Tag Archives: food

Dubai Butter Tarts

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Makes 12

Ingredients 

Pastry

  • 1 1/4 cups All purpose flour
  • 1/2 cup cocoa
  • 1 Tablespoon sugar
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1/2 cup butter, cold and cubed
  • 6-7 Tablespoons ice-cold water (dependant on humidity)

Kataifi Filling

  • 2 1/2oz Kataifi pastry, cut to 1/2inch pieces (if not already)
  • 2 Tablespoons butter
  • 200g pistachio cream
  • 3 Tablespoons tahini
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt

Butter Tart Filling

  • 1 cup brown sugar, packed
  • 2 eggs
  • 1/4 cup butter, softened
  • 1 Tablespoon apple cider vinegar
  • 3 Tablespoons light corn syrup
  • Pinch salt

Method

Pastry

  1. Whisk together the flour, cocoa, sugar and salt in a large bowl
  2. Add the chopped butter. Using a pastry blender, or two butter knives, cut in the butter until it resembles coarse crumbs (with a few pea-sized pieces)
  3. Add the water, one spoonful at a time, until the dough starts to come together in a single ball
  4. Gather dough into a ball and knead a couple of times to bring together. Flatten into a disc, wrap in cling wrap and chill for at least 30 minutes
  5. On a smooth surface lightly dusted with cocoa, roll pie dough to a ¼-inch thickness. Cut 12 rounds using a 4½-inch round cookie cutter, re-rolling scraps if needed. Gently press rounds into a 12-cup muffin pan. Refrigerate while you make the fillings

Kataifi filling

  1. In a large frying pan set over a medium heat, melt the butter 
  2. Add the kataifi pastry and stir to coat in butter 
  3. Continue to stir the pastry, moving it around the pan continuously, until deep golden brown
  4. Remove from the heat and transfer to a large bowl to cool
  5. When cooled completely, add the pistachio cream, tahini and salt
  6. Stir all the ingredients together to combine well
  7. Fill the bottom of each pastry tart cup with between 1 – 2 Tablespoons of kataifi filling, tamping it down loosely to 1/3 to 1/2 depth of each tart cup
  8. Return to fridge to chill while you prepare the butter tart filling

Butter Tart Filling

  1. Preheat your oven to 400°F
  2. Combine all the butter tart ingredients in a medium bowl and using electric whisk, beat until smooth and fully combined
  3. Using a jug or piping bag, pour the filling into each tart cup until just below the top
  4. Transfer to the heated oven and bake for 5 minutes at 400°F
  5. After 5 minutes, reduce heat to 375°F and continue to bake for 20 minutes until the filling turns slightly opaque and appears to dome
  6. Remove from oven and allow to cool in tin for 5 minutes then gently loosen and rotate in the tin using a knife or palette knife 
  7. Allow to cool fully in the tin, before removing
  8. Serve and enjoy  

Pumpkin Dutch Baby Babies

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Yields 12

Ingredients

Dutch Babies

  • 2 Tablespoons butter
  • 3 large eggs
  • ¾ cup milk, whole or 2% milk recommended
  • 5 Tablespoons pure pumpkin puree, not pie filling
  • ¾ cup all-purpose flour
  • 1 Tablespoon white granulated sugar
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla
  • ¼ teaspoon kosher salt
  • Generous pinch of cinnamon
  • Small pinch of allspice and nutmeg
  • Additional 2 Tablespoons butter, melted (for coating muffin tins)

Maple Mascarpone

  • 8oz mascarpone cheese
  • ¼ cup milk
  • 2 tablespoon maple syrup
  • ½ teaspoons pumpkin spice

Method

Maple Mascarpone

  1. Stir together the mascarpone, milk, maple syrup and pumpkin spice in a bowl until smooth. Refrigerate until needed at serving

