Simple things and stranger things

This week has been awesome and then tremendously empty. Once you find Stranger Things,  get completely hooked and then realise that there are only 8 episodes. Well everything has slightly less shine now! Aw, I joke but honestly this show is fantastic!! It creates such a wonderful atmosphere of 80s nostalgia and childhood adventure with a hint of the mysterious paranormal!

Image property of Netflix

So I thought naturally that I would accompany this post with a simpler thing - Scones.

Scones are one of the first things I ever learnt to make, scones and brownies. When I was about the age of the Stranger Things kids, maybe a little younger. My Mum taught me how to make these two things from a Darina Allen book and I was absolutely enthralled!! I felt like I was being taught some kind of super-power;You can just make treats?! Mind-blown! Well as you can tell, I started there and didn't stop but today I wanted to revisit the ole favourite with a bit of a healthy twist. 

Obviously scones are sweet breads so they are inevitably carbs but I have made a few adjustments to make them as healthy as carbs can be, and honestly you wouldn't know he difference. They definitely passed the fiancé test. These two lasted about five minutes between us.

So what are the adjustments - the flour is a fine ground wholemeal flour. Fine ground is important here, it can be called pasta flour but it makes a very big difference.

The second big alteration, these contain no added sugar. They are sultana scones and thereis  natural sugars in the sultanas but otherwise there is no sugar, no sweetner and no way to tell that it's no added sugar, I promise!

The secret is to soak the sultanas in tea. The tea adds a depth of flavour anyway but as the sultanas are soaked the natural sugars seep into the tea and then the whole lot is added into the scones which adds just enough sweetness, not to mention beautiful plump juicy sultanas. So you would never know that I didn't add sugar, why not give it a try?!

Healthy Scones (Wholemeal, No Added Sugar) (Makes 12 large)

1-1.5 Cups Sultanas

Black tea - enough to cover the above

500g Wholemeal fine ground plain flour

1 tsp Baking powder

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp Nutmeg

1/2 tsp all-spice

1 egg

2 tbsp milk of choice

2 tbsp oil of choice (I used almond)

Egg-wash to beautify

1 - Soak the sultanas for at least an hour up to overnight

2 - Preheat oven to 180'C. Sieve together the flour, baking powder and spices

3 - Pour in the sultanas and mix

4 - Add the rest of the wet ingredients and mix until a dough is formed

5 - Knead the dough for 5-10 minutes

6 - Form into even sized balls, try to hide the sultanas inside, and place on a lined baking tray

7 - Egg-wash to finish and bake for 15-20 minutes or until hollow sounding when tapped.

8 - Allow to cool and enjoy with some sneaky butter ;)

Perfect for enjoying during an episode of Stranger things. I haven't spoken about it much but I feel that I don't wish to spoil anything. Suffice is to say that it is well, well worth watching! My favourite character was Eleven, shortly followed by Dustin, toothless kid, because he was just a hero and so cute whenever he speaks! If you don't have Netflix, get it, there is more and more amazing ontent there every week. I am not sponsored to say this, I just appreciate Netflix more and more every day and you will need it to see Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life, which I will review, episode by episode! Not to mention catching up, or rewatching Gilmore girls as I am doing right now to put together a full review for you shortly. So anyway for now, watch Stranger things, make these scones and thank me later =)

Gingerbread and reflections

Today I considered not posting. I had planned this post since last week but somehow in light of what's happened in Paris and Beirut somehow happy seasonal food recipes just don't seem as important anyway. However this morning I decided it would be better to post and talk a little about the many many wonderful times I have spent in Paris.

So, it being the middle of November, it is starting to feel seasonal but yet it's not really reasonable to start indulging yet. These gingerbread bites are the absolute business. They are vegan, wholegrain, fat-free, and (unless you cover them with icing sugar for aesthetic purposes) refined sugar free!! They taste really good too and they hit that cake craving nicely! I also used the lovely Sweetpea Pantry ginger giggles mix that includes barley and rye flour. But before you eat me for using pre-made mix on a baking blog, know that it's just an ingredient and my own recipe!

The last time we went to Paris was very funny! My boyfriend and I have a habit when we go away of getting a little apartment style hotel room or hostel place and walk around everywhere to learn the area and pretend for a week that we live there. Paris is such a lovely place to do this because you can establish your local boulangerie/patisserie for a week and even within that limited space of time I get the impression that the boulanger will get to know you, which adds to the experience massively! Another wonderful thing about the pretending to live there part is that you have oodles of time to sit around in parks observing people and really soaking in the culture. Some of my happiest moments have been in france and sitting in a park with my bf just taking it all in forms the basis of a good few of those.

Back to the recipe

Vegan, Wholegrain Barley and Rye Gingerbread Bites (makes 15 inch square cubes)

200g Ginger Giggles Mix
Egg- replacer (use your product directions for the equivalent of 1 egg)
150ml Apple sauce                                                                

1 tsp vanilla extract
2-3 tbsp Agave Nectar






1- Preheat oven to 180'C/ 350'F/ Gas mark 4.

