Tag: chocolate

Categories
Bakes Recipes

Easter Choc Egg Biscuits

Easter is a special time in the food treats calendar. I always like to explore the array of innovative egg-themed confections that become available in the shops. No excuse is needed to enjoy the satisfying taste of chocolate this time of year (not that I need an excuse any other time of the year, to be fair 🙂 ).

Here’s a fun and fairly simple way to knock out some home-made biscuits for the holidays, incorporating a pack of chocolate mini eggs. Great fun to make and delicious to eat – they make an eggs-cellent addition to your holiday treat cupboard.

Servings

Makes 12 biscuits.

Timings

10 mins to prep, 30 mins to chill the dough, and 15 mins to bake at 160C in a fan oven.

You Will Need:

  • 250g butter, softened at room temperature
  • 140g caster sugar
  • 1 egg yolk
  • 2 tsp vanilla extract
  • 300g plain flour
  • 100g chocolate mini eggs

Method

  1. Beat the butter and sugar together in a mixing bowl with a wooden spoon.
  2. Add the egg yolk and vanilla extract and mix in again.
  3. Sieve over the plain flour.
  4. Roughly chop the chocolate mini eggs with a knife and add to the mix.
  5. Now comes the real fun part – having made sure you’ve washed your hands, roll up your sleeves and get in there with both sets of fingers to squidge it all together into a biscuit dough. Place the dough in the fridge for 30 mins to chill.
  6. Switch on a fan oven to heat up to 160C.
  7. Pull off a piece of the dough and roll between the palms of your hands into a ball. Repeat 12 times to make a dozen biscuits. Place each ball on a metal tray lined with baking paper, flattening the top slightly with the palm of your hand. Space them out on the tray, as they will flatten and spread as they bake.
  8. With the oven up to temp, place the tray in the oven for up to 15 mins. Keep an eye on them and let them bake until they’ve reached your preferred level of doneness, whether that be soft and chewy or a little more toasted and crisped. Everyone is different, so do what works for you.
  9. Remove and transfer the biscuits to a wire rack to cool (as shown in my photo at the top of the post). They will be soft when fresh from the oven, and will firm up gradually as they cool. The biscuits will keep for 2 – 3 days in a sealed container.

Customise It!

Most forms of chocolate can be used in place of the mini eggs if you wish. You could also substitute some chopped nuts for some of the chocolate.

In search of a seasonally named track for the ADK Playlist, I turned to Patti Smith’s Easter album. However, good though it is, I’ve decided to go with my favourite Patti Smith track, which is taken from her Wave album, instead. Here’s Patti with Frederick.

Categories
Bakes Recipes Snacks

Choc & Sea Salt Cookies

It’s sensory overload time with a double hit of sheer indulgence. Bite into one of these cookies for a taste of rich, buttery dark chocolate, closely followed by a wave of sea saltiness. Add chopped fruit, nuts, seeds or even white or dark chocolate pieces for even more heavenly pleasure.

The inspiration for these cookies came from a recipe by culinary legend Nigella Lawson, so thank you Nigella. She added pumpkin seeds to hers, which I am sure would also taste divine.

Servings

This makes 12 cookies.

Timings

15 mins to make, 15 mins to bake.

You Will Need

  • 50g butter
  • 70g caster sugar
  • 50g soft light brown sugar
  • 1 egg
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • 80g plain flour
  • 35g cocoa powder
  • 1 tsp bicarb of soda
  • 80g choc chips
  • 80g mixed fruit and chopped nuts
  • a few twists of sea salt from a grinder

Method

  1. Turn the oven on and heat to 180C.
  2. Beat together the butter and sugars in a bowl, with an electric mixer. Add the egg and vanilla and mix again.
  3. In a second bowl, mix together the flour, cocoa powder, bicarb and a few twists of the sea salt.
  4. Combine the contents of the two bowls and stir together with a spatula to mix. Fold in the choc chips, fruit and nuts.
  5. Use a teaspoon to scoop out the mix into 12 lumps, rounding each gently between your palms, roughly into the shape of a ball. Place each on a baking tray lined with baking paper. Don’t crowd them – they will flatten into discs as they bake, so leave a few cm of space around each one. Use a second tray if necessary.
  6. Before placing in the oven, grab that sea salt grinder again and give them all a twist or two over the tops. Place in the oven and cook for 10 – 15 mins. Keep an eye on them so they don’t overcook.
  7. When removed from the oven, allow them to rest on the warm tray for a few minutes, during which time they will start to firm up. Then carefully lift each one with a spatula on to a wire rack to cool.
  8. The cookies can be eaten warm or when cold – they are delicious either way. They will also keep in a sealed box for 2 – 3 days, though I guarantee they will all be eaten before then!

Customise It!

