Showing posts with label Chocolate. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Chocolate. Show all posts

Chocolate crispy cakes


Half term is nearly over yet there is still more time for a little cake making in the kitchen, and as it is Easter what better than the chocolate crispy cakes, just incase you had not had enough chocolate yet.

 So while Sophie is stirring up a storm of melting chocolate Ella is polishing her rolling pin skills on some pastry.

Ingredients 

200g of cornflakes
6 tbsp of golden syrup
100g butter
200g dark chocolate


Method 

Melt the butter, chocolate and syrup together, we have a dish over simmering water.

pout over cornflakes and make sure they are all coated before spooning out into cake cases


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Chocolate tarts with Italian meringue

 So if you thought your weekend was going to be overloaded with chocolate this Easter hows about a seriously intense grown up sophisticated and oh did i mention easy to make pudding

I actually feel rather slack putting these together but they got the wow factor, being super busy i totally cheated and bought ready rolled pasty for the bases which i cooked till golden.

Then filled with a very rich and intense chocolate ganache

using good quality chocolate 70% cocoa really packs the chocolate punch laying hidden under all that Italian meringue.

For the chocolate filling

350g chocolate 70% cocoa
250g double cream
1 tbsp honey

heat up the cream till hot and simply pour over the chocolate and honey stir till the chocolate is incorporated into the cream, use a stick blender but keep the stick blender submerged into the chocolate so not to add air into the mix. Pour into the cool pastry cases.  Leave in the fridge over night till set.

Now for the Italian meringue 

225g of sugar
113g of water  

Heat the syrup until it reaches 120c use a sugar thermometer

while the syrup is heating whisk up 4 egg whites with 1/2 tsp of cream tartar until you get peaks forming.  Use the hot syrup to cook the egg whites by pouring the syrup as a steady stream into the whisking eggs and whisk for a few more minuets before piping on top of the chilled chocolate tarts.  Use a cooks blow torch to finish off the meringue and give colour.



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Rocky road


 It seems like an age since we have done any baking together, what with the big move and settling into our new home.  So it was time to dust off our pinnies and open the baking cupboard to see what we could make.  With Ella's love of chocolate and Sophie love of marshmallows Rocky road sprang to mind.


we did not have any mini marshmallows but never fear Sophie got chopping with some scissors and chopped some up followed by bashing some digestives into little bits.   After we melted the hot chocolate mix and poured this over the goodies in the tray and sprinkling with candy stars this was left it set before chopping up and serving.  Double yum from both Ella and Sophie.


150g mini marshmallows
150g digestives broken
100g Brazil nuts roughly chopped

place all of the above into the greased tray

125g butter
3 tbsp golden syrup
150g dark chocolate
150g milk chocolate

Melt all the above and pour over the biscuits and marshmallows add sprinkles over the top and allow to set in the fridge for 2 hours.


Chocolate pancakes with Rhubarb compote & Vanilla Ice cream



Pancake day this month and a girl just loves chocolate and with rhubarb still in season this makes a great combination.  I cant believe how fast my little girl is growing she seems such a big girl at 4 and half and it does not help seeing her up against Ella, she is just shooting up in front of my eyes and is so good in the kitchen now, so over to Sophie as she makes her lunch.

Ingredients
2 eggs
250g ricotta
125ml milk
100g flour
30g cocoa powder
1 tsp baking powder
zest and juice of an orange
400g rhubarb
80g golden caster sugar

  • mix the egg yolks,ricotta, milk, flour, cocoa, orange zest and baking powder
  • whisk the egg white till they form peaks
  • fold the egg yolk mixture into the egg whites
  • cut the rhubarb in to small chunks and cook with the sugar and orange juice on a gentle simmer for 10 mins
  • to cook the pancakes use a hot pan with a little oil and plop a big spoonfull onto the pan and spread out into a circle shape and allow to cook on one side before flipping over 

Serve pancakes with a nice big spoon of rhubarb and how about a big dollop vanilla ice cream you can find a recipe for home made ice cream at the bottom of this post




You can find a recipe for home made ice cream here
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Ferrero Rocher Ice cream



I can not tell you how amazing this ice cream is it really is a big WOW and satisfy anyone with a chocolate craving.  So Sophie and i are making this to try and chase the rain clouds away by making ice cream to get all summery and yesterday we made Cherry ice cream and marshmallow ice cream.


Ice cream recipe 
250ml full fat milk
125ml double cream
2 egg yolks
88g caster sugar
300g of Nutella paste 
12 Ferrero Rocher  cut them in quarters so there was more of a discovery of the lovely rochers


1 First of all you need to make an ice cream base by pouring the milk and cream in to a saucepan and gently heating until it steams.

