It’s beginning to feel a lot like Christmas….
Tag: dessert
Chocolate-Biscuit Meringue
The recipe makes about 18 meringue biscuits.
4 egg whites, room temperature
220g caster sugar
5ml white vinegar
250ml ladies finger biscuits, chopped (or any other plain biscuit)
250ml almond slivers
160g chocolate of your choice; I used De Villiers Nut Butter with no added sugar
Preheat your oven to 150℃ and line 2 baking trays with baking paper.
Add the egg whites to the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment and whisk on high speed until medium peaks form.
Add one tablespoon of sugar at a time, with the mixer running. Wait 30 seconds before adding the next tablespoon of sugar and continue until all the sugar has been added.
Whisk on high speed for 2 more minutes.
Add the vinegar and whisk 2 minutes more.
Take the bowl from the mixer and add the biscuits and almonds. Fold through.
Add the chocolate to a heatproof bowl set over a saucepan of simmering water and allow to melt completely.
Spoon a tablespoon of the meringue mixture onto the prepared tray and flatten slightly with the back of a spoon.
Spoon a teaspoon of the melted chocolate on the meringue and swirl it into the top.
Now reduce your oven temperature to 120℃ and place the trays in the oven. Bake for 30 minutes.
Turn off the oven, without opening the door and leave the meringue inside for another 30 minutes.
Remove the trays from the oven and leave the meringue on it until completely cold – another hour or so.
Store the meringue biscuits in an airtight container.
Quick-Bake Passionfruit Tart
This tart is makes for the perfect summer dessert when served with a scoop of ice cream and extra passionfruit pulp drizzled on top. It is so easy to make, you only need to take out a mixing bowl and a whisk!!
4 eggs
250ml milk
5ml vanilla
125g butter, melted
250ml caster sugar
125ml passionfruit pulp and extra for drizzling once you serve
125ml flour
250ml desiccated coconut
Preheat your oven to 170℃ and spray a 24cm tart tin with cooking spray.
Add the eggs, milk, vanilla, butter, sugar, passionfruit pulp, flour and coconut to a mixing bowl and whisk together.
Pour the batter into the prepared tin and bake for 50 minutes.
Cool the tart for 10 minutes before refrigerating for at least 2 hours.
Dust with icing sugar and drizzle with passionfruit pulp.
Chocolate Mousse with Caramel Pop Corn
Makes 6 portions mousse and about 10 cups of caramel pop corn.
Chocolate Mousse:
200g dark chocolate, chopped (preferably 70% cocoa solids)
100ml + 300ml cream
Add the chocolate and 100ml of the cream to a heatproof bowl set over a saucepan with barely simmering water.
Allow the chocolate to melt, stirring every now and then until the mixture has amalgamated.
Remove the bowl from the heat and set aside for 10 minutes to cool. Stir the mixture every now and then to help the cooling along.
Add the 300ml cream to the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment.
Beat the cream until it forms soft peaks when you lift the whisk.
Continue whisking on medium speed while adding a spoonful of the chocolate mixture at a time.
Keep going until you have added all of the chocolate and the mixture forms stiff peaks.
Spoon the mousse into serving bowls/glasses and refrigerate for at least 2 hours.
Caramel Pop Corn:
60ml vegetable oil
83ml popping corn
Add the vegetable oil to a heavy-base saucepan set over medium-high heat.
Add the corn, cover the saucepan with a lid and wait for the corn to pop.
Turn the pop corn out into a large mixing bowl and set aside.
For the caramel:
100g butter
220g brown sugar
170g liquid glucose (or corn syrup or honey)
2,5ml salt
5ml vanilla
2,5ml baking powder
Preheat your oven to 110℃.
Add the butter to a saucepan over medium heat and allow it to melt.
Now add the sugar, glucose and salt and stir together.
Stop stirring as soon as the mixture starts to bubble and allow it to simmer for 4 minutes – WITHOUT STIRRING!
Remove the saucepan from the heat and immediately add the vanilla and baking powder while whisking.
Pour the caramel over the pop corn and mix through – be careful, it is extremely hot!!!
Spread the mixture on 2 oven trays and bake in the oven for 45 minutes, tossing the pop corn every 10 minutes with a wooden spoon.
Remove from the oven and cool completely.
Gently break the pop corn into pieces.
Place a small handful of the caramel pop corn on the chocolate mousse and serve immediately.
