Treats

Coconut Scones

Posted on March 7, 2016 by leroy watson

Mum’s here!!!! (and Dad) When Mum visits we get stuck into loads of cooking. We always have done and I’ve had these scones in mind for a while. I knew Mum would love ’em! Coconut + scones = genius.

This is a light, rich and crispy scone recipe especially for all those Mum’s out there. It’s MOTHERS DAY!! (Well it was yesterday when we made them!) This will make any afternoon tea a little bit special. Just add your favourite jam or Mum just had one with chocolate spread. Yowzah!

These little beauties are based on the awesome recipe sent across to us by Janice at Nourished by Nature. A place we visit regularly for nutritious, delicious, healthy recipes. Janice is so passionate and creative and we love the way she cooks! These scones even scooped the ‘Sweet Treat’ award at our last cookbook giveaway. We just had to share our version of the recipe.

I love making scones and must admit, that at the moment I make more savoury scones. Rosemary scones being my favourite. They work so well with a nice hearty vegetable broth in these chilly winter months. I have some great memories of Mum’s baking as a child. Mum’s walnut and date scones were always amazing! They were at least three times the thickness of these little guys. I must remember to ask very nicely for a recipe…..

I have never used a food processor to make scones before, but I will again. If used with care, i.e. not over working the mixture, the resulting scones are light with a delicious crispy crust. I do not have a massive sweet tooth but these are right up my street! A brilliant twist on a classic, just what we’d expect from Janice.

Recipe Notes

I use the coconut oil here in solid form. This works best.

Feel free to use vegan spread instead of coconut oil, which I realise is quite expensive. I must admit, I prefer the coconut oil ones. Richer, lighter and with a crispier crust.

These scones can be made thicker, but I find thin scones great because there is less leftover mixture at the end and that means more lighter scones. Once we start to reform the leftover straggly bits, the scones become heavier (although still very tasty). Try weighing them in your hands, you’ll see what I mean.

Remember when baking scones, cookies etc they will seem a little underdone when removing them from the oven, they tend to firm up on the cooling rack. This is perfectly normal and its best to take them out slightly undone than slightly overdone I feel. Check the tops and bottoms, if they are beginning to brown, you’re there.

The Bits – Makes 8 medium-sized scones

225g self raising white flour

2 level teaspoons baking powder

50g unrefined white sugar (unprocessed)

100g coconut oil or vegan spread (olive, sunflower etc)

55g desiccated coconut

4-5 tablespoons plant based milk (soya milks works well)

2 tbs soya milk (for brushing)

2 tbs desscated coconut (for topping

Do It

Preheat an oven to 200oC (180oC Fan Oven)

In a food processor, add all the dry ingrdients and pulse a few times until a loose crumb forms. Add the soya milk gradually whilst pulsing until the mixture just starts coming together.

If you are not using a food processor, place all the dry ingredients into a mixing bowl and crumble the mixture using your fingers and thumbs (think breadcrumbs). After a while it will form a fine crumb, add the milk gradually, mixing with a spoon.

Pop the mixture onto a floured surface and bring it together with your hands. Do not over handle at this stage or your scones will be dense. Light scones will come about from very little handling.

Roll out the mixture using a rolling pin to a depth of 1 – 1/2 inches and cut out the scones using a cutter of your choice (Janice using a very cool heart shaped one). These ones will be the lightest, gather together the straggly bits of pasty and make into extra scones.

Place on a baking tray lined with parchment and bake on a middle shelf in the oven for 12-14 minutes until the tops are have browned.

Serve

You know how you love ’em! A scone eaten still warm from the oven is a thing of rare beauty (blazing fire and purring cat on lap optional).

