Taking A French Macarons Course

Oh gosh it's been so long that I haven't blogged anything. A lot has happened and I am now back ready to revive my blog. I still love and have a passion for food, cooking and eating them. I guess I will start of by posting a class I have taken a few months ago. I was fortunate enough to get an open seat the morning of day course that had been booked for 6 months! A French Macarons Class! I've only eaten them and how I've only dreamed of making them. My dream came true! I do have cookery books and have only read them and drooled over photos. It looked and sounded very difficult to make. I'm glad that I got to learn hands on. This lovely gems are so tedious to make. Loads of steps but the finished product is well worth the time. The recipe we used came from Chef Pierre Hermes book and ooohh was it ever so delicious. We made purple lavender, orange, green mint, and white coconut with chocolate ganache.

 

Chocolate Strawberry Pavlova

Here's another strawberry recipe that we love. This has been a favourite dessert that my two sweet chic-a-dis love to make. This is the second time they've made this dessert for me. The first time was for my birthday a year and a half ago. This recipe was inspired by Nigella's chocolate raspberry pavlova. We love it with strawberries. My children made this last week with very little supervision. My daughter beat the egg whites, added all of the ingredients and chopped up the chocolate chips. My son beat the cream into a nice whipped cream to be added once the meringue has cooked and cooled. I helped them place it in the oven and remove it from the oven. It was nice and perfect! Soft,chewy on the inside and crispy on the outside.

Ingredients

for the meringue base:

6 egg whites
1 cup granulated sugar
3 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder, sifted
1 teaspoon balsamic vinegar
2 ounces of bittersweet chocolate finely chopped

for the topping:

2 1/4 cups heavy cream
a small carton of fresh strawberries chopped
2-3 tablespoons coarsely grated bittersweet chocolate (we had small chocolate chips that we couldn't grate so we it was chopped into smaller pieces.

Method

Preheat oven to 350F and line baking sheet with parchment paper.

Beat the egg whites until satiny and peaks form. Beat in the sugar spoonful at a time until the meringue is stiff and shiny. Add in the cocoa vinegar and chopped chocolate. Then gently fold everything until the cocoa is thoroughly mixed in. Mound onto a baking sheet in a fat circle approximately 9 inches in diameter, smoothing the sides and top. Place in the oven, then immediately turn the temperature down to 300F and cook to about an hour or an hour and fifteen minutes. When it's ready it should look crispy around the edges and be dry on top. The center should feel soft. Turn off the oven and open the door slightly and let the chocolate meringue cool completely.

When you're ready to serve. Place it into a flat plate. Whisk the cream till thick but still soft and pile it on top of the meringue then scatter over the strawberries and rain over with the chopped chocolates.

Giant Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies

The other day my daughter wanted some chocolate chip cookies. We didn't have any in our pantry so she decided she was going to bake a batch. This was her first time making one from scratch so she searched for the recipe. Fortunately, we had most of the ingredients we needed then come to fine out we were out of unsalted butter. I dreaded going to the supermarket as it was 111 degrees farenheit here (that's 111 ºF = 43.8888 ºC).

My daughter showed so much interest and excitement on how she was going to bake us a treat all on her own that I couldn't not go to the market. I loaded the kiddies in the hot oven temperature car with the AC on full blast and off we went. When we got to the supermarket, there in the entryway as the automatic doors slid open were pre baked and packed in a clear plastic box was some..........chocolate chip cookies! The whole point of not leaving the cool air conditioned house was she was going to make her cookies from scratch. We could've easily had purchased these grocery store cookies. But, there is nothing like homemade cookies.

I couldn't do that, my sweet girl wanted to bake us her very own. So we walked right passed the cookies and went straight to the butter fridge, purchased it and went straight home. We had to rush back since it was sooooooo haaaaawwt!.....the butter was beginning to melt! Ahhhh!! : )

My baby girl, well she's not a baby anymore but she's still is to me : ) gathered all her equipment, bowls and ingredients and all I see in the kitchen were fog of flour in the air lol! I stayed out of her way and relaxed in the living room while I watched Nigel Slater's Toast.

