Pink Lime-Ade

Well I am to be a grandmother in just a few weeks…not surprisingly this is both amazing and wonderful! I have decided however to be called ‘Grandy’ not Nanna, not Nan, not Grandma, not Granny. I have been told that this is not up to me, but I figure, a slap or two and the kid will get it down no problems!

(Just in case you don’t know me by now, I jest!!)

For the baby shower (it is a little girl, yay, we are even-ing the score a little in the Holder family!!) I created a few little pink treats and this is one of them. Others may or may not follow depending on their success! But this was certainly on the ‘successful and shall be done again’ list! You need a couple of days up your sleeve for this one remember…to get the fizz happening…so if you are after something for Mother’s Day (or should that be called Grandmother’s Day??) then get squeezing!!

NEED:

300g sugar

40g raspberries

Zest 10 limes, finely grated

Water to 2L mark in Thermo bowl

Juice of 10 limes

2 tsp dried yeast

Sterilised glass bottles as required

DO:

Place sugar, zest and raspberries into Thermo bowl and cook 10 min/100ºC/speed 2. Cool.

Add juice and yeast and stir 5 sec/speed 8. Strain through fine sieve into sterilised bottles and leave out of the fridge for 2 days until bubbles start to accumulate. Refrigerate and serve with more raspberries and lime slices to taste. It can also be diluted with sparkling water if needed.

Lemon, Ricotta Filled Baked Pancakes

A quickie and a goodie…it started as a dessert idea, but turned into breakfast one morning at my house when my son who is ALWAYS hungry, complained about the lack of breakfast foods that jumped out of the cupboard and into his mouth.

So, to protect myself from further breakfast wrath, I did a quick pancake batter, looked at what was available in the fridge, and this beauty was the result…hope you will find these on your table soon…perhaps you can organise someone other than the mother in the house, to make them for Mothers Day? Easily prepared the night before, and then simply assembled in the morning…perfect way to avoid that burnt toast, cold Crio Bru morning that may be headed your way!!

NEED:

Pancake Batter;

300g buttermilk

150g plain flour

1 tbsp sugar

Pinch Murray River pink salt flakes

2 eggs

Filling;

300g ricotta cheese drained through a muslin cloth for a few hours (overnight)

Zest 1 lemon, finely grated plus some more

50g sugar

Juice 1 lemon, fresh

1 tsp Heilala vanilla bean paste

A little raw sugar as needed

DO:

To make pancake batter, place all ingredients into Thermo Bowl and blend 20 sec/speed 7. Scrape down sides of bowl and repeat. Allow to rest for 10 minutes if possible.

Heat large frying pan on Induction 8. Butter pan between each pancake. Cook them all before filling and baking.

Preheat oven to 160ºC and line a large baking tray with paper.

Meanwhile, to make filling place zest and sugar into Thermo Bowl and blend 10 sec/speed 10.

Add drained ricotta, juice and vanilla and blend further 4 sec/speed 6.

Place a small amount of the filling into the centre of each pancake. Fold in all four sides to form a package. Sprinkle each with a pinch of raw sugar. Place onto prepared tray and bake 10 minutes or until golden. They will have a little syrup coming out of them when they are hot.

Serve immediately with additional finely grated lemon zest to garnish.

Lime and Raspberry Flan

Seriously I cannot go past the combo of Lime and Raspberries. Be it a dessert or a drink, count me in. My darling sis has a gorgeous lime tree that is laden with fruit right now, so lucky me! I get the fruits of her hard labours….of course she gets a little in return, like a slice of this (just one!)…I believe in Fair Trade, and this is exactly how it works!

Should you be looking for more Limey, Raspberry, Citrussy recipes, you can’t go past some of the desserts in the most excellent For Food’s Sake, which I am hoping you all have a copy of…if not, WHY am I here??? (Just asking!)

NEED:

Shortcrust;
260g plain flour
2 tbsp caster sugar
130g cold butter cubed
1 egg yolk
60g sour cream
1 tsp Heilala vanilla bean paste

Filling; 
Zest and juice 3 limes
200g sugar
3 eggs
130g sour cream
20g cornflour
200g frozen or fresh raspberries

DO:

Pastry;

Place flour, sugar and butter into Thermo bowl and mix 5 sec/speed 5.

