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Lemonade Scones

When I was living out in Australia a few years ago, my brother had a friend who brought scones round one day. They were the lightest scones I had ever had, and I had to have the recipe. I’ve made these hundreds of times and recently a friend asked me if I had the recipe on the blog. I realised I didn’t, so here it is Sam, just for you.

Lemonade Scones2

This is a 3-ingredients scone – okay, four, but salt doesn’t count. The self raising flour and salt are the dry ingredients, and the cream provides the fat you’d normally get from crumbling butter into the mix. The lemonade gives you the rise, since it reacts to the baking powder in the flour, and the bubbles airate the whole mixture, I guess.

You must not overmix this recipe, or you completely knock the air right out of it and end up with flat cakes – still tasty, but not quite afternoon tea quality.

Lemonade S

Whether you a jam first or cream first scone eater , you’re bound to love how light and fluffy these scones are.

Lemonade Scones
Recipe Type: Thermomix
Author: Luschka
Prep time:
Cook time:
Total time:
Serves: 15
Light, airy and easy to make scones – enjoy!
Ingredients
  • 400g self-raising flour
  • 240g double cream
  • 190g lemonade
  • pinch of salt
Instructions
Regular Instructions
  1. Preheat the oven to 200C
  2. Sift the self raising flour, cream and salt in a mixing bowl.
  3. Add the lemonade and mix briefly till it’s all mixed together. Literally till it’s JUST mixed.
  4. It’s REALLY important not to over mix or your scones won’t rise.
  5. Remove from the bowl, and lay out on a tray. Pat it down to an even 2cm height.
  6. Use a cutter and press down, and straight back up again – don’t twist the cutters as you don’t want to squeeze the air out.
  7. Carefully lift the scones onto a tray
  8. Brush with milk (use the back of a spoon if you don’t have a pastry brush)
  9. Bake for 15 – 20 minutes, till golden
Thermomix Instructions
  1. Preheat the oven to 200C
  2. Place the self raising flour, cream and salt in the Thermomix bowl.
  3. Add the lemonade and mix speed 4, 5 – 10 seconds. Literally till it’s JUST mixed.
  4. It’s REALLY important not to over mix or your scones won’t rise.
  5. Remove from the bowl, and lay out on a tray. Pat it down to an even 2cm height.
  6. Use a cutter and press down, and straight back up again – don’t twist the cutters as you don’t want to squeeze the air out.
  7. Carefully lift the scones onto a tray
  8. Brush with milk (use the back of a spoon if you don’t have a pastry brush)
  9. Bake for 15 – 20 minutes, till golden


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Chocolate Crispy Bars {Dairy Free Sugar Free Gluten Free}

It’s almost Easter again, and while we aren’t really a free-from anything family, when there’s so much focus on chocolate – between Valentine’s day, Mother’s Day, and Easter, I like to have alternatives available, so that even if I don’t manage to curb my sweet tooth, I’m at least not filling up myself or the children with cheap, often actually not very good – chocolate.Chocolate Crispies

This recipe is very easy. The children can help you make it, or you can whip it up quickly. It’s quite dark, we like dark chocolate. If you don’t like it as dark, adjust the cocoa down. You could add other things, like marshmallows, nuts, or cherries, but just remember to adjust the quantity of rice crispies down then. The main thing to remember is this isn’t held together by chocolate, which is strong, but by coconut oil, which needs to be kept cool, otherwise you’ll end up with what looks like a (very tasty) bowl of chocolate cereal.

I use a gluten free Rice Crispie from Nature’s Path, because we have it at the moment, but you can use any other if you prefer.

I also use this brownie pan because it’s super convenient.

