Raspberry White Chocolate Tartlets

This is a recipe that I created a while back and they are one of my favourite things to throw together to impress people. The reason I made these this time was because I recently bout this nordic ware tart pan and wanted to try it out. This was based on a recipe I found in super food ideas years ago and came from me having virtually now of the needed ingredients. The original recipe involved pistachios and some other stuff and I didn’t have any of so I figured white chocolate and raspberry are kinda the same thing.

 I love making changes to recipes in fact I am currently working on a few recipes for something big that I can’t wait to tell you all about but not yet. Let’s just say I think it will make the world just a tiny bit sweeter. But for now you can be content with one of my favourite mostly original recipes in two ways, I got impatient while they were in the oven so I decided to make them as spirals too.

White Chocolate Raspberry Tartless and Spirals

Ingredients

‘pastry’

• 185g butter
• 3/4 C castor sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 egg
• 2 cups plain flour

filling

• 75g butter
• 50g white chocolate, roughly chopped
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 egg, lightly beaten
• 1/3 cup almond meal
• 1/3 cup plain flour
• 1/4 cup of frozen raspberries, chopped finely

Method

1. Preheat oven and prepare you baking pans. for this you can use a well oiled mini muffin pan or tart pan or baking sheets lined with baking paper.
2. To make ‘pastry’ cream butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. (If you are using a stand mixer use the paddle attachment so you don’t have to swap later other wise use a hand-mixer)
3. Add extract and beat until combined.
4. Add egg and beat until combined.
5. Using a wooden spoon (or the paddle attachment on your stand mixer) add flour and mix until combined.
6. Set aside
   

   ---

7. To make the filling melt white chocolate and butter together in a small bowl.
8. Mix all the ingredients together until conbined.
   

   ---

9. To assemble your tarts:
10. • either press ‘pastry’ into your muffin or tart pan leaving a well for the filling to go into and fill with filling, or
    • flatten dough (you can use a rolling pin but I generally just press it out with my clean hands) and spread mixture over dough. Roll it up and refridgerate for at least 30 minutes will it cools. Then cut into 1.5cm sections and place on baking tray.
11. Bake for 12-15 minutes or until the top is golden

 

Advertisement

Native Australian Shortbread

So last week at work we had a NAIDOC week cooking contest with 2 categories, the first was based on colour which means that recipes be coloured based on the Aboriginal or Torres Straight Island flag. The second was to use native Australian ingredients. I decided to enter the second category with some spiced shortbread. I went online and purchased lemon myrtle, aniseed myrtle and wattleseed (google and you too can find). I choose to make 3 varieties because after smelling the spices I don’t think they would work together. I guess I should say that my recipe won the contest.

There is no secret to shortbread it is one of the easiest recipes you can make as it only has 3 ingredients (4 with spice). I used supermarket brand butter and it was still lovely I guess if there is a secret it is that you cannot overbeat the butter, you want the colour to change and for the texture to become creamy and gorgeous, it should look like heaven.

Native Shortbread

Ingredients

• 125g softened butter (preferably unsalted)
• 55g castor sugar
• 180g plain flour
• 1tsp of lemon myrtle, aniseed myrtle or wattleseed (you can omit if you want regular shortbread)

Method

1. Pre-heat oven to 180 degrees and line baking tray with baking paper.
2. Place butter in bowl of your mixer and mix on high for at least 3 minutes.
3. Add sugar and beat on high for another 3 minutes or so.
4. Remove bowl from mixer and add flour and spice (if you are using). Mix with a woden spoon until just combined.
5. Now we are going to shape them, I do this with my hand as it gives them a very homemade feel but if you would like to roll them you will need to refrigerate for 15-20 minutes. Shape the dough however you want and then place on a baking tray. Cook for 15 minutes or until golden.

Enjoy

ANZAC Slice

Hello readers and sorry I have been so silent lately… I have no excuses but I have renewed motivation. I went to the Good Food and Wine Show in Sydney last weekend and made macarons with Adriano Zumbo which was an experience in itself. I also just received my LightCase which should improve the quality of my photos (I really wasn’t happy with them). I would like to tell you a little about the LightCase, it was a project I backed on kickstarter and basically it is a little pop up box that filters light to make small objects look better, if you want to know more see their website.

