Tag: chocolate

Poires Belles Helene

A perfect light dessert with a little chocolate treat! A poire belle Helene is a poached pear, covered in dark chocolate sauce.  There is nothing very technical in it. This recipe includes a small crumble, if you have some biscuits, you can omit the crumble and serve with a biscuit.

poached pear

Serves 6 people

Ingredients:

For the poached pears

  • 1 beurre-bosc pear per person, not too ripe
  • Juice of 3 oranges
  • 2 cups of dry white wine
  • 1 roll of cinnamon
  • ½ vanilla bean seeds scrapped
  • 3 star anises
  • 2 cups white sugar
  • 1 lemon juice
  • 6 cloves
  • 5 grains all spice – whole (can omit if you don’t have any)
  • 1 to 2 cups of water

For the crumble

  • ½ cup of shelled pistachios
  • 1 cup of plain flour
  • ½ cup of brown sugar
  • ½ cup of soft (not melted) butter

For the chocolate sauce:

  • 100 g of 70% cooking chocolate in pellets or cut into small pieces
  • 2/3 up of the poaching sauce

poached pear

Method:
  1. Peel the pears being careful to keep the stem.  Once peeled, extrude with the the end of a pointy knife the bottom end to remove the seeds.
  2. In a saucepan, place all the poaching ingredients. Only put one cup of water at this stage.  Bring to a simmer. Once the sugar is dissolved, place the pears in the saucepan. Add just enough of the last cup of water to cover (there may be little parts sticking out, don’t worry).
  3. Simmer for about 30 minutes or until soft when inserting a skewer in a pear. For those pears slightly sticking out, roll them from time to time.
  4. Leave to cool in the saucepan away from the heat until needed.
  5. For the crumble, place all ingredients in a food processor and blend until combined. Spread on a baking sheet, and bake for about 10-15 minutes in an oven on 180°C.  Make sure to stir through every few minutes to ensure the crumble pieces do not stick to each other. When it comes close to 10 minutes, it tends to cook very quickly, so watch out to avoid burning it.
  6. When the crumble is ready, remove from the oven and allow to cool completely.
  7. For the chocolate sauce, pour 2/3 cup of the hot poaching juice on top of the chocolate, stir until melted.
  8. To serve: place a pear in the middle of a place, standing up. Use a ladles to pour the chocolate sauce right over the stem of the pear until fully covered. Place 2 tablespoons of the crumble on one side of the pear. Serve.

Note: the pears can be room temperature or warm.

 

poached pear

It ended up with chocolate

It ended up with chocolate

I can’t remember how it all started.  I think I was browsing through some cookbooks .  As it happens (a lot) I got interrupted after a few minutes and left the books on the coffee table.  Fast forward a few hours, I can’t remember, my 8 y.o ., like a curious little possum, goes through the books and starts selecting pages. I am not even aware of that at the time.  In the end, we got these chocolate crackle tops for lunch boxes and a beautiful chocolate cake for dessert. Yes, you guessed right, those cookbooks I was browsing were all chocolates books, this is how it ended up with chocolate!

Chocolate crackle tops

These chocolate crackle tops are quite interesting.  By the way, the recipe is HERE.   It is best not to use a strong chocolate (50% or so is fine) and to add, as per the recipe, a good cocoa. And yes, please make me a favour, use a good cocoa and even preferably a dutch cocoa! But if like me you only have 70% cocoa chocolate handy and couverture chocolate on top of that (that was for the first batch- we did two batches over the week), you need to adapt a little the recipe.  I would recommend sticking to compound chocolate (i.e. your supermarket cooking chocolate) for this one.

chocolatebiscuits

We had a good time doing those, I think Ambrine has now mastered the centrifugal icing sugar coating force! Instead of pushing the ball in the icing sugar, we used a light plastic bowl with a handle which she could spin rapidly. It is a lot of fun to have several balls racing on the edges of the bowl (and not flying everywhere!).

Coating in icing sugar , ready, steady, roll!

And the chocolate cake?

mmmmm.  I need to do it again! Just for the photo, of course! It is a recipe from Valli Little called the Yin Yang Chocolate cake. Coming soon…

Chocolate crackle tops

These chocolate crackle tops are easy chocolate biscuits to make. They suit all ages, can be used for parties, lunch boxes, morning or afternoon tea or with a simple dessert like yoghurt or stewed apples.  This is a recipe perfect for involving the children: mixing, adding ingredients including breaking the eggs, measuring ingredients, forming balls, coating the balls,…

I tried the original version and a version where I removed the cocoa because I was using a strong chocolate and did not see necessary to add the cocoa. Below is the original version and how to apply the variation.

