Chocolate Ice Cream!

I apologize. I can't seem to find my ice cream scoop and i can't get a decent picture of the ice cream. So trust me when i say this is awesome. Alright?

When making ice cream, we generally have a base custard mixture to which flavours are added in. and this is a really basic recipe for a rich chocolate ice cream.

Ingredients

180ml milk
2 egg yolks
50g caster sugar
70g bittersweet chocolate
1 1/2 tbsp cocoa powder
1 tsp instant coffee powder
140ml pure cream
1 tsp vanilla extract

Directions

Heat the milk and vanilla essence.

In a bowl, whisk the egg yolks and sugar together. Whisk till pale.

Slowly, add in the heated milk while whisking continuously to prevent cooking of the eggs.

Pour the mixture back into the pot and thicken, while stirring constantly over low heat to prevent cooking the eggs as well.

* Should you accidentally scramble the eggs, either sieve the mixture before continuing or use a hand blender to blend it all together. If this happens, and you were intending on making vanillia ice cream, i would suggest that you change the flavour, as it will have a slight flavour of cooked eggs, but if you changed the flavour to something else, the eggy-ness would not be so prominent.

After the mixture thickens, take it off the heat and let it cool slightly. Then add in the chocolate pieces. Stir to ensure that all the chocolate pieces have melted and are well combined.

In a small bowl, combine the cocoa and coffee powder, if using. Add into the chocolate custard mixture and stir to combine.

Sieve the mixture to ensure that you get a smooth creamy ice cream.

The mixture should be relatively cool now. If not, place it over a bowl of ice water to reduce the temperature.

Add in the cream. *Should you feel that the mixture is too thick, add a little more cream. I have made adjustments to this in my recipe but feel free to change it to suit your tastes.

Cover the bowl well and chill in the fridge for as long as you can.

Pour the chilled mixture into the ice cream machine and let it churn for 20 mins.

Ta-Da!

Enjoy!!

**A note about homemade ice cream – From my experience, since this is homemade and it has no weird chemicals and ingredients, this ice cream melts quite fast. So be sure to eat it quick and keep it frozen at all time. Although.. it would make a awesome thick chocolate shake should it melt. hehe.

Nigella's Gooey Chocolate Puddings!

It's has been so long since i last blogged. I seem to have a tendency to stop blogging once i'm back in Singapore and this time, i'm back for good.

A few weeks ago, Shermay's Cooking School was having a sale on Valrhona Chocolates. I went and picked up some items and finally used the chocolates in this terribly deliciously sinful chocolate pudding last night! Fish declared it the best chocolate dessert i've ever made. :D

This is very simple to make and the end result is a thick gooey rich brownie-like liquidy chocolate goodness!

None of us could finish the pudding in one sitting, so we waited till it cooled, covered with cling wrap and stored it in the fridge. We ate it again tonight for dessert, cold from the fridge, it was still as awesome! No longer gooey, but it has become a damn delicious cold dense chocolate cake!

Ingredients (This recipe is taken from Nigella's How to Eat)

125g best quality dark chocolate (i used Valrhona's 65% dark chocolate)
125g unsalted butter
3 large eggs
100g sugar (The original recipe called for 150g, but i left that it was too sweet)
35g plain flour
butter and flour for ramekins

Directions

Melt the chocolate and butter together in a bowl over simmering water.

In another bowl, whisk together the eggs, sugar and flour.

When the melted chocolate cools and is not too hot, add it gradually into the egg mixture. Set aside.

Preheat the oven to 200 degrees.

Grease and flour the ramekins.

*Nigella said to use 4 ramekins, but i didn't have enough for 4 ramekins, i only had 2 ramekins, so i filled them quite full and pour the rest into a larger ramekin. It is very rich and i do doubt that most would be able to finish it all in one go, so i'd say to reduce the amount in each ramekin, i think it would fit 4 ramekins, 1/2 full.

Nigella states that these have to left to cook at the last minute and served almost immediately.

Into the oven they go! According to Nigella, for 10-12 minutes.

I placed them in a little longer, around 15 minutes. You will still get a nice gooey centre but the sides would have been cooked into a dense brownie fudgy sponge. The tops would be cracking and the edges would look set.

Serve this with a jug of cold cream for your guests to pour into the hot hot delicious chocolate pudding!

We truly enjoyed this and i hope you will too! :)

Nigella Lawson's Totally Chocolate Chocolate Chip Cookies!

What a name!

