Vanillicious.com – Easy Desserts

White Hot Chocolate

How to Sweeten and Warm Up a Cold Wintry Night

It’s a tradition. Every time we’re heading to Dublin’s city centre we treat ourselves with an amazing White Hot Chocolate drink at Butlers chocolate cafe’s.

The idea to start a homemade White Hot Chocolate tradition came during the big freeze. We stayed indoors during those cold weekends. Then we decided to try and make our White Hot Chocolate drink at home.

Brewing your own White Hot Chocolate is quick and simple, and requires very few, basic ingredients. If you are more of a milk chocolate enthusiast, you can replace the the white chocolate with it. If you like you drink to have a hint of coconut flavour, add 1 tsp of desiccated coconut after the chocolate had melted. Sieve the drink when pouring into the mugs. I have to confess, I like to eat the sweet warm coconut after sieving the drink.

Last note: the recipe I present is for two drinks, since part of the fun is to drink it with someone. Otherwise, just divide the portions.

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Lemon Berry Cake

Remember my berries obsession? I didn’t bake with berries for a while, and today I bought some frozen berries, which means I’m the proud owner of 1kg of frozen berries. Berries to bake with! And perhaps snack the blackcurrants while I bake, because they are such a great snack when they are frozen or semi-frozen (not when thawed, though..)

What makes this cake so special is the combined flavours of the lemon and berries. If there’s one thing I learned since I started baking (for the sake of argument, right?), it is that the flavours of berries and lemon go so well together. Even when I prepare a home made berries yogurt (with store-bought natural yogurt!), I add some freshly squeezed lemon or lime juice. It blend so well together and the lemon enriches and strengthens the berries flavour.

A few notes regarding the ingredients:

• I actually prefer to use limes (zest and juice) instead of lemon just because I think the cake looks more interesting with the tiny greenish hints in it. If you decide to replace the lemon, make sure you use two limes, because in baking, size (and measurements) matters!
• Frozen berries are perfectly fine for this cake. I think fresh berries should be used only when they suppose to keep their original shape and when they are not supposed to be baked. A good example is berry tarts or tartlets.
• In my opinion, the best berry-mix for this cake is raspberries, blackberries, blackcurrants and redcurrants. Though once I had a mix that contained cherries as well, and I discovered they can go pretty well in this cake, too. If you prefer, you can omit the blackberries, which are (relatively) the sweetest (or less sour) berry in this mix.

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Bake the perfect Shortcrust Pastry

The following recipe for a sweet shortcrust pastry can be the base for every pie, tart or tartlets you are about to bake from now on!

There are two reasons I publish this recipe: my new rolling pin and tartlet tins. Yes, I haven’t had a rolling pin before and I found these great loose bottom tartlet tins. So why not using them as often as possible?

You can use this recipe for savoury pies (quiches) as well. Just replace the sugar with a pinch of salt, you can use a salted butter if you like (but don’t have to) and omit the lemon zest.

But before you go on and try it yourselves, here are some shortcrust pastry tips:

• Keep the ingredients cold. Moreover, using a cold bowl can be considered as a bonus.
• Shortcrust pastry can be made either by hand, or using a food processor.
• Another important tip is to work the dough quickly and not to overwork it. Otherwise, its texture won’t be as crumbly as expected of a shortcrust pastry. This is why the processor method is preferred. Though it is possible to prepare the dough by hand. That’s what I did before I had a food processor, and I can’t recall any complains! Oh, and try to keep your hands cold before preparing it.
• The shortcrust pastry should be chilled for at least 30 minutes before rolling it out. It will also help the dough shrink less when baked. Ideally you should chill the shortcrust pastry after rolling as well.
• Preferably, you should roll your pastry on a cool surface (a marble surface is just perfect), lightly dusted with flour. When baking a sweet shortcrust pastry, I sometime dust with a little bit of icing sugar.
• Blind Baking: sometime we’d want to bake the shortcrust pastry without the filling. This is called Blind Baking. When baking blind, we need to put some weight over the pastry base, so it won’t puff or rise. This is where the baking beans come for our rescue. You should roll out the pastry and line it on your tin(s). Line it with baking paper and fill it with baking beans. Baking beans can be either ceramic or dried ones. I usually use red kidney beans as they seem to be the haviest available, relatively cheap and are re-useable.
• When should we blind bake? When the shortcrust pastry is to be filled with cold or unbaked filling. Such fillings are crème pâtissière, jam, cheese filling etc. My White Chocolate and Mascarpone tarts is a good example. Some recipes will ask us to blind bake the pastry for 5-10 minutes, and then add the filling and bake for further 10-20 minutes. It usually depends on the baked filling, and it is done when the pastry requires more baking time than the filling itself.

