{"id":1960,"date":"2011-12-05T06:58:25","date_gmt":"2011-12-04T20:58:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.belly.net.au\/?p=1960"},"modified":"2011-12-22T13:11:11","modified_gmt":"2011-12-22T03:11:11","slug":"cooking-up-presents","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.belly.net.au\/?p=1960","title":{"rendered":"cooking up presents"},"content":{"rendered":"

On air on bayfm 99.9 community radio in Byron Bay on 5.12.11<\/strong><\/p>\n

Christmas trees are going up and carols are in the air from Bangkok to Buenos Aires, from Tokyo to Doha. I know because I looked at the Twitter carols thread. Doha is in Qatar, I had to look it up,but even there people are getting into the carols, yes this is your annual belly carols alert. And we are getting into another tradition, presents, which is older than all the Christian traditions of this festival. Especially the giving of food gifts. We are cooking up the presents on belly today, with Miss December & our new baking bellysister Deanna.\u00a0 Miss December also brought us the most abundant December fruit & veg, and we launched a new series that will turn you into a confident pastry cook. Chock full of goodness today on belly.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Merry Everything from Sister Christmas!<\/p><\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The lovely Miss December, Alison Drover, is sharing her father’s Royal Easter Show winning Christmas cake recipe, and great easy to make cheese biscuits.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

MISS DECEMBER’S BELLY CHRISTMAS – TRIED AND TRUE EDIBLE GIFTS<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

DON’S\u202d (\u202cALISON DROVER’S FATHER) CHRISTMAS CAKE\u202d<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n


\n<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

[This is an old family recipe,from before Australia went metric, so these are Imperial measurements, not American cups if you are looking at Belly from the USA]<\/p>\n

1 &1\/2\u202d l\u202cbs sultanas<\/p>\n

1\/2\u202d l\u202cb raisins<\/p>\n

4\u202d \u202coz currants<\/p>\n

4\u202d \u202coz mixed peel<\/p>\n

3\u202d \u202coz dates<\/p>\n

1\/2\u202d \u202ccup macadamias\u202d<\/p>\n

1\/2\u202d \u202ccup rum brandy or sherry<\/p>\n

8\u202d \u202coz butter<\/p>\n

1\u202d \u202cvanilla pod\u202d \u202c-\u202d \u202cscraped<\/p>\n

1\u202d \u202ctablespoon grated orange range<\/p>\n

1\u202d \u202ctablespoon grated lemon rind<\/p>\n

5\u202d \u202ceggs<\/p>\n

1\u202d \u202ccup brown sugar\u202d \u202c-\u202d \u202cfirmly packed<\/p>\n

2\u202d \u202ctablespoons orange marmalade<\/p>\n

2\u202d & \u202c1\/2\u202d \u202ccups plain flour<\/p>\n

1\/2\u202d \u202cteaspoon salt<\/p>\n

1\/2\u202d \u202cteaspoon cinnamon<\/p>\n

1\/2\u202d \u202cteaspoon nutmeg<\/p>\n

4\u202d \u202ctablespoons rum or \u202d \u202cbrandy<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Soak mixed fruit in brandy.\u202d \u202cCream butter until smooth,\u202d \u202cadd vanilla and rinds.\u202d \u202cAdd sugar,\u202d \u202cbeat well until mixture is combined,\u202d \u202cdo not overcream or cake will crumble when cut.<\/p>\n

Add eggs,\u202d \u202cone at a time,\u202d \u202cbeating well before adding the next one.\u202d \u202cAdd marmalade and mix well.\u202d \u202cAdd creamed mixture to fruit mixture,\u202d \u202cmix thoroughly,\u202d \u202csift dry ingredients,\u202d \u202cadd in two lots to fruit mixture,\u202d \u202cmix thoroughly.<\/p>\n

Put mixture into a\u202d \u202c71\/2\u202d \u202cinch square cake tin lined with four layers of greaseproof paper.\u202d \u202cSpread mixture level.\u202d \u202cBang tin on table to settle mixture.<\/p>\n

Bake in a slow oven for\u202d \u202c3\u202d \u202cto\u202d \u202c3\u202d \u202c1\/2\u202d \u202chour.\u202d \u202cRemove cake from the oven and test with a skewer.\u202d \u202cIf it comes out free of cake mixture,\u202d \u202cremove cake from oven.\u202d \u202cBrush the cake evenly with extra rum brandy\u202d \u202c-\u202d \u202cyou can use a little less or more than\u202d \u202c2\u202d \u202ctablespoons.<\/p>\n

