Lessons in Chocolate Dipping and Edible Anniversary Gifts

So, it is that time of year again where my parent's wedding anniversary and my sister's birthday happen in the same week and I'm always stuck for gift ideas.

Don't get me wrong, I love my sister dearly, but at the moment she's not able to eat as many sweeties as she usually would like. So, seeing as I'm already making a birthday cheesecake (at her request) which will be more than enough, I'm going to have to come up with another idea for her for a present.

My Mum and Dad, however would greatly appreciate some something nice and sweet. Last year I made them a box of chocolates, and I could easily do the same this year, but I thought it's be nice to do something different.

I have learnt quite a lot about chocolate dipping since last year. When I attempted it last, I found it quite difficult. I got very hung up on it being all perfect and professional and tried to temper the chocolate myself and it didn't work as well as I'd hoped. The thing is if your chocolate is low quality to begin with, no matter how well you temper it, it will be low quality when it sets. How do you solve this problem? Well, I have two solutions: a) you buy better quality chocolate, or b) you cheat, which is what I have learnt to do and do effectively.

In my post about cake pops, I coated them with chocolate that I had bought for about 70c from Lidl and I melted it with a little tiny bit of oil, to make it more of a glaze. The result is a free flowing coating that sets really shiny and smooth and looks very professional; despite the fact you couldn't label these as "chocolate cover" but only as "dipped in chocolate coating", it looks as neat as you'd like.

Of course, if one prefers the rustic and domestic look of homemade sweets covered unevenly in mediocrely tempered chocolate of not fantastic quality, then my previous chocolate box was a complete success. I, however, do not and as such developed this cheat of making it easier and a little cheaper, which is what my blog is all about at the end of the day.

So what will I make them this year? I could do the chocolate box thing again, but I like shaking things up a bit and making some decorated biscuits, and I think  I know just the thing.

I have no idea why, but the other day I was at a friend's house and we were talking how the elephant has quite a presence in British children's programmes, books and toys (as a result of colonialism) and when I was a little girl I remember being given a decorated gingerbread elephant with Smarties for eyes, which is also a painfully British thing. I was commenting on the fact that elephants aren't really a thing here in Ireland, but are quite ubiquitous to our cousins across the drink.

I remember as a little girl getting a gingerbread elephant, decorated with royal icing and Smarties. It was a very typical British image of an Indian elephant, with a colourful back rug, that was very prettily decorated in royal icing with bright colours and feathering, Ever since then, I've always wanted to recreate this beautiful gingerbread morsel of childhood memory.

I thought it would be nice to make a little family of gingerbread elephants decorated with royal icing: a Mummy, a Daddy, and two little boy elephants, and two little girl elephants, each representing my brothers, my sister and I. I think it'll be cute, and a little blast from the past. The only thing is I have to design a teddy cutout.

I'll keep you posted.

Mini Chocolate "Melkterts" (Wheat Free)

Three updates this week! How I spoil you all.

I don't know what it is with my brothers and I, but there seems to be a family weakness for things South African: they each at a time were going out with a South African, I have a lot of friends who are South African, and theirs is an accent I could listen to all day. Their cuisine is a delightfully bizarre blend of all things European with the local twist applied, through spices and local vegetables.

My next oldest brother was going out with a woman who was a friend of mine in college, and she was originally from Cape Town. She really missed her home land, and would often recreate things she and her family would eat back home when she came around for dinner. Oxtail was her real favourite, spiced to Hell with dried bird's eye chillies, but another was Melktert, or "Milk Tart" as she called it.


Melktert is basically a pastry or biscuit-crumb base filled with a set vanilla scented custard and dusted liberally with ground cinnamon. It is absolutely amazing by itself, but what in this world cannot be improved with chocolate?

I used the same recipe for the bases as I used in my lemon meringue tarts recipe, but instead I made smaller cases using a muffin tin and filled them with a simple set custard, flavoured with cocoa powder.

FREE FROM
☑ Soya (check for soya lecithin)
☑ Yeast
☑ Wheat
☑ Nuts

CONTAINS
☒ Gluten (unless you use gluten-free oats)
☒ Refined sugar products
☒ Eggs
☒ Dairy (check italics for alternatives)


 INGREDIMENTS

For pastry:

• 4 ounces (115 grammes) white spelt flour
• 2 ounces (55 grammes)  cornflour
• 4 ounces (115 grammes) butter or margarine
• 2 ounces (55 grammes) caster sugar
• Grated zest of 1 lemon
• Pinch of salt

For custard filling:

• 10 fluid ounces (285 millilitres) whole milk
• 2 ounces (55 grammes) caster sugar
• 1 egg
• 2 tablespoons (30 millilitres) cornflour
• 2 teaspoons (10 millilitres) cocoa powder
• 2 teaspoons (10 millilitres) vanilla essence
• 1 ounce (30 grammes) butter or leave out

HOW-TO

• Make the pastry according to the lemon meringue tart recipe, and cook into one big case or into little cases. Allow to go cold.
• In a saucepan, mix all the custard ingredients except the butter and blend into a smooth liquid. Cook over medium heat, mixing continuously with a whisk, until thickened. It will be the consistency of fairy thick custard, almost as thick as a pudding consistency. The longer you cook it the thicker it gets so if you want a really thick custard just keep cooking.
• Remove from the heat and stir through the butter. This will make the filling richer and shinier.
• Pour into the pastry and shake to level out. Allow to cool to room temperature before chilling in the fridge.
• If you like, you can dust it with cocoa powder, icing sugar, or ground cinnamon.
  
  
  

As you can see, I cooked my custard quite thickly. I like an almost ganache like consistency with chocolate tarts, but you can set it softer, more like a chilled cheesecake, if you cook it less.

Variation on a Theme: Persian Banana Bread

I usually like to experiment with ingredients and flavours and see what mental image they bring to mind, and when I looked in the press and saw leftover pistachio nuts from my pistachio ice-cream fiasco, an image of hanging gardens, men in parachute pants on black horses with curved swords, and bejewelled belly-dancers in head scarves came to mind. Do not ask me why, although my recent works-of-Zack-Snyder marathon (including "300") may have put me in the right frame of mind to conjure such images.

So, I went ahead and made a Persian inspired banana bread with pistachios and orange-lemon glaze.

Middle-Eastern cookery has been fashionable over the last 5 or so years, I have found. Here in Limerick all of a sudden Lebanese restaurants have sprung up, jars of Moroccan spices and preserved lemons have started to appear in the supermarkets, and cookery programmes have been centred on Moroccan and "Persian-style" cookery and street food. I know that Morocco is nowhere near the Middle East, but countries that border the Mediterranean sea to the south and the east tend to have the same sensibility when it comes to flavours and combinations.

When I think of Persian food, I think of citrus fruits (especially lemons), pistachios, prunes, lamb, spices (cinnamon, ginger, star anise, turmeric, paprika, mint, coriander, and cloves spring foremost to mind) honey, almonds, chickpeas and flatbreads. I know there isn't a single banana in sight in that list, but I just fancied some banana bread and making it a little bit more interesting.

So, I used my vegan banana bread recipe (and it turned out quite differently this time, the high likelihood of which I explain in that recipe) and added:

• 1 teaspoon cinnamon, 1/2 teaspoon ginger and 1/2 teaspoon garam masala blend for the spices
• 2 ounces (55 grammes) toasted and chopped pistachio nuts for the filling

When it was cooked, I brushed the top with some very delicious Seville orange marmalade, warmed mixed with about 2 teaspoons of lemon juice, and then put the loaf back in the oven for about 3 minutes to set the glaze.

Needless to say it is very delicious, but due to the variant nature of bananas, this one turned out much drier than usual. I'm thinking maybe some sort of peanut butter and jam sandwich inspired load next, but I am yet to work out how exactly that would translate into a loaf.

THIS TIME LAST YEAR: Sweeties Make Great Gifts, Hopefully!

