Simple Artisan Macaroons

Since it's Passover, I decided to include a flourless recipe for my blog. I am no expert in macaroons, but these turned out pretty good, and are really much easier than they seem. Try to use aged egg whites, you can fill them with whatever you want, but I have included a recipe for buttercream. Makes about 15.




























                       Ingredients

For the Macaroons

230g Icing Sugar

60g Caster Sugar

4 Large Egg Whites

120g Ground Almonds

Pinch Of Salt

                 Food Colouring (Optional)

               For the Buttercream Filling

                    150g Icing Sugar

              50g Butter/Margarine, Softened

                      Milk or Water

                 1/2tsp Vanilla Extract

Method

1. Pass the ground almonds, icing sugar and salt through a sieve twice, and throw away any bits or lumps that don't pass easily. Preheat the oven to 150C/Fan 130C, and line two baking trays with non stick paper. 

2. Whisk the egg whites and caster sugar to form stiff peaks, and then add your desired food colouring. Be quite liberal with it, as the colour fades while baking. Whisk for about 1 minute. 

3. Fold the almond and sugar mix in with a spatula, but be careful not to overmix; it should be quite thick yet smooth, and shouldn't easily run off the spatula if held above the bowl. 

4. Fill a piping bag with the mix, and pipe small circles onto the trays, letting the little end flick go over the circle. Once finished, rap the trays against the worktop a few times to prevent cracking. Leave to rest for 30 minutes.

5. Place in the oven for around 22 mintues, or until they come off the tray cleanly, and leave to cool.

6. Beat the butter in a mixer until creamy, then sieve in the icing sugar and pour in 2tsp water/milk and vanilla. Let it mix for around 5 minutes until completely smooth and pale in colour. You want a fairly thick paste consistency, so add more icing sugar/liquid if needed. 

7. Pair the macaroons with ones that fit together well, and spread a large dollop of buttercream on one half with a palette knife, leaving a bit of room by the edge. Place the other half on top, pressing down gently while moving it in a circle to spread the buttercream around to the edges.

Enjoy :)

Banana and Pecan Muffins

A change from the normal incredibly unhealthy recipes I put on this blog, these fibre-full treats taste good, and serve as a fantastic snack. I make them mini-muffin size, and I recommend to as well, as with most bakes, I find the standard muffin size too large. This recipe makes around 8 or 9 normal sized muffins.

Ingredients

250g Plain Flour

25g Natural Wheatgerm

1tsp Bicarbonate of Soda

1tsp Baking Powder

1/2tsp Ground Cinnamon

100g Pecans, Roughly Chopped

3 Small Bananas (350g total weight including skins)

1 Egg, Beaten

85g Butter, Melted

100g Light Muscovado Sugar

175ml Buttermilk 

Icing Sugar for dusting (optional)

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 200C/Gas 6/fan 180C. Grease or line your muffin tin. In a large bowl combine the flour, wheatgerm, bicarbonate of soda, baking powder, cinnamon and 85g of the pecans. Peel and mash the bananas.

2. In a separate bowl, mix together the egg, butter and sugar, then stir in the mashed banana and buttermilk. Add the egg mixture all at once to the flour mixture, stirring until just combined, but don't overmix it or the cake will turn out heavy.

3. Spoon the mixture into the tin, about 3/4 the way up. Sprinkle with the remaining pecans, and bake for 20-25 minutes until well risen and golden. Cool on a wire rack.

4. Once cooled, dust with icing sugar, or cut a design out of a circle of greaseproof paper to make a template, and dust over that.

Gingerbread Latte

The days are getting shorter and colder, and at this time of the year people need a pic-me-up. Overpriced coffee shops love to bring out winter ranges, and this is a staple whom's taste is incomparable, and can easily and cheaply be made at home, as it really is just coffee and the special gingerbread syrup. This recipe will make a small jug of syrup, of which not much is needed for each cup, so will probably last long enough for even the most keen coffee-holic.

