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
Melt chocolate and butter until smooth
Add eggs one at the time, mixing in between each egg
Add sugar
Stir in vanilla essence
Add in at once the flour, baking powder and cocoa powder.
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).
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.
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.
Rolling to a walnut size ball
Coating in icing sugar , ready, steady, roll!
Placing on baking sheet
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
The sugar tarte, known in Belgium and northern France as “la tarte au sucre” is a tarte based on a yeasted dough, soft brown sugar and cream. It is very simple to make and you can get the kids involved all along.
Ingredients:
For the dough
200 g of plain flour
100 g of butter
1 egg
2 tbsp of milk
1 tbsp of caster sugar
10 g of fresh yeast (or 4 of dry yeast)
1 pinch of salt (omit if using salted butter)
For the toping:
125 g of soft brown sugar
1 dL (100 mL) of cream
Method:
In a large bowl, place the flour in the bowl and with a spoon, make a well (a hole in the middle of the flour in which you will place all the other ingredients).
Dissolve the yeast in the warm milk.
Add in the well, the yeast, butter, caster sugar, egg and salt.
Mix until you obtain a nice dough.
Transfer into a large bowl, cover with a clean tea-towel and allow to rise in a warm corner until almost double.
Preheat the oven on 180°C.
Butter and flour your tarte tin. Transfer the dough and using the palm of your hand, spread it gently making a little edge. in the centre spread the soft brown sugar, then randomly pour the cream.
Roasted rhubarb is another way to use rhubarb. You can use roasted rhubarb as a side to a number of desserts, as a topping over a plain cake, or just with plain yoghurt.
Ingredients:
1 bunch of rhubarb stalks, leaves removes, cleaned, ends trimmed and cut in 10 cm length
honey – 2 tbsp
juice of 1 orange
5 cloves, 2 anise star
Method:
Preparation of the rhubarb
This is something you can get your child to help with, it is fun.
Cut the leaves and discard.
Rinse/wash the stalks.
Cut the bottom part of each stalk and pull any stringy skin that comes with it
Cooking:
Place some baking paper at the bottom of a small roasting tin (a brownie tin is perfect for that).
Place the rhubarb stalks, the orange juice and spices, drizzle the honey all over.
Bake on 160°C for about 15 min or until the rhubarb is just tender.
Remove from the oven and allow to cool, discard spices unless if using for decoration.
Use this as a dessert served with a biscuit or as a part of breakfast.
Ingredients:
1 bunch of rhubarb stalks, leaves removes, cleaned, ends trimmed and cut in 5 cm length
White sugar
Method:
Preparation of the rhubarb
This is something you can get your child to help with, it is fun.
Cut the leaves and discard.
2. Rinse/wash the stalks.
3. Cut the bottom part of each stalk and pull any stringy skin that comes with it
Cooking:
Just cut in 5 cm pieces, place in a saucepan, add water until mid-heigth (of the rhubarb) and cook gently for about 15 minutes. When stirred it should come apart, add some white sugar to taste. Keeps well in the fridge for a week in an airtight container.
Impress for the weekend or for a change of breakfast with this rhubarb, yoghurt and cereal breakfast bowl. I have plated mine with oats and pepitas, feel free to vary those ingredients.
Quantities are given as an indication.
Ingredients:
Stewed rhubard (at least 1/2 cup per person). It will already be sweetened.
Greek yoghurt (unsweetened) – 1 cup
oats (uncooked) – 1/2 cup to one cup
pepitas – 1/4 cup
Milk of your choice to pour around.
Method:
In a deep plate or large bowl, plate the yoghurt and pile on top the stewed rhubarb. Add the oats around and sprinkle the pepitas over the oats.
I use this hazelnut sponge cake for an afternoon tea of for the base of birthday cakes. I like the hazelnut addition which brings it a special flavour and is also slightly addictive. The recipe is extracted from Gourmet Traveller.
