A spot of Christmas baking - last post for 2010

Goodness where has the time gone? Its less than two weeks til Christmas! Luckily I've sorted my Christmas presents bar one tween boy and my last skirt for my nine year old niece Stephanie! This Friday will see the last of these tasks completed I hope. As for Christmas baking I've taken a minimalist approach with just one new recipe and one old recipe adapted. Now I must admit I'm a little behind as I did my Christmas baking on the 4th December with the intention of sharing it with my in-laws but overflowing sewerage got in the way.  Anyway I won't focus on that but will share with you my latest recipe and sewing. This will also be my last blog for the year as we head off to Perth this weekend and I'll only be making old recipes for Christmas parties this weekend.

Last Christmas I made rocky road and spiced biscuits for gifts and sharing, however the latter was not gluten free, so this year I wanted to try gluten free version and came across a gingerbread recipe from Jacqueline Mallorca's Wheat-free cook. The recipe recommends using a cow biscuit cutter which I didn't quite get as a Christmas decoration, even in sunny California so I went for the more traditional star shape. I also used baking paper to roll out the dough which makes it easier to handle while also making it easier to clean up and it uses less flour! I did one substitution as I didn't have any ground cloves so used mixed spice instead. Now one thing that I recommend that you don't do is to leave them out to cool for too long like I did as the humid weather of Sydney made them go a bit soft. However I did find a tip on-line that suggests re-cooking them for a short period of time, which I did and they were much crunchier. Unfortunately in some cases a wee bit too crunchy, although they are perfect with a cup of tea or coffee! Anyway here is the recipe!

Rice flour gingerbread biscuits (Jacqueline Mallorca's Wheat-free cook)

1c brown rice flour

1c cornstarch

1/2tsp salt

1/4tsp xanthan gum

1/2tsp baking powder

1tsp ground ginger

1/2tsp ground cinnamon

1/4tsp ground cloves (1/2tsp mixed spice)

1/2c dark molasses

1/4c sugar

55g unsalted butter (3 Tbsp)

1. Preheat oven to 180C and line two baking trays with baking paper.

2. Whisk together rice flour, cornstarch, salt, xanthan gum, baking powder, ginger, cinnamon and cloves.

3. Heat molasses to boiling point in a medium saucepan over medium heat (or microwave for 1 minute) and stir in butter and sugar. Remove from heat and stir in the flour mixture one-third at a time. If the dough is not workable add 1-2 tablespoons of water. Turn out onto a lightly floured surface and knead a few times until silky smooth. Cut the ball of dough in half and work with one section at a time.

4. Dusting the dough lightly with rice flour, roll out to about 7mm thick. Using a rice floured biscuit cutter, cut out as many gingerbread figures as possible, re rolling the trimmings to make more. Bake until the cookies puff up slightly and lighten to a tan colour, 6-7 minutes. Let cool on the baking sheet for 5 minutes, then place on wire rack. Repeat with the remaining dough. Once cooled store in an air tight container.

Baked Saturday 4th December 2010

At the same time I also decided to make another batch of fudge as it seems to go down really well and indulges my need for chocolate. As a minor alteration to my previous recipe from the 22nd August 2010 I substituted finely grated rind from a large orange for the fresh ginger. I also splurged on some 70% dark chocolate to make it super special! Yum indeed. I reckon if you have to leave some thing out for Santa a biscuit and some fudge would go down a treat.

Now a weekend wouldn't be complete without a spot of sewing and I still had a couple of skirts to make which are for my nieces for Christmas. This time I was planning to convert a couple of pairs of jeans that I'd picked up from the local op-shop into unique skirts for the hard to please tweens! I'd chosen ones with colourful patterns or embellishments that could be used in the front and back panels to spruce up the finish product. I got two done but was still on the hunt for one more pair. That will be this weekends task before jumping on the plane! I'll have to see how the wear before I give out the step by step instructions but there are heaps of different ones on net that you can get your hands on. 

Last weekend saw my winging my way to Coffs Harbour to visit a girl friend for her birthday. Although we did cook up a storm in the kitchen, preparing some tasty savouries for finger food to go with some drinks, I didn't lend my hand at any new gluten free recipes. So that's where I'll leave it for Friday Baking Club for 2010. Fingers crossed that 2011 brings the opportunity continue a four day week and a day off devoted to experimenting in the kitchen! Enjoy.

Yummy blueberry breakfast muffins and more!

Where have you been and what have you been baking? I hear you ask. Its been over a month since I last posted with tales from the kitchen and sewing table. Its not that I haven't been creating all this time, its more that I haven't been creating anything new. Not to mention I've been away as well. Anyway I'll try my best to give you a quick update on what has been happening this last month. And I might even have a new recipe for you!

Now as you'll remember my last post was all about the Mad Men Party and the huge baking and sewing efforts that that involved! Phew. You can understand why I could of had a break after that. Well in actual fact I didn't have a break. We were visiting family and friends that weekend and I hate to arrive empty handed. So I ended up baking a loaf of bread, 2 batches of chocolate eclairs and 2 batches of choc-orange cupcakes. Nothing new there and I do think I became obsessed with choax pastry and chocolate eclairs. They are so tasty yet so easy to make!

The following week we were winging our way to Hamilton Island to join a couple other friends who had conned me into entering in the Whitehaven Beach 2km Ocean swim. This meant we flew up mid-week and came back Monday afternoon. And in true crazy Meg baking fashion I was up early Wednesday morning to put a loaf of fruit bread in the oven to take with us. It came out 10 minutes before the taxi came to take us to the airport and was steaming as we got into the taxi! It was quite a sight Neil and I sitting in the departure lounge me with a sweet smelling loaf of fruit bread on my lap cooling before I could put it in a bag and board the plane! Mind you it was a nice treat while we were away as the gluten free options on the island were few and far between.

Despite the weather being a bit wet, a fun time was had by all. I think Alison went a bit tropo doing 4 dives in 5 days as well as an ocean swim!  She was also the resident fish completing the 2km swim 39 minutes! Louise and I both had respectable times too and I'm sure we managed to beat some of the super fit triathletes who had also descended on the Island for the triathlon.

Now the following week I did have a break. I think I hit a minor slump after the last few weeks of excitement and I was lacking inspiration to get back into the kitchen. So I lazed about catching up on some reading and iview. This was good in a way as it meant that last Friday I was chomping at the bit to get in there and try something new. Although it did take me a while to try and decide what! I warmed up on the Friday making some more bread and decided on a plan of attack for creating. I had to start on my Christmas present sewing as well as come up with something new to take round to our friends place who had just moved into their new house in Kennsington. Lucky fellas its got a pool too!

Inspiration finally came after flicking through a few books, including a recent addition 'Seriously good gluten-free baking' by Phil Vickery. I'd gone slightly nuts of late ordering books on-line from the US book depository as they are seriously cheap now that our dollar is so strong and they have free shipping. Anyway I digress! The boys we were visiting are health conscious so I thought I'd try and find something a bit more nutritious than eclairs, sigh, and I came across this recipe for buttermilk breakfast muffins. The picture looked good and I'd recently bought some frozen blueberries so they were it.

