Rebooting Sour Cherry Rocky Road - the Silver Lining!

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It's not Valentine's Day anymore. It has been rebooted as Generosity Day - it's the day you make Sour Cherry Rocky Road, cut it into bite-sized bits, and take it to wherever there are people you love (or simply like).

Sometimes ...  often  ... ok ... practically all the time, life doesn’t go according to plan. The road ahead usually has a few lumps and bumps lurking, ready to trip us up as soon as we cast our attention elsewhere...

... Like last month: I dropped my ice cream maker (my priceless €1 machine – maker of strawberry and rose petal ice cream); totalled my food processor (Note to self: remove the sheath from the blade before attempting to use the machine); and annihilated my electric whisk – don’t ask!  

... Like last week, when my sister Catherine made pizza from scratch... It took a detour on the way to the oven and belly-flopped onto her cat... the bad-tempered one... with the six-inch claws and the kleptomaniac tendencies (cat, not sister!). I foresee a shredded sofa and further apologies to the neighbours as the evil creature wanders home with yet another gold trinket clenched in its teeth...

... Like this morning, when a daydreaming commuter – yay, not me for a change - scurried onto an escalator clearly marked OUT OF ORDER - and stood there with an expression of utter bewilderment as he went nowhere fast and hundreds of cackling commuters sailed past him on the one that was actually working...

The good news is that life’s little wrinkles can often work out for the best. Most lumps and bumps can have a silver lining... like when I drop my heavy cookery notebook on my foot (bump, lump) and a little scrap of cardboard falls out. It’s my sister Veronica’s incredible Rocky Road recipe (silver lining).

In general I HATE marshmallow, I HATE desiccated coconut, and I’m not particularly fond of milk chocolate either. However when these ingredients get together with crunchy salty nuts and chewy sour cherries and go skinny dipping in dark chocolate, magic happens. I will happily eat this version by the kilo – leading to further lumps and bumps if indulged too often.  

Here is Veronica's original recipe...

When simple ingredients go skinny dipping in melted chocolate, magic happens!

This translates as...

300g milk chocolate (decent stuff, not cooking chocolate)

200g dark chocolate (70% cocoa solids)

90g mini marshmallows (or large marshmallows, snipped into pieces with a scissors)

80g white chocolate, roughly chopped

80g dried sour cherries (dried cranberries are good too)

75g salted jumbo peanuts

75g salted almonds

50g desiccated coconut, toasted* 

1                    First, line the base of a 30cm x 20cm baking tin with baking parchment.

2                    Then, break the milk chocolate and dark chocolate into pieces and place together in a medium heatproof bowl over a pot of barely simmering water (the base of the bowl mustn’t touch the water or the chocolate can turn grainy). Stir occasionally until melted.

3                    Add the rest of the ingredients to the melted chocolate and stir until everything is well coated. Transfer to the baking tin and leave to cool. When the chocolate is set, remove from the tin and cut into pieces - bitesized or boulders – that bit is up to you.

* I toasted the coconut in a dry frying pan over a medium heat. This task only takes a few minutes but requires a close eye because as soon as you look away, the coconut will burn in an instant.

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Spiced Apple and Almond Cobbler – Tempting!

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"Autumn is the mellower season, and what we lose in flowers we more than gain in fruits."

-Samuel Butler

Mmmm, I do love Autumn. It is the season when some of my favourite fruits are at their best: plums and damsons, blackberries, apples – all delicious in a pie, or its even easier, lazier cousin, the cobbler. Today, I’ve gone for spiced apple and almond version.

You’ll notice the slightly unusual ‘cake tin’ I’ve used – a 24cm frying pan. If you don’t have an ovenproof non-stick frying pan, you can cook the filling in a regular non-stick frying pan then turn it into a lightly buttered baking dish of similar proportions and spoon the almond batter on top. 

Anyway, first to the recipe…

To conjure up a delicious Autumnal cobbler for 8 you will need…

For the filling

750g apples, prepared weight (peeled, cored and each cut into 8 wedges) Drop the prepared apple wedges into a bowl of cold water with a little lemon juice added, until ready to use. This stops them going brown.

