Category: Tea Time

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Peppermint Crisp Pudding

My mom usually visits us from SA once a year and one of the things she just HAS to bring me is Peppermint Crisps.

I guard them with my life and my family knows they are not for random snacking.

In fact, I only ever use them to make a Peppermint Crisp pudding for breaking of the fast which is usually held at an ex-pat friends house, with dozens of SA ex-pats and other anglo friends.

The dessert goes down a treat and everyone waits, spoons at the ready, for our host to bring it out.

This year we are under lock down and so we didnt have a big breaking of the fast with friends and I decided not to make the dessert. The kids were super upset and said it just wasnt chag without it. So I made it for dessert for Sukkot and we just finished the last of the leftovers while playing DnD.

Now it feels like a new year 🙂

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Peppermint Crisp Pudding
Prep Time
15 mins
 

Im including original SA ingredients as well as the Israeli substitutes you can use.

Course: Dessert
Cuisine: South African
Ingredients
  • 1 litre high fat whipping cream (or more depending on how big you want your dessert)
  • 1 pack biscuits, Tennis biscuits in SA or Petit Burre in Israel
  • 1 tin/tub caramel or dulche de leche (I've also used Lotus spread when I couldn't find caramel)
  • 1 slab Peppermint Crisp
Instructions

  1. Whip the cream until stiff peaks form.

  2. If your caramel/dulche de leche is thick or not spreadable, pop it into the microwave for 15 seconds or until its still thick but easily spreadable with a knife.

  3. Take your Peppermint Crisp slab and bash it around on the table or with a rolling pin so that it breaks up into small crumbly pieces.

  4. Take the biscuits and, one by one, spread the caramel on each biscuit and place in the bottom of a medium oblong/square glass dish or foil roaster.

  5. Cover the bottom of the dish in caramel biscuits and then spread half your whipped cream on top.

  6. Sprinkle half the Peppermint Crisp over the cream, use the bigger pieces for this layer and keep the smaller pieces and fine dust for last.

  7. Repeat the biscuit and caramel layer and then spread the last of the cream on top.

  8. Take the last of the Peppermint Crisp and sprinkle it over the cream, make sure you take all the Peppermint dust and sprinkle it over the cream too.

  9. Refrigerate, covered, until ready to eat. The sooner you eat it, the crispier the biscuits will be.

I’ve made this recipe parve too, use Riche’s Cream, Lotus spread and parve chocolate as substitutes. In Israel, its really hard to find peppermint chocolate in general, and parve peppermint chocolate is non existent. Instead I used plain parve dark chocolate and I found pure peppermint extract at a specialty baking store and added a few drops to the cream when I was whipping it. Its not quite the same, but delicious nonetheless.

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Giant Choc Chip Cookie

Every Saturday afternoon, Paul, Faith and I play Dungeons & Dragons. Of course, Saturday afternoons and Dungeons & Dragons require snacks. I usually make scones or we make popcorn, but I few weeks ago, I decided to make choc chip cookies and I came across this recipe for a giant cookie.

I made a few adjustments as per usual. And it was delicious. So delicious that Ive made it at least half a dozen times since.

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Giant Choc Chip Cookie
Prep Time
10 mins
Cook Time
20 mins
 
Course: Dessert, Snack
Keyword: Cookie
Author: Gina
Ingredients
  • 200 grams butter , room temperature
  • 250 grams brown sugar
  • 2 eggs yolks
  • splash vanilla extract
  • 275 grams flour
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 150 grams chocolate chips
Instructions

  1. Preheat oven to 200°C

  2. Mix butter, brown sugar, egg yolks and vanilla together

  3. Add flour, baking powder and salt and mix well

  4. Add chocolate chips and mix until combined

  5. Tip the dough into an oven proof dish or foil roasting pan and press flat with your hands until evenly distributed

  6. Bake for 20 minutes

  7. If you want a harder/crispier cookie, leave in the oven for an additional 5 minutes

  8. Remove from the oven and allow to cool before breaking or cutting into pieces

Recipe Notes

I have made this cookie non dairy with margarine and with oil. The margarine cookie had the same texture as the butter cookie but the taste wasnt as good. The oil cookie had a dryer texture to the butter cookie but tasted better than the margarine cookie. 

