Cinnamon and Walnut Muffins

With a crunchy filling...

Cinnamon and walnut muffins

280 g plain flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
1/2 tsp salt
60 g white sugar
1 egg
150 ml sour cream
180 ml milk
60 ml sunflower oil
1 tsp vanilla essence

Filling:
85 g light brown soft sugar
85 g chopped walnuts
2 tsp ground cinnamon

Prepare the filling by combining all the ingredients and keep aside.

In a bowl sift the flour, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda, salt and sugar.

In another bowl, beat the egg with a fork and stir in milk, sour cream, oil and vanilla essence.

Pour the wet mixture into the dry and stir until just combined.

Spoon half the batter into the muffin cases. Add half of the filling mixture. Spoon the rest of the batter and top with the filling mixture left.

Bake for 23 minutes in a preheated oven (195C).

Carrot cake

Not the lightest cake! The icing alone probably has more calories than a pizza, but it's really good, definitely worth it :-)

Carrot cake with a cream cheese icing

For the cake:
250 g brown sugar (I used 180 g of light brown sugar and 70 g or dark brown sugar)
100 g olive oil
20 g sunflower oil
3 eggs
160 g plain flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp ground ginger
200 g grated carrots
30 g chopped walnuts

For the icing:
170 g unsalted butter, at room temperature
225 g philadelphia
250 icing sugar
2 tbsp orange rind
A pinch of salt

To make the cake, mix together the oil (both) and the sugar (both) in a bowl with electric beaters for two minutes.

Add the eggs slowly, and then the sifted flour with the baking powder. Add the ginger, carrot and walnuts and mix well.

Grease the bottom of a 22cm round oven tin and cover with baking paper. Preheat the oven to 180C.

Pour the mixture into the tin and bake for 60 minutes.

To make the icing, beat the softened butter and the sugar in a bowl with the electric beaters until l it's soft and spongey (around 2 minutes). Add the philadelphia and beat for another two minutes. Add the sugar, the orange rind and the salt and beat for another three or four minutes.

Take the cake from the oven and let it cool down completely. Cut in half and fill with part of the icing. Assemble the two halves of the cake and decorate with the rest of the icing.

Celery and walnut bread

Yes, I know, it doesn't sound very nice, but it is! This bread has more of a cake texture, which is expected looking at the ingredients, and it's lovely with butter. The celery doesn't give much flavour (which is a good thing, I guess) but the walnuts and cheese do (which can only be a good thing :-))




Here it goes...

Celery and Walnut bread

225 g self-raising white flour
1 tsp baking powder
55 g butter, diced
2 celery sticks, very finely chopped
55 g walnuts, chopped
85 g grated cheese (I used mature Cheddar)
Salt and pepper
1 egg, beaten
4 tbsp milk

Sift the flour and baking powder into a bowl. Add the butter and mix, preferably with the fingers, until it looks like breadcrumbs.

Add the celery, walnuts, cheese and salt/pepper and mix. Add the egg and the milk and mix until the dough is soft but not sticky. Knead on a lightly floured surface until smooth.

Shape the dough (I made a "loafy" shape). The original recipe suggests using a loaf tin, but I didn't have one small enough (the dough is quite small).

Bake at 190C for 45 minutes and then leave to cool on a wire rack.

Walnut bread

I had previously made this bread, but this is the first time I try with the breadmaker. I decided to just mix and rise the dough and then shape it manually (you can get really tired of cubic bread...). The only thing is that you can only use the breadmaker if it has a nut dispenser...

Walnut Bread (Pain aux Noix)

2 tsp dried yeast (fast action)
250 g strong white flour
125 g rye flour
125 g wholemeal flour
2 tsp salt
350 ml water
150 g walnuts, roughly chopped

Put all the ingredients (except for the walnuts) in the machine. The walnuts will need to be added in the nut dispenser. Use the wholemeal-raisin dough setting which in my machine takes around 2 hours and a half.

Take the dough out into a floured surface and shape into a log loaf, about 25 cm in lengh. Cover with a tea towel and leave to prove for 45 minutes. It grows a lot!

Bake at 200C for 50 minutes and then leave to cool on a wire rack.