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Milk chocolate & pistachio truffles

May 8

Posted by silli in desserts, the recipes | No Comments

“Gain maximum brownie points by making these stylish chocolates for friends or family”

  • 400g milk chocolate , chopped
  • 150ml pot double cream
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • cocoa powder for rolling
  • about 80g shelled pistachios , chopped, for rolling

Melt the chocolate and cream together in 20-second blasts in the microwave or in a glass bowl set over a small pan of simmering water. Stir in the vanilla, then pour into a small bowl. Once cool, put in the fridge to chill for 2-3 hours.

Learn to make your own presentation box

When firm, use a melon baller or 2 teaspoons to scoop out and form balls, then roll each truffle in either the cocoa powder or the chopped pistachios. Chill the leftover bits to use them up. Keep chilled until ready to serve.

Source : Olive Magazine : January 2008

Servings/Yield : approx. 40 truffles

Difficulty : Easy

Course : Dessert

Preparation Times : Ready in: 40 minutes plus chilling

Nutritional notes : Per truffle : 93 kcalories, protein 1.4g, carbohydrate 6.9g, fat 6.9 g, saturated fat 3.3g, fibre 0.2g, salt 0.03 g

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Granola Bars

May 1

Posted by the editor in breakfast, desserts, snacks, the recipes, vegetarian | No Comments

“A health snack that you can make at home”

  • 1 tablespoon coconut oil (or regular butter), for greasing the baking tray
  • 100 g pecans, chopped
  • 100 g almond flakes
  • 125 g (1 1/4 cups) rolled oats
  • 90 g shredded coconut, loosely packed (I used unsweetened)
  • 330 g (1 cup) brown rice syrup (or use honey)
  • 50 g (1/4 cup) natural cane sugar
  • 1/2 teaspoon fine-grain sea salt
  • 2 tablespoons ground espresso beans (or ground coffee)
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

Preheat your oven to 180°C. Butter an 20×30cm baking dish and line it with parchment paper.

Toss the oatmeal, pecans, almonds, and coconut together on a sheet pan and bake for 10 to 12 minutes, stirring occasionally, until lightly browned (around 7 minutes). Transfer the mixture to a large mixing bowl.

Combine the rice syrup (we used clearsprings organic), sugar, salt, espresso, and vanilla in a small saucepanover medium heat and stir constantly as it comes to a boil and thickens just a bit, about 4 minutes. Pour the syrup over the oat mixture and stir until it is evenly incorporated.

Pour the mixture into your prepared baking dish and press it in (wet fingers and/or a silicon spatula work great for this) until the mixture is packed as tightly as possible.

Cool for 2 to 3 hours before cutting into squares — your best serrated knife is great for this.

You can store these in an airtight container at room temperature for a week or two, as you would cookies, however, I prefer to store mine in the freezer. I find that they stay the most crisp this way as all granola tends to soften at room temperature after a day or more.

Notes : We used a tray with separated compartments that worked a treat.  You can find all the ingredients including the Rice Syrup at the health food store such as Good Earth in Balutta for our Maltese readers.

Source : 101 cookbooks and smitten kitchen combination (101 cookbooks have a great video on her site)

Servings/Yield : Makes 12 to 16 granola bars

Difficulty : Easy

Course : Snack

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Cinnamon Swirl Bread

Apr 20

Posted by the editor in desserts, the recipes | No Comments

“Put this in your oven and bake it”

Cinnamon Swirl Bread

  • 1 1/4 – 1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
  • 1 cup whole wheat flour
  • 1 tsp yeast (rapid rise)
  • 1 1/2 tbsp sugar
  • 1 1/2 tbsp butter
  • 3/4 cup milk
  • 1/4 tsp salt
  • 1 large egg
  • melted butter (for brushing top)

For swirl

  • 1/4 cup sugar
  • 1 1/2 – 2 teaspoons cinnamon

In the bowl of a mixer, combine yeast and sugar.  In a saucepan, heat milk, butter and salt over low heat until butter melts 49-55°C  Slowly pour liquid into yeast and sugar. Stir and allow to rest for 30 seconds. Turn the mixer on low and add flour 1/2 cup at a time.  Midway through the addition of the flour, stop the mixer, scrape down bowl and incorporate an egg thoroughly.

