Lunch box (or office) supplies
Today’s ‘‘lunch box’’ recipes are designed for children, teenagers, uni students and office workers – they are tasty, indulgent and loved by all! First up are savoury, cheesy loaves packed with corn off the cob, smoked chicken, pumpkin, and basil pesto.
Feel free to ring the changes by adding your own spin on the flavours – sub the pumpkin for ku¯ mara or zucchini, the parmesan for tasty or gruyere cheese, the chicken for ham, and the sunflowers seeds for walnuts or pumpkin seeds . . . they provide a wonderful base for experimentation.
The banana muffins are really rather more like mini banana cakes, moist yet still light, recklessly coated in a fabulously quick and easy caramel glaze.
The glaze is absolutely optional, but definitely worth a try, especially if you decide to sneak a quick muffin for dessert, gently heated with vanilla bean icecream.
Corn, chicken, ku¯ mara and parmesan loaves with pesto
Makes: 12-13 Preparation: 30 minutes Cooking: 25-30 minutes
❚ 2 cobs corn (about 2 cups kernels)
❚ 1⁄3 cup basil pesto
❚ 400g greek natural yoghurt
❚ 2⁄3 cup olive oil
❚ 2 eggs
❚ 1 cup grated parmesan
❚ 1 1⁄2 cups grated pumpkin
❚ 150g smoked chicken, chopped
❚ 1 1⁄2 cups self-raising flour
❚ 1⁄3 cup sunflowers seeds
Bring a large pot of water to a boil and cook the corn cobs for eight minutes.
Remove from the water, cool then slice the kernels from the cobs.
Preheat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius and grease a 14-loaf mini tray or 12-hole texas muffin trays.
Put the pesto, yoghurt, olive oil, and eggs in a large bowl, and whisk to combine. Stir through the pumpkin and chicken, then add the flour and sunflower seeds (reserving some to sprinkle on the top), and fold to combine.
Spoon into the prepared baking trays, sprinkle with reserved seeds, and bake for 25-30 minutes until golden and cooked through.
Banana muffins with caramel glaze
Makes: 12 Preparation: 15 minutes Cooking: 18 minutes
❚ 2 cups self-raising flour
❚ 1⁄2 teaspoon baking soda
❚ 2⁄3 cup caster sugar
❚ 3 eggs
❚ 2 cups mashed banana (about 3)
❚ 2⁄3 cup neutral baking oil
❚ 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Caramel glaze:
❚ 3⁄4 cup brown sugar
❚ 2 tablespoons icing sugar
❚ 1⁄3 cup cream
❚ 1 tablespoon butter
❚ 1⁄2 teaspoon vanilla extract
Preheat the oven to 180C and grease a 12-hole standard muffin tray.
Sift the flour and baking soda together into a large bowl. (Make sure the baking soda is well sifted through – there is nothing worse than taking a bite of baking soda-laced muffin.)
Whisk in the sugar.
In a separate large bowl or jug (or food processor), whisk the eggs, banana, oil, and vanilla extract. Pour into the flour and fold to combine.
Spoon into the prepared tray (I find an icecream scoop really handy for this), and bake 18-20 minutes until golden and cooked through.
Remove from the tin after five minutes and cool on a wire rack.
For the glaze, put all of the ingredients in a saucepan and bring to a boil, whisking to combine.
Once the butter is melted and the sugar is dissolved, remove from the heat and cool for two minutes before drizzling over the muffins.
Once cold, put the rack over a baking tray and drizzle with caramel glaze.