Creme Caramel

After 2 testing days, finally found time to bake. I wanted to try something new and I also wanted to bake something nice for the family tomorrow, so it shall be something old, something new. Apricot Couronnes and Creme Caramel. Very intrigued by the sweet elegance of Creme Caramel, it's light and smooth, a ladies' dessert. So happens that the recipes are from the judges perfect match, Couronnes being Paul Hollywood's recipe and Creme Caramel being Mary Berry's recipe. 

(Makes 6 standard size ramekins) 

To make the caramel

160g caster sugar

6 tbsp water

Unsalted butter (to grease the ramekins) 

To make the custard

4 large eggs

600ml full fat milk

25g caster sugar

1 tsp vanilla bean paste 

1. Warm the ramekins in a preheated oven of 150 degrees Celsius. 

2. Using a heavy stainless steel pan, heat the sugar and the water, stirring till the sugar dissolves in the water. 

3. Stop stirring after the sugar has dissolved and boil till the sugar mixture turns a dark brown. (Do not stir or the sugar will not caramelise) 

4. Pour the caramel into the warm ramekins and leave aside in room temperature for it to harden. Once harden, butter the sides of the ramekins. 

5. Whisk the eggs, sugar and vanilla bean paste till combined. 

6. Heat the milk until you can hardly place your finger in the heated milk. 

7. Pour the heated milk to the egg mixture through a sift. 

8. Whisk to combine. 

9. Pour the custard into the ramekins and bake at 150 degrees Celsius for about 30 minutes. Pour boiling water into the tray making sure the water comes up to about half the ramekins. 

10. After baked, leave the ramekins in the water for about 10 minutes before leaving to cool on cooking rack. 

11. Leave to set in fridge for at least 3 hours or overnight. 

12. To unmould, run a knive around the side of the ramekin, place the serving plate over the ramekin and turn it over. Give it a good shake and the sweet caramel sauce will nicely flow to the side when the ramekins is removed. 

There! A light and elegant dessert! :)

Oh! And the Couronnes! This time, I measured the dough and divided them into 5 equal portions. They look more consistent this time round. :)

Matthew 11:30 For my yoke is easy and my burden is light. 

The 2 days were challenging and trying, but God's strength brought me through. Hallelujah! 

Parmesan Bread Sticks

Weekends special shall be Parmesan bread sticks. My husband requested for savory bread, but I didn't want to bake something too heavy. Bread sticks sounds like they can keep longer and not too heavy too. 

(Makes about 20 sticks of 30 cm)

375g bread flour

10g salt

10g yeast

200g milk

50g unsalted butter

3 tbsp grated Parmesan cheese 

Olive oil for brushing

Semolina and plain flour mix for dusting

1. Melt the butter and add the milk, heating the mixture gently. When the butter and milk mix reaches about 50 degrees (you cannot hold your finger in the liquid anymore), take it off the heat.

2. Whisk in the yeast. 

3. Whisk the bread flour, cheese and salt together to combine. 

4. Pour the butter mix into the dry mix using the hook attachment. Knead at high speed for about 6 minutes. (If you do not have the electronic mixer, you can use your hand to knead the dough till it is smooth and elastic.)

5. Press the dough into a rectangle, cover with a towel and let it rest for about 30 minutes. 

6. Press the dough with your fingertips and fold. Cover with towel and let it rest for another 30 minutes. 

7. Preheat oven at 220 degrees fan. 

8. Dust the working table top with semolina and plain flour mix. 

9. Cut the dough in half and roll each half into a rectangle. 

10. Cut each rectangle into about 10 long strips. 

11. Roll the strips from center out till you get the length you desire and twirl them together  to get patterns.

12. Let the dough rest for another 10 minutes, brush with olive oil and bake in oven with the temperature lowered to 180 degrees. 

13. There! My bread sticks. 

So there you go, bread sticks for the week. 

