pear cake

Serves 12

Poppy bakes…

1. Preheat oven to 180º and prepare a cake tin.
   
   
2. In a mixing bowl combine
   250g gluten-free plain flour,
   1/2 teaspoon baking powder and
   pinch of celtic sea salt.
   
   
3. Place
   250g coconut sugar into Thermomix and mill 20 seconds / speed 10.
   
4. Insert butterfly whisk; then add
   250g nuttelex and mix 3 minutes / speed 3.
   
   
5. Add
   4 eggs,
   1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract and
   zest of 1/4 lemon on speed 3 until combined.
   
   
6. Pour the wet mixture into the dry, and combine using a spatula.
   
   
7. Gently fold through
   3 packham pears, peeled and diced.
   
   
8. Pour mixture into the cake tin and bake for 50 minutes.

strawberry cake

Serves 10

Ingredients

250g fresh strawberries

1/2 cup coconut sugar

1/2 cup EVOO

1 egg

1.5 cups gluten-free self raising flour

1/2 cup rice milk

Method

1. Line a medium loaf tin or cake tin with baking paper
2. Halve enough strawberries to cover tin and set aside. Chop remaining strawberries
3. Beat together sugar, oil and egg on high for 5-8 minutes until thick and creamy
4. Fold in flour and milk
5. Fold in chopped strawberries
6. Pour mixture into tin and top with halved strawberries
7. Bake in a 170˚C oven for 70 minutes or until a skewer comes out clean
8. Stand to cool before serving

Notes
For added texture to this light and fluffy cake, try adding quinoa flakes!

blueberry muffin top cookies

Makes approximately 30 cookies

My husband was very accurate in describing these cookies as tasting like muffin tops! They aren't your usual crunchy cookie but soft just like the best part of any blueberry muffin. The brand of coconut yoghurt and gluten free flour you use will impact on the texture of the cookies, but regardless, they are yum.

Poppy bakes...

1. Preheat oven to 190°C and line baking tray with baking paper
   
   
2. Using a spatula, mix together
   1 cup coconut sugar and 
   1.5 cups coconut yoghurt.
   
   
3. Add
   1 egg and
   1 teaspoon vanilla essence and mix together, then set aside.
   
   
4. Stir together
   2 cups gluten free plain flour,
   2 teaspoons baking powder and
   1/2 teaspoon celtic sea salt.
   
   
5. Add wet ingredients to dry and fold together.
   
   
6. Gently fold in
   1 punnet / 1 cup blueberries.
   
   
7. Spoon desired sized mounds on to baking paper with adequate space in between and bake for 10-20 minutes or until golden.
   
   
8. Cool cookies on a wire rack before eating.

For an energy boosting snack, team these cookies with a glass of coconut water

Notes
These cookies are beautifully soft with a slightly chewy texture, so be sure to carefully lift them off the baking tray using a flat spatula when placing them on a wire rack to cool.

tropical crumble

Serves 8

Ingredients: fruit mixture

1 mango, cubed

1 pineapple, cubed

3 tablespoons coconut sugar

1 vanilla pod, de-seeded

Ingredients: crumble 

1 cup gluten-free flour

1/4 cup coconut sugar

5 tablespoons nuttelex

1/2 cup fine desiccated coconut - toasted

Method

1. Combine mango, pineapple, coconut sugar and vanilla pod in a baking tray and bake for 20 minutes
2. Combine flour and nuttelex using a fork
3. Add coconut sugar and coconut and combine
4. Freeze crumble mixture for 10 minutes
5. Top fruit with crumble mixture and bake for 20 minutes or until golden brown

Notes

If you want to make individual serves, simply spoon the fruit into ramekins before topping with crumble mixture and baking in the oven. You can also halve the amount of desiccated coconut and substitute with quinoa flakes.

kitchen scale

I am in love with my new kitchen scale - a retro styled Anna Gare Lucy Mechanical Scale 5kg/20g in the vintage white and blue colour.

I am quite a lucky girl when it comes to kitchenware as my mum works in the kitchenware section of David Jones (for those of you not in Australia, David Jones is one of the large department stores here). I had been researching all the different types of kitchen scales, both digital and mechanical, trying to evaluate the best functioning and most aesthecially pleasing product.

My mum soon informed me that some digital scales are "designed" to last a specific amount of time. My best gauge of whether to buy a product, is to ask my mum how often that product gets returned in their store. As it turns out, digital scales are returned more often than mechanical scales. In addition, mechanical scales are cheaper than digital scales - or at least cheaper than the ones worth buying as I hear the really cheaper digital ones aren't very good. I purchased this Anna Gare one for $49.95.

It now sits in my kitchen, performing its task as would be expected, whilst looking pretty. Highly recommended!

popcorn cacao squares

Makes approximately 12 squares

Ingredients

8 pitted medjool dates

1/2 cup finely desiccated coconut

3/4 cup raw organic cacao powder

3/4 cup coconut oil

2 teaspoons honey

2 cups organic popcorn with salt

Method

1. Finely chop dates and then blend into a smooth paste
2. Over a low heat combine dates, desiccated coconut, cacao powder, coconut oil and honey
3. Take mixture off the heat and stir through popcorn
4. Spread into a slice tin and set in the freezer for 20 minutes
5. Remove from freezer and cut into desired squares

Notes
This sweet snack not only tastes good, but is packed full of flavonoids which act as natural antioxidants!