So Saturday morning I was up early and in the kitchen baking a fruit loaf and having a go at the muffins. I soon realised I didn't have any buttermilk but I improvised with some yoghurt and milk. But then I came across a sneaky ingredient I hadn't first registered when looking at the recipe the day before - glycerin. I'd mistakenly though I had some but it was actually glucose syrup. They look the same - clear and viscous but are very different. The book assured me that you can get it easily from supermarkets so I scoured the baking and health food sections with no luck. I was stumped. I had to head back home and do a bit of Internet research and found out that chemists also carry it. Apparently its a laxative in large doses as well as being good at holding moisture in baked goods. So back I went up the street to the chemist and luckily they had it. And now that I knew to look in the chemist section of the supermarket I found it there too, slightly cheaper and in a bigger bottle!

Now I could get back to finishing the recipe, only about an hour later than expected. The oats had been well soaked in the buttermilk and sugar. Actually they looked a little dry so added a splash more milk! I was also curious to see how the glycerin would affect the recipe. When mixed with the oil and egg it became quite thick and when added to the flours and pre-soaked oats if looked a little on the dry side so I added a dash more milk, although I was unsure if this was how it was supposed to look. Anyway I popped in the blueberries and the batter into the prepared trays and into the oven they went.

The cooking time was a wee bit longer than recommended, but I don't have a fan forced oven so that could be it but as long as you cook them until they look right ie. nicely risen and brown then you should be right. Now for the taste and texture, they're different to any other muffin I've had. The oats give it a good slightly grainy texture which make them more substantial and I suppose that's why they've been called breakfast muffins. The flavour is subtle such that I'd be tempted to put in more blueberries or maybe some grated apple and cinnamon to spice them up. Maybe next time. Anyway I think its a great basic recipe that can be easily adapted to different flavours suitable for breakfast. Also the addition of the glycerin means that they can last a bit longer and supposedly are suitable to freeze but I haven't given the latter a go yet! Anyway here it is.

Buttermilk Breakfast Muffins (Seriously good gluten-free baking by Phil Vickery)
makes 12
200g porridge oats
284ml carton buttermilk (1/2 milk, 1/2 yoghurt)
125g caster sugar
150ml vegetable oil
1 medium egg
1Tbs glycerin
140g rice flour
40g potato flour
20g tapioca flour
1 1/2tsp baking powder
1/2tsp xanthan gum
1/2tsp bicarbonate soda
75g frozen blueberries (100g)
Method
1. Preheat oven to 200C and line 12 hole muffin tin
2. Place oats, buttermilk and sugar in a medium mixing bowl and set aside for 20 minutes.
3. In a separate bowl whisk together flours, xanthan gum, baking powder and bicarb soda until well combined.
4. Whisk the oil eggs and glycerin together in a jug and add to the oat mixture. The stir in flour mixture. Finally add the blueberries and mix well.
5. Spoon into prepared muffin tray and cook for 15 minutes or until well browned and risen. Cool on wire rack and serve.

Baked Saturday 27th November 2010

Now it would be remiss of me not to quickly mention some of my sewing efforts as well as they have become a feature of Friday's off. This year I've decided to make a few little gifts for Christmas for my nieces using material that is re-purposed, off-cuts or end of season bargains. I'm also trying to use patterns from etsy or the Internet focusing on re-purposing other items like jeans or men's shirts. My first attempts are for my nieces Sophie (5yo), Tahlia (3yo) and Darcy (1yo) for which I've got a multi size pattern for of etsy. I must admit I was initially going to make them all cord skirts but because its summer and WA has been so hot I've gone for lighter materials and no-lining on the skirts. This has meant I've had to adapt the pattern which I think I've managed to do ok. I do think little girls clothes look so cute! Just as well I've got plenty of nieces and friends with little girls so I can make a few. Here's what I've done so far.

A Mad Men cocktail party!

This Friday's baking was dictated by the evenings planned activities. Neil and I had decided to host a Mad Men Cocktail party to show of some vintage furniture and housewares including a Chiswell drinks cabinet, a sideboard, a groovy two globed lamp, some etched whisky glasses and a record player. I'm also quite taken with late 50's and early 60's fashion and wanted to try my hand at making a 'Joanie' style wiggle dress.

So after boxing down at Bronte beach I was off to the shops for cocktail party supplies. We were planning to serve Moscow Mules, Tom Collin's and a 1970's blow in the Cosmopolitan. In addition we planned to serve up a selection of cocktail food inspired by my mother-in-laws 1952 edition of "The Hostess Cook Book" by Helen M Cox with a few more modern pieces thrown in. This book is a goldmine of suggested menus and matching recipes. Both cocktail and buffet dinner menus came in useful and I came up with  mixture of menus to include: deviled eggs, sandwiches, savory puffs, a selection of toothpick food including: cocktail onions, cubed cheese, gherkins, cabanosii and meatballs; party pies, chicken bites and vegetable samosa. In addition I had planned to cook a few of my favorite past recipes such as choc-orange almond cupcakes, chocolate eclairs and zucchini and carrot slice. And of course the sandwiches can be made with my favorite gluten free bread.

Well it took me until about 2pm to finish sewing my dress after quite a bit of cursing trying to get the zipper right and to work out to do blind hem stitch on the machine as I was too lazy to do it by hand. I must say for my first ever dress made by customising my first ever purchased pattern I was rather impressed with how the dress worked out. I must say I am really glad I went with the dusty pink pin wale cord over the pink and grey check as it would have been a nightmare to cut and sew to match up the pattern. And I'm thankful that simplicity patterns have good instructions and when my limited sewing failed my I had my sewing bible. Phew. Anyway here is a little picture of the dress.

After the dress was finished it was into the kitchen and to start baking. The first thing I decided to make was a double batch of choux pastry as per the recipe provided last week with one minor adaption to omit the sugar so it could be used for savoury fillings. I also chose to make half of the mixture into little balls with a small spoonful of dough to make little puffs and the others into small little fingers for the eclairs. And this time it was a delight to see them puff up nicely in an oven that I could control the temperature properly!

Now it was a bit of a stressful afternoon as Neil had to join me in the kitchen as we had quite a bit to do. We have a such a small kitchen with hardly any bench space but we managed with only a couple of tense moments. Neil made devilled eggs and meatballs with a mix of ginger, garlic, tamari, oyster sauce, egg and rice crumbs while I made up a large batch of carrot and zucchini slice and a batch of choc-orange cupcakes. And once with most of the baking done we had to get ready before our first guests arrived. I still had my hair in rollers when my friend Dee turned up. She'd come early to borrow a dress and help set up so we were both in aprons making sandwiches whipping up cream and filling puffs and eclairs.

