The Corkless Mind

Tag: Baking

Groot Constantia’s Grand Constance 3 ways – Part 1.
**I was gifted this bottle of Grand Constance by Groot Constantia to create a series of posts with. All views and thoughts are my own**

In Celebration of Groot Constantia’s 333 years as South Africa’s oldest existing wine estate, I was gifted a bottle of their award winning Grand Constance Muscat wine to do a series of blog posts where I let my imagine run wild in the kitchen with the fruity wine. Most recipes I kept it as simple as I could, not altering the taste of the wine, but in each dish, making it shine and making it the centre of the dish as it was intended when made at Groot Constantia.

Grand Constance, the French translation for Groot Constantia, was an established brand revered in the time of Napoleon Bonaparte, King Louis Phillipe of France and Frederick the Great of Prussia, when they were clients of Groot Constantia. Modelled on remnants found in the USA, Scandinavia, Europe and the U.K dating back to the late 1700’s. The Wine has an intense liquid amber colour and is produced from Muscat grapes sun ripened on the vines, pressed, fermented and aged in oak barrels. It has notes and nuances of pears, apricots, peaches, rose petals, and nutty flavours.

I will be sharing all three posts one per week, to commemorate the 333 years. This is a project I am super excited to share with you all, and best of all I had loads of fun experimenting in the kitchen. I don’t get to do much of baking these days being stuck behind a desk (even in the comfort of my own home).

This Cheesecake recipe is an adaptation of Helen Goh and Yotam Ottolenghi’s Apricot and Amaretto cheesecake. I replaced the apricots with seasonal sweet and crunchy pears and of course substituted the Amaretto with the Grand Constance. The cheescake, I found was not overly sweet or too rich (I could be biased, I do love a good cheesecake!) I loved how the delicate flavours of the Grand Constance shone through in the filling and roasted pears that I topped the cheesecake with.

Roasted Pear and Grand Constance cheesecake.

Ingredients:

For the Base:
- 70g flaked almonds
- 180g digestive biscuits
- 100g unsalted butter, melted
- 350g fresh pears(or any seasonal fruit) seeds removed and cut in thick slices
Filling:
- 840g cream Cheese
- 170g caster sugar
- scraped seeds of 1/2 vanilla pod, save the husk.
- finely grated zest of 1 large orange
- 5 large eggs, lightly beaten
- 85g sour cream
- 70ml Grand Constance
Topping:
- 15g flaked almonds
- 400g fresh pears, cut into thick slices
- 1 tablespoon caster sugar
- 1 tablespoon water
- 4 tablespoons Grand Constance
- a drop of rose water
Method:

Preheat the oven to 170 degrees C/150 fan. Lightly grease the base and sides of a 23cm springform tin and line with parchment. Spread all the almonds(for the base and topping) on a baking tray and toast for 5-10 minutes, or until light golden brown in colour. Set aside 15g for the topping to be used later.

For the base, place the digestive biscuits in a food processor or blender and blitz to form fine crumbs(the consistency should be that of breadcrumbs). Tip into a medium sized bowl and add the majority of the almonds and melted butter. Using a large spoon, mix together to combine. The texture should be that of wet sand. Spoon the crumbs into the tin, using your hands to press them into the base. Even out the crust with the back of a spoon or base of a glass. Set aside in the fridge.

Increase the oven temperature to 210 degrees C/190 degrees C fan. Spread all of the pears evenly out into a roasting dish with the sugar, empty vanilla pod/husk and Grand Constance and a drop of Rose water. Roast for 25 minutes. Set aside to cool.

For the filling, place the cream cheese, sugar, vanilla seeds, and orange zest in the bowl of an electric mixer with the paddle attachment in place. Beat on a medium speed until smooth. Gradually add the eggs, followed by the sour cream, and beat until combined. You might have to scrape the bowl down to fully incorporate everything and then mix again. Then add the Grand Constance, and mix until combined.

