Torta Contadina

With Autumn closing in I thought I'd share one of my favourite recipes, to make summer stretch that little bit further. This is a delicious Italian cake recipe that's quick to put together - you can vary the filling and use up what ever is lingering in the fruit bowl or raid the store cupboard. 

It's lovely sliced and served as a cake for tea, or works really well warmed up with a dollop of custard for dessert.  I like to "syrup" this to make it that little more moist, but this is optional. 

Torta Contadina

200g (7oz) plain flour

3 tsp baking powder

200g castor sugar

3 eggs

1 vanilla pod

zest of 1 lemon

125ml (1/2 cup) milk

80g chopped dates or currants (optional)

50 g pine nuts

100g (3.5oz) of butter at room temperature

2 pears, peeled and cut into slices

50g (2oz) dark chocolate chips

Line a 25cm cake tine with baking paper and preheat the over to 180C/350F

Use a whist to mix the flour, baking powder, sugar, eggs, vanilla and zest together. Stir the the milk and mix until smooth. Add the pine nuts and dates if using. Stir well to combine. Tear the butter into small pieces (if its too cold to do this easy pop it in the microwave for 10second intervals until it's soft) and whisk them in. 

Pour mixture into the prepared tin and add pears. Bake for 20-30 minutes, until golden. 

If syruping the cake, add 1/2 cup of water to 1/2 a cup of sugar, juice of one lemon and some lemon zest to a pot. Bring to the boil and then switch off until you cake comes out the oven. Pour over the cake as it comes out of the oven and leave to cool in the tin. 

Notes:

*When whisking the butter in don't worry if there are little pieces visible in the batter, in fact, you want these! They cook to create gorgeous buttery pockets in the cake! 

*Substitute dates with white chocolate chips and add canned peaches for a change.  

*If using a canned fruit, set the juices from the can aside to use as your syrup. 

*If the cake is going to stand for any length of time, I recommend syruping it to keep it fresh for longer. 

*If you're baking this as a dessert, it can also be baked in a stoneware or glass over proof dish, and covered with custard before spooning out into bowls. 

It doesn't tend to hang around long, but on the off chance you have any left overs, store in an airtight container until you need it, up to a week.

Ps, It's GREAT to be back. x 

"Everything Free" Banana Bread

This amazing recipe has no wheat, no egg, no sugar and no dairy. You'd never say so from the delicious result. The only downside to this recipe is you do need a food processor or blender.

Banana Bread 

1 cup oats
1/2 cup  olive oil or canola or sunflower oil
180g pitted dates
2 cups very ripe bananas
1/2 cup soya flour
1/2 cup rice flour (I used brown rice flour from our local farm stall shop)
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
1/2 tsp salt
3/4 cup of soya/rice milk. You could use ordinary cows milk here if thats not an issue for you.
1tbs of honey (optional if your bananas aren't very ripe)
1 cubed banana, some currants or up to 100g of chopped nuts.

Grease and line the base of a medium sized loaf tin (or muffin pan) and preheat the oven to 160C/320F. Remember to reduce the temperature by 20 degrees if you are using a fan assisted oven.

Blend the oats in a food processor until it forms a fine powder. Turn out into a large mixing bowl. Add the soya flour, the rice flour, the baking powder, the bicarb and the salt to the mixing bowl, and combine with a wooden spoon.  Next blend the bananas, oil and dates in the food processor until they form a smooth paste. If you feel that your machine is taking strain and the dates are too hard and sticky, add half of your milk at this point and continue to blend until its mostly smooth.

Turn the banana paste out into the flour mix and fold in until well combined, adding the balance of the milk as you go to keep the mixture manageable. You could add a cubed banana or some chopped nuts at this point if you like.

Pour into your prepared tin and bake for 60-75 minutes. Don't open the oven before the 50 minute mark or you'll risk it collapsing on itself.


*Notes:

1 cup measurement is 250ml or 8.5 imperial ounces. Cup measurements in this recipe are loosely filled not tightly packed.

This loaf will freeze well wrapped in cling film, or in a freezer bag. Defrost at room temperature for a few hours or in the fridge overnight.

Banana bread ALWAYS tastes better the next day. Always.

Sweet Sunday - Banana Loaf Cake

This lovely loaf is a great way to use up over ripe bananas, but its so delicious I find myself intentionally over-ripening bananas - regularly!

This recipe makes a loaf with a light cake consistency, not a heavy stodgy loaf (which I know many people - including my hubby- love).  It's a tasty addition to your breakfast or tea table, and my kiddies love it for a snack or with some chocolate spread on it for lunch.

