Flavour Combos
It was all about flavour combinations this month!! Sweet or savoury or both, there was so many options for the March meeting. I've listed some highlights below!!
Holly's Banana and Nutella Muffins
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, melted
1 cup granulated sugar
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
4 overripe bananas, mashed (about 1-1/2 cups)
½ cup Nutella chocolate hazelnut spread
1 ripe banana, for garnishing
Preheat oven to 350°F. Spray a 12-cup muffin pan generously with non-stick cooking spray.
In a large bowl, melt the butter and let cool slightly. Whisk in the sugar then the eggs and vanilla. Stir in the flour and baking soda. Fold in the mashed bananas until just combined.
Fill each muffin cup halfway with some batter. Dollop 1 teaspoon of Nutella in a few spots on top of the batter in each muffin cup. Use the end of a chopstick or other small utensil to gently swirl the Nutella through the batter in each muffin cup. Scoop the remaining batter evenly among the muffins cups, filling each muffin cup almost full. Dollop 1 teaspoon of Nutella in a few spots on top of the batter in each muffin cup. Use the end of a chopstick or another small-ended utensil to swirl the Nutella through the top half of the muffin batter.
Cut the remaining banana into 12 thin slices and place a slice in the middle of the swirled batter in each muffin cup.
Bake muffins for 30-35 minutes or until golden brown and a toothpick inserted comes out clean. Let the muffins cool in the pan for 5 minutes before removing to a wire rack to cool completely
Iona's Golden Syrup Flapjacks
250g jumbo porridge oats
125g butter
125g light brown sugar
2-3 tbsp golden syrup (depending on how gooey you want it)
Heat oven to 200C/180C fan/gas 6.
Put 250g jumbo porridge oats, 125g butter, 125g light brown sugar and 2-3 tbsp golden syrup in a food processor and pulse until mixed, but be careful not to overmix otherwise the oats may lose their texture.
Lightly grease a 20x20cm baking tin with butter and spoon in the mixture. Press into the corners with the back of a spoon so the mixture is flat and score into 12 squares.
Bake for around 15 minutes until golden brown.
Andrew's Chocolate and Salted Caramel Cupcakes
For the cupcakes:
50g of dark chocolate
100ml of whole milk
115g of dark muscovado sugar
40g of unsalted butter, soft
1 large egg, beaten
1 tsp vanilla essence
110g of plain flour
1 tbsp of cocoa powder
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
1 pinch of salt
For the salted caramel:
200g of light muscovado sugar
1 tsp vanilla essence
80g of butter
100ml of double cream
1 tsp salt
For the buttercream:
125g of unsalted butter, soft
250g of icing sugar
popping candy, chocolate-covered, to decorate (optional)
Preheat the oven to 180°C/gas mark 4 and line a 12-hole muffin tray with cupcake cases
To make the cakes, put the chocolate, milk and one-third of the sugar in a saucepan and stir over a gentle heat until the sugar has dissolved and the chocolate has melted. Leave to cool
Cream together the butter and sugar until pale and fluffy and gradually whisk in the beaten egg and vanilla essence until fully combined. Tip over the cooled chocolate milk and sift over the dry ingredients. Whisk it all together until combined and divide the mixture between the cake cases. Bake for 20 minutes, or until an inserted skewer comes out clean
In the meantime, make the salted caramel. Simply put all the ingredients in a saucepan over a gentle heat and stir until the sugar has dissolved and the butter has melted. Increase the heat and let the mixture come to a rolling boil. Reduce the temperature again and leave to simmer for a minute. Taste for saltiness (careful, it’s hot!) and add more if you like. Leave to cool
Once the cakes are out of the oven, stab them all over with a skewer and spread a spoonful of salted caramel on top. Leave the cakes to cool completely in their tin on top of a wire rack before turning out
To make the buttercream, put the butter in a large bowl and sift over half of the icing sugar. Whisk together to combine and sift over the remaining half of the icing sugar. Whisk again until fully combined before adding half of the cold salted caramel. Whisk until pale and fluffy and taste, adding more salted caramel if you want
Spoon the buttercream into a piping bag fitted with a star nozzle and pipe a swirl of buttercream on top of each cake. Flick over some more salted caramel and scatter over some chocolate coated popping candy
Madeline's Raspberry and White Chocolate Blondies
Makes 25 blondies
170g melted butter
225g light soft brown sugar
2tsp vanilla extract
1 large egg
210g plain flour
200g white chocolate
100g raspberries
Preheat oven to 170°c.
Line 8 inch square brownie pan with greaseproof paper.
Weigh out sugar in a large mixing bowl and melt butter in the microwave. When fully melted, combine butter with sugar and add vanilla extract, and mix well.
Add egg to the mixture and whisk again before adding flour and white chocolate.
Fold in raspberries to give ripple effect and pour into pre-lined pan, pressing into the corners.
Bake for 40-45 minutes until edges are golden and the middle seems firm.
Leave in pan to cool for 30 minutes before carefully lifting out to cut.
Mathilde's Quiche with bacon, cheese and garlic
For the pastry:
180g flour (some extra for dusting)
100g cubed cold unsalted butter
20-30g parmesan, grated
1 tsp cold water
pinch of salt
For the filling:
3 medium eggs
200g smoked bacon lardons, fried until golden but not crunchy, cooled down
300ml creme fraiche light
100g cheese (I used emmental)
40ml of single cream (+/-)
seasoning
8 cloves of garlic (to taste)
For the pastry:
Put the flour, salt and parmesan in a large mixing bowl and rub the butter into the mixture until it resembles breadcrumbs
Add the egg yolk and water and combine into a dough
Wrap in clingfilm and chill for 30 minutes in the fridge
Combining the quiche:
Pre-heat the oven at 180C and grease a 25cm flan tin (large)
Roll the dough on a dusted surface until large enough to cover the flan tin - don't trim the edges yet and poke with a fork
Lay baking paper over the dough covered tin and fill with baking beans/rice
Blind bake for 15 minutes, remove the beans/paper and bake for a further 5 minutes
With the leftover egg white from the dough, make an egg wash and paste this over the dough immediately when the base comes out of the oven (to ensure it forms a layer) Now, trim the edges of the tin
In a bowl, add all the filling ingredients except for+/- 10g of cheese. Mix carefully and add the filling to the base
Bake for +/- 45 minutes until set and golden
Here's some other photos and bakes from the night:
Finally, the next meeting will be our AGM. Please come along and run for a position! All details of committee positions available can be found on our Facebook page.