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.

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.

Hey La La Vanilla Ice Cream (egg free)

Heilala Hamper….be in it to win it!

Well, well, well….the BOOK is out! (Have you been under a rock?) And if you don’t have a copy yet (why not?) you will notice there are quite a few Heilala vanilla recipes in there. My Hey La La of choice is usually the Vanilla Bean Paste because of its flavour richness….but, should you venture further in the Heilala vanilla range, you will notice there are a lot more products than just that Vanilla Rock Star! SO….in partnership with Heilala, I am giving away a fantastic hamper of Heilala vanilla products valued at $250…to accompany this great recipe.

To win, you must tell me which recipe from For Foods Sake you would like to make using Heilala Vanilla and add it as a comment to this story. A random winner will be drawn one week from today and announced on my Facebook page, (so if you haven’t toddled on over there, you better do so and hit the like button!)

COMPETITION IS CLOSED

NEED:

250g whole milk

500g pure cream

Pinch Murray River pink salt

150g rapadura sugar

2 tbsp Heilala vanilla bean paste

1 tsp Heilala vanilla extract

DO:

Place milk, half the cream, salt, sugar and vanilla bean paste into the Thermomix bowl and warm 6 min/80ºC/speed 3.

Cool in the bowl for at least 15 minutes. Add remaining cream and vanilla extract and blend 10 sec/speed 3.

Pour into flat container and freeze several hours until solid.

Break into chunks and place into Thermomix bowl. Blend 2 min/speed 10 with the aid of the spatula. Insert Butterfly and whip 1 min/speed 4. Serve immediately with toasted nuts of choice, Ice Magic or Vanilla Dessert Syrup.

Vanilla Dessert Syrup

NEED:

2 tbsp Heilala vanilla bean paste

200g sugar

100g water

2 tbsp white rum

DO:

Place all ingredients into Thermomix bowl and cook 5 min/100ºC/speed 2 with MC off. Cool before using. This will keep in the fridge in a glass jar indefinitely.

Instant Banana Choc Chip Ice cream

It was 40ºC in the shade today and I sat outside for about 2 hours having a business lunch in the beautiful Casa Bianchi in Mt.Hawthorn…but seriously, I have never been so hot….and this was the only antidote I could come up with in a hurry. I love the simplicity, and if you are dairy intolerant, just grab coconut cream (making sure it is fridge cold) and replace accordingly.

Short and sweet….and to the point I’m thinking don’t you? Happy REALLY Hot Day!

NEED:

300g bananas, sliced and frozen

1 tsp Heilala vanilla bean paste

60g cream

70-100g maple syrup

handful cacao nibs or Crio Bru grounds or choc chips

DO:

Place bananas and vanilla bean paste into Thermomix bowl and mill 8-10 sec/speed 10. This will be very loud.

Scrape down sides of bowl and add cream and maple syrup. Blend 5 sec/speed 6. Scrape down sides of bowl and insert Butterfly.

Whip 10 sec/speed 4. Add cacao nibs through hole in lid and whip further 5 sec/speed 4. Serve immediately.

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.

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:

150g 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!

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 Ice Cream with Crio Beans

I am no award winning Azzura…believe me, but the thought of a rich chocolatey gelato on a hot day does things to me that just aren’t normal when discussing ice cream…or gelato as the case may be. Of course I have also been known to wax lyrical about another product which I can claim to have some links to; Crio Bru. ‘Brew the Bru’ is the catch phrase in my family every morning and now as my thoughts turn to hotter weather, I am thinking I may need other methods to get my daily Crio fix. What a wonderful way to eat something that’s good for you! Use the best cream, the best organic eggs, organic raw sugar…and of course, fantastic, amazing, healthy, superfood Crio Bru.

You can almost convince yourself this is better than oat bran! (I did say almost!)