And all three of us were still hard at it pulling together plates of sandwiches, toothpick food and other nibbles when more of our guests arrived. Luckily they also pitched in in setting things up and opening the bar and making our first batch of Moscow Mules. Then finally things we all in order - my hair was out of rollers and the food was out and we all had drinks in our hands and the socialising could begin. Phew it was a bit of an effort for us all but well worth it to get people together and catch up. Not to mention we got to dress up and drink cocktails like characters out of Mad Men!

Choux pastry and very ripe bananas

This Friday dawned in Blackheath, it was crisp and sunny and the Rhododendrons and wildflowers were all in flower so I shunned the kitchen to get outside and enjoy the sun and great outdoors. We headed over to Leura and out on the Mt Hay road to take a walk out to Lockeys Pylon. We had a very pleasant amble out stopping to look at various skinks, geckos and wildflowers along the way and ended up at a cliff edge overlooking the Grose Valley and back towards Blackheath. Around the same time we could also see a thunderstorm coming across from the north east and had to make great tracks back to the car. We had a distant hope to get back to the house to get washing off the line but we were too late. Thunder lightening, hail and a few downpours later we were back at the house and I had a missed provisions to get started on this weekends baking.

When I first got Jacqueline Mallorca's book I was very excited by the chocolate eclair recipe. I knew choux pastry could be made gluten free as I'd tasted a custard puff at the gluten-free bakery in Liechhardt - Healthy Feast. So I thought I'd give it a whirl this weekend at Blackheath. While in town I'd also purchased a oven thermometer as the oven had no proper temperature dial. A bit tricky for cooking and baking, especially when a recipe calls for a hot oven that then needs to be lowered!  And as I found out, even with a temperature gauge, the classic old oven at Blackheath was still a challenge as it has both a top and bottom heating element which made for slightly uneven temperatures. Well at least now I know that in the future to go with one rack and bake in the middle of the oven. This attempt was also my first ever attempt at making choux pastry so I was a little uncertain about dough texture and how much they might rise or puff. Hence instead of 12 even shapes I had three very large puffs and 4 more moderately sized but oddly shaped puffs. Note to self be sure to use FLAT trays as puffs expand and baking tray side will distort shapes.

Having said that maybe I was in a more generous mood about my first attempts at choux pastry and chocolate eclairs. Maybe its the holiday mountains atmosphere!  Anyway once I'd split the puffs, inserted some sugared cream and dipped the tops in dark chocolate that I thought that the finished product didn't look half bad. And after dinner Neil and I were quick to sample one each. Well actually maybe I had two but who's counting? Next time I won't skimp on the cream and might try and find a recipe for chocolate custard that can be teamed with cream as well. Divine! Just as well we went visiting neighbours on Saturday and took them two large samples as a treat too otherwise I could have scoffed the lot. Oops. Note to self better work extra hard in the pool and at the gym. Anyway here's the recipe and keep an eye out for further experimentation with this recipe.

Chocolate Eclairs (The wheat-free kitchen by Jacqueline Mallorca)
makes 12
1/4c brown rice flour
1/4c tapioca starch
1 tsp sugar
3Tbsp (55g) unsalted butter
pinch of salt
2 large eggs
3/4c heavy cream
1/2tsp vanilla essence
3Tbsp icing sugar
60g dark chocolate
2tsp canola oil

1. Preheat the oven to 205. Line 2 large baking sheets
2. Sift flours and sugar together and set aside.
3.  Combine butter, salt and 1/2 c water in a small saucepan over medium heat. Bring just to a boil, remove from the heat and add the flour mixture all at once. Place the pan over low heat and stir hard with a wooden spoon until mixture dries out a little and forms a ball, about 1 minute. Remove from the heat.
4. Beat in eggs one at a time. The mixture will look lumpy at first but persevere until the past is smooth and just holds its shape, about 2 minutes.
5. Transfer to a pastry bag fitted with a 2 1/2cm tip and pipe out 12, 8cm fingers. Bake for 15 minutes, then reduce the heat to 190C and bake for a further 15 minutes. Let cool on a wire rack.
To fill
6. Beat the cream until it starts to stiffen, then add the vanilla and sift in the icing sugar. Continue beating until soft peaks form.
7.Combine the chocolate and canola oil and melt over hot water. Stir to make a smooth mixture.
8. Split the eclairs horizontally and cover the bottom halves with the whipped cream. Dip the rounded side of the tops in the chocolate and place over the cream. Refrigerate until serving time.
Baked: Friday 22nd October 2010

The rest of the weekend was spent checking out junk shops and sewing. Both were in aid of next Friday's Mad Men cocktail party. Neil was searching for vintage records and an outfit. I was searching for glassware and a cake and pie server. I was also attempting to whip a dress using a vintage pattern. I had grand plans for some lovely pink and grey plaid material for a Joanie style wiggle dress but when I looked at the pattern and noted that it had 8 pieces to sew together and match the plaid, including a seam down the centre I thought it might be a bit beyond my very beginner sewing capabilities! Luckily I had a couple of metres of another plain dusky pink corduroy that should work fingers crossed. Anyway I'm still working on that one but should be able to report more next week.

Anyway come Sunday morning it was still raining s we decided to not linger too long and left Blackheath just after 1pm. This meant we got back home at a reasonable hour and get ready for the working week. Oh and of course I could also squeeze in a bit more kitchen time. When we got home I noticed that our fruit bowl was loaded up with very ripe bananas which was just perfect as I'd also been eyeing  off a recipe in the Australian Women's Weekly cookbook for banana bread. Its packed full of bananas, coconut and sunflower, linseed and almond meal and it smells absolutely divine when baking. I say if you've ever got to sell or rent a place just bake a loaf of this bread and you'll have people queuing up to sign up on the dotted line! It also has the added advantage that it is also dairy and egg free so suitable for any of your vegan friends. And if you happen to be doing any heavy exercise like paddling up the Hawkesbury River - go Dee - its also packed full of energy and protein! Well and it tastes pretty good too! And it keeps well in the fridge and can be sliced and toasted too. I think it might be a keeper. I was half tempted to throw in some dark chocolate chocolate chips but I ended up leaving it for another time. However if anyone gives it a go be sure to let me know.  Happy baking.  

Banana Bread (The gluten-free cookbook, by the Australian Women's Weekly)

makes one 11x21cm loaf
2Tbsp desiccated coconut (or shredded)
1 1/2c mashed overripe bananas (approx 3 large bananas)
1 1/4c firmly packed brown sugar (less is OK too!)
1/2c vegetable oil
2tsp baking powder
1tsp mixed spice
2 1/2c desiccated coconut extra (shredded)
1 3/4c linseed, sunflower and almond meal

1. Preheat oven to 180C. Grease loaf pan and coat base and sides with desiccated coconut, shake out excess.
2. Combine banana, sugar, oil, baking powder and spice in a large bowl, stir in extra coconut and meal. Spread mixture into pan, smooth surface.
3. Bake bread for about 55 minutes. Stand in pan for 10 minutes, turn topside up, onto baking paper covered wire rack to cool.
Note: this bread is good sliced and toasted and can be kept in an airtight container in the fridge.
Baked: Sunday 24th October 2010

Low chemical baking, skirt making & cycling

Well some Friday baking days are corkers and others are just plain average. And it stands to reason that if last Friday was a corker then its unlikely that this one would be one too. So maybe even before I started I was destined for AVERAGE. Unfortunate but true. This Friday co-incided with Friday Mummy Club and as our dear host, Lyn, is bravely undergoing the elimination diet, I decided to try my hand at some old tried and trusted recipes that are low chemical. I know how hard this diet is as I was on it about four years ago to work out if food chemicals and intolerances had any role in my health problems. Alas after 6 months or more of hard grind no real answer was found other than that I tended to react to everything in large doses. Maybe I'm just a little bit irritable? Anyway enough about me... this is about food!

