…or how to bake at every opportunity for 24 hours, without incurring the wrath of the beloved:
Saturday, 5pm
Home on a Saturday night with no beloved, no LMFs and no pudding? Can’t go out, cos the small one is sleeping, you’ve given all your money to the chahrahprahctahr and the thought of taking off your ugg boots and going out in the rain is enough to make you want to collapse on the couch and watch fourteen hours of ABC election coverage? Then make these…
Very Moreish Coconut Puddings with Blackberry Syrup
400 grams of frozen blackberries (or fresh, it’s no biggie)
90 grams of unsalted butter, at warm room temperature
125 grams of caster sugar
2 eggs
60 grams of self-raising flour
2 tablespoons of almond meal
3 tablespoons of coconut milk
4 tablespoons of dessicated coconut
Preheat your oven to 190 degrees celsius (170 fan forced)
Butter up 5-6 small glasses/ramekins/mugs (roughly 1 cup capacity each)
Drop 5-6 blackberries in the bottom of each glass/ramekin/thingy, set aside.
In a medium bowl, beat the butter and sugar together until pale and fluffy.
Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition.
Add the flour, almond meal and coconut, folding until well incorporated.
Add the coconut milk and fold in until well incorporated.
Top up the glasses/ramekins/vessels with batter.
Put all the vessels on a baking tray.
Bake for 20-25 minutes, until risen, golden and springy.
For the syrup –
Put the remaining blackberries, 60 grams of sugar and 1/2 a cup of water in a small-medium saucepan.
Stir over low heat until the sugar dissolves.
Increase the heat and simmer for 10-15 minutes, until the berries are completely mushy and the liquid is getting syrupy.
Strain into a bowl.
Invert the puddings into bowls (you can cut the tops off the pudding before inverting, so they sit flat in the bowl, but it’s not essential).
Drizzle with syrup. Eat. Although we had none, a good dollop of cream or creme fraiche would go especially well.
* * * * * *
Sunday, 8am
In possession of a new-to-you waffle iron, a gifted waffle recipe (thank you K!), and a beloved who wants waffles? Make these:
Chia Seed Waffles with….you guessed it – blackberry syrup
(no photos, camera batteries were busy being charged)
2 eggs, separated
~1 1/2 cups of full cream milk
2 cups of plain flour
1/2 a teaspoon of baking powder
1/4 of a cup of sugar
60 grams of butter
2 tablespoons of cold water
2 tablespoons of chia seeds
Switch on your waffle iron to heat up.
Beat your egg whites until firm peaks form. Set aside.
Beat the egg yolks and milk together briefly.
Add the sifted dry ingredients and beat until smooth.
Add the melted butter and the water. Mix to incorporate well.
Fold in the beaten egg whites…at this point your batter should be thicker than pancake batter, but not as thick as muffin mix. If you need to, thin it down with a bit of extra milk folded through.
Put 2-4 tablespoons (depending on your particular waffle iron) of batter into the waffle iron. Cook until golden and just crispy.
Drizzle with blackberry syrup, or golden syrup, or maple syrup, or any syrup really. Eat, with a generous-sized mug of tea.
* * * * * *
Sunday, 2pm
Very taken with the coconut pudding, but a bit over the blackberry syrup? Visiting friends? Hankering for ganache? Make these….
Just Beautiful Coconut Cakes
180 grams of unsalted butter, softened
250 grams of caster sugar
3 eggs
120 grams of self-raising flour
4 tablespoons of almond meal
8 tablespoons of dessicated coconut
6 tablespoons of coconut milk
150 grams of dark eating chocolate
90 grams of cream
1/2 a teaspoon of coconut essence
Extra coconut to decorate.
Preheat your oven to 190 degrees celsius (170 fan forced)
Line a 12-hole muffin tin with cupcake cases.
In a large bowl, beat the butter and sugar together until pale and fluffy.
Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.
Fold in the flour, almond meal and coconut, combining well.
Fold in the coconut milk, mixing until smooth.
Spoon mixture evenly between the 12 cupcake cases.
Bake for 20-25 minutes, until risen, golden and springy.
While they’re cooking, start the ganache –
Melt the chocolate and cream together gently, in a small glass bowl, over just simmering water.
Stir until smooth then remove from the heat.
Stir in the coconut essence and set aside to cool and thicken, stirring occasionally.
When the cupcakes are cool and the ganache has thickened, swirl ganache generously over each cake, dusting each one with coconut immediately.
Loophole 1: Visiting gift…check
Loophole 3: Virtuous use of leftovers…check
Loophole 6: Freeing up freezer space for actual meals…check
Loophole 17: Baking on request…check
Loophole 36: Baking to accommodate previous excess baking (syrup has to go with something)…check
Loophole 83: Using up ingredients to regain use of favourite containers (not drawing a long bow at all)…check
Bingo! Yes! Over here!! Bingo bingo bingo!!!
