Custard & Raspberry Jam Doughnuts

I’m afraid I am going to torture you with a photograph only today and no recipe. The pictured doughnuts are rapidly becoming the most popular item on my patisserie list so I am being mean and not sharing it’s secret, not just yet anyway. Well I don’t want you all making your own and no longer visiting me at my stall do I? That would be sad to not see your faces every Saturday or Sunday.

The end of the week is a crazy one, making all my own pastries for all the goodies to sell on Saturday and Sunday; puff, shortcrust, hot water, croissant, brioche dough and bread. It’s very rewarding though as it comes out the oven and the neighbours knock on the door when they get a waft of the sweet and savoury aromas.  As well as the market stall on Sunday I have a growing list of orders from Muriwai locals who stop by my kitchen on Saturday and collect their weekend treats.

So instead of a recipe I leave you with this weeks menu, in hope some of you Auckland locals reading this will pop Hobsonville Point Market by and say hello! Happy weekend!

Savoury Pastries

Seasonal Galettes – Leek,Walnut Pesto, Halloumi & Roasted Tomato. Roasted Beetroot & Feta. Caramelised Onion, Halloumi & Field Mushroom

Handmade Traditional Pork Pies

Cornish Pasties – Beef & Mustard. Chicken, Leek & Tarragon
Large Croissant Cheese Twists/Stick
Bacon & Egg Pies

Pork & fennel Sausage Rolls

Multigrain loaf (500g) – $5 (please order

Sweet Pastries
French Caramel Apple Tart
Eccles Cakes

Crisp Palmiers

Apricot Danish

Pacific Panforte– Mango, Macadamia, Coconut

Vanilla Custard & Raspberry Filled Doughnuts

Cheese & Smoked Paprika Croissant Twists

It’s been a whirlwind start to the year…looming redundancy, starting a patisserie stall at a local farmers market and now looking to expand. Most day’s I don’t know whether I am coming or going let alone take photos of food I am making and sharing them with you.

Hopefully I will have news soon about our new business venture but I will wait until we have something signed and sealed and then I will share all our plans with you. I can say though that I hope to be cooking every day.

I have bought a commercial dough mixer this week,  how exciting is that? It’s been a chore as demand grows making croissant dough, puff pastry, shortcrust – sweet and savoury, special pork pie and Cornish pasty pastries en-mass by hand. This week should be a breeze with the new machine and I will be dabbling with an Easter loaf recipe too.

I introduced these cheese & paprika twist to the market last week and sold out! Here is the recipe below.

Ingredients

1 and 1/3 cups luke warm water

1.5 tsp instant yeast

450g flour

200g butter

2 Tbsp sugar

200g cheese, grated

1 heaped tsp smoked paprika

Method

Pre-heat oven on fan bake 200C and line 4 baking trays with baking paper.

Place the luke warm water into a small bowl and add the yeast. Let it dissolve.

In a large bowl add the flour & sugar then mix in the water and dissolved yeast. Bring everything together to a soft dough (tacky but not sticky). Knead dough for 3 minutes.

I use commercial slabs of butter which make it easier so I suggest you slice the butter block into 6 if you can.

Roll the dough to approx 20 cm x 60cm. Lay 3 slices of butter at one end and fold it over towards the middle so butter in enclosed.

Lay the other 3 slices of butter ontop of folded dough and bring the opposite end over to cover butter. Press around edges to seal butter in and turn so open ends face you.

Gently press down along the dough then roll to existing size 20 x 60cm.

Rest in the fridge until butter it cold and hard ( several hours)

Remove dough from fridge and repeat the process 2 more times, resting in fridge between both rollings.

Cut dough in half and roll each half to approx 20 x 40 cm.

Sprinkle with grated cheese and paprika.

Longways, cut 6 strips. Roll each strip up enclosing the cheese and put onto a baking tray covered in baking paper.  4 to a tray so they have plenty space.

All twist to prove till double in size (this will depend on how warm your kitchen is).

Bake for 12-15 minutes

Enjoy!

Crisp Apple Tarts

The Gourmet Gannet will be selling these crisp apple tarts at Hobsonville Point Farmers Market this Sunday (and every Sunday) if you haven’t time to make your own sweet treats this weekend. We will also have Traditional Handmade English Pork Pies, Cornish Pasties, Cheese & Paprika Twists, Chocolate Almond Twists. Lots of yummy vegetarian tarts topped with things like field mushrooms & halloumi or roast vegetables. Swing by and say hello if you are in Auckland, it’s a lovely market with lots of local producers.

