Chocolate-Cherry-Berry Dessert Pizzas

Last Saturday my niece came to visit from down south, so we got the kids' friends over for a pizza party to celebrate. There were at least 20 teenagers, plus a few other younger kids, and we all had a lot of fun!

To make the food side of things simpler, I got them to all bring pizza toppings to share. They chopped up the toppings while I made enough spelt pizza dough for about 20 pizzas (easy peasy in the Thermomix!), and then they all made their own pizzas. (In between soccer games, board games, remote control aeroplane flying, chatting, laughing, singing, and everything else!) So much more fun than buying pizzas, not to mention cheaper, healthier and yummier. Oh, and in case you're wondering, we used two ovens - mine and mum's - she just lives two doors down. :)

I also made mango sorbets with magic chocolate topping (see 'Day 7') for afternoon tea, which they loved, and no one complained about the lack of softdrink or junkfood, so they must be getting used to my strange ways! :D

After dinner I had a bit of a brainwave, and whipped up these dessert pizzas with the leftover pizza dough. I topped them with my homemade Chocolate Hazelnut Spread, some cherries and blueberries, zabliagone (a kind of egg yolk custard, no milk, a bit like sabayon), and flaked almonds. Delish!!

I used spelt bases for the kids, but if you're gluten free, don't despair. Use my recipe for Gluten Free Pizza Bases, adding 1 Tbspn of rapadura or coconut sugar to the batter. Blend it well so that the seeds are blended in. You could also use an almond meal pizza base recipe if you want a grain free, yeast free option. Try this one, leaving out the rosemary and garlic; swap the olive oil for macadamia oil, and add 2 tsp coconut sugar per base. See suggestions in recipe for a nut free version.

These pizzas are best served hot, so if you don't want to invite 20 hungry teenagers over for a party and your family won't eat three in one go, try this:

- Make the dough and divide into three portions; place remaining dough in bags and refrigerate or freeze dough for another day. (Dough can stay in fridge for up to a week.) 

- The chocolate spread will last in the fridge for a couple of weeks no problem, as will the cherries if left in the juice in the jar. The blueberries can be frozen. 

- Make zabliagone with 2 egg yolks, 1 tsp maple syrup and 1/2 tsp vanilla, for 10 mins cooking time total. 




Chocolate-Cherry-Berry Dessert Pizzas
Dairy free, with gluten and grain free options, and nut free option

(Makes 3 large pizzas)

Ingredients

Bases:
500g unbleached, plain spelt flour
2 tsp instant yeast
1 1/2 tsp fine sea salt
1 Tbspn Rapadura or coconut sugar
50g macadamia oil (or olive oil for nut free), plus extra for shaping dough
260g water

(or see gf options above)

Toppings:
1 batch of Chocolate Hazelnut Spread (or nut free chocolate spread/ganache, from this recipe)
  (freshly made - or use your own version of 'Nutella' or ganache)
1 800g jar of Morello cherries, drained
1 125g punnet fresh blueberries, rinsed
zabliagone (see below)
80g flaked almonds (or flaked coconut for nut free)

Zabliagone:
3 egg yolks
2 tsp pure maple syrup
1 1/2 tsp vanilla or almond extract

Method

Line 3 large pizza trays with baking paper, and set aside.

Place all base ingredients into mixing bowl and mix 6 sec/speed 6.

Knead on interval setting for 1 1/2 mins, then wrap dough loosely in Thermomat (or silicon bread mat, or place in oiled bowl and cover) and let it rest for 20 mins while you prepare the toppings.

Preheat oven to 200C, with pizza stones on racks if you have them.

After dough is risen, divide into three portions and press out into circles using a little more oil, and place on trays.

Divide chocolate hazelnut spread between the three pizzas and spread evenly over bases.

Scatter the cherries and blueberries over the pizzas, and set aside to rise while you make the zabliagone.

Zabliagone: Place egg yolks and maple syrup into mixing bowl, insert butterfly, and mix 6 mins/50C/speed 4. Add vanilla or almond extract and mix another 6 mins/50C/speed 4.

Drizzle pizzas with zabliagone and sprinkle over the flaked almonds.

Bake for approx 18-20 mins in hot oven on pizza stones (if you have them), until the zabliagone is lightly browned and the bases are cooked through.

Best served hot, while the base is crisp.

(Leftovers can be stored in the fridge in an airtight container, but they will get a bit soggy and the zabliagone will melt into the chocolate - although my kids don't complain! They still taste good.)

Quick & Easy Pancakes - 3 Ways

Someone mentioned to me the other day that they love my Blender Batter Pancakes recipe, but that sometimes they're in too much of a rush to do the whole 'prepare the night before' thing, and they needed a simple pancake recipe for times like that. I agree - I don't always soak the grains the night before, because pancakes are sometimes a spur of the moment thing. Like last night.

