The Cookbook Challenge - Week 9 - Berry - Berry and Yoghurt Muffins

It appears that baking is not my forte. While I love it, and the result is always edible, I seem singly unable to bake something that doesn't stick to the pan. Check out my brownies for an example. This occurred again this week, despite greasing the (non-stick my behind) pans as instructed. If anyone has any tips, I'd be eternally grateful! Even tips for getting stuck muffins out of the pans in as large a piece as possible would be well received!

That's as whole as it gets.

I started back at work this week after a wonderful break, and thought a muffin for breakfast would be a nice high energy kick-start to my working day. AWW Bake produced the Berry and Yogurt Muffins recipe, which with rolled oats, berries and yogurt, how much more breakfasty can a muffin get? Also, I still haven't replaced the mixer that I broke at Christmas, so a recipe that I only needed sifting and stirring was welcome. 

Unfortunately, these were so broken that it was far too embarrassing to share them at work, so they were hidden away for private consumption.

 This is what they're supposed to look like

Berry and yogurt muffins

1 1/2 cups self raising flour

1/3 cup rolled oats

3 eggs

3/4 cup firmly packed brown sugar

3/4 cup yogurt

1/3 cup vegetable

180g fresh/frozen berries 

(I used fresh strawberries as they were STILL on sale at my supermarket - WIN!)

Preheat oven to 200 degrees. Grease (and grease, and grease) your muffin pan.

Sift flour into a bowl, then add the remaining ingredients. Do not overmix.

Spoon into pan holes.

Bake muffins for about 25 minutes. Stand in pan for 5 minutes before turning onto a wire rack, and turning top side up to cool.

Innocent little pools of muffin batter. They give no indication of the trouble they're about to cause.

Aren't muffins simple? Until you go to turn them out and they just won't budge. GRRRR.... and I tried so hard to make them look pretty, baking them with peach and apple fans, sprinkled with demerara sugar. I should have focused on keeping them whole!

It's still good, it's still good

These are very sweet, and you really can't tell that there's rolled oats in them. Also, strawberries don't seem to bake well. While very nice prior to cooking, they were somewhat bland in the muffins. I don't think I'd make these again, only if they were a specific request, or fit a theme particularly well, because I'm sure AWW Bake can produce much better options than these. It was a bit of a disappointing first outing for the book, but we'll see if we can't make a winner of it yet.

If anyone's getting stuck for what to cook for the challenge, or you just don't have the time to browse for a recipe, check out http://www.mycookbooksonline.com/. I can't remember where I came across this, I think Vicious Ange left a comment on someone else's blog, and I was hooked. Thanks Ange! There's a good sample of my cookbook shelf there, and I expect that as more people join, more books will be available to search.

There you go. That's something by Kate.

The Cookbook Challenge - Week 7 - Soft - Lamb Shanks, Perfect Pannacotta and a Giveaway!

Sorry I'm late with my cookbook challenge this week. I lost my camera cable and couldn't post without pics. It was "tidied" and I've only just re-located it.

This week's challenge recipes are fresh from the first dinner with the in-laws in our new house. The meal received rave reviews, and both recipes are definitely going on the repeat recipe rotation. Australian Women's Weekly, what would we do without you?

I've been wanting to make Lamb Shanks in five-spice, tamarind and ginger from AWW 501 Low Carb Recipes for ages - it was the reason I bought the book in the first place, but 6 months later I still hadn't done it. The Cookbook Challenge's Soft theme is the perfect week for melt in your mouth, falling off the bone, slow cooked lamb shanks. It takes a while in the oven, but is really simple.

I also needed to produce a dessert that was light and fresh, and able to tone down the chilli flavours from the lamb, while still holding it's own in flavour. You may remember that Martin from Bondi Chai sent me some of their product to have a play with (and giveaway, so make sure you read to the end!), and I thought the Vanilla Honey Chai would be a perfect pannacotta flavouring, so I combined it with this week's Soft theme, pulling out 1000 Best Ever Recipes from AWW which was a much appreciated Christmas gift.

I'll post these recipes in the order I served them, rather than the order I made them.

Asparagus wrapped in proscuitto

Self explanatory really. Steam your asparagus sparingly - no more than 5 minutes.

Lamb shanks in five-spice, tamarind and ginger

2 tsp five-spice powder

1 teaspoon dried chilli flakes

1 cinnamon stick

2 star anise

1/4 cup soy sauce

1/2 cup Chinese rice wine (I couldn't get any, and used dry sherry)

2 tbsp tamarind puree

2 tbsp brown sugar

40g grated ginger (I was desperate to use my new microplane that I got for Christmas, but the supermarket was out of fresh ginger, so I used the tube stuff)

2 cloves garlic coarsely chopped

1 1/4 cups water

8 (1.6kg) french trimmed lamb shanks (AWW says this serves 4, but take into account who you're serving - I served 6 shanks to 2 gentlemen and 2 ladies and it was perfect)

Preheat oven to 180 degrees.

Combine soy sauce, rice wine, tamarind, sugar, ginger, garlic and water in a medium jug.

Dry-fry five-spice, chilli, cinnamon and star anise, stirring constantly until fragrant.

Add spices to the jug of liquids, and whisk to combine.

Place shanks in a large shallow baking dish (preferably with a lid) in a single layer and pour the spice mixture on.

Cover and bake for 2 hours, turning occasionally (I did it every 1/2 hour).

Once cooked, remove shanks from dish and cover to keep warm. Strain remaining sauce into a small saucepan and boil, then pour over lamb and vegetables of your choice.

I served mine with mashed potato (not in the spirit of the low-carb recipe) and steamed choy sum and broccolini.

Vanilla Honey Chai Pannacotta

300ml thickened cream

250ml milk

1 vanilla bean (I substituted this for 8 teaspoons of Bondi Chai Vanilla Honey Creamy Tea Latte Powder)

1/4 cup caster sugar

1 1/2 teaspoons gelatine powder

1 strip lemon rind (trust me, it's better with 2!)

Stir all the ingredients in a pan over low heat until warm.

Stand until cool.

Strain mixture through a fine strainer into medium jug, and pour into 4 1/2 cup moulds, or martini glasses. Cover, and refrigerate for at least 6 hours.

Turn pannacotta from moulds onto serving plates, or leave in glasses.

I served mine with a rosewater strawberry syrup, made by boiling 1/4 cup caster sugar with 1/2 punnet chopped strawberries, 1/4 cup water and a few drops of rosewater essence.

And I promised a giveaway!

While my pannacotta was absolutely delicious, and was eaten even by the person who at first responded to it with cries of "why isn't this chocolate mousse?!?" I haven't been overly creative with my use of the Bondi Chai powder.  I bet you can do better! I have 1 Club Cinnamon Bondi Chai, and 1 Vanilla Honey Bondi Chai to give away courtesy of Martin from Bondi Chai.

Leave me a comment telling me how you would use Bondi Chai powder in your cooking, and the 2 most creative ways will win a packet to create their vision. Whilst I welcome comments from international visitors, I can only post these prizes within Australia, and I will make the final decision based on comments received before 18th January 2010.  You may want to check out the Bondi Chai website for some inspiration, or try their Facebook page.

There you go. That's something by Kate.