National Breakfast Week: Toffee Nut Pancakes

Pancakes, need I say more?  In my eyes there is no breakfast better than the mighty pancake.  I'm always on the lookout for a new and delicious variety, this is my number one Sunday morning treat.

This is a mega indulgent and ridiculously delicious stack of pancakes.  Hooked yet? They're a bit strange as the batter doesn't contain any sugar, instead gaining that super sweet taste from the pulverized toffee pieces.  If you're not much of a morning person you could always make the batter the night before and rest it in the fridge, that way you can have delicious pancakes without the hassle of weighing, cracking and mixing.

Toffee Pecan Pancakes

First posted to Pet Lamb Girls Blog
 

Ingredients:

150g plain flour

50g Ovaltine

1.5tsp baking powder

200ml milk

3tbsp sunflower oil

1 large, free range egg

75g English toffee

75g pecans, toasted

1tbsp butter, melted for frying

Method:

Place a large, none stick frying pan over a medium heat and melt 1tbsp of butter.

Put the toffee and pecans in the bowl of a food processor and grind them down till the resemble large breadcrumbs.  Don't worry if you have a few larger chunks of toffee, they'll melt into an ooey gooey treat while cooking the pancakes.

In a large bowl mix all of the dry ingredients together.  Whisk the milk and the egg together in a jug and add to the dry ingredients, mixing until just incorporated.  Add the oil and mix to combine.  If using right away rest the batter for 5 minutes, if making in advance cover the batter with clingfilm and place in the fridge till you are ready for pancakey goodness.

Using a ladle scoop a small portion of batter onto your heated frying pan and cook over a medium heat for around 3 minutes per side.  Look out for bubbles rising to the surface of the batter and  bursting, this is usually a good indication of when to flip your pancake. 

Serve with a scattering of pecans and a drizzle of caramel sauce.

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National Breakfast Week: Rhubarb & Strawberry Overnight Oats

This jar of goodness is the perfect breakfast for those of you who love to sleep till the very last second before hauling ass to work.  More often than not, this is me.  I'm a lazy morning person when I have a deadline. Maybe it's my inner childishness rebelling against me actually being on time for work, it's a bloody good job I work with my best friend.  Overnight oats is the solution to leaving home on an empty stomach because all of the heavy lifting is done the night before, in fact this recipe should be enough to keep you going for a few days.  Even better, right?!

If you can't be bothered to make the compote from scratch you could always use a good quality jam, or even Nutella if you're that way inclined.

Rhubarb and Strawberry Overnight Oats

For the Oats:

125ml Hazelnut Milk (or any milk you want, I just like hazelnut)

100g Rolled Oats

1tbsp Flax-seed

2tbsp dessicated coconut

1tsp Cinnamon

1/2tsp Ground Ginger

100ml Greek Yogurt

For the sauce:

250g fresh or frozen rhubarb

150g fresh or frozen strawberries

Splash of water

1/2tsp vanilla extract

2-4tbsp sugar - to taste

For the Oats:

Simply put everything into a large bowl and stir together.  Pop in the fridge over night or decant into jars (mixture is easily doubled or tripled) with the sauce for grab and go ease.

For the sauce:

Put everything in a sauce pan and bring to the boil.  Turn the heat down and simmer until you have a delicious thick, jammy sauce.  Around 30 minutes.  Leave to cool and use in you oats, spread it on toast or slap into some rice pudding. Yum!

(First posted to the Pet Lamb Girls blog)

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National Breakfast Week: Banoffee French Toast

Breakfast is the most important meal of the day, it can also be the most exciting.  There's nothing I love more than waking up on a day off and pottering around the kitchen, without a care in the world.  It can be nutritious, set you up for a long day or it can be plain old fun.  Fun breakfasts are my specialty and with this week being National Breakfast Week I thought I'd share a few of my favorites.  Pancakes and waffles and french toast, oh my!

First of all is this unbelievably decedent banoffee french toast.  This one is best kept in the banks for that special occasion, or to get you out of trouble if you've been a naughty girl or boy.  Who can resist these thick slabs of brioche soaked in a maple eggy wash, slathered in caramel and fried bananas?! I'm drooling, you should be too!

Banoffee French Toast

Serves 2

Ingredients:

1 loaf brioche, sliced into 2cm thick slices

25ml whole milk
4 medium eggs

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 glug of maple syrup

1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

2 bananas, peeled, cut in half and sliced lengthwise

50g soft brown sugar

Small handful of raspberries or blueberries

Butter for frying

Tub of mascarpone cheese

Jar of store bought toffee / caramel sauce

Method:

In a large shallow dish, whisk together eggs, milk, vanilla, maple syrup and cinnamon. Set aside.

