The Corkless Mind

Category: Baking

  • Grilled strawberries and cream.

    Grilled strawberries and cream.

    There’s something so unmistakably classic about the combination of strawberries and cream, that will always transcend food trends. That to me is the very definition of classic food. Inspired by the breathtaking food photography and styling in the March issue of delicious Australia, I couldn’t resist recreating this recipe at home. This recipe is by chef Matt Wilkinson for the March issue of delicious. 
    Like many others scrambling to the stores to indulge in the last little bit of summer produce available before its all vanished off of shelves for a good couple of months and before regret sets in that I didn’t attempt this gorgeous recipe, I knew I had to give it a go! 
    Grilled strawberries with cream and meringue shards. 
    Ingredients:
    – 250g strawberries

    – 1 tsp of olive oil 

    – Black pepper to taste

    – A few basil leaves to garnish 

    – Vanilla ice cream to serve

    – 2 egg whites 

    – 120g castor sugar 
    Method: 

    Preheat oven to 95 degrees C. Starting on the meringue shards first, in a stand mixer or with an electric beater, beat the egg whites until soft peaks have formed. Gradually adding the sugar a little at a time, whilst the mixer is on. Beat until stiff and glossy. On a parchment lined/silpat lined baking tray spread the meringue thinly on the baking tray, and bake for 40 minutes. Break into shards and set aside. 
    Coat the strawberries in olive oil and a little freshly ground black pepper. On a high heat, sear the strawberries until black grill lines are visible (take care to space the strawberries apart) 
    Serve with the meringue shards, a scoop or two of ice cream, basil leaves and freshly ground black pepper. 

  • Sweet potato, maple and pecan nut waffles.

    Sweet potato, maple and pecan nut waffles.

    Autumn is a special and magical time of year, the transition from light crisp summery food and weather to a comforting warmth of stews and chunky knits, I find totally irresistible as any winter/autumn baby would! There’s something so satisfying about hearing the crunch of leaves under your feet and feeling the crispness of the cold wind against your face. 
    As you can tell I’m pretty excited for Autumn and the imminent(hopefully rainy) Winter to come! I might have mentioned before that, the Western Cape of South Africa is currently experiencing the worst drought yet, The City of Cape Town has implemented very strict water restrictions to curb the rather high water usage. Currently our dam levels are at a dismal 23% , I urge you to please use water sparingly if you live nearby, and to be smart about how you use water. At the moment my plants are getting watered by my recycled dish water, so I’m expecting a rather soapy tasting fennel, basil and mint 🙂 
    This recipe is a take on a conventional waffle with a twist of course! Having finally purchased an electric waffle machine, the temptation was too much to not put it to immediate use. 
    Sweet potato, maple and pecan waffles. 
    Ingredients: 
    -210g of cake flour 

    -15ml baking powder

    -15ml castor sugar 

    -15ml maple syrup (plus a little extra for roasting the sweet potato) 

    -300ml milk 

    -2 eggs separated 

    -50g melted butter 

    -1 sweet potato cut into chunks 

    -pinch of cinnamon 

    -100g of pecan nuts roughly chopped 
    Method: 

    For the waffle mix, sift the dry ingredients into a bowl then add the sugar. 

    Whisk the milk, the two egg yolks and melted butter together. Add to the dry ingredients, mixing until a smooth consistency is achieved. 

    Beat the egg whites to a soft peak consistency and add folding it into the mixture. Let stand for 30 minutes. 
    Whilst the waffle mix is resting, in a preheated oven at 180 degrees C, cut the sweet potato into chunks and place into a roasting dish and drizzle with maple syrup and a pinch of cinnamon. Place into the oven for 25 minutes until soft and caramelized. Once the waffle mix is done resting. Switch the waffle machine on, then add the cooled down sweet potato chunks( I mashed mine to be able to get them adequately into the waffle mix) add the maple syrup and chopped pecan nuts and gently fold into the batter. Using a ice cream scoop! spoon the batter into each side of the waffle machine, for 3-5 minutes until golden brown or according to the waffle machine instructions. Serve with pecan nuts and ice cream. 

