Place the cookies in a food processor and blend to your desired cookie butter texture. The finer the crumb off cookie the smoother the final result will be
Transfer the processed cookie crumbs from the processor to a medium pan and combine with brown sugar, evaporated milk, water, ground cinnamon, dark corn syrup, and salt
Heat over a medium heat, stirring until the mixture is well combined, the sugar has dissolved and the cookies crumbs have almost dissolved. If the mixture starts to bubble, reduce the heat to a simmer
Remove from the heat and place in a heat proof bowl. Leave to cool for 5 minutes
Add in the coconut oil, stirring carefully until melted and almost incorporated
Using an immersion blender, blend the mixture until it is fully emulsified and thick
Transfer to a sterilised glass jar and transfer to the fridge to allow the mixture to set. This allows the dispersed coconut oil to fully set within the mixture
To use remove the cookie butter from the fridge and allow to come to room temperature for best taste
1/2 stick unsalted butter, cubed and at room temperature
1 1/2 tablespoon chai spice mixture
Method
Madeleines
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Coat two 12-shell madeleine pans with baking spray or cake release. (Or brush with melted butter and coat with flour, tapping out the excess flour)
Melt the butter in a small saucepan over medium heat until it is a brown color, It will now start to have a “nutty” smell. Remove the pan from the heat and allow to cool (You’ll notice small brown/black particles. Don’t worry these are all part of brown butter!)
In a bowl combine the flour, baking powder, salt, mixed spice and tonka bean. Whisk., to combine and set aside until needed
In a stand mixer bowl add the eggs and sugar and with the whisk attachment mix on medium-high until the mixture is light in color, thick, and fluffy, about 5 minutes. Add the pumpkin puree and mix on slow until combined
After removing the bowl from the mixer, fold in the flour mixture gently by hand. Once the flour is completely added, gently pour in the cooled melted butter and fold it into the mixture until completely incorporated. Scrape the bottom and sides of the bowl to make sure no pockets of unmixed ingredients
Pour the madeleine batter into a large piping bag (fitted with plain circular nozzle, or snip the end of the bag off)
Fill the prepared trays with batter in each mould to 3/4 depth
Bake the madeleines for 10-12 minutes or until puffed and golden
Let cool in the pans for 5 minutes and then move to a wire rack
*Keep in an airtight container for up to for 2-3 days. The madeleines can also be frozen for up to 2 months and then reheated in the microwave or in a 350F oven before serving.
Caramel Dipping Sauce
In a heavy-based saucepan combine the brown sugar and water. Heat until the sugar dissolves
Increase the heat and allow the sugar mixture to deepen in color, approximately 240F (Soft Crack on sugar thermometer)
*exercise care in these next few steps!
Remove the saucepan with the melted sugar from the heat and add in the salted butter. Whisk briskly and carefully so that it melts and becomes incorporated into the sugar mixture. It may hiss and spit so please take care!
Next add the cream in a steady stream and stir to fully incorporate. Again take care at this point.
Stir in the chai spice mixture
Pour into the small ramekins or mini-milk bottles to serve with the pumpkin madeleines
**The final caramel sauce will keep for up to 2 weeks in your refrigerator. I find it’s best if removed from the fridge about 30 minutes before serving to allow it the return to full “saucy goodness”. If you prefer it warmed, heat in a microwavable container in 10-15 second bursts until it at desired temperature
I adore peaches. Nothing sums up Summer quite like the heady waft of a ripe peach just before you bite in, followed by the trickles of sweet juice running down your chin. Ahh Summer days! Needless to say as a result I’m a sucker for all things peach- bakes and desserts. One of my favourites being Peach Cobbler. Being synonymous with the American South there’s a deluge of recipes of the sweet peachy dish which has been baked into the history and hearts of people, each tweaked in accordance with individual family traditions and tastes.
You will of course by now know of my love for the unexpected in baking, turning things on their heads. So why not Peach Cobbler- but make it cake? Yes, I know it’s been done before…but featuring tea as an ingredient? Welcome to my world!
For those of you who followed my adventures in the kitchen of Food Networks Canada’s Great Chocolate Showdown, you’ll of course remember there was a Tea Challenge- where bakers were tasked with incorporating a selected tea into their desserts. The perfect springboard for this recipe!
