My books on Amazon

My recipe books are now all available on Amazon. There is a selection of both English and Afrikaans books. The list is as follows:

ENGLISH:

Recipes from South Africa – paperback version
This is a real paperback book that you can order and have delivered. Something to keep forever and pass on to your children. This book contains interesting information as well as all my recipes for starters, main courses, puddings, cookies and treats as well as cakes. Over 140 pages.

Cookies and Cakes – e-book version
This recipe book is for everyone that LOVES baking. You will find all kinds of cookies and cakes including coffee, sweet, old fashioned sweet, oats, custard and soentjies. You will also find chocolate cake, cup cakes and fruit cake recipes. Over 20 recipes.

Tarts and Treats – e-book version
This is a special treat with wonderful recipes from marshmallow tart, milk tart, sout tart and other treats including vetkoek, melkkos and much more. If you are looking for nice treats to bake for visitors or parties, this book is for you! Over 20 recipes.

AFRIKAANS:

Resepte vanuit Suid-Afrika – e-boek weergawe
Hierdie is my volle resepteboek met resepte vir alle geleenthede. Dit sluit in voorgeregte, hoofgeregte, slaaie, souse, nageregte, koekies, koeke en spesiale lekkernye…. Daar is ook ‘n paar nuwe resepte wat ek graag met jou wil deel.

Smullekker koekies – e-boek weergawe
Hierdie resepteboek is vir jou as jy daarvan hou om te bak en brou. Alles van koekies tot koeke…. Koffiekoekies, vlakoekies, soentjie, hawermout, soet, outydse soet en vele meer. Daar is oor die 20 resepte.

Terte en Bederfies – e-boek weergawe
Hierdie boek is vir jou as jy graag wil bak. Spesiale bederfies vir vriende en familie wat kom kuier of om verjaarsdae te vier. Alles van malvalekkertert, souttert, melkterk, vetkoek en melkkos… Meer as 20 resepte.

Ek is besig om aan die sagtebandboek in Afrikaans te werk. Sal baie binnekort beskikbaar wees. Geniet die e-boek weergawes vir nou…. Maklik om te gebruik en te stoor. Gebruik sommer jou telefoon of tablet om vanaf te kook en bak 🙂

GLUTEN FREE

I have now finished and published my Gluten Free book as well. This is especially for all the celiacs out there. My husband was diagnosed in 2009 and since then I have been adapting my South African baking recipes.

Soet cookies

Today I baked some soetkoekies. I was in the mood for something easy with no fillings or anything else. Just something that would be quick to bake and lovely to enjoy! A cookie recipe with just over a hand full of ingredients.

I have not baked any of these cookies for a while. Last time I tried them, they were not very successful. I bake with gluten free ingredients and sometimes the flour can be difficult to bake with. To be honest, it has taken me more than 4 years to discover the best flour combination for the best results for baking all different things.

So this time the cookies were a raving success! I baked them before I left the house to pick up the kids from school and as we opened the door when we got back, we were bowled over by the the aroma of the soet cookies. These are truly wonderful cookies. I know that old fashioned soet cookies are fantastic, but I have not been able to successfully bake those yet. I will have to work on them next! But this easy so bake soet cookie recipe from my mother is always a winner…

When you work with gluten free products it is always important to have a look at what type of recipe it is. What is the goal? If you are baking cookies that need to be crisp or harder, it is very important to use a plain gluten free flour that contains some kind of harder flour like soy or brown rice. You do not want these cookies to run or rise too much.

If you choose to bake something that needs to be very light and fluffy or rise quite a bit like cakes, cup cakes or plaatkoekies (like American pancakes), you will need a mix of softer flours like tapioca or potato. Use self-raising flour and then add half the amount of raising agent suggested by the recipes. This will result in beautiful, fluffy baking every time.

Hope this helps a bit!

If you are intereste in having a look at my recipe books that are available online, please have a look at my Amazon site. You will also find my gluten free version here. Otherwise you can buy my downloadable book from my website.

Soetkoekies

Ek het vandag soetkoekies gebak. Was in ‘n bui vir ‘n eenvoudige koekie sonder enige fieterjasies of vulsels. Net iets wat lekker vinnig bak en heerlik smaak met slegs ‘n handvol bestanddele.

Ek het baie lanklaas hierdie koekies gebak. Het gesukkel die laaste keer wat ek dit gebak het. Ek bak mos alles gluten vry en soms kan die meel probleme gee. Om die waarheid te sê, dit het my nou net mooi 4 jaar gevat om uit te pluis wat die beste kombinasie van meel is om te gebruik, afhangende wat jy bak.

