Orange Brioches

This morning when I woke up, the first thing I felt like doing is baking because It'd been more than two days since my last baking after my husband has gone on a business trip!

Anyway, having failed to get an idea of what to make, I then intendedly looked through a few magazines to find something that is interesting enough to be my choice and luckily I found one without a hard effort..:)

The original recipe called 'feather-light lemon brioche' is from the Feruary issue of Delicious Magazine ( Aussie issue ) which I recently bought it. However, due to my own preference, I made little changes to the recipe, yet managed to get such a wonderful outcome!!

Here is what I've done..

Ingredients:

3 tbsp caster sugar

1 1/4 tsp salt

1 tbsp milk

250 g bread flour

7g satchet of instant dried yeast

3 eggs

160g unsalted butter at room temp cut into pieces

finely grates zest of 1.5 tbsp orange zest

Some of marmalade, flaked almonds and icing for topping

Method:

Place salt, 1 tbsp of sugar and milk in a small bowl and mix until sugar and salt dissolve.

In a mixing bowl with a paddle attachment, Place the yeast,  flour and 2 tbsp sugar and mix to combine. With the motor running add milk mixture and then the eggs one at a time, making sure one egg is completely combined before adding the next. Add the butter a little at a time until combined.

Add zest and mix. Kneading the dough for 10-15 minutes until elastic ( but still sticky ). Place the dough into a large non-metallic bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Make sure the wrap does not touch the dough, even when it has risen. Stand in warm place for 2-3 hours or until doubled in size.

Knock dough down with a spatula, cover with plastic wrap again and stand for another hour in a warm place. After dough has risen for the second time knock it again with a spatula and in my case, using an ice-cream scoop, divide the dough equally into 12 muffin cases. Sprinkle flaked almonds on top. Again let the dough in the pan sit in a warm place for about 50 – 60 min until doubled in size.

Preheat the oven to 200 deg cel. Put a bowl of water on the bottom shelve of your oven, place the brioche in middle of oven for 12 – 15 minutes until it smells done and the top is a golden brown colour. Remove for oven and brush the tops with the marmalade , then allow to cool in tin for 10 minutes. Then move onto wire cooling rack. Sprinkle with some icing sugar before serving.

Serve warm or at room temperature with butter and marmalade..

Ps. This brioche has also been posted to yeastspotting hosted by Susan Of Wildyeast..

Hungarian Apple Pie

I seem addicted to baking and not quite sure if it's better or worse that now I bake almost everyday or sometimes twice a day! People keep asking me what I've done with all of my baked goods and I just let a broad smile escape, then simply say 'give away' ..:)

Some of my friends suggested me to do it as a business but I know myself that I can't..my joy is to bake whatever I want , so I don't think I would be happy and enjoy if I have to do something following other people's order or requirement. Thank my lovely husband for all of his support and more importantly for being a great taster/consumer of my baked goods and cooked foods..nothing can make me happier than seeing people around me enjoy eating the things I've cooked/baked..it's such a simple happiness of life!

Now talking about the pie, it's claimed to be Hungarian/European version of apple pie which caught my attention..and when this thing happens, you can easily guess what I would end up with!

The recipe could be found here. ( Note : I sub yogurt for sour cream and reduced the icing sugar to 80 g )

      

Biscotti Picanti

There's been such a long time that I haven't played with yeast, so I thought it's time to make something about it and my choice was pinned down to this gorgeous biscotti picanti !

I've seen it posted on the blogs that the bloggers are participants of the baking event called 'Bread Baking Babes' which I've regularly been following to see what they'd bake each month. Then all of a sudden, I felt like making it and joining the event..just for fun :)

After reading through the recipe, the bread indeed reminded me of taralli, my favorite biscuits that I made a few years ago..but it's not complicated as taralli which needs to be boiled before baking, though it takes longer time to be done.

The recipe is from Anissa Helou who kindly gave a permission to publish her recipe. I made only half of the recipe and there are few changes I've made to the recipe which the first is adding a tsp of sugar to the dough and secondly is to replace half of aniseed with fennel seed. The outcome was absolutely wonderful and I've immediately fallen in love with it after the first bite ! Thank Lien for choosing this amazing bread to be made for this month..:)

The recipe could be found on Lien's blog.         

Ps. I've also posted this bread to yeastspotting hosted by Susan of Wildyeast.

Marmalade Chocolate Brownies

There are lots of time that I've started or planned to make one thing but then have ended up with doing the other thing instead which I hope it's not only me who has this kind of habbit and I have to confess that this brownie is not the thing I really wanted to make in the first place!..LOL

To begin with, I've somehow found Nigella's marmalade&chocolate cake and wanted to give it a go...but then I abruptly had second thoughts and got an idea of making it in a different form instead so this brownie is what I finally ended up with!

Anyway, more interesting is that this time not only I had an idea of modifying it but also I managed to have guts to create my own recipe and here is what proudly present..

Ingredient :

140g dark chocolate
125g unsalted butter
2 extra large eggs
200g orange marmalade
30g caster sugar
1tsp vanilla extract
a pinch of salt
80g AP flour

Method :

1. Preheat the oven to 180c' and line a 8" square tin with foil and lightly grease the foil. Melt the choc and butter using a double boiling method and set aside. In a mixing bowl,beat the eggs, sugar, salt and marmalade until well blended then add the chocolate mixture and stirring until incorperated, smooth and shiny.

