Blackberry and apple muffins

Muffins have been on my list of things to cook for a while, particularly as I have muffins in mind as a quick and tasty alternative to toast for breakfast in the morning. Many a time I have pictured myself grabbing a frozen muffin or two from the freezer as I run out of the door to work. I finally had a spare afternoon and managed to dig out the muffin recipe I had been saving for this very day. To top it all, I had also invested in some silicon muffin cases, mini and normal sized, so I really was all set to go…

Blackberry and apple is one of my favourite combinations, which harks back to my childhood and many memorable sunday teatimes eating blackberry and apple crumble. So I thought I would transfer this combination to muffins. And to make myself feel better that I was planning to eat these for my breakfasts, I thought I should inject some healthiness in the form of brown flour and oats, to up the protein and lower the glycaemic load. Luckily the combination works very well and they are delicious!

Recipe for blackberry and apple muffins
Dry ingredients
140g soft brown sugar
150g brown self-raising flour
100g rolled oats, blended until powdery
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
Wet ingredients
85g butter, melted and just cooled
2 large eggs
200ml milk
1 tsp vanilla extract
Filling
150g blackberries
1 eating apple, finely chopped

If you have silicon muffin cases, lay them out in muffin tins (this helps to keep their shape), or just place them close together on a baking tray. I used 12 mini muffin cases and 12 normal sized cases, and also needed to use a silicon muffin tray too. Preheat the oven to 200ºC.

Combine all the dry ingredients in a bowl, then mix all the wet ingredients in a jug, making sure they are well combined. Then pour the wet into the dry and carefully fold in. When it’s about half combined, add the fruit chunks and continue to fold carefully until just combined. You have to be careful not to over-mix or this will make your muffins tough and flat – not so much fun than light and fluffy ones!

Spoon the mixture into all your muffin cases and tins and cook in the oven for 15-20 minutes. They are ready when golden brown and springy to the touch. Let cool for a bit and then remove from the cases. If you want to freeze them, let them cool completely, then wrap individually in cling film and put in the freezer in a sealed freezer bag.

Tip: If you want to make them more fluffy and less health-conscious, substitute the brown flour and oats for all white flour. 

© Katheryn Rice 2008 

French toast

Not strictly Thai food, but French toast Thai-style is delicious, cooked in the traditional way, and all the better for being served in a restaurant right on the beach, with hot sun shining down from a blue sky, and the waves of the Andaman Sea lapping gently on the shore. This was one of my favourite breakfasts while we stayed on Koh Lanta.

Served with honey on the side, these slices of bread are dipped in beaten egg and then fried until golden, so the inside is soft and the outside is crunchy. Try it with tomato ketchup or marmite for a savoury version.

© Katheryn Rice 2008

Courgette & Ginger Muffins

These weird-sounding cakes give you the feeling you are eating something pretty healthy whilst still tasting lovely. My initial reason for making them was thatI had too many courgettes, thanks to a bumper Abel & Cole delivery. And again, the organic grocers have come up trumps with a really original recipe, which I have adapted here, to include more protein and slow-burning carbohydrates. Courgette is not an obvious cake ingredient, but it adds a really light taste, lots of moisture and a soft little crunch.

Recipe for Courgette and Ginger Muffins
50g wholemeal plain flour
150g ground almonds
1 tsp grated fresh ginger
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp salt
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
½ tsp baking powder
2 medium courgettes, grated
120ml vegetable oil
240ml honey
2 eggs, beaten
ginger syrup
zest of one orange
100g stem ginger
2 tbsp pumpkin seeds
2 tbsp sunflower seeds
2 tbsp linseeds

Icing
200g cream cheese
3 tbsp unsalted butter
50g icing sugar

In a medium sized bowl mix together the flour, ground almonds, fresh ginger, cinnamon, salt, bicarbonate of soda and baking powder. In larger bowl, combine the vegetable oil, honey, eggs and ginger syrup and stir thoroughly until combined, then add the courgettes and mix well. In a third, smaller bowl mix the orange zest, chopped stem ginger and all the seeds until everything is equally distributed. Then add this lot to the courgette mixture, and finally add the flour mixture. Stir carefully until all properly combined, and transfer straight to your cooking tins. These quantities make a fair amount of mixture, and it’s up to you what kind of tins you use. I use a combination of large and small muffin tins, and a flat tray-bake style tin as well.

