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!

Raw Lime Tartlets

I put a little note up on Facebook…not that I am short on ideas, but I did ask what you (the 52,000 + readers of this blog!!) would like me to convert or make in Thermomix. The answers came thick and fast and one of them was this; a Raw Key Lime pie…now this is not quite a Key Lime pie…more of a tart tart and using just plain old limes…Key Limes are a variety with a more tart or acidic flavour. Certainly raw though…made in moments, so easy and so delicious. Happily, also fitting the parameters of my new year mantra, Empty the Pantry (before shopping for more!) I had all the ingredients except the limes. So here you go Chandler…enjoy!

NEED:

Crust;

130g macadamia nuts

70g cashews

Generous pinch sea salt

20g maple syrup

25g coconut oil

Filling;

Finely grated zest 3 limes

60g lime juice, fresh (approx 3 limes)

140g ripe avocado flesh

70g maple syrup

10g coconut oil

Pinch sea salt

DO:

Place all crust ingedients into Thermomix bowl and blend 10 sec/speed 6. Press into 5 tartlet tins or one large. Place into freezer.

To make filling place all ingredients into Thermomix bowl and blend 5 sec/speed 5. Scrape down and blend 10 sec/speed 4. Check the mixture is smooth and lump free.

Reblend if necessary.

Fill tartlet shells and return to freezer for at least an hour. Garnish with coconut flakes or additional lime zest. Serve straight from the freezer. A great dollop of whipped coconut cream is awesome on these.

Ice Cream Cheese Christmas Pudding

Well it is summer down under folks…so that is what we do here! Similar in everyway to a traditional Christmas pudding, this is just frozen and gluten free! (And with the benefit of Crio Bru, I think we can safely call it a health food!) A little planning is required due to the soaking of the fruit…and I am not talking about myself when referring to either the soaking or the fruit…let us be clear. I have been as frantic as the rest of the world with things to attend, shopping for all and sundry, plates of goodies to provide, and sometimes up to 3 functions on a single day, but this was seriously so easy that you can whip this up and be serving it on the 25th without any dramas at all!

NEED:

60g each dried cherries, craisins, raisins

60g each glace cherries, figs, apricots

A few pieces glace citrus

Zest each 1 lemon, orange, finely grated

80g brandy or rum

60g left over brewed Crio Bru grounds (the soft sludgey stuff)

60g chopped chocolate

50g sugar

1 cinnamon stick

1 whole nutmeg

1/2 tonka bean (optional)

1 tsp mixed spice

1 tsp ground ginger

250g cream cheese

Juice each 1 lemon, orange,

200g cream

300g milk

DO:

Place all fruits, zests and brandy or rum (or both!!) into an insulated bowl and stir to cover. Allow to soak for around 2-3 days, stirring occasionally.

Add Crio Bru grounds and chopped chocolate to fruit mixture and set aside until use.

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

Add remaining ingredients except fruit/chocolate mixture and blend for 30 sec/speed 6. Scrape down sides of bowl and repeat.

Add fruit, chocolate mixture and incorporate 5 sec/Interval. Stir by hand to finish, ensuring that fruit is separated and well coated in the ice cream mix.

Line 1-2 pudding bowls (or deep bowls) with baking paper, pushing the paper against the walls of the bowls, so that the surface is flat. If you have big folds of paper, the mixture will get inbetween and you will lose some of it when unmoulding.

Pour mixture in and freeze for at least 24 hours. To serve, dip basin into bath of cold water, and up turn onto serving platter. Remove paper, garnish with holly, fruit, nuts, chocolate syrup, or whatever takes your fancy.

The options for this are highly adaptable; if you don’t like nutmeg, leave it out, if you don’t like glace cherries, leave them out, but replace them with same quantity of something else and so on…if you don’t like chocolate, I can’t help you…and if you don’t have Crio Bru, you need to get on to it immediately before Christmas is upon us!

Crio Bru Pavlova Stack

I made this for my dear old dad’s birthday. I had been planning such a creation for while, ever since seeing a picture on Pinterest which I pinned (yes folks, yet another social networking thing I have become enamoured with!) So this is a bit of copy, but yet my own invention…Happy 80th father of mine!

NEED:

Pav Layers;

240g sugar

6 egg whites

1 pinch cream of tartar

1 tsp apple cider vinegar

25g Coco River Crio Bru granules

1 tsp Heilala vanilla bean paste

Filling;

2 tbsp sugar

900 mls cream (1 & 1/2 cartons)

25g Cocoa River Crio Bru granules

1 tsp Heilala vanilla bean paste

500g strawberries, sliced

DO:

Preheat oven to 140ºC. Line  3 trays with baking paper and mark 20cm circumference on each piece of paper. Set aside.

Place sugar into Thermomix bowl and mill 10 sec/speed 1o. Reserve 2 tbsp for cream filling.

NOW (may the Gods not strike me dead!!)….plug in your handbeaters…or kitchen aid and place the room temperature egg whites and cream of tartar into a clean dry non plastic bowl. Beat until foamy. Add vinegar to bowl.

Add milled sugar a little at a time until you have a stiff meringue and there is no longer any grains in the mix. (Test this by rubbing a little mixture between your finger and thumb.)

Fold through Crio Bru granules and vanilla bean paste with large sweeping motions, preferably with a metal spoon. Divid mixture between the 3 circles on prepared trays. Cook for 40-50 minutes until meringue is crisp and risen. Cool in the oven with door slightly ajar.

To make filling place all ingredients except strawberries into Thermomix bowl, insert Butterfly and whip for 20-40 sec/speed 4 or until soft peaks form.

To assemble, place a little dollop of cream onto centre of serving plate. Push one meringue circle onto the cream. This will hold it in place.

Spread that meringue with 1/3 cream mixture. Place a few sliced strawberries on top, then add the second meringue. Repeat with 1/3 cream and  strawberries, finishing with the final meringue, cream and strawberries.

Refrigerate and allow to soften a little for a few hours. (This will make it easier to slice.)

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!)

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.