Work catering #34: Gluten free bake!

I received a few mini recipe books in the mail from CSR (yes the sugar brand!) because they were free!! Gotta love freebies XD anyways one of them was full of GLUTEN FREE recipes ^^ I've always wanted to bake gluten free desserts but... I was a little scared~ I mean, what happens if the utensils I use have residues of gluten then I use them to bake... then.. it wouldn't be gluten free would it?

hahha.. ok maybe I think too much ^_^" Anyways.... so here are the recipes =)

Raspberry Jam Slice
Recipe adapted from "Gluten Free Delights" by CSR

Ingredients
Base
1 cup (150g) almond meal
1/2 cup (45g) fine desiccated coconut
1 cup (150g) gluten free plain flour
1 1/4 cups (275g) Raw Caster sugar (I actually didn't like the little "crunchy" raw bits of the sugar so I think next time I will just use regular caster sugar and probably bring it down to 1 cup)
1/2 cup (125g) unsalted butter, melted
2 egg yolks
1 tsp cold water

Filling
3/4 cup raspberry jam
1/2 cup frozen raspberries

Topping
2 egg whites, lightly beaten
2 1/2 cups (215g) shredded coconut
1/3 cup (50g) soft icing sugar

1. Preheat oven to 170oC (150oC fan forced). Grease and line 20x30cm baking tray with baking paper.
2. Base: combine all dry ingredients in a large bowl. Mix the butter, yolks and water in separate small bowl. Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients and mix until well combined. [OR.... you can just put everything in a food processor if you own one ^^]. Press into tray and bake for 20 minutes or until gold brown. Allow to cool.
3. Filling: Spread jam over base then sprinkle on raspberries.
4. Topping: Combine egg whites, shredded coconut and icing sugar and mix until combined. Spread over jam and bake for 30-35 minutes or until golden.
5. Cool in pan and cut into slices.

I found the slice to be quite sweet... So that's why I suggested reducing the amount of sugar. The crunchy coconut topping was nice though :) Oh this is what it looked like in the book.

And this is what mine looked like =p

Love the redness of the jam!

Gluten Free Choc chip and coconut cookies
Recipe adapted from "Gluten Free Delights" by CSR

Ingredients
3/4 cup (185g) unsalted butter, softened at room temp
1 1/4 cup (200g) brown sugar
2 large egs
1 1/2 cups (225g) gluten free plain flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 1/2 cups (130g) desiccated coconut
1/2 cup (75g) almond meal
230g dark chocolate chips

1. Preheat oven to 200oC (180oC fan forced) and line 3 baking trays with baking paper.
2. Beat butter and sugar until pale and creamy. Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition.
3. Sift flour and baking powder together and add to mixture along with coconut, almond meal and choc chips. Mix until well combined. (If you find the mixture is quite wet and runny like I did, add a little more flour)
4. Place teaspoons (or tablespoons if you want bigger ones) of cookie dough onto baking trays, allowing room for the cookies to expand. Bake for 12-15 minutes or until golden.

I had a little trouble with the texture of these cookies because the dough was a bit wet so I added in a little more flour to get the consistency I was after. These cookies are the soft cakey type but the coconut really gives it a different texture and taste. This is what it looked like in the book..

Mine were a little different... haha

Anyways as it is still October, I would like to submit this to Aspiring Baker's #36: Choc-a-cookie (October 2013) hosted by Genie of Honeybee916food.

TART time: Mini mixed berry tarts

No blog about work catering this week because it was being covered by a REAL caterer! haha! So thought I'd blog about these tarts I made last week =) My friend had given me these egg tart tins all the way from Hong Kong especially for making Cantonese egg tarts. But after that bake, I hadn't used them at all >___<" so time to get them out again for some tart baking! =D 

Mixed Berry Tarts

Recipe adapted from Melbourne Dinning

Ingredients
Pastry
125g unsalted butter, melted
90g caster sugar
175g plain flour 
pinch of salt
3 tbs almond meal

Filling
170ml thickened cream
2 eggs, lightly beaten
2 tsp vanilla essence
1/4 cup caster sugar
3 tbs plain flour
1 cup mixed frozen berries

1. Preheat oven to 180oC and grease mini tart tins (I used 10 egg tart tins and 2 mini tart tins).
2. To make pastry, stir together warm melted butter and sugar. Add flour and salt and stir until soft dough is formed.
3. Press dough evenly into the tart tins, including the base and sides of tin. Place tart tins on baking tray and bake for 10-15 minutes or until light golden in colour. Remove tart cases out of oven and sprinkle each tart case with almond meal. Turn down the oven to 160oC.

