Tag Archives: comfort food

Bananarama! Banana bread recipes :)

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A glut of over-ripe bananas led to a bit of banana bread making so I thought I would re-post these two recipes. I’ve had a bit of fun with banana bread recently and a very good friend and I have done a blind banana bread tasting – 4 banana breads (hers and mine) so I’ll be posting the results of that soon! In the meantime though here are my two recipes 🙂

The first recipe is a dairy free, low gluten (spelt) banana bread and the second one is a modification of my  friend Colette’s mum’s recipe (modified to replace butter with oil and a few other little additions of my own) which does contain eggs (but these could be substituted out for apple puree).  Either of these recipes could have nuts added to them – walnuts would work particularly well, and if you’re feeling naughty you could throw in some dark chocolate chunks too!

Dairy free Banana Bread:

2 cups wholemeal spelt flour
1 cup coconut palm (or any unrefined) sugar
1/4 cup and 2 tbsps almond oil or olive oil
3 ripe bananas, mashed
1/4 cup soya milk mixed with 1 tsp apple cider vinegar
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp allspice
1/2 tsp himalayan rock salt

Preheat oven to 350 F / 175 C. Line and grease a small loaf tin (approximately 8 inches x 4 inches).

Mix the flour, baking soda, cinnamon, allspice and salt together in a large bowl. In a separate bowl mix the oil and sugar together until well combined. Add the mashed bananas and the soya milk (to which vinegar has been added) and the vanilla extract. Add this mix to the flour mixture and stir well. Pour into the loaf tin and place in the oven for an hour, or until a skewer inserted in the middle comes out clean. Once cooked remove from the oven and allow to cool in the tin for 5 mins then transfer to a wire rack to cool.

Colette’s mum’s modified banana bread:

2 cups white spelt flour
1 cup coconut palm (or any unrefined) sugar
1/4 cup and 2 tbsps almond oil or olive oil
4 ripe bananas, mashed
2 large eggs
1 tsp baking soda                                                                                                                      1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp allspice
1 tsp himalayan rock salt

Preheat oven to 350 F / 175 C. Line and grease a small loaf tin (approximately 8 inches x 4 inches).

In a large bowl mix the oil and sugar together until well combined, then add the mashed bananas and vanila extract. In a separate bowl mix the flour, baking soda, cinnamon, allspice and salt together.  Add half of this mix to the wet ingredients and mix well. Then add one egg and mix until combined. Add the rest of the flour mixture, stir well and add the final egg. Mix until well combined. Mix the bicarbonate of soda in 1/4 cup of hot water and stir in to the mixture. Pour into the loaf tin, sprinkle some unrefined coconut sugar over the top and place in the oven for an hour, or until a skewer inserted in the middle comes out clean. Once cooked remove from the oven and allow to cool in the tin for 5 mins then transfer to a wire rack to cool.

 

Oh So Simple Apple Compote Recipe

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I confess, I have a problem. I am utterly addicted to apple compote. I have it with my homemade granola for brekkie, I have it with co yo for a lovely comforting dessert and I have it cold out the fridge for a mid-arvo snack!  I have posted this before when I posted my mincemeat and apple festive compote but I thought it was worth a post in it’s own right!

Never, ever, buy a store bought compote unless you can help it. They’re so simple to make and unless you’re careful about what you buy you are basically just buying pure unrefined sugar!

The apple compote is super simple! Just peel and core some bramley apples (as many as you want to eat!), chop small and put in a saucepan with a tablespoon of water. Gently bring to the boil, add a lid and simmer on a low heat until the apple is all mushy! I like it just like this, but if you want it sweeter then add some raw sugar while you cook them. Stir occasionally to stop the apple sticking and make sure it doesn’t boil dry (just add a little more water if it does). Once cooled transfer to a jar and store in the fridge for up to a week (mine never lasts that long!). You can also freeze it in batches too :)

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Crunchy Granola Bars

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I’ve been needing a mid-afternoon pick me up lately and as I’m off the ‘Willies’ (chocolate, that is! :)) I thought I’d have a go at creating a crunchy, granola snack bar. My first attempt ended up as a chewy breakfast kinda bar (and although I don’t like it as much I will post the recipe as some of my tasters loved it even if I didn’t!). So I went back to the baking tray and came up with this little beauty 🙂 Totally detox friendly! 🙂