Finish adding the flour and continue beating dough until soft and elastic, about 3-4 minutes in the mixer. For best results, the dough should be a little sticky. Handle dough with oiled hands to pull from the hook. Stretch and turn the dough in your hands. If kneading, turn and stretch dough on a floured board for 6-8 minutes.  Form dough in to a ball. Place ball into an oiled bowl. Cover, first with plastic wrap, then with a towel. Allow to raise until doubled in size (1-1.5hours).

Bread Raising Tip : Allow dough to rise in a comfortable, draft free location. With the oven turned OFF, place a steaming bowl of water on the bottom rack of the oven. Then, place the covered dough on the top rack of the oven. This creates the moist environment and comfortable temperature dough loves.

After dough has doubled in size, punch down, reform into a ball and allow to raise another 30 minutes, until doubled in size again. Punch down, knead and form dough into a rectangle.

When stretched and formed to the desired size, brush dough with water and sprinkle with cinnamon sugar mixture.  Roll up, tucking and stretching the dough into a spiral loaf. Tuck and pinch the ends.

Place into a lightly oiled loaf pan, seam side down. Cover and allow to raise another 30 minutes.  Loaf should puff and almost fill the pan. For a spilt-top look, use a butter knife and make an indentation into the top of the loaf. Do not slice into the dough.

Brush the top of the loaf with melted butter and bake in a 180°C oven for 25-30 minutes. Allow to cool on a wire rack before slicing.

Note : Follow the link to the original recipe, averagebetty.com is a fantastic site with great recipes, and they’ve done a phenomenal job with a step by step photo explanation of how to make this recipe.

Source : AverageBetty.com

Servings/Yield : Makes one loaf

Rating : Hasn’t been tested yet

Difficulty : Moderately Easy

Course : Dessert

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Basic Cake Frostings

Nov 2

Posted by the editor in desserts, the recipes | No Comments

frosting

“These frostings make enough to frost 12 cupcakes. To cover a cake (top and sides), double the recipes. They are used in cupcakes and cake recipes throughout the book. Dye the vanilla or Cream Cheese frostings any shade you like with a couple of drops of food colouring mixed in until evenly incorporated. At the Hummingbird, we like our cupcake frostings in pretty candy colours, but you can choose any colour you like.”

Vanilla

  • 250 g icing sugar, sifted
  • 80 g unsalted butter, room temperature
  • 25 ml whole milk
  • vanilla extract, a couple of drops

Beat the icing sugar and butter together in a freestanding electric mixer with a paddle attachment (or use a handheld electric whisk) on medium0slow speed until the mixture comes together and is well mixed. Turn the mixture down to slow speed. Combine the milk and vanilla extract in a separate bowl, then add to the butter mixture a couple of tablespoons at a time. Once all the milk has been incorporated, turn the mixer up to high speed. Continue beating until the frosting is light and fluffy, at least 5 minutes. The longer the frosting is beaten, the fluffier and lighter it becomes.

Chocolate

  • 300 g icing sugar, sifted
  • 100 g unsalted butter, room temperature
  • 40 g cocoa powder, sifted
  • 40 ml whole milk

Beat the icing sugar, butter and cocoa powder together in a freestanding electric mixer with a paddle attachment (or use a handheld electric whisk) on medium-slow speed until the mixture comes together and is well mixed. Turn the mixer down to slow speed. Add the milk to the butter mixture a couple of tablespoons at a time. Once all the milk has been incorporated, turn the mixer up to high speed. Continue beating until the frosting is light and fluffy, about 5 minutes. The longer the frosting is beaten, the fluffier and lighter it becomes.

Cream Cheese

  • 300 g icing sugar, sifted
  • 50 g unsalted butter, room temperature
  • 125 g cream cheese, cold

Beat the icing sugar and butter together in a freestanding electric mixer with a paddle attachment (or use a handheld electric whisk) on medium-slow speed until the mixture comes together and is well mixed. Add the cream cheese on one go and beat until it is completely incorporated. Turn the mixer up to medium-high speed. Continue beating until the frosting is light and fluffy, at least 5 minutes. Do not over beat, as it can quickly become runny.

