Florentine or nuts and oats bars

Have you ever wanted to choose what to put in your florentine? Mine can be considered as a florentine or nut and oats bars. Here are a few tips and my recipe.

Through a trial at making the florentine I really liked, I ended up with a pretty good cereal bar. I was after an oat and nuts dark chocolate coated florentine.  I am not a big fan of the dry candied fruits in those, neither of the cornflakes nor of the very high dose of sliced almonds.

Tip 1 – the “glue” of your florentine

In the end, I realised it doesn’t matter too much what you want in it, it is important to make sure you have a good “glue”.  I looked at a number of recipes for that binding mix and opted for my own made with simple ingredients (butter, honey and brown sugar), so no glucose syrup or other fancy items.

Tip 2 – you need salt in your florentine

One thing I did wrong was having a little too much salt. So put salt but go slowly, once added you can’t remove it

Tip 3 – solid ingredients: let yourself go!

There are no limitations there. You need to think of the flavours you are combining together, this is crucial but not too hard. if not sure, stick to a few nuts, seeds, or dry fruits in addition to the oats.

Mine was a little extravagant as I went through the pantry nuts jars: brazil nuts (cut), shredded coconut, pepitas, walnuts, roasted hazelnuts, and macadamia pieces. And some dry cranberries.

Florentine cereal bar

 

Added two recipes

A very quick post today to alert you of two new recipes! I thought it would be those roasted asparagus, but no, not yet. I have been buying asparagus for a few weeks now, in the hope of having the time to document that simple recipe. The asparagus gets eaten and the recipe doesn’t get documented.

Giant Choc chip cookie

That was a school holiday activity. The giant choc chip cookie! A recipe that has been around for a year or two and I got to try a few weeks ago. Of course, this involves children.

chip choc cookie cake

A different flavor profiteroles

Change of flavour for your eclair or profiterole? Try the filling of this recipe of a chocolate raspberry profiterole. Done today while dinner was cooking.

choux raspberry chocolate

 

Look at that ruby red dessert!

Today’s upload

Today will only be a quick post to alert you to a recipe I have just uploaded: the ruby red rhubarb and berries crumble.

rhubarb

Look at that ruby red desert colour! Before we move on to spring and then summer fruits, here is a desert to contemplate with rhubarb.  The use of red wine increases the depth of the flavour, it is pretty good!

In the recipe I use mixed berries, you could use fresh ones, or just fresh strawberries as a variation. You can also choose to change slightly the ratios rhubarb to berries. Give it a go!

Other rhubarb recipes on this blog

Roasted rhubarb. Perfect for a quick dessert or to use for breakfastbefore roasting rhubarb prep

 

 

 

 

Rhubarb tarte. A classic of French countrysides. There are many variations to it.

Stewed Rhubarb.  This is 101 rhubarb, that is the basis.

stewed rhubarb

 

 

 

 

 

Rhubarb and cereals breakfast bowl, a nice way to start the day  differently.  Here it is with oats and yogurt, it would be also delicious with homemade bisher muesli.

 

 

Sharing some tested recipes

Today I am sharing some tested recipes. I have not posted for a while.   Not that I have not been cooking.  Rather I did not get a chance to take photos and choose to spend time outdoors more, maybe to offset being so much on a laptop during this increased working from home period.

I have tried quite a few recipes found online, often randomly, at other times simply because I am looking up a specific ingredient.  I will share a few below.

At the same time, I have changed my baguette recipe. It calls for less starter and overall is the same ratio of flour and water. Why that you may ask.  I realised that my baguettes were not getting as many air pockets inside that they used to. The idea was to give the yeast more “food”.  The outcome is great.

Updated baguette recipe

I bake on a weekly basis minimum.  I make nine baguettes per batch.  This works for me, this is the amount I can bake in one go, all on the same oven level.  Some baguettes go to neighbors, others we will freeze on the day of baking and unfreeze as we need them. They come out quite surprisingly well.

The updated recipe is HERE.

sourdough baguettes sourdough baguettes

 

Tried from scratch

I have been getting these gorgeous grape tomatoes from our weekly fruits and vegetable delivery. I was trying a way to display them in a dish where these tomatoes are the hero of the dish.  The idea was to make a tomato tarte.  In practice, the taste was amazing, but the bottom was too soggy the first time. The second time, I added some ricotta as a bottom layer which seemed to sponge off the juices. I also baked it at the lowest level in the oven.  Get started with your version, for me, this is still a recipe in development.