So in keeping with the theme I headed to my bible for the elimination diet "Friendly Food - Food for life cookbook" put out by the Royal Prince Alfred Hospital Allergy  Unit. From it I chose a sweet treat and a salad that featured heavily in my diet during this time. First cab of the rank was the gluten free pear muffin closely followed by the pear and bean salad. See pears, when they are ripe, peeled and cored are the only allowed fruit at the beginning of the diet so they feature heavily in this book. Unfortunately when I went to bake the muffins I had bought plain instead of self-raising gluten free flour and silly me made the mistake of putting too much baking soda in when adding the raising agents. So although they looked good and had a good texture they tasted crap. Sorry Lyn. This is such a shame as I know this recipe is a winner as I've taken them to a few meetings and they got devoured quite readily. So to atone for my silly mistake I re-baked them on Wednesday morning for a treat during the conference that Lyn and I were attending. Phew this time they came out well and greatly received as a gluten free alternative to fruit! Healthy but not that exciting compared to the splendid array of other tasty treats on offer.

Gluten Free Pear Muffins (Friendly Food by The Royal Alfred Allergy Unit)

makes 12

2c (300g) Gluten free self raising flour

2 tsp baking powder

3/4c (140g) brown sugar

160ml rice drink (or milk or soy milk)

80ml canola oil

2 eggs

2 ripe pears, peeled cored and mashed

1. Preheat oven 180C and line 12 hole muffin tray.

2. Sift flour and baking powder in a large bowl, whisk in brown sugar.

3. In a separate measuring jug mix oil, rice drink, egg then add mashed pear.

4. Add wet mix into dry mix and mix gently with a metal spoon. Spoon evenly into prepared muffin tin and bake for 18-20 mins

Now these muffins are rather moist so they don't really last that well and are best eaten in the first day or two. Having said that it is a recipe that can easily be halved so that you're not left with 12 muffins to eat by yourself in one or two days. Mind you've if you've got friends and family to share them with I'm sure that will get eaten.  

Now the next recipe that I made was the Pear and Bean salad from the same book. Unfortunately I forgot to write the recipe down from the book before I loaned it to Lyn. Anyway I will have a stab at it as I  can remember the ingredients and rough quantities but I can update the quantities when I get access to the book. Also I reckon salads aren't really that precise! One other word before I give you the recipe. The elimination diet is very particular about many things like how things are cooked, preserved and how they are packaged. For those on the diet you'll know what I mean and you'll remember that tinned pears are a bit of a staple if you can't eat other fruits.  Tinned pears need to be in sugar syrup not natural juice as the latter means they are cooked up with bits of peel, stem and pips which will increase the food chemicals. Unfortunately in the fruit canning industry a decision was made to no longer make tinned pears in sugar syrup which I'm sure has been a bug bear for those people out there with food chemical intolerances. I was outraged when I couldn't buy them. Sometimes you really just don't have the time to poach pears when you just don't have a ripe pear. Anyway I still really wanted to make this salad so I bought pears peeled and cored them and poached them in sugar and water. Alternative if you do have ripe pears you can use them instead. Or if you're not worried about food chemicals and intolerances feel free to use tinned pears in natural juice, its probably healthier.

Pear and bean salad (roughly from Friendly Food)
1/2c mung beans
200-400g of beans (use your favorites red kidney, soya, chick peas)
2 shallots chopped
50g green beans cooked and sliced
2-3 tinned pears quartered
2Tbsp poppy seeds
chives
dressing
1 clove of garlic crushed
1tsp of citric acid
canola oil
water
salt to taste

1. Mix all salad ingredients except the poppy seeds in a bowl. Be gentle with the pears
2. In a measuring jug whisk dressing, and pour over salad. The longer the salad sites the flavours enhance so it can be refrigerated overnight before eating. Add poppy seeds just before serving.

Now it wouldn't Friday Mummy club with out a loaf of bread and this time I added a 1/2c of LSA to the usual bread mix, which turned out nicely. Thanks Lyn for the suggestion of using LSA (linseed, sesame and almond) meal. I also decided to make another cold lunch dish - zucchini slice although I thought I'd add a for extra vegetables like carrots, mushrooms and shallots and exclude the bacon as we had a few vegetarians coming along too. Now this dish is gluten free but not low chemical.

Zucchini and carrot slice (adapted from Irresistibles for the Irritable by Sue Shepherd)
2 large zucchinis grated
1 large carrot grated
4 large flat mushrooms
2 shallots chopped
1/2c rice flour
1/4 cornflour
200g cubed fetta (or 150g tasty cheese)
8 eggs, lightly beaten
2Tbsp canola oil
salt and pepper to taste

1. Preheat oven to 170C. Grease a shallow baking tray approx 16x26cm)
2. Combine all ingredients in a bowl then press into prepared baking tray.
3. Bake for 20 - 25mins or until firm and golden. Let stand for 5 minutes before slicing. Can be served warm or cooled.

Anyway I must say the salad and the slice were definitely edible but just as well one of the other mothers had cooked a really lovely Orange Almond cake for dessert so they weren't subjected to the very salted muffins! And as always lunch was a good excuse to catch up with friends and their little ones. And how quickly the little ones are growing up!

Now before I sign off for this week, I thought I better mention how my sewing endeavours are going, especially as they are a weight maintenance program for an avid baker! The rest of the weekend was devoted to exercise and sewing. I did a few laps on Saturday morning in prep for the Whitehaven Beach ocean swim and celebrated the advent of spring with the annual Spring Cycle from North Sydney to Homebush Bay on Sunday. A good balance for the indulgence of Friday's lunch. As for my sewing I'd decided to have a go at making my own made to measure pattern for an a-line summer skirt with guidance from a sewing book. I must say on reflection that my sewing efforts were on par with my cooking efforts, average. Mind you I did get some feedback from a colleague at work that attempting to make your own pattern is a little ambitious, especially for such a green horn as myself so its not that surprising that I made a few mistakes in my skirt. I didn't quite get the pattern right as I tended to measure a bit too generously and misunderstand directions, especially when trying to attach the waistband. However having said that I do now have a skirt, made from cool fabric I picked up from the op shop, that is light and suitable for a FAT day!  I wore it to work yesterday and everyone loved the fabric :)

Right that's about it for this week, not a corker of a week, but an average week. Not to mention a bit late too, but sometimes life gets in the way!

