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Dinosaur Eggs (or Easter Eggs)

Dinosaur Easter Eggs
Marbled Easter Eggs

My children love having dinosaur eggs (or dragon eggs)  for lunch, but these can make really pretty Easter eggs too – ideal for lunch boxes or breakfast around Easter, and they couldn’t be easier to make.Dinosaur Eggs Easter Eggs Boil eggs in whichever way you prefer.

I fill the Thermomix® bowl to half way through the internal steamer basket, place the eggs inside, then boil at Varoma temp for 14 minutes (9-11 should do it for soft boiled, if you start with cold water, but for these I prefer hard boiled).

In the meantime, mix a few drops of food colouring in a few tablespoons of water. If you use commercial food colouring you may need more colour, if you use confectioners grade, you need just one or two.Dinosaur Eggs Easter Eggs

Once the eggs are boiled, run cold water over them so that they are touchable, then very gently crack the shell all the way around. Don’t crack it too hard, you don’t want the shell to come off yet.Dinosaur Easter Eggs

Roll the egg in the food colouring till it is well coated, then leave for 5-10 minutes.Dinosaur Eggs Easter Eggs

Very gently peel the shell off. If you peel the membrane off, most of the dark colouring will come off too, but if you’ve left it long enough, it should be fine. It’s just easier to peel if you get hold of the thin membrane and pull the shell off.

Dinosaur Eggs Easter Eggs

You should be left with a colourful cracked egg.

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Quick Pancake Mix Recipe

Pancake Mix

Through all the milestones of life – birth, breastfeeding, parenting choices, weight management, relationship rise and decline – I try to remain non-judgemental and realise that everyone has their own path to walk, but every year, around this time (early February) my inner judge and jury come out in full force when I walk through the supermarkets and see ‘pancake mix’ sold in single use plastic bottles.

I’m sorry. I really am. I can’t put my judgemental face away right now.

Our local supermarket has a huge display of pancake mix today. It’s £1 for a bottle that makes 6 pancakes. SIX.

The ingredients are: Wheat Flour, Sugar, Palm Oil, Whey Powder (Milk), Dextrose, Dried Egg Yolk, Salt, and you’ll need to add oil for cooking.

Yay for the unnecessary deforestation. Not to mention the plastic that ends up in landfill.

(See, I told you this makes me all judgey! )

If you were to, oh, I don’t know, make your own pancake mix your ingredients would be flour, eggs, milk, salt and a bit of oil. Then you mix it together. My three year old can do it!

And to make six pancakes? Your ingredients – assuming you don’t go for caged hen eggs or the cheapest possible flour – will cost you the grand sum total of 27p. A little over 1/4 the cost of those ‘convenient’ little bottles. If you’re going all out luxury and putting two eggs in the batter, you’re still looking at 35p for six pancakes. pancakes

The only time I can imagine justifying buying pancake mix is if you’re hiking, carrying your week’s food with you and you wanted to make pancakes one morning, on an open fire, high up in the mountains. And even then I’m not convinced.

Okay. I’m going to step off my pedestal and give you the pancake recipe I’ve been making since I was a child, since my mom took us high up into the mountains (by car) to make pancakes on a camping stove in the snow.

Some pancake recipes call for one egg, some for two. I like doing two with savoury pancakes as it makes them a bit thicker, and sturdier, and better for holding something like ham and cheese or chicken mayo. One egg is fine for holding sugar and cinnamon or chocolate spread or similar light fillings. Or, hmmm… bananas, cream and caramel.

The recipe below is for 6 pancakes which is generally enough for the three of us. You can double or triple or x100 it without much effort – just increase the mixing time.

If you’re not sure how to cook a pancake, the best way of learning is seeing, so have a look at these youtube videos!pancake mix

Quick Pancake Recipe
 
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Author:
Serves: 6
Ingredients
  • 100g plain flour
  • 1 or 2 eggs
  • 300 or 280g milk (depending on how many eggs you use)
  • 10g (1tbs) vegetable oil
  • a pinch of salt
Fillings
  • Cinnamon, sugar and lemon juice to taste
Instructions
  1. Add all the ingredients into a bowl and whisk. It's easier if you use a whisk or an electric beater, but even a fork will do it eventually. Mix till it's all combined and you have a runny, smooth, lump free batter.
  2. If you're using a Thermomix®, mix for 10 seconds/speed 5
  3. Turn the stove up to a medium high heat, and pour into a frying pan enough batter to cover the base. I use a standard sized soup ladle, about half full for each pancake.
  4. Let it fry for a minute or so, till the edges start to brown, then use a spatula or flip over and cook the other side for about 30 seconds
  5. Tip the pancake onto a plate and sprinkle cinnamon, sugar and lemon juice over
  6. Repeat till you've used up all the batter
TIPS:
  1. Having added oil to the batter, you shouldn't have to add any to the pan, but pans differ, so if the batter sticks add a dash of oil.
  2. I use brown sugar because I prefer it, but it's also really nice with castor sugar
  3. If you really don't know how to cook pancakes, there are hundreds of videos on youtube that can help you.

 

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Almond Biscuits With Fondant Icing

Cookies, or biscuits, if you will, are so synonymous with Christmas to me. My mom used to do a huge bake i the beginning of December somewhere, and I remember a lot of cookies through the month, always stored in old fashioned cake tins. That was always fun.

I love this recipe because it’s a little different to the ‘usual’ butter biscuits, with the addition of almond extract. You can try it with rum extract too.

Star shaped biscuits

The white fondant may need rolling out on a clean surface with a sprinkling of icing sugar, and left to set it’ll provide a lovely soft, pillowy counter point to the crunchy biscuits. I love these! My kids like decorating them with silver balls pressed into the surface, but I just think of broken teeth!

stars

Even though you use the same shapes for cutting out the fondant in the baking and moving of the biscuits they may change shape a little, so use your fingers to ‘smooth out’ the edges of the fondant to fit perfectly over the biscuits.

Almond Biscuits With Fondant Icing
 
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Author:
Recipe type: Biscuits
Cuisine: Bakery
Ingredients
  • 230g Butter
  • 340g Sugar
  • 6 cups Plain Flour (780g)
  • 6 Eggs
  • 1 tablespoon Baking Powder
  • 1 tablespoon Vanilla Extract
  • 1 tablespoon Almond Extract
For the Icing Sugar
  • 140g butter
  • 280g icing sugar
  • 1-2 tbsp milk
Instructions
  1. Add the butter and sugar to a food processor and mix till it is light and fluffy
  2. Add the rest of the ingredients and stir till combined and a soft dough forms
  3. Place in the fridge for 1 hour, heat the oven to 180C, then roll out on a well floured surface
  4. Cut out shapes and move to an oven tray then back for 10 - 12 minutes until they are golden brown
  5. Meanwhile, role out some fondant and use the same cutters to cut matching shapes from the fondant. Set aside.
  6. Once the biscuits have cooled, mix the butter, icing sugar and milk together, and spread generously over the biscuits
  7. Top with the fondant shapes shaping them to fit on the biscuits
  8. Place gently in an airtight container and allow to set
  9. They should keep well for 1 - 2 weeks
Thermomix® Instructions
  1. Place the butterfly whisk into the Thermomix® bowl and add the butter and sugar 3 minutes/speed 4. The butter should be light in colour and fluffy
  2. Remove the butterfly and add the rest of the ingredients. Mix together 30 seconds/speed 5
  3. Empty out onto cling film and refrigerate for at least an hour to make the dough easier to work with
  4. Remove from fridge, roll out the dough to about half an inch thick and cut into shapes
  5. Transfer onto a baking tray and continue until all the dough is used up
  6. Bake for 10—12 minutes at 180C till golden brown
  7. Store in an airtight container

A Very Thermie ChristmasA Very Thermie Christmas has this and 50 other recipes for all your Thermomix® Christmas needs. With everything from snacks to meals, finger foods to festive drinks and DIY gifts A Very Thermie Christmas has your Christmas covered.  Just £8.99 (excl VAT in EU) this printable PDF can be yours in minutes.

