220g wholemeal flour
4T olive oil
30g linseed or poppy seeds or sesame seeds
1/4t salt
pinch of cracked pepper
1C parsnip, grated (optional, but very good and doesn’t taste at all parsnippy)
water
Mix all ingredients together and knead until dough is soft and elastic.
Let rest about 15 minutes.
Roll out to no more than 2-3mm thickness on a greased baking tray and mark cuts (or cut out shapes and place them on a tray). Prick with a fork. Spread with egg yolk, milk or oil and bake at 200ºC in top half of oven for about 10-12 minutes.

Note to self: try soaking the flour in a cup of yoghurt overnight before making them next time (and obviously decreasing the amount of water)

Hard to see where the birthday present ends and the birthday cake begins!
The boys all voted to put their birthday money in together and get Lego. Half of it appeared at K11’s birthday and the other half will come out when M5 turns into a six year old in a few weeks. They’ll all get to play with it (so far almost non-stop) until we go away.

The cake was designed by the Birthday Boy himself many months ago. It underwent a few minor changes as it was constructed, and of course the opening of the present in the morning meant that an entire scene could be created instead of just a “camping island”.

Every good Kiwi housewife can make scones.
Except me. I just can’t get past the having to cut up the butter into breadcrumbs. Even when I learnt you could grate it first to make it quicker, it was still too slow for me. We’ve started eating scones recently, because J13 likes to make them. Date or sultana are especially good. Cheese ones (with the addition of mustard powder and cayenne pepper as well) make the savoury sorts smile.

3C flour
6t baking powder
1/4t salt
Sift into a bowl

75g butter
Cut in until it resembles fine breadcrumbs

1 to 1 1/2C milk
Add and mix quickly with a knife to a soft dough. Knead a few times. Lightly dust an oven tray with flour. Press scone dough onto this and cut into 12 pieces. Brush with milk and bake at 220ºC for 10 minutes.

Of course, there is one variety of scones I am happy to make. Scones for Dummies you could call it. Dummies coz it’s all bad for ya. And coz it’s easy-peasy.

Combine one cup of lemonade and one cup of cream. Add three cups of flour and three teaspoons of baking powder. ta-da. You’re done. Well, apart from baking them at 180ºC for 15-20 minutes, but that bit’s even lazy easy enough for me.

Fast Pancakes for a Fast Lunch
(can be made while we read aloud)

3C flour
1/4t salt
Sift into a bowl

3 eggs
Add, mixing to combine

2 1/4C milk
Gradually beat in, mixing to a smooth batter. Chill for one hour (or not, if you’re really in a hurry).
Thin with water.
Heat oil in a frypan. Pour into batter and stir well.
Pour pancakes into pan and cook on both sides until golden brown.

Serve sprinkled with lemon juice and sugar….or golden syrup…or bacon and peaches and maple syrup….or jam and cream…….or layered with stewed apple…..or or or…..

When we’re in the food-preparation-groove and we don’t run-out-of-time, we aim to eat these pancakes from Nourishing Traditions.

4C flour
4C buttermilk, kefir or yoghurt
Soak in a warm place for 12-24 hours

4 eggs, lightly beaten
1t sea salt
1t baking soda
4T butter, melted
Stir in and thin to desired consistency with water. Cook as for other pancakes, but note they cook much more slowly and will be chewy.

IMPORTANT NOTE: if you (readers other than the kiddos) have never read Cloudy With A Chance of Meatballs, make sure you get a copy! You’ll see why. And pancake morning will ever be the same at your house again.

You know I told you about Grannys’ TREAT book? I’ve saved the best two for last.

The first is a winner even though I can’t abide the taste of coffee.
(the muffin-making-process is documented here)

CAPPUCCINO CHIP MUFFINS

2C flour
3/4C sugar
2 1/2t baking powder
2t instant coffee
1/2t salt
1/2t ground cinnamon

1C milk
125g butter, metled
1 egg
1t vanilla essence

3/4C chocolate chips

Filling:

100g cream cheese
1T sugar
1/2t vanilla essence
1/2t coffee powder

Cut muffins in half, spread on filling and sprinkle with grated chocolate.

OOOOOH lookit…..these posts have been appearing over the past week without me doing anything - I’ve timestamped about three week’s worth! And today, guess what…..J12 made these very muffins)

And a treat for the kiddies.

CHOCO-MALLOW MUFFINS

2 3/4C flour
2 1/2t baking powder
1/2C cocoa
3/4C firmly packed brown sugar
1/2C white chocolate chips
1/2C dark chocolate chips

100g butter, melted
1 egg, lightly beaten
1 1/2C milk

After you’ve made the muffins (like this) and they’ve cooled down a bit, combine the following and liberally spoon it on top.

150g dark chocolate, melted
2T butter, melted
1/4C glace cherries
1/4C unsalted roasted peanuts

Decorate with more cherries and peanuts and lots of marshmallows too.

FRUIT SALAD MUFFINS

2C flour
4t baking powder
1/2t salt
1/2C sugar

75g butter, melted
1 egg
3/4C milk
425g tin fruit salad, drained

Filling (to be spread into cooked muffins just before serving):

2T butter
3/4C milk
Heat together in a suacepan

1T cornflour
2T icing sugar
1 small egg, beaten
Mix together. Add to suacepan and cook until thickened.

