Here it is: the best crepe recipe I've ever tried anywhere. And I've tried plenty.

I'm not kidding. Throw away every other sweet crepe recipe you have, because you'll never need them ever again. Ever. 

Ingredients:

1.5 Cups flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 Tablespoons sugar.
30 g melted butter
1 teaspoon vanilla essence
2 Cups milk
3 eggs, lightly beaten

Method:

Mix the dry ingredients in one bowl and everything else in another.
Once the butter/milk/egg/essence mixture is nice and smooth tip it into the dry bowl and mix thoroughly.
You may need to add a little more milk, the mixture should be quite runny.
Cook in a pan over a medium - high heat.


Enjoy! Other than the first one, every crepe will be perfect. 

For this.



I'm using Alison Gofton's recipe for banana cake at the moment and I gotta say it comes up REAL good.

Use this:

Quick tips: for good measure add in a tablespoon of plain yoghurt if you have it.

Also ... bananas are best mashed up and left overnight in the fridge. The pulp goes good and black!

Your kids will love you just a little bit more ... for about two minutes. And then they'll be back to complaining about how unfair life is cos they don't have a Playstation and you're the meanest dad in the world.
Ken reckons this is dead easy. Egg free for the allergic folks ... eggsellent. Ha - what a crack up. I'm really coming out of my shell now. Okay ... that's enough.

Ingredients:

1kg fruit mix
1 cup water
1 t mixed spice          
1 t cinnamon
1 t vinegar
1 T brandy
225 gms butter
1 tin condensed milk
1 t baking soda
2 cups Champion standard flour
1 t baking powder

Method: 

Chuck into a large pot the fruit, water, mixed spice, brandy, butter, vinegar and cinnamon and bring to boil.

Remove from heat and add baking soda and condensed milk.

Cool, then add flour and baking powder.

Mix together and bake (fan bake preferably) in tin or glass container for 1 ½ hours at 150c.

I use a Pyrex glass dish 29x22x9cm.

Very nice moist cake that keeps well (if you can restrain yourself).
Doug's famous for his gingernuts. These ones come out so much better than the bought variety.


Ingredients: 

100g butter
225g sugar
1 egg
1 Tbsp golden syrup
250g flour
1 tsp baking soda
4 tsp ground ginger

Method: 

Pre-heat the oven to 170ÂșC or 160 if you have fan-bake.

Chuck the softened butter and sugar into the food processor with the egg and give it a whiz until it's good and creamy.

Then add the golden syrup and give it another burst for a minute.

Add the flour, baking soda and ginger and whiz away until you have a nice even mixture.  

Roll into balls about the diameter of a 50c piece and arrange on sheets of baking paper on top of 2 baking trays. 

DON'T be tempted to flatten the balls with a fork, let nature and the oven do their work.

Bake for 25-30 minutes or until they look golden and just like Mrs Griffin’s fine product.

Cool on a wire rack.

You’ll get around three dozen.


So many have asked for this, so here it is. Based on my Grandma's Anzac biscuit recipe, but with a few, ahhh, modifications. this recipe makes 12 decent sized biscuits.



Ingredients:

1 cup of standard flour
1 teaspoon of baking powder
3/4 cup of shredded coconut
3/4 cup of rolled oats
3/4 cup of cranberries
2/3 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon

110 grams of butter
1 good tablespoon of golden syrup
2 tablespoons of water
1/2 teaspoon of baking soda

Method:

Prep a tray with baking paper and turn the oven on to bake at 180 degrees.

Chuck all the dry ingredients (except baking soda) into a largish bowl and use a spoon or fork to mix them. Don't bash them to bits, just make sure the brown sugar is broken down and the cranberries are separated.

Chop the butter into a pot with the golden syrup and water and warm over a medium heat. Don't let the combo boil. As soon as the butter is melted turn of the heat and tip in the baking soda. Stir it in (it'll froth up, but that's good) and then pour the whole lot into the dry ingredients.

Using the back of a tablespoon, stir it all together. Again - don't over mix. As soon as you have no dry flour visible, you're done.

Roll into good sized balls and flatten with a fork or fish-slice. Bake for about 12 - 14 minutes, depending on the oven.

Enjoy. They should last a couple of days in an airtight container.

Why do I bake? Is a question oft asked of me by Blokes Who Don't.

And I could answer it with many complicated words, or with a few simple words ... or better yet with a handy-dandy video of this one time at a PechaKucha night in Wellington.

And look - here it is, in which I answer that very question: