the easiest biscuits you'll ever make (healthy, sugar and gluten free)

So, there's not been much crafting going on 'round here. Mostly because I am still stuck on the frog/snake puppet and am yet to finish that, or to work out what my next project will be. But also because we have been the house of sickness, on top of my return to work, little-miss-e starting childcare and other adventures in normal life. So, there's not been a lot of craft to show and tell.

But I have been baking, and I wanted to share these biscuits with you. They are easy, healthy, sugar free, gluten free and my one year old LOVES them. Basically they go like this:






Take 2 bananas and a cup of oats*. Mix, spoon onto trays, then bake about 10 min at 180 C...




That's it!

 

I've been making these like crazy. They are super easy! I've added and adapted as I go along. I often reduce the amount of oats and add in other stuff instead - dessicated coconut, almond meal, sesame seeds, sunflower seeds or qunioa flakes... Sometimes I put in a spoon of peanut butter, some currants or cinnamon or vanilla... Given little-miss-e is so little, I tend to make teeny tiny biscuits that are barely a teaspoon-ful. She loves them.

It is worth noting they don't store all that long, a few days at the most. But I pop them in the freezer and then they last and last (at least until we eat them all!) Little-miss-e loves to gnaw on them frozen, or they defrost pretty quickly cos they are so small.

So there you go - the easiest biscuits you'll ever make.

Give them a go!


*NB: Oats are controversial in the gluten free world, but my lovely gluten free husband can eat them, so they are counted as gluten free here on marjoryjane.

Gluten free pizza dough

So I received a request for my Gluten Free Pizza Dough recipe (see my previous post about gluten free pizzas). It is pretty easy to make - we make it in the bread machine using the dough setting. It is a bit of a throw together dough, but it works and turns out delicious!

1 Cup (and a bit, about 1/8C) of water
1 tea salt
1 tea sugar
splash of olive oil
2 3/4 Cups gluten free plain flour
1 tbs yeast
about 3/4 tbs Xanthan Gum

Put all ingredients in bread machine on dough setting. Once done, divide half and roll each half out to make your pizzas.You will probably need a little extra GF flour to dust the rolling pin and your surface with.
We then pre-bake the bases for about 15-min, until they start to go that rosey-pinky-brown, as then the pizzas don't take as long to cook.

Cover with your favourite toppings (one of ours is zucchini, thyme, garlic, olive oil, lemon zest and cheese) and bake until done.

Enjoy!

home made muesli bars (with recipe) (gluten free)

I saw ana over at i made it so post a recipe for granola bars the other day. She made them sound so easy. So after double checking that granola is the same thing as muesli (don't you love it that we supposedly speaking the same language), I decided to try them out.

ana talked about the princples of muesli bars before her recipe, so I just made it up from there. They were easy to convert to gluten free and basically mine went:

1 cup rolled oats*
a handful of sunflower seeds
a handful of pumpkin seeds
a handful of currents, then another for good measure
a handful of dessicated coconut
a drizzle of maple syrup
a couple of handfuls of gluten free plain flour
some raw cashews that I crushed in my mortar and pestle
an egg, then I decided it was too dry, so added another
now it was too wet, so I chucked in a handful of toasted muesli and a bit more flour.

Then in the oven at about 170 degrees for about 30 min.



Not an exact science, but they certainly turned out lovely, with a hint of cinnamon (from the toasted muesli I tossed in at the end). The only issue is that they have turned out a little on the hard side, so little-miss-e, being nearly 1 and only having 4 teeth found them tricky to manage. I am hoping they will soften up in the next few days (if they last that long...)

Thanks ana!

*note: there is some contention as the whether oats are gluten free - my lovely husband can eat them fine, so we seem to think that they are.

Gluten free malva pudding recipe

My lovely-(gluten-free)-husband is not from 'round these parts. The other day I had to explain to him the entire story of 'The Man from Snowy River' (though at least he did already know about Banjo Patterson - as in: "didn't he write some poems or something?"). Anyway, I digress...

