Showing posts with label coffee. Show all posts
Showing posts with label coffee. Show all posts

Sunday, May 19, 2013

Easiest Layered Pannacotta Ever


This is the easiest layered pannacotta you will ever make. Seriously, EVER!

Plus to make it even easier I am making my You Tube debut, and to keep it interesting as well as easy try and count how many times I say Okay.


Okay now where was I, yup easy, pretty much you just heat up a couple of ingredients, mix stuff together, strain it, pour it into containers and it sorts itself into layers.


I told you it was easy. It was a happy accident when I messed around with a recipe a few years back. The original recipe was not layering but my version was super layering awesomeness.

I've fancied them up by using mini square cups and popping a macaron shell and a bit of whipped up ganache onto the top. It's a perfect way to serve pannacotta for a buffet or dessert table.

Otherwise you can make it like a regular pannacotta and pour the mixture into dariole molds to turn out, or even just serve in ramkins or glasses.



Coffee Pannacotta makes 16 small serves (like in the picture) or 6 regular serves, recipe can be doubled or halved. Important notes included at bottom of recipe re cream and gelatin. I used low fat milk, you can use full fat if you like.

55g caster sugar (1 7/8 ounce)
20g (3/4 ounce) freshly ground coffee (mine was ground for espresso machine)
270gm (9 1/2 ounce) milk
2 and a half leaves gelatin
270gm (9 1/2 ounce) unthickened pouring cream

Place gelatine into a bowl and cover with cold water whilst you heat the milk (I usually ripe the sheets into 2 or 3 pieces so they are smaller and fit into a small bowl).

Pop sugar, milk and coffee into a saucepan and bring to a simmer stirring occasionally to dissolve the sugar, remove from heat.

Squeeze excess water from gelatin, discard the water and add the leaves to the milk mixture and stir to dissolve all gelatin.

Add cream and stir well.

Get a large jug with a handle and place a sieve over the top lined with 4 layers of muslin. If you do not have muslin you may use clean unused dishcloths or even a coffee filter or paper towels. Pass the coffee mixture through the lined sieve into the jug. Ensure as much of the mixture as possible gets through, you may need to replace the top layer if it becomes clogged.

Pour mixture into molds to achieve the separate layers I allowed the smaller containers to sit at room temperature for around 10 minutes or so until the layers are evident.

Allow to set in the fridge overnight covered with plastic or in an airtight container.


Serve in container or if you are turning out run a knife carefully around the edge and then gently warm the top with a dishcloth soaked in warm water before placing the plate on top of the mold and then turning both over. The pannacotta should slip out perfectly.

Cute chalkboard flags from Ah-Tissue

Notes for recipe - the weights for the liquids are actually weights on a set of electric scales.

Use unthickened cream - in Australia Thickened cream has added gelatin so you are changing the ratios and may end up with a panna cotta that is harder and more set than you intend. I use the Pauls brand of Pure cream in the blue carton it is 36.5% fat. In the US try whipping or heavy cream.

The gelatin brand I used says on the front Rheingold schnell-losliche Blatt-Gelatine it is light blue on the front and white with lots of darker blue writing on the back. I believe it is a normal strength gelatin sheet.  If you use a different strength gelatin it will have an impact on how the panna cotta sets but not the taste.

If your searching for the small square cups I suggest searching under disposable square cups or square verrine cups.

Dariole molds are available in kitchen and baking stores. The ones I normally use are small single plastic molds, so pretty much it is a fancy way of saying little plastic cups.



Linda Vandermeer is a blogger, baker, maker and author of the cookbook ' Sweets on a Stick': More than 150 kid friendly recipes for cakes, candies, cookies and pies on the go!. Published in the US the book is available at most online book stores:

Link to Amazon:

Or at Fishpond (free shipping Australia)
Sweets on a Stick: More Than 150 Kid-Friendly Recipes for Cakes, Candies, Cookies, and Pies on the Go! 


Sunday, July 15, 2012

Boho Chic Organic Coffee Crumble Blueberry Cupcakes



A while back I received a letter about a fun blog event paying tribute to baking trends throughout the decades called The Great Australian Bakeline....... my mission if I chose to accept it was to bake something reflective of  the 00's.

I did a quick search on food trends for the 00's and among many other things found that Cupcakes, Organic produce, Blueberries (as a flavor) and the rise of the coffee shop were big news.


Which isn't really that surprising to me, 'cause you know - we pretty much just lived it.

In fact I think those couple of things I listed are quite enduring and I am not sure why they ever went out of favor.

Take the cupcake.

I don't know how many times I have read a certain food is the new cupcake, but I've yet to see anything knock them down off their pretty little pedestals.

On the other hand I completely decided to ignore a few of the other big trends such as low or no carbs.


