All posts in category Daring bakers

Dried fruit muffins with hidden vegetables

After hiding white beans in a coconut cake and spinach and carrots in brownies it was time to hide zucchini in muffins Greg posted a wonderful recipe for carrot and dried fruit muffins a couple of weeks ago and I just knew we would love those muffins! They are pretty healthy with 50% whole wheat flour, honey, dates, cranberries and a little fat.So they would make a wonderful breakfast muffin or a healthy dessert to pack in the school lunch box.

Our daring bakers challenge was about hiding veggies in a dessert in a way that the one eating it will not be able to tell its there. So I thought I would replace the carrots with zucchini. Since zucchini is not sweet, I increased the sugar a little, used brown sugar and cinnamon and I added some cardamom too. The result was an instant hit with the kids and they enjoyed them in their lunch boxes over the next few days. The only thing I would do differently next time is to make 9 muffins instead of 12 and fill the muffin tins more to get beautiful domes like the one’s in Greg’s picture

One year ago: Giraffe, tigers and bears!oh my!

Two years ago: Tuna pasta salad and an award

Dried fruit muffins with hidden vegetables

1 cup flour

1 cup whole wheat flour

1 cup shredded zucchini

1/2 cup dried dates chopped

1/2 cup dried cranberries

1/4 cup honey

2 teaspoons cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon cardamom

2 tablespoons brown sugar

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup milk

1/3 cup oil

1 egg

Instructions

Beat the egg with the honey, milk and oil until well blended.

Mix the other ingredients from the flour through to the salt in a bowl and create a well in the center.

Pour in liquid and mix until a thick batter forms.

Grease your muffin tins and spoon batter equally into all twelve holes.

Bake at 400 degrees until a toothpick comes out clean from the center, about 20 minutes.

looking for more healthy breakfast ideas? You may also like

Armenian string cheese

string cheese

Vegan oatmeal, date and walnut muffins

vegan oatmeal muffins

Choco-cado smoothie “secret recipe club”

chocolate smoothie

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26 Comments

by Sawsan@ Chef in disguise on March 31, 2013 • Permalink

Posted in Breakfast, Daring bakers, Dessert

Tagged breakfast, Desserts with hidden vegetables, healthy breakfast ideas, healthy breakfast muffins, healthy desserts for the lunch box, lunch box ideas, muffin tins, whole wheat flour, zucchini muffins

Posted by Sawsan@ Chef in disguise on March 31, 2013

http://chefindisguise.com/2013/03/31/dried-fruit-muffins-with-hidden-vegetables/

Chocolate brownies with two secret ingredient

I promised to post the rest of my sneaky desserts with hidden vegetables and here is take two. Chocolate brownies with carrot and spinach puree. I know what you are thinking.

ARE YOU MAD?!!

Well the group is called daring bakers for a reason! I think of each challenge as a way to learn as much as possible about the topic, trying outlandish ideas is part of the fun I decided to try these brownies, the idea of a healthy brownie is a tempting one. This healthy brownie however comes with a warning.

Just don’t serve them warm — it’s not until they’re completely cool that the spinach flavor totally disappears.

After making the brownies, I would even go further and say, don’t serve these on the first day. When these brownies are warm you can really taste the spinach and the whole texture and taste is off. Give them some time and something magical happens, the spinach disappears completely and the texture becomes fudgy and intensely chocolatey. I was disappointed on the day I made these and was not going to post them but the next day my daughter tried one and loved it so much that she begged for seconds! I tried them and indeed it was as if I was tasting a different brownie!That is something I have noticed many of my fellow daring bakers mention, all desserts made with veggies taste better the next day or after they have cooled completely.

