Coffee Shortbread with White Chocolate & Hazelnuts

The great thing about cooking and baking is that once you know the basics and are familiar with them; they can be adapted incorporating other ingredients to create new recipes. Granted, the confidence to do this comes with practice and familiarity with the various techniques involved, but once you take the leap and start putting your own stamp on the dishes you create, a whole new world of possibilities opens up.

When I first started cooking, I lacked the confidence to do this and, understandably because of my inexperience, I followed recipes religiously and would not consider attempting to cook anything unless I was able to get the EXACT ingredients specified.

I have always loved reading food magazines and cookbooks. I will often compare similar recipes by different chefs/writers to see how they have tweaked recipes and find that this is a great way to learn how recipes can be adapted.

Ultimately, I have always loved food and was never a fussy eater; I have always been eager to try anything new or unusual and I am in no way squeamish about what I eat. This definitely helps when you are trying to create new and interesting flavour combinations.

To illustrate this point, I am posting this recipe for Coffee Shortbread with White Chocolate & Hazelnuts. This is essentially the basic shortbread recipe that I use all the time with the added addition of some espresso powder. I also decided to dip the finished biscuits in white chocolate and sprinkle some chopped roasted hazelnuts on the chocolate before it hardened.

I used coffee this time, but different herbs such as lavender, thyme or basil could be added. You could also experiment by adding ground spices, citrus zests or a handful of dried fruit. Just use the basic recipe and include other ingredients.

I do not want to suggest that all my recipe “experiments” are successful. They aren’t, but most of them are tasty if sometimes a little unusual. You can’t really go wrong if you rely on the flavours that personally appeal to you.

 

Ingredients:

300g plain flour
200g butter, softened
100g caster sugar

2 heaped teaspoons of finely ground instant espresso powder

50g white chocolate

25g hazelnuts, skinned, roasted and roughly chopped
 

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 170C/Fan Oven 150C/Gas Mark 3. Line two baking trays with non-stick parchment and set aside.
2. Place the butter and sugar in a large mixing bowl and using a hand-held mixer, beat together until light and fluffy and pale in colour.
3. Sieve the flour and espresso powder together and work into the creamed butter and sugar mixture with a wooden spoon to form a dough. Turn out the dough onto a very lightly floured surface and form into a ball shape.

4. Use a rolling pin to roll out the dough until about 1cm thick and using a petal cookie cutter (roughly 6cms in diameter) stamp out biscuits from the dough, leaving space between each biscuit. Place on the lined baking sheets and then refrigerate for about 15 minutes to allow the dough to firm up a little.

5. Bake in the pre-heated oven for approximate 15-17 minutes until the shortbread is cooked through. Remove from the oven and allow to cool for about ten minutes on the baking trays before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.

To finish:

6. Melt the chocolate in a small bowl. Dip half of each biscuit into the white chocolate and then place on non-stick baking parchment. Sprinkle a few roasted chopped nuts onto he chocolate before it hardens. Repeat this for the remainder of the biscuits. Once the chocolate hardens, the biscuits are ready to serve.

Makes 18-20 biscuits.

 

Pavlova with Clementines in a Cointreau Syrup

Inspired by my previous post, where I used clementines with chocolate in a marble cake, I decided to explore other ways to use this delicious fruit. If I’m being honest, I purchased a very large crate of clementines, because they were so inexpensive as they are in season. This is one of the great benefits of buying in bulk and also in season…the unit costs are so much lower!

Anyway, I now have a mountain of clementines that I will be using to experiment with in various recipes over the next couple of weeks. But, in truth, I’m not going to apologise for the amount of recipes to appear in the near future which will include clementines, because this is what canny cooks do – they buy what’s abundant and good value at different times of the year and find creative ways to use the produce.

I have decided to keep it simple here and I am giving a recipe for a pavlova. Pavolvas are essentially just meringues but they also include generous amounts of lightly whipped clouds of cream and are usually served with whatever fruits that are in season.  Nuts and chocolate can also be added but as I have already announced, I have kept it simple with this recipe and used clementines alone. To enhance the clementines and accentuate their orangey, citrus flavour, I soaked them in advance in sugar syrup laced with Cointreau – an orange flavoured liqueur.

