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baking

oat & raisin cookies (gf)

February 6, 2012
baking, cakes & sweet things
2 Comments

I know this goes against the majority of people who suffer from the Monday Blues but I really love Mondays! A fresh week to play with and lots to look forward to. I guess every day can be looked at like that though…

These delicious cookies can be adjusted to suit a gluten free diet by using gluten free oats and if you don’t have raisins on hand, I would imagine they would work perfectly with other dried fruits, nuts and seeds. The original recipe that I used was for a chewy cookie but I left mine in a little longer because I like them crunchy! Take them out earlier if you don’t want crunch!

Makes about 20 cookies.

 

INGREDIENTS

1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
2/3 cup brown sugar
1 free-range egg
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
3/4 cup gluten free all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon gluten free baking soda
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 1/2 cups rolled oats (use gf oats if you’re on a GF diet)
3/4 cup raisins

 
METHOD

Preheat oven to 180°C.

In a large bowl, beat together the, brown sugar, egg and vanilla until smooth.

In a separate bowl, whisk the flour, baking soda and cinnamon. Stir this into the wet ingredients. Mix in the oats and raisins.

Chill batter in the fridge for 30 minutes.

Line two trays with baking paper. Take 1 tbs of the batter in your hand, roll it up and place on sheet. Continue step until the rest of the batter is gone, making sure the cookies are 2 inches apart from each other.

Bake for roughly 12 minutes, or until golden at the edges but somewhat soft on the top. Transfer to a wire rack to cool.

(Adapted slightly from Smitten Kitchen)

the best chocolate brownies (gf)

February 5, 2012
baking, cake, cakes & sweet things, desserts
3 Comments

I am so tired today. I think I’ve had around 3 hours sleep and for some reason, I never seem to be able to sleep in past 7am, even if it’s a Sunday and I’m sleepy. Blast! Anyhow, It’s a beautiful sunny day today and if you live in Australia, you’d know that it’s been quite miserable and that Summer has very much felt like a rainy winter, for the most part. So I’m going to take advantage of the sunshine and get outside today. I am off to watch some cricket. I’m not a fan but I thought it sounded like a good opportunity to laze around, watch someone I dig do something they love, read a book and eat some food in the sun. Hard to say no to that and I’m looking forward to it.

I’ll be bringing some of these brownies with me. I made them last night and they are perfect! Moist, with somewhat of a crunchy top and rich in flavour.

This recipe gets you a big square, which I cut into about 12 or so pieces.

 

INGREDIENTS

200g unsalted butter, chopped

200g good quality dark chocolate, roughly chopped

1/2 cup brown sugar

3 free-range eggs, lightly beaten

1 tsp vanilla extract

3/4 cup gluten-free plain all-purpose flour

2 tbs cocoa powder

 

METHOD

Preheat oven to 190°C. Line a cake pan with non-stick baking paper.

Heat butter, chocolate and sugar in a saucepan over low heat, stirring constantly, until melted and smooth. Transfer to a heatproof bowl. Set aside to cool slightly

Add eggs and vanilla to chocolate mixture. Mix well. Sift flour and cocoa over chocolate mixture. Stir to combine.

Pour brownie mixture into pan. Bake for 30-40 minutes or until set. Ensure it is not burning around the edges. Set aside to cool on a wire rack.

Slice and serve!


wholemeal spelt carrot cake

February 4, 2012
baking, cake, cakes & sweet things, desserts
2 Comments

I was in the mood to experiment recently and I was craving carrot cake. I looked at a range of  recipes for inspiration and then got going on my own. I felt really proud of this one and can’t wait to give it a go again. It’s my idea of what a carrot cake should be like. If you want to jazz it up a bit, feel free to throw some walnuts in and make some icing. I personally thought it was perfectly fine by itself!

Serves 10.

 

INGREDIENTS

olive oil, to grease

3 small carrots, grated

1 cup wholemeal spelt flour

2 tsp gluten free baking powder

1/2 cup plain all-purpose gluten free flour

1 tsp bicarbonate of soda

1 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp nutmeg

1/2 cup brown sugar

3/4 cup olive oil

1/2 cup honey

3 eggs

1 tsp vanilla essence

 

METHOD

Preheat oven to 170°C. Grease a 20cm round cake pan lightly with oil, and line with non-stick baking paper.

Sift the flours, bicarbonate of soda, baking powder, nutmeg and cinnamon into a large bowl.

Put the brown sugar, oil, honey, eggs and vanilla in a separate bowl. Mix until combined.

Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients. Use a wooden spoon to stir gently until just combined. Stir in the grated carrot.

Pour the mixture into the pan and bake for 1 hour. Set aside for 5 minutes, before transferring to a wire rack to cool.

olive bread

February 1, 2012
baking, pasta
4 Comments

This bread is a great side for a casserole or pasta dish. It is completely fuss free and beats any store bought olive bread I have tried. I would love to try this with spelt flour and see how it turns out. Until then, this one will have to do!

Serves 8 as a side.