We arrived home from our road trip to Mackay in the afternoon, and I managed to scrounge through the fridge and freezer to find mince and veges for a quick dinner. But by 8pm I was hungry again. That's when it dawned on me that while I was away my mum had stocked up the big freezer with half a pig (homegrown by a friend and butchered locally). AND I had just bought a litre of organic pure maple syrup from Sprout in Townsville. Perfect. Pancakes, bacon and maple syrup, coming up! (Yes, I know, soup for breakfast and pancakes for supper... I'm weird like that.)

I used to work at a roadside cafe for a Canadian lady when I was 18, and she found it very strange that I didn't know how to make pancakes just off the top of my head. It made her quite impatient when I'd ask her 'How much flour was that again? How much milk?' So I soon learnt, and nowadays I don't usually measure, just chuck in a bit of this and a bit of that until they look right. But just in case you are like my 18 year old self and need a recipe, I've written out the measurements for you. Feel free to tweak to taste - more milk for thinner pancakes, less milk for thicker. And I've added a few variations, so you can pick between spelt, gluten free and grain free coconut flour pancakes. If you need an egg free or nut free variation, check out the notes below the recipes.

Enjoy!

Quick & Easy Pancakes

250g spelt flour (white and/or wholemeal) or 220g plain gluten free flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp fine sea salt
300g rice-almond milk or coconut milk (or alter amount depending on preferred thickness)
30g macadamia oil or soft butter
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 egg (optional - see notes)
coconut oil for cooking pancakes

Place dry ingredients into mixing bowl and blend 5 sec/speed 5.

Add remaining ingredients (except oil for cooking) and blend 10 sec/speed 5.

Heat a heavy based frying pan over medium-high heat and add 1-2 Tbsp coconut oil. Once it melts, pour in 10cm circles of pancake batter, and turn heat down slightly to make sure the pancakes don't burn.

Cook until bubbles are forming and popping in the batter, and edges are becoming crisp. Turn over and cook until lightly browned.

Remove pancakes to a plate, add another 1-2 Tbsp coconut oil, and continue cooking pancakes until batter is finished.

Serve hot with butter (opt) and pure maple syrup, or sprinkled with Rapadura or coconut sugar and freshly squeezed lemon juice. Leftover pancakes can be stored in an airtight container for up to 2 days and served with jam as pikelet, or reheated under the grill.

This batter also works well for waffles.

Notes:

To make these egg free you can use egg replacer, or chia eggs (1 Tbsp chia seeds + 3 Tbsp water), or half a mashed banana, or just add a little extra milk.

For nut free, use olive oil, coconut oil or butter, and coconut milk instead of rice almond milk.

Coconut Flour Pancakes

5 eggs
170g almond milk or coconut milk
70g coconut flour
30g macadamia oil
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/8 tsp fine sea salt
2 tsp baking powder

Place all the ingredients into the mixing bowl and blend 10 sec/speed 6. Scrape down sides of bowl and reblend briefly on speed 3 if needed.

Cook as above.

Notes:

To make almond milk, just mill 100g raw almonds 10 sec/speed 9, add 500g water and blend 
1 min/speed 9. No need to strain the milk for this recipe.

Coconut flour really needs the eggs to work, although maybe banana would work instead. 
I haven't tried that yet - let me know if you do!

For nut free, use soft butter or coconut oil instead of the macadamia oil, and coconut milk instead of almond milk.

Caramelized Onion & Olive Spelt Bread

On Sunday afternoon's I usually bake bread, and today was no exception, even though the weather was awfully hot and sticky, and I wasn't really sure I wanted to turn the oven on... My brain didn't seem to be working too well either, and it took me ages to decide what kind of bread to make. I finally came up with the idea of experimenting with caramelized onions in the Thermomix, so I could make some onion bread.

I know a lot of people love caramelized onions (including me!), but don't think they can make them in the Thermomix because of the low heat it cooks at. Well, I did it! They ended up so mild and sweet and delicious, and the bonus was I didn't have to stand over the hot stove stirring them.

I also added some garlic, herbs, and Kalamata olives to my bread for extra flavour, and it turned out lovely. The whole, gigantic loaf was quickly demolished tonight at supper after church. I was in a rush and didn't get a photo taken before I left home, but thankfully a friend loaned me their iphone so I managed to snap a couple of photos before it was all gone! Hope you like it as much as we did. :)

 

First make the bread dough.

1. Mix together all the dough ingredients on speed 6 for 6 seconds:

- 500g unbleached white spelt flour (or part wholemeal)

- 3 teaspoon instant dry yeast

- 30g extra virgin olive oil

- 1 or 2 teaspoons sea salt

- 2 tsps mixed herbs (dried)

- 270g lukewarm water

2. Turn dial to closed lid position, and knead on interval speed for 1 1/2 minutes.

3. Remove dough from bowl, wrap loosely in a silicon breadmat (or place in an oiled bowl, turning over once, and cover with plastic wrap). Leave the dough to rise while you prepare the onions.

[Note: you may need to change the amount of flour or water a little if you use wholemeal flour. It's best to have the dough a little bit sticky, but not so sticky that it's unworkable.]

