Coffee Macaron- the third and final comparison

Good morning everyone!

A little overcast at the moment, but I hear that it is supposed to be a lovely day! Here's hoping!

Yesterday I made these Coffee Macaron, filled with a coffee buttercream! This was actually more like a third experimentation on how to make macarons. I know, contrary to belief, I don't actually have a lot of time on my freakishly small hands.

My mother, commissioned me to bake some macaron for a friend of hers, so I made these macaron. This was exciting as it was a new recipe method for me and also it was a new flavour. Very exciting!

This mixture amount make 20 macaron. This equates to 40 halves.

The ingredients you'll need for the 20 Macaron Base are:

- 125g Ground Almonds

- 125g Icing Sugar

- 20g Coffee Powder

- 60g Egg Whites

- 30g Eggs Whites

 - 110g Caster Sugar

- 1 tbsp Water 

The ingredients you'll need for the Coffee Buttercream are:

- 100g Butter, softened
- 200g Icing Sugar
- 10g Coffee Powder
- 2 tbsp Water

This recipe differs from the previous two times I made macaron;

1) Italian Meringue; where the egg whites are whisked together with a sugar syrup
2) French Meringue; where the egg whites are whisked together normally with just the caster sugar

This time, I made them like;

3) I combined the ground almonds, icing sugar and coffee together with the 60g of egg whites to create a thick paste. Then I whisked the remaining 30g egg whites and combined them with the sugar syrup. I then mixed them both together until they formed a smooth paste.


Method:

- Set the oven to 170 C in a fan- assisted oven and line two baking sheets with baking paper. What I did to make sure that they were all evenly shaped, was to lay the parchment over a macaron mat. This gave me a stencil to pipe onto. Of course, in hindsight I probably could of just used the macaron mat in the first place? Hmm...

- Cut a piping bag to size and fit with a large, plain tipped piping nozzle. Leave aside to use later.

- Put the almonds, icing sugar and coffee into a bowl and combine, until one, light coffee colour. Add the 60g of egg whites and mix with a spatula until it goes a darker, coffee colour and is paste-like.

In this bowl are the almonds, icing sugar and coffee powder

Hmm Paste!

- In a non-stick pot, put the 110g of caster sugar and 1 tbsp water and heat on a medium heat until the sugar is dissolved and it becomes a syrup. You'll know it has reached this stage when it bubbles, the bubble have that sticky look to them and it reaches a temperature of 160C. Very hot so be very careful!

- In another bowl, whisk the 30g of left over egg whites and whisk until they form soft peaks.

- Then add in the sugar syrup slowly and once all combined, put onto a high speed and whisk the egg whites until the bowl has cooled down and the eggs are very white, glossy and thick.

- Now you want to combine both of the two ingredient combinations together. Put a little of the meringue into the paste and mix. This will loosen it a little and stop it from deflating the eggs completely when combined.

- When a little bit of the egg is combined, put the rest of the paste into the meringue and mix with a spatula until completely combined and the mixture just falls off the spatula in a steady stream. But not too loose or the macaron won't set properly and will cook weird.

- Pop this mix into a piping bag and pipe onto the baking parchment. Tap the base of the tray(s) to release all the air bubbles and allow the macaron to set properly.

- Leave to sit and grow their skin. This will enable them to when cooking, burst their moisture out of the bottom to form their foot. Beautiful!

- Once they are set, and you'll know this by, when touching them, no macaron mix comes off on your finger, they can go into an oven.

- They bake for around 15 minutes, but you'll know when they are done as they will be set, not coloured and glossy on the surface and their feet will be developed!

- Once cooked through, take out of the oven and allow to cool by setting them aside on a counter top that is heatproof of course.

- Take off of the parchment, ready to be filled.


To make the buttercream:

- Put the butter in a bowl and mix on a beater setting until smooth and a lighter colour.

- Gradually put the icing sugar into the bowl, in batches. This will enable it all to be combined completely and also stops the icing sugar from coating the whole kitchen.

- Put the coffee powder and water together to form a thick paste. Pop this into the buttercream and allow it to mix until fully combined and a lovely coffee colour and taste.

