Bitter Sweet Recipes

I decided to embark on making some dulce de leche the other day after reading about dulce de leche brownies. Im not really much of a fan of brownies but I absolutely adore caramel.

So I went down to the shop to buy the sole ingredient of Dulce de Leche; Sweetened Condensed Milk. Removed the Labels off the tins, Lined a Big pot with a tea towel (to stop the rattling) and started boiling the cans. When the water started boiling the teatowel dislodged itself and started floating in the top of the water so I decided to take it out and make do without it. After all, delicious gooey caramel is worth three hours of rattling!  About half an hour into the boiling I decided to read the labels which I had removed off the can and noticed in big bold letters it read “ATTENTION: DO NOT HEAT IN CAN”. At first I panicked, but hey, life isn’t so much fun if you follow the rules all the time!

There are a lot of different recommendations that come with making dulce de leche,  one is to poke holes in the lid of your cans and not immerse in the boiling water. Another is to just pop them in, keep them immersed the whole time, cross your fingers, and hope for the best. Some people say you should only make it in the oven, others say to pour out the contents of the condensed milk into a saucepan and heat while constantly stirring until it turns into caramelly goodness.

Being a little bit lazy at the best of times, I went for the cross-your-fingers-and-hope-for-the-best option.

Well 2.5-3 hours later, the tins have a strange kind of expanded look to them, the lid looks scarily as if it is going to pop off, and the sides are slightly curved out. I decided that I should leave them to cool down for a few hours while I went to work… and hopefully when I get home I will be rewarded with some delicious dulce de leche.

Ok I lied… I really couldn’t wait for it to cool down I cracked open one of the tins over a bowl to see molten hot caramel flow out. I would caution against this as sugar burns are not always fun but if you really cant wait then be VERY careful.

I am storing one tin unopened in the cupboard and the contents of the opened one in a sterilised glass jar. This can be used for many different sweets, to fill pie cases, to make banoffee pie, to warm and pour over ice cream , as a sweet dip for sugar puff twists (will be posting a recipe soon) or you could just eat it on its own with a spoon for a sneaky midnight snack.

Guess who got to lick the tin...

This is my man’s newest favourite dessert cake, he’s not big on decadent chocolate desserts or fancy desserts with spun toffee and chocolate strawberries, but he LOVES anything citrus from lemon meringue pie to key lime pie and souffle of the orange persuasion.

This orange cake has a strangely satisfying chewy and moist texture, which, when warmed is almost pudding like. It is not  a cake that you would serve for afternoon tea but it is a simple classic dessert to finish off any meal. With every slice of the cake you will see the pressure of the knife push out the sweet orange syrup and then get sucked back into the cake like a sponge. This dessert absolutely must be served warmed with pouring cream, whipped cream or a decadent dollop of heavy cream.

This cake contains no extra fat (except from the egg yolks) so I found that it keeps really well for up to a week refrigerated. I just heat each slice till it is warm in the microwave before serving. The extra syrup poured over the cake after cooking will keep it very moist and delicious.

INGREDIENTS

4 large fresh eggs, seperated
1 cup of sugar
1 cup plain flour
1 cup self raising flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tablespoon of orange zest, grated
1 cup fresh orange juice

1 cup fresh orange juice, extra
1/4 cup sugar, extra

METHOD

Preheat your oven to 160 degrees celcius, and prepare a large round spring form cake tin by greasing , flouring and lining the bottom with greaseproof paper.

In a large, clean, dry bowl beat your egg white to stiff peaks.

In a small bowl combine the egg yolks and the sugar.

In a separate large bowl sift the flours and the baking powder. Make a well and add the orange juice, orange zest and the egg yolk mixture.

Slowly combine until you have a smooth thick batter.

Fold the egg whites in to the batter in two batches and pour into prepared tin.

Bake for 30 minutes until firm and toothpick inserted in the centre comes out clean.

Make your orange syrup with the extra orange juice and sugar, boil until it is thick (about 5 minutes)

While the cake is still warm poke about 20 holes in the surface with a tooth pick, and pour half of the orange syrup over the cake. When this has absorbed, turn the cake out onto a large plate, pour the other half of the syrup onto the bottom of the cake.

Slice and serve warm, dusted in icing sugar with pouring cream on the side.

These messy little pies are so easy and yummy. They are really easy to throw together for a quick and tasty dessert. The rough lids that leave gaps around the edges allows the steam to escape during cooking which will ensure you have a crisp shortbread crust and delicious caramelisation of the sugar around the edges to create a sweet sticky toffee effect. Of course you can make them neatly for beautiful presentation, but I like the idea of a rustic pie that is just begging to be smooshed into ice cream and eaten.

I make these using a texas muffin pan with 6 holes. I find that they are the perfect size for a satisfying dessert and allow a perfect ratio of shortbread crust to apple filling. This recipe serves 6. They may be kept in an airtight container in the fridge for 2 days after cooking but are best served warm and fresh.

INGREDIENTS

Shortbread crust
170 grams of plain flour
pinch of salt
55 grams of white sugar
115 grams butter
1 large egg yolk
1 -2 tablespoons cold water

Apple Filling
90 grams of brown sugar
1 teaspoon of lemon juice
1 teaspoon of cinnamon
pinch of salt
pinch of nutmeg
1 tablespoon of plain flour
4 apples of your choice (I used pink lady because they are in season)

METHOD

Make the Shortbread Crust

Combine the dry Ingredients in a medium mixing bowl and rub in the butter until you have a wet sand texture.

