Amaranth granola

At Easter, we met a bunch of Germans in a house by a lake in northern Germany. Three boys who went to school together, and their partners, and their sons - one each, aged 5-7. One partner was missing though - the Swedish opera singer had to stay in Berlin to do Wagner. But she provided us with lots of goodies, including a jar of delicious granola based on popped amaranth. Which made me realize it could be time to mix up my granola game - I've been making variations on the same recipe using oats since forever - I love it, but this one was good too! Granola is great in general - simple and tasty and good to eat alone or sprinkled on top of almost anything... I asked L for her recipe but she wasn't sure if she had one, so I used this one for guidance/inspiration.

I was feeling lazy and tried to order the amaranth already popped. But when it arrived it turned out it was just the seeds. So first thing I had to do was try and pop it (I looked to here for help)... which actually, it turned out, was quite fun - the seeds are tiny (only about a mm diameter), but they pop just like popcorn! So cute...

2 cups puffed amaranth (I think I popped about 10-12 tbsp of seeds to get this much - but do a bit too much, it should store OK)

1/4 cup roughly chopped walnuts (or use pecans)

2 tbsp pumpkin seeds

2 tsp ground cinnamon

3 tsp cocoa powder

1/4 tsp salt

1/4 tsp ground vanilla

3 tbsp coconut oil 

1/4 cup maple syrup

First pop the amaranth. You could do this in advance and keep until needed. Heat a big high-sided metal pot (dry) until pretty hot, then put in one tbsp of amaranth seeds, give it a few seconds, shaking it a bit, until it all pops - then tip out into a big bowl. If it doesn't pop and burns instead, the pan isn't hot enough - discard, let it heat up a bit more, then try again until you hit the right temperature. Keep going, 1-2 tbsp at a time (should not be more than a single layer in the pan), until you have enough. Let cool before putting in a storage jar or going right ahead to make the granola.

When ready to make granola, heat oven to 180C and line a big baking tray with baking paper.

Mix dry stuff (excluding the dried fruit) in a big bowl. In a separate bowl, warm the coconut oil gently until it is liquid (if it is not already), then mix with the maple syrup. Add wet to dry and mix well. Spread out evenly on the baking tray, transfer to the oven, and bake for c. 15 min (try less next time) until lightly toasted. Remove from the oven and let cool 20-30 min before putting in a storage jar.

 

I love this stuff, a really interesting taste / texture. Maybe a bit too much salt and syrup - could reduce next time. Also maybe a tiny bit too long in the oven - try 12 min next time. Also wasn't very clumpy - consider adding some psyllium husk next time?

Now I am wondering what else I can use popped amaranth for! Also, what else can I pop - quinoa, perhaps?

Plain stovetop rice pudding

It was the last day of børnehave in s's normal place on Friday, before they move to the summer situation next week. I think everyone had picked up early - he was the only kid left when I got there. As we were leaving, one of the teachers came running after us with two full cartons of milk - she gave them to us, saying we should take them, otherwise they go in the bin. So we did. We don't usually have normal milk in the house (oat milk and powered milk), and milk doesn't keep well, so we've been on a mission to use up all the milk ever since... We're doing quite well! I have been making s lots of milkshakes (milk blended up with banana and other fruit)... and then S had the idea of making rice pudding... Which, the more I thought about it, seemed like a good idea! I roughly followed this recipe, adding more spices but otherwise keeping it quite plain. 

120 g pudding rice

800 ml milk

200 ml water

2 tbsp maple syrup

3/4 tsp cinnamon

3/4 tsp vanilla powder

1/2 tsp grated nutmeg

Put all ingredients in a big pan, mix, then heat gently, stirring occasionally, for c. 45 min - until thick and creamy but still with a tiny bit of bite in the rice. 

We ate it with the options of (1) chopped fresh mango (the great pakistani honey mango season is still upon us!); or (2) summer fruit compote with mainly cherries, apple, blueberries and pink currants. It was surprisingly good - although s refused to eat it.

 

Baked donuts with raspberry icing

This morning, little s suddenly started talking about donuts. I have no idea why - I am pretty sure he has never eaten and probably never even seen a donut.

I'm not a donut fan, but we ended up agreeing that we would make some. I looked for a recipe while he napped. No way was I going to deep fry anything (it's so stinky), so I looked for a baked donut. Went with this one, but halved it. And did a raspberry-cream cheese glaze with desiccated coconut sprinkles.

Improvised a donut tin by molding little squares of foil around my finger and then pressing them into a muffin tin so the finger stuck up in the middle.

