Want smore biscuit cake?? (Lactose free)

 

For years and years I have been making versions of chocolate biscuit cake for a variety of events, The ingredients vary based on the recipients (e.g. adding Moro bars for someone whose nickname is moro, pronounced differently) but essentially the process remains the same; chocolate, biscuits, condensed milk and a couple of other essentials. The problem is that not everyone can handle condensed milk and why should a lactose allergy keep anyone from enjoying the craving fulfilling taste sensation that is ewwy gooey!!

Therefore I present for your dietary restricted enjoyment..........

Lactose-free Smores biscuit cake (adapted from Eric Landlard's honeycomb squares)
(makes 24)

225g Butter
4 tbsp Golden syrup
4 tbsp Granulated Sugar
2 tsp vanilla extract
400g Dark Chocolate
300g Rich tea biscuits
300g Digestive biscuits (ensure these have no milk whey powder - eg Jacobs low-fat ones)

50g Dark Chocolate (melted)
3tbsp Marshmallow fluff

Melt the butter in a saucepan, while you break the chocolate into little pieces and crush the biscuits in a plastic bag. You want there to be a mixture of large chunks and lots of crumbs.

 Once the butter is melted add the sugar and golden syrup and stir until all the sugar has disappeared and the mixture is starting to bubble up the sides of the pan. Remove from the heat and add the chocolate.

Mix thoroughly until all the chocolate has melted and then add the biscuits. Mix thoroughly until all the biscuit is covered, then cut up 100g marshmallow and mix thoroughly.

At this stage you will be very tempted to just eat the whole thing with a spoon, the chocolate is so shiney and melted, the marshmallows will be slightly melted and I won't lie to you.....I took a sample or two..... to quality test it of course ;)

Line a roasting dish with cling-film and pour in the mixture. Cover with cling-film and wrap tightly before chilling in the fridge at least an hour or over-night if possible.

Remove from the fridge and melt the final 50g of dark chocolate. Turn out the biscuit cake and plate upside down. Spoon out small chunks of marshmallow fluff and smear over the top. Using a tiny piping bag dribble the melted dark chocolate over the top. Then slice and as always enjoy =)

Macaroons - (almost) sugar free and so tasty that even coconut haters will fall

Normally at this time of year I want to make nothing more than home-made jam and macarons. This year is no real exception but some days need something different. This week I went to a BBQ and brought some delicious double chocolate chip cookies but I also wanted to bring something a little healthier and decided to go for macaroons.

Coconut is extremely healthy. It's reportedly antiviral, antibacterial and anti-parasitic. The oils in coconut are excellent for hair and nail growth. It's chock full of fiber, vitamins, minerals and amino acids. It's also known for anti-aging and antioxidant properties. So all in all, there's an excuse there for anyone to eat it.

These macaroons are really easy to make and almost sugar free. They went down such a treat at the party that I didn't manage to save any, but photos will follow, because trust me I will be making more.

(Almost) Sugar-Free Coconut Macaroons

500g Shredded coconut
100g Ground Almonds
4 egg whites
1/2 tsp cream of tartar
2 tbsp Caster Sugar
10g Stevia
250g 60-70% Dark Chocolate

Preheat the oven to 160'C. Beat your egg whites and cream of tartar until peaks form. Slowly beat in your caster sugar and stevia and continue to beat until you have formed a stiff peaks. Mix together the coconut and ground almonds and then fold into the meringue. Scoop into 1/2 balls on a cookie sheet and cook for 10-15 minutes or until the outside it nicely brown and crispy. Then cool on a wire rack. 

Melt 3/4 of the chocolate over hot water, once the first part is melted, remove from the heat and add the rest of the chocolate and mix until melted. Dip the bases of the macaroons in the chocolate and smooth with a spatula before drying upside down on the wire rack. Once the chocolate has set, serve and enjoy =)

Creme Brulee Macarons

If you've read any of my previous posts about macarons you will know that I love to mess with the shells. I guess that it has something to do with a childish instinct to touch the untouchable and make a mess! Something I may not have told you before is that I spend an unreasonable amount of time in very expensive department stores, not trying on make-up, not oogling the beautiful clothes or the expensive jewellery. No, surprise, surprise I spend time drooling over the beautiful and amazing macaron selection!! I have macaron selection menus from Selfridges, Brown Thomas and Cocoa Atelier, I even leave the Selfridge's macaron menu sitting on my make-up table for inspiration.