Remove the cheesecake base from the fridge and arrange the roasted pears evenly over the bottom(just enough that it covers the base). Then gently pour over the cheesecake filling over the roasted pears and then place on a baking tray. Bake for 1 hour, or until the sides of the cheesecake are set but the middle still has a wobble when gently shaken. Turn off the oven but leave the cheesecake inside for another hour, with the door propped open with a wooden spoon. Place in the fridge to set for at least 3 hours or overnight to set completely.

On the day of serving, take the pears that have been set aside to top the cheesecake and arrange on top of the cake in any pattern you wish. Sprinkle over the roasted flaked almonds and to garnish for colour some dried rose petals. For extra effect, add caster sugar on top of the pears and using a blow torch brulee until sugar caramelizes.

Best enjoyed with a chilled glass of Grand Constance.

Cheers! x
May 25, 2018
Helen Goh’s Chocolate ‘O’ Cookies.
I recently purchased myself a copy of Yotam Ottolenghi and Helen Goh’s book, Sweet. Having read the book numerous times cover to cover, and making mental and actual notes of what to bake and when. For me, Sweet reminds me of one of those CD’s (yes, I am that old) that you could listen to without skipping a track. The only dilemma I face, is to not scoff my face with all the deliciousness from this decadent book.

One of the first recipes in the book, is that of Helen Goh’s. The decadent Chocolate ‘O’ cookies. The chocolate ‘O’ cookie, came about by Helen setting herself a challenge of creating a cookie that could rival the infamous chocolate chip cookie at Ottolenghi. The ‘O’ is a nod to a few things, namely to Thomas Keller, whose own version of the oreo biscuit inspired the base of this biscuit, and of course the obvious ‘O’ on Ottolenghi’s shop door. The ganache made in this recipe is an absolute genius new way to make it, and at the risk of sounding clichéd , life-changing!

I thought sharing this recipe this time of year would be a great addition to all things chocolate being baked, tempered and shared! This recipe takes a while to make, but is oh so worthwhile!

Helen Goh’s Chocolate ‘O’ Cookies.

Ingredients:

For the cookies:
- 190g unsalted butter, cubed (at room temperature)
- 130g caster sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon sea salt flakes (I used Maldon smoked sea salt flakes)
- 220g plain flour
- 75g cocoa powder
- 1/4 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
For the water Ganache:
- 1/2 cinnamon stick
- shaved peel of 1/2 clemengold mandarin or orange
- 1/2 teaspoon of chilli flakes
- 90ml boiling water
- 125g dark chocolate (70% cocoa solids), roughly chopped into 1 cm pieces
- scraped seeds of 1 vanilla pod
- 1/4 teaspoon of sea salt flakes
- 50g caster sugar
- 50g liquid glucose
- 50g unsalted butter, cut into 2 cm cubes
Method:

To make the cookies, place the butter, sugar and salt in a bowl and mix with an electric mixer or stand mixer(with a paddle attachment). Beat on a medium-high speed for 3 minutes, or until light and fluffy. Sift the flour, cocoa powder and bicarbonate of soda into another bowl, reduce the speed of the mixer to low, then add the dry ingredients in two batches until a dough forms. Tip the dough onto a clean, lightly floured surface and knead gently until smooth and uniform. Wrap the dough in cling film, press to form a disc, and set aside in the fridge for up to 1 hour to firm up.

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees C/160 fan. Line two baking trays(or if you like me, have only one, then bake them in batches) with parchment and set aside. Remove the dough from the fridge 10 minutes before rolling, to make it malleable to roll. Divide the dough in half, then on a clean, lightly floured surface roll out the dough to a thickness of 3mm. Using a 6cm round cookie cutter, cut out 44 circles and place them on the parchment lined tray/s. Bake for 13-15 minutes, rotating the baking tray halfway through baking. Set aside and leave to cool in the baking tray.