What I aim to show here is that with minimal skills in the use of a piping bag, the most gorgeous and delicious dessert can be created.

      

Ingredients:

For the Cointreau soaked clementines:
5 clementines, peeled, white pith removed and segmented
100ml water

100g caster sugar

2 tablespoons of Cointreau

For the pavlova discs:

175g caster sugar

3 large egg whites

For the meringue kisses:

225g caster sugar

4 large egg whites

To finish:
500ml single cream, lightly whipped
 

Method:

To make the Cointreau soaked clementines:
1. Put the water and caster sugar into a small pan and heat until boiling. Let bubble away for about three minutes without colouring until you have a clear syrupy mixture. Remove from the heat and allow cool for three or four minutes. Add the Cointreau and stir through gently. Add the segmented clementines and set aside to cool. Once cool, cover with cling film and refrigerate until required.
For the pavlova discs:

2. Preheat the oven to 140C/Fan Oven 120C/Gas Mark 1. Mark out three 18cm circles on three pieces of non-stick baking parchment and place each piece of baking parchment on a baking tray.

3. Place the egg whites in a spotlessly clean bowl and whisk them until they are standing in soft peaks in the bowl. Gradually add the caster sugar and whisk well between each addition to ensure that the sugar is fully incorporated.

4. Divide the mixture evenly between the tree circles and using the back of a metal spoon, spread out to form three discs, using the pre-drawn circles as a guide.

5. Bake for 90 minutes until the meringues are crisp and dry. Turn off the oven and allow the pavlova discs to cool, with the oven door slightly ajar for about an hour.

To make the meringue kisses:

6. Pre-heat the oven to 140C/Fan Oven 120C/Gas Mark 1. Line three baking trays with fresh non-stick baking parchment.

7. Following the method given above, place the egg whites in a bowl and when you have reached the soft peak stage, gradually incorporate the caster sugar.

8. Once the meringue is made, spoon it into a piping bag fitted with a star nozzle and pipe out approximately 60 meringue kisses about 4cm in diameter.

9. Place into the preheated oven and bake for an hour. Again, turn off the oven, leaving the door slightly ajar and allow to cool for about an hour.

To assemble:

10. Whip the cream lightly until it is standing in softly billowing peaks which just hold their shape. Place one of the pavlova discs on your serving plate and top with a layer of cream about 1cm deep.
11. Scatter over a third of the Cointreau soaked clementines. Place the second pavlova disc on top and as before top with a layer of cream and one third of the clementines. Top with the remaining disc.

12. Cover the side of the pavlova with the remaining cream and then gently press the meringue kisses into the cream so that the peak of each is pointing out. Top the pavlova with the remaining clementines.
 

Serves 8-10.

Chocolate & Clementine Marble Ring Cake

Whilst rich fruit cakes are hugely popular at Christmas, they are not to everyone’s taste. I love Christmas cakes laden with fruit, but I also think that it’s nice to serve an alternative. Children in particular, can find traditional fruit cakes too rich and given that you can never go wrong with chocolate, I quickly decided that I wanted to create something that had chocolate in it. Each year I bake a Chocolate Yule Log, but for this cake I was keen to include a fruity element.  I also did not want to ice the cake with buttercream or glacé icing… I actually wanted quite a simple cake which was all about the flavours used.
 

Chocolate and orange are two flavours that go so well together, but I decided that I would use clementines along with the chocolate because they are a fruit that is closely associated with Christmas!

Clementines are a variety of mandarin orange, so called because they were first discovered by Father Clément Rodier in the garden of the orphanage that he ran in Misserghin, Algeria. Clementines have many desirable characteristics, not least of which is that they are seedless. They are also easy to peel and have citrusy sweetness that still retains a zingy freshness on the palate.

Rather than flavour the chocolate element of my cake with the clementines, I opted to keep the flavours separate and decided to make a marble cake where the chocolate and clementine flavours mingled but also remained distinct from each other.

 

I was determined to create something that was also very Christmassy looking and taking my inspiration from Christmas wreaths which adorn many a door during the festive season, I chose to bake my marble cake in a ring tin and decorated it with drizzled chocolate to emulate woody twigs.

