Gluten Free Banoffee Cupcakes

I don’t usually like to post two very similar items so close together, but I have an amazing mum-in-law who is celebrating her birthday and   I think we can all agree unequivocally that ‘Birthdays = Cake.’  This is a little tricky for my mum-in-law as she can’t eat gluten.  So I’ve tweaked one of my favourite recipes for banana loaf into these (hopefully) scrummy gluten free banoffee cupcakes.  Happy birthday, mum.

To make 12 cupcakes take:

For the cupcakes:

• 2 ripe bananas (the riper the better)
• 125gm softened butter
• 120gm caster sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 tsp vanilla (paste, essence or extract)
• 15ogm self-raising gluten free flour
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 a 379gm tin of  caramel (or use dulce de leche)

For the banana crisps: (use to decorate the cupcake, but great in homemade muesli or granola)

• one banana
• the juice of one lime or lemon
• 1 Tbs icing sugar

For the frosting:

• 125gm softened butter
• 300 gm icing sugar
• 1 Tbs milk
• 1/4 cup of caramel
• 1/4 tsp of salt
• and fudge chunks to decorate

Preheat the oven to 180°C and then place 125gm of softened butter into a large mixing bowl and add the caster sugar.  Cream together for about 2-3 minutes until the mixture is a very pale yellow.  Add one of the eggs and beat well, then add the other other and again beat well until everything is well mixed.

Mash the bananas together until smooth and then add with the vanilla to the butter mix.

Mix the flour and cinnamon together and sieve on top of the butter mix.

Fold the flour into the mix with a spatula.

Line a muffin tin with cupcake cases and fill each to about 2/3 full.

Bake for about 15-18 min until  they are golden brown and a toothpick comes out clean. Leave to cool and get started on your banana crisps.

To make the crisps first squeeze the lemon or lime, whichever you’re using, and mix in 1 Tbs of icing sugar. Then thinly slice the bananas and brush both sides with the lemon-sugar mix.  Allow the oven to cool to 100°C and pop in the baking tray for an hour.  You’re not cooking the bananas so much as dehydrating them.

After an hour turn the banana pieces over and put back in the oven for another hour.  After two hours take them out of the oven and leave to cool and crisp up and then store in an airtight container until you’re ready to decorate the cupcakes.

Once the cupcakes have cooled, using an apple corer make a hole in the centre of each cupcake by pushing the apple corer two thirds of the way into the cup cake and twisting.

Place the caramel into a ziplock bag or piping bag and fill each hole with caramel.

To make the frosting place the softened butter and 1/4 cup of caramel in a large mixing bowl and beat until light and creamy.

Add the salt to the butter caramel mix and beat.  Then add the icing sugar and beat until all the icing sugar is combined.  (You might need to add a little more icing sugar to get the right texture.)  Then add the milk and beat until light and fluffy.

Once the icing is ready, place in a piping bag with a large star-tipped nozzle and pipe onto the cupcakes.  Then decorate with fudge chunks (these do contain wheat glucose syrup, but wheat glucose syrup does not contain gluten and is safe for celiacs) and banana crisps.  Enjoy!

Cheese and Sundried Tomato Palmiers

So when a glorious three day weekend  stretches out in front of you promising to bring with it warm sun drenched days, you know that you need to make the most of it.  By making the most of it I do mean sitting in the garden with potent fruity drinks and scrumptious nibbles with friends and family.  What you don’t want to be doing is spending your whole day in the kitchen making the nibbles and that’s where this recipe will serve you well.  It has an amazingly high return for remarkably little effort. I’ve used a sun-dried tomato pesto, cheese and basil filling, but you really could use almost anything.  I’ve used sausages removed from their casings, you could try it with basil pesto and feta, a sprinkle of sugar and cinnamon or jam, and I’m really interested in trying it with lemon curd, but enough of my rambling,  get out there and enjoy that sunshine!