- Pop this into a piping bag and pipe onto each half of the macarons. You'll need to pipe onto 20 of the macaron halves, this will create 20 full macaron! 20 filled halves + 20 unfilled halves = 20 full macaron!

And that's that! They are complete. The final and third comparison is done! Yay!

I hope you have enjoyed this third comparison as much as I have?

Thanks and I'll post again soon!

Pork in a Cider, Cream and Mustard Sauce and Sausage Rolls for an Order Tomorrow

Good Evening all!

So, I have a rather exciting order for tomorrow! They are two new savoury orders. I have made them before, but haven't blogged about them, so this was the perfect opportunity!

I made, as listed in the title above, so it is kind of ruining the surprise and suspense of the reveal, but hey- you can't win everything! They are, as you have already figured out;

1) Pork in a Cider, Cream and Mustard Sauce
2) Sausage Rolls with Caramelised Onions

I loved making these for 3 reasons:

1) It gave me the chance to blog about recipes that I hadn't blogged about before
2) They are exciting and vibrant dishes, with loads of flavour and texture
3) The smell coming from the kitchen made the house smell like a giant slow cooker with magic inside

I'm watching the Bake Off at the minute, which combined with writing about my cooking/ catering adventures is making me really hungry... regardless to the fact that I have just had dinner. It was Savoury Shepherd's Pie (just in case you were wondering)

For the Pork, in a Cider, Cream and Mustard Sauce (BBC FOOD RECIPE):

Ingredients: 4 people

- 4 tbsp olive oil (I used Rapeseed)
- 600g Pork (I used a fillet and cut it into little, bite-sized chunks)
- Salt and Pepper to season
- 4 tbsp Sultanas
- 300ml Cider
- 4 tbsp Wholegrain Mustard
- 300ml Double Cream
- 4 tsp Chives, chopped into little bits to garnish

Temperature and Preparation:

- Hob on high and then lower as you leave to simmer and reduce
- Measure out all the ingredients at the start as there isn't really a good or ideal time for you to measure out when cooking


Method:

- Measure out all the ingredients

- Heat the pan on the hob on a high heat with the oil

- Coat the pork chunks in the salt and pepper and bash them. This will make them all the same and even size and depth, meaning they will cook at the same time. By bashing it also, it enables it to become that little bit more tender, which is always a good thing! (:

- Wash your hands

- Fry the pork for 3-4 minutes on each side until the pork goes a golden- brown colour. This is known as sealing the pork. I find that pork, is a notoriously easy meat to go tough by cooking too long. It is fickle with its love really.

I find it a pernickety meat to cook really. But I found that once it simmered away and was able to chill out and relax in the cider and other juices, that it went all tender and delicious.

- Wash your hands


- Once the pork is sealed and golden brown all around, pour in the cider, mustard and sultanas and allow this to reduce, the alcohol to bubble off and become delicious.

The reason I don't add the cream now, is because I don't want it to split with too much cooking.

- When reduced and seasoned to your taste preferences, add the cream and allow to cook for 10 minutes on a low simmer to mix in and become silky and beautiful!

- Serve with chives on top and with rice or potatoes. But for this order, they simply wanted the pork and that is it! I think that is the best way! It is great as a dish on its own!

Now for my Ciara Style  Sausage Rolls with Caramelised Onions:

This recipe make enough for 5 people, or a hearty portion, enough for 4 people (:

For the Sausage Rolls -:

- 8 Sausages, without their skins
- 1 tsp Italian Seasoning

- 3 Red Onions, chopped into semi-circles and spread apart
- 20g Brown Sugar
- 1 tbsp Rapeseed Oil

- Puff Pastry, ready rolled x 2
- 1 Egg with 50ml Milk, mixed together

Method:

- In a large bowl, pop the skinless sausages in with the seasoning and mix together until well combined and rippled through

- Leave this aside and wash your hands.

- Put the chopped onions into a frying pan, and sauté with some oil and sugar. Cook the onions on a medium to high heat for around 10 minutes until they are becoming soft and translucent. Add the sugar and allow this to become sweeter and sticky and caramelised!