 
Frequently, however, inspiration strikes from odd places. When I found this delicious vanilla  bean paste at an unbelievably good price I was determined to use it in macarons. However, how does one adequately compliment vanilla? Sure it goes with almost anything but what will bring out it's sweet smooth taste? Salted caramel and burnt sugar, me thinks. Hence a creme caramel inspired macaron.

Creme Brulee Macaron (more instructional photos to follow)

125g Ground Almonds
175g Extra Fine Icing Sugar
75g Caster Sugar + extra for sprinkling
3 Aged Egg Whites
3/8 tsp Cream of Tartar
1 tsp Vanilla Bean Paste

Filling
1 Can Condensed milk
1/2 tsp Salt

To make the filling submerge the can of condensed milk in water and boil until almost all the water has boiled off twice. Remove can carefully from the water and then leave to coll completely before opening (This is actually dulce de leche but it works for me, u gotta problem with it?? i joke!)

Now beat your egg whites and cream of tartar in a clean bowl, once light and fluffy slowly add the caster sugar and continue to beat until you have reached stiff peaks. In a seperate bowl, sieve together the ground almonds and icing sugar. Fold the almond and sugar mixture into the meringue and add the teaspoon of vanilla bean paste. Continue folding until the mixture becomes smooth and when dropped onto a plates flattens out. Pour into a piping bag and pipe in little 1/2' diametre circles on a parchment paper lined cookie sheet. Let the macarons sit and set on the counter for an hour.

Preheat the oven to 180'. After the shell has set, sprinkle each macaron with a small amount of caster sugar, try if possible to cover the surface of the shell. Then using a blow-torch and a very gentle hand melt the sugar without burning either the macarons or the parchment paper.

Baked the macarons for precisely 10 minutes and then run water between the cooking sheet and the parhment once cooked to remove the cooked macarons from the paper.

Match up your macarons and then pipe a layer of caramel (dulce de leche) on one half. Sprinkle a tiny, tiny pinch of salt (a few grains) onto the caramel and then sandwich with a second macaron. Finally just enjoy =)

Pizza crackers

Last week we went to a party of a friend of a friend. I always find it difficult to know what to bring to these situations. What do you do when you know nothing about this person's taste's or food peculiarities and yet want to make a good impression? The only thing I could think to do was take what I know and run with it. The party was a pizza party and therefore the invention of pizza crackers!

One is never enough!

These are SO so easy to make and suit any occasion as a present. The buttery taste and texture is exactly like the high end crackers that cost 4/5 quid for a pack of less than 10, so no-one will guess that you made these for next to nothing.

Pizza Crackers (adapted from cracker recipe from Ina Garten)

100g Butter (softened)
85g   Mature Cheddar (grated very fine)                             

160g Plain Flour
pinch of salt
1/2 tsp Oregano
1/2 tsp Basil

Beat together your butter and herbs. Sieve the flour and salt onto the grated cheese and mix. Let the flour sit on the cheddar for a minute before combining the dough. The mixture will be very crumbly but fear not it will come together. Lay out some cling-film onto the counter and pour the mixture onto this. Work the mixture together into one long line of crumbs, about 1 inch in diameter, length-ways in the centre of the cling film. Now roll the cling film around the dough and make it as tight as possible. Squish the dough together and tighten the cling film, twist the ends to make sure it is as compressed as possible, flatten off all the edges so that the crackers are either square or rectangular, then throw them into the freezer for 20 minutes.

(I have found that I can actually make these crackers while simultaneously preparing to head to the party. Just by using this time to go and do my make-up etc and then doing my hair while they bake, it works out really nicely, and makes me feel like some kind of Nigella/ Martha Stewart style powerhouses of female efficiency and etiquette in one!)

Preheat your oven to 180'. Take the dough out of the freezer after 20-30 minutes at most, if you have left it for longer I would suggest letting it de-frost on the counter for a while and cutting a test slice, if the slice cuts cleanly without difficulty then go ahead. However if you cut them while they are too frozen they will break in half and will not cook as evenly. Cut into even (as possible) 1/3 inch slices and lay out onto a baking sheet.

