the wet ingredients, and mix well.
4. Mix through the flavorings.  For a more decorative effect, reserve some to press into the tops of the cookies.
5. Knead dough with a little extra Plain Flour until well combined, then roll out to about 8mm thick (just under 1cm).
6. Cut into whatever shapes you like!  I used a dog-bone shape, and some smaller Star and Heart shapes for smaller doggies.
7. Bake on a cookie sheet for approx. 30 minutes, or until firm.  If they are starting to get a bit too golden on the bottom, turn them over.
8. Cool on racks away from hungry noses!

Note
Flavorings can be any dog-safe treat that will keep without refrigeration.
Examples:
Sugar-Free Yogurt or Carob Drops, Dried Liver, Dried Chicken/Beef/Lamb Jerky, Commercial Dog Treats (Schmacko's etc).  Chop them up roughly into small pieces!

These were a huge hit with all recipients!

Recipe courtesy of The Australian Women's Weekly: Macaroons & Biscuits Cookbok!

Ingredients

• 125g unsalted butter, softened
• 110g firmly packed dark brown sugar
• 1 egg yolk
• 375g plain flour
• 1tsp bicarbonate of soda
• 3tsp ground ginger
• 175g golden syrup

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 180C. Line baking tray with baking paper.

2. Beat butter, sugar and egg yolk in small bowl with electric mixer until smooth. Transfer to a large bowl and stir in sifted dry ingredients and syrup in two batches.
   

3. Knead dough gently on floured surface until smooth. Roll dough between sheets of baking paper to 5mm thickness (it may be easier to divide the the dough into halves) Proceed to cut dough into desired shaped and bake about 10 minutes. Cool on trays.

I decorated the cookies with assorted colors of Royal Icing.  I substituted the Lemon Juice in the recipe below with Vanilla Extract, and it was YUMMY.  Note: Do not eat too much Royal Icing...

Ingredients

1 egg white
240g pure icing sugar
4 drops lemon juice
food colouring

Directions

Beat egg in small bowl with electric mixer, gradually beat in sifted icing sugar. When mixture reaches piping consistency beat in juice(/essence). Divide and Colour icing as you desire.

More from my afternoon of baking with Anita!

Neither of us had made Biscotti before, so we weren't quite sure how it would turn out.  And true to form, I changed the recipe to suit myself before we had even started!!

Here's the Original Recipe, and my adaptation is as follows:

Ingredients

• 2 1/3 cups plain flour
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 2 eggs
• 2 egg whites
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
• 3/4 cup sliced almonds
• 1 cup fresh cranberries, coarsely chopped
• 1/2 cup dried cranberries, coarsely chopped

We followed the rest of the directions as per the original recipe:

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 325ºF.
2. Combine dry ingredients in a medium mixing bowl.
3. Beat eggs, egg whites, and vanilla in a separate bowl until frothy.
4. Add egg mixture to dry ingredients, mixing just until moist, using an electric mixer on medium speed.

The batter was so thick!!  I thought we were going to blow up the mixer!

5. Add almonds and cranberries; mix thoroughly.
6. On a floured surface, divide batter in half and pat each half into a log about 14 inches long and 1 1/2 inches wide.
7. Place on a cookie sheet and bake in oven for 30 minutes.
8. Cool on wire rack.
9. Reduce oven temperature to 300ºF.
10. Cut biscotti into 1/2 inch slices. Stand upright on cookie sheet and bake another 20 minutes.

I think the most important part of making a good Biscotti is to let it cool well, and store it somewhere airy to keep it crunchy - almost letting it go stale-ish.  It was deliciously sweet, and I'll be making this again soon to eat all myself!!

These looked fantastic lined up in cellophane bags, tied with curling ribbon!