Triple Threat – Triple Choc Chip Cookies

At work we are baking treats every fortnight to bring in to share and this week was my turn. I really wanted to make salted caramel cookies but unfortunately I didn’t have the time to make them. So I found a quick & easy alternative recipe for Triple Choc Chip Cookies, I used this recipe from Taste

One of the girls in the office is gluten free so I substituted the plain and self raising flour for gluten free plain flour. The recipe worked quite well with the gluten free flour, though make sure you keep an eye on how long you are baking the cookies for, they only need about 10 minutes in the oven. I also used white choc bits instead of the milk choc bits. The cookies were a hit!

Ingredients

• 125g butter, chopped
• 2 tsp vanilla essence
• 1 cup firmly-packed brown sugar
• 1 egg
• 3/4 cup (110g) plain flour
• 1/2 cup (75g) self-raising flour
• 2 tbs cocoa powder
• 125g milk choc bits
• 125g dark choc bits

Method

1. Heat oven to 180°C. Line base of 2 baking trays with non-stick baking paper.
2. Using electric beaters, cream butter, vanilla and brown sugar in a large bowl until smooth (do not overbeat). Beat in egg.
3. Sift flours and cocoa together. Add flour mixture and choc bits to butter mixture, stir well to combine.
4. Place tablespoons of mixture onto prepared trays, leaving about 6cm between each. Bake, in batches, for 12-15 minutes or until just firm on the surface. Stand cookies on tray for 5 minutes then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

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Red Lantern on Riley – A taste of Vietnam

Ok, so, Red Lantern on Riley isn’t exactly a true taste of Vietnam but it certainly serves up some of the tastiest Vietnamese dishes I’ve had in Sydney.

The interior design is warm, welcoming and reminiscent of French Colonial Vietnam.

On this occasion, I was fortunate enough to be on a work team celebration dinner so I got to try a lot of dishes. We excitedly ordered the following from the menu:

• Aunty 5’s rice cakes with tiger prawns, caramelised pork, pork floss and shallot oil – unusual but really delicious, a must try
• Lightly battered chilli salted squid with fresh lemon and a white pepper dipping sauce – very tasty
• Roasted Burrawong Duck with asparagus and watercress salad and a preserved beancurd and lime dipping sauce – I found the duck very overwhelming in taste
• Mulloway steamed in banana leaf, lemongrass and dill – this was nice and the fish had an interesting texture
• Cubed pasture fed Black Angus striploin wok tossed with garlic, sesame and black pepper – you need to get this, so amazing, so tender!!
• Sesame and rice flour dumplings filled with sour sop and served with black sesame ice cream – all the deserts were super good, I would recommended them all
• Organic banana fritters crumbed in coconut rice, palm sugar caramel and tapioca sauce served with vanilla bean ice cream
• Coconut Crème Caramel made with free range eggs and coconut milk

The Nguyen family really know how to run a restaurant; the menu was well designed, the staff very attentive and the atmosphere buzzing. Most importantly, the food lived up to expectations. Red Lantern on Riley would be a place I would like to go to again and try all the other options on the menu!

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Seabay – The pursuit of the best dumplings

Din Tai Fung, Bodhi, Sky Phoenix, Chinese Noodle House and Chefs Gallery are just some of the places I have eaten at over the past few months on the pursuit of the best dumplings in Sydney (I’ve had a slight obsession). One of the places that I have thoroughly enjoyed on this search has been Sea Bay on Pitt Street.

Sea Bay is an unassuming restaurant that is cheap & cheerful, has fast service and serves tasty Northern Chinese food. We ordered the shallot pancakes (you should definitely get this), fried egg with Chinese vegetables,  Spring pancakes (has vermicelli, Chinese mushrooms, pork and spring onion in the wrap), the noodle soup with wontons (the noodles are handmade) and an assortment of fried and steamed dumplings filled with pork, lamb and pumpkin.

The dumplings were really tasty; I particularly liked the fried pork dumplings. The steamed pumpkin dumplings were interesting though I wouldn’t get them again as they were too sweet for my liking. I would definitely get the shallot pancakes again and the Spring pancakes are worth a try. To be honest I expected a bit more from the noodle soup, the broth was a bit bland but the noodles were nice. By the end of the meal I was well and truly stuffed.

So far on my dumpling search Sea Bay is a very close second to Din Tai Fung, which is my clear favourite. Can anyone recommend another dumpling restaurant to try?

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Cafe Sopra (Fratelli Fresh) – Italian Food Magic

A friend from out of town (Brisbane) was visiting Sydney so I suggested we catch up over dinner at the relatively newly opened Cafe Sopra (Fratelli Fresh) on Bridge St – I had been dying to check it out.

We arrived at 6.30pm and were quite lucky to get a bar seating straight away. By 7.30/8pm there was a sizeable line for a Wednesday night. Being seated at the bar was interesting, we got to see the chefs do their thing.

The menu is very extensive, there’s the long blackboard menu but also a pizza menu as well. We decided to get the fennel salad with reggiano, lettuce and radish, the prawn spaghetti pasta and the caramelised leek and pancetta pizza.