This recipe gave me the perfect opportunity to work with Pluck Teas. Pluck Teas is an award-winning female-founded Canadian small business and tea maker, producing premium quality tea blends in Toronto for tea drinkers who value quality and sustainability. Hand-blended in small batches with several of the brand’s favourite ingredients (like lavender, grapes and ginseng) grown and dried in Ontario, ensuring that the product is fresh while also reducing the brand’s carbon footprint.
I’ve created this Peach Cobbler Cake using their “Just Peachy” tea blend. “Just Peachy” is one of Pluck’s black teas – a delicious, soft, and fruity infusion featuring a full black tea character layered with luscious ripe peaches. Perfect for a Summer tea treat!
Layers of tasty cinnamon sponge filled with juicy Ontario peaches, peach flavoured crunch, enrobed in sumptuous brown butter buttercream, and finished with a delectable caramel drizzle. All infused with Pluck “Just Peachy” tea blend. Everybody likes tea and cake, right?
*This is a sponsored post
Ingredients
Cinnamon Sponge Cake
2/3 cup milk, room temperature
1 sachet Pluck Tea “Just Peachy” tea*
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 Tablespoon baking powder
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup butter, room temperature
2 cups granulated sugar
4 large eggs, room temperature
2 tsp vanilla extract, or paste
Cake Syrup
1 cup water
1 sachet Pluck Tea “Just Peachy” tea*
1 cup white sugar
Peach Filling
5 Peaches, diced
1 Tablespoon lemon juice
1/3 cup brown sugar
1 sachet Pluck Tea “Just Peachy” tea*
¼ teaspoon fresh nutmeg
1 Tablespoon corn-starch
Peach Crunch
20 Golden Oreo Cookies
1 sachet (85g) Peach Jell-O powder
1 sachet Pluck Tea “Just Peachy” tea*
¾ cup butter, melted
Brown Butter Buttercream
1/3 cup whole milk
1 sachet Pluck Tea “Just Peachy” tea*
1 ½ cups (3 sticks) butter (divided in to 2 sticks and 1)
½ teaspoon Kosher salt
5 cups powdered sugar
Caramel drizzle
1/3 cup boiling water
1 sachet Pluck Tea “Just Peachy” tea*
1 Tablespoon liquid glucose, or light corn syrup
1 ½ cups sugar
¾ cup heavy cream, room temperature
1 teaspoon Kosher salt
3 Tablespoons butter, room temperature
*Pluck Tea “Just Peachy” sachets used here are from the “Just Peachy” Iced Tea selection. If you are using “Just Peachy” loose leaf it is 2 ½ Tablespoon equivalent (along with using a tea steeper ball where required)
Method
Cinnamon Sponge Cake
Preheat oven to 350F. Grease and flour three 8″ cake rounds and line with parchment
In a small pan combine the milk and tea sachet. Gently heat the milk to just below boiling. Remove from heat, set aside to infuse until needed later
In a medium bowl, whisk flour, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt until well combined. Set aside
Using a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, cream butter until smooth. Add sugar and beat on med-high until pale and fluffy (approx 10mins)
Reduce speed and add eggs one at a time fully incorporating after each addition. Add vanilla
Alternate adding flour mixture with cooled milk/ tea infusion, beginning, and ending with flour (3 additions of flour and 2 of cooled milk/ tea infusion). Fully incorporating after each addition
Spread batter evenly between the prepared pans and smooth the tops.
Bake for approx. 35mins or until a toothpick inserted into the centre comes out mostly clean
Place cakes on wire rack to cool for 10mins then turn out onto wire rack to cool completely
Caramel Drizzle
In a large pan, steep the tea sachet in the boiled water for 15mins.