Dairy Free Sugar Free Gluten Free Chocolate Crispy Bars
Recipe Type: Sweets, TM31
Author: Luschka
Prep time:
Cook time:
Total time:
Serves: 24 blocks
A lovely snack box recipe for the kids, and fabulous for hitting that sweet spot, while not being overly unhealthy.
Ingredients
  • 50g Coconut Oil (1/4 cup)
  • 70g honey (1/4 cup)
  • ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 30 – 50g cocoa powder (1/3 cup) (Cacao for Paleo)
  • pinch of fine sea salt or Himalayan pink salt
  • 100g [url href=”http://www.amazon.co.uk/Natures-Path-Crispy-Organic-Breakfast/dp/B004990VLG/?tag=diaofafirchi-21″ target=”_blank”]rice crispies [/url] (1.5 cups)
Instructions
Thermomix Recipe
  1. Add the coconut oil and honey to the Thermomix bowl. If you’re using runny honey, 30 seconds/37 degrees/speed 2 should melt it all, but if the honey is crystalised or set, about 1 minute/50 degrees/speed 2. It must be mixed and melted before you go to step 2.
  2. Add the vanilla and cocoa powder, and a small pinch of sea salt. 15 seconds/speed 3
  3. Add the rice crispies and use the spatula to stir it in so that all the rice crispies are covered with the chocolate mix.
  4. Transfer to a brownie pan (this one is fantastic!) and squash it all in nicely. Put in the fridge for an hour or two to set, then cut into squares.
  5. Tip: Remember this is kept together with coconut oil, so keep it cool otherwise it might fall apart a bit.
Regular Instructions
  1. Create a double boiler by boiling a pot of water on the stove, and put coconut oil and honey in a glass bowl over it. Once they’re melted, mix together and add the vanilla extract (be careful – both the glass bowl and the mixture will be very hot).
  2. Add the cocoa powder and sea salt, and then add the rice crispies.
  3. Mix together till all the rice crispies are covered in the chocolate mixture and transfer into your brownie pan.
  4. Place in the fridge till it’s cooled and set, then cut into squares.

chocolate crispies

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Cacao Nib Latte

It’s a dull and dreary morning here on the Isle of Wight. It’s raining and I can barely make out the line between the sky and the ocean. Job prospects for my husband are still thin on the ground and I am feeling the pressure of being sole breadwinner for the family.

I need a pick me up, but a true pick me up, not something that’s going to spike my blood sugar and crash me down further.

cacao nib latte

Well, this recipe might be a false economy, since dairy blocks the absorption of flavenoids (or something like that) meaning the full effect of the cacao nibs won’t be felt, but it tastes good and after drinking this, the whole family managed to get out of bed and we’ll be off for a stroll on the beach as soon as the rain stops.

There’s a lot of room for movement on this recipe. I will try it with almond milk, or coconut milk next, and maybe with rapadura or honey for sweetening. But for today, this was perfect. Delicious, smooth, And a real lift to the mood. cacoa nib latte

If I didn’t have to share it with the kids, I’d probably add a pinch of cayenne pepper too, like a Mexican hot chocolate, with it’s aphrodisiac qualities… hmmm… save that for a rainy day when the children have left home 😉

Cacao Nib Latte

For these Cacao Nib Lattes, I use the Suma brand here, but obviously you can use whatever works best for you. These are unroasted, and I don’t roast them, but you can.

Cacao Nib Latte
Recipe Type: Drink, TM31
Author: Luschka
Ingredients
  • 30g cacao nibs
  • 1/2 vanilla pod
  • 1/2 tsp cinnamon
  • seeds from 1 cardamom pod
  • cream to top (optional)
  • 500g milk
  • 5g sugar/rapadura
Instructions
  1. Add the cacao nibs and vanilla pod, cinnamon and cardamom seeds into a blender bowl and chop to a powder (Thermomix: [b] speed 6 for 20 seconds[/b].
  2. Add milk and sugar and mix on [b]speed 4/7 mins/80C[/b]
  3. Pour through a nut milk bag, or into a cafetiere to strain, then pour into cups.
  4. Top with cream, or not. It’s delicious either way.
Notes
Tip: Use the strained remains in baking, or rinse them to get the milk off, and put them in your garden

 

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Onion Soup Thermomix Recipe

This onion soup my mother used as a base for her Vranameer Chicken for many years. She, of course, didn’t use a Thermomix, so I’ve just adapted it for a simple, tasty, filling soup, perfect to eat as a soup, or as the basis for a casserole.

