Macadamia Nut Ice Cream recipe

Temperature is rising, let's get ready for Summer! 

I've got a great recipe for you today! I've been using this recipe every time I make this ice cream. It is the family favourite!

This recipe makes about 2 quartz.

The ice cream machine that I'm using is a Cuisinart Ice Cream Maker 1.5quartz. 

All you need:

2 eggs

1 cup sugar

875 ml thickened cream

375 ml milk

2 tsp vanilla extract

pinch of salt, fine

1 1/2 cups Macadamia nuts, roasted and chopped (make sure to roast nuts first before chopping) 

All you have to do:

1 - a) Put nuts in a dry frying pan until the aroma wafts upwards and the nuts are golden-brown. Keep shaking the pan so that they don't burn on one side and stay too pallid on the other.
OR
b) In the oven for about 15 minutes at 180degrees C. Toss/stir occasionally so that it doesn't burn. Roast until the aroma wafts upwards and the nuts are golden-brownTransfer to a plate and let cool.

2 - Put eggs and sugar in a bowl over a double boiler. Whisk continuously until the sugar dissolves and the mixture comes to a ribbon stage or holds a figure of '8'. Here is how (watch 0:00-0:08).

3 - Pour thickened cream and milk into the bowl and mix. The quicker you cool the mixture down the smoother the ice cream will be. Best to have the cream and milk combined together sitting in the freezer.

4 - Cling wrap mixture and keep in freezer until very chilled. Preferably overnight. 

5 - Start your ice cream machine before you pour mixture into machine, churn for 20-25 minutes until soft serve consistency or follow your ice cream maker's manual. Add roasted macadamia nuts 

(make sure the nuts are cool before adding), let it churn for another 5 minutes or so. 

6 - Transfer to a container, cover and keep in freezer. Ice cream should be ready to eat after 6 hours or so. I usually have mine the next day. Ice cream can be kept for about 5 days in the freezer.

* to get that smooth creamy consistency, is to make sure that your liquid is made out of 70% cream and 30% milk. This is because domestic ice cream makers are slow churners compared to commercial ones, thanks to Peter Gilmore's tips.

Want to know more about Ice creams? Did you know there are 9 different types of ice creams?

Enjoy! :)

Kitchen Essentials Part 5 : How long can you store your ingredients?

Ever wonder where to store baking ingredients and what is the shelf life on them? Don't worry, I'm here to help. It is important to store ingredients properly to ensure the freshness of it. The worst thing is to use stale ingredients or ingredients that are not as fresh as it should be.

You can use jars, air-tight containers, sealable bags to store your ingredients. Don't forget to write the purchase or expiry date of the ingredients so that you're able to keep track.

It is also good to know which ingredients you use on a regular basis and which you don't. That way, it can help give you an idea on where you should store them. 

I have here a short list of examples on what, where and how long you can keep the ingredients.

Egg - See how to test the freshness?* 

I hope that this list will help give you some guidance on what you should and can do.

At the end of the day, just taste or smell the ingredients, if something doesn't smell alright, it's time to replace it. Also, from my experience usually ingredients that are kept properly especially when kept in the freezer or the fridge, lasts longer than the expiry date. But hey, at the end of the day, use your senses to lead you! 

Happy organising! :)

Kitchen Essentials Part 4: Measurements Cheat Sheet

pic: loosingthefatgirl

I've been searching high and low for cheat sheets like this. If you're like me, you'll love this! All these information was compiled from various sources and some are from my own. I will update the list as we go!

Make sure that you use the right measuring method, see tips - Kitchen Essentials Part 3: Basic Baking Measuring 

Basic measurements 
1 cup = 250ml
1/2 cup = 125ml
1 tablespoon = 15ml
1/2 tablespoon = 7.5ml
1 teaspoon = 5ml
1/2 teaspoon = 2.5ml

Eggs (small) - around 50g

Oven temperature
It is always 20 degrees Celsius lower if you're using Fan-forced instead of Conventional.

The lists below are based on 1 cup measurement.

