I love grained photos in winter!

Today, I have a very interesting and very impromptu recipe to share. So, I knew I had to bake something, so I looked at the fruit bowl and saw that we have some tangerines, apples, pears, a quince and some oranges. I decided to make apple and pear cake by using my beloved Carrot Cake recipe as the base. And since I came by this deliciousness today, I decided to lay some pears on the bottom of the cake mold.

Then, I decided to double my carrot cake recipe, since I know that it doesn’t yield much. But, doubling came with pain..

After sifting a cup of whole-wheat flour, I realized that I don’t have any more flour left, and still 3 more cups of flour to add. So, instead I added a cup of rice flour, a cup of processed oatmeal and a cup of processed almonds.

I put 1/3 of the batter to muffin cups, and 2/3 of it to a cake mold. But, since I used a deep mold, it took the cake an hour to bake. So I really recommend baking this recipe in a shallow pan, as I usually do. Nevertheless, the cake turned out to be amazing. I could totally taste the almonds and apples and pears and cinnamon!! Yummy!!

Pear Apple Cake with Mixed Flours

makes 2 batches of cake

Ingredients:

• 6 eggs
• 1 cup whole-wheat flour
• 1 cup rice flour
• 1 cup oat flour (or simply processed oatmeal)
• 1 cup almond flour (or simply processed almonds)
• 2 1/2 cups sugar
• 2/3 cup olive oil
• 5 cups coarsely grated pears and apples
• 3-4 pears to lay on bottom, sliced and dipped into honey
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 4 teaspoons cinnamon
• a pinch of salt
• 4 teaspoons baking soda

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 175 degrees C (350 degrees F).

In a bowl, beat together eggs, oil and sugar.

Stir in vanilla, flours, and cinnamon, and mix well. Finally, add the baking soda into the mixture and stir.

At this stage, don’t worry if the mixture is not so liquid. It should be something between cookie dough and cake batter.

Add the grated fruits and form an even mixture. Don’t worry again that the fruits are too much. They will dissolve after cooked.

Option 1- Take two shallow pans. Lay the bottoms with sliced pears. Divide the mixture into two and pour inside the pans.

Option 2- Simply pour the mixture into muffin cups and out the sliced pears on top.

Bake for 30-40 minutes, or until cooked.

If you follow this blog, then you probably know about my “famous” carrot cake, my all-time favorite cake! But, the fact is that this cake is not so healthy to eat every time. So, I tried to came up with a healthier one, using honey instead of processed sugar. But the result was not as I wanted to get. The unique taste of my “famous” carrot cake was gone.

So, for the last time, I gave it a one more try and I got really nice little carrot cakes. To make them interesting, I used both orange and purple carrots. This recipe uses milk and yogurt instead of olive oil to make the cake more protein-rich. And everybody seemed to like it. They didn’t understand it was  made with honey. But nevertheless, I still have to say that nothing can beat my original love. It still tastes so unique!

Carrot Cake: Third Version

yields 20 servings / 100 calories per serving

Ingredients:

• 4 eggs
• 1 1/2 cups whole-wheat flour
• 1/2 cup dry oats
• 1/6 cup low-fat (high-protein) milk
• 1/6 cup yogurt
• 3 cups COARSELY grated carrots (I used 1 1/2 cups orange and 1 1/2 cups purple carrots)
• 3/4 cup honey
• 2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 2 teaspoon baking soda
• pinch of salt

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 175 degrees C (350 degrees F).

In a bowl, beat together eggs, milk, yogurt and honey.

Stir in vanilla, flour, oats and spices, and mix well. Finally, add the baking soda into the mixture and stir.

Add the carrots and form an even mixture. Don’t worry that the carrots are too much. They will dissolve after cooked.

Pour the mixture into a greased pan (you can also pour the mixture into muffin cups) and bake for 30 minutes, or until cooked.

Finally, I found my lost brownie recipe! I actually found it by chance in my wallet and I don’t know how it got in there.

Anyway, this recipe is originally from my recent favorite book, and after some modifications, I came up with my own.

WARNING: Don’t be fooled by the photo. These brownies my not look appealing to you, but they are extremely chewy! To make them even more chewy, I used some whole-wheat cereals instead of walnuts. So, if you don’t want to be on the high-chewiness side, just use some walnuts, hazelnuts, or simply nothing.

Extremely Chewy Olive Oil Brownies with Whole-Wheat Cereal

adapted from The Pocket Cookbook

yields 16 servings / 180 calories per serving

Ingredients:

• 2 eggs
• 3/4 cup whole-wheat flour
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup olive oil
• 1 tablespoon butter (I used my homemade butter)
• 80 gr (2.8 oz.) dark chocolate, melted
• 1 cup whole wheat cereal (optional)
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• zest of 1 orange
• pinch of salt

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 175 degrees C (350 degrees F).

Mix the eggs, sugar, olive oil, vanilla extract and melted chocolate. Set aside.

Mix the dry ingredients and add them to wet ingredients.

Spread the batter into a baking tray, and bake for 25 minutes, or until cooked.

