Ten

Time really flies... I have taken up 10 Daring Cook and 10 Daring Baker Challenges. Admittedly, they were hiccups and chaos happening at the time I baked or cooked following the challenge recipes. And at certain points I just thought of skipping one or two, like taking a daring break... Especially when there were work problems at the office, project deadlines, or worse, work stress… or specific ingredients were no where to be found like the artichokes and Marsala wine.



But funny enough, I didn’t quit any of the challenges just yet. I guess I did enjoy a certain level of chaos afterall, a steady sailing life is boring, right? So at times rocking boat is the ride that suits me. And thanks to all support from peer bloggers and DBers, I seemed to get by, one challenge after another.



Clicking through my posts, I was delighted that I had experienced all those challenges. Simply because they took me to different countries of the world (felt like so….) and tasted food and dessert I might not have known or heard of. And most importantly, making friends and discovered better techniques and recipes. What else could I hope for?



A while ago before I was involved with Tiramisu challenge I stumbled into Sweet Paul and ever since I have seen blogging in a new light. And so here I like to present Truffles I have prepared following his recipe. The same Truffles I have made for the previous Tiramisu Challenge.

COINTREAU TRUFFLES
Adapted from Sweet Paul’s Amaretto Truffles
Makes twenty 1.25 inch/3 cm diameter truffles



Ingredients:
- Whipping cream > 1 cup
- Dark chocolate – chop into smaller pieces > 500 grams
- Cointreau orange liquor > 2 tablespoons
- Passionfruit curd > 250 grams (for recipe click here)
- Cocoa powder > 150 grams



Method:
- Fill a deep plate with cocoa powder for dusting and coating truffles. Set aside.
- Chill a big flat-based plate or tray.
- Place chopped chocolate and cointreau in a big bowl.
- Heat whipping cream in a saucepan until just boiled.
- Instantly pour hot cream over chocolate. Leave for 5 minutes for chocolate to melt.
- Stir with spatula and leave to cool.
- Refrigerate for half an hour or until chocolate mixture is thickened (but still pliable). Remove from refrigerator.



- Scoop a tablespoon of mixture into palm and roll with hands into balls with diameter 1.25 inch or 3 cm. Do it quickly as palm generates heat that melts the mixture. Balls are not expected to be perfect since there will be another round of rolling. Feel free to rechill the mixture if it is too sticky. Remove chilled plate or tray from fridge and set the balls on it after every roll. Keep rolling until it is done.
- Fill passionfruit curd in a piping bag fitted with a small plain nozzle. Hold the ball gently with one hand, inject the nozzle into the center of truffles and pipe an adequate amount of filling with another hand. Reroll balls.
- Immediately land rolled truffles on the cocoa plate. Roll with fork to coat thoroughly.
- Refrigerate overnight.

Lamington, Finally...

Had my first Lamington in Sydney some fourteen years ago, and somehow despite the fading memory of it, I still keep the crave of its cocoa and coconut flavor and I once set out a promise to bake for myself someday.

It has been long long time, and amidst browsing through many food blogs last month, I was exposed to this cake again. Due to the vibes of celebrating Australia Day which fell on last 26th January, this iconic Australian cake became popular and appeared in many food blogs. I was once again tempted…



Some interesting findings from Wikipedia showed that Lamington has more than a decade history and was named after Charles Cochrane-Baillie who served as Governor of Queensland from 1896 to 1901. Traditionally Lamington is popular as fund raisers for Australian youth groups such as Scouts, Guides and churches to the extent that such fund raisers are called "Lamington drives". Friday 21 July 2006 was designated as National Lamington Day in Australia. And in September 2006, the National Trust of Queensland named the Lamington one of Queensland's favourite icon.



Lamington is not difficult to bake and in fact very straight forward. Besides the conventional chocolate coating, I also made passionfruit curd. I was thinking of alternating them and serve Lamingtons like a chest board. It is fun and the flavor is very refreshing.



Try and see whether you like it?

LAMINGTONS
Makes thirty six 3.5cm Lamington cubes.



