Caera here!
So, I had something to bake in mind, and everything on the ingredient list but EGGS. We had no eggs! Usually, they are crucial.
I did some searching, and found that melting moments don't require any eggs. With that problem being solved, then arose the lack of custard powder. I've never even used it before. However, I later found that that can be replaced with cornstarch. With everything looking good to go, I had no other problems to deal with, apart from finding something to fill these guys with. 
It came down to apricot jam, which has the ideal tang to it (we had no raspberry jam left), and a combination of mascarpone, cream cheese and icing sugar to make a super quick and creamy icing. Then it came to assembling and they turned out really nicely! Yup, they tasted way too good. I should really start baking smaller batches of everything because the rate at which we get through it all is quite amazing... and not good!
Anyway, technically easy, and ultimately super tasty, this is nice recipe to have around when you feel like something small but excitingly tasty. They're fun to make, too. This batch made 30 melting moments, all of which were devoured by 4 people in 2 days.... woah. 


Ingredients:
190g salted butter, room temperature
60g icing sugar
3/4 tsp vanilla extract (or essence)
40g cornflour
210g plain flour
1/3 cup mascarpone cheese
1/3 cup cream cheese
1/4-1/3  cup icing sugar
1/4 smooth apricot jam

Directions:

Preheat oven to 150 C/ 140 fan-forced/ 300 F and line two baking trays with baking paper. 

In a medium bowl, and using an electric beater, beat together the butter, sugar and vanilla extract until smooth. Scrape down the sides halfway through. 

Once smooth, add the cornflour and mix with a spoon until incorporated. Then, add the plain flour and do the same. Once all flour is incorporated, you can use the beaters, for a few seconds, to make sure everything is thoroughly combined, creating a dough. 

Form the dough into 2.5 cm balls and place about 5 cm apart on the baking trays. Then, using a fork, gently make an imprint on each ball of dough, flattening out the ball into a biscuit shape- try and keep a bit of height on them. 

Place the trays in the preheated oven and bake for 20- 25 minutes, until JUST starting to get some colour on the bottom. You want very little colour, quite a pale tan, in order for a soft biscuit. Remove from the trays from the oven, and let the biscuits cool. 

Meanwhile, in a small bowl, beat together the mascarpone, and cream cheese until well combined and smooth. Then, add half of the sugar, beat well until smooth, and taste to see if it needs to be sweeter. This is entirely up to you, because the biscuits are pretty sweet in themselves, even sweeter with the jam. 

Once the biscuits are cooled, pair them up and place a small drop of jam in the centre of one half, and a larger dollop of mascarpone filling on the other. Then, sandwich them together, pressing only lightly. 

Sprinkle with icing sugar, and serve with a nice cup of tea!  
Savour the moment! 

 
Quick post! 
Hannah here! Since fall is coming to an end, I decided it was time for me to finally use a pumpkin to make something! Since I have a lot of homework tonight, pumpkin seeds were the quickest and healthiest snack I could think of that involved pumpkins. In total it took me about 30 minutes from cutting the pumpkin to tasting the seeds fresh out of the oven.  I am sure you can spice the seeds in a variety of ways, but since this was my first time I decided to play it safe and just use salt. Let me know if you have any ideas for a flavored version! 

Taken from: hannahsglutenfreeadventure.tumblr.com
Ingredients: 

~ 1 Pumpkin

~ 1 tsp salt

~ 1 tsp olive oil

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 325

2. Cut open your pumpkin and remove all the seeds and guts. Place seeds in a bowl as you are removing them. Try to remove all the guts from the seeds themselves as you go. 

3. Place seeds in a strainer and rinse under water to remove the slimy texture and residual guts

4. Set on a paper towel to dry

5. In a medium sauce pan, add water and 1tsp salt and bring to a boil

6. Once water is boiling, add pumpkin seeds and simmer for 10 minutes. This gives the seeds a crunchy texture after they come out of the oven. 

