Lemon Meringue Tart

Posted on May 1, 2016 by missamateurchef

When life gives you lemons… make lemon meringue tart!

Ingredients:

Pastry

250g plain flour, plus extra for dusting
70g icing sugar
125g unsalted butter, cubed
2 egg yolk
Beans for baking

Filling

5 eggs
140g caster sugar
150ml double cream
2-3 lemon (to produce about 100ml lemon juice and 2 tbsp lemon zest)

Meringue

2 egg whites
Half cup of sugar
Pinch of salt
1/2 teaspoon of white vinegar

Directions:

Preheat oven to 160C fan.
To make the pastry, mix the flour and icing sugar in a bowl. Rub the butter into the flour with your fingers until crumbly.
Mix in the egg yolks, roll into a ball. If the pastry is still too dry, add 1-2 tbsp water until it comes together.
Wrap the dough in cling film, chill for at least 30 mins.
While the pastry is in the fridge, make the filling. Beat all the ingredients, except for the zest, together. Sieve the mixture, then stir in the zest.
Roll out the pastry on a lightly floured surface to about the thickness of a $1 coin, then lift into a 23cm tart tin. Press down gently on the bottom and sides, then trim off any excess pastry.
Stab a few holes in the bottom with a fork and put back in the fridge for 30 mins.
Line the tart with foil and fill with dried beans. Bake for 15 mins, then remove the tart tin from the oven, discard the foil, and bake for another 20 mins until biscuity.
When the pastry is ready, remove it from the oven, pour in the lemon mixture and bake for 30-35 mins until just set.
Leave to cool, then remove the tart from the tin.
In medium bowl, beat egg whites, salt and vinegar with electric mixer on medium speed until foamy. Beat in sugar, 1 tablespoon at a time; continue beating until stiff and glossy. Around 6 min in total, do not underbeat.
Spread the meringue on top of the filling with a spoon, starting from the outside edge of the crust.
Brown the meringue with a blow torch.

Salted Caramel Chocolate Chip Cookies

Posted on April 24, 2016 by missamateurchef

My husband, like many other men, was not a big fan of desserts. He’d always said to people that he didn’t have a sweet tooth, but a salt tooth. Given the choice between a decadent chocolate cake and a simple pack of potato chips, it would be the savory latter every time. But then he discovered something better than sweet, something better than salty, which was the two of them combined together – salted caramel. Everything has changed since then… From Pierre Hermes macarons to Häagen-Dazs ice-cream, he orders everything with salted caramel. The salt-sweet combo is somehow so surprising and compelling; two very opposite flavors, instead of overshadowing one and other, tingle away in conjunction…

It’s his birthday today so I’ve made him these salted caramel cookies to celebrate!

Dear C, you are the salt to my caramel, milk to my cookie, gin to my tonic… best to my friend and love of my life…Happy birthday! I can’t wait to grow old with you ❤

(Yield 2 dozen cookies)

Ingredients:

1 stick butter, unsalted, melted
1/2 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cups brown sugar
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1 egg
1/4 cup caramel sauce
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 tablespoons sea salt for sprinkling

Directions:

Preheat the oven at 180 deg C.
In a large bowl, cream together butter and sugar with hand mixer until fluffy (about 2 minutes).
Add in vanilla extract and egg, beat until incorporated, pour in caramel and beat until incorporated, scrape down the sides of the bowl with a spatula from time to time.
In another bowl, combine all the dry ingredients including flour, baking powder and baking soda.
Slowly add the sugary mixture to the dry ingredients.
Add in chocolate chips. Stir until they are evenly mixed.
Place dough in the refrigerator for an hour.
Line baking sheet with silicone baking mat.
Scoop dough into a 1 tablespoon size cookie scoop and place the dough onto the prepared cooking sheet.
Place about 2 inches apart. Flatten the dough balls slightly.
Bake cookies for 11-12 minutes, until edges are slightly golden brown.
Remove from oven and sprinkle with sea salt. Allow them to cool on the baking sheet for 3 minutes, and then transfer to a cookie cooling rack.