Onion Soup

French Onion Soup Thermomix Recipe
Recipe Type: Soup
Author: Luschka
Prep time:
Cook time:
Total time:
Serves: 4
My mother used this as a base for casserole dishes for many years. I’ve just adapted her recipe for the Thermomix. My husband and I have an ongoing argument about this soup. I think sweating the onion in the Thermomix is fine, but he thinks the first steps should be done on a frying pan. It’s a personal flavour preference.
Ingredients
  • 25g butter
  • 500g onion (about 3)
  • 2 tsp sugar
  • 2 garlic cloves, sliced
  • 125ml white wine
  • 500g vegetable, chicken or beef stock & water mixed depending on the stock you use.
  • salt & pepper to season
Instructions
  1. Place the butter in the Thermomix bowl and add 500g onions, halved.
  2. Mix at speed 5 for 5 seconds till they’re chopped, and put on speed 2/100C to sweat the onions for 4 minutes. (If you’re doing this step on the stove, fry until the onions are translucent but watch that they don’t burn. Add the sugar and leave to caramalise, about 5 minutes, but keep an eye on it.)
  3. Add the sugar, and cook for 10 minutes, speed 2, 100C
  4. Add the garlic, wine and stock and cook for 15 minutes, speed 2, Varoma.
  5. Taste and season, and serve with fresh bread (although again here, my husband prefers it kept in the fridge for 24 hours, and then heated and served. I like it as is.)
Calories: 136,3 Fat: 5.4g Saturated fat: 3.3g Unsaturated fat: 1.4g Carbohydrates: 14.9 Sugar: 7.6h Sodium: 288.9mg Fiber: 1.5g Cholesterol: 13.6g
Notes
(calories based on a fatty beef stock, chicken or veg stock will be less calories)

 

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Spanish Inspired Chorizo, Calamari & Halloumi Salad Recipe

It’s a ‘balmy’ 39 degrees Celsius in Perth today (that’s 102.2 F) and just thinking about cooking is enough to make me cry. I won’t be switching the oven or stove on today! Yesterday, however, was a much more manageable 32C, and having spent some time in the sea, I felt inspired to make a Spanish dish we enjoyed in Barcelona some years back – but adapted a fair bit to stretch it, and use what we have in the house too.

Salad Chorizo

The original was a Chorizo and calamari in red wine tapas dish, but this summerified recipe includes Halloumi – you could probably use Feta too or leave out the Halloumi, but it adds saltiness, texture and flavour to the meal. And I’d include Halloumi in everything if my family allowed it!

SpanishThe amounts in this recipe are a guide, really, and there’s no wrong or right. You can add ingredients – tomatoes would be nice, capers would be lovely too – or remove elements. It all works together beautifully, but none of it is essential.

The Chorizo in our local butcher isn’t very fatty. If it was I would have added the butter for the dressing to it, but as it didn’t leave any drippings, I added olive oil.

Spanish Inspired Chorizo, Calmari & Halloumi Salad Recipe
Recipe Type: Salad, Lunch, Summer
Cuisine: Spanish-ish
Author: Luschka
Prep time:
Cook time:
Total time:
Serves: 4 – 6
A versatile, adaptable, easy recipe that can stand the changes you might want to make to it. Feel free to personalise it. Amounts are an estimate and can be changed.
Ingredients
  • 1 red onion, sliced
  • 90g (1 bag) Rocket leaves
  • 15g parsley, roughly chopped
  • 250g chorizo, sliced
  • 250g Halloumi, cubed
  • 500g calamari, cleaned and cut into rings
  • 60ml Red wine vinegar (1/4 cup)
  • For the dressing
  • 50g butter
  • 1 clove garlic
Instructions
  1. Thinly slice one red onion, and pour over 30ml red wine vinegar. Set aside.
  2. Heat up a frying pan to medium to high heat and add a dash of oil, just to prevent the food from sticking to it.
  3. Empty salad leaves into a bowl, add the chopped parsley and set aside. Add any ‘extras’ you might want to use.
  4. When the frying pan is hot, add the Halloumi and keep an eye on it so that it doesn’t burn, but browns on both sides. When it’s ready, remove from the heat and tip out onto the salad leaves.
  5. Add the Chorizo, and the remaining red wine vinegar, and cook for about 3 – 4 minutes: just long enough to render the fat, but not so long as to make it hard and tough.
  6. Remove from the heat into the salad bowl.
  7. If the Chorizo left some fatty residue, use it, but if not, add some olive oil to the pan again. This time fry the calamari till it is soft and tender – about 3-5 minutes, depending on the quality and size of the calamari rings.
  8. While the calamari is cooking, add about 50g butter and 1 chopped clove of garlic to a small pan (I chop the garlic in the Thermomix, then add butter, and melt for 90 seconds 50C) to melt the butter.
  9. Add the calamari to the salad, and pour over the butter dressing. Toss the salad, serve & enjoy.