(makes 12 small ones)

For the donuts:

26 g butter

25 g veg oil

48 g sugar

35 g brown sugar

1 egg

3/4 tsp baking powder

1/8 tsp bicarbonate of soda

1/2 tsp nutmeg

3/8 tsp salt

1/2 tsp vanilla powder

159 g flour

113 g milk 

 

For the decoration:

c. 6 frozen raspberries, microwaved for 20 sec to defrost and smushed with a fork

c. 4 tbsp icing sugar with vanilla

c 2 tbsp cream cheese

2-3 tbsp desiccated coconut

 

Heat oven to 220C (425F). Grease the 'donut tin' lightly with oil. In a medium bowl, beat together butter, oil, sugars until smooth. Add egg, beat to combine. Stir in baking powder, bicarb, nutmeg, salt and vanilla. Stir the flour into the butter mixture alternately with the milk (start and end with flour). Batter will be thick - wooden spoon should leave a furrow. Spoon batter into the tin, leaving about 1/4 inch of the finger sticking up. Bake for 10 min. Take out of the oven and wait c. 5 min before turning out, peeling / pulling off/out the foil.

While the donuts bake, prepare the icing. Make sure there are no lumps in the icing sugar, then put it in a small bowl and beat in the raspberries. Beat in the cream cheese. Check the consistency and colour is as you want it. This only made a little - enough to ice about the top third of each donut.

After removing the foil, check the holes are still intact. I iced the bottoms of the 'donuts' because they looked neater. Ice the donuts while still warm, right after turning them out. I spread it out with a teaspoon. When the icing is on, sprinkle with desiccated coconut (toasted if you wish). Let cool or eat while still warm.

These are very cute. They didn't look great when I took them out the oven as the batter rose too much and engulfed the fingers (ideally make them stick up higher than the tin!), but I cut the holes back into the side they were missing, and the donuts survived the operation pretty good, and then the icing and sprinkles and holes made them look quite legit (if tiny). 

 

They aren't all that much like donuts, although they looked the part - not yeasted or deep fried. But that's fine with me; and they taste pretty good - the spices and brown sugar make for a tasty batter, and the raspberry goes pretty well with that. Wonder how well they will keep (we ate about half for dessert but the rest are kept til tomorrow).

Kid-friendly coconutty ‘flapjacks’

I stumbled upon this 'flapjack' recipe and it sounded really like something small S and I would both like - not too sweet, lots of tasty stuff. It took me a while to get around to making it but when I did I discovered that I was so right: we both love it! I've been making a half quantity in a loaf tin (I don't have a bigger square or rectangular baking tin) and that lasts us about a week. We have been developing a little tradition of baking snacks together on Sunday mornings that small S can eat after vuggestue through the rest of the week. We've made these a couple of time now. Also, I have discovered that I love pretty much every Anna Jones baking recipe I have tried so far - she uses all my favourite things!

4 tbsp chia seeds
200g rolled oats
150g dried fruit (used a mixture of dried apricots and raisins)
1 medium carrot
1 apple
100g desiccated coconut
100g pumpkin seeds
6 tbsp maple syrup
1 tbsp vanilla extract
½ tsp ground cinnamon
1 pinch ground ginger
70g coconut oil, melted

Heat the oven to 200C and line a 20cm × 30cm baking tin (or large loaf tin for a half quantity) with greaseproof paper. In a small bowl, soak the chia seeds in four tablespoons of water, then set aside (did 2 tbsp chia in 3 tbsp water for half recipe - the chia mixture felt too thick the first time).

Put the oats in blender and blend until you have a scruffy flour, then tip into a large bowl. Put half the dried fruit into blender and blend until broken down and a little mushy. Scrape into the bowl with the oats.

Grate the carrot and apple (no need to peel them... also ok with double apple no carrot or double carrot no apple, depending on availability) into the bowl, and add the remaining dried fruit, coconut, chia mixture, pumpkin seeds, maple syrup, vanilla, spices and melted coconut oil. Mix well.

Spoon into the tin, smooth the top with the back of a spoon, and bake for 40–45 minutes (c 30 min for half quantity), until golden brown. Leave to cool a little in the tray, then turn out on to a wire rack and leave to cool completely. Slice into pieces.

German rhubarb cake

I am slowly trying out more recipes from this book. This is possibly my favourite so far. Definitely the simplest I have tried - but nonetheless a lovely way of using the first rhubarb of the season. Below is what I baked, which was a half quantity, in a 9 inch cake tin with removable base. It was a good size of cake for our little family.

250 g rhubarb, trimmed and chopped into 12 mm pieces
80 g sugar
50 g butter, softened
1 egg
1/4 tsp vanilla essence
grated zest of 1/4 lemon
95 g flour
1 tsp baking powder
pinch salt
30 ml milk

Heat oven to 350F / 180C. Grease and line a 9 in cake tin with removable base. Toss rhubarb pieces with 1 1/2 tbsp sugar and set aside.

