Sugar Coated Pecans

Just when you thought pecans couldn't get any better.

Oven Baked 'Fries'

You want fries with ZERO guilt but still crisp and fry-like?

Well, here it is folks!
The ultimate fry-less fry does exist, and let me tell you, it's even better than the real thing.

Beaten egg whites give them their crisp exterior, and the eggs also help the salt and pepper and spices cling to them.
In fact, if you didn't tell me that these were fry-free, i would have thought this was the full-guilt version!

So breathe out and keep your fat pants in your closet.
This is a fry for all.

Cookie Dough

I have realised i have been posting ice cream mix-ins and what-have-yous.
What can i say? i am in an ice cream phase.

The best part of cookie dough?
You don't even have to wait for this baby to bake/chill/set/cool/harden.

You just chuck it all in, whisk it together, and if you've got no ice cream to mix it into or sprinkle over, just pop a huge chunk into your mouth.

Done and done.

Vanilla Ice Cream

No one should survive without the perfect vanilla ice cream recipe.
Don't have an ice cream maker?
No one should survive without an ice cream maker.

Goodness knows where i will be without mine (probably in the corner licking plastic-tasting factory-made strawberry Popsicles, but anyway)

If you're more of a wild-wacky-explosion-in-your-mouth-flavour kind of ice cream person; Never fear. We add loads of other ingredients to this basic recipe to jazz it up a bit.

Feel like some hokey pokey?

Cookie dough ice cream is also a staple here, and the perfect cookie dough recipe will be coming your way as soon as i dig out some old pictures of them (or, make a new batch so i can take more photos) (and eat it along the way)

Don't you love how photography is such a good excuse to pig out?

Other variants of this recipe include rum and raisin, strawberry ripple. Or any ripple of your choice, chocolate chip, chocolate shell, chocolate ganache ripple (here's the ganache), brownie batter, blondie batter...

And for the daring, vanilla ice cream filled choux puffs with melted ganache smothered all over.
(Here of the choux recipe, and here for the ganache)

And now, see? i am hungry again.

What can i do?

Eating another scoop of this is my only choice. you see what this does to me? Off you go now. Let me sneak another scoop out of the freezer.

Pavlova

Is this a cake? A tart? A pie? A meringue? A giant, sweet, chewy cookie?

I will never know.

But one this is for sure: I love pavlovas. And so simple to make! Everyone always has extra egg whites in their fridge, don't they? Or is it just me?

Instead of freaking out over a batch over macarons, I decided to give Pavlovas a go. We didn't have a giant supply of berries to garnish this dish, but strawberries tasted pretty darn good with this egg white slash sugar concoction.

It will be MAGICAL if you had kiwis, or cherries, or any other berry for that reason. And don't feel the need to stop there. i hear that they are pretty good with caramelised pears. If you've got the time (and patience) for that. Whipped cream lovers can pile 'em high on this. Or if you're just a jam baby, I place several dollops of good ol' blueberry bonne maman on mine.

I made several smaller pavlovas with this recipe because i find slicing a giant pavlova might just result in getting covered in Pavlova dust (tip: it does happen). SO i had one with blueberry jam, one with fig jam, one with marmalade...

Yes, you see where i am going.

Anyway, I would just like to send a little shout out to everyone there reading my blog. It's so humbling to know that there are others out there reading my odd recipes and critiquing my photos. But do not be silent! i am a chatty girl, and i adore comments.

so if you feel like telling me a recipe turned out scrumptious (hopefully) or darn-i-may-need-to-buy-a-new-oven-this-thing-just-exloded bad (hopefully not). DO NOT HESITATE to leave a comment.

i get lonely, you know.

And being a foodie blogger, there is nothing more that i love than reading other people's foodie adventures and expeditions and experiments so leave a link if you have tried out something you think i might like!

Alright. It's pretty late and i'll be having dinner soon. That means dessert after. And we are out of pavlovas. Ah, what to do?

One-Bowl Chocolate Cake

This, essentially, is a diet chocolate cake.

What am I doing baking a diet cake when i am in no need of a diet?

Well, i think i have mentioned before that i am not a chocolate-cake lover. Or, in that case, a brownie lover. I love my chocolate but i love it plain. Straight out of the packet, a chunk of a bar. I will name my future cat Cadbury.

So what do i do when i FEEL like eating a chocolate cake but i know that about 99% of the recipe on the Internet will give me a dense, oogey gooey rich chocolate cake?

I google "Light Chocolate Cake Recipe'.

It took a fair amount of searching and skipping recipes because of horrible review, but i eventually found this one. I was skeptical at first. A cake made out of Olive oil? no BUTTER? But the review were phenomenal. SO i had to try it out.

It did not taste like a diet cake.
At all.

It sort of tasted like one of those box-cake mixes i love so much. Sans the preservatives and artificial flavouring. My sister, who isn't terribly fond of chocolate confectioneries as well, whacked about 1/3 of the cake by dinnertime.

You don't have to be on a diet to eat this. but if you ARE on a diet. Say hello to your new best friend!

Cinnamon Sugar Apple Chips

Have you ever had the irristable urge to hop out of your house to the nearest seven-eleven to invest in a good old packet of Lays sour cream and onion?

I know i have.

It's not a particularly good habit.
But i love chips! i love the thin crisp crunch i get whenever i bite down on them.

Until i discovered these.

Although they require a pretty long pre-craving preparation time (2 hours in the oven!) it can be easily solved by whipping (or slicing) up a new batch every time your previous one dissapears.

and trust me, that's what they do.
They dissapear.

Cheat Banana Soft Serve

One ingredient is all this baby needs.

That's right.
Ice cream made with no cream. no milk. no sugar. no egg white. no--

heck.
ice cream made of--and only of--creamy rich sweet bananas.

Too good to be true?
Believe me, i was skeptical at frist.

But now i have tasted the real deal, and i am never going back.

I look forward to night upon night of indulging in my icy-creamy banana soft-serve.

Ach.
My photo does not do this any justice.

I am SERIOUS.
try it.

Hummus Tahini

Hummus is god's gift to the chickpea-sesame-seed-butter-smoked-paprika-lover (i.e. me)

And really, all you need to do is chuck the ingredients into your trusty food processor and whiz it for a minute or two.

Then you sit down in front of the tele with a large loaf of focaccia and you can spend the rest of your thursday like that.

You, warm bread, hummus and old F.R.I.E.N.D.S. re-runs

Rainy-Day S'mores

Okay, who can't make a S'more?
Even a three year-old could.
(But SHOULDN'T given the fact that the marshmallows need to be TOASTED)

But when it's raining out and you're really hungry and are craving the ooey-gooey-ness of marshmallows with the sweet tang of chocolate, the crisp bite of crackers and the saltiness of some quality nut butter, Here's a fail-proof pick-me-up.

You could try to mix things up a but and try almond butter.
Or Nutella-double chocolately goodness.