Saturday, December 29, 2007
Sticky Toffee Pudding
This was intended as an entry for the SHF #38 with a theme of pudding. I thought the deadline was end of the month I forgot that this is a Friday event. Duh! So I missed it again as I always do ... arrrgggghhhh!
Nevermind, I still want to include this in my list of recipes here as a reference for moi. For I have found my ultimate sticky toffee pudding - at last! I first sighted this in the Good Food magazine as far back as 2006. I have made this before but just forgot (there's that word again) to take a picture. So Christmas dinner this year provided the perfect excuse to indulge in our most favourite of all puddings.
Among the commercial varieties the only one that pass my family's finicky taste is Marks & Spencers. My husband buys only their sticky toffee pudding when he occasionally hankers for one. The rest of the store-bought ones didn't get enough points for us to buy a second time.
This type of pudding is typical of traditional British ones. Though upon research I found out that it was anything but ancient. There is controversy regarding its origins. Some say it's from a Lake District hotel some say it's from somewhere else. In any case, hats off to whoever it was for inventing a totally addictive pud.
When I was making this I realised that the most important bit is really the toffee sauce. Once you get the right balance of the ingredients for the sauce, it does not matter whether the pudding itself does or not have any dates in it. Actually I think even if you have just plain sponge as a base but have the perfect toffee sauce then it is all well and good exactly like the better store-bought ones.
The recipe is very good and easy to do. My only gripe is the black tracle in the toffee sauce causes it to turn a slight greyish tint when it cools off which can be a little off-putting for some people. So I'm recording that down as optional. I highly recommend this especially when served warm with cream or custard. Yum!
Sticky Toffee Pudding
*Pudding:
200gm pitted and chopped dates
2/3 cup boiling water
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 eggs
175 gm self-raising flour
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda (baking soda)
85 gm butter - softened
140 gm demerara sugar
2 tbsp black treacle or dark molasses
1/3 cup + 1 1/2 Tbsp milk
cream or custard to serve
*Toffee Sauce:
175 gm light muscovado sugar
50 gm butter
1 cup double cream
1 Tbsp black treacle or dark molasses (optional)
- Pour the boiling water on the dates in a bowl. Let soak to soften for at least 30 minutes. Mash the dates with a fork or puree with a liquidiser. Set aside.
- Pre-heat the oven to 180C/160C fan/gas mark 4. Butter and flour seven small pudding molds or cups (about 200 ml in size).
- Mix the flour and bicarbonate of soda well. Set aside.
- Cream the butter and sugar with an electric mixer for several minutes.
- Add eggs one at a time mixing well after each addition.
- Beat in the black treacle.
- Using a large metal spoon, fold in one-third of the flour mixture alternately with half of the milk while making sure not to overmix. Repeat until all the flour and milk are used.
- Add in the mashed dates and stir until just incorporated.
- Divide the batter evenly among the seven pudding molds. Place molds on a baking sheet and bake for 20-25 minutes.
- Remove from the oven, cool for a few minutes then loosen them by running a butter or pallet knife on its side. Turn out from the molds to cool completely.
- While the pudding is baking, make the sauce by combining the sugar, butter and half of the double cream in a saucepan.
- Bring to boil in medium heat while stirring all the time until sugar has dissolved.
- (Optional) Stir in the black treacle if using.
- Let it simmer away for about 2 minutes while stirring from time to time making sure it does not burn.
- Remove from heat then stir in the rest of the double cream.
- To serve, pour the sauce over the upturned pudding in individual plates or bowls with cream or custard.
*Note: The pudding will taste even better if it sits in the sauce for a day or two. Cover the bottom of a baking dish with some of the sauce. Sit the upturned puddings on the baking dish and pour the rest of the sauce over it. Cover with a loose tent of foil so it will not smudge the sauce.
To reheat, you can put the covered baking dish in a 180C/160C fan oven for 15 minutes. Though I prefer to microwave the individual puddings because baking tends to dry out the sauce a little making it a tad sweeter than I would like it to be.
Labels: dessert
Posted by celia kusinera :: 8:43 PM :: |
Monday, January 22, 2007
SHF 27: Chocolate Salami'Chocolate by Brand' is the current theme of one of the longest running event in the blogging world. David Lebovitz hosts this 27th edition of Sugar High Friday. He encourages us to make a dessert out of our chocolate bars and write about them.
