Chocolate for Sharing

Last week my chocolate order arrived. I can't economically buy Callebaut chocolate locally so I source it online from a Victorian distributor. This means I buy in bulk, two or three times a year. Six kilos of extremely high quality chocolate of various cocoa contents and a kilo of cocoa powder landing on my doorstep is very dangerous. It is perhaps even more dangerous because its arrival coincided with the arrival of another recent purchase, a copy of Nigel Slater's Real Fast Desserts.

I have drawn the line at three chocolate creations for the week, because anyone who knows me, knows that self-control is not my strong point when it comes to chocolate. Fortunately visited friends on Sunday for a BBQ, so I used this as a bit of an excuse to pull out some of the chocolate. On the menu was: Chocolate Almonds from Nigel Slater's book, Oreo Truffles and a favourite from my childhood, Chocolate Crackles.

Chocolate Almonds
This really is as easy as it sounds.

2-3 handfuls of shelled almonds
100g dark chocolate (I used Callebaut 54%, any darker and Hubby complains)
2 heaped tbsp cocoa powder (I used Callebaut dutch-processed)

1. Dry fry almonds until they are fragrant
2. Melt chocolate in a heat-proof bowl over simmering water.
3. Spread cocoa over a piece of grease-proof paper.
4. Dunk each almond in the chocolate, thoroughly coating, then roll it in the cocoa. Place on a piece of grease-proof paper to set.

I only coated half of my almonds in cocoa as Hubby really does complain if he can taste cocoa. The rest were all mine. Slater says "you'll wish you had made more", and he was so right but so wrong. These were ridiculously easy to eat, and if I had made double, I would have eaten double, in the same amount of time.

Cheat's Chocolate Crackles
This is yet another very easy recipe that the chocaholic should approach with caution. When I was a kid I loved chocolate crackles, until I went to someone's birthday party and tasted the overly sweet, copha-filled monstrosities that I later discovered followed the traditional recipe. This is how my mum makes chocolate crackles, and as far as I'm concerned it is the only way to make them.

200g milk chocolate (I used Callebaut 34%)
Cornflakes (yes, cornflakes, the volume varies and I never measure)

1. Line a 12-cup muffin tray (or 24-cup mini muffin tray) with paper liners.
2. Melt chocolate in a heat-proof bowl over simmering water. 
3. Add a handful of cornflakes to the melted chocolate, lightly crushing as you add them. Mix.
4. Continue adding cornflakes, a handful at a time, until all cornflakes are coated and no melted chocolate remains in the bottom of the bowl.
5. Spoon mixture into the paper liners (you may need more or less liners depending on how much of the cornflakes you used).
6. Refrigerate until set hard.

You may be saying "eeewww", but trust me, these are the best! Maybe it has to do with the slight saltiness of the cornflakes, or the more structured texture as opposed to a rice-bubble version (you could of course use rice bubbles if you prefer), but no matter how old I get, I still adore these and love that my girls are now old enough for me to make them for them as a treat.

Oreo Truffles
These were the last, and most evil chocolatey treat I made on the weekend. I was first introduced to these tasty morsels a few years ago at a kids birthday party and could not believe that the combination of ingredients could create something so rich and adult-tasting.

2 x 150g packets Oreo biscuits
170g cream cheese (I used Light Philadelphia)
200g milk chocolate (I used Callebaut 34%)

1. Melt chocolate in a heat-proof bowl over simmering water. Turn off heat but keep melted chocolate over the pan of hot water. Line a baking tray with grease-proof paper.
2. Break up Oreo biscuits into a food processor, then whiz until finely crumbed.
3. Add cream cheese and whiz again until combined.
4. Roll teaspoon sized portions of the Oreo mix into balls and coat in melted chocolate. Use two forks to remove the balls from the chocolate without deforming the shape too much.
5. Set the balls on grease-proof paper and refrigerate until cold.

I took these to a BBQ on Sunday night, and they were a massive hit. It's always fun getting people to guess what's in these, as unless you've had them before, it's very hard to pick. This batch made 37 truffles, but only about 30 of them made it to the BBQ.

