Cherry Friands

I can’t re-blog any more in WordPress…What gives?

But glad to see cherries back in the groceries!

This is a re-post from September 2016.

Looking forward to making this again!

Cherry Friands

When I saw these, Cherry Friands, I knew I desperately wanted to try them. I saved the recipe. I even saved my last batch of fresh cherries in the freezer just for this recipe!

I created a lighter version with less butter and maple syrup. Here’s how I made mine.

Ingredients:

45 grams flour
3/4 stick butter (will use only 1/2 next time)
80 grams almond meal
1/3 cup maple syrup
3 egg whites
a pinch of salt
6 pitted cherries

Prepare a 6 muffin tin. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In a bowl, whisk together: melted butter and egg whites. Add in flour,  almond meal, pinch of salt and maple syrup. Add 1-2 tbsp of batter into muffin tins. Top with a pitted cherry.

Bake for 20 minutes or until cooked and toothpick test passes.

 

Enjoy with a nice cuppa tea!

Cranberry Friands

I really enjoyed my Cherry Friands.

A lot.

I have been eagerly awaiting the Cherry season so I can make them again with fresh cherries.

Meanwhile, I decided to try some Cranberry Friands, mostly  following this recipe. It makes 12 friands and here’s how I made mine.

Ingredients:

1 3/4 cup almond meal
3/4 cup all purpose flour
1/4 cup icing sugar
1/2 tsp baking power
1 stick butter
5 egg whites
1 cup fresh cranberries
1/2 cup coconut flakes
2 tbsp white chocolate bits
a handful of slivered almonds (optional)

Pre-heat oven to 360 degrees F. Prepare two muffin tins.

In a bowl mix together flour, almond meal, and baking powder. Whisk together egg whites, melted butter and sugar. Combine the two and mix well. Fold in cranberries, coconut flakes and chocolate bits. Mix well.

Scoop and add batter to muffin tins about 3/4 full. Sprinkle some slivered almonds and bake for 25 minutes.

Enjoy with a cuppa tea!

It’s Time… for Limited Edition Airplane Cookies!

Happy Holidays!

Once a year, I bring out my airplane cookie cutters, scour the web for a good cookie recipe and off I go. This year, Ronit made it all too easy with her Cut out Almond Butter Cookies. The moment I saw it, I knew this was it.

I made no changes other than to dip some of my cookies in chocolate and add some sprinkles.

This might be one of my best airplane cookies so far.

See Also:

Tis’ The Season for Airplane Cookies
Airplane Cookies are here!
Time… for Airplane Cookies
Fly me to the Moon

Mango Chia Pudding

Lately, I have been enjoying chia pudding for breakfast. My favorite combination is using mango!

Ingredients:

1 cup lite coconut milk
1/4 cup chia seeds
1 tbsp of maple syrup
1 mango

In a bowl, mix the coconut milk and chia seeds thoroughly.

Peel and dice the mango. Place roughly half in a food processor and blend to a pulp. Transfer the pulp to the milk mixture. Add maple syrup and mix well. Top with the rest of the diced mango.

Refrigerate overnight and enjoy the next morning for breakfast!

Makes 3-4 servings.

It’s Popsicle Week: Cardamon flavored Mango Popsicle

Now that summer is officially here, the heat is on. With highs in the upper 80’s or mid 90’s,  I have been craving cooler stuff such as ice cream.

Last year I tried some of the Popsicle from Wit & Vinegar’s Popsicle Week. As it happens this week is Popsicle Week!

This year I am trying some of mine as well as some from past Popsicle Week recipes.  Here are a couple I have tried this week that were so good!

 Cardamon flavored Mango Popsicle:

1 cup lite coconut milk (or use Almond milk)
1.25 cups mango pulp or lightly blended mango (I left mine chunky)
1/4 cup white chocolate bits
a drizzle of lemon juice
a dash of cardamon

Bring the coconut milk to boil and add white chocolate bits. Warm until the chocolate melts. Mix well. Meanwhile lightly process the mango if using diced mango until blended into small bits. Mix in the milk mixture. Add cardamon and mix well.