Baked tart cases

4. For the filling, whisk cream, eggs, vanilla essence and sugar together. Add flour and whisk until well mixed. Transfer mix to a jug for easy pouring.
5. Place a few frozen mixed berries in each tart case. Pour custard filling even over the berries, careful not to overfill each tart.
6. Place tarts back into the oven and bake for a further 20-30 minutes. Tarts are done when custard filling is firm. Leave to cool and then remove from tart tins. Dust with icing sugar before serving.

I really loved the crust of these tarts! They were sweet, crispy and best of all super easy to make and mould in the tins! They are best eaten on the day of baking because the crust goes a bit soft the next day.... anyways ENJOY =D

Yummy tarts =D =D

Work Catering #33: Egg free bake

 

I must have subconsciously picked these recipes for work catering because the speaker at the talk is allergic to eggs and both recipes are EGG FREE!!! hehe! First up are these cheesecake cookies! yum! Found the recipe while looking for interesting chocolate chip cookies for this month's Aspiring Baker's challenge.

Egg free Chocolate Chip Cheesecake Cookies
Recipe adapted from InspiredMe

Ingredients
250g cream cheese, softened at room temperature
1/2 cup (113g) butter, softened at room temperature
3/4 cup caster sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla essence
1 cup plain flour
3/4 cup
30g dark chocolate, melted (optional)
30g white chocolate melted (optional)

1. Preheat oven to 180oC. Line 2 baking trays with baking paper.
2. Beat cream cheese, butter, salt, sugar together with electric mixer until creamy. Add vanilla and beat to combine. Add flour and mix with wooden spoon until dough forms. Stir in chocolate chips.
3. Roll teaspoon full of dough into ball. Place on tray and press slightly with back of spoon or palm of hand. Bake for 15-20 minutes or until light golden brown. Allow to cool before transferring to wire rack.
4. To decorate, place melted dark chocolate into piping bag (or small sandwich bag with the tip cut off) and pipe squiggles over the top.

So...I am submitting this to Aspiring Bakers #36: Choc-a-cookie (October 2013) hosted by Genie of Honeybee916food.

Next up is Mars Bar slice inspired by my cousin... although I don't think this is the one she was talking about because this doesn't use as much butter as she described.. oh wells! still yummy :D 

Mars Bar Slice
Recipe adapted from Julia from Boredom Abounds

Ingredients
70g butter
1 tbs golden syrup
4 x 53g Mars Bars, chopped up
3 cups rice bubbles
250g milk or dark chocolate, melted

1. Place butter, golden syrup and chopped Mars bars in saucepan over medium heat. Stir until all melted then remove from heat.
2. Stir in rice bubbles until well combined. Spoon mix into prepared 20 x 30cm baking tray lined with foil. Press down using back of large spoon and refrigerate for 30 minutes.
3. Pour melted chocolate over the top of slice and spread evenly. Refrigerate again for an hour or until set and slice into squares to serve.

I have to say this slice is SUPER SWEET!! But I guess if you love Mars Bars then you will love this slice. This could even be a great base for a cheesecake! Hmmm.. *ideas churning... hehe*

Work catering #32: Fusion baking! Chocolate chip cookie + Cheesecake = Cheesecake chocolate chip cookie slice!

Here's a simple maths equation for you.
Chocolate chip cookies + Cheesecake = ????

It's simple! Cheesecake Chocolate chip cookie slice =D One of the best inventions ever ^___^" Fusion of two delicious sweets!!! The cheesecake layer is supposed to be sandwiched in between the two layers of chocolate chip cookie but I think my ratios were a bit odd.. Still delicious though :D

Cheesecake Chocolate chip cookie Slice
Recipe adapted from Choc Chip Uru of GoBakeYourself

Ingredients

Cookie
1 cup (225g) butter
1 1/2 cups brown sugar
2 tsp vanilla essence
1 tbs milk
3/4 tsp salt
1 egg
1 tsp baking powder
2 cups plain flour
1 cup chocolate chips

Cheesecake
250g cream cheese, softened at room temperature
1/2 cup caster sugar
1 egg
1/2 tsp vanilla essence

