Only Recipes, by Alessandra Zecchini ©

 I used one cup of chestnut flour, 2 tsp cocoa, a few sultanas and enough water to make a batter. I poured the batter in silicone moulds and baked for about 20 minutes (until a toothpick came out clean). Very yummy, incredibly filling, and healthy too. Photos and Recipes by Alessandra Zecchini  ©

The best thing about these fritters is that chestnut flour is naturally sweet, so no sugar is needed. Also these are vegan and gluten free, all you need is chestnut flour, water, sultana (optional) and some oil for frying. You can find the recipe  here . Photos and Recipe by Alessandra Zecchini  ©

...gluten free and sweet. It all started when my husband came back from Japan, I alway ask for some edible souvenirs, so this time I got a bottle of  Choya Umeshu  (sweet plum sake), soba noodles, umeboshi (pickled plums) and nama choco. I love nama choco, it finished in no time, the kids loved it too since this was a type without liqueur, so maybe one day I should make it, it is so easy and blogger Nami has a good recipe for it  here !  After indulging in this extra cream + extra chocolate treat I decided that it was time for a less sweet and possibly non dairy sweet treat, and I remember that one of my favourite Japanese sweet is the baked sweet potato wagashi. I made something like  this  before, and I thought that the New Zealand kumara looks like a Japanese potato... but then I ended up with something completely different :-). First of all kumara are much softer that Japanese sweet potatoes, then I only had ...

I had more mushy bananas so I made another banana cake, but vegan this time. The original version is here , I just changed the ingredients a little, removed the eggs and added sultana and grappa! Vegan Banana Cake 2 tbsp sultana 1 small glass of grappa 5 ripe bananas A few drops of lemon 100 g icing sugar + some for dusting 100 ml vegetable oil 200 g self rising flour Soak the sultana in the grappa. Mush the bananas with the lemon juice, add the sugar and the other ingredients and beat well, then fold in the sultanas with the grappa.  Grease a cake mould and pour the cake mixture in, bake at 180°C for approximately 30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the cake comes out clean. Reverse onto a serving plate  and serve warm or cold. This cake is very moist and delicious and I think that I prefer the Vegan version to the non-Vegan . Great with tea or coffee, although it may not be as suitable for breakfast. (Don't worry about the grappa, you...

I got a few more Oratia heirloom apples (and a few garden lemons too) from Sue, this is still the season for apples in New Zealand! First I made an apple cake, I like to eat apple cake for breakfast, and I took advantage of the fact that I had a German wwoofer staying with us to indulge: she also liked cake for breakfast, something that in New Zealand is not really done! Apple and Sultana Cake with Rum The base for this cake comes from my book  Sweet As... , it is the base for most of my fruit cakes, and the original recipe is on page 28, where is used for a cherry berry cake. I start by mixing 4 eggs with 200 g of sugar, then I add 150 g of melted butter (salted), 250 g of self-raising flour, and the zest of one lemon (optional). In the meantime I peeled and cut 4 apples and splashed them with lemon juice. I also soaked 2 tbsp of sultana in a little Guatemalan Rum (Ron Botran, the best!). I added the sultana and apples for las...