Ingredients

For the Gingerbread Syrup

2 Cups Water

1 1/2 Cups Granulated Sugar

2 1/2tsp Ground Ginger

1/2tsp Ground Cinnamon

1/2tsp Vanilla Extract

A Pinch Ground Nutmeg

Strong Coffee

Milk

To Finish (optional)

Whipped Cream

Cocoa Powder

Ground Cinnamon

Ground Nutmeg

Mini Marshmallows

Method

1. Place all of the gingerbread syrup ingredients into a medium saucepan, and bring to the boil, mixing every so often

2. Reduce heat to a medium and simmer for 20 minutes uncovered. This is to boil of some of the water, and reduce the syrup, making it thick and with a more concentrated flavour. Once done, it should be thicker than before, yet not as thick as something like golden syrup.

3. Remove from heat and pour into a jug or a resealable container. Make your coffee, and then add around 1/4 cup of syrup (less or more if desired) and add milk (frothed milk is nice with this recipe).

4. To finish, add whipped cream, and then possibly cocoa powder, cinnamon, nutmeg, or whatever you want and enjoy :)

To store, seal the container, or cover the jug with cling film in a cool, dry place.

Simple Boozy Chocolate Truffles

Perfect as decorations for cakes, gifts, or an indulgent dessert, these are great! For a non-adult version, remove the Cognac (they still taste as good). Can be quite tricky to get the ganache right, but the rest is simple. Makes approx. 18 (depends on how big you want them)

Ingredients

100g Dark Chocolate (70% Cocoa Solids Minimum)

100ml Whipping Cream

2tbsp Cognac

Cocoa Powder

Method

1. Make sure the chocolate is at room temperature, then chop the chocolate into very small pieces, and place into a heatproof bowl.

2. Heat up the cream in a saucepan right its about to boil, and pour over the chocolate. Stir a little (but not too much, or it will separate) until the chocolate is completely melted. Be patient with this, as it might take a while (if the mix goes cold and the chocolate still hasn't melted, pour a few centimeters of very hot water into a larger heatproof bowl, and place the smaller one inside for a bit).

3. Stir in the cognac, and place the bowl in the fridge. Leave to set until the consistency resembles a thick chocolate mousse.

4. Cover a large chopping board with a thin layer of cocoa powder, and take a small scoop of the chocolate mix, and roll into a ball in your hands. Next, roll it in the cocoa powder until completely covered, then place on a dish

5. Repeat until all the mix is used up. Store in the fridge and enjoy :)

Double Chocolate Dipped Strawberries

Summer has finally come to England, and there's no better way to celebrate it than strawberries. This delicious and indulgent dessert looks as good as it tastes, and is much easier than you may think. For the adults out there, add some liqueur to the melted dark chocolate for an extra boozy kick. Also, i recommend cutting the stalks off, and chilling the strawberries before starting. I've written approx. for the chocolate, as it depends how much you use per strawberry. If you don't want to have the dark chocolate, skip to halfway step 3.

 Ingredients

1 punnet strawberries

Approx. 50g Dark/Plain Chocolate
Approx. 25g White Chocolate

Method

1. Wash and dry the strawberries, and melt the dark chocolate. Once melted, pour into a ramekin.

2. Dip each strawberry into the chocolate about 1/2-3/4 of the way, and let all the excess chocolate drip off into the ramekin. Place with the chocolate facing up onto a sheet of greaseproof paper.

3. Let the chocolate set completely (if in a rush, put them in the fridge to set), and melt the white chocolate.

4. Hold a strawberry from the bottom over the pan/bowl of white chocolate. Take a small spoon of white chocolate, and let some drip off until the stream is thin. 

5. While moving the spoon around the strawberry, let the chocolate drip onto it, and enrobe the strawberry. WARNING: do not try to scrape off failed attempts of white chocolate from the dark base layer; the liquid white chocolate will melt some of the chocolate below, and you'll end up with a smudged mess.

5. Again, let the chocolate set, and let them come to room temp. before serving.

Halloumi Pasta

One of my absolute favorite recipes, originally found on the bbc food website, and originally created by Tony Tobin, and changed a bit by me. Every time I say I am making it, my sister goes crazy! It's a fantastic dish, though I would say to leave some time for chopping up and preparing the ingredients. Serves 4.

