Vice Cream with Crio Beans

I saw this idea over on one of my fave blogs to read when I have a little time to relax, Not Quite Nigella. I changed it up a little because it was so totally perfect for your fave kitchen appliance and mine! I even made it as a Thermomix demo at my book launch, which incidentally WENT OFF! I hope if you were lucky enough to join me for that, you are still buzzing AND enjoying the spoils in For Foods Sake! I had a ball….If you would like a piece of the action, please go and purchase the book at the STORE.

If you would like a little Vice in your life, best make it this Vice, as it is all good for you! You could add all sorts of crunchy elements, as opposed to the macadamias, but add a little salt if you don’t use salty nuts. The salt will just elevate the flavor a little. Try Choc coated Crio beans, other nuts, chocolate chips or cacao nibs…or add orange zest and enjoy Jaffa Vice Cream…oh the possibilities.

NEED:

400g bananas, peeled and sliced, frozen

1 avocado

90g maple syrup

2 tsp Heilala vanilla bean paste

40g Margaret River Chocolate cocoa powder (or other premium cocoa)

Handful roasted, salted macadamias

DO:

Place bananas into Thermomix bowl and chop 5 sec/speed 10.

Add remaining ingredients except nuts and blend 10-15 sec/speed 6. Scrape down sides of bowl and add nuts and blend a further 10 sec/speed 6.

Serve immediately.

Raspberry and Lime Spongey Mess

After an easy dessert? Got a sponge cake in the cupboard? (That was a joke…but you can run down to the shops right?) Most of this recipe can be quickly made and kept in the fridge for a desparate occasion…or go ahead, make a plan and make it as though you meant to…but either way? Delicious…go on, tell me all about it.

NEED:

Lime Butter;
Zest/juice 4 limes
120g sugar
160g unsalted butter , cubed
4 eggs

Berry Lime Coulis;
300g red berries of choice, fresh or frozen
65g sugar
Finely grated zest 1 lime
Juice 1 lime

Passionfruit Cream;

600g cream
2 tsp sugar
1 tsp Heilala vanilla bean paste
Pulp 2 passionfruit (grenadilla)

Assembly;
450g sponge cake, cubed
Additional raspberries to garnish

DO:

Lime Butter;

Place lime zest and sugar into mixing bowl and mill 15 sec/speed 10.

Add butter and chop 5 sec/speed 7.

Insert Butterfly and add all remaining Lime butter ingredients. Cook 10 min/80ºC/speed 4. Remove from bowl and set aside. Cool.

Make Lime Berry Coulis.

Place all ingredients into Thermomix bowl and cook 8 min/90°C/speed 1.

Blend 1 min/speed 6.

Strain through fine mesh sieve and refrigerate until use.

Whip chilled cream with sugar and vanilla in clean dry Thermomix bowl, with inserted butterfly 10-20 sec/speed 4.

Add passionfruit pulp and incorporate gently 4 sec/speed 4.

 Assembly;

Place cubes of sponge cake into large glass serving bowl, or several individual glasses. Drizzle with a little Berry Lime coulis. Dollop with Lime Butter and Passionfruit Cream. Repeat layering until all ingredients are used ending with cream. Garnish with raspberries. Serve chilled.

FIni Olive Oil Chocolate Mousse Tart

I know I can carry the chocolate thing too far sometimes…take for example the Crio Bru grounds in my Avocado dip…(don’t knock it until you try it!) But there really isnt a down side to a chocolate pastry base, filled with a chocolate mousse filling, and then, why not, to hell with the expense, top it off with some gorgeous berryness! This recipe was one I actually developed for the lovely Justine Schofield…if you are listening Jus, I am freelance now…busier than a cut snake, but hey, text me! (RecipesRittenRUs!!) It has subsequently been seen around various sources, so by now no means original…and even this is a tweak. But oh what a delicious one! Enjoy!

