Wednesday 25 September 2013

Breakfast in a ramekin

I think it was last Saturday when I had prepared this breakfast. I'm not sure but it must have been cold on that day. I thought then it would be nice, filling, warm, tasty beginning of lazy day off.

Ingredients for breakfast for 2 :
  • 2 slices of wholemeal toast bread 
  • 2 slices of bacon
  • 2 eggs
  • pinch of salt
  • butter

Slightly grease 2 ramekins. Set aside.

Preheat the oven to 200C. 

Fry the bacon on a frying pan until crisp.

Cut off the crust from the bread slices. Place the bread on the bottom of ramekins.
Then place slice of bacon on each piece of bread. Make a well. Next break an egg into each ramekin. Sprinkle with salt. Place small cuts of butter on top of each egg.


Bake into preheated oven for 15 -20 minutes. Time depends on how you would like to to have you egg done.

Good served with tomatoes and freshly brewed tea or coffee. 

Enjoy !

Tuesday 24 September 2013

Oat, date and honey muffins

At first I thought it might be too sweet. Dates and honey together ? But when I gave it a try I was really happy with the final result. Fresh from the oven muffins were fluffy with crunchy crust, not too sweet. Next day they were more dense and moist but still very tasty. I hope you will enjoy them too. The recipe comes from this website.  

Ingredients for 12 - 14 muffins:
  • 225g flour
  • 1 tsp baking powder
  • 1/2 tsp soda
  • 110g porridge oats + 2 tbsp to sprinkle the muffins
  • 75g sugar
  • 140g dried dates
  • 125 ml canola oil
  • 1 egg
  • 125 ml low fat milk
  • 90g honey
Chop the dates into small chunks. 

Preheat the oven to 180C. Line muffin tins with paper cases. 

Sift the flour, baking powder and soda into a  big bowl. Next add the oats, dates and sugar and mix them well. Set aside.

In separate jug whisk the egg, add the milk, oil and honey. Mix all ingredients together. Pour the mixture into a bowl with dry ones. Mix until just combined.

Spoon the batter into paper cases, up to 3/4 full. Sprinkle with oats. Bake for 15 - 18 minutes in preheated oven. When well risen and golden on top, remove from the oven. Transfer to the wire rack and cool them down.

Enjoy !


Friday 6 September 2013

Peach and almond muffins

Moist, dense and crunchy with almond chunks, topped with juicy peach jam and fresh peaches. That would be the best description of those muffins. Perfect with tea or coffee. 

Ingredients for 12 muffins:
  • 3 big eggs (I had ones with double yolks)
  • 200g sugar
  • almond essence
  • 50g melted butter
  • 200g flour
  • 1 tsp baking powder
  • 1/2 tsp soda
  • 50g ground almonds (mine were very chunky)
  • pinch of salt
  • peaches
  • peach jam
  • almond flakes
Preheat the oven to 200C. Line muffin tin with paper cases.

Melt the butter and set aside to cool down.

Break the eggs, add the sugar and almond essence and whisk them until smooth and creamy.

Sift the flour, baking powder and soda and fold them gently into the eggs. Then gently fold in the almonds and melted butter.

Spoon the batter into paper cases, half full. Spoon one tea spoon of peach jam on top of each muffin. Then place slices of fresh peaches and sprinkle with flakes almonds. 

Bake in preheated oven for 25 minutes until skewer place in the middle comes out clean.

Enjoy !

Wednesday 4 September 2013

Chocolate muffins with apricots

Those muffins look very pretty: dark cake, orange fruit and white icing. Lovely combination of colours I hope you will share my opinion. This is my favorite type of cake, light and fluffy, not too sweet and, thanks to fruits content, little bit sour. The recipe a little bit change by me comes from this website.  I tried to make them healthier so plain flour was replaced by wholemeal one. 

Ingredients for 16 muffins:
  • 200g wholemeal flour
  • 3 tsp baking powder
  • 2 tbsp cocoa powder
  • 100g grated dark chocolate
  • 3 eggs
  • 100g sugar
  • 1 cup of buttermilk
  • 125 ml canola oil
  • 8 fresh apricots
  • almond flakes
Preheat the oven to 180C. Line muffin tin with paper cases.

Grate the chocolate on finely shreds and place them in the bowl. Add the flour, baking powder, cocoa and mix them well. Set aside.

Break the eggs into separate jug add the sugar and whisk until pale and creamy. Add the buttermilk and oil and mix well. Pour this mixture into the dry ingredients bowl. Combine until all ingredients are just moist.

Spoon the batter into muffin cases, half full.
before baking

On top of each muffin place half of apricot, sprinkle with almond flakes. 
 
Bake in  preheated oven 25 - 30 minutes. Until skewer inserted in the middle comes out clean.

When ready remove from the oven and set aside to cool down.

In a meantime prepare the icing.

Incing:
  • 1/4 cup icing sugar
  • 1 tbsp milk
Place all ingredients in small bowl and combine with a spoon or fork until smooth and thick.
Spread the icing on top of each muffin.



 
Enjoy !