Free Shipping Australia Wide!

Rosé Panna Cotta with Sticky Quince Syrup and Figs

Posted by Sue Heward on

I have followed cookbook author and nutritionist Melanie Lionello for sometime on instagram (@frommylittlekitchen). I love her down to earth passion for food, Italy and her Nonna and most recently her fantastic reviews on Panettone leading into Christmas. I was totally thrilled when Melanie tried some of our sticky quince figs and syrup and even went so far as write a recipe for us. Introducing Melanie's Rosé Panna Cotta with Sticky Quince Syrup and Figs.

Read more →

The Ultimate Rhubarb and Fruit Crumble

Posted by Sue Heward on

Belinda Jeffery is one of those cookbook writers that not only explains her recipe for you, but one who tells you about the ambience of the room, the village traditions and shares her baking wisdom very graciously. I started with her Rhubarb and strawberry crumble then made this creation below my own.

I hope you love it, we all thought this dish rocked the Father's Day table on Sunday. I have also put together for you our Christmas Baker's Pack including the Spectacular Diced Fruit, Sticky Quince Syrup and our very new Candied Mixed Citrus Peel...Perfect for making this recipe. Get in quick we only have 50 packs available at a super special price.

The Ultimate Rhubarb Fruit Crumble

Serves 10 generously

350g rhubarb, washed and cut into lengths (I was aiming for 3 cm)
4 apples, peeled, thinly sliced
½ cup (110g) caster sugar
150g spectacular diced dried fruit
50g candied peel
4 tbpns of sticky quince syrup
Icing sugar, for dusting
Vanilla bean ice cream or thick cream, to serve

Crumble:
180g plain flour
125g caster sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon
¼ teaspoon salt
180g cold unsalted butter, cut into small chunks
1/2 cup rolled or quick oats

Method (you can watch me put this together here)

Preheat your oven to 200C.

In a large bowl coat the rhubarb and apple slices with most of the caster sugar. In a second smaller bowl coat the diced fruit and peel with the remaining castor sugar.

I layered the fruit into my oven dish but you could just scoop the fruit mixture in. Starting with apples I did a layer then rhubarb pieces lined up alongside each other, then sprinkled the dived fruit/candied peel mix. I repeated this process again ending with a final layer of apple slices on top. I then finished with drizzling the sticky quince syrup over the apple layer. I used a round ceramic dish with a diameter at the top of 24 cm and 8 cm high (tampering to a smaller round base). You are aiming for a wide diameter and high sides.

For the crumble, I hand mixed the flour, caster sugar, cinnamon, salt, oats and then scattered the cubed butter over the top. You can blend with your fingers; I just used a stick blender (careful to not lift up the blender why its still blitzing otherwise you will have crumble flying everywhere).  You are looking for a crumble not a paste here.

Sprinkle the crumble evenly over the fruit mixture, then into the oven for 35-40 minutes (As Belinda says 'until it looks crisp and golden, and the juices from the fruit bubble up through it here and there').

I did leave the crumble cool slightly before we served for dessert on Father's day this year. Serve with vanilla bean ice cream or cream.

Read more →

Sue's Fig and Orange Mincemeat

Posted by Sue Heward on

I stumbled on a great article/recipes from with Felicity Cloake's mincemeat recipe and it really kicked me into gear to try to get more organised for Christmas this year. Which in baking terms means starting now - such a scary prospect but I really loved Felicity's recipe with our new Spectacular Diced Fruit Mix so here is my version. Felicity does suggest making the mincemeat as Christmas gifts but to be completely honest I think I'm much more likely to bake mince pies in the lead up to Christmas and take to family and friends. I'm pretty excited about making this happens this year, our range of mince pies locally aren't always great.

I hope you love this recipe as much as I do.

Fig and orange mincemeat

650g Spectacular Diced Fruit Mix
1 apple grated
100g currants
75g almonds, roughly chopped
150g suet (I used chopped suet from my friends at Border Park Organics)
250g Sticky Quince Syrup
1 tsp Christmas spice (I used Gewurzhaus Christmas Cake and Pudding Spice)
100ml orange muscat or liqueur (I used Brown Brothers)

Method

Mix together the dried fruit mix, apple, currants, almonds in a large bowl. Stir in the chopped suet and then fold through sticky quince syrup and lastly the muscat. Stir well. If your mix looks a bit dry you can add the juice of an orange.

Spoon into sterilised jars, seal and leave for at least two weeks. I'm planning to keep mine for about two and half months then start baking pies with it. A note it will start to get hot here in the Riverland so I will put my jars in the fridge to prevent any chance of mould. 

Makes 3 x 500ml jars (or Fowler's no 20 jars).

if you put your camera on your phone to the QR code below it will take you to a reel I have done showing the steps I used to made my batch of fig and orange mincemeat.

Read more →

Sticky fruit pudding with salted caramel & coconut topping

Posted by Sue Heward on

This recipe will knock you socks offer. A total delight from a Yotam Ottolenghi and Helen Goh recipe with my little twists added to include our diced dried fruit and sticky quince syrup (because they are a flavour match made in heaven).