      Ingredients

4 tbsp olive oil

1 and ½ red onions, finely chopped

3 cloves garlic, chopped

A pinch of dried chilli flakes

250g halloumi, cut into cubes (make them not too small - they'll melt)

4 tomatoes, seeds removed and finely chopped

425g penne pasta 

4 tbsp chopped fresh basil

A squeeze of tomato puree

Method
1. Boil some water in a big pan and add the pasta, cooking it for as long as the packet says

2. While this is happening, heat the olive oil in a frying pan until you can feel the heat when placing your fingers near. Add the onion, garlic and chilli flakes and fry until the onions have softened.

3. Add the halloumi and fry until golden (don't worry if it melts, just chop it up and separate it with a wooden spoon in the pan). Add the tomato puree.

4. Add the finely chopped tomato and basil, and mix on a low heat for a few minutes.

5.Add the sauce-thing to the pasta, season and serve.

Millefeuille (Layer Cake)

Sometimes I find the best recipes come from the old, traditional books. In one of my grandma's dusty, ancient book of bakes, I found a recipe for this treasure: Millefeuille (more commonly known as cream slices). You can make it out of puff pastry; I'm going to put the recipe for rough puff (a more simple and faster type) but there is still nothing wrong with just buying frozen puff pastry.

               Ingredients

For the Rough Puff:

A squeeze of lemon juice

9 oz. Plain Flour (sifted)

6 oz. Cold, Cubed Butter/Lard

Cold Water

For the Filling:

1 Medium-Sized Carton Whipping Cream/Double Cream (or just a can of whipping cream)

Sugar

1/2 Jar of Raspberry/Strawberry Jam

For the Glace Icing:

Icing Sugar

Water

Cocoa Powder (optional)

Recipe

1. Line a baking tray, and heat oven to 220C/Fan 200c/Gas 7. Mix the butter with the plain flour well, but being careful not to break the cubes of butter. Add the lemon juice while stirring, still not breaking the butter, then slowly, bit by bit add some cold water, all the time mixing, yet still not breaking up the butter, until you get a stiff dough. If the dough is too sticky, add more flour.

2. While handling the dough as little as possible, roll the dough out on a floured surface into an oblong shape three times it's width. If you see the lumps of butter really melting, or if it's sticking too much, refrigerate wrapped in cling film for half an hour. 

3. Fold the top third of the dough down, and the bottom third over it, and rotate 90 degrees. Roll out to the oblong shape again, and repeat at least 3 more times. Leave aside wrapped in grease proof paper for half an hour before the next step.

4. Roll dough out on floured surface into a rectangle about 1cm thick, 6'' across, and the length of your tray (you may have to cut your dough so it fits). Place your dough on the tray and cut into 2'' strips across, and keeping them together, and put in the oven until golden brown, and bubbles can be seen on the surface. Leave to cool.

5. If using cream from a carton, add some sugar (but not too much - taste as you are doing it) and whisk until stiff. Then, once the pastry is completely cooled half each strip. Gather the strips in groups of three, and spread two of each group with jam (only on one side). Then spoon some cream onto the two, and sandwich together with the third.

6. Once finished arranging your Millefeuille, mix some icing sugar with a few drops of cold water to form a thick paste. Spread over the tops of your Millefeuille, and if needed make more. You can also make a small batch of chocolate icing, by adding some cocoa powder, and then to make a little motif, spread it in lines over the white icing, then cut through it with a toothpick.

Egg Separator

'Gone are the days of egg yolk being passed over eggshells'

Today I would like to share something that has made my life so easy. Don't be fooled by the simplicity, it's an incredible kitchen gadget. You crack an egg into it, and it leaves the yolk on top, letting the white drain into a bowl. It saves time and effort, and is really worth the cheap price tag. I recommend getting a stainless steel one, because the others are hard to wash. 
I don't know what brand my one is, but this one looks similar.