2- Mix everything together  (could it be simpler)

3- Line a bread tin and pour in the mixture

4- Bake for 15-20 mins or until golden brown on top

5- Let cool and slice into cubes to enjoy

So I'll finish off with one of my favourite memories of paris and the wonderful people who live there. On our last visit there myself and my partner were walking around trying to find a great place to eat. We had been walking for a couple of hours sight-seeing and the like and we were pretty hungry. You know the type of hungry that takes on a life of it's own?! Well our seperate hungers were leading and each had a different goal in mind. We searched and searched and looked at so many delicious restaurants but each time, either I wasn't satisfied or he wasn't. Well, this had been going on for about an hour and the hunger was bad when we finally found a place that met all the criteria, Halleluia! But..... the kitchen was closed, in fact all the kitchens were closed until dinner time! Devastated!! We alked away starving and depressed and headed to the only thing we could see that was still open - McDonalds. You can imagine how unexcited I was, except I was forgetting that this was France. My McDonalds meal was the freshest and most delicious Mc Donalds I had ever had, with real dijon mustard and a much needed coffee on the side! Not only that but there was some tables outside and a group singing for some reason I never gathered. Now I'll grant you, my hunger may have added to the flavour but one thing cannot be denied - Parisians can add class to anything!! Which is exactly what we have seen in the wake of this tragedy! Parisians out holding their heads up in the face of terrorism and calling on others not to allow the acts of a few extremist segregate the muslim community in France. Now this is not and never will be a political blog and I am aware that there are several aspects of this situation that are more complex. However I would like to focus on the good and on my happy memories of paris, while I pray for all those involved and affected this weekend!

Look after yourself and enjoy this little post, til next week, a bientot =)

Tiny Cinnamon Rolls: A snack you can feel ok with

My apologies for the lack of post last week. I made a delicious cinnamon roll bread but made a classic that Paul Hollywood would have eaten me alive for; I rolled the bread too loosely and there were holes, poor form! I also used an egg wash which didn't work well, so I learnt and brought the lessons into this weeks post. So check out these cuties

There's a short story to these so bare with me a moment. IKEA used to have amazing food, it still has some good things left but they removed some of the best. Namely, the Marabou Daim and  the little bitesize cinnamon rolls they used to do. Sure they still sell delicious big cinnamon rolls, either cooked instore or in freezer to go. But those things are a meal, or at least a sizeable desert. The little ones were the perfect snack, and I miss them terribly. Well lately I've been having the realization that I can just make what I can't buy and so I turned to making them myself. These are not mini cinnamon rolls in question but in many ways they are better. These are just miniature versions of the big ones, with a little bit of health kicked in, because well why not?!

Ok so lets start with the dough, it's half and half whole grain and white. There is not a lot of butter in these. Big full meal cinnamon rolls are full of butter and loaded with cups and cups of sugar. These have a small amount of butter in the dough and a couple of spoons of sugar in the whole batch and if you like your could use stevia. So they aren't a health food but they are good enough that you can afford a second one, and once you've had a bit you will be glad that you can ;)

Look at the fluffiness!

Mini Cinnamon Roll Snacks (dough adapted from Paul Hollywood recipe)

250g White Bread Flour
250g Wholemeal Flour
10g   Dry-Active Yeast
10g   Salt
300ml Milk (I used skim)
25g    Butter
1 egg

Filling
Milk for Brushing
2-3 tbsp Muscavado Sugar
2 tbs       Cinnamon

Glaze
1 tbsp Honey
1tbsp   Hot Water
2 tbsp  Caster sugar to dip

1 - Whisk together the flours and then place in the bowl of a mixer.

2 - Pour the yeast on one side and salt on the other

3 - Melt the butter and heat the milk in a saucepan until it's lukewarm

4 - Pour the milk and butter mixture into the mixer and then slowly mix with the dough hook.

5 - Once the dough has come together turn up the speed and knead for 4 minutes exactly. If you dont
      have a mixer, just combine everything in a bowl in the same way and then knead by hand for 8
      minutes.

6 - Once the dough is smooth, remove from the mixer, grease the bowl, replace the dough and let it
      rise in a warm place for 90 minutes.

7 - Take out the dough and roll out thin. Then brush with milk ad immediately sprinkle with the
      sugar and cinnamon. Roll very tightly and cut with a bread knife into 1 inch pieces. Lie these on
      a baking sheet, cover with a damp tea towel and let rise for another 30 mins before baking at 200'
      for 10 minutes.

8 - Let them cool, then mix together the honey and water glaze, brush the cinnamon rolls and then
     dip quickly into the sugar, shake of the excess and there you go. A Swedish style snack time, well
     earned. Enjoy =)