Marmalade Delicious

There are 5 Tuesdays in June this year, so there is no TWD this week.

Instead, I am sharing a marvellous winter dessert recipe that my mum sent me out of her Australian Woman’s Day magazine. It is called Marmalade Delicious, and is a twist on the classic Lemon Delicious. 

Instead of lemon zest and juice, this dessert features orange zest and juice, plus a healthy dose of marmalade to amp up the orange flavour. The dessert baked up a little like a magic cake, with a soft sponge on top and an orange curd sauce on the bottom. When served warm with vanilla icecream melting over the top, it tastes like what I imagine an orange creamsicle would taste like.

To make this dessert, you will need:

60g butter

1 cup sugar

1/4 cup self raising flour

2 oranges, zested and juiced 

2/3 cup milk 

1/4 cup orange marmalade

3 eggs, separated 

Preheat your oven to 180 degrees Celsius and lightly grease 6 x 1 cup capacity ramekins.

In a stand mixer, beat the butter and 3/4 cup of the sugar until creamy.  Fold through the flour and orange zest. (I rubbed the zest into the sugar until fragrant before beating with the butter to enhance the orange flavour.)

In a jug, mix together the milk, 1/2 cup orange juice, marmalade and egg yolks. Fold the liquids into the butter mixture.

In a separate bowl, whisk the egg whites until soft peaks form. Gradually add the remaining 1/4 cup sugar while continuing to beat the egg whites until stiff peaks form.

Fold the egg whites into the butter mixture. Divide the mixture evenly between the 6 ramekins.

Put the filled ramekins into a roasting dish, and pour hot water into the roasting dish  until it comes half way up the sides of the ramekins.

Put the dish full of ramekins into the preheated oven and bake for 20-25 minutes or until the tops are just firm.

Serve warm with icecream and extra marmalade, if desired.

TWD - Lady Fingers

This week’s Tuesday with Dorie recipe is Lady Fingers, also known as savoiardi or sponge fingers.  I have made them once before with The Daring Bakers.  We have also made this batter before to make Dorie’s Strawberry Shortcakes.

I didn’t have any trouble making these lady fingers. I made a half batch only, and used them to make Donal Skehan’s Blackberry Amber, an Irish dessert with layers of sweetened blackberries, lady fingers soaked in egg and milk, and meringue:

To see what everyone else made this week and what they thought of it, visit the LYL section of the TWD website.

TWD - They Might Be Breakfast Cookies

This week’s Tuesday with Dorie recipe is They Might Be Breakfast Cookies. These cookies earn their moniker because they are packed with oats, coconut, honey and dried fruit.

I used dried apples and cranberries as stated in the recipe, but you can use any dried fruit. The trick is to chop the fruit small, as otherwise it will be hard to form the cookies.

These cookies are fairly soft. They are quite nice, but they didn’t take my fancy enough to make them again.

To see what everyone else made this week and what they thought of it, visit the LYL section of the TWD website.

Lemon, Lime and Bitters Slice

... we must look upwards and outwards at all times, caring for others, seeking wonder and stalking awe, every day, to find the magic that will sustain us and fuel the light within - our own phosphorescence. (Julia Baird, p179 Phosphorescence - on awe, wonder & things that sustain us when the world goes dark)

I took one look at the exquisite cover dish of the June 2020 edition of Woolworths Fresh magazine and instantly knew that I had to make it. That dish is a Lemon, Lime and Bitters Slice. For the uninitiated, Lemon, Lime and Bitters is a popular non-alcoholic drink, often served in pubs and hotels, and made with lemonade, Angostura bitters and lime juice. I once tried to order one in the US, and after the puzzled waiter asked me twice, was served a soda water. I can therefore only assume that he did not know what a Lemon, Lime and Bitters is.

The magazine version of this slice  is no bake, with a biscuit base, but I wanted to make this slice gluten free to share with some friends, so I made a pastry base instead.

On top of the base sits a sharp but opulent lemon and lime curd, and the slice is crowned with a jewel-coloured jelly flavoured with Angostura bitters.  To me, that jelly is luminous, emanating its own light - hence prompting the quote above from Julia Baird’s excellent non-fiction book, Phosphorescence.  

I thought this slice was delicious, but it didn’t travel well - when I arrived at my friend’s house, all the jelly had slid off the top and had to be rather messily replaced. No matter - it is a great recipe and worth making if you like citrus flavours.