 

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Brie & Cranberry Bites

Brie & Cranberry BitesYou know it’s Christmas time when the brie and cranberry starts coming into play. It’s not something we have a lot of at home as my other half isn’t a fan, but brie is the only thing I ever craved in pregnancy!

Come Christmas time, I often find myself simply short of time, and in a hurry. While I’d normally make my own shortcrust pastry – with the Thermomix it’s just so easy – but sometimes it’s really good to be able to grab a roll of ready rolled pastry and have your snack ready in 20 minutes.

(Do yourself a favour and get an all butter pastry though. They’re so much better!)

Brie & Cranberry Bites
Recipe Type: Snack
Author: Luschka
Prep time:
Cook time:
Total time:
Serves: 18
I haven’t put much by way of measurements into this recipe since it’ll depend on your personal tastes, to a large extent, and how much you’re planning on making. A single sheet of 300g pastry will make roughly 18 bites.
Ingredients
  • 300g short crust pastry
  • 150g Brie
  • Cranberry sauce
Instructions
  1. Preheat oven to 200C
  2. Roll the pastry to a thin and even layer.
  3. Cut the pastry into 18 squares – rounds will do fine too.
  4. Place each square into a muffin case and cook for 15 – 20 minutes until golden brown.
  5. In the meantime, slice brie into squares large enough to fit inside the muffin trays.
  6. As the pastry comes out of the oven, while it’s still piping hot, drop the brie onto it so that it begins to melt. Top with the cranberry sauce.
  7. These are best served hot, but can be eaten cold too.

 

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Egg & Smoked Salmon Salad Recipe

Egg and Smoked Salmon

During my pregnancies I became very aware of what I called my Food DNA. It may have been mid-winter with snow falling around our home in the UK, but I was craving mangoes, litchis, kiwi fruit:  seasonally appropriate for my Southern Hemisphere DNA. I find myself here again – not pregnant, thankfully – but wrapped and bundled in scarves and gloves, but craving salads and light suppers. Egg and smoked salmonI came across this salmon & egg salad recipe, designed by Sunrise’s award winning chefs, among a bunch of others regularly served in their care homes and it really appealed to me, but I’ve made a few minor changes to adapt it for the Thermomix. You can find the original recipe here, and you certainly don’t need any fancy kitchen machinery to make it. Egg and smoked salmon 2 I’ll be in Australia for a while next month. I’m looking forward to a lot more salads and fresh, sun-kissed fruit – and will certainly be revisiting this one again.

Salmon & Egg Salad Recipe
Recipe Type: Lunch, Light Supper
Cuisine: Salad, Healthy
Author: Sunrise chefs
Prep time:
Cook time:
Total time:
Serves: 4
A delicious recipe adapted from the Sunrise Care website for the Thermomix
Ingredients
  • 4 eggs (hard boiled)
  • Small bunch of parsley
  • Pinch of salt
  • Pinch of ground black pepper
  • 4 table spoons olive oil
  • ¼ tsp French mustard
  • 2 table spoons white wine vinegar
  • 1 tomato – quartered
  • 1 red pepper – seeded and halved
  • ½ red onion – peeled and halved
  • ¼ cucumber – cut in four
  • 50g watercress
  • 160g smoked salmon pieces
  • ½ lemon
Instructions
  1. In the Thermomix bowl, add 1 litre warm water and add the whole eggs in the internat steamer. Boil for 14 minutes/speed 2/ Varoma temp.
  2. When it’s done, remove the basket and empty out the water.
  3. In the bowl, add parsley , salt, pepper, olive oil, mustard, vinegar and stir for 10 seconds on speed 5.
  4. Add the tomato, red pepper, onion and cucumber and mix speed 4 for 10 – 15 seconds. Keep an eye on it to see the size. You don’t want to end up with a smoothie.
  5. Peel the eggs and halve.
  6. Pour the salsa in a mixing bowl, a glass bowl is nice. Put the watercress on top, then add the strips of smoked salmon.
  7. Dot the eggs around the top, and drizzle the lemon juice over the top.
  8. When you’re ready to serve, mix the ingredients well, and make sure every plate gets a bit of everything.
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Thermomix Roasted Butternut Squash Risotto Recipe

