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.

Crumpets (Wheat- and Egg Free)

Readers of Sweetie Pie Bakes Stuff, I present to you a project I have always thought about since I was very young: crumpets!

When I was much younger, I was given a book called The Book of Afternoon Tea by Lesley Mackley, which I'm sure I've mentioned many times in the past. In this book, is a recipe for crumpets. Now, if one is a half-English person living in Ireland, there are some creature comforts of England that are kinda misunderstood here: one of which is crumpets. They go in and out of the supermarkets every so often, but don't have much staying power. I don't think the locals quite understand them.

Not only are regular crumpets widely unavailable, wheat- or gluten free ones are unheard of all together. You can buy them at great expense in Marks and Spencer, but it turns out that making them at home is much cheaper, even if spelt flour has risen to an eye-watering €3.80 per kilogram (ouch!). But to make them at home you need a specific piece of kit: a crumpet ring.

Recently, as I mentioned in my last post, I was in England with my companion to collect a car from his friend. While I was there, I went looking in a local kitchen supply shop and found just the thing I was looking for: crumpet rings! I bought two in a pack for about £4.50, which isn't too bad. And on my return home, I couldn't wait to use them!

I did a little research online for the best recipe, and many recipes advise to add some bicarbonate of soda to help a) the production of the little holes, and b) neutralise some of the acidifying nature of yeast. I don't know if there's any science behind this, but I trusted the advice. As such, this recipe is basically the same one as found in the Afternoon Tea book, with the addition of bicarb.

INGREDIMENTS

• 8 ounces (225 grammes) white spelt flour
• 1 tablespoon (15 millilitres) caster sugar
• ½ teaspoon (3 millilitres) salt
• One quarter-ounce (7 gramme) sachet of dry active yeast
• Half a UK pint (285 millilitres) milk, lukewarm
• 2 fluid ounces (60 millilitres) water
• ½ teaspoon (3 millilitres) bicarbonate of soda

METHOD

• In a medium mixing bowl, mix 2 ounces (55 grammes) of the flour, the salt, the sugar, the yeast, and half the milk until is is a well combined, thin mixture. Allow to sit for 10 to 15 minutes until all the little yeast particles dissolve.
• Mix in all the remaining ingredients, using a balloon whisk, until you get something like a thin pancake mixture.
• Cover the bowl with cling film or a clean tea towel, and allow to rise in a warm place for 45 minutes to one hour, until doubled and bubbly.

• Once it has risen, grease a heavy frying pan and two to three crumpet rings. Preheat the pan over medium-low heat for 5 to 10 minutes.
• Place the rings onto the pan, and fill each one halfway full, about half an inch (1 centimetre), being careful to keep all the lovely bubbles in the mixture. Cook until the tops are pitted and dry, about 6 minutes. If the bottoms are browning too quickly, turn down the heat.

• One the tops are pitted, dry, and nicely full of holes, flip over and cook for a further minute. Serve immediately with butter, or jam, and any left overs can be cooled on a wire rack and stored for three days.

Bibliography: Mackley, L. The Book of Afternoon Tea. HP Trade. July 1992

THIS TIME IN 2015: June Afternoon Tea Party: "Picnic"

THIS TIME IN 2013: Vegan Banana Bread (Wheat-, Dairy-, and Egg Free)

No blogs on this day in 2014 or 2016

Neapolitan Cheesecake (Wheat Free)

It was this August bank holiday weekend, 2015, that my little sister turned 18 years old, and was no longer little. For her birthday she requested cheesecake, and cheesecake I provided!

Despite not being able to decide between a chocolate or a strawberry cheesecake, she had very specific instruction that the cheesecake be of the chilled variety, and definitely not baked. She spent so much time umming and aahing about which flavour she wanted, that I decided to make both.

Now, as I have mentioned in my previous Neapolitan adventures, here in Ireland it's vanilla, strawberry, and lemon, not chocolate. However, to fit in with my sister's request, I did the typical white pink brown combination.

I didn't really know how to decorate it once I had made it, but at the moment sprinkling biscuit or cake crumbs onto the finished cake is in vogue, so jumping on the bandwagon kinda worked this time. You can decorate your cake however you want, though.

Taking the recipe I used to make her cheesecake last year, I decided to play with it a little to see if I could make it more of a formula instead of a static recipe, dividing the ingredients into parts and ratios. It worked very well: in fact, there was an opinion among the consumers that it was one of my finest cheesecake creations.

This recipe has been slightly edited so that the chocolate and strawberry layers are equal. In my cake, the chocolate layer was a little deeper than the strawberry one.