They all tasted good but none were as good as the original butter cookie.

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Easy peasy lemon squeezy cake

Around 10 years or so ago, my mother in law gave me this awesome recipe and I used to make it all the time. Then for some reason I stopped making it, no idea why. Then last week, Ro asked me for the recipe and I decided why not make it myself.

It definitely stood the test of time and is one of my favourite recipes of all times.

But dont take my word for it, try it for yourself.

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The easiest yummiest cake recipe ever!
Prep Time
5 mins
Cook Time
30 mins
 
Course: Dessert
Keyword: baking, cake, lemon
Author: Gina
Ingredients
Cake
  • 1 box vanilla cake mix
  • 1 packet vanilla pudding
  • 4 large eggs
  • ¾ cup oil
  • ¾ cup water
Icing
  • 1 cup icing sugar
  • 4 tablespoons lemon juice
Instructions
Cake

  1. Preheat the oven to 180°C and prepare a square or oblong baking dish

  2. Mix all the ingredients together until the batter is smooth

  3. Pour the batter into the prepare dish and bake for approximately 30 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean

  4. Remove from the oven and using the toothpick, poke small holes all through the top of the cake

Icing

  1. Immediately after you take the cake from the oven, mix together the icing sugar and lemon juice until smooth.

  2. While the cake is still hot, pour the icing over the cake.

  3. Wait while the icing sinks into the cake and the cake cools before serving

Recipe Notes

The cake can be eaten hot with custard or ice cream or if you prefer a cool cake, I suggest you make the cake a day before and let the icing sink into the flesh of the cake, this makes it sticky and gooey all the way through.

 

 

An alternative to vanilla and lemon is chocolate and orange.  Substitute chocolate cake mix and chocolate pudding for the vanilla and use orange juice instead of lemon (be sure to strain the orange juice so it is clear and free of any pulp).

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Banana Bread

I mentioned on Instagram and Facebook that I always buy bananas when I want to ripen avocado pears. And that we very seldom actually eat the bananas. Which inevitably results in banana bread.

Avos and bananas in a bowl

Here is my foolproof recipe.

Banana bread loafs
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Banana Bread
Prep Time
10 mins
Cook Time
45 mins
 
Course: Breakfast, Dessert, Side Dish
Keyword: banana, cake
Author: Gina
Ingredients
  • 3-6 ripe or over ripe bananas
  • 2 cups flour
  • ½ cup sugar
  • 2 teaspoons baking powder
  • pinch salt
  • 3 eggs
  • ½ cup oil or melted butter
  • chocolate chips (no amount, just go wild)
Instructions

  1. Heat oven to 180°C and prepare 1 large or 2 small loaf pans. I have also made these as cupcakes.

  2. Peal and mash the bananas.

  3. Add the rest of the ingredients and mix until just combined.

  4. Scoop batter into pans.

  5. Bake for 45 minutes. If making cupcakes 20 minutes should do.

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Death by Sugar

Last week, Faith asked if we can bake a cake, we decided on chocolate and earlier this week I found a really great, one bowl, recipe that worked a treat.

Now, when it comes to icing/frosting the cake, we usually just do a simple icing sugar and water drizzle, but I had just bought a rather large bag of mini marshmallow and I got a bee in my bonnet about making a marshmallow frosting.

I searched online and couldn’t find a simple recipe so I asked The Cupcake Lady, Angel, if she had any ideas, and she pointed me to a pretty simple recipe that came out great.

