Buttering the Dough

Oven Ready Scrolls

Ready to Eat

I am hoping that although a pedestrian recipe, this will appease those who seem to call the office regarding said Cheesey Mite Scrolls…and whilst I am all for Vegemite (used to eat it by the spoonful in my wasted youth) on this occasion I omitted it. BUT please, use your noggin and add Vegemite at will, in great dollops if desired, simply spread on dough prior to proceeding with the remaining instructions, (possibly omitting the pepper).

OH, and By. The. Way.  I have a new camera, thus the not so pedestrian pics…and so many of them. My DH is trigger happy. Hopefully this means my own book is closer than ever to being realised, if I can just get my head around another learning curve…am I too old for all this and dear readers…will you buy it? Let me know.

CHEESEY SCROLLS

NEED:

510g bakers flour

2tsp dried yeast

40g EVOO

good pinch sea salt

300g warm water (tepid)

40g melted butter

300g mixed cubed cheeses of choice (I used Dutch Leydon, Vintage Cheddar and Grana Padano ~ or good Parmesan)

Generous amount of cracked black pepper

DO:

Make dough by placing flour, yeast, EVOO, salt and water into Thermomix bowl and mixing for 6 seconds on speed 6. With dial set to closed lid position, knead for 2 minutes on Interval speed. Wrap tightly in Silpat mat and allow to prove until doubled.

Meanwhile place all cheeses into Thermomix bowl and mill for 7-8 seconds on speed 8.

When dough has risen, preheat oven to 220C.

Use a little of the melted butter to prepare a rectangular baking dish.

Roll dough into a large rectangle and brush with more butter.

Spread almost all of the cheese on the dough being sure to cover all the edges. Sprinkle with freshly ground pepper.

Roll into large sausage shape and then cut through using pastry scraper. Turn filling side up and arrange in baking dish next to each other so there are no gaps.

Drizzle with remaining butter, top with remaining cheese and cook for 20 minutes or until golden. (Do I need to say it?) SERVE HOT!

We have been on a bit of a pizza kick at work. I am happy to say I have never been off my pizza kick. Always loved it, always will. I have a fantastic pizza stone that is unrivalled. It is ceramic with tunnels running from front to back and seems to produce a superior product. (Or maybe I’m just a damn fine pizza cook!) Anyhoo, I don’t have any recipes for pizza up here…a grave error, (Recipe? Bread dough, slap on a sauce, topping and cheese and we’re done, right?) and of course, when it comes to this site, the first pizza I come up with is for dessert. Not traditional, but certainly worth the effort. Enjoy!

NEED:

Starter;

1tsp sugar

1tsp granulated yeast

160g bakers flour

220g cold water

pinch sea salt

Base;

1 egg

250g buttermilk or milk

30g butter

400g bakers flour

olive oil

DO:

Place all starter ingredients into Thermomix bowl and mix for 10 seconds on speed 7. Scrape into non plastic bowl and cover tightly with plastic wrap. Leave overnight at room temperature. (Cool is fine!)

The next day, place all of starter and remaining ingredients (except oil) into Thermomix bowl and mix together for 6 seconds on speed 6. The dough will appear sticky. With dial set to closed lid position, knead for 2 minutes at Interval speed.

Turn out onto oiled Silpat mat and knead into tight ball by hand. Place into oiled glass bowl and cover bowl with plastic wrap so it is airtight. Allow to double, again, a slow rise in a cooler temperature will give you a nicer crumb in the finished base.

Gently tip dough out onto baking paper or Silpat mat and divide into 3 equal pieces. Push each piece into desired shape with finger tips so as to dimple the top of the dough. Do not roll out or stretch out…allow the elasticity in the dough to work for you.

Top with variety of toppings. Bake by sliding pizza straight onto preheated pizza stone and cook until golden and bubbly. (Raspberry, lime option will have a lot of caramelised sauce) Serve immediately with lashings of mascarpone cream cheese or double cream or possibly ice cream.

I did two on this occasion (see below) photographed both and in a flu induced haze, deleted them both off my SD card before saving them, thus the singular pic. Did a cheesecake cherry topping at work…and luckily took that pic at work, so all safe and sound on my desktop, so have included that in the trio. All three were delicious and did not last long.

