ANZAC

Today is ANZAC day, a day of remembrance for the soldiers who fought in Gallipoli during World War 1.

And with ANZAC day, there's ANZAC biscuits!

Mr Kookaburra has his eyes on the target

So.. I made ANZAC biscuits. :) But with a slight twist.

Mr Wombat wants one too..

By the way, did I mention that I hate kookaburras? They are such ferocious little creatures. (Once upon a time, a kookaburra attacked us for our lamb chops. Unfortunately for us, they won that battle on one single swoop.. ) -__-

Almond and orange ANZAC biscuits
Makes about 78 small or 38 normal biscuits

165g plain flour
115g quick cooking oats
109g flaked almonds
96g dessicated coconut
15g grated orange rind
141g brown sugar
1/2 tsp baking soda
3 tbsp golden syrup
3 tbsp water
93g butter

Preheat oven to 165C.

Combine flour, oats, coconut, almonds, orange rind and sugar in a large bowl. Mix.

Melt the butter with the golden syrup and water. Add in baking soda.
Add into oat mixture. Mix until combined.


Line baking trays with baking paper.

Spoon tablespoon fulls (if making normal sized) or half tablespoon fulls of mixture (if making small ones) into your clean palms and roll into balls. Place the balls about 2cm apart and slightly flatten each.


Bake for small ones for about 12mins or until golden brown. (Large ones for about 15mins).


Remove from oven and allow to cool for at least 10 minutes before removing from tray and transferring onto cooling rack.


Store in an airtight container for 1-2 weeks consumption.


I made 60 small ones and 8 normal ones (just because I got sick of rolling out small balls of mixture.. :P)

Apricot oat slice

Using the same recipe as I made last time (see apricot oat snowballs), the mixture did turn out a little dry. (Depending on how many apricots you have and how much they soaked up the water, as well as the size of your egg.)


Here are some tips:
- Heat the honey so that it is less viscous. Allow to cool (can be warm) before using.
- When you drain the apricots, save the water from it. I had to add about 2 tbsp of the water to wet my mixture more.

It should be fine this way. :)

For recipe, click here.

Before baking:

Sprinkled with dessicated coconut, and pressed down:

Out from the oven:

Sliced when warm:

Tastes just the same as last time, but in slice form. :D
Still no added fats, oils, butter, and little sugar. Still healthier~

Apple custard crumble

The spare crumb mixture (see previous post) was used to make an apple custard crumble. I don't have a photo of it unfortunately, so you'll just have to use your imagination. :P

This is a pictureless recipe. :(

Apple custard crumble
Makes a small-medium sized dish

2 apples, peeled, sliced
1 tsp sugar
2 tbsp vanilla custard powder
2 tsp sugar
1 cup milk
remaining crumb mixture
cinnamon
water/lemon juice (I didn't have any lemon juice)

Preheat oven to 180C.
Grease the bottom of a small-medium baking dish.
Line apples at the bottom.
Sprinkle water/lemon juice over apples along with 1 tsp sugar and cinnamon.
In a bowl, microwave custard for 45secs. Or until slightly thick.
Pour over apples.
Add crumb topping.

Bake at 180C for 45mins or until cooked. Check to see if apples are softened. The topping should brown a bit as well.

Serve hot. Enjoy!

Snowballs?

Not sure what I made. But I mixed and mixed and then baked. :)


I wasn't sure how it was going to turn out.. but when I tried one the next day, I finally knew what they were! Hehe.

They were.. apricot oat slices! (in disguise) :D


Apricot oat snowballs/Apricot oat slice
Makes about 24 (~2.5-3cm diameter in size)

1 1/2 cups plain flour
3/4 cup quick cooking oats
1/4 cup desiccated coconut
1/2 tsp baking powder
4 tbsp honey
2 tbsp sugar
1 egg
1 cup dried apricots diced, soaked in water for an hr then drained.
extra desiccated coconut for coating

Sift and mix plain flour with baking powder, sugar, coconut and oats.

Combine with egg, honey and apricots. Mix.

Roll into little balls and coat with coconut. (Or place all of the mixture in a lined slice pan and then sprinkle the top with coconut)

Place on a lined baking tray and bake at 170C in a preheated oven for 15mins.

Remove from oven and allow to cool. (While still warm, slice to pieces if baking slices instead of balls)

Store in an air tight container and consume within a few days.


These were actually quite nice! :) Mum liked them too. They're soft, but not dry and crumbly even when you can feel the texture of the coconut and oats still. The apricots gave a good moisture to it, and the sweetness is just right. (If you don't like the tang of the apricots, this is where the white chocolate/yoghurt chocolate comes into play. See below). I think they taste just like the apricot oat slices that they sell in supermarkets/vending machines. If you want them to look more like those slices though, all you do is bake a slab and slice them up into rectangles. Then you can drizzle some yoghurt chocolate/white chocolate over the top! :) Simple right? And the best thing is, it's fresh and healthier!

