In-season inspired baking

Ideas for baking this week were a little slow in coming, a bit like this post! I had vague notions of doing something with in-season produce to utilise some of the fresh fruit and veg we regularly get in our weekly organics box, including lemons, rhubarb, apples and beetroot. Inspiration finally began to form on Thursday night while out with work colleagues for drinks and dinner. I was chatting with one colleague's partner about our mutual love for all things sweet, especially brownies and rhubarb cake. Which made me think of a beetroot brownie I had a couple of years ago which led to some internet surfing in search of recipes. Apparently the beetroot is used as a sweetener while also keeping the finished product moist, however I never got round to trying out any of the recipes. Result test 1 found! 

Then as I lay awake early Friday morning, before psyching myself up to go down the beach to box with a friend, I was running through two other baking ideas in my head. As I didn't have all the ingredients for the rhubarb cake, I was thinking of other options like muffins. Also my new baking book "babycakes" uses fruit purees so I thought about combing apple puree as a natural sweetener and rhubarb to come up with a tasty muffin recipe. Not too hard I thought, test 2 found. Then I pondered whether I was game enough to have another go at pastry to make a lemon tart for our dinner guests that night. I thought I'd give it a shot and if it didn't work I was bound to have the brownies or muffins as back up! And that was all I had time for, I had to get up and go meet my friend and box as the sun rose. Such a lovely way to start the day!

As soon as I got back from the beach I was in the kitchen, sifting and whisking flours, chopping up fruit and mixing up eggs, milk, oil and yogurt in bowls. Finally the batter was spooned into the muffin tray and popped into the oven. I was excited to try resultant muffin for a breakfast treat. As the buzzer went off I peaked into the oven and I was a little disappointed to see pale flat muffins. Hmm what had gone wrong? I tested them for springiness and they were OK so must have been cooked but why oh why were they so flat? I mentally ran through what I'd done in mixing up the batter. Maybe I'd over worked it? Was I being to tricky splitting the mix and adding extra sugar and coconut for a crunchy topping? And then it dawned on me, I'd forgot to mix in the baking powder with the flours! A trick to remember when not using pre-mixed self raising flour. I never cease to amaze myself with the stupid mistakes I make, I blame it on lack of breakfast! Here's hoping its not a mistake I'll make again. Anyway I didn't have enough ingredients or time to make them again that day as I things to do and people to see so I just crossed my fingers that either the brownies or tart was going to work for dinner!

Anyway after a lovely lunch down the beach I was back in the kitchen steaming beetroot, melting chocolate and mixing eggs for the beetroot brownies. The recipe I used was one I'd found during my previous research from by Indigo House, however I can't seem to find the on-line recipe anymore - just as well I printed it out! It doesn't use an sugar but then it has plenty of chocolate and a spoonful of honey as a sweetener. Nor does it have much fat, just a small dollop of butter oh and yes plenty of chocolate. And hardly any flour so its bound to be a winner and it is! It tastes great with crunchy walnuts and juicy plump raisins, it keeps well with all the moisture from the beetroot but whats the best is the rich dark colour with a purple tinge which is fantastic! So I do hope you can enjoy.

Gluten-free Beetroot Brownies (Indigo House 2007)

500g beetroot, peeled, cubed
220g dark cooking chocolate
20g unsalted butter
2 eggs lightly beaten
1tsp vanilla essence
1/2c gluten free self raising flour
1/4c cocoa powder
1 dessert spoon honey
1/2c walnuts (or cashews) roughly chopped
1/2c raisins (or 1 orange rind)

1. Steam beetroot until tender (10-15mins). Allow to cool then blend to make 1 cup of puree
2. Preheat oven 180C. Line large slice tin with baking paper.
3. Melt chocolate, butter and honey in heatproof bowl over a saucepan or in microwave, stirring until smooth. Allow to cool slightly
4. Whisk eggs and vanilla extract. Add beetroot puree and mix well.
5. Sift flour and cocoa powder into large bowl. Add beetroot mixture, then the chocolate mixture. Mix until just combined. Stir in nuts and raisins. Pour into slice pan and smooth surface.
6. Bake for 20 minutes or until top is firm and crumbs cling to a skewer. Cool completely in tin before slicing.