Once the cookies were put in the hot oven, the aroma of baked chocolate chip cookies started to linger around the house. Yummmmmm....Both kiddies especially my sweet 3 year old boy was waiting for the oven timer to beep as he was quite excited watching the cookies rise and bake.

Beep....Beep...Beep....Beep! "Sissy! It's done! It's done!" He was very excited indeed! : ) I took the trays out of the oven for her and we waited until it cooled.

We had our first bite..........it was very good all except and we all agreed it was way too sweet. We love our desserts and we do have a sweet tooth but one's that are not too sweet. So my clever girl decided she was going to make another batch and adjust all of the ingredients.

My sweet boy once again waited by the oven window watching the cookies bake with anticipation. : )
Beep....Beep....Beep....Beep! "Sissy! It's done again! Sissy! It's done!". I took the tray out of the oven and we couldn't wait to try this batch. We waited about 1 minute to cool it said let cool for 10 minutes LOL!

This one was perfect!!! Not too sweet at all, it was heavenly, scrumptious and of course the morsels had to be a good quality dark chocolate! We paired this treat with a nice glass of iced milk since the weather was too hot!

Well done my sweet girl! Well done!

Yummmmmy......These cookies are enormous!

Drool.......look at all the yummy dark chocolate morsels.

Here is her recipe version : ) She thought that they weren't baked enough so she let it bake for 24 minutes because they were so massive.

Ingredients

2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup unsalted butter, melted
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/4 cup white sugar
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1 egg
1 egg yolk
1 cups semisweet chocolate chips

Method

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C). Grease cookie sheets or line with parchment paper.  
 Sift together the flour, baking soda and salt; set aside. 
In a medium bowl, cream together the melted butter, brown sugar and white sugar until well blended. Beat in the vanilla, egg, and egg yolk until light and creamy. 
Mix in the sifted ingredients until just blended. Stir in the chocolate chips by hand using a wooden spoon. Drop cookie dough 1/4 cup at a time onto the prepared cookie sheets (She used a massive ice cream scooper looked like about half a cup) 
Cookies should be about 3 inches apart.

 Bake for 15 to 17 minutes in the preheated oven, or until the edges are lightly toasted. Cool on baking sheets for a few minutes before transferring to wire racks to cool completely.

Black Forest Cake

My my, I've been gone for a while. It's been pretty busy around here. My cake design classes have started and my daughter had just turned 12. For her birthday she asked me to make her a Black Forest Cake. It had to be designed like the one from a video game that her and her friends play called Portal. I was a bit intimidated at first since it's my first time baking one and designing one like it. I wanted it to be special and spectacular for her. I searched the web on what the cake is meant to look like and this is what mine turned out like. I wanted it to be very similar and to taste great as well.

Garnishing this cake was a very messy situation. I had chocolate bits melting all over my hands. I've had to wash, rinse and dry my hands every time the chocolate started to melt. I'm sure all you bakers out there know a better way of garnishing an entire cake with chocolate crumble without having to be messy. The instruction says to gently press the crumble on the cake. I tried that and they would fall off my hands creating a mess. Instead, slapped them on before they melted on my hands. I got the same result, a mess everywhere. There were chocolate crumbles all over the kitchen counter, floor, my clothes, face, hands, my son's face, around his lips and of course inside his mouth ha ha ha ha ha lol.... : ) He told me the bits wanted to go inside his tummy, lol ha ha ha ha ha!

Oh, and by the way this is the first time I've baked a cake with chocolate milk as one of the ingredient and it really made the cake quite moist.

The video game version looks like this...

My daughter and one of her best friend made the mini portal cupcakes and it turned out rather nice as well...

I browsed loads of recipes for this cake and the one that I chose is from Sandra Lee. It looked like the easiest one for me to make. Although her original design for her Black Forest Cake is different from what the portal cake looked like, I just had to design it differently.

This is her cake design courtesy of Semi-Homemade Magazine...

I just had to make some minor changes on the ingredients and design.

