Sunday, December 29, 2013

Bagel Bombs Part 2 - Garlic and Cream Cheese Bombs

I think I mentioned in Part 1 of this Bagel Bomb series that I made the sweet potato and bacon bagel bombs because someone attending the party didn't eat cheese? Well, I decided I wanted to have cheese ones anyway, so I made two lots.  I've started making both types every time I make them, just doubling the dough recipe (my awesome new KitchenAid can handle it!). I honestly cannot choose my favourite of these. Everyone else tends to lean one way or the other. I'm happy to eat two though. And usually, two more...

I don't have many photos from these ones, or at all currently. I've been very slack with my food photography . Which is possibly for the best, seeing as my laptop screen is cracked and it's not so easy to process them! Hopefully things will get back on track in the new year!


Dough – adapted from the Momofuku Milk Bar Cookbook:3 ½ cups flour (I used 2 cups plain, 1 cup wholemeal and ½ cup spelt)
1/2 tbsp salt
1 tsp raw sugar
1 1/8 tsp active dry yeast
1 ¾ cups water, at room temperature
1 tablespoon vegetable oil (I used rice bran oil)
Filling
1x 250g packet Philadelphia cream cheese
1 tsp salt
2 tsp sugar
1 clove galic, minced
2 tbsp oil (I used bacon fat)
¼ cup flat leaf parsley leaves, roughly chopped

Egg Wash Topping:
1 egg, at room temperature
¾ tsp freshly ground rock salt
1 tsp sesame seeds
1 tbsp rolled oats, roughly chopped

Heat the oil to medium/low heat in a frypan and add the minced garlic, stir around until fragrant and starting to go golden. Turn off the heat and set aside.

Using a hand beater, blend the cream cheese on low until smooth. Add the garlic (include any oil left in the pan), salt, parsley and sugar, then beat to combine.

Using two teaspoons, roll heaped teaspoonsful of this mixture between the spoons, pushing down to compact slightly and put on a tray lined with baking paper. Put in the freezer for a few hours (while you make the dough) to set hard. This makes it much easier to form the bombs later. You will need 16 balls.

Stir together all of the dry dough ingredients with the hook of your standmixer in the bowl of your standmixer by hand. Add the water, and mix with your hand until it’s mainly come together. Attach the bowl and hook, and beat the dough on low for 5-10 minutes, until it comes together into a smooth ball.  You might need to add more flour to get the right consistency. Lightly coat another large bowl with oil and put the dough ball into it, roll to coat the dough with oil too. Cover with plastic wrap and put in a warm corner for 45 minutes until the dough has almost doubled in size.

Heat the oven to 175C

Punch down and flatten the dough on your countertop. Cut the dough into 16 pieces and loosely cover the dough you aren’t currently forming with the plastic wrap from the bowl earlier to stop it drying out.

Roll each portion into a neat ball in your palms, then use your palm and fingers to stretch out into a flat disc. Place a ball of the filling in the centre, then pull all of the edges up and around the mixture. Pinch shut, then roll the ball gently in your hands to smooth into a neat ball. Place on a lined baking tray.

Whisk egg, then brush each bun with a generous amount. Mix all of the other wash ingredients together in a bowl and sprinkle over the top.

Bake for 20-30 minutes until golden, allow to cool for 5-10 minutes before eating because the filling stays quite hot!

Friday, December 27, 2013

Bagel Bombs Part 1 - Sweet Potato & Bacon


My husband has endured many a shopping trip with me detouring us past the Kitchen Aid Mixers, while I gaze longingly at all their amazing colours, before sighing and getting on with the boring shopping. So when I told him I was entering the Summer Bake-Off recipe, he supported me but was a little less excited than he normally would be. He’s always excited for me to cook more things, because he gets to taste-test them, so it was a little unusual! I chose to make Hot Chocolate Ice Cream Sandwiches (malt ice cream sandwiched between chilli chocolate cookies) and entered the competition.  Fast forward a few weeks to my birthday, and he gives me an I.O.U...if necessary. He was going to buy me a Kitchen Aid for a present, but he’s so confident in the deliciousness of my recipe that he didn’t want to buy one and end up with me having two. He said it was actually a bit of a relief, considering the pressure of picking the right colour! He’d been trying to get me to tell him which one I wanted, but I kept liking several colours.