30g butter

50g Demerara sugar, or brown sugar

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

2 whole cloves, ground to a powder using a pestle and mortar (or your imagination)

1½ teaspoons cornflour

a little cold water

For the Topping

150g plain flour

100g butter, cubed

75g ground almonds

50g Demerara sugar, or brown sugar

2½ teaspoons baking powder

½  teaspoon almond extract

½ teaspoon ground cinnamon

a pinch of salt

175mls milk

2 tablespoons slivered almonds

icing sugar to dust

First prepare the filling: Melt the butter over a medium heat in a non-stick frying pan suitable for use both on the hob and in the oven, and large enough to contain all the apples.

Dry the apples in a clean tea towel and add to the pan. Cook gently for about 6 minutes, turning occasionally, until beginning to soften. Add the sugar, cinnamon, and cloves and continue cooking until the sugar has melted and all the apples are coated with the mixture.

Mix the cornflour with just enough water to make a runny paste. Stir this into the apple mixture until any juices that have escaped into the pan have thickened up. Remove the pan from the heat and set aside while you make the topping.

Sugar and spice and all things nice...

For the Almond Batter you will need…

… to pre-heat the oven to 180˚C.

Put the batter ingredients - except the milk, slivered almonds and icing sugar -into a food processor and pulse until combined into a crumbly mixture like fine breadcrumbs. (If you don’t have a food processor, place the flour and butter in a large bowl. Rub the butter into the flour until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs, then add the rest of the ingredients and mix until just combined.)

Add the milk and pulse (or mix) until it comes together into a thick but smooth mixture.

Dollop large spoonfuls of batter onto the surface of the apple mixture. Sprinkle evenly with the slivered almonds, and place in the pre-heated oven. Bake for about 25 minutes or until risen and golden brown.

Remove from the oven and dust with a little icing sugar. Serve warm or at room temperature with good vanilla ice cream.

Dolloping...

Come and get it!

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A 'dyschefull' of Apple Snowe - a hauntingly delicious dessert from medieval England

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England was on its very best 'green and pleasant land' behaviour for our recent visit - all blue skies and sunshine. We spent Sunday morning visiting the ancient bones of Henry VIII’s ship, the Mary Rose, in Portsmouth (wow, by the way – what a feat of marine archaeology!). However, there was a wailing and a gnashing of teeth when himself missed out on a change of plan and had to forego his much anticipated, post-sightseeing ye-olde-traditional-English-country-pub-Sunday-roast-dinner-with-all-the-trimmings.

He was like a dog with two tails when we got an unexpected invite to a delicious traditional-English-homecooked-Sunday-roast-dinner-with-all-the-trimmings… on the following Tuesday… in the garden of a gorgeous 350 year-old cottage, (complete with ghost, or so it is rumoured).

Leaving with very contented stomachs, we were further delighted to receive a bag of organically grown apples plucked from the two heavily-laden trees in the garden – one, deliciously zingy, rosy-cheeked eaters; the other, tart, green-skinned cookers. For some reason, Apple Snow sprang to mind immediately. This is a dyschefull the Tudors - perhaps even the bold Henry himself - would have enjoyed in one form or another. Maybe it was a favourite of the ghost…

My version is soft meringue mixed with apple purée – an apple mousse if you will. You can serve it virtually fat-free as in this recipe, or fold in swirls of whipped cream and yet more apple purée  A drizzle of honey or maple syrup over the top won’t hurt if the apples you use are a little on the tart side. Scoop it up with shortbread fingers or langue de chat biscuits.

Note: As the meringue is so lightly cooked, it should not be given to pregnant women, infants, or anyone with a compromised immune system.

Drop the prepared apple slices into water with a generous squeeze of lemon juice to stop them going brown

First, to make the apple purée you will need…

900g apples, uncooked weight, sliced (this was 8 medium apples, after peeling and coring. I dropped them into cold water with a generous squeeze of lemon juice to stop them going brown until I was ready to use them.)

