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Bizcochos de CayambeTwice-baked butter biscuits

Drive north from Quito towards the snow-capped Cayambe volcano and the roadside is lined with bakeries selling paper bags of bizcochos, small finger-shaped biscuits baked twice until they shatter. Families stop there on weekend trips and order them with a slab of soft, salty queso de hoja, a cup of hot chocolate and a spoonful of dulce de leche (manjar) for spreading. The dough is a lightly yeasted butter dough, rolled into thin sticks, baked once until pale gold and then dried slowly until crisp right through, with a flaky, crumbly bite. A sealed jar keeps them for weeks. Chef's tip: the second bake is about drying, not browning, so keep the oven low; a hot second bake is the usual mistake and leaves them dark outside and chewy inside.

130 minAndeanBaking
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Jam dropsJam thumbprint biscuits

Few things say Australian morning tea like a plate of jam drops: soft golden butter biscuits, each with a thumb-pressed hollow of glossy jam. Country cookbooks and school fete stalls have carried them for generations, and they are often the first biscuit Australian children learn to bake, because there is nothing to roll or cut. Serve them with a cuppa, or tuck them into lunch boxes; plum or apricot jam work as well as raspberry. Plenty of families make them without egg, using a little milk instead. Chef's tip: fill each hollow only level with the top, about half a teaspoon; overfilling is the common error, and the jam bubbles over and burns on the tray.

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TopfengolatschenSweet quark puff pastry squares

A Topfengolatsche is what Viennese office workers grab from the bakery on the way in, and what grandparents order with a Melange in a coffee house on a Sunday afternoon. The corners of a puff pastry square are folded over a lemony, vanilla-scented filling of Topfen (Austrian quark) with plump raisins, and the top gets a thin white glaze. It is flaky, light and not too sweet. Raisins are sometimes soaked in rum; warm water or orange juice works just as well, and the recipe below is alcohol-free. Wet quark is the classic problem, because it turns the filling runny and it leaks out in the oven. Chef's tip: hang the quark in a sieve lined with a clean cloth for an hour, or squeeze it, until it is as thick as soft cream cheese.

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Honey joysHoney cornflake cakes

Honey joys have been on Australian children's birthday tables for generations, next to fairy bread and chocolate crackles: crunchy clusters of cornflakes coated in bubbling honey butter and baked in little paper cases until golden and crisp. Children can stir and spoon them while an adult handles the hot syrup. They are for school-age children and not for babies under one, who shouldn't have honey. They contain milk and usually gluten (from malt in cornflakes). Chef's tip: bake them just until golden; a few minutes too long and the honey turns bitter.

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Sausage sizzle

The sausage sizzle is how Australians raise money for school fetes, sports clubs and polling days, and it is the easiest food for a backyard birthday: thick sausages barbecued until browned, laid diagonally on a slice of soft white bread with a heap of sweet fried onions and a squiggle of tomato sauce. One slice, one sausage, eaten in the hand. It contains gluten from the bread (and often the sausages). Chef's tip: cook the onions slowly on the flat plate before the sausages, and push them to the cooler side to keep warm while the sausages cook.

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Cocktail frankfurts with tomato sauce

Ask anyone who grew up in Australia or New Zealand about birthday parties and they'll mention 'little boys' or 'cheerios': bright red cocktail frankfurts, gently heated and piled in a bowl with tomato sauce for dunking, next to the fairy bread and sausage rolls. They take ten minutes and need almost no skill, which is why they've lasted. Check the label for gluten and allergens; many brands contain neither, but some do. Chef's tip: heat them in water that is barely simmering, never boiling hard, or the skins split and they turn pale.

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Jelly slice

Jelly slice is a fixture of school fetes, church bake stalls and birthday tables in Australia and New Zealand: a crushed biscuit base, a tangy layer of lemon and condensed milk set with gelatine, and a glassy top of red raspberry jelly, cut into neat squares. It needs no oven but a lot of fridge time, so make it the day before. It contains gluten and milk, and gelatine, so it is not vegetarian; agar-based vegetarian jelly crystals and a vegetarian gelling agent work if set according to their packet. Chef's tip: let the jelly cool until it is syrupy and only just warm before pouring, or it melts into the creamy layer.

