Yes, I hear you saying “but Katie, we already knew that”. But did you know that im also the other kind of twit?
Thats right peeps, i’ve jumped on the Twitter bandwagon and you can follow me by clicking on the little button in the sidebar to the right or by following @atrueloveofmine
Im not a big fan of social media. Never have been. I resisted facebook until it became absolutely necessary to get an account and I have always been vocal about my dislike for twitter. But, things change and after some gentle nudging from friends at work (thanks guys!) I decided to dip my toe in the twitter pool. And I was not disappointed! As well as broadening my horizons and perspective, twitter is also responsible for broadening my waistline with a plethora of delicious recipes appearing regularly in my feed. One by the lovely Jennifer at Delicieux that particularly caught my eye was that for Wicked Chocolate Orange Cookies.
I had to go to an impromptu evening meeting where I needed to bring a plate of food. And I was really hungry. A cake was out because I wouldn’t be able to sneak a piece without anybody noticing, but cookies? These ones sounded like just the ticket. A very easy, straightforward and decadently chocolaty recipe, these babies turned out so well that I knocked up another batch a few weeks later to give as christmas gifts.
And it allowed me to vent my stress and frustration accumulated during the year
Chop chop!
While the final product looked suspiciously like many other cookies i’ve made before such as Nigella Lawson’s Ultimate Chocolate Cookie, the difference was in the delicious orange that permeated.
Are there any flavours in the world that go together as well as chocolate and orange? I highly doubt it! And if there are, please send your suggestions my way!
So, while it is extremely tempting to keep all the delicious cookies for yourself, in the spirit of the season these make excellent christmas gifts. Wrap them up in some cellophane or a small box and someone will love you forever!
So, my lovelies, can you suggest any other whiz bang flavour combos to try? I’m much more of a sweets person (clearly!) but am open to savoury suggestions as well.
And before you go, have you entered the Christmas Giveaway yet? Entries close on Monday so you really should get your skates on!
I’m not afraid to say that i’m an ideas-woman. I have killer ideas. Ideas for TV shows, ideas for books, ideas for outfits, ideas for travel, mostly ideas for food. Perhaps I just have an overactive imagination? Anyway, with this gift also comes a curse. I’m not really what you would call a do-er. I never finish things. I rarely get things done. I see deadlines whoosh past me. Which is why, despite the best of intentions, when I heard about the Australian Pavlova Blog Hop on twitter (yes, i’m now a twit) deep down I knew I wasn’t going to make the deadline. But, im also not a quitter so when I made up my mind to make this Chocolate M&M Pav Sundae, even though it would end up being a week late, I knew I was going to get around to it.
Ok, so it isn’t the prettiest dessert but boy was it yummy!
There were lots of recipes floating around (including a particularly spacey Tardis Pav recipe by Mel from Crunchy Tiger) but I thought I would give a delicious looking chocolate pav recipe a crack. I didn’t want to do a traditional fruit pavlova, mostly because it was a bit same old same old and I wanted to do something different. But also a tiny bit because I hate passionfruit seeds and didnt want to do the chopped-fruit-with-passionfruit-pulp-on-top thing. Bah, who am I kidding, I just wanted an excuse to use…
THIS
Yes, that is 1.4 litres of Hershey’s chocolate sauce. Thank you Costco.
The other pretty big reason why I wanted to turn my pavlova into a sunday was mostly because of this:
I think that because I left it out overnight (and the outside had cracked) the marshmallowy inside disintegrated in the humidity into, well lets face it, quite a tasty pool of chocolate slush.
But all turned out well in the end and it was quite a theraputic process, cooking this baby.
And I got to use the new kitchenaid stand mixer! Yay!
The recipe called for the mixing in of some chopped up chocolate but I figured m&ms would but much more colourful and fun
Because of the extreme shadows in my oven I didn’t realise that my pav had collapsed until it the morning 🙁 boo!
so then I whipped up some cream, stirred through the rind of two oranges and some Grand Marnier, poured some Hershey’s liquid gold over the top and had myself a delicious
Chocolate M&M Pav Sundae
as if you could resist a close up of that crispy, gooey, messy, creamy, orangey, chocolaty deliciousness
So, my lovelies, what is the coolest/craziest/best idea you’ve ever had?