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500g Spelt porridge oats (the whole ones, not flakes) or Jumbo porridge oats

350g mixed nuts of your choice (I used almonds, pistachios and cashews)

100g Pumpkin seeds

100g Sunflower seeds

50g Chia seeds

50g Linseeds

200g dried fruit (I used blueberries, cranberries and banana chips this time)

1 tso cinnamon

250 – 350g Sweet Freedom (light or dark)

Preheat the oven to 150 C. Start by placing the spelt flakes in a baking tray and put in the oven to toast for approx 20 mins, until brown. Place the nuts in a dry frying pan and toast over a medium heat until they start to turn brown. Once the spelt and nuts are toasted add to a large bowl. Add in all the other ingredients, except the sweet freedom. Mix well and then start to drizzle in the sweet freedom. Keep going until you have a sticky mixture. It needs to start to hold together, but be careful not to add too much. Keep stirring well.

Turn the oven up to 200 C. Spread the sticky mixture out on to a baking tray covered in baking parchment. Arrange the mixture to the thickness you want for your bars, 1 – 2cm works well. Compress it down as much as you can. Place in the oven for up to 10 mins until it goes a lovely golden brown. Keep an eye on it as it can burn. As you take it out use the back of a spoon to compress the mixture again and leave to start to cool. It will not hold together at this point so don’t try to cut it! Keep an eye on it as it cools, once it starts to hold together you can divide it in to bars. It should be cool enough to snap. Peel it away from the baking parchment and put it upside down on a wire rack to cool. Keep an eye on it and move the pieces regularly or they will stick! Once totally cool it should be hard and crunchy. Pop it in an airtight tin and it will keep for ages! 🙂

 

Brownie Love Bites

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I was asked recently if I had a recipe for vegan brownies… well I do… and so I thought I’d re-post it to make it a little easier to find! 🙂 These were originally made for Valentine’s day, hence the heart shapes, but I kinda like them like this anyway! 🙂

Enjoy!

Brownie love bites

 

165g Silken tofu

100g white spelt flour

65g Whole-wheat spelt flour

70g Cocoa powder

6 tbsp Water

8 tbsp Agave syrup  AND 2 tbsp Date syrup

200g unrefined raw sugar/ coconut palm sugar

A handful of chopped pecans and dried cherries

2 tsp Vanilla extract

1/2 tbsp Ground brown linseed

1.5 tbsp Hot water

1/4 tsp Baking powder

1/4 tsp Salt

Mix the ground linseeds with the 1 1/2 tablespoons of hot water and set aside to thicken.  Preheat the oven to 180 C  and then line an 8-inch x 8-inch x 2-inch baking tin with greaseproof paper and lightly oil.

Blend the tofu, water, agave syrup, date syrup, cocoa powder, linseed mixture, and vanilla extract until completely smooth. Place the remaining ingredients, except the pecans and cherries, in a mixing bowl and stir until they are well combined. Then pour the wet mixture into the dry ingredients, and stir well. Finally, gently fold in the pecans and cherries.  Pour the mix into the tin and place in the oven for 30 mins, or until a skewer inserted in the centre comes out clean. Leave to cool in the tin for 5 mins, then cool on a wire rack. Whilst still warm use a small heart cutter (2 – 3 cm) to cut out heart shaped brownie bites. You should get 12 – 15 out of one tray of brownie (and you get to eat all the little off cuts!) :)

Nothing says homemade like…. homemade dairy free shortbread hearts!

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Home is where the heart is and it’s certainly where these little hearts are going to stay!

A very dear and thoughtful friend gave me some lovely biscuit cutters for christmas and I’ve been dying to try them out so I thought I’d have a go at a shortbread-type of biccie. My dairy free, spelt shortbread won’t work for this as it’s not “rollable” so I’ve had to come up with something else. I usually try to avoid dairy-free margarine but in this case I’ve compromised and used it… just this once! 🙂 These are not too sweet so if you have a very sweet tooth then you may want to add a bit more sugar, but I like them just as they are 🙂

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This makes LOADS so you may want to halve the recipe!

