Jul 16

Cookbook 5: chocolate

So this week, just to do something different, I picked up chocolate, by Australian Gourmet Traveller, for something different.  This time, as there were no meat dishes, I cooked 4 recipes, a biscuit, bread, pie, and pudding.  I remembered to take photos, and everything was incredibly good, though some were quite fiddly.  I’ll list the recipes in the order they appear in the book instead of the order I cooked them, as that was just a matter of convenience.  Comments this time throughout the recipe.

White chocolate rice pudding

White chocolate rice pudding

Ingredients:

  • 60g sultanas
  • 2 tbsp brandy (or any other liqueur)
  • 3 cups of milk
  • 150 mL pouring cream
  • 1 stick of cinnamon
  • Finely grated rind of two oranges
  • 1 vanilla bean, split lengthways
  • 1 cup aborio rice
  • 1 tbsp caster sugar
  • 70g white couverture chocolate, finely chopped (we ended up using Cadbury Dream white chocolate which worked well)

Method:

  1. Combine sultanas and brandy (or other liqueur) in a small bowl and stand aside (you must do this step first)
  2. Place milk, cream, cinnamon stick, orange rind, vanilla bean in a saucepan and slowly bring to just below the boil (this is hard to measure, pay close attention)
  3. Add rice, sugar, and a pinch of salt and simmer over low heat, stirring frequently, for 30 mins or until rice is tender and most of the liquid has been absorbed.
  4. Add sultanas, soaking liquid and chocolate, stir until the chocolate has melted.
  5. Remove cinnamon stick and vanilla bean, and serve warm or cold.

Chocolate babka

For this recipe you will need a kugelhopf tin

Chocolate babka

Ingredients

  • 1 cup lukewarm milk
  • 1/2 cup caster sugar
  • 7g dried yeast (no idea what this is in teaspoons)
  • 4 cups plain flour
  • 2 egg yolks
  • 120g soft butter
  • 1 teaspoon finely grated lemon rind

Filling

  • 1/4 cup caster sugar
  • 1/4 cup plain flour
  • 40g unsalted butter, chopped (we used regular cooking butter)
  • 100g dark chocolate, chopped
  • 60g peacans, chopped

Method:

  1. Place milk in a small bowl, stir in 1 teaspoon of sugar, sprinkle over yeast and stand for 10 mins or until mixture is foamy (if it isn’t foamy at the end of 10 mins, stir and follow the rest of the instructions)
  2. Sift remaining sugar, flour and 1/2 teaspoon salt into a large bowl, make a well in the centre and pour in the yeast mixture, then add egg yolks, butter and lemon rind.
  3. Using a wooden spoon, beat mixture until a soft, but not sticky, dough forms, adding a little extra milk if necessary (I ended up adding a fair amount).
  4. Turn out onto a lightly floured surface and knead for 10 minutes or until smooth and elastic.  Form dough into a ball, place in a greased bowl, turn to coat, then cover with plastic wrap and leave in a draught-free place for 90 – 120 mins or until doubled in size.
  5. Meanwhile, for filling, combine sugar and flour in a bowl, add butter, and using fingertips, rub in butter until mixture resembles breadcrumbs.  Then stir in chocolate and pecans.
  6. Knock down dough, then turn out onto a lightly floured surface and knead gently for 2 mins.  Using a rolling pin, roll out dough to form a 25x40cm rectangle, then spring filling over dough leaving a 2cm border.
  7. Roll up tightly from long side, pinching edges to seal.
  8. Carefully lift the rolled dough and ease it into a lightly greased 25cm kugelhopf tin.  Cover with plastic wrap and leave in a draught-free place for 1 hour or until doubled in size.
  9. Bake babka at 190C for 10 mins, reduce oven temperature to 180C and bake for another 20 – 25 mins or until golden.  Remove from tin and turn out onto an oven tray.  Return to oven and bake for another 5 mins or until babka sounds hollow when tapped.
  10. Serve babka warm or at room temperature.
  11. Babka will keep in an airtight container for up to 2 days

Rich chocolate tart

This recipe takes quite a bit of time, I cooked it over 2 days

chocolate tart

Ingredients:

  • 125g cold unsalted butter, chopped
  • 1 tablespoon caster sugar
  • 1 1/2 cups plain putter
  • 2 tablespoons Dutch-process cocoa (I used Cadbury cocoa)
  • 2 egg yolks

Filling

  • 300g dark couverture chocolate, finely chopped (finely chopped very important)
  • 100 ml double cream
  • 125g unsalted butter, chopped
  • 4 eggs
  • 100g caster sugar
  • 1 tbsp golden syrup

Method:

  1. Process butter, sugar, flour and cocoa in a food processor until mixture resembles coarse breadcrumbs (and then process some more, mine looked like a beautiful brown galaxy – the butter wasn’t mixed in enough).
  2. Add egg yolks, and 1 1/5 tablespoons of iced water and process until pasty just comes together (I added quite a bit more water).
  3. Form pastry into a disc, wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 30 mins
  4. Roll out pastry on a lightly floured surface until 5mm thick and ease into a 3.5cm deep, 24cm round tart tin (mmmm tart), trimming the edges
  5. Line pastry with baking paper and fill with dried beans or rice.  Bake at 180C for 20 mins, then remove paper ad beans/rice and bake for another 5 mins or until pastry is dry.  Cool.
  6. For the filling, combine the chocolate, cream, and butter in a heatproof bowl over a saucepan of simmering water and stir continuously until butter is melted and mixture is well combined, then remove bowl from heat and set aside.
  7. Using an electric mixture, whisk eggs, sugar and golden syrup until pale and creamy, then fld into the chocolate mixture (this bit takes some time, but it will suddenly start to combine)
  8. Pour filling into tart shell and bake at 150C for 35 – 40 mins or until just set.
  9. Cool tart to room temperature before serving with double cream, if using.
  10. Tart will keep, refrigerated, in an airtight container for up to 4 days.

Chocolate snaps

Chocolate snaps

Ingredients:

  • 50g unsalted butter, chopped, plus extra for greasing
  • 1 1/2 tablespoons golden syrup
  • 2 tbsp brown sugar
  • 2 tbsp plain flour, sifted
  • 2 tbsp ground hazelnuts
  • 175 dark chocolate, melted

Method:

  1. Melt butter, golden syrup and sugar in a small saucepan over low heat, stirring until butter melts.
  2. Remove from heat, add flour and ground hazelnuts and mix well.
  3. Place 1/4 teaspoonfuls of mixture 5cm apart on a greased oven trays and bake at 160C for about 5 mins, or until golden (I cooked mine on baking paper – These will need to be cooked for 5 mins at least)
  4. Remove and cool on trays for 2 – 3 mins or until firm, then carefully remove with a spatula.
  5. Cool to room temperature on a wire rack.
  6. Melt chocolate in a heatproof bowl over a saucepan of simmering water.  Dip half of each snap in melted chocolate, allowing excess to drip off, then place on baking paper-lined oven trays until set.
  7. Eat (they store for up to 2 days, but they probably won’t last that long.