A Treat of hot marshmallow fudge sauce

It’s with a slight sense of relief that Halloween is over for another year. Because, the past couple of years, we’ve been ‘disappointed’ that no eager, dressed up, cute lil’ munchkins have come knocking for trick or treat. Well, there was the one time that some manky teenage girls turned up in torn fishnets, short skirts and smeared makeup – I’m sure it was their usual weeknight outfit rather than a costume – and I threw some Minties at them with a distinct look of disapproval that probably mimicked their mothers…

This year, I asked ‘Should we buy some lollies for Halloween?’ and got a shouted ‘No!’ for an answer. So the only sweets in the house that night was a bag of marshmallows, my ‘emergency stash’ for when I need a sugar hit when I get home from work. Can you imagine receiving a handful of loose marshmallows in your trick or treat pumpkin? I am so glad no kiddies turned up.

And I used the marshmallows in this Hot Marshmallow Fudge Sauce and it was good, a definite Treat.

Hot Marshmallow Fudge Sauce

serves 4

Ingredients

1 cup thickened cream

150g dark chocolate, chopped

100g marshmallows, chopped roughly

¼ cup roasted hazelnuts, skins removed, halved

Ice cream, to serve

Method

1. Place cream in a saucepan over medium heat and bring to a simmer. Remove from heat and stir in the chocolate, until smooth.

2. Return to the stove, reducing the heat to low. Add the marshmallows and stir until they melt. Allow sauce to cool slightly.

3. To serve, put 2 scoops of ice cream into a bowl, pour over the hot fudge sauce, and sprinkle over the hazelnuts.

Store leftover sauce in an airtight container in the refrigerator. Heat on medium-low heat in the microwave for 30 seconds (keep a close eye on it, it quickly boils over).

recipe adapted from delicious (October 2012)

Ingredients, including hazelnuts, marshmallows left over from Halloween, good dark chocolate

Serve the sauce drizzled over ice cream.

Here, the ice cream flavour is honey caramel macadamia.

There are no limits on what flavour you choose - this fudge sauce is awesome on anything.

Enigmatic Chocolate Tofu Mousse

Here’s an enigma wrapped in a riddle – decadent dark chocolate paired with healthy silken tofu. In a dessert that looks and tastes just like rich, indulgent chocolate mousse. What?? Lead me to it!

This recipe actually came about because I had a pack of silken tofu that was fast approaching its use-by date – actually, it may have been a day past, but don’t tell anyone. The other half does not really like anything that even whispers “I’m quite a healthy food, y’know”, so I had to find some way of disguising the normally placid (neé boring?) nature of the tofu before it could be served up.

Now I don’t know who came up with this idea of making Chocolate Tofu Mousse (probably not a Frenchman), but once you get over the slightly medicinal soybean-ish flavour of the ‘mousse’, it’s really quite nice. That description probably doesn’t do it justice, but suffice to say that the anti-health food nut gobbled down most of this dessert and came back asking for more.  High praise indeed for food that is borderline ‘off’ (I told you not to tell anyone!)

Chocolate Tofu Mousse

serves 4

Ingredients

300g soft silken tofu

200g dark or milk chocolate, broken into pieces

1 tblsp maple syrup

½ tsp vanilla extract

Method

1.  Process the tofu: Put the tofu in a bowl and use a stick blender (or a normal blender) to process the tofu until it is smooth. Set aside.

2. Melt the chocolate: Place the chocolate in a heatproof bowl over a pan of simmering water (do not let the water touch the bowl).  Stir until the chocolate is melted, then let cool slightly.

3. Gently combine the tofu, chocolate, maple syrup and vanilla together until there are no streaky bits, then spoon into 4 small cups or glasses. Refrigerate until set, about 2 hours, then serve.

 

Ingredients, including soft silken tofu, milk and dark chocolate, maple syrup and vanilla.

The mousse looks lusciously smooth after the ingredients are mixed together, but it still needs time in the refrigerator to set.

Ahem, this sort of reminds me of Foster Clark's tinned chocolate pudding...

Tastes much nicer, though!

----

Apropos of nothing...

Here are pictures of a curious Tabitha cat.

What's that? What's that? I haven't seen that thing before. Is it food? Gimme a closer look.

Oh. It's just another camera*. 

Get that effing thing out of my face.

* I got a new camera, this one.

