TWD - Chocolate-Tipped Cream Puff Pocky Sticks

This week’s Tuesdays with Dorie recipe is Chocolate-Tipped Cream Puff Pocky Sticks (quite a mouthful!).

As the name suggests, the recipe involves making cream puff (choux) pastry, and piping it into 6” strips before baking:

 Once the pocky sticks are cool, chocolate is drizzled over the end, and they are decorated with sprinkles or sugar. I made the matcha white chocolate glaze fir my pocky sticks and decorated them with pink and white hundreds and thousands.

These pocky sticks are easy to make, albeit a little fiddly. They tasted quite good too.

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

Turkish Delight

 I confess that I am not a talented sweets maker. The last time I tried to make Turkish Delight, over 10 years ago, it did not set.

I was going to a friend’s house for afternoon tea and wanted to take something without impinging on my friend’s catering. I chose to make some sweets, including Turkish Delight.

On this occasion, I got lucky and the Turkish Delight turned out perfectly.

If you want to have a go at making it yourself, here’s the recipe I used, from AWW Sweet:

My advice is to not go too heavy on the rosewater essence, because you don’t want your Turkish Delight to taste like soap. I only used a couple of teaspoons to give a faint floral flavour.

Enjoy!!

TWD - Gozinaki

 This week’s Tuesday with Dorie recipe is Gozinaki.  This is a Georgian sweet made with three ingredients - walnuts, honey and sugar.

You toast and chop the walnuts, then stir them into a mixture of boiled honey and sugar - flatten, roll, shape, set and cut. Done!

This is definitely more of a sweet than a cookie, and it is very sweet. That said, it is delicious, but a small piece is enough.

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

WWDH - Rum and Raisin Truffles

 

This week’s Wednesday with Donna Hay recipe is Rum and Raisin Truffles. The recipe is online here.

These truffles are, as you would expect, quite rich. I gave some to one of my neighbours abd she thought they were delicious.

To check out some more Donna Hay dishes, visit Kayte at Grandma’s Kitchen Table, Margaret at Tea and Scones, and Peggy at Pantry Revisited.  

WWDH - Spiced Walnut Caramels

 This week’s Wednesday with Donna Hay recipe is Spiced Walnut Caramels. They started life as Spiced Pecan Caramels, but I didn’t have pecans.

The spices are very Christmassy- cloves and nutmeg.

I was able to try these and I think they are delish! I love a caramel- and homemade caramels are even better.

To check out some more Donna Hay dishes, visit Kayte at Grandma’s Kitchen Table, Margaret at Tea and Scones, and Peggy at Pantry Revisited.  

Bunny Cupcakes for Easter

 Happy Easter readers!  I hope that you are having a great day.

To celebrate, I made Bunny Cupcakes (down the rabbit hole).  The recipe comes from this week's Woolworths supermarket catalogue.

Instead of making marzipan bunny feet, I used white marshmallows, cut in half, and painted them with red food colouring.  These are really nice cupcakes.  There is no coconut in the cakes - the coconut is used strictly for decoration. 

To make your own Bunny Cupcakes, you will need:

Cakes

125g butter, softened

1 cup self-raising flour

1/2 cup wheaten cornflour

2/3 cup milk

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 egg

2 egg whites

2/3 cup sugar

Icing and decorations

1 1/4 cup icing sugar

75g butter, softened

1 tablespoon milk

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/4 cup shredded coconut

12 white marshmallows

red or pink food colouring

Preheat your oven to 180 degrees Celsius and line a 12 hole muffin tin with cupcake papers.  

In the bowl of a stand mixer, beat the butter and sugar together until pale and creamy.  Add the whole egg and the vanilla and beat until combined.  Add a third of the sifted flours, and beat until just combined.  Add half the milk and beat until just combined.  Repeat with the remaining flour and milk, ending with flour.  

In a separate bowl, beat together the two egg whites until they form soft peaks.  Fold the egg whites gently into the batter with a rubber spatula.

Using an icecream scoop, divide the batter evenly between the 12 cupcake papers.  Bake the cupcakes in the preheated oven for 25 minutes or until golden on top and cooked through when tested with a skewer.

