Vintage Baking - Cockles from 1912

Cockles
Quarter of a pound of flour, 1/4 lb. cornflour, 1/4 lb. sugar, 1/4 lb. butter, 1 small teaspoon of baking powder, a pinch of salt.

Beat butter and sugar together; break in 2 eggs one by one; mix well, add other ingredients.  Drop in small teaspoonfuls on a buttered tin, and bake in a quick oven.  Stick two together with jam.
Recipe from The Goulburn Cookery Book 1912 Edition

Tips and Conversions:
1/4 lb. equals 125 grams
Use 2 small eggs or 1 large egg (I used one large egg).
The mixture needs to be quite stiff.
Cook on 180 degrees celsius in a conventional oven for 15 minutes. 
I omitted the jam and flavoured my cockles with lavender and dusted them with icing sugar.

What started out as cockles, cockles by the sea shore ended up more like a walk in the English countryside picking narcissus.  As much as I love cockles, I think flowers look much prettier and I thought that it would be lovely for my gorgeous girls to open up their school lunch box tomorrow to find cute edible flowers that tasted of lavender.  I used a mini silicone narcissus cup cake mould.  For this recipe, small teaspoonfuls of batter should be put onto a flat baking tray.  The mixture spreads and you end up with cake type biscuits that look like cockle shells.  They are sometimes sandwiched together with jam.  My gorgeous girls also decided that they didn't want the jam, these cake type biscuits are perfect just the way they are!

Vintage Baking - Queen Cakes from 1912

Queen Cakes is a recipe from 'The Goulburn Cookery Book'.  According to the Southern Tablelands History Matters website, The Goulburn Cookery Book was compiled by an Irish lady by the name of Mrs William Forster Rutledge of Gidleigh, Bungendore. She gave the copyright to the Church Society of the Anglican Diocese on 2nd October 1899, and for thirty years the cookbook brought in a steady income to Church funds, selling 205,000 copies in thirty editions.  By the thirty-sixth edition in 1936, the book had been reprinted almost every year with either 5,000 or 10,000 copies.  There were three more editions, the last in 1945.  I have the Twelth Edition from 1912. The pupils of the Goulburn Public School Cooking Class contributed several recipes, and three are from the National School of Cookery, London. 

Girls living in the country were brought up to manage a household and to be self-reliant.  There was much work to be done to provision a country house.  Milk from the dairy was set in flat open pans and skimmed for cream.  Butter was churned by hand, the surplus clarified and used for cooking.  

So lovely ladies apply your brightest red lipstick, pop on your tiara, a pretty dress and a retro apron and let's get baking.  I made my Queen cakes miniature size.  They look absolutely gorgeous when served up on a vintage plate for afternoon tea.  Guaranteed, when you eat one of these little darlings you'll feel like royalty!

Queen Cakes
Half a pound of flour, 1/2 lb. sugar, 6 oz. of butter, 1/2 lb. of currants, 1/2 teaspoon of baking powder, 4 eggs, a little salt, 1 teaspoon brandy.

Beat the butter and the sugar to a light cream; add the yolks of the eggs; sift in flour and baking powder; add whites of eggs, beaten till stiff, add the currants.  Put into buttered patty-tins and fill half full. Bake from 15 to 25 minutes, according to the heat of the oven.  These cakes are nicer if the baking powder is omitted; but in that case the mixture must be beaten for an hour.  The brandy may be omitted.

As a six generation Australian, I am sooooo proud to say that I can still buy products in the supermarket that were around over a hundred years ago! 

White Wings Flour Australian owned & milled for over 100 years

Since 1926 Sunbeam Australian Grown Currants

Australian Western Star Butter since the late 1800's

Anchor Since 1854 Baking Powder - Made in Australia

101 years later, our eggs must be a lot bigger!

Here I've added the egg yolks to the creamed butter & sugar 

Blending the currants and stiff egg whites into the cake batter

A 101 year old recipe given the modern touch 

Straight out of the oven

Gorgeous currants studded like jewels in a crown

Now you may be wondering... mmmm, how much is half a pound or how much is 6 oz?  Worry no more as I've included conversions and tips below :)

Half a pound is equal to 250 grams
6 oz is equal to 180 grams

Tip:  I decided to make miniature Queen cakes so took the chance of omitting 2 eggs to obtain a stiffer cake batter.  Luckily, they turned out just perfect.  I cooked them at 170 degrees celsius in a conventional oven for 15 minutes. The only problem I had was trying to prevent my gorgeous girls from eating them before dusting them with icing sugar! 

Pink Rose Sugared Pistachios

If you really want to impress someone special why not try making some pretty pink rose sugared pistachios.

Here's what you need:

100g unsalted pistachios

100g caster sugar

20g water

red food colouring

2 drops rose essence

Place the sugar, food colouring, rose essence and water in a small saucepan and bring to the boil.

When the syrup reaches 135 degrees celsius remove from the heat and add the pistachios.  Stir with a chopstick and pour onto a baking tray lined with parchment paper to cool.

Bon appétit

Fairy Floss Marshmallows (Guimauve Barbe à Papa)

   

Tomorrow is mother's day and my little gorgeous girl has organised a picnic hamper with baguettes, lemon and chocolate ganache tarts, elderflower cordial, fruit, cheese, nuts and crackers and more....   Since she's done all the hard work I thought that I'd make her some little Fairy Floss marshmallows -  perfect little powder puffs for a little lady.  

