Cinnamon Twirls

I made these for Dan for his birthday, he has a thing about cinnamon swirls!

I hope you like them Xx

For the dough i used my breadmaker and then cooked them in the oven once i'd added all the yum stuff.

Ingredients

1 cup + 1 Tbls water
1 tsp salt
3 tsp sugar
4 cups plain flour
2 eggs
3 Tbsp of butter softened
2 1/2 tsp yeast

Filling
3 Tbsp melted butter
1/3 cup brown sugar
1 Tbsp cinnamon

Add ingredients to breadmaker pan in order listed, put it onto the dough setting. Once the dough is ready, roll into a rectangle approx 30cm x 40cm (don't forget to put flour down on your board otherwise it could be a bit of a sticky situation). Brush dough with softened butter then sprinkle sugar and cinnamon over the top so it's all covered, i also added in some chopped dates for extra treatiness.

Starting with one of the ends that is longest roll dough up into a log. Once rolled cut into roughly 16 pieces. Place into greased baking tin/cake tin/something with edges (i actually used muffin tins but they got a bit cramped in there) press down gently on them, so that all their sides are touching.

Cover with a tea towel and leave in a warm place to rise for 20 minutes.

Bake at 180 for about 20-25 mins. They should look golden and puffy and wonderful. Let them cool on a cooling rack and then if you like you can glaze them for extra wow.

Glaze
1 cup icing sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla essence
1-2 Tbsp milk

Mix together until smooth, drizzle over the top! Xx

cupcakes!!

I stumbled upon these carrot pistachio citrus cupcakes on coconut and quinoa and wanted to share them with you. Brandon and i were gushing over them last night.... i'm definately going to make some on the weekend! X

I am a proud New Zealander

Can i just say that i am so happy to call New Zealand home and that i love how the Soccer World Cup has totally brought our country together... I know we didn't quite make it to the next round but who would of thought we'd get as far as we did? What a victory! We are proud of you All Whites.

Apple, banana, buckwheat pancakes

I can't believe i haven't posted these yet... they are my all time favourites! I have always loved pancakes, my mum used to make us banana fritters with really ripe bananas and give them to us dripping in honey. The bananas would go caramelised and they were all gooey and sweet. I think her secret was that she would pretty much deep fry them and used super ripe bananas. I have adapted them over the years, it would be safe to say mine are probably a little healthier than hers but they still remind me of mummy. This is one of those recipes for me that can't really go wrong and you can use lots of different things in. I really love that they are so fruity and have barely any flour.

Here you go!
3 ripe bananas
1 or 2 apples
1/2 cup milk
1 lemon
3 eggs
vanilla esssence
1/2 cup buckwheat flour
1 tspn baking powder
pinch of salt
pinch of cinnamon

Mash bananas and grate apples (i leave the skin on), grate lemon rind (just the yellow) of about half the lemon, set some of the juice aside. Pour lemon juice into the milk, this turns it into buttermilk. Beat eggs until fluffy and add the fruit, buttermilk, vanilla essence and stir a little, sift in flour, cinnamon, baking powder, and salt. Fold gently until just mixed. You may need to add a little more flour flour depending on how the mixture looks, it should be quite liquidy but not tooo much, you'll know.
Cook with a little olive oil in a big pan, i usually fit about 3 or 4 in at a time.

Serve with maple syrup, berries, yogurt (or naughty cream), bacon. They are lovely! X


Luckily i got a shot of this lone pancake before my husband ate them all... he got very impatient waiting for me to take the photo while he was trying to eat it xx

Dhal and Naan

So it's officially and undeniably winter, in fact i can see it snowing now as i'm looking out our window... this morning when i was dropping Brandon off to go to the mountain our whole town was white! It is like a winter wonderland here in Wanaka and very beautiful. For some reason in winter food seems to taste better and i find myself thinking about it a lot more. I have also been thinking up and investigating lots of new recipes (comfort food) for cold winter nights. I've been wanting to learn how to make Indian Dhal and Naan bread for ages now so on the weekend we went to Taryn and Dan's for a curry night! It was so fun running in from the cold to their cozy house, music, wine, wood fire, and they even kept baby Oscar up so we could cuddle him before he went to bed. Here's how Dan and Taryn make Dhal and Naan...




















NAAN

1 t yeast
3 cups flour
2 T oil
4 T yoghurt
1 t honey
1 t salt
3/4 warm water

In a mixing bowl combine all ingredients, starting with flour and salt, then add oil, yoghurt and honey, lastly add yeast and warm water. Mix together and then knead into a dough on a floured bread board or bench. Leave for 15 mins to rise before rolling out and then bake at 200 - 220 degrees until some bits rise/bubble and it goes a nice colour. Make garlic butter and spread over top. Yum!

CURRIED RED LENTIL DAHL

They use a slow cooker for this and usually double the recipe (you can never have too much)

Ingredients

1 tablespoon olive oil
1 large onion, diced
1 -2 cloves garlic, minced
1 large bay leaf
1 teaspoon chili powder
2 teaspoons curry powder
2 teaspoons turmeric
2 teaspoons mustard seeds
2 teaspoons cumin seeds
1 teaspoon minced red chilli
1 cup split red lentils
3 cups bath temperature water
2 teaspoons vegetable stock powder
salt
1-2 T chopped coriander, leaf (optional)

Directions
Heat the oil in a large pan.
Cook onion and garlic, stirring frequently
Add bay leaf and spices and cook, stirring continuously, for 1 to 2 minutes longer, then tip all into slow cooker.
Tip in the lentils, stir to coat with spices, then add the stock and water.
Cover and cook on high for 5 hours (Ours does it in about 3) until lentils are soft & mixture tastes smooth in your mouth. Thin with extra water if desired (will thicken on standing) and add salt to taste.

Stir in the coriander and serve.
You can serve Dahl as a meal, side dish, a dip with bread or veges or as a spread on sandwhiches or crackers. It is super dhaliscious!

Happy Birthday Amy! And happy travels to Australia for your next big adventure! I will miss you and our walks and fun baking days Xx

Although it has not been as sunny as we expected we have still tried to spend as much time at the beach as we can out here on the barrier, Brandon even got up especially early this morning to go surfing (which means he is keen... we've been sleeping in every day til nearly 10am). Here are a couple of pictures of when the sun came out ever so briefly... we also got to look after Wilson, our friends' black lab, it's so much more fun going to the beach with a dog who wants to play (and dig holes everywhere)!

Date Scones

It has been so stormy and chilly here that we've been dying for warm comfort food, we were so excited waiting for them to come out of the oven, they smell incredible when they're cooking! We ate lots of these while they were still warm with butter on top, and tea of course!

3 cups flour (I used 2 cups organic white and 1 cup brown rice flour)
6 tsps baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
50g butter or 50 ml olive oil (i like to use olive oil)
1 cup milk (any kind, you may need to add a little more, just see how it looks)
3/4 cup chopped dates
1 tbspn honey
1/2 tsp cinnamon

sift flour, baking powder, salt, cinnamon and dates into bowl, cut in butter/oil and mix until it looks like breadcrumbs, add honey and then stir the milk in quickly to form a soft dough. Knead lightly, dust oven tray with four, cut scone mix into squares and brush tops with milk. Bake at 220C for 10 mins.. or until golden!
Xx