I've really been in a baking frenzy these days and since renting DVDs whereby one was Nigella's, i saw this recipe and i thought that fish would really love it. and he does. so you should try it!

It is so so chocolately!

*Recipe adapted from Nigella's website.

Ingredients

125g dark chocolate (i used dark chocolate i got from Ikea)
150g flour
30g cocoa, sieved
1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
125g soft butter
75g light brown sugar
50g white sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 egg, cold from the fridge
350g (2 bags) semi-sweet chocolate morsels or dark chocolate chips
(i really didn't use that much, i only used 250gm and it was more than enough for me)

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 170°C/gas mark 3. Melt the 125g dark chocolate either in the microwave or in a heatproof dish over a pan of simmering water.
2. Put the flour, cocoa, bicarbonate of soda and salt into a bowl.
3. Cream the butter and sugars in another bowl. Add the melted chocolate and mix together.
4. Beat in the vanilla extract and cold egg, and then mix in the dry ingredients. Finally stir in the chocolate morsels or chips.
5. Scoop out equal-sized mounds using an ice cream scoop and place on a lined baking sheet about 6cm apart. Do not flatten them.
6. Cook for 18 minutes.
7. They will be very soft when hot, so leave to cool slightly on the baking sheet for 4-5 minutes, then transfer them to a cooling rack to harden as they cool.

Nigella meant for this to make 12 big cookies, but i think my ice cream scoop wasn't quite as large, so i made 21 cookies, that were big enough for me!

It was very delicious and fish loved it!

Yum Yum Yum!

Nama Chocolates w/ Maker's Mark Bourbon Whisky! Who needs Royce?

Occasionally we buy Royce nama chocolates and they are delicious, but you can recreate it at home as well! and use good quality chocolate plus whatever liquor you like.

Ingredients

250gm good quality chocolate (dark or milk is up to you)
125ml cream
2 tbsp whisky (i used Maker's Mark) – use 1 tbsp if you don't want a strong alcohol flavour
1 tbsp honey/maple syrup/corn syrup – i used maple syrup (i don't think this affects the flavour)
1 tsp vanilla essence

Directions

Melt the chocolate over a bain-marie.

In a small pot, heat up the cream, maple syrup and vanilla essence.

Add the heated cream mixture into the melted chocolate and whisk well.

Add the alcohol and mix well.

In a suitably sized container, line with cling wrap and pour in the chocolate mixture, cover and refrigerate as long as you can (overnight).

When it's soft-hard, turn it over onto a tabletop and dust cocoa powder over the surface.

After slicing it into blocks, put them into a container with more sieved cocoa powder and toss the chocolate blocks around and quickly refrigerate especially if your area is hot.

Enjoy!!

-> i used dark chocolate and this made it really rich and slightly bitter, i could use 50/50 hot chocolate powder to cocoa powder so that it's not too bitter, but it really isn't that bitter and fish loves dark chocolate.

-> The coating has a tendency to be thicker than you would like it, so remember to shake off the excess before eating or serving so that people don't choke on the cocoa powder.

-> i used slightly less than 2 tbsp of alcohol and you can really taste the alcohol in the chocolates. So if this is going to be eaten by children or ppl who are not that keen on alcohol, 1 tbsp would be good just to give it a little more flavour. or just replace it with vanilla essence if you want to keep it alcohol-free.

Rocky Road!

I've actually never been a fan of rocky road. until. i tried some that came with the chocolates i bought for fish on our anniversary.

It was delicious!

and i set out to create my own.

 
Ingredients

Marshmallows – 4 flavours and cut them up into 4 small pieces each

 
Desiccated coconut – toasted in a frying pan
Toblerone
Chocolate
and whatever else you wanted, i added corn flakes in another batch

Directions

Melt the chocolate and toblerone over a bain-marie. And leave it aside to cool.

I accidentally added the marshmallows before the chocolates cooled and they just melted into the chocolate. I actually purposely did that the second time because if you melt the raspberry ones, they actually lend a great flavour to the chocolate, but it gets sticky, so just one or two small pieces.

After it's cool, add the ingredients that you want to. Don't worry if it looks like there's a lot of ingredients, it is fine!

Then pour it out onto a tray lined with baking paper or aluminium foil. and leave it in the fridge for around 1/2 – 1 hour.

 
I like to take it out before it gets fully hardened because it makes it much easier to slice into squares.

And there ya go! so simple so nice.

I like to leave them out a little before i eat them as well, don't like eating them when they're extremely hard.

By the way, Hui just finished all of them.