Are they the same as regular brownies? No, BUT they are really good and yummy in their own way. When you think of a brownie that is low in calories (only 133 per brownie) and saturated fat.A healthy brownie that is also packed with 3 grams of fiber (which is just crazy for a brownie!), contains spinach and carrots provide two powerful antioxidants and if that is not enough, they are made with oat flour. A healthy brownie that your kids love and demand more of, I think that it is more than worth making

Chocolate brownies

Prep: 15 minutes

Total: 55 minutes

Yield: 12 brownies

Ingredients

Nonstick cooking spray

3 ounces semisweet or bittersweet chocolate

1/2 cup carrot puree (After peeling and trimming the ends, steam for 10-12 minutes and then puree in a food processor for 2 minutes)

1/2 cup spinach puree (Steam for 30 to seconds, then puree in a food processor for 2 minutes)

1/2 cup firmly packed light or dark brown sugar

1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

1/2 teaspoon instant coffe (optional)

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon (optional)

1/4 teaspoon cardamom (optional)

2 tablespoons trans-fat-free soft tub margarine spread

2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

2 large egg whites

3/4 cup oat flour, or all-purpose flour (I used oat flour)

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Coat an 8×8-inch baking pan with cooking spray.

Melt the chocolate in a double boiler or over a very low flame.

In a large bowl, combine the melted chocolate, vegetable purees, sugar, cocoa powder, margarine,cinnamon, cardamom, instant coffee and vanilla, and whisk until smooth and creamy, 1 to 2 minutes.

Whisk in egg whites. Stir in the flour, baking powder, and salt with a wooden spoon.

Pour the batter into the pan and bake 35 to 40 minutes.

Cool completely in the pan before cutting into 12 bars.

27 Comments

by Sawsan@ Chef in disguise on March 28, 2013 • Permalink

Posted in Chocolate, Daring bakers, Dessert

Tagged brownie, brownies with hidden veggies, carrot, carrots, chocolate brownies, dessert, healthy brownies, low fat brownies, oat flour, sneaky brownies, spinach

Posted by Sawsan@ Chef in disguise on March 28, 2013

http://chefindisguise.com/2013/03/28/chocolate-brownies-with-spinach-and-carrots/

White bean coconut cake

Ruth from Makey-Cakey was our March 2013 Daring Bakers’ challenge host. She encouraged us all to get experimental in the kitchen and sneak some hidden veggies into our baking, with surprising and delicious results!

I really had fun with this month’s challenge. I loved the idea of sneaking vegetables into desserts and the best part was watching my family’s reaction when I told them what was in the desserts they all loved!

I made quite a few sneaky desserts over the course of this month. The white bean coconut cake I am sharing with you today in this post, sneaky chocolate brownies with carrots and spinach, zucchini muffins, and secret ingredient cookie dough dip. I asked my wonderful followers on facebook if they would like the recipes in one post or separated into different posts and most of them requested that I post each recipe in a special post dedicated for it. So today I will share the first recipe and hopefully the rest will be up by tomorrow evening. Stay tuned

This cake was actually the result of a happy accident. A friend of mine gave me the recipe for her chocolate white bean cake and lets just say the recipe did not turn out to be anything like the cake she makes! it took forever to bake in the oven and still turned out more mush than cake! The thing is though, the kids loved the flavors and could not detect the white beans at all! So I thought I would play around with the recipe and the result is the a coconut cake that I have made 3 times these past couple of weeks. The kids LOVE it and so does my husband and he is very picky when it comes to desserts. The cake is very reminiscent of my favorite coconut cake only this one has 1/4 the amount of fat, 1/3 the sugar, no wheat and hides 2 whole cups of white beans.

The cake is gluten free because of the use of coconut in the place of wheat flour, you can also use rice flour. I tried the cake with desiccated coconut, rice four and whole wheat flour. The coconut is my favorite, the cake turned out soft and fluffy, it almost melts in your mouth. The rice flour gave the cake a firmer consistency but the texture was a little on the dry side, I heated some syrup and drizzled the cake with it and that made it much better. As for the whole wheat , it resulted in a cake that rose more and had the perfect crumb and texture. So it is really your call. Try the different flour option and decide which one you like best. My next project is to experement with sweeteners, replacing processed sugar with other sweeteners like puree dates or honey.