Variation on a Theme: Choco-Nut Granola with Cranberries

I was originally considering calling this Schoko-Nuss Granola, because for some bizarre reason when I think of things with chocolate and nuts I imagine something that would be sold in Lidl or Aldi with big yellow letters on the packaging shouting German at you. Word association, eh? Gotta love it.

Seeing as eating granola seems to be my modus operandi for breakfast, I though I'd make a few different versions of granola. Last week I made normal granola with some trail mix thrown in, but I thought I'd take a different kind of spin on it for this week.

The inspiration for this was a recipe in a cookery book that I read at a friend's house about how to be ever so dappily vintage and what-not and throw vintage tea parties; this new obsession among the middle classes with the vintage chic is getting quite wearing, I think.

But anyway, all I did was use my Basic Granola recipe and added 1 tablespoon of cocoa powder and 1 teaspoon of cinnamon instead of the mixed spice, and added in 2 ounces (55 grammes) of toasted and chopped mixed nuts and 2 ounces (55 grammes) of dried cranberries. It was right nice, and it's quite difficult to keep the portions small...

This granola is great because is makes your milk go all chocolatey, for those with inner children who love Coco Pops. This not demonstrated in the picture below as I had literally just poured the milk in.

THIS TIME LAST YEAR: No Money = No Baking

Lemon Meringue Tarts (Wheat Free)

My mother has been essentially locked in her office for the last week working feverishly on her Master's essays and assignments. I decided to make her a treat for finishing a successful week's work, and she does so love things that taste of citrus.

I thought I'd crack out the four-hole Yorkshire pudding tin that I inherited a few years back. It was in a box of things that my Grandma had left for my Mum and we received it when my Grandda died. About four years ago I claimed it as my own and assimilated it into my vast collection of cooking tins.

For this rendition of a classic, I used both orange and lemon juice for extra zing.

FREE FROM
☑ Soya (check for soya lecithin)
☑ Yeast
☑ Wheat
☑ Nuts

CONTAINS
☒ Gluten (unless you use gluten-free oats)
☒ Refined sugar products
☒ Eggs
☒ Dairy (check italics for alternatives)

INGREDIMENTS

For pastry:

• 4 ounces (115 grammes) white spelt flour
• 2 ounces (55 grammes)  cornflour
• 4 ounces (115 grammes) butter or margarine
• 2 ounces (55 grammes) caster sugar
• Grated zest of 1 lemon
• Pinch of salt

For curd filling:

• 3 fluid ounces (90 millilitres) lemon juice (or a mixture of lemon and orange)
• 3 ounces (85 grammes) caster sugar
• 1 egg yolk
• 3 teaspoons (15 millilitres) cornflour
• 1 ounce (30 grammes) butter or just leave this out
• Pinch of salt

For meringue:

• 1 egg white
• 3 ounces (85 grammes) caster sugar
• 1 teaspoon (5 millilitres) vanilla essence
• Pinch of salt

HOW-TO

For pastry case(s):

• In a mixing bowl, beat together the butter or margarine until soft and creamy, then beat in the sugar and zest.
• Sieve in the flours and salt and mix with a wooden spoon until a soft dough is formed. Gather with your hands, make into a disc approximately 1 inch (2.5 centimetres) thick and pop in the fridge for an hour.
• Preheat the oven to 180°C (350°F, Gas Mk.4, or moderate). You will need an 8 inch (20 centimetre) tart tin or a Yorkshire pudding tin with four 4 inch (10 centimetre) holes. There is no need to grease them.
• Roll the dough out to about a quarter inch (.5 centimetre) thick and cut 5 inch (12 centimetre) rounds to line each Yorkshire pudding hole. Alternatively, drape the rolled pastry into the large tart tin and gently press in, using the rolling pin to roll over the edges of the tin and cut off the excess.
• Prick the case(s) all over with a fork and blind bake. To blind bake, line the case(s) with some scrunched up baking paper and fill with some coins; this stops the shell from rising too much.
• Bake for about 15 minutes, remove the paper and coins, then return to the oven to cook for a further 5 to 10 minutes or until a gentle golden brown colour.
• Remove from the oven and allow to cool for about 10 minutes before preparing the curd.

