It's Winter. Oranges abound. Let's use up the glut deliciously.
Plus, I have a very special friend visiting this afternoon. She and I have always bonded over variations of the truth while smoking ourselves into a Foggy Haze. We grew up and stopped smoking. So what do ex-smokers do when they get together? They EAT. But the eating has to be very, very good:
I'm gonna try these little numbers for size: They stem from Persia, but are also used as a Jewish Passover desert, and I'll add that they're Gluten Free. But aside from all that, they have been calling me to cook them for a week now....
Orange Almond Syrup Puddings:
A quick video - instead of single puddings, a whole cake
I followed the Coles recipe... and may very well cook every single thing in this months book
What you need:
2 medium oranges, scrubbed, chopped up and put into the microwave in a single layer for 8 minutes (see Orange Poppy Seed for details). OR boil them for a couple of hours...
4 eggs (this is a flourless cakes, which generally means we're gonna make up for the lack of lightness with eggs)
3/4 cup of sugar (preferably caster sugar - it's lighter than normal sugar)
1 & 1/3 cups of almond meal (or.. buy the almonds and crush them yourself, it's easy)
1/2 teaspoon baking powder (again, the making up of the flourless cake)
The whole orange thing, even with the microwave cheat happening does take a while - however you get them squishy and juicy and blended up, you will need to cool them down before you go adding anything cookable - like eggs - into the mix. so allow yourself some time to read a chapter or two of your favourite book in between cooking phases.
Let's say the orange prep has happened, and is now cool enough to continue the recipe:
Grab all the floury stuff: almond meal, sugar, bicarb and the eggs and add them all to the food processor with the cooled down orange pulp
(simple, hey?) Mix it all together (you'll have to scrape down the sides, but only once or twice), then...
just pour the mix evenly into either your one BIG cake tin or a 12 capacity muffin tin (my preference..).
That's much easier than dolloping out big spoonfuls from the tin to the other tin, to the new tin and into the baking tin.... if you get my meaning.
The recipe is calling me to bake it at 180/350 for 35 - 40 minutes, but I'll stick around and see how it smells while it cooks. Besides, I have to make the syrup yet.
THE SYRUP:
Syrups are mostly always lots of sugar and something to give it a different taste to sugar. Orange syrup = orange + sugar; lemon syrup = lemon + sugar.... This orange syrup is simple, effective and pretty cunning too - how it thickens up after you cook it.
This scrummy Orange Syrup is made up of: 3/4 cup Caster Sugar & 3/4 cup Orange Juice. I still haven't bought caster sugar since I told you I had none a couple of recipes ago... so I stuck to raw sugar and it worked out just fine.
You'll also need some Thick Vanilla or Plain Yogurt to serve with the warm cakes......
Squeeze yourself 2 oranges (that's about 3/4 cup depending on the juiciness) and put it in a saucepan with 3/4 cup sugar. Stir it around and dissolve the sugar BEFORE you turn the heat on.
Once the sugar is dissolved, light that fire under your saucepan and keep tickling the liquid with a whisk until it starts to bubble. Then, because this is the secret alchemy bit and timing is crucial; turn the heat RIGHT DOWN so it just simmers a bit - then WALK AWAY. Leave it all alone for about 5 - 7 minutes.
Then turn it off. Leave it all alone to cool and thicken (which it will)
Plus, I have a very special friend visiting this afternoon. She and I have always bonded over variations of the truth while smoking ourselves into a Foggy Haze. We grew up and stopped smoking. So what do ex-smokers do when they get together? They EAT. But the eating has to be very, very good:
I'm gonna try these little numbers for size: They stem from Persia, but are also used as a Jewish Passover desert, and I'll add that they're Gluten Free. But aside from all that, they have been calling me to cook them for a week now....
Orange Almond Syrup Puddings:
A quick video - instead of single puddings, a whole cake
I followed the Coles recipe... and may very well cook every single thing in this months book
What you need:
2 medium oranges, scrubbed, chopped up and put into the microwave in a single layer for 8 minutes (see Orange Poppy Seed for details). OR boil them for a couple of hours...
4 eggs (this is a flourless cakes, which generally means we're gonna make up for the lack of lightness with eggs)
3/4 cup of sugar (preferably caster sugar - it's lighter than normal sugar)
1 & 1/3 cups of almond meal (or.. buy the almonds and crush them yourself, it's easy)
1/2 teaspoon baking powder (again, the making up of the flourless cake)
The whole orange thing, even with the microwave cheat happening does take a while - however you get them squishy and juicy and blended up, you will need to cool them down before you go adding anything cookable - like eggs - into the mix. so allow yourself some time to read a chapter or two of your favourite book in between cooking phases.
Let's say the orange prep has happened, and is now cool enough to continue the recipe:
 |
| Preheat your oven to 180 or 350 whichever hemisphere you're from. |
Spray your baking tin (cake or muffins - your choice, same recipe) with HEAPS of cooking oil. My recipe said to cut a little circle of baking paper for each muffin tin, but "aint nobody got time for that".
Grab all the floury stuff: almond meal, sugar, bicarb and the eggs and add them all to the food processor with the cooled down orange pulp
just pour the mix evenly into either your one BIG cake tin or a 12 capacity muffin tin (my preference..).
The recipe is calling me to bake it at 180/350 for 35 - 40 minutes, but I'll stick around and see how it smells while it cooks. Besides, I have to make the syrup yet.
THE SYRUP:
Syrups are mostly always lots of sugar and something to give it a different taste to sugar. Orange syrup = orange + sugar; lemon syrup = lemon + sugar.... This orange syrup is simple, effective and pretty cunning too - how it thickens up after you cook it.
This scrummy Orange Syrup is made up of: 3/4 cup Caster Sugar & 3/4 cup Orange Juice. I still haven't bought caster sugar since I told you I had none a couple of recipes ago... so I stuck to raw sugar and it worked out just fine.
You'll also need some Thick Vanilla or Plain Yogurt to serve with the warm cakes......
Squeeze yourself 2 oranges (that's about 3/4 cup depending on the juiciness) and put it in a saucepan with 3/4 cup sugar. Stir it around and dissolve the sugar BEFORE you turn the heat on.
Once the sugar is dissolved, light that fire under your saucepan and keep tickling the liquid with a whisk until it starts to bubble. Then, because this is the secret alchemy bit and timing is crucial; turn the heat RIGHT DOWN so it just simmers a bit - then WALK AWAY. Leave it all alone for about 5 - 7 minutes.
 |
| Simmer, simmer, simmer |
In the meantime, take the cakes out of the oven (they are never going to be the sort of baked item that bounces out of the tin and all around your kitchen - their gooey moist make-up tends to make them more the sit-around-the-house-reading- cookbooks-with-you cake.
For the most amazing, simple lemon yogurt cake in the universe
While they're warm you can - if you want to - poke holes in them and pour SOME of the orange syrup over them (emphasis: some - otherwise it's way too much moisture. I probably put 1/2 teaspoon on each of them)
Serve them warm, with a dollop of yogurt and some warm syrup poured over all of it. Delicious.
And I had to have more than one....
For the most amazing, simple lemon yogurt cake in the universe
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