Now on to today’s recipe, this one was specifically requested by a friend in Perth who hasn’t had them in years but sent me a message that she NEEDs the recipe because she can’t stop thinking about them. Basically an ANZAC slice is a lazy person’s ANZAC biscuit, the only difference between the biscuit and slice is that with the slice you don’t have to roll out balls and hope that they don’t spread too much, you just press the whole lot into a brownie tray and bake. These are really easy, all you need is a bowl, spoon and some way of melt butter.

In case you don’t know what an ANZAC biscuit is (if you are not from Australia or New Zealand) my Mum always told me that these were the food that the families of the Australian and New Zealeander troops made and sent to their loved ones. I can’t speak to the accuracy of this story but here is a link to a more researched history. Regardless of the actual history these biscuits have become very important to the Australian identity.

ANZAC Slice

Ingredients

• 1C flour
• 1C desiccated coconut
• 1C sugar
• 1C rolled oats
• 130g butter
• 2 Tbs golden syrup
• 2 Tbs boiling water
• 2 tsp bicarb

Method

1. Pre-heat oven to 180 degrees and combine dry ingredients in a bowl.
2. Melt butter with golden syrup.
3. Combine boiling water and bicarb.
4. Combine all ingredients and press into brownie pan.
5. Bake for about 12 minutes or until browned.
6. Allow to cool completely and then slice into pieces in whatever size you would like.

Enjoy!

Caramel Hedgehog Slice

I was at Aldi a little white back and they had cans of caramel condensed milk (which is basically the same as the ‘top and fill’ stuff you buy at coles and woolies. I grabbed a can not really knowing what I was going to do with it but knew it could be cool. After much thinking about cheesecakes and caramel coconut balls I settled on caramel hedgehog slice. I started with a basic chocolate hedgehog recipe that I found here. and altered it to make it gorgeous and caramelly (and as you all know I LOVE CARAMEL). It was a great hit but I should warn you it is super super sweet.

If you can’t get Aldi caramel please don’t fret you can also buy the top and fill at another supermarket or if you have heaps of condensed milk and time here is my recipe for dulce de leche (basically the same thing). All you need to do is put your can (or cans) of condensed milk in a pot and fill with water until the can is well covered and simmer for 2-3 hours and let it cool before you open the can. Seriously that simple.

Caramel Hedgehog Slice

Ingredients

• 375g plain biscuits (I use Marie)
• 3/4 cup desiccated coconut
• 1/4 cup coarsely chopped macadamias (optional)
• 2 tbsp cocoa
• 100g butter
• 1 can Aldi Caramel / Top and Fill / Dulche De Leche

Topping

• 2 cups icing sugar
• 1 tbs golden syrup
• 20g butter
• boiling water

Method

1. Crush biscuits into small bits (not too small or you lose the texture) – use a food processor if you have one otherwise put them in a strong bag and beat them with a rolling pin.
2. Place butter and caramel in a saucepan and heat until the butter is melted and it is relatively well combined (you may end up with some butter floating on top and that is fine).
3. Put all dry ingredients in a large bowl (crushed biscuits, coconut, nuts and cocoa) and mix until it is well mixed.
4. Pour caramel mixture over dry ingredients and mix really well.
5. Press your glorious batter into a slice pan and leave in fridge to cool while you make the icing.
   

   ---

6. To make icing place icing sugar into bowl and make a well in the middle.
7. Put butter and golden syrup in small bowl and microwave until the butter melts.
8. Pour butter and golden syrup into well and mix (add boiling water if needed to get a not quite runny consistency.
9. Spread icing over slice and leave in the fridge to set for a few hours.

Enjoy

Little lemon meringue pies

I had a maths teacher in high school who loved lemon merigue pie, he was obsessed. He told everyone in his class that he only guaranteed way of passing his class was to give him a lemon meringue pie. I recently got a new mixer and decided the best way to test it was to whip egg whites which made me think that lemon meringue pie was the way to go. I also had a giant bag of limes that needed using. I have now discovered the secret to a seriously amazing lemon meringue pie is to use lime juice instead.