So hierdie keer het die koekies heerlik gebak!! Ek het gebak voor ek by die huis uit is om die kinders by die skool te gaan haal en toe ons terugkom het die geur van die koekies ons sommer dadelik getref toe ons die deur oopmaak, heeltemal uitgebowl! Dit is werklik heerlik. Ek weet die outydse soetkoekie het ‘n fantastiese geur, maar die kan ek nog nie suksesvol bak nie. Die maklike soetkoekieresep wat my ma vir my gegee het, is altyd ‘n wenner.

Wanneer jy met glutenvrye produkte werk is dit altyd belangrik om te kyk na watter resep jy wil bak. As jy koekies bak wat lekker hard of bros moet wees en nie te veel rys nie, is dit belangrik om gewone meel te gebruik. Die meel moet nie net sagte mele bevat nie, maar het ‘n meel nodig wat harder is, iets soos soya…

As jy iets wil bak wat moet rys soos koek, kolwyntjies of plaatkoekies, is dit belangrik om die sagter mele te gebruik soos aartappel of tapioca meel. Gebruik oor die self-rys meel wat reeds bakpoeier in het en voeg die helfte van die bakpoeier bly as wat die resep vir jou sê om te gebruik.

Hoop hierdie wenke help so bietjie!

As jy belangstel om te kyk na die resepteboeke wat beskikbaar is, doen gerus so deur na my Amazon site te gaan kyk. Jy sal ook die glutenvrye weergawe hier kry. Anders kan jy die aflaaibare boek op hierdie webwerf van my koop.

Christmas Cookie Baking

December is always a busy time…. Baking cookies is part of our lives, I am always baking, but December is extra busy. A bag for all the teachers, neighbours, friends and family.

What a wonderful time, but also CRAZY!!! At least I have little helpers. My little girl loved helping with the baking, sticking the cookies, packing as well as closing the bags.

We are also busy with orders from eBay. Everybody loves a beautiful, fresh cookies. Don’t you also feel like baking when this beautiful Christmas season is upon us?

Have a look at these beautiful cookies…. Just seeing them makes my mouth water. You can buy the recipe books to bake them yourselves and if you would rather just order, I will happily bake and post it for you. Have a look at my eBay page

Christmas

Christmas is around the corner, can you believe it…. Why not treat yourself or someone you know to a beautiful gift, something that no one else has. This is a perfect, individual gift that will be a wonderful treat for everyone in your life…. You can choose between a small bag or a large bag of cookies. The packs include the following:

Pack 1: – £15
12 cookies in a bag
1 x cauldron (choice of 3, as long as stock lasts)
1 x soy tealight candle
1 x finger knitted bracelet (choose your 2 colours)

Pack 2: – £12
3 cookies in a bag
1 x cauldron (choice of 3, as long as stock lasts)
1 x soy tealight candle
1 x finger knitted bracelet (choose your 2 colours)

If you only want to buy cookies, that is no problem! You can either buy a large bag of 12 cookies for £5.20 or you can have the 12 cookies packed into 3 small bags (4 cookies per bags) for the same price, £5.20. If you want to treat someone, you can add a bracelet to your order, they are only £1 each…

If you are in England, you can order yours now. Send us a message or visit our eBay page. Delivery will be through a courier and will be £3 extra. If you order through eBay the delivery will be £3.40… Order 2 and pay for only 1 postage.

If you want to bake your own treats, have a look at our Amazon page…

Halloween gift

It is almost halloween…. Why not treat yourself or someone you know to a beautiful gift, something that no one else has. This is a perfect, individual gift that will be a wonderful treat for everyone in your life…. You can choose between a small bag or a large bag of cookies. The packs include the following:

Pack 1: – £15
12 cookies in a bag
1 x cauldron (choice of 3, as long as stock lasts)
1 x soy tealight candle
1 x finger knitted bracelet (choose your 2 colours)

Pack 2: – £12
3 cookies in a bag
1 x cauldron (choice of 3, as long as stock lasts)
1 x soy tealight candle
1 x finger knitted bracelet (choose your 2 colours)

If you are in England, you can order yours now. Send us a message or visit our eBay page. Delivery will be through a courier and will be £3 extra. If you order through eBay the delivery will be £3.40… Order 2 and pay for only 1 postage.

If you want to bake your own treats, have a look at our Amazon page…

Cookies for SALE

As you already know, we are selling our home made cookies through eBay… If you want to order directly from us, just send us a message. You can pay via PayPal or Direct transfer. All cookies will be baked to order and dispatched within 2 working days. Orders will be send via courier in the UK at a cost of R3.

