Here in the Fuss Free kitchen we hate food waste, in fact we positively abhor it.    But let’s face it leftover meals can be a little hit and miss.  As I said when I wrote about my Birdie Song soup there is nothing that I enjoy more than finishing stuff up when cooking a meal.   The more things that I use up, the better!

My leftover fry up above provided a tasty mid week lunch.

I fried half an onion, a stick of celery, half a red pepper, half a green pepper, a spring onion and several cloves of garlic.   I added the remains of a jar of pasta sauce, a bowl of rice and half a tin of chickpeas and let it all simmer for a minute.   I then made two wells in the mixture and cracked an egg into each (yes, these were my last two eggs, “hurrah” I cried as I threw the empty carton into the recycling bin).

The resulting mix was delicious, and perfect for a mid week, pre-supermarket run lunch.   Special mention must be made of my new Neoflam frying pan, which is so non- stick that I am convinced that it has a layer of anti gravity coating.   I am totally in love with it, insofar as it is possible to love a frying pan.   It is lightweight, but still solid and I love that it is both bright red and dishwasher proof.   The non-stick is amazing, everything literally floats in it and I consider it the best pan that I have ever had.  I think that I will be buying another for my mother, arthritis in her hands is making life a bit difficult, especially lifting  and twisting.

My leftover lunch was timely, as I spent the evening with Lucy Cufflin, author of Lucy’s Food, who cooked up a feast of leftovers.   She has a simple philosophy of keeping a well stocked store cupboard filled with simple ingredients and using them to embellish your leftovers, which you must think of as tasty ready to use ingredients.

I have already written about Lucy’s salad soup, which was amazingly delicious, but who would have thought that carrots, chickpeas and peanut butter make the most scrummy dip?

I especially liked that Lucy’s store cupboard was packed with the budget ranges from Tesco, Asda, and Morrisons.   She may be a trained chef, but the food snobbery and love for niche ingredients that is all too prevalent in the world of food blogging and self titled “foodies” has no place in Lucy’s kitchen. Hurrah for someone that caters for the 90% of the British population that shops at supermarkets and lives on a budget.

We ate our fill, and some more, which left me wondering for the umpteenth time why I did not call this site “My second (or even third) stomach”, everything was delicious and I returned home with some leftover chilli calzone, and a leftover Christmas pudding chocolate brownie.   Who knew leftovers could be this good? I’ll be cooking double for every meal from now on and revelling in my leftovers!

Recipe: Lucy Cufflin’s Christmas Chocolate Brownies

Makes 12 large brownies

Oven temperature 180C/350F

Cooking time 25 minutes

Preparation time 10 minutes

Ingredients

200g butter
400g caster sugar
4 eggs
100g cocoa powder
100g milk chocolate
100g SR flour
6 or so large dessert spoons of left over Xmas pud

1) Line a 20x30cm shallow roasting tin with baking parchment

2) Melt the butter and sugar in a large saucepan

3) Add the cocoa and milk chocolate and allow the chocolate to melt.

4) Beat in the eggs and then the flour and spoon into the tin

5) Using your fingers crumble the leftover Xmas pud onto the mixture and swirl around with your finger to mix it in a little.

6) Bake for 25 minutes or until the top is slightly cracked

Allow to cool.

These taste even better after a few days (if you can keep them that long)

 

 

This is a timely post, as next week the contestants on the Great British Bake Off will be challenged with making a croquembouche.  Admittedly profiteroles are not quite a croque, but if you can make a good choux bun and creme patisserie you are halfway there.

Along with Sarah, Katie and a non blogging friend I was actually filmed making a croquembouche earlier this year for Baking Mad with Eric Lanlard, but sadly our episode ended up on the cutting room floor, due to a “misunderstanding” between the production company and Channel4.

Personally I suspect that our baking skills were beyond the scope of the programme, as we not only managed to successfully make choux buns, creme patisserie and stuck it all together, we also found the time to decorate our croquembouche with macarons and sugar paste flowers as well as the obligatory spun sugar!    However that is the subject for another post, but if you are curious here is the croquembouche.  It is not perfect, but it was only the second time we had made choux or creme patisserie.

Not bad for a first attempt at a Croquembouche

Consequently, I shall be howling with rage at the Bake Off next week, when they once again make out that baking is so very very difficult.  I shall, yet again, point out that it is a matter of practise.  Great bakers are made not born.      Not that I can take the Bake Off seriously anymore having read Sarah’s review of Mary Berry’s lemon drizzle cake mix.

The practice point is made by the lovely Holly on the GBBO this year with her macaron recipe where she says that she had to make about 1000 of them before she could rely on them working every time.    I reckon that is at least 15, if not 20 batches.    How many people in the country have actually baked 15 batches of anything?  I am not knocking her skill, but of course she is good at them by now!

At this point I feel the need for a little Roy Castle of Record Breaker fame.    1980′s yes, but it did make a good point to an entire generation of children.

Tolberone have a new recipe tab on their facebook page, and asked me to come up with a recipe for them.

Toblerone Choux Buns

makes around 18

Toblerone Creme Patisserie (make this up to 3 days in advance)

250ml milk
2 tbs cornflour
100g sugar
1 egg
2 egg yolks
30g butter
100g Toblerone (I used milk)
1 tbs honey

Put the cornflour into a bowl, add a couple of tablespoons of milk and mix to a paste.

Add the remainder of the milk, sugar and Toblerone to the saucepan and gently heat until the chocolate is all melted.

Add the egg and yolks to the cornflour paste and whisk well. Pour over about 1/3 of the hot Tolberone mixture, whisking well.

