Marshmallow Pavlova Roulade with Lemon Curd Mascarpone and Raspberries

We're on the home straight now.  Have a delicious weekend guys. x




Marshmallow Pavlova Roulade with Lemon Curd Mascarpone and Raspberries

For the Pavlova:
175g egg whites (about 5 egg whites ) at room temperature
Pinch of sea salt
115g caster sugar (superfine sugar)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 tablespoon cornflour (corn starch)
Icing sugar (confectioners sugar) for sprinkling

For the Filling:
200g mascarpone
200g lemon curd
200g fresh raspberries

Make the Pavlova:
Preheat the oven to 180C.  Line a 35cm x 26cm baking tray with baking paper, making sure the paper covers the sides of the pan.  Set aside.

On a flat surface, dust a clean tea towel with a generous dusting of icing sugar.  Set aside.

In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, whip the egg whites with the salt until soft peaks.  Add the sugar, one tablespoon at a time, beating well after each addition.  Once all the sugar is added, beat until the sugar dissolves, (when you rub some of the mixture between your thumb and finger there is no graininess).  Add the vanilla and sift the cornflour over the meringue. Gently fold to combine and then spread the meringue over the baking tray, smoothing and leveling with a palette knife.  Put the tray into the oven, then immediately reduce the temperature to 150C and bake for 25 minutes.  The pavlova is done when it gives a bit of resistance when gently pressed with a finger.

As soon as the pavlova is baked, remove it from the oven and tip it, face down, onto the prepared icing sugar dusted tea towel.  Using one of the long edges and with baking paper still attached, roll the roulade into a log shape.  Leave to cool completely.

Make the Filling:
In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, whip the mascarpone and lemon curd until it holds it shape.

Assembly:
Carefully uncoil the roulade, gently remove the baking paper and pile the mascarpone filling on top.  Spread the filling evenly over the roulade using an offset palette knife.  Sprinkle with raspberries and roll it up again.  Transfer the roulade onto a serving platter and slice generously.

Grasshopper Pie

Seeing as how we are into the second week of December, I thought I should probably get my festive booty into gear and start serving some food fit for the season... Enter stage left, Christmas sprinkles, gingerbread, candy canes, Stollen, fruit mince and peppermint scented everything.  My kitchen is covered in a patina of flour, icing sugar, warm spices and red and gold glitter.  I see a serious booty workout for my festive booty in my near future.  I don't think you're really for that particular jelly.

Grasshopper Pie

slightly adapted from here

For the Base:

300g Chocolate Ripple Biscuits

50g dark chocolate, chopped

55g unsalted butter, melted

For the Filling:

2 cups Marshmallow Fluff

1/4 cup creme de menthe liquor

2 cups thickened cream

Make the Base:

Blitz the biscuits in a processor until you have a fine crumb.  Remove and reserve 1/4 cup of the crumbs for decorating and set aside. 

Add the chocolate and butter to the crumbs that are left in the processor and blitz until they start to clump together.

Tip the mixture into a 20cm round sprinform tin.  Press the crumbs into the base and and a little up the sides of the tin and put it in the refrigerator to chill while you make the filling.

Make the Filling:

In a large mixing bowl, beat the Marshmallow Fluff and creme de methe together until combined.

In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, whip the cream on medium-high speed until soft peaks form.  Stop the mixer, add the marshmallow mixture and whisk on low speed until completely combined.  

Pour the filling into the chilled base.  Sprinkle with the reserved biscuit crumbs and pop it into the freezer for at least 2 hours to set.  Remove from the freezer 20 minutes before slicing and serving.

Chocolate Ripple Meringues with Glazed Strawberries

Got kids off to school.

Ate meringue and drank coffee for breakfast.

Tried to the mimic Drakes Hotline Bling dance moves whilst clearing the breakfast dishes.

Smashed my morning run.

Had coffee with friends.

Made two trips to the store. (Didn't get half of what I needed on the first trip).

Lunched on hummus and avocado on toasted sourdough. Apple for "lussert"

Set up and shot some photos of CAKE.

Closed my eyes, gritted my teeth and tackled my laundry. (Does it ever end?)

Made Spaghetti with Turkey Meatballs for dinner.

Made a Mocha Hazelnut Marble Cake with Mocha Mascarpone Ganache. (Recipe coming soon.)

Collapsed in a heap on the sofa.

That's my day in a nutshell.

