Whole Wheat Apple & Almond Muffins

Makes 12 muffins

150g whole wheat flour
100g ground almonds / almond flour
2 1/2 tsp baking powder
150g butter (at room temperature)
150g caster sugar
1 tsp vanilla essence
3 medium eggs
2 small – medium apples (have a peeler & grater to hand)
80ml milk
100g Plain yoghurt (optional)
Handful of flaked almonds (for topping)

Preheat your oven to 170C/340F, grease or line your muffin tin as you prefer, in this case I used some of the lovely looking tulip muffin cases. Sift together the whole wheat flour and baking powder, I tend to do this a couple of times as I truly think the sifting makes a difference to the lightness of texture in the final muffin, add in the ground almonds and put to one side.  In a bowl beat together the butter, caster sugar and vanilla essence until creamy.  Whisk together the eggs and milk and then add a bit at a time into the bowl with your butter mix, beating well after each addition. Now fold in the flour & almond mix bit by bit until smooth. Finally peel and grate in the apples (I did this in the moment to avoid the apples browning), add in the yoghurt and stir until evenly mixed through – I say the yoghurt is optional only as I made one batch with and one batch without and they were both equally delicious, I just felt the yoghurt gave them a slightly creamier moistness.  Divide the mix evenly into your cases, or into your pre-greased muffin tin, sprinkle each with a few flaked almonds and bake for around 35 – 40 minutes.  Best served warm, whilst enjoying the wonderful sweet nutty aroma lingering in your kitchen, but they will also keep really well for up to a week in a sealed container - Lorna

Roasted Pumpkin Seeds
Fresh pumpkin seeds, picked clean and washed in cold water, then dried throughly on paper towel
Olive oil
Sea salt

Okay so you’ve carved your pumpkin, try and separate the seeds out from the goo (and yes, that is the technical term for it) dump them into a bowl of water and then rinse them off in a colander. Lay them out on paper towel and pat them really dry (I’ve heard that it’s better if you air dry them over night but I’m way too impatient for that). Heat the oven to 350F/180C, toss the seeds with just enough oil to coat them, spread them on a tray and sprinkle liberally with the sea salt. Roast them for 30-40 minutes giving them a shake every now and again until they turn a gentle brown all over, oh and be warned don’t leave them too long as they will start to explode – it scared me half to death last year when we forgot to take then out of the oven in time!

Roasted Pumpkin Seed Brittle
1 cup roasted pumpkin seeds (see above)
1/4 cup unsalted butter
1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
1/4 cup honey

Line a sheet tray with a silicone mat. In a small saucepan melt the butter, stir in the honey and the brown sugar. Over a medium-hight heat bring this to a rolling boil and then lower the heat to medium-low and cook for a further  4 to 5 minutes without stirring until the mixture changes color to a mid-amber and a candy thermometer registers 280F/140C. Stir in the pumpkin seeds, cook for a further 2 minutes or till 300 F/150C. You can always skip the thermometer and take your chances, which is how I do it, but watch it carefully as there is a fine line between taking it out too early and having it not set hard (you end up with more of a fudge), and leaving it too long and having it burn. Pour the mixture on to the silicone mat, sprinkle with a touch more sea salt let it cool completely and then break it into pieces.

Granola Squares
16 Servings

8 oz old-fashioned rolled oats / approximately 2 cups
1.5 oz raw sunflower seeds /approximately 1/2 cup
3 oz sliced almonds / approximately 1 cup
1 oz chopped hazelnuts / approximately 1/4 cup
1.5 oz wheat germ / approximately 1/2 cup
6 oz honey / approximately 1/2 cup
1.75 oz dark brown sugar / approximately 1/4 cup packed
1 oz butter
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt (or sea salt)
6 1/2 oz chopped dried strawberries

Heat the oven to 350F/180C. Line a 9″x9″ pan with a square of parchment paper – the sides don’t need to be fully lined just the bottom.

Mix together the oats, sunflower seeds, sliced almonds, hazelnuts and wheat germ and then spread them onto a sheet pan to roast for 15 minutes, stirring once or twice during that time to prevent over toasting. Once that’s in the oven, put the sugar, butter, salt, vanilla extract and honey together in a small sauce pan and cook on a medium heat until everything is combined and melted and it’s bubbling slightly — about 6 minutes.