Caramelizing the onions (and garlic) & preparing the olives.

1. Place in Thermomix bowl and chop on speed 5 for 3 seconds:

- 2 garlic cloves

- 2 large onions, halved

(I used brown onions, but red onions would be lovely too.)

2. Add ghee or butter and cook at Varoma temperature for 25 minutes, reverse, speed soft, with the MC off so steam can escape:

- 70g ghee or butter

3. You will find there is some browning on the bottom of the bowl - it will come off easily, just rub it off with the Thermomix spatula and mix it into the cooked onions. It adds flavour!

4. Set onions aside to cool a bit.

5. Roughly halve (and deseed) the olives and set aside:

- a couple of big handfuls of whole Kalamata olives

(or other olives if you prefer.)

Prepare the bread.

1. When the dough is risen (doubled in size), punch it down and flatten it out on the silicon bread mat with your hands, forming it into a large rectangle about 2 cms thick.

2. Sprinkle the dough with the olives and onion. (Scoop the onion out of the Thermomix bowl with the spatula, leaving the melted ghee/butter behind.)

 

3. Roll the bread up into a long loaf. Or roll up into a sausage shape then twist into a circle so the ends join up. (I made a roll, twisted it into a circle, then squished it together a bit to make a round loaf. Because my dough was soft and a little sticky, it molded together easily.)

4. Place loaf onto a baking paper lined tray, and brush with the remaining melted butter/ghee in the Thermomix bowl. Sprinkle with some extra herbs and some sea salt flakes. Place loaf into the cold oven.

 

5. Leave the bread for 5 to 10 minutes to rest, then turn oven on to 190 degrees C and cook for about 30 minutes, or until outside is browned and crusty, both on the top of the loaf and underneath. (In some ovens, you may need to turn the loaf over to brown underneath for the last 5 minutes.)

6. Allow to cool for a few minutes before cutting.

Almond Butter Choc Chip Cookies

Everybody loves chocolate chip cookies! But how to make them healthy? I was so excited when I found Rapadura sweetened dark chocolate chips in a local co-op store! This is a recipe I developed that I make now and then for a treat - they're wheat free, dairy free and naturally sweetened, and really yummy - just ask the kids :)

The almond butter adds some protein and calcium, which is a plus. I make the almond butter first, in my Thermomix, then add the other ingredients. You could use any nuts, or pre-made nut butter - macadamia, cashew, peanut - (preferably not the horrible 'hydrogenated' bought peanut butter though), and you could also add some chopped pecans or walnuts if you like - yum! (Note: if you use other nuts, you may need less oil to make the butter - macadamia nuts may not need any oil at all.)

This recipe makes a lot, so you could half it, or just roll some of it up in plastic wrap and keep it in the freezer until you 'need' some cookies. You just have to thaw the dough out for 10 minutes or so, then you can slice it into rounds, place on a baking tray and pop them in the oven. It's great to have some in the freezer when visitors drop by!

(Preheat oven to 175 degrees celcius)

1. First, make your nut butter (or you can use a bought one)...
Grind on speed 9 for 30 seconds, then scrape down sides with spatula:
- 250g almonds

2. Add and mix on speed 9 for 20 seconds:
- 50g macadamia or light olive oil
Scrape down sides of bowl again.

3. Add and mix on speed 6 for 30 seconds:
- 150g Rapadura 
- 180g raw honey (1/2 cup)
- 3 medium eggs
- 230g macadamia, coconut or light olive oil (1 cup)
- 1 tsp vanilla extract

4. Add and mix on speed 6 for 10 seconds (using spatula to help mix):
- 500g plain spelt flour (can be a mixture of wholemeal and white, and may need more or less than 500g - you should be able to roll the dough into balls)
- 1 tsp fine sea salt
- 2 tsp baking soda

5. Turn dough out into a large bowl, add a little more flour if needed. (I do this in a bowl as the Thermomix is a bit too full at this stage, and the heavy dough slows down the blades.) Add choc chips and mix in with spoon:
- 1 cup mini dark choc chips, Rapadura sweetened (or malt sweetened) *


6. Drop dough by spoonfuls onto greased or papered baking trays and bake in oven at 175 degrees celcius for about 10 minutes, or until lightly browned. (Or you can roll dough into balls and flatten with a fork.)

7. Cool on the trays for crispier cookies, or remove to a rack while warm for softer cookies. Or just eat them all while they're warm, and lick the chocolate off your fingers! :D

(If you do cook the whole batch at once, store them in the freezer so they don't go stale.)

* Note about Rapadura sweetened choc chips - I bought these at a co-op store in Cairns (Qld) - they are made by Rapunzel and can be bought online. Another naturally sweetened, allergy free brand is 'Enjoy Life Foods' - these ones are great as they don't contain soy, but are pretty expensive.  I know in the USA you can also get malt sweetened choc chips, but I haven't been able to find them here.