Did a little baking...

Banana & Mango Bread

I decided to make my Noo’s some Banana Bread earlier today.  I also had a couple of over ripe Mangos and, instead of throwing them out, I decided to use them aswell.  I think they worked well together and the Mango made it really moist which was nice. 

Recipe and Pictures by Amanzi-Fundu

Ingredients:

125g Margarine

1 x Cup sugar

2 x Eggs

2 x Banana’s, mashed (Over ripe)

2 x Mango’s, mashed

1 x Teaspoon Vanilla Essence

2 x cups Flour

1 Teaspoon Baking Powder

1 x Teaspoon Bi-carb of Soda

Method:

Cream the butter and sugar.

Add the eggs one at a time.

Add the banana, Mango  and vanilla

Fold in the dry ingredients

Bake at 180 for 45 mins.

Mashed Mango and Mashed Banana

Creamed Butter, Sugar and Eggs

Add the Mango, Banana and Flour

Ready to bake

Ta-da..!

Cinnamon Swirls

I love cinnamon swirls and sometimes buy them when I go to Morrison’s.  I saw this recipe on one of the blogs that I follow and decided to make them.  I was surprised by how easy they are to make and they tasted delicious.  Will definitely be making them again.

Original recipe by “For the love of cooking”  Adapted recipe and pictures by Amanzi-Fundu

Ingredients – for the roll:

1 x Cup Milk, Warm

1 x Egg

¼ Cup Butter, Melted

3 x Tablespoons Water, Warm

1 x Teaspoon Vanilla Essence

3 ½ Cups Flour

½ Teaspoon Salt

3 x Tablespoons Sugar

Ingredients – for the filling:

1 x Cup Brown Sugar

2 x Tablespoons Cinnamon

3 x Tablespoons Butter

Ingredients – for the glaze:

¾ Cup Sugar

½ Teaspoon Vanilla Essence

3 – 4 Teaspoons Milk

Method:

Combine the milk, egg, butter, water and vanilla together.

Mix the flour, salt and sugar together and stir in the milk mixture above to form a dough.

Knead the dough for about 20 mins and set aside.

Make the filling by combining all the filling ingredients together.

Roll the dough out to form a rectangle shape.

Spoon the filling over the dough.

Gently roll the dough as tightly as you can.

Use a piece of string to cut into pieces.

Put on a greased baking dish and bake in a preheated oven for 15/20 mins.

Make the glaze by mixing all the glaze ingredients together.

Take the swirls out of the oven and pour the glaze over.

Enjoy!

Dough rolled out... not quite a rectangle

Add the filling

Roll

Cut using string

Cut using string

Place on a greased baking tray (Leave spaces as they expand)

Bake

Add Glaze



Lemon Drizzle Cake

I love all things lemon and have wanted to make a Lemon Drizzle Cake for ages.  I finally did and it was delicious!! 

Ingredients:

·         Low fat cooking spray

·         150 g low fat plain yoghurt

·         175 g self raising flour

·         1/2 teaspoon baking powder

·         8 tablespoons caster sugar

·         7 teaspoons sunflower oil

·         2 egg whites

For the drizzle topping:

·         Grated zest and juice of 1 lemon

·         2 tablespoons caster sugar

Method:

Heat the oven to 160C. Line an 18 cm cake tin with baking paper and grease with the low fat cooking spray.

Mix all the cake ingredients, apart from the egg white, together until smooth.

Beat the egg whites until fluffy and gently fold into the cake.

Pour into the cake tin and bake for 40-45 minutes. Check towards the end by poking a fork in it - if it comes out clean, the cake is cooked.

Cool the cake on a wire rack. Meanwhile, make the drizzle topping by heating the lemon juice, zest and sugar in a pan until dissolved.

Poke holes over the top of the cake using a fork or skewer. Put onto a serving plate and drizzle over the topping. This will soak into the cake.

This cake is very tasty warm.  Serve with a dollop of crème fraiche or plain yoghurt.