Flour
Plain, self raising - 150g
Plain, wholemeal - 160g
Bread - 160g
Buckwheat - 150g
Chickpea (besan) - 150g
Cornflour - 150g
Gluten-free (plain & self-raising) - 135g
Maize - 180g
Oatmeal - 140g
Potato - 150g
Rice - 200g
Rye - 125g
Semolina - 180g
Soya - 125g

Chocolate/Dairy
Butter - 250g
Choc (coarsely grated) - 100g
Choc bits - 190g
Choc melts - 100g
Cocoa - 100g
Sour Cream - 240g
Yoghurt - 280g

Sugar/Spread
Glucose (liquid) - 350g
Golden syrup - 350g
Honey - 360g
Jam - 320g
Marmalade - 340g
Peanut butter - 280g
White sugar - 220g
Raw sugar - 220g
Demerara sugar - 220g
Brown sugar (firmly packed) - 220g
Icing sugar - 160g
Treacle - 360g

Nuts
Almonds (flakes) - 80g
Almond (meal/ground) - 120g
Almond (slivered )- 140g
Almond (whole kernels blanched) - 160g
Brazil Nut (kernels) - 160g
Cashews (whole) - 150g
Hazelnut (whole) - 140g
Hazelnut (meal/ground) - 100g
Macadamias (whole) - 140g
Peanuts - (whole) - 140g
Pecans - (whole) - 120g
Pine nuts - 155g
Pistachios (in shell) - 175g
Pistachios (no shell) - 140g
Walnuts (whole) - 100g

Dried Fruits (coarsely chopped)
Apples - 60g
Apricots - 150g
Cranberries - 130g
Currants - 160g
Dates (seeded) - 140g
Mixed dried fruits - 160g
Mixed peel - 170g
Peaches - 150g

Misc
Berries (mixed frozen) - 150g
Cherries (glace whole) - 200g
Coconut (desiccated) - 80g
Coconut (flaked) - 50g
Coconut (shredded) - 75g
Ginger (glace whole) - 230g
Ginger (crystallised whole) - 220g
Peaches (glace chopped) - 250g
Prunes (with seeds) - 180g
Prunes (no seeds) - 170g
Raisins - 180g
Rhubarb (coarsely chopped) - 110g
Sultanas - 160g

Wheats/Grains
Cornflakes - 40g
Muesli (natural) - 110g
Muesli (toasted) - 130g
Rice bubbles - 35g
Rolled Oats - 90g

*sources from The Australian Women's Weekly Q&A Bake, Annabel Langbein, and my own.

Happy cheating! :)

Go Nutty for Nutella!

Yay, I received the thumbs up for my Nutella Cake :)


Dear brought it to work for his colleagues since it was his birthday, and I brought some to the office too.


The Nutella Cake was moist and not dry at all.


The dark chocolate complemented the sweetness of the Nutella which balanced the taste :)


Oh, it is a flourless cake too, just made from yummy chocolatey ingredients.


This recipe was adapted from Nigella Lawson.


I had a few complications along the way, especially when I first put in my cake, I had the greased paper in the tin before I poured the batter, and when I put it in the oven, it caught fire! I panicked, but I reacted quickly to save it. What happened was, my greased paper was too high up, heheh, and when I put it in the oven, it touched the touch of the heating element, and yea, it caught fire, but dont worry, no big dramas :)


I baked my cake longer than what the recipe stated, because I find that it was still watery, and wanted to make sure that it bakes properly. It was my darling's birthday, and I guess the pressure was on, because I really wanted to make it perfect :) What more, I've got to choose a cake that I've not done before..hehe..It's okay, he likes his Nutella, that's why :)


Enough of talking, I present to you my Nutella cake.

Look at the inside, all moist and chocolatey (I know, so much chocolate sauce :) )

Try this recipe, it is a lot of work, but if you're a Nutella fan, or a Chocolate fan, this is worth making :)

I've been trying to paste the recipe in here, but it keeps shutting down my browser.

I'll post it some other time or you could just google Nutella Cake recipe.

On another note, I feel like baking again tonight, as much as I'm so so extremely tired. Just thinking, what should I bake? Perhaps another cake? I bought Tim Tams, maybe a Tim Tam's cheesecake?

We shall see, update you on it later.