I make this Pavlova in participation with the Sweet Adventures: Australian Blog Hop. You can find instructions on how to join by clicking on the link below.
Chocolate M&M Pavlova Recipe – adapted from this recipe
1. Whip your egg whites in a large bowl with an electric mixer until soft peaks form
2. Gradually add the sugar making sure that the sugar dissolves between additions
3. When the sugar is dissolved, fold in the sifted cocoa, vinegar and m&ms
4. Draw a 22cm circle on a sheet of baking paper and spoon the pavlova mix inside. Smooth the sides and top
5. Place the pavlova in an oven heated to 140 degrees celsius (fan forced) then immediately reduce the temperature to 100 degrees. Bake for 1 1/4 to 1 1/2 hours or until dry to the touch. Turn the oven off and cool the pavlova in the oven with the door ajar
Orange Cream Recipe
Ingredients
1 1/2 cup thickened cream
finely grated rind of 2 oranges
2 teaspoons Grand Marnier
Method
1. Whip your cream until soft peaks form
2. stir in the orange rind and grand marnier
Construction
1. Break of spoonfuls of your pavlova making sure to get a mix of crunchy outside and marhsmallowy inside
2. layer pieces of pavlova with dollops of orange cream
3. top with a slug of Hersheys Chocolate Topping and a few m&ms
For my birthday recently I was delighted to receive several cookbooks that I had been hankering after. As I have recently had to buy a new bookcase to store my ever increasing stash of cookbooks, I vowed to do more than just look at the pretty pictures and actually cook a proper amount of recipes from each book. My resolution was strengthened by the fact that holidays start in three weeks and after that I will have no colleagues/students to give my excess food to and my ever expanding waistline will soon begin to rival the equator. Fact.
And lets face it, with this selection how could you not be dying to have a crack at the recipes?
Anyway, back to the story. After the serendipitous meeting of Zumbo the other weekend (see here), I was determined to make something from the book, no matter how hard the recipes looked. The first recipe I opened to was this “It Mayo Shock You” cake and after the initial URGH reaction to the thought of mayo and chocolate (both of which I love but previously only separately) I was intrigued by the relative simplicity of the recipe.
Love the full page photos but intrigued by the continuous presence of tiny people. Any ideas?
I used the Kewpie Mayonnaise which is available at most supermarkets
(I also like to eat this squeezed on carrot sticks… mmmm…)
Yep. Equator. Told you so.
All you do is mix all the ingredients together then stir in the raspberries. So far so good…
The recipe made two small loaf cakes and my tins were a little too small so I had extra batter to make some cupcakes. No point in letting the excess go to waste!
Good lord, these cakes looked and smelled so good coming out of the oven
So the cakes came out fine, but then I hit a snag. I should have known that all would not be as it seemed. To go over the cake the recipe called for a chocolate glaze that seemed simple enough, but required the making of a mirror glaze which required an ingredient called Pectin NH. I’m familiar with normal pectin as ive used it in jam making many times before. One voice in my head said “go ahead lazy bones, just whack some jamsetta in and be done with it” while the other voice said “Katie, do you really think that someone with this degree of expertise in finnicky ingredients would just use normal pectin? Nuh uh.” For once, I made the right decision, as I found out later on that you cannot substitute normal for NH as they are totally different and act differently under heat. So I decided to admit defeat and use a normal chocolate ganache with raspberries on top of my cake.
But, I had my own secret weapon.
Ok, so not quite so secret, but pretty cool nonetheless. These babies are pretty much popping rocks and I thought I would put them on top of my ganache to give it a bit of a Zumbo lift.
You just have to remember that the star dust will lose its poppyness after it comes into contact with moisture so you don’t want to put it on your ganache before it has set.
This was quite possibly the lightest yet richest chocolate cake i’ve tried so far.
It was impossibly light. It was impossibly chocolaty but without being overly sweet.
Smothered in rich ganache with the pop of raspberry and the magical mouth popping star dust, this was the dessert of champions!
So, unfortunately I couldn’t fully reproduce the recipe as it was written, but I feel an immense sense of achievement just from making the cake. Next on the list are the “toasted lammyjammit” and the “honey comb-over” yes, I am going to work my way up to the much much more challenging ones. Baby steps peeps.
