thecattylife... for all things cattylicious... » Eating In

recipe | peanut butter ice cream

catty — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 04:23:26 +0000

Peanut butter. There are few things in life that peanut butter can’t fix, and when it comes as an ice cream, it is pretty much the most indestructible form of cheer-me-up goodness on this planet.

And I have been needing some cheering up lately, but that’s for another post.

For this post, I am going to once again say… seriously, if you don’t have an ice cream maker, what the hell are you living for? Having my little green machine has made making ice cream a breeze. And I’m not sure if it’s a good thing or a bad thing, but it’s not even about the making of the ice cream any more, it’s about how damn quickly I can eat it all so I can make my next batch

Which, incidentally, is going to be lychee sorbet. YUM.

Peanut butter ice cream (using an ice cream maker)
1 cup whole milk 2 cups thickened cream (with my matcha ice cream recipe, I experimented with 2 cups milk vs 1 cup cream. It wasn’t creamy enough so now I tried 2 cups cream vs 1 cup milk. It was too thick. So next time I’m going to try 1.5 cups of each) 1 cup chunky peanut butter 1/2 cup castor sugar (add more or less to taste) Extra crushed peanuts (not necessary if you used crunchy peanut butter)
Pre-freeze your ice cream maker bowl for at least 24 hours. In a bowl, combine milk, sugar and peanut butter and beat with an electric mixer until properly combined and sugar is dissolved. Stir in the cream. Cover and refrigerate for at least 2 hours, or overnight. When you’re ready to churn the ice cream, place the frozen bowl on the ice cream machine, turn on. Slowly pour in the cream mixture and let churn. If adding more crushed peanuts, slowly add them now. Let churn for about 15-20 minutes. Remove to a freezer container and freeze. Let sit at room temperature for about 10 minutes before serving.
Makes 1.5L

recipe | peanut cookies: happy Chinese new year!

catty — Sun, 22 Jan 2012 22:49:49 +0000

Chinese New Years are definitely not what they used to be. Sometimes, I really wished that I could get it all back; the anticipation, the excitement, the noise, the sounds, the smell – but I can’t. I don’t even think it really has anything to do with being in a western country. I think for me (for us, for my extended family) the magic of Chinese New Year ended when my grandfather passed away.

These days, it’s all I can do to drag myself out of bed and bake some peanut cookies. Well, at least I still do that, I suppose.

Although, what I wish I really could do is roast a giant suckling pig. Maybe next year

Panu and I always talk about spending Chinese New Year in an Asian country – maybe Hong Kong or KL or Singapore – not so much to re-capture what I remember, but to experience the excitement, festivities and most importantly, the food. I’m looking forward to that, whenever it may be.

For now, we celebrated Chinese New Year eve with an impromptu and very quickly tossed together yee sang (made a big mess, which is still fun)…

… and these delicious peanut cookies.

Gong xi fa chai, everyone!

Chinese New Year peanut cookies
Adapted from Bread et Butter 2 cups peanuts 2 cups plain flour 1 cup icing sugar (or castor sugar) 1 cup (250g) butter, melted 1 egg, beaten
Pre-heat oven to 180°C/355°F. Spread the peanuts out on an oven-proof dish. Bake dry in oven for 5 minutes. Remove from oven and using either a food processor or pestle and mortar, grind the peanuts to a fine powder. (I used a pestle and mortar and well, my peanuts were not really what you’d call a “fine powder” but it worked.) In a large bowl, combine the peanuts, flour and sugar and mix well. Slowly add the butter and mix with a wooden spoon (or hands – I used my hands) until a dough is created. Roll the dough into tiny balls about 1.5cm round and lay on a baking paper lined tray. Indent the top of the balls with the back of a chopstick. Glaze with the beaten egg. Bake in oven for about 10-12 minutes until golden brown. Remove from oven and let cool before storing in an airtight container.
Makes about 90 cookies.

Chinese New Year peanut cookies

Adapted from Bread et Butter

2 cups peanuts
2 cups plain flour
1 cup icing sugar (or castor sugar)
1 cup (250g) butter, melted
1 egg, beaten

Pre-heat oven to 180°C/355°F.
Spread the peanuts out on an oven-proof dish. Bake dry in oven for 5 minutes.
Remove from oven and using either a food processor or pestle and mortar, grind the peanuts to a fine powder. (I used a pestle and mortar and well, my peanuts were not really what you’d call a “fine powder” but it worked.)
In a large bowl, combine the peanuts, flour and sugar and mix well.
Slowly add the butter and mix with a wooden spoon (or hands – I used my hands) until a dough is created.
Roll the dough into tiny balls about 1.5cm round and lay on a baking paper lined tray.
Indent the top of the balls with the back of a chopstick. Glaze with the beaten egg.
Bake in oven for about 10-12 minutes until golden brown.
Remove from oven and let cool before storing in an airtight container.