Banana Loaf

200g light brown sugar
2 large eggs
280g bananas, well mashed
125ml sunflower oil
10ml bicarbonate of soda
150g plain flour
100g whole wheat flour (brown bread flour works well too)
65ml milk
125ml of rolled oats to sprinkle and 1 banana, 1/2 of it cubed, 1/2 finely sliced.

Preheat the oven to 150C or 300F
Grease a standard sized loaf till well, and line the bottom with baking parchment.

Beat eggs and sugar together until very fluffy. Add the banana, and beat until smooth. Add the oil and bicarbonate of soda and beat again. Add the flour and the milk and mix on a low speed until smooth. Fold in the 1/2 a cubed banana and empty mix into the greased and lined loaf tin. Sprinkle the oats on the top of the loaf, as well as the finely sliced banana to decorate. You can also sprinkle a tablespoon of brown sugar over the loaf to make a delicious caramelised topping.

Bake at 150C/300F in a fan oven OR 170C/340F in a conventional oven for 50 minutes, or until golden brown. A sharp knife inserted into the cake should come out completely clean.

Leave to cool in the tin for 15 minutes and then turn out onto a cooling rack to cool completely.

Notes:

* This recipe doubles up well, cook the loaf tins side by side on the same level for best results.
* A single recipe makes 18 regular sized muffins - bake at 180C or 355F for 12-15 minutes
* Both the muffins and the loaves freeze well. Wrap loaves in baking parchment and then cling film. Defrost a loaf in a low oven for 40mins or on the counter overnight. Muffins can be defrosted in a jiffy in the microwave.

Mum's Muffins - Sweet Sunday

The other day I set out to make these family favourites. You can see how that DIDNT happen, HERE. I finally got my act together and made these lovely muffins today. These are wonderfully simple, and the best muffins ever.

Once you have made up the basic recipe, it will keep well in the fridge in a sealed container for a week - so why not make double?

Mum's Muffins (makes between 12&18, depending on the size of your pan)

1) Beat together 1 1/2 cups of brown sugar and 2 eggs until well creamed.
2) Add 1/2 a cup of oil (sunflower or canola work well) and beat again.
3) Add 2 1/2 cups of wholewheat flour (I used brown bread flour), 2 cups of milk, 1 tsp of vanilla essence and beat until well combined.
4) Add 2 cups of digestive bran (available at heath shops) or 2 cups of crushed bran flakes (see notes) and 2 tsp of bicarbonate of soda and beat on a low speed until well combined.
5) Add up to a cup of your fruit of choice (optional) and top with raw oats, coarse brown sugar, or thin sliced fruit to make them look pretty!

Fill well greased muffin pans to the 3/4 mark and bake at 180C / 350F for 20mins. Lower the baking temperature slightly if using a fan assisted oven, or they may rise too quickly and a little skew.

Notes:
*You can add any filling of your choice. I added a few finely grated carrots and some mixed spice to these today. Other ideas included a few mashed bananas, berries, grated apple, raisins, nuts, seeds or rolled oats.
*The batter keeps well in the fridge, in a sealed container, for up to a week.
* Once bakes these muffins freeze really well. Defrost in the microwave for a delicious, fast breakfast or tea time treat.
* To make crushed bran I put 3 cups of bran flakes into the mixer on a low speed before I start. Alternatively you could pulse in a food processor, or crush in a zip lock bag with a rolling pin.

Happy Sweet Sunday!

Muffin recipe, oh muffin recipe - where art thou?

I have thousands of recipes. Some are precious and represent years of reworking and modifying. Some are family standards, which are simply the taste of my childhood, not necessarily the most amazing recipe, but one bite and Im right back in Mom's kitchen. There are always a few "projects", where Im baking through twenty different versions of the same thing to find what works well, and making my own recipe. Then there are the rest - magazine pull outs, books, scribbles copied from a magazine while waiting for a midwife appointment (I stopped this when I realised you could just take a PICTURE with your phone...). Most of those I've never ever read, let alone cooked.


When I, or rather my tummy, decides that I NEED a family recipe, I'll stop at nothing to get it done. I cant think straight or even focus on basic tasks, like laundry, (or blogging evidently!) without being consumed by the thought of it. Even Hubby knows this. He BOUGHT these pink silicon muffin pans en route home from work last night because he knew I wanted to make Mums Muffins, and my tins were out from a delivery.

