Naughty vs Nice

I've made no secret of my obsession with the Bourke Street Bakery. It's something I'm not working on in the slightest. I'm happy to have this little problem in my life, OK? So just be quiet. 

Apart from their amazing bread and incredible tarts, their muffins are beyond belief. I haven't made them in a while, but not because I don't love them. I do. It's just that they're a bit naughty. Lots of butter, lots and lots of buttermilk, lots and lots and lots of sugar and dark chocolate and...ahhhh.

I recently made a different type of muffin for a special photo shoot, another one for the Biggest Morning Tea. Now, it wouldn't be fair to compare these ones with the BSB ones. That would be like comparing slow-roasted pork belly with a steamed chicken breast. 

Nonetheless, these ones are very wholesome and still really, really good, especially straight out of the oven. And especially especially if you're baking for your kids and you're a big fat food hypocrite like me.

Want the recipe? Hmm, I thought so.

Nicky Buckley's Banana Muffins

1 cup self-raising flour

1 cup wholemeal self-raising flour

1 cup oat bran

3/4 cup caster sugar

60 g margarine, melted

3/4 cup milk

2 eggs, lightly beaten

1 cup mashed ripe banana (about 2 bananas)

Preheat oven to 180C. Prepare a 12-hole muffin tin with oil.

Mix flour, oat bran and sugar. Make a well in centre. Add combined margarine, milk, eggs and banana, and stir until just combined. Don't overmix - it should still be lumpy.

Spoon into tin and bake for 15 minutes.

Sunday Lovelies

A week's worth of lovely:

1) Back-step Lego

2) Herbs ready for planting

3) Charlotte's web (at sunset)

4) Three in a box, and some biffo to boot

5) Agapanthus in bloom

6) Flying plastic contraptions = hours of entertainment

7) Home-baked tomato, parmesan and basil flatbread, via this.

How was your weekend?

Bready

This is what remained this morning of a Bourke Street Bakery olive oil loaf picked up yesterday on a quick trip back to Sydney. 

That's a couple of kilos of flour and some fresh yeast, picked up at the same time.

I've been going on about wanting to do it since I first moved out of home into my first share house. I've always held baking my own bread up as a lofty ideal, something associated with good honest nurturing and home-making. And aside from a few foccacias and the occasional pizza base, I've never quite managed to get there. 

The gift of this book a while ago has been the biggest inspiration towards the bread-making goal, and now that I can't pop into the Bourke Street Bakery for an olive oil loaf whenever I please, it's time I finally got on with it. That yeast has a two-week fridge 'life'. Clock's ticking...

 And it's on the list, so I guess I have to now.

Bag/Tart

Hello, lovely new bag. Made by moi! Out of some Ikea upholstery fabric and a vintage sheet from the oppy. Using the Everything Tote pattern from 'Weekend Sewing' by Heather Ross.

It replaces the faded old khaki thing that I've been using as my baby bag for the past 17.5 months, which I received as a little bonus with the lovely Bourke Street Bakery cookbook a couple of birthdays ago. (Thank you, Garbageman.) It was designed, no doubt, to carry home one's semi-sour baguette and Sunday morning croissants, but I've been hauling around nappies and wipes and other babyphernalia instead.

And speaking of the Bourke Street Bakery cookbook...

We were invited to brunch last Sunday and grabbed a pear and almond tart from a little French patisserie on the way. Somewhere between pointing to it in the glass cabinet and handing over my 20 bucks, I thought, "I should have made this." When the oldest child, having enjoyed her slice, asked if we could bake one, the deal was sealed. And I turned to the oracle, my Bourke Street Bakery cookbook.

Before we could even get started, there was a trip to the land of all things exquisite and divine for vanilla beans. $34 worth - oops!

Then back home to begin work on the four elements - the sweet shortcrust pastry, the poached pears, the frangipane and the creme patissiere. That was day one out of the way.

Day two - this morning we set to work on assembling our tart. Pastry was rolled. Tins lined and blind-baked. Frangipane and creme patissiere gently folded together. Pears arranged like a glorious sunny-day daisy.

The result? Unbearably good. Far more rustic than the one purchased on the weekend, but tasting just like the BSB ones I've purchased far too many times.

As the Garbageman would say, yumbo yumbo.