Pavlova with Strawberry Jam and Rosewater Chantilly Cream

Posted on April 17, 2016 by missamateurchef

Unlike its distant cousins macarons which have gained so much attention in the culinary world, pavlova- also a meringue based dessert, remains rather less known. The dessert was believed to be created by a hotel chef in the 1920s in honor of the beautiful Russian ballet dancer Anna Pavlova during one of her tours to Australia and New Zealand (thanks Wikipedia!). A pavlova is made with a French meringue which is cooked in the oven for a long time, about an hour, at a very low temperature to let it dry out. The outer shell of the meringue should be crisp, while the interior has a fluffy, marshmallowy texture. The cooled meringue is then topped with whipped cream and fruit right before being served. Nothing beats a good pavlova in springtime – light and airy, topped with seaonal berries, it feels a lot “healthier” than it really is!

(6 servings)

Pavlova
Ingredients:

3 egg whites
1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar (can be substituted with white vinegar)
Pinch of salt
3/4 cups sugar

Directions:

Preheat oven to 120 C.
Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Draw 4 4-inch circles on the parchment paper.
With an electric mixer set to medium, whisk together the egg whites, cream of tartar and salt for 3 minutes. Let the mixer keep running and add in the sugar, a spoonful at a time. Stop when the meringue is thick and can form stiff (around 6 minutes in total).
Spoon mixture inside the circle drawn on the parchment paper. Start from the center, spread mixture toward the outside edge, building edge slightly, and leave a slight depression in the center.
Bake for 1 hour and 20 minutes. (Halfway through baking rotate the baking sheets so the meringues will cook as evenly as possible.)
Allow to cool in the oven before trying to remove them from the parchment paper (otherwise they may stick!).

Rosewater Whipped Cream
Ingredients:

2 cups heavy whipping cream
2 tablespoons powdered sugar
1 drop of red coloring
a very small amount of rose water

Directions:

Add the cream to the bowl of an electric mixer.
Beat on high speed until it begins to thicken.
While the mixer is still running gradually add the sugar and coloring.
Once the whipped cream is ready turn off the mixer.
Add rosewater in small amount. Taste and see if you think the whipped cream has enough rose flavor, if not repeat the process. (Rose water can be quite potent so you don’t want to overdo it.)
Assemble the dessert by putting the whipped cream on top of the Pavlova, add strawberry jam and berries for garnishing.

Dark Chocolate Chip and Hazelnut Biscotti

Posted on March 10, 2016 by missamateurchef

Biscotti is a traditional Italian cookie where the dough is formed into logs, baked, cooled slightly, and baked again in slices. The name biscotti is derived from ‘bis’ meaning twice in Italian and ‘cotto’ meaning baked or cooked. The Italians use the word “biscotti” to refer to any type of cookies, while in the English speaking world the term was used to describe this particular long, crisp, sophisticated looking cookie. The best biscotti is crunchy without breaking your teeth, crumbly without tasting sandy or dry. And when it is dipped into a steamy mug of coffee… aww…It just melts in your mouth!

Ingredients (yields 1 dozen):

2 medium eggs
100g caster sugar
250g plain flour, plus extra for dusting
1/2 cup of toasted hazelnuts ( roughly chopped )
1/2 cup of semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 tsp bicarbonate of vanilla extract
1 tsp bicarbonate of almond extract
½ tsp bicarbonate of soda
½ tsp bicarbonate of baking powder
½ tsp bicarbonate of salt

Directions:

Preheat oven to 180 deg C and line a large baking sheet with baking paper.
Whisk together the eggs and sugar until light and fluffy.
Add the vanilla and almond extract.
Sift the flour, soda and baking powder into a bowl, then add salt, hazelnuts and chocolate chips.
Fold into the egg mix to make dough.
Tip onto a lightly floured surface, shape into a 25cm sausage shape with lightly floured hands, then transfer to baking sheet.
Flatten to a 3cm thickness, bake for 30 mins until lightly browned on surface.
Take the log out to a chopping board, reduce the oven to 160C.
Cut the log into 1cm thick slices and return to the baking sheet. Bake for 10-15 mins until crisp.
Cool on a wire rack. Will keep in a tin for 3 weeks.