Makes about 90 cookies.

recipe | seriously, the easiest matcha ice cream recipe ever!

catty — Sun, 15 Jan 2012 23:43:54 +0000

Firstly, let me address those who don’t have an ice cream maker. I feel sorry for you. Ok not really. In all seriousness, if you don’t have an ice cream maker, don’t fret. Check out my non-ice cream maker matcha ice cream recipe. It’s just as easy, I promise.

Now for the rest of you blessed with ice cream makers? You rock!!! I am so goddamn proud to be one of y’all and I owe thanks to Ms Rita for running this competition on her blog. I now totally understand when someone says that it is entirely possible to lose yourself in the mesmerising churn of an ice cream maker. I get that now. I’m in the club.

Booyah.

So without further adieu, meet my little Martian of a Cuisineart ice cream maker. He’s gloriously green.

And he matches my matcha! *nerd moment*

It doesn’t take a genius to work out what flavour ice cream I was going to make first. The ice cream maker comes with a bunch of recipes, but I didn’t even look. I headed straight for the kill – matcha. And maybe this is a rookie mistake, and though I love my first 1.5L batch of matcha ice cream, I wish I added more matcha powder because when it comes to matcha, bitter is definitely better.

But hey, I did add crushed tea leaves from a couple of green tea teabags just for kicks (and texture) and that works brilliantly!

So here goes: the easiest matcha ice cream recipe ever.

Matcha ice cream (using an ice cream maker)
2 cups whole milk 1 cup thickened cream (some recipes use 2 cups cream and 1 cup milk, but I didn’t want it too thick) 1/2 cup castor sugar (add more or less to taste) 3-4 teaspoons matcha powder (add more or less to taste) contents of 2 green tea teabags
Pre-freeze your ice cream maker bowl for at least 24 hours. In a bowl, combine milk, sugar and matcha powder and beat with an electric mixer until properly combined and sugar is dissolved. Stir in the cream. Cover and refrigerate for at least 2 hours, or overnight. When you’re ready to churn the ice cream, place the frozen bowl on the ice cream machine, turn on. Slowly pour in the cream mixture and let churn. Add the contents of the tea bags (crushed tea leaves) slowly. Let churn for about 15-20 minutes. Remove to a freezer container and freeze.
Makes 1.5L

Christmas… the season for eating.

catty — Wed, 28 Dec 2011 08:01:05 +0000

Well. We are now onto Day 5 of having to eat some form of ham and I can tell you, I’m Over It. I know there are people starving out there but if I have to look at one more piece of ham, I will stab myself in the eye. Maybe with one of those Lindt chocolate umbrellas that’s hanging off my tree. Thank goodness we have now slaughtered all the remaining ham in the household.

So, what did you eat over Christmas?

We had… as you will see… way too much food. And this is kind of scary, but I’m not even showing everything that we hate.

Sheeesh.

pickled herring – a very Finnish touch

smoked trout

4kg turkey

5kg BBQ barramundi with mango

11kg Christmas ham

rosolli – Scandinavian beetroot salad (recipe here)

garden salad with sundried tomatoes

pasta salad

summer salad with apricots and walnut

prawn, mango and avocado salad

mango salad; sautéed mushrooms

freshly baked brownie with ice cream (recipe here)

Christmas pudding served with Brandy custard and ice cream

Panu’s delicious cinnamon scrolls, ginger bread ninjas and Finnish “Hanna’s cookies”

And because it seemed like we just hadn’t gorged ourselves on enough food, on Boxing day, Panu and I took a stroll along Balmoral Beach and had some awesome fish and chips.

grilled trout with salad

fish and chips

Hope you all had as merry a Christmas as we did! Now we start New Years eating!

ps. thank you to all the wonderful people who had us over for foodage over Christmas! Much love xx

recipe | peanut butter cookies

catty — Sun, 18 Dec 2011 22:34:18 +0000

I feel completely spoiled because I’ve just had not one, but two of the best weekends in a row. This weekend just gone, I had the pleasure of spending all of my waking hours with my niece, who is just the best thing since Luke’s lobster rolls, and I know you think I’m being biased and all that but dude, who’s blog is this? Yeah. YEAH.

