{Crafty Bake} Lemon, Oat and Coconut Energy Balls

You guys, I just made up my very own recipe! The kind where you throw things in a bowl and hope for the best - and it worked!

I am on a bliss ball buzz at the moment, they are easy, delicious and good for me and my toddler. But this time I had no dates. And lots of lemons. After searching the internet for an appropriate recipe, the best I could find was one with lemon (tick), coconut (tick), and cashews (nope - doh!).

So off I went hunting through my cupboards and here's what I came up with:

Lemon, Oat and Coconut Energy Balls

No Food Processor Required!

Ingredients

1/2 cup ground almonds
1/2 cup quick oats
1/2 cup coconut
Zest and Juice of 1 lemon
3-4 Tbsp Maple Syrup or Honey to taste
Optional - 2 Tbsp of any of your favourite nuts and seeds. I used Flaxseed and Chia seed.

Method

Put everything in a bowl except the maple syrup/honey and mix well.
Add maple syrup/honey Tbsp at a time then test after each addition. The sweet/tangy combination will vary each time.
Once you are happy with the taste, roll in to walnut sized balls and put in the fridge to chill (or eat, whatever!).

*Bonus Extra* - Coat or dizzle with melted white chocolate and chill to set.

Addison's 1st Birthday Carnival

Addison's 1st birthday has come and gone so quickly I feel like I already need to start thinking about her next birthday!
When thinking about Addison's party, Dave and I were on the fence with what to do. Do we just have family or do we invite all the people who have been involved in her first year? Do we hire somewhere? Um we have no money for a huge party, what can we do to still have a great day?

We decided on going all out on the people front, I think around 35 people were invited and maybe 30 showed up (including a few littlies). We decided to risk the weather and have it in our backyard (so risky for April!) and Dave mentioned a carnival/picnic type theme.

So I whipped up a few invites and asked people to bring a plate of food to share. We borrowed an amazing gazebo from a friend and jazzed it up with streamers and balloons, We used items lying in our yard (an old door, a pallet, a broken wooden ladder) to paint and turn into simple carnival games and bought some lollies to play 'Guess How Many In The Jar'. That was pretty much all we needed to have an awesome afternoon of party fun!

We put out all the chairs we could find and spread some picnic rugs on the ground with toys lying around for the under 1s. The food tables were chocka and it was a grazing style lunch.

The birthday girl managed to nap right before her party so she lasted most of the afternoon without any tears. I made a felt crown for her and made a banner that said 'ONE' that I attached under her high chair. We put her in the chair for most of the time because with so many people around, our delicate little girl would be easily overwhelmed. Food is a great distraction.

I tried to say a little speech about how much I appreciated everyone coming and having input into Addison's life over the past year but I ended up in tears and Dave refused to take over so I managed to get everyone singing Happy Birthday to distract from me crying (smooth Amy). We blew out her candle and offered her a smash cake.

A smash cake is a bit of a trend at the moment - you put a cake in front of a baby and take a video/photos of the child *hopefully* getting really messy into their first taste of delicious icing and cake.

Our child decided that having a huge cake in front of her was a bit overwhelming and after a bit of consideration she picked at the icing ever-so-slightly and proceeded to lick her fingers and that was basically the end of it. She loved the icing but didn't quite get the smash concept so I told the other children that were eying up the cake to dig in, which they did with much delight.

We then opened up the presents - Addison was so spoiled (THANK YOU!!) - and then we ate food and socialised for the rest of the afternoon. I had so much fun and was in my delegating element for set-up and pack-down.

It was a perfect day and I am so thankful for all the people involved in Addison's life (whether you made it to the party or not!) and I know that she will grow up feeling loved and part of a community where she has her own special part to play.

XXX

Ball Throw - knock down as many as you can!

Winner takes all!

Ring Toss - there were nails in the door and we used glow stick bracelets to throw

Drinks Station (chilly bin full of ice + soft drinks)

The cake for the grown ups - Banana Cake with Lemon Buttercream

Addison's Smash Cake - also Banana Cake with Lemon Buttercream. Both cakes made and iced by me :)

Streamers and balloons inside the Gazebo

Classic Addison

Birthday Throne

Before the food arrived!

Cake Smash*

Gluten Free Thumbprint Cookies

My weekly gluten-free baking experiments have been continuing, but I keep forgetting to take photos and remember the sources of the recipes I have been using. I have also had a couple of huge fails too, one involving ginger kisses that I forgot to add baking powder to the GF flour mix. Ginger Crisps anyone? Luckily they were still delicious and my ever-gracious Sis-in-law was still impressed.

These thumbprint cookies were my latest experiment. SUCCESS!
4 ingredients, not too sweet and super quick to make.

