Light and fluffy superhero pancakes

What is it about the golden brown, crisp on the edges, light and fluffy centre, that has you coming back for more? That's right, I'm talking about the all time favourite, pancakes.

This pancake recipe is extra light and fluffy with a balance of just the right amount of baking powder and baking soda giving the pancakes light texture and golden brown colour.

 

It's also not too bad in making fun characters for the kids too. My sister set me a rather large challenge to cook pancakes like a boss with superheroes such as all the characters from Avengers.

I took the challenge on and asked the kids what they wanted, this varied from Pokémon, George Pig and Baymax so I did all three, of course.

So what do you think of my creations?


Makes about 20 pancakes or 10 the kids' fave characters

Ingredients

Dry Ingredients
2 cups plain flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon sugar


Wet ingredients
2 large eggs, separated
1 1/2 cups buttermilk*
1 cup of unsweetened yoghurt (I use Greek Yoghurt)
4 tablespoons coconut oil (or if you want to be more decadent use butter), plus more for serving


To serve
Maple syrup

Method

1. Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and sugar in a large bowl and whisk until mixed through.

2. In a medium bowl, mix the egg yolks, buttermilk, and yoghurt until mixed through. Slowly drizzle in the melted butter/coconut oil while whisking

3. Carefully fold in the egg whites with a rubber spatula until just combined. Pour the mixture over the dry mix and fold until just combined (there should still be plenty of lumps).

4. Using a stand mixer, whisk the egg whites until stiff peaks form.

5. Heat a large heavy-bottomed non-stick frypan over medium heat for 5 minutes

6. Add a small amount of butter or oil to the frypan.

7. Use a 1⁄4 measuring cup to place 4 pancakes in the pan and cook until bubbles start to appear on top and the bottoms are golden brown, This will take about 2 minutes.

8.  Carefully flip the pancakes and cook on the other side until golden brown. This will take about 2 minutes too.

9. Serve the pancakes immediately, or keep warm on a wire rack set in a warm oven while you cook the remaining batches.

10. Serve with maple syrup and butter.


Handy hints

* You can easily make buttermilk using milk and vinegar.
1. Place a Tablespoon of white vinegar or lemon juice in a liquid measuring cup.
2. Add enough milk to bring the liquid up to the one-cup line.
3. Let stand for five minute. Then, use as much as your recipe calls for.

How to draw characters
If you are going to make characters, my tips are to keep the frypan hot to ensure the outline is noticeable. Work reasonably fast as it's hot work.

Place the batter mix into a squeezie bottle (say an empty tomato sauce).
Draw the outline of your choice of character, freehand of course.
Add details such as the eyes, ears, hands, feet first and leave for a 1 minute.
Fill in the spaces with the remaining batter and wait for the bubbles to come up before turning over.

 

Cocoa Coconut Roughies

 

Needing a super fast easy treat to appease the kids? A treat that's sugar, gluten and diary free, nutritious and satisfies a sweet tooth craving. These Cacao Coconut Roughies are so good, you'll need to make double quantities to keep up with the demand as the kids will love them.


Preparation Time: 3 minutes
Cooking Time: 10 minutes
Makes: 15-20 rectangles

Ingredients

100g almond meal (or hazelnut meal for a nuttier taste)
80g rice malt syrup
50g dessicated coconut
100g coconut oil
20g linseed
20g cacao powder
pinch of sea salt
20g rice bubbles for an extra crunch (can leave out if you want)

  

Method

1. Combine the almond meal, rice malt syrup, coconut, coconut oil, linseed, and rice bubbles if you are using these.

2. Press mixture into a small lined tray and press into the mix with your hands and place in the fridge or freezer to set for 5-10 minutes.

3.  Once this mix has set, remove from the tray and cut into little rectangles. It is best served chilled or else they will melt on a warm day.To store keep these in a container in the fridge or freezer for a longer shelf life. But I doubt that they're last that long.

Handy tips
If you need it to be sweeter, throw in  a few chocolate drops and that will hit the spot.

