What’s that on your plate? Is it a cupcake? Is it a muffin?

No, according to DB and his work mates it’s a muff-cake.  Debate has raged in our house lately over whether what I’ve been baking constitutes a muffin or a cupcake.

Last week I made lemon and yogurt muffins which were simply DELICIOUS.  The recipe stated it would make 12 muffins.  I stretched that out to 18 (for lunch boxes throughout the week).  And thus started the debate.

You see, this recipe was very light – the combination of the lemon juice, yoghurt and the bi-carb soda made the mixture so fluffy it looked more like mousse than muffin batter.  DB’s argument is that a muffin should be denser.

And it was missing what seems quite the critical component of a muffin – the muffin top (probably because I’d stretched the ingredients to make 18 instead of 12).

DB also told me he wouldn’t pay $4 for one of my muffins – they are just not big enough, not like the ones on sale at work.

Believe it or not this consumed a fair amount of the adult chatter in our house for a few days.  I sent some in to work with DB to garner opinion.  The term muff-cake was devised by DB, 2 Computer Scientists with PhDs, a Computer Programmer and a Software Engineer.  I can’t argue with that.

To summarise, my muffins lacked:

• density
• a muffin top
• size

Enter the texas muffin pan which we purchased on Saturday afternoon and welcome the raspberry and white chocolate chip monstrous muffin.

Raspberry & White Chocolate Muffin

Where before I could get 18 muffins out of this batter, in order to get the size, density and muffin top, I made 6.  Which you have to chop in half because one is too large to eat on its own.  Go figure.

This is a recipe of my own, adapted from one that’s been used for so long I can’t remember where it came from.  But it’s worth trying – big or small, they are delicious.

Ingredients

• 2 cups (300g) self-raising flour
• 2/3 cup (150g) caster sugar
• 3/4 cup (140g) white chocolate bits.  I usually use more and cut down on the sugar
• 3/4 cup frozen raspberries (can be substituted for toasted macadamias)
• 60g butter, melted
• 3/4 cup (180ml) milk
• 1 egg, lightly beaten

Method

• Grease muffin pan (6 hole or 12 hole) and/or line with cups/baking paper
• Pre-heat oven to 160 – 180 degrees celsius
• Sift dry ingredients into a large bowl, stir in remaining ingredients
• Fold through frozen raspberries
• Spoon mixture into pan
• Bake in oven for 15 – 20 minutes for the normal size and 25 – 30 minutes for the enormous size

By the way, the 2 Computer Scientists with PhDs, Computer Programmer, Software Engineer and DB have deemed this monstrous muffin a mini-cake.  Fair enough.

Finding Harmony

Wednesday 21st March is Harmony Day in Australia.  It’s a day to celebrate our culturally diverse society.

It’s a day when our Primary School asks – what’s your heritage and can you bring a plate of food to reflect that?

My heritage is multi-generational Australian, descended from  the English, Scottish and Irish with a Dane thrown in for good measure.  It’s never, ever occured to me to send in a plate that reflects this ancestory.  What would I contribute?  Pavlova, ANZAC biscuits, home-made vegemite scroll?  I’ve never made a pavlova before – perhaps that’s what I’ll do next year.

We typically rely on DB’s heritage because his parents are both immigrants and therefore his heritage is more recent.  His parents are Polish and over the years “I’ve” contributed a cake that DB’s mum makes – a Polish tea cake.  This year however I decided to branch out and make something myself.

A quick Google search led me to a recipe for an apple cake.   Placek z Jablka in Polish – it literally means flat cake with apples.  Finding a cake I could make easily was a relief.  I can’t imagine many of Bruce’s class-mates tucking into cabbage rolls (as delicious as I think they are).

I thought it worked out well – DB has just taken it to his parents for the Polish taste test.  I wonder how it will fair???  I followed a suggestion on the website and included vanilla and cinnamon.  Best served with cream – lots of thick cream.

So, come Wednesday we’ll be taking Placek z Jablka to school for Harmony Day.  What favourite recipes do you have that reflect your heritage?  And can I have some ideas for next year please?

