I made this for my other half's parents 40th wedding anniversary canape party of 40 people. After cutting out all the rounded sides (which we kept for family enjoyment), there was enough perfect square pieces to go round the guest twice.
(enough for 30cm round cake tin and 20cm round cake tin)
380g dark chocolate buttons
8 eggs, yolks and whites separated
2 egg whites
1 cup almond meal (65g)
200g butter
160g castor sugar
Pinch of salt
1 tsp orange oil
20g cocoa powder. ( 1 tablespoon)
Preheat oven to 160C.
Melt chocolate and 50g butter in bain marie.
Separately, cream the butter and sugar in mixing bowl until fluffy, then whisk in egg yolk one by one till mixture turn almost creamy white.
Fold in melted chocolate, then almond meal, orange oil and salt.
In another clean separate mixing bowl, whisk all egg whites till become almost stiff peaks.
Progressively fold whites into rest of mixture.
Pour into large cake tray (about 2 cm high).
Bake for 30 minutes.
Pour balance into small tray only just before putting into oven to bake, giving it a stir to re-create air, before pouring. Bake for 20 minutes.
Cool for at least 1 hour before serving. Best served next day!
Sprinkle with cocoa powder before cutting to serve.
Cut into petite square pieces of about 2cm x 2cm and arrange on flat serving plate.
Bon Appetite!
Tuesday, November 22, 2011
Tuesday, November 8, 2011
Chocolate hazelnut or almond cupcakes
Makes 12 very light and crumbly cupcakes.
180g dark chocolate buttons ( I used Callebaut)
80g sugar
120g butter
2 XL eggs
1 tsp cinnamon powder
1/2 cup milk (room temperature, luke warm)
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp cream of tartar
50g self raising cake flour (almost half a cup)
50g hazelnut meal or almond meal (half a cup)
2 tsp cornflour (10g)
A pinch of salt
Preheat oven to 160 deg fan force
Line baking tray of 12 with baking paper cups.
Melt chocolate and chopped butter over bain marie.
Mix salt, corn flour, SR flour, baking powder, cocoa and cinnamon powder together (dry content).
Separate egg yolks from white.
Whisk egg whites until slight bubbly, then add cream of tartar. Continue whisking till bubbles become slightly denser, then add 1/2 of the sugar slowly. Whisk till form soft peaks. Set aside.
Separately, whisk egg yolks and slowly add remaining 3 sugar while continuing to beat the yolk, until creamy and almost white.
Fold egg yolks into melted chocolate/butter in 3 batches. Do same with almond or hazelnut meal and milk.
Sift remaining dry content into wet content slowly in 3 batches. Do not overfold/stir to prevent gluten developing (from the flour).
Spoon mixture into baking tray and put into preheated oven.
Bake for 15-16 minutes, and remove from oven, let it cool in tray for about 10 minutes then, place on wire rack.
Optional: Slight press 1 chocolate button on top of each cooked muffin after about 10 minutes, for decoration.
Bon Appetite!
180g dark chocolate buttons ( I used Callebaut)80g sugar
120g butter
2 XL eggs
1 tsp cinnamon powder
1/2 cup milk (room temperature, luke warm)
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp cream of tartar
50g self raising cake flour (almost half a cup)
50g hazelnut meal or almond meal (half a cup)
2 tsp cornflour (10g)
A pinch of salt
Preheat oven to 160 deg fan force
Line baking tray of 12 with baking paper cups.
Melt chocolate and chopped butter over bain marie.
Mix salt, corn flour, SR flour, baking powder, cocoa and cinnamon powder together (dry content).
Separate egg yolks from white.
Whisk egg whites until slight bubbly, then add cream of tartar. Continue whisking till bubbles become slightly denser, then add 1/2 of the sugar slowly. Whisk till form soft peaks. Set aside.
Separately, whisk egg yolks and slowly add remaining 3 sugar while continuing to beat the yolk, until creamy and almost white.
Fold egg yolks into melted chocolate/butter in 3 batches. Do same with almond or hazelnut meal and milk.
Sift remaining dry content into wet content slowly in 3 batches. Do not overfold/stir to prevent gluten developing (from the flour).
