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Fold in the powdered sugar and set aside 2 tbsp for the icing. If using, fold in cacao at this point. 2) Mix in the nuts, cinnamon and kirsch to form a stiff dough.

Ravioli recipe number four for the Ravioli Challenge that my sister set me. This has a different pasta to the others, but a simple filling and it sticks with the lemon sauce from the Lemon and Garlic Chicken Ravioli on day 2. The first batch of these had purple basilic from my balcony mixed din with the Fromage Blanc (homemade!), but thanks to Little Bit's gardening efforts there wasn't much of that. The rest was made (unfortunately) with dried basilic. I also experimented with a little garlic powder in some of the filling. I used date syrup in the sauce, but I suspect that honey or molasses would do just as well, the flavour would just be a little different. Ingredients: For the pasta: 3 beets, roasted until soft 3 c flour 2 eggs For the filling: 2 1/2 c fromage blanc or other cream cheese A large bunch of fresh basilic, minced (purple if possible. In a pinch dried will work too Salt to taste (Optional 1/2 tsp garlic powder) For the Sauce: Zest of 1 lemon Juice of 1 lemon 4 cloves garlic, crushed 2 tsp date syrup 2-3 tbsp olive oil Salt and pepper to taste 1) Mash roasted beets as smooth as possible. Place flour in a large mixing bowl, make a well in the centre and crack in the eggs. Beat them into the flour gradually, then add the beets and mix to form a soft, elastic dough. 2) Make the filling: mix the cream cheese with the basilic (fresh or dried), the salt and the garlic powder if using. 3) Pass fist-sized pieces of dough through progressively higher settings on a pasta maker until thin. Use a ravioli mould to make hollows in the sheet of pasta and place 1/2 tsp of filling in each. Place a second pasta sheet over the top, seal and cut. (Alternatively use a ravioli cutter). 4) Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add the ravioli and boil for a few minutes before draining them. Careful: fresh pasta cooks fast! 5) Make the sauce: Over low heat, mix all ingredients together. Stir and allow to cook for a few minutes. Drizzle over the top of the ravioli. I really liked the flavour combos in this one (like I didn't in the others?). They seemed fresh and zesty and not too heavy. Four types of ravioli in a week was a bit of a challenge, especially with Little One around, but it was fun and really interesting to challenge myself to come up with the different flavour profiles while sticking within the parameters my sister set me for the challenge. And having sat and thought on ravioli quite a lot for a week, I have a few more ideas I want to try out! Watch this space! In case you want to try making these but don't have a pasta machine , pasta tree or a ravioli cutter, click on the links to get one of your own! As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

It is Christmas Cookie season again, and you may have noticed from some of my recent posts that I've been doing some baking. Along with the traditional ones, some of which I've tweaked a little this year) I had the idea, a little out of the blue, of trying to make roast pumpkin cookies. I started out with my snickerdoodle recipe as a base and then went from there, adding and tweaking as I went until I came out with something I could be happy with. Some of the ingredients, like balsamic, may seem a little weird at a glance, but believe me, they work! I added the apple cider vinegar initially as I needed an acid to activate the baking soda and was out of cream of tartar. The balsamic and the amchoor were added after successive trials in an effort to balance out the flavour of the cookies - not too sweet, a little depth, some brightness, and some spice. The recipe below is the result of trial five, I believe. I have made them with three different toppings, and they work plain too, so I will detail all three below and leave it up to you. Ingredients: 1 c pumpkin, roasted to a mush 1/2 c sugar 1 c brown sugar 2 eggs 3 c flour 1 tsp baking soda 2 tsp apple cider vinegar 1 tbsp balsamic vinegar 1/4 tsp almond extract 1/2 tsp cinnamon 1/2 tsp ginger 1/4 tsp amchoor (ground mango powder - skip it if you don't have any) 1/4 c cacao nibs 1/3 c ground hazelnuts Zest 1 orange For the glaze: 1/4 c powdered sugar 1/2 tbsp milk 1/4 tsp (scant!) almond extract For chocolate covered cookies 75 g dark chocolate (or milk, if you really must...) OR: 3 tbsp mascarpone (sweeten slightly if you want, but I liked it just plain) 1) In a bowl, beat together the pumpkin and the sugars until well combined. Add the eggs one at a time, mixing well. 2) Gradually add the other ingredients, stirring to form a rather sticky dough. Drop by small teaspoonfuls onto a greased cookie sheet and flatten with a knife dipped in cold water. Bake at 175°C for about 8 minutes. Cool thoroughly on a wire rack. 3) To glaze the cookies, mix the powdered sugar, milk and almond extract to form a thick glaze. When they are completely cool, dip the cookies' tops in the glaze and then leave to dry for about 20-30 minutes. To chocolate cover the cookies, melt the chocolate in a Bain Marie, stirring regularly. Remove from heat when the chocolate is all melted and silky to keep it from burning. Dip the cookies in the chocolate and leave to harden for about 30 minutes. If need be, place the cookies on a window sill or in the fridge for a few minutes to help the process along a little. Or: Spread a little mascarpone on each cookie. I am really happy with how these came out. They are a cross between cookies and cake, but after a couple of days become mini-cake bites. I love the balance of flavours in these cookies, the soft crumb and the fact that they didn't come out too sweet. I brought these to a games night with some friends and the consensus was that they are best with the glaze, between glaze and chocolate. Trying them later with the mascarpone though, that might be my favourite variation. If you try them, do let me know what your favourite is!

