​This salad is delicious.

Everything works together so beautifully-the chicken-the egg-the salad-the mayonnaise.

This is very easy to make, a great midweek dinner as it really is so easy, while the chicken is baking, you just prepare the other things.

If you don't want to make your own mayonnaise, just add some lemon juice and salt to store bought mayonnaise (I like Thomy mayonnaise myself) and it will make it taste better and kind of homemade.
If you try and make this mayonnaise and it looks as if it splits or curdles, the addition of a little boiling water can bring it together.

I have added celery into the recipe (as it is in the original recipe) but I really don't like raw celery so I don't actually put it in when I make this.

​A great midweek meal, tastes so good, with very little effort.

​Recipe adapted from Bill Granger's Cookbook 'Easy'

Serves 4-6

1kg chicken thigh cutlets, skin on
1 lemon, halved
1/2 ciabatta, torn into chunks
2 tablespoons olive oil
4 eggs
1 small ice berg lettuce, cut into wedges
Handful of celery leaves (optional)
3 celery sticks, cut into 5cm long batons (optional)
Finely chopped chives 

Chive mayonnaise:
2 egg yolks
1 tablespoon lemon juice
250ml (1 cup) light flavoured oil
2 tablespoons finely chopped chives
​

Preheat the oven to 220C/200C fan forced.

Line an oven tray with some baking paper.

Season the chicken pieces on both sides with some salt and pepper, to taste.
Place the chicken pieces, skin side up on your oven tray. Squeeze the lemon juice over the top of the chicken.

Roast for 40-50 minutes, or until the skin is crisp and golden. Approximately 10 minutes before the chicken should be ready, toss the bread with the oil in a bowl, season with salt and pepper, and scatter over and around the chicken in the baking tray, continue roasting for 10 minutes.
​
Meanwhile, bring a small saucepan of water to a simmer over high heat. Add the eggs, reduce the heat and simmer for 5-6 minutes. Drain and plunge in cold water. Peel the eggs, but don't slice until serving, so that the egg yolk runs onto your salad, it adds to the dressing.
​
Chive Mayonnaise: Use a blender to blend the egg yolks, a pinch of salt and the lemon juice, until well combined.
With the motor running, slowly add the oil, 1 tablespoon at a time, until the mixture is thick and creamy. Stir through the chives just before serving.
​
Once your chicken and croutons are ready, remove from the oven. Remove the bread and set aside, allow the chicken to rest in a warm place for 5 minutes.

Slice the chicken.

In a large bowl, place the lettuce, celery leaves and batons (if using). Add the bread and chicken and gently toss it all together.

Divide between serving bowls, slice the eggs onto the salad, with the chive mayonnaise. Sprinkle with the chopped chives.

To save the recipe to your favourites go to www.whatscookingella.com/roast-chicken-salad-and-chive-mayonnaise.html 
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​If you make this recipe, please let me know! Leave a comment below or take a photo and tag me on Instagram or Twitter with #whatscookingella

Recipe adapted from cookingwithmanuela.blogspot.com.au/ 
​
​Makes about 14 sandwich cookies

1/2 cup (100g) caster sugar
2 egg yolks
2 tablespoons milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon salt
170g unsalted butter, softened, cut up into cubes
2 cups (300g) plain flour
about 1/2 cup of jam, your favourite
Icing sugar, to decorate
​
In a large bowl, add the sugar, egg yolks, milk, vanilla extract and salt. Mix with an electric mixer until smooth.

Add the softened cubes of butter, mix well, it will look like it has curdled, that is ok.

Add one cup of the flour and mix until combined. Add the second cup of flour, mix until combined. You may need to finish mixing it with a spoon.

Divide the dough in two, wrap each with baking paper and refrigerate for 20 minutes.

Now place one dough ball on the bench on the baking paper you wrapped it in. Place another piece of baking paper on top and roll out the dough to about 4mm in thickness in between the two sheets of baking paper. I flip the dough over a few times and loosen the baking paper if it looks creased. Refrigerate for 20 minutes. Repeat with the second dough ball.
​
Preheat oven to 175C/155C fan forced. Line two baking trays with baking paper.

Cut into shapes with star shapes (or your favourite shape) cookie cutter, cut out the centres from half of the shapes you cut out. Transfer the shapes and the cutouts to your prepared tray, an egg flipper or spatula helps transfer the biscuits.

Bake for about 10 minutes, until the edges are slightly golden. Don't bake too long or your cookies will be too crunchy.

Allow to cool on the baking tray for 5 minutes, then carefully transfer the cookies to cooling rack.

​Dust the cookies with shapes cut out of them with sifted icing sugar. Spread the bottoms with jam and top it with your icing sugar dusted tops.

Find the recipe at www.whatscookingella.com/christmas-sandwich-cookies.html
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​This one is for those of you that want a simple sweet treat to serve at Christmas. Or it could be a simple treat you might want to do with your kids. This is so easy and they look so cute and only take minutes to make. 

Now pictured I moulded the holly out of fondant. You just buy fondant from the super market, tint it a little and shape it, I do have a fondant leaf cutter, so if you have it, you can make it. But the recipe actually just uses Jaffas and spearmint leave lollies, even easier.

Quick, easy and looks great on the Christmas table.

Recipe adapted from www.taste.com.au 

Makes 12

100g white chocolate melts
12 Arnott's Royals chocolate biscuits
12 Jaffas
Spearmint leaves, cut into smaller leaves
​

Place the white chocolate melts into a heatproof bowl. Place bowl over a pan of simmering water, making sure the water does not touch the bowl. Stir regularly until all the chocolate has melted. Allow to cool for 5 minutes.
​
Spoon the melted chocolate into a sealable plastic bag and make a small snip in one corner of the bag to make it a piping bag. Pipe enough white chocolate on top of the biscuits, allow to drip down the side to resemble custard flowing over the pudding.