Pour the hot Toblerone egg mixture into the saucepan, stirring well all the time (I use my electric handheld whisk in the saucepan – if you do this please be VERY careful with the powercord). Bring the mixture back to a gentle simmer, whisking all the time and scraping the sides and bottom of the pan with a spatula (the creme will thicken here first). The mixture will thicken quite quickly.

Pour into a bowl, add the honey and butter and whisk again until quite smooth. Cover the surface of the creme with cling film and once cool put into the fridge.

Choux Pastry

175ml water
85g butter
150g plain flour
Pinch salt
4 eggs

Put the water and butter into a pan and bring to the boil. Remove from the heat and stir in the flour & salt. Return to the heat and cook for minute or so stirring all the time until the mixture has dried slightly.  Remove from the heat and add each egg, one by one stirring well between each addition.

Heat the oven to 425F / 220C / GM 7 and line two baking sheets with parchment paper.

Put the batter into a piping bag (I use disposable ones) and just snip the end off, otherwise use a 1cm tip. Pipe walnut sized dollops of the batter. Smooth the peaks on the top of them with your finger.

Cook for 10 minutes until puffed and golden. Turn the oven down to 350F / 180C / GM5 and bake for another 20 mins to dry out. When I turn the oven down I usually turn the puffs over and spike them with a skewer to let the steam out. Keep an close eye on them. If you have a fan oven I find that it is better to turn the fan off if you can.

Once the buns are cool fill a piping bag with a small tip with the creme patisserie and fill each bun.

Brush melted chocolate over each bun. You can melt chocolate in the microwave on the lowest power if you keep a careful eye on it. I found the melted Toblerone quite stiff so added a drop of olive oil to make it spread more easily.

Click here for a printable recipe

There are more Toblerone recipes on their website here.

Many thanks to Toblerone for the bag of ingredients.

I am also sending this to We Should Cocoa ( set up by Chocolate Log Blog and Chocolate Teapot) for their first birthday party.

This month the theme of Forever Nigella is Street Party!  This blogging event was sounded by Sarah from Maison Cupcake and is hosted this month by Mardi at Eat, Live, Travel, Write.    What better to take to a street party than a sumptuous chocolate cake, carried in a cake carrier?

I made Nigella’s Chocolate Malteaser Cake for a friend’s daughter’s birthday party yesterday.    And I have to say was rather disappointed.   I have eaten the cake before when another chum baked one afternoon, and it was delicious, but mine was distinctly underwhelming, dry and, dare I say, a little boring.  However it did not matter too much as it looked great, and the gaggle of 8 year old girls were not that bothered as they had already eaten lots of lunch and were more interested in the serious business of the afternoon of bopping to Justin Bieber.

The recipe  is from Feast, although a quick internet search will probably find it for you somewhere.

I am still slightly embarrassed at the quality of my cake, and not sure if I should give the recipe another go?  Or continue my quest for the perfect fail safe chocolate celebration cake elsewhere?

I love the Lock & Lock cake carrier, although it is a little unnerving carrying it by the lid – I did check the clips were firmly closed 3 times en route!

So if you have the perfect chocolate celebration cake, please let me know!

Some time ago I reviewed the 120 hour conch bar, and noted at the time that it would be interesting to compare side by side with the 96 hour conch.  

I was astonished at the difference an additional 24 hours in the conch made, the conching time being the only difference between the two bars. (4 days as opposed to 5)

The 12o hour bar was far smoother in taste, creamier and with a hint of vanilla, as well as the layers of citrus, red fruit, tobacco & honey.

The 96 hour bar was no less delicious but I thought more challenging; perhaps needing some more thought to work out the layers of flavour, and had more notes of the red fruit.   Altogether more powerful than the 120 hour bar.

Both bars are well worth a try and side by side comparison.  It is fascinating to see just how good and complex unadulterated chocolate can taste.  The Purist range seeks to showcase the 5% of cocoa that can be classified as fine chocolate, which is influenced by terroir as much as a fine wine would be. I think that it is fantastic that Hotel Chocolat is making these speciality bars accessible to all.

I am very excited that I am going on a chocolate tasting course later in the month, which should help me to write better reviews and know what to look for and taste in fine chocolate.

Purist bars from Hotel Chocolat cost £5 for 70g.

Thanks to Hotel Chocolat for my free samples.

When it comes to mayonnaise I do tend to buy Hellmann’s; nothing else quite tastes the same.  It is one of the very few products where supermarket own brand simply will not do, and, similarly to Hoover and vacuum cleaner I sometimes using Hellmann’s when I am referring to any (non homemade) mayonnaise

Hellmann’s was one of the first major brands to change to using free range eggs several years ago, the fact that they did so successfully does make a mockery of other brands claiming that they cannot go free range as they cannot source the eggs.   I have sent a simple “Hellmann’s did”  in response to such excuses received from several companies.

Posh Brownies - Photo from Hellmann's

We were served up a feast of lemon and Garlic Roasted Salmon with Colcannon Mash and the Smoked Haddock Cakes with Mustard Mayo, followed by the brownies.  By using mayo, not butter there is 55% less saturated fat in the brownies, and for pence per gram the mayo is also cheaper.

I was impressed by the dishes (my previous experience of cooking with Hellmann’s was to mix it with pesto as a pasta sauce, a popular late night snack in my student days), although I thought that the brownies could have been moister, Ren also went to the evening and tweaked the recipe from Hellmann’s (below) by adding two bananas.

Hellmann’s Brownies

40g plain flour
tsp baking powder
25g cocoa powder
140g plain chocolate, broken into small pieces
3 medium eggs
225g caster sugar
1 tsp vanilla essence
8 dollops Hellmann’s Real Mayonnaise (110g)**
55g walnuts, finely chopped

* *A dollop is one level tablespoon of Hellmann’s mayonnaise (15ml)

Method

1. Lightly grease a 23cm square cake tin and line with baking paper.

2. Sift the flour with the baking powder and cocoa. Put the chocolate into a heat proof bowl over a saucepan of hot water and leave until melted (alternatively, microwave on medium power, stirring occasionally, until just melted).

