Baked

Hello all! Hope your week is off to a good start.

I've been baking a little more these days, and trying to make things a little on the healthier side while I'm at it. I went off the healthy rails with this one, but every now and then isn't going to hurt. Right? I played around with a basic coffee cake, that I've made forever, by adding orange, almonds and cardamom. It's pretty delicious. Love the light cardamom flavour. 

Orange & Almond Coffee Cake w/ Cardamom - 

To make the streusel topping/filling:

1 1/2 cups brown sugar

2 teaspoons cinnamon

6 tablespoons chilled butter, diced

1 1/2 cups chopped almonds

Mix together the brown sugar and cinnamon. Blend the chilled butter in with your fingers until small pebble size clumps form. Add the almonds and stir to combine. Cover and set aside in refrigerator. 

To make the cake:

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda

3/4 cup granulated sugar 

3/4 cup butter, softened

3 large eggs

1-2 teaspoons orange rind

2 1/2 teaspoons ground cardamom

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 1/2 cups low fat* sour cream 

1/4 cup fresh orange juice

* this is my attempt at taking a little of the fat out of it ;) 

Preheat oven to 350f/180c. Grease two 6"x6"x2" pans or one 13"x9"x2" pan and line with parchment paper for easy removal. 

In a large bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder and baking soda. In another large bowl, beat the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, then add orange rind, ground cardamom, and vanilla. Stir in the flour, a little at a time, alternately with the sour cream.  Add the orange juice stir to combine. If using two small pans (like I did), spread about a quarter of the batter in each pan. Sprinkle about a quarter of the streusel over top each. Drop another half of the remaining batter on top of each cake and sprinkle with remaining streusel. 

Bake for about 25 minutes, then check to make sure topping isn't getting too browned. If you think it is, place aluminum foil, loosely, on top of each pan. Bake for about another 20-25 minutes (total of about 45-50 minutes) until a skewer, inserted in centre of cakes, comes out clean. Allow cake to cool in pans, on wire rack, for at least 15 minutes before removing. Enjoy! 

If you try making this cake, let me know what you think. You may find it hard to leave alone! 

Have a great day.

janis

Baked

How's your week going? I've had a couple of crack-of-dawn photo shoots rescheduled, as the weather just didn't cooperate....but not until we were already at the shoot location.  I made these muffins since I had suddenly had some spare time ;)  I've had rosemary and orange in a salad dressing, and it turns out this combo works really well in a basic cornmeal muffin. Love it.

Orange & Rosemary Cornmeal Muffins - makes 10-12 

1 cup cornmeal

1 cup all purpose flour (I used 1 cup gluten free flour*)

1/4 cup raw sugar

2 teaspoons baking powder

pinch of salt

1/4 cup vegetable oil

1 cup buttermilk

2 large eggs

2 tablespoons orange zest

1 tablespoon chopped fresh rosemary

* mix together 6 cups brown rice flour, 2 cups potato starch, 1 cup tapioca flour. Store in the fridge in a jar.

Preheat oven to 375f. Line a 12 cup muffin tin with paper liners and set aside. 

In a large bowl, whisk together cornmeal, flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt. In another bowl, whisk together buttermilk, oil, and eggs. Pour into flour mixture and stir to combine. Fold in the orange zest and rosemary. 

Pour batter into baking cups and bake for about 25 minutes, or until a skewer inserted in centre, comes out clean. Transfer to a wire rack to cool a little before eating. 

If you try them out, let me know what you think. 

Have a nice day! Back soon.

Janis

 

Baked

It's so nice to see sunshine this morning. Hello Monday! I hope you all had a great weekend. 

These coconut biscuits are the perfect weekend morning treat, and not too bad for you either. It's especially perfect when you happen to have all the ingredients in the cupboard. ;) I love the light coconut flavour, but the orange butter pushes them over the top. So. Good. 

Coconut Biscuits with Orange Butter - makes 9-12 biscuits

3/4 cup brown rice flour

1/4 cup coconut flour 

1/2 cup tapioca starch

2 tablespoons arrowroot starch or corn starch (I used arrowroot)

2 teaspoons sugar

1 1/2 teaspoons guar gum

1 tablespoon baking powder

pinch of salt

1 vanilla bean (seeds only), slit down the length, seeds scraped out.

1/3 cup unsalted butter, melted

1 cup coconut milk

2 eggs, beaten

Preheat oven to 375f /190c. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside. 

In a medium bowl, whisk together flours, tapioca starch, arrowroot, sugar, guar gum, baking powder and salt. Whisk until well combined. Make a well in centre of dry ingredients and add vanilla, eggs, butter and coconut milk. The dough should be fairly wet and sticky. 

Drop spoonfuls of dough on baking sheet, about 1 inch apart. I made mine a little larger this time, so I got 9 from this batch. 