In a large bowl, cream together the butter and the remaining 63g sugar until light and fluffy, then beat in the egg, then beat in the vanilla and lemon zest.

In a separate bowl, mix flour, baking powder and salt together with a fork. Beat half of this mixture into the butter mixture, then beat in the milk, then beat in the rest of the flour mixture until just combined.

Scrape the batter into the prepared cake tin, smoothing it out evenly. Scatter the rhubarb over the top and press in lightly. It will seem like a lot of rhubarb, but that is good. Bake for 45-50 min, or until the cake batter has puffed up slightly around the rhubarb and is golden brown. Remove from the oven when done, and set on a rack to cool completely before removing the cake and peeling off the paper. Best eaten the day after baking.


The lemon and vanilla are almost imperceptible, but important - I had a really nice, fragrant lemon by chance, and I think maybe it made a difference in such a simple cake. Can’t help wondering about replacing some of the flour with ground almonds? The recipe suggests trying almond streusel on top, and trying sour cherries or chopped plums instead of rhubarb.

Leftover raspberry porridge baby biscuits

I made some baby biscuits the other day and they have been quite good for a snack for S when he is shuffling around - they are in the freezer but defrost easily with 30 sec in the microwave; and they aren't crumbly so don't make too much mess (he's hating on sitting in his high chair recently)...

After his breakfast the other day there was quite a bit of delicious raspberry porridge left over (just normal porridge with a few frozen raspberries added before cooking - thicker prob best). And most of a banana. And there was one egg in the fridge. And I was thinking, that added up to pretty much a similar thing to the baby biscuits I made the other day, with the advantage of not throwing away the leftover porridge... The ingredient quantities are a little bit improvised, but these came out quite good and I suspect it is reasonably robust to using up variable amounts of stuff.

I made these right after breakfast on a day S was home sick from vuggestue, alone with me, and it took all of about 30 min from beginning to end, and I didn't half feel like we'd done far too much winning already before 09:30...

(makes c 15 small-medium biscuits - keep for a few days or store in the freezer)

c 1/2 cup leftover porridge (with raspberries in it)
2/3 of a medium banana, mashed
1 egg
c 1/2 cup flour
c 1/4 cup oats
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp vanilla powder (or cinnamon)
(veg oil)
(raisins)

Heat oven to 180C. Mix porridge, banana and egg together with a fork. Add flour, oats, baking powder and vanilla and mix until just combined. Dollop in biscuit sized clumps onto a baking sheet lined with baking paper, and bake 25-30 min until lightly golden on top.


I realized afterwards that maybe should have added some oil or melted butter - if I try this again maybe I will. If the leftover porridge hadn't had raspberries in it I might have added some raisins and cinnamon. Also, the mix was a little bit runnier than I would have liked - and note that runniness will depend a bit on the consistency and amount of the leftover porridge, so may need to adjust amounts of flour and oats.

Banana and oat baby biscuits

Since I was making chocolatey adults-only treats, I figured baby S needed some treats too. He enjoyed some baby biscuits I'd bought for him recently, so I'd been thinking of making him some kind of sugar free biscuits. I was thinking banana and oat, so decided to start with this recipe.

(note that the quantities are a bit cumbersome because I was converting from Aussie/NZ cups and tbsps)

(makes approx. 20)

1 tbsp + 1 tsp (20 ml) chia seeds (or 1 beaten egg)
2 tbsp + 2 tsp (40 ml) water (or milk)
350 g fruit puree (ended up using 3 small bananas plus half a cup of apple puree this time - should work with wholly either, so long as the apple is not too liquidy)
1/2 tsp vanilla (or cinnamon)
310 ml oats
125 ml flour

Heat oven to 180C. Line a baking sheet with baking paper. Mix the chia seeds with the water/milk and let sit for 10-15 min. Meanwhile mash the bananas or prep other puree in a medium bowl. Add the chia mix and vanilla to the bananas and mix. Then add the oats and flour and mix some more - it will be moist and sticky. Scoop tablespoonfuls onto the tray, then bake for 25-30 min, until golden brown on bottom but still soft inside. Let cool. Store in the fridge or freezer.


He seems to like them! I tested them first and they tasted good to me too. And I don't feed bad giving them to him as the ingredients seem pretty wholesome... Think apple+cinnamon or banana+vanilla would be good combos - just didn't have enough bananas and wanted to use banana for this time.

