Iced Coffee
Overtones of caramel and butterscotch, this is a delicious creamy sweet treat!
Quick to put together but it does take patience to reduce by simmering liquid in a pot to about half its volume. This creamer is worth the stirring!
If you have some fresh berries and ingredients for fathead dough, then you have the basic ingredients to make this recipe. The process is in three stages. First the filling, which is basically like a light cheesecake filling. Next you mix the dough and while it’s baking you make a quick glaze. This was my first time baking these and it took me a little longer than it should. Next time I will have everything prepped and be more organised. I literally decided to bake these on the fly today when I saw the strawberries needed to be eaten. Here goes!
Filling
Beat all the ingredients well together.
Dough:
We have radish, lots of radish! My sweetie has been harvesting his prolific crop of French Breakfast radish. It’s the perfect balance of sweet at first crunchy bite, then peppery with a mustardy overtone. What do you do when you have an abundance of veg – make pickles of course!
We’ve had a cool start to summer, it’s been more of an extended spring. I’m not complaining as it meant I could make a late seasonal curry with some local farm chicken.
I tried slow roasting one of these chickens, but the good outdoor life made them strong, tough and healthy, just like chickens should be! Tasty but a tad chewy!
In South Africa we call these chickens “scratchy fowls” meaning they have had a free happy life, scratching in the fields for bugs. Nothing happier than the a vision of a happy scratching fowl roaming free!
So, as buttermilk tenderises chicken meat beautifully,
Worth the time and these are delicious. I think a Keto version is such a win, as it’s meat wrapped in a cheese dough. I mean, how can that not be good?!
If you have leftover savoury ground beef these would be the perfect leftover plan. Also, I would suggest making the ground beef filling ahead and let it cool off completely as it’s easier to work with in the dough. Hot filling in a cheese dough is not fun to work with – I found that out as this was one of those spur of the moment “I need empanadas – after 3 years of none – in my life” now! Also let your dough chill in the fridge at least 30 minutes. It’s possible to make these in one go but you’ll see how hard it was to work with fresh warm dough and filling in my pics below.
Yesterday I tried four different versions of quick microwave bread. I used little flat ramekins for each bread and then cut them like a pie slice to show the texture. They are easy to pop out, slice through the middle and toast, if that’s what you’re looking for. The secret I found to a perfect mix was 90% almond flour and 10% coconut flour. The coconut flour binds it nicely! I discovered this in the last of the 4 mixes I tried. The pure coconut flour was the one I liked the least – it was still good – just too heavy for my taste.
My favourite were the last two I made. One was a mix where I added a 1/4 cup of strong white cheddar cheese, the other was spiced and sweet. Another secret is to melt a tsp of butter into the dish you are going to use. I’m sure a large deep microwave safe saucer would work too! The melted butter prevents the batter sticking and gives a nice moisture to the bread base.
The last fave one I microwaved is the almond/coconut mix with a tsp of xylitol honey added and topped with allspice and cinnamon. It was delicious!
So here is the basic recipe with variations and method:
Ingredients
Variations:
I made all the breads in about 20 minutes. I had just baked a loaf of “real” bread for my partner that took 4 ¹/² hours!
I hope you try this it’s a really quick, light and tasty treat.
☝️ This is the mix with keto honey, then topped batter with spices
☝️My favorite, and this is the flour mix I settled on as the best!
Update: Toasts great!
Oh!
Quick tip!
Add a chunk of blue cheese to your cauliflower mash for a delicious change. Omgosh, it is fabulous! Or any mash for that matter.
Cat in a basket. Cats have a good life if they choose to move in with us from the streets. All our cat adoptions have been strays. Vinny helping me work from home.
New mask gifted to me!
I mean, how cute is this fabric … thanks my love!
Porch light added by my sweetie, it’s a gecko and purchased a loooong time ago at the Grahamstown National Arts Festival in South Africa. We have two, and they are much treasured. If you ever have the opportunity to go to this festival – do it!
My sister has been braaing up a storm in South Africa! Excellent Roodeberg red wine from the Southwestern Cape in the Paarl area and where my Dad was born, is of course her accomplice. Check out her culinary skillz, our family like to cook! LOL. She is staying with my Mum in South Africa during these unprecedented and challenging times where they have just emerged from a very strict quarantine lockdown, and can now take walks and leave their homes.
Looks like they are doing just fine!!!