Cover immediately with some tin foil then a towel.\u202d (\u202cThis traps the steam giving a moist cake\u202d)\u202c.\u202d \u202cWhen the cake is cold\u202d (\u202cabout\u202d \u202c12\u202d \u202chours\u202d) \u202cremove from the tin and\u202d \u202cwrap in foil.\u202d \u202cWrapped in this way it will keep for several months.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

CHEESE BISCUITS – By Alison Drover<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Ingredients<\/p>\n

1oog fresh goat’s cheese or blue cheese<\/p>\n

1 & 1\/2 tablespoons freshly grated parmesan cheese<\/p>\n

1 teaspoon fennel seeds<\/p>\n

150g softened unsalted butter<\/p>\n

scant pinch of salt<\/p>\n

1\/4 teaspoon pepper<\/p>\n

175g plain flour, sifted<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Method<\/p>\n

Blend cheeses, butter, salt and fennel seeds quickly in food processor until smooth. Remove to a bowl and fold in flour.\u00a0 Spoon mixture onto baking paper and roll into a log about 5cm in diameter. Refrigerate for several hours until firm.<\/p>\n

Preheat oven to 180 Celsius. Slice thinly and put on baking trays lined with baking paper.<\/p>\n

Bake for 10-15 minutes until golden. Cool, then store in airtight tin.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

DEANNA’S CHRISTMAS TRUFFLES<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

BASIC TRUFFLES<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

200g good quality eating dark chocolate<\/p>\n

1\/3 cup cream<\/p>\n

\u00bd tsp vanilla extract<\/p>\n

\u00bc cup cocoa powder or icing sugar<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Combine chocolate and cream in the top of a double boiler or in a heat proof bowl over a pot of simmering water. Stir with a metal spoon until just melted and smooth. Remove from heat and stir in vanilla<\/p>\n

Place in fridge to chill for approx one hour or until firm enough to roll into balls<\/p>\n

Using approx. 2 tsp of mix at a time, roll into balls, place on a baking sheet covered in baking paper and refrigerate again until firm.<\/p>\n

Place cocoa powder in a shallow dish, roll truffles in cocoa powder to coat.<\/p>\n

Store in an airtight container in the fridge<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

PEPPERMINT TRUFFLES<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

400g good quality dark eating chocolate<\/p>\n

2 tbsp peppermint liqueur (or 2 tsp peppermint essence)<\/p>\n

70g peppermint chocolate (could be peppermint crisp, or mint flavoured chocolate, but not cream filled or green) crushed,<\/p>\n

50g white chocolate chopped<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Melt 200g of dark chocolate and cream as in method for basic truffles. When melted, take off heat and add liqueur or essence. Allow to cool for 10 minutes and add peppermint crisp.<\/p>\n

Chill and roll as in previous recipe.<\/p>\n

Melt remaining 200g chocolate. Place a toothpick in each truffle and dip into melted chocolate to coat. Place back on baking tray and allow to chill in refrigerator.<\/p>\n

When chilled, melt white chocolate. Using a piping bag or small ziplock with the corner cut off, place chocolate in bag and pipe white chocolate over truffles. Refrigerate until set.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

HAZELNUT TRUFFLES<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

450 g good quality milk chocolate, chopped<\/p>\n

40g butter chopped<\/p>\n

20 roasted whole hazelnuts<\/p>\n

100g roasted hazelnuts chopped finely<\/p>\n

50g dark chocolate chopped<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Melt 250g milk chocolate and butter as described in basic truffle recipe, mix in chopped nuts and chill.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

When firm, roll into balls pushing one whole hazelnut into centre of ball. Chill until firm.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Melt remaining 200g milk chocolate and place toothpick in each ball. Dip in melted chocolate and allow to set. Melt dark chocolate and pipe over truffles as described in peppermint truffle recipe.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

TOFFEE TRUFFLES<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

140g packet of werther\u2019s original hard toffees<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

400g good quality milk chocolate, chopped<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

1\/3 cup cream<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00bd tsp vanilla extract<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

