Baking

Given that all of the ice cream recipes I have given here call for egg yolks, I wanted to re-visit meringues, since they are such an obvious solution in terms of what to do with the egg whites. I wrote up a recipe before here, but I think the following is simpler and better.

Meringues are a lovely dessert – crunchy puff of sweetness on the palate. They can be enjoyed on their own, with whipped cream, or with ice cream and fruit. You can shape them into little baskets or simply make little meringue drops. They are, of course, gluten-free.

Meringues are said to have been invented in the 15th Century in the Swiss town of Meiringen by an Italian chef named Gasparini. They are made simply by beating egg whites, adding sugar and other ingredients, and then baking them. I like mine with a little hint of lemon. This recipe makes quite a lot of meringue, but since the ice creams mostly call for 5 egg yolks, it seems useful to use the 5 egg whites!

Ingredients:

• 5 egg whites
• 350 g caster sugar
• 2 tablespoons lemon juice

What to Do:

1. Preheat the oven to 150C.
2. Butter two large baking sheets.
3. Beat the egg whites in a dry glass or stainless steel bowl (if using an electric mixer, do this at medium speed rather than high speed, which will take a bit longer but give the meringues more strength) until fairly stiff.
4. Beat in the sugar in a slow stream, and then add the lemon juice, mixing all the time.
5. Beat until very stiff and shiny.
6. Using two spoons, place on the baking sheet. It should make 18 large meringues, so divide accordingly, leaving space around the meringues to allow them to expand.
7. You can shape them as you wish!
8. Bake for 45 minutes.
9. Cool on wire racks.

Notes:

1. If you want to make meringue nests, the easiest way is with a piping bag. Start in the centre, work out in a tight spiral, then build up the sides. Make them smaller that you might think, for the baked meringues will expand!
2. There are many of things you can add to meringues in terms of flavouring – vanilla essence, almond essence, and cocoa for chocolate meringues are just a few examples. If you do add flavouring, always add it at the end, once the meringues are stiff.

Technorati tags: meringue, recipe, ice cream, dessert, baking

I ended 2007 with a chocolate recipe (Chocolate Whiskey Ice Cream), and given my chocoholic predilection, I think my first recipe for 2008 has to be a chocolate one as well.

This is a dense, intense chocolate experience. There’s a bit of cognac in it for kick, and a topping of fresh raspberry puree. There’s no flour, so it’s gluten-free. It’s not for the meek or chocolate-ambivalent. It’s a chocolate lover’s dream.

Ingredients:

• 500 g dark (70%) chocolate
• 500 ml cream
• 60 g butter
• 1 vanilla bean
• 2 tablespoons cognac

For the raspberry puree:

• 200 g raspberries
• 50 g sugar

What to do:

1. Melt the chocolate and butter in a double boiler over simmering water or a in a microwave. Take care – chocolate melts at a low temperature (ca. 37C) and it burns easily, so once it’s melted, remove from the heat!
2. Cut the vanilla bean lengthwise and place with the cream in a small saucepan.
3. Cook over medium heat to a simmer.
4. Remove the vanilla beans and scrape out the vanilla seeds with a spoon or knife. Whisk in to the cream, and discard the beans.
5. Add the cream to the melted chocolate in small parts and mix thoroughly until smooth and velvety.
6. Stir in the cognac.
7. Pour into a 9 inch baking spring form or shallow, medium-sized metal bowl and refrigerate until hard.
8. Heat the raspberries and sugar in a small pan until the sugar is dissolved.
9. Press through a sieve with a rubber spatula or wooden spoon to remove the seeds.
10. Allow to cool.
11. If you have used a metal bowl, use a cloth soaked in hot water to heat the bowl enough to free the cake. Invert the bowl onto a plate and top with the raspberry puree.
12. Refrigerate until set.
13. If you have used a baking form, top with the raspberry puree and refrigerate until set.
14. Use a cloth soaked in hot water to heat the form enough to free the cake.
15. Slide it onto a plate.
16. Serve at room temperature with vanilla ice cream and a bit of chocolate sauce.

Technorati tags: ganache, pastry, chocolate, cake, recipe

 Once Upon A Tart  is hosting a brownie day, so I used that as an excuse to bring out the chocolate and get back to brownies. I wanted something with a coffee kick, so here’s my moist, dark Kahlua brownie recipe:

Dark Chocolate Brownies with Kahlua

Servings :8 Preparation Time : 00:45:00 (including baking)

Categories : Pastries

Ingredients:

250 grams chocolate (70% cocoa content)
165 grams butter @ at room temperature
3/4 tablespoon natural vanilla
300 grams sugar
100 grams flour
3 each egg
100 ml Kahlua Liqueur

Instructions: 

1. Preheat the oven to 180 C.
2. Butter and flour an 10 inch square baking pan. Set it aside.
3. Melt the chocolate and butter in a double boiler. Mix until smooth.
4. Beat the sugar and eggs together.
5. Add the vanilla.
6. Slowly pour in the chocolate and butter, mixing all the time.
7. Sift the flour, then add, mixing thoroughly.
8. Stir in the Kahlua.
9. Pour the batter into the prepared pan, and bake 25 minutes (a knife should come out just about clean).
10. Allow the brownies to cool slightly. Then cut them into squares and transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
11. Caramel ice cream is a great accompaniment for these

Note: If you’re in the UK or Ireland, please read my comments on flour, or you will be very disappointed with the results!

Technorati tags: brownie, pastry, chocolate, Kahlua, recipe

 There are an infinite amount of things to add to brownies (I’ve already suggested Baileys), and today I had some left-over organic white chocolate, so I decided to cut it up and mix it in. I used darker chocolate for the brownie base than our usual recipe to offset the sweetness. It worked out quite well, although I had the temperature of the oven a bit too high from my last baking session, and I over-baked them slightly. The head is still a bit fuzzy from the festivites!

Murphys Dark Chocolate Brownies with White Chocolate Chunks

Servings : 8  Preparation Time : 00:45:00 (including baking)

Categories : Pastries

Ingredients:

250 grams chocolate (70% cocoa content)
165 grams butter at room temperature
3/4 tablespoons natural vanilla
300 grams sugar
135 grams flour
3 each egg
80 gm white chocolate cut into chunks

Instructions: 

1. Preheat the oven to 180 C.
2. Butter and flour an 10 inch square baking pan. Set it aside.
3. Melt the chocolate and butter in a double boiler. Mix until smooth.
4. Beat the sugar and eggs together.
5. Add the vanilla.
6. Slowly pour in the chocolate and butter, mixing all the time.
7. Sift the flour, then add, mixing thoroughly.
8. Stir in the white chocolate chunks.
9. Pour the batter into the prepared pan, and bake 25 minutes (a knife should come out just about clean).
10. Allow the brownies to cool slightly. Then cut them into squares and transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
11. Raspberry Sorbet is a great accompaniment for these…

Note: If you’re in the UK or Ireland, please read my comments on flour, or you will be very disappointed with the results!

Technorati tags: brownie, pastry, chocolate, white, recipe

 I wrote here about ice cream cakes, and I’ve been playing with a meringue base for them. We have excess egg whites from making our ice cream, so it makes sense. Besides, it would make the ice cream cakes gluten-free.

Meringues are not hard to make, and they are a great treat. Whether on their own or as a nest for another dessert (as in with the raspberry sorbet in the photo above), they are a real crowd-pleaser. I like them with a little hint of lemon.

Murphys Meringues Recipe

Ingredients:

4 large egg whites

300gm (1.5 cup) sugar

1 tsp. vanilla

1 tablespoon lemon juice

What to Do

1. Preheat the oven to 140C.
2. Butter a large baking sheet.
3. Beat the egg whites (if using an electric mixer, do this at medium speed rather than high speed, which will take a bit longer but give the meringues more strength) until fairly stiff.
4. Beat in the sugar in a slow stream, and then add the vanilla and lemon, mixing all the time.
5. Beat until very stiff and shiny.
6. Using two spoons, place on the baking sheet. It should make 10 large meringues, so divide accordingly.
7. You can shape them as you wish!
8. Bake for 45 minutes.
9. Cool on wire racks.

Note: If you want to make nests, the easiest way is with a piping bag. Start in the centre, work out in a tight spiral, then build up the sides… 

Technorati tags: meringue, recipe, ice cream, dessert, baking

 One of my favourite ways to eat ice cream is wrapped in a crepe. The combination of the warm crepe with the cold of the ice cream and the textural sensation are delightful.

Over the winter, we served crepes in the Killarney shop, but we’ve stopped for the season because it’s just to busy and crepes are too fussy when there is a crowd of customers waiting to be served. However, crepes are quite easy to make at home, and you can use the same crepes to make a main course (a tasty filling is spinach, cheese and toasted pine nuts).

If you regularly make crepes or pancakes at home, I highly recommend getting a crepe pan. I picked the one on the right up at a catering store for around 12 euro. What a difference it makes! Not only do they come out the perfect size every time, but they don’t stick and cook better.

Murphys Crepes

10 Servings

Ingredients:

150 gm flour (non-rising – see earlier post)

40 gm butter, melted

15 gm sugar

250 ml milk

75 ml water

3 eggs

1/4 teasp. salt

What to do:

1. Combine flour, sugar and salt.

2. Add milk, water, butter and eggs and process until smooth (use a food processor ideally or electric mixer).

3. Leave to settle in the fridge for at least an hour.

Note: You shouldn’t need any oil or butter on the pan if it is a good one. The butter in the crepes will keep them from sticking.

5. Pour into the pan (it should be hot) and cook over medium heat on one side until the edges begin to lift away from the pan. Flip and cook on the other side.

6. If you want to make them all at one time, put a stack on a plate with waxed paper in between them to keep them from sticking. You can keep them warm in the oven on low heat.

7. Scoop out your ice cream into the centre of the crepe and roll the crepe around it. I used raspberry sorbet.

8. If you’re feeling artistic, decorate with chocolate sauce, lime or anything else that strikes your fancy and goes well with the ice cream flavour you’re using.

9. Serve immediately.

Enjoy!

Technorati tags: recipe, chocolate, crepe, cooking, ice cream, sorbet

I am giving away the fact that I grew up in the US by my love of brownies. The brownies here in Ireland tend to be way too fluffy instead of being dense and decadent, and sadly people often use poor quality chocolate.

The fluffiness is no doubt due to the flour. It astonishes me that it is next to impossible to get flour without rising agents in Irish supermarkets. Even most “plain flour” is anything but when you peruse the ingredients. In my mind, plain flour would suggest one ingredient – flour, but that is not the case (look!). Of course commercially there is a great range of flour options but in supermarkets we have just found two flours that are simply flour – Family Favourite Plain flour from Lidl and Supervalu’s Valusaver Plain Flour. So check your flour ingredients list (how strange it is to say that!) and make sure it says nothing more than flour if you want to avoid the brownies rising more than they will naturally with the eggs.

Since we were a little shy of cake in the Dingle shop, I went baking. Nothing fancy, just some yummy chocolate chip cookies.

I like my cookies dense not fluffy, and these make a perfect combination with vanilla ice cream, if you want to try them.

Here’s the recipe:

Murphys Chocolate Chip Cookies

135g plain flour (no rising agents)
115g butter
75g sugar
90g light brown sugar
1 egg
1/4 teaspoon vanilla
150g 50% good quality chocolate chips or chunks

1. Preheat oven to 190C.
2. Combine sugar, and brown sugar and melted butter and beat until light.
3. Beat in egg.
4. Slowly add flour, mixing all the time.
5. Add vanilla.
6. Stir in chocolate morsels.
7. Spoon onto a lightly buttered baking tray.
8. Bake 5 min.
9. Remove tray, rap on counter.
10. Bake another 4 minutes.
11. Transfer to wire racks to cool.

Yield: 7 large cookies

As always, good chocolate and vanilla will make all the difference in how these taste.

The photo with the mixer is a triple recipe, so don’t worry if your mixer doesn’t look that full!

Let me know how it works for you!

Technorati tags: chocolate chip, cookie, chocolate, ice cream, recipe