Sea Salt & Cracker Toffee

Makes around 25 pieces

240g salted butter, cubed
220g soft brown sugar
1 tsp vanilla 
300g dark chocolate chips
~ 1 tsp sea salt to sprinkle on top (don't use normal salt, just omit this if you don't have any sea salt/fleur de sel on hand)

1 pkt Salada crackers (there are 2 packets per 250g box) 

1. Preheat the oven to 180oC.  Line a 22cm x 32cm baking tray with tin foil and spray with cooking spray.  Line with one packet of Salada crackers broken into their 4 little squares.


2. Melt butter and soft brown sugar in a saucepan on a medium to high heat, stirring.  Once bubbling, don't stir but allow the caramel to boil for 3 minutes then take off the heat and add the vanilla essence and swirl to mix.  Don't stir the caramel once it is boiling, you can swirl it around the saucepan to mix.  Also make sure the mixture is a really angry bubbling quite hard rather than a weak lady-like bubbling.


3. Pour the caramel evenly over the Salada crackers and place in the oven and bake for 5-6 minutes.

4.  Take the tray out and sprinkle the chocolate chips on evenly top.  Wait around 5 minutes for the chips to melt then smooth the chocolate with a spatula. No need to put back into the oven, the heat of the caramel will melt the chocolate.

5. Crush the crystals of sea salt in between your fingers and sprinkle lightly on top of the chocolate.

6. Allow to cool for 2 - 3 hours at room temperature until the chocolate is hard. You can speed the process up by placing the tray into the fridge - be careful though as a sharp drop in temperature could cause the chocolate to bloom and discolour so make sure the tray is cool to touch before you put it in the fridge.

7. When the chocolate has hardened, pull out of the baking tray and cut into little triangles with a sharp knife. Store in an airtight container for around one week.

French granola- orangette

3 cups rolled oats
½ cup raw almonds, chopped
½ cup unsweetened shredded coconut
2 Tbsp. granulated sugar
Pinch of salt
6 Tbsp. mild honey
2 Tbsp. vegetable oil
½ cup, or more, finely chopped bittersweet chocolate (see above)

Preheat the oven to 300°F.

In a large bowl, combine the oats, almonds, coconut, sugar, and salt. Stir well to blend.

In a small saucepan, warm the honey and oil over low heat, whisking occasionally – watch out! the oil will want to splash - until the honey is loose. Pour over the dry ingredients, and stir to combine well.

Spread the mixture evenly on a rimmed baking sheet. Bake for about 20 minutes, or until golden. Set a timer to go off halfway through the baking time, so that you can give the granola a good stir; this helps it to cook evenly. When it’s ready, remove the pan from the oven, stir well – this will keep it from cooling into a hard, solid sheet – and cool completely.

When cool, transfer the granola to a large bowl, storage jar, or zipper-lock plastic bag. Add the chocolate, and stir (or shake, if using a jar or bag) to mix.

Mandys Grans Lemon Slice

An Aussie institution

½ lb maria biscuits
½ tin sweetened condensed milk
¼ lb butter
3 oz coconut
Grated rind of one lemon
Icing made with juice of lemon
Heat butter and condensed milk very slowly. Pour on crushed biscuits and cocout.
Press into greased tin. Ice while still warm with lemon icing. Tin about 11X7 inches

Raspberry Buttermilk Cake

1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 stick unsalted butter, softened
2/3 cup plus 1 1/2 tablespoons sugar, divided
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 large egg
1/2 cup well-shaken buttermilk
1 cup fresh raspberries (about 5 ounces)

Preheat oven to 400°F with rack in middle. Butter and flour a 9-inch round cake pan.

Whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.

Beat butter and 2/3 cup sugar with an electric mixer at medium-high speed until pale and fluffy, about 2 minutes, then beat in vanilla. Add egg and beat well.

At low speed, mix in flour mixture in 3 batches, alternating with buttermilk, beginning and ending with flour, and mixing until just combined.

Spoon batter into cake pan, smoothing top. Scatter raspberries evenly over top and sprinkle with remaining 1 1/2 tablespoons sugar.

Bake until cake is golden and a wooden pick inserted into center comes out clean, 25 to 30 minutes. Cool in pan 10 minutes, then turn out onto a rack and cool to warm, 10 to 15 minutes more. Invert onto a plate.

Baked Chicken with Chile-Yogurt Marinade

Ingredients:
3 cloves of garlic
1 jalapeno, halved lengthwise and seeded
1 large onion, cut into chunks
1/4 cup packed fresh parsley
16oz yogurt
grated zest of 2 limes
1/4 cup fresh lime juice
3 tbsps chili powder
2 tsp salt
chicken breasts


method:
In a food processor, blend together everything but the chicken.  Place chicken in ziploc bags, pour marinade over and freeze.
Thaw then bake in a 400F oven for 45 minutes, turning halfway.

Banana Bread

ingredients
2 cups flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 cup butter
3/4 cup brown sugar
2 eggs, beaten
2 1/3 cups mashed bananas
a couple of handfuls of semisweet chocolate chips




Method:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. 
Combine flour and baking soda.  In a separate bowl, cream together butter and brown sugar.  Stir in eggs and mashed bananas until well blended.  Stir banana mixture into flour mixture until just moistened then add chocolate chips.  Pour batter into parchment paper-lined loaf pan.  Bake for 60-65 minutes, or until toothpick inserted into center of the loaf comes out clean.  Let bread cool in pan for 10 minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack.