On Christmas Eve, because the weekend was far too hectic to cook, I decided to make treats for Christmas. Being a big lover of chocolate, I pulled out “The Complete Book of Chocolate and 200 Chocolate Recipes” by Christine France and Christine McFadden, and cooked from it.
I really really wanted to love this book, it has the history of chocolate at the beginning, including different nation’s taste in chocolate from Mexico, to Spain, to Belgium, to the UK, and to the USA, as well as discussions about different types of chocolate and cooking techniques for chocolate. The first recipe of the book is on page 76.
But wow, this book isn’t all that lovable. As it was published recently (this edition 2010), I thought that it would take into account that many people use fan-forced ovens and cater appropriately. The first recipe worked perfectly with me setting my oven at the temperature stated. The second one burnt and did not look good at all. The third one did not cook in the stated time at 20C below the stated temperature or even at the stated temperature – and we had to leave it in the oven for longer so we’d have something edible.
I was really unsatisfied by this book, but given it only cost me $10 at a Readings discount table, I am not feeling as if my money was totally wasted.
Choc-Chip Oat Biscuits
Ingredients:
- 1 cup plain flour
- 1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
- 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup butter or margarine, softened
- 1 cup caster sugar
- 1/2 cup light brown sugar
- 1 egg
- 1/4 tsp vanilla essence
- 1 cup rolled oats
- 1 cup plain chocolate chips
Method:
- Preheat oven to 180C. Grease 3 – 4 baking trays. Sift the flour, bicarbonate of soda, baking powder and salt into a mixing bowl. Set the bowl aside.
- With a hand-held electric mixer, cream the butter or margarine and sugars together in a bowl. Add the egg and vanilla essence and beat until light and fluffy.
- Add the flour mixture and beat on low speed until thoroughly blended. Stir in the rolled oats and chocolate chips, mixing well with a wooden spoon. The dough should be crumbly.
- Drop heaped teaspoonfuls on the prepared baking sheets, spacing the dough about 2.5 cm apart. Bake for about 15 minutes until just firm around the edge but still soft to the touch in the centre. With a slotted spatula, transfer the biscuits to a wire rack and allow them to cool.
Notes on this recipe:
- I really do not understand why you can’t sift the flour, bicarb, baking powder and salt directly into the butter and sugar mixture and save flouring up another bowl.
- The mixture was never at a crumbly stage, but the biscuits cooked well and were kinda Anzac-ish in style.
Sticky Chocolate, Maple and Walnut Swirls
Ingredients:
- 4 cups of strong white flour (or regular flour with bread improver added)
- 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1/4 cup unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
- 1/4 cup caster sugar
- 1 sachet easy-blend dried yeast (or 7 grams of dried yeast)
- 1 egg yolk
- 1/2 cup water
- 4 tbsp milk
- 3 tbsp maple syrup, to finish
For the filling:
- 3 tbsp unsalted butter, melted
- 1/2 cup light muscovado sugar
- 1 cup plain chocolate chips
- 1/4 cup chopped walnuts
Method:
- Grease a deep 23cm springform cake tin. Sift the flour and cinnamon into a bowl, then rub in the butter until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs.
- Stir in the sugar and yeast. In a jug or bowl, beat the egg yolk with the water and milk, then stir into the dry ingredients to make a soft dough.
- Knead the dough on a lightly floured surface until smooth, then roll out to a rectangle measuring about 40 x 30cm.
- For the filling, brush the dough with the melted butter and sprinkle with the sugar, chocolate chips and nuts.
- Roll up the dough from one long side like a Swiss roll, then cut into 12 thick, even size slices. Pack close together in the tin, cut sides up. Cover and leave in a warm place for about 90 minutes, until well risen and springy Meanwhile preheat the oven to 220C.
- Bake for 30 – 35 minutes, until golden brown. Remove from the tin and cool on a wire rack. Brush with maple syrup while still warm. Pull the swirls apart to serve.
Notes on this recipe:
- I had to add extra liquid to this to get it to a soft dough, not just a small amount of liquid, but perhaps another 1/4 of a cup. It has been quite warm here which could have dried out the flour, but I thought that perhaps the liquid measures were just inaccurate.
- The kneading until smooth should state that that is usually 10 minutes.
- Really monitor the oven for this one, at 30 minutes mine was quite burnt as you can see from the photos.
Chunky Chocolate Drops
Ingredients:
- 175g bittersweet or plain chocolate, chopped into small pieces
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter, diced
- 2 eggs
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 1/2 cup light brown sugar
- 6 tbsp plain flour
- 1/4 cocoa powder
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 2 tsp vanilla essence
- pinch of salt
- 1 cup pecan nuts, toasted and coarsely chopped
- 1 cup plain chocolate chips
- 115g fine quality white chocolate, chopped into small pieces
- 115g fine quality plain milk chocolate, chopped into small pieces
Method:
- Preheat the oven to 160C. Grease two large baking sheets. In a medium saucepan over a low heat, melt the chocolate and butter until smooth, stirring frequently. Remove from the heat and leave to cool slightly.
- In a large mixing bowl, beat the eggs and sugar until pale and creamy. Gradually pour in the melted chocolate mixture, beating well. Beat in the flour, cocoa, baking powder and vanilla essence. Stir in the remaining ingredients.
- Drop heaped tablespoons of the mixture on to the baking sheets, 10cm apart. Flatten each to 7.5cm round. (Approx 4 – 6 biscuits on each sheet). Bake for 8 – 10 minutes until the tops are shiny and cracked and the edges look crisp. Do not over-bake or the biscuits will break when they are removed from the baking sheets.
- Remove the baking sheets to wire racks to cool for 2 minutes, until the biscuits are just set, then carefully transfer them to the wire racks to cool completely. Bake the biscuits in batches, if necessary. Store in airtight containers.
Notes on this recipe:
- Seriously, who melts chocolate in a saucepan directly over a flame? Melt the butter first and then add the chocolate after you’ve removed it from the heat. Or put the chocolate and butter in a bowl over boiling water and melt it that way – both these methods will ensure you don’t burn the chocolate.
- Ok, it is REALLY hard to tell when a brown chocolate biscuit has edges that “look crisp”. We tried these for 10 minutes, but really they probably need between 12 and 15 minutes in the oven.
- If, after leaving them on the baking tray for 2 minutes after removing them from the oven, they just squidge when you attempt to remove them, put them back in the oven for a little while longer. They should come off the baking tray mostly intact and not fall through the bars of the wire racks.
- These taste good, but I was so frustrated by the whole experience at this point that I gave up and my sister took over. She did a fantastic job.
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