- Put onto a cold plate and allow to cool. If you put the onions on when too hot, they could cause the pastry to melt. Not good...

- Place the ready rolled puff onto a floured surface and egg wash (this is where you spread the eggy mixture along the edges of the pastry.

- Around an inch (1 inch = 2.5 cm) in the side of the pastry, place a long, straight line of caramelised onion and top with an equally as long and thick line of sausage.

- Brush a little more of the egg wash onto the pastry to enable the filling to stick to the pastry and roll up into a long sausage shape.

- Pinch the connecting ends of the pastry together to stop it from coming apart and allowing the filling to escape.

- Cut this long sausage shape in half, cut the half in half and then cut the half in half and in half again. Which is a long-winded and very confusing way of saying, cut in half and then into 8 pieces. Try and think about that for an hour or two. (:

- Place each sausage roll onto a floured baking tray with baking parchment. I used the parchment from the ready rolled puff. Want not, waste not comes to mind!

- Brush a little of the egg wash onto each top of each sausage roll and when all brushed, pop into the hot oven for 25 minutes or until golden brown and the sausage is cooked through.

And there we go! Both dishes are complete! Yay!

That is a lot of exclamation point... You must think I'm really hyper or something?

Thanks and I hope again that you have enjoyed reading this, as I have certainly enjoyed making these dishes and then writing this blog!

Blog again soon, but for now, have a lovely evening!

My Version of a 'Belfast Poke'

I was feeling creative today and was buzzing after a delivery to a lovely customer! I made 2 Pea and Ham Quiche and delivered them along with a list of the other savoury dishes that I cook.

So just so you all know, if what you are looking for isn't posted yet, it by all means does not mean I don't cook, bake or cater to that need, I just haven't got around to making it yet. So please, if you were thinking of ordering something, but weren't sure whether I'd make what you wanted- give me a call. It would be a pleasure to cater to your exact specification.

I love to cook/bake + you love to eat = Happiness and full tummies!

So today, I wanted to make something a little silly, creative and fun! Born, were my version of the Belfast Poke, but in bun form, which until my mother told me, is our (as in we Irish/ Belfast folk) version of an ice cream and what we refer to it as. News to me! I always referred to them as '99's' or simply see it is ice cream and inhaled it within 5 minutes or less.

I hope you try these as they are dead easy, or shall I say 'wee buns' and they are fun! Plain and simple. Are you looking for a little relief from your busy, grown-up and responsibility filled day? Yes, then make these or better yet, order them from CVL Bakes, as in me and you can relax, knowing that in the near future, these little bundles of joy will be gracing your home with their playfulness and pure 'cute factor'! Go on- you know you want to... (:

One will require the following ingredients to make these beauties: 

(I feel like I went from casual, to formal and back to casual in the way I wrote very abruptly there?) Hmm...


For the Base of the Bun:

- 110g Butter, softened
- 110g Caster Sugar
- 2 Eggs, whisked with 1tsp Vanilla Extract

- 110g Self Raising Flour

For the Vanilla Buttercream:

- 30g Butter, softened
- 16 tbsp Icing Sugar


For the Decoration on top of the Buns:

- 2 1/3 Flake, broken into 3 sections. This will give a flake bit for 3 buns


Method:


> Preheat the oven to 170C in a fan assisted oven to warm up. Place 7 bun cases into a bun tray and leave aside to use later.

BATTER:

> In a bowl, weigh out the butter and caster sugar and whisk together, until light and fluffy looking.

> Add the eggs. Before adding them though, put them into a little bowl along with the vanilla and whisk together until little bubbles appear on the surface. Whilst the mixer is on a low speed and gently whisking the butter/ sugar mixture, dribble in the egg.

It is probably going to look scrambled in the end, no matter how gingerly you dribble in the egg, but it doesn't make any difference in my eyes. It all comes out right in the end after baking, no matter what it looks like raw.