Pour into Popsicle molds and refrigerate for four hours.

When ready to serve, eat them as is or melt some dark chocolate and dip the end of  the Popsicle in it. Then roll it in some grated coconut. Enjoy!

I also tried these cherry flavored Popsicle from here.

Pistachio Dipped Cherry and White Chocolate Pops

1 cup almond or lite coconut milk
1.25 cups cherries, pitted
1/4 cup white chocolate

Bring the coconut milk to boil and add white chocolate bits. Warm until the chocolate melts. Mix well. Meanwhile lightly process the cherries into bits. Add to the milk mixture and mix well.

Pour into Popsicle molds and refrigerate for four hours.

Just before serving, optionally melt some white chocolate, and dip the Popsicle in it. Next roll it in some pistachio bits. Enjoy!

See Also:

Cherry, Dark Chocolate, and Coffee Popsicle
Cherry, Almond and  Dark Chocolate Bark
Cherry Swirl with Dark Chocolate and Cherry Bits

Cherries are in the air

Cherries are most economic in April/May, and I hoard up on them. More than I can eat anyway.

Sometimes too many!

While they are refreshing and fun for that late afternoon snack, there are many cherry recipes I love to try when this happens…

Salads

Cherry and Avacado Salad

Baking

Mini Cherry Crumbles

Cherry and Cardamon Cake

Cherry Cake

Healthy Whole Wheat Cherry and Chocolate Muffins

Homemade Granola

Ice Cream

Cherry,  Dark Chocolate and Coffee Popsicle

Cherry Swirl, Dark Chocolate and Cherry Bits

Refreshing Drinks

Refreshing and Homemade Cherry Lemonade

Mango and Coconut Scone

Now that we are well into spring, the grocery stories are overflowing with fresh fruit and vegetables. I picked up some assorted fruits and my mind was on baking.

Cakes, muffins or scones?

Scones are undoubtedly one of my favorite snack.  While I frequently bake cherry or cranberry scones, I have never baked mango scones. This seemed to be the perfect time to experiment with baking a mango scone.

I have a standard healthy recipe for scones I use. and here is the version adapted for a mango scone.

Ingredients:
2 cups all purpose flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
1/3 cup sugar
1/2 stick  butter (or add more for a flaky scone)
1 cup buttermilk
2 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp cardamon powder
1 mango, peeled and diced
1/2 cup + a little more coconut flakes
1/2 cup chopped pecans

Pre-heat the oven to 425 degrees.

In a large bowl, mix flour, sugar, baking soda, baking powder,cardamon powder,  and salt. Use a pastry blender to cut in the cold butter or use your hands to mix in. Add buttermilk and mix in. Fold in diced mango and coconut flakes and pecans and mix gently into a ball.

Using a rolling pin, roll out the dough into a  circle and 1/2 in thick slab and cut into triangles or scoop 1-2 tbsp onto a baking pan lined with parchment paper.  Brush with some melted butter and sugar crystals (optional). Bake for 10-12 minutes. Makes about 12 scones.

Enjoy a warm scone with some butter or jam or as is with a nice cuppa tea or coffee. Or Glaze with some mango flavored icing for a sweeter scone.

If not ready to eat, you can  freeze the scones in a freezer bag. When ready to eat remove from freezer and let it return to room temperature or pop it in a microwave for 10-15 seconds and it is ready to eat!

Note: I tend to use less sugar and less butter. For a sweeter and more flaky scone adjust sugar and butter to suit your personal preference.

Muesli Bread

I came across this bread, along with other breads in the latest Prevention Magazine. I really wanted to bake the cranberry bread, but instead, I opted to bake this one. I had the oven all fired up anyway, as I roasted root vegetables for a pot of Roasted Root Vegetables with Kale and Lentil soup for the week.