 

Source : The Hummingbird Bakery Cookbook : by Tarek Malouf
Servings/Yield : Makes enough to frost 12 cupcakes (double the recipe for 20cm cake)

Difficulty : Easy

Course : Dessert

Equipment : Food Processor; Hand Mixer

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Wholemeal Oatmeal Cookies

Sep 3

Posted by the editor in cookies, desserts, the recipes | No Comments

DSCF3031

“These were a huge hit, and came out so moist and chewy that I’ve thrown out all my other cookie recipes”.

  • 227 g butter, Softened
  • 225 g granulated sugar
  • 225 g brown sugar, Packed
  • 2 eggs
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • 250 g wholemeal flour
  • 1 tsp Baking Soda
  • 1 tsp Salt
  • 1.5 tsp Cinnamon, Ground
  • 3 cups Quick Cooking Oats
  • 200g chocolate chips or nuts (optional)

In a medium bowl, cream together butter, white sugar, and brown sugar. Beat in eggs one at a time, then stir in vanilla. Combine flour, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon; stir into the creamed mixture. Mix in oats and chocolate chips if you’re using that option. Cover, and chill dough for at least one hour.

Preheat the oven to 190ºC. Grease cookie sheets. Roll the dough into walnut sized balls, and place 2 inches apart on cookie sheets. Flatten each cookie with a large fork dipped in sugar (I personally don’t dip the fork in sugar first).

Bake for 8 to 10 minutes in preheated oven. Allow cookies to cool on baking sheet for 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.

Notes: The Softened Butter is a difficult situation, because I find that when the butter is too soft, the cookies come out very flat and hard. But when it’s too hard it doesn’t mix well. The last time I did this recipe, I cut the block of butter into cubes, and let them sit until i could put a knife into them and they needed a little help slipping off the knife into the batter; too hard and it would be difficult to get them off.

Source : Adapted from Allrecepies.com Soft Oatmeal Cookie Recipe

Servings/Yield : 24 Cookies

Difficulty : Easy

Rating : 5 out of 5

Course : Dessert

Preparation Times: Prep: 15 Minutes Cook: 10 Minutes Ready in: 2 Hours Bake: 190 ℃

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Black pepper brownies

Aug 29

Posted by the editor in desserts, the recipes | No Comments

DSCF3043

“Christine McFadden adds spice to these dark, dense and luxurious brownies – the pepper helps to balance their richness”

  • 115 g unsalted butter, plus extra for greasing
  • 200 g dark chocolate, minimum 70% cocoa solids
  • 3 tbsp. unsweetened cocoa powder
  • 3 large eggs
  • 250 g sugar
  • 2 tsps vanilla extract
  • ½ tsp salt
  • 1 tbsp. black peppercorns, freshly ground
  • 150 g plain flour

Preheat the oven to 180C/gas 4, moving the rack to just below the middle of the oven.

Grease and line a 20cm square baking tin with baking parchment, using enough to hang over the sides.

Break the chocolate into small pieces and put it in a heatproof bowl with the butter. Place the bowl over a pan of steaming, but not quite simmering, water (make sure the bottom of the bowl does not touch the surface of the water) and stir until the chocolate and butter are melted and well combined. Gradually sprinkle in the cocoa powder and whisk until smooth. Remove from the heat and leave to cool slightly.

Beat together the eggs, sugar, vanilla extract, salt and ground pepper until well mixed. Gradually beat in the still-warm chocolate mixture, then stir in the flour, mixing well.

Pour into the prepared tin and bake for 35-40 minutes until a skewer inserted in the middle comes out very slightly sticky – brownies are meant to be gooey in the middle.

Leave the brownies in the tin until completely cool. Lift from the tin using the overhanging baking parchment. Slice into squares and serve.

Notes : For extra texture, stir in 100g chopped walnuts into the brownie mixture.  The brownies will keep for 4-5 days if you wrap them in foil.

We made these in a non stick tefal pot with a removable clamp handle.  The fact that this is a non stick pot didn’t tempt us to bake it without the baking paper, probably because when you take the brownies out with the baking paper and put it in a tin, it adds character to the brownies.  This was a 20cm diameter pot, but you can use a shallower one if you want.  The fact that we used round instead of square, also added to the showmanship of this dessert.

Source : uktv.co.uk : Market Kitchen

Servings/Yield : 20

Difficulty : easy

Course : Dessert

Preparation Times : Prep: 10 Minutes Cook: 45 Minutes

Categories : Baked Goods, Brownies, Cakes, Chocolate, Desserts, Kids

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