S'mores Brownies

Recipe from Bakergirl

S'mores Brownies

Ingredients:

113g (1/2 cup) unsalted butter
200g (1 cup) granulated sugar

2 eggs

1tsp vanilla extract

28g (1/3 cup) cocoa

78g (½ cup) plain flour

¼ tsp salt

¼ tsp baking powder

128g (¾ cup) chocolate chunks

71g (½ cup) crushed/crumbled digestives

128g (1 cup) marshmallow fluff

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 180C/350F/mark 4. Line an 8x8 inch pan with baking paper.

2. Mix together the butter, sugar, eggs and vanilla in a large bowl. Mix in the cocoa, flour, salt and baking powder until completely combined and fold in the chocolate chunks and crushed biscuits.

3. Microwave the marshmallow fluff for about 10-20 seconds and briefly fold into the brownie batter- there should be visible streaks of marshmallow fluff throughout.

4. Bake for 35-40 minutes, until set around the edges and the middle is just about set but still retains a small wibble.

Banoffee Pie

Recipe from Sprinkle Bakes

Banoffee Pie

Ingredients:
For the base
2 cups digestives
½ cup chocolate sprinkles or chips
¼ tsp salt
113g (8tbsp) unsalted butter, melted and cooled
25g (2tbsp) granulated sugar
pinch of salt
1tbsp caster sugar
For the filling
4 large bananas
2tbsp lemon juice
227g (1 cup) butter
2 x 14oz cans sweetened condensed milk
283g (1 1/3 cup) light brown sugar
60ml (¼ cup) golden syrup
For the topping
320ml (1 1/3 cups) double cream
chocolate shavings


Method:
1. For the base, crush the biscuits with a rolling pin or in a food processor and mix in the chocolate sprinkles/chips, salt and sugar. Pour the melted butter into the centre and mix together until thoroughly combined. Press into the bottom and up the sides of a 9 x 2.5 inch springform pan and refrigerate.


2. Slice two of the bananas, place in a bowl and toss with 1tbsp lemon juice. Arrange the banana slices over the bottom of the base and refrigerate.

4. Place the butter, brown sugar, condensed milk and golden syrup in a large saucepan. Stir over a medium heat and raise to a medium-high heat once the butter has melted and the sugar has dissolved. Keep the mixture bubbling gently for 6-10 minutes, stirring constantly. Remove from the heat and allow to cool to room temperature before pouring over the bananas in the crust. Chill for several hours or overnight, until set.

5. Slice the remaining bananas and toss with 1tbsp lemon juice. Whip the cream until stiff peaks form. Place a few of the banana slices over the top of the pie, top with the whipped cream and then add the remaining banana slices and the chocolate shavings.

S'mores Pie

Recipe from Sprinkle Bakes

S'mores Pie

Ingredients:
For the base
200g digestives
60g unsalted butter, melted
pinch of salt
1tbsp caster sugar
For the filling
480ml double cream
500g dark chocolate, broken up
4tbsp brandy (optional)
For the marshmallow meringue
3 egg whites
½ tsp vanilla extract
pinch of salt
50g caster sugar
200g marshmallow fluff
100g mini marshmallows


Method:
1. For the base, crush the biscuits with a rolling pin or in a food processor and mix in the butter, salt and sugar. Once well combined, press into the bottom and a little up the sides of a 9 inch springform pan and refrigerate.

2. For the filling, heat the cream in a medium-large saucepan until simmering. Remove from the heat and mix in the chocolate. Stir or whisk until all the chocolate has melted, then mix in the brandy. Pour the ganache into the base and refrigerate for a few hours until set (this can be frozen to reduce setting time).

3. For the meringue, beat the egg whites and vanilla extract until foamy. Beat in the salt and sugar until the meringue holds firm peaks. Beat in the marshmallow fluff and fold in the mini marshmallows. Top the pie with the marshmallow meringue and brown with a blow torch or place under a hot grill.

Gingerbread House 2.1

A little late, but here we go- 2012's gingerbread house (though 2011's remains intact to this day...).
The recipe for the gingerbread is the same as that used for last year's gingerbread house. The templates were adapted from here.