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

CONTAINS
☒ Gluten
☒ Refined sugar products
☒ Dairy

INGREDIMENTS

For biscuit base,

• 3 ounces (85 grammes) white spelt flour
• 1 ounce (30 grammes) porridge oats
• 1 tablespoon (15 millilitres) cocoa powder
• 2 ounces (55 grammes) butter, at room temperature
• 2 ounces (55 grammes) caster sugar
• Pinch of salt

For chocolate layer,

• 8 ounces (225 grammes) cream cheese, at room temperature
• 4 fluid ounces (120 millilitres) whipping cream, cold
• 4 ounces (115 grammes) good quality milk chocolate
• 1 teaspoon (5 millilitres) vanilla essence
• 2 to 4 tablespoons (30 to 60 millilitres) caster sugar, to taste

For strawberry layer,

• 8 ounces (225 grammes) cream cheese, at room temperature
• 4 fluid ounces (120 millilitres) whipping cream, cold
• 4 ounces (115 grammes) strawberry jam, at least 50% fruit content
• 1 teaspoon (5 millilitres) vanilla essence
• 2 tablespoons (30 millilitres) lime juice, or 3 tablespoons (45 millilitres) of lemon juice
• 2 to 4 tablespoons (30 to 60 millilitres) caster sugar, to taste

For white chocolate icing,

• 7 ounces (200 grammes) whipping cream
• 3½ ounces (100 grammes) white chocolate, in small pieces
• 1 teaspoon (5 millilitres) vanilla essence

METHOD

First, make the base.

• Line the sides of an 8 inch (20 centimetre) round loose bottomed tin with baking paper. Preheat the oven to 180ºC (350ºF, Gas Mk.4).
• In a mixing bowl, mix the flour, oats, cocoa, salt, and caster sugar together until blended. Rub the butter into the dry ingredients to make a coarse crumbly mixture.
• Tip the mixture into the tin and even out with the back of a spoon, pressing very gently. 
• If you want, you can take a tablespoon or two of the crumbs and bake separately to make the topping: just sprinkle them on a small ovenproof dish and bake alongside the main crust
• Bake for 10 minutes, only enough to set the crust. Take out of the oven and cool completely on a wire rack.

Once the base is cold, make the chocolate layer.

• In a bowl or jug, melt the chocolate in the microwave in 1 minute intervals on the Defrost setting, mixing between each spin in the microwave. Alternatively, you can melt the chocolate traditionally in a bowl over a pan of simmering water. Set aside to cool.
• In a mixing bowl, beat the cream cheese until smooth and creamy. Fold in the cooled melted chocolate until fully mixed. Add the sugar to taste: you may not need all the sugar.
• In a separate bowl or jug, whip the cream until it forms stiff peaks. Fold gently but quickly into the chocolate cream cheese mixture. Taste for sweetness again, adding more sugar if you want, but working quickly to not deflate the mixture.
• Pour into the tin on top of the crust and smooth out evenly. Chill for an hour before adding the strawberry layer.

To make the strawberry layer,

• In a small bowl, beat the jam to make it smooth and to even out the texture.
• As before, beat the cream cheese in a large bowl, then fold in the jam until fully mixed. Add the lime juice, and then add the sugar to taste.
• Whip the cream in a separate jug or bowl until it forms stiff peaks, then fold into the strawberry cream cheese mixture. Taste for sweetness again, adding more sugar if needed.
• Pour on top of the chocolate layer, smoothing out with a spoon. Put in the fridge to chill overnight.

Also make the whipped white chocolate icing,

• Put the broken white chocolate in a small mixing bowl or large jug.
• Heat the whipping cream either in a saucepan over medium heat, or in the microwave, until it reaches simmering point: little bubbles should appear around the edges and it should be steaming hot.
• Pour the hot cream over the white chocolate and let it stand for about 2 minutes. Then, mix thoroughly with a spoon or balloon whisk; the heat of the mix will have started to melt the chocolate.
• Allow to cool to room temperature before putting in the fridge to chill overnight with the cheesecake.

The next day, assemble the master piece.

• An hour before you intend to serve your cake, you will need to ice it. Take the white chocolate cream and whip it until it makes soft peaks.
• Use half of the cream to ice the sides very carefully. Make sure that your icing utensil, whether it's a palette knife, table knife, or the back of a spoon, only touches the icing layer, and not the cheesecake layer: this will prevent smearing.
• Put the remaining half in a piping bag fitted with a large star tip and pipe a rosette design around the edge of the top.
• Sprinkle the biscuit crumbs on the top, if you like, or leave it plain.

This cake is very rich and indulgent, and this cake can serve up to 16 people, so eat with caution. It will keep in the fridge, covered, for about 3 to 5 days.

