The Corkless Mind

Tag: Baking

  • Sweet potato, maple and pecan nut waffles.

    Sweet potato, maple and pecan nut waffles.

    Autumn is a special and magical time of year, the transition from light crisp summery food and weather to a comforting warmth of stews and chunky knits, I find totally irresistible as any winter/autumn baby would! There’s something so satisfying about hearing the crunch of leaves under your feet and feeling the crispness of the cold wind against your face. 
    As you can tell I’m pretty excited for Autumn and the imminent(hopefully rainy) Winter to come! I might have mentioned before that, the Western Cape of South Africa is currently experiencing the worst drought yet, The City of Cape Town has implemented very strict water restrictions to curb the rather high water usage. Currently our dam levels are at a dismal 23% , I urge you to please use water sparingly if you live nearby, and to be smart about how you use water. At the moment my plants are getting watered by my recycled dish water, so I’m expecting a rather soapy tasting fennel, basil and mint 🙂 
    This recipe is a take on a conventional waffle with a twist of course! Having finally purchased an electric waffle machine, the temptation was too much to not put it to immediate use. 
    Sweet potato, maple and pecan waffles. 
    Ingredients: 
    -210g of cake flour 

    -15ml baking powder

    -15ml castor sugar 

    -15ml maple syrup (plus a little extra for roasting the sweet potato) 

    -300ml milk 

    -2 eggs separated 

    -50g melted butter 

    -1 sweet potato cut into chunks 

    -pinch of cinnamon 

    -100g of pecan nuts roughly chopped 
    Method: 

    For the waffle mix, sift the dry ingredients into a bowl then add the sugar. 

    Whisk the milk, the two egg yolks and melted butter together. Add to the dry ingredients, mixing until a smooth consistency is achieved. 

    Beat the egg whites to a soft peak consistency and add folding it into the mixture. Let stand for 30 minutes. 
    Whilst the waffle mix is resting, in a preheated oven at 180 degrees C, cut the sweet potato into chunks and place into a roasting dish and drizzle with maple syrup and a pinch of cinnamon. Place into the oven for 25 minutes until soft and caramelized. Once the waffle mix is done resting. Switch the waffle machine on, then add the cooled down sweet potato chunks( I mashed mine to be able to get them adequately into the waffle mix) add the maple syrup and chopped pecan nuts and gently fold into the batter. Using a ice cream scoop! spoon the batter into each side of the waffle machine, for 3-5 minutes until golden brown or according to the waffle machine instructions. Serve with pecan nuts and ice cream. 

  • Turmeric and lemon muffins

    Turmeric and lemon muffins

    I love baking on weekends, having said so, I haven’t done so in a while. Yesterday, I spotted a recipe from a renowned blogger and someone I admire for her beautiful food photography, the Displaced housewife . This recipe is adapted from her original recipe for the mouthwatering Meyer lemon and Chamomile muffins 
    What drew me to making these delicious looking muffins, were the fact they contained Chamomile. Chamomile being a natural sleep and relaxation aid. On a personal note, in recent years I have been suffering from Insomnia, which makes my polymyalgia worse. I find that moderate exercise and eating healthy seems to help with the symptoms, I don’t care too much for medication and carefully watch what goes into my body.

    A dear aunt of mine, gave me some great advice to drink first thing in the morning, a cup of hot water with a teaspoon of Turmeric. The turmeric is a wonderful anti inflammatory with so many healthy benefits. I’ve only just taken her advice this morning, and will report back to you, if there are any dramatic changes.

    These muffins are so dense and lemony in flavour, I love how the earthiness of the turmeric shines through also picking up on the floral notes of the chamomile.So with that said, I give you turmeric, lemon with a hint of chamomile muffins.


    Ingredients:

    For the Muffins

    -250g granulated sugar

    -2 teaspoons of loose chamomile tea

    -170g canola oil

    -2 large eggs (room temperature)

    -170g buttermilk (room temperature)

    – 50ml milk, room temperature

    -50ml fresh squeezed lemon juice

    -2 tablespoon lemon zest

    – 1 tablespoon of ground turmeric

    -500g of all-purpose flour

    – 2 teaspoon baking powder

    – 1 teaspoon baking soda

    -1/2 teaspoon sea salt

    -Pinch of cinnamon
    For the glaze:

    -1 ½ cup powdered sugar

    -2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

    – 1 tablespoon lemon zest

    -1 tablespoon milk
    Method:
    Preheat oven to 180 degrees C. Place a rack in the top third of the oven. Line a muffin tin with muffin liners or spray with nonstick cooking spray or lightly grease with butter or canola oil. Place the sugar and 2 teaspoons of chamomile tea in a blender( I used my NutriBullet with the grinding blades) and grind until the chamomile is reduced to small flecks.

