Salted Caramel Brownies

Adapted from
http://tenina.com/2010/05/salted-caramel-brownies/

I changed the recipe to suit our taste
Ingredients:
280g rapadura sugar
90g unsalted butter
1 tsp vanilla essence
2 tsp sea salt plus extra for topping
4 large eggs
1 large yolk
60g cacao powder
150g Plain flour
200g each macadamia and pecan or pistachio kernels, Almonds or any desired nuts
Extra nuts for topping

DO:
Preheat oven to fan forced 180°C and line a 22cm square pan with baking paper that comes up over the edges for easy removal.
Place sugar, butter and vanilla into Thermomix bowl and chop together for 5 seconds on speed 6. Cook for 15 minutes at Varoma temperature on speed 2. Let it cool before the next step.
Add salt and incorporate for 20 seconds on speed 4.
Add eggs, yolk and cacao to Thermomix bowl and mix for 15 seconds on speed 5.
Scrape down sides of bowl and add flour and nuts and mix for 10 seconds on speed 5.
Spread into prepared pan, stud with additional nuts, sprinkle generously with additional sea salt and bake for 10 minutes.
Remove from oven and bang on bench quite firmly to prevent rise from continuing. Return to oven for a further 20 minutes or until just wobbly in centre. I reduced the heat to 160 for a longer slow bake. Keep checking every 10 minutes.

Allow to cool slightly in tin before cutting into enormous pieces and wolfing down immediately

 Before baking

 After baking. I will reduce the cooking time next time as it over baked it and the insides were more like cake texture instead of the fudgy brownie feel.

 All sliced up

It tasted very nice with the salt and it was not too sweet as I have reduced the sugar. Perfect with a cup of coffee.. Happy Australia Day!

Pineapple Tart Pastry- Must Keep Recipe

My dear friend from UK shared this recipe for pineapple tart pastry. It is the best I had tried so far after testing 3 recipes in total. I love my pastry soft and crumbly and this recipe nailed it. I tweaked it a little to make it even softer by incorporating cake flour. Results are perfect!

Ingredients:
250gm butter diced into small cubes
3 egg yolks
1 1/3 cup of cake flour
2 1/2 cup of white flour
3 tbs corn flour
6tbs icing sugar
1/2 tsp salt

this makes enough for my previous pineapple tart jam with extra jam to spare. Next time I will make extra one more batch of this recipe.

Method.
Sieve all dry ingredients together. I double sieved them
I mix butter and sugar together first in the Thermomix bowl just until nicely incorporated. The I add the yolk one by one and then the dry ingredient
I use the turbo button to mix them up into crumbly texture
Pour the mixture out and use your fingers to bring them together
I separate my dough into 3 large disc and freeze them as I am only using them a week later.
To use, bring them to soften at room temperature and roll them into 1/2 cm.
Use a cookie cutter or pineapple tart cutter to cut the shapes.
Place rolled jam into the cut dough and bake at 180C for 12 minutes or until golden brown at the edges
you can use the egg wash to have a nicer golden look but I was too lazy to go through that step. \

Pineapple Tart Jam

 

This is the season of pineapple tart making and I never find more love for the Thermomix than this time.

Pineapple tarts are laborious and tiring via the traditional method as it requires hours of cooking the jam down to a nice thick jam-like consistency. I have been making pineapple tarts using the Thermomix for 2 years now and it has never been easier.

This time I did it in bulk as I am very familiar with the process. We bought 4 medium size fresh pineapple and cut down into rough sizes. I added a tin of store bought pineapple slices just to increase the volume.

Ingredients:
- 2.5 kg of pineapple flesh. Cut and cored (~ 4 medium size pineapples)
- 1 tin of pineapple slices (optional)
- 500gms of sugar
- 8 cloves

Method:
1. Chop the pineapple via Thermomix Speed 6 for a few seconds. You want a puree consistency
2. I did this is batches and then I sieve the pineapple through a strainer to get rid of as much juice possible
3. Save the juice for consumption or cooking
4. After sieving all the pineapple, it will easily fit into the Thermomix. I cooked this for 30 minutes, Varoma, Speed 1. I need to place the Varoma tray on top to get most of the steam out and to avoid a messy splatter
5. Look out for a nice jam-like consistency and a lightly brown colour. I like my jam abit soft so it just melts into your mouth.

 Weighing the pineapples with the Thermomix.

 The amount of juice extracted from the pineapples.

 The flesh that will be cooking in the Thermomix

the final product.

Now to get a spot on shortcrust pastry to go with it

Mini Cheesecake with Pistachio Crust

Adapted from: http://rachelsrecipebook.com/?p=302

I found this recipe using pistachio nuts in the cheesecake base online and just needed to try it out. I love recipes that uses nuts in making yummy tasty crust.

I tweak the recipe as I needed to make this for a party of 18 pax. I also decided against using green tea as it is a very much acquired taste for many, including myself.

