Pineapple Cupcakes with Coconut Cream Filling and Lime Frosting

After the success of our Hot Chocolate Cupcakes a few weeks ago, I immediately began thinking of my next cupcake creation of Mr B's lunches. I started throwing around some ideas involving pineapple and lime and the obvious addition to that was coconut. I am really happy with the way these turned out - the pineapple cupcakes with their chunks of juicy pineapple, the creamy coconut filling and the subtle hint of lime in the frosting, plus Mr B demolished the one I gave him to try so I'm thinking I might have done something right!

Pineapple Cupcakes with Coconut Cream Filling and Lime Cream Cheese Frosting - Makes 16

For the pineapple cupcakes you will need: 

1.5 cups plain flour

1 tspn baking powder
1/2 tspn salt
115g butter
3/4 cup caster sugar
1 tspn vanilla
2 eggs
225g tin of crushed pineapple

Pre-heat oven to 180C and line a muffin tin with liners.

In the bowl and an electric mixer, cream the butter, sugar and vanilla until pale and creamy.

Add the eggs and beat well.

Add the flour, baking powder and salt. Beat until combined.

Add in the crushed pineapple, including the juice. Mix until all the ingredients are combined.

Fill the liners 2/3 full with batter.

Bake for 15-20 mins or until they bounce back when touched. Allow them to cool in the pan for 5 mins, before removing to wire racks to finish cooling.

For the coconut cream filling you will need:

100 ml of coconut cream (not coconut milk)

Using a teaspoon or a melon baller, remove a small section from the centre of the cupcake and set aside.

Fill with a teaspoon of the coconut cream.

Replace the section of cupcake that you cut out and press down.

For the lime frosting you will need:

Zest and juice of 1 lime
120g cream cheese, softened
125g butter softened
2.5 - 3 cups of icing sugar

In the bowl of an electric mixer, beat the butter until pale.

Add the lime zest, cream cheese and icing sugar and beat until smooth and creamy.

Pipe or spread onto your cupcakes.

And the most important part, sit down and enjoy!!!

Mrs B xx

Pineapple and Coconut Slice

See I told you I wouldn't make you wait long! 

It all started a few days ago when Mr B and I were at the supermarket. I was scouring the dried fruit section looking for my 'go-to' mix of mango, blueberries and cranberries but alas they were all out, so I hesitantly asked Mr B if he would eat dried apricots in a slice...the look he gave me was enough to know the answer was not so much 'no', but 'hell no'. Just when I was about to give up and buy him a jam roll off the clearance table, he piped up with a very meek 'but I do like dried pineapple....' 

It wasn't until I got home and thought about it that I realised I wasn't entirely sure what to do with dried pineapple. A quick google search only gave me a million web sites on how to make dried pineapple or how to make dried pineapple flowers, which looked fascinating, but not quite what I was after. Luckily Mr B had gone to a poker game for the evening so I had plenty of time to figure it out. 

I was thinking slice and I was thinking pineapple and coconut so I decided to have a play around with a recipe for Almond Slice (obviously minus the almonds) and you know what, it turned out pretty good! 

For the base you will need:

1/2 cup brown sugar

125g butter (melted)

1 cup plain flour

Pre-heat oven to 160C. 

Combine all the ingredients in a bowl and press into the bottom of a lined and greased slice tin. Bake for 12- 15 mins.

While that is baking make your topping...

For the topping you will need:

1/4 cup milk

90g butter 

1/2 cup dessicated coconut

1/3 cup brown sugar

200g dried pineapple 

Combine all ingredients in a bowl and microwave for 3 minutes, stirring half way through. Give it a good stir and microwave for a further 60 seconds. 

Pour over the cooked base and put back in the oven for 10-15 mins. 

When it is done, let it sit on the counter to cool before you try and slice it.

This slice is so yummy, with it's brown sugar shortbread base and chewy pineapple and coconut topping, it doesn't matter if you have it hot out of the oven with some whipped cream or straight out of the fridge, it's delicious either way! 

Mrs B xx

Super Easy Tuna Chow Mein

Ok so I forgot to take a photo....

It may be because tuna chow mein is one of my favourite dishes....

It may be because I was starving hungry....

It may be because I was slightly excited about passing my motorcycle learners only a few hours earlier...

Whatever the reason, I still forgot and I apologise.

Let me make it up to you by giving you the recipe to create this delicious dish for yourself :)

You will need:

1/2 cabbage diced
2 small tins of light tuna
1 tin of baby corn cuts
1 red capsicum diced
1 onion diced
1 carrot diced
2 tspns curry powder
225g pineapple pieces drained
1 pkt oriental flavoured noodles

Brown your onion in a fry pan over medium heat. Add curry powder and cook for 2-3 mins or until fragrant.

Add in cabbage, corn cuts, capsicum, carrot, broken up noodle cake and flavouring sachet and 2-3 cups of water. Place the lid on the fry pan and allow to simmer for 20 mins stirring occasionally.

After 20 mins add in the tuna and pineapple and mix in well.

Allow to simmer for another 10-15 mins or until the cabbage is cooked and soft, the majority of the water should have been absorbed.

