I found this gem iron in an op shop. It took me several months and quite a few goes to learn how to use it, but now it is one of my favourite kitchen tools. It’s a heavy cast iron baking tray for tiny little cake-scone-muffin bites called gems. It’s an old fashioned implement designed for the days when any self-respecting cook was expected to be able to whip up a batch of baking at a minute’s notice. Which makes gem irons due for a resurgence in these days when time poverty beats money poverty every day.
Once you get the hang of gem irons, this can be done in less than 20 minutes – 5 minutes preparation and 10 to 12 minutes cooking time – making it feasible to be a domestic goddess or god and bake on weekday mornings.
The Recipe:
Turn the oven on to medium high and put the gem iron on the top shelf. It needs to be sizzling hot before you put the batter in.
Use an egg beater to beat together
- 1 egg
- 3 dessertspoons of plain low fat yoghurt
- 1 dessertspoon of honey
- pinch cinnamon
Stir in
- half a cup (4 good dessertspoons) of dried fruit, seeds and nuts. I used pepitas, sunflower seeds, chopped macadamias and sultanas, but you could use dates, dried apple, almonds – whatever you have and is in season.
- half a cup of rolled oats
- 3 dessertspoons of wholemeal self-raising flour
You will end up with a thick batter. Like muffin batter, it is best not over-mixed.
Take the hot gem iron out of the oven and put a tiny dob of butter in each hollow. You only need a small teaspoonful altogether. It will sizzle. Tilt the iron to spread the melted butter.
Working quickly, spoon the batter into the hot gem iron and put it back in the oven, near the top and up fairly high. Bake for around 10 minutes till the gems are almost cooked.
The Syrup
Meanwhile, in a small pot, melt a good dessertspoon of butter and a good dessertspoon of honey together. Working quickly, spoon a little syrup over each gem and put them back in the oven for another few minutes.
They’re best hot, straight from the oven, but if you make a double batch, you may even have leftovers for lunch boxes, making this double as a Muesli Bar Challenge recipe as will.
(The Breakfast Cereal Challenge is my 2011 challenge – to the overpackaged, overpriced, mostly empty packets of junk food marketed as “cereal”. I’m going for a year’s worth of breakfast recipes, based on in-season ingredients, quick and easy enough to be a real option for weekdays, and preferable, in nutrition, ethics, andtaste. The Muesli Bar Challenge was my 2010 Challenge.)
Oooh! I have one of these somewhere! I went through a stage of making gem scones and they were wonderful. I must have a look around and see where my gem iron got to! Don’t know where I got it from now. Was it my Nana’s or did I get it at an op shop? That’s going to bug me now.
They look very tasty, and what a superb pan! Does it stick at all, or has it been so well seasoned over the years that it’s now virtually non-stick? 🙂
Ah, so this is what a gem iron looks like! I was flipping through Lady Flo’s cookbook the other day and came across a recipe that called for a gem iron. Delicious muesli morsels, Linda! 🙂
It’s pretty well seasoned – that lovely black colour of iron pans when they’ve seen quite a few baking days. The trick with gems though is that you sizzle a tiny knob of butter in them so the bottom almost fries. Means they cook evenly even though they cook so fast.
In New Zealand our gem irons are like tiny little loaves- 12 to a gem iron. We usually make something called a ginger gem which is best eaten hot with yummy butter.
I’ve seen pictures of them, and they look really interesting. I’m going to play with ginger gem recipes in my gem iron and see how I go.
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