Healthy Aargau Carrot Cake

      I fancied carrot cake one afternoon. Actually, that's a lie. I was thinking of carrot cake all morning and fantasized about sinking my teeth into a slice of carrot cake with cream cheese frosting. I remembered that some time ago in Singapore, I baked a carrot cake that used ground almonds as a base for the recipe. I remembered that the name of that type of carrot cake starts with an 'A'. 
 
      So I looked it up and I found it: Aargau carrot cake. Aargau is the name of a canton in Switzerland that is famed for its carrot cake. There are a few recipes out there that claim to be authentic but all are very different from each other. The most popular recipe seems to be one which contains no added fat besides the fat that is in the almonds and the eggs.

     Being a person who can hardly leave a recipe alone without making alterations to it, I made an already healthy cake a little healthier by reducing the sugar content very slightly, increasing the amount of carrots and using whole wheat flour. I also added some spices to the cake for some warmth. It turned out with a dense crumb and the whole wheat flour gave it a slightly crunchy top. I spread some light cream cheese frosting on it and it was so good!

     Without further ado, here is the recipe along with the recipe for light cream cheese frosting.

Healthy Aargau Carrot Cake

makes one 8-inch cake

3 eggs

1½ cup grated carrots

1 cup ground almonds (almond meal)

2 TBSP lemon juice

1 tsp grated lemon/orange rind

1½ tsp baking powder

1/3 cup brown sugar

1/3 cup caster sugar

1/4 cup whole wheat flour

1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

1/2 tsp ground ginger

1/2 tsp ground nutmeg

1/4 tsp ground cardamom (optional)

1. Preheat oven to 180°C. Grease and line an 8-inch cake tin with baking paper.

2. Sift the flour, baking powder and spices in a small bowl

3. Put the sugars into a medium sized bowl.

4. Separate the eggs, putting the egg yolks in the same bowl as the sugar and the egg whites in a separate bowl.

5. Beat the egg yolks into the sugar thoroughly, for about 2 minutes.

6. Add the lemon juice, rind, ground almonds and flour mixture into the egg yolk/sugar mixture and mix well.

7. Beat the egg whites until frothy. This will take at least 3 minutes if done by hand.

8. Fold the beaten egg whites into the batter until well combined.

9. Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake in preheated oven for 35 to 40 minutes

* The top of the cake may brown too quickly, so after the cake has been in the oven for 10 minutes, check on it and cover it with foil then continue baking. Leave to cool completely.

Light cream cheese frosting

makes enough to cover cake

90g light cream cheese

2 TBSP orange juice

2 TBSP honey

2 TBSP light margarine (approx 15g) 

I used Flora Light

1. Whip all the ingredients together with a whisk or electric mixer

2. Add more honey if desired

3. Spread on cooled cake

     Let me know your results if you try this recipe! I would love to hear from you. 

Banana-only 'Ice Cream'

    How do you like your ice cream? Soft and creamy like soft-serve? Thick and creamy like Ben & Jerry's? Do you like it smooth or with chunky bits in it? I'm a Ben & Jerry's fan. I have a reputation for finishing entire pint-sized tubs in one sitting. We all know that's very, very unhealthy so when I saw a recipe for a one-ingredient ice cream, I had to try it!
     The one ingredient is: Bananas. "But just bananas? Isn't that very plain?" you ask. Yes, it is very plain. And that is why I added some extras to it. I added some honey, praline almonds and maple syrup.....anything goes really. The point is that you CAN make something similar to ice cream using just bananas!

Pardon my bad lighting

      For me, the texture of this turned out to be on the icy side. I would describe the texture as a cross between a sorbet and soft-serve. Nevertheless, if it's ice cream that you want but not all the sins that go along with it, this makes a decent substitute. It will taste of bananas, but there are plenty of possibilities for things you can add in to customize this 'ice cream'. There is a lot of potential to make this into a Ben & Jerry-esque chunky ice cream.

      This is also a great way to use up brown, speckled, overripe bananas that might be sitting in your fruit bowl. In fact, overripe bananas are perfect for this because they are naturally sweeter than just-ripe bananas. Of course, you can also use overripe bananas in cakes and other bakes....but I digress.

      I now present you with my take on this one-ingredient ice cream, using more than just one ingredient.....

Banana 'Ice Cream'

makes 10 small scoops

4 large bananas 

(the riper the better!)