Baked Friday 15th October 2010

More biscuits and cake.

Well this week I felt like I was getting back into the swing of things. Friday dawned and I was down at the beach doing a spot of boxing. Then after doing the grocery shopping I was back in the kitchen whipping up a tasty treat to take when visiting friends and their new offspring. Not 100% over the cold and cough but back up and running while also out and about catching up with friends. I decided to remake the coffee, date and walnut cake from a couple of weeks ago. I wanted to see what the taste was like with the proper amount of coffee in the cake and add some coconut to the streusel. I also thought for presentations sake I'd give a round tin a go. The taste testers thought it was good and I thought it looked better. What do you think?

I also managed to squeeze in a spot of sewing as I hemmed up a skirt I'd make the previous weekend out of an old pair of brown cords. Not bad for my first sewing project since high school.

We even went out on Friday night for a wee bit of culture for a art talk and classical music at the Wagner Gallery in Paddington followed by some Japanese in the Junction. Very nice indeed.  However I must admit come Saturday morning I just couldn't sleep in past 6am so went for a swim and did a measly 22 laps and then spent the rest of the day recovering from lack of sleep and energy!

Anyway Sunday arrived and after a lazy morning, a wee bike ride and a couple of friends party to celebrate their anniversary - Congratulations Nick and David - I though I best get into the kitchen to bake this weeks new tasty treat. Now last week I mentioned a recipe from Jacqueline Mallorca's 'Wheat free cook' but I didn't have all the ingredients. Anyway I stocked up on the essential peanut butter and choc-chips when I did the grocery shopping of Friday so I could make the peanut butter and chocolate chip cookies. The recipe is easy to make, although I must admit I resorted to my old hand held beater to mix the butter, peanut butter and egg as I couldn't seem to get the butter to cream up by hand with a wooden spoon. Maybe I'm just too lazy? Anyway the final batter looks a bit oily but they cook OK and don't spread too much like some other biscuits. They taste pretty good although I only got to take a couple to work on the bike for a second opinion. Maybe if there is any left I'll take some on Wednesday to Ride 2 Work.

Peanut butter - chocolate chip cookies (by Jacqueline Mallorca in the Wheat-free cook)
makes 20
1/2 stick unsalted butter softened (56g)
3/4c creamy peanut butter
1 large egg
1/2c packed brown sugar
1/4c fine brown rice flour
pinch of salt
1/4tsp baking powder
1/2c dark chocolate chips
1/2c chopped pecans or walnuts

1. Preheat oven to 180C. Line two large baking trays.
2. Cream butter until smooth, beat in the peanut butter, then the egg. In a separate bowl whisk the flour, brown sugar, baking powder and salt then add to the butter mixture and stir to blend.

3. Stir in the chocolate chips and nuts. The dough will be soft and sticky but it can still be handled with spoons or your hands to make medium flat discs on to the prepared trays. Bake until golden and just set, 12-15 minutes. Let stand on the baking sheets for 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.

Baked Sunday 10 October 2010.

Public holiday baking - coffee walnut biscuits

Its been a bit of a wet long weekend so we've been pottering around a bit at home and one thing I've missed is not having any baked treats to nibble on with an afternoon cuppa. So come Monday morning I thought I might do an extra bit of baking to celebrate the long weekend. Also if I had any leftovers they'd still be fresh enough to take to work.

So after I put on a loaf of bread to go with the pea, ham and vegetable soup I'd made the previous day, I began flicking through my latest cookbook. First I came across a recipe for peanut butter and chocolate chip cookies which looked really tasty but I didn't have enough peanut butter. Oh well, I put it on the shopping list and will be sure to have a go soon. Next I came to a pecan -espresso cookie recipe for which I had most ingredients although I didn't have pecans but thought I could substitute walnuts. Walnuts went quite nicely with the coffee cake so should work on here. Now this book, "The wheat-free cook - gluten -free recipes for everyone" by Jacqueline Mallorca is American so I first had to do some conversions for butter weights as she uses 'sticks' of butter. Thanks to google I found out that 1 stick = 133.6g. In addition I though I might add a couple of teaspoons for cocoa to get a mocca kind of flavour. I wasn't too sure about rolling the dough into finely chopped nuts but I gave it a go. And on second thoughts after tasty the final product I think I'd add the nuts to the dough so you get a more nutty texture throughout. Also I'd add more cocoa, say 2 tablespoons to get more of a mocca flavour. Although one thing I'd do is use a bit less flour (suggest 2/3 cup of cornflour instead of 3/4 cup) and maybe 1/2 teaspoon of xanthan gum as they only just held together and are a bit crumbly. Anyway here is the recipe minus the amendments as I'll wait till I try them again to test it properly to see if it works any better. Hope you enjoy them anyway.

Pecan- espresso cookies (The wheat-free cook by Jacqueline Mallorca)

makes about 30
1/2c packed dark brown sugar
1 1/2 sticks unsalted butter (170g)
1 large egg yolk
1c brown rice flour
3/4c cornstarch/cornflour
pinch of salt
2tsp instant coffee (espresso)
1c pecans (walnuts) finely chopped

Method

1. Preheat oven to 300F/150C fan forced or 170C. Line two large baking trays.

2. Combine brown sugar and butter in a mixer/food processor until smooth fluffy cream. Add yolk and mix well.

3. Whisk flours, sea salt, and coffee in a separate bowl then add to butter mixture, mix to make a soft dough.

4. Spread chopped nuts of a work surface. With a teaspoon of dough make a small balls with your fingers and roll in chopped nuts. Flatten lightly so nuts stick then place on baking sheets allowing room for spread. Chill for 10 minutes. Bake until light tan and just set, 18 minutes. Transfer to wire rack and let cool.

Baked Monday 4th October 2010

English muffins

This week I had planned to make the English muffins again for breakfast, hopefully getting them right by using the proper raising ingredient - baking soda and a deeper egg ring to get a good thick or high muffin. I woke up super early on Friday morning, I can't wait for daylight savings to start, so I thought I'd make a loaf of fruit bread then make the muffins for breakfast before going to the osteopath. However I think 5am is just too early and my brain was super addled from lack of sleep and the tail end of a head cold.

You see I had got 45 minutes into the first rise for loaf and nothing had happened. Then I got to thinking and wondering. Had I put the yeast in? Nope I don't think I did! Anyway, I added the yeast and set it out to rise again and it did a reasonable job.  However, this delay had put me behind schedule and I didn't have enough time to make the muffins for breakfast and Neil was going to have to bake the bread for me. When I got back from the osteopath I noticed that I'd also burnt the tamari nut mix I had in the oven before the bread was due to go in. Also the fruit loaf was looking a bit dense indicated that it didn't quite get enough rising second time round. At that point I decided to give up doing any further baking for the day!

