Chocolate Self-Saucing Pudding

With the cool evenings here to stay for a while my mind, & stomach, turn to warm comfort food. And nothing says comfort like Chocolate Self-Saucing Pudding topped with vanilla ice cream.

Chocolate Self-Saucing Pudding

Ingredients

60gm Butter

1/2 C Milk

1/2 Tsp Vanilla extract

3/4 C Caster sugar

1 C Self-raising flour

1 Tbs Cocoa powder

3/4 C Firmly packed brown sugar

1 Tbs Cocoa powder, extra

2 C Boiling water

Assembly

• Preheat oven to 170 degrees celsius and grease a 1.5 litre overproof dish.
• Melt butter with the milk in a medium saucepan. Remove from the heat and stir in vanilla extract and caster sugar then sifted flour and cocoa. Spread mixture into dish.
• Sift brown sugar and extra cocoa over the mixture. Gently pour the boiling water over the mixture.
• Back for about 40 minutes or until the centre is firm.

ANZAC biscuit

These biscuits were called soldier biscuits until the Gallipoli campaign. Then they were named ANZAC biscuits to commemorate the indescribable efforts of the Anzac's at that time. Now they are a super yummy biscuit that I love making on ANZAC Day.

2 cups of rolled oats
2 cups of plain flour
2 cups of brown sugar
1 1/2 cups of coconut
250g (8oz) of butter
4 generous tablespoons of golden syrup
1 teaspoon of bicarbonate of soda
2 tablespoons of boiling water

Combine oates, sugar, sifted flour and coconut in a large bowl. In a small saucepan melt butter and golden syrup over a low heat. In a small bowl mix soda with boiling water and add to the saucepan with butter and golden syrup. Pour the contents into the large mixing bowl, stir into dry ingredients. Place tablespoons of mixture onto grease proof paper covered cooking trays and allow room for spreading. Cook in a slow oven, about 160 degrees Celsius, for 20 minutes. Slide onto cooling rack and eat them as soon as possible.

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This recipe is doubled and makes about 45 biscuits. I always make a double batch because the first batch is always eaten while warm and the cold ones are eaten over the next couple of days.

Honey Lemon Friands & a Winner

Firstly, the winner of that delicious recipe book is.......

Ellen

Ellen Arthur said...

my favourite place to go for sweet recipes is to call my mum (aunty Chris) and to get the old family favourites. and of course I loooove food blogs, always a winner.

Now straight into the recipe. These little beauties are so moist and moorish, and sticky sweet.

Honey Lemon Friands

Ingredients

6 Egg whites

185gm Butter, melted

2tbs Honey

Zest from 1 lemon

1C Almond meal

1 1/2C Icing sugar

1/2C Plain flour

Honey Syrup

2tbs Honey

1tbs Water

Juice from 1 lemon

Assembly

• Preheat the oven to 160 degrees celsius. Grease moulds with a little butter.
• Place egg whites in a medium bowl; whisk lightly with a fork until combined.
• Over a low heat, add the butter, honey, lemon zest and stir until the butter is melted. Remove from the heat and set aside until room temperature.
• Add the butter mixture, almond meal, sifted icing sugar and flour and stir until combined.
• Fill the moulds and bake for about 12-20 minutes (depending on the size of your mould). Let the friands stand for about 5 minutes before turning onto a rack
• Honey Syrup: Combine the honey & water in a small saucepan and bring to the boil. Remove the pan from the head and stir in the lemon juice. Allow to cool.
• Drizzle the syrup over the friands.

Berry Nice.

My sisters laughed at me when I told them I wanted an ice cream maker. Their mocking went along the lines of "Why?" "You'll only use it once." "Where are you going to put it?"

Granted the last one was a legitimate concern as I don't have an awful lot of space. But come on it's an ice cream maker why wouldn't I want one and since I got it a year and a half ago I have used it more than once, so ner. Ice cream makers are awesome.

This week I made raspberry ice cream.

Mix 2/3 cup sugar

230g your favourite berries fresh or thawed

1/4 tsp vanilla

2/3 cup whole milk

in a food processor until smooth and well mixed. Pour into a bowl and stir in

1 1/3 cups heavy cream (35% fat)

Pour into your brand new ice cream maker that you just bought because I told you they are awesome. And wah-lah rich, creamy, tarty berry ice cream.

Remember, to win a great recipe book see the post below.

Free biscuits!

Gluten free and dairy free that is. No good for nut allergies though.

These biscuits are sweet and satisfying. I was not compelled to secretly eat the whole batch. I think there were two reasons for this (1) there were so many even I could see any effort would have been futile (2) after I ate one I was curiously satisfied. This was a disturbing discovery so I ate another one to test my response and the result was the same. I was thus left too conclude that gluten free really does fill you up better than gluten infused treats.
Test it out for yourself.