Apple cinnamon and pear muffins

To bake or to study?
Did I choose the wrong thing?

I woke up early so that I could do both. But I only ended up baking.. (I know this is bad. I hope it doesn't become a habit). I just really wanted to bake. I needed to bake.

Well, I made apple cinnamon and pear muffins. I realised that I made muffins on the same day last week as well. Haha. Well, it won't happen next week! (I hope).


Apple cinnamon and pear muffins
Makes about 24 standard muffins

2 cups plain flour
1/2 cup quick cooking oats
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 cup sugar
1 tbsp cinnamon

1 egg, lightly beaten
8 tbsp milk
1 1/2 cup yoghurt (I used Ski D'lite Berry Basket)
1/4 cup corn oil

1 1/2 red delicious apples, diced
1 william pear, diced

Sift flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon and sugar. Add in oats and mix.

Mix yoghurt, milk, egg and oil together.

Add liquid mixture into dry mixture and mix.

Mix in the diced apples and pear until well combined. (Try not to overmix batter)

Scoop into muffin tin/paper casings (grease them with some butter/margarine to prevent muffins from sticking to the tray/case).

Bake at 175C for about 25mins.

Allow to cool for a few hours before eating. (If you leave them for a long time the paper casing will be easier to peel off. For eg, leave them overnight if you didn't grease the casings much.)


Mmmm. Apple and pear goodness in every muffin, with a slight hint of cinnamon~ :)

Apricot and coconut oat cookies

I had to bake cookies. Healthier cookies. I was going to wait until tomorrow, but I couldn't. I had to bake tonight. I just had to. I'm leaving on Wednesday and will be gone for about 2 weeks, so tomorrow is my last chance to bake. I'm making some muffins tomorrow and I'll bring some to the airport as well. :D


No added butter. No added margarine. No added oils. No added sugar. No added flour either.


These cookies are all about the oats. But what's so good about oats? Apparently they're a good source of soluble fibre, helps reduce the risk of heart disease, lowers cholesterol and stabilises blood sugar levels as well. (I had to google that to know). I used oats because it was a grain and that I didn't want to use flour. Haha.

Apricot and coconut oat cookies
Makes about 50 small cookies

2 cups ground oats (~2 1/3 cups quick cooking oats before being finely ground)
1 cup quick cooking oats (not ground)
2 tbsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 cup dessicated coconut
200gm dried apricots, cut up
1 cup milk
2 eggs, beaten lightly
1/4 cup honey, heated to a less viscous consistency (I microwaved it for ~20secs)

In a large mixing bowl, mix ground oats, oats, cinnamon, baking soda, baking powder and coconut. Then mix in the apricots.

In another bowl, mix milk, eggs and honey.

Add the liquid mixture into the dry mixture and mix to combine. The mixture should not be too liquidy nor too solid. It should be sticky-like.

Roll dough into little balls and place on a baking paper lined tray. Press down gently to flatten the cookies out.

Bake at 165C in a preheated oven for 16mins or until the base is golden brown for soft cookies. (Carefully lift a cookie up to check. Be careful as it might be hot). Or for another 10-15mins for crunchier cookies.


They're not very sweet but are very cinnamon fragrant. Suits my liking, but may be tasteless to others. The soft cookies taste like doughnuts (healthier doughnuts!). I wanted them crunchier. I think these taste better crunchier, but that's just my personal preference. When I woke up this morning, approx half the batch had already disappeared. Hahaha.

I re-baked half of what was left. So now I have both crunchy and soft cookies to suit different tastes. :) They're a healthier snacking option if you're afraid of butter, oils and sugar. (In which I am. It either sends my heart rate mental or makes me feel gluggy inside.)

Banana and date cake

I decided that I had to bake it tonight, whatever it was I was making. Haha. The bananas were overly ripe and I wanted to use them up fast. I couldn't decide whether to make cookies or cake. But I ended up making a cake as I threw the ingredients together whilst deciding. :)


Mmmm. The aroma of bananas and cinnamon baking in the oven :D


Banana and date cake

2 cups self raising flour
1 cup cooking oats
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 cup sugar
1 tbsp cinnamon

2 eggs, beaten lightly
1 cup milk
1/4 cup corn oil

1 cup chopped dried pitted dates soaked in 1/4 cup water
2 overly ripe bananas, mashed

Preheat oven to 175C.
In a mixing bowl, sift flour, baking powder and sugar, and then mix in the oats.
Form a well in the centre, and add in milk, eggs and oil.
Mix with a wooden spoon until even.
Add in dates (it doesn't matter if it hasn't soaked up all the liquid) and mashed banana. Mix until uniform.
Pour/spoon batter into a lined or greased slice/baking pan. (I lined a slice tray with baking paper. The tray was approx. 30cm x 20cm x 2.5cm in size)


Bake for 30mins or until cooked.