Chocolate Dough; 

NEED:

100g sugar

230g plain flour

120g unsalted butter, cold and cubed

35g Valrhona cocoa (or other high quality cocoa)

3 egg yolks

1tbsp iced water

DO:

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

Add flour, butter and cocoa and mix 6 sec/speed 6.

Add egg yolks and water and mix 6-8 sec/speed 6-7 until a ball of dough forms.

Turn mixture out onto floured Silpat mat and push together with your hands. Form a flat disc, wrap and refrigerate for 1 hour to chill.

Preheat oven to 180ºC.

Roll dough out to 3mm thick and line 8 individual tart tins, or a 23cm tin with pastry.

Trim edges and dock pastry with a fork all over the base. Refrigerate again for 30 minutes.

Blind bake for 15 minutes, remove beads and cook a further 10 minutes until crisp.

Allow to cool completely before filling.

Mousse Filling;

NEED:

150g good quality dark chocolate

50g milk

1 tsp Heilala vanilla bean paste

300g whipping cream

100g fruity Extra Virgin Olive Oil (EVOO)

Raspberries, blueberries, strawberries to garnish.

DO:

Place chocolate into Thermomix bowl and chop 10 sec/speed 8.

Add milk and vanilla and cook 2 min/50ºC/speed 1. Remove from bowl and set aside.

Without cleaning bowl, insert butterfly.

Place cream into Thermomix bowl and whip 10 sec/speed 4 or until soft peaks form.

Add melted chocolate back into Thermomix bowl and mix 3 sec/speed 4.

Pour EVOO onto lid with MC in place and incorporate 20-25 sec/speed 2.

Assemble by spooning mousse into prepared tart cases, topping with fresh berries and serving immediately.

Ice Magic, Magic Shell or good ole crack shell chocolate topping

NOT good for you…really, if you have guiltily bought that stuff ever, you will have read the ingredients (unless you were just so guilty that you figured ignorance was bliss!) ANYHOO, you know it is all bad…not a lot of chocolate going on, but here we go…Crio Bru is about to come to the rescue yet again, and I am happy to say, this is the best darn ice magic ever…and it’s good for you. (If you are in the states, I think this stuff is called Magic Shell…but hey, you say to-mate-o and I say to-mah-to!)

I ate two bowls of ice cream for this shoot…the sacrifices I make, and right before I go test the theory that tanned fat is better than white fat as I lay on deck on the very lovely Legend of the Seas and sail around Bali etc…tough gig, but my private nervous breakdown has been scheduled for some time now…I’ll be back in a couple of weeks…but don’t fret…I have planned heaps of recipes to pop up here without me…now who do you love??

NEED:

100g dark chocolate (or milk or white)

65g brewed Crio Bru liquid

65g coconut oil

1 tsp Heilala vanilla bean paste

Pinch sea salt (optional…but I do love the little salty sweet yin yang)

DO:

Place all ingredients into Thermomix bowl and cook 2 min/50º/speed 2. Place into sterilised jar and do not refrigerate. It will stay liquid in the pantry. If you need to make it more liquid before pouring over ice cream, just place into Microwave for a few seconds and stir briefly to re mix.

Use over ice cream…and watch the magic happen!

Crio Bru Chocolate Truffles

You knew this had to come right? If there is Crio Bru Gelato, and Crio Bru Pavlova then clearly there needed to be Crio Bru Truffles…it was only a matter of time. They are easy enough, but chill the mixture in a flat tray for easier handling…and chill the whole mix inbetween if it gets too hard to work with. Either that, or just eat it out of the tray….skip that pesky rolling it into truffle stage; and go straight to the eating stage!

NEED:

200g cream

50g Vega Reál Crio Bru (you can use other flavors, but this is the strongest chocolate hit!)

40g coconut palm sugar or other sugar of choice

200g Margaret River Origin Chocolate of choice (I used Papua New Guinea, Trinitario beans 64%!)

