Sunday 24 March 2013

Profiteroles


Profiteroles are one of my favourite patisserie things to eat, because they are so light and fluffy, and then filled with chantilly cream + covered with chocolate sauce = heaven!

I always thought they would be really hard to make, because they look so professional, but after watching the Great British Bake Off week when they used choux pastry, I thought 'What the hell, I might as well try!' and they turned out really well.

Recently, we had some friends round, and so I decided to treat them to homemade profiteroles, and they were even better than the first time!
The recipe I used is the GBBO one, and it is so good!
Makes about 48 profiteroles, depending on how big you pipe them. (I think I made mine a bit too big...)

Ingredients:
1/4 tsp salt
75g butter, diced
175ml water
100g flour, sifted
3 eggs, room temperature, beaten


Method:
  1. Preheat the oven to 200 degrees celsius (400 fahrenheit.)
  2. Put the salt, butter and water in a saucepan and heat gently until the butter has completely melted, but don't let the water boil or some of it will evaporate.
  3. Bring the mixture to a boil quickly, and add all the flour in one go.
  4. Remove the pan from the heat straight away, and beat furiously with a wooden spoon. (It will look a mess at first, but soon it will turn into a smooth, heavy dough.)
  5. Put the pan back on the heat, and beat for another two minutes, until the dough comes away from the edges of the pan in a smooth, glossy ball.
  6. Tip the dough into a large mixing bowl, and leave to cool until barely warm.
  7. Using an electric mixer, gradually beat in the eggs. Add enough egg to make a shiny, paste-like dough - to check it's ready, gently shake the a spoon with dough on it, and if the dough falls off easily, it's ready. If the dough is too wet it will spread out, rather than puff up, in the oven.
  8. Spoon the dough into a piping bag, and pipe mounds about 3cm wide and 2cm high - make sure they are spaced well apart. 
  9.  Bake for 15 minutes, then reduce the oven temperature to 180 degrees celsius (350 fahrenheit.) Quickly open and close the oven door (to get rid of steam, then bake for a further 5 minutes.
  10. Remove the profiteroles from the oven, make a small hole in the side of them (to let out steam) and return to the oven for 3 or 4 more minutes. 
  11. Cool on a wire rack.

You need to fill the profiteroles with Chantilly cream, which is just vanilla flavoured whipped cream (use 250ml of whipping cream, 2 tbsp of icing sugar and 1 tsp of vanilla extract to make the right amount for this many profiteroles.) Whisk that all up in a chill mixing bowl, with a chilled whisk for the best results.

Fill a piping bag with the Chantilly cream, and pipe it into the profiteroles immediately - you will have to widen the hole you made in them for the steam, and pipe through that.

Now the best part - the hot chocolate sauce! The key to making this sauce really good is using good quality 70% cocoa solids, dark chocolate.

Ingredients:
100g dark chocolate, broken up
25g unsalted butter
2 tbsp icing sugar

Method:

  1. Put all the ingredients in a small saucepan, preferably non-stick, and heat gently.
  2. Stir  frequently until melted and smooth. 
  3. Keep the sauce warm until needed.

Hope you find this useful, and if you try it out, I'd like to know what you think!

Thanks for reading!
:)

First OOTD: Lazy Day


This is my first OOTD, so hopefully it's okay! Here goes!

My Lazy Day outfit is just what I wear on weekends when I'm not doing anything, just homework, TV and maybe some baking!


The leggings are Topshop Heavy-Weight black, leggings and they are amazingly comfy, warm, and not see through, like some black leggings! The shirt is Gilly Hicks, which have amazing plaid shirts in every colour, the jumper is from Jack Wills (best knitted jumpers, I have at least 4) and the scarf is also Topshop.

Slipper socks are a necessity during winter when it gets really chilly, and I just love these Snowman ones! My form tutor actually gave them to me a few years ago, which makes them double as cute!

For my makeup, as I wasn't doing much, I only put on mascara, which I'd say is my makeup essential - I'd leave the house wearing nothing but mascara!

What is your most comfortable "Lazy Day" outfit? And what's your beauty essential?

Hope you liked my first OOTD, and if you think I should do it differently next time, leave a comment below!