Oxtail, herbed chicken, stuffed pork loin, ribs … wow Spoti!
Mum made lemon marmalade from her lovely lemon tree and sent me this pic!
Stay safe out there! ❤
I’m very relieved and pleased. I’ve discovered my food sensitivity to coconut is only coconut oil or coconut butter. After nibbling tiny bits of shaved coconut and increasing it slowly over a few months I am fine. But coconut oil for cooking completely closes up my nose with rhinitis so badly I almost can’t breathe or lie down, let alone sleep and it lasts about 2 days. Turns out the processing of the coconut is what affects me. I did some internet research and this is apparently a thing. What they do to the coconut during this process to give me such a reaction, I have no idea. It started when we used coconut oil to cook with, and took me months to figure out. I had thought it was an allergy I developed to all things coconut. I love everything about coconut, and will happily do without coconut oil, but oh! to be able to bake with coconut flour will be a joy! My next adventure is to try coconut milk or cream, we’ll see. To celebrate I baked this fruit coffee cake with 2 table spoons of delicious coconut flour … small steps… as I’m still super nervous of the terrible symptoms of a reaction, and I was fine!
There are also a few odds and ends I posted after the recipe.
Coffee Cake Fruit Bake
Ingredients
Method:
The last few Biscotti remain in a tin, so it’s a good time to post this recipe as they are “endorsed” by how long they have lasted, which has not been quite 10 days! I often bake two different items in one go, as I did when I baked these Biscotti. When I’m in the middle of baking I feel … oh well, all standard baking ingredients are on the counter and a mess is already made, might as well bake two goodies. I’ll post the fruit bake I made next.
I was born in South Africa and a standard in most homes is something called “rusks” dunked in a cup of tea or coffee, or just crunched as a snack, sort of similar to Biscotti. I do like Biscotti but they really don’t come close to the comfort of a hearty rusk, but we did enjoy these very much.
(My Mum bakes a large batch of rusks at least every few weeks, a handy standby for pop in friends. They are a sweet baked cake-like loaf, torn apart or sliced into pieces and then dried overnight in a slow oven. In SA they range from plain buttermilk rusks, to raisin and bran, or even lightly spiced and sometimes even aniseed, which I’m not a fan of.
I sincerely hope all is well with you and those dear to you. Today is Day 44 of “sheltering in place” and time seems to have taken on a different strange rhythm. This is my second and last post of our trip to Hawaii, now a lovely memory and tbh, wondering if we dreamt it!
Next time I will be back to posting recipes!
I hope and trust this finds you well, healthy and at peace; safe and sound. If you are one of the heroes working in the medical field, necessary services or caring for those in need, may you keep safe and well.
This is the first of a pictorial and anecdotal Hawaii trip for which I am deeply grateful for. At this time I’m taking a few weeks off posting recipes, but they will be back. I do hope you don’t mind.
On March 2nd we left for a week in Hawaii on the beautiful island of Kauai. Had it been one week later, we would definitely have cancelled our trip, when we left everything was still calm.
As we flew via Seattle, we caught a glimpse of Mt St Helen’s and Mt Rainier in the far clouded distance.
We arrived at Lihue, which is on the south side of the island of Kauai. Kauai is believed to be the second oldest of the islands of Hawaii to be formed along the fault line. It is known as The Garden Isle, 1430.5 km². The trade winds from the east temper the tropical climate so the humidity and temperatures are never too extreme.
On our arrival a friendly car rental guy proceeded to give us a 3 page list of his personal hand typed favourite restaurants around the entire island. What a friendly welcome it was, and our entire trip continued with this welcoming kindness. We left Lihue to head for Princeville on the northern part of the island, known to be a little less crowded and where we stayed.
During our first stop to get a few groceries we met the nicest man. He saw me looking at the unusual organic fruit on display. When I looked up our eyes met, such kind, wise, twinkly eyes! He urged me to buy this delicious and swoon worthy pineapple, amongst other fruits to be covered in the next post. He proudly explained there is only one farm, and it’s a local delicacy. I felt I could have spoken with this wonderful elder for days. His parting words were “He is the Way, The *Fruit and the Light!” ❤ I will never forget this delightful person.
The pineapples are sold with the tops removed to prevent propagation and to protect the farm. It’s name is: The Honey Cream Pineapple. Let me introduce you!
It’s tiny and round (yes, that is a teaspoon!), squat and the size of
