baking

The Evolution of Sunday Morning Waffles

/ annamurray / 2 Comments

What would you like for breakfast? -Waffles! – Ohhhh sorry sweetheart, there’s not enough time this morning. It’s a daycare morning. Or, daddy has to get to work early. Or, it’s already nearly 8 and waffles take aaaaaages. 

We have had this conversation multiple times. Occasionally, I would find a recipe and prep it the night before, hoping for a delicious and nutritious and enjoyed-by-everyone breakfast. Prepping the night before, though, excludes morning-of waffle enthusiasm.

I grew tired of this situation. I found a recipe that, I hoped, ticked all the boxes. I let the girls watch shows in the bedroom while I made it. Zero prepping happened the night before. 

Also, did I mention blueberries? And toddlers? And put them together and suddenly you have a blueberry fiend, a child who will eat nothing but blueberries, who will spy them in the most secretive of hidey-holes and point and drop their chin and look up at you with big dark eyes and say, ‘boo, bear? Peeeese?’ until you cave and magically find the blueberries you thought you had hidden but obviously not well enough because a toddler saw them from the next room. And you seem to go through three punnets a day and every shopping trip you need to buy blueberries and if you happen to have a toddler with you on a shopping trip you have to suss out where the blueberries are displayed so you can sneak them into the basket without enduring the full-on meltdown that is guaranteed if the toddler sees the blueberries but isn’t given the blueberries that have not been washed nor even paid for yet. 

And then the toddler will veer left gastronomically and suddenly blueberries are forgotten and all they will eat is butter and grapes and maybe cheese. Punnets of blueberries collect in hidden corners of the fridge. And then you will move an item one morning and find – joy! – a punnet of forgotten blueberries. Perfect for on top of the waffles you’re making. Except… these are obviously old blueberries. Not so old that they are turning fuzzy and white, but maybe a few are visibly wrinkled and some are a bit squishy. But, wait a minute. Wouldn’t that be a nice addition to the waffles? 

Waffles have evolved. I no longer do the full batch, but make my brain work (remember to halve it, remember to halve it, remember to halve it) and enjoy the half measurements on our measuring cups. Blueberries are added, not usually a full punnet, definitely not a fresh punnet, but blueberries nonetheless. There are plans in my brain for incorporating other overripe fruits. 

Are these delicious? I think so. Are these nutritious? Yes, definitely (high in protein, high in calcium, low in sugar). Are they enjoyed by everyone? Ye- oh, ah, let’s see, wait a minute… actually no. No they are not. C enjoys them, and will eat a whole one without prompting, and will also eat one at afternoon tea (but not at school – they might be a bit tricky to eat quickly) Glenn doesn’t mind them, when he’s not dashing off to work. I enjoy them. S is not up to blueberry waffles yet. And E… they are a hard no for E. Not just these waffles but every sort of waffle. Oh well.

The current version of Sunday morning waffles is this (recipe adapted from drink-milk.com):

Half of 1 1/4 cup milk (soooo… 155mL or so… 2/3 cup approximately)

1/3 cup Greek yoghurt

1 large egg

Small squirt of vanilla bean paste

A generous squirt (1 teaspoon if you do measuring) of rice malt syrup (or other liquid sweetener)

A generous shake of cinnamon

A dash of cardamom

1 cup plain flour

3 teaspoons baking powder

Pinch of sea salt

Some slightly overripe blueberries or other slightly-past-it fruit

Turn on your waffle iron.

Mix all the ingredients together, adding fruit at the end for a gentle stir-through.

When it’s ready, spray waffle iron with non-stick spray. Pour some waffle mix in the middle of the waffle iron (a loaded dessert spoon works well). Close the iron and cook until … cooked. Remove waffle to a plate, repeat with remaining batter. 

Nice served with butter and maple syrup; nut butter; banana; blueberries.

To freeze, allow to cool. I cut ours in half before putting them in freezer bags and labelling with a Sharpie. Apparently they last for 3 months in the freezer, but we tend to finish ours in about 2 weeks. To thaw, toast on a low setting. 

How is it … July… already?

/ annamurray / Leave a comment

I started this blog post in May. May, which already feels forever ago. I’ve been thinking to myself, I need to write a blog post… but first I just need to… and so now it is no longer May, not even June, but July. It’s been a big year. Here’s a quick update.

February and March saw a lot of cake. 3 of our family’s birthdays happen within 5 weeks and there was cake for those actual days and cake for parties and cake for daycare as well as cake for St Patrick’s Day and it was just so much cake. Glenn and I are not big cake eaters but I love decorating them. Actually, neither of our girls is a big cake eater either really but they are very keen helpers.

In order:

E’s birthday party (a Very Hungry Caterpillar cake)

E’s daycare birthday (cake pops)

E’s actual birthday evening at home

Glenn’s birthday

St Patrick’s Day

C’s daycare birthday cupcakes (Baby Yoda)

C’s actual birthday evening at home

C’s birthday party (Frozen themed – this one didn’t really turn out as planned but it still garnered oohs and ahhs from her friends).

