Gluten-free, egg-free crumpets

We were fairly broke recently, ran out of eggs, and didn't feel like having mealie pap for breakfast AGAIN. So, after googling a few recipes and improvising with what we had in the fridge and cupboard, I made these:

Gluten-free, egg-free crumpets

Dry ingredients:

1 cup mealie meal

1/2 cup coconut flour

1/2 cup potato starch

1/4 cup maizena (cornstarch)

1 teaspoon tapioca flour

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

8 teaspoons sugar (or to taste)

Wet ingredients:

2 teaspoons vanila essence

3 heaped tablespoons butter, melted

About 2 cups milk

Optional ingredients:

2 eggs (unnecessary, but eggs are always nice! Add them in with the wet ingredients)

1 or 2 teaspoons Cinnamon (Add in with the dry ingredients)

Directions:

1. Mix all of the dry ingredients together (if you only have mealie meal, that works too! Just use 2 cups of mealie meal instead of all of the other flours and starches)
2. Add all of the wet ingredients and mix everything up (make sure the butter isn't too hot from being melted, or it will cook some of the batter when you add it in) - the amount of milk is an estimate - you don't want batter as thin as pancake batter, it should be about as thick as a runny cooked porridge. Add milk until you're happy - rather add too little than too much, make one crumpet to test the consistency, and then add more as needed.
3. Oil and heat a non-stick pan on medium-high heat (about 1/2 teaspoon oil should be fine, just re-oil before each pancake)
4. Pour some batter into the pan (the size is up to you! You could make a small crumpet, or one as big as your pan! Just start small for testers) and flatten the batter by spreading it out with a spoon. It should be under 1/2 cm thick.
5. Once bubbles start to appear on the surface, check if it's browned underneath by gently lifting an edge with your spatula. 
6. Once it's golden brown, use the spatula to make sure all of the edges are loose, and the crumpet is slipping around the pan... Then flip it! 
7. Cook until the other side is also nicely browned, and serve as desired (I like mine with peanut butter!)

The crumpets should be nice and moist inside, slightly chewy (they won't be as soft as regular crumpets), but not gritty - if they're gritty, turn your heat down and cook each crumpet for longer, giving the mealie meal time to cook properly.

These are very filling crumpets - one batch is enough to stuff two adults with big appetites (we often have a bowl of porridge with three eggs on top for breakfast, so that should give you an idea!).

Typically, I only decided to write this post after eating all of the crumpets... So I'll update this post with a picture the next time that I make some.

Make Your Own Ice Cap

So I completely stole this recipe from the internet in general. So many people have posted it. BUT. They all posted it as a recipe for Magic Shell. And as we all know, it's actually called Ice Cap.

Here's how it's done...

Make Your Own Ice Cap 

This recipe makes about 1 ¼ cups of Ice Cap. You can double it or triple it if you have a lot of kids... Or a sweet tooth.

Ingredients:

• ½ cup cocoa powder 
• ½ cup coconut oil 
• ¼ cup honey (or double if you like it very sweet. I don't.)

Method:

1. Put a little bit of water in a small pot. 
2. Put all of the ingredients into a small jug with a spout. 
3. Put the jug in the pot. Voila! A double boiler that will be easy to pour out of later. 
4. Put the pot on the heat. High, in case you were wondering. 
5. Once it starts melting, stir continously until everything is nicely mixed together. 
6. Once it's very smooth and super runny, turn the heat off. It should be ready before the water in the pot even starts boiling. If not, and the water starts simmering, turn the heat down. No need to get splashed with boiling water unnecessarily. 
7. Pour the sauce out into a pretty bottle. 

A Pretty Bottle!

I used an old olive oil bottle. The little pouring thing in the top is really useful for carefully pouring runny chocolate sauce... 

Anyway, you can keep this in the cupboard for a while, or in the fridge for longer. Just heat it up over some warm water if it solidifies in the bottle. 

And I bet you can't guess what I tested mine on. (Because this is the first time I've made it, by the way. Hence the required testing.) 

No, that funny little brown thing isn't what you're sniggering about.

Yes, you figured it out! Half of a frozen banana! AND IT WORKED! :D 

And, better than that, it tasted good. The sauce is quite bitter on its own, but when it's covering a sweet, frozen banana, it tastes great. So I'm quite chuffed. 

Now go and try it yourself. It's much cheaper than buying the normal Ice Cap, and probably healthier, too, if you care about that. 

Goodnight! (Good morning?)