We hung out and ate and napped and ate and hung out and though I still have a couple of days with her (they leave on Wednesday morning), I am already heaving big sighs of wistful sadness because I always miss her so badly when we part I suppose that makes this weekend the best and worst ever.

But last weekend was definitely just awesome. Aside from finding this delicious cheeseburger, I also felt the urge to bake peanut butter cookies and so I did! About 50 of them, to be precise.

I got this recipe off the genius of the twitterverse and it’s brilliant for those of you, who like me, love a soft cookie. The choc chips and peanuts from the chunky spread add a great texture to this crumbly cookie and I loved it. Definitely a winning recipe, and I think I’ve found a new favourite hobby: rolling little dough balls

It’s so zen. You should try it!

Peanut butter cookies
(recipe from Bread et Butter) 1 1/4 cups flour 3/4 teaspoon baking soda 1/2 teaspoon baking powder 1/4 teaspoon salt 1/2 cup (125g) unsalted butter, softened 1 cup chunky peanut butter 1/4 cup castor sugar 1/2 cup firmly packed light brown sugar 1 large egg 1 tablespoon milk 1 teaspoon vanilla extract 1 cup chocolate chips extra castor sugar for coating
Pre-heat oven to 180°C/355°F. Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a medium sized bowl. Set aside. In a large bowl, beat the butter and the peanut butter together until fluffy. Add the sugars, and beat until smooth. Then add the egg and mix until just combined. Add the milk, vanilla extract and the flour mixture, and beat thoroughly. Stir in the chocolate chips with a spatula. Place coating sugar on a plate. Drop rounded teaspoonfuls of cookie dough into the sugar, then onto a tray lined with baking paper, leaving 3-4cm between each to allow for expansion. Using a fork, gently indent and flatten the cookies. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes. Cool the cookies on the sheets for 5 minutes, then remove to a rack to cool completely. Store in an airtight container.
Makes about 40 cookies, depending on size.

recipe | spiced nuts

catty — Sun, 11 Dec 2011 11:21:44 +0000

I try to eat healthy. Don’t laugh, I really do! I mean, granted I live and breathe burgers and ice cream (and too much other deliciousness) but give a girl a break all right? I also have healthy salads and snacks every day. For example, my in-between-meal snacks generally involve fresh and dried fruit and lots of mixed nuts. The fruits I love, but the nuts can be challenging sometimes, especially when I’ve eaten all the macadamias and cashews. Because they are totally way better than all the other nuts.

Hi, my name is Cat and I’m a nuttist.

I can and will weasel my way to the bottom of a pack of mixed nuts to find the very last morsel of macadamia or cashew and I know this behaviour sounds crazy and absolutely begs the question why don’t I just buy macadamias and cashew only, but that would make life far too dull wouldn’t it? To not have to work for that last delicious piece of nut?

Hi, my name is Cat and I’m a nutty nuttist.

Yep.

Anyway, after I’ve vacuumed out the last minuscule pieces of macadamias and cashews, I’ll give the pack to Panu and be all like, hey look! I bought you a pack of mixed nuts This worked for a little while, until he realised that it wasn’t that the manufacturers weren’t filling each pack to the brim, it was that I’d been ferreting around and stealing all the most awesome nuts.

So he suggested that I try and make the other nuts yummy too. Like, maybe roast them? Maybe spice them?

Genius.

So here’s a super easy spiced nuts recipe which is guaranteed to make any boring nut you have far more appealing that it’s ever been. And really, the recipe is a sham because you can add any spice you want, for example here’s how Maria from Scandi Foodie has done hers. She also “activates” her nuts but you know me. Patience? What patience.

Enjoy!

Spiced nuts
3 cups unsalted mixed nuts (or whatever nuts you prefer) 2 tablespoons olive oil 4 teaspoons dried mixed herbs (or a mix of dried rosemary and oregano) 2 teaspoons smoked or regular paprika 2 teaspoons ground black pepper 1/2 teaspoon salt Optional: sprinkling of chilli flakes to add more zing
Pre-heat oven to 150°C/300°F. Combine all nuts in a bowl and add olive oil one tablespoon at a time. Toss to coat well. Mix all the herbs, pepper and salt in a small bowl. Sprinkle over nuts and mix well. Lay baking paper on an oven tray and spread the nuts out in one layer. Bake for 30-40 mins, tossing every 10-15 mins or so. Set aside to cool before storing in airtight container.
Serve as a snack.