Liquorice Macarons

Your search of the perfect French macaron ends here, with this Italian-inspired recipe. 
Macarons are notorious for making even the best bakers cry. I, myself, have shed many a tear while sitting on my kitchen floor in the dim light of my oven whilst peering through the warm glass while praying that my macarons would make feet. If my relationship with macarons was on Facebook, my status would be set to 'it's complicated' but hey, that doesn't stop me from dating them (totally normal analogy I just used there, by the way).

On my brother's last visit, his Milanese girlfriend brought me a beautiful black glossy bottle of Italian liquorice liqueur. The bottle was so gorgeous I simply had to create something that was just as jet black - enter the liquorice macaron with black sesame seeds. I added the sesame seeds because Italian boyfriend brought me 1kg of them the other day (he brings me foodie things in leu of flowers). And yes, our family obviously has a thing for Italians.  

Liquorice is one of those tricky flavours, like banana, that people either love or hate. There are no in-betweeners. Apparently 53% of people don't like it (and 66% of people who don't sleep on their side don't like the treat either - yes, you needed to know that) and although scientists have tried to figure out why, they've agreed it probably comes down to how you were brought up. If liquorice Allsorts were a regular part of your family's sweetie tin then you're probably a fan and it's no biggie. But if you don't care for the treat, then by all means, omit it from the recipe and replace it with whatever other liqueur takes your fancy! 

Liquorice macarons with black sesame

Makes 25

120g ground almonds

200g icing sugar

3 tbsp black sesame seeds, crushed into a paste

100g egg whites (about 3 large eggs)

1/4tsp cream of tartar

35g white sugar

black gel food colouring

Liquorice ganache

60ml cream 

250g white chocolate, chopped

40ml liquorice liqueur

Line 2-3 baking sheets with baking paper.

Sift together the ground almonds and icing sugar to remove any clumps. Blend any leftover mixture then sift again until nothing remains. 

Begin beating the egg whites and cream of tartar on low speed. Once the egg whites are very foamy, begin sprinkling in the sugar as you beat. Increase the speed to medium, if necessary, and beat the meringue to stiff glossy peaks. Beat in the sesame paste and black colouring until desired shade. 

Add about 1/4 of the almond/sugar mixture and fold until no streaks remain. Continue to add the almond mixture in quarters, folding until incorporated. 

Pour the batter into a piping bag fitted with a fluted nozzle and pipe rows of batter onto the baking sheets, giving them space to spread. Tap the pan on the counter to bring up any air bubbles and quickly pop them with a toothpick.

Allow the cookies to rest on a level surface for 30-60 minutes until they are no longer tacky to a light touch. 

While they rest, place an oven rack in the lower 3rd of your oven and preheat to 150C. 

Bake the cookies, one tray at a time, for 16-20 minutes.

Make the ganache by heating the cream until just simmering. Pour over the white chocolate and stir until melted then stir in the liqueur and colouring. Allow to set until spreadable.

Sandwich the macarons together with the ganache. 

Ginger, custard and red wine pear tarts

The second part of my obsession with red wine poached pears continues with this fabulously simple tart. Because who doesn't love a pretty tart? Erm. This dessert has everything going for it, simplicity, beauty and a delicious variety of textures - the crunch of ginger biscuits, the smooth custardy-creamy-airy filling and the soft bite of those gently poached pears. Heaven on a fork I tell you! The red wine pears add a lovely flavour to the dessert but feel free to experiment with other seasonal fruit and biscuits. Dark chocolate biscuits and pomegranate rubies or coconut and caramelised pineapple or buttery shortbread and stewed vanilla guavas!  

Ginger, custard and red wine pear tarts

Makes 4-6

200g gingernut biscuits, crushed 
75g butter or margarine, melted
3 egg yolks 1⁄3 cup castor sugar
1 cup cream

1t vanilla extract 
21⁄2T corn flour 
2 cups milk
4 pears poached in red wine, sliced (click here for the recipe)

Mix the crushed biscuits and butter or margarine and press into 4-6 small springform tart tins then refrigerate until set. 
Whisk the egg yolks, sugar, vanilla and cornflour to form a paste. 
Slowly add the milk, place in a saucepan and simmer until thickened. 
Cover the surface with plastic wrap and allow to cool completely then refrigerate for 1 hour. 
Whip the cream until thick and stiff peaks form then fold in the custard. 
Spoon into the tart cases and top with thin slices of poached pear. 

