by Marcela M. | Apr 23, 2014 | Blog, Breads, Gluten Free, Gluten free and Vegan, Recipe Box, Recipes, Vegan & Raw
Today was a crazy day.
You know, those days when you plan to do this one thing and be finished by 10 am and then life gets in the way and suddenly it’s 10 pm and the one little thing is still lingering in your to do list and you could almost swear that it’s giving you the look and saying ” Hey, weren’t you supposed to take care of me 12 hours ago?”
Today was one of those days and this blog post is that one little thing.
I had baked this banana bread early in the morning, and let it to cool down while I prepared my studio. I don’t know whether I had mentioned this before, but I have a mobile studio, that, due to lack of space, I set up here and there so it takes a while and a few trips back and forth to the kitchen until everything is quite like I like it. So today, I followed my routine and when I was just getting ready to start shooting, the phone started ringing, someone knocked at the door, the cat jumped on the table, the kids had a fight…and a 15 minutes photo shoot took 2 hours.
It’s life, it happens.
I took the pictures. I downloaded them to my computer.I edited them.
And then my website crashed.
I called the host, I tried to access it a million times, I wrote the post in word, I checked again and again and again and nothing. Until 9pm.
So, with a little bit of delay, and the patience to accept that which I cannot control, here’s the recipe!
Banana walnut bread
Ingredients: 3 tablespoons ground flax seeds, 9 tablespoons of water, 1/2 cup coconut oil, 1/4 cup vegetable milk (soy, almond, rice, oat-whichever is your favorite), 1/2 cup barley flour (or other gluten free flour), 1 tablespoon baking powder, 3 ripe bananas, 3/4 cup walnuts (coarsely chopped).
Preparation:
1)Pre-heat the oven to 180C-375 F. Grease a loaf pan and set aside.
2) Mix ground flaxseeds with water and set aside for a few minutes, to let them integrate
3) Mix seeds, oil and milk and whisk until smooth.
4) Sift flour and baking powder and add to the liquid ingredients.
5) Mash the bananas and add them to the rest of the preparation, together with the walnuts
6) Pour the dough into the loaf pan, smoothing the top with the back of a spoon, and place it in the oven for about 45 minutes (or until a stick comes out clean when inserted in the middle)
7) Remove the loaf from the oven, let it cool for 10 minutes, then invert into a wire rack for it to cool down completely.
Have you had crazy days like this? Let me know in the comments below!
One more important thing before you go!
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by Marcela M. | Dec 20, 2012 | Blog, Breads, Holidays, Recipe Box, Recipes
Good afternoon dear friends! I’m sorry for not publishing this post earlier, this month has been completely hectic and this week, even more so. But here I am, catching up as fast as I can to bring you all advent posts in time, to help you with your Christmas preparations!
Today’s post was prepared for my monthly contribution to Petit-on, where it appeared today. December’s chosen ingredient had been cinnamon, so I prepared a delicious Monkey Bread, adapted from a recipe that I saw Maru Botana prepare on TV many years ago. I scribbled the ingredients and a few instructions and made up for the rest the best I could. It turned out so good that I prepared it every year since then, in place of the more traditional “Pan Dulce” (which I never really liked).
I had planned to prepare this recipe a few weeks ago, but one thing or the other prevented me from doing it. Luka and Zoe had been sick on and off all month (minor things, but staying at home nonetheless) and, while I normally do cook with my children, I rarely photograph food with them…for the sake of the photography equipment.
This time, however, time was running out, so I decided to give it a try. I started by preparing the dough with Luka as my assistant, who is actually very good at cooking and enjoys carefully measuring ingredients with me. His assistance, however, was intermittent, because they were showing Madagascar on TV so he kept running to the living room and back whenever he could hear a favorite scene. Zoe arrived from school when it was time to add the nuts, and the minute she saw the hazelnuts, she picked the whole jar and left saying “the mouse found a nut in the deep dark wood”. Fortunately, I managed to get just enough to finish the dish! Taking the pictures, as you can imagine, was another odyssey!
In this occasion, I baked this Monkey bread in muffin cases because I was planning to give them as gifts. I also like to do mini versions for placing in kid’s tables, just on top of their plates. I have found that children love mini desserts and are more likely to try anything that comes in a pretty packaging! If you prefer to bake it in the traditional way, I personally prefer spring form pans, because it keeps the shape better when served.
A couple of extra observations: the recipe uses butter and cow’s milk, but you can replace them by margarine and vegetable milk. Also, I used walnuts and walnuts, but almonds are also delicious. If you want to make it for someone who has a nut allergy, try replacing the nuts by raisins!
Here’s the recipe
Cinnamon, Walnuts and hazelnuts Monkey bread (adapted from Maru Botana’s recipe for Todo Dulce) Makes 16 mini breads.
Ingredients:
For the yeast: 30 grs fresh yeast, 1/2 tsp sugar, 1/3 cup warm water
For the bread: 1 cup milk, 160grs butter, 2 tbsp vanilla extract, 5 tbsp cinnamon, 2 eggs, 2 egg yolks, 5 1/2 cups all purpose flour, 2 cups assorted nuts or raisins, 180 grs melted butter, 1 cup sugar, 2 tbsp cinnamon.
