Chocolate Espresso Melting Moment Cookies

I remember making melting moments or Viennese biscuits as a young apprentice, back in the day when they used to make us pipe the mixture into fancy shaped biscuits rather than roll and slice. I was a skinny 17 year old with muscles like ‘knots on cotton’ a piping bag the size of my arm and not a hope in hell of pushing that dough out of the end. I had a love hate relationship with these biscuits, loved to eat them but just couldn’t pipe them to the amusement of everyone else in the kitchen. How sensible I thought, arriving in NZ and finding these pretty biscuits made from the same dough but rolled, sliced and a nice pattern pressed with a fork instead.

The traditional recipe has been tweaked after reading Lucy’s post over at Kitchen Maid who is hosting We Should Cocoa event in June, founded by Choclette. To enter you have to make something chocolatey with Lucy’s choice of ingredient for the month, coffee. So here it is:

Ingredients Biscuits
175g butter, softened
1/4 cup icing sugar
1/4 cup cocoa powder
1 1/4 cups plain four
1/2 cup corn four

Ingredients Filling
50g butter, softened
1/2 cup icing sugar
50g 70% cocoa chocolate
1 tsp fine ground espresso powder

Method
Preheat oven to 180C
To make the biscuit, cream butter and icing sugar until light and fluffy.
Sift the flour, cocoa and corn flour into the butter mix.
Work ingredients together to form a dough.
Roll dough into a sausage shape then divide into 20.
Roll each piece of dough into a ball and place on non stick tray then flatten balls slightly with a fork to make an imprint.
Bake in the oven for 15-20 minutes. remove from the oven and allow to cool.
To make the filling, melt the chocolate over a double boiler. Once melted remove from boiler and add the butter, coffee grains and icing sugar. Allow mixture to cool and it will become firm enough to pipe or spread.
Sandwich two biscuits together with a spoonful of the filling.

Mushroom and Fennel Ragout with Cheese Herb Scones

Winter is well and truly here in New Zealand, we have experienced our first frost in the valley and icy winds blasting from the snow capped south. But no need to grumble, it’s the perfect photo opportunity on these winter mornings, there’s nothing more beautiful than a blanket of frost on the ground as a sunny morning dawns. The snow brings winter sport, trips to the mountains, the thrill of snowboarding and of course the desire to cook hearty winter meals.

As an alternative to the classic meat stews, try a mushroom ragout, it’s quicker to make but still offers that satisfying, warming fullness we associate with a regular stew. High in protein, mushrooms are a good vegetarian alternative and since they are coming into season here in NZ also offer great value for money.

Ingredients for Scones
200g self raising flour
80g butter
pinch of salt
Pinch of cracked black pepper
100g grated cheddar cheese
150ml of milk
1 tblsp Dijon mustard
Handful of thyme

Ingredients for Ragout
800g white or brown button mushrooms, washed and halved
1 large fennel bulb
Olive oil
1 tsp fennel seeds
3 cloves of garlic, crushed
2 tsp Dijon mustard
150ml sour cream
100ml water

Method for Scones
Preheat oven to 180 degrees centigrade.
Remove the fennel fronds from the bulb and chop finely.
whisk the mustard into the milk.
Place flour, butter, pepper and salt into a bowl.
Rub butter and flour together until the mixture resembles fine bread crumbs. Or use a food processor.
Add half the grated cheese and fennel fronds and mix through.
Form a well in the centre of bread crumb mix and add the milk, kneed gently to form a soft dough.
Transfer dough onto a floured board and press the dough out with hands (rather than using a rolling pin) until it is about 2cm thick.
Use a round cookie cutter to cut out the scones or slice the scones, it should make 8
Put scones aside till ragout is done.

