Banana Bread

Ingredients

1. 2 Bananas
2. 2 tablespoons golden syrup
3. 3/4 cup sugar
4. 1 egg
5. 1 cup self raising flour
6. pinch of salt

How to

1. Heat oven to 180 degress ( 160 degrees fan forced )
2. Grease and line the base of a loaf pan.
3. In a medium bowl, mash bananas then add golden syrup. Add sugar and stir in. Add egg, sifted flour and salt and lightly mix until combined.
4. Pour into loaf pan and cook for 30 minutes or until a skewer is inserted into the middle comes out clean.
5. Allow to cool in tin for 10 minutes, then turn onto wire rack to cool.

You can make it a little more special by adding chopped dates or choc chips to the mix just before pouring into the tin........yummo!!!!

Chicken Macaroni Cheese

This one came out of a magazine....not sure which one.....I thought it would be great for kids...... I also served it up in individual ramekins for a bit of fun.

Ingredients

1. 250 grams short pasta ( Such as rigatoni, macaroni )
2. 60 grams butter
3. 1/3 cup plain flour
4. 3 cups milk
5. 1 cup grated cheddar cheese
6. 1 cup finely grated parmesan cheese
7. 2 cups cooked shredded chicken
8. 3/4 cup frozen peas, thawed ( I used mixed vegetables )
9. 1/2 cup finely chopped fresh chives

How to

1. Cook pasta in well-salted water until just tender, set aside.
2. Melt butter in medium saucepan, add flour, cook, stirring, for about 2 minutes or until mixture thickens and bubbles. Gradually stir in milk, cook, stirring, until sauce boils and thickens, Remove from heat, stir in half the cheeses. Season to taste with salt and freshly ground pepper.
3. Preheat oven to 220 degrees (200 degrees fan-forced)
4. Combine the pasta, chicken,peas chives and half the sauce; mix well. Spread mixture in a shallow 2 litre ( 8 cup ) ovenproof dish. Spread to with remaining sauce and cheeses. bake for about 20 minutes or until brown.

Choc-chip Cookies

I went searching for a really easy recipe and found this one at The Australian Women Weekly. With this mix I made 38 giant and I mean giant cookies...... so you should really get approximately 70 smaller size cookies....... great for lunch boxes or after school.

Ingredients

1. 250g unsalted butter, softened
2. 1 cup brown sugar
3. 3/4 cup castor sugar
4. 2 eggs
5. 1 teaspoon vanilla essence
6. 2 cups of unbleached plain flour
7. 1 teaspoon baking soda
8. 1/2 teaspoon salt
9. 1 1/2 cups chocolate chips

How to

1. Preheat the oven to 160 degrees C. Grease an oven tray.
2. Cream butter, brown and castor sugars together until pale and creamy. Add eggs one at a time until incorporated. Add vanilla and mix well.
3. Sift dry ingredients together and stir in, mixing thoroughly.
4. Stir in chocolate chips, and place mixture in spoonfuls onto the baking tray.
5. Bake for 8 - 10 minutes
6. Remove from oven while centres are slightly soft. Cool on the baking sheet for 5 minutes before transferring cookies to a wire rack to cool completely.

Apple Crumble Slice

I got this recipe out of a Recipes+ Magazine.....I also added extra brown sugar and cinnamon.

Ingredients

1. 1 kg (5) Granny Smith apples, peeled, cored, roughly chopped
2. 1/3 cup firmly packed soft brown sugar
3. 2 1/2 cups plain flour
4. 1/2 cup icing sugar mixture
5. 230g cold butter, chopped
6. Iced water
7. 3/4 cup rolled oats
8. 1/2 cup chopped walnuts
9. 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

How to

1. Place apples in a saucepan; add half the brown sugar and 1 teaspoon tap water, Cover; bring to the boil. Reduce heat; simmer for 15 minutes. Uncover, simmer, stirring often, until liquid evaporates. Cool.
2. Preheat oven to 180*C/160* fan forced. Grease and line a 30 x 20 cm lamington pan with baking paper. Place flour, icing sugar and 200g butter in a food processor, pulse until crumbly. Add 3 tablespoons Iced water: pulse until mixture forms small clumps, add 1 more tablespoon if needed. Place 1/3 crumble mixture in a bowl; cover and chill, knead remaining mixture into a dough: press evenly in base of pan.
3. Line pastry with baking paper; bake blind for 10 minutes. Remove weight and paper; bake for 10 minutes more or until pale golden. Cool. Spread apple over pastry.
4. Add oats to chilled crumble with walnuts, cinnamon and remaining brown sugar. Rub in 30g butter to make coarse crumbs; sprinkle over apple. Bake for 20 minutes or until golden . cool slightly before cutting.

Chocolate Slice

Ingrediants

1. 1 1/4 cups Self Raising Flour
2. 2 tablespoons Cocoa
3. 3/4 cup coconut
4. 1/2 cup caster sugar
5. 1 egg
6. 125 g melted butter

How to

Line a 20 x 30 cm slice tray with baking paper, melt butter and set aside.Combine all the dry ingredients and the egg before adding the melted butter. Bake in a moderate oven for 10 minutes and allow to cool slightly in tray before transfering to a cooling rake.

This slice is great with either chocolate icing or dust with icing sugar.

Spotted Cookies.

Ingredients

1. 185 g unsalted butter, softened
2. 1 cup caster sugar
3. 1 egg, lightly beaten
4. 2 tablespoons vanilla essence
5. 2 1/2 cups plain flour
6. 1/2 teaspoon baking powder

* If using dough logs straight away, chill for at least 30 minutes before slicing. Dough will store in the fridge in airtight wrappings for up to 1 week, or freeze for up to 3 months.

How to

1. Using an electric mixer, beat butter with sugar in a large mixing bowl until pale and creamy. Beat in egg and vanilla. Sift flour with baking powder; stir into mixture.
2. Divide dough in half. On a sheet of baking paper, shape each half into a 4 x 30cm roll. Roll logs in paper; twist ends to seal.
3. Preheat oven to 180 degrees / 160 degrees fan forced. Cut logs in 5mm-thick slices. Place on trays. Press smarties or choc bits gently into dough. Bake for 8 - 10 minutes or until golden.
   

Chocolate Brownie Slice

I came across this on Melissa Goodsell's Blog........it's soooo yummy and easy to make.

Ingredients

1. 2 eggs
2. 1 cup sugar
3. 125 grams melted better
4. 1/2 cup self raising flour
5. 5 tablespoons cocoa
6. 1 tablespoon vanilla ( to help make it nice and moist)
7. Icing sugar - to sprinkle on top once cool.

How to

Beat the eggs, butter and sugar together, add the cocoa, flour and vanilla and mix again.

Bake in a moderate oven ( 180 degrees ) for about 20 - 30 minutes.

It should be dense and fudgy.

Sprinkle with icing sugar once cool.