2 to 3 TBSP milk or cream

(cream will give a nicer texture but will add to the fat content)

1 to 2 TBSP honey/maple syrup (optional)

1. The night before you plan to make this ice cream, cut the bananas into 1cm-thick disks and freeze in a container. Alternatively, lay the sliced bananas in a single layer on a baking sheet and freeze for about 4 hours, until frozen solid.

2. Take the bananas out of the freezer 10 minutes before you are ready to make the ice cream. Get your food processor ready.

3. Separate the slices of banana as much as possible, then tip into the food processor.

4. Turn the food processor on to high speed and process the frozen banana until they look like small grains.

5. Scrape down the bowl then process at medium speed for another 1 to 2 minutes.

6. While the food processor is running, add the milk or cream into the feeder tube of the food processor 1 tablespoon at a time, until the bananas look creamy.

7. Stop the food processor and scrape down the bowl, then turn the motor back on to medium-slow speed.

8. Now add the honey 1 tablespoon at a time, depending on how sweet you want your 'ice cream' to be.

9. If you want your 'ice cream' plain as it is, you can now scoop the mixture out of the bowl and into a freezer-safe container or eat it right away (soft-serve texture)

10. If you want to add mix-ins, now is the time to do it.

       I scooped out half the banana mixture into a container so that I could compare the plain banana 'ice cream' with the other half. I then added my praline almonds to the other half and turned the food processor on to break up the praline pieces. I scooped it out into a separate container then swirled in some maple syrup before putting the tub in the freezer.

      My verdict? The maple-almond praline version is nicer than the plain version. But that's just me. Maybe you like yours plain? Here's a link to other mix-in options. I think maple-cinnamon would be go well with the bananas. 

      Please note that you will have to take the tub of 'ice cream' out of the freezer 5 to 10 minutes before serving so that it softens enough for you to scoop it. By the way, scooping it can be a real pain the butt so I made a few scoops at one go, then froze the scoops of 'ice cream'. 

Served on 'Better-for-you Peanut Butter Cookies'

Better-for-you Peanut Butter Cookies

     I bought a jar of peanut butter a few days ago because I needed a tablespoon of it for something. I love peanut butter, but it has to be the right kind. It is easy to go wrong with peanut butter (too salty or too sweet) and this jar that I bought wasn't the kind that I would keep spooning into my mouth. I knew it would just sit in my pantry looking desolate, so I thought of making peanut butter cookies.

     Peanut butter cookies are not my favourite thing in the world. Actually I wouldn't even say that I like them very much; but maybe I've only had greasy, butter-laden artery-cloggers that were too chewy. I looked up recipes and was quite horrified and puzzled as to why people would use butter AND peanut butter in the same recipe. Peanut butter has a high fat content so surely that provides sufficient fat in baking recipes...? I don't know. I'm not a food scientist.

     I did find a recipe that used only four ingredients: peanut butter, sugar, egg and baking powder. However, even that didn't satisfy me so I played around with the proportions of the ingredients and ended up having to add an extra ingredient to it: flour. The result is a cookie that is lower in sugar because I halved the amount of sugar used. You can add an extra tablespoon or so of sugar if you want your cookies sweeter. This recipe will give you crispy cookies with slightly chewy middles. That's just the way I like it! The cookies can burn quickly so please watch the oven while the cookies are baking.

Small-sized

Peanut Butter Cookies

makes 24 small cookies or 8 large cookies

1 large egg

1/2 cup white sugar

120g peanut butter*

40g self-raising flour (approx 1/4 cup)

1/4 tsp baking powder

1. Preheat oven to 175°C. Line 2 large cookie sheets with lightly greased baking paper.

2. Put the flour and baking powder in a small bowl and whisk to combine.

3. In a separate bowl, whisk the egg and sugar together for 1 minute.

4. Add the peanut butter to the egg/sugar mixture and whisk to combine.

5. Lastly, tip the flour in and mix well.

The batter will have the consistency of thick honey

6. Drop the batter onto the cookie sheet by teaspoonfuls or tablespoonfuls, depending on the size of cookies that you want.

 Be sure to leave space between each cookie to accommodate spreading! 

1-inch space around each cookie should be sufficient.

7. Bake in preheated oven for 10 to 12 minutes (timing depends on your oven), until the edges of the cookies are medium-brown.

8. Remove from oven, leave to cool on the baking sheet for a 5 to 10 minutes, then lift the cookies onto a cooling rack.

Large-sized

These cookies can be stored for 3 days in an airtight container.
*To measure 120g of peanut butter, put the jar of peanut butter on a digital weighing scale, set the tare to 0g then spoon out 120g. Easy!