NEED:

350g  heavy whipping cream
250g whole milk
75g Cavalla Crio Bru granules
1/2 cinnamon stick
1 tsp Heilala Vanilla Bean paste
5 large egg yolks
140g sugar
70-80g Crio Beans

DO:

Place cream, milk, Crio granules and cinnamon stick into Thermomix bowl and warm 8 min/70°/speed 2. Allow to infuse in the bowl for 30 minutes. Strain.

Return liquid to bowl and add all remaining ingredients except Crio Beans.

Cook 8 min/80ºC/speed 4.

Pour into flat tray and freeze minmum4 hours.

Break up into pieces and return to Thermomix bowl. Whip for 1 min/speed 6.

Add Crio Beans if using and blend 2 sec/speed 7.

Refreeze for several hours until solid.

Serve in large waffle cones and cue the Italian Opera playing in the background! (Really!)

Salted Caramel Ice Cream

This is probably my fave ice cream recipe of all time…I don’t make it often, because it is not pretty to see me eat an entire tub of it in one sitting…seriously, I steer clear. It makes a beautiful textured ice cream, the flavour is amazing and I promise you, you cannot just have one spoonful of this and walk away. Thus, it remains a favorite, but it has been banished. Luckily I am so busy trying out other stuff, that we hardly notice its absence.

NEED:

250g raw sugar

50g 100% maple syrup

50g unsalted butter

2tsp Heilala vanilla bean paste

2tsp Celtic sea salt

100g whole milk

500g cream

4 eggs

150g dark chocolate chopped (optional)

 DO:

Place sugar into Thermo bowl and mill 15 sec/speed 9.

Add maple syrup, butter and vanilla and cook 15 min/Varoma/speed 1.

Add salt, cream, milk and whisk together 30 sec/speed 5.

Add eggs and beat 20 sec/speed 4.

Cook 5 min/80ºC/speed 4.

Pour into cold metal tin and freeze.

After 3-4 hours when partially frozen, remix 1 min/speed 5 to give a creamier consistency.

Fold through chocolate chunks after remixing few sec/Reverse + speed 1.

Return to cold tin and freeze for up to 12 hours before serving.

It is helpful to place frozen ice cream in the fridge for about 2o minutes prior to serving.

Tropical Coconut, Vanilla Bean Treats!

Look I know that down here (Southern Hemisphere) we are looking forward to summer…we have had a couple of sunny days, but then out of nowhere, rain and more rain…so in an ode to the Gods of summer I am hoping this recipe may get us a little closer to balmy nights, beach days and of course loads of ice cream! As some of you will know I have happily welcomed Azzura Gelati to Team Tenina, so make sure you keep a watch out for their award winning,amazing new Vanilla bean ice cream at an IGA store near you.

On another note…apart from ice cream judging and eating…I have also been filmed for SuperKitchenMachine’s first video interview, part one of which interview is now out and about on a Facebook page or YouTube video channel near you!

NEED:

150g dark chocolate, chopped

70g unsalted butter, cubed

70g flour

15g +  shredded coconut, toasted plus some more for garnish

1 tsp vanilla essence

30g dark brown sugar

pinch sea salt

Azzura Coconut or Vanilla Bean Ice cream

1 can ‘Top n’ Fill’ warmed or use Dulce de Leche recipe here!

DO:

Preheat oven to 180°C and butter a 12 cup muffin pan.

Place chocolate into Thermomix bowl and mill for 7 sec/speed 7. Remove from bowl and set aside.

Place butter, flour, ¼ cup coconut, sugar and salt into Thermomix bowl and pulse until combined, resembling wet sand.

Place 1 heaped tbsp of mixture and press into muffin tin to make even cases. Freeze for 15 minutes.

Bake 20 minutes.

Remove tray from oven and divide milled chocolate between bases. Return tray to turned off oven and allow chocolate to melt. Brush to coat cases evenly if necessary. Top with remaining toasted coconut.

Place cooled muffin tray in freezer for around 20 minutes. Remove cases carefully.

ASSEMBLE:

Scoop 1 large scoop ice cream of choice into cases. Drizzle with Dulce de Leche, and garnish with additional toasted coconut. Serve immediately.