Chocolate Lava Cupcakes

One of the holiday batches of Chocolate Lava Cupcakes

A few weeks ago while away on holidays, I took advantage of not only being in holiday mode, but also being in a new kitchen, new oven, fairly bare cupboards and did I mention that I was in holiday mode? As there are about 20 families we go away with, we try and organise a Ladies' Afternoon where wine and nibblies are consumed, with no husbands or children in sight. And that is where this recipe was born. I had limited supplies and a couple of my friends have special dietary requirements, so I wanted to make sure the recipe would be safe for them to enjoy. I managed to make a few batches while away and before you ask - who bakes while they're on holidays - you'll see from the recipe how simple it is to whip up. No fancy gadgets required!

So where did the name Chocolate Lava Cupcakes come from? One of the hundreds of kids that belong to one of the 20 families asked if he could have a cupcake - in a most polite and sweet way, and I simply couldn't refuse such sweetness! While enjoying the cupcake he told his mum he thought the inside was like lava - all molten and gooey and delish! The name was perfect and they've been known as Chocolate Lava Cupcakes ever since. So, thank you to T.'s young son for naming these cupcakes, I couldn't have given them a better name!

There are a few variations to the recipe and I'll include those details in the notes.

Chocolate Lava Cupcakes

Ingredients:

2 1/4 cups almond meal
3 - 4 tbs cocoa powder, unsweetened
generous handful of dark chocolate buttons
1/4 cup coconut oil
3 generous tbs of glucose
1 cup mashed pumpkin
2 eggs
1 tsp baking soda, gluten free

The dry ingredients laid out

Method:

* Preheat oven to 160°
* Place all the dry ingredients into a bowl and mix together with a wooden spoon.
* Add the eggs, mashed pumpkin, glucose and melted coconut oil.
* Stir with a wooden spoon until combined.
* Place the batter into cupcakes and bake for about 15-20minutes. It will depend on size of cupcake wrappers and your oven, of course.

Adding the wet ingredients to the dry mixture

The batter's ready to be placed into waiting cupcake wrappers

Fresh from the oven. this batch made 8 large cupcakes

I allowed the cupcakes to cool before whipping them straight into the freezer

Additional Notes:

* If you don't want to use mashed pumpkin, you can use a cup of pureed apple instead. If you're using apple puree, then ease up on the glucose or it may be too sweet for you. For a wholesome Red Velvet Chocolate cupcake, add a cup of raw finely grated beetroot.
* You can substitute Honey or Rice Malt Syrup if you don't have Glucose. Some may find the recipe not sweet enough, especially if they're used to eating store bought or traditional cupcakes, so you might need to add more sweetness. You could also use Stevia, I tend not to use a lot of that as I don't like the taste of it.
* When you're testing for readiness of the cupcakes, you want the skewer to be a bit dirty, but not wet. In other words,you want to under-do them to get that lovely moist "lava" quality.
* Feel free to add things like vanilla or your favourite nuts or even date chunks. Remember, I had limited items at the time.
* If you want an egg-free version, then use 2 tbs of chia seeds to 1/2 cup of water. Stir the seeds and water and wait for the seeds to expand, forming a jelly-like goo. This can then be substituted for the 2 eggs.
* The measurements I've included are approximate and even when I make batches of the cupcakes now, I play around with the quantities.
* This recipe is Gluten-Free and Paleo-friendly.

I hope you enjoy this recipe and if you have any questions or suggestions then feel free to post a comment.

Arnott's Raspberry Shortcake Mini Cheesecakes

Decorated with store bought and prepared icing mixture. This is optional.

Phew - now that's a mouthful of a recipe name and I thought I'd share this variation with you. Several weeks ago, the Teen was having a birthday and at his request I baked some mini Oreo cheesecakes. Now, I have to say that Oreos aren't my favourite biscuit, so I wanted to try an alternative cream biscuit and see whether the result would be as popular in our household.

To start with, I found the Mini Oreo Cheesecake recipe over at the Hey Gorgeous Blog and I've made this version a few times - they never last long in our house. For my version, I chose Arnott's Raspberry Shortcakes, but any round cream biscuit will do. I would have chosen Arnott's Monte Carlos but their oval shape meant they wouldn't sit nicely in the round patty tins.

Tip: Place the patty tins inside muffin pans or the mixture will distort the thin paper patty tin and you'll end up with an oddly shaped mini cheesecake.

Making the Raspberry Shortcake version, simply substitute the 2 packs of Oreos for 2 packs of Raspberry Shortcakes. As I don't have a food processor, crushing the biscuits means placing them in a zip-lock bag and bashing them with a rolling pin. That will definitely crush the biscuits to the right consistency but what makes these biscuits differ to the Oreos creamy centres is their jam centres - they won't crush due to their gelatinous nature. I didn't let that deter me as I placed the jam centre on top of the shortcake biscuit already in the base of the patty tin.

The gelatinous centres of the Raspberry Rounds - added an extra sweetness to this mixture.

For my next dastardly trick, and this is to ensure that I get to sample these mini cheesecakes, I also threw in a handful of sultanas. Obviously, if your family likes sultanas in their cakes and slices, this trick won't work and you'll have to think of something else to add that only you enjoy (eg carob and/or dark chocolate buttons, extra coconut, perhaps some cinnamon...).

 

There are so many variations possible with this simple yet delicious recipe. Grab a couple packs of your favourite round cream biscuit then follow the link and start baking.

Healthy Blueberry and Banana Pancakes

 

Pancake Tuesday or Shrove Tuesday was today which means there's never been a more perfect excuse to cook up some pancakes. I was surfing the net looking for some ideas, and this particular recipe really stood out - Blueberry and Banana Pancakes by Teresa Cutter, The Healthy Chef. Click on The Healthy Chef to read the recipe for yourself. Not only were the pancakes easy to make,  but they were totally scrumptious! I should have made a double batch...

