Seriously, wouldn’t you want to serve these?

It all starts with puff pastry.  I’m not talking about the cheap stuff either.  That’s fine for every day family fare but if you are trying to impress your guests, get the good stuff.  We used Careme pastry and I would recommend it to anyone.

It’s got more buttery layers and puffs up beautifully, as you can see.

Start by laying out a sheet of puff pastry and crease the sheet at the half-way mark with a knife.  That’s the fold line.

Then take some fresh herb and garlic cheese, we used South Cape, and dollop it on one side of the pastry.  Then using an off-set spatula or knife, smooth the cheese over the pastry.

Once it’s all smooth, fold over the pastry and roll it lightly with a rolling pin (or a wine bottle) and place in the refrigerator for 30 minutes to chill.  Puff pastry likes being cold all the time before baking.

Using a pizza cutter or sharp knife cut the straws.  Don’t drag a knife through the pastry, just cut straight down.  This ensures that the pastry puffs on the edges.

Take each straw and twist until you get the look you want and place on a baking sheet with baking paper.  Once you have all the twists on the sheet, brush with beaten egg and a dash of milk and place in the refrigerator for 30 minutes.

Pre-heat oven to 200C or 180C fan forced.  Bake cheese straws for 20 minutes or until puffed and golden brown.

Do you have any favourite recipes you use Careme pastry in?

Method
1.  Beat sugar and egg together
2. In a separate bowl, mix cheese with fruit, almonds and vanilla
3.  Add butter and orange zest
4.  Stir in sugar and egg mixture
5.  Fold in cream
6.  Spoon mixture into 4x 150ml moulds lined with damp muslin
7.  Cover with plastic wrap
8. Place a weight on top of each and refrigerate for 12 hours
9. Turn out and garnish with small candy coated chocolate eggs

ALL ABOUT EGGS

1. To check if eggs are fresh, place in a bowl of water at room temperature. A fresh egg will settle horizontally. A stale egg will settle end up and a bad egg will float
2. Eggs will not crack when boiling if the eggs are at room temperature
3. Plunge boiled eggs into  iced water. This will stop eggs from cooking and create a space between the egg and the shell to make peeling the egg easier
4. Use older eggs for boiling. The  fresher the egg, the harder the shell is to remove
5. Have eggs at room temperature when baking creaming butter and sugar, cold eggs will curdle creamed butter and sugar
6. The whites of low grade and older eggs spread out and are very thin when cracked. Better quality fresh eggs have much thicker albumen
7. When stiff egg whites are required make sure that your bowl is clean, dry and contains no egg yolk at all

Method
1.  Heat oil in large pan and cook chicken pieces till browned on both sides
2. Remove from pan and place in large flat oven proof dish
3.  Arrange potato around chicken pieces, cut side up
4. Arrange onion and garlic in dish. Add oregano
5. Add lemon wedges, cut side down and skin side up
6.  Preheat oven to 200 C
7.  Place in oven to cook for 30 mins
8.  Remove from oven and add tomatoes and olives
9. Cook for a further 30 mins
10. Garnish with crumbled feta and extra fresh oregano
11. Serve with steamed zucchini,beans and broccoli

Many people think it’s difficult to make Japanese gyoza, also known as Chinese Jiaozi or pot stickers but they’re really simple to make, especially if you buy already prepared gyoza wrappers which are available at most Asian grocery stores. The only difference between gyoza and jiaozi is the more pronouced garlic flavour in the gyoza.

Gyoza can be made using minced pork, chicken or prawns but today we used minced chicken.

Start by shredding the cabbage finely, then add the other ingredients, most of which you’ll find sitting in your pantry.

Mix well and the filling is done.  In less than 5 minutes.

Set the filling aside and then open your package of gyoza wrappers which should be thawed if they’ve been frozen.