Topping One;

Press a few raspberries into the base, add thinly sliced lime. Drizzle with grapeseed oil and sprinkle the whole thing generously with organic raw sugar. When eating the lime slices can be removed, tho I quite enjoyed the crunchy caramelised skins.

Topping Two;

Sprinkle base with cranberries and dark mini chocolate nibs. Be quite liberal. Drizzle entire pizza with organic maple syrup.

Topping Three;

Cherry Sauce NEED:
60g sugar
670g jar morello pitted cherries
30g cornflour

DO:

Place sugar into Thermomix bowl and mill for 10 seconds on speed 10.
Insert basket into Thermomix bowl and pour whole jar of cherries in. Remove basket (with cherries) and set aside.
Add cornflour to Thermomix bowl and cook for 4-5 minutes at 100ºC on speed 4. Set aside.

Lemon Cheesecake NEED:
80g sugar
Zest and juice 1 lemon
2 eggs
500g cream cheese

DO:
Place sugar and zest into Thermomix bowl and mill together for 10 seconds on speed 10.
Add remaining ingredients and blend together for 10 seconds on speed 7. Scrape down sides of bowl and repeat.

ASSEMBLE:

Divide dough into two portions and roll out each separately on a piece of baking paper.

Place first pizza onto pizza stone and bake for approximately 7-8 minutes or until starting to brown slightly. The pizza may puff up as there are no toppings, but this is not a problem.

Remove from oven and generously spread half of the cheesecake mixture onto the pizza.

Drizzle with half of the cherry sauce, top with a few of the reserved cherries and return to the oven for 3-4 minutes or until lemon cheesecake topping has set. Serve immediately and make a second one….cos you’re going to need it!

Seeded Cheesey Scone Ring

Not sexy in any way, more of a mumsy recipe, but warm and homey like a pair of fluffy slippers. Cold weather has hit the western part of Australia, and so comfort food is on the menu in most homes, including mine…and of course, I am the penultimate mumsy, so this recipe suits me and my slippers perfectly. We enjoyed this tonight alongside another family fave, Bacon and Corn Chowder that has been remixed for Thermomix. (I can get through winter, I can get through winter…) And just a note to my American friends, a scone is not a scone…but a biscuit…and a biscuit is a cookie…and a cookie is…well, still a cookie, but lets not get too confused!

NEED:

Handful fresh sage leaves, foliage only

60g Parmesan cheese cubed

80g aged cheddar cubed

160g cream

90g soda water

350g SR flour

30g sunflower seeds

DO:

Preheat oven to 180C and line a flat baking tray with baking paper. Set aside.

Place sage leaves and cheeses into Thermomix bowl and mill together for 7 seconds on speed 7. Set aside.

Place remaining ingredients into Thermomix bowl and mix together for 10 seconds on speed 4 until dough forms. Add 70g of the grated cheese mixture into the bowl and mix a further 5 seconds on speed 4. Tip mixture out onto Silpat mat and push together with your hands to form a disc. Roll out gently and cut rounds out using the MC as a cutter. Place on prepared tray, slightly overlapping each round on the the next scone to form a ring. Sprinkle with remaining cheese and bake for 20-25 minutes or until golden.

SERVE:

…what else? Lashings of butter, preferably home made…and of course soup or chowder of choice.

Almond Rosemary Crackers

A boring title methinks…but I have been studying good blogging habits and to my horror found I have comitted the cardinal recipe blogging sin; not naming my post correctly…being silly, in other words! This means all you search engine recipe junkies cannot find my recipes because, ‘Going Crackers’ does not come up in google when ‘Crackers’ is the search term!

So in an effort to help more readers find my recipes, I have taken the Oath of Truthful Titles, (yes that would be OTT)…no more crazy lady rants…well in the title at least.

I am sitting at present in Alice Springs airport waiting for my flight home to Perth after a whirlwind trip to cook with Cyndi O’Meara. What a beautiful place this is and I must say, unexpectedly so from my perspective. I think I thought I was flying into a flat desert, but quite the contrary. Stunning scenery and iconic Australian landscape that needs further investigation with the family…but I digress.

This recipe is one I whipped up last weekend in a cooking frenzy to feed my family in my absence (do they appreciate it?? NO!)