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Vanilla Yeast Swirls

Or: Are you Brave Enough to Bake with Yeast?

I keep reading and hearing that baking yeast cakes are not for amateur bakers or beginners. Even people that bake on a regular basis avoid these type of cakes. I agree that some yeast dough can require some time and a little more skills (but only very little), when making the dough. But when it comes to the basic dough, it’s (litterally) a piece of cake. When preparing the dough, the most complicated part is kneading it. If you have a good mixer, you’re not even going to do that! So what so complicated about yeast dough?…

Another thing about yeast cakes is that you can’t be spontaneous about it, because it has to rise for several hours. Therefore, when you plan to bake a yeast cake, take into account that it will probably take at least 6 hours from the moment you start mixing the dough ingredients until you take the cake out of the oven. It usually depends on the type of yeast you’re using – fresh or dry, when dry usually takes longer to rise (from my experience), and how warm is the room where you let the dough rise.

I got the idea for this delicious yeast cake from Kugelhopf, a cake with Eastern European origins. I’ll tell you all about Kugelhopfs on a later post. Anyway, the swirl cake I made has a modern twist – its shape and filling. The shape came from a cake I noticed at the local supermarket, and as for the filling – I filled it with creme patissiere and coconut. Though you can replace the coconut with other dried fruits of your choice (e.g. apricots, raisins), chocolate chips or jams if that’s what you prefer. The good thing about these type of cakes is that you can make it as interesting as you like, and there are endless options as to how to fill your swirls. So it’s basically up to you and your preference – If you’re more of a chocolate person, you can also spread chocolate paste or Nutella instead of vanilla etc.

By the way, the yeast pastry part in this recipe is the same as published on my Sweet Yeast Pastry post. The difference is that I use only half this portion for the Vanilla Yeast Swirls.

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In spite of what you might hear or read, preparing a basic yeast dough, is (litterally) a piece of cake. When preparing, the most complicated part is kneading it, and even amateur bakers or beginners can handle that. By the way, if you have a good mixer, you’re not even going to do that!

I agree that some yeast doughs can require some time and a little more skills (but only very little), but this is the simplest of all, and I bet everybody can master it easily!

Some yeast dough tips before you get to work:

• You can’t be spontaneous about yeast cakes and pastries, because it has to rise for several hours. Therefore, when you plan to bake a yeast cake, take into account that it will probably take at least 6 hours from the moment you start mixing the dough ingredients until you take the cake out of the oven.
• From my experience, the rising time usually depends on the type of yeast you’re using – fresh or dry, when dry usually takes longer. Another factor is the room temp where the dough rises.
• A yeast dough can left to rise overnight in the fridge.
• 25g fresh yeast = 1 tbsp quick dry yeast = 1 sachet of 7 grams.
• The milk can be replaced with a similar amount of sour cream or natural yogurt.
• When working with a sweet yeast pastry, I sometimes dust my work surface with icing sugar rather than flour. There’ll be no complaints if the dough is just a little sweeter than it supposed to be (which is not too sweet anyway!).
• A baked yeast pastry can be freeze. When necessary, just warm it up again in your oven.
• The quantities specified in the following recipe are sufficient for: 1 Kugelhopf OR 2 loaf tin sized yeast cakes (25-30cm long)

So what so complicated about yeast dough?…

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Lemon Meringue Roulade

Also in this article: how to beat egg whites

Do you also have too many egg whites in your fridge or freezer? A few days ago, when freezing another egg white I realized I had too many jars, full of them. I then decided I must do something about it. I figured a meringue roulade is a great solution. When I think of meringue, I have the crunchy type of meringue in mind, from the time I was a little girl, when a cute coloured meringue swirl was called “A kiss”. This roulade has a different texture, a very soft, spongy meringue that almost melts in the mouth. An absolute yum!

