Little Box Brownie

A Baking Blog from Melbourne, Australia

GInger

Gingerbread Men

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To My Dear Readers,

Wishing you a very Merry Christmas, I hope you are having a wonderful day with family and friends. I hope you have all eaten far to much and enjoyed some great Christmas food. We have just finished our lunch and are all having a bit of a rest before hitting the desserts. So I thought I would post this while I had a chance….

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Ginger Loaf

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Hello My dear loyal readers, sorry I have been so slack in posting anything, I hope you are still out there and haven’t lost interest in my little blog.

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I thought it was about time I pulled my head out of the sand and put something up. So today I give you a ginger loaf, which is so comforting as winter has approached and you want something filling and satisfying. Its pouring with rain at the moment in Melbourne and doesn’t show any signs of stopping, good for the garden, but not good for the washing. The type of weather its best to stay in bed and keep the blankets firmly pulled over your head, which is exactly what I did….

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Believing in a dream

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I have some very exciting news to let you in on. I’m publishing a baking book with the help of the amazing team at Random House NZ. Can you believe it? I can’t, Its been such a long road to get here.
I started the book about 4 or 5 years ago, long before I started the Blog. A baking book was something I felt like I had to do in my life time. So one day I simply started it, not knowing if I would finish it and not knowing if anyone would want to print.
I took it one step recipe at a time. My plan was to get to 100 recipes, slowly and surely the book began to take shape, the further I got into it, the more it began to excite me that I was actually doing it and it was really taking shape. It took me about 2 years to complete, a real labor of love. I didn’t tell anyone really what I was doing, except my family and a few close friends, in someway I guess I was embarrassed to let anyone in on my little secret. What if it was a huge flop and I didn’t finish it, what if I was just wasting my time and it would never see the light of day. So day in day out I plugged away in secret, distributing all the baked goods to neighbors and friends who remained unaware they were my taste testers. They really helped form the shape and the direction of the book and so I owe them a huge thank you.

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Gingery Vanilla Slice

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Who loves vanilla slice? I don’t mean that awful stuff they sell at a lot of bakery’s, that rubber that they try to pass off as vanilla slice, I mean the fresh home made slice, the slice that tastes fresh and most importantly tastes real. The slice that when you bite into, it just ooze’s out and has to be licked from the plate. Its not the most perfectly lady like slice to eat, but wow how worth it it is to make yourself.
Have you ever made it? No? Well jump to it! I have a wonderful vanilla slice just for you, with a little bit of a twist. I’ve added a smudge of crystallised ginger to the mix which gives this slice a new and revived taste, equally as good as the original. As a bonus it has little chewy gingery bits, amazing.

Happy baking.
Sophia xxx

P.S Check out the awesome article on The Vivant ‘Top 25 blogs to book mark now’, they have included Little Box Brownie with some of the most fantastic blogs and have given me the most amazing write up, I am so thankful for the kind words. Please check it out.

Gingery Vanilla Slice
2 sheets store bought puff pastry 
1 1⁄2 cups milk 
1 cup cream 
5 egg yolks 
2⁄3 cup white sugar 
1⁄4 cup of cornflour 
2 teaspoons ground ginger
1/2 cup of crystallised ginger
Preheat oven to 180°C 
Cut both pieces of puff pastry to the size of the cake tin if you don’t have one the same size as the puff pastry otherwise use that. Place both sheets of puff pastry on a baking tray with another baking tray over the top of the pastry this is so it doesn’t puff too much. Bake until golden. Place one of the sheets into the cake tin.
Meanwhile, to make the filling, place the milk, cream, yolks, sugar, cornflour, ground ginger and the crystallised ginger into a saucepan over a low heat. Whisking constantly until the mixture becomes thick. Pour over the sheet of puff pastry. Place the other sheet of pastry on top. Cover with cling wrap and place in the fridge for 6 hours to set.