Other Sweet Treats Archives

Baked Lavender Doughnuts

9|09|2017

I have not been a fan of doughnuts in my childhood as much as I am today. Baked doughnuts are the perfect little portable treats that you can dress up, then wrap up in a pretty box (without fear of being ruined) to present to friends and family. Being known as a baker in my social circles, it’s not unusual for me to gift edible treats to people who love them over other things. After all hand made things have their own special significance. This year I’ve moved over cakes and made lots of doughnuts and tartlets for my favourite people. Taking a frosted, decorated cake along is such a challenge because they never reach the destination in one piece. It definitely works with patisseries and bakeries but being a home baker, you don’t really have that kind of equipment and packaging at home. Doughnuts on the other hand are easier and individually portioned so they a joy to all (other than my husband who thinks only children eat doughnuts).

As you can see I had a lot of fun with the glaze. The best part is that I glazed them all in one single bowl. So don’t worry about having to clean up multiple dishes which is my only concern always with ombre style desserts. Culinary lavender is worth stocking up in your pantry if you are a fan of the fragrance or just want to be creative. The buds usually last for a year so you can use them for a variety of desserts and treats. My girlfriends go gaga over floral treats so in my house lavender and rosewater need to be stocked up frequently. If you don’t have lavender at hand, you can substitute with pure vanilla extract.

Baked Lavender Doughnuts
Yields 6 regular doughnuts

1 cup self raising flour
1/3 cup castor sugar
1/2 tsp ground culinary lavender
1/4 tsp salt
30 g unsalted butter, melted and cooled
1 egg
100 ml milk (1/3 cup + 1 tbsp)

Vanilla Glaze

1/2 cup icing sugar
1 tsp vanilla glaze
1 tbsp milk (or more if needed)
Purple gel food colour

Preheat oven to 180 degrees C. 160 degrees C for fan forced ovens). Spray a non-stick doughnut pan with cooking spray and leave aside.

In a large bowl mix together the flour, sugar, lavender and salt. In a different bowl, beat together butter, egg and milk. Add wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and mix well until fully blended. Do not over-mix.
Spoon the batter into the doughnut cavities till each cavity is about 3/4 full. Bake in the preheated oven for 8-10 minutes.
Remove from oven. Leave in pan for 2-3 minutes. Turn onto a wire rack to cool completely.

To make the Vanilla Glaze, in a medium bowl whisk the sugar, vanilla and milk. Mix well till blended. If mixture is too thick add a little more milk (remember mixture thickens upon cooling).
Add a very small qualtity of purple food colour (for the first two doughnuts). Dip two doughnuts, one at a time, letting the excess glaze drip off into the bowl. Place on the wire rack to set. Decorate with sprinkles and top with chocolate.

For the next two doughnuts, add a bit more food colour to the same bowl. Dip the next two doughnuts in the same way as the first ones. Add more food colour to the glaze for a deeper purple. Glaze the remaining doughnuts. Decorate.

Baileys Glazed Doughnuts for Easter

13|04|2017

Baked chocolate doughnuts with a decadent Baileys Chocolat Luxe Glaze, topped with hazelnut praline and mini chocolate eggs. The perfect Easter treat for adults.

This year I’m hosting an Easter Brunch. Am I excited? I’m super egg-cited. Not only because I have a delicious spread planned well but more so because I am making sure my guests are totally impressed with my menu. Easter is a great time to have fun as a family but amidst the egg hunts, candy eating and bunny costumes, adults can sometimes feel left out of the loop. It’s a long weekend plus gorgeous autumn weather and a great occasion so every reason to indulge with food. Like always my menu includes plenty of make ahead dishes. Dessert of course, was a no-brainer!

When I need a true blue, blow-your-mind-off kind of dessert, I just have to turn to Baileys. Who doesn’t love Baileys? This time I decided to use the Baileys Chocolat Luxe liqueur. Rightly named, it is luxe, it’s dainty, it’s indulgent, it’s special and oh so amazing! Picture the fusion of Belgian Chocolate, Irish whiskey and cream in a liqueur. And then imagine this liqueur in your dessert (that is if you can stop yourself from not drinking straight away. Go on, I dare you to). Sheer pleasure!

I created a Baileys glaze (you could also call it ganache) that would be perfect on doughnuts. The idea is to serve something cute as well as cheeky for my adult guests. Because the doughnuts are baked and not fried, they are light and soft. Paired with the Baileys glaze, they are irresistible. A little sprinkle of hazelnut praline gives the doughnuts a delicious, crunchy bite. Then make them festive by adding a mini chocolate egg.

The great thing about this glaze is that it is versatile. Drizzle it on your pancakes, glaze muffins or mini cakes or even spread it on toast. It makes for a super luxe dessert sauce that can be stored for weeks in the refrigerator.

Happy Easter everyone! I hope you spoil yourself and others with great food and indulgent desserts.

Disclosure: This post is brought to you By Baileys. As always all opinions expressed here are entirely my own.

Baileys Glazed Doughnuts
Makes 10 regular size Doughnuts

11/2 cups self-raising flour
½ cup cocoa powder
½ cup castor sugar
½ tsp baking soda
a pinch, salt
¾ cup buttermilk
2 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 tbsp vegetable oil
Baileys Chocolat Luxe Glaze (recipe below)
Hazelnut praline (recipe below)
Mini chocolate Eggs (store bought)
Baileys Choc Luxe Glaze
½ cup heavy cream
120 g dark chocolate roughly chopped
½ cup Baileys Chocolat Luxe

Hazelnut Praline
1/3 cup castor sugar
2 tbsp water
½ cup hazelnuts (lightly roasted)

Method

Preheat oven to 210 degrees c (190 degrees C for fan forced ovens). Lightly grease a 6 capacity doughnut pan. Set aside.

In a large mixing bowl, mix together flour, cocoa powder, sugar, baking soda and salt. In another medium bowl mix together buttermilk, eggs, vanilla extract and vegetable oil. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredient mixture and gently mix till smooth.

Place the batter in a large piping bag fitted with a round tip. Alternatively, you could fill up a zip lock bag whose tip has been cut off with scissors. Pipe out the batter neatly till about 2/3 full of each doughnut hole (as they will rise and become bigger in size).

Tap the pan a few times against your kitchen counter gently to release any air bubbles. Bake doughnuts for about 8-10 minutes or until a skewer inserted in the middle comes out clean. Cool in the pan for 5 minutes, then turn them onto a wire rack to cool to room temperature.

Once cooled, dip the doughnuts in Baileys glaze. Let the excess drip off, then leave aside on a wire rack to set up. Top with hazelnut praline and chocolate eggs.

To make the Baileys Chocolat Luxe Glaze, place cream in a medium saucepan over low heat. Bring to a boil (do not boil) and immediately remove from heat. Add the chocolate and set aside for 10 minutes. Stir with a spoon to mix together until chocolate has melted completely and mixture is well blended. Pour into a bowl.

Add Baileys Chocolat Luxe and mix again. Let the glaze cool slightly so that it starts to thicken.

To make the Hazelnut Praline, line a large baking tray with baking paper. Place sugar and water in a saucepan and stir over medium heat until sugar dissolves and starts boiling. Using a pastry brush dipped in water, brush sides of pan to remove any sugar crystals. Increase heat to medium and boil for 5-6 minutes until caramel starts to form. Stir in hazelnuts, remove from heat and pour the mixture on to the prepared tray. Take extra care as the mixture is extremely hot. Leave aside until cool and hard.
In a food processor (or using a rolling pin and a zip lock bag), pulse the praline until coarsely chopped. Use to top desserts or add to truffles.

Banana, Peanut Butter And Oat Smoothie

5|03|2016

If there was one thing on my cooking bucket list that I most definitely wanted to tick off in 2016, it was to try out oats in a smoothie. I’ve been fascinated all the while with the idea of a on-the-go drinkable breakfast and what better than chilled, nutritious and filling glasses of oat smoothie on hot summer days. So now my packet of rolled oats is sitting in a jar, ground and ready to be added to my latest obsession, every morning. To tell you the truth, I am hooked!

There are various ways of including oats in your drink. You could use the overnight soaked oats or add the oats along with other ingredients directly into the blender. The process I like to use is to grind the oats first either in a coffee grinder or a food processor to a coarse powder. Then I can use it whenever I want to. That saves time and gives the smoothie a creamier yet thick consistency with some texture. After I shot this first combo, I made 2 other combinations with stone fruits, coconut milk, herbs, chia seeds and lots of other things. It’s fun to watch all the great ingredients disappear into the liquid with a few whirls of the blender.

Banana, Peanut Butter and Oat Smoothie
Makes 2 large glasses

1 banana, (peeled then chopped and frozen)
1 cup almond milk (or coconut milk or regular milk)
1/2 cup greek yogurt
1/4 cup peanut butter
1/4 cup rolled oats, powdered
2 tbsp sugar (or any other sweeter of your choice)

Dip a spoon in peanut butter and run the back of the spoon inside serving glasses to create a random swirl.
Combine all the ingredients in your blender until smooth. Serve immediately.

3 Easy And Delicious Recipes to Use Up Leftover Ricotta Cheese

30|07|2015

3 easy and delicious recipes to use up leftover ricotta cheese, both sweet and savory. Ricotta fritters, baked ricotta and ricotta doughnuts.

Every time I do a fridge clean, I have the same problem. Leftover dairy. A tub of half finished Ricotta or Mascarpone or sour cream or a quarter filled carton of buttermilk will be lying in some corner of my fridge. Most often, it would have been bought for a recipe and the unfinished tub will go back into the fridge until I remember that it is nearing expiry date or at times when it is already too late. I hate wastage and throwing away something I really love to cook with makes me rethink my organisational skills.

