Hard to believe it now, but when we were kids, my younger brother and I used to fight like cats and dogs all the time. Of course in retrospect you realise how silly and trivial the arguments were. But at the time, there seemed nothing more important than gaining the upperhand over the choice of television station, or wrestling for supreme control over the Super Nintendo. In fact, we fought so much that I can barely remember what happened inbetween fights.

One thing I do fondly recall in our moments of truce, were the hot breakfasts I would occasionally make for him. Welsh rarebit, scrambled eggs on toast, french toast with honey. A rather limited repertoire, but he didn’t seem to mind. He was, and remains, a big fan of most things cheesy and eggy anyway. Thankfully these days, the fighting as ceased, but the cooking remains. It occured to me today that I haven’t made anything for him in ages (the last thing was probably a batch of biscuits). This quick bread which I decided to bake, is not short on either of his favourite ingredients and also has a few of my favourites like olives and oodles of fresh herbs such as thyme. So even on paper, this bread is already a winner.

Cheese, olive and buttermilk herb bread also doubles as my contribution to this week’s WHB, hosted by Laurie of Mediterranean Cooking in Alaska; a blog I love taking a peek into for Laurie’s beautiful and mouth-watering dishes.

There are many different types of thyme available for culinary use such as lemon thyme and silver thyme. For this recipe, I have used common/garden thyme which grows in a little pot on my balcony.

Cheese, olive and buttermilk herb bread :
(from Mix & Bake by Belinda Jeffery)

335g plain flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/2 teaspoon dry mustard powder
60g freshly grated parmesan
60g grated cheddar
75g stuffed olives, sliced
1/4 cup snipped chives
2 teaspoons thyme leaves
2 eggs
2 1/2 tablespoons olive oil
310ml buttermilk
egg wash (optional), made from 1 egg yolk and 2 teaspoons water
extra thyme sprigs and sea salt, for topping

Preheat your oven to 180’C. Butter a large loaf tin (about 23 x 13 x 6 cm) and either line with buttered baking paper or dust it with flour, then set it aside.

Sift the flour, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda, salt, pepper and mustard powder into a large bowl. Add both of the cheeses, the olives, chives and thyme and stir them thoroughly together.

In a separate bowl, whisk the eggs, then whisk in the oil and buttermilk until they’re well combined. Make a well in the middle of the flour mixture and pour in the buttermilk mixture. Stir together until they form a thick, sticky batter. Scrape this into the prepared tin and smooth it out evenly. If you’re using the egg wash, brush it over the top, then sprinkle some small thyme sprigs and sea salt onto the loaf.

Bake for 40-45 minutes or until a fine skewer inserted in the middle of the loaf comes out clean – you can almost tell by the tantalising aroma alone when it’s ready. Remove from the oven and leave the loaf in the tin for 5 minutes, then turn it out onto a wire rack, remove the paper and leave it to cool.

This bread tastes best when it’s still barely warm or at room temperature. If you find you have leftover bread, wrap it tightly and store it in the fridge for up to 3 days. When you want to use it, wrap it loosely in foil and heat it gently in a 150’C oven. It is still fine for a few more days after that, but is best sliced and toasted.

Homemade Twix.

B and I stayed up last night to watch the last few episodes of Damages. We seem to have missed it when it debuted on commercial TV here and I’m glad it’s available on DVD. I haven’t been this interested in anything TV has to offer since Entourage. Many years ago, there was Twin Peaks, and Wild Palms, and a few great cartoon/comedies inbetween (yes, there are also the cult classics like A-Team and Knightrider, but those are pretty lightweight in retrospect, don’t you think?). Damages is up there on my list of favourites. But you didn’t really come to here to hear about legal thrillers, did you? You want to know about the Twix…

I had a heck of a time making the caramel for these Twix cookies yesterday. It didn’t help that I started off by misjudging the size of the pot required, so the bubbling caramel overflowed a little. Horrific, when you know what caramel is like once it sets. All over your stove. But I prefer to consider that it was entirely worth it in the end.

I can’t even remember why I wanted to make these in the first place. I’ve always been more of a KitKat girl, even though I love the pairing of chocolate and caramel (especially salted caramel). Is it weird to be thrilled by the idea of being able to duplicate something that is usually manufactured by machines en masse?

This caramel is, aside from the stuff I finally managed to scrape off my stovetop, .. unctuous. Teeth slide into it almost too easily. Like slipping between fresh bedsheets. I like taking a bite, and letting it dissolve in my mouth slowly. It’s an almost MA 15+ experience, if you must know.

Watch Damages. Eat homemade Twix cookies. Just two experiences I wanted to share with you. Neither are life-changing. Life-enhancing, maybe, in the simplest way possible.

