A: Achcharu

I am so excited! I have been running this blog for 4 – 5 years now, with no real direction. No real aim. I would just cook things when I felt like it, then post about it. This was fun, but it put the pressure on.

I have definitely grown with the blog writing process. It started off with me posting whenever I cooked, then me deliberately trying to cook at least once a week, even if it was inconvenient. This meant some rushed recipes, and poorly written blogs. But now… Now I have a plan! I absolutely loved the first #eatthealphabet challenge, that I am now modelling my blog around it.

My plan now, is to go through the alphabet with various themes. The original theme was ingredients with the intent of trying new foods; but things are getting better! The theme for this Alphabet Challenge is… Sri Lankan food!

As all my lovely internet stalkers know, Le Hubby is Sri Lankan, so I have a soft spot for Sri Lankan food. Recently, we went on a trip to Sri Lanka for a cousins wedding. Beautiful, extravagant affair.

We then did some sight seeing, and embarked on a 6+ hour road trip. While on this road trip we passed many road side vendors, and I would hear my cousins yelling out that they wanted achcharu. Now I had no idea what that is, but I learned that it is a delicious, mango, street food. A delicious combination of sweet, spicy, sour, and salty.

The trickiest part, is balancing the flavours. So to get started, choose the right mango! The more orange it is, the less sugar you will need. So aim for a green, young mango for the best results.

Yield: 1 – 2 snacks

Prep Time: 5 minutes

Cooking Time: nil

What you need:

• 1 large mango
• 1/2 tsp salt (more or less depending on taste)
• 1/2 tsp vinegar (more or less depending on taste)
• 1/2 tsp sugar (more or less depending on taste)
• 1/2 tsp chilli powder (more or less depending on taste)
• 1/2 tsp chilli flakes

What you do:

1. Using a potato peeler, peel the mango, and cut into strips. Discard the skin and stone. Have a small taste to determine how sweet the mango is.
2. In a separate bowl, combine the salt, vinegar, sugar, chilli powder, and chilli flakes. Stir into a paste.
3. Add the mango to the bowl, and toss to cover. Try to cover as much of the mango as you can.
4. Enjoy!

Chocolate Chambord Cupcakes

I like to watch shows about murderers… That’s a slightly ominous beginning, but hear me out. I like to watch their relationships with those around them. The way that act with strangers, and more interestingly, the way they act/behave with their parents. Unconditional love is such an interesting concept to me, and watching parents act with love despite their children’s heinous crimes strikes me as very poignant.

My story is nothing like that, but… I got a puppy… I can understand unconditional love. No matter what he does wrong (digging, peeing inside, nipping) I can’t help but show him love and want to teach him. He is learning very quickly! He is currently learning not to beg for people food, even people food as fantastic as these delicious cupcakes.

These cupcakes were baked very purposely to use up what I had left of a bottle of Chambord.

Cooking time: 20 minutes
Prep time: 10 minutes active, 2hrs20min waiting
Yield: 24
What you need:
Cupcake:
in1 and 3/4 cup plain flour
– 2 cups sugar
– 3/4 cups cocoa powder
– 2tsp baking soda
– 1tsp baking powder
– 1tsp salt
– 1 cup buttermilk
– 1/2 cup vegetable oil
– 2 large eggs, room temperature
– 2tsp vanilla essence
– 1 cup fresh hot black coffee, minus 2tbs
– 2tbs Chambord

Ganache
– 500g dark chocolate, chopped
– 1 and 1/2 cups heavy cream
– 4tbs Chambord
– 24 fresh cherries (can use glazed if so desired)

What you do:
Cupcakes
– Line two standard cupcake tins with cupcake liners. (I use the reusable silicone ones, they are fantastic! But I would suggest paper ones if you are baking these for others, just so you don’t lose them!)
– Sift together the flour, sugar, cocoa, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Mix on low speed until well combined.
– In a separate bowl, whisk together the buttermilk, oil, eggs, and vanilla.
– With the mixer on a low speed, slowly add the buttermilk mixture to the flour mixture.
– With the mixture still on low, incorporate the coffee and Chambord until combined. (The mixture will look super wet, that’s okay, just what it needs to look like!)
– Heat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius.
– Divide the mixture into the cupcake liners. Only fill to 3/4 full. Any more and you will have overflow. (I was actually able to make an additional 3 giant cupcakes with this mix, but that was because my cupcake liners are a little smaller than my cupcake tin.)
– Bake for 18 to 22 minutes. (There are a variety of ways to tell if your cupcakes are done. As soon as you can smell their beautiful aroma, they bounce back when touched, a skewer comes out clean when pricked through the thickest part of the cake).

