Tag: party food

How to make home made cinnamon buns (using a bread maker)

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Home made cinnamon buns – so yummy!!

So I’m really happy with how my home-made Linseed Bread is turning out each time and it occurred to me that maybe I should take the plunge and try to make something sweet. We can’t buy anything from bakeries because of my daughter’s soy allergy so I need to make everything myself.

I went looking for a Cinnamon Bun recipe that would allow the bread-maker to hopefully do some of the heavy lifting when it came to kneading. I found a recipe that looked promising and checked that it had been well reviewed (since the ingredient order seemed a little counter-intuitive). I decided to give it a shot and tweaked it a bit since there’s only two of us and I didn’t want a massive batch.  They were really delicious and really easy to tweak as well in terms of filling and glaze.

Ingredients

  • 1 1/2 tsp baker’s yeast
  • 2c flour
  • 1 1/2T sugar
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 3T rice bran oil (or 1/4c melted butter)
  • 1 egg
  • 1/2c milk (or almond milk)
  • 2T water

Filling

  • 1/2c soft brown sugar
  • 2 tsp ground cinnamon
  • 2T softened rice bran spread (or butter, or margarine)
  • Optional: sultanas or crushed walnuts.

Glaze

  • 1/4c icing sugar
  • 1/2c brown sugar
  • Couple drops vanilla essence
  • 2 tsps milk

There are lots of different options for glazes! This is a simple one but you could also do a cream cheese frosting, or a pink raspberry icing, or a maple glaze. The glaze will add a lot of flavour and sweetness so for a party you could easily make a big batch of these and then vary them by using a couple of glazes.

Allergies: soy free, dairy free*, peanut free, tree nut free.

Directions

  1. Dry ingredients first: put yeast in the bottom of the bread machine; then flour, sugar and salt.
  2. Mix neutral oil/melted butter, beaten egg, milk and water. Pour onto dry ingredients in the bread machine and then turn on the dough setting.
  3. When dough is done, put it onto a lightly floured surface. Knead in enough flour to make it easy to handle.
  4. Use floured rolling pin to roll out dough into a rectangular shape.
  5. Make up the filling and spread over entire surface of dough with a spoon or pastry brush (this is a good opportunity to let little hands help!). You can sprinkle on optional extras like sultanas or crushed walnuts if desired.
  6. Roll up the dough into a thick snake.
  7. Cut the dough (like making large sausage rolls) and place them in a lined baking tray.
  8. Cover with a tea towel and leave in a warm place until double in size. Depending on your weather this could take anywhere from 25 mins to 2 hours!
  9. Bake in a 180°C oven for about 25 minutes until light brown on top.
    • My oven was already heated to 220’C from baking bread and these went in straight afterwards and cooked in 15 mins so do keep an eye on them!
  10. When done, make glaze and swirl over buns.

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How to make quick & easy fried gnocchi (a.k.a. rapid roastini)

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Pan fried quick & easy gnocchi – so much yum!

So I was trying to make gnocchi for the first time this afternoon and decided to make a mini batch that excluded egg. I could tell (from the many blogs / tips & tricks / recipes that I’d read prior) that this batch would not make good gnocchi. It was much denser then the first batch that I’d made. On the other hand, being a frugal mumma means experimenting in the kitchen so I proceeded to roll it out and make little gnocchi. I was pretty sure that they were just the right texture to pan fry and they turned out as a delicious gluten-free snack that Miss 2 thought was delicious!

Ingredients

  • 1/2c potato flakes
  • 1 tsp parmesan powder
  • 1/4-1/2 tsp smoked garlic salt
  • 1/4 – 1/2 tsp onion powder
  • 1/4c boiling water
  • 1/4c plain flour

Note: This makes a snack for one adult (to share between adult & toddler) just multiple the ingredients by the number of serves you want to make.

Allergies: gluten free, soy free, egg free, peanut free, tree nut free. Can be made dairy free.

Directions

  1. Put the potato flakes, parmesan, garlic salt, and onion powder in a bowl. Add approx. 1/4c boiling water and stir.
  2. Add flour and stir / knead to combine into a thick dough. The mixture should be smooth, thick, and not sticky. Don’t over knead.
  3. Roll mixture into 2 balls (or more depending on if you’ve doubled / tripled the recipe etc.).
  4. Using a floured bench, roll each ball out into thumb width ‘wriggly worms’ (as Miss 2 deems them).
  5. Chop them into 1/2″ – 3/4″ pieces.
  6. If you have a gnocchi board then you can use that to do the ridges. I don’t and used the alternative method which is to press and roll them off a fork and indent the back with your thumb.
  7. Heat a frying pan and cover the bottom in a thin layer of oil (I use rice bran). Once the oil is hot drop in the gnocchi.
  8. It only takes 1-2 mins to fry them on each side (you can turn using silicon tongs or a spatula).
  9. Place them on a paper towel and lightly pat off the oil.
  10. Serve with chili mayo or your choice of dips.

