I was lucky enough to be invited to the Langham's kitchen for Christmas in July, to make my very own Christmas pudding, along with 5 other food bloggers, media and other personalities.
I love the Langham. I did alot of my year 12 photography folio based on the fountain the grand entrance. I have also come various times for the buffet. I unfortunately missed out on the bloggers high tea as I was moving house, but am making a special trip there with Miss A at the end of next month to indulge our taste buds.


We all met in the Little Collins Room. It has a lovely warm feeling with a giant wooden table in the centre of the room, tea candles, and Christmas decorations. We were doted on with champagne and a fantastic array of canapes. 


After a bit of a mingle, we donned on our Langham aprons, chef hats and headed down to the kitchens. There were two kitchens, both decorated in the Christmasy style; one making truffles and various chocolates, the other kitchen making puddings. We were split into two groups, and my group started off with truffle making.


Pastry chef Zara told us all about tempering chocolate, and showed us how to dip the perfect truffle, as well as how to get the fancy spiky pattern. The white chocolate truffles had raspberry ganache and elderflower liqueur, they were simply divine.
When tempering chocolate, to check the temperature, you put the back of the spoon on your bottom lip. You shouldn't feel a difference in temperature.... this makes tempering chocolate a delicious exercise!


Then we had the rum truffles coated in Lindt milk chocolate and topped with cocoa nibs.
Needless to say, it was awesome!


We ran out of time to learn how to make the nut clusters, but us bloggers sampled quite a few of clusters on display. You can't let good chocolate go to waste!

We then changed over kitchens and headed in to pudding making 101 with Chef Anthony Ross. Anthony was a fantastic entertainer, and really made the group come alive as they squished their hands into the dough.


We started with pretty much all the butter in the world, mixed with hazelnut and almond meal. No flour in these puddings, they are gluten free! It is tipped all down the bench for everyone to get involved and start mixing. Anthony jokes "this is what you do when you don't have a mixer!". He then pours over a mass mixture of dried fruits that have been macerating in St Remy brandy with a mixture of spices, citrus juice and zest; the smell is phenomenal. The group then makes a well in the mixture and Anythony proceeds to pour in two cans of Guinness to give it a rich flavour.


We each then chose a charm, wrapped it in aluminum foil, and put it in our puddings. The puddings will be steamed for 2 hours and matured at the Langham for 5 months. We will then be delivered our puddings just in time for Christmas. I can't wait, it's my first pudding!

Luckily for us the canapes and champagne kept following when we were in the kitchens, making the whole night a blast.


315g butter
185g almond meal
185g hazelnut meal
250g sultanas
250g raisins
320g currants
65g mixed peel
190g brown sugar
50ml water
135ml brandy
65g chopped figs
30ml water
8g mixed spice
1.5g salt
155ml eggs
1 large lemon (zest and juice)
1 large orange (zest and juice)
80ml stout
30ml milk

1. Make a syrup with the brown sugar, water and brandy.
2. Add to the fruit and let fruit soak for up to a month.
3. Mix butter, hazelnut meal and almond meal.
4. Mix spices, salt, eggs, zest, juice, stout and milk together, then add to nut and butter mixture.
5. Finally, add figs and brandy soaked fruits and mix.
6. Grease pudding moulds with butter.
7. Fill in pudding mixture.
8. Cook in water bath for 4 hours.
9. When cooled, remove from the mould and store in a cool dry place.

To cook when serving:
1. Place 1 layer of baking paper and 1 layer of foil around the top of the pudding and tie securely with kitchen string.
2. Lower into a saucepan of boiling water (pudding needs to be 3/4 submerged)
3. Cover the saucepan with a lid and allow to boil for 2 to 3 hours.
4. Top up water if required.

Serve with hot custard.

Makes 1, 2kg pudding.

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And so that was Christmas.
And what did you do?

This is my round up of quite possibly, the best Christmas ever.

The Christmas party with my friends:
We started with some dips and these avocado and cherry tomato salsa wonton cases. It was a great way to get the lunch started as everyone started to arrive.

We kept things fairly simple with a BBQ. I made Bill Granger's sticky chicken wings, and we got some gourmet sausages and rissoles from Woolworths. Mum helped me out and made her amazing potato salad, Alana graciously made her famous crunchy Asian noodle salad, and I made a green salad with tomato, onion, capsicum and mango.

Even though we were all extremely full and falling asleep at the table, we piled on the dessert. Fresh fruit and white christmas mud cakes.

