Vegetables as Ingredients in Low Fat Baking

There is a TV program on Channel 4 here in the UK called Cook Yourself Thin, presented by chef and food writer Gizzi Erskine. She shows alternative ways of cooking typical dishes to reduce the fat and calorie content. Most of this is just common sense if you're someone who already monitors your diet (such as substituting low fat yoghurt for sour cream), but she does have some clever ideas.

In particular, Gizzi often uses grated or mashed vegetables in place of butter in baking. She has a turkish delight brownie recipe that uses mashed sweet potato. Her baking recipes do still contain quite a large amount of sugar, and she also often uses substantial amounts of chocolate, however she also uses low GI ingredients, such as ground almonds. The main purpose of these alternative recipes seems to be to provide all the richness of the original, but with far fewer calories, and which (due to the low GI ingredients) are satisfying from smaller portions.

I particularly like the look of her strawberries and cream cupcakes, which use grated courgette (zucchini), and a meringue icing, cooked gently over boiling water.  I imagine that these wouln't keep very well (due to the lack of butter).

Cheat's Scones

Scones made with lemonade and cream - not quite as good as the traditional recipe using butter, but if eaten straightaway, not bad either!  These scones are very light and extremely easy to make, but don't keep well.

The quanities below should make about 24 scones, but the rule of thumb is three parts SR flour to one part cream and one part lemonade, so it's easy to reduce / increase quantities.

Ingredients
3 cups self-raising flour
1 cup fizzy lemonade
1 cup pouring cream
Pinch of salt

Pre-heat oven to 220 degrees C.

Mix all ingredients together in a large mixing bowl (a knife works well to get things started). 

When mix begins to come together to form dough, tip out on to a floured surface and knead lightly (you may need to add more flour if it is a bit sticky).

Roll dough out flat, use a scone cutter to cut rounds.  Place on to a baking sheet, bake at 220 degrees C for approximately 15 minutes.

Mashed Potato

I enjoyed watching Emmanuel Mollois making mashed potato a few weeks ago on Poh's Kitchen.  He used a 1:1 ratio of butter to potatoes, with about a half proportion of milk.  Not good for the diet, but well worth trying just once.

The potatoes were boiled, then cooked in the oven for 12 minutes to dry out.  The peeled potatoes were then pushed through a mouli grater to give a very fine texture.  The potatoes were returned to the saucepan over a medium heat, with the milk, then the butter was slowly whisked in.

The final result looked fabulous- creamy, smooth and rich.  My mum was a fan of rich mashed potato - I can remember her puting in loads of butter, often an egg, sometimes cream(!!), and occasionally nutmeg.  I also once made mashed potato with a hint of blue cheese mixed in - that was yummy.  (Incidentally, a hint of blue cheese in bechamel sauce is also amazing.  If you only use a little, it doesn't overpower it, but adds such a depth of flavour).

The flavour and texture of rich, silky smooth mashed potato is a world away from dry, lumpy, bland mash you sometimes see.

Cocoa and Cinnamon Meringues

This recipe uses just a basic meringue mixture, but with cocoa and cinnamon folded through.  The cocoa and cinnamon combination adds depth to the flavour, and also helps to balance the overwhelming sweetness of the meringue.  The cocoa mixes surprisingly well with the meringue, to give you sort of a gooey chocolate rippled filling.  I think this is one of the nicest recipes I've made in ages.

The recipe is originally from The British Larder blog, but I have tweaked it a bit.  The recipe uses a different  method for meringues - you heat the egg whites and sugar over a low heat, then beat.  I'm sure you could use the traditional method (beating egg whites until stiff, then beating in the sugar), and get the same result.  I also learned that a good rule of thumb for meringues is to weigh the egg whites, then add double the weight in caster sugar (a 1:2 ratio). 

I added melted chocolate and toasted flaked almonds to the tops of my meringues - yum!

Ingredients

300g egg whites (for me this was six v large eggs, but do weigh them out)
600g caster sugar
Pinch of salt
20g cocoa powder
2 teaspoons powdered cinnamon
100g good quality chocolate
25g (approx) toasted flaked almonds

1. Preheat the oven to 110°C and line two large baking trays with non-stick baking paper.

2. Sift cocoa and cinnamon together.

3. Place the egg whites, salt and sugar in a large saucepan.  Cover your hands with disposable gloves.

4. Place the saucepan over a very low heat to gently heat the egg whites and to melt the sugar. Stick your hand into the egg and sugar mixture and stir it continuously.  Weird, but important; by using your hands you can control the heat, as you should not heat above 37°C (blood temperature).  Stir constantly to dissolve the sugar.

