Merry Christmas... (& Sweets for Santa!)

Here in Australia, it gets pretty hot at Christmas time.  Tomorrow is forecast to be 39 degrees Celsius.

So when it fell to me this year to make the dessert for Christmas lunch, I thought something made of icecream would be very welcome in the middle of the day!

Lately I've been a bit obsessed with gingerbread (oh yes, there has been a lot of baking going on.  Just not much blogging).  So I decided it would be rather nice to make a layered molded dessert of gingerbread and vanilla icecreams - mmm....  Ooh, and I could enter it into the latest Sweet Adventures Blog Hop!

Didn't it turn out pretty?  I was panicking a bit about getting it out of the mold before Christmas Day, but it seems to have gone back into the freezer with no problems...

If you're not thinking about licking that picture, with its chewy-crunchy gingerbread base, and deliciously frosty layers of vanilla and gingerbread creaminess, you totally should be.  Trust me.  But wait - it gets cuter.  This is what it's going to look like when it hits the table tomorrow:

Teeny gingerbread men and hearts, with a royal-iced gingerbread star, complete this treat!

So here's the recipe - and it might be too late to make it for Christmas Day, but you could definitely make either of these icecreams on their own just to eat from a bowl - the vanilla is really good, but I am very proud of the gingerbread - maybe I'm biased in favour of anything gingerbready right now, but personally I think it's sensational...

Gingerbread Icecream Tree

Vanilla Icecream
Ingredients
400mL cream
100mL whole milk
1 vanilla bean
5 egg yolks
125g caster sugar

Modus Operandi
Place cream, milk and vanilla bean in a medium sized saucepan, and heat slowly just until boiling point, then remove from heat immediately.  Meanwhile, whisk egg yolks and sugar in a bowl until pale and creamy.  Gradually add the cream mixture to the egg mixture, and continue to whisk until combined.  Transfer the mixture to a clean saucepan, and cook over low heat, stirring all the time, for around 15-20 minutes, until it coats the back of a spoon.  Do not allow to boil!  Refrigerate the mixture until cold (preferably overnight), before churning in an icecream maker.
Pour churned icecream into your chosed mold, and freeze.

Gingerbread
Ingredients
115g butter
1/2 cup caster sugar
1/2 cup molasses
1 egg yolk
300g sifted plain flour
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp cinnamon
2 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp grated nutmeg

MO
Cream the butter and sugar just until smooth.  Stir in the molasses and egg yolk.
Combine the dry ingredients and stir into the molasses mixture until smooth.  The mixture will be very soft and sticky - that's okay.  Wrap it in plastic, and chill for at least one hour.
Meanwhile, take a piece of baking paper and draw around the shape of the mold you have used for your icecream.  Cut the shape out, and put it aside.
Preheat the oven to 175C (350F).  On a lightly floured surface, roll the dough out to about 8mm thickness.  Using your baking paper template, cut the shape you will need for your base out of your gingerbread dough (in my case, a large Christmas tree).  Transfer the shaped gingerbread onto a lined baking tray (note:  you will make your life much easier if you keep the paper shape on the gingerbread tree shape until you have transferred it to the tray.  It will inevitably warp a little in the process, and having the paper template still there means you can smooth it back into shape before baking).  Remove the template and keep it for later.
Bake the large gingerbread in the oven until firm, and the edges are golden brown (the actual time will vary depending on the size and shape of your mold.  Mine took around 15 minutes).
Bake your small cookies for around 8-10 minutes.  Cool on trays.

When it is completely cool, move your large gingerbread shape to a board, and trim it back to the desired shape using your paper template.  Theoretically I imagine this would be easier while the gingerbread was still warm, but I wasn't game enough to move it at that stage.  Please yourself.  :o)

Gingerbread Icecream
Ingredients
600mL cream
Some of your Gingerbread cookies - I used about 90g of them (although I had some left over from my last batch, so depending on the size of your mold's base, you might need to make two batches of gingerbread if you want to decorate with them too.  Not sure... sorry.  But hey, who minds extra gingerbread around the house, am I right?)
6 egg yolks
150g light brown sugar
2 Tbsp molasses
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp ground ginger
1/2 tsp grated nutmeg

MO
Exactly the same as for the vanilla icecream, but add your gingerbread cookies to your cream mixture right at the beginning.  When you remove it from the heat, strain it through a sieve.  The cookies will have turned to mush - stir it a bit to help the liquid through the sieve, but don't force it all through.  Most of the cookie mush will go through the sieve easily - any that doesn't, discard.
Add the spices and molasses to the egg/sugar mixture just before adding the cream mixture.
When the icecream is churned, pour it into the mold on top of the vanilla, and freeze.

To construct:
Take your icecream out of the freezer, and whilst it is still in the mold, press the gingerbread base firmly onto it.  Return to the freezer until it is time to serve.

At serving time, flip the icecream tree out onto your desired serving plate (it's a good idea to freeze that, too, to stop the icecream from starting to melt quite so quickly!)  Decorate as desired.


