The last two weeks have focused on baking and making use of the abundant citrus on the school trees. Week 8 saw the students cooking three ingredient scones, either plain or cheese. In week 9 the 3/4 class used donated feijoas to make jam, while the 5/6 class used mandarins and lemons to make marmalade. The junior classes made orange crunch muffins. The last week of term will see us tidying the kitchen and garden before the holidays.

ORANGE CRUNCH MUFFINS

You will need a twelve hole muffin tins and liners

Ingredients

2 Cup Self Raising Flour
1Cup White Sugar
2 medium Oranges
100 grams Butter
1 Cup Milk
2 Egg

If wanted you may add 3/4 cup choc chips or 1 tablespoon poppy seeds to your mixture.

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 200°C
Put muffin liners in tray
Zest the oranges onto a plate
Mix the flour, sugar and zest in medium bowl and set aside.
Melt the butter in the microwave, until completely melted
Add the milk and eggs and whisk together well
Make a well in the middle of the dry ingredients and pour in the wet ingredients
Gently combine the muffin mixture until no flour remains, careful not to overmix
Spoon large spoonfuls of mixture into the prepared muffin tin, until 3/4 full
Bake for 15 minutes, or until lightly golden brown and they spring back to the touch.
Remove from the oven and allow to sit for 5 minutes

Topping

2 tablespoons Sugar
2 tablespoons Orange Juice (from the above oranges)

While muffins are sitting, juice the orange, and add this strained juice to the second measure of sugar. Stir well but careful the sugar does not dissolve.
With a pastry brush spread each muffin liberally with both sugar and juice, covering the entire top, you can do this process twice per muffin
Allow the muffins to cool before eating

ORANGE MARMALADE

This will make about 1 ½ cups marmalade

Ingredients

300 g mandarin oranges

1 cup water

1/2 medium lemon

1 cup white sugar

Instructions

Before you start, take a saucer and put it in the freezer. We will use it later to test our marmalade.

Peel the orange and set the peel on a cutting board.

Set the orange pieces aside for now.

Get your sharpest knife and cut the peel into small slices. You can make them smaller, for a less chunky marmalade or larger for a chunky marmalade. Do try to make them all the same size.

Using a vegetable peeler, remove the peel from 1/2 a lemon, trying your best to get just the yellow and little of the white. Slice the lemon peel thinly and add to your orange slices.

Cut the lemon in half and set the peeled half lemon aside with the peeled oranges for now.

Add the sliced orange and lemon peel to a large saucepan Add the water and bring mixture to a boil over medium heat.

Reduce heat to low, cover the pot with a lid and simmer for 20 minutes. **Check the pot after about 15 minutes to make sure there is still enough liquid in the pot. If not, add a bit more.

Chop the orange by cutting across the equator of the oranges and breaking into smaller pieces, checking for and discarding any pits you might find. Place the orange pieces into a medium sized bowl (to keep the juices contained).

Chop the half lemon, removing and discarding any pits. Add to the bowl with the orange pieces.

Remove lid when peel has simmered.

Add the white sugar and the chopped orange and lemon flesh to the pot. Increase heat to High and stir until mixture comes to a boil and sugar is dissolved.

Allow mixture to boil, stirring only once or twice, for 8 minutes.

use a few pulses with an immersion blender in the pot (or a potato masher), to break up the orange flesh a bit more, for a smoother marmalade. Just a couple of pulses are needed, as you don't want to break down the peel slices.

Continue boiling for about 2-4 minutes more, then start testing the liquid on the cold plate from your freezer. *Total boiling time should be about 10-12 minutes in most cases.

To test the marmalade: Drop a bit of the liquid from the marmalade on the cold plate and tip the plate. If the marmalade slide slowly it is ready.

Remove pot from heat. Let marmalade stand in the pot while you get your jars out of the oven

Spoon marmalade into jar and let stand, uncovered, for 15 minutes, then place lid on jar (not too tight) and refrigerate.

Marmalade will keep well refrigerated for up to 3 months or can also be frozen for up to one year.

THREE INGREDIENT PLAIN SCONES

Ingredients:

▢3 1/2 cups self raising flour , plus extra for dusting)

▢1 cup thickened cream

▢1 cup lemonade

▢¼ cup milk (for brushing scone tops)

Instructions:

▢Preheat oven to 190°C

▢ Line tray with baking/parchment paper.

▢Combine the flour, cream and lemonade in a bowl and mix until flour is mostly combined. Do not over mix, it will make the scones dense! The dough should be soft and fairly sticky.

▢Turn out onto a floured surface, and knead gently just 3 – 5 times to bring dough together, then gently pat into a disc shape 2.5cm thick.

▢Use a 6cm round cutter to cut rounds – press straight up and down (don't twist), flour cutter in between.

▢Use a knife or similar to scoop up (avoid touching sides) and place on tray, slightly touching each other (they help each other rise).

▢Brush the tops lightly with milk.

▢Bake for 15 minutes until golden on top. Place on rack to cool. Place tea towel over them to stop the tops from getting crusty.

THREE INGREDIENT CHEESE SCONES

Ingredients:

▢ 2 ½ cups g self-raising flour

▢2 cups cheddar cheese grated

▢1 cup Greek yoghurt

▢¼ cup milk for top of scones

▢Little extra flour for mat