honey & buttermilk panna cotta

As much as I love cookbooks, I adore cooking magazines - my absolute favourites being delicious, Australian Gourmet Traveller (if you hadn't already noticed), and Donna Hay. Having a collection of your own personal cookbooks is obviously a necessity, but there's just something about receiving a new, shiny collection of seasonal recipes every month that gets me excited like a five year old on Christmas morning. My boyfriend usually checks the mail, and after he hand delivers me a copy of my newly arrived subscription, my reading ritual is to rip the packet open and immediately flick through the pages, just once through. I "oooh" and I "aaaah" out loud, but then put it down. It's not until I have a cup of tea, and at least half an hour to myself that I sit down and pour over the recipes. Admittedly, some issues appeal to me more thank others, but there is always one or two recipes that simply scream "COOK ME, EAT ME!". In the October/November issue of Donna Hay, the recipes in the entire magazine were all fighting for my attentions.

Out of all of the Summery recipes, Donna Hay's recipe for honey & buttermilk panna cotta has won my heart for the most immediately appealing recipe, which brings me to my third honey recipe for the week. It is so incredibly simple and quick, perfect for a weeknight dessert. Or an any-night dessert, in fact. Just remember to factor in setting time, which is really quite quick.


I dedicate this post to my dear friend Chris as, for some unexplainable reason, panna cottas always remind me of him. So Chris: Get you blog up and running already, forgoodnesssake!

Ingredients (makes 4)
Recipe from Donna Hay

1 tsp gelatine powder
2 tbsps water
1 cup buttermilk
1 cup pouring cream
1/2 cup icing sugar
1 vanilla bean, split and seeds scraped
1 tbsp honey

Sprinkle gelatine over water in a bowl, then stir to combine. Set aside for 5 minutes until the gelatine is absorbed.

Place the buttermilk, cream, sugar and vanilla bean and seeds in a small saucepan over medium heat, and stir until the sugar has dissolved. Add the gelatine and cook, stirring for 2 - 3 minutes until the gelatine has dissolved. Strain and allow to cool completely.

Place 1 tsp honey in the bases of four 1/2 cup capacity glasses. Pour over the cooled cream mixture and refrigerate for at least two hours until set.

I love the texture buttermilk gives to cakes, but this was the first instance I'd used the gorgeous ingredient for anything unbaked. In this instance, it's perfect - the sticky sweetness of the honey lingering at the bottom of the glass is broken up perfectly by the tartness of the buttermilk.

As I previously mentioned, this is really quick recipe to whip up, which makes the final product even sweeter.

Recommended baking soundtrack: Horse Feathers - House With No Home.  

lady grey & honey madeleines

Trying to think of another soft, delicate recipe to take advantage of my current honey obsession, madeleines sprung to mind instantly, and of course they did-- Dainty and light as a feather, madeleines and honey are a perfect match. To make me even happier, I stumbled across a recipe that throws my absolute favourite black tea blend - lady grey - into the mix. I was in heaven.

This recipe is quick and easy, even taking into consideration the recipe's insistence that the mixture needs  time to rest in the fridge for a few hours. It's still so simple to quickly whip up the batter, leave it in the fridge and slide then into the oven for mere minutes as your guests are arriving (or your stomach is rumbling). Your house will also smell absolutely beautiful. 

Ingredients (makes 12 - 16)

Recipe adapted from telegraph.co.uk

70 gms unsalted butter
2 tbsps loose Lady Grey tea, or contents of 2 tea bags
100 gms plain flour
½ tsp baking powder
pinch of sea salt
2 eggs
70 gms caster sugar
2 tbsps honey
1 tsp vanilla extract
½ tsp grated orange zest

Melt the butter in a small saucepan over a low heat, then mix in the tea leaves, swirling to disperse them. Leave for ten minutes to infuse, then pour through a tea strainer. Squish the tea leaves right into the strainer to get as much butter (and flavour!) out of them as possible.

Sift together the flour, baking powder and salt. In the bowl of an electric mixer (with whisk attachment if possible), beat the eggs and sugar together until thick, light and fluffy. Add the honey, vanilla and orange zest and beat for a further minute. Gently fold in the dry ingredients by hand, followed by the tea-flavoured butter. Cover the surface with plastic wrap refrigerate for at least two hours or up to a day. This is essential to allow the flavours to develop.