With the beetroot brownie made the pressure was off to make the Lemon Custard Tart but I was determined to give it a go and try and stick to the recipe this time! And luckily enough this time it worked even if I was a little stressed at the time as I was a bit behind schedule. One tip is that you can use the freezer rather than the fridge to rest and cool the dough between rolling and baking which cut the two resting times in half. I also managed to get a good crumb with the butter and flour, rubbing it in by my fingertips rather than using a processor which we don't have without too much time lost either. The base was in the oven before the guests arrived for a blind bake and looked good. I'd also pre-prepared most of the filling which would just need a last minute combination and pour into the base once it was cooled. Although it was a bit of trial and error with the setting of the filling taking an extra 10-15 minutes over the recommended cooking time but it all worked out in the end. One thing to note is that this is not an overly tart tart which according to a couple of the guest is a good thing and more in line with it being a custard tart! It went down a treat with cream and ice cream. Thankfully my trust in my pastry making skills has been partially restored for now! So here it is.

Lemon Custard Tart (The Gluten Free Kitchen by Sue Sheppard)

Serves 10
130g rice flour
75g gluten-free cornflour
45g soy flour
1tsp xanthan gum
3Tbsp caster sugar
160g cold unsalted butter
120ml iced water
Lemon Filling
2c milk
3 eggs
1/3c lemon juice
3Tbs grated lemon zest
1/2c caster sugar

1. Sift flours, and gum into a bowl and  whisk to mix well. Process flours, sugar and butter in a food processor. Or if you don't have a processor rub butter with your fingertips into the flour and sugar mix until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs.
2. Continue processing, adding 1 Tbs of water at a time until a soft dough forms. Or mix by hand with a knife. Turn onto a board and knead for 3 minutes until smooth. Wrap in cling wrap and refrigerate for 30 minutes (15 minutes in a freezer).
3. Grease a 23cm fluted tart pan. Roll out pastry between to sheets of baking paper to a thickness of 3mm. Ease into the tart pan and trim the edges, then refrigerate for a further 30minutes. (Or 15 minutes in the freezer).
4. Preheat oven 170C
5. Line the pastry case with baking paper and fill with baking beads or rice. Blind-bake for 10-15 minutes or until golden brown (this may take longer if its been in the freezer) remove from the over and set aside to cool.
6. To make the filling, pout the milk into a medium saucepan and bring to a simmer over medium-low heat. Remove from the heat. Place the eggs, lemon juice, lemon zest and sugar in a jug and whisk with electric beaters on low speed until just combined. Increase the beater speed and whisk the hot milk into the egg mixture.
7. Pour the filling into the cooked pastry case and bake for 15-25 minutes or until firm to touch. remove from the oven ans set aside to cool. Dust with icing sugar if desired and served with whipped cream and/or ice cream. Yum!
NOTE: Temps on this might be for a fan forced oven... so 190C for normal oven. Also note it may take closer to 40min- 1 hour to cook and set properly.

Saturday dawned and I was ready to try the muffins again. This time I wasn't going to try and get fancy by trying to get a crunchy top and separating the mix. The coconut and rhubarb would go through the whole mixture. Although this time I did stew up my apples with a bit of honey and lemon juice just for something different. And of course I would remember to add the baking powder and try to cook for an extra minute or so to get a bit of colour on top. However this was a bit of a trade off as the base was more cooked and stuck a bit to the patty papers, but they looked more appetising! Oh well, here it is, another Meg creation.

Rhubarb and coconut muffins (Meg Hinds!)

2/3c vegetable oil
1/3c natural yogurt
1/2c milk
1/2c stewed apple
2 eggs
50g potato flour
170g rice flour
1 1/2tsp baking powder
1/2tsp xanthan gum
1tsp cinnamon
1/4c brown sugar
1/2c shredded coconut
1c rhubarb chopped

1. Preheat over 180C. Line 12 hole muffin tin
2. In  a measuring jug mix wet ingredients (oil, egg, yogurt, milk, stewed apple)
3. Sift flours, gum, baking powder, cinnamon and sugar in a large bowl, whisk to combine. Add wet ingredients and mix with a spoon. Reserve 12 chunks of rhubarb and gently fold in remaining rhubarb and coconut into mixture. Spoon mix into muffing holes and place a rhubarb chunk on top of each.
4. Bake for 18-20 minutes until springy to touch and lightly golden. Cool for a couple of minutes before removing to cool on rack completely. Store in an airtight container for up to three days

Well that's it for last weeks baking - sorry for the delay in writing the tests up! Hopefully this week won't be so busy so I can be a bit more efficient with my posting. Also just a reminder that I'm really keen to read any comments or suggestions that you might have with these or any other recipes.

Happy baking!