Ingredients

1 (18.25-ounce) box super moist chocolate fudge cake mix, Betty Crocker
1 2/3 cups chocolate milk
1/2 cup vegetable oil
3 large eggs
5 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder (will need to divide 3tbs and 2tbs)
3/4 cup cherry pie filling
1 (12-ounce) container frozen nondairy whipped topping, thawed

Garnish: 2 bars of your favourite bittersweet dark chocolate (one of mine is Ghirardelli )
Maraschino cherries

Method

1. Preheat oven to 350°. Spray 2 (9-inch) cake pans with nonstick baking spray with flour.
2. In a large bowl, whisk together cake mix, chocolate milk, oil, eggs, and 3 tablespoon of cocoa until smooth. Divide batter evenly between prepared pans. Bake for 20 to 24 minutes, or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Let cool in pans for 15 minutes. Remove from pans, and cool completely on wire racks.
3. Spread cherry pie filling between layers.
4. Add 2 tablespoon of cocoa powder to whipped cream to add a bit of brown then spread topping over top and sides of cake.
5. Blitz 2 bars of bittersweet dark chocolate in the food processor.
6. Gently press chocolate crumble onto sides of cake and top of cake. (I slapped mine on...lol) Top cake with small whipped cream circle using cake decorator tip # and cherries. Store in refrigerator.
Makes 1 (9-inch) cake

*Cupcakes ingredients were exactly the same except the kids didn't bother with the cherry pie filling.

Valentine Flourless Chocolate Cake

When I think of Valentine's Day chocolates, strawberries, and champagne immediately comes to my mind. We love dark chocolate and strawberries and this is one of the best cake we have ever eaten.  Belleau Kitchen is hosting a Random Recipe challenge for the month of February. I'm going to submit this recipe and participate for the first time. This is from Miss Sophie Dahl's book. I was so glad that this is the random page that I got. It's perfect just in time for Valentine's Day. I'm going to submit this to What Kate Baked  and  Lavender and Lovage. They are hosting a challenge as well for the month of February and the theme is Romance.

Butter for greasing
2 cups of broken semisweet chocolate (or 1 cup each of dark and milk chocolate, plus extra to decorate (optional) (I use my favourite Ghirardelli chocolate)
1 cup sugar
3/4 cup boiling water
2 sticks of salted butter, cut into cubes
6 eggs seperated
1 teaspoon of instant coffee (I left this out since my kiddies can't have them)
1 tablespoon of vanilla extract

To top the cake

1 package of fresh strawberries
7oz tub creme fraiche (I've used heavy whipping cream)

Preparation method

Preheat the oven to 180C/350F/Gas 4.

For the cake, grease and line the base of a 23cm/9in springform tin with baking parchment.

Blend the chocolate and sugar in a food processor until a fine powder forms. Add the boiling water, butter, egg yolks, coffee powder and vanilla extract and blend until well combined.

In a clean bowl, whisk the egg whites until stiff peaks form when the whisk is removed, then, using a metal spoon, gently fold into the chocolate mixture.

Pour the mixture into the prepared cake tin and bake for 45-55 minutes, or until a skewer inserted into the middle comes out clean.

Remove the cake from the oven and allow to cool in the tin, then transfer to the fridge for 2-3 hours.

To serve, remove the cake from the tin and place on a serving plate or cake stand, spread the crème fraîche or heavy whipping cream on top, then decorate over with the strawberries. To decorate, grate some chocolate over the top, or dust with icing sugar (optional)

{Sophie Dahl} I love this cookery book.

Chocolate Banana Muffins

It was a beautiful chilly day yesterday and the kiddies and I decided to bake something with what we had in our pantry. We had 3 overripe bananas which was the perfect amount for this recipe. We were going to make banana muffins and decided to look through Nigella's cookbook and found this! Chocolate banana muffins! A pair of ingredients that we love! Tea time...

My son ran to the fridge and got some dark chocolate morsels and added it.  He says "For good measure." Lol.

INGREDIENTS

3 very ripe or overripe bananas
125ml vegetable oil
2 eggs
100g soft light brown sugar
225g plain flour
3 x 15ml tablespoons best-quality cocoa powder, sifted (Ghirardelli my favourite)
1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
1 x 12-bun muffin tin

Add some bits of Ghirardelli dark chocolate chip morsels.

