Apple Walnut Loaf

I was looking for a recipe that could use up some Granny Smith apples that were not fresh enough to eat as is but were looking to be cooked.  I stumble upon a great recipe by Inspired Taste and have tweaked it to my taste and how we cook things at home.  I've made this a few times and it always turns out great.  Delicious on it's own, it is also amazing with a slather of butter!

Ingredients:

4 Granny Smith apples, peeled (about 450 grams)

25 grams granulated sugar

100 grams brown sugar

1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt

1 1/4 teaspoons ground cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon ground ginger

1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg

190 grams plain flour - I use a freshly milled wheat flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 cup neutral oil like vegetable oil or grape seed oil

2 large eggs, lightly beaten

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

3/4 cup of roughly chopped Walnuts

How to:

• PREPARE BATTER

1Center a rack in the oven and heat to 170 celsius.  Line a  8 1/2-inch-by-4 1/2-inch loaf pan with parchment paper 

2Peel and core the apples then use a box grater and shred them. Add the shredded apples to a large bowl.

3Add the granulated sugar, brown sugar, salt, cinnamon, ginger, and nutmeg to the apples and mix well. Set the bowl aside for 10 to 15 minutes. As they sit, the apples will release quite a bit of liquid.

4While the apples sit with the sugar and spices, prepare the dry ingredients. In a medium bowl, whisk or sift the flour, baking powder and baking soda together.

5When the apples are ready, stir in the oil, beaten eggs, vanilla, until well blended.

6Use a large rubber spatula to scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl then add the dry ingredients in three parts, stirring gently until they disappear and the batter is smooth. Stir in nuts.

• TO FINISH

1Pour batter into the pan and smooth the top. Bake 55 to 65 minutes, or until a knife inserted into the center of the bread comes out clean.

2After 30 minutes in the oven, check the bread for color. If it looks like it is browning too quickly, loosely cover with aluminum foil.

3When the bread is done, transfer it, in the pan, to a wire rack to cool for 5 minutes. Unmold the bread and place right side up on the rack. Cool completely before slicing.

Berry Choc Mega Muffins

I do love a big muffin!  It feels cafe like and really, living in a 2 person household, having 6 muffins to eat seems better than 12.

I have made this recipe with frozen mixed berries as well which is also amazing, just make sure that your berries haven't been sitting around in the freezer and are all icy as the water content will be too much. 

Ingredients

• 260 g self-raising flour
• 110 g caster sugar
• 1 egg
• 50 g vegetable oil
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 230 ml milk
• 250 g frozen raspberries
• 90 g white chocolate baking chips

How to:

• Pre-heat oven to 180ºC and line  a large 6-muffin tray with individual pieces of baking paper.  I like the ready to go version you can get from the supermarket.
• Sift the flour into a large mixing bowl and stir in the sugar. Form a well in the centre.
• Lightly whisk the egg, oil, vanilla and milk until combined. Pour the wet ingredients into the flour and sugar well and gently fold together with a metal spoon until just combined. Add the raspberries and white chocolate chips and gently fold to combine, being careful not to over-mix.
• Spoon the mixture evenly into the muffin pan and bake in the oven for 35-40 minutes .
• Allow to cool in the pan for 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.

Spiced Apple and Walnut Loaf

 

Hi there!  How are you going?  So we are in the middle of COVID lockdown number 5 here in Melbourne, Australia... yeah, I know... number 5!!!  Like everyone else, we have been in the need of some comfort food lately so yesterday I created this delicious Spiced Apple and Walnut Loaf.

Ok, so we had some granny smith apples that were looking a bit tired, you know, the kind you would cook with but not necessarily want to bite into.  That was the inspirational starting point for this loaf.  I knew it would be heavy with fruit so I thought a loaf was probably the best shape to bake it in so you could slice it thick and smother with butter... yum!

Ok, to the nitty gritty stuff...

INGREDIENTS:

• about 3 medium granny smith apples, peeled, cored and chopped into smallish cubes
• 2 cups of wholemeal self-raising flower
• 3/4 cup of brown sugar
• 1/4 cup of olive oil
• 2 egg whites
• 3/4 cup of roughly chopped walnuts - plus extra for top
• 3/4 cup of butter milk (be warned you may need to add more if your batter still feels a little dry)
• teaspoon of cinnamon
• half teaspoon of nutmeg (with the spices, feel free to add more for your tasting)
• teaspoon of vanilla extra - the one with the vanilla seeds is my preference.
• tablespoon of raw sugar to top the loaf

HOW TO:

• This is so simple, I seriously just dumped everything into a bowl and mixed it up by hand.  Be careful to not over mix, just combine. You want a firmish batter that isn't too wet just together - what you would expect a muffin batter to look like.
• Usually I would mix the wet ingredients together first but I was kinda lazy for this one (disclaimer)
• Put batter into a loaf pan that measures about 23cm x 13cm - I always use a baking paper to line my pan so there's no issues getting the cake out!
• top with a scattering of walnuts and sprinkle with raw sugar for a streusel like topping
• bake in oven at 180 degrees Celsius for about 55 minutes or until a skewer comes out clean.
• cool in pan for about 5-10 minutes, then on a rack until cool.
• slice and serve with butter.

And I'm back... and a truffle Mac n Cheese

Wowsers, I haven't added to this 'blog' for quite some time.  I do use it quite a bit for my own personal reference - particularly when I'm hunting for an old favourite recipe and need to remember if it's 1 cup or 1 and a half, you know, that kinda thing.

So much has happened since I last posted.  There's been this thing going on - COVID-19 which has meant that we've been inside our houses, cooking up a storm.  I know lots of people have been making sourdough bread (yeah, sorry - that wasn't me but my husband kept us carb loaded!) and I know that many of us have sought comfort in food.

