Chocolate Pinwheel Biscuits

I like these pinwheel biscuits because they are hard and crunchy. Good for teething babies too ! If you like to dunk your biscuits in coffee, then this is it.

The dough of these pinwheels can be kept in the fridge for up to a week or in the freezer for 4 weeks. The biscuit dough can be shaped into rectangles, rounds or squares.


Ingredients
175 gm butter
80-125 gm sugar
75-100 gm brown sugar
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla essence
350 gm flour
2 tsp baking powder

1 Tbsp cocoa

Method
1. Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add egg and vanilla slowly and beat well.

2. Fold in sieved flour and baking powder.

3. Divide the dough into half. Add 1 Tbsp cocoa to one portion. Mix well. Cover the doughs and refrigerate for ½ hour to firm up the dough (a firmer dough is easier to roll)

4. Roll each dough into 3mm thick on a sheet of baking paper. I find it easier to work with half quantity of each dough.

5. Flip the plain dough onto the chocolate layer (fig 3).

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South Indian Prawn Curry

I love the gravy of this prawn curry. It is spicy, slighly sour which makes me want to eat heaps of rice to soak up the gravy. If you prefer it hotter add more chilli.


Ingredients
350gm raw prawns
1 Tbsp tamarind paste
1½ cup water

1 - 2 Tbsp oil
½ tsp white or black mustard seeds
1 stalk lemon grass, bruised
1/8 tsp salt (to taste)
3/4 tsp sugar
1 spring curry leaf
1 tomato (optional)

Spice Paste (grind together)
2 Tbsp ground coriander
1 Tbsp ground cumin
½ tsp ground fennel
½ tsp chilli powder or chilli paste
1 Tbsp chopped ginger
½ small onion
1 clove garlic

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Char Siew Pau ~ Steamed Barbecue Pork Bun

I have been searching for the illusive char siu pau recipe which is soft and fluffy without having to use expensive specialised pau or bleached flour or long preparation time of a few days. I am pleased to say I have found it.


A combination of plain and high grade flour is used for this recipe which does not require a long or complicated proving time after the pau is pleated.

I am not very good at the pleating which could explain why my buns 'loose' the pleat pattern after steaming. The buns turned out with only a slight tinge of yellow. They were delicious. I am all right with it not being pure white , the texture was what I was after.

For testing purposes I ate a cold char siu pau a few hours after it was steamed. It was still soft though normally I prefer my pau hot or at least warm and would zap them in the microwave to reheat.

You can rest assured you will not end up with rock hard buns with this recipe. The dough is very forgiving.

Makes 12 buns

Ingredients
150 gm plain flour
250 gm high grade/bread flour
50 gm sugar
30 gm milk powder
1 Tbsp shortening
2 tsp Surebake yeast
250 ml warm water (50C)
1 tsp Edmonds baking powder

char siu filling recipe

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Louise Cake

Louise Cake is a kiwi favourite. It has a cake base with raspberry jam in the middle and a crusty coconut topping. The slice is quite sweet and is best eaten with a hot cup of coffee or tea.


Makes 30-40 slices

Ingredients
125gm butter
80gm sugar
1 egg
230 gm flour
2 tsp baking powder
approx 1 cup plum or raspberry jam

Topping
1 cup coconut
1 cup sugar
1 egg

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