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Chocolate Irish Potato Cake (Vegan & Allergy Friendly)

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CHOCOLATE IRISH POTATO CAKE (VEGAN & ALLERGY FRIENDLY)
CHOCOLATE IRISH POTATO CAKE (VEGAN & ALLERGY FRIENDLY)

 

Ingredients

  • 4T ground linseed/flaxseed + 6T hot water
    • OR use 4 eggs.
  • 1c hot unseasoned mashed potato (instant is fine)
    • 1c of potato flakes + approx. 3/4c boiling water makes 1c mashed potato.
  • 1c hot water
  • 3/4c rice bran oil
    • OR 3/4c softened butter
  • 1 1/2c sugar
  • 1 tsp vanilla
  • 2c flour (or gluten free baking mix)
  • 2 1/4 tsp Baking Powder
  • 1/2 tsp Baking Soda
  • 1/4 tsp salt
  • 1 1/4c cocoa
  • Optional: 1 tsp cinnamon

Allergies: soy free, dairy free, egg free, peanut free, tree nut free, gluten free*.

Note: I’ve included ingredient options so that you can choose whether to use butter & eggs; I made mine without. It’s worth having a recipe like this even if you don’t have allergies. It’s great if you’ve run out of other ingredients (or would rather use the eggs for breakfast!), it’s cost effective, it’s allergy friendly to share with others, and you’re getting extra nutrients + fibre from the linseed. The other fabulous thing about linseed as an egg replacement is that it makes cakes and breads beautifully moist.

My inspiration for this recipe came from finding potato flakes in a bulk foods store and wondering what I could do with them. I gather from the internet that in some countries (like the USA) it’s reasonably common to find potato flakes or instant mashed potato at the supermarket; elsewhere, have a hunt in bulk food and health food stores.

Directions

Note: This is a thick batter and you’ll get the smoothest batter by using a food processor. You can also use a big mixing bowl and electric hand mixer but in that case you’ll want to go a bit slower (i.e. egg, beat, egg, beat, etc. and alternate the potato & dry ingredients) to blend & aerate it.

  1. Pre-heat oven to 180’C.
  2. Prepare your egg replacement. Use a bowl or mug, put in 4T ground linseed and 6T hot water. Mix and then leave it, for 5-10 mins, until needed (this gives the seeds time to absorb the water) it turns into a stretchy liquid that’s a bit thicker than egg.
  3. Mix up your mashed potato. You can use a bowl, put in 1c of potato flakes, and then slowly add 3/4 – 1 cup of boiling water while stirring until smooth. It turns into mashed potato very quickly.
  4. Slowly add 1c of hot water to the mashed potato stirring carefully to create a smooth liquid.
  5. In the food processor, blend the oil, sugar, and vanilla until smooth.
  6. Add the linseed (egg-replacement) and blend.
  7. Add the liquidy potato.
  8. Add the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cocoa, cinnamon and blend till smooth.
  9. Pour into a silicon cake tin.
  10. Cook for 25 min and check (a knife is likely to come out sticky); cook for another 15 mins and check (a knife is now likely to come out clean). Turn the oven off and leave the cake inside for another 10 minutes. Pull cake out and place on bench to cool.
  11. Dust with icing sugar.

This comes out as a beautifully moist, rich, chocolatey cake.

Alternatives:

  • If anyone successfully plays around with coconut flour/sugar, let me know. I wonder if it would turn out like a gluten-free Bounty Bar cake.
  • If you like coffee consider adding 2T dark roasted instant coffee when adding the dry ingredients.
  • For birthdays or special occasions, try splitting the batter between two cake tins. Layer the cakes with cherry, plum, or raspberry jam in between and a thick chocolate frosting on top.
  • For another allergy friendly chocolate cake, check out this Depression-Era Chocolate cake.

Smashed avocado (easy avocado dip)

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This is an easy dip to make that is great to eat outside in the garden paired with home made crackers.

Ingredients

  • 1 large avocado
  • 1T olive oil
  • 1T lemon juice
  • Salt to taste

Note: This is an easy recipe to scale to the number of people you’re serving. If you’re using a small avocado then change the olive oil & lemon juice from a Tablespoon (15ml) to a dessert spoon (10ml).

Allergies: soy free, gluten free, dairy free, egg free, nut free.

