Tag Archives: Rose

Raspberry & Rose Focaccia

Posted on by

Serves 18-20

Ingredients

For the jam filling

  • 1 cup fresh raspberries
  • 3 Tablespoons sugar
  • 1 Tablespoon lemon juice
  • 2 teaspoons cornstarch
  • 4 teaspoons water

For the dough

  • 4 cups bread flour
  • 2 ¼ teaspoons instant yeast
  • 2 teaspoons kosher salt
  • 3 Tablespoons sugar
  • 1/4 cup freeze dried raspberry powder
  • 2 cups warm tap water
  • 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
  • 1/2 cup fresh raspberries
  • 3 Tablespoons water

To glaze and finish

  • 1 cup powdered sugar
  • 3 Tablespoons Heavy cream
  • 1 teaspoon rose water
  • 2 Tablespoons food-grade rose petals

Method

Jam Filling

  1. Combine everything but the cornstarch and water in a medium saucepan. Heat over a medium-high heat until boiling and the berries break down to a pulp
  2. Combine the cornstarch and water, add to the raspberry mixture and cook until the mixture has thickened. Remove from the heat and allow to cool

Dough

  1. Combine the flour, salt, yeast, sugar and freeze-dried raspberry powder in a large bowl. Stir well with to combine.
  2. Add approximately half of the water (no need to measure). Stir well to incorporate the water. The mixture will be shaggy and dry at this point. Add most of the remaining water (reserve 2-3 tablespoons) and stir again until the water is well incorporated. If the mixture seems dry add the rest of the water and stir to combine. You’re looking for a thick, shaggy, fluffy wet dough. If the dough still seems dry, add a bit more water, a tablespoon at a time until the thick, shaggy consistency (and no pockets of dry flour) is reached.
  3. Add 2 tablespoons of olive oil and stir until most of the olive oil is incorporated
  4. Cover the bowl with with plastic wrap and set aside to proof for 30 minutes
  5. After 30 minutes, remove the cover and, using either a large spatula or slightly wet hands, pick up one side of the dough, stretch it, and then fold it over onto the rest. Turn the bowl one-quarter turn and repeat the stretch and fold. Repeat the stretch and fold 4-5 more times, turning the bowl one-quarter each time
  6. Cover the bowl and let the dough rise for one hour. During the one-hour rise, use a piece of paper toweling and rub the 2 teaspoons butter over the interior of a 9×13-inch baking pan. Line the bottom of the pan with parchment paper then drizzle with 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil. Cover lightly with plastic wrap and set aside
  7. After the one-hour rise, repeat the stretching and folding described in step 2 above, then turn the dough into the prepared pan. Flip the dough over to coat with oil and flatten it out with your hands in the pan. It won’t cover the entire pan at this point but flatten it out as much as you can. Then cover the pan tightly with the plastic wrap. Set aside to rise again for one hour
  8. When the one-hour rise in the pan is completed, oil your fingers and poke them into the dough, dimpling and stretching it in the pan as you go. You’re trying to evenly fill the pan to the edge and into the corners
  9. Once you’ve completed the dimpling, set the pan aside to rest while you preheat the oven. With one rack in the center position, preheat the oven to 425˚F
  10. Once the oven reaches 425˚, stud the surface of the dough with the fresh raspberries, filling some of the dimples, then drizzle the dimpled dough with 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil, then 2 tablespoons of room temperature tap water
  11. Bake on the center rack in the oven for 15-20 minutes or until nicely browned
  12. Remove the focaccia with a metal spatula to a wire rack and allow to cool for 20 minutes. While the focaccia is cooling make the glaze

To glaze and finish

  1. Fit a piping bag with a Bizmarck tip and fil with the raspberry jam
  2. Using the tip, pierce and fill the focaccia at random locations with the jam, taking care to keep the filling within the loaf
  3. In a bowl combine the glaze ingredients, except the rose petals, and stir until fully smooth
  4. Drizzle over the warm focaccia loaf to your liking, then sprinkle with the rose petals
  5. Slice, serve and enjoy!