It is adapted from a recipe on Elana’s Pantry, a fantastic Gluten Free site that I frequent, though there are ingredients used that are unavailable in Australia. As usual, I knew there was an easier Thermomix version and so this; fantastic Almond and Rosemary crackers. I must say I have gone down this path before, but always added flour to make more of a shortbread. I now have a whole gamut of other ideas based on this method, so hold on to your Thermomixes…here we go!

Almond and Rosemary Crackers

NEED:

2 sprigs fresh rosemary, foliage only

270g blanched almonds

Celtic Sea salt to taste

1tbsp EVOO

1 egg

DO:

Preheat oven to 150°C.

Place rosemary, almonds and salt into Thermomix bowl and mill for 5 seconds on speed 8.

Add EVOO and egg and mix for 10 seconds on speed 6 to form a dough.

Roll out between 2 sheets of baking paper as thinly as possible and score with a pizza cutter into desired shapes. Sprinkle with additional salt grains if desired and press into the dough with a piece of baking paper.

Bake for 15 minutes until crisp. To complete ‘crisping’ process, break crackers apart and turn over and return to turned off oven to dry out.

Serve with cheese platter.

TASTE:

Add different herbs of choice according to what you have growing in your garden. Other good matches would be basil, oregano, paprika, or add garlic and 40g of good Parmesan to the nut mix before milling together.

So there you have it kids, not as boring as one may think…and all as I sit in an airport, gotta love it…

Salted Caramel Brownies

Well after a flying visit to the South West, I came home to a day off…heaven wouldn’t you think? Except I spent half of it waiting in a doctors surgery for kid #5 to see doctor, and the other half waiting at dental surgeon for kid #3 to see dentist! Them’s the breaks with a bunch ‘o’ kids! So having made this earlier, and half written this blog post, it seemed the easiest thing to put up…but not without trying it again…which I happily did…all for the sake of the blog! The things I sacrifice for you guys…really…

Salted Caramel Brownies

NEED:

300g rapadura sugar

70g unsalted butter

1 tsp vanilla bean paste

2 tsp sea salt plus extra for topping

4 large eggs

1 large yolk

60g cacao powder

150g SR flour

100g each macadamia and pecan or pistachio kernels

Extra nuts for topping

DO:

Preheat oven to 180C and line a 23cm square pan with baking paper that comes up over the edges for easy removal.

Place sugar, butter and vanilla into Thermomix bowl and chop together for 5 seconds on speed 6. Cook for 15 minutes at Varoma temperature on speed 2.

Add salt and incorporate for 30 seconds on speed 4.

Add eggs, yolk and cacao to Thermomix bowl and mix for 15 seconds on speed 5.

Scrape down sides of bowl and add flour and nuts and mix for 3 seconds on speed 5.

Spread into prepared pan, stud with additional nuts, sprinkle generously with additional sea salt and bake for 10 minutes.

Remove from oven and bang on bench quite firmly to prevent rise from continuing. Return to oven for a further 10 minutes or until just wobbly in centre.

Allow to cool slightly in tin before cutting into enormous pieces and wolfing down immediately!

Fig Walnut and Olive Ciabatta

I have been planning this loaf for a while, had a fail and this is the new and improved version. It is in fact a ciabatta loaf with the optional addition of toasted walnuts, Kalamata olives and dried figs. Similar to Turkish bread, Ciabatta requires a sponge starter, which of course always adds extra flavour, the lazy baker’s sourdough flavour without all the work! With a little forethought, you can be buttering some of this in the next 24 hours!

NEED:

Sponge:

100g warm water

180g bakers flour

1/2 tsp dried yeast

Loaf:

40g milk

1/2 tsp dried yeast

150g warm water

20g EVOO

320g bakers flour

2 tsp sea salt

100g dried Turkish figs

100g toasted walnuts

100g pitted Kalamata olives

DO:

Make sponge by placing water and yeast into Thermomix bowl and mixing for 2 minutes at 37C on speed soft.

Add flour and knead for 2 minutes at Interval speed. Place into small bowl, cover tightly with plastic and leave at room temperature for at least 24 hours.

To make bread;

Place milk, yeast, warm water and EVOO into Thermomix bowl and warm for 1.5 minutes at 37C on speed soft.

