Nutty Bacon Bark...

Bacon and Chocolate – Yes please!

When I went to visit my sister in Toronto a few months ago I was given a strict list of food do’s and don’ts. For starters there was to be absolutely no wheat or gluten related items within a 5-mile radius of her front door. Now that may seem a bit over the top, but she has had more than her fair share of dietary issues. Although she has been Gluten-free for 10-years she started having even more problems with her already tightly controlled diet. Some of these problems may stem from the fact she is a Type 1 diabetic (Juvenile onset) and there is evidence to suggest a link between Diabetes and Celiac Disease.

Feeling sick every time she ate prompted her to do some serious research into a variety of diets and eating plans. Fortunately she found Diane Sanfilippo’s book Practical Paleo. I think it’s safe for me to say it changed my sister’s life drastically. Basically a Paleo diet is eating the way our ancestors did before the modern practices of farming and processed foods came into being. It advocates eating plenty of lean-meat, fruits, and vegetables. While nuts, seeds, and starchy vegetables such as sweet potatoes are allowed in moderation, dairy products, grains, soya, legumes, and processed foods are to be avoided.

Eating a more Paleo based diet, even for a short 2-week stay, made me feel better and I certainly felt more ‘balanced’ in terms of my blood sugar levels.  Although I’m not sure I can completely stick to it, I have decided to make 3 days out of the week ‘Paleo’ days. Well, it’s a start anyway.

This recipe for Nutty Bacon Bark has been adapted from the Practical Paleo book by Shelbi Brewer on the website The Paleo Cooking Lifestyle. I too have made a few minor adjustments; the cranberries were inspired by my sister, who often snacks on pieces of dark chocolate, nuts and cranberries (not in bark form – she just piles it all into a bowl). If the bacon makes you feel a bit funny just omit it and stick with cranberries (or other dried fruit) and nuts. This bark will satisfy even the most troublesome sweet tooth!

Nutty Bacon Bark

Ingredients

2 bars (150g each) of good quality cooking chocolate

4 rashers of smoked streaky bacon

1/3 cup dried cranberries

1/2 cup toasted mixed nuts (I used walnuts, pecans, cashews and hazelnuts)

Directions

Place bacon rashers on a cooking sheet lined with foil and cook at 200°C / 180°C fan / 400°F / Gas mark 6 for approximately 15-20 minutes or until bacon is crispy

Use a large frying pan and gently toast nuts over a low heat, once done set aside to cool

When bacon is almost done start melting the chocolate. You can use a microwave but as I don’t own one I used the double boiler method – see below

While the chocolate is melting cut the bacon rashers into small bite-sized pieces and set to one side (reserve any bacon grease)

When the chocolate has completely melted add whatever bacon grease you have. The original recipe says 3 Tablespoons but my bacon hardly had any grease so I used maybe 1/2 Tablespoon

Give the mixture a good stir and pour onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper

Sprinkle the bacon pieces, toasted nuts and cranberries over the top and set in the freezer for up to 2 hours

Remove from freezer and break into pieces

The bark can be stored in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 2 weeks, but ours didn’t even last 3 days!

Enjoy!

Double Boiler Method:

You will need 1 saucepan and 1 glass Pyrex bowl that fits securely over the saucepan

Fill saucepan with just enough water so that the water doesn’t come into contact with the bottom of the bowl

Break up the chocolate into pieces as this makes it easier to melt

Heat the water until it begins to simmer

Turn off stove and add the Pyrex bowl with chocolate to the top of the saucepan

Give the chocolate a few minutes and then begin to gently stir it with a spatula

NOTE: be very careful that the chocolate does not come into contact with water as this makes it seize up. For more tips on how to melt chocolate Elizabeth LaBau has an excellent article.

Rice Krispie Treats For Santa...

Every Christmas Eve I am haunted by the memory of a certain ‘treat’ my sister and I left out for Santa.

Our father was pretty insistent that, after travelling around the world, the perfect culinary pick me up for Santa would be a large plate of smoked oysters and a glass of scotch. As a 9-year old (me!) and 5-year old (my sis) we agreed in principle but also felt that lavishing large amounts of Heinz tomato ketchup over the oysters would make the whole thing better.

I have vague memories of our dad quietly sobbing in the corner. He did prevent us from adding Coke to Santa’s glass of Chivas Regal though. Apparently fizzy drinks don’t agree with Santa.

Anyway, I wish to offer my apologies to my Dad and Santa and offer up these treats instead. There is no Heinz ketchup in sight – I promise!