I also had some fun putting the meringue on top and I love using a brulee torch. OK now there are a few things you need to know before attempting these. Firstly they are actually quite simple but you do use a saucepan and I know that that will scare some of you off but please don’t let it, the saucepan element isn’t that scary. Secondly you can cheat and buy a ready pastry case, the star of this recipe is the filling and topping so no one every has to know. Finally eggwhites are friendly and want you to succeed and it’s really really hard to over beat them so don’t be scared there either. Great now we are all feeling confident let’s make some lemon meringue pies (I got the recipe here).

Lemon Meringue Pies Makes 4x 12cm tarts or 1x 23cm tart Ingredients

• Pastry case (buy ready made or follow this pastry recipe)
• 50g cornflour
• 1/2 cup water
• 1 cup fresh lemon juice
• 2 cups caster sugar
• 60g butter, coarsely chopped
• 4 eggs, separated (please comment if you want me to teach you to separate an egg)

Method

1. Prepare the pastry if you are doing so.
2. Combine the cornflour, water, lemon juice and half the sugar in a saucepan. Use a balloon whisk to stir over medium heat until the mixture boils and thickens (it goes from not ready to thick very quickly so keep an eye on it).
3. Continue to cook, stirring constantly, for a further 1 minute. Remove from heat.
4. Whisk in butter and egg yolks (don’t let them stop moving until it it well mixed – you don’t want bits of cooked eggs). Transfer to a bowl. Cover with plastic wrap and place in the fridge for 3 hours or until cooled completely.
5. When it is cool spoon into pastry case(s) and put back in the fridge while you beat your egg whites.
6. Using a stand mixer or hand mixer beat eggs on high speed until peaks form.
7. Start adding sugar one tablespoon at time until it is all lovely and incorporated (when you rub it between your fingers your shouldn’t feel grains).
8. Either pipe or spoon eggwhites on to tart(s) and then use a brulee torch to brown (if you don’t have one stick it under a hot grill but watch it carefully you just want it to brown).

Enjoy

Caramel Cheesecake Brownies

I have another confession (I seem to have a lot of those don’t I?) I love grocery shopping, I love wandering through supermarkets and seeing what is there, sometimes I will even go to multiple just for a wander. I was exploring this whim the other day at Coles and saw a new brand of cake mix I think the brand was the little brownie company and their caramel brownie mix caught my attention. I thought I can do something fun with that which is where this came from.

This is not a new concept cheesecake brownies have been done a lot however these are caramel which I think give them a little something extra. As you already know I am completely obsessed with caramel and something you might not know yet is that I am crazy for baked cheesecake so this combines a few of my favourite things. For these I threw together another batch of my salted caramel but you could feel free to use any caramel spread, sauce, ect you like. If you can’t find a caramel brownie packet mix please feel free to use my recipe and you can leave out the salted caramel in the middle if you like (or leave it in).

Caramel Cheesecake Brownies

Ingredients

• 1 pkt caramel Brownie cake mix
• 250g cream cheese (softened)
• 50g butter (softened)
• 1/4 cup castor sugar
• 3 Tbs caramel sauce plus about the same again to decorate
• 1 egg

Method

1. Preheat oven to 180 degrees C and line brownie pan with baking paper.
2. Prepare brownie mix according to intructions on the box and press or pour into brownie tin and set aside.
3. Beat cream cheese until all lumps are removed.
4. Add butter, sugar, caramel sauce and egg and beat until well combined.
5. Pour cheese mixture over brownie batter and smooth down.
6. Draw lines with caramel sauce on top of cream cheese and use knife running pependicular alternating directions to create a pattern.
7. Bake for about 35 minutes or until the top is a bit browned.

Enjoyed!!!

Famous Caramel Slice

So, today devoted husband took a batch of my famous caramel slice to work and sadly there are no photos because it was eaten too quickly. Everyone I have made this for has loved it to the extent that I once made my boss a caramel slice cake. If you google caramel slice there are very few changes between recipes. Here is my version and my secret is to over cook the caramel a bit, it make the favour a bit deeper, other than that it is very straight forward. The only thing that makes this recipe tricky is that there are 3 components each one is simple and you don’t need any special equipment, all you need is a brownie pan (or similar), a bowl, a saucepan and a heatproof spoon. I’m afraid there is no more ado today, please make this, share it and enjoy!!