Foodie Fact

Coconut is an incredibly good thing in so many ways. It is high in fat, giving it that gorgeous richness. The fat in coconut is no ordinary fat however, a large portion of it is known as lauric acid. A fat which has been shown to heighten our good cholesterol levels. A medium coconut covers all of our energetic, mineral and vitamin needs for a whole day! If you are ever in a tropical country and feeling the heat, reach for coconut water. It is excellent at rehydrating the body

Categories: Baking, Cakes, Nutrition, photography, Recipes, Treats, Vegan, Wales | Tags: coconut, dairy free, plantbased, recipe, thebeachhousekichen, veganism | 12 Comments

Happy Birthday Blueberry & Spelt Slices (and brownies and cookies…)

Posted on May 19, 2015 by leroy watson

Hi everyone it’s Jane here!

I have snuck into the beach house kitchen blog to post this in complete secret…

So without further ado, a Big Beach House-y Happy Birthday to you Lee!

I made some chocolate brownies, blueberry slices and some of Lee’s brazil nut and spelt chocolate chip cookies from ‘Peace and Parsnips’ for the special day! Lee is working today so they had to be gorgeous but transportable and that’s why I opted for the kind you can cut into squares and share around…. Roll on the 10 o’clock tea break down at the Retreat Centre!

brazil nut choc chip cookies from ‘Peace and Parsnips’

Cooking these cakes was so much fun, and I had such a great time covering the kitchen in flour(!) while sieving and grooving to a very cool album… not so much fun clearing up, but I felt compelled to share with you the experience anyway and post some pictures so that you can be with us from afar!

I love baking, and I tend to start with a recipe from a cookbook and see what happens…. Sometimes I go way off-piste and create something totally new, other times I stick to the recipe religiously. Both are interesting and produce unexpected results…!

The blueberry slices recipe originally came from ‘The Vegan Baker’ by Dunja Gulin and I changed it in a couple of places, but gosh I recommend you try it! I munched on a quick slice with a cup of tea this afternoon (pure research you know, checking to see if they were cooked properly..!) and they were delicious!

Lee’s birthday blueberry spelt slices

The Bits

260g/ 2 cups unbleached spelt flour

65g/ ½ cup plain wholemeal / wholewheat flour

1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda

1 ½ teaspoons baking powder

¼ teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon

a few pinches of ground turmeric

250ml plain soya yoghurt

30ml soya milk

170g / 2/3 cup maple syrup

100g coconut oil (melted)

1 lemon (freshly squeezed juice and zest)

1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar

2 cups blueberries

Do It

Sift the dry ingredients into a bowl and mix together (that’s the flours, bicarbonate of soda, baking powder, salt, vanilla powder, cinnamon and turmeric).

Combine the wet ingredients in a separate bowl (that’s everything apart from the fruit, because that goes on top). You may need to mash the coconut oil with a fork a little to get it to mix.

Mix them together really gently keeping the air inside the mixture, if it looks a little dry here you can add a tiny more soya milk.

Gently spoon into a baking pan (23cm x 30cm is best) and get it fairly level without squashing the mixture down (the aim is to keep the air in the mixture). Scatter the fresh blueberries over the top making sure there are gaps between to stop the cake going soggy.

Put the cake into pre-heated oven (180 degrees, gas 4 or 375 farenheit) for 30-35 minutes and when it comes out it should be golden on top.

Allow it to cool in the pan and once it is nearly cold gently lift onto a wire rack. When it has cooled completely you can cut it into squares. Mine were nice big squares and I got 16.

Serve

Lovely warm, drizzled with a little more maple syrup…Yummm!

Enjoy the pictures, and if you have a chance and would like to leave Lee a message that would be fabulous!

Have a great Day,

Love Jane Xx

Ps Thanks Dunja for great recipe idea from your book 🙂 Love it!

Categories: Recipes, Special Occasion, Treats, Uncategorized, Vegan | Tags: baking, dairy free, dessert, recipe, vegan | 6 Comments

Spiced Pear and Flax Seed Scones

Posted on April 11, 2012 by leroy watson

Indian Scones

It’s fair to say, I’m not a traditionalist. I like to keep things interesting. I reckon the ‘good old days’ can always be bettered, especially when baking.