2. Add the flour into the chocolate mixture and stir until well blended. Pour the batter into the prepared tin and bake for 15-20 minutes. Let it cool on a wire rack for 20 minutes before slicing.

Spicy Beef Stew

I don't know what to say or in fact I'm too lazy to think about what to say..so this is it ! The stew is easy to make but the final outcome is very good...mildly spicy for me but perfect for my husband's taste bud ! You wouldn't be disappointed to give it a try..:)

The recipe could be found here.

 

Coffee Fudge Tart

I've found a few recipes through the past week that I wanted to give them a try during the weekend but this tart suddenly came from behind to be a winner when I spotted it the last minute before I made a decision about what to make!

I've firstly seen the tart on foodgawker before tracing to the original recipe called Kilimanjaro coffee fudge tart from the Guardian. Anyway, I made few changes to the recipe which you can see as shown below.. The tart is quite sweet even though I reduced amount of sugar in both of the pastry base and the filling, so I served it with some whipped cream to cut down some sweetness which it amazingly worked as I expected!! Seriously, this tart is a great way to enjoy coffee...

Here's what I've done..

For the pastry

175g salted butter, softened
35g caster sugar
1 egg yolk
250g plain flour

For the filling
125g butter
200g light muscovado sugar
15g instant coffee powder
90ml Kahlua liqueur
2 eggs, lightly beaten
50g self-raising flour

Method :

1. For the pastry, cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. Add the egg yolk and stir until fully incorporated. Add the flour and mix until the pastry forms a ball, taking care not to be too heavy-handed with the dough. Wrap the pastry in clingfilm and chill for around 20 minutes. Roll out the dough to fit the tart tin and refrigerate until needed.

2. Preheat the oven to 180C/350F/gas 4 while you prepare the filling. Heat the butter, sugar and coffee together in a saucepan over a gentle heat, until melted. Transfer the mixture to a large mixing bowl and add Kahlua. Stir in the beaten eggs and then the flour. Mix until everything is well combined, smooth and glossy.

3. Pour the mixture into the chilled pastry case and bake for 20-25 minutes, checking after 20 minutes, as oven temperatures can vary. Remove from the oven and cool. Serve each piece with a dollop of whipped cream. Enjoy!

    

Peanut Butter and White Chocolate Cookies

I've spotted this cookie in the latest issue ( March ) of bbcgdfd magazine and decided right away to make it as a snack for my daughter's playdate... basic, yet simply delicious!

French Silk Pie

As I previously said in this post that I planned to make a french silk cake for Valentine's day. As a middle-aged woman ( it means I've planned to live not that long! lol) , I changed my mind in the last minute and made this instead.


Anyway, my decision came a bit late cuz the french silk filling was already done and with a guilty feeling of throwing it away, I then decided to make a pie version which I hadn't done it before and we ended up with two things to celebrate on Valentine's!!


Due to a lack of time, I opted for a digestive biscuit (graham cracker) crust instead of a proper pie crust to make things faster which I thought it didn't make any worse on the outcome...


Here is what I've done..


For the crust :


1-1/2 cups crushed digestive biscuits
6 tbsp melted butter




For the filling :


227 g ( a cup) butter, room temperature
1 cup caster sugar
2 tsp vanilla extract
1/3 cup cocoa powder
4 large eggs


For the topping :


1 cup whipping cream
2 tbsp icing sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla extract


Method :


1.  Make a crust by combine the two ingredients and spread it on 9'' pie plate and bake at 180c. for 8-10 minutes. Leave to cool completely.



2. Make the filling, cream the butter and sugar until very fluffy and well combined. Carefully blend in the cocoa and vanilla.  Beating at highest speed add one egg. Beat for about 2 minutes.  Repeat with each egg, beating very well after each addition. Whip until very fluffy.



3. Pour the filling into the cooled crust and let it set in the fridge for at least 4 hours ( I left it overnight )



4. Whip the cream, the icing and vanilla until the peak form. Spread on top of the pie and sprinkle with grated chocolate.

Chocolate Chiffon Cake with Chocolate Ganache

I recently bought a heart-shape cake tin on purpose to make something for Valentine's day and my original plan is to make this French Silk Chocolate Cake that I did before a few year ago. Anyway, I changed my mind at the last minute and ended up with this one instead!

Honestly speaking, the cake didn't look that good after I'd done the frosting..so while I was thinking of decorating something colorful on it, my daughter, who happened to walk into the kitchen and saw the cake, simply gave me an idea how to do it which I agreed and followed her suggestion!

Thank my daughter for not only her help to decorate the cake but also lending me her m&m from the goodie bag she got from her friend's bd party..:) The cake couldn't have be done nicely without my gorgeous gal!!

The recipe could be found here.

 

Lemon Curd Scones

I bought a jar of lemon curd the other day to use for making cupcakes and it's still had a lot left ..so I tried to make something else with it and desperately, couldn't think about anything but scone. I then searched on purpose for a recipe that calls for lemon curd mixed into the dough and simply picked the first recipe shown that met my requirement...

With no expectation, it surprisingly turned out to be a hit..even for my daughter who doesn't really fancy a baked good like scone! Scrumptious!!

The recipe could be found here.