Wow, that was kind of long.  But trust me, it's totally worth it!  And after all, we all deserve to be a bit indulgent at Christmas, right?

I really hope that you and yours have a wonderful, fun, peaceful holiday season - and do check out the other Sweets For Santa at the blog hop below - this month it's being hosted by Christina over at The Hungry Australian - she did an icecream dessert too, and it looks amazing!

Raspberry Cheesecake

Okay, so first of all:  I'm Sorry.  I know, I know.  These are the Worst Photos Ever.  But here's the thing.  I would like nothing better than to spend all my time making beautiful, photogenic desserts, and taking photos of them with various gorgeous props, from several angles, under ideal light conditions.  While sipping a glass of Dom Perignon, and laughing gaily at the incredibly witty remarks being made by the terribly efficient person who is cleaning my house.  For free.

Meanwhile, back in the real world, I actually put the finishing touches on this cheesecake five minutes before leaving the house to take it to a friend's house for dinner, after having spent all afternoon at my daughter's friend's sixth birthday party, after having spent all morning making a stuffed elephant for said daughter's friend's present.  Yeah....  Gorgeous, well-thought-out photography is not something I often get a chance to do, especially for what I like to call "right-now" desserts.  Cookies I can keep for a few days until I have a chance to take a few snaps of them.  Cheesecakes not so much.

So anyway.  When The Hungry Australian announced the theme of this month's Sweet Adventures Blog Hop - "Berry Nice To Meet You!" - I was thrilled.  I love berries, and I especially love  raspberries.  Plus I'd been wanting to make a cheesecake for ages.  There are an awful lot of raspberry cheesecake recipes about, but strangely enough, I find that most of them are actually plain cheesecake recipes with a raspberry puree swirl.  And there's nothing at all wrong with that, but it just wasn't what I had envisioned.  I wanted my cheesecake to have a dark chocolate base, a contrasting pretty pink filling, and a sweet raspberry tang all the way through.  And it did!

Raspberry Cheesecake

Ingredients

Base
370g plain chocolate-flavoured biscuits (eg Chocolate Ripple)
120g butter, melted

Filling

2 cups fresh or frozen raspberries
3 teaspoons powdered gelatine
60mL water
500g cream cheese
1/3 cup caster sugar
300mL cream

Topping

1 cup extra raspberries
1 tsp icing sugar
1 Tbsp water
1 tsp powdered gelatine

Modus Operandi

First, line a 20cm diameter springform cake tin with plastic wrap (this makes it easier to get out later).

To make the base:  Process the biscuits in a food processor until fine crumbs.  Add the melted butter and blitz again briefly until combined.  Press the mixture onto the base and sides of the prepared tin, and refrigerate one hour.

To make the filling:  Heat the 2 cups of raspberries in a saucepan until they boil, then press them through a sieve to remove all the seeds.  Set aside.  Mix the gelatine into the water in a heatproof cup or bowl.  Stir over a small saucepan over simmering water until the gelatine has dissolved.  Let it cool for a minute or two and then stir in 3/4 cup of the raspberry puree.
Beat the cream cheese and caster sugar in an electric mixer until soft and smooth.  Beat in the cream, then stir in the raspberry mixture.  Pour filling into the crumb base and refrigerate overnight.

To make the topping:  Pick over your raspberries, and set the best ones aside (about half of them).  Heat the remaining raspberries with the icing sugar, then sieve them to remove the seeds.  Mix the water and gelatine as was done for the filling.  When dissolved, cool slightly and mix into the raspberry puree (you will probably only get about 1/4 cup).  Pile the photogenic raspberries onto the top of your cheesecake, and pour the gelatine-y puree over the top.  This step may be done just before serving (in which case the puree will behave a bit like a sauce), or ahead of time (in which case you will pop the cheesecake back in the fridge and the raspberry puree will set into a jelly.  This also "glues" the pretty raspberries to the top, which is useful if you are transporting it to someone's house for dessert).

To serve:  Simply open the springform tin, peel the plastic away, and lift/slide the cheesecake off the base onto a serving plate.


Be sure to check out everyone else's Berry Nice Desserts, too - just check out the links below!

Hazelnut Macawrongs, And What To Do With Them

I was excited to see that this month's Sweet Adventures Blog Hop's theme (hosted by Dining With A Stud) is "Nuts About Sweets".

I have been in a bit of a Macaron Madness Mood lately, have been playing with a few different recipes, and I think I've found my perfect-match recipe.  It's by Annie Rigg, and I must thank my Nanna for giving me this book for my birthday, because this is the first mac recipe I have had consistently good results with, every time.

Except this time.

It's okay, Annie Rigg.  It's not you, it's me.  I did the unthinkable - I Overmixed The Batter.

While I was piping them out I could already see it wasn't going to work.  I wasn't going to get pretty macarons this time.  But that's okay, because I totally thought of something else to do with them (and also that container of black coffee/liqueur mixture leftover from making tiramisu on the weekend).  And it's Really Good.  I guess you could do it with proper macarons, too.  If you didn't overmix your batter.