Sadly, I didn’t win the competition, so Lance and I went and picked out a mixer for a belated birthday present. And the first thing I wanted to make in it is bread. I have been a little addicted to breads lately, and I had tested this recipe before as something  to take to a bring-a-dish Christmas party. I remembered seeing a cheese filled bagel bomb years ago on pinterest. I can’t find the original recipe to link to, but I do remember that the dough and basic idea came from the Momofuku Milk Bar Cookbook. I didn’t get to the Milk Bar in my last NY trip, but we did have udon and pork buns at the Momofuku Noodle bar. The pork buns were amazing! So good! One of the attendees doesn’t like cheese (crazy, I know. Don’t worry, I mock her for this), so I though a vegetable filling would be better. And added bacon. In fact, if you have some, you can sub the bacon mixture from this for ½ cup bacon jam and it’d be delicious!

These are best served straight from the oven, so I par-baked them, then did the last 10 minutes at the venue.

Bagel Bombs Part 2 will be garlic and cream cheese bagel bombs! Both these and the garlic bombs have become my current most-requested dish! Any leftovers are perfect reheated for 10 minutes in the oven for breakfast!


 
Dough – adapted from the Momofuku Milk Bar Cookbook:
3 ½ cups flour (I used 2 cups plain, 1 cup wholemeal and ½ cup spelt)
1/2 tbsp salt
1 tsp raw sugar
1 1/8 tsp active dry yeast
1 ¾ cups water, at room temperature
1 tablespoon vegetable oil (I used rice bran oil)

Filling
2tbsp olive oil
3 medium sweet potatoes
4 rashers bacon, finely diced
1 large garlic clove, minced
½ tsp smokey paprika
½ tsp sweet paprika
½ tsp black pepper
¼ tsp cinnamon

Egg Wash Topping:
1 egg, at room temperature
¾ tsp freshly ground rock salt
¾ tsp raw sugar
½ tsp smoked paprika
sesame seeds optional garnish

Heat the oven to 150C

Split the sweet potatoes lengthwise, rub oil on the split, then place cut-side down onto  a baking tray and bake until soft – around 40 minutes. Set aside to cool.

Heat the olive oil to medium/low heat in a frypan and add the minced garlic, stir around until fragrant and starting to go golden. Add the bacon and fry for 10-15 minutes until brown and crispy. Add the spices and cook through for a minute.

Scoop the now cool sweet potato flesh into a bowl, add the bacon mixture and mix thoroughly to combine evenly. Using two teaspoons, roll heaped teaspoonsful of this mixture between the spoons, pushing down to compact slightly and put on a tray lined with baking paper. Put in the freezer for a few hours (while you make the dough) to firm up. This makes it much easier to form the bombs later. You will need 16 balls.

Stir together all of the dry dough ingredients with the hook of your standmixer in the bowl of your standmixer by hand. Add the water, and mix with your hand until it’s mainly come together. Attach the bowl and hook, and beat the dough on low for 5-10 minutes, until it comes together into a smooth ball.  You might need to add more flour to get the right consistency. Lightly coat another large bowl with oil and put the dough ball into it, roll to coat the dough with oil too. Cover with plastic wrap and put in a warm corner for 45 minutes until the dough has almost doubled in size.

Heat the oven to 175C

Punch down and flatten the dough on your countertop. Cut the dough into 16 pieces and loosely cover the dough you aren’t currently forming with the plastic wrap from the bowl earlier to stop it drying out.

Roll each portion into a neat ball in your palms, then use your palm and fingers to stretch out into a flat disc. Place a ball of the filling in the centre, then pull all of the edges up and around the mixture. Pinch shut, then roll the ball gently in your hands to smooth into a neat ball. Place on a lined baking tray.

Whisk egg, then brush each bun with a generous amount. Mix all of the other wash ingredients together in a bowl and sprinkle over the top.

Bake for 20-30 minutes until golden, allow to cool for 5-10 minutes before eating because the filling stays quite hot!

Oh, and I chose the melon mixer

 

Wednesday, December 18, 2013

Freekeh Salad with Capsicum, Tomato, Zucchini and Pomegranate Molasses Dressing



I don’t tend to follow recipes for salads, and as such I often don’t even think about posting my own. My salads are based on what vegetables I currently have in my fridge, and which of those I feel like eating. I’ll occasionally follow a dressing recipe to the letter, but that’s about the extent of it. And if it’s a green salad I very rarely dress it, so I really don’t think of that being a ‘recipe’ kinda dish. I don’t really think about people putting careful thought into creating their version of the perfect salad, which is a bit rude of me, I guess. For me, it’s all interchangeable. With that said, I do think about getting a harmonious mixture of textures and flavours when I’m rummaging through the fridge and cupboard. Crunch and crisp and soft and squishy all together! But I guess I more think of salads as a side dish, rather than the star. Even though I eat salads every day for lunch and absolutely love them!