As a 'hey I'm back to the blog' I thought I would share my all time favourite winter comfort meal - Miss Mardi's Mac n Cheese.  What makes this meal different from your usual mac n cheese?  The addition of leeks, vermouth, cauliflower and truffle butter... it's a bit lighter with the addition of the cauliflower but still hits the spot!

I always make this with the philosophy of "that looks about right and that's enough" so I don't really measure anything but here are my tips if you are keen to try at home.

• I break down a head of cauliflower into small florets
• Sweat down 1 brown onion and a sliced leek - finish off the cooking with a splash of good dry white vermouth - I use Martini brand extra dry
• Cook about half a bag of spiral macaroni (about 250 to 300 grams).  I always cook mine in salted water for about half the time it says on the pack - so about 5 minutes
• Make the white sauce - start of with a traditional roux (butter and flour, then add milk).  For this version I used truffle butter - totally decadent!  Also I use skim milk, I know, I know but it is what we have in the house and seriously I prefer the less creamy sauce, it kinda allows the flavours to do their thing
• Flavours for the mac sauce - I add a combo of sweet Hungarian paprika, cayenne pepper, garlic powder, small amount of chili powder, mustard powder, white pepper and salt. This is all eyeballed but generally speaking, go light on the 'hot' flavours and heavy on the mustard.
• Mix sauce with leek, onion, cauliflower etc - stir through with this your grated cheese mixture.  I use about a cup and a half of a premixed grated cheese combo of cheddar, Parmesan and mozzarella.
• Pop in a container or two and top with some extra cheddar, sprinkle some panko breadcrumbs on top and add small little squares of truffle butter on top (maybe about 5 - don't go crazy!!)
• Into the oven it goes at about 200 degrees celsius for approx 25 - 30 mins.  keep an eye on it for brownness.

Serve with some fresh parsley, hot sauce if that's your thing and additional truffle oil if you want that really earthiness.

Ps. that is me pointing at the specks of black truffle - delicious!!!

Buckwheat Pancakes

I do love pancakes, though they are something that I normally don't make at home as they don't seem very healthy and I feel like I'm chained to the stove making pancake after pancake.  It's so funny as I adored making pancakes as a child and some of my first cooking memories are making pancakes!

This recipe for buckwheat pancakes is amazing!  It's simple, they're fluffy and it makes 4 large pancakes or 5-6 small ones, enough for yourself and partner for a weekend breakfast.  Serve with good quality maple syrup and berries and they are delicious!

Ingredients

1 cup buckwheat flour

2 tablespoons brown sugar

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

pinch salt

1/8 teaspoon each of cinnamon, ground cloves, ground nutmeg

1 egg

1 cup buttermilk

1 tablespoon butter melted

***

How to!

• mix flour, and dry ingredients together in a mixing bowl.  
• whisk melted butter, buttermilk and egg and combine with dry ingredients.
• cook 1/3 cup scoops (or your own preference) in a non stick frypan in a combo of a little olive oil and butter on a medium to medium high heat.
• when you see bubbles coming up on pancake (after about 3 minutes), flip to other side.  This should only need another 1-2 minutes to cook.
• if need be, keep cooked pancakes in a low oven to remain warm.

The great thing about these pancakes are they are gluten free, high in protein and a good source of fibre... really good for you all round!  Enjoy!

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Banana Pecan Muffins

The constant need to use up over ripe bananas led me to try this newish recipe.  Normally I do a banana, pecan and date loaf when needing to use up bananas but it takes quite a bit of time to bake so welcome the Banana Pecan Muffin!

You will need for muffin batter:

1 1/2 cup of wholemeal self raising flower

3 ripe bananas mashed

2/3 cup of coconut sugar

1 egg

1 teaspoon vanilla

1/2 cup melted butter

Topping:

1/3 cup brown sugar

2 tablespoons plain flour

2 tablespoons soft butter

2 tablespoons rolled oats

about 1/3 cup chopped pecans

How to!

• preheat your oven to 180 degrees celsius and line a 12 x muffin pan with liners.
• combine mashed banana, sugar, melted butter, egg and vanilla in a large bowl.
• add flour and stir to just combine - they say you shouldn't over mix muffins.
• divide batter over the 12 muffin cups.
• in a small bowl, combine the topping ingredients, treat it like you would an apple crumble topping - rubbing the butter through the other ingredients.
• sprinkle topping on top of muffin batter- slightly press into batter so you don't lose any nuts!
• bake for about 18 minutes - until cooked!

Next time I would probably add a little nutmeg to the batter just to give a further depth of flavour and maybe even pop some finely chopped pecans in there as well - otherwise pretty delicious!

Cornflake Cookies

Occasionally I get a craving for a childhood favourite, Cornflake Cookies.  There is something about the plain cookie base, the sweet raisins and the crunchy cornflake outer that totally does it for me!  I made these cookies yesterday and they really haven't spent much time in their airtight container... they are too delicious!

I like mine a little thick, meaning they are a bit more cake like in the middle; soft and airy, a contrast to the crunchy outside.

This recipe makes about 12 cookies.

You will need:

125g softened butter

1/3 cup brown sugar

1 egg

1 teaspoon of vanilla extract

pinch of salt

1 cup self raising flour

1 cup of raisins

2 to 3 cups of cornflakes

How to!

1. preheat oven at 180 degrees celsius
2. cream butter and sugar together until pale and fluffy.  Add egg and vanilla and continue to beat
3. Add flour and salt and mix to combine
4. stir in raisins to combine
5. using a tablespoon, add balls of cookie mixture to the cornflakes and roll to coat.  I press down slightly to flatten and ensure cornflakes are pressed in.
6. bake for 15 to 20 minutes, cookies will spread slightly.
7. cool on wire rack and store in airtight container.