White chocolate, raspberries and macadamias

What could be more wonderful than baking on a Sunday afternoon for your family? They will love you! If you haven't already realised, I have a great love affair with food, and this weekend I treated my mouth to delicious farm rye with handcrafted chili cheese, smoked mozzarella, camembert, pestos, humus, my mom's warmly baked scones with jam and whipped cream, and chocolate fudge cake. Extend the love affair, and treat your family, or those loved ones around you, with white chocolate, raspberry and macadamia brownies, well actually "blondies" :)

What you need?

• 125g butter, chopped
• 200g white chocolate (or more, much more!!)
• 3/4 cup (165g) caster sugar
• 2 eggs, beaten lightly
• 3/4 cup (110g) cake flour
• 1/2 cup (75g) self raising flour
• 100g of white chocolate, extra, chopped
• 1/2 cup (75g) macadamias, toasted and chopped coarsely
• 150g fresh or (thawed) frozen raspberries
• 1 Tbsp of icing sugar, to sprinkle

What you do?

1. Preheat the oven to 180-190C /(or 350-375F).
2. Grease a cake tin, and line with baking paper (which I didn't do... and it turned out alright-ish)
3. Melt the butter and white chocolate in a glass bowl placed above a pot of boiling water, stirring over the low heat, without boiling, until the mixture is lovely and smooth. Cool until just warm.
4. Sitr in the sugar, eggs, sifted flours (and you all know that this is for hardcore bakers only, us lazy one just throw it all in), add in the extra chocolate pieces, nuts and raspberries.
5. Place the mixture into the pan and spread out.
6. Bake for 40 minutes, or until firm, allowing to cool within the pan. Dust with icing sugar, cut into slices and let them sweetly kiss your tastebuds. 

A burst of flavour!

The weather these past few days has been phenomenal! Let's celebrate the warmth, the sunshine, the birds singing with this very easy (and guiltless) berry frozen yoghurt recipe! My mom makes it and we just devour this treat :)

Take a punnet, or however many you so desire, of berries - strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, cherries, blackberries - and puree them into a smooth, fine, or chunky (your preference) mixture.

Add this richly coloured berry mixture into a bowl of plain low fat vanilla yoghurt.

Add a tablespoon (or more if you wish for a sweeter treat!) of clear honey.

Allow to freeze for a few hours and then enjoy this fresh, tart, burst of summer flavours!

Served well with a scoop of creamy vanilla bean ice-cream and shortbread cookie crumbles if you feel like you need to indulge just a little bit :)

A taste of summer!

How to make a very yummy berry ice-cream*

Take 2 punnets of berries: strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, cherries, blackberries! Place them in a pot with some water and castor sugar and boil to soften, until it creates a sort of syrup with the berries still whole.

Whip up some double cream while in a separate bowl until smooth and thick, careful not to overwhip it.

Add the berry mixture to the whipped cream.

Slice up a firm, tart fruit, such as a nectarine or peach, and add to the cream mixture.

To add a sweet crunch, crush some meringues into the cream mixture.

Slowly fold the mixture over to marble the cream with the berries, syrup, fruit and meringues. Gently scoop the cream mixture into a freezer proof bowl and allow to freeze for at least four hours before you enjoy your summer berry medley ice-cream!