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BANANA AND DATE MUFFINS
Makes 12
Ingredients:
2 overripe bananas, chopped
100g dates, chopped
½ cup vegetable oil
2 eggs
¾ cup brown sugar
1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
½ teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon vanilla essence
1 ½ cups self raising flour
METHOD:
Mix all the wet ingredients together, add the dry ingredients until just combined.
Put into muffins trays, lined with muffins cases and bake at 150C for 20 minutes or until done.
Delicious!!
BANANA & DATE MUFFINS
STUFFED BUTTERNUT SQUASH
STUFFED BUTTERNUT SQUASH
Serves 4
Ingredients:
2 small butternut squashes
1 garlic clove, finely chopped
50g unsalted butter
Olive oil
75g walnuts, lightly toasted and very coarsely chopped
200g cheese of choice (blue cheese or feta cheese goes well with this), I used cheddar cheese
2 teaspoons chopped thyme (optional)
1 tablespoon runny honey
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
Method:
Make sure the outside of the squash is scrubbed clean. Cut the squash in half lengthways and scoop out the seeds and soft fibres. Put in a roasting dish, add the chopped garlic and a knob of butter to each cavity, brush with a little oil and season well. Place in an oven preheated to 190°C and bake for ¾-1 hour, until the flesh feels very tender when pierced with the tip of a knife.
Scoop the soft flesh and all the buttery, garlicky juices out into a bowl, leaving a 1cm thick layer of flesh still attached to the skin, so the squash holds its shape. Roughly mash the flesh. Keep back a few pieces of walnut and a little of the cheese, then fold the remaining walnuts and cheese into the soft squash, along with the thyme and some more salt and pepper.
Spoon the filling back into the empty squash halves and scatter on the reserved cheese and walnuts. Finish with the merest trickle of honey, return the squash to the oven and bake for 15 minutes, or until the cheese is bubbling. Serve with a crisp green salad, thinly sliced ciabatta for a great starter.
STUFFED BUTTERNUT SQUASH
ORANGE CAKE
This delicious cake is rich and full of flavours. Perfect snack or afternoon treat!
Orange Cake, a deliciously moist cake!
Ingredients
Serves: 12
250g cake (plain) flour
3 teaspoons baking powder
200g caster sugar
125ml milk
125ml orange juice
125ml vegetable oil
3 eggs, beaten
1 ½ teaspoons grated orange zest
Orange butter icing:
6 tablespoons butter, softened
250g icing sugar
2 tablespoons orange juice
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon grated orange zest
Method:
Preheat oven to 180C. Grease and flour two 20cm round cake tins.
In a measuring jug, combine milk, 125ml orange juice, oil, beaten eggs and
1½ teaspoons orange zest. Set aside.
Sift flour and baking powder into a large bowl. Mix in sugar. Make a well in the centre and pour in the milk mixture. Stir until thoroughly combined.
Divide cake mixture between the two prepared tins. Bake in the preheated oven for 35 minutes, or until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean. Allow to cool.
To make Orange Butter Icing:
Cream butter until smooth. Gradually beat in icing sugar. Beat until light and fluffy. Beat in 2 tablespoons orange juice to bring to spreading consistency. Stir in vanilla and 1 teaspoon orange zest. Spread over cooled cakes.
ENJOY!!
Orange cakes are especially delicious in winter when citrus is in season
COOK’s TIP FOR BAKING A PERFECT CAKE:
When making a cake it is important to follow the recipe exactly. If you try to skip a step you may have less than desirable results. Skip the sifting step and your flour will be heavier than it should, creating a heavy, dry cake. Over-mix and your cake will be tough and chewy, more like a good bread.
First, use the right ingredients and measure carefully.
Beat the liquid ingredients well before combining with the dry ingredients. Once the dry ingredients are added, the cake should be stirred gently, unless the directions tell you otherwise. If your cake is course and dry, or has tunnels, you have probably over-mixed.
Preheat the oven as directed. Starting in a cold oven, or too hot an oven will affect the rising and browning of the cake. A cake started in a cool oven will not allow the cake to rise sufficiently before the crust forms and the cake may fall. Too hot an oven may cause a crack to develop, and the crust to harden and overbrown. The cake should be placed in the center of the oven for best heat distribution. Be aware of your oven, if there are hot spots in your oven you may need to adjust.
The cake is done when it is lightly browned and it springs back when lightly pressed with the fingertip in the center or when a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean and dry. The cake will have begun to shrink away from the sides of the pan.
Ensure your ingredients are room temperature before starting your cake.
BANANA LOAF
Banana Loaf
Ingredients:
125g butter
Extra butter for greasing the tins
1 cup sugar
3 eggs
1 cup milk
1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
500g selfraising flour
4 bananas, mashed
Method:
Preheat oven to 180C. Grease 1 large loaf tin or 2 small loaf tins with the extra butter.
In a mixing bowl cream together butter, sugar and eggs.
Mix in mashed bananas. Add flour, bicarb and milk and mix to a thick batter. Pour into the prepared tins. Bake in preheated oven for 30 – 40 minutes. To test if the cake is done insert a skewer in the middle of the cake, if it comes out dry the cake is done.
BANANA LOAF
Chicken Sausage Rolls
Chicken Sausage Rolls
Makes 20 rolls
Suitable for freezing uncooked
Ingredients:
2 large skinless chicken breasts
2 cloves garlic, crushed
4 sundried tomatoes, chopped
Handful basil leaves, chopped
500 g ready rolled puff pastry
Flour for dusting
1 egg, beaten
Sesame seeds
Method:
Whizz the chicken and garlic in a food processor until the chicken is minced. Tip in the sundried tomatoes and basil. Pulse for 5 seconds to just mix through. Season well.
Roll the pastry sheet out on a lightly floured surface into a rectangle and cut in half lengthways. Spread half the chicken mixture along the middle of on the pastry strips, then roll up the pastry, pinching the ends together to seal. Using a sharp knife, cut into 2.5cm long pieces. Repeat with the remaining pastry strip. Can be frozen uncooked, for up to 1 month.
Heat oven to 200C. Place the rolls on a large baking sheet. Brush with the egg, then sprinkle with the sesame seeds. Bake for 20 minutes until golden.
Cheddar Scones
Cheddar Cheese Scones
Makes 12-15
Ingredients:
200g self-raising flour, plus a little extra for dusting
50g butter, at room temperature
25g oats
75g grated cheddar cheese, plus extra for topping
150ml milk
Method:
Heat your oven to 220C. Pace the flour in a large bowl, then rub in the butter. Stir in the oats and cheese, then the milk – if it feels like it might be dry, add a touch more milk, then bring together to make a soft dough.
Lightly dust the surface with a little flour, roll out the dough no thinner than 2cm. Cut out rounds with a cookie cutter.
Transfer to a baking sheet, dust with a little more flour or grated cheese, then bake for 12-15 minutes until well risen and golden. Cool, serve on their own or topped with mashed avocado or soft cheese.
Cheese Scones
Salwaa’s Cheese Scones
Salwaa Smith – Cape Malay Cooking & Other Delights
From My Kitchen To Yours – keeping our heritage alive!
Ingredients:
2 cups self-raising flour, plus extra for rolling out
1 level tsp baking powder
Pinch of salt
55g butter, chilled and cut into small cubes
1/3 cup caster sugar
150ml buttermilk (approx)
125g French Blue Cheese or any strong cheese of choice
Method:
Pre-heat the oven to 200°C. Sift the flour, baking powder and salt. Rub in the butter until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs.
Stir in the sugar. Cut the cheese into small cubes. Add the cheese and buttermilk to the flour mixture.
Mix into a soft, but not sticky, dough. Lightly flour your hands and bring the dough together, handling it as little as possible.
Leave the dough to rest for 30 minutes. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and pat to a thickness of 2cm, lightly flour a 5cm pastry cutter and cut out as many scones as possible. I’ve used a square cookie cutter this time.
Transfer the scones onto a baking tray. Leave a space in between as the scones will spread somewhat. Gather the remaining dough together and repeat until used up. I got about 12 scones out of this mixture.
Brush the tops with milk or beaten egg. Dust with mixed herbs. Bake for 12-15 minutes until risen and golden. Cool on a wire rack until just warm, or leave to go completely cold. I served mine warm with lashings of butter.
Shop online at http://www.capemalaycookingdelights.com
Apple Muffins With Pecan Topping
APPLE MUFFINS WITH PECAN TOPPING
Ingredients:
350g cake flour
25g butter
50g dark brown sugar, plus 1 tablespoon extra for the topping
50g pecan nuts, chopped
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon cinnamon
284ml soured cream
1 egg, beaten
3 eating apples, peeled and cored
2-3 tablespoons milk
Method:
Heat the oven to 200C. Line a muffin tin with muffin cases. In a small bowl, use your fingertips to rub 50g of the flour together with the butter to make breadcrumbs. Stir through 1 tablespoon sugar and the chopped pecans, set aside.
In a large bowl, sift together the remaining flour, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda and a pinch of salt. Stir in the apples; beat together with the soured cream, egg and 2 tablespoons milk. Make a well in the dry ingredients and quickly fold through the wet ingredients, adding an extra tablespoon milk if really dry. Don’t over-mix or your muffins will be tough. It doesn’t matter if there are lumps of flour.
Spoon the mixture into the muffin cases – they should be about two-thirds full – then sprinkle over the pecan topping. Thinly slice the final apple, poke slices into the tops of the muffins. Bake for 20 minutes or until risen, golden and a skewer inserted in the centre comes out clean. Serve on its own or with cheese.
VARIATION:
Replace the apple with a chopped banana
Blueberry & Vanilla Scones
Blueberry & Vanilla Scones
Makes 8
Serve the warm scones with a dollop of clotted/freshly whipped cream and the vanilla strawberries
Ingredients:
225g self-raising flour
Small pinch of fine salt
½ tsp baking powder
50g caster sugar, plus 1 tsp for sprinkling
75g unsalted butter, cubed at room temperature
75g fresh blueberries
2 tbsp soured cream
1 large egg
1 tsp vanilla essence
Method:
Heat the oven to 200C.
Sift the flour and baking powder in to a large bowl, then stir in the salt and sugar. Add the butter and using your fingertips, rub in to the flour until it resembles bread crumbs. Stir in the blueberries.
In a jug, whisk together the soured cream, egg and vanilla. Add to the dry ingredients and mix with a round bladed knife, then bring together the mixture with your hands to form a soft dough. It’s important not to over-mix or knead the dough to keep the scones light.
Roll out the dough on a lightly floured surface to about 2 cm thick and cut out 8 rounds using a 6cm round cutter. Transfer to a lightly greased baking tray. Brush the tops with a little beaten egg and sprinkle with caster sugar.
Bake in the oven for 10-12 minutes until risen and golden. Transfer to a cooling rack.
Meanwhile, put the strawberries in a bowl. In a small pan, gently heat the sugar, vanilla essence together with 1-2 tbsp water, until the sugar has dissolved, then simmer for 2 minutes until syrupy. Pour over the strawberries, toss and leave to cool until ready to serve.
Cape Malay Cooking & Other Delights - Salwaa Smith 
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