Cook in the oven at 180C for 20-25 minutes, until golden and a tester comes out clean. Leave to cool for a while before removing them from the tins to a cooling rack.

Whilst the muffins are cooking, make the icing. Mix all the ingredients together, using an electric whisk, until the mixture is pale and fluffy, then cool in the fridge until needed. Smooth the icing generously over the muffins and chill in the fridge. They are lovely and moist, so will not dry out in the fridge. They also freeze really well.

© Katheryn Rice 2007

Beautiful brunch to rouse Mr Rice

Mr Rice is a delicate soul, and it can be a bit of a mission to bring him back to life after a hard night’s partying. Having exhausted all my usual methods, I decide to kill two birds with one stone, and make both of us a delicious brunch. As I put it together, the smells worked their way through to Mr Rice, and in the ten minutes it took me together, the brave little soldier and his duvet made it all the way from the bed to the sofa.

Brunch chez Rice
2 brown organic muffins
smoked bacon
sausages
cherry tomatoes
2 poached eggs
cream cheese
maple syrup

First, slice the sausages open lengthways, leaving one side intact, then put under a medium grill with the bacon. While the meat’s cooking, boil the kettle and cook the muffins in the toaster. Fill a large, deep frying pan with the boiled water and bring back to the boil. Add a slug of vinegar and then swirl the water round in the pan until it’s moving pretty quickly by itself, then crack the eggs into it, one at a time. The swirling water and the vinegar help the egg to keep its shape. As the eggs are poaching, put the tomatoes under the grill with the meat, and smother the toasted muffins in generous helpings of the cream cheese. The egg should be done with a soft yolk after about 7 minutes.

Remove the eggs and place carefully on top of the muffin. Top this with the bacon, and add the tomatoes and the sausage on the side. Season with salt and pepper to taste, and drench in maple syrup if you feel like it.

© Katheryn Rice 2007

Special bacon and eggs with asparagus

Mr Rice brought home some lovely, fresh asparagus, so I combined this with some fresh organic eggs from Abel & Cole, and some top of the range smoked bacon.

Blanch the asparagus for 3-4 minutes, then garnish with smoked bacon and a poached egg. Top it with hollandaise sauce, or maple syrup.

© Katheryn Rice 2007

Doing porridge

Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra said, “Spare your breath to cool your porridge.”

I don’t think that’s very good advice, because once your porridge is cold, it is going to be pretty much inedible. With porridge you need to strike while the iron is hot.

Breakfast is the most important meal of the day, we all know that. What’s even more important is that you make it count by eating something that:
a) is nice
b) fills you up
c) has a low GL

Porridge with berries is the perfect answer, and ticks all these boxes – even ‘a’ if you follow this recipe:

Milk Porridge Recipe
50g Porridge oats
300ml Skimmed milk
50g berries (blueberries, raspberries, strawberries or blackberries, fresh or frozen)
1 tsp fructose

Mix the oats and milk together in a pan and heat gently, stirring occasionally until it boils. While the porridge mixture is boiling, put the fruit into a small pan with a tiny splash of water and some fructose (low GL sugar). Cook on a gentle heat, stirring gently. When the porridge begins to boil, take both pans off the heat, serve the porridge into dishes and top with the fruit.

This is the most low GL version.

Non-GL Tips:

• For richer, creamer porridge, replace the skimmed milk with semi-skimmed or whole milk.
• For a sweeter version, add Fructose (low GL sugar) or normal sugar.
• Or go crazy and add maple syrup, golden syrup or jam – probably the best version to be honest!

©2007 Katheryn Rice