Doughnut muffins

July 7, 2015September 1, 2025 ~ desertcook ~ 5 Comments

They were a really easy (and VERY popular!) school holiday treat to bake with the kids, and I have done my best to make it a little healthier than the original, which you can find here.

See below the recipe for a gluten free Coeliac friendly version and several options for a nutrition boost.

Also see below the recipe for how to make mini baked doughnuts with this recipe.

200g SR flour (half wholemeal)
90g sugar
1/2 tsp flaked salt
1 tsp mixed spice
1 egg worth of egg replacer (OR 3 tbsp aquafaba OR 1 whole egg)
65g light olive oil/melted butter or nuttelex
240g milk of choice
Melted nuttelex/butter to top
extra sugar and spice to top (mix in a 10:1 ratio)

In a large bowl place the flour, sugar, salt, spice and egg replacer (if using). Use a whisk to combine the dry mix. (Speed 4, 8 seconds)

In a separate smaller bowl whisk together the oil and milk. Add in aquafaba or whole egg at this point if using. (If using a thermal cooker, add the liquids to the dry mix here)

Pour the wet mix into the dry mix and whisk vigorously to combine mix until smooth. (Speed 4, 8 seconds)

Place into lined muffin pans and bake in a preheated 180C oven for about 20 minutes.

As soon as you remove the muffins from the oven, brush them with melted Nuttelex/butter and sprinkle with a mix of sugar and spice.

Makes 12 …. did not last long in my very busy, hungry house!! Now I just make double batches and freeze 😉

Enjoy!!!!!

To make these Coeliac friendly replace the spelt flour with 1 1/4 cup of a gluten free flour mix plus 1 tsp psyllium.

For a more filling version, I replace 50g of the flour with 50g of nut/seed meal.

You can also also replace the oil with a very well mashed medium overripe banana.

Boost the protein with 1/4 cup of hemp seeds.

Add some more fibre with 1 medium grated apple (or blitz it in your machine) – if you use this option, you will need to reduce the milk to 200g.

To make these into mini doughnuts you need an appropriate tin, very well greased.

Place the mixture into a piping bag and pipe the mixture into the tin.

Cooking a moderate oven for about 8-10 minutes. Allow to cool in the tin for a few minutes before removing to a wire rack.

For a spiced doughnut, brush the tops with a melted vegan butter and sprinkle with the same sugar and spice mix as above.

For an iced doughnut, melt some dark chocolate of choice, then drop the doughnuts into it and then sprinkle with your choice of decorations. We use the Hoppers 100s & 1000.

Enjoy!

Chicken and Sweet Corn Soup

July 6, 2015June 7, 2019 ~ desertcook ~ 2 Comments

This soup in its original form was a regular feature on my Mum’s winter menu as I was growing up.

I seem to remember taking great effort to convince my younger brother that the rice vermicelli in it was dried eels brains … and for ages he believed me! Rotten sister!

It is such a comforting winter food that it is still a favourite of mine.

4 large chicken thighs, very finely diced*
4 tins corn kernels, drained and rinsed
200g rice vermicelli
12 cups hot chicken stock
1 large brown onion, finely diced
2 tbsp olive oil
1 tsp minced garlic
2 tsp freshly chopped thyme
pepper
2 tbsp Port or coconut aminos
1 large head of broccoli, chopped

In a very large saucepan heat the oil. Add the onion and garlic and fry gently until the onions are golden.

Add in the chicken* and season with pepper, thyme and port. Cook stirring until lightly browned

Add in the stock, stir well. Bring to a gentle simmer for 10 minutes.

While the soup is simmering, take 2 of the tins of corn and place them in the food processor. Process until it fairly smooth. (You can just used 2 tins of creamed corn for ease if your diet allows, but the ‘extras’ in tins of creamed corn do not agree with Ellie).

Add in the now creamed corn and the whole kernels of corn and stir well. Add in the broccoli here.

Break up the rice vermicelli and add to the soup.