Remove from oven and allow to cool.
Slice and serve.

Lining with baking paper not only prevents the cake from sticking (for easier removal without the use of oil/butter), but also prevents overflow by giving the cake additional 'walls' to rise upon. Gotta love the baking paper!


The cake was moist, banana and cinnamon fragrant and was not too sweet. It goes great with a cup of hot jasmine tea (I love my tea!) or with a scoop of vanilla ice-cream (especially good for this hot Summer weather). Too bad most of the dates sunk to the bottom though. :/

Sultana, honey and oat scones

Remember how I picked sultanas/raisins out from the cornflake cookie mixture because I had put too many in? Well.. They were sitting in a bag in the fridge and I finally decided to get rid of them. It's such a waste to just throw them out. So why not use them in something like.. say.. scones?! :) Haha.


I haven't had scones in years. And these were simply delicious. I ate them for lunch and now I'm scone-fully satisfied :D

Sultana, honey and oat scones
Makes about 13.5 (~4cm diameter) scones

2 1/2 cups plain flour
1 1/4 cups cooking oats
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 - 1/2 cup sultanas/raisins
2 tbsp margarine
1/3 cup + 2 tbsp milk
1 egg, beaten
1 cup honey

Preheat oven to 175C.

In one mixing bowl, sift flour, baking powder and salt. Add in oats and sultanas and mix well.
Rub in margarine into the dry mixture.

In another bowl, mix milk, honey and egg together.

Mix liquid into flour mixture and form a dough.
Knead the dough for about 10mins or until smooth. (If too sticky, add more flour or oats. Too dry, add 1tsp milk at a time)

Roll out dough to about 2.5cm thickness.
Make cutouts using a cookie cutter, and place onto a baking paper lined tray.


Brush the tops with some milk.


Bake for 20mins or until golden brown. Transfer to cooling rack.


Serve immediately with some apricot jam. (Or any other jam). Any leftovers should be reheated in the oven before serving once again.


They are okay to eat as is without the jam, but I couldn't actually taste the honey. If you wanted to omit the jam, I'd suggest adding 2-3 tbsp more of honey so you can get the honey flavour. Otherwise, these scones are really nice hot from the oven and with the apricot jam. YUM! :D

Kiwi-berry yoghurt oat muffins

Gold kiwi fruit.. I love it.
Green kiwi fruit.. not so much.

And gold kiwi fruit are more expensive than green. :(


I decided to try gold kiwi in muffins. Something new that I've never tried. I mean, it's not normal to find a muffin with gold kiwi in it. So here I go again~ I basically used the same recipe as Three berry yoghurt muffins, but now with oats and kiwi fruit instead (and less oil!). Therefore, these are healthier too! :)


Kiwi-berry yoghurt oat muffins
Makes about 15 normal muffins

1 cups plain flour
1 cup ground oats (or you can use oatmeal. I used rolled oats, which I ground with a coffee grinder)
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp bicarbonate soda
1/3 cup sugar

1/2 tsp vanilla extract
7 tbsp milk
1 egg, lightly beaten (I used left over egg from green pea cookies)
1 cup strawberry yoghurt (I used Yoplait Lite - Strawberry, but you can use any yoghurt)
1 tbsp corn oil (After my long search for corn oil, I finally found it at an Asian grocer!)

4 large gold kiwi fruit, cut into 16ths

some margarine for greasing (if required)

Preheat the oven to 180C.

In a mixing bowl, sift flour, oats, baking powder, bicarbonate soda and sugar.
Mix with a wooden spoon, then create a well in the center.
Add in yoghurt, milk, egg, vanilla extract and corn oil.
Mix until smooth and combined.
Add in kiwi and gently fold them in until mixture seems uniform.

Lightly grease baking trays or line muffin tin with paper cups.
Spoon batter into muffin pans - 85-90% full.

(I used silicon muffin moulds - square base and flower shaped. Aren't they just the prettiest of colours? :D)

Bake for 20minutes or until cooked. (Do a poke test in the center of a muffin using a toothpick to see if any batter comes out. If toothpick comes out clean, then it's cooked)
Remove from oven and let cool for a minute or so before transferring onto a cooling rack.


Serve as is, or sprinkled with icing sugar.


They may seem to look uncooked in some parts, but that's because of the wet kiwi fruit pieces that keep that area dense. I actually quite like these. They had a slight kiwi tang and weren't too sweet. A good healthier option to baking. ;)