My lovely-(gluten-free)-husband is not from 'round these parts. And as such, we expected some cross-cultural issues to crop up from time to time (see above). But there have also have been unexpected cross-cultural delights. These include being introduced to a whole cuisine, and for me, especially a whole new range of baking and dessert delights. Rusks are one example, and Malva pudding is another, (oh and milk tart, but I'll talk about that another day)

Malva (pronounced mulf-fah) pudding is fantastic! It is also known as brown pudding, and is easy and delicious, just the perfect winter dessert. This recipe here is adapted from some close family friend's. I've made it gluten free and reduced the sugar a bit (as it is quite a sweet dessert). I made this the other day as we were taking dessert to a friends, and everyone had seconds, some even had thirds - so there was none left for a pic!

So without any further ado: Gluten free malva pudding

1 cup Gluten Free Plain Flour
Pinch of salt
1/3 cup raw sugar
1 Tbs butter or margarine
2 eggs
1 1/2 Tbs apricot jam
300 ml milk
1tsp bicarbonate of soda
1 tsp apple cider vinegar

Sauce
375ml evaporated milk (Ideal Milk)
1/2 cup sugar
125g butter or margarine


Method
Oven at 180 °C
Mix Cake flour & salt together. Add Sugar and mix. Rub in butter.
Beat eggs and jam together and mix with milk.
Mix in flour mixture.
Mix bicarb and vinegar and mix into flour mix.
Put in pan and bake for 20-30 minutes.
Sauce
Heat up all ingredients for syrup, until sugar and butter is melted, but do not boil.
Pour over hot pudding and leave to stand for syrup to draw in cake.
(Eat with cream or ice cream or custard or all three!)

Enjoy!

Gluten Free (South African) Rusk Recipe

My lovely South African husband loves it when I make him gluten free rusks. So, I thought I'd post my gluten free rusk recipe, as it took me quite a search to find a recipe, and then a few goes to adapt it to our liking. It's based it off a family recipe combined with this recipe, (with a number of changes) and out of my head.

A couple of things worth noting, even before I had little-miss-e I would set aside a whole afternoon to make these (it takes even longer now). So they are quite an undertaking, but well worth it!

Here it is: Gluten Free Rusks (all measurements are Aust. Standard)

Egg Mix:
600 ml buttermilk
4 eggs
1 Cup raw sugar

Seed Mix:
1/2 C currants
1/2 C pumpkin seeds
2 C gluten free cornflakes

Oil Mix:
1 C oil
225g melted butter

Flour Mix:
3 1/2 C white rice flour
6 1/2 C Gluten free plain flour
10 teasp xanthum gum
10 teasp baking powder
3 teasp salt

Ok so, place flour mix in a big bowl. Add seed mix and fold through. Make a well in the middle and add the egg mix and the oil mix. Stir through, then knead gently with your hands. It should be a soft dough, which kind of feels velvety from the buttermilk (I quite like the way it feels, does it show?).





Once mixed, roll into slightly-bigger-than-golf-ball sized balls and place nestled into tins lined with baking paper.

Bake for about an hour and ten minutes at 180 degrees Celsius (until golden on top).







Remove from tins and gently halve each ball, using a fork.
Place on trays and bake again at 100 degrees Celsius for 2-3 hours, until nicely brown.

Wait until cool and serve with coffee for dunking!

And then all you gluten free-bies can have:

'n lekker koppie koffie met beskuit op die stoep 
(a delicious cup of coffee and a rusk on the veranda)

sour cherry pudding (converted to gluten free)

 mmm, this is one of our go-to desserts. I always keep a jar of sour cherries in the cupboard for "emergencies." We had one such "emergency" this week - dinner with a friend we hadn't seen in such a long time.

