Awesome Tea anyone?

Sometimes I want to come up with the most awesome recipe ever made ... but then I sit and stare at a blank computer screen for hours wandering what hasn't been done before... still wandering. .. *long silence* ... Then I realize my head may not be able to actually come up with the weird concoctions of peanut butter and olives or something random that could be the next craze! I mean really fashion seems to repeat it self with a twist and I feel like food maybe doing the same thing.
So while I am NOT the new and crazy trend setter I hoped I would be - I am still me :) and I do like to write silly posts and photograph food. - yes a random fact I'm sure you noticed.

So while this is a recipe-less post (sorry)
I just wanted to say .. I have been thinking of you *hi* and my lack of awesomeness and that I will work harder to write down and then bake some random food cookies and photograph them... then hopefully you'll drool over the picture and decide to bake them :) 

Have a happy weekend


 
ps I did make this really yummy milk tart but didn't write down the ingredients amounts so I will have to make it again so I can give you the recipe - OK?

pps Do you ever feel like you want to do things differently? blogging? life? or?

Betty Bake in The New Age Newspaper Today

Today I am happy to say my blog Betty Bake is featured in The New Age Newspaper (a national newspaper in South Africa)
YAY! :)
The only thing is my blog address isn't in the article but I am hoping people will google Betty Bake and find it.  
 
Thanks for sharing in my happiness
 

CHOCOLATE AND COCONUT TRUFFLES

 

I originally posted this recipe on my blog when SPAR Cape Quarter asked me to write some recipes and blog about it - They paid me in yummy vouchers to buy all the ingredients in their store. (to read the original POST go here).

With Easter coming up soon I thought I would re-post it.
These truffles are beautiful and sweet but healthier than your regular chocolate truffles (especially if you swop out the glace cherries for some soft dried fruit). They do contain chocolate and the higher percentage of cocoa in the chocolate you purchase - the healthier they will be. So don't go buy a regular milk chocolate but a dark 70% or 85% cocoa bar.
My understanding of how it works is, if you buy a 100gram bar of 85% cocoa chocolate then 85 grams out of the 100 gram bar is cocoa leaving only 15% for sugar and cocoa butter etc... Yes it will be more bitter as there is less sugar in the bar but I assure you I have added beautiful sweet dates and dessicated coconut and raw sweet almonds to sweeten it up naturally. With no bad sweeteners but healthy natural ingredients. You could always add a dash of honey if it really isn't sweet enough for you.

Adding the maraschino cherries in the middle or the glace cherries to the mix is not healthy at all so if you go that route - then it is only for a very special treat and the truffles won't be healthy (just FYI)

INGREDIENTS
50grams Raw almonds
7 fresh Dates (pips removed)
a generous handful of Glace Cherries (roughly 17) +/- 100grams (I now would opt to have soft dried fruit like PEARS or APRICOTS instead)
50g 70% dark Chocolate (I used Lindt) (roughly chopped)
1/2 cup fine coconut
70- 100grams dark chocolate (or chocolate of your choice)
2 teaspoons sunflower oil
OPTIONAL a few marachino cherries on stalks

METHOD
Grind the almonds until fine in a blender and then take out and set aside.
Place dates in the blender and blend slightly and then add the glace cherries OR soft dried fruit. (much better option).  Blend a bit more and then add the dark chocolate and blend until  very well mixed, chopped and kind of smooth. Add the ground almonds and mix again. Now add the coconut little by little until you reach a pliable consistency. Then roll into balls or mold around marachino cherries---> OPTIONAL and not as healthy!
Melt the chocolate and oil in a baine marie or a glass bowl balanced on top of a pot with a little water boiling below (the glass bowl mustn't touch the water below). Stir until melted. Dip the rolled cherry and coconut balls in the chocolate and spoon over more melted chocolate with a spoon and then place on waxed paper to set. There will be a little melted chocolate left over but if you use less you wan't be able to spoon the chocolate over the balls - so spread the left over chocolate on a separate piece of wax paper and sprinkle with cherries, almonds or raisins or water you fancy in your chocolate and leave to set - break into pieces and enjoy.

Enjoy your lovely Chocolate and coconut truffles or wrap up and package in a pretty box to make a beautiful and delicious gift.

