After Dinner Mint Cupcakes

The rich and fresh combination of Chocolate and Mint seemed the perfect way to ease myself into Christmas baking, so last week I made these delicious cupcakes for the birthday shout for one of my staff, Stacey.

I have had these in my head to make for a long time, and have subconsciously collected various amounts of mint colour wrappers and baubles for such an occasion as this. I love love love chocolate and mint - I always pick the mint chocolates first out of a chocolate box, and cherished my supplies of York peppermint patties every time Matt came home from the USA. While musing on these treats, I thought isn't it interesting how the best flavour combinations are also so visually appealing -  these mint green and chocolate brown cupcakes create a beautiful contrast.

It just so happens they taste as good as they look - rich, tender chocolate cupcakes with an minty surprise in the middle, with fresh choc-mint icing. Perfect after dinner, or before....up to you :)

After Dinner Mint Cupcakes

Makes approx. 16 cupcakes

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups plain flour
3/4 cup dutch-processed cocoa powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt
115g unsalted butter, softened
1 cup caster sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup sour cream or greek yoghurt

1 bag of Cadbury After Dinner Mints

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees. Line a muffin pan with paper liners; set aside (I chose half chocolate brown paper liners, half mint green foil liners)

In a medium bowl, sift together flour, cocoa, baking soda, baking powder, and salt; set aside.

In a large bowl, or the bowl of a standing mixer, cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy, then add vanilla.. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating until just combined. 

Sprinkle 1/3 of the flour mixture into the mixing bowl and mix until just combined. Add half of the sour cream or yoghurt, mixing until just combined. Repeat, alternating the remaining flour and yoghurt until just mixed together.

Place 1 1/2 tablespoons of batter into each prepared muffin cup. Lay an after dinner mint in each cup and press down gently. Place another 1 1/2 tablespoons of batter on top of each patty, you want them to be about 3/4 full. Bake for 15 to 18 minutes, until the tops of the cupcakes spring back lightly when touched.

Transfer to a wire cooling rack and allow to cool completely before frosting.

Mint Buttercream and Choc/Mint Buttercream frosting

Ingredients

200g unsalted butter, at room temperature

450g icing sugar, sifted

1 teaspoon vanilla extract or paste

2 tablespoons milk

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon peppermint extract

Food coloring

Dutch-processed cocoa

To make the frosting: In a large bowl, or the bowl of a standing mixer, beat the butter for about 30 seconds. Beat in the sugar and salt until combined. Add 1 tablespoon milk and whisk on high for 3 to 4 minutes, until light and fluffy. If the frosting is too thick, add more milk, 1/2 teaspoon at a time, until desired consistency is reached. Remember you want it to be relatively thick so it will hold when you pipe it. Whisk in the peppermint extract - you may want to start with half a teaspoon, and add more to taste, depending on how 'minty' you want your icing to be.

Divide the frosting into 2 parts, leave one part in the mixer bowl and put the rest into another small bowl.

To make the mint green icing, add a TINY amount of Wilton Aqua gel food colouring, or a drop of green and blue normal colouring. Remember you can always add more colour but you can't take it out! Mix well together until uniform in colour.

To make the choc mint icing, add about 3 tablespoons of dutch-processed cocoa, and beat again until fully mixed. Add more or less cocoa depending on how dark you want your icing.

To decorate these cupcakes, I piped on the frosting with a Wilton 1A open circular tip, icing the mint liner cupcakes with the choc-mint icing, and the brown liner cupcakes with the mint green icing. Sprinkle aqua baubles on the choc iced ones, and I used Valhrona Crispy Chocolate pearls on the mint ones (These are so yummy!)

Cut your remaining after dinner mints in half, and press a half into the top of each cupcake.

Voila! 

Crunchy Lemon & Poppyseed Muffins

I find you can't go past good ol' Alison Holst for a completely delicious, and reliable, muffin recipe. I like a bit of Kiwi representation too, and I read her autobiography with great interest and a lot of salivation. You can't get much more nostalgic than Alison's Lemon muffins - I dig the 90's vibe and memories of coming home after school to Mum's baking.

Mum has always made Alison's Crunchy Lemon Muffins, which are very good in themselves, but I can't go past the extra crunch of the poppyseed version. Fresh, light, zingy, crunchy, sweet - perfect afternoon tea.