Decadent Rice Krispie Squares

Ingredients

3 Tablespoons butter or margarine
1 package (10oz – about 40) regular marshmallows -OR- 4 cups miniature marshmallows
1/2 cup peanut butter
6 cups Kellog’s Rice Krispies cereal
Plain M&M’s about 1/2 a cup
Roasted, salted cashew nuts about 1/2 a cup

Directions

In a large saucepan melt butter over low heat
Add marshmallows and stir until completely melted
Remove from heat
Stir in peanut butter until melted
Add Kellog’s Rice Krispies cereal
Add M&M’s and cashew nuts
Stir until well coated
Using a buttered spatula or parchment paper evenly press mixture into 13 x 9 x 2 inch pan coated with cooking spray (or greased with butter)
Cool
Cut into 2 inch squares

Enjoy with a glass of milk or Chivas Regal

Nutmeg and I would like to wish everyone a very Happy Christmas and all the best for the year ahead.

Photo by my lovely hubby, Paul. xxx

Baked Grapefruit...

Baked Grapefruit

My memories of grapefruit involve a whole lot of fuss over something bitter and unpleasant. There were of course the special spoons needed in order to separate the tart flesh from the rind. Then there was the necessary addition of sugar (and lots of it) in order to make it palatable. A few years ago, after reading about it’s many health benefits, I decided it was time to give it a second chance. Sticking my special spoon in, I was promptly treated to a large of squirt of juice directly into my eye.

In that moment I gave up on having anything to do with this citrus beast ever again. Well that’s what I thought until I watched Sunny Anderson make this incredible dessert. O.K O.K – there was peeling and segmenting and cutting involved but this time I wore goggles.

Luna 1 – Grapefruit 0

Of course this dessert doesn’t shy away from the fact that grapefruit does need a bit of sweetening up. The brown sugar, ice cream and meringue are (in my mind anyway) cancelled out through the healthful benefits of the grapefruit – so this is a perfectly healthy and delicious treat. It is also unbelievably easy to make. I whipped this up last night at 8pm. When I say whipped – I mean it. I don’t have an electric whisk so the meringue was all done by hand. This (also in my mind) makes it ‘cardio friendly’.

Sunny Anderson’s Baked Grapefruit

Ingredients

3 grapefruits

1/4 cup brown sugar

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 egg whites

1/4 cup sugar

1 1/2 cups vanilla ice cream

Special equipment 6 (4-ounce) ramekins

Directions

Heat oven to 450F / 230C / Gas Mark 4

Remove the ends of the grapefruit to stabilize them on the cutting board

Using a sharp knife, remove the skin and bitter pith from the flesh

Over a small bowl, hold grapefruit in 1 hand and carefully remove the segments by sliding the knife between the flesh and the membrane

Toss grapefruit pieces with brown sugar and vanilla and divide among 6 ramekins

In a large bowl, beat egg whites until light and fluffy

Add sugar and beat until meringue is glossy and holds stiff peaks

Top each ramekin with 1/4 cup of ice cream

Cover with meringue and bake until golden brown, about 7 minutes

Enjoy!

Christmas Cookies: A Success Story...

When I was a little girl I remember spending magical Christmases with my extended family in New Hampshire. My great grandmother would make ‘hard sauce’ for Christmas pudding. Hard sauce is basically butter, sugar and a whole lotta brandy. Needless to say my great grandmother was usually in good spirits! I also remember making sugar cookies with my sister, mum, aunt and grandmother. I loved these cookies that would be cut out in the most wonderful festive shapes: bells, angels, wreaths and Christmas trees. Special care would be taken in decorating them with silver bells, chocolate bits and hundreds and thousands.

Of course some cookies would be left out for Santa, along with the smoked oysters and 12-year old scotch that my father convinced my sister and I that Santa would appreciate. I remember one year we decided Father Christmas would like a generous amount of Heinz ketchup poured over top of the smoked oysters – to this day I am sure I saw my dad cry….

Anyway it has been years since I have had sugar cookies but I still think of them fondly. Last year my grandfather sent me the recipe we used, however my cookies puffed up and morphed into hideous shapes. Definitely not festive looking although they tasted good. This year I have been on the hunt for a recipe that works – I am still not sure what happened with last years batch – but I sense self raising flour may be the cause. I have seen other recipes that use it but i have avoided them for fear of a repeat. This is the year for properly shaped cookies and I managed to get them!The decorations are a bit iffy but it’s my first time with a piping bag. My husband had a go and managed to completely ice the front of his trousers…..