5. Once the temperature has reached 37°C, remove the saucepan from the heat and transfer the whites to a large bowl.  Beat the mix with electric beaters / mixer until the meringue holds its shape.  This takes a while - it took about 8 minutes with my electric handbeaters.

6. Gently sift the cocoa and cinnamon mix over the meringue.  Use two spoons to scoop a large spoonful of the mixture from the middle, scoop deep to get a ripple effect of cocoa and meringue. Do not be tempted to mix the cocoa in as you will spoil the rippled effect.

7. Drop the heaped spoonful of meringue onto the prepared baking trays.  Leave sufficient gaps as they swell when they cook.

8. Place trays in pre-heated oven.  Bake the meringues for two hours (the time may be less if your meringues are smaller).  The meringes are cooked when they are stiff on the outside but still slightly gooey in the centre.  Allow to cool for 10 minutes before transferring to a cooling rack to cool completely.

9. Melt chocolate (in the microwave over over a pan of simmering water).  Allow to cool slightly.  Spread melted chocolate on tops of meringues, sprinkle with toasted almonds.  Leave to set at room temperature.

Beef with Red Wine

I fiddled about a bit with one of Nigella Lawson’s recipes for beef stew.


I usually use stock when making casseroles. This stew didn’t use any stock, and I was really impressed by the subtlety of the flavours as a result. I am so used to the strong salty kick that you get from stock that can really overpower other flavours.  This combination made a very nice change.

This stew has a subtle, rich sweetness. I served mine with a lovely mound of mashed starchy Jarrah pumpkin, and steamed mixed greens. As with all of my savoury recipes, quantities are approximate.

Ingredients

2 onions, chopped
3 carrots, sliced
600g chuck steak, cubed
½ cup plain flour
A teaspoon of allspice
Salt and pepper
½ cup water
½ cup red wine
2 bay leaves
A teaspoon of dried sage
1 cup of chopped mushrooms

1. Gently sauté the onions and carrots in a small amount of oil a large heavy-based pan till onions are softened. Remove from pan.

2. Mix together plain flour, allspice and salt and pepper. Coat cubed beef well in flour mix.

3. Add a little more oil to the pan, and brown steak over a medium heat. Remove meat from pan.

4. Add water, red wine, bay leaves and sage to pan, stir over medium heat. Return onions, carrots and beef to pan, bring to a simmer.

5. Cover the pan and reduce the heat to low, leave to cook for approximately 2 and a half hours. Stir in the mushrooms towards the end of the cooking time.

Chewy Caramels

These turned out well.  They taste very much like those chewy caramels you get in boxes of chocolates.

Ingredients

25g (1/4 cup) flaked almonds
125g butter, chopped
395g can sweetened condensed milk
2 tablespoons honey
3/4 cup (150g firmly packed) brown sugar
100-150g good quality dark chocolate


1. Toast almonds.  Spread on a baking tray and roast in a pre-heated oven at 180 deg C for about 8 minutes or until golden.

2. Grease 15cm square cake pan, line base and sides with non-stick baking paper.

3. Combine butter, condensed milk, honey and brown sugar in a saucepan.  Stir over low heat without boiling until sugar dissolves.  Increase the heat till the mixture is bubbling (medium high), cook, stirring constantly for approximately 10 minutes or until glossy and caramel in colour.  The mixture will start to come away from the base of the pan when it is done.  Make sure you stir constantly and thoroughly; the mixture crystallises on the bottom of the pan very easily if you don't.

4. Pour caramel into prepared tin.  Leave to cool.  Melt chocolate, leave to cool slightly.  Pour over the top of the caramel.  Sprinkle with the toasted almonds.  Leave to set.  Cut into small squares with a sharp knife.  Store in refrigerator.

Variations: I think these would also be nice with toasted chopped almonds or other nuts mixed through the caramel itself before pouring into the pan.

Les macarons - success at last!