BreadNbutterkids BreadNbutterkids

Tried online recipes…and yes, all chocolate-based…

Cocoa powder biscuits

I found this recipe of cocoa cookies when looking at how to use a large quantity of cocoa powder (actually raw cacao) I have at home. This has been adopted by my children, batch four is now baking!

 Oven-baked thick crepe

This was a recipe I tried for dessert for our dinner on the 14th of July.  I remember getting the feed from GoodFood and being curious about this recipe.  That evening, we also had snails in its parsley garlic butter as an entree! That recipe is for another day.

While crepes are a national food in France and come with regional variations, this oven-baked version is not a traditional dish. The recipe is fund and worth a try. Ours puffed up on one side which had a pretty cool effect.  For the chocolate sauce, I did not do a ganache (i.e. I did not use cream), we had run out of cream. I made a water-based chocolate sauce. I think it is better for this dessert, it is lighter.  I really liked the dark chocolate vs orange taste contrast.

Hazelnut chocolate torte

That chocolate hazelnut cake recipe is from BBC Food. I can’t remember how I stumbled on it. It is a similar type of cake to the one from Flour & Stone, which recipe is already on this blog and has become a favorite. It is gluten-free.  Verdict: a very good cake, more compact than the Flour and Stone one and similarly rich.  While I used a milk chocolate ganache for the topping, my preference is dark chocolate, just a matter of preference.

 

 

 

Homemade ice-cream. Yum!

I tried two ice-creams recently. The first one, a cookies and cream ice-cream was a request from the children, it is their current favourite.  The other one was trying to reproduce a Maggie Beer ice-cream, a salted caramel chocolate ice-cream.

Also, let me tell you about the 5 min cheat ice-cream we can all make at home at the last minute and which works a treat!

One tip upfront: make sure your ice cream mix is very cold before churning, this will result in a smoother ice cream and will then be more enjoyable.  I use an ice-cream machine to churn the ice-cream. I find this method much more reliable!

Cookies and cream ice-cream

This is my kids current favourite.  Adults also love it.  This ice-cream is so simple, it is just a matter of mixing cream, milk, vanilla and sugar and it is ready to be churned! The cookies pieces are added afterwards, between churning and freezing.  Try it, it is worth it! Recipe HERE.

Salted caramel chocolate ice cream

This requires a bit more steps than the above but remains simple to make.  I like mine quite strong in chocolate. In the recipe HERE, I point out to a few adaptations to tastes.  I love the result: a rich complex chocolate ice-cream.

You can use the custard base of this recipe for a “plain” chocolate ice cream (don’t forget to add the cream to the custard base).

The 5 minutes berries ice-cream

It is more a sorbet than an ice cream. I have not tried adding some cream, it would be interesting to try. You will need a 500 g bag of frozen berries: mixed or raspberries or strawberries or what may be in your freezer. You will also need some sugar cane syrup or some icing sugar. And a blender. In the blender place the frozen berries and start blending.  If using sugar cane syrup, add until the right texture is reached. If using icing sugar, place three tablespoons of sieved icing sugar with the fruits and blend, adding a little water at the time to help with the consistency (also check if you need to add more sugar).  The liquid volume will be somewhere between 1/2 cup and 1 cup and will depend on the berries.

Serve immediately or place in the freezer for a little time if making an hour ahead or so.

 

Santa madeleines, a fun Christmas treat to prepare with children and adults

Those are Santa madeleines. This is a fun Christmas treat to prepare with children and adults.  My older daughter – who is 11 years old – ha that idea for her classmates. The teacher had placed a Christmas sock at the back of each student’s chair. I think those Santas did not stay long in the socks!

It is fun to make those Santa madeleines, not just for the children, I found that pretty cool too!

Before you start, it may be a good idea to wear aprons.

The concept of the Santa madeleine

Make a bunch of madeleines. You will need the special madeleine prints for this. The recipe I use is HERE. If you aren’t a fan of the lemon taste, don’t put any, you can put a dash of good quality vanilla extract.

You will need food colouring of a rich red colour from your supermarket.

Once the madeleines have cooled down, you can start the icing and complete your Santa madeleines! Note that the icing will need a few hours to dry fully, overnight is better.

You will need to make a white icing, a red icing and have found some little eyes bits (from the shops) for the eyes. If you want to add a pompon-like item, you can find little sugar stars for example. you will find those in the baking section of the shops.