We have just added our newest line. This is ideal for parties at home or school. It includes our lovely home made Romany Creams and you will also get a finger knitted bracelet for every bag. Your order will include 4 x individual bags with 3 cookies each as well as 4 x finger knitted bracelets (2 colours of your choice). The cost of this will be £9.20. If you would like to buy 2 or more (8 bags and 8 bracelets) you will get your order for £9 each instead of £9.20.

Other cookies available for sale includes:
12 x Home made chocolate and coconut cookies (Romany Cream style) – £5.40 (2 or more at £5.10 each)
12 x Home made custard cookies – £5.40 (2 or more at £5.10 each)
12 x Home made coffee cookies – £5.40 (2 or more at £5.10 each)
4 x Individual bags with chocolate and coconut cookies and 4 x finger knitted bracelets – £9.20 (2 or more £9)

Send us a message if you are interested to purchase our lovely home made cookies!

Cookies

There are not many things that are as tasty and enjoyable as a wonderful cookie. They need to crumble the right way, not be too hard or soft, just right. They have to be perfect to dunk in your tea or coffee, keep it’s shape and not fall apart when you dunk them, but also soft enough to eat without dunking.

The perfect cookie I found that is best for all occasions to eat with or without dunking is the custard cookie. This must be one of the best inventions ever. It is so soft and crumbly, but the filling gives it a little crunch. The taste is so good that you will want to go back for more.

The trick with baking them WELL is make sure they bake long enough. If you remove them from the oven too early they will be too soft and just disintegrate when you eat them. If you bake them too long they will burn so you don’t want that either. You need to keep them in long enough to give a beautiful colour and make them just a little harder. They then melt in you mouth when you eat them.

The taste of custard it very strong, but also subtle at the same time. The addition of corn flour to the flour makes it so lovely and crumbly, but also soft enough to eat and enjoy. These are beautiful cookies and you will not be disappointed.

If you are looking for this specific recipe or recipes of wonderful South African cookies, then have a look at my book sales page… You can get the cookie recipe book or the full e-book with many South African favourites. We also have a Gluten Free version available…

Mis ons land

Vandag wil ek so ietsie skryf oor die lewe, ons liefde, die mis van jou land. Met Covid wat so ‘n ongelooflike invloed op ons lewens het, het ons nog nooit so afgesny van ons families gevoel nie. Ons huisgesinne is soveel nader aan mekaar, ons sien mekaar meer, praat heerlik en die tyd wat ons saam kon deurbring die laaste 2 jaar was en is nogsteeds ongelooflik. Dit is egter die uitgebreide familie wat ons nie kan sien nie.

Die feit dat niemand na en van Suid-Afrika af mag vlieg nie maak dinge soveel moeiliker vir almal. So baie Suid-Afrikaners bly oorsee, Australië, Amerika, Nieu Seeland, Engeland en so kan die lys aangaan… Die belofte van ons sal mekaar elke jaar sien, ons sal kom kuier, julle kan kom kuier… Nie net is pryse onbekostigbaar nie, maar niemand mag vlieg nie. Wat ‘n lang tydperk om nie jou ma of pa se hande om jou te voel nie, om hulle nie in persoon te sien nie, nie net gou kan oorstap om hallo te sê nie. Hoe moeilik is dit om nie by broers, sisters en beste vriende te kan gaan kuier nie, jou kinders om nie hul neefs en niggies te sien nie? Onthou, neefs en niggies is jou eerste vriende, mense wat jou aanvaar soos jy is…

Gelukkig is daar sosiale media, whatsapp is natuurlik die sleutel tot baie dinge. Ons kan mekaar ten minste sien en hoor, sien hoe dit gaan eerder as om net te raai. Dit is lekker om te gesels en vir my ma te wys wat ek bak, of om haar te kan bel as ek ‘n vragie het oor ‘n resep wat ek vergeet het, of nie verstaan nie.

My volgende uitdaging is om koeksisters te bak. Dit klink na so ‘n groot storie. Het BAIE lank laas my eie gebak en my ma het my nog gehelp. So binne die volgende paar weke wil ek bak. Ek sal eers net ‘n bietjie bak. Die enigste probleem is dit gaan ‘n 2 dag proses wees. Eers die stroop voorberei die aand voor die tyd en die die deeg die volgende oggend. Dan sal ek die middag bak. Ek sal julle op hoogte hou oor hoe dit uitgedraai het 🙂

Vir nou wil ek julle net herinner dat as julle so sit en die hartseer oorval julle, ‘n traan rol oor jou regter wang terwyl ‘n klein glimlaggie aan die linkerkant van die mond pluk, dan moet jy net eenvoudig jouself oorgee aan die oomblik, bietjie huil en net stil sit en onthou…. dan moet jy opstaan en vir jouself ‘n heerlike Suid-Afrikaanse resep soek en dit bak. Dan spoel al die herinneringe oor jou terug soos ‘n golf van toe jy ‘n kind was. Bak wat jou ma sou gedoen het.