This year I grew butternut squash in my garden for the first time. Between the slugs, the lack of sunlight and the fact that we’re moving soon, they’ve remained small, but perfectly butternut shaped. I’m quite pleased, actually!

Butternut Squash is perfect for this time of year – it’s light but filling, and can used in a variety of dishes.

Butternut Squash Risotto

Since we’re moving in a week, we’re trying to use up a lot of store cupboard supplies, and one of those is Risotto, so today I made this roasted butternut squash risotto for our lunch. It’s slightly different from my usual, in that I didn’t have wine or home made stock, but I was very pleased with how it worked out!

Thermomix Roasted Butternut Squash Risotto Recipe
Recipe Type: Main
Author: Luschka
Prep time:
Cook time:
Total time:
Serves: 4
Ingredients
  • 50 g parmesan cheese cubed
  • 1 medium onion, halved
  • 1 tbs white wine vinegar
  • 1 tbs dried sage
  • 50 g olive oil
  • 400 g arborio rice
  • 1000g stock/water
  • 10g butter
  • 1 Butternut Squash, sliced
  • salt & pepper to taste
  • *handful of fresh sage, if you have.
Instructions
  1. Heat the oven to 190C.
  2. Layer sliced butternut squash on a tray, drizzle with oil and salt, and cook for 30 minutes.
  3. After 10 mins*, put the Parmesan into the thermomix bowl & pulverise for 10 seconds Speed 9 and set aside.
  4. Place the onion and oil in the bowl & chop for 5 sec on speed 4.
  5. Saute for 3 mins at 100C on reverse speed 1.
  6. Add rice and white wine vinegar and dried sage into bowl & saute for 2 mins at 100C on reverse speed spoon.
  7. Add stock and water and cook for 15 mins at 100C on reverse speed spoon.
  8. Add butter and cheese and stir. If you have two bowls, swap over, otherwise empty the bowl and put half of the butternut squash in the bowl. Put the MC in place and pulse on turbo four or five times till it’s pureed.
  9. Mix the squash into the risotto and season to taste.
  10. Sprinkle with fresh sage leaves, if you have.
  11. *Use those ten minutes to lightly fry sage leaves, if you have them. Set aside for topping.

 

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Thermomix Lemon Drizzle Cake Recipe

Lemon Drizzle Cake

I love Lemon Drizzle Cake. I have tried so many different recipes to find one that I love, and I think I finally have it.  This recipe makes a beautiful sugary crust on top, while the cake stays moist and yummy. It’s lemony flavour goes throughout the cake, and is, quite frankly, delicious.Lemon Drizzle Cake

The benefit of doing it with the Thermomix is that it’s fast as can be – I made this and two other cakes and two breads in 90 minutes today!

Lemon Drizzle Cake Recipe

I use a lemon zester for the skin as that’s easier for me than ‘peeling’ the lemon with a potato peeler to add the skins to the bowl. That said, I do use a peeler for a few bits for the top of the cake. I think that’s quite pretty.

If you don’t have a Thermomix, the original recipe is here. Below you’ll find it adapted for Thermomix, though you can do the same in any food processor, really – just use your beating fittings for the butter, and the mixing one to combine it all.

