Good Cop Bad Cop Recipes

Right.  So we’re a pancakes for breakfast family.  At least the boys are.  Every morning I make them pancakes.  It’s not hard.  They are easy to make – the batter is always made the day beforehand - occasionally when they are particularly hungry I might have to whip up a second batch that morning, but it can be very repetitive.  Already one of the boys is bored of them. 

He is also fast evolving into that mythical werewolf creature otherwise known as a teenager and has begun the love affair with sleep and his bed.  He has maybe ten minutes in the morning from the time his feet hit the bedroom floor to his butt reaching the car seat so a quick yet nutritious breakfast is necessary for him.

So I went on a quest to find a healthier, non-cook breakfast option and I discovered these lovely oaty breakfast muffins by Jenny Bristow.  My lot aren’t fond of raisins and the like so I omit those and instead chuck in a half pack of chocolate chips.

Try them. They take about ten minutes to prepare, are really tasty, high in fibre and full of energy. 

Ingredients

110g/4oz raisins or sultanas

Juice of 1 orange I used regular orange juice

75g/3oz Rolled porridge oats

 175g/6oz Self Raising flour

 25g/1oz soft brown sugar

2 tbsp. rapeseed oil I used sunflower oil

 1 egg lightly beaten

 ½ tsp Cinnamon powder

175ml/6fl oz. buttermilk or low fat milk

 Method

 Preheat the oven to 200oC/Gas Mark 6

Place the fruit with orange juice in a bowl for 10 minutes until they have plumped up. (Sorry Jenny.  I soaked the porridge in the milk for this step.  It absorbed nicely after a few minutes)

Place the oats, flour, sugar and cinnamon in a large bowl; to this add the beaten oil, egg and milk, mix lightly for only 1 minute. Don’t forget choc chips if using.  I think the grated zest of an orange would be lovely in this.  I also think a spoon of peanut butter would be another really nice option. 

Transfer to lined muffin tins and bake in the oven for approximately 20 minutes. When cooked dust with icing sugar and serve.  One of my favourite things to do when making muffins is to add a couple table spoons of yogurt to the batter.

The second recipe is Brookies.  For those of you who may be new to these delicate delights, think brownies married with cookies with the density of those little amaretto biscuits you get with your coffee.

Up until a week ago my world was devoid of brookies.

I like nothing more than chilling out in front of some beauty bloggers and one night I happened across Lily Pebbles  who featured the aforementioned brookies on her blog. 

Two things stopped me in my tracks; Lily Pebbles reckoned a yield of 75 brookies from one batch and there is almost a pound of sugar in this recipe.

75 brookies!  And a pound of sugar?  Seriously?

The pound of sugar is correct but what she did get wrong was the yield.

I got way more than 75 so you might want to wait until there is a birthday party before making these.  Although they are very light.

Ingredients

85g 3 oz good quality cocoa powder  
400g 14 oz caster sugar
125ml vegetable oil
4 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
250g 9 oz plain flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
60g 2 oz icing sugar

Method

1. Mix together the cocoa, caster sugar and vegetable oil. Beat in eggs one at a time, then stir in the vanilla. Combine the flour, baking powder and salt; stir into the cocoa mixture.  I used the electric beaters for this.   Cover dough, and chill for at least 4 hours. I’m lazy and impatient and only gave it about two hours.  It was perfect.
2. Preheat oven to 180 c/ gas mark 4. Line baking trays with parchment. Pour icing sugar onto a plate and using a teaspoon, spoon and roll mixture into 2.5cm balls coating each one with the icing sugar before placing onto prepared trays
3. Bake in preheated oven for 10-12 minutes. Let them stand on the baking tray for a minute before transferring to wire racks to cool.

I wouldn’t recommend the brookies for breakfast.  Well, maybe one or three.  But definitely try the muffins.  Once cool, especially the following morning, they taste even nicer.