Choc Drops

I think I wanted Jam Drops but this seemed much more Friday. After another long week, I'm almost hoping I can't go to work on Monday due to death by chocolate. As always there are more important things in life than wearing a two piece….like chocolate smothered in chocolate.

Choc Drops
2 tablespoons cocoa powder
1 cup plain flour
3 tablespoons caster sugar
100g butter
1 egg
Nutella or Nutino

Sift the cocoa powder and flour into a bowl, add sugar and mix to combine.

Chop the butter into small cubes and microwave on a low heat until melted, tip into the dry mixture and crack the egg over the top. Whisk the mixture until combined.

Roll small balls of the mixture in your hands then flatten and press your thumb into the centre to make an indent. Fill the indent with Nutella and bake in a 180 degree oven for about 10 minutes.

Baked Chocolate Cheesecake

The smooth combination of white and milk chocolate cream on a dark chocolate base makes this a deliciously rich and sweet dessert.

Baked Chocolate Cheesecake
Base
250g chocolate ripple biscuits
70g melted butter
Filling
2 x 250g cream cheese
1 cup thickened cream - divided into 1/2 cup and two 1/4cups
1/2 cup caster sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 eggs
180g milk chocolate
100g white chocolate

To make the base, blend the biscuits in a food processor until they are fine crumbs. Mix in the melted butter then press into the base of a spring-form pan and refrigerate while making the filling.

Preheat the oven to 160 degrees.

For the filling: in a mixer combine the cream cheese, 1/2 cup of thickened cream, caster sugar and vanilla. Mix until light and smooth. Beat in the eggs, one at a time. Divide the mixture between two bowls.

Place the milk chocolate and 1/4 cup of thickened cream into a heatproof bowl and melt over a saucepan over simmering water. Once melted allow to cool then combine with one of the cream cheese mixtures. Pour over the base and bake in the oven for 15 minutes.

While cooking make the white chocolate layer. Place the white chocolate and 1/4 cup of thickened cream into a heatproof bowl and melt over a saucepan over simmering water. Once melted allow to cool then combine with the other cream cheese mixture.

Remove milk chocolate cheesecake from the oven and pour white chocolate cream cheese mixture over the milk chocolate layer. Return to the oven for a further 20 minutes.

Allow the cheesecake to cool and then set in the fridge over night.

Chocolate Dream Tart

Chocolate Dream Tart
Be ready. You will need strawberries. You will need whipped cream. You will need willpower. It's a miracle this lasted in our fridge for more than several hours. It's one of those desserts that you portion out carefully after dinner because you certainly don't want to "over do it"….and by the morning, somehow, mysteriously, there is far less left in the fridge. The strawberries and cream really just serve to break through the rich, creamy, ganache like filling and the buttery chocolate base. Drool.

Chocolate Dream Tart
Base
250g chocolate biscuits
125g butter, melted

Line a spring-form pan with baking paper and butter. In a food processor, process the biscuits until they are fine crumbs then mix through the melted butter. Press the mixture in to the base of the pan and allow to set in the fridge for at least 15 minutes.

Filling
250g dark chocolate
1/3 cup thickened cream
125g butter, chopped
2 eggs
3 egg yolks (preserve the whites for a pavlova!)
1/3 cup white sugar

In a large bowl, whisk the eggs and sugar until light and fluffy.

Place the chocolate, cream and butter in a meltproof bowl and place over a pan of boiling water. Mix until the chocolate and butter are melted and combined.

Gradually mix the chocolate mixture into egg mixture. Pour on top of the biscuit base and bake for 15 minutes or until top is starting to set. Allow to cool and then refrigerate until set through.

Tiramisu

Earlier this year, on our "Italian Adventure" we visited beautiful Venice. It was only an overnight stay because Venice is expensive and after you've visited the main square and the Doge's Palace there are only so many shop filled, tourist crammed, cobbled stoned alleys you can handle before your feet fall off and you find you've eaten 12 different flavours of gelato in one day…..what?

