Recipes

Scuffins

I like to think of these as a blend of the English scone and the NZ muffin,  omitting the need for melting, rolling out dough or lining muffin tins or washing them up.  As my art teacher at college, (tertiary nz) used to say, “there’s no such thing as lazy..”

1.  Sour 250ml milk by adding 1tsp lemon juice or vinegar, add 1 tsp made mustard, shake or stir and leave for 15 minutes to thicken.

OR just use fresh milk or reconstituted dried milk, the souring removes the taste and mouth feel of the baking powder. If you don’t have any milk but have yogurt just thin that down to the consistency of milk by adding some water. 

2. Oven on at 215.c fan or 225.c non fan.
3. In a food processor put some tasty cheese, about 200g and chop it.
4. Remove one cup of chopped cheese.
5. Add 2 cups of plain flour and 2 tsp baking powder (OR use 2 cups of self raising flour instead) to the chopped cheese.
6. Sprinkle extra flour on a baking sheet.
7. Add a generous grind of black pepper, a very generous pinch of cayenne pepper and 25g of  butter and process until butter chopped in.
8. Remove the lid and blade of the processor and gradually add the milk, folding gently with a flat spoon until the flour is incorporated and you have a stiffish dough, (you might not need all the milk, it depends on your flour,  less is more here).
9. With the spoon blob the mixture onto the floured tray.
10. Top each blob with the reserved chopped cheese.
11. Get the tray into the hot oven as quickly as you can.
12. Bake for 10, to 15 minutes or until they smell and look delicious.
13. Remove the tray from the oven.
14. Using a fish slice or flat knife take them (by force if needed) onto a wire cooling rack so they don’t become soggy.
15. Enjoy with butter if liked and if in NZ with jam on your cheese scuffin!

Note, you can make these plain without the cheese, cayenne, black pepper or mustard

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Quince sauce, based on one by Digby Law. 

He introduced his by saying, a very tasty, aromatic spicy sauce that is quite different from other fruit sauces.  As well as the usual uses, try it with fried or grilled fish and with Chinese food too.

Ingredients

2kg quinces

1kg apples

500g onions

1 tbsp cayenne pepper

3 tbsp non iodised salt

1tbsp whole cloves

2tbsp whole allspice 

2tsp dried ground ginger

2 tbsp fresh ginger, peeled and grated.

2 tbsp fresh galangal, peeled and grated

2 tbsp yellow mustard seeds

1 tbsp black pepper

3 litres cider vinegar

175g dried dates

Scrub the quinces to remove any fuzz.

Pour 1 litre cider vinegar into a large pan.

Finely chop the onion and quinces discarding the cores. Add to the vinegar.

Finely chop the onions and add to the vinegar.

Combine all the other ingredients.

Cook very gently for about three hours, until very thick and pulpy.

Push as much through a sieve as possible, and pour into hot, clean bottles and seal.

Notes, the galangal is optional, if you don’t have it

 add 1 extra tbsp fresh ginger instead. I planted one piece in the garden and it’s grown like a triffid.

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Banana and Ginger Gems
Gluten free and no added sugar

Ingredients

200gm dried dates
125gm butter and extra for greasing irons
1 tbsp chia seeds
2 eggs
1 lemon, rind and juice
1 tsp vanilla essence
1 tsp finely grated fresh ginger
2 ripe bananas, fresh or defrosted from frozen
1/2 tsp of salt (if using unsalted butter)
1 tsp baking soda
1 teaspoon ground dried ginger
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
a few grates of nutmeg

Method

Put half a packet of dried dates in a saucepan and cover with boiling water.

Add 1 tablespoon of chia seeds.

Mix and leave to soak for about 30 minutes

Then over on at 180 C or 170 C fan.

Add 125gm butter and two eggs, stir then heat gently, stirring continuously until the butter has melted. Remove from the heat.

Put the gem irons in the oven to warm.

In a bowl grate the rind of 1 lemon and squeeze in the juice. Add 1 teaspoon of vanilla essence. I use a couple of vanilla pods in a jar of vodka.

Mash in 2 ripe bananas – mine had previously been frozen and defrosted. Finally grate in 1 teaspoon of grated ginger.

Take the warm gem irons out of the oven and melt some butter in them – tilt to spread out.

Add the the banana mixture to the date mixture.

Sift in 1/2 teaspoon of salt (if using unsalted butter), 1 teaspoon baking soda, 1 teaspoon ground dried ginger, 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon, a few grates of nutmeg, and 2/3 cup of coconut flour.

Mix well, spoon into gem irons irons and bake for about 20 to 25 minutes depending on your oven.