Woaaa! Long time, no see my dear blog. I don’t know what happened to me, I just want to sleep all the time. I actually made this recipe about a week ago, but I was so lazy to post it. But that’s enough. From now on, I’m focusing on my blog. So, I’ve promised to make some savory recipes, and this is one of them.

For the New Year, I bought myself a lot of cookbooks, and one of them is called “Cooking Light Way to Cook”, and it’s really an interesting one. It’s just the book I’ve ever wanted. All kinds of recipes (from salads to desserts) in a healthier way! And I found the pizza dough recipe from that book.

About the sauce, it is a recipe that I made up myself. It is actually another version of the sauce in my bruschetta pizza recipe. This time, I added some flaxseed in it (I always find something interesting in the kitchen and if appropriate, add use it in my recipes).

Thick Crust Whole-Wheat Pizza

adapted from Cooking Light Way to Cook

1 big or 2 small pizzas

Ingredients:

For the dough:

• 2 ¼ cups whole-wheat flour
• ¾ cup warm water
• 2 ¼ teaspoons active dry yeast
• 2 teaspoons honey
• salt
• any other herbs you want

For the sauce:

• 2 large tomatoes
• 1 tablespoon tomato paste
• 1 tablespoon pepper paste (optional)
• 2 tablespoon olive oil
• 1-2 tablespoon water, depending on the thickness
• 2 tablespoons flaxseed
• 1 clove of garlic
• pepper
• salt

For the topping:

• 150 gr. (5.3 oz.) mozzarella, or any kind of cheese that can melt

Directions:

Mix honey, water and yeast and let it sit for 5 minutes.

Knead 2 cups of flour with yeast mixture. Add the remaining flour after 3 minutes.

Coat the dough with some olive oil (not to make it dry) and rest it for about an hour in a warm place.

Using your hands (it doesn’t have to be in a perfect shape), make 2 mini pizzas (or 1 big pizza). The thickness depends on you, but mine was about 1 cm (½-inch) thick.

In a food processor, mix all the ingredients for the sauce and spread it over the top. Be sure to leave some empty space on the edges (I actually made the dough a bit thicker on the edges). Sprinkle the tops with grated cheese.

At this stage, you can wait for 30 minutes to make your pizzas more spongy (that’s what I did). Bake the guys for 10-15 minutes in a preheated oven (250 degrees C – 500 degrees F).

OK, I know I’ve made a lot of muffins recently, but I love to make them. I am experiencing the results of adding honey to my muffins. Well, as far as I noticed, honey makes the muffins look smoother and the edges brown as if you brushed it with egg yolks. Even though my mom claims that the vitamins in honey are vanished when heated, I think it’s still better than processed sugar, which makes these muffins healthier than my carrot cakes. You obviously cannot get the same taste, but you save calories (6 tablespoons of sugar is about 400 calories, while 3/4 cup sugar required for the carrot cake recipe is 600 calories) And this lighter version tastes “acceptable”. In fact, my aunt thinks these taste better than my regular carrot cakes.

Carrot Muffins with Honey

makes 12 muffins

Ingredients:

• 3 eggs
• 2 cups whole-wheat flour
• ¼ cup olive oil
• ¼ cup low-fat milk
• 2 cups carrots, grated
• 6 tablespoons honey
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 teaspoons cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
• ground nutmeg
• pinch of salt
• 4 teaspoons baking soda

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 175 degrees C (350 degrees F).

In a bowl, beat together eggs, oil and honey.

Stir in vanilla, flour, and spices, and mix well. Finally, add the baking soda (powder) and stir. Add the carrots.

Pour the mixture into muffin cups, and bake for 25 minutes, or until cooked.

This is another impromptu cake I just made up and it didn’t disappoint me. I came by some ripe bananas in the kitchen the other day, and decided to use them in what I do best: muffins! I also added the chocolate chips I’ve recently bought from the coffee shop (I usually use chopped chocolate instead of chocolate-chips, but the girl in the coffee shop insisted me to buy them and I gave it a try). I didn’t want to add sugar to the cake, so I used honey. I don’t usually use honey in my cakes, but this time it really worked and the muffins were neither too sweet nor vapid. This has become one my favorite muffin recipes.

Chocolate-Chip Banana Muffins with Honey

makes 20-24 muffins

Ingredients:

• 3 eggs
• 2 cups whole-wheat flour
• 1/3 cup olive oil
• 3-4 tablespoons honey
• 4 tablespoons yogurt
• 3 (200 gr. – 7 oz.) bananas, mashed
• 50 gr (1.7 oz.) bittersweet chocolate, chopped (or chocolate chips)
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 teaspoons cinnamon
• 4 teaspoons baking soda
• pinch of salt

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 175 degrees C (350 degrees F).

Mix together eggs, honey, olive oil, yogurt and vanilla in a bowl.

Add flour, cinnamon, salt and baking soda, and mix well.

Finally add the bananas and chocolate chips, and mix until you have an even mixture.

