Peanut Butter Banana Bread with Coffee Ice Cream

Is it weird that this recipe sounds like breakfast to me?

Mexican Wedding Biscuits

This post is a made in dedication to my new catering venture: Benos' Kitchen.

Random name you might say, given that my name is Sita (“Sita’s Simply Delicious” – duh!). But, this name makes perfect sense. ‘Benos’ means sisters in Gujarati. My business partner (a.k.a my partner in crime) is my dear cousin sister, Nivika. And we’re both of Gujarati heritage.  

Obviously this the perfect time for me to advertise to you all - my lovely blog readers, so let me just get that out of the way first.

We really, really want to cook for you all. Really we do. Cooking is our passion. People tell us they like our food. We don’t pay them to say that. That’s just what they say. It’s party food that we do. Finger food. Bite sized. Bursting with flavour.To sum up our food in four words, we make fusion food made simple.

Here’s an excerpt from our menu so you can get a taste of the food we do.

Courgette Cups – courgette cups stuffed with a delicate blend of rosemary, thyme and garlic topped with crispy, golden breadcrumbs.

Mini Focaccia Bites – handmade authentic focaccia bread, smothered in our secret marinara sauce and melted mild, creamy cheddar cheese.

Crispy polenta bites – crispy polenta rounds topped with smooth goat’s cheese mousse and caramelised fig and red onion relish.

If you like sound of what you read and want to find out more, email us at benoskitchen@gmail.com . We even have a fancy newsletter to keep you all up to date. Send us an email and we’ll add you to our mailing list because we’re nice like that.

You can find us on twitter, and instagram, here and here, too – we basically just post food porn for you all to ogle at.

Okay, advertisement over.

This week’s recipe is for these super cute, really simple yet unbelievably delicious biscuits.

 I came across these when I was researching vegan recipes for an event Nivika and I attended. In my experience vegan food can sometimes feel lacking; Lacking flavour, lacking substance. But these vegan biscuits are just delicious. They literally melt in your mouth. And the use of maple syrup (common in a vegan recipes – as I have come to learn) is genius.

If anyone is celebrating Diwali next week – give these biscuits a go along side your usual sweets. Trust me, everyone will love them.

Mexican Wedding Biscuits (makes approx 25)

290g plain flour
30g ground almonds
85g icing sugar
225g margarine
2 tbsp maple syrup
1 tsp vanilla

(You may notice those fair hands in the video are not my own. They actually belong to my partner in crime Nivika. I'm behind the camera this week!)


1) Sift flour, almonds and icing sugar into a large mixing bowl. Beat margarine, maple syrup and vanilla in a separate bowl. Add dry ingredients to wet ingredients. Get your hands in and bind the dough together.

2) Leave in the fridge to cool for at least 10 minutes. Thereafter, mould into teaspoon sized balls. Pat down and add roasted almond flake on top. Bake in a pre-heated oven at 175ºc for 11-13 minutes. Until the edges are golden.

 
3) Let the biscuits cool and dust with plenty of icing sugar. 

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Until next time...

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Mini Chocolate Scones with Pear Compote

These scones are bloomin’ marvellous!

Mini Chocolate Scones

Oh, don’t mind me over here blowing my own trumpet.  It’s just that I could eat these all day, every day. They are (as most really, really good baking recipes are by my standards) adapted from my Mum’s recipe – so are inevitably going to be scrummy. I would be in a lot of trouble from Mother Hen but, she doesn’t know how to “do a blog” as she says. And well, what’s the point in me spending time teaching her how easy it is? When once she’s in front of the screen, mouse in hand, she’s going to get **new technology fear!! Get me a pen and a piece of paper!!** syndrome and forget everything I’ve told her. So I’ll give her the credit she deserves but put it up in full glory on my blog.

This recipe is adapted from her basic scone recipe, with my added twist of chocolate. And the pear compote is a perfect pairing (and my own recipe!). So actually, this dish is almost entirely my own creation. Mum, you’re lucky you got a mention!

Scones are just perfect for this time of year. Like most people, the darkening days and change in weather has got me down. I remember writing something similar around this time of year last year, when I made soup. This year, the comfort factor has been taken up a notch. Warm, sweet scones are the perfect comfort food and taste of home, alongside a big cup of tea, naturally. And they could be said to be very en vogue what with Bake Off and Downton (follow the links if you’ve been living under a rock or if you are not familiar with these British obsessions) back on our screens.

So over the winter period, on a Sunday night when most of us can be found snuggled under a blanket in front of the box, I would definitely recommend trying these British classics. And of course this recipe can be adapted to incorporate your favourite flavours – apple, hazelnut, lavender, orange and chocolate whatever takes your fancy really, this recipe definitely allows for experimentation.

Mini Chocolate Scones with Pear Compote (serves about 10)

Pear Compote:

4 Williams pears, peeled and chopped

6 tbsp (jam) sugar

1 star anise

2 tbsp hot water

Mini Chocolate Scones:

300g self raising flour

75g butter, cut into cubes

2 tbsp caster sugar

50g chocolate (with at least 40% cocoa solids)

150ml milk



Start with the pear compote...

1. Peel and chop the pears into small cubes. Put all the ingredients into a microwavable bowl. Then follow the same instructions here for my microwavable jam. You should not expect a jammy texture for this compote though – it is much more dry and the pears do not break down as much. However look out for a change in colour. The pears should darken a little and soften slightly. The texture you’re left with goes perfectly with these scones.

Pear Compote

Now for the scones...

1. First put your oven at 200ºC on to preheat so it is well heated before the scones go in.

Butter and flour now resembles sand!

2. Next, weigh out the flour. Sift into a large bowl. Add the butter and rub the butter into the flour between your finger tips (as seen in the video above). Keep going until the mixture resembles sand or fine breadcrumbs. Keep the mixture light and airy by lifting it through your fingers 

Notice the round-bladed knife

3. Pour in the milk and spoon in the sugar. Mix together using a wooden spoon or round-bladed knife. Once it begins to incorporate add in your chopped chocolate pieces. (I prefer these to chocolate chips as they’re all different sizes adding texture, and you can get bigger chunks – which is always a good thing with chocolate!)

Cutting out the scones

4. Once the mixture comes together, tip out onto a well floured work surface. Knead slightly to remove any cracks in the dough. Be gently though as you don’t want to knock out all the air and over work your dough. Flatten out using your hands until the dough is 1.5cm in thickness. Use a 6cm pastry cutter to cut out your scones. (If you don’t have a pastry cutter you can use a knife to shape them manually or trace round a bottle – just try and keep them all the same shape so they cook at the same rate.) You should get around 10-12 scones from this mixture.

Almost ready for the oven!

5. Transfer onto a baking sheet lined tray. Give the scones space between them as they will expand. Brush each scone with some milk – this will give them a lovely golden sheen. Bake in a preheated oven for 10-12 minutes at 200ºC until golden brown.  

My Mini Chocoalte Scones with Pear Compote

6. Once baked transfer onto a cooling rack. You can have them warm or cold. I like them best warm, with a dollop of whipped cream and a spoon of pear compote. Delicious!

I think I'm ready for Bake Off and Downton!

// Click here to PRINT RECIPE // Pssst - don't forget:- if you like what you read enter your email address into the box on the side at the top ----->. Don't worry I won't spam you or anything! You'll just get an email every time I write a new post :) And you can now follow me on Twitter, Pinterest or Bloglovin' too! 


Until next time...