Christmas Sandwich Cookies: These are the perfect biscuit. They taste great, look amazing and are easy to make. Make them in any shape you like, fill them with any jam you love or fill them with nutella, lemon curd or dulce de leche. These will be made in my house for many, many years to come.

Chocolate Chocolate Chip Cookies: These are by far the best cookies I have ever had. They are so chocolatey, any chocolate lover will not stop at one. The salt added balances the sweetness, and when you eat them the saltiness comes through and you get this cross between salty and sweet. These are loved by everyone who has had one. ​

Peruvian Alfajores: While visiting Peru in my families food journey I came across these Peruvian Alfajores. These biscuits are buttery and flaky and absolutely delicious with their dulce de leche filling. They aren't too sweet, which for me makes them the perfect sandwich cookies. I love these biscuits.

Gingerbread Men: Who doesn't love Gingerbread. My daughter certainly loves Gingerbread, if I bake gingerbread, it is because she has requested it and we don't wait for Christmas.
This is my favourite gingerbread recipe. Gingerbread is both fun and easy to make. Now I say men, but we do any shape we like. And as for the icing, just have fun.

Choc Chip and M&M Cookies: If you like chocolate in your chocolate chip cookies, then these are the cookies for you. These are absolutely full of choc chips and m&m's.
They are soft to bite into, which I love, but the ends have a crunch also, which I love. These are a perfect sweet treat.

Monte Carlos: One of my all time favourite biscuits. I absolutely love these. Very easy to make and the perfect sweet treat.

Polka Dot Cookies: I loved making these biscuits with my kids. This is a very simple, cute biscuit recipe to make. Whenever the kids want to bake, these come out. These truly bring a smile to my kids faces.

Almond Bread: The most addictive biscuit on the planet, just try stopping at one. These are delicious and great to have in the house when unexpected guests arrive. I don't know anyone that doesn't love these biscuits.

Chocolate Strawberries: Here is the simplest treat you can ever make for your family and friends. They look amazing. Both adults and kids love these, and they are not that bad for you, I think, anyway.
They are great at parties. They are great after dinner, as a light dessert. They are great as an after school snack. They are great as a cake decoration. They are simply put just great.

Chocolate Rum Truffles: When I make a mud cake, I usually cut off the top of the cake to make it level before icing it. These truffles are my favourite thing to make with that left over chocolate cake. This is simple and delicious.

Crunchy Chocolate Truffles: These crunchy chocolate truffles are so quick and easy to make, and my kids love them. 

Rocky Road: This is probably the easiest sweet treat you could make. And the flavour combinations can be anything you like.
You want a crunch element, a chewy element, but you can add whatever you like, you can add a salty nut, a different nut, jelly lollies, truly whatever you like. Rocky Road is like creating your own chocolate bar.

Apple, Berry and Rhubarb Crumble: One of my families absolute favourite desserts is a crumble and this one is delicious. 

Plum Crumbles: When plums are in season, these individual plum crumbles are delicious and so easy to make. They are fast to prepare and just perfect. My family love these.

Banana Crumb Muffins: This muffin is light and fluffy, with a surprise crunch from the crumble topping. You get a lovely cinnamon flavour from it, and it also has a 'caramelly' flavour from the brown sugar. What is great also is how easy they are to make, you need one bowl and a fork. So easy.

Chocolate Cupcakes: Two of my three kids are born in winter. Trying to soften butter in winter is a nightmare. So I searched for a recipe where butter could be melted to make cupcakes, and I found this recipe.
This is the only chocolate cupcake recipe I make. I have made it for years and am happy with them every time, I no longer even think to try another recipe. They are very quick and easy to make.

Appelbeignets: My family call these Apple Doughnuts. These are delicious, especially when hot, and the batter is crisp. So simple to make, so quick to make. While the oil is heating up, you prepare the apples and batter, cook for three minutes and you're done.

Churros: My daughter is a doughnut fanatic, she truly loves doughnuts. All doughnuts, all shapes and sizes. She had been asking for me to make churros for some time, I kept avoiding it as I thought it will be difficult. Well I was wrong, these are so easy to make, and I mean really easy, I'm talking, in 10-15 minutes you have a batter ready for frying, in 30 minutes, you are already eating churros.

Cinnamon Doughnut Puffs: As I mentioned my daughter loves doughnuts, so while relaxing in front of the TV one day, these came up on one of the food channels, so I knew I had to make these for her. You could not find an easier recipe to make, a few simple ingredients, mixed together in minutes, baked in 12 minutes and you have doughnuts.

Lemon and Coconut Brownies: I love lemon based desserts, I find them very refreshing. So when I saw this recipe, and I had all the ingredients at home, I simply had to make it.
I loved them, they were nice and moist, perfectly lemony and the coconut made them slightly chewy. This is a very nice brownie I will make again and again.

