Tuesday, December 4, 2012

Chocolate Silk Tart

I haven't worked out what is more delicious - whether to serve it warm or have it cold - either way, it is a wonderful pudding.. It suggests making up 6 separate tarts, but I made it into one large tart and apart from taking slightly longer than 12-15 mins to cook, it was fine.

Ingredients:
Chocolate Pastry:
1 cup flour
½ cup icing sugar
1 tablespoon cocoa
90g butter, softened
1 egg yolk
Filling:
1 cup cream
200g dark chocolate, chopped
2 teaspoons instant coffee granules
2 eggs beaten

Pastry: Process all ingredients in a food processor, adding about 1 tablespoon water, until mixture just forms a ball.  Divide in 6 and roll each piece between plastic wrap to line greased 12 cm shallow tart tins. Line each with a piece of foil, chill 10 minutes.  Preheat oven to 180° C. Bake for 10 minutes, remove foil and bake 5 minutes more. Cool.
Filling: Warm cream on low heat, stir in chocoloat until smooth. Dissolve coffee in 1 tablespoon hot water and stir into chocolate. Cool to lukewarm then whisk in eggs. Pour filling into pastry cases and bake 12-15 minutes until just set. Dust with cocoa. Serves 6

Monday, August 13, 2012

Chelsea Buns

A great filler for the children when they come home for school..!!

Ingredients
Dough:
225ml/8fl.oz/scant 1 cup milk
1 egg
500g/1lb 2oz/4.5 cups unbleached white bread flour
2.5ml/0.5 tsp salt
75g/3oz/6 tbsp caster (superfine) sugar
50g/2oz/0.25 cup butter softened
5ml/1 tsp easy-blend (rapid-rise) dried yeast

Filling:
25g/1oz/2 tbsp butter melted
115g/4oz/two-thirds cup sultanas
25g/1oz/2 tbsp currants
25g/1oz/2 tbsp soft light brown sugar
5ml/1 tsp mixed (apple pie) spice

Glaze:
50g/2oz/0.25 cup caster (super fine) sugar
5ml/1 tsp orange flower water to glaze

Pour the milk into the bread machine pan. Add the egg. If the instructions for your machine specify that the yeast is to be placed into the pan first, reverse the order in which you add the liquid and dry ingredients.

Sprinkle over the flour, ensuring that it completely covers the liquid. Add the salt, sugar and butter in three separate corners of the bread machine pan. Make a small indent in the centre of the flour (but not down as far as the liquid) and add the yeast.

Set the bread machine to the dough setting; use basic dough setting (if available). Press Start.

Lightly grease a 2cm/9in square cake tin pan. When the dough cycle has finished, remove the dough from the machine and place it on a lightly floured surface.

Knock the dough back (punch it down) gently, then roll it out to form a square that is approximately 30cm/12in.

Brush the dough with the melted butter for the filling and sprinkle it with the sultanas, currants brown suggar and mixed spice, leaving a 1cm/half inch border along one edge.

Starting at a covered edge, roll the dough up, Swiss roll fashion.  Press the edges together to seal.  Cut the roll into 12 slices and then place these cut side uppermost in the prepared tin.

Cover with oiled clear film. Leave to rise in a warm place (for 30-45 mins) or until the dough slices have doubled in size.  Meanwhile preheat the oen to 200'C/400'F/Gas5.

Bake the buns for 15-20mins or until they have risen well and are evenly golden all over.  Once they are baked, leave them to cool slightly in the tin before turning them out on to a wire rack to cool further.

Make the glaze. Mix the caster sugar with 60ml/4 tbsp water in a small pan. Heat, stirring occasionally, until the sugar is completely dissolved. Then boil the mixture rapidly for 1-2 minutes without stirring until syrupy.

Stir the orange flower water into the glaze and brush the mixture over the warm buns. Serve slightly warm.

(From the Complete Book of Bread & Bread Machines)