In truth I'm thinking the obsession with the low carb diet could probably also probably explain the extreme popularity of the cupcake. I've never tried a low carb diet, but I'm guessing that while your on one a cupcake has never looked soooo tempting.

Anyhoo back to the Bakeline......I decided to create a delicious recipe that combined the four noughties food trends I liked.

So I give you the organic coffee crumble blueberry cupcake, inspired by the noughties, delicious in any decade. As a nod towards another trend instead of fancy towering frosting I topped them with struesel that is actually made from the cupcake mixture to give them a boho chic relaxed feel.

I used Baker's Secret muffin tins ( which I actually use all the time for cupcakes), and I didn't even line or grease the muffin tin......that's right no cupcake papers I just popped the cupcake batter straight into the tin with no other preparation. Plus they're dishwasher safe - I know -nice! Y'all know with 3 kids that type of stuff is pretty important to me.


Not using the cupcake papers gave the finished cupcakes a nice rustic look so I decided to finish them off with a length of organic jute.

The finished cupcake was not overly sweet with a moist texture which made it more a cupcake than a muffin despite it's appearance. Perfect for morning tea, afternoon tea or a snack it makes a delicious treat for any occasion no matter the decade.





Coffee Crumble Blueberry Cupcake recipe makes 12 cupcakes

I used all organic produce (except the macadamia oil), however if you can not find any of the ingredients I used you can just substitute regular.

1 1/2 cups self raising flour
1/2 cup sugar
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 cup strong black coffee (espresso machine or mix instant coffee with hot water)
1/4 cup yogurt
1/4 cup macadamia oil
1 large egg
1 cup blueberries
30 grams unsalted butter softened


Preheat oven to 180 C (350 F). Place a 12 hole non stick muffin tray on the bench ready to use.


Sift the the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. into a large bowl.

Remove 1/2 cup of the flour mixture and reserve for topping.

In another smaller bow mix together the coffee,  yogurt, oil and eggs.

Add the wet mixture to the flour and mix until just combined, gently fold in the blueberries.

Divide the mixture between 12 muffin cases.

Rub together the 30 grams butter with the reserved 1/2 cup of flour mixture until it comes together in a coarse mixture then sprinkle a couple of teaspoons of mixture over the top of each muffin. Don't worry if you have a little left over.

Bake for 18 - 20 minutes.


Sunday, May 29, 2011

Vanilla Frappuccino Cupcakes


Vanilla Frappuccino Cupcakes. I know YUM how super delicious do they look.

I'm going to share something which seeings as I love sweets so much you might think is weird, but I don't like real cream. 


Buttercream I am totally into, certain types of that super fake mock cream I really like (hello jam and cream donuts) but real cream from a cow just does not do it for me.

But I love the look of it, I always want to say yes to spiraling swirls of cream when I pick up my fancy coffees but I never do and end up with flat looking although still delicious decaf treats (Ummm decaf yes :( yet another weird thing).

So to make myself feel a bit special I made up these super dooper swirly Vanilla Frappuccino cupcakes.

and then I popped them into my favourite cup.


OK so I'm going to have to show off this cup because it is my favourite and I love it. It's a Spode lidded chocolate cup, so that your hot chocolate stays warm of course......ha like mine ever lasts long enough to go cold.

Truthfully I didn't come up with the cupcake in a cup idea, totally stole it after seeing some inspiring pictures from the lovely Penny's facebook page at P.S. I love you.

But the cupcake is totally mine.

To make the cupcakes pipe coffee vanilla buttercream (recipe below) onto vanilla cupcakes using a Wilton #1M tip swirling around like your making a soft serve icecream. Practice a couple of times on the workbench if you like before you start on the cupcakes.


Sprinkle a little cocoa powder or drinking chocolate onto the top of the cupcake. I use a tea strainer to do stuff like this as it is easy to control. Just pop the cocoa into the strainer hold over the top of the cupcake and gently tap against your other hand.

Finish off with a mini straw wafer cookie, the ones in the picture are mini corinthian ones you can pick up at Woolies, but any brand will do. Make sure you pop the cookie straws in just before serving as they get soggy if you leave them in.


Coffee Vanilla Buttercream

228g unsalted butter (8 oz or 2 sticks) at room temperature
60ml milk (1/4 cup)
6 cups sifted icing sugar (confectioners sugar)
2 tsp vanilla extract
3tsp instant coffee mixed with a small amount of hot water, just enough to melt it.

Pop the unsalted butter, milk and 4 cups of icing sugar into the bowl of a stand mixer and mix at high speed until light and fluffy about 5-6 minutes. Scrape down sides as required. Add the remaining sugar one cup at a time mixing for 2-3 minutes between additions. Add the vanilla and coffee and mix well.

If the buttercream is not the correct consistency add extra milk 10mls at a time (I didn't add any extra to this one).