These were made for some of the local Waipa Networks linesmen - they kindly lent us an electrical reel which is masquerading as a Christmas tree table in the Pharmacy right now. I did a rather large amount of baking for them, so hopefully they will remember that when I call in the next favour :)

Crunchy Lemon & Poppyseed Muffins

Adapted from Alison Holst's 100 Favourite Muffins & Slices

2 cups self-raising flour
1 cup sugar (normal, non-caster is fine here as you are not creaming with butter)
1/2 cup poppyseeds (Fruit monster has a great range of nuts, seeds and spices - way cheaper than buying heaps of the little boxes)
finely grated rind of 2 lemons (Have you brought a microplane yet?)

100g butter
2 large eggs
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup yoghurt (another Vicki Waterhouse trick - yoghurt in anything makes it so much more tender)

Juice of 2 lemons
1/2 cup sugar

Heat oven to 190 degrees fanbake (or 200 normal).

Sift flour into a large bowl, add poppyseeds and sugar, and whisk to combine. Add grated lemon rind.

Microwave butter until just melted, add the eggs, milk and yoghurt and beat with a fork until well mixed.

Pour the liquids into the dry flour mix, and fold together with a fork until the flour is dampened - small bits of flour is ok, you do not want to beat until smooth or over-mix muffin batter.

Spoon mixture into 12 regular muffin pans which have been lightly sprayed with oil.

Bake 10-15 minutes until golden brown, smelling delicious and the centres spring back when pressed.

While they cook, mix together the lemon juice and half cup of sugar - don't dissolve though, as you want the crunchy sugar crystals to remain.

Cool the muffins in the pan for 3-4 minutes, then removed and brush entire surfaces with the lemon sugar glaze.

These are nice and quick to make, so I can whip these up before work pretty easily. They tend to make husbands quite happy too :)

Black white and yellow 

Ready to go in the oven

My kitchen helpers - the cutest cup measure set ever!

Middle Eastern Salad

Me and Lester are trying to cut back on carbs at dinner time (baking is *kinda* excluded from this rule), so you will probably see quite a few salad recipes on this blog. This is a fave of ours, mainly thanks to the Dukkah encrusted chicken and the sweet salty Haloumi. This also makes good use of Pomegranate Molasses and Tahini, two essential Middle Eastern ingredients that I'm always looking for new recipes for.

This may look quite complicated, but it's all pretty simple really - you can take out some ingredients and steps if you need this in a hurry. I never cut corners if it's going to make it taste better, but that's me...and this salad tastes amazing.

Middle Eastern Salad

For the Salad (Serves 2)

2 boneless, skinless chicken thighs, cut into bit sized pieces (lamb would be great here)

Dukkah (I use Alexandra's Bazaar brand, they have a few different varieties)

Lettuce/mesculun

Watercress

Fresh mint

Half a block of Haloumi, cut into slices

1 piece Rye Mountain bread, torn into strips

Salt

Pepper

EVOO (I used Al Brown's Lemon & Fennel infused oil)

1/4 Telegraph Cucumber, peeled and cut into small chunks

1 Capsicum, cut into strips

Cranberries

Microgreens (optional - radish, sorrel, pea shoots)

Baby or normal carrots (2 normal or 4 baby)

Ground Cumin

Honey

Dressing

2 teaspoons Tahini (Sesame seed paste)

3 Tablespoons Greek Yoghurt

1 clove garlic, crushed or microplaned

1 tablespoon Pomegranate Molasses

Juice of 1/2 a lemon

Rind of 1/2 a lemon

Salt and Pepper

1 Tablespoon EVOO

1 Tablespoon water

Preheat your oven to fan bake, 180 degrees.

Drizzle the chicken with olive oil, season with salt and pepper and add about 3 tablespoons of Dukkah and mix well to coat the chicken. Place chicken pieces on a baking paper lined tray and fan-bake until cooked and golden.

Cut the baby carrots into quarters lengthwise, drizzle with EVOO, a little bit of honey, a dusting of ground Cumin, Salt and Pepper, and add to chicken tray about half way through.

Drizzle Mountain Bread strips with EVOO, season, and add to chicken tray when chicken and carrots are almost cooked.

For the dressing, mix together all ingredients in a small bowl until smooth. Season to taste.

When your chicken is cooked and starting to colour, your carrots are tender-crisp and the mountain bread golden, remove from oven and let cool a little.

Fry the haloumi in a medium pan with EVOO until golden on both sides.