Next year my cookies will be even better but this year I am just delighted that they look like cookies!

I want to thank all the wonderful bakers and chefs on Twitter who helped me: special mentions to Lisa at ParsleyNSage and Carolyn at AllDayIDreamAboutFood

In the end I found an easy to follow recipe at the BBC Food site

Here is their recipe for Christmas Biscuits

Ingredients

100g / 3.5 OZ unsalted butter, softened at room temperature

100g / 3.5 OZ caster sugar

1 free-range egg, lightly beaten

275g / 10oz plain flour

1 tsp vanilla extract

For the decorations

400g / 14oz icing sugar

3-4 Tbsp water

2-3 drops food colourings

Edible glitter

Directions

Preheat the oven to 190C / 375F / Gas 5

Line a baking tray with greaseproof paper

Cream the butter and sugar together in a bowl until pale, light and fluffy

Beat the egg and vanilla extract, a little at a time, until well combined

Stir in the flour until the mixture comes together as a dough

Roll the dough out on a lightly floured work surface to a thickness of 1cm / 1/2in

Using biscuit cutters or a glass, cut the biscuits out of the dough and carefully place onto the baking tray

To make into Christmas tree decorations, carefully make a hole in the top of the biscuit using a straw

Bake the biscuits for 8-10 minutes, or until pale golden-brown

Set aside to harden to harden for 5 minutes, then cool on a wire rack

For the icing, sift the icing sugar into a large mixing bowl and stir in enough water to create a smooth mixture, stir in the food colouring

Carefully spread the icing onto the biscuits using a knife and sprinkle over the glitter

Set aside until the icing hardens

Enjoy and have a lovely holiday! x

Banana, Apple and Cointreau Bundt Cake...

Although it’s been ages since my last post I have still been busy in the kitchen. Life just seemed to get out of hand for a while – it does that sometimes. My sister came to visit in mid-September, which was great. We explored many pubs (perhaps too many pubs), ate oysters in Whitstable, had fancy coffee at Badger Hill Farm and Cidery (then bought a keg of cider), did some gluten-free baking and had a few walks in Shorne Woods Country Park.

After my sister went back to Toronto my husband and I had the bedroom and utility room re-decorated. A 5-day job went on for 2 weeks. This is an old property and there were…..issues….. but all is well now. I can tell you that Nutmeg was getting pretty fed up at being cut off from the bedroom.

I also changed jobs and am so much happier for it, but it has taken some getting used to. I am now able to dedicate much more time to my other passions; Aromatherapy and Reflexology as well as to writing. My children’s picture book is almost finished – so watch this space!

However the down side of all this activity was that I came down with some sort of coughing lurgy that lasted for almost 8 weeks. After several prescriptions that offered no relief it eventually made its way out of my system – but it left me feeling pretty exhausted. Anyway enough rambling – let’s move on to the cake.

Last week a lovely client of mine gave me a big bag of windfall apples. I wanted to do something different so I decided to make up my own recipe for a Bundt cake. A bit daring I know! In any case it was a success and I am now feeling ever so slightly more confident in my baking abilities. O.K I used cake mix – but give me a break at least it’s a start! The bananas and apple chunks give extra moistness while the Cointreau adds a lovely spicy citrus flavour. This is really good with a pot of freshly brewed coffee.

Luna Raye’s Banana, Apple and Cointreau Bundt Cake

(I based this on the Sherry Bundt Cake recipe my cousin gave me)

Ingredients

4 room temperature eggs (you can put them in a bowl of warm water to warm them up if you don’t have time to let them sit out)

3 medium-sized ripe bananas, mashed

2 apples cored, peeled and chopped into bite sized chunks

3/4-cup olive oil

1/2 cup Cointreau

1 package yellow cake mix (I used a Madeira cake mix)

1 package instant vanilla pudding (I still haven’t tried using Angel Delight (see my ‘Best Sherry Cake Ever!‘ post) Fortunately my sister arrived with several packs of my favourite Vanilla Jell-O Instant Pudding. Size wise the Jell-O is 102g, which is what you would need for the recipe. Don’t make the pudding up – just add the powder straight to the bowl!

