Banana walnut muffins

I have made banana muffins before (especially during the great banana glut of Spring 2011), but felt like trying a slightly different recipe, especially after getting into a discussion with Katy about banana muffin making and the best baking fats the other day - it seemed obvious that coconut oil was the best option, with its combination of tastiness, vegan-ness and melt-in-the-mouth-ness.  Plus its tropical-ness makes it a natural partner for bananas.

Based these on this ppk recipe.

1 1/4 cups plain flour
3/4 cup wholemeal flour
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp allspice
3 ripe bananas
1/2 cup coconut oil
1/4 cup fake milk plus 1 tsp cider vinegar
1 tsp vanilla essence
~1/4 cup walnuts, broken into pieces

Heat oven to 350F.  Mix dry ingredients (first 7) with a fork in a mixing bowl.  Mash the bananas roughly in a separate bowl.  Mix the fake milk and vinegar in the measuring cup.  Bring the coconut oil to melting temperature (the warm side of room temp - I did this by putting the jar in hot water as you would for crystallised honey).  Add the fake milk mix, coconut oil and vanilla to the bananas and mix.  Add the wet to dry and mix til just combined.  Add walnuts and mix briefly and gently.

Prepare muffin tins with liners or grease, then add the mixture.  Bake for 25-30 min, until lightly browned and a skewer comes out clean.  Allow to cool for a few minutes in the tin, then transfer to a wire rack to finish cooling.


These came out nice and banana-y.  Felt like they could do with a bit more texture though - perhaps add oats another time, and/or raisins or chocolate chunks.  Also I found the coconut smell / flavour a little overbearing.  Maybe I'll just go back to veg oil.

Apfelbrot

Got excited about German baking and decided to try another recipe from the blog I found: apfelbrot.

Makes one very large tin loaf or two smaller ones.
(I halved quantities to make a smaller loaf - I only have one loaf tin)

750 g apples, peeled and chopped (for 375g used 2 large apples)
250 g demerara sugar  (125g white sugar)
250g raisins or chopped, mixed fruit (125g raisins mixed with candied peel)
100 g ground almonds (50g)
100g roughly chopped hazelnuts (50g)
1 large tbsp dark rum (1 tbsp Pimms)
1 tbsp cocoa powder (1/2 tbsp)
1 tsp cinnamon (1/2 tsp)
1 pinch of ground cloves (small pinch)
500 g plain flour (250g)
20 g baking powder (10g = 2/3 tbsp)

Mix the chopped apples with the sugar and dried fruit.  Cover and leave to stand overnight or for at least 8 hours, so that the apples release juice.

Add the nuts, rum, cocoa and spices to the apple mixture and stir.  Finally add the flour and baking powder and mix until all the flour has been absorbed.  Add some extra liquid (water, rum, apple juice or tea) if the batter is too thick - it should be quite firm though.  Spoon the batter into the tin(s).  Bake at 180C / 350F for about one hour or until a skewer comes out clean.

The apple bread keeps fresh for a couple of weeks, but it should not be stored in plastic (tin foil or a tin is best).


Good stuff, as it should be with all those good things in it: a sum of its parts?  I liked the minimalism of the method: just using the juice from the apples instead of fat and/or liquid. I wondered how the cocoa powder would be, if anything it's imperceptible: certainly not negative.  The sum of its parts, but that's no bad thing.  The half quantity made a good-sized loaf that took us a few days to get through with pretty intensive snacking from both of us: think the double quantity would be massive.

Mohnkuchen (German poppyseed streusel cake)

As a pre-emptive reward for S coming in to my German class tomorrow (show and tell the germans in your life), I asked him what his favourite German cake was and then baked it.  I actually really can't understand why I haven't done much German baking before - there's such a beautiful range of German cakes...

He said Mohnkuchen.  I'm not sure if I've ever eaten proper Mohnkuchen - I've had some nice German cakey things made with lots of poppyseeds, but I don't think I've ever had the full streuselly whammy.  So there was an inherent challenge in this - how to make something when you don't know what it should be like, but the person you're making it for most definitely does?