Spelt Fruit Muffins - with a Twist

So, we're in HSC mode in our household at the moment and anyone who has been here will know just how stressful this period can be. Not only do they have exams they need to perform well in, the realisation that their school years have now come to an end smacks them well and truly in the face. Even for those who know exactly what they'll be doing once the exams are over, the transition into the next stage of their life can still prove daunting. I've been trying to keep healthy snacks in the house to ensure that a balanced diet is maintained during this time - feed the brain healthy and wholesome foods and avoid snacks with saturated fats and high calorie sugary foods, right?

I came across the recipe for Spelt Fruit Muffins while watching "Eat Yourself Sexy Australia" and thought it would be a great snack to make - full of wholesome foods and high in protein, so I searched the site and found the recipe. The trouble was, there were a couple of ingredients I felt uncomfortable using. It wasn't the tofu or spelt flour, it was the one cup of oil and 300g of raw sugar the recipe required. Yikes! That's a lot of oil and sugar! Picturing a cup of oil is enough to make me gag and to use that much in a "healthy" snack, just didn't sit right with me. The two alterations I made was to cut the sugar in half and to substitute the cup of oil for a cup of apple puree.

You'll be pleased to know that with those simple variations, the Spelt Fruit Muffins (there were 29 in the batch) turned out a treat and were gobbled up by all. Give them a go - just don't tell your family what's in them!

Hearty Soul Food

Sometimes I just can’t help it; I have to photograph my food before I eat it. It’s not because my loved ones will have the evidence of what my last meal consisted of, should I be fatally struck down by food poisoning. It’s more about the colours and textures and aromas - they're simply so appealing. (Yes, I know you can’t photograph an aroma...yet) My family and friends are used to this behaviour now and when I have my camera up at my face it’s hard for me to see their eye rolls. So, this was one of my dinners from earlier this week – a simple minestrone soup. I had picked up the recipe card from my local greengrocer and added it to the other recipe cards I seem to have accumulated over the years. With the chill of autumn well and truly here, it was time to rummage through the recipe cards and come up with my own simple minestrone variation.

My ingredients included:

·         Onion

·         Leek

·         2 carrots

·         Celery

·         Cup of peas

·         Handful of beans

·         Cauliflower

·         2 x 425g tinned tomato

·         Tbs tomato paste

·         1 ½ cups of small pasta

·         1 lt of beef stock

·         1 Tbs olive oil

·         Salt and pepper to taste

·         Fresh Parmesan Cheese grated to garnish and flavour

My method:

·        *  Finely chop the onion, leek and carrots, add to the pot with the olive oil and fry until the onion and leek are clear. Stirring and taking care not to burn the onion and leek.

·         * Add the other raw vegetables and stir frequently until they brown a little.

·         * Add the stock and tinned tomatoes and tomato paste. Lower heat, place lid and allow to simmer. Stir occasionally and as the vegetables begin to soften, you can add the small pasta, stir (you may add a little water or stock at this stage), place lid and simmer until cooked.

·         * Add salt and pepper to taste and sprinkle with parmesan cheese upon serving.

Variations:

·         * You could use frozen vegetables in place of raw vegetables.

·        *  The beauty of this simple minestrone is that any vegetables you have in your fridge, freezer or pantry would be suitable to make this hearty soup. You want to end up with a bowl-full of chunky delicious vegetables and not a light and liquidy soup.

·         * If who you’re serving to, has an aversion to a certain food, you could always omit the pasta and blend the vegetables into a fine puree and serve with a dollop of sour cream. I will be cooking this variation next time as MOTH objected to the ‘ridiculous’ amount of peas in his bowl. Tsk.

·        *  Use your favourite spices, perhaps cumin, to give a different flavour to the soup. Or a generous handful of chopped basil would also be a yummy variation.

·         * If you want a meatier variation, add bacon or ham pieces to the onion and olive oil and substitute vegetable stock for the beef stock.

Importantly, once it’s cooked, don’t forget to take a photo of it before you serve it up! Oh, and if you like, post me a link to your photo. Enjoy!

Christmas Day doesn't need to be stressful...

Long gone are the days when I would stress over Christmas Day preparations. This year I adopted a laid back approach which meant the day was much more enjoyable – which is how Christmas Day should be. So what that I forgot some grocery items, like orange juice, avocadoes and shortbread biscuits to name a few, there was still plenty of goodies to eat and I really don’t think anyone noticed. It also meant I could improvise with some of the recipes.

The smoked salmon & avocado stack was still delicious despite the fact I had forgotten to buy the fresh avocadoes, yet I had some yummy avocado & salsa pre-made dip which worked quite well instead.  So what that I ruined the ham rind by cutting all the way through it – the redcurrant glazed ham was that yummy, it was devoured in two days.  So what that there weren’t the traditional shortbread biscuits to serve visiting friends and family over the course of Christmas Day and Boxing Day – the mini chocolate puddings, the delightfully decadent egg custard and those huge, juicy cherries were enough of a distraction. 

We’ve been spoilt over the years to expect food stores to be open every day and at all hours, and we panic when they are shut for just one day.  You see shoppers stocking up on food as though it will be weeks before the stores re-open.  The world didn’t end simply because I was missing some ingredients; Christmas wasn’t ruined simply because I didn’t follow recipes to the letter.  While it’s lovely to have a table full of delicious gourmet foods to serve your friends and family, we can miss the point if we make that the focus of our day.  It’s so much more important to relish the time spent with family and friends, for they are the essence of Christmas. 

Photographs taken using Lensbaby Muse - a Christmas gift - and textures photographed by me added to the original photos.