Delicate piped shortbread cookies

I have had a bit of an obsession with shortbread since I made Christmas cookies, and I have found a recipe that makes a cookie lighter than air and that literally dissolves on your tongue.

Ingredients (makes about 25 cookies)

1. 125g butter at room temperature – get the best you can buy because you can really taste it
2. 35g icing sugar
3. 50g cornflour
4. 90g plain flour
5. Good pinch of salt if using unsalted butter

Method

1. Cream butter and sugar till light and fluffy
2. Add the flours and mix on low speed till you get a soft dough
3. Pipe shapes on to a cookie tray lines with parchment paper
4. Put into the fridge for 30 minutes to help them keep their shape while they bake
5. Heat oven to 180C while cookies are in the fridge and bake straight from the fridge for 20 minutes until golden brown

Delicate Shortbread Christmas Cookies

I’ve made shortbread with rice flour before, and this time I substituted half a cup of plain flour with cornflour to make the shortbread melt in your mouth (rather than have the crispy texture you get with rice flour). Use the best quality butter you can find because you can really taste it in shortbread. I also use a vanilla bean paste but you can use pure vanilla extract. Just don’t use anything labeled “imitation” – apart from being made in a lab, it leaves a bitter aftertaste.

These rich, tender cookies go perfectly with a nice hot cup of tea.

Ingredients makes about 40 stars

1. 250g unsalted butter at room temperature
2. 1/2 cup confectioners’ sugar
3. 1 tsp vanilla bean paste or pure vanilla extract
4. 1/2 – 3/4 tsp salt (I think every sweet thing needs salt for balance, so it might be a bit heavy for some, adjust to your own taste)
5. 1 3/4 cups plain flour
6. 1/2 cup cornflour

Method

1. Cream the butter till light and creamy (about 1 minute)
2. Add the sugar and vanilla and continue beating for another 2 minutes
3. Stir flours into the butter/sugar mix until just combined
4. Put the dough onto a large piece of clingfilm, shaping into a rectangle as you go, wrap/cover and let rest in the fridge for an hour
5. Preheat oven to 180C (350F)
6. Roll the delicate dough on a floured surface to about 1/4 inch and cut out whatever shapes you want. Dip the cutter into a bowl of flour before you cut each cookie to help you get the dough out of the cutter
7. Place on a baking paper-lined tray and decorate with any sugar or silver cachous you want
8. Bake for 10 minutes till lightly brown
9. Let cool for 5 minutes before moving to a wire rack to cool completely
10. You can decorate with any icing once cooled if you fancy

Triple Chocolate Tea Cake

Triple Chocolate Tea Cake

I have been wanting to bake something for a while now. I’ve missed the smell of the flat as the cake cooks, and for something sweet to have with my afternoon cup of tea or coffee.

But what to make ? I have recently taken to making cupcakes and cookies just because it means that you can have small portions and also not make so much that D and I are forced to eat it all *wink*.

D’s immediate response when I asked him what he felt like ? CHOCOLATE.

So I decided on making the most chocolatey thing I could think of – a simple chocolate cake with chocolate buttons and chocolate butter icing.

I went searching for a recipe for a moist, light cake – nothing too heavy – and I found one that ticked the boxes, with the additional benefit of being able to be made in the same pan that you baked it in. I found this on the trusty joyofbaking site and then used a separate recipe for chocolate butter icing.

Ingredients

For the cake

• 1 1/2 cups (195g) plain flour
• 3/4 cup (150g) granulated white sugar
• 1/4 cup (25g) unsweetened cocoa powder (not Dutch-processed), sifted
• 1/2 cup (50g) dark chocolate drops/buttons
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/3 cup (75g) unsalted butter, melted
• 1 cup (250ml) warm water
• 1 tbs lemon juice or vinegar
• 1 tsp vanilla extract

For the icing:

• 6 tbs butter
• pinch of salt
• 1 1/2 cups icing sugar
• 2-3 tbs milk

Method

• Preheat oven to 180C (350F) and place rack in centre of the oven
• In an ungreased 20cm (8 inch) square cake pan, stir together the flour, sugar, sifted cocoa powder, chocolate drops, baking powder, baking soda and salt
• Add the melted butter, water, lemon juice/vinegar and vanilla extract
• With a fork, mis all the ingredients together until well blended
• Bake in preheated oven for about 40-45 minutes or until a toothpick (or raw stick of spaghetti) inserted into the centre of the cake comes out clean
• Remove from oven and place on a wire rack to cool
• Once the cake is cool, ice with chocolate icing. You can even cut the cake in half horizontally and add an extra layer of icing in the middle for that extra chocolate hit
• For the icing, beat the butter and salt together until light and creamy
• Slowly beat in the icing sugar
• Add 1 tbs milk at a time and beat well to get a softer consistency

Chocolate fondant

Super rich, this is a dessert to be served after a light(er) meal but I personally think it should be a compulsory way to end all meals.  This recipe is adapted from one I found from Felicity Cloake in the Guardian

Ingredients (serves four)

1. 100g dark couveture chocolate – I used Lindt 70% cocoa
2. 90g unsalted butter plus more for greasing the ramekins
3. 2 tsp cocoa powder
4. 2 egg whites and 1 egg yolk
5. 85g castor sugar
6. pinch salt
7. 2 tsp plain flour

Method

1. Start by buttering the insides of the ramekins, making sure you butter the bottom edge well
2. Dust the inside with cocoa
3. Melt the chocolate and butter on the stove over low heat
4. In a large bowl, using an electric whisk, whisk the sugar and eggs and salt together until thick and foamy
5. Slowly combine the melted chocolate and butter, and then the flour
6. Pour into the prepared ramekins and chill in the fridge for at least an hour
7. When ready to serve, preheat oven to 200C (390F)
8. Take the ramekins from the fridge and bake for 13 minutes exactly.  The tops should be set (and slightly cracked) and coming away from the edges.
9. Let sit for 1 minute, then gently turn out on to a plate
10. Serve with a dusting of cocoa and a dollop of cream or just strawberries

Quinoea, Apricot and Nut Clusters

In the middle of my detox, I found myself craving for something sweet (chocolate, to be honest), but processed food is one of the big no nos for me this week, so I was thrilled to find this genius way of getting my sweet hit sans sugar (I replaced the sugar in the original recipe with honey) with the added bonus of quinoea.  The original recipe is from Martha Stewart.com. If you’re interested, the basics of my detox are here.

Ingredients (makes about 10)

1. 1/2 cup quinoea
2. 3/4 cups old-fashioned rolled oats
3. 1/4 cup shelled raw sunflower seeds
4. 1/4 cup shelled raw pistachios, chopped
5. 1/2 cup dried apricots, thinly sliced
6. 1/4 cup honey
7. 1/4 teaspoon coarse salt
8. 1 tablespoons vegetable oil
9. 1 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
10. 2 eggs

Method

1. Preheat oven to 180C (350F)
2. Bring 1 cup of water to a boil in a small saucepan. Add quinoa; return to a boil. Stir quinoea; cover, and reduce heat. Simmer until most liquid is absorbed and quinoa is slightly undercooked, about 10 minutes
3. Transfer to a rimmed baking sheet and bake, fluffing with a fork occasionally, until pale golden, 30 to 35 minutes. Let cool in a large bowl
4. Spread oats on baking sheet; bake until lightly browned, about 15 minutes. Add oats to quinoea
5. Spread seeds and nuts on baking sheet; bake until lightly toasted, about 7 minutes. Add to quinoa mixture; let cool
6. Reduce oven temperature to 150C (300F)
7. Toss nuts, apricots and salt with quinoa mixture
8. Beat honey, oil, and vanilla into eggs; stir into quinoa mixture
9. Line a baking sheet with parchment.  Spoon 1/4 cup firmly packed batter onto sheet for each cluster – space 3 inches apart and bake until crisp, about 25 minutes
10. Let cool on a wire rack. Store, loosely covered with foil, up to 2 days

The Rolls Royce of Chocolate Chip Cookies

Honestly. Do not even bother with any other recipe. It’s apparently all about the resting of the dough for at least 24 hours that makes this cookie magical. Add the use of Valrhona chocolate discs, French butter and a sprinkle of Maldon salt on the top of the cookie and how on earth can you go wrong ?