White bean coconut cake

2 cups white beans cooked or canned (see notes)

3 eggs

2 teaspoons vanilla

1/4 cup oil

3/4 to 1 cup sugar depending on how sweet you want the cake to be

2 and 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 cup desiccated coconut finely ground or rice flour or whole wheat flour (see notes)

Instructions

Drain the white beans from the cooking liquid or the liquid in the can, discard the liquid

In the food processor start by blending the beans until they are completely smooth (this will take a few minutes), scrape down the sides every minute or so

Add the eggs, vanilla and blend until completely encorporated

Add the sugar and blend

Add the oil, baking powder and ground coconut, blend until combined

Pour the batter into lightly oiled pan and bake in a preheated oven at 180 C for 30 minutes or until a tooth pick inserted in the center comes out clean

Allow to cool completely before cutting

Notes:

Canned vs cookes: You can either used canned white beans or cook your own. If you decide on using canned you will need 1 (15 oz) can. I prefer to cook mine. To do that, I pre-soak the beans the night before then place them in a pot and add enough water to cover them and have the water level at least 4-5 cm above the bean level. Then I cook them over medium heat till they are soft and mushy(You want to slightly over cook them to get a smooth cake batter). This takes about an hour to an hour and a half depending on the type of the beans.

Chocolate love: To make a chocolate version try replacing2 tablespoons of the coconut with 2 tablespoons of coco powder, 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon, 1/4 teaspoon cardamom and 1/4 teaspoon instant coffee

Flour options: You can replace the coconut with other gluten-free options like rice flour but that will change the consistency of the cake, with the rice flour the cake came out a little on the dry side but you can get around that by drizzling the cake with some simple syrup when the cake is warm out of the oven. If you are not worried about gluten then use all purpose flour or whole wheat flour, they both work perfectly in this recipe

These cake bites were made with rice flour and a drizzle of syrup

66 Comments

by Sawsan@ Chef in disguise on March 27, 2013 • Permalink

Posted in Daring bakers, Dessert

Tagged baking, coconut cake, daring bakers march 2013, dessert, gluten free, healthy desserts, hiddent vegetables, sneaky desserts, white bean cake, whole wheat flour

Posted by Sawsan@ Chef in disguise on March 27, 2013

http://chefindisguise.com/2013/03/27/white-bean-coconut-cake/

Sundried tomato flatbread and sweet sesame crackers

Sarah from All Our Fingers in the Pie was our February 2013 Daring Bakers’ host and she challenges us to use our creativity in making our own Crisp Flatbreads and Crackers!

When we did our crackers daring bakers challenge a few months back I was working on a recipe for the sweet sesame crackers my grandmother used to make and could not get it quite right then so when this challenge was announced I knew that this is the recipe I wanted to make

These crackers are called Karakeesh قراقيش and they are perfectly crisp, sweet but not overly so. The sesame seeds add a beautiful texture, they pop when you bite into them and because there are sesame seeds in the dough itself and on top of the crackersو all the popping is almost like there is a little firework show in your mouth . The anise and the cardamom play gently in the background, they are not pronounced in the final baked cracker but they add a nice spicy depth and warmth to the taste.