Heat until noodles are soft and serve.

This makes a very large quantity – love my giant 12L saucepan!! Go with a half batch if your saucepan isn’t quite so big!

Soup freezes well and keeps in the fridge for about 4 or 5 days.

*If you have some left over roast chicken it works really well here in place if the chicken thigh, just chop it and add it in at the same time as the corn and broccoli.

Enjoy!

Banana Oat biscuits

March 18, 2015June 24, 2022 ~ desertcook ~ 3 Comments

I love these delicious, soft biscuits – They are very easy and quick to knock up as they are made from ingredients that I always have on hand.

They are low in sugar but they are sweet enough to take the edge off those cravings.

The fibre and protein help them to boost your energy levels and keep you full for a while … what’s not to love?! Great for afternoon tea…. Or even breakfast!

See below the recipe for a Coeliac version and a few extras.

2 medium bananas, very ripe
3 cups rolled oats
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 cup nut and seed based protein powder (plain almond or seed meal if you’re short on time!)
1 tbsp maple syrup
2 tbsp milk of choice (unsweetened vanilla almond is great here)
3 tbsp aquafaba OR 1 whole egg
Pinch salt flakes

Blend together all the wet ingredients, including the banana, until just smooth (speed 5, 6 secs)

In a separate bowl mix together the oats, seed/nut meal, salt and cinnamon. (Speed 4, 6 secs)

Add the banana mix to the dry mix and process until well combined (speed 4, 8 secs, scrape and repeat if required).

Place spoonfuls on a lined baking tray and cook in a preheated moderate oven for about 12 minutes.

I think these are best served with an afternoon cuppa!

Makes about 24 biscuits.

Extra Options:

To make these coeliac friendly use 2 cups puffed rice and 1 cup rolled quinoa in place of the oats.

Add a tbsp of cocoa or cacao for a chocolate version.

For a nut free version check the protein powder recipe.

For a sweeter option stir through some chopped dried fruit (dates or sultanas are my favourite but cranberries or apple work too) … Or even a handful of chopped dark chocolate.

Enjoy 🙂

Yoghurt dough – for pizzas and scrolls

March 12, 2015May 5, 2025 ~ desertcook ~ 6 Comments

Once a fortnight on a Sunday morning my husband plays with all the kids and I have a massive baking session to prepare for the lunchboxes in the weeks to come.

One of the things that the kids love to eat is Cheese and vegemite scrolls … and then I stumbled across this yoghurt dough from Kidspot.

It is delicious and SO fast to make. I’ve found the best way to get it to the right consistency is the measure the weights, rather than cups, and to make it in the food processor or thermocook machine.

My take on the orignal, calls for

470g SR flour (or 420g GF flour together with 1tbsp psyllium husk). We often use spelt flour or do half wholemeal
1/2 tsp flaked salt
360g high protein greek yoghurt or soy/coconut yoghurt. Here’s our dairy/soy yoghurt recipe.

*BOOST IT? Add 1/4 cup hemp seeds and 4 tbsp nutritional yeast to the flour. You’ll also need to add another tbsp or 2 of yoghurt.

Process all ingredients until it forms a dough, knead together and roll out into a large rectangle, no more than 1cm thick, on floured surface. (Speed 5, 15 seconds).

NOTE: If the dough is too sticky, add in 1 tsp of extra flour at a time and process to combine …. I have found that I often need to add more flour when I work with homemade soy yoghurt.

That’s it! Simple.

To make scrolls, I roll out into a rectangle, top with vegemite and grated cheese (or tomato paste, chopped ham off the bone and grated cheese). Roll into a tight log, cut into even slices and bake in a pre-heated oven at 200C for about 20 minutes.

We use our Mighty Pasta Sauce the as a pizza scroll topping

Ellie loves it with her Bio Cheese.

It freezes and defrosts beautifully so I make a big batch of scrolls and pop them in the freezer – makes weekday lunches lots easier.