Father's Day Chocolate Meringue Crunch Cake

I often credit my mother and grandmother for my love of food and baking but seldom do I mention the person who gave me my insatiable sweet tooth (and good genes to tolerate a sweet tooth!) My father is still the only person who can finish a slab of chocolate faster than I can and he has always been my unofficial taster; I judge how good a recipe is by how long the treats sit on the kitchen counter after baking! And as they say, if the way to a man’s heart is through his stomach, this chocolate cake should get you there as quickly as my dad made this cake disappear when I baked it.  Jokes aside though, what I love most about this recipe is that you don’t need to make a frosting as the meringue is baked right on top of the cake. It’s light and crispy and not overly sweet or decadent - a superb way of cutting down the fat content of a cake. And it's also gluten-free! One of my absolute favourites! Happy Father’s Day!

Chocolate meringue crunch cake

(serves 8)

150ml butter

1 cup hazelnuts, toasted and roughly chopped

3/4 cup firmly packed light-brown sugar

 6 eggs, separated

4 egg whites

360g dark chocolate, melted and cooled, plus 120g roughly chopped

1T vanilla extract

pinch salt

1T cornstarch

 1/4t cream of tartar

1 cup castor sugar

Preheat oven to 180°C. Butter a 22cm spring form cake tin and sprinkle with flour. Cream butter and brown sugar until pale and fluffy. Add egg yolks one at a time, beating well after each addition. Mix in melted chocolate and vanilla. Set aside. Whip 6 egg whites with the salt until soft peaks form, stir 1/3 into the chocolate mixture and fold in the rest. Pour batter into tin and bake for 25 minutes. Meanwhile mix hazelnuts, chopped chocolate and corn flour. Place remaining 4 egg whites in a bowl with cream of tartar and whisk until soft peaks. Add the sugar gradually until stiff. Fold in hazelnut mixture. Remove cake from oven, spread meringue on top and return to oven, bake until meringue is lightly browned and crisp about 25 minutes. Allow to cool slightly before slicing and serving. Decorate with chocolate curls, if desired.

How to make perfect red wine poached pears

Winter's treasure of plump ripe pears get an even rosier blush with a good glug of red wine and a sprinkling of spices. Embarrassingly simple to prepare, these tipsy poached pears with their gluhwein spices were inspired by the delicious Pinot Noir-themed tasting menu I recently had at Haute Cabriere restaurant in Franschhoek. The menu really got me thinking about how versatile red wine is and Haute Cabriere's range of famous Pinot Noir's infused a soft spiciness to these gems. It's a simple low-fat dessert that will leave a lasting impression on the lips (and not the hips!) But if you're after something more decadent, I'll be posting two more delicious recipes during the coming weeks that use the boozy fruit. 

Photography by Angie Lazaro Photography

Red wine poached pears

(Serves 4)

2 cups red wine (see TIPS)

1/3 cup castor sugar

2 cinnamon sticks

1 vanilla bean,split and seeds scraped

4 ripe pears, peeled

Combine the liquid, sugar and spices in a saucepan and stir until sugar is dissolved. 

Add the pears and bring to the boil. 

Reduce the heat to a simmer and cover with a cartouche. 

Poach gently until pears are tender, for about 1 hour. 

Remove the pears. 

Bring the syrup to a boil and reduce until slightly thickened. 

Pour over the pears and allow to cool before refrigerating.

TIPS and IDEAS

• Experiment using different liquids such as white or sparkling wine, fruit juice, port or sweet wine, teas such as green, jasmine, earl grey etc.
• Vary the spices by adding cloves, cardamom, star anise, lemongrass or saffron
• Core the pears from the underside and pipe in flavoured mascarpone or mousse before serving.
• Add poached pears to baked puddings, layer into trifles, or serve with French toast or crumpets drizzled with honey for breakfast.