I finally made a successful batch of macaroons.  So worth it!  The recipe I used (with my notes added in) is below.  There are so many different recipes out there; all with slightly different quantities / baking temperatures / times / methods.  There's another version I'd like to try which uses Italian meringue (you make a sugar syrup and whip into the beaten egg whites while hot - fascinating!).

Ingredients
90g egg whites (approx. 3 eggs), aged at room temperature for at least 48 hours
30g caster sugar
100g finely ground almonds
200g pure icing sugar
Few drops vanilla extract
Few drops pink food colouring

100g white chocolate
100mL cream
Few drops food colouring (optional)

Equipment
2 baking sheets, lined with non-stick baking paper
Piping bag fitted with plain, round nozzle

1. Sift together almonds and icing sugar into a bowl.

2. In a separate, spotlessly clean bowl, whisk the egg whites until soft peaks form.  Gradually add caster sugar whilst beating, until you have a stiff, glossy meringue.  Add a splash of vanilla extract and a few drops of food colouring and beat in.

3. Add a portion (perhaps a third) of the almonds/icing sugar and fold in gently.  Fold in the remainder in two more batches.  It's important not to over-mix, but you need to also make sure that it is mixed enough - you need a uniform mass.  Test the consistency by dropping a small spoonful on to baking paper - if the top smooths over by itself, the consistency is right.

4.Put the batter into the piping bag.  Pipe small rounds onto baking sheet (keep nozzle to sheet as you pipe, this will help to give you uniform rounds).  Once you've filled a tray, give it a good, straight tap on the kitchen bench to knock out any air bubbles.  If any of your rounds have little lumps on the top from your piping, smooth them out using a wet fingertip.

5. Leave sitting at room temperature for about 30 minutes to 'crouter' (form their crust).

6. Pre-heat oven to 140 degrees C.  Touch one of the macaroons gently with your finger - if some of the batter sticks, the macaroons are not yet ready to bake; leave for a little longer.

7. Bake at 140 degrees C for 20 - 25 minutes.  (They will have formed their crust, and you should be able to see sort of honeycomb-y texture around the base of each one).

8. Leave to cool on trays.

9. Gently heat cream until just below boiling.  Add broken up white chocolate, mix till smooth.  Refrigerate.  When cold, whip with beaters. (Add a few drops of food colouring if you wish).

10. Sandwich macaroons together with cream.  Refrigerate in an airtight container - the texture is best after they've been in the fridge for a bit.

Paused

I would just like to advise my blog-reading public (few in number though you may be) that I will not be posting again until I have mastered ze art of ze French macaroon.  Three failed attempts so far and counting...

Eggs by Michel Roux

I treated myself to a new cookbook.

This one is very good - it contains detailed, step-by-step instructions for most basic methods of cooking with eggs - boiled, poached, fried, baked, omelettes, souffles, batters, cakes, sauces, curds, pastry, meringues, etc.  A very good resource for the basics.

Some of the ingredients in the recipes included are a bit exotic (smoked eel, crab, quails' eggs), but the basic methods are excellent.  (Except for poached eggs - I don't bother adding vinegar to mine, and they usually turn out pretty well without.)

All in all, I think it was a good investment for $24.95.

Pumpkin Frittata

This was a bit of an experiment, and it actually turned out really well.  The yoghurt adds a nice edge, and I love the paprika, which goes really well with the sweetness of the onion and the pumpkin.

Ingredients (measures are approximate)
400g ripe pumpkin, cut into thin slices
1 onion, sliced finely
1 dessertspoon balsamic vinegar
1 teaspoon brown sugar
100g mushrooms, sliced (optional)
2 overripe tomatoes, chopped (optional)
100g ham, finely sliced
6 eggs
1/2 cup grated cheese
1 dessertspoon plain natural yoghurt
1 heaped teaspoon smoked paprika
Salt and pepper

Sturdy, non-stick frying pan

Cook pumpkin until just soft (I use the microwave).

Heat a small amount of oil in frying pan on a medium heat.  Saute onion until softened.  Reduce heat to low, add balsamic vinegar and brown sugar.  Cook gently over low heat for approx 10 minutes, until onion is very soft and caramelised. 

Fry mushrooms over medium heat until softened.  Add tomatoes, continue to cook until tomatoes have softened.  Mix ham in with onion, mushroom and tomatoes, remove from pan.

