I did it – I had a fourth baby!  As cute and fun as babies are (well, most of the time anyway), I do indeed hope that this is my last one! 

In the 14 days since his birth, I’ve managed to bake a batch of these easy peanut butter cookies with chocolate chunks and astonishingly, I even had time to bake a batch of cupcakes.  I received the May issue of MasterChef Australia magazine just before I wound up in the hospital in labor, and while sitting in the hospital bed the day after the birth, bored out of my mind, I read through the magazine.  I look forward to Marion Grasby‘s recipe each month as she is one of my favorite former MasterChef contestants – second only to Billy Law, of course!  This month, Marion had produced a fantastic-looking recipe for flourless chocolate cupcakes with salted almond frosting.  At that particular time, I had no idea when I’d be able to bake them for myself.

As it ends up, however, I haven’t been too overwhelmed with four children.  With two away at school three days per week (my oldest, in Year 1, goes five days per week of course, but my 4-year-old only goes to preschool three days per week), these 3 days are proving to be the ones where I can still do stuff for myself, like bake something.  So, during my newborn’s second week of life outside the womb, I decided I would make Marion’s cupcakes and would stretch out the process of making them over two days, just to make it a little easier on myself.

Well, it actually took three days.  On day one, I made the cupcakes.  On day two, I discovered that I was short 60g of butter for the frosting.  And later that day, I discovered that I didn’t have almond essence (I thought that I did!?).  So on day three, I bought more butter and almond essence and finished up the cupcakes.

The chocolate cakes are made with almond meal and are completely flourless.  Although there might be an extra step or two involved in making the cakes – whisking egg yolks and egg whites separately -, these are not difficult to whip up.  The result is a rich chocolatey taste with a moist, fudgey, soft texture and crackly top.  The cakes are really delicious all on their own and would make a great base to other frostings, I’m sure.

The frosting is the really special component to these cupcakes, though, I believe.  I had never thought of or even heard of salted almond-anything before, but a search on google informs me that there are indeed quite a few salted almond-things out there.  This frosting is basically your average buttercream, but with almond essence and sea salt flakes thrown in.

Frosting the cakes was troublesome for me.  The frosting was a bit thick and while I thought about adding some milk (the only liquid in the recipe is the vanilla extract  and almond essence), I decided against it in case it did something weird to the frosting – I didn’t want to risk it!  So, as the frosting was a bit difficult to spread, and the tops of the cakes were crackly, I found that as I spread the frosting around the cake, the tops of the cakes just crumbled off and got mixed into the frosting.  I had to be really careful in spreading the frosting just to end up with a few photograph-worthy cupcakes!  I’m not sure if this is just how it was meant to be, or if I didn’t bake the cakes for long enough (the recipe says 30 minutes, but I took them out at about 25 minutes)?  I’m not too sure.

As I mentioned the cakes themselves taste great on their own.  The frosting tastes great too.  But when I took my first bite of the cupcake, with cake and frosting in one bite, the perfection of the flavor combination really shone.  The chocolate and salted almond flavors make an amazing pair.  The chocolate flavor seemed stronger and deeper, and the hint of salt in the frosting really popped.  I was super impressed with these cupcakes and no doubt these will be making more appearances in my kitchen!

I was so pleased with them that I tweeted one of my photos of the cupcakes and mentioned Marion in the tweet.  Imagine my surprise when she actually replied back to me and retweeted my photo!  Here was our brief conversation:

And not only was I super happy to receive a reply from one of my favorite former MasterChef contestants, I was also happy to receive a Twitter mention from Gary Mehigan’s (one of MasterChef Australia’s judges) restaurant, Fenix:

You really gotta love Twitter!

Anyway, Marion’s recipe for these flourless chocolate cupcakes with salted almond frosting is below.

