August Daring Bakers Challenge (A Little Late!!)

I must apologise, this blog has been a little neglected for a while now. Unfortunately university assignments must take priority, but soon they will be finished again for a while - I promise!! So this challenge post is a little late since I had a major assignment due on the same day and yesterday was really busy, again my apologies. Better late than never right?

I did manage to make the Daring Bakers challenge for August which was set by Veronica of Veronica's Test Kitchen and Patricia of Technicolour Kitchen, a wonderful milk chocolate and caramel tart. I made this for myself for my birthday and everyone enjoyed it. In fact, I made it twice (once with milk chocolate as called for and the other with dark chocolate, there were plans for a white chocolate one as well, but I was all tarted out!) - that is how good it was. Well the pastry recipe made enough for both of them, so why not?

Speaking of the pastry, a lot of the Daring Bakers out there found the cinnamon in it a little too strong. I LOVE cinnamon, not only is it tasty, but it also helps to control blood sugar levels - which is a big plus in my book. Just ignore the massive amounts of sugar that accompany it in this recipe. Although I love cinnamon, it was slightly too strong in the milk chocolate version of the tart. In the dark chocolate version the cinnamon was more of a background flavour as I'm sure it was intended to be. So if I was to make the milk chocolate version again I would halve the cinnamon.

The dark chocolate tart was by far my favourite, although I wouldn't turn down a slice of the milk chocolate one if it wandered my way. I am a dark chocolate kind of girl, I switched to it in an attempt to feel better about eating chocolate and now the thought of milk chocolate makes me kind of sick, with all its sweetness. ick. But this tart - Yum. Just in very small doses!

So here is the recipe, from Eric Kayser's Sweet & Savoury Tarts. Thanks Veronica and Patricia for the challenge, it was delicious! Check out the rest of the lovely Daring Bakers posts for this month (if you haven't already done so!) by clicking on the link to the Daring Bakers blogroll in my sidebar.

Milk Chocolate & Caramel Tart (Serves 10-12)

To make the chocolate shortcrust pastry cream 1C softened unsalted butter in a food processor or kitchenaid and mix in 1C + 2Tbsp icing sugar, 1/2C ground hazelnuts & 1tsp cinnamon (if making dark chocolate version use 2tsp). Add 2 eggs, one at a time, while mixing constantly and then sift in 4 1/2C cake flour (I used this substitute), 2 1/2tsp baking powder & 1 1/2Tbsp cocoa powder. Form the dough into a ball, cover with plastic wrap and chill overnight.

Preheat oven to 160C. Allow dough to soften for 15 minutes before rolling out to desired thickness and lining a greased 26cm tart pan. Prick all over with a fork and blind bake with pastry weights for 15 minutes. My dough didn't so much roll as it did break in to many tiny little pieces, not the best dough I've worked with but it patched together quite well and you couldn't really tell after it was baked.

Caramelise 1C sugar in a saucepan until it turns a light amber colour. For the dark chocolate tart I used brown sugar to get a darker, nuttier flavour without burning the caramel. Incorporate 1C heavy cream (or creme fraiche) and 1/4C butter and set aside to cool slightly. If the caramel turns into lumps at the first sight of the cream just heat it slowly and stir until they melt again. Just make sure your wearing an apron, otherwise your clothes may end up looking like mine did. Unless you like the thought of starring in an adult movie with bodily fluids splashed all over your clothes, in which case go ahead and leave the apron in the drawer. Who would have thought caramel would dry white? In another bowl beat together 2 whole eggs & 1 egg yolk and add in 2 1/2Tbsp flour. Pour this into the cooled caramel mixture and spread over tart base. Bake for 15-20 minutes or until the caramel is slightly foamy and set. Refrigerate until completely cooled.

For the chocolate mousse, beat 1 1/4C thickened cream until stiff and fold in 250g melted milk chocolate (or dark). Spread over cooled caramel tart base, smooth with a spatula and refrigerate for 1 hour or until set. Decorate with caramel made out of another 1/2C sugar and serve.

Why Should I Eat That?

Definitely not an everyday food! But for a special occasion you need to indulge a little... and it's low in sodium, that has to count for something... right??

Nutrition Information (per 10 or 12 serves)

Energy 2516 or 2096kJ, Protein 7 or 6g, Fat (Total) 38 or 32g (Saturated) 24 or 20g, Carbohydrate (Total) 60 or 50g (Sugars) 50 or 41g, Dietary Fibre 0.8 or 0.7g, Sodium 90 or 75mg.

Printable Recipes:

Chocolate Shortcrust Pastry

Chocolate & Caramel Tart

Another Sensational Soup Sunday

The thought of food makes me feel quite ill at the moment. It was my birthday on friday and I have spent my weekend indulging in restaurant meals. Poor Betty has really been getting a workout! It has been great to catch up with some people I haven't seen in a while, but I was happy to find some soup in the freezer to eat tonight as I don't think my stomach could have handled much more.

It would make more sense to post the recipe for the soup that I ate tonight (it was French Onion if anyone was wondering), but I am going to be random and post this one that I made a few weeks ago. So you'll have to be patient and wait for the French Onion Soup recipe! This one is from the June issue of Australian Good Taste magazine and it was a sensational twist on the good old standby of Pumpkin Soup. Delicious!!

Roast Pumpkin & Garlic Soup (Serves 4)

Preheat oven to 200C and line 2 baking trays with baking paper. Peel and deseed 2.5kg butternut pumpkin and cut into 2cm pieces. Put these into the baking trays and scatter over 4 unpeeled garlic cloves. Spray with olive oil spray and season with salt & pepper. Bake in the oven for 75 minutes or until tender.