 

I am very pleased with the effect that I achieved and think that it does look very Christmassy.  It was a very easy cake to make and the chocolate and clementine flavours went so well together.

     

Ingredients:

225g butter, softened
225g caster sugar
275g self raising flour1tsp baking powder4 large eggs, lightly beaten2 tblsp milk
25g cocoa powder
2 tblsp boiling water
Grated zest and juice of 2 clementines
To finish:

125g melted dark chocolate
 

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 180C/Fan Oven 160C/ Gas Mark 5. Grease a 25cm ring cake tin generously with butter and then dust the buttered surface with a couple of tablespoons of flour, shaking out any excess. Set aside until required.
2. Mix the cocoa powder and boiling water together, in a small bowl.
3. Cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy using a hand held electric mixer. Gradually add the eggs, beating well after each addition. Sieve the flour and baking powder together and add to the creamed mixture gradually, add the milk once approximately half of the flour has been mixed in. once all the flour has been added, mix for a further minute.
4. Divide the mixture evenly between two bowls.

5. To one bowl add the Clementine zest and juice and mix well with a spoon to incorporate.

6. Add the cocoa powder mixture to the other bowl, again mixing well to incorporate.

7. Alternating between the two, spoon blobs of the chocolate and clementine flavoured mixtures into the tin and gently level the surface.

8. Place in the pre-heated oven to bake for approximately 35-40 minutes until the cake is well risen and springy to the touch.

9. Remove from the oven, allow to cool slightly for ten minutes, then turn out of the tin and allow to cool completely on a wire rack.

To finish:

10. Melt the dark chocolate in a small bowl over a pan of water. Spoon the mixture into a small disposable piping bag. Snip off the end of the bag and drizzle the chocolate over the cake.

11. Allow the chocolate to harden. The cake can also e decorated with chocolate holly leaves or as I have done by placing a few clean pine cones in the centre of the cake.
 

Serves 8-10.
      

St. Lucia Buns (Lussekatter)... A Swedish Treat for 13th December

The 13^th December is a special feast day celebrated annually in Sweden.

Swedish folklore tells the story of a man who was awoken in the middle of the night upon hearing a beautiful voice.  He was confronted by a beautiful young woman clothed completely in white and carrying a candle who was singing and dancing in his room and gently fluttering her beautiful wings. It was St Lucia who brought with her food, wine and comforting light during the long and cold wintry night.

 

These days, girls dress up in long white dresses and carry candles and baskets of St. Lucia bread or buns to celebrate the saint’s day and in recognition of the ancient folk-story. As they walk, they sing the carol of St. Lucia. This is an important tradition in the run up to Christmas in Sweden and the yellow saffron buns are mandatory fare.

 

I have never made these buns before but was delighted with how they turned out. I have made yeasted saffron loaves and cakes before and have always enjoyed them, but there was something special about these buns. I will definitely be making them again. They are traditionally served with coffee in Sweden but I enjoyed mine liberally buttered with a hot mug of tea.

Ingredients:

7g fast action yeast
250ml milk
3g saffron threads

100g butter melted

500g plain white flour

50g caster sugar

½ tsp salt

40g raisins, plus extra to finish

To glaze:

1 egg, beaten
 

Method:

1. Add the saffron threads to the milk and heat until just below boiling. Leave aside and allow the saffron to infuse its yellow colour into the milk and to give the milk time to cool down until it is lukewarm.
2. Once the milk has cooled a little, add the melted butter.
3. Meanwhile, sift the flour into a separate mixing bowl, and add the yeast, sugar, raisins and salt.
4. Add the milky saffron mixture and stir with a wooden spoon until a dough starts to form and comes away from the edge of the bowl. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured work-surface and knead for approximately 10 minutes until the dough is no longer sticky and bounces back when prodded with a finger. Put the dough into a lightly greased bowl and leave somewhere warm for about an hour and a half until it has doubled in size.

5. Once it has risen, turn out once more onto a lightly floured surface and briefly knead.

6. Divide the dough into ten equal pieces and roll into sausage shapes and then curl the ends so that each roll looks similar to the number “8”. Put a raising in the centre of each circle of the “8”. Cover with a clean tea-towel and leave to rise again for 30 minutes.