Caramel Slice

Ingredients

Base

• 1 cup plain flour
• 1 cup decicated coconut
• 1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar
• 125g melted butter (and you don’t even need to let it cool, use it hot if you want)

Filling

• 2 x 397ml cans of condensed milk
• 1/4 cup golden syrup
• 60g butter
• 85g golden syrup

Topping

• 150g mik chocolate (use edark if you prefer)
• 25g butter

Method

1. Line brownie pan with baking paper and preheat oven to 180 degrees C.
2. Mix together all base ingredients and press evenly into the pan.
3. Bake base for 12 minutes or until slightly browned – set aside.
4. Place all the filling ingredients into a small saucepan and place over a medium heat. It should cook for about 10-15 minutes, if it sticks a bit that is fine (it makes it more toffee like). The texture will change and it will look a bit grainy and bubble, when it is thick and gluggy pour it over the base and bake for 10-15 minutes (it will turn into that amazing caramel colour).
5. Leave it to cool at least an hour (you can put it in the fridge when it has cooled a bit and you can leave it in the pan if you like).
6. Once it has cooled to at least room temp you can place a clean bowl over a pot of boiling water (being careful that the water doesn’t touch the bowl) and put the chocolate and butter from the topping ingredients to melt. Once they are nice and runny pour over the caramel and spread evenly.
7. Let it cool in the fridge (ideally overnight).
8. Cut into pieces what ever size you like

Enjoy!!

Chocolate cream tart

If you are looking for a simple recipe that will blow people away look no further. This recipe has only 3 or 4 ingredients and it so simple to make I think my cake could do it. It’s also sooooo delishious and impressive at dinner parties. All you need is chocolate, cream (or coconut milk) a pastry case and maybe some butter but that is optional. This recipe seriously couldn’t be any easier, you don’t even need to turn your oven on. You can make it a day ahead and leave it in the fridge. I think this recipe is specifically great for people who don’t bake.

If you want you can buy little tart cases and do individual tarts for dinner party guests and if you want to make it gluten free buy a gluten free base or you could whip it and serve it in a ramekin. If you want it dairy free use coconut milk instead of cream, skip the butter, find a dairy free base and use dairy free chocolate. This is so simple that you can alter it as much as you like. Want raspberry choc tart? You can put some raspberries in the tart case before you pour on the chocolate. Want white chocolate? Use white chocolate.

This is also infinitely scaleable, the proportions are 1 to 1. It couldn’t be more simple. There is one thing though and this applies to all simple recipes… use good quality ingredients. Because it is so simple bad chocolate will still taste bad so get a chocolate you like, it doesn’t have to cost a fortune it just have to be nice. If you want to go all out please feel free to make your pastry (you can use the one from this recipe).

Chocolate Cream Tart

Ingredients

• pastry case (what ever size you want just scale for different sizes)
• 150g dark chocolate (or what ever chocolate you like)
• 150g cream (pure if you have it but any type except sour cream) or coconut milk
• 20g butter (optional)

Method

1. Heat cream (or coconut milk) in small saucepan until it boils
2. Pour cream (or coconut milk) over chocolate and butter and leave to melt for about 3 minutes
3. Stir until all the chocolate has melted and it is smooth
4. Pour into your pastry case and put in fridge until it sets (at least 2 hours)

You can leave it in the fridge overnight just make sure that it is covered in al foil (don’t let the foil touch the tart or it wont be as pretty)

Enjoy!

Ginger and Oat Biscuits

Ever bought an ingredient cause it just sounded fun with no idea what you were going to do with it? The other day I bought a bag of crystalised ginger with no goal other than something gingery and delicious. With no plans I figured the best thing to do was look at the companies website which is where I found the recipe for these biscuits. They have this wholesome healthy feel to them (don’t fall for it though they are still biscuits) and remind me a little of ANZAC biscuits. The ginger flavour isn’t too strong but the texture is lovely and chewy. If you have some ginger I recommend trying this or even if you don’t.