It makes an great pizza base too – 2 large ones from this quantity. Just add paste and toppings then bake in a preheated oven at 200C for about 15 minutes.

Enjoy 🙂

Savoury Damper Rolls

March 9, 2015March 23, 2020 ~ desertcook ~ Leave a comment

This recipe was my attempt at replicating something like the doughy bread rolls you can buy from major supermarkets and bakeries that have the cheese and bacon baked on top.

They are a quick bread rather than a long rising yeast dough which makes for much simpler, speedy lunches.

It is VERY popular, especially with my big boys, and so is another of the recipes that I make to freeze for the lunchboxes. I make 2 versions.

The ‘regular’ version:

2.5cups SR flour
1 cup milk
1 tbsp butter
1 cup grated cheese
Optional – about 120g ham, roughly chopped

For the more allergy friendly version:

2.5cups spelt flour (half wholemeal)
2.5tsp GF baking powder
1 cup milk of choice
1 tbsp vegan butter (ghee or coconut oil work well too)
1/2 cup grated Bio cheese (or 1/2cup of nutritional yeast*)
about 120g GF ham, roughly chopped

*If you’re not using the cheese, but the nutritional yeast, add an extra tsp of butter.

If you are leaving out the cheese or ham in either of these mixes, add in a pinch of salt.

In a food processor, pulse together the flours, butter, milk, and baking powder (if required). Process for about 20 seconds until a rough dough forms.

Add in the cheese (and ham) and process again until combined.

For the vegetarian/vegan option, I omit the ham and add some chopped chives and some pepper, or some sundried tomatoes.

Tip dough onto a lightly floured surface and knead gently to bring together.

Break dough into 8 portions and form into a roll shape.

To make these look more like the store bought ones I sometimes use only half of the cheese in the dough and reserve the rest with the ham and a smear of tomato paste for the top.

Place on a lined baking tray and bake in a preheated 200C oven for about 15-20mins or until the bottoms are golden brown and sound hollow when tapped.

Especially delicious served warm.

Makes 8 rolls – and any left overs freeze and defrost well.

Enjoy 🙂

Nut Butter Substitute – Sunflower Seed Butter

January 22, 2015May 16, 2025 ~ desertcook ~ 40 Comments

Peanut butter was a staple for me growing up – I loved it and have missed it a lot since out house went peanut free. Then I discovered Free Nut Butter, made by Eskal. It is an amazing substitute, made from roasted sunflower seeds.

Sadly there has been some difficulties with supply in Australia recently. It is back in stock in some places, but it is difficult to find and now costs between $11-$12 for a jar – eek!

We use it a lot in our house as the base for nut free satay, cookies, ice cream and just in sandwiches and on fruit etc. The new price was becoming quite prohibitive, so I decided to have a go at making my own, guesstimating the quantities and ingredients from the list on an old jar and was pleasantly surprised by how well it worked!

I have done this in my food processor, a borrowed Thermomix and my Bellini – The food processor wasn’t able to get a smooth butter, but worked well to give a crunchy spread.

550g sunflower seeds, dry roasted*

Optional additions:

1/2-1 tbsp sugar or maple syrup (depending on your sweet tooth)
1/2 tsp flaked salt

Roast the seeds. I do this on a lined baking tray under the grill in my oven. Watch them very carefully. They only take a few minutes. Mix and turn the seeds and return them to the oven (a couple of times if necessary) so that they seeds are golden brown all over. Allow to cool for a few minutes.

Place seeds in machine and blitz on speed 10 for 30 secs.

Scrape down sides then add sugar and salt if you’re using them.

Blitz in speed 10 for about 40 secs, stopping once to scrape down sides.

Continue to blitz on speed 8 at 30 sec intervals until you get desired consistency. I did another 90 seconds this time.

This makes a large jar, about double the quantity of the jars in store.

*to add some variety to your spread, swap out some of the sunflower seeds and add in your favourite nuts or seeds. Just stick to the same dry weight in total.