The original recipe is from here.I make a few changes, the main one being using a jar of morello (sour) cherries rather than the tinned cherries the recipe states. Since it already has the almond meal in it, it is easily converted to gluten free - I simply replace the SR flour with GF SR flour. Oh, and obviously, I leave it the right way up...

The one this about it though, is that in our house it tends to be called "shower cherry pudding." Why are the words "sour" and "cherry" so had to say? Go on, say "sour cherry" three times fast - see if you don't end up with a shower cherry too!

my creative space (with gluten free nutty chocolate slice)

It feels a bit like it has been one of those weeks. It's been really busy, and thinking about posting today in "my creative space" I wasn't sure I had anything creative to talk about. It's been a week of work, and washing and breastfeeding classes, and dinners with friends. All of which have meant I've felt like I've had limited time to create.

 But then again... I did finally finish sewing together the strips of squares for my baby blanket. And after avoiding dealing with the ends deliberating, I decided to edge the blanket before I finish off the ends. I was inspired by a lovely blogger from last week's creative spaces (I'm so sorry, I can't remember who it was - I've looked, but if I find you this in week's spaces, I'll link you up!) and have decided to try doing a scalloped edge. This is a first for me, as previously, I have always simply chained around the edges. Wish me luck.

I've also been creative in the kitchen. See, I get home from work pretty exhausted these days, so my lovely husband does pretty much all the cooking in our place at the moment. Although I have been stretching my baking fingers this week and make some Nutty Chocolate Slice - partly for a work colleague, who was having a bad week, and the rest has gone in the freezer to serve to our visitors when our little one is born.

I thought I'd share the recipe (given to me from a friend), as it is incredibly simple, fantastically tasty and gluten free (but without any fancy ingredients).

Nutty Chocolate Slice

1 cup chopped nuts (I use almonds, but any nuts will work)
1 cup choc chips
1 cup currants (or sultanas - whatever you've got)
1 cup desiccated coconut
1 tin sweetened condensed milk

Mix all ingredients together.
Put in a greased, lined lamington (slice) tin.
Bake covered @ 190 deg Celsius for 20min
Uncover and bake @ 170 deg for 15-20.
Cool in fridge and cut when cold.


So it seems I've had a creative week after all! How 'bout you - are you joining in with the creativity?

mmm gluten free goodness

so, with the encouragement of sandrine, i have been experimenting with gluten free. and its actually turned out easier (and tastier) than i imagined. so here you go:

gluten free potato and sour cream muffins (adapted from this book)

2 medium sized potatoes, mashed
2 eggs
1 cup milk
3/4 cup of sour cream
60g melted butter
315g gf self raising flour
1/4 teasp paprika
salt and pepper

mix mashed potato, eggs, milk, sour cream and butter in bowl. add flour and spices.mix until combined. 

place into greased trays (i use the paper muffin cases as otherwise my muffins always stick), and bake for 25 min at 180 degrees C. 

they are great with soup - as in "who needs bread!" great.

fridge pie

mmm. i know it sounds weird, but it tastes so so good and its so so easy.

basically take a conglomeration of vegies from the bottom of your fridge. for me this was:

• 1 brown onion
• 1 red capiscum
• 1 small chilli
• a quarter of a head of celery
• 2 carrots
• half a head of cauliflower
• a small head of broccoli
• a packet of baby spinach

i fried these up with some garlic and then added

• 1 can of tomatoes
• 3 tablespoons of tomato paste
• 1 can of soy beans

then i defrosted some puff pastry and popped in into the pie tins. covering the bottom with some grated cheddar cheese and then scooped fridge pie guts into tins and topped with more pastry. it cooked in mod oven for about 20 min and then once it cooled a little... mmm...

fridge pie guts are not the most attractive, but so so delicious. perfect for a hail filled night like this one...

my creative space is filled with commitment bread (yours can be too!)