Add remaining ingredients and mix 10 sec/speed 5.

Tip out onto floured Silpat mat and press into a disc.

Roll out to fit a 18-20cm flan tin with removable base. Do not trim edges. Place in
freezer for at least 30 minutes.

Preheat oven to 180ºC and blind bake for 20 minutes. Remove baking beans. Trim edges neatly to
the rim of the flan tin. Reduce oven temperature to 160ºC.

Filling;

Place zest and sugar into Thermo bowl and mill 10 sec/speed 10.

Add remaining ingredients except raspberries and mix 10 sec/speed 5.

Pour filling into pastry shell. Bake for 40 minutes or until custard is just wobbly in centre.

Garnish with raspberries and dust with icing sugar and cool completely before serving with ice cream or whipped
cream.

Choc Molten Pots uncookedOozing Choc Molten Puddingsssss

Oozing Choc Molten Puddingsssss

Not kidding…these have truffles in the center…so if you are on a diet, don’t read any further. You will just be tormenting yourself. Yes, just call me the devil.

You don’t have to make the truffles, but you may want to…they add such a chocolatey hit to this already amazing dessert. You will never go back to boring old chocolate cake again…at least not on my watch! In the process of doing a desserts book (you did read that correctly) I have had many many desserts that I felt were wrong for the project, but not wrong in any other way. When I say ‘wrong’ I mean, too long, too complicated, too hard to write without the benefit of pics to explain…etc. Our new little project will be up and running soon, so stay tuned for all the versions of dessert you ever wished for, in one handy location! In the meantime, be getting on with this hey?

NEED:

1 pre made batch Crio Bru Truffles (well you only need 6 actually, so that’s the upside…you also get truffles at the end of it!)

Enough butter to grease 6 small ramekins

Enough premium cocoa to dust 6 small ramekins

150g sugar

50g butter

1 tsp Heilala vanilla bean paste

4 eggs

Pinch Murray River pink salt flakes

50g plain flour

350g dark chocolate, melted

DO:

Preheat oven to 200ºC and butter each ramekin very well. Dust generously with cocoa. Set ramekins aside on a baking tray.

Place sugar into Thermo bowl and mill 10 sec/speed 10.

Add butter and blend 10 sec/speed 4.

Add vanilla, eggs, salt and flour. Blend 10 sec/speed 5.

Add melted chocolate that has been slightly cooled. (I used microwave, but induction cooktop is excellent for melting chocolate as well. Of course it can be done in your Thermo, but it can be quite slow and you would need to do this first.)

Blend 10 sec/speed 4. Scrape down sides of bowl and repeat.

Divide mixture between the prepared ramekins. Push a truffle (without any nuts or other coating FYI) into the centre of each and cover with pudding batter.

Bake 10-12 minutes until still springy to  touch.

Use a knife to loosen outer edges of cake and turn upside down to serve.

Serve with cream, mascarpone or ice cream to taste. Dust with additional cocoa if desired. You can refrigerate these fully assembled, but uncooked until ready to serve. It is best to eat them hot, straight from the oven. They may take a little longer if being cooked straight from the fridge.

Choc Mint Ganache Tart

This was truly awesome…thank you dearest Tweak Editing….Chris, our editor for For Foods Sake sent me this recipe and asked for a Thermo version…well here it is…absolutely amazing, and totally easy. Be amazed. Be prepared to make it again. Go to the gym so you can eat another piece with less guilt. Or not. But a second piece you will definitely have…trust me! I have seen another version of this over at the Recipe Community from Splendiferous Thermomix, using my fave choccie product of all time (do I need to mention it by name?) Crio Bru. This is the every day, garden variety, without the Crio…she beat me to it! I swear!! (We’ll talk later Karyn!)

NEED:

Crust;

60g sugar

250g flour

130g butter, cubed

2 tbsp premium cocoa powder

1 egg yolk

A little iced water

Filling;

300g white chocolate callets

150g cream

1 tsp Heilala vanilla bean paste

2 tsp peppermint oil

Ganache;

200g Lindt Dark Mint Intense chocolate, in pieces

200g cream

DO:

To make crust, place sugar into TM bowl and mill 10 sec/speed 10. Add flour and butter and blend 6 sec/speed 6.

Add remaining crust ingredients and blend 5 sec/speed 5 or until a ball is formed.