METHOD Serves: Makes 12

Preheat the oven to 400F/200°C/gas mark 6 and line a muffin tin with papers. Don’t worry about getting special papers: regular muffin cases will do the job.
Mash the bananas by hand or with a freestanding mixer.Still beating and mashing, add the oil followed by the eggs and sugar.
Mix the flour, cocoa powder and bicarb together and add this mixture, beating gently, to the banana mixture, then spoon it into the prepared papers.
Bake in the preheated oven for 15–20 minutes, by which time the muffins should be dark, rounded and peeking proudly out of their cases. Allow to cool slightly in their tin before removing to a wire rack.

Chicken Tarragon

Last night's Fun Friday Supper was Chicken Tarragon with brown rice and green beans. For dessert Flourless Chocolate Cake. Another favourite of the family.

 This dish is amazingly easy to make and incredibly savoury. The family have agreed this is going into our Family Recipe Book that I'm creating for our lovely kiddies. It will be filled with all of their favourite dishes and desserts. Another project of mine with the help of my kiddies. This is just a recipe book that will belong to the kids for fun. Something they would always keep as they get older.

(will post recipes in a moment) I get so busy with the little one's I have to stop in between blog and tend to their every need. I know all of you Mums and Dads would agree.

Right, here's the recipe

Tarragon Chicken

2 teaspoons olive oil (unless you have garlic flavored oil)
dash of garlic powder
cut onion into quarters and chop up 1/4 of it
1/2 teaspoon dried tarragon
2 chicken breast fillets, skinless and boneless
1/3 cup white wine
1/4 teaspoon table salt
1/2 cup heavy cream
fresh white pepper to grind over
2 teaspoons chopped fresh tarragon and a pinch for sprinkling

Heat oil in Dutch oven. Add onions stir, add dried tarragon, stir again and cook for a minute.

Put the chicken fillet in the pan curved side down and cook for 5 minutes. If the onions look like their starting to burn scrape them from the pan and let them rest on the chicken.

Turn over the chicken and add the white wine. Let the wine bubble up then add salt. Put the lid on and cook on low for 10 minutes. Check the chicken if its cooked by slicing through the center. Making sure there isn't any pink. Cook longer if there is.

Remove chicken breasts to plates. Bring the liquid to a boil, add the cream and stir well, then sprinkle in the fresh tarragon, stir again and give a good grind of pepper.

Pour the sauce over the chicken and give the final sprinkle of tarragon.

Serves 2

I've doubled up the recipe to serve the 4 of us.

Crispy Chicken Cutlet and Churros

Crispy Chicken Cutlet with Brown Rice

With my very own twist. I've tenderized the skinless and boneless chicken breast to a some what thin fillet. Coated it with egg whites, whole wheat flour, dash of whole wheat bread crumb and shredded reggiano  parmigiano. It was crunchy and flavourful you need not add salt. For our side we had one boil in a bag brown rice to serve 4. 1/3 cup each to be exact.

Dessert ~ Our Homemade Churros w/ Semisweet chocolate dip

These are homemade churros made with whole wheat flour. Flash fried in olive oil and sprinkled with sugar and cinnamon. The dip is semisweet chocolate melted with cream and a bit of golden syrup. This was a hit last night. Kiddies loved it! Well, who doesn't love chocolate. Kiddies fancy dark chocolate as much as I do and they're much healthier for you.

Nigella's Churros recipe

2/3 cup plus 2 tablespoons all purpose flour (I used whole wheat flour which is why the churros look dark brown)

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 cup boiling water

2 cups corn or vegetable oil for deep frying (I didn't have either so I used olive oil)

Once fried lightly coat churros with:

1/4 cup of sugar and 2 teaspoons of ground cinnamon mixed together.

Chocolate Sauce

4 oz. of good quality bittersweet chocolate (I used Ghirardelli semi-sweet)

1 tablespoon golden syrup

2/3 cup heavy cream

Melt in saucepan.

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I've read that Dark Chocolate helps with lowering your cholesterol. http://www.webmd.com/diet/news/20030827/dark-chocolate-is-healthy-chocolate