Dutch Babies

  1. Place a 12-cup or two 6-cup muffin tins in oven and preheat oven to 425° F
  2. Melt the butter needed for the pancake batter and set aside to cool slightly. Meanwhile, combine pancake ingredients in a blender (or a medium bowl with an immersion blender), adding the cooled, melted butter last. Mix well, until frothy. Leave to stand in blender (or bowl) while oven finishes preheating
  3. When oven is pre-heated, carefully remove hot muffin tin(s) from oven and quickly pour a bit of melted butter into each muffin cup. Turn blender on for a few seconds to re-mix the batter, then quickly pour the mixture into the hot muffin cups, dividing equally between 12 cups, filling about ½ way full
  4. Place in oven and bake for 22-24 minutes, or until puffy and deep golden colour. Remove from oven. Remove from pan to a cooling rack to cool slightly before serving*. (If you find the pancakes sticking in your pan, run a knife around the edges, then use a fork to lift them out)
  5. Garnish with icing/confectioners sugar
  6. Drizzle or spoon on some of the maple mascarpone and some additional chopped walnuts or pecans, to taste

* Note: The Dutch babies will quickly deflate when you remove them from the oven. Don’t worry –  that’s what they do naturally.

Mega Pumpkin Spice Pop Tart

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Yields 8 servings

Ingredients

Pop Tart

  • 2 pie crusts (you can use store bought or homemade)
  • ½ cup pumpkin puree
  • 1 egg, room temperature
  • 1/3 cup light brown sugar
  • 1 1/4  teaspoon pumpkin spice
  • pinch of salt
  • 1 egg (for egg wash)

Glaze

  • 1 3/4 cup powdered sugar
  • 2 Tablespoons pure maple syrup
  • 2 Tablespoons milk or cream
  • pinch salt
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla paste

Method

Pop Tart

  1. Preheat the oven to 375°F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside
  2. Roll out half of your pie dough on a well-floured surface. Cut the dough into a roughly 12″ x 8″ rectangle using a sharp knife. Carefully roll the dough back around your rolling pin and roll out onto your prepared baking sheet
  3. In a medium bowl, whisk together the pumpkin puree, egg, brown sugar, pumpkin spice and salt until smooth. Set aside
  4. Whisk a large egg with a little bit of water. Use a pastry brush to brush the outside inch of dough on the baking sheet. Spread the pumpkin filling in the centre of the bottom crust, leaving about a 1 inch border on all sides
  5. Roll out and cut, the second pie crust to the same size as the first one and carefully place the second piece of dough over the first, using your fingers to slightly push dough together around the edges. Use a large fork to make indents along the border of the pop tart, then poke fork lightly in the centre of the pop tart to allow air to escape
  6. Brush the whole top of the pop tart with the remaining egg wash
  7. Bake for 17 to 20 minutes, until the dough is light golden brown. Allow to cool fully while you make the glaze

Glaze

  1. To make the glaze, combine all ingredients in a medium sized bowl and use a whisk to mix until smooth
  2. Spoon the glaze evenly over the cooled poptart, the spread over the surface of the poptart. Use as much glaze as you like. Cut into 8 equal size pieces
  3. Serve and enjoy!

Blue Cheese, caramelised pear & crispy prosciutto pizza

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feat. Cow’s Creamery “Blue Moo” cheese

Makes enough dough for 2x 12inch pizzas; toppings for 1x 12inch pizza

Ingredients

Pizza Dough (makes enough for 2x 12 inch pizzas)

  • 1 1/3 cups) warm water
  • 2 ¼ teaspoons instant yeast
  • 1 Tablespoon sugar
  • 3 ½  cups all-purpose flour
  • 1 Tablespoon garlic powder
  • 1 Tablespoon Italian seasoning
  • 2 Tablespoons cornmeal
  • 1 teaspoon salt

Topping (for 1, 12 inch pizza)

  • ¼ cup extra virgin olive oil
  • 2 cloves garlic
  • 4 oz thinly sliced prosciutto,
  • 5oz Cows Creamery “Blue Moo”, soft blue cheese
  • 1/3 cup balsamic vinegar
  • 2 large Bosc pears, cored and sliced, ½ inch thick
  • 2 Tablespoons butter
  • 2 Tablespoons brown sugar
  • ¼ cup chopped walnut pieces
  • ½ cup fresh arugula