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Chocolate Cranberry Muffins (Egg-Free)

Chocolate Cranberry Muffins

I’ve been making muffins a lot lately, because they’re a really easy way to fill the kids up when they’re hungry thirty-seven million times.a.day. They are pretty quick to make while I’m making breakfast, and then they can snack for the rest of the morning. Of course these have too much sugar for that to be a sustainable idea, but we’re calling it a Christmas treat.

These are really only egg-free because I ran out, but the banana binds it together. If you want to use egg, substitute the banana for two eggs.

These have dried cranberries in, but you can substitute that as you wish – raisins or choc chips, both work well.

With the banana in these do have a little bit of a banana taste, but chocolate and banana work well anyway.Chocolate Cranberry Muffins

Chocolate Cranberry Muffins (Egg-Free)
 
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Author:
Recipe type: Breakfast
Cuisine: Breakfast, Snacks
Serves: 12
Ingredients
  • 280g self-raising flour
  • 30g cocoa powder
  • ½ tsp baking powder
  • 100g brown sugar
  • 70g olive oil
  • 1 banana
  • 200g milk
  • handful of dried cranberries - more or less depending on taste
Instructions
  1. Preheat the oven to 180C
  2. Add all the ingredients to the Thermomix® bowl, except the cranberries
  3. Mix speed 4/ 60 seconds
  4. Add the cranberries
  5. Scoop out into 12 large or 36 small muffin cases and bake for 10 - 20 minutes, depending on the size of the muffins.
  6. Find the largest muffin and stick a knife into it. If it comes out clean, it's ready.

 

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Vegan Chocolate Cake, Not Vegan Buttercream And Vegan Chocolate Glaze

We aren’t vegan as you can tell by the creamy and beautiful buttercream or chocolate that decorate this cake, but the cake itself is vegan, and beyond being a really tasty treat, it’s also a useful recipe to have to hand when you don’t have eggs, which often happens in my life.

So, this cake is vegan, the chocolates aren’t and the buttercream isn’t. But there’s a lovely topping that you can use if you’re particularly after a vegan cake too – I’ll include that in the recipe.

As for the Bambi shapes, they are moulds from the Disney Cakes and Sweets range from Eaglemoss. We subscribed to this a couple of years back and now have 79 issues filling up my shelves, and a ton of baking goodies too. Ameli’s birthday party last year was a Princess Party, where we used some of the supplies from the Disney Cakes & Sweets magazines, and obviously this Bambi, owl, rabbit and little birds are from that too. It’s a really fantastic magazine to subscribe to, and along with fantastic quality bakeware and silicone moulds there are step by step instructions and recipes for every Disney character you could imagine. It’s something else. You can find out more about what’s available in the Disney Cakes & Sweets Magazine subscription by clicking here.

Did you know? 

You could also pick up this Special Edition Bambi & Friends issue for £9.99 by clicking here.

 

Vegan Chocolate CakeNow, on to the cake. These characters use 3 standard slabs of chocolate. You could get away with two and just make them a bit thinner. I used two dark and one milk, melted together (I use a Thermomix®, 90C, 3 mins, speed 2, but you can use a double boiler).

For this particular cake I also bought the flowers, and my 3 year old called it a ‘forest cake’. When a grown-up friend at our party said ‘Oh, they’re even resting on the grass’ I was very pleased that my marbled green fondant icing, with the bits of ‘soil’ towards the bottom actually translated as such!

Last year I made a similar cake for a spring party, and I added toadstools, flowers and other Disney Cakes & Sweets foresty themed buttons and it looked really pretty. (If you ignore the actual cake baking skills!)