7. Preheat the oven to 180C/Fan Oven 160C/Gas Mark 4.

8. Brush the risen buns with beaten egg and then bake for 20-25 minutes or until golden brown. Remove from the oven and cool on a wire rack.

 

Makes 10.

 

     

Festive Mince Pies and a Recipe for Mincemeat

I have included recipes which use mincemeat in a couple of recent posts and decided that I really should post a recipe for simple mince pies… and these ARE simple to make and are far superior to any that you could buy. They just taste so good.

The pastry is light and crumbly and is easy to work with. I always make my sweet shortcrust pastry with real butter because it really makes a difference in terms of the taste of the finished product and I urge you to do the same. I think we have the best tasting butter here in Ireland and I unashamedly use it all the time.

In the past pastry was used as a vehicle to encase various meats or fruits and was often discarded or left uneaten. These days pastry is an important edible element in the recipes in which it is used. Like so many recipes where very few ingredients are used, I believe that the quality of those ingredients is of critical importance so I use the best that I can afford.

I have also included a recipe for home-made mincemeat. This is another great preserve to make during the Autumn months in preparation for Christmas. It stores very well  if spooned into sterilised jars and kept in a cool, dark cupboard. It is far easier to make than you might think. By all means use a quality, shop-bought mincemeat, but if you do I advise mixing a couple of spoons of brandy or a flavoured liqueur such as Amaretto or Cointreau through it, prior to using, to add a little extra taste of luxury to the finished pies.

Mince pies mean Christmas to me and they are a great treat to have stored in an airtight tin for when unexpected guests pop by. I should also mention that the uncooked, filled pies can be frozen and then cooked directly without thawing… just give them an extra 5-7 minutes in the oven.
  

Ingredients:

Mincemeat:

450g cooking apples, peeled, cored and chopped into smallish dice

225 shredded suet

350g raisins

225g sultanas

225g currants

225g candied peel

350g soft dark brown sugar

Grated zest and juice of 2 lemons

Grated zest and juice of 2 oranges

2 tsp mixed spice

½ tsp ground cinnamon

½ tsp ground nutmeg

4 tblsp brandy

2 tblsp Cointreau

Sweet shortcrust pastry:

175g plain flour

50g icing sugar

100g butter, cubed

1 egg yolk

 

Method:

Mincemeat:
1. Combine all the ingredients except the brandy and Cointreau in a large ceramic or other oven-proof mixing bowl making sure to stir well so that everything is thoroughly mixed together.

Cover the bowl loosely with foil and leave the mixture in a cool place overnight, so that the flavours have a chance to develop.

2. Preheat the oven to 110C/Fan oven 90C/Gas Mark ¼. Place the foil covered bow in the oven for three hours. Remove from the oven. The mixture will look quite liquid at this stage but will thicken as it cools.

3. Stir from time-to-time as it cools. When it is completely cooled stir through the brandy and Cointreau. Pack into sterilised jars and store in a cool dark place until you wish to use it.

To Make the Mince Pies:

1. Sieve the flour and icing sugar together into a large bowl. Add the diced butter and using your fingertips rub into the flour and icing sugar until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs. Make a well in the centre and add in the egg yolk and a tablespoon of water and mix to bring everything together to form a dough. Do not over-work the dough. Cover the dough with cling-film and allow to rest in the refrigerator for at least half an hour.

2. Preheat oven to 190C/Fan Oven 170C/Gas Mark 5. Thinly roll out the pastry on a lightly floured work-surface and using a 7cm round cookie cutter, stamp out rounds of the pastry and use to line individual patty tins. Put a generous teaspoon of mincemeat into each. Using a pastry brush, dampen the edge of each little pie with a little water or a beaten egg and place another round of pastry on top. Seal the pies by pressing the pastry tops and bottoms together with the tines of a fork.

3. Place in the preheated oven and cook for approximately 15 minutes until golden brown. Remove from the oven and allow cool in the tins.

4. I love these served at room temperature with a little dusting of icing sugar. When completely cold they can be stored very successfully in an air-tight tin for up to 5 days, but they have never lasted that long in my household.

 

Makes approximately 12 individual pies.