To make the ganache, place the cinnamon, orange peel and chilli flakes in a small bowl and cover with boiling water. Set aside to infuse for 30 minutes. After the water has infusing for 20 minutes, prepare the sugar syrup. Place the chocolate, vanilla seeds and salt in a separate bowl(medium sized) and set aside. Place the sugar and glucose in a small pan and melt over a medium heat. Do this until the sugar has melted. Increase the heat to medium-high and boil until the caramel turns a light amber colour, this takes about 5 minutes. Remove from the heat and add the infused water and aromatics. (Don’t worry if the sugar seizes in the pan, just return to the heat and stir until all sugar has dissolved). Return the caramel to the boil, then strain the liquid over the chocolate and vanilla; the aromatics can be discarded. Leave for 2-3 minutes until the chocolate has melted, then stir to combine.

Add the butter, one piece at a time, stirring continuously one piece at a time, stirring until all butter pieces have been incorporated and the chocolate mix is smooth. Place in the fridge until the ganache is firm. Using a teaspoon, take a heaped amount of the ganache and spread onto the underside of the biscuit, spread evenly toward the edges of the biscuit using the back of the spoon, then sandwich with another biscuit and set aside. Repeat this with he remaining biscuits and ganache.

Happy Easter to all who celebrate! x
March 27, 2018
Chocolate brownie waffle sticks

We all have that one or in most cases, couple of kitchen appliances that gather up dust in a room or at the back of a cupboard becoming more of a clutter issue than something that can add value to your daily cooking lifestyle. Mine shamefully, is my slow cooker, vegetable steamer and waffle maker. All very useful and handy in their own rite! But take up far too much space on my already tiny kitchen counter.

This week, I’ve cracked out the waffle maker and challenged myself to use each appliance at least once a week for something different, something unconventional. I got the idea from a Food network show called ‘The Kitchen’, Sunny(one of the hosts) made the most delicious looking brownie waffles in a waffle maker! I of course had to try this out with one of my favourite brownie box mixes, I usually don’t do box mixed goodies, but I am such a fan of Nomu, I couldn’t resist the temptation to skip a few steps 🙂

The waffle machine I used is an electronic one. If you hate mess, this comes with a caveat. This might be because I put a little too much batter into the machine, or might be the machine itself, I found the batter drips and funs along the sides of the machine on to my counter. The result however, is a crisp on the outside and pillowy soft on the inside type of texture. I of course added a little bit more chocolate chips to my batter, because chocolate! Chocolate will always be a vice that I would have no restraint over.I made a quick chocolate ganache and a strawberry coulis/syrup to dip the brownie waffle sticks into. You can of course add your own dipping.

Chocolate brownie waffle sticks:

Ingredients:
– 1 chocolate brownie box mix

– Extra chocolate of your choice

– 1 punnet of strawberries

– 1 cup of sugar

– 1/2 cup water

– 4 eggs

– 140g butter melted

– dipping of your choice

Method:
Mix the brownie mix per instruction. Gently stir in extra chocolate chips. Lightly brush the waffle machine with oil or butter to ensure the waffle will easily pull apart from the edges. Heat waffle machine per manufacturers instruction using a big spoon, spoon in a bit of batter in each section and close until the machine notifies you it is ready and cooked. Set aside to cool and serve with a dipping of your choice. To make the strawberry coulis/syrup. Cut the strawberries in quarters and add to a small pot with sugar and water. Cook until macerated and a syrupy consistency is achieved. Drizzle over the waffle and cut into sticks.

**This post is in no way sponsored and projects my honest opinion**

August 18, 2017
Spiced date and pecan nut pudding

This gorgeous dessert is straight out of this month’s issue of PnP’s Freshliving magazine, and oh what a decadent treat it is for the cold days that are still ahead!

I don’t get to shoot much these days, it however feels amazing to be back behind the lens and it feels like second nature to me. There is no better reminder of your passion than to constantly put it to practice. This I am glad I made the time for. We all need reminders of what we love doing or what we are good at when times are turbulent.