Once the oats, nuts and seeds mixture in the oven is finished toasting, remove it and turn down the oven to 300F/150C, then gently tip it into a large bowl, add the chopped strawberries (or what ever mix of dried fruit you prefer) and pour the melted ingredients over. Mix well until everything is coated and combined. Transfer the mixture to the parchment lined tin, gently press down on the top to flatten it and place it back in the 300F oven for 25 minutes. After 25 minutes remove and allow to cool completely in the tin so that it holds together. Once cool transfer it to a cutting board and slice into 16 pieces. The granola squares will keep in an airtight container for at least 2 weeks. - Melani

Having never heard of Kale Chips I thought maybe I had stumbled on a new trend but as it often turns out I was the one behind. There are recipes all over the web with many different variations, including on some of my favorite blogs Roost, Honey and Jam, Frog Star Farm and Smitten Kitchen. Since returning from Texas, I’ve been making these chips often, but I hadn’t managed to get around to photographing them. So today, when I spotted Russian Red Kale whilst mooching around Union Square farmers market, I remembered that the Frog Star Farm post had mentioned it as their favorite type to make chips with. I have no idea what I’d been using previously, other than it was a curly variety that wasn’t red, or purple for that matter, but tasted great, anyway, it seemed like a good opportunity to finally get up to date and post on Kale.

I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised by these, they turn out beautifully crisp and it’s easy to sit and eat an entire bunch in no time, which is a good thing as Kale is great for you; among other things it’s packed with beta carotene, it’s an excellent source of vitamin A and C, and it’s high in iron – but don’t tell my kids, I’m thrilled that they’ll eat these and any hint that they are actually healthy might put an end to it.

Crispy Kale Chips
I bunch of Curly Kale
2 table spoons of Olive Oil
Salt

Preheat the oven to 325F/160C. Strip the leaves off their stalks, wash and dry them thoroughly – and I do mean thoroughly, wet leaves will lead to a soggy end. In a large bowl, mix the leaves with the olive oil; it’s best to use your hands to make sure the Kale is fully coated. Next arrange the leaves in a single layer on a baking sheet, try not to overlap them. Sprinkle with Kosher or sea salt and roast for between 8 to 15 minutes. You can lay them out on the sheets a little in advance, but don’t salt them until right before you intend to put them in the oven, as they’ll go limp. Make sure you keep an eye on them once they are in as they get crispy quite quickly and are best when fully crisp but not brown. Once they start to brown they are scorched and begin to taste slightly bitter, which some people don’t seem to mind (sometimes I think my husband will eat anything), but it’s not to my taste.

I haven’t yet tried variations on seasoning as I love them salted, but there seems to be endless alternatives.  My mother-in-law likes to use garlic salt and I’ve seen shop bought versions with both miso and parmesan cheese so if you find a combination you like please let us know - Melani

I also just wanted to talk about why so many of my recipes specify kosher salt or sea salt. Kosher salt and sea salt have a much larger grain and tend to be much less salty that regular table salt, they also have a much cleaner less bitter “salt” taste. If you don’t have kosher or sea salt the use of regular table salt will result in a much too salty dish, because of its fine grain a single teaspoon of table salt contains more salt than a tablespoon of kosher or sea salt. If you are interested in reading more foodnetwork.com has a great write up and http://www.saltworks.us has a great guide to all the different types of salts.

4 cups of pecan halves
1.5 teaspoons kosher or sea salt
1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 heaped tablespoon dark brown sugar
1 generous tablespoon of finely chopped fresh rosemary leaves
1 tablespoon melted butter
1 tablespoon honey or golden syrup
1 tablespoon olive oil

Spread the pecans out on a baking sheet and bake at 350F for 15 minutes. Meanwhile melt the butter and add it to a large bowl with the olive oil and golden syrup or honey. Then in a separate bowl mix together the brown sugar, rosemary, cayenne, salt and blend with a fork. When the pecans are finished in the oven, gently add them to the bowl, throughly coating them with the melted butter, olive oil and syrup/honey mixture. Sprinkle in the brown sugar, rosemary, cayenne, salt mix, mixing as you do to insure even coating and then return the pecans to the baking sheet to roast for an additional 3 to 4 minutes until they smell wonderful – keep an eye on them though you don’t want to over cook them. They taste great right away and they can be store for a one week in an airtight container, although in my house they never last that long! – Melani [print-me] 

Olive oil crackers

[Makes about 25]

250g plain flour (plus extra for dusting)
1 tsp baking powder
115ml water
25ml olive oil (plus extra for brushing)
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp paprika
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
coarse sea salt for sprinkling

Simply put all your ingredients into a large bowl and mix together to form a soft dough. I do this by hand, but if you have a mixer with a dough hook then I’m sure it’s much faster. Work the dough until you get a firmer consistency and it holds together, then cover with cling film (saran wrap) and leave to rest in the refrigerator for 1 hour or so.

Heat up your oven to 220C/Gas 7.

Turn the dough out onto a clean, lightly floured work surface (have more flour standing by for dusting as & when needed). With a sharp knife cut off walnut size pieces (roughly 15g each) from the dough and roll out as thinly as possible with your rolling pin; the thinner you can get them the crispier they will go. They should end up looking like long oval shaped tongues.

Place the crackers on a tray lined with baking paper, brush with plenty of olive oil on both sides and sprinkle with the coarse sea salt.

I haven’t had the chance to try it yet, but I am sure they would also work wonderfully with other herbs or spice combinations. I will report back soon - Lorna