Cocoa not so muffin

I listen to this recipe on the radio.  The woman who was teaching it is a vegetarian and she likes to eat very healthfully.

The texture is more of a brownie than of a muffin. I liked very much. The recipe is very promising. At first I missed the sugar. The dates that I used weren’t sweet at all. But after eating a couple I got used and don’t miss it. But, the children who ate didn’t like. It’s a strong flavor. Maybe it’s an adult “muffin/brownie”. I’ll try with apricot. And without coconut, my own personal taste.

My recipe:

180 grams of dates pitted, soaked in water for 2 hours, then I drained and turn into a puree in the food processor

20 grams of white raisings. The original recipe says 50 grams and that’s what I’ll use next time. I decide to soak the raisings for one hour with the dates and drained and processed it as well. Not in the original recipe

+ or – 175 ml of milk. I used more but I did not measure it.

In a bowl mix together:

15 grams of organic cocoa (without sugar)

34 grams of grated dry coconut without sugar (the original recipe says 75 grams I´m glad I used less)

2 tablespoons of Ghee

100 grams of quinoa flour

2 teaspoons of vanilla essence

½ teaspoon of pumpkin pie spice (my idea)

1 tablespoon of baking powder (I’ll use baking soda as she suggested)

Add the dates puree and Milk and mix together.

Then I just fill the paper cases up to ¾ of it and bake. And eat!!!!!!

Original recipe:

150 grams of dates pitted soaked in water (or coconut water) for 2 hours, drained and processed as a puree.

In a bowl mix together:

50 grams of black raisings

15 grams of organic cocoa without sugar

75 grams of dry grated coconut without sugar

2 tablespoons of ghee

100 grams of wheat flour

2 teaspoons of vanilla essence

1 tablespoon of baking soda (or baking powder)

+ or - 175 ml of milk or the coconut water that you used to soak the dates

Add the dates puree. Form like balls and bake it on a muffin pan.

Focaccia and rugelach

Today wasn’t a successful baking day. Actually was BBD - Bad Baking day. No, it did not set me out of my right track!

And I must add.... not a very sucessful photography day as well!

First Foccacia. I have a wonderful recipe of olive and onions focaccia. This recipe is all about olives, onions and olive oil. The one that I baked today was all about flour. It taste like flour. We all eat of course... but it wasn’t yummy.

I’m not going to post the full recipe, just my flour mix, so I can remember what I did:

400 grams of banana flour
100 grams of amaranth flakes.

Second: Rugelach. I have to say that I really love this cookie. I had never had it. But now I´m a huge fan.

I couldn’t shape into crescent shape, like the pictures I saw. The dough was funny. Crumbly and wet at the same time. So all I could do was to roll it cut into circles and bake with the filling. I have no picture, I wanted crescent shape rugelach not the one I made.

The problem was……………as usual............ me ...............changing the recipe. I used ghee instead of butter and the Brazilian cream cheese is too soft. So, I’ll do it again (Of course!) but using a Brazilian recipe to start with and no changes. I promise!!!!

My first GF bread - Arracacha (white carrot) gluten-free bread

Do you think you see a green bread? Yes, you do see green bread.

They are fantastic. Everyone loved it. The green color is because the green banana flour that I used. I won´t use it next time, I´ll change to ripe banana flour.

I have and old recipe that I use so often and it´s so delicious that I wanted to make a gluten-free version. So I used a fantastic recipe from the gluten-free girl blog and added the ingredients of my recipe. This is an ongoing project. I´ll have to bake a lot before I find my own best flour and ingredients combinations. This was my first GF bread ever. I´m so proud of myself!!!!!

Ingredients:

200 grams of ripe banana flour

170 grams of Green banana flour

30 grams of amaranth flakes

2 teaspoon of salt

400 grams of arracacha (or white carrot ) boiled, drained and mashed with a fork, let it cool before you use it. *** (Arracacia xanthorrhiza Banc). It’s very soft, so if you overcook it will melt. Great for soups. I boil, drain and puree in food processor with salt and olive oil. It will be the creamiest puree of vegetable that you will ever taste.

60 grams of grated parmesan cheese

2 eggs

60 grams of extra-virgin olive oil

115 grams de warm water (temperature of 110 F).

30 grams of ground flaxseed + 60 grams of hot boiling water

10 grams of active dry yeast

+ 1 tablespoon of sugar

+ 115 grams of warm water (temperature of 110 F)

The way I did it: 

1) Flaxseed:

Mix the ground flaxseed with water. Whisk it until you get a paste. Let it cool. Let it set aside.

2) Yeast:

Mix 10 grams of yeast with 1 tablespoon of sugar. Add 155 grams of warm water (temperature 110 F). Let it set aside to active the yeast.  8 to 15 minutes.

In a bowl combine the dry ingredients (banana flour, Green banana flour, amaranth flakes and salt).

In a stand mixer I combined the dry ingredients with eggs, flaxseed mixture, parmesan cheese, arracacha, olive oil and yeast. Started to blend and some flour got out of the mixer I “panic” and added the full 115 grams that I should added little by little.

Then my dough was way too wet. But I did not panic anymore. I just put the dough in an oiled bowl, covered it with a plastic bag and let it side aside for 2 long hours!!!!!

When it was time for me to roll it, I couldn’t form the little balls I wanted. But I did my best.

Pay attention to the directions of the bread recipe from gluten-free girl!!!

Dough after 2 hours resting and after I used my first half of it.

Delicious, delicious, delicious!!!!! It really has the texture of bread!