THIS TIME IN 2014: How NOT to Make Hazelnut Ice-Cream
THIS TIME IN 2013: Traditional Coconut Ice

No-Gelatine Chilled Cheesecake: Chocolate

WOOOOOOOOOOOO!! 100 posts today!! So proud of myself and my blogging exploits! Roll on 150!

In my last post, I explained how I made the lemon side of the cheesecake and today I will explain how to make the chocolate side! Because everybody loves chocolate...

When making the lemon half, I used the power of nature and used the lemon juice reacting with the dairy products to set the cake. This time, however, I'm using chocolate to set the cake. When you add the chocolate, it's melted, but while it sits overnight in the fridge it sets up again, making the rest of the ingredients firmer, much like a ganache.

Here is the recipe I used for the chocolate half

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

CONTAINS
☒ Gluten (unless you use gluten-free oats)
☒ Refined sugar products
☒ Dairy


 INGREDIMENTS

For the base:

• 6 ounces (170 grammes) spelt flour
• 2 ounces (55 grammes) rolled oats
• 2 ounces (55 grammes) cold butter, cubed
• 2 ounces (55 grammes) caster or brown sugar
• Pinch of salt
• Optional: Pinch of cinnamon

For the cheesecake mixture

• 10 ounces (300 grammes) soft cream cheese
• 3 ounces (85 grammes) caster sugar

• 5 fluid ounces (150 millilitres) whipping cream
• 1 tablespoon (15 millilitres) vanilla essence
• 5.5 ounces (150 grammes) milk or dark chocolate, depending on how rich you want it
• Pinch of salt

HOW-TO 

• Make the biscuit base according to the recipe here, but empty the mixture into an 8 inch (20 centimetre) spring form tin instead. Allow to cool completely.
• Melt the chocolate gently in a heatproof bowl over a pan of simmering water, or in the microwave set to 'Defrost' for a minute at a time until smooth. Allow to cool.
• To make the filling, beat the cream cheese and sugar together until smooth and creamy. Add in the whipping cream and vanilla essence then beat until it forms soft peaks.
• Add the melted chocolate and fold gently using a metal spoon or rubber spatula until completely combined. Be gentle and don't knock any air out of the cream.
• Pour the filling onto the base and smooth out without eating any. Chill in the fridge for at least 2 hours, preferably overnight.

As you can see, I made it into a split cheesecake, but the above recipe makes one 8 inch (20 centimeter) cheesecake.

No-Gelatine Chilled Cheesecake: Lemon

This year for her birthday, my sister asked me for a split cheesecake, like she does every year. When I say split cheesecake, I mean a cheesecake that's one half one flavour, and the other half another flavour. This year, she wanted lemon and chocolate.

My sister doesn't like baked cheesecake, only chilled, and usually I would set a chilled cheesecake with gelatine. However, my oldest brother is a vegetarian and as such doesn't eat any product made from a dead animal, which obviously included gelatine.

My past adventures with vegetarian gelatine have been unsuccessful, leading to much hair pulling, crying, and expense. This year I decided to research how to make chilled cheesecake without using a setting agent at all and discovered a wonderful new trick: I learnt that through the miracle of a chemical reaction between dairy products and citrus juice, one could set a cheesecake completely using only lemon juice

Here is the recipe I used for the lemon half

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

CONTAINS
☒ Gluten (unless you use gluten-free oats)
☒ Refined sugar products
☒ Dairy


 INGREDIMENTS

For the bases:

• 6 ounces (170 grammes) spelt flour
• 2 ounces (55 grammes) rolled oats
• 2 ounces (55 grammes) cold butter, cubed
• 2 ounces (55 grammes) caster or brown sugar
• Pinch of salt
• Optional: Pinch of cinnamon

For the cheesecake mixture

• 10 ounces (300 grammes) soft cream cheese
• 3 ounces (85 grammes) caster sugar

• 5 fluid ounces (150 millilitres) whipping cream
• 1 tablespoon (15 millilitres) vanilla essence
• Grated zest and juice of 2 lemons
• Pinch of salt

HOW-TO 

• Make the biscuit base according to the recipe here, but empty the mixture into an 8 inch (20 centimetre) spring form tin instead. Allow to cool completely.
• To make the filling, beat the cream cheese and sugar together until smooth and creamy. Add in the whipping cream ands vanilla essence then beat until it forms soft peaks.
• Add the zest and juice of both lemons and the salt then beat briefly until well combined. Don't beat too much otherwise it will curdle.
• Working quickly, pour the filling onto the base and smooth out. Chill in the fridge for at least 2 hours, preferably overnight.

As you can see, I made it into a split cheesecake, but the above recipe makes one 8 inch (20 centimeter) cheesecake.

THIS TIME LAST YEAR: Soft Vanilla Fudge