3. In a large bowl, whisk the eggs with the sugar and vanilla until slightly thickened.

4. Whisk in the chocolate mixture. Fold in the flour mixture, mayonnaise and walnuts.

5. Pour into the prepared tin and bake in a preheated oven at 160°C for about 30-35 minutes or until a skewer inserted in the centre comes out clean.

6. Leave to cool in the tin before cutting into squares.

Thank you to Hellmann’s for the invitation, and the lovely brownie kit you sent me home with, did you know about my weakness for pink kitchenware?

I made these for a friend’s 8 year old, who was having a mad scientist party – complete with a visiting mad scientist; who encased the birthday boy and his friends in bubbles and even set light to them!

I was desperate for some flames for myself, but was firmly at the back of the queue behind the stampede of 8 year olds.

Chocolate cupcakes were deemed to be suitable for the occasion, decorated with bright yellow frosting, oreos, glitter and popping candy with a surprise mini oreo baked into each cake.  I made some toppers with clipart of mad scientists and some laboratory hazard warning signs for extra science madness!  I make small fairycake sized cupcakes for children, half of them will only eat the icing and abandon the cake anyway.

The batter makes enough for 14 cakes, and I discovered yesterday that is is perfectly fine to freeze cupcake batter then defrost and bake it.

Chocolate Oreo Cupcakes (makes 14 fairy cake sized cakes)

Cakes

2 eggs
125g softened butter or baking margarine
125g self raising flour (or plain flour with 1 tsp of baking powder added)
125g white or golden sugar
1 heaped tbs cocoa powder
1 tsp vanilla extract
pinch salt
1 – 2 tbs milk
14 mini oreos

Add the eggs, butter, flour, sugar, cocoa & salt to a bowl and beat with a hand whisk until blended.   Add the milk and briefly mix again.   The batter should be loose enough to dollop off a spoon.

Line a bun tin with fairy cake cases, placing a mini oreo in the middle of each one.   Fill each case 2/3 with batter and bake at 190C / GM 5 for about 12 minutes.

Buttercream

75g butter
250g icing sugar
Food colourings
1tsp vanilla extract
1  – 2 tbs milk

The secret to fluffy buttercream is to beat the butter really well before you add any sugar.     I have also recently learnt the hand trick of making butter cream in the food processor to prevent the kitchen being covered in clouds of icing sugar.     You can make it with a hand mixer, but will need to add the icing sugar slowly to the butter.

Put the butter in the food processor bowl and process for a minute or so, until soft and fluffy.   Pour in the icing sugar and milk, put the lid back on and cover with a damp tea towel, and process again.   Scrape the sides down, add your vanilla and colouring, and more milk or icing sugar if needed and process again.

You can make butter cream in advance and store in the fridge until needed (remove from the fridge well before you need it) I store mine in the piping bag, with a clip just behind the nozzle and the end of the bag twisted so it is airtight.

Decorate your cakes to your hearts content, adding the popping candy just before serving.

This baking addiction is starting to get out of hand and I thought that it was time to return to Fuss Free Flavours bootcamp basics.   I originally started this blog as I was becoming increasingly upset by the number of people buying fat and additive laden food in the cheap supermarket on the North End Road in West London, when opposite the shop is a market laden with excellent, cheap and plentiful fruit and vegetables.

I know I feel far far better when I eat loads of fruit and vegetables, and I know that it is generally cheaper (and infinitely more satisfying) to cook food from scratch.  If I eat an excellent diet for the majority of the time then I can also enjoy sweet or fat filled treats in moderation.    Diet really is all about balance and  variety coupled with moderation surely?    How sad to be Gillian McKeith, she looks utterly miserable, joyless and half starved, although she self proclaims her diet to be excellent, and I bet she never allows herself the pleasure of eating cake.

Although I feel that Nigella either lost the plot in her last series, or was badly produced, she is obviously a woman that loves her food, eats and cooks well, is attractive and appears to enjoy life (although her success and Charles Saatchi’s vast wealth probably help here).  How happy she seems to be when compared to the myriad of size zero celebrities and models, who all look miserable, scrawny and half starved. Although we love to poke fun at her, Nigella is an excellent example of a successful woman who does not need to starve herself to conform to a misguided idea of beauty.

Enough of my musings, and onwards with Forever Nigella; which is a monthly foodblogging even hosted by Sarah of the fabulous Maison Cupcake.  This month the theme is chocolate.

Now I am not claiming that this cake is healthy, but is certainly is Fuss Free.  You need a saucepan, scales (although you probably could eyeball the quantities), cake tin and a wooden spoon.  That is all.  Easy to make; literally melt butter and then stir everything in, and importantly quick and  easy to wash up afterwards.

The chocolate and marmalade work very well together, and the cake is excellent and the taste certainly implies a little more fuss and effort went into making it than actually did.

The original recipe is from “How to be a Domestic Goddess” and is reproduced all over the internet; just google “Nigella Store Cupboard Chocolate Orange Cake”.  In my quest for moderation I both halved the quantity and reduced the sugar by 30%.   Personally I think it would benefit from more chocolate, or some cocoa?

I was not dressed in a satin dressing gown to bake this, but being hopeful of exuding some Nigellaness I did waggle a batter coated finger in the general direction of my boyfriend’s mouth whilst baking.

I am also sending this to We Should Cocoa where this month’s theme is leftovers, and hosted this month by Chele at Chocolate Teapot.  My leftovers were 2 nearly empty jars of marmalade from the back of the fridge which I used up in my cake, I am thankful they are gone, now there is actually some space.