This is more of a full meal kinda salad, so I’m giving it it’s day in the sun. I spent the weekend down on Molloy Island gorging on junk food (as well as overeating amazing food at El Rio and Cheeky Monkey) and felt like a nice big salad for dinner, you know, to ‘make-up’ for all the badness. I’ve bulked it up with freekeh, which I tried for the first time in this recipe. It has a nice, chewy texture. But you can substitute for any grain you’d like, I know that freekeh is pretty difficult to find in Perth – not to mention expensive. Brown rice or barley would be nice chewy substitutes. Depending on what grain you cook, you might need to cook the lentils separately. Similarly, walnuts or almonds can be used in place of the cashews. Dried cherries or chopped dates would be good in place of the cranberries. The meat can be anything you’ve got, or none at all. Some parsley and coriander would be welcome additions. The capsicum, tomato and zucchini are wonderful this time of year, so if you’re making it in summer, I’d suggest you stick with those. But hey, it’s up to you. I figure you know what you like!

And, because we re-stocked our wine cellar on the same trip, I highly recommend eating this with a nice big glass of Cape Naturaliste Semillon. You don't want to be too virtuous.

I’ve seen pomegranate molasses in a few supermarkets about the place now (mainly IGAs), but I got mine at the Nanna Shop.



Freekeh Salad with Capsicum, Tomato, Zucchini and Pomegranate Molasses Dressing
½ cup freekeh
¼ cup du puy lentils
3 cups water
1 cup shredded meat (I used a combination of lamb and chicken)
2 roma tomatoes, diced
1 yellow capsicum, cut into strips
1 small zucchini, cut into 1cm rounds, then quartered
2 kale leaves, stripped off the hard rib and shredded
Handful mint leaves
¼ cup cashews, roughly chopped
¼ cup dried cranberries


Dressing
1 tbsp pomegranate molasses
2 tbsp olive oil
1 tsp harrissa paste
2 tsps honey
¼ tsp salt
½ tbsp. apple cider vinegar

Put the freekeh and lentils in a small pot with the water, bring to the boil then simmer with the lid on for about 25 minutes, until the lentils are soft and the freekeh is swollen and chewy. Strain out any excess water and leave to cool slightly.

Prepare all of your vegetables and shredded meat whilst this cooks and put in a big bowl to serve.

Put the dressing ingredients into a jar with a lid and shake vigorously for it all to amalgamate.

Add the lentils and freekeh to the bowl, then pour the dressing in and mix well to combine.

I served mine with a scattering of dukkah, because I had an open jar, some fetta or goat’s cheese would go perfectly as well

Wednesday, December 11, 2013

Signs of Summer - Smokey Chipotle Eggplant and Mango with Black Coconut Rice



One of the signs of summer starting for me is when The Nanna Shop starts selling bags of mangoes. No more paying $4 each for them. Naturally, the first time you see them, you buy a bag. You get home and eat one straight away – because you can. And then you decide what to do for the rest. Given I also had a bag of medium eggplants and knowing that smokey chipotle goes amazingly well with them, this dish was born. I made this two days in a row, with leftovers for lunch both days and I’m still not sick of it. In fact, if I had any mangoes left, I’d be having it for dinner again – but with leftover chicken. You can leave out the meat entirely if you want, I just had some leftover so it went in.

The coconut rice can be made with brown or jasmine rice if you don’t have black. The second day I made it with red rice and white beans, just for something different.

The chipotles in adobo sauce can be a bit tricky to find. I spent 2 years trying to track them down in Perth without luck, so on my trip to the states in June, I bought 2 tins home with me. Since getting back, I’ve found them at IGA in Mt Lawley, Kakulas in Northbridge and Fremantle. The Re Store in Leederville sells Chipotle Tabasco as a substitute (which you should buy anyway because it’s AMAZING and goes on everything).

Given the craziness of this time of the year, I haven’t gotten around to much proper photography lately, so this is another Instagram of Yumness.
 


