CBC 18 - White Chocolate Passionfruit Truffles ... A Lesson in Cheering One's Self Up!

"Hallo, Pooh", said Piglet.

"Hallo, Piglet. This is Tigger."

"Oh, is it?" said Piglet, and he edged round to the other side of the table. "I thought Tiggers were smaller than that."

"Not the big ones," said Tigger.

- Tigger from Winnie the Pooh

You may be wondering just what this quote has to do with this post!  I'm a bit of a Winnie the Pooh fan, always have been, always will be!  Tigger and Eeyore are my two all time favourite characters, by nature I think I lean more towards the Eeyore 'outlook' on life, a bit gloomy and 'woe is me' when the chips are down.  But in reality there is an inner Tigger within me just itching to be let loose.  I know I've mentioned before about my adventures in America and my various friends nicknames at camp, can't recall if I have ever shared mine though?  I'll err on the side of caution and assume not (see, that comment is a prime example of that little Eeyore on my shoulder!).  My nickname was 'Tig'.  It wasn't uncommon to hear me utter "My name is Tig.  T. I. G.  That's short for Tigger because everyone knows the most wonderful thing about Tigger is that he is the only one!"  Apparently just saying "Hi.  My name is Tig" with an Australian accent in America leads to confusion!  Who knew?

So, back to the quote!  I've been feeling a bit gloomy lately.  I've been a bit under the weather and after several visits to the doctor and various prescriptions later I am at the point where I am sick to death of myself!  Some cheering up is in order, which is where Tigger (the quote above is one of my favourites and always makes me smile!) and these very scrummy Passionfruit Truffles come into the equation.

I've waxed lyrical about my love of passionfruit on countless occasions now.  By now there probably isn't a person on earth who doesn't know how much I love passionfruit.  So when this love is combined with two of my other loves, white chocolate and truffles, and we have a creation of such splendiferous proportions that it just has to be tried to be believed.

I started by making a passionfruit puree;

Passionfruit Puree

Puree the fruit in a food processor or blend until completely smooth (I did this for the strawberry puree,  also pictured, but for the passionfruit puree I just pressed the pulp through a fine sieve so I got the juice but none of the black pips, I was worried a blender would result in little black flecks) and use a scale to ensure an accurate weight on your puree.  Weigh out enough icing sugar to equal 10% of the total weight of the puree (the example the book gives is for every 10 ounces of puree add 1 ounce of sugar).  Return the puree and the icing sugar to the food processor or blender, and mix until smooth and well combined.  Strain the puree through a fine mesh sieve before using to remove seeds or impurities.

Taken from 'Making Artisan Chocolates' by Andrew Garrison Shotts

I've stored my purees in the fridge but they can also be frozen so you have the flavour of fresh fruit even in the darkest depths of winter.

Then yesterday, I should have meet up with a group of Scottish based food bloggers at the Foodie Festival.  But owing to the fact that the sun still seems to be tattooing the backs of my eye balls with the light I had to cancel at the last minute.  I was very disappointed.  So to cheer myself up I headed to the kitchen to put that puree to good use.

White Chocolate Passionfruit Truffles

175ml double cream

230g white chocolate, finely chopped

3 tbsp passionfruit puree

Place the cream in a medium saucepan over a medium heat until it just comes to a simmer.  Remove from the heat and immediately sprinkle the chocolate into the cream.  Cover and allow to sit for 5 mins; the heat should melt the chocolate.  Stir very gently until smooth.

Whisk in the passionfruit puree.  Pour the mixture into a shallow bowl.  Cool to room temp, cover with plastic wrap, then allow to sit, preferably overnight, until firm enough to roll.  (Or you may refrigerate ganache until firm, about 4 hours).

Use a small scoop or melon baller to form the ganache into balls.  Place them in a single layer on a baking sheet and refrigerate until very firm.

Temper another 230g white chocolate.  Dip the truffles into the tempered chocolate, making as thin and even coating as possible.  Place the dipped truffles on a baking tray that has been lined with a piece of acetate.  Place some tempered chocolate in a small zipper top plastic bag; snip off a bottom corner and pipe zigzags on each truffle.  Refrigerate until firm.  Place in fluted paper cups, if desired, and serve at room temp.