2 Whisk the egg yolks and sugar and slowly pour the heated milk into the yolk while whisking then return to the heat and heat gently and stir until the mixture thickens and coats the back of the spoon.  Add the Nutella paste and use stick blend to mix in

3 Allow to cool over night 

4 Pour into a plastic container and put in the freezer.  If your making by hand like me then set your alarm on the cooker for 1 hour and every hour for 3 to 4  hours go and whisk the ice cream to break up the ice crystals your notice that the ice cream become more like ice cream after about 3 or 4 hours  after 2 hours add all your Ferrerro Rocher and carry on with the freezing process breaking up the ice crystals after each hour for a further 2 more hours and then allow to freeze over night.


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Homemade Easter eggs

Now im going to sound like a tight wad but honestly im not as i have bought Easter eggs but i noticed that for 300g of egg you can pay anything from £8 to £15 for the egg and 70g of egg is a £1.

Now the reason for making the Easter eggs was more for the fun and creativity with Sophie rather than the cost. Seeing as you can buy better quality chocolate than you get in a Easter egg being £1 for 100g we bought Menier Patissier.  I thought this was an interesting fact that your paying more for the packaging as eggs are rather fragile things and which you throw away instead of paying for the quantity of chocolate you get.
Even silicon moulds are cheap this one cost a £1 and the chocolate £2 and gave us an hour together playing in the kitchen, being creative and having fun just what you need for a half term activity.
We even used rainbow sprinkles which we put into the moulds first and added the white chocolate on top to the sprinkles really showed through.  We then added the milk chocolate after the white chocolate after this had a chance to set for 5-10 min.  We put these into the fridge to set and releasing them from the silicon moulds was simple as they just popped out.  We even had enough chocolate to make jazzy buttons, which we squirted a spot on grease proof paper and topped with rainbow sprinkles while the chocolate was still wet.  Daddy loves jazzy buttons and i think we will have to make more of these.

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Cocoa and partridge ravioli



Cocoa and partridge ravioli served with demi glace, beurre noisette and Parmesan.

I have come over all masterchef and decided to to have a go at making one of the recipes i saw in the show, although the picture above doesn't do it justice as the ravioli is dark due to the cocoa.


Ingredients
for the pasta dough
175g tipo 00 flour (or strong flour)
4 tbsp semolina flour
4 tbsp cocoa powder
3 eggs beaten
3 egg yolks
2 tbsp olive oil

for the pasta filling
1 carrot
1/2 celery stick
1 onion
3 dried porcini mushrooms re hydrated
2 bay leaves
small sprig of rosemary
small sprig of thyme
salt and pepper
2 juniper berries crushed
2 partridges
3 tbsp fine chopped parmesan
2 tbsp ricotta
1 egg
knob of butter

for the beurre noisette
60g unsalted butter

to serve
3 tbsp finely chopped parmesan
fresh thyme


make the pasta filling. Heat the olive oil in a large casserole and gently cook the carrot, celery, onion, porcini, bay leaves, rosemary, thyme, salt, pepper and juniper berries until the onion is softened and golden-brown.



I browned the partridges in the pan with the vegetables, then add boiling water to 5cm/2in above the contents. Bring to the boil, then simmer gently for two hours until the leg meat falls easily away from the bone.
(The breasts are not used in this recipe but i cooked them in the broth and have saved them for a salad for another occasion.)

While you wait the 2 hours for the broth to cook make the pasta dough
For the pasta dough, place the sifted flours and cocoa on a flat, clean surface. Make a well in the centre, add the beaten eggs, egg yolk and olive oil and knead to a smooth dough. Wrap in cling film and rest in the fridge for 30 minutes
While still warm, pick the leg meat off the bone and finely chop it to a pulp, ensuring there is no shot. Mix it with the parmesan and ricotta. Season to taste with sea salt and freshly ground black pepper and add half of the egg yolk. Discard the remaining half yolk.
Strain the stock through a fine sieve into a clean pan and reduce until syrupy and thick – this is called a demi-glace. Just before serving, add the butter and whisk to emulsify.
To assemble and cook the pasta, roll the pasta through a pasta machine to a very thin sheet and use an 8cm/3¼in round cutter to cut out 12 circles of pasta.
Lightly whisk the reserved egg white and brush the edge of a pasta disc. Place a teaspoon of filling in the centre, fold the circle in half and close the ravioli, making sure that no air is trapped inside and the edges are well sealed. 
Repeat with the remaining pasta discs and stuffing. Cook the ravioli in a large pan of boiling salted water, in batches if necessary, for three minutes then drain well. 
Meanwhile, make the beurre noisette. Place the butter in a heavy-based pan and heat until it turns a nut-brown colour. Remove from the heat and strain through a sieve lined with muslin cloth.
To serve, add the beurre noisette and parmesan to the drained ravioli, mix very gently then place three ravioili at the centre of each serving plate. Garnish with the demi-glace and thyme leaves and serve immediately. 
This was a lovely dinner and the pasta really wasn't chocolaty if your worried about that it was a hint of the bitter cocoa which was really pleasant, the filling was firm and tasty and Ali said you can cook this again when he finished, so i will take that as a thumbs up. i have slightly changed the recipe but the original is here Source


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