Spread the dumpling wrappers on your cutting board and dampen the edges of the first wrapper with a pastry brush dipped in warm water.  Place the wrapper into a dumpling maker and put a teaspoon of filling in the center and fold over.  Dumpling makers are really inexpensive and you’ll have perfect dumplings every time.

Once you’ve made all 20 dumplings, heat oil in a frying pan and place the gyoza into the frying pan with the pleated edges on top.  Fry the dumplings until they are brown on the bottom and then turn the heat down to low and place 1/4 cup of water into the pan and cover.  Steam until all the water is gone and the gyoza are cooked.  If you think your pan was too hot, add a bit more water until your dumplings have changed

That’s it!  Serve browned side up along with a dipping sauce.

Today’s cooking demonstration was on how to decorate a cake with rolled fondant icing.  The finished product was really pretty and we were all amazed at how simple Jen made it look.

She started with a cake and made sure that any small holes were filled with dots of fondant and she made a sausage shape of fondant and tucked it at the bottom of the cake.

Then there are two ways to prepare the cake to ensure that the fondant adheres to the cake.  You can ice the cake with buttercream or you can paint the cake with something like apricot preserves.  Jen chose the apricot preserves.

With the cake all prepared, she rolled out the fondant.

Then she placed a piece of PVC pipe under the fondant and lifted it over the cake.

Next it was time to smooth the fondant to ensure that it had no pinholes or bumps.

Jen used a smoother to give a final smooth finish to the fondant.

Once it was all smooth she trimmed the excess with a knife and made sure the bottom was tidy but didn’t need to be perfect as she was going to cover the edge.

The cake is now ready to decorate!  Bring on the red fondant!

Next she took a pizza cutter and cut strips of red fondant all the same width, cut them in to and placed them on the cake.

Once all the strips were on and evenly spaced, she used icing glue to stick them all on.

The next job was a bit tedious but very, very simple.  Jen pinched off small pieces of red fondant and rolled them into small balls and placed them at the base of the cake.

All ready for the crowning glory, roses made out of gum paste.  If you read the last post, we all learned how to make these roses and it’s really really easy.  The roses are all on wires and Jen trimmed the wire and poked them into the cake.

The cake was finished and for the final touch she dusted the roses with edible glitter.

Thanks, Jen!

Iris comes back next week from her trip to England where she’s been learning all about chocolate.  We can’t wait!

We all gulped a little.  Then she said, “it’s really easy and I’ve done the first bit for you.”  The center of the rose needs to be dry in order for the other petals to stick well so she made those ahead of time and they were ready.  All we needed to do was learn to attach the petals.

Jen started rolling out the gum paste and cut two “petal” pieces that looked like this.

Then she took one petal piece and thinned the edges all around. Like this.

She wet the center bit with water using a paint brush and wet the piece about half way up the petal.  Then she took a dried center (pre-prepared) rose center and stuck the wire through the petal piece.

Then she wrapped the petals around the center.  First one petal and then the third petal and then the 2nd petal.  It sounds confusing but seriously, it’s very easy.  We all made one, even a little girl visiting on school holidays.

Next she took a similar petal piece, thinned the edges and wet the center lightly and pushed the wire through the center.  This time she turned it upside down and wrapped the petals, overlapping each one around the rose.  She pressed the base against the wire so the rose wouldn’t fall off and then she turned out the petals using three fingers.   Her rose looked like this.

Now we were all looking at each other thinking, “no way, is it that easy.”

Well, we were wrong.  It IS that easy.

And here’s what a few of our finished creations looked like.

All of them perfect enough for a wedding cake, don’t you think?

Finally, Jen gave a quick demonstration on royal icing flowers.  This was just to show what’s possible.

and then she made a lavender rose from royal icing.

A huge thank you to Jen from all of us.  Jen does designer cakes like these for her loyal customers on the Sunshine Coast.  If you’re interested in getting a quote or seeing more photos, she has a Facebook page with her contact details and lots more cake photos.

