Mocha walnut cake

Bee's Mocha walnut cake

Ingredients

50 g butter
1/4 cup raw sugar
1 large egg
1/2 cup expresso coffee
1/2 cup natural yoghurt
1/4 cup milk
1 1/2 cups whole meal self raising flour
1/4 cup dark chocochino (or sweetened cocoa powder)
1 teaspoon vanilla
Pinch salt
1/2 cup chopped walnuts

Method
Preheat oven to 180C
Cream butter and sugar
Add egg and beat till evenly mixed.
Add salt, yoghurt and expresso and milk together with flour.
Add chocochino powder  and vanilla extract. Top with walnuts.
Pour mixture into greased 20cm round tin
Bake at 180C for 40-45 mins or till golden brown

Enjoy!

Baked prawn, water chestnut & chives wontons

Crispy deep fried wontons are yummy, no doubt about it, but they are also oily and not so good for the waistline! How to get around it? Bake them, of course! My wontons are still crispy on the outside and tasty and crunchy on the inside but without all the additional calories of deep fried.  Serve with  a sweet chilli balsamic vinegar dip. Makes a great finger food for parties, or just have them for dinner, like we did, tonight.

Ingredients

Wonton skins (available from Asian grocery stores)
About 450 g prawn meat chopped (I used frozen garlic flavoured peeled raw prawns)
1 small can of water chestnuts chopped finely
1 bunch of chives chopped
Cornflour
Sesame oil
soy or fish sauce
Salt & pepper
1 egg beaten

Method

Heat oven to 220C.
Mix prawn meat, water chestnuts and chives in a large bowl.
Add a tablespoon of sesame oil, fish sauce or soy sauce  and salt and pepper to taste
Sprinkle a tablespoon of corn flour and add beaten egg. Mix well.
place a spoonful of mixture in each wonton wrapper and fold into a little parcel by pinching the edges together.
(Don't be too greedy or the wrapper may not be sufficient to contain the filling!)
You can use a little water to help the ends stick better.
Place wonton parcels on a greased tray.
Bake at 220C till golden brown.
Serve with sweet chilli & balsamic vinegar dip.

Lemonade Scones without cream

Sometime ago I came across the recipe for delicious fluffy (and I mean really fluffy) scones which uses equal volume of lemonade and cream. However, I wanted a healthier alternative recipe that does not use cream and still retain the fluffiness of using fizzy lemonade.  So I tweaked a classic scone recipe and used fizzy lemonade only with no cream. The result? Success! The scones turned out as fluffy but with less fat. I am pleased.

Ingredients

2 cups Self raising flour
Pinch of salt
1 tablespoon castor sugar
50g cold butter
3/4 cup liquid : made up of 3/8 cup lemonade & 3/8 cup milk
Milk for glazing

Method

Heat oven to 220 C
Sift flour, salt and sugar into a large bowl
Cut butter into the mixture and rub with finger tips till it becomes like breadcrumbs.
Make a hole in the centre of the mixture and pour in milk & lemonade mixture while stirring with the blade of a butter knife and mix till mixture becomes a dough, taking care not to overmix.
Lay dough out on a floured surface, roll to 2 cm thickness.
I simply cut out 2 cm squares and shape into rounds. I like mini scones.
Arrange the scones on a greased tray, glaze with milk and bake for 10 mins or till brown.
Serve with jam and butter or cream (optional for me, when feeling indulgent!)