Category Archives for … on baking

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

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…

Home Made Romany Creams

It is almost Christmas again, can you believe it… Feels like yesterday we all got together as a family and had so much fun. This year is a bit different. Lots of things happened but at least we are still able to keep in touch through technology… This year we are running a special for Christmas. Show the person that means the most to you that you are thinking of them.

If you live in the UK, you can order Home made Romany Creams, specially baked with love xxx We are selling little bags of cookies, 12 in a pack. It will be packaged in a beautiful bag and delivered to your door via courier… We are taking orders now and all orders will be dispatched within 3 working days.

You can buy them now through eBay:
1 x 12 pack of Home made Romany creams – £5.40 + R2.90 for delivery. If you buy 2 or more packs you will save 5%…

This is an ideal way of showing the South African, or anyone else, that you are thinking of them. These are beautiful cookies made with chocolate and coconut, so don’t miss out. If you want to place an order please contact me via our blog or visit eBay. You can also contact me via facebook….

Looking forward to your orders and speaking soon 🙂

Birthday cookies

What a wonderful experience to spend time with your children. So when your youngest come up to you and ask, “Can we bake cookies for my birthday to take to school?”, then you say yes….

She chose the shape and pressed all the cookies. I then baked it in the oven and afterwards we decorated them together. It was wonderful spending so much time with my little girl. She is my little angel 🙂

We had so much fun together. I can do that again… Why not take time during the holidays or over a weekend and let your kids help you. They love helping and feels so proud when they make something themselves….

What is a cup?

Sometimes when you read a recipe and they talk about cups, what do they mean? I grew up with cups, tablespoons and teaspoons. Everything from liquids to flour are measured in this way and that is why I wrote all my recipes in my recipe book like that.

Since I can remember my mother has had a cup in her cupboard. Pink on the outside and white on the inside with a little ear to pick the cup up with. I believe it used to be part of a tea set a loooooooong time ago 🙂 If you see the cup you will understand what I mean… It has a chip on the top and reminds me of little Chip in Beauty and the Beast… This cup must have experienced so much in it’s lifetime.

This is what everyone should have. A cup used for baking and cooking. Something you can grab that you know for certain is going to result in the correct measurement every single time. All you need to do is measure 250ml of water and add it to the cup. If the cup is full to the top, then this is the cup you should use for measuring. Even if you then have to measure 1 cup of flour, it will still be that specific cup (that holds 250ml of liquid) you need to use.

Go on, get yours today and keep it safe in your baking cupboard…

Flour vs self raising flour

When you read a recipe and see self raising flour, you can think to yourself…. But I don’t have any in my cupboard, what do I do now? It is actually an easy question to answer.

Self raising flour is nothing more than regular flour with a baking agent added already. If you live in America, the self raising flour also contains salt. So if you follow a recipe when baking in America, remember to leave the salt specified in the recipe out if you are substituting flour for self raising flour.

Self raising flour has a specific ration of flour to baking powder. There is about 1 ½ teaspoon of baking powder for every cup (150gm) of plain flour. Many recipes require a different proportion of baking powder to flour in order to achieve the desired leavening. You may need 3 teaspoons of baking powder to 1 cup of flour in order for the recipe to rise as much as required….

For me personally it is better to use plain flour and then just add however much baking powder the recipe requires. The other reason why I prefer the plain flour and baking powder separately is because the baking powder added to the self raising flour does expire and the shelf life is short. For me it makes more sense to keep the flour and baking powder separate and use as you need.

This is just my opinion. Maybe you prefer baking with self raising flour and there is nothing wrong with it  Just remember if a recipe calls for self raising flour and you do not have any in the kitchen, just add 1 ½ teaspoons of baking powder per 1 cup of flour and off you go …
Let us know your thoughts.

Christmas gift…

How often do you treat yourself for Christmas? Not often I am sure… Why not this year treat yourself by getting our Recipes from South Africa cookbook.

It is real, you can hold it in your hands and keep it on your kitchen cupboard to see and find easily to make any recipe… Whether you are a South African that has settled down overseas and just miss home, someone who visited our beautiful country and want to have the wonderful recipes or even if you have never been here but just want to try something new, this is the book for you. You can purchase the real book at Amazon by clicking the link…

If you are more for new technology, no problem 🙂 Why not buy the e-book version and keep it safe on your i-pad or phone these days. Take your i-pad when you go shopping and have a look at recipe and what ingredients you need to get without having to first write down the information. You might even miss something out if you have to write it on a piece of paper. You will receive individual recipe cards when you purchase the downloadable version

You will find the most wonderful recipes in the Recipes from South Africa cookbook. Anything from our famous rusks to main courses including wonderful potjiekos, to snacks including biltong and droë wors. Why not have a look at our biscuit recipes and wonderful desserts.

There are a few sample recipes on our site. Just have a look at our English recipes and try them today. They are very easy to make and taste wonderful 🙂