Round 2, icing sugar finely sieved

Makes 35-40

Ingredients
  • 200 g dark cooking chocolate
  • 90 g of butter
  • 115 g of caster sugar
  • 5 ml of vanilla essence
  • 200 g of plain flour
  • ½ tsp of baking powder
  • Pinch of salt (omit if using salted butter)
  • 25 g cocoa powder
  • 100 – 150 g of icing sugar for coating (see recipe)Tip:  Using or not cocoa powder. if you use a chocolate with a high level of cocoa, adding the cocoa will make the biscuits too strong in chocolate.  Either use a 50 % cocoa cooking chocolate and the cocoa or if using a 70% chocolate, do not add the cocoa and add one tablespoon of flour (or the dough will be too wet).
Method

 

  1. Melt chocolate and butter until smooth
  2. Add eggs one at the time, mixing in between each egg
  3. Add sugar
  4. Stir in vanilla essence
  5. Add in at once the flour, baking powder and cocoa powder.
  6. Your dough would be quite soft. Place a plastic film on top and place in the fridge for at least an hour (or a day!).  If you have used couverture chocolate, you dough would be fine to use straight away (couverture chocolate crystallise quite quick when cooling down).
  7.  Once the dough is hard enough, remove from the fridge.  Heat up the oven to 180 deg C. Use an ice-cream spoon or any strong spoon to form walnut size pieces. Roll in a ball. Place a couple tablespoons of icing sugar in a larger bowl and dust the balls all over.  Remove any excess by shaking it off.
  8. Place on a baking sheet covered with a baking paper or buttered. Insert in the oven for no more than 10 minutes (between 7 and 10 minutes). The top should be lightly firm. Transfer to a cooling rack.  You will need two rounds or two baking sheet to bake all the biscuits. Keep well for a week in a box.

Tip: Ensure the icing sugar is fully free of lumps for an even result.

Version 1- original (as you can see I had not sieved the icing sugar to full dust)
Version 2 – very thin coat of icing sugar , this batch omitted the cocoa

 

4 minutes chocolate mousse cake

A 4 minute chocolate mousse cake?

Yes! This is a chocolate mousse cake baked in 4 minutes in a traditionnal oven (fan-forced).  It is rather strong in chocolate, so you don’t need much, but the first mouthful was Waho! I would not do it too often because it is rather strong, but will definitely do it again.

chocolate mousse cake, ready in 4 minutes
I rediscovered this recipe in some magazine clips I had not touched for a while.  My clip does not say where it comes from.

You need 10 minutes to prepare and 4 minutes to bake it!

Ingredients:
  • 180 g of dark cooking chocolate 60 % cocoa minimum
  • 50 g butter
  • 30 g flour
  • 30 g caster sugar
  • 3 eggs separated

Choose a mould not too wide, mine is about 18 cm diameter, closer to 15 cm would be better aesthetically.

Method:
  1. First, preheat the oven to 240°C
  2. Melt the chocolate together with the butter either in bain marie or in the microwave
  3. In the meanwhile, beat with a large whisk the egg yolks and sugar until light and moussy
  4. Add the melted chocolate and butter
  5. Then, add the flour
  6. Bring the eggwhite to snow and fold in carefully.
  7. Butter and flour the tin. Pour the mix in gently. Bake for 4 minutes.  You want a thin crust on the outside and a moist middle. By the way, the recipe says, do not bake for more than an extra minute, the oven does not make so much difference.
  8. Cool down in the tin before unmoulding and placing on a plate.
  9. Dust with cocoa and/or icing sugar
  10. Serve with cream.

 

chocolate mousse cake, ready in 4 minutes

chocolate mousse cake, ready in 4 minutes

 

Gluten free hazelnut & chocolate friand

A gluten free hazelnut chocolate friand? A friand? To hard? Not at all! This one (at least) is super easy, believe me.  And even better mega delicious. This recipe is derived from a recipe by Donna Hay.

It has both chocolate (chopped) and cocoa, as a result it is really indulgent on the chocolate.