While I had a fun weekend in the kitchen, with no real baking involved, I think I need a self-imposed ban on chocolate this week. My baby and my behind will thank me later.

Pasties

If there is one meal in my house that falls into the "comfort food" category, it's pasties. I know they are more evil than they are good, but damn they are tasty! In the winter they do seem to creep onto our regulars list, but I tend not to make them more frequently than once a fortnight at most, for the sake of our arteries and waistlines.

I don't particularly enjoy making pastry, of any sort, and this is no different. Shop-bought frozen puff pastry is easy, cheap and generally of sufficient quality warrant saving my time and energy. You can now also buy reduced-fat puff pastry which isn't as flaky as its butter-filled counterpart but is still tasty. Here is what a pastie looks like in my kitchen. This will serve myself, Hubby and the babes with enough for one adult lunch left over.

500g lean beef mince
2 potatoes
2 carrots
1/2 cup frozen peas
1/4 cup tomato sauce
2 tbsp mustard (I either use french or wholegrain, whatever I have on hand)
good shake of season-all
4 sheets reduced-fat puff pastry, just thawed

1. Preheat oven to 200C (fan forced). Line 2 large baking trays with baking paper.
2. Dice carrots and potatoes.
3. Combine carrots, potatoes, peas, tomato sauce, mustard and season-all in a large bowl. Mix thoroughly with your hands until well combined.
4. Divide mixture evenly across the 4 sheets of pastry, arranging it on the diagonal.
5. Pull in the corners of the pastry, one at a time, wrapping the meat mixture up in a parcel.
6. Prick each parcel several times with a fork
7. Cook for 20 mins or until browning nicely, then reduce heat to 160C and cook for a further 30-40 mins until escaped juices have dried up. 

You can fold the pastry any way you like, but I find the parcel method ensures an even pastry to filling ratio across the whole pastie and you don't get left with excess pastry around the edges that doesn't contain any meat. I also normally divide my 4th sheet of pastry into 4 even squares and make mini pasties for the girls. These often need removing from the oven about 5-10 mins before the big ones.

I love pasties served with tomato sauce, but the filling is tasty enough that it's not necessary. Of course you could adapt the filling to add whatever you like (corn, beans etc) and change the flavouring. I sometimes add some worcestershire sauce or horseradish. You can reheat pasties in the microwave, but like all pastry, reheating in the oven avoids soggy pastry, and I'm yet to meet anyone who likes soggy pastry.

In My Kitchen - September 2012

This month's In My Kitchen post comes a little late, and for no good reason. I was contemplating skipping it altogether in favour of sulking over my lack of new gadgets, and delayed postage on some new books I ordered, but I have spent a lot of the time in the kitchen this month and convinced myself an update was warranted.

In my kitchen today is...

a Raspberry Yoghurt Cake. I originally came across Celia's Blueberry and Yoghurt Cake recipe some time ago. Hubby doesn't really like cake, but this is one he'll steal the last piece of. The original recipe can be found here at Chocolate and Zucchini. Anything with yoghurt in the recipe is guaranteed to be moist, and to remove the "cakiness" of cake, hence why this one was a winner in our house. I normally use whichever berries I have on hand and today it was raspberries. I also never use white sugar and so replaced that with raw caster sugar in the recipe. Otherwise I followed the recipe exactly and I'm waiting for the cake to cool so I can have a piece! Most of it however will be shared with some lovely ladies and their children at a local coffee morning tomorrow.

In my kitchen quite a lot lately has been...

a pot of Teresa Cutter's Vegetable Minestrone Soup. This is the simplest and tastiest vegetable soup I've made, and one the whole family seems to enjoy. It is simple, vegetable-filled, low in salt and delicious. The capsicum is the dominant vegetable I think, and that makes the taste of this soup really unique from other vegetable soups. Did I mention it was healthy? And it contains no potato so it a fantastic low-carb option for lunch or dinner. I serve this as a main meal with a fresh loaf of Mixed Seed Bread. I also love these soup bowls that my mother-in-law almost got rid of at a garage sale a few years ago before I spotted them and took them home.

