Joey 1, Chocolate Chips 0

Ok, so I purchased this little purple bag of delights with the intention of making my chewy, double choc cookies. Honestly I did, buuuuuut it's Friday night, I'm home alone, the baby is in bed and I'm in need of something dark and sweet to keep me company. Yep, my will power is weak and I have nibbled away at this packet of Cadbury choc chips. I will add them onto my shopping list again so I can make those cookies, promise. But in the meantime, nom nom nom, mmmm I LOVE chocolate. Now, all of you sitting around with nothing to do.... Go Get Your Bake On!!!

That Little Tart!!

The recipe for this chocolate tart is a gem that I got many years ago from my beautiful bestie Aims (a truly wonderful cook). The pastry is light and not too sweet and the filling is a moist fudgey chocolate that just melts in your mouth.

Ingredients

1 quantity pastry (see below)

Filling

150gm butter
30gm plain chocolate, chopped
6 tbsp cocoa powder, sifted
2 tsp instant coffee powder
3 eggs
250gm caster sugar
2 tbsp sour cream
1 tsp vanilla extract (essence will do fine)

Method

1. Allow the pastry to come to room temperature. Knead it briefly then roll it out on a lightly floured surface. Use the pastry to line the prepared tin, rolling it out quite thin. Chill the pastry shell while preparing the filling.

Hot Tip: make sure that the pastry is rolled nice and thin, if the pastry is too thick the tart becomes dry.

2. Put a baking sheet in the lower third of the oven and preheat the oven to 180 degree (fan forced).

3. For the filling, gently melt the butter in a small saucepan. Remove from the heat and stir in the chocolate, cocoa powder and coffee, stirring until the chocolate has melted. Set aside.

4. Beat the eggs and sugar together until the mixture is creamy and blended, then add the soured cream, golden syrup and vanilla extract. Stir in the chocolate and butter mixture.

5. Pour the filling into the pastry shell. Bake on the hot baking sheet in the preheated oven for 35-40 minutes, or until the filling puffs up and forms a crust. Remove the pie to a wire rack to cool. The filling will sink a little and may crack slightly as it cools.

6. Before serving, decorate the pie. A dusting of icing sugar and a fanned strawberry is an impressive but simple adornment.

Tart tin size: 3.5 cm deep, 23cm diameter, loose base flan tin, greased.
Storage: keeps for 2 days in the refrigerator

Hot Tip: I recommend serving it with a velvety smooth ice cream or cream to complete the chocolate hit. In this picture I've varied the recipe a little and made individual tarts. The pastry quantity makes about 18 tart cases and the filling is enough to fill at least 24 tarts. Alternatively you can make one large tart and some smaller individual ones.

Pastry

Ingredients

190gm plain flour, sifted
2 tbsp caster sugar
1/2 tsp salt
100gm chilled unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
1 egg yolk
2 tbsp iced water

Method

1. Sift the flour, sugar and salt into a bowl. Rub the butter into the flour with your fingertips until the mixture resembles fine crumbs. Blend the egg yolk with the water and fork it lightly into the mixture until it sticks together.

Hot Tip: Its very easy to make this pastry in a food processor. Add all the dry ingredients and blitz. Then add the butter small amounts at a time, followed by the egg and water.

2. Form the dough into a ball, wrap in clingwrap and chill for 30 minutes. Roll out the pastry and line the flan tin. Chill while making the filling.



I'd love to hear your hints and tips for making this tart a success or any variations you come up with........ NOW Go Get Your Bake On!!!!

Macarooned

Yep... you guessed right... I am going to be Macarooned in a deserted kitchen.... stay tuned to find out what flavour takes my fancy.

Now.... Go Get Your Bake On and whip up some Honey Joys for the weekend!!!

Ah Honey.. The Joy

Honey Joys - an oldie but a goodie and an excellent, simple recipe to kick off this blog!

Crunchy golden cornflakes and thick sticky honey are the stars of this recipe and manage to complement each other in an unbelievably sweet way.

You will need....
4 cups cornflakes
1/4 cup honey
1 tbsp sugar
60gms butter

1. Preheat the oven to 190 degrees (fan forced)

2. Place medium sized patty cases into cupcake/muffin tins (recipe makes approx 30 Honey Joys)

3. Measure out cornflakes into a large bowl and set aside.

4. In a small saucepan combine honey, sugar and butter and heat until butter has melted and the sugar has dissolved.

5. Pour the butter and honey mix onto the cornflakes and stir well to combine.

6. Place spoonfuls of the mixture into the patty cases. Place into the pre heated oven and cook for 8-10 minutes.

7. Remove from the oven and allow to cool in the cupcake/muffin tins.

Once the Honey Joys have cooled they should be crisp and crunchy and look a little something like this....

The day I got my bake on

A lot of the fond memories from my childhood revolve around a kitchen, my parents kitchen to be more precise.

They feature my mum slaving away over a hot stove to feed our hungry family of six. When I was old enough to don an apron and wield my own wooden spoon, these memories evolved and include Mum beginning the lifelong task of sharing all her recipes and culinary skills with me.

If I am to be honest, my mum is actually the inspiration for everything thing I do that is creative - cooking, sewing, knitting, painting (you get the idea), so at this point it's important that I dedicate this blog to her, soooo: "To Mum, Thank-you and I love you (and I hope one day there will be more followers of this blog than just you xx)".

And so this blog has been created, with the intention of sharing my love of cooking as well as the recipes and skills I have learnt, with all of you, as my Mum did with me. I'll be cooking a feature item once a week (or as often as I can with my little bub entertaining me most days) and posting the recipe along with my hints, tips and pics for future success.

I am well aware that I am not an expert in the kitchen, but I have learnt a lot over time and with the collective knowledge of myself and my foodie friends, I'll also be happy to answer cooking questions that may be plaguing you in your own crusade to conquer your cookbook.


So.... Go Get Your Bake On!!!!