Method for Ragout
Quarter the fennel bulb, remove core and thinly slice.
Add a few tablespoons of olive oil to a large oven proof frying over a medium to high heat.
Add the halved mushrooms and fry till they go brown and caramelized on the edges. You may need to do this in two batches if your pan isn’t big enough.
Lower the heat to medium and add the garlic, sliced fennel and fennel seeds and cook for about 5 minutes, stirring several times.
Add the sour cream, water and mustard, stir and simmer for 5 minutes.
Plop the scones on top of the ragout, sprinkle with the rest of the cheese and bake for 20 minutes.
If your frying pan can’t be put into the over transfer ragout to a casserole dish before putting the scones on top.
Serve with some steam green beans.

Chocolate Chip Gingernut Biscuits

Cold winter days call for pots of tea and ‘dunky biscuits’, the iconic British tradition of dipping ones biscuit into your tea! It’s a fine art, dunking it long enough to warm the biscuit through but not so long that it plops off into your cup causing a unattractive floating sludge….. I’m speaking from experience. Perhaps for those unfamiliar with dunking, it may seems a little ‘crass’ but it’s an old tradition that I imagine came from the need to dunk when biscuits were very dry and hard and now we refuse to let the tradition go. The best biscuits to dunk, for me, are the Gingernut which are crisp or the Rich Tea biscuit that is plain but needs a little more skill in the dunk. Believe it or not, there are dunking competitions in Britain…we are a little eccentric aren’t we?

So what food traditions do you have that others might find bizarre?

Ingredients
50g chopped dark chocolate, 70%
1 tsp ground ginger
110g self raising flour
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
50g butter
50g sugar
50g runny honey or golden syrup (2 tbsp)

Method
Pre heat oven to 180C.
Sift flour, ginger and bicarbonate of soda into a bowl.
Rub butter into flour until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs, you can use a food processor, then add the sugar and chopped chocolate.
Add the honey/golden syrup and mix everything with a spoon, finish off by squeezing the mixture together with your hands.
Divide the mixture into 12, and roll each portion into a ball.
Place on the lined baking sheet, well spaced out as they will spread quite a bit during baking, flatten each one slightly.
Bake on the centre shelf for 15-20 minutes, or until they have spread out and turned cracked and craggy.
Cool on the baking tray for a few minutes then, using a palette knife, remove to a wire rack to cool completely.

Boysenberry Bakewell Cake & a Guest Post at Ang Sarap

I have been following Raymund’s blog Ang Sarap for a few years now and watched his blog change and grow over the years. Raymund is originally from the Philippines, the name of is blog means ‘delicious’ in Tagalog and the dishes he creates and shares with us certainly are delicious. We have a lot in common, he is a fellow Auckland blogger but we both bring our homeland food and culture to our blogs and sometimes we both feature our spouses recipes too! We have both developed a passion for food photography which is evident when you look at the then and now on our blogs.

Raymund thought it would be good if we could share a traditional dish, he knows I am a big dessert girl, although I have been know to do more savoury dishes these days so I decide to make and share a Bakewell cake which is a twist on the English Bakewell Tart. The difference is, I have skipped the pastry base with this recipe and I used berries instead of jam and added a little decadence with ground almonds where traditionally only almond extract would have been used. A nice simple cake to make, perfect with a pot of tea on a cold afternoon.

So if you would like the recipe or to find out more about our lovely Raymund and his blog, pop over to Ang Sarap.

Raymund is also doing a series of guest posts so if you keep and eye on his blog he will introduce you to some blogs you may never have seen before.

Good Old Fashioned Ginger Cake & Sweet NZ

There is nothing better than a slice of good old fashioned ginger cake and how remiss of me to neglect it for the past ten years. A Jamaican Ginger Cake is what I had in mind with it’s heavy, sticky texture and dark molasses flavour. It’s an iconic British tea time cake but I have no idea where it got its name from. Did the recipe derive from Jamaica, was it the ginger that came from Jamaica or did a Jamaican in the UK invented the recipe. Or was it just an exotic name given to it by McVities (who produce the cake) and has no story behind it at all? If you do know drop me a line, I couldn’t find anything on the web.

Most recipe call for golden syrup but I prefer to use honey these days particularly since I have a constant supply from a bee keeper friend. If honey is too expensive in your neck of the woods you can substitute if back for golden syrup.