To start take:

• 1 roll of puff pastry (of course if you make your own it will be delicious, but your effort to enjoyment ratio will be greatly diminished)
• about half a jar of sun-dried tomato pesto
• 200gm of cheese (I used a mature cheddar, but use whatever takes your fancy)
• a few basil leaves

Lightly dust the surface you are working on with flour and then roll out your pastry to roughly 30m by 40cm-ish.

Smear on the sun-dried tomato pesto leaving  a 1 centimetre border around the edges of the pastry.

Top the tomato with the cheese and the basil.

Taking the length of the pastry, roll one half of the pastry to the middle and then repeat with the other side to create something akin to a book scroll. Wrap the (sc)roll in cling film and place in the refrigerator for about an hour. Then preheat your  oven to 180°C.

Remove the pastry from the fridge and thinly slice into palmiers.  How thick or thin you slice them really does boil down to taste, but I aim for slices that are between 0.5cm to 1 cm thick.

Place your pamiers on a baking tray lined with parchment paper and bake for 12-15 minutes until golden brown!  Enjoy.

Cupcakes

So one of my colleagues is celebrating her twenty first birthday tomorrow and because she is an amazing person who deserves to be spoiled and because she dropped some rather broad hints, I decided to bake her some cupcakes.  Not just any cupcakes, but chocolate cupcakes filled with chocolate ganache.   Happy Birthday, V!

This makes 21 cupcakes with enough batter left over for a little loaf cake.

For the cake:

• 350 gms plain flour
• 4 tsps baking powder
• 100gms coco powder
• 48oml boiling water
• 400gm sugar
• 1/2 tsp of salt
• 250 gms butter
• 4 eggs
• 1 tsp vanilla bean paste

For the ganache:

• 200gm dark chocolate
• 170 ml single cream
• 1tsp butter

For the frosting:

• 250gm butter (softened)
• 50 gms seedless raspberry jam
• a splash of milk
• 500 -750 gms of icing sugar

For the chocolate discs:

• 200 gm chocolate
• 1 lemon
• 100g of icing sugar
• food coloring

To  make the discs melt the chocolate in a microwave or in a heatproof bowl over a pot of simmering water.  Spread the chocolate thinly on a sheet of parchment paper and allow it to softly set.  Cut out the desired shapes and leave to harden.  Mix the icing sugar with the juice of the lemon to make royal icing and add food colouring.  Pipe your message on the discs.

To make the cupcakes sift the coco and slowly add the hot water and mix until smooth.  Then set aside to cool and preheat the oven to 180°C.

Then cream the butter and sugar together until they resemble the above mixture.

Add the eggs one at a time and beat until creamy.  Scrape down the sides of the bowl before adding the next egg.

Add the vanilla and beat.

Fold in the flour, baking powder and salt and then add in the coco mix.

Line a baking tray with paper cups and fill with batter.

Bake for 15-20 minutes until a toothpick comes out clean and then set aside to cool.

Once the cupcakes have cooled use an apple corer to make holes in the center of each cupcake.

To make the ganache, chop the chocolate into really fine pieces and place in a heat proof bowl then bring the cream to boil.

Pour the cream over the chocolate and stir until smooth.

Place the ganache in a piping bag and fill the holes of the cupcakes with the ganache.

To make the frosting add the icing sugar to the softened butter and the milk and beat until creamy.  Add the seedless raspberry jam and mix until light pink. Place the frosting in a piping bag with a star tipped nozzle.  Ice the cupcake, add a shake of shimmer sugar and top with a chocolate disc.

Mished Mash Potato

On some weekend mornings you wake up feeling a little more delicate than you should.  We won’t go into any detail why, but your head is tender, loud noises hurt and for some unfathomable reason you are STARVING. On mornings like this you need coffee and you know your day is going to consist of trashy TV and sitting on the couch. Period.  On mornings like this I NEED Mished Mash Potato, a dish that is greasy, salty, stodgy and amazingly restorative.  There isn’t anything too technical with this recipe, but if your head can stand it, there is a bit of chopping.  If you don’t think you can do in in the morning, do your chopping the night before (before you go out) and have everything ready to just pop in the oven.