1 Tbsp allspice

½ tsp vanilla essence

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

In a small bowl mash the ripe bananas with a fork

In a large bowl whisk together the eggs, oil and Cointreau

Gradually add the cake mix, pudding mix and the allspice (I always use a sifter to avoid lumps)

When the mixture has been well blended (no lumps) add the mashed bananas, vanilla essence and apple chunks

Place the batter in a well-greased tube or Bundt pan (a pan that is round, deep with hole in the middle)

Bake for 45 minutes

Remove from pan immediately

Allow the cake to cool cake for 10 minutes before placing it on large plate or large chopping board covered with aluminium / tin foil or parchment paper

Sprinkle icing sugar over the top and dig in

The cake is just as lovely cold but I always like the treat of having it slightly warm from the oven

Enjoy!

Cinnamon Basil And Lime Icebox Cookies...

Cinnamon Basil and Lime Cookies

Awhile back I was researching recipes that called for cinnamon basil. This one for icebox cookies caught my eye. I said I was going to make these – and I did. Boy, are they good!

I didn’t really know what icebox cookies were when I saw the recipe. Basically the dough is shaped into a log and is refrigerated. The dough will usually keep for up to a week in the fridge or it can be well wrapped and frozen for much longer.

Chilling the dough makes it a lot easier to work with. It’s also a great way to bake only the cookies you want at any one time. There is nothing quite like hot fresh cookies straight from the oven.

Icebox Cookie Dough

Here is the recipe from the Epicurious website submitted by smtodd

Cinnamon Basil and Lime Icebox Cookies

Ingredients

2 cups all purpose flour

1 ½ teaspoons baking powder

½ teaspoon salt

2/3 cup unsalted butter, softened

1 cup granulated sugar

1 large egg

1teaspoon vanilla extract

¼ teaspoon nutmeg

3 tablespoons fresh cinnamon basil leaves, chopped

1 tablespoon grated lime zest

1 cup slivered almonds or pistachios, chopped (I went for the pistachio option)

Parchment or wax paper for wrapping dough

Directions

Sift together flour, baking powder and salt and set aside

Cream the butter, sugar and egg together in mixer until light and fluffy. (I did mine by hand)

Add vanilla extract, nutmeg, lime zest, cinnamon basil and almonds or pistachios and mix until thoroughly combined

Add flour mixture in three or four parts, making sure that flour is completely mixed in before next addition

Gently roll dough into an even log about 3 inches in diameter, lightly flour hands and work surface if dough is sticky

Wrap rolled dough in parchment / wax paper and chill at least 2 hours until completely firm or store for up to one week in the refrigerator. This dough can also be frozen for up to 2 months
Preheat oven to 375 degrees, slice dough in roll 1/8 thick straight out of the refrigerator or after about 6 hours of thawing in fridge if using frozen dough

Place cookies about 2 inches apart on a sheet pan and bake 8-10 minutes until edges are lightly golden brown

Icebox Cookies Ready For The Oven

Remove from sheet pan immediately and cool on a wire rack

Enjoy!

Carrot And Coconut Halwa...

Carrot and Coconut Halwa

Halwa is a popular sweet across India, the Middle East, North Africa and Eastern Europe. There are different types of halwa. Some use flour or nut butters as a base but my all time favourite are the halwa that use carrots, pumpkins or yams (sweet potato).

Over the weekend I was looking for something to accompany my large mug of tea and decided it was time to try Gordon Ramsay’s recipe for carrot and coconut halwa.

It ended up being a bit more labour intensive for me then I would have liked for a Sunday afternoon but as I sit here tucking into my 3rd halwa of the day I am delighted I made the effort.

The main work is grating all the carrots. After working my way through 1kg of carrots I made the decision to halve the recipe. I was seriously in danger of never wanting to see another carrot again. (I halved everything but the toasted pistachios and almonds but strangely I still ended up with 20 halwa)

Once the grating is done the recipe is easy but you do need time to let everything cook down. My timing was off somewhere as it took me almost triple the amount of time and still the liquid hadn’t completely evaporated. It hasn’t affected the taste or texture of the halwa though so I must have done something right.

If you have never tried halwa please do give it a try. It really is a wonderful delicacy and with all those carrots it has to be good for you!