Vanillekipferl

Christmas is approaching, and so is the birth of our own baby boy. Every day that he doesn't make a move to appear, is another day for projects like making Christmas biscuits. So yesterday/today I decided to make zimtsterne, as has become traditional... And this time I decided to try vanillekipferl (vanilla crescents) as well. This was initiated by thinking it might be a good way to use up the egg yolks left from the zimtsterne - I read that somewhere... but then I also read that traditionally vanillekipferl shouldn't have any egg in them to maximise their crumbliness. So anyway, once the seed was sown I wanted to make them, and having reviewed a few recipes decided to follow this one - with one egg yolk.

Makes c. 48 biscuits

For the dough:

120 g butter, at room temperature
50 g icing sugar
175 g flour 
1 tbsp vanilla sugar
100 g ground almonds
1 egg yolk
pinch of salt

For dredging after baking:
125 g icing sugar
1 tbsp vanilla sugar

Beat together butter and 50 g icing sugar. Add the flour, 1 tbsp vanilla sugar, ground almonds, egg yolk and salt and mix until it comes together as a smooth dough. Split the dough into three equal parts and roll each into a cylinder with a diameter of 1 in. Wrap each cylinder in clingfilm and put in the fridge for at least one hour, and up to 2 days.

When ready to bake, heat the oven to 163C and line two baking sheets with paper. Take one roll from the fridge and cut it into slices 1/2 in long. Roll each slice between fingers until about 2 in long, with slightly tapered ends. Curve to make a crescent, and place on the baking sheet. Leave approx. 1 in space between biscuits on the sheet. Repeat with the rest of the dough, taking one roll out of the fridge at a time, until the sheets are full. Bake for 10-15 min, or until just lightly browned.

After removing from the oven, allow to sit on the baking sheet for c. 5 min. Mix 125 g icing sugar with 1 tbsp vanilla sugar in a shallow bowl. Carefully dredge each cookie in the icing sugar and place on a baking rack to cool.

Another banana cake - but I haven't found the perfect one yet

I ended up with a lot of bananas that needed eating again - this hardly ever happens, but then now all of a sudden twice within a short time... This time my main requirement was that it didn't involve softened butter, since I didn't feel like waiting for it. I found this recipe pretty quick, and decided just to go with it - I guess banana and chocolate sounded pretty good!

3 large ripe bananas
1/2 cup (115 g) butter, melted
3/4 cup (145 g) light brown sugar
1 large egg
1 tsp (5 ml) vanilla essence
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
1/4 tsp salt
1 cup (130 g) plus 1/4 cup (35 g) plain flour
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 cup (about 20 g) cocoa
3/4 cup (130 g) chopped chocolate

Heat oven to 175C/350F. Grease a loaf tin and line the base.

Melt butter and put into a medium bowl, then mash the bananas into it. Whisk in the sugar, egg, vanilla, bicarb, and salt until thoroughly combined. Add 130 g flour, stirring until just combined. Pour half of batter into a second bowl. Into one bowl, mix the remaining 35 g flour and the cinnamon. Into the other bowl, mix the cocoa and chocolate. Dollop batters into the prepared loaf pan in large alternating spoonfuls. Use a flat knife to make a few figure-8s through the batters, to marble them together. Bake for 55-65 min, until a skewer comes out clean. Let cool for 10 min, then invert onto a cooling rack. Keep in a cake tin or wrapped in foil.


While baking this, I realized I have developed a banana cake wishlist: it should have oil in it (not butter), honey (not sugar), and should have walnuts and/or chocolate chips. With this in mind, I checked around for the perfect recipe... I found three possibilities - next time I have an excess of bananas, I will have to try one of these: cake 1, cake 2, cake 3.

Poppy Bee Sting (Bienenstichkuchen mit Mohn)

For S's birthday this year, he requested a bienenstichkuchen (bee sting cake). We talked about it a bit, and he said it was the topping that he really likes, with honey and toasted almonds - the creamy filling not so much. I reflected, and browsed the internet a bit, and then spotted this and realized I'd found our cake - it has bienenstich topping and a mohn filling, thus combining two of S's fave cakes (the other being mohnkuchen). And we get to use honey from my bee club for the topping! I've not made many yeasted cakes before, so wasn't sure how it would turn out - also because I was translating a recipe from German, referring to another in English for tips, and buying ingredients in Danish...

Cake:
150 g whipping cream
50 g butter
400 g flour
1 pack fresh yeast (42 g) (= approx. 2 tbsp dried yeast)
50 g sugar
1 1/2 tsp vanilla sugar
pinch of salt
2 eggs (size M)

Topping:
150 g butter
100 g sugar
1 1/2 tsp vanilla sugar
50 g honey
50 g whipping cream
200 g flaked almonds

Filling:
74 g custard powder
40 g sugar
600 ml milk
50 g butter
250 g poppy seeds (partially ground)

Make the dough:
Heat the cream and butter for the dough together until butter is all melted. Put the flour in a mixing bowl and crumble the yeast over the top. Add the sugar, vanilla sugar, salt, eggs, and warm cream-butter mixture and mix until well combined. Knead for about 5 min, until the dough is smooth. Leave the dough covered in a warm place until it has doubled in size (about 45 min).

