ending the year on a plum note

I am one of those people. Those sentimental folk who become reflective and day-dreamy around this time of year. Thinking of the highs and lows of the year past, and hopes for the year ahead. There have been many new year’s eves where I have sighed to myself, ‘it’s been the best of times, it’s been the worst of times’. Mostly that’s because I just like to begin sentences in my head with that level of drama. It’s actually been a pretty chilled year, relatively speaking. We like living the sweet good life, because generally, it’s sweet and it’s good. So here’s a sweet, good cake to end the year with.

To begin with it is helpful if you have a tree that is groaning with plums. So laden that someone in the house simply has to do something with them, and you find jars of beautiful stewed fruit lined up on the bench when you get home from work. Thanks Grant.

Ingredients
3/4 cup thick stewed plums.
100g soft butter
1/2 cup sugar
3 eggs
1 cup ground almonds
1/2 cup rice flour
2 tsp baking powder
a few squares of dark chocolate chopped into small chunks.

Method
Beat the butter and sugar, add the eggs, then add everything else (except the plums and chocolate) and beat well (food processor good here). Stir in the chocolate and lightly mix in the plum.

Bake for around 30 – 40 mins until cooked through (at 180)

June twenty seven, remember when

The first year we were young(er) and childless. You could say we were footloose and fancy free, although that wasn’t quite true. We sat in a courtyard cafe in the Marais, drinking bad coffee and eating baked cheesecake so good I can still remember each bite eight years later.

The year after that, 2006 we stopped to celebrate in the midst of a winter road trip around New Zealand. Dinner was Hell’s pizza in a motel room in Napier, with 3 month old Ben, snuffling around in the port-acot.

It seems insanely productive now looking back, by the following year 6 day old Dan had joined the family. I drove shakily out from our chilly Island Bay villa to collect a Malaysian, while you chatted to your brother, not knowing he wouldn’t always be at the end of the phone.

Then followed the wilderness years. Lost in the land of the little people. Loosing days and nights and months and thoughts and memories.

Three years ago June 27th was at once ordinary and extraordinary. We were surrounded by dear sweet friends and family. Eating bacon butties on the lawn at Cwm Cadian. Drinking tea, poking smarties onto a supermarket cake. Good times. There may even have been a bag of fresh jam donuts- or perhaps that was another day.

The following year we really got our act together. Booked a babysitter, got dolled up (as far as my pregnant-again body would allow) and stepped out to the Ambeli. I don’t remember what we ate, but I do remember it was incredible.

Last year we were in transit. Singapore. Heat, pool, zoo, and the buffet. Little did we know back then what the year had in store for us. If we had, then I dare say I’d have gone back for a forth helping of curry and ordered a second wine.

Now today, Te Ngakau in mid winter. The fire is on. The cake baked and iced, and under Ted’s instructions cut into the shape of a Star Fighter. Dan and Ted are dressed as Darth Vadar and a Storm Trooper respectively. Ben is practicing his speech for tomorrow’s speech finals. He’s also worrying about his lack of costume for the school disco tomorrow afternoon (he said he didn’t want one) and taunting Dan that Darth Vadar’s cape makes Dan look like a ballerina. Joe has requisitioned Darth’s helment / mask and is wandering around beneath it.

These are the moments of our lives. Happy Birthday Babe.

Chocolate birthday cake (gluten free) … cutting it into a star fighter shape is optional.

Ingredients
200g melted butter
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup natural unsweetened yogurt
5 eggs
1 cup dutch cocoa powder
2 tsp baking powder
1 cup rice flour
2 cups ground almonds

Ganache
100g dark chocolate
A slug of cream

Method
Put all the ingredients into a food processor and blend. Scrape down the sides and blend again. Should make a thick batter – if too thick add a bit more yogurt to loosen it up.
Pour into 2 greased round cake tins and bake at 180 for around 30 mins until cooked through.

When cake cool make the ganache by melting the chocolate over hot water then stirring in the cream. Liberally apply the ganache to the cake and get the kids to decorate. Party time.

apple, persimmon and blueberry crumble

We are down to the last of the apples. As we started to run low I actually carried a step ladder out to the garden to get the higher ones down. That’s quite a commitment to this farming life (in my book). I have put the last few in the cold store, with the pumpkins. It’s not really necessary, they keep fine in the kitchen, but I quite like the theatre of going out to the old farm cold store. I still haven’t got over how cool it is to have such a place.

Ingredients
4 x large apples, peeled, cored and chopped into big chunks,
2 x Persimmon, peeled, cored and chopped into big chunks
A handful of frozen blueberries (if you happen to have some around)
50g butter, cut into small cubes
1 cup ground almonds
1 cup of mixed ground seeds and shredded coconut (pumpkin / flax / sunflower etc)
1 tpsn of coconut sugar (or brown sugar if you don’t have coconut)

Method
Put the fruit in an over dish with a splash of water.
Chop the butter into the ground almonds and then rub together to make a breadcrumb texture. Mix with the ground seeds, coconut and sugar.
Sprinkle over the fruit.
Bake of around an hour on 180.

apple brownies (gluten free)

The week after we moved in, I came across a recipe in Jamie (Oliver) magazine for apple brownies. The recipe, read in the shadow of our apple tree, spoke to me in a way chocolate recipes tend to do, only a little louder. I made the first batch within an hour, switching out the plain flour for rice flour to make them gluten free. They turned out fine, but they felt like a starting point. Since then, I’ve adjusted just about everything, and made low sugar / grain free / extra chocolate / apple and rhubarb / apple and plum / spiced apple versions.

