Baking

I’ve been tinkering with making our own version of Oreos for some time now, for our cookies ice cream, and I think I have a recipe I can share. They aren’t the same as the original, but what is? 🙂 However, I find them utterly delicious.

If you’re in one of our shops, please taste the recently re-launched brioscaí ice cream and let me know what you think!

One of the great things about this recipe is that it uses 5 egg whites, so it’s a perfect solution of what to do with the whites if you’re making one of our ice cream recipes!

Finally, this is a big recipe, one that will fit perfectly in a Kitchen Aid. A smaller mixer might struggle. It will make more cookies than you need, unless you’re having a party, but the good news is that the dough can be frozen and last around 3 months, so I have suggested dividing the dough and filling in quarters so that you can always take it out and whip up a few when you’re in the mood!

Murphys Cookies

Cookie Ingredients:

• 400g butter, at room temperature
• 750g sugar
• 5 egg whites
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 250g pure cocoa
• 500g non-rising flour

What to do – the dough:

1. Beat the butter and the sugar together until creamy and light in color.
2. Beat in the egg whites.
3. Stir in the vanilla and salt.
4. Mix in the cocoa until fully combined.
5. Mix in the flour until fully combined.
6. Divide the dough into quarters, and lay each quarter on plastic wrap, rolling them in tubes about 4cm in diameter.
7. Cover the tubes completely with the plastic wrap.
8. Freeze any tubes you don’t wish to use immediately. Place the dough you wish to use in the refrigerator until hard.

Filling Ingredients:

• 240g butter, at room temperature
• 500g powdered sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla

What to do – the filling:

1. Beat the butter and the sugar together until creamy and light in color.
2. Stir in the vanilla.
3. Divide into quarters, and wrap in plastic wrap.
4. Either freeze it with the dough for later use, or leave at room temperature for assembly.

What to do – baking and assembly:

1. Preheat the oven to 160c
2. Using a sharp knife, slice the dough, with each slice 3mm thick.
3. Place the slices on a baking tray, leaving 1/2 cm between the cookies, and bake for 15 min.
4. Cool completely on a baking rack.
5. Using a small spatula, spread some filling on half the baked cookies, using the other half to create a cookie sandwich.

Enjoy!

Technorati tags: cookie, oreo, chocolate, baking, recipe

Here’s a recipe I demonstrated this morning at a masterclass for the Dingle Food Festival.

These brownies are very tasty, and they are especially suited for using in ice cream – the olive oil is softer than butter when frozen, which makes them a perfect mix in.

However, there is no reason not to enjoy them on their own – they are dense, delicious, and surprisingly healthy, as far as brownies go. Don’t hold this against them, but they are gluten-free, dairy-free, and since I use cocoa instead of chocolate, the fat content is far lower than in regular brownies.

By the way, since most of my ice cream recipes call for 5 egg yolks, this recipe is a perfect use for the leftover egg whites!

Murphys Olive Oil Brownies

Ingredients:

250 g sugar
70 g pure cocoa (100%)
5 egg whites
70 g almond flour
60 ml Olive oil
pinch teasp salt
1/2 teasp vanilla

What to do:

1. Preheat oven to 160-165 C

2. Mix the sugar and cocoa together

3. Add the egg whites s and beat until thoroughly combined.

4. Beat in the olive oil.

5. Use residual olive oil from measuring cup to grease a small baking tray.

6. Mix in the almond flour.

7. Stir in the salt and vanilla.

8. Pour into the baking tray.

9. Bake for 45 minutes

10. Allow to cool before cutting up.

11. If you want to use it in ice cream, refrigerate them before adding to the ice cream machine.

Technorati tags: brownie, olive oil, gluten free, cocoa, recipe

It seems to me that some Australians have an under-appreciated talent for using prepared foods as an ingredient in their cooking. I base this statement upon a few Australians I know, books such as this, and finally a great concept I came across on an Australian website – ice cream scones. The idea is to use simply ice cream and self-raising flour to make scones.

Could anything so simple to prepare actually taste good? The answer is yes. Absolutely.

The recipe below makes wonderfully light and fluffy scones, and it could be a starting point for any novice baker. I’ve only tested it with our ice cream, so I don’t know how much of a difference the brand (i.e. the quality or ingredients in the ice cream) would make.

One note – The flavour of the ice cream doesn’t come through as strongly as one might think (and I’ve tested it with chocolate, vanilla, honeycomb, etc.) That’s why I’ve added extra vanilla as an optional ingredient. However, the scones are delicious either way!

Murphys Mini Vanilla Ice Cream Scones

Ingredients:

– 500 ml tub of Murphys vanilla ice cream
– 200 gm self-raising flour (I used Odlums)
– 1/2 teaspoon vanilla essence (optional)

What to Do:

1. Preheat oven to 180C (200C if it’s not a convection oven).
2. Let the ice cream soften outside the freezer for about 10 minutes.
3. Put the ice cream and the flour in a bowl (add the optional vanilla, if you’re using it).
4. Stir with a wooden spoon until you have a dough that sticks together.
5. Sprinkle a generous amount flour on the counter top to stop the dough sticking. Sprinkle some more flour over the dough.
6. Roll the dough into a tube shape, 3 cm in diameter. If the dough is too wet, sprinkle on a little more flour, but don’t overwork it!
7. Cut the dough into 3 cm segments.
8. Place the segments on a baking sheet, leaving about 2 cm distance between the scones.
9. Bake for 20 minutes, until they turn golden brown.
10. Enjoy!

Yield:

1 dozen mini scones

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MUZc3vug7so

Technorati tags: scone, vanilla, ice cream, recipe

Just thought I’d do something a little different…

Here’s a fruit tart we’ve been making for our shops. It’s a pretty basic recipe, especially if you can buy in the tart shells (otherwise there’s a recipe for pie dough here). We make the tarts in single serving size, but there is no reason it couldn’t be a full pie.

Ingredients:

25 gr sugar
175 gr ground almonds
225 gr butter
4 eggs
50 gm flour
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
Raspberry jam
Raspberries, blueberries, or other berries you have to hand.
Powdered sugar, for dusting.

What to do:

1. Coat bottom of the tart (or pie) shells with a thin layer of raspberry jam.

2. Beat the sugar and butter together until smooth.

3. Add the ground almond and continue mixing.

4. Beat in the eggs, one at a time.

5. Mix in the flour.

6. Use a piping bag or spoon to spread the frangipane (almond mixture) in to the tart shells.

7. Press in the berries.

8. Bake at 150C for about half an hour, or until the frangipane looks lightly brown.

9. Dust with powdered sugar.

Technorati tags: berry, tart, baking, pastry, recipe

I promised a customer, who loved this tart, that I would post the recipe. It’s closely based on a recipe from Simply Sensational Desserts by Francois Payard, with the only difference a slight modification in the sugar. I have found that Payard’s book has given me the greatest baking success of any cookbook, so I highly recommend it.

With any tart or pie baking, the hardest part is usually the dough, and so if you want to make this the quick and easy way, buy a pie shell or some tart shells from your local supermarket. Some of them are quite tasty, and you’ll save yourself a lot of time and trouble. If you do want to make the dough yourself, you can find Payard’s recipe here but make sure you have flour without raising agents!

Anyway, once you have the pie shells, whether you make or buy them, you’ll find this is one of the easiest recipes in the world!!!

Lemon Tart

Ingredients:

3 Lemons
45 gm butter
3 eggs
10 small pie tart crusts, or one large pie crust
130 gr sugar

What to do:

1. Preheat the oven to 150 C.
2. Bring water in double boiler to simmer.
3. Zest andjuice the lemons.
4. Put lemon and eggs in top of double boiler (before putting over heat) and whisk until smooth. Add the sugar and butter.
5. Cook in double boiler until the butter has melted and the mixture is smooth.
6. Allow to cool for 15 minutes.
7. Pour into pastry shells.
8. Bake for 8 minutes, or until the centre has become solid.
9. Decorate with a slice of lemon, or with some drizzled chocolate, as I have done.

Technorati tags: lemon, tart, cooking, pastry, recipe