Showing posts with label breakfast. Show all posts
Showing posts with label breakfast. Show all posts

Tuesday, March 23, 2010

Recipe for wonderfully easy breakfast muffins or tea cake

This recipe was given to me some time ago by a friend who in turn got it from who knows where.   Recently I've begun experimenting with it and it really is a great flexible recipe, so I've decided to share it.  For those of you who watch your consumption of animal fats and/or sugar, the good news is it has neither butter nor sugar in it.

It's the easiest recipe in the world, so here goes...

Ingredients
2 apples peeled and chopped (you could probably use pears or plums or bananas etc instead if you wanted to)
100 g dates (I recently used half raisins and half dates which worked very well)
225 g self-raising wholemeal flour (you can also use half self-raising white and half wholemeal if you want it a little lighter, but personally if I can avoid white flour I do)
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 tablespoon lemon juice
zest of 1 lemon
125 ml plain yoghurt
2 eggs beaten
100 ml vegetable oil
 
Last time I made this I also added a handful of chopped walnuts and a handful of dessicated coconut.  If it's not sweet enough for you, you could add a tablespoon of honey, or sprinkle some brown sugar on the top in the last 5 mins of cooking.

Method
Place apple, dates (and/or raisins, coconut and walnuts), flour, cinnamon and lemon zest in a large bowl and mix well.  Mix beaten egg, yoghurt, oil and lemon juice (I whisk them altogether using a simple hand whisk or fork).   Pour wet ingredients into dry ones and mix together using a wooden spoon or spatula (no need for heavy kitchen machinery!).  

Pour into a grease proofed muffin tin or 20 cm cake tin and bake at 180C for 30 mins as muffins or 1 hour as a cake.  Check with a skewer through the middle to make sure they're / it's done.  Leave in the tin for about 5 mins and then turn onto a cooling rack.  Makes about 15 muffins or cake for 6-8 people.  

Happy baking!

By Mummy Dearest

Saturday, March 6, 2010

Bad mother?

This morning my kids and I didn't eat breakfast till 11.30am.  They spent some time playing individually in their rooms, then some more time playing together while we slept in.  We even managed to fit in a cheeky shag!  My husband then got ready for work while the kids got into bed with me to 'spoon' and cuddle.  When I suggested we go down to get some breakfast, my daughter said "no! not yet."  I said "aren't you hungry?  Some people would think I was a very bad mother for not having fed you two yet."  "I'm not that hungry, I'm enjoying chatting in bed," she replied.  "Ok," I said, "five more minutes, but don't you dare tell your grandmother what time we had breakfast!"

By Mummy Dearest