Quick, easy flatbread

One of my favourite food combinations is houmous and pitta, so since I had one ingredient in the fridge, I decided to try and make my own flatbread. I wanted something quick to do that didn't require yeast and rising time, so I improvised with this recipe by just using plain flour, water, a small teaspoon of olive oil and some mixed herbs and salt. I kneaded the dough until it was smooth and rolled it out into thin round pieces, and then grilled it on a frying pan until brown specks appeared as above. One thing I would improve on would be to not roll it out too thin, otherwise it becomes very crispy (but it is still delicious, and tastes like crackers!). This keeps for a few days since it doesn't have any fresh ingredients.
This recipe is quick and tasty, but if I had time, I would still make the real thing by using yeast or yoghurt.

Homemade pizza

Making homemade pizza is a great way to enjoy the traditional treat without bursting out of your jeans. You know what exactly is going onto your pizza and can avoid the hideous amount of salt, fat and preservatives in the commercial buys. Here, I've used a tomato pasta sauce as the base flavour, and added salami, sweetcorn, peppers, red onion and mushrooms. AND it was so much fun to make! Try doing it with friends and have a laugh!

Quick Apple and Walnut Muffin for breakfast

Breakfast is the most important meal of the day for me and I look forward to my morning treat before I go to bed. These are my delicious healthy breakfast muffins which are so easy to make! Apples and walnuts are the perfect combination as you get the crunchiness of the walnuts combined with the soft gooey-ness of the apples. YUM!

Since I try to limit myself to one muffin a day (which is pretty darn hard!) I freeze my muffins when they have completely cooled, and each morning, I put one in the microwave for 30-40secs for a quick, nutritious and heart-warming breakfast! Great with a cup of coffee, and makes you want to get up in the morning!

Recipe (12 muffins)

Ingredients:

250g self raising flour

1tsp baking powder

2tsp cinnamon powder

100g caster sugar
2 eggs
125ml semi-skimmed milk
4tbsp sunflower oil
2 apples, peeled and chopped
handful of walnuts and branflakes for topping (optional)

Method:
Preheat the oven to 180degrees and line a muffin tray with muffin cases or use silicon cases.
Mix the dry ingredients, and dry ingredients separately, except for the walnuts and branflakes. Combine together and mix roughly. Do not overmix as this will encourage gluten to form and make the muffins tough and elastic! Fill the muffin cases to about 2/3 and top with the walnuts and branflakes. Bake for 25mins until golden brown and risen. Enjoy whilst warm or let it cool completely and freeze. This will keep for 2-3 days, if not frozen.

Easy vanilla cupcakes

Hahaha my next baking opportunity came in the form of my cousin's birthday :) so I made these simple vanilla cupcakes with a vanilla buttercream icing. I didn't have any piping equipment with me so I used a simple trick to make swirly frosting: Pour the buttercream icing into a plastic sandwich bag, and cut a triangle in the corner. It's so easy and convenient! Here is the recipe, enjoy:


Simple vanilla cupcakes (makes 12)
Ingredients:
100g butter
120g sugar
2 eggs
2 tsp vanilla extract
200g plain flour/all purpose flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
110ml milk

Method:
Preheat the oven to 180 degrees.
Cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy.
Beat the eggs until light and fluffy, then slowly pour the egg into the butter mixture and whisk after each addition. Add the vanilla, flour, baking powder and milk, and mix well.
Pour into a lined muffin tray (I used silicon cupcake cases, very handy!) and bake for 20-25mins until golden brown. Then cool on a wire rack. Decorate when completely cooled, otherwise the buttercream icing will melt!

Buttercream icing
Ingredients:
100g butter
125g icing sugar
a few drops of vanilla extract/food colouring

Method:
Beat the ingredients until smooth. Place in a piping bag and decorate :D

Chinese Sponge birthday cake

Last week, I celebrated a birthday of one of my closest friends and made this birthday cake for her. I wanted to use the soft, Chinese sponge that we all love, and modernise/Westernise it slightly. So I used a chocolate and double cream frosting with a simple raspberry jam filling, and piped chocolate decorations, which was definitely the fun part! (Just melt about 50g of dark chocolate on a double boiler, pour into a sandwich bag, twist the top, and cut off a corner) But wait until the chocolate has cooled slightly, otherwise it will melt the cream! Another technique, if time allows, would be to cover a baking tray with cling film, and pipe the chocolate decorations/shapes onto the cling film. Then place in the fridge until it hardens.
If I had a little more time and a cake turntable, it would have been neater. Eating it cool from the fridge, the cream was delicious, and berries and chocolate always go hand in hand :) Given it was the first time I tried this recipe, I think it was a success! Can't wait till the next person's birthday!