Ganache
– Place the chocolate pieces in a large heatproof bowl.
– Heat the cream in a medium saucepan over a medium heat until it just begins to boil. (Keep a hawk eye on it, it happens suddenly and can get very messy if you don’t catch it).
– Immediately pour the hot cream over the chocolate pieces. Set aside for five minutes.
– Whisk the cream and chocolate together until smooth. Starting at the center and working your way out. Allow to set for 2 hours. (You can do it in a fridge, but be careful it doesn’t set too hard. Also, setting time depends on temperature and humidity of the day).
– Stir in the Chambord.
– Pipe ganache onto cupcakes, and garnish with a fresh cherry.

These babies are rich, delicious, and so moist and decadent! Try them and let me know how you go in the comments below! These babies were delivered to my neighbour as a thank you!

Christmas Eggnog

I have always had a soft spot for animals. This is something that I have carried on into my adulthood. I am one of those people who are more affected by the death of an animal in a movie than the death of a person. While at home as a child, there was a loud thud on the window. It turns out a bird had flown into it, so hard that it knocked itself out. I ran outside, picked the bird up, and brought it inside, and nursed it back to health. The bird finally came to, freaking out, literally pooped itself, and flew around the room! I was finally able to corner and catch it again, and I released it outside. The birds promptly and happily flew away, did a complete u-turn and knocked itself out again on a different window.

Serves: 10 (or have it in little port glasses, fancier and goes further!)

Time: 20 minutes

What you need:

• 1 litre of milk
• 475mL double cream
• 12 eggs (separated into different bowls)
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 475mL whisky (use this to taste. I have made a batch with one half this amount and it was still delicious).
• 200g caster sugar
• Nutmeg and/or cinnamon for dusting

What you do:

• In a large bowl whisk the milk, cream, egg yolks, vanilla, and whisky until smooth and creamy. (I suggest using an electric whisk, but it is possible to hand whisk).
• In a separate bowl, whip the egg white until soft peaks are formed.
• Gradually add the sugar while whipping. (Be sure that when you start whipping again, you don’t just spray the sugar everywhere… yes, I did this.)
• Continue to whip the egg whites until stiff peaks are formed.
• Fold the egg white into the egg yolk mixture. Be careful not to overwork.
• Pour into a serving pitcher. Serve in glasses garnished with your choice of a sprinkle of nutmeg (traditional) or cinnamon (delicious).

Toffee Apple Cupcakes

The story behind these cupcakes is a little bit of a laugh. I was preparing for a work outing, I was wandering around my office, getting all of my things together, preparing myself, pretty much making sure that I had everything all sorted. As I was about to walk out the door, I realized that I couldn’t find my lunch! I searched everywhere; in each of my drawers, on every surface, on every shelf… I even got down on the floor and searched under all the tables. No matter where I looked, I couldn’t find it anywhere. WHERE COULD IT HAVE GONE!

As I was running late and needed to leave, I was about to walk out the door without any food *sad face*. Fortunately, two of my lovely fellow employees came to the rescue. They ran to their own lunchboxes, and filled a bag with snacks and fruit for me to take. So sweet of them!

Anyway, I went off to my work outing, and I wasn’t hungry. I then came back to find my lunch… it was on my chair while it was pushed in under my desk… how embarrassing. So I made these delicious cupcakes as a thank you to my lovely co-workers.

Serves: 12ish (as we all know, this isn’t accurate… it wholly depends on how much batter you eat)

Time: 30 minutes (plus cooling time)

What you need:

Cupcake

• 2 sweet apples, 1 grated, 1 thinly sliced
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice
• 2 1/4 cups plain flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 1/4 heaped cup, light brown sugar
• 4 tablespoons butter
• 1/2 scant cup milk (take a sip out of it to make it scant… that’s what I did!)
• 1/2 scant cup apple juice (use the same technique as you did for the milk to make it scant.)
• 1 egg, beaten

Topping

• 2 tablespoons light cream
• 3 tablespoons light brown sugar
• 1 tablespoon butter

What you do:

• Toss the apple slices in the lemon juice.
• In a separate bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, and cinnamon.
• Stir in the sugar and grated apple.
• Melt together the butter and the milk. (Note, do this together. If you melt the butter and add it to the milk, the milk will make the butter… coagulate??? Get lumpy and ikky and stuff).
• Combine the apple and the egg.
• Combine the dry ingredients and the wet ingredients.
• Mix lightly until just combines.
• Heat the oven to 200 degrees Celsius.
• Prepare 12 cupcake pans in a cupcake tin.
• Spoon the mixture into the prepared cupcake pans.
• Place two apple slice on top of each cake.
• Bake for 20 – 25 minutes on a low level of the oven.
• Cupcakes are done when a skewer comes out clean when inserted.
• Allow the cupcakes to cool.
• Meanwhile, place all the topping ingredients into a small pan.
• Heat, stirring continuously, until the sugar has dissolved.
• Increase the heat and allow to boil rapidly for two minutes or until thick and syrupy.
• Allow to cool slightly, then drizzle over the cakes and allow to set.

Vanilla and Fig Cupcakes with Honey and Cinnamon Buttercream

I must say, this is probably the most ‘foofy’ sounding recipe that I have made. But there really isn’t anything else that I can call it, without it being deceiving or inaccurate. But pretty much this all started when one of the lovely ladies I work with bought figs with her to work! She has a fig tree, and too many figs for her to deal with. So she bought them to work to offload them. Then came the question, what can you do with figs apart from eat them fresh or make jam. (Side note. The word fig jam makes me laugh, because it reminds me of when I was a kid in school, and FIGJAM stood for F*!& I’m Good Just Ask Me). So I set out to find something else that is super yummy and made with figs. Here it is!

Serves: 12ish (I always find recipes yield less than they suggest… or maybe I just eat a lot of the batter before I cook)

Time: 30 minutes, plus cooling time.

What you need:

Cupcake

• 1 1/2 cup plain flour
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup butter, room temperature
• 1 egg
• 2 egg whites
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Fig Filling

• 1 cup fresh figs, chopped into small even pieces (skin on, or skin off. Entirely up to you. I left the skin on)
• 1/4 cup water
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 2 teaspoons lemon juice

Buttercream Icing

• 1/2 cup butter, room temperature
• 3 cups icing sugar (may need more or less, depending on the day, buttercream can be very temperamental)
• 2 tablespoons clover honey
• 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
• 2 – 3 tablespoons milk (may need more or less, for the same reason as the icing sugar)

What you do:

Cupcake

• Beat together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy.
• Add the egg and beat until combined.
• Add the egg whites one at a time, and beat until combined.
• Meanwhile, sift together the remaining dry cupcake ingredients.
• In a separate bowl, combine the milk and vanilla.
• Add the milk and sifted dry ingredients to the butter and sugar in alternating additions. Ensure you both start, and end with the dry ingredients.
• Beat JUST to combine, be wary not to over beat.
• Preheat the oven to 150 degrees Celsius.
• Prepare cupcake pans in a cupcake tin.
• Divide the batter into the cupcake pans.
• Bake for 20 – 25 minutes, until a skewer inserted into the middle comes out clean.
• Allow to cool on a wire rack.

Fig Filling

• While the cupcakes are baking, combine all the fig filling ingredients in a saucepan over medium heat.
• Stir occasionally for 15 – 20 minutes, or until the sauce thickens.
• Mash the figs up as best you can with a spoon.
• If you would like a smoother consistency, whizz (yes, a technical term) them quickly with a Barmix or food processor.
• Set aside and allow to cool.

Buttercream

• This can be made during the cooling time, as it can happily sit and wait for everything to cool.
• Cream the butter in a mixer until fluffy.
• Slowly add 1 cup of icing sugar and beat until smooth.
• Add the honey and cinnamon, mix until combined.
• Alternately add icing sugar and milk, until the desired quantity if received.
• The consistency should be similar to stiff peaked egg whites. So it should be able to stand alone easily and be light and fluffy.

Final steps!! Assembly

• To assemble the cupcakes, use a small sharp knife, and cut a plug out of the top of the cupcakes. (Set these aside, you will need these as taste testers… yes you will need all 12 to taste test, you know… just to make sure).
• Spoon the fig filling into the holes in the cupcakes.
• If you want, you can pop some cupcake back on top to plug the whole up… but I didn’t do this. Rather, simply ice over the top!
• Use a piping bag to pipe the icing on top of each cupcake. (Note… I used old honey that had started to go crystalline, therefore it didn’t push through my icing bag well, so I had to use a different larger icing tip. As a result, it looks a little like I have little poos on top of each cupcake. Very, very tasty little poos!)
• Sprinkle each cupcake with a little more cinnamon and serve.