Tip: if you don’t have GF flour at home, use brown rice flour or if you are not coeliac or gluten intolerant, use plain flour. 

Tip: if you don’t have friands moulds, ou can use a small muffin tray.

Makes 12 friands

Ingredients
  • dry ingredients:
    • 1 cup hazelnut meal
    • 1 2/3 cup of icing sugar
    • half a cup GF flour
    • half a cup cocoa
    • 1/2 tsp baking powder
    • 200 g dark cooking chocolate chopped
  • wet ingredients:
    • 5 eggwhites
    • 140 butter

and 2 tablespoons of chopped hazelnut.

Method:
  1. Pre-heat the oven to 180°C.
  2. In a bowl place all the dry ingredients together, mix.
  3. Add the wet ingredients i.e. the butter, eggwhites. Mix to combine.
  4. Butter and flour a print mould (except if using silicone ones).
  5. Fill each print with one large spoon of the mix
  6. Bake for 20 minutes or until cooked through. Cool in the pan until about cold.

Enjoy!

friand choco hazelnut

friand choco hazelnut

Lunch box chocolate fondant slice

Yum, yum ! And for bonus: this lunch box chocolate fondant slice is super mega easy and quick to cook.  It is pretty much the case of mixing all ingredients together (no skills required there) and placing it in brownie tin or slice tin, bake it and this is it!  In terms of effort value vs results, it rates pretty high!

That recipe is based on a can of condensed milk (replace  sugar and need for butter).

If you are not going to use all of it within the coming days, best is to wrap in cell cling wrap and freeze.  Place them in the kids lunch box, by the time they will eat them, they will be defrosted.

Now, on the butter: I tried without and with butter (70 g), both are quite satisfactory, the butter version is a little more rich and in term of taste a little more complex. The children did not make the difference between the two versions.

choc fondant slice

Makes 12 lunch box serves

Cooking time, with no added butter – 10 min (almost double if adding butter)

Ingredients:
  • 1 can (about 400g) of sweet condensed milk
  • 200 g of dark cooking chocolate
  • 4 eggs
  • 70 g of butter (only if you want to add a little more richness, otherwise omit)
  • 50 g of flour
Method
  1. Pre-heat oven to 180°C
  2. Butter and line a brownie tin
  3. Melt the chocolate (and butter if adding)
  4. Add the eggs one by one and the condensed milk. Then add the flour.
  5. Pour in the prepared tin. Make sure not to trap air bubbles as the batter is quite thick especially if not using the butter (to make sure, tap your filled tin on the bench a couple of time, this will make any bubble break)
  6. Bake until cooked, the slice must be firm when touching (not wobbly), the edges will show a few crackling marks.
  7. Cool down for a few minutes before cutting in portions.

choc fondant slice

Dark chocolate and salted caramel truffle

This recipe for dark chocolate and salted caramel truffles is adapted from the Larousse du Chocolat (Pierre Herme).

Makes about 80 truffles

Ingredients:
  • 480 g of dark cooking chocolate (55 % cocoa minimum)
  • 260 mL of thickened cream (or plain cream, i.e. you don’t want the ones with the gelatin in them)
  • For the caramel: 190 g of caster sugar and 40 g of salted butter
  • Dutch cocoa for dusting
Method:
  1. Cut the chocolate in small pieces with a large knife (not required if using drops or small pellets)and place in a large bowl.
  2. In a thick bottom saucepan, heat up the sugar with 1 tablespoon of water.  When the sugar starts to melt (and anytime through the caramel making process), do not stir with a spoon, whisk or any tool. Shake the saucepan if you want to distribute the colouring process.
  3. In the meanwhile, bring the cream to the boil (stop it at the first sign of boiling).
  4. When the caramel has reached a dark and rich colour, add the butter.  From now on you can use a whisk or wooden spoon. Be very careful of splashing, caramel can burn a lot. Add the cream, mix for a minute of so.
  5. Pour over the chocolate and mix until you obtain a smooth ganache.
  6. Transfer in a container (rectangular take away boxes are pretty good for that) over a thickness of 1.5 cm.  You may need 2 boxes.
  7. Close the box and refrigerate for 3-4 hours or until firm.
  8. Turn the box and unmold over a chopping board.  Cut strips 1.5 cm apart, then in the other direction.
  9. Roll each cube in a ball using your fingers and palms of your hands
  10. Roll in dutch cocoa. Store in an airtight container in the fridge until serving. The truffles can stay at room temperature or a few hours.