i'm joining in with my creative space for the first time this year, and my creative space today is filled with the smell of baking of my favourite kind of bread (i posted a little bit ago about my second favourite bread oaty grainy honey bread):

but my favourite bread is: commitment bread. 

ok, so i know it is weirdly named, but it is based off the fabulous pip's famous pane toscano. see when i first read the recipe, i was a little put off by the fact the bread takes two days to make. it seemed like a bit of a big commitment. but then i realised i was going to be around the house for the weekend, and decided to give it a go. i committed the two days required and made my first batch of what has since become known as commitment bread. 

i now make it often and i have changed and refined the recipe so that it works a bit better for me. the major changes are that i like a bit of wholemeal flour, so i have added that into the mix, and i've also adapted it for my breadmaker (dodgy wrists from rsi mean that kneading dough is out for me).

so i thought i would share: my version of commitment bread (or pane toscano)

on day 1: make starter


starter: 
1 1/2 cups water
3 cups bread flour (it is so much better to use real bread flour. i get mine from here)
1 teasp yeast. 

put ingredients in bread maker on dough setting. once done, i pop it in a big bowl, cover and leave in the fridge overnight to rise. 

on day 2: make commitment bread

pull the starter out of the fridge and divide into quarters. (i pop 3 of the quarters in the freezer to make bread out of later). using one quarter of the starter, i make two loaves of bread. you also need:

2 cups water
1 1/2 teasp of salt
splash of olive oil
3 3/4 cups white bread flour
1/4 cups wholemeal bread flour
1/2 teasp yeast

put one quarter of the starter in the bread maker with all the other ingredients on the dough setting. once done, divide into two and place on trays sprinkled with semolina (to stop it from sticking). pop straight into a moderately hot oven (it rises in the oven) for about 25 min.

when you pull it out, it is good to let it rest for a little before you cut it. (i don't know why, but it cuts better after a little rest). 

it disappears quickly in our house, so watch out...  

oaty, grainy, honey bread

this is my second favourite bread - its a new one that i have made a couple of times now and i am loving it, so i thought i would share...

oaty, grainy, honey bread

1 1/4 cups water

2 tbs milk powder

2 tbs butter

2 tbs honey

1 1/12 tsp salt

2 cups wholemeal flour

1 cup white flour

1 1/2 tsp yeast

1/2 cup oats

1/4 cup mixed grains

1/4 cup pumpkin seeds

i throw it all into my breadmaker and put it on the dough setting (my wrists are dodgy and unfortunately not up kneading it myself) and then i pop it into a bread tin for the second rise.

once it has doubled, bake at 180 degrees C, for about 40 min.

mmm, fresh bread!

recipes and chocolate

i wonder if i should be worried. see there seems to be a chocolatey theme to all the recipes i have posted. i'd like to set the record straight - i do make non-chocolate based things too. and i'll prove it. right after i post about the choclate mousse i made... this is basically the chocolate mousse from the cadbury website. there only difference was that i used 200g of lindt mint chocolate (as this was what i had in the cupboard). i had always wanted to try making mousse, and this was such a big hit. it made 10 of these teacup sized mousses (and believe me, that was really all you could eat). the recipe below is my version, based off the cadbury one.

Choc-mint mousse
125g cream cheese (note - don't buy the cheap stuff - my mistake)
1/2 cup caster sugar
1 egg
200g (2 blocks) of lindt mint intense chocolate
600 ml of thickened cream, lightly whipped

1. Beat the cream cheese, sugar and egg together until smooth.
2. Break the chocolate into little bits and melt in the microwave.
3. Add the melted chocolate to the cream cheese mixture and stir through until well combined.
4. Stir in the cream, again stirring until well combined.
5. Divide into 10 teacups.
6. Pop in fridge for a couple of hours 'til chilled.
7. Serve with strawberries...

mmm, chocolate mousse...

flourless birthday goodness

its been birthday central 'round here - with cakes galore in recent times. i thought i would share great recipe for the non-gluten eaters amongst us (adapted from the cupcake recipe of a friend) Flourless chocolate cake