  • Turmeric and lemon muffins

    Turmeric and lemon muffins

    I love baking on weekends, having said so, I haven’t done so in a while. Yesterday, I spotted a recipe from a renowned blogger and someone I admire for her beautiful food photography, the Displaced housewife . This recipe is adapted from her original recipe for the mouthwatering Meyer lemon and Chamomile muffins 
    What drew me to making these delicious looking muffins, were the fact they contained Chamomile. Chamomile being a natural sleep and relaxation aid. On a personal note, in recent years I have been suffering from Insomnia, which makes my polymyalgia worse. I find that moderate exercise and eating healthy seems to help with the symptoms, I don’t care too much for medication and carefully watch what goes into my body.

    A dear aunt of mine, gave me some great advice to drink first thing in the morning, a cup of hot water with a teaspoon of Turmeric. The turmeric is a wonderful anti inflammatory with so many healthy benefits. I’ve only just taken her advice this morning, and will report back to you, if there are any dramatic changes.

    These muffins are so dense and lemony in flavour, I love how the earthiness of the turmeric shines through also picking up on the floral notes of the chamomile.So with that said, I give you turmeric, lemon with a hint of chamomile muffins.


    Ingredients:

    For the Muffins

    -250g granulated sugar

    -2 teaspoons of loose chamomile tea

    -170g canola oil

    -2 large eggs (room temperature)

    -170g buttermilk (room temperature)

    – 50ml milk, room temperature

    -50ml fresh squeezed lemon juice

    -2 tablespoon lemon zest

    – 1 tablespoon of ground turmeric

    -500g of all-purpose flour

    – 2 teaspoon baking powder

    – 1 teaspoon baking soda

    -1/2 teaspoon sea salt

    -Pinch of cinnamon
    For the glaze:

    -1 ½ cup powdered sugar

    -2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

    – 1 tablespoon lemon zest

    -1 tablespoon milk
    Method:
    Preheat oven to 180 degrees C. Place a rack in the top third of the oven. Line a muffin tin with muffin liners or spray with nonstick cooking spray or lightly grease with butter or canola oil. Place the sugar and 2 teaspoons of chamomile tea in a blender( I used my NutriBullet with the grinding blades) and grind until the chamomile is reduced to small flecks.

    In a large bowl whisk together your granulated sugar, vegetable oil, sour cream, milk, lemon juice and eggs until well blended.In a medium bowl whisk together the all-purpose flour, baking powder, baking soda, sea salt, cinnamon, cardamom and nutmeg. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and mix until barely blended.

    Pour the batter into the muffin tray filling until just barely ¾ full. Squeeze some lemon over the top and sprinkle with sugar + cinnamon. Let the muffins sit for 15 minutes before putting in the oven…this will help them get a nice crown. Bake for 15 minutes in the top third of the oven or until a toothpick comes out clean. You want the tops to be puffed up and slightly golden.Let cool in the muffin tin for 10 minutes, then use a butter knife to help get them out to finish cooling on a rack. In a separate bowl, whisk together powdered sugar, lemon juice and milk. Drizzle the glaze over the muffins. In my photos you will notice I added a dash of turmeric to my muffins, I did this for dramatic colour contrast, of course, you don’t have to do this, to avoid a yellow mouth and hands 🙂

    Happy weekend baking!