Thank you,
Happy Reading :)

SS13 Nails


I was very bored with my nails, and so I decided that I was going to inject a bit of Spring into my wardrobe by painting my nails! After spending a good hour or so looking at all the different catwalk trends this season, I chose one of the many modern takes on a french manicure!

I say it's a modern french mani, but it's actually just a diagonal stripe covering nearly half of my nail. The only thing is so many people have been saying it's a french manicure that I've decided to call it that instead!

It was really easy to do, because you just have to put some tape at the angle you want, paint the stripe, leave for a bit and peel off! Just finish it off with a clear top coat to protect it, easy peasy lemon squeezy!

The colour I used is a very pale, nearly-white pink, from laca de uñas (I'm guessing this is a spanish brand, but I just found the colour in my mum's nail polish collection and really liked it! The essie colour called 'Fiji' is really similar though!)

The topcoat polish that I used is the Rimmel 60 seconds in clear. The polish isn't a great topcoat, but it dries really quickly for when you are in a rush, which is good!The topcoat polish tcoat, but it dries really quickly for when you are in a rush, which is good!



I really like this look, and I think I'm gonna try it with a few different colours, and also check out some of the other trends, with vertical stripes etc, but right now I really like this look! I hope you agree!




Thanks for reading!
:)

Food Gawker and the amazing Chocolate Pudding!


Just before I start, if you haven't heard of Food Gawker, then stop reading this, and go there right NOW!
Okay, now that that's over and done with, I can begin!

The amazing Food Gawker <3 It has the most beautiful pictures of bread, cakes, cupcakes, brownies, chocolate, any good tasting food thing ever, and links them back to the original website/blog! Such a good, simple idea, and I love it!
The reason I am writing this, is because I have found the best recipe on there, and I needed to share it with you! It is a chocolate melt-in-the-middle pudding, which you can whip up in the space of a few minutes, cook in the microwave (yes, the microwave!) and tastes sososo good!




These puddings are so simple to make, and taste divine!
The original recipe was in american cups, so I converted them into grams, and made it for 3 people instead of 2!

48g plain flour
48g sugar
48g cocoa powder
big pinch of salt
48 ml milk
48g melted butter
3 eggs
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
50g chocolate chips (preferably milk or white, and you can do more!)

  1. In a bowl, mix together the flour, sugar, cocoa powder and salt.
  2. Add the milk, melted butter, eggs ad vanilla. Use a whisk to beat it all together, into a smooth, quite runny consistency.
  3. Fold in the chocolate chips.
  4. Divide the mixture between 3 microwavable cups. Each of my "Falcon's School" mugs hold 6 fluid ounces, and that is about the right amount.
  5. Microwave the cups together, on the highest setting for 2 minutes. be careful though, because my highest setting is 900 watts, so make sure you adjust the time accordingly.
  6. Make sure you leave to puddings to rest before you eat them, and sprinkle with a bit of icing sugar!



Also, mine bubbled up over the edge of the cup, so you might want to put them on a plate when you're microwaving them!

Thanks for reading :)


Eve's Pudding (but with plums...)

I got home from school, and felt like baking with my sister, so because neither of us had any homework, we baked an Eve's Pudding. Slight problem though - we didn't have any apples, but we adapted and used plums instead! I think it tastes just as good, because the tartiness of the plums was really nice with the sponge.




Plums:
4 regular plums
2 tbsp caster sugar

Sponge:
75g butter, softened
100g caster sugar
100g self-raising flour
2 eggs, beaten
1 tbsp boiling water
1/4 tsp baking powder


  1. Pre-heat oven to 180 degrees C
  2. Chop the plums into rough quarters, and place in a saucepan. Cook on a low heat until soft. Add the caster sugar.
  3. Place the plums in a 2 inch depth gratin dish. Leave to cool.
  4. (For the sponge) Cream the butter and sugar until fluffy.
  5. Fold the flour and eggs in in alternate spoonfuls into the sugar mixture until blended, being careful to keep folding rather than stirring energetically - this will keep air in the mixture and fold in.
  6. Add a spoonful of boiling water to the mix.
  7. Spoon the mixture over the plums. Cook in the oven for 35-40 minutes or until the topping is puffy and golden. Serve with cream or custard.

I hope you like this, and if you have any questions be sure to comment them below!
Thanks for reading!
:)