Christmas Rocky Road

Recipe from Nigella Lawson

Christmas Rocky Road

About 24 sqaures

Ingredients:250g dark chocolate
150g milk chocolate
125g unsalted butter
4bsp golden syrup
200g amaretti biscuits
150g brazil nuts
150g glace cherries
125g mini marshmallows
1tbsp icing sugar

Method:
1. Melt the chocolates, butter and golden syrup in a heat proof bowl over a pan of simmering water.

2. Crush the biscuits and nuts and add to the melted chocolate. Mix in the cherries and marshmallows.

3. Transfer to a baking pan (approximately 25x30cm) and refrigerate for at least 2 hours to set. Slice into squares and dust with icing sugar.

Pink Lemonade Bars

When I made these lemonade bars, the light bulb in our kitchen had stopped functioning and as darkness drew closer to the early evening, depending on only the light from a desk lamp, the photos turned out rather moody.

I think these are best chilled a little, and a wonderful accompaniment is a little vanilla chantilly cream- just whip some double cream to soft peaks and fold in a touch of vanilla extract or the tip of a teaspoon of vanilla paste (you could also use half cream, half greek yoghurt).

Recipe from Smitten Kitchen

Pink Lemonade Bars

Makes about 30

Ingredients:
For the shortcrust base:
50g granulated sugar
¼ tsp lemon zest
 1/8 tsp salt
115g unsalted butter
125g plain flour, sifted
For the filling:
140g fresh or frozen raspberries
2 eggs
150g granulated sugar
60ml lemon juice (about 2 lemons)
40g plain flour

icing sugar

Method:
1. Pre heat the oven to 180°C/ 350F/Gas 4. Grease and line an 8x8x2 inch baking pan, leaving some paper hanging over two of the sides.

2.For the base, blend together the sugar, lemon zest and salt in a food  processor or medium-large mixing bowl. Mix in the butter and, once combined, add the flour until just combined. Transfer the dough into the baking pan and press in to evenly cover the base and press about ½ an inch up each of the sides. Bake for 15 minutes or until light golden brown at the edges and dry on the surface.

3. For the filling, blend the raspberries to a puree in a food processor (or directly press through a sieve) and strain through a sieve to remove seeds, ensuring you have at least 80ml of smooth raspberry puree

4. In a bowl or food processor, beat together the eggs, sugar and lemon juice. Mix in 3 tablespoons of the raspberry puree and stir in the flour.  Pour the mixture over the crust and bake for a further 25-30minutes, or until just set. Cool on a wire rack before slicing into portions and dusting with icing sugar.

Strawberries & Cream Cheesecake

Recipe from The Hummingbird Bakery Cake Days

Strawberries & Cream Cheesecake

serves 8-12 

Ingredients:

For the base

220g digestives

100g unsalted butter, melted

½ tsp salt

For the filling

200g strawberries, hulled and chopped

180g caster sugar

600g cream cheese

2 eggs

For the topping

100g mascarpone

20g icing sugar

100ml double cream

100-200g strawberries, halved

     

Method:

1. For the base, crush the digestives with a rolling pin or in a food processor and mix in the butter and salt. Once well combined, press into the bottom of a 20cm (8 inch) springform pan.

2. For the filling, heat the strawberries in a saucepan with 80g of the sugar and 30ml water and bring to the boil. Reduce the heat and cook until the strawberries have softened and the liquid has reduced by a half. Set aside and leave to cool.

3. Preheat the oven to 160C/320F/mark 3. Beat together the cream cheese and remaining 100g sugar. Add in the eggs, one at a time and mix in the strawberries and strawberry syrup.

4. Wrap the pan in two layers of foil and sit the pan in a roasting tin filled with boiling water (the height of the water should not exceed the heat of the foil). Bake for 30 minutes or until the top is firm, but the centre slightly wobbly. Leave to cool, then refrigerate for 1-2 hours.

5. For the topping, whip the cream to soft peaks. In a separate bowl, beat together the mascarpone and icing sugar. Fold in the cream and spread the topping over the cheesecake. Refrigerate for 8 hours, or overnight. Top with the strawberry halves before serving.

White Chocolate Caramel Cheesecake

Boy, have I been waiting to make this cheesecake. It has featured on the top of my bookmarks bar for many months now- though I love it so, I don't often make cheesecake, but I thought that it would be appropriate to make for National Cheesecake Day (July 30th). 