Here is Gordon Ramsay’s recipe from his book World Kitchen

Carrot and Coconut Halwa (makes 18-20)

Ingredients

2kg carrot, peeled

500ml evaporated milk

500g granulated sugar

50g unsalted butter

2 cardamom pods, seeds extracted and finely crushed

25g toasted pistachio nuts, finely chopped

25g toasted almonds, finely chopped

50g desiccated coconut, lightly toasted

Directions

Coarsely grate the carrots and put them into a large heavy-based sauce pan with the evaporated milk and granulated sugar

Bring to the boil and then lower the heat to a simmer

Cook for 35-45 minutes, stirring frequently, until all the milk has evaporated and the carrot is quite dry (This didn’t happen for me)

Add the butter to the sauce pan and increase the heat slightly to roast the grated carrots (my carrots ended up being stewed rather than roasted)

Cook for a further 25-30 minutes, stirring frequently, until the mixture is dry

When it leaves the sides of the pan clean, take off the heat and stir in the crushed cardamom seeds and chopped nuts

Transfer the mixture to a wide dish and leave to cool completely, then chill for at least an hour to allow it to firm up more

With wet hands, roll the mixture into neat round balls, then roll each ball in the toasted coconut to coat all over

The halwa are now ready to serve

They will keep in a sealed container in the fridge for up to a week

Enjoy!

If you don’t have a copy of Gordon Ramsay’s World Kitchen I highly recommend it. There are a wide variety of inspirational dishes from around the world. The photos by Chris Terry are stunning and the recipes are easy to follow.

Best Sherry Cake….Ever!...

There really is nothing like a glass of sherry especially after a hard days work. I know it isn’t to everyone’s taste but I do have a real fondness for it. Usually when I am cooking I’ll have a spatula or wooden spoon in one hand and a large glass of sherry in the other.

Not only is sherry a lovely tipple but its also great for cooking! Harveys Bristol Cream is an essential ingredient and star of the show in my mom’s famous trifle. A generous splash of Amontillado to sautéing onions and garlic will add a lovely flavour to sauces and soups.

NOTE: I have never ever used cooking sherry and wouldn’t touch it with a barge pole. Generally cooking sherry has a lot of salt added to it and it is definitely not something you would want a glass of. For most of my cooking I use a leading UK supermarket brand of Amontillado sherry which is slightly drier and less sweet. It’s lovely to drink and cook with and not that expensive. If you are going to cook with sherry then it is worth it to get the real deal.

I thought I had experienced all that sherry had to offer when my cousin surprised me with her Grandmother’s recipe for sherry cake.

My original plan was to make this cake to celebrate the Royal Wedding but my husband and I ended up using most of the bottle to toast the happy couple (which wasn’t such a bad thing after all). Anyway the drinks cabinet has now been replenished and I was finally was able to make this amazing cake. Trust me this is a winner!

Here is the recipe courtesy of my lovely cousin (and her Grandmother!)

Grandma Reid’s Sherry Cake

Ingredients

4 room temperature eggs (you can put them in a bowl of warm water to warm them up if you don’t have time to let them sit out)

3/4 cup salad oil (my cousin uses canola while I used olive oil)

3/4 cup sherry (my cousin uses Harveys Bristol Cream while I used my favourite Amontillado)

1 package yellow cake mix (I used a Madeira cake mix)

1 package instant vanilla pudding (my sister brought me some Jell-O Instant Pudding from Canada. In the UK I think Angel Delight would work although I don’t think they have vanilla but banana or butterscotch would work well. Size wise the Jell-O is 102g which is what you would need for the recipe) Don’t mix up the pudding. Just add it straight to the bowl!

1 Tbs ground nutmeg

Glaze

2 cups powdered sugar

1/4 cup sherry

1 tsp ground nutmeg

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

In a large bowl with a wire whisk beat together the eggs, oil and sherry

Gradually mix in the cake mix, pudding mix and 1 Tbs ground nutmeg

NOTE: I was told electric mixers are a no no – good old fashioned muscle is what’s needed. Also as there may be lumps in the cake mix it’s a good idea to use a sifter

Place the batter in a well greased tube or Bundt pan (a pan that is round, deep with hole in the middle)

Bake for 45 minutes

Remove from pan immediately

Mix together the glaze ingredients with a whisk

Allow the cake to cool cake for 10 minutes and place on large plate or large chopping board covered with aluminium / tin foil

Spread glaze on top of cake. It will melt and run down sides in a lovely gooey mess

Cool completely, cut and eat cold

Enjoy!

Bird Baths and Brownies...

I haven’t been writing as much over the past few months mainly because my mum was visiting from Australia. During her stay we had a great time scouring charity shops for treasures, visiting the lovely town of Faversham several times and of course cooking up many delights in the kitchen.

