Avocado brownies

Now who doesn't love a chocolate brownie, but they aren't exactly healthy are they. Now you won't believe me but you can have your brownie and eat it almost guilt free.The recipe is curteous of Averie Cooks a fabulous American blogger who's blog is just amazing especially for cakes and bakes.

Avocado make the brownie mixture moist and fudgy beyond belief, I know its sound weird but it really works. Avocado's are rich is good mono saturated fats and rich in folic acid, they are also reputed to lower blood pressure too.

Since discovering this recipe, I have made it 3 or 4 times and I am just amazed as to how good it is, its also easily turned into a gluten free recipe as well ( 1 have done this a couple of times and you can't tell the difference.) The avocado is also replacing some of the butter so they are almost healthy, give them a try.

What you need

• 1 ripe avocado, flesh removed and mashed very well
• 1/4 cup of butter - melted
• 1 egg - free range please
• 1 cup of granulated sugar
• 1/2 cup light brown soft brown sugar 
• 2 tbsp coffee ( I just mix a tsp of instant with 2 tbsp water)
• 2 tsp vanilla paste
• 3/4 cup cocoa powder (quality - you can taste the difference)
• 1/4 cup plain flour (gluten free)
• 1 tsp baking powder (my addition just to lighten recipe slighty) optional

What you do

• Pre heat the oven to 180C and line a tin approx 8 by 8 inches with baking parchment or foil
• In a bowl mix the mashed advocado, melted butter, egg,coffee, vanilla paste until you have a smooth paste.
• Sieve in the cocoa powder, stir into until well mixed
• Sieve in the flour and baking powder, stir in until incorporated
• Pour the batter into the prepared tin, smooth into the tin and the corners
• Bake for 30 -35 minutes, until set and tests cooked with a skewer, you are looking for a bake where you have a few moist crumbs on your skewer
• Cool fully in the tin
• Once fully cold, then cut into chunks, best stored wrapped in the fridge or in an airtight tin in a cool place.

Cinnamon and raisin bagels

I love bagels, particularly cinnamon and raisin one's, toasted for breakfast buttered they just can't be beaten. Mr Lancashire Food as you all know is rapidly becoming the expert bread baker in our household, however for the time being he is sticking to savoury bakes. I had a craving for a sweet bake so I thought I would give bagels a try after seeing a few other bloggers having a go at them recently but I wanted a sweet bagel, the kind that works with cool cream cheese or slathered (that word again !) in butter, so much so it runs down your fingers when your eating it.

I think the boiling the dough thing puts a lot of people off making bagels so I was pleased to spot that one of my favourite American food bloggers Averie Cooks had been experimenting with bagels without the boiling stage. So the game is on, using her recipe our first bagel making adventure began, I was very impressed as to how easy they were to make and even Mr LF liked them and he is not normally a fan of sweet bread recipes. The bagels freeze well but the recipe makes about 8 bagels so depending on your household size you may not need to store them at all.

What you need

• 1 cup of warm water 
• 1 1/2 tbsp granulated sugar
• 2 1/4 tsp dried yeast
• 2 1/2 cups strong white bread flour plus a little more for dusting surfaces
• Sea salt - pinch of
• 1 tbsp ground cinnamon
• 3/4 cup raisins
• Polenta for dusting the trays

What you need to do

• Firstly activate your yeast, by mixing the warm water, sugar and dried yeast in a bowl or jug and stir together well, leave to side for about 10 minutes until the mixture is bubbling well.
• Now in your stand mixer, place the flour and salt (if using) and start to meix gently with the dough hook attached, adding the yeast mixture, until well incorporated, the volume of yeast mixture you need to use with vary with your flour, temperature and humidity.
• Now knead in the mixer for about 5 -7 minutes until you have a smooth elastic dough
• Add the cinnamon and raisins and continue to knead to incorporate the raisins and cinnamon, don't be alarmed by the quantity of cinnamon it will knead in.
• Place the dough in a bowl covered by clingfilm and allow to rise until doubled in size.
• Tip the dough out onto a lightly floured surface pushing back any raisins that fall out
• Divide the dough in to 8  equal sized pieces and shape into a ball, using your fingers make a hole in the middle to form a bagel.
• Leave to rise for 30 minutes or so covered with oiled clingfilm until risen
• Pre heat your oven to 200c / 400F
• In a large bowl filled with hot water, place the bagels for about a minute, turn them over after about 30 seconds.
• Place on a baking sheet sprinkled with the polenta to stop your bagels from sticking and burning on the bottom.
• Bake for 18 -20 minutes until well risen and golden, they will smell amazing
• Allow to cool on the baking tray and serve immediately buttered or alternatively split and toast.

Spicy sweet potato cake loaf

Another unusual bake using sweet potatoes to give the cake moisture and a soft tender crumb, the resultant cake is delicious, spicy and lovely served to accompany a coffee or tea. You could guild the lily by frosting or topping with a cream cheese topping but I love it just the way it is.  The other nice thing is the mixture actually makes 2 loaves so you have one to freeze / share or gift.This is based on a bake by the fabulous Averiecooks who has some amazing recipes, check out her blog !

 

Ingredients

• 2 medium sweet potatoes, peeled, chopped and microwaved until soft, then drain and allow to cool
• 2 free range eggs 
• 1/2 cup of vegetable oil ( I like to use sunflower)
• 2 tbsp plain yoghurt
• 1 tsp vanilla paste
• 1 3/4 cups plain flour
• 1 1/4 cups granulated sugar
• 1/4 cups soft light brown sugar
• 2 tsp bicarbonate of soda (level)
• 1 tbsp ground cinnamon 
• 1 tsp ground ginger
• 1 tsp approx freshly grated nutmeg
• 1/2 tsp ground allspice
• 1/2 tsp ground cloves

Method

• Preheat oven to 180c /325F 
• Oil spray a 2 x 2lb loaf tins or alternatively use a tin liner ( I get mine from the pound shop)
• Combine all the fry ingredients in a large bowl
• In another bowl combine all the wet ingredients
• Now combine the two bowls, gently combining fully ensuring everything is fully mixed
• Pour the batter into the two prepared tins, smoothing the tops level if necessary
• Place in the oven
• Bake for 60 - 70 minutes , until tested cooked with a skewer
• Its as simple as that !
• Cool in the tin for 10 minutes or so and then cool fully on a wire rack
• The loaf freezes wrapped and also keeps well wrapped in foil in a tin for up to a week if it lasts that long.

I took one of these loaves along to my regular Womens Institute meeting and it was very popular, so much so that I didn't get a slice :-(