I froze the leftovers. Out of the oven Bread is so much more delicious that frozen Bread but. I want to have it for other days.

Next time I’ll use the water with so much more wisdom!

Banana Peel Muffin

I´m a curious person by nature. So, when I saw a recipe that used banana peel instead of bananas…….I had to try it.

The original recipe is from Department of Agriculture of the State of Rio Grande do Sul, I saw on TV. And I immediately thought: “What interesting recipe!”. Let’s try it.

The muffin dough has a very strange color that can go from gray to brown (like mine). But still is a great recipe. I’ve made this original recipe many times using a Bundt cake pan.

Today I changed a bit the ingredients to turn it GF and also reduced the amount of oil.

200 grams of banana peel washed, dried and cut into pieces. (the original recipe says 2 cups)

230 grams of granulated organic sugar. (The original recipe says 2 cups)

200 grams of green banana flour. (The original recipe asks for 1 cup of wheat flour and 1 cup of corn flour. Corn flour in Brazil is dry and rough and not soft as corn meal).

3 eggs

60 grams of olive oil. (the original recipe says 1 cup of vegetable oil)

1 tablespoon of baking powder.

I used ½ teaspoon of pumpkin pie spice.

In the blender mix together eggs, banana peel and olive oil. Blend well. In a bowl combine together the dry ingredients: banana flour, baking powder and sugar. Mix the banana egg mixture into the dry ingredients mixture. Stir well.

Then fill the paper cases up to 1/2 of it and bake medium heat. They will be ready when you stick a knife into it and it comes clean.

15 muffins out of the oven! But it would be 2 to 3 mores. If I didn’t overloaded the paper cases!

My opinion: It’s a good recipe. But this version of mine came out soft, but dry and crumbly to my very own personal taste. I like cakes that are moist. Also it was a bit too sweet. So, I’ll reduce the amount of sugar to 200 grams. For moisture I’m planning on adding more banana peel or even using 1 cup of olive oil like the original recipe. Or even one banana. Let’s see.

Squash muffins - second version

This is my second attempt to adapt the original recipe by Jamie Oliver.

Today I used 150 grams of flour mix, instead of the 150 grams quinoa flour of my first attempt. And I also used 50 grams of white raisins. And I shouldn’t have added the raisins:

a) Because I should change one thing at a time.

b) Because I put it dry and I have to blend the mixture a bit more. And you shouldn’t over blend your mixture. You are going to have a muffin dough that’s too liquid.

400 grams of butternut squash peeled and cut into cubes
175 grams of organic granulated sugar
150 grams of flour mix
2 large eggs
1 tablespoon of baking powder
20 grams of extra-virgin olive oil (this is half of the ¼ cup)
1 gram of Pumpkin pie spice. I think this is ½ a teaspoon. The original recipe says 1 teaspoon of cinnamon. But I prefer the pumpkin pie spice.

1 tablespoon of vanilla essence. Someone once told me it´s so easy to make vanilla extract that I should try one day. Because is so much better.

I grated the squash before adding the other ingredients. The original recipe don´t. I like it better because I don´t have to blend for a long time and I get the small pieces that I like.

So, after the squash is grated I add all other ingredients and blend until everything is mixed well. I don´t blend for a long time. Just count up to ten. Don´t overdo your dough.

Then fill the paper cases up to ¾ of it and bake. They will be ready when you stick a knife into it and it comes clean. The original recipe says 20-35 minutes. Mine took 30 minutes.

14 muffins out of the oven!
 

My opinion: With the raisins is too sweet. I really regret adding it to the recipe. The bitter taste of quinoa disappeared but I rather do it in another way – without raisins. I´ll try again with the flour mix without adding any other ingredient. And I´ll see how it goes. The texture was a bit more moist than my first version.

This muffin is delicious and it´s a great nutritious way of having a muffin.

I usually froze the leftover muffins – after they cool. Jamie Oliver mentioned that he freezes the dough. I have never tried. I let them cool naturally or in a desperate hunger moment I heat in the microwave for 20-30 seconds.

When I´m not freezing it. I leave them at the refrigerator. Squash are perishable and I don´t trust to leave it outside the refrigerator.

Pancake with flour mix - first version

The recipe is the same for the quinua flour pancake. I just changed the quinua flour for the flour mix.

1 cup of flour mix

1 large egg

½ teaspoon of baking powder

¾ cup of milk

Mix everything together. I do pour ½ of the milk, stir well and then add remaining ¼ of the milk. I do so to avoid too many crumbs. Stir well.

Makes 4 pancakes.

The bitter taste of quinoa had almost disappear. But…. I think it was a bit dry.

I have to make it again (I still have my flour mix). Also, the picture turned the pancake a little green. I do believe is a problem with the photographer (me!!) because I don´t remember eating green pancakes. But it also could be the banana flour.

I ate with a frech jam that I adore called Préparation aux Cassis saveur Violette by Casino sold here in Brazil.

Pancake with quinoa flour

I do have a wonderful waffle recipe gave to me by my friend A., but on busy mornings, I usually do this basic fast recipe. On weekdays I don´t have enough time to do much.


1 cup of quinoa flour
1 large egg
½ teaspoon of baking powder
¾ cup of milk


Mix everything together. I do pour ½ of the milk, stir well and then add remaining ¼ of the milk. I do so to avoid too many crumbs. Stir well.


Makes 4 pancakes.


I don´t use sugar because Nutela (the way is eaten) has way too much sugar.


I really like the texture of this pancake. The real issue is the bitter taste of quinoa. Does not please everyone.