Method

Pizza Dough

  1. Whisk the warm water, yeast, and granulated sugar together in the bowl of a stand mixer.
  2. Cover and allow to rest for 5 minutes
  3. Add the olive oil, salt, and flour. Beat on low speed for 2 minutes
  4. Beat the for an additional 5 full minutes, or knead by hand on a lightly floured surface for 5 full minutes. After kneading, the dough should still feel a little soft. Poke it with your finger—if it slowly bounces back, your dough is ready
  5. Lightly grease a large bowl with oil. Place the dough in the bowl. Cover the bowl with oiled cling wrap. Allow the dough to rise at room temperature for 60-90 minutes or until double in size
  6. Preheat a pizza stone in a 500°F oven for 20-25 minutes

To prepare the toppings

  1. Finely chop garlic and heat in the olive oil over medium heat for 1-2 minutes, being careful not to allow the garlic to burn. Turn off the heat and set aside to cool
  2. Simmer the balsamic vinegar to reduce the volume by about half. It should thicken slightly. Set aside until needed
  3. In a large skillet, melt the butter and brown sugar together over medium heat. Add the pears in a single layer and cook for about 10 minutes turning once, to caramelize the pears. Remove the skillet from the heat and set aside until needed

To finish and bake the pizza

  1. When the dough is ready, punch it down to release any air bubbles. Divide the dough in half. (If not making 2 pizzas, freeze half of the dough for another time. Stretch the dough into about a 12-13inch round
  2. Place the dough round on a wooden peel that has been well sprinkled with cornmeal. Make sure your pizza is sliding on the cornmeal base before adding your toppings
  3. Brush the garlic olive oil from earlier all over the center of the dough
  4. Add the Cows Creamery blue cheese in about 1 teaspoon sized pieces along with arranging  the pears and prosciutto. (Keep the ingredients in a single layer as this helps the pizza crust stay crisp and cook quickly) Sprinkle over the walnut pieces
  5. Shake your peel to make sure the pizza is not stuck. Slide the pizza onto the hot stone
  6. Bake for about 8-10 minutes or until the bottom is evenly brown and the top cheese begins to brown slightly. Remove from oven and allow to stand for 5 minutes. Slide off you pizza stone to serving board
  7. Sprinkle over the fresh arugula and drizzle with the balsamic reduction
  8. Slice, serve and enjoy!

Leprechaun Bait

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Ingredients

Impact-Site-Verification: 00a96383-f295-4a96-9128-c08cec79d627

  • 2 cups Chex cereal
  • 1 cup pretzel mini-twists
  • 1 cup. Lucky Charms cereal
  • ½ cup Lucky Charms mallow pieces only
  • ½ cup green candy covered chocolate ( M&M’s or similar)
  • ½ and ¼ cup funfetti or white cake mix*, divided
  • 12 oz. white candy melts**, melted
  • ¼ cup green, or rainbow, sprinkles

Method

  1. Line a baking sheet with baking parchment/ waxed paper and set aside until needed later
  2. In a large bowl combine the Chex cereal, pretzel mini-twists, Lucky Charms cereal, Lucky Charms mallow pieces and green chocolate candy
  3. In a separate bowl combine the melted white chocolate and ½ cup cake mix, stirring to combine
  4. Immediately pour the chocolate/cake mix mixture over the dry cereal mixture and use a spatula to combine.  Add the remaining ¼ cup of the cake mix and the sprinkles and stir or toss again to combine until thoroughly coated
  5. Spread onto prepared baking sheet in a single layer and top with some extra sprinkles if you like. Leave on the baking sheet until set and then break apart into small clusters. Serve and enjoy!

*Before using the cake batter mix, treat it in the oven by spreading it on a lined baking tray and toasting it at 350 F for 5 minutes. Remove from the oven and leave to cool. Once cooled, use as per the recipe above. One thing to note is that the sprinkles in the cake mix may discolour a little or melt a bit. More reason to add those extra sprinkles!

***White chocolate chips may be used as well but your final coated popcorn won’t set as hard or be as crunchy.