    In a large bowl whisk together your granulated sugar, vegetable oil, sour cream, milk, lemon juice and eggs until well blended.In a medium bowl whisk together the all-purpose flour, baking powder, baking soda, sea salt, cinnamon, cardamom and nutmeg. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and mix until barely blended.

    Pour the batter into the muffin tray filling until just barely ¾ full. Squeeze some lemon over the top and sprinkle with sugar + cinnamon. Let the muffins sit for 15 minutes before putting in the oven…this will help them get a nice crown. Bake for 15 minutes in the top third of the oven or until a toothpick comes out clean. You want the tops to be puffed up and slightly golden.Let cool in the muffin tin for 10 minutes, then use a butter knife to help get them out to finish cooling on a rack. In a separate bowl, whisk together powdered sugar, lemon juice and milk. Drizzle the glaze over the muffins. In my photos you will notice I added a dash of turmeric to my muffins, I did this for dramatic colour contrast, of course, you don’t have to do this, to avoid a yellow mouth and hands 🙂

    Happy weekend baking!

    Dominique x

  • Light and fluffy Cheese muffins with a sweet marmite glaze

    Light and fluffy Cheese muffins with a sweet marmite glaze

    Returning to our holiday retreat this year was another soul cleansing experience. The West Coast of South Africa offers tranquility and beauty in abundance, one of many reasons we keep going back to the very same place. The guesthouse we stayed at Absolute Beach, is situated on the shore of Stompneusbaai just past St Helena Bay off the West Coast. The co-owners of the guesthouse Marina and Duncan are incredibly hospitable and generously share their wealth of knowledge of where to go and what to do in the surrounding areas. The area is as rural as can get and lucky for us they had a local supermarket further out of town.
     Having only left almost three weeks ago, I’m dreaming of going back soon! What makes this decision that much more easier are the amazing cheese muffins with a sweet marmite glaze that Marina effortlessly whipped up for us at brekkie. She gave me a hint of what was in her recipe, and with that in mind I needed to recreate these fluffy umami morsels. 

    Cheese muffins with a sweet marmite glaze. 
    Ingredients:

    For the muffins

    -375g Self raising flour 

    -125ml milk 

    -125ml olive oil 

    -pinch of dried herbs of your choice 

    -2 eggs lightly beaten 

    -150g grated Gouda cheese 

    -50g grated Grana Padano 
    Sweet marmite glaze

    -1 heaped tablespoon of Marmite 

    -2 tablespoons of water 

    -2tablespoons of golden syrup
    Method: 

    Pre-heat oven to 180 degrees C.

    In a large mixing bowl, add the flour, eggs, olive oil, milk and grated cheese, add half of the Grana Padano to this mixture. With a butter knife, stir the ingredients until just mixed through. In a greased muffin tray, divide the batter into the tray, sprinkle over the rest of the Grana Padano and bake for 20 minutes. Whilst the muffins are baking, mix the glaze ingredients into a small bowl and place in a microwave for 20-30 seconds(this step can be done over the stove in a small saucepan) once the muffins have been cooled, spoon over the glaze. 

    Marmite is definitely an acquired taste, like their advertising campaign suggests “you either love it or you don’t”. A simple marmite toastie is just my kind of quick snack chock full of umami flavour! The muffins don’t quite taste exactly like Marina’s but they are my take on a memory. 

  • Fudgey dark chocolate and tahini brownies. 

    Fudgey dark chocolate and tahini brownies. 

    Inspired by a visit to my new favourite ice cream parlour in the heart of Cape Town I felt compelled to recreate my flavour experience. For the past week all I could think and dream about is their mesmerizing Chocolate Tahini flavour with glorious nutty notes from the tahini paste and an unmistakable velvety smooth texture no ice cream I’ve ever had possesses. Feeling like I’ve been bewitched and in a chocolatey daze, I’ve taken the flavour combination and put my own twist on it. 

    I’ve tried the Lindt dark chocolate studded with toasted sesame seeds and is quite a favourite of mine, but never have I thought to pair chocolate with Tahini. It’s always those flavour pairings that we don’t expect to go together that end up blowing our minds and surprising our tastebuds. I tried making gluten-free chocolate cookies, a Nigella recipe using Buckwheat flour, dark chocolate and I added tahini. The recipe is from the book Simply Nigella, and seems rather interesting because of the toasty, nutty taste the buckwheat lends to the cookie against the tartness of the dark chocolate and the complementing nuttiness of the tahini too. The cookies were okay but didn’t quite get my stamp of approval to make the cut for a blog post( if you know what I mean) 

    The brownies are from a classic standard brownie recipe, of which I have tweaked a bit. 