To start take:

• about three potatoes per person
• 2 eggs per person
• bacon (as much as you think you need, usually 1 pkt for two people)
• Half an onion (very finely diced)
• 1 red pepper
• 1 smallish chorizo per person
• 1 glug of Olive oil
• 1tsp of smoked paprika
• 1 tsp of dried thyme
• 1 grind of black pepper

Preheat your oven to 200 °C and chop your potatoes, peel on, into about 1cm-ish cubes.  Put the ruler away, this is not an exact science, besides you’re feeling delicate.

Very finely dice your onion and roughly chop your pepper into strips and combine with the potato.

Slice each Chorizo in half and then thinly slice and do the same to the bacon.

Mix the bacon and chorizo with the potatoes and add a tsp each of smoked paprika and dried thyme and add a good glug of olive oil and a grind of black pepper.  And with all that chorizo and bacon, you don’t need to add any salt.

Place all the ingredients into a lined baking dish and bake for about forty minutes.  The potatoes should be soft and the bacon and choritzo nice and crispy.  At the 35 minute mark or there abouts poach your eggs.  Now trust me on this, even if you like your egg yolks hard, leave them on the soft side for this.  Once the eggs and the potatoes are done, make a nice pile of potato on a plate and top with that lovely, runny egg.  Cut into your egg and let the yolk make an amazing sauce.  Sit back and enjoy the laziest day ever.

Mmmm Cookies

Cookies are good for you.  No, Seriously they are! They make you smile and smiling boosts your immune system and lowers your blood pressure and it relieves stress.  Don’t believe me, look here .  The added benefits of these cookies is that they are also packed full of fruit, nuts and oats, so you see you have NO excuses for not making them.  These are also the best smelling cookies I have ever made, so if you ever need to fill the house with baking , this should be your go to recipe.

To make 24 cookies take:

• 1 cup almonds (or any nuts of your choice)
• 100 gm of plain flour
• 1 cup of sugar
• 3 cups of rolled oats
• 170 gm of butter
• 1 egg
• 1 cup of apricots (of any dried fruit of your choice)
• 1 cup white chocolate chunks
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp vanilla (essence, extract or paste)
• a pinch of salt

Preheat the oven to 180°C.  Place the almonds on a baking tray and gently toast for about ten to fifteen minutes.  Allow them to cool slightly and then chop roughly into small chunks.  Toasted almonds have a much better flavour and will make a massive difference to the taste of your cookies.  While the nuts are toasting chop your apricots into raisin sized pieces.

Next cream your butter and sugar together until completely combined and fluffy.

Add the egg and beat well and then add the vanilla and mix.  Scrape down the sides of your bowl and mix it again.

Add the baking soda and salt to the flour and fold into the butter mix. Add the oats and mix well to combine. Then add the toasted nuts, the apricots and the chocolate chunks and mix again.  I’m not going to lie to you, at this stage the best way to ensure everything is mixed in properly is to use your hands.

Once everything is mixed well, roll the mixture into balls about the size of a golf ball and then flatten them into cookie shapes on a lined baking tray.  If the cookie dough is being uncooperative, it helps to wet your hands with a splash of water.

Bake in the preheated oven for fifteen minutes until golden, brown and delicious.  Leave on the tray for a minute or so and then transfer to a wire rack to cool.  Pour your self a glass of milk and smile.

Vanilla Bean Marshmallows

So the BH and I celebrated our wedding anniversary by eating at Gordon Ramsay at Claridge’s recently.  As much as I would love to tell you that it was over-rated and expensive, I honestly can’t.  It was perfect.  Every course was balanced and tasty and I can’t tell you when last I oohed and ahhed so much, but the thing that most blew my little mind was the marshmallow that was served with the  coffee.  It was a complete revelation.  You see, up until that amazing moment, I had only ever eaten commercially produced marshmallows AND I loved them, but I don’t think I’ll ever be able to buy a marshmallow again.   Naturally, the moment I got home, I had to try making my own and luckily they turned out to be a close facsimile of the one I had, because otherwise it would have meant weekly trips to Claridge’s and a  steady financial decline for the BH and I.  I am also hugely excited about the flavour possibilities for these lovely little morsels.  I’m thinking coffee, lemon, chocolate,  raspberry, elderflower.  Oh my watch this space.

