Unique Archives - Sweet Tooth Experiments

Chocolate and Nut Springroll

Posted on May 20, 2017 Posted in Unique .

Chocolate and Nut Springroll

You may notice every now and then I get inspired by savory food to reinvent as a sweet version (etc my Apple Crumble Pizza recipe).

More than often they don’t translate as well as hoped, however some are a great success and make it to this blog. This recipe is just that.

After making spring rolls from scratch the other day it got me thinking about creating a sweet version with nuts (a bit of inspiration from baklava as well as cannoli).

Cannoli is just fried pastry with a filling…the springroll wraps are also pastry….baklava is nuts, spices and syrup wrapped in pastry…in a way this recipe is almost the Asian version of the Greek Baklava or the Italian Cannoli.

Strangely I actually prefer springrolls baked than fried so I decided to try both cooking methods for this recipe and the baked was the winner.

Ingredients:

14 Spring roll pastry skins
20g butter, melted

Filling:

100g hazelnuts
100g cashews
100g pistachios
½ tsn ground cinnamon
1/2 tsn ground cloves
1 + ½ tbsn semolina
100g cream
200g dark chocolate

Syrup:

15g honey
55g sugar
¼ cup water
2 x 10cm piece of lemon peel

Method:

Pre-heat the oven to 190c degrees and line a baking tray with baking paper.
Place the nuts, cinnamon, cloves and semolina in a food processor and process until just diced, place in a bowl.
Heat 100ml cream in the microwave until boiling then add in the chocolate. Leave for a minute then stir until the mix is a thick glossy consistency.
Stir the chocolate mix into the nut mix until well combined.
Brush a pastry skin with melted butter and cut a 5cm strip off vertically.
Place 30g of the chocolate nut filling in the spring roll skin in a straight line.
Fold the 2 vertical sides in and then roll up horizontally.
Add a little extra butter to the end of the skin to ensure it seals well, repeat with all mix and skins.
Place the springrolls onto the prepared baking tray.
Bake in the oven for 10 minutes or until the spring rolls are golden.
Meanwhile, make the syrup by stirring all the ingredients in a saucepan on medium heat until the sugar dissolves.
Bring to the boil then reduce the heat to a simmer and leave without stirring for 5 minutes or until slightly thickened, following remove the peel.
Once the springrolls are cooked pour the syrup over the pastry, or alternatively serve the syrup in a dipping bowl for guests to enjoy.

Fried version:

If you wish to fry the spring rolls you will need to omit the above steps 10 and replace with:

Use a candy thermometer to heat oil for frying to 175c degrees in a saucepan.
Place into the oil the spring rolls one at a time until golden brown.
Once cooked place spring rolls on paper towel, enjoy!

Notes:

I recommend you whip with electric beaters 150ml thickened cream with 1 tbsn of icing sugar until peaks form and serve on the side OR serve with a scoop of ice-cream.
If you cannot find spring roll pasty you can use filo sheets, just brush them with butter, fold in half and brush again.
The fried version can be used if you are serving the springrolls straight out of the oil. If you are cooking in advance you need to bake them otherwise they will be soft (baking the pastry will keep it crispy).

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Miso Doughnuts

Posted on September 8, 2015 Posted in Doughnuts, Unique .

Miso Doughnuts

Taking some flavor inspiration from Japanese cuisine and mixing it up with one of the most well know treats in the world being America’s Doughnut (assumed to have originated in Manhattan pre-mid 1900s), this recipe will surprise and delight.

I have dabbled in using Japanese stable ingredients in baking recently (black sesame macaroons to some) so I decided that I would make doughnuts but put my spin on them by using the black sesames as the chocolate sprinkles and miso paste with sugar as the doughut glaze.

To enhance the Miso flavor I have modified the doughnut batter to also incorporate the Miso paste.

The outcome was actually a really fluffy and surprisingly delicious doughnut.

I actually took these to work and no one knew they had miso paste and I had great feedback.

Ingredients:

Doughnuts:

180ml milk
1 tbsn dry yeast
60g sugar
300g flour
2-egg yolk
30g butter
1 tsn miso paste

Icing:

30g butter
50ml water
1 tbsn miso paste
290g icing sugar

Extra:

1 tbsn black sesame seeds
Oil

Method:

Place warm milk, 1 tbsn sugar and the yeast in a bowl and stir until the mix is combine.
Leave the milk mix aside to bubble for 20 minutes.
Place the remaining sugar, flour, yolks and the butter softened in a bowl.
Pour in the milk mix and stir until well combine.
Flour the bench and kneed the dough for 10 minutes until elastic and smooth.
Spray a bowl with oil spray and place the dough in covered with cling wrap for 1 hour or until doubled in size.
Flour the benchtop again, adding the miso paste to the dough and kneed for 3 minutes.
Using a rolling pin roll the dough out to 1cm and using a 7cm cutter cut out the doughnuts.
Following cut out the holes with a 2cm circle cookie cutter.
Place the doughnuts aside for 30 mins and cover with a tea towel.
Place the sesame seeds in a saucepan and on a medium heat warm through until the seeds are slightly roasted and release their aroma.
Place oil for frying on a saucepan and using a candy thermometer heat the oil on medium until it reaches 175c degrees.
Place the doughnuts in the oil for 30 seconds on each side until golden brown.
Place the cooked doughnuts onto paper town to absorb the excess oil.
For the icing place the water, miso and melted butter into a bowl and stir until combine.
Add the icing sugar and using a hand whisk beat until combine,
Place the doughnuts onto a tray and using a pastry brush ice the top of all the doughnuts until all the icing has been used.
Top with the sesame seeds and enjoy.

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Novelty Chomp Bar

Posted on April 9, 2015 Posted in Unique .

Novelty Chomp Bar

While on holiday at the start of the year a friend professed her love for the chocolate bar Chomp. We were in the supermarket and she saw the Chomp bar, which is quite a rare find and had to have not one but two.

Somehow we got onto the subject of me making a ‘chomp cake’…A few bars later and an analysis of the key ingredients that go into the chocolate bar and I was pretty sure I could replicate the bar on a large scale.

Therefore introducing my Novelty Chomp Chocolate Bar.

Ingredients:

125g pack of vanilla cream waffers

Chocolate ganache:

50g thickened cream
150g milk chocolate

Caramel layer:

160g brown sugar
95g thickened cream
35g butter

Method:

Line a 15cm x 8cm loaf cake tin with baking paper.
To make the chocolate ganache heat the 50g cream in the microwave in a bowl until boiling.
Add the chocolate to the cream, wait 1 minute then stir the chocolate until a thick and glossy consistency has formed. Place the mix aside in the fridge to cool.
To make the caramel place the sugar and 95g of cream in a pan on the stove and heat on medium stirring until the sugar has dissolved.
Turn the heat up to high and boil for 5 minutes.
Remove the pan off the heat, add the 35g of butter and stir until the mix is glossy and combine. Place in the fridge until the caramel is cooled.
To assemble pour 2/3rds of the chocolate mix into the tin, ensuring you spread the chocolate along the sides as well as covering the bottom of the tin. You need to have all the metal of the cake tin completely covered in chocolate. Place in the freezer for 5 minutes or until set.
To add the caramel layer you need to pour half the mix into the base on top of the chocolate mix.
For the wafer layer place 2×2 waffers in the tin horizontally (long ways). Cut 4 extra wafers to size to ensure complete coverage of the caramel with 2 layers of wafer thickness.
Pour the remainder of the caramel on top of the wafers and spread to ensure even coverage.
Place the tin in the freezer for 5 minutes.
Remove the tin from the freezer and pour the remaining chocolate ganache over the top of the caramel, ensuring even and full overage of the caramel.
Place in the freezer for 20 minute.
To serve turn the tin upside down onto a plate and remove the baking paper from the Chomp Bar.
Cut horizontally and enjoy.

Note:

You will only need 8 waffers for this recipe so if you can find a smaller packet (70g) of waffers it would be ideal.

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Peanut Butter and Jelly Slice Sandwiches

Posted on November 17, 2014 Posted in Slice, Unique .

Peanut Butter and Jelly Slice Sandwiches

Peanut Butter and Jelly Slice Sandwich recipe

You may have noticed by now that I do love to play with American style flavor favorites, (see my Devils Food Cake, Chocolate Bacon Cake with Maple Frosting, Spiced Pumpkin Pie, Hummingbird Cake to name a few). The whole savory and sweet combo they commonly serve is so interesting, something we don’t see much in Australia.

One thing I have yet to experiment with is their famous peanut and jelly (jam in AUS) sandwich, I don’t even think I have ever tasted one in my life.

So true Ella style instead of first tasting I threw myself into experimenting with this concept to incorporate these 2 key ingredients in a sweet baking tread.

I must say I attempted 3 versions of this…Originally I made a 3 layered slice with a peanut butter, a jelly and a white chocolate crumble topping slice. I wasn’t happy with this so I attempted it again with just the 2 layers and omitted the crumble layer – as suspected the jam turned into a toffee texture without the crumble layer to protect it.

As the peanut layer was absolutely delectable and satisfying I decided to slice pieces in half like 2 pieces of bread and with thick jelly (jam) placed in the center to sandwich the peanut slice together.