This recipe can quick and simple if you want to buy the puff pastry or use the recipe below to make your own. The apple crisps are perfect with a morning coffee or for dessert after dinner with a dollop of vanilla ice cream.

This is also my submission for Sweet New Zealand, our monthly Kiwi blogging event. This month hosted by Michelle over at Greedy Bread.

Ingredients
3 Braeburn Apples, cored
3 Tbsp Apricot puree/jam
3 Tbsp caster sugar
3 sheets of puff pastry or use recipe below

2 Tbsp butter, melted

Method

Pre-heat oven on fan bake to 200C

Take the pastry sheets or prepared puff pastry and cut round a saucer 6-9 times, re-roll spare pastry.

Place pastry circles on a baking paper on a baking tray.

Spread apricot puree over the circles.

Thinly slice the apple (I use a mandolin) and arrange over the pastry.

Brush the apples with melted butter and sprinkle with sugar.

Bake for 20 minutes. Liquid will release initially but this will dry and caramelize around the pastry to make them crisp.

Allow to cool on a cooling rack.

Puff Pastry Recipe
Ingredients

250g plain, plus extra for rolling out

250g butter

150ml ice-cold water

Method

Place the flour in a large bowl.

Cut the butter into small cubes.

Using a round-bladed knife, stir the butter into the bowl until each piece is well coated with flour.

Add the iced water and bring everything together into rough dough.

Press the dough flat without kneading and wrap in plastic wrap and place in the fridge for 15 minutes to relax and chill. The key with puff pastry is to keep it cool.

Lightly flour a work surface.

Roll the pastry in one direction until it’s about 1cm thick and three times as long as it is wide, or about 45x15cm. Try to keep it as square as possible.

Fold the bottom third of the pastry up, then the top third down.

Turn the dough so that its open edge is facing to the right, like a book.

Roll and fold the pastry again as before. Repeat process two more times (4 in all).

If the pastry gets warm or the butter soft at any point chill it for 10 minutes before continuing.

Chill the finished pastry for an hour, or ideally overnight, before using.

Roll to ¾ cm thick.

Little & Friday’s Chocolate Cherry Cake & New Residents

Happy New Year Everyone!

I have a little obsession for Little & Friday cakes, fortunately I don’t venture close to their cafes often otherwise I may look as round as this chocolate cake. For those of you who live in Auckland you may have already visited one of their little cake shops and experienced their baking delights. They’re what I call ‘real’ cakes, they are cakes with substance, traditional in texture but modern in appearance.

I have not listed the recipe as I have not bought the book yet, although it is on my wish list. National Radio have the recipe here, permission given to publish by the owner. The recipe came out exactly how I had experienced them at Little & Friday, although I did use cherries instead of raspberries.

We have new residents at our house, Beryl, Thelma and Nerys. They are three adopted hens which had been abandoned and we happily gave them a new home…. well actually a very elaborate coop and free range of the garden. They were all a little scruffy and dirty when they arrived and we were told they weren’t laying eggs but we have big hearts and decided even if they don’t lay we would look after them. A good bath, yes we bathed them! A good diet and they are now laying and they donated the eggs for my chocolate cake.

If you come from Northern England you might recognise their name? They come from the cast and actors of a TV series called the Liver Birds which was set in Liverpool, my beautiful home town. The Liver Birds are also an iconic emblem that represents the city of Liverpool, dating back to the 1300s. Two statues can aslo be see towering above the port on the Royal Liver Buildings.

Christmas Mince Pie Pops

As we hurtle towards Christmas I feel like a spectator on the sideline watching everyone in a frenzy of shopping, pre Christmas gatherings, work functions etc. I would normally take part, I love Christmas with it’s trees and decorations, carols, yummy treats and families coming together. This year has been different, I don’t seem to be able to muster the enthusiasm but instead just find myself bobbing along with the flow of things. It’s been an exhausting year, endless travel with quite a stressful and busy job. Making far too many people redundant as the business down sizes only to have my own employment in the balance next year. Keeping positive, perhaps the universe is telling me it’s time for a fresh start, time to do something else? So instead of revving up I find myself slowing down, putting my feet up, taking time out for a lazy surf and chilling at the beach. The Christmas menu hasn’t even been thought of but it will happen…no worries as we say here. Hardly a Christmas treat has graced my ovens let alone my blog (except for the 47 Christmas cakes I have baked and sold but that’s part of a business). As we prepare to kiss 2012 behind and relish new beginnings in 2013 I leave you with a small treat, Christmas Mince Pie Pops.

