Microwave baking

I'm fascinated by the microwave. I tend to only use it to heat things up - milk for coffee, some baked beans, etc etc. And of course for re-heating a cup of coffee there's nothing better!

However... baking???

Well, surfing the web the way I do on 'Stumbler' I find myself coming across various cooking sites - aimed predominantly at students I suspect - that promote the five-minute-brownie-made-in-a-mug. I have tried this and, yes it's ok... but not everyone likes spooning cake out of a mug!

I've just thrown this together this afternoon and it was cooked and ready before the kettle had boiled for the tea to go with it:

1 tbsp potato flour
1 tbsp brown rice flour (see my previous post regarding wheat flour)
1 tbsp sugar
1 tbsp chocolate chips
1/2 tsp baking powder
A pinch salt
1 egg
1 tbsp marmalade
1 tbsp oil

Put dry ingredients into a microwave-proof bowl (I used a plastic pudding basin), mix well. Then add the other ingredients and mix VERY well.
Put the bowl as is into the microwave and nuke on full power for 1.5 to 2 minutes. Looks a bit anaemic when it comes out, but let it cool a bit then turn onto a plate and you wont notice. In fact, with a bit of luck, you'll have a goey chocolate ring round the top.

For a chocolate cake just add cocoa. Hey - play with the ingredients!! These are fairly small quantities we're talking about here - it's not a complete disaster if it doesn't really work very well. Probably nothing a good dollop of custard wouldn't put right!!

Orange Muffins

Something I threw together the other day as I had someone coming over - and an orange in the fruit bowl looking sorry for itself!

I'm on a bit of a wheat-free kick at the moment, so they happen to not have any wheat in them. You could just use 3 oz plain flour instead.

ORANGE MUFFINS:

Grated rind on one large orange
2 oz brown rice flour
1 oz cornflour
3 oz sugar
1 tsp baking powder
Pinch of salt
Juice of half an orange
1 1/2 oz oil (or 3 of butter)
1 large egg
Small handful of choc chips

Mix together the dry ingredients, add the wet, pour into muffin cases and bake 20 mins in a medium oven (I tend to do mine at 150C). Eat. Couldn't be easier. Oh... you might want to let them cool a bit first I suppose.

A shake of icing sugar on top if you want to smarten them up... Next time I'll try them with less sugar - say 2 oz instead of 3...

Adam's Chocolate Brownie Cake

This is really just my chocolate brownie recipe but made as a cake... Just as tasty!!


2 slices of lightly burnt brown toast (we are not talking cinders here - just black enough that you'd think twice about eating it)
1/4 cup SR flour
1/4 cup cocoa
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup chopt crystallised ginger
1/4 cup chopt pecans or walnuts
1/4 cup choc chips
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon mixed spice
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 large eggs
1/2 cup milk
3 Tablespoons oil
1 teaspoon vanilla essence

Put all dry ingredients into a bowl and mix well.
Put wet ingredients into a jug and beat together, then pour onto the dry ingredients and mix up really well.
Pour into a greased/lined/whatevered 8" or 9" round tin (I use those silicone ones now - they don't need lining) and bake for about 25-30 minutes at about 160C (medium hot).
Leave to cool in the tin...

If you are that sort of person, I dare say you could whip up some sort of icing to put on top... but the most I'd do myself is probably just a drift of icing sugar seived over the top.

This goes really well with cardoman coffee - add a pod or two of cardoman to your coffee beans as you grind them up. What??? You don't grind your beans???? };-)

'Triple B' Muffins

So guys, just what DO you do with breakfast 'leftovers'?? Bacon, black pudding and baked bean muffins of course!!


Running my B&B, I am frequently left with half a pot of unserved baked beans, a slice of toast too many and, perhaps the end bit of the black budding (which I don't serve to customers).

These little blighters are mighty delicious!

1/4 cup self-raising flour
1/4 cup toast crumbs (about 1 slice)
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
A good grind of black pepper
1/4 cup of baked beans
1 tablespoon tomato ketchup
1 egg
Some buttermilk, or ordinary milk
1 slice black pudding, finely diced
2 slices streaky bacon, very finely chopt
2 tablespoons oil

Fry the bacon and black pudding in the oil and allow to cool a little.
Mix the flour, breadcrumbs, salt, baking powder and pepper in a bowl.
Put the egg, ketchup and baked beans into a jug, mix up well and add to the bowl.
When the bacon mix is cool enough, stir it all (including the oil) into the other ingredients..
Add enough buttermilk or milk to make it modestly sloppy and pour into muffin cases.
I use the silicone cases now - the muffs pop out so easily afterwards.

Bake in a medium oven (ca. 150C) for 20 mins.
Eat while still warm - well, you won't be able to sit and watch them cool will you?

Enjoy!!

Hello!

Well, I've decided to use a blog to post some of the recipes for the baking I do. I should warn readers that some of the stuff if experimental: just what DOES one do with a slice of old toast, half a pot of cold baked beans and some black-pudding off-cuts?? lol

Oh, and I don't look anything like the photo that Google has put up - once I've worked out how to do so, I'll replace it.....