Outcome…better that expected – absolutely scrumptious! Best part (bar the taste) this is sooo easy to make! Below is the recipe to me easy Peanut Butter and Jelly Slice Sandwiches.

Ingredients:

½ cup butter
½ brown sugar
¼ cup white sugar
300g peanut butter
1 egg
1 tsn vanilla extract
1 + 1/2cup plain flour
½ tsn baking powder
½ tsn salt
½ tsn cinnamon
1/2 cup thick raspberry jam

Method:

Preheat the oven to 175c and line a 20cm square baking tray with baking paper.
In a bowl using electric beaters beat butter and sugar for 5 minutes until thick and creamy.
Add the peanut butter, egg and vanilla essence, beat.
In another bowl mix together the flour, powder, salt and cinnamon.
Using a spoon carefully fold the dry ingredients into the wet mix until just combined.
Spoon the mix into the tray and smooth out.
Cook for 35 minutes or until golden.
Allow the slice to fully cool then cut the slice horizontally through the middle.
Place the bottom layer back into the tray and spoon the thick jam to cover the bottom layer.
Place the second layer on the top of the jam to create a peanut slice sandwich with jam in the centre.
Allow to set in the fridge for 2 hours before removing from the tray and cutting the slice into bars.

Notes:

You can use whatever flavor jam you prefer, though raspberry is the most traditional.
The jam does need to be quite thick. If its not heat it in the microwave or on the stove until bubbling hot then whisk in 1 tsn of gelatine powder. Allow to cool, then follow on from step 9.

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Apple Crumble Pizza

Posted on June 22, 2014 Posted in Unique .

Apple Crumble Pizza

So by now you would notice that I frequently experiment with vegetables in sweet baking, love to make traditional unique world treats and play with textures.

However, lately I have really started to take an interest in turning ‘traditional’ savoury meals into sweet alternatives.

Based on this new found curiosity I decided to experiment with a very well known easy dish that is properly one of the most popular meals around the world….Maybe this wasn’t the smarted thing to play with every households family favourite food, but I think if you try this recipe you will let my off the hook as its that good!

Now this recipe does have quite a few parts (5 in fact), but each part is super easy using pretty much the same ingredients so please don’t be turned off by this, especially since 2 of the parts take between 2-5 minutes to do!

So if you’re a fan of pizza and have a soft spot to a warm winter apple crumble…humm you will LOVE my Apple Crumble Pizza!

Pizza Base:

1 cup of warm water
½ tsn salt
2 tbsn sugar
2 tbsn oil
3 cups plain flour
1 tbsn dry yeast

Cheese Spread:

125g cream cheese
2 tbsn brown sugar
1tbsn lemon juice
¼ tsn nutmeg

Apple Topping:

65g butter
5 Granny Smith apples (4 apples if very large), peeled and thinly sliced
¾ cup sugar
3 tbsn plain flour
2 tsn cinnamon

Crumble Topping:

½ cup plain flour
2 tsn cinnamon
½ cup sugar
1/3 cup butter, softened
½ cup oats

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 190c and line a 16-inch pizza tray with baking paper.

Pizza Base:

2. Pour flour and yeast into a large bowl, stir.

3. Add the water, salt, sugar and oil into the dry mix.

4. Knead into a smooth dough for 5 minutes and cover with a tea towel to rest for at least 15 minutes. In the interium:

Cheese Spread:

5. Add cheese spread ingredients into a bowl and whisk until well combined.

Apple Topping:

6. Place the flour, sugar and cinnamon into a medium sizes saucepan, stir until sugar is dissolved.

7. Add the butter and apple and turn the hotplates to medium, stirring constantly.

8. Once mix comes to the boil turn to low and continue to mix until the apples are tender.

Crumble Topping:

9. Place all ingredients into a bowl and with hands rub to combined.

Assembling:

10. Place dough onto the tray, punching down dough to make a large circular base.

11. Spread the cheese spread with the back of a spoon to evenly distribute.

12. Evenly place apple mix onto the spread layer.

13. Sprinkle the crumbling topping over the apple mix evenly.

14. Cover the pizza for 15 minutes in a warm place with a tea towel on the top.

15. Place the pizza in the oven for 25-30minutes or until browned and golden.

Notes:

Brown sugar is not essential if you have none just use white sugar.
If you don’t like nutmeg again this is not essential so you can omit this, but to be honest you wont taste the ingredient it just enhances the others flavours.
This recipe does make a MASSIVE pizza. It is very easy to half the mix if you don’t have an army to baking for 🙂 (you will notice this from the step pictures).
I recommend using a mandolin to get quick and easy apple slices and granny smith apple as they hold their shape quite well when you cook them.
Make sure you punch the dough down well and spread evenly as the dough will rise quite a bit and you don’t want it really thick in the centre but thin on the outsides.