APPLE MUFFINS:

Now famous: served on our half day charters around Paterson Inlet, Stewart Island.

For 12 muffins (use muffin tin)
2 cups of flour
4 teaspoons of Baking Powder
Half cup ordinary sugar
100gms Butter
Quarter cup of dry milk powder or (one cup of fresh milk, I use milk powder)
1 egg
One cup pureed Apple

Sieve first two dry ingredients into a large bowl. Add sugar and milk powder (if using powder) In a pot or using a microwave, melt butter, remove from heat add one cup of water if using the milk powder, (add the fresh milk if using whole milk) one egg. Beat to combine the three. Combine liquid with pureed Apple and dry ingredients. Do not overmix. Mixture should be folded in using a spoon. Grease muffin tins, Three quarter fill pan.

Combine with second measure of sugar 1 tablespoon with half teaspoon Cinnamon. Sprinkle on muffins before baking. Bake 220 degrees C for 12-15 minutes until muffins spring back when pressed in the middle. Remove from oven, let stand for 2-3 minutes.

THE SECRET TO MAKING GOOD MUFFINS IS NOT TO OVER MIX.

------------------------------------------------------//------------------------------------------------------

Chocolate Slice

2 packets of Superwine Biscuits (crushed)
250grams of Butter
2 tablespoons Cocoa
Vanilla
2 eggs, beaten
1 cup of Sugar
Walnuts (optional)
Desiccated Coconut

Melt butter slowly, add everything except crushed biscuits, bring nearly to the boil then add crushed biscuits
(still have pot on a low heat).
Pour into square Sponge Roll tin ,mixture should be about 2 cm thick.

ICEING:-

Melt 50 grams of butter, add, 1-2 heaped tablespoons of Cocoa, 1 and half cup Icing Sugar and 2 tablespoons of boiling water. Half teaspoon Vanilla.
Mix to smooth, ice biscuit base when hot. Sprinkle with dry Coconut, shake out excess. Refrigerate until icing set. Cut into small portions.

------------------------------------------------------//------------------------------------------------------

Chocolate Chip Biscuits

125 grams butter
50 grams (2 tablespoons) sugar
1 cup flour
1 teaspoon Baking Powder
2 teaspoon Sweetened Condensed Milk
2 tablespoons Chocolate Chip

Cream butter and sugar add rest of ingredients, place small biscuit size balls of mixture onto greased baking tray, flatten mixture with fork. Bake 12-15 minutes in moderate oven.

------------------------------------------------------//------------------------------------------------------

Tararua Biscuits.

This is an old high energy NZ hiking favourite, our guests love it.

250 gm Butter,
1½ cups Brown sugar
½ tin sweetened condensed milk
2 cups flour
2 cups rolled oats
2 tsp baking powder
½ cup coconut

melt butter, sugar & condensed milk together in a large pot. Add flour, rolled oats and baking powder.
Divide in half and spread each half onto a greased tray.
Spread with a knife into 30 cm squares, keeping edges neat & straight.
Cook @ 150 deg C for 10 to 15 minutes, till light golden brown.
Cut each tray into 25 biscuits (5 * 5. Gently loosen, move and leave on tray.
To harden biscuits a little more, return to oven which has been turned off and leave another 5 to 10 minutes.
When cold pack in airtight container plastic bags.
Will keep for up to a month.
½ of a cup of dried apricots, prunes, figs, sultanas, currents, nuts or seeds may be added to vary the biscuit

------------------------------------------------------//------------------------------------------------------

Sultana Cake

500 grams sultanas (raisins or currants),
250 grams butter,
3 eggs,
350 gram sugar (one and half cups of sugar),
Half teaspoon Vanilla Essence,
350 grams flour ( three and three quarter cups),
1 teaspoons Baking Powder.

 Cover fruit with water, boil five minutes then strain well.
 Add the butter and stir until melted
 Beat eggs, sugar and vanilla essence until thick and creamy and then add to fruit/butter.
 Add sifted flour and baking powder.
 Put into lined baking tin (20-22cm square)
 Bake 1.5 hours at 170 degrees C for 30 minutes. 150 degrees C for 60 minutes.

Ps You can add a 150 gram packet of mixed peel or cherries or ginger if you feel like – don’t boil.