We put bacon over the top of this one, but really it would have been just as good without it.

We went up to my parents' for the weekend last week, and neither Hubby nor I managed to remember to bring the bread from the bread box. As a result, when we came back five days later, we had multiple stale loaf ends. What to do with so much stale bread? With leftover tomato sauce from a pizza-making stint, I decided to make a savoury bread pudding of sorts, layering tomato sauce with the bread. Little Bit was calling this "bread pizza", which I am not sure about, either as a name or as an accurate descriptor, but it came out tasty either way. The tomato sauce can be plain, with or without meat. Ours had mushrooms in too, and some cream as it was a little too spicy for Little One. Ingredients: 6-9 slices of stale bread (depending on their size and the size of your dish) 1/2 c white cooking wine 4 ish cups tomato sauce 1 c cheese, grated (I used aged Gruyère) 1 sweet potato, sliced 1 onion, sliced 1 tbsp butter 1) Butter a shallow baking dish. Place the bread slices inside in as near as you can get to a single layer. Douse in white wine and toast int he oven at 180°C for about 20 minutes, until the bread is winey inside and beginning to toast outside. 2) Remove from the oven and place the bread on a plate. Spoon one third of the tomato sauce into the baking dish. Spread it out evenly and place half the bread slices over it in a single layer. Spoon over another third of the sauce, sprinkle on the onions and the sweet potato slices, and sprinkle over half the cheese. Add another layer of bread, the rest of the sauce and then the last of the cheese. 3) Bake at 175°C for about 45 minutes to an hour. Serve hot. This came out very tasty, but due to a slight miscommunication between Hubby and I, the temperature was turned down a bit early so the sweet potato and the onions came out a little under done. Maintaining the right temperature for a bit longer should do it though. The sweet potato and onion could be left out. It was definitely better on the first night than reheated, but it still worked reheated a day or two later. And there you have it. Pizza Bread.

mushrooming excursion), but the combination of the red cabbage and the sweet potato in this one was too good It was perfect, for the mood, the weather and to keep us all warm.

Having worked in the NHS just after he left, it did bring back some memories, some good, some bad.

As mentioned in Day 30 of The Challenge I used to not be a fan of tapioca pudding. I didn't like the texture, and I had been served it cold which just accentuated the texture that I didn't like. And then my grandmother got sick and struggled with solids and had minimal appetite, so we made a lot of puddings, and I came around to it. Making it again for the first time since she died was bittersweet, but certainly a tasty dessert. And because we always make healthy decisions, we added a chocolate sauce... Happy eating! Ingredients: 1/2 c tapioca 1 1/2 c milk 1 c coconut milk 1/2 c raisins 1 tsp vanilla 1/2 c sugar 1 tbsp butter 2 tbsp cocoa powder 1/4 c coconut milk cinnamon for sprinkling 1) Heat the milk, coconut milk and tapioca in a saucepan over a low heat, stirring constantly. Add vanilla, raisins and sugar and keep stirring until it thickens. If it glops at you, turn the heat down and stir. 2) Melt the butter in a small saucepan and slowly stir in the cocoa powder (personally I like dark cocoa powder, or baker's chocolate with a little sugar, but tweak it to how sweet you want it.) Once it has formed an even mass, add the coconut milk, and blend until smooth. 3) Portion out the tapioca and drizzle over the chocolate sauce, Sprinkle with cinnamon or cocoa spice and serve. Alternately, if you prefer, chill the tapioca and serve cold, with either hot or cold chocolate sauce. So many options! It took me a while to come back to this after my grandmother died, but now that I have, it might make it into more regular rotation again... I'm also wondering about a savoury version. Something to think about. I hope you enjoy and make your own memories with this!

to go, but the proof is in the eating they say and we all had seconds, so I think that is a rather good The salting was an attempt to apply principles from some of the food science reading I've been doing, We had lots of extra juice, so a good bread didn't go amiss to mop up. Candles, friends and good food (with some good books thrown in) do really make life - and Christmas-time

Both seemed like good ideas, so I decided to couple them up and serve the mushrooms on the risotto.