Simon’s Chocolate Ganache and Salted Caramel Tarts

Simon experimented and made these little tarts tonight.  I bought the tart cases a few weeks ago when I made Neenish tarts, but ended up using bigger ones for them.  Ever since Simon has been thinking up ways they could be put to use.  He has also started a thing called ‘25 before 26’ where he is coming up with 25 treats for me before my 26th birthday, which is coming up on March 19th.  It started on Friday night with a gorgeous dinner out to Soto, a restaurant I had been wanting to try for ages.  Saturday’s treat ended up being a milkshake and I don’t think he had anything planned for Sunday.  So, I think these tarts were a last minute attempt at keeping the 25 treats going and also gave Simon an excuse to be allowed to use up the tart cases :P
I’ve written out an approximate recipe below (the email version that Simon sent me said things like “stir to get all the lumpy lumps are out”).

150g dark chocolate
95ml cream
1 teaspoon butter
⅓ cup caramel condensed milk
2 tablespoons salt
12 mini tart cases

Melt the chocolate and butter together in the cream over the top of a double boiler.
Fill the little tart cups with the chocolate mixture then put in the fridge to chill.
Heat the caramel condensed milk in a little pan and stir to get all the lumps out.  Use a teaspoon to drip some over a good ⅓ of the chocolate tarts.  Alternatively, if you like caramel, cover the entire top in it.  Sprinkle the tops of each tart with a pinch of salt.  Refrigerate to set.

Kiddy Cupcakes

As some of you may remember I have been on the hunt for a vanilla cake/cupcake recipe that is as good as the Betty Crocker Vanilla Cake mix, these aren’t quite as moist or quite as sweet as the Betty Crocker ones BUT the mix makes about 26-30 cupcakes depending on the size of your cupcake papers and kids seem to love them – making them perfect for kids parties, school bake sales or cake stalls.

Ingredients:
250g butter, softened
2 cups sugar
4 eggs
2½ cups flour
½ cup cornflour
4½ teaspoons baking powder
1 cup milk
2 teaspoons vanilla essence

Buttercream:
250g butter softened
5 cups icing sugar, sifted
4-6 tablespoons hot water (warm icing makes the colour take better)
1 teaspoon vanilla essence
food colouring

Method:Pre-heat your oven to 180°C and line your baking tin with cupcake cases.
Cream the butter in sugar until light an fluffy, add in eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition.
Sift the flour, cornflour and baking powder into a separate bowl.
Alternate adding the flour mix and milk & vanilla essence to the creamed mixture, beat on a low setting to combine.
Spoon the mixture evenly into cupcake cases. Bake in a pre-heated oven for about 20 minutes or until a skewer can be removed cleanly or they bounce back to the touch.
Leave cupcakes to cool for 5 minutes before transferring to wire racks to cool.
To make the buttercream, cream butter in or with a mixer until pale. On a low speed add icing sugar alternating with hot water and vanilla essence. Continue to beat until light and fluffy or until it’s reached a consistency you are happy with. At this stage you can either add the colouring to your mix and beat it in or divide your mix and colour so that you end up with a variety of colours.


Tip: When you ice your cupcakes you can spread the buttercream with a knife or pipe it like me, I used a Wilton 2A round tip on the blue cupcakes and 2D tip on the pink cupcakes iced like roses (the effect is achieved when you frost from the centre and move out).  The swirl effect (like the blue ones pictured below) is achieved when you start from the outside and move in to the centre in an upward motion. You can then top your cupcakes with all types of sprinkles, edible glitters or cupcake toppers.

Mascarpone Tarts

I thought this might be the perfect follow on post to the Neenish Tarts Mel posted the other day as you can use the same tart casings. I got the idea from my Step-Mum Wendy who is always whipping up yummy things in the kitchen. Wendy has made these yummy treats for Shane and I several times now, they are perfect over summer topped with berries. They are super simple to make and great if you get invited to or decide to throw a BBQ at short notice. I made my first batch last weekend as part of the dessert for Max’s birthday BBQ with family in New Plymouth.

Ingredients:
400-500 grams of Mascarpone (depending on the size of the packets/tubs your supermarket carry)
½-1 tablespoon lemon zest (to your taste)
3-5 tablespoons icing sugar sifted (you can do this to taste – dependent on how sweet you want it)

Method:
Buy (like me) or bake 12 tart casings. If you want to make your own pastry cases you can make some short crust pastry using this recipe, roll it out and line 12 – 18 patty tins.  Prick the bases and chill cases for about 30 minutes before baking then at 180°C for about 10 minutes or until they are golden and crisp.
In a bowl combine mascarpone and lemon zest, gradually add the icing sugar to taste, mixing well after each addition.
Fill cases with the mascarpone mixture.
Top with berries of your choice.