Press into 26cm pie or flan tin with removable base and place into freezer for around 30 minutes.

Preheat oven to 180ºC and line the crust with baking paper. Using pie weights, rice or beans, blind bake 15 minutes. Remove weights and cook further 10 minutes until fragrant and crust is well cooked.

Cool.

TO make white filling place all ingredients into TM bowl and melt 5 min/50ºC/speed 1. Scrape down if necessary and stir until all callets are melted.

Pour into cold baked pie shell. Place into fridge until well set.

Place Ganache ingredients into clean, dry TM bowl and melt 5 min/50ºC/speed 2. Pour over filling and set completely before cutting into wedges to serve.

Aztec Hot Chocolate Shots….go steady!

Store this one away for a cold evening when the wind is howling and you feel as though you need to be warmed right through. Recently featured in all classes since For Food’s Sake was launched, it has been a BIG hit with the whole country, and now here you go…all yours for the asking! Once again starring the chocolatey-est chocolate, because it is pure chocolate, Crio Bru…your friend and mine…choose the dark chocolate you use carefully, try to get a 64% or higher…for the best flavour and highest nutritional value. (And then you can tell yourself it is a health food…really!)

NEED:

1 cinnamon stick

1 dried chilli (or less to taste)

Zest 1 orange, finely grated

100g palm sugar

100g Crio Bru granules

100g dark chocolate, in pieces

500g cream

200g milk

Pinch sea salt

DO:

Place cinnamon, chilli, zest, palm sugar, Crio Bru and chocolate into TM bowl and mill 15 sec/speed 10.

Add cream, milk and salt and cook 10 min/80°C/speed 2.

Strain and drink in small shot glasses. Try adding a vanilla bean in the first step for another flavour advantage…delish!

Spiced Plum and Almond Pastry, with Crio Bru….breakfast!

I am not a big breakfast person…I can go a smoothie, but not much more than that. I enjoy my greatest, healthiest habit more now than ever, as it staves off the mid morning hunger pangs I used to get when drinking a smoothie for breakfast. HOWEVER, never say never…sometimes I get a morning hankering (is that a real word in Australia??) for something sweet and I had already stewed the plums, so this was on our table in no time…and consequently a designated breakfast food…but it would have made an awesome dessert with some of that excellent Vanilla Bean Ice Cream we all now know and love. So go on, before the plums disappear into an Autumn (‘Fall’ for some of you!) haze, go get the plums and enjoy. The plums will also freeze really well once cooked.

NEED:

500g black plums, halved and pitted

100g brown sugar

1 cinnamon stick

Pinch cloves, ground

150g blanched almonds, toasted

40g sugar

50g unsalted butter

1 tsp Heilala vanilla bean paste

1 tsp almond essence

2 sheets commercial butter puff pastry (or homemade if you really have the time!)

Icing sugar to dust

DO:

Place plums, brown sugar, cinnamon stick and cloves into Thermomix bowl and stew 10 min/100ºC/speed 1/Reverse.

Remove from bowl and remove cinnamon stick. Cool completely. (This is great over ice cream FYI!) 

Preheat oven to 180ºC fan forced and line a baking tray with paper.

Place almonds and sugar into Thermomix bowl and mill 20 sec/speed 10.

Add butter and essences and blend further 10 sec/speed 6 or until a paste forms.

Lay 1 sheet of pastry on baking tray and spread 1/2 almond paste down the centre.

Top with the cooled plum compote.

Cut the edges of pastry on the diagonal in strips and ‘plait’ the strips across the top of the filling.

Repeat with other piece of pastry and filling.

Bake 25 minutes until golden and puffed.

Dust with icing sugar whilst hot and serve in slices.