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Despite the challenges that come with being so heavily pregnant, I’ve made quite a few recipes lately, but they either haven’t been blog-worthy, or I didn’t have a chance to get photos.  Here are some of the things I’ve made:

* chocolate chip coconut macaroons
The first time I’ve ever made this coconut-based cookie.  The reviews were good, they looked easy, I had all the ingredients and I had a craving for something sweet.  Yes, they were easy and quick to make, but I just didn’t care much for them.

* avocado BLT baguettes
Wow, these were really yummy!  I’ve made this recipe twice in the past week for lunches.  The avocado-cream cheese spread is just delicious and pairs so well with the flavors of the BLT.  The first time I made this, I made it following the recipe.  The second time, I used the suggestions of some other reviews and used fresh tomatoes instead of sun-dried.  Both versions were delicious!

* sweet corn and bean enchiladas
Eh, they were okay.  Got a good helping of vegetables in this meatless dish, but wouldn’t bother making it again.

* kale and ricotta-stuffed pasta shells
I’ve had a huge thing for pasta lately.  I stop at nearly every pasta recipe on FoodGawker and Tastespotting, as well as taste.com.au!  I had some leftover ginormous pasta shells from a previous recipe and decided to try out this particular one.  I knew I wouldn’t be able to find kale at my local shops, so I substituted frozen, chopped spinach and used an arrabiata sauce.  It was totally delicious and I’m sure I’ll be making this one again, although I hope to be able to find kale next time.

* apple turnovers
These were nice, but I must have filled the pastry with too much filling as most of them burst at the seams!  I still really liked them though.  So much so, in fact, that they inspired me to create my own sort of apple turnover, which is what this post is going to be about.

I’ve made a few things with puff pastry before, but I always end up with the same problem – I put too much filling in and the seams burst!  I believe what’s happening is, there is too much steam inside of the pastry and this causes the seams to burst and the filling to leak out.  With some leftover pastry and apple pie filling from making the apple turnovers, I decided to make my own version.  They’d be in the shape of Pop-Tarts and be filled with the apple pie filling that I would mix raw sugar, cinnamon and nutmeg into.

I didn’t use or write down any measurements for the amounts of ingredients that I used, so I can’t accurately give you a recipe for these, although I will tell you how I made them.  Let me say first of all that these are super quick to prepare and make a nice little breakfast or morning tea!

So, I used about 1/2 cup of canned apple pie filling and mixed in some raw sugar, heaps of cinnamon and some dashes of nutmeg.  Basically, just use these ingredients to suit your taste.

I then cut out 12 rectangle shapes from partially thawed ready-rolled puff pastry, knowing that I was going to make 6 of these.  I used a rectangle-shaped juice box as a template!  I poked some holes in 6 of the rectangles with a fork to let off some steam while baking.  I used a tablespoon (plus a pinch extra) of filling on the 6 un-poked rectangles, spreading it out and making sure to leave a good-sized border around the edges.

After placing the filling on the rectangles, I covered each one with a fork-poked rectangle and sealed them tightly using a fork.  I brushed them lightly with milk and sprinkled on some raw sugar, basically for some extra crunch.

During this time, I had the oven preheating to 200C (400F).  I baked the pastries for 10 minutes, then rotated the tray to get them as evenly golden as I could, and baked them for another 10-12 minutes.

And they came out of the oven looking like this!  I must have put the perfect amount of filling in as none of the seams burst!  I was quite chuffed!  When I saw the finished product, I decided to name these Apple Cinnamon Pillows as they turned out so feather-light and puffy, just like a pillow!

After letting them cool slightly, I cut one in half to see how lovely and flakey they were, and I wasn’t disappointed!  They looked beautiful, so I made a cup of coffee to go with this one and ate it up straight away!

What I love about this is is that you don’t have to limit yourself to an apple-cinnamon filling.  You can use this general guide to light, flakey “pillows” and fill them with basically anything you have lying around – jam, Nutella, brown sugar & cinnamon or fresh fruit, if you’re feeling sweet.  Or if you’re feeling savory, try a ricotta and spinach filling.  They’re super easy and are sure to satisfy!