My other take on this challenge was using Linda’s sundried tomato and basil flat bread. I make this bread often to serve with soup or with dips but this time around I made it into crackers and a round loaf that I rolled out thin then toasted in the oven. I stuck to Linda’s recipe except for using dried herbs and adding oregano to the basil. I also added some tomato paste to the dough itself and reducing the garlic a little. The kids call these pizza bread and pizza crackers and love them warm out of the oven. As you can see from the pictures my bread really rose in the oven , so next time I may divide the dough into 4 parts and roll it super thin to get to be more crisp

Sweet sesame crackers “Karakeesh” قراقيش فلسطينيه فلاحيه

1 kg all purpose flour (you can replace part of the flour with whole wheat flour)

1 and 1/2 cups toasted sesame seeds

1 cup olive oil

1 and 1/2 tablespoons anise seeds slightly crushed

2 teaspoons ground cardamom

1 cup warm water

1 cup sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla

Instructions

In a bowl add the flour, salt , anise, cardamom and sesame seeds

Add the olive oil and rub it into the flour mixture until the flour absorbs all the oil and turns into wet sand consistency

Dissolve the sugar in the water and add the vanilla to it

Add the sugar water gradually and knead the dough until you get a smooth dough that does not stick to the sides of the bowl

Cut the dough into 30 balls and allow them to rest, covered with a clean cloth for 10 minutes

Sprinkle your working surface with sesame seeds and start rolling out the dough into circles 7-10 cm in diameter and 1/2 cm in thickness

These crackers are meant to look rustic so don’t worry about getting perfect circles, rough uneven edges are part of their charm

If you find that the dough sticks to the working surface sprinkle some flour with the sesame seeds

Transfer the rolled out dough onto a baking sheet lined with parchment

Bake on the lowest rack of a preheated oven at 200 C until the edges turn golden and then place them under the broiler until the tops are golden brown too

Cool the crackers on a wire rack

Sun-dried Tomato and Basil Flatbread

Adapted from Savoring every bite

1 teaspoon yeast

¾ cup warm water

1 teaspoon sugar

3 tablespoons olive oil

½ cup sun-dried tomatoes, chopped *

3 cloves garlic, minced

1 teaspoon dried basil

1 teaspoon dried oregano

1 tablespoon tomato paste

2 ¼ cup white wheat flour

1 teaspoon salt

Garlic oil or plain olive oil for brushing and sea salt for sprinkling on top

Instructions

Combine the yeast, sugar and warm water in a large bowl or stand up mixer with dough hook attached. Allow to sit for about 10 minutes. (if the yeast does not foam and bubble then it has gone bad and you need to discard it and start over with new yeast)

* If the sun-dried tomatoes were not previously marinated, soak them in hot water for about 5 minutes to soften.

Add in the drained sun-dried tomatoes, garlic, oregano and basil stirring to combine.

Mix in the flour and salt and knead by hand or dough hook until smooth, about 10 minutes by hand, 5 minutes by mixer.

Place the dough in a well-greased bowl and allow to sit for one hour, slightly covered with plastic wrap or a towel away from any drafts.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. When dough has risen, divide in half and flatten to about ¼ inch thick either in a round shape or rectangle.

Brush the top with olive oil and sprinkle on the salt.

If you plan on making crackers cut the rolled with the pizza cutter of knife into little squares.

Bake for about 15-20 minutes until brown and crisp.

Notes:

If you like your crackers to be extra crisp, warm the oven to 220C then turn it off and place the crackers in it on a baking sheet and then leave them in the closed oven until it cools down completely

The sesame crackers can be stored in an air tight container for weeks, they also freeze well

You may also like

43 Comments

by Sawsan@ Chef in disguise on February 27, 2013 • Permalink

Posted in Bread and pastry, Daring bakers

Tagged anise seeds, baking, crispy flat bread, food, ground cardamom, palestinian recipes, postaweek, sesame crackers, tomato herb crackers, vegetarian, whole wheat flour

Posted by Sawsan@ Chef in disguise on February 27, 2013

http://chefindisguise.com/2013/02/27/sundried-tomato-flatbread-and-sweet-sesame-crackers/

gevulde speculaas (Dutch spice cookies filled with almond paste)

Blog-checking lines: Francijn of Koken in de Brouwerij was our January 2013 Daring Bakers’ Hostess and she challenged us to make the traditional Dutch pastry, Gevulde Speculaas from scratch! That includes making our own spice mix, almond paste and dough! Delicious!