3 eggs

1 1/3 cup caster sugar (295g)

4 cups almond meal (500g)

1/2 - 1 teaspoon almond essence

1 cup pure icing sugar (160g)

• Preheat oven to 180 degrees Celsius


• Using and electric mixer beat eggs and suga together until thick and pale. Fold in almond meal and essence until well combined. Chill for 30 minutes.


• Roll mixture into walnut sized balls. Roll balls in icing sugar. Place on lined baking tray and use fingers to flatten slightly.
• Bake for 12-14 minutes, until pale golden.
• Cool before serving.

NB/ You can use vanilla essence, rosewater or coconut essence

Too easy.

O.M.G. ........ Party in my mouth

So it would seem that the "it" dessert at the moment are French Macaroons. They're in every foodie magazine I seem to open or on just about every blog I read.

Move over cupcakes, there's a new fad in town and I'm hitching my wagon to it.

So again, using my Bookclub girls as my taste testers, I cooked up a batch of chocolate ones thanks to this months Women's Weekly magazine.

VOTE 1 for Chocolate French Macaroons ..... these guys will change your life, well probably not but your tastebuds will be forever in your debt.

How do I describe them......well, it's like taking chocolate mousse and encasing it in a hard, sugary shell (like the sugary shells that coat M&M's).......chocolate lovers paradise, PERFECTION.

These guys will impress anyone, and even better, they are so easy to make.

So give them a go, add them to your Easter menu, I know you'll thank me for it.

Chocolate French Macaroons

Ingredients

3 Egg whites, these need to be at room temperature

1/4C Caster sugar

1 1/4C Icing sugar

3/4C Almond meal

1/4C Cocoa Powder

Dark Chocolate Ganache

1/4C Cream

150gm Dark eating chocolate, finely chopped

3tbs Nutella

Assembly

• Preheat oven to 120 degrees celsius and line baking paper on oven trays
• Beat egg whites in a bowl with an electric mixer until soft peaks forms. Add Caster sugar; beat until sugar dissolves. Fold in sifted icing sugar, ground almonds & sifted cocoa in two batches.
• Spoon mixture into a piping bag fitted with a 1cm plain tube. Pipe 4cm rounds about 3 cm apart onto trays. Stand for 30 minutes.
• Bake macaroons for about 30mins or until they lift easily off the baking paper. Cool on trays.
• Ganache: Bring cream to the boil in a small saucepan. Remove from heat & stir in Nutella then pour over chocolate in a small bowl. Stir until smooth. Stand at room temperature until spreadable.
• Sandwich macaroons with dark chocolate ganache.

Hints

• Don't add 3/4C of caster sugar to your egg whites, as I did, and wonder why it's too runny. Follow the recipe.


• Nutella - my tablespoons were heaped with Nutella goodness, I don't think you could ever use too much.


• I found that there was enough Ganache for two batches of French Macaroons.


• Kept in an airtight container I found these were still good the next day.

Florentine Tarts

all I can say is YUM YUM YUM!

I'm glad that Kristie posted something that was healthy 'cause there is no chance of me doing that anytime soon.

I made these florentines on Christmas day and they turned out really well so I decided to make them again last weekend when my family all got together.

Rather than typing out the entire recipe I will just link to this page on a site appropriately called taste

The base is not sweet at all but it balances the pure sugar of the toffee on top.

and on the topic of love and all things sweet.....

lets talk about chocolate, and inparticular today Chocolate Torte.

Firstly,sorry about the overload of chocolate cake. You see, I wrote this post a couple of days ago and planned to post it today but my sister bet me to the punch line with her own yummy chocolate cake recipe, so I decided not to post my recipe. But I've had a little think and really, you just can't have too much chocolate or chocolate cake. So enjoy!

Otherwise known as "What-diet?-It's-my-birthday Chocolate Torte"

This week Hubby celebrated his birthday, and while age is not important, I don't mind reminding him that he is older than me.

Anyone that knows my hubby knows that he has a very dry sense of humour, loves his steak & LOVES chocolate. So each year I'm always on the hunt for just the perfect chocolate cake recipe, and this year I think I've hit the jackpot.

I found this recipe in the latest Christmas edition of the Australian Women's Weekly magazine. This light, moist cake is matched up to with a rich chocolate cream & ganache - a perfect marriage.

There are a few elements to this cake so you should allow yourself a little time to prepare it. Don't be as foolish as myself and try to make this cake between piano lessons & dinner reservations after working all day!!!

Chocolate Cake Ingredients

125gm dark chocolate, chopped
1C water
180gm butter, softened
2C brown sugar
4 eggs
1 1/3C self-raising flour
1/3C cocoa powder
2/3C almond meal

• Preheat oven to 160 degrees celsius. Grease 2 20cmx30cm shallow cake pans and line the base with baking paper.



• Combine the chocolate and water in a small saucepan. Stir over medium heat until the chocolate melts. Set aside to cool slightly.