The large sized cookies make a great base for a dessert. This was my creation for a girls' night in dessert: Peanut butter cookie topped with Banana-only 'Ice Cream', with a smaller peanut putter cookie on top!

Cranberry Oat Biscotti

     Today I decided to bake something that I used to bake when I was in Singapore: biscotti. I think it has been almost 2 years since I have baked biscotti. Biscotti is a twice-baked biscuit that originated in Italy. It's lesser known name is cantuccini. There is also a Jewish version of this called mandelbrodt. While biscotti is often made with many variations such as pistachio, aniseed, almond & chocolate, mandelbrodt is traditionally made with almonds (because 'mandel' means almond in Yiddish). 

     Biscotti is easy to make but it does require more time because of the slicing and double-baking. It is certainly so easy that it makes no sense to pay something like $2 for a piece of biscotto (singular form of the word) in a cafe. I reckon you can make the entire biscotti recipe below with $2. And you will get 48 pieces for that! AND my biscotti are low in fat. They are definitely suitable for people who like a cookie with their coffee but want to watch what they eat. Each biscotti is a very reasonable 52 calories. I will provide the full nutritional values after the recipe.

       I added a little wholewheat flour and some of Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf's White Chocolate Powder because I have a jar of it at home that will expire soon. You can choose to leave this out or substitute with powdered milk and sugar. The most difficult part is forming the batter into log-shapes. I halved the recipe when I made it, so feel free to do so BUT you will have to deal with weird amounts like 1½ egg!

You CAN bake these

Cranberry Oat Biscotti

makes 48 pieces

2 cup plain flour

1/2 cup wholewheat flour

1/2 oats (rolled or quick)

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp salt

1 tsp ground cinnamon

1/2 tsp ground cardamom (substitute with cinnamon)

3/4 cup white sugar

3 eggs 

1 tsp vanilla extract

4 TBSP white chocolate powder (optional)

or 

4 TBSP powdered milk + 2 tsp sugar

100g dried cranberries

1. Preheat oven to 175°C. Line a big baking sheet with greased baking paper.

2. Whisk flours, oats, baking powder/soda, salt and spices together in a bowl.

3. In a medium bowl, whisk the eggs and sugar for 2 minutes until smooth and light.

4. Add vanilla extract and white chocolate powder to the egg mixture and whisk to combine.

5. Now add the flour mixture to the egg mixture and stir until well-combined. Stir in the cranberries.

*The mixture will be a thick batter, not a dough.

6. Drop ¼ of the batter by large spoonfuls side-by-side onto the baking sheet, then use a spatula and spoon to form into a log shape. Repeat with the remaining batter. You should have four logs, making sure there is enough room to accommodate for spreading

Make sure there is enough space for spreading.

7. Bake in the preheated oven for about 15 minutes, until the logs are lightly browned.

8. Remove from the oven and leave to cool for about 25 minutes. Reduce oven temperature to 150°C

9. Using a serrated knife, slice the logs into halves first then slice each half into 1/2 inch-thick slices.

*Some people say don't use a sawing motion to slice, but I did.

Sliced and ready for second round of baking

10. Lay the sliced pieces on their sides in a single layer on baking sheet

11. Bake in the oven for 12 to 15 minutes, then remove from the oven.

12. Flip the slices over and bake again for about 10 minutes.

13. Remove from oven and leave to cool.

Your biscotti is now ready to enjoy with your coffee as a healthy alternative to a cookie!

Nutritional values per biscotto:

52 calories

Fat 0.6g, Saturated fat 0.3g, Carbohydrates 10.9g, Sugars 5.2g,

Fiber 0.4g, Protein1.2g

Oatmeal Chocolate Chunk Muffins

     So what do you do when a bad dream awakens you at 5:30am and you have a bar of dark chocolate that's not very nice for eating on its own? Me...I bake. I've recently returned from a vacation in Spain and bought a bar of sugar-free dark chocolate to take home with me. Something about that chocolate made me put it down when I started eating it, and that doesn't happen very often. However, it wasn't so bad that it had to go in the bin right away. I decided I could use it for baking. However, if you are making this recipe at home, regular dark chocolate would be perfect.
   