Decadent Chocolate Fondants

I haven't forgotten you all and I've been on adventures to Taiwan and Hong Kong which I will need to fill you in at another time but I needed to stop and write a recipe for my decadent chocolate fondants.

I recently ate at Big Stone Tapas in North Sydney and I couldn't get over how amazing the chocolate fondant dessert was. It was one of the things I missed most on my travels was being able to cook and bake for my family.

I decided to rectify this to replicate a quick and easy chocolate fondant that could be whipped up whilst we enjoyed our family dinner of spaghetti bolognese.

Serves 6

Ingredients

100g dark chocolate
100g unsalted butter

2 eggs
2 egg yolks
100g sugar

100g plain flour

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 150 degrees Celcius

2. Use a thin slice of butter and use this to grease the ramekins. (I use a pannacotta mould as I wanted these to be small as these were rather decadent)

3. Add chocolate and butter into a microwave dish with lid and place in the microwave for High 50 seconds. The chocolate wouldn't have completely melted but stir this mixture around and it will melt due to the residue heat from the butter.

4. Add eggs and egg yolks with the sugar into a mixing bowl and whisk for 3 minutes until pale yellow in colour.

5. Add the chocolate mixture to the egg mix and fold in the 100g of flour.

6. Divide the mixture into the ramekins and place on an oven tray.


7. Bake for 8-10 mins or until the surface is cooked but still soft in the centre.

8. I like to serve mine with a dollop of yoghurt as it is a rather rich dessert.

Quick apple pie

I love apple pie and I thought I'd share my love for these with the kids. This is my quick option for a midweek dessert. It's easy to add different fruit such as pear to mix it up. It's a definitely hit and I've been asked twice this week if I'm making this again for dessert. 'Of course' was the answer.

Serves 4

Ingredients

1 apple thinly sliced (I keep the peel on)

1/2 pear thinly sliced with skin (optional)

2 sheets of puff pastry

Sprinkle of cinnamon

1 tsp of brown sugar

20g butter

20g currants

 

Method

1. Preheat oven to 180 degrees Celcius
 

2. Cut the sheets of puff pastry in half so you end up with 4 rectangular pieces of puff pastry. 

3. Place 6-8 slices of apple and 2 slices of pear on the bottom half of each of the rectangle of puff pastry

4. Sprinkle cinnamon on the apples

5. Add 1 tsp of brown sugar on each of the apples

6. Sprinkle a few currants on top of the apple filling

7. Add a knob of butter on each apple filling 

8. Fold the puff pastry over to close the parcels and press the edges down with a fork. 

9. Brush melted butter over the top of each square parcel. 

10. Bake for 12-15 mins until golden in colour. 

Happy Chinese New Year, Year of the Sheep Pineapple tarts

I love the vibrant red and celebrations that go hand in hand with Chinese New Year. I thought I'd partake in the festivities and make pineapple tarts. The pastry crumb on these tarts are divine, and the pineapple jam is sweet but not too sweet. I couldn't stop myself and bought not one but two pineapples as they smelt so good. I have been wondering how to make these tarts look like sheep, as it is the Year of the Sheep and I think they turned out ok.

Hoping my bestie is impressed with these tasty pineapple treats. Will have to let you know how these compare to the sweet pineapple treats we try in Taiwan in the not to distant future.

 

Pineapple Filling Ingredients:

2 ripe pineapples
250g sugar

Muslin square to contain the following
4 cloves
1 cinnamon stick
1 star anise

Method

1. Remove the tops and bottoms of the pineapple then cut off the peel around the pineapple
2. Use a food processor to blend for a minute or two.
3. Wrap cloves, cinnamon and star anise into the muslin and tie with cotton twine.
4.Throw muslin into a saucepan with blended pineapple and cook at medium high.
5. Stir every couple of minutes until the pineapple juice has reduced and thickened to a jam consistency (this took just under an hour for me)
6. It's ready when it turns a nice golden in colour, spread out onto a dinner plate to cool.
7. Once cool and roll the pineapple jam into a cylindrical shapes or a fat caterpillar. (You will need to do this first before attempting the pastry).