Make the topping (do this while the dough is rising):
Heat the butter with the sugar, vanilla sugar, honey and cream, slowly with stirring. Then boil for about 4 min with stirring, until the mixture becomes a little thick and caramel (it should become a little darker, and go from yellowish to light beige). Mix in the almonds. Allow to cool, stirring occasionally.

Assemble and bake the cake:
Heat the oven to 200C / 180C fan. Lightly grease a large rectangular baking tray (30 x 40 cm).

Sprinkle the dough with a little flour, remove it from the bowl, briefly knead on a slightly floured surface and roll/press out on the baking sheet. Spread the topping out evenly on the dough and let it rise again somewhere warm, until visibly enlarged (about 30 min). When ready, put in the oven for approx. 15 min, until golden brown on top. When ready, take out and leave to cool in the baking tray on a cooling rack, until completely cold.

Make the filling (do this while the cake is rising / baking):
Mix the custard powder with the sugar in a medium bowl. Gradually stir in approx. 12 tbsp of the milk. Bring the rest of the milk to the boil in a medium saucepan, remove from the heat and add the powder-sugar mixture, stirring well. Put the pan back on the heat and bring to the boil, and simmer for about 1 min until thickened. Add the butter and poppy seeds and stir; then leave to cool.

Fill and finish the cake:
When the cake and filling are completely cool, you can assemble the cake. Loosen the cake from the baking tray and halve it vertically. Take out one half and carefully cut in half horizontally. Spread half of the poppy seed mixture evenly over the lower part, then put the top back on. Repeat for the other half of the cake and the other half of the poppy seed mixture. Best eaten within 24 hours.


I was really pleasantly surprised by this recipe - the busy work takes a couple of hours, but the rising steps don't feel like a drag because there is always something else to do - making the caramel topping; making the custard-poppyseed filling; going to the shop again because you forgot to buy milk the first time... And it was actually really simple - apart from not managing to mix in the yeast very thoroughly and getting a slightly uneven rise, it came together incredibly well. Did I mention it is delicious? Another great example of German cakey brilliance: really sweet parts (topping) are so well balanced with not so sweet parts (filling and cake); and there's loads of texture going on (light bread-cake; crunchy caramel almonds; toothsome poppyseed custard...). It was best within about 24 hours, but perfectly edible after that - it took us 5 days, but S and I ate it all.

Rye biscuits (småkager)

We visited Frilandsmuseet at Sorgenfri the other day, when S's mum was here. It was very nice for a warm day - it's an open-air museum with lots of old buildings from all over Denmark you can go in and around. It was Møllerlaug day, so the windmills and watermills were especially on show. A water mill from Ellested was running, milling flour, and they were giving away bags of flour (for a donation). It reminded me of the windmill in Bardwell, and also Preston Mill. Except they were milling rye! We took some home, and I have been experimenting a little. Some went into pizza dough (about 1/3 rye to 2/3 white wheat), which was quite nice (although maybe didn't rise that well). We took a recipe booklet from the mill, and a recipe for biscuits (småkager) caught my eye. I made some to take to Danish class on a day when I had to give a one-minute talk: I'd decided to talk about Frilandsmuseet.

150 g rugmel / rye flour
150 g hvedemel (wheat flour)
200 g smør (butter), chilled
125 g flormelis (icing sugar)
1 æg (egg)
1/4 tsp vanijepulver (vanilla powder)
25 g hakkede mandler (chopped almonds) (optional)

Rub the butter into the flour, then knead in the remaining ingredients to make a dough, mixing the almonds towards the end. Roll the dough out on clingfilm to make a 3 cm thick sausage (or two). Wrap each sausage in clingfilm and put in the freezer for about half an hour. Meanwhile, heat the oven to 220C (200C fan), and prepare 2-3 baking sheets by lining with baking paper. When ready, take the sausage out of the freezer and slice into approx. 5 mm thick rounds. Place them on the baking trays (they will not spread so can be reasonably close together). Bake for 6-10 minutes, until just starting to brown around the edges. Remove from the oven and let cool a few minutes on the tray, then transfer to a wire rack to cool. They will crisp up as they cool.

Peach and fennel cake

Stone fruit in Europe is so, so much better than any we ate in the USA. Everything: peaches (especially the UFO ones), nectarines, apricots, greengages, all kinds of plums - Victoria through damson. Plums are Danish but peaches and nectarines aren't even coming from round here - mostly from Spain. Even via Lidl, I haven't eaten a bad one yet.