1/2t vanilla essence
Add and allow to cool

RHUBARB MUFFINS

2C flour
4t baking powder
1/2t salt
3/4C sugar

1C milk
100g butter, melted
1 egg

1 1/2C finely chopped rhubarb (yes, uncooked)
(alternatively you can use any stewed fruit)

yummy optional topping to be sprinkled over:
3T raw sugar
1T cinnamon
These need to be cooked at a higher temperature than most muffins ~ 220ºC for a good 20 minutes. Rest of directions are the same as here though. They are best to be left for an hour or two before eating and are EXCELLENT the next day. Good for picnics, or for preparing ahead of time.

They’re called Belgian Spice, but we made them in Poland. At the time, they seemed like a nice change to the walnut-n-carrot ones, but closer inspection of the two recipes, reveals very little point of difference

BELGIAN SPICE MUFFINS

1C milk
1 egg
3T butter, melted
1C bran

1C flour
1/4C sugar
2t baking powder
1/2t salt
1/2t nutmeg
1/2t cinnamon

1t orange peel
1C carrot, grated
1/2C raisins
1/2C nuts, chopped

Mix them together, like this.

Another Polish favourite, only called Russian this time. Just like the other two recipes, minus the carrots

RUSSIAN WALNUT MUFFINS

1 1/2C flour
1T baking powder
1/4C sugar

1 egg
1t vanilla
7/8C sour milk
1/4C butter, melted

1C walnuts

And the most basic recipe we’ve ever come across, is made fancy by calling it Swedish. In reality, it’s the recipe you can use if you’ve got nothing left in the pantry. My advice is to only use this recipe, if circumstances dictate. Otherwise, choose any other one.

SWEDISH MUFFINS

2C flour
4t baking powder
4T sugar
salt

1 egg
1C sour milk
2T oil

tex-mex muffins

2C corn flour
1/2C flour
1t baking powder
1/2t baking soda
1t cumin

2 eggs, beaten
1T honey
1T oil
2C sour milk

1C cheese
1/2C chillies
1/2C onion and garlic. fried together (optional)

whaddya do with these bits and bobs to turn them into muffins? click here

When we were in Poland (oh yes, I do say that so often, don’t I….but forgive me, it’s where I learnt to do most of my cooking, and in particular, learnt to cook with very limited ingredients, so it was a profoundly impacting time in my life, not to mention a delightfully romantic-to-look-back-on-one), we made these muffins all summer long.

BERRY MUFFINS
2C flour
1/4C sugar
1T baking powder
1/2t salt

2 eggs
3/4C sour milk
1/4C butter, melted

1C berries

instructions for what to do with these ingredients can be found by clicking right here

Then we returned to New Zealand.
One day when we were wandering around a bookstore (as we were still are inclined to do) Father Bear offered to buy me a recipe book. The sensible choice was the book entitled something along the lines of *how to bake a muffin with next to no ingredients*….or was it *muffins on the cheap*? I don’t remember. The one we splashed out on that day was “Granny’s Muffin Treats”. What a Good Choice.

We discovered the BEST BLUEBERRY MUFFINS. Ever.

BEST BLUEBERRY MUFFINS EVER

2C flour
1T baking powder
2t custard powder (this is the key ingredient methinks)
1C sugar

2 eggs
3/4C milk
3/4C oil or butter, melted

3/4C blueberries

And just because it’s tempting you in the photo, here’s the other three star recipe on that page.

CHOCOLATE CHEESECAKE MUFFINS

125g cream cheese
2/3C sugar - but just use 2T for this bit
Beat until light and fluffy

2/3C sugar (minus the 2T taken above)
1C flour
3T cocoa
2t baking powder
1/2t salt

3/4C milk
1 egg
1/2C cooking oil

Once you’ve mixed up the ingredients, you spoon a tablespoonfull into a muffin tin, dollop a teaspoon of the cream cheese mixture in and then top it off with some more batter. These ones cook for 20 minutes at 190ºC. YUM-O.

I was around when muffins became all the rage in the eighties.
In the early nineties, I was a newly-married housewife.
I made so many muffins I didn’t even need to use the recipe any more.
Which was probably the point at which it stopped getting spattered.

There’s a pattern to muffins:
mix the dry ingredients together
mix the wet ingredients together
combine the two with as little mixing as possible
add any extras
two-thirds fill muffin tins
bake at 180ºC 15-20 minutes

CHOCOLATE MUFFINS
1 1/2C flour
1/3C cocoa
1 1/2t baking powder
1/2t baking soda
1/2C sugar

1 egg
2T butter, melted
1C sour milk
1t vanilla

1/2C walnuts (optional)
1/2C chocolate chips (not optional!!!!)

BANANA NUT MUFFINS

1 1/2C flour
2t baking powder
1/2t baking soda
1/2t salt
1/2C sugar
1/4T nutmeg
1C bran

2T water
1t vamilla
1egg, beaten
1/4C butter, melted

1 1/2C banana, mashed
1C nuts
3/4C raisins
These ones might take a little longer to cook