Unless the Lord builds the house, the builders labor in vain. Unless the Lord watches over the city, the guards stand watch in vain. (Psalm 127:1 NIV)

Red velvet Macarons

Two of my friends are celebrating their birthdays tomorrow and I'm wondering what to get for the 2 guys, plus I missed the birthday of another friend who is also going to be there. What better gifts than baking something for them right! I decided on the red velvet flavours, flavours should be good, albeit a little feminine looking. My first try at baking Macarons was the French method and failed miserably numerous times. The Italian method worked better for me, however, today I decided to risk the French method. Guess what? Success!! Wheeee!!!! I forgot to take photographs in the beginning, still not too used to documenting my bakes, but here's the recipe, adapted from jothetartqueen. Tip: make sure all ingredients are at room temperature for better results. 

(Makes about 40 Macarons)

For the macaron shells

260g ground almond

260g icing sugar

240g caster sugar

200g egg whites

0.5 tsp cream of tartar 

1 tsp red colouring

For the cheese buttercream

300g cream cheese (I used 128g laughing cow cheese and 172g Philadelphia cheese)

250g icing sugar

150g butter

1 tsp vanilla extract

1. Sift ground almond and icing sugar together.

2. Beat egg whites are low speed till foamy.

3. Add the cream of tartar and beat at medium speed till soft peak.

4. Add sugar 1 tablespoon at a time. Once all the sugar is added, beat at high speed till stiff peak. The meringue is ready when it appears stiff and glossy. 

5. Add colour and about a quarter of the meringue to the almond mixture and fold in. You don't have to be too careful with the folding. The purpose is to make the mixture easier to work with.

6. Add in the rest of the meringue and fold into the almond mixture. Once incorporated, 'rub' the mixture against the side of the mixing bowl with the spatula about 10-12 times until the consistency of the mixture forms a thick ribbon when it flows from the spatula. This called macaronage. 

7. Pipe the mixture onto prepared baking trays. To achieve consistent size, you can use macaron templates placed under baking paper which can be found on the Internet.

8. Dry the piped shells in air conditioned room of 18 degrees. This will take about 20-30 minutes. 

9. Once the shells are dry and you can run your finger across the top of the shell without sticking, they are ready to be baked. 

10. Bake the dried shells in a preheated oven at 150 degrees for about 13 minutes. 

 

11. Leave the baked shells to cool down completely before assembling. 

For the cheese buttercream

12. Cream the cheese til you get a smooth consistency.

13. Add the butter and cream till smooth.

14. Add the sugar and the vanilla extract and cream till smooth. You should get a spreadable consistency. 

15. Using a star nozzle, pipe the cheese buttercream to fill the Macarons. 

Viola! Enjoy! Love the pretty pink colours with a few accidental streaks of red because I did not mix the colours well. 

For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. (Jeremiah 29:11 NIV)

Egg Tarts

This week's new bake shall be egg tarts! I was deliberating between the traditional ones and the Portuguese ones. I did some research on both and decided on the traditional ones, convincing myself that maybe the traditional ones are healthier because crust pastry is healthier than puff pastry right?:p Because my husband said that egg tarts are too mainstream, I added cheese to some of the tarts and it's really not bad! Best eaten fresh and hot! 

This recipe is adapted from heimama blog.

(Makes 20 7cm egg tarts)

For the crust

300g plain flour

200g unsalted cold butter (cubed)

2 tbsp custard powder

2 tbsp milk powder

1 tbsp caster sugar

1 egg (lightly beaten) 

1 tsp vanilla extract 

For the egg filling

80g evaporated milk

280g water

110g caster sugar

3 eggs (lightly beaten) 

1 tsp vanilla extract 

To make the crust

1. Sift the flour, custard powder and milk powder together into a mixing bowl.

2. Add the cubed cold butter and use your finger tips to rub the butter into the flour mixture until you get crumbs texture. 

3. Add the sugar and mix well. Make a well in the middle of the bowl and add the egg and vanilla extract. Use your hands to bring the mixture together until you get a soft dough. Be careful not to over mix the dough. 

4. Roll the dough into a disc and cling wrap it before resting it in the fridge for at least 30 min.

To make the egg filling

5. Boil the sugar in the water until the sugar dissolve and leave to cool completely. 

6. When the sugar syrup is cooled completely, add the egg, evaporated milk and vanilla extract and mix well. Sift the resulting mixture 3 times to ensure that it is very smooth. 