Add sponge, flour and salt and knead for 4 minutes at Interval speed.

Place into oiled bowl or wrap in Silpat mat and allow to prove for at least 2 hours or until doubled. (This will very much vary on room temperature, I had the luxury of time plus a cold day today and I left it for around 4 hours before finishing the loaf.)

To finish the loaf, heat a pizza stone in a 220C oven.

Place figs into Thermomix and chop for 1 second on speed 5. Add olives and walnuts and return the dough to the Thermomix bowl. Knead for 1-2 minutes on Interval speed or until extras are combined. Turn dough out onto oiled baking paper and form into a loose round (or shape of choice). Place into Varoma dish and set aside.

Place 1L of water into Thermomix bowl and heat for 10 minutes at Varoma temperature on speed 2. Set Varoma into position and steam bread (on baking paper) for 10 minutes at Varoma temperature on speed 2.

Transfer loaf, still on the paper to pizza stone and bake for 40-45 minutes or until it sounds hollow when tapped. Cool on wire rack. (Spray with water sprayer for a crustier crust.)

Well this post had to happen sooner or later…and I guess it’s officially sooner! I have managed to go through all my posts and look what I found! I could start a tart and pie shop, clearly! Any potential partners out there, send me a message and I’m ready to go!

First up in my self imposed round up, and most recently added, the free form tart with fresh apricots and cherries can be found here. Tart (in the true sense of the word) sweet, a little nutty, and so EASY!

Then there was the fresh fig and honey tart, with a touch of marzipan…and just to add a dimension, toffee topping!

Of course, no Australian food blogger could have a complete site with out the good ole Meat Pie post…enjoy!

Simple, fruity, great pastry…what more could you want in a fruit pie? Well vanilla bean of course. One of my faves…(aren’t they all?)

If you come here often, you will know that Lemon is almost as good as chocolate to me…thus the Lemon Olive Oil Tart…which if you never cook anything else from this site, you must do this one…promise me now!

Got no time? Need dessert quickly? This is the one for you…no pastry, but a flan none the less…and a little international as well!

Oh that’s right…you know how I said the Lemon Olive oil tart was my fave?? Maybe not, maybe it’s this one…Buerre Noisette….Burnt Butter is my new fascination at the minute, seriously good stuff…calories worth eating!

Kind of a cross between a cheesecake and a sweet pie, this will become a family favorite…it would be in our house, if I allowed myself to make it again! Some pies should only be eaten once…for the sake of the arteries that is!

Never shie away from a fruit you don’t know…put it in a pastry shell and voila, easy dessert…(and completely delish!)

Another Lemon slash cheesecake slash pie cross worth eating…(again…aren’t they all??)

OK OK, Chocolate meets almonds head on…and they both WIN! Chocolate pastry, chocolate filling (with almond frangipane) topped with chocolate ganache…can’t really go wrong if you are a chocolate lover!

Now for a rare look at a savoury option…hang on to it whilst you can, there may never be another!

Strawberries, Luscious Lime, crispy pastry, a true summer tart…try it today!

Sorry, but there’s more and of course chocolate is involved…easy peasy, chocolate squeezy!

And here comes another traditional tart…or pie…The quintessential Lemon Meringue Pie.

I could of course keep going, and was in fact surprised (though why I don’t know!) by the sheer number of pastry delights on here…I stopped here as there are many others, but they are less recent and perhaps not as well done as I would like them to be. (Time for an upgrade or two I suppose!) Cut to the chase I hear you cry…recipe recipe recipe….OK!

So to today’s offering…you wouldn’t believe it…chocolate again, pecans are the nuts of choice and not my recipe, but stunning in every way…lactose free, unless butter bothers you. All the components of decadence required by chocolate and nuts and the best darn pastry a Thermomix can mix!

Adapted from Willies famous recipe, it is a chocolate pecan tart. Now before you shriek at the sheer number of sugar grams, remember I was using pure cacao and I have to say, it was a chocolate hit like no other. (Being Easter weekend, I know what I’m on about here folks!)