Ein Stück Mohnkuchen

First challenge, actually, was trying to find a large quantity of poppyseeds.  Happily I managed to find them in the first place I looked: the Indian store in Coolidge Corner.  The package had a very basic label, but with some interesting facts:  the Latin name (Papaver somniferum) and the country of origin (Australia).  The somniferum made me wonder if poppyseeds come from the same poppy plants as opium / morphine / heroin.  And I wondered why they came from Australia, of all places.  Consultation with Wikipedia indicates that yes, these are from the exact same type of poppy as opium (that I also remember growing in the garden in East Linton), and that although there is little opium in the seeds (the latex is the big hitter), there is still some.  Are we going to get high?  There's a lot of poppyseeds in this cake.  Is this why it's S's favourite?  And apparently the USA has a special trade deal with Australia (plus 2 other countries, neither of which is Afghanistan) for supply of poppyseeds, so I guess that's why they came so far.

Next challenge was finding a recipe I could understand sufficiently well to follow.  Obviously most of the authentic ones are in German and are not vegan.  My German is improving, but I can't skim a page like I can in English yet.  The solution to that challenge was the happy discovery of this recipe on a wonderful blog by a German woman living in the UK - there are lots of other lovely-looking things on there I look forward to trying out...


This recipe gives quantities for a round spring form of 23 – 26 cm diameter.  I only have a ~20 cm diameter one so used that, but perhaps a wider one would have given better results.

For the pastry base:

250 g plain flour
80 g sugar
120 g fake butter
1 tbsp ground linseed mixed with 3 tbsp hot water (egg substitute)
½ tsp baking powder

For the poppyseed filling:

40 g cornflour (used custard powder)
4 tbsp sugar
1 vanilla pod (used 1 tsp vanilla essence)
500 ml fake milk
250 g ground poppy seed (used a ~ 50 : 50 mixture of ground and whole - S said he preferred whole, I thought some ground might give better texture)
swig of dark rum (or a handful of raisins soaked in rum) (used Pimms as didn't have rum)

For the streusel (crumble) topping:
100 g flour
70 g fake butter
70 g sugar

Combine the base ingredients and knead until you have a smooth ball of dough.  Leave to rest in the fridge.

For the filling, mix the corn flour / custard and sugar.  Add a bit of cold milk and whisk until there are no lumps left.  Boil the rest of the milk with the vanilla (seeds scraped into the milk if using a pod).  When it is boiling remove the vanilla pod and whisk it into the cornflour mixture.  Pour the mixture back into the pan and boil for a minute or so, whisking constantly until the mixture resembles thick custard.  Add the poppy seeds and booze.  Leave to cool slightly.

In the meantime make the topping by rubbing the butter into the flour until it resembles breadcrumbs, then mix in the sugar.

Roll out the pastry (between two layers of cling film) and use it to line the prepared baking tin.  The edge parts should be about 3 cm high.  Fill the pastry case with the poppyseed mixture and smooth the surface. Top with the crumble and bake at about 180C / 350F for 60 minutes or until the crumbly top is golden brown.  Leave to cool thoroughly before removing from the tin.


I was quite happy with this.  S was too.  He said it could be a little sweeter, but I think we both quite enjoyed that it was not too sweet - the seediness stands out more, and it's a good anytime-even-breakfast-without-sugar-headrush cake because of it.  The best bit is where the mohn meets the streusel.  The worst bit is the pastry base.  The pastry was a bit wet so I wasn't sure about it from the start, but persevered and it came out OK - successfully lined the tin.  But it was a bit thick, especially around the edges where it was difficult to get it to stay in position.  So another time I might use less pastry, and either use less egg substitute, make it less watery, or miss it out entirely.  The relative smallness of the tin probably didn't help.  I also might make the custard a wee bit thicker and sweeter.  All that said, it came out really good - veganising was definitely successful, and I really like the mohniness.

Beans, seeds and tomato

1 tbsp olive oil
1 medium onion, finely chopped (or 3-4 spring onions for quicker cooking)
2 tbsp sunflower seeds
3 handfuls cooked lima beans
1 large tomato
1 tbsp coriander, chopped

Heat the oil in a medium saucepan and add the chopped onion.  Cover and cook on medium-low til softened but not coloured, about 10 min.  Meanwhile toast the seeds and chop the tomato and coriander.  When the onion is ready, as the beans, tomato and seeds and then cook for 2-5 min.  Lastly, add the coriander and season to taste.  Surprisingly yum.