Imagine a rich, buttery, velvety smooth chocolate mousse; one so rich that an espresso cup full is more than enough.  Now imagine that the little fat in this mousse is primarily monounsaturated (thus good) and the entire pudding is cholesterol free.    Now imagine that this pudding also contains no refined sugars and takes less than 5 minutes to prepare.

Created using Clearspring’s new organic silken tofu which when whizzed up is deliciously creamy,  this was partially inspired by Jac and by an avocado chocolate mousse that can be found all over the internet.    I need you to trust me here, the finished product does not taste of either avocado or banana although on the surface they do seem to be odd ingredients.

This is probably more of a chocolate pot than a traditional mousse, without raw eggs it is safe for small children to eat, and there is no worry about the mousse separating in the fridge.

So Healthy Chocolate Mousse (serves 6)

1 350g carton silken tofu
1 ripe banana
1 avocado
4 dsp cocoa powder
4 dsp maple syrup
Scant zest of half an orange

Cacao nibs (optional)

Add all ingredients to the food processor and whizz.    Dollop into ramekins, or if feeling fancy, chill and then pipe into espresso cups.   Sprinkle with cacao nibs.

Enjoy and polish your halo for being so healthy.

Sending to this  month’s Sugar High Fridays, where the theme is grain free,  hosted by Z at Z”s Cup of Tea.

It has been too long since I blogged a smoothie.   Thick, satisfying and delicious it feels vaguely sinful having chocolate for breakfast, but this really is very healthy despite tasting like a spiced chocolate oaty biscuit.

You need to be slightly organised here and soak the oats and dates overnight for a creamier smoothie.   I think that the addition of a banana or some unsalted cashews would also be delicious.

I am sending this to We Should Cocoa; the monthly chocolate event hosted by Chocolate Log Blog and The Chocolate Teapot, as this month’s theme is chocolate and dates.   I am also sending it to my Breakfast Club this month as I think a liquid breakfast is the perfect thing for the morning after the night before!

Chocolate and Date Smoothie (Serves 1)

1/3 cup oats
1 cup milk (I use soy)
8 dates
pinch of cinnamon, ginger & all spice (to taste)
2 tsp cocoa powder

Mix all ingredients together in a container and leave in the fridge overnight.    Blitz with a stick blender in the morning.  If you forget to prep the night before just go ahead and make it anyway.

Simple and easy!

It would appear that Fuss Free Flavours has recently become a chocolate baking blog.   This is not my long term intention, and normal fuss free service will be resumed soon, but this cake was too good not to blog.   It is also fairly fuss free, the recipe both having a forgiving nature and being of the bung-it-all-in-a-food-processor-and-whizz style of baking that I favour. 

The cake was baked by me, last week, for my birthday party.   I know that something was slightly amiss here, baking your own birthday cake is none too joyous, but people were coming round and I had set myself the task of making sushi, chilli and baking a cake.  All within 2 hours.    Yes, maybe I wanted to show off just a little.  I wanted to make my easier than pie chocolate amaretti cake (which I have just realised that I had not made for 3 years).   I got off the bus with my shopping and realised that despite the first item on my shopping list being amaretti biscuits I had forgotten to buy them.     There were no amaretti biscuits to be found in West Kensington, but I remembered I had a tin of Swedish Ginger Thin biscuits from the fantastic Ikea Swedish Food market that would make a good substitution.

This made a good dense chocolate cake with a firm hint of ginger.   I find nutty flourless cakes are great for puddings, but they do need that large dollop of cream to lift them.   As it was a celebration a sweetened boozy cream was just the ticket.

Chocolate & Ginger  Cake (serves 12 or 8 chocoholics)

2 oz / 50g  ginger thin biscuits
4oz / 100g almonds
7 oz / 175g sugar
4oz / 100g butter
4 eggs (free range please)
6 oz / 150g dark chocolate
Zest of 1 orange

Preheat the oven to 180C/350F/Gas Mark 4, grease the tin and line the base with greaseproof paper.

Put the biscuits, almonds and sugar into the food processor (I use a Magimix) and blitz until all are finely ground, add the butter and eggs and blitz again.

Meanwhile break the chocolate up into a bowl and stand over a saucepan of just simmering water until melted.

Add the melted chocolate and orange zest to the food processor and pulse briefly until mixed. Pour the batter into the cake tin.

Bake for about 35 minutes – when ready the cake would have risen and would have started to crack at the top and round the edges. Leave to cool for 5 mins then run a knife round to separate it from the tin, then release the clip. When cold you can transfer it to a plate.

Serve dusted with cocoa powder or icing sugar and lots of whipped cream.

Boozy Whipped Cream

300g pot double cream
1 tbs brandy
2 tbs icing sugar

Bung in a bowl and whip with a hand blender.

I was recently sent a large box of samples from Hotel Chocolat, which was very exciting and I have been busy cooking with their cooking chocolate, and writing recipes using thier products.     I am a converted fan to their Liquid Chocolate which is delicious not only in its intended use as a hot chocolate, but is also a great ingredient which I have used in my double chocolate madelines and my chocolate banana muffins.   I am delighted to have 3 jars of liquid chocolate to giveaway, which the lovely people at Hotel Chocolate will ship anywhere in the UK or EU to the three lucky winners.

As well as the liquid chocolate there is a huge range of chocolate Christmas presents, with a free box of chocolates thrown in if you spend more than £60 (an easy thing to do with HC).    I far, far prefer dark chocolate to milk chocolate, but there is something for everyone.

