Other Sweet Treats Archives - Page 9 of 10

Turkish Delight Doughnuts with Rosewater Glaze

22|10|2013

When I posted my Candy Cake recipe a couple of weeks back, I almost forgot to share a recipe which has been such a huge personal favourite. Talking about candies and not thinking about Turkish Delight…certainly a sin in my eyes! So, without wasting a moment I made these simple fragrant, doughnuts that are filled with Turkish Delight and coated with a Rose flavoured glaze.

If you are unfamiliar with Turkish Delight, these are beautifully scented Middle Eastern candies or confection, generally flavoured with rose, lemon or bergamot orange. They are slightly chewy, jelly like…and coated with icing sugar. What sets them apart are they unique flavours! The rose flavoured ones remind me of a rose drink I loved as a little girl called Rooh-afza. Did I tell you how much I adore Middle Eastern flavours and spices!

Another reason why I love this recipe is that part of it is a creation of one of my favourite chefs, Shane Delia. His modern approach to Middle Eastern food is captivating and I have lost count of the number of recipes I have bookmarked for later. The doughnut recipe is from this video. The glaze and decoration are my own creations.
It is actually a very simple recipe (so few ingredients and no eggs) but the only thing I have to warn you about is that the dough is very sticky and difficult to work with. The first time I had made these doughnuts, I had followed the process shown in the video but coating the candies in dough was difficult and I was left arm deep in dough. The second time, I used a different method..I used two tablespoons. This one worked for me and I was happy I didn’t have to touch the dough with my hands. Don’t worry about having an even coat around the candies. All you need to ensure is that they are covered in dough. Once they hit the oil, they kind of even out as they melt within the doughnut shell.

The original recipe calls for tossing around the fried doughnuts in honey. Rose, for me also means bright rose-pink so I couldn’t resist making a rose flavoured glaze instead. They taste great either ways.

Turkish Delight Doughnuts with Rosewater Glaze
Serves 6

For the Doughnuts
2 cups (300 g) plain flour
2 sachet (15 g) dried yeast
2 tsp castor sugar
150 g rose-flavoured Turkish delight, diced into 1 cm pieces
Vegetable Oil for deep-frying
Pine nuts and chopped Pistachio nuts for serving (optional)

For the Rosewater Glaze
1 cup icing sugar
1 tbsp rosewater
1 tbsp room temperature milk
3 drops pink food colouring

Combine flour, yeast, sugar and ½ tsp salt in a bowl, and gradually whisk in 300 ml lukewarm water until combined and smooth, then stand in a warm place until swollen and foamy (30 minutes).

Heat vegetable oil in a deep fryer or a deep-frying pan. Working with one piece of Turkish delight at a time, coat and mould each piece in a tablespoonful of doughnut batter and deep-fry them, in batches, turning occasionally, until golden. To do this, take a little dough in a big spoon(tablespoon) in your right hand. Place the turkish delight on top with your left hand. Next spoon up some more dough with your left hand in another spoon. Place on top of the turkish delight. Even out like how you would do when you make a quenelle with the help of two spoons. Drain on absorbent paper, then transfer to a serving plate.

Make the Rosewater glaze : Make the glaze ready when the doughnuts are proofing. Place the sugar, milk, rosewater in a bowl and stir together till smooth and evenly blended. Add a few more drops of rosewater, depending on how thick or thin you want the glaze to be. Add the pink food coloring and stir till uniformly coloured.

To Serve: Place the warm doughnuts on serving plates. Drizzle with rosewater glaze and sprinkle with pine nuts and pistachios, if desired.

Blueberry and Maple Syrup Pancakes with Bacon

20|10|2013

I simply love sweet-savory food combinations! When balanced well they can do wonders for your taste buds. What better than fluffy pancakes dripping in maple syrup with crispy salty bacon. And to tie them together juicy blueberries that are bit sweet..a bit tart!

I did tell you about our big Sunday breakfasts and brunches. This is one of the simpler dishes I make for my family with different combinations. With the abundance of seasonal blueberries, I couldn’t have thought of a better addition to my pancakes. I love the way they melt and ooze out when cooked with the batter.

These pancakes are smaller in size than normal ones so you can easily fry two at a time. Smaller stacks work for me. They look cute and cook faster so you can keep the plates coming out quickly when you have guests for brunch. In, Australia, we call them pikelets. You can substitute blueberries with two ripe mashed banana or even a cup of pumpkin puree. These are combinations that I use with the pancake batter.

So do you like food that combines sweet and savory? And which one is your favourite combination?
Without a doubt, Salted Caramel tops my list!

Blueberry and Maple Syrup Pancakes with Bacon (adapted with variation from Good Taste magazine)

11/2 cups plain flour
1 tsp baking powder
2 tbsp castor sugar
1/2 tsp salt
125g blueberries
11/4 cups milk
1 egg, lightly beaten
30 g unsalted butter, melted and cooled
Bacon rashers, to serve
Extra blueberries, to serve
Maple syrup, to serve

Sift the flour and baking powder into a large bowl. Stir in the sugar and salt. Stir in the blueberries. Make a well in the centre and add the milk, egg and butter. Use a metal spoon to stir, until just combined.
Heat a non-stick frying pan over medium-high heat. Grease with butter. Pour 1/4 cup portions of batter into the pan (2 at a time). Cook for 1-2 minutes or until bubbles appear on the surface. Turn and cook for 30 seconds or until cooked through.
Transfer to a plate. Cover with foil to keep warm. Repeat with the rest of the batter.
Serve pancakes with cooked bacon, extra blueberries and maple syrup.

Rhubarb Orange Ginger Jam

15|10|2013

There is something special about making things from scratch. Especially when they are simple, easily achievable and money-saving. Making Jam at home is an easy process as long as you keep in mind a few basic things.

