Tag Archives: 101 Cookbooks

I adore nuts but they don’t always like me back. Specifically, I’m mildly allergic to almonds, hazelnuts and walnuts. This is rather a bore but at least I can still eat peanuts and pistachios, which are my favourites in any case. I can eat roasted and salted pistachios every day, and often do.

So pistachios were an obvious choice for this month’s Sweet Adventures‘ bloghop, Nuts about Sweets, hosted by the lovely Nic at Dining with a Stud.

I’ve made a number of sweet treats with pistachios on this blog before – namely, Mini Berry Puddings for Busy People, Rosewater, Cardamon and Pistachio Lassi, and Mini Apricot Trifles – but I felt like baking something for this hop.

I toyed with the idea of making pistachio macarons, pistachio biscuits or a pistachio cake but in the end went for this fabulous tart. This Berry Coconut Pistachio Tart is heavily inspired by Heidi Swanson’s Macaroon Tart from her Super Natural Ever Day cookbook.

I made her recipe first, then I mucked around with the ingredients, quantities and method until I came up with this version. It’s an easy recipe to make and extremely delicious.

For those new readers, Sweet Adventures is a group of Aussie foodbloggers – 84th & 3rd, The Capers of the Kitchen Crusader, Delicieux, Dining With a Stud, and I, The Hungry Australian, who host a monthly, dessert-themed blog hop. Previously, we have hosted:

• Pie (June 2012)
• Tea (May 2012)
• Lemons (April 2012)
• Layer upon Layer (March 2012)
• Love at First Bite (February 2012)
• Death by Chocolate (January 2012)
• Festive Favourites (December 2011)
• Australian Pavlova (November 2011)

To take part in this month’s hop head over to Dining with a Stud where you can find out all about how to link up your own nut (or seed) recipe. And don’t forget to scroll to the bottom of this post to check out all the other nut recipes.

Berry Coconut Pistachio Tart

 

Author: Christina Soong-Kroeger

Print

A lovely berry and coconut tart sprinkled with pistachios.

Ingredients

Base

• 1 cup wholemeal flour
• ⅓ cup shredded dried coconut
• ¼ cup brown sugar
• 100 grams butter

Filling

• 4 egg whites (large)
• ¼ cup brown sugar
• 1.5 cups frozen berries, thawed
• ⅔ cup shredded dried coconut

Topping

• 80 grams roasted pistachios, shelled and crushed

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 180 degrees Celsius.
2. Make base by mixing flour, brown sugar, butter and coconut in a large bowl.
3. Stir thoroughly, breaking up any lumps of brown sugar.
4. Press into a tart tin, using your fingers to press it into place.
5. Bake in the oven for 15 minutes and then remove to a chopping board. Keep oven on.
6. Meanwhile, make meringue by beating egg whites with a stand or hand mixer until peaks form.
7. Add sugar, a little at a time, and then continue to beat until meringue is thick and glossy.
8. Spoon ⅔rds of the berries over the tart base, spreading them evenly over the tart.
9. Sprinkle half of the coconut over them and then fold the other half into the egg whites, being careful not to bash the air out of it.
10. Using a spatula, spoon meringue on top of berries, smoothing down to the edges.
11. Dot remaining ⅓ of berries on top.
12. Bake in oven for 20-25 minutes until nicely brown.
13. Remove to chopping board and let sit for 15 minutes before garnishing with chopped pistachios.

3.1.09

If you’re a new, emerging or aspiring food blogger, you’ll have lots of questions that need answers.

I know because I am an emerging food blogger myself. I started The Hungry Australian in June 2011 but didn’t start blogging more frequently until September 2011.

While I’d managed websites for previous employers, worked as an editor and freelance writer, I had no experience of blogging itself. Prior to starting my own blog I barely knew what a food blog was.

So why did I start my own food blog? A conversation with my good friend Kerina stimulated my interest and once I started reading them I was hooked. I felt like I did when I started university and discovered the university newspaper produced by the students: I wanted to be part of it.

As I began blogging I had lots of questions. How did I get people to comment on my posts? What should I write about? Do I need a decent camera? How did I make a header on my site? What are plugins and widgits? How do I get that ‘more’ symbol on my posts so people have to click through? How do I create a collage of photos?

And the big question: how did the rockstar food bloggers – i.e. David Lebovitz, Deborah from Smitten Kitchen, Jaden from Steamy Kitchen, Ree from The Pioneer Woman, Matt from Matt Bites, Elise from Simply Recipes, Heidi from 101 Cookbooks, Shauna from Gluten Free Girl, and Bakerella – get where they are?

So I started looking for articles and posts that could help me. I found so many useful articles I started compiling a list, which lived on my site for a while as ‘Resources for Food Bloggers’. I’ve now decided to turn that page into this post, along with my top tips. You can scroll to the end of this post for my 100 Useful Links for Foodbloggers list.

With only eight months of food blogging under my belt I am still finding my feet. However, I have picked up some knowledge along the way and am more than happy to share it. So, for what it’s worth, here it is.

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Eating healthier is something I’m always keen on. I don’t mean eating less fat because I don’t believe in diets – dieting is like having no sex or no money. When I’m on a diet the only thing I think about all day long is food and what I can’t eat, which is an awful and unhappy state to be in.

Instead of dieting, I aim to eat healthier. This means less processed food, preservatives, additives, white flour and white sugar, and greater variety and exploration of unfamiliar foods.

It’s not about being a food cop and locking away all the lollies and sweet biscuits my kids love. Rather, it’s about eating a wider variety of healthier foods, and minimising the excursions into the lolly jar.

It’s also about eating less meat both for health reasons and minimising our environmental footprint. Mr Hungry Australian has been on a health kick lately, exercising every day, shedding nine kilograms and developing muscles in places I didn’t know you could even have muscles. He’s been nagging me for a while about eating less meat, and while I agreed in principle, putting it into practise has proved trickier.

So I was delighted to be sent a copy of Heidi Swanson’s Super Natural Every Day to review by Hardie Grant.

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