Choc Chip Cookies and Some Exciting News!

These are so hard to resist when I can see them every time I walk into the kitchen.
Yes, there were more originally.

I haven't done a lot of cooking over the last couple of months. In fact, until this week I could probably count on one hand how many times I'd cooked since the start of february (even the Apple Crumble Cheesecake was a post I'd had waiting since last year). The reality is that I just wasn't well enough to do much of anything, especially anything that involved standing around food in the kitchen. But it's not as bad as it sounds - it was just a little thing called 'morning' sickness and, thankfully, it seems to have mostly gone away. So, yes, we will be having bub number 3 in September (as long as everything goes to plan), which is very exciting! And now that I am feeling human again I am really excited to be getting back in the kitchen.

Happy Birthday to ME!! {Tim Tam Cake}

Before everything started to go pear shaped...

It was my birthday last week (Hip Hip Hooray for me!) so I decided to make a cake that I've had my eye on for ages. Now, don't worry, I didn't make my own birthday cake because I was neglected by Mr P. - I actually had to convince everyone that I was really looking forward making it so they wouldn't stop me. I don't get to bake special cakes all that often, so I will jump on any excuse or opportunity.

Jam and Chocolate Doughnut Muffins

I don't like doughnuts. For some reason they give me this funny feeling in my throat (except for Krispy Kremes, something to do with their being baked first, perhaps). So it seems strange that this recipe from Taste.com.au should get me so excited. Maybe I like the IDEA of doughnuts. I mean, they're sweet, sugary and fried - how could I not like them? Whatever the reason, when I first came across this recipe I couldn't wait to make them. They just looked so darn good!

Chocolate Cake

After two baptisms and a birthday party, I thought I had finally started to get the hang of this catering-for-a-huge-group-of-people-thing (at least to the point where I might, possibly, be able to leave the kitchen for half an hour) when the birthday cake flopped. Suddenly, my carefully made plans, which involved an easy to prepare menu, were sabotaged by a new chocolate cake recipe which produced, well, not chocolate cake. More like a dark brown, stodgy... mess. Suddenly I was faced with having to make the cake from scratch (including the decorating) before the guests arrived at noon. All I can say is, thank you Julie Goodwin!

Happy Mother's Day!

I baked a big ol' chocolate cake on Friday (post to follow) but had to cut quite a bit of cake off to get the top flat. So, when I was trying to work out what to give my sons' Godmothers for Mother's Day, I instantly thought of cake pops! If you haven't seen these adorable creations which were first created by the wonderful Bakerella (have I mentioned how much I love her?), you have to check them out right now! They are cuter than cute. Basically, they are balls of cake and frosting, coated in chocolate, on sticks. Except way better. Instead of putting them on sticks, though, I decided to use a heart shapes silicon candy mould that I've had in the cupboard for years to make (wait for it...) cake truffles!

Choc Chip Cookie Dough Brownies - Oh My!

Brownies are pretty much the only baked good that I can make which a) doesn't stress me out, and b) reliably brings on lots of "ooooh" and "aaaah" comments when I serve them. Well, except for the time I thought I'd be clever and use Rolo chocolate and the caramel made the chocolate seize (that's what I'm blaming anyway). They were still edible though, so it wasn't a complete disaster.

(Almost authentic) Whoopie pies

I'm a sucker for original, authentic recipes. I think its the inner conformist in me - I have to use the 'right' recipe. But, of course, when it comes to baking there are so so SOOO many versions of everything that it is hard to work out what is 'authentic' anyway. I keep telling myself that its okay, as long as the recipe tastes good, but it doesn't stop me from doing a whole heap of googling everytime I want to try something new.