These are best served fresh but can be made a few hours ahead of time and stored in the fridge until you are ready to serve.

If you are not a fan of lemon you could omit this ingredient all together or replace it with ½ a teaspoon of vanilla essence.

As a special treat over Christmas Wendy replaced the pastry casings with delicious little dark chocolate cups which is was delicious and gives you an idea of how to put a different spin on things if these become a favourite in your household and you want to change it up a bit.

Neenish Tarts

A couple of weeks back I finally got around to attempting Neenish Tarts.  I cheated though – I bought the pastry shells.  In my defence it was the long weekend and I wanted to relax.  If you want to make your own pastry cases you can make some short crust pastry using this recipe, roll it out and line 12 – 18 patty tins.  Prick the bases and chill cases for about 30 minutes before baking then at 180°C for about 10 minutes or until they are golden and crisp.


Ingredients:
500g sweet short crust pastry (see note above) or 12 store bought pastry cases

For the filling:
115g butter, softened
55g icing sugar
½ teaspoon vanilla essence
1 tablespoon lemon juice
pinch of baking powder
1 ½ teaspoons gelatine
3 tablespoons boiling water

For the icing:
1 cup icing sugar
1 tablespoon hot water
¼ teaspoon vanilla essence
1 tablespoon cocoa
1 tablespoon butter


Making the filling:
Cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy, then mix in the vanilla essence and the baking powder.  Add the gelatine (dissolved in the boiling water), a teaspoon at a time and the lemon juice, then mix through.
Fill the cooled pastry cases with the mixture and level off the tops.  Store in a cool place until firm.

Icing and Finishing:
Put the icing sugar into a heatproof bowl, mix in 1 teaspoon of hot water and heat over simmering water until the icing softens.  Add the vanilla, then use immediately to ice one half of each tart.
Add the cocoa and butter to the remaining icing, return the bowl to the heat and stir until glossy.  Add more hot water if needed.  Ice the other half of the tarts, making more icing if needed.  Run a hot knife across each tart or use a small drop of hot water to smooth the icing if needed.

Lunchbox Bakes - Cheesy Ham and Corn Mini Muffins

I found this recipe on the Healthy Food Guide website after seeing it mentioned in one of my magazines.  I’ve copied the recipe straight across from there as it reads on their website, but I found when I made these that they took way longer than 12 minutes to cook and it also made about 30 muffins.  All the nutritional information is with the original recipe if you are interested and someone has programmed it all into the ‘My Fitness Pal’ app that I use – brilliant!

cooking oil spray
2 cups self-raising flour
1 pinch salt
1 cup grated courgette (1 large)
1 cup (220g) fresh, frozen or canned corn kernels
75g ham, diced
½ cup grated reduced-fat cheddar cheese
200ml trim milk
1 egg
80ml (⅓ cup) sunflower oil

Preheat oven to 180°C.  Spray a 24-hole mini-muffin tin with oil.
Sift flour and salt into a large bowl.  Add courgette, corn, ham and cheese. Stir to combine.  Set aside.
In a separate bowl, whisk together milk, egg and sunflower oil.  Stir wet ingredients into dry ingredients until just combined.
Divide mixture among muffin holes.  Bake for 12 minutes or until golden and cooked through.

Remember, you too can take part in Lunchbox Bakes – just flick us an email to bmtbblog@gmail.com.  You can read more about this event on the Lunchbox Bakes page.

Soft Pretzels

I made these as a Super Bowl snack last week. I haven’t made much dough before so I was pretty happy with how they turned out although I must say they were at their best still warm on the day they were made.

4 teaspoons active dry yeast
1 teaspoon white sugar
1 ½ cups warm water
5 cups all-purpose flour
½ cup white sugar
1 ½ teaspoons salt
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
¼ cup baking soda
2 cups hot water
¼ cup sea salt salt, for topping

