Orange and yoghurt quickie

Image 1: Orange and yoghurt quickie

Food synopsis: Soft and moist, flavoured with fresh oranges, this springy slab of quick bread is topped with a layer of fresh oranges and a lightly brushed sugary glaze. Perfect afternoon accompaniment to a homely mug of tea or quick morning snack.

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Simple story to this no recipe experiment once again. Had 1 kg worth of overdue yoghurt sitting in the fridge. It was only slightly overdue (it was 'best before' so it doesn't really count...) only by 8 days.

Mum was already baking a cake in the oven with the timer set for 50 mins, so I thought - might as well make the most out of the electricity (the carbon tax makes use electricity much more efficiently nowadays) and time and whip up something quick with this over-due yoghurt and have it out the oven the same time as the cake. So I decided on making this.




I so rarely have overdue food in the fridge. It was only because I went to HK so suddenly that I didn't plan ahead. I remember the yoghurt was on sale... $4 a tub - Bargain!

I'd tried using the yoghurt earlier this morning in a  waffle recipe, and it had an extra sour taste to it. Quite a terrible turnout to the "Yoghurt Egg waffles", although that may have been due to me using extra yoghurt in the recipe. Learning from my earlier mistake, I decided to put in double the amount of sugar and also choose an ingredient to complement the sourness - oranges of course!

I couldn't quite decide on a clear name describing this food after making it. I intended on the product to be like a sponge cake like texture, but it turned out more bread like. Thinking back, it seems to fit the category of 'quick breads', hence the name: 'Orange and yoghurt quickie'. It was also really quick to make.

Recipe - what I did
Prep time: 10 mins + 40 min baking time
Serves: 15 - 20 diamond/ parallelogram shaped pieces

Equipment
Hand held electric beater & accompanying bowl
1 small baking tray
baking paper to line
spatula, spoon, knife
Fan forced Oven at 150C

Ingredients
2 eggs straight from fridge
1/2 cup / ~109g brown sugar
150 g or so Jalna No fat yoghurt
1x 8 cm diameter orange - grate to get as much zest as possible, then peel and slice flesh into 1/2 cm-thick slices
30 g Self raising flour
220g plain flour
2.5 tsp baking powder

Method
1. Using a hand held electric beater, whisk eggs and sugar until double in volume and frothy.
2. Add yoghurt and orange zest
3. Whisk with the electric beater until combined
4. Dump in self raising flour, plain flour and baking powder
4. Whisk with the electric beater until well combined and smooth batter forms. Use a spatula or wooden spoon to get the flour from the edges.
5. Line a shallow baking tray with baking paper and fill with batter. smooth the top of the batter
6. Decorate with slices of orange
7. Bake at 150C for 40 mins or until skewer comes out clean and surface is slightly browned (I baked for 38 mins, to be exact)
8.  Let the slice cool on a rack and serve (see below). If freezing - transfer to an airtight container and freeze immediately for up to 1 month to lock in the moisture.
9. Defrost in the fridge for 4 hours before serving. Can last up to 1 week.

To serve:
Slice diagonally, ensuring all pieces get a bit of fresh orange.
Microwave for 10 - 15 seconds per piece, if obtained directly from the fridge.
Serve with a nice hot mug of tea or coffee, or in my case, with a nice big bowl of congee.
Store in the fridge for up to 1 week.

Image 2: Sliced pieces of orange and yoghurt quickie with congee in top right corner