Gluten Free Thumbprint Cookies (Vegan)

Ingredients:
1 1/4 cup of Ground Almonds
3 T Oil (the original recipe said coconut oil but I used olive oil and they still worked and tasted fine)
1 1/2 T Maple Syrup
1/4 cup approx Jam (any flavour goes here! My fave is raspberry)

Method:
Oven @ 180 degrees.
Mix together the almonds, oil and maple syrup and chill mixture for 30min.
Divide the mixture into 15 balls (they are pretty small!) and put on a lined baking sheet.
Press into the middle of each ball with your thumb to make a dent and re-shape the edges if desired.
Fill the thumb-dents with a small amount of jam.
Bake for around 10 minutes but keep an eye on them as my oven had a hissy fit and decided to burn the bottom of the cookies.
Leave to harden then scoff them back! They are bite sized so this batch might disappear fast!


Original recipe here

Gluten Free Gingerbread Cookie Recipe (and Homemade Plum Jam!)

 

 My sister-in-law is gluten intolerant and I find the fact that a lot of my absolute favourite baking treats are off limits to her. So this year I am going to try and either source some great recipes or adapt my own to make gluten-free treat-eating less limited!

One of the first things I made were these Gingerbread objects. They were going to be gingerbread men but I was missing the key item - the cutter. So thanks to Holly, I made stars, flowers and birds.
Unfortunately my sis-in-law missed out on tasting these goodies so Dave and I have been munching away at them this week.

Verdict: The mix was pretty sticky and hard to work with, but the resulting biscuits still kept their shapes. They are the kind of biscuit you need to eat with a cup of tea - tasty but quite dry.
Eating them, you wouldn't know these were gluten free which overall makes them a success for me!

Here is the recipe I adapted from Hansells

1/3 cup golden syrup
1/4 cup softened butter
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon allspice
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1 egg
2 cups Gluten Free baking mix (or 2/3 cup each of rice, potato and tapioca flours and 1/2 tsp of xanthan gum)
- See more at: http://www.hansells.co.nz/Recipe/XnaI4IupI0Kea3WwqpVOYw#sthash.tpLJvjX0.dpuf

Ingredients:
1/3 C Golden Syrup
1/4 C butter
1/4 C Brown Sugar
1 tsp Baking Soda
1/2 tsp Cinnamon
1/2 tsp Allspice
1 tsp Ginger
1 Egg
2 C Gluten Free Flour (I used mostly a pre-mix, but used cornflour and buckwheat flour to roll the dough out)

Icing:
1 T butter (softened)
2 C icing sugar
Hot water to mix

Method:

• Pre-heat oven to 180 degrees Celcius.

• Melt together the butter and golden syrup.

• Mix in the rest of the ingredients with a wooden spoon.

• Roll out dough on a lightly floured (Gluten Free flour or cornflour) surface. 

* I tried this and used way too much cornflour for no result so I rolled out the dough on a sheet of baking paper

• When dough is around 1/2cm thick, cut out shapes with cutters and place on a lined baking tray, leaving room for spreading.

• Bake for 12 min. They will harden as they cool.
  
  
• To make icing:
  Mix butter and icing sugar with sufficient water to get icing to a thick piping consistency. Beat until white.
  Put icing in a piping bag with a small nozzle and decorate gingerbread as desired. Be creative!

The other baking exploit that we undertook last weekend was to begin our journey as jam-makers. We stripped our over-laden plum tree of the last of its fruit and Dave set out with the fun job of pulling the stones out of 2kg of plums.
The cooking process took longer than expected but we ended up with delicious Plum Jam! slightly tart but still sweet and sticky. We filled 4.5 jars (500g) and we have already delved into the half jar. YUM!

Our recipe was simple:

Plum Jam

2kg plums - stones removed
2kg white sugar

-Bring to the boil and reduce heat and simmer until a blob of jam dropped onto a cold plate wrinkles when you push your finger through it.
-Pour into hot sterilized jars and seal.
-Make pretty labels for the jars.

Ingredients:
1/3 cup golden syrup
1/4 cup softened butter
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon allspice
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1 egg
2 cups Gluten Free baking mix (or 2/3 cup each of rice, potato and tapioca flours and 1/2 tsp of xanthan gum)

Icing
1 Tablespoon butter
2 cups icing sugar
few Teaspoons of water to get it to the right consistancy
Method:
Preheat oven to 180C
Melt golden syrup and butter in large bowl.
Allow to cool and add sugar, baking soda, spices, egg and all the flours.
Beat with wooden spoon until forms ball - should still be a little sticker than standard flour would be
Transfer dough onto very lightly floured board. Roll out until around 1/2 cm thick.
Cut out men.
Place on non stick tray 3 cm apart.
bake for 12 mins, until firm but not rock hard as they harden as they cool.

Icing
Mix butter with 1/2 cup of icing sugar until white. Slowly add rest of icing sugar and water until firm consistancy is reached.

Ice men once cool, store in an airtight container
- See more at: http://www.hansells.co.nz/Recipe/XnaI4IupI0Kea3WwqpVOYw#sthash.tpLJvjX0.dpuf

Milk Tart (Melktert) Recipe - Gluten Free

Milk Tart (or Melktert) is a South African favourite.
I was introduced to this delicious cinnamon smothered custard tart by my Sister-in-law and her South African hubby. My SIL is gluten intolerant and she made a similar version but I thought I would give you the recipe I adapted.
I am warning you now that it is pretty addictive!

