Zizi's Adventures - Real Food, Real Stories

Millet, Oat And Apple Muffins And Meeting Béatrice Peltre

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These gorgeous, yum and moist muffins were baked for a picnic to Szentendre. This riverside town close to Budapest is known for its museums, galleries and artists. Due to its picturesque appearance and easy rail and river access, it has become a popular destination for tourists staying in the capital of Hungary.

This was the first time I used millet flour in baking. It has a subtle flavor, lots of vitamins and minerals, and adds a lovely creamy color to baked goods. I had a good experience with using it so I’ll give it a try next time too. Have you tried millet flour before?

Image is copyright of Béatrice Peltre and is used with author’s permission

This muffin recipe comes from my latest favorite cookbook of Béatrice Peltre “La Tartine Gourmande – Recipes for an Inspired Life. I’ve been a big fan of Béa’s award-winning blog for a while. The first time I found it I couldn’t stop reading her stories and admiring her photos. In a couple of days I went through all her posts! I think it was love at first sight.She is an icon in the food blogging sphere. I think everyone knows her name and wonderful blog. If somehow you don’t, hurry up and check it out, after reading this post. She is a friendly and chatty person, a great cook, a talented baker and knows her way around her camera. Béa’s styling is stunning and the mouthwatering photos she takes, make you jump and run into the kitchen.

I feel lucky because I had the chance to meet and see her at work last August at the Food Blogger Connect in London. I learnt so much from Béa and other speakers of the event. The biggest highlight of attending the conference was to meet my fellow food blogger friends in person. I came away with so much inspriation, idea, a whole group of new friends and ready for action attitude.

Béa at work

Béa’s book transports you to a word of bright colours, flavors and delectable, easy to make recipes. Although she is not vegetarian I hardly found meat or fish recipes in the book so I was happy that I could cook & bake all the recipes only with small changes. Like I did with these muffins. No quinoa flour is available in Hungary so I used millet flour instead. I changed the butter into coconut oil and Muscovado sugar into coconut flower sugar.

Millet, Oat and Apple Muffins

Ingredients (makes 10-12)

– 60 g millet flour
– 30 g oat flour
– 50 g rolled oats, plus more for topping
– 50 g coconut flower sugar (you can substitute with cane or Muscovado sugar)
– 1 teaspoon alkaline free baking powder
– 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
– 175 g apple (2 apples), peeled, cored and grated
– 2 organic eggs
– 50 g coconut oil (you can substitute with butter)
– 2 tablespoons tahini (sesame cream)
– 1 vanilla bean, split and seeded (you can substitute with 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract)
– pinch of sea salt

Method

Preheat the oven to 180C (350F) and line 10-12 hole muffin tray with paper cases.

In a bowl mix together the dry ingredients: flours, rolled oats, baking powder, baking soda and salt. In another bowl beat the eggs with the cane sugar until creamy and light, then add tahini, coconut oil, vanilla and mix. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ones and with a wooden spoon mix until smooth (don’t overwork the batter!). Stir in the grated apple.

Spoon the mixture into the cases, filling them about two thirds full, dividing the batter evenly and topping each muffin with rolled oats. Bake the muffins for about 25 minutes on 180C (350F). Remove from the oven when a cocktail stick just comes out of the muffins cleanly. Leave them to cool on a wire rack.

Fig Frangipane Tart

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The born of this frangipane tart has a short story. Let me tell you… I found this recipe on my friend’s, Emiko’s blog who I met in London at the Food Blogger Connect Conference. She is a great person, a true friend and a talented photographer.  When I saw the photo of this tart, I fell in love with it. I was dreaming to bake it but it’s difficult to get figs in Hungary… either you are lucky and you have a tree in your garden or you have friends, relatives, neighbours who have fig trees in their garden. 🙂 In my situation, option number two is the winner.

So a sunny Sunday morning in September the door bell rang… we got a basket of figs from the neighbours. Oh, yeah! We are lucky! I ran into the kitchen and started making this tart straight away. Instead of sugar I used honey to sweeten the filling.

I didn’t know what frangipane means so I searched on the internet for the information. Frangipane is a filling made from almond. This filling can be used in a variety of ways including cakes, tarts and other assorted pastries. Originally designated as a custard tart flavored by almonds or pistachios it came later to designate a filling that could be used in a variety of confections and baked goods.