Inspiring Chocolate Snaps with Sea Salt

Those ‘Top 10’ lists make fascinating reading, from the top-grossing movies, to the highest-paid stars, to the best-selling books (books? how quaint!) and the most-visited blogs.

Then came the news that the ‘richest chef in the world’ is likely to be Jamie Oliver (this), ahead of other famous pot-rattlers such as Alain Ducasse, Gordon Ramsay and Heston Blumenthal. Gosh, pushing out a couple of TV shows, endorsements and cookbooks each year certainly pays off, though it must take a lot out of you. Not that I’d know, but it’s probably a good guess.

So where does that leave lesser-known, but popular food stars, like Nigel Slater? Nigel has a lovely TV series on called Simple Cooking, and he has a more gentle approach than the sometimes manic Jamie Oliver. His shows features dishes that are so easy to prepare that even a disorganised amateur (like me) will be inspired and enticed.

Here’s my take on one of his creations. Super easy to whip up, beautiful to look at and makes you want more. That makes him number One on my hit list at the moment.

Chocolate Snaps with Sea Salt

makes approx 9

Ingredients

100g dark chocolate

2 tblsp flaked almonds

½ tsp caster sugar

¼ cup unsalted pistachio nuts, chopped

Sea salt flakes, to sprinkle

Dried rose petals (optional)

Method

1. For the chocolate: Break up the chocolate into small pieces and place into a heatproof bowl over a saucepan of simmering water. Stir the chocolate until it is almost all melted, then remove from the heat and stir to fully melt.

2. For the almonds: Put the almonds on a baking tray and place into a moderate oven (180C/350F) until golden, about 3 minutes. Remove the almonds from the oven and sprinkle over the caster sugar, then return to the oven until the sugar melts, about 2 more minutes. Remove from the oven and set aside.

3. Place a sheet of baking paper onto a tray, then spread a heaped teaspoon of some melted chocolate onto the paper, into a circle shape. Scatter over the almonds, pistachios, sea salt and rose petals. You may need to press the nuts and petals into the chocolate so they stick.

4. Chill the chocolate in the refrigerator for 20 minutes before peeling the chocolate snaps from the paper to serve.

recipe adapted from delicious (July 2012)

From top: dried roses, flaked almonds, pistachios

The roses are from a pack of rose tea that I got in an Asian grocer; I just rubbed the petals off the roses for this recipe.

The almonds are sprinkled with sugar to caramelise before being dropped onto the melted chocolate together with crushed pistachios, rose petals and salt flakes.

Take my word, these chocolate snaps are really easy to make and even easier to eat.

The sprinkling of sea salt flakes is an inspired touch. I used 'Lindt dark chocolate with Sea Salt' to give an extra boost of saltiness.

New Sucre, Balmain

I don't want to speak ill of the departed, but there once was a shop in Darling Street in Balmain that sold 'old wares', mainly clothing and knick-knacks. I don't like so-called vintage shopping at the best of times (give me nice, new, clean stuff anytime) and the smell emanating from this shop was abhorrent. Some people like it, but I don't. 

So it was a happy day when they announced that they were CLOSING DOWN! There are lots of 'For Lease' signs in Darling Street, so I didn't hold out much hope for anything decent to open in its place anytime soon. My dream is for a Gloria Jean's coffee shop to open (don't hate me).

Then, signs went up saying that 'Sucre, a new dessert heaven' was opening.

Sucre is a chocolate and dessert shop, sort of like Koko Black and Haigh's, and they serve desserts and coffee, etc . Oh, how we've been suffering withdrawals since the Zumbo cafe closed.

The best thing is that they are open past 6pm (Thu to Sat), which gives us locals time to drop in and pick up dessert. That's what I did, and here's what I got.

They have some fancy cakes in a cabinet, like citron tarts, and this looked to be the best of them. Blueberry Temptation ($6) is blueberry mousse and jelly on a chocolate cake base. The texture was good although the flavour is not very strong. Very pretty, though.

This gorgeous slice is cut from a massive cake. Chocolate Chambord cake ($5) is moist chocolate cake with rich Chambord raspberry liqueur running through it. It has chocolate ganache icing and chocolate shavings on top. I love this cake! It's not too sweet (except the icing) and the raspberry flavour is fantastic. This cake was so good that I went back the day after and got another slice.