Makes between 25 and 30 truffles

Adapted from 'Truffles'

I made a couple of changes to the original recipe.  Firstly I used white chocolate instead of milk, but I'd like to try it with milk chocolate to see what it does to the flavour of the passionfruit.  Not sure I would have ever combined milk chocolate and passionfruit normally but I will soldier on in the name of experimentation lol.

The little buggers even disappear while getting their photo's taken!

My other change was unplanned.  The ganache tasted so good that before I knew it Hubby and I had managed to eat half the batch before I had even thought about tempering the chocolate.  Over the course of last night and today the truffles have slowly disappeared of the tray until it got to the point that there was no need to temper any chocolate because there weren't any truffles left for dipping!  Oops!

But I can 100% positively promote both Tigger and these truffles as a sure fire way for cheering yourself up when you are feeling a little on the 'Eeyore' side ;0)

CBC 16 - Ching's Chilli Chicken Noodles

This is another recipe that I used to make all the time and I can't quite remember why I stopped making it all the time.  This dish is fabby any time of year, in summer when everything is crisp and fresh or in winter when the chilli really kicks in and warms from the inside out.  We affectionately call this 'Ching's Chilli Chicken Noodles' as the recipe comes from Ching-He Huang's book Chinese Food Made Easy which accompanied the BBC TV series.  There are loads of fantastic recipes in the book but I shame-facedly admit that since trying this recipe I haven't ventured on to any of the others.  I really must rectify that!

Ching's Chilli Chicken Noodles
180g rice noodles
250g skinless chicken breast fillets, sliced
1 courgette, sliced into strips
1/2 red pepper, deseeded and sliced into strips
2 tbsp light soy sauce
2 large spring onions, sliced lengthways
For the Sauce
4 garlic cloves, crushed and finely chopped
2.5cm piece of fresh root ginger, peeled, sliced and finely chopped
1 medium red chilli, deseeded and finely chopped
1/2 red pepper, deseeded and sliced into strips
2 tomatoes, sliced
5 tbsp water
2 tbsp tomato ketchup
1 tsp soft light brown sugar

Place all the ingredients for the sauce into a blender and blitz.

Cook the noodles according to the packet instructions.  Drain, then run them under cold running water and drain again.  Drizzle with a little groundnut oil and put to one side.

Heat a wok over a high heat and add 1 tbsp groundnut oil (I use fry lite!).  Add the chicken and stir fry for 2-3 mins until it starts to turn brown.  Add the courgette and red pepper and stir fry together for 1 min.  Add the sauce and bring to the boil.

Add the cooked noodles and stir well to combine.  Season with the soy sauce, garnish with the spring onions and serve immediately.

Serves 2
Ching-He Huang's Chinese Food Made Easy

One shortcut I take is to boil the kettle and pour the boiling water into a bowl that has the noodles ready and waiting with a couple of crumbled chicken stock cubes.  Not classy, but tasty!  By the time the chicken and veg have stir fried the noodles are soft enough to drain and add to the wok along with the sauce where they finish cooking but soak up some of that spicy flavour.  To bulk the meal out I often add extra red pepper and / or courgette if I have it.

CBC 15 - Broccoli, Feta and Tomato Salad

Chocoholics and baking fiends should look away, for the next few post have a decidedly savour bent to them!  Hubby and I have taken to packing our lunches for work and this salad has once again made its way back onto my weekly menu.  When I first moved to Edinburgh I made this salad for dinner quite a few times a week, its quick and easy to make, the ingredients cost pretty much next to nothing (this is a very important element to ones menu when one was on a temp!), its fairly healthy and above all else, it tastes pretty good too. 

Now is the part where I have to admit which cook book this comes from in order to qualify for my Cook Book Challenge .... deep breath, apply the same strategy as removing a band aid ... Ainsley Harriott's Friends and Family Cookbook.  I have nothing against Ainsley, except for maybe that hip shimmy, arm flailing in the air  like a maniac move he seems to love.  In fact most of the recipes of his that I have tried I seem to like quite a bit but I can't help but feel a little shameful for having bought this book.  I blame my local book retailer for reducing the price and shameless praying on my vulnerable book fetish.  How dare they!  ;0)

Broccoli, Feta and Tomato Salad
400g broccoli, broken into small florets
100g feta cheese, cut into cubes
225g cherry tomatoes, halved
6 tbsp mustard vinaigrette (recipe follows)

Blanch the broccoli for 1-2 mins in a pan of boiling salted water, then drain and refresh under cold running water.  Tip into a bowl and scatter over the feta and tomatoes.  drizzle over the vinaigrette and fold until well combined.