    Dominique x

  • Light and fluffy Cheese muffins with a sweet marmite glaze

    Light and fluffy Cheese muffins with a sweet marmite glaze

    Returning to our holiday retreat this year was another soul cleansing experience. The West Coast of South Africa offers tranquility and beauty in abundance, one of many reasons we keep going back to the very same place. The guesthouse we stayed at Absolute Beach, is situated on the shore of Stompneusbaai just past St Helena Bay off the West Coast. The co-owners of the guesthouse Marina and Duncan are incredibly hospitable and generously share their wealth of knowledge of where to go and what to do in the surrounding areas. The area is as rural as can get and lucky for us they had a local supermarket further out of town.
     Having only left almost three weeks ago, I’m dreaming of going back soon! What makes this decision that much more easier are the amazing cheese muffins with a sweet marmite glaze that Marina effortlessly whipped up for us at brekkie. She gave me a hint of what was in her recipe, and with that in mind I needed to recreate these fluffy umami morsels. 

    Cheese muffins with a sweet marmite glaze. 
    Ingredients:

    For the muffins

    -375g Self raising flour 

    -125ml milk 

    -125ml olive oil 

    -pinch of dried herbs of your choice 

    -2 eggs lightly beaten 

    -150g grated Gouda cheese 

    -50g grated Grana Padano 
    Sweet marmite glaze

    -1 heaped tablespoon of Marmite 

    -2 tablespoons of water 

    -2tablespoons of golden syrup
    Method: 

    Pre-heat oven to 180 degrees C.

    In a large mixing bowl, add the flour, eggs, olive oil, milk and grated cheese, add half of the Grana Padano to this mixture. With a butter knife, stir the ingredients until just mixed through. In a greased muffin tray, divide the batter into the tray, sprinkle over the rest of the Grana Padano and bake for 20 minutes. Whilst the muffins are baking, mix the glaze ingredients into a small bowl and place in a microwave for 20-30 seconds(this step can be done over the stove in a small saucepan) once the muffins have been cooled, spoon over the glaze. 

    Marmite is definitely an acquired taste, like their advertising campaign suggests “you either love it or you don’t”. A simple marmite toastie is just my kind of quick snack chock full of umami flavour! The muffins don’t quite taste exactly like Marina’s but they are my take on a memory. 

  • Fudgey dark chocolate and tahini brownies. 

    Fudgey dark chocolate and tahini brownies. 

    Inspired by a visit to my new favourite ice cream parlour in the heart of Cape Town I felt compelled to recreate my flavour experience. For the past week all I could think and dream about is their mesmerizing Chocolate Tahini flavour with glorious nutty notes from the tahini paste and an unmistakable velvety smooth texture no ice cream I’ve ever had possesses. Feeling like I’ve been bewitched and in a chocolatey daze, I’ve taken the flavour combination and put my own twist on it. 

    I’ve tried the Lindt dark chocolate studded with toasted sesame seeds and is quite a favourite of mine, but never have I thought to pair chocolate with Tahini. It’s always those flavour pairings that we don’t expect to go together that end up blowing our minds and surprising our tastebuds. I tried making gluten-free chocolate cookies, a Nigella recipe using Buckwheat flour, dark chocolate and I added tahini. The recipe is from the book Simply Nigella, and seems rather interesting because of the toasty, nutty taste the buckwheat lends to the cookie against the tartness of the dark chocolate and the complementing nuttiness of the tahini too. The cookies were okay but didn’t quite get my stamp of approval to make the cut for a blog post( if you know what I mean) 

    The brownies are from a classic standard brownie recipe, of which I have tweaked a bit. 

    Ingredients: 

    -177 ml all purpose flour(I used cake flour as that was what I had on hand) 

    -177ml cocoa powder 

    -1 tablespoon instant coffee powder

    -1/4 teaspoon salt 

    -1/4 teaspoon baking powder

    -120g caster sugar 

    -2 tablespoons of tahini 

    -60ml Greek yogurt(plain yoghurt) 

    -2 tablespoons melted unsalted butter(cooled) 

    -2 beaten eggs 

    -1 teaspoon vanilla paste

    -1 punnet of fresh raspberries. 
    Method: 
    Preheat oven to 180 degrees C. Grease a baking pan and cover in baking parchment. In a bowl, whisk the flour, cocoa, instant coffee powder, baking powder and salt until combined. I used my stand mix for this step, using the flat beater attachment, mix together the yoghurt, sugar, butter, eggs and vanilla until just combined then fold in half of the raspberries. Pour into prepared pan and spread evenly. Add the tahini in blobs and swirl around in the pan. Place remaining raspberries on top press in slightly. Bake for 20-25 minutes until the edges are crisp and the middle is set. 


