Almost forgot to come and update the blog this week, feeling very tired all of a sudden and I think the reality of #5 being here in just 13 weeks is starting to hit home! I'm really hoping that I can keep this up with a newborn as well as the cooking because at the moment I'm actually really enjoying making something different each week, and it gives the kids a chance to get involved in baking something for themselves too.
This week I had to bake two cakes, one for the kids and one for hubby, he wouldn't let me hear the end of it if I didn't make him one too!
This cake is the easiest recipe I have come across for banana cake and it always turns out moist and full of flavour.
BANANA BREAD
INGREDIENTS
160gm white sugar
60gm margarine
2 eggs
3 medium bananas (or 2 large)
1/4 cup milk
2 tsp vanilla essence
225gm Plain Flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp baking powder
METHOD
1. Preheat oven to 180C. Spray one loaf pan (see notes) with non stick cooking spray.
2. In a medium bowl beat the butter and sugar for 10mins until pale and creamy.
3. In a separate bowl mash the bananas, add the eggs, milk, vanilla essence and stir to combine. Add to butter mixture and beat for a few minutes until well blended.
4. Sift the flour, baking soda, salt and baking powder into the banana mixture. Stir to combine.
5. Pour into pan and bake for 60min. Cake is done when a skewer inserted comes out clean.
6. Rest the pan on it's side for 10mins before turning cake out onto a wire rack to finish cooling.
NOTES
The pan size is a big factor here. I have a smaller size pan which measures around 8.5in(L) x 3in(W) x 2.5in(D). I cook my cake for 65mins and it comes out perfectly every time. I tried to cook it in a larger 9x5x3 inch loaf pan and at the 60min mark it was too far gone. I would suggest testing it at 50mins, and giving it 5mins each time until its done.
You can add a variety of things to this bread, I have tried chocolate chips, walnuts, flaked almonds on top, coconut or oats throughout and sprinkled on top, chopped dried apricots, sultanas, cranberries etc etc etc I really just like the original, but the variations are good if you want to change things up.
I've never had to use baking paper in the pan, it always comes away easily and has never stuck.
When cooled, cut into slices and individually wrap for school lunches, or snacks for yourself. With the slightly smaller loaf size I got 9 decent slices, plus the two end pieces.
It freezes well and holds it shape, doesn't dry out when defrosted and stays nice and moist without going soggy. I recommend freezing it in slices because if its anything like this house one loaf will do one afternoon tea with no leftovers!
I realised last night at 7pm that I hadn't made the school snacks, so grabbed my latest foodie mag and had a quick skim through to see if there was anything I could make. Luckily for me this month they had a section of 5 recipes specifically for lunch boxes that are freezer friendly, so I'm going to try them all out eventually.
Settled on the Cheese and Herb Scones this week because I know I can make scones without screwing them up and I was really too stuffed to put too much effort into anything else!
Nice simple recipe and one that I hope you'll enjoy.
CHEESE AND HERB SCONES
Ingredients
3 1/2 cups of Self Raising Flour
1tbsp caster sugar
1 tsp salt
60gm butter, chopped
2tbsp dried mixed herbs
1tsp paprika
1 tbsp mustard powder
1 cup grated tasty cheese
1 1/2 cups of milk
extra cheese for on top
extra milk for brushing
Method
1. Preheat oven to 220C/200C fan forced. Grease a 18cmx28cm base slice pan.
2. Sift flour in large bowl, add sugar and salt. Add chopped butter and use fingertips to rub it in until it resembles breadcrumbs.
3. Add herbs and cheese to flour mixture.
4. Make a well in the centre and add milk. Use a butter knife to mix through until it forms a dough.
5. Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface. Knead lightly until it comes together and then roll out to a 3cm thickness.
6. Use a 6cm cutter to cut rounds out of the dough, roll and repeat. Place them in the tray just touching each other, you should get 12 to the pan.
7. Brush scones with extra milk, sprinkle finely grated cheese over the top. Bake for 15-20mins or until light and golden and hollow when tapped.
8. Turn out onto a wire rack immediately after cooking, and separate while hot.
Notes
Scones are best done with minimal handling. Use your fingertips to rub the butter in, and try not to let the heat from your hands melt the butter too much. Fairy fingers is what my mum says!
Same goes for the kneading process, keep it to a bare minimum so the dough doesn't become stretchy and tough.