Serves 4
Adapted from Ainsley Harriott's Friends and Family Cook Book (said it twice now!)

Mustard Vinaigrette
1 tbsp white wine vinegar
a pinch of caster sugar
4 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 tsp dijon mustard
1 tsp wholegrain mustard
1 small garlic clove, crushed
A small bundle of fresh chives, snipped
Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Place the vinegar in a screw topped jar, add the sugar and a good pinch of salt, then shake until the salt has dissolved.

Add the oil to the jar with the mustards and garlic and shake until you have formed a thick emulsion.  add the chives, season to taste and then chill until needed.

Makes enough to dress 1 large salad (serves 4)
Ainsley Harriott's Friends and Family Cook Book (thrice!)


To avoid the dressing from cooking the broccoli beyond the fresh, vibrant green that comes from blanching it, I pack the salad and dressing into separate containers to transport to work. 

CBC 14 - Apricot Slice ...

... and an announcement!

The party last night was lots of fun, Miss KH had no idea and was completely surprised.  And Miss KH is soon to be Mrs KS!!!!!!!!  So pleased ;0)

Before leaving for the party yesterday I had time to make this Apricot Slice which comes from Bill Granger's book 'Bill's Open Kitchen'.

Apricot Slice
185g plain flour
170g caster sugar (I used vanilla)
1 tsp baking powder
A pinch of salt
3 eggs
60ml milk
2 tsp natural vanilla extract
180g butter, softened
14 apricots, pitted and halved (this may vary depending on the size of the apricots)
2 tbsp caster sugar, extra

Preheat the oven to 160C.  Sift the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt into a large bowl and make a well in the centre.  Place the eggs, milk and vanilla in another bowl and mix to combine.  pour the egg mixture and butter into the well in the dry ingredients and beat for 2 mins until smooth.  Spread the mixture evenly into a greased or non stick 20 x 30cm lamington tin.

Push the apricot halves, cut side up, evenly into the cake mixture in four rows of seven (my tin couldn't quite fit this, I'm guessing next time I need to bunch them up a bit closer!).  Place in the oven and bake for 20 mins, sprinkle over extra sugar and cook for another 20 mins, or until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean.

Cut into fingers with two apricots halves per slice.

Makes 14 slices
Bills Open Kitchen

Bill also says that if fresh apricots are out of season you can use bottle or canned ones instead.

We couldn't wait to tuck into this slice and had to wait a whole 10 mins for the apricots to cool down enough not to burn our mouths!  When it was still warm it had a really overpowering 'eggy' taste to it, I put this down to stupidly using three large eggs where I am guessing Bill used medium in his recipe.  However, now the slice is cold the eggy taste has disappeared and the mixture of the vanilla cake batter and the jammy fresh apricots blends for a wonderful summer treat.

Chocolate Teapot Goes Retro - CBC 12

The final offering for today is in honour of my boys (that would be the Socceroo's - check me out!  I actually know something about soccer!)

And lets not forget Mark Webber who also did us Aussie's proud in the Canadian Grand Prix.  Not first place but he gave it all he had.  Oh why could it not be a month of F1?  Now that I could handle!

This is a Donna Hay recipe, originally for Apricot Upside Down Cake.  I didn't have any apricots so I replaced them with a pineapple.  It turned out really well, a very moist cake with sweet pineapple and caramel to top it all off.  Served with a scoop of ice cream and all is right with the world.

I remember way back in the 80's Pineapple Upside Cakes being all the 'rage'.  Complete with glace cherries!  I even remember being about 13 or 14 (this was right at the end of the 80's mind -ahem) being quite infatuated with one of my brother's friends, summer weekends were spent in either our backyard or theirs having a barbie.  Dessert at ours was pretty much either cheesecake (my brothers favourite) or choux buns filled with whipped cream and topped with chocolate sauce (can't quite remember who's favourite this one was lol) made by my Mum.  Dessert at 'dreamboats' was always Pineapple Upside Down Cake made by his Mum.  I loved it because his mother made it and presumably she made it because it was his favourite ~ anything to get in the good books.  Truth be told it came from a packet mix and was dry and flavourless and the caramel rock hard!