To make my version, you will need:

1 batch Maggie Beer’s sour cream pastry (made with gluten free flour)

3 lemons

2 limes

1 cup sugar

4 eggs

1 teaspoon gelatine powder

125g butter, cubed

Jelly

2 tablespoons Angostura bitters

1 cup lemonade

1/4 cup sugar

4 teaspoons gelatine powder

Grease a 27.5cm x 17.5cm rectangular slice tin and line it with baking paper, leaving an overhang on each long side to use as handles to lift the slice out later.

Roll out the pastry and line the base of the pan with the pastry, trimming off any excess with a knife (leave a small allowance for shrinkage). Dock the pastry and bake in accordance with the instructions at the recipe link. Allow the base to cool fully.

For the curd, zest and juice the lemons and limes.  Put the zest, juice, sugar and eggs into a medium saucepan and stir to combine. 

In a small bowl, mix the gelatine with 1 tablespoon of warm water, and set aside.

Put the saucepan with the juice mixture on the stove over low heat and whisk constantly until the mixture thickens to the consistency of a thick custard.  Remove the saucepan from the heat and stir in the gelatine until dissolved. Stir in the butter, cube by cube, until fully integrated into the curd.

Pour the curd through a sieve over the pastry base, then chill in the fridge.

In the meantime, make the jelly.  Put the gelatine in a small bowl and combine with two tablespoons of warm water. Put the bitters, lemonade and sugar into a small saucepan and bring to the boil over low heat. Remove the pan from the heat, and stir through the gelatine until it is fully dissolved. Pour the jelly into a jug and allow it to cool completely at room temperature.

Once the jelly is cooled, pour it gently and evenly over the top of the curd layer. Spread it out with a small spatula if necessary. Return the slice to the fridge and chill for at least 4 hours or until the jelly is set.

Remove the slice carefully from the pan, using the paper handles, and place it on a chopping board. Use a long sharp knife to cut the slice into 16 bars, wiping the blade clean between cuts to keep the slice looking pristine. 

Serve and enjoy!

 

The Queen’s Scones

We have just celebrated the Queen’s birthday long weekend (although the Queen’s actual birthday is in April), and today is Prince Philip’s 99th birthday. I have decided to wrap both occasions into one and made the Queen’s favourite scones from a recipe by her former pastry chef.

These are fruit scones, containing sultanas. I served them with red jam and cream:

These are not my favourite scones - I have made other recipes I like better. However, it was fitting to make this recipe for the occasion.

To make the Queen’s scones, you will need:

500g plain flour

28g baking powder

94g butter 

86g sugar

2 eggs

140ml buttermilk 

100g sultanas 

Soak the sultanas in boiling water for 30 minutes.

In a bowl, mix together the flour, baking powder and sugar. Cut the butter into small pieces and rub into the flour mixture with your fingertips. 

Beat the buttermilk and eggs together in a jug. Make a well in the centre of the dry ingredients and pour in the wet ingredients. Mix the wet and dry ingredients together, using your hands, to form a dough. Drain the sultanas and mix them evenly throughout the dough with your hands. Rest the dough, covered, in a bowl for 30 minutes.

Remove the dough from the bowl and flatten with your hands to a thickness of 2.5cm. Use a 2.5cm round cutter to cut out rounds from the dough, pressing straight down without twisting the cutter. Press the scraps together, flatten again to 2.5cm thick, and continue to cut out rounds until all the dough is used up.

Place the rounds into a lined baking sheet and leave to rest for 20 minutes.

Preheat your oven to 180 degrees Celsius.

Beat an egg together with a splash of milk using a fork. Using a pastry brush, brush the top only of each scone with egg wash.

Place the scones into the oven to bake for 10-15 minutes or until they are golden brown on top.

Remove the scones from the oven and allow them to cool on a wire rack before splitting in half and serving with jam and cream.

Triple Berry And Rose Cake

Jordan Rondel, AKA The Caker, produces cake recipes with interesting textures and flavours. Being a fan of the slightly unusual, I am drawn to her recipes.  I especially love that Jordan often uses fruits in her cakes, as I love fruit desserts.

Recently, Jordan published a recipe for Triple Berry and Rose Cake on her blog. I adore berries and had the ingredients, so it was an easy decision to make this cake.

The rose flavour was very subtle, so you aren’t overwhelmed by florals. The berries (Strawberries, raspberries and blueberries)  really shine in tHis cake.

