It took me a few weeks to get around to making them. And when I did, I made them twice. Some googling revealed that the Afghan cookie is an old favourite Kiwi recipe and no one really knows for sure where the name came from. Apparently the classic recipe comes from the Edmonds Cookbooks, which seem to be a sort of Kiwi equivalent of the Australia Nursing Mothers Association cookbooks. I was a little suspicious of this recipe because it contained no raising agent, but I was keen to try the classic version. Unfortunately the only plain flour we had on hand was Italian ’00′ flour. My understanding is that this tends to be lower in protein and gluten so it was really not ideal. Unsurprisingly they came out the oven flat and joined up. I was quite upset, especially because a few nights earlier I had a complete disaster, inedible, FAIL with a simple banana bread. I couldn’t bear 2 fails in a row, so I whipped up to the shops, got some plain plain flour and did another batch using the recipe from Ladies, A Plate via Not Quite Nigella. These ones came out looking prefect. The NQN recipe made more than enough icing to ice both batches, so I punched the flat ones into slightly nicer looking circles and iced them too. I took them into work and my Kiwi colleague said they looked and tasted just right, so I was happy. On the first day after baking I preferred the NQN ones, but after 2 days in the fridge, the flatties came into their own and were better.

Now I have half a box of cornflakes left over – and they are Aldi Cornflakes because I am too cheap to buy Kellogs. So I am very tempted by these but a little frightened of a cookie recipe with a cup of oil. But I suspect I will find a way to overcome that fear.

I used a recipe from Green by Flip Shelton.  Some of the recipes are a bit too healthy for my taste, and call for things like apple concentrate and powdered wheat grass. But I have always liked it because the author is a female Ironman triathlete so it has lots of good training food. And it has some some really fantastic recipes, like a lentil bolognese that we make all the time.

The crumpet recipe was not such a winner. Firstly the batter was much too thick, so no bubbles were forming, and also it said to cook them on low heat, which just wasn’t working. So I adjusted things as I went along, added some milk and turned the heat to medium, and by the time I got to the end of the batter they were working out pretty well. But next time I fancy crumpets I think I will try a different recipe.

Just cooked, with the most successful ones at the front

Loaded up with butter and honey

My team at work has a tradition called Fat Friday. I am sure you can guess what it involves – eating treats on a Friday. This week I decided to contribute some low-fat banana bread. I am no fat-phobe, but I do have a serious banana bread addiction, so I have been looking for a healthier home-made alternative to the cafe stuff. And bananas are crazy cheap at the moment. I keep buying big bunches so I’ll have some ripe ones for baking, but we keep eating them all.

I did a search for ‘moist low-fat banana bread’, looked at a few recipes and settled on this one. A different Weight-Watchers one seems popular, but I am not into margarine or artificial sweeteners. I wasn’t looking for super healthy, just something that was less bad than the cafe versions.

I only had 2 proper ripe bananas, so I mashed those, then added a chopped unripe one and that worked out well – nice little baked banana chunks. I don’t think we have non-fat buttermilk in Australia, so I just used regular buttermilk which I had in the fridge. The recipe didn’t specify how long to bake it for – I went for an hour and that was perfect.

I have to have my banana bread toasted in a sandwich press and it has to be well-toasted. I am always telling this to staff in cafes. I avoid places where I know they don’t toast it well. Nothing annoys me more than barely toasted banana bread. Toasted in the sandwich press at work, with a nice coffee, I was very happy with this. And I have atleast 5 slices in the freezer now. I wonder how long they will last for…

Voila!

Well here I go, blogging again. My previous effort petered out long ago, but lately I have been thinking more and more often “I want to blog that”. The last blog was mostly about triathlon and running stuff. As I am not doing much of that at the moment, this one will probably be mostly about food, with the odd special event, favourite op-shop purchase and general rant thrown in.

Its highly likely that I will peter out again, but I will try.

So I thought I would start out with a recent triumph – the cake I made for my Dad’s wedding in May. It was extremely simple as far as wedding cakes go, but it turned out exactly how I pictured it and Dad said it was delicious, so I was happy.

The cake was a simple madiera, the icing was rolled fondant, one layer had marzipan and the other didn’t (because it got too oily after I overworked it) and it was decorated with real flowers – very simple.