PLANTAIN AND PECAN MUFFIS

Ok guys here it is, my final instalment in the plantain series. I know this one took a while to come but believe me it is so worth the wait. When I started the recipe testing to use plantain in new ways this was the one I was most excited about.

I was super nervous throughout the process because I wasn’t sure if they were going to taste like I had imagined they would but as I took the first bite they were even better than I could have imagined. I am so in love with this recipe, it has definitely become one of my favourites.

These are real muffins, not those little muffins that are basically glorified cupcakes, these are big with a nice high dome and packed full of flavour. Now don’t get me wrong I love cupcakes too but its a bit disappointing when you are expecting a muffin and you get a small dainty cupcake, there is a time and a place for small and dainty and that time isn’t when I want a muffin.

This batter comes together so quickly and you don’t even need a mixer; one thing that i definitely recommend is resting the batter overnight. I have done this with all my muffins since I read about it in a cookbook (Bouchon bakery by Thomas Keller if you are interested) and I promise you it is completely worth it. Resting the batter gives the flour time to hydrate, thicken and build some gluten which gives structure and helps result in a tender, moist muffin when  baked.................................. in English that means rest your batter  J.

MINI PLANTAIN PANCAKE MUFFINS

Hey guys, I’m back to continue my plantain series. I have been having so much fun experimenting with plantain. I should have probably posted this recipe last week so that you guys could have made them for shrove Tuesday or pancake Tuesday  but I’m not that organised of a blogger yet, but on the plus side pancakes can be enjoyed anytime so I’m sure you will forgive me.

As much as I love pancakes, sometimes I’m just not in the mood to  stand next to the hob frying a whole bunch of batter so when I saw these mini pancake muffins from bakerella I practically sprinted to get out my mini muffin tin.

I stirred some ripe mashed plantain into the pancake batter to make these super cute mini plantain pancake muffins. These are so delicious and a cinch to make and can easily be scaled up or down.

PLANTAIN AND SWEET POTATO MASH

Yes you read the title right, plantain in a mash.............................................

Plantain is something that I eat fairly often and just like most Nigerians I eat it in the same ways - dodo, boiled plantain or abatakoko. I am always looking for new ways to use ingredients and food items that I grew up eating and plantain has been on my tackle list for a while now.

My next three posts (this one included) will have plantain as the main ingredient but used in new and delicious ways; I'm pretty excited about this so lets kick things off.

This mash is delicious! seriously it really is, I'm not gonna lie I had my doubts but I am so happy that I decided to make it because not only is it scrummy it's super healthy and makes a great alternative to mashed potatoes.

Not convinced to make it yet? Did you know that plantain is a super food and that half a cup of cooked plantain contains about 3g of resistant starch that boosts metabolism and burns fat (source: health.com).

DODO GIZZARD

This is one of my absolute favourite Nigerian side dishes, seriously guys i could eat this by the bucketload! I just love the balance of flavours; it’s sweet from the very ripe plantains and spicy from the pepper sauce.

If you've ever been to a party in Nigerian party or get together you must have had or at least been offered dodo gizzard or gizdodo or gizdo or whatever name you call it.

You don't have to wait till your next party to have dodo gizzard, its pretty easy to make at home. I will admit that it does involve quite a few steps as it has three separate components but don't  let that put you off this because the outcome is so worth it.

Plus you could make the gizzard and the pepper sauce in advance and heat them up just before you mix it all together. Just make sure you fry the plantain when you need it, reheated plantain is HORRIBLE. 

COCONUT PECAN AND WHITE CHOCOLATE BLONDIES

My friend had the most gorgeous baby boy about three weeks ago and I went to see them this weekend. I just love babies, so cute, cuddly and they always smell so good. I didn’t get to carry him and play with him for as long as I wanted to because there were many grandmas and uncles and so on waiting to carry himas well and I didn’t want to seem like a baby hog even though I totally am.

Even before I had decided on when I was going to visit them, I had already decided to take these blondies with me. They are so so easy to make and chewy, moist , delicious................ just how I like my blondies.  

The base recipe for these blondies is from Smitten Kitchen; I love recipes like this that can be easily adapted to suit your tastes, whatever mix ins you decide to use is entirely up to you, the possibilities are endless!!!!!!!

COCONUT FILLED CHOCOLATE HEARTS

Here I am again with another sweet treat for your sweetheart or yourself this valentines day. ok ok not necessarily for valentines day, (I've eaten most of them and between me and you I doubt they will make it to valentines day) I just said that so you would think I was a super organised blogger that brought you recipes tailored to the time of year lol!

One of my favourite chocolates is bounty and I have been telling them for years (telepathically of-course) to make a white chocolate one, since they kept ignoring me I took matters into my own hands (cue super hero theme music) and boy am I glad I did!!!!!

These are so delicious and easy, they are everything I wanted my white chocolate bounty to taste like, I dressed them up a bit and added some dark chocolate for a pretty two toned effect but feel free to use any chocolate that you like. 