For the glaze: 1 cup icing sugar, 1 tbsp cinnamon, warm water (as needed)
Preparation:
1) Put yeast, water and sugar in a bowl and let it ferment (approximately 5 minutes). Do not mix or touch it at all.
2) Put milk in a heat proof pan and bring it to the boil. Remove from heat and add butter. Let the butter dissolve.
3) Add cinnamon, vanilla and sugar to the milk. Stir to mix well.
4) Beat the eggs in separate bowl and add them to the milk, one by one, whisking so that no lumps are created.
5) Add 1/2 cup of flour and yeast. Mix well.
6) Add the rest of the flour and mix well, until the dough separates from the bowl.
7) Sprinkle flour on the countertop and put the bread on top. Knead it for 10 minutes, wrapping it on the flour.
8) Pour warm water on a bowl and dry it. This will heat the bowl, helping the bread rise. Put the dough in the bowl, cover and let it sit for a 1/2 hour, until it doubles in size.
9) Remove the bread from the bowl, tap it a couple of times against the countertop so remove air and knead again for a couple of minutes.
10) Divide the dough in two pieces and form two sausages with them. Cut small pieces of dough with your index and thumb and make small balls with them.
11) Mix the remaining melted butter, sugar and cinnamon in a bowl. Process the nuts, or chop them with a knife and put them in a separate bowl.
12) Pass the bowl by the butter mixture and then toss them in the bowl with nuts. Repeat with all the balls of dough.
13) Put the balls in a springform cake pan or in muffin cases. I could fit 4 small balls per muffin case and bake at 175 C. If you are baking one big bread, you will need to bake it for 45/50 minutes. This time is reduced to 20/30 minutes if you make mini breads, as I did. Once they are slightly golden on top, remove from the oven and let it/them cool.
14) Prepare a glaze with the sugar, cinnamon and a little bit of warm water (I used one tablespoon). Pour it on top of the bread using a spoon, if desired.
Amigos hispanoparlantes, pueden leer la receta en castellano AQUI.
by Marcela M. | Nov 22, 2012 | Blog, Breads, Recipe Box, Recipes, Uncategorized
Good morning friends! I am running behind in posting this week and I apologize! With autumn comes cold weather and with it come colds and runny noses, and sometimes fever! Nonetheless, I am getting back on track and I’ll post again later today, as was originally planned.
Now let’s move on to today’s post, shall we? Those who follow me on Facebook and twitter already know this, but for those of you who don’t, here’s the big news I announced on Monday: I am going to be collaborating, on a permanent basis, with a lovely project, a website called Petit-On, created by the adorable Raquel Bermejo (who some of you may already know from the blog Peque a la moda).
Every month, I will contribute a child friendly recipe for the “Cooking” section of the blog, and by child friendly I mean, not only recipes that children may like, but also recipes that can be done with them, with the aim of encouraging children to cook. Each recipe will share a common ingredient will all other recipes published that month by the other contributors, who are bloggers I read, follow and love, such as Elena, from Delicious Stories, Lili, from La cocina de color lila , Laura from Coure coulants and Cristina from La mujer del fotógrafo es química. And, since Petit-On is published in Spanish, I will share them in English here as well, so that you can also make them.
The common ingredient for November was chestnuts, and I contributed these easy and delicious spiced apple, maple and chestnuts muffins. They are very simple and can even be made the night before, so they are ideal for those lazy Sunday morning when we crave something sweet. Just leave them in the fridge in an airtight container, and add the apple, chopped chestnuts and syrup right before baking!
Here’s the recipe
Spiced Apple, maple and chestnut muffins (serves 12. Inspired by the Better Homes and Gardens Cookbook’s Apple Muffins)
Ingredients: 2 cups bread flour, 4 teaspoons baking powder, 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon, 1/4 teaspoon cardamom, 1/4 teaspoon salt, 1/4 cup sugar,1 XL egg, 1/3 cup oil or 60 grs melted butter or margarine (whichever you prefer), 1 cup milk (it may be soy almond, rice or oats milk), 1 granny smith apple, diced, 1/3 cup chopped chestnuts (you may roast them first to release their wonderful aroma), maple syrup (optional)
Preparation: 1)Pre-heat the oven at 200C 2) Sift flour, cinnamon, cardamom, sugar and salt and place them in a big bowl 3) Beat the egg. Add milk and oil and mix well. If you use melted butter/margarine instead of oil, remember that it should not be hot when adding it to the egg or it will cook it! 4) Make a hole in the middle of the dry ingredients and pour the wet ingredients in it. Mix only until combined (do not beat!) 5)Add apple and chestnuts and mix until just combined 5) Pour the batter in the muffins cases, filling them 2/3 only. 6) Pour 1 teaspoon maple syrup in each muffin case and mix it with the rest of the batter with a toothpick or chopstick, making eights. 7) Bake for 10-15 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean.
Amigos hispanoparlantes: Este post contiene la traducción de la receta que presenté en Petit-On. Para leerla en español, vayan al posr original, AQUI. Nos vemos más tarde con otra receta simple y riquísima!
See you later today with another easy, yummy recipe!