The first thing I check when reading a recipe for the first time is the spice blend that gives it character. There is something I find irresistible about mixing different spices in different proportions, feeling, smelling, tasting to make sure you get the perfect balance. So when this month’s challenge was announced I could not wait to make gevulde speculaas. Gevulde speculaas if you are not familiar with them are Dutch spice cookies filled with almond paste. Not only do these cookies look elegant but they are loaded with flavor. Biting into a slice of gevulde speculaas you will first get the buttery crust and topping. The texture is like that of a really dense cake or chewy cookie but the real pleasure is the explosion of warm spices in your mouth. Next comes a change of texture and flavor, a soft almond paste scented with lemon zest providing beautiful contrast to the crust, taking the edge off the spices and providing that perfect balance.

Speculaas spices

“speculaaskruiden” (speculaas spices) should always contain cinnamon, cloves, mace and ginger. You can also add any or all of these spices to taste: pepper, cardamom, coriander, anise seeds and nutmeg. The smell of speculaaskruiden is enchanting, especially if you take the trouble to mix them yourself. The delicious aroma of that blend of warm spices is perfectly suited for the cold winter months.

The longer you allow the spices time to permeate the dough, the better the out come. It is said that bakers sometimes make the dough up to three months in advance.

From the golden age onward, this spice mixture was used to bake a crisp, buttery biscuit: speculaas. For centuries it remained a luxury item, baked only in the holiday season, and often given as a present. In the course of time many recipes were created using speculaas spices. Speculaasjes (“speculaas cookies / windmill cookies”) which are shaped using a wooden mold, speculaasbrokken (“speculaas chunks”), kruidnoten (“spiced nuts / miniature spiced cookies”), gevulde speculaas (“speculaas stuffed with almond paste”). And it does not stop there: speculaas spices can be used in custards, cakes, muffins, bread toppings, cheesecake crusts and so on.

Speculaas Spices Recipe

You can buy the speculaas spices but making your own gives you a chance to smell and taste the different ingredients and adjust the proportions to your own taste and liking.The general rule you have to stick to is

Mandatory:

cinnamon 40 to 60 % of the total amount

ground cloves 1 or 2 parts

mace ½ or 1 part

ginger ½ or 1 part

Optional:

white pepper ½ or 1 part

cardamom ½ or 1 part

coriander ½ or 1 part

anise ½ or 1 part

nutmeg 1 or 2 parts

The spice mix I used was

1 teaspoons of ground cloves,

½ teaspoon of nutmeg

1 teaspoon of ginger.

1 teaspoon of cardamom

1 teaspoon of coriander

1 teaspoon of anise

Measure or weigh the amount of spices you have now, and add an equal amount of cinnamon.

Almond Paste recipe

You can use store bought almond paste but homemade almond paste tastes better.

Ingredients:

7/8 cup (210 ml)(125 gm)(4½ oz) raw almonds (or 1-1/3 cups (320 ml)(125 gm) (4½ oz) ground almonds)

5/8 cup (150 ml) (125 grams) (4½ oz) granulated sugar

1 large egg

1 teaspoon (5 ml) (3 gm) lemon zest

Directions:

If the raw almonds still have their brown skins, remove them as follows.

Bring water to a boil, add the almonds, cook them for one minute, drain immediately and let cool for a few minutes. Rub them between your fingers to remove the skins.

Grind the almonds for one or two minutes in a food processor, until you see nothing but very small pieces. (Or skip this step if you use ground almonds.)

Add the sugar, and grind for another one or two minutes. It must be very fine after this step.

Add the egg and let the food processor combine it

Store the almond paste in an airtight container in the refrigerator.

Safty notes

Although the flavor gets better as days pass by, it is not wise to store the paste for too long, as it contains a raw egg. For the same reason you should not eat the paste unbaked.