Shopping & Macchiato, Sydney

So, a few days ago, we went to the city and i wasn’t intending to go to Victoria’s Basement – they have an amount of cookware at way cheaper prices. but Fish needed to go to the toilet and i had to go in there to wait for him.

I couldn’t help it. I bought 2 things.

 
I bought a small wooden spoon from Mario Batali’s range of cookware. If you notice, both ends of the wooden spoon are spoons, one bigger and one smaller. I’ve got 2 wooden spoons already – one is a normal sized wooden spoon and the other is a normal sized but with a flat edge wooden spoon so that it can be used as a frying spatula as well. Sometimes, i think to myself.. they’re too big for some purposes.. i need a smaller one. and i found one.

I have been reading about Teflon non-stick surfaces and read of some of the possible dangers regarding it. Before, i found Green Pan – which is a eco friendly frying pan. but it was quite expensive. So on this trip, i found another brand that does a eco friendly frying pan as well. and they look better than Green Pan.

I bought the smallest size – it was the cheapest (AUD$30, original price AUD$100). and also cause i just wanted to try and out and see how it works. I have not had a chance to try it yet. but i will let you guys know.

It is eco friendly i think because it doesn’t use chemicals to create that non-stick coating, but the layers between are ceramic, which is also what the non-stick surface is made from. So it is PTFE and PFOA free. because the non-stick surface is created using naturally occurring minerals such as dirt, sand and rocks. This i think is quite important as you guys should all know that a Teflon non-stick pan can only withstand to up to a certain temperature (240 degrees) after which it would emit harmful chemicals. I don’t know for sure if i have or will ever reach that temperature – but still.. it is kinda unsettling to know.

If i like it, and i hope i do. They claim that it has better heat distribution and more durable. So, i’ll definitely update when i have a conclusive opinion about this pan.

So.. these 2 stuffs i bought at Victoria’s Basement. QVB also has a small German bakery which we’ve just discovered and i love their pretzels more than the one at Central Station.

Time for dinner.

We decided to try a new place near World Square that i’ve always said we should try but never did. so we did this time.

It’s called Macchiato. It’s an Italian restaurant – pizza, pasta and mains.

I always love a good garlicky garlic bread. This one is above average. Very buttery and soft. I would love more garlic though – but that’s just me.

We had a Caesar salad – which is one of our favourites now. The Caesar salad here was nice and very delicious – even the croutons.

Fish had a Angus beef steak special with hand cut fries and steamed broccoli. I was immediately drawn to the fries – i am a carbo person. The steak was medium well done and it was tender and the fats were full of flavour.

And we ordered a pizza to share. Sydney Supreme. We ate 2 slices each and took the other 1/2 home and had it for brunch today. Delicious wood-fired pizzas.

 
To accompany the dinner, Fish ordered a cocktail. I don’t remember the name. but it had Kahula, Bailey’s, another alcohol, milk and honey. It was delicious.

And to end the meal, we ordered a tiramisu. It was really really good and alcoholic.

So, in all, we had a good day. and i hope you did too.

Tomorrow is Australia Day and i think we will be going to Bunnings.

and i will be flying back this Sat! can’t wait!

Eating Time! – i just baked Chocolate chip peanut butter cookies!

Rum Butter Balls

Credits for this go to: Angie

So.. on my sidebar, i wrote that i wanted to use Rum in my cooking. I had just bought a bottle of rum with the intention of making rum & raisin ice cream – that hasn’t been done yet.

So, i was watching youtube.. when i saw this. Rum Butter Balls. I love the flavour of Rum and i love butter.

I’m quite sure mine didn’t turn out exactly like hers. I think it’s because i didn’t add icing sugar to the mixture.. but it still tasted really good.. haha.. so … whatever!

Somehow, this grows on you. You eat the first one and think. It’s ok. but you find yourself keep wanting another one. haha.. so it grows on ppl. Rum is very very fragrant.

 
Looks kinda christmas-y though.. hehe..

Those were pecans which i roasted in the oven and coated them with icing sugar when they’re still hot. Fish loves them! hehe..