Bits and pieces for rolling; chopped nuts, extra Crio Bru, and cocoa

DO:

Place cream, Crio Bru and sugar into Thermomix bowl and infuse 10 min/80ºC/speed 2. Allow to cool and infuse for around 10 minutes.

Add chocolate and reheat 5 min/80ºC/speed 2. Whip 30 sec/speed 3. Scrape down sides of bowl and repeat if necessary. Spread into a flat tray and chill for several hours. Press a piece of plastic wrap or baking paper down onto the surface of the chocolate to prevent a skin forming.

Use a small ice cream scoop or a melon baller to form small round truffles. Roll in bits of choice. Add an old chocolate box and you’re on your way to the wonderful Crio gift your family are all waiting for!

Vanilla, Lemon, Coconut Sorbet

I know you are all used to making sorbet. There is a sorbet recipe for practically every fruit on the planet that has been invented and/or demonstrated at every Thermomix demo, Varoma demo or cooking class that you have ever attended in Australia at least! Officially sorbet is made with a syrup which is then added to other ingredients, frozen and churned. Of course the Thermomix method is a whole lot easier because of its amazing blending speed. But just for a moment, lets go back to tradition. Freeze this mixture in an ice cube tray, then blend as you need it. Almost as good as the instant thermomix version…and well, I am not afraid to admit it, I actually ate a lot of this without the usual brain freeze that I get from the Thermomix sorbet. Needless to say, it is all gone!

NEED:

Zest 1 lemon in long strips

300g sugar of choice (as unprocessed as possible)

300g water

2tbsp Heilala vanilla bean paste

2 x 400ml tin coconut milk

DO:

Place zest, sugar and water into Thermomix bowl and bring to a boil for 5 min/100ºC/Reverse + speed 1.

Cool slightly. Remove lemon peel.

Add vanilla and coconut milk and blend 10 sec/speed 4.

Pour into ice cube moulds and freeze until solid.

Remove frozen cubes and blend 1-2 min/speed 8 with the aid of the spatula.

Serve immediately or refreeze in loaf tin.

Can we have a little conversation about sugars? Like salts and oils, they really make a difference to flavour in the finished product. I personally love all the Billingtons range and am also hooked on La Perruche (worth a visit to their website just for the cruisy music they play!) pure cane cubes which is what I used for this recipe, thus the caramel hue to the finished result. There is an excellent article on Quirky Jo’s website discussing all of this and I would love you to go and read it. It is totally the best source for you to understand all the differences between sugars and the processes by which they are manafactured.

Pecan Dacquoise with Orange Chocolate Cream

Developed for the Celebrate and Bake cooking class menu, this is so delicious, that you will be making it again and again….and again! It is not difficult, but does take some planning. You should look at making it a few hours prior to serving as it improves over time, even better if you can make it the day before you serve it. This is also featured in my soon to be released BIG book For Food’s Sake, which I have been working on for the past wee while! So here you have a little sneaky peeky of what is to come. Hopefully you will all find one of the books under your tree this year, and more importantly, this on your Festive table this year, to great acclaim from all those whom you love!

NEED:

300g pecans

1 vanilla bean

300g sugar

zest 1 orange

6 egg whites

2 tbsp corn flour

1 tsp Heilala Vanilla bean paste

110g bag Crio Beans

600g whipping cream

2 tbsp good quality cocoa

A drizzle of Cointreau if desired

50g Orange dark chocolate (I used the fantastic Margaret River Chocolate version which has little bits of candied orange throughout…oh my!)

DO:

Toast pecans and vanilla bean on flat oven tray for 10 minutes by placing into a cold oven set to 200ºC. Set aside to cool. Reduce oven temperature to 160ºC.

Draw two x 18cm circles onto sheets of baking paper and place onto flat trays. Set aside.

Place vanilla bean into Thermomix bowl and a little of the sugar and mill 10 sec/speed 10. Remove from bowl and set aside.

Place cooled toasted nuts into Thermomix bowl and mill 8 sec/speed 8. Remove from bowl and set aside. Wipe out Thermomix bowl.

