Scottish Vanilla Tablet

Well, I failed again to post twice this week.  It all seemed so promising when I posted my recipe for chocolate chip cookies, but that was two weeks ago, and time has flown by. Apologies for those of you that check my blog to see the latest update, I know its a pain when nothing seems to change for a long time. 

Todays recipe is a little bit of a change from the norm and it all started when my dear friend Kate requested the use of my hob (yes I did say hob...)  Her attempts at making this Scottish favourite have failed due to a malfunctioning cooker hob and when she asked if she could visit this Sunday and make this sweet treat my answer was yes...as long as I can blog about it!

Tablet, or I suppose you could also call it crumbly fudge, is a classic sweet developed in Scotland in the early 18th century.  Normally flavoured with vanilla, whisky or nuts this very sugary treat has a crumbly texture and melts as you eat it.  Ingredient wise its very simple - sugar, condensed milk and butter (with added flavour) but its the technique which is the challenge and without care can result in dangerous burns or as Kate found out liquid that just won't set (or even freeze).   

Make sure you use a large, tall sided, pan.  I used my pasta pot as this has tall sides and very good heat dissipation.  Be-careful when adding the milk as the liquid bubbles up high.  A good quality candy thermometer is a must for this recipe, don't bother without unless you are a dab-hand at making sugar based sweets and know what a hard-boil looks like.

Cut up in to small squares this sweet is perfect for giving away as a present and since Christmas is on the way it may be something I make a number of times.  

Scottish Tablet

55g unsalted butter
250ml semi-skimmed milk
900g white granulated sugar 
375g (can) condensed milk
1/2 tsp vanilla bean paste

23cm square tin (lined) or 23cm round silicon tin (no need to line silicon)

SAFETY WARNING: You are dealing with HOT sticky mixture here...I would not recommend this one for children and just be very careful yourself.  If you are careful you have nothing to worry about.

In a large pan, with tall sides, melt the butter in to the milk.  Add the sugar and whisk to combine.  Bring to the boil and cook for 4 minutes.  Don't be worried if the mixture raises quickly, if your pan is tall it will not overflow.  

 

 

Pour in the condensed milk and whisk.  The mixture should return to its normal level.  At this point place a candy thermometer in the pan.  Bring to the boil and reduce the temp to med-high.  You want a rapid boil but not full. 

Set a timer for 14 minutes.  Whisk the mixture every so often but as the timer gets closer to 0 you should whisk more as this is the point when burning may start to happen.

When the mixture reaches 120C (hard ball) continue to cook until the timer runs out.

Off the heat you need to whisk while it cools.  This is hard work and can take up to 5 minutes.  The mixture will thicken.  After 5 minutes beat in the vanilla, then beat a bit more!

 

Mix again and by this point your mixture should start to set around the edges of the pan.  At this point its ready to transfer to the tin.

Leave to set for 10 minutes and then cut with a knife while still in the pan.  

Leave to cool totally before dividing up in to chunks.  A little of this goes a long way!


Enjoy.

Chocolate Chip Cookies

I have decided that its time to start back at the gym.  I did so well before the start of the summer holidays but now I feel like it was all for nothing.  I have turned in to one of those 'gym paying but not going' sort of people.  It seems that every time I visit my gym they have something new and this isn't because my gym is great at getting new things it is because I tend to take a 3 month break between workouts!   My plan of action (ummm, ok) is to get fit now and over Christmas ready for my trip to Thailand in April.  I tend to say this every year but this time I real need to stick to it.  Lets see how long this last for.

It is not my intention to transform this blog in to a collection of healthy recipes.  I will offer the odd healthy replacement but my solution to the problem of 'baking a cake and then eating it all to myself' is to give it all away.  The staffroom at work is a place where anything left on a table will get eaten, whether you want it to or not.  So, on to todays recipe.

I have tried many recipes for 'perfect' chocolate chip cookies and this seems to be the best by far.  This recipe comes direct from Nigella Kitchen and is my go to recipe for cookies.  With 300g of chocolate chips these cookies are both soft in the centre and crisp around the outside, each mouthful guaranteed to contain more than an ample amount of chips per bite.  These cookies are perfect for storing in the freezer, uncooked, shaped and ready to go.  Using an ice cream scoop you get a perfectly sized cookie each time and this mixture makes more than another to cook now and freeze for later.  You could cook them all now, or freeze them all for later, whatever way you decide these are truly perfect.

Chocolate Chip Cookies
by Nigella Lawson

Makes around 14 ice cream scoop sized cookies

150g soft unsalted butter, melted.
125g soft light brown sugar
100g caster sugar
2 tsp vanilla bean paste (or extract)
1 egg, fridge cold
1 egg yolk, fridge cold
300g plain flour
1/2 tsp bicarb
300g chocolate chips (3x100g bags)

Preheat the oven to 170c.  Line a baking sheet with greaseproof.

In a bowl of a stand mixer, fitted with paddle, add the sugars and melted butter.  Beat until well mixed.

 

Add the whole egg and additional yolk.  Add the vanilla.  Beat until light and creamy.

 

Slowly mix in the flour and bicarb, it should not take too long and you will end up with a thick mixture.

     

Add all the chocolate and mix again.  Don't over do it.

 


Using an ice cream scoop, put 6 cookies on the baking sheet (or sheets if your doing the lot in one go).  Make sure you leave space between them, they will spread a bit.

Bake for 17 minutes until the edges are golden and the tops light.

Allow to cool for 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool and crisp.

Enjoy!



PS.  If you want to keep these I recommend scooping as normal but then placing in a freezer until solid, then transfer to a plastic bag and keep for up to 3 months.  Whenever a cookie craving calls simply heat oven to 170C and bake for 20 mins direct from frozen.

