Kates Banana Muffins

 

                 

  Every time I pop over to see my friend Kate, she is standing behind her kitchen bench...
And like many of us it is the hub of her house, where hungry children gather, and adults chat.  But most of the time she happens to be creating yet another amazing meal for her family of 6, which isn’t always easy since two of her boys have coeliac disease, and this means they require a diet free of gluten…

This particular day that I dropped in to see her she had created masses of pumpkin soup and batches of muffins. She had invited me over for a cuppa and told me that she had been busy baking some banana muffins, so I decided to bring the camera over and grab some photos of her wonderful food and her gorgeous little girl Sophie.




These muffins are delicious, moist and easily adapted to be gluten free as well, just swap the flour for some gluten free flour… Kate has kindly shared with me her secret family recipe, given to her by a relative.  As you can see with her daughter Sophie, one muffin is not really enough, these muffins are so good, you really will be tempted to keep going!

I know for a fact that there are so many women out there who have a real passion for good food and are busy in their little kitchens creating.  As the world just passes them by, they are lovingly creating good food for the people in their lives… family and friends, visitors, whoever!
This is so true for many of my friends like Kate, and also my mum and sister who will spend a lot of time in their kitchen preparing a meal whole heartedly, and with love.

So this is dedicated to all you ladies out there who are quietly working away in your little artisan kitchens, where hopefully one day I might have the opportunity to capture some of these precious moments in time with you!


Kate’s Banana Muffins

1/3 cup melted butter
1/2 cup sugar
1 egg
3-4 large bananas, mashed
1 1/2 cups flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt

•  Mix butter and sugar, then add egg and mix.
• Add mashed bananas.
• Add remaining dry ingredients.
• Bake 20min @ 180c

Coffee Walnut Slice

 

                 

Another of my baking favourites is this decadent coffee walnut slice which I have adapted slightly from our dear foodie friend and recipe queen Jo Seagar. Her version is the Cappuchino Date Slice, so add the dates if you wish… sometimes I do and sometimes I don’t, usually depending on whether they’re in the pantry.

If you are a coffee lover like me you will absolutely love this, and my kids, except for one, love this slice too.  It makes a decent batch size and is so easy to throw together. Jo’s recipes are great and love her wee catch phrase of…   “minimum effort for maximum effect”.
I have a few of her books and am a fan of her recipes as they are always reliable, tasty and so simple to make. Check out her website http://joseagar.com/ for more recipes…

Coffee Walnut Slice

• 1 cup brown sugar
• 180 g butter, melted
• 2 eggs
• 2 tbsp. instant coffee
• 1 x 70g pkt of walnut pieces, or a cup of shelled walnuts
• 1 cup of dates, chopped
• 1 1/2 cups flour
• 2 tsp. baking powder
• 1/2 cup milk

For the Icing:

• 2 cups icing sugar
• 1 tbsp. instant coffee
• 25g melted butter
• boiling water

1. Preheat oven to 160c.
2. Add each ingredient by order into a bowl and whisk till combined.
3. Place in a 20 x 30cm slice tin and bake for 30mins.
4. Once cool, ice with the icing.

Coconut Oil Chocolate

                 

         

I couldn’t resist sharing this recipe for this home-made coconut oil chocolate that is guilt-free… and it is also gluten-free and dairy-free.

Its made with only 3 ingredients and takes only 5 mins to assemble. This is healthy and a low carb, low sugar alternative to the average chocolate that we all crave.  I don’t know about you but I am always looking for ways I can still enjoy those simple little pleasures in life, such as chocolate, but without all the added guilt of eating it.



I just love to trying out new ingredients such as coconut oil, as it has so many health benefits such as balancing hormones and boosting thyroid levels(which for me is great) and this also increases metabolism, which is great for weight loss too.


 Coconut Oil Chocolate

•  3/4 cup of coconut oil
• 1/2 cup good quality cocoa
• 1 Tbsp. Stevia(a natural sweetner for those of who prefer this) or…
• 2 Tbsp. honey (for those of you who don’t like sweetners!)
• (adjust these to your liking, as some people prefer sweeter tasting than others)

1. Melt coconut oil in pot then add the cocoa and Stevia/honey and mix till dissolve and combined.
2. Line a sided dish with baking paper and pour the mixture in.
3. Place in the freezer for 30mins then remove.
4. Store in the fridge.

 

Croatian Date Cake

 

 

 

 

               

My mum again has shared with me this beautiful cake recipe from a Croatian community cookbook of hers, and I must say this recipe is for an absolutely divine cake…and I’m not just saying this like I might say with every cake I make!
It really is one of my new favourite cakes… I truely love a cake that is fruity and nutty but not over the top like a traditional fruit cake, which I’ve never really been much of a fan of at all.



