I have been experimenting with baking using vegetables recently and so far it has been fun. Surprisingly, it has all gone down well with the children. Coincidentally, I am delighted to receive this Baking with Vegetables cookbook from Parragon. As the name suggests, there are some fabulous recipes with using vegetables in your bakes and it’s given me even more inspiration to be adventurous.
Looking through the book, there are recipes for breads, cakes, cookies, pastries and pie! There are over 40 different indulgent recipes that use beetroot, pumpkin, parsnip, swede and even more unusual vegetables like red pepper and peas. There is something for every occasion in this book, including Swiss Chard Tart with Pine Nuts and Candied Orange, and Red Pepper Tart Tatin with Black Pepper Caramel. There are also helpful tips and ideas for growing your own vegetables, sourcing fresh produce, plus essential baking know-how round out a gorgeous collection that would suit any lover of baking and gardening! This book is available at The Works, WH Smiths and Amazon.
I always love to make whoopie pies as they are like cakes that are shaped like a cookie. They are soft and easy to eat. With Halloween not too far away, I decided to test out the Pumpkin Whoopie Pie with the help of my children. It is not quite the right season for fresh pumpkins, so I bought a tin of Libby’s pumpkin purée (425g) from Waitrose.
Ingredients:
For whoopie pie
- 275g Plain flour
- ½ tsp Baking powder
- ½ tsp Bicarbonate of Soda
- 1½ tsp Ground cinnamon
- ¼ tsp Salt
- 200g Soft light brown sugar
- 125ml Sunflower oil
- 1 Large egg, beaten
- 1 tsp Vanilla extract
- 115g canned pumpkin purée
For Cinnamon & Maple syrup filling
- 200g Full fat soft cheese
- 85g Unsalted butter, softened
- 2 Tbsp Ground cinnamon
- 85g Icing sugar, sifted
Method:
- Sift together the flour, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda, cinnamon and salt.
- Beat the sunflower oil and sugar for one minute. Whisk in the egg and vanilla extract then beat in the pumpkin purée. Stir in the sifted flour mixture and beat until thoroughly incorporated.
- Bake in the oven for 8-10 minutes at 160ºC until risen and just firm to the touch.
- To make the filling, place the cheese and butter in a bowl and beat together until well blended. Beat in the maple syrup, cinnamon and icing sugar until smooth.
- Assemble the cake when you are ready to serve otherwise it will become soggy. The fillings are quite runny too.
We all love the whoopie pie and polished it off very quickly!
Disclosure: I received this book from the publisher for free. However, they have not paid me for this review, and they do not exercise any editorial control over my review or anything else on this site. Contains Amazon affiliate link.
