Last month, my full-time job was made redundant (thanks global financial crisis!) and being unemployed for five weeks prior to Christmas has made it tough in the money stakes, but luckily Mr. VISA has since come to my rescue.  For the last fortnight, I have been ringing up the credit, running around like a headless chicken and narrowly avoiding car bingles as I fought with the million other shoppers for a parking space, to buy presents for family, presents for friends, presents for my boyfriend (whoo, Guitar Hero World Tour!), presents for several Kris Kringles and finally, to keep myself sane, a small present or two for me (a pretty scarf and a Moleskine diary). Phew!

Money troubles aside, I do love the festive season as I get to spend time with my family and friends, enjoy summer at it’s best and in true Australian tradition, I love to eat the copious amounts of food at the numerous BBQs which frequent my December calendar. There’s nothing that says Christmas more to me than a few burnt sausages, a juicy slice of watermelon for dessert and a suntan from sitting outside eating all day.

Although unemployed and having lots of “spare” time up my sleeve,  I have been rather slack in the baking department and I didn’t do any Christmas baking this year. No gingerbread house/men, no shortbread, no sweets. Although a blessing in disguise for everyone’s waistlines and arteries, I still feel a little guilty. So today, on New Year’s Eve Eve, I made a big batch of passionfruit marshmallows to share with my family and friends who missed out on the usual goodies that I make. These marshmallows are the most fluffiest, softest and tastiest morsels of sweetness they will ever encounter so hopefully all is forgiven!

Hope you’ve all had a wonderful Christmas and here’s to a Happy New Year! :)

Passionfruit Marshmallows

Recipe by pastry chef Catherine Adams of Rockpool found in the December 2007 edition of Gourmet Traveller.

180ml passionfruit juice (you’ll need around 10 passionfruit)

500g caster sugar

20g powdered gelatine

2 eggwhites

snow sugar, for dusting (Snow sugar is icing sugar with vegetable fat, cornflour and dextrose added to prevent the sugar from absorbing moisture and dissolving. Icing sugar/confectioner’s sugar is a suitable substitute if you can’t obtain snow sugar)

1. Lightly grease and line a 17cm x 25cm shallow cake pan an dust base liberally with snow sugar. Combine passionfruit juice with gelatine in a bowl and set aside.
2. Combine caster sugar and 1 cup water in a saucepan and coojk over low heat, stirring, until sugar dissolves, then increaseheat to medium and cook for 5-10 minutes or until syrup reaches 125C on a sugar thermometer. Remove from heat, add passionfruit mixture to syrup and stir until gelatine dissolves. Meanwhile, using an electric mixer, whisk eggwhites and a pinch of salt until frothy. Gradually add passionfruit mixture, whisking continuously on medium speed until mixture has doubled in size, then slowly decrease speed and mix until mixture is warm (about 40C). Pour into prepared cake pan, and using a lightly oiled spatula, spread evenly, then dust top liberally with snow sugar. Stand at room temperature for 3 hours or until firm. Using a sharp, serrated knife dusted with snow sugar, cut marshmallow into squares and roll in snow sugar to coat.

Store in an airtight container between sheets of baking paper at room temperature for up to two weeks.

One of my most favourite goodies to bake and eat are cookies. They are always so simple to prepare, the perfect accompaniment to a cup of tea or coffee and I never feel guilty when I eat more than a few (as opposed to eating a huge chunk of cake or pie).

Four reasons why I love to make cookies:

• Cookies are so versatile and can be made with a myriad of flavours. They can be spicy with ginger, cinnamon, cloves and nutmeg or rich with chocolate, coffee or vanilla.  They can be chunky with nuts, dried fruit, oats or chocolate. Sweet fillings such as caramel or jam can be used to sandwich them together, making them even more yummy!
• They are the simplest things to bake and with the average cooking time of around twelve minutes, you always get to eat a few while you wait for the other batches to cook.
• If they are roll out cookies, you can make them in any shape you like. It’s a great excuse to collect as many cookie-cutters as you can and fun edible shapes are perfect for kids.
• There is less washing up, as I never have to wash the trays as I use baking paper I just toss into the bin after I’m done. Huzzah!

Roll your sleeves up and try your hand at these delicious chocolate cocoa cookies.  They are so easy to make and even easier to eat. They especially go down very well with a tall glass of ice cold milk. Enjoy!

Double Chocolate Cookies

Recipe from ‘Simply Bill’ by Bill Granger.

250g unsalted butter, softened

350g brown sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 eggs, lightly beaten

2 ½ cups (310g) plain flour

½ cup (60g) cocoa powder

2 teaspoons baking powder

2 teaspoons salt

350g dark chocolate, roughly chopped

1. Preheat the oven to 180°C.
2. Beat together the butter and saugr until light and creamy. Add the vanilla and eggs and stir together well. Sift in the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder and salt and mix until just combined. Fold in the chocolate.
3. Place large spoonfuls of the mixture on paper-lined baking trays, leaving room for spreading.
4. Cook in batches for 15 minutes, until the bases are cooked. Cool on trays.

Makes around 40.