gluten free lemon and almond cake

I made this cake yesterday for Finn as he has been doing a lot of whining lately that there is never any gluten free baking for him.   I did remind him there has been no baking for anyone.
I am not much of a baker so this cake was right up my alley as all I had to do was keep adding the ingredients to the cake mixer.
This was not originally a gluten free cake but as it had very little flour in it, I just substituted it for 'Healtheries' gluten free baking mix' and it worked a treat.
This is a very indulgent and decadent cake and I am all for it.  If you are going to eat cake it may as well be a proper cake, dense and rich.

I got the recipe from here amatteroftaste.me and she definitely is right when she says its better the next day.  It does improve with 1 night in the fridge.
I just substituted the 60g of flour with 60g of GF flour and it worked out wonderfully and enjoyed by all in my family.
I couldn't photograph the whole cake as 1/2 of it got eaten soon after making.
Well worth making for gluten free and non gluten free alike.

raspberry and white chocolate muffins

I made these muffins during the week as Lily was complaining there was nothing to take for school lunches.  I used the 'Chelsea sugar website recipe' which is actually pretty good.  Got eaten by all (except Finn) in no time.  I didn't have self raising flour so I just added 2 teaspoons of baking powder to the flour.

hot fudge pudding cake

notwithoutsalt

This lovely picture of hot fudge pudding cake is courtesy of 'notwithoutsalt'.  ( A lovely website with great pictures.) I am not much of a dessert person myself so the family suffers because of this, but I did make this last weekend for them.  I  remember it being called 'self saucing chocolate pudding' and my Mum used to make it a lot for us when we were small.  The expresso poured over the batter before going into the oven makes for a better addition than the boiling water, and of course the chocolate chips too.  Serve with vanilla icecream, cream or yogurt.  Really simple to make.

baked dulce de leche cheesecake with toffee shards

Well impressed with Chris's cheesecake efforts...the recipe came from taste.com.au

He even made his own toffee crumbs...Looks damn good but I could only managed a few mouthfuls before I felt ill...

banana chocolate chip muffins

I had 2 over ripe bananas on the bench and decided to use them rather than put them in the freezer with the other 6 that are already there.

For this recipe you will need

• 2 ripe mashed bananas
• 2 cups of all purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 100g butter
• 1 cup unsweetened yogurt
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup chocolate chips
• 2 eggs

Pre-heat oven to 180C and then line or grease a muffin tin.  Sift the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking  soda, into a bowl.  Melt the butter and add to the mashed banana, yogurt, beaten eggs and vanilla.  Then add the wet mixture to the dry along with chocolate chips and fold in until all combined.

Spoon into the muffin tin and put on the middle rack of the oven.  It took 25mins for mine to cook.

I made 8 muffins but that is because I tend to over fill them.

blueberry and lemon muffins

I am a self confessed non baker, so I was pretty pleased with how these muffins turned out.  I thought it about time that I get some baking practise.  Lily loves lemon blueberry muffins so I thought that was a good place to start.

I adapted a recipe from 'melskitchencafe'

For this recipe you will need

• 2 cups frozen blueberries
• 1 and 1/8 cup of sugar
• 2 and 1/2 cup of flour
• 2 and 1/2 teaspoon of baking powder
• 2 large eggs
• 50g of butter
• 1 cup unsweetened natural yogurt
• 1/2 juice of juicy lemon
• zest of 1 lemon
• 1 and 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
• big pinch of salt

Pre-heat oven to 180c

I let the blueberries thaw out first.

Sift flour with baking powder in a bowl.

Melt the butter.

In another bowl whisk the eggs with the sugar, lemon juice, zest and salt. 

Fold into the flour followed by the butter, oil and yogurt and lastly the blueberries.

Don't overmix, you don't want the mixture to turn out purple.

Spoon into muffin tray.

I just shoved some baking paper sqaures into the muffin trays literally.  They work well as a plate and crumb collector.

Bake in the oven for about 30 mins.  Make sure you check before this time.

Only when I was writing this out now that I realised that I only put 2 cups of flour in.  Still were very good.  I would probably use less blueberries next time too.  A little overloaded for my taste.

I topped off with some sugar and lemon zest.  Caster sugar would have been better.

lemon kaffir lime leaf cordial

This is what real lemons look like off a tree.  They came from Nola from work, who kindly gave them to me from her tree.  Fragrant and really really juicy, perfect for making cordial.
It frustrates me when I'm out and about and see beautiful citrus, laden on peoples' trees untouched.  Lemons, grapefruits and tangelos.  I unfortunately have a struggling lemon tree that has only produced 2 lemons.  On the other hand I have a kaffir lime tree that produces no fruit but does have beautiful glossy kaffir lime leaves, that was my inspiration for this cordial.