Easy Vegan Chocolate Cake
 
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The vinegar and baking powder cause a reaction so you need get the cake into the hot oven as soon as these two ingredients are mixed, so start with the dry ingredients. In the images above, I have made three batches of the recipe below.
Author:
Recipe type: Cakes,
Cuisine: Dessert, Cakes, Vegan
Serves: 1 cake
Ingredients
  • 160g (1¼ cups) self raising flour
  • 160g (1 cup) sugar
  • 40g (1/3 cup) cocoa powder (I recommend this one)
  • ½ tsp salt
  • 190g (1 cup) warm water
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract (I recommend this one)
  • 60g (1/3 cup) vegetable oil
  • 1 tsp distilled white or apple cider vinegar
  • 1 tsp baking soda/bicarbonate of soda
Instructions
Regular Instructions
  1. Preheat the oven to 180C.
  2. Oil or prepare your baking tin.
  3. In a bowl, mix all the ingredients, adding the baking powder and vinegar last.
  4. Pour into an ovenproof dish, and put in the centre of a hot oven.
  5. Bake at 180C for about 30 mins.
  6. Cool completely before icing.
Thermomix® Instructions
  1. Preheat the oven to 180C.
  2. Oil or prepare your baking tin.
  3. Add all but the last two ingredients listed to the bowl, and mix speed 4, 5 seconds.
  4. Add the vinegar and baking powder and mix speed 1, 5 seconds.
  5. Pour into an ovenproof dish, and put in the centre of a hot oven.
  6. Bake at 180C for about 30 mins.
  7. Cool completely before icing.

For my cake I made a buttercream icing, and topped with fondant. My mother used to make the best buttercream in the world. Here’s her recipe, adapted to the Thermomix®, but you can use any electric beater for the job – just focus more on the appearance than the timing.

I like to use a beautiful rich yellow salted butter for this, as it cuts the sweetness a little.

Buttercream Icing/Chocolate Buttercream Icing
 
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Author:
Serves: 400g
Ingredients
  • 200g salted butter
  • 200g icing sugar
  • 1 tsp vanilla essence
  • 30g cocoa powder (I recommend this one) (optional)
  • Optional extra: milk
Instructions
  1. Add the butterfly to the Thermomix®
  2. Add the butter to the bowl and whisk speed 3, 2 minutes till the butter is white and fluffy looking. Remove the butterfly.
  3. Add the icing sugar and vanilla essence and whisk speed 3, 1 minute.
  4. For a chocolate buttercream, add the cocoa powder and whisk again for 20 seconds, speed 5 or whenever it's all mixed through.
  5. If the mixture is too dry add a TEASPOON of milk at a time till you get it to the consistency you require.

To stick to the vegan roots of this vegan chocolate cake you can make a delicious chocolate glaze instead.
Bambi Summer Cake - Vegan Chocolate Cake
 
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Author:
Ingredients
Instructions
Regular Instructions
  1. On the stove top, place all the ingredients in a pot on a low heat and stir all the while till it melts.
  2. Pour over cake and leave to cool.
Thermomix® Instructions
  1. Place all the ingredients except the vanilla in the Thermomix® bowl.
  2. Cook at 90C for 2-3 minutes checking that the sugar has all melted.
  3. Add the vanilla and whizz for 2 seconds on speed 4, then pour over cake.
  4. Leave to cool.

I hope you enjoy this delicious cake and it’s multiple variations on decorations. And remember to have a look at Disney Cakes & Sweets magazine too!

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Three Delicious Frozen Yoghurt Recipes

Nectarine and flat peach frozen yoghurt

It’s an ice-cream time of the year, and my kids seem to want some every single day at the moment – one of those side effects of living in a sea side town too: whenever we go to the beach, they think they’re in for a treat. It’s hard to say no too, when all around us holiday-makers are enjoying one of the rich and creamy Isle of Wight ice creams.