We arrived on some kind of environmental day so none of the ferries were operating. Somehow, we (husband) decided it would be best to embark the 40 minute trek across San Marco to drop off our bags then head out on to the tourist packed streets. We visited a few sights and did some people watching. As the sun began to set we purchased a big bag of strawberries from a market and sat on a pier to watch the gondolas and the sun dance on the water. 

After sunset we walked by the main canal and examined the overpriced menus of several waterfront restaurants overflowing with loud tourists. Uninspired, we walked two streets back from the water down a random alley that, as we so often found in Italy, opened into a beautiful courtyard that housed a lovely little restaurant. It was just us. According to all Australian restaurant logic, minimal occupancy indicates that the restaurant serves poison as a main but this, thankfully, was not the case. We were served large jugs of wine and ate lashings of spinach and ricotta cannelloni. 

And then came dessert. Throughout our trip we tried to make a point of eating dishes that were traditional to the region. There is some debate regarding the origins of Tiramisu. Some say Tuscany, others Veneto but I have read enough convincing accounts that Tiramisu originated in Venice and that was where I ate it and loved it.  

It sure wasn't pretty but I have no regrets about eating at a non-mainstream, non-waterfront, non-tourist hotspot restaurant.  

During our trip we made many promises that when we came home we would recreate the delicious, regional flavours of Italy and this is one promise I came good on.  This is a cheats version as I chose not to make my own sponge but that will be a challenge for next time 

Tiramisu

3 eggs, separated

3/4 cup white sugar

250g mascarpone cheese

250ml espresso coffee, cooled

3 tablespoons sherry (or any sweet fortified wine or even brandy)

pre-made sponge cut into fingers 

thickened cream, whipped to serve

80g dark chocolate, finely grated to serve

Beat the egg yolks with the sugar until the sugar has dissolved and the mixture is a light yellow and fluffy then beat in the mascarpone until smooth.

Whisk the egg whites until soft peaks form then fold into the mascarpone mixture. 

In a shallow bowl combine the espresso and sherry, then dip the sponge into the liquid until it is just wet but not falling to pieces (try to do this as evenly as possible so you don't end up with some saturated sponge and other dry sponge). After dipping each sponge finger place it into a dish, pack them quite tightly. 

After the base layer of sponge is formed, top with the mascarpone mixture then make another sponge layer and top with mascarpone. This is best left to sit in the fridge and allow the flavours to develop for a few hours (or overnight if you can wait that long). Before serving top with whipped cream and dark chocolate. 

Chocolate Smothered Banana Bread

It's been quite a while since I've been on/seen my blog. Of course lots of things have been happening, the biggest and most time consuming of which has been the building of and moving into our new home. It's amazing how many weekend hours are gobbled up visiting furniture stores and deciding on colour schemes and towels and cutlery and…everything that fits in a house. 

When I reflect on my posts of 2014 I see this: fish, marshmallows, yoghurt cake and mango trifle. Perhaps the only positive to come out of this is the fact that it is almost mango season again. Clearly, time has been fragile. When I reflect on my life of 2014, the last weekend I remember enjoying was spent watching 2 entire seasons of Game of Thrones (yep, discovered!). Also we went to Europe at some point for 3 weeks and backpacked (ate our way) through Italy and a bit of France. Then there is just a crazy blur of house building related……bits and pieces (of astronomical proportions). 2014 has been a time vortex. 

So, this sounds like I'm having a very big whinge "my new house means I didn't do anything on my blog whaa" and this is really not what it is about at all. I love my house. I love every painstakingly selected item within my house. I love the fact that when I was a kid I used to dream of living in a fancy house and the house that I now live in infinitely surpasses those dreams. In short: I love it and….I la-OVE the kitchen, which is really what it's always been about. Let's talk about that. 

Today is not about whinging, today is about two things - banana bread and Nutino - and the excessive amount of joy these two things (and my new kitchen) bring to my life. 

Let's start with banana bread. I don't remember when banana bread became part of my life. It is so integral to my overall wellbeing that I feel like it has just always been there….at least from the time I started regularly frequenting coffee shops so let's say 14 or 15. It's my go to breakfast, morning tea and afternoon tea and all the other small meals that fit in-between those meals - you have those too right? The only deal breaker is when it lacks walnuts. It also has to be toasted and if you let it go just a little bit, almost to the point of burning, you can create the most amazing caramelised flavour. Are you drooling on your keyboard too? 