To book for the Pinot Noir tasting menu:

Haute Cabriere

www.cabriere.co.za

Pass Road, Franschhoek, Cape Town, South Africa

+27 21 876 8500

Sticky star anise beef short ribs

I created this recipe as an ode to a delicious meal I enjoyed recently in a little hole in the wall called South China Dim Sum Bar with a special friend (click here to read about the experience in the words of my crazy BFF - I simply cannot compete with the description of the dinner we had!). Tucked into a tiny space on seedy Long Street in the Cape Town CBD, the dim sum bar is one of those dodgy-looking restaurants that you shrug off as the last place you’d expect to find yumminess. But I found it in the form of sticky beef short ribs, which fell off the bone and were soaked in a rich, lick-your-fingers kind of sauce. It was heaven straight out of a disposable cardboard cup, with steamed rice to soak up the sweet sauce. The best part of this recipe is that it uses short ribs, which are so affordable. It’s a cut that few have the patience to fuss with, but simmer it slow and steady and it’ll make you weak at the knees.

Sticky star anise beef short ribs

Serves 4-6

2kg beef short ribs

6 sticks cinnamon

6 whole star anise

5cm piece ginger, peeled and sliced

¼ cup brown sugar

¾ cup oyster sauce

¾ cup rice wine vinegar

1 cup water

juice of 1 lemon

Rice and fresh coriander, to serve

Place the beef, cinnamon, star anise, ginger, garlic, sugar, oyster sauce, vinegar and water in a baking dish and cover tightly with aluminium foil. Roast for 2 hours at 180 degrees celcius. Remove foil and roast for a further 30 minutes or until tender and sticky. Squeeze the lemon juice over and serve with a mixture of brown and wild rice and fresh coriander on the side.

How to crack the cronut recipe

If you're in any way as obsessed with baking and desserts as I am, you will have already heard about all the fuss that's being made over a trendy new confection that's tipped to kick the cupcake off it's pretty little throne (although, let's be honest, the same thing was said about macarons, cake pops and whoopie pies and yet we still adore the good ol' cupcake). Dubbed the 'cronut' (it's already trademarked by the way) this hybrid dessert sensation has caused quite a stir. Half-croissant and half-doughnut, it sure does have a bit of an identity crisis but the New Yorkers queuing around the block at Dominique Ansel Bakery don't seem to care as these deep-fried delicacies sell-out in minutes each day. There is even a limit as to how many you can buy! French pastry chef, Dominique apparently had to try 10 different recipes before getting the creation spot-on and his perseverance is clearly paying off. But since I draw the line at flying half way round the world to taste a dessert, I attempted to create my own cronuts. You know, so I could see what all the fuss was about. 

 

If you've made croissants from scratch before, you'll know that it takes an incredible amount of love, patience and muscle. And butter. Lots and lots of butter. But the problem with all that butter (incase you didn't know, half the weight of a croissant is made up of it - eeeek!) is that if you were to deep-fry the dough just like that, as Dominique's recipe (and name) suggests, it's low melting point means it would just seep out into your oil when frying and you'd land up with a flat mess. So, I used margarine. First problem solved. 

The second problem was the fact that, although the cronuts claim to be made from croissant dough, the texture in all the pictures resembles that of danish dough instead. Croissant dough, as I experienced, contains way too much fat, which makes it incredibly oily, as I discovered. So, that meant reducing the amount of fat in the dough. 

There were a few more problems I encountered but I won't go in to detail as by now I'm pretty sure you just want to see the recipe don't you? Well, here it is, the recipe for Kronuts (my version of Cronuts).

P.S. My verdict? Personally, I think these things are not for the faint-hearted. Essentially it's fat deep-fried in more fat and after just one my arteries were screaming. I baked a few rather than frying them (yes, I know that doesn't really make them a 'doughnut') and they were delicious (and far more healthy!). 

Kronuts with vanilla cream and orange blossom glaze

(makes 50)

Roll-in
350g baking margarine (I used Stork Bake)
40g cake flour (or pastry flour)
15g cornstarch/cornflour

50g fresh yeast

400g lukewarm water

100g granulated sugar

100g margarine

20g salt
1kg cake flour

Oil, for deep-frying (I used vegetable oil but Dominique uses grapeseed oil)

Vanilla pastry cream

500ml milk

1 vanilla pod, split and seeds scraped

4 egg yolks

80g castor sugar

40g cornflour

500ml cream, whipped

Glaze

1 egg white

2 cups icing sugar, sifted (plus more, if necessary)

1 tbsp lemon juice

1 tbsp orange blossom water

Start by making the roll-in. Mix the margarine and flours well then spread out onto a sheet of cling wrap. Spread out roughly then top with another sheet of cling wrap. Using a rolling pin, roll the fat out until 1/2cm thick to make 30 x 20cm rectangle. Close the ends of the cling wrap and place in the freezer until hard. 