Making and applying the icing

To prepare the icing, you need:
  • one lemon or two squeezed lemons
  • 2-3 cups of icing sugar sifted (to avoid any lumps)
  • the red food colouring

For the white icing, place a cup of the sifted icing sugar in a bowl, add about 1/2 lemon juice. Just add a little at the time and start mixing. You basically want something quite pasty, a bit like Nutella when at room temperature (or maybe a tiny bit more fluid). If you went too far, i.e. your icing is too liquid, add more sugar!

For the red, start with the red food colouring and then add the lemon juice. Aim for the same consistency a the white. Be mindful to not mix the utensils you are using.

To apply the icing on your Santa madeleines

When there are kids involved, I am all for simple tools. We used toothpicks to draw the hat border and small spoons for the beard and hat.

To attach the eyes on your Santa madeleine, put a little white icing underneath each eye and “glue” them to the madeleine.

To clean your kitchen bench

The red icing is messy (the white as well but it cleans without a trace).  Use baking soda and a bit of water to form a paste and rub your kitchen bench. it should come off very well!

The journey to this carrot galette

Who would have thought I would do a carrot galette? Not I! Here is the journey to this carrot galette which I quite like.

Flavour

About two months ago now, I ventured into a book shop and came out with the last cookbook of Yotam Ottolenghi “Flavour”. I like how the author brings flavours together using generally nothing more than what is already in your pantry.  Ottolenghi

The first one we did was the Aubergine (eggplant) with herbs and crispy garlic. Eggplant dishes have become a frequent happening since my daughter reconciliated with it and realised she had here the opportunity for adding a lot of garlic!

From a pumpkin galette to a carrot galette

One of the recipes which appealed to me was the Butternut, orange and sage galette. Since the pastry dough makes two galettes, I started with the first one, initially thinking I would freeze the leftover pastry for later.  The recipe encloses in a crispy pastry some roasted carrots and roasted sliced pumpkin on a bed of garlic and shallots flavoured mascarpone. A sticky orange glaze brings in an additional dimension. While I liked it, my family didn’t like it as much because the glaze was a bit too strong for them and they aren’t fans of pumpkin.

Take two, the next day (I had not yet frozen the remaining pastry), by changing the content to carrots only, the glaze to less orange but a bit more lemon and less sweetness in the glaze.  I kept the garlic and shallot mix with the glaze, kept the pastry dough, roasted carrots always work. Finally, I swaped sage for thyme.  HERE is the recipe.

Two slices we recently tried and liked

Today is about the story of two slices which we made recently. If I post about them it is also because we liked them!  Both recipes are easy to make. Give them a go!

The roasted almond and chocolate slice

I was looking on the internet for a quick recipe for dessert and I opened a french Facebook group on cooking. There was a post on quick dessert fixes and I found this recipe in the comments.  By placing the slice to cool and set with its chocolate topping in the freezer (must be horizontal!), you can have this for dessert! What really makes this recipe work is roasting the almond meal. It brings in so much flavour!

The recipe is HERE.

The salted chocolate and walnut caramel slice

Barre choco caramelThis is a caramel slice with a more complex toping.  The recipe is adapted from one in the Magazine Delicious.  The toping is dark chocolate with roasted walnuts (that makes them extra-crunchy) and small flakes of salt here and there which explode in your mouth when you don’t expect it!  The recipe is HERE.

And while I was preparing those pages today I almost forgot my Gateau Battu which rose and rose and is now baked and cooling down!

 

 

 

Two different chocolate cakes

I have recently made two different chocolate cakes.  These two different chocolate cakes combine additional flavours such as cinnamon, apple, or plum, chestnut. Interestingly both have dark rum.

One is a rich dense flourless chocolate cake with flavours of chestnuts and prunes and dark rum, the other one is a light chocolate mousse cinnamon, apple and dark rum dessert.

Gateau Mozart

Cinnamon chocolate mousse and apple gateau

Cinnamon chocolate mousse and apple gateau

This is a recipe from Pierre Hermé “Le Larousse du Chocolat“. Pierre Hermé is a famous french pastry chef, most famous for his macarons.  His cookbook Le Larousse du Chocolat gathers good chocolate recipes across France and some of Pierre Hermé as well.

I had not done the Gateau Mozart for some time (recipe HERE). Imagine three very thin disks of sweet shortcrust pastry with a subtle cinnamon flavour alternating with a light chocolate mousse which contains apples cooked in butter, a pinch of cinnamon and have been flambé !

