Tuesday 26 November 2013

Cooking with Marmite - Marmite Rarebit

Hi friends!

Ok, ok....my German furends are shaking their heads at me for taking so long about it......se here we go....

My special BF (Bunny Friend) from twitter Miss Fluffy the Fluffy recently sent me some lovely presents from the UK and from her trip to Germany. These included some Marmite samples and...a Marmite COOKBOOK! Miss Fluffy knows I like to cook so this is such a fun surprise.



Here is my first cooking adventure with Marmite - Marmite Rarebit. It's a very bear friendly recipe (for the most part) so go ahead Anipals - kick the hoomins out of the kitchen and give it a try.....

There's been a bit of talk on twitter about Vegemite (the Aussie Land version) versus Marmite. I was a little bit nervous about trying Marmite 'cause I really REALLY don't like Vegemite! Guess that's why I picked a recipe with lots of other elements to hide that Marmite taste...heehee. Marmite looks a bit different from Vegemite - it's more runny for starters....


...and it's really glossy...



Ok, let's cook! First you need to toast a nice slice of bread. Butter it and spread it with Marmite. Like I said - I was a bit nervous so I only used a teeny bit of Marmite.....


Then sprinkle a bit of grated cheese and a dash of worcestershire sauce over the top and stick it under the grill to melt.
While that's happening, poach an egg and when the cheese on your toast is melted, lay the egg over the top.

Don't tell my Mumma Bear it took me three attempts to get a good looking poached egg. Hey, I've never done it before! And I'm a bear!! Maggie Puppy was happy to get the 2 misfits :)


And there you have it friends - Marmite Rarebit!
Only one thing left to do..... nom nom nom....


Bill xx

And a little post script....did I like it?
Well, a picture says a thousand words.....


B.




Friday 22 November 2013

Chocolate Muffins - don't tell anyone there's BEETROOT in them!!

Oh my GOODNESS! It's been a while since I cooked something! But friends - winter is over here in Aussie Land, the warm weather is here, I'm out of hibernation.......Bill's getting his cook on! (and I DON'T mean that in the naughty Breaking Bad sense of the word!!).

Did you know that you can make chocolate muffins out of beetroots? Well, they have chocolate in them too, but the beetroot makes them moist and give them a purpley 'red velvet cake' kinda look.

They're really easy to make too.
First you need to cook 2 large beetroots. Wash and trim them first and cut off the leaves but leave about 3cm of the stem attached. Boil, steam or microwave them until really tender. Once they're cooked, peel them while they're still warm and blend them up in one of your kitchen robots like this one.....


You'll need about 1 and 1/3 cups of beetroot puree.
Sift into a big bowl 1 and 3/4 cups of self-raising flour, 1/3 cup of cocoa powder and 1 cup of sugar.
Stir in the beetroot puree as well as 2 eggs, 1/3 cup of vegetable oil and 1/3 cup of milk.


Spoon the mixture into your muffin tin (don't forget to grease it if you're not using baking cups) and cook them in a 180C oven (that's 355F for my USA buddies) for about 25 minutes. 
This is what they look like when they're cooked.......


Now you can eat them as muffins........


.....OR..... you can jazz them up with some icing or ganache like I did.
Then there's only one thing left to do.......nom nom nom......


Bill xx