I decided it was time to break out the ice lollies again, and get some yoghurt made up. My girls are perfectly happy with frozen yoghurt as ‘ice cream’ so it works out well for all of us – they could even have them for breakfast.

I have these NUK ice lollies that I use for the kids because they take about two tablespoons of yoghurt, which makes a perfectly sized ice lolly. After one, they’re satisfied, making it an all round healthier treat than anything from a box or even a normally bigger than they they can eat soft serve.

The flavours are forgiving – you can pretty much do anything you like, but here are some of our favourites.

Mint & Chocolate Chip is always a good flavour combination, you can add cacao or cocoa to make it a chocolate flavoured frozen yoghurt, but even without that, it’s tasty, and by the time the fro-yo has frozen, the mint permeates through. Delicious. A few hits of choc-chips throughout and there’s nothing not to love.

Mint and choc chip frozen yoghurtSee how good these look? But they’re only two tablespoons worth of yoghurt and yet sufficient to end a craving.

I thought the mint and chocolate might settle at the bottom, but was pleasantly surprised that it didn’t.

Mint Chocolate Chip Froyo
 
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5g of mint leaves is a lot - on a TM31 it doesn't even register - hence the ingredients say up to 5g. It's a pretty forgiving recipe, so if you need to add a bit more or less of any ingredient, it won't cause any problems.
Author:
Recipe type: Dessert, Ice Cream, Frozen Yoghurt, Dairy
Serves: 330g
Ingredients
Instructions
Regular Instructions
  1. g Mint leaves equals a large handful, roughly.
  2. Crush the mint leaves and add to a bowl.
  3. Add the chocolate chips and the yoghurt and mix well.
  4. Transfer into icepop moulds or into a shallow dish, wait till it's frozen, then serve.
Thermomix® Instructions
  1. Add up to 5g mint leaves to the Thermomix® bowl and mix speed 5/10seconds.
  2. Add the butterfly, the chocolate chips and the yoghurt and mix 30 seconds, speed 3, scraping down the sides if necessary.
  3. Transfer into icepop moulds or into a shallow dish, wait till it's frozen, then serve.

Saturn Peach Fro-yo

These flat peaches were incredibly juicy. The flavour from them was exceptional, but the problem with that is that they have a higher water content, which makes them freeze a little more ‘icy’ rather than ‘creamy’ which is what you’d get from a higher fat content in the yoghurt. In a ice pop it (like in the moulds above) it doesn’t really make much of a difference, but if you were hoping for a cone-style scoop it needs a longer thaw time.

Nectarine and Flat Peach Frozen Yoghurt

The recipe for a hard fruit – apples, hard nectarines, and anything else that you would normally have to bake first – is the same as for a soft fruit, with the difference that you’d have to sauté the hard fruit first.

While honey makes the frozen yoghurt sweeter, especially if you’ve opted for natural yoghurt, it also helps emulsify it a little.

Hard Fruit Frozen Yoghurt Recipes
 
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My nectarines were still hard even though the skin was going wrinkly. I decided to saute them for a few minutes in some honey, which made all the difference. This works for all hard fruits, like apples.
Author:
Recipe type: Dessert, Yoghurt, Frozen Yoghurt
Serves: 400g
Ingredients
  • 3 Hard Nectarines (or other fruit)
  • 1tbs (15g) Honey
  • 300g Natural Yoghurt
Instructions
Regular Instructions
  1. Chop the nectarines roughly, making sure to remove the pip.
  2. Place in a pot on the stove with the honey and saute for 5 - 10 mins until it's soft.
  3. If you want the fruit chunky, leave it as is, but if you want it smoother, mash or purée the fruit.
  4. Add the yoghurt and stir to combine.
  5. Transfer into icepop moulds or into a shallow dish, wait till it's frozen.
  6. You'll need to leave the fro-yo for a few minutes to soften up before serving.
Thermomix® Instructions
  1. Add the nectarines to the Thermomix®, making sure to remove the pip.
  2. Add the honey and sauté for 3 mins/ Speed 2/ Varoma until it's soft.
  3. If you want the fruit chunky, leave it as is, but if you want it smoother, mix Speed 5/30 seconds.
  4. Add the yoghurt and the butterfly and stir to combine (speed 3/20 seconds)
  5. Transfer into icepop moulds or into a shallow dish, wait till it's frozen.
  6. You'll need to leave the fro-yo for a few minutes to soften up before serving.