Chipotle Eggplant and Mango
(serves 4 with rice)
1 medium eggplant, 2cm dice
1 small zucchini (or 6 small yellow squash), 2cm diced
2 tomatoes, diced
1 chipotle in adobo sauce, minced
2 tsp adobo sauce
1 cup shredded roast lamb
2 mangoes, flesh diced
1 tsp smoked paprika
½ tsp salt
30mL shot dark rum
1/3 cup water
1 sprig parsley
1 sprig coriander
 

Black Coconut Rice
¾ cup black rice
¾ cup coconut milk
1 cup water
¼ tsp salt
1 can kidney beans, rinsed and drained


First, start the coconut rice. Add the rice, coconut milk, water and salt to a small pot. Bring to a gentle boil, then turn to low and simmer for 30 minutes until rice is tender.

Heat a large frypan to a medium heat. Add the eggplant, zucchini, tomatoes, mangoes, chillis and sauce, salt, smoked paprika, rum and water. Stir it all around to fully coat everything in the sauce. Turn the heat down to low, cover and simmer for 15 minutes. Add the lamb, and heat through for a further 3 minutes or so.

Add the kidney beans to the rice and allow to heat through for a few minutes.

Just before serving, stir the parsley and coriander through the eggplant mix. Squeeze a little kewpie mayonnaise over the top when serving

If you then have any mangoes left, you should definitely give this soufflé a try! Delicious with fresh mangoes on the side

Thursday, December 5, 2013

Using Leftovers - Ricotta and Chicken Stuffed Silverbeet



As often as we can, my husband and I try to drive “down south” to Molloy Island. It’s a little residential island in the Blackwood River in the Augusta/Margaret River area. It’s about a 4 hour drive from where I live, so to make it worth it, we’ll only go if it’s for a whole weekend. To make it even more worthwhile, we do what my husband calls the ‘gun down’. As soon as we get home from work on a Friday, we pack the car and ‘gun it down’ that night. We’ll stop for dinner on the way, then usually get to the island just before midnight, leaving us to wake up and have one whole day away. It’s a process that has served us very well. Sometimes it’ll be just the two of us, sometimes we take friends.

It’s become somewhat of a tradition and a joke that Lance will order dinner and then hum and har the entire time we eat it about whether or not to buy a whole BBQ chicken to take away, in case he gets hungry when he gets there. And anything he doesn’t eat can be used the next day. If we don’t have much planned the next day except lazing around the island, I usually let him buy one. If we’re going out for lunch/dinner then I try to talk him out of it – and invariably we’ll get to our house and he’ll be STARVING. But he’s taken this concept in to our everyday world. If we’re in the rare situation of needing to buy takeaway because it’s the only food available to us - he will inevitably steer us towards getting a whole BBQ chicken, so we can also have leftovers. Which is awesome for me. I shred the remainder of the bird and then use it for salads, or sandwiches or soups or tacos or whatever. It’s great having on hand for really quick meals.

We had such a circumstance recently, and after Lance had eaten the wings and a drumstick, the rest of the chicken I shredded, rolled into silverbeet I bought at a market on Sunday and baked with a basic tomato sauce. 10 minutes prep time, 20 minutes in the oven while I showered after the gym and a delicious meal waiting for me.


 
Ricotta and Chicken Stuffed Silverbeet
8 silverbeet (chard) stalks
2 cups shredded cooked chicken
4 small jalapenos (or to taste)
250g tub ricotta
500mL bottle passata
12 olives, pits removed and sliced
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 tsp dried basil
1 tsp dried oregano
1 tsp dried parsley
1/2 cup panko breadcrumbs
1 tsp smoked paprika
Olive oil

Dice the jalapenos really finely. Put the ricotta, shredded chicken and chillis into a bowl and mix really well to combine. Taste for seasoning. Mine didn’t need any as the chicken was already fairly seasoned.

Cut the stalks out of the silverbeet, then place about ¼ cup of the chicken mix at the top of the leaf. Fold the sides over, then roll up to create a parcel. Sort of like you would for a spring roll/rice paper roll. Place seam side down into a long rectangular casserole/lasagne dish. Continue with all of the mixture/leaves until all used up.

In a new bowl, mix the passata, garlic, olives and herbs. Pour over the top of the silverbeet parcels. Sprinkle the top with panko, then sprinkle the smoked paprika over the top of that. Drizzle with a little olive oil.
 
Bake for 20-30 minutes, or until the sauce is bubbly and the breadcrumbs are golden.
 