If it looked great raw, why would we bother baking? Sure there's the risk of salmonella, but people drink those raw egg smoothies all the time. My point is don't eat it raw, it won't look or taste good. It isn't worth the risk of salmonella. Even if it does, don't eat it still, raw eggs are yucky.

When they cook they become these wonderful little creations. Light and fluffy. Wholesome. Nutritional and full of good stuff. When they are raw, it looks like something your pet would bring up.

FUN FACT: I heard that some TV Chef , the name has slipped me of course, imports their eggs from Italy. The reason for this being that the yolks are more golden and luscious apparently? Who knows really. :)

Believe me- when I was younger (and my sister can testify to this) I was a little too experimental and free with my cooking. I used to add egg to everything, including dishes where egg was never intended to join the party. Chicken dishes come to mind, and they weren't salads... dark times

> After you have combined the eggs with the butter/sugar mix, you want to add the flour. You don't need to sift this, but if you want to that is as cool as a cucumber.

> With an ice-cream scoop, take even portions (ice-cream scoop sized funnily enough) and pop them into each bun case. This batter amount will make 7 buns. If you used a tablespoon, the batter might stretch to 8 or less depending on how much or little you put in each case.

> Pop these into the preheated oven and bake for 20 minutes or so. You want to be taking them out when they are golden brown, cracked on the surface, risen and when you insert a skewer or something and it comes out clean.
   
> When cooked and out of the oven, mine is called George btw. Place them onto a cooling rack and place them upside down to flatten and even out the tops of them, making it easier to pipe onto.

> While they are cooling, we can get on with making the buttercream.

BUTTERCREAM:

> Put the butter into a food processor, or bowl, whatever is up for the grabs.

> Whisk this until creamed and smooth.

> Add the icing sugar little by little. You want to whisk and taste it after each addition to make sure;

A) That it is combined completely

B) That is tastes like it should

I base the taste test on whether there is still a buttery aftertaste. If there is, I add more icing sugar. The minute the buttery taste is gone, I stop adding sugar. This, I feel, gives me a lovely buttercream, that isn't too sweet , nor too buttery. Perfect for my taste! :)

Then with a piping bag, fitted with a patterned nozzle, pipe a large swirl of buttercream onto the top of the now flattened bun and flick up so that it has that iconic ice-cream look about it. Pop the flake in the side at a jaunty angle and sprinkle some of the flake that naturally crackes when braking the flake into three and they are done!

Yum!

I found that these were lovely wee buns, that were full of charm, fun and yummieness! My mum actually posted them on her Facebook page a while ago and since then, I have gone from 7 to 1. A lovely friend, come new cusotmer came and bought them! No baked goods are safe once on social media!

Thank you so much Anne for buying them and I hope you enjoy those little delights!? I loved making them!

Have a lovely evening all and I will blog again soon, but you all already know that. You're probably looking for some peace and quiet. Sorry to disappoint.

Thanks again and give me a call, text, email or Facebook message if you are wanting anything baked, cooked or catered for!

Rustic Crusty Loaf

I know there is quiche here too- but focus on the bread

Crusty Loaf then! My favourite!

This is a really delicious, fluffy and crunchy loaf. It is all crispy on the outside and fluffy and soft on the inside. It literally hugs you as you eat it. It is like your stomach is hugging a pillow. Yum- so yum! I love bread, and I know I've said it already, but this is so beautiful and full of flavour.

You know the way sometimes bread can have that yeast taste, and it isn't exactly appealing? Well, this is like the real deal. I am actually so jazzed about this bread- it is the bomb!

This is a Paul Hollywood recipe.

The ingredients that you'll need are:

- 500g Strong, White Bread Flour, plus a little more in case the bread gets too wet
- 10g Salt
- 10g Fast Action Yeast
- 370ml warm water

To Make This Beautiful Bread:

- Set the oven to 220C and place a deep baking dish at the bottom of the oven to heat up.

- Put the flour and salt into a bowl and combine.

- Put the yeast into a measuring jug, along with the warm water and allow to sit for 5 minutes

- Pour the watery yeast into the flour mix in three batches. Pour/ Mix x3 times.