Bake for about 15-20 minutes, depending on size, until golden brown on bottom and lightly coloured on top. Allow to cool a little, on a wire rack. Serve warm with orange butter. Mmmm. 

Orange Butter

about 1/4 to 1/3 cup of unsalted butter, softened

zest of one large orange (best to use organic when using zest)

about 1 tablespoon honey

Mix all ingredients together in a small bowl. That's it! Easy. 

That's it for now! Have a lovely day. 

Back soon,

Janis

Baked

How was your weekend? Hope it was a fun one.

I'm slowly getting festive around here, so I baked the first of my Christmassy baking. Orange Almond Stars are a German (one half of my heritage) recipe that I've had for years. I can't recall where I found it, but I have changed it up a bit. These are addictive, and not quite as sweet as they sound ;)

Orange Almond Stars - makes about 48 using a 1.5 inch star cutter

3 egg yolks
2/3 cup berry/caster sugar
2 cups finely ground almond or almond meal (I always buy almond meal, as I can't grind it that finely)
Zest of one large orange, finely grated
1 egg beaten, for glaze

Icing:
150g icing/confectioner's sugar
1-2 tablespoons water or milk (I used 2 tablespoons water because I prefer it a little runny)
Top with candied orange peel

Preheat oven to 350f/180c. Line baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside.
In a large bowl, mix together the egg yolks and sugar with an electric whisk for about one minute or until light and fluffy. Stir in the almond meal and zest to make a firm dough.

Sprinkle icing sugar on your work surface, and rolling pin, and roll out dough. Cut out stars (or any shape), prick with a fork, and transfer to baking sheet. Brush egg on each star, and bake for about 8 minutes, or until a light golden brown. Cool completely on a wire rack.

To make icing, place icing sugar in a small bowl, add water and stir until smooth. Top with a few tiny bits of candied orange peel. Place iced cookies on a wire rack, and allow to harden. If you'd like the recipe for candied orange peel, let me know!

That's it for today! Have a lovely day.

Back soon,
Janis

Baked

Well, that's a wrap for our labour day long weekend. Hope you all had a fun one! We've ended ours with a baby shower (for my new niece, Alice), and some really good cupcakes. I had to make sure the remaining cupcakes went with anyone but me. I cannot be trusted. The combo of almond and orange is just too much.

Almond Cupcakes with Orange Glaze - makes about 48 mini cakes

1/2 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
1/2 teaspoon almond extract
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup almond meal (finely ground almonds)
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup milk

Orange Glaze

2 cups icing sugar
2 tablespoons milk
1/2 teaspoon orange extract
Food colouring

To make cupcakes:
Preheat oven to 350f/180c.
In a large bowl, beat butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs one at a time, then add almond extract. In another bowl, whisk together flour, almond meal, baking powder and salt - stir into butter mixture alternately with milk, making 3 additions of dry ingredients and 2 of milk. Spoon batter into paper lined cupcake tin.
Bake for about 20 minutes, or until skewer, inserted in centre of cupcake, comes out clean. Transfer to cooling rack to cool completely before icing.

To make glaze:
In a small bowl, mix together all ingredients. You want this to be quite runny, not a thick icing. Spread over tops of cupcakes, and eat immediately!

These are so easy to make, and a recipe I use often! Again, almond and orange. Mmmm.

It's so late in the day, so I hope your Monday was a good one!

Back soon.
janis

Baked

Did you have a good weekend? Hope so! If you are in the Vancouver area, did you thoroughly enjoy our little blip of summer? I'm sure there is more to come ;)

I baked some healthy muffins over the weekend. I just call them "Morning Muffins", as I don't want to call them Raspberry, Brown Rice, Almond, and Orange muffins. When I first tried these out, I thought they might have a have real rice flavour, which I didn't want, but they don't. The orange flavour comes through the most - they're really delicious, especially warm.

Morning Muffins - makes one dozen

1 cup cake and pastry flour
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup toasted, finely ground almonds
1 cup short grain brown rice
1 1/2 tablespoons orange zest
1 cup plain yogurt, at room temperature
1 egg, at room temperature
1/4 cup unsalted butter, melted
1/4 cup packed light brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup raspberries, fresh or frozen

Preheat oven to 375f.
Whisk together the ground almonds, flours, baking powder, baking soda, rice, salt and orange zest. In another bowl, whisk together the yogurt, egg, butter, sugar and vanilla. Pour over the dry ingredients, and stir just to combine. Do not over mix. Fold in raspberries.

Line a 12 hole cupcake tin with paper cups, and fill to 3/4 full with batter. Bake in centre of oven for 15-18 minutes, or until golden on top and a skewer, inserted in centre, comes out clean.
Transfer muffins to a wire rack and serve warm.