I had been aware of Hotel Chocolat for some time, and first knew it as the place with the enormo slabs of chocolate, but had only my first products from them last year when a friend sent me a box of their excellent pralines as a birthday present.   I was instantly smitten.  The quality is excellent and happily for my waistline you do not need that much to feel satisfied so a little chocolate goes a long way. 

In my opinion the best of Hotel Chocolat’s extensive range are the Purist Bars which I was lucky enough to be sent some.   They are seriously good chocolate, expensive at £5 for 70g, but have to be tasted to be believed.   I’ll be writing separate reviews for each one I received as I think that they do deserve an individual post.

Other chocolate gifts are advent calenders, Christmas themed giant slabs, lots of Christmas themed chocolate stocking fillers.

To win some lovely liquid chocolate for warming hot chocolate, or to bake with simply follow the rules below

RULES

This giveaway is open to all readers with a UK or EU mailing address.  The winner will be chosen using an online randomiser and announced in a subsequent post.   When commenting please leave your e-mail address so I can contact you if you win and let me know which flavour of liquid chocolate you would prefer otherwise you will be sent the milky variety.  As I am allowing multiple entries the randomiser may choose the same person twice, in this case I shall pick another winner until there are 3 individual winners.

For a chance to win please comment and tell me your favourite product on the Hotel Chocolate website.

For a second chance to win please tweet this post using the tweet button below and comment telling me you have done so.

For a third chance to win please like this page using the facebook like button below and comment telling me you have done so.

I’ll even throw in extra entries if you follow me (@fussfreeflavour) or (@hotelchocolat) or both, on Twitter and comment to tell me you have done so.  If you already follow either or both of us please comment telling me that you do so.   If you would also like to like my new facebook page too that would be fantastic!

Good Luck!

See all my giveaways & previous winners here.

This is a sponsored post.

I am happy to say that I am about to have a giveaway of some lovely liquid chocolate from Hotel Chocolat.   But in the interests of my readers I feel that that it is only fair that I extensively test the product before I post the giveaway, and give your some ideas of what to use it for.  Liquid chocolate as a hot drink is lovely, but liquid chocolate in baked goods is even better!   Muffins are one of the Fuss Free Flavours signature recipes so a muffin using the liquid chocolate it had to be!

There is one banana in 3 of these muffins, so that is one of your five a day sorted.   They are also vegan* so contain no cholesterol.  Positively healthy.   In the interests of my blog I need to go and make another batch as I really need to get better photos.    These were fantastic,  chocolate and banana are perfect partners, the liquid chocolate and the dark chocolate drops are rich and not too sweet.    I am pondering if I could make a quintuple chocolate banana muffin with chocolate batter, liquid chocolate and 3 types of chocolate drops?  For an extra treat these are 50% larger than my usual muffins.

* I try and bake vegan as I firmly believe that there is no excuse for eating eggs that are not free range and organic.    If you cannot afford quality eggs, then you can bake really well without them, seriously just leave them out!

Substitute finely grated plain chocolate for liquid chocolate, regular cow milk would work in place of the soy milk (I really do not like diary milk, although I can eat cheese and cream literally until the cows come home).

Double Chocolate & Banana Muffins (makes 6)

“Dry” Ingredients
7 oz plain flour
2 oz  sugar
2 tbs liquid chocolate or finely grated plain chocolate
2 tbs chocolate chips
1 heaped tsp baking power
pinch salt

“Wet” Ingredients
7 oz  milk (I use soy)
2 oz  sunflower oil
2 very ripe bananas

Whizz the oil and milk mixture with a stick blender or liquidiser until smooth.    Mix the dry ingredients.  Add the wet ingredients to the dry and fold together (the batter should be lumpy and mixing should take no more than 15 folds).   Bake at GM5/190C/375F in your favourite muffin pan (I use this one)  for 20 – 25 mins until risen.

Enjoy warm from the oven.

Thank for Hotel Chocolat for the free samples of liquid chocolate and chocolate drops

At the moment I seem to be slightly baking obsessed and am currently in  search of the perfect madeleine, as well as the quest for the ultimate chocolate cake, but that is another post.   I last made them about 3 years ago, and obviously liked them enough to write up the recipe.

Last week I was sent some samples from Hotel Chocolat, I will soon be having a chocolate giveaway, and used two of their products in my madeleines.    I baked this batch for my chocoholic friend S for her birthday.   She is just out of hospital and confined to her flat so I popped round yesterday with a bowl of warm madeleines.   I felt very Bree as I delivered them wrapped in a tea towel and still warm, although it was a distinct possibility that Bree would not have gone out in public with my level of dishevelment.

As remembered from 3 years ago, researching how to bake madeleines can lead to a huge time sink.   There are umpteen recipes and a myriad of blog posts all with conflicting information, even more than when I first cooked them.

Melt the butter – or not?  I did.

Add some milk?  I didn’t.

Tin or silicone tray?  Silicone for me, always although I may experiment with a metal tray (sadly Lakeland do not have a madeleine tray in their excellent Baking Genius range).

Turn the oven temperature down 2/3 of the way through cooking? Of course not – I may currently be baking obsessed but I still want to remain relatively Fuss Free.

You need good butter, I used Lurpak unsalted, I am sure the purists would use a French brand, but my palate is not quite that good.   If you want to get the characteristic madeleine “hump” you need to chill your batter for a good few hours, but half an hour in the fridge leads to equally delicious madeleines with a smaller hump.    I chilled mine overnight, making it easy to bake first thing in the morning and encouraging a Domestic Goddess image!

The double chocolate comes from adding cocoa and liquid chocolate from Hotel Chocolat.    Liquid chocolate is finely chopped quality chocolate intended for melting into hot milk to make a drink, after some experiments I discovered it is perfect for adding to cakes to scatter chocolate flecks throughout them.  I am sure that finely grating a good plain chocolate would work as well.  I generally prefer using Imperial measurements, but my scales also work to the nearest gram, so measurements are given in grams for the sake of accuracy.