OH and I get two large bowls and one small bowl for the next days lunch out of this recipe :)

It is a great hearty winter dish and it's low in cals!! It's also my Mum's recipe and one of my favourite dishes from when I was little so I hope you all enjoy it as much as I do!

Em x

Pineapple Self Saucing Pudding

It looks good doesn't it.

Granted I should have got a photo before OH attached it with cream and ice cream but you know it looks good, you know that pudding is hot and golden and delicious and you know that the first spoonful you have will be filled with light fluffy pudding, thick pineapple sauce and a hint of cream and it's just going to make you all fuzzy inside :)

So this is how it's done!

Pineapple Self Saucing Pudding
1/2 cup dessicated coconut
1 tspn lemon juice
1/2 cup caster sugar
3 eggs (seperated)
2 tbspns self raising flour
1 large can of pineapple pieces drained
1 cup milk
60g butter

In the bowl of an electric mixer combine the butter, sugar, lemon juice and egg yolks. Beat until thick and creamy. Slowly add in the flour, milk and coconut. Beat until combined. Stir in the pineapple.

Beat the egg whites until stiff peaks form and fold into pineapple mixture.

Pour into an oven proof dish and bake at 160C for 40 mins or until firm.

Dust with icing sugar if desired and serve with cream.

I have never made a cake / pudding that has so little flour in it and relied pretty much on the egg whites but oh my goodness, it was so light and fluffy. The pineapple sauce was thick and delicious and the addition of coconut to the mix made this pudding a true tropical delight!

Hope you're all enjoying your weekend!

Em x

Apple and Pineapple Danish

Now you could eat this on the run for brekkie or you could eat it piping hot drizzled with custard, you could even serve it up at a swanky breakfast / morning tea / afternoon tea and dazzle everyone with how you just 'whipped these up' in a matter of seconds! ...gotta love a versatile dish!

Ok so you will need:

About 2 cups of diced pineapple (drained)
1 small tin of pie apple
1/2 cup of brown sugar
100g butter
3-4 sheets of puff pastry

In a saucepan over medium heat, melt the butter and sugar together. Add the apple and pineapple and stir until everything is well combined and well coated.

Pre heat your oven to 160 (fan forced)

Grase and line two baking trays.

Cut each sheet of pastry into quarters. Along each quarter place a tablespoon of the mix in a diagonal line. Bring the other two corners together and seal.

When the danishes are all done, brush with a little egg wash and bake for around 15 mins or until golden and gorgeous!

Enjoy!

Em x

Baking is good for the soul

Well it has been a turbulent few days. OH is still interstate and it has caused some dramas at home and things are abit all over the place. I'm quite capable of coping when he is away because he does it for work all the time, but when he is away and we are arguing and it's all done over text, I can't cope with that, so yesterday I left work at 11am feeling like my head was going to explode. And there was only one thing I wanted to do, bury myself in the kitchen up to my elbows in eggs, butter, flour and sugar! So I made a quick stop at the supermarket and went home to get stuck into it.

First on my to do list were some vegemite and cheese scrolls. I used a packet of pastry mix (lazy yes I know!) but for the first time I made it up using the dough hooks in my electric mixer, and what a difference it made. The dough had a much better consistency and was easier to work with. Once the dough was complete, I rolled it into something that resembled a rectangle and slathered it in vegemite and a generous helping of grated cheese. Then I rolled it all up, cut into slices and baked in the oven for about 20 mins until they looked like this:



I normall hate vegemite with a passion (promite girl through and through) but the smell that filled the house while these were baking was pretty damn good! Plus these scrolls last forever in the freezer.

Next on the list was some pineapple jelly cupcakes. In my head I wanted to make the jelly and then when it was cool, combine with a few tbspns of the cake mix and swirl it through, similar to the raspberry wedding cupcakes. But I was soon to learn that this just wasn't gonna work. I think I had my jelly to cake consistency all wrong and it just wouldn't swirl. But they still came out of the oven as perfect lil buttercake cupcakes, so instead I combined a few tbspns of the jelly / cake mix with about 1/2 cup of vanilla frosting and put it back in the fridge to set. This turned out to be a much better option because you now have the light fluffy buttercake base and the creamy vanilla and pineapple frosting...yay!! Plus they look kinda pretty : )



Then it was time for a dinner break so I threw come cucumber, tomato and green capsicum in a bowl with a Sanitarium Not Burger that I had cooked in the oven. Mmmmmmm



But my urge for baking was still not satisfied and I had been craving carrot cake lately, god knows why, I haven't had carrot cake for years and years. Plus I also had the urge to make an actual full size cake instead of cupcakes for a change. I was pretty proud of the result for my first effort. I poured a vanilla glaze over the cake once it was cooled and I have just finished having a slice for my morning tea and it is heavenly. Soft, moist, full of flavour, and the glaze is enough to give it a hint of sweetness without taking away from the flavour of the cake itself.



And after all that, my head was clear. I still had no answers, nothing was resolved, but for the mean time I didn't feel like the world was closing in around me. So I went to bed, thankful that between my Dad and my workmates someone would eat all the food that would be coming out of my kitchen in the next few days!

Em x