Preheat the oven to 200C. Thoroughly grease a 12 capacity madeleine tin with either melted butter or cooking spray. Drop about one tablespoon of batter into each mould, not worrying about smoothing the tops as it will spread out during baking. The mixture made 16 madeleines for me, and is fine to be left at room temperature while your first batch bakes if you don't have two tins. Place on the middle shelf of the oven and bake until the madeleines are golden. This will take about ten minutes, but keep a close eye on them, as they brown quickly! Test them with a skewer if necessary to ensure they're ready.

Quickly tap the madeleine tin on the work surface to loosen the cakes before turning them on to a wire rack to cool slightly. Dust with icing sugar to serve, if you can wait that long. 

You can really - not surprisingly by the smell of my house - taste the lady grey tea, albeit a beautiful subtle flavour. I've made some pretty fine madeleines in my time (including a spicy chocolate variety with accompanying dipping sauce) but this is surely the finest. This flavour could not possibly be any more perfect for Spring. 

Recommended baking soundtrack: Best Coast - Crazy For You. 

oh, honey cupcakes with marshmallow icing

Lately, wherever I look I seem to find dreamy, honey inspired sweets. Naomi from hello naomi recently created an absolutely stunning bee hive cake. Linda from Bubble and Sweet made some busy bee cookies, topped with wonderful little bumble bees. And now, Donna Hay's October/November issue is filled with honey inspired desserts, including cookies, panna cotta and bundt cakes. I want in on this action.

I've used a beautiful honey cake recipe to make cupcakes topped with a fluffy, light vanilla marshmallow frosting. I credit my bees to Linda at Bubble and Sweet, though hers are much more inspirational! Don't be put off by the extra work - they are fiddly but so simple, and add so much to the otherwise rather plain looking cupcake.

Ingredients (makes 15)
For cakes:
200 gms unsalted butter, softened
185 gms soft brown sugar
3 eggs
1/3 cup honey, warmed
280 gms self raising flour

For icing:
3 egg whites
1 1/2 cups white sugar
2 tsps glucose syrup
pinch of cream of tartar
1 tsp vanilla bean paste
dash of yellow food colouring

For decorating:
200 gms fondant
yellow food colouring
black food colouring

For the cakes, preheat your oven to 180C. Line two standard muffin tins with 15 paper cases.
Beat the butter and brown sugar until light and cream. Add eggs, one at a time, and beat well after each addition. Fold in the honey and flour until combined. The mixture should be beautiful and creamy.

Divide the mixture among 15 cases and bake for 20 minutes until lightly golden. Transfer to a wire rack immediately and cool completely.

Meanwhile, for your bumble bees, tint roughly 180 gms of fondant yellow to make the bee-bodies. Roll small balls into oval shapes at your desired size. My bees are about 1 - 1.5 cms and this quantity of fondant made about 30 bees. Using either a fine paintbrush or a toothpick, paint stripes, eyes and a smiling mouth on each of your bees. Allow to dry. Using the remaining uncoloured fondant, squish small amounts to form wing shapes. Press two wings onto each bee, using a little water to secure if necessary. Set bees aside to dry and firm up slightly.

The make the marshmallow icing, combine the egg whites, sugar, corn syrup, cream of tartar and 100 mls water in a heatproof bowl (preferably the bowl of your electric mixer to save on washing up). Sit the bowl over a saucepan of simmering water, and whisk quite vigorously for five minutes until mixture is light and foamy. Alternatively, if you you have handheld beaters, you could use these - it will save you time and sweat! Remove from heat. Add vanilla and beat with electric mixers on a high speed until stiff peaks form. Add the food colouring until the desired strength of yellow and beat until just combined.

Generously pipe fluffy icing onto each cake using a plain 1cm tip. Top with a bumble bee. I find it better to secure bees with a toothpick, pierced through the the cake, but this is not necessary.

These cakes were a huge hit at work today, with all 16 being scooped up before I left for the night. Perhaps next time I'll fill them with creamed honey, or even a honey infused custard. Custard makes everything better.

Stay tuned for more honey inspired recipes over the weekend!

Recommended baking soundtrack: Ola Podrida - Belly of the Lion.