That’s not parsley or basil decorating this dish – it’s mint!  This was a really delicious and comforting meal that I’ve made twice already.

You can trust Nigella to give you such a fantastic recipe!  I highly recommend giving this a go.  It’s very easy and quick to whip up, even on a weeknight.  I didn’t have and couldn’t find pappardelle, so I used fettuccine instead.

The second recipe is seriously one of the best pasta dishes I have ever made/eaten (by another of my favorite cooks, Valli Little).  I am always impressed when I try a pasta recipe that is made without using a tomato-based sauce, as it is always so delicious.  I grew up thinking that you only used tomato-based sauces on pasta!  Wow, what a sheltered childhood I must have had!  Discovering that I could enjoy pasta without tomatoes was almost as thrilling as hitting that 21st birthday, when one can finally legally drink alcohol!

This sensational pasta dish is called broccolini and chilli spaghetti with pangrattato.  It is another easy whip-up-on-a-weeknight meal that is bursting with the most amazing flavor.  I will definitely be making this recipe again and again.

I hadn’t heard of pangrattato before, but it is easy to make.  It involves tearing up chunks of sourdough bread, drizzling them with olive oil and baking until golden and crunchy.  Then, toss them in a food processor along with some chopped garlic and parsley and pulse until they form coarse crumbs.  You’ll be using this pangrattato to sprinkle over the spaghetti just before serving, along with some fresh grated parmesan.

One thing you can’t skip in this recipe is the lemon.  You must have fresh lemon wedges to squeeze over the pasta before serving as it really completes the dish and brings all the flavors together.

I only used 400g of spaghetti, instead of the 500g called for in the recipe, because my pan isn’t quite big enough for an extra 100g.  I found though that 400g was definitely plenty of spaghetti.

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Recently, on Twitter, I declared that I was boycotting Oreos.  I had seen something with Oreos in it (can’t remember exactly what it was though; it may have been an Oreo spread) and it just made me feel sick.  Nearly every time I see a photo on FoodGawker or Tastespotting with Oreos in it, I can’t help but shudder.  I had had enough and decided to never use Oreos in my baking again.  I’d only use them in the exact same way I grew up using them – dunked in milk and gobbled up!

But oh, delicious. magazine, what a dilemma you caused me with your April 2012 issue.  There was an article in this magazine featuring “wicked” chocolate recipes from Trish Deseine, including a no-bake chocolate cheesecake, a guinness chocolate cake with creme fraiche frosting and a chocolate peanut butter tart.  Well, okay, that last recipe is actually called an Oreo And Peanut Butter Pie, but I’m pretty sure it should be a tart and not a pie.  And yes, the tart features an Oreo-crumb crust.  Well, okay, I can handle an Oreo-crumb crust.  I decided to make it, but if I could find a chocolate cream sandwich cookie that was not an Oreo, I’d use it instead.  But no, the store didn’t even have Arnott’s Delta Cream cookies, so I had to buy a couple boxes of Oreos.  Sigh.

I believe I winced as I picked up those Oreos in the store.  I just had to take comfort in the fact that I was using them for a simple crust, not for something like birthday cake Oreo-stuffed brownies.

Anyway, on to the pie tart.  As I’ve already made known, the crust is crumbed Oreos mixed with melted butter and pressed into the bottom of a tart tin.  The filling is a simple combination of crunchy peanut butter and icing sugar.  The topping is a dark chocolate ganache made with unsalted butter.

Melted chocolate, you have really caused me some problems lately.  You may recall that we recently moved houses and I had to buy all new pans to use on the new induction stovetop.  Previously, I melted chocolate in a heavy-bottomed saucepan over very low heat on a normal stove and I’ve never, ever had problems with seizing the chocolate.  But trying to melt chocolate this way over this induction stove has seized my chocolate 3 times in a row.  I know there was no water in the chocolate, so it was obviously due to overheating the chocolate – the induction stove just heats up too quickly and I’m not used to that yet.  Laziness was also an issue, as I realized I wasn’t chopping the chocolate in small enough pieces so it would take longer to melt, in turn, making the chocolate hotter.

