Daring Bakers' December 2013: Chocolate Whoopie Pies

December was a cold cold month here, or so I thought!! January is turning out a lot colder than anyone expected. We are in the chiller, so to speak. But I have to say that the December Daring Bakers' Challenge of making Whoopie Pies cheered me up no end. I have walked our local farmers' market every summer and gazed at the bakery stands with their delicious wares. I have looked at wonder at kids, students, and sundry adults dive into enormous Whoopie Pies of all sizes, flavours, and colours. But I have so far never been able to work up the courage to actually purchase one and eat it.

Artichoke, Ricotta, and Chickpea Calzone | Italian Kitchen

Calzones make for a hearty and filling snack in a picnic basket or an entree for a meal on a hot platter. I love making calzones as they are so easy to put together, can be refrigerated for up to three days and taste super hot or cold!! Just add a salad and a cup of milk and you are good to go.

Yummylicious Banana Cardamom Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

This is one of our favourite banana cakes. Seasoned with cardamom that complements bananas so beautifully, it is a perfect treat for the festive season! Of course, I love that the cake is eggless too. Usually when I make this cake in the afternoons for tea, I just dust it with some icing sugar! This time however to chase the rainy day blues away, I decided to indulge and frost it too:) The frosting recipe is very easy to do, just throw it all together and blend it and you are good to go.

Summer Sweet Corn and Tomato Pie

Its coming up to the end of summer and corn and tomatoes are available aplenty here. I made this sweet corn and tomato pie last week to enjoy both the flavours at the peak of the season. We had picked up some sweet corn from a farmers market and the tomatoes I got from the farm where I get my summer produce!! The pink tomatoes were just so gorgeous that the moment I saw them all I could think of was making a pie with them.

Vegetable en Croute

The December 2009 Daring Cooks Challenge was hosted by Simone of Junglefrog Cooking. Simone chose Salmon en Croute (or alternative recipes for Beef Wellington or Vegetable en Croute) from Good Food Online.

I made one with stir fried button mushrooms, fresh herbs, and a jalapeno jack cheese-cream cheese blend! Here you go.


I found this quite similar to the Savoury Vegetable Puffs that I made last December. A firm favourite with diners in many an Indian cafe, I have also found the latter to be more spicy and will go well with a cup of sweet tea. The Vegetable en Croute on the other hand is defiantly main course and would go well with a green salad or a simple soup like my Watercress & Potato Soup.

Vegetable en Croute: The Recipe

Preparation time: Total prep time incl. cooking for the mushrooms is 50 minutes
Shortcrust pastry : 50 minutes

Ingredients:
5.2 oz mascarpone or cream cheese
0.6 cup watercress, rocket (arugula) and spinach
17.6 ounces shortcrust pastry
3 cups button mushrooms, sliced
2 tbsp grated jalapeno jack cheese

Method:

1. Heat the oven to 200°C/390 F. Put the cream cheese in a food processor with the watercress, spinach and rocket and whizz the lot until you have a creamy green puree. Season well.
2. Cut the pastry in any shape desired, 2 per patty, so you can wrap the vegetable and sauce in it completely (approx. 2-3 mm thick) and lay it on a buttered or oiled baking sheet (it will hang over the edges). Put the mushrooms in the middle. Spoon 2 tablespoons of the watercress mixture onto it. Sprinkle half the hard cheese. Place the second piece of cut pastry on top - press and seal. Trim off any excess as you need to. Using a fork, prick the pastry all over to allow steam to escape and make some decorations with the off-cuts to disguise the join if you like.
   
3. Bake for 30 minutes or until the pastry is crisp and browned. Serve with a fresh green salad. I made 2 individual sized patties.
   

Shortcrust Pastry
Making your own shortcrust pastry as it is very simple to do! Just make sure to not add too much water as that is the key to having a successful shortcrust pastry. Watch this video to check the correct consistency of the dough Making shortcrust pastry

Ingredients:
3.2 cups of plain all purpose flour
7 ounce cold butter
pinch of salt

Method:

1. Sift the flour into a large bowl, add the butter and rub in with your fingertips until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs. If you have a food processor you can use that as shown in the above video.
2. Stir in the salt, then add 2-3 tbsp of water and mix to a firm dough. Knead the dough briefly and gently on a floured surface. Wrap in cling film and chill while preparing the filling.
3. For best results make sure the butter is very cold.
   

All text and photographs in this blog, unless otherwise noted, are Copyright of © Annarasa 2007 - 2012. All Rights Reserved. Kindly do not reproduce without permission.

Cheesecake Pops a.k.a Daring Bakers

Back with the Daring Bakers for an all new creation - Cheesecake Pops!! When I saw this recipe I was both excited and apprehensive. I'd never tried this before and as eggs are not really my favourite food, mostly because they don't agree with me, I decided to experiment. I halved the recipe and dropped the eggs altogether! The result was fabulous. The cheesecake turned out delicious - could not resist a taste as I rolled out the pops. Yumm!! I covered the pops with dark chocolate and coated them with cranberries and coarsely chopped Turkish apricots. Both provided the tartness that set set off the sweetness of the pops. Heavenly was the verdict. This recipe is a keeper. Looking forward to May!!!!

P.S. You can find the original recipe here!!
All text and photographs in this blog, unless otherwise noted, are Copyright of © Annarasa 2007. All Rights Reserved. Kindly do not reproduce without permission.