Week Two - Banana, Passionfruit and Custard Scrolls

Well Week Two, and this has got to be the Epic Fail week. If anything could go wrong it did go wrong.


Firstly, I had the wrong flour, then burnt my first batch of custard, the dough was too sticky and stuck to the bench, which was a nightmare when rolling. The custard went everywhere, the baking paper stuck to the scrolls once cooked, and although they tasted lovely, the kindy refused to let my son eat his because it looked too much like a 'treat', so it got sent home!! 


So while it's a good snack for the older two, without all the hiccups along the way, it supposedly doesn't meet the kindys rather strict criteria of 'healthy' snack food because apparently it's too sugary looking. Nevermind that there is no salt and all of 1tablespoon of sugar in the entire thing. 


In any case, the kids have 'put away' the magazine I got the recipe from, so I will attempt to re-write the recipe from memory as it was pretty basic...


Ingredients
3 cups self raising flour
90gm Butter, chilled and cubed
3/4 cup of milk
3/4 cup of mashed ripe banana
2 tsp vanilla essence
1 tsp nutmeg
Small tin of Passionfruit pulp


Custard (to make 1L with leftovers for dessert ;) )
4tbsp of custard powder
2tbsp of sugar
1L of long life milk


Method
1. Preheat oven to 220C. Grease two flat baking trays. Don't use baking paper!
2. Make custard by following box directions. As a reference, mine is much safer in the microwave! I added the custard powder, sugar and milk in a large microwave safe bowl, whisked together and microwaved in 4min bursts on med-high, whisking each time until thick. Put in fridge until starting to cool, it will thicken more as it cools.
3. Process flour, nutmeg and butter in a food processor until it resembles breadcrumbs.
4. Mix together in a separate bowl the mashed banana, milk and vanilla essence. 
5. Make a well in the centre of the flour, add the banana mixture and mix together with a flat bladed knife until it resembles a sticky dough. You may need to add more flour at this stage until the dough is firmer and manageable by hand. 
6. Turn dough onto a floured bench and knead until smooth, roll out flat with a rolling pin to approx 20cm x 30cm.
7. Smooth the custard over the dough, spread the passionfruit over the custard. Take the long edge of the dough and roll up into a log. The custard and passionfruit will slide but use the edge of a spatula to smooth it back. 
8. Place scrolls on a tray evenly spaced and cook for 20-25min. Remove from tray immediately and place on a wire rack to cool.


Notes
Ok, so I stuffed up the initial batch of custard by using the stove top instead of the microwave. Even standing over it stirring the whole time, it caught in the last minute. I'm a big believer in the microwave being a better cook than me :p and it seems to cook custard perfectly every time.


Because my dough ended up too sticky, and frankly at that point in the whole adventure I was too fed up to care, my scrolls stuck to the bench and I ended up with globs of dough, custard and passionfruit on my tray, instead of nice perfect little scrolls. BUT they still cooked, and if anything gave them nice little pockets of custard when done. 


They stuck to the baking paper, courtesy of the stickiness of the actual custard and passionfruit leaking out everywhere, so although all I wanted to do at that stage was give the dog an early dinner, I did end up painstakingly peeling off all the paper. My advice, don't use baking paper, but grease the tray really well.


Cooking time was another point of contention, 20min and they weren't quite browning on the top, 25min and they were starting to brown too much on the bottom. I put them on a middle tray for the first 20min, and finished them on an upper tray for the last 5min.


I have frozen them and they have come out well with no sogginess and no loss of flavour.


Taste Review - I intensely disliked the making of them, but the taste was good, the passionfruit adds a bit of bite and the banana keeps the dough from being an overly dry scone dough, which is all it really is. The kids enjoyed them, well all except poor Jett who didn't get to eat his today, and hubby had his smothered with extra custard and warmed up a little last night for dessert. 


All in all, if you can get it right the first time it would be a pretty simple and quick enough snack to make and they do taste good enough that I will go back and attempt them again another day!

Not the most appetising looking thing on the menu, but you can see now what I mean about just putting a glob of dough on the try and hoping for the best. Tastes a lot better than it looks!

Back To School - Week One

I am so sick of making new years resolutions and never sticking to them, so I thought about aiming a little lower this year and trying to keep it simple. I have four kids and another one due in June this year and budgeting and healthy food options is always high on the agenda, also time for me to do things I enjoy is right up there too. I thought about the things I like to do and cooking is one of them, writing is another. So my aim is to make something for the lunch boxes each week, something that's healthier and not packed with sugar and salt, and in process getting my me time by enjoying some time to myself in the kitchen and in the blog world.


The first school week for QLD for 2012 is almost upon us. Today is Wednesday and the kids go back on Monday. I don't know who's more excited, them for getting back into their social circles, or me for having the house back to myself for a few hours a day without the constant bickering that 10 and 8 year olds seem to be experts at. The kids are counting down the days and telling me at least 20 times a day how many sleeps they have left, and asking if have I labelled their books and lunch boxes, which we all know will end up being done in the late hours of the night, the last day before school goes back.


I have however stuck to my goal of making some snacks for the school week next week. I've made a slice this week, wrapped them all individually and popped them in the freezer ready to go. I've also been trawling through my magazines and all the websites I can think of to find ideas that are not only healthier options, but freezable and quick to make without hours of fiddling. 


One of our boys is off to kindy this year, it's his first time in care and will be a big learning curve for him. His kindy has really strict rules about lunch box requirements. Minimal rubbish, no 'junk' food, no peanuts, no processed foods in wrappers. Basically fresh fruit, crackers, cheeses, yoghurt (as long as it's in a washable container!) and sandwiches is all that they have on their lists. So whatever I make has to tie in with this as well and can't appear too treat like or will be frowned upon. So this should be a decent challenge! 


First recipe of the week - 
MUESLI SLICE
Ingredients
2 cups natural untoasted muesli
1 cup self raising flour
1/2 cup dried chopped apricots
1/2 cup sultanas
3/4 cup brown sugar
180gm butter
1/4 cup honey
2 eggs, lightly beaten


Method
1. Preheat oven to 180C. Grease a 3cm deep, 16cm x 26cm (base) pan.
2. Combine muesli, flour, dried fruit and sugar in a bowl.
3.Place butter and honey into a microwavable bowl and microwave for 1min or until melted. Add butter mixture and eggs to muesli mixture. Stir until well combined.
4. Spread mixture into prepared pan. Bake for 30-35 minutes, or until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean. Allow to cool for 20mins in pan before turning out and cutting into squares.


Notes

I didn't have apricots, so I used some leftover chopped walnuts and some almond flakes. Would be nice with any dried fruit, apple or crandberries maybe.

I found the mixture to be quite wet when all combined, but it turned a rich golden colour and is fluffy and light. 

The slice itself is a little more cakey than a normal muesli bar, it's not too sweet and as long as it is cool it slices well into small squares. I managed to get 21 bite sized squares out of the pan. It is a little crumbly to eat, but overall seems to be holding together and not just falling apart completely.

I have frozen some slices and thawed them out to see how it handles it, and they are still great, no sogginess and no falling apart.

Taste wise - well no one spat it out and everyone went back for seconds, so that's a good review in my book!

I apologise in advance for my picture taking skills, I promise they will get better as time goes on!