This dessert is a spectacular as a hearty addition to any Sunday lunch or dinner for that matter. I love that the flavour reminds me of Cinnabon, especially with the caramel sauce I added, crushed pecan nuts and subtle notes of cinnamon. Eat with caution should certainly be the caveat that should accompany this dessert.

I wanted to serve this dessert with a molten, salty, dripping caramel sauce to complement the nutty sweet flavours of this pud. I improvised and made a smokey salted buttermilk butterscotch sauce to drench the pud with. Butter being the key in this recipe 🙂 butter indeed does make everything taste so much better!

Spiced Date and Pecan nut pudding with a salted buttermilk butterscotch sauce.

Ingredients:
– 150g Medjool dates

– 100g Butter, melted.

– 250ml Milk

– 2 free-range eggs

– 8ml vanilla extract

– 125g caster sugar

– 3ml salt

– 300g self-raising flour

– 50g pecan nuts, chopped

– 10ml cinnamon

– 5ml ground ginger

– 5ml ground cardamom

– 250ml sugar

– 310ml boiling water

– 60ml sherry or clemengold mandarin juice (I used a combination of both)

– Smokey salted buttermilk butterscotch sauce to serve.
Method:

Preheat oven to 180 degrees C. Lightly grease any dish. I used a Bundt mold.

Whisk eggs and sugar until light and fluffy. Using my NutriBullet or you could use any other blender, blitz half of the dates together with the melted butter until a paste-like consistency is achieved. Roughly chop the rest of dates, I did this for extra texture in the pud. Add this to the date paste.

Add the date mixture, milk, vanilla extract to the egg mixture. Combine the flour, salt, nuts and spices together then fold into the egg mixture.

Pour the batter into the prepared baking tin or dish, sprinkle over brown sugar evenly over the batter.
To make the topping:

Mix together the water and sherry/mandarin or orange juice, pour over the back of a spoon to cover the pudding. Bake the pudding for 35 minutes or until just cooked. Serve with cream and the salted buttermilk butterscotch sauce drizzled over.

August 4, 2017
Olive oil, lime and coconut biscotti.

It’s been a while since I’ve baked anything, I find the process of baking quite calming and sort of a temporary escape from the real world in exchange for that a realm of whimsy and wonder. Now if only I could escape washing the dishes after the mess that ensues… With my olive oil purchase from Babylonstoren from the Olive workshop, thought I should do something a little out of the ordinary, instead to just use it primarily for cooking and drizzling over salads and luxurious homemade pastas. Whilst flipping through a stack of food magazines early this week, frantically searching for inspiration, I happily stumbled across a recipe for olive oil biscotti, and with zeal recreated the recipe with my own take and improvised here and there. This recipe is for an advertisement for the S.A Olive association, featured in the Fresh Living magazine.

The recipe is adapted from the recipe as mentioned above, and thus used as a guideline. I added dried cranberries, cashew nuts, coconut flakes, the zest and juice of two limes, this I find works complementary with the grassy peppery notes of the extra virgin olive oil.

Olive oil,lime and coconut biscotti.

Ingredients:
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil

250g sugar

330g cake flour

2 free-range eggs

1 tsp bicarbonate of soda

1 tbsp vanilla paste

1/2 cup dried cranberries

100g cashew nuts roughly chopped

50g coconut flakes roughly chopped

Zest and juice of 2 limes

A pinch of sea salt flakes

Method:
Preheat oven to 180 degrees C. In a bowl or standmixer beat the oil, eggs, sugar and vanilla paste together. In a different bowl combine the flour and bicarbonate of soda and whisk till combined. Stir into the egg mixture to form a heavy dough. Divide the dough into two, form each piece into a log/roll, as long as your baking tray lengthways. Press down to a 13mm thickness. Bake for 25-30 minutes. Remove from the oven and set aside to cool. Once cooled, slice the logs into 13mm slices. Place the slices cut side up and bake for a further 5-10 minutes on either side. Serve with a freshly brewed espresso.