I find that the caramel isn't too difficult to make, but if you don't fancy it, you could top the cheesecake with shop-bought caramel, or one from another recipe. I considered using a different recipe, but the buttery richness of this one works so well. I also found that, despite my expectations of it firming up upon cooling, this caramel remained smooth and fluid and didn't really require reheating in the microwave oven.

The recipe is from Not So Humble Pie

White Chocolate Caramel Cheesecake

Ingredients:

For the Crust

180g digestives

7tbsp unsalted butter

½ tsp salt

For the Filling

225g white chocolate, chopped

120ml double cream

340g white chocolate, chopped into little chunks

3 x 225g packs of cream cheese

250g granulated sugar (1 1/4 cup)

5 eggs, beaten

1tsp vanilla extract

pinch salt

For the Caramel

300g granulated sugar (1 1/2 cup)

570ml double cream

4tbsp unsalted butter

     

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 190C/375F/mark 5.

2. For the crust, crush the biscuits to fine crumbs and mix in the salt and butter. Press into a 10 inch spring form pan, covering the base and an inch and a half up the sides. Bake for 10 minutes and allow to cool. Lower the oven temperature to 170C/325F/mark 3.

3. For the filling, place the chocolate into a heat proof bowl and bring the double cream to a simmer in a small saucepan. Pour the hot cream over the chocolate and leave for a minute before stirring until the ganache is smooth. Leave to cool.

4. Lightly beat the cream cheese in a large mixing bowl to soften. Add in the sugar and mix to combine. Gradually beat in the beaten eggs, roughly one egg at a time. Fold in the ganache (once cool), vanilla extract and salt.

5. Pour the filling into the pan with the crust. Cover the pan with two sheets of foil and place the pan into a fairly deep roasting pan. Pour boiling water into the roasting pan, about 1 inch deep (it must not exceed the height of the foil. Bake for 60 minutes, reduce the oven to 160C/300F/mark 2 and leave to bake for a further 60-90 minutes, until the centre has just set. Allow to cool completely before covering, refrigerating and leaving for at least 8 hours before serving with the caramel.

6. For the caramel, gently heat the sugar over a medium heat in a heavy based saucepan whilst stirring with a wooden spoon. Once the sugar has melted, gently shake the pan, continuing to cook the sugar until it turns light-medium amber in colour. Be careful not to overcook. Take the pan off the heat and carefully whisk in the cream. If any of the caramel solidifies, heat until it melts. Return to the heat and allow to boil for 5 minutes. Remove from the heat and mix in the butter. Allow to cool and pour into a heatproof container/jar. Pour over the cheesecake.

Billionaire's Shortbread

So, after a somewhat unexpected hiatus for work-related purposes, I finally am able to return to the blog. It has been difficult, willing myself into focusing on the Cold war, population change, reversible reactions, Cepheid variables, respiration, poetry and countless other topics, when all I (desperately) wanted was to get back into the kitchen.
Just one more, little exam left. 45 minutes away from freedom- until September. And not a moment to soon. Thankfully it is (for once) not the kind of exam which could be revised for (well, for prolonged periods, anyway), which leaves me time to begin ticking off my endless list of baking goodies.

I have already done a post on Millionaire's shortbread, which I still stand by, but this is something more luxurious. The caramel is more intense and the dark chocolate also adds richness (you could substitute this for milk chocolate, which I would usually be tempted to do, but it works well with dark chocolate). This does take more time and care, but it is definitely worth trying.

Just a little more chocolate...

This can be made over a couple of days; the shortbread can be kept for around 5 days in a tupperware once baked and the caramel can be stored in the fridge.
I couldn't find a 20x30cm tray, so I used a slightly smaller tins. Most of the pieces I did were around 3x5cm rectangles- the rest were little squares.

Recipe from Heston Blumenthal.
He notes that in the Fat Duck, the shortbread is topped with golden nuggets made from fleur de sel dusted with edible gold powder. I couldn't obtain fleur de sel, so just rolled little pieces of rock salt in edible gold dust. This is good for balancing any bitterness of the dark chocolate.

