One for my Dad

My dad regularly tells me that he is the biggest fan of my blog.  Apparently he makes my little sister read it to him and my mum in a silly voice whenever she’s visiting.  Which is kind of nice.  I’m glad he hasn’t found my sweary, ranty twitter account yet though as I think that would probably make him much less proud of me.

Anyway – this one is for him, because the things that I baked are coming North with me later tonight .

Nutella Twist Bread

I saw a picture of this on the internet a while ago, in the guise of a gluten free recipe and although I really loved the idea behind it I wasn’t so sold on the actual recipe.  So I used the dough recipe from my cinnamon buns instead.

Once the dough had proved and been knocked back, I cut it in half and rolled each piece out flat before spreading it thinly with Nutella (other branded chocolate spreads are available)

I then rolled the dough and chocolate squares up into sausages, transferred them to a baking tray and popped them in the fridge for half an hour.

When the half hour was up, I took a sharp knife and starting about an inch away from one end cut down the middle of the dough sausage.  I then twisted these over so the freshly cut chocolate layers were facing up.

The two sides were twisted together carefully.  I squidged down the ends to hold them together and then pushed the uncooked loaf in from each end to make it shorter and fatter.

The dough then proved again, before being washed down with an egg wash and baked at 180 for 20 minutes.

Oh and I made a quick set of these as well, as The Very Tolerant Boyfriend is slightly intolerant to chocolate

 Half of each have gone off to work with The Very Tolerant Boyfriend and the other half are in the back of the car to come up to Shropshire with us later on.  Wonder if my dad is actually going to enjoy them or just make polite faces….

Taking on Pinterest #359

I quite like (minor understatement) pinterest for inspiration and ideas.  Sometimes it works, sometimes it goes horribly wrong (the balloons, embroidery thread and starch Easter egg idea does NOT work in case you were wondering and there was starch everywhere for weeks afterwards).  I kind of thought that this would be another of those Pinterest disasters, but much to my surprise it worked out perfectly.  So I present chocolate balloon bowls.

The concept is quite simple, blow up some balloons to the desired size.  Melt some chocolate and allow it to cool slightly.  Dip the bottom of the balloons in the chocolate and allow to cool while standing on a piece of baking parchment.  Burst the balloons and pull the rubber away from the inside of the bowl and TAH DAH chocolate bowls.

I used two bars of chocolate to make four bowls.  There is quite a bit of wastage as you need to be able to dip freely without smearing against the glass bowl the chocolate has been melted in.  I also put a couple of coats of chocolate on the balloons, this could probably be negated it I had allowed the chocolate to temper more.  I popped them in the fridge for an hour to cool.

The tips for this one are to run your hands under a cold tap before handling the bowls and to touch them as little as possible – they melt fast. 

I served them with an Eton Mess inside, but fresh fruit would probably have been healthier.

and only slightly rustic looking

Sweet Treats

As I may have mentioned at some point I quite enjoy playing with fire and blow torches.  Although I liked the crème brulee we made on holiday last year I do prefer a non-baked version.  So I made these up for Valentine’s day dessert (I know it was ages ago, I’ve been busy).   

·         600ml/1 pint double cream

·         ½ vanilla pod split lengthways

·         6 large free-range egg yolks

·         2 tbsp caster sugar, plus extra for sprinkling

Take the double cream and pour into a non-stick saucepan.  Heat gently and at the same time, cut the vanilla pod in half and scrape the seeds out and deposit into the pan along with the rest of the pod.  Keep this over a medium heat until almost boiling.

Beat the eggs and sugar together until combined, but do not over beat.  The mixture should not become light and fluffy.

Pour the warm cream mixture over the eggs and stir in until combined.

Return to a low heat and cook until the mixture has thickened.  Stir constantly and do not allow to boil.

Test to see if the custard is ready by running your finger through the custard on the back of a spoon. If the custard stays apart, it is ready. Remove the large vanilla pods at this point

Pour the custard into ramekins and put in the fridge overnight.  When you are ready to serve, scatter caster sugar over the top before caramelising with a blow torch.

You can do lots of different things with this basic recipe.  In the summer I like to add some fresh raspberries to the bottom of the ramekins before pouring in the custard and if you wanted to make them chocolate crème brulee you can melt in 80g of plain chocolate to the cream before you add it to the eggs.