Everyone left with a noodle box containing an ultimate chocolate pudding...yum!


Christmas Eve - Carols by Candlelight, Sidney Myer Music Bowl
It was my first Christmas eve away from my family, but due to "The Great Flood of '09", I left carols early and ended up seeing my family.
It had been spitting all day, and when we arrived at carols it had cleared up. We settled in, unpacked everything, then the massive down pour hit! It was a case of wet undies all around. Luckily my dad gave me a tarp to take, and we all hid under there for most of the night.
It was much more fun than watching it on TV. I made candy cane cookies and some savory muffins... there would have been photos but it was a bit hard when it was raining!


Christmas Day - Grandma's House
Whenever my Grandma hosts Christmas, she puts on an epic feast. We started with lobster and king prawns.... deeeelicious!

Ham and turkey, both cooked to perfection. Her version of a Greek salad, with capsicum cut into festive shapes, and a yule log made by my uncle!

We also saw a lizard when someone took out the rubbish.
We also had a mini fire when a candle caught alight to some decorations. All my Dad could do to fix this fire problem was to shout "Fire! Fire! Fire!" .... then my uncle promptly went to blow out said fire... thanks Dad... I know I can count on you when the house is burning down!

Miscellaneous Christmas Shenanigans

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Wishing you all a very safe and merry Christmas!
Hope the fat man brings all of your something nice, and you eat so much that your elastic pants snap and split in half!

I'll see you all soon for this year's Christmas food round up.... I suspect I'll be a little rounder by the end of it too!!

Iron Chef Shellie
xo

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So it's Christmas week all around the world.
What are your Christmas plans? I'm going to Carols by Candlelight at the Sidney Myer Music Bowl on Christmas eve with my friends. It's kind of ironic given that I hate carols, and D-grade celebrities, yet I was the one who rounded everyone up for the event. As a result, I'm missing my mother cook goose for the very first time for the family. Then Christmas day, I'm off to Grandmother's house for a feast and a half.... followed by many hours on the couch, telling myself I will never eat again.

I had my Christmas lunch for my friends on the weekend and needed a Christmas themed dessert. I had always admired these white Christmas trees on the front cover of the book, so I decided this year I would admire no longer, and bake away!

I sometimes forget to read some parts of the recipe from time to time. The result of this was, I forgot to chop my marshmallows, and because I couldn't find marshmallows with toasted coconut, I ended up adding 100grams of each... thus resulting in having to add twice as much white chocolate for it all to stick together.

The end result was damn delicious though! Mixing together the white Christmas mixture was like smelling sugar heaven! Whilst it is a rather rich dessert, it's definitely a hit with the crowds, and I would no hesitate to make it again.


White Christmas Mud Cakes

125g butter, chopped coarsely
125g white eating chocolate, chopped coarsely
2/3 cup (150g) caster sugar
2/3 cup (160ml) milk
1/2 cup (35g) self-raising flour
2 eggs
2 tablespoons Cointreau
60g white eating chocolate, melted, extra
1 tablespoon icing sugar

White Christmas
120g white eating chocolate, chopped coarsley
2 teaspoons vegetable oil
3/4 cup (30g) rice bubbles
100g marshmallows with toasted coconut, choppped finely
1/4 cup (35g) coarsely chopped unsalted pistachios
1/4 cup (35g) coarsely chopped dried cranberries
1/2 cup (60g) finely chopped glace peaches (I used glace pineapple)

1. Preheat oven to 160°C/140°C fan-forced. Grease eight 3/4 cup (180ml) pudding moulds.

2. Stir butter, chocolate, caster sugar and milk in medium saucepan over low heat until smooth. Transfer to medium bowl; cool 10 minutes. Whisk in sifted flours, then eggs. Spoon cake mixture into moulds; place on oven tray.

3. Bake cakes about 30 minutes; drizzle cakes with liqueur. Turn hot cakes, still in their moulds, upside down onto baking paper lined tray; stand overnight.

4. Cut four 20cm circles in half. Roll each half into a tight cone. Staple or tape cones to hold their shape.

5. Make white christmas: stir chocolate and oil in a small saucepan over low heat until smooth. Combine rice bubbles, marshmallow, nuts and fruit in a medium bowl; stir in melted chocolate mixture.'

6. Push spoonfuls of white christmas firmly into cones. Stand each cone upright in a tall narrow glass. Refrigerate cones about 1 hour or until set.

