Almond and Vanilla Cupcakes

I've made these cupcakes once. That was today when I felt like trying out a new baking recipe. And they are AWESOME! They have instantly become my favourite cupcake ever and I HAD to share the recipe instantly.



Almond and Vanilla Cupcakes
Makes 12

135g butter
3/4 cup caster sugar
3 eggs
2 tspn vanilla extract
3/4 cup plain flour
1 1/2 cups almond meal
3 tbsp natural yoghurt
1 1/2 tspn baking powder

Pre-heat your oven to 170C (160C if fan-forced) and line a 12-hole cupcake pan with papers.

In a medium-sized bowl, cream the butter for 2 minutes. Add the sugar in thirds and beat for 2 minutes after each addition. Add the eggs one at a time, beating for 1 minute per egg. Add the vanilla and beat the mixture one last time until it looks pale and fluffy.

Add half of the flour and half of the almond meal and gently stir it into the butter mixture. Add the yoghurt and stir then add the remaining dry ingredients and stir the mixture until everything has combined.

Spoon the mixture into the cupcake papers and bake for 20-25 minutes (or until a skewer inserted comes out cleanly). Remove the cupcakes from the pan and leave them to cool completely on a wire rack.

Make a simple icing (using icing sugar and a splash of water). For something a little different, add 1/8 tspn of violet water, orange blossom water or rose water to the icing. Or, if you'd prefer, ice them with a white chocolate ganache.

Then try not to eat them all at once. ;p

Kitchen Basics - Basil Pesto

Basil pesto is easy. Really, really easy. You don't have to cook it, just throw everything into a small food processor and blitz it - it's easy to increase the amount (if you're having a dinner party) or make a very small amount of you're cooking for just yourself.



Basil Pesto
Serves 2

1 garlic clove
40g pine nuts
50g basil leaves
3 tbsp parmesan, grated
1/4 cup olive oil
1-2 tbsp lemon juice

Literally just put all these ingredients in a food processor and turn it on. You can blitz it until it's completely smooth, or leave it slightly chunky - it's entirely up to you.

Spoon the pesto over 200g of cooked pasta and mix it in well then serve with a big glass of chilled white wine (or a ginger ale if wine isn't your thing. ;p )

Satay Chicken

Nobody could ever accuse me of being a food snob. Especially not after they've read this recipe! Any cook worth their MasterChef apron will cringe, possibly even hyperventilate, when they read that my satay chicken is made with peanut butter. Yep, classy aren't I?! ;p But let's face it, tell the kids that dinner is made with peanut butter and they'll scoff it down - veggies and all (well, maybe not - I can't work miracles!)



Satay Chicken
(Serves 4)

1/2 cup chicken stock
1/2 cup peanut butter
1/4 cup sweet chilli sauce
1/4 cup honey
Vegetable oil
3 chicken breasts (or 2 if they're big), halved lengthways then sliced thinly
2 garlic cloves, crushed
2-3 handfuls of fresh veggies, chopped into chunks
Sesame oil

To make the sauce, put the stock, peanut butter, sweet chilli sauce and honey in a microwave-safe jug. Heat for 30 seconds in the microwave (medium power) then stir it well. Heat for a further 60-90 seconds or until the sauce has just begun to thicken.

In a wok, heat the vegetable oil over high heat and stir-fry the chicken until it's begun to change colour. Add the garlic and vegetables and stir-fry for one minute.

Add the satay sauce and let it simmer until the chicken is cooked through and the sauce is thick. Add a few drops of sesame oil then serve the stir-fry over hot noodles or steamed rice.

Note: For the vegetables, I use slices of onion, carrots, sugar snap peas, capsicum and baby corn but you can use almost anything - broccoli, cauliflower, Asian greens, spring onions, snow peas, birds-eye chilli, mushrooms, etc.

Gluten Free Chocolate Cupcakes

These are some gluten free chocolate cupcakes I made as an experiment - I'm not gluten intolerant myself but have a couple of friends who are and I wanted to be able to pass along a really good cake recipe.

The texture of these cakes is very dense and rich. Actually, they taste quite similar to my ugly mudcake.



Gluten Free Chocolate Cupcakes
(Makes 12)

175g butter
250g good quality dark chocolate
1 1/4 cups castor sugar
3/4 cup almond meal
1 cup cocoa powder
5 eggs, beaten

Preheat the oven to 140C and line a cupcake pan with papers.

In a large saucepan, melt together the butter, chocolate and sugar, stirring often until the mixture is smooth and the sugar has melted.

Stir in the almond meal, cocoa powder and eggs then spoon the mixture into the cupcake papers.

Bake for half an hour or until a skewer inserted comes out cleanly with moist crumbs clinging to it. Remove the cupcakes from the pan and leave them to cool on a wire rack.

Frost the cupcakes with buttercream or chocolate ganache or, as I do, eat them whilst they're still warm with a bit of whipped cream.