Cinnamon chocolate mousse and apple gateau

Flourless chestnut, chocolate and rum cake

I found this recipe a while ago in the Delicious Magazine. I had cut out the recipe and placed in my cookbooks.  This recipe intrigued me because of the combination of chestnut and prune and rum.   With chestnut puree, you retain a lot of moisture and the flavour is undeniable. Years ago, I made up a chestnut steamed pudding. It is such a nice dessert. My curiosity was picked.

Flourless chestnut, chocolate and rum cakeFlourless chestnut, chocolate and rum cake Flourless chestnut, chocolate and rum cake

 

Quick post today to introduce the chicken and leek pie

A quick post today to bring to your attention the addition of a recipe I really like: the chicken and leek pie.  The title may seem a lot of work but in the end, can be done quite rapidly as different preparation steps can be done at the same time.

This recipe was an “on the spot” inspiration. I had not researched anything.  It started with a friend mentioning she had a chicken and leek pie in the oven. I was intrigued and gave it a go!

tourte poulet poireau

Other pies I have done (no photos were taken, unfortunately) this year are two of the Bourke Street Bakery pies. I have done them a few times and very successfully.   The only differences there were that I made a family version of them (instead of the individual pies) and blind-baked the pie casing a little (as for a quiche).  The pies were the humble beef pie and the spinach ricotta pie.

Cakes and chopping boards

A couple of weeks ago now, a friend asked for some help with food photography. The hero not being the food but the chopping boards my friend is selling. It was an afternoon marathon making cakes and presentations on chopping boards then taking photos.  When it came to food, the lemon butter cake was the hero because of the runny lemon icing. Yum!

recette du cake

My lemon butter cake, in French we call it “le cake”

I have already posted the recipe of this lemon butter cake some time ago. It is a simple cake, one recipe you need in your recipe book. Technically, nothing difficult, make sure the butter and sugar are really well beaten (by hand or with your mixer). For the runny lemon drizzling, it is simply icing sugar and lemon juice. I am amazed at how little lemon juice is required. If you put too much it will be too runny, the consistency must be quite pasty.  I made it twice recently, the second time was not so runny.

le cake
Le cake, lemon butter cake with lemon icing
le cake au citron
Lemon butter cake (le Cake) with lemon drizzling, here for a local community event (Photo S.O’Neil)

Other food products depicted on the chopping boards

Here is a little gallery of the food products depicted.  The round little biscuits are ” palets bretons“, a biscuit originated from Britany in Western France based on a very buttery shortcrust pastry.

The chocolate cake is one I make all the time, le gateau de Suzy, easy and adaptable. Here it was adapted to gluten-free (swap flour for a mix of cornflour and rice flour, the quantity being a quarter more than the wheat flour one).

The lemon butter cake with lemon drizzling is the one above, “le cake“.

The tea is green peppermint, lemon and mint.

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The season of soups

The season of soups is well underway.  I have added a light pumpkin soup to the collection of soups on the blog. And, once again, I wonder how I keep missing the one I do most often.  Last time was a week ago when some neighbours came for a cup of tea and stayed for dinner, that soup was ready in 20 minutes: 1 leek, 2 carrots, two potatoes cooked in water with a little salt, mix and serve!

How you serve the soup will probably depend on your cultural background.  In the Mediterranean area, the soup will likely be served with olive oil.  In the northern part of France, soup is more likely to be served with a dollop of creme fraiche (sour cream will do her in Australia). Here and there, you will also find additions of grated or shaved hard cheese (gruyere/parmesan) and cracked pepper, which I like.

Light pumpkin soup

There are so many ways with pumpkin soups. This one is not as thick as your traditional pumpkin soup recipe. This is thanks to the zucchini, it lightens the texture and cuts a little the sweetness of the pumpkin.  An onion slightly browned at the start brings in additional flavours.

Zucchini, onion and pumkin soup
Zucchini, onion and pumpkin soup

The soup recipe is HERE.  And if you wonder how to make great sourdough baguettes, check HERE.

Other soups already on this blog

Beetroot & ginger soup.

The colour is quite something! I like serving it as a small entry, not so much a main. Recipe HERE.

beetroot soup

Chestnut soup

That soup is not exactly a classic, it is a great way to taste the flavours of autumn. Very much worth preparing those chestnuts! Recipe HERE.

Soupe aux marrons
Chestnut Soup

 

Turnip Soup

If you want to try something different, try this turnip soup. Turnip is most often used in casseroles and big pots.  Recipe HERE.

turnip sup

Of course, there has to be a few sweets…

There have been apple started, pear chocolate flans, cakes, brioches, croissants, chocolate souffle, and the list goes on.  Taking a photo can be challenging. Here are a few.