Coconut and Chocolate Cookies

I made cookies for the boys at work.  Some of them were cut using a cookie cutter.  The others were rolled.

Ingredients:

3 x cups of flour, plain

2 x teaspoons baking powder

1 ½ cups sugar

2 x eggs

½ cup butter

2 x teaspoons vanilla essence

Method:

Preheat the oven.

In a bowl, mix the flour and baking powder together.

In another bowl, cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy.

Beat the eggs and vanilla and add to the butter and sugar.

Slowly add the flour mixture.

When it forms a stiff dough divide into 4 parts.

Roll each part out using a rolling pin.

Cut out shapes using a cookie cutter.

Place on lightly greased baking trays.

Bake for 10 mins

Please note:

For the coconut cookies add 1/2 cup coconut.

For the chocolate cookies add 4 tablespoons coco.

Homemade Cookies

Nothing beats homemade cookies hot out of the oven.  For a bit of fun, we decorated some of the cookies using icing sugar and icing.

Ingredients:

3 x cups of flour, plain

2 x teaspoons baking powder

1 ½ cups sugar

2 x eggs

½ cup butter

2 x teaspoons vanilla essence

Method:

Preheat the oven.

In a bowl, mix the flour and baking powder together.

In another bowl, cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy.

Beat the eggs and vanilla and add to the butter and sugar.

Slowly add the flour mixture.

When it forms a stiff dough divide into 4 parts.

Roll each part out using a rolling pin.

Cut out shapes using a cookie cutter.

Place on lightly greased baking trays.

Bake for 10 mins.

Tips:

·         Add different things (coco, coconut, cinnamon etc..) for different flavoured cookies!



Choux Buns

Choux Pastry - or any pastry for that matter - is my nemesis!  I try but often fail.  I won't let it get the better of me though. Practice makes perfect  - or so they say.

Ingredients
150g plain flour
1 teaspoon each sugar and salt
100g unsalted butter
4 eggs

Method:
Sieve the flour, sugar and salt onto baking paper. Put the butter and 250ml cold water into a saucepan. Bring to the boil, then quickly slide the flour mixture off the paper and into the pan. Stir well.
Once cooked, it is important to prick the base of each one to release the steam that has helped it to rise. If left to go cold unpunctured, the steam turns back to water resulting in soft or soggy buns.
 Remove the saucepan from the heat. Using a wooden spoon, beat the mixture off the heat until it forms a ball and pulls away cleanly from the sides of the pan. This should take just a few minutes.
Beat the eggs together in a bowl. Still off the heat, beat the eggs into the mixture, a little at a time, until smooth. At first, the egg will seem like it doesn't want to amalgamate, but keep beating and it will mix in smoothly. You may find it easier to hold the pan in one hand and beat the mixture with a wooden spoon in the other.
Keep beating until all the egg mixture is used up and you have a paste that is thick and shiny. The mixture should drop off the spoon when tapped lightly on the side of the pan. Pipe or spoon the mixture onto a greased baking tray and bake at 200°C/fan180°C/gas 6 until golden brown. Remove from the oven and make a small hole in the underside of each bun to release any steam. Set aside to cool on a wire rack.
Assemble with whipped cream or anything you fancy.

Makes about 25 éclairs, 16 buns or 30 mini buns

Banoffee Pie

This is so'ooooo easy to make and my children love it!

Ingredients:
350g digestive biscuits (plain)
100g butter, melted
1 tin Caramel
3 Banana’s sliced
Cream, whipped
Chocolate sprinkles


Method:
Crush the digestives and mix it with melted butter.
Press the biscuit mixture into a baking dish. Chill.
Take the biscuit base out of the fridge.
Mix the banana and caramel together
Spread the sauce over the biscuit base,
Top with whipped cream.
Sprinkle with chocolate sprinkles
Put back into the fridge for about half an hour.
Enjoy!