1. Sponge Cake

Ingredients:
- All purpose flour > 145grams
- Granulated sugar > 160 grams
- Eggs > 5
- Melted butter > 60 grams

Method:
- Prepare a 9 inch square baking tin lined with baking paper.
- Preheat oven to 175C.
- Beat eggs and granulated sugar until pale and light.
- Gently fold in all purpose flour, following by melted butter. Mix well.
- Pour batter into tin and bake for 30 minutes.
- Remove from tin and cool on wire rack.
- Cut into 3.5cm squares. Will get 36.



2. Chocolate Coating

Ingredients:
- Cocoa powder > 30 grams
- Icing sugar > 100 grams
- Melted butter > 25 grams
- Hot water > 25ml
- Dessicated coconut > 50 grams
- Extra icing sugar and butter (at room temperature)



Method:
- Combine all ingredients together and mix well.
- Separate 18 cubes of sponge cake. Dip into chocolate coating and toss in dessicated coconut.
- Into the leftover chocolate coating add the same portion of icing sugar and butter. Stir until it reaches a thick and firm consistensy. Fill into a piping bag and pipe a rosette on top of Lamington.



3. Passionfruit Curd

Ingredients:
- Passionfruit pulp > 65 grams
- Granulated sugar > 40 grams
- Egg > 1
- Butter at room temperature > 30 grams
- Dessicated coconut > 50 grams
- Extra icing sugar and butter (at room temperature)



Method:
- Mix passionfruit pulp, sugar and egg in a bowl.
- Place the bowl on a double boiler.
- Stir constantly until sugar dissolves and batter becomes thick.
- Remove from heat and add butter. Stir well.
- Take 18 cubes of sponge cake. Dip into passionfruit curd and toss in dessicated coconut.
- Into the leftover passionfruit curd add the same portion of icing sugar and butter. Stir until it reaches a thick and firm consistensy. Fill into a piping bag and pipe a rosette on top of Lamington.

Daring Bakers' Nanaimo Bars

This challenge is hosted by Lauren of Celiac Teen who is now busy compiling feel-at-home recipes for her ebook, an actual contributing action for Haiti relief. Bloggers have been asked to send their most-loved, most-made recipes that make them feel at home. The final ebook will be published to raise money for Haiti and available soon for online purchase. Kudos to her wonderful thoughts and I wish her all the best and great sucess for the ebook in regards to both its completion and sale. Double kudos for her initiative of taking up this DB hosting assignment in the midst of her major charity effort. Thanks Lauren!



This Nanaimo Bars challenge was full of surprises. First, while I was baking the Graham Wafer, I was surprised of how much puffing occured to the previously neat and flat squares of wafer dough on my baking tray. They inflated tremendously and became out of shape. Fortunately once they were cool and hard, the taste was nice with buttery aroma! And there I was actually thinking of baking it again and serving as stand-alone cookies.



Second, as I was mixing the ingredients for the bottom layer, I was surprised that it was amazingly possible to mix the whole great amount of dry mixture (a lot of coconut shreds, nuts and crumbs) with seemingly very small amount of liquid mixture (egg.,butter, sugar, and cocoa) and yet yielded a pliable mixture pressable into a cake ring. Wow!



And third surprise was the apparently-too-much icing sugar while entirely mixed into the butter custard mixture still resulted a not-dry, thick-yet-soft consistency just nice for the middle layer. And this is actually my favorite layer as I managed to marry the buttery flavor with passion fruit's fresh sourness and produced an interesting refreshing taste. This recipe would be suitable for great tropical icing for cakes! Yummy yummy...



Finally, I was surprised that the top layer was so hard after overnight refrigeration. I was thinking maybe I shoud do a second round with a softer version of chocolate layer like the chocolate glaze on cheese cakes. But would it be suitable for bars? Lets' see...



The January 2010 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Lauren of Celiac Teen. Lauren chose Gluten-Free Graham Wafers and Nanaimo Bars as the challenge for the month. The sources she based her recipe on are 101 Cookbooks and http://www.nanaimo.ca/

I have made some adjustments to the challenge recipe. The original recipe could be found here



NANAIMO BARS
Makes a 8 x 8 inch bar, cut into desirable size

1. Graham Wafers
Ingredients:
- All purpose flour > 100 grams
- Tapioca flour > 50 grams
- Brown sugar > 100 grams
- Baking soda > 1/2 teaspoon
- Salt > 1/2 teaspoon
- Salted butter - cut into 1-inch cubes and frozen > 50 grams
- Honey / passionfruit syrup > 50 ml
- Milk > 50 ml