Fig Frangipane Tart

Ingredients

For the pastry

– 250 g white spelt flour
– 125 g cold butter
– 70 g cane powder sugar
– 1 egg
– 1-2 tablespoons of cold water

For the frangipane
– 100 g almond meal
– 50 g butter
– 50 g honey
– 1 egg
– zest of 1 lemon
– 20-25 fresh figs

Method

To make the pastry, in a bowl chop the cold butter into small cubes, add to the flour and cane sugar. Rub the butter into the flour with your fingers until you get a crumbly mixture. Add the beaten egg until and the water until the pastry comes together into a smooth, elastic ball. Wrap in a clingfilm and let it rest in the fridge for at least 30 minutes. After resting the dough, roll out  the pastry on a floured surface to cover your pie dish (diameter: 20-23 cm) and prick holes with a fork all over the pastry.

To make the frangipane, in a bowl mix together almond meal, butter, honey and the egg. Add lemon zest, then mix and stir until combine. Turn the mixture out onto the pastry. Add the fig halves, face up, to cover the entire tart. Push the figs down gently into the frangipane so that the surface is even. Bake at 180C (350F) for about 30-40 minutes or until golden brown.

These quantities will give you enough to make a large tart plus some extra leftover. From the leftover dough I made fig biscuits! 🙂

Vegan Pumpkin Cake with Coconut Vanilla Cream and Roasted Hazelnuts

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We went on a hiking trip to Bakony Mountains on my birthday so I didn’t have the opportunity to bake this yum cake for my birthday. I found the recipe at the end of September on the blog My New Roots and I fell in love with it. I knew this was going to be my special treat for myself.

Bakony is a mountainous region in Transdanubia, Hungary. It forms the largest part of the Transdanubian Mountains. It is located north of Lake Balaton. The Bakony is divided into the Northern and Southern Bakony. Kőris-hegy in the Northern Bakony is the highest peak of the range with its 706 meters. There are no high mountains in Hungary.

The medieval castle of Csesznek

I thought we had arrived at the peak of foliage but nature mother decided to stay green a bit longer than last year. Although the view of the hills and small villages made an amazing sight. We admired the quiet walks in the middle of the forests listening to the sound of nature and stopping every fifteen minutes to take it all in. Breathtaking and relaxing.

We stayed at Hotel Bakony in Bakonybél at a rustic but reconstructed hotel at the end of the village. The food and the service were amazing. The hotel’s restaurant offers a wide range of foods, especially focusing on rural flavors and the specialties of the Bakony. They say that “The secret of the Hungarian cuisine lies not only in producing certain foods so classy, but serving up one after the other, so that the food consumed calls for the next one, and when we already think we are quite well fed, there is something served, that makes us say: However, we must eat it!“

If you are still reading this post, here comes the recipe…

Vegan Pumpkin Cake with Coconut Vanilla Cream and Roasted Hazelnuts

Ingredients

For the cake
– 1 and 1/2 cups pumpkin puree (I prefer home made but you can use canned)
– 1/2 cup maple syrup (or honey)
– 2 ripe bananas, mashed with a fork
– 1 teaspoon apple vinegar
– 6 tablespoons coconut oil
– 2 cups whole wheat spelt flour, sifted
– 1 cup white spelt flour, sifted
– 1 teaspoon baking powder
– 1 teaspoon baking soda
– 2 teaspoons ground ginger
– 1 teaspoon cardamom
– 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
– 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
– 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
– 1 tablespoon cinnamon
– 2 tablespoons chia seeds

For the cream
– 3 cans of coconut milk
– 1/4 cup honey
– 1 cup roasted hazelnuts, roughly chopped
– 1 vanilla bean, split and seeded

Method

Place cans of coconut milk in the fridge for at least 4 hours to cool. Roast pumpkin halves at 180-200C for 45-60 minutes. Let cool and scoop out 1 and 1/2 cups flesh. In a dry non-stick pan roast hazelnuts for 3-5 minutes, let cool and chop roughly.

Open the cans and scoop out just the top coconut cream layer, leaving the liquid portion (save for soup). Place in a bowl and whisk together with the honey and the vanilla. Place the bowl of cream in the fridge for set.

In a big bowl mix together the dry ingredients: flours, baking powder, baking soda, ginger, cardamom, cloves, cinnamon, nutmeg, salt and chia seeds. In another bowl mix together the wet ingredients: pumpkin puree, bananas, maple syrup, coconut oil and apple vinegar. Add dry ingredients to wet, mix and stir to combine. Pour batter into a 22 cm spring form cake pan. Bake at 175-180C for about 35-45 minutes (or until the inserted toothpick comes out clean). Set aside and let cool then remove from pan.

Slice the rounded top edge off of the cake (this ensures that the subsequent layer will sit flat). Then slice the cake in half so you have two layers. Place the bottom of the layers on a cake stand or plate and cover with the icing, followed by the roasted hazelnuts. Add the top layer, repeating the icing and hazelnut procedure until you’ve used all the cream. Top the cake with hazelnuts.