Double Chocolate Madeleines (makes 18 small)

75g Butter – melted and cooled
2 Large Eggs
90g Granulated Sugar
90g Plain Flour
10g Cocoa Powder
½ Tsp Baking Powder
1 tsp Vanilla Essence
2 tbs grated plain chocolate
Pinch of salt (if using unsalted butter)
10g butter for greasing the tray

Whisk the eggs and sugar together until they have doubled in size and are light and fluffy.  Slowly fold in the flour, cocoa, baking powder and salt. Add the vanilla essence and chocolate flecks. Slowly add in the melted butter, gently folding all the time, the batter should be foamy and full of air. When mixed cover the bowl and put in the fridge for at least 30 mins, preferably overnight. Put a dollop of the mixture into a well buttered Madeleine tray, each mould should be about 2/3 full. Place in an oven at 375F/ 190C/ GM 5 for around 7 minutes until risen and shrinking away from the edges of the mould.

Leave for a few minutes and then turn out.

The Madeleines are best enjoyed when still warm and crisp on the outside, eat on the day you bake them, they really are not the same the next day.

Thank you to Hotel Chocolat for the free product samples that I used in this recipe.

I am sure that chocolate crispies are one of the first things that anyone learns to cook, I certainly have a memory as a young child of making them with my mother.    She often used whole wheat flakes or a half and half mix with cornflakes.    Surely with all that cocoa, sugar, syrup and butter the composition of the flake barely matters?    I also added some chopped dried apricots and a handful of omega sprinkles; a mix of linseed, sesame, sunflower and pumpkin seeds.

My base was Kellogg’s Choco-Rocks; an updated, and supposedly healthier version of cocoa pops, containing more fibre & vitamins but less sugar than before.    I was not keen, I disliked the taste but appreciated the crunch.  I can see that a harassed and tired parent could easily feel assured by the blurb on the packet and bring these out at breakfast time.   Surely some breakfast has to be better than no breakfast for a child?

Gotta to be Slightly Healthier Chocolate Crispies (makes 15)

2oz butter
2 tbs golden syrup
2 tbs cocoa
2 tbs sugar

2tbs dried apricots – finely chopped
2 tbs mixed seeds

About 2 bowls of cereal flakes, pops or shapes.

Melt the butter, syrup, cocoa & sugar together in a medium saucepan, stir well and remove from the heat.  Add the apricots and seeds, stir in the cereal bit by bit, I find it is much easier to add it little by little stirring as I go.    Add more cereal if there is enough chocolate goo.   Spoon into cake cases and leave to set.

Enjoy.   These were actually surprisingly good.

Thanks to Kelloggs for the free sample packet of choco-rocks

]]> http://fussfreeflavours.com/2010/10/gotta-to-be-slightly-healthier-chocolate-crispies/feed/ 2 http://fussfreeflavours.com/2010/10/tasting-notes-montezumas-73-very-dar-chocolate/ http://fussfreeflavours.com/2010/10/tasting-notes-montezumas-73-very-dar-chocolate/#comments Wed, 20 Oct 2010 15:16:55 +0000 Helen http://fussfreeflavours.com/?p=1411 These tasting notes are mainly as an aide memoir for me, as I can never remember which brands that I like, or perhaps more importantly do not like.   Over time I am hoping to build up a substantial database on my ingredients page.

I wrote very scant notes on this one, and again was totally underwhelmed.  Dry, toasty, barky, really not great.   The chocolate is bitter, but in an unpleasent way.    It seemed to leave my mouth coated with cocoa powder.

I’ll be skipping Montezuma’s in the future.

It took about 50 minutes to cook, I think that it was something to do with the sauce being so thick?   I served it with some pears, simply peeled and cored, then fried in butter and sprinkled with sugar and left to caramelise in the pan for 5 minutes. 

Chocolate Risotto (Serves 4)

1oz  / 25g butter
40z / 100g risotto rice
1.5oz / 35g cocoa powder
2oz / 50g plain chocolate
2oz sugar
¾ pint / 425ml milk
zest of half an orange – finely grated
Espresso cup of brandy

Melt the butter in a saucepan and fry the rice until it is translucent, add the cocoa, chocolate and sugar and cook for a minute.     Slowly add in the milk stirring.    Leave to cook over a low heat, stirring every few minutes, adding more milk when needed until the rice is plump and cooked through.    Add the orange zest and brandy (or run, orange liqueur etc) and serve with some poached fruit, I think that cream and fresh berries would also work well here.  Enjoy!

• A chocolate showpiece between 1 and 2 metres high
• 50 dipped pralines
• 50 moulded pralines
• 2 layered chocolate cakes – each to serve 8
• A “gastronomic” chocolate dessert – to serve 6
• “Mystery Box” assignment

The face of Chocolate - a detail of Graham Hornigold's showpiece

That is a serious amount of work, huge amounts of skill, concentration and knowledge are needed, contestants are on show, people are watching, the judges are constantly closely inspecting their work and there was a continuous commentary to boot.    Contestants also have to keep their work area clean and will be judged on this too.

WCM - Ruth Hinks finishes her centre piece - photo from Wildcard

For me the most exciting and visually interesting part of the competition was the chocolate showpiece, I was stunned by what was created, and gasped in horror when one nearly completed sculpture went crashing to the ground.     These pieces are 100% chocolate, moulded, cast, carved, shaped and held together with chocolate.   No glue, fillers or anything else is allowed.    To make matters even harder the finished pieces had to be moved away from the competitors’ work areas to be judged.     By the end of the afternoon only one of the sculptures was intact.   As a picture tells a thousand words here they are:

WCM - John Costello's showpiece - this was originally twice the height with the dragon on top of the tree!