Place a large, heavy frying pan over a medium heat and melt a knob of butter, dip your bananas in the brown sugar to coat before adding them to the frying pan.  Cook until lightly caramalised and smelling delicious.

Rinse your pan out and add another knob of butter over a medium heat.  Dredge two slices of brioche in the egg mixture before placing in the hot pan.  Cook until golden brown on both sides.  Do the same with two more slices

To assemble your toast spread one slice with a thick layer of mascarpone, two pieces of caramalised banana and some berries. Repeat with the second layer and drizzle with toffee sauce. Sit back and enjoy.

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Flourless Chocolate Cake

Whenever I have to explain the concept of gluten free to a customer in my shop; I'm usually met with a curled lip and a snort of disgust (while I try and contain an eye roll) and attempt to convince them that gluten free is not a dirty cake for sickly people.  If there was ever a cake to convince people that gluten free can be just as good, if not better, than a normal cake then this is it.  

This cake packs a super intense hit of chocolatey, gooey goodness with the added bonus that an actual chimp with a whisk could knock it up in a matter of minutes.  Three ingredients and an oven is all it takes to get this bad boy from your screen to your mouth.  What are you waiting for, get whisking!

Flourless Chocolate Cake

Ingredients:

8 large eggs

450g good quality plain chocolate, chopped

250g unsalted butter, softened

Method:

Heat your oven to 160°C and grease the line the bottom and sides of a 8" spring-form cake tin with greaseproof paper.  Wrap the outside of the cake tin with tin foil and place in a large baking tray with high sides.  Fill and boil a kettle, you'll be making a Ban Marie to bake your cake later.

Place the eggs in the bowl of a stand mixer, or use an electric whisk and beat the eggs until doubled in size, this should take around 5-7 minutes.  While your eggs are fluffing up melt together the butter and chocolate in a bowl set over a pan of barely simmering water.  Once the chocolate is melted fold in half of the egg mixture using a spatula, repeat with the remaining egg until the batter is smooth and streak free.  

Pour the batter into you prepared tin and place it, still inside the baking tray, in the oven.  Being very careful, pour the recently boiled water into the baking tray until it reaches half way up the side of the cake tin.  Bake for 25 minutes until risen and just barely set, it should look a little bit like a chocolate brownie.  Take the cake tin out of the Ban Marie and place in the fridge until completely cooled.

When ready to serve remove the cake pan and carefully peel off the greaseproof paper.  Dust with icing sugar and serve with mixed berries and cream.

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Oat and Blueberry Cookie Pies

Do you ever just find yourself daydreaming about cookies? I do, quiet often, more often than I care to admit.  Luckily I have the luxury of using my job as an excuse for my fixation for these sweet treats, in all honesty it's just because I goddamn love a good cookie! 

In my mind these giants were supposed to be adorable little cookies sandwiched with butter cream and jam, nothing more than a mouthful. As you can see, I didn't quite manage the dainty little morsels I set out to make. My inner monologue seemed to take over while I was rolling the dough, 'that's not big enough', was repeating over and over in my head till I eventually ended up with these monstrous cookie pies. 

These babies are super adaptable. Just replace the dried blueberries with whatever you've got on hand, I'm thinking chocolate chips with a peanut butter and Nutella centre next time.

Oat & Blueberry Cookie Pies

Makes 12 - 14 cookies

Cookies:

250g unsalted butter, softened

250g caster sugar

2 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract

200g plain flour
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda

200g porridge oats

150g dried blueberries

Filling:

150g unsalted butter, softened

100g Philadelphia soft cheese

500g icing sugar

Blueberry jam

Method:

Preheat the oven to 180˚C and prepare a baking tray with parchment. In the bowl of a stand mixer cream the butter and sugar together till light and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time followed by the vanilla then, using a wooden spoon, mix in the remaining cookie ingredients.

Roll heaped tablespoons of the mix into balls and place onto your prepared tray leaving a little room for spreading, flatten slightly. Bake for 15-18 minutes, until just golden. Cool for 5 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

For the filling, cream the butter, Philadelphia and icing sugar together, add a splash of milk if a little stiff. Spread over half the cookies followed by a dollop of blueberry jam.  Sandwich with the remaining cookies and enjoy.

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