Join us next week on Friday at 10am to learn something totally new and different!  It’s only $15 and you get to make lots of new friends.

The first radio interview was with Annie Gaffney on the morning program, 22 March 2012, talking Iris’s favourite subject, cake decorating.

The Sunshine Coast Daily appeared on Friday, 23 March. Click here to read the article.

Iris also has the last word in this month’s edition of the Profile Magazine. We are giving away two cake decorating classes – so make sure you read this issue right to the end!

Iris was also interviewed on ABC about the recent flooding. Click on the link to visit the ABC website with podcast or click on the link below to listen to Iris’s audio

drive–flood-shop-owner-pkg—air

How To Cook is open and trading again despite the recent deluge of water.

The group of seasoned Australia’s Biggest Morning Tea hosts will be treated to their own personal cooking demonstration at Cotton Tree’s How to Cook as a thank-you for their tireless efforts in helping tip the balance in the fight against cancer.

The Royal Tea thank you event will also mark the official launch of Cancer Council’s Australia’s Biggest Morning Tea campaign for the Sunshine Coast community.

Media are invited to attend for photo, filming and interview opportunities:

What: Sunshine Coast launch of Cancer Council’s Australia’s Biggest Morning Tea.

Who: Thirty-five local Royal-Tea VIP fundraisers, donning aprons, crowns and tiaras.

When: 10am to 12pm on Thursday, March 29.

Where: How to Cook, 68 Sixth Avenue, Cotton Tree.

Contact: Jodi Durkin, Regional Fundraising Co-ordinator on 0427 145 827.

Experienced chef of 20 years and owner of the How to Cook Iris Windsor will have the honour of teaching the hosts with the most how to decorate cakes immaculately, and said she was looking forward to passing on her skills to the group in the hope of inspiring them to create their own morning tea masterpieces for their upcoming Australia’s Biggest Morning Tea events.

“I am very happy to do what I can to support the Cancer Council cause by volunteering my times to pass on my skills, and I am sure our VIP hosts will do wonderfully and give their guests a pleasant surprise come morning tea time in May,” Ms Windsor said.

“I’ll be teaching them the fundamentals of cake decorating including my top three tips to making perfect cakes every time.

“The most important is the consistency of the icing, the second is the direction that you hold your icing bag and the third is the pressure of which you use when piping.”

Cancer Council Queensland Regional Fundraising Co-ordinator Jodi Durkin said the Sunshine Coast launch of the Australia’s Biggest Morning Tea would be a special occasion to celebrate the hard work of the dedicated morning tea hosts.

“Our Sunshine Coast morning tea hosts have so generously given their time and effort over many years to raise funds for Cancer Council Queensland,” she said.

“All funds raised by our wonderful Australia’s Biggest Morning Tea hosts are invested in our cancer research, education programs and patient support services to support all Queenslanders affected by cancer.

“With 6000 morning tea hosts expected to share a cuppa for Australia’s Biggest Morning Tea this year, we hope to raise more than $2 million across Queensland.

“All Australia’s Biggest Morning Tea hosts are inspirational for showing how everyday Queenslanders can reduce the impact cancer has on the lives of people in this State.

“May is Australia’s Biggest Morning Tea time and there’s never been a better excuse to put the kettle on, take some time out with friends, family and workmates and have a cuppa for the cause.

“No matter what type of morning tea you hold, you’ll be helping the one in two Queenslanders who will be diagnosed with cancer by the age of 85.”

Thursday, May 24 is the official date of Cancer Council’s Australia’s Biggest Morning Tea, however morning teas can be held any time throughout May or early June, so go on, switch the kettle on, make a cuppa and make a difference.

People can register to host their own morning tea event by visiting www.biggestmorningtea.com.au or calling 1300 65 65 85.

All funds raised from Cancer Council’s Australia’s Biggest Morning Tea support our vital work in cancer research, education programs and patient support services.