weekend baking \\ beetroot brownies

boo woke up at 6am as usual so i've been up since 6am. it's not ideal for a saturday morning but if i look on the bright side, it means i can start my day earlier and get more done. this is becoming a pattern now, me trying to do too many things on the weekend, over exerting myself. on Sunday night, i would be exhausted and i'd ask myself, why i had to cramp so many things into 48 hours. then i would promise myself, i would take it easy next weekend. but when next weekend comes, the same thing would happen. sometimes i wish my body would work with what i had planned in my head and not give in to tiredness and fatigue. that way, i could achieve so much more. or maybe my head should work with my body not the other way around?!? 

apart from the usual groceries shopping and laundry, i managed to bake some beetroot brownies, take boo to a three year old birthday party, make dinner and bake a loaf of banana bread. i wasn't planning to bake this weekend but i found two beetroots in the fridge we bought a couple of weeks ago and i didn't want them to go to waste and i'm visiting Heidi and her 7 days old son tomorrow. in exchange for some newborn cuddles, i'm bringing a loaf of banana bread and a small gift for the baby. 

this is a recipe from the River Cottage series. a good way to incorporate beetroot in our diet. some people can't wrap their head around having beetroot in their desserts but boo loves them. 

250g unsalted butter, cut into cubes

250g dark chocolate, broken into pieces 

250g caster sugar

250g beetroot, boiled until tender, cooled, peeled and grated

150g self raising flour

3 eggs

a pinch of salt

grease and line a 20x20cm square cake tin. 

preheat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius. 

melt the butter and chocolate in a bowl. in a mixing bowl, whisk the eggs and sugar together until combined then beat in the melted chocolate and butter until smooth. 

combine the salt with the flour and sift them into the chocolate mixture. gently fold them together with a spatula followed by the grated beetroot. stop mixing once they are all combined. 

bake for 20-25 minutes. leave to cool in the cake tin and cut into 16 squares. 

\\ original recipe can be found here

weekend baking \\ brioche

i made a loaf of brioche yesterday. it was my second attempt at making brioche. the first time i made it with my KitchenAid food processor and yesterday i made it with the mixer.

i much prefer the texture using the mixer and just like making bread, it was so much easier when the machine does all the work for you. i was going to add some cinnamon and sugar to the dough and turn them into little cinnamon scrolls but Jim prefers it plain.

my initial plan was to make it for afternoon tea yesterday but i made too many plans and set too many goals for myself for the weekend, as usual. so by the time i got around to make it, let the dough rise twice and took it out of the oven, it was dinner time. anyway, Jim had some for breakfast this morning and he found it slightly dry but his mum thought it was quite good and boo loved it. i think the success of this recipe relies heavily on the 225 grams of butter. the better the quality, the more 'buttery'.

i'm hoping to make it again soon. maybe with some extra ingredients like chocolate chips, sultanas or cinnamon. but if i do make it again, i shall make it first thing in the morning.

ingredients \\

1 x 8g dry yeast sachet

1 tablespoon lukewarm water

1/4 cup (55g) caster sugar

1/4 teaspoons sea salt flakes

2 tablespoons lukewarm milk

1 2/3 (250g) 00 flour/bread flour

2 eggs, lightly beaten

225g butter, chopped and softened

1 egg, extra, lightly beaten

method \\

place the yeast and water in a bowl and mix to combine. set aside in a warm place for 5 minutes or until bubbles appear on the surface.

combine then sugar, salt and milk in a separate bowl.

place the flour, yeast mixture and egg in the bowl of an electric mixer and using a dough hook, beat on low for 1 minute. increase speed to high, add the milk mixture and beat for 10 minutes or until dough comes away from the sides of the bowl.

while the motor is running, gradually add the butter and beat for 6-7 minutes or until glossy and elastic.

place the dough in a bowl and cover with a plastic wrap. set aside in a warm place for 2-3 hours or until the dough has doubled in size.

preheat oven to 180 degrees Celsius. divide the dough into 4 equal-size balls and knead on a lightly floured surface until smooth.

place in a lightly greased loaf tin, cover with a clean, damp cloth and set aside for 1 hour or until doubled in size. make a cut in the centre of each ball with a pair of scissors and brush with the extra egg.

bake for 35-40 minutes or until golden. allow to stand in the tin for 10 minutes before removing it.

serves with more butter or jam.

