Wholegrain GF Amaranth Brownie Biscotti. Today I have one of my favourite recipes for you. I developed this for my better half who is trying to stay gluten free and loves biscotti. I shot it in a hurry as he was leaving for HKG and loves to carry ‘the taste of home’ with him.
I am super inspired with whole grain baking and still can’t figure out why plain flour formed my first few years of baking. It’s never too late to shift gear though. I did, and happily so. My baking now is mostly whole grain and I am LOVING it. You will find oats, amaranth, wholewheat, nut meals in my recipes.My other love, fruit, finds a lot of place in my blog too. I have also now shifted to using raw sugar, honey and brown mineral sugar in the kitchen, and sometimes natural fruit substitutes a part of the sugar. I hope I have inspired you to shift gears a little too. Do ‘think out of the box’, push your boundaries and always stay inspired!
Summary: Deep, dark, comforting … all the goodness that biscotti promises to be in this gluten free avatar. Wholegrain GF Amaranth Brownie Biscotti offers a gluten free alternative to this delicious twice baked Italian classic cookie.
Preheat the oven to 180C. Line a baking sheet with parchment.
In a small bowl, whisk together the amaranth flour, rice flour, almond meal, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt. Add the chocolate chips and nuts and toss well to mix. Reserve.
In a large bowl, beat together the butter, eggs, sugar, and vanilla. Add the dry ingredients from the reserved bowl and bring together with your hands to make a firm dough.
Divide the dough in half. On a lightly oiled surface, pat one half together firmly and roll into a log. Flatten gently. Repeat with the other half.
Transfer the logs gently onto the baking sheet, evenly spaced apart, brush with the reserved egg white, and sprinkle with sugar.
Bake for 25 minutes, until the dough feels firm to the touch. {Keep a close eye as the oven is quite hot and the chocolate can burn}
Remove pan from the oven and cool 5 minutes. On a cutting board, use a serrated knife to diagonally cut the cookies into 1/2-inches slices.
Reduce heat to 150C. Lay the cookies cut side down on baking sheets and return to the oven for 35 minutes {or more if you like your biscotti crisper}, turning the baking sheet midway during baking, until the cookies feel mostly firm.
“Ice cream is happiness condensed.” Jessi Lane Adams
Strawberry Quark Ice Cream … what a wonderful way to celebrate summer. I made this a week ago to use up the bags of strawberries I had frozen just before we left for Srinagar. I had frozen some left over quark as well and it worked wonderfully in this ice cream. So delicious that I had made several batches since, with plans to make more! Srinagar was STUNNING! From near zero temperatures and sweet fragrant Kashmiri tea ‘kahwa’, from natural beauty that would blow your mind away, a city as beautiful as no city I have seen before, a people so hospitable. From ‘paradise on earth’ as it is so rightly called, we landed in Delhi in sweltering heat. IT WAS HOT!! It’s truly summer in the plains of North India, though we had some mild respite by way of thundershowers yesterday. Still at 40C and counting, it’s promises to be a sizzling season ahead. For times like this, what can be better than a refreshing and beautifully coloured ice cream. We don’t grow blueberries or raspberries locally here, but I bet this will make a wonderful ice cream paired with any juicy seasonal berry. This was the first time I used brown mineral sugar in an ice cream paired with fruit. One spoon and another later, I wondered why I had never done it before? I went on to lick the bowl clean…and knew I had a winner here!
HAPPY EASTER!
[print_this]
Recipe: Strawberry Quark Ice Cream
Summary: Celebrate summer with the ‘bursting with flavour’ and the goodness of strawberries low fat Strawberry Quark Ice Cream. It will leave you asking for more!
Prep Time: 5 minutes Total Time: 15 minutesIngredients:
550gm strawberries , chilled{or frozen for Thermomix}
300gm homemade quark {hung for 2-3 days in the fridge}, chilled
100g low fat cream, chilled
150-80gm brown sugar {adjust as required}
2 tbsp kirsch
Method:
Add all ingredients to bowl of food processor, and blend to a smooth puree. Begin with 150g brown sugar and add more as required.
Place in bowl of ice cream maker and set according to manufacturer instructions.
Thermomix:
Place all ingredients {including frozen strawberries} in the bowl of your Thermomix and process on Speed 10 for 1 minute at a time, stirring with the TM spatula as required. Repeat 3-4 times until well blended. Adjust sugar if required and blend for another 30 seconds.