I first saw pie pops over at Linda’s beautiful blog Call Me Cupcake, only then to find I am so behind and they are common knowledge in other countries. They even have pie pop makers, oh my goodness which rock have I been hiding under! So here is my version of pie pops, filled with a sweet Christmas fruit mince and chocolate. You can use your favourite Christmas pie filling or try mine. My shortcrust pastry has a little more butter in it than the regular half fat to flour. A tip from a French chef I worked with. It guarantees a short crust but if you have ‘hot’ hands’ I recommend you use a food processor for the crumb rather than the old fashioned way. It’ll keep the butter from melting.

So hows your year been and what are you hoping for next year?

Wishing you all a wonderful festive season where ever you are and however you celebrate and I will see you back in 2013!

This is also my submission to our monthly Sweet New Zealand challenge which is hosted this month by Lydia over at Lydia Bakes where you will find a lot more Kiwi sweet treats.

Ingredients – makes 12

300g sweet shortcrust pastry (recipe here)

200g sweet mince pie filling (recipe here)

12 pop sticks (bake proof not plastic)

Method

Pre heat oven to 180C

Roll pastry out to 1/2 cm thick

Using a cookie cutter approx 8cm diametre, cut out 24 pastry rings. Re-roll any bits and pieces to make more circles.

In half the circles cut out a star shape (or whatever mini cutter shape you have) for the lid of the pie.

Take the other half of the circles and place a teaspoon of mincemeat in the centre.

Wet the outer ring with a little water so the base and lid will stick together.

Lay the pop stick half way across the pie and fruit and press slightly into the pastry.

Place the lid on top of the pie and press the edges together, particularly around the pop stick so it will hold when baked.

Place on a 2 non stick trays and bale for 20-25 minutes until golden brown.

Remove from tray when cooled. If any pie filling oozes out onto the tray loosen pie pop from tray before it cools so it doesn’t stick.

We’ve Gone all Tarty – Potato & Balsamic Onion Wholemeal Tart, Caramel Apple Olive Oil Pastry Galette

Feeling a little tarty the other weekend I went to the pantry for inspiration….. and not what you may have been thinking that I was wearing some inappropriate attire for my age! In fact I have gone quite conservative lately with 60s vintage dresses that I am having so much fun buying, I just wish I could find the shoes to match. The back combed hair will not be making an appearance though, I only managed to grow it a couple of inches long before I went screaming to the hairdresser for a short crop again! Longer hair is so impractical if you want a quick surf before work and still turn up to the office looking half decent and on time.

The plan was to make a savoury and sweet tart out of the same pastry base but as I started on my tart mission I realized I did not have enough butter for two tarts but I was still determined to make two as remembered a recipe I had seen on one of my favourite food blogs by Natalie at Food Blog and the Dog. This is a ‘must go to site’ if you are vegetarian or need some non meat inspiration in your cooking. I often wish I could accompany Natalie on her walks through the Andalusian countryside.
I wasn’t sure if I was going to like the pastry for the sweet tart, after all I’m a die hard trained French pastry chef but I love this pastry so much I am going to make some of my Christmas baking with it this year. If you like a nice crisp crust you will love it too.

Potato & Balsamic Onion Tart with Wholemeal Rosemary Pastry

Pastry ingredients & method you can find HERE
Add a handful of fresh rosemary to the flour before whizzing into breadcrumbs

Ingredients – Filling

3 red onions, peeled & finely sliced

Olive oil

2 Tbsp balsamic vinegar

1 tsp brown sugar

1 large potato (200g), peeled & thinly sliced

100g feta cheese

1 free range egg

100ml milk

pinch of salt & ground black pepper

Method – Filling

Pre-heat oven to 180C and grease & flour a loose bottom tart tin.