In a small bowl whisk together the water and egg yolk and add it to the flour mix.

Mix until it comes together an form it into a ball. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 30 minutes.

Make the Apple Filling

Combine everything except for the apples in a large mixing bowl. Stir until all ingredients are combined and it forms a crumbly mixture.

Peel, core and slice your apples. Mix them into the sugar mixture until well coated.

Assemble

Grease your 6 hole texas muffin tin and preheat your oven to 170 degrees celcius.

Divide the shortbread pastry into 6. Divide each ball into a larger and a smaller ball so you are left with 6 larger balls and 6 smaller balls of shortbread pastry.

Roll out the larger balls into round circles to fit the muffin tin holes as a ‘crust’. fill the crust with the apple mixture. The apple mix will shrink slightly during cooking so it is best if they are well filled.

Roll out the smaller balls and use these as “pie lids”. I like to make mine a little messy as the holes  and gaps around the edges allow the sugar around the edges to caramelise, allows the steam to escape to stop them becoming soggy and it gives the pies a home made feel.

Bake for 25-30 mins until the tops are crunchy and golden and you see caramelised sugar around the edges of each pie.

Serve warm with ice cream or whipped cream and a dusting of icing powder.

This is actually the first time I made this yummy little dessert and I will definitely be making it again! I found the original recipe in Gourmet Traveller Magazine, but I have made some improvements to suit my tastes.

Its not the prettiest dessert to serve up as it is practically a wobbly baked custard with fruit, but what it lacks in looks, it makes up for in taste. I think if I were to make it for a dinner party, I would probably bake it in individual ramekins to save the bother of trying to serve it in a presentable manner.

This recipe will serve 6.

INGREDIENTS

1/3 cup plain flour
3 tablespoons of white sugar
3 whole eggs
450 ml of full fat milk
1 teaspoon of vanilla essence
1/2 teaspoon of grated nutmeg
30 grams of melted butter, plus a little extra to grease
300 grams of tinned or fresh apricots
2 tablespoons of granulated sugar (to sprinkle)

METHOD

Preheat your oven to 200 degrees celsius and grease a baking dish with butter ( I used a pyrex pie dish).

If using tinned fruit, drain it well. If using fresh fruit slice in half and remove the stone. Arrange your fruit cut side up in your prepared dish.

In a medium mixing bowl mix the flour, sugar, eggs, vanilla and melted butter. Mix the milk with grated nutmeg and heat in a saucepan or microwave until it is hot.

Slowly whisk your milk mixture into your egg mixture, then pour it over the fruit.

The original recipe stated to dot the butter over the dish instead of including it in the batter, but in my opinion, this does not yield desirable results

Bake in your preheated oven on the bottom rack for 40 minutes, until the clafoutis is puffed, golden and set.

Sprinkle with granulated sugar and allow to cool slightly (it will be easier to cut) before serving with some good quality vanilla bean ice cream.

VARIATIONS

The classic clafoutis is made with cherries, and I would love to try this come summer when there is an abundance of fresh cherries.

You can really use any stone fruit in this recipe and it can be canned or fresh. I used canned apricot when I made it (which was delicious), but I have a sneaking suspicion the taste and texture would be much improved using fresh fruit.

I would also like to try some variations using fresh berries, or a pear and almond one. But I cannot vouch for the success of this as I am yet to test it. Ill post back on these variations when I get my hands of some fresh berries…

There is nothing like a delicious gooey bread and butter pudding to warm you up during the cooler months. The sweet custard combined with the crispy sugary bread bits on top make this my favourite dessert during winter.

This recipe will serve 6 people. It is a good idea to use good quality butter to achieve a rich smooth and creamy flavour.

INGREDIENTS

10 slices of white bread, buttered on both sides
2 cups skim milk
5 whole fresh eggs
1 1/2 teaspoons of vanilla essence
5 tablespoons of white sugar
ground cinnamon
ground nutmeg

METHOD

Lightly grease a medium sized baking dish with melted butter.

Spread your bread on both sides with good quality butter.

Whisk together the milk, eggs and vanilla in a medium mixing bowl.

Slice the buttered bread into four triangles and arrange one layer of bread in the bottom of your baking dish.
Sprinkle with 1 tablespoon of sugar, some cinnamon and nutmeg.

Continue making layers like this until all of the bread is used up and the baking dish is full.
Push down on the bread with a wooden spoon to compress it slightly and pour the milk mixture carefully over the bread and sprinkle with the remaining sugar and a little cinnamon.

Allow the pudding to stand for half an hour, the bread will soak up some of the milk mixture during this time.

Preheat you oven to 160 degrees celcius during the resting time. Bake in the oven for 30-40 minutes or until the custard is set and the pudding is puffed and lightly browned.

Serve warm with whipped cream or a good quality vanilla ice cream.

VARIATIONS

There and many variations on this classic pudding. Here are some of my favourites;

Include a sprinkle of sultanas and toasted slivered almonds between each layer of bread. sprinkle some of the almonds on top before baking.

When buttering the bread, you can also spread each piece with some good quality marmalade or preserve of your choice, you will need to reduce the sugar depending on the sweetness of the jam or marmalade you have chosen.

Mix in 4 tablespoons of cocoa powder into your milk mixture, and sprinkle dark chocolate buttons in between layers of bread. Do not sprinkle the chocolate on top as it may burn during cooking.