 

INGREDIENTS

2 1/4 cups bread and pizza plain flour

2 teaspoons instant dried yeast

1 cup warm water

1 cup pitted kalamata olives, halved

2 teaspoons low-fat milk

 

METHOD

Sift 2 cups flour into a large bowl. Stir in yeast. Make a well in the centre. Add water. Mix well to form a soft dough. Turn out onto a lightly floured surface. Knead for 10 minutes, gradually adding remaining flour, or until smooth and elastic.

Place dough in a lightly oiled bowl. Cover with lightly greased plastic wrap. Set aside in a warm place for 1 hour or until doubled in size. Preheat oven to 190°C/170°C fan-forced. Grease a large baking tray.

Place olives on a plate. Pat dry with paper towel to absorb any liquid. Using your fist, punch dough down. Turn out onto a floured surface. Add olives. Knead until combined. Shape dough into a 20cm round. Place on prepared tray. Brush with milk. Bake for 35 to 40 minutes or until golden brown and hollow when tapped on top. Stand on tray for 5 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack to cool.

(Adapted slightly from Taste)

flourless chocolate cake (gf)

January 31, 2012
baking, cake, cakes & sweet things, desserts
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I made this chocolate cake on Friday, to celebrate my friend getting a promotion at work. I expected that it wouldn’t turn out too well without the flour but I was quite surprised. Everything about it was perfect. I left the icing off my slice but the feedback from my guests was that the icing was great. The only tricky bit about this cake is separating the eggs but if you’ve done it before, it’s a breeze. A perfect dessert cake and still lovely to enjoy the next day with milk.

This makes around 10 slices.

 

INGREDIENTS

200g good quality dark chocolate, broken into squares

150g unsalted butter, chopped

6 organic free range eggs, separated

2/3 cup raw caster sugar

1 1/2 cups almond meal

Icing

150g good quality dark chocolate, chopped roughly

2/3 low fat cream

 

METHOD

Preheat oven to 170°C. Grease a round cake pan. Line base and side with baking paper.

Combine chocolate and butter in a small saucepan over low heat. Stir until melted. Set aside to cool slightly.

Place egg yolks and sugar in a bowl. Using an electric mixer, beat until thick and creamy. Add chocolate mixture. Beat to combine. Add almond meal. Beat to combine.

Place eggwhites in a bowl. Beat until soft peaks form. Stir one-third of eggwhites into chocolate mixture. Gently fold remaining eggwhite through chocolate mixture

Pour mixture into prepared pan. Bake for 1 hour or until a skewer inserted into the centre has moist crumbs clinging. Stand in pan for 10 minutes. Turn out onto a wire rack to cool.

 

ICING

Place chocolate and cream in a saucepan over low heat. Cook, stirring constantly, for 3 to 4 minutes or until smooth. Spread over top and side of cake. Stand for 10 minutes or until icing has set. Serve with cream.

wholemeal spelt & seed bread

January 16, 2012
baking
2 Comments

I have been craving the bread I usually  get from the organic grocer near my home but they haven’t had it in stock for a while, so I thought I’d bake my own. This recipe is yeast free and is oh so simple to make. It took around 5 minutes to throw together!

This makes one medium sized loaf.

 

INGREDIENTS

280 g wholemeal spelt flour
2 tsp baking powder
2 tbs olive oil
1 tbs flaxseed meal
4 tbs mixed sunflower and pumpkin seeds
250ml filtered water
1 tbs natural yoghurt
METHOD
Preheat oven to 200°C and line a tray with baking paper.
Sift flour and baking powder into a bowl. Stir.
Add olive oil, seeds and mineral water. Mix gently.
Add yoghurt and mix again. The dough should be fairly sticky and wet but not too wet.
Move onto a baking tray  and form into a loaf. Sprinkle with seeds.
Bake for 40-50 minutes and place on a wire rack to cool.

flourless almond, chocolate and banana cakes

January 8, 2012
baking, breakfast, cake, cakes & sweet things, desserts
6 Comments

Happy Sunday, all! I had a big week, so I swore that I would have a lengthy sleep in this morning. Turns out my body felt differently, so when I got up at 9am, I decided I’d try my hand at some muffins that I stumbled upon. I changed the recipe to suit me and I tried layering the muffins: one part normal batter, one part batter with cocoa added and last part normal batter. As I was getting ready to put them into the oven, I thought, “I wonder how these muffins are going to go without any baking powder?” – at that point I realised I had forgotten all about it. With reluctance (they just looked so nice), I tipped all of the contents back into the bowl to add the missing powder. I guess it’s good I’m starting to recognise sorts of things though, even if I am a little late to do so.

So, instead of having lovely layered muffins, I came out with some lovely dark brown cakes. They taste great though and that’s all I really care about. I will be trying them again with layers. The boys at home gave them the tick, as did I.

The best bit – no sugar, butter, oil or flour! How about that?! Guilt free snacking!

Makes 9 cakes

INGREDIENTS

260g almond meal

1/ tsp baking powder

2 organic free-range eggs

4 tsps raw honey

1/2 tsp cinnamon

3 slightly ripe bananas

1 tsp unsweetened cocoa powder

extra sliced banana for garnish

METHOD

Preheat oven to 180 degrees Celsius and line a muffin tray with cases.

