#BundtBakers: Callaloo & Saltfish Mini Bundts

Growing up I was never a breakfast person. I would head to school without so much of a sip of tea. (I think every Jamaican who reads that sentence will immediately clutch his/her chest. No tea?! But everyone drinks tea every morning! Not I.) But on weekends when my mother would make ackee and saltfish (Jamaica's National Dish) along with fried breadfruit, you better believe that I was first at the table. Some weekends it would be callaloo and saltfish.

Let me pause. This post needs a glossary.

Source That's So Yummy

Ackee is a fruit that when ripened the outside is red and the pod opens up. The yellow fleshy inside is parboiled and then sauteed with saltfish, onions and peppers.Saltfish is salted cod. In the US, I have also seen salted pollock. It's either soaked in water overnight and then flaked and sauteed or boiled then sauteed. Some persons soak it overnight and also boil it. I find that to be overkill. You may find some really salty brands. But I prefer to rinse it well, do a quick boil and then saute.

Breadfruit is a starchy fruit that grows on a tree. It's delicious freshly roasted with lots of butter. After it cools, I like to fry it and sprinkle a bit of salt.

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Roasted (Source)

Fried breadfruit (Source)

Now for Callaloo. Callaloo means different things in different Caribbean islands. In Jamaica it refers to a dark green leafy vegetable - a member of the amaranth family. In Trinidad, it's a soup made from dasheen/taro leaves. The similar soup in Jamaica (made with Jamaican callaloo) is called pepperpot soup.

Callaloo (Source)

So where were we? Yes, breakfast. I kept thinking about my favourite Jamaican breakfasts when Anne chose Breakfast as this month's Bundt Bakers theme. But could it work? YES. I actually first made mini callaloo and saltfish quiches with a puff pastry crust. But while they were delicious, they just didn't photograph well. So I happily ate those while I brainstormed these little cakes. All delicious. All bursting with the flavours of a Jamaican breakfast.

What would you make for breakfast in your Bundt pan? Need some inspiration? We have 15 beautiful Bundts (both sweet and savory) that would be perfect for your breakfast or brunch table.

• Banana Breakfast Bundt Cake from Varada at Varada's Kitchen
• Blackberry Chocolate Coffee Cake from Lauren at From Gate to Plate
• Breakfast Bundt from Jane at Jane's Adventures in Dinner
• Callaloo & Saltfish Mini Bundt from Kelly at Passion Kneaded
• Cheesy Bacon Sausage Brioche Bundt from Tara at Noshing With The Nolands
• Cheesy Breakfast Sausage Bundt from Stacy at Food Lust People Love
• Feta Cheese and Sundried Tomato Breakfast Bundt from Maria at Box of Stolen Socks
• French Toast Bundt Cake with Maple-Bacon Glaze from Felice at All That's Left Are The Crumbs
• Granola Cake from Renee at Magnolia Days
• Individual Breakfast Banana & Ginger Oatmeal Nutella Glazed Bundt Cake from Laura at Baking in Pyjamas
• Maple Bacon Bundt Cake with Bacon Pecan Streusel Swirl from Tux at Brooklyn Homemaker
• Mimosa Bundt Cake from Lauren at Sew You Think You Can Cook
• Orange Blueberry Bundt Cake from Kathya at Basic N Delicious
• Sausage and Potato Bundt from Margaret at Tea and Scones
• Whole Grain Mini Blueberry Breakfast Bundts from Laura at The Spiced Life

Callaloo & Saltfish Mini Bundts

Recipe by:    Kelster

Yield: 4 Mini Bundts (1 cup mini bundts)

Ingredients 2 oz saltfish ½ small onion, finely diced 3 cloves garlic, minced Scotch bonnet pepper, to taste 3 oz callaloo 1 tablespoon oil 1 ½ cups flour 1 teaspoon baking powder ¼ teaspoon baking soda ½ teaspoon dried thyme ¼ teaspoon garlic powder ¼ teaspoon salt 1 egg ¾ cup milk 4 tablespoons melted butter

Directions Rinse saltfish several times and then place in a pot of water and boil for ten minutes or until softened. Meanwhile, finely chop the onion, garlic, pepper and callaloo and set aside. When saltfish has softened, use a fork or your fingers to shred the fish into small flakes. Heat the oil in a small pan and add the onions, garlic, pepper and saltfish. After the onions have softened, add the callaloo, saute until just wilted then turn off the heat and allow it to cool. Preheat the oven to 400 F. Grease the mini Bundts. Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, garlic powder and thyme. Whisk together the egg, milk and melted butter and pour into the center of the flour mixture. Gently stir until just combined. Do not over mix. Stir in the callaloo mixture. Pour into mini Bundt wells. Bake for 15 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.

Notes Scotch bonnet pepper is one of the hottest peppers. Wash hands properly after handling.  Spinach may be substituted for callaloo.  Taste callaloo mixture. Add additional seasoning if necessary.

#BundtBakers is a group of Bundt loving bakers who get together once a month to bake Bundts with a common ingredient or theme.  Follow our Pinterest board right here. Links are also updated each month on the BundtBakers home page. We take turns hosting each month and choosing the theme/ingredient. If you are a food blogger and would like to join us, just send an email with your blog URL to foodlustpeoplelove@gmail.com.