They have a wall of packaged sweets such as chilli chocolate, chocolate with chunks of strawberry, white almond roca, jars of Brighton rock, humbugs and other goodies. The prices are high-ish (around $10 for a block of chocolate). I got a 200g bag of honeycomb covered with Belgian chocolate ($10). Sweet but moreish.

So that was my first visit to Sucre. On my second visit, I got talking with the one of the owners, Ian, who runs the store with Judy. They are Balmain locals with a passion for chocolate. He let me try some of their hot chocolate (sugar-free!) which was velvety and smooth, just made for dunking in some beignets. I'll be trying them on my next visit.

Sucre is at 325 Darling St, Balmain, NSW
Website: http://www.sucre.com.au

White chocolate + Butter = Caramel

Continuing on with the white chocolate theme, here are some Caramel Mud Cakes that use white chocolate and butter (ie. 'caramel') as the base for a dense, moist, utterly delicious dessert or afternoon tea.

My taste-tester, as usual, suggested replacing the choc bits with white chocolate chunks, and as usual, my response was 'Too late now, maybe next time you can make them yourself'. The cakes still got eaten, though!

Caramel Mud Cakes
Makes 10

Ingredients

100g white chocolate, chopped
100g unsalted butter
½ cup (110g) brown sugar, firmly packed
2 tblsp golden syrup
½ cup (125 ml) milk
¾ cup plain flour
¼ cup self-raising flour
1 egg
2 tblsp dark chocolate bits (or white choc bits)
1 tblsp icing sugar

Method
1. Preheat oven to 160°C (325°F). Line a muffin pan with 10 paper cases.
2. Put the chocolate, butter, sugar, golden syrup and milk in a saucepan over low heat. Stir until the chocolate and butter are melted and everything is smooth. Leave to cool for 15 minutes.
3. Pour the melted mixture into a mixing bowl and add the sifted flours and egg. Stir to combine. Add the choc bits.
4. Pour the mixture into the prepared pan. Bake for 20-25 minutes, unit golden.
5. Put on a wire rack to cool.
6. Dust with sifted icing sugar before serving.

Ingredients; melt chocolate, butter, sugar, milk and golden syrup;

mix in flours and choc bits

Pour batter into muffin pan; cool on wire rack

Caramel Mud Cakes dusted with icing sugar

Mmm, tasty!

Sydney Rocks Aroma Festival - rock on!

Don't you just love days like this - sunny, bright, filled with convivial coffee-seeking crowds wandering the traffic-free streets. Welcome to the Rocks Aroma Festival for 2009.

In a city that is filled with festivals, this one celebrates 'coffee, chocolate, tea + spice'. It was held in the Rocks district of Sydney, redolent with convict-built structures and cobbled laneways.

We went fairly early, and it was not too crowded yet.

The first (and only) coffee we got was a mocha from PeaBerrys coffee. Nicely made, with a full-bodied flavour. Nice.

There was also a coffee stall next door, called yukk. Not sure about that name...

Coffee from PeaBerrys; or coffee from yukk?

There was some food for sale, mainly the sweet variety, cupcakes and so on. These berry/chocolate and mango mini pavlovas were very photogenic:

Cute pavolvas (forgotten the name of the company)

There were also plenty of tea stalls promoting the humble tea leaf - as a tea drinker, I found these interesting, but there weren't many samples to be had. I got a sample of Madame Flavour tea from the Good Food and Wine Show that I am keen to try again, but they weren't here, as far as I could see.

Stall selling chai; another stall with an opened flower bud tea in glass

A break for lunch saw us at the Lowenbrau stand, where I had a nibble of the 40cm hotdog ($10). It was served in a sweetish bun, and was alright. They also had available pea and ham soup with chorizo, and a massive meatloaf in a bun ($8).

Food for sale from Lowenbrau Keller

I needed something more, so a stop at La Renaissance patisserie provided a beef burgundy pie. It was full of delicious meaty chunks drenched in red wine. Yum. I ate it in a laneway while reading a wall plaque about Francis Greenaway's journey from convict to chief architect (did you know he probably forged the title deeds to his house in the Rocks?).

La Renaissance fortunately had a stall outside their shop, selling pies, sausage rolls and croque monsieur; pie shot; random phone box in the Rocks

The I love my chocolates stand had the most delicious-looking strawberries on skewers - so red, round and luscious:

Strawberry and marshmallow skewers (can be dipped in chocolate) from I love my chocolate

Flowerfruits sells amazing chocolate-dipped fruit, arranged in baskets and boxes. Very artistic and delightful...