Ingredients (These are different from the original)

1. 125g Butter – i thought i used more – supposed to be 170g.
2. 2 tbsp Rum
3. 1 3/4 cups Plain Flour – supposed to be cake flour, but i dun have (wrong pic)
4. 3/4 cup roughly chopped Pecans – i think i chopped them a little too finely
5. 3/4 cup chocolate flakes – 3/4 cup if chocolate chips, i didn’t have chocolate chips, so i just sliced dark chocolate bars into little flakes and bits, i also used 3/4 cup but realised that if using this, can use way more chocolate. (Next time!)
6. Pure Icing Sugar for coating

*There’s supposed to be 1/2 cup of icing sugar into the mixture. But i forgot. and after eating, felt like it didn’t need the icing sugar if you gave it a good coating of icing sugar. But if you like it sweeter, by all means. I think this might be why my batter came out different.

Directions (Also different cause i just do from the top of my head)

1. All you need is 1 big bowl (Now that i come to think about it). Preheat the oven to 180 degrees.

2. Make sure that your butter is soft and your chocolate bar is room temperature.

3. Cream the butter in the bowl. Cream by hand, but mixing it all about and getting it into a kinda paste looking.

4. I chopped the pecans and chocolate by hand since i had the time watching tv. I think you could do the pecans using a processor but i think you would still have to slice the chocolate by hand unless using chocolate chips.

5. Roast the chopped pecans till aromatic. Careful not to burn. You can use both the oven or the frying pan. I used the frying pan. Keep stirring.

6. Sift the flour into the bowl. Add the roasted pecans and chocolate. Try to let the pecans come back to room temperature before adding everything especially if you’re using chocolate flakes since they melt very easily.

7. Mix everything together with 2 tbsp of Rum! – It was supposed to be 1 but i added 2. =)

8. Mix Mix Mix. and here’s where mine differs. Hers was a creamy batter. Mine was a breadcrumb mixture. What a difference!

 
9. Anyways, since there was butter in the mixture, what you need to do is. I had fingernails, so i used a spoon, spoon an amount onto your palm and squeezed the mixture together to form a ball. Some will drop off but don’t worry it is possible. I thought it wasn’t possible until i tried it and ! a ball !

10. Although i used my big oven, i was lazy to get the big pan out since the kitchen island can’t be used i had to use my dining table, so instead, i used the tray of the small oven toaster.

 
11. I made bite sized balls. I didn’t count how many it yielded. but it took 2 trays to finish all. The second tray wasn’t full. Place them into the oven at 180 degrees for 20 minutes. They should not colour much.

12. Get a bowl of icing sugar ready. Don’t be like me and try to scrimp and add as little icing sugar into the bowl as possible. Trust me.. the balls need to roll around in ample sugar. So get a good amount in.

13. When 20 minutes is up, take it out. Wait for 3-5 minutes till it slightly cools so that you can handle them with your fingers. You don’t want them to get cool for the icing sugar won’t melt around the balls then.

14. Taking each bowl, roll the balls around in the icing sugar until it is well coated. The icing sugar will form a sort of glaze over the balls as they melt. It will get on your fingers, so just have a tissue on the table so you can peel the icing sugar sticking to your fingertips.

 
You can eat it when it’s slightly warm, but i actually like it more after placing it in the fridge overnight and taking it out a few minutes before eating.

If you have left over icing sugar and throwing away is such a waste. I’m sure you have left over whole pecans. I had washed everything already by then so i wasn’t going to use the frying pan again. Just place the pecans on the baking tray you used to bake the balls. at 180 degrees for around 10 minutes. Make sure that they don’t burn. or until you can smell that delicious roasted pecans smell.

Also wait for them to get slightly cooler. Roll the pecans in the icing sugar and set aside. Don’t worry if there seems to be alot of icing sugar between the indents in the pecans. Their skin is slightly bitter and icing sugar isn’t very very sweet anyways. But this coating of icing sugar makes pecans irresistible. even to Fish who didn’t really like pecans.

I will definitely make these again as snacks.

and i think the roasted pecans will be good for Chinese New Year.

Have you guys bought your Christmas presents yet?

My favourite Hot Chocolate!

l have found my favourite hot chocolate!!

Max Brenner's White Chocolate with Crunchy Waffle Balls. I tried it with all the 3 kinds of chocolate and my favourite is the white chocolate!

I LOVE the small chocolate covered waffle balls!!!

Drank it today and can't wait to drink it again!!

Anyone tried this before? Not sure if Singapore has this on their menu though...

Yum Yum!

Brownies! Again!

I made brownies again the day before i left for Singapore. It was to eat on the plane but there were extras so i brought them back to Singapore. Turns out that they were a hit and everyone loved them! YAY!

This time i made a smaller batch and used better chocolates and made them into mini cupcakes for better presentation and transportation.

Do they look much much better? They taste really good too! Not for the faint-hearted though - they are definitely a treat.

