Chocoholics anonymous (aka Happy Easter!)

I knew there was a reason I had been saving 15 blocks of Green and Blacks in my store cupboard!  Easter has been the perfect excuse to crack into the chocolate recipes.  Cakes, macarons... I'm just regretting having studded the hot cross buns with fruit instead of chocolate. 

Here is my third macaron attempt, but the first using an Italian meringue.  A halfway puff between the earlier two French meringue attempts.  The shells are seriously the peskiest things to make but the choc orange ganache filling was the other extreme - with just four ingredients, three of which were chocolate, cream and butter, it was pretty hard to stuff this up. Heavenly!

Some gluten free chocolate cupcakes with my beginner piping skills.  Just wait five months and then you won't be laughing...

 

Lastly, shots of the two batches of hot cross buns.  The first was a really interesting recipe with a laminated bread dough, made just like puff pastry with layers and layers of butter and dough.  The second was made with a dough fermented overnight, flavoured with orange peel, freshly ground nutmeg and allspice berries, and stuffed with dried cherries, cranberries, apricots and raisins.  Why does Easter only come once a year?! I could happily scoff on hot cross buns daily.

Two blocks of Green and Blacks left. What can I whip up tomorrow?!

Su-pear yummy!

With work now finished, and no reason to compulsively look at the blackberry every five minutes, today was a celebration!  An Ottolenghi pear, cranberry and almond cake was on the menu, and at the risk of one pear pun too many, can I say that Ottolenghi is a su-pear hero with the recipes he creates.  I've given up stickering recipes in his cookbooks because I just want to make every one.



Incidentally, I have been reading a food styling book for the last week but no need to use the recommended red spraypaint for this yummy organic fruit!

A little bit of balance

With my new healthy focus on organic wholefoods, I'm still a firm believer in food bringing pleasure and harmony.  So today was all about finding that happy balance in baking land.

Yes, there may have been a very naughty four layer black forest cake for morning tea, sandwiched with a white chocolate and cherry jam mix and coated in a dark chocolate ganache....

 ....but it was all equalled out by a macrobiotic spinach, mushroom and sesame tart for dinner, served with a herb and lemon salad.  Redemption of sorts!

Crash course in baking

Another weekend, another practice opportunity! Today's baking schedule started at 6am and is still going at 8.30pm as I type this with my pistachio and nectarine crumble in the oven and two more loaves yet to bake. A few shots below of some of the more interesting outcomes.

Seeded spelt rolls. Little did I realise the power of the leaven and they all crashed into each other in the oven. The upside was you had to tear them apart, just like in a professional bakery!!!

Who said egg sandwiches are passé? Heidi Swanson's take on glamming up the old egg sambo below with some lemon, herbs, celery and organic Greek yoghurt thrown in the mix. Pretty yummy on a spelt roll straight from the oven.

And finally, not theoretically baking but another Heidi Swanson special with a sprouted chickpea pattie, made with microgreens and sourdough crumbs, split and used in place of a roll. Served with grilled veg and my very favorite recipe of the moment, a roasted capsicum, walnut and chilli sauce called muhammara, recipe courtesy of, you guessed it, Heidi Swanson! She's such a superstar and a valid food hero on this blog being a San Franciscan native.