I have had a shot at a few different banana bread recipes but this is it for me now. I have gone back to this one all year. 

Let's talk about Jamie Oliver. Love him or hate him? I enjoy his t.v. programs. I find his cookbooks have over stuffed ingredient lists and too much reading. I find his website difficult to navigate. I find many of his recipes are either epic win or epic fail. This one is epic win. An additional bonus, it can be made as a half loaf and still tastes amazing and is still a reasonable size. This is just sugary, nutty, banana goodness and it only gets better with the addition of Nutino.

As a kid I did not grow up in a Nutella household. I remember having tiny snack pack Nutella in my lunch box on very rare occasions, that I'm pretty sure I often switched or threw away. Of course when my husband hears these stories he almost goes into a fit of rage, "WASTING NUTELLA??? WHAT'S WRONG WITH YOU??". I just never really understood it. Then we went to Italy, where everything comes smothered in Nutella or the Italian version - Nutino. 

On our European vacation we booked all of our accommodation through Air BnB, which meant we spent three weeks living in family homes, most of the time with the family themselves. Without sounding like a total hipster, it was very authentic. It's fine, I hate how I sound when I say that as well. 

We spent out first few days in Rome. We stayed in a little apartment which, according the the Air BnB website profile, belonged to an Italian adonis named Dario. I swear even my husband thought he was dreamy. Of course when we arrived, Dario was in Milan at Fashion Week and (after a gruelling 34 hour fight through Brisbane-Singapore-Frankfurt-Rome, a train ride, a walk from Roma Termini and 5 flights of stairs) we were greeted by a woman who spoke zero English and simply introduced herself as "Dario Mama". 

We loved Rome. We loved Dario's place. We loved Dario Mama. We especially loved the flaky, buttery croissants she fed us each morning that were smothered in Nutino. 

So the rest is history right? It just makes sense. And I'm totally fine with never wearing a two piece again, there are just more important things in life.

Smores Slice

These bad boys have been sitting in the back of my mind for a while now. Being an Australian, I feel like I've really missed out on the "smores culture". Apparently smores is an integral part of a North American upbringing......I can totally see why. Take your kid into the wild outdoors, light a fire and fill them full of sugar. What could go wrong? Ummm.....no really, what could go wrong? My future children will not be deprived of smores. This is a cheats version that does not require a camp fire, or the great outdoors, it's probably not half as good as a real smore but for an Australian version it'll do.

Smores Slice
I used a very small baking tray for these as I reasoned that smores would be quite decadent. My reasoning was confirmed once my mouth was coated in sticky marshmallow goodness.
90g Biscuit crumbs
30g Butter
Chocolate drops - milk and dark
Large marshmallows

Combine the biscuit crumbs and the butter and press into the base of a baking tray. Bake in a 180 degree oven for about 5 minutes. Remove the tray from the oven and scatter the chocolate drops over the base (I used only one layer of chocolate, being new to smores I figured it was mostly about the marshmallow and less about the chocolate?) The chocolate will begin to melt on the hot base, top the melted chocolate with marshmallows and return the tray to the oven. Change the oven setting to "grill" to allow the top of the marshmallows to become brown and crisp (obviously, watch this intently). Allow to cool slightly before cutting otherwise you will end up with a (delicious) mess.

Old Skool Simplicity

Yeh, I spelt it like Skool. Remember MSN? I'd like to say "those were the days" but...I'd be lying.

Tomorrow is my birthday and, for a couple of reasons, I am doing nothing special. Traditionally my husband goes all out on birthdays. Particularly while we were living in Northern Queensland, birthdays became quite an event. This year however, we have been fairly busy, what with the move from country back to city, the trip to India, me starting at a new school and having 3 different admin teams in as many terms, my husband studying and changing job locations about 5 times, buying a block of land and building a house, planning another 2 international holidays......we've got stuff goin on so it's low key this year.