Just in case you guys want the recipe again and this is truly a simple simple recipe from Nigella Lawson! Also, since this is my second time making this, i eyeballed alot of the ingredients which really makes no big difference. There are also some small changes that can be made - like the amount of butter.

Ingredients

300gm Unsalted Butter
300gm Dark Chocolate - either the small drops or big chunks
6 eggs
1 1/2 cup caster sugar - i reduced this a little as a few commented that it was a wee sweet
1 tablespoon of vanilla essence
1 - 1 1/2 cups of plain flour - depending on how cakey you like
1 teaspoon Salt - i actually forgot about this - so i guess it really isn't important?
Any amount of milk chocolate and/or white chocolate drops

Directions

1. Melt the butter and dark chocolate together in a big pot.
2. While melting slowly over low heat, whisk together the eggs, sugar and vanilla essence.
3. When the chocolate mixture has completely melted and relatively cooled, add in the egg mixture and mix together. (Make sure the chocolate is not too hot or else you will end up with chocolate scrambled eggs!)
4. Fold in the flour into the mixture carefully a little at a time.
5. Place into baking dish or muffin trays as you wish and bake.
6. For the small ones like mine, bake at 180 degree Celsius for 15 minutes - bake longer or shorter if you like it drier or gooey respectively. You can also insert a fork or toothpick to see if it comes out clean.

Comments

1. I use caster sugar which is finer and does not seem as sweet as white sugar.
2. The original recipe called for 1/2 a cup of white and 1/2 cup of milk chocolate drops - but you can add as little or as much as you like. I have not tried, but i'm sure you could add walnuts or any nuts for that matter as well.
3. I reduced the amount of butter but it still is quite an amount - haven't tried reducing it even more as i needed to clear the butter - if you tried it with a lower amount of butter - let me know how it turns out.  
4. Try to use good quality dark chocolate for the are the foundation of this brownie.

I hope you guys will try and enjoy this recipe because i know everyone has and i hope you will too!

Nigella's Triple Chocolate Brownies!

I made brownies today! I used the recipe that i found - it's Nigella's Triple Chocolate Brownies! I followed the recipe to a T and it was wonderful!

Here is a slideshow of the photos that i have taken.


This is the recipe i used.

Ingredients

* 3 sticks plus 2 tablespoons unsalted butter - Around 360grams
* 12 ounces best-quality bittersweet chocolate - Around 300grams
* 6 eggs
* 1 3/4 cups superfine sugar - I used caster sugar
* 1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract - I used vanilla paste
* 1 1/2 cups plus 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
* 1 teaspoon salt
* 1/2 cup white chocolate buttons, chips, or morsels
* 1/2 cup semisweet chocolate buttons, chips or morsels
* Approximately 2 teaspoons confectioners' sugar, for garnish
*
* Special equipment: Baking tin (approximately 11 1/4 inches by 9 inches by 2 inches), sides and base lined with baking parchment. - I used a pyrex dish 9 x 13inch

Oh..regrading the amount of butter - it may seem excessive but i still used it all the same though i might cut it by a little - maybe just 300grams. Still, it adds to the flavour of the brownies!

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. (Around 177 Celsius)

Melt the butter and dark chocolate together in a large heavy based pan over a low heat.

In a bowl or large measuring jug, beat the eggs together with the superfine sugar and vanilla extract.

Allow the chocolate mixture to cool a little, then add the egg and sugar mixture and beat well. Fold in the flour and salt. Then stir in the white chocolate buttons or chips, and the semisweet chocolate buttons or chips. Beat to combine then scrape and pour the brownie mixture into the prepared tin.

Bake for about 25 minutes (After reading reviews and trying it myself - the best timing is actually 35 minutes). You can see when the brownies are ready because the top dries to a slightly paler brown speckle, while the middle remains dark, dense and gooey. Even with such a big batch you do need to keep checking on it: the difference between gooey brownies and dry ones is only a few minutes. Remember, too, that they will continue to cook as they cool. - No problem at all - real gooey and nice!

To serve, cut into squares while still warm and pile up on a large plate, sprinkling with confectioners' sugar pushed with a teaspoon through a small sieve.

This is a wonderful recipe which you can alter yourself. I would definitely try it without the white chocolate and used either chopped walnuts or peanut butter chips instead.

This is a quick recipe as all just comes together in one pot and into the baking dish and you're done! Less than 1 1/2 hr in total.

Nigella really knows what she is doing!