So, without further ado, here are both recipes…

chocolate cake with marshmallow frosting
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One Bowl Chocolate Cake
Prep Time
20 mins
Cook Time
30 mins
 
Course: Dessert
Keyword: cake, chocolate
Author: Gina
Ingredients
  • 2 cups sugar (I used brown)
  • 1 ¾ cups flour
  • ¾ cup cocoa powder
  • 1.5 teaspoons baking soda
  • 1.5 teaspoons baking powder
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 2 eggs
  • 1 cup milk
  • 1/2 cup vegetable oil
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
  • 1 cup boiling water
Instructions

  1. Preheat oven to 175C

  2. Prepare 2 9 inch round pans or 1 12 inch round pan (which is what I did)

  3. In a large bowl, mix together all the dry ingredients

  4. Add wet ingredients except the boiling water and mix well

  5. Once all ingredients have come together. add the boiling water and continue mixing until well combined

  6. Pour into prepared pans and bake for 30 – 35 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.

  7. Remove from oven and allow to cool for 10 minutes or so and then remove from cake tin to cool completely

Recipe Notes

This recipe was adapted from All Recipes One Bowl Chocolate Cake III

cake with slice cut out
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Marshmallow Frosting
Prep Time
45 mins
 
Course: Dessert
Keyword: frosting, icing, marshmallow
Author: Gina
Ingredients
  • 1.25 cups sugar (I used brown sugar)
  • 1/2 cup water
  • 1 egg white
  • 18 large marshmallows (I used 180 mini marshmallows)
Instructions

  1. Boil the sugar and water together until they reach 112C or, if you dont have a candy thermometer, a small drop of the syrup forms a soft ball in ice water

  2. Remove from heat

  3. Break up the marshmallows, if you are using large ones, and add them to the syrup, dont stir

  4. Leave to melt for a few minutes

  5. While waiting for the marshmallows to melt, beat the egg white until stiff peaks form

  6. Add the syrup and marshmallows to the egg white and beat well until it is all combined to a spreadable consistency

  7. Mine was runny but if yours is not spreadable add a few drops of water at a time until its right

  8. Spread over your cake or cupcakes

Recipe Notes

Recipe taken from Happy Money Saver – Great Grandmother’s Marshmallow Frosting

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A taste of autumn.

After experiencing an unseasonably warm autumn in Israel, we had highs of 29C, its finally started getting cold and rainy.

What better way to spend a cold morning than baking?

I decided that cinnamon-y stewed apples were the way to go, and it just so happened we had some vanilla ice cream in the freezer and I also had the last of my Moir’s custard powder from SA that was begging to be used. 

Apple crumble was a go!

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Hot Apple Crumble
Prep Time
30 mins
Cook Time
30 mins
Total Time
1 hr
 


Course: Dessert
Author: Gina
Ingredients
  • 4 apples, peeled, cored and diced into 2cm chunks (I used Granny Smiths, you can use any type though)
  • 4 tablespoons sugar
  • 1 teaspoon cinnamon
  • 2 tablespoons water
  • 1 cup flour
  • 4 tablespoons sugar
  • 1/4 cup butter or marge
  • 1 teaspoon cinnamon
Instructions

  1. Preheat the oven to 180C.

  2. Place the diced apple, first lot of sugar and cinnamon, and the water into a pot.

  3. Bring to the boil while stirring and then drop to a low simmer.

  4. Keep stirring until the apples have softened.

  5. Place apples and any syrup into a pie dish.

  6. To make the crumble, using your hands, mix the flour, remaining sugar, butter, and cinnamon until the mixture looks like bread crumbs.

  7. Pour the flour mixture over the apples in an even layer.

  8. Bake the pie for about 30 min.

  9. Serve hot with ice cream and custard.

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Got yogurt?

We did.

1.5L of Greek style yogurt.

Before it went bad I decided to look up a few recipes to use it up.

Two that stuck out were Snickerdoodle Cake and Frozen Yogurt Bark.

Both turned out delicious!