• Beat butter & sugar together until smooth & creamy. Add the eggs one at a time. Sift together the flour and cocoa; stir in the almond meal. Add flour mixture to the butter mixture and stir until just combined. Stir in warm chocolate mixture.



• Divide mixture evenly between the prepared pans & bake for 25mins or until cooked. Stand in pans for 10 minutes before turning onto cooling racks.
  

Chocolate Custard Cream

125gm butter, softened
2/3C store bought thick custard
75gm dark chocolate, melted & cooled
1tbs cocoa powder, sifted
2tbs icing sugar, sifted

• Beat the butter until as pale as possible



• Combine the custard, melted chocolate, cocoa & icing sugar



• Gradually, beat the custard mixture into the butter until well combined

Chocolate Ganache

500gm dark chocolate, chopped
300ml cream

• Combine the chocolate and cream in a large heatproof bowl. Place bowl over a saucepan or simmering water and stir until chocolate melts



• Place in refrigerator for 30 mins, stirring frequently, or until thickened to a spreadable consistency.

Assembly

• Cut the cooled chocolate cakes in half lengthways. Place one half on a serving platter. Spread with 1/3 of the chocolate custard cream. Top with another chocolate cake half. Continue layering with the remaining chocolate custard cream and chocolate cake, finishing with the chocolate cake. Cover well with plastic wrap & place in the fridge overnight.



• Spread the log with the chocolate ganche. Set aside for ganache to set before slicing and serving.

Hints

1. Chocolate Cake - I placed the chocolate & water together in a microwaveable bowl and placed it in the microwave. On high power I turned the microwave on for 45secs, then stirred the mixture. Continue this until water & chocolate are combined.



2. I placed all the chocolate cake mixture in a large rectangle cake tin, then once cooled I cut it lengthways to create the torte shape.



3. Making the chocolate cake the day before is a good hint because I didn't and found that because the cake is beautifully light it crumbled when I was trying to slice it to serve.

For the love of chocolate

Do you remember cake you had 12 years ago?

I do.

Aunty Gerry's chocolate fudge cake.

It was so good I asked her to give the recipe to me as a gift for my kitchen shower.

I've been sitting on this recipe for 10 1/2 years. Looked at it often yet never made it. Betty Crocker asks so little of me I have usually gone with her.
Aunty Gerry's Chocolate Cake with Fudge Icing

For the love of food

I don't know about you but food makes me happy.

It sets off some kind of endorphins that make me feel like nothing in the world, at that moment, matters.

And because of that, I like to see others happy when they eat something I've made.

I LOVE to be complimented, love it!

I won't show it, I'll politely say "thank you, it was just something I whipped up", but inside I'm River Dancing, Michael Flatley style.

So you can be sure that I'll be cooking my little heart out this Valentines Day, to show my true love that there's no one else I would rather make happy than him.


Almond Meal Cookies

125 gm butter, softened

1/3 C caster sugar

1/3 C brown sugar

1 egg
1 1/2 C plain flour
1/4 C self-raising flour
1/2 C almond meal



Beat butter & sugar together until creamy. Add the egg and combine well

Combine sifted flour & almond meal into creamy mixture and stir.
Knead dough on a lightly floured surface until smooth.

Roll dough between sheets of baking paper until about 5mm thick and refrigerate for about 30 mins.

Preheat oven to 170 degrees Celsius.

With your chosen cookie cutter cut shapes out of the dough.
Place the shapes on a tray lined with baking paper and bake for about 12mins.

Cool cookies on a wire rack.

To Decorate

Icing sugar

Cold water

Food colouring

M&M's (or other confectionery)



Combine all ingredients, except M&M's, until you get a smooth paste.
You'll only need a tablespoon or so of water to about a cup of icing sugar.

Flour....the plain truth

For a few years now I've been making my own pizza dough and it's been a winner in my house.

The staple topping items include - mozzarella, ham, pepperoni, bacon (as you can probably tell we have a household of meatlovers). Lately on my pizza I've been enjoying semi-sundried tomatoes & buffalo mozzarella - I'm a bit of a gourmet pizza lover.

Of late it's come to my attention that along with Plain & Self Raising flour, great for cakes or pastry, there is also something called Strong Flour or OO, ideal for bread & pizza dough, which has a high gluten content. Read more here

So I thought I would give it a try.

Luckily I found Strong flour in my local grocery store and used it in my pizza dough last weekend. The result was noticeable. My dough was softer & lighter and had a superior stretchiness to it, if you know what I mean.

My pizza's just got that much s.t.r.o.n.g.e.r.

Give it a go, next time try using Strong flour and make this simple apple cake slice...

Pre heat oven to 160 degrees Celsius.

On top of a rolled out piece of dough place some sliced granny smith apples and sprinkle with ground cinnamon and a generous amount of caster sugar. Lastly drizzle a generous amount of thickened cream and place in the oven until the apples are soft.

A good dollop of whipped cream or a scoop of vanilla ice cream would just be the finishing touch that this dish needs.