During one of my failed attempts at melting chocolate, I was making a chocolate caramel slice with hazelnuts a few weeks ago and ended up with chocolate topping that looked like this:

Shameful!  It still tasted fine, but I just couldn’t deal with the grainy appearance of it.  Seized chocolate is really, really ugly.

And only a couple of weeks ago I was making my own version of Cherry Ripe cupcakes and seized the chocolate I was making for the frosting.  I was really fed up by then!  I finally bought my first stainless steel bowl to use to melt chocolate in over a pan of simmering water.  The first chocolate I melted in it was for this chocolate peanut butter tart and it turned out nice and smooth.

I was really disappointed in myself for ruining so many batches of chocolate ganache, but I think that’s over now that I’ve finally started melting chocolate like it’s supposed to be melted – in a bowl over a pan of simmering water!

To return to the matter of this chocolate peanut butter tart that looks so delicious and decadent… it was indeed delicious but extremely rich.  I found the peanut butter filling to be too sweet and if I were to make this again (which is a slight possibility) I’d probably reduce the icing sugar and try adding a bit of sea salt flakes instead.  No matter how you make it though, it is sure to please the chocolate/peanut butter lover in your life!

Before I hand over the recipe for the tart, I am interested to know what others think of the current trend of using Oreos and sweets to “stuff” cookies, brownies, bars, etc.?  Are you a fan of it, or do you think it’s uncreative, boring or sickening?

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For my birthday earlier this month, my mother-in-law asked me if I would like to sit in on a 3-hour cupcake decorating workshop; she would buy me a ticket as a present if I did.  The class would be learning to color, roll, cut out and decorate cupcakes with fondant.  I said, “Sure, why not!”!  Just because I prefer to pipe buttercream on my cupcakes doesn’t mean that I’m not interested in learning how to use fondant.  I just decided I wouldn’t eat it since I don’t like the taste of it (in fact, I once ate a bite of fondant on a cupcake that tasted exactly like Band-Aids smell)!

The class took place this past weekend.  I was looking forward to it, but was a little hesitant when I saw the teacher’s cupcakes that we would be making.  Have a look -

“As if!”, I thought!

So the teacher and her helper passed around cupcakes, boxes of fondant tools, plastic bags to keep the fondant from drying out, food coloring gels, and a bag of fondant.  The brand was Bakels, and I have to admit that eventually my curiosity got the better of me and I had to tear off a small chunk of the fondant to taste it.  I was pleasantly surprised, as it had a nice marshmallowy taste to it.  If I were to use fondant in my own home, I would definitely be using this brand.

Just a note on the cupcakes – we did not bake the cupcakes.  They were already made for us.  I was quite disappointed in them, to be honest.  They were so lumpy, very firm and quite shiny on top.  Because they were so lumpy, it was hard to get the fondant to lie smoothly on top.  I was confused because the teacher actually bakes and decorates cupcakes as her job so I wasn’t sure why these cupcakes looked so terrible!  Anyway…

First, we needed to color our fondant.  We used Wilton’s gel food coloring for this.  Here, I was coloring a chunk of fondant blue -

After wiping a bit of food coloring gel on the fondant, we just basically kneaded it to get the color worked through the fondant.  It takes a bit of work, but other students viewed it as a form of relieving stress!

Here I was rolling out some chocolate fondant to use for the bee cupcake.  Okay, yes, I sampled this fondant as well, and it did indeed taste like chocolate.  Not like a bar of Lindt dark chocolate, mind you, but at least it didn’t taste like a chocolate-covered Band-Aid!

Working with fondant is basically like playing with Play-Doh.  Roll it out, cut it into shapes.  Pretty easy.  What I did find most challenging is that the fondant was sticky.  The teacher explained that it was because the room was warm and our hands were warm.  She said it was best to work in a cool air-conditioned room with fondant.  I also read on the package of fondant that you can dust it with icing sugar or cornflour to make it less sticky.