In a large frying pan over a medium heat add a splash of olive oil and the sliced onions.

Braise onions until they are soft, approximately 8 minutes then add the balsamic vinegar & brown sugar and stir through onions.

Cook for a further 2 minutes and allow onions to cool before spreading them over the tart case.

Crumble the feta cheese over the onions then arrange the sliced potatoes over the top as in the picture.

Whisk together the egg and milk with the salt & pepper and gently pour over the potatoes.

Bake for 35 minutes or until the egg has set and the potatoes are golden.

Serve with salad.

Caramel Apple Tart with Spelt & Olive Oil Pastry

Ingredients

75g Spelt flour or wholemeal

75g plain flour or wholemeal

1 Tbsp brown sugar

60g olive oil

1 egg

1/4 cup cold water (approximately)

Method – Pastry

Place both flours into a food processor with the sugar.

Add the olive oil to the flour while whizzing the food processor until it resembles fine breadcrumbs.

Add the egg and whiz again briefly.

Remove the lid & blade from the processor and continue the next step by hand to prevent the pastry going tough.

Add the water gradually while kneading the dough lightly with one hand, add only enough water to bring the dough together. Once the dough comes together do not knead it any longer.

You can rest the pastry for 10 minutes if it is warm but I find with wholemeal & buckwheat the pastry is manageable straight away.

Roll pastry out to the size of a large dinner plate and move to a non stick baking sheets.

Ingredients – Filling

3 apples, cored and slice thinly

2 Tbsp castor sugar

2 Tbsp water

2 Tbsp butter

Method – Filling

Pre-heat oven to 180C.

Arrange apple slices around the pastry base leaving an inch bare around the edge to fold over.

Fold dough into the centre to cover the edge of the apples, pleating as you go, it doesn’t have to be perfect, galettes are rustic.

Place water, butter & sugar for the caramel in a pan on a low heat until the sugar has dissolved then turn up the heat. Once it starts to turn golden brown, turn off the heat and allow it to cool.

Once cool pour carefully over the apples in the pastry case.

Bake for 35 minutes on a low shelf in the oven to crisp the bottom.

Salted Caramel Doughnuts & Salted Caramel Apples on Stick – Happy Halloween!

I’m still on my salted caramel crusade, I think I probably just need to buy a box of the Bohemian chocolates that we sampled at the Chocolate Festival in Wellington and get over it. I mean a batch of doughnuts and caramel toffee apples in one weekend for a household of two is ridiculous and hubby doesn’t eat fruit and also decided he didn’t like salted caramel either… a little strange I know. I became the good neighbour, fobbing off my wares, sharing the love and the calories…cough..cough, that’s what friends are for right? I fried these doughnuts this time but I have been known to bake them in the past just like a bread roll and they are still rather good.

The toffee apples are for Halloween, it’s a funny treat isn’t it? An apple a day keeps the dentist away they say, I’m sure the dentist has a heart attack over these apples but no more so than when we get to pay our dentist bill. I went last week, just a routine check and teeth clean by the hygienist and it cost more than a whole orchard of apples and the toffee together, I should have taken him some toffee apples so we could all have broken out in a cold sweat together.

Ingredients – Doughnuts, makes 8

350g plain flour

70g brown sugar

1tsp instant yeast

165ml luke warm milk

1 free range eggs

70g butter, melted

vegetable oil for frying

Method

Combine the flour and sugar in a bowl.

Add the yeast to the milk and put aside for a few minutes until it starts to ferment. Then whisk the yeasty milk together with the eggs and melted butter. Add to the flour mix and combine into a dough ball.

Knead the dough for 8-10 minutes and press dough out on a floured working surface to approximately an inch thick.

Using a medium & very small cookie cutter, cut the doughnuts out with the large cutter and the cut the centres out of each doughnut with the small cutter. Place the doughnuts and the ‘whole’ separately on an oiled tray to prove, leaving enough space between them to double in size.

Oil the top if the doughnuts and cover the whole tray with a plastic bag, you’ll need to use 2 trays

Re-knead any dough left over and cut out further doughnuts.

Once dough is doubled in size they are ready to bake.

Heat approximately 300ml of vegetable oil to 190C in a heavy bottom pan, enough to be half the depth of the doughnuts. If you don’t have a themometre just do a test with a little piece of dough to check when it is hot enough. Its should slowly brown.