This is also my submission for Sweet New Zealand which is being hosted by the lovely Shirleen over at Sugar & Spice & all Things Nice. Pop over to her blog and see what other treats our fellow Kiwi bloggers are submitting this month.

Ingredients
250 g self-raising flour
3 tsp ground ginger
200 g honey or golden syrup
125 g butter
100g preserved stem ginger, chopped
100 g dark muscovado sugar
2 tbsp molasses or treacle
2 large eggs
200 ml milk

Method
Preheat the oven to 180C.
Grease and line a 22cm cake tin with baking paper.
Melt the honey, sugar molasses, stem ginger and butter in a pan over a low heat.
Sift the flour and ground ginger into a separate bowl.
In another bowl whisk together the eggs and the milk.
Once the sugar mixture has melted pour it into the bowl with the flour and stir together to make a smooth paste.
Add the eggs to the flour mixture and beat together, the mixture will be quite runny.
Pour mixture into prepared cake tin.
Bake for 45-50 minutes or until an inserted knife comes out clean.
Allow to cool in cake tin before removing it.
Ginger cake is always better if you can leave it a day or two before eating it, the cake becomes a lot more sticky!

Happy New Year and a Chocolate & Ginger Fruit Cake

Happy New Year everyone and welcome 2012. New Years morning, even before breakfast, hubby and I write a list of goals for the year ahead. Some people have New Year resolutions but i like a list! A little pedantic some think but I am a great believer of if you verbalize it and put it out there the universe will help you achieve it. Do you do anything like this at the beginning of a new year?

Here is my Christmas cake recipe that I rushed to make the week before Christmas. I’m glad I did, even without the maturing in booze for several months it turned out scrummy, this years twist was adding chocolate and ginger to the mix which is my favourite so far.

Ingredients
200g sultanas
200g raisins
200g pitted chopped prunes
300g chopped figs
150g glace cherries
150g chopped crystalized ginger
200g dark chocolate (70% cacao), chopped
280g chopped almonds
1 cup brandy
1cup orange juice
250g butter, chopped
1 cup dark brown sugar
4 eggs
1/3 cup treacle
1 1/2 cups plain flour
1/2 cup self-raising flour
¼ cup of cocoa
1/2 tbsp ground cardamom
1/2 tbsp ground ginger
1/2 tbsp ground nutmeg
1 tbsp ground cinnamon
Extra 1/2 cup port or brandy for pouring over cake.

Method
Soak all fruit, orange juice and brandy in a bowl for several hours (or overnight) until all liquid is absorbed, stirring occasionally.
Preheat oven on bake to 150C (do not use fan bake as this will dry the cake out). Line the sides and base of a deep 23cm-round tin with two layers of baking paper (help prevent drying out), bringing it 5cm above the rim of the tin.
In a bowl combine the flour, spices, cocoa, chopped chocolate and chopped nuts.
In another bowl, beat butter and sugar together until is pale yellow light and creamy. Then beat in the treacle.
Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition.
Add the fruit to the creamed mixture and mix together.
Add the dry ingredients to the mixture. Stir with a metal spoon until just combined but do not over mix.
Spoon a layer of mixture across the base of the tin and gently spread so the lining doesn’t move. Spoon and spread the rest of the mixture into the tin.
Place a piece of greaseproof paper over the top to help prevent the cake from drying out.
Wrap brown paper around the tin and tie with string. My Nan always did this to prevent it from drying out and I have done it ever since.
Bake for 2-2.5 hours or until a skewer comes out clean when inserted in the centre. Check at two hours and then every 15 minutes.
Once cake is cold pour over port and wrap in clingfilm/gladwrap and place in a tin and store in a dry place.

You can substitute any of the fruit as long as you keep the quantities the same. I use prunes & figs since they produce a more moist cake.

Christmas Chocolate & Fruit Mince Pies

Spot the photo from 2009, I’m pleased to look back and see my photography has improved over the years.