Lemon Drizzle Cake
Recipe Type: Cake, Thermomix
Author: Tana Ramsay (adapted by Luschka)
Prep time:
Cook time:
Total time:
Serves: 12
This cake can keep for 3 – 4 days, (if you can show that much discipline!) and freezes quite well.
Ingredients
  • finely grated zest 1 lemon (or finely peeled skin)
  • 225g sugar
  • 225g unsalted butter
  • 4 eggs
  • 225g self-raising flour
  • For the drizzle
  • juice of 1 lemon
  • 85g icing sugar & extra to sprinkle
Instructions
  1. Preheat oven to 180C/fan 160C/gas 4.
  2. In the thermomix, add the sugar, and thin slices of peeled lemon skin and mix sp5/20 secs. (I have a fantastic zester so it’s easier for me to just add the zest to the sugar than to try to peel the lemon first)
  3. Add the butterfly then add the butter and mix 1 min/speed 4 until pale and creamy – you may need to scrape down the sides half way through.
  4. Keep the blades running at speed 4, and add the eggs, then add the flour through the lid of the Thermomix bowl while it’s running – about 1 minute to add it all.
  5. Oil or line a baking tray and spoon the mixture in and level it out.
  6. Bake for 45-50 mins until a thin skewer inserted into the centre of the cake comes out clean.
  7. Mix together the juice of the lemon and 85g icing sugar. Pierce holes around the cake using a fork or knife edge) then pour the drizzle over the warm cake. Make sure to cover all the cake.
  8. The juice will sink in and the sugar will form a lovely, crisp topping. Sieve over additional icing sugar if you wish for the white colouring. Top with more grated lemon.
  9. Leave in the tin until completely cool, then remove and serve.

 

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Asparagus, Prosciutto & Champagne Risotto

Sometimes the most amazing things happen when you least expect it. This was one of them. I was looking round the kitchen thinking how I had no idea what I was going to make for dinner, when I remembered the asparagus in the freezer from a trip to a pick your own asparagus place with my girls.

AparagusI also have a huge supply of Risotto rice at the moment, so the obvious answer was Asparagus Risotto, a la the Fast And Easy Cookbook for Thermomix UK. But, I also had a left over bottle of champagne – that’s a bottle of booze that wasn’t finished the day it’s opened, don’t worry, a few years back I wouldn’t have known that either 😉 – and some prosciutto from our recent meat box delivery and chicken stock from the whole chicken I managed to make in my Veroma last week.

Well, this combination proved to be my favourite risotto to date. I hope you enjoy it too!

*If you don’t have a Thermomix you can still make this recipe using a traditional Risotto recipe, but substituting the wine for champagne, and the other additions for prosciutto and asparagus.

Aparagus Risotto

Asparagus, Prosciutto & Champagne Risotto
Recipe Type: Main Meal
Author: Luschka van Onselen
Prep time:
Cook time:
Total time:
Serves: 4
I should warn you that this is a very rich dish, but it is beautiful. Just a rush of beautiful flavour, and I would encourage you to use the best quality prosciutto you can. This recipe is an adaptation from the Asparagus Risotto recipe in the Fast and Easy Cooking TM31 book.
Ingredients
  • 80g parmesan
  • 200g asparagus
  • 20g olive oil
  • 250g risotto rice
  • 200g champagne of your choice
  • 450g chicken stock
  • 30g butter
  • 8 strips of prosciutto
  • freshly ground pepper
Instructions
  1. Run your Thermomix at speed 8, and drop 80g of parmesan cheese in for 5 seconds. Set aside.
  2. Cut asparagus tips and add them to the cheese. Put the stalks in the bowl and chop 7 seconds/speed 5.
  3. Add oil and cook for 3 minutes/100C/Speed 1.
  4. Add the champagne, stock and risotto rice and cook for 15 minutes/100C/Spoon Speed Reverse, making sure the measuring cup is in to maintain the liquid.
  5. When it’s done the rice should be firm but edible. If needed add another minute or two.
  6. In the meantime, tear the prosciutto into strips.
  7. When the rice is cooked, add the butter, parmesan, prosciutto and asparagus tips, and stir using a spoon.
  8. Sprinkle freshly ground black pepper, and serve immediately.