Ben loves quinoa!

We normally add it to salads or sprinkle on vegetables. Here we decided to try adding quinoa to cookies! Yum and healthy!

Ingredients

Quinoa (cooked)

Raisins

Butter

Ground almonds

Caster sugar

Banana

Oats

Method

Mix butter and sugar

Add chopped banana and mix well

Add the rest of the ingredients and bake for about 15 min in pre-heated oven at 180-200 degrees

Enjoy!

If you want to spend a day (or two!) messing around with a dough – here you go!

I’m not exactly a lover of making pastries, just wanted to test a new mixer with a dough hook:) Last time I’ve tried to make pain au raisins it was a disaster – they were rock hard! This time I made a mistake with the yeast – put it in a very hot water (stupid) and killed it. So the pastries didn’t rise well and were not as soft as my favourite ones from M&S. But way better then last time! And Ben really enjoyed mixing, rolling, adding raisins. He ate one third of raisins in the process:)

Ingredients

For pastry:

1 cup raisins

3/4 cup water

4 teaspoons instant dried yeast

1/2 lukewarm water

4 cups bread flour

1/2 cup milk

1/2 cup granulated sugar

3 tablespoons butter, melted and cooled

1 1/2 teaspoons salt

1 cup butter, softened

1 egg

2 tablespoons milk

For frangipane:

2/3 cup ground almonds

1/3 cup granulated sugar

2 eggs

3 tablespoons butter, softened

half a pod vanilla seeds

1 tablespoon plain flour

Soak raisins in water

Dissolve yeast in warm water, NOT HOT! Leave for 5 min.

Mix yest mix, bread flour, milk, sugar, melted butter, salt  on a medium speed for 2 min. If the dough is too sticky keep adding  more flour until it forms a shape.

Cover the dough loosely and leave at a room temperature for 30 min. Then roll it into 10″x15″ rectangle, cover loosely and allow to rise for 40 min.

Make frangipane in the meantime – mix everything together until creamy paste is formed.

First time ever Ben broke an egg by himself:)

Cover the dough with a layer of softened butter

Then fold 3 times like a letter

Turn it at 90 degrees and roll it out again to the same shape.

Fold it again, cover with cling film and put in a fridge for 1 hour. Then repeat the process one more time.

Roll the dough into thin 10″x30″ shape (in our  case two “10x”15″) and spread the frangipane.

Scatter the drained raisins

Roll the dough into a log and cut it crosswise into slices

Arrange each slice on a lightly greased baking sheet with 2″ distance in between, cover and leave to rise for 90 min.

Preheat the oven to 180C, whisk an egg with 2 tablespoons of milk to make an egg wash and brush each pastry with it. Bake for 15 min.

Enjoy!

Strawberries are DELICIOUS now! Let’s bake a yummy cake! Very easy to make.

Ingredients

FOR 2 SPONGES (8″ round cake tin)

250g butter

250g sugar

vanilla essence or paste or seeds of half a pod

250 self-raising flour

FOR FILLING

300g Philadelphia

4 tb sp icing sugar

600 ml whipping cream

700 g fresh strawberries

Beat butter and sugar

Then add eggs – one by one

Add vanilla

Fold in the flour

Line cake tins and divide the mixture between them. Put in the oven preheated to 200C  for 20 min.

Make the filling in the meantime

Beat Philadelphia with icing sugar, then add whipping cream and mix well until thick. Chill.

Sandwich cold sponges together with filling and strawberries inside and on top.

Enjoy!