The pop corn can be stored for a week in an airtight container.
Shortbread
240g flour
230g butter, room temperature
120g caster sugar plus a handful or so for dusting after baking
2,5ml salt
Preheat your oven to 180℃ and spray a 20cm x 20cm square or 20cm round baking tin with cooking spray.
Add the flour, butter, caster sugar and salt to the bowl of a food processor and pulse together until combined. Check that the mixture is soft and pliable and comes together in a dough when you press it together between your fingers. If not, pulse the mixture some more.
Scrape the mixture into the prepared tin and use your hands to push it down firmly.
Prick the shortbread with the tines of a fork, creating rows. Run the back of a knife’s blade between each row of fork tines to make cutting the shortbread easier once it’s baked.
Place the baking tin in the oven and bake for 35 minutes.
Take the shortbread from the oven and sprinkle with caster sugar while warm. You may also enhance the cutting lines and prick the biscuit with a fork once more.
Allow the shortbread to cool completely in the baking tin before removing and slicing into squares or triangles.
Shortbread is best kept in an airtight container and will last for several weeks.
Milk Tart
This recipe makes two standard sized tarts.
500g puff pastry
1litre + 250ml milk
250ml sugar
1 cinnamon quill
160ml flour
50ml custard powder
50ml cornstarch
5 eggs, separated
2,5ml baking powder
20g butter
5ml vanilla
ground cinnamon for dusting
Preheat your oven to 200℃ and spray two 22cm tart tins with cooking spray.
Dust a work surface with flour and roll the pastry to 3mm thickness. Line the tart tins – the pastry should be about 1cm larger that the tins to allow for shrinkage during baking.
Place the prepared tart tins in the refrigerator until needed.
Pour 1 litre milk into a saucepan and add the sugar and cinnamon quill. Turn the heat on medium-high and stir the mixture until the sugar has dissolved.
Heat the milk mixture until it starts forming tiny bubbles around the edges of the saucepan.
Remove from the heat and take out the quill. Set aside.
Add the flour, custard powder and cornflour to a mixing bowl.
Drizzle in the remaining 250ml milk while whisking, to make a slurry.
Add the egg yolks to the slurry and whisk together.
Slowly pour the warm milk-mixture into the slurry while whisking continuously. Remember: pour slowly, whisk quickly!
Pour the mixture back into the saucepan and return to a low heat.
Stir the mixture until it thickens and starts to bubble. Take off the heat, add the butter and vanilla, stir through and set aside.
Add the baking powder to the egg whites and beat until stiff peaks form.
Fold the egg whites into the custard and divide the mixture between the two prepared tart tins.
Bake the tarts in the oven for 25 minutes.
Remove from the oven and immediately sift some ground cinnamon on the surface.
Serve with your favourite brew of coffee.
Chocolate Stout Fruit Cake
This is fruit cake is dark and rich and incredibly moist and the very best is it does not need time to ripen! You do however need to use a dark chocolate with at least 70% cocoa – I used the Dark Chocolate from De Villiers Chocolates which you can order online.
500ml dark stout beer
800g mixed fruit (raisins, currants, sultanas, cherries, orange peel)
175g butter, softened
200g brown sugar
4 eggs
125g ground almonds
50g cornflour
7,5ml ground cinnamon
5ml allspice
80g dark chocolate (70% cocoa), finely chopped or grated
Pour the stout beer into a saucepan and reduce it to 200ml.
Add the mixed fruit to a ceramic bowl, pour over the stout and set aside to soak overnight.
Preheat your oven to 150℃. Line and lightly spray a 22cm cake pan. Wrap a double layer of baking paper around the outside of the baking tin and secure it with string.
Add the butter and sugar to the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment and beat on high speed, until light and fluffy.
Turn the speed down and add the eggs one at a time, beating we’ll after each addition and alternating with a spoonful of ground almonds after each addition.
Now add the remaining ground almonds, cornflour and spices and mix together.
Take the bowl from the mixer and stir in the soaked fruit and chocolate.
Scrape the batter into the prepared cake pan and bake for 3 – 4 hours – a cake skewer should come out clean.
Remove the fruit cake from the oven and allow to cool completely in the cake pan.
The fruit cake does not need ripening but keeps really well when wrapped in a layer of baking paper and aluminium foil.