GUIMAUVE BARBE à PAPA
Ingredients for the Bloom
21g powdered gelatine
fairy floss essence
75ml water

Ingredients for the Sugar Syrup
150ml of water
500g caster sugar
75g glucose syrup
pink food colouring

Ingredients for the Meringue
6 egg whites
25g extra caster sugar

Powder Puff Mix
1/4 cup confectioners sugar
1/4 cornflour

1. Line a non-stick lamington tray with parchment paper and lightly spray with canola oil.
2. To make the bloom, place the gelatine, fairy floss essence and 75ml of water in a small bowl. Set aside for 10 minutes then gently heat in a small saucepan to dissolve the gelatine. Alternatively, if you're in a bit of a hurry and don't want an extra saucepan to wash just add the gelatine mix as is in Step 7.
3. Place 150ml water, sugar, glucose and food colouring in a medium saucepan.
4. Bring the sugar syrup to the boil until it reaches 130 degrees celsius.
5. Start whisking your egg whites when the sugar syrup reaches 120 degrees celsius. Add the extra 25g caster sugar when the egg whites become white and frothy.  Continue to whisk until well combined.
6. The meringue and the sugar syrup need to be ready at the same time.
7. When the sugar syrup is nearly ready add the gelatine mix and combine. Pour into the meringue in a slow steady stream.  Whisk on medium-high for 7-10 minutes until the mixture becomes thick, fluffy and glossy.
8.  Pour into the lamington tin and leave to set overnight.
9.  Cut the marshmallow into squares with an oiled knife.
10. Combine the confectioners sugar and cornflour and use this powder puff mix to coat the marshmallows.
11. Store in an airtight container in the fridge or freeze them in little zip lock bags.
12. Perfect with a hot cup of tea or bubbly champagne.
Recipe adapted from Laduree 

Belvoir Elderflower Cordial

Little Lemon & Chocolate Tarts

We'll be eating our fairy floss marshmallows for afternoon tea with posh little cups filled with "T2 Rose by the Sea - a warming black tea blushing with floral blossoms of safflower, cornflower, lavender and red rose buds with citrusy freshness of orange.  Just gorgeous with rose buds and pretty petals bobbing around for our affection".

The little bracelet says, 'Being different is one of the most beautiful things on earth".

Blue Violet flavoured Mantou Style Buns inspired by Alice in Wonderland

C

Trippin' out

Spinnin' around

I'm underground, I fell down

Yeah, I fell down

I'm freakin' out

 So where am I now?

Upside down

And I can't stop it now,

It can't stop me now

Ohhh

I, I'll get by

I, I'll survive

When the world's crashin' down

When I fall and hit the ground

I will turn myself around

Don't you try to stop it!

I, I won't cry

 I found myself in wonderland

Get back on my feet again

Is this real? 

Is it pretend?

I'll take a stand until the end

This won't mean a lot to many of you and I don't expect you to understand but almost 4 years ago my world came crashing down and I found myself in wonderland - a place where everything is possible! 

My latest creation is inspired by Alice in Wonderland, Absolom the Blue Caterpillar, the Mad Hatter's Tea Party and both the Red & White Queens.  I've made Blue Violet flavoured Mantou style buns.

The potion for these buns has lots of wishful thinking, some violet essence and a little bit of pork fat but none of the other stuff - lol!  Mmmm, although, jasmine tea does look a bit like wee!

Lard is the secret ingredient chefs use to make the perfect pastry and cakes!

I need a pig here!

Little Blue Caterpillars

Blue Violet flavoured Mantou Style Buns
Dough
450g plain flour
14g dried yeast
115g sugar
225ml warm water
1 egg white
1/2 tsp vinegar
3 Tbsp pork fat (lard)
2 drops violet essence
2 drops blue food colouring

Sift the flour onto a pastry board or kitchen bench.  Make a well in the centre and add the water and the remaining ingredients with exception of the blue food colouring .  Knead into an elastic, smooth dough.  Divide into two portions and colour one portion blue.  Place kneaded dough into two separate greased bowls and cover with plastic wrap.  

Place the bowls either in a warm spot or a warm water bath for one to one and a half hours or until the dough doubles in size.  Knead both portions of dough into a square or rectangles of similar size. 

Place the blue dough over the plain coloured dough.  Roll up into a sausage shape and cut into 1 inch discs.  Place each disc onto a small piece of parchment paper and put into a bamboo steamer.  Allow to rise for 15 minutes then steam for 12 minutes. Serve hot with some jasmine tea. 

Just perfect for any mad hatter's tea party!

Eat Me!

Recipe adapted from Foundation Dim Sum 

Wing Woo Grocery Store, Wellington Street Central, Hong Kong

Wing Woo grocery store was located in Wellington Street, Central and was one of the oldest stores in Hong Kong.  Apparently, Mr Kwan the store owner started working here at the age of 14, when Wing Woo was run by his uncle and his uncle's friend.  Later, Mr Kwan became the owner and managed the store with his wife for 60 years.  Sadly, just before I left Hong Kong this quaint little store closed it's doors forever to give way to a new redevelopment.  I loved visiting this little store.

This is my recollection of the store in photo's.

Gorgeous!

One of the many song birds.

Pink Long Johns - too cute!