The batch they make is actually quite big so you could consider scaling them down but they are lovey and flavoursome and a bit special. They seem like the kind of biscuit that belongs in a tin at your grandma’s house. In fact they seem like the sort of thing that should be shared and not kept to yourself.

Ginger and Oat Biscuits

Ingredients

• 100g Crystallised Ginger, finely chopped
• 100g sultanas, finely chopped
• 1 1/2 cups rolled oats
• 125g soft butter
• 3/4 cup light packed light (use dark for a more molassesy flavour)
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 egg
• 3/4 cup plain flour
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon bi carbonate of soda

Method

1. Preheat oven to 180 degrees C and line a couple of baking sheets with baking paper.
2. Combine ginger, sultanas and oats, mix until well combined.
3. Cream butter, sugar and vanilla together.
4. Add egg and beat until just combined.
5. Add flour, baking powder and bi carb to creamed butter mixture and stir until well combined.
6. Add ginger, dried fruits and oats combination, mix well. The dough is quite stiff.
7. Roll dough into balls and place onto a non stick baking paper lined baking tray about 5mm apart as they spread more than you might think.
8. Bake for 12 to 15 minutes turning tray around if necessary half way through baking [biscuits will be a little soft to touch but will crisp up on cooling].
9. Remove from oven, cool on tray on a wire rack for about 5 minutes then transfer to wire cake rack to finish cooling.

Enjoy

Pink Lemonade Cupcakes

Hey guys sorry that it has been a while since my last recipe, I guess I have just lacked motivation to bake of late but never fear I am back and I promise to give you at least 2-3 new recipes a week. Today’s recipe is from Super Food Ideas Magazine. They are pink lemonade cupcakes, in the magazine they have a marshmallow frosting but I have something I should tell you… I hate marshmallow, I don’t have any memories of enjoying it, even in hot chocolates but there are places it does below like rocky road. Point being that marshmallows will not feature in this recipe.

I think that these were a mothers day special recipe and there is no reason you couldn’t make them for your mum but personally I think that these are better targeted at little girls. The other little change I made was to make the cake pink and the frosting very lightly yellow instead of pink frosting and yellow cake. These are a very basic simple cake with a very simple sweet flavour. In other words they are pleasant but in no way life changing, none-the-less if you just want to make some cupcakes you could do much worse than these.

Pink Lemonade Cupcakes (makes 12)

Ingredients

•  125g butter (softened)
• 1/2 cup castor sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 egg
• 1 cup self raising flour
• 1/2 plain flour
• 1/4 cup lemonade
• 3 Tbs milk
• pink food colouring (I used gel colouring but the one you get at the supermarket will be fine for this)

Frosting

• 1 cup lemonade
• 125g cream cheese (softened)
• 2 Tbs butter (softened)
• 1 1/2 cup icing sugar
• yellow food colouring
• sprinkles

Method

1. Preheat oven to 180 degrees c and line muffin tin with cupcake liners.
2. Using a hand mixer, or stand mixer, cream together butter, sugar and vanilla until light and fluffy.
3. Add egg and beat until just combined.
4. With wooden spoon stir in flours, lemonade, milk and food colouring (you only want enough for a slight tint).
5. Equally divide batter between cup cake cases and bake for 15-17 minutes or until a skewer comes out clean.
6. While the cupcakes are in the oven pour the cup of lemonade into a saucepan and put over a high heat until it has reduced to about 30ml (should fill a shot glass) this should take about 5-15 minutes depending on your hotplate, keep an eye on it.
7. When cupcakes have cooled completely start the frosting. Using the whisk attachment of your stand mixer or your hand mixer beat the cream cheese and butter until there are no lumps.
8. Add the lemonade concentrate and a few a little food colouring (keep in mind you are just trying to make it a little more lemonade coloured so you wont need much) and beat through.
9. Finally add the icing sugar a bit at a time until you have a nice light fluffy frosting. You can add more icing sugar if you think it needs it.
10. Frost cupcakes with a spatula and sprinkle with cupcakes.

Enjoy!