Pour the mixture into muffin cups, and bake for about 30 minutes, or until cooked.

It was another boring night with nothing to do, and apples on the kitchen table. So, it was a “must” to take a risk and make something totally improvisational. I mixed everything that comes into my mind to make a cake, and this is the result. Try!

Semolina Muffins with Apple and Coconut

makes 24 muffins

Ingredients:

• 2 eggs
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 1/2 cup olive oil
• 1 cup milk (I used low-fat)
• 1 1/2 cups whole-wheat flour
• 1 1/2 cups semolina (you can use 2 cups flour and 1 cup semolina instead)
• 3 apples, grated
• 1 cup coconut flakes
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
• 2 teaspoons cinnamon
• pinch of ground nutmeg
• pinch of salt
• 1/2 lemon’s zest
• 4 teaspoons baking soda or baking powder

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 175 degrees C (350 degrees F).

In a bowl, beat together eggs, milk, oil and sugar.

Stir in vanilla, flour, semolina and coconuts, and mix well.

Add cloves, salt, cinnamon and baking soda. Then, add the apples and pour the mixture into muffin cups.

Before cooking the muffins, sprinkle the tops with lemon zest, and bake your muffins for about 25 minutes.

]]> http://kitchenimpromptu.com/apple-and-coconut-semolina-muffin/feed/ 1 http://kitchenimpromptu.com/raspberry-cakes-white-ganache-trials/ http://kitchenimpromptu.com/raspberry-cakes-white-ganache-trials/#comments Sun, 01 Nov 2009 23:06:28 +0000 ulya http://kitchenimpromptu.com/?p=67

I spent my whole Friday trying to make some flavored white-chocolate ganache. I made chocolate macarons using David Lebovitz’s recipe, and used fig and orange flavored white ganache to assemble the macarons (I simply added 1 orange’s zest orange flavored one, and 2 mashed fresh figs for the fig flavored one).

And as usual, there was some leftover ganache, and I made these mini raspberry cakes to use it. I also flavored the ganache with ground cinnamon. I liked the results, the cakes were delish and they also look good, huh?

Heart-Shaped Raspberry Cakes with White Chocolate & Cinnamon Ganache

makes 2 cakes

Ingredients:

• 4 eggs
• 2 cups whole-wheat flour
• 1 1/2 cups brown sugar
• 1/2 cup olive oil
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 3 cups raspberries (I used frozen)
• 4 teaspoons baking soda
• a pinch of salt

For the ganache:

• 80 gr. (2.8 oz.) white chocolate
• 40 ml. (1/5 cup) heavy cream
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 175 degrees C (350 degrees F).

Mix together eggs, oil and sugar in a bowl. Add vanilla extract, flour, salt and baking soda and mix well.

Process the raspberries in a food processor, and add into the bowl.

Pour the mixture into a mid-size pan (Don’t worry at this stage that the mixture is not enough. It will rise). You can pour the mixture into heart-shaped molds (I cooked them first, and cut them in heart-shapes).

Bake for 40 minutes, or until it well cooked.

To make white-chocolate ganache, heat the cream until slightly hot. Remove the pot from heat. Add white chocolate, which are divided into small pieces. Make sure that the chocolate is totally melted, by stirring. After that, add the cinnamon. Mix well, and let cool in the refrigerator until hardened enough.

Assemble the two pieces of cake with ganache.

It was only three years ago when I first started cooking. I started with simple vegetable dishes, and moved to desserts as I gained some confidence. And the very first cake I made was from a carrot cake recipe I found in AllRecipes. However, my first carrot cake was very sweet, greasy and topped with an ugly cream cheese frosting  that I couldn’t make properly.

Gradually, I modified that carrot cake recipe (actually changed it totally), substituted some ingredients, decreased the amount of sugar and oil, and came up with a unique carrot cake recipe. It soon became the favorite dessert in the family because of its spongy texture and different taste.

This is my first post in this blog, so it would be a shame not to begin with my “famous” carrot cake. Enjoy!

Carrot Cake

makes 25 pieces

Ingredients:

• 4 eggs
• 2 cups whole-wheat flour
• 1 1/4 cups (use 1 ½ cups if you like it sweeter) brown sugar
• 1/3 cup olive oil
• 3 cups carrots, grated coarsely (look at the picture below)
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 teaspoons cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
• a pinch of ground nutmeg
• a pinch of salt
• 2 teaspoons baking soda

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 175 degrees C (350 degrees F).

In a bowl, beat together eggs, oil and sugar.

Stir in vanilla, flour, and spices, and mix well. Finally, add the baking soda into the mixture and stir.

At this stage, don’t worry if the mixture is not so liquid. It should be something between cookie dough and cake batter.

Add the carrots and form an even mixture. Don’t worry again that the carrots are too much. They will dissolve after cooked.

Pour the mixture into a greased pan (you can also pour the mixture into muffin cups) and bake for 30 minutes, or until cooked.

Note: Instead of 3 cups of carrots, you can add 2 cups of carrots and 1 cup of blueberries, and you get a fantastic variation!