I can’t believe it is only a few days till Christmas, this week has flown by. It has been a busy December for me with a work trip to Aussie ( the job that pays the bills) and a busy month for my cooking school (my second job that I hope one day can pay the bills) and Christmas group bookings. With the final class for the year behind me today it’s time to get organised for our own festivities. We are hosting Christmas lunch at our house, there will be eight and I and haven’t even decided on the main course. I tend to start at dessert and work the menu back, not surprising really. Having been given crayfish and whitebait that has sorted out the entree. Heston’s Christmas pudding and vanilla Panna cotta with pomegrante and pistachio for desserts but I am still procrastinating on the main course. What about you, are you all organised?

Here is my recipe for chocolate mince pies if you haven’t yet made any.

Ingredients- fruit
2 tbs brown sugar
¼ cup brandy
1 small Granny Smith apple, peeled, cored, coarsely grated
100g raisins, coarsely chopped
100g currants
100g sultanas
zest & juice of one small orange
(1/3 cup) orange marmalade
1/2 tsp mixed spice
50g 70% choc, chopped

Method
Combine all the ingredients in a bowl.
Set aside, and soak over night, stir occasionally
Ingredients – pastry

Ingredients-pastry
110g Butter
180g flour
60g icing sugar
1 egg

Method
Preheat oven to 180 degrees centigrade.
Place the flour, butter & sugar in a bowl.
Work the ingredients together until the mixture looks like breadcrumbs.
Add the egg and bring dough together.
Rest dough in fridge for an hour before rolling out.
Roll the dough out thinly and use a cookie cutter that will fit your cupcake tins, making sure it is large enough to cup the filling.
Add about one heaped teaspoon per case and then cut out star shape out of the pastry for the lids.
Egg wash the star shaped pastry.
Bake for 25 minutes or until golden brown.

Christmas Jamie Dodgers with Cinnamon & Ginger

The Jamie Dodger is a biscuit of my youth, I can’t say they were my favourite at the time as they were probably bought as an economical choice to stretch amongst us kids. Although now I am older and no longer live in the UK I look back at them quite fondly. I did like the chewy bit of jam in the centre though more than the biscuits itself so I have decided to revamp the Jamie Dodger to my taste with a little Christmas spice too. For my biscuits I have added cinnamon to a sable dough and added Opies ginger spread to the centres. You could use any ginger jam available in you neck of the woods. If you are a ginger fan, Opies make a wonderful range of ginger products, unfortunately the shop I used to buy mine from has closed its doors and I haven’t yet found a new source. Being a UK product I’m not sure there will be many places in NZ that stock it but do let me know if you come across it in Auckland.

Ingredients
Ingredients – makes 12
300g plain flour
200g butter
100g castor sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
100g ginger jam/spread
1 egg

Method
Preheat oven to 180C.
Place all the ingredients except for the ginger jam and egg in a food processor and blitz till the dough becomes fine breadcrumbs in texture.
Add the egg and pulse until a dough starts to form. Remove from food processor and bring together by hand.
Roll the dough out in between to sheets of baking paper to prevent it sticking to the work surface or rolling pin, to about 1/2 inch thick.
Rest in the fridge till chilled.
Cut out shapes with a round cookie cutter. Half of the biscuits need to have the centre cut out with a smaller cutter (round, heart, star shaped).
Re-roll the off cuts of dough to make more biscuits.
Place biscuits on a non stick baking sheet and bake for 15-20 minutes or until golden brown.
Once cookies are cool, dust the top biscuit with icing sugar.
Spread a generous amount of ginger jam on the base biscuit and press the top biscuit into the jam to form a sandwich.

Enjoy! Alli

Peanut Butter Fudge

Eating ‘Russian fudge’ in the office the other week the girls said “you could easily make this couldn’t you and probably better?” “Yes of course I replied” Needless to say their response was, “Why don’t you make us some then and maybe make it peanut butter flavoured while your at it?”. Serves me right of course for being a smart a*se, so I dutifully went home to show them I could make a decent batch of fudge. I use the basic Chelsea sugar recipe but adjust it to what is more convenient, never having golden syrup in the house I skip it but also increased the condensed milk content to a full tin then added peanut butter.