Having filled my face with all of the above, I decided that the last few white peaches I had could get baked... This recipe caught my eye (via the most beautiful Instagram ever). We are going to lunch tomorrow at a fairytale farmhouse in Lyngby, so I decided to make this to bring. Hope it goes down well (and travels OK - we are planning to bike there, around 40 km)!

(made 1 cake in standard circular tin)

1 tsp fennel seeds
125 g unsalted butter, at room temperature
seeds of ½ vanilla pod (used ½ tsp vanilla powder)
zest of 1 lemon (used 1 ½, thoroughly zested)
zest of 1 orange (skipped - did not have)
225 g sugar, plus 1 tbsp for sprinkling
pinch of salt 
3 eggs
120 g mascarpone (used skyr)
160 g flour
½ tsp baking powder
2 peaches (used 3 small white UFO peaches)

Heat the oven to 190C / 170C fan. Grease and line tin (s - original recipe was for 8 small loaf tins). Dry toast fennel seeds until fragrant, then let cool before crushing.

Beat butter, vanilla, zest(s), fennel seeds, sugar and salt together until just combined. Don’t cream. Add eggs one at a time, mixing each egg in well. Add mascarpone / skyr, flour and baking powder mix fast for a few seconds until well combined.

Slice two 'cheeks’ off each peach (one either side of the stone). Chop remaining fruit into small dice and mix into the cake batter. Cut the peach 'cheeks’ into thin, long slices (leave one end uncut). Put the batter in the lined tin(s). Top the cake(s) with peach slices spread out like a small fan and sprinkle with the additional sugar.

Bake for 20-25 min or until risen, golden brown and bouncy. Good warm, or else eat within 24 hours.


Update: we did not eat while warm as recommended, but it was within 24 hours. It was nice. Went well with the raspberries and mascarpone P+V had prepared.

Kahlua cakes

It's baking season now. Nights are getting cold and dark. The urge to switch on the oven is here. Also trying to use things up: in this case it's kahlua and cocoa powder. I tried this recipe.

(makes 12)

1/4 cup fake milk
2 tsp cider vinegar
1/4 cup cold coffee (used an extra 1/4 cup kahlua instead)
1/2 cup kahlua
1 tbsp ground linseed
3/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup veg oil
3 tbsp coconut oil (softened)
2 tsp vanilla essence
1 1/4 cup flour
1/2 cup cocoa powder
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt

Heat oven to 350F and prepare a muffin tin.

Whisk together the fake milk, vinegar and coffee. Add kahlua and ground linseed and whisk some more. Let sit for 5-10 min. Add the sugar, oils and vanilla, and beat with a fork.

In a separate bowl, sift together all dry ingredients. Add dry to wet and mix until combined. Fill prepared muffin cups 3/4 full. Bake for 18-20 min, until a skewer comes out clean.


These were OK. Not great. Perhaps using the coffee instead of extra kahlua would have been better.

Easter eggs: Rhubarb clafoutis

I'd always fancied making a clafoutis, indeed was just looking at this recipe the other day and thinking it sounded nice and do-able. But definitely something to be filed away until I have good eggs and dairy (rare) - it really needs the eggs for consistency, and with such a simple recipe much of the flavour is coming from them so they ought to be good.

This weekend is Easter, and all of a sudden I had half a dozen beautiful Brattleboro eggs. Four became shakshuka for lunch, the remaining two I earmarked to try a clafoutis. As luck would have it our visitors last weekend had left behind some milk (which I turned into yoghurt) - so I was all set, ingredients-wise, for clafoutis to happen...

Again, I felt that clafoutis was something that would really show off the eggs - couldn't make it without them. I'd bought some rhubarb in Brattleboro as well - first time I'd seen it this season. So rather than the traditional cherries I thought I'd make a rhubarb clafoutis, spiking it with a little vanilla and using yoghurt in place of some of the milk, in the hope of ending up with kind of a fancy rhubarb and custard in cakier form. I tweaked this recipe (second recipe down).