As jy opsoek is na iets heerlik, maak gerus ‘n draai op my Amazon blad en sien of daar iets is waarvoor jy lus is 🙂

Drakensberg

Roughly translated, the Drakensberg means “dragon mountains” or “mountains of the dragon”.  The mountain range stretches more than a 1000 km from the Eastern Cape Province in the South through Kwa-Zulu Natal, Lesotho, the Free State , through Mpumalanga Province and ends up North through Limpopo where it is known as” klein Drakensberge”.   

Some of the peaks are mammoth in size and is on average 2900 meters high.  The highest peak is Thabana Ntlenyana and reaches 3482 meters above sea level.  The mountain is a dynamic wonderland and home to river valleys, foothills, stunning waterfalls, rock pools, mountain streams as well as caves.  These majestic Drakensberg is over 180 million years old.

The Drakensberg is the eastern portion of the Great Escarpment which encloses the central Southern African plateau.  It is within the borders of South Africa as well as Lesotho.  In the summer it is very warm and many travellers will visit this region during December to February.  During the winter the mountains are dusted with snow and is transformed into a winter wonderland.

Within the Drakensberg of Kwa-Zulu Natal lies the 243 000 hectare mountain region that is a world heritage site.  It is known as Ukhahlamba-Drakensberg Park that has around 300 San rock art sites with over 35 000 paintings in caves all around the park depicting humans, animals and complex spiritual life of the San stretching over a period of 4000 years.  It is also home to a huge diversity of plans and animal species.

The very high treeless peaks of the Drakensberg are the furthest South in Africa and farther away from the equator.  Therefor this provides cooler habitats and lower elevations than most mountain ranges in Africa.  High rainfall generates mountain streams and rivers.  These rivers include the mighty Orange River as well as the Tugela River. 

The mountains are very rich in plant life and includes 119 species listed as globally endangered.  There are more than 2000 plant species and 98 of them are endemic.   The flora of the high grasslands is mainly creeping plants as well small shrubs.  Included in this is the rare Spiral Aloe which has a spiral shape.  In the meantime, the lower slopes are home to conifers (Podocarpus) which are rare in Africa.  It contains a great number of endemic plants and grasses found here includes oat and caterpillar grass to name just two.  In the highest part of the mountains the flora depends on the slope and varies depending on the hardness of the rock clasts. 

The Drakensberg area is home to 299 recorded bird species.  This makes up 37% of all non-marine avian species in southern Africa.  This is a wonderful place to visit for all bird lovers, you will probably not even have enough time to see even half of them on a visit.  You will also find 24 species of snakes of which two are highly venomous.  So be careful when you go for walks!

There is one bird that is endemic to the high peaks, the mountain pipit, and another six species are also found mainly in this area.  Th endangered Cape vulture and lesser kestrel are two birds of pry that hunt in the mountains.  There are also mammals found here including the klipspringer, eland and mountain reedbuck.  These are all types of antelope.  You will also be able to see three endemic species of frogs in the mountain streams.  Fish are also found in many rivers and streams including the Maluti redfin. 

The lower slopes of the Drakensberg support a lot of wildlife.  Perhaps the most important of these are the rare southern white rhinoceros as well as the black wildebeest.  It is also home to large herds of grazing flowers and antelopes.  Endemic species include a large number of chameleons as well as other reptiles.

This is a wonderful are to visit, something you must see.  The view is absolutely breath taking and you will not be disappointed in the beauty of the snow on the mountain tops or the wonderful grass cover in the summer.  Go and visit, you will love it. 

Pancake day

How wonderful that there is a day dedicated to baking and eating pancakes. Not that I ever need a reason for baking these wonderful treats. I love eating them warm with cinnamon sugar sprinkled on top. If I close my eyes I can just smell that now. Why no treat yourself and your family to these wonderful treats.

Ingredients
2 1/2 cups of water (you can replace the half cup with milk)
2 eggs
1/4 cup of oil (I use sunflower oil)
2 cups of self-raising flour (you can use regular flour with 2 teaspoons of baking powder. If you are a celiac, replace with self-raising Gluten Free flour and add 1 teaspoon of baking powder and a 1/4 teaspoon of xanthan gum)
Pinch of salt
1 teaspoon of sugar

Method
1. Beat the eggs, water and oil together.
2. Add the flour, salt and sugar and mix very well.
3. Bake as many pancakes as you can eat!!!

The nice thing about pancakes is that you can either fill them with beautiful mince and sauce or chicken as a main meal, or sprinkle with cinnamon sugar as a wonderful snack. Enjoy your pancake day!!