Parmesan Sage Shortbread

It all about the cheese in the end…please buy a great Australian Parmesan for this recipe and you won’t be sorry…seriously delish…I have eaten about 8 of them just as I am writing this post. (I WILL eat the salad, I WILL eat the salad….) A great little nibble, a bit impressive if you are having guests and if you don’t have sage growing in the garden, use any herb of choice….rosemary would be fantastic, as would parsley or basil. Of course the little sprinkle of flaky salt on the top knocks them over the edge to divine, but be careful not to be too heavy handed…you just want  a little surprise every now and again, not a full on mouthful of salt. You could also freeze these unbaked, wrapped in baking paper, thaw slightly before cutting and then proceed as directed, though baking time may need to be increased a tad! Enjoy…

NEED:

40g parmesan, cubed

Zest 2 lemons, finely grated

Few sage leaves

170g light rye flour

110g butter, cubed

Murray River pink salt and freshly cracked black pepper to taste

1 egg yolk

2 tbsp lemon juice, fresh

Extra salt for garnish

DO:

Place parmesan, lemon zest and sage into Thermomix bowl and mill 10 sec/speed 8.

Add remaining ingredients except garnish salt and blend 10 sec/speed 6.

Tip out onto floured Silpat mat and roll into a long sausage shape. Wrap and refrigerate for at least 3 hours.

Preheat oven to 190ºC and line a tray with baking paper.

Slice rounds and place on tray. Sprinkle with salt, and bake 15-18 minutes until golden around the edges.

Serve with a cheese platter, or on a savoury antipasto plate.

After Dinner Mints

It goes without saying, if you have a Thermomix, you want to make EVERYTHING! (Am I right??) There is some sort of thing in the back of my mind when I shop for food, read a menu, see something new online, that I say to myself; ‘Huh, I can do that!’ And then I go home and I do…this is one of those recipes. I wouldnt say they were easy, the dipping is a little fiddly, but over all, not bad, and certainly worth all the drama. Whip out a tray of these after your next dinner party, casually mention you made them yourself and see everyone’s jaw drop…unless of course they have a Thermomix too. Then they will just smile a little and think to themselves, ‘Huh, I can do that!’

NEED:

260g icing sugar

25g unsalted butter

25g evaporated milk

½ tsp peppermint oil (not extract)

½ tsp lemon oil (not extract)

250g chocolate, broken into pieces

1 tbsp coconut oil

DO:

Place icing sugar, butter, milk and oils into Thermomix bowl and blend 30 sec/speed 6. Scrape down sides of bowl and knead 30 sec/Interval. Remove from bowl and roll into a smooth disc. Wrap in baking paper and refrigerate for at least 1 hour.

Break disc into small pieces and roll into balls about the size of a large macadamia. Place in freezer while you prepare the chocolate.

Place chocolate and coconut oil into clean, dry Thermomix bowl and heat 10 min/37ºC/speed 1. Scrape down sides of bowl as necessary until you have a nice liquid chocolate.

Press mint balls flat with the bottom of a glass, using a small piece of baking paper to prevent glass from sticking.

Dip each disc in chocolate and lay on lined metal tray. Refrigerate until use.

Iced Lemon and Coconut Slice

I don’t want to admit it…but seriously…coming home from a holiday where you are waited on hand and foot has been hell! So when I walked past the Muffin Something or Other shop and saw the Lemon Coconut Slices in the glass cabinet, I was filled with a longing to just buy one and be done with the whole concept of making every blessed thing from scratch! But I am not sure if I have been thermomixing for a little too long…I couldn’t do it. I need therapy. I need to be tied down and force fed fast food or premade cakes…is there anyone out there up for the task?

What I DID do was buy a pack of Arrowroot biscuits (shock, horror) and whip this up. I am not sure if it was the weather today, but it needed to be kept in the freezer to hold its shape. It has been totally humid and hot today, so I am going with that. Otherwise, try a little less butter, but it wouldn’t come together until I added the amount that appears in this recipe. And no, I didn’t make the butter myself! (Not this time.)

NEED:

Base;

Zest 2 lemons, finely grated

150g butter

50g cashews, roasted

250g pkg Arnotts Milk Arrowroot biscuits

1 tsp Heilala vanilla bean paste

Icing;

400g icing sugar

Juice 1-2 lemons (around 50g)

70g butter, cubed

Enough shredded coconut to cover icing to taste

DO:

Place all base ingredients into Thermomix bowl and blend 20 sec/speed 8 or until well blended and coming together.

Line a square baking tin with paper and press the mixture into it. Refrigerate for 1 hour.

Make icing by placing all ingredients except coconut into Thermomix bowl and blending 20-30 sec/speed 6.

Spread on top of slice, top with coconut and place into freezer until ready to serve. Slice when frozen….and eat whenever you damn well feel like it!