    * if you don’t have instant coffee powder, add the same amount of granulated coffee to hot water then add at the end of the mixing process of the batter just before adding the raspberries. 

    * Cool the brownies in the pan completely before taking them out to slice. 

    * Lastly serve with an ice cream of your choice or even a quenelle of marscapone for a more indulgent feel. 

    Treat yourself!  

    Dominique.

  • Festive fare – Canapés.

    Festive fare – Canapés.

    We all know how stressful hosting can get, especially this time of year, I’m going to make it my mission to take the pressure off and make it a little easier for you. Everybody loves canapés at a party,it’s a great ice breaker for something different to talk about, and when you’ve been waiting ages for the food, because the host decided to try out a new recipe and the tension is high in the air because hangry, canapés seems to save the day. 

    With this post i’d like to show you a few ideas, some rather different to the norm and some old trusty ideas we rely on that never gets old. I was lucky enough to get a copy of a rather elusive Delicious Australia December issue recently, there are so many recipes I need to try out(of course, giving myself ample time to perfect before Christmas) one of my favourite recipes in the issue, is a Jamie Oliver recipe for Brioche Mince pies. The change from the usual mince pies, is quite refreshing. The brioche as a vehicle for the fruit mince is perfect as a sweet textured little hollowed bun, the creme patissiere adds a lovely smooth velvety contrast the sharp mince needs. The fruit mince I made, I deviated from the store bought stuff and made my own, using chopped Pink Lady Apples, Medjool dates and Cranberries, with of course the usual Christmassy spices to spruce it way up. The recipe can be found in the issue or in Jamie Oliver’s latest cookbook, called “Jamie Oliver’s Christmas Cookbook” 
    For the Grana Padano cheese sticks and pinwheels, I got my hands on some store bought Pastry (because life is far too short to make your own for canapés guys!) my theme for these canapés is a little effort coupled with minimal fuss(if that makes sense) cut the pastry into strips brush with eggwash sprinkle over grated cheese, twist (for the sticks)and brush with egg, for the pinwheels repeat, but roll up into a wheel brush with eggwash and sprinkle both with sesame seeds. Bake for 15 mins until golden and crisp. 
    For the baked fig and cranberry Camembert, I spotted some lush seasonal figs at my local deli that I couldn’t resist to take home with me. I scored the top of the Camembert in a cross cross pattern, this makes the cheese ooze out, and the flavours of the honey, fig and cranberries really infuse the cheese with more flavour. Drizzle over honey a quarter fig with a few dried a cranberries. Bake for 20-25 minutes on 180 degrees. Serve warm with the cheese sticks and pinwheels and relish in the complements of being a a complete domestic goddess! 
    A few tips for hosting: 
    -never make a recipe for the first time whilst hosting, practice makes perfect! 

    -keep guests fed with plenty of little canapés to keep the wolf at bay

    -prepare a few carafes of homemade iced tea or watermelon juice that you can spike with some gin or vodka. 

    -keep it simple yet stylish, add a little sparkle with decor on the table by spray painting pine cones and if you can make your own wreaths before the time, get the kids to help if you like. 

    -lastly, enjoy every second of having all your loved ones in one room, life gets a little crazy sometimes so much so that we are all guilty of not taking the time out for each other. 

    If you’re taking a social media/blog hiatus during the festive season, in that case, enjoy every moment making new memories with your loved ones and be safe on the roads if you’re traveling. 
    Happy holidays! 

    Dominique x