Rose & Orange Olive Oil Cakes

Posted on by

Makes 16

Ingredients

Cakes

  • 2/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil
  • 1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour 
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder 
  • 1/4 teaspoon baking soda 
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt 
  • 1 cup granulated sugar 
  • 1/4 cup freshly squeezed orange juice 
  • 1/3 cup sour cream
  • 3 large eggs 

Glaze

  • 1 cup powdered sugar
  • 2 tablespoons milk
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons rosewater

To decorate

  • Dried rose petals

Method

Cakes

  1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Grease mini loaf pan* with baking spray
  2. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt
  3. In a separate medium bowl, combine the sugar, and orange zest. Rub together for a few minutes to release the orange natural oils. Add the orange juice and whisk together until the sugar is fully dissolved. Whisk in the yogurt, then the eggs and finally the olive oi
  4. Gently whisk the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients
  5. Pipe or spoon the batter into the prepared mini loaf pans, taking care to fill them no more than halfway full. Bake until the cakes are golden, spring back to the touch, and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, 22-25 minutes
  6. Let cool for 30 minutes, then remove the cakes from the pans to a cooling rack and let cool completely, about 20 minutes more

Glaze/ To Finish

  1. Combine the powdered sugar, milk, rosewater in a bowl and mix until a smooth paste forms
  2. Dip the tops of each loaf into the glaze, allowing any excess to run off. Place on a rack set over some parchment paper. Sprinkle tops with dried rose petals and allow to fully dry and set
  3. Serve and enjoy

*I use a 10 x 15 inch, 8 cavity mini-loaf pan

Raspberry, Pistachio & Rose Semifreddo

Posted on by

Ingredients

  • 2 eggs
  • 4 egg yolks
  • 1/3 cup caster sugar
  • 1 3/4 cups whipping cream, whipped to semi-soft peaks
  • 2/3 cup pistachio nuts, toasted and chopped
  • 1 tbsp rosewater
  • 2 ¼ cups fresh raspberries
  • Additional fresh raspberries, to decorate
  • Sicilian pistachios, chopped (optional)

Method

  1. Grease a 9″ x 5″ x 2 1/2″ loaf pan. Line with baking paper, or cling wrap, allowing 2” overhang on both long ends. If you use baking parchment, you’ll get a smoother finish to the final result; using cling wrap will result in an interesting cracked/ wrinkled appearance
  2. Place eggs, egg yolks and sugar in a heatproof bowl. Place bowl over a saucepan of simmering water over low heat
  3. Whisk for 4 to 5 minutes or until thick and creamy. Remove from heat. Whisk the custard for a further 5 minutes or until cooled to room temperature
  4. Transfer mixture to a large bowl. Gently fold in the whipped cream, toasted pistachios, rosewater and two-thirds of the raspberries
  5. Pour mixture into prepared pan. Cover and freeze overnight or until firm
  6. To serve, remove from the freezer and ley stand at room temperature for 5 minutes before turning out onto a plate. Top with remaining raspberries
  7. Slice using a gently warmed knife into slices, plate and garnish with raspberries, and Sicilian pistachio slivers

Ginger & Sichuan Peppercorn Shortbread Hearts

Posted on by

Valentine’s Day. Love it or hate it, there’s no getting away from it- even here I’m afraid. BUT I am hoping to give you something a little bit different in the recipe department. Heart-shaped and pastel-pink hued? Yes. However that’s where the predictability ends- or at least I’m hoping you think so too.

These started inception as…well…I was hankering for something sweet in between grocery deliveries. I wish I could come up with a more romantic, Earth-shattering epiphany than that but alas, no. My recipe for shortbread has been tried, approved and is a breeze to rustle up in a hurry. The instantly seductive baking phrase comes to mind, ” Quick and with minimal ingredients“. So in an effort to kill two birds with one stone, I got to thinking of doing a Valentine’s Day recipe post on shortbread.

So how can I make it “Valentine-sy”? Heart-shaped chocolate chip cookies just didn’t cut it for me. and so the mental gears turned. I had recently stocked up the pantry of some baking ingredients. “Livin’ the lockdown” dream has me currently baking every couple days- can we say “Therapy Baking”? Anyway as part of a restock I had some crystalised (candied) ginger going spare. I have a love/ hate relationship with this ingredient. Whilst I absolutely LOVE it’s mellow, slow-burning, sweet heat (especially in combination with dark chocolate) and so that was at the front of my mind. Pink peppercorns was my initial selection for the next feature ingredient. My worry, however, was that it falls slightly into the territory of over-familiarity, bordering on a go-to spicy contributor to desserts. Sichuan peppercorns are ideal to fill this gap, lending their signature tongue-tingling sensation as an extra boon without the visual fanfare.

That, for me, was enough going on internally. I try to limit the flavors within a bake in order to stop them becoming a jumbled cacophony on the tongue. I was still thinking of how to finish the flavor experience that I had in mind. And of course- rose hits me! Now I don’t mean some random pensioner walking by whacks me with her Kate Spade tote- I mean Rose the flavor. Sure it can be a tricky ingredient to use but when handled properly it can really bring a decadent statement to a bake. And let’s face it (at the risk of being slightly predictable) what’s Valentine’s Day with roses in some form? I’ve combined it here with an understated addition of white chocolate to help compliment the heat from the spices baked into the shortbread, stopping it from sitting on your tongue too long and dominating your palette.