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WCM - Conor McAlonan's showpiece - sadly his work collapsed just as he was finishing it

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WCM - Graham Hornigold and his finished showpiece

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WCM - Andrew Gregson Brown's showpiece

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WCM - Contestants anxiously waiting for the results

In a very close finish the winner was John Costello with his stunning dragon showpiece, Ruth Hinks was the runner up.

WCM - The winner John Costello - showered with glitter

And some closeups of John’s showpiece:

It was a fantastic event – and I got to sample some chocolates at the end, which were very delicious indeed.   Well done to all the competitors, I am in awe of your talent, skill and dedication.   And a very well done and good luck to John for next year’s final!

Slow cooking allows you to slowly cook a dish over a number of hours, it uses barely any power and can be left unattended all day.   I will happily go out and leave the slow cooker on all day or I will leave it on all night.    It has the huge advantage of tenderising cheaper cuts of meat, making them meltingly soft, and bringing out their flavours.    I often use shin of beef, over 6 hours in the slow cooker it never fails to transform from being the toughest cut of meat to meltingly soft.    Similarly to making any casserole you do need to prep your ingredients when using a slow cooker, chucking everything in leaving to cook really does not work in my experience.    My cooker was the cheapest that Argos had to offer, a bargain at around £13 several years ago.

Slow cooked casseroles will reduce less than ones cooked in the oven, I usually leave the lid of the pot ajar for the last hour of cooking to allow some evaporation, or use some cornflour to thicken.   This time I reserved half a can of black beans and blitzed them with some of the gravy to make a thicker sauce, I also use this technique in my five bean chilli.  A little cumin and star anise go a long way, if you like the flavours do up the amounts you use.   I see no reason why this will not work with regular stout and a spoon of cocoa powder.

* Renaming this blog Fuss Free Thrifty Flavours would be accurate, but, I fear almost impossible to say.

Spiced Beef, Black Bean & Chocolate Stout Casserole (Serves 8)

2 tbs sunflower oil
2 large onions  – chopped
4 cloves of garlic – chopped
3lb / 1.5kg shin of beef – cut into 1″ cubes
500ml Chocolate Stout
2 cans black beans – drained and rinsed
2 tsp cumin
3 star anise
Salt and pepper to taste

Fry the onions and garlic until starting to brown and place into the slow cooker.    Batch fry the meat until brown and add to the pot, deglaze the pan with some stout and add to the slow cooker.    Add the beans, reserving about half a can.     Add the cumin and star anise, a good pinch of salt and black pepper.   Give all the ingredients a good stir and pour the stout over so everything is just covered.   Slow cook for at least 6 hours.

If the gravy needs thickening, blitz a ladleful with the remainder of the black beans and stir back into the casserole.

Serve with mash and green veg!

Thanks to Youngs for the free stout for this recipe.

I am a a few days ahead of the game here, but tomorrow is the Chocolate Consultant’s Great Brownie Bake Off, which sadly I cannot attend, but I have made some brownies and shall be raising one to her and everyone taking part.    I have made stout brownies, as well as being a potential consequence of over-consumption, these brownies contain stout!

I was contacted a few weeks ago by Young’s who wanted me to try some of their beer in some cooking, co-incidently are also my local brewery, located in Wandsworth, just over the river from me.   I have a history of using unusual ingredients in my brownies and was keen to have a go.

Young’s Double Chocolate Stout Brownie Recipe (Makes 16)

Preparation time : 15 minutes

Cooking time : 20-22 minutes

Ingredients

250ml Young’s Double Chocolate Stout
150g plain chocolate, preferable 70% cocoa solids
175g unsalted butter
200g soft light brown sugar
75g plain flour
50 g cocoa powder
2 large eggs

Pour the stout into a measuring jug and allow the foam to settle.

Break the chocolate into a large bowl, diced the butter into the bowl and place over a pan of simmering water. Once melted, remove from the heat and stir until smooth, beat in the sugar and allow to cool to lukewarm.

Meanwhile grease a 22cm shallow tin, line with greaseproof or parchment paper. Heat the oven to 180C/160Cfan/gas4. Sieve the flour and cocoa powder together.

Using an electric beater, beat in the eggs until the mixture is glossy, carefully stir in the chocolate stout then fold in the flour and cocoa. Pour into the tin and bake for 20-22 minutes until the middle is set. The top will probably have cracks. Test the brownie with a wooden cocktail stick and it should appear to be sticky. Do not be tempted to cook longer otherwise it will become cakey and lose its characteristic fudgy texture.

Leave to cool in the tin. Turn out onto a rack and cut into squares, dust with icing sugar if liked.

The recipe is very very easy, the beer comes in 500ml bottles, so there was some spare for the cook, although I suppose you could double the recipe and not test the stout!   Make sure you do use a large bowl to melt the butter and chocolate in, you will be adding all the other ingredients into it, my bowl was not big enough and I have chocolate covered jeans after being a little too enthusiastic with the electric beater.

Interestingly look at the cocoa, I finished one tub and started a new one, the lighter one is Waitrose, the darker Green & Blacks.   I have no idea if there is any difference in taste, but was struck by the colour difference.

These brownies are seriously fudgey, moist and moreish.  The stout adds another layer of malty chocolately flavour.

Next time I make these (and there certainly will be a next time), I’ll add some dried fruit and nuts, maybe chocolate drops, and I’ll certainly be making a double batch.

Fudgey!

Thanks to Young’s for the free stout for this recipe.