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Snickerdoodle Cake
Prep Time
15 mins
Cook Time
45 mins
Total Time
1 hr
 


Course: Dessert
Author: Gina
Ingredients
  • 2 tbsp cinnamon
  • 6 tbsp granulated sugar
  • 2 1/2 cups flour
  • 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 1/2 cup butter softened
  • 1 1/2 cups sugar
  • 1/2 cup vegetable oil
  • 3 eggs
  • 1 tsp vanilla
  • 1 cup Greek style labour
Instructions

  1. Preheat oven to 180C and prepare 2 loaf pans.

  2. In a small bowl mix most of the cinnamon and 6 tablespoons of sugar together and set aside.

  3. In another bowl mix together flour, baking powder, salt and 1 teaspoon cinnamon and set aside.

  4. In your electric mixer (or a large bowl), cream the butter, sugar and oil on medium speed for about 1 minute.

  5. Add the eggs and mix.

  6. Add the vanilla and yogurt and mix until just combined.

  7. Add in the flour mixture and stir by hand until just combined.

  8. Scoop a 6th of the batter into each loaf tin, sprinkle a thick layer of cinnamon sugar over the batter, repeat 2 more times, ending with a cinnamon sugar layer.

  9. Bake for about 40-45 minutes.

  10. Remove from oven and allow to cool before removing from the tins.

  11. Serve warm with a little butter spread on.

Recipe Notes

Adapted from Betty Crocker

 

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Frozen Yogurt Bark
Prep Time
10 mins
Cook Time
4 hrs
Total Time
4 hrs 10 mins
 

Got some Greek style yogurt left over? This is a really quick and easy way to use it up.

Course: Dessert, Snack
Author: Gina
Ingredients
  • 2 cups Greek Style Yogurt
  • 2 tbsp honey You can add more or less depending on your taste
  • 1/2 cup fillings/toppings of your choice raisins, craisins, nuts, marshmallows, frozen berries, fresh fruit
  • 1/2 cup strawberry jam heated until runny
Instructions

  1. Mix the yogurt and the honey until well combined.

  2. Add in any fillings you want.

  3. Line a baking sheet with wax paper or tin foil.

  4. Pour the yogurt onto the baking sheet. Thickness depends on you.

  5. Add desired toppings.

  6. Drizzle the strawberry jam over the top.

  7. Freeze for no less than 4 hours.

  8. Remove from freezer and break into pieces.

  9. Store in a sealed container in the freezer.

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A taste of childhood

The other day, while hunting for a tin of coconut milk, I came across condensed milk. It can be tricky to find here so I grabbed one and then stuck it in the grocery cupboard and promptly forgot all about it.

Then last weekend while looking for something yummy to snack on, I pulled out the tin. I also spied a bag of desiccated coconut and an idea struck.

Coconut ice!

I remember the white and pink sugar overload from my childhood quite fondly and decided to whip up a batch and introduce it to my children. Faith was dutifully impressed, Aaron took one sniff and said no way!

Its really, really easy to make and took no time at all. The hardest part was the mixing, its really good for toning your arms!

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Traditional Coconut Ice
Prep Time
15 mins
Total Time
15 mins
 

Super sweet, super sticky, coconut treats.

Course: Dessert, Snack
Author: Gina
Ingredients
  • 1 tin condensed milk
  • 500 g icing sugar
  • 400 g desiccated coconut
  • 3 drops red food colouring you can use any colour you like and even add flavouring if you want
Instructions

  1. Pour the condensed milk into a large bowl.

  2. Add the icing sugar and the coconut and mix together. Make sure you scrape the bottom of the bowl to get all the condensed milk.

  3. Keep mixing. The mixture will be very stiff. Keep going.

  4. Line a square or rectangular, deep sided dish with baking paper.

  5. Scoop out half the mixture and using your hands or the back of a spoon, press the mixture into the dish. It doesnt have to be perfect but the more uniform the thickness is, the better it will look when you cut it into squares.