RED VELVET CHEESECAKE SWIRL BROWNIES

I have been wanting to make something with a cheesecake layer for a while and after making this I am so annoyed I waited this long! OK this recipe.....OMG so decandent, so rich and believe it or not ridiculously simple to make; seriously it will take you only about 15 minutes to get these into the oven. 

These brownies are good any time of the year but the vivid red makes it particularly fitting for valentines day, this recipe is from sallys baking addiction and she adapted it from a Sunny Anderson recipe. I prefer the sally's baking addiction recipe because using just the egg yolk makes the cheesecake layer thicker (which I love) but if you'd rather not have an egg white hanging around feel free to use the whole egg in the cheesecake layer.

Whenever I make anything red velvet (brownies, cakes, cookies, cheesecake etc) I use red gel food colouring instead of liquid colour as the liquid red food colouring sold in UK supermarkets never gives you the bright red you want. The brand I use the most is Home2bake professional icing colour which you can buy from Asda. You only get basic colours like green, yellow, blue so if you need any fancy tints and shades like paprika, primrose, ice blue and so on you will need to go to a sugarcraft store or buy online. 

Now back to these brownies, after eating 3 pieces sneaking a few nibbles, I put them in the freezer for about 40 minutes so that I could get neat slices to take pretty pictures and obviously a few more nibbles made it into my mouth. Let me tell you it tasted beyond amazing, like a red velvet cheesecake truffle!!!!!!!!!!

NIGERIAN CHAPMAN

Do you love valentine’s day? I'm actually kind of indifferent about  the holiday itself and the Mr and I don’t always celebrate it, but I love all the pink red and white stuff everywhere and anything that allows me to cook pink food is OK with me J.

Chapman is one of my favourite things to have when I go home to Nigeria and with its bright red colour and refreshing taste (Oh gosh, I sound like an advert) it will make a great valentine’s day drink for you and your sweetheart.

There are a lot of different versions of chapman out there; some people use blackcurrant ribena instead of grenadine, some use Campari instead of angustora bitters and there are even some recipes that add zobo (hibiscus tea) but after some trial and error, I’m definitely team grenadine, angustora bitters and DEFINITELY NO ZOBO!!!!  

CHOCOLATE COVERED PEANUT BUTTER PRETZEL STICKS

Valentines day is a just around the corner and as a food blogger I am required to bring you delicious treats most of which are white, red or pink and these pretzels definitely fit the bill.

These recipes came about because after I tried some peanut butter filled pretzel bites at wedding, OMG they were amazing. I ate so many of them I sure looked like a pig to everyone at the table. I was brainstorming ways to recreate those beauties and fill them with a whole array of other fillings cracking my head about how to make hollow pretzels and then fill them when I saw the pretzel sticks in my snack cupboard and eureka!  (if you get the eureka, you're a geek like me).

With just three ingredients, these pretzels are so easy to make. I love these pretzels because they can very easily be customised; peanut butter for any other nut butter or spread of your choice, dip in milk or dark chocolate or even a combination and decorate with whatever sweets or colours to match your event or holiday.

CINNAMON CHIP STREUSEL MUFFINS

Hey guys, I’m soooooooo sorry I haven’t posted anything in a while, I moved about 2 weeks ago but my router didn’t come until last week, and then when it came it wasn’t working bla bla bla........... long story short I couldn’t go online but now I can hurray!

I’m celebrating the return to my cyber life with these cinnamon chip streusel muffins; these were a request from my friend as she recently went to America and had these  and was craving them now that she was back in the UK.

Now if you are a UK baker you will know that you cannot get cinnamon chips anywhere here and so I had to make my own. I got the recipe from bright eyed baker and I don’t know what the commercial cinnamon chips are like but these were AMAZING. They gave the muffins these intense bursts of cinnamon every time you bit into one and this combined with the buttery crunchy streusel topping just makes these muffins beyond delicious!!!!!

NIGERIAN CHICKEN PIE - IF AT FIRST YOU DON'T SUCCEED

Disclaimer: this is quite a long post with lots of pictures but its so worth it!

Happy new year guys, hope you all had a great Christmas, I did but I'm glad to be back with this chicken pie recipe

I have always preferred chicken pie to meat pie; don’t get me wrong I love them both but I just love the chicken pie more. My favourite one when I was growing up was from Mr Biggs (yum yum).Obviously since I moved to the UK I have not been able to get my beloved chicken pie and so the hunt for home-made chicken pie ensued.

I found a few recipes and settled on one I thought sounded nice. WHAT A DISASTER!!!!!! Although the filling was ok, the dough was so hard I swear it could have caused a concussion if thrown at your head. I’m sure this was more to do with me than the recipe but I was so disheartened I vowed to stay away from pastries for life (ok a tad dramatic but I was upset).

However I was in charge of finger food recently for a party, I went through so many ideas but the damned chicken pies wouldn’t leave me alone so I gave in. As I knew I could develop my own filling recipe, I focused my search on the dough and finally found this recipe with step by step pictures! I was ecstatic, at least with pictures I could ensure everything was looking as it should.