Remove the tea sachet, add in the sugar, and glucose (or light corn syrup if using). Swirl the sugar to ensure it is fully soaked with the tea infusion
Heat over a low heat until the sugar is melted, gently swirling the occasionally
Increase to high heat to bring to a boil, allow to boil for 1 minute, then reduce to medium heat and simmer for 7 minutes
Remove from heat, add the heavy cream and salt. Take care here as the mixture will steam and bubble. Whisk at a steady pace to combine the mixture. If the caramel seizes around your whisk don’t worry continue to stir until almost combined
Return the pan to a medium heat and simmer for a further minute to fully melt the caramel. If the caramel bubbles too high, reduce the heat
Your caramel should now be smooth. Remove from heat, and gently stir in the butter pieces a Tablespoon at a time, ensuring each is fully melted before adding the next
Once all the butter has been added, transfer to bowl to cool fully
Cake Syrup
Combine all the syrup ingredients in a pan. Heat gently to dissolve the sugar
Increase to a boil for 1 minute, then remove from heat and allow to infuse for 15 minutes before removing the tea sachet
Set aside to cool until needed
Peach Filling
In a large pan combine the chopped peaches, brown sugar, lemon juice and tea sachet
Bring to a gentle boil, stirring occasionally and taking care not to break the tea pouch
Once boiling reduce heat and simmer for 5 minutes
After this time remove the tea sachet, add in the corn starch. Continue to simmer until the mixture has thickened
Remove from heat, transfer to a bowl to cool. The mixture will thicken further as it cools. Set aside until needed
Peach Crunch
Preheat your oven to 350F. Line a baking tray with baking parchment
Place the Oreo cookies in the bowl of a food processor, and process to a medium crumb
In a medium bowl, combine the cookie crumbs and the Jell-O powder. Stir to combine
Add in ½ cup of the melted butter and stir to combine. You’re looking for texture similar to cheesecake crumb base (damp sand). If the mixture is too dry, add the remaining butter a Tablespoon at a time until the desired texture is achieved
Once ready, spread the crumb on to the prepared baking try and bake f or 7- 8 minutes
Remove from the oven and set aside to cool until needed
Brown Butter Buttercream
In a small pan, combine the milk and tea sachet. Heat until just below boiling, remove from heat and set aside to infuse until needed
In a pan, heat 1 cup (2 sticks) of butter until fully melted. Continue to heat until the butter starts to foam. Take care in case the butter bubbles up too much. If it does, reduce the heat until it subsides, then return the heat. Continue to heat the butter, stirring constantly, until you noticed it start to turn a light brown and smell a nutty aroma. Transfer the browned butter to a heat proof bowl, chill until cool and almost set
Once cooled, combine the brown butter and remaining stick of butter in the bowl of a stand mixer, along with the salt. Beat until smooth and fully combined
Add in the powdered sugar 1 cup at a time, beating between each addition until fully combined
To the butter/ sugar mixture, add the milk/ tea infusion a tablespoon at a time. Beat rapidly between each addition to whip the buttercream
When all the milk has been added increase to a high speed and whip for 2 minutes until light and fluffy
Set aside and start assembling the cake
Cake Assembly
Gently brush the top side of each sponge layer with some of the cake syrup. Use enough so that the layers feel moist to the touch
Place the first sponge layer on a cake board, syrup side up. Spread a layer of butter cream over the top. Pipe an additional border around the edge of the sponge layer
Inside the buttercream border, spread some of the peach filling. Top this with the peach crunch sprinkled over (breaking up any large pieces)
On top of this place the next sponge cake layer and repeat the process with fillings and the third/ top layer
Apply a crumb coat of buttercream to the cake, before a final coat of buttercream, finished to your preference
Finish the top sponge with any remaining peach filling and a final sprinkling of peach crunch before drizzling with the caramel sauce (to your preference)
*I like to pipe a border around the edge of the top layer to keep the final peach filling/ crunch layer in place
Preheat oven to 350°F. Spray/brush donut pan with non-stick spray. Set aside
Whisk the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, and pumpkin pie spice together in a large bowl until combined. Set aside.
