Salted Caramel Chia Pudding Pots.

Most people meal-prep lunch and dinner, but I am not 'most people'. No, you see I'm all about meal-prepping breakfast because you damn well bet those extra 15 minutes snoozing in bed in the morning make my day oh, I dunno, INFINITELY better than it would have been had I needed to get up earlier to make, of all tedious things, breakfast.

I've never been an alarm snoozer, but I have always been a girl who values maximum time spent sleeping over most other things. This means that I will always set the alarm for as late as is humanly possible to do so while still being at work on time. I'm actually so skilled at doing this now that I'm quite the morning ninja if you will, entirely capable of fully getting up, dressed, fed, make-uped, hair done, teeth brushed, tea drunk and out the door within a 20 minute window. This my friends, takes considerable skill. It also takes some sneaky breakfast meal-prep, which is where this particular recipe comes in to save the day (literally).

These little pots of morning goodness are;
          - Nutritious (thanks to all that fibre, omega-3 and protein in the chia seeds)
          - Easy to make (thanks to the only real 'prep' being the need to quickly blend, stir and put in the fridge overnight), and, MOST IMPORTANTLY,
          - TASTY (thanks to all that PB and gooey medjool date caramel-ness).

All in all, they're kind of amazing and yes indeed they've saved my morning hustle many a time. My boss, though she doesn't realise it, very much owes my presence in her office on time as expected to these Chia Pudding Pots, thereby making these guys the real MVP around here!

Ingredients;
1 cup soy milk
3 medjool dates (pitted)
1 tbsp peanut butter
3 tbsp chia seeds
Handful raspberries
Handful granola

1. Add the soy milk, pitted medjool dates and peanut butter to a blender and mix on high speed for a minute or two, making sure the dates are fully broken up and there aren't any chunks in the mixture.
2. Take a bowl and put the blended caramel milk mixture into it. Add in the chia seeds then stir well.
3. Place in the fridge for a few hours.
4. Take some small, airtight containers and add some raspberries into the bottom, roughly mashing them with a fork. Scoop in the chia pudding on top, then seal the container and place in the fridge until you're freaking out one morning about being late for work.
5. In the midst of that morning freak out, remember past you was smart and meal-prepped for this exact scenario. Remove the Chia Pudding Pot from the fridge, sprinkle some crunchy granola on top and enjoy.
6. Despite your sneaky sleep in, turn up at work on time anyway thanks to your meal-prepped breakfast and proceed to smash out a wicked day in the office/workplace, all thanks to a humble Salted Caramel Chia Pudding Pot. Magic!

*this makes 2-3 chia puddings, depending on the size of jar you use!)

Cinnamon and Raspberry Pastry Knots.

For a while now I've been thinking about making some more quick, simple and easy snacks that would be suitable for a casual afternoon tea, to gift to a friend or otherwise to consume in their entirety on a rainy afternoon when you're home alone and there's no one around to give you judgmental side eye about you uncontrollable love of pastry.

Enter the Cinnamon and Raspberry Pastry Knot.

These little morsels are the PERFECT thing to quickly whip up and I can guarantee that if you do exactly that, everyone will be highly impressed with your skills and will definitely think you've far more culinary talent than you actually do. You only need 5 ingredients to make them, they're SUPER tasty and genuinely super quick and easy to whip up.

They taste best when fresh, though will keep well in an airtight container and zapped in the microwave for approx. 20 seconds the following day. I can confirm, by way of rigorous testing (N.B. voraciously eating them), that they're also particularly pleasant with a hot cup of tea, curled up under a blanket on your couch when its raining/trying to snow outside. Basically you need them in your life as a matter of urgency and good taste.

Ingredients;
4 square sheet puff pastry, thawed (In Australia, the brand 'Borg's, available at Woolworths, is dairy free)
1/2 cup coconut sugar
2 tbsp cinnamon
4 tbsp raspberry jam (I make this myself using 1 cup frozen raspberries, 1 tbsp chia seeds and a splash of water mixed together and cooked on low heat in a saucepan for 5 mins, but if you're lazy you could use regular supermarket jam)
Dairy free butter (I use Nuttelex)

1. Preheat your oven to 180 degrees Celsius (fan-forced).
2. Take a square sheet of pastry and butter it like you would a piece of bread, then spread 1 tbsp raspberry jam over the top of that.
3. In a small bowl, mix together the coconut sugar and cinnamon, then sprinkle that generously over the square of pastry.
4. Cut the square of pastry into thirds, then fold each third in half (you should end up with strips approx. 2cm wide and 20cm long). Pick the strips up and twist them into spirals then loosely twist them into a knot. Evenly space the knots on a lined baking tray, then sprinkle them with some extra cinnamon/sugar mix.
5. Repeat for each square of pastry, then bake for approx. 20 mins or until golden brown. Enjoy with a cup of tea and the satisfaction of being an undercover pastry chef!!

