baking

More Chocolate Brownies

- Alex 1 Comment

chocolate brownies - gluten free

Here we’re gearing up for the baby’s first birthday which means thinking a LOT about the catering for his afternoon tea party. As the baby will be unaware of the significance of the event, and most likely a bit annoyed that strange people have turned up in numbers to interrupt his afternoon play, the party is all about what I like to eat. That’s why it’s afternoon tea.

One of my relatives is a coeliac (or celiac, if you’re American) and I actually find it rather fun to try out recipes that she’ll be able to eat. It’s actually surprising how easy gluten is to work around. However, one thing I haven’t investigated too much is gluten free baking – dessert wise there’s loads of things you can do without gluten so I’ve just never bothered.

I have hundreds of baking recipes tagged in delicious and I thought it was time I made a departure from what has become my standard caramel chocolate brownie. I had a recipe from the Gluten Free Goddess tagged, but realised it wouldn’t do on several counts (the coconut oil, the measurements in cups, the huge amount of vanilla). Karina had based her version on a reader’s version and, after some sums, some substitution and some tasting during production I came up with this very easy, but also very tasty, recipe. The finished brownie is super squidgy in the middle and has a crisp crust which manages at the same time to be chewy.

The best compliment came from Andy who commented “well, you wouldn’t even know they’re gluten free”.

Preheat your oven to 180°C (or 160°C fan).

Melt 150g dark chocolate with 100g of unsalted butter. If you are aiming for dairy free as well as gluten free, I suppose you substitute a dairy free spread here. And, as always, I did this in the microwave.

Into the trusty KitchenAid went:

150g dark brown sugar
2 tbsp cocoa
50g ground almonds (almond meal)
50g rice flour*
1 tsp baking powder

Beat all of this with 2 eggs before adding the melted butter and chocolate.

Pour the mixture into a baking dish lined with baking paper. I used a dish that is approximately 18cm x 27cm and I ended up with nice thick dense brownies.

Bake for about half an hour. On non fan my oven is a little slow, so I needed 40 minutes. The top will be firm and cracked and a toothpick should come out cleanly (or mostly cleanly – with brownies you don’t want to overcook them!).

Allow to cool before cutting (and eating).

If you’re particularly greedy, serve with cream. That’s what we did!

* In Australia this is widely available – you’ll find it in the baking aisle of most supermarkets. Just note that you want rice FLOUR and not GROUND rice – otherwise you’ll end up with gritty brownies!

Asparagus and Bacon Tart

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This is a quick midweek supper: supplement it with a salad and make sure you don’t eat it all as it’s delicious cold for lunch the next day!

Asparagus has a short season – this was beaten into me while living in England when everyone (well, everyone interested in food) goes a bit mental banging on about the 6 weeks of the year you can buy English asparagus.  Anyway, it’s asparagus season now in Australia and you can should be able to pick some young tender stalks up cheaply.

This is another proper storecupboard meal – once you have your asparagus everything else you’ll probably have hanging around the house.

Begin by making your pastry (or, grabbing some pre-made shortcrust from the freezer).  I always make shortcrust because, with the aid of a food processor, it’s so quick it’s a shame not to.

My basic recipe is 150g of plain flour, 75g cold, unsalted butter, 1 egg yolk (use the white to make meringues!), a pinch of salt and cold water to bring it all together.  Rest in the fridge, wrapped in clingfilm, for half an hour or so.  This makes enough pastry for  a 23cm (or so) tart tin.  If you have the will, bake it blind – it does really pay off with a nice crispy base!

For the filling, chop and fry 2 rashers of bacon.  Spread this evenly over the base of the pastry case.  Now add your fresh, roughly chopped asparagus.  You might want to reserve 3 or 4 spears for decoration – you might not.  I used the best part of 2 bunches of young asparagus.

Whisk together 5 eggs, add a generous couple of tablespoons of thick cream, and season with pepper (no salt!).  Pour over the bacon and asparagus, top with some grated parmesan and some grated cheddar and bake in an oven preheated to 160°C fan (or 180°C normal) for about half an hour – until the egg is puffed up and the tart is golden.

You don’t need to serve this piping hot – as the warmer weather approaches, room temperature would be perfectly acceptable. The tart filling will sink back a bit as it cools, but it will still look – and tast – fantastic.

Chocolate and Hazelnut Pithivier

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Chocolate pithivier

This is definitely a dish for the health conscious. Or perhaps not, becaused this is really like eating a giant pile of chocolate spread with a giant pile of puff pastry. And this means it’s absolutely delicious – but small servings are required!

As a dessert, this chocolate and hazelnut pithivier, from the April issue of UK Delicious is a bit of a winner. It’s quick to make, it doesn’t need to be served hot so you can make it in advance and (better yet) you can freeze it and have it as a standby dessert. And it’s so rich it will go a long way and you don’t need any special accompaniments (although good fresh cream won’t go astray).

If you’re keen – make your own puff pastry. Otherwise, have to hand 2 sheets of ready made. You’ll need to cut 24 and 26 cm diameter circles from these respectively. Put the smaller circle of pastry on a non stick baking sheet and preheat your oven to 180°C fan.

Making the filling does rather require a food processor – or a lot of patience. The original recipe specifies 150g of blanched hazelnuts. I don’t know if blanched hazelnuts are more readily accessible in the UK than Australia, but when I make this again I’ll be using 150g of ground hazelnuts. Otherwise you’re left with the task of roasting and then peeling the hazelnuts and peeling hazelnuts is a task best left to someone else, as far as I’m concerned!

So – take your 150g of hazelnuts and, if they’re not already ground, whizzy them up with 150g of good quality dark chocolate, 125g of golden caster sugar and 20g of cocoa powder until you get a fine crumbly mix. To this add 25g of unsalted butter, 2 egg yolks and 2 tbsp of dark rum (there’s no reason why a liqueur such as Frangelico wouldn’t work well here). The alcohol is, of course, optional and it’s best not to go mad with it – stick to the 2 tbsp!

Whizzy this up again and you will end up with a firm (and extremely tasty) paste.

Put this paste in the centre of your pastry base, spreading it out evenly and leaving about 1cm around the edge. Take one of your left over egg whites, lightly whisk it and brush this margin with it, before topping the pithivier with the second disk of pastry. Press down carefully at the edge, ensuring there is no air left in the middle (you want to push the pastry down around the filling).

If you can chill the pithivier at this point – that’s a good thing. Leave it in the fridge for about 30 minutes.

When you’re ready to cook, score the top of the pithivier with a swirled spoke pattern and then brush with egg white. Bake for 40 minutes. Keep an eye on it while it’s cooking – if the pastry starts to brown too quickly, lower the temperature a little.

Best served at room temperature – if you can wait that long!