Spoon mixture into baking tray and put into preheated oven.
Bake for 15-16 minutes, and remove from oven, let it cool in tray for about 10 minutes then, place on wire rack.
Optional: Slight press 1 chocolate button on top of each cooked muffin after about 10 minutes, for decoration.
Bon Appetite!
Wednesday, October 5, 2011
Jamie Oliver's Portuguese Tarts
These are quite good I have to say.
Makes 6
Plain flour, for dusting
1 x 375g pack of prerolled puff pastry , or 2 piece Pampas Puff pastry
Ground cinnamon
125g (4½oz) créme fraîche or double cream
1tsp vanilla paste or vanilla extract
5tbsp golden caster sugar
1 egg
1 orange
Turn the oven on to 200C/ gas 6.
Pastry
Dust a surface with flour.
Unroll the pastry, then cut it in half so you have two 20cm x 20cm (8in x 8in) squares. For pampas, just leave the 2 pieces as it is.
Sprinkle over a few pinches of ground cinnamon.
Roll the pastry into a Swiss-roll shape and cut into 6 rounds for the roll pasty, or 3 rounds for each Pampas slice.
Put these into 6 of the holes in a muffin tin.
Use your thumbs to mould the pastry into the holes, so the bottom is flat and the pastry comes up to the top.
Put on the top shelf of the oven and cook for 8 to 10 minutes, or until lightly golden.
Filling
Spoon the créme fraîche or double cream into a small bowl.
Add the egg, vanilla paste or extract, 1tbsp golden caster sugar and the zest of 1 orange. Mix well.
Take the muffin tin out of the oven, and use a teaspoon to press the puffed-up pastry back to the sides and make room for the filling.
Spoon the créme fraîche mixture into the tart cases, and return to the top shelf of the oven. Set the timer for 8 minutes.
Put a small saucepan on a high heat. Squeeze in the juice from the zested orange and add 4tbsp golden caster sugar. Stir and keep a good eye on it, but remember caramel can burn badly so don't touch or taste.
Pour some caramel over each tart (they'll still be wobbly). Put aside to set.
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/food/article-1312958/Jamie-Olivers-30-minute-meals-Piri-Piri-chicken-rocket-salad-dressed-potatoes-quick-Portuguese-tarts.html#ixzz1ZpCKn7qB
Bon Appetite!
Tuesday, August 23, 2011
Little chocolate and almond cakes
Makes 6 - cupcake size.
120g dark chocolate buttons (I used Callebaut)
65g almond meal
120ml of milk (1/2 cup)
60g castor sugar
60g butter - chopped
1 XL egg
2 tbsp self raising flour
1 tsp cocoa powder
Pinch of salt
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp of cinnamon powder
Optional: Rasberry or blueberry for decorating.
Preheat oven to 170 deg.
Line muffin tray with baking paper cups.
Melt butter and chocolate on bain marie.
Lightly whisk in 3/4 of the sugar, and all the cinnamon, salt, cocoa powder.
Fold in almond meal and milk progressively in 3 batches.
Fold in SR flour, baking powder.
Separately, whisk egg till very pale yellow and creamy, to aerate the egg as much as possible, slowly adding in remaining sugar after egg turned creamy as you continue whisking.
Fold egg into cake mixture in 2 batches, until well incorporated.
Pour into baking paper cups in muffin tray.
Bake 15 minutes for a slightly goey middle, or 17 minutes for a very moist cake with crispy top.
Rest for at least 30 minutes before serving.
Bon Appetite!
Lemon & Lime Curd Tart
This is a Masterchef website recipe, tested with a 41/2 star rating. I like it because of its simple tart shell recipe and the lemon curd recipe seems right too. Have yet to test it for myself though.