Mix the added fillings to your taste. In place of the fruit and nuts, you could add biscuit pieces and mini marshmallows for a rocky road vibe. The next time I make these, I plan to add chilli flakes and lime zest.

Musical choice this time is a track I really like by Death in Vegas – Scorpio Rising. It features a guest vocal from the unmistakeable Liam Gallagher.

Categories
Bakes Recipes

Vegan Choc Cupcakes

As the egg shortage in our shops continues, so does my search for alternatives to the use of eggs in baking.

Today I’ve borrowed a great recipe for vegan vanilla cupcakes over on Tulsi’s Vegan Kitchen. Click on the link if you wish to see it – there is also a very helpful You Tube instruction video that I can recommend. Thank you, Tulsi!

So what takes the place of eggs in the recipe? Unsweetened almond milk, curdled with a tablespoon of vinegar (I used cider vinegar). I wondered if this would add sourness to the taste, but it absolutely doesn’t. It just replicates the use of buttermilk in baking, which adds taste and texture through its extra acidity.

The one development that I have made is to add 3 tablespoons of cocoa powder to the dry ingredients, turning mine into chocolate cupcakes, as you can see in my photo above. The mixture rises well and is very moist. An undoubted success!

This recipe, and the one in my previous post using avocado to give texture to a chocolate mousse, have certainly opened my eyes to the possibilities of egg-free baking.

In the music world this week, I’ve been enjoying exploring more of a certain band I’ve admired for some time. As well as listening to music while I cook, I also tune in with my ear pods while at the gym. I’ve discovered that this, the band’s most recent track, has the perfect beat and rhythm to work out to on the elliptical trainer (perfect for me, that is, coming in at 68-69 revolutions per minute). So once you’ve enjoyed the choc cupcakes, burn those calories and get the arms and legs pumping in sync with LCD Soundsystem – this is New Body Rhumba.

Categories
Desserts Recipes

Choc, Lime & Avocado Mousse

Avocados in a chocolate mousse? Surely not, I hear you say!

This week I have been researching egg-free dishes, as there is currently a shortage of eggs in our local shops here in the UK. Higher costs for farmers, and a cull of animals due to an outbreak of avian flu, are being given as the reasons for this. I understand this is also the case in some other parts of the world at the moment.

I’m seeing it as an opportunity to explore some recipes that don’t require eggs, so expect a little more of this over the next few posts. Here is the first – a rich, chocolatey mousse based on ripe avocado.

Servings

This will make 4 desserts.

Timings

10 mins to make, and then an hour chilling in the fridge before serving.

You Will Need

  • 2 large, ripe avocados
  • 3 tbsp cocoa powder
  • juice of 1 lime
  • 3 – 5 tbsp runny honey
  • 2 – 3 slices kiwi fruit, chopped into pieces
  • 0 eggs!

Method

  1. Chop the avocados in half and remove the stones. Scoop out the flesh into a food processor with blade fitted. Add in the cocoa, lime juice and honey and blitz to a smooth consistency.
  2. With a spatula, scrape the mousse into four pots for serving. I’ve used sherry glasses in the photo, but you could use ramekins or other small glasses if you wish. Top with the pieces of kiwi and place in the fridge to chill for 1 hour.
  3. Er, that’s it.

Customise It!

Cutting out the eggs is half way to making a vegan dessert, so why not go the whole way by replacing the honey with maple or agave syrup. You could also replace the kiwi with raspberries or cherries. Slices of banana, or chopped nuts, would be great also.

Turning to the ADK Playlist, I have still been buzzing this week after seeing Inspiral Carpets last weekend in London. It really was a great concert. Here is another of their tracks, this one reminding me of that memorable encore at the O2 Shepherds Bush Empire – Commercial Reign.

https://open.spotify.com/track/2ERdxKQ5IJo41PqpQA7VNP?si=3389712cf1034a9e
Categories
Bakes Recipes

Double Choc Cherry Muffins

Sometimes the unplanned, spur of the moment dishes can turn out to be the best!

I had half a pack of fresh black cherries left over from my Cherry, Mascarpone & Biscotti Dessert, and was looking for ideas on how to use them up. Spotting just over half a 100g bar of Lindt 70% dark chocolate in the kitchen cupboard, I soon had the answer.

Dark chocolate and cherries is a timeless combination that never ceases to please. This recipe delivers a double hit of chocolate, through the sponge mixture and the broken-up chunks.

The other ingredients involved here are all ones I usually have in the fridge or store cupboard. After about an hour, the family was tucking into fresh double choc cherry muffins, still warm from the oven.

Fancy some of that action? Read on…

Servings

This will make 12 muffins.

Timings

10 -15 mins to prepare while the oven is warming up, then 25 mins in the oven at 180C.