This is another fusion/experiment from the Beach House Kitchen. Which worked quite nicely. You need to try these things, the first guy to make carrot cake probably raised a few stuffy eyebrows.

The scones is a British classic, my favourite Mum recipe was Walnut and Date, but I’ve decided to take it to India. The inspiration to have a mess with the humble scone came after a day of scone making at work, I found it all quite therapeutic. Combining the butter with the flour is a very earthy activity.

White flour, sugar and butter is not my kind of nutritional mix, so I’ve changed it to be gentler and better to the body and I think it adds flavour also. I have added ghee instead of butter, mainly because I have some delicious Pukka ghee at the minute, that graces all it touches. Ghee also has many health attributes. There are also soaked flax seeds here, that are super for our digestive system. Then the spices, conjuring up an Indian chai stall, star anise and cinnamon….. All in all, not your average scone experience.

All that's missing is a scone

Scones are super easy to make and as with most cakes, gentle handling is a must. The less hands, the lighter the cake. I made one large scone, then cut it up into slightly abstract shapes. This saves on waste dough and a bit of messing around. It also keeps the scones lighter (although with brown flour, they are heavier than their white cousins).

The weights don’t have to be exact, but do your best. This recipe will make one large scones, approx. 8 when cut up.

Because we have used ghee here, this recipe is suitable for lactose intolerant munchers also.

These are a robust scone, with lovely spiced fruit and the rich flavour of ghee.

The Bits

250g Wholemeal flour, 75g good Ghee, 2 big tbs of honey (more if you are a sweet heart), 2 teas baking powder, 3 teas flax seeds (soaked overnight in water and well-drained), 2 pears chopped into small cubes, 2 tbs of water, 1 star anise, 1/2 teas cinnamon, 1/2 teas all spice, 1 clove, 1 teas finely chopped ginger, 1 teas good vanilla extract (worth spending here!), 2 organic beaten eggs, heavy pinch of salt.

Do It

Preheat oven to 200oC

Heat a pan, medium heat, add a little ghee, fry your pears gently for a few minutes, then add all spices to the pan and the splash of water, stir in. Cover and cook pears on low until tender, letting the spices infuse. The cooking time will depend of the ripeness and type of pear. They should nicely soft when ready. Turn off heat and stir in your honey, it should melt and form a sticky sauce. Remove the star anise and clove. Leave to cool.

In a large bowl, add flour, baking powder, salt and drop small lumps of ghee in, coat the lumps in the flour and work in rubbing ghee between thumb and finger tips. This will take a few minutes to combine and form a breadcrumb-like texture.

Add vanilla extract to the flour, mix your flax seeds into the pears and add, then your eggs, fold into mix (gently). Using a table knife to mix is advised here. It should be soft and sticky, if it’s too dry add a touch of milk (we used soya). Form the mix into a large ball and turn out onto a floured, cool surface. Dust your hands with flour and get involved, with tenderness. Gently massage the mix into a large flat round, approx 1 inch tall. This should rise a little. Dust the top with a little flour and transfer (easiest to move with two flat spatulas) onto a grease baking tray (greased with Ghee that is).

Flax seeds after a good soaking.

(I have tried brushing on melted honey and ghee with a pinch of cinnamon at this stage, which worked a treat.)

Bake, without opening the door, for around 15 minutes, until the top is nice and golden. Remove and place on a wire rack to cool.

One big scone, a giant leap forward for all scone makers.

Serve

We had ours hot (hot is best) with Greek yoghurt, some homemade rhubarb compote and hazelnuts. Rather nice. They will compliment a nice Indian chai or like any good scone, your cuppa of choice.

Smothered in good things.

We Love It!

This is another, almost guilt free desert. It is healthier and I think tastes better for it! What you lose in lightness of the scone, you gain in a sense of well-being in the belly.