    Ingredients: 

    -177 ml all purpose flour(I used cake flour as that was what I had on hand) 

    -177ml cocoa powder 

    -1 tablespoon instant coffee powder

    -1/4 teaspoon salt 

    -1/4 teaspoon baking powder

    -120g caster sugar 

    -2 tablespoons of tahini 

    -60ml Greek yogurt(plain yoghurt) 

    -2 tablespoons melted unsalted butter(cooled) 

    -2 beaten eggs 

    -1 teaspoon vanilla paste

    -1 punnet of fresh raspberries. 
    Method: 
    Preheat oven to 180 degrees C. Grease a baking pan and cover in baking parchment. In a bowl, whisk the flour, cocoa, instant coffee powder, baking powder and salt until combined. I used my stand mix for this step, using the flat beater attachment, mix together the yoghurt, sugar, butter, eggs and vanilla until just combined then fold in half of the raspberries. Pour into prepared pan and spread evenly. Add the tahini in blobs and swirl around in the pan. Place remaining raspberries on top press in slightly. Bake for 20-25 minutes until the edges are crisp and the middle is set. 


    * if you don’t have instant coffee powder, add the same amount of granulated coffee to hot water then add at the end of the mixing process of the batter just before adding the raspberries. 

    * Cool the brownies in the pan completely before taking them out to slice. 

    * Lastly serve with an ice cream of your choice or even a quenelle of marscapone for a more indulgent feel. 

    Treat yourself!  

    Dominique.

  • Roasted red grape and rosemary focaccia. 

    Roasted red grape and rosemary focaccia. 

    I’ve been struggling to come up with blog posts lately, mainly suffering from ‘writers block’, which to me is weird as I am immensely passionate about fare and find I can talk about food for hours on end if you pick my brain I will happily engage in conversation about my basic knowledge of food. However there’s just one little problem, you see I’m an introvert, and a rather shy one. But like an onion I have so many layers, if you peel me back… 

    I tend to compose posts and recreate recipes only when inspiration has struck. My kind of Inspiration, could be that instantaneous revelation of how ‘ugly’ distorted veg is hardly ever used these days, or asking myself questions, like “why can’t candy floss be savoury?” Yes, these are indeed the strange yet wondrous questions I ask myself. 

    (Cue the Oprah voice) I Love Bread! and thank god I am not gluten intolerant. I cannot imagine my life, I cannot imagine life in general without the sustenance which is bread. So as an ode to my great love of bread, I recreated a recipe adapted from BBC GoodFood , a no knead focaccia with an interesting twist. 

    The photos were taken yesterday early noon as soon as the bread came out of the oven. I started making the dough Monday evening already to ensure successful proving. The red grapes were really sweet, strangely enough not only did they look like cherries but they had the same sort of sweet taste too. These grapes are great for snacking without all the guilt of crisps or sweets. I’m a notorious snacker and I’m trying to make a real effort to snack healthier these days, more for health reasons than anything else. 
    A tad off topic, this time of year Cape Town gets very busy, the craziness lasts till mid-end of January, I do love that fact that people continue to visit our unique country and city. There are many times I feel incredibly privileged to live around such beauty and authenticity. The crazy traffic on the roads and in the shopping centres is something you learn to tolerate and avoid if you’re lucky, but there’s no place I’d rather be this time of year, than right here in my home city. 
    Dominique x

  • But first coffee…and cake.

    But first coffee…and cake.

    Coffee, for most is what carries us through the day, living from cup to cup a day. I am a coffee and cake enthusiast, thus this recipe is the very best of both worlds. The recipe I gave a go, is one of Nigella Lawson’s and quite frankly stirs up a recollection of a memory. I lived in Centurion, Gauteng for almost 8 years and when it was time to leave and come back home to Cape Town, a long lost friend baked these indulgent coffee cupcakes with the lightest crumb and the most fluffy frosting I just could not compare to any other cake I’ve had. This of course was on the last day that I had bid farewell to a few good friends that I have gathered along the early years of studying a law degree. 

    The baking of the coffee and walnut cake was something of a therapeutic experience. When stressed or life gets a tad overwhelming, I find the best solution is to find the peace I am looking for and that is in my kitchen, my place of refuge.

    This time I stuck to the recipe, with the only addition being the coffee and walnut praline. When baking I don’t stray too far from the original recipe. Measurements are definitely there for a reason, I’ve learnt that the hard way from one too many flop bakes. 

    For the praline I melted 220grams of caster sugar in a non stick pan over a medium to high heat, swirling to fully incorporate. Once caramel brown, take off the heat and pour over coffee beans and chopped walnuts (preferably on a silpat) or on a greased and lined tray, leave to cool completely, then snap and arrange on the cake once the frosting is on. The praline provides height to the aesthetic of the cake and texture to the taste. 

    These are truly wise words below, from a legend. Can you imagine a world without cake? Let alone a party? 
    “A Party without cake is just a meeting” – Julia Child.