Directions

  1. Scoop out the avocado with a spoon.
  2. Smash up with a fork.
  3. Mix in olive oil, lemon juice, and salt.

 

Allergies: soy free, dairy free, egg free, peanut free.

Home made crackers

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This is a super simple recipe for making your own crackers at home and easy enough to have your toddler help in the kitchen! They’re great for snacks or to use with dip (I love this easy smashed avocado dip!). You can also customise the flavouring and the shapes which makes it a handy recipe to keep in mind for parties. Why not make dinosaur crackers with “molten magma” salsa, or bunny crackers with spiced carrot dip etc. You can also use this recipe to make home made pizza.

Ingredients

  • 1 1/4c flour
  • 1 1/2 tsp sea salt
  • 60ml olive oil
  • 100 ml water

Flavourings

  • 1 tsp dried mixed herbs
  • dash of cracked black pepper

Note: The original recipe called for 1tsp cracked black pepper and no herbs but I changed it for my toddler. It’s an easy recipe to try different flavourings with. You could try herbs and dried garlic, dried onion & grated cheese, dried herbs & marigold petals (they are edible and provide beautiful colouring), chilli & a dash of lime juice etc.

Directions

  1. Combine and mix all the ingredients.
  2. Turn dough onto a floured surface and knead for one minute until smooth.
  3. Cover plastic wrap and refridgerate for 30 mins.
  4. Roll out to 3/4cm thick and cut with a sharp knife. (A toddler friendly wooden bamboo knife also works!).
  5. Use a palette knife (fingers and the bamboo knife also work!) to lift onto oven tray. Prick with a fork to prevent puffing (they really do puff up otherwise!).
  6. Bake at 160’C for 10-12 mins.
    • My ancient oven isn’t very reliable so I turned the tray around after 10 minutes and had them in there for about another 6 mins. They do go crunchier as they cool and dry as well.
  7. Cool on wire rack.

Note: These can be stored for up to a month in an air-tight container. Uncooked dough can be frozen.

Allergies: soy free, dairy free, egg free, peanut free.

FOLLOW UP:

I’ve made these crackers a couple more times experimenting with flavouring ingredients. So far I’ve found them best to eat in the first couple of days. I suspect that I need to cook them for longer at a lower temperature to get them to keep in a  container and be dry and crispy.

Cheese & garlic: 1 1/2 tsp smoked garlic salt, 1 tsp garlic granules, 1/2c grated cheese, dash of cumin seeds. I loved these, my toddler not so much. I suspect that’s because I like cumin and she doesn’t; they do have a distinct flavour so only add a pinch (or omit) if you’re not sure you like them. Alternatively, you could swap the cumin out for a 1/2 tsp mustard powder.

dav

Tomato & Onion: 1T dried onion, 2 tsp tomato paste, pinch sumac, dash paprika, 1/2tsp mixed herbs.

My toddler really liked these; I think I’d prefer this flavour mix when using this recipe to make a pizza base. Would be interesting to try it with finely chopped sundried tomato & fresh basil although it might need to be eaten same day (it might not keep as well with the added wet ingredients).

dav

Crazy One-Dish Chocolate Cake!

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I love this chocolate cake recipe (you can also use it to make cupcakes) because it’s allergy friendly, vegan friendly, and toddler friendly (everything gets mixed and cooked in one dish!). There’s no eggs, dairy, soy, or nuts, and it can be made using gluten-free flour.

I found the recipe thanks to Happy Mum Happy Child and apparently it’s based on a Depression-era recipe when dairy was hard to get hold of.

INGREDIENTS :

  • 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour (or gluten free plain flour)
  • 3 tablespoon cocoa powder
  • 1 cup sugar
  • 1 tsp baking soda
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1 teaspoon white vinegar
  • 5 tablespoons oil (I use rice-bran oil)
  • 1 cup cold coffee (or use water)
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla essence

DIRECTIONS:
Preheat oven to 190 degrees Celsius. Combine all dry ingredients in a greased 20 x 20cm baking pan (that’s right, in the dish you’re baking it in).
Make 3 depressions (holes) in the dry ingredients. You want there to be two small ones, and one large one.
Pour the vinegar into one of the small holes, and the vanilla into the other small hole.
Add the vegetable oil to the large one.
Pour the cold coffee (or water) over the entire thing and mix until smooth and combined (I used a wooden spoon).
Bake for 25-30 minutes, or until a skewer comes out clean.
Once cooled, ice or lather in caramel syrup and enjoy with whipped cream.

 

Allergens: soy free, dairy free, nut free, egg free, can be made gluten free (replace the flour with gf flour).