Our Sunday morning smelled of freshly baked scones and this lovely cake. A cup of tea, a long chat with your loved ones and the day is bound to be a nice one. A very nice one.

I only had 6 small plums to use for this treat,  you need way more. Next time it’s gonna be apples. Lots of them!

1/2 cup (120ml)  palm oil

1/2 cup (120ml) rice milk

1/4 cup (60ml) light agave nectar

1 cup (120gr) plain flour

1 cup (120gr) white spelt flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

stoned plums

ground cinnamon

ground ginger

Heat oven to 375°, gas mark 5. Lightly oil and line a small baking  tin with baking paper. Whisk oil, milk and nectar in a bowl. Combine flours, baking powder and salt in another bowl. Stir wet ingredients into dry ingredients.  Arrange the plums, skin side down in the baking tray, dust with cinnamon, ground ginger then pour the batter over. Bake until cake is golden brown and a knife comes out clean, 20 to 30 minutes. Enjoy!

The original recipe.

My favourite morning has to have a turned on oven. Breakfast with fresh, still warm bread that filles the house up with comforting smell has such a positive effect. Simple 10 minutes recipe guaranties quick process and a quick delicious (and healthy) result.

You’ll need:

• 500 g light Italian or plain flour, plus extra for dusting (mines are made with 250 g wholemeal spelt, some spelt germ & 250 g rye flour)
• 1 heaped tsp bicarbonate of soda
• 2 heaped tsp cream of tartar
• 1 tsp sea salt
• 100 g chilled unsalted butter, cubed (I used non dairy spread)
• 1 cup of mixed seeds (pine kernels, sunflower, pumpkin, linseed)
• 275 ml buttermilk or milk (I often use natural soya yoghurt)
• 1 teaspoon black molasses

1. Preheat the oven to 220C/gas 7.

2. Sift the flour, bicarbonate of soda, cream of tartar and salt into a large bowl. Using your fingertips, rub in the butter until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs.

3. Add buttermilk or milk + molasses to the flour mixture and with a knife mix briefly to combine into a moist dough. Depending upon the absorbency of the flour, you may need to add a little milk if the dough seems too stiff but it should not be too wet. Place on a lightly floured work surface and knead ever so slightly to bring together, then press or roll out to a thickness of 3cm.

4. Using a 6cm round cutter, cut out approximately 12 scones and place on a floured baking tray. Or, like in my picture, simply form round buns, cut a cross on each top.
Bake in the oven for 10–12 minutes or until golden brown on top. Serve while hot.

Enjoy!

Adapted from Rachel Allen, Bake (Collins)

Mano megiamiausias rytas turi tureti ijungta orkaite. Pusryciai su zviezia, dar silta ir visus namus iskvepinusia duonute turi toki teigiama efekta… O paprastas 10 minuciu receptas garantuoja greita procesa ir greita (sveika) rezultata.

Jum reikes:

• 500 g miltu (mano gamintos is 250 g rupiu speltos, siek tiek speltos gemalu ir 250 g rupiu ruginiu miltu)
• 1 a.s. su kaupu sodos
• 2 a.s. su kaupu  cream of tartar
• 1 a.s. druskos
• 100 g salto, nesudyto  sviesto, supjaustyto kubeliais (as naudoju augalines kilmes|)
• 1 puodukas seklu (kokiu turima)
• 275 ml kefyro, pasuku ar pieno (as daznai naudoju naturalu sojos jogurta)
• 1 a.s. juodosios molases

1. Orkaite ikaitiname iki 220C.

2. Miltus sumaisykite su soda, cream of tartar bei druska. Pirstu galiukais istrinti sviesta miltuose, kol susidaro i dziuveselius panasi mase.

3. I miltu/sviesto mase supilam kefyro ar pieno bei molases misini. Peiliu viska ismaisom iki lipnios teslos. Priklausomai nuo miltu, jum gali tekti panaudoti papildomai kefyro ar pieno jei tesla per kieta, bet ji neturetu gautis per skysta. Tesla kociokite ant miltais pabarstyto pavirsiaus mazdaug 3cm sluoksniu.

4. Iskociota tesla isspauskite apvaliomis formelemis arba kaip mano nuotraukose, paprasciausiai rankomis suformuokit bandeles, o kiekvienos pavirsiuje ipjaukite po kryziu.
Kepama apie 10-12 min. arba kol graziai paruduoja. Patiekiamos siltos.

Skanaus!