Pastry Ingredients

Pastry
250g butter
50g icing sugar
2 egg yolks
1/2 tsp vanilla essence
1/4 tsp salt

For glazing
Keep the egg white and add a dash of milk and lightly beat til required

Dry ingredients
350g plain flour (all purpose flour)
50g corn flour
25g rice flour (optional, if you have it)

Method

1. Cream butter and sugar together using an electric mixer until light in colour.


2. Place egg yolks one at a time, beating the mixture until well combined.

3. Add vanilla essence and salt and whisk until fluffy.

4. Fold in dry ingredients (plain flour, cornflour and rice flour) and mix to form a dough. It should be a light crumbly shortbread texture.


5. Roll a tablespoonful of dough into a 5cm long tube in your palm, then gently press down with index finger to flatten the dough into a rectangle shape, around 0.5cm thick and 4cm wide.

6. Place the rolled out pineapple jam on the edge of the rectangle shape and roll the dough to wrap around it to form a small elongated roll. Pinch the edges to close in the pineapple jam. Roll between your palms a couple of times to secure the edges.

7. Place the roll on a baking tray lined with greaseproof baking paper. Repeat until all dough mixture and jam filling used up.

8. Preheat oven at 180°C.

9. Use a fork and draw lines on top of the tarts or perhaps attempt to make a sheep, since it is the Year of the Sheep.

10. Brush the rolls with glaze mix.

11. Bake in the oven for 20 minutes or until golden brown.

12. Cool on wire racks before storing in an airtight jar.

Chocolate chip cookies

I have cookies on the mind and with a few play dates planned with friends and their kids, this was the perfect excuse to make a batch or two. My girlfriend told me she could smell these on the footpath leading up to our house and was positively drooling.

One batch is definitely not enough, as my kidlets and hubby gobbled these up before I even had two, so I had to make another batch. How can I refuse my youngest when he asks "more cookies please mummy".

Makes 20

Ingredients

60g unsalted butter
95g brown sugar
50g caster sugar
1 egg
1/2 tsp vanilla extract

100g wholemeal flour
100g almond meal with chia (throw in chia seeds with almonds to make this delicious flour alternative)
1/2 tsp bi-carb soda
85g quality dark chocolate chips

Method

1. Preheat oven to 170 degrees Celsius (150 degrees fan forced)
2. Line two baking trays with baking paper
3. Using electric beaters mix the butter and sugar until well combined
4. Add egg and vanilla extract, continue mixing
5. Add dry ingredients into butter mixture and keep mixing
6. Stir in the chocolate chips
7. Place 20 spoonfuls of mixture onto the baking trays
8. Bake for 15 mins or until golden brown.
9. Cool for 5 minutes before attempting to eat one
10. Watch out they will be gone in 60 seconds.

Handy hints

Store in an air tight container for upto a week, if they last that long.                                    

Crunchy top berry muffins

I've been looking for a crunchy top mixed berry muffins recipe so after having had a few attempts and I'm onto a winner. Don't forget the baking powder or else you end up with hard little rocks from experience.

 

 

Ingredients

 

1 cup plain flour

1/2 cup wholemeal flour
3 teaspoons baking powder
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 cup rolled oats
1/2 cup brown sugar
2 eggs
1 cup plain yoghurt
1/2 cup grapeseed or olive oil
1/2 cup heaped with mixed berries (frozen or fresh works fine)

Topping
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/3 cup flaked almonds, finely chopped

Method

1. Preheat oven to 180° and line a 12 hole muffin tin.
2. Place plain and wholemeal flours, baking powder, cinnamon, oats,1/2 cup of brown sugar into a large bowl and stir together.
3. Make a well in the centre and add the eggs, yoghurt, oil.
4. Whisk the eggs, yoghurt and oil for a couple of seconds in the well that you have created before adding the dry ingredients and stir until just combined.
5. Fold through mixed berries, don’t overmix or else your muffins will end up tough.
6. Spoon into muffin tin.
7. To make crumble topping Mix flaked almonds with brown sugar and sprinkle over muffins.
8. Bake for 20-25 minutes until golden.