Peeled, cored and thinly sliced jablka

The batter mix

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ready to go in the oven

Flat cake with apples (with a few serves missing as we had to taste test - right?)

Kiai! Cooking for a Karate Cake Stall

This weekend was kinda crazy. Our weekends of late have involved the ordinary –  washing, cooking, cleaning.  Not this weekend.  Karate family fun day and a swim & dinner with good friends on Saturday, swimming lessons and a family lunch on Sunday.

Squidge’s karate academy  was celebrating their 10th anniversary and as part of the fun day were holding a cake stall.  I love cake stalls.  A few years ago I helped at a friend’s school fete.  I was amazed at the number of people who wanted to buy from the cake stall and who would interrogate us to ensure that the fodder on offer was, in fact, home-made.

For this cake stall I decided to make Karate Bread Men, using ninjabread men cutters that my good friend Jo gave me for Christmas last year and chocolate brownies.  I got the recipes for both from the primary school our boys go to.

Bruce made gingerbread men in kindy last year and brought home the recipe (thanks Mrs Lake!).  It’s delish:

Ingredients:

1 3/4 cups flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 cup brown sugar

1 teaspoon ginger

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1 egg

3 tablespoons golden syrup

75g butter, melted

Here’s how:

Combine flour, baking powder, brown sugar and spices mix together.  Add beaten egg, melted butter and golden syrup.  Stir until combined.  Turn on to a lightly floured board, knead lightly.  Roll out until thickness required. Cut with cutter.  Cook at 180 C – 200 C for 12 minutes or until golden.

Karate Bread Men - with M&Ms for the different coloured belts

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Chocolate Brownies

There’s something about a 10th anniversary that makes people think cooking.  This recipe comes from a cookbook produced to celebrate this anniversary of our primary school.  Warning – it’s heart attack material.  Warning –  it’s easy to make.  Therefore tempting to make often.  See first warning.

Ingredients

200g butter

3 large eggs

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

200g 70% dark chocolate

300g white sugar

125g plain flour

Here’s How:

Pre-heat oven to 180 C and line a lamington tray.  Melt butter and choc together in a microwave.  Whisk eggs, sugar & vanilla until the consistency of whipped cream.  Fold in chocolate mix to the egg mix with a large metal spoon.  Sift & fold in flour.  The mixture will still look runny – this is fine.  Pour into tin and bake in oven for 30 minutes.  The top will crack and the skewer will come out with some mix on it when you check – this is correct.  Cut in to squares and serve warm with ice cream (to really ensure you have a heart attack) or cold.  Or straight out of the tray.  STOP, this is for a fundraising event.  Don’t eat it!!

When it’s 38 degrees in Perth what do you cook?

Soup. Minestrone.  Of course.

I had a hankering for vegies.  Lots of vegies.  And this is just about my favourite soup recipe.

It comes from Alison Holst’s “Meals without Meat”.

It’s super easy.

Here’s how.

Ingredients

• 1 medium onion finely diced
• 2 cloves of garlic, crushed
• 1 litre vegie stock (I use the tetra pack stuff)
• 1 medium potato, peeled, cut into small cubes
• 1/4 cup or a handful of macaroni (or whatever you have on hand)
• 1 zucchini chopped
• 1/2 – 1 cup green beans chopped
• 1 cup chopped cabbage
• 2 tins of diced tomatoes
• 1 tin red kidney beans

Method

1. Heat some olive oil in a pan and saute the onion & garlic
2. Add the stock
3. Add the potatoes & macaroni and simmer while you prepare the green vegies
4. Add the other vegies
5. Crack open your tins of tomatoes and beans and add them – bean juice and all (adds to the flavour)
6. Simmer gently until the potato and macaroni are cooked
7. Serve with cracked pepper and parmesan cheese

Alison suggests adding sugar and salt to taste.  I don’t bother.

It freezes like a charm.

Here it is bubbling away on the stove:

Minestrone Soup

Do you have a favourite soup recipe?