Lemon Peeps Popcorn - Crazy Ingredient Challenge

If it feels like I am phoning this post in, it is because I am. It's been quite a week. The highlight was my hard drive deciding it did not want to live anymore. Woohoo!

This month's ingredients for the Crazy Ingredient Challenge were lemon and Peeps. I've seen Peeps in the supermarket but never tried them. I was actually shocked to learn that they were just marshmallows covered in colored sugar. I thought the entire candy was whatever colour it was on the outside. My bad. I also expected there to be a flavour above and beyond the marshmallow. Wrong on that front too. But you know what I was not wrong about? Lemons plus Peeps plus popcorn. DELICIOUS! Don't tell anyone that I ate all 9 cups of popcorn in one sitting.

Lemony Peeps Popcorn 

9-10 cups of popped popcorn (this was from 6 tablespoons of unpopped popcorn)
2 tablespoons butter
1 teaspoon lemon zest
1 3oz package of Peeps


Place butter and zest over medium low heat and melt while stirring. Add the Peeps and stir slowly until completely melted. Immediately pour the mixture over the popcorn. Stir carefully with a wooden spoon to coat all the popcorn. Some of the Peeps mixture may pool at the bottom of the bowl so check for that and stir some more. Sprinkle any sugar from the packets over the popcorn.
Enjoy!

An InLinkz Link-up

#BundtBakers: Hot Cross Mini Bundts

Happy Easter!

When I saw that the theme for this month's Bundt Bakers, I was stumped. Easter in Jamaica means bun and cheese. It's not exactly a cake holiday. Our bun is similar to hot cross buns with dried fruit and spices. However. we bake it in loaf form. Some recipes use yeast while my recipe ditches the yeast and uses stout. I'll admit that Easter bun isn't my favourite (I'm usually not a fan of the mixed peel that some recipes use). However, when I am away from home, I crave bun at Easter time. Sometimes I just need to smell it.

I went back and forth about whether or not to do the bun in cake-form Tara, our host this month, reminded us that Easter encompassed Spring. That's infinitely easier to think of but I just could not let go of the fact that for me, Easter always means bun (and cheese). So I set about to put all the bun flavours into a mini bundt. It turned out to be a lot more simple than I expected. I decreased the flour so it would not be as dense and used a bit more melted butter. I was completely happy with the results.

What does Easter mean to you? Do you have foods that you only eat at Easter time? Here's what the other Bundt Bakers did with the theme this month:

• Babka with Bittersweet Chocolate Chunks from Laura at The Spiced Life
• Bunny Nest Carrot Mini Bundts from Stacy at Food Lust People Love
• Bursting-With-Berries Lemon Curd Bundt Cake from Felice at All That's Left Are Crumbs
• Carrot Tea Cake from Vonnie at My Catholic Kitchen
• Colorful Spring Bundt Cake from Varada at Varada's Kitchen
• Easter Bunny Bundt from Jane at Jane's Adventures in Dinner
• Easter Egg Cake from Margaret at Tea and Scones
• Easter Pound Cake from Lauren at Sew You Think You Can Cook
• Hot Cross Mini Bundt from Kelly at Passion Kneaded
• Lemon & Elderflower Bundt Cake from Maria at Box of Stolen Socks
• Lemon Coconut Bundt Cake from Kathia at Basic N Delicious
• Mini Lemon Spring Bundts from Tara at Noshing With The Nolands
• Pineapple Pale Ale Bundt Cake with Brown Sugar Glaze from Melanie at Melanie Makes
• Strawberry Lemon Bundt Cake from Lauren at From Gate to Plate
• Strawberry Poppy Seed Cake from Renee at Magnolia Days

Hot Cross Mini Bundts

Recipe by:  Kelster

Yield: 4 mini bundts (1 cup mini bundt pans)

Ingredients ½ cup raisins (plus liquid for soaking) Maraschino cherries (optional) 1 egg ½ cup stout ¼ cup milk ½ cup melted butter ½ cup sugar 1 ½ cup flour 2 tsp baking powder ¼ tsp salt ½ tsp ground cinnamon ¼ tsp ground ginger ¼ tsp ground nutmeg ¼ tsp ground cloves Melted jam or sugar syrup (optional) Melted white chocolate or frosting.

Directions Soak the raisins in stout, wine or water overnight . Preheat oven to 350 F. Grease and flour mini bundts. If using cherries, chop the cherries and place at the bottom of the bundt wells. In a medium bowl, whisk together egg, stout, milk, melted butter and sugar until thoroughly combined.  Stir together flour, baking powder, salt, ground cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg and cloves. Add the dry ingredients to the wet. Slowly stir in until just combined. Be careful not to overmix. Drain the raisins and stir them in. Pour into prepared mini bundts. Bake for 17 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into one of the mini bundts comes out clean. Cool and remove bundts from pans and brush with melted jam or a sugar syrup (equal parts sugar and water heated until thickened).  Using melted white chocolate or frosting, pipe crosses on the mini bundts.

Notes

#BundtBakers is a group of Bundt loving bakers who get together once a month to bake Bundts with a common ingredient or theme.  Follow our Pinterest board right here. We take turns hosting each month and choosing the theme/ingredient.  If you are a food blogger and would like to join us, just send an email to Stacy at foodlustpeoplelove@gmail.com. All recipes and photographs can be found on our individual blogs or our Pinterest board.