Happy birthday to me! 🙂

Chocolate Cake with Raspberry Coulis

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First time I made this cake for my niece’s first birthday. She didn’t eat sugar before so that’s why I baked it without sugar. It’s also vegan therefore it’s healthy for everyone. 🙂

I found out on Tuesday that this chocolate cake was a big hit in Tuscany because my friend, Emiko had baked it for her friend who couldn’t eat sugar. She was supposed to bake the cake for her friend’s baby shower but the baby was born 7 weeks early! So instead of making it for her baby shower, Emiko baked the cake and took it to the hospital when she visited her new mum friend and her cute little baby.

Vegan Sugar Free Chocolate Cake with Raspberry Coulis

Ingredients

For the cake
– 1 cup white spelt flour
– 1 and 1/4 cups whole wheat spelt flour
– 1/2 cup and 2 tablespoons unsweetend cocoa powder
– 1/2 cup coconut oil
– 1/2 cup rice/agave syrup or honey
– 1 cup maple syrup
– 1 cup oatmilk
– 2 teaspoons baking powder
– 2 teaspoons baking soda
– 2 teaspoons apple vinegar
– 1 teaspoon salt
– 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
– 1 vanilla bean, split and seeded

For the raspberry coulis
– 300 g rapsberry
– 2 teaspoons rice/agave syrup or honey

Method

Sift all the dry ingredients (flours, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda, salt and cinnamon) in a bowl and mix them together. In another bowl, whisk together all the wet ingredients then pour into dry and mix until combine. In the meantime preheat the oven to 175C (350F) and line the bottom of a 25 cm (9.8″) round cake pan with parchment paper, oil and flour it with cocoa powder. Pour batter into the prepared pan and bake for 40-45 minutes on 175-180C (350F). Cool somewhat before removing from the pan.

Combine the raspberries in a blender or food processor. Blend and pour the mixture through a fine sieve into a bowl, pressing on the fruit to release all the juices. Add 2 teaspoons honey and mix well. Serve over the chocolate cake slices.

Here are some summer flowers for you… I hope they’re bringing sunshine to everyone this weekend!

Rhubarb Walnut Chia Seed Muffins

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When I found this recipe on Maria’s blog I didn’t know what chia seed was. “OK, whatever it is it can be bought in Hungary” – this was my first reaction. “If I bake these muffins I will leave out the chia seed” – I thought. Then I went to my favourite wholesale store and as I was walking between the shelves looking for spelt flour I found chia seed. I was surprised. I bought a packet, went home and surfed on the Internet to find information about chia seed.

Chia is a species of flowering plant in the mint family, native to central and southern Mexico and Guatemala. Chia seeds are one of the most powerful, functional, and nutritious superfoods in the world. The chia seed is an excellent source of fiber, packed with antioxidants, full of protein, loaded with vitamins and minerals, and the richest known plant source of omega-3.

And if we can believe all the facts that are on the internet… not only do chia seeds give you a boost of energy that lasts, they also provide stamina and endurance. A single tablespoon could sustain Aztec warriors for an entire day. 🙂

I changed some of the ingredients in the recipe and I added the same rhubarb compote to it that I also used in the rhubarb redcurrant muffins.

Rhubarb Walnut Chia Seed Muffins

Ingredients

For rhubarb compote
– 1,5 cups finely diced rhubarb
– 3 tablespoon honey
– 2 tablespoons water

For muffins
– 100 g whole wheat spelt flour
– 200 g white spelt flour
– 100 g natural cane sugar
– 250 ml oat milk
– 50 ml olive oil
– 2 teaspoons baking powder
– 1 teaspoon baking soda
– 1 organic egg
– 1 vanilla bean, split and seeded
– 2 tablespoons chia seeds
– 1/2 cup walnut, roughly chopped
– rhubarb compote
– cinnamon

Method

Place the rhubarb in a pot with honey and water. Stir and stew on low heat until soft. Purée with a blender and set aside.Preheat the oven to 175C (350F) and line 12 hole muffin tray with paper cases. (From this quantity of ingredients you might have 16 muffins.)

In a bowl mix together the dry ingredients: flours, baking powder and baking soda. In another bowl beat the egg with the cane sugar until light, then add oatmilk, olive oil and vanilla. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ones and mix until smooth. Fold in rhubarb compote, chopped walnut and chia seeds. Spoon the mixture into the cases, filling them about two thirds full, dividing the batter evenly. Bake the muffins about 20-25 minutes on 175C (350F). Remove from the oven when a cocktail stick just comes out of the muffins cleanly. Leave them to cool on a wire rack and sprinkle the tops with cinnamon.