Place sugar and zest into Thermomix bowl and mill 30 sec/speed 9. Reserve 2 tbsp sugar for cream filling.

Insert butterfly. Add egg whites, cornflour and vanilla sugar into Thermomix bowl and beat 6 min/60ºC/speed 3.

Remove butterfly. Add milled nuts to Thermomix bowl and incorporate 20 sec/Interval. Finish folding through if necessary with spatula by hand. Divide mixture between circles on trays. Allow to rest for 10-30 minutes if you have the time, otherwise, don’t worry about it!

Bake for 40 minutes. Remove from oven, cool slightly before lifting with a large flat spatula off the paper. Cool completely on wire rack.

In clean and dry Thermomix bowl place Crio Beans and chop 3 sec/speed 6. Add reserved orange sugar, cream, and cocoa. Insert butterfly and whip cream till soft peaks form between 20-30 sec/speed 4. Top both dacquoise layers with this cream, bringing it almost to the edges. Do not completely scrape out the Thermomix bowl – in fact leave quite a lot of the cream in the bowl. Scrape all of it down so that it is around the blades.

Place chocolate into the bowl and melt 5 min/50ºC/speed 2. Drizzle over both layers, place one layer on top of the other, garnish with additional Crio Beans or toasted pecans.

Refrigerate for up to 1 day before serving. The cake will slice a lot more easily if it has been in the fridge for 24 hours. However; do not worry about it if you don’t have the time…it is just as delicious when eaten immediately, just more difficult to cut!

Almond Peach and Apricot Tart

You may have noticed…I have been putting up a lot of  recipes based on the Dried Apricot Preserves. Its just that I am down to two kids at home and I have so much of the stuff, I need it out of the fridge…to make room for new future creations. No one is complaining mind you and personally I cannot ever go past the combo of Apricot and Almonds, added peaches because I saw they looked so wonderful and were new season,  and as you know, I am pretty big on tarts! Putting them all together was always going to happen…but now who is going to eat it?  (I am not willing to adopt, but pick ups are acceptable. BYO takeaway containers?)

Mind you as a breakfast it isn’t all bad. There’s fruit, almonds, eggs…its practically an omelette!

NEED:

Pastry;

75g blanched almonds, toasted and cooled

40g sugar

230g  flour

Pinch sea salt

60g cold unsalted butter, cubed

1 large egg yolk

1 tsp Heilala vanilla extract

1/2 tp almond extract

15-25g ice cold water

Filling;

600g firm-ripe peaches, halved, pitted, and each half cut into three

1 tbsp Amaretto

60g + 2 tbsp sugar

110g Dried Apricot Preserves

1 large egg + 1 large egg yolk

30g  cream

1 tsp  almond extract

1 tsp Heilala vanilla bean paste

DO:

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

Add remaining pastry ingredients and mix 10 sec/speed 7. Push dough together on floured Silpat mat and form a flat disc. Refrigerate for 30 minutes.

Prepare the fresh apricots by drizzling them with the Amaretto, and tossing them with the 60g of sugar.

Place remaining filling ingredients, including the 2tbsp sugar into Thermomix bowl and blend for 10 sec/speed 7.

Preheat oven to 180ºC and roll pastry out to line a 20-22 cm flan tin with removable base. Blind bake for 15 minutes, remove baking beads and cook a further 10 minutes.

Reduce oven temperature to 170ºC. Line the cut peaches skin side up in the baked pastry case. Top with filling. Bake for 35-40 minutes or until filling is set. Serve in wedges with cream and/or ice cream (of course!)

Apricot and Pistchio Marzipan Danish

It started as a way to use up the copious amount of Dried Apricot Preserves I had to make for a photo. And it has ended up as something I will need to go the gym to pay penance for, a LOT of RPM….ouch, I can feel the saddle imprint already. However…completely worth the pain of the classes to come…just for a mouthful of this. Seriously, if you are into Danish pastries at all, this is so easy and could be on my Christmas breakfast table this year I think.

