Soul Cakes

Soul Cakes are traditionally baked to celebrate Samhain, a time to reconnect with our ancestors and to honour those who have passed.  This recipe is my own version and makes approx. 16 small cookies.

Soul Cakes

Ingredients

1 cup plain flour - white, whole wheat or a mixture of the two.
3/4 cup ground almonds
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp cocoa
1/2 cup soft brown sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp allspice
1/2 tsp nutmeg
Zest of 1 orange
1 egg
1/4 cup butter - melted
1 tbsp orange juice


Preheat oven to 180 degrees C.  Line a baking sheet with baking paper.

Mix dry ingredients in a large bowl.

In a small bowl, beat the egg, then add the butter and orange juice and stir well.

Pour wet ingredients into dry and stir until well combined and the dough starts to form into a ball.

Split the ball in half and repeat until there are 16 small balls. Flatten each one slightly and place on baking tray, leaving a little room for them to spread.

Bake for approx. 25 mins, or lightly brown.

Cool on a wire tray.

Enjoy!

Caryl ♥

Banana and Plum Loaf

My plum tree is overloaded with ripe deliciousness and I had a few very ripe bananas in the fruit bowl, so made up this lovely loaf for afternoon tea.

Banana & Plum Loaf

Ingredients

100g (approx. 1/2 cup) butter - softened
1/2 cup brown sugar
2 eggs
1/2 tsp vanilla essence
1 3/4 cups plain white flour
1 cup wholemeal flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
4 ripe bananas - mashed
Approx. 1 cup plums - pitted and quartered


Preheat oven to 175 degrees C.  Grease two 9x5 inch loaf tins.

In a large bowl, cream the butter and sugar.  Beat in the eggs and vanilla essence.

In a separate bowl, sift the flours, baking powder and baking soda with the cinnamon and nutmeg.

Stir the dry ingredients into the egg mixture in thirds, alternating with the mashed bananas until the batter is smooth and well combined.

Gently fold in the plums, and spoon the batter evenly into the prepared tins.

Bake for approx. 45 mins, or until well browned.

Enjoy!

Caryl ♥

Sweet Potato Pancakes

After making traditional pancakes this morning and only managing to get one for myself, I decided to make a savoury style vegetable pancake to go with left-over veggies for dinner.  I had sweet potatoes in the cupboard, so that's what I made - Sweet Potato Pancakes.

Sweet Potato Pancakes

Ingredients

2 small sweet potatoes
1-1/4 cups plain flour
3 heaped tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
2 eggs
1-1/2 cups milk (I used almond milk)
50g butter - melted


Peel and cut the sweet potato into small chunks. Place the pieces into a saucepan, cover with water and bring to the boil. Cook the potatoes for approx. 15mins until tender. Drain, mash and set aside.

Sift the flour, baking powder, salt and nutmeg together into a bowl.

In a separate bowl, gently whisk the eggs, then stir in the sweet potato, milk and butter until well combined.

Pour the wet mixture into the dry and fold together until all the flour is mixed in and a batter is formed. It may be slightly lumpy but that's ok.

Heat a lightly greased pan and pour a spoonful of mixture in.  (I use a soup ladle for this.)  Cook until bubbles start forming on the top of the pancake.  Flip it over and cook a minute or so longer.  Transfer to a warm plate.  Repeat until all the mixture is used up.

Serve as a side, or underneath, stir-fried veggies.  Or you can simply eat them with butter and syrup, alongside a cup if tea.

Enjoy!

Caryl ♥

Lavender Blueberry Pancakes

With all the talk about Pancake Day coming up and seeing pictures of pancakes in grocery store magazines, I woke up this morning and had to make some.  Having some lovely lavender and fresh blueberries on hand I thought they'd make a great combination and I wasn't wrong! :)

Below, I have shown the ingredients that I used, but you could certainly change a few things if you preferred.  For example, I felt like a more wholesome pancake and used wholemeal flour, but you could replace this with white flour, or even use 1 cup of each.  Also, you could use regular milk instead of the almond milk, and/or replace the creme fraiche with buttermilk or sour cream.  As mentioned, I used a pestle and mortar to crush the lavender, but you could use a food processor or coffee grinder.

Lavender Blueberry Pancakes

Ingredients

2 cups wholemeal flour
1-1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
2 tsp dried lavender (gently crushed in a pestle & mortar)
1 tbs sugar
1/4 tsp salt
2 tbs butter - melted
1-1/4 cups almond milk
200g tub creme fraiche
1 tsp vanilla
200g punnet fresh blueberries


In a large bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, lavender, sugar and salt.

In a separate bowl, whisk together the butter, milk, creme fraiche and vanilla.

Pour wet mixture into dry ingredients and gently mix until combined. The mixture will be a bit lumpy. Stir in the blueberries.

Heat a well greased pan and pour in a large spoonful of batter. Cook until little bubbles start appearing on the top, then flip over and cook a couple of minutes on the other side. Remove pancake to a plate and keep warm. Repeat until all the batter is used up.

Serve with lavender honey butter and an extra drizzle of honey, or whatever else takes your fancy.

Enjoy!

Caryl ♥

Parsnip Cranberry Cakes

What do you do at Christmas time when you have left over parsnips and clementines?  You peel and grate and squeeze them into delicious little cakes of course! :)

Parsnip Cranberry Cakes

Ingredients

75ml olive oil
1/2 cup sugar
2 eggs
2 clementines - zest and juice
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1-3/4 cups plain white flour
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
3 large parsnips - grated (approx. 1 mug full)
Handful chopped pecans
Handful cranberries
Honey


Pre-heat oven to 180 degrees C.

Whisk olive oil, sugar, eggs, cinnamon, clementine zest and juice together until light and fluffy.

Sieve in flour, bicarb, baking soda and salt.  Gently fold through.

Carefully swirl in the parsnips, pecans and cranberries.  Don't overmix.

Divide between baking cases.

Bake for 30mins, until skewer comes out clean.  Finish with a drizzle of honey.

Store in airtight container for 2-3 days, if you don't eat them all at once!  Delicious with a bit of butter and a cuppa!

Enjoy!

Caryl ♥

Cornbread Muffins

You can never go wrong serving these yummy muffins with soup, or as a side for just about anything!  I tend to make double the recipe each time, as they are VERY popular in my house.  Oh.... and they freeze well too!

Ingredients

1-1/4 cups flour
3/4 cup Polenta (corn meal)
1/4 cup sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup milk
1/4 cup vegetable oil (or butter)
2 eggs


Stir all the ingredients together in a bowl.

Put spoonfuls of the mixture into greased muffin pans - approx. 3/4 full.

Bake at 200 degrees C for approx. 15 mins.

Serve with soup, or as a side for just about anything.  They are delicious with butter!

You can use this recipe in a baking dish, or bread tins - whatever you choose.  Just remember to alter the cooking time.

Enjoy!

Caryl ♥