Berry recipes

Make Your Own Berry Yoghurt

You can use any berry – we’ve added maple syrup to taste as some berries are sweeter than others. We used blackberries for our yoghurt and added 2 tablespoons of maple syrup – mulberries would also be delicious and are naturally sweet enough to not need any extra sweetener! To flavour a cup of natural yoghurt, we swirled through 2 – 3 tablespoons of coulis.

Makes around 1 ½ cups (375ml / 12.7fl oz) coulis

Ingredients

2 cups (340g / 12oz) fresh or frozen berries

½ teaspoon (2.5ml / 0.08fl oz) vanilla paste

juice ½ lemon

maple syrup to taste

natural yoghurt to serve

What to do

Combine the berries, vanilla and lemon juice in a medium sized saucepan.

Heat over medium heat until the berries are super juicy.

Have a taste or the syrup and add maple syrup, if necessary.

Roughly mash some of the berries with the back of a fork.

Allow to cool before swirling through natural yoghurt.

Dollop some natural yoghurt into a bowl or jar and add as much or as little berry mixture as you like, for a gentle berry ripple, or a bold and bright berry yoghurt.

LEMON AND BLUEBERRY MUFFINS gluten free option*
Makes 12

Ingredients

¾ cup (100g / 3.5oz) buckwheat or plain flour

¾ cup (70g / 2.5oz) almond meal

1 ½ tsp (6g / 0.2oz) baking powder

pinch of fine salt

½ cup (125ml / 4.2fl oz) milk

⅔ cup (170ml / 5.7fl oz) grapeseed or olive oil

⅓ cup (80ml / 2.7fl oz) maple syrup

1 large, free range egg

1 teaspoon (5ml / 0.17fl oz) vanilla paste

zest of 2 lemons

juice of 1 lemon

1 ½ cups (250g / 8.8oz) frozen blueberries

What to do

Preheat oven to 180°C / 350° F / Gas Mark 4.

Line a muffin tin with 12 muffin papers.

In a medium sized bowl mix together the flour, almond meal, baking powder and salt.

Add the milk, oil, maple syrup, egg and vanilla and stir until the mixture is smooth and well combined, scraping down the sides to incorporate all of the flour.

Add the lemon zest and juice into the batter and stir until well combined.

Fold through the frozen blueberries gently.

Scoop the mixture into the muffin papers either using a tablespoon or using an ice-cream scoop. Fill the papers to around ¾ full.

Bake in the centre of the oven for around 25 minutes, or until the muffins are golden on top and a skewer inserted into the middle comes out clean.

Allow the muffins to cool in the tray for 5 minutes before removing to a wire rack to cool.

MIXED BERRY BANANA BREAD *dairy free
Makes one loaf

Ingredients

2 ripe bananas

2 large, free range eggs

1 teaspoon (5ml / 0.17fl oz) vanilla paste

½ cup (125ml / 4.2fl oz) grapeseed or olive oil

⅓ cup (80ml / 2.7fl oz) maple syrup

1 ½ cups (210g / 7.4oz) plain flour

1 ½ tsp (6g / 0.2oz) baking powder

pinch of fine salt

1 heaped cup (180g / 6.3oz) frozen mixed berries, such as blueberries, raspberries + blackberries

What to do

Preheat oven to 180°C / 350° F / Gas Mark 4.

Grease and line a loaf tin with baking paper.

In a medium sized bowl mash the bananas with the back of a fork until they form a paste.

Add in the eggs, vanilla, oil and maple syrup and whisk with the fork until the mixture is well mixed and becomes smooth and uniform.

Using a wooden spoon fold through the flour, baking powder and salt, until the batter is well mixed and there are no lumps.

Fold through the frozen berries.

Pour the mixture into the prepared tin, smoothing out the top if necessary.

Bake in the centre of the oven for around 50 – 60 minutes, or until the loaf is golden on top and a skewer inserted into the middle comes out clean.

Allow to cool in the tin slightly before turning out on to a wire rack to cool.

RASPBERRY + DARK CHOC BROWNIES gluten free option*
Use buckwheat flour to make these brownies gluten free.

Makes 28 brownies

Ingredients

• 300g / 10.6oz dark (70%) chocolate, roughly chopped
• 80g / 2.8oz unsalted butter
• 300g / 10.6oz caster sugar
• 55g / 1.9oz plain flour or buckwheat flour
• 40g / 1.4oz cacao powder
• pinch of fine salt
• 2 teaspoons (8g / 0.28oz) baking powder
• 4 large, free range eggs
• 100g / 3.5oz (heaped ⅓ cup) plain yoghurt
• 300g / 10.6oz frozen raspberries

What to do

Preheat oven to 170°C / 325° F / Gas Mark 3.

Grease and line a 30cm x 22cm / 11 inch x 9 inch brownie tin with baking paper.

Put the chocolate, butter and caster sugar in a medium sized glass bowl. Place the bowl over a saucepan of simmering water, making sure that the bottom of the bowl does not touch the water. Allow the chocolate, butter and sugar to melt together, stirring occasionally, until the mixture comes together into a thick paste, then set aside to cool slightly.

Measure out the flour, cacao powder, salt and baking powder into a small bowl.

Put the chocolate mixture into the bowl of a stand mixer. Start the mixer on medium speed, then add the eggs, one by one, beating each one in well before adding the next.

Once all of the eggs are incorporated, add in the flour mixture and the yoghurt. Mix on medium until well incorporated.

Gently fold through the raspberries.

Pour the mixture into the prepared tin and smooth the top with a spatula.

Bake in the centre of the oven for 40 – 50 minutes, or until the centre of the brownie is just set.

Allow to cool completely in the tin, before cutting into squares.

These recipes appear in Lunch Lady issue 13. For more recipes and fun, interesting stories head to our shop