Donna's cafe-style triple choc cookies

Years ago I was sitting on a bench along a busy shopping strip in Essendon talking on the phone to my now sister-in-law Donna and I just happened to get her special triple choc cookie recipe out of her. Who knows why we were talking cookies while I was out in the Saturday morning sunshine, maybe I was having a post-workout craving that only a fellow baker could help satisfy. I scribbled the recipe on a receipt from my handbag and promptly copied it into my recipe book when I got home. Some things I forget at lightning speed, yet this I remember like it was yesterday.

Donna works in the food business and is a baker extraordinaire so if she gives me a recipe I know it will be good. For years I've guarded this "secret" recipe, even after making countless batches and hearing how good they are. Too good really. Crunchy on the outside, a little soft and chewy inside and choc full of, you guessed it, choc!

I mentioned to Donna on Sunday that I had just made "her" cookies with the "secret recipe". She basically laughed and I wonder does this mean she has found a new, improved "secret" recipe? Maybe she has a new cookie that trumps what I thought was "the" cookie?! Maybe this secret recipe is not so secret? Maybe it was just funny because we have married into a family that used to joke that we couldn't have certain recipes until we married into the tribe. My questions remained unanswered for today but one thing I do know is that Donna gave me her express permission to share this recipe here.

I love these with milk, hence the inclusion of my vintage milk bottle in these photos. Isn't it so cute? On the front it says 'Milk For Health OAKES MILK Pure Rich Safe'. If I lived closer to Castlemaine, I would enjoy these cookies with a coffee made by Donna herself at the The Coffee Bean (scrap that, if I lived closer to The Coffee Bean, I would probably be putting my baking on hold and ordering a coffee and cookie...).

Donna's cafe-style triple choc cookies
125g butter, chopped
1/2 tsp vanilla
1 1/4 cups brown sugar, firmly packed
1 egg
1 cup plain flour
1/4 cup self raising flour
1 tsp bi carb soda
1/3 cup cocoa
1/2 cup milk choc bits
1/2 cup white choc bits
1/2 cup dark choc bits

Preheat oven to 180 degrees celcius. Beat butter, vanilla, sugar and egg. Don't over beat. Stir in sifted dry ingredients (this takes awhile as it seems very dry at first) then choc bits. Tablespoon mix onto tray allowing 5cm between each. Bake for 10-12 minutes. Stand on tray for 5 minutes before cooling on wire rack.

Simple and delicious! My only tip is not to be tempted to keep cooking for too long. They will seem a little undercooked at first but you won't get that wonderful soft centre if you return them to the oven.

Cafe Love - Public Inn, Castlemaine

The Charles Whyte Cafe Love series continues with a gastro pub in Central Victoria.

Driving through the historic streets of Castlemaine one Saturday, a stiking lightshade glowing an ambiant orange caught my eye. Later I would find out that these light shades are affectionately known as the testicle lights, but their likeness to the male anatomy is not what drew me to them (I swear). Our local companion told us that the lights were inside a gastro pub that opened only a week earlier in what was once the Criterion Hotel. Although already booked into another local hot spot for lunch, plans were quickly changed so we could make a swift u-turn to explore the Public Inn, the new kid on the block that shines like a beacon in the central Victorian goldfields.

I loved this place from the moment I saw the light from the street and I'll admit from the start that I was in a good frame of mind mind when I visited. Not only do I love the company I was keeping on this day, I love visiting Castlemaine so there was certainly a good vibe going on in my heart. However, I don't give love easily and despite this blog being all about the things that make my heart sing, this little heart does not sing in cafes or restaurants unless I taste some love in the decor, the service and the food - each facet of the trio must have me licking my lips for more. The Public Inn did not disappoint.

The use of natural wood features, high ceilings and a neutral colour scheme make the Public Inn immediately fresh, open and welcoming. The service could be described with the same adjectives, and no amount of incessant questioning on our part was too much for manager Carly. Not only were we interested in how particular dishes were cooked and where the ingredients were sourced (locally, of course), we also wanted to know where they found the sugar bowls, the beakers, the chairs and, of course, the light shades. Every question was answered and then some. How refreshing to receive such impeccable, attentive service.
 