Pouring the yeast water into the flour and salt

Bread after 1/3 of the yeast water is combined

Bread with all the yeast water before being combined

- Start off combining the flour and water using a wooden spoon. But you'll find that the more watery yeast you add, the stickier it will become. This will make it harder to mix and you'll have to start kneading with your hand.

- What I do is coat my hands in a little sunflower oil, this will stop the dough sticking all over my hands and will also stop me from adding too much flour, making the dough tough.

Bread kneaded and proving 

- Knead the dough for 15 minutes, or until the dough is more elastic and smooth and not as sticky. Keep in mind that this dough will be naturally sticky, so don't expect it to become non-sticky. :)

- To knead, you want to grip the dough at one end and then pull the other end away from itself. Imagine you are trying to form it into an oval shape, except you aren't. Once stretched, fold the dough back over itself to regain its' ball shape and repeat this until the dough comes together and is smooth looking.

- Pop into an oiled container, that has an air-tight lid to allow the bread to prove.

- Leave for around 1-2 hours until doubled in size.

Dough proving after 1 hour

- Take out of the air-tight container and shape into a baguette shape. I didn't have a mold big enough to aid me in keeping the shape, but that doesn't really matter to me. It all adds to the homemade charm.

Dough straight out of the container- full of air pockets (:

- Place this onto a floured baking tray. Make a long slit down the length of the bread. This will give it its' iconic shape and will also allow the steam out and to cook on the inside of the bread.

Dough shaped in its own weird and wonderful homemade way on a floured baking tray

- Pop into the oven to bake for 40 minutes. Now you want to make use of that baking tin you've been heating. Pour cold water into it until it steams and begins to bubble. Shut the door to the oven quickly as you want to contain that steam to the oven, to benefit the bread in forming its' crust. The steam will help the bread to form a really crunchy and beautiful crust.

- Once cooked, you'll know when you tap it and it feels firm to the touch and also sounds hollow when tapping it on the bottom, take out of the oven and allow to cool completely.

See the crust on that bad boy = rustic

- Cut and serve with butter or whatever your heart desires. Serve it with pickles or cheese, if it makes you happy and satisfies your tastes!

Thanks again and post again soon!

Pea and Ham Quiche

So this is another new one for me! I've been feeling experimental and want to expand my E-Portfolio to feature both sweet and savoury dishes!

So, today I made this quiche and some bread, but that is for another post.

This quiche was supposed to be your iconic, traditional 'Quiche Lorraine'. Had there been some bacon in the fridge, it would have been. But I didn't buy any bacon, so instead I made another version of the quiche Lorraine and used ham, which I dry fried until crispy and added some peas.

I really liked this combination as it was fresh, different and wholesome! I love quiche and I don't know why I haven't made it until now?

You want to grease a plain rimmed tin, I used my loose bottomed cake tin, as I don't have a proper 'quiche tin'. Is there a designated quiche tin? Does this even exist? If not it should! You know when you are watching the Bake Off and all the bakers come in with these weird and wonderful inventions that are really handy and amazing! Well, that is what this is to me!

The plain rim on the tin is so that it looks iconic, well at least I think that is why it is used always? I've never seen a quiche that is rimmed like a tart...

This is a James Martin recipe, but for Quiche Lorraine. This is my version and own inspiration for it. I call it, 'Whatever you have in the fridge quiche'.

The ingredients that you'll need are:


For the Pastry:

- 175g Plain Flour, plus some extra for dusting the tin you'll be baking in. This will ensure it doesn't stick to the tin. It is a full-proof way of non-stick proofing your bake!

- Salt- I used about 10g

- 75g Butter, cubed and cooled- and some more for greasing the tin you'll be baking in.


For the Filling:

- 250g Cheddar Cheese, grated. I used enough to cover the base of my tart. I baked mine in a 20cm cake tin. I found that the amount of pastry made from the ingredients above, makes just enough to make the quiche in a 20cm tin. Yay- I love it when things work out perfectly and you aren't just short of or have way too much pastry left over. Ideal is the word!