Method:
- In the bowl of a food processor fitted with a steel blade, combine the flours, brown sugar, baking soda, and salt. Pulse on low to incorporate. Add the butter and pulse on and off, until the mixture is the consistency of a coarse meal. If making by hand, combine aforementioned dry ingredients with a whisk, then cut in butter until you have a coarse meal. No chunks of butter should be visible.
- In a small bowl or liquid measuring cup, whisk together the honey or passionfruit syrup and milk. Add to the flour mixture until the dough barely comes together. It will be very soft and sticky.
- Turn the dough onto a surface dusted with flour and pat the dough into a rectangle about 1 inch thick. Wrap in plastic and chill until firm, about 2 hours, or overnight.



- Remove from fridge and roll the dough into a long rectangle, about 1/8 inch thick. The dough will be quite sticky, so flour as necessary. Cut into 4 by 4 inch squares. Gather the scraps together and set aside. Place wafers on one or two parchment-lined baking sheets. Chill until firm, about 30 to 45 minutes.
- Preheat oven to 180 degrees Celsius.
- Prick chilled wafers with toothpick or fork, not all the way through, in two or more rows.
- Bake for 20 minutes, until browned and slightly firm to the touch, rotating sheets halfway through to ensure even baking.
- When cooled completely, place enough wafers in food processor to make crumbs. Set aside.



2. Nanaimo Bars
Ingredients:
Bottom Layer:
- Salted butter > 115 grams
- Granulated sugar > 50 grams
- Cocoa > 5 tablespoons
- Large egg - slightly beaten > 1
- Above Graham wafer crumbs > 160 grams
- Chopped roasted almonds > 55 grams
- Desiccated coconut >130 grams



Middle Layer:
- Salted butter > 115 grams
- Whipping cream > 40 ml
- Custard powder > 2 tablespoons
- Icing sugar > 254 grams
- Passionfruit juice > 4 tablespoons
- Lime juice > 1/2 teaspoon
Top Layer:
- Dark chocolate > 115 grams
- Salted butter > 2 tablespoons



Method:
- For bottom Layer: Melt unsalted butter, sugar and cocoa in top of a double boiler. Add egg and stir to cook and thicken. Remove from heat. Stir in crumbs, nuts and coconut. Press firmly into an ungreased 8 by 8 inch pan.
- For Middle Layer: Cream butter, cream, custard powder, passionfruit juice, lime juice and icing sugar together well. Beat until light in colour. Spread over bottom layer.



- For Top Layer: Melt chocolate and unsalted butter over low heat. Cool. Once cool, pour over middle layer and chill.

Basil Crush

Gosh, this is exactly the drink I am yearning for everytime I am thirsty. Something as refreshing as orange juice and yet has an extra kick of licorice and mint. Superb!

First time tried it in a Thai restaurant near my office and ever since I couldn't get it out of my mind until last night when I actually made it in my kitchen. Chopped chopped, plucked plucked and made my blender useful one more time. And of course many times of tasting to get the taste right! The result was juicy combination of pineapple and passion fruit empowered by Thai basil leaves.

Small leaf herb with distinctive purple stems, Thai sweet basil carries a stronger taste compared to other sweet basils. In the raw form, it is served as a condiment in Thai and Vietnamese dishes. You will recognize it everytime you have a bowl of phở, the Vietnamese soupy noodle. Known as horapa in Thai, it is differentiated from its other Thai fellows: Thai holy basil (kakpraw) and Thai lemon basil (maengluck).

BASIL CRUSH
Serves 2 persons

Ingredients:
- Pineapple - peel, roughly chop > 200 grams
- Thai sweet basil - pluck leaves from stalk > 12 grams
- Passion fruit puree > 2 1/2 tablespoons
- Granulated sugar > 1 1/2 tablespoons
- Water > 1/2 cup
- Ice cubes > 1 cup or more as desired


sweet thai basil

Method:
- Mix pineapple, Thai sweet basil leaves, passion fruit puree, sugar, and water in a blender. Whiz until smooth.
- Add ice cubes and continue whizzing until ice cubes completely crushed.
- Pour into a tall glass, sprinkle with some chopped basil leaves, and decorate with basil flower and pineapple chunks.
- Serve cold.