Transfer to a freezer safe container. Serve immediately or freeze until required
“I am starting to think that maybe memories are like this dessert. I eat it, and it becomes a part of me, whether I remember it later or not.”
Erica Bauermeister
Dark Chocolate Nutella Kumquat Pudding turned out bowl scraping good. It was just an experiment. The result was deeply, soul satisfying, smooth and beautiful texture; quite delightful for an eggless chocolate pudding. Using oats meant that it was gluten free too! Did I mention I put in some whole kumquats too? They added delightful citrus undertones!Life has been busy as usual with annual exams on and the kids hungry ALL THE TIME! It’s a wonder they ever get anything else done because IMHO they are always eating! It’s also a wonder I get anything done at all because I am always in the kitchen.
Chocolate is one thing that needs to be on hand all the time. Chocolate everyday, and the savoury nibbles too. Store bought anything is a huge NO with the daughter, so I am BUSY!! It’s a double edged sword though. I love being in the kitchen, I get to experiment {read LOTS} … yet on the other hand I have time for nothing else!
I’ve been diving into bags of oats of late. When it’s not oats, it’s amaranth flour, peanut flour, walnut meal and barley flour. Adds new dimensions to what you can do … and often what you cannot too! In a larger perspective, it helps you push your boundaries, something which I currently enjoy! The failures are there of course.
So the pudding was meant to be just a chocolate pudding, but then along came Ruchira visiting from Islamabad. Among bagfuls of exciting stuff, she also brought hazelnuts. That was inspiration enough. Suddenly a Dark Chocolate Nutella Kumquat Pudding made more sense! Kumquats because they are in season and hanging heavy on the branches of my tiny tree!
The rest of the day just went in trying to save the pudding from the ‘forever hungry for dessert at anytime of the day‘ kids, and attempting to shoot the brown in a nice way. Well, brown isn’t easy to shoot! I tried!
The Dark Chocolate Nutella Kumquat Pudding turned out heavenly good. Fuss free to make and eggless. I used oats instead of cornflour to thicken it and that paid off well. The texture was smooth yet had some viscosity maybe from the kumquats or possibly cooked oats.
Everything about it was delightful. Scraping the bowl {or rather pottery mug} the lad asked several times if he could have more. “I can eat this forever,” he declared … and I rolled up my eyes! Thats how good it was!
[print_this]Recipe: Dark Chocolate Nutella Kumquat Pudding
Summary: Dark Chocolate Nutella Kumquat Puddingturned out bowl scraping good. Deeply, soul satisfying, smooth with beautiful texture; is is quite delightful for an eggless chocolate pudding. Using oats meant that it ended up being gluten free too! Whole kumquats added delightful citrus undertones! Serves 4-6
Place all ingredients in a heavy bottom pan and simmer over low heat, stirring constantly until it begins to thicken. Once it becomes as thick as a custard, take off heat, allow to cool, then puree with an immersion blender or blitz in a food processor.
Strain and pour into serving bowls / glasses.
Cool and then chill for 4-6 hours, preferably overnight.
Top with a spoonful of Nutella and roasted hazelnuts, or fruit.
“If music be the food of love, play on.”
Shakespeare
Buttermilk Vanilla Bean Panna Cotta with Balsamic Strawberries … dessert for someone you l♥v, or dessert for someone who loves dessert! Panna cotta, or cooked cream, is one of the quickest Italian desserts you can make. Minimum fuss, quick to make, do ahead and divinely delicious, a winner every single time.
The tempting option of going a teeny bit healthy on a cream dessert, yet keeping it indulgent, is perhaps worth the bait! I’ve done a Berries & Buttermilk Puddng in the past, so the idea of a buttermilk panna cotta was going to be worth every delicious spoonful! Delightful tangy undertones, a gentle wobbly set cream, smooth vanilla overtures…what more can you ask for? Pretty darned good as it is, you can take it a step higher with luscious red strawberries as topping. Use any seasonal berries for that matter, or fruit like figs too. A salted butter caramel sauce would be really nice as well.
If you have the time, gently simmer strawberries to make a balsamic strawberry topping. And if time is not your friend that day, simply macerate the berries in castor sugar and a dash of lime juice, or maybe just toss them in honey. It adds a nice sweet touch to the fruit while making it shiny and attractive to top the panna cotta.
The colour contrast weaves a magic spell. What’s not to love about red and white? And what’s not to love about strawberries and cream. AND what’s not to love about make ahead, fuss free dessert? Go on, take the plunge! Spoil those you love on V Day with this gorgeous Buttermilk Vanilla Bean Panna Cotta with Balsamic Strawberries.