For the curd:

• In a saucepan, blend the cornflour, egg yolk and about 2 tablespoons (30 millilitres) of the juice into a smooth paste. Add the rest of the juice and the sugar and stir until evenly combined.
• Cook gently over a medium flame, mixing all the time with a whisk or rubber spatula, until it has thickened up into the consistency of... well, lemon curd. I don't really know how to describe it: a very gloopy, thick gel I suppose.
• Take from the heat and stir in the butter.
• Fill the pastry up to about an eighth inch (.3 centimetre) from the top of the shell(s).

For the meringue:

• In a heatproof glass or metal mixing bowl, mix all the ingredients until evenly combined.
• Put the bowl over a saucepan of simmering water and beat with an electric mixer on high speed until soft peaks form.
• Remove from the heat and continue beating until stiff peaks are formed.
• Cover the filled tart(s) with the meringue using either a piping bag fitted with a star tip, or just pile it in and smooth it out with a fork for texture.
  
  

I don't have any photographs yet of the cut open tart to show off the layered effect, but I will update you all very soon!

There was no blog this time last year.

How NOT to Make Pistachio Ice-Cream: Another Failure

So a few posts ago I did some experimentation with hazelnut ice-cream and decided to try pistachio ice-cream.

Thinking that my method was sound and that my overwhipped the cream was the thing that caused it to fail, I repeat the exact same method but this time with pistachios. I added 3 ounces (85 grammes) each of ground toasted

pistachios and icing sugar to 8 fluid ounces (230 millilitres) of whipping cream and beat then together until light and fluffy, as is the usual method of making no churn ice-cream.

As it turns out, it wasn't just the overwhipping part that was wrong, the whole recipe itself doesn't work. It leads to a rock hard, crumbly and mostly unpleasant product that is a far cry from anything I have successfully made so far using the cream and condensed milk version.

I supposed I strayed from the condensed milk road thinking that using only nuts and a little sugar would make a really flavourful ice-cream, but I've now come to realise just how integral the condensed milk is to the process in keeping it soft enough to serve. Lesson learnt for real this time.

I think the next time I make a nut ice-cream I'll just add powdered nuts to the cream and condensed milk mixture, even if the flavour isn't as intense.

THIS TIME LAST YEAR: Ginger Nut Biscuits

Basic Granola (Gluten- and Dairy Free)

Recently I’ve been trying to get a better handle on my diet as it’s got out of hand due to busy scheduling. This process is starting with what I eat for breakfast, as over the last while it’s literally been Crunchy Nut cornflakes every day. As such, I decided to shake up the usual Muesli or porridge route by making some lovely, delicately spiced granola!

At the beginning of the week I made a big batch of this delicious stuff that I could eat with milk in the mornings, accompanied by fruit in either smoothies or juice form. So far so good! Just a third-cup (85 millilitres) with a splash of whole milk of this stuff and two pieces of fruit is enough to keep me quite full til lunchtime.

It's fairly simple to make. Granola is basically a deconstructed flapjack, so it’s fundamentally made of oats, sugar and oil, then you can add what you want to it from there.

FREE FROM
☑ Soya (check for soya lecithin)
☑ Yeast
☑ Wheat
☑ Eggs
☑ Dairy

CONTAINS
☒ Gluten (unless you use gluten-free oats)
☒ Refined sugar products
☒ Nuts (but you can leave them out)

INGREDIMENTS

• 8 ounces (225 grammes) jumbo oats, check for gluten warnings
• 2 ounces (55 grammes) brown sugar
• 2 fluid ounces (60 millilitres) sunflower oil
• 2 tablespoons (30 millilitres) water
• 2 teaspoons (10 millilitres) cinnamon or mixed spice
• 3 ounces (85 grammes) chopped or crushed nuts of your choice
• 3 ounces (85 grammes) mixed dried fruit or trail mix