Banana Bread

Posted on February 15, 2016 by missamateurchef

Finally lay my hands on this new member of my cookbook collection. Published by my alma mater for fund raising- this ultimate cookbook features a selection of recipes gathered by the Maryknoll Sisters through their years of missionary work over the world.

When it comes to cookbooks, everyone has a different opinion regarding the perfect one, to me, it is the total package: delicious recipes that work, beautiful photography, and most importantly, writing that inspires and intrigues. Half a century ago, when most people rarely travel far from their hometown, our Sisters had this pioneering idea of compiling a cookbook made with a vast collection of international cuisine. These recipes collected from over 40 countries, given by families oversea, were the testament of love via sharing of food. Browsing through all the strange names of dishes, from Cazuela Chilena of Chile to Kachambali of Tanzania, some of them even unpronounceable, I felt like going on a culinary journey with the Maryknoll sisters. While I may not be able to accomplish something so great like them- cooking around the globe and spreading the word of God. I enjoy cooking for my loved ones and doing all sorts of food experiment in my tiny kitchen, that what keeps me grounded.

This banana bread is by far my favorite recipe from the book; it is a very basic and very forgiving recipe that takes all of 10 minutes to whisk together. An hour of waiting while your house fills with tempting aromas and then you’ll be able to enjoy your very own slide of warm, moist banana bread! Oh…I just can’t wait to try the rest of the recipes! After all the best cookbooks are the ones that gain its stains through frequent use, and later, passed down from generation to generation like a legacy.

Ingredients (for a 10x20cm loaf):

230 grams flour
2.5 tbsp baking powder
1 tbsp baking soda
Pinch of salt
2 overripe bananas
2 eggs
175 g sugar
60g canola oil
30g butter (melted)
1 tbsp vanilla extract

Directions:
1. Preheat the oven to 175∘C and adjust the oven rack to the center. Line a 10×20 cm loaf pan with parchment paper.
2. Mix all dry ingredients in a medium bowl.
3. Mash the bananas and mix in all the wet ingredients (eggs, sugar, canola oil, melted butter and vanilla) in another bowl. Fold the mixture into the dry ingredients to form a batter.
4. Pour batter to the lined pan and bake at 175∘C. Slit the center of batter after 15min for a better rise.
5. Continue to bake for another 35 min until a toothpick inserted to the center pulls out clean.

Cherry Clafoutis

Posted on February 6, 2016 by missamateurchef

Family legend has it that I swallowed all the pits when I ate cherries for the first time… and I actually believed that when my dad told me a cherry tree would be growing on my head (in fact I was pretty excited about that!!!). Twenty some years have passed, there is no cherry tree on my head, but my fondness for the fruit continues to deepen. When cherries appear at my local market, I just have to buy them. Sweet, crisp and juicy, they often don’t even make it to my kitchen- I usually gobble them all up on my way home. But if there are a few left, I will use them to make this dessert.

Cherry clafoutis is one of the easiest French desserts you can ever make, simply perfect for cherry season and is absolutely amazing. The batter used in clafoutis is based on a crêpe batter. Unlike traditional custard, it contains flour, giving it a dense texture. The thickened batter ensures that any juice that escapes from the cherries is well-contained. Other fruits would also work well in this dish. Try peaches, blueberries, plums or apricots!

Voilà! Un dessert facile et délicieux!

Ingredients:

2 cups of fresh sweet cherries, pitted
3 eggs (at room temperature)
3/4 cup of sugar
1 tablespoon of brown sugar
1/2 cup of all-purpose flour
1/8 teaspoon of salt
1 cup of whole milk
1 1/2 teaspoons of vanilla extract
1/8 teaspoon almond extract
Powdered sugar for dusting

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 180 degree Celsius . Butter and lightly flour the baking dish.
Scatter the cherries over the bottom of the dish.
Whisk the eggs and sugars together.
Add in the salt and flour.
Add the milk and vanilla extract. Whisk until smooth.
Pour into the baking dish over the cherries.
Bake for 35-45 minutes in water bath, until lightly browned or a tester inserted into the centre comes out clean.
Let cool in the oven for 10min before taking it out.
When cool dust the clafoutis with powdered sugar. Serve!