Among the fresh, new features here are hints of the old, such as the exposed beams running over the front section of the venue. The console table pictured above cannot go without mention either. Along with the dark glass sugar bottles (see below image) and wine beakers, this piece is reminiscent of a laboratory and brings an element of industrial chic.

One of the Public Inn's partners is Hayden Winch, formally of the Dispensary Enoteca, a venue that bowled the Bendigo food scene over. Food here is good. For our lunchtime visit, we chose entree serves and that's what we got. We didn't leave hungry but perhaps we were missing that very full and content feeling of eating a little more when dining out!

King prawn and fennel risotto with crayfish oil - entree serving $17

Public Inn mushroom 'soffritto', cherry and pear tomatoes and olive toast $26

Wild mushroom and Madeira risotto with truffle puree - entree serving $14

Delicious coffee rounded off a relaxed, weekend lunch. 

 

Wines at the Public Inn are served to you straight from the barrel to your glass and the barrels on the wall make for a striking feature. 

The Public Inn will suit those looking for a meal in the country with professional service and execution in a classy and relaxed setting. I'm looking forward to another trip north to check on their progress.



Public Inn
Criterion Corner
Barker and Mostyn Streets
Castlemaine, Victoria 3450

Phone: 03 5472 3568
http://www.publicinn.com.au/

Stampede for handwritten letters

There is nothing more personal than a handwritten note and nothing more exciting than finding one in your letterbox. Receiving an envelope that has somehow made its way to your home after being pushed into a red box on the side of a street many miles away is miraculous in itself.

They say letterwriting is a dying art, and while I'd like to believe it isn't true, I've recently realised that it is indeed on its way out. I want to dig my heels in and revolt! Helping my mum sort through years of old cards and letters recently highlighted how much communication has changed. It was such a delight to read all the letters from her mum and gran who have long since left the earth. The letters were obviously written in place of expensive "STD" phone calls. They contained so many tidbits that it was obvious they hadn't had a telephone conversation in a number of weeks, if not more. There was always a plee to receive a reply to hear about one thing or another. Imagine only hearing sporadic updates on exciting family developments, like how your new grandchild is settling into life outside of the womb?! 

The thing I enjoyed most about trauling through boxes of letters from my ancestors was seeing their handwriting. I feel a little pang whenever I see the handwriting of someone who is no longer living. Handwriting is so personal and, to me, such a special reminder of a person. How can their writing "voice" and their unique letter formations remain, but they don't?

My answer to keeping handwriting and letterwriting alive is to get some rubber stamps. They give letters that vintage edge and they make sending letters fun. Back in my pen pal days, I used stickers to jazz up my writing paper and I dreamed of having an address sticker! It's been a long time coming, but I've finally realised my dream in the form of a rubber stamp. With some inspiration from vintage-look Cavallini & Co stamps and some much appreciated help from talented designer Ros, I now have this little gem that is a real highlight of becoming a home-owner:

Coupled with a wooden alphabet stamp set ($24.95) from another of my favourite shops, kikki.k, I've been able to make little cards to give to friends and family (see top photo). It even comes with four colours of ink, so I can match the stamps with my writing paper. Whoop!

Oh, the small joys. That's what life's all about, right?

Stockist notes:
I've seen Cavallini & Co stamps at the heavenly Zetta Florence stores in Fitzroy and Armadale, Victoria (a feast for your eyes and you must go if you live in or visit Melbourne), Dymocks bookstores and my favourite Castlemaine shop, Malmaison (no trip to the Central Victorian Goldfields is complete without a peek in this magnifique gift and homewares store).

kikki.k sells Swedish home/office products through their stores around Australia and New Zealand and online.

My address stamp is 21mm x 51mm and was made by Swift Rubber Stamps in the Melbourne CBD. Send them your artwork file by email and they can post it to you (handwritten envelope cannot be guaranteed :). Otherwise, Google "rubber stamp manufacturers" closer to home. As I was able to pick my stamp up, it came in a brown paper bag with the words "Ellise $25.99" handwritten on the front. Je t'adore Swift!