Place a jaffa on top and a small spearmint leaf on one biscuit, hold in place until the chocolate sets enough to keep it in place, then repeat with the remainder of the biscuits.

Find the recipe at www.whatscookingella.com/mini-christmas-puddings.html 
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​​If you make this recipe, please let me know! Leave a comment below or take a photo and tag me on Instagram or Twitter with #whatscookingella

​A lot of the time my baking is about my kids. But today it was about me.

I love macadamia nuts, I love white chocolate and I love cookies. For ages I wanted to try these but never got around to it. Well finally today I did, and I loved them.

They are not too sweet, and after baking a few and trying one straight from the oven, I added some salt to the rest of the cookie dough, as I have discovered cookies in general taste better with a little salt. The next batch baked were to me perfect.

I could have made them smaller as they kept their shape well when baking, but I like big chunky cookies.

Also the mix felt dry, but once baked, were perfect, not too hard, yet not too soft.

I will treat myself to these again, as I really did enjoy these cookies.

I also doubled the recipe and it worked perfectly.

Recipe adapted from www.taste.com.au
Makes approximately 12-15 cookies
​
125g unsalted butter, softened
165g brown sugar
1 egg, lightly beaten
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
150g plain flour
160g self raising flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
200g white chocolate, roughly chopped
100g unsalted macadamia nuts, roughly chopped

Preheat the oven to 175C/155C fan forced. Line two baking trays with baking paper.

Using an electric beater, beat the butter and sugar in a large bowl until thick and creamy.

Add the egg and vanilla extract, beat until well combined.

Add the two flours and the salt, now using a spoon, mix it in well.

Add in the white chocolate and macadamia nuts, mix it in well. It will be a thick chunky mixture.

Place spoonfuls of the cookie mixture into your hands and gently press the mixture together into a ball. Place on your prepared baking tray and flatten them a little. Bake for 15-20 minutes or until golden brown.

Remove from the oven and leave on the baking tray to cool for 20 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

​Store in an airtight container.

To save the recipe to your favourites go to www.whatscookingella.com/white-chocolate-and-macadamia-cookies.html
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​If you make this recipe, please let me know! Leave a comment below or take a photo and tag me on Instagram or Twitter with #whatscookingella

​Grease and line the base and sides of a 25cm round springform tin with baking paper. It makes removing the cake so much easier.

For the base: Put the biscuits in a food processor, blitz until fine crumbs form. Pour the crumbs into a bowl. Add the coconut, cinnamon and melted butter. Mix well to combine.

Pour the crumbs into your prepared tin and press firmly into the base of the tin. It will be a thin layer, just enough to cover the base. Refrigerate while you make the filling.

Place the egg whites, sugar, sliced strawberries, lemon juice and vanilla in a large bowl of an electric mixer. Beat on high speed for about 6-8 minutes or until the mixture is very thick and fluffy and the sugar has dissolved. You should not feel the sugar when you rub some of the mixture between your fingers. If you do, beat the mixture a little longer.

Spoon the filling onto the chilled base, smooth the top, cover with some aluminium foil and freeze for at least 4 hours.

​Put the berries, sugar and water in a medium sized pot. Bring to a simmer. Remove from heat and press through a sieve, to extract the juice and remove the seeds. Cool in the refrigerator, until needed.
​
To serve, cut cake into wedges using a knife that has been warmed in hot water. Garnish with fresh raspberries or strawberries on top and drizzle with Berry Syrup to serve.

To save the recipe to your favourites go to www.whatscookingella.com/strawberry-cloud-cake.html
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​This chocolate mousse is creamy and smooth and absolutely delicious. And can I say this is so easy to make, really easy. It has three simple steps, three really simple steps, it sets in about 2 hours and tastes amazing.

The recipe doubles easily, so it is great if you need to make a lot. The size of your glasses or jars will determine how many mousses you will get from this recipe, so plan ahead and double the recipe if needed.

This can be made the day ahead of a party, something I always do. I love when things can be made in advance.

If you are new to mousse making, give this one a try as it is delicious.

Recipe adapted from www.theendlessmeal.com

Makes 6-8 (depends on the size of your servings)

113g dark chocolate, broken into small pieces
28g unsalted butter
2 large eggs, separated
1/8 teaspoon cream of tartar
4 tablespoons caster sugar, divided
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup thickened cream

To decorate: 
1/2 cup thickened cream, whipped
Fresh raspberries and Mint leaves
​

In a large bowl add the chocolate and butter. Place the bowl over a saucepan of simmering water (don't allow the water to touch the bowl) and mixing occasionally, allow the chocolate and butter to melt completely. Once melted quickly whisk in the egg yolks, until completely combined.

Place the egg whites and cream of tartar in a medium sized bowl. Beat with an electric mixer until it begins to foam up. Slowly add in 2 tablespoons of the sugar, whisking until you get stiff glossy peaks.

In another medium sized bowl, add the cream, vanilla extract, and the remaining 2 tablespoons of sugar. Beat with electric beaters until you get stiff peaks.

Now place 1/3 of the egg white mixture into the chocolate mixture and gently fold it in to loosen the chocolate mixture. Add the remaining egg white mixture and gently fold in to combine.

Add all of the cream mixture to the chocolate mixture and fold in gently until all is combined.

Divide the mousse between your serving glasses and place it in the refrigerator to set for at least 2 hours.
​
Just before serving, whip the extra 1/2 cup of whipped cream, dollop evenly onto the set mousse. Top with fresh raspberries and mint leaves.

Find the recipe at www.whatscookingella.com/chocolate-mousse.html 
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