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!

Best of 2016

I slacked off in 2016. But that is understandable. My schedule was so busy, that I had less time to try new recipes. I did try some new, retried several old, and tasty recipes!

Here are some favorite recipes from 2016.

In January, I  kicked off the year,  with some another fun Black-eyed Peas and Collard Greens recipes. This one is a keeper!

I even tried two roll recipes: Jalapeno, Scallion and Garlic  and Sun-dried Tomato and Jalapeno. Both were so delicious, that I continued to make them throughout the year!

I attempted the 21-day beach body diet in early 2016, and here’s my version of Bulghur Wheat Upma, designed to meet the container requirement (Disclaimer: I am not a certified Beach Body coach, so use at your own discretion!)

Another fun recipe in February from the beach body diet was the Brown Rice Paella.

March was all about Cauliflower Nirvana. Period!

Come April, I put all else aside for a two week vacation down under. What an incredible trip!

May is always, typically about Cherries.

I also experimented with other recipes like Mango Coconut Scones

And learnt to make Bagels… Sun Dried Tomato and Jalapeno bagels, of course 🙂

Summertime, to beat the heat, I experimented with many Popsicle recipes, many of them with mango or cherries: my two favorite fruits.

I maintained a scant patio garden this summer, which was plagued by over zealous squirrels. The most exciting vegetable from my patio garden this year  was zucchini!

August was about Savory Sun-dried Tomato Kalamata Olive and Jalapeno bread.

Two fun recipes from September included, plunging into Cauliflower Rice and Stir Fried Vegetables.

And these delicious Cherry Friands!

And another variation of the Quinoa Bisibele Bath.

October, I found Mango Chia Pudding, and it was terrific. It has fast become my go-to breakfast items!

November was incredibly busy. Come December, I did try the Tian.

But, December is all about the holidays… about Airplane Cookies!

Have a very Happy New Year!

Hope to see you back here next year!

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

Mediterranean in May

Fun recipes from last May…

Farro & Sun Dried Tomato Foccacia

Eggplant and Tomato GratinRosemary Scented Vegetable Phyllo Tart

Stuffed Tomato

Mediterranean Grain Soup

Baklava

Eggplant and Tomato Gratin

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.

2015 Recipe Fails

Recently, I posted Best of 2015. There were many successes in 2015 but there were also many failures.  Taking cue from Andrea of Cooking with a Wallflower, I wanted to record some recipes that didn’t make it to the blog. Some because, I didn’t like the result, some because, they didn’t look good enough although they tasted fine, and many others that made it from stove to the trash. Here are some fails from 2015, that I took photographs of,but didn’t make the cut.

I kicked off 2015 with an attempt to make Ethiopian injera bread, berbere lentils, and a side of kale.

The first disappointment was the berbere spice mix itself that I made at home. It didn’t taste like what I had eaten at restaurants. I didn’t realize this until I cooked berbere lentils with teff seeds and berbere mix.

Even bigger disappointment was the injera bread itself, I made. I didn’t even end up photographing what I created. The side of kale was tolerable.

I love cherries, and when they are in season I love to try new recipes. I invariably change the original recipe and sometimes they don’t end up the way I expect.  That is what happened to this Cherry Gallete.

When I first came across the Thai Pumpkin Curry Soup, I was hooked. I love Thai food and this looked so good. Even though I lost the original recipe when I got down to making this, and didn’t change the recipe much from what I remembered, I was dissatisfied with the end product.

This fall, I had a lot of fun with trying new recipes with Spaghetti Squash. I know I will try them all again and again. I might even try this one again with some changes. Although the first time I made Spaghetti Squash Dum Biryani, I was reluctant to eat it. I think I used more milk than I wanted.

Following my previous attempt at making baked garelu (plain vada), I finally relented and bought a donut hole tray and recreated them in that pan. The end product although tasted fine, looked too much like donuts and not like vada. They ended up to thick and the resulting Dahi Vada (Vada in Yogurt sauce) looked nothing like what my mother used to prepare.

Seeing all the fruit and nut bread for the holidays, I made this Cranberry Persimmon Nut loaf. Which tasted good, but didn’t look good. I know I will try to make it again

That’s it for 2015. See you back here next year!

See Also:

Best of 2015