I had never thought of making my own hot chocolate mix before. Which is crazy as I love the spiced hot chocolates that come out at Christmas time and have panic-bought loads of packets in the past so that I have enough to take me through January!
This is so easy as to almost not be a recipe. You do need a food processor to make it otherwise the chocolate would be a nightmare to grind finely enough.
Ingredients
150g good-quality 70% cocoa chocolate
125g Green and Blacks cocoa powder
140g granulated sugar
1 1/2 tbsp cinnamon
1 1/2 tbsp pure vanilla extract
1 tsp ground nutmeg
1/2 tsp ground clove
Break up the chocolate into individual squares.
Place all ingredients in a food processor fitted with a metal blade and process until mixture is powdery.
Be careful not to overprocess as the mixture will get hot and begin to melt!
Store in an airtight container for up to 6 months. To turn it into hot chocolate, add 2 tbsp of the mix to a mug of hot milk.
Showing posts with label cinnamon. Show all posts
Showing posts with label cinnamon. Show all posts
Thursday, December 3, 2009
Saturday, November 21, 2009
Sweet spiced pecans
These are incredibly moreish spiced nuts that are a lot cheaper than buying the ready-made honey-roasted nut selections that come out every Christmas. They also make the whole house smell amazing and Christmassy while they are cooking.
You can get big bags of nuts from any health food shop for quite good prices.
Ingredients
500g pecan nuts
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 egg white
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp cinnamon
3/4 tsp cayenne pepper
Preheat oven to 150C
In a large mixing bowl, whisk the egg white until it is foamy but not stiff.
Add sugar, cumin, cayenne pepper and cinnamon and mix until combined. Add pecans to egg-white mixture; stir with rubber spatula until all nuts are coated.
Spread nuts evenly over 2 baking sheets and bake for 20-25 minutes or until the coating is golden brown and dry.
Cool nuts on baking sheets until they are cool enough to break up (as they might have stuck together while baking)
Store in zip-lock bags or tupperware for up to 2 weeks.
You can get big bags of nuts from any health food shop for quite good prices.
Ingredients
500g pecan nuts
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 egg white
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp cinnamon
3/4 tsp cayenne pepper
Preheat oven to 150C
In a large mixing bowl, whisk the egg white until it is foamy but not stiff.
Add sugar, cumin, cayenne pepper and cinnamon and mix until combined. Add pecans to egg-white mixture; stir with rubber spatula until all nuts are coated.
Spread nuts evenly over 2 baking sheets and bake for 20-25 minutes or until the coating is golden brown and dry.
Cool nuts on baking sheets until they are cool enough to break up (as they might have stuck together while baking)
Store in zip-lock bags or tupperware for up to 2 weeks.
Wednesday, October 14, 2009
Stem Ginger Cake
This is the recipe that I used for the wedding cake for Joe's manager.
It's rich, moist and is actually a lot better after being kept in an airtight container for a couple of days. It's great served plain as a teatime cake but even better iced with Maple Syrup Buttercream for a more indulgent treat!
Ingredients
270g self-raising flour
115g butter
115g dark muscavado sugar
115g treacle
115g golden syrup
250ml full-fat milk
85g preserved stem ginger, grated
1 egg
1 tsp bicarb of soda
1 tbsp ground ginger
2 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp mixed spice
Preheat the oven to 160C.
Mix the flour, bicarb and all the spices in a large mixing bowl. Add the butter and rub it into the flour with your fingertips until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs.
Heat the sugars, treacle, syrup and milk in a medium saucepan, stirring until the sugar has dissolved. Turn up the heat and bring the mixture to just below boiling point.
Add the shredded stem ginger to the flour mixture, then pour in the liquid mixture, beating well to avoid any lumps.
Add the egg and stir in to combine. The mixture will be the consisitency of a thick pancake batter.
Pour this into a buttered and lined 18cm round cake tin and bake for 50 minutes-1 hour, or until a skewer pushed into the centre of the cake comes out fairly clean.
Leave to cool completely in tin before turning cake out.
It's rich, moist and is actually a lot better after being kept in an airtight container for a couple of days. It's great served plain as a teatime cake but even better iced with Maple Syrup Buttercream for a more indulgent treat!
Ingredients
270g self-raising flour
115g butter
115g dark muscavado sugar
115g treacle
115g golden syrup
250ml full-fat milk
85g preserved stem ginger, grated
1 egg
1 tsp bicarb of soda
1 tbsp ground ginger
2 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp mixed spice
Preheat the oven to 160C.
Mix the flour, bicarb and all the spices in a large mixing bowl. Add the butter and rub it into the flour with your fingertips until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs.
Heat the sugars, treacle, syrup and milk in a medium saucepan, stirring until the sugar has dissolved. Turn up the heat and bring the mixture to just below boiling point.
Add the shredded stem ginger to the flour mixture, then pour in the liquid mixture, beating well to avoid any lumps.
Add the egg and stir in to combine. The mixture will be the consisitency of a thick pancake batter.
Pour this into a buttered and lined 18cm round cake tin and bake for 50 minutes-1 hour, or until a skewer pushed into the centre of the cake comes out fairly clean.
