Christmas Spirits of 2013

We (usually) host Christmas dinner. I don't mind. Logistically, its easier for my mother in law, my brother in law and the brother in laws partner to travel out to us than it is for the Infoxicated Man, myself and the three girls to travel in to Sydney for a meal (and the respective faffing around).
Of course, since its the in laws, I require alcohol. It honestly does help to be drunk.
Each year, I search for a new, summer-y cocktail. This year, I found one with watermelon, Cointreau and rose wine (you could also use moscato rosa, a slightly more sparkling wine)
And here it is, and the variation, after the kids scoffed all the watermelon...

• 3 cubes watermelon, frozen
• 20mL (just over half a shot) Cointreau
• rose wine
• champagne flute

1. Place watermelon in the champagne flute
2. pour over the Cointreau
3. top with rose, and serve

Of course, as I said above, the kids ate all the (frozen) watermelon, so I needed to find something else...

And I did.

I have frozen raspberries from Christmas desserts.

They work really well, though they defrost much too quickly

Sponge Cake

There's something strange about how I test an oven. I can tell how an oven cooks by how it cooks a sponge cake. And its always the same sponge cake recipe.
And since we've just moved house, I was required to test the oven.
So, here's the recipe... (adapted from the Presbyterian Women's Missionary Union Cookbook - a recipe book that my mother got as a teenager at school)

4 eggs
250g caster sugar
250g self raising flour
1 tablespoon (approximately 20mL) boiling water

Preheat oven to 180C
Lightly grease and line a 20cm round cake tin

Separate eggs, retaining yolks in a small bowl.
Beat egg whites until stiff.
Slowly add caster sugar and continue beating until dissolved.
Mix in egg yolks, one at a time.
Fold in flour and boiling water until just incorporated.

Pour gently into cake tin, and bake for 45 minutes.

Chocolate coconut muffins

I've written before about the muffins I make, so I figured I'd explain about how I ended up making chocolate coconut muffins.
See, I was going to make my normal double choc muffins, until I realised that I didn't have enough vegetable oil, and I had no chocolate chips. I did, however, have butter. And coconut. So here it is.

2 cups self raising flour (or plain flour and a tablespoon of bicarbonate soda)
1/2 cup cocoa
1 cup sugar
1 cup desiccated coconut

1/2 cup melted butter
1 cup milk
1 egg.

1. Combine all dry ingredients
2. Stir in the melted butter
3. Combine egg and milk, then stir through the flour mixture

Measure out into muffin cases (I usually use cup cake cases and a cupcake tin) and bake in moderate (180C/350F) oven for 25 minutes until just cooked.

Cool in the tin.

I have no idea how long these are meant to last. I made a batch yesterday, and there are only 5 left tonight.