Irish Weather Report: Too Hot to Bake (pun not intended)

June has been a slow month for me recipes-wise: the weather has simply been too, too hot to stay in a kitchen cooking up sweets and treats! I don't handle the hot weather well in any way, shape of form, and find that when the weather is too hot I don't feel like doing anything but sleeping or hiding in the fridge.

Ireland is in a moderate temperature zone: generally, the weather rarely creeps over 17°C, and rarely dips below 5°C, and is typically hovering around a nice 10°C (I have no idea what any of those temperatures are in Fahrenheit, by the way) so my mild Celtic constitution has zero concept of how to cope with anything above 20°C.

However, the end of May through June this year have been averaging at 26°C.

Needless to say, I've been suffering. A lot.

This has been one of the hottest summers I can remember: 2013 was pretty damn hot too, with highs of 28°C with constant, oppressive, blazing sunshine. There are times where even wearing string vests and short shorts is still too many clothes for this kind of heat.

Usually in this kind of weather I turn to making ice-cream, chilled desserts, and ice-pops, but even staying inside the house long enough to make any of those has been too challenging for me. Coming up with new ideas has been even more so of a challenge when encumbered by a constant, dehydration-induced brain fuzz, as even my usual idea generating exercises and inspiration processes aren't working.

I think if climate change continues to make our summers hotter, I might have to migrate to a more northerly part of the world.... maybe Denmark!

Despite that, I did do some little experiments and projects throughout the past 6 weeks that I'm gonna upload to June as back-dated blogs: I made some kiwi curd, some nice milk tart, and a few other delicious things.

The videos will be returning too now that my martial arts training and exams are over for another few months. I understand that my last video was April, which was ages and ages ago. Where I fell down with my video production was that most of my videos were impromptu shoots and I didn't have a battle plan that I was sticking to.

Let's see what the next few weeks have in store.....

Love,
Sweetie x

Speculaas: Dutch Style Spice Biscuits (Wheat Free)

Have you ever gone to a café and got a little spice and caramel scented crispy biscuit on the side of your saucer? Well, you don't need to go to a café to get this delicious morsels any longer, because now you can make them at home!

I present to you: Speculaas biscuits! Well, at least my take on them anyway.

Yesterday was my second anniversary with my wonderful companion, and three days ago marked one year until our wedding, so I presented him with some lovely handmade presents. I made him a paintbrush roll from some vibrant neon pink and chocolate brown flock curtain fabric that I found in a bargain bucket in my local fabric shop, and I made him a jar of these lovely, thin, crispy Speculaas biscuits.

These aren't 100% authentic to the original Dutch recipe because they don't have the same amount of spices, and they aren't 100% authentic to the shop bought brands either because they have too many spices. Normally, the shop bought ones tend only to have cinnamon (and occasionally ginger) in them, and the traditional biscuits have white pepper, ground aniseed, ground mace, and ground nutmeg.

I decided to add the aniseed and pepper as optional ingredients to the spice mix, but I generally speaking don't have mace or nutmeg around. If however you don't have access to all these spices, just use shop bought mixed ground spice, like Goodall's.

Another reason that these aren't 100% authentic is that I roll the dough out and cut out the individual biscuits: the traditional ones and the shop bought ones are moulded by having the dough pressed into a wooden or silicone mould. I hope in the future to experiment with using or making moulds

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DIFFICULTY
Requires making roll-out cookie dough

TIME

About 2 hours, mostly chilling in the fridge

RECIPE RATING

Easy!

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INGREDIMENTS

Spice Mix

4 teaspoons (20 millilitres) ground cinnamon

3 teaspoons (15 millilitres) ground ginger

2 teaspoons (10 millilitres) coriander

1/2 teaspoon (3 millilitres) cloves

Optional: 1/2 teaspoon (3 millilitres) ground white or black pepper

Optional: 1/4 teaspoon (1 millilitre) ground aniseed

Dough

8 ounces (225 grammes) plain white spelt flour

½ teaspoon (3 millilitres) baking soda

Pinch of salt

3 ounces (85 grammes) dark brown sugar

3 ounces (85 grammes) caster sugar

4 ounces (115 grammes) very cold unsalted butter, cut into cubes

1 teaspoon (5 millilitres) vanilla essence

A few drops almond essence

2 tablespoons (30 millilitres) cold milk

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METHOD

This recipe is best prepared in a food processor, but you can do it by hand.

To make in a food processor

• In a mixing bowl, sieve together the spice mix, flour, salt, and baking soda and set aside.
• In a food processor, blend together the cold butter, the sugars, and the essences until mixed but still cold.
• Add in the dry ingredients and blend until you have a dry mixture that looks like sand.
• Add in half the milk and pulse the machine in short bursts to combine. If you need more milk, add it a teaspoon at a time: you don't need a lot of milk to combine the mixture.
• Once you have a crumbly yet chunky mixture, turn the mixture onto a floured surface and bring together with your hands into a ball.
• Wrap the ball in some cling film and flatten into a disc and chill completely in the fridge for at least an hour.

To prepare by hand

• In a mixing bowl, sieve together the spice mix, flour, salt, and baking soda. Add in the sugars and break up the big lumps of brown sugar with your finger tips. Rub the sugars and dry ingredients until it's completely mixed.
• Add in the cold butter and rub into the dry ingredients as if you were making pastry. Rub until it's completely sandy.
• Add in the essences and then add half the milk and continue to rub, adding more milk gradually if you need it, until you have a nice dough. Don't add too much milk: just enough to bind it together.
• Once you have a crumbly yet chunky mixture, turn the mixture onto a floured surface and bring together with your hands into a ball.
• Wrap the ball in some cling film and flatten into a disc and chill completely in the fridge for at least an hour.

Then, make the biscuits

• Preheat the oven to 160°C (320°F, Gas Mark 2½). Line one or two baking trays with non-stick baking paper.
• Take the dough from the fridge and work a little with your hands to make it malleable. Roll out to an ⅛ inch (3 millimetre) thickness and cut out shapes using whatever shape you want.
• Place the biscuits on the baking sheets about half an inch (1 centimetre) apart, and place in the centre of the preheated oven for 15 to 17 minutes, or until the biscuits are dry and a delicious tan brown colour.
• Transfer to a wire rack and cool completely before munching down with a cup of coffee. The Dutch are great at coffee.

STORAGE
Keep in an airtight container for up two a fortnight.

Recipe Review: Melktert, a South African Custard Pie

Hou jy van melktert?

It's been a while since I made a melktert, or milk tart in English, and since then I've eaten a few and seen a few more made on YouTube. I thought a little review was in order!

Normally, milk tart is a simple conflour-thicken vanilla custard in a tart shell, either crushed-biscuit base (most common among home cooks), shortcrust pastry (which I rarely see) or—so I've read online—puff pastry (which is apparently the "traditional" way, but I've personally never ever seen it), sprinkled with ground cinnamon. I've made a few changes to the usual way of making if, which I'll explain in this blog.

But first things first, ignore the wrinkly top: it's a by product of a new technique of making the custard lighter by mixing in beaten egg white. The tops only go wrinkly if you undercook them and take them out of the oven too soon, so learn from my mistake!

Despite that little gaffe, mixing whipped egg white into the custard was the first main change I made. I read other recipes online which all did the same thing, claiming it to be the traditional way. It makes the custard feel lighter on the palate, and slightly more moussey in texture.

The second main change I made was to the biscuit base: normal biscuit bases are 1 part butter to 2 parts biscuit, but I halved the amount of butter. It made for a lighter, crumblier base. I also used half digestives and half Speculaas biscuits, to keep the Dutch theme going.

INGREDIMENTS

For 6 mini tarts, or one 9 inch tart

• 8 ounces (225 grammes) biscuits, either digestives, gingernuts, or Speculaas, or a mixture
• 2 ounces (55 grammes) butter, at room temperature
• 1 UK pint (2½ US cups, 570 millilitres) full fat milk
• 2 eggs, separated
• 4 tablespoons (¼ cup) cornflour
• 2 ounces (55 grammes) caster sugar
• 1 teaspoon (5 millilitres) good quality vanilla essence
• ½ teaspoon (3 millilitres) lemon zest
• 1 ounce (30 grammes) butter
• Ground cinnamon, for decorating

METHOD

• Crush the biscuits, either using a food processor or by rolling over the biscuits in a plastic bag. In a mixing bowl, mix the biscuits with the room temperature butter with your hands to make a crumbly mixture.
• Use this mixture to line 6 mini tart tins, about 4 inches (10 centimetres) wide, or one 9 inch (22 centimetre) tart tin. Pop in the fridge while you prepare the filling.
• Separate the eggs, putting the whites into a mixing bowl and the yolks into a saucepan. Mix the yolks with half the sugar, the cornflour and the lemon zest until super smooth and lump free.
• Add in the milk gradually until completely incorporated. Once you have a nice smooth mixture, cook over medium high heat and bring to the boil, stirring all the time.
• Boil the mixture for a full minute, then remove from the heat and add the butter and vanilla essence. Set aside to cool slightly while you preheat the oven.
• Set the oven to 180°C (350°F, Gas Mk.3) and allow to preheat before moving on to the meringue.
• In the mixing bowl, whip the egg whites to soft peaks. Gradually add in the remaining half of the sugar and whip into a medium-peak meringue: when you lift the beaters the peak should flop over.
• Fold the meringue into the cooked custard a third at a time, quickly but gently to prevent the egg whites cooking. You don't have to fold each third through completely before adding the next third, just enough to lighten to base.
• Pour the mixture into the prepared tart shell(s) and spread out nicely, giving the tin a gentle little shake and tap.
• Bake the tart for 20 minutes on the centre shelf, or until the outside inch (2.5 centimetres) of the filling puffs up slightly and the entire surface is dry to the touch.
• Take the tart out of the oven and cool completely on a wire rack in the tin, before chilling in the fridge for 4 hours before serving.
• Before serving, sprinkle the surface with a good layer of ground cinnamon.

