Canadian Cookies in Australia

Watching the Olympics in Australia proved to be quite difficult. For one, there is a bigger focus on Australian competitors (obviously), which made it tricky watch Canadian competitors. Secondly, all the events I wanted to watch were at crazy times during the night or super early in the morning. 

One thing I knew I didn't want to miss was the final Men's Hockey games, as I always watch those at home! So, there I was, at 4am Saturday morning, bundled up on the couch watching the Canada vs USA semi-final. I cheered them on and for a split second, I felt like I was back at home again. 

The game ended sometime after 6am and I decided it was in my best interest to go back to bed for just a few more hours of sleep. However, once I laid my head on my pillow, my mind started wandering (as it often does) and I was thinking of things I could make for the final game on Sunday night. Once my mind was set on cookies, I couldn't get the thought out of my head. Needless to say, I was down at the Woolies by their 7am opening time to get the supplies I needed. 

Getting the maple leaf on the cookie was harder than I thought. Of course, in Australia, I am without all my fancy tools, so I had to make do with what I had. For the shape of the cookie, I used a wine glass for the round one and a knife for the others. I thought I could get the maple leaf on the cookies by cutting one out of cardboard to roll into the dough to make an indentation. Well, that didn't work as well as it did in my head, so I had to change up the plan. Instead, I used a toothpick to mark the points on the leaf, then played connect the dots in the dough. Although this wasn't time efficient, it worked well! 

 We found a place, which may have been the only place in the city, to watch the game with audio. It was at the Sports Bar in the Crown Casino. Each wall was lined with about ten tv's, tv's in the tables and a large screen up front! I don't think I've ever seen so many tv's in one place! 

We went early to grab seats, and good thing we did! We saw some red trickle in and some blue and yello (Swedes) trickle in little by little. When the game began, we quickly realized that the Canadians in the bar were outnumbered by Swedes...by a lot! (Yes, I took cookies to the bar! Ha Ha)

The game was so awesome to watch in an environment that was a mixture of Canadians and Swedes. I think it made it a lot more intense, although I like to think it was a given we would win anyway right from the get go. 

When the time ran out at the end of the game, all the Canadians in the bar came together and sang "Oh Canada" in unison. It was awesome to be surrounded by fellow Canadians celebrating the same moment in Australia. 

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The Tim Tamington Cake

Hello everyone! Currently I am in Australia and to be more specific I am in Byron Bay, New South Wales. I've now been living in Australia (Melbourne) for six months which puts me exactly half way through my year long stay. Since it's summertime and I've got the month off, I am travelling down the beautiful east coast of Australia. 

It's been a challenge living in Australia as the opportunities to bake are few and far between. I am without an oven in our tiny Melbourne apartment, however during the holidays I was able to produce some Christmas cookies with our little toaster oven. Now that we are travelling, I've had little time to even think about how much I miss baking and putting cakes together. Last week in Noosa, we needed something to make our friends birthday special - a cake! So, my friend Jenna and I came up with an idea of making a no-bake, easy cake to celebrate the occasion. It's also the perfect dessert for Australia Day which is coming up in just a few days. We may need to make it again! 

Introducing THE TIM TAMINGTON CAKE!

I'm not positive, but I believe that we may have been the inventors of this strictly Aussie cake. It's inclusive of the two major Australian sweets: Tim Tams and Lamingtons. If you're unsure of what these are, let me break it down for you:

Tim Tam: an extra delicious chocolate cookie that is made up with two layers of chocolate cookie which is separated by a layer of chocolate cream then submerged in chocolate for it's outer covering. You'll have to stay tuned for my post on 9 ways to eat a Tim Tam! 

Lamington: these babies are squares of sponge cake that are covered in chocolate and coconut shreds. I've never actually tried them before cutting into this cake but they are great although I'd prefer a home made rendition to the packaged kind. 

Now that you know the ingredients, you'll need less than five minutes to put this chocolate monster together. Of course, you'll need to make or buy some chocolate frosting. As we are backpacking, we unfortunately needed to opt for the store bought. 

We started with a layer of Lamingtons in a 2x3 formation. Cover those with chocolate frosting to hold you next layer of Tim Tams in place. We did an alternating pattern of the Tim Tams to hold the cake together. After that, you guessed it, another layer of chocolate frosting. Go ahead and stick the other six Lamingtons on top and smear them with the last of your chocolate frosting. For the top, we crushed the remaining Tim Tams and scattered them across the top. BAM! There you have it: The Tim Tamington Cake! 

We added the Australian Flags that came with the Lamingtons to add a little extra Aussie flare and to make it that much more appropriate for Australia Day! 

I apologize to all my North America friends as these ingredients may be a challenge to find. However, if you do find them, go ahead and smash this cake together - you won't regret it!   
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