Remove the cupcakes from the oven and unmould them from the muffin tin onto a wire rack.  Allow them to cool completely.

Once the cupcakes are cool, make the icing - Beat the butter in the bowl of a stand mixer until pale and creamy.  Gradually beat in the icing sugar, then beat in the milk and vanilla.

Spread the buttercream over the top of the cupcakes, leaving a small hump of icing in the middle of each one to form the bunny tails.  Sprinkle the shredded coconut over the top of each cupcake.  Cut each marshmallow in half, and arrange the two halves of of a marshmallow on the top of a cupcake near the tail to form "feet".  Using a small paintbrush dipped in food colouring, paint on the bunny's paws, as shown.  

I also made Easter marshmallow rabbits again this year:

You can find the recipe here.  The recipe makes one large rabbit or 6 junior rabbits. 

Happy Easter to all!

Rum and Raisin Fudge

 Another Christmas box item for this year is Rum and Raisin Fudge. I wanted to include fudge as one of the sweets in my boxes, and rum and raisin is a winning flavour combination.

I used this Australian Women’s Weekly recipe for my fudge. It was easy to make, with no need for a thermometer.

This fudge is rich and decadent - a small piece is enough. The rich chocolate flavour is offset nicely by the rum-soaked raisins.

To make this fudge, you will need:

1 cup raisins

2 tablespoons rum

395g can condensed milk

125g butter

1 cup brown sugar

2 1/2 tablespoons golden syrup

150g chopped milk chocolate

Grease and line a 20cm square cake tin.

Put the rum and raisins in a small bowl and soak for 10 minutes.

Put the condensed milk, chopped butter, brown sugar and golden syrup in a medium saucepan. Stir over low heat until combined, then bring to the boil. Boil for 10 minutes, stirring constantly .

Stir through the chopped chocolate and raisin mixture.  Remove from the heat and scrape the mixture into the prepared cake tin. Smoothe the top.

Allow the fudge to cool for 6 hours at room temperature before cutting into squares.

Creamy Caramels

 It’s nearly Christmas, so I have been busy making Christmas treats for gifts.

I love caramels, so couldn’t resist making caramels for my gift boxes. These are Creamy Caramels were made from a recipe in The Australian Women’s Weekly Sweet. To make these caramels, you will need:

1 cup sugar

90g butter

2 tablespoons golden syrup

1/3 cup glucose syrup

1/2 cup condensed milk

Butter a 19cm square cake tin.

Put the butter, sugar, syrups and milk into a large heavy bottomed saucepan. Stir the mixture over the heat, without boiling, until the sugar dissolves.  Bring the mixture to the boil, then boil while stirring constantly for 7 minutes, or until the mixture has turned golden in colour.

Pour the mixture into the buttered cake tin and stand for 10 minutes before marking squares in the caramel with a metal spatula.

Allow the caramels to cool completely before cutting right through into squares and wrapping in cellophane.

TWD - Chunky Chocolate Fruit and Nut Bars

This week’s Tuesday with Dorie recipe is Chunky Fruit and Nut Bars. These bars do not involve any baking - tbey comprise fruit and nuts mixed through melted chocolate.

I used almonds and cashews for the nuts,  and apricots, cranberries, currants and crystallised ginger for the fruit.

The end result was delicious, but hey, it’s chocolate- it’s hard to go wrong.

The teatowel in the background is a Rodriguez guide dogs fundraiser teatowel - so cute!

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

Caramilk Fudge, Spiced Nuts and Gingerbread Bells

It is Christmas box time again, and together with rum balls and apricot balls, plus some Tuesday with Dorie goodies, I made Donna Hay's Christmas Cake (recipe to follow), Caramilk Fudge and Spiced Nuts for the boxes.

The Caramilk Fudge, made from this recipe, is pictured at the top of this post.  It is smooth, creamy and delicious.  As the name suggests, it is made with Cadbury's Caramilk chocolate (caramelised white chocolate), which has made a return to shelves this year.