Kiwi Curd, or Any Curd for that Matter (Volume Measurements, not Weight)

Remember when for World Goth Day when I did the Madeira cake with eyes? In that recipe, I mentioned that my friend Aimée's original memory of eating that kind of cake as a kid was that it was kiwi flavoured filling, not strawberry. I also promised that I would update you with a kiwi filling recipe, and here it is!

Confession time: I hate kiwi fruits. They taste like under ripe strawberries, and when they're puréed they look like green frogspawn. They probably taste like frogspawn too, but I've never eaten frogspawn so I have no frame of reference.

But there are people in this world who like kiwi fruit and if you do you'll enjoy this recipe, which is very simple. Like most of my recipes, this is a simple ratio:

To make the curd base

2 parts fruit purée : 1 part sugar

In volume (fluid ounces, millilitres, etc.)

Once you make the base mixture, you'll need to thicken it with some cornflour.

To thicken with cornflour:

8 fluid ounces (225 millilitres) of base mixture : 1 to 1½ tablespoons (15 to 22 millilitres) cornflour

Now, I do understand the obvious issue here: how many kiwi fruits/strawberries/raspberries etc. are in 8 fluid ounces of purée? Well, that might be a question for Google, but what I do is I buy the fruit, purée it, and then work with what I have with respect to the ratio. That's the beauty of ratios, and why I love using them in the kitchen.

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DIFFICULTY
No baking required, but uses stove top cooking

TIME

About an hour

RECIPE RATING

Easy!

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INGREDIMENTS

8 fluid ounces (225 millilitres) kiwi fruit purée, smoothly blended, I think I used 6 peeled fruit to make this much purée

Zest and juice of 1 lime

4 fluid ounces (115 millilitres) caster sugar

1 to 2 tablespoons (15 to 30 millilitres) cornflour

Pinch of salt

Optional: 1 tablespoon (15 grammes) unsalted butter

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METHOD

• In a saucepan, heat together the fruit purée, lime juice and zest, and sugar over medium heat until the sugar dissolves and comes to a simmer.
• In a small cup, mix together the cornflour with a few tablespoons of water to make a slurry. When the purée is simmering, gradually add in the cornflour and mix until it comes to a thickness you like: you can add all the cornflour to make it more like a jelly when it sets, or add less to make it more like a loose jam.
• If you want a little extra richness, take off the heat and then mix in the butter until it has completely emulsified into the curd.
• Pour into a wide shallow bowl, allow to cool slightly before covering with cling film - making sure that the cling film touches the surface of the curd - and allowing to cool completely before chilling until set, which will take about 4 hours.

STORAGE

Keep in the fridge in an airtight container and use within a week.

No-Bake Toffee Crisp Slice

Do you like Toffee Crisp bars? Well, now you can make them at home for half the price!

I love Toffee Crisp bars (well, the ones you get in Ireland and the UK): the lovely chocolatey rice crispie bar, the chewy caramel layer, covered in chocolate.... it's absolutely delicious! They used to sell homemade toffee crisp squares in the college cafeteria where I studied for my bachelor degree.

Making them at home is super simple: the layers are all very easy to make, and doesn't require any oven baking! Just a hob to make the caramel.

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DIFFICULTY
No baking required, but uses stove top cooking

TIME

About an hour

RECIPE RATING

Easy!

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INGREDIMENTS

For one 8 inch (20 centimetre) square tray of squares

For crispy base

150 grammes (5⅓ ounces) rice crispies or cocoa pops

250 grammes (9 ounces) plain or milk chocolate

50 grammes (1¾ ounces) margarine, or butter

For caramel

200 grammes (7 ounces) condensed milk

75 grammes (2½ ounces) salted butter

35 grammes (1¼ ounces) light brown soft sugar

1 teaspoon (5 millilitres) vanilla essence

Salt, to taste

For chocolate topping

125 grammes (4½ ounces) milk or plain chocolate, or a combination

20 grammes (¾ ounce) sunflower oil

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METHOD

• Line a 20 centimetre (8 inch) square tin with non-stick baking paper.
• Melt the margarine, or butter, and chocolate for the base slowly together in a heatproof bowl over low heat. If you're using butter, the microwave works well, but not with margarine.
• Once completely melted, stir in the rice crispies or cocoa pops and mix thoroughly until each crispy is coated.
• Pour the mixture into the prepared tin and flatten the top. Pop in the fridge while you make the caramel.
• Make the caramel according to the instructions in my millionaire's shortbread recipe, or on the Carnation UK recipe. Pour the caramel over the top of the crispy layer and spread out well.
• Melt the chocolate for the topping with the oil, either in the microwave or in a bowl over hot water, stirring well. Pour over the caramel while everything is still warm.
• Allow to cool completely to room temperature before chilling in the fridge for about an hour, or until the topping is set, before cutting and serving.