toasted marshmallow fudge on valentine's day

I’m not a big believer in St Valentine’s Day. I hate the expectations it brings.

As a modern woman, I disdain the idea of chocolates, roses and a dinner date just because it’s February 14th, but I nonetheless fall into the morose of disappointment when the husband does exactly as I tell him and doesn’t make a fuss.

Poor thing. But he ought to know better after all these years!

So if you want to be sweet to your sweetheart, homemade truffles and treats are always well-received.

Try this toasted marshmallow fudge and see if it doesn’t win you a few sweet kisses.

Toasted Marshmallow Fudge

Adaptation of a Solo Foods recipe. Makes 35 small squares.

Ingredients:
½ teaspoon vanilla bean paste (I use this one)
170g (6oz) white chocolate, finely chopped
230g (8oz or 1 cup) sugar
100g (3.5oz) evaporated milk
1 tablespoon milk powder
100g (3.5oz) marshmallows*
60g (1.5oz) butter
1 teaspoon cocoa, for dusting

Method:

1. Mix vanilla and white chocolate in a large mixing bowl and set aside.

2. Toast marshmallows over an open flame until they are melting and slightly browned on edges, which gives a smoky flavour.

3. In a medium saucepan mix sugar, evaporated milk, milk powder and half the butter.

4. Bring to full rolling boil over a medium-heat, stirring constantly to prevent burning, until a candy thermometer reaches 110’C (233’F).

5. Add the toasted marshmallows and remaining butter and stir until ingredients are melted and the mixture is smooth.

6. Bring to the boil then pour over chocolate and mix continually to melt chocolate through mixture.

7. Pour fudge into tin, sprinkle with cocoa, then set to room temperature before cutting into squares.

* Or you can cheat and use this toasted marshmallow fluff.

marzipan & grand marnier truffles

Soft almond paste flavoured with orange zest and a burst of orange liqueur, smothered in dark chocolates. Yummy.

And just what I need, because I’ve had a rough week.

Jonas and I came home from a wonderful weekend in hinterland of the Sunshine Coast, where we celebrated Ms Correct and B-Rad’s tres chic wedding (if you are ever in that part of the world, I highly recommend spending some time in the cute mountain village of Montville: it’s just lovely).

When we came home our houseguest / adopted son, Fabio, had left us a note saying he’d run away with the circus.

So the house was all ours again.

I was keen to do some cooking, write some posts and begin the painful, tedious job of reloading all my old images to the blog after I’d accidentally deleted THEM ALL a few weeks ago. Don’t ask.

But then I caught the flu. Not some common floozy cold but nasty Madame Influenza herself.
That progressed into a chest infection and here I am, six days later, only just crawling out of bed and still decked out in head to toe fleece.

Jonas has turned out to be a regular little Florence Nightingale, bolstering my health with delicious dinners and a regular supply of chocolate and mandarins, a craving of my current state.

He loves marzipan, and so this little truffle recipe is a shout-out to my lovely hubby who nursed me back to health.

Another 2011 Food Challenge, to make more candies, ticked off.

Marzipan & Grand Marnier Truffles

Anna's very own recipe. Makes 6-10 truffles.

Ingredients:
100g marzipan
1 teaspoon orange zest
1 tablespoon Grand Marnier
100g dark chocolate

Method:
1. Knead marzipan, orange zest and Grand Marnier together.
2. Roll into balls then refrigerate for an hour or so to harden up.
3. Melt the chocolate then allow it to cool for 5-10 minutes (depends how warm your kitchen is).
4. Roll the balls in the chocolate then allow them to cool further for 20 minutes before refrigerating them.
5. Remove from fridge just before eating.

passionfruit ganache truffles

I’ve always wanted to make my own truffles, in fact it's a 2011 Food Challenge, and this little experiment yielded some tasty results.

I did it all wrong. I know that now.

Every step could have been, should have been easier. But it wasn’t.

It was trial and error in production, but the final truffles were quite amazing.

I love the contrast between the sweet and sour passionfruit and the bitter dark chocolate. One of my favourite dessert flavour combinations.

Passionfruit Chocolate Truffles

Anna’s very own recipe. Makes approximately 10-15.

Ingredients:
100g white chocolate
80ml cream
40ml passionfruit pulp, without seeds
100g dark chocolate

Method:
1. Blend passionfruit pulp in a food processor to break up seeds from juices.

2. Chop white chocolate finely and put in a bowl.

3. Over a low heat, bring cream and passionfruit pulp to a boil

4. Strain over white chocolate then mix until melted.

5. Refrigerate ganache overnight.

6. Using a melon baller and very wet hands, scoop out cold ganache and roll into balls. Do this quickly so the ganache has as little contact with your hands as possible. Keep dipping hands into water between each ball to prevent sticking. You may need to do in batches, returning ganache to fridge to firm up.