Homemade Twix Cookies :
(from Desserts by the Yard, by Sherry Yard)

For the shortbread :
156g unsalted butter, softened
1/4 cup sugar
2 cups cake flour
2 tablespoons ground rice [this is not rice flour, but rice processed in a spice grinder. I used almond meal instead]

For the caramel topping :
2 cups sugar
3/4 cup golden syrup
1/2 cup water
1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
1 cup heavy cream
1 cup sweetened condensed milk

For the chocolate glaze :
170g bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped
2 tablespoons unsalted butter

Shortbread :
Place a rack in the lowest position of the oven and preheat to 176’C. Spray a 9 x 13 inch baking pan with spray and line with baking paper. Spray the paper.

In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream the butter and sugar at medium speed until fluffy, about 2 minutes. Gradually add the flour and ground rice and allow the dough to come together.

Remove from the bowl and press the dough evenly into the bottom of the pan. Place in the oven and bake for 12 minutes. Rotate the pan from front to back and bake for another 8 minutes, until the shortbread is a deep golden brown. Remove from the oven and allow to cool on a rack to room temperature.

Caramel :
In a large saucepan, combine the sugar, golden syrup, water and lemon juice. Brush down the inside of the pan with a little water, using your hand to feel for stray granules of sugar. Cover the saucepan and place it over medium heat for 4 minutes. After 4 minutes, remove the lid, increase the heat, and bring to a boil. Do not stir from this point on. Keep an eye on the pan. The mixture will be very bubbly. When stray sugar crystals appear on the sides of the pan, brush them down with a clean wet pastry brush. As the sugar cooks, the bubbles will get larger.

In a small saucepan, bring the heavy cream to a boil. Remove from the heat and set aside.

After 5 to 6 minutes, the sugar will turn golden brown. Insert a candy thermometer and when the temperature reaches 148’C, remove the pan from the heat and let it sit for 1 minute, or until the bubbles subside. Carefully whisk in the heavy cream. Stir until smooth, then whisk in the condensed milk. Whisk until smooth.

Return the pan to the heat and stir constantly over medium heat until the caramel reaches 115’C. Remove from the heat and pour over the shortbread. Allow to set.

Chocolate Glaze :
Melt the chocolate and butter in a heatproof bowl set over a saucepan of simmering water. Stir with a rubber spatula until smooth. Pour over the caramel and smear evenly. Let sit at room temperature or in the refrigerator until set.

Cut into the desired size and serve. (The cookies will keep, stored airtight, for 1 day).

[I’m dedicating these homemade Twix cookies to Chocolatesuze, because this sort of sugary thing seems right up her alley and also because she got engaged recently. Congrats!]

If you’ve come here for a debate about the provenance of the humble lamington, you’ve come to the wrong place. Heck, I can’t even spell lamington properly. I keep wanting to type lamginton! So, no argument here. Hey, I’m multicultural, baby. Take it to the world; make it global. It exists here, and that’s all that matters.

Here’s another take on the lamginton.. I mean, lamington! To call it a lamington might be stretching definitions a little bit, as it consists of a chocolate mousse cake/pudding, topped with warm chocolate ganache and toasted coconut. The mousse cake is a revelation. It’s so light, yet intensely chocolatey and moist, oh yes, it’s moist. It’s so moist I have trouble saying the word moist while my mouth is full of moisture injected lamington. It reminds me a little of the warm chocolate fondants we used to make at a bistro in the city. These ones, I think, are even better, so I don’t really mind what they’re called. Like I said before, I’m global, pan-wordable, choco-cultural, whatever.

This recipe comes from the head chef, Kate Fay, of an Auckland restaurant called Cibo. She used to work at the French Cafe, which incidentally also has a beautiful book out at the moment; one that is as high on my list of must-gets, as the Pier one was when it was first released. She serves the baby chocolate lamingtons with a wedge of coconut parfait, drizzled with more chocolate ganache, but I’ve gone for simple and used vanilla ice-cream instead.

Baby Chocolate Lamingtons :
(serves 8; from Cibo : Food with Attitude by Kate Fay and Jeremy Turner)

For the mousse cakes :
225g unsalted butter
320g dark good-quality chocolate
6 eggs, separated
135g caster sugar
100g flour, sifted

Preheat the oven to 150’C.

Butter and flour eight small brioche moulds.

Melt the butter and chocolate in a metal bowl over a saucepan of boiling water.

Beat the egg yolks and sugar until thick and pale. Fold in the chocolate and butter mixture, then add the flour. In a separate bowl, whisk the egg whites to soft peaks, then fold into the chocolate mixture.

Pour the batter into the moulds to fill three-quarters of the way up the sides and bake for 15-20 minutes.

Take care not to overcook; the inside of the cakes should still be slightly soft.

Cool the cakes in their moulds and turn out when cool.

For the chocolate ganache:
1 cup cream
200g dark chocolate

Bring the cream to the boil in a small saucepan. Melt the chocolate in a double-boiler. When the chocolate has melted, whisk in the warm cream. Set aside and keep warm.

Before serving, place the mousse cakes on a rack. Coat with the warm chocolate ganache and sprinkle with some toasted shredded coconut.

[Note: I used metal dariole moulds, and baked the mousse cakes for 15 minutes, which I thought was just right, but could even have been cooked for maybe 1 minute less than that, for an even softer middle.]