Pickled cucumbers

One of two jars

I was thinking about pickles.  I thought at first that pickled beetroot was the only pickled veg I really liked.  But then we had a jar of pickled cornichons and I remembered I really like those too.  So then I had my eye out for really small cucumbers or cornichons.  I found some pretty tiny cucumbers at the Haymarket, and decided to try pickling them.  It was really hard to choose the pickling method.  I know what I want them to be like, but it will be a month before I get to find out how close I got...  I know what I don't want them to be like too:  I really don't enjoy the massive, chunky, fizzy, fermented, overtly garlicky style of pickled cucumber - the ones I like are the dainty, firm / snappy, delicately herb / spice flavoured ones - perhaps it's the French style, but I'm not sure.  I tried to follow the combo from the ingredient label of the last jar of cornichons we bought, and used a combination of recipe methods. Hopefully they will turn out.  Now I just have to wait and see...

~1 1/4 lb of the smallest cucumbers you can find (these were the Lebanese type, 4-6 in long and ~3/4 in wide)
~3 tbsp salt
half a medium onion, sliced quite fine
3-4 cloves garlic, sliced
10-15 small sprigs dill (tarragon might have been better, but we had dill so dill it was)
~2 tbsp yellow mustard seeds
~1 tbsp black peppercorns
~2 cups vinegar (used 1 cup white vinegar plus 1 cup cider vinegar)

Chop the cucumbers into 1-2 in long pieces, put into a colander and salt generously in layers.  Put colander over a bowl with a plate+weight on top and leave for ~24 hours.

Rinse the cucumbers and dab dry with a clean cloth.  Clean and sterilize the jars (this amount neatly filled two large ex-caper jars ~450g).

Pack layers of cucumbers into the jars, interspersed with the garlic, onion, dill and spices.  Leave an inch of space at the top.

Heat the vinegar to just about boiling point in a pan.  Remove from the heat, fill the jars right to the top and cover immediately.

Store in a cool, dark place for at least one month before eating.


Update April 29th 2012: They are good!  Nice and crisp, with a good, sour vinegar taste but no fermentation.  Bonus pickled onion and garlic.  Pretty much exactly what I was aiming for, give or take tinier cucumbers and tarragon vs dill.

Black onion seed breadsticks

From a type of bread I've made a lot to a type of bread I've never baked before: bread sticks.  I have a deep love for nigella seed, so this recipe stuck in my mind.

1 tsp dried yeast
40 ml warm water
100 ml fake milk
50 g fake butter
1/2 tbsp brown sugar
250 g wholemeal flour
250g strong white flour
1 tsp salt
15g black onion seeds
Oil, for kneading

Mix the yeast and warm water in a cup or small bowl until dissolved, then set aside. Bring the milk to a boil, add the butter and sugar, remove from the heat, pour into a mixing bowl and leave until the butter has melted. Add the flours, salt, onion seeds and yeast liquid, and mix to a smooth dough. Cover the bowl, leave for 10 minutes, then lightly knead until smooth. Return the dough to the bowl and leave for an hour until risen.

Cut the dough into quarters and one at a time roll out each quarter to about 1cm thick. Cut a 1cm-wide strip from this dough roll, and roll out into a smooth breadstick about 25cm long. Place on a baking tray lined with nonstick paper, and continue with the remaining dough until you've filled a tray or two. Bake at 180C/350F for about 30 minutes, until crisp and golden. These keep well for at least a week if wrapped well, but you can crisp them up in the oven (at the same temperature, for about 15 minutes) on the day of serving.


These look nice and fancy and were a big hit with S.  Nice texture, the outside crisp and the inside bready.  They cry out to be dipped in something - bit weird on their own.  I made some black olive hummus to eat with them but baba ghanoush would be perfect.

St Patrick's Day: Soda bread

I used to make a lot of soda bread.  Then I started making yeast bread and got all into that and kind of forgot about soda bread.  I can't really say why - soda bread is good, and quick, and easy...

I used to go off a Delia recipe mostly, but thought I'd try something slightly different this time.  So used approximated the recipe listed here.

Oh yeah, and why did I start thinking about soda bread again?  Because it's St Patrick's Day, and soda bread is one of my favourite Irish foods (the other is potato farls, and I'm trying to think of more...).

250 g plain flour
10 g salt
15 g bicarbonate of soda
250 g wholemeal flour
150 g jumbo oat flakes (used a mixture of steel-cut oats and seeds: millet, linseed, poppy, sesame, sunflower, pumpkin)
1 tbsp honey
1 tbsp black treacle
500 ml buttermilk (used soy milk soured with 1-2 tsp cider vinegar)

Heat oven to 200C/390F.  Line a baking sheet with baking paper.  Mix the dry ingredients together in a bowl. Make a well in the middle, then mix in the honey, treacle and 'buttermilk', working everything together lightly with your hands until you have a loose, wet dough.  Shape the dough into a round on to the lined baking sheet. Mark a cross in the top with a knife. Bake for around 45 minutes, or until the loaf sounds hollow when tapped on the base. Transfer to a wire rack, drape a damp cloth over the top and leave to cool.


