Snow Business: Snowman Onigiri and Polar Bear Cupcakes

This post is one I wrote a while ago too, back when it first snowed. Since its April, you'd think it'd be way behind the times, but we went for a walk along the canals this week and there's still snow around. Will it ever be spring?!

I hate snow. A winter spent in northern Japan will do that to you. Add to that the fact that I was travelling all over the country while the snowstorms were going on last week, and you have the recipe for a rather grumpy girl! Luckily, the leader of the Brownie pack I help with came up with a solution...the Snow Challenge badge! For those of you who don't do Guiding, challenge badges are exactly what they sound like; you do a selection of challenges and then you get a badge! 

This Snow Challenge involved doing some outdoor activities in the snow, but also choosing some indoor ones to do too. Unsurprisingly, I chose the food challenges! The two for this badge were making a wintery meal, and decorating some cupcakes or biscuits with a winter theme. So, I cheered myself with having a baking and decorating session!

To start with, snowmen onigiri. Rice balls, filled with chicken mayo, decorated with nori, carrot, mangetout and ham. These were so fun to make, and really easy (although a circle punch would have made them less fiddly!)

This one got a hat too!

I also decorated some polar bear cupcakes! The recipe and idea came out of a magazine John's Mum gave me for Christmas, and as soon as I saw how cute they were I just had to make them! Other than the marshmallows as decoration, the recipe is entirely vegan. I nearly had a panic attack when I realised I was halfway through making a cake with no EGGS but I succeeded! My friend, Stacey, helped me and we decorated a whole family!  They were really fun to make, quite easy, and tasted DELICIOUS! 

Mummy and Daddy bear in muffin cases, and a baby made in a normal cake case. 

Recipe for Polar Bear Cupcakes

Ingredients

200g plain flour

75g dessicated coconut

100g caster sugar

30g almonds (I used ground almonds when I made it, but my mum used mixed chopped nuts. Both worked)

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp bicarb. of soda

190ml coconut milk

4tbsp sunflower oil

1 tsp vanilla extract

To decorate

White marshmallows, both normal and mini ones

Dark chocolate/black writing icing/edible pen

200g icing sugar

2 tbsp lemon juice

1 tsp hot water

150g dessicated coconut

Method

Preheat oven to 200C/Gas Mark 6

Whisk together coconut milk, oil and vanilla. Mix in flour, coconut, sugar, almonds, baking powder and bicarb. 

Spoon into cupcake cases. As shown above, you can make large or small ones, depending on your preference. 

Bake for 12-15 minutes, until risen and golden. Remove from oven and leave to cool.

Cut the large marshmallows in half, and draw paw prints and muzzles on them (4 paws for each muzzle). Pipe dots on the small ones for eyes and ears. 

Mix icing sugar with lemon juice and hot water to make the icing. Put the dessicated coconut on a plate. Once the cakes are cool, cover with the lemon juice and roll the cake in the coconut until covered. Use the rest of the icing to stick the marshmallows to the polar bear. 

 

Death by knife!

If you want the cake but not the fuss, it still tastes yummy as a plain, big cake too! 

February and March food round-up

It's been a while since I've done much blogging. I've been moving, settling into Birmingham, finding a job, and just generally been feeling rather uninspired recently. But everything is pretty much on track now. John has a job, I have a job (hopefully), we're moving into a lovely new flat next month, we're meeting people, getting involved with things again, etc. It's lovely. And since I won a prize (of a month's supply of Able and Cole vegetable boxes - more of that in a future post, I'm sure) through Bits and Bobs Becs and Fay's Food Fables Meat Free March, I've been reinspired to take up blogging properly again. It might last, it might not, but lets see how it goes!! 

For this first post back, I'm going to do a quick round-up of some of the favourite thing I've made in the last couple of months. As you can see, I've been baking a lot! I've done more actual yummy cooking too, but I'll save that for some more detailed blog posts later! 

Valentines Day cupcakes for my Dad

Sweet sushi

I haven't stopped bento-ing, but I haven't had much call for it recently. This was one snack bento I made for me and my parents to share on a walk. 

Definitely the best things about Birmingham is the amazing collection of world foods available everywhere. We've been experimenting with food for all over the globe! This was for an Indian feast! 

Dairy free chocolate brownie cookies

Caribbean Pineapple beans with fried plantain and brown rice

Biscuit tree tower! So much fun to make! I used Mary Berry's Easter biscuit recipe, which was easy and delish!

Decorating hot cross buns for Easter! These ones had swirls to separate them from the other batch, since I don't like candied peel in mine! 

Cheer Us Up Brownies

I'm starting off by re-posting the few recipes I'd posted on my old blog.

I'm currently a baking and cake lover without access to an oven. To start with, this depressed me. Now, I'm learning that with a bread maker/rice cooker and a bit of creativity you can do a pretty good job of making cakes. I've been fairly successful at making lots of different types of cake in a rice cooker (biscuits are still beyond me, but I'm working on it!), but the most fool-proof I've found is my favourite recipe for Chocolate Brownies.

I think we got this recipe out of a Beaver (in England, they're young Scouts) annual, about 15 years ago, and my Mum and I have been making it frequently ever since. It's really chocolatey and gorgeously gooey, while still retaining a good cakey-ness. It's also so easy and, as I mentioned above, pretty foolproof. 

The name 'Cheer Us Up Brownies' was coined by a friend of mine. My Mum would always make them for us all when we were going off hiking, and they were the best thing to pull out at that moment when nobody felt they could take another step! After we all went off to University, my Mum made a lot of friends by posting them round to me and my friends when she knew we had exams!

If you want to make it into more of a dessert, serve them warm with cream or ice cream and some sort of berries (raspberries are best if you can get your hands on them). John and I just usually munch them as they are straight out of the rice cooker. Don't expect them to last long.

Ingredients

(If you're using an oven, I suggest doubling the amount below. If you're using a rice cooker/bread maker, this amount should be about right)

50g margarine or butter

50g dark chocolate (if you live in Japan, the ¥100 shop Daiso sell great stuff)

50g self raising flour OR 50g plain flour plus 1/2tsp baking powder

100g castor sugar

1 egg

Optional extras:

If you like your brownie really REALLY chocolately and gooey, add a tablespoon of cocoa powder and a splash of water.

If you want to be super indulgent, you can add 50g chocolate chips/chunks.

Some crazy people like walnuts in their brownie. Add 50g if you're so inclined.

Method

Melt the chocolate and marg/butter together. Microwave fine, just use a low/medium heat and stir frequently.

Stir in all the other ingredients, plus any/all of the optional extras you fancy.

For those lucky enough to have an oven:

Pre-heat the oven to 180°C/Gas Mark 4/350°F

Grease or line a baking tray, either about 7"x7" (15cm square) for the amount above or about 7"x11" (15cm x 22cm) if you followed my advice and doubled it. 

Bake for 20-25 minutes, or until a knife stuck into it comes out almost clean.

For those of us with rice cookers/bread makers:

Lightly grease the cooking tin. Pour the mixture in and cook until a knife stuck in comes out almost clean. On my machine, I set it going on rice cook, leave it through the cook and steam phase, then repeat. After 2 cycles it's perfect. I guess it'll vary with different machines though.

Eat and Enjoy!