Sloppy Joes

If you are a regular and avid follower of Shasa’s OmNomNom you will surely see that there is a special place in my heart for burgers. They come in so many different ways, shapes, and sizes. And here is yet another one for you! I am thinking I could nearly put together a cookbook of just BURGERS!

This recipe is a result of finding a large quantity of beef mince, and wanting to try something new with it. Mince is so versatile and can be used in such a wide variety of ways!

Serves: 6 (or more if you make sliders! Or less if you have large burger buns!)

Time: 25 minutes

What you need:

• 1tbs olive oil
• 1 brown onion, chopped
• 2 cloves of garlic, crushed
• 600g minced beef
• 1tsp chilli powder
• 1/2 cup tomato sauce
• 1tbs brown sugar
• 1tbs dijon mustard
• Bread rolls
• dill pickles (optional)
• cheese (optional)
• bacon, cooked to your liking (optional)
• coleslaw (optional)

What you do:

• Heat oil in a large frypan over medium-high heat.
• Add onion and garlic, cook stirring until the onion is tender.
• Add mince. Break apart with a wooden spoon and cook until browned.
• Add chilli, cook, stirring for a minute or until fragrant.
• Add tomato sauce, sugar, and mustard. Cook, stirring occasionally, for 5 minutes, or until the sauce thickens.
• Top a bread roll with a spoonful of mince mixture.
• Top with your desired optional extras.
• Enjoy while hot.

Nutella Brioche

Oh my goodness! So the first thing that I need to do is apologise for the last two weeks; I just went AWOL. No warning, POOF! I was gone, and I am terribly sorry about that. I had a bunch of recipes backed up and ready to go, but for some reason they just… disappeared! Then on top of that, I have recently began working at my new job, which has simply DEVOURED all my available time, so I wasn’t able to sit down and rectify my unexpected and purely accidental hiatus.

But I am back now, and I am back with a BANG! I am sure you have all seen this video somewhere on cyber space lately. Well i had someone test me… challenge me if you will… to attempt to make this. You all know me well enough by now, to know that I don’t back down from a cooking challenge. So I accepted, and the results were purely fantastic!

Serves: 8 really hungry people, or 16 kinda hungry people

Time: 40 minutes (plus 1 – 2 hours of proving time)

What you need:

• 500g plain flour
• 190mL tepid milk
• 3tbs castor sugar
• 60g melted butter
• 2 eggs
• 1tsp salt
• 1tsp dried yeast
• Nutella
• 1tsp milk and 1tsp water for glaze
• icing sugar for dusting

What you do:

• Carefully mix the yeast and sugar into the tepid milk. (Note, if the milk is too cold, the yeast will not activate, if it is too hot it will kill the yeast.) Allow to sit, undisturbed, for 10 minutes for the yeast to activate.
• Meanwhile, break the eggs into a bowl and beat lightly.
• Sift the flour and salt together in a large bowl.
• Make a well in the centre and add the butter, eggs, and milk. Mix to s soft dough.
• Knead the dough for 10 minutes, or until smooth.
• Form the dough into a ball and place in a lightly greased bowl. Cover with a damp towel, and store in a warm place with no draft until the dough has doubled in size.
• Meanwhile, find a dinner plate that fits snug inside your baking tray, you will use this plate as a template.
• Use the plate to cut out a circle of grease proof paper and place on your baking tray.
• Once the dough has double in size (45 minutes to an hour), turn the dough out onto a floured surface. Knock back and knead for 3 – 4 minutes. Divide into four even pieces, and form each piece into a ball.
• Roll one ball into a circle measuring the diameter of your dinner plate, and measuring approximately 3 – 4mm thick.
• Place onto the prepared grease proof paper and top with a healthy layer of Nutella. Allow an area of 1cm from the edge of the dough remain Nutella free.
• Roll out the second ball of dough, and place on top of the first circle of dough and top with Nutella.
• Repeat with the third and fourth ball.
• Combine the off cuts, and create a final circle of dough and place on top. Do not cover this layer of dough with Nutella.
• Use a small drinking class, place in the centre of the dough circle.
• Using a sharp knife, cut the brioche into 16 even segments. Use the cup as a guide to ensure you leave a section in the middle uncut.
• Take a pair of adjacent segments. Lift and twist them away from each other 360 degrees. Press the ends of the segments together.
• Repeat this process for all remaining pairs of segments. (Here, the video may be really helpful to visualise what needs to be done).
• Cover the brioche lightly, with a lightly greased sheet of plastic wrap. Leave for 1 – 2 hours to prove.
• Heat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius.
• Brush the brioche with glaze, and place in the oven to bake for 20-25 minutes.
• Remove from the oven, and allow to cool slightly.
• Dust with icing sugar and serve.