Much to C’s disappointment, we have to wait until August – which seems further away than Christmas to her – for my birthday.

Which brings me to the next piece of news: we are expecting another baby girl in August! C especially is over the moon. Lately she has started singing a goodnight song to my tummy, followed by a goodnight kiss, then asking me if she’s settled down to sleep yet? Adorable. Thoughts on this pregnancy will be getting their own post soon.

And the last piece of news, which was very exciting and took up a LOT of my brain and time: my brother got married at the end of June. A wonderful, wonderful day, and we are so happy for the newlyweds. In a way, nothing much has changed though – his wife has been Auntie Alys to my girls for more than a year, and very, VERY much loved and adored by all of us. What took up so much of my time was C being a flower girl, and I ended up making the dress for her. This required a practice dress for fit and style options, then there were daycare photos sprung on us so a quick dress made for E to coordinate, then the actual dress for C, plus stockings and shoes and hair, then making a dress for myself. That one was thankfully very quick – I cut the pieces at lunchtime the day before and sewed it up that night. 

I had planned on posting this earlier (much, much earlier), but in my search for photos this evening I MAY have come across photos of when the girls were born and my goodness me. I have turned into a blubbering mess. So you see here some photos of some cakes from this year, and a promise of more of the stuff of our life to come soon. Promise.

St Andrew’s Day

/ annamurray / 2 Comments

Such a big deal is made out of St Patrick’s Day. And I know, everyone loves the Irish – I even married one. But I try to make Scotland’s day, St Andrew’s Day, just as important in the rhythm of our life. 

In previous years I have made raspberry Cranachan, and Scottish sausage rolls (at least, that’s what the recipe called them). This year we are in the midst of the baby screeching phase and the 3-year-old needing me in her bedroom the whole time until she falls asleep phase so my efforts were limited. I had ideas to make handprint Scottish thistles and cotton wool Scottish flags but C was ‘not really in the zone for that’.

So this year was the year we celebrated the national animal of Scotland: the unicorn. You can’t really pass up an opportunity to make unicorn cupcakes.

The cupcakes were made Monday afternoon, mixed at the dining table while E had her afternoon tea. The decorations were also made at the dining table, while E had her lunch today. There was much wheedling from C to taste just a teeny tiny incy wincy smallest ever piece of fondant… she may have snuck a few specks while I was looking the other way. She also tried to eat the bit of fondant that she was using but that was a very hefty chunk that oh just makes me queasy thinking about it. Ugh. The icing was made and cupcakes finally decorated after lunch.

This was our first time making unicorn cupcakes. Next time I will make sure we leave the fondant to set fully (normally we do any shapes the day before). And next time I will make sure to find my actual piping bag with actual attachments instead of using a sandwich bag with a hole cut in the side. It just isn’t the same. 

Halloween 2021

/ annamurray / Leave a comment

Admission: I’m not a huge fan of Halloween. I’m not a huge fan of dressing up, or seeing loads of ghosts and witches and zombies and ghouls. Or worse, oodles of princesses and fairies and mermaids and just any costume. I’m not a huge fan of being scared, or tricks that give a thrill, or scary movies that frighten me silly.

I am, though, very much a fan of observing the things that make up the rhythm of a year. Doing certain things only at certain times of the year. And, although my family didn’t do Halloween when I was growing up because it was ‘too American’ I am married to an Irishman and Halloween is, actually, Irish.

Hello, Halloween.

This year, as well as doing daycare dress-up, we’ve done some craft and some food and talked a little bit about some of the Irish and Scottish traditions of Halloween. Including the origin of the jack-o-lantern which was enough spookiness for me for this year thank you very much.

Dressing up:

C chose to be a ghost this year. The last two years she opted for black cat (yay for reusing props!) but this year when I asked what she wanted to be, and told her she could be a black cat, or a pumpkin (please no) or a witch or a ghost, she was very excited about the ghost option. Easy. One white sheet I was wanting to repurpose anyway, folded, cut into a circle, head hole cut out a little too big so pleats sewn in, tassels cut in so she could be extra spooky when she ran, eyeliner to make ghostly eyes (Glenn is great at applying makeup). I had to laugh to myself when we got to daycare and the teacher who greeted her asked if she was a ghoul or a friendly ghost and C really didn’t look enthusiastic about being a friendly ghost. She wanted to be a scary ghost. Gold.

Craft:

We made paper jack-o-lanterns, and bought some battery-operated candles to put inside. (I’m very happy that $3 for 6 candles was actually the only purchase for the whole Halloween.) C was quite happy cutting along the lines to make the lanterns, and then insisted on cutting her tape to tape them together. 

