What a surprise it was to find an email in the Bake Club mail box from Christoph Vogel from The Aucklander saying he would like to do a story about Bake Club! It was the day before I was going to the US for a month so I quickly answered some questions via email. Christophe also wanted a pic. I thought it would look much better if I actually had some baking in front of me so after dinner that night I made the quickest batch of shortbread ever. But because I was going away ...

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It was my birthday and I requested this from dear Mama Chan, and she obliged!

2 Tbs caster sugar
125 g plain dark chocolate
2 Tbs brandy or coffee
4 eggs, separated, plus 2 extra egg whites
icing sugar to serve

Preheat oven to 200 C. Butter a 1 litre soufflé dish and dust out with 1 Tbs caster sugar. Break chocolate into pieces and put into a double boiler or a bowl set over a saucepan of simmering water with the brandy or coffee.Set over medium heat and stir ...

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I have wonderful memories of this when I was a child, when we called it wang wang pie.
Pastry;
2 c plain flour, 1/4 tsp salt, cold water
Sift flour and salt, cut in butter and mix until a stiff dough. Put in fridge.

Filling, mix together in saucepan over gentle heat for 5-10 mins:
1/4 c cornflour
2 Tb custard powder (optional)
3/4 c sugar
2 tsp lemon rind
1/4 c lemon juice
3 egg yolks
1 Tb butter

Meringue, beat together:
1/4 c caster sugar
1/4 tsp vanilla
3 egg whites

Roll out pastry, line 20cm flan tin. Cov...
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I felt inspired to make these soda bread biscuits with caraway, 
lemon zest and raisins for a friend who recently had a baby.
I never understand how Americans use the term 'biscuit' but this 
is more akin to a scone in process - ie you rub in the butter... 

3 cups all purpose flour
1/4 cup to 1/2 cup of sugar (depending on how sweet you want them)
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon Kosher salt
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
2 teaspoons caraway seeds*
1/2 to 1 cup of raisins*
1 1/4 cu...

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Mama Chan taught me how to make these and I am pleased to have been able
to show a few friends the technique, and now I can share it with the world wide web!

Makes about 20.
1 c boiled kumara, peeled and mashed (purple flesh but you can use the orangey ones if you like)
1 ½ c glutinous rice flour (available at Asian grocers. This does not have gluten in it;
it’s called glutinous because of the sticky nature of the flour when it’s cooked)
½ c sugar (could be icing, ...

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I'm on a roll with soup. I know this one looks a bit like the gazpacho I made (tomato is tomato is tomato)
but this one is roasted, and uses tomatoes from Nabby, a very special suburb in Auckland
(Nic and Ben’s Back Yard). The recipe is adapted from Heidi Swanson’s Super Natural Cooking.

5 tomatoes, cored and quartered
1 large red capsicum, seeded and quartered
3 onions, quartered (Heidi uses brown onions)
salt and pepper
5 cloves garlic, unpeeled
3 c vegetable s...

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