2 tablespoons brewed coffee

125g butter, chopped

200g dark chocolate, chopped

¼ cup cocoa powder

¾ cup caster sugar

4 eggs, separated

100g (1 cup) almond meal

100g milk chocolate, roughly chopped

Cocoa powder, to serve

1. Preheat oven to 180^oC. Grease cake tin.
2. Place coffee, butter and dark chocolate into a heatproof bowl and melt in microwave, stirring often. Transfer to a large bowl.
3. Add cocoa and ¼ cup sugar to warm chocolate mixture. Set aside to cool for 10 minutes. Stir in egg yolks, almond meal and milk chocolate.
4. Using an electric mixer, beat egg whites to soft peaks. Add remaining ½ cup of sugar, 1 tablespoon at a time, beating until thick and glossy. Fold into chocolate mixture, spoon mixture into prepared cake tin.
5. Bake for about 30 minutes (i left it for 35 minutes and it was a touch overcooked, so keep an eye out) or until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean. Stand in pan for 5 minutes. Turn onto a wire rack to cool. Dust with cocoa. Serve.

i forgot to snap the cake itself, but here is the evidence at least that i made it...

busybusybusy

i've had a really busy week last week, and then a pretty hectic weekend. then this morning, a bit of opshopping with a friend, home for a quick bite of lunch and i'm heading out shortly to afternoon tea with another friend... so its nice to take a few minutes out and sit in the sun with a cup of tea and some biscuits. i made these yesterday, and they are so very yummy. the recipe is in a delicious magazine cafe recipe special, but it actually originates from one of my favourite cafes (sweet source on rathdowne st, carlton north), i usually adapt it depending on what sort of nuts i have in the cupboard, and this is the version i used yesterday... Oaty choc cookies 125g butter 1/2 cup caster sugar 1/2 cup brown sugar 1/2 tea vanilla bean paste 1 egg 1 1/4 cup rolled oats 1 cup plain flour 1/2 tea baking powder 1/2 tea bi-carb soda 1/2 tea salt 1 block lindt 70% chocolate (which is 100g), broken into little pieces 105g almonds (dry fried in a heavy frypan and then crushed up a bit with a motar and pestle) cream butter, sugars and vanilla. beat in egg, then fold in oats. sift flour, baking powder, soda and salt and fold in. when nearly mixed in, add chocolate and nuts. spoon onto buttered trays and bake about 10 min at 170 degrees C. cool slightly on trays, then place on wire rack. serve with tea. mmm, tea.

antidotes to grumpiness

so, today was just one of those days. i got out of the wrong side of bed or something. i was grumpy pretty much all day. metaphorically stomping around everywhere (i was at work and i thought that real stomping would be frowned upon). coffee didn't make the difference it usually does and after three in a row, i decided to try for something stronger. but even a piece of sour cherry pie from one of my favourite cafe's didn't help (if you have never been to sweet source on rathdowne st in carlton - you so should go, they make amazing food - the kind that usually makes me happy). so i came home and made magic chocolate brownies. cooking and chocolate - two things guaranteed to make me feel better... the recipe came from a friend a few years back - but i can't be any surer of its origins that that. so magic chocolate brownies: 140g butter 200g dark chocolate 200g brown sugar 2 tsp vanilla extract 2 eggs 1 egg yolk 85g plain flour 75g chopped toasted walnuts (although, i toasted slivered almonds i found in the cupboard) sifted cocoa to dust heat oven to 160 degrees C. grease and line 18cm square tin. melt butter and chocolate. leave to cool a bit, beat in the sugar and vanilla, then add a good pinch of salt. whisk in eggs and egg yolk. then flour. then fold in nuts. bake 40min. allow to cool and then turn onto wire rack. cut into 12 squares and dust with cocoa to serve. mmm, nothing like warm just made chocolate brownies to make you feel better.