Spoil Mummy!

As I'm sure you all know *cough cough*, Mother's Day is this Sunday. I've heard (predominantly from mothers) that looking after your children is an exhausting job, and that they deserve to be rewarded with loads of flowers, chocolates, pressies, etc on Mothers Day.

While you may think that, like me, you were the perfect child and your mum should be thanking YOU for the privilege of raising you, you'll still be in trouble if you don't manage to produce a Mother's Day present. So what does one do when a Mother's Day present would mean spending all your weekly beer money? One whips up one (or more!) of these super-easy, super-cheap treats for Mum and pretend you put a lot of thought into it.

This following recipe is a My Kitchen Rules creation that I've student-ified. It tastes amazing and is a helluva lot easier than the MKR version! And although herbs like mint and coriander don't come cheap from the supermarket, growing your own in a little pot on the windowsill/balcony/bathtub costs around $2 for the initial seedling and about $3 for a half-decent pot from Kmart.


Breakfast Fritters (serves 2)

Ingredients:

- 1 cup frozen peas & corn
- 2 shallots
- 1 garlic clove
- A few leaves of coriander
- A few leaves of mint
- 1 cup self-raising flour
- 2 eggs (beaten)
- Milk, to thicken

Yoghurt:

-  1/2 small carton plain yoghurt (use up the remaining yoghurt from making Tandoori Chicken Skewers from the first post!)

- A few leaves of mint

- A few leaves of coriander

Method:

1. Chop shallots, coriander leaves, mint leaves and garlic finely.

2. Place chopped in a bowl with peas & corn, flour and eggs. Mix well.

3. Add a little milk at a time, until a thick batter has formed. You want it to look similar to pancake batter. Thick, lumpy pancake batter with green bits in it. 

4. Cook on a non-stick frypan or bbq hotplate until golden brown.

5. For the yoghurt, mix chopped coriander and mint into the yoghurt.

6. Serve fritters hot with yoghurt.

Note: If you are like me and don’t actually own a non-stick frypan, cook your fritters on a toasted sandwich machine. This way, you won’t have to use tons of oil on your regular frypan and the mess is minimal! 

This next one is equally delicious as a whole cake or as muffins, but if you don't like coffee you may want to skip out that ingredient or add less.

Mocha Marble Muffins

Ingredients:

- 1 cup butter, softened

- 1/4 cup cooking chocolate (broken into pieces)

- 2 tablespoons strong, black coffee

- 1 1/2 cups self-raising flour

- 1 cup caster sugar

- 4 eggs, beaten

- 2 tablespoons milk

- 1 teaspoon vanilla essence 

Icing:

- 1 cup cooking chocolate (broken into pieces)

- 1 tablespoon butter

- 1 tablespoon coffee
- 2 heaped tablespoons of icing sugar

Method:

1. Pre-heat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius and grease muffin tray.

2. Place chocolate and coffee in a bowl and melt over a saucepan of water. Alternatively, melt in the microwave (make sure you use a microwave-safe bowl), stirring every 15 seconds or so. Leave aside to cool slightly. 

3. Mix flour, eggs, butter and milk in a separate bowl. Beat until smooth.

4. Separate this mixture evenly into two bowls. Stir the chocolate/coffee mixture into one, and the vanilla essence into the other.

5. Drop spoonfuls of each mixture into the tin or cases and drag a skewer gently through the mixture to create a marbled effect. 

6. Bake for 15 - 20 minutes, or until a skewer inserted into the middle comes out clean. Leave to cool.

7. For the icing; melt the butter, chocolate and coffee together (over a saucepan or in the microwave) and stir in icing sugar.

8. Pour over the cooled muffins and leave to set before serving.

And finally, my favourite recipe ever! This one I stole from a friend, who continues to amaze me with her flawless cooking. Thanks Claire!

Claire's Garden-Variety Brownies

Ingredients:

- 1 cup butter

- 1 cup cocoa powder

- 4 eggs

- 2 cups caster sugar

- 1 teaspoon vanilla

- 3/4 cup self-raising flour

- 1 packet white chocolate chips (or you can use 1/2 cup of broken-up white cooking chocolate for chunkier chips)

Method:

1. Melt butter over a saucepan or in the microwave.

2. Mix in cocoa powder.

3. Beat in eggs, one at a time.

4. Beat in sugar and vanilla.

5. Mix in flour and choc chips.

6. Pour into a pan and bake at 160 degrees Celsius for 30 - 40 minutes. 

7. Cut into bite-sized pieces and serve with a sprinkle of icing sugar over the top.

Hopefully these babies will get you off the hook with Mum this weekend AND allow you a well-earned night at the pub. If all else fails, french toast is pretty foolproof.*

Lots of love (and a Happy Mother's Day)

(broke) Masterchef Mel

*Mel will not take responsibility if you actually mess up french toast. That's your own stupid fault, you idiot.