50g caster sugar or honey

the zest (in slices) and juice of a lemon (you should have about 4 tablespoons of juice)

the zest of an orange

2 whole cloves

1 stick of cinnamon

3 drops almond extract

Place all the ingredients in a large saucepan with a lid, over a medium heat. Cover the saucepan and cook the apples until soft (about 10-15 minutes) checking occasionally to make sure they haven’t boiled dry (if necessary, add a small amount of water, apple juice, or cider). When the apples are soft, remove the lid and if there is a lot of juice, continue cooking until any visible juice has evaporated.

Remove from the heat, cover, and leave to cool. Taste and add a little more sugar or honey if necessary.

Next, for the meringue you will need…

… a sugar thermometer and an electric whisk or stand mixer (or good strong muscles in your arms)

2 egg whites room at room temperature

60g caster sugar

3 tablespoons cold water

½ teaspoon vanilla extract

Place the egg whites in a bowl and whisk until fluffy and the mixture flops into soft peaks when you remove the whisk.

Place the caster sugar, water, and vanilla extract in a small saucepan and place over a medium heat until the sugar crystals have dissolved. Turn up the heat and boil the mixture until it reaches the ‘soft ball’ mark on your thermometer (or 118°C or 235°F).

Carefully remove the saucepan from the heat and drizzle the hot syrup slowly into the bowl of egg whites, whisking all the while. (Avoid drizzling the hot liquid directly onto the whisk unless you want to enamel your kitchen with molten sugar and quite possibly burn yourself into the bargain). Continue whisking until you have incorporated all the syrup, the mixture is thick and smooth and white and glossy, and a clean finger touched to the mixture tells you that the temperature has dropped to about room temperature (3 - 5 minutes).

The assembly job…

Next, remove the strips of zest, cinnamon stick and cloves from the cool apple mixture and pass it through a coarse sieve. Whisk the resulting apple purée into the meringue and chill until needed. It will keep for about 48 hours, covered, in the fridge.

When ready to serve, swirl into pretty glasses or bowls, and serve with shortbread biscuits or langue de chat. 

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White Chocolate and Cherry Clafoutis - Simply Irresistible !

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The poet, Paul Valéry, said that a poem is never finished, only abandoned. I have that same feeling about recipes. From time to time, I can’t resist making just a tiny edit or two to an old favourite, on the hunch that it will make the dish even better.

Simply irresistible

I have revisited the first dish I ever did on Alchemy in the Kitchen, a whole 5 years ago – Cherry Clafoutis - and I’ve made a few edits. One was the addition of chunks of good white chocolate - for me, the missing link in the evolution of clafoutis. 

I have also come down firmly on the side of de-stoned cherries for a number of reasons:

●       multiple taste tests don’t reveal the almond flavour that the stones are supposed to impart (a touch of almond extract does it better!)

●       de-stoned cherries leak their juice into the batter and even more juice evaporates, leaving a concentrated cherry flavour

●       there is less risk of a tooth-shattering surprise.

Hungry caterpillar? No, cherry-stoner!

Unfortunately I had to buy the cherries for today’s clafoutis rather than being presented with a strange and marvellous bouquet as before.  

Life is ...

As I needed a decent amount of natural light for the photos, I made the dish this morning. Although I’m not in the habit of having dessert for breakfast, clafoutis is best eaten warm from the oven, so I had no option but to sample it there and then (good excuse eh?) and I have decided it wouldn’t be out of place at a special brunch.

For 4 servings you will need......to preheat the oven to 170°C

A little butter for greasing 4 shallow ramekin dishes

50g ground almonds
25g plain flour

½ teaspoon baking powder
a  pinch of fine table salt
3 eggs, lightly beaten
50g runny honey
150mls fresh whole milk
½ teaspoon almond extract

300g ripe fresh cherries, stones removed (I prefer to leave the stalks on for presentation but take them off if you prefer).

75g good quality white chocolate, cut into 1cm chunks

Method

With the butter, lightly rub the inside of the ramekin dishes and set aside.

Measure the ground almonds and flour into a mixing bowl and add the baking powder and salt. Add the eggs and whisk to a smooth batter. Add the honey (I weigh it directly into the bowl to save on washing up) and whisk until combined. Finally whisk in the milk and almond extract to give a consistency similar to single cream.

Divide the batter evenly between 4 shallow ramekin dishes, making sure not to fill beyond the half-way mark, then divide the cherries and chocolate chunks evenly between the 4 dishes.