Oh yes, and make sure you get them to do the dishes! Share some love!!
[print_this]Recipe: Buttermilk Vanilla Bean Panna Cotta with Balsamic Strawberries
Summary: Delightful tangy undertones, a gentle wobbly set cream, smooth, vanilla overtures…what more could you ask for in a Buttermilk Vanilla Bean Panna Cotta with Balsamic. This must be the quickest make ahead dessert ever! It’s a great Valentines Day dessert too.
Serves 6
Prep Time: 5 minutes Total Time: 10 minutes Ingredients:
Vanilla Bean Panna Cotta
1 tbsp + 1/4 tsp gelatin
2 tbsp warm water
300ml low fat cream
150g vanilla sugar {or Castor sugar}
1/2 tsp vanilla bean powder
1 vanilla bean pod, scraped
450ml cultured buttermilk
Balsamic Strawberries
200g strawberries, chopped
30g brown sugar
15ml balsamic vinegar
15ml honey
Method:
Panna Cotta
Put the warm water in a small bowl and sprinkle the geltain over. Leave to soften for 10 minutes.
Put the cream,sugar, scraped vanilla bean and pod in a heavy bottom saucepan and simmer gently for 5-7 minutes. Do not allow to come to a rolling boil. Stir often.
Take off heat and stir in the buttermilk and softened gelatin. Whisk to blend well, then strain and pour into serving goblets or ramekins.
Chill for 5-6 hours, better overnight.
Top with balsamic strawberries, garnish with fresh mint and serve.
Balsamic strawberries
Gently simmer brown sugar, honey and balsamic vinegar in a small pan until the sugar has melted and is thick and syrupy.
Take off heat and add lime juice. Mix in the chopped strawberries. Leave to macerate for 10-15 minutes.
If the strawberries leave a lot of liquid, strain the liquid out, and reduce over medium heat. Mix back into the strawberries and then chill until required.
“It is remarkable how closely the history of the apple tree is connected with that of man.”
Henry David Thoreau
Apple, Oats and Walnut Skillet Crumble … true comfort food and ever so simple. It’s one I make often, a crumble I mean. This year began in a special way. I had a surprise visitor and she brought me something I have longed for forever! A cast iron skillet, straight from the kiln, well almost, unseasoned and raw!
Thankfully Sangeeta has a world of knowledge about this stuff. This looked raw, rustic and a little scary to tell you the truth. Man Friday was happy as ever to see it and went on to tell me how much cast iron was cooked in when he was young, and that the benefits are tremendous. How times have changed, and healthy practices have been buried under the sands of time!
Well he scrubbed it well with a piece of brick, removed the dusty coating etc. I dried it well, seasoned it with some cold pressed mustard oil. Then baked it in a hot oven for 30 minutes. It came out looking moorish. Can you fall in love with a skillet?I did! The great thing about cast iron utensils are that they can go from the stove top into the oven, and back again! The other huge benefit of course is that they gently seep iron into your food adding additional iron into your diet.
I was quite over the moon this morning and since I had just apples on hand, I set out to make an Apple, Oats and Walnut Skillet Crumble. { …for those who noticed, I meant to use thyme, but sans glasses, I think I used oregano from the fridge instead! Oops! }. Simple, basic, easy apple pie, something that comforts and warms, especially in these cold winter days. Baking it in the skillet took this up a few notches for me. I loved using the skillet, built an emotional connect with it, and want to use it all the time.
Past the crumble, I grilled a cheese and tomato sandwich for the daughter in it . Crisp, beautiful, comforting! Fried eggs and roasted tomatoes too. I can’t get enough of it. You’ll see a lot more of it popping up all over the place. Thank you Sangeeta, and thank you too for the coloured glasses! It’s been an inspiring beginning to the new year!
[print_this]Recipe: Apple, Oats and Walnut Skillet Crumble
Summary:Simple, basic, easy apple pie, something that comforts and warms, especially in these cold winter days. Baking it in the skillet takes it up a few rustic notches! Enjoy this gluten free version of the Apple, Oats and Walnut Skillet Crumble .
Prep Time: 15 minutes Total Time: 45 minutes Ingredients:
Apple filling
450g apples, cored, peeled, diced
juice of 1 lime
20g brown sugar
1 tsp cinnamon powder 30g walnuts
25g craisins
15g rolled oats
15g butter
15g brown sugar
Few sprigs of thyme, leaves only
Topping
25g oat flour
40g unsalted butter
25g walnuts
30g rolled oats
15g brown sugar
Method:
Preheat the oven to 180C. Lightly grease a 6-7″ round pie dish, or use a 6″ skillet.