The filling: I chose to fill my meringue roulade with lemon cream. If you prefer, you can fill yours with any other cream of your choice: vanilla, chocolate, berries (add some smooth berry purée of your choice to the whipped cream) etc.

It is also gluten free, so suitable for those who are allergic (coeliac/celiac disease). I think of those things because of my mom, so whenever I find a recipe suitable for her, I immediately call her, expecting her to try it the next day, if not immediately (though it never works that way..)

But before you go on and try the recipe, here are some beating egg whites tips:

• For best results, bring the egg white to room temperature before beating them. This will ensure your foamed egg whites will get into the highest possible volume.
• It is recommended to beat egg whites for meringue with a mixer. If you don’t have one, a hand mixer can do the job as well. However, it might take 2-3 more minutes to get similar result.
• When you start beating the egg whites, start at a slow speed and gradually move into higher speed.
• You should beat your egg whites until they are well firmed and fluffed (stiff peaks). At that point, you should stop! The texture should be smooth and look glossy and shiny. Another way to know your foam reached it’s max volume is to tilt the bowl, and the beaten egg white will not flow. Even if you overturn the bowl in the air (carefully!), the foam will remain in the bowl in the same shape. I never dare to do that, but I think rolling the bowl to it’s side is good enough.
• If you overbeat the egg whites, the texture will look dry and granular and it will liquify again.
• Use the beaten egg whites immediately

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Lemon Curd

Lemon curd is a great addition to many baked goodies, and upgrade them with the sensational citric aroma.

It can be served along with cakes and warm cobblers (e.g berries cobbler), fill cookies, be spread between cake layers, spread on your breakfast toast or scone, fill tarts, turn cream into lemon cream when mixed together, be mixed with yogurt and whatever you can come up with.

I will soon publish a recipe which puts into practice the lemon curd, so stay tuned!

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Vanilla Biscuits

A simple, basic cookies recipe, that can never be wrong. These cookies can be served as is, but can also be served in more interesting manners:

- You can serve the cookies with dips, such as lemon curd, smooth Berries Purée, cream cheese frosting, vanilla custard, chocolate genache and more.

- You can make sandwich cookies, by filling them with one or more of the above dips. This might take a little longer than just serving along with some dips, but this suggestion (and the following one) is a nice exercise in relaxation, creativity and can be a lot of fun, too.

- You can coat or decorate the cookies with a simple flavoured icing. Just mix icing sugar with a little bit of naturally flavoured liquid, such as freshly squeezed lemon juice, raspberry juice (that’s a good use for the liquids from frozen raspberry packs). If you wonder how much liquids, I can just say I always start with one tbsp, and add as much icing sugar as it can absorb. The ratio can be more that 1:3 (liquid:icing sugar) and the texture – a little bit thicker than a double cream. Once mixed, set aside for 15-20 minutes before applying on the cookies.

Few tips regarding the preparation:

- The easiest way to prepare the dough is by using a food processor. It’s OK if you don’t have one, just use your fingers. It’ll take few more minutes, but will end up with the same cookies.

- If you shape your cookies in different sizes, I recommend you’d bake them in more than one batch. In each batch bake the shapes that are similar in size.

Happy baking and decorating!

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Lime Pie

How to describe this pie in one word: Sensational!

A simple American dessert, requires very few ingredients and little effort. Also known as Key Lime Pie, when using limes from the Florida keys. As of 2006, it is the Florida state pie.

The filling should be slightly yellowish, since the lime juice is more yellow rather than green, but also due to the egg yolks. Mine is slightly more greenish, due to the added lime zest, and it can be noticed. If you happen to find a greenish lime pie but no visible zest, it most probably contains food colouring. I would keep my distance from such pie.

An interesting fact: early lime pies weren’t baked at all, due to a chemical reaction between the condensed milk and the lime juice when combined, which causes the filling mixture to thicken without baking. These days, however, the consumption of raw eggs is not recommended. Therefore, the pie is being baked for a short time, just enough to cook them, but it also thickens the filling more than the chemical reaction alone.

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