Saturday morning dawned and I'd managed to sleep in past 6am which is really good going for me! Just as well as I needed it. Anyway it meant I could get into the kitchen at a reasonable time and with a clear head and give the muffins another go. The batter is rather simple, especially when you remember to use baking soda and not baking powder. After a quick whisk it was nice and thick and smooth. I varied from the recipe as I used deep non-stick eggs as I couldn't find 3 1/2 inch muffin rings and I really was keen to use the suggested alternative (cut rings from tin cans!) Now this makes it a little trickier when trying to flip them as the use of non-stick rings means that the muffin will slide out with ease. So I just lifted them up on egg flip, took of the ring and used my finger flip them over onto the frying pan, and then quickly slipped the egg ring back over to keep the batter in. Easier said than done and you don't always get a smooth transition but hey I like rustic looking (read raggedy edged) muffins.

Also, when it comes to eating the muffins, I really don't think you need to wait for them to cool. Actually they taste rather good still warm with butter and jam or butter and Vegemite! Yum. However they can be cooled, stored wrapped in the fridge and then toasted, which I did for lunch with ham, tomato and cheese! Delicious indeed and a nice change from bread or corn thins. Anyway here is the recipe, enjoy!

Rice flour English muffins (the wheat-free cook, by Jacqueline Mallorca)

makes 5-7
unsalted butter
2/3c white rice flour
plus extra for muffin rings and non-stick frying pan
1/3c tapioca sugar
1tsp sugar
1tsp baking soda
pinch of salt
2 eggs
1tsp canola oil
1/2c plain yogurt

1. Butter the insides of five 3 1/2 inch muffin rings (or if you have non-stick deep eggs rings these work just as well) and dust with rice flour. (Dipping them in the flour is the easiest way to do this)

2. Whisk the rice flour, tapioca starch, sugar, baking soda, and salt in a medium sized bowl. In a separate bowl beat the eggs and whisk in the canola oil and yogurt.

3. Place a non-stick fry-pan/griddle on medium heat, and set the muffin rings in place. Sprinkle a little rice flour on the pan/griddle surface inside each one to prevent the muffins from sticking.

4. When the pan/griddle is hot, add the liquid ingredients to the flour mixture and stir well to form a puffy batter. Half fill each muffin ring smoothing the surface and dust lightly with additional rice flour. After a minute nudge each ring with a spatula to make sure  it isn't sticking, and continue cooking for another 3 minutes. Holding tongs in one hand and a spatula in the other, pick up each ring (the muffin won't fall out - actually if your using non-stick egg rings they will!) and place on the spatula. Reverse the muffins back onto the pan/griddle and continue cooking until the second side is browned and the muffin is cooked through, 3 to 4 minutes. Transfer to a rack. When the rings are cool enough to handle free the muffins with a knife blade and let cool completely. Split (never cut) by inserting the tines of a fork horizontally around each muffin and pry apart for optimal cragginess. Then toast and eat with your favorite muffing topping. The muffins will keep for 2-3 days wrapped and refrigerated or they may be frozen.

Baked Saturday 2nd Oct 2010

Baking for the birthday boy

My apologies everyone for beinga week behind on my baking rambles. I blame my ill heath, computer problems and the fact that we're watching Twin Peaks! Anyway here it is.

Friday dawned and I didn't know what to do. I wasn't well enough for boxing down at the beach as I still had my head cold. I had no appointments or friends coming round at all. I hadn't planned anything to bake, other than a birthday cake for Neil but his birthday wasn't until Sunday. I tried to con him into having an early birthday cake so we could eat it over the weekend but no he wanted it on his actual birthday! Doh. And since I hadn't done any exercise for two weeks I decided I couldn't bake anything else in the meantime.  I was at a loose end not knowing what to do. Luckily over the last couple of weeks I'd been scouring op shops and second hand book stores for new reading material and had amassed over 30 books to read! So I took to a sunny spot on the couch and read to my hearts content.

Two new additions came from Ariel bookstore. One was a sewing technique book which was bound to come in handy as I learn how to use my new Singer. Another weight watching device to distract me from the kitchen. And of course the second book was bargain gluten free cookbook - "The wheat-free cook - gluten free recipes for everyone" by Jacqeline Mallora.  The latter provided a few hours of entertainment, flicking through and reading various recipes. I can see a few recipes will end on this blog at some stage! Come Saturday morning my self imposed ban on baking was broken when I decided to make something out this book. Its a got a good section on bread, of which all but one don't use yeast and are quick to cook. I was somewhat taken with the idea of rice flour English muffins as an alternative to fruit toast for breakfast. I gave them ago but had problems with the batter which wasn't that fluffy. Silly me had gotten confused with baking powder and baking soda. And the egg rings where no way near big or deep enough to make a good muffin. Anyway I'll try them again soon with new muffin rings and the proper use of baking soda!

Now to the birthday cake. I'd quizzed the birthday boy for a request but he wasn't that decisive so I ended up asking for favorite ingredients or theme and he came up with date and walnut. Funny that, its also one of my favorite combinations too, especially when chocolate is added as well. Anyway since it was Neil's choice I wouldn't add chocolate so I had to hunt for a cake recipe with date and walnuts. Sticking with my books, I came across a recipe that looked interesting in Sue Sheppard's "Gluten free Kitchen" for a Coffee and Pecan cake which I though could be nicely adapted to a Coffee, date and walnut cake. The dates could be mixed in with the dissolved coffee and baking soda to soften them up and walnuts would be a simple substitution for pecans in the strusel topping. I also halved the sugar in the cake and used brown sugar instead of caster. Anyway the cake just made it out of the oven in time before we headed over to Glebe and a birthday breakfast with friends at the cafe near the Maritime Museum. Coffee and birthday cake would be after a trip around the museum and walk back to Glebe. It went down a treat, even if I didn't quite get the quantity of coffee right in the cake it tasted more caramel than coffe and dateore dates. I'd have to get that right another time. Anyway here is the adapted recipe.

Coffee, date and walnut cake (Adapted from The Gluten Free Kitchen by Sue Sheppard)
1c chopped dates (more if you fancy)
1 1/2Tbsp instant coffee  (oops just realised I only put 2tsp!)
3Tbsp boiling water
1tsp bicarb soda
160g unsalted butter
1/2c brown sugar (or 1c caster sugar if you prefer)
3 eggs
130g rice flour
35g cornflour
30g tapioca flour
2tsp baking powder
1tstp xanthan gum
1/2c sour cream
pure icing sugar for dusting
walnut streusel (or pecans)
40g unsalted butter
1/2c brown sugar
1 1/2tsp ground cinnamon
2tsp instant coffee
1c walnuts roughly chopped (or pecans)

1. Pre heat oven to 180c. Grease and line a 20cm square baking tin.
2. In a small bowl add chopped dates, coffee, baking soda and boiling water. Allow it to fizz and stir until dates are softened.
3. Beat butter and sugar in a large bowl, until creamy. Add eggs one at a time, beating well between additions.
4. Sift the flours, baling powder and xanthan gum and whisk until well combined. Fold the flours, coffee and date mixture and sour cream into the butter mixture until well combined. Pour batter into the baking tin, smooth surface and bake for 35minutes.
6. Meanwhile prepare the streusel topping by beating the butter, brown sugar, coffee and cinnamon well until creamy.  Stir in walnuts.
7. After the cake has baked for 35-45 minutes spread the streusel topping evenly over the top of the cake, cover with foil and bake for a further 10-20 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean. Remove from the oven and allow to cool in the tin for 10 minutes before turning out onto a wire rack to cool to room temperature. Dust with icing sugar before serving.