Quick-Bake Cheesecake
This is a small cheesecake that serves about 8 people with a taste-size portion which makes it ideal to serve with tea. It goes against cheesecake rules as it is baked in quite a hot oven and not in a baine Marie, has no eggs in it and is sweetened with condensed milk.
200g digestive biscuits
80g butter, melted
250g cream cheese, room temperature
1 x 385g can of condensed milk
125ml lemon juice
fresh fruit to serve
Preheat your oven to 180℃ and line a 25cm x 11cm x 7cm loaf tin with baking paper.
Add the digestive biscuits and butter to the bowl of a food processor and process until you have a texture that resembles wet sand.
Line the baking tin with the mixture, covering the bottom and sides evenly. Put aside.
Add the cream cheese and condensed milk to the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment.
Set the mixer on high speed and mix until the cream cheese is smooth – scrape the bowl down once or twice.
Now set the mixer on a low speed and drizzle in the lemon juice. Mix until fully incorporated and you have a smooth mixture.
Scrape the mixture into the prepared baking tin and bake for 30 minutes.
Turn off the oven and leave the cake inside until it has cooled completely.
Place the cheesecake on a serving dish and arrange fresh fruit on top before serving.
Chocolate Caramel Tart
Base:
225g chocolate biscuits
150g butter
Filling:
100g butter
200g brown sugar
2 x 385g tins of condensed milk
7,5ml salt
Topping:
83ml cream
160g dark bitter chocolate, chopped
For the base:
Preheat your oven to 160℃ and spray a 23cm loose base tart tin with cooking spray.
Add the biscuits to the bowl of a food processor and process to fine crumbs.
Add the melted butter and mix/blitz until the mixture looks like wet sand.
Spoon the crumb mixture into the tart tin and press it firmly into the base and sides of the tin.
Bake the tart base for 10 minutes.
Remove from the oven and allow to cool.
For the filling:
Add the butter to a saucepan and melt it over medium heat.
Add the sugar and whisk to combine.
Keep stirring the mixture with the whisk until the sugar has melted completely.
Add the condensed milk and keep whisking to incorporate.
Cook the caramel for about 5 minutes, taking that it doesn’t overheat and burn, and then add the salt.
Pour the mixture into the tart case and bake in the oven for 15 minutes.
Take the tart from the oven and set aside to cool slightly.
For the topping:
Add the cream and chocolate to a heatproof bowl set over simmering water.
Stir the mixture every now and then until smooth and completely melted.
Take the bowl from the heat and allow to stand for about 10 minutes. Give it a stir every now and then so that it cools down.
Spoon the chocolate onto the caramel layer and spread it evenly with a spatula.
Refrigerate the tart for 2 hours to set.
Allow the tart to come to room temperature before serving.
Triple Chocolate Mousse
150g milk chocolate, chopped
45ml boiling water
7,5ml powdered gelatine
3 eggs, separated
375ml whipping cream
150g milk chocolate, chopped
150g dark chocolate, chopped
Line a 22cm x 11cm loaf tin with plastic wrap, leaving enough plastic to make an overhang (so that you can fold it on top of the mousse later on). Tip: wet the loaf tin before lining it – the water will help the plastic “stick” to the the tin.
Add the white chocolate to a heatproof bowl set over a saucepan with simmering water and allow the chocolate to melt. Remove from the heat, give it a good stir and set it aside for about 5 minutes to cool.
Add 15ml of the boiling water to a small cup and sprinkle 2,5ml of the gelatine over. Stir the mixture continuously until the gelatine has dissolved completely – about 2 minutes of constant stirring.
Add the gelatine and one egg yolk to the melted chocolate and stir to combine.
Add 125ml cream to a mixing bowl and beat with electric beaters until soft peaks form.
Add the cream to the chocolate mixture and stir through until combined.
Add one egg white to a clean mixing bowl and beat with an electric whisk until soft peaks form
Fold the egg white into the chocolate mixture with a spatula.
Pour the mixture into the prepared tin and refrigerate for 1 hour or until the white chocolate layer is set.
Repeat the process with the milk chocolate and half of the remaining ingredients.
Pour over the white chocolate mousse and place back in the refrigerator for another hour or until set.
Repeat with the dark chocolate and the remaining ingredients.
Pour over the milk chocolate layer and place in the refrigerator for a minimum of 6 hours.
Serve the mousse with a chocolate sauce or plenty of berries.
My Whisk and I 