I like brownies – and I still have a whole lot of apples on that tree. Today’s are the best so far. Plus I actually got a photo before the kids got their hands on them, so the recipe finally makes it’s way on to the blog. (Thanks Jamie Oliver for the inspiration.)

Ingredients
4 large cooking apples
70g butter
100g dark chocolate
3 eggs
70g soft brown sugar
50g cocoa powder
1tsp baking powder
70g rice flour
70g ground almonds

Method
Lightly stew the apples with a splash of water for 10 minutes. You want them to have a little bit of texture rather than to go to total mush (have tried both and am not a fan of the super sloppy apple). If you are trying to eat your way through a full tree of apples, you can make a giant pan of stewed apples – you’ll need about 3/4 cup for the brownies. While stewing you can add a cinnamon stick, star anise, coconut sugar or nothing at all. I recommend nothing at all – life is complicated enough.

Melt chocolate and butter – which can be done if you place it in a heat-proof dish above the stewing apples.

Whisk the eggs and sugar together.

Add the dry ingredients and the melted butter / chocolate and whizz it all up into a beautiful batter using a food processor or a strong arm.

Gently stir through the apples. If you are too rough they will disintegrate and disappear into the mix – which still tastes good, but I prefer a distinguishable apple trail running through the brownie.

Pour into a lined baking tray and bake at 180 for 20 minutes until they are cooked through and bouncy to touch but still with a hint of gooeyness.

When they come out, cut them into squares and wrap any you’re not planning to eat straight away in baking paper before putting into the cake tin. They keep really well for a couple of days – maybe longer but haven’t tested their durability for obvious reasons.

yellow plums and new views

In about a month, I will have more yellow plums growing in my back garden than I will know what to do with. Which makes buying yellow plums now, probably something of a mistake. The sensible thing to do would be to wait until we move.  I’ve never been too good at taking the sensible approach, or waiting, so this week there has been a flurry of baking experimentation in preparation for the glut ahead. My conclusion is that the combination of plums, a little sugar, butter, eggs and ground almonds is extremely good. It will be hard to get bored of it – but watch this space, I’m just road testing the proportions and contemplating dark chocolate chunks.

Will miss our view, the sea, our friends (more than anything else), our house, our local cafes, the boys lovely school and the kindergarten, the crazy wild parsley, and probably many more things that I won’t realise until we’re on the other side of the hill. I’m looking forward to a little more sun and a little less wind. A vegetable patch in which things (aside from crazy wild parsley) might actually thrive. A garden big enough for the boys to have real adventures. To be continued.

spelt cheese scones

Apparently spelt is a superior grain. I’ve never been a big fan of superiority in general, but when it comes to flour I figure it’s probably a good thing. Scones are a good answer when the kids are on the mid-afternoon hungry prowl. Best eaten straight out of the oven with a thick smear of butter.

Ingredients

200g spelt flour

50g butter

125ml milk

1 egg

1 cup tasty cheddar

(a pinch of salt)

Method

Cut the butter into the flour and salt and the rub into crumbs. Add the cheese. Whisk the egg into the milk using a fork. Add the milk and egg to the crumbs and bring the mix together to make a dough. You can either faff around cutting out pretty shapes or just pull lumps off and shape into vague scone shapes. Bake at 200 for 10 – 15 minutes.

dark chocolate and sun-dried cherry cakes with milk chocolate raspberry cream cheese topping (gluten free)…and a side of spinach

First up can I just say that alongside all these sweet treats I have eaten a lot of spinach this week. Here’s a photo of a saag paneer to prove it (which was a pretty good combination of paneer cheese fried with chilli, turmeric and cumin, mixed into cooked chopped spinach with a couple of spoons of plain yogurt, lemon zest and juice and topped with fresh coriander (OK in truth topped with the last salvageable leaves from an almost dead coriander plant – just can’t seem to grow it).

Now shall we go back to talking about chocolate cake?

(Makes 12 small cakes)

Ingredients

1/2 cup sun dried cherries

50g dark chocolate (I used whittakers dark ghana)

50g butter

1/4 cup of raw sugar

1/2 cup full fat plain yourt

2 eggs

1/2 cup cocoa powder

1/2 cup tapioca flour

3/4 cup ground almonds

1tsp baking powder

Topping

Approximately 30g milk chocolate

1/2 cup frozen raspberries (defrosted)

2 large spoons of cream cheese (I used zany zues)

Method 

This was a Friday free-style baking with the small folk effort. So it was a bit of an operation, there were lots of different bowls to lick, things to scoop, and general mischief to get into. I happen to like pottering around in the ktichen in this manner but it’s not for everyone. Enthusiastic one and three year olds can be hilarious cooking companions … or they can be a complete nightmare. Today they were in the former category (most of the time).