The time went by rather quickly in the class and most of the students’ cupcakes looked fantastic.  In fact, some were so good that other students were using the cupcakes of other students as guides on how to do their own!  Here’s a shot across the table of where I was working at some of the other cupcakes -

By the end of the class, I had 15 decorated cupcakes.  I discovered that decorating with fondant wasn’t all that hard and not all fondant tastes like Band-Aids.  It’s pretty easy to just cut out shapes and lie them on top of the cupcakes, but when it came to molding shapes with my hands like a handbag, or a present, or a strawberry, it was bit more difficult.  I don’t think I have the shaping skills to make those!  Here are my finished cupcakes -

A handful of people in the class didn’t copy all the teacher’s cupcakes and decided to create their own, which is what I did with the two in the very front of that photo.  The “ET” on the handbag is my daughter’s initials and has no reference at all, whatsoever, to the alien with the same name!

I am very glad I attended this class as it’s given me a few ideas on how to branch out from just using buttercream.  There really are endless possibilities when you’re using fondant, I just recommend using a brand of fondant that actually tastes nice.  And perhaps layer the top of the cupcake with chocolate ganache instead of using something like “sugar glue”, like the class did, to hold the fondant circle in place, just to give it some extra flavor.

What’s your opinion on fondant?  Are you as opposed to it as I was?

How can I even explain it?  There really is no explanation needed, at all!  These are simply biscuits, shaped into rolls with cinnamon and brown sugar squashed inside.

These will absolutely do a good job at solving all your problems.  Of course, they don’t have the same texture as a true cinnamon roll; they are indeed more dense.  But they taste just like one.  Straight from the oven, they are to-die-for.

My favorite part of the cinnamon roll is that tight mini roll right in the center.  So gooey and cinnamon-y!  What I really loved about my batch is that the cinnamon and brown sugar mixture caramelized on the bottom of the rolls while baking and gave them a lovely slight crunchiness.  No, they weren’t burnt.  Just perfectly caramelized.

I did not use shortening, as Joy called for in her recipe.  I just used more butter.  As most Australians know, shortening is not easy to come by here.  I also used vanilla bean paste instead of extract.  And I always, always, add nutmeg to cinnamon rolls.

My only problem with the recipe was that it took much longer to bake than just 15 minutes; it was closer to 45 minutes.  I have no idea why this was.

There you go, another winning recipe from Joy the Baker!  Also, be sure to check out her new cookbook.  I don’t have it yet, but I’m sure it’s glorious.  Um, but those dark chocolate chip cookies with black sesame seeds and soy sauce?  I think I’ll skip those. 

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I didn’t need to change anything about the ingredients, but I did need to change what I baked the muffins in.  The recipe says to bake these in one of those king-size 6-hole muffin tins, but I don’t have one of those.  So I used a standard-sized 12-hole muffin tin.  I also used muffin/cupcake liners.  It was a bit trickier doing it this way!  I put about a tablespoon (maybe a little bit more) of batter in the bottom of each liner.  I used a small plastic baby spoon to smooth the batter out so that it would completely cover the bottom (the batter is very, very thick) then put 1/2 teaspoon jam on top.  Using about another tablespoon of batter, I covered the little blob of jam completely so it wouldn’t seep out.  I used the baby spoon again to help get the batter to cover the jam.  I had *just exactly* enough for 12 muffins!

When the muffins were cool enough to handle, I peeled the liners off (don’t do this too soon, or the muffins will have trouble coming away from the liners), I brushed them with melted butter and rolled them in cinnamon-sugar.  They’re best eaten while they’re still warm, and they taste great with coffee!

