Tag: christmas

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!

Raspberry and Lime Christmas Log (buche de Noel)

This raspberry and lime Christmas log (or buche de Noel) is a light and refreshing dessert for the Christmas period.  Perfect for Christmas under the sun! Bookmark the recipe for the bavarois recipe which you can do on its own served with red berries.

Bavarois Christmas log

The bavarois of this recipe must be prepared a day ahead.

Concept
  1. A core of raspeberry bavarois
  2. A blanket of mascarpone&lime
  3. A macadamia crumble

bavarois christmas log

Ingredients
For the bavarois:
  • 300 g of frozen raspberry
  • 3 small egg yolks
  • 250 ml of milk
  • 130 ml of cream
  • 110 g of caster sugar
  • 4 gelatine leaves (I used the ones from the supermarket)
For the m and lime blanket:
  • 500 g of mascarpone
  • 100 ml of cream
  • rind of 1 lime
  • juice of 1 lime
  • 1/2 cup icing sugar
  • 2 egg yolks
For the nut crumble:
  • 10 macadamia (raw)
  • 30 g soft butter
  • 1 pinch of salt if the butter is unsalted (otherwise, omit)
  • 2 generous tbsp plain flour
  • 1 tbsp white sugar
Method:
Raspberry Bavarois
  1. Prepare your mould.  I used a cake loaf as a general support, buttered and blanketed in cell wrap, a sheet of flexible cardboard (buttered and covered in cell wrap) and curved as a semi-cylinder.
  2. Mix sugar and egg yolks until pale and creamy, add a little of the milk to make slightly more liquid.
  3. Place the gelatine leaves in a bowl of cold water.
  4. In the meanwhile, heat up the rest of the milk to boiling point.
  5. While the milk is warming up, place the frozen raspberry in the microwave for 1 minute (full power), then blend in the blender to obtain a juice. The raspberry juice will still be cold.
  6. While whisking, add the hot milk to the egg-sugar mix, mix well. Transfer to the saucepan and on a medium heat, mix continuously until it thickens.  The custard MUST NOT boil.
  7. Remove from the fire and transfer in a bowl
  8. Squeeze the water out of the gelatine and mix the gelatine until fully dissolved with the warm custard.
  9. Add the raspberry juice, mix well.
  10. Whip the cream to soft peaks and mix in gently to the custard mix either using a largebavarois christmas log wisk or a silicone spatula.
  11. Pour into the tin, cover with cell wrap and place in the fridge at least 15 h prior to decorating.

Tip: For the custard, you will know it is ready when a spoon placed in the saucepan comes out with the custard covering/blanketing the back of a spoon (not runny).

 

Mascarpone & lime blanket
  1. Place all the ingredient in a stand mixer or large bowl.
  2. Whisk until smooth and fluffy.
Nut crumble:
  1. Whiz all ingredients in a small food processor.
  2. Place on a piece of baking paper on a baking tray.
  3. Toast under the oven grill until lightly coloured, toss around, place again under the grill until you get a nice brown colour. Be carefull, when it starts toasting, the colour changes quickly.
  4. Remove from the oven, cool down, and store in a bowl or airtight container until required.
Assembly:
  1. Unmold the bavarois by turning it straight onto the serving dish.
  2. Prepare the lime & mascarpone blanket and using a spatula, gently spread on the sides and ends.  Using a fork, make patterns.
  3. Dust more lime rind all over, place a few mint leaves and some cocoa nibs.
  4. Place the crumble all around.
  5. Keep in the fridge until ready to serve.

 

 

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