One for me, one for the clafoutis, one for me...

Bake in the pre-heated oven for 25 minutes or until risen and golden brown.

Allow to cool slightly before dusting with icing sugar and serving with a jug of pouring cream. Mmmmm-mmmm-mmmmmmmmmm.

Note: Clafoutis sinks slightly as it cools – that’s just its nature

Note: Clafoutis vanishes quickly when cooked - that's just in its nature ...

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Love is ... sharing your Baileys Chocolate Biscuit Cake

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St Valentine mightn’t have been Irish to begin with, but we’ve certainly adopted him. His relics lie in the Carmelite church at Whitefriar Street, Dublin. If you want to pop in to visit, you may have to elbow your way through the growing crush as the resting place of the Hallmark saint grows in popularity with loved-up couples. Although... according to that great bible of civilization, Wikipedia, there are about eleven St Valentines and it is not known which one inspired the retail frenzy.

Valentine’s Day would try the patience of a saint. Ok, who doesn’t like to know they are someone’s someone special... But... if this commercial outpouring of love is confined to romantic love... and then to just one day of the year, well, it’s a teeny bit exclusive, isn’t it.

For me, love is in the every day things.  It’s in the whole-hearted, rib-cracking bear-hugs from my godson; in the slightly soggy, pre-licked crisps offered by my three-year-old niece when you know she really, really, really wants them herself (“Thanks honey, but you have them, I insist! No, really – I insist”.

I asked friends and family what love meant to them. It turns out, it isn't in the grand gestures. Love is... in having the washing up done for you; in getting a cup of tea... just the way you like it... brought to one’s boudoir. Love is in chocolate; in a tiny posy of primroses; in a bunch of daffodils (preferably not ones stolen from the local park); Love is in a ‘Thank you for feeding me’ lick from a four-legged friend (awwww); it's in a crayoned picture of you looking like a happy witch; in a warm hand that reaches for your cold hand; in sharing a bag of salty, vinegary chips; Love is in cupcakes, hot from the oven; in a hug, just when you need it; it seems that love happens in lots and lots of small ways, - funnily, many of them food-related.

Dear St Valentine, when it comes to love, with all your kitsch hearts and overpriced flowers you are in the ha’penny place. But, seeing as you are now adopted Irish, here is a nod in the form of my Baileys Chocolate Biscuit Cake - for grown up friends and family. (If you are making these for kids, swap the cream liqueur for double cream).

For 1 boozy Baileys Chocolate Biscuit Cake, (or many tiny bites) you will need...

150g Marietta biscuits (or any Rich Tea type biscuit)

150g Digestive biscuits

100g dried sour cherries or dried cranberries (or a mixture of the two), chopped

50g toasted almonds, chopped

50g toasted walnuts, chopped

150g good quality plain chocolate (70% cocoa solids)

150g good quality milk chocolate

150mls Baileys (or a similar Irish Cream Liqueur)

100g butter, melted

25g runny honey (something floral, but not overpowering)

1 teaspoon vanilla extract 

50g each of dark chocolate and white chocolate for drizzling over the finished cake (optional). Oh, who am I kidding! Since when has  extra chocolate been optional?

Method

Chop the biscuits into bits about the size of a 2c coin (or a penny) and place them in a large mixing bowl. Add the dried fruit and the nuts. 

Place the chocolate in a heatproof (preferably non-metallic) bowl over a saucepan of barely simmering water (making sure the base of the bowl doesn’t sit in the water). When the chocolate has melted, add the butter and stir gently together with a wooden spoon or spatula to avoid filling the chocolate with air bubbles. We’re not making mousse today. 

When the butter is incorporated, add the cream liqueur (or double cream if you are going for an alcohol-free version) and stir until you have a smooth, shiny lake of chocolate-y deliciousness. (It will be alarming liquid at this stage but keep the faith - it will set later in the fridge.) Finally, stir in the honey and the vanilla extract. Tip the mixture into the bowl of biscuits. Stir until every last morsel is coated with boozy chocolate lusciousness. 