\\ original recipe by Donna Hay

 

weekend baking \\ panna cotta with Campari jelly

i made this desserts for Father's Day last weekend. i'm filling it under 'weekend baking' even though there's no baking involved. i'm quite happy on how it turned out so i'm documenting the recipe on the blog for future use. 

Jim asked for the vanilla panna cotta from Donna Hay's Modern Classics cook book but i wanted to try something different. five minutes of googling later, i found this recipe which i thought is perfect because it combines both of Jim's favourites - panna cotta and jelly. coincidentally, this is a Donna Hay's recipe too. 

ingredients \\

2 teaspoons powdered gelatine

2 tablespoons single cream

500ml single cream

1/3 cup (55g) icing sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract (i used 1 whole fresh vanilla bean)

Campari jelly \\

2 teaspoons powdered gelatine

1 1/2 tablespoons water

250ml lemonade

1 tablespoon Campari

1 1/2 tablespoon caster sugar

to make the panna cotta, place the gelatine and 2 tablespoon of cream in a bowl and stir to combine. set aside for 5 minutes or until the gelatine is absorbed. 

place the 500ml of cream, icing sugar and vanilla in a small saucepan over medium heat and bring to the boil. 

add the gelatine mixture and stir until dissolved. 

pour the mixture into 4 x 3/4 cup capacity glasses and refrigerate for 2 hours or until set. 

to make the jelly, place the gelatine and water Ian bowl ands stir to combine. 

set aside for 5 minutes or until the gelatine is absorbed. 

place the lemonade, Campari and sugar in a small saucepan over medium heat and stir until the sugar is dissolved. 

add the gelatine mixture and stir until dissolved. set aside to cool. 

pour the jelly mixture on to the panna cotta and refrigerate for 1 hour or until set. 

serves 4

//original recipe can be found here. 

weekend baking \\ sticky date pudding

last night, the Chans and the Chaus came over for hotpot. winter hotpot used to be an annual affair but we didn't host one last year because both boo and baby Chan were still too young for dinner outings. 

 

what better desserts to make to share with our friends on a winter's night than a sticky date pudding? i made one ages ago using a recipe by Jill Dupleix. the recipe was originally collected  from one of the weekend papers but i somehow misplaced it. lucky there are other people on the blogosphere who likes the same recipe so i managed to find it. i shall keep the recipe on my blog so i never have to worry about misplacing it. 

ingredients \\

180g dates, pitted and chopped

1tsp baking soda

1 cup boiling water

50g butter

150g brown sugar

2 eggs

180g self raising flour, sifted

 

toffee sauce \\

150g brown sugar

250ml single cream 

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

1tbsp butter

 

preheat oven to 180 c. grease and line a 18cm round springform baking tin

 

mix dates with baking soda and pour over boiling water and set aside

 

cream butter and sugar together and add the

 

fold in the sifted self raising flour gently, add the dates mixture (liquid and all) and mix thoroughly

 

pour mixture into the prepared cake tin and bake for 30-40 minutes

 

for the toffee sauce, mix all ingredients together in a small sauce pan and bring to a boil. simmer for 5 minutes or until the sauce has thickened nicely. 

 

we served the pud with Connoisseur's classic vanilla ice cream and it was delicious. i haven't made sticky date pudding for so long i've forgotten how good it tastes. everyone went back for seconds. now i can either make another one before winter is over or wait till winter 2014. 

weekend baking // macarons

pre mix macarons by Adriano Zumbo is pretty much the only pre mix baked goods i'd buy from the supermarket. apart from those fudgy chocolate brownies by Donna Hay of course. 

i bought two boxes before i went back to Malaysia in May with the intention of giving them to Jessie because she likes baking too. somehow i left them in our storage in the garage and i didn't bring them with me. i completely forgot until i saw them when i was getting boo's nappy from the garage after we came back from Malaysia.  

i've tried making macarons from scratch in the past but it wasn't successful. i've only tried once and i didn't have the courage of trying again. it all seems too fiddly with ageing the egg whites, mixing the macarons shell mixture to the right consistency before piping them onto the baking sheet and making the filling. 

Adriano's pre mix sounds fool proof from the review i read online. the instructions are so easy to follow and the filling is provided too. 

well, i can't keep them in the garage for Jessie because they'll probably expire before our next trip to Malaysia. so i made them yesterday. this batch was not as successful as the last. the first tray went into the oven too early and the oven temperature was slightly too high so half the shell had no 'feet' and they are also cracked. they still taste good though.