7. On a baking sheet, spread 1 tsp olive oil around so the seeds won’t stick

8. Place seeds on baking sheet. Spread out to make one even layer

9. Sprinkle with salt and place in the oven for 10 minutes

10. Remove from oven and stir around

11. Put the seeds back in the oven for 10 more minutes

12. Take out of the oven, and eat up! 


 
 I diverted from my usual breakfast and opted for a slice of this yummy loaf instead- nicely toasted with a generous spread of cream cheese.  It was so good! I must point out that this, hence the "quick....bread" in the title, is actually a soda bread, which means no yeast! It also means that this is a much faster and easier loaf to make!
Breads that have vegetables like pumpkin incorporated into them tend to have a much denser consistency. I love this aspect about them, but that doesn't mean I'm pushing the lighter, fluffier loaves to the side. Those are pretty spectacular in themselves, too! For breakfast especially, though, a denser loaf is more filling and because of the vegetables incorporated into it, it's slightly more nutritious than a plain flour loaf. I nice hearty, filling breakfast is the best way to start a day!
Pumpkin and sage, yet another pair of ingredients that are so commonly seen together. I can't really say that the pumpkin is all that obvious when it comes to the taste of this loaf, but it sure does give it a welcoming colour. The addition of pumpkin seeds give it a good crunch, alongside the crunchy crust, and the sage brings out the pumpkin that, without it, isn't so strong in flavour.

Keep in mind though that quick-breads, soda breads, are best eaten within a day or two of making them. They don't store as well as yeast breads, and definitely not as well as store bought loaves; they're not supposed to!
INGREDIENTS
300g  (10 1/2 oz) plain flour
100g (3 1/2 oz) wholemeal flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp bicarbonate soda
1/2 tsp fine salt
small handful fresh sage leaves, finely chopped
120g (4 1/2 oz) pumpkin or butternut squash, peeled, deseeded, and roughly grated
30g (1 oz) pumpkin seeds
300ml (10 fl oz) buttermilk

DIRECTIONS
Preheat the oven to 220ºC (200ºC fanforced/ 425ºF). In a bowl, mix the flour, bicarbonate, and salt. 

Add the grated pumpkin, seeds, and sage, and stir well to combine so that no clumps remain. 

Make a well in the centre and pour in the buttermilk. Stir together to form a dough.

Use your hands to bring the mixture together into a ball, then turn out onto a floured surface. 
Knead the dough for 2 minutes until it forms a smooth mass. You may beed to add flour. 

Shape the dough into a round 15cm (6inch) in diameter. Place on a lined baking tray. 

Use a sharp knife to slash a cross into the top. This helps the bread to rise when baking. 
Cook for 30 mins in the centre of the oven until risen. Reduce to 200ºC( 180ºC Fanforced/ 400ºF).

Cook for a further 20mins. The base should sound hollow when tapped.

Let cool, then slice and serve with some butter!

 
Hey There! It's been a while since I posted something, so I thought I should add a quick muffin recipe. They are nutritious and delicious! 
A few of my friends are doing the #Whole30 Paleo challenge this month and I keep seeing muffin pictures on Instagram. I decided to hop on the bandwagon and bake some muffins too, however the muffins I made have oats and therefore are not considered Paleo. 

This recipe was so simple! Unlike other gluten-free recipes that require a boat load of different types of flours and supplemental ingredients, this recipe only required steel cut oats. The oats have to be turned into Oat flour, but all you have to do is blend the oats in a food processor or a blender. 

I am writing this as the muffins are baking in the oven. The smell of banana bread is slowly moving from the kitchen to my bedroom and it’s making my mouth water! AHH. 