NEED:

Pastry:

100g raw sugar

200g plain flour

100g unsalted butter frozen and cubed

2 egg yolks

1tsp vanilla essence

Filling:

180g pure cacao (Or reduce sugar and use 70% dark chocolate)

50g unsalted butter

75g caster sugar

160g pure maple syrup

3 eggs

100-120g pecan halves

DO:

Pastry:

Preheat oven to 190oC and butter a 23cm loose bottomed flan tin. Set aside.

Place sugar into Thermomix bowl and mill for 10 seconds on speed 10.

Add flour and butter and mix together for 6-7 seconds on speed 8.

Add vanilla essence and yolks and mix for a further 6-7 seconds on speed 6 or until pastry forms soft balls.

Tip out onto floured Silpat mat and bring together with hands into large disc shape. Roll out using floured rolling pin and line prepared flan tin. Place in freezer for at least 15 minutes. Remove, line with baking paper and weights (rice, beans or proper pie weights) and bake for 15-20 minutes. Remove weights and bake a further 5 minutes until pastry is no longer shiny. Remove and cool slightly before filling with prepared filling.

Filling:

Place cacao into Thermomix bowl and mill for approximately 10 seconds until powdered.

Add butter, sugar, and maple syrup to Thermomix bowl and melt for 6 minutes at 50oC on speed 1.

Add eggs through hole in lid and beat in for 30 seconds on speed 8. Scrape down sides of bowl if necessary and repeat. You will have a thick mousse like consistency.

Place pecans into prepared pastry case, scrape filling on top and spread with spatula. Bake a further 10-15 minutes until set in centre. Chill completely before serving with lashings of cream…kind of necessary due to the dense nature of pure cacao.

Having returned from Singapore with more baggage than I left with (and I’m not talking about the check in kind), largely because I ate my way through as much food as possible in the two weeks…I am now contrite…time to pay up.  But then, I did tell you I was getting on a healthy kick…I have been drinking more water than any bladder should legally hold, trying to cut carbs, and stick to high protein…this was fairly light as a meal, and certainly delicious. The double bonus was that is was quick and pretty well a self assembly job. I lined everything up on the bench and let them at it. To make it slimmer, leave the grated cheese out, though it does help stick everything together! ‘O’-le!!

NEED:

Handful each coriander (cilantro) and oregano

120-130g each Parmesan and cheddar cubed

140g chorizo sausage chopped in large pieces

1/2 red onion

2-3 cloves garlic

few spring onions/shallots

3 cherry tomatoes per quesadilla, halved

1 green capsicum/pepper diced

1-2 avocados

Kernels cut from 1 ear of corn

200g crumbled feta

8-10 large tortilla wraps (I used 1/2 spinach and 1/2 sundried tomato wraps)

Olive oil as needed for frying

DO:

Place coriander and oregano into Thermomix bowl and chop for 3-4 seconds on speed 7. Set aside.

Place cheeses into Thermomix bowl and grate for 10 seconds on speed 7. Set aside.

Place sausage, onion and garlic into Thermomix bowl and chop for 5 seconds on speed 6. Cook for 5 minutes at Varoma temperature on speed soft.

Prepare remaining toppings and set aside.

Lay out each wrap and top with grated cheese, sausage mixture, herbs, and a little of each of the other toppings finishing with the feta and a small amount of the grated cheese. Top with another wrap of choice.

Meanwhile heat a large fry pan on Induction 6 for around 6-7 minutes.The pan should not be smoking, but fully heated.

Drizzle with a little olive oil and place the quesadilla into the pan, cover and cook for around 2-3 minutes, turn over carefully and repeat.

Slice into quarters and serve with fresh lime wedges and additional coriander leaves. You could add a dish of sour cream and fresh sliced red chillies to serve if desired.

You know I love a good bread recipe, and never short on food ideas, I am happy to say that I found a couple of fellow bloggers on the same wave length for these ones; Pink Parsley did an excellent recipe adapted from the now extinct Gourmet Magazine and added Jalepeno Mustard…terrific idea! But my first discovery of like minded plan was by cruising Tastespotting, a site that should you happen across, you will immediately gain 3 kilos and lose all sense of time…well maybe I exaggerate, 2 kilos max. Pennies on a Platter showed up on Tastespotting with these beauties and so the deed was done. They say there are no new stories in the world, and similarly, no new recipes, and sorry folks, have to agree, though I couldn’t resist adding a sweet version of course. What else is there if not adding chocolate to bread? Well theres always lime…so I’m giving you (and me!) a day off the chocolate, and defaulting to my other sweet fave. Enjoy!