PASSION FRUIT MILK ICE

My Aunt gave me a packet full of passion fruit picked straight from her vines. I couldn't resist making something yummy from these beautiful plump fruit...although eating straight out their shells was delicious too. They sat on my counter for a few days. Then on Saturday afternoon while preparing a potato bake to take off to Brazen's house I thought why not mix up some of the passion fruit juices with some pineapple juice and quickly place it in my ice cream machine for a quick-ish sorbet. 

So what started out being a sorbet - then I threw in some milk at the last minute to make it go further, (which means its no longer a sorbet as sorbet contains no dairy). I'm guessing this is milk ice as it DOESN'T have a custard base so I can't call it ice cream... YIP Milk Ice it is. And its DELICIOUS!

INGREDIENTS
anything between 6 - 18 Passion fruit (Granadillas)
1 & a half cups Pineapple or Apple juice
2 tablespoons honey (vary to taste)
1 cup of milk
2 egg whites (organic if possible) BEATEN to medium peaks

METHOD
Dissolve the honey in a tiny bit of the pineapple or apple juice by heating it slightly in a small saucepan on the stove and stirring until the honey has dissolved. Then place this little bit on the freezer to cool down.
Cut open your passion fruit and scoop out with a spoon into a bowl. If you don't want any pips in your Milk ice then sieve them out now or leave them in its up to you (I left about 2 passion fruts worth of pips in and sieved out the rest)
Now stir it in with the remaining juice and add the juice from the freezer once it has cooled a bit.
Stir in your cold milk from the fridge.
Freeze and mix in your ice cream machine or in a low dish in your freezer.
Add the all ready beaten egg whites.
Stir and freeze or serve immediately
Freezes well in a sealed container (I use CONSOL glass jars - preserving/ Mason jars) for roughly 6 weeks.

*if you don't have an ice cream machine and are freezing it in a dish = then beat the mixture and return to the freezer twice before adding egg whites

Beautiful for this heat we've been having

BLING! Party Invitations

Being creative by nature I love to plan a good party. So last month with it being the Kids 8th birthday I got plan another party. Yay!

Trying not to be too over controlling I always try to include the kid in picking the theme of her party every year... it goes something like this.
Me: how about a rainbow party?
Kid: Hello Kitty
Me: awww Hello Kitty - everyone has Hello Kitty -lets try something different... ummm how about a picnic party. We can have lots of small foods and have a picnic basket and everything!
Kid: picnic mmmm - ok
 
Then after the planning had started my lovely friend Being Brazen comes to visit... and she says "so kid what party are you having this year?" Kid tells Brazen that she is having a picnic party and brazen asks her ... "Is this really what you want?" (naughty Brazen) and Kid tells her... ummmmmm (long pause) So brazen quickly jumps n saying "What about a black and white party? or a pink party or a bling party?" Kid: Bling party! YES!

Hence the party was changed mid planning from picnic party to BLING! party. I was happy as I hadn't bought anything yet and had only been planning in my head and had been making menu's and collecting recipes etc... And Bling sounded so Sparkly .. and what girl doesn't like Sparkles right?

So began the making of invitations:

and the bright pink envelopes sitting on my kitchen table waiting to be delivered.

Hope you enjoyed this non- food related post.
Have a fabulous week

 
ps linking over at http://bloomdesignsonline.blogspot.com

BANANA AND YOGHURT MUFFINS {HEALTHY & GLUTEN-FREE}

So I have been trying different alternatives for the kids lunch box (from baking all sorts of Gluten free bread to baking muffins) And I am finding the bread to be SUPER hard by day 2, and by day 5 it is worth using as a rock and you could actually hurt someone! So in my search for a bready alternative for the school week I decided to look at muffins.

Last week I made the batch on Sunday night - baked them ALL and put them in a sealed container (much the same as the bread) and by day 2 they were also quite hard. Then I read a recipe somewhere for a batch of muffins that you could keep the batter in the fridge and bake fresh every day!!! Why hadn't I thought of that?

