Tuesdays with Dorie: Caramel-Peanut-Topped Brownie Cake

This week's recipe was chosen by Tammy of Wee Treats by Tammy and what a great choice! Considering how decadent Dorie's picture looked I decided we didn't need a whole cake, so I thirded the recipe and made 3 muffin sized cakes.

The cake mix worked perfectly. I lined a jumbo muffin pan and baked them for 25 minutes at 150 deg C. The texture was probably more cake than brownie but very soft, moist and intensely chocolaty. Maybe a few minutes less would have given a more fudge-like middle but I was totally happy with these.

The taste test ...

The cake was delicious! I will definitely be making this again. The muffin size works really well and I love doing individual serves. My only issue was with the caramel.

It took about 15 minutes to get a beautifully clear, deep amber toffee (I was tempted to make toffee apples at this stage) but when I added the cream and butter it all went wrong. The caramel went really milky and cloudy looking and cystalised as it cooled. The end result looks dull and uninviting. It tasted nice but a bit sugary rather than smooth as I had envisinged. While I did halve the recipe I've never had any trouble working with sugar before.

So if anyone out there can tell me where I went wrong I would be very grateful! My taste testers didn't care but the perfectionist in me really wants to make it, well ... perfect!

The price of gluttony is $12.95

This is all that remains of a bag of mini Reese's. Despite my best intentions we ate the entire bag in 24 hours!

A few years ago (actually 7 but it makes me sound old) I spent a summer at Marquette University in Milwaukee finishing off my law degree plus some extra time travelling around. The food was definitely a highlight ... real bagels in New York, deep dish pizza in Chicago, frozen custard in Wisconsin. Yum!

But the real highlight for me was the discovery of these addictive little chocolate and peanut butter treats. I ate them by the bagful. The problem is here in Australia they are obviously imported and considered 'gourmet'. While we were out shopping yesterday I spotted a bag in the window of a lolly shop and had to have them despite the fact it was $12.95 for a tiny 340g (12oz) bag. Aaah!

On the way out the guy told he was about to get much bigger bags in. Bags that would be much better value. Double aaah! For the sake of my thighs we will not be going back there anytime soon. *sigh*

On a happier note Nigella has a copycat recipe that is the closest thing to Reese's I've tasted. We'll be making them again for Christmas this year (and giving most of it away). Bring on Christmas!

Anzac Biscuits in October

So Anzac biscuits are normally baked in April on Anzac day to commemorate the Australian and New Zealand troops landing at Gallipoli in 1915. I always make them then but really they are fantastic to make any time.

Part of their appeal is they they contain ingredients that I always have in the pantry and can be whipped up at a moment's notice.

There is a lot of debate as to how they should end up - soft or hard, chewy or crunchy. Personally I go for crunchy on the outside and slightly chewy in the middle. I mounded these up a bit and didn't cook them for quite as long as I normally would. But follow the instructions and you will get thinner biscuits perfect for ice-cream sandwiches!

Anzac Biscuits
Recipe from the Australian Women's Weekly Original Cookbook, 1977, p187

1 cup traditional rolled oats (not instant)
3/4 cup dessicated coconut
1 cup plain flour
1 cup sugar (I like raw sugar for these)
1 1/2 ts bicarb soda
2 tbs boiling water
125 g butter
1 tbs golden syrup

Combine oats, sifted flour (I generally don't bother sifting), sugar and coconut. Melt the butter and golden syrup together over a gentle heat. Mix bicarb with boiling water and add to the the butter mixture. It will froth up like a crazy science experiment. Stir this mix into the dry ingredients.

Spoon dessertspoonfuls of mixture onto greased oven trays, allowing room for them to spread.

Bake at approx 150 deg C for 20 minutes or until they are a deep golden brown. They will be very soft straight out of the oven so don't try to move them until they are cool.

Makes approx 30.

Tuesdays with Dorie: Classic Crème Brûlée

To say I was excited about this week's recipe is an understatement. Crème brûlée is one of my favourite desserts to order when we eat out and when done well, takes custard to a whole new level.

I have to say I was sceptical about the cooking method. I'm used to baked custards cooked at a higher temp in a water bath. I was also thrown by just how low the temperature was. 200F sounds low but when you convert it to celsius it's almost ridiculous!

Anyhoo, I baked my 4 little ramekins at just under 100 deg C but it took much, much longer than stated to set. After 60 minutes they were still liquid. I ended up giving them 1 hr 40 minutes and then left them in the switched off oven with the door open to cool down to room temperature.


The taste test ...

Sublime. This may be the best tasting baked custard I have ever had. The slow cooking seems to do amazing things for the texture. It was rich, lucsious and incredibly silky. Each serve looked really small but I couldn't have eaten a bigger one! We borrowed a blow torch to do the tops and it worked really well. I think we may end up buying one!

A big thank you to Mari of Mevrouw Cupcake for this week's choice. Now that I know how easy it is I will definitely be making these again, probably using some of the playing around ideas.

Next week - Caramel-Peanut-Topped Brownie Cake!

Daring Bakers September - Lavosh Crackers with Pesto Rossi

Yay for a savoury DB challenge! I know this is only my second challenge but I was delighted to be making something savoury this month. I was equally delighted to have an 'alternative' challenge. I've had lots of problems with food allergies over the years and I know how frustrating it can be trying to find something you can eat at parties etc. This was a two-part challenge - first to make Lavosh crackers (either regular or gluten-free) and then to create a vegan dip to go with the crackers, and that was a little trickier!

I decided not to go for a gluten-free cracker here purely because I didn't have the ingredients. The regular flour recipe was an absolute breeze. I even kneaded it by hand (usually I cheat and use the dough hook in my mixer) and it took a full 15 minutes to meet the stretch and windowpane tests.

I used my pasta maker to roll out the dough which allowed me to get a really even end result. I took it down to the second thinnest setting which made it a little easier to manage, then used a pizza cutter to make rectangles. The only frustrating part was having to do so many batches and waiting for the tray to cool down in between.

I decided to keep them pretty plain, just sprinkling the tops with sesame seeds and some sea salt, as the dip I chose has a bit of kick. I don't make dips very often and it was quite difficult to find something that was actually vegan (meaning no animal products whatsoever) rather than just vegetarian. In the end I just decided to do Pesto Rossi, which means red pesto in Italian. It is actually a pasta topping but I though it would work well with the crackers.

Pesto Rossi
(this is not my recipe but I can't remember where I got it from)

3 chargrilled red capsicum (roasted using whatever method works for you)
3 slow roasted roma tomatoes (again everyone has their own way of doing this)
1 tbs balsamic vinegar
1 clove garlic
1/4 cup extra virgin oilive oil
1/4 cup ground hazelnuts

Blitz all ingredients in a food processor and serve. It really is that easy! To make a non-vegan variety you can add a 250g block of cream cheese into the mixer and process until smooth. This is great as a dip or over pasta.

All the taste testers absolutely loved this and everyone wanted the recipe!

A big thank you to Natalie from Gluten A Go Go and Shel of Musings From the Fishbowl for this month's challenge. I really enjoyed it and will definitely be making these crackers again!