Chocolate Ripple Meringues with Glazed Strawberries

slightly adapted from here

Makes 6

For the Meringues:

1/2 lemon, for cleaning the bowl you'll whip your egg whites in

4 egg whites

1 cup caster sugar

2 teaspoons cornflour

1 teaspoon white vinegar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 tablespoon cocoa powder

For the Glazed Strawberries:

1/3 cup strawberry jam

1/4 cup water

250g fresh strawberries, hulled and sliced

Vanilla Cream:

300ml thickened cream

2 tablespoons icing sugar,sifted

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Make the Meringues:

Take the cut side of the lemon and rub the inside of the bowl to your electric mixer. This cleans the bowl of any residual grease. Discard the lemon.

Place the egg whites into the bowl and usinf the whisk attachment, beat on high speed until firm peaks form. While the mixer is still running, add the sugar one tablespoonful at a time. Once all the sugar is incorporated, mix at high speed for 10 minutes. The meringue should be thick and glossy.

Keep the mixer going and add the cornflour, vinegar and vanilla. Mix until thoroughly combined. Remove the bowl, sift the cocoa powder over the mixture and, using a large metal spoon, gently fold the cocoa powder into the meringue until you have ripple of chocolate through the white meringue. Set aside.

Preheat the oven to 140C.  Dollop a teaspoon of meringue mixture onto the corners of a large baking sheet and stick a large piece of baking paper onto it (this will stop the paper from moving around when you spoon the meringues on). Spoon the meringue mixture into six large rounds, making a small indent in the middle of each with the back of the spoon.

Put the tray into the oven and immediately reduce the temperature to 120C. Bake for 1 1/4 hours.   Turn the oven off and allow the meringues to cool in the oven for a few hours. 

Make the Glaze:

place the jam and water into a small saucepan over low heat and stir until the jam is warm and syrupy.  Remove from the heat and stir through half the strawberries, retaining some for topping the meringues.  Set aside.  

Make the Vanilla Cream:

Put all the ingredients into the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment.  Whip until soft peaks form.  Set aside.

To Serve:

Fill the indent on the top of each meringue with the vanilla cream.  Spoon the glazed strawberries on top, letting the syrup run over the vanilla cream and down the sides of the meringue.  Top with extra slices of fresh strawberries.

Buttermilk Scones with Maple Blueberry Compote and Whipped Cream

When my youngest son was little, he used to call blueberries, bluebuddies.  Of course, he grew out of it, but whenever he says blueberries, I still hear "bluebuddies".  I guess I'll never grow out of it.




Buttermilk Scones with Maple Blueberry Compote and Whipped Cream
Makes 12

For the Scones:
450g plain flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
50g icing sugar
Pinch fine sea salt
125g cold unsalted butter, diced
150ml buttermilk, plus extra for brushing

For the Compote:
1 cup fresh blueberries
3 tablespoons maple syrup

To Serve:
300ml thickened cream, whipped to soft peaks

Make the Scones:
Preheat the oven to 220C.  Line a large baking sheet with baking paper,  Set aside.

Put the flour, baking powder, icing sugar, salt and butter into the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment,  Mix on medium-low speed until the you have a course meal, some of the butter will still be in pea-size pieces.  Add enough of the buttermilk to bring the dough together into a ball.

Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured work surface.  Press it out until it is 2cm thick.  Use a 6cm round cutter to cut the scones out, gathering up remaining dough and gently pressing it out again to cut more scones.

Put the scones onto the prepared baking sheet and brush them with buttermilk.  Bake for about 15 minutes, or until they have risen and are golden brown.

Make the Compote:
Put the blueberries and maple syurp into a small pan over medium heat.  Bring to boil and cook until the blueberries start to burst.  Remove from heat and leave to cool.

To Serve:
Split the scones in half, dollop with whipped cream and top with compote... along side a pot of hot tea.

Baked Spelt and Spiced Pumpkin Doughnuts with Cinnamon Sugar

I have a rule in my head that says baked doughnuts aren't real doughnuts.  To my mind, the only real doughnut is the fried, yeasted variety.  This recipe might just blow that theory out of the water.   These ravishing beauties have all the moreishness of the hot little numbers that come out of the deep-fat fryer, but without all the messy fandango.  Not only that, they are full of ancient grains and vegetables.  Health!!!




Baked Spelt and Spiced Pumpkin Doughnuts with Cinnamon Sugar
slightly adapted from here
Makes 12 regular doughnuts or 18 mini doughnuts

For the Doughnuts:
150g white spelt flour
80g wholemeal spelt flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 whole nutmeg, finely grated
1/3 cup grapeseed oil
1/2 cup rapadura sugar
1 egg
1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
3/4 cup pumpkin puree
1/2 cup buttermilk

For the Cinnamon Sugar:
1/3 cup rapadura sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Make the Doughnuts:
Preheat the oven to 180C and grease a doughnut pan with cooking oil spray.  Set aside.

