Winter Banana Smoothie
Serves one

Ingredients:
20-30g oats
1 large banana, roughly chopped or broken
100g low-fat vanilla yoghurt
250ml skim milk
Extra flavourings as desired: vanilla essence, nutmeg, cinnamon, LSA... you could even try some cocoa powder to make it chocolatey...

Method:
1. Grind oats for 6 seconds/speed 8, or until desired consistency is achieved.
2. Add banana and yoghurt. Blend for 10 seconds/speed 4.
3. Add milk and cook for 7 minutes/70 degrees/speed 4.

Notes:
I love this "smoothie" on cold days. I never make it exactly the same but this is basically what I do. Sometimes I add more oats, cook it for longer, grind the oats more finely, or add more milk. Depends how I feel on the day

Below is a photo of one I made tonight. I put a small handful of blueberries in the bottom of my glass, and then poured the smoothie on top. Yum!

...what would it be?

I have often wondered what I would do without my thermomix. And I don't know why, but that led me to wonder how on earth I would decide what to cook if I were only able to cook one more meal.

I think I would go for good ol' porridge. I love the stuff, and it brings back many happy childhood memories.

But then again...

I do love chicken curry. And my salmon and spinach pasta. And mushroom risotto. And custard. And chicken and vegie soup. And smoothies. And...

Anyway. The point of this thread: what would you cook, and why?

 

I'd definitely grease the cup Amy.

Thanks JD Just thought I'd check

Did everyone grease their cups? Or does the cake come out quite easily by itself?

Can anyone tell me if these would work with a grain bread flour?

Thanks for the feedback dede. I might make a note about the sweetness in the recipe. The people I usually make them for have very sweet tastes, which is why I use that much sugar. Glad you still liked them though :-)

Rocky Road Brownies

Brownie Ingredients:
200g butter
50g cocoa
250-350g brown sugar, depending on taste
170g plain flour
2 eggs
50g red glace cherries, halved
50g slivered almonds
1 Fry's Turkish Delight chocolate bar, chopped into small chunks
100g marshmallows, chopped

Icing Ingredients:
200g icing sugar
2 tbsp cocoa
3 tbsp evaporated milk

Method:
1. Preheat oven to 180 degrees Celcius. Grease and line a 28cm x 18cm slice pan or similar.
2. Melt butter in TM for 3 minutes/60 degrees/speed 1. Add cocoa and mix for 10 seconds/speed 3. Scrape down bowl with spatula and mix for another 10 seconds/speed 3.
3. Add brown sugar and mix for 20 seconds/speed 4.
4. Add flour and mix for 30 seconds/speed 3. Scrape down bowl with spatula.
5. Add eggs and mix for 30 seconds/speed 4.
6. Add cherries, almonds and Turkish delight. Mix for 1 minute/reverse + speed 2.
7. Spread mixture into prepared pan. When you have scraped out as much as you can, put lid on TM and hold turbo button for 10 seconds. This will fling mixture from around the blades to the inside of the bowl. (You may be surprised how much gets stuck there.)
8. Bake brownies for 25-30 minutes. Wash TM.
9. When brownies are completely cold, combine icing ingredients in TM on speed 3 until smooth. Spread icing over brownies and sprinkle with chopped marshmallows. Cut into squares and serve.


Notes
The brownie mixture is quite thick, so you may need to use the spatula to incorporate the cherries, almonds and Turkish delight.

I use almonds because I have a friend who can't eat any other type of nut. You could use peanuts or macadamias if you want to.

This brownie is quite sweet and rich; best eaten in small quantities!

Photo 1: Rocky Road Brownies
Photo 2: Fudgy Walnut Brownies (simply omit choc chips from Basic Choc Nut Brownies and add more walnuts).
Photo 3: Triple Choc Fudge Brownies (use milk, dark and white choc chips and omit walnuts from Basic Choc Nut Brownies).

Variations

The first five ingredients of this recipe are my base for almost all brownies I make. Using these, and basically the same method, here are some of my other favourite flavours (omit cherries, almonds and Turkish delight for all these variations):

Basic Choc Nut
Add 1 tsp vanilla extract with eggs. Add 1/2 cup mixed choc chips and 1/2 cup chopped walnuts. When cold, dust with icing sugar or spread with icing.

Peppermint 1
Add 1/2 tsp peppermint essence with eggs. Add one (or two!) crushed peppermint chocolate bars (such as Peppermint Crisp or Aero). Add 1/4 tsp peppermint essence to icing and spread over brownies when cold. Decorate with another crushed peppermint chocolate bar.

Peppermint 2
Add 1/2 tsp peppermint essence with eggs. Take a 250g block of Cadbury's peppermint filled chocolate and break into individual squares. When you have the brownie mixture spread in pan, press two thirds of the squares of peppermint filled chocolate into the brownie mixture. Make sure the mixture covers the squares of chocolate, or the filling will burst out and burn!!! Add 1/4 tsp peppermint essence to icing and spread over brownies when cold. Crush the remaining squares of chocolate and spread them across the brownie (this can be a bit messy).

Choc Honeycomb
Add two crushed chocolate honeycomb bars (such as Violet Crumble or Crunchie). When cold, spread with icing and another crushed chocolate honeycomb bar.

Caramel
Break a 250g block of Cadbury's caramel filled chocolate into individual sqaures. When you have the brownie mixture spread in pan, press two thirds of the squares of caramel filled chocolate into the brownie mixture. Make sure the mixture covers the squares of chocolate, or the filling will burst out and burn!!! When brownies are cold, spread with icing. Crush the remaining squares of chocolate and spread them across the brownie (this can be a bit messy).

Turkish Delight
Same as for Caramel, but use a block of Turkish Delight chocolate.

members' comments

dede - My DD made these and they smelt really good when they come out of the oven. Yum yum they are delicious, although next time I would cut down the brown sugar a little as they are really sweet but a great recipe thanks Amy.
Just made another batch of these brownies but with violet crumble bars instead and I have cut down the brown sugar by half.

deedub - I made the triple choc version of these for father's day - triple yum! I can see I will have to try the other variations now, great recipe Amy!

VieveMS - I  did a choc chip variation (using only dark and milk choc chips cause that is all I had).  Unfortunately I think I may have overcooked them as I got distracted when they were in the oven.  I have had one (OK, two) straight out of the oven and they are delicious but more of a cake consistency and not very fudgy.  Regardless, they will be eaten and are much better than my last lot of brownies which were completely undercooked.  Occasionally I get it right. Thanks for the recipe Amy.