This super easy recipe is as follows:

2 x 180g blocks Caramilk chocolate
1 x 395g can condensed milk
40g butter

Grease and line a small baking tin (my 8" square tin was a bit too big - use something smaller if you have it to get taller fudge).  Break the Caramilk chocolate up into squares, and place these, the condensed milk and butter into a microwave safe dish.  Microwave the ingredients for short periods (30 seconds or so at a time) until they have completely melted.  Pour the melted ingredients into the prepared baking tin, then put in the fridge to set.  Cut into squares to serve. 

 The other new recipe I made was this recipe for Spiced Nuts:

Again, this is another super easy, quick win recipe.  To make these nuts, you will need:

1 1/2 tablespoons honey
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 crushed clove garlic
1/4 teaspoon chilli powder
1 tablespoon smoked paprika
1 teaspoon salt flakes
4 cups mixed raw, shelled nuts of your choice

Preheat your oven to 180 degrees Celsius.

Put the honey, olive oil, garlic, chilli powder, paprika and salt into a small frying pan over low heat, and stir until the honey is melted and everything is well combined.  

Scrape the spice mixture into a large mixing bowl, then add the nuts and stir them until they are well coated with the spice  mixture.

Line a baking tray with baking paper.  Spread the nuts out in an even layer over the baking sheet, and bake for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally.  Remove the nuts from the oven and allow them to cool on the tray before serving.

I also made over 100 gingerbread bells from the Bourke St Bakery gingerbread recipe that I have used before (but this time using the full recipe):

I then packaged the gingerbread up and handed them out  to advertise our choir performances at work:

I made bells because we were going to sing Carol of the Bells - but then we didn't.  Oh well, I now own a bell cookie cutter to go with my snowflakes, snowman, Christmas tree, angel and star cutters.

I am not sure what effect the gingerbread had on audience numbers (if any!), but they were fun to make.

Are you baking for Christmas?  And if yes, what is your favourite thing that you like to bake for Christmas?

TWD - Honey-Nut Nougat

This week's Tuesday with Dorie recipe is Honey-Nut Nougat.  I used cranberries and almonds to flavour my nougat.

Making nougat involves heating honey and sugar to 150 degrees Celsius then pouring it into a whirring mixmaster, so I found the risk of maiming myself with hot liquid a little scary.  However, everything went fine, and I have lived to tell the tale.

The nougat is very pretty, and of course tasty.  I am surprised that nougat is so expensive to buy when it is easy and not that expensive to make (if you take away the optional rice paper, which cost $12 for 10 sheets).  

I have made nougat once before, 11 years ago - my post about it is here.  In retrospect, I believe that on that occasion, I did not overcook the syrup, but rather, did not beat the nougat for long enough.  I am also amazed at how chatty I was on my blog back then - my how times have changed.

This nougat will be distributed to my friends and colleagues in my annual Christmas boxes.  Cook's privilege was to eat the offcuts! 

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

Aquafaba Meringue Ghosts for Halloween

It is Halloween, the night of ghouls and ghosts and trick or treating. To celebrate Halloween, I decided it was time to try my hand at making aquafaba meringues, which I could then fashion as ghosts.

Aquafaba means “bean water”, and is the liquid from a can of chickpeas. The protein from the chickpeas leaches into the liquid, giving it similar properties to egg whites. This makes it ideal for making vegan meringues.

To make aquafaba meringues, whip 160ml of aquafaba with a pinch of cream of tartar until soft peaks form. Add a teaspoon of vanilla essence, then gradually beat in 1 cup of white sugar and beat until stiff peaks form. Pipe the meringues using a piping bag onto a baking sheet lined with baking paper, and bake in an oven pre-heated to 120 degrees Celsius for an hour and a half or until the meringues are set. Remove the meringues from the oven and allow to cool on the tray.

Once the meringues are cooled, add eyes to make ghosts by slightly melting the base of chocolate chips against the side of a warm kettle, and sticking to the meringue melted side down.

Happy Halloween!

Matzo Toffee Crunch

For Tuesdays with Dorie, I had to buy matzo crackers to make Matzo Morsels.  I had an open packet of matzo crackers that I did not want to waste, so I decided to use them up by making Matzo Toffee Crunch.  I used this recipe over at Tori Avey.