So some reinventing for the modern day was required, without losing any of the the retro appeal if possible.  One thing was a certainty though, no glace cherries here!  I was a bit nervous about making the caramel but it was actually pretty simple and I didn't get burnt once which was a bit of a bonus ;0)

Pineapple Upside Down Cake
1 1/2 cups plain flour
2 tsp baking powder
4 eggs
1 cup caster sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
125g butter, melted
Topping
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup water
75g butter
1 pineapple, peeled, cored and roughly chopped

Preheat the oven to 160C.  To make the topping, place the sugar and water in a saucepan over a low heat and stir until the sugar is dissolved.  Increase the heat and boil until the syrup is a golden brown colour.  remove from the heat and stir through the butter.  Pour into a well greased 24cm round cake tin.

To make the cake, sift together the flour and baking powder three times and set aside.

Place the eggs, sugar and vanilla in the bowl of an electric mixer and beat for 8-10 mins or until thick and pale.

Sift the flour and baking powder over the egg mixture and gently fold through.  Fold through the butter.  Place the pineapple in an even layer over the caramel.  Spoon over the cake mixture and bake for 1 hour 5 mins or until cooked when tested with a skewer.  Allow to stand for 5 mins then invert the cake onto a plate.  Serve warm with cream or ice cream.

Serves 10
Adapted from Donna Hay's Modern Classics Book 2

C'on the Aussies!!!!!

Gratitude Cookies aka 'Nigella's Chocolate Mint Cookies' - CBC 11

Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life.

It turns what we have into enough, and more.

It turns denial into acceptance, chaos to order, confusion to clarity.

It can turn a meal into a feast, a house into a home, a stranger into a friend.

Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today, and creates a vision for tomorrow.

-- Melody Beattie

One batch of these babies and you will be very grateful for the time and care you have taken to make them!  One mouthful and all the stresses and rages of the work day will fade away and you will be thankful you don't have to live in your office ... although if my office was my kitchen I reckon I would be pretty happy right about now!

Gratitude Cookies
100g soft butter
150g light brown sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 egg
150g plain flour
35g cocoa powder
1/2 tsp baking powder
200g dark chocolate chips (I used milk chocolate)
For The Glaze
75g icing sugar
1 tbsp cocoa, sieved
2 tbsp boiling water
1/4 tsp peppermint extract

Preheat the oven to 180C.

Cream the butter and brown sugar in a freestanding mixer, then beat in the vanilla extract and the egg.

Mix the flour, cocoa and baking powder in a bowl and gradually beat in to the creamed mixture.  finally, fold in the chocolate chips.

Using a rounded tbsp measure (I used an ice cream scoop), spoon out scoops of cookie dough and place on a lined baking sheet, leaving a little space in between each one.  (They will spread!)

Bake in the oven for 12 mins and then let them sit on the baking sheet for a couple of mins before moving  them to a cooling rack, with some newspaper on the surface underneath to catch any escaping glaze later.

Put the glaze ingredients into a saucepan and heat until combined.

Using a teaspoon, zig zag the glaze over each cookie.

Makes 26 cookies for Nigella and 23 for me
Taken from Nigella Express

This One Is For You Choclette - CBC's 9 & 10

I promised Choclette from the Chocolate Log Blog a cake recipe ... so you maybe wondering why you see a 99 cone before you? 
Summer seems to have reappeared today in Edinburgh, and there is nothing better on a hot summer's day than an ice cream.  But then the weather can change so quickly in this part of the world that no sooner have you got that wonderful treat and the heavens open, so maybe a cake would be better?  These little guys have the bases covered, they are really cupcakes 'cleverly' disguised as ice creams.  Kitsch I know!  Couldn't help myself, they have been on my want to bake list for quite some time but I got put off by reports of exploding ice cream cones, overflowing batter and then finally soggy ice cream cones so there was nothing else for it but to have a try myself.

I kept in mind the comments of overflowing batter and made sure that I left about 2cm from the top of the ice cream cones, they still billowed over the top though so next time I'll only half fill them.  The cones didn't explode in the oven, though I guess if you fill them full of the batter then they may crack as the batter cooks and expands.  As for soggy cones ... well they maybe aren't as crisp as they are straight from the packet but I wouldn't call them exactly soggy either. 

These were loads of fun to make, and I've managed to tick off two Cook Book Challenges as well, the original idea came from Fiona Cairn's 'Bake and Decorate' while the cupcake recipe came from Jennifer Graham's 'The Crabapple Bakery Cupcake Cookbook'.  When I first got this book I read it cover to cover a couple of times over and employee all the tips for making cupcakes but I realised that I've never actually made any of the cupcakes.  I opted for plain vanilla cupcakes so as I could play about with the icings, next time I'll check on the old supplies of icing sugar before I start, I only had enough for one batch of buttercream which has only gone far enough to ice 8 of the cones.  Never-mind though, the rest of the cones are safely store din my cupcake carrier until I can get back to the shops and then I can play around with icing flavours to my heart's content.  Watch this space for the creations!

Crabapple Bakery's Vanilla Cakes
2 3/4 cups plain flour
2 tsp baking powder
200g softened unsalted butter
1 3/4 cups caster sugar
4 eggs
1 tbsp vanilla extract
1 cup milk
Ice cream cones (I've not given a quantity because it depends on how big the cones are)
Buttercream
Flakes - I got the 99 ones

Preheat the oven to 170C/fan 160C.  Place one flat bottomed ice cream cone into each hole of a muffin tray.

Sift together the flour and baking powder.  In a separate bowl, cream the butter for 1-2 mins.  Add the caster sugar a third at a time, beating for 2 mins after each addition.  After the last addition, beat until the mixture is light and fluffy and the sugar has almost dissolved.  Add eggs one at a time, beating for 1 min after each addition or until mixture is light and fluffy.  Add the vanilla extract and beat until combined.

Add a third of the flour to the creamed mixture and beat on low speed until combined.  Add half of the milk and beat until combined.  Repeat this process.  Add the remaining third of the flour and beat until thoroughly combined; do not over beat as this will toughen the mixture.

Spoon mixture into the ice cream cones (leave lots of room for them to expand!).  Bake for 20-25 mins or until a fine skewer inserted comes out clean.  Remove the cupcakes from the trays immediately and cool on a wire rack for 30 mins before frosting.

To decorate, i made one batch of vanilla buttercream and piped it on top of the cones in a soft serve style (or as close as my piping skills will ever get to a soft serve style!) and then added a 99 flake.

Made 23 ice cream cone cupcakes (though next time this amount will probably double!) and the buttercream made enough to ice 8 cones

The Crabapple Bakery Cupcake Cookbook

Chocolate Teapot Cookies - CBC 8

I know what you are thinking.  But I couldn't help myself!!!  I was on the net buying supplies for my Tuesday night class (I have two cake orders by the way - one for a friends 50th birthday and Hubby's birthday too but I'll share more in them later!) and I just 'happened' [ahem] to come across the cookie cutter section and look what I found ... a teapot shaped cookie cutter.  The tea towel draw won't hold anywhere near as many tea towels as it once used to as it also houses my cookie cutter collection but I just had to have this one.  What is a girl supposed to do when faced with such a discovery?  Especially when the cookie cutter was made just for her blog.  Surely this was destiny ... don't you think?

Have I justified myself yet?  Maybe I should just get to the recipe then ;0)

Vanilla Sugar Cookies
200g unsalted soft butter
200g vanilla caster sugar
1 vanilla pod, seeds scrapped
1 egg, lightly beaten
400g plain flour, plus more for dusting
To Decorate
1 batch tempered chocolate
1 Chocolate transfer sheet

In an electric mixer, fitted with a paddle attachment, cream together the butter, sugar and vanilla seeds until well mixed and just creamy in texture.  Do not overwork, or the cookies will spread during baking.

Beat in the egg until well combined.  Add the flour and mix on low speed until a dough forms.  Gather into a ball, wrap in cling film and chill for at least 1 hour.

Place the dough on a floured surface and knead briefly.  Using two 5mm guide sticks (yep - bought them when I got the cookie cutter, feel like a professional now lol), roll out to an even thickness.

Use a (teapot shaped!) cookie cutter to cut out cookies.  Using a palette knife, lay on a baking tray lined with greaseproof paper.  Chill again for about 30 mins.  Preheat the oven to 180C.

Bake for 8 - 12 mins, depending on size, until golden brown at the edges.  Let cool on a wire rack.

When cool, dip half of each cookie into melted, tempered chocolate and lay on greaseproof paper to set.  Place a chocolate transfer strip over the top of the chocolate while it dries. 

Once the chocolate has set, remove the plastic baking paper to reveal your decorated cookies.

Makes 24 large cookies
Peggy Porschen's Pretty Party Cakes

I manged to get 12 cookies cut out today, the rest of the dough mixture is sitting in the fridge waiting for me to make some more.  The left over chocolate is sitting tight as well.  Just as well because the teapots aren't hanging around for long ;0)

The Itch You Just Can't Scratch! CBC 7

I just can't get enough of making cupcakes at the moment, for me it is the itch I just can't quite scratch.  I've been sat at work all day staring at papers with numbers and tally's and converting them to spreadsheet graphs and formulas but all my mind has been thinking about is getting home so I could make a batch of cupcakes!  These cupcakes are a mixture of three different recipes, I've taken what I consider to be the best bits from all of them to create something all my own.  I was expecting to have to make these a few times before I got them just right but after tonight's attempt I'm actually really pleased with them just the way they are.  The cupcakes are moist and fluffy and almost delicate, the surprise in middle is really flavoursome and adds some texture and the icing on the top (which is always the best part of any cake!) is perfectly sinful!

I've used the plain chocolate cupcake recipe from The Hummingbird Bakery Cookbook (I'm claiming this as CBC number 7 as this is the first recipe I've tried from the book!), the centre from a recipe I found here (their picture looks much prettier than mine!) and the idea for the icing came from here.  If I really had to tweak anything at all (and it would just be tweaking for tweakings sake!) than I would maybe add a tsp of vanilla to the cream cheese mixture

Oreo Cupcakes - Chocolate Teapot Style
Cupcake Mixture
100g plain flour
20g cocoa powder
140g caster sugar
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
a pinch of salt
40g unsalted butter, at room temp
120ml milk
1 egg
1/4 tsp vanilla extract
Cream Cheese Mixture
115g cream cheese, softened
1/2 egg
1 tbsp sugar
30 mini Oreo bite size cookies
Buttercream

Preheat the oven to 170C.  Line a 12 hole cupcake tray with paper cases.

Put the flour, cocoa powder, sugar, baking powder, salt and butter in a freestanding electric mixer with a paddle attachment (or use a handheld whisk) and beat on slow speed until you get a sandy consistency and everything is combined.

Whisk the milk, egg and vanilla extract together in a jug, then slowly pour about half into the flour mixture, beat to combine and turn the mixer up to high speed to get rid of any lumps.

Turn the mixer down to a slower speed and slowly pour in the remaining milk mixture (scrape any unmixed ingredients from the side of the bowl with a rubber spatula).  Continue mixing for a couple more mins until the mixture is smooth.  Do not over mix.

Mix the cream cheese, egg and sugar until well blended.

Spoon about a tbsp of the cupcake mixture into the base of each paper case.  Top each with a tsp of the cream cheese mixture and 1 cookie.  Cover evenly with the remaining cupcake mixture.

Bake for 20 - 25 mins in the preheated oven, or until the sponge bounces back when touched.  A skewer inserted in the centre should come out clean.  Leave the cupcakes to cool slightly in the tray before turning out onto a wire rack to cool completely.

When the cupcakes are cool, pipe some buttercream (that has had a few crushed Oreo cookie crumbs added to it) onto the top.  Finish off with a mini cookie for extra decadence.

Makes 12

You'll be pleased to know that I have (so far) only had half a cupcake.  I know!  A wee minor miracle.  And that was purely for taste test purposes of course!  Hubby has had one for taste test purposes as well and then felt it would be rude not to polish off the other half from mine.  The rest are intended to make it into work tomorrow but its killing me knowing they are sat there just waiting to be eaten and that they taste sooooooooo good.  I wonder how many will actually make it to work!