Recipes

Chocolate Tapioca Pudding

Chocolate Tapioca Tapioca makes a great pudding base, and it was a favourite in our household when I was growing up. It’s a simple dessert to prepare and great comfort food for the Winter. Since it has quite a neutral taste, almost anything can be added for flavouring.

Tapioca comes from the cassava root – a plant originating in Brazil but now common across Africa, South America and Asia as its root is nutritious and can be used for making many types of food. In these parts it comes in pearl or flour form (used as a gluten free alternative to wheat flour), and it’s the pearls I use.

Apparently, there is a thing called “bubble tea” that is all the rage in Taiwan and Asian communities around the world – it’s tea or fruit drinks served with tapioca balls mixed in. I must try that sometime, but I digress… All things must come back to chocolate, and since I did a black and white drink, why not a black and white dessert?

Try this for a simple and delicious end to a meal:

Cocoa Tapioca Recipe (served with vanilla ice cream)

100 gm tapioca Pearls
Chocolate Tapioca Closeup50 gm cocoa (pure, unsweetened)
50 gm sugar
700 ml milk

What to do:

1. Mix the cocoa and sugar together.

2. Add 100 ml of the milk in small parts, mixing until you have a smooth paste.

3. Transfer into a small saucepan, add the rest of the milk and tapioca, and heat over a low flame.

4. Stir continuously, keeping the pudding just below a simmer, until the pudding thickens and the pearls become clear (about 20 minutes).

5. Top with vanilla ice cream and serve!

Serves 4

Technorati tags: , , , , ,

Black and White Cocktail

Black and White Cocktail Since there is a “Black and White Party” over at the Happy Sorceress, I thought I’d throw in my own themed ice cream cocktail. Naturally it includes chocolate and a good hint of coffee from the Kahlua liqueur. The vanilla ice cream makes the drink cold and creamy. I think it’s just the thing for the dead of winter!

Chocolate Kahlua Cocktail with Vanilla Ice Cream

Ingredients:

100 gm 70% chocolate
150 ml milk
1 tbs. sugar
Black and White CloseupKahlua Liqueur
Vanilla ice cream

What to Do:

1. Melt the chocolate in a double boiler
2. Warm the milk and the sugar in a pan to about 50C.
3. Stir the warm milk into the melted chocolate, adding slowly, until you have a smooth emulsion.
4. Fill a shot glass using the following ratio: 1/3 chocolate mixture and 2/3 Kahlua. Leave some room for the ice cream!
5. Top with a small spoonful of vanilla ice cream.

Recipe makes enough for 8 cocktails. It’s a good chocolate sauce if you have fewer guests and some left over!

Technorati tags: , , , , ,

Vanilla Ice Cream

Vanilla ice cream Vanilla ice cream is one of the most popular but at the same time most under-appreciated flavours. In our shops, people often order it apologetically, half expecting criticism at being unadventurous. However, if I visit an ice cream shop, I will almost always sample their vanilla. When you are making a strong flavour, perhaps you can cover up any inadequacies. With vanilla, however, it is either good or it is not, and you get the full flavour of the base ice cream. There’s no hiding.

Fanaile Good vanilla ice cream is not only hard to make, it can also be very expensive if you use the real thing. We use four different natural vanillas in our ice cream to get the right balance – two types of bean, and two types of essence. Both of the essences are over 100 euro a litre – one is 160 a litre. It’s the most expensive ingredient we use.

When making vanilla at home, it’s not necessary to use four vanillas. The following recipe calls for a single vanilla bean. Sometimes it’s better not to over-complicate!

Murphys Single Bean Vanilla Ice Cream

Ingredients:

1 cup Sugar 
5 Egg Yolk 
1 3/8 Cups Cream
1 1/8 Cups Milk 
1 Vanilla bean

What to do:

  1. Beat the sugar and egg yolks together until thick and pale yellow. 
  2. Split the vanilla bean lengthwise and put in a saucepan with the milk.
  3. Bring the milk to a simmer. Remove from the heat.
  4. Remove the vanilla bean.
  5. Beat the milk into the eggs and sugar in a slow stream.
  6. Pour the mixture back into pan, add the vanilla bean, and place over low heat. 
  7. Stir until the custard thickens (around 60C).
  8. Remove the vanilla bean and scrape the seeds from it with a spoon or blunt knife. Stir the seeds into the custard, using a whisk to disperse them evenly.
  9. Allow the custard to cool.
  10. Mix in the cream, beating for one minute.
  11. Freeze using a domestic ice cream machine, or cover and place in the freezer.

Vanilla ice cream melting6 Servings

Notes: 1. If you don’t have a vanilla bean, you can substitute with vanilla essence. It’s hard to say how much, since the essences vary so much. Mix it into the cool custard in small amounts until you have the right amount of flavour.

2. To pasteurise the eggs, heat the custard to 73C and keep at that temperature for three minutes. Use a cooking thermometer, though, and keep stirring! If the custard goes any higher than 76C, the eggs will scramble. Immediately cover and place in the freezer until cool.

Technorati tags: , , , , ,

Black Currant – Chocolate Risotto

Chocolate Risotto Ok. I know that this will provoke a few traditionalists and perhaps bring back memories of those terrible chocolate noodles, but I decided to try a sweet risotto yesterday evening. After all, it’s not that different in concept from rice pudding. It turned out very dense but very tasty, so I added copious amounts of vanilla ice cream, and then it worked well as a dessert.

Here’s a recipe if you want to try it…

Black Currant and Chocolate Risotto

Ingredients:

Chocolate Risotto with ice cream100 gm Arborio rice
500 ml Black Currant Juice (I used an organic cordial mixed with water)
50 gm 70% chocolate, chopped

What to do:

1. Combine the rice and half the juice and cook in a saucepan over low heat, stirring all the time.
2. As the rice absorbs the liquid, add more juice, and continue stirring until the rice is cooked and the liquid absorbed (around 20 min)
3. Stir in the chocolate until it is completely melted.
4. Serve warm in small portions with generous amounts of vanilla ice cream.

Serves 4

Technorati tags: , , , ,

Dark Brownies with White Chocolate Chunks

Brownies with White Chocolate Chunks 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

Brownies with White Chocolate CloseupIngredients:

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: , , , ,

Sherry Trifle Ice Cream

Sherry Trifle Ice Cream Trifle, that favourite of Victorian times, is my father’s favourite dessert (he likes his booze-free), especially at Christmas. It actually existed earlier, and there is a reference to it in 1598 as “a kinde of clouted creame called a foole or a trifle in English.” It was the 18th century before biscuits or macaroons were added, and it took on the form we know today.

There is always a lot of argument about the proper way to do trifle. Is there jelly (gelatin)? Fresh fruit or canned fruit? Sponge or ladyfingers? What’s the booze? Sweet or dry sherry? I’ve allowed latitude in the recipe (feel free to substitute the alcohol). I’m not a fan of jelly in desserts and certainly not in ice cream, so that goes, and please don’t mention custard from a box! I like the kick of brandy, so there is a fair bit of it…

Murphys Sherry Trifle Ice Cream

Ingredients:

1 cup Sugar 
5 Egg Yolks 
1 3/8 Cups Cream
1 1/8 Cups Milk
1/4 cup Brandy
1/4 cup Sherry 
1/2 cup Crushed Sponge or Ladyfingers
1/2 cup Mixed Fruit or Fruit Cocktail

What to do:

  1. (Day before) Cut the fruit in small pieces, combine with the brandy, cover, and soak over night. If you use fruit cocktail from a can, drain off all the liquid first. This part is important, or the fruit will become very icy in the ice cream. The absorbed alcohol will minimise the iciness.
  2. Combine the sponge or ladyfingers with the sherry. Stir until it is absorbed.
  3. Beat the sugar and egg yolks together until thick and pale yellow. 
  4. Bring the milk to a simmer. Remove from the heat.
  5. Beat the milk into the eggs and sugar in a slow stream.
  6. Pour the mixture back into pan and place over low heat. 
  7. Stir until the custard thickens (around 60C).
  8. Sherry Trifle Ice Cream CloseupAllow the custard to cool.
  9. Whip the cream until you have soft peaks. Do not over-whip!
  10. Fold in the custard, fruit, and sponge.
  11. Freeze using a domestic ice cream machine, or cover and place in the freezer.

12 Servings

Notes: 1. Because of the alcohol in this recipe, it will melt more quickly than normal ice cream.

2. To pasteurise the eggs, heat the custard to 73C and keep at that temperature for three minutes. Use a cooking thermometer, though, and keep stirring! If the custard goes any higher than 76C, the eggs will scramble. Immediately cover and place in the freezer until cool.

Technorati tags: , , , , ,

Mulled Wine Sorbet

Mulled Wine Sorbet The excellent Ard Bia Cafe in Galway asked for a mulled wine sorbet for their Christmas menu, so I set about making it. It’s quite a nice flavour, and if you’re looking for a holiday ice cream to add spice to a meal, give it a go!

The easiest way to make it is to use left-over mulled wine (stir 350gm sugar into 950ml mulled wine until dissolved, allow to cool, freeze), but if you don’t have that kind of restraint, here’s a recipe from scratch:

Murphys Mulled Wine Sorbet

Ingredients:

360 gr Sugar
600 ml Spring Water
350 ml Red Wine (I used Merlot)
225 ml Fresh Orange Juice
Juice of half a lemon
2 Cloves
1 tablesp. Cinnamon
1/2 teasp. Nutmeg

Yield: 8 Servings

What to do:

1. Combine the sugar, water, wine and spices and cook over low heat, stirring occasionally for about 1/2 hour, maintaining at a low simmer.

2. Strain to remove the cloves.

3. Cool completely.

Mulled Wine Sorbet Closeup4. Stir in the orange juice and lemon.

5. Freeze using a domestic ice cream machine, or cover and place in the freezer, stirring at 1 hr intervals to break up the ice.

6. Remove from freezer and allow to thaw four about 15 minutes before freezing.

7. Serve garnished with a slice of orange.

Notes:

1. It’s hard to make sorbet without an ice cream machine. You will need to interrupt the freezing process and stir, or you will be left with a block of ice! The more times you do this, the better the consistency will be.

2. I think it looks well served in small wine glasses.

Technorati tags: , , , ,

Hot Cocoa for the Holidays

Cocoa with Orange Simon from Tuppenceworth and my brother have been asking for a hot chocolate made with cocoa, so I finally got around to creating one for the shops. The basic idea for this recipe comes from the Swiss cantone Ticino, where my grandmother retired, and a very old Swiss recipe book that is long out of print. I’ve made variations to suit my love of full-on chocolate, and this is not for the faint-hearted! However, it does make a thick, spiced chocolate that is perfect for a Winter’s night in by the fire, or as a great addition to a holiday meal.

Murphys Cacao del Ticino

125 g cocoa (unsweetened)
800 milk
225 gm sugar
1/2 teasp. cinnamon
Zest of one orange
2 drops almond essence

Hot Cocoa Holiday1. Mix the cocoa, sugar, cinnamon and orange zest.
2. Add the milk in small parts, stirring to create a paste, then diluting the paste until the milk and cocoa mix are combined. Add the almond essence.
3. Pour into a saucepan and place the over medium heat, stirring all the time until it reaches 60-65C.
4. Strain to remove the orange zest.
5. Garnish with grated chocolate and/or whipped cream and enjoy!

Six servings.

Notes:

1. If you find it too strong, you can always dilute it with more milk.
2. The amount of sugar will vary depending on the chocolate. Obviously you can add more if you want it sweeter.
3. Beware the almond essence. It is very volatile. Don’t use too much!

Technorati tags: , , , , ,