Simple and Easy

Those two words describe exactly what I look for when it comes to baking recipes.  I have a 15 month old, so time is of the essence!  I want to cook, but need to be able to do it relatively quickly, and without too much thought.

The first thing I always think of when I want to bake, is Cheese Biscuits.  Some people call them Cheese Straws, but growing up I knew them as Biscuits.  The recipe is one my Grandmother knew, and every time I eat them I am reminded of her.

Honestly, I am the laziest person in the world, so making these is a breeze and definitely not a chore.

Cheese Biscuits:

350 grams grated cheese (Tasty is the best, but I use Edam/Mild)
60 grams flour
1/2 tsp salt
Cold Water

Line baking trays with baking paper and heat the oven to 200 degrees celsius.  This recipe makes about 3 trays.

Add all ingredients into a bowl and mix together.  Add water until it forms a nice easy, rollable dough.  Roll the dough out to about 1cm thickness.  Cut into 2x5cm strips (or whatever size you want).  Place each strip onto the baking tray, with a 1cm gap between each strip.

Cook in the oven until golden (about 10-15 minutes).

I bake these so often now that I don't use a recipe, so actually don't know the exact amounts I use.  Basically you want to have more cheese than flour.

Update from the Wife

Well we've been a bit unproductive in the dinner making lately, so haven't got a lot of new things.  However, I've been baking a heck of a lot, and will definitely continue to do so as it is so good for my sanity!

I'm huge into baking easy things that are delicious.  Every now and then I will branch out and do something a little more complicated, but I'm all about the simple things!!!  Will post some of the baking and recipes I've done shortly.

In the mean time, hope everyone had a great Easter, we sure did!

The Wife's Baking Day ...

Well my fabulous husband decided to go on the biggest walk EVER!  He and our 1 year old took the bus into town (Auckland) and then walked back to Onehunga.  It was a 3.5 hour walk ... HOLY MOLY!

Now during this time he always says "just relax", but 3.5 hours on your own can get a little boring.  And I do feel very unproductive unless I do something, so I decided to bake.

Lemon Loaf & Melting Moments

I had 2 lemons left in the fridge so knew I wanted to make a Lemon Loaf.  So I set to doing this - I love Lydia Bakes' website.  She has some amazing recipes, and a lot are quite easy to make.  This lemon loaf I have made several times and is always a hit.

LEMON SYRUP LOAF

While the lemon loaf was cooking, I contemplated just leaving it at that but the woman in me couldn't help it! I don't have a lot left in my pantry but knew I wanted to make a kind of short bread.  I wanted to use Custard Powder though, so after looking through the internet found a pretty basic recipe for Melting Moments.  CLOSE ENOUGH!

Quiche with home made pastry

Normally you would put icing between the biscuits and join 2 together, but in this instance we are just eating them plain as they are so good by themselves.

MELTING MOMENTS

Next, I got a little adventurous and decided that after these two sweet dishes, I should probably do something savory.  So decided to tackle a quiche.  I'm not a big fan of quiches, especially when there are some really random ingredients in them.  However, I have made some mini quiches before that are REALLY basic.  So I just modified the recipe to be a little bigger for my quiche dish.

I also made my own pastry for the first time (inspired by the hubby of course, since he often says its so easy).  And what do ya know!?  It is easy!!!  A few recipes say to let the dough sit in the fridge for 2 hours, but I didn't really want to wait that long, so found a recipe that only needed 30 mins.

Now to eat all of this OM  NOM

QUICHE FILLING
PASTRY

When the hubby came home from is walk he was well impressed!  As was I!!!  I also did a lot of housework, but that sort of stuff goes unnoticed most of the time :P  ...

Food however - ALWAYS GETS NOTICED!!!!!!!