James said to add tomatoes, bacon and thyme, all of which I had none... so I added the following (another CVL Bakes variation)

- 200g or 1/2 pack of Ham, scrunched into little clumps and dry fried. When I say 'dry frying', I mean frying something without any oil, purely to enhance it's crispiness and intensify the natural flavours of the product.

Naturally, being me, I added garlic too- about 1 1/2 cloves of garlic, cooked enough until the harsh, raw garlic flavour has been cooked away, but not too much, causing the garlic to take on a new harsh, burnt and almost bitter flavour. It'll look golden and be soft to the touch when it is cooked.

- 50g Frozen Peas, I quickly cooked these in boiling water for 5 minutes, until they still had a bite and retained their vibrant colour, but weren't frozen obviously.

- 5 eggs, whisked in a large bowl, until the white and yolk are combined.

- 100ml Milk

- 200ml double cream- I had whipped and it tasted the same

- Pepper- 1 tsp


How to make this quiche:

Pre-heat the oven to 190 C and put a baking tray on the middle rack to heat up. Having a heated baking tray for the pastry to sit on when baking, will help ensure that it has a cooked and crispy bottom.

Grease and line a quiche tin, or loose bottom cake tin with butter and flour. Butter the tin all over and then, from a height, sprinkle the flour onto the base of the tin. Pat the tin from side to side to manipulate the flour around the tin. Set this aside.


Make the Pastry:

Throw the flour and salt into a food processor or bowl and mix. Then add chunks of butter into the bowl or processor. Blitz this together until it resembles breadcrumbs.

Add enough cool water to make it all clump and come together into a ball. Tip this out onto a clean counter top and then knead briefly until it looks smooth and short. (This is when it is crumbly and not tough, from over-handling it). It should be light in colour and smooth looking.

Roll this out until the thickness of a £1 or thinner, depending on whether it is large enough for the tin.

Prick the bottom of the base with a fork and pop into the fridge to chill completely and allow the butter to set again. The butter would melt and shrink had you just put the pastry into the hot oven now.


Making the Egg Filling:

- Grate the cheese into a bowl.

- Crack the eggs and combine with the milk, pepper and cream. Whisk this together until they are all combined and one, pale, egg colour, with little flecks of pepper.

- Boil the peas in boiling water for 5 minutes until they are defrosted.

- Rip up the ham and pop it into a heated pan. Fry until crispy with a little garlic.

Baking the Pastry:

- Take the tart out of the fridge and line with baking paper. Put baking beans on top of this. This will ensure that as the pastry bakes, it stays flat and cooks evenly.

Rolling out the pastry

Lining the tart tin

Weighing down the pastry

- Pop into the oven and bake for 20 minutes, until the pastry is golden up the edges of the tart. Take out of the oven and put the beans back into their container, or where you store them. Pop the tart back into the oven (minus the baking paper too) and bake until the base is cooked too.

You'll know it is cooked when it is dry to the touch. It should look lightly browned as well, but not too dark, or you'll risk it burning when it is baking for the second time with the egg.


The Second Bake:

- Once the tart shell is baked, you want to add flavour.

- Sprinkle an even layer of the grated cheese on top of the base of the tart. This will melt a little in the residual heat of the tart. Add the peas and ham on top of this and then place back onto the rack of the oven. Pour in the egg until it reaches the edge of the tart top.

Cheese in the base of the quiche

Pea and Ham components in the base with cheese

Egg mixture added to the base and into the oven

- Bake for 40 minutes at 160 C. It is cooked when the egg has puffed up and browned on the top. It will also be set in the middle. An easy way of knowing it is cooked, is when you shake the quiche and if it doesn't wobble in the middle and is bouncy to the touch, it is cooked!

- Once cooked, take out of the oven and let it sit for 15 minutes as it will need to set a while after to allow the egg to stabilise and firm up even more.

Serve with a fresh, seasonal salad, making the best and most out of the veg that are in season. This quiche is light and fluffy and a joy to munch on. Even some sour cream dip with chive goes well with it as it compliments the creaminess of the egg.

That is another new recipe logged into the portfolio. Thanks and will be posting the bread soon!