The icing is light and fluffy so it does not overwhelm the cake. I decorated my cake with crumbled freeze-dried raspberries rather than strawberry coulis, as in the recipe, primarily because I was too lazy to make the coulis.

If you are a fan of berry flavours, I recommend making this cake.

TWD - Creme Brûlée Tart

Finding love is like making creme brûlée. It may take a few tries before you get it right.

Crystal Woods, Write Like No-one is Reading 2

This week’s Tuesday with Dorie recipe is Creme Brûlée Tart. As the name suggests, it’s creme brûlée in a tart shell. There are a few berries in the bottom too, although you can’t see them in the photo.

I made two miniature tarts and baked the leftover filling in a ramekin for a standard creme brûlée.

I enjoyed this challenge because I used a kitchen blowtorch for the first time. I was a little scared of it, but I think it went ok. I already had the blowtorch, but had never used it because I had bought it to make Bombe Alaska for a dinner party, only to discover that someone did not like meringue. It was therefore great to finally have a reason to use it.

These little tarts were nice - making one big one would have been fun, but my circumstances at present do not warrant that.

To see what everyone else made this week and what they thought of it, visit the LYL section of the TWD website.

Tan Squares

I love old fashioned slices, and anything with caramel is a winner for me. Accordingly, when a lady at work posted her mum’s recipe for Tan Squares on our Intranet, I was sold.

Tan Squares are a little like millionaire’s shortbread, but with a crumble topping instead of chocolate. The base and the crumble topping use the same dough, so they are quick and easy to make.

I had never previously heard of Tan Squares, but despite their plain name, they are delicious, and are a keeper in my books.

To make Tan Squares, you will need:

Base

175g butter
115g sugar
275g plain flour
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Filling

200g condensed milk
2 tablespoons golden syrup
50g butter

For the base:

Grease and line a 20cm square cake tin, leaving an overhang of paper on two opposite sides of the tin.

Cream the butter and the sugar in a stand mixer. Beat in the vanilla, then mix in the flour on low speed.

Press half of the base mixture into an even layer in the base of the cake tin and place into the fridge to chill for 30 minutes. Put the remaining dough into a bowl and place in the fridge to chill.

For the filling:

Preheat your oven to 180 degrees Celsius.

Melt the butter, golden syrup and condensed milk together in a small saucepan, then stir over low heat until it turns golden brown. Remove from the heat.

Spread the filling carefully  over the chilled base, then sprinkle the rest of the dough loosely over the top of the filling to form a crumble topping.

Put the slice into the preheated oven to bake for 25 minutes or until golden brown on top.

Remove the slice from the oven and allow it to cool completely in the tin before carefully lifting the slice out of the tin using the baking paper overhang as handles. Place the slice onto a chopping board and slice into 16 squares or whatever size you prefer.

Enjoy with a cup of tea or coffee for a decadent treat.

TWD - Peanut Butter and Fudge Brownies

This week's Tuesday with Dorie recipe from Dorie's Cookies certainly packs a punch flavour-wise.  It is Peanut Butter and Fudge Brownies, and the end product is as decadent as it sounds.

If you followed the recipe exactly, these brownies contain nearly half a kilo of chocolate.  I went all the way in the brownie itself, but I halved the quantity of the chocolate topping as my inner calorie counter was having a conniption as it was.

The brownies contain 283g of chocolate, a cup and a half of sugar, 170g of butter, four eggs and a cup of peanuts, the glaze features a cup of  peanut butter and the topping (full batch) contains 200g of chocolate, with another 113g of butter between the two of them.  Yikes!  I committed the cardinal sin of not reading the recipe before I started, so I made the full batch - if I had read it through first, I would definitely have scaled this down.  Sure, there are 32 brownies, but it still ain't diet food.

Undoubtedly, these brownies are delicious (hey, peanuts, chocolate and sugar!), but I felt guilty just looking at them.  I gave half of them to my neighbours, and I am attending Pilates for the first time in forever tomorrow, so I will share the love with my teacher and class mates.  I am OK to snaffle a few of these brownies (they really are delicious!), but given my proclivity for eating things I shouldn't already, I don't need these in the house.

Luckily, these brownies do freeze, so if you are tempted, you can make a batch and stick some in the freezer for later.

To see what everyone else in the group made this week and what they thought of it, visit the LYL section of the TWD website.