Bake for 10 minutes on 180' or until brown on the edges and crispy looking. Remove from the baking sheet immediately to stop the baking process and cool or a wire wrack. Then just pretend you are eating a delicious thin crusty pizza, share and enjoy =)

A twist on the cinnamon twist bread

I've seen a few people doing the cinnamon twist breads and I love how this simple technique can reveal such a beautiful and intricate pattern. However if I merely mimicked what others did exactly then what would be the purpose of blogging it, therefore I have decided to change it slightly and make it into a sticky bun style twist bread.

I made this bread for a special breakfast with the bf and it went down very well. I'm sure I have mentioned before that my bf is very honest with his criticism, if he doesn't like something he will say so. However while eating this he repeatedly mentioned how much he likes it and then suggested that we could get more ingredients and make it again - so a positive outcome!

In terms of nuts here I used almonds, but that choice was entirely influenced by availability! THis recipe would work just as well if not better with hazelnuts, pecans or walnuts (perhaps even a combination: it's a free-for-all). Another slight variation that I think would be delicious, but the bf wouldn't like it, would be dried apple pieces!

I've used the same cheat here that I used in the cinnamon rolls previously of using pre-made dough, I know very bold, but it makes it so much more accessible, so try it..........now!! ;)

Twisted sticky bread  

2 pieces of dough rolled out to 1/4 inch thickness
3 tbsp Butter
1 agave nectar/honey
2 tsp brown sugar
1tsp vanilla granulated sugar
50g of roasted chopped almonds
2 tbsp sultanas/raisins
1tsp cinnamon
pinch of nutmeg
pinch of salt
+
1tbsp Butter
1tsp brown sugar
1tsp cinnamon

Lay your dough pieces side by side. Melt together the butter,honey and sugar and mix thoroughly. Add in the nuts, spices, salt and sultanas. Take half of this mixture and spread it on the first piece of dough. Spread as much as possible but you don't need to cover every inch. Place the second piece of dough on top of the first, push it down so you can see where the bigger lumps of nuts are. Now spread out the rest of the mixture, making sure to concentrate the mixture into the areas that have less mixture underneath. Now melt the last bit of butter,sugar and cinnamon together and pour this over the top layer and spread it around. Now you want to roll the dough length-ways and then using a very sharp knife cut the roll in half lengthways. Now comes the messy and more difficult part, turn the halves so that the cut side is up and slightly separate the dough . Now put the ends of the sections together on the baking sheet and the twist them around each other, this will be messy and I think it takes a bit of practice to get the perfect twist (something I didn't quite achieve this time).

 
See what I mean?! It looks like a complete mess and I over twisted one section but do not fret if yours looks messy like this because the baking process is very forgiving.

See how much better it looks!!

The picture makes it look very hard and crispy and the outside of the bread does become very crispy, probably because the butter and sugar spills over somewhat but the dough on the inside is so soft and delicious.

There is the most delicious contrast between the soft dough, the gooey sugar and the crispy bits of crust and nuts. It works so well, in fact, that my bf actually commented specifically on the contrasting textures, which is not how he usually talks about food at all!!So I would definitely recommend trying this, it is beautiful enough to warrant presenting at any fancy breakfast, tea-party or as a dessert. Enjoy =)

Jazzing up the ordinary

There is a lot going on for me at the moment, hence the late post! As many bloggers can probably attest to, when the amount of other things that demand attention build up, the desire to bake builds with them, but the time and focus required is not in such plentiful supply. This last week was my birthday and as I always bake my birthday cake it was fitting that I prepare something. Thing is, I couldn't seem to think of a single cake idea; my head is choc full of various counselling theories, abstacts from a hundred different papers, as well as hundreds of laws and legislation relating to working with vulnerable people and mental health and all sorts. So I asked my brother what kind of cake I should make. He responded in the same way that he ALWAYS responds; within a split second 'Victoria Sponge.' It's his favourite cake, he honestly has it for any situation where there needs to be cake!

I shouldn't have been surprised but I honestly don't fully understand it because this is a guy with incredible taste in food. He cooks the most delicious dinners and the sandwiches that he puts together deserve their own food network show! That might seem dismissive of victoria sponge and it's not meant to be. I like victoria sponge, it's a nice cake but it is a boringly simple cake imao!

However it worked nicely as an idea because it's a simple cake to make and when time is limited; the simpler, the better! However, I wouldn't be me if I didn't try to jazz it up a bit, which he said that he expected also.

So simple steps to jazz up the Victoria sponge. The cake is perfect, for the tiniest adjustment I replaced 1 egg with 2 egg yolks just to make a slightly more tender cake. The real changes came in the strawberry jam filling and the cream.