The chocolate bars I nabbed is by Frey - dark variety with 72% cocoa content. Wow, that's the highest I've used for cooking. Why I got it? It was on sale at the local Migros grocery near my sister's place when I visited her in Geneva a few months ago. You know me, I love value for money that means anything on sale!
Unlike some 70% chocolate I had before, this one is very deeply dark brown almost black actually. I savoured a small bite of it that showed it had smoothness, just the right amount of sugar and creaminess, a hint of coffe, with a little bitterness in the finish. Although I couldn't really tell how it would compare to one of those single-estate-organic-super-high-end types that your get from uber cool chocolate boutiques. All I can say is I like its smell, colour, and taste. Now let's see how it would fare when cooked.
I wanted to make something uncomplicated that would show the real qualities of chocolate. First thing that came to mind was chocolate truffles which I thought was perfect but then I've already posted one and for SHF, too! So out came this recipe from my burgeoning clippings from the BBC GoodFood magazine. It looks simple enough until I read closely about 'finely chopped' and 'crushed'. Turned out it requires more elbow grease. Oh well, things I have to do to have my sugar fix. :) The recipe originally asked for dried apricots but I bet any dried or candied fruit would be lovely in it. Things like cherries, pineapples, cranberries, even crystallised ginger! I did not include any chopped nuts because I thought there's too many things in it already. Maybe next time I'll lose the ground almond and put in the nuts. The chocolate itself had to be sufficiently chilled after melting to make it easy enough to mold into a log. Once you've done that the rolling on the crushed biscuits is easy peasy.
How did it taste? Well, the honey had a definite influence on it so other honey flavours would give it a different slant (even golden syrup would be interesting). Despite the number of distractions on this log (did I say I'm making something uncomplicated?), the chocolate still shone through. Dark, very slightly bittery, at the same time meltingly smooth in the mouth. Such a nice change from the gritty chocolates my husband brought home last Christmas.
Chocolate Salami
250 gm dark chocolate or combination of milk and dark chocolates
100 gm butter
3 Tbsp clear honey
100 gm ground almonds
100 gm dried or candied fruits (apricots, cherries, etc.) - finely chopped
50 gm toasted nuts (optional) - finely chopped
100 gm amaretti biscuits - crushed
- Melt chocolate, butter and honey in a heatproof bowl over simmering water in a saucepan.
- Remove from heat and add almonds, toasted nuts (if using), and dried fruits.
- Cool completely and chill in fridge for about 1-2 hours until it is of dough-like consistency.
- Shape into a log (about 2 inches thick) and roll on crushed amaretti biscuits.
- Wrap in greaseproof paper and again tightly in foil.
Chill overnight in fridge. - Before serving slice into rounds with sharp knife.
Posted by celia kusinera :: 6:30 PM :: |
Friday, December 22, 2006
Christmas Bits
I used to dread the omnipresence of minced pies in these foggy isles every Christmas. They have definitely grown on me (means I can tolerate the shop-bought variety) these past few years though I'm still not fond of them. So I was always on the lookout for recipes that is less sweet, less boozy, and with much better pastry. I spied Gordon Ramsay's minced pie recipe from a Sunday newspaper a few weeks ago which I promptly clipped and stowed away. Last weekend I decided to give it a go. Although I found the pastry making a bit on the fiddly side, the rest was quite straight forward and not too complicated. One significant adjustment I made was that I have to reduce the liquid in the pastry by half because it made it very soft so I consequently had problems doing the cutter routine that in the end I just pressed them all in the muffin pans.
The product of my labour only satisfied my tastebud a day after baking. Imagine, I was ready to chuck it down the bin after I've baked it since I found it a bit too sweet but a day or two later it cooled off completely and the flavours mellowed - it tasted fab! It still had that strong punch from the minced meat (no meats in it really), the nuts giving it some interesting texture and nutty background (duh!) and just enough sugariness to qualify it to the level of dessert. Well, here's another item in my Christmas bake-off that I'll be pressing in my long-suffering friends' hands. :)
Minced Pies
*For the mincemeat:
1 crisp dessert apple
100 gm [scant 1/2 cup] butter - melted and cooled
110 gm [3/4 cup] finely chopped dried apricots
250 gm [1 1/2 cups] sultanas or raisins
175 gm [packed 1/2 cup + 1/3 cup] soft dark brown sugar
zest and juice of 1 small orange
zest and juice of 1 unwaxed lemon
50 gm chopped toasted almonds
1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
1/2 tsp ground allspice
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
2 Tbsp dark rum
2 Tbsp brandy
*For the pastry:
125 gm [1/2 cup] cold unsalted butter - diced
250 gm [heaping 2 cups] plain flour
125 gm [3/4 cup + 2 Tbsp] icing sugar (confectioner's)
pinch of sea salt
1 vanilla pod
1 large egg - lightly beaten
*For the crumble topping:
75 gm [1/2 cup] plain flour
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
50 gm unsalted butter
3 Tbsp chopped roasted hazelnuts
50 gm [1/3 cup] demerara sugar
- For the mincemeat:
- Mix all ingredients in a bowl until well combined.