Croque Monsieur (French ham and cheese toastie)

I am going to be honest, the first time that I saw these I laughed. I saw it sitting in a display case at a café and thought “That’s right, give a ham and cheese toasted sandwich a fancy name, you’ll sell more.” I scoffed at the idea. I have since gone to a French Café and tried legitimate Croque Monsieur as Le Fiancé suggested it. It was FANTASTIC! I cannot believe I hadn’t tried this earlier. So naturally, I had to try to make it myself.

This recipe calls for a fancy cheese, Gruyere. It is available at most local supermarkets, you may just need to ask for it. If possible please use the correct cheese. Yes you could use a Swiss cheese or Jarlesburg, but it simply isn’t as fantastic.

Serves: makes 4

Time: 20 minutes

What you need:

• 1 tablespoon unsalted butter
• 1 ½ tablespoons all purpose flour
• 1 cup hot milk
• ½ teaspoon salt
• ¼ teaspoon ground pepper
• Pinch nutmeg
• 2 ½ cups grated Gruyere cheese
• ¼ cup grated Parmesan cheese
• 8 slices sandwich bread (white is recommended, but any will taste good), crusts removed
• Dijon mustard
• 8 slices champagne or honey leg ham

What you do:

• Preheat the oven to 190 degrees Celsius.
• Place the bread on a baking sheet, and place in the oven for five minutes.
• Turn each slice over once, and bake for a further two minutes. Remove from the oven.
• Meanwhile, melt butter in a saucepan over low heat.
• Add flour, stir with a wooden spoon for 2 minutes.
• Slowly pour in the hot milk, whisking continuously until the sauce thickens and is smooth.
• Remove from the heat and add salt, pepper, nutmeg, ½ a cup of Gruyere cheese, and all the Parmesan. Combine thoroughly and set aside.
• Spread Dijon mustard on one side of half the slices of bread, making this the bottom of your sandwich.
• Top each slice with ham.
• Sprinkle half the remaining Gruyere cheese on top of the ham.
• Top with the other slice of bread.
• Slather the tops of each sandwich with the cheese sauce.
• Sprinkle the remaining Gruyere on top.
• Bake each sandwich in the oven for 5 minutes.
• Place under the grill for 3 to 5 minutes, or until the top is golden.
• Serve while hot.

It is sort of hard to made this look attractive. This meal is more of a hot mess.

HEART HEALTHY: No Butter, Butter Chicken

I have been thinking recently that I should at least ATTEMPT to eat things that are a little healthier, and with the high prevalence of avoidable heart disease in the world I thought that heart healthy meals would be a good place to start. As a result, we will now be trying some HEART HEALTHY meals! That isn’t to say I’m going to stop with the sweet stuff, it just means that there is a new addition to the cooking family. Just look over to the right there, now you can look at Restaurant Reviews, Heart Health, Hot Tips From Mum, all along with my other recipes! I hope you enjoy it.

I will often refer to heart healthy approved ingredients, I am not sure about other countries, but in Australia food manufacturers can contact the Australian Heart Foundation and request a Heart Foundation Tick. The food then goes through scrupulous testing, and if it meets the requirements of being heart healthy, the food received a big red tick that they can display and claim that they are heart healthy! Note, ALL fresh fruits and vegetables are considered heart healthy; salt-reduced, or not salt options are preferable in all cases, as are no-fat and low-fat options.

Serves: 4

Time: 50 minutes

What you need:

• 1 tablespoon heart healthy approved canola oil
• 2 onions, finely diced
• 4 garlic cloves, crushed
• 1 tablespoon grated fresh ginger
• 2 tablespoons salt-reduced or no-added-salt tomato paste
• 1 tablespoon cumin
• 1 tablespoon garam masala
• 1 tablespoon brown sugar
• ½ teaspoon dried chilli flakes
• ½ teaspoon turmeric
• 2 skinless chicken fillets, trimmed of all visible fat, cut into 2cm squares
• 400g can no-added-salt diced tomatoes
• ¾ cup reduced-fat thick natural yoghurt
• 300g green beans, trimmed and steamed
• 2 cups cooked basmati rice
• Optional: coriander sprigs to garnish
• Optional: toasted almond flakes to garnish

What you do:

• Heat oil in a deep non-stick frying pan over medium heat.
• Add onion and cook for 10 minutes.
• Add garlic and ginger, cook for a further 2 minutes.
• Add tomato paste, cook for a further 1 minute.
• Reduce heat to low, and stir in cumin, garam masala, brown sugar, chilli flakes, and turmeric.
• Add chicken and thoroughly cover in the onion mixture.
• Cook stirring for 2 – 3 minutes.
• Add tomatoes, and yoghurt. Stir to combine.
• Turn heat to high, bring to the boil, stirring continuously.
• Reduce the heat to low and cook, uncovered, for 15 – 20 minutes, or until the chicken is cooked and the sauce has thickened.
• Stir through beans before service.
• Serve with cooked basmati rice. Garnish with coriander and toasted almond flakes.