In this cake the dates are soaked and delicately resonate throughout the moist cake, and then the topping is an indulgence of the buttery walnutty sort which also soaks down into it.  No overly sweet icing, just the perfect balance of fruity, nutty, sweetness which I adore.  I really couldn’t stop at one piece with this gorgeous cake… it really did fulfill all my sweet desires.







Croatian Date Cake

•  1 cup of chopped dates
• 125g butter
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract
• 1 1/2 cups flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• 1/4 tsp. salt

Method:

1. Soak the chopped dates in a bowl with 1 cup of boiling water, and leave to rest.
2. In a separate bowl, cream the butter and sugar.
3. Add the egg.
4. Add the dates and liquid.
5. Add the remaining ingredients.
6. Pour into a cake tin and bake at 180c. for 30mins.
7. While the cake is baking, prepare the following topping in a saucepan.

TOPPING

• 50g butter
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1/4 cup coconut thread
• 1/2 cup walnut pieces
• 1/2 cup cream (or full fat milk)

1. Combine everything together in a saucepan and set aside.
2. Once the cake has baked for 30mins remove it from the oven and pour the topping over the cake.
3. Bake for a further 30mins or until ready.

Gluten Free Lemon Loaf

 

                 

Lemon Season... when those lemon trees are absolutely smothered in lemons and you are thinking how can I put these to good use?




 This recipe is perfect for those on a gluten free diet, or if you would just like to create something a little different...








Some of the recipes I make on a normal day basis, are flourless or use ingredients such as ground almonds, or other flours, which make a nice alternative to the usual ingredient of wheat flour, and often produce a lovely texture and taste to the food, that is a welcome change. 




For the moment though, enjoy this lovely GF lemon loaf

Dark Chocolate Cupcakes

              

Anyone love a good cupcake?
Cupcakes are still very popular, and why not…. the cute size cake has taken on so many new and exciting flavours now, and I must admit some of them are quite sensational tasting against the classic vanilla cupcake.  .

In previous centuries, the cakes were often baked in individual pottery cups, ramekins, or molds and took their name from the cups they were baked in. This is why they are called cupcakes, because they were the size of a teacup.

So here is my classic chocolate cupcake recipe for you to enjoy…

Dark Chocolate Cupcakes

• 125g butter
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 tsp, baking powder
• 1 1/4 cup flour
• 1/4 cup good quality cocoa
• 1/2 cup milk

1. Cream butter and sugar, then add eggs, then remaining ingredients.
2. Place into cupcake wrappers.
3. Bake at 170c for approx. 15mins.
4. Once cool ice with dark chocolate icing and dust with cocoa if you like.

Makes 12 large cupcakes or 24 mini cupcakes.

Maple Syrup Butter Cookies

 

                 

 

 

 

 

Its been a while since I’ve made some biscuits, and when I was flicking through some recipes from one of the many cookbooks that I had grabbed from the library and came across these lovely looking maple syrup cookies, a recipe which uses maple syrup instead of sugar,  I decided I’d give these a test run.  They have such a lovely delicate, light flavour of the maple syrup, perfect to accompany a hot cuppa or glass of milk…





Dust it with a little icing sugar…










Maple Syrup Butter Cookies

•  125g butter
• 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
• 1/3 cup Maple Syrup
• 3/4 cup plain flour
• 1/4 cup cornflour

1. Preheat oven to 180c
2. Cream butter, vanilla extract and maple syrup together.
3. Add flours.
4. Place onto baking tray using spoon or piping bag.
5. Bake for approx. 12-15mins.

Recipe adapted from the Australian Womens Weekly.

Red Velvet Cake

Red Velvet Cake is an American Classic….

Made of luscious red layers filled with a decadent white chocolate cream cheese frosting, that gives it such a lovely contrast…

 

 

 

 

Its a great tasting cake that should give all round satisfaction, adults and kids, I have added a touch of food colour gel to make it pink for the birthday girl, but normally it would be left white – dress it up or dress it down as you please…

 

 

 

Red Velvet Cake

• 200g butter
• 2 1/2 cups caster sugar
• 4 eggs
• 3 T. red food colouring
• 3 T. cocoa
• 3 cups flour
• 1 tsp. vanilla essence
• 1 cup buttermilk
• 1/4 tsp. salt
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• 1 T. white vinegar

METHOD:

1. Cream butter and sugar.
2. Add eggs, 1 at time.
3. Add all remainder ingredients, and combine baking soda & white vinegar in a cup before adding to the mixture.
4. Place into 2 x 20cm cake tins and bake 170c for 45mins or until cake is ready.
5. (for this cake in the photo I used 2 x 15cm tins and needed to bake it for approx. 70mins in my oven)

White Chocolate and Cream Cheese Frosting

• 400g white chocolate
• 250g unsalted butter
• 250g cream cheese
• 1 cup icing sugar

Melt the white chocolate over a bain marie till smooth in consistency, then add remaining ingredients and mix with an electric mixer till combined.