Rainbow Funfetti Doughnuts.

Around a year ago, after around a year of hunting, I finally located and purchased a doughnut pan. It was a very exciting day and there was a whole lot of anticipation for my first homemade doughnuts. It's perhaps because of that anticipation that my first, and indeed second and third attempts at homemade doughnuts, were bitterly, heartbreakingly, traumatically, et al UPSETTING IN THE EXTREME. Those initial attempts at doughnut making were gross and definitely got filed under the 'recipes gone wrong' tab. If I'm being totally honest, I have many the kitchen failure and they can all be disheartening but the doughnut baking failures were particularly sad because lemme assure you, it is genuinely utterly TRAGIC to eat a bad-tasting doughnut. It even pains me now to think back on the bad-tastiness of those sub-par doughnuts. Let's just not talk about that anymore. 

A few weekends back though, the Feng Shui about doughnut making was giving off some majorly positive vibes. In all honesty, this is how and why I get the idea to try most things in the kitchen - I just have to wait till the right vibes, or Feng Shui if you will, comes along. I'm so proud to declare, largely thanks to the good doughnut-related Feng Shui, that I have finally succeeded in making making good homemade doughnuts. They're light, they're fluffy, they're tasty, they've got rainbow funfetti sprinkles in them AND on them, and my faith is now fully restored in the kitchen, baking and doughnuts in general. 

I should disclose, that technically these probably ought to be called 'cakenuts' because they're really a hybrid cupcake-doughnut but I think we can all unanimously agree that the name 'cakenut' is weird, it probably all makes us a bit uncomfortable inside and it can go on the list of words we shall avoid using alongside 'moist'.

Nonetheless, whether they technically be a cupcake-doughnut or not, these are delicious, Homer Simpson would 100% approve of them and you should make yourself some asap!

Ingredients;

The Doughnuts

1/4 cup aquafaba (the liquid from a can of chickpeas)

1/2 cup coconut sugar

1/4 cup maple syrup

2 tsp vanilla bean paste 

3 tbsp coconut oil (in it's liquid form)

1 1/2 cups plain flour (I use white spelt)

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp bicarb soda

1/2 cup soy milk 

1/4 cup rainbow sprinkles/funfetti

The Icing

1 400ml can full-fat coconut cream

1/2 cup icing sugar

2 tbsp maple syrup

1/4 cup rainbow sprinkles/funfetti

1. Preheat a fan-forced oven to 180 degrees Celsius. Before starting, I also grease my doughnut pan (so the doughnuts don't stick!) using some olive oil spray.

2. In a large mixing, combine the aquafaba, coconut sugar, maple syrup, vanilla bean paste and coconut oil using an electric mixer on high speed for a few minutes. You want things to be really well combined and for the mixture to become as light as possible (so don't be a lazy person and please actually do mix for several minutes otherwise your doughnuts won't be as good okay)!

3. When fully mixed, add in the flour, baking powder and bicarb soda, then fold the mixture through using a spatula/spoon until just combined.

4. Add in approx. half the soy milk, and continue to mix. Slowly add in the rest of the soy milk until the mixture is smooth and relatively runny like a regular cake mixture should be (you may not need all the soy milk!) and then give everything a final mix with the electric mixer.

5. Add in the rainbow spinkles/funfetti, then mix them through with the spatula/spoon.

6. Use a spoon to scoop out the mixture into your doughnut pan moulds. You should fill them approx. 3/4 full.

7. Place the filled doughnut pan into the oven and bake for 20-25 minutes, or until lightly golden and firm to the touch.

8. Flip the doughnuts out onto a cooling rack and allow to cool fully before icing.

9. To make the icing, take a small mixing bowl and scoop the solid part of the coconut cream out into the bowl (I suggest leaving the coco cream in the fridge overnight to best separate the liquid from the solid and to get the best icing consistency). Add in the icing sugar and maple syrup, then use an electric mixer on high speed to mix things for a solid few minutes. For best results, I recommend making the icing the day before the doughnuts and allowing it to sit in an airtight container in the fridge overnight.

10. When the icing is done and the doughnuts cooled, use a spoon/knife to ice each doughnut, then sprinkle each one with a generous amount of rainbow sprinkles/funfetti before having yourself a wee little doughnut party! Happy days!