Classic Leek and Potato Soup

Walking to work Monday morning was bitterly cold, so cold in fact I wished I had my gloves.  Even with the sun shining and the sky blue it still felt like winter had taken hold.  Its far away from the Monday I had a week earlier.  Wondering around the streets of Barcelona in shorts and t-shirt felt like a million miles away.

Todays mid-week post is a classic soup recipe - leek and potato.  Quick and easy to make I had this large batch made up within 30 minutes.  I think it took longer to chop up the potatoes than to actual cook the soup.  Warming and smooth this is a perfect pick-me-up when the weather is cold.  Drank from a mug while watching fireworks outside in the cold this is one of my favourite soups.

Leek and Potato Soup

50g butter

450g potatoes, peeled and cut in to 1cm pieces

1 small red onion (or white, I just had red in)

450g white part of leeks

850ml chicken or vegetable stock (hot water and stock cube for me)

90ml double cream

125ml milk

Prepare the potatoes, leeks and onion.

 

Melt the butter in a heavy based pan (with a lid) until foamy.

Add in the onion, leeks and potato and mix around to fully coat with the molten butter.  Season well with salt and pepper.

Cover with a piece of greaseproof paper (to form a cartouche) and place on the lid. Cook  on a low heat for 10 minutes.

Uncover the pan and remove the paper.  Add in the stock and bring to a boil.  Then reduce to a simmer and leave for 5 minutes to cook.

     

Transfer to blender and whizz until smooth.  You may need to do it in two batches.  Transfer to a clean pan and put back on a low heat.

 

Add in the milk and cream mixture and stir.  Taste and add more salt/pepper if necessary.

Enjoy.

Swedish Black Forest Gateau

The past month has flown by.  Soon it will be Christmas ( I have already seen my first Christmas tree) and won't be long until I am breaking up for Easter.  Last month wasn't the best of months for me and is the main reason why I only managed to post one recipe.  Hopefully now things can start to get back to normal and I can continue with my goal of two posts a week!

October is my birthday month, and as a present I received the IKEA cookbook Fika.  Described in the book as "a break for coffee and a bite to eat...a moment's relaxation with friends, family or colleagues'  It is a unique book with regards to layout, each recipe has its own ingredients page where each element is carefully presented in a very IKEA sort of way.  

This recipe is the very last in the book and is my first venture in to cooking Swedish style cakes and food.  I have been lucky enough to visit Sweden and have sampled some of the fantastic, yet overpriced, cakes.  This recipe is far from the German version of Black Forest Gateau - there isn't a cherry to be found - but instead its a light meringue layer cake sandwiched with thick vanilla infused cream and topped with shavings of chocolate and cocoa powder.  Hazelnut, meringue, cream and chocolate, not a bad combination and perfect to eat with friends.  Gluten free too.

Swedish Black Forest Gateau

from the IKEA cookbook, Fika.

serves 12

150g whole hazelnuts

4 egg whites

140g caster sugar

500ml whipping cream

1 tbsp vanilla bean paste (or extract, I like the tiny beans mixed in to the cream)

100g chocolate (70%)

2 tbsp cocoa powder

Pre-heat the oven to 150C.

Prepare the baking sheets by lining with greaseproof paper and marking out (I used a cake tin base) four 20cm rounds.  You should get two per baking sheet.  

In a frying pan, over a high heat, toast the hazelnuts for about 2 minutes until you start to see the skins flaking off.  Keep them moving around as you do not want to burn them.

Transfer on to a clean tea towel and rub to remove the skins.  It is doubtful you will remove every last bit of skin but try and remove as much as you can.  Its best to RUB strongly and keep the hazelnuts close together as the friction between them will rub off the skins quickly.  

 

Transfer to a food processor and blitz for 1 minute until fully chopped - see image for level of grind.

 

In a free standing mixer, fitted with the whisk, beat the egg whites until stiff - it took 1.20 minutes in my machine.  You do not want to over beat them, this isn't like making meringue. 

 

With the machine still running tip in all the sugar and beat for 5 seconds - just to mix in, again you do not want a glossy mixture.

Tip in the chopped nuts and fold in quickly.

 

Divide the mixture between the drawn out cake rounds - about 2 large spoonfuls each.  Use a palette knife to shape in to flat discs. 

 

Bake for 25 minutes until lightly golden.  They will still be soft although the edges will start to crisp.

Remove from the oven and leave for 1 minute.  Use a spatular to carefully work around the edges to free from the paper.  (it may be easier to cut the baking paper so you have four individual pieces).  Turn over and remove the paper by folding over and pulling in a fluid motion.  Keep the fold crisp and you should get a clean removal.  If it should break don't worry too much as the cream will hold everything together later.

 

Leave to cool completely!

Whisk the cream until thick, add in the vanilla paste.

 

Sandwich together the layers using the cream.  Finish by covering the top and sides with the remaining cream.  Dust with cocoa.

 

 

Melt all but four pieces of the chocolate in the microwave.  I heated for 1 minute on medium.  Chop the four pieces and add to the molten chocolate.  Stir until you have a smooth molten liquid.

 

 

Pour on to a piece of greaseproof and spread thinly in to a large rectangle shape.  Leave to cool (do not put in the fridge, it will set in 30 minutes or so)

Use a knife to mark out 14 small rectangles, a little higher than the sides of the cake.  Remove from the baking sheet and stick to the sides of the cake.

Break up the remaining chocolate and sprinkle over the top.  If you wanted you could use more chocolate and grate it over the top or buy chocolate curls. 

Enjoy.