- Cover with clingfilm and let marinate overnight in the fridge.
- For the pastry:
- Split the vanilla pod lengthwise and scrape the seeds in the beaten egg, mix well.
- Tip in the flour, salt, icing sugar, and diced butter in a food processor and blitz until mixture resembles breadcrumbs. *OR*
- In a bowl, combine the flour, salt, and icing sugar.
- Cut in the diced butter in the flour mixture with a pastry cutter or 2 butter knives until mixture resembles breadcrumbs.
- Add in the egg and vanilla mixture and pulse/mix until it comes together into a dough.
- On a lightly floured surface, knead the dough lightly for a few seconds just long enough to make it smooth.
- Wrap in clingfilm and chill in fridge for about 30 minutes.
- For the topping:
- Sift flour and cinnamon in a bowl.
- Cut in the diced butter in the flour mixture and rub in until it resembles coarse breadcrumbs.
- Add in the sugar and hazelnuts. Set aside.
- To assemble:
- Roll out the pastry to a thickness of about 1/8 inch.
- Cut out 3-inch/8-cm rounds and press into muffin or minced pie pans.*
- Put about 1 heaping tablespoon of the minced meat in the pastry shell.
- Sprinkle enough topping to cover the minced meat.
- Bake in a preheated oven of 190C/375F for 15 minutes.
- Let cool in the pan for about 2 minutes then pry off and cool completely on a wire rack. This is best eaten 1 or more days later.
*Note: You can also roll the pastry into 1-inch balls and press it in the bottom and sides of the muffin pan.
Labels: dessert
Posted by celia kusinera :: 11:01 PM :: |
Friday, November 24, 2006
SHF 25: Chocolate & Orange Truffle
Johanna of the Passionate Cook was very enthusiastically encouraging us to create one of the more lusciously delicious concoctions man has ever created - chocolate truffles. I've always wanted to make one of these little pieces of delight. The sheer sensation of creamy melting chocolate in my mouth sealed my decision to participate in this 25th edition of the SHF.
I wanted to create truffles that my kids would want to eat. So bitter chocolate is out while a little bit of sugar is in. This recipe I adapted from Phil Vickery's A Passion for Puddings cookbook was a little bit unusual since it uses condensed milk. I was a bit skeptical if it will be as meltingly luscious as ones made with double creams but it did convincingly deliver. The orange liquor had to be replaced with just normal orange extract for my kids' sake and although I didn't have any orange zest it was orangy enough to our taste. The ultimate taste was whether my kids will eat it. Well, as of this time they have eaten one each and reached for more. They naturally gravitated for ones rolled in vanilla sugar so I'll definitely remember that next time I make more of these moreish cloud of chocolate heaven.
Chocolate & Orange Truffle
200 gm dark chocolate (70% cocoa solids)
300 gm condensed milk
3 Tbsp double cream (heavy cream)
2 Tbsp orange liqueur or 1 tsp orange extract
finely grated zest of one orange (optional)
cocoa powder or icing sugar or vanilla sugar
- Melt chocolate, double cream, and condensed milk in a heatproof bowl over simmering water in a saucepan.
- Mix in the orange liqueur or orange extract and zest (if using).
- Remove from heat and cool completely to room temperature.
- Cover and chill in the fridge for about 4 hours or overnight.
- Spread cocoa powder or sugar on a wide plate.
- Have a bowl of iced water in your working area.
- Using a teaspoon, scoop a teaspoonful of the chocolate mixture and shape into balls using your hands then roll on the cocoa powder or sugar. Repeat until you have used up all the truffle mixture. Dip your hands from time to time in the iced water to cool it down and prevent the melting of the truffles while you're rolling it.
- Chill in the fridge.
Posted by celia kusinera :: 11:04 PM :: |