I'm banana bread back baby!

So, I've been rubbish and not written here for far too long! I've been super busy with the album (which comes out on the 7th February! www.facebook.com/unexpectedsongbird for updates www.soundcloud.com/songbird-unexpected for tracks!) I've also launched a youtube channel where I am dealing with the issues surrounding life with a chronic illness. Of course none of that has anything to do with baking so lets get those wooden spoons out, switch on the oven and lets bake us some vegan banana bread!




You will need

1 1/2 cups strong wholemeal flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/8 tsp salt
1/2 cup almond milk
1/4 cup oil (sunflower or rapeseed)
3 ripe bananas
1/4 cup dates

 

 

 

A loaf tin
2 Mixing bowls
Vegan butter to grease the pan


                                   
                                                 Make sure the bananas are very ripe!

Preheat your oven to 220'C

1. Firstly you need to sift your flour in a bowl. When using wholemeal flour you will be left with some of the wholemeal in your sift, although it won't pass through the sift you still need it so once the flour has been worked through tip the sift over and stir it all together.

 

 

 

 

 2. Add the remaining dry ingredients to your bowl and stir well.

3. Mash your bananas

                       

4. In a separate bowl mix together the almond milk and oil.

5. Add the chopped dates to the bananas and mix well. Slowly add the wet ingredients and stir until well combined

                                  

 

 

 

 

 6. Pour the wet mix in with your dry ingredients and stir until you have a thick batter.

 

7. Pour your mixture into your well greased tin and bake in the oven for 20-25 minutes. Insert a toothpick or knife into the cake to make sure the banana bread is cooked through.

 

 

 

As this cake contains no sugar it's a great one for children!

 

 

Enjoy warm or cold

 

 

 

                                         

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Autumn baking

This week has been all about the Autumn celebration party we threw yesterday for my daughter and her friends. We don't celebrate Halloween, I think there is enough evil in the world without celebrating it and the costumes available on the market in the UK are quite horrific!

Anyway, not needing much of a reason to party we decided to throw an Autumn party.

I baked my socks off! Unfortunately in all the excitement I didn't have time to take decent photo's but I got some. I also made some really tasty homemade wraps courtesy of Paul Hollywood's new book 'Bread' and would encourage you all to go get a copy! Amelia-Rose loves wraps and would rather a wrap then a sandwich so I'm going to make some for her school lunch box now she'll be going full time. *sob*

We also did lots of crafts for the children and some apple bobbing. We only had 7 children because we wanted it to be small enough to manage with the crafts and wanted to keep all the children down stairs!

I'll put individual recipes up over the week.

Homemade marshmallows suitable for vegetarians!

Alas I have been a bad blogger!

 I have been so busy and then so poorly I have had no time to update this blog so to make  up for it I've got a real treat!

I have been a vegetarian all my life and although I am not bothered by not eating meat I must admit I find a life without marshmallows a bit sad sometimes! The commercial vegetarian ones are great but they are normally quite expensive so saved for a treat around Christmas time!

Yesterday I dusted off my sugar thermometer and decided to make my own! I must admit it took three attempts and 900g of wasted sugar (oh the shame!) but I got there in the end and I am really looking forward to trying variations now I've got the basics down.

My biggest piece of advice with this recipe is keep watching the sugar when it is boiling. You will need it to reach the 'hard ball stage' of 127C and one second it will be a beautiful clear sugary goo boiling away and the next it will catch and burn! The first two times I used my largest saucepan but I think this spread it too thin so it was burning too easily, on the third attempt I used a much smaller pan and it didn't burn. DO NOT take your eyes off this!

Also a quick note, although I would actively encourage parents to involve their children with the cooking and baking this isn't a recipe to do with children in my opinion. Most of the time is stood watching boiling sugar, like I said, it needs to reach 127'C, think about that for a moment... 127'C, catch even a tiny splash of that on your skin and it is going to really hurt. You really need to be able to concentrate on this to do it safely as you will be transferring the boiling sugar off the oven top and into a mixing bowl.

So here we go.

                                               Rose Marshmallows

450g Granulated sugar
1 tablespoon liquid glucose
25g Vegeset (this is the vegetarian gelatine)
2 tablespoons rose water
2 egg whites
Cornflour and icing sugar sifted together for dusting.

1.Lightly oil a square baking tin, I use my silicone one as I find it easier to get sweets out of then a tin but as you're also going to line it with greaseproof paper it's entirely your choice.