In a bowl, dissolve yeast and 1 teaspoon sugar in warm water.  Let stand until creamy, about 10 minutes.
In a large bowl, mix together flour, sugar, and salt.  Make a well in the centre add the oil and yeast mixture.  Mix and form into a dough (if the mixture is dry, add one or two tablespoons of water).  You can use your hands or a freestanding mixer if you have a dough hook.
Knead the dough until smooth, about 7 to 8 minutes by hand and about 3 minutes if using a mixer.
Spray a large bowl with a tin coating of oil, place the dough in the bowl and turn to coat with oil.  Cover with plastic wrap and let rise in a warm place like a hot water cupboard until doubled in size, this step can take up to an hour.
While your dough is rising preheat your oven to 220°C.  In a large bowl, dissolve baking soda in hot water. Line two baking trays with wax/baking paper.
Once your dough has risen, turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface and divide into 12 equal pieces.  Roll each piece into a rope and twist into a pretzel shape. Once all of the dough is all shaped, dip each pretzel into the baking soda solution and place on a a baking tray lined with wax/baking paper.  Sprinkle with sea salt.
Bake in preheated oven for 8 minutes or until browned.

I think I enjoyed the snacks more than the game itself – Shane is a Super Bowl big fan so I wanted to do something nice for him after all his hard work moving us from one city to another. Along with the pretzels we enjoyed Melissa’s chicken meatballs, some mac n cheese bites and American beer.

Mint Chocolate Cheesecake

In New Zealand the 6th February is a public holiday as it is the day that our Treaty was signed between the British and the Maori back in 1840 (Haha, look at my history teacher training coming out!).  This year the 6th of Feb happened to be a Monday which meant a long weekend baby!  Simon and I headed up North to my families beach house in Ruakaka.  The weather was pretty rubbish so there wasn’t much swimming going on.  However, I had a relaxing time reading my book and baking (I made Neenish tarts too, which will be posted up soon).  On the Sunday I felt like making something rich and indulgent.  I decided upon a mint cheesecake.  I didn’t have any recipes with me though (and there’s pretty much zero cell phone coverage and no internet), so I made this one up!  I was pretty impressed with the result too and will be making it again :)

Base:
1 cup biscuit crumbs (we use Farmbake Choc Chip Fudge Cookies)
⅓ cup butter, melted

Filling:
250g cream cheese
⅓ cup caster sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon gelatine
2 teaspoons hot water
1 cup cream
¼ teaspoon green food colouring
1 teaspoon peppermint essence
5 – 6 mint slice biscuits, roughly chopped
1 Cadbury mint bubbly chocolate bar, crumbled (optional decoration)

Combine the biscuit crumbs and butter.  Press into the base of a 20cm round spring form tin and then chill.  Whip the cream until it holds its shape, then refrigerate.
Beat the cream cheese, caster sugar, food colouring, peppermint and vanilla essence together until smooth.
Sprinkle the gelatine over the hot water and then stir to dissolve.  Add the gelatine to the cream cheese mixture and beat the mixture again. 
Add the mint slice biscuits and whipped cream, fold the cream through.
Cover the biscuit base with the cream cheese mixture and smooth out the top.  Refrigerate for at least two hours or until set.  Sprinkle the Mint Bubbly chocolate bar over the top to decorate.

Hope all my fellow Kiwi’s had a great long weekend!

Choctastic Cookies

If you follow us on facebook you will know that these are the first things I baked in my new home. They were delicious and I am so glad that we finally have the internet so that I can share them with you all. I actually made the recipe up myself after looking at several types of similar biscuits on the net.
Ingredients:
150g dark chocolate, minimum 70% cocoa solids
1 cup flour
4 tablespoons cocoa, sifted
1 teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
125g butter,softened
⅓  cup brown sugar
⅓ cup white sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla essence
1 egg, cold from the fridge
350g milk chocolate drops
Method:Preheat the oven to 180°C. Line your oven trays with baking paper.
Melt the 150g dark chocolate either in the microwave or in a heatproof dish over a pan of simmering water.
Put the flour, cocoa, baking soda and salt into a bowl.
Cream the butter and sugars in another bowl.  Add the melted chocolate and mix until combined.
Beat in the vanilla essence and cold egg, and then mix in the dry ingredients. Finally stir in the chocolate drops.
Scoop out 16 equal balls, using an ice cream scoop helps to keep the size consistent and place on your lined baking sheet about 5cm apart.  Don’t flatten them.
Cook for 15 minutes, testing with a skewer to make sure it comes out semi-clean and not wet with batter.  If you hit a chocolate drop, try again.
Leave to cool slightly on the baking tray for 5 minutes, then transfer them to a cooling rack to harden as they cool.

These were divine warm but just as scrummy once fully cool for a good few days after they were made.  If you are a chocoholic just like me you need to give this recipe a try!