Canola cooking spray oil
¾ cup desiccated coconut¼ cup caster sugar
1 egg white
100g butter
½ cup lemon juice
½ cup caster sugar
1 egg
3 egg yolks
Coulis
1 punnet raspberries
2 tablespoons caster sugar
2 tablespoons caster sugar
Sugar Raspeberries
½ cup raspberries
1 egg white
2 tablespoons caster sugar
1 egg white
2 tablespoons caster sugar
1. Preheat oven to 150'C. Grease four 7cm non-stick loose base fluted tart tins.
2. Combine coconut, sugar and egg white in a bowl and mix to combine.
3. Press mixture into prepared tins and bake for 20 minutes or until golden. Remove and cool for 10 minutes.
4. Place butter and juice into a medium sauce pan over a low heat and gently mix until butter has melted.
5. Whisk together sugar, egg and egg yolks in a jug and gradually whisk into butter mixture. Stir continuously over a low heat for 4-5 minutes or until mixture begins to thicken. Divide mixture among cooked tart cases and refrigerate to cool.
6. For coulis, puree raspberries and sugar in the chopper attachment of a stick blender until smooth.
7. Brush raspberries with egg white and sprinkle with caster sugar.
8. Dress tarts with sugared raspberries and serve with raspberry coulis.
Sunday, August 21, 2011
Lemon Curd, Buffalo Mozarella and Toasted Sesame Seeds Tart
If have ready made frozen puff pastry and lemon curd:
- Prep and cooking time: 30 minutes
If have ready made frozen puff pastry but making lemon curd from scratch:
- Prep and cooking time: 1 hour.
Serves 6
2 pieces ready made puff pastry ( I used Pampas).
120g fresh/buffalo mozarella - sliced thin (about 5 mm thick)
About 20g toasted sesame (small handful)
+ Lemon Curd ingredients
Juice of 2 Myer lemons (about 100ml)
90g butter - diced
80g sugar
3 L eggs (or 2 yolks plus 1 XL egg).
Preheat oven 180 deg.
1. Melt butter and sugar on medium heat on a small pot, add lemon juice, stir.
2. Remove pot from heat (for about 1 minute). Otherwise, eggs will scramble a bit as it hits super hot liquid.
3. Meanwhile keep heat on, place trivet. (Trivet makes it easier, less likely for egg to scramble. If you dont have a trivet, never mind, just stir more continuosly!)
4. Place pot on trivet and start adding egg one by one, continuosly stirring and whisking until egg is well combined into the mixture.
5. Continue stirring and whisking until thickens to curd consistency (this should take about 30-40 minutes). It is okay to take your eyes off the pot and stop whisking now and then to attend to other tasks, but do not leave unstirred/unwhisked for more than 1 minute at a time. Set aside when cooked.
6. While lemon curd is cooking, take pastry out of freezer to thaw. Usually takes about 10-15 minutes in winter, or 5 minutes in summer. Once pastry becomes soft and pliable it is ready. Arrange pastry to fully cover tart tin (25cm).
7. Poke holes evenly on pastry and blind bake. Follow instructions on pastry pack for blind baking. (10 minutes is about enough).
8. When baked pastry is cooled, spread lemon curd evenly onto pastry.
9. Arranged the mozarella pieces, on top of the lemon curd.
10. Sprinkle toasted sesame seed all over mozarella cheese.
11. Bake in oven for 5-7 minutes until cheese has melted.
12. Remove from oven, sprinkle pinchful of cinnamon powder all over tart.
Serve warm.
Note: Fresh Vanilla beans or cinnamon powder can be added onto lemon curd for a more fragrant curd.
Bon Appetite!
- Prep and cooking time: 30 minutes
If have ready made frozen puff pastry but making lemon curd from scratch:
- Prep and cooking time: 1 hour.
Serves 6
2 pieces ready made puff pastry ( I used Pampas).
120g fresh/buffalo mozarella - sliced thin (about 5 mm thick)
About 20g toasted sesame (small handful)
+ Lemon Curd ingredients
Juice of 2 Myer lemons (about 100ml)
90g butter - diced
80g sugar
3 L eggs (or 2 yolks plus 1 XL egg).
Preheat oven 180 deg.
1. Melt butter and sugar on medium heat on a small pot, add lemon juice, stir.
2. Remove pot from heat (for about 1 minute). Otherwise, eggs will scramble a bit as it hits super hot liquid.
3. Meanwhile keep heat on, place trivet. (Trivet makes it easier, less likely for egg to scramble. If you dont have a trivet, never mind, just stir more continuosly!)
