Coconut and Jaggery cake

In my constant search for less processed foods, I recently discovered jaggery. Over here in Dubai, it is fortunately very easy to find, and is cheap - ranging from less than the equivalent of $1 per 500g packet up to about $10, depending on quality.

Like sugar, jaggery usually comes from sugar cane (it also comes from sago, coconut and date palms), but it is a softer, crumbly substance made from the unprocessed and unrefined cane juice (simply boiled until it becomes a paste), then poured into moulds to set. It does not undergo any bleaching or refining of any kind, and so retains its natural colour, fiber, mineral salts and flavour. It is known to release energy slower than processed sugar, making it better for people with blood sugar issues. 

But the price, process and the health benefits are not the only reason I love it. It tastes amazing. The mineral salts can be detected, and the molasses tint gives it a flavour almost like salted caramel. It is just so much more complex than sugar. It melts easily, can be cut off in shards for nibbling, and can be crushed in a blender.

White Chocolate Truffles

Truffles are the easiest sweets to make - the only cooking is melting chocolate, and they keep for a few weeks in the fridge. They're perfect for gifts, and you get to lick the bowl after rolling them out! This recipe is easily adaptable - I make different variants every year. This year I went tropical, with a mix of coconut, candied ginger and candied pineapple. Another family favourite is with flecks of finely grated lemon rind, coconut and a dash of Malibu liqueur.

Ingredients

• 250g White chocolate
• 60ml cream
• dash liqueur/flavouring (I used Limoncello)
• 1 cup finely textured ingredient (In my case, 1/4 cup mixed chopped candied ginger and pineapple, and 3/4 cup dessicated coconut)

Rocky Road

I make Christmas presents every year.

I've found that, personally, if I really want something, I just go and buy it. If I can't afford it, I learn to live without it, or I buy an inferior substitute. Nobody can choose a present better for me than I can for myself. Except, when it is a present that is the gift of their time, thought and effort. I really hope all my friends and family feel the same way, because I spend time, not money on my gifts to them.

Sarah Walton Hedonista Rocky Road is very very rare - you have to be one of my nearest and dearest, or have to have performed some amazing task (ie teaching my kids for a year) to get it. The recipe changes annually, depending on the best stuff I can find to put in it, but there is always a basic formula - chocolate with nuts, coconut, jellies (not jam) and marshmallows.

Lamingtons - the great Australian cheat

I've only been baking for a year or two. I used to think that making cakes is hard. I presume a conspiracy of the Australian CWA (Country Women's Association) and other organisations similar. They got into our heads that cakes had to be perfect, and perfect meant the way they had always been made. 

With the rise of modern baking however, we see things like whoopie pies. I'm sure it was initially an accident by someone like me. Tried to make biscuits, but mucked up the measures and they ended up too soft, and whoopie! You get something even better. I can feel the old dears turning in their graves every time someone tastes one and says - "Wow - this is SO much better than shortbread!"