Rocky Roads

Here is a really easy and tasty recipe for Rocky Road. There are so many variations, you can add nuts, dried fruit and biscuits it really is up to you, but below you will find the recipe that I use.

Ingredients:

2 medium-sized bars of milk chocolate
a couple of handfuls of mini marshmallows
6 digestive biscuits (broken into largish chunks)
handful of raisins (optional)
Method:
Melt the chocolate in a bowl suspended over a pan of boiling water, making sure that the water does not touch the bowl.
Once the chocolate has melted add the rest of the ingredients and mix well, but make sure that you don't break up the biscuits too much.
Pour into a baking tray, which has been lined with parchment or greaseproof paper, level out and stick in the refrigerator for a few hours.
Once the mix has set, tip out and cut into squares, make yourself a cuppa and enjoy it with your rocky

Chocolate Maltezer Cake

I am not very good at baking but I am getting better.  This chocolate cake recipe is easy to follow and tastes delicious.

Ingredients:


80g good quality cocoa powder
300 ml boiling water
250g butter
550g light muscovado sugar
4 eggs, beaten
400g plain flour
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
Maltezers

For the chocolate covering:

300ml double cream
400g dark chocolate, minimum 60% cocoa solids, broken into small pieces

Method:



1. Preheat the oven to 180ºC / gas 4. Line the base and sides of a 20 cm springform cake tin, with baking parchment.


2. Place the cocoa in a pan and slowly add the boiling water, stirring until smooth. Add the butter and sugar and warm over a low heat until the ingredients have melted together. Remove from the heat and allow the mixture to cool slightly, then gradually add the eggs, beating them in.

3. Sift the flour, bicarbonate of soda and baking powder together and fold into the cocoa mixture. Do this thoroughly until it has an even colour – the mixture will be very sloppy. Pour it into the prepared tin and bake for between 1 hour and 1 hour 45 minutes, until a skewer inserted into the centre of the cake comes out clean. When the cake is baked, remove it from the oven and allow it to cool in the tin for 15 minutes. Then turn it upside down onto a cooling rack and leave it to cool completely. This will give a level finish to the cake.
4. For the chocolate covering: heat the cream in a pan to boiling point. Remove it from the heat and add the chocolate; stir until it has melted and is blended with the cream. Leave the mixture to cool until it has thickened enough to coat the back of a spoon, then spread over the cake. Put it in the fridge to set before serving.  Sprinkle with broken and whole maltezers.
 

Microwave Fudge

If you feel like something sweet but don’t want to leave your house, follow this easy recipe and whip up scrumptious pieces of microwave fudge in no time.
Ingredients:
1 can full cream condensed milk
100 g margarine
500 ml castor sugar
5 ml vanilla essence


Method:
Combine margarine, condensed milk and sugar in a large, deep, heat-resistant container.
Microwave on HIGH for 2 ½ minutes or until margarine is melted.
Stir well to combine all the melted ingredients.
Microwave for 10 minutes on HIGH, stirring regularly.
When mixture is a light caramel colour, add vanilla essence.
Pour into lightly greased, flat container to set. When slightly cooled, cut into squares.

Chocolate Fudge Brownies

I love making brownies and my children love eating them. This recipe is quick and simple to follow and you will make delicious never fail brownies every time. Enjoy!

Ingredients:
100g chocolate
1 can condensed milk
100g butter
2 eggs (beaten)
1.5 – 2 cups flour
1 tea spoon Vanilla essence
Chocolate chips and / or fudge

Method:


Melt the chocolate and butter in a glass bowl over a pot of water. Add the condensed milk and mix well.
Mix in 2 beaten eggs and the flour. Add the Vanilla Essence. Add the chocolate chips and / or fudge.
Spread in greased baking tray and bake for 15 – 20 mins at about 180 degrees.
Once done, take out of oven and let them cool down. Cut into squares.


Note:
You can use plain or self raising flour. If using self raising the brownies will be more cakey.
You can add whatever you want to the brownies – coconut etc...
I use dark and milk chocolate mixed together