Blueberry Flaxseed Muffins
Wednesday, February 19, 2020These lightly sweetened blueberry muffins are moist, fluffy and bursting with freshness and flavour. Made with spelt flour, crushed flaxseed and Quark (German fresh cheese), they make a great addition to any breakfast, brunch or coffee-break menu.
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- Preheat oven to 200C/400F. Lightly grease a 6-hole giant or a standard 12-hole muffin pan.
- Combine spelt flour, crushed flaxseed, baking powder, baking soda, salt and 80 grams of raw sugar in a bowl. Make a well in the centre.
- Whisk butter, Quark, eggs, egg white, and vanilla in a jug. Pour into well. Add blueberries and gently fold until just combined.
- Divide the batter into the muffin holes and sprinkle each with some raw sugar. Bake for 20-25 minutes if using giant muffin pan and 15-18 minutes if using standard one until nicely golden brown.
Tomato Caramel Candy
Friday, February 14, 2020A delicious soft caramel candy recipe made with just 3 ingredients that you can easily made at home. The fun ingredient here is salted tomato juice, but it can be replaced with water or other juices for different flavour.
Caramelization is the removal of water from a sugar, proceeding to isomerization and polymerization of the sugars into various high-weight compounds. Compounds such as difructose-anhydride may be created from the monosaccharides after water loss. Fragmentation reactions result in low-molecular-weight compounds which may be volatile and may contribute to flavor. Polymerization reactions lead to larger molecular weight compounds, which contribute to the dark brown color. Wikipedia
- 200 g Tomato juice, salted
- 400 g Caster sugar
- 60 g Kerrygold butter, diced
- Line a loaf pan with tin foil and generously grease the bottom and sides with corn oil. Set aside.
- Place sugar and tomato juice in a saucepan. Cook the mixture over the medium heat, stirring constantly, until sugar dissolves and mixture just begins to simmer. Stop stirring. Continue to cook the mixture over medium heat until it reaches 120C/240F.
- Turn the heat off, then stir in the butter until well incorporated. Turn the heat back on, continue to cook over medium heat until the thermometer reads 125C/250F, the firm ball stage. Remove from heat immediately and set the pot aside to cool for a few minutes.
- Pour into the prepared loaf pan and cool until set. Cut into rectangles and wrap with baking paper. Store the caramels in an airtight container for up to 2 weeks.
Rosemary, Black Olive and Cheddar Scones
Monday, February 10, 2020These savoury scones, fresh out of the oven, are perfect for afternoon tea, or breakfast and are bursting with a rich, sharp Cheddar and fresh rosemary and black olives that add a pop of colour, texture and flavour. The leftover make a wonderful accompaniment to soups or casseroles for a cozy and comforting dinner.
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- Preheat the oven to 200C/400F. Line a baking tray with baking paper.
- Whisk together the spelt flour, baking powder, baking soda and black salt in a bowl. Rub in ghee until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs. Add in chopped rosemary, olives and Cheddar. Gently mix together.
- Pour in cream and mix with a fork until it can be gathered into a soft ball. Turn out onto a lightly floured work surface and gently knead a few times.
- Using a lightly floured rolling pin, gently roll dough out until 2cm-thick. Using a 6cm heart-shaped cutter, cut out scones. Press leftover dough together. Repeat to make 12 scones.
- Place them on prepared tray. Brush with cream and bake for 15 to 17 minutes or until golden. Serve scones with homemade jam or butter.
GF, DF Poppy Seed Meringue Cookies
Monday, February 03, 2020The addition of ground poppy seeds to the meringue adds not only an irresistible nutty flavour, but also gives these cookies a chewy consistency. You can replace poppy seeds with hazelnuts or walnuts. They are easy to make, naturally gluten free and just need 4 ingredients.
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- Beat the egg whites and vanilla paste to soft peaks. Slowly beat in the raw sugar in 3-4 additions until the meringue looks light, shiny and fluffy.
- Gently fold in the ground poppy seeds until the mixture is well combined and forms a relatively firm paste.
- Shape the mixture into balls, about 28-30 balls, and roll in the almond sticks. Place them onto baking trays lined with baking paper. Gently flatten them a little.
- Preheat the oven to 180C/350F. Bake for 15-18 minutes until lightly browned. Let rest on the trays for 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely. Store in an airtight container for up to a week.
Saltless Tuscan Bread / Pane Toscano
Monday, January 27, 2020Saltless, yet it is never bland! This Tuscan bread is more substantial than the French bread, and although it hasn't the airy lightness of a French baguette, it is not heavy like some German bread either. Fresh tomatoes and basil layered on a large slice of Tuscan loaf would make a perfect snack or like what I did, spread the bread with cheese Toscana
angiesrecipes.
One explanation of the saltless bread is that the Tuscans, well known for being tightfisted couldn't bear to pay the government salt tax and chose instead to make bread without it. Perhaps, but gastronomes point out that the Tuscan bread is perfectly suited to their cuisine, which is full of strong flavors.
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- Pour the boiling water over the 250 grams flour in a bowl. Stir until you have a smooth thick paste. Cool and and let rest covered with a plastic wrap overnight in the fridge. The next day, take the dough out of the fridge and let rest for an hour to bring the paste to room temperature.
- Place the paste and the rest of the ingredients in the bowl of your stand mixer and stir on low speed until combined. Increase the speed to medium and continue mixing until the dough is smooth and leave from sides of mixing bowl. Transfer the dough to a lightly oiled bowl. Cover and let rise until double in bulk, about one hour. Turn the dough onto a lightly floured work surface and divide it in half. Round each dough up and let the dough balls rest, covered, for 15-20 minutes.
- After resting, shape the dough into batards. Proof the shaped batards, covered,on a piece of parchment paper or in moulds or pans for about one hour. Meanwhile, preheat the oven and the bricks to 220C/450F. Once the dough has doubled in size, sift flour on the surface of the batards to create a rustic appearance. Score the bread and carefully transfer them on the bricks in the oven. Bake the bread for 50 minutes. Cool on a wire rack.