Foodie Fact

Honey is quite incredible. Especially when you think of the process involved in acquiring it from our friends, the bees. Honey is my preferred sweetener, not only due to its wonderful flavour, but there are many health benefits to honey. Caster sugar is a little limp in comparison.

Honey is full of good sugars, mainly fructose. It’s fat-free and cholesterol free. It also contains many amino acids and minerals. The higher the mineral content, the better quality honey. This can be measured through conductivity. Manuka Honey is the best (yet another reasons to go to New Zealand) with the best conductivity.

Honey also has antiseptic qualities, meaning that in many ancient civilizations, honey was used on wounds and to treat many ailments. This makes a mockery of the ‘consume by’ dates on jars bought from supermarkets. As we know, most of these dates are ridiculous and lead to a large amount of needless food wastage.

If you have a little spare cash, try to buy good quality honey. Gales and other large honey producers actually feed their bees processed sugars and burn them when they have produced! It is quite a startling image, the bee equivalent of battery farm hens.

Here are 11 interesting facts about Honey:

http://www.benefits-of-honey.com/honey-benefits.html

Categories: Baking, Cakes, Desserts, Healthy Eating, Low G.I. (glycemic index), Recipes, Snacks and Inbetweens, Treats | Tags: amino acids, baking, brown flour, digestive system, experiment, flax seed, food, gales, ghee, greek yoghurt, guilt free, healthy cake, honey, honey bees, india, indian chai, manuka honey, pear, pukka organic ghee, scones, spices, star anise, treats | Leave a comment

Purple Moose Brewery (Bragdy Mws Piws) – Our local brew

Posted on April 7, 2012 by leroy watson

http://www.purplemoose.co.uk/pmb_home.htm

I have encountered few better pints in my time and never a Purple Moose. These are delicious ales, some of the finest in Britain, making them the finest beers in the world (or am I slightly bias?!).

Purple Moose are lovely folk brewing an award-winning range of beers just down the road in Porthmadog, North Wales. They brew four ales throughout the year with regular specials, available to buy in bottles or by the cask. We have been looking for an excuse to buy a whole cask for the Beach House! Anybody fancy a barbecue?

Purple Moose beers are always interesting and full of character, reflected in the brew names which started with ‘Startled Moose’ and also include such classics as ‘Dark Side of the Moose’ (they are Pink Floyd fans), ‘Madog’s Ale’, ‘Myrica Gale’, ‘Old Wobbly Antlers’ and at Christmas time ‘Merry X-Moose’.

The ‘Myrica Gale’ is particularly interesting, brewed with Halletau Hops and Welsh bog myrtle this is a brilliant, malty dark ale which has hints of Marmite. The Myrtle adds an almost aniseed-y flavour. You won’t have tried anything like this.

I love my dark ales and stouts, so the ‘Dark Side of the Moon’ is a real winner. Described as ‘chestnut-hued, malty, nutty and chocolaty’. It has recently won a golden fork at the Great Taste Awards 2011. With the temperature rising, I hear there is a summer elderflower pale bitter coming. I’m getting thirsty.

The Range

‘Purple is my favourite colour and everyone loves a moose, don’t they?’ says Lawrence Washington the man behind the moose. It all started as a little jokey ‘brand’ being brewed in Lawrence’s home. He thankfully decided to make these beers on a commercial basis in a former saw mill. Six years on and they have recently celebrated their 1000th brew.

What I love about real beers, wines, foods etc like Purple Moose is the tale behind them. There is always an interesting human story behind all quality produce, normally a tale of passion and commitment that defies logic and reason. You have to be slightly nutty to commit your life to good beer, cheese, carrots etc.

We are not drinking much alcohol at the minute, which makes us savour great beer even more. We are incredibly lucky to have the Purple Moose just down the road. They never fail us for quality beers and quirky names. If you can’t get hold of Purple Moose locally, you can now buy cases on-line.