Surprisingly the food came out very quickly but unfortunately our first order was incorrect – we were given the insalata caprese instead of the fennel salad. The service at Cafe Sopra on Bridge St is very hectic, I felt that we weren’t looked after or attended to and we were left having to fight to get the waiter’s attention. It was also disappointing that our waiter on the night tried to prove to us that we ordered the insalata caprese instead of the fennel salad and  reprimanded us on what we were supposed to say when ordering the fennel salad i.e. mention the word fennel when ordering. And if you were wondering, the insalata caprese was taken away – I wonder who ate it in the end…

However despite the poor service, the food true to Fratelli Fresh form was really tasty. The fennel salad was fresh, the toppings on the pizza were a great combination (I loved the mozzarella) and the prawn spaghetti was moreish.

It was a great night but could have been even better if the service was improved.

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Chocolate Coconut Nutella Cupcakes

It was the RSPCA Cupcake Day in our office and I decided to make Chocolate Coconut Nutella Cupcakes.

They were surprisingly easy to make and extremely tasty, a real crowd pleaser.

For the base I used a recipe from Best Recipe:

Adjustment to recipe: I didn’t have caster sugar on hand so I used brown sugar and I used Bonsoy instead of regular milk , the cupcakes worked out fine.

Ingredients
¾ cup plain flour
¼ cup cocoa
½ cup caster sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
½ teaspoon vanilla or vanilla essence
80 g butter
2 eggs
½ cup milk

Method

1. Preheat oven to 160°C. Prepare 12 hole muffin tray or 24 hole mini muffin tray.
2. Sift all dry ingredients into a mixing bowl.
3. Make a small well in the middle of the bowl and then add remaining ingredients.
4. Beat on low speed with electric mixer until just combined.
5. Scrape down sides of bowl and beat on medium speed for a further two minutes.
6. Place tablespoons of the mixture into 12 hole muffin tray until holes are half full. Heaped teaspoon of mixture for mini muffins.
7. Place tray into oven for 15-18 minutes for 12 hole muffin pan or 10-12 minutes for mini muffin pan.
8. Stand for 5 minutes and then turn out onto wire rack to cool.

For the icing I used a recipe from Your Cup of Cake:

Adjustment to recipe: I didn’t have powdered sugar i.e. icing sugar on hand so I just used brown sugar and I didn’t have coconut extract so I substituted vanilla essence instead – coconut cream turned out to be a lovely vanilla/coconut flavour.

Nutella Ganache:

2/3 cup nutella

1/3 cup chocolate chips

Coconut Cream:

8 oz cream cheese. softened

1/2 cup butter, softened

1 1/2 tsp coconut extract

3-4 cups powdered sugar

Shredded Coconut

Method

1. Nutella Ganache: On the stove top or in the microwave, melt Nutella and chocolate chips until smooth.

2. Once cupcakes have cooled, dip the tops of your cupcakes into the ganache and let it firm up, this may take a little longer than normal ganache.

3. Coconut Cream: Beat cream cheese and butter. Add coconut extract and slowly add powdered sugar until smooth. If it becomes too thick, add 1 tablespoon milk.

4. Pipe coconut cream over firm ganache.

5. Roll in shredded coconut for decoration.

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Revolver – Brunch, possibly the best meal of the day

Brunch to me is pretty much the best meal of my day and having it at Revolver made it even better (especially on a gorgeous sunny Saturday morning).

Revolver is tucked away from the hustle and bustle of the main café area in Annandale. The inside of this charming building is pretty trendy but also warm & friendly. Be prepared to wait for a table as it’s busy on weekends.

There were so many wonderful options to choose from the menu as well as the blackboard specials, I finally decided to go with the eggs benedict (two poached eggs, organic free range ham, baby spinach & hollandaise sauce on toast) and my friend chose the veggie stack (sweet potato, roast capsicum, zucchini, spiced eggplant, grilled haloumi & a mixed seed & rocket salad). The eggs benedict were pretty yummy, the eggs were done nicely and the hollandaise sauce was tasty. The coffee was really great as well.

One of the things I noticed with Revolver was the nice community feel to the place as well as the friendly owner and waiters. I definitely want to go back and try the ultimate cheeseburger and the ricotta hotcakes! Yum!!

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Reuben Hills – The Hills

My curiosity to visit Reuben Hills was sparked when I heard that they apparently had the most amazing breakfast/brunch.

When we arrived the wait to get in wasn’t too bad and well worth it. When we finally got to ordering we were overwhelmed with all the yummy options, we ended up ordering the baked corn tortillas, spice grilled chicken on brioche, the soft baked eggs with jamon and the salted caramel shake.

Overall the food was pretty good but the salted caramel shake stole the show, it was nirvana in my mouth, absolutely delicious. The soft baked eggs were noteworthy, the eggs perfectly runny on the inside and the spice grilled chicken was really flavoursome, the aioli went really well with it. I didn’t rate the baked corn tortillas, I felt that there were more chips to topping and the chorizo grits were too hard and slightly burnt.

Reuben Hills was well worth the trip to Surry Hills, I’m still dreaming of the salted caramel shake.

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