To assemble

7. Divide the dough into 20 portions of about 30g each and roll each into a ball. 

 

8. Press the ball of dough into the tart case and 'run' your fingers clockwise along the case, pressing the dough into the case. 

9. Fill the prepared cases with the egg filling until the brim. (If you are adding cheese, you can add it at this stage- I used laughing cow cheese) 

10. Bake the tarts in a preheated oven of 180 degrees for 20 min.

11. Leave them to cool. 

Egg tarts are best eaten fresh! 

They're really not bad and I prefer the cheese ones hot, see the glorious cheese in the photo above! It's really easy to bake too. :)

Yours, Lord, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the majesty and the splendor, for everything in heaven and earth is yours. Yours, Lord, is the kingdom; you are exalted as head over all. (1 Chronicles 29:11 NIV)

Chocolate Macarons

Almost everyone I spoke to said that Macarons are extremely delicate and notoriously difficult to make. True enough, I failed seven times before achieving that tiny feet that is an indication of a successful batch. After failing miserably with the French method, the Italian method is my saving grace. I think it is because of the stability of the meringue which is the result of cooking the sugar first. Cooking the sugar is the key difference between the French and the Italian method. So here you go, a success story of an aspiring macaron expert, still far from being expert, but failed enough to know the sweet taste of success. My easy chocolate ganache Macarons. 

(Makes about 35 Macarons) 

For the macaron shells

Group A

70g egg whites

130g ground almond

150g icing sugar

25g Cocoa powder

Group B

60g egg whites

150g caster sugar

30ml water

For the ganache

2 Mars chocolate bars (53g)

60ml pouring whipping cream

To make the chocolate shells

1. Line your baking trays with baking paper. You can download Macarons template and place them under the baking paper to get uniform shapes. 

2. Sift together the icing sugar, cocoa  and almond powder (Group A) together into a large mixing bowl.

3. Mix the egg whites (Group A) with the cocoa mixture until combined.

4. Pour the sugar into a heavy saucepan with the water (Group B) and bring the mixture to boil without stirring. When the temperature reaches about 105 degrees, start beating the egg whites (Group B) at medium speed. When the sugar reaches 118 degrees, drizzle the sugar into the egg whites with the speed on high. Continue to beat the egg whites until it has cooled to about 50 degrees. 

5. Fold one third of the meringue into the cocoa moisture, you do not have to be too gentle with the mixture. 

6. When the mixture is easier to manipulate, add in the rest of the meringue and mix till the mixture drops from the spatula after a few seconds and forms a thick ribbon when it flows from spatula. (To achieve the correct consistency, you will have to 'rub' the mixture against the side of the mixing bowl repeatedly for a few times, this process is called macaronage.)

7. Pipe the ready mixture onto prepared trays and add the ears if you want cuter shapes.

8. Tap the tray on the table top for a few times in order to release trapped air. 

9. Leave the trays in an aircon room (18 degrees) or at room temperature till the surface is dry and form 'skin' (it takes about 30-40 min in aircon room and 60-90 min at room temperature to dry). 

10. Bake in a preheated oven at 150 degree Celsius for about 12 min.

11. Remove from oven and allow to cool for a few minutes before leaving them to cool on rack before filling them. 

To make the ganache

12. Cut the Mars bars into small pieces and melt them in the cream over heat. 

13. Leave to cool in the fridge till they are if spreadable consistency. 

To assemble

14. Spread the ganache on the cooled Macarons and leave in fridge to set. 

Macarons are best eaten the next day, left to warm up a bit after taking out of the fridge for a while.  The top should be crispy and the centre still chewy. 

They are lovely gifts. These were made for a close friend for her birthday. You can't go wrong with chocolate right? 

You may fail multiple times, but that first taste of success after the numerous failures is sweeter than the box of Macarons and ganache combined.

But I will sing of your strength, in the morning I will sing of your love; for you are my fortress, my refuge in times of trouble. (Psalm 59:16 NIV)