Sticky Fruit Pudding with Salted Caramel and Coconut Topping

Ingredients
400g Singing Magpie diced dried fruit
1 tspn bicarbonate of soda
250 mls water
2 tlbspns Sticky Quince Syrup
200g plain flour
2 tspn baking powder
1/4 tspn salt
125g unsalted butter at room temp
200g caster sugar
1 large egg (again I try to have this a room temp)
1 tspn vanilla extract

Salted caramel coconut topping
75 g unsalted butter
1 tlbspn Sticky Quince Syrup
95g soft brown sugar
60 ml thickened cream
95g shredded coconut
1/4 tspn salt

Method
Place the diced dried fruit, sticky quince syrup, bicarb soda and water in a saucepan. Bring to a boil, then simmer over a medium heat for about 5 minutes, stirring from time to time. Remove from the heat and set aside until cool.

Preheat the oven to 200°C/180°C Fan. I used a muffin tray and muffin liners. You can also use lined bottomless cake rings on a baking tray. 

Sift the flour, baking powder and salt together into a bowl and set aside. Place the butter and sugar in an electric mixer and beat on a medium-high speed for about 2 minutes, until light and fluffy. Add the egg and vanilla and beat until combined. Reduce the speed to low and, in alternate batches, fold in the dried fruit mix and the sifted dry ingredients.

Divide the mix between the muffin liners and bake for about 25 minutes, or until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean.

Ideally make the topping while the cake is baking but I did forget, lucky this topping comes together very quickly. Place all the ingredients for the topping in a saucepan and stir over a low heat until the butter is melted and the ingredients are combined.

Once the cakes are cooked, remove from the oven (keep the oven on) and spoon about 1½ tablespoons of the topping mixture over the surface of each pudding. Return to the oven for another 12 minutes, or until the topping is golden brown.

Remove from the oven and leave to cool for 10 minutes, or until they come to room temperature, before transferring to a wire rack to cool before serving.

These will keep for up to 2 days at room temperature (or in the fridge, if it’s particularly warm) in an airtight container. Serve them as they are, or better still warm them through for 5 minutes in an oven or the microwave and serve with some cream or ice-cream.

Utterly delicious. A total crowd pleaser. Makes 12

UPDATED: If you are looking for more recipes to use our Spectacular diced dried fruit mix here is my list so far:

Read more →

DRIED FRUIT and ORANGE SCROLLS

Posted by Sue Heward on

An easy Sunday bake for you. Super easy and something to whip up for morning tea. Eat them warm and enjoy a cuppa. The original recipe is available here, but I’ve changed it up to include our diced fruit mix

 

DRIED FRUIT and ORANGE SCROLLS

1/3 cup brown sugar

2 tblspns dried citrus power (I simply crushed some dried citrus slices, the original recipe uses zest)

1 2/3 cups of whole-wheat plain flour ( I used @woodford) 

2 tspn baking powder

1/4 tspn salt

3 tblspn cold butter cut in cubes

2 tblspn cream cheese

2/3 cup milk

2 tblspn Spectacular diced dried fruit mix

2 tblspn softened butter for filling

 

For the glaze

1/4 cup cream cheese

3 tblspn icing sugar

2 tblspn orange juice

 

Method

Turn the oven on to 180 degrees Celsius. 
Mix the brown sugar with the dried citrus. Put 2 tblspn of the orange sugar mix in a bowl that you’ll make the dough in. Keep the remaining sugar mix for the filling. 
Add the flour, baking powder, salt and mix through. Add the butter and cream cheese pieces. Rub through the flour mix until all combined and the mix is crumbling. 
Make a well in your flour mix and pour the milk in. Mix through all the ingredients then put your dough (wrapped) in the freezer to cool. While the dough is cooling grease your dish - I used a shallow casserole dish and greased very well with butter. 
Unwrap the dough into your floured surface. Roll the dough out to about 26cm x 12cm. It was a bit sticky. Spread the softened butter then sprinkle your dried fruit/sugar mix over the dough. 
I started with short side and slow rolled the dough, using a scraper to make the rolling pretty easy. I covered the log in plastic or beeswax (if you have one big enough) and then put the dough in the fridge for 30 minutes. 
Take the dough out and unwrap. I measured out 8 pieces in the log. You can use a cerated knife to slice each scroll but I find using a piece of cotton to make each cut in the dough (see my Instagram for a demo of this). Place your first slice in the centre of your pan then place the rest evenly around it (about 1cm apart). 
Bake until golden on top (I did sprinkle any leftover dried fruit/sugar mix over each scroll). It took about 25-27 mins in my oven. 
While the scrolls are cooking mix together the glaze ingredients. 
Once the scrolls are cooked, let cool for a few mins and then pour/spread the glaze on. 

Eat warm and enjoy xxx Makes approx 8-9 scrolls

Read more →