Being a primary teacher means that every few weeks I'm subject to singing "Happy Birthday" and forced to stuff my face with whatever delicious treat a hardworking parent has sent along. Can't you tell how much I hate it!? In fact I hate it so much I have added "Master Chef" as a homework option making it practically compulsory to bring me food on a weekly basis. Obviously I have to have a piece of everything because I am "the judge". Naturally, everybody wins except my waist.  So I thought, being my birthday, something nice would be to bring in some cake to share with the kids.

Now, it is that time of year where report cards are looming. Piles of marking and assessment are beginning to clutter my desk, car, couch. It's becoming easier and easier to select chocolate and coffee over gym and fruit (okay, honestly this has always been a problem for me). I really wanted to make some kind of impressive cake but it's midweek and for all the reasons listed above (and a bunch more) I just needed to do something easier.

I remember when I was growing up mum would make cakes that were really simple but still delicious. They had simple icing and simple decorations and they just did the job. You could cook it, whack a few candles in, sing the song and cut the thing in an afternoon. That's the kind of cake I wanted.

Old Skool Chocolate Cake
1 cup self-raising flour
1/3 cup cocoa powder
1 cup brown sugar (or white if that's what you've got)
75 grams butter (cubed and softened)
1/2 cup milk
2 eggs

Heat the oven to 180 degrees. Place all the ingredients into a bowl and mix for about 5 minutes until the mixture is fluffy, smooth and super creamy. Spoon the mixture into a prepared tin (I used a 20cm square but a 24 cm round would also work just as well). Place in the oven for about 30 minutes (check with a skewer and remove from the oven when the skewer comes out clean).

Allow the cake to cool and add chocolate icing and hundreds and thousands for that old skool touch.

White Chocolate & Macadamia Brownies with Warm Caramel Sauce

Woooaahhhh.  I need some serious stretchy pants. Two weeks of holidays has seen me drink many coffees, eat copious slices of banana bread and stuff anything remotely delicious into my mouth at a rapid pace.

This holiday has been great. Time in the garden. Time at the gym (shocking!). Time in front of the television. Time with friends. Lots of time eating, however, not much time spent in the kitchen.

For the final weekend of the break I figured I should make something epic. These have been in the pipeline for some time and I am so happy they happened in my kitchen tonight. Think chewy, chocolatey goodness.

White Chocolate & Macadamia Brownies
2 x 3/4 cups white chocolate bits
70 grams butter
2 eggs
1 cup white sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla essence
1 cup plain flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup macadamia nuts chopped

Melt one lot of the the white chocolate and the butter in a small bowl over a saucepan of boiling water until smooth.

In a large bowl mix the eggs, sugar and vanilla until smooth. Add the white chocolate and butter mixture to the egg mixture and beat until well combined then add the flour, baking powder, salt, nuts and extra white chocolate. Mix until just combined. Cook in a 180 degree oven for approx 23 minutes. Allow to cool before cutting.

Warm Caramel Sauce
125ml thickened cream
95 grams brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla essence
10 grams butter

Combine all ingredients in a saucepan. Bring to the boil then let simmer for around 10 minutes until thickened. Caramel will continue to thicken while cooling.

Serve warm brownies drizzled in caramel sauce with ice cream.

Diet starts...................Tuesday.

Sunday Sweets: TimTam Cream Cake

I had inspiration for this cake from here. I have changed it slightly by halving most of the recipe. My husbands birthday is just around the corner so this was my "practice cake" to ensure I don't totally embarrass myself on the big day. I have wanted to make a TimTam cake for a while and saw a few different designs online but I figured, for me, this was one the most achievable...though I was super nervous about the ganache, but in this case it turned out well. 

Cake

95 grams butter

185g caster sugar

2 eggs

¾ cup self-raising flour

¼ cup plain flour

¼ cup + 2tbl spoons cocoa powder

½ teaspoon bicard soda

¼ cup milk

¼ cup water

Chocolate Ganache

200g milk chocolate

150ml thickened cream (don't use long life)

Chocolate Cream Filling

65g butter

1 ½ cup icing sugar

1 tbs milk

100g milk chocolate, melted

50 g TimTams

Preheat oven to 180°C and organise your tray….something along the lines of a shallow rectangle. If you have 2 it will save you time, however, I only had one – so I had to allow extra time to cook each half of the cake.