In a large bowl toss the apples in lime juice. Then add 20g brown sugar, cinnamon powder, walnuts, craisins, rolled oats and thyme leaves if using.
Mix well. Reserve.
Heat 15g unsalted butter in the skillet over low heat. Add 15g brown sugar and allow to bubble and dissolve. Mix well to cover bottom of skillet.
Turn the apple mix into the skillet, and mix well to combine. Take off heat.
Push into place gently, top with crumble, press firmly.
Bake at 180C for 25-30 minutes.
Serve with a scoop of vanilla ice cream and or warm salted butter caramel sauce.
“Never doubt that a small, committed group of people with pies can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.”
Subcommandante Tofutti
Wholegrain Chocolate Nutella Whoopie Pies … come December and the Daring Bakers challenge to end 2013 was to bake whoopies. Given all the frenzied baking over Christmas, these were fun. Whoopies always are. Relaxed, super creative and ‘in sync with the holiday season‘, they were a wonderful pick to end the year!
The December Daring Bakers’ Challenge had us all cheering – the lovely and talented Bourbonnatrix of Bourbonnatrix Bakes was our hostess and challenged us to make fun, delicious and creative whoopie pies! Delicious little cake-like cookies sandwiching luscious filling in any flavors we chose… What else is there to say but “Whoopie!”
I still remember my first whoopies, Oatmeal Nutella Whoopie Piesadapted minimally from a great recipe from Ree @ Pioneer Woman. Those were a big hit with the kids and adults alike. At the time Mr PAB did say they were oversweet. I reduced the sugar this time around. They were perfect!
Whoopie pies are a cross between a cookie and a cake (not a pie!), with two round, mound-shaped halves sandwiching a sweet creamy filling. According to Wikipedia, Whoopie pies are considered a New England phenomenon and a Pennsylvania Amish tradition. It is also Maine’s official state treat. The traditional Whoopie pie consists of a chocolate cake and a vanilla marshmallow filling, but pumpkin and gingerbread cake is also common enough.
Onto this challenge, I knew I was going to go wholegrain, so half my work was cut out. I based my recipe on the Oatmeal Nutella Whoopie Piesmeasurements, changing a few bits and bobs here and there. It worked quite well actually. The Wholegrain Chocolate Nutella Whoopie Pies began disappearing at an alarming rate!
Of course they aren’t as light, cakey and airy as all purpose flour whoopies. These are heavier to bite, more earthy, more rustic and definitely more healthy. I was glad I did the challenge pretty early in the month with red and green firmly in place. Later, each day raced into the next, the month literally galloping towards the end.
One look and bite into the whoopies and both kids {and Mr PAB} exclaimed, “You’ve made these before!” Bravo to good food memories! I had made my first whoopie pies back in May 2012 fresh from an invigorating trip into Old Delhi, one of my favourite places to be in. Time flies ….
It’s difficult to believe the year’s almost drawing to an end. December has almost vanished. It’s been a busy year. Being a Daring Baker is always a positive part of every year, though losing our co-founder Lis unexpectedly left us crestfallen. Knowing her, she would like the whisks in the kitchen to mix non-stop. Through these challenges, her spirit lives on.
Summary: Earthy, rustic and definitely more healthy that the normal whoopies, these Wholegrain Chocolate Nutella Whoopie Pies are worth the bite. If you don’t have Nutella on hand, you could do a peanut butter or salted butter caramel filling instead.
Prep Time: 10 minutes Total Time: 40 minutes Ingredients:
75g unsalted butter, room temp
175 g vanilla sugar
1 egg
pinch salt
1tsp baking powder
2 tbsp boiling water
1/2 tsp baking soda
100g whole wheat flour
100g rolled oats
25g cocoa powder
50g dark chocolate, chopped
Method:
Place the wholewheat flour, oats, baking powder, cocoa and chocolate in bowl of food processor. Blend to fine mix. Reserve.
Beat the butter with sugar until light and fluffy. Add the vanilla extract, egg and salt and beat again.
Mix in the baking soda into the boiling water. Beat into the butter mixture.
Fold in the dry mix.
Measure out tbsp scoops onto a prepared baking sheet.
Bake at 180C for 30 minutes / until slightly firm to touch.
Cool completely on racks and then sandwich with Nutella.