Chocolate Cake Pops

In January I had both Matthew’s (Andie’s son) and Max’s first birthday parties to attend so I decided to give making cake  pops a try.  This is a very simple ‘how-to’ for making them, I am in no way an expert and will gladly leave that title to Bakerella! 

Basically to make cake pops you need to make a cake.  Then you smash the cake and mix it with an icing-like substance.  Then you roll it into balls, chill them, then pop in some sticks and dip in chocolate :P 

You can use the chocolate cake recipe that I have given below or any other of your choosing – a packet mix is fine.  I got my pop sticks from Milly’s – they sell long Wilton brand sticks and they also stock their own brand of shorter sticks, which is what I used as they were half the price.

Chocolate Cake:
110g self raising flour
40g cocoa powder
200g caster sugar
80g unsalted butter, at room temperature
125g dark chocolate, finely chopped
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Icing Mix:
80g unsalted butter
125g icing sugar
2 tablespoons cocoa powder
2 tablespoons cream

Other:
375g Chocolate, melted, to cover the cake balls
30 (approx) lollipop sticks

To make the cake, preheat the oven to 180°C.  Grease and line a 22 cm round cake tin with baking paper.  Sift the flour and cocoa together in a large bowl.  Combine the sugar and 125ml boiling water in the top of a double boiler over a medium heat and stir until dissolved.  Add the butter and chocolate and stir until smooth.  Cool slightly.
Combine the egg and vanilla extract then add to the flour mixture and mix well.  Add the chocolate mixture and mix to combine.  Pour the mixture into the prepared tin and bake for 30 – 35 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean.  Remove from the tin and cool completely on a wire rack.

Finely crumb the chocolate cake into a large bowl.  Place the butter, icing sugar and cocoa in the bowl of an electric mixer and beat for 1-2 minutes or until light and creamy.  Add the cream and mix well.  Add to the cake crumbs and mix well (the mixture should stick together when squeezed).
Line two baking trays with baking paper.  Roll the mixture into small balls, about the same size as a truffle.  Place on the trays and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.
Carefully insert a stick into each cake ball and dip into the melted chocolate, swirling off the excess.

For Matthew’s party I coated the cake pop with white chocolate and then drizzled dark chocolate over the top as Andie had decided on a ‘Cookies and Cream’ theme.  For Max’s party I used red and light blue candy melts by Wilton (a little tip – mixing vegetable oil with the candy melts makes the consistency a lot better to work with, add a little a time while melting them until you have a consistency you are happy with) and topped them with sprinkles.

Chelsea NZ's Hottest Home Baker Season 3

Just in case any of you out there are interested, the casting call has gone out for contestants wanting to take part in Chelsea NZ's Hottest Home Baker Season 3.  You can read more about it and apply here.

Max’s Robots and Rockets 1st Birthday Party

That’s Max, 2 weeks off officially tuning 1, hanging out with his little friend Molly (the gorgeous daughter of Jess, the talent behind Rosy Cakes) during his party last weekend.

I thought now that we (FINALLY!) have internet I would share some pics from the party with you as well as some hints/tips for anyone planning a kids party in the near future.

I had a very clear vision of what I wanted Max’s party to be (you guys saw my inspiration collages…), most importantly I wanted it to be a chance to gather with family and friends to celebrate the 1st year of my baby boy’s life but since I decided to theme it I really wanted to follow it through in the form of decorations, food, plates and napkins, right down to Max’s robot t-shirt – which of course all had to be in the same colour pallet. However, this was easier said than done and I may have over extended myself a little!  We moved cities less than a week earlier then I had to go back up to Auckland to use a kitchen I was unfamiliar with, before transporting everything across the other side of town for the actual party.  I also only had a 30 minute set up allowed before the party because of the rental period on our venue.

There were some minor disasters like my blue and red macarons (which more looked pink and green) that never even made it to the oven because they spread so much during the setting process!  Everything else got there in the end after help from Shane who did so many little things as well as cutting out all the robot faces for the shortbread cookies – I think he did an awesome job!  Melissa made some awesome cake pops and delicious meatballs and my Mum calmed me down mid-macaron meltdown and did a bunch of savoury items and delish profiteroles.  I was also helped by Wendy who cut out all the coloured stars for decorations, made up some yummy cheese and cracker platters and spent quite a bit of time in the kitchen at the party getting the savouries into the oven and cutting up cake.  My Dad also spent hours entertaining Max so I could get stuff done.  Thank you guys!  I also have to thank Jess for making Max’s robot cake topper for me.