 2.Line with greaseproof paper and lightly oil then sprinkle with corn flour and icing sugar (enough to cover the entire base)

3. Gently heat the sugar with the glucose and 200ml of cold water in a heavy saucepan (as I said above I had more success with a small-medium size pan) stirring with a wooden spoon until the sugar has dissolved.

4.Bring to the boil and cover for 3 minutes.

5. Uncover and boil until the temperature reaches 127'C known as the hard ball stage. (Takes 6-10 minutes)

 6.Meanwhile place a heatproof bowl over a different pan with boiling water in and dissolve the vegeset in 100ml of water. It will look like a thick paste. Add a few tablespoons of water if desired but do not make it too thin. The ideal is thick without being lumpy.

7. Pour (more plop!) the gelatine into the syrup once it has reached 127C and add the rose water

8. Whisk the egg whites until they form stiff peaks

9. Add the mixture and whisk. This is going to take some time. You want the mixture to cool down but not become completely cool as it will be a pain to spread! You need to use a big bowl with high sides as the mixture gets bigger! I used my stand alone mixer and actually got on with some washing up and made a cup of tea during this stage, be prepared for it to take a while.

10. Spread the mixture into your prepare mould and sprinkle with more of your corn flour/icing sugar mix. Cover with cling film and leave in the fridge to set up over night.

11. The next day sprinkle some more corn flour and icing sugar on your work top and turn your marshmallow out onto the side. Taking a sharp knife coat it with cooking oil or spray something like fry light onto the knife and slice your marshmallow into your desired shape or size.

These melt in your mouth marshmallows taste almost like Turkish delight because of the rose water and would make a great gift for someone.


Pictures to follow I promise! x





 

Spicing up your biscuit tin!

I adore baking! I always have. We have photographs of me helping my mum to bake as soon as I could stand next to her and lick a spoon! Snuggling down to watch Saint Delia (smith) on the telly with my mum was a huge part of my childhood. It was a skill I was keen to pass onto my daughter and she too has been joining me in the kitchen her entire life.

When she was a baby I would be rolling out biscuits with her strapped to me (In a sling I might add!) and she is now at 4 years old confident enough to make certain things with just a tiny amount of support. When Amelia-Rose and I bake together I am now relegated to official scale watcher. "Bit more....bit more....bit more...STOP too much" It's a very important job I'll have you know!

I enjoy developing my own recipes and thought it was high time to combine two of my great loves in life. Writing and Baking. So here we are. The Very Bendy Baker. I am the very bendy baker because I live with a chronic illness called Hypermobility Syndrome. It means amongst many other things my ligaments and muscles have a hard time supporting my joints so I am, you guessed it... very bendy! Chronic pain is a part of my life so I have had to adapt how I bake but I will never stop baking. I will be buried with a wooden spoon I'm sure!

So today it's all about spicing it up with these gorgeous little Spice Biscuits.

 

You will need:

50g /1/4 cup Diced butter

50g/ 1/4 cup Golden Syrup

 115g/ 1 cup self raising flour

1 tsp Bicarbonate of Soda

1tsp Ground Nutmeg

1 tsp Ground cinnamon

1/2 tsp Ground cloves

2 tsp Ground Ginger

If you want a slight crunch to your biscuit add 40g/ 3 tbsp Granulated sugar

Preheat your oven to 180'C

 

Firstly add the butter and golden syrup to a saucepan and set over a low heat and stir to prevent sticking. Do not let the mixture boil.

 

 

Once fully incorporated take off the heat and leave to cool for a few minutes

 

 

My kitchen is full of self indulgent silliness that I don't need but I love having. My cute little measuring cups are a perfect example of this! I have a drawer full of teaspoons but I could not resist the set of miniature measuring cups!

 

 

Now in a separate bowl sift together your flour, bicarbonate of soda and all your spices. If you have decided to use sugar add it to your flour mix. I dare you not to feel the slightest bit Christmassy working with all those wonderful spices!

 

 

Now you're going to add your sifted flour and spices to your cooled butter mix and stir with a wooden spoon until everything is well combined and forms a sticky dough.

 

 

Prepare two baking trays with grease proof paper and make small balls of dough about the size of a 10p piece. Very slightly push the dough down but you want to leave it fairly thick for a nice cake like biscuit.

 

 

 

 

 

 Put in the oven for about 8 minutes but keep a close eye on them. You don't want them to catch!

 

Place on a cooling rack and try to wait longer enough for them to cool before calling the family in to devour them!

 

 

 

Blessings x