I’ve made two batches of these since last week, but I didn’t have buttermilk for the second batch.  I decided to just use the plain skim milk that we normally drink, but added about a teaspoon of melted butter to it to make it resemble whole milk.  The muffins still baked up wonderfully, and in my opinion, they seemed to be a bit more tender, although they lacked the tanginess of the buttermilk from my first batch.  But still, my modified batch was without a doubt a winner.  I absolutely love these – buttermilk or not!

If you decide to make these and go with 12 standard-sized muffins, I recommend to use a *rounded* 1/2 cup of sugar to coat the muffins because I noticed there doesn’t seem to be quite enough to get through all 12 muffins.  Also, since you’re adding a bit more sugar, give a few extra shakes of ground cinnamon to the mix as well!

I highly recommend making these muffins.  They’re so simple and taste absolutely delicious!

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As I was leafing through the latest issue of delicious. magazine, I noticed a couple of recipes from Nigella Lawson; one of them was for salted caramel sauce.  If you didn’t know already, Nigella has this obsession with salted caramel sauce.  Well, anyway, this recipe was super easy and didn’t even require cooking white sugar until it turns golden.

With ingredients that you probably have in your pantry already, you can be enjoying this lovely salted caramel sauce in no time at all.  Grab some brown sugar, white sugar and golden syrup and melt them along with salted butter in a saucepan.  Simmer the mixture for a few minutes and it will turn darker.  Add thickened cream and good quality sea salt flakes, cook for another minute.  Then enjoy.

It is perfect over ice cream.  This is what my bowl of ice cream looked like when I poured the sauce over straight from the saucepan.  It melted the ice cream into a beautiful gooey mess!  Brilliant!

But it also tasted fantastic straight from the refrigerator when poured over ice cream.  The sauce is thicker when chilled, of course, but it is still pourable.

I hate to admit it, but I also indulged myself by making French toast with roasted bananas and pouring a drizzle of the salted caramel sauce on top.  Now that was a treat and a half!  I didn’t get a picture of that one, but I did snap a photo of the second treat I made with the sauce.  I had some leftover dark chocolate shortcrust pastry from a tart I was making, so I cut some rounds out of it, baked the rounds and used them in this ice cream sandwich stack, drizzled with salted caramel sauce.  It was really yummy!

I know some of you might be a little bit hesitant to cook with sugar and if so, this simple recipe is for you.  It’s basically fool-proof, and sinfully delicious!

Nigella gives you the option in her recipe of using 1/2 – 1 1/2 teaspoons of sea salt flakes.  Nigella stated that she goes for the full 1 1/2 teaspoons, but I used a slightly rounded 1/2 teaspoon and found that that was plenty for my taste (might keep it at just 1/2 teaspoon next time).

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This was my version of Rosie’s cake!  It isn’t quite as lovely as Rosie’s, but I’m very proud of it and it tasted amazing!

I made a few changes with the recipes.  The two main differences are that my cake is just a 2-layer cake, and I didn’t use Swiss meringue buttercream.  It’s not that I don’t know how to make Swiss meringue buttercream; it’s actually my favorite buttercream!  But, during the move to our new house, I lost the whisk attachment to my dear KitchenAid mixer, Katie.  You can’t make this kind of frosting without a whisk, so I had to use a regular buttercream frosting instead.  Otherwise, I used Rosie’s dark chocolate cake recipe and her chocolate ganache glaze recipe.

I prepared the cake in 2 8-inch baking pans the day before and placed the layers in cling wrap and into the freezer overnight.  The next day, I prepared the frosting and took the layers out of the freezer – I had read previously that it’s easier to frost a frozen cake because crumbs won’t crumble off the cake and ruin the look of the frosting.  I placed the bottom layer of cake upside-down on the cake plate, and the top layer of cake right-side-up, so there wasn’t even any cake-cutting involved.  I thought about cutting off the top of the cake to make it flat on top, but decided to leave it as is.