Finishing and decorating your baked shortbread cookie is entirely at your own discretion. Leave them plain and simple, or as I did add a few choice sprinkles and some edible glitter themed in the spirt of the amorous season. See? I can do pretty.

Whatever you choose to do, whether it’s make these and share them, or keep the all to yourself I hope you enjoy them.

Stay safe, and mask up.

*Updated to include Chocolate version as featured on Food Network Canada’s “Great Chocolate Showdown”.

Ginger & Sichuan Peppercorn Shortbread Hearts #recipe #greatchocolateshowdown

Makes 16 heart cookies (I use a 2″ heart shape cutter), or 24 if cut into fingers

Ingredients

  • 1 2/3 cups AP Flour
  • 1/3 Semolina
  • 2 Tablespoons Rice Flour (if you’re making a Chocolate shortbread version sub here with cocoa powder)
  • 1 1/2 Tablespoons Cornstarch
  • 1/2 cup and 2 tablespoons fine sugar, divided
  • 1/2 tspn Kosher salt
  • 1 cup/ 2 sticks salted butter, cold and cubed
  • 1/2 cup crystalized (candied) ginger, chopped in to small pieces
  • 2 tspn ground ginger
  • 2 tspn Sichuan peppercorns, toasted and crushed/ ground

To decorate

  • 3oz White chocolate, broken into pieces (use Dark chocolate for Chocolate shortbread version)
  • 1 tspn coconut oil
  • 1/2 tspn rosewater (omit for Chocolate shortbread version)
  • Candy sprinkles, dragees to suit

Method

Shortbread Cookies

  1. Lightly grease and line a 9″ x 12″ traybake tin
  2. In a large bowl combine the flour, semolina, rice flour, cornstarch, sugar, salt, round ginger and ground Sichuan peppercorns. Whisk together to further combine
  3. Add in the cubed butter and rub together with your fingertips, or a pastry cutter, until the mixture is just beginning to bind together. Every so often do a  quarter turn of the bowl to make sure you’re using all the dry mixture. You’ll want a texture somewhere between breadcrumbs and damp sand before you stop. Be wary of overworking the butter into the mixture – you want to avoid a dough that is feels slimey from the butter melting too much into the dry ingredients
  4. Add in the chopped crystalized (candied) ginger and stir lightly to combine
  5. Tip the crumb mixture into your prepared tin and press the dough so that it forms a solid layer. Level the surface with the back of a spoon or measuring cup, making sure the mixture is evenly spread and uniform.
  6. Refrigerate for 30 mins minimum
  7. Preheat your oven to 325°F
  8. Remove the chilled dough from your fridge and using your cookie cutter mark 16 heart shapes by pushing the cutter roughly halfway into the dough. You don’t have to go the full way through to the bottom of the pan. If you’re not making heart-shaped cookies, you can use a knife or pizza cutter score the shortbread into 24 rectangular pieces (2 cuts by 7 cuts) taking care not to actually cut the full way through
  9. Bake the dough for 30- 35 minutes or until a very pale golden brown, and deeper golden brown at the edges
  10. Remove from the oven and using your heart-shaped cookie cutter, cut fully through the baked shortbread . The dough in the cutter should come away, giving you a heart-shaped cookie. On a wire cooling rack carefully push out the cookie. Repeat and leave to cool fully*
  11. (If you’re not using a cookie cutter simply cut with a knife or pizza cutter at the score lines you previously made, cut the the bottom of the pan to complete the cut the full way through. Leave the full slab of shortbread to cool in the tin for 15 minutes. Carefully lift the fingers out of the tin with a palette knife or the parchment paper overhang and finish cooling on a wire rack)

To decorate

  1. In a small bowl, set over a pan of simmering water, combine the white chocolate, coconut oil and rose water
  2. Heat over a gentle simmer, stirring occasionally, until the chocolate is fully melted and all ingredients are combined
  3. Turn off the heat and carefully remove the bowl
  4. Dip the shortbread hearts or bars into the melted chocolate and set on a rack or tray lined with baking parchment or silpat mat. (If you find you’re chocolate is becoming stiff and hard to work with, place the bowl of chocolate back into the hot water pan and leave to re-melt to a more workable state
  5. Whilst the chocolate is still setting finish decorating in your preferred way
  6. Because of the oil in the chocolate, fully decorated cookies should be stored in an air-tight container in the fridge for up to a week. Separate layers of cookies using baking parchment. To serve remove the cookies about 15-20mind before serving – or just eat straight from the fridge!