The World Chocolate Masters is a huge international competition with the winner being awarded the title of “World Chocolate Master”. 2010 – 2011 is the 4th time the competition has run and the theme is “Cocoa Quetzalcoatl’s Gift”, with competitors being asked to produce show-pieces reflecting the mystery surrounding the discovery of chocolate in the South American rainforest.

A show-piece from the 2008 competition

“The theme seeks to transport participants and spectators to the mystical origins of cocoa in the distant history of Aztec civilisation. The Aztecs believed that it was the God, Quetzalcoatl, who created cocoa as a divine gift to relieve fatigue and provide pleasurable rest.”

2 day national pre selections are taking place in 20 different countries, before the 3 day final held at the Salon De Chocolate Professional in Paris during October 2011.  Qualifying is serious stuff; competitors have to make dipped and moulded pralines, gastronomic chocolate dessert, a chocolate pastry, a creation from a mystery box and most excitingly a show-piece sculpture with a minimum height of 1m! All this happens over 2 days at the Restaurant show at Earl’s Court on the 11 & 12th October.  Fittingly this co-incides with the first two days of chocolate week.

Show-piece from 2008 competition

The UK Competitors are:

• Andrew Gregson-Brown, Andy’s Creative Cakes
• Ruth Hinks, Cocoa Black, Peebles
• John Costello, Park Cakes
• Conor McAlonan, Cork City Hall
• Graham Hornigold, Mandarin Oriental, Hyde Park

Graham’s biography is seriously impressive.

Graham is responsible for a strong team of 12 overseeing all dessert preparation at Mandarin Oriental Hyde Park, London. This includes the carefully hand-crafted cakes and pastries of our legendary Afternoon Tea as well as banqueting menus, canapés, in-room amenities and breakfast goods.   Graham originally assisted with the closure, design and re-opening of Mandarin Oriental Hyde Park, London before joining The Lanesborough as Executive Pastry Chef where throughout his six successful years, he collected a successful array of accolades including ‘Pastry Chef of the Year’ at the Craft Guild of Chefs Awards and four Tea Awards by the Tea Guild.

Starting his career at Sopwell House, St Albans, the former country home of Lord Mountbatten, he has also graced the distinguished kitchens of the Park Lane Hotel and Lygon Arms, part of the Savoy Group.

With his modern classical style, creating signature dishes such as White Chocolate Mandarin Semi Freddos and Candied Macadamia Spicy Caramel, and his enthusiasm for assembling innovative and exciting menus, Graham is unquestionably one of the leading pastry chefs in the UK and a valued member of Mandarin Oriental Hyde Park’s Food and Beverage team.

I met Chef Graham at the new Bar Boulud at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel,  London, where we drank coipus quantities of excellent coffee, I was slightly hungover, Graham tired, Graham said he needs a kick to get going in the mornings; long working hours as a chef and two small children mean that he rarely gets enough sleep. After his morning coffee Graham drinks green tea that seemingly flows on tap in his pastry kitchen.

The first question I asked Graham was why did he become a chef. His answer was simple and succinct; “hunger”.  He learnt at home and cooked when there was the electricity to be able to cook.  He works hard, his work ethic is simple; he feels that he owes it to someone and everyone that has helped him to do well, and he wants something better for his kids, he also has a goal to never stop learning

He followed a classical training, working whilst at college (he recalls nearly being thrown out of college as he was so tired). Refreshingly Graham is quick to remember everyone that has helped in in his career; Ushers, the bakers in St Alban’s where he had his first job wrapping bread, lent him the money for his first set of knives. Lisa Phillips who taught him everything at college. His brother that used to drive him to work.

He tells me that he followed a career into pastry as it is expressive and creative, had he not been a chef he would have wanted a career in art and graphic design. Pastries make people happy and pleases them, it was obvious that Graham gets a huge amount of pleasure from people enjoying and being made happy by his creations. “Fresh is best – and taste is everything” he says.

Paul Gayler, Graham’s then boss at the Lanesborough nominated him for Pastry Chef of the Year, which he won in 2007. “It was like the Oscars!” Graham told me, he went to the event and to his delight was given the title. As a past winner he helped to judge the competition this year.

Turning to the World Chocolate Masters I learn that this is the first competition in 11 years he is taking part in (the last was the Master of Culinary Arts Annual Awards of Excellence), he attended the competition last year and met the competitors. He has planned his show-piece sculpture; which according to the rules needs to be between 1 to 2 meters high, within 60cm in diameter and on an Aztec theme. He estimates that it will take him 6 – 8 hours to create. Previously he has created chocolate displays in the Mandarin’s Park Restaurant, sadly there is nowhere to store his sculptures so they are broken down for reuse.

Graham’s kitchen is his domain; air-conditioned to a comfortable 16C to make working the chocolate easier. It is also equipped with induction hobs that he insisted that were bought when he started the job,  gas hobs being too hot and not controllable enough for chocolate work. As well as the green tea, Graham’s ipod is in the kitchen. “It is my pacemaker!” he jokes.

I asked Graham how he stays in shape with all the delicious food he works with; he replied that he is training to run the marathon for World child and in memory of his brothers that were tragically killed in a car crash.

We chatted about food in general, the perception of the general public of food and what they are happy to eat, we both agreed that there is far too much cheap, poor quality food available, and for many people cheap production, both in shops and in the catering profession is acceptable.

Graham has set himself the goal to never stop learning and pushes himself to be the best he can be, he laments the lack of skill in the profession; good pastry chefs are expensive to employ, and hard to find.

I thoroughly enjoyed talking to Graham, he really is a very very nice chap, and am very grateful for him taking an hour out of his busy day to talk to me, I am hugely looking forward to seeing him on Monday and Tuesday and watching the competition and seeing what his sculpture will be. I wish him every success and hope that he will get to go to Paris to represent the UK and compete in the final round of the competition.