 

Chocolate truffles

This recipe makes about 50 truffles.  The name refers to the likeness to the highly prized truffles grown in the earth and used in refined cooking. Those chocolate truffles are easy to make and just delicious. They keep for a couple of weeks. Make sure you use a good quality chocolate,

Ingredients:
  • 330 g of dark chocolate 70% cocoa
  • 25 cl (250 ml) of cream
  • 50 g of good quality soft butter (real butter please, no substitute here)
  • Cocoa for rolling (I like using dutch cocoa)
Method
  1. Cut the chocolate in small pieces with a large knife, place in a bowl.
  2. Boil the cream in a saucepan
  3. Pour the cream on top of the chocolate, cover for one minute then mix well until all the chocolate is melted.
  4. Add the butter, mix well.  Place in a shallow container and refrigerate for 2 hours minimum until firm.
  5. When ready to shape the truffles, put a tablespoon of cocoa in a soup plate or large bottom bowl.  With a teaspoon, scoop out the equivalent of a macadamia nut (for those who don’t know macadamia, it is between a walnut and an hazelnut). Roll in your hands to form a ball, then place in the cocoa and move the bowl around or roll the truffles with your finger tips.
  6. Transfer to a serving plate or storage container.

This recipe of truffles does not have eggs, it will keep in the fridge for over a week.  You may find they disappear before!

Tip: If you are using couverture chocolate, you need to be a bit more careful when doing the ganache to prevent splitting when adding the butter. you may want to melt 2/3 of the chocolate first, then the next 1/3 to the mix.  If the ganache splits, warm it up slowly mixing until it comes back together.

20160305_130844

Chocolate and raspberry tart

A chocolate and raspberry tart! Miam! It also has a balsamic vinegar finish. The raspberries are not only on top but also mixed with chocolate.

This recipe is one from Pierre Herme’s book “Le Larousse du Chocolat”.  Recipes in the book are not necessarily Pierre Herme’s own recipes but have been selected by him across his professional and personal network.

This is the case for this one, it comes from a Patisserie in Strasbourg, in Eastern France, and is by Thierry Mulhaupt.

raspberry chocolate tart

Ingredients:

For the pastry:

  • 1/2 tsp vanilla powder
  • 150 g soft butter
  • 95 g icing sugar
  • 250 g of flour
  • 2 pinch of salt (except if using salted butter)
  • 1 egg
  • 30 g of almond meal

This will make 600 g of pastry. You only need a bit more than half. Keep the rest for another dessert, it will keep in the fridge a few days.

For the filling:

  • 20 cl of thickened cream or liquid creme fraiche
  • 250 g of raspberries
  • 270 g of dark cooking chocolate (64%)
  • 70 g of soft (NOT MELTED!!) butter

For the garnishing:

  • 150 g of raspberries (fresh)
  • balsamic vinegar
Method
  1. Mix all the pastry ingredients without working the dough. That is combined them quickly. Place in cell wrap and rest in the fridge for at least 2 hours.
  2. Use a 22 cm diameter tart tin. Butter it. Roll the pastry about 4 mm thick. transfer to the tin.  Trim the edges.  Pick the bottom of the pastry with a fork (this prevent air bubbles forming during cooking).
  3.  Place the dish (with the pastry ready to bake) in the fridge for half an hour before baking. Preheat the oven to 180°C.
  4. Place a piece of baking paper at the bottom of your tart, add baking stones (or beans or rice).  Bake for 17 minutes or so (depending on the oven). Remove from the oven and remove the baking stones. Cool down the tart base on a cooling rack (handle gently, it is fragile).
  5. To prepare the garnishing, juice the raspberry through a sieve.  Cut the chocolate in small chunks.  Heat up the juice, heat up the cream to boiling point.  Place hot cream and juice on top of the chocolate. Mix until melted. Add the soft butter and mix until fully incorporated.
  6. Place your tart shell on the serving plate.  Pour in the chocolate mix, it will level on its own.
  7. Use the garnishing raspberries to place on top pushing a few down, little hole up.
  8. Fill those raspberries with balsamic vinegar using a little spoon.

raspberry chocolate tart raspberry chocolate tart

 

Gateau au chocolat de Suzy

The gateau au chocolat de Suzy takes its name from the woman who created this chocolate cake, called “Suzanne”.  The recipe was published in the “Larousse du Chocolat” from Pierre Herme.