To be safe, you could choose one of these options: use egg powder and water to replace the egg (follow instructions with the powder) use 50 ml of an other liquid, like lemon juice (in that case, leave the zest out) add the egg just before you are going to bake the pastry

The paste can also be kept in the freezer.

Speculaas Dough Recipe

Ingredients:

1¾ cups (250 gm) (9 oz) all purpose (plain) flour

1 teaspoon (5 ml) (5 gm) baking powder

¾ cup (150 grams) (5-1/3 oz) brown sugar, firmly packed

a pinch salt

2 tablespoons (30 ml) (15 gm) (½ oz) speculaas spices

3/4 cup (1½ stick) (175 gm) (6 oz) unsalted butter

Directions:

Mix the flour, baking powder, sugar, salt and spices in a bowl.

Cut the butter into cubes and add to the dry ingredient.

Knead until you get a smooth dough. You may need to add a little milk if the dough is too dry.

Wrap in clingfoil and put in the refrigerator for two hours.

If you wish to get more flavor it would be better to keep the dough in the fridge for a couple of days

Assembling and baking the Gevulde Speculaas

Ingredients:

speculaas dough

almond paste

whole almonds without skins for decoration

1 large egg

shallow baking pan, 8×10 inch (20×26 cm) or, round with of diameter 10 inch (26 cm)

Directions:

1. Grease your pan or line it with parchment.

2. Preheat the oven to moderate 350°F/180°C/gas 4

3. Divide the dough in half into two parts.

4. Roll out both portions on a lightly floured surface, until they are the size of your baking pan.

5. Place one of the layers in the pan and press it lightly to make sure it fills the bottom.

6. Lightly beat the egg with a teaspoon cold water.(I used 1 teaspoon of vinegar with 2 teaspoons of water to avoid eggy smell)

7. Brush 1/3 of the egg over the dough in the pan.

8. Roll out the almond paste between two sheets of clingfoil, until it is exactly as big as the pan, and gently transfer it to place it over the dough in the pan. (If you chose to make the paste soft, you can smear the paste instead of rolling it.)

9. Press the paste lightly down to fit in the pan and to makw sure it adheres to the dough beneath it.

10.Brush the next 1/3 of the egg over it.

11. Place the second layer of dough on top of the paste, press it lightly, and make as smooth as possible.

12. Smear the last 1/3 of the egg over the dough.

If you choose to cut the speculaas into squares or diamond shapes, score the dough with a knief before baking, that can help you with the decoration

13. Decorate the pastry with the almonds.(You can decorate the speculaas any way you like, you can use the almonds to draw patterns or flowers or trees. This is also the place to allow kids to help)

14. Bake for 40 minutes in the preheated oven.

15. Let cool completely in the pan, then cut it in portions as you like.

16. If you wrap the stuffed speculaas in clingfoil, after it has cooled completely, you can store it a few days at room temperature. Freezing is possible, but fresh speculaas tastes better.

Notes about making Gevulde speculaas:

You can choose to make this recipe in one day. But to enjoy the full flavor you should make the dough a few days and allow the spices to permiate the dough. Because of the egg in the almond paste recipe you need to work hygienically and store it in the fridge for no more than 2 days or you can make the paste without the egg and store it in the fridge and then add the egg right before baking. Another option would be to replace the egg with another liquid like lemon juice or use powdered eggs (the ones you mix with water to reconstitute)

Storage & Freezing Instructions/Tips:

Speculaas spices: store them airtight, dry and dark, and they will not spoil for a long time. Almond paste: keep it in the refrigerator. Some people keep it there for months, but if it contains raw egg, I recommend not more than a few days. Can easily be frozen. Speculaas dough: can be kept in the refrigerator for days, or in the freezer for months. But remember: fresh tastes better.

Stuffed speculaas: if you let it cool completely, you can wrap it in clingfoil and keep it a few days at room temperature. And again: freezing is possible, but fresh is better

Thank you Francijn for a wonderful challenge.