7. Put balls on grease-proof paper into the freezer for about an hour to firm up completely.

8. Melt the dark chocolate then allow it to cool for 5-10 minutes (depends how warm your kitchen is).

9. Roll the ganache balls in the dark chocolate then return to fridge to harden up. Make sure dark chocolate covers ganache completely or when it hardens and expands the ganache will squirt out (I learnt the hard way).

10. Remove from fridge just before eating.

If you want to read up on passionfruit recipes, here are some of my earlier passionfruit recipes for marshmallows or curd.

passionfruit marshmallow hearts

I remember the first time I realised marshmallows don’t have to come in a package but could be made, fresh, at home.

And after Jonas and I experienced the most exquisite passionfruit marshmallows at Rockpool, I put it on my to-do list with awe but never dared attempt it myself.

So this year I made it one of my 2010 Food Challenges to make sure I stopped living in fear.
The big day came for my friend’s hens night and I pulled them off.

Soft and pillowy, tangy with tropical passionfruit and then topped with 70% dark chocolate.

Delicious!

Passionfruit Marshmallows

Recipe by Rockpool via Australian Gourmet Traveller. Makes 50 squares.

Ingredients:
180ml strained passionfruit juice (about 10 passionfruit)
20g powdered gelatine
500g caster sugar
2 eggwhites
Snow sugar, for dusting

Method:

1. Lightly grease and line a 17.5cm x 25cm shallow cake pan and dust base liberally with snow sugar.

2. Combine passionfruit juice and gelatine in a bowl and set aside.

3. Combine caster sugar and 1 cup water in a saucepan and cook over low heat, stirring, until sugar dissolves, then increase heat to medium and cook for 5-10 minutes or until syrup reaches 125’C on a sugar thermometer.

4. Remove from heat, add passionfruit mixture to syrup and stir until gelatine dissolves.

5. Meanwhile, using an electric mixer, whisk eggwhites and a pinch of salt until frothy.

6. Gradually add passionfruit mixture, whisking continuously on medium speed until mixture has doubled in size, then slowly decrease speed and mix until mixture is warm (about 40’C).

7. Pour into prepared cake pan, and, using a lightly oiled spatula, spread evenly, then dust top liberally with snow sugar. Stand at room temperature for 3 hours or until firm.

8. Using a sharp knife, cut marshmallow into 2.5cm squares and roll in snow sugar to coat. Store in an airtight container between sheets of baking paper at room temperature for up to 2 weeks.

Note: to make heart shapes I used an oiled cookie cutter and all the leftover bits and pieces were turned into rocky road.

I remember the first time I realised marshmallows don’t have to come in a package but could be made, fresh, at home.

I put it on my to-do list with awe but never dared attempt it.

So this year I made it one of my 2010 Food Challenges to make sure I stopped living in fear.

The big day came for my friend’s hens night and I pulled them off. Soft and pillowy, tangy with tropical passionfruit and then topped with 70% dark chocolate.

Delicious!

And if you want to try your own marshmallows, how about some of these:

• Beetroot

• Candied Sweet Potato

• Champagne & Rose

• Cherry

• Choc Chip

• Chocolate
• Cinnamon
• Lemon
• Orange Blossom
• Peanut Butter & Jelly
• Peppermint
• Raspberry
• Root Beer
• Strawberry
• Ube
• Violet

These marshmallows are my contribution to Weekend Herb Blogging with passionfruit as my theme ingredient. If you want to learn more about passionfruits I wrote a post about them back when I blogged this passionfruit curd.

Our host this week is Graziana from Erbe in Cucina (Cooking with Herbs). Be sure to visit for the round-up.

thanksgiving pumpkin pie

As part of my Thanksgiving lunch I cooked, for the first time, a pumpkin pie.

I tried to replicate the flavour of my grandmother’s pies and I remember her telling me that her best pies always came from canned pumpkin purée. She said she used to make her own pumpkin purée from scratch but after years of doing this she discovered she preferred canned purée.

Since Australia doesn’t celebrate Thanksgiving, and since Pumpkin Pie is something quintessentially American, you can’t find canned pumpkin purée here. And yet I magically discovered two cans in David Jones’ food hall and was over the moon!

I decided to go with a Williams Sonoma recipe and was very pleased with the results. The pie had a perfect velvety texture and a gorgeous spiciness, the crust enriched with pecans.

As my first attempt at Pumpkin Pie, I was proud as punch.

Candied Pecans

Recipe by Williams Sonoma.