Meanwhile, thinly slice 3 shortcut bacon rashers and cook for 3-4 minutes or until crispy. Drain on paper towel. Heat 1Tbsp olive oil in a stockpot over medium heat and cook 1 finely diced onion for 5 minutes or until soft. Add 3tsp ground cumin and cook, stirring, for 30 seconds.

Add 5C water & 1 large vegetable stock cube and bring to the boil. Add roasted garlic (peeled) and pumpkin, reserving 2C pumpkin, and cook for 10 minutes. Set aside for 5 minutes before processing with a stick blender until smooth. Add reserved pumpkin and cook until heated through.

Combine 1/4C basil pesto & 1 1/2Tbsp lemon juice in a bowl or empty sauce bottle. Ladle the soup among serving bowls and drizzle over pesto mixture and cream. Top with the bacon to garnish (Someone used all of the bacon I planned to use for this soup, so I added some ham to the soup mixture before I pureed it). Serve hot!

Why Should I Eat That?

This soup is low in kilojoules and high in fibre as well as providing you with more than your recommended 5 serves of vegetables. This nutrition information was put together using FoodWorks, a nutritional analysis program that I am using in my studies.

Nutrition Information (per serve)

Energy 1877kJ, Protein 22g, Fat (Total) 19.6g (Saturated) 7.2g, Carbohydrates (Total) 41.8g (Sugars) 27.5g, Dietary Fibre 8.4g, Sodium 982.6mg. 8.4 serves of vegetables.

Printable Recipe

Christmas in July.... A Little Late!!

OK, so it isn't July anymore, but I still wanted to share these gorgeous truffles with you all. My brother, Luke, was going to a Christmas in July party last weekend and wanted to take a plate of goodies along. Remembering the truffles that I made as Christmas gifts for everyone last year, he asked me to help make some to take with him. I agreed, on the provision that I get to keep some for myself for all of my 'hard work'.

Then came choosing the flavours! Last Christmas I made Eggnog (white chocolate with nutmeg and brandy), Walnut, Cherry, Coconut (with malibu liqueur, rolled in coconut), Peppermint (peppermint essence, rolled in crushed candy canes), Vanilla (rolled in hundreds and thousands) and gluten-free dark chocolate and orange ones especially for a girl at work who can't tolerate gluten. The ones that were rolled in things were a different recipe that used cream cheese and instead of being coated in chocolate, they were rolled in their respective toppings. This time around, Luke and I stuck with the chocolate dipped kind and went with Cherry, Hazelnut and Macadamia as our flavours. I will post the cream cheese truffle recipe at a later date - probably at Christmas, so I can get some photos to go with it.

The great thing about truffles is that you can make whatever flavours you want, the sky really is the limit. Also, apart from a little bit of time, they really aren't hard to make - but they look like they are, especially when they're all grouped together. I mean you could go and buy a box of chocolates as a present, but this is much more thoughtful, and you can tailor the flavours to match your friends tastes, or just give them a selection of your wonderful creations.

So, for our truffles I used the Eggnog Truffle recipe that I got from the December 2005 Issue of Australian Good Taste magazine as a base recipe for our flavours.

Base Truffle Recipe (Makes approx. 30)

Melt together 360g chocolate & 1/3C thickened cream in the microwave for 1 minute. Stir and return for 20 second bursts until it is completely melted and smooth. Add in 1Tbsp liquid flavouring (such as vanilla essence or brandy) and nuts &/or spices (see below for suggestions). Cover with cling wrap and place in the fridge for an hour to firm up.

Once firm, roll teaspoonfuls into balls and place on a baking paper lined tray. Return to the fridge for another 1-2 hours to firm again as the mixture will melt while in your hands.

Melt another 360g chocolate with 40g copha, the copha will help to keep the outer shell of chocolate softer and stop the chocolate from cracking as it sets. It isn't completely necessary (it isn't part of the original recipe), but I just like my truffles to be slightly softer and to have a professional look, rather than being cracked. You probably won't use all of this chocolate, but you need it to be deep enough to dip the balls in. I'm sure you will find other uses for it though - like drinking it straight out of the bowl!! Or sprinkle it with any leftover toppings you have and set it in a big block... even better!

Using a skewer, pick up one ball at a time and dip in the melted chocolate, drain for a few seconds to remove extra chocolate - you just need a thin layer. Place back on the baking tray lined with baking paper and remove skewer. Sprinkle with crushed nuts or other topping to cover up the skewer hole. If you are just topping with spices, as with the eggnog truffles, use the tip of the skewer (or your finger) to cover up the hole with extra chocolate and then sprinkle with the spice.

Return to the fridge until set and serve.

Hazelnut Truffles (left) - Use milk chocolate for the inside and dip in dark chocolate. Flavour with hazelnut liqueur or vanilla essence and use 60g crushed hazelnuts in the mixture (you will need around the same amount again for the topping).

Macadamia Truffles (middle) - Use white chocolate for the inside and dip in milk chocolate. Flavour with vanilla essence and use 60g crushed macadamia nuts in the mixture (you will need around the same amount again for the topping).

Cherry Truffles (right) - Use dark chocolate for both the inside and outside. Flavour with cherry liqueur or vanilla essence and use 100g chopped red glace cherries in the mixture (you will need around the same amount again - halved instead of chopped - for the topping).

Eggnog Truffles (not pictured) - Use white chocolate for both the inside and outside. Flavour with brandy and use 1/2tsp ground nutmeg in the mixture. Top with extra ground nutmeg.

Remember, your flavour combinations are only limited by your imagination. Use whatever nuts, spices, fruit, liqueurs, etc that you like, or if you want to do plainer ones you can omit the flavourings, the recipe will still work that way too, but where is the fun in that??

Printable Recipe