Adaptuota pagal  Rachel Allen, Bake (Collins)

Who doesn’t like a good treat? Well, I’m sure there are some people who would say they choose savoury or something else  instead of anything sweet, but me – I’m a sweet tooth girl. Not too sweet, but still – a bit of sugar in my life does me good. And the baking process… the mixing, the smell that travels around the house and tickles your taste buds and makes you feel happier – hmmmm… It’s a perfect therapy! So I bake…

Here we have a simple ‘honey cake’ recipe, but since we did not use any of it, it has to be renamed into a ‘molases cake’ (although it’s very yummy with honey too)

Ingredients:

3 eggs (separated)

1 glass of milk

250 g butter

200 g honey (in our version it’s 4 heap spoons of black molases)

500g flour (in our case 250 plain and 250 wholegrain)

1 tsp baking powder

4 tsp cacao or carob powder

3 tsp mixed spice (ground: cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, cloves, coriander seed, caraway)

100 g  chopped walnuts

Preheat the oven to 220C/ gas 7/fan 200C and lightly grease a cake pan. Dust with flour.

In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, cacao and mixed spice.
In a large bowl,  cream together molases  and egg yolks. Add milk and melted butter. Add flour. Whisk the egg whites and gently fold it in the rest of the dough. Add walnuts.
Working in two or three additions, alternately add flour mixture and milk to the sugar mixture. Stir only until just combined, then gently stir in the diced pears.
Pour into prepared pan and bake for 50 minutes, or until a tester comes out clean and the cake is brownish in color.
Let cake cool in pan for 10 minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack to cool.
Dust with powdered sugar before serving if you wish.

Now, how about some very quick and very easy morning buns? Can be vegan if you choose! Originally it’s a scone recipe, but we change it a bit and those buns taste even better.

It takes 25 minutes. Makes 5-6, easily doubled and can be frozen after baking.

225g self raising flour ( I use wholegrain spelt)

1/4 tsp salt

50g butter (I used vitaquell spread), chilled, cut in small pieces

25g caster sugar (1 heap tbsp black molases is even better)

I also add 1 spoon carob syrup

125ml buttermilk (we substitude it with plain soya yogurt)

4 tbsp full fat milk (or soya)

a handful of linseed, sunflower seeds, rasins or anything else you want

I also put 1 tsp mixed spice and grated zest of an orange

a little extra flour for dusting

Preheat the oven to 220C/ gas 7/fan 200Cand lightly butter a baking sheet (unless you’re using a non stick sheet). Tip the flour into a mixing bowl with the salt. Shoot in the butter, then rub together with your fingers to make a reasonably fine crumbed mixture, lifting to aerate the mixture as you go. Try not to overrub, as the mixture will be lighter if it’s  a little bit flaky. Now stir in the sugar. If you’re using molases, mix is with the buttermilk or yoghurt.

Mix milk with buttermilk/yoghurt. Make a bit of well in the middle of the flour mixture with a round – bladed knife, then pour in buttermilk mixture. Using knife, gently work the mixture – just cut it till you get a soft, sticky dough. Don’t overwork at this point or you’ll toughten the dough.

Put the dough out of the bowl on to a lightly floured surface. Pat the dough gently with your hands to a thickness of no less than 2cm and no more than 2.5cm. Dip cutter into a bowl of flour , then cut out the buns. Place on the baking sheet and dust it with flour.Bake for 10-12 minutes until risen and golden/brown.

Eat them as fresh as you can and smile!

and especially if you’re looking for ways to still have something sweet to treat yourself with, want something baked,  but also want a healthier sort of version….

Last night I went through some vegan blogs and found this very very simple recipe. Modified it a bit to suit our own needs and yes… these muffins were so so good, moist and delicious that it needs to be shared

3 ripe bananas
1/4 cup oil or melted margarine (I used sunflower oil)
1 cup sugar (I opted for 2 generous spoons of pure black molasses instead)
2 cups flour (I used wholegrain spelt)
1 tsp. salt (only used half)
1 tsp. baking soda
1 cup chopped walnuts (optional—see other options listed below) our muffins were with sunflower seeds & raisins

• Mash bananas (overripe ones make the best bread). Add oil/margarine and sugar. Mix well.
• Sift the flour, salt, and baking soda together and add to the banana mixture. Mix until the flour is blended (do not beat).
Pour into muffin pans or a bread pan and bake at 360°F  gas 5 until a toothpick comes out clean.

Optional: Add a handful of walnuts, oatmeal, raisins, chocolate chips, currants, coconut, or all of the above!

I’m still drooling if I look at that picture… so good they were. Too good.