I’m going to be honest here… I forgot to take a photo until I was halfway through eating it… whoops!

Per Serve
Calories		312		Fat	g	5.4
Cholesterol	mg	24.4		Sodium	mg	95.2
Potassium	mg	428.9		Carbohydrates	g	49.6
Sugars	g	13.5		Proteins	g	18.5
Vitamin A	%	27.3		Vitamin C	%	53.9
Calcium	%	22		Iron	%	13.5

Classic Vanilla Slice

When I was younger, my dad wanted to be sure that I was a tough little girl (or boy if you have read previous posts). One life lesson I remember him giving me, was to keep my shoulders up when I walk. He had a theory that if someone walked towards you wasn’t going to make an effort to move out of the way, then neither should you. As a result, I was a little 8 year old girl, walking through the shops, hip and shouldering random people who either didn’t see me, or didn’t make room for me. This is something I still do now, if our paths are going to collide, and you don’t attempt to make room for me, I won’t attempt to make room for you. I am happy with this life decision.

Now to the Vanilla Slice, this is one of my father’s favourite foods! I have also recently found out (today while I was making this in fact) that this is my future sister in law’s (let’s call her FuSil for short) favourite dessert too! FuSil was out recently and had a vanilla slice that was labelled “Best in Melbourne”. She wants me to go there and have a stand out the front selling my own vanilla slice because it is better. I think I will label it “Better Vanilla Slice than in there.”

Serves: 15-20 squares

Time: 30 minutes cooking / 5 hours setting

What you need:

• 1 ¼ cups of milk
• 300mL thickened cream
• 4 egg yolks
• ½ cup caster sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla essence
• 1/3 cup cornflour
• 1/3 cup custard powder
• 60g butter, chopped
• 2 sheets frozen puff pastry, partially thawed
• 1 ½ cups icing sugar
• 10g butter
• 1 ½ teaspoons lemon juice

What you do:

• Place milk and cream in a saucepan over a medium heat.
• Cook, stirring continuously for 10 minutes, or until almost simmering. Do not boil. Remove from the heat.
• Using an electric mixer, beat together the yolks, sugar, and vanilla essence until thick, creamy, and light in colour.
• Add cornflour and custard powder. Beat until smooth.
• Gradually beat in the milk mixture until smooth.
• Return mixture to the pan and return to a low heat.
• Cook, stirring continuously, for 6 – 8 minutes, or until the mixture boils, thickens, and coats the back of a spoon. Remove from the heat.
• Stir in the butter until melted and smooth.
• Place in a bowl and allow to cool slightly.
• Cover surface with plastic wrap and set aside to cool for 1 hour.
• Heat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius.
• Line 2 baking trays with baking paper.
• Place 1 pastry sheet on each prepared tray.
• Bake for 15 – 20 minutes, or until puffed and golden.
• Remove, and allow to cool for 5 minutes. Cut to the size of your cake pan (ideally a 23cm square, 6cm deep cake pan).
• Cover with a tea towel. Gently press with hands to flatten.
• Lightly grease the cake pan. Line with baking paper allowing 3cm overhang.
• Place 1 pastry sheet into the prepared pan.
• Pour custard mixture over pastry.
• Top with remaining pastry sheet.
• Cover, refrigerate for 4 hours or until set.
• Meanwhile, place icing sugar and butter in a bowl.
• Add lemon juice and water if necessary, and stir until a spreadable consistency is formed.
• Spread over the top of the slice.
• Return to the fridge for 10 minutes, or until set.
• Lift from pan, cut into squares and serve.

This is a picture of the single “blog worth” slice.

If someone can tell me how to cut these things without mushing them everywhere that would be great, thanks.

This is how the rest of the slice looks:

Still tastes amazing though! In fact, FuSil texted me the next day, and claimed that she has found the (never actually hidden)

mouthful of delicious custardy heaven topped with gods clouds.