NEED:

1 batch Pretzel Dough divided in half

1 recipe Lime Butter (Lemon Butter using lime zest and juice…)

100g tasty or aged cheese cubed

200g chorizo sausage

DO:

Make pretzel dough and allow to prove.

Make Lime Butter and refrigerate.

(I pre made the Lime Butter a day ahead and therefore it was completely cold, which helps.)

Preheat oven to 220C and line 2 baking trays with paper and set aside.

Place cheese into clean, dry, Thermomix bowl and mill for 10 seconds on speed 10. Set aside.

Place Chorizo into Thermomix bowl and chop or mince for 8-10 seconds on speed 8.

Roll half dough out into large rectangle and spread first with cheese, then chorizo. Carefully roll over onto itself along long side of rectangle to make a large sausage shape, tucking the dough underneath itself and pinching together to close. Cut into pieces and lay onto prepared tray. Brush with mixture of  50g Baking soda (bicarb) that has been dissolved in a little water before baking for approximately 10-12 minutes. Serve hot.

To make Lime Butter Pretzels, repeat rolling out process with remaining dough, spread with cold Lime Butter, roll, cut into bite sized pieces and place on prepared tray. Brush with Bicarb mixture before baking at same temperature. These will cook a little quicker, so check them at around 8 minutes. Dollop with additional Lime Butter as they cool. Serve immediately.

After a weekend of eating, I have almost decided this blog (and bloggess) needs to go on a diet, (or at least stay away from Tastespotting!) and yet I can’t help but notice the first three letters of diet are die! AND I made another tart with pineapple and passionfruit that, yes, will undoubtedly show up on here soon. So what do you think readers? Are you ready for a few weeks of spartan? It’s just not as much fun dreaming up a bowl of lentils, that’s all….comments please!

Yes, The Full Willy! As in Willy’s Wonky Chocolate…its a long story, but after watching the amazing Willy on SBS and being totally charmed by the romance of it all, I happened to visit my sister and found that her husband had gone ahead and ordered some of Willy’s amazing chocolate and whats more, he GAVE me some, bless his cotton socks! They cost a little more than the average chocolate bar (well a lot more actually) and in an effort to honour such a gift (and chocolate perfection) I pondered again and again what I should do with such a precious commodity! I felt like the proverbial kid in a candy factory and couldn’t quite decide between good and gooder…but here we go. A combo of several faves of mine, brioche, almonds and of course, good old Willies Wonky chocolate.

NEED:
1 batch Brioche dough

1 beaten egg for glaze

100g Willys 100% cacao bar (or unsweetened dark chocolate in the absence of excellence!)

150g caster sugar

150g almonds

150g clotted cream

2tsp vanilla essence

1tsp almond essence (optional)

DO:
Line 2 trays with baking paper and set aside. Make brioche as directed and rise overnight. Bring dough to room temperature before using as follows;

Roll dough out to large rectangular shape.

Spread filling on as evenly as possible. Fold half dough lengthways into centre of rectangle. Bring other half in to meet it in center. Fold those ‘pockets’ in on top of one another to make a long layered length of dough.

Cut across into equal widths (see pic) and place onto prepared trays. Brush with egg wash. Place into cold oven (to facilitate another rise) and bake for approximately 20 minutes until golden brown at 200-220C. Cool slightly before eating…though to burn ones tongue on molten chocolate inside fragrant brioche is akin to sadistic pleasure…not that I know about all that stuff!

To make filling;

To make filling place chocolate (in chunks) into Thermomix bowl and mill for 10 seconds on speed 9. Add sugar and almonds and mill a further 20 seconds until the fat is actually starting to be released from the cacao and almonds and the mixture starts to form a rough dough.

Add cream and essences and mix a further 10 seconds on speed 7. Spread this on dough and proceed as directed above.

So Willy, here’s hoping this meets your high standards! Amazing story, amazing chocolate,and now amazing Chocolate Brioche (at least I like to think so…thanks Stu!)