Add 2 to 3 to the pan and fry the doughnuts for approximately 1 minute then turn and fry for the same amount of time on second side.

Remove from saucepan with a slotted spoon and allow doughnuts to cool on kitchen paper.

Make the caramel at this stage and once it is ready the doughnuts will be cool enough to dip.

Ingredients – Caramel

1 cup brown sugar

100g butter

3 Tbsp water

1tsp salt

Method -Caramel

Combine the sugar, butter & water in a saucepan over low heat until the sugar has melted, stirring constantly.

Increase the heat and bring the caramel up to 146C (you will need a sugar thermometre)

Once it has reached temperature turn the heat off and lett it settle for a minute then dip both the doughnuts & apples into the caramel.

You can add an extra sprinkle of salt to the caramel if you wish.

The Asparagus Table – La Vignarola – Italian Spring Soup, Wholemeal Asparagus Tart and Egg Asparagus Soldiers

Some of the simplest things in life are best, how often have you heard that remark?  The long awaited asparagus season is here in New Zealand and keeping it simple with asparagus certainly highlights the veg at it’s best. My favourite way to eat asparagus is just lightly steamed served with eggs ‘anyway’ and lashings of butter,  try a fun quirky way of serving the spears with your soft boiled egg using them as ‘dunking soldiers’. As I was eating the asparagus and boiled eggs my mind had already wandered onto truffle oil drizzled into the shell…watch out shopping bill, truffle oil may well be in the next basket.

The Italian spring soup La Vignarola is perfect for show casing not only asparagus but also lovely spring vegetables of podded peas and broad beans. If you can’t find them freshly podded and don’t have them sprouting away in your garden, snap frozen are pretty convenient and taste great too. A simple tart of asparagus with sour cream and mustard is easy for anyone to whip up, I made a wholemeal pastry but you can always buy pre bought if you are short on time or don’t have ‘pastry fingers’.

La Vignarola – Spring Soup

Ingredients

4 spring onions, sliced

2 bunches asparagus

200g frozen peas, defrosted

200g broad beans, podded (you can use frozen)

200g jar marinated artichoke hearts

3 cloves garlic

2 cups vegetable stock

Large handful each of parsley & mint, finely chopped

Zest and juice 1 small lemon

100g shaved Pecorino to serve

Olive Oil

Salt & Pepper

Method

Cut the woody ends off the asparagus spears and discard, then cut spears into three.

Place a little olive oil in a large saucepan over a medium heat.

Add the spring onions and garlic and cook for 5 minutes.

Add the asparagus, podded broad beans and stock to the pan and cook for a further 5 minutes.

Add the peas, artichokes juice and zest of the lemon to the saucepan and season with salt & pepper.

You can add some of the artichoke marinade to the soup also if you wish, tasting as you do.

Add the parsley and mint.

Bring the soup to the boil then remove from the heat and serve immediately, you want the veg to be crisp and green.

Serve the soup with shaved pecorino and crust bread

Asparagus Tart – serves 6

Ingredients – pastry
110g butter

180g wholemeal flour
1 egg

2 Tbsp iced water

pinch of salt

Method – Pastry

Place flour, butter and salt in the bowl and whiz until it resembles breadcrumbs.

Add the egg and water and knead together briefly to form a dough.

Rest the pastry in the fridge for 20 minutes.

Roll pastry out to fit tart tin and press into place, trim edges off pastry.

Ingredients – Tart Filling

1 bunch spring asparagus

250g sour cream

2 large free range eggs

2 heaped tsp whole grain mustard

salt & pepper to season

ground black pepper

Method – Tart Filling

Pre-heat oven at 180C & grease & flour a 20cm loose bottom tart tin.

Remove the woody ends from the asparagus and cut spear in half.

Whisk together the sour cream, eggs and mustard and season with a little salt & pepper.

Pour mixture into the pastry base.

Lay the asparagus half spears on top of the mixture in pastry case, alternating tip and base as in picture.

Grind some black pepper over the top of asparagus.

Bake in oven on a lower shelf (to crisp pastry base) for 35-40 minutes until tart is set and golden.