Beat the butter and sugar in a large bowl until creamy. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition.

In a small bowl combine the flours, cocoa powder and bicarb soda. Transfer this mixture into a sift and sift half over the wet mixture. Add the milk and gentle fold in until just combined. Sift the rest of the flour mixture in then add the water and, again, fold gently until all combined.

Spoon mixture evenly into the cake pan/s and allow to cook (20-30min). Transfer to a wire rack to cool completely (or if your in a hurry pop it in the fridge)

Chocolate Ganache

*the key to any good ganache is patience…I don’t have much of that when it comes to melted chocolate but it is important.

 Put the chocolate in a medium heatproof bowl. In a small saucepan, bring cream just to the boil over medium heat. Pour the cream over the chocolate and stir until melted and smooth. Place in fridge, stirring often, until thickened to a spreadable consistency.

Chocolate Cream


Beat the butter in a bowl until creamy. Gradually add the icing sugar and milk, in alternating batches, until smooth and combined. With the beater on low, gradually beat in the chocolate. Put the TimTams in a plastic bag and crush them into small pieces (seriously, smash them up). Tip the crumbs into the cream mixture and fold through.

Putting it together

Place the base of the cake onto baking paper. Use a spatula and a spreading knife to spread the cream over the base. Top with the remaining layer of cake. Depending on how moist your cream is you may want to put the cake in the fridge at this point to allow the cream to set slightly OR just live life on the edge and go ahead and pour and spread the ganach all over the top and sides. Then refrigerate until ready to devour.

** side note: my ganache turned out perfectly….so perfectly infact that we never even took a photo of it – blog fail. On the plus side this was the “practice cake” so there will be another one to come with a ganache photo (fingers crossed!)

Sunday Sweets: Chocolate Creme Brulee with Hazelnut Praline

So this was new for me. I have never made Creme Brulee, let alone Chocolate Creme Brulee. This dessert was at my husbands request. Sometimes the things we do for love turn out to be the best things we possibly could have done.

I thought this dessert was doomed from the very beginning for 3 reasons

1. Creme Brulee
Here is something about me - I don't like custard. Do you chew it? Do you suck it? Is it solid? Is it liquid? It's just all kinds of wrong on texture for me. Creme Brulee is the ultimate custard dessert and I hate it. There is one Creme Brulee I remember positively, it was at a very expensive restaurant in the middle of Paris.....and I would judge it "okay". 

2. Dark Chocolate
Don't get me wrong, I like dark chocolate, but I like the kind of dark chocolate that is about 40% dark. Who seriously enjoys that 85% stuff? It is so not for me. If I'm going to be eating chocolate I expect my mouth to be filled with lingering sugary sweetness not tangy, over riding bitterness. To avoid this I used Cadbury's "Original Old Gold". It is the perfect combo of bitter and sweet and makes me feel a little bit like I'm on trend with the whole "dark chocolate" thing....even though I know I'm totally not and never will be.  

3. 24 Hours in advance 
Seriously, who the heck thinks about dessert 24 hours in advance? Okay, I do....but that's probably only because I think about dessert like all day every day. It is all I think about. I think about what dessert I will eat this week. What dessert I will eat next week. What desserts I will eat at Christmas. What dessert I will eat on my birthday. My life is mostly about dessert. However, when it actually comes to making one, I am more of a "here and now" kind of person. So, lucky I thought about this ahead of time and had the common sense to read the recipe a day in advance otherwise this dessert may not have even happened. 

Chocolate Creme Brulee with Hazelnut Praline 
310ml thickened cream
250 ml milk
200 grams dark chocolate
6 egg yolks*
1/3 cup caster sugar
55grams hazelnuts
1/3 cup caster sugar (extra)
2 tablespoons water

Preheat the oven to 150 degrees Celsius and get everything ready in advance. Combine the cream, milk and chocolate in a saucepan and place over medium heat. Stir continually until the chocolate has melted and the mixture is smooth then remove from the heat.

Whisk the egg yolks and the sugar until thick and light in colour. Slowly whisk the chocolate mixture in to the egg mixture.