4. Place pot on trivet and start adding egg one by one, continuosly stirring and whisking until egg is well combined into the mixture.
5. Continue stirring and whisking until thickens to curd consistency (this should take about 30-40 minutes). It is okay to take your eyes off the pot and stop whisking now and then to attend to other tasks, but do not leave unstirred/unwhisked for more than 1 minute at a time. Set aside when cooked.
6. While lemon curd is cooking, take pastry out of freezer to thaw. Usually takes about 10-15 minutes in winter, or 5 minutes in summer. Once pastry becomes soft and pliable it is ready. Arrange pastry to fully cover tart tin (25cm).
7. Poke holes evenly on pastry and blind bake. Follow instructions on pastry pack for blind baking. (10 minutes is about enough).
8. When baked pastry is cooled, spread lemon curd evenly onto pastry.
9. Arranged the mozarella pieces, on top of the lemon curd.
10. Sprinkle toasted sesame seed all over mozarella cheese.
11. Bake in oven for 5-7 minutes until cheese has melted.
12. Remove from oven, sprinkle pinchful of cinnamon powder all over tart.
Serve warm.
Note: Fresh Vanilla beans or cinnamon powder can be added onto lemon curd for a more fragrant curd.
Bon Appetite!
Slow cooked beef in red wine with mash potatoes and yorkshire pudding
This recipe is just for the slow cooked beef. The recipe for yorkshire pudding is labelled under "cakes and pastries".
This is not hard to make, the prep work is just a bit time consuming. Best cooked over 2 days, to allow the beef to marinate overnight in red wine. I have divided up the recipe into 2 parts, i.e for day 1 and for day 2.
Day 1 - 1/2 hour prepping and marinating beef .
Day 2 - 40 minutes prepping, 3 hours for slow cooking beef.
I took about 6 hours altogether for Day 2, to make a whole meal of :-
- red wine beef stew,
- yorkshire pudding,
- mashed potatoes,
- 2 types of sousvide greens :-)
(1. fennel with crushed toasted mustard seed, olive oil, orange juice, zest of 1 orange and zest of 1/2 a lemon), 1 tsp of honey, salt and pepper.
2. green bak choy with slightly burnt garlic, olive oil, Braggs soy sauce, 1/4 tsp of sugar), and
- a dessert (puff pastry tart of lemon curd and melted buffalo mozarella, with toasted sesame seeds)
For 5p
DAY 1
1.2 kg of gravy beef or chuck steak or wagyu beef cheeks
Beef Marinade
1/2 bottle of red wine (500ml)
A handful of herbs (e.g 1 sprig of rosemary OR bunch of thyme, AND 3 bay leaves)
Pinch of salt (1/2 tsp)
Pinch of cracked pepper (1/2 tsp)
Swirl of olive oil (1 tbsp)
Remove any "fat" or "membrane" from the beef.
Cut the beef to slightly larger than 2 x 1 inch. It will melt and reduce in size when cooking.
Put beef into a large mixing bowl.
Add all the beef marinade ingredients except the red wine, and gently massage it into the beef.
Pour marinated beef into a 1 gallon ziplock bag.
Pour red wine into the ziplock bag.
Try and press out all the air before zipping the bag.
Leave in fridge to marinate overnight.
DAY 2 - steps written in order of prep and cooking
Preheat oven to 150 deg (fan force)
Remove marinated beef from fridge.
Use thongs to pick up the pieces of beef and place on a strainer, sitting on top of a plate. This is to "dry" the beef so that it will brown and crisp up with flour when searing.
Pour marinate juice from the ziplock bag and those collected at the bottom of the plate, into a pot and boil to burn off the alcohol. Skim and throw away the layer of "foam" that bubbles up. Set aside the red wine.
You can pat dry with paper towel but will waste all the marinate juice.
While beef is dripping dry, prep the rest below.
Other ingredients
1 1/2 large pieces of bacon (or speck) - about 200g
3 spanish onion or 6 shallots - peeled and finely diced
3 cloves of garlic - peeled, crushed and chopped
1 stalk of celery - finely diced
3 carrots - peeled and finely diced.