     The Spanish seem to have some sort of love-affair with sugar-free chocolate. The most prominent Spanish chocolatier Valor sells sugar-free versions of many of its chocolate. Even Nestle, which doesn't make very nice chocolate in my opinion, rolls out its own sugar-free milk chocolate in Spain. 

Furthermore, the sugar-free chocolate is always kept on the supermarket shelves right next to the regular chocolates, not in a separate aisle or shelf for special dietary needs like in most other countries.

     So anyway, having been awoken from my sleep, I did a quick search for recipes. I knew I wanted to bake something that would use that sugar-free chocolate up and I knew I wanted to add oats in it too. I found recipes for oatmeal cakes, oatmeal cookies and the like. I didn't have butter on hand, so cookies were out of the question. I ended up basing my muffins on a  recipe for chocolate chip muffins which I tried a month ago. I adapted it to suit myself and it worked out well.

     The oatmeal gives the muffins a nice 'bite' and a crispy top. The addition of cinnamon complements the oatmeal nicely. On hindsight, some desiccated coconut would have given the muffins a more irresistible allure. In future, I will add 2 tablespoons of desiccated coconut to the batter. This is a simple recipe that is quick to make, especially if you use chocolate chips.

Oatmeal Chocolate Chunk Muffins

makes 12 regular or 16 smaller muffins

175g plain flour

75g rolled oats

110g caster sugar

3 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

85ml vegetable oil (1/3 cup plus 2 tsps)

180ml milk (approx 3/4 cup)

1 large egg

85g dark chocolate, chopped into small chunks

(or semisweet chocolate chips)

2 TBSP desiccated coconut (optional)

1. Preheat oven to 180°C. Grease the bottoms of 12 muffin cases.

2. Put all dry ingredients except chocolate & coconut in a medium-sized bowl and whisk to combine.

3. In a smaller bowl, combine all the wet ingredients

4. Make a well in the middle of the dry ingredients and pour in the wet ingredients

5. Whisk the batter till well-mixed

6. Finally, reserve a small handful of the chocolate then stir the remaining chocolate and coconut (if using) into the batter.

7. Fill each muffin case 2/3 full and scatter some chocolate chunks on the top.

8. Bake 12 to 15 minutes, until golden brown. 

Don't overbake or the muffins will become a little tough.

LEAVE TO COOL FOR AT LEAST 15 MINUTES THEN DEVOUR!

Chocolate Glaze

     As promised, here is a recipe for an easy chocolate glaze that you can use on cakes and brownies. It can hardly be called a recipe since it requires only two ingredients. But here you go anyway:

Chocolate Glaze

40g dark chocolate

1 TBSP butter/margarine

flavourings* (optional)

makes enough to cover a small 6-inch cake

1. Chop the chocolate into small pieces and place in a microwave-safe bowl.

2. Microwave on medium power for 30 seconds.

3. Add the butter to the chocolate and microwave for another 30 seconds.

4. Stir the chocolate-butter mixture to check the consistency.

5. Continue microwaving in 15 second bursts until the mixture is a creamy consistency.

6. Add flavourings* of choice and stir well.

7. Using a spatula, spread onto cake/brownie.

8. Put the cake/brownie in the fridge to set for at least 2 hours.

* ½ teaspoon of any extract (vanilla, peppermint, almond...) 

OR

1 tsp grated orange rind

OR

1 tsp liquer

My go-to Chocolate Cake

    I can't believe I've not posted the recipe for this chocolate cake. I have made it 3 times in the past 2 months and it has always turned out perfectly. It even evokes "Mmmmms" and "Ahhhhhs" from my normally quiet husband. He reserves some space in his tummy for this cake whenever I bake it. That is how good it is.

Pictured with chocolate glaze

(recipe)

     I have just finished assembling a birthday cake for someone. It's a chocolate cake with vanilla custard filling and with chocolate ganache on the top. For the cake, I used this recipe which I can now follow without having to look at any instructions. I took the opportunity to take shots of the process, but please do pardon the fact that the shots are not the greatest.
      Without further ado, I present my favourite chocolate cake recipe to you. If you want a cake that is moist, chocolatey, but not too sweet, this is for you. This recipe baked quite a lot of cake, but it is easily halved. I have halved the recipe on two occasions to bake a smaller cake for just my husband and I.