In the meantime, prepare the dough by mixing the yeast and water in a mixing bowl. Cover and place in a warm place until frothy. Then add the rest of the ingredients in the bowl of a mixer using the dough hook attachment. Add the flour gradually to form a stiff dough (depending on the gluten content of your flour, you may use more or less, so adding it gradually is important.) Knead for about 4 minutes then allow the dough to rest for 20 minutes. 

Roll the dough out on a floured surface to 1cm thick then place the chilled butter roll-in on top. Do a simple 3-fold (like folding a business letter) and roll out again to 1cm thick. Cover and place in the freezer to rest for 20 minutes. Roll the dough out once again to 1cm thick then do another 3-fold. Rest again in the freezer for 20 minutes before doing the last fold and rest. 

Roll the dough out again to 1cm thick and cut out with a round cookie cutter and a smaller one, to create the hole in the centre. Place the pastry circles onto a lined and floured baking sheet, cover lightly and allow to proof in a warm place until doubled in size. 

Preheat the oil to 165C and deep-fry the cronuts in batches until golden and puffed. Drain on paper towel and allow to cool completely. If you would like to dredge them in sugar, do so while hot. 
If, like me, you would like to bake them, bake in a preheated oven at 200C for 10-15 minutes or until golden and puffed.

To make the pastry cream, heat the milk and vanilla until just below boiling point. Cream yolks, sugar and flour then gradually pour in the hot milk while whisking. Return the mixture to the pot and cook, while stirring until thick. Place in a bowl, cover the surface with clingwrap and allow to cool completely before folding in the whipped cream. Place the cream in a piping bag with a small plain nozzle. 

To make the glaze, whisk the egg white slightly then add enough icing sugar to form a stiff paste. Add the lemon juice and orange blossom water. 

To assemble, poke 3 holes in the bottom of each cronut with a chopstick or knife then pipe pastry cream into the bottom of each. Dip the tops in the glaze and allow to set. Serve immediately. 

UPDATE: Here's a little insert I did for the television show I work for, Expresso Breakfast Show on the Cronut phenomenon. 

*A special thank you to my baking partner in crime and pastry extraordinaire, Nino from CocoaFair, for helping to develop this recipe with me (and for doing all the muscle-work!)

Eric Lanlard's deliciously gooey chocolate brownies

At Expresso we have big local and international celebs in our studio on a daily basis, just this morning PJ Powers was tasting my lime meringue pie, so I don't really get to phased about famous faces, but one guest had myself and the Expresso chefs putting on lipstick and heels for his arrival. 

Eric Lanlard swept into our studio looking bright and breezy for a 6.30 call time and after a quick tour of our studio kitchen, got stuck into baking a beautiful chocolate cake and decadent chocolate brownies from his new book Chocolat. And good grief were these brownies GOOD! I had some for breakfast.. and then again for lunch.. and again for tea time. They were so incredibly delicious and moist but since his book is not yet in South African book stores, here is the recipe: (you can't say I don't love you!)

Photo and recipe extracted from Chocolat by Eric Lanlard
with photography by Kate Whitaker

Devilish chocolate brownies
Recipe by Eric Lanlard 

200g dark chocolate, roughly chopped
150g unsalted butter, plus extra for greasing
2 tsp vanilla paste or extract
150g castor sugar
3 eggs, beaten
75g plain flour
2 tbsp cocoa powder
1 tsp salt
100g dark chocolate chips

Preheat the oven to 180C and grease a 20cm square baking tin and line the base with baking paper.
Melt the chopped chocolate, butter and vanilla together in a heatproof bowl set over a saucepan of barely simmering water, making sure the surface of the water does not touch the bowl. Remove from the heat and stir in the sugar, then leave to cool for a few minutes. Beat in the eggs, then sift in the flour, cocoa and salt and fold in until the mixture is smooth and glossy. Stir in the chocolate chips. Pour the mixture into the prepared tin and level the top. Bake in the oven for 25 minutes or until the top starts to crack but the centre remains gooey. Turn off the oven and leave the brownies inside for a further 5 minutes before removing. Leave to cool completely in the tin. Cut into squares and serve.

And here's the clip if you missed his interview on Expresso Breakfast Show:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=OQ4A5WpLjcs