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)

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.

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?

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.

gluten free chocolate cake

No waffle today. Just a reliably good simple gluten free chocolate cake recipe.

Ingredients:

Approx 70g of dark chocolate melted over hot water (I used 3 rows of Whittakers Dark Ghana)

70g soft buter

1/2 cup full fat plain unsweetened yogurt

1/2 cup raw sugar (or any other kind)

3 eggs

1 cup ground almonds

1/2 cup rice flour

1/2 cup cocoa (sieved)

1tsp baking powder

Method

Cream the butter and sugar together. Add the yogurt and beat it in. Add the eggs and all the other dry ingredients and beat quickly together until combined. Stir in the melted chocolate. Bake at 180 for 25 mins or until it springs back to the touch and a knife comes out clean.

I melted a couple of squares of milk chocolate with a spoon of yogurt to make a little icing which was really just a bit of fun for the kids as it was the last day of the holidays. Doesn’t need icing to be a great cake. Would also be good with a thick layer of chocolate buttercream….. and some fresh cream… maybe some fresh raspberries too (not fresh raspberry season here yet though).

Linking up with Couscous and Conciousness Sweet NZ host this month

quinoa, orange and mint salad with pan fried sweet potato, aubergine, feta, and toasted pumpkin seeds

This salad sounds insanely busy in a very unfashionable way doesn’t it? I believe it’s in vogue these days to go minimal. Short lists of ingredients. Simple. So I’m off trend once again. Never-mind, the salad was rather lovely with big fat sausages.

Ingredients

1 cup – 1 mug of quinoa (depending on how many you’re feeding)

1 large or 2 medium sweet potatoes cut into small cubes

1 large aubergine chopped into small cubes and generously salted

1 orange peeled and chopped

1/2 cup of pumpkin seeds toasted

large handful of mint , ripped up

About 40 g of crumbled feta

For the dressing ;

Olive oil (I’m lucky enough to still have a bottle of Moon Over Martinborough)

1 tbsp apple cider vinegar

1 orange (juice)

1 tsp honey

Salt and pepper.

Method

Fry the sweet potato and aubergine cubes in a little butter (or ghee or coconut oil) until really soft and caramalised. I think it took about 30 minutes. Meanwhile cook and drain the quinoa. Mix everything together and dress.

posts I like, and an attempt at gluten free lemon drizzle cake

I’ve been thinking for a while that I should start a ‘blogroll’. It seems like a nice friendly thing to do – to link up with other blogs, and I hope I’m a nice friendly person. In part, what’s been stopping me is the name. ‘Blogroll’ has to be one of the most hideous words on the planet. Mainly though, I’m still totally lost in the vastness of the blogsphere. It’s kind of overwhelming. So I’ve decided to start to collecting posts I like and paste them over onto the imaginatively named  ‘posts I like page’. There’s not much on there yet, but there will be.

You don’t often come across good gluten free lemon drizzle cake do you? I’m on a mission to make one. Today’s effort had mashed strawberries to replace some of the sugar and had ground pumpkin seeds/ground almonds. Pretty good flavour, but didn’t quite get the texture right. To be continued..