The gelling agent that sets a jam/jelly is Pectin that is a naturally occurring carbohydrate found in fruits. The levels of pectin varies between fruits and therefore it is handy to know which fruits will give you a better consistency while making jam (without having to add an external gelling agent). Does that mean, you cannot use your favourite fruits to make jam or preserve if they are low in pectin? Not at all. In that case, you can combine low-level pectin fruits with a high level one to get the desired consistency. You can refer to this page to understand the levels of pectin in fruits.

This jam is not too sweet and the combination really works. Citrus peel is high in pectin and gives the jam just the right amount of citrusy flavour to balance the sweetness of the rhubarb. The peel along with Glace/Candied/Crystallised Ginger gives the jam a unique texture and bite. Ginger is my all time favourite ingredient and I just need an excuse to add it in my recipes. Rhubarb can vary in sweetness at different time so you will need to adjust the sweetness accordingly. Also, candied ginger is already sweetened so if you are skipping it, the sweetness might again need adjusting.

Rhubarb, Orange, Ginger Jam
Makes 1 jar

1 bunch rhubarb( approx 350 g), trimmed, cleaned and chopped into 2 cm pieces
1/2 cup freshly squeezed orange juice
Peel from 1 orange, thinly sliced
1/4 cup glace/candied/crystallised ginger, roughly chopped
200 g castor sugar

Combine the rhubarb, sugar, orange juice and orange peel in a large, wide heavy-based saucepan. Stir over medium-low heat until the sugar dissolves. Increase heat to high and bring to the boil. Reduce heat to medium, add the ginger and boil gently, stirring occasionally, for 15-20 minutes or until jam reaches setting point.

Remove the jam from the heat immediately and ladle into the preserving jars and seal. Set aside until cooled completely. Label, date and store in a cool, dark place.

Raspberry Meringue Mille-feuille

19|09|2013

The first time I saw Mille-feuille on a cooking show on television, I was head over heels in love with them. Layers of creme patissiere (pastry cream) and fruit sandwiched between crisp layers of puff pastry. There are many adaptations that exist today and they are also known as Napoleon, Vanilla Slice, Custard Slice. Mille-feuille is french for a ‘thousand leaves’ which refers to the thousands of layers in puff pastry. If you have made puff pastry at home, you know what I mean. In fact this beautiful dessert was the reason I learnt to make my own puff pastry. Making it at home is not difficult but painstakingly time-consuming. I enjoy making things from scratch but this time around I was forced to use a store-bought one.

I had a late realisation that it was Sweet Adventures Blog Hop Time. When I found out about the theme there was no missing it. Meringue Mania! I am a self-confessed meringue maniac and my regular readers would know how much I use it..torte, cookie, crumble, decorations and so on. So this one was another opportunity to whip up some egg whites. This month’s hostess is Claire from Claire K Creations.

I wanted to do something different so instead of the pastry cream I used toasted meringue! I was pleasantly surprised how delicious it turned out. Initially I thought of making raspberry curd to go with it ,then on second thoughts settled for a raspberry compote. Some things are best left simple. This would actually make a great dessert when you are entertaining a crowd or want to make something elegant for those unexpected guests. You can easily replace the meringue with whipped cream. I have made this in the past with lemon curd, chocolate mousse, whipped cream with different fruit and berry combinations. The bottom line is that it is a very versatile yet forgiving recipe.

Raspberry Meringue Millefeuille
Makes 5

For the Pastry layers
2 sheets store-bought frozen puff pastry(75% thawed)
Icing sugar for dusting

For the Raspberry Compote
1 cup frozen raspberries (or fresh raspberries)
2 tbsp Castor Sugar

For the Swiss Meringue
2 egg whites
1/2 cup icing sugar
1/4 tsp cream of tartar (optional but helps to hold peaks)

Preheat the oven to 200 degree C. Line a baking tray with grease-proof paper. Cut out rectangles of approx 9 cm long and 5 cm wide from the puff pastry sheets. The easiest thing to do is fold the sheet in half and then quarters and follow the lines with a pizza cutter to get 8 rectangles. (Measurements will vary depending on the size of the sheets but it does not matter as long as the size of the rectangles are same. From 2 sheets you will get 16 rectangles but you will need only 15). Dust the rectangles with icing sugar and place them on the baking tray in a single layer. Bake for 10-15 mins or till pastry is crisp and golden brown in colour. Remove from the own and keep aside.

When the puff pastry is baking, place the raspberries and sugar in a saucepan and bring to a boil. If you are using fresh raspberries, you may need to add a 2 tbsp water. Simmer for a few minutes till raspberries break down and the mixture turns into a thick sauce like consistency. Keep aside to cool.

Make the meringue: Place egg whites, sugar and cream of tartar (if using) in a large steel bowl over a pot of simmering watering. Take care to avoid the bottom of the bowl from touching the water. Whisk lightly till the sugar dissolves. At this stage, the bottom of the bowl will be warm to touch. Take it off the heat. Using the whisk attachment of a stand mixer or with a hand mixer slowly beat the egg whites. Gradually increase the speed of the mixer and continue beating till almost stiff peaks are reached.
Transfer the mixture to a piping bag and pipe meringue dots or swirls on 10 of the cooled puff pastry rectangles. (The remaining rectangles will make the tops of the mille-feuille. Using a blow torch lightly toast the meringue.

To assemble : Place a meringue topped pastry rectangle on the centre of the plate. Drizzle generously with raspberry sauce. Place another meringue topped rectangle on top and drizzle with more raspberry sauce. Place a plain pastry rectangle on top. Drizzle with icing sugar. Repeat with the remaining rectangles.