Monday, November 25, 2013

Birthday Breakfast - Pumpkin Muffins with Maple Icing and Candied Bacon


It was recently my birthday, and given there’s not currently an actual law allowing me to not be at work and still be paid…I thought I would at least make sure I had a decent breakfast. I may have stated on a few occasions that breakfast is my favourite meal of the day. I often eat breakfast at my desk at work, as I get in pretty early, and so I wanted something different for birthday morning. Something delicious. And something easy to prepare and eat. Which meant I needed something with maple syrup. With bacon. And something I can just pick up and chomp on. This has the benefit of being pretty darn healthy, too. Wholemeal flour, pumpkin, greek yoghurt, no extra butter or oil and no processed sugar. Until you add the icing, anyway. And bacon doesn’t count as being bad for you. Especially not on your birthday.

I cross my fingers that one day, Melbourne Cup Day becomes an Australia-wide public holiday so that every time it falls on my birthday I get a day off work. Until then, there are these muffins.
 


Pumpkin Muffins with Maple Icing and Candied Bacon
Dry
½  cup wholemeal flour
¼ cup coconut flour
2/3 cup plain flour
½ tsp baking powder
1 tsp bicarb soda

1 tsp ground cinnamon
½ tsp ground ginger
½ tsp ground nutmeg
¼  tsp salt


Wet
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1 cup pumpkin puree
½ cup Greek yoghurt
2 tsp vanilla extract
½ cup honey

Icing
5 tbsp icing sugar
2 drops aromatic bitters
3 tbsp maple syrup
1 tbsp milk (+ more if required)

Candied bacon
4 bacon middle rashers, fat removed and very finely diced
3 tbsp maple syrup
Pinch cayenne pepper
Pinch black pepper

 
Fry the bacon pieces until coloured and slightly crispy. In a small bowl, mix the cayenne pepper, black pepper and maple syrup. Pour in the bacon, stir to coat well. Spread out onto a lined baking tray. Don’t allow it to clump too much.

Preheat your oven to 350 F (175 C). Line a muffin tray with papers.

In a bowl whisk all the dry ingredients.

In a separate bowl whisk all the wet ingredients together until well combined.

Pour the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients and stir with a spatula until just combined. Don’t over mix.

Spoon the batter into the patty pans.

Bake for 15 to 20 minutes or until golden on top. Put the bacon into the oven at the same time. Bake for 10 minutes or so, until the bacon gets crispier and the maple syrup gets a toffee like consistency. Allow to cool completely.

Allow to cool for 15 minutes in the tray before putting onto a rack to cool completely.

Whilst waiting for things to cool, sift the icing sugar into a separate bowl, then add the maple syrup and milk. Whisk until smooth. If necessary, add more milk to thin out. Add the bitters and mix very well. Be careful not to add too much bitters, you really only need 2 drops.

Drizzle a little on each muffin, then sprinkle some candied bacon on top and leave for the icing to ‘set’.

 

Monday, November 18, 2013

Hot Chocolate Ice Cream Sandwiches

I recently entered a Summer Bake-Off competition run by Nestle to win a Kitchen Aid Stand Mixer. I’m sure I’ve said a bunch of times how much I want one, so the competition was just too good an opportunity to not enter! It’s currently in the judging stages, so I’ve crossed everything that I win…but in the meantime, this is the recipe I entered. I recruited some votes from work colleagues, so as thanks, I brought some in to work for them to try. And then charged them a gold coin donation to go towards my work’s Movember team. If you don’t know about Movember, check out their website, and all of the great work they do for various Men’s Health Charities.
 

Please note, the filling here makes more than enough for the biscuit recipe – but it’s difficult to halve a tin of sweetened condensed milk. So either make a few batches of the Snickerdoodles, or cheat and use pre-made biscuits to use up the rest of the ice cream filling. I normally use Arnott’s Malt-o-milks. Make a layer on a baking tray, spread the filling over the whole lot, top with another layer of biscuits and then freeze. When frozen, they ‘snap’ into individual biscuits.
 



Hot Chocolate Ice Cream Sandwiches
Biscuits
Mexican Hot Chocolate Snickerdoodles

Ice Cream Filling
600mL whipping cream
1 can Nestle sweetened condensed milk
2 tbsp Nestle malted milk powder

Follow the recipe in the link for the Snickerdoodles – making sure you flatten the biscuits well when shaping. Allow to cool completely.