Berry and Apple Slice: This slice is delicious, it is jam packed full of fresh fruit. This is an absolute family favourite in our house.

Madarica: This to me is by far the greatest slice ever to be made. No slice comes close, for me, to perfection as the madarica does. The layering of biscuit and chocolate custard, topped with chocolate, simply amazing. This is a very traditional Croatian slice. This is a must at any festive Croatian occasion. Not an easy slice to make, but if you follow the recipe it will work.

Passionfruit Cheesecake Slice: ​When I was growing up, I don't know a party I went to that my mother was not asked to bring this cheesecake to, and it is still requested today after 30 years of making it. Nowadays when I make it, it is still loved by anyone that tries it. This cheesecake is creamy, yet light and has a lovely flavour.

Chocolate Brownies: My favourite chocolate brownie recipe. Easy to make and something I make quite often when I'm asked to bring a dessert to a party.

Berry Custard Slice: Not many desserts surprise me, but this one did. Why, because I didn't expect the custard to taste like custard the way that it did. I guess with baking I was expecting it to be firmer, but it wasn't, it remained creamy and luscious as custard is, yet it sliced so beautifully and kept its shape, I was truly amazed. This is definitely a recipe anyone who loves berries and custard should try. The custard here is just beautiful with the berries.

Cookies and Cream Cheesecake: After trying many, many recipes I have found my favourite cookies and cream cheesecake recipe. This one is creamy, it is light, it is tasty. I'm pretty sure I won't be looking to find anymore cookies and cream cheesecake recipes, this is it, this one I am happy with.

Salted Chocolate Caramel Slice: This recipe is the easiest caramel slice I've ever made and it is the perfect little sweet treat. 

Wagon Wheel Slice: This is one very popular slice. My family and friends love this and it's ridiculously easy to make.

Choc Vanilla Slice: If I think of a dessert that was my mum's and that everyone loved, this is it. She was asked to make this at every party we went to. It is still one of the best slices I have ever made.

Lemon Meringue Slice: I love lemons in desserts. I love the burst of flavour you get from lemons. 
This slice is lovely, it is fresh, it is full of flavour. This is a dessert I can make with ingredients I have in my pantry. 

​Pho Ga (Vietnamese) simply translates as Chicken Soup.

Before I made this soup we had a few days of eating rich, comforting meals, so I was on the search for something lighter for dinner and I came across this soup. It seemed easy, all the flavours going into it I liked, so I thought I'd try it.

Now originally it is a slow cooker recipe, but I just made it on the stove top. But if you wanted to make it in the slow cooker, use a 5 litre (20 cup) slow cooker and add the ingredients from the first step and cook, covered, on low, for 8 hours.

We love this. The broth was delicious and when you add all the sides to it, absolutely delicious.

Now I don't add the Thai basil leaves, as I don't like the flavour they add, but you add it if you like it. I also don't seed the long red chilli, as I like a little heat in the soup, but you do what you like.

So if you are looking for something simple to make for dinner, that is light, but full of flavour, you need to try this.

Recipe adapted from The Australian Women's Weekly Cookbook 'The Slow Cooking Collection'

Serves 4

1.2kg whole chicken
1 large onion, chopped coarsely
5cm piece fresh ginger, sliced thinly
2 litres (8 cups) water
2 whole star anise
3 green onions, cut into 5cm lengths
2 cinnamon sticks
10cm stalk fresh lemon grass, bruised
1 tablespoon coriander seeds
1/4 cup (60ml) fish sauce
1/4 cup (60ml) lime juice
2 tablespoons brown sugar
200g rice stick noodles
2 cups (160g) bean sprouts
1/2 cup small fresh mint leaves
1/2 cup small fresh coriander leaves
1/2 cup fresh thai basil leaves
1 fresh long red chilli, seeded, sliced thinly lengthways
​1 green onion, extra, sliced thinly
​1 lime extra, for serving
​

Place chicken, onion, ginger, the water, star anise, green onion, cinnamon, lemongrass and coriander seeds in a large saucepan. Bring to the boil, reduce heat to low, bring to a slow simmer and simmer, covered, for 2 hours.
 
Carefully remove the chicken from the saucepan, then shred meat coarsely using two forks; discard skin and bones.
​
Add fish sauce, lime juice and sugar to the stock mixture in the saucepan; stir to combine. Strain the stock through a fine sieve into a another saucepan; discard solids.
​
Place noodles in a medium heatproof bowl, cover with boiling water and stand for 15 minutes or until tender; drain.
​
Divide noodles and shredded chicken among soup bowls. Ladle hot soup over noodles. Serve topped with sprouts, herbs, chilli and extra green onion. Serve with an lime cheek.

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