Max’s Cake

Food from the sweet treats table

Savoury table, Sweet Treats table and Drinks table with goody bags

Decorations

Because of time constraints I have no new recipes to share with you, although I am sure Mel will let you all in on a cakepops ‘how to’ soon.  The robot cookies are shortbread which I flooded with ‘Queen’ royal icing (so easy to use!) and placed the faces and stars (which I sprinkled with edible glitter/shimmer) made of coloured fondant on top.  I made red velvet and vanilla cupcakes and the cake was 3 chocolate cakes layered with vanilla buttercream icing and covered in fondant.

In terms of party planning advice, I would recommend that you pick a theme/colour scheme a couple of months ahead of time if possible, hunt for ideas on the internet and start collecting bits and pieces as you come across them (I got my robot cups, plates and napkins months in advance at the $2 Shop of all places – bargain, and I found the little red and blue wooden robots in Whitcoulls).  Give yourself plenty of time, write a to do list and tick things off as you go, delegate jobs (if you can), make decorations in advance, and bake things like cookies a couple of days before the party and put them in an airtight container.  On the day have a crew of people who will help you set up and then tidy up and get someone to take lots of photos for you (thanks Mel and Imogen!) because you will probably be too busy with guests to do it.  If it’s a kids party have plenty of kid friendly food – think fruit platters, cheerios, sausage rolls.  Also if you are having a party over lunch and there are going to be Dad’s there make sure you have plenty of savouries (mini pies, sandwiches).

In terms of planning my party I spent ages looking on this site (LOVE!) for inspiration and ideas and got the majority of my decorations from this great NZ site ‘Poppyseed’, as well as using the awesome pictures our friend Andie took of Max’s cake smash.

Jones the Grocer

Jones the Grocer is an Australian gourmet food chain which also has a store and  café in New Market, Auckland.  I only recently discovered it, but liked it so much I went there twice during my holidays.

Jones the Grocer stocks an awesome range of specialty foods.  There is a special deli section and shelves brimming with items such as pasta, sauces, cordials, teas, chocolates – well yeah, there is heaps of stuff that I want to try (especially the black and white bow tie pasta, that looked super cool)!  They also sell cute kitchenware like cups and saucers and old-fashioned milk bottles.

The café has a delicious range of food to choose from in the counter cabinet and there is a menu to pick from too.  One things you must try is their iced chocolates – they taste amazing and come in funky little glass bottles.

If you are unable to visit their Auckland store, their website is pretty cool too - each month they stick up a new recipe.  At the time of writing this the recipe is for Earl Grey Tea infused chocolate truffles.

Jones the Grocer
143 Carlton Gore Road, Newmarket, Auckland, New Zealand
P: +64 9 5229161
F: +64 9 5232664
E: newmarket@jonesthegrocer.com
www.jonesthegrocer.com

Lunchbox Bakes – Mini Vegetable Frittatas

Simon and I have been enjoying these Vegetable Frittatas as one of our lunchbox snacks this week.  They are a great way to get kids eating more vegetables and eating healthy.  I find the Frittatas super tasty and I have been looking forward to my morning tea when I can eat my one for the day :)

Remember if you make something that is suitable for lunches, you can also take part in Lunchbox Bakes.  It would be great to see what everyone else has been creating.  Information about the event can be found on the Lunchbox Bakes page.

Makes 12 cupcake sized frittatas

4 spring onions, sliced into thin rounds
3 medium courgettes, chopped into 1cm pieces
1 medium red pepper, finely chopped (peppers kinda scare me, so I used about 6 mild piquanté peppers which come in a jar by Peppadew)
1 punnet (250g) cherry tomatoes, cut into quarters
125g cheese, cut into 1cm cubes (I used Mainland’s ‘Egmont’ cheese)
8 large eggs
125ml cream
freshly ground black pepper
a good pinch of dried oregano

Preheat the oven to 180°C.  Grease a 12 hole muffin tray well, or use a flexible muffin mould.
Fry the onions, courgettes, red pepper and oregano together in a medium frying pan for 5 minutes or until the vegetables are a light golden brown.
Leave the vegetables to cool for 5 minutes then stir in the tomatoes and cheese.
Break the eggs into a bowl.  Add the cream and a small amount of pepper then whisk together.
Spoon the vegetable and cheese mixture into the muffin tray holes.  Pour the egg mixture over the top.
Bake for about 30 minutes or until puffed, golden and set.  Leave to cool for 5 minutes then gently run a round bladed knife around the outside of each muffin hole and lift the frittatas out.  The frittatas can be eaten hot or cold.