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| Gorse cupcakes and Anawhata |
On Sunday we went to Anawhata, one of my local beaches, and one of my favorites, as you can only reach it walking down a path in the bush. There are many gorse plants around, a weed in New Zealand, but the flowers are lovely and smell like coconut. They are also edible so I picked some on the way back.
The walk to the beach
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| From top left clockwise: Vegetarian humor on a sign (and no, it wasn't me!), the path to the beach, the beach and a far away surfer (needs to carry his board down, and then up again the path!), cute shells on the black sand. |
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| Beautiful seaweed |
I picked about two large handful of gorse flowers, made a syrup with a 100ml of water and 1 tbsp of icing sugar, put the gorse in the hot syrup and let it rest for one night.
For the gorse cupcakes:
120 g butter
3 eggs
130 g sugar
1/2 tsp lemon zest
200 g self-rising flour
100 ml gorse flowers and syrup
Makes 12 cupcakes
Preheat the oven to 175°C. Line a 12-muffin tray with cupcakes paper cups.
Melt the butter in a jug, either in the microwave or in the oven (while the oven is warming up for the cupcakes). Place the eggs and sugar in a mixing bowl and whisk, using an electric beater, until the mixture looks light and pale yellow in colour. Slowly add the melted butter and the lemon zest. Keep beating at a low speed now; add flour followed by gorse and syrup and keep beating making sure that there are no lumps. Divide the mixture between the 12-cupcake cases and bake for about 18-20 minutes, until golden at the top. You can also check by inserting a toothpick into the cupcakes: if it comes out clean the cupcakes are ready. Remove the cupcakes from the tin and let them cool down.
Would you like to know what they tasted like? They tested like banana cupcakes!!
Photos and Recipes by Alessandra Zecchini ©
Ma che belle foto!!!
ReplyDeleteBuon fine settimana
Ma che bella la vostra spiaggia nonostante l'inverno. Buonissimi questi cupcakes, baci!
ReplyDeleteAnche d'inverno e' molto bello qui, tanto per me questo mare dell'Ovest e' freddo sia d'inverno che d'estate, e quindi ci passeggio soltanto!
DeleteLove these cupcakes Alessandra!
ReplyDeleteCiao Alessandra. Grazie come sempre per la "gita virtuale" che posso fare stando comodamente seduto e guardando le tue foto. L'ultima, quella dei muffin, è bellissima (e loro... i muffin, sembrano tanto buoni)
ReplyDeleteCiao e buon WE :)
Flavio
Grazie Flavio, buon WE anche a te.
DeletePer adesso sono molto interessata alla cucina con i fiori...
ReplyDeleteHo molte ricette con i fiori se se cliché l'etichetta "flowers".
DeleteCome non innamorarsi di un posto così? Le tue foto sono meravigliose...la mia preferita è quella delle alghe, ne ho viste alcune in Bretagna che erano lunghissime e tutte frastagliate...in quel momento ho deciso che questi alimenti avrebbero dovuto entrare nella mia dieta...e così è stato.
ReplyDeleteDo una leccatina virtuale ai tuoi muffin...devono essere deliziosi! Ciaoo
Anche a me piace quella delle alghe, è più bella di quella dei cupcakes... accidenti!!! :-)
DeleteYou keep harvesting that gorse Alessandra, keep those weeds down. Lovely west coast pics
ReplyDeleteYes, organically! Instead of spraying I 'll eat them ;-).
DeleteGorse...ho trovato che è del genere Ulex, il ginestrone potrebbe esserci affine visto che è dello stesso genere, ma non sarà della stessa specie. Ottima idea quella di farne uno sciroppo per delle fantastiche cupcakes. Stupenda la foto del kelp!!! Una meraviglia della natura. Grazie mille
ReplyDeleteSe i fiori sono commestibili allora certo che si può' usare. Anche la lavanda si può usare in questo modo :-), anche se molto meno (ha un sapore fortissimo, mentre il gorse si nota appena).
ReplyDeleteLove the seaweed photo...stunning! I never knew that you could eat gorse flowers....in Scotland gorse is seen as a virulent weed!!
ReplyDeleteSo it is here Mairi, a very bad weed, but it can be used for animal feed (full of protein) and yes, the flowers are edible... there must be some old Scottish recipe with them somewhere, they are probably good soaked in whisky :-)!
ReplyDeleteMamma mia,che bellezza!Buona Domenica,carina!
ReplyDeleteThese look wonderful! I've actually not seen even one little bit of gorse over here in Aussie? But I know it's everywhere in NZ aye! xx
ReplyDeleteMaybe they had been wise enough not to import it into Australia :-).
DeleteI never would have dreamed that gorse could be used for cooking. We have a small area along our coastline where it grows, and, while it is considered a weed here, it is beautiful when it is in bloom. I hope all is right with your world. Have a wonderful day. Blessings...Mary
ReplyDeleteHi Mary, funny eh? I didn't know gorse before coming to NZ (where is considered a super weed) and I found out that it was edible before most of the people here (and in other countries where they have grown up with it) it seems. I guess that my foraging instinct leads me to try different plants :-).
ReplyDeleteChe bella spiaggia e che novità che questi fiori si possono mangiare! Un bacione
ReplyDeleteSuch beautiful images! The view is stunning. And black beaches...wow! Thank you so much for sharing...off to read more about these cupcakes of yours...they look yummy and I just got new liners so I need to fill them up with something. Hugs to you for a great week. xoxo
ReplyDeleteSAi cosa mi colpisce delle tue foto?a luce partiocolarissima...che ti rapisce proprio!Che meraviglia quella terra!E sarei curiosa di vederli dal vivo(ed assaggiarli) quei fiori!
ReplyDeletebacione
bellissimo questo post! a volte quando vengo qui mi sembra di fare dei piccoli viaggi ^.^ e mi porti sempre in posti fantastici.
ReplyDeleteChe meraviglia quelle spiagge.... e le *viste* della vegetazione poi!
ReplyDeleteUn unica domanda, i fiori che hai raccolti sono quelli che da noi chiamiamo ginestre? I Muffins sono invitanti e, se mi impegno, potrei farli pure io..
Buona giornata (per me è sera!)
Nora
Sono questi http://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ulex, ginestre spinose, ma io non le conoscevo in Italia, da te ci sono?
ReplyDelete