Good stuff.  Maybe a bit much treacle (or that blackstrap molasses is a bit more powerful than treacle).  Great moist texture and I love all the seeds, though.

Potato, leek and lavender soup

Another New Covent Garden Soup Company old favourite.  I hadn't had any cookable lavender for a while, so hadn't made it for a while, but now I have lavender and now I have made the soup again.

1 1/2 tbsp olive oil
2 large leeks, washed and finely chopped
1 1/2 lb potatoes, peeled and roughly chopped
1.5 l / 2.5 pints veg stock
425 ml / 3/4 pint fake milk
flowers of 3 lavender heads
salt and pepper

Heat the oil in a large saucepan, cover and cook gently for ~5 min til softened.  Add the potatoes, stock, milk and lavender.  Cover, bring to the boil and simmer gently for about 20-25 min until the potatoes are tender.  Cool a bit, then puree in a blender til smooth.  Season to taste and thin with water if necessary.


It's subtle but tasty.  Blended potato does make for a really nice smooth consistency (good for ill 'uns, like S this weekend).  I made the mistake of chucking some beetroot in my last batch of stock, so the colour of this was a little odd, just a little - browner than one might expect...

Sweet lemon / lavender / olive oil biscuits

flower biscuits!

I went a bit nuts and bought lots of dried flowers.  I wanted to mix my own tea blend (rose petals, green tea, cacao nibs and calendula petals, for the record - the rose/green tea/cacao combo is a winner in my book).  While shopping for dried rose petals, dried lavender flowers popped up too and I remembered about Lizzie and my triumphant lemon lavender cake and decided I needed some of those...  When they arrived (from Etsy), I discovered the vendor had thrown in some calendula, and also that I'm only ever going to be using a wee measure of flowers at once.  So yeah, now I have loads of flowers for cooking and tea-making.  Can't complain...

Somehow olive oil, lemon and lavender seemed like a perfect combination when I thought of it this morning - perhaps to do with memories of the Mediterranean?

1 cup flour
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 tsp bicarbonate of soda
1/8 tsp salt
1/2 tbsp dried lavender flowers
juice and zest of 1/2 a lemon
1/4 cup olive oil
1-2 tbsp fake milk

Heat oven to 350F and line a baking sheet with greaseproof paper.  Mix flour, sugar, bicarb and salt in a medium bowl with a fork.  Blitz lavender flowers in grinder so that they are broken up but not powdered, then stir them in with the flour.

Mix the lemon juice and zest with the olive oil, then add to dry ingredients and mix to a smooth dough.  Add fake milk as needed to get the required consistency.

Take lumps of the mixture and shape into ~1.5in diameter balls.  Flatten slightly and place on baking sheet, leaving 1-2in between blobs as they will spread a little while cooking.  Bake for 20-30 min, until slightly browned around the edges.  Take out, cool for ~5min on the sheet, then move to a cooling rack.


These came out good.  Very crunchy, but I think I liked that.  The lavender / lemon was fairly well balanced and nicely resonant.

Salty poppy seed crackers

I was daydreaming about these thin poppy seed crackers we used to have as kids: crispy, seedy and salty, we'd eat our way through a packet in no time.  So I thought I'd try making something similar.  I liked the idea of using olive oil as a fat, so went from there.

1 cup flour
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp sugar
1 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp poppyseeds
1/2 tbsp sesame seeds
~3 tbsp fake milk
more fake milk and sea salt to finish

Heat the oven to 300F.  Put the flour in a bowl with the salt and sugar and mix with a fork.  Add the olive oil and rub in to disperse evenly.  Mix in the seeds.  Add fake milk and mix until you have a stiff dough (modify volume of milk accordingly).

Lightly flour a worktop and roll out the dough to about 2-3mm thick.  Cut into pieces (irregular polygons seemed like the way to go) about 6-8cm across.

Line a baking sheet with greaseproof paper.  Put the cut-out shapes on it, brush them with fake milk and sprinkle with sea salt.  Bake for about 30min, until crisp but not really coloured.