In a medium bowl, whisk the oil, brown sugar, eggs, pumpkin puree, milk, liquid smoke, and vanilla extract together until combined. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients, then fold everything together gently just until combined and no white streaks of flour remain
Using a piping bag, pipe the batter into the donut pans, filling about halfway
Bake for 10-11 minutes or until the edges and tops are lightly browned. Cool donuts in the pan for 2 minutes then transfer to a wire rack. Re-grease the pan and bake the remaining donut batter
Leave to cool fully before glazing
Glazes
In a small saucepan, combine the milk glaze ingredients
Cook over low-medium heat, whisking occasionally, until the glaze is warm, the sugar has melted and, after a brief pause, starts to form a crust on top. Remove from heat
Dip one side of each doughnut into the glaze, gently shaking it to allow any excess glaze to drip off. Be sure to stir the glaze between each doughnut to prevent a crust forming in the pan. If the glaze in the pan sets too quickly, simply heat over a gentle heat, stirring till it is smooth again
Set donuts on a cooling rack for the glaze to set
Once all the doughnuts are glazed, add the coffee glaze ingredients to the remaining glaze. Stir the glaze until all the espresso powder has dissolved. Add a drop of brown food coloring, if using and stir to a uniform color
Pour the espresso glaze into a piping bag, and drizzle over the doughnuts (preferably with a piece of parchment paper under them)
Sprinkle a pinch of pumpkin spice mix, if using, over each donut to finish and set aside to fully set
First of all let’s clear up the looming misunderstanding. In this recipe my use of the term “Flapjack” is as used in the UK and Ireland, as opposed to it’s North American connotation.
If you find yourself unfamiliar with Flapjacks as they appear here well then you’re in for a treat. Defined as “a sweet, tray-baked oat bar, most commonly made from rolled oats, butter, brown sugar and golden syrup“- growing up they were the stuff of school-time treats. Like so many other bakes with a traditional heritage, a love of these oatty morsels falls into two distinct camps- soft & chewy or crunchy & crumbly. Both however offer comforting butteriness and sweetness with each rustic bite. At the end of the day it’s all a matter of time and taste.
The easiest way to describe a flapjack is to think of it as a granola bar. Like it’s pseudo-healthy breakfast cousin it’s basis is in the “slick ‘ em and stick ’em” method of ingredients. Here it’s the butter providing the “slick ’em” element with the “stick ’em” being provided by the amalgamation of sugar, corn & maple syrups, and molasses. The aforementioned ingredients and oats are the basic building blocks, carrying any number of preferred add-ins. Dried fruit, chocolate chips, caramel are all fair game here.
Having mentioned the flapjacks featured ingredient, the humble rolled oat, I feel it fair to offer a sliver of insight here. Flapjacks can be made using just the one type of oats- Rolled Oats (sometimes known as Jumbo Oats). I have found, however, that by using a mix of rolled oats and quick oats a sturdier, less crumbly flapjack is the end result, the latter oats providing a finer grain to act as an infill to the voids between the larger oat flakes.
Above all the flapjack is a bake that is easily tweaked to personal preference for taste and texture proving a lasting favorite that has stood the test of time. Once you have the essential slick ’em, stick ’em and oats in place the Flapjack World is your oyster!
Makes 12
Ingredients
2 2/3 sticks salted butter
1/2 cup brown sugar, packed
2 tablespoon golden corn syrup
2 tablespoons fancy molasses
2 tablespoons maple syrup
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
2 cups jumbo rolled oats
2 cups quick oats
1 cup shredded coconut
1 teaspoon vanilla essence
1 1/4 cup dried fruit slices, chopped (I’ve used a mix of apple, pear, apricot and mango)
Method
Preheat your oven to 325 degrees F (350 degrees F for a crunchier flapjack). Line and grease a 9′ x 12′ baking tin with baking parchment
In a large bowl combine the oats, coconut and dried fruit. Stir well to mix and break up any fruit clumps. Set aside for now
In a medium pan melt the butter with the sugar, syrup, molasses vanilla extract and salt. Stir well to combine until sugar has dissolved.
Pour the butter mixture over the oat mixture and stir well to ensure all the dry ingredients are coated
Tip the flapjack mixture into your prepared tin and press evenly for a flat surface
Bake in your preheated oven, middle shelf, for 25 minutes for chewy, 30 minutes for crunchy, until set and golden
Remove from the oven, wait for 5 minutes, then gently score the flapjacks, not going the full way through. For the size of tin I use here, I cut so I have 3 by 4 “square” pieces (2 cuts x 3)
Allow to cool completely in the tin. When fully cooled re-score where you’ve previously cut this time going the full way through
If you want to lend an extra decadent touch, drizzle over some melted chocolate
Crumbs In My Beard 