 Clafoutis is everything I love about relaxed French cooking. It's simple, pared down, forgiving, and somehow manages to be comforting and rustic yet chic and sophisticated simultaneously. Whether you present it as dessert at a posh gathering, or throw it together for a quick family dessert or weekend breakfast, the sight of it brings a smile to everyone's face.
What exactly is clafoutis? Pronounced cla-foo-tee, it's essentially a kind of fruit flan, made with a sweet batter that's oven baked in a dish or tin with the addition of fruit generously scattered over the top. Traditionally, clafoutis is made with fresh stone fruit - cherry is the most common. I wanted to make this recipe as adaptable as possible to whatever you happen to have in your pantry, so I've made it with some of our beautiful dried fruit. We are a family divided when it comes to favourite flavours at our place, so I did a half and half affair. Clafoutis is a breeze to do this with, as the batter is poured into the baking dish, then the fruit scattered over afterwards. For this one I made one side with chopped dried peaches, and the other side is chopped dried banana, dessicated coconut and chocolate chips. As long as you stick to the total amount of dried fruit in my recipe, it doesn't matter what mix of fruit or additions you use. I also did a successful experiment with this recipe. Clafoutis batter calls for pouring cream - when I realised I didn't have any cream, I substituted greek yoghurt and it was so delicious that I'll always use yoghurt in my clafoutis from now on!
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 There are a lot of mueslis on the market, and for good reason - endless personal preferences mean endless variations! But there's one preference that I don't see many brands addressing: if you don't like fruit in your morning muesli bowl, odds are you won't find something to suit you on the supermarket shelves, unless you're prepared to sell a family heirloom to support a paleo muesli habit.
See - and I know I'm not alone here- I am not a fan of fruit in muesli. Often I find that even the fruit free commercial mueslis are way too sweet. So about 7 years ago I set about making my own, and haven’t looked back. I love the flexibility of mixing ingredients depending on how I’m feeling at the time. In more recent times, since our son got braces, we've had to pay attention to the nut content - a rogue nut can now mean a trip back to the orthodontist! Making my own muesli means I can change things up to suit changing moods and requirements. More nuts one batch, nut free the next. Changing the sweetener between honey or maple syrup. Adding a splash of vanilla extract when I'm feeling decadent, or adding more seeds when I want to feel pious. And so finally, after 4+ years of surprisingly in-depth discussions with you, our customers, and requests for us to Please For The Love Of Breakfast Suzanne Will You Share Your Muesli Recipe, here it is. Finely tuned, curated and perfected over the years, it's ready to meet its public. My family and I hope you love it as much as we do.  Homemade muesli bars are such an underrated treat. I forget how delicious they are, and so cheap and easy to make. No matter the state of my pantry, I will always have ingredients to cobble together a tray of muesli bars.
This recipe was inspired by the newest product to hit the Village shelves: white couverture chocolate drops. This is the first white chocolate that swayed me from my anti-white chocolate stance. Sumptuous and silky, with a delicate creamy flavour that doesn't hit you with over the top sweetness. The addition of the greek yoghurt in the topping adds a touch of tartness that balances the white chocolate perfectly.  1. Popcorn Parmigiana, 2. Fairy Bread Popcorn, 3. Chocolate Popcorn, 4. Salty & Sweet Smokey BBQ Popcorn. This summer, whether you are enjoying the easing of restrictions, holidaying and visiting friends and family, or relishing the peace of a staycation, one thing is a given: most of us have a little extra downtime. Sydney summers mean long (so very long) school holidays and stifling weather that makes it hard to think about turning the oven on to prepare hot food & complicated meals. And if you're like me, you're also looking to tighten your financial belt after the silly season blowout.
Enter homemade popcorn. Delicious, nutritious (hello, high fibre wholegrain!) and cheap. It's the perfect companion to an evening watching a movie, a rainy afternoon playing board games, a quick and impromptu snack when guests - or late night hunger - descend without warning. This week we've been busy in the Village test kitchen coming up with some scrumptious popcorn flavourings. We worked tirelessly, testing batch after batch of hot, buttery popcorn gussied up with a variety of spices and flavours. Here are our finalists. You're welcome.  These simple little biscuits are easy and fun to make, even more fun to decorate and make a lovely little gift - they're little hugs disguised as a present!
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