(makes about 10 slices, I used 21 x 21 cm square Pyrex dish)

133 g flour
80 g sugar
little pinch of salt
2 eggs
53 g (fake) butter, melted
266 g milk (used a mixture of almond milk and yoghurt)
1/4 tsp vanilla essence
333 g rhubarb, washed, trimmed and chopped into ~2 cm chunks
1 tbsp demerara sugar

Heat the oven to 400F/200C and generously butter a tart dish (see above). Mix the flour, sugar and salt in a large bowl with a fork. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. When the batter is smooth, mix in the melted butter. Then gradually add the milk (followed by the vanilla), mixing well so no lumps form. If there are lumps, strain through a sieve. Toss the rhubarb with the demerara sugar, then scatter rhubarb and demerara mixture into the buttered dish and gently pour the batter over (the rhubarb floats!). Bake until golden and quite firm (FZ said this would take 30 min, in my hands it took more like 75 - perhaps the Pyrex, perhaps my oven is on the cool side, perhaps I could have taken it out sooner...). It can be slightly wobbly but a skewer inserted in the middle of the clafoutis should come out clean. Allow to cool (best eaten slightly warm or at room temp), and serve in thick wedges (with more yoghurt, if you like).


I don't know why it took so long to cook, but anyway, the finished article is not pretty (well, maybe in a rustic sort of way it is...), but it is delicious. The batter puffed up in the oven and then sank right down to make a really smooth base for the fruit, almost like a super thick custard. The rhubarb floated so it sits pinkly on top, beckoning you in among the golden custard. It sliced well once cooled, and pieces stayed together nicely. Lovely, and not too sweet. S ate three pieces in rapid succession so that's a good sign! 

Note: Apparently a true clafoutis is only with cherries so this is more like a flaugnarde. But such an ugly word!

Chocolate and cinnamon biscuits (gluten free)

First community garden workday tomorrow. Some gluten-free baking in order. Tried a new recipe. This one.

(makes ~22)

2 tsp demerara sugar
1/4 tsp cinnamon
2/3 cup / 130g brown sugar
1 cup / 100g fine brown rice flour (used 125g TJ's GF flour mix instead of brown rice flour and cornstarch)
1/4 cup / 25g cornstarch
1/2 cup / 60g cocoa powder
1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
1 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 cup / 60ml fake milk
1/3 cup / 80ml veg oil (used grapeseed)
1 tsp vanilla essence
50g chocolate, chopped

Heat oven to 180C / 350F. Grease and/or line a baking tray with baking paper.

Mix demerara sugar and 1/4 tsp cinnamon in a small bowl and set aside.

Mix brown sugar, rice flour, cornstarch, cocoa, bicarb, 1 tsp cinnamon and salt in a medium bowl with a fork. Make a well in the middle and put in fake milk, oil and vanilla. Mix to a firm dough. Add the chopped chocolate and mix.

Take small lumps of dough (~2 tsp), roll into balls and flatten slightly, then place on the prepared baking tray, leaving a little space for spreading. Sprinkle with the cinnamon-demerara sugar mixture, then put in the oven and bake for 10-12 min. Let cool on the tray for a couple of minutes before transferring to a rack to finish cooling.


I wasn't sure about these at first: think they improved after sitting in a box overnight. Pleasant, soft texture; held together pretty well for GF; very chocolate-y / cocoa-y; all disappeared @ lunchtime so I guess that was a good sign.

Chocolate, banana and okara muffins

So many possibilities with okara... Pondered making cornbread again. Decided to go the sweet route this time - would be nice to have a pudding option ready for S when he returned as well as salad...

Unusually had some almost overripe bananas (prob due to not modifying banana purchase quantity while S was away), so decided to follow this muffin recipe (note that site has lots of other interesting okara ideas).

(makes approx 10 muffins)

1 large banana 
1 cup okara
1/4 cup fake milk
1/4 cup veg oil
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 tsp vanilla essence
1/2 tsp baking powder 
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
1 cup plain flour
1/2 cup wholemeal flour
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 cup cocoa powder
1 cup chocolate chips

Heat oven to 350F. Prepare a muffin tin with liners or grease. Mash the banana in a medium bowl, then add the okara, veg oil, sugar and vanilla and beat with a fork. In a separate mixing bowl, mix the baking powder, bicarb, flours, salt and cocoa together with a fork. Add wet to dry and mix until just combined, adding in the chocolate chips in the final few strokes. Transfer mixture to prepared muffin cups (fill each ~ 2/3 full). Bake for 20-25 min, until a skewer comes out clean.


These were good. The okara does a lovely job of adding texture and moistness without doing much in the way of taste.

Popcorn muffins

I made a lot of popcorn and started daydreaming about baking with it. I was running short of snack muffins so muffins were the obvious choice (referred to this recipe). These are fun!

(makes ~9 muffins)

5 cups popped corn (2 1/4 cups after homogenising)
1 1/2 cups plain flour
1/3 cup brown sugar
1 tbsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt (use less if the popcorn was salted)
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1 cup fake milk
1 tbsp ground linseed mixed with 2 1/2 tbsp boiling water
2 tbsp veg oil
1/2 tsp vanilla essence

Version 1 = dark chocolate, sour cherry and thyme - add 1 tsp dried thyme, handfuls of sour cherries and of dark chocolate chips/chunks in with the dry ingredients.
Version 2 = mango, coconut and cardamom - add 1/2 tsp freshly ground cardamom, 2 tbsp dried shredded coconut and ~4 tbsp diced mango (from frozen) to the dry ingredients.