As always, I made changes. Here’s how I baked mine…

Ingredients:

1/2 cup whole wheat pastry flour
1/2 cup almond meal
1/2 + 1 tbsp cup rolled oats
1/8 cup brown sugar
2 tbsp flaxmeal
1/2 tbsp baking powder
1/4 tsp kosher salt
1/4 tsp cinnamon
2 large eggs
1/4 cup milk
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1/2 tsp almond extract
1/6 cup each, raisins, pepitas, dried cherries, raw almonds and coconut. I swapped in cherries and coconut since I didn’t have apricot.

Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees F.

In a large bowl, mix flours, sugar, baking powder, oats, flaxmeal, salt and cinnamon. In a separate bowl, whisk together milk, oil, eggs and almond extract. Combine with flours and mix well. Fold in nuts and dried fruit.

Grease a baking pan and pour the mixture evenly. You can sprinkle some fruit and nuts on top, which I missed.

Bake for 30 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in the center comes out clean.

Remove from oven and cool.

Enjoy for breakfast with a hot cuppa tea or during the afternoon slump!

Vegan Pumpkin Bread

It’s October. Fall. And grocery stores have exploded with pumpkins of all sizes, shapes and varieties. I picked up not one, not two, but three different varieties!

I had family visiting the last few days, and after trying some different recipes such as this one, I decided to try my hand at making some home-made pumpkin puree and baking bread. The recipe had to be vegan, since as I learned they didn’t eat eggs!

I used the Pioneer Woman’s steps to make pumpkin puree. And loosely followed this recipe for the vegan version.

Ingredients:

1.25 cups whole wheat pastry flour
0.25 cup olive oil
0.25 cup maple syrup
1 mashed ripe banana
1 cup pumpkin puree
1.5 tbsp flax meal
1 cup + 1tbsp rolled oats
1/2 cup + 1tbsp almond meal
2/3 cup brown sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
3 tbsp pepitas
some walnuts or pecans
1 tsp pumpkin spice
0.5 cup water

Pre-heat oven to 375 degrees, and prepare a loaf pan.

Mix flaxmeal with 4 tbsp water. Add pumpkin puree, mashed banana, olive oil and maple syrup. Whisk.

Add brown sugar, baking powder, cinnamon, pumpkin spice and continue to whisk.

Add water, oats, almond meal, and flour. Mix well.

Pour the mixture into a loaf pan, sprinkle some pepitas and nuts and bake for 40-50 minutes until cooked.

Serve warm. Enjoy!

Happy Fall!

Notes:

Next time, I’ll add some walnuts to the mixture.

See Also:

Pumpkin Paayasam

Cranberry Pumpkin Loaf

Haitian Pumpkin Soup 

Amaranth Pumpkin Loaf

Pumpkin Curry

Stuffed Pumpkin

 

Cherry, Dark Chocolate and Coffee Popsicle

Recently, I came across this blog: Wit and Vinegar and quite propitiously Popsicle Week just came to an end with varied Popsicle recipes.

Here is one of my favorite I’ve tried so far. As always, I adapted using ingredients in my pantry.

Ingredients:

3/4 cup coconut milk
3/4 cup pitted cherries
6 tbsp unsweetened coffee
2 tbsp maple syrup
1 tsp vanilla extract
a dash of salt
2 squares of dark chocolate cut to bits

Process coconut milk, unsweetened coffee, vanilla extract, maple syrup and salt in a food processor. Transfer to a freezer safe dish. Add dark chocolate bits and cherry bits. Freeze for 45 minutes to an hour.

Once the mixture is thickened, scoop and transfer to Popsicle molds. Freeze for 3-4 hours to allow the molds to set.  When ready to eat or serve, dip molds in hot water for a few seconds to allow the popsicle to slide out.

Enjoy on a ridiculously hot, and humid day!