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Kärntner ReindlingCinnamon raisin yeast cake

Carinthia's Easter loaf takes its name from the Reindl, the round, deep pan it is baked in, and in southern Austria no Easter basket goes to church without one. Inside the golden yeast crust is a spiral of butter, cinnamon sugar and plump raisins, so every slice shows a dark swirl. Locals eat it two ways: sweet with coffee on Easter morning, or alongside the savoury Easter platter with horseradish. Many bakers soak the raisins in rum overnight; warm water or tea works just as well and keeps it alcohol-free. A dry, crumbly Reindling usually means too much flour went in during kneading, so keep the dough soft and only lightly floured. Chef's tip: butter the pan well and dust it with sugar, which caramelises into a thin crunchy shell.

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Jaffles (Australian toasted sandwiches)

Jaffles are Australian childhood in a sandwich: thick bread sealed around a hot filling in a cast-iron jaffle iron over the campfire, or in an electric sandwich press after school and on rainy weekend lunchtimes. Cheese and baked beans, or cheese and tomato, are the classics, and the sealed edges keep everything molten inside. They contain gluten and milk. Chef's tip: butter the outsides, not the insides, so the bread turns crisp and golden against the iron.

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ErdäpfelstrudelSavoury potato strudel

Austrians, especially in the Mühlviertel of Upper Austria and the Waldviertel, make savoury strudels as often as sweet ones, and Erdäpfelstrudel is a farmhouse favourite for a meatless Friday or a cold evening. Thin pastry wraps a filling of potatoes, fried onion, sour cream, marjoram and parsley, baked until crisp and golden and sliced with a green salad or a dill and sour-cream dip. Bought filo makes it easy at home. The mistake to avoid is a wet filling, which turns the pastry soggy underneath. Chef's tip: cool the filling completely before rolling; warm filling makes the layers stick and tear.

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Chilli mud crab

Mud crabs are caught in the mangroves of Queensland and the Northern Territory, and in Cairns, Darwin and Brisbane the favourite way to eat them is Asian-Australian style, wok-tossed in a sticky sauce of chilli, garlic, ginger and tomato. It is messy, hands-on eating with crusty bread or rice to mop the sauce. Ask your fishmonger to clean and cut the crab into pieces for you, and cook it the same day. A common mistake is using too little sauce; the shells soak it up. Chef's tip: crack the claws with the back of a heavy knife before cooking so the sauce gets in.

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Davidson plum jam

Davidson plums grow on slender trees in the subtropical rainforests of northern New South Wales and south-east Queensland, ripening dark purple in summer. They are far too sour to eat raw but make a stunning deep-crimson jam with a sharp, tangy flavour, sold at farmers' markets around Byron Bay and the Sunshine Coast. Spread it on scones or serve with cheese. A common mistake is boiling it past the set; the plums are high in pectin and set fast. Chef's tip: if you can't find Davidson plums, use dark sour plums and add a squeeze of lemon.

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Pumpkin scones

Pumpkin scones are a Queensland country tradition, made famous by the farm-raised wife of a long-serving state premier and baked for every Country Women's Association morning tea from Toowoomba to Rockhampton. Mashed pumpkin makes them golden, soft and slightly sweet, and they are best warm from the oven with plenty of butter. A common mistake is wet pumpkin; steam or roast it and let it cool so the dough isn't sticky. Chef's tip: cut straight down without twisting the cutter, so the scones rise tall and even.

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Kangaroo steak with pepperberry sauce

Kangaroo is a lean, everyday red meat in Australia, sold in supermarkets from Perth to Brisbane and loved by home cooks for its rich, slightly gamey flavour and very low fat. Here the fillets are seared hot and fast and served with a creamy sauce spiced with Tasmanian pepperberry, a native pepper with a warm, fruity heat. Because there's almost no fat, kangaroo dries out if cooked past medium. A common mistake is putting cold meat in a lukewarm pan; it stews instead of searing. Serve rare to medium-rare for best texture, but cook to at least 63 °C for pregnant women, young children and anyone with a weakened immune system. Chef's tip: rest it for as long as you cooked it.

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Hot jam doughnuts

Hot jam doughnuts have been sold from a van at Queen Victoria Market in Melbourne since the 1950s, and the queue on a cold Saturday morning is part of the ritual. The small round yeast doughnuts are fried, injected with hot raspberry jam and rolled in sugar, then eaten straight from the paper bag; careful, the jam is scorching. A common mistake is frying at too high a heat, which browns the outside before the inside cooks. Chef's tip: let the shaped dough rise until it springs back slowly when poked, or the doughnuts will be heavy.