Melt the dark chocolate and butter over water – add the cherries to the melting mix.

Meanwhile whisk the eggs and the sugar and then beat in the yogurt (this is a great job for the kids)

Blend the cherry chocolate mix to a smooth paste.

Add the baking powder, tapioca flour, ground almonds to the eggs / sugar / yogurt mix and sieve in the cocoa powder. Beat it together and then stir in the chocolate paste.

Spoon into cupcake cases and bake at 180 for around 20 minutes until the cakes spring back and a knife comes out clean.

Cool on a wire rack.

For the (optional but exceedingly good) topping…

Melt the chocolate over water. While it’s still hot beat the cream cheese into it. Push the raspberries through a sieve to extract their juice and stir this into the chocolate cream cheese mix. Pipe or smear onto the cakes.

Karen’s chocolate eclairs (gluten free)

In my last post I shared Jane’s pumpkin pie recipe and today I have more fabulous friend baking … Karen’s chocolate eclairs.

I must admit that although I love chocolate eclairs  I had them  filed away in the ‘way too hard and should only be attempted by a (preferably French) pastry chef’ box. Karen is pretty handy in the kitchen but she’s not a pastry chef, and neither is she French, yet she casually brought along some perfect chocolate eclairs. So I am inspired. The fact they can be gluten free (without any compromise in end result is a huge bonus in this house).

Karen’s chocolate eclairs

Recipe from Donna Hay but adapted to be gluten free

Ingredients

1/2 cup water

50g butter

1/2 cup rice flour

3 eggs

200g dark choc, melted

1 Tsp veg oil

1/2 cup cream

1 TBS icing sugar

1 Tsp vanilla extract

Method

Heat oven to 180.

Put water and butter in pan and heat until butter melts and mixture is boiling. Add flour and beat with a spoon like a crazy thing, until mixture leaves the sides of the pan. Take off heat and put into mixer. Add eggs one at a time, mixing each one well.

Pop in piping bag with 1cm nozzle (or put in plastic bag & snip the end off). Donna Hay says to pipe 7cm lengths but I’m not sure it’s really necessary to get a ruler out.  Pipe onto baking paper on a baking tray, leaving room for them to spread slightly. Bake for 20 – 25 mins until puffed and golden, then cool on wire rack.

Melt the chocolate and oil over water until smooth. Meanwhile whisk cream, icing sugar and vanilla in a bowl until soft peaks form.

Cut pastry, pop cream in, then dip the top into the choc & leave to set.

Sounds do-able doesn’t it?

happy halloween

Last year I ignored Halloween. I figured the kids were a little young and with a newborn in the house I didn’t have the energy to do anything out of the ordinary. So I just pretended it wasn’t happening, no costumes, no pumpkin lantern, no trick or treating and no spooky stories. Which was fine, until they came home from school and kindy, bursting with excitement about Halloween. All their friends were going trick or treating. All their friends had halloween costumes. It wasn’t a great night. I felt like a big giant exhausted bah humbug, and the kids oozed disappointment (frankly bordering on despair) when they realised I wasn’t going to change my mind and schlep around the neighbourhood demanding sweets.

This year I am embracing the festivities. I seems like a better plan. So we kicked things off at the weekend with a halloween party. The kids got to dress up, eat lots of treats, they even had a pumpkin lantern (which the man of the house tells me was actually quite hard work to carve). I fear they still want to go trick or treating tomorrow though…

A friend of ours arrived at the party with a rather fabulous pumpkin pie, making me wonder why I haven’t had more pumpkin pie in my life. I’m pretty happy to have the recipe to share, but even happier to have a friend who can whip one up.

Jane’s pumpkin pie  

Ingredients 

2 cups cooked pumpkin

2 Tbsp golden syrup

1 can of condensed milk

2 Tbsp butter

1 cup brown sugar

1 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp nutmeg

1 tsp ginger

1 tsp cloves

2 eggs

Method

Puree the cooked pumpkin, blend all ingredients, pour into deep pie dish lined with your favourite sweet pastry base*. Bake at 170 degrees C for approx 50 minutes (depending on depth of pie dish) or until golden brown and middle of pie jiggly but not runny.

* for my pastry case I used one pkt gingernuts, 50g melted butter, 1 tbsp cocoa

Good gluten free bread, a contradiction in terms?

For the last couple of months I’ve been experimenting with gluten free bread. It’s a hard beast to master let me tell you. Although the actual process of making the bread is surprisingly easy, getting a good result that can be elusive. But I’m getting there. Latest loaf used amaranth flour and puffed amaranth and was good enough to eat as bread (rather than needing to be toasted) which is basically saying it was pretty special. Watch this space, double checking my measurements and checking it wasn’t a fluke before I go live with the recipe. Important stuff.