I hereby present to you:

Hazelnut Coffee Icecream with Hazelnut Macawrongs

Macarons
Firstly, you're going to need to make some macarons, but don't use almond meal;  use hazelnut meal instead.  If you want to use the same recipe I did, it's basically this one (she has changed all the quantities a bit, but it's essentially the same recipe as in the book).  Or you could go ahead and buy the book.  You won't be sorry.  Just don't overmix your batter.  I also sprinkled my macarons with some cocoa nibs before baking them, but that's totally optional.

Icecream
Ingredients
1/4 cup coffee flavoured liqueur (optional)
1 cup strong good-quality black coffee
150mL milk
3 egg yolks
80g caster sugar
450mL cream
1/3 cup Nutella (or to taste)

Modus Operandi

Mix the coffee and liqueur together in a small saucepan, bring to a simmer and reduce the liquid to 75mL.  Add the milk, and bring the liquid back up to the boil.  Remove from heat and set aside while you whisk the egg yolks and sugar until they are pale and thick.  Carefully pour the coffee mixture into the egg mixture in a thin stream, whisking all the while.  Add the cream, and churn the mixture in an icecream maker.

When icecream is churned, add teaspoonfuls of Nutella to the icecream and gently stir them in (you don't want Nutella-flavoured icecream, you want icecream with a Nutella ribbon).  Next, grab around a dozen of your hazelnut macawrongs (or possibly beautifully-made hazelnut macarons), break them up into little pieces, and fold them through the icecream too.  Then pop the whole lot into the freezer and let it freeze properly before serving (otherwise it will be all melty, like in my photos).

And that's it!  Husband pronounced this icecream "Really Good", and didn't have any constructive criticism to add, so it must be pretty good!   :o)

And now it's time for you to go check out the rest of the deliciousness at the Nuts About Sweets edition of The Sweet Adventures Blog Hop (but make some icecream first.  Then you'll have something to eat while you read).

Easiest Pie Ever

I don't know anyone who doesn't like Banoffee Pie.  It's not posh, it's not sophisticated, it's hugely sweet, but somehow It Just Works.  The weirdest thing is, I only had it for the first time ever a couple of years ago.  And that's weird, because whilst I do love spending Hours And Hours on ultra-fiddly sweeties, the truth is that even I don't want to do that every time I fancy dessert.  And this has got to be one of the easiest desserts around.

I almost didn't post this, because honestly there's so little to it, it's not original, and it wasn't complete perfection anyway.  The pastry recipe I used is probably not what I would use for this in future - something a bit lighter, sweeter and more biscuitty might be better.  I know some people use a biscuit base for banoffee, but I'm not a big fan of that.  I think a really good pastry is the go.

However.  There was one thing I did do that I haven't seen in any other Banoffee Pie recipe, and it was A Triumph.  Quite simply, instead of topping the pie with plain (or in some recipes, sweetened) whipped cream, I chose to give the pie a double banana hit by adding some to the cream.  It Was Awesome.

Also, I've recently discovered The Sweet Adventures Blog Hop, and I really wanted to join in this month.  And lo and behold, this month's theme (hosted by The Kitchen Crusader) is Pie.  And I had a jar of dulce de leche all ready to go in the fridge.

I figured it was fate...

By the way, I do apologise for the lack of useful ingredient quantities in this recipe.  It's really more of an assembly than a recipe, so there's a fair amount of room for personal preference...  Just make sure you have plenty of bananas (I would allow at least one whole decent-sized banana per 2 serves).  I've included a quantity for the sweetened condensed milk only because I don't see the point in cooking any less than that at once.  You may or may not use it all, depending on how big your pie is.

Double-Banana Banoffee Pie

Ingredients

Your favourite sweet shortcrust pastry recipe and the wherewithal to make it.

2 tins sweetened condensed milk
Bananas for slicing


70g fresh banana (extra)
125g Double cream
1 tsp Vanilla paste (plus a little extra for drizzling, if desired)

Modus Operandi
For the dulce de leche:  Empty both tins of condensed milk into a baking dish, cover with foil, and set the dish in a larger baking tray.  Add boiling water to the tray until it reaches more than half-way up the side of the baking dish.  Bake at 220 degrees Celsius until the milk has caramelised (at least 1 1/2 hours, but probably closer to 2 hours).  Store in the refrigerator.  Note:  This part can be made a few weeks ahead of time, which then makes this pie not only really easy, but really quick also.

Make your pastry, line a pie plate or individual tart tins with it, and bake blind.  Note that this is the pie's only time in the oven, so the pastry must be completely cooked.  Cool.

For the banana cream:  Puree the banana in a food processor or with a stick blender.  Add the cream and whip until soft peaks are reached.  Stir the vanilla paste through gently.

Assemble!  Spoon dulce de leche into the pastry case/s until around two-thirds full.  Top with lots of sliced banana, and then with a dollop of banana cream.  Drizzle with extra vanilla paste if you like.


Now go check out all the other pie recipes in this months' Hop - there's enough pastry-encased goodness there to get you through a whole winter!