Slices
I have recently discovered freeze dried fruit powders! These provide natural flavour and colour to a product as they are 100 percent fruit. I used strawberry powder in the marshmallow topping of this slice – it gave it a nice strawberry flavour and a hint of pink colour. I buy the “Fresh As” brand from Moore Wilson in Wellington (New …
Pastry
For a while now, I have been pondering the possibility of pastry without all the butter! Once again, ground almonds come to the fore. The oil in the almonds provides the fat without having to add extra oil or butter to the mixture. In addition, the ground almonds provide nutritional value that would not otherwise be present. Because there is …
Cakes
Sometimes a recipe happens because I don’t have the exact ingredient or amount of it that I would like. Such was the case with this Banana Cake. When initially creating the recipe, I decided to start with one cup of mashed banana. To my dismay, the only two ripe bananas that I had, mashed into just ¾ of a cup. In fact, …
Cakes
I have never particularly been a fan of scones. Whether it was me who made them or someone else, they always seemed to be dry and hard! Since gluten-free flours produce a softer baked product, I have been thinking that this could bode well for scones! The result is these Light Almond Scones. They are a slight deviation from traditional scones. …
Biscuits
There was an item on the television news the other night suggesting that the original Anzac Biscuits were in fact gingernuts! It would seem that the biscuits that were made in homes and sent to the soldiers overseas were gingernuts, while the biscuits we know as Anzac Biscuits were “commonly eaten at galas, fetes and other public events such as parades, …
Muffins
With these muffins, I’m trying to stretch out for as long as I can the Easter theme of chocolate! As I continue to trial the use of alternative flours in my recipes, I am learning that one size doesn’t fit all. I discovered some time back that a combination of part brown rice flour and part white rice flour seemed …
Sweets and Desserts
Chocolate and marshmallow seem a good combination for an Easter dessert! For this recipe, I use my Chocolate Almond Slice (a not-so-deep version) for the base and a chocolate meringue for the topping. Because I wanted a strong meringue, I use the Swiss Meringue method. This is where the egg white and sugar are placed in a bowl and heated over …
Cakes
I’m generally not a fan of eating the icing on cakes, but I am partial to cream cheese icing on carrot cake! The downside is that the cake then needs to be kept refrigerated because of the cream cheese. I usually take the cake out of the fridge about half an hour prior to serving as I find it more pleasant …
Cakes
Like my Vanilla Cupcakes, these Chocolate Cupcakes are a gluten-free adaptation of my grandmother’s sponge recipe. The cakes are moist and keep well for several days in an air-tight container. Using standard size baking cups, I usually get 12 cakes from one batch. For a special occasion, I ice the cakes but otherwise I serve them as they are or …
Cakes
Since posting my recipe for Chocolate Almond Slice, I have been pondering the possibility of a cake that contains neither butter nor added oil. The result is this Hazelnut Coffee Cake in which moisture is provided by the oil in the hazelnuts. I should acknowledge my work colleagues who were (probably unsurprisingly!) more than happy to taste test each version of …