What do you think? Bake and Celebrate??

NEED:

2 sheets commercial puff pastry, thawed

1/2 batch Dried Apricot Preserves

250g sugar

130g blanched almonds

130g pistachios, shelled

1/2 tsp almond essence

1 tsp Heilala vanilla bean paste

1 egg white

DO:

Make jam if you have not already done so. It must be cold.

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

Add almonds and pistachios and mill 20 sec/speed 7.

Add orange blossom water, almond essence, vanilla, cornflour and egg white and blend 40 sec/speed 5.

Tip mixture out onto piece of baking paper, dusted with cornflour, wrap and cool in fridge. You must not put the warm ‘marzipan’ onto the pastry.

Preheat oven to 220°C and line a baking tray with paper.

Arrange pastry on prepared tray and spread the centre of both with jam. (Be generous now!)

Roll a piece of the marzipan and place down the centre of the pastry. Cut slashes into each side of the pastry sheet on the diagonal. Fold these over on top of the filling and tuck in the ends. It should look like a lattice of sorts.

Brush with egg wash and cook for 15-17 minutes or until golden and smelling yummy!

Slice and eat, but please wait until the jam has cooled a little…it is hotter than the sun! (I know this, and have the blister to prove it!)

Enjoy!

Oh Yes, Orange Heaven Cheesecake...

We are not big on Halloween in Australia, and I personally don’t get into ‘spooky’ food, but I have always been big on Pumpkin Pie…something that pretty well fills my kids with suitable Halloween style horror. Vegetables? In dessert? But trust me, they’ll never know…just call it Halloween Cloud Pie, or Orange Heaven Cheesecake. Personally…I am good with pumpkin in most things. So..er…Happy Halloween, in the best way possible.

NEED:

Crust;

130g butter

Finely grated zest 1 lemon

50g dark brown sugar

1 tsp Heilala vanilla extract

1tsp ground ginger

1 tsp ground cinnamon

160g plain flour

1 pinch sea salt

75g each pecans and almonds

Filling;

340g roasted pumpkin (The weight refers to apres roasted weight)

1 tsp ground ginger

1 tsp ground cinnamon

1/2 tsp ground nutmeg

1/2 tsp ground allspice

(If you don’t have all of these handy but you do have commercially pkged ‘Mixed spice’ use equivalent amounts of that)

1 tsp Heilala vanilla bean paste

140g vanilla sugar (see below)

500g cream cheese

3 eggs

Whipped cream to serve

DO:

Crust;

Preheat oven to 180ºC on a fan forced setting.

Place butter, zest and sugar into Thermomix bowl and melt for 3-4 min/37ºC/speed 2.

Add remaining crust ingredients and blend for 15 sec/speed 6.

Press into springform cake tin with paper lined base. Reserve about 1 cup of the crust for the topping.

Bake for 18 minutes or until golden and fragrant. Cool.

Filling;

Place all ingredients into Thermomix bowl and blend 20 sec/speed 7. Scrape down if necessary and pour into base. Top with crumble mixture and steam in steam oven for 1 hour….OR, if you are being a Thermomixer of extraordinary talent, place 1L water into Thermomix bowl, place cheesecake on top of a pair of chopsticks (for easier steam circulation) and steam for 60 min/Varoma/speed 3.

Meanwhile, preheat oven to 180°C on a fan forced setting. Place steamed cheesecake into oven for 20 minutes until golden and a little crispy on top.

Cool completely. Serve with dollops of whipped cream or mounds of the best vanilla bean ice cream available to you, which of course if you live in WA would be Azzura Gelati’s award winning version and available at your local IGA store.

Now if that amount of delcious calories doesn’t spook you…what will?

Vanilla Sugar

Roast a vanilla bean until crispy, about 10-15 minutes in 200ºC oven and then place in Thermomix bowl with 140g good quality sugar of choice. Mill 10 sec/speed 10. Store in airtight jar until use.