HOW-TO

• Preheat the oven to 180°C (350°F, Gas Mk.4, or moderate).
• Mix the sugar, oil, water and spices together in a large bowl until smooth, then stir in the oats and hazelnuts. 
• Stir until the oats and nuts are evenly coated with the sugar and oil mixture, use your hands if you have to. Stir even if you think they are coated enough, there is no much thing as too much stirring when it comes to granola.
• Pour the mixture into a casserole dish and cook for 30 to 40 minutes, tossing with a fork every ten minutes to separate the flakes.
• Remove from the oven, add in the trail mix or dried fruit and mix through before it has gone cold. Allow to cool completely before storing in an airtight container.

I love these latch jars, I don't know what they are actually called, I'm sure they have a technical name. But they're really useful for storage and making your kitchen pretty...

THIS TIME LAST YEAR: Wheat-Free Chocolate Chip Cookies, finally!

Variation on a Theme: Chocolate Fudge

I do so love fudge. In my last post I made Scots tablet, which is a nice crumbly grainy sweet, but today I went for the more traditional approach, and made it into every woman's best friend by adding some cocoa powder, nom!

I used my basic soft fudge recipe, but added 1 tablespoon of cocoa powder at the beginning to make it nice and chocolatey. You could also add a 2 ounce (55 grammes) block of dark chocolate at the beginning too and let it melt into the milk.

I've found over time that there's not need to add the sugar after the milk, cream and butter, it works just as well if you add everything to the pot at the start and just cook it all together.

This is how deliciously sleek and amazing it looked when I poured it into the tin. As you can see, it's still glossy, but it's opaque. This is the kind of consistency I talk about when I mean creamy, thick and opaque in my posts about the various kind of beaten sweets I make.

Generally when the fudge it set, I tend to cut it into pieces and allow each piece to set and crust on the outside before storing, like one you freeze you cakes individually before freezing all together. It stops them from clumping in storage.

Have some more gratuitously artsy and #fdporn photographs for the road. You're welcome.

THIS TIME LAST YEAR: My Search for the Perfect Chocolate Chip Cookie Continues

How NOT to Make Hazelnut Ice-Cream

First of all, HAPPEEE INDEPENDENCE DAAAEEEEE to all my American readers!

So back to the ice-cream obsession, I couldn't stay away long.

Recently I've been pondering how to make the no-churn ice-cream thing a little more interesting. It works really well when you replace some of the condensed milk with jam (see my raspberry ice-cream and strawberry cheesecake ice-cream recipes) and with lemon curd (see my lemon curd ice-cream), and that is because condensed milk, jam and fruit curd all contain at least 50% sugar and either gelling agent or high fat content.

Why does it work? Well, the no-churn method works because sugar, fat and air don't freeze in home freezers, and the no-churn ice-cream method exploits this through the beating of the cream and the high sugar and fat content of condensed milk, and when we use jam or curd the fat content is replaced with a gelling agent, which also doesn't freeze.

As such I wondered, would this technique work with a nut butter of some kind? Like peanut butter? Peanut butter is extremely high in both sugar (50%) and fat (10%) content, so maybe that would translate well?

Of course, me being me, I couldn't just get a tub of peanut butter and try it out, I decided to go full-out from-scratch on this.

I bought some hazelnuts and decided to work from the Nigella Lawson school of no-churn ice-cream by using icing sugar instead of condensed milk, and I ground the nuts into a powder with the icing sugar and added this to the cream. I began to beat the cream into fluffy peaks, and it was all going well at this point, until I commited a huge massive irreversible sin: I overwhipped the cream
.

This turned the ice-cream into a thick, mashed potato-y like mess. I though if I just popped it into the freezer and froze it as normal it would work, but no, it didn't. Instead I was faced with a rock hard crumbly disaster.

My brother liked it though, but he's a fan of anything sweet and creamy, like me. Lesson learnt. I hope. I'm going to try this again at some stage, and hopefully it won't be an unmitigated disaster!

THIS TIME LAST YEAR: Soda Bread with Oats and Sunflower Seeds