This recipe (adapted from the NY Times – my recipe below uses less sugar and butter) makes a mountain of dough and I like smaller cookies, but just make it once and freeze individual scoops in freezer bags for warm cookies with a big mug of tea any time you want.

Time: 45 minutes plus at least 24 hours for resting dough

Ingredients (makes about 30 3-inch cookies – see freezing tip above)

1. 2 cups cake flour
2. 1 2/3 cups bread flour
3. 1 1/4 teaspoons baking soda
4. 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
5. 1 1/2 teaspoons coarse salt
6. 250g unsalted butter
7. 1 cup light brown sugar
8. 1 cup granulated sugar
9. 2 large eggs
10. 2 teaspoons natural vanilla extract
11. 500g bittersweet chocolate – broken, chopped if not in discs.  Buy the best you can and at least 60 percent cocoa content
12. Sea salt flakes

Method

1. Sift flours, baking soda, baking powder and salt into a bowl. Set aside.
2. Using a mixer fitted with paddle attachment, cream butter and sugars together until very light, about 5 minutes
3. Add eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Stir in the vanilla.
4. Reduce speed to low, add dry ingredients and mix until just combined, 5 to 10 seconds
5. Drop chocolate pieces in and incorporate them without breaking them
6. Press plastic wrap against dough and refrigerate for 24 to 36 hours. Dough may be used in batches, and can be refrigerated for up to 72 hours.
7. Take out dough about 30 minutes before you’re ready to bake and preheat oven to 180C (350F)
8. Scoop mounds of dough (the size of golf balls) onto baking sheet, making sure to turn horizontally any chocolate pieces that are poking up; it will make for a more attractive cookie
9. Sprinkle lightly with sea salt and bake until golden brown but still soft – about 18 minutes
10. Transfer sheet to a wire rack for 10 minutes
11. Enjoy warm !

Tarte Tartin

**Update** Tried it again and it worked perfectly with granny smith apples and making sure that I didn’t burn the caramel – hurrah !  A good dollop of heavy cream while the tart is still hot really works.

Original post below:

We’ve been following Gordon Ramsay’s F Word where the series was focused on finding Britain’s best local restaurant.  One of the finalists was the Pheasant at Keyston and their dessert was a tarte tartin.  It looked so delicious I thought I’d give it a go myself.

With no Braeburn apples available at my supermarket, I went looking for granny smith apples, but my supermarket had none of them either so I chanced it with red delicious apples.  Mistake #1.

 

Toffee apples

Mistake #2 was not watching over my sugar caramelising like a hawk.  You are meant to leave it in the pot to simmer and bubble away without stirring.  It was colourless for so long that I went away from the stove for a few minutes, and when I went back to it, the caramel had gone just the wrong shade of brown.  I tipped my apples in and once a little cooler, I tasted an apple and it had the distinct taste of burnt sugar.  Boo.

I’ll try it again when they have granny smith apples in the supermarket, and will share a picture of the finished tarte but in the meantime here’s the recipe.

Ingredients (for two greedy people)

1. 2-3 Braeburn or granny smith apples
2. 1 tbs lemon juice
3. 100g sugar
4. 15g butter, cubed
5. 1 sheet puff pastry
6. Thick cream or ice-cream, to serve

Method

1. Peel and core the apples and cut into six slices.  Place in a large bowl and toss in the lemon juice to stop them browning.  Don’t try this with other red apples as they will lose their bite and go mushy ones they cook
2. Preheat oven to 190C
3. Place the sugar and 2 tbs water in an oven-proof frying pan over low heat, stirring to dissolve the sugar, then increase the heat to medium and cook for about five minutes without stirring until the sugar caramelises and is a light brown colour.  STAY WITH YOUR CARAMEL, it goes from colourless to burnt very quickly
4. Add the butter and apples, coating the apples in the caramel and arrange nicely (they will be on top of the tarte once served). Be careful don’t touch the caramel because it’s hot
5. Place the pastry over the apples, tucking any excess under the apples, like a blanket
6. Bake in the oven for 20-25 minutes until the pastry is cooked and golden brown
7. Remove from oven and allow to rest in the pan for 10 minutes
8. Carefully turn the tarte upside down onto a large plate
9. Serve warm with cream or ice-cream

Strawberry Coulis

With my homemade yoghurt needing something sweet to enjoy it with, I decided to make strawberry coulis.  Couldn’t be easier and is the perfect balance of sweet and tart that works brilliantly with plain yoghurt.