In a bowl, use a hand beater to whisk cream until fluffy peaks form. Add the malt powder and beat further until fully incorporated. Then mix in the condensed milk.

Gently spread a decent amount of the ice cream mix onto a biscuit and place on a baking tray. Lay a second biscuit on top to make a sandwich. Continue until all the biscuits are used up. Freeze for at least 4 hours to set the ice cream. Enjoy!

Monday, November 11, 2013

Quick Midweek Meals - Chilli Prawn & Grape Tomato Tacos


On the days I have to head to the grocery store on the way home, it takes me forever to decide what to cook that night. Knowing that my options are limited only by what the store has sends my tastebuds into a frenzy. What do they want for dinner? Friday I spent pretty much the whole day changing my mind about what to eat. I wanted steak and chips. I wanted curry. I wanted pasta. I wanted burgers and chips. By the end of the day I was incredibly hungry. And tired. And I couldn’t be bothered going to the shops on the way home anymore. I just wanted to be home and eating. Brainwave. Prawn tacos. I have a few packets of prawns in my freezer for just this occasion. About half an hour in water while you prep everything else and they are thawed and good to go. I have a slight taco addiction too, so there is generally a few packets of tortillas in the cupboard ready to go.

My taco love also includes hot sauce love. In New Orleans, my favourite store was The Pepper Palace – a hot sauce mecca. Given the weight limit on suitcases, my husband and I tasted all of the sauces there and narrowed it down to 10 bottles. All unique and wonderful. The sauce I chose to go with these prawns was a sweeter style as it’s made with peaches. I realise that isn’t available here, so any other hot sauce or salsa you have is good if you want an extra kick – but the flavour of the prawns is enough that it doesn’t really need it.


Chilli Prawn Tacos
300g prawns, shelled
½ tsp chipotle chilli powder
½ tsp ancho chilli powder
2 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
1 tbsp raw sugar
juice from 2 lemons
250g Punnet grape tomatoes
1 red capsicum, julienned
2 sprigs parsley, chopped
2 sprigs coriander, chopped

Put a pan over medium heat, add the tomatoes, capsicum, lemon juice, Worcestershire sauce and chilli powders. Stir fry for a few minutes. When the tomatoes soften, pop them with the end of your spoon/spatula. Add the sugar and mix well.

Add the prawns, cook until pink – around 5 minutes, then stir through the parsley and coriander.

Serve with warm tortillas, greens, pickles, hot sauce of your choice (I went for a sweet style) and a crumbly, salty cheese like fetta

Tuesday, October 29, 2013

Welcoming the Warmer Weather - Dirty Pirate Icy Poles





Growing up, one of the best things in summer is icy poles. Essentially, just frozen coloured sugar water, they were such an awesome treat. You would fight with your siblings to get the best colour/flavor even though they were essentially the same. In my house, usually the red went first and the green were left until last. Then you become a teenager, you move on to frozen coke and slushees. Essentially still frozen sugar water but so much cooler in a cup than eating it from a plastic tube.  Then you become an adult and you are supposed to be more grown up. But it’s still 40C + in summer and you still want to run around under the sprinklers (on your two allocated sprinkler nights), and you still want an icy treat.

The Dirty Pirate is so named for it’s two alcohols – Captain Morgan Dark Rum (Pirate) and Kahlua (the coffee makes it “Dirty” like a 'dirty chai'). Mixed with coke and frozen, it’s quite the fun little naughty treat. Incredibly easy, all you need is the icy pole molds. My ones I got from K-mart for $2 for the 4-tray. These measurements will make 12 of this size. I particularly like the cup/straw shape in the bottom of the handle, so you can drink up the drips as it melts. Being alcoholic, they can melt quite quickly.

It’s been a long wait for Spring to kick in over here in Perth (35C today!), so at the first sign of a warmer weekend, I made some of these to celebrate. I have a feeling they’ll make an appearance at a few BBQs over summer. You will have to remember though, that if you make these for a BBQ where kids are in attendance, that you better make a tray of non-alcoholic ones too! They will not be happy seeing adults eating icy poles when they can’t have one. Mark the trays, so they don’t end with yours!

This works best with flatter Coke, so if you open a new bottle/can to make it - stir it a bit to release some of the bubbles.



Dirty Pirate Icy Poles
2 3/4 cups flat Coke
1/3 cup Captain Morgan dark rum
1/3  cup Kahlua

Stir all together in a jug or bowl with a spout. Pour into icy pole molds and freeze!