Heat oven to 400F. Prepare a muffin tin. Grind popcorn (I used the blender) until it is mostly pulverised (don't worry about a few remaining unground kernels - they will be fine+fun). Put ground popcorn in a medium bowl with flour, sugar, baking powder, salt and any additional dry ingredients (see Versions) and mix with a fork. In a separate bowl, beat together the fake milk, linseed mixture, veg oil and vanilla essence. Add wet to dry and mix until just combined. Dollop into prepared muffin cups and bake for 25-30 min, until lightly browned and a skewer comes out clean.


They are tasty but with so many additional flavours the popcorn is lost. I plan to tweak this to get a version that actually tastes like popcorn!

Buckwheat pancakes

New Year's Day breakfast. Had been thinking about grinding up some buckwheat to make flour / wanted to make something slightly fancy to start off the year... Used this recipe.

1 cup buckwheat flour
1 tbsp sugar
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
pinch of salt
1¼ cups fake milk mixed with 1 tbsp cider vinegar
1 egg
½ tsp vanilla essence
coconut oil (or other veg oil) for frying
banana, maple syrup, sour cherries in simple syrup, shredded marzipan

Mix buckwheat flour, sugar, baking powder, bicarb and salt in a bowl. In a measuring jug, beat together milk mixture, egg and vanilla. Add wet to dry, mix lightly and let sit for five minutes. Heat 1-2 tsp of oil in a frying pan then add a few tbsp of mixture and encourage into a pancake shape. Cook for a few minutes, until browned, on each side. Flip carefully: they are quite delicate.


We ate these with preserved sour cherries (from LUrC preserve swap - had been saving for a special occasion), maple syrup, sliced banana and, for the most decadent ones, shredded marzipan.

Vanilla essence

A while ago, inspired by this and a rapidly hardening vanilla bean in my cupboard, I decided to try making vanilla essence. It hardly needs a recipe, but here it is.

rum
vanilla bean(s)

For one vanilla bean, I used 1/3 cup of rum. Put the rum into a small glass jar with a screw cap. Split the vanilla bean(s) lengthwise and then cut crosswise until you can submerge them completely in the rum. Close the jar tightly and store in a dark cupboard for two months, shaking occasionally and keeping an eye on it.


I'm not sure if this is as vanilla-y as store-bought. Also I usually buy the non-alcoholic version, which I think is better, especially for non-baked items. But this stuff is nice too, especially if you want to insert a little rum flavour along with your vanilla. It keeps well - has been in the cupboard for at least a year and is fine.

Chocolate rosemary biscuits

We went to the Pembroke sauna for the first time in ages. I wanted to take something in case we needed a post-sauna snack. Biscuits seemed like a sensible, easily portable, easily eatable, quick to make option. I didn't have much time before we had to go, so I had a quick look at ppk and immediately settled upon these. I didn't have fresh rosemary so I used dried.

(makes ~15)

1/2 cup refined coconut oil, solid state (room temperature - not cold)
2 tbsp chopped fresh rosemary (used 3/4 tbsp crumbled dried rosemary leaves)
1/4 cup sugar
1/3 cup light brown sugar
1/4 cup fake milk
1 tbsp ground linseed
2 tsp vanilla essence
1 1/3 cups plain flour
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
1/2 cup roughly chopped dark chocolate (or chips)

Heat oven to 350F. Lightly grease two large baking trays. In a large bowl, beat the coconut oil and rosemary with a fork until fairly smooth. Add the sugar, and beat a bit more. Add the milk and linseed and beat. Mix in the vanilla. Add about half the flour, as well as the salt and bicarb, and mix with a spoon. Add the rest of the flour, along with the chocolate, and mix to combine. Take out walnut sized pieces of dough, round them up, flatten and place on the baking trays (they will spread a little). Bake for 10-15 min, until bottoms are golden brown. Take out and let cool for 3 minutes or so, then transfer to cooling racks to finish cooling.


These were good - decent texture and taste. I find refined coconut oil a little dull (thus it needed using up!), might prefer these with real coconutty coconut oil. I'd also like to try these with olive oil - could imagine chocolate, rosemary and olive oil being beautiful together. Difficult to get the balance of rosemary and chocolate quite right - some bites I couldn't find the rosemary, others missed chocolate, others it was bang on. Quite salty - could reduce the salt. Nice and quick and easy though, and a pretty good post-sauna snack.