Ricotta is a soft cheese so it has shorter shelf life than many other cheeses. It’s mild creamy texture makes it ideal for using it as fillings with different kinds of pastry, to thicken up sauces, to create lighter versions of cheesecake and so on. Since we are dealing with left over ricotta here, we will not get into complicated recipes. The objective is to finish it up using recipes that are easy, can be scaled down and we can work with regular pantry ingredients. I have been facing a slightly bigger problem though. These recipes are my favourite. At home we love what ricotta can do on busy days so we are eating these all the time. I have actually photographed one of them months ago and wondered if anybody would have the same problem as me. Recently, I served baked ricotta to a friend on a gluten free diet and she kept asking me for the recipe. Recipe..? It is just mix and stir. So I decided to put them all here.

Whether you are looking for an indulgent recipe, or a healthy one..I’ve got you covered! Most of Sugar et al. readers have a sweet tooth so we will start with sweet. I also have similar recipes with sour cream and buttermilk which I will share soon.

Chai Spiced Ricotta Doughnuts With Salted Caramel Sauce: Easy peasy comfort food. Use whichever spice you have at home if Chai is not available at hand. I have tried all kinds of combinations and it really tastes good nevertheless. I use this salted caramel recipe a lot of times because it is super easy. No burning sugar and no need for thermometer.

Chai Spiced Ricotta Doughnuts With Salted Caramel Sauce (makes about 16 medium sized ones)

1 cup smooth ricotta cheese
1/4 cup castor sugar
1 egg, lighlty beaten
1 cup self raising flour
3 tbsp milk,
1 tsp chai spice (if you don’t have chai spice, powdered cinnamon or ginger or cardamom will work fine as well)
1 tsp grated orange/lemon zest
vegetable oil for deep frying
icing sugar to dust

Salted Caramel Sauce
50 g butter
1 cup (220g) brown sugar
1 cup (250ml) cream
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp salt

To make the doughnuts, Mix all the ingredients together in a bowl. If you find the consistency too thin, add a tbsp of flour.
Heat oil a heavy bottomed frying pan over medium heat With wet hands, rolls out balls of about 1 heaped tbsp of batter. Once the oil is hot, deep fry the balls until golden on all sides and cooked through. Keep turning them for an even browning. If you find the batter sticky, dropping them directly with a spoon into the oil will also do.
Drain on paper towels. Cool slightly. Dust with icing sugar. Serve warm with salted caramel sauce.

To make the salted caramel, combine butter, sugar, cream, vanilla extract and salt in a saucepan over low heat until butter melts and sugar dissolves. Bring sauce to a boil, reduce heat and cook for 5-6 minutes or until sauce thickens slightly.

Baked Ricotta With Seasonal Fruits: This is a perfect dessert when you want to have something light or on a gluten free diet. There are two ways to bake the ricotta, in a water bath (like a creme brulee) or directly in the oven. I prefer the first method though it involves an additional baking tray as the final dish is much firmer, set and creamier in texture. Serve it with fresh fruits or dessert sauces. I’ve used poached rhubarb, passion fruit, grapes, kiwi fruit and strawberries. I know, colour fanatic! Give this recipe a try…you’ll be hooked forever.

Baked Ricotta With Seasonal Fruits (Serves 2-3)

1 cup smooth ricotta
1/4 cup castor sugar
2 tbsp thickened cream
1 tsp grated orange zest
1 tsp vanilla extract

To make baked ricotta, preheat your oven to 170 degrees C (150 degrees C for fan forced). Grease two ramekins/baking molds with melted butter. Line the bases with a small piece of baking paper (need not be perfect).
Place the ricotta, sugar, cream, eggs, orange zest and vanilla extract in a large bowl and mix well until smooth. Pour into the prepared pans and smooth the surface with the back of a spoon.

Place pans in a deep baking dish. Pour boiling water into dish to come halfway up side of the pans. Bake for 30-40 minutes or until firm. Set aside to cool, then refrigerate for 1 hour.

Ricotta Fritters: These make a great breakfast or snack option. Serve them with a fresh salad, smoked salmon, bacon or even eggs. I have served them with an heirloom tomato salad here. The fritters tend to stick to the pan so make sure the batter is not runny, the pan is greased well.

Ricotta Fritters (Serves 2)

250 g ricotta cheese
1 egg
1/4 cup sun-dried tomatoes, finely chopped
1 clove garlic, crushed
1/4 cup plain flour (more if batter is runny)
2 tbsp vegetable oil, for frying

Place ricotta, tomatoes, basil, garlic and eggs in a bowl. Mix until well combined. Stir in flour. Season with salt and pepper.
Heat 1 tbsp of the oil in a large, non-stick frying pan over medium heat. Using 1/4 cup of mixture per fritter, spoon mixture, 3 fritters at a time, into hot oil. Cook for 3 minutes each side or until golden and firm to touch in the centre, adding remaining oil as required. Transfer to a paper towel before serving. Serve warm with salad.