We serve these in one of three ways:

  1. Either in an ice lolly like in the first picture
  2. Or in a flat container you can scoop from. We live the chocolate covered waffles for serving too.
  3. Or mix two flavours together by pouring the first ‘batch’ into a container and putting it in the freezer for 10 minutes while preparing the second batch, then pouring it over or creating a swirl. It’s a really tasty way to enjoy two flavours together.

Soft Fruit Frozen Yoghurt Recipes
 
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It's hard to give exact figures here, since the recipe is very forgiving, and since the point of it is to use up extra fruit and avoid wastage. Cook time is freezing time, but obviously depends on the size of your container.
Author:
Recipe type: Dessert, Ice Cream, Frozen Yoghurt
Serves: 400g
Ingredients
  • 3 Soft Fruits (the amount of fruit doesn't 'really' matter. Add what you have.)
  • 1tbs (15g) Honey
  • 300g Natural Yoghurt
Instructions
Regular Instructions
  1. Chop the nectarines roughly, making sure to remove the pip.
  2. Place in a pot on the stove with the honey and saute for 5 - 10 mins until it's soft.
  3. If you want the fruit chunky, leave it as is, but if you want it smoother, mash or purée the fruit.
  4. Add the yoghurt and stir to combine.
  5. Transfer into icepop moulds or into a shallow dish, wait till it's frozen.
  6. You'll need to leave the fro-yo for a few minutes to soften up before serving.
Thermomix® Instructions
  1. Add the fruit to the Thermomix®, making sure to remove any pips. Chop speed 4/10 seconds.
  2. If it's very juicy, reduce some of the juice.
  3. If you want the fruit chunky, leave it as is, but if you want it smoother, mix Speed 5/30 seconds.
  4. Add the yoghurt and the butterfly and stir to combine (speed 3/20 seconds)
  5. Transfer into icepop moulds or into a shallow dish, wait till it's frozen.
  6. You'll need to leave the fro-yo for a few minutes to soften up before serving if you want it scoop-able.

Play around with the flavours and see what your favourite combinations are!

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Watermelon And Rosewater Granita Recipe

Granita, despite my children calling it ice cream, is actually a semi-frozen dessert made from sugar, water and various flavourings. It is related to sorbet and Italian ice; but in Sicily it has a coarser, more crystalline texture – a bit like this recipe below. Watermelon & Rosewater Granita

Watermelon is a childhood memory for me. It reminds me of hot days, living in a hot, hot place, and my mother deciding to to make dinner, because who wants to cook when it’s 42C outside?! It reminds me of sweet sticky nectar running down my arms, of getting hosed down in the garden. It’s a good memory, and while we now live on – quite literally – the opposite side of the world, and the watermelons are round and have softer skins, but I love that I’m able to pass this same memory on to my own little girls now too. Watermelon & Rosewater Granita

When there’s left over watermelon – and sometimes there is – I like to make a watermelon and rose water granita. It keeps the watermelon going for a few days more and it is just so refreshing. 

I hope you’ll love it as much as I do!

