Daring Bakers Baklava Challenge!

Erica of Erica’s Edibles was our host for the Daring Baker’s June challenge. Erica challenged us to be truly DARING by making homemade phyllo dough and then to use that homemade dough to make Baklava.

 

I decided to use a bread maker to mix the dough

This was an interesting challenge for me as id never made my own pastry before, let alone 18 incredibly thin layers of filo(as we call it in Australia) pastry and id never attempted making baklava either! But it was definitely an enjoyable challenge and worked out pretty well, and by the limited pieces of baklava remaining im fairly sure my family enjoyed it too!



I made a filling of brown sugar, pistachios, almonds, walnuts, dates, cranberries and all spice



My syrup was a combination of golden syrup, maple syrup, all spice, a cinnamon stick, lemon juice and water.

Warm out of the oven!

 

Thanks Erica for a great challenge!!

Daring Cooks first challenge - Healthy Potato Salad!

I used to be a spud girl. I absolutely adored potatoes in any form - baked potato, mashed potato, boiled potatoes, jacket potatoes, potato bake, potato gems, potato chips, i could go on and on! But in recent years ive totally gone off the potato and become obsessed with sweet potato and pumpkin. I now love it in every single form, especially sweet potato mash & pumpkin pie ;)

So i finally got my act together and did my daring cooks challenge, deciding to make a sweet potato salad with baby spinach, grilled capsicum, walnuts and craisins with a dressing of wholegrain mustard, lemon olive oil & red wine vinegar. I think it turned out pretty tasty :)

medium-size (5.3 ounce) potato has 110 calories, no fat, no cholesterol, no sodium and includes nearly half your daily value of vitamin C and has more potassium than a banana!

Jami Sorrento was our June Daring Cooks hostess and she chose to challenge us to celebrate the humble spud by making a delicious and healthy potato salad. The Daring Cooks Potato Salad Challenge was sponsored by the nice people at the United States Potato Board, who awarded prizes to the top 3 most creative and healthy potato salads. A