For the crust

1. 1/2 cup roasted, shelled, unsalted pistachios (roasted at 170C for 9 minutes)
2. half a packet of digestive biscuits (this will vary depending on the desired texture)
3. 2 Tbsp sugar
4. 70gms of melted butter(this will vary depending on the desired texture)

For the cheesecake

1. 3 packages of Philadelphia cream cheese, softened
2. 1/2 cup of sugar
3. 1 tsp vanilla
4. 3 eggs (break one egg, beat, and use half)
5. 1 Tbsp lemon juice
6. 1tsp grated lemon skin

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 150C  and line a muffin pan with paper liners or grease well.
2. In the Thermomix, pulse the pistachios and graham crackers until fine. Add butter and sugar and continue pulsing until crumbly. If too dry, add more butter. If too wet, add more digestive biscuits.
3. Press the crumbly crust into the bottoms of the liners. Bake for 10 minutes or until golden brown. Let cool.
4. In the meantime, mix togther cream cheese, vanilla, and sugar. Add the eggs and lemon juice and grated lemon skin and mix until just combined and smooth. Pour over crusts. I used Speed 5 for close to a minute to get a nice fine smooth mixture
5. Bake 25 to 30 minutes or until the centers are almost set. Cool and then place in refrigerator for 2 hours.
6. I topped my mini cheesecake with raspberries for a nice refreshing taste.

The cookie base after being pressed into individual muffin case and getting ready to be bake.

I used a spoon to slowly pour in the cream cheese mixture after the base has cooled down.

This is how the mini cheesecake look like right after coming out from the oven.

After it has cooled, it has reduced in height and has a nice flat surface.

nice lovely mix of cheese and biscuit. I like them with a thick base.

Garnished with fresh raspberries and ready to go.

Greentea Cheesecake Tart

Adapted from :http://happyhomebaking.blogspot.com.au/2013/04/matcha-cheesecake-tart.html

Ingredients (makes a 22cm tart and extra dough for 3 small tarts):

for the tart crust:
150g unsalted butter, cut into small cubes, softened at room temperature
80g caster sugar
1 egg, lightly beaten (about 55g without shell, use room temperature egg)
250g cake flour
60g ground almond (almond powder)


for the filling:
 2 teaspoon gelatine powder
30 ml water
250g cream cheese, leave to soften at room temperature
80g caster sugar
80g plain yogurt
4 teaspoon lemon juice
320g whipping cream (I used non dairy whipping cream)
 4 teaspoons matcha/green tea powder

Method:

to make the tart crust:

• Lightly grease an 22cm tart pan (with removable base) with butter, set aside. 
• Toast almond powder at 100 degC for 10 mins. Stirring in between. Let cool.
• I used the thermomix to beat sugar and butter on Speed 4 for 15-20 seconds. The mixture should look pale. I then add in the eggs and the ground almond and give it a good mix.
• Sieve the  flour into the bowl and then use the Turbo function to mix it up till it resembles crumbly breadcrumbs.
• Gather the mixture into a bowl and start to bring them together into a ball. After it is nicely combined, flattened the ball into a flat disc and use plastic cling to wrap the disc.
• Store in freezer for 15 minutes.
• Remove dough and roll it between 2 sheets of baking paper. I rolled it into a big sheet and gently put it over the tart tin..
• Use the dough that is broken off to mend parts of the tart tin that is broken.
• Prick the dough surface with a fork (this helps to prevent the pastry from puffing up when baking). Cover and chill the tart crust in the fridge for 20mins (this helps to prevent the pastry from shrinking too much after baking.) 
• Line a sheet of parchment paper over the tart base. Place baking beads/weights on the parchment paper (I used rice as baking weights), enough to cover the tart base. 
• Bake in pre-heated oven at 180 degC for 20 mins. Remove the baking beads and parchment paper. Put it back into the oven and continue to bake for another 15~20mins until the crust is golden browned. Let cool completely. Leave the crust inside the tart pan, do not unmould.

 The picture on the top left is the dough after bringing all the mixture together. It should come together nicely without being too dry or wet.
The next picture is the weights on the pie for blind baking.
Bottom left are the ingredients ready for making the filling.
Last pic is how the crust looks like after baking. Mine was abit over brown on the edges so might want to reduce baking time in the future

to make the filling:

• Dissolve the gelatine in water and set aside for 10min. 
• Combine the sugar and yogurt in a pot over medium heat to dissolve the sugar. Stir in the gelatine solution until it’s dissolved. Remove from heat.
• Place cream cheese and mix on Speed 5 for 10-20 seconds till it is nice and smooth. Add in the cooled yoghurt-gelatin mixture and then mix it again for 5 second. 
• Add in lemon juice and mix on Speed 4 for 3 second
• Whipped the cream till soft peaks form. With a spatula, fold in 1/3 of the whipping cream to the cream cheese mixture. Fold in the remaining whipping cream to the cream cheese mixture. **I tried to use the thermomix for this but somehow it did not turn out nice. I think i may have my cream on the bench for too long as it needs to be really cold before whipping. My turned into large clumps and in the end i had to add to the cream cheese and use the Thermomix to blend the entire mixture up.
• Add in the matcha powder and mix until blended. 
• Pour the mixture into the tart pan until it is full.
• Chill the tart for at least 2 hours until it is firm. Unmould before serving  

 This is the tart after chilling for more than 2 hours. it was nice and firm, abit tricky to cut as pastry is hard. I used a steak knife with jagged end to slowly dissect the tart.

 the pastry was slightly crumbly but the taste is good. I will definitely incorporate almond meal in my shortcrust pastry next time.

I did not do the motive as per the original recipe as i was so tired. This recipe has alot of steps and planning to do before getting to the final outcome. The pastry needs to be chilled and baked and cooled. The filling itself has so many sub steps too.

I will definitely not attempt this with green tea but will definitely do another version of cheesecake with this crust.