7. Remove cakes from moulds. Trim tops of cakes to make flat; turn upside down onto tray. Remove white christmas cone from paper; secure cones to each cake with a little of the extra chocolate. Refrigerate 10 minutes. Serve mud cakes dusted with sifted icing sugar.

Makes 8.

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Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you, my first ever attempt at the gingerbread construction industry.
It took me pretty much the good part of a day getting the architectural plans from Martha Stewart, the foundation mixture together from Donna Hay, and the exterior decorating and landscape gardening done.

After 2 rounds of putting the roof on, and the house collapsing, I made my cement (royal icing) a bit more runny, and eventually got everything to stay in place.

I wanted to stick on pretzels all around the sides to make it look like a log cabin, but after my epic cooking efforts on Saturday, and not having any pretzels in the house... there was a big case of the C.B.F.s

Mum wanted me to add more lollies to the side of the house, but I didn't want one of those super tacky, over candied houses. I'm very happy with the end results. As to whether I'd do one again... I would say yes. But I would make sure I wasn't planning on cooking 2 other things on the same day!


Gingerbread House
Donna Hay

1.2kg (7 1/2 cups) plain flour
3 teaspoons bicarbonate of soda, sifted
1 1/2 cups (265g) brown sugar
1 tablespoon ground ginger, sifted
375g butter
1 2/3 cups (580g) golden syrup

Icing
4 cups (640g) icing sugar, sifted
3 eggwhites
1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar
assorted lollies to decorate

1. Preheat oven to 180°C or 160°C fan-forced. Place half the flour and bicarbonate of soda in the bowl of a food processor with half the sugar, ginger, butter and golden syrup. Process until dough just starts to come together, turn out and set aside. Repeat with remaining ingredients.

2. Combine both quantities of dough and knead to bring together. Divide dough into thirds. Lightly grease three 40cm x 30cm cookie trays (your trays should have a lip them). Divide dough between trays and press into tray, smooth the top with the back of a spoon. Bake, in batches, for 25-30 mintues or until dark golden. Turn out onto wire racks and allow to cool completely. (I cut out my walls and windows instead of baking slab pre-casts).

3. To make the icing, place the sugar, eggwhites and cream of tartar in the bowl of an electric mixer and beat for 4-5 minutes or until light and fluffy. Place the icing in a piping bag with a 1cm round nozzle.

4. To assemble:
a) Use a large serrated knife and cut each gingerbread sheet in half. Use a ruler as a guide. Set aside four halves; two for the walls and two for the roof.
b) Use the serrated knife to cut two even-sized triangles from the top of the remaining two halves to create the side walls of the house and discard the triangles.
c) Secure one of the rectangular walls and one of the side walls to a cake board with the icing and allow to dry until firm. Support the walls against a tall jar until the icing is dry.

d) Secure the other rectangular wall and remaining side wall to the board and exisiting walls using the icing. Again, use some tall jars as support and allow the icing to dry completely before the next step.
e) Secure each of the roof pieces to the sides of the house suing the icing and allow to dry complely.

f) Decorate with remaining icing and lollies.

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Got a foodie in your life and don't know what to get them?

Check out these cute food related bathroom products from the gang at Mecca Cosmetica; they are too cute!

I met up with Jules Clancy earlier this year at the launch of her first book; And The Love Is Free. You can check out my interview with her here. As a special offer for Iron Chef Shellie fans Jules is offering:

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With Christmas on it's way, and requests for some cute Christmas cupcakes following my reindeer cupcakes from last year; I thought I better get my bum into gear.

These were absolutely delicious, and incredibly easy to make. Infact, I am making them again next weekend to go into noodle boxes for a Christmas lunch I'm hosting. I'm also making cute name tags to go with them. Don't worry, I'll be sure to take millions of photos (as always) to post on my blog!

The bursts of cranberries within the puddings are a real treat, and match perfectly with the chocolately batter. They are not as heavy as a pudding would be, and look ultra cute!
I used spearmint leaves instead of fresh bay leaves, which adds a nice minty treat after eating the mini pudding.