Instead of a strawberry jam I sliced 2 punnets of strawberries very finely and then sprinkled 1-2 tsp of balsamic vinegar and 1 heaped tablespoon of caster sugar, I mixed thoroughly and let it to sit for 20 minutes.

For the cream I made added 1 tbsp of icing sugar and 2/3 tsp of vanilla bean paste before whipping and then whipped up until it formed peaks.

To assemble in a fun way I laid down the first layer of cake then made a small circle of cream in the centre and surrounded this with the strawberries. I layered on the second circle of cake and then made a small circle of strawberries and piped the cream in circles around this before dusting with icing sugar.

Unfortunately since time was very limited I had to do all of this in my parents house minutes before serving and without my proper camera or baking utensils so you will have to excuse the picture quality and the poor piping but this is it. Trust me though: the taste was flawless!

In case you were wondering, my brother loved it =)

On a related note, I often discuss some of the lovely things I received from friends and family for my birthday and I am actually writing this blog post on one of those very shiny lovely things. However I wanted to show you another one.

I love tea and particularly one of the various fruit or alternative loose teas that are available these days. However brewing a cup of loose tea can sometimes be messy and cumbersome. A few years back my wonderful mother bought me an amazing brewing item in the states which I stupidly left over there when I came home. I have lamented this fact on a number of occassions while using my mother's one. So this year, probably to shut me up as much as anything, my sister sourced this from the internet.

A couple different brands do this so it's not an ad for ingenuiTea

 I shall demonstrate how easy and beautifully this thing works

Pour your loose tea into the brewer

Pour on your hot water

It swirls around and brews

As this tea brews it turns a nice amber colour

Then just pop your brewer on top of any cup

Et voila, a perfectly brewed cup of tea without any floating bits =)

So thank you to my sister for this wonderful present and I would recommend this type of brewer to anyone that enjoys loose tea. Enjoy =)

Churros for Cinco de Mayo

Yesterday was cinco de mayo, a holiday not usually celebrated in this part of the world but I love it! Mexican food, sombreros, tequila and if you are lucky perhaps a pinata!! Yesterday we went to a wonderful Mexican restaurant (Cortinas) that was celebrating cinco de mayo in style with a south American style BBQ, initially the bf wasn't sold on the idea but once he saw the delicious steak sandwiches covered in delicious spices and served with traditional Mexican sides and stuffed chilis he was happy out! I was hoping for a pinata but no such luck, maybe next year (wink,wink, nudge, nudge), I did get a free t-shirt tho =) After dinner we decided to come home because I wanted to take the opportunity to make one of my favourite Mexican sweets for dessert - Churros!

Churros (Adapted from a recipe by Deborah M. Schneider)

475ml Water
2 tbsp vegetable oil
1 heaped tbsp caster sugar
1/2 tsp salt
350g plain flour
1 pinch baking powder
4 eggs
1L sunflower oil (or other vegetable oil suitable for deep frying)

to dredge
50g caster sugar
2 tsp cinnamon

Pour your oil into a deep sauce pan and start heating it on a medium heat. Pour your water into another saucepan with the 2 tbsp of vegetable oil, the salt and the sugar and bring to the boil. While this is boiling, sieve together the flour and baking powder. Once the water mixture has boiled remove from the heat and add the flour. Mix thoroughly until you have a smooth paste. Beat the eggs in a seperate bowl and then add them slowly, in 4-5 sections. Mix thoroughly between each additions so that the eggs don't cook with the residual heat. Continue mixing and beating until the mixture is very smooth and thick.

Depending on your humidity you may need to add more flour, if so add it through a sieve and beat very very well so as to incorporate it fully.

At this stage your oil should have reached 350'F. You can check with a thermometre or if none is available go with the Nigella method of throwing in a square of bread and see how it frys, if it starts to turn golden brown then you're golden (get it! No? too annoying, ok...)

Pour your churro mixture into a piping bag with a large star piping head. This particular recipe is quite runny so you may still have to hold your piping bag upside down between piping. Then pipe directly into the hot oil. Obviously this is quite dangerous so exercise extreme caution. I used a knife to cut off the stream of mixture as you can see my bf doing here.

 

 

Let them fry until they have reached a deep golden brown and then flip, once both sides as done scoop them out onto some paper towel and let the excess oil drain before dredging them in the sugar and cinnamon mixture, then serve and smile!