In my kitchen earlier this month was...

a birthday cake for my gorgeous "kind-of-sister-in-law" Kate. A fortunate twist of events meant I was able to see Kate on her 26th birthday, and make her a birthday cake, or 24. I used this divine Brownie Cupcake recipe and topped them with a whipped milk chocolate genache. I didn't even know you could whip genache until coming across Savoury Sweet Life, but the result is a beautifully pale and extremely stiff topping perfect for piping. The letters were made with white chocolate. I melted the chocolate, poured it into a zip lock bag, snipped the very end off the bag and piped the letters out onto a baking paper-lined oven tray. I then cooled the letters in the fridge and when they were set, moving very quickly to avoid melting them with my hands, arranged them on top of the genache. This was a great cake for sharing, and the munchkins could have one to themselves without consuming too much brownie.

So maybe my kitchen isn't that boring this month. Check out what's happening in some other kitchens around the world by visiting the links at Fig Jam and Lime Cordial.

In the Garden - September 2012

With the weather in Perth starting to warm up, the weekend provided a great opportunity to potter in the garden. Having missed a winter crop due to the Big Gypsy Getaway, I was left with empty garden beds just waiting for spring. Empty apart from a few weeds, but that was nothing a little hard work and some help from a few willing feathered friends couldn't fix.

The new garden bed in the front yard is structurally complete, but we're still getting around to filling it with soil. With the rear bed ready to go, I bought some seeds and seedlings on the weekend and the girls and I got planting. Actually, I got to dig holes and the girls did all the planting. We planted capsicum and basil seedlings, as well as cucumber and zucchini seeds. For some reason I have real trouble growing capsicums, so I opted for seedlings.

Cucumber and zucchini however seem to run rampant in our sandy soils and I have had lots of success with seeds in the past. Slaters and slugs also run rampant in our garden, and I've had entire seedling crops disappear overnight in the past thanks to some ravenous slugs. In an attempt to tackle the problem before the seedlings emerge, I have set quite a few beer traps. They just can't pass up the sweet smell of several year old home brew, and I'm happy to put it to use! A few strategically placed vegemite jars full, should do the trick.

I bought a LOT more seeds, but I have been guilty of over-planting in the past, and ending up with a very busy vege patch, so I'll hold off on anymore planting until we get soil for the front.

The new chickens have been busy settling in, and have found a few favourite places to lay their eggs. Almost everyday there is one in the back corner, furthest away from the house and difficult to get to given a passionfruit-covered bird net about a metre off the ground, covering this area. Egg-collecting is Chicky's job. She has the advantage of being only a metre tall. We've been letting the chickens out most days and they are getting quite socialised. Isa Browns just don't seem to mind being handled, which is fortunate when you have a 4 yr old and a 2 yr old trying to give you cuddles all day.

The same passionfruit vine has grown nicely over the girls' Kombi Cubby, and is taking over the non-existent windscreen. It adds quite a nice ambiance to the cubby, and makes the giant volkswagen in the garden bed a little less obvious at first glance. That's what I tell myself anyway.

Spring has definitely sprung in my garden, and it's only going to get better. I'm looking forward to getting the rest of the garden organised and planting lots more veges. The girls are at great ages to appreciate where food comes from and can take some ownership over their plants. Lets hope the lovely weather hangs around, on the weekends at least.

A Healthy Cheesecake Experiment

For Father's Day last weekend, we had a little afternoon tea with my parents, my sister and my niece. I had planned on making Mini Choc Cherry Cheesecakes, but after making a Date and Nut Loaf and scones, as well as buying some different cheeses I decided we probably had enough food for a mid-afternoon snack. This left me with some cream cheese in the fridge, begging to be used. We LOVE the Choc Cherry Cheesecakes, but they really are a treat for special occasions only and a half batch makes 12 so I end up eating at least 4 of them. 

I decided to give the decadent treat a healthy revamp and use the Muesli Cookies recipe as a base. As tasty as crushed biscuits mixed with melted butter is, thinking about it makes my arteries ache so replacing it with something more healthy eased the palpatations a little. Because the overall recipe is a little different from both the Muesli Cookies and Mini Choc Cherry Cheesecake recipes, I've included the complete recipe below.

