Food & Lifestyle Scene

As a housewarming present once my brother gave me a box of 36 Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups. Yum. What a great brother. Given I had so many I experimented a bit with using them in cooking. This slice is really great – buttery and scuity with chunks of peanut butter cup scattered throughout. If you want the slice to be soft, cook for 30 minutes. If you’d prefer it to be more crunchy and firm then leave it in the oven for an extra 5-10 minutes.

If you like bananas it’s generally a given that you love banana cake, and having a couple of dark bananas in the fruit bowl gives me the perfect reason to make one. There are lots of things you can add to a banana cake to jazz it up, but I really like the simplicity of adding a bit of maple syrup for extra depth. If I’m feeling a bit healthy I use whole meal flour instead of white, but either is delicious. If you
want a bit more of a caramel flavour replace the white sugar with brown.

I’m always a bit anxious when it comes to unmoulding an unbaked cheesecake –
will it have set, or will it form a liquidy pool on the serving plate? This si a very
good recipe and works every time – no need to fear with it. I do however always
use full fat Philadelphia cream cheese as I worry that the lighter version won’t
have the staying power. If you don’t want to do the raspberry swirls you can
leave it as a classic vanilla cheesecake, or add a little lemon or lime juice to give it
a hint of citrus. I’ve included enough crumb mixture to go up the sides of the
cheesecake, however I usually make less and just have it on the base. And as
always, make sure the cream cheese is room temperature or it won’t incorporate
properly.

This recipe is based on one I found online at www.delcious.com.au. I’ve adjusted it slightly and changed the icing to a fudge frosting. I first made this when I bought a large box of Maltesers but left them in a hot car and they all melted together into one big Maltesery block. But once they were chopped and scattered over and inside this cake no one was any the wiser. The cake is easy to
make and has a delicious flavour. If you don’t want to make the frosting you could easily whip cream and stir thorough crushed Maltesers and use this to fill and top the cake. Equally as delicious.

I adapted this recipe from one I found in Super Food Ideas magazine. It’s a really good brownie recipe, topped with a kind of coconut ice type layer that is briefly baked in the oven, then covered in chocolatey topping with a further scattering of coconut. I think you will find yourself quite popular if you make a tray of this.

I love that buttery, sugary weet bix slice that has piles of fluffy marshmallow on the top that brings back childhood memories. Obviously though it’s not particularly healthy. This version is really nice, and also a bit better for you. So yes, you can have 3 pieces. I drizzled with melted chocolate, but you can leave this off if you want. Because it’s made with coconut oil and not baked the slice gets a bit soft and crumbly if it’s a hot day, so best to store it in the fridge.

When I brought my band to California from Australia I had plans to record a film clip of Mrs Moto, from my 2013 album “Going to Kaleponi”, hopefully with Paul Johnson. I ran it past him and he agreed.

This recipe is from Bill Granger’s cookbook Bill’s Food. He calls it choc chip banana bread but to me it is most definitely a cake. A delicious cake that smells divine while it’s cooking and tastes absolutory sensational. The version here is slightly healthier than the one in the book. I’ve replaced the white flour with wholemeal flour, reduced the sugar a bit and switched out the milk choc chips for dark. I usually make this in two bar tins so I have a cake for us and one to give away. However usually the kids insist we keep them both.