Variations - you can add whatever herbs you like, fresh or dried doesn't matter. Chopped fresh chives always go well with cheese scones, add a bit of nutmeg to bring out the flavour a bit more.
I also sprinkled the top with parmesan cheese as well as the tasty. It doesn't matter if the grated cheese goes between the scones in the pan as they puff up and the cheese helps them stick together. You could add more cheese to the mix if you wanted as well.
If you wanted to sneak more vegies in there, you could add a bit of grated carrot too.
Reviews
Scones always freeze and defrost well, and while they are served best warm and with loads of butter, these are tasty enough to be eaten on their own straight out of the lunchbox.
These scones are really quick to make, it took me literally 10mins from start to pan and that was with my two youngest 'helping' me by eating all the cheese when my back was turned, and all the other helpful things a 4 and 2 year old do while baking!
This week I decided to fall back on a family favourite, the Chocolate Weetbix slice. This recipe was originally found in my high school Home Ec cooking book and is never fail! I have made a few adaptations to it over the years, and like to think that my version is better than the original ;) but it is one of those recipes that takes all of 5mins to throw together and always tastes good whatever you do with it.
I have also had a chat with my sons kindy about the appropriateness of his home baked snacks and they have provided me with a list of all the 'acceptable' lunch box ideas that they are happy with. There is no room at all for baked goods, they seem to have a stance that if it's baked at home it a 'treat' and should be eaten in the afternoon after kindy. Never mind the actual ingredients, sugar, fat and salt content that is in the home cooked snacks, it's all about appearances and they are being real stick in the muds about the whole endeavour. So, I am waving my little white flag in surrender and will just focus on things that I can put in the school lunch boxes and the kindy with their ridiculous warfare against common sense can just jump off a bridge!
So here we go...
CHOCOLATE WEETBIX SLICE
Ingredients
4 weetbix
1 cup plain flour
1 cup coconut
1 cup sugar
3tbsp cocoa
1 cup sultanas
120gm butter, melted
1/3 cup milk
Method
1. Preheat oven to 180C, spray a square slice tin with cooking spray.
2. Crush the weetbix into a bowl, add flour, coconut, sugar, cocoa and sultanas. Mix to combine.
3.Add butter and milk, mix until it all comes together.
4. Press into tin, use the back of a spoon to make sure it's all even.
5. Bake for 20min, allow to cool in tin for 20min and then transfer to fridge. Cut into small squares.
Notes
You can cut back on the sugar if it's too sweet, I've already cut back on it from the original and this is a nice level of sweetness for us.
The mixture should be quite moist when you put it in the pan, add an extra tablespoon of milk if it's just not coming together, or seems quite dry.
You can substitute the milk for an egg, I've made it both ways and prefer the no egg option.
You can use baking paper to line the tray if wanted, I've never had problems with it sticking to the paper, but I've also found that it comes out the tray easily enough without it.
Toppings can vary. The original recipe calls for a chocolate icing, which consists of 2cups icing sugar, 1tbsp cocoa and 1tbsp milk. It goes on runny but sets hard in the fridge. I think with that topping on it the slice is way too sweet for my taste, but if you have a sweet tooth, or just want to enjoy the devilish side of life, you'll certainly enjoy it! I also had some leftover icing from a cake mix that would do the job too. Those kinds of toppings probably wouldn't do too well in the lunch box with the heat of the day, you'll see in the pic that I have just used sprinkles and they went on just before I put it in the oven. Just press them in with the back of the spoon so they don't fall off when cooked and make a mess while eating.
The slice freezes well and defrosts with no problems, no sogginess and without drying out too much. The end result of this recipe is a quite moist slice, that is lovely and a bit brownie like while eaten warm, but firms up nicely once cooled. Did I mention eating it warm? Beware if you try it this way, if you're anything like me you'll have eaten half the pan in the blink of an eye and need to make another.
Variations, there's just so much you can add! Chopped dried apricots, or any dried fruit instead of sultanas, you can throw a handful of rice bubbles or cornflakes into it, press flaked almonds into the top before baking, put chopped walnuts through it, add some crushed up chocolate chip cookies, or chocolate drops. It's really up to your imagination and the recipe is hardy enough that you can play around with ingredients and it always tastes good. I would recommend doing the base recipe first and getting a feel for the texture of the mixture and making sure that if you do change things around that the mix isn't too dry before baking.
This is really a simple recipe that the kids can make as well, so if you feel like a week off, set them up with the ingredients and sit back and relax!
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