This recipe is pretty easy.  There is not need to know how to separate and fold eggwhites, really simple!  The cake is delicious and quite chocolaty but not so much that children cannot have it.

gateau au chocolat de suzy

Difficulty: Easy

Preparation time: 10 min

Cooking: 30 min

Serves 8

Ingredients:
  • 250 g of dark cooking chocolate at 60-64 % (or a combination of 70% and 50% or just go for 70%)
  • 250 g of salted butter + a little bit to prepare the mould
  • 4 eggs
  • 220 g of caster sugar
  • 70 g of plain flour + a little more for the mould

Note: The ingredients include butter and flour to prepare the mould, which works really well with this cake.  If you prefer lining your mould with baking paper (sometimes much safer), you will not need the extra flour.  If you are using a silicone mould, there is no need to butter and flour your tin or to line it.

Tip: you must use a good chocolate, in Australia you can find the Nestle Plaistowe in about all supermarkets (they have 50 % and 70%).

Method:
  1. Preheat the oven on 180°C
  2. Break the chocolate in pieces and melt with the butter over a bain marie or other method of your choice. You can microwave full power on 1 minute and then per 30 seconds if not sufficient.
  3. In a bowl, whisk the eggs and sugar together until pale and fluffy.  Make sure you give a good whisking,  you can even get out your kitchenAid or similar here.Tip: if using a whisk, use a large one, it will be much easier and quicker to get a fluffy pale creamy mix. 
  4. Add the melted chocolate-butter mix.  Mix in the flour.
  5. Butter and flour a 22 cm round tin (or similar size). Alternatively, you can choose to line the tin with baking paper on the base and butter&flour the sides.
  6. Pour the batter in the tin and bake for about 30 min (this will change slightly depending on the oven and the diameter of your tin).  The cake is cooked when a skewer inserted through the center comes out dry (there may be  bit of chocolate on it, the cake is cooked as long as it is not liquid) or when there is no more wobble when you place your hand over the center of the cake and gently move the top.
  7. Cool down on a grid: slide it if you are using a pull apart tin or turn it over twice gently so the bottom part is on the grid.  If you are using a silicone mould, leave it to cool in it.

gateau au chocolat de suzy gateau au chocolat de suzy

The beetroot chocolate brownie

This one is a winner. Definitely. It was gone in such a short time from the kitchen bench, it did not even have time to move from it!

I tried some beetroot chocolate cake recipe a while ago, but was not completely won over.  This time it is different. The recipe is inspired from BBC Good Food.  I added cocoa nibs and pieces of chocolate.

beetroot chocolate brownie

Ingredients:

This makes quite a large brownie. For a 18×18 cm square tin divide by two.

  • 500 g beetroot steemed (3-4 medium beets)
  • 100 g unsalted butter, plus extra for the tin
  • 200 g dark chocolate (70% cocoa)
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • 250 g  caster sugar
  • 3 eggs
  • 100 g plain flour
  • 30 g dutch cocoa powder
  • 100 g cocoa nibs
  • 150 g dark cooking chocolate cut in chuncks (0.5 mm max)

brownie a la betterave

Method:

  1. Peel the beetroot, steam the beetroot. Place in the food processor to reduce to a mash.
  1. Heat oven to 180°C.
  2. While the beetroot cooks, butter then line the baking tin. Melt the butter and chocolate together. Add to the beetroot and blend until super smooth. Add the cocoa.
  3. Put the sugar and eggs into a large bowl or food processor, then beat until thick, pale and foamy, about 2 mins. Add in the chocolate-beetroot mix.  Add the flour and gently fold in using a large spatula.
  4. Pour into the prepared tin, place on top the cocoa nibs and cut chocolate chips and using a fork insert it into the mix.  You can alternatively add them at the same time as the flour, it should work, I have not yet tried that way.
  5. Bake for 25 mins or until it starts to crack (but not too much) on top and is just set in the middle.
  6. Cool completely in the tin, then cut into squares and dust with cocoa powder.