Base

2 1/2 cups rolled oats
1 tbsp linseed, soy & almond (LSA) mix
1/4 cup honey
1/4 cup sunflower oil
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

1/4 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 ripe banana

1. Preheat the oven to 150C (130C fan forced). Line 12 holes of a regular sized muffin tray with paper cases.
2. Place all ingredients in a food processor and whiz for 20ish seconds until everything is combined and the oats are mostly chopped.
3. Spoon about a teaspoon worth of mixture into each paper case and flatten. You only want a thin base.
4. Bake for 10-12 minutes or until slightly brown.

Cheesecake

60g white chocolate

1/4 cup cream
250g cream cheese, at room temperature
1/3 cup raw caster sugar
1 egg, lightly whisked
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
about 200g frozen mixed berries

1. Put chocolate and cream in a small pan over low heat and cook, stirring until the chocolate has melted and the mixture is smooth. Be careful not to burn. Cool.
2. Whiz the berries in a food processor to break down large lumps.
3. Beat cream cheese, sugar, egg, vanilla and cooled chocolate mixture in a large bowl until well combined. If the cream cheese is too cold, it will form lumps and won't combine properly. Also if the chocolate mix is too hot, it will cook your egg. Fold in berries and divide the mixture between the paper cases, on top of the muesli mix. Level the tops and bake for 15-20 mins or until just set.
4. Cool in trays, then in the fridge. They need a good few hours cooling before serving.

These cheesecakes are definitely not as decadent or moorish as the chocolate version, but this is great because I am satisfied after one instead of wanting to devour the whole tray! I was a bit concerned that the muesli base wouldn't marry with the cheesecake flavour, but it really does work well, and it holds together much better than a traditional cheesecake base. The only ammendment I would make is to reduce the amount of honey, as honey is quite a powerful flavour. One tablespoon might be enough. All in all, this was a successful experiment, providing a healthier version of cheesecake that I'll make again.

Muesli Cookies

We all love muesli bars at my house, perhaps a little too much. A batch rarely lasts more than a day, and so I've been looking for a slightly healthier alternative that we can all enjoy with a little less guilt and a little less exercise required to counteract the over-indulgence. I often scan Teresa Cutter's website in search for healthy ideas, and last week gave her Oatmeal Honey Scones a go. They were a big hit! They are egg-free and dairy free which doesn't bother our household specifically, but I have a few friends whose children have allergies so another recipe up my sleeve is a bonus. They are also super quick to whip up. As always, I added a bit of lib with the recipe, using what I had on hand, so here is my version:

2 1/2 cups rolled oats
1 tablespoon linseed, soy & almond (LSA) mix
1/2 teaspoon bicarb soda
1/4 cup honey
1/4 cup sunflower oil
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 ripe banana
120g chopped fresh dates (pitted)

1. Preheat fan forced oven to 160C. Line a baking tray with baking paper.
2. Place everything minus the dates in a food processor and whiz for 20ish seconds until everything is combined and the oats are mostly chopped.
3. Add dates and whiz to combine.
4. Spoon about a teaspoon worth of mixture for each cookie onto the baking paper and flatten slightly.
5. Bake for 10-12 minutes or until slightly brown and just starting to crack on top.

I made these into 22 little Muesli Cookies, whereas Teresa Cutter made 8 large "scones" out of the same size batch. That way the kids could have a couple and feel like they were being spoiled (and without any sugar or butter, I could have a few and not fear for my arterial health). They are really yummy. I think they might actually taste better than our muesli bars, and of course the recipe is open for experimentation. I've made 3 batches of these since discovering the recipe, but I think I'll try playing with the ingredients next time, maybe changing the fruit and adding some other seeds. FYI, they don't set hard like a biscuit, they are quite soft, I guess given there is no flour.

On another note, I have just been introduced to The Book Depository. How I didn't know about this before is beyond me, but they do free shipping world wide, and their prices are amazing! Needless to say I have a few Nigel Slater gems headed my way.

And on yet another note, we found out today that Chicky and Poppet will be getting a sister in January.