Herb and Spice Bouquet garni (1 small sprig of rosemary, 6 bay leaves, 1/2 stick cinnamon, 1 star anise)
A bunch of parsley, chopped.
2 tbsp of flour - spread over a large plate - for coating beef before searing.
Olive oil - 1 tbsp.
1 tsp salt
1 cup of beef stock.
1 cup of red wine.
About 20 button mushroom - cleaned, left whole.
About 25g of butter (the French would put 50g if not more!)
About 15g of chopped dark chocolate
Chop up bacon.
Fry the bacon in medium heat in a good cast iron stew pot e.g. Le Creuset/Chasseur etc, till golden brown/most fat rendered. Everything else after this step will be cooked in the same pot - more layering of flavours, less washing up !
Remove fried bacon - set aside.
Keep heat on. Add olive oil.
Prepare for searing beef.
By now, the beef should be pretty drip dried. Divide for searing in 2 batches. Do not pile up all the beef on top of each other in one big batch or it would end up braising in its own juice instead of browning.
One by one lightly powder the pieces of beef with flour, and sear evenly on both sides till golden brown, sprinkling a pinch of salt all over the beef for seasoning in the process.
When beef are seared, remove beef onto a bowl/plate and set aside. Keep heat on the pot.
Into the pot, add the garlic and onions, sautee/sweat, then add carrots and celery, saute/sweat (about 1 or 2 minutes).
Add the bouquet garni and half the parsley. Pour in red wine and deglaze pot/burnt alcohol off.
Return the seared beef and juices that oozed out back into the pot.
Make sure there are enough liquids to just cover the beef, if not add a little beef stock.
Cut aluminium foil into round shape - slightly bigger than the circumference of the pot by about 1 cm.
Gently depressed foil to sit just on top of the ingredients and cover it, there will be a bit extra sticking up the sides of the inside of the pot - covering with the foil helps to prevent burning while slow cooking in the oven.
Cook in preheated oven for 2 hours.
After 2 hours, remove pot from oven. Set aside foil. Give it a gentle stir to prevent/remove sticking ingredients.
Add the mushrooms and remaining stock, making sure meat just covered by liquid.
Cover with foil again.
Return to oven, cook for 1 more hour.
Remove from oven and heat.
Let it rest and cool for about 1 hour - to allow excess oil to separate for easy removal.
Remove foil.
Slowly remove excess oil from the pot using a spoon. (I removed almost 1 cup of oil). Put oil and keep in fridge for use another day - this beef "dripping" is great to simply stir through noodles/pasta for a easy lunch! I used some to make the yorkshire pudding as well)
Reheat pot on low heat, add butter and dark chocolate, and stir through to melt and combine.
Just before serving, sprinkle the remaining parsley onto beef.
Serve on top of mash potatoes.
Bon Appetite!
This is not hard to make, the prep work is just a bit time consuming. Best cooked over 2 days, to allow the beef to marinate overnight in red wine. I have divided up the recipe into 2 parts, i.e for day 1 and for day 2.
Day 1 - 1/2 hour prepping and marinating beef .
Day 2 - 40 minutes prepping, 3 hours for slow cooking beef.
I took about 6 hours altogether for Day 2, to make a whole meal of :-
- red wine beef stew,
- yorkshire pudding,
- mashed potatoes,
- 2 types of sousvide greens :-)
(1. fennel with crushed toasted mustard seed, olive oil, orange juice, zest of 1 orange and zest of 1/2 a lemon), 1 tsp of honey, salt and pepper.
2. green bak choy with slightly burnt garlic, olive oil, Braggs soy sauce, 1/4 tsp of sugar), and
- a dessert (puff pastry tart of lemon curd and melted buffalo mozarella, with toasted sesame seeds)
For 5p
DAY 1
1.2 kg of gravy beef or chuck steak or wagyu beef cheeks
Beef Marinade
1/2 bottle of red wine (500ml)
A handful of herbs (e.g 1 sprig of rosemary OR bunch of thyme, AND 3 bay leaves)
Pinch of salt (1/2 tsp)
Pinch of cracked pepper (1/2 tsp)
Swirl of olive oil (1 tbsp)
Remove any "fat" or "membrane" from the beef.
