Chocolate Rum Éclairs

Éclairs always remind me of our “female” family gets togethers. Auntie A is on her way round, then maybe auntie B will follow suit an hour or so later and she’ll bring the custard tarts from Tesco’s whilst we might provide the fresh cream and jam doughnuts from Morrison’s. Auntie A will be pouring the stovetop Turkish Tea into our tiny glass vessels in abundance and there will always be a whiff of brewed cloves to be smelt in the air. 

There’s nothing wrong with sharing and enjoying something sweet and mass packaged whilst having a good old moan from time to time, don’t you think? 

Most of our teatime favourites have one thing in common and that’s sweetened whipped cream, with added gelatin to help thicken and plump things up a bit and worryingly prolong its shelf life.

Sickening, really, how processed cream can taste so damn good.

But it’s the beginning of April, dissertation deadline is looming so I’m steering clear of processed cream, hoping it will promote– a ‘can do’ attitude (still cant do). 

The filling in these éclairs isn’t made with coconut milk residue. Make them with a cream with the highest fat content you can find, sugar and a touch of rum to round off the sweetness. It’ll take you back to the best bitching session you’ve ever had with your family.

How To Make Chocolate, Plain & Almond Croissants {Step By Step}

If it were perfectly feasible (for the hips and tum) to eat a buttery pastry every morning, I doubt you’d ever get sick of it. For that, I sincerely hope that you wont get sick of the sight of croissants by the time you reach the bottom of this never ending post!

I’ve read about how difficult it can be to successfully make a batch of these yeasted breakfast beauts, and how it could take a few tries before getting them where you want them, in terms of how many intricate layers each croissant has and achieving a formidable balance of flakiness and crispiness. 

After eight hours in the kitchen, I’ve discovered that all it really takes is some patience, and possibly a freezer. Make that 24 hours if you’re not using the freezer (please put your dough in the freezer). 

Once you’ve mastered the skills required to make croissants i.e. shaping dough so that it looks like a book 3 times and then rolling it into a pretty shape with the glide of one hand, the fillings actually lend themselves as the trickiest component.

Seriously, which percentage chocolate should I fill my croissant with? 

Marzipan or almond paste? 

RASPBERRY OR FIG JAM?!

I do not regret cramming this all into one overly loooooooong blog post, nope. 

My morning breakfast consists of a small skinny cappuccino from the in-house Costa at university. I made all 18 the recipe yields thinking: “I can finally incorporate large amounts of fat into my morning routine and cant wait to show off my new non moody morning self all thanks to my new – week long – breakfast routine!” 

Somehow, three days after croissant baking day, I managed to sneak just one off to uni, what a pile of nonsense. 

Sooo, we’re about to make the best croissants ever with a little (BIG) help from Thomas Keller, and we’re using basic butter and flour, because who says you need optimum quality for optimum croissants? Here’s a hint: bakers with pockets full of money and no sense. 

Are you ready?

Raspberry and Almond Cream Pop Tarts

Deep Dish Doughnut Peach Pie

I baked a "farewell summer" pie – I am that sad. I used really sweet, short & fat peaches because their harvest stops at summer’s end. I thought this would make the pie sentimental, especially for summer, because thats completely normal. I bagged 6 of these for £1.86 in the Turkish Food Centre! I went to WholeFoods where they were charging 2 for £1. The choice was simple. Summer, it was nice while it sort of lasted.

Fig and Mint Frangipane Crostata

When I was seven or so I used to look like the Michelin man. In the jollier days, our family would pack our bags once/twice a year and jet off to Northern Cyprus. That’s the other half yet to adopt McDonalds, where produce is rich and capital struggles, but that’s a story best told on Wiki. A lot of their tiny population make ends meet by harvesting fruits and vegetables and selling it off to traders.

For the best part of these holidays, I’d climb in my Granddad’s rusty blue van and in under 10 minutes we’d arrive at his corner of Cyprus land. There were hundreds of vine trees all perfectly aligned for as far as my eyes could see. It was so easy to get myself lost in the vibrant greens that I almost didn’t mind getting my kankles stuck in mud whilst trudging towards the vine leaf drooping closest to the ground.

Also, have you ever tried eating a raw vine leaf? My mouth would stop at nothing.

On another day I’d climb the ladders resting on the loquat trees and pick bucket-fulls of marvelously yellow and catatonically flavoursome ovals with my step nan. Her land was denser than Granddads. The leaves were darker green and the loquat bearing trees were sky high. If I were to go back, 10 years later, I’d probably be in for a sizeable shock.

I was never taken to where the fig trees grew, which was a shame really, because I was such a fig fiend. I was emotionally connected to them, right down to the shape of the fruit, they kind of look like the Michelin man’s teardrops – overly plump at the bottom. The under-ripe green figs had the best flavour; the centers were always lusciously pink and the taste fresher. The pulp and goo of the fig's core, although cringe worthy, was the perfect consistency.

Poking mint leaves into the crostata’s folds gives it an added Mediterranean kick, and what’s a crostata without frangipane? What’s a dessert without frangipane, or a breakfast?  Almonds, sweet scented roasted figs and refreshing mint piled together on flaky rich pastry dough: it’s also simple to put together. All it takes is smearing the butter into the flour with the palm of your hand, no ice water on the side, no need for a marble work top, just pliable pastry that comes together really easily.

Ingredients

Adapted from Flour Bakery's Roasted Pear and Cranberry Crostata 

Pâte Brisée II
140g plain flour
2 tsp (15g) caster sugar
1/2 tsp sea salt
128g cold unsalted butter, cubed
1 egg yolk
1 egg, beaten
2 tbsp (30ml) cold milk
2 tbsp granulated, demarara or sanding sugar

Frangipane:
50g ground almonds
56g unsalted butter, softened
50g caster sugar
1 egg
2 tsp plain flour
1/8 tsp vanilla extract
Pinch of sea salt

Filling:
9 ripe figs, quartered
1 tbsp juice
5 mint leafs

Crostata serves 8/10 

Note: For better pastry, make it a day in advance and leave to firm up in the fridge.

Note II: Green figs are hard to come by in England, but if you can get some, then definitely use these instead of their ripe counterpart. 

Method:

Start with the pâte brisée II. In the bowl of stand mixer with paddle attachment, or normal bowl, stir together flour, sugar and salt. Scatter cubes of cold butter over the top and mix for 50 seconds until you have walnut sized pieces of butter and flour.

In a cup, stir together milk and egg. Pour the egg straight into flour mixture and mix until everything has just started to come together; about 30 seconds.

Put the mixture atop a clean surface and gather into a mound. Then, using your palms, slide your hand across the surface of the dough until all of the butter is smeared into the flour, but you can still see thin streaks of butter. Scrape each part of the dough with your palms twice until eventually, everything comes together. Wrap the dough in cling film and flatten into a disk. Place in the fridge for 4-24 hours.

Prepare the frangipane. In a freestanding mixer with the paddle attachment (or a spoon), cream together the butter and sugar until pale and fluffy. Add ground almonds and mix for 1 minute. Scrape down the sides of the bowl. On low speed, add the egg, then the flour, vanilla & salt. Set aside.

Cut the figs in half, and then in half again to produce little quarters. Add them all into a bowl with the lemon juice and stir to coat. Set aside.

Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper. On a floured surface, roll out the dough into a circle 10 inches in diameter and place on the baking sheet. Using a spoon, evenly spread the frangipane in the middle of the dough about 7 inches in diameter, making sure to leave 3 inches around the edges completely uncovered.

Place all of the cut figs into the frangipane in a decorative way. Take one side of the crostata and fold the 3 inch boarder up and over the fruit. Take another piece adjacent to the fold you just made, and fold that over. You should end up with 7 pleats. Squash the mint leafs between the figs, making sure they're well spaced. Refrigerate the crostata for 30/60 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 180 C. Generously brush the crostata pastry with the beaten egg, then evenly sprinkle with sugar. Bake for 1 hour 10 minutes, or until the sides are completely golden. Leave to cool on the baking sheet for an hour. Remove the mint leaves once cooled.

The crostata will keep for 2 days.

Hang on a minute, isn't that a galette? Or a crostata? What's the difference?! Somebody.

Anybody? 

Love Em xx

Brioche au Chocolat

I’m clueless and confused when it comes to bread. Honestly now, why do people eat toast all the time? 

Sliced Hovis with a slither of butter, maybe some chopped mild cheddar tossed on top to make it dull as dishwater. Seriously, what’s the deal with the toasted fortified bread?!

Its my family’s morning fuel, but I usually settle for milk chocolate cooking chips. The weekly shop is few and far between at home , but the instant coffee, milk and sliced bread never runs low. *

I wish the amenities had a bit more excitement injected into them. I wish my home was in Belgium and my made up brother would panic whenever we had a shortage of chocolate, resulting in him popping to the off license to pick up a slab for our brioche au chocolat in the morning. Obviously there would always be proofing brioche dough in the fridge without fail. 

Can you imagine? Chocolate custard savoury bread for breakfast. All-the-time. 

People wish for a lot of things, sometimes I wish I were an elf serving Santa all year round– this is probably more likely than brioche au chocolat becoming an amenity in suburban London.

To bide the time between now and my wish becoming reality, I have made this brioche as a one off. For one day (which went far too quickly) we had brioche au chocolat for lunch and dinner; the ‘pastries’ are the perfect balance of sweet and savoury. 

The brioche is rich and crumbly and far from cakey. The custard adds softness to the texture, but the sugar hit will mainly stem from the chocolate – which is dark – making this the ultimate ‘must eat’ (everyday). 

Lets all agree to make brioche the best thing since sliced bread.

* My sister walked through the kitchen after I wrote this post and said "Hmmm what should I have on my peasant toast?"  She admitted that she thought it sounded 'uppety'. As in: snobby. As in: who the hell eats brioche everyday? If I offended anyone in this post, sorry! I simply hate toast, I dont have anything against anyone who chows down on the stuff! 

The Recipe: Brioche Au Chocolate

Adapted from Joanne Chang's Spectacular Recipes from Boston's Flour Bakery

For the brioche:
315g plain flour
340g bread flour
28g active dried yeast
82g sugar (granulated or caster)
1 tbsp salt
120g cold water
310g unsalted butter, softened and cut into cubes
5 medium eggs + 1 for egg wash

Note: This recipe will make 2 lots of dough, Chang strongly suggests not halving the recipe as you wont have enough in the mixer to get the appropriate incorporation when mixing. See the method notes for what to do with the 2nd half of brioche dough.

Note II : I dont think you can make successful brioche without a stand mixer, unless you fancy a dead arm. I think it could work in a bread maker by setting to 'knead' each time.

For the pastry cream:
300g milk
100g sugar
10g plain flour
20g cornflour
4 egg yolks
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp salt

150g dark chocolate, roughly chopped

The Method:

Note: Read this recipe through before diving in, just to get an idea of timings: I made the brioche and custard at night, then I let the brioche prove overnight and the custard set in the fridge. Then, in the morning I put together the prepared pastries then set them aside to prove again. I had fresh brioche at 5pm that day. 

The Brioche:
Weigh out all of the dry ingredients in a freestanding mixer with a dough hook attached. Mix the ingredients together until everything is combined. Add the eggs and beat on low speed for 4 minutes. Stop the mixer and scrape down the sides of the bowl, then carry on mixing for 4 minutes (dough will be stiff and dry). 

With the mixer on low, add a cube of butter at a time, mixing after each piece so that it combines with the dough. Continue to mix on low for 10 minutes, stopping the mixer occasionally to scrape down the bottom and sides of the bowl. If necessary, break the dough up with your hands to help incorporate the butter - there are some places the mixer can't reach!

Once the butter is all mixed in, turn the mixer up to medium speed and beat for 15 minutes. The dough will become shiny and soft. Then turn the mixer up to medium-high speed and beat for one minute. The dough should 'slap' the sides of the bowl at this point, and when you pull it, it will stretch. If not, add a couple tablespoons bread flour and continue to beat for a few minutes longer.

Place the dough in a bowl and cover the surface with clingfilm. Let the dough proof in the fridge for 6 hours/overnight.

The Pastry Cream:
In a medium saucepan, bring the milk up to just boiling and then remove from the heat.

In a small bowl, stir together the salt, flour, cornflour and sugar.

In a large bowl, whisk the egg yolks until well blended. Slowly whisk in the flour mixture until a thick paste forms.

Very slowly add the hot milk to the paste, whisking constantly to make sure the egg doesn't scramble. 

Return the new mixture to the saucepan (on medium heat) and whisk constantly for 3 minutes, or until the mixture thickens and starts to boil. As soon as it starts to boil, whisk for 10 seconds and immediately take off the heat.

Pass the custard through a fine sieve directly into a bowl. Gently stir in vanilla extract. 

Cover the surface of the custard with clingfilm. Once cooled, set aside in the fridge. 

Brioche au Chocolat: 

Line 2 baking trays with baking parchment.

Remove the dough from the fridge and divide in two pieces. Place the second half in the freezer - where it will keep for one week. *

On a floured surfaced, roll the dough out into a rectangle that is about 20 x 10 inches, with the long side facing you.

Spread the pastry cream over the entire surface of the dough. Sprinkle the chopped chocolate over the bottom half.

Carefully fold the top half of the dough over the bottom half and gently seal the edges together using your fingertips.

Using a sharp knife cut the dough into 2 x 10 inch rectangles. To do this, make a small incision at the top of the dough every 2 inches, so you know where to cut. You should end up with 10/12 pastries.

Using both hands, transfer each pastry to the baking trays, spacing them 4 cm apart. Lightly cover with clingfilm and leave to prove for 2 hours in a warm spot.

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees C.

In a small bowl or cup whisk together the remaining egg. Take a pastry brush and lightly coat each pastry with the egg.

Bake in the oven for 35/40 minutes. Let cool on the trays for 20 minutes. They are best served within four hours of baking and will stay fresh for one day.

*For the unused half of dough, you can simply defrost, place in a loaf tin, let proof for 2 hours & bake for 35 minutes for a brioche loaf.

Delicious brioche aside, its damn hot in London at the moment. Me and my boyfriend took a last minute trip to Camber Sands to escape the stodgy city air. The beach was completely untouched, so natural that I had to share it with you. How have you been coping with the heat? 

Love Em xx

I am really sorry but all comments for this post have been lost in Blogger's system/archive/brain somewhere and I cant retrieve them! Please forgive me x

Sini Gatmeri / Turkish Cypriot Filo Almond Swirl

I hate to make your stomachs curl with cringe, but I absolutely adore baking traditional recipes because it means I get do it with my mum. She never ever joins in, and I've recently discovered the only way that she ever will is if it involves making something nostalgic; like this filo dessert for example. As she never has the time to cook or bake anymore, It's a real treat when she does!
Traditionally, to us Turkish Cypriots, this dish is known as a 'sini gatmer', however, not short of 2000 ish miles oversea, the Turks from Turkey much prefer to call it a 'sini katmer'. Not much difference I know, but since the accents are slightly dissimilar  that one letter really does change quite a lot, even sometimes, the taste!
Anyway this dessert reeks of traditionalism, its soggy, crispy, cinnamon-y AND nutty! My family and I absolutely love it, and believe me - if you like all of those things described a second ago, you will too!

The Recipe:

1 packet ready made filo pastry

1 packet almonds (aprox 300g)

2 tins of cream* 

1 packet ricotta 

2 tbsp cinnamon (or to taste)

2 tbsp sugar (or to taste)

Sugar Syrup (serebet)

4 cups (glass) water

3 cups (glass) sugar 

*If you want the Gatmer to taste perfect, you are best off buying the cream from your local Turkish Food Centre. 

The Method:

• Start off by blitzing all of your almonds in a food processor for half a minute, or until they are nice and crumbly, a little larger than sand granules.
• Transfer the almonds into a medium sized bowl, chuck in your sugar and cinnamon and toss around until combined. 
• Using a tablespoon, mix the tinned cream into the almonds until a thick paste is formed. 
• Now crumble your ricotta using a fork and mix it in. Set aside. 
• Begin to prepare the syrup. In a large saucepan add both the sugar and water and leave on a high heat until the sugar has completely dissolved. Once it is ready transfer it into a bowl and set aside to cool. 
• Preheat the oven to 180 degrees.
• Whilst the syrup is forming, lay out the filo pastry and using your hands, add a thick strip of the almond paste across the width of the pastry at the bottom. 
• Now roll the filo around the paste like you would when forming a chocolate log cake. 
• Continue this process until you run out of almond paste!
• Grease a large round trey with butter or oil. 
• Get one of your tubes of pastry and form a tight spiral in the very center of your large tray. 
• Now connect the rest of your tubes to the first spiral until you have a large spiral and you cannot fit any more into the tray. 
• Lightly brush the top of the pastry with an egg wash.
• Place in the oven for 25/30 minutes or until the pastry is golden on top. 
• Take out of the oven and let rest for 5 minutes. 
• Making sure that the syrup is cooled, pour it all over your pastry and let it soak before serving. You do not have to use all of the syrup, I only used about two thirds of the quantity provided for a less sweeter finish!
• Enjoy :)

Sini Gatmeri

I guess you could also say that this is my one and only (for now) Olympic bake! This weekend, thanks to Neil (bf's papa) I got to go to the women's springboard semi final! It was such an experience, so I will share my experience with the rest of you in the form of pictures...in case you hadn't already seen it on BBC 1/2/3/4/5/6/ or Sky...or in case it hadn't got in the way of your daily soaps.

Above (in zoom) is team China & Canada!

Mbakes x

Miette Chocolate Truffle Tart and Tartlets

It has been a long time since I've made anything from the Miette book, sometimes I put it off because I know the recipes are so detailed and contain so many processes and having baked all week, I wanted something simple. But alas, this chocolate tart caught my eye and I had to try Miette's filling - egg yolks in ganache, who'd have thought? AND it was truly indulgent! Who'd have thought? The 'Pate Sucree' is a great recipe, but my pastry skills are far to none so mine came out tougher than anyone's teeth can handle. 

The Recipe:
Pate Sucree Tart Shell
3 and a half cups all purpose flour (or plain)
Quarter cup caster sugar
Half tsp salt
2/3 large egg yolks
4 to 8 tbsp double cream
227g/1 cup unsalted butter, cold
1 tbsp cold water

note: I found that Miette's recipe did not form a dough, so I added an extra egg yolk and some cold water which helped!

Chocolate Ganache 
283g dark chocolate
71g icing sugar
Three quarter cup plus 1 tbsp double cream
2 large egg yolks
3 tbsp unsalted butter

To decorate 
Sprig of mint

The Recipe:

• Start by preparing the dough for your tart shells. Throw in the flour, sugar and salt into a mixer and let blend for 30 seconds. Then cut up your butter into cubes and throw it in and mix some more until you have fine breadcrumbs; about 1 minute. 
• In a small bowl, mix the egg yolks with 3 tablespoons of the double cream and then gently pour the mixture into your breadcrumbs to form a stiff dough. If a stiff dough does not form, simply add some cold water or more double cream until one does (remember to be sparing!). 
• Once a dough has formed, take it out of the bowl, wrap in clingfilm and refrigerate for half an hour (or longer if you wish). 
• Prepare your tart shells by dusting with flour and take your dough out of the fridge. 
• Flour your surface and begin to roll it a quarter inch thick, and make sure you roll out large enough! Wrap the dough around the rolling pin and with a light hand, fit the dough into your tart shell/s. 
• Prick the shells with a fork in several places and put in the freezer for a further half an hour. 
• Once the dough has firmed completely, bake your shells in the oven for 10-12 minutes at 180 degrees. 
• Take out of the oven and let cool completely. 
• To make the ganache, put the chocolate and icing sugar into a bowl. 
• In a saucepan, heat the cream till just simmering and then pour it over the chocolate until the icing sugar is combined. 
• Now put the mixture over a ban marie and stir.
• In a small bowl, whisk together the eggs. 
• Add about half a cup of the chocolate mixture to the egg yolks and whisk till combined. Then add it to the original chocolate mixture and continue to mix. 
• Take off the heat and pour 2 tbsp of hot water on top and leave. Insert a hand mixer (immersion) into the ganache and mix for 3 minutes, making sure not to let any air bubbles in or obstruct the top of the ganache. 
• Pour into tart shells and refrigerate for 1 to 8 hours to firm up. 

Miette Chocolate Truffle Tart

Mbakes x