Any cupcake will do the Vanilla cupcake I used is the Magnolia recipe, I don't post other people's recipes here on my blog but I am sure you could find it if you searched.

Sunday, February 27, 2011

Self layering coffee panna cotta for the Daring Bakers February 2011

Your not going to believe it.....this is not a time consuming layered dessert, it is a mix and pour panna cotta which settled into the 3 layers you see in the picture whilst it was setting in the fridge.

Crazy huh! I could not believe my luck when I unmolded the panna cotta and saw the beautiful dessert which looked like I had spent hours slaving away but in reality spent only minutes creating.

The picture for the original recipe did not look like this at all so I am unsure if it was my recipe tinkering that resulted in the layers or it was just luck. I did notice that the tall mini serve glasses did not layer quite as well and wonder if that is because they set faster due to their small size. 

The February 2011 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Mallory from A Sofa in the Kitchen. She chose to challenge everyone to make Panna Cotta from a Giada De Laurentiis recipe and Nestle Florentine Cookies.

I had previously made a recipe similar to the one provided before so decided to be a little daring and try out this recipe from the Cuisine Magazine site here. 

But then being even more daring as I am (only where cooking is involved mind you) I modified it a bit as I only have leaf geletine and I hate measuring liquids in anything other than cup increments so I weighed it.

The changes worked well and the finished product resulted in a lovely tasting panna cotta which had a gorgeous wobbly breast effect (which incidentally is what I always think of now when I see panna cotta thanks to one of my favourite blogs Not Quite Nigella)


Then I made the florentine cookies using the recipe provided but substituting golden syrup for the dark corn syrup and omitting the chocolate. They were ok on their own, certainly not something I would rush out and make. To me they seemed more like an ANZAC biscuit I have always thought florentines to be lovely large cookies with cherries, almonds and other treats held together barely by the mixture.



The florentine did however work well with the panna cotta, the crisp and buttery biscuit was a lovely contrast.





Thank you Mallory I enjoyed this challenge and I'm looking forward to seeing all the other Daring Bakers results.

Recipe after jump


Coffee Panna Cotta (recipe modified from Cuisine Magazine) serves 6 and make sure you read all the notes at the bottom of the recipe before you attempt it.

55g caster sugar (1 7/8 ounce)
20g (3/4 ounce) freshly ground coffee (mine was ground for espresso machine)
270gm (9 1/2 ounce) full cream milk
2 and a half leaves gelatin
270gm (9 1/2 ounce) unthickened pouring cream

Place gelatine into a bowl and cover with cold water whilst you heat the milk (I usually ripe the sheets into 2 or 3 pieces so they are smaller and fit into a small bowl).

Pop sugar, milk and coffee into a saucepan and bring to a simmer stirring occasionally to dissolve the sugar. Squeeze excess water from gelatin and add to the milk mixture and immediately remove from heat. Stir to dissolve all gelatin.

Add cream and stir well.

Get a large jug with a handle and place a sieve over the top lined with 4 layers of muslin. If you do not have muslin you may use clean unused chux type dishcloths or even a coffee filter or paper towels. Pass the coffee mixture through the lined sieve into the jug. Ensure as much of the mixture as possible gets through, you may need to replace the top layer if it becomes clogged.

Half fill  6 X 150ml capacity plastic dariole molds stirring the mixture in the jug between each pour. If you do not have dariole molds you can use glasses or what ever you have at hand. Then carefully add the remaining mixture to fill each mold to the same height.

Allow to set in the fridge overnight (but covered with plastic or in an airtight container).

When ready to serve I ran a knife carefully around the edge as recommended in the challenge and then gently warmed the top with a dishcloth soaked in warm water before placing the plate on top of the mold and then turning both over. When I lifted the mold the panna cotta slid out perfectly.



Notes for recipe - the weights for the liquids are actually weights on a set of scales I use electric scales that can convert between ounce and gram which I love.

Use unthickened cream - in Australia Thickened cream has added gelatin so you are changing the ratios and may end up with a panna cotta that is harder and more set than you intend. I use the blue carton Pauls brand.

The gelatin brand I used says on the front Rheingold schnell-losliche Blatt-Gelatine it is light blue on the front and white with lots of darker blue writing on the back. I believe it is a normal strength gelatin sheet.  If you use a different strength gelatin it will effect how the panna cotta sets but not the taste.


Dariole molds are available in kitchen and baking stores. The ones I use are small single plastic molds, so pretty much it is a fancy way of saying little plastic cups.

When filling the moulds I did it in 2 parts which I think assisted distributing the mixture for the layers.




Nestle Florentine recipe can be found by clicking here



I made half a batch and substituted golden syrup for corn syrup.