Remove from oven and allow to cool for 10 minutes before removing tart from mould.
Serve warm of chilled

Italian Sfinci with Orange Ricotta Cream

Last week I ran a pastry class, teaching the group how to make a choux pastry. The classes are all hands on so everyone gets to make their own pastries and more importantly take a batch home with them. From the choux pastry we made traditional Chocolate Eclairs and Profiteroles but the champion of the evening was certainly these irresistible Italian treats. Sfinci are the Italians answer to doughnuts and they certainly have a way of of making doughnuts rather look clumsy and unrefined. They are made from a choux style pastry, deep fried until they turn golden and puff up into these heavenly feather light balls of crispy dough. They are so light you will be able to fool yourself that they can’t possibly be unhealthy, share them with friends if you feel guilty about eating them all, then everyone including your waistline will be happy!

If you can resist not eating them all before they have a chance to cool down, they really are delectable filled with the ricotta and orange cream.

Some Sfinci are made from a yeast batter but I like this style.

I just know my NZ blogger friends will love them so I have dedicated this post to our monthly blogging event Sweet New Zealand which was created byAlessandra who is Italian, let’s see what she thinks of them! This months event is hosted by After Taste where you will find lots more Kiwi goodness in the next few days.

Ingredients
65ml water
65ml whole milk
55g unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 tsp caster sugar
pinch of fine sea salt
100g plain flour
3 free-range medium eggs, beaten
500 ml vegetable oil
250g ricotta
20g orange candied peel
1Tbsp icing sugar
Extra castor sugar to roll the Sfinci in

Method
Put the water, milk, butter, sugar and salt into a saucepan and bring to the boil over a high heat.
Take off the heat, immediately tip in the flour and quickly stir with a wooden spoon until completely smooth.
Return to a medium heat and cook for about 2 minute until the mixture comes away from the side of the pan, the flour needs to be cooked a little.
Remove from the heat and allow to cool, gradually whisk in the beaten eggs until you have a smooth dropping consistency.
Place the vegetable oil into a pan and heat to approx 180C. If you haven’t got a thermometer just test small blobs of the dough, if they start to fry immediately and slowly go golden the temperature is correct. If they brown rapidly then it is too hot.
Spoon rough tablespoons of dough into hot oil in batches and turn occasionally until golden and cooked through (2-3 minutes; be careful as hot oil will spit).
Use a slotted spoon to remove the Sfinci from the pan once cooked and place on a tray with the extra castor sugar and roll them in the sugar to coat.
Once cooled, cut them open and fill them with ricotta cream.
To make the ricotta cream, mix together the ricotta, one tablespoon of icing sugar and orange candied peel.

Sticky Crunchy Apple Flapjack Tart

While pondering on this recipe and what I was actually creating, the old Superman saying came to mind, ‘is it a bird…is it a plane…no its…’ Well it’s a Heinz 57 cross breed with a flapjack which is a British oat slice and and a desire to have an apple tart with a difference. If you aren’t familiar with the flapjack it a moreishly sweet, chewy centre and crispy outer oat slice. If it wasn’t for the ton of golden syrup or brown sugar that goes into it it would be rather good for you. I have sandwiched apples in between my slice, pressing the bottom layer into a base and crumbling the the second layer over the top. It has proved to be quite versatile this week as a dessert hot with ice cream or yoghurt and the left overs made a great lunchbox slice and even a substitute breakfast crumbled in a bowl with yoghurt. Of course you could substitute pears or stonefly it when it is in season.

Ingredients
150g rolled oats (finer flakes)
150g whole oats
50g wholemeal flour
150g butter
100g soft brown sugar
3 large granny smith apples
2 tsp cinnamon

Method
Pre heat oven to 180C and grease a 22cm tart tin with a loose removable bottom.
Core the apples, and chop into approx 1 inch pieces. If you read my blog regularly you will know I don’t peel apples and pears but you can if you prefer.
Put the sugar and butter in a pan over a low heat. Once melted add all the oats, flour and cinnamon and stir to combine.
Press two thirds of the mixture into the prepared tin with a metal spoon, if the mixture sticks to the spoon, rinse and use the wet spoon to continue pressing.
Bake for 15 minutes and remove from the oven.
Cover the part baked base with the chopped apples.
Cover the apples with the rest of the mixture by crumbling it over the top.
Bake for another 30 minutes.
Serve warm with ice cream or yoghurt. Stays fresh for a week.