Put both flours, baking powder, salt and spices into a large mixing bowl and whisk them to mix and break up any lumps.  Set aside.

Put the oil, rapadura sugar, egg, vanilla, pumpkin puree and buttermilk into a medium mixing bowl and whisk to combine.  Gradually add the dry ingredients, a tablespoon at a time, and mix until just combined.

Pour the batter into a disposable pastry bag and pipe the batter into each doughnut up until they are half full.  Bake 15 minutes for regular doughnuts and 10 minutes for mini doughnuts, or until doughnuts spring back when gently pressed.  Turn the doughnuts out onto a wire rack placed over a baking tray to cool slightly.

Make the Sugar:
Mix the rapadura sugar and ground cinnamon together.  Sprinkle over the still-warm doughnuts.

Coconut Cream Pie

We had an unexpected power outage yesterday due to a big, dramatic thunderstorm. There was no internet, no TV and fading light, but I did have pie.  What's a girl gonna do with a whole Coconut Cream Pie in the house, no distractions and an hour to kill?  My hips said no, but my stomach was cheering me on.

Coconut Cream Pie

slightly adapted from here

For the Base:

170g Gingersnap Biscuits, roughly broken up

2 tablespoons desiccated coconut

1 tablespoon caster sugar

80g unsalted butter, melted

For the Filling:

400ml can coconut milk

1 cup full cream milk

1/2 cup desiccated coconut

1/2 cup caster sugar

1 tablespoon caster sugar

1/4 teaspoon sea salt

5 egg yolks

1/4 cup cornflour

30g unsalted butter

1 teaspoon coconut extract

For the Topping:

1 1/2 cup cold cream

2 tablespoons icing sugar

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 tablespoon desiccated coconut, toast in a dry frying pan until golden

Make the Base:

Preheat the oven to 160C.

Put the biscuits, coconut and sugar into a food processor and blitz until you have a fine meal.  Add the melted butter and blitz briefly to mix.  Press this mixture into the base and up the sides of a 23cm glass pie dish.  Use the base of a glass or cup to press the mixture evenly into the corners.  Bake for 10 minutes, until the crust goes golden, rotating the dish halfway through baking.  Remove from the oven and leave to cool on a wire rack for about 30 minutes.

Make the Filling:

Put the coconut milk, milk, coconut, 1/2 cup sugar and salt into a medium saucepan and stir over medium heat until the mixture is just at simmering point and the sugar has dissolved.  Set aside.

In a separate bowl, whisk the yolks, cornflour and remaining 1 tablespoon sugar until smooth.  Continue whisking as you slowly add the hot milk mixture, a little at a time.  Whisk well and return it to the stove.  Keep whisking and cook until the mixture thickens and reaches boiling point.  Boil for 1 minute, whisking all the while, then remove from the heat and add the butter and coconut extract and beat until combined.  Pour the hot filling into the cooled base and smooth the surface.  Cover with plastic wrap, pressing the wrap directly onto the surface of the filling to prevent a skin from forming, and refrigerate until set and cold.

Make the Topping:

In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, whip the cream, sugar and vanilla until soft peaks form.  Dollop on top of the cooled filling and sprinkle with toasted coconut.

Lemon Cream Choux Buns

Husband rolled his eyes when I announced that I had some new choux's, then he saw these on the kitchen counter.


Lemon Cream Choux Buns
adapted from here
Makes 12

For the Buns:
125ml water
60g unsalted butter
3/4 plain flour, sifted
1 tablespoon caster sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 large eggs
Icing sugar, for dusting

For the Lemon Cream:
1/2 cup cream
1/2 cup lemon curd (homemade or store-bought)

Make the Buns:
Preheat the oven to 200C (fan forced).  Trace twelve 5cm circles onto a piece of baking paper, turn it upside down (so that you don't get ink onto your buns) and line a baking tray with it.  Set aside.

Put the water and butter into a medium saucepan and put it on high heat.  Bring to a boil and when the butter is melted, dump the flour in all at once.  Beat vigorously with a wooden spoon until the mixture leaves the sides of the pan.  Reduce the heat to medium and cook, beating, for a further minute.  Remove the pan from the stove and spoon the mixture into the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment.  Add the sugar and vanilla and beat for about 30 seconds.  Add the eggs one at a time.  The mixture should drop from the spoon in lumps, rather than falling freely.

Spoon the mixture into a piping bag and cut a 1cm hole in the tip.  Pipe the mixture onto the prepared tray, using the traced circles as a guide.  Bake for 30 minutes.  Transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

Make the Cream:
Whip the cream until soft peaks form.  Add the lemon curd and whip together.

Split the cooled buns, fill with lemon cream, sandwich together and dust tops with icing sugar.