Cut the beef to slightly larger than 2 x 1 inch. It will melt and reduce in size when cooking.
Put beef into a large mixing bowl.
Add all the beef marinade ingredients except the red wine, and gently massage it into the beef.
Pour marinated beef into a 1 gallon ziplock bag.
Pour red wine into the ziplock bag.
Try and press out all the air before zipping the bag.
Leave in fridge to marinate overnight.
DAY 2 - steps written in order of prep and cooking
Preheat oven to 150 deg (fan force)
Remove marinated beef from fridge.
Use thongs to pick up the pieces of beef and place on a strainer, sitting on top of a plate. This is to "dry" the beef so that it will brown and crisp up with flour when searing.
Pour marinate juice from the ziplock bag and those collected at the bottom of the plate, into a pot and boil to burn off the alcohol. Skim and throw away the layer of "foam" that bubbles up. Set aside the red wine.
You can pat dry with paper towel but will waste all the marinate juice.
While beef is dripping dry, prep the rest below.
Other ingredients
1 1/2 large pieces of bacon (or speck) - about 200g
3 spanish onion or 6 shallots - peeled and finely diced
3 cloves of garlic - peeled, crushed and chopped
1 stalk of celery - finely diced
3 carrots - peeled and finely diced.
Herb and Spice Bouquet garni (1 small sprig of rosemary, 6 bay leaves, 1/2 stick cinnamon, 1 star anise)
A bunch of parsley, chopped.
2 tbsp of flour - spread over a large plate - for coating beef before searing.
Olive oil - 1 tbsp.
1 tsp salt
1 cup of beef stock.
1 cup of red wine.
About 20 button mushroom - cleaned, left whole.
About 25g of butter (the French would put 50g if not more!)
About 15g of chopped dark chocolate
Chop up bacon.
Fry the bacon in medium heat in a good cast iron stew pot e.g. Le Creuset/Chasseur etc, till golden brown/most fat rendered. Everything else after this step will be cooked in the same pot - more layering of flavours, less washing up !
Remove fried bacon - set aside.
Keep heat on. Add olive oil.
Prepare for searing beef.
By now, the beef should be pretty drip dried. Divide for searing in 2 batches. Do not pile up all the beef on top of each other in one big batch or it would end up braising in its own juice instead of browning.
One by one lightly powder the pieces of beef with flour, and sear evenly on both sides till golden brown, sprinkling a pinch of salt all over the beef for seasoning in the process.
When beef are seared, remove beef onto a bowl/plate and set aside. Keep heat on the pot.
Into the pot, add the garlic and onions, sautee/sweat, then add carrots and celery, saute/sweat (about 1 or 2 minutes).
Add the bouquet garni and half the parsley. Pour in red wine and deglaze pot/burnt alcohol off.
Return the seared beef and juices that oozed out back into the pot.
Make sure there are enough liquids to just cover the beef, if not add a little beef stock.
Cut aluminium foil into round shape - slightly bigger than the circumference of the pot by about 1 cm.
Gently depressed foil to sit just on top of the ingredients and cover it, there will be a bit extra sticking up the sides of the inside of the pot - covering with the foil helps to prevent burning while slow cooking in the oven.
Cook in preheated oven for 2 hours.
After 2 hours, remove pot from oven. Set aside foil. Give it a gentle stir to prevent/remove sticking ingredients.
Add the mushrooms and remaining stock, making sure meat just covered by liquid.
Cover with foil again.
Return to oven, cook for 1 more hour.
Remove from oven and heat.
Let it rest and cool for about 1 hour - to allow excess oil to separate for easy removal.
Remove foil.
Slowly remove excess oil from the pot using a spoon. (I removed almost 1 cup of oil). Put oil and keep in fridge for use another day - this beef "dripping" is great to simply stir through noodles/pasta for a easy lunch! I used some to make the yorkshire pudding as well)
Reheat pot on low heat, add butter and dark chocolate, and stir through to melt and combine.
Just before serving, sprinkle the remaining parsley onto beef.
Serve on top of mash potatoes.
Bon Appetite!
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