I have made matzo toffee crunch/brittle/crack once before, but I did not realise that it was eight years ago!  Wow, time does fly when you are having fun.

The principles behind this recipe are the same - line a sheet pan with matzo crackers, make a toffee using butter and brown sugar, bake to help spread the toffee out, top the hot toffee with chopped chocolate, allow it to melt, spread out the chocolate over the top of the toffee, then sprinkle over chopped nuts.  Tori's recipe also uses a sprinkling of salt over the chocolate to give the toffee crunch an extra flavour hit.

Cut the toffee crunch into squares before placing into the freezer to set the chocolate.  Serve and enjoy!!

Crispy Chocolate Puddings

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas
Toys in every store
But the prettiest sight to see is the holly that will be
On your own front door

                                                                                 Johnny Mathis

The last post in my Christmas box series is amazing but simple twist on the Chocolate Crackle to make them Yuletide-fit.  This recipe for Crispy Chocolate Puddings comes from the Woolworths website, and is a simple but effective Christmas treat. 

To make these puddings, you will need:

1/2 cup sultanas
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
200g dark chocolate, chopped
80g diced butter
3 cups Rice Bubbles (rice krispies)
1/4 shredded coconut
50g white chocolate
12 red glace cherries

Lightly spray a 12 hole muffin tin with oil.

Put the chocolate and butter in a microwave proof bowl, and melt together in the microwave, stirring well to combine.

In a big bowl, combine the rice bubbles, sultanas, walnuts and coconut. Add the melted chocolate/butter mixture to the bowl and stir well to combine.  Divide the mixture evenly between the 12 muffin holes, and press in firmly.  Chill in the fridge for 30 minutes.

Loosen each pudding from the sides of the muffin tin with a  spatula and carefully unmould upside down.  Melt the white chocolate, and cool slightly before spooning over the top of the puddings to resemble custard, and put a glace cherry on the top of each pudding.  Allow the white chocolate to set before serving.

Rocky Road and Rum Balls

This is the penultimate Christmas box post for this year, and I will make it easy for you and me with treats that I have made before.  First up is the Rocky Road at the top of this post, which I first made nearly nine years ago (wow, it does not feel like that long).  The recipe is from the Loreto Cooks cookbook, given to me years ago by Mayor Steve before he was mayor, and contains chopped marshmallows, Cherry Ripes and Turkish Delights - three of my favourite things! 

Next up is Rum Balls, a perennial favourite, for which I first posted the recipe in the infancy of this blog in 2007.  This year I rolled the rum balls ultra small and only the first wave of box recipients received them, as they were a stop gap until the next wave came along.

Are you giving edible gifts this year?  If so, what did you make, and what was your favourite?

Candy Cane Fudge

This year's Christmas box production line is well under way, and a new item that I made for this year's boxes is Candy Cane Fudge from the Australian Women's Weekly website.

If you are scared of making sweets, don't be with this fudge - it is super duper simple.  If you can melt things together without burning them, then you can absolutely make this fudge.

The finished product is creamy and sweet, and the peppermint tones down the sweetness as well as adding festive red and white colour.

To make it, you will need:

500g white chocolate melts
395g can condensed milk
30g butter
1/3 cup crushed candy canes (I blitzed them in the food processor)
extra crushed candy canes to sprinkle on top of the fudge

Line a 20cm square cake tin with baking paper.

Put the chocolate melts, condensed milk and butter into a medium sized heatproof bowl over a saucepan of simmering water (ie a homemade bain marie).  Stir the ingredients over the simmering water until melted and smooth.

Remove the bowl from the heat and stir in the 1/3 cup crushed candy canes.  Working quickly before the fudge starts to set, scrape the fudge into the prepared cake tin and spread evenly in the tin.  Rap the tin on the bench a few times to eliminate air bubbles.

Put the fudge into the fridge for ~ 2 hours to set before  cutting into squares.

Eat and enjoy!