The frosting I used is a recipe off the back of a Western Star unsalted butter package.  It claimed it was the “best” buttercream frosting, so I decided to give it a go (I had to double the recipe).  You’ll need a stand mixer for this recipe because you’ll need to beat the frosting for a total of nearly 20 minutes!  This gives it a really soft, fluffy texture.  It was a warm day when I made the frosting, so my frosting was probably a little softer than it should have been!  Rosie used a bench scraper to  to give her Swiss meringue buttercream a perfectly smooth finish, but I don’t have one.  I used my palette knife instead but couldn’t get the frosting to have that same look that Rosie’s cake did!  Still, I like the rustic look of my frosting!  I added “rose petal pink” gel food coloring and about 1/2 teaspoon of strawberry flavoring.

The chocolate cake itself isn’t very sweet.  Or at least, mine wasn’t.  I was a little concerned that it wouldn’t be sweet enough!  I used Van Houten cocoa powder, and I probably used coffee that was a bit too strong.  I also didn’t have buttermilk; I didn’t even have lemon or vinegar to make my own buttermilk.  There is one more trick to making your own buttermilk though, which is adding 1 3/4 teaspoon cream of tartar to each 1 cup of whole milk.  Okay, I don’t have whole milk either, just skim milk!  But my substitution worked just fine.  The cake was definitely moist and light, a real winner in my opinion!  I’ll definitely use this cake recipe again, without a doubt.

I was so impressed with this cake and so proud that it turned out so well!

Coincidentally, my blog also recently had a birthday at the end of February – sweetestkitchen.com turned 2 years old!  I considered my birthday cake to be a celebration of two birthdays!

To everyone who has had a birthday this past week (and I know there are heaps of you), I hope you had a fantastic, fun-filled day with a cake as yummy as this one!

Recipe credits:
Dark chocolate cake and chocolate ganache glaze recipes via Sweetapolita.
Buttercream frosting recipe (doubled for a 2-layer cake) via Western Star.

I am excited to offer my Australian-only readers an opportunity to win one of the newest additions to the KitchenAid family, the Artisan Stick Blender, all thanks to my friends at Kitchenware Direct!

And you can choose the color – either red or white!

The KitchenAid Artisan Stick Blender is a versatile tool that can be used for countless kitchen tasks, including blending soups, or making smoothies, sauces, dressings and even baby food.

Just check out some of the recipes at KitchenAid Australia that you can use the stick blender to make…

Speedy watermelon granita!  With just a handful of ingredients, in a few hours you’ll be enjoying this icy cold treat.  (Photo and recipe credit, KitchenAid Australia.)

Fresh gremolata!  Adding the finishing touch to your osso bucco, spaghetti and meatballs, or pan-fried fish is just seconds away!  (Photo and recipe credit, KitchenAid Australia.)

Lemon mayonnaise!  Yes, you can even make your own homemade mayonnaise with the KitchenAid stick blender.  Trust me, once you make homemade mayo, you will never go back to store-bought!  (Photo and recipe credit, KitchenAid Australia.)

So, how you can you win your own KitchenAid Artisan Stick Blender?  Here are the simple rules:

• You must be an Australian resident.
• Leave one comment only on this post.  Tell me which KitchenAid products you currently own (if any) and what your favorite recipe to make with it is.  If you don’t own any KitchenAid products, tell me what you’d like to make with the stick blender.
• To earn one extra entry into this giveaway, you may tweet about it on your Twitter account.  Please make sure to include @jamieanne so I can see your tweet, and please leave one extra comment on this post, telling me you’ve tweeted about it.
• Entries will close in one week, at 4PM AEST, on 15 March.

At the close of the giveaway, I will update this post with the winner and send an email, so make sure you include a correct email address.

Good luck!

This giveaway is now closed – thank you to everyone who entered!  The winner of a brand new KitchenAid Artisan stick blender is…

Commenter #5 – Jodie Rodgers, who wants a stick blender to make her roast pumpkin soup for her children!  Congratulations, Jodie!  I will be emailing you shortly to find out which color blender you’d like – if you don’t receive my email, feel free to email me via the contact form on my blog.