Beat eggs in a medium sized bowl.  Add cheese, yoghurt, paprika, season with salt and pepper.

Wipe out frying pan.  On low heat, spray with Spray 'n' Cook (or use a small amount of oil).  Spread onion mix over base of pan, then cover with pumpkin pieces.  Tip egg mix over the top, making sure it goes into all the gaps, covering the base of the pan.

Cook over low heat until set around the edges (middle will still be slightly runny) - should take no more than aobut 10 minutes.  Turn grill to high, finish frittata under grill (approx 5 minutes) until middle is cooked.

Rocky Road Easter Eggs

These were fun (and easy) to make, and didn't turn out too badly.

Ingredients

Good quality chocolate (I ended up using about 500g in total to make 8 half eggs)
Egg-shaped moulds
Slivered almonds, toasted
Fry's Turkish Delight, chopped into small pieces (thanks, Deb, for suggesting this!)
Mini marshmallows (from the baking aisle)




Basic Steps

Make eggs first.  Spray each egg mould with Spray 'N' Cook.  Using the back of a spoon, coat the inside of each mould with a thin layer of melted chocolate.  Refrigerate for 5 minutes or so until set.  Coat with another layer, refrigerate again.  To make sure your eggs are fairly sturdy, I'd do at least three layers.

Refrigerate eggs in moulds for at least 30 minutes or until well and truly set.

Make rocky road - mix almonds, Turkish Delight and marshmallows through melted chocolate (make sure the chocolate isn't still too warm when you mix in the marshmallows, as they will melt).

Bend egg moulds slightly to loosen eggs, turn upside down and gently tap egg out.

Fill each egg with a good spoon of rocky road; press mix gently into all the gaps using a spoon.  Try not to handle eggs as you do this, as they melt very easily.  Refrigerate until set.

***
I'm not sure that there's any sort of cost saving through making these yourself, but I enjoyed the experience, and they taste good.  Variations: you could use white chocolate instead (in that case, use plain not chocolate coated Turkish Delight).  You could use dried cranberries or chopped dried apricots instead of Turkish Delight, or even chopped raspberry liquorice, peanuts or macadamias instead of almonds...!

Morning Tea t Work

Any excuse to try baking something new!

Chocolate Hazelnut Cookies

These are good. The small amount of hazelnut meal added to the cookie dough makes a real difference to the flavour. Use the best quality cocoa powder and chocolate you can. You will probably need to add more plain flour - I found I needed to add in at least 1/4 cup more to get the consistency right, otherwise it's just too buttery. The recipe suggests dusting with cocoa powder to finish, but I did tiger stripes with melted chocolate instead, just for something different.

Ingredients
80g soft butter, chopped
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 cup (55g) caster sugar
1 egg
1/2 cup (50g) hazelnut meal
3/4 cup (110g) plain flour
1/4 cupt (25g) cocoa powder

100g dark chocolate, melted
50g butter, softened
1/3 cup (110g) Nutella or hazelnut spread

Pre-heat oven to 180 degrees C (160 for fan-forced). Grease two baking sheets (or line with non-stick baking paper).

Beat butter, sugar and egg in a small bowl with mixer until light and fluffy, stir in hazelnut meal, flour and cocoa. You may well need to add additional flour - the cookie dough shouldn't be too buttery. Form into a ball, wrap in cling wrap and refrigerate for at least an hour.

Roll dough out until approx 3mm thick (best done between two sheets of non-stick baking paper). Cut rounds from dough using a 4cm fluted cookie cutter. Place on prepared trays, bake for about 8 minutes, leave to cool on trays for 5 minutes then transfer to wire rack.

Beat cooled chocolate, butter and Nutella in a small bowl until thick and glossy.  Using a piping bag (or a spoon!) to sandwich cookies together with the chocolate and Nutella mix.

Vanilla Cupcakes

 
 
 
 
 
 
 


Chocolate Fudge
 
This is very good, very rich, and very simple to make. As always with chocolate, don’t scrimp on the quality. I used Cadbury's Old Gold, which worked well. In my usual shambolic style, I got part way through and realised that I didn’t have quite enough chocolate. So I added in a bit of Nutella instead. It still tasted lovely, but didn’t set quite as well as it might have done. In hindsight, I probably should have adjusted the amount of condensed milk to compensate.

The Cointreau