Ultra-Choc Christmas Puddings

150g butter
100g dark chocolate, chopped
3 eggs, lightly beaten
1/3 cup (80g) sour cream
1 cup (150g) self-raising flour
1 tablespoon cocoa
1 teaspoon baking powder
3/4 cup (90g) almond meal
3/4 cup (165g) caster sugar
1/2 cup (75g) dried cranberries, plus extra to decorate
12 small fresh bay leaves (I used candy spearmint leaves instead)

Custard Icing
250g pure icing sugar, plus extra to dust
1 teaspoon custard powder

1. Preheat oven to 180°C or 160°C fan-forced. Grease a 12-hole, 1/3 cup-capacity non-stick or silicone muffin pan.

2. Melt butter and chocolate in a small saucepan on low heat, until smooth. Cool slightly. Add egg and sour cream and mix well. Sift together flour, cocoa and baking powder into a large bowl. Add almond meal, sugar and dried cranberries and mix well. Pour in chocolate mixture and stir until mixture is well combined.

3. Spoon in prepared pans, until three-quarters full. Bake for 15-20 mins, until cakes spring back when lightly touched. Cool in pan for 5 mins, then turn out onto a wire rack to cool completely.

4. Meanwhile, to make icing, sift icing sugar and custard powder into a medium bowl. Add 1-2 tablespoons of water, stirring, until thick. When puddings are cool, trim rounded tops and turn upside down onto a wire rack. Spoon over icing and press bay leaves and extra cranberries into icing. Stand until set. Dust with extra icing sugar to serve.

Makes 12.

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I am currently walking around like a pregnant duck! And I am neither pregnant nor a duck.
I suppose you want to know why? I did too much exercise this weekend! 1 hour of personal training, then a nice long bike ride the day after. Too many walking lunges and squats has left me unable to walk properly... or do anything else without looking like a total idiot!


So I didn't go to the gym tonight, instead I baked some cookies! I'm sure my personal trainer would understand, who can resist chocolate after all? And it gives me a chance to use up some candy canes I've had lying around since Christmas.

They are awesome! I knew they would be as I put them in the oven. The scent of minty candy canes with lots and lots of chocolate....mmmmmm. Eat them when they are warm and the chocolate is still melting.


Chocolate Candy Cane Cookies
Donna Hay

110g butter, softened and chopped
1 cup (175g) brown sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup (150g) plain flour, sifted
1/4 cup (25g) cocoa, sifted
1/2 teaspoon bicarbonate of (baking) soda
120g dark chocolate, melted
280g dark chocolate, extra, chopped
120g candy canes, chopped

1. Preheat oven to 160°C. Place the butter and sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer and beat for 8-10 minutes or until light and creamy.

2. Add the egg and vanilla and beat until well combined. Add the flour, cocoa, bicarbonate of soda and melted chocolate and beat until just combined. Fold through the extra chopped chocolate.

3. Roll tablespoonfuls of the mixture into rounds. Place on baking trays lined with non-stick baking paper, allowing room for the cookies to spread, and flatten slightly. Press the chopped candy canes into the tops of the cookies and bake for 12-15 minutes or until the edges are firm. Allow to cool on the trays.

Makes 20.

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Happy New Year to you all!
Hope you all had a lovely Christmas and brought the new year in with some fun and fabulous food. I know I certainly did. It was the best new years I've ever had, complete with the one the of the best views of the fireworks in Melbourne without being crushed by a crowd.


It's about time I shared a recipe with you all. I made these one afternoon when I was bored on holidays just before Christmas. They are hazelnut praline truffles, and just simply melt in your mouth. You can't stop at just one. They made perfect last minute gifts for some of my loved ones and a nice dessert for Christmas Eve dinner.
The dark chocolate coated ones are complete with flakes of gold leaf.

This recipe I HIGHLY recommend. It can be a bit fiddly, but it's definitely worth the work.


Hazelnut Praline Truffles
Taste Website

3/4 cup (165g) caster sugar
1 cup (150g) hazelnuts, roasted, peeled
650g dark chocolate, chopped
150ml pouring cream
100g butter, chopped
250g white chocolate, chopped
Silver and gold leaf and Dutch cocoa, to decorate

Makes about 35

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Just a quick note to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas.

Hope you all have a lovely time eating yourselves silly, spending time with family, friends or whoever you spend it with.

May the fat man visit you all tonight!

x

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I have just finished making the cutest Christmas cupcakes and wanted to share them immediately with you. You will have to excuse the not so creative photography as they are all packed up in my cupcake courier ready for transportation for a Christmas party.


They are taken from Donna Hay's latest magazine: Issue number 42. The recipe is on page 198. The cupcakes are vanilla with raspberries, topped with a chocolate butter frosting.
The nose is done using a Jaffa, and eyes are made from mini-m&m's. Whilst the antlers are made from halved preztels. I'm sure these are going to be a big hit, I'll be making another batch for my family on Christmas eve.

Enjoy!

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