  6. Add your colouring (and/or flavouring) to the remaining mixture and mix well until the entire mixture is coloured to your liking.

  7. Scoop out the coloured mixture and using your hands or the back of a spoon, spread it over the first layer in the dish and press it down.

  8. Once everything is smoothed out to your satisfaction, place the dish, covered, in the fridge for a few hours.

  9. Once cold and set, remove the coconut ice from the dish, peel off the baking paper and slice into small squares with a sharp knife.

  10. Store in an airtight container or ziplock bag for up to 3 weeks in the fridge.

Recipe Notes

You can add a bit of cocoa powder to the 2nd half of the mixture instead of food colouring to make a vanilla chocolate ice.

 

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Yes, another recipe.

A while back I bought sour cream and since it was on special I bought 5 pots. Then I only used one. 

Since the sour cream was about to reach its expiry date (can sour cream really expire? Does it just get more sour?) I asked around for recipes to use up the last 4 pots.

I used one pot to make a creamy nutmeg pasta sauce the other night and then last night I used another pot to make these quick and really delicious scones.

Scones my wife made

 

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Sour Cream Scones
Prep Time
5 mins
Cook Time
15 mins
Total Time
20 mins
 
Course: Breakfast, Side Dish, Snack
Servings: 6
Author: Gina
Ingredients
  • 2 cups flour
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1 envelope baking powder (about 3 teaspoons)
  • 200 ml sour cream
  • 6 tablespoons water approx/as needed
Instructions

  1. Preheat oven to 200C.

  2. Mix together all the dry ingredients.

  3. Add the sour cream and start mixing it in.

  4. The mixture will start to look like bread crumbs.

  5. Add water, a tablespoon at a time, until the dough starts to come together.

  6. Use your hands to kneed the dough into a ball. The dough will be quite sticky.

  7. Coating your hands in flour, take small handfuls of the dough and form balls.

  8. Place on a baking tray and flatten slightly.

  9. Bake at 200C for about 15 minutes.

  10. Allow to cool slightly before breaking them open and slathering butter, jam and cream over them.

Recipe Notes

Adapted from AllRecipes here.

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Its not just banana bread

So I mentioned that I bought a stand mixer the other day. Well, it arrived and so far I have made 2 batches of challah using the dough hook (NEVER kneading dough again!) as well as a batch of cinnamon muffins and on Friday I made an apple and banana bread/muffin recipe.

I have absolutely no idea what prompted me to add apples into the mix but I’m glad I did. They were amazing!

Apple Banana Bread
Yummy fresh apple and banana bread.
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Prep Time
15 min
Cook Time
45 min
Total Time
1 hr
Prep Time
15 min
Cook Time
45 min
Total Time
1 hr
Ingredients
  1. 3 large grated or finely chopped apples (I used 2 green and 1 red and left the skin on)
  2. 3 large ripe or overripe bananas, mashed
  3. 2 cups sugar (I used sugar replacement)
  4. 3 cups flour
  5. 1 teaspoon baking soda
  6. 1 tablespoon cinnamon
  7. 2 large eggs
  8. 2/3 cup of oil
  9. 2 teaspoons vanilla (I didn't have so didn't add and it was absolutely fine)
Instructions
  1. Preheat your oven to 180C and grease 2 loaf pans or like I did, 1 loaf pan and 2-3 muffin trays (12-18 muffins).
  2. Add all the ingredients into a large bowl or the bowl of your stand mixer.
  3. Mix well, ensuring all the flour is incorporated.
  4. Separate batter into the desired pans and place in the oven.
  5. For loafs, bake for about 1 hour.
  6. For muffins bake for between 30 minutes and 45 minutes.
Notes
  1. The original recipe called for half a cup chopped nuts and half a cup raisins. I had neither on hand so didn't add them and the recipe came out fine. You could also add craisins or even chocolate chips to this recipe and it would be delicious.
Adapted from Food.com
Adapted from Food.com
A Bit of This A Bit of That https://gnatj.com/