Gorgeous arrangement from flowerfruits.com.au

The Aroma Festival also had an area called 'Flavours of the World' - think gozleme, Turkish coffee, etc.

Chinese musical performers on stage; camel rides (!?!); Turkish coffee; the lack of cool drinks for sale meant that the ice cream van under the Harbour Bridge did a roaring trade

As we were about to leave, we passed by this 'coffee masterpiece' produced by the Sydney Harbour Foreshore Authority, Grinders Coffee and Dairy Farmers.

It is made of coffees ranging from long blacks to lattes. Amazing!

A fantastic day, can't wait for next year's!

Kat tries KitKat

While waiting in line at the Asian supermarket in World Square (Sydney), I noticed some Japanese KitKats beside the counter. I'm not a small child, but even I was excited at the flavour - Muscat of Alexandria.

So I got one.

There are 2 wrapped KitKats inside the box. When you open the wrapper, the odour of really sickly sweet chocolate (or something) assails you. The bar looks like a normal KitKat, and is a creamy white colour. It tastes like....something I don't ever want to eat again.

Tabitha cat agrees, even as the smell of it leaks out of the unopened packet.



I'm keeping an eye out for other flavours, but I'd give this one a miss.

A Handful (or two) of Daims

On a recent visit to IKEA, I came home loaded down with a kilo of meatballs and almost a kilo of Daim candies.

I thought the lollies would be more like a cut-down version of a Daim bar, but it's actually quite petite, at less than 2cm in length. But it still tastes the same - that wonderful blend of chocolate, caramel and almond bits.



I also bought some cute little plastic glasses (Duktig?) that I thought would be lovely as bud vases, but I've found that they are perfect for holding a couple of Daims. And placed strategically around the house, they satisfy that constant craving for something sweet.

My dentist is rejoicing at the increased income I'm providing.

Daim in the kitchen; tempting Tabitha cat; tempting Snappy lobster; for those late night nibbles

A flying visit to Koko Black, Melbourne

There is only one thing worse than having to get up at 5.30am to fly to Melbourne for the day, and that is not having any time to do the wonderful Melbourne things, such as shop and eat.

I had to go down there for work last week, but ended up a) not having any free time (hence no lunch), and b) having to fly back that afternoon (hence no shop). Luckily, though, I arrived about 10 minutes early for my meeting, so I got the driver to drop me off a block before the client’s, ie. in Bourke St mall, right near the Royal Arcade, where the chocolate shop Koko Black resides.

The arcade itself is relatively manky, and I have never actually sat down in the shop (recently renovated). It’s always been wham bam thank you ma’am for the chocolates. This time was no exception.

I came away with some favourite blocks of white chocolate with pistachio, and dark chocolate with walnuts and stem ginger. I love Koko Black, as in my opinion, their chocolate runs rings around Haigh’s and Lindt even though they are pretty good too.

And I had to squash the chocolates into my bag, underneath some papers, so the client would not see them.

Rare outing of foodbloggers at Zumbo

Another weekend, another foodbloggers’ meetup at Adriano Zumbo Café Chocolat. Reemski did good to get such a great turnout (the location and purpose – to try the Zumbo Summer range – certainly helped, didn’t it?).

I’ve been there, done that, with the cakes, so I’ll focus on the fascinating behaviour of the genus Foodbloggerii Famishicus. Cue David Attenborough-like whisper...

“The Foodblogger’s usual habitat is restaurants, cafés, and any new food shop. They hunt singly, in pairs or in packs.

We are fortunate today to witness a herd of foodbloggers as they descend on a cake shop. Watch as they choose their colourful gateaux from the glass display case, causing long queues to form behind them as they painstakingly make their decision.

In a break from their usual modus operandi, they take their kills to a nearby watering hole (café), where they proudly display their prizes. Other foodbloggers that have gathered there gasp and whip out their cameras, the snap! whirr! snap! of lens shutters momentarily blocking out the sound of the hovering waitress who is there to take orders for coffee.

Gradually, eventually, the herd settles to enjoy their spoils. But wait! There is a rumble in the corner. It is the Maitre Patissier himself, and the humble foodbloggers prostrate themselves in his presence.”


Okay, the last paragraph is made up, but the rest of it is pretty accurate. Long live foodblogger get-togethers. And Zumbo.