Gluten Free Milk Tart

Base:

Gluten Free biscuits come in varying packet weights so the amount of butter you will need will also vary.

- 1 packet of Gluten Free biscuits (150-250g) (Plain is best but I used Gingernuts and it was delicious!)
- Melted butter - for 150g biscuits use 90g butter
                         - for 250g biscuits use 130g butter

- Crush biscuits in a food processor and mix with melted butter.
- Press into a LINED tart tin or pie dish, pressing biscuits up the sides of the tin as well as on the base.
- Refrigerate while making the filling.

Filling:

4 ½ cups milk
2 ½ Tbsp cornflour
3/4 cup sugar
3 eggs
pinch of salt
2 ½ Tbsp gluten free flour
1 tsp vanilla essence
1 Tbsp butter

- Bring milk to the boil.
- Beat eggs well in a large bowl and add sugar, flour, cornflour and salt. Mix well.
- Pour the boiling milk into the egg mixture and stir well.
- Return milk mixture to the stove on a medium heat and stir constantly.
- Keep stirring until the mixture thickens to a custard consistency.
- Add vanilla and butter and mix in.
- Pour mixture into the biscuit base and smooth the top.
- Sprinkle liberally with cinnamon and allow to cool and set in the fridge.
- Enjoy!

{Crafty Bake} Feijoa and Apple Shortcake Recipe

Feijoa and Apple Shortcake

250g Butter - softened

3/4 c Caster Sugar

1 egg

Zested rind of 1 Orange or Lemon

1tsp Vanilla

2 1/2 c Plain Flour

2 1/2 tsp Baking Powder

1/2 cup each of sliced apple and feijoa pulp*

1 tsp cinnamon 

1 tsp nutmeg

Method:

• Pre-heat oven to 180 degrees Celcuis.

• Line a 20cm (ish) tin with baking paper.

• In a bowl, beat together the butter, sugar, egg, rind and vanilla until pale and fluffy.

• Mix in the sifted flour and baking powder. I like to get my hands in here to mix it thoroughly. 

• Spread 2/3 of the mixture into the lined cake tin

• Cover the mixture in the tin with the feijoas and apples then sprinkle with cinnamon and nutmeg. 

• Crumble the remaining mixture over the fruit. No formula here and it doesn't matter if there are gaps where you can see the fruit.

• Put in the middle shelf of the oven and bake at 180 for 35-40 minutes.

Can be served hot or cold (chilled is best) with yoghurt or ice cream or cream. Or all three. 

Enjoy!

Before

During

After

* You can subsitute almost any fruit here, but if using frozen berries, defrost them in the microwave and then strain the juice off so the cake doesn't get too soggy. 

*Plum, Mixed Berry and White Choc, Apple and Cinnamon, Peach, Apricot - any tinned or fresh  fruit works. 

{Crafty Bake} ANZAC Biscuits - The Ever So Slightly Healthy Recipe

Is there any day that is more appropriate to make one of NZs most iconic biscuits than ANZAC day?

I didn't quite make it to the dawn parade (although my cat made a pretty good case that 7 was a good time to wake up) but this is my way of remembering the bravery of our fallen soldiers....by eating biscuits...

When making my instant porridge last year I found a magnet in the bottom of the box. On the fridge it went until today when I remembered that there was a recipe for ANZAC biscuits. BONUS - it is a healthier version!

Harraways Healthier ANZAC Biscuits 

Makes 16 medium sized biscuits

2 cups Harraways Rolled Oats
1/2 cup Coconut
1/2 cup Sugar (I used brown sugar)
1/2 cup Flour

125g Margarine with the Healthy Tick (I used proactive)
2 T Golden Syrup
1 tsp Baking Soda
2 T Boiling Water

Pre heat oven to 180 degrees Celcuis.
In a bowl mix together the oats, coconut, sugar and flour.
In a separate bowl melt together the margarine and golden syrup.
Mix baking soda well with the boiling water.
Add all ingredients together and mix well.
Place spoonfuls onto a greased or lined tray.
Bake for 15 minutes.
Store in an airtight container when cool.


Golden syrup tip:

Squash them down after rolling them into balls!

Tips:

• Brown sugar will give a slight caramel taste as well as a slightly darker biscuit than white sugar.

• I like to roll the biscuits into balls then squash them - I found this mix was quite sticky so I lightly floured the palms of my hands so the mixture wouldn't stick. Repeat as many times as needed.

• As soon as the baking soda hits the boiling water the reaction starts. Make sure you don't wait too long to get those bad boys in the oven! 

• For a not-so-healthy alternative try drizzling them with melted chocolate or half dipping them.

• When a recipe says it makes a certain number of biscuits, make sure it does, the cooking time is tailored to that size of biscuit.
  
  
  
  
   ENJOY!!