4 cups Spelt flour or gluten-free flour mix

2 cups Unrefined Icing sugar

12 oz Dairy-free Margarine (get the best quality you can)

Pre-heat the oven to 180 C. Put the margarine in a large mixing bowl, sieve the flour and icing sugar in and cream it together. Try not to over mix but make sure the margarine is properly mixed with the dry ingredients. Once it’s formed a dough wrap in cling film and chill for 30 mins. If you find the dough is too sticky then add some more flour.  Once chilled, roll out and use a biscuit cutter to cut whatever shape you have. Place on a greased baking tray and bake for 8 – 10 mins, or until golden. Remove from the oven and allow to cool on the tray.  Enjoy!

Raw chocolate covered marzipan snowballs!

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I had some left over marzipan and wanted to create a little treat for after dinner on christmas day so I thought I’d make some raw choc covered marzipan snowballs 🙂

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I used this marzipan recipe from my christmas cake post and for the chocolate you need:

35g Cacao butter

25g Raw Cacao powder

Sweet freedom to sweeten (up to 1/2 tbsp)

Extra raw cacao powder and dessicated coconut for decoration. Maybe some edible glitter too 🙂

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Grate the cacao butter into a small bowl and then place over a saucepan of water (bain marie). Heat the water gently and allow the butter to melt. Once melted whisk the cacao powder in with a small balloon whisk or fork. When thoroughly combined remove from the heat and stir in the sweet freedom. I like my chocolate quite bitter for this recipe so I only added a small squirt but add as much as you need 🙂

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Put some raw cacao powder in a small bowl and the dessicated coconut in another bowl.

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Roll the marzipan in to small balls and line up your bowls of chocolate, cacao powder and dessicated coconut. Drop the marzipan into the choc and used a fork to gently move around until covered. Then, if you’re using it, drop the ball into the bowl of cacao powder or dessicated coconut and gently shake it around to cover it. Remove and place on greaseproof paper. When they’re all covered pop in the fridge to set. This choc has a very low melting point so keep in the fridge until you want to serve. Enjoy! 🙂

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Cranberry and Apple Meringue pie! oh my!

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Hands up if you love Lemon Meringue Pie! I do! And yes I know, meringue contains eggs, so I’m very sorry to my vegan friends (although you can use a commercial egg replacer for meringue so all is not lost!), but this festive meringue pie is gluten and dairy free 🙂 It’s a nice change to the usual festive fair!

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Pastry

100g Ground almonds
100g Flaked almonds
75g Spelt or Rice flour(or other gluten free flour)
25g Golden raw Caster sugar
50ml Almond oil
3 -4 tbsp cold almond or other non dairy milk
Pinch of Himalayan rock salt

Filling

4-5 Bramley apples, peeled, cored and thickly sliced
250g frozen or fresh Cranberries
juice of 1 clementine
75g Dried cranberries
1 tablespoon Corn flour
Raw unrefined sugar (if required)

Meringue

3 Large egg whites (or egg replacer)
150g Golden raw Caster sugar

Preheat the oven to 180 C. Put the ground and almonds into a bowl with the flour and salt and stir to combine. Keep stirring and add in the olive oil gradually. Add 2 tablespoons of almond milk and keep stirring. The mixture should hold together when pressed, if it doesn’t then add some more almond milk, stirring all the time, until it does. At this point have a taste. If you want a sweeter pastry then add some more sugar until you get the desired flavour. Press it into a 20 cm pie or fluted flan dish. Bake in the oven for 15 minutes or until set and barely golden.
Remove from the oven and brush the almond pastry with a little almond oil and return to the oven for a few minutes to set then set aside to cool.

Now for the filling! First you need to cook the cranberries. Place the frozen or fresh cranberries in a pan with the juice of 1 clementine (or half an orange if that’s easier!). Cook for 5 mins until the cranberries start to soften and burst. Taste – if too tart for you then add a little raw sugar. Put the apples, cooked cranberries and dried cranberries in a saucepan with 75ml water and bring to the boil. Simmer, partially covered, for 10 minutes.

Mix the corn flour with a tbsp of cold water till smooth then stir into fruit mixture. Boil for 1 minute then pour into the pastry case.

If using them then whisk the egg whites until stiff, then beat in the sugar, a third at a time, to form a thick meringue. Spoon over the fruit and bake 20-25 minutes until golden.
Leave to cool for a few minutes then transfer to a plate to cool.