Note: It will wiggle a bit when you pull it out of the oven, that is normal.

Place on a wire rack to cool. The clafoutis will have puffed up quite a bit and will deflate while cooling.

Chocolate Chip Cupcakes with Peanut Butter Frosting

Posted on January 3, 2016 by missamateurchef

Happy New Year everyone!! How has 2015 treated you? The start of a new year is always exciting, it is the perfect opportunity to wipe away everything from your slate and start clean. This year, instead of setting up long list of resolutions to be met, I have only one task in mind – be true to myself. Yes, we hear this phrase over and over again; it’s so overused that sometimes it loses its meaning. But admit it, there are times we do certain things, act or dress in certain ways, just because we want to be accepted. Ask yourself, are you staying with your boring job just because it makes a lot of money? Do you go to that party because everyone else does? Are you stuck in this stagnant relationship because you are afraid to be alone? Remember, there are too many wonderful things in this world that you could be doing instead- things that make you happy, things that make you come alive.

Be a beautiful cupcake in a world full of muffins!!

( Or be a fruitloop in a world full of cheerios for a healthier version =P )

Ingredients (yields 10 cupcakes):

Frosting

1 cup creamy peanut butter
1/2 cup butter, softened
2 cups confectioners’ sugar
Milk as needed

Muffins

2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup white sugar
3 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup milk
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1 egg
3/4 cup mini semi-sweet chocolate chips
3 tablespoons white sugar
2 tablespoons brown sugar

Directions:

Frosting

Place the butter and peanut butter into a medium bowl, and beat with an electric mixer.
Gradually mix in the sugar, and add in milk one tablespoon at a time when it starts to get thick.
Beat for at least 3 minutes until the frosting is fluffy and thick.

Muffins

Preheat oven to 200 degrees C.
Line muffin cups with baking cups.
In a mixing bowl, combine flour, 1/2 cup sugar, baking powder, chocolate chips, and salt; mix well.
In a large mixing bowl, combine milk, oil and egg, blend well. Add dry ingredients all at once; stir just until dry ingredients are moistened.
Fill baking cups 2/3 full.
Bake for 20 to 25 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.
Cool completely before piping the frosting.

Sablés

Posted on October 15, 2015 by missamateurchef

Window-shopping in food halls is one of my favorite things to do in France. I have long fallen under the spell of French gâteaux that come in all sorts of shapes and sizes. Sugar or cream coated, they glistened in the window of patisseries with the sweet promise of delighting my tastebuds. During my stay in Roanne, a few streets over, was the Gautheron Bakery. They offered a wide range of French pastries- éclairs, proliferoles, saint honores, fraisiers, palmiers, fruit tarts, croissants… I had to limit myself to two per day during tea-time (mostly because I wanted to save some room for the cheese platter at dinner =P) It wasn’t until my fourth or fifth visit, did I notice this plain-looking cookie…

Sablés, also known as French shortbread, are classic French cookies originating in Normandy France. The name ‘Sablés’ is French for “sand”, which refers to the sandy texture of this delicate and crumbly cookie. With its crispy exterior and cakey, tender interior, unlike its counterparts in patisserie, it has got a more subtle sort of elegance.

They were ridiculously easy to make and roll out; some of the easiest cookies I’ve made. These humble-looking treats are everything you’d want from a classic shortbread: crispy, crumbly, sweet, salty and sugary. They are delicious plain, but are also a blank canvas for experimentation, they can be sandwiched together with jam, chocolate ganache or our favorite Nutella!!!

Ingredients (yields 18 cookies):

70 grams unsalted butter (room temperature)
50 gram granulated sugar
Two eggs (room temperature) – reserve one for brushing the cookies
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
130 grams all purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees C.
Beat butter and sugar until light and fluffy (2-3 minutes) by a mixer. Add half the egg and vanilla extract and beat until incorporated.
In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt.
Add the flour mixture to the butter mixture and beat until incorporated.
Transfer the dough to a lightly floured work surface, knead the dough a few times to bring it together, and divide the dough in half. Then roll each half between two sheets of parchment or wax paper until it is about 1/4 inch thick. As you roll, smooth out any wrinkles.
Place the dough on a baking sheet (along with the parchment paper) and place in the refrigerator until cold and firm (about 45 minutes).
Once chilled, remove from refrigerator and peel off the top piece of parchment paper. Use a cookie cutter to cut out the cookies. Place them on the prepared baking sheets.
Brush the tops of the cookies with the remaining egg. Make a crisscross pattern on the top of each cookie with the tine of the fork.
Bake the cookies for about 12 – 14 minutes or until golden brown around the edges.