Go-to Chocolate Cake

makes 2 8-inch cakes or one thick 9-inch cake

225g plain flour

350g caster sugar

80g cocoa powder

1½ tsp baking powder 

1½ tsp bicarbonate of soda (baking soda)

2 eggs

250ml milk
125ml vegetable oil

2 tsp vanilla extract

250ml boiling water

1. Preheat oven to 175°C. Grease and line 2 round 8-inch cake pans.

2. Place all the dry ingredients in a large bowl and whisk gently to combine.

3. Using an electric mixer or whisk, mix in the eggs, milk, oil and vanilla extract till well combined.

4. Add the boiling water to the batter, a little at a time, and mix well after each addition.

5. The batter will be very runny at this point, but don't worry.

6. Divide the batter evenly between the cake pans.

7. Bake in the preheated oven for 25 minutes, then remove the partially baked cakes from the oven.

8. Cover the cake pans loosely with aluminum foil (to prevent the top from burning) and return to the oven for another 15 to 20 minutes.

9. After 15 minutes, insert a skewer in the middle of the cakes to check if they are fully baked. The skewer should come out with a few crumbs on it. If the skewer comes out with batter on it, return the cakes to the oven then check the cakes with the skewer every 5 minutes.

10. When fully baked, remove the cakes from the oven and leave to cool in the pans for 10 minutes.

11. Invert the cakes onto a cooling rack and leave till completely cooled.

You can now proceed to make whatever cake filling you like and use the filling to sandwich the two cakes together. If you baked a big, thick cake, slice it through the middle with a big serrated knife to split the cake into two layers. 

Or have the cake on its own without any filling. I like it better without any filling, but with a chocolate coated topping (Chocolate Glaze recipe).

Potato Pie Crust

     Potatoes were once shunned by dieters trying to reduce their carbohydrate intake. However, not all carbohydrates are created equally and potatoes are an excellent choice with many nutrients and a high-satiety value. Don't believe me? Check this link out.
          Did you know that you can use mashed potatoes to make a healthy pie crust? I came across a recipe for a potato crust when I was looking for something healthy to use as a base for a quiche. 'Quiche' in my home is usually more like a baked omelette- no crust, no cream, and with cottage cheese to increase the protein content. But I had some leftover cream in my fridge from when I made a birthday cake for a friend. So I thought I'd make a 'proper' quiche with a crust for once. I wanted to lighten up the quiche by having a healthier crust instead of shortcrust pastry. So I tried a mashed potato crust and it turned out well!
       I have since used this potato crust for savoury pies topped with puff pastry (less sinful when potatoes are used as a base, instead of more puff pastry) and have always gotten good results. Try it out sometime if you need a healthy pie crust. A bonus is that it is so much easier to whip up than to make a shortcrust pastry!

Healthy pie crust, anyone?

Potato Pie Crust

makes enough for one pie crust

250g potatoes, skinned and cut into chunks

1 tsp margarine

Cooking/baking spray

1. Preheat oven to 180°C. Grease one big pie dish or two small pie dishes.

2. Boil the potatoes in cold water till fork-tender.

3. Drain the boiled potatoes and mash well.

4. Add the margarine and stir through.

5. Spoon 1/3 of the mashed potato into the pie dish. Using wet fingers, press the potato to form a thin layer on the bottom of the pie dish.

6. To form the crust up the sides of the pie dish, press the mashed potato upwards from the bottom edge of the pie dish with wet fingers.

7. Spray lightly with cooking spray and bake in the preheated oven until the edges of the crust are lightly browned. 

8. Let the crust cool before adding pie pilling, then bake pie following the normal baking instructions.

     The reason I say to use wet fingers is that it prevents a lot of the mashed potato from sticking to your fingers. The starch from the potatoes is rather sticky and I find that working with wet fingers helps a lot. You might end up with some leftover mashed potato. I had some leftover and gave it to my dog, who enjoyed it!

Ham, leek & mushroom filo pie

     Dinner this evening was a homemade pie. I had some filo pastry in the freezer so I decided to use that instead of potatoes to top the pie. The sauce was made with my usual shortcut white sauce. Look for my 'No-fail, Low-fat White Sauce' recipe
     Filo pastry is a good alternative to shortcrust or puff pastry, if you are concerned with the fat content in your food. It is also versatile in the sense that it can be used for sweet or savoury dishes such as apple strudel, baked chocolate parcels, spring rolls and so on. So if you like filo pastry, be assured that you can store it in the freezer, as long as the sheets of pastry are separated so that you can remove what you need from the freezer. To use frozen filo, simply thaw the frozen pastry in your refrigerator for a few hours.
      I'm not a big fan of filo because it can be so brittle and, hence, tedious to work with. It's good on a pie when you don't need it to look pretty. But for things like samosas, torn filo pastry can be a pain to work with.