Assemble your salad with the lettuce, mint, capsicum, cucumber, and cranberries, adding the hot ingredients last and drizzling the dressing generously over. Top with microgreens, then lasty the hot Haloumi straight from the pan (give it a quick squeeze with a lemon first, it really makes the Haloumi sing)

Chicken, Mountain Bread and Yellow Carrots roasting up nicely

mmmm....can't beat Haloumi

Roasted Rhubarb & Apple Compote

I am a complete porridge addict. I think I have had porridge for breakfast, almost without fail, since about April. I loathe the day it is too hot to have porridge (and then I plan on swapping to Bircher, when I master a recipe for that). So it stands to reason I like to mix it up and have delicious toppings on my porridge each day, my favourite of which is Roasted Rhubarb & Apple Compote. Equally delicious served with your favourite Muesli, it is divine straight from the oven with a dollop of greek yoghurt.

I make this at least once a week, and it might do me 4-5 breakfasts. It's pretty easy to whip up when you have the oven on for something else. I have a very big oven, so I am often looking for another reason to turn it on - I think this comes from my Seymour/Nana/WW2 heritage....I'm blaming my mother anyway (but I think it's a good trait to have!)

It keeps well in the fridge, and is actually pretty good cold too. It's a nice way to use up some not-so-fresh apples that didn't pass Lester's "Fresh Apple Flick' test too :) I find the rhubarb texture is much nicer roasted in the oven than cooked on the stovetop into a mush too.

Roasted Rhubarb & Apple Compote

5-10 sticks of Rhubarb (quantities are not so important here, add a bit more sugar if use a lot of Rhubarb)
4-5 apples
1/2 cup brown sugar
2-3 teaspoons cinnamon
Rind and Juice of 1-2 oranges
4 Tablespoons Hakanoa Ginger Syrup (or water). Hakanoa is available at Red Kitchen, Vetro, Farro etc type stores and tastes like liquid gingerbread...mmmm.
Optional - vanilla extract - I don't bother as I always put vanilla in my actual porridge mix.
Optional - raisins or sultanas (credit to mum for this wee addition)

Cut the rhubarb into 1-inch lengths - you want it to stay in pieces, not disintegrate into mush. Core and ut the apples into thickish slices - I leave the skin on as it helps it keep it's shape.
Put into a roasting dish - I use a rectangular glass one - and cover with the brown sugar, cinnamon, orange rind and juice, and the ginger syrup. Mix around to cover the fruit evenly.

Roast in an 180 degree oven for about 30 minutes, stirring once to coat the fruit in the cooking juices. The fruit will colour up a bit, and the juices will thicken up and make a nice syrupy sauce.

The best part - you need to do a little quality control. Have a nice little bowlful hot from the oven with greek yoghurt and slivered almonds. Delicious.

 I make my porridge with a ratio of 2/5ths wholegrain/jumbo oats, 2/5ths rolled oats, 1/5th white quinoa. Soak overnight with water, then cook with about 1/2 cup milk per cup of oat mix until quinoa is no longer opaque. Stir in vanilla extract and about 3 tablespoons LSA mix at the end. So yummy and good for you too - this is low GI and high protein. I make up a cup of oat mix at a time, and that is enough for 4 servings - I just microwave to reheat.

The best way to start your day - trust me - I wake up in the morning and can't wait to tuck into this!

Very Chocolate Afgans

I got home from a long day at work on Saturday and found the husband pining after biscuits. Of course, I jumped at the chance to break out the new KitchenAid. Lester thought that all sounded like way too much hard work after my day at work, but for me, the 15 minutes baking these treats was enough to relax and unwind after a full on day... I have to keep reminding him that this is my relaxing hobby :)

Anything containing breakfast cereal as an ingredient is always going to sound a bit like a children's lunchbox treat, so I make my afghans slightly more 'adult' by taking the chocolate up a notch. You don't need actual chocolate to do this - just some decent Dutch-processed Cocoa - Equagold is my favourite, or Valhrona do a great one too. Just compare the colour to your old cocoa and you'll see why this stuff is the business for making your baking rich and very very chocolately.

I also add Vanilla paste to the biscuit and the icing, and that really brings out the chocolate flavour further.