IMG_0027

Chocolate Mousses

You did read properly “Chocolate Mousses” with a “s” at the end.  Yeah!!!

This means we get to speak about a few versions of this hero dish.  There is no single recipe for chocolate mousse, the recipe to use depends on the application: is it to be served on its own? or is it to use as a layer in a cake?

I have also ventured into the word of raw and vegan people by trying the raw chocolate mousse in which avocados are used to create the body of the mousse. I even tried the water chocolate mousse from Heston Blumenthal, which was a lot of fun!

The classic French Chocolate Mousse

Use: dessert in individual portions or in a large bowl to share.

Ingredients: good dark chocolate and eggs ONLY (no sugar, no cream).

Accessibility: super easy to make and always a winner. Needs to be done in advance

I love this one, for me it is “the chocolate mousse”.  Mum used to make a large bowl of it for the family and guests.

RECIPE HERE

Mousse au chocolat

The chocolate whipped cream mousse

Use: in proper cooking, it is used as part of a layered cake but you will find it as a stand alone recipe if you google chocolate mousse in Australia (and probably most anglophone countries).  When I am served such a mousse in a cafe or restaurant, it is for me a massive let down (and I won’t eat it, not a fan) and generally says much of the restaurant. However, in a layered cake, where it is associated with some more complex flavours, these mousse has its place.

Ingredients: cream whipped and mixed with chocolate powder, cocoa and sugar or at best cooking chocolate.

Accessibility: super easy. Should be done earlier.

The mixed version

unctuous chocolate mousseI happen to make recently (not for the first time) a mousse which we really like.  It is quite strong and is often served with some fruity notes and a crunchy element. This mousse is decadent! It is yummy and you must stop yourself to avoid cleaning off the bowl!

Use: As an element of a dessert. Likened to little chocolate pots desserts. The texture is silky and shiny!

Ingredients: chocolate, eggwhite, water, sugar, thickened cream

Accessibility: super easy. Needs to be done in advance.

Recipe HERE.

mousse choco onctueuse (1)

The raw avo chocolate mousse

Use: dessert or in a raw chocolate tart.  Loved by vegan, raw food adepts.

Ingredients: cacao, avocado, liquid sugar/sweetener

Accessibility: super easy. Can be eaten straight away.

I tried the avocado chocolate mousse in order to know what it is all about. I purchased some raw cacao and was lucky enough to do my grocery when there was a special on avocados!

The concept is very simple: put the avocado flesh in the food processor with some raw cocoa and some liquid sweetener and whizz! You can add a little drop of water to reach the desired consistency.

raw chocolate mousse

I tried three versions of it:

  1.  raw cacao
  2.  dutch cocoa
  3.  good dark chocolate

The recipe is HERE. I pushed it and made some raw tarts (see photo).

raw chocolate mousse tarts

Result: the fruity flavours of the cocoa, or maybe the avocado are really the novelty for me.  If you don’t use enough cocoa, the avocado taste comes through which is not great.  All together, it has a very earthy smell and flavour which is not for everybody.  As for the tarts, the texture is very crumbly (just nuts, oil and sweetener), which is no surprise as there are no binder.  Both the avo mousse and tarts were not a success in our household.

The Water chocolate mousse (Heston Blumenthal)

I had to try it. I saw it on television and just the idea of it grasped my curiosity.

Use: dessert. Experimental, for fun!

Ingredients: Chocolate and water.

Accessibility: needs elbow oil. Serve immediately! (it hardens quickly)

The method is easy, you bring to the boil the water and pour it over your chocolate previously chopped in small pieces.   Now start whisking and don’t stop! The whisking will integrate air bubbles while the temperature decreases.  Eventually it reaches a crystallisation point.  That point is reached all of a sudden. You get some warning as you see and feel the mix thicken, just then, it sets, if you go to far (like I did the first time) you get like a dirt texture which can actually be great for some specific desserts set up.

water choc mousse (5)
Water chocolate mousse. It hardens the minute is is made, to serve immediately.

Tips:

  • If you went too far, you can reheat the mousse a little , it will liquefy again, Start whisking again!
  • You can use a large bowl of ice to bring the temperature down quicker but remove it as soon as the mix starts to change a bit
  • The mix will be very liquid at first, then will become like cream, then thickened cream. Stop there. 

Recipe and video HERE.  Feel free to reduce the proportions, I used half of that.