Universal gifting /-/ Nutty bucklinis caramel slice

It’s that time of year! Cookies and sweets bars are being baked across the world, loving packed in a brown paper box and sent via the mail to all their friends. Of course the Northern hemisphere has this down packed and mastered the art of perfect mail cookies however in Australia the traditions are a bit different.  The temperature means not many bakers want to turn on the oven for fear of heat exhaustion. I have learned from last year but I have opted for the easy way out this year.

 Gift giving easy? Well, no, but small edible ones are!

This time of year people go chocolate crazy down under. Rows and rows of seasonal confections line the shelves of the department stores, each boasting to be the perfect edible gift this silly season. 

I think I have spent more on chocolate this month than I have this whole entire year. Of course most of them are to give away in order to prevent headaches over what to give the friend you occasionally see at work. In reality it is just a way of fueling my chocolate hoarding and confectionery eating habit. Silly indeed.

As much as I love seasonal chocolate decorated in glitter gold and fire engine red; not everyone is so keen on the idea of adding extra padding to their frame during the summer months.  With a pass history of sport addiction, full sympathies with those who hate this time of year for the sweets, feasting and late night drinking parties. All indulgence needs a bit of modestly which is poorly excised this time of year. Guilty as charged.

Also the friends who are label the “challenging” because of their dietary restrictions. While I might not be able to cater for everyone’s individual habits, I do like to have dessert that I give away after a dinner party or send over neighbors where I might not know the house holds eating habits. The seasonal sweet treats should be for everyone, not just the majority.  So today in spirit of good will and joy I think I have found the recipe that most people will be glad to eat.

Pecan, almond and rosemary Caramel Slice is my way of spreading the dessert love just a bit further with one recipe. I love this time of year because the abundance of nut and spiced desserts and I think everyone would like to be to share in that joy. The middle is a combination of soaked cashews, molasses and date are processed to a smooth paste becoming a sticky caramel like layer. Perfect texture for holding all those chopped pecans and almonds without them sinking to the bottom. To improve the texture of raw desserts which can often be mistaken for uncooked fruit leather, I used buckinis (buckwheat which has been activated and then dried). 

The sweetness is not the same as you would expect from a traditional sweet however the smoky undertones and natural oils of the nuts are preserved; so you are getting the real taste of the ingredients.This is why it helps to use the best ingredients you can source for this recipe as you will taste any rancid nuts or oils in the bar. Also I did not use normal chocolate for the topping but a combination of coconut oil and raw cocoa. To be really honest, I am not fan of the topping as it does not set as nicely as tempered chocolate. So take your pick of toppings but if you use normal eating chocolate they will no longer be vegan. 

Call them millionaire’s short bread or caramel slice I have tried replicate the texture of the conventional slice in this recipe so you get a heavy layer of “caramel”; only mine has nuts and buckinis in it to!

  Bars that you can keep in the fridge for emergencies are what most of us need this holiday season. Bars which are sticky, chewy, sweet, crunchy and easy? Yep, sign me up!

NOTES 

• You will need a high power blended for this recipe or else the caramel filling will not be smooth enough.
• Buckinis can be replaced by more almonds and pecans.
• I am not using coconut oil in this recipe because does leave a ‘coconut” taste, however if you cannot get cacao butter use this instead. .
• Soaked nuts in the caramel layer can be replaced with any other soaked nut.

Nutty bucklinis caramel slice

(Raw, vegan, refined sugar free, gluten free)

Makes a 27 by 18 rectangle slice pan

Adapted from Lemon pi and Secret Squirrel Food

Base

100g dates, de seeded

150g almond meal

50g pecans

1tbsp melted cocoa butter

1 scraped vanilla bean

2g sea salt

Blend all the ingredients in a high performance blender until it comes together and clumps. It will be wettish and have texture of course sand. Line the tray with baking paper coming 5 cm up the sides and push into the base. Freeze until needed.

Caramel layer

100g cashews, soaked for 5-6 hours, drained

65g almonds, soaked like above

200g medjool dates

30g cacao butter melted

50g molasses

10g vanilla extract

2g salt

Blend all the ingredients in the blender until smooth. Freeze for 10 mintues.

Nut additions

 40g almonds chopped

50g pecans chopped

40g buckinis

Press the chopped nuts and buckinis into the caramel layer. Return to fridge or freezer overnight.

Cacao layer
35g raw cocoa powder
50g rice syrup
70g cacao butter, melted
5g vanilla extract 

Stir all the ingredients with a whisk until a smooth sauce forms. Pour over the slice and shake the tray a bit to get an even layer.

Cut with a hot knife, and press firmly. Return to fridge for 10 minutes. Serve from the fridge.

.

It's my 2nd Birthday! (blog that is) /-/ Fruity Clinkers Rice Krispy Cake

 

A young girl sits on a polished, tacky wooden bench in a suburban super center. Within her little hands gasp a greased red and yellow printed take away box. The box hides the lovely scent of fried chicken nibbles and a golden pile of shoe strong fires that would be her proposed lunch. As she opens the box, the aroma creeps to perfume the area. Not even a minute pass before she begins to tuck in the chips and chicken. Not civilised with fork and knives but using her hands with the single tissues provided to maintain some modesty.

While she tucks into the box without a care in the world, she over hears the muffed sniggers and giggles in her left ear. Shifting her sight slightly to the left, she notices the noise is coming from the children sitting on that same bench; whispering and pointing in her direction. These children could be no more than her age however the girl knew the meaning of their actions straight away.

Suddenly the joyful taste of her meal was gone; left was only the over salted after taste of dried meat and fat. She tried to continue on with her lunch but he moist meat and lightly spiced crumb turned most vile. Slight tears welling deep, stomach churning and head down in shame. Carefully she closed the box, wiped her tainted hands on whatever napkin she had left, placed the box back in the bag. A proceeded to hop off the bench and made her way towards her mother’s trolley, indicating she was done. 

On the way out towards the car she dropped the barely eaten meal in the bin, stomach still rumbling but she was physically full with self-loathing and disdain.   



Have I ever told you I have not eaten fried chicken and chips since I was 6? If you put the pieces together you will understand where I am going with this. Yep that little girl was me, sitting on that bench eating lunch. 

 That day was one the most horrid experiences in my childhood that I can remember. On that day I learned, the world doesn’t love little girls eating fired food and deep down I knew this was the start of many experiences that I will be mocked and made the outcast. 

How this have anything to do with today? Well to brighten the mood here a bit, it is my blogs 2nd birthday! Yes I have done 48 months of ranting post leading to a baking adventures ending in deliciousness. I cannot put into words how much this blog has helped me grow as a person and allowed me to see what I really want to do for the rest of my life. 

 

You shared my ups and major downs this year with great support, pinned and shared my pictures (which I am deeply grateful for as a 2nd year DLSR photographer) and commented on the posts ( I love each everyone of you). 

 As much as I would love to say I have friends that food bloggers, I don’t (Well I think I don’t anyway). However the general support network of the food blogging and bloggers have made me more secure. 



I realised it is OK if you have out of the ordinary hobbies. It is OK to like to cook at home on a Friday night rather than go out partying on the town. It is OK to have the scent of bakery products from your home at midnight and that there is always a time for baking cookies (even at 3 am).  It is OK to be able to recite the conversions for ounces to grams, Fahrenheit to Degrees Celsius and US cups to UK cups of all baking products in perfect rhythm.  



Most importantly, this blog and you guys who read from all around the world have made me feel more accepted as a person than I could ever do in the real life. That little girl would of have love to have known this world existed then she would not have thrown her lunch away but given the kids a tongue poke and kept eating.

 I never thought people I have barely met could make me feel more secure in my abilities than any marking guideline and for that I am being you guys a HUGE THANK YOU. Thank you for making fried chicken stuffed everything; Thank you for all the cookies and cake hacks; Thank you for the ice cream recipes that are almost insane. A big thank you to all of you who read my blog, without you now of this would be possible!



This naked Clinkers rice Krispy cake is my 2nd blogs birthday cake! If you do not know what clinkers are they are fruity light crispy candy, coated in milk chocolate. They are colour differently on the inside, so you never know what you are going to get!

This cake is a chewy rice Krispy treat filled with fruity pop rock, milk chocolate buttercream topped off with dark chocolate ganache, choc coated pop rocks and crushed Clinkers. Green is apple, pink is strawberry, yellow is tropical, and orange is well… orange.   

The randomly coloured surprise is made even better with more candy! Let me cut this post short now. You do not need to fancy with this cake and is very easy if you are catering for a lot with a minimal time. Also the cleaning is a simple as boiled water and your washing liquid. The sugar melts instantly.

Layers of vanilla toned rice treat with the fruity crunch of the Clinker and the pop rock fun that you get on the top make this cake a real stunner. I hope you try it one day!

 


Fruity Clinkers Rice Krispy Cake with Pop rock surprise
This one makes a 16cm mini pan in four layers with a height of 3cm.
120g unsalted butter
400g mini marshmallows
12 g vanilla extract
480g rice puff cereal
Pinch of salt
Food gels in pink, green, yellow and orange

110g of unsalted butter, softened
150 g icing’ sugar
40g cocoa powder
7g vanilla extract
100g melted chocolate

70g dark chocolate, chopped
50g cream
10g butter
Clinker candies, roughly crushed (plus some for eating!)
Different coloured pop rocks in pink, yellow and green

 

CAKES

Grease four spring-form pans, set aside.In a small sauce pan, melt 30g butter and 100g marshmallows over a low heat stir with a greased spatula till melted. Add in a drop of the vanilla, green food colour and a pinch of salt. Add 120g rice puff cereal to the marshmallow mixture. Stir together with your spatula until all rice puffs are covered in the mixture. Press the cereal into the pans with greased. Cover with a sheet of baking paper and press flat and even. Refrigerate cakes until set. You will need to this three more times in yellow, orange and pink.
Chop chocolate and place in a heat proof bowl. Place this bowl over a pot of simmering water and stir until melted, allow to cool.


BUTTER CREAM

In a stand mixer, fitted with the paddle, beat butter, cocoa, and icing sugar on low until combined like sand. Turn the mixer to medium and beat until it is creamy and pale. Add the vanilla and beat on high for 30 seconds. Scrape down the bowl. On a low speed pour in the melt chocolate into the mix while beating the butter cream. Turn on to high whip until combined and fluffy again. If it is too soft place in the fridge for 5 minutes then beat on high again until smooth. Set aside.

 
GANACHE

Melt cream butter and chocolate in microwave proof bowl in 30 second burst in the microwave. Stir till melted and smooth.

 

ASSEMBLY

Four different colour unmoulded Rice Krispy cakes
One recipe of butter cream
One recipe of the ganache
Chopped Clinker candies and pop rocks

Place one layer of the cake on a lined turn table. Transfer some of the butter cream to a piped bag fitted with a round 1 cm opening. Frost the top of that cake and smooth out with an offset spatula. Sprinkle some pop rock candies in the middle, Place another layer gently on top. Repeat the frost, spread, sprinkle and next layer process until they are all used. Return to the fridge for 20 minutes for the butter cream to harden.

Pour ganache all over the top, allowing it to drip down. Sprinkle pop rocks on the edge and place halved or quartered Clinker candy in the middle, Use the ganache to help them glue to each other. Fridge for 20 minutes before eating.

It's the season /-/ Seriously French Silk Pie

Today, I would not be complaining if it ended 10 hours ago. As someone who is accident prone, I had one of those days when it is amplified infinity fold.  Within the misery it gets worse as I had an accident with my light room program, computer and internet.
 


The day that I was about to post this (last Wednesday to be exact), all had a heart attack and froze in mid space. This is why I hate Window *bloody* 8 with it multi-colour icon toggle feature. Enough with the first world problems in my life as this time of year make me incredibility grateful for what I have. We do not celebrate Thanks giving in Australia, so no pumpkin pie, no corn bread side dishes and no turkey left overs. It is a sad time for the food bloggers in Australia (we are counting the days to Christmas). None the less the photographs of large gather of family and friends over food make me so warm inside.



This year my family did not (once again) have the best year; in fact it has to be up there as one of the worst one’s ever. In almost parallel irony it is also one of the best years for me achievement wise concerning where I want to go in life. I have no doubt that I will end up working in some job relating to food but it is so much more reachable now that I have a taste, a sip from the punch bowl which is the baking/pastry industry. So in that I am grateful.




I am grateful that I have still not fallen completely apart since March. While my dad is happily gardening among the clouds and listening to his Wide range Chinese radio, I still miss him every day he is not at home at 3:30 pm. My family is just not he same with that grumpy but wise man.


 On a more positive note of finally understanding why people have such an infatuation with pie, namely chocolate pies. Right now I have more than enough egg yolks to make at least 1 month supply of ice cream for me (I go through at least 4L ) however in weird turn of events I have suddenly had great cravings for chocolate. Chocolate anything right now is the go to dessert for me, so in order to keep in with the season I made a pie which is “very French”. I say “very French” as a nicer way of putting this dessert has a lot of cream, sugar and yolks; it is time of joyful eating now isn’t it? 



I have never tasted a real French silk pie before but looking up the recipes I fail to see why it is called French at all. This pie is REAL Chocolate Pie made from a base of Pate de bombe (DO NOT RUN, it is simple as making butter cream).  Boiling Sugar poured into yolks in a stand mixer may sound hard but seriously I find all you need is a good thermometer and a steady hand; the mixer does a lot of the work for you. 

Folded whipped cream and melt chocolate are the next additions to the golden foam, finished off which a large amount of sea salt flakes and a splash of bourbon for good measure.  This most silky pie filling that is the bomb! For your taste buds and if you eat a whole pie to yourself, forget your waist line.

 

Seriously look at how silky it is! This is because there is no gelatine or thickening agents in it besides the egg yolks. Just the pure taste of chocolate, cream and bourbon. An yolk enriched pie crust become the tender flaky base for this melt away chocolate mouse pie. Well you might as well go all out and put some cream on their too. 

 

Hell! Go for a heavy sprinkle of chocolate too! You will definitely win brownie points at your next party when you pull out this beauty from the fridge. The best part is that you can make it all in advance and it would keep for a good 3 days, air tight box, before the crust starts to go soft. So at this time of year when you need an instantly delicious but non-commercial dessert, give this pie a try.

 

Really French Silk Pie

NOTE: I had a lot extra to make another pie if you wish. However the mouse is great if spooned into little cups and eaten like that. The pastry can be saved for another day in the freezer but makes great biscuits. If you are short on time go get a pie crust from the store and make the mousse, nobody will no the difference.

Adapted from Sugarbaby’s pate de bombe in her book.
Crust recipe from Gourmet Traveller

CRUST

350g flour
100g caster sugar
160g unsalted butter, cold in 1 cm dice
4g salt
3 egg yolks

Filling and garish; chocolate flake and whipped cream
Place flour and sugar in a large bowl and combine together with a fork.Slowly rub in butter with finger tips to form a mixture resembling golden breadcrumbs. Add egg yolks and continue mixing until dough just comes together and is smooth. Shape it into a ball, cover in plastic wrap and leave it to rest in the fridge for 1 hour at least.
Place chilled dough on a floured surface. Using a rolling pin roll your dough out to 3mm thickness make sure it will cover the tart tin or pie plate well. Once rolled out, gently roll your pastry on to the pin and un roll it on the top of the tart tin. I used a 20cm by 5cm tart tin.
Allow the natural gravity make the pastry fall around the tart tin but loosen any stubborn corners of the pastry. Make sure not to stretch the pastry to cover the tin. Neaten up the edges and chill again for 30 minutes.
Pre heat oven to 180C and place a baking sheet on the baking rack. Remove the tart from the freezer. Scrunch up a piece of baking paper and place in the middle of the tart. Pour in the baking rice or beans and bake in the oven for 20 minutes. Remove baking beans and continue to bake for 15mintues till golden brown. Allow to cool completely. Begin the mousse now

 
FILLING

10 egg yolks
200g caster sugar
55g water
400g dark chocolate, chopped
480ml pure cream
30ml bourbon

In a stand mixer fitted with the whisk, place egg yolks in bowl. On medium high whip egg yolks until they turn a pale gold and have slightly doubled in size.
In a small heavy base sauce pan, bring to the boil sugar and water. With a thermometer take the sugar mix to 120C. Once at this temp remove from heat and turn the stand mixer on to high power.
While beating the egg yolks in the stand mixer on high, pour in the hot sugar in a thin stream down the side of the bowl avoiding the beater. Continue on this speed until the mixture is beaten to room temperature.
At the same time this is happening, place bowl on top of a small pot of simmering water. Make sure the bowl does not touch the water. One simmer turn off the heat and place chocolate in the bowl. Stir gently to melt.
Whip cream to soft peaks and store in in the fridge.
Remove the bowl from the mixer. Fold in chocolate and bourbon until combined. Then gently fold in cream until all ribbons of white have disappeared. Pour into pie crust and tap the crust to create an even surface. Place in fridge until set (1 hour). Garnish with cream and chocolate when ready to serve.