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Cinnamon Biscuits With Cardamom Icing

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I have developed a bit of a thing for Cardamom so you may find lots of recipes coming up including it as an ingredient. It is such a wonderfully aromatic flavour and it really adds something to these simple biscuits. These Cinnamon biscuits with cardamom icing are perfect for Autumn with just the right hint of spice but would also make delicious Christmas treats…yes I said the C word..it is only a few months away now.

Cinnamon Biscuits With Cardamom Icing

I have started to experiment with using a mixture of flours and sugars when baking and I really like the difference in flavour just by adding the buckwheat flour and dark brown sugar here. However if you prefer the buckwheat is easily substituted with plain white flour and the brown sugar can be replace with caster sugar. You could also use butter instead of coconut oil but the flavour added by the coconut is one of my favourite parts.

Cinnamon Biscuits With Cardamom Icing

You will need:

For the biscuits:

150g Self Raising Flour

150g Buckwheat Flour

125g Coconut Oil

50g dark brown sugar

50g caster sugar

2tsp cinnamon powder

1 egg

For the icing:

100g sieved icing sugar

1/2 tsp ground cardamon powder or 5 cardamom pods, crushed

40ml warm whole milk

Preheat oven to 180c. Line or grease/flour a flat baking tray Mix your flours and cinnamon together in one bowl. In a separate bowl soften your coconut oil to the consistency of softened butter ( 30 secs in microwave should do it ) add your sugars and cream together until smooth, beat your egg and add to the bowl before mixing well. Now add your wet ingredients to your dry ingredients to form a dough. Turn onto a floured surface and knead until you have a smooth dough. Roll out so the dough is about 1/4 inch thick and use a cutter to create whatever shape biscuits you like, the amount of biscuits made will depend on the size of your cutter but you should get around 30. Place on the baking tray and bake for 8-10 minutes until lightly golden, leave to cool and harden.

Now make your icing:

Add your cardamom to your milk and heat, pour through a sieve onto the icing sugar in a mixing bowl and mix until smooth. Pour or drizzle over your biscuits as desired.

Cinnamon Biscuits With Cardamom Icing

Find some more cinnamon and cardamom inspired bakes below from my food blogger friends:

Plum Cinnamon Buns from Kavey Eats

Cinnamon Palmiers from Casa Costello

Cinnamon Apple Pie from Fab Food 4 All

Apple Cardamom Layer Cake from Recipes From A Pantry

Cardamon Cake With White Chocolate And Rose Buttercream from Supper In The Suburbs

Marzipan And Pistachio Cardamom Buns from Baking Queen 74

Spiced Madeleines From Fuss Free Flavours 

Cardamom Shortbread From The Hedgecombers

Honey & Cinnamon Butter from Veggie Desserts

Oaty Cinnamon Muffins from Lovely Appetite

Plum And Cinnamon Cake from Happiness Is Homemade

 

Squash, Sweet Potato & Coconut Autumn Soup

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As much as I like Summer and the warm, balmy evenings… HA I live in Wales who am I kidding? I really embrace Autumn. I’m all for snuggly jumpers, fleecy throws, steamed puddings and SOUP.

I picked up a red onion squash at my local market and I was intrigued as I had never seen one before. I wasn’t sure what to make with it so I ended up splitting it into two and using one half to make this incredibly tasty autumnal soup.

Red onion squash

I used my Kenwood kCook to create this dish from start to finish to dice, soften and simmer my soup. I’ve had this Multicooker for a few months now ands it’s a really useful piece of kitchen gadgetry! It saves time from chopping vegetables and from changing from pan to pan etc etc. Perfect for anyone who loves homemade food but struggles with finding the time.

KCook soup

You will need:

1/2 a medium squash
2 sweet potatoes
1 shallot
400ml of vegetable stock
300ml of coconut milk
1/2 tsp of oil
1 small red chilli finely diced
Pinch of sea salt ( I used smoked salt from Flavour Magic )
Pinch of black pepper

Peel your vegetables and cut into quarters before placing in your kCook machine with your oil ( if you don’t have one you can dice your veg yourself) and press stir for 1 minute until finely diced. Now cook on the soup/sauce option ( or in a pan ) for 10 minutes to soften.

KCook softening vegetables

Add your vegetable stock, coconut milk and seasoning and cook for a further 20 – 30 minutes. At the end of cooking stir/puree for 2 minutes until smooth and serve immediately.

Red onion squash, sweet potato and coconut soup

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Doesn’t just looking at it make you think of conker fights and walking through crunchy leaves? Autumn in a bowl.

Keep your eyes peeled to find out what I did with the rest of the squash!

* I received the kCook for the purpose of a review and recipe development.

Dark Chocolate & Coconut Bounty Bites

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I’m a sucker for anything chocolate covered. Coconut is one of my favourite flavours so as you can imagine I’ve always loved Bounty bars. I’ve recreated them a few times but last night I get the texture of the filling just as I wanted it and covered with dark Belgian chocolate and sprinkled with coconut they are a perfectly indulgent treat. Also it’s Chocolate Week ..any excuse huh?

You have to use a good chocolate for these as otherwise it totally spoils the taste. You also need the majority of a tin of condensed milk so perhaps these should be an occasional treat rather than an everyday one!

You will need:

300ml of Condensed Milk
175g of Dessicated Coconut
200g of Dark Chocolate

Combine your coconut and condensed milk in a bowl until it all comes together.

Homemade bounty bites

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Using your hands ( beware you will get sticky ) roll into small balls and place on greaseproof paper until it’s chilled and firmer.

Now melt your chocolate using whichever method you prefer, if I’m in a hurry I use the microwave in short blasts until it’s mostly melted then stir with a spatula until it’s molten.

Dark chocolate and coconut bites

Now dip your coconut balls into the chocolate, place back on the greaseproof paper and sprinkle over some coconut. Place back in the fridge to set, as soon as they are set place in a tub with a lid and keep refrigerated.

Homemade bounty bars

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A delicious treat and energy boost for the mid afternoon slump..or ahem..breakfast?

If you are a fellow Bounty lover try this No Churn Bounty Ice Cream from Fuss Free Flavours.

And how about trying some other versions of famous treats?

Vegan Crunchie Bars
Nakd Bars
Crunchie Macarons
Peanut Butter Cups
Vegan Peanut Butter Cups
Fruit & Nut

Chocolate Topped Coconut Biscuits – Dairy & Gluten Free

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Since we have discovered that Chloe can no longer have gluten ( along with dairy and soya ) we have had to radically rethink the way we cook and buy her food, I’ve been experimenting and creating recipes which will make her meals and snacks more enjoyable. I’ve recently made these coconut biscuits topped with chocolate which are deliciously moreish, completely dairy and gluten free and so easy to make.

These are delicious with a cup of tea (for me of course, not the kids ) and stay fresh for at least 5 days in an airtight container – they were all gone after that. They also freeze well, I popped a few in to test it and when pulled out a few hours before or even popped into an over to lightly heat and crisp up again they are delicious. If freezing, do not add the chocolate until defrosted.

You will need:

175g Caster Sugar
150g Gluten Free Self Raising Flour
100g Shredded/Dessicated coconut
100g Coconut Oil ( I used Vita Coco )
100g of dairy/soya free chocoate
1 Beaten Egg

Preheat oven to gas mark 4/180.

Melt your coconut oil and add it to your other ingredients apart from the chocolate. Mix well then place in small spoonfuls on a lined baking sheet. Bake for about 10-12 minutes. Be aware these go from undercooked to overlooked very quickly so keep a close eye. These do spread a little so space out well. They are done when the edges are golden but the middle still looks pale, remove from oven and leave for a few minutes before carefully transferring to a wire rack.

Dairy and gluten free coconut biscuits

When just slightly warm, drizzle melted chocolate over half of the biscuits and leave half plain for when you are out and about and don’t want chocolate all over your child.

This makes between 20-30 biscuits depending on your size preference.

Coeliac toddler snack ideas

Chocolate cookies gluten and dairy free

It’s not easy having a toddler who is gluten free and even harder to explain to her slightly bigger sister why she can’t share her treats with her so these are perfect as they are tasty enough for them both to enjoy and share.

Banana, Coconut and Dark Chocolate Traybake

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Am I the only person who deliberately leaves bananas go bad so that I can bake with them? I’m a lover of banana bread, peanut butter and banana muffins and now this.

Banana, Coconut and Dark Chocolate Traybake

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This is a combo of a few different recipes I have used over the years for banana bread and tray bakes with some extra bits like coconut added in.

I love tray bakes as they are so easy. Typically the recipes us an all in one method so you’re not faffing about with creaming butter/sugar etc and they can be cut into squares so easy to serve and store. Great for parties or just to munch on at home.

You will need:

2 very ripe bananas
150g plain flour
150g caster sugar
100g butter
30g of sweet desiccated coconut
3 tbsp milk
100g dark choc bar bashed to pieces
1 tsp bicarb of soda
1tsp baking powder
2 large eggs ( free range)

Grease your baking dish. I use a rectangular pyrex dish. Preheat oven to gas mark 3.

Firstly chop or bash your dark chocolate – I use a heavy rolling pin to break it up whilst still in packaging to avoid mess.

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Then put all ingredients into a mixing bowl or electric mixer. I use an Andrew James mixer which is similar to a kitchen aid.
If mixing by hand use a wooden spoon and beat well. If using a mixer turn to the highest speed and blend for 1-2minutes.

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Bake for 30-35 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the middle comes out clean. Turn onto a cooling rack ( if you don’t want the rack impressions turn it to the correct side – I like them so I don’t) and leave to cool.

Once cooler chop into squares – the size is up to you! If you eat it while still warm you will get some gorgeous chunks of melted choc,

You could top with melted dark choc and coconut – this would be lovely if making for an occasion. I like it just as it is.

The sweetness of the banana works so well with the bittersweet chocolate. One of my favourite bakes already and I’ve only made it three times.

Munching on Munchkins

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As I explained in my last post I get a lot of people finding my blog as a result of a search engine enquiry for a Munchkins recipe or similar so I thought I would go find a recipe, try it out and report back.

Well I’ve never tried a munchkin before and all of the recipes are American and use different ingredients to what we use here so I had to improvise a bit and also the measurements are a bit different too but here is my take on Munchkins and they look very much like the google images I found so I think it’s about right 😉

You will need:

3/4 small tin of condensed milk
1 pack of rich tea biscuits ( I used asda basic range)
1 tbsp cocoa powder ( I used Hershey’s)
A few tbsp of dessicated/shredded coconut

* Instead of rich tea and cocoa you could just use chocolate biscuits.

Blend biscuits and cocoa power until fine. Gradually mix in your milk and once well mixed out on the fridge to chill for 10 minutes. Remove from fridge and cover a plate with coconut. Using approx 1tsp of mix roll into a ball and roll in coconut. Place on greaseproof paper on a tray and continue until all mix has been used. Chill for 1 hour.

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Verdict : I stuck to just one as I can see how the rich, gooey sweetness could get addictive but definitely an easy to make treat or dessert. I may have another tomorrow 😉

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