1. Preheat oven to 170oC. Grease and line 20x30cm baking tray with baking paper.
2. Melt butter in saucepan and stir in sugar and essence. Initially it will stay separated but keep mixing until combined and there is no more floating butter. Allow to cool.
3. Beat in egg and milk.
4. Stir through the flour, salt and baking powder until just combined. Fold through chocolate chips.
5. Spread half of the batter into the base of prepared pan into a even layer. Refrigerate this layer and remaining dough until needed.
6. Beat cream cheese and caster sugar in a bowl until pale and fluffy. Beat in the egg and vanilla essence until mixture is smooth.
7. Pour mixture over the top of cookie layer.
8. Make flat disks with remaining cookie dough with your hand and gently press on top of cheesecake batter. not all the batter must be and won't be covered but try your best ^^
9. Bake for 30-35 minutes or until golden brown. Let cool completely to room temperature then refrigerate. Cut into squares and serve!

Looks like mishaped cookies XD

Cheesecake choc chip cookie squares!

weird colour....

Also with the warmer weather last week I decided to bake something summery. Haven't baked a bundt cake in a while so time to get out the bundt tin for this cake!

Mixed berry bundt cake
Recipe adapted from The way the cookie crumbles

Ingredients

Cake
2½ cups plain flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
225g unsalted butter, at room temperature
zest of 1 lemon
juice of 1 lemon
1 tsp salt
1¾ cups caster sugar
3 large eggs, room temperature
½ teaspoon vanilla essence
¾ cup buttermilk, room temperature (I didn't have any so used thickened cream instead)

2 cups mixed berries, frozen or fresh

Glaze
1½ cups icing sugar
juice of 1 lemon
1 tablespoon unsalted butter, very soft

Dripping glaze....

1. Preheat oven to 180oC and grease bundt tin.

2. Beat the butter, lemon zest, salt, and sugar with electric mixer until light and creamy.
3, Beat in eggs one at a time until incorporated. Add vanilla.
4. Fold in flour, baking powder and buttermilk (or cream) alternately, mixing just until incorporated.
5. Carefully fold in the berries and mix until combined. Transfer batter to prepared bundt tin smoothing the top.
6. Bake for 50-60 minutes or until skewer inserted in the center comes out clean. Transfer to wire rack to cool.

7. For the glaze, combine sugar, lemon juice and butter in small bowl. Whisk until smooth. Remove cake from oven and spoon oven cooled cake.

love the pop of the berries =D

Birthday Bake: Teddiron topped Raspberry and White choc cupcakes!

A little friend was turning 11 years old so wanted to bake something special for her birthday! I've known her since she was 4... and seen her grow up so much :) 

Everybody loves cupcakes! They are a nice sweet gift that look pretty ^^" So I tried to make some "pretty" looking cupcakes (although my icing/decorating skills still average....). But you can turn average looking cupcakes into cute cupcakes by simply adding a macaron (or teddiron to be exact) on top!! =D amazing what one macaron can do~~ hehe

Raspberry and White Chocolate Cupcakes with raspberry buttercream frosting
Modified Vanilla cupcake recipe 

Ingredients
125g butter, softened
3/4 cup caster sugar
2 tsp vanilla essence
2 eggs
1 1/2 cups self-raising flour
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup white chocolate chips
1/2 cup frozen/fresh raspberries

Raspberry buttercream frosting
2 tbs butter, softened
1/2 cup icing sugar
1/4 cup frozen raspberries, crushed

1. Preheat oven to 190oC and line a 12 hole muffin pan with cupcake cases.
2. Cream butter, sugar and vanilla with electric mixer until pale.
3. Beat in eggs one and a time, beating well after each addition.
4. Sift over flour and mix until almost combined. Stir in milk.
5. Fold in white chocolate chips and raspberries. Spoon into muffin holes and bake for 15 minutes or until skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean.Once cooked, removed from oven and allow to cool. 

Fresh from the oven~

6. Meanwhile make frosting by placing all ingredients in small bowl. Beat using electric mixer until it all comes together to form frosting consistency. (At first, it may seem very crumbly but be patient and keep beating! It'll come together~). If you find it's too runny, add more icing sugar... if you find it too dry add more butter or raspberries :)
7. Ice cooled cupcakes and top with white chocolate chips (optional).

I made the teddirons using Adriano Zumbo's salted caramel macaron mix. I placed a toothpick inside to help it stand on top of the cupcake. (They kind of look like macaron pops ^^) I also wrote on the other side of the macarons with white chocolate spelling out Freesia's name ^^

Teddiron pops!

 So happy birthday Freesia! Hope you have a wonderful day!!! :)