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Festive comfort pudding (or breakfast!) Apple and mincemeat compote

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I love a hot, comforting pudding on a cold night and one of my favourites is apple compote with nuts and yoghurt. I’m also a massive mincemeat fan soI thought I’d combine the two!

The apple compote is so simple to make it’s embarrassing! Just peel and core some bramley apples (as many as you want to eat!), chop small and put in a saucepan with a tablespoon of water. Gently bring to the boil and simmer on a low heat until the apple is all mushy! I like it just like this, but if you want it sweeter then add some raw sugar while you cook them. Once cooled transfer to a jar and store in the fridge for up to a week (in fact mine never lasts that long!). You can also freeze it in batches too 🙂

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For the mincemeat I use my favourite home made mincemeat recipe which I use for my mincepies. It was originally featured on the Pure form fitness kitchen – here.

Once done simply combine the two! I heat mine in the microwave for a few mins then serve with some delicious Co Yo yoghurt and toasted almonds – yummo! 🙂

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Mini Christmas cake – gluten free, dairy free cake, marzipan and fondant icing!

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A little while ago I posted a recipe for a gluten and dairy free christmas cake. I said I’d have a go at creating some marzipan and icing to go with it and I’ve managed it! Now, I know my icing skills are pretty poor so just over look that! I’m certain you guys can do a better job at laying the icing but this is my first attempt and I was going more for taste than looks….! 🙂

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I’ve used a rollable fondant icing and a royal icing for the decoration. Read the instructions for the fondant icing before you start as once the sugar is boiling you can’t really leave it to check the instructions! 🙂

The recipe for the cake is here.

For the marzipan (this will cover 4 small cakes – approx 3 inches cubed) – :

200g Ground Almonds
100g Raw icing Sugar
1 tbsp  Lemon Juice
2 tbsp Maple Syrup
1 tbsp Cold Water
1 tsp Almond extract

Put the ground almonds and icing sugar in a bowl and mix well. Make a well in the centre and add the liquid ingredients. Mix thoroughly. You should end up with a pastry-like dough. If it is too dry add a drop of lemon juice but be careful you don’t make it too moist. Wrap in clingfilm and put in the fridge for at least an hour.

For the fondant icing.

5 tbps water
1 tsp agar-agar powder or “gelatine” substitute (kosher gelatine is often non-animal based so can be used)
225g Raw icing sugar
1 tbsp glucose syrup
1 tsp glycerine (optional)

Put the agar-agar powder or gelatine substitute in a small bowl and add 1 tbsp of water and leave to soak. In a heavy-based saucepan, put the icing sugar, 4 tbsp water and the glucose syrup. Heat over a medium heat until sugar has dissolved, stirring gently all the time.

When the sugar mixture comes to the boil, boil for 2 to 3 minutes, or until the syrup has reached soft-ball stage. Now if you’re like me you don’t know what that means! It’s actually quite straight forward – it’s the point at which if you take a spoonful of the mixture and drop it in a bowl of very cold water that you can form a ball with the syrup using your fingers (once it’s in the water!). At this stage it will easily form a ball in the water and will flatten when you remove it. For me it was almost eactly 3 minutes of boiling so you could just go by that. If you happen to have a sugar thermometer it’s when it reaches 112 degrees C.

While the sugar is boiling warm the bowl that the the soaked agar-agar or “gelatine” is in (over a saucepan of simmering water is easiest) until it dissolves.

When the sugar has finished cooking, remove from heat and dip the saucepan’s base in cold water to stop it from cooking. Leave to cool for a few seconds and then add the agar-agar/”gelatine” and glycerine and mix well.

IF you have a marble slab or suitable work surface then grease it and pour the mixture out onto the marble slab, and begin turning and mixing with a palette knife until it becomes a paste and clay-like. If, like me, you don’t then you can leave the mixture in the saucepan and just keep turning and stirring it in the pan using a wooden spoon (you need to mix vigorously!).

At first, the fondant will be very fluid, but it will gradually harden. After 5 – 10 minutes of  mixing, the fondant will become very stiff, crumbly and hard to manipulate. At this point, lightly grease your hands, and knead the fondant into a ball. The fondant will begin to come together and become softer and smoother. Stop kneading when it is smooth.

Wrap in clingfilm and place in the fridge for at least an hour.