Ingredients:

1/3 cup superfine sugar

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

¼ teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg

2 cups pecan halves

Method:

1. Preheat an oven to 350ºF. Lightly oil a rimmed baking sheet.

2. Over a plate, sift together the superfine sugar, cinnamon and nutmeg.

3. Place the pecans in a colander and rinse under cold running water. Shake the colander to remove the excess water.

4. Toss the pecans in the sugar mixture, coating them evenly.

5. Spread the nuts out on the prepared baking sheet in a single layer, separating any that are touching.

6. Bake the nuts until they are dry and the sugar has crystallized, about 25 minutes. Remove from the oven and let cool completely. Store in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 2 days.

Pumpkin Pie w Candied Pecans

Recipe by Williams Sonoma. Serves 8-10.
 
Ingredients:
For the crust:
1 cup candied pecans
1 cup fine cookie crumbs
155g unsalted butter, melted
For the filling:
1 can (15 oz.) pumpkin puree
3 eggs, lightly beaten
¾ cup heavy cream
2/3 cup firmly packed dark brown sugar
1 tablespoon cornstarch (cornflour)
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground ginger
¼ teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
¼ teaspoon ground cloves
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Vanilla ice cream for serving

Method:
To make the crust:
1. Preheat an oven to 325ºF.
2. Place 1 cup of the candied pecans in a food processor and process until finely ground.
3. Pour into a bowl and stir in the cookie crumbs and butter until all the ingredients are evenly moistened.
4. Pour into a 9-inch pie dish and, using your fingers, press the mixture to cover the bottom and sides of the dish evenly. Set aside.
To make the filling:
1. In a large bowl, whisk together the pumpkin puree, eggs, cream, brown sugar, cornstarch, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, cloves and vanilla extract until well combined.
2. Pour the mixture into the prepared crust and smooth the top.
3. Bake until a toothpick or thin skewer inserted into the center of the pie comes out clean, 50 to 60 minutes.
4. Transfer to a wire rack and let cool completely.
5. Just before serving, garnish the edge of the pie with some of the remaining candied pecan halves.

I'm going to submit this recipe to my own Festive Food Fair. If you want to know more about this food event, check out how to join.

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone!

Tags: morsels and musings food blog food and drink australia recipes pie dessert pumpkinpumpkin pie dessert recipes holiday recipes pumpkin recipes pumpkin pie recipes thanksgiving recipes american recipes american cuisine festive food fair

chocolate raspberry truffles

There has been a lot of truffle activity on the gastronomic blogosphere with the recent truffle themed Sugar High Friday, so I decided to do my bit and whip up some of my own.

Dark chocolate and raspberries are one of my favourite pairings, their only real competition being dark chocolate and orange. But when raspberries came down from AUD$7.99 for 150g to AUD$3.99, I immediately pounced upon the opportunity and bought myself a punnet.

Jonas simply cannot believe the price of raspberries and blueberries in Australia. In Sweden they grow as weeds on the side of the road but here, in this warm country, berries are astronomically expensive and raspberries, currants and blackberries are probably among the most prized.

With a pretty punnet of dusty red raspberries, I set about making some truffles for petit fours and as a birthday gift for a friend.

Chocolate Raspberry Truffles

Recipe from Gourmet Traveller ‘December 2006’ issue. Makes 60.

Ingredients:
300g raspberries
200ml pouring cream
50ml Framboise
600g dark chocolate (57% cocoa solids)

Method:
1. Chop or shave chocolate into very fine pieces.
2. Combine cream, Framboise and 200g of raspberries in a saucepan and bring to the boil over a medium-high heat. Process in a food processor then pass through a fine sieve into a clean saucepan.
3. Clean food processor and add chocolate.
4. Bring raspberry mixture to the boil and, with food processor motor running, pour over chocolate. Process until smooth.
5. Pour half the chocolate mixture into a paper lined baking tray (20cm x 30cm). Scatter with remaining 100g of raspberries and top with remaining chocolate mixture. Smooth top and refrigerate for 6 hours or overnight until set.
6. Using a warm, sharp knife, cut truffles into cubes and dust with cocoa.
Note: They can keep in the fridge (in an airtight container) for up to 1 month.

Anna’s Variation: I used chocolate with 70% cocoa solid so it took on a rich bitterness. Jonas told me the recipe wasn’t as sweet as he prefers. If you prefer sweeter chocolate treats use lower level cocoa solids or dissolve in some super fine sugar when you melt the chocolate.

Tags: morsels and musings food blog food and drink australia recipes truffles chocolate truffles raspberry raspberries chocolate chocolate recipes dessert candy sweets petit fours