Billionaire’s Shortbread

Makes 20 (or so) bars

Ingredients:

For the shortbread

125g plain flour 

50g ground almonds 

½ tsp baking powder 

½ tsp salt 

110g cold unsalted butter, cubed

100g caster sugar

40g egg yolks (about 2 large egg yolks)

35g olive oil

A little more caster sugar, for dusting

For the salted butter caramel

200g double cream

190g caster sugar

150g unsalted butter

1 tsp salt

185g liquid glucose

190g whole milk

For the chocolate

250g plain chocolate, chopped

10g unsalted butter

     

Method:

1. For the shortbread, sift the flour, ground almonds, baking powder and salt into a bowl and set aside.

2. Cream together the butter and sugar for about 5 minutes, or until pale and fluffy. Add the flour mixture and continue mixing until the appearance is similar to breadcrumbs.

3. In another bowl, beat together the egg yolks and olive oil and gradually add to the breadcrumb mixture until a soft dough is made.

4. Shape the dough, on a very lightly floured surface, into a flat rectangle and wrap in cling film. Refrigerate the dough for at least 2 hours.

5. Unwrap the dough and place between two pieces of baking paper, then roll out into a rectangle measuring around 20x30cm. Cut the dough and baking paper to fit a 20x30cm tray and place in the tray. Place the tray in the freezer for at least 20 minutes. Preheat the oven to 150C/300F/mark 2.

6. Remove the tray from the freezer and discard the top layer of baking paper. Place the tray in the oven for 15-20 minutes, before turning it round to bake for a further 3-5 minutes, or until lightly golden all over.

7. Before allowing the shortbread to cool, slide it from the baking tray with a palette knife and transfer to a chopping board. Slice into little bars measuring approximately 3x5cm, or however desired. Dust with sugar and leave to cool.

8. For the caramel, line a 20x30cm baking tray with baking paper. Warm the cream in a small saucepan, without allowing to boil.

9. Put the sugar, butter, salt, glucose and milk in a large saucepan over a medium-high heat, stirring with a wooden spoon until the butter has melted and the sugar has dissolved.

10. Begin whisking the caramel, and once it reaches 100C, make sure you continue whisking until it reaches 153C. At 153C, remove the saucepan from the heat and add the cream, in thirds, whisking quickly to incorporate.

11. Pass the caramel through a sieve and pour into the prepared baking tray. Let the caramel cool and refrigerate for at least 4 hours.

12. Remove the caramel from the tray and slice into 3x5cm rectangles, or whatever size the bars of shortbread are.

13. For the chocolate layer, break the chocolate into a bowl over a small pan of simmering water and heat until melted. Stir in the butter.

14. To assemble, top the shortbread pieces with the caramel slices and cover with the melted chocolate. Leave for a few minutes before transferring to the fridge for 30 minutes to set.

Millionaire's Shortbread

Shortbread, caramel and chocolate. Of course you'll like this. I must say, though, this tastes much better once it has been refrigerated- patience is, as with cheesecake, a virtue.

This recipe is adapted from The Farmhouse Kitchen Baking Book, which uses 125g of chocolate- that is how much I used, but I upped this in the ingredients list I wrote up, because I think it would be better with a little more. The caramel at first seems to be insufficient, but is actually enough for a thick-enough layer.

Millionaire’s Shortbread

Ingredients:

125g unsalted butter

50g caster sugar

150g self raising flour

Caramel:

125g butter

125g caster sugar

2tbsp golden syrup

200g condensed milk

180g milk chocolate

20g white chocolate

Method:

1. Pre heat the oven to 180°C/ 350F/Gas 4. Grease a 28 x 18cm/ 11 x 7 inch tin.

2. For the shortbread, cream together the butter and sugar until pale and fluffy. Sift in the flour and mix well.

3. Spread the pasty-consistency dough into the tin, pushing it into the corners. Bake for about 20 minutes, or until the shortbread is golden all over and risen slightly up the sides of the tin.

4. For the caramel, heat the butter, sugar, golden syrup and condensed milk in a heavy based pan over a low heat and cook gently until the mixture reaches a rich toffee colour and begins to leave the sides of the pan (soft ball stage).

5. Once the shortbread is cooled, pour over the caramel and spread evenly.

6. Once the caramel has cooled a little, melt the milk chocolate and pour over the caramel layer. Melt the milk chocolate and drizzle over the milk chocolate- swirl with a toothpick or knife. Slice into pieces and leave to cool until the chocolate has solidified, then cover with foil and refrigerate for at least 4 hours before serving.