Pumpkin Porridge Whoopie Pies

I have been mega keen to make something with pumpkin and oats....pumpkin and oat cookies, pumpkin and oat bread, just pumpkin and oat SOMETHING!! I eventually decided on pumpkin and oat cookies and whilst I was making them they kind of turned into pumpkin porridge sandwich cookies and then when they were done I realised they were actually pumpkin porridge whoopie pies, but despite having a serious identity crisis, they are yummy! 

 

Pumpkin Porridge Whoopie Pies

1/3 cup rolled oats

1 cup cooked mashed pumpkin

1/2 tspn Cinnamon

1/2 tspn Allspice

1/2 cup packed dark brown sugar

1 egg

60g butter

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1 cup all purpose flour

Pre-heat oven to 150C and grease and line two baking trays.

Combine the oats, spices and pumpkin in a microwave proof dish and cook on high for 3-4 mins or until oats are tender. 

Using an electric mixer, beat the butter until pale and creamy. Add the sugar and continue to beat until you reach a smooth consistency. Add the egg ans vanilla and beat well.

In a separate bowl, gently stir together the porridge, flour, baking powder and baking soda until the ingredients are just combined. Add to the butter mixture and beat until well combined.

Drop by rounded tablespoons onto the baking trays and bake for 12-14 minutes. They should look like little mini lumpy (from the oats and pumpkin!) pancakes when they are done.

Now for the filling you will need

80g butter

1 tbspn maple syrup

1 tbspn brown sugar

2 tbspn icing sugar

Beat the butter in the bowl of an electric mixer until pale and creamy. Add remaining ingredients and beat until smooth.

Now that your whoopie pies have completely cooled, divide them up into pairs of roughly equal size and shape.

Spread the flat side of one whoopie pie from each pair with the filling and sandwich together with the other whoopie pie. Place in the fridge for an hour or so for the filling to firm up.

And now for the best part - make a cup of tea, sit down, relax and enjoy!

Mrs B xx 

Pumpkin Pancakes

Ohhhh yeah these thick, fluffy pumpkin pancakes drenched in maple syrup are the perfect thing to eat with a piping hot cup of tea, whilst laying in bed, watching the rain outside, snuggled up to the person you love....or you could just eat them on your own, whatever takes your fancy....


Thick and Fluffy Pumpkin Pancakes
3/4 cup plain flour
1/5 tspn baking powder
1/4 tspn baking soda
1 tspn mixed spice
1/2 tspn ground ginger
3 tbspn maple syrup plus extra for serving
1/4 cup pumpkin puree
3/4 cup milk
1 large egg
1/2 tsp vanilla extract

In a large bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, ginger and mixed spice.

Add the maple syrup, pumpkin, milk, egg and vanilla and whisk until smooth.

Heat a nonstick fry pan over medium heat or if you have one, a pancake maker and grease with a little butter.

Drop tablespoons of batter into the pan and cook until golden. If using the fry pan you will need to then flip and cook the other side until golden.

Serve immediately with butter and maple syrup.

This recipe makes 6-8 good sized pancakes so depending on the size of your pancake stacks, would easily serve 2-4....or even just 1!!

Hope you are all having a fantastic week!

Em x

Maple and Date Cake

Ohhh this is such a lovely, light, delicious and moist cake. Works for a morning / afternoon tea or for dessert drizzled with extra maple syrup and cream....oohhh yum yum yum!!

Maple and Date Cake

This made two normal sized round cakes :)

100g butter
200g pitted dried dates, finely chopped
1/2 cup maple syrup
1/2 cup water
1 cup milk
2 1/2 cups self-raising flour
2 eggs
1/4 cup extra maple syrup

Preheat oven to 200°C and grease two round cake tins or 1 loaf tin.

Place the butter, dates, maple syrup and water in a microwave safe dish and microwave for 3-4 mins (or until the butter is melted) stirring every 60 seconds.

Once the butter is melted and everything is combined, remove from the micorwave and stir in the milk.

Stir flour into the date mixture. Add eggs and stir until just combined. Don't overmix though - the mixture should be lumpy (from the dates...not from your flour!)

Spoon mixture evenly into the prepared pan(s) and bake in preheated oven for 20-25 minutes or until browned and cooked through when tested with a skewer.

Turn cake(s) onto a wire rack and drizzle with the extra maple syrup while still warm so it soaks in.

Enjoy!

Em x

Berry Wonderful Delights!

Ok so what do you do when you buy a 1kg box of frozen berries purely because they are only $3 I hear you ask? You make some wonderful goodies with them!

Firsty, my fave brekkie over the holidays has involved chucking a handful of berries in the microwave till they are all syrupy, pouring them over a bowl of no fat yoghurt, and drizzling with maple syrup, totally delicious and filling!

But then, as previous mentioned, I got to thinking about OH and his no pudding eating dilema....seeing as he ate all the ice cream I made, could I really sit there and let him watch me eat dessert all week? Probably not...well I could, but it would definetly lower my enjoyment of the whole thing, so I decided to make a new twist on one of his favourite desserts. I covered the base of a baking dish with the frozen berries, drizzled them with maple syrup (yes I am going through a maple syrup phase...) and poured over a prepared butter cake mix. Chucked it in the oven for about 40 mins and there you have it, Berry and Maple Pudding...oh it smelt and looked delicious!


And this morning, seeing as tomorrow is our last day of holidays, we thought we should get our act together and try our brand spanking new waffle maker (thanks Mum and Dad!!). So I sent OH out to pick some raspberries from behind our shed (I know - who knew we had raspberry canes!!) and I made the waffle batter. The batters in the instruction book were all about seperating this and beating that and blah blah blah, who wants to do that on a Sunday morning? Instead I made this recipe which makes 4 large waffles.

1 1/3 cups self raising flour
2 tspns baking powder
2 tbspns sugar
2 eggs
1 tspn vanilla
1/2 cup milk

Mix the dry ingredients in a bowl. Combine egg, vanilla and milk and add to mix. It will make a fairly thick mixture so don't be alarmed like I was at first!

Then you just pre heat your waffle maker and spoon it in, as it's a thick mixture, I just put a big blob in the middle and try and spread it out as best as possible, but remember it will spread out on its own.


So this morning we had them with fresh raspberries, maple syrup (I really must see someone about this....) and a dollop of light cream (I never knew they had light dollop cream either, I'm so behind!) and they were delicious! It's going to be very hard to go back to frozen raspberries and store brought ones because the fresh ones are just heaven!

Just a few quick and easy ways to make some berry-licious treats!!

Em x