To start take:

• 400 gms of caster sugar
• 50 ml of golden syrup
• two egg whites
• 100 gms icing sugar
• 100 gms corn flour
• 20 gms geletine powder
• 400 mls of cold water
• 10 mls vanilla bean paste

Sift together the corn flour and the icing sugar and set aside.

Line the bottom of a glass baking dish with parchment paper and lightly oil the paper.  Then dust the bottom and sides with about an eighth of the icing sugar/corn flour mix.

Beat the egg whites in a heat proof bowl until stiff peaks form.  Then add half the water to a small sauce pan and sprinkle the gelatine powder on top to allow it to bloom.

Add the remaining water to a large pot with the sugar and the golden syrup. Stir to dissolve the sugar and then turn on the heat. Without stirring bring the sugar mix to 130ºC. You will need a sugar thermometer for this.  While this is boiling away, slowly heat the gelatine mix until the gelatine has completely dissolved. When the sugar reaches 130ºC, slowly add the gelatine mix to the sugar mix.  IT WILL BUBBLE UP, so please be careful.

Add the vanilla to the egg whites and whisk.  Then add the sugar/gelatine mix to the egg whites in a slow and steady stream while whisking.  Once it has all been incorporated, beat the mixture until thick and fluffy. This should take about ten minutes.

Pour the mixture into the pre-prepared baking dish and smooth the top with an offset spatula and allow the mixture to set for at least four hours, but preferably overnight.

Put a generous dusting of icing sugar on the board you’re going to turn the marshmallow mix onto.

Cut the marshmallow into the shape you want.  Here again you can let your imagination run wide.  Heart shaped mallows for Valentines day, Gingerbread marshmallows at Christmas.  I am going to have so much fun with these

Dust the marshmallows liberally with the icing sugar/corn flour mix and leave to dry on a baking rack for about half an hour.  Store in an air tight container for about 3-4 days, if they last that long.

Chicken Cacciatore

So the 21st of January 2013 is supposed to be the most depressing day of this year.  It’s cold and gloomy outside and it’s still months before it’s going to warm up. Payday is still days away and with most of us stretching ourselves thin over Christmas, making things better with some retail therapy isn’t an option.  AND we’ve all been dieting since the start of the year and let’s face it people depriving yourself of chocolate is going to make you feel just a little bit glum. My solution is the culinary equivalent of a hug; Chicken Cacciatore.  Now mine isn’t an authentic recipe, but it’s yummy and warming and it’s packed with tons of veg, so you’re not even really breaking the diet.

To start take:

• 800gm of chicken thighs or drumsticks
• two large or four small carrots
• two sticks of celery
• a tin of chopped tomatoes
• an onion
• a pepper
• a punnet of mushrooms
• a clove or two of garlic
• a stalk of rosemary
• a bay leaf or two
• about 50gms of flour seasoned with salt, pepper, paprika and dried thyme
• olive oil

Dice and saute the onion, celery, carrots, garlic and peppers in the olive oil until softening.  Slap your forehead and take out the chestnut mushrooms you bought especially for the dish, but then forgot to photograph for the ingredients picture.

Cut the mushrooms in half and add them to the veg mix and blame blue Monday for your forgetfulness with a sigh.

While the veg is softening, add the seasoned flour to a ziplock bag and piece by piece coat the chicken pieces in the flour.  I tried, by the way, to take an attractive picture of raw chicken, but I just don’t think it’s possible. Sorry.

Remove the veg from the pan and add a splash more olive oil and then brown the chicken in the pan.

Once the chicken looks yummy, open the can of tomatoes and chuck the tomatoes on top of the chicken.  Add the veg from earlier, the two bay leaves and some chopped rosemary (to taste.)

Cover the lot and let it simmer away filling the kitchen with steamy deliciousness, which is almost as good as a hug, for about half an hour.

Pop it on top of some mashed potato and feel better. You deserve to.