Friday, July 16, 2010

Coffee buttercream Cupcakes


Dreamy creamy coffee buttercream topped cupcakes.

So completely delicious.

These ones are topped with modeling chocolate roses and butterflies.

Based on the More from Magnolia cookbook recipe for vanilla cupcakes and vanilla frosting, modified to vanilla bean cupcakes and coffee frosting.


Just for me.

(frosting recipe after jump)

Saturday, June 19, 2010

Macaron mushrooms, cute coffee macaron and ganache treats

 
Mushroom macarons, now that you've seen them I bet your wondering why you didn't think of it first.

It's just so deliciously obvious isn't it. Well it was to me while I was making my mediocre mocha macarons a couple of weeks ago. It's like an obsession for me, I see something and immediately I think of at least 10 different things to cook that I write down in my little ideas book. If only I had the time to bake everyday I might be able to make a dint in all those ideas, but luckily for me and you I did get around to making these macaron mushrooms and they are amazing.


These mushrooms taste even better than they look, the base is a coffee ganache, creamy dark chocolate with a hint of coffee and the top is french almond macaron, a crisp outer shell and meltingly delicious center topped with bitter coffee grounds. A treat for your mouth with contrasting sweet and bitter tastes and crisp and creamy textures.

I also made a white chocolate version which is just as yummy and I really like the colour of the ganache 'stem'.


I've decided these coffee macaron mushrooms are one of my favourite coffee recipes and have submitted it to Not Quite Nigella's win a Nespresso machine You should pop over and have a look if you are in dire need of a new coffee machine like me.

Oh and now that I've made these mushrooms I have another 10 ideas I want to try out, I need so much more time in my days.....

Of course the macarons and coffee ganache from this recipe can also be used to make traditional macarons as well. 



Coffee Macaron Recipe

Ingredients
150g (5  1/4 ounce) ground almonds
150g (5  1/4 ounce) Icing (confectioners) Sugar
110g Egg Whites, (3 7/8ounce) aged at least 3 days, separated into 2 lots of 55g (1 7/8 ounce)
150g (5  1/4 ounce) Granulated Sugar
37g ( 1 1/4 ounce) Water
ground coffee

1. Mix the ground almonds and icing sugar together and pulse a few times in food processor to make almond meal finer. Do not over process as the meal can become oily. Sieve into a large bowl. Add  55g (1 7/8ounce) of the egg whites to the sugar/almond mixture but don’t mix in.

2. Place remaining 55g (1 7/8 ounce) of egg whites in bowl of mixer fitted with the whisk.

3. Pop granulated sugar and water into saucepan stir to combine and cook without stirring to 118C. Once the mixture reaches 115C start mixing the egg whites on high. Once the sugar syrup reaches 118C remove from heat and immediately pour in a thin stream down the side of the mixer bowl continuing to whisk on high.

4. Continue to whisk the meringue on high until the side of the bowl is only a little warm to touch, around 50C.


5. Add meringue mixture to almond mixture and using a large spatula fold the mixture together until it starts to shine and forms a ribbon that stays visible for about 30 seconds.

6. Add the mixture to a piping bag fitted with a plain tip and pipe in lines onto parchment lined baking sheets. To make the macarons as even as possible I apply a constant slow pressure to the piping bag and count a few numbers like up to 3 for each one. Sprinkle a little ground coffee onto the top of half of each macaron.

7. Set aside for about 30 minutes or until the macarons have formed a skin that doesn't stick to your finger.

8. Meanwhile preheat oven to 140C (285 F). Once ready bake the macaroons for around 13 to 15 minutes depending on size, they should not be browned. Remove the baking trays and immediately slide off the macarons and the parchment onto the work surface and let cool completely before removing the shells.

Dark Chocolate Ganache
100ml cream
200g (7 ounces)good quality dark chocolate
1 1/2 to 2 tsp instant coffee or to taste

Bring cream to boil, add coffee and stir until dissolved, pour mixture over finely chopped chocolate and stand 5 mins. Stir until all chocolate has melted. Allow ganache to almost set.

Dissolving the coffee into the cream

(to make a white chocolate variation substitute 200g (7 ounces) white chocolate in place of the dark chocolate and reduce amount of cream to 75ml.)


To make Mushroom macaron

Place ganache into a disposable piping bag and cut across to make an opening approx 1.5 cm or 1/2 inch across. Line a baking tray with parchment paper.
Pipe enough mushroom stems for each macaron leaving enough space between stems for macarons. Allow ganache to set for a while and then top each stem with a macaron. To help adhere macaron you may need to pipe a small amount of ganache directly onto the macaron to use as a 'glue'. Don't press down too hard or the stem will break through the macarons thin delicate shell.


Pop tray into refrigerator until set and remove from tray with a small offset spatula. Remove from refrigerator and allow to return to room temperature prior to serving.