My pie bubbled over while baking

Ham, Leek & Mushroom filo pie

makes one 9-inch pie OR 2 smaller individual pies

1 tsp vegetable oil

400g cooked chopped ham

1 cup sliced mushrooms (or more)

250g leeks, sliced thinly

2/3 cup grated carrot, optional

(just to add more nutrition)

1 quantity of my 'No-fail, Low-fat White Sauce'

1/2 tsp dried thyme

salt & pepper

4 or 5 sheets filo pastry

1 TBSP butter/margarine, melted

1. Preheat oven to 180°C. Prepare white sauce.

2.  Heat the oil in a non-stick pan.

3. When oil is hot, add the leeks and mushrooms and sauté till the mushrooms are browned.

4. Add the carrot and ham to the pan and sauté for another 2 minutes.

5. Stir the white sauce and thyme into the pan of sautéed ham & vegetables. 

6. Bring the pan to a simmer then turn off the heat. 

7. Check seasonings, add salt and pepper if necessary. I usually use a lot of pepper.

8. Pour the pie filling into your pie dish/dishes. 

9. Get your melted butter ready and lay one layer of filo pastry on the pie filling. You can tear or scrunch the pastry up to make it fit the pie dish.

10. Using a pastry brush, brush butter on the pastry.

11. Repeat the pastry and butter layers until all your pastry is used up.

12. Bake in the preheated oven for 20 to 25 minutes or until the pastry is golden brown.

13. Leave to sit for 10 minutes (just so that the pie isn't too hot) then serve!

Voila!

I made 2 individual pies because I like having a WHOLE pie

     Lately, I've been making individual pies instead of one bigger pie.  I use a small oven-safe dish (about 20cm diameter) for myself and a slightly bigger Pyrex dish for my husband. I like having my own pie to eat at my own pace. Enjoy your pie!!

No-fail low-fat white sauce

      White sauce....also known as béchamel sauce. It is a versatile sauce that every cook should know because it can be used in a multitude of recipes. It can be used for lasagnes, pastas, pies and for mac & cheese. Normally, you make roux using butter and flour to act as a thickener for the scalded milk. The roux should be equal proportions of plain flour and butter by weight. Normally you would melt the butter in a pan without letting it brown then mix in the flour till you get a paste. Then you would whisk milk into the flour paste.
      I used to be alright at making a white sauce, until I moved to the Netherlands. For some bizarre reason, I could never get a traditional white sauce right again. It always turned out lumpy, runny or just plain gross. Maybe it's the flour here. Maybe I never used the right amount of butter. Maybe it was just me. I got tired of trying. Then I discovered a different way to make a white sauce which, although thinner on flavour, is a lot quicker and never fails me.
   
      This method uses no butter at all and cornflour. It is lower in fat than a traditional béchamel sauce recipe (and maybe even gluten free)! No butter needed!
       This sauce can be used for lasagnes, mac & cheese, as a base for a lovely mushroom sauce, as a savoury pie filling etc....

Easy white sauce

makes a little less than 2 cups of sauce

2 cups semi-skimmed milk

1 bay leaf

1/8 stock cube

1 heaped TBSP cornflour

salt & pepper

1. Put the milk into a saucepan. 

2. Take out 2 tablespoons of the milk and put in a small bowl/ramekin.

3. Add the bay leaf to the milk in the saucepan and heat over a low flame.

4. Mix the cornflour into the remaining milk in the small bowl and mix to form a thin paste.

5. When the milk in the saucepan is hot, add the stock cube and stir to dissolve. 

6. Just when the milk starts to boil, remove the bay leaf and pour in the cornflour mixture.

7. Stir gently. Soon the sauce should start to bubble up and thicken. Reduce the heat and simmer the sauce for 1 minute. 

*If the sauce is too thin for your liking, dissolve another 1/2 TBSP cornflour in 1/2 TBSP of room-temperature water and stir into the sauce. Let the sauce simmer for 1 minute.

9. Add salt/pepper and that's it! Done!

Cheese sauce

1 quantity white sauce

1/2 to 1 cup grated cheese

a little mustard powder (optional)

1. Simply stir the grated cheese and mustard powder into the sauce while it is simmering for the last 1 minute.

*Use more or less cheese, if that's what you like.