Transfer to a loaf tin (if you want slices), a mixing bowl or round cake tin (if you want wedges) or a shallow pie dish or similar if you want little squares or bars,  before covering and placing in the fridge to set for at least 4 hours or overnight. You can line your chosen container with cling film if you wish but I find it just as easy to pop the container in a tray of hot water for a minute or so to melt the edges a little before turning out onto a serving tray. 

It would be utterly decadent to drizzle this little treat with even more chocolate...

 Cut into squares, wedges or bars. Share.

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Eve’s Pudding – tempting ...

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If Adam was around today, I think Eve would be hard-pushed to find an apple to tempt him.

I grew up next to an orchard. I have no idea what varieties I - and my equally delinquent siblings - scrumped*, but there were a lot of tempting fruits. They ranged from tiny sour crab apples - perfect for jelly - through sweet pink-fleshed varieties, to enormous freckly cookers that needed just a touch of sugar and a little spice to bring out their best.

The storeroom at the back of the house smelled cidery in the autumn, with boxes of carefully wrapped (more honestly acquired) apples. This is not a smell the supermarket offerings can recreate.

I am racking my brains to think of varieties beyond Braeburn, Gala, Pink Lady, Granny Smith, Fuji, Cox’s Pippin and the (pretty good) cooker, Bramley.  They all blow my least favourite, Golden Delicious, out of the orchard in terms of flavour and texture, but still... would Adam risk being chucked out of the Garden of Eden for one of these? I’m inclined to think not.

I was delighted to receive a bag of homegrown apples from a friend recently. They were an old variety – Reinetta. I’m not sure of the exact strain, but the variety is believed to have originated in France in the 16th century so it’s got a decent pedigree, and if it has survived all those years, it must have some commendable characteristics.

It does. Intensely sweet and sharp, with a dense, creamy flesh, and not too juicy, these heritage apples were perfect for this fat-free dessert.

Eve’s Pudding is best served straight from the oven as the sponge topping sinks a little as it cools.

For 8 individual, tempting portions, you will need...

Stewed Apple Filling

500g (prepared weight) of cooking apples (Granny Smith or Bramley will do if you haven’t got a friend with a heritage apple tree)

2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice

50g caster sugar

2 tablespoons water

Sponge Topping

2 large eggs

50g caster sugar

a pinch of salt

60g plain flour

½ teaspoon baking powder

¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon

To serve

2 teaspoons icing sugar mixed with ¼ teaspoon of cinnamon

Good vanilla ice cream or home-made custard (optional)

Pre-heat the oven to 160°C

First make the filling: peel, core, and slice the apples and sprinkle with lemon juice to prevent them from discolouring. Place them in a medium saucepan with the sugar and water. Cover and cook gently over a medium heat for about 8 minutes or until soft. Divide between 8 small pie dishes or ovenproof bowls. Leave to cool.

Meanwhile make the sponge topping: place the eggs, sugar and salt in a mixing bowl and, with an electric whisk, beat until the mixture is thick and creamy and more than doubled in volume. To check if it is thick enough, stop the beaters and lift them from the mixture. Any mixture dropping from the beaters should remain on the surface for a moment or two.

Mix the flour, baking powder and cinnamon together and sift, about a quarter at a time, into the egg mixture, folding in between additions. (Folding in avoids overworking the batter, keeping it light and airy.To fold in, use a large metal spoon and cut through the centre of the batter. Move the spoon across the bottom of the bowl, and back up the side and across the top bringing some of the mixture from bottom to top. Give the bowl a quarter turn and repeat. Keep folding the mixture and turning the bowl until the flour is incorporated into the batter.)

Divide the mixture between the bowls of cooled stewed apple. Place the bowls on a shallow baking tray or roasting dish and bake in the pre-heated oven for 25-30 minutes or until well risen and golden.

Remove from the oven and sift the icing sugar and cinnamon over the top before serving as soon as possible.

This fat-free dessert is even more tempting with a scoop of vanilla ice cream melting over the top. Just saying...

*scrump – a juvenile rite of passage which involves raiding orchards, and develops such useful skills as outrunning fearsome guard dogs, emergency tree/wall/fence-climbing and river/ditch leaping – all very Enid Blyton, and wonderful exercise.


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