I adapted the recipe from the book, 'The Cooks Companion' by Stephanie Alexander

You will need  (I halved the original recipe,  2kg of sugar was just too much for me)

• 1kg of sugar or castor sugar
• 500 mls water
• 15g citric acid
• 15g tartaric acid
• juice of 3 lemons, strained 
• finely grated zest of 2 lemons
• I used 8 kaffir lime leaves,  but next time I would double that, as the lemon easily overpowers it

Dissolve the sugar in water over heat in a big pot, along with the kaffir lime leaves that you have scrunched up and bruised to release as much flavour as possible.  Add the acids and stir until completely dissolved.  Cool.  Stir in juice and zest and bottle into clean, dry bottles.

Dilute with soda water or mineral.  A touch of gin would be perfect for a summer cocktail.

Chocolate Brownie

This recipe is the 'Famous Dio Brownie' from the Dio school cafeteria.  Chris made it at the weekend.
It is very good and especially chewy.

You will need

• 300g butter
• 3/4 cup cocoa
• 1 teaspoon vanilla essence
• 2 1/2 cups brown sugar
• 3 large eggs
• 1 1/2 cups plain flour
• 1cup chocolate chips

Preheat the oven to 150c (fanbake).  Grease and line a 21cm x 30cm tin.  Melt the butter and cocoa and add the vanilla and brown sugar.

Beat in the eggs one at a time.

Mix in the flour

and add the chocolate chips.

Pour the mixture into the tin and bake for (it says 25mins) but it takes at least an hour in my oven.  Keep an eye on it, it should be firm to the touch on the edges and still soft in the middle.

When cool, cut into whatever size you like.  Dust with  icing sugar or  cocoa  powder.

Choc pots

Lily wanted to make an easy chocolate dessert after the failure of chocolate mousse last week.  It wasn't a failure really, but she has decided that she doesn't like chocolate mousse.
Anyway this is 'Jamie Olivers' recipe from the book  'The Naked Chef Returns'.

You will need

• 300 mls of cream
• 200g of dark chocolate - Lily used 60% cocoa as she doesn't like it too bitter
• 2 large egg yolks
• 3 Tbs of brandy - Lily said she would not put it in next time
• 20g butter

Heat the cream in a pot not quite till boiling.  Remove and set aside for 1 minute before adding the chocolate, broken up into pieces.  Stir until melted and smooth.  Next add the egg yolks and brandy and stir until smooth.  Allow to cool a little before adding the butter.  Stir till smooth.
Pour into serving pots and place them in the fridge for a few hours until set.

Lily gives it a 7 out 10.

Easy eggless icecream

This ice-cream turned out surprising well.  Way better than I expected.  It was a big hit with my kids.  I didn't manage to get a photo once it was frozen as it was all gone before I got around to doing so.  I ll get a photo next time I make it.

The ingredients of the recipe are

1 can of condensed milk

500mls of cream

1 cup of plain unsweetened yogurt

1 cup of boysenberry couli or any other fruit puree

Mix the condensed milk and cream together using an electric mixer.

Keep going till it starts to thicken and looks like this.  (soft peaks)

Add the yogurt and fold in gently, then the boysenberry couli making a swirling pattern.
Pour into a container that can hold about 2 litres.  Freeze for minimum of 4 hours.  It does freeze quite firmly if left to long.

Boysenberry couli

We were mean't to have Lemon Sponge Pudding for dessert last night, as my husband Chris said he felt like pudding and was going to make it.  I decided that a boysenberry couli  would go very nicely with it.  So I decided that I would make that.  He went off and bought all the ingredients, measured them all out into bowls.  Well that is far as he got.  He made one of his legendary Roast Lamb dinners and well that's all he had in him.

Anyway, this is really simple to make.  Get 1 can of boysenberries in syrup and empty into a pot.

Bring to the boil and add 1/2 cup of icing sugar and then simmer for about 15mins or until reduced and has begun to thicken.

I added a squeeze of lemon since it was supposed to be going with the Lemon Sponge Pudding.

Let it cool and then strain out the seeds through a sieve.  Work with a spoon to get every last bit through.
So now I have this very rich boysenberry couli and nothing to put it on.
I have always wanted to make 'cheats ice-cream'.  I might give that a go tomorrow, the couli will be perfect for that.

Gluten-free Peanut Butter Cookies

I was inspired to make these cookies when I came across she simmers

Flourless Peanut Butter Chocolate Thumbprint Cookies.  She was inspired and got the recipe from Recchiuti Confections

                              

RECIPE

1 cup organic peanut butter

3/4 cup white sugar

1 large egg

1/2 teaspoon of sifted baking soda

1/4 teaspoon of maldon salt

3/4 cup dark chocolate chips

1/2 cup chopped roasted unsalted peanuts

Mix all ingredients in the following order.  It comes together really easily.

Form into balls and flatten with your fingers

        

Put cookies into a pre-heated 170 degree C or 350 degree F oven.
Bake for 12 to 15 mins
I think I may have slightly undercooked my batch.  They were still really good though.

My kids approved especially my gluten-free son.