Baked Sunday 26th September 2010

Unfortuantely we weren't that good at taking photos, not even one of the birthday boy with his cake, so here are just a few of the leftovers.

Maggie's gourmet pasties.

This week’s Friday baking club has been a bit hampered by a cold that just won’t go away. Anyway I decided to rest on Friday and baked on Saturday instead. Inspiration for this week has been a couple of weeks in gestation, as I’ve been dreaming of savory pastry treats. Up in Blackheath it was pies and puff pastry and last week it was pasties. I’d even flicked through a few recipe books and had decided on a recipe but I was hampered by the pre-bug as I spent most of the weekend tired and recovering from boxing, swimming and cycling with a spot of vintage furniture shopping thrown in. So alas the pasties didn’t get made.

Anyway this week I was determined to get into the kitchen and give Maggie Beer’s recipe for Spicy Pork and Apple pasties a go. Maggie has a few recipes that use gluten free pastry, this one is her cream cheese one. I’d not heard of it before and it intrigued me so decided to give it a go. Be warned though it is a coronary giving recipe with 500g cream cheese and 300g of butter for a measly eight pasties! Oh well I suppose we only live once and it’s always good to try new things.

So come Saturday morning arrived and I kicked off my making the pastry and soaking the fruit first before going to the osteopath. For me the pastry was the most daunting thing about the recipe as I didn’t have a food processor so I had to rub in 800g of shortening into 4 cups of flour by hand! A friend had mentioned that I might be able to use my mixer as she remembered her mum doing the same thing so after rubbing in about three quarters of the shortening and the dough didn’t look like forming a ball I got Kitchen Aid down and gave it a whirl with a flat beater. Now I wouldn’t recommend you use it straight away as you’d have flour flying everywhere especially when the butter and cream cheese is hard and the flour is just up to under the lip of the bowl, but worked OK once I given it a reasonable go by hand. I finished off with the dough hook and it came together in a ball and I just gave it a quick working over by hand in the bowl. And the pastry was reasonably easy to work into rounds between baking paper. Although in the future I’d try to go a smidge thinner.

Now compared to the pasties of my childhood these are rather gourmet with dried fruit, pine nuts, honey cinnamon and ginger, not to mention the fancy pastry and the pork mince! I’m more used to beef mince and grated carrot, potato, parsnip, turnip, parsley and bit of chopped onion. And super thin pre-rolled puff pastry. Having said that, the pastry holds it shape well and browns up a treat and although they are salty and cheesy meaning having more than one in a sitting is a challenge, they are very tasty. And sometime in the not too distant future I’d be keen to give them another go with less salt and cheese and a more traditional filling and I’m sure they’d be tasty too. Anyway for another day. So here it is, Maggie’s pasties. Enjoy!

Spicy Pork and Apple Pasties (Maggie’s Kitchen by Maggie Beer)
Makes 8

1/3 c pine nuts
½c verjuice
¼c dried currants
1/3c dried apples, chopped
Olive oil for cooking
1 small onion finely chopped
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1Tbsp ground ginger
1Tbsp ground cinnamon
2Tbsp honey
500g minced pork
¼ preserved lemon rind, chopped (or lemon rind)
2 eggs
¼c flat leafed parsley, chopped
1½ tsp sea salt
Ground black pepper
1 egg beaten with 1Tbsp pouring cream (or milk)
Pastry
500g chilled cream cheese cut into chunks
300g chilled unsalted butter, chopped
1 1/3c rice flour
1 1/3c maize/cornflour
1 1/3c potato flour
2 Tbsp salt (too much I’d only use 2 tsp)
8g xanthan gum

1. Roast or pan fry pine nuts until golden, set aside to cool.

2. Place ¼c of verjuice in each of 2 small saucepans, then add the currents to one and the dried apples to another. Heat both pans gently over low heat for a few minutes, then set aside to plum and cool (can also be done in bowls in the microwave for 1-2 minutes)

3. Heat a splash of olive oil in a small frying pan over low-medium heat, then saute onion and garlic until translucent but not coloured. Add ginger and cinnamon and cook for another minute or so until spices give off a rich scent; take care not to burn them. Remove from heat, stir in honey and leave to cool.

4. Put minced pork pine nuts, cooled onion mixture, soaked currants and apple mixtures (including the soaking juices), preserved lemon, eggs, parsley, salt and pepper in a large bowl and mix thoroughly. Cover and refrigerate until ready to use.

5. For the gluten free pastry: if doing by hand - whisk flours, xanthan gum and salt in a large bowl, rub in butter and cream cheese until a ball of dough is formed. If you have a kitchen aid or mixer some of this may be able to be done using the flat beater. If using a food processor pulse cream cheese and butter until combined. Add flour, salt and xanthan gum, then whiz to just combine scraping down the side of the bow with a spatula. If the dough doesn’t come together to form a ball add a little chilled water – 1 Tbsp at the most.

6. Turn dough out onto a bench dusted with a little extra gluten-free flour. Bring dough together with your hands, then knead for 3-4 minutes or until it forms a ball. Although this pastry does not need to be chilled for a long time, it is easier to handle if placed the refrigerator for 5 minutes before rolling out.

7. Divide dough into 8 even pieces, then roll out each piece, one at a time, between 2 pieces of baking paper to make a 3mm thick round (about the size of a side plate)

8. Divide filling into eights, then place one-eight on the bottom half of each pastry round. Fold pastry over to encase the filling, then fold over the edges thickly to seal, trimming off any excess pastry. Brush with egg wash made by beating egg with cream, then place on baking tray lined with baking paper and refrigerate for 10-15 minutes.

9. Preheat fan forced oven to 230C

10. Bake pasties for 20-25 minutes or until golden then serve.

Left over pastry can be combined and kept in the fridge for a few weeks. It can be used to make a quick cheese tart or topped with fruit such as apples, pears or berries for a sweet tart.

Baked 18 September 2010

Take 2 - Up-side down pineapple polenta cakes

Well I decided to do a spot of mid-week baking and try and prefect the up-side down pineapple polenta cakes. This had the added advantage that I could also take them to friends at work that I visit on Thursdays when I work in the city! Hopefully they will have returned from the field to enjoy them.

Anyway as some of you will know I tried the these little up-side down cakes when I was in Blackheath over a week and a half ago. I wasn't completely happy with the recipe as the mixture was too generous and I thought I'd like more coconut. So I took Sue Sheppard's recipe, cut most ingredients down to two thirds of the original, used brown sugar instead of caster and added a little extra moisture by adding pineapple juice to the polenta soaking batter and just before spooning into the cupcake tine I also added the drained juice from the crushed pineapple. With the extra liquid the little cakes took an extra couple of minutes to bake but the end result was very tasty and moist, especially served up with natural yogurt.

