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. 

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14:03

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.

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09:45

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).

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11:43

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 170ºC 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.

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11:18

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.

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17:44

I can't tell you how long I've spent trying to find or create the perfect sweet short crust pastry.

Or maybe I can. Months. Literally every day for months I made pastry until I had it exactly where I wanted it. Almost.

And then this from the pages of the Masterchef NZ cookbook. It's easy and it works and it tastes amazing. So credit where it's due.

I find I need to add just a splash of cold water.

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13:09

How's this for the ultimate compliment:

I bumped into a Mum I know who looooves banana cake almost as much as I do. She's baked banana cakes untold times over the years and just recently tried this one. Which happens to be my recipe.

And her son (a brilliant 13 year old kid) told her it was the best one he'd ever had!

Ingredients:

125g butter
¾ cup sugar
2 eggs
3 or 4 smashed bananas
1 t-spoon baking soda
2 tablespoons hot milk
2 cups Champion standard flour
1 t-spoon baking powder

Method:

Get the oven up to 180C. Grease a 20cm cake tin.
Zap the butter for 30 seconds in the microwave (or until it's soft but not melted) then cream in the sugar.
Add the eggs one at a time and keep on beating till it's smooth. Add the smashed bananas and stir through.
Separately stir the baking soda into the hot milk. It should froth up! pour the milk into your mixture. Sift in the dry ingredients.
Don't over mix - just fold it all through and then pour it out into the cake tin.

Bake for around 45 - 50 minutes depending on your oven.

Sheesh I love banana cake. Try it.

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18:38

A blinding flash of inspiration and the desperate need to use the remaining lemon curd led to this:

Little Gingernut, Superwine cookie cups filled with the delicious lemony loveliness. I don't mind boasting ... These were so good it's ridiculous. So good that even my harshest critic (read: wife) was impressed.

The base is just 100 grams of about a half and half mix of the biscuits blasted and mixed with about 45g melted butter then pressed into a mini muffin tray lined with plastic wrap. Chill the little buggers and fill with good lemon curd.

Serve with whipped cream and/or berries. And a good, big dollop of smug self-satisfaction.

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19:43

A quick one:

Pancakes and lemon curd. You have to do this.

These are the pancakes:
3/4 Cup standard flour.
1 good teaspoon baking powder
A pinch of salt
1 egg (whisked)
2/3 - 3/4 Cup whole milk
30 grams melted butter.

That mixture only makes 4 - 6 pancakes, but that's enough for my son and I for breakfast. Throw it all and and whisk.When you're cooking here are a couple of tips to make sure they come out perfectly every time:

1. The pan has to be medium - hot. Chuck some butter in. If the butter bubbles and cooks straight away, that's cook. If the butter goes brown or black straight away, that's bad.
2. Go with a smaller pan rather than a bigger one. All cooktops are a bit uneven and a smaller pan gives you a better chance at the pancakes coming out uniform.
3. Use a ladle to put the mixture in your pan. That way you can measure you much is going in and get them near enough to the same size. It's tidier too.
4. Flip the pancakes when they bubble on top.

When they're done, smear them in lemon curd. It'll make you moan. In a good way.

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12:58

Oh Lordy, have I ever been getting compliments on the chocolate chip biscuits. I can't take credit for the recipe - that comes from our great fiend Janet. All I did was tweak.

But here's the thing: friends have tried to make these using the same recipe and they don't come out quite the same way. So here are a few biscuit making tips. One of which comes from the mighty Pauline Nunns - baker of international renown. the others are either mine or have been stolen fair and square from who knows where.

1. Cream the butter and sugar properly. Best to use a wooden spoon or table spoon. The thing is, the butter needs to be softened right. SOFT, but not melted. Do not use an electric mixer, and if you're going to use a mixing bowl put the paddle on.

2. Cut in the dry ingredients. Either with a flat bladed knife or a metal spoon. That is, fold around and then slice through rather than stir. Give it a crack - you'll get the hang of it.

3. Bake them a minute longer. You'll think they're done, but just leave them to go properly golden brown and you get the right 'snap' to the biscuits. Crunch on the outside, soft on the inside.

Okay. That's it. It's not that hard ... follow the instructions, feel the rhythm, bake. you'll be great.

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19:18