You Will Need

  • 255g plain flour
  • 2 tsp baking powder
  • half tsp bicarb of soda
  • half tsp salt
  • 110g sugar (caster or granulated)
  • 4 tbsp cocoa powder
  • 1 egg
  • 250ml milk
  • 90ml vegetable oil
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • 60g dark chocolate broken into chunks
  • 60g black cherries, stones removed and cut into quarters

Method

  1. Switch on the oven and heat to 180C. Lay out a muffin tin or mould.
  2. While the oven is getting up to temperature, prepare the mixture.
  3. In a bowl, sieve together the flour, baking powder, bicarb, salt and sugar.
  4. Add in the cherries and choc chunks. Give it all a good stir so that the cherries and choc are coated in the dry mix.
  5. Break the egg into a separate bowl, and stir in the milk, oil and vanilla. Add to the dry ingredients and stir to incorporate, so that there are no dry ingredients visible.
  6. Spoon into the muffin tin/mould and put in the oven for 25 mins at 180C.
  7. Remove from the oven when done and leave to cool on a wire rack, before enjoying. They are great when still a little warm, and just as good when cool. They will keep for a couple of days in an airtight container (though they will probably all be gone before then!)

Customise it!

For an even smoother taste, replace the 90ml veg oil with 90g of butter, melted in a microwave. You could also introduce some chopped nuts along with the cherries and choc – go for 40g and reduce the cherries and choc chunks to 40g also.

The next track for the ADK Spotify Playlist is bang on theme, requiring no further explanation. This is Goldfrapp with Black Cherry.

Categories
Blog Snacks

The Twelve Apostles

While touring Australia’s Great Ocean Road, I’ve been enjoying the Twelve Apostles Gourmet Food Trail. More about the food in a moment, but firstly let’s explore the rather special wonders of nature from which the Trail derives its name.

The Twelve Apostles (see my main photo) are a series of spectacular rock formations standing off Victoria’s southern coast, amidst the crashing surf and spray. They have been carved from the limestone cliffs over thousands of years, by the ferocious wind and waves blowing up across the Southern Ocean from Antarctica. Today they are one of Australia’s most-visited tourist attractions.

Parking up and walking out the short distance to see them reminded me of past visits to other famous rock formations, like Stonehenge in England and Northern Ireland’s Giant’s Causeway. As with those, this visit doesn’t disappoint.

We experienced first hand just how dramatically changeable the conditions can be. My main photo shows how beautifully clear the skies were on our visit, but within 1 – 2 hours a thick sea mist and rain had descended. This isn’t called the Shipwreck Coast for nothing, with many hundreds of sailing ships having met their fate along this stretch of water.

There is a gorge named after one of them, the Loch Ard, which left England in 1878 on its three month journey to the new world. On sighting land, passengers and crew held an End of Voyage party, only to find the next day that conditions had dramatically worsened, the ship being washed up on the rocks with many lives lost. A reminder, if one were needed, not to celebrate any kind of journey in life until you have actually crossed the finish line.

My photo below shows the rock formation known as London Bridge. Originally a long, arched promontory extending out across the water, it was given its name due to its supposed resemblance to the British landmark spanning the River Thames in England’s capital.

However, in a rare case of geology mimicking a traditional folk song, London Bridge has, literally, fallen down. In the 1990s the stormy waves brought the middle section crashing into the surf, leaving two bemused tourists stranded on what was then Australia’s newest off shore island.

These days, a network of clifftop boardwalks and viewing platforms protect the fragile landscape, and make the outstanding views safe and accessible to all, whatever your level of mobility.

And so to the Food Trail. A group of around a dozen local independent food producers have banded together to offer a tour of local sites where you can taste and buy artisan foods. These entrepreneurs include a distillery, craft brewery, ice creamery, berry picking farm and vineyard. You can find out more about the Trail, and download a map, here.

Regular followers will know that A Different Kitchen likes to help promote independent producers, and I focused on two sites along the Trail that particularly took my fancy.

GORGE Chocolates are made and sold on site. My photo below shows an example of the selection available.

For a souvenir purchase, I chose dark chocolate shards with chilli (which pack a punch!), and a bar of salted milk chocolate. I also couldn’t resist these charming strawberry chocolate figures in the shape of a kangaroo and a koala bear.

Our second visit was to Dairylicious Farm Fudge, which also makes all its produce on site. They offer a tasting board with 6 or 7 different types of fudge to try. I settled on a bag of classic creamy caramel fudge, shown in the photo below.

If the bag looks a little light, it is because we had already started it while sat on the Dairylicious verandah, before my camera was ready!

Spectacular views and delicious local food. What more could I ask for – maybe the next track for the ADK Spotify Playlist! Here is Morcheeba with The Sea.