Afternoon treats

When I was younger my favourite thing was to come home to was the smell of freshly baked biscuits. So fresh that you bite into them and they are still warm in the centre. The best was when they were chocolate chip - my absolute favourite. They smell delicious, and when they are fresh from the oven all of the chocolate is still soft and beautiful! I thought today I would share with you my favourite recipe for chocolate chip biscuits.

You will need:

• 1 1/2 cups of plain flour
• 1/4 teaspoon bicarbonate soda
• 125 grams of butter
• 1/2 cups of white sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 teaspoon vanilla essence
• Milk chocolate chips
• White chocolate chips

Step 1:
Preheat your over to 180 degrees Celsius.

Step 2:
Sift the flour and bicarb soda into a bowl and set aside

Step 3:
Cream butter and sugars together. You will know when to stop when the mixture is light and fluffy.

Step 4:
Add the egg and the vanilla essence to the mixture, and beat well.

Step 5:
Stir in the flour and soda you sifted earlier, and then add the chocolate bits - see tips at the end to find out the amount of chocolate chips I use.

Step 6:
Put baking paper on an over tray, and place even amounts of biscuit mix onto the tray. Don't roll the mixture into balls, it tastes better if it isn't heavily handled, it just looks a bit more rustic!

Step 7:
Bake in the oven for 12-15 minutes, until golden on top

Step 8:
Cool on a wire rack and then eat!!

Tips

• Make sure you take the butter out of the fridge at least 45 minutes before you start to bake, it makes the butter a lot easier to work with. 
• Sometimes if the mixture is taking too long to creme, then add the egg anyway, it will make the mixture lighter, and can sometimes help it to creme. However do not give up easily! Only do this if you feel as though it has been in the mixture for ages and no change is occurring. 
• You can use a the mixer rather then stirring in the flour - I suggest you do, it's so much better at ensuring all the flour is mixed in. But make sure you stir it in roughly first, otherwise when you turn the mixer on the flour will go everywhere! 
• Usually when I make this I use Nestle Choc Bits, and use both white and milk chocolate, but you can use just one type, or dark chocolate if you wish as well. Usually I just pour chocolate in until it looks like enough. This is 1/2-3/4 of each packet (I think the packets I usually use are 250g each). This can be changed to taste though, I know some recipes say to only use a total of 100g of chocolate.
• If you want to be extra fancy you can put leftover chocolate chips on the top of the biscuits, this looks really good

Fancy Pants Techniques - Part 2

Welcome to Part 2 of the dessert techniques series! Today I will be covering a technique that is bound to impress: tempering chocolate. If you've cooked with chocolate before, you may have noticed that once you have cooked with it, it can become dull, soft, and even have a white "bloom" sort of appearance on the surface. This happens because when in a solid form, the cocoa butter crystals in the chocolate are suspended. However when it is heated, this suspension is broken and the crystals surface, causing the "bloom" appearance when it is cooled. So whilst it still tastes nice, it doesn't look the best!
The idea of tempering the chocolate is to return the chocolate to it's suspended state and ensure that when you use it, e.g. for chocolate moulds or cake decorating, it maintains that glossy finish and crisp snap. Here's the how-to:

How to Temper Chocolate

What you will need:

• Required chocolate for your recipe
• A cooking thermometer
• A saucepan of simmering water 
• A bowl that sits on top of your saucepan but not fully in it 
• A spatula or spoon

Method:

1. Chop the chocolate in to pieces of the same size, as small as you can get them. Alternatively, you can roughly chop the chocolate and blitz it in a food processor in order to ensure uniformity.
2. Place 2/3 of the chocolate in the bowl and sit it in the saucepan over the top if the water, but not touching it (as contact with the water will make your chocolate too hot and the elements will separate).
3. Melt the chocolate to 50 degrees Celsius, stirring occasionally.
4. Remove the chocolate from the heat and add the remaining 1/3 of chocolate, stirring until the chocolate is consistent and reaches 32 degrees Celsius.

Test: spread your chocolate in a thin layer on to a plate. If it sets quickly and has a shiny, smooth finish, you have successfully tempered your chocolate!

For a demonstration video, click here. 

Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/techniques/how_to_temper_chocolate

http://www.cadburykitchen.com.au/kitchen-tips/view/tempering-chocolate/13/

Posted by Clare Mannion.

Chocolate Chai Macarons!

So by now its Sunday, and the realisation of the closeness of Monday is setting in. Everyone has probably had way too much chocolate for their own good over the recent Easter festivities but who can say no to Cadbury Chocolate Chai Macarons! I promise, by baking these today, it will make your Monday just that little bit better. Just think, if you get creative in the kitchen today you will also have another excuse not to do that mid-semester paper thats due tomorrow. It is definitely a win-win situation here!  

If you aren't aware, Cadbury has their own website inclusive of the one and only Cadbury Kitchen! Here you can find a myriad of chocolate treats to feed that inner chocoholic. The Cadbury Kitchen, is very simple to use, it even codes the easiness to bake each recipe with chef hats: one chef hat = easy, two chef hats = medium and three chef hats = hard. The recipe we are going to bake today has two chef hats, so it won't be too much of a challenge!

Lets do it!

What you will need:

• 1½ cups pure icing sugar
• ½ cup blanched almonds
• ¼ cup CADBURY Bournville Cocoa
• 1 teaspoon Chai tea (from a tea bag)
• 3 egg whites, at room temperature
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• ¼ cup caster sugar
• 150g Cadbury Dark Chocolate Melts
• ⅓ cup cream

Lets get cooking!

1. COMBINE the icing sugar, almonds, cocoa and Chai in a food processor and process until fine.
2. BEAT the egg whites and salt until soft peaks form. Continue beating, whilst gradually adding the caster sugar just until mixture holds stiff peaks.
3. FOLD one third of the almond mixture into the meringue and then gently fold in the remaining mixture until just combined. Spoon 3cm rounds onto baking paper lined trays to make 48, allowing 2-3cm between each for spreading. Use a wet finger to pat down any tips. Stand at room temperature for 20-30 minutes or until macarons form a light crust.
4. BAKE in a slow oven 150°C for 22-28 minutes or puffed and lightly coloured around the edges. Leave on trays, on wire racks to cool completely.
5. COMBINE the chocolate and cream in a small saucepan and heat gently, stirring constantly until chocolate has melted. Transfer to a bowl and refrigerate until firm enough to spread.
6. TO assemble, spread chocolate filling onto 24 macarons and top with remaining macarons, pressing together gently. Serve immediately or store in an airtight container until required.

1+2+3+4+5+6 = DELICIOUS

For more mouth-watering chocolate delights be sure to check out The Cadbury Kitchen!

- Posted by Lauren Wilkins