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Bush tomato chutney

Bush tomato, known as akudjura or desert raisin, is the small fruit of a desert plant gathered by Aboriginal people in Central Australia and around Alice Springs; dried and ground, it tastes of caramel, tamarillo and sun-dried tomato. A spoon of it turns an ordinary tomato chutney into something rich and smoky, great with cheese, barbecues and burgers. Buy ground akudjura from a native food supplier; only the ripe dried fruit of the right species is safe to eat, so never forage it. A common mistake is adding too much; it is strong. Chef's tip: toast the ground bush tomato in the oil first to wake up its flavour.

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Magic coffee

The magic is a Melbourne café insider's order, born in the city's Fitzroy and Collingwood coffee bars: a double ristretto (the short, intense first part of the espresso shot) topped with silky steamed milk in a 160 ml cup. It is stronger and sweeter-tasting than a flat white because there's less milk and only the richest part of the shot. A common mistake is scalding the milk; above about 65 °C it loses its natural sweetness. Chef's tip: stop the shot early, at about 30 ml for a double, to get that syrupy ristretto.

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Curried sausages

Curried sausages are pure Australian weeknight comfort, the dish generations of kids came home to in Sydney, Brisbane and country towns alike, usually made with thick beef or pork sausages and a tin of mild curry powder. The sausages are browned, sliced and simmered with onion, carrot, potato and peas in a gentle, slightly sweet curry gravy, then spooned over fluffy rice. The usual mistake is skipping the pre-cook: browning the sausages whole first keeps them juicy and gives the sauce its colour. Sausages, whether beef or pork, must reach 71 °C in the centre. Chef's tip: a grated apple simmered in the sauce is the classic Aussie trick for a rounded sweetness without extra sugar.

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Golden syrup dumplings

Golden syrup dumplings are a winter pudding from Australian country kitchens, made during the Depression and still cooked by grandmothers in the Riverina and the Victorian high country when the nights turn cold. Soft scone-dough balls simmer in a sauce of golden syrup, butter and brown sugar until they swell and turn sticky. Serve with vanilla ice cream or custard. A common mistake is a pan that's too small; the dumplings double in size and need space. Chef's tip: keep the lid on and resist peeking, so the tops steam light and fluffy.

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Frozen Christmas pudding

In the heat of an Australian December, many families swap the steamed pudding for a frozen one, ice cream packed with fruit, nuts and chocolate and set in a pudding basin so it still looks the part on the Christmas table in Brisbane or Perth. It is made days ahead and turned out just before serving. A common mistake is letting the ice cream melt too much while mixing, which makes it icy when refrozen; soften it only until stirrable. Chef's tip: soak the fruit in orange juice the night before so it stays soft when frozen.

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Coconut icePink and white coconut fudge

Coconut ice is the pink and white sweet that fills Australian school fete stalls, Christmas hampers and CWA cake tables, a no-cook fudge of desiccated coconut, condensed milk and icing sugar. It is soft, chewy and very sweet, so cut small squares. A common mistake is a mixture that's too wet to hold; add more coconut until it's firm enough to press. Chef's tip: press the white layer first, then the pink, and chill before cutting for sharp stripes.

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Melting momentsLemon buttercream sandwich biscuits

Melting moments are the soft, crumbly biscuits found in Australian and New Zealand bakery jars and grandmother's tins, two rounds made with custard powder and icing sugar sandwiched with a lemon butter icing. The custard powder gives them their yellow colour and tender, short texture that melts in the mouth, hence the name. A common mistake is overbaking; they should be pale, not golden. Chef's tip: press each ball with a floured fork for the classic stripes.

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Corn fritters

Corn fritters are a Sydney café staple, the brunch that sits on every menu from Surry Hills to Manly, stacked with smashed avocado, roast tomato or relish and a handful of herbs. The batter is mostly corn, with just enough flour and egg to bind, plus spring onion, coriander and a little chilli. They are quick enough for a weekday breakfast. A common mistake is crowding the pan, which steams them instead of crisping. Chef's tip: blitz a quarter of the corn so its milky juice binds the fritters and keeps them tender.

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Aussie salad sandwich

The salad sandwich is the backbone of the Australian lunchbox and the school tuckshop order: soft bread built up with tinned beetroot, grated carrot, tasty cheese, tomato and crisp lettuce, cut into triangles and wrapped in paper. Beetroot is what makes it unmistakably Aussie. The common mistake is laying wet beetroot and tomato straight on bare bread, so by lunchtime it is pink and soggy. Many Cheddar-style "tasty" cheeses use animal rennet; choose one labelled vegetarian. Chef's tip: butter both slices to the edge and put the cheese and lettuce next to the bread, with the wet fillings sealed in the middle.

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