Darling Hubby came in like a Knight in Shining, yielding muffin pans, only for me to NOT BE ABLE TO FIND THE RECIPE. I knew that calling Mum wasn't an option - with the time difference she'd definitely be in bed, and while that hasn't stopped me before this certainly wasn't a "culinary emergency". Last time I had a "culinary emergency" was serious case of new baby blues (aka hormonal wreck) so even she didnt moan about getting up to read me her milk tart recipe from the file. Baking is my therapy - and my family know that. No one gets in the way when they know that Im baking for therapy, rather than recreation. They've never tried and I thank them for that.

When I do get recipes from Mum, I get them emailed, I print them, I use them, I leave them in the filing pile with the post for a week, batter stained and doodled on. When I finally get around to doing that pile of filing, I think "WHY would I put this here? Its on email, lets chuck this copy" and then, two years later (yes, I haven't made Mum's muffins in TWO YEARS) I search through a heap of emails, not to be able to find it. So we made these (above) ones, not NEARLY as good, but I suppose they are quite nice.

Im going to get the REAL recipe from Mum tonight. Im going to print it, file it and save a copy to my recipe folder. Then I'm going to blog it. Maybe more than once, just to make sure I never loose it again. They are just so easy, so perfect, and the batter lasts in the fridge for weeks. REALLY.

So whats the point in me giving you the recipe for the above muffins (which was my intention when I sat down to write this post) baked today in desperation only to offer disappointment ? Well, I suppose there isnt one, really. So I wont. Unless you really want it. In which case, I'll email you a picture of the recipe text from my iPhone.

Till then ...

Sweet Sunday - Chocolate and Stem Ginger Cookies

Starting this week, I'm going to be posting one  SWEET recipe each SUNDAY. Well, REPHRASE. *** IF*** I get around to blogging on a SUNDAY (between tiny humans and church and kids ministry and band practice and running the kitchen and two services) I will blog only about delicious, glorious, calorific things.

I've never been a cookie person, but now that I have a little boy who LOVES baking, I tend to make tasty, kid friendly treats, often. It's a great task for him, we BOND over our mutual love affair with butter, and he learns and invaluable skill.

You know how your Mum always said the way to man's heart is through his stomach... Well here's something she DIDNT think to mention - The way to a woman's heart is through her taste buds... a boy who can BAKE and COOK and who isn't afraid to tackle the shrapnel in the kitchen afterwards - THATS the one YOU MARRY! So Im in the business of breeding Godly men who bake like Angels and lead like Christ.

This is the PERFECT recipe to make with your kids. Everything goes into ONE BOWL, you beat it, you blob it, you bake it. DONE. 

Apologies in advance for the SHOCKING photos. The LCD on my camera is shattered and I cant see a thing while Im shooting. Hopefully this will be fixed, soon! 

CHOCOLATE & STEM GINGER COOKIES 

175g/6oz plain flour

1tsp baking powder (now that I'm typing this I realised I forgot to add BP!)

125g/1 stick of butter, softened

85g/3oz light muscovado sugar (or any soft brown sugar)

55g/2oz castor sugar (or fine white sugar)

1/2 tsp vanilla essence

1 egg

100g dark chocolate chips

100g stem ginger cubed (what ever size you like, I did 1x1cm)

Preheat your oven to 180C/375F with your rack in the middle of the oven (unless baking more than one tray at a time)

1) Put all the ingredients EXCEPT the chocolate and ginger into a large mixing bowl (preferably one that slips right into the mixer) and beat until it pulls together to form a sticky dough.

2) Beat in the chocolate chips and ginger at a low speed until just combined.

3) Pinch together a tablespoon of dough to form a ball and place on a greased baking tray or tray lined with greaseproof paper. Greaseproof prevents them burning and catching. Space well apart.

4) Bake at 180C/375F for 10 minutes until they are just starting to brown around the edges. If you have a fan oven turn them half way through to ensure they brown evenly.

5) Leave the cookies to harden slightly on the tray for a minute or two, before transferring them to a cooling rack, using a palette knife or spatula.

I only bake one tray (half a batch) at a time. Levi and I are the only two in the house that interested in eating baked yummies - so I like to freeze half, pre-rolled, in an ice cube tray for up to 2 months. That way we don't over indulge and we always have a batch of cookies on standby for those unexpected guests!

TIP: For frozen cookies I just pop them on the tray frozen and put them into the over WHEN I TURN IT ON.. as the oven warms up, the cookies defrost. You have to use your nose to smell when they are done, and watch them carefully. Otherwise leave them on the tray at room temperature for an hour, and bake as above.

You can put ANYTHING into this base - we enjoy the following combinations:

Chopped dried apricots and pistachio nuts

Dried cranberries and white chocolate chips

Sultanas and cinnamon

Until next week (or maybe the week after!)

Dan

xoxo