Store in an airtight jar for up to a month.

Enjoy 🙂

Banana Muffins

August 26, 2014February 24, 2024 ~ desertcook ~ 4 Comments

I may have gone slightly overboard in my excitement to see bananas for $1.50/kg at the markets the other day … I came home with 30 of them!!!! Eek … too many even for us, and we eat about 8 a day in this house!

So banana inspired baking it is!

These muffins are super easy to make, they are moist and sweet, lightly sweetened with honey, they freeze well for lunchboxes, and best of all – my little people love them!

See below the recipe for a Coeliac friendly option and a nutritionally boosted version too.

300g flour (I use like a half wholemeal mix with the white flour)
2tbsp chia seeds (black are great, but white are less obvious – hemp also works well here)
2.5 tsp GF baking powder
4 tbsp honey/maple syrup
4 tbsp melted butter/vegan butter
1 large, very ripe banana
220ml milk of choice (I love unsweetened vanilla almond)
1 tsp vanilla bean paste
Optional extras – 50g choc chip of choice and 1 cup frozen blueberries.

In a large bowl, mix together the flour, baking powder and chia seeds (Speed 4, 8 seconds) then set aside.

In the bowl of your blender/processor/bullet/thermal cooker, place together the butter, honey, milk, vanilla and banana. Blend/process until well combined and smooth (Speed 5, 10 seconds).

Pour the wet mix into the dry mix and fold together until just combined. Don’t over-mix. (Speed 4, 6 seconds, scrape down and repeat).

I often do a double batch and split the mix into 2 bowls – fold the berries through one and the choc chips through the other. (if you’re not going to add in any extras, a tsp of ground cinnamon gives a bit of a boost).

Spoon into lined muffin pans and place in to a preheated moderate oven for about 20 mins, or until well risen, golden brown and they spring back to a light touch.

All to cool before freezing.

Makes 12-14

Enjoy 🙂

For a Coeliac friendly option, replace the glutinous flours with 1.5 cups gluten free flour plus 2 heaped tbsp almond meal/seed meal.

To boost the nutritional content of these muffins, I often replace 1/2 a cup of flour with 1/2 a cup of my ‘Real Protein Powder‘.

Orange Weet-Bix slice

July 31, 2014April 24, 2025 ~ desertcook ~ 1 Comment

The original version on this slice was another childhood favourite of mine. It was a regular feature in our school lunchboxes. But until today it hasn’t been possible to pass it on to my kids. But we have discovered this new product:

It’s made with sorghum and although I’m not the biggest fan of the original as a cereal, it fits our allergy requirements, my kids are excited and I’m pleased to be able to use them in baking!

160g Nuttelex, melted
4 weetbix, crushed
1.5 cups SR GF flour
1/3 cup sugar
1/2 cup flaked quinoa or rolled oats
1 tbsp chia seeds
5 tbsp orange juice

Mix together the dry ingredients then pour in the Nuttelex and juice and mix well.

Press firmly into a lined baking tray (mine was 20x20cm).

Bake in a preheated 180C oven for 25 minutes.

Cool and then ice with orange icing, made with the finely grated rind of one orange, a tsp of melted Nuttelex, a couple of tbsp of orange juice and pure icing sugar.

Slice and store in airtight container in the fridge. Makes 16 slices.

Enjoy 🙂

To adapt for a Thermal cooking machine (Thermomix, Bellini, Mistral etc):

Add Nuttelex and sugar and melt at 100C on speed 3 for 1 minute.

Add in the quinoa, chia, flour and weet-bix. Mix on speed 4 for 20 seconds.

Pour in the orange juice and pulse 3-4 times to combine, the mix on speed 6 for 20 seconds.

The Chocolate Cake

July 22, 2014June 8, 2021 ~ desertcook ~ 3 Comments

Growing up, my mum was famous for her chocolate cake. So much so that it was known simply as ‘The Chocolate Cake’.