Watermelon & Rosewater Granita
 
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Granita is light, easy and refreshing!
Author:
Recipe type: Summer, Ice Cream, Dessert
Cuisine: Italian
Serves: 800g
Ingredients
  • 80g caster sugar
  • 125 ml water
  • 600g watermelon
  • 1 teaspoon rose water
Instructions
Regular Instructions
  1. Add 80g caster sugar to a saucepan with 125ml water and bring it to boil. Allow it to boil for 3 minutes, then put aside to cool down completely.
  2. Liquidise the watermelon - a couple of minutes in a food processor should do it - and add the rose water. Place in the fridge.
  3. Once the sugar syrup is cool, mix the two together and place in the freezer. I use a metal bowl.
  4. Remove from the freezer every 30 mins to stir, making sure to break up all the lumps. After 90 minutes and three stirs, the granita should be ready to eat.
  5. Decorate with washed rose petals if you have any, and enjoy.
Thermomix® Instructions
  1. Add 80g sugar to the Thermomix® and pulse 3 or 4 times.
  2. Add water and boil Varoma/Speed ⅔ mins.
  3. Put aside to cool down completely.
  4. Add the watermelon to the Thermomix® and add the rose water, then speed 5/2 mins.
  5. Once the sugar syrup is cool, mix the two together and place in the freezer. I use the ThermoServer.
  6. Remove from the freezer every 30 mins to stir, making sure to break up all the lumps. After 90 minutes and three stirs, the granita should be ready to eat.
  7. Decorate with washed rose petals if you have any, and enjoy.

 

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Nutella Banana Muffin Recipe

Nutella Banana Cupcakes

It’s nutella and banana. Do you need any more convincing? I have a banana bread recipe that I love and use often, but sometime a little something different doesn’t hurt!

Nutella Banana Cupcakes

I would recommend using deeper muffin pans than the ones I used for these, as being able to cover the nutella completely is a bit more ideal, but it’s not the end of the world if you don’t.

Leaving the chocolate exposed will give it a crunch top layer, covering it will give you more oozy, yummy chocolatey goodness.

Nutella Banana MuffinsNow, I’m saying use Nutella here, because it’s a name most people recognise, but you can of course substitute for other chocolate spread, including a home made one. 

These are really delicious, moist and tasty. I hope you enjoy them too!

Nutella Banana Muffin
 
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Adjust the Nutella, or home made Nutella, for more or less chocolatey centres.
Author:
Recipe type: Treats, Snacks, Deserts
Serves: 12
Ingredients
  • 180g self raising flour
  • ½ teaspoon cinnamon
  • 100g sugar
  • 80g oil (not olive)
  • 2 eggs
  • 2 bananas
  • 100g milk
  • 120g Nutella
Instructions
  1. Preheat oven to 180C
  2. Prepare your muffin pans
  3. Add all the ingredients except Nutella and mix at speed 5 for 10 - 15 seconds to make sure it's all blended.
  4. Spoon into muffin cases, and drop a little less than a full tablespoon of Nutella into each muffin case.
  5. Bake for 30 minutes to 45 mins, sticking a skewer in every 10 minutes after 20 minutes till it comes out clean.The size of your muffin tray is going to determine how long these takes, hence the variable time.
  6. Remove from muffin trays onto a wire rack, and leave to cool.

 

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Balsamic Onion Pastries Recipe

Oh, I love puff pastry. I know I could make it, but I really love having a few boxes of it in the fridge because it makes the whole ‘quick dinner’ thing really easy.

Balsamic Onion Pastries

To make these pastries, cut the raw product into squares, then once the filling is in take the corners and fold them to the centre. Don’t press them down just leave them loose and pop some filling on top. That way the filling is inside and outside. Lovely.