Lemon and White Chocolate Cookies

Posted on August 24, 2015 by missamateurchef

Cookie lovers like me would probably agree that nothing makes lazy summer afternoons more pleasant than relaxing on the couch with a plate of cookies and iced tea. Such afternoon cookie breaks are the essence of easy summertime living, especially in the record-breaking heat wave.

Being a natural baker at heart, I’m often compelled to pull out my mixer, toss sugar and butter in the bowl, and mix up a batch of chocolate chip-speckled treats. In the summer, I replaced the dark chocolates with a more refreshing combo- lemon and white chocolate. I used lemon three ways: extract, zest, and juice to create a more robust lemon flavor while the spoonful of honey helps keep the cookies moist.

End any summertime meal deliciously with these lemony babies!

Ingredients:

1/2 cup of unsalted butter, melted
3/4 cup of granulated sugar
2 tablespoons of light brown sugar
1 large egg
1 tablespoon of lemon extract
2 tablespoons of lemon zest
2 tablespoons of lemon juice
1 tablespoon of honey
2 cups of flour
2 teaspoons of cornstarch
Pinch of salt
1 teaspoon of baking soda
1 cup of white chocolate

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 180 deg Celsius.
2. In a large bowl, cream butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. Whip in honey, egg, lemon zest, extract and juice. Scrape sides and mix again.
3. Stir in all dry ingredients slowly until just combined. Scrape sides of bowl and mix again briefly.
4. Add in the white chocolate chunks
5. Form approximately 12 equal-sized mounds of dough by hand or using ice-cream scoop, roll into balls, and flatten slightly.
6. Place dough mounds on baking sheet, spaced at least 2 inches apart.
7. Bake for about 10 minutes, or until edges have set, don’t overbake as cookies firm up as they cool.
8. Allow cookies to cool on baking sheet for about 10 minutes before serving.

S’mores Cookies

Posted on August 8, 2015 by missamateurchef

While there are so many beautiful, elegant options of desserts out there—delicate macarons, bright and cheery cupcakes, fluffly soufflé that melts on your tongue —which all seem to fit perfectly with the current trend of attractive, over-the-top looking desserts.

Call me old-fashioned, I’m still a huge fan of the homiest, rustic looking cookies (those you secretly wished your mother had made when you returned home from school as a kid!). Most of the cookies I make fall into this category.

If you love that perfect combination of warm, melted chocolate and gooey, toasted marshmallows of s’mores, then I have the perfect cookie recipe for you… Make these S’mores Cookies tonight, no campfire required!

Serves 10-12 large pieces of cookies

Ingredients:

1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
½ cup sugar
¼ cup brown sugar
½ cup butter, softened
1⅓ cups flour
¾ cup digestive biscuit crumbs
1 teaspoon baking powder
Pinch of salt
3/4 cup chocolate chips
1 cup marshmallow bits

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 180 degrees celsius.
2. In a medium sized mixing bowl, cream together butter, brown sugar, and sugar until it is light and fluffy.
3. Add in the egg and vanilla and mix until incorporated.
4. Crush digestive biscuits by hands until they are fine crumbs.
5. In a separate bowl, mix the crumbs, sifted flour, baking powder, and salt.
6. Slowly add the dry ingredients to the wet and mix until it is combined.
7. Fold in the chocolate chips.
8. Form slightly larger than golf sized of dough.
9. Place balls of dough on baking sheet 2” apart. Bake for 8 minutes.
10. Remove and quickly press 3 marshmallows into cookies. Return to oven and cook until the marshmallows turn slightly golden, about 5 minutes.
11. Let the cookies cool on baking sheet for 5 min before transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.