For the royal icing:

125g icing sugar
2 tsp soya milk (or other non-dairy milk)
1 tsp glucose syrup mixed with 1/2 tsp boiling water

Mix the icing sugar with the milk and stir until smooth. Add the glucose syrup and mix well. If it’s too runny add more icing sugar, if too dry add a little more milk.

Now to put it all together!

Roll out the marzipan on a greased board. Lay it over your cake. Roll out the fondant icing and lay that over the marzipan making sure you press it down firmly. Finally decorate using the royal icing. You can use a fork to create a “snow-like” appearance. Add silver balls, edible glitter or whatever you like to finish it off. Then place in the fridge to set! Enjoy! 🙂

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It’s CHRISTMAAAAAAASSS! :) Gingerbread christmas tree

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Christmas is getting near so I thought I’d have a bit of fun this afternoon, radio on, baking utensils at the ready.. and the end result…… me and my kitchen are now covered in icing powder and glitter, but it was worth it!

Gingerbread Christmas Tree! (gluten and dairy free, of course!)

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Something fun to do with the kids, or on your own!

To make the gingerbread biscuits (this quantity makes LOADS – probably enough for a whole gingerbread house! so if you are only making a few then halve the recipe or even quarter it):

1/3 cup Olive oil

3/4 cup unrefined raw sugar (golden raw caster sugar, coconut palm sugar, or dark raw cane sugar)

1/4 cup molasses

1/4 cup soya milk

1 cup amaranth flour / quinoa flour

1 cup gluten free flour mix (make your own or you can use an organic pre-mixed one. If you want low gluten not gluten free then go for spelt flour instead of the amaranth and gluten free flours)

1/2 tsp ground nutmeg

1/2 tsp ground cloves

1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

1 and 1/2 tsp ground ginger

1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp Himalayan rock salt salt

Whisk the oil and sugar together in a large bowl. Add the soya milk and the molasses and whisk all together. Sieve the flours, spices and baking powder, salt and bicarbonate of soda in to the wet ingredients and mix until it forms a dough. The dough may seem quite moist. You want it to be workable but not so sticky that you can’t lift it. Add a bit more flour if it is too wet. Wrap in cling film and leave in the fridge to chill for an hour (the dough can be left in the fridge for several days so you don’t have to use it all at once. It can also be frozen).

Preheat the oven to 175 C and line a baking tray with greaseproof paper. Roll the dough out on a floured surface. It’s worth trying small amounts of dough at a time and be generous with the flour. It will stick a bit but don’t worry. You want it to be rolled out fairly thin but not too thin – maybe 5mm thick or so.

To make the tree you need at least 3 star cutters of different sizes. If you don’t have them don’t fret. Draw some stars out on a piece of card and use them to draw around 🙂 If you want to make a massive tree then you could use more stars, I only had 3 sizes so 3 it was! You want at least 3 of each sized star. I used a tiny christmas tree shaped cutter for the very top, but you could use another star.

Cut out the biscuits and transfer to the baking tray. Bake for 8 minutes. Then remove from the oven and allow to cool on the tray for 3 minutes before transferring to a wire rack. They will seem soft when they come out the oven but as they cool they harden. If you want super crispy biscuits just pop them back in the oven for another few minutes.

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For the icing:

1/2 cup raw icing sugar

1 tsp soya milk (or any non dairy milk)

1 tsp liquid glucose (not essential)

Mix the icing sugar with the milk until it’s smooth. If you are using the liquid glucose add that and stir well. If the icing is too runny just add more icing sugar until you get the consistency you want. Transfer to a piping bag (if you don’t have one then use a plastic freezer bag and snip the corner off to pipe through).

Assemble the tree!

This is the fun bit 🙂

Start with your biggest star and place it on the plate. Add a glob of icing to the centre and stick the next star on top (arranged so the points don’t overlap). I found it easiest to decorate each layer as I went, so pipe icing on to the points of the bottom star and decorate with silver balls, gold balls, edible glitter etc. Then add a glob of icing to the top of the uppermost star and stick the next one one… continue, going down in size until you get to the top! I then added a glob of icing and popped the tree shaped biscuit on the top. If it won’t stand up then break a small piece of biscuit and just pop it behind it to keep it upright 🙂

Finally dust with icing sugar so it’s all snowy-looking!

yay! 🙂