When you are about to make a sponge cake, you must make sure you follow these rules:
Eggs must be at room temperature, allow half an hour out of the fridge before using (or it won’t fluff up enough)
Follow the order exactly (I did once, by mistake, put the butter with the eggs and sugar, I can tell you it will not end up like a sponge cake)
Use a very wide bowl and either a large metal spoon, large spatula or a very large whisk that you use as a large spatula when folding in the butter and then the flour.
Use a tin 20 to 23 cm wide, no wider
If you want to make layers you can cut the cake in up to three layers or choose to bake several cakes of the same diameter.
Ingredients:
190 g of plain flour
50 g of hazelnut meal or hazelnuts
80 g of salted butter (you can use unsalted to)
8 eggs at room temperature
220 g of caster sugar
For the cream and berries filling and topping:
2 punnets of raspberries, 2 punnets of small strawberries, 2 punnets of blackberries and 1 punnet of blueberries
2 pots of 600 mL (or equivalent volume) of thickened cream
1/2 cup to a cup of icing sugar
Method:
Heat up the oven to 160°C.
Melt the butter and let to cool.
Line the bottom of your tin and butter and flour the sides.
If using whole hazelnuts, process them to fine meal and mix with the flour. Sift the flour and hazelnut meal (I use a fine mesh sieve and a whisk).
For those with a food mixer, it is time to use it. If not, make sure to use your wider whisk. Place the eggs and sugar together and mix on full power until triple the size and foamy. With a food mixer, it will take about 8 minutes. Transfer the mixture to a large bowl, add the butter slowly and fold in then the flour in three batches.
Pour into the prepared tin and bake for about 25 minutes. When press lightly the top should spring back and the sides would slightly have pulled away from the sides of the tin.
Turn over a wire rack, remove the tin and baking paper, cool completely before using.
Berry and cream filling & topping:
Choose 1/2 cup of berries and add 1 teaspoon of icing sugar. Process in a small food processor to have a coulis
Cut the cake in three layers with a bread knife
Whip 600 mL of cream adding 1/4 cup icing sugar towards the end (this will fill one layer and half of the next)
Place the lower layer of cake on the serving dish, use slightly more than half of the whipped cream making sure to not go over the edges. Place half of the coulis on top and using a fork, swirl it in the cream.
Repeat with layer 2 (you will need to whip the second batch). Place the upper layer of the cake and the remaining of the whipped cream keeping it natural (don’t be tempted to flatten or tidy up the look) . Add berries on top randomly and generously.
Here are a few other birthday cakes made with the hazelnut sponge cake as a basis:
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.
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:
First, preheat the oven to 240°C
Melt the chocolate together with the butter either in bain marie or in the microwave
In the meanwhile, beat with a large whisk the egg yolks and sugar until light and moussy
Add the melted chocolate and butter
Then, add the flour
Bring the eggwhite to snow and fold in carefully.
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.
Cool down in the tin before unmoulding and placing on a plate.
3 quick and last minute desserts to help fix that lunch or diner when you are either pressed for time or not willing to spend much time behind the stove!
Then keep scrolling down for a few photos of the week trials! Some are part of upcoming posts!
1 The Summer Fruit Log
This is really simple and requires a very low level of effort! You need one good quality puff pastry, some cream for whipping and some berries. The photo says it all or pretty much!
Such an australian dessert in its style!
2. The Chocolate Friands (for tea or coffee after lunch) for that little extra craving…
This is one of these recipes where you place all the ingredients together, mix, place in the oven and bake and this is it!
The plus +++ of that recipe is that they are gluten free, loaded with chocolate and of course quick and easy to make. And by the way, GF!
3. Back to basics with this yoghurt and berry ramequin
This may not impress the crowds but will definitely please the whole family. Whiz some strawberries with a little icing sugar. Roughly mix it to the yogurt. Add blueberries and sliced almonds on top.
This is my recipe of the cherry clafoutis. I tried a few recipes to get there: too sweet, too thin, too bland, too much juice lost…The “traditional” clafoutis recipe contains milk, egg, sugar and flour and critically cherries with pits ON!!!
My version is slightly different to the “traditional recipe” in that I have added a little tanginess (yoghurt) to pair with the taste of the cherry. I also choose to keep the pits (this is subject to many discussions in the cooking world. Check my post if you want to know more!