50g good quality dark chocolate.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Place werther\u2019s in food processor and process until fine crumbs. Melt 200g chocolate and cream as in basic truffle recipe. Stir toffee through chocolate mixture. Chill as in previous recipes, and roll, then chill again. Melt 200g milk chocolate and dip truffles in melted chocolate using toothpick to hold on to truffle. Allow to chill and then pipe melted dark chocolate over top.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

WHITE CHOCOLATE COCONUT<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

450g good quality white chocolate chopped<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

1\/3 cup cream<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

30g butter<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

2 tbsp dessicated coconut<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

2 cups shredded coconut<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

2tsp coconut essence<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Melt 250g white chocolate, cream, and butter.\u00a0 The method I use for the white chocolate truffles is a bit different when I melt the<\/p>\n

chocolate: I heat the cream and butter until almost boiling, and then pour it quickly on top of the white chocolate pieces and stir to melt.<\/p>\n

Stir through desiccated coconut and essence. Follow steps for chilling and rolling as in above recipes. When chilled, melt remaining white chocolate and dip truffle in melted chocolate using toothpick, immediately afterwards rolling in shredded coconut. Allow to cool.<\/p>\n

Truffle recipes adapted from \u201cSuperfood Ideas\u201d December 2007<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

BELLY BULLETIN<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Northern Rivers Food Links would like to connect food businesses who have leftover food going to waste with food aid groups who could put their leftovers to good use. If you have a food business operating in the Ballina, Byron or Richmond Valley local government areas, give them a call on (02) 6681 4772 or email<\/p>\n

kim@northernriversfoodlinks.com.au<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Shark fins are an expensive delicacy in Chinese restaurants. Scientists estimate between 26 and 73 million sharks are killed for their fins worldwide each year. Hong Kong is the major market, but local campaigns are successfully changing customer habits. About 60% of people there now say they wouldn’t eat shark fin, the price has dropped by 20%, and almost 100 caterers and hotels have signed up to the shark free menu campaign of the World Wildlife Fund, including the prestigious Peninsula group.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Global warming could be getting you drunk. More sun means riper grapes, which means more alcohol in your wine. Estimates are that global warming alone is increasing alcohol content by about 1 degree per decade. Wine writers and judges are also responsible, as many have praised big, full flavoured wines which also have a high alcohol content. Twenty years ago, most wines were 12 to 13%, now many are 15% or more. The smh has an interesting article listing average percentages in many wines, and reports calls to put alcohol content on restaurant and bar wine lists to help customers who are looking for a less potent drop.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

If you want to trap a fire ant, give it a hot dog. Introduced fire ants have become a problem in Northern Queensland. They’ve displaced up to 95 per cent of the native ants, they can blind pets, they sting people as they garden or in their swimming pools. Biosecurity Queensland staff are luring the ants to footpaths and nature strips with traps baited with hot dog meat. Field staff put down the hot dog and leave it down for an hour and come back and pick it up and see what ants they’ve got. Spokesman Gary Moreton said “These ants are quite generalist eaters so they like all sorts of things, they like sugars, oils, proteins, and I think probably with those hot dogs, they’ve got a bit of everything in there.”<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

EDIBLE QUOTE<\/p>\n

Irene Kangasniemi, a neighbour of Santa Claus from Lapland “When we are visiting places we don’t bring flowers, we bring food”<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

MUSIC<\/p>\n

Amy Winehouse – I Saw Mummy Kissing Santa Claus<\/p>\n

The Temptations – Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer\t2:58<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Eileen Barton – If I Knew You Were Coming\t2:51<\/p>\n

W.A. Mozart, “Sleigh Ride”, opus K605 no.3<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

On air on bayfm 99.9 community radio in Byron Bay on 5.12.11 Christmas trees are going up and carols are in the air from Bangkok to Buenos Aires, from Tokyo to Doha. I know because I looked at the Twitter carols thread. Doha is in Qatar, I had to look it up,but even there people […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[240,146,238,197],"class_list":["post-1960","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-radio-show-posts","tag-cheese-biscuits","tag-christmas","tag-christmas-cake","tag-truffles"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.belly.net.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1960","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.belly.net.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.belly.net.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.belly.net.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.belly.net.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1960"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"http:\/\/www.belly.net.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1960\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2049,"href":"http:\/\/www.belly.net.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1960\/revisions\/2049"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.belly.net.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1960"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.belly.net.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1960"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.belly.net.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1960"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}