Now the revised recipe is just enough to make 12 cupcakes using about a 1/4 of a cup of batter per cupcake and they are a bit more golden in colour due to the use of brown sugar over caster sugar. And thankfully they are just as tasty as Sue original recipe! And they were also a hit with the city work crew - yay!

Up-side down pineapple polenta cakes (Adapted from Sue Sheppard's Gluten Free Kitchen)

Makes 12
90g yogurt
60g butter softened
1/2 c brown sugar
1 tsp vanilla
2 eggs
¼c pineapple juice
2/3c quick cooking polenta
50g rice flour
¼ cup shredded coconut
1 ½ tsp baking powder
½ tsp bicarb soda
½ tsp xanthum gum
1c tinned crushed pineapple drained (440g tin)

1. Cream butter and sugar, mix in yogurt then eggs one at a time. Stir in polenta and pineapple juice until well combined. Cover and refrigerate for 3-4 hours or overnight.
2. Preheat oven to 180degress C and line a 12 hole standard muffin tin.
3. Whisk the flour, coconut, baking powder, bicarb soda and xanthum gum in a large bowl until well combined.
4. Add half of the dry ingredients to the polenta mixture and beat on low spread until well combined. Add remaining dry ingredients and mix well. (When draining pineapple you can add the extra juice to the batter for extra flavor and moisture)
5. Divide drained crushed pineapple between each muffin tin – about a tablespoon per hole, then spoon in batter, dividing equally between each hole. Bake for 18-20 mins or until firm to touch. Cool in tin for 5 mins before turning out onto a wire rack to cool slightly. Serve pineapple side up. Great with cream or natural yogurt.

Baked Wednesday 15th October

Baking with Sarah - The Amazing Tart

Last Friday's baking deviated from the norm, its good to mix things up occasionally! An old friend from work also had Friday's off and we were keen to catch up. Sarah was also keen to have a go at some baking so what better opportunity to get together catch up do lunch and bake. I left it to Sarah to pick the recipe so with a bit of to and froing we decided to try something with short crust pasty. I had notions of pies and pasties but Sarah is vegetarian and was kind of keen to try a recipe for chocolate stuffed prunes in almond tart. I was quite surprised - its not a combination I'd ever heard of before, but oh let me tell you, its ever so tasty!

I was in two minds on whether to just use Sarah's recipe and just substitute the flour to make it gluten free or to try a tried and trusted tart base. In the end I went with the substitution as I was keen to try a different ratio of flour butter water and eggs to see if it works ok. And luckily it worked out rather well. To make up the flour combination I did use the same component flours and just adjusted the quantities to make up the smaller quantity of flour. It mixed together well and just required a little bit of cold water (approx 1Tbsp) to bring it all together properly. 

It was interesting working in someone else's kitchen and its refreshing to know that I'm not the only one who cooks in a small kitchen with not a great deal of bench space and with a less than accurate oven temperature dial! And it's reassuring that you can adapt and work around this. Don't get me wrong - I still dream of one day being able to bake in a spacious well appointed kitchen but until that day arrives I'm not going to let that stop me baking! It's also fun to bake with someone else who is also a bit forgetful. As we were making the pastry, me gluten free Sarah normal, we both made the same mistake of forgetting to put the sugar in with the flour and butter. Surprisingly enough the lake of sweetness in the pastry didn't detract from the tart at all. If anything it made the filling speak for its self in all its rich almondy and gooey chocolaty pruney flavour. Ever so delightful. We also nearly had a few mishaps with the filling as we often forgot that we were doubling the recipe and wondering why it didn't look right. Anyway fortunately we did remember at the right moment.

It was also a bit of a challenge as between us we only had to small tart tins so there was way too much filling but we improvised with ramekins to take the left overs. And baking times were a bit of a challenge without an accurate temperature and a variety of different tart and ramekin sizes but it all came together in the end. One thing to note that I deviated from the recipe by choosing to roll my pastry between two layers of baking paper rather than to grate and press the pasty into the time. That sounded a bit too random for the likes of me. And it was also much quicker to roll it and the fit was more even.

I think what makes this tart special is the combination of flavours. The prunes are plumped up with butter and brandy then stuffed with the best value dark chocolate you can afford. The stuffed prunes then float in a mix of roughly ground almonds more butter, brandy and eggs and it comes together really well. And it is best served warm so that chocolate is gooey inside of the prunes. Anyway it is quite rich and not for the faint hearted and goes well with double cream or natural yogurt.

Anyway the tart made it out of the oven just in time for Sarah to go pick up her boys from school and for me to go buy a sewing machine. I've decided I need to look after my heart and waistline by only baking one item a week and spend some of the spare time trying to master the basics of sewing! Phew, we'll see how that one goes.  So thanks Sarah for sharing your kitchen and this recipe with me, we must do it again sometime. And now other can enjoy it too!

Chocolate-stuffed prunes in an almond tart (The Cranks Bible by Nadine Abensur)

pastry
90g unsalted butter, cold & diced
95g rice flour
50g cornflour
30g soy flour
1tsp xanthan gum
60g caster sugar (optional)
pinch of salt
2 egg yolks
filling
300g semi dried plums or 225g soft prunes (pitted)
175g caster sugar
175ml brandy
90g dark chocolate
175g whole almonds
175g butter
2 eggs

Pastry
1. In a bowl whisk flours, salt and xanthan gum, add sugar if desired then rub the butter into the flour mix to form fine crumbs.
2. Bring together with egg yolks and a little cold water if needed. Roll the ball around the bowl a couple of times until it is smooth and the colour of polenta. Wrap in cling-wrap and refrigerate for 30 minutes.
3. Preheat the oven to 180C and grease 28cm tart tin.
4. Roll the pastry between two sheets of baking paper, (or if you prefer grate into time and press it down). Refrigerate for 20minutes.
5. Blind bake for 10-15 minutes until pale golden.
Filling
6.Tuck the prunes into a small pan with 1 tablespoon of caster sugar and 60ml of the brandy. Simmer gently for about 5 minutes, turning each prune/plum in the process so that all the brandy is absorbed and they are coated in a thin layer of sticky syrup.
7. Allow prunes to cool and stuff them full of chocolate.
8. Process whole almonds in a processor, spice or coffee grinder until they are broken up into a mixture of fine and coarser grits.
9. Beat almonds, sugar and butter together and whisk in eggs one at a time, continuing until they are well blended. Finally add the remaining brandy and mix well. The mixture is almost bound to split and look curdled but don't become alarmed as it will come together again in the oven.
10. Lay stuffed prunes in the pasty shell then spread the almond mixture all the round. It will spread and fill any gaps on cooking. Bake in the oven for about 30 minutes or until crisp on top, moist in the middle and the chocolate is melting inside the prunes. Serve warm.
Note: This recipe can be made ahead an warmed in the oven for a couple of minutes, especially to get the melted chocolate which is a special treat!

Baked Friday 10th September 2010