It was the base for most (if not all!) of mine and my brother’s birthday cakes and it made an appearance at a lot of special family occasions. Since our diet has had to change I have so missed that cake! So since we are off to a birthday party tomorrow where we will need to take ‘safe’ cake along for Ellie … here is my attempt at living up to Mum’s cake!

See below the recipe for a coeliac friendly version.

1 3/4 cups flour (half wholemeal)**
2 tsp GF baking powder
1/2 – 3/4 cup sugar (use more or less depending on your sweet tooth!)
2 tbsp cocoa
125ml light olive oil
1 cup milk of choice
1 tsp vanilla bean paste
3 tbsp aquafaba (liquid drained from a can of chic peas)/one medium (overripe) pureed banana/ 1 whole egg

** To boost the nutritional value of this cake, I often leave out 1/2 cup of flour and replace it with 1/2 of almond meal cup or milled seeds (I like a mix of chia, flax and pepita) – the ground chia and flax also help the bind the cake without an egg present too.

Mix together the oil, milk and vanilla until well combined.

In the large bowl of your mixer mix together the flour, sugar, cocoa and baking powder.

Mix the wet mix into the flour mix and beat until to combined. While the mix is beating, add in the aquafaba or egg.

Pour into a lined cake tin or 14 regular muffin holes.

Bake in a preheated moderate oven for approx 45 minutes (for the cake) or 20 minutes for the muffins, or until a skewer comes out clean.

Allow them to cool and then ice as desired.

I have made a simple icing from 1 tbsp melted Nuttelex, 1 tsp cocoa, a splash of milk and pure icing sugar. But my kids enjoy them equally un-iced.

It’s not quite the same as Mum’s but it is a pretty close substitute and the kids seem to agree!

It freezes and thaws well too.

To adapt for a Thermal cooker:

Place the oil, vanilla and milk in the jug mix on speed 4 for 5 seconds.

Add in the sugar, baking powder and cocoa and mix on speed 4 for 15 seconds.

Add the flours and mix on speed 4 for 30 seconds. Whilst mixing, add the aquafaba or egg through the opening in the top of the lid.

Enjoy 🙂

To make this into a coeliac friendly version make sure you use an appropriate milk and replace the flour with 1 1/2 cups of a plain GF flour mix and 1 tsp psyllium husk. Reduce the mixing time when you’ve added the gf flour so that you mix just until the flour in combined.

I recently made a double mix of this cake for miss Ellie’s 3rd birthday party. And it worked well as a based for the fondant icing too.

Choc Oat Slice

February 12, 2014August 28, 2017 ~ libbityl ~ 4 Comments

After a simple afternoon tea slice straight from the pantry? Here’s one I cooked up this week that was free of our allergens and delicious too.

(See below Libby’s recipe for a Coeliac Friendly version from Jess)

It made enough for a piece each for two afternoons with one or two left over (hmm, not sure where they went…?!) but it is easily doubled so that it lasts longer (or serves more people).

125g Nuttelex
1/2 cup sugar (I used raw sugar and just didn’t fuss that it wasn’t all dissolved)
1/2 cup oats
1/4 cup cocoa
1 cup SR flour

1. Mix cocoa and oats together in a bowl (whilst preheating the oven to 180C)
2. Melt the Nuttelex and sugar together in a saucepan until sugar dissolved (or almost!)
3. Remove from heat and pour it over the cocoa and oats and mix them together.
4. Mix in self raising flour.
5. Press into a 20cm x 15cm baking dish (I used a small pyrex dish lined with baking paper)
6. Bake for 15min at 180 degrees Celsius. Cool in the dish.

Yum! For regular people, just change the Nuttelex to regular margarine or butter.

Verdict
5 thumbs up! Crumbs devoured.

For a coeliac friendly option: replace the flour with a standard gluten free flour mix plus 1 tsp GF baking powder. Replace the oats with crushed GF weet-bix, shredded coconut, or rolled quinoa.

Ice if you like.