Asian Dipping Sauce

1/2 cup fresh lime juice (I use bottled juice for ease)
1/4 cup sugar - (I have used palm sugar )
3 tablespoons fermented fish sauce
1 tablespoon rice vinegar
1 tablespoon chopped fresh flat leaf parsley
2 garlic cloves
1/2 teaspoon dried chopped chillis or 1tsp fresh chopped

Whisk all ingredients together until sugar is dissolved.

This recipe is great for Vietnamese Spring rolls but also good tossed on a Thai style warm salad.

Gran's Caramel Sauce

Well Phil's Mum's recipe!

Caramel Sauce

2oz butter
1 cup brown sugar
1 tin of reduced cream
1 tsp vanilla essence

Melt butter and sugar together, take off stove and add reduced cream and vanilla stir well til combined.

Excellent on Sponge cake or waffles or sticky date pudding or ice cream or just off a teaspoon into your mouth!!!

For a good waffle recipe go to http://www.jitterbuzz.com/waftrip.html and use the American waffle recipe listed under Waffle Recipes!

Stylish Macadamia Brownie

This recipe is from an in-flight magazine and came from a favourite Brisbane dessert cafe!

Macadamia Delight

Ingredients:

For slice:
· 4 eggs
· 1 cup caster sugar
· ½ tin condensed milk
· 200g white chocolate, melted
· 1 cup plain flour
· 250 macadamia halves
· 250g macadamia meal (or process 250g macadamia kernels in a food processor until consistency of breadcrumbs)
· 200g of white chocolate buttons

To serve:
1-2 scoops of macadamia ice-cream per person
½ ladle of chocolate sauce
1 chocolate sail per person
Or
4 passionfruit
Fresh fruit: 1 punnet of strawberries, or 10 lychies, or 1 mango

Method:

1. Whisk the eggs and sugar until thick and pale.

2. Gently fold in condensed milk, then add melted chocolate and mixed dry ingredients.

3. Fold in the white chocolate buttons.

4. Place mixture into a lined lamington tin. Bake at 160º for 30 to 40 minutes or until golden.

5. To serve, top slice with scoop of ice-cream. Drizzle of chocolate sauce and top with chocolate sail (melt chocolate, spread onto baking paper and, just before it sets, cut into triangles. OR to serve as tropical slice, drizzle slice and ice-cream with passionfruit and garnish with fresh fruit- top with white chocolate sail.

6. To make chocolate sauce, cut 185g dark chocolate into small pieces and place in a bowl. Bring 300ml cream to the boil in a saucepan. Remove from heat and pour over chocolate. Whisk together until smooth and all chocolate has melted. ENJOY ENJOY ENJOY I strongly recommend only using white chocolate and keeping an eye on the microwave during the melting process of same.

Ice Cream

The coffee and the fig versions of this recipe were a big hit at a recent party! I doubled the quantity and used foil BBQ trays (32cm x 26cm) to freeze it in - cover with foil when frozen.

Ingredients:
4 eggs
3/4 cup icing sugar - sifted
300mls cream

Method:
Whisk the egg yolks in a bowl until well blended.
In another larger bowl whisk the egg whites until stiff then whisk in the icing sugar a spoon at a time.
In a third bowl whisk the cream until it forms soft peaks, then fold into meringue mixture with egg yolks.
Turn into a 1500ml container, cover and freeze.

Flavours:
Vanilla - add 1 tsp vanilla essence to cream
Coffee - add 2 Tsp strong cooffee and 1 Tsp rum or brandy to mixture before freezing
Chocolate - mix 2 Tsp cocoa with 4 Tsp cold milk, warm until blended then combine with 60gm melted chocolate and fold into mix before freezing
Dried Fig and Ginger - Chop one cup of dried figs - cover with strong black chai tea til soft combine with 1/2 cup diced ginger and 1/2 tsp cardammon then blend into ice cream mix and freeze

Five Minute Bread

Lifehacker features a handy recipe for five minute bread - though to be fair, it takes a bit longer when you include the once-a-week process of making and refrigerating the dough. The link to full instructions is here. I will let you know when I've tried it.

Chocolate Mousse

6oz chocolate
4 eggs
1/2 pint cream
1 Tsp rum

Melt Chocolate.
Separate eggs.
Stir yolks into chocolate one by one, take off heat.
Beat cream and 2 tsp sugar - fold into chocolate.
Beat egg whites til stiff and fold into chocolate mix with thte rum.
Refrigerate til set.

Apple Shortcake

This is a family favourite and much easier than pastry making!
Double this recipe and freeze one before baking.

125g butter
1/2 cup sugar
1 egg
3/4 cup SR flour
3/4 cup plain flour
425g can dessert apple
1 tsp grated lemon rind
Cinammon sugar
Extra sugar

Cream butter and sugar, add egg, beat well. Stir in sifted flour in two batches. Turn onto lightly floured surface, knead lightly until smooth, divide in half, refrigerate 30 mins. Roll each piece into a 20cm round between two sheets of plastic food wrap.
Grease and line the base of a 20cm sandwich tin or pie dish. Press one circle into dish.
Combine apple and lemon rind. Spread over dough. Sprinkle with cinammon sugar.
Place second round of dough over apple mixture, press edges together.
Sprinkle extra sugar over top. Bake in moderate oven 35 to 40 mons. Stand 15 mins before serving.