Leave to cool completely in tin before turning cake out.
Sunday, August 16, 2009
Raisin-Oat Cookies
These are Joe's favourite cookies. He requests them a lot! They are chewy, spicy, easy to adapt and consistently delicious.
Hype over with, onto the recipe!
Ingredients
1/2 cup butter, at room temperature
1/2 cup light brown sugar (or any brown sugar will work fine)
1/4 cup white sugar
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla extract
3/4 cup plain flour
1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground mixed spice
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp salt
1 + 1/2 cups porridge oats
1/2 cup raisins
Preheat the oven to 175C (350F)
In a bowl, cream together the butter, brown sugar, white sugar, egg, and vanilla until smooth.
Combine the flour, baking soda, spices, and salt; stir into the sugar mixture. Stir in the oats and raisins. Drop by rounded teaspoonfuls onto ungreased baking sheets
Bake 10 to 12 minutes until light golden.
The cookies will look like they are underdone but this is necessary for them to be chewy.
Leave to cool on the baking sheet for a little while before removing them and be careful when you do as they'll be kind of crumbly.
Recipe makes about 15 cookies.
Hype over with, onto the recipe!
Ingredients
1/2 cup butter, at room temperature
1/2 cup light brown sugar (or any brown sugar will work fine)
1/4 cup white sugar
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla extract
3/4 cup plain flour
1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground mixed spice
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp salt
1 + 1/2 cups porridge oats
1/2 cup raisins
Preheat the oven to 175C (350F)
In a bowl, cream together the butter, brown sugar, white sugar, egg, and vanilla until smooth.
Combine the flour, baking soda, spices, and salt; stir into the sugar mixture. Stir in the oats and raisins. Drop by rounded teaspoonfuls onto ungreased baking sheets
Bake 10 to 12 minutes until light golden.
The cookies will look like they are underdone but this is necessary for them to be chewy.
Leave to cool on the baking sheet for a little while before removing them and be careful when you do as they'll be kind of crumbly.
Recipe makes about 15 cookies.
Thursday, July 23, 2009
Carrot Cake
This carrot cake (originally from Baking Bites) is amazing. It's easy to make, moist, nicely spiced and just everything you could ever hope for in a carrot cake.
I should know, as carrot cake has always been one of my favourites. It also has enough substance and flavour that you don't need icing but I will publish a recipe for simple cream cheese icing that works really well with this cake.
The recipe is quite flexible if you are missing a couple of ingredients - I've made it with different fruit juice depending on what I've got in the fridge and it's always been tasty.
Ingredients
1 1/2 cups demerara sugar
2 large eggs
1/4 cup butter, melted and left to cool
1/4 cup fresh orange juice
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp mixed spice
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/4 tsp salt
1 1/2 cups plain flour
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
2 - 3 medium carrots, grated
Preheat the oven to 175C.
In a large mixing bowl, beat together the sugar and eggs with a handwhisk until smooth and the mixture has changed to a lighter colour.
Stir in the melted and cooled butter, orange juice, vanilla, spices and salt. When it's all combined, sift in the flour and bicarbonate of soda. Stir gently until you have a smooth batter with no visible flour.
Stir in the grated carrot and make sure that it's well combined with the rest of the mixture.
Scrape the cake mix into a greased standard loaf tin (but this cake can be baked in a square baking pan or even muffin cases)1
Bake in the oven for 40 minutes, until a skewer inserted in the middle of the cake comes away clean. Be careful when opening the oven to check on the cake as it can sink in the middle!
Remove from the tin and cool.
1. If you are using this recipe for muffins, then you will only need to bake them for 25-30 minutes.
I should know, as carrot cake has always been one of my favourites. It also has enough substance and flavour that you don't need icing but I will publish a recipe for simple cream cheese icing that works really well with this cake.
The recipe is quite flexible if you are missing a couple of ingredients - I've made it with different fruit juice depending on what I've got in the fridge and it's always been tasty.
Ingredients
1 1/2 cups demerara sugar
2 large eggs
1/4 cup butter, melted and left to cool
1/4 cup fresh orange juice
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp mixed spice
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/4 tsp salt
1 1/2 cups plain flour
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
2 - 3 medium carrots, grated
Preheat the oven to 175C.
In a large mixing bowl, beat together the sugar and eggs with a handwhisk until smooth and the mixture has changed to a lighter colour.
Stir in the melted and cooled butter, orange juice, vanilla, spices and salt. When it's all combined, sift in the flour and bicarbonate of soda. Stir gently until you have a smooth batter with no visible flour.
Stir in the grated carrot and make sure that it's well combined with the rest of the mixture.
Scrape the cake mix into a greased standard loaf tin (but this cake can be baked in a square baking pan or even muffin cases)1
Bake in the oven for 40 minutes, until a skewer inserted in the middle of the cake comes away clean. Be careful when opening the oven to check on the cake as it can sink in the middle!
Remove from the tin and cool.
1. If you are using this recipe for muffins, then you will only need to bake them for 25-30 minutes.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Posts