Food:

On Saturday we made chocolate cupcakes, and decorated them on Sunday. Icing dunked in ground pistachios then adorned with candy eyeballs and fondant tongues = monsters. We tried to make pumpkins with fondant and icing but they looked more like sad St Patrick’s Day flowers or something (very Cake Wrecks) so we turned them into orange monsters instead. And, thanks to Pinterest, I found Barmbrack bread. An Irish bread baked around the time of Halloween, that Glenn remembers having as a child. The enjoyment I found in baking it told me it will be a staple of our future Halloweens. Not just the act of soaking fruit then mixing dry and wet ingredients and baking in a loaf then slicing and toasting and eating with butter while drinking tea. It’s more than that. It is the making of something only at a particular time of the year, part of the rhythm of the year and the rhythm of our life.

Our Go-To Banana Bread

/ annamurray / 3 Comments

It is a truth universally acknowledged that families with young children will never have the right number of bananas. There will be none, when they are the favourite food or the only food guaranteed to be eaten and suddenly they are all gone; or large quantities will be bought in anticipation of the favour with which they were seen yesterday, only for them to grow spotty and brown in the fruit bowl before being moved to the fridge with promises of baking.

We are currently in the latter stage. When this happens, my favourite banana bread recipe comes out. (From Cookie and Kate, find it here: https://cookieandkate.com/healthy-banana-bread-recipe/ )

It is my favourite because it uses only 2 bananas. So many recipes require 3, and we rarely get to the stage of that many spotty or brown bananas.

It is my favourite because it is fairly healthy. Bananas, oil, maple syrup, eggs, milk, cinnamon, baking soda, vanilla, wholemeal flour. Optional extras like chocolate chips. I have no qualms about serving this for breakfast.

It is my favourite because we usually have all the ingredients on hand. If not, there are many options for substitutions. It is always frustrating when the urge for baking is upon us and we are out of something vital like sugar.

It is my favourite because it uses only 2 bowls, a fork and a wooden spoon (as well as a loaf tin). No need to get out the electric mixer, find an available socket, find the beaters, find extra bench space… 

This has also been an ‘evolution of baking with C’ recipe. She has been making it with me since we started baking together (she would have been a bit past her first birthday) and has progressed from starting the banana squishing process, to helping tip the measured ingredients in, to trying to stir the mix, ‘testing’ the add-ins, and now finding the correct cup measurements for me. I can’t wait for E to start helping too!

Our usual version:

Squish 2 bananas. While a helper is doing this, turn on oven to 170C and line a loaf tin with baking paper.

Whisk together 1/3 cup oil with 1/2 cup maple syrup. Add 2 eggs, beat well. Add the bananas and 1/4 cup milk, whisk.

Add a teaspoon each of baking soda and vanilla, and a half teaspoon each of cinnamon and salt, and mix well. Add 1 and 3/4 cups flour (wholemeal, preferably) and stir in with a wooden spoon. Add 1/2 cup add-ins (chocolate chips – or, you know, raisins or walnuts or something else healthy) and stir gently.

Pour mix into prepared tin, bake for an hour.

Makes 10 thick slices. Sometimes we do them as muffins instead – 10 muffins, baked for 25ish minutes. Yum.

When We Baked Jamie’s Precious Pear Tart

/ annamurray / Leave a comment

Glenn is very much the cook in our household. I enjoy it, and can cook stuff when required, but Glenn will find amazing recipes and flavour combinations and ingredients and cook us delicious food. It is one of the ways he shows his love for us. However, I am the sweets baker in the family. For Father’s Day, Glenn requested I make the Precious Pear Tart from Jamie Oliver’s new book, Together. Thankfully, I have more experience now at assessing how long a dish will actually take. Things like actual helpfulness of my helper, and baby nap successes, must be taken into account.

Friday. A large bag of Imperfect Pears were bought. My helper and I chose the best 12.

Saturday. I bought the extra ingredients in the morning… except for elderflower cordial, which was nowhere to be found in our local supermarket. Glenn assured me he would find it in the afternoon.

He did not. Due to Covid, there was no supply. Elderflower tonic water was bought instead.

Saturday night, after the girls were in bed, I managed to soak the pears in the syrup, reduce the syrup, and measure the dry ingredients into bowls, in between attending to baby wake-ups.

Sunday. During the lunch nap, my helper and I made the base. Later in the afternoon, we managed to make the filling, choose the best of the soaked pears, put them in the frangipane, sample another pear for, uh, quality control, and bake the pie.

By the time it was ready, it was far too late for a 3yo to have sugar. Glenn and I enjoyed some after dinner, and the 3yo was allowed to have some on Monday. Which really meant, she had her ice cream in a separate bowl and ate that first and had a meltdown when Glenn made her have a bite of tart with ice cream but recovered and licked the ice cream bowl and tried a bit of the tart, just a bit, and said she was really sharing it with me. I’m ok with that.