Waffles

Today could be a massive day in my life. It really could. I'm going to get a phone call in the next 3-4 hours which will either change my life completely, or be quite disappointing. You'll hear more if it's the former, not so much if it's the latter ;) 

Anyway, as a useful way to distract myself from impending news, here is a fabulous waffle recipe. I have a great desire for an old school, really deep, waffle maker, but have to content myself with the one I have now. The best waffle I ever ate was at a street fair in Schaffhausen in Switzerland, it was amazing, seriously, a really deep grid, crispy on the outside, piping hot, and coated in icing sugar. Oh, how I long for the ability to make such a waffle (hence my deep and abiding longing for a deep waffle iron!)

This is one of my favourite snacks, and one that I make on a very frequent basis. They're particularly good if you add the zest of a lemon to the mix, and then coat them in icing sugar - very messy to eat, but definitely my topping of preference (if there's no bacon and maple syrup to be had…best American import of recent times ;))

This is a recipe from my lovely Patisserie book by the Roux Brothers. I'm working my way through it - the only problem being that most of the recipes are complex and require time (which is in short supply at the moment) and will all take a few attempts as they look really hard!

Recipe:

250g/9oz flour (83g)

25g/1oz sugar ((9g)

Large pinch of salt

75g/3oz butter, melted (25g)

3 eggs, separated (1)

400ml/14 fl oz milk (135g)

Flavouring of your choice (eg orange blossom, lemon zest, rum, Grand Marnier)

NOTE: you really need to use the mix all at once, so if, like me, you live by yourself, either make loads and freeze them, or divide it all by 3 and make it with one egg.

1. Place flour in a bowl and make a well in centre. Put in the sugar (but keep a pinch for the egg whites), salt, melted butter and the egg yolks.

2. Gradually add the milk, beating all the time with a whisk until the mixture is very smooth. 

3. Cover the bowl with a plate or cling film and leave at room temperature for at least 15 mins.

4. Turn on your waffle iron!

5. Beat the egg whites until stiff, add the pinch of sugar and beat well.

Until they go from frothy like this....

To nice and thick like this....then add your pinch of sugar

And beat until even thicker

Remove the whisk, use a spoon

6. Fold the egg whites into the waffle mixture - this is the key bit!!! DON'T BEAT THEM IN!!!! Use a metal spoon and GENTLY fold the egg whites in. It'll make strange noises as some of the air in the egg whites is squashed out. The aim is to keep as much air in a possible. That's what makes the waffles all tasty!

Full of air, and ready to be made into tasty waffles!

7. Brush the inside of the waffle maker with butter and ladle in just enough batter to cover the grid. Close the lid and cook for 3-4 mins. I like mine quite crispy on the outside, but you can choose how you like them :)

You don't need to grease the grid between each set of mixture, I tend to add another bit half way through if they start to stick.

Best to eat them straightaway. Also, this mixture does not keep well, you want to use it all up as otherwise your hard work with beating the egg whites will be lost and the mix will deflate :(

Enjoy the waffles :)

White Chocolate Brownies

So, I got up at 4.30, worked like a mule for 8 hours. Then ate masses of food. I do not appreciate having to make 4 reasonably-sized meals a day and still being starving in between! However, this evening I'm going to make waffles, 'cause I'm such a rebel ;) I'm supposed to be cleaning my house and writing a business plan for my intended cake shop....maybe making waffles will give me the energy I need to tackle the rest of my tasks!?!

On to recipe fun....

This is a recipe I got from my friend Anna. They are wonderfully, beautifully tasty.

300g/10oz White chocolate (110g/4oz into mix, the rest will be choc chips)

85g/3oz butter/marg

3 large eggs

170g/6oz light brown sugar

170g/6oz self raising flour

170g/6oz ground almonds

I always check the differences between the ounce and gram amounts, and these had been worked out badly, so I've adjusted them. You should always choose to follow either the grams or ounces though

1. Preheat your oven to 180C/Gas Mark 4. Grease and line a tin with greaseproof paper, they suggest 18x28cm but I used 15x20 cm, I think deeper brownies are gooier and therefore tastier!

2. Place 110g/4oz white chocolate into a bowl with butter,and place over a bowl of simmering water. Or, put it in the microwave for about a minute, but always heat it 20 secs (or 10 as it starts to melt) at a time as white chocolate burns very easily. Once the choc has start to melt stir it and it should gradually melt as you stir. 

It should look like this :)

3. leave the chocolate to cool (check by (dipping your finger in) that it's about body temp). 

4. Place ground almonds and flour into a bowl. NOT THE EGGS OR THE SUGAR....

OOPS.....

5. Add the sugar and eggs to the white chocolate and butter mix (I had to rescue mine from the wrong bowl!

Mmmm, tasty

6. Sieve in the flour and fold in the ground almonds and all-important chocolate chips

I ran out of white chocolate so used milk instead, 
but I think it tastes better when it's all white chocolate

4. Transfer to prepared tin and smooth batter down. Bake for about 35 mins until risen, just set and slightly golden. Allow to cool in the tin, then cut and store. 

Uncooked brownies, tasty face

White choc brownies are easier than dark choc in this respect. As long as you set the temperature correctly you can trust the colour that it goes. I'd say mine are slightly overdone at one end - I suggest checking after 20 minutes. 

Slightly overdone this end, but you get the idea of slightly golden brown from other end of the tin :)

There we go. A guide to really, really good white chocolate brownies. Enjoy!

Hello long-lost blog

Recently this blog has joined the long list of things I should get round to doing....like cleaning the windows, checking the oil in my car, and sorting out my paperwork. Very few of those things have got done, but here's a quick update!

I really just wanted to share some cakes I've made since my last update. Just to prove I have been baking - not that there's ever really any doubt of that!

I have also, of course, got lots of new recipes to share, which I shall attempt to do some of tomorrow. But I'm going to go to sleep soon, due to my ridiculous 4.30am wake up time.