Line a roasting pan with a tea towel (I know, weird right, just go with it - we'll talk about it later). Add the ramekins and pour the chocolate mixture into the ramekins until they are about 3/4 full. Pour boiling water around the ramekins until it reaches about half way up the sides.

Carefully place the filled baking tray into the oven and bake for about 65 minutes until just set. Remove from the oven and carefully remove from the water to cool. It is important to do this fairly quickly otherwise they will continue to cook in the hot water.

Allow the Creme Brulee to cool on the bench for a few hours then put cling wrap over the top and refrigerate over night.

Okay the tea towel thing - never heard of this before. I did one batch with a tea towel and one without. The one with was smooth, creamy and delicious. The one without came out all cracked and bubbly. Coincidence? Act of oven gods? Just be smart about it and don't set you tea towel on fire.

Now, you could just leave it at that - seriously, it will taste amazing at this point. However, a Hazelnut Praline is a nice addition.

Hazelnut Praline
55 grams hazelnuts
1/3 cup caster sugar
2 tablespoons water

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius. Place the hazelnuts on a baking tray and bake for about 5 minutes until lightly toasted. Tip the hazelnuts onto a clean tea towel and rub to remove the skins (they mostly come off super easy!) Then deposit the nuts back onto a baking tray lined with baking paper.

In a small saucepan combine the sugar and the water. Stir over a low heat until the sugar totally dissolves (about 5 minutes - don't rush). Then increase the heat and bring to the boil. Cook without stirring for about 4 minutes until golden brown. While cooking brush down the insides of the saucepan with a pastry brush and a small amount of water. Once the mixture is a dark golden brown (not burnt!), quickly (and carefully) tip over the hazelnuts.

Leave the covered hazelnuts for about 10 - 15 minutes to cool and set. Break the hazelnut toffee into chunks and place into a food processor or blender. Blend until coarsely crushed. Sprinkle toffee crush on top of the Chocolate Creme Brulee and serve. OR place under the grill for about 2 minutes until the toffee caramelises. Allow to cool slightly before serving.

Whew....there you go. It tastes like the richest, creamiest smoothest chocolate mouse you will
ever eat.

*Did you know you can actually freeze egg whites? Pop them in a sealed container, date them and pop them in the freezer. They whip up beautifully for any kind of meringue related desserts or a healthy egg white omelette if you're that way inclined.

Sunday Sweets: Chocolate Caramel Crumble

Lets just take a moment and really think about what attracts you to food?

What makes you decide "I will cook this oozing, crisp, decadent, chewy, chocolatey, caramelised calorie laded dessert instead of ....broccoli soup."

There is something about the words "molten caramel" that makes my heart skip a beat. I'm still not sure if I mean that metaphorically or literally.

There is just something about rivers of caramel poured hot from the pan that makes my tastebuds tingle.

What ever it is that attracts you to food, after this, it might never be the same.

Chocolate Caramel Crumble
32 Columbine Caramels (or similar caramel squares)
1/2 cup thickened cream
170 grams butter
3/4 cup brown sugar
1 cup plain flour
1 cup rolled oats
1 teaspoon baking soda
200 grams chocolate (chips or pieces)

In a small saucepan combine the caramel and thickened cream. Melt over a low heat until the, stirring until it is completely smooth.

In a mixing bowl combine the butter, sugar, flour, oats and baking soda. Mix to combine then halve the mixture. Press half of the mixture into a prepared baking tray to form the base (baking paper is your friend). Bake at 180 degrees Celsius for about 10 minutes.

Remove base from the oven and sprinkle with chocolate. Carefully pour the caramel mixture over the top of the chocolate, allowing it to spread evenly over the base. Top the caramel with the other half of the oat and butter mixture, crumbling it all over the caramel.

Return the tray to the oven for a further 20 minutes. Now, this is important, hot caramel is like lava. It will seriously hurt if you spill it on you or attempt to eat it at this point. Remove the slice from the oven and allow it to cool on a tray. I would say let it cool to room temperature but...that is a big ask. Just make sure it won't metaphorically or literally burn your taste buds out of your mouth when you eat it.