So, my lovelies, what is the craziest dessert you have ever made or eaten? Did you do a fist pump in the air when you completed it? I may have…
It Mayo Shock U – From Zumbo by Adriano Zumbo
Ingredients for the Cake
291 g japanese mayonnaise
210g caster sugar
6g vanilla extract
300g plain flour (sifted)
6g baking powder
5g bi carb soda
65g unsweetened cocoa powder
285g water
165g fresh raspberries plus extra for decoration
Method
1. Mix the mayonnaise, sugar and vanilla for 3-5 mins until the sugar begins to dissolve
2. Sift the dry ingredients together and add to the mayo mix. Mix on a low speed to combine
3. With the motor running, add the water and mix until combined (beware of the splatter potential though, I don’t know if I didn’t use a big enough bowl or of the mixture was just super wet but I ended up with cake batter everywhere!)
4. Remove the mixer and carefully stir the raspberries through using a wooden spoon or spatula
5. Pour into two small loaf tins (7.5 X 7.5 X 20 cm) that have been greased and lined with baking paper
6. Bake on 170 degrees celsius for 45 mins, or until a skewer inserted into the middle of the cake comes out just a little moist
7. cool the cakes in the tins and turn out carefully, making sure that you leave them the right way up
Ganache
I was super lazy and just melted some dark chocolate and then added some cream until I had the right consistency. You could always just pour melted chocolate straight on as well I suppose. Super super chocolaty!
Then garnish with raspberries and strawberry star dust!
When the mercury hits 30+ degrees (celsius, my European friends) you know that Summer is well and truly here. Despite the fact that technically, it is still Spring. So to celebrate the sunshine and the general laziness that long beautifully warm days brings, I thought I would make some easy peasy lemon tartlets.
If you think these babies are looking a little on the large side, take not that they are sitting in a mini muffin pan not a normal sized one
What really started this off was a little road trip I took a few weeks ago to the NSW Southern Highlands. It was a great weekend away with great company, amazing food, lots of antique shops and second hand bookstores. The first place we explored was Berrima which is a pretty little town that has a bit of everything – history, beautiful flowers and gardens, food and knick knacks. I was also surprised to come across a working jail which I am going to request if I ever get convicted of a crime. I might even plead guilty to something I didn’t do if I could be guaranteed I would serve my time out at Berrima such is the (external) beauty of the sandstone building and splashes of bright tulips. Lets hope it never comes to that!
So after I had pondered my career as a criminal mastermind and thought through my Plan B, we made our way to a store called the Little Hand Stirred Jam Shop. With a name like that how could you resist? Lucky I succumbed to my frivolous whims as I left the store with these
Lemon Butter and Creamed Honey.
Far out brussle sprout.
Show me a person who doesn’t like either of these and i’ll show you a fool.
Fool I tell you!
A bottle of sunshine.
And Bronze at the Sydney Royal Easter Show! Hooray!
Although if this baby only won bronze, I desperately want to try whatever won silver and gold, they must be like liquid crack.
All you will need for this recipe is three things. A packet of Butternut Snap Cookies, a jar of Lemon Butter or Lemon Curd and a mini muffin pan. You can use chocolate to decorate them but it isn’t strictly necessary.
Pop a cookie on the top of an empty muffin hole and place the tray in the oven for 5-7 minutes.
When they are soft, make a light impression with a tea spoon but be careful that you don’t break the biscuit. The place the tray in the fridge until the biscuits are hard again.
Once the biscuits are cooled, spoon the Lemon Butter on top until they are filled to your satisfaction. Then place back in the fridge until they are set.
At this point you can pipe some chocolate on top of your tarts, I just melted some dark chocolate and added a little glycerine to make it more pipeable.
Cute!
Quite simply, they are little mouthfuls of happiness.
I adapted the recipe from this one although if you follow the link you will see that my laziness is incredible as the recipe was originally one for quick and easy lemon meringue pies. Except that I couldn’t be bothered with the meringue. But I think these are just as tasty as a snappy citrus tart!
So, my lovelies, what short cuts do you take in the kitchen? What can you never be bothered to do?
So i’m a twit.
And it allowed me to vent my stress and frustration accumulated during the year
Chop chop!