May 25, 2017
English muffins

Sweet or savoury? A thin layer of strawberry jam or silky smooth lemon curd topped with a dollop of cream or simply served with lashings of melted butter on a toasted English muffin. Best served in bed with a piping hot cup of tea. This is the epitome of weekend ‘breakfast in bed’ kind of spoils! While there’s absolutely nothing wrong with buying store bought, which I love doing, but when I stumbled across the recipe on Delicious UK, I knew I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to try it out for myself! Remember to make the starter a day before the time. For the savoury filled muffin, I made creamy mashed potatoes with roasted pork bangers and made a honey mustard glaze to drizzle over the bangers, roasted for 20 minutes on 200 degrees C until golden brown. Toast the muffins and serve. For the sweet inspired muffins, I poached a few figs in earl grey tea until the flavour has taken to the figs, or simply roast the figs in a balsamic glaze until macerated, them serve with store bought ricotta cheese with some of the liquid from the roasted figs.
English muffins:
Ingredients:

For the starter:

-50g strong white bread flour

-2g dried active yeast

-50ml milk
For the dough:

250-300ml milk

8g dried active yeast

400g strong white bread flour, plus extra to dust

1 tsp fine salt

1 tsp caster sugar

30g unsalted butter, melted, plus extra to grease

Vegetable oil for greasing
Method:
* Make the starter at least 12 hours, or up to 24 hours, in advance. Mix  the 50g flour and 2g yeast in a large bowl, then stir in the 50ml milk to form a thick paste. Cover with cling film and leave somewhere fairly cool (but not cold) and dark (the mixture will expand a little and bubble up).

* For the dough, heat the 250-300ml milk in a pan to just steaming. Leave to cool till lukewarm, then stir in the 8g yeast and set aside. Put the 400g flour in a large mixing bowl with the salt and sugar, then stir in the starter. By the time that’s done, the warm milk should be frothy. Add it to the bowl with the melted butter, then stir to bring it together into a dough. Tip out onto a lightly floured surface and knead for 10-15 minutes until elastic and smooth (or use a stand mixer and dough hook for 8-10 minutes).

* Transfer to a lightly oiled mixing bowl, cover with a clean tea towel and leave somewhere warm to rise until doubled in size for 1 hour (or leave overnight in the fridge). Once risen, knead the dough again on the work surface to redistribute the air bubbles (also known as knocking back), then roll out using a rolling pin until 2-3cm thick. Use an 8cm round cutter to stamp out 8-10 discs from the dough, re-rolling the dough. Put the discs on baking paper, scatter with a little flour and cover loosely with cling film. Leave to prove (rise) for 25-30 minutes until puffed.

* Heat a wide, heavy-based frying pan over a medium heat and grease with a little butter. Carefully transfer 3-4 of the muffins into the pan using a broad spatula, turn the heat down to low-medium and cook for 6-7 minutes, making sure they don’t burn on the underside. Once golden on the bottom and the sides are starting to look cooked, carefully flip the muffins and repeat. Transfer to a wire rack while you cook the rest. Split in half, butter and eat straightaway or cool completely before toasting.

*If kneading by hand, add 250ml warm milk in step 2, and use as little  flour on the surface as possible. Too much extra flour will make them hard. If you’re making the dough in a stand mixer, use 300ml milk. The softer the dough, the better.  Keep an eye on the dough while it’s rising and proving (step 3).If it rises too quickly, make them before the allotted time.

You should get 10 muffins out of the dough (step 3). If you find you have to re-roll the dough, the last couple won’t be as uniform as the first batch, but they will still taste as great.

For more guidelines you can visit Delicious UK for a great step by step tutorial on how to achieve the perfect English muffin.
Happy weekend! x

March 31, 2017