Ingredients:

1. large punnet of strawberries
2. 2 tbls sugar
3. juice of half a lemon

My homemade yoghurt with strawberry coulis

Method:

1. Hull the strawberries and halve and quarter them so that the pieces are roughly the same size
2. Combine strawberries, sugar and lemon juice in a saucepan and bring to the boil
3. Simmer for 10-15 minutes, stirring occassionally
4. Cool and enjoy over yoghurt or would be nice over a meringue or steel cut oats
5. Store covered in the fridge for up to a week

Gooey Butter Cake

a St Louis tradition – gooey butter cake for breakfast

I’m not sure the name really captures what this cake is – a rich, dense butter cake that’s topped with baked cheesecake.  Doesn’t matter though, it really is delicious (and easy to make – an added bonus).

Original recipe here, but I altered it quite a lot to make it a little less sweet and also to increase the ration of cheesecake to cake.

Ingredients (to make a 20cm x 20cm square)

• For the base:
• 1 1/4 cups plain flour
• 3/4 cup sugar (I’d be tempted to reduce that even further to 1/2 cup)
• 1 tsp baking powder
• Good pinch of salt
• 110g melted unsalted butter
• 1 egg
• 3 tbs milk
• For the cheesecake topping:
• 200g cream cheese at room temperature
• 2 eggs
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 110g melted unsalted butter
• 1 cup icing sugar

Method:

• Preheat oven to 180C
• Make the base first.  Combine the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt in a large bowl.
• Add the egg, milk and butter and mix to combine
• Transfer to a square cake tin 20cm x 20cm and spread evenly over the bottom of the pan
• Set aside
• For the cheesecake topping: In a large bowl, beat the cream cheese until light and fluffy
• Add the eggs, vanilla and melted butter
• Add the icing sugar in small batches (or you’ll end up with icing sugar all over yourself)
• Pour mixture over base and use a spatula to smoothen out
• Bake for 40-45 minutes until the top is golden brown
• Cool in the pan for 30 minutes
• Dust with additioanl icing sugar to serve

Pavlova

pavlova with fresh cream and berries

Pavlova is another one of those desserts whose origin seems locked in battle between Australia and New Zealand.  I don’t care who “invented” it, I’m just grateful for it, no matter where it comes from.

It’s a dessert which seems to invoke fear in people trying to make it, but I have made it enough times to know that with some basic rules, it’s a simple and impressively sweet treat to make.  You end up with this perfect blend of crisp outer shell with marshmallowy centre, topped with whipped cream and fresh fruit.

The basic rules:

1. Use a clean bowl and beater – any oil, egg yolk, water, soap etc will limit the volume that you will get from your egg whites
2. If you’re in humid weather, beat your egg whites with the airconditioner on.  Humidity also minimises volume
3. I make my pavlova a touch less sweet, but you need at least 50g of sugar per egg white to keep the stiffness in the meringue mix
4. Make sure you add the sugar to the egg whites gradually, making sure you beat well until the sugar is dissolved (taste some of the mix, if it’s gritty, you need to beat it more)
5. When the cooking is done, let the pavlova cool in the oven with the oven door closed or at the most open only a crack or your pavlova will collapse

OK that’s a few more than I thought, but really, it’s not that difficult, honest !

Ingredients (to feed 6 people or 4 greedy ones)

• 4 egg whites at room temperature
• Pinch of salt
• 200g castor sugar
• splodge of vanilla
• 2 teaspoons cornflour
• 1 teaspoon white vinegar
• Whipped cream and fruit to top

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 180C
2. Beat egg whites with salt until satiny peaks form
3. Add castor sugar in small batches, beating well between each so that the sugar has dissolved
4. fold in the vanilla, cornflour and vinegar
5. Pile on to a tray lined with baking paper (you can draw a 15cm circle on the underneath of the baking paper to help), flatten the top a little (so you can add the topping)
6. Put into oven and immediately turn the temperature down to 150C and bake for 30 minutes
7. Reduce the temperature to 120C and bake for another hour
8. Turn off oven at the end and let the pavlova cool in the oven
9. Top with fresh whipped cream and fresh fruit