Spiced Christmas Nuts

The last item in my Christmas treat boxes was Spiced Christmas Nuts.  I made these as a contrast to the sweet items.  I used a Julie Goodwin recipe which seemed to have the right amount of kick, but not too much.

These nuts are very easy to make, which persuaded me to go ahead even when I thought I couldn't be bothered making anything else.  They are very moorish, so if you are giving them away, you will have to try hard not to snack on them.

For these nuts, you will need:

1/2 cup white sugar
1 teaspoon smoked paprika
 1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1/2 teaspoon ground chilli
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
2 egg whites
50og unsalted mixed nuts

Preheat your oven to 160 degrees Celsius.  Line a baking tray with baking paper or a silicone mat. 

Put the sugar, paprika, salt, pepper, chilli and cinnamon in a bowl.  In another bowl, beat the egg whites until frothy. 

Add the nuts to the egg whites and toss to coat.  In small handfuls, coat the nuts in the spices.

Place the nuts on the lined baking tray and bake for 20 minutes, then remove from the oven and allow to cool on the tray.

Here are the boxes that I used for my Christmas treats this year:

I also added Soft Salted-Butter Caramels from Tuesdays with Dorie to the boxes.  Some people also received peach jam:

I wish you and your families and friends a wonderful festive season.

TWD - Soft Salted-Butter Caramels

This week's Tuesdays with Dorie recipe is Soft Salted-Butter Caramels.  These caramels were easy to make and delicious.  However, "soft" is not a word that I would use to describe my version of them.  They ended up being a firm caramel, kind of like the centre of a Fantale.  They were in fact so hard that when they fell on the floor (oh yes, I had fun cutting these), they shattered in half. 

Dorie said that she rolled her caramels into logs.  This was not a possibility with my caramels.  However, despite their firmness, they still had some degree of flexibility - enough that they bent if left over the edge of the cutting board for too long, and could be straightened out.

I was pleased with these caramels and would make them again if I felt inclined to make sweets.

To see what everyone else thought of their Dorie recipe this week, visit the LYL section of the TWD website.  

Sugar Free Marshmallow Rabbits

As I mentioned earlier in the week, I have a colleague who has dietary restrictions for health reasons.  To try and make sure that he didn't miss out on the fun, I researched some "better for you" Easter treats that I could make for colleagues.

My second treat in this vein was Sugar Free Marshmallows, made from this recipe on Purely Twins.  The process of making them is pretty much the same as for regular marshmallows, except that liquid artificial sweetener is used instead of sugar.

You can see from the photo at the top of this post that the sugar free rabbits look pretty much the same as the regular ones that I also made below:

Yes, this year all of my rabbits have green eyes, and I toasted the coconut that I rolled them in, which I like because it looks like fur.

The sugar free ones are slightly different in texture, and they definitely are not as sweet as the regular marshmallows.  They reminded me a little in flavour of the jet-puffed marshmallows that you buy in the US. 

I would be lying to say that I liked the sugar free marshmallows as much as the regular ones.  However, if you are looking to cut down on sugar but like yourself some marshmallow, then this is a great recipe to use. 

TWD - Chocolate Truffles

For our last Tuesday with Dorie for 2016, the recipe was Chocolate Truffles.  These chocolate truffles were a little different to all other recipes that I have seen for truffles, as they contain just chocolate and cream, whereas these truffles also contain corn syrup and butter. 

Dorie informed us that truffles are dusted in cocoa because they are meant to look like truffles in the forest.  I am not sure that making chocolates to look like forest funghi is a great idea, but it works - most people seem to like truffles.

Other Dorie bakers made their truffles pretty by rolling them in alternative coatings, but I found that just did not work for me, as the coating did not stick.  Accordingly,  cocoa it was.

I have only made chocolate truffles once before at Savour cooking school, but their truffles were made by piping the ganache into ready made chocolate shells.  What these truffles and the Savour truffles had in common is mess - my hands were unavoidably coated in ganache as I rolled spoonfuls of it into balls.

I made my truffles straight up with no extra flavourings, but I think a splash of booze in the ganache would be great.

To see what the other Dorie cooks made this week, visit the LYL section of the TWD website.