Iechyd da! (pronounced ‘Yechidda’, Welsh for ‘Cheers!’)

Don’t just take our word for it, see the Purple Moose trophy cabinet here:

http://www.purplemoose.co.uk/pmb_awards.htm

Foodie Fact

Real ale contains folates, which are good for the brain, heart and bones.

Categories: Local food, Treats, Wales, Welsh produce, Wine and Booze | Tags: beer, Bragdy Mws Piws, camra, dark ales, food heros, great taste awards, Iechyd da, moose, pink floyd, pink floyd fans, purple moose, real ale, taste awards, wales | 2 Comments

Abigail’s Apple and Pumpkin Vegan Loaf

Posted on February 6, 2012 by leroy watson

The heavyweight cake

This is cake in loaf shape.

If you’re looking for something that goes well with a cup of tea, tastes amazing and does your body some good, this fruity loaf’s for you.

I took this recipe from Abigail’s blog http://tofuandflowers.blogspot.com/ which has a lot better pictures than mine and importantly, the loaf seemed to have turned out well. Although I did change and add to the original. As you can see, my didn’t rise particularly well, I put it down to not having baking powder! Otherwise, this is a very simple cake recipe and very tasty.

This loaf really packs a punch! It’s a heavyweight and really feels like ‘food’, not just a dessert. Its packed full of fruit and nutrition, no dairy and only has a little added sweetness.

I used honey instead of agave, which I prefer.

With this amount of mixture, I made one big loaf and six small muffins, although Abigail seemed to have fed the five thousand!!!

The Bits

Dry Ingredients: 1 c. oatmeal (plus more to sprinkle on top), 1 1/2 c. whole wheat flour, 1/2 c. white flour, 2 tsp. baking powder, 1/2 tsp. baking soda, 1 tsp. salt, 1/2 tsp. nutmeg, 1/4 tsp. allspice, 1 1/2 tsp. cinnamon, 1/2 c. chopped apple (about 1/3 of a large apple; use the rest with the wet ingredients), 1 c. chopped walnuts (or hazelnuts)
Wet Ingredients: 1 1/2 c. roasted pumpkin, 1 banana, 1 1/2 tsp. fresh grated ginger, 1 c. chopped apple (about 2/3 of a large apple, what you have left over from the wet ingredients), 1/2 c. agave (or 2 tbs honey), 3/4 c. coconut milk (half of a can), 1 1/2 tsp. almond extract, 1 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract.

Do It

Get your pumpkin nicely soft and coloured in a pan and set aside, then:

1. Preheat oven to 200oC. Oil and flour a large loaf tin and muffin tray.
2. In a large bowl, stir together all dry ingredients except the nuts and 1/2 c. chopped apple.
3. In a blender, blend together all wet ingredients (including the 1 c. chopped apple).
4. Mix the pumpkin into the dry ingredients. Once almost completely combined, add the chopped walnuts and apples. Mix up with a nice wooden spoon.
5. Divide the batter evenly between the loaf pan and muffin tray. Sprinkle oatmeal on top of the batter and press the oats into the batter a little.
6. Bake for about 30 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. The loaf will take longer than the muffins.
7. Remove from oven, and cover loaves (still inside their pans) tightly with foil. Allow to steam for 10 minutes. Remove foil, and turn out onto a cooling rack. Cool completely.

Serve

With a dollop of creamy yoghurt.

We Love It

This is a lovely moist spiced nibble at this time of year. Its pretty much guilt free (if you get guilty about eating food) and is almost a meal in itself.

Foodie Fact

Cinnamon, originally from Sri Lanka, is a wonder bark. It has the highest levels of anti-oxidant strength of all foods. Cinnamon is also anti-inflammatory, anti-septic, rich in minerals and is proven to be soothing. In Ayurveda, Cinnamon is used to treat diabetes, colds and indigestion.