Place the almond meal in a large mixing bowl. Set aside.

In a medium sized bowl, mash the bananas. Add the eggs, honey, cinnamon, and baking powder and whip until creamy and well mixed (if you’re not layering the muffins, put your cocoa powder in at this point).

Pour into the almond meal and mix well.

Place large tbs of batter into the cases until filled. Top with banana slices.

Bake for between 30-45 minutes (I baked mine for 45 mins because I used pretty ripe bananas).

If you want to layer the muffins to create a chocolate centre:  Put 3/4 cup of batter out into a separate bowl and mix 1 tsp cocoa powder through it. When filling the cases with normal batter, stop filling half way to add cocoa batter into the middle of it, then cover with normal batter.

(Source)

frozen banana, dark choc & peanut butter bites

December 20, 2011
baking, cakes & sweet things, desserts
4 Comments

I’ve had massive chocolate cravings lately. I think I’m addicted. I happened to stumble across a great post by someone struggling with the same sort of thing. The post was an attempt to come up with a creative way to get a chocolate fix. This idea is simple, it works and my gosh, it is DELICIOUS.

I think they took me around 5 minutes to make. I adapted the recipe slightly and used dark chocolate. I might do the next batch with some almond or cashew butter and see how it goes.

They are perfect after an hour in the freezer – that’s pretty much all I’ve tested them at so far. I couldn’t wait overnight for them! I made around 16 pieces so I’ve got more for tomorrow. Hooray!

 

INGREDIENTS

2 large bananas

1/3 cup natural peanut butter (smooth)

1/3 cup chopped dark chocolate pieces

unsweetened coconut flakes (for garnishing)

 

METHOD

Set out a freezer safe dish with baking paper.

Cut bananas into medium sized pieces.

Head the chocolate and peanut butter together until melted.

Dip the banana pieces into the mixture, one by one, laying them out on the baking paper. Sprinkle the coconut flakes on top.

Pop in the freezer until they are ready and try to stop at one when they’re done – impossible!

 

(Source)

 

almond pancakes (gluten free)

December 18, 2011
baking, breakfast
1 Comment

Hooray for pancakes on Sundays!

I’ve been sleeping in all week, which has been so good. The bonus: I’ve been either remembering my dreams a lot more or dreaming a lot more than usual. I’ve had dreams constantly and they are not the usual  boring dreams I have about social drama but exciting Indiana Jones types of scenarios. I hope it continues! Tonight I’m looking forward to a picnic dinner in a park, singing Christmas carols. I’m not one for Hallmark events but I really enjoy any excuse to share time with my friends and family. I’ve sent out all of my cards for the year and I love the glow of the lights on my tree at night. For me it’s not so much about presents but presence.

Anyhow, had these for breakfast this morning. Absolutely devine. They have a subtle almond taste and are perfect served with fresh fruit and a bit of honey. Made up of flax and almond meal, they are naturally gluten free and do not contain any salt, sugar or butter.

Makes around 12 small pancakes.

INGREDIENTS

1 cup almond meal

3/4 cup flaxseed meal

1 tbs cinnamon

1/2 tsp baking soda

3 eggs

1/4 cup low-fat plain Greek yoghurt

1/4 cup skim milk

1/4 cup honey

1/3 cup coconut oil

1 tsp vanilla extract

INSTRUCTIONS 

Combine the almond meal, flax meal, cinnamon and baking soda.

Add the yoghurt, milk, honey, coconut oil, vanilla and eggs. Whisk.

Add wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and mix until combined well.

Cook by putting oversized tablespoons of batter into a non stick frying pan over low-medium heat, flipping for even cooking.

Enjoy!

(Adapted slightly)

whole wheat oat cookies / cinnamon maple oat cookies

December 2, 2011
baking, breakfast, Uncategorized
2 Comments

Image

I hate to claim that a cookie is healthy but this is definitely one of the healthier cookie recipes that I’ve come across; and for a cookie not loaded with butter or too much sugar, it is pretty tasty. The original recipe called for white sugar and canola oil, so it is fine to substitute with whatever you have on hand. I used olive oil and raw sugar; I tend to steer clear of white sugar if I can help it. Anyhow, it’s very hard to stop at one. Variation, made by my friend, is posted below!

This recipe makes around 20 medium sized cookies.

INGREDIENTS

1 large egg

1/2 cup olive oil

1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract

1/3 cup raw sugar

1 1/4 cup whole wheat flour

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

3/4 cup rolled oats

METHOD

Preheat oven to 180 degrees Celsius.

Mix all wet ingredients with the sugar and beat together.

Add all remaining ingredients and stir well. Roll small balls of the batter and place onto trays lined with baking paper.

Ensure all the balls are flattened. Bake for 15 minutes or until golden.


VARIATION

  • Replace sugar with 1/3 cup maple syrup
  • Add 1 cup rolled oats instead of 3/4 cup
  • Add 1 tbs cinnamon

(Source)

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