My mum is a master of organization! I, however am the complete opposite – although I do have ‘a system’ (it usually doesn’t work very well and results in mega tantrums). Anyway, while she was here she very kindly took it upon herself to sort through and organize my collection of recipes. There were clippings from newspapers and magazines as well as print outs from websites stuffed and stacked in various cupboards and shelves in my kitchen. It took a full 2 days (and 3 bottles of Pinot Grigio) but she did it and the result is;

• I can actually find the recipes I am looking for

• I rediscovered some long lost recipes I had always wanted to try

One of these rediscovered recipes is a Jamie Oliver one, snipped years ago from a magazine. It’s for chocolate brownies, something I enjoy eating but have never made. Well this past weekend I gave them a go and they are absolutely scrummy! However they are definitely NOT low in fat. I doubled the recipe so my husband could take some into work and let me just say that when you see a whole pack of butter disappearing into your brownie mix you know you’re in trouble!

So to balance things out (in my own mind anyway) I have been putting extra time into my garden. Over the past few days there has been a lot of pruning, re-potting and general sorting out. I was actually just enjoying one of these brownies in the garden (with a large mug of tea) as a reward for assembling my newly acquired bird bath. It was bought from the RSPB and I also become a member at the same time. Wildlife is very important to me and I love watching all the life going on in and around my little garden.

In fact I think I may have another brownie and watch to see if any birds decide its bath time!

And Thank You MUM for all your love, help and support!

Here is the original Jamie Oliver recipe:

Chocolate Brownies (Serves 4)

Ingredients

• 100g dark chocolate, broken into small pieces

• 125g butter

• 4 large organic eggs

• 300g caster sugar

• 100g self raising flour

• Pinch of salt

• 125g shelled walnuts

• Icing sugar, for dusting

Directions

• Preheat the oven to 190C (375F, gas mark 5)

• Grease a 20x20cm baking tin with a little butter, then cut a square of greaseproof paper to fit neatly in the bottom

• Melt the chocolate and butter in a glass bowl over a pan of simmering water. Remove from the heat and set aside

• Mix the eggs, sugar, flour and salt together in a bowl. Add the melted chocolate and butter mixture. Sprinkle in the walnuts. Stir and fold together being careful not to over-mix

• Spread evenly into the cake tin and bake on the middle shelf of the oven for 15 – 18 minutes, or until a crust has formed but they are still a bit wobbly (you don’t want them to be really cooked through like a cake)

• Allow the brownies to cool slightly and then cut into squares. Serve with icing sugar dusted over the top

Jamie’s top tip: If you don’t like walnuts, try the recipe with dried cherries, apricots or pecan nuts.

Luna Note: As I doubled the recipe I used 125g of walnuts and 100g of dried cranberries. It was a great combination!

If you are interested in the RSBP then please visit their website to find out the many ways you can help protect our natural world.

http://www.rspb.org.uk/

Anzac Biscuits...

The word ANZAC stands for the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps. The Anzac biscuit as we know it today seems to have originated during WW1 and was sent as part of the rations to the troops fighting in Gallipoli. These biscuits are an important part of Australian and New Zealand history.

Although there is some debate as to where the actual recipe came from, it seems to have been based on Scottish oatcakes. Oats of course are healthy and would have provided the troops with much needed nutrients. The lack of eggs in the recipe also gave the biscuits a long shelf which was essential in preventing them from spoiling on the long journey

Anzac day is held on April 25th in both countries. It is a special day to commemorate all those who have died fighting for their countries.

If you have never tried Anzac biscuits then give these a try. You can find the recipe here at the BBC Good Food website or follow it below.

Anzac biscuits (recipe from the BBC Good Food website)

Ingredients

• 85g porridge oats

• 85g desiccated coconut

• 100g plain flour

• 100g caster sugar

• 100g butter, plus extra butter for greasing

• 1 tbsp golden syrup

• 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda

Directions

1. Heat oven to 180C/fan 160C/gas 4. Put the oats, coconut, flour and sugar in a bowl. Melt the butter in a small pan and stir in the golden syrup. Add the bicarbonate of soda to 2 tbsp boiling water, then stir into the golden syrup and butter mixture.

2. Make a well in the middle of the dry ingredients and pour in the butter and golden syrup mixture. Stir gently to incorporate the dry ingredients.

3. Put dessert spoonfuls of the mixture on to buttered baking sheets, about 2.5cm/1in apart to allow room for spreading. Bake in batches for 8-10 minutes until golden. Transfer to a wire rack to cool.

Anzac Biscuits