Before we start, a few tips:
Tip: Plan a dish in which your batter will be 4 to 5 cm thick when pouring the preparation over the fruits (or you don’t get that moist middle)
Tip: the clafoutis rises during baking, so have a couple of centimetres of free board (it will deflate when taken out of the oven).
Serves 4
For info, my dish was 17 x 17 cm
Ingredients:
300 g of fresh cherries,with pits and stems (remove the stems if you do not fancy them)
2 large eggs
40 g white sugar
50 g plain flour
1/2 tsp vanilla essence
1/4 cup of milk (50 cl)
1/4 cup of cream (60 g)
1/2 cup of plain greek yogurt (120 g)
a nut of butter (for the dish)
Method:
Butter and flour your dish
Preheat the oven on 170°C.
Place the fruits (with pits and stems) at the bottom of the dish.
Mix the eggs and sugar together, ass the milk, cream, vanilla and yogurt. Combine
Add the flour
Poiur the batter over the fruits trying to keep the stems going upwards
Bake for 30 minutes or until golden brown.
Remove from the oven and allow to cool until serving wrm or cold.
It keeps well at room temperature or in the fridge for a couple days.
Fried sardines are such a summer classic. They have a feel of holidays, warm days, leisure around the house or by the seaside. Love them for what they represent! For me they are associated to that great summer evening spent in Algeria with project team colleagues and local host Kamal who did such a great job at making us appreciate Bejaia.
This time, my older child asked to buy them, so here we go.
Ingredients:
2 to 4 sardines per person
Plain flout and salt
oil for shallow frying
fresh lettuce leaves or mixed salad leaves
Method:
mix 2 tablespoons of flour with 1 teaspoon of salt, coat the sardines. Depending of the quantity, you may need more. Adjust the salt if you prefer more salty.
2. Heat up 1 cm of oil in a thick based fry-pan, when the oil is hot, place the sardines, reduce slightly the oil, turn over when golden-brown.
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.
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:
Preheat the oven on 180°C
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.
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.
Add the melted chocolate-butter mix. Mix in the flour.
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.
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.
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.
This strawberry white chocolate cookie was a happy find on PInterest. The recipe is from Vera (from Oh my god chocolate desserts blog). I have adapted a few things, and added some comments. They are beautiful and chewy, especially when still warm. I froze most of the second batch and use them for lunch boxes or afternoon snack.
The recipe is VERY easy to make.
Ingredients
1 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/8 teaspoon salt (remove if using salted butter)
1/4 cup butter-softened
120 g cream cheese
3/4 cup caster sugar (1/2 cup is probably enough, I find them a bit sweet)
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3/4 cup chopped fresh strawberries
2 tablespoon lemon juice
150 g white chocolate-chopped
Method
Preheat the oven to 180ºC.
Pour fresh lemon juice over chopped strawberries, drain them after a few minutes. Chop in pieces as convenient (not less than one centimetre)
Beat butter with sugar and cream cheese until it’s light and fluffy.
Add egg and vanilla and mix well.
Toss together 1 1/4 cup all-purpose flour, salt, chopped white chocolate, chopped stawberries and baking powder.
Add flour mixture to the wet mixture and fold in gently. Either use a large scoop or your hand.
Drop heaping tablespoon of batter onto a baking sheet covered with baking paper. Make sure to leave a couple centimetres space in between.
Set the cookies in the refrigerator for 5-10 minutes before baking.
You can choose to bake them for 13-15 minutes until the edges become golden brown, they will be very chewy and quite friable, I baked my second round with spots of golden brown over the top, it was a bit easier to handled and when cold they are more tasty (more cooked).
Transfer the baking paper to the cooling rack (slide it). Let the cookies cool a few minutes and them remove from the baking paper.
Cut the bottom part of each stalk and pull any stringy skin that comes with it
add water until mid-heigth (of the rhubarb) and cook gently for about 15 minutes. When stirred it should come apart, add some white sugar to taste. Keeps well in the fridge for a week in an airtight container.