I took a lot of pictures when making the muffins so this is going to be a long post…my baddd. I take the pictures so I can add recipes to SnapGuide (if you guys don’t already have SnapGuide, I recommend you check it out! I love it and there are so many different things you can learn how to make!) If you want to follow me on SnapGuide here’s the link! Hannah’s SnapGuide 


Lets Begin:
Preheat oven to 350˚F 

Step 1: Add 1 cup of oat flour, 3/4 tsp baking soda, 1/2 tsp baking powder and 1/8 tsp salt into a bowl. Mix together and set aside. You will have left over oat flour still which will be added later. (: 

Step 2: In another bowl add 1 1/2 mashed bananas, 1/2 tablespoon coconut oil (melt it first, I made the mistake of adding it unmelted), 1/6 cup +1/2 tablespoon brown sugar, 1/2 teaspoon vanilla, and the rest of the oat flour. 

Step 3: Blend the mashed banana mix until it is a smooth consistency. 

Step 4: Add the oat flour mix

Step 5: Blend on medium speed for 1-2 minutes until the batter is at a smooth consistency. 

Step 6: Line a muffin tin. You can also make a loaf of banana bread if you want. You just need to bake it for 40 minutes instead of 20.

Step 7: Add a heaping spoonful of the mix into each muffin tin

Step 8: Bake in the oven at 350˚F for 20 minutes

Step 9: Take out of oven and let cool 

Nutrition Information: Per 1 Muffin (Recipe makes 10)

• 77 Calories • 1.6g fat • 15.6g carbohydrates • 5.8g sugar • 1.7g protein 

Nutrition information calculated using Spark People Recipe Calculator 

 
Recipe adapted from Gary Rhodes, Great Fast Food


Roasted red peppers, or capsicum as I would call it, give dishes such a distinct taste. I fell in love with the addition of grilled peppers to dishes when we added them to our bolognese sauce some time in the past. Once peppers are roasted, they sweeten and get that delicious chargrilled smokiness about them, that actually shines through in dishes that include them. To pasta dishes like this especially, sauces or even soups- roasted peppers act like the chicken stock necessary for soups, or even those bay leaves. It's the tiny little touches that give depth to dishes- richness. 
Roasted pumpkin, in addition to peppers, are one of my go to vegetables- super versatile and comforting! 
And finally, the dish can only be improved with the addition of sweet and tender scallops! A recent crush of mine... they're so nice!
This is such a simple, quick and fresh pasta dish- not heavy on sauce at all! As far as pasta goes, it's pretty healthy!

Ingredients:
450g large scallops
2 red peppers, quartered and de-seeded, cubed
175g pumpkin
400g spaghetti
1/2 tsp flaked dried chillies
zest and juice of 1 lemon
5 tbsp olive oil
6 tsp finely chopped fresh parsley, extra to serve
salt and pepper
3 garlic cloves, crushed
grated parmesan cheese, to serve

Directions:
Preheat the grill to high. Cook the spaghetti according to packet instructions. Drain and refresh (run under cold water)

Arrange the peppers, skin side up, on the grill tray. Grill for 6 minutes or until skins blacken. Transfer to a bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Peel and dice once cooled. 

In a bowl, mix together the diced pepper, chilli, lemon zest and 2 tbsp oil. Set aside.
Preheat oven to 180ºC fan forced (200 C, 375ºF)

On another tray, lined with baking paper, place the diced pumpkin, and toss in a 1 tbsp of oil. Season with salt and pepper. Place in the oven and cook for about 20 minutes, until cooked through. Once cooked, set aside and let cool. 

Clean and prepare the scallops for cooking. Toss them in 1 tbsp oil and season. Heat a large frying pan and sear the scallops for 2-3 minutes turning once. Set aside.

Heat the remaining oil in a frying pan and fry the garlic for 1 minute on medium-low heat, then stir in the roasted pumpkin, and diced pepper mixture. Once warmed through add the scallops, lemon juice and spaghetti. Toss and season to taste, adding the parsley as well. 

 Serve with a sprinkling of parmesan cheese and lemon wedges.