Balsamic Onion Pastries Recipe
 
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A pretty forgiving recipe, and while beginning to end it'll take about an hour, your hands on time is very little, especially if you're using a bought or premade puff pastry.
Author:
Recipe type: Snack, Pastry
Serves: 8
Ingredients
  • 1 Portion of puff pastry
  • 600 grams onions
  • 20 grams olive oil
  • 40 grams balsamic vinegar
  • 75 grams brown sugar
Instructions
  1. Roll out your pastry into a large square
  2. Cut into 8 squares
  3. Peel the onions and chop 3 seconds speed 5
  4. Add olive oil, balsamic vinegar and brown sugar
  5. Cook for 30 minutes, Varoma Speed 1 with measuring cup off.
  6. Spoon onto the pastry squares and fold the corners in towards each other. Add a tablespoon of the caramelised onion to the centre of the folded pastry.
  7. Bake for 20-30 minutes at 180C

 

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Leftover Couscous Balls Or Patties

We often eat couscous as an alternative to pasta. While I know I do better on a grain free diet, life circumstances dictate that grains make up a big part of our diet – they just cost less than the better-f0r-me stuff! Sad but true. So, we eat a lot of grains. One of the fantastic things about couscous is that you can make completely different meals by adapting the sauce, seasoning and add-ons in your couscous salad.

Sometimes we also end up with a left over couscous – not enough for another meal, but too much to bin in good conscience. So I tried frying it arancini-style. Because the leftover couscous was already so flavourful, I wasn’t all that fussed with additions, but we could have put mozzarella balls or even flavoured cream cheese in the centre. I didn’t miss it though.

Fried Couscous Balls

Obviously these aren’t perfectly round as sticky rice arancini would be, but it really makes no difference to the flavour. They make great little patties too.

The couscous on the outside forms a crispy layer outside the softer insides, so it provides a great variety of texture from the standard couscous salad too.

Fried Couscous Balls This recipe is just a starting point. You can adapt it to pretty much anything. Be careful with wet ingredients that it doesn’t get too wet and fall apart – start with less and add more as needed. Also, you don’t need to use egg, but it’s more fragile without the egg.

Another delicious flavour combination is couscous with shredded chicken in tomato and basil sauce. Add feta to the centre of the balls, and follow the instructions for cooking!

Tip: Plan to make a few more than you need as some will break and fall apart. They still taste great, and can be eaten anyway, but not ideal if you’re looking for presentation brownie-points.

Fried Couscous Balls Or Patties
 
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I use a basic formula when I make couscous salad, and no two are ever the same. It's quite simple: 1 part meat, equal amounts vegetables, and herbs & spices to taste. For the leftovers, I simply mix in an egg. Done. It couldn't really be simpler! It's hard to give an exact recipe though, as that kind of negates the point of using the leftovers - just play around with it. It's worth it!
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Serves: 10 balls
Ingredients
For the couscous
  • 300g dry couscous
  • 200g pancetta or diced bacon, cooked
  • 2 spring onion
  • 1 clove garlic
  • 10g (2 tsp) Ras el hanout or other favourite spice mix. (Chinese 5 spices, BBQ etc)
For the balls/patties
  • 300g prepared couscous (roughly)
  • 1 egg, whisked
Instructions
If making couscous especially for this recipe
  1. Bring 500g water (2 cups in a kettle) or stock to the boil.
  2. Switch off the heat and stir in 300g couscous and spices.
  3. Add a tablespoon of butter if you used a water based stock. If you used a meat stock you are unlikely to need the extra fat.
  4. Chop cooked bacon, spring onions, garlic finely. (10 seconds, speed 4 in Thermomix®) and add to couscous.
  5. Leave to cool.
If using leftover couscous
  1. Once cool, whisk an egg and add to the mixture to help it stick together. You don't have to use an egg, but they are a lot more fragile without it.
  2. Form either balls or patties in the palm of your hand.
  3. Meanwhile heat a frying pan to medium heat with a small amount of oil. Add the balls to the frying pan and leave for 2 - 3 minutes until they become golden and crispy. Turn over, remembering that they are more fragile than e.g. meatballs. The browner and crisper the outer layer, the better they will hold together. Everything in the patties that needs to be cooked, like the pancetta or bacon, is already cooked so you're just trying to crisp it up.
  4. Once golden on all sides, remove to a serving dish and serve immediately as a snack or as a side dish to meat, salad or similar.

 

 

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