Anyone know why fudge in New Zealand is called Russian fudge? All I could find on its origin is this with no mention of Russia.

Ingredients
3 cups castor sugar
125g butter
400g sweetened condensed milk (standard tin)
2 tsp vanilla essence
2 tbsp peanut butter, I used crunchy

Method
Place all the ingredients except the vanilla and peanut butter into a heavy bottom saucepan. Warm over a gentle heat until the sugar has dissolved.
Bring to a gentle boil and cook for about 15-20 minutes, until it reaches the soft ball stage (120°C). Keep stirring the mix so it doesn’t burn on the bottom.
Remove from the heat and add the and peanut butter.
Beat using an electric mixer until the fudge is thick and creamy.
Pour into a greased 20 cm cake tin lined with baking paper.
Score the top and break into pieces when cold.

Cheese & Bacon Scones with Homemade Piccalilli

What better way to end the weekend with a lazy rainy Sunday morning tea and a plate of cheese and bacon scones and homemade piccalilli. Of course the piccalilli was made several weeks in advance to allow the flavours to mature but the scones were enjoyed fresh from the oven. Piccalilli in the store doesn’t taste the same as how I remember it as a child, the colours are too bright and the flavours seem too sweet, I prefer the sharp bite of vinegar and the heat from mustard seeds, peppercorns and chili peppers. Moving into summer I love to have lots of pickles and condiments as part of ‘snacking platter’ which are easy to throw together when guests pop in so this year I have decided to start making my own. Since I have not made it before I was a little conservative on the quantities and only made four small jar and already we are down to two so I may have to get another batch on soon.

I turned to traditional English recipes for the BBC, taking ideas from a few and modified them a little to suit my taste. I really only wanted cauliflower and gherkins in mine but you gan use a range of vegetables as done here and here.

Ingredients – makes 8 scones
200g self raising flour
80g butter
pinch of salt
4 rashers of streaky bacon, thinly sliced
100g grated cheddar cheese
150ml of milk
1 tblsp Dijon mustard

Method
Preheat oven to 180 degrees centigrade.
Fry bacon till brown.
whisk the mustard into the milk.
Place flour, butter and salt into a bowl.
Rub butter and flour together until the mixture resembles fine bread crumbs.
Add the grated cheese & bacon and mix through.
Form a well in the centre of bread crumb mix and add the milk kneed gently to form a soft dough.
Transfer dough onto a floured board and press the dough out with hands (rather than using a rolling pin) until it is about 2cm thick.
Either use a round cookie cutter to cut out the scones or slice the scones into squares.
Place on a floured baking sheet and brush tops of scones with a little egg wash.
Bake for 20 minutes until risen and golden brown, they will sound hollow like bread when tapped on the base if cooked through correctly.

Ingredients – Picalilli
For the wet brine
100g salt 1 litre cold water
1 small cauliflower into florets
150g gherkins
For the spiced vinegar
300ml pint malt vinegar
1 tbsp mixed pickling spices
1 fresh chilli
For the sauce
25g plain flour
1tbsp grain mustard
1⁄2 tbsp turmeric
1/2 tbsp mustard seeds
1 tsp ground ginger
3 tbsp malt vinegar

Method
To make the wet brine – mix the salt with cold water in a large mixing bowl, allow plenty of space for the vegetables.
To make the vegetables – prepare the vegetables by cutting them into 1⁄2 inch pieces or even smaller. Make sure they are as regular in shape as possible.
Put into the wet brine and leave for 24 hours. Place a plate on top of the vegetables to make sure they are kept well under the liquid.
For the spiced vinegar – put the vinegar and spices into an aluminium or stainless steel saucepan, bring just to boiling point, lower the heat, cover the pan and simmer gently for 10-15 minutes; allow to cool. There will be less than 600ml/1 pint of vinegar but this will be correct for the sauce.
For the sauce – blend the flour, mustard powder, turmeric and ginger in a good sized basin, add the three tablespoons vinegar, stir to make a smooth paste. Gradually strain the spiced vinegar over the ingredients, make sure the mixture is smooth.