But the recipe i was looking at contained WAY to much sugar and didn't seem healthy at all! It was more like eating a cupcake for breakfast minus the icing (and it wasn't gluten-free either). So I set about trying to make my own recipe. So the recipe I threw together last week was very sticky and chewy so yesterday I set about swopping ingredients and changing quantities and it seems to have come out quite nicely (if I do say so myself) I made 3 muffins immediately after whipping up the batter last night (Sunday) to test and taste - YUMMY. They took roughly 15 minutes to bake. Then I placed the entire batch of batter in the fridge in a large bowl with a lid.

This morning (day 1) I woke up half an hour early, stumbled through to the kitchen turned on the oven to preheat and placed the large bowl of batter on the counter and then went back to bed to doze. Once the alram went off I got out of bed at the usual time went through to the kitchen placed batter in 6 cupcake cases in a muffin tray and put them in the preheated oven. I carried on making lunches as usual , slicing up cucumber. peppers etc... Since the batter was cold I noticed the muffins took 20-25 minutes to bake but rose just as nicely and tasted yummy and fresh! Yay hard rock-like lunch for the week sorted! - AS LONG AS I GET UP AND PREHEAT OVEN otherwise I will run out of time before The Kid and Husband run out the door.

INGREDIENTS
1/3 cup Coconut oil (or a neutral oil like sunflower oil)
2 rounded Tablespoons Honey
4 Tablespoons Brown Sugar
2 Tablespoons Butter
3 Eggs
1/2 cup yoghurt
2 cups Gluten-free flour mix
1 cup Buckwheat flour 
1 teaspoon Baking powder
1 teaspoon Bicard
2 Bananas
1/3 cup Water
1 cup Raisins (optional)
1 teaspoon Cinnamon
3 Tablespoons Agave syrup (or use honey)
1/3 cup Sunflower seeds 
a small handful extra dried fruit (optional) I used dried peaches

METHOD
In a large bowl mix (on low if using a mixer) together the coconut oil, honey, sugar and butter until smooth and pale.
Beat in the eggs one at a time.
Mix in the yoghurt, mix may seem likes it going to curdle (don't over mix - just stir in)
Mix in the flours, baking powder and bicarb adding a bit at a time until all is incorporated - The dough will be thick.
Mash up the bananas with a fork and mix into the batter
Add the water and mix until nice smooth consistency
Add the raisins (if using)
Then add the cinnamon, agave syrup, sunflower seeds and any dried fruit (optional) you like.
Mix until everything is evenly distributed.
If you are baking immediately place batter in cup cake liners and in muffin trays, Sprinkle with a tiny bit of brown sugar and bake for roughly 15 minutes until well risen and brown.
If keeping in the fridge place in a seal-able container until needed. I am gauging that the batter should be ok for 5-6 days.
 
Enjoy in your lunch box or with a morning cup of coffee

UPDATE BELOW PIC (scroll down)

UPDATE:
SUNDAY: I manage to make 3 muffins on Sunday night when I whipped up the batter.
MONDAY: baked 6 in the morning
TUESDAY: baked 6
WEDNESDAY: baked 6
THURSDAY:baked 6
FRIDAY: baked 6 (2 of them were very small)


TOTAL so far: 33 (cupcake size) Muffins

NOTES:
Thick Mixture: If you find your mixture is getting very think after sitting in the fridge over night (dried fruit seems to suck up the liquid) add a little water in the morning when you take the bowl out the fridge and stir in. keep adding water until you get to a nice thick cake batter dropping consistency.

Cupcake cases sticking to my muffins: I find that when I eat the muffins hot that some of it stay on the cupcake cases. I simply brush the inside bottoms of the paper cases with coconut oil before filling them up.


Oven Temp and Time: I have been baking my muffins at a lower temp of late. at about 160 degrees celcius for about 18 mins. I have a thermo fan oven.

what makes me smile....

• Finding  a new dish to make and being pleasantly surprised at how it comes out
• Perfecting a flat white coffee... not as easy as it seems
• Flowers whether bought or from the garden look so pretty in the house
• Seeing my cat curl up in a box sleepin
• Baking a pretty cake and then having a slice with a cup of coffee
• Having the husband at home (even if he has to work on his laptop) is nice company
• Having the kids smile at me with excitement
• Finding  a new artist to listen too

 What is making you smile right now?