------------------------------------------------------//------------------------------------------------------

Paddy’s Sultana Cake

4oz or 100grams Butter
1 cup white sugar
480gm Crushed Pineapple or Pineapple Pieces crushed using a blender
1lb or 500 grams of Sultanas
1 teaspoon of Mixed Spice
1 teaspoon of Baking Soda
Boil together, add the Baking Soda last, take off heat and cool.
In a bowl add 1 cup of Standard Flour
1 cup of Self Raising Flour
Add two beaten eggs.
Mix the cooled mixture to the flour/egg mixture, fold ingredients.

Line a cake tin with baking paper, I use a 22cm x 22 cm cake tin.
Place piece of baking paper on top of cake mixture then place cake in the middle of oven,
Please make sure there is no way the paper will catch fire, keep it away form flame or hot bars. The baking paper on top of cake prevents Sultanas on the surface of the mixture burning.
Bake in oven 30 minutes on 170 degrees Centigrade then lower temperature to 150 degrees Bake a further hour,
I check the cake every 30 minutes Gas ovens seem to bake quicker .

------------------------------------------------------//------------------------------------------------------

Neiman-Marcus Cookies

this recipe and explanation turned up as an email. really nice biscuits, very rich  and  the story tickled us so here it is.

...........Maybe this is a little vindictive but every once in a while I have to smile when a company is taught by a thinking citizen.

Now for a snippet of background, the company I am talking about in particular is Neiman-Marcus, a big expensive store where they can sell a nice $8.00 t-shirt for $50.00.

My story

My daughter and I had just finished a salad at a Neiman-Marcus café in Dallas. We decided to round up the meal with a small dessert. We are both cookie lovers and we chose to try THE Neiman-Marcus cookie. It was delicious and I asked if they could give me the recipe. The waitress replied with a small frown “I’m afraid not, but you can buy the recipe”.
I asked how much and she responded; “only two-fifty, it’s a great deal!” I eagerly agreed to that and told them to add it to my tab.

Thirty days later, I received my VISA statement and the Neiman-Marcus charge was $285.00. I looked at it again; I remembered that I had only spent $9.95 on two salads and $20.00 on a scarf. Puzzled I glanced at the bottom of the statement, it said, “Cookie recipe $250.00”- That’s outrageous!

I called Neimans’ accounting department and related the misunderstanding to them, how the waitress had misleadingly told me “two-fifty”, which clearly does not mean “two hundred and fifty” by any reasonable interpretation of the phrase.

Neiman-Marcus refused to budge. They would not refund any of the money because according to them “What the waitress told you is not our problem. You have already seen the recipe. We absolutely will not refund your money at this point”

I explained to the accounting lady the criminal statues, which govern the state of Texas. I threatened to report them to the better business bureau and the Texas Attorney general General’s office for engaging in fraud.

I was basically told, “Do what you want”. Don’t bother thinking of how you can get even and don’t bother trying to get your money back.

I simply replied, “you folks got my $250, now I’m going to have $250 worth of fun” I told her I was going to make sure every cookie lover in the U.S.A with an e-mail account would have a Neiman-Marcus recipe.

She replied, “I wish you wouldn’t do this”

I said, “Well perhaps you should have thought of that before you ripped me off!” and with that slammed down the phone.

I hope you enjoy this exclusive $250 recipe and pass it onto every one you know. It would make me happy to know that they will not make another penny from this recipe.

NEIMAN-MARCUS COOKIES

(Recipe may be halved or even quartered for home use) We found it a bit heavy for our mixer and put an extra egg in the half recipe.

I use my mothers old mixer, at least 55 years old, and built like a baby concrete mixer.

2 cups of butter
18ozs grated chocolate bar
24 ozs chocolate chips
5 cups blended oatmeal
4 cups of flour
4 eggs
2 cups brown sugar
2 tsp. Baking powder
2 tsp soda
2 tsp vanilla
1 tsp salt
3 cups chopped nuts
2 cups sugar

Blend the oatmeal into a fine powder.
Cream the butter and both sugars,
Add the eggs and vanilla.
Mix with the flour, oatmeal; salt; baking powder and soda.
Add the chocolate chips, grated chocolate and nuts.
Roll into balls and place 2” apart on the cookie tray
Bake for ten minutes @ 375 degrees f.

Makes approx. 112 cookies

------------------------------------------------------//------------------------------------------------------