Chocolate Afgans

Adapted from The Edmonds Cookbook

For the Biscuits:

200g unsalted Butter, at room temperature

1/2 cup Caster Sugar

1 cup Plain Flour

1/2 cup Dutch Cocoa powder

pinch of salt

1 tsp Vanilla paste or real vanilla extract

2 cups Cornflakes

For the Icing:

25g unsalted Butter, melted

4 tablespoons Dutch processed Cocoa

1/2 teaspoon Vanilla Paste

2 tablespoons hot water

2 Cups Icing Sugar

Thread coconut

Directions:

Preheat your oven to 170 degrees fanbake (or 180 degrees normal)

Cream the butter and sugar with a hand mixer, or preferably in the bowl of a stand mixer, until really light a fluffy - a good 5-10 minutes or whatever your arm can handle. Add salt and vanilla and beat again.

Sift flour and cocoa into butter mixture, and mix with a spatula or wooden spoon until almost incorporated. Add cornflakes and mix again.

Roll tablespoon-fuls into balls on a lined oven tray, and press gently with a fork.

Bake for about 15 minutes, or until set. You want to avoid them getting brown or burnt (which is suprisingly easy to do when they so dark from the cocoa), so keep checking from about 10 mins onwards, and remove as soon as they have firmed up.

Transfer to a cooling rack, and ice when cool.

To make your icing - mix the melted butter, vanila, cocoa, icing sugar and hot water together, adding more water and/or icing sugar as needed to make the right consistency (quite stiff). You also want it to be as dark as the biscuits, so add more cocoa if needed. It really helps if you sift your icing sugar first, then you get a really smooth icing.

Ice the biscuits with a generous amount of icing (I piped mine on to get a smooth finish), and top with coconut thread.

Warning - these are completley addictive - and very very good with a cup of tea. We finished these off last night watching Homeland, and I almost want to leap up now and make another batch!

Worth your investment - Equagold Dutch Cocoa and Heilala Vanilla Paste. These Breville scales are awesome too.

This is the colour your creamed butter and sugar should be - this will make them  melt in your mouth

All ready to be rolled

Fresh out of the oven

Strawberry Chicken Salad

This is one of those 'just trust me' recipes - savory and sweet can co-exist on your dinner plate. I know - it may sound a bit freaky, but this salad really works. This was our post-gym (Gem) and post wind-trainer (Lester) dinner whipped up in a hurry, and we just happened to have everything on hand.

One thing I really enjoy about cooking, and reading about cooking, is looking at flavour combinations. This is why this salad is a winner - balsamic dressing - strawberries - almonds - chicken - crisp lettuce - avocado - creamy goats chèvre - asparagus - see? They all work so well together. I also added some mountain bread crisps for a bit of added crunch.

Lester even loved it, and usually he would throw me confused looks at the thought of fruit in a salad :)

Strawberry Chicken Salad

Serves two

2 boneless skinless Chicken thighs, cut into bite sized chances
Good quality extra virgin olive oil
Balsamic vinegar & or/ Balsamic reduction
Salt & pepper

1 piece Rye (or other variety) Mountain Bread -  a low carb, really thin wrap style bread.
Sliced Almonds
Avocado, cut into chunks
Lettuce
Cucumber, cut into chunks
about 3 large Strawberries, sliced
Asparagus, (about 3 spears per person), cut into thirds
Goat's cheese (chèvre) - about a third of a roll, crumbled.

Directions:

Preheat the grill to about 180 degrees (fan grill if you have it)

Drizzle a good slosh of Olive oil and Balsamic Vinegar (I used reduction) over the chicken and season well.

Tear the mountain bread into strips, drizzle sparingly with olive oil and season. Rub with your fingers to speed the oil over the bread.

Put your almonds and bread strips onto an oven tray, and put under the grill under crisp and golden brown (about 5 minutes). Transfer into a bowl to cool.

Now put the chicken pieces onto the tray, and grill for about 10 minutes until almost cooked and starting to brown.

Drizzle the asparagus with olive oil, season, and add onto the tray with the chicken for  a further 5 minutes, until the chicken is cooked and the asparagus is nicely roasted.

Make your salad dressing - about 1.5 tablespoons of Balsamic vinegar, 4 tablespoons Olive Oil, Salt, Pepper and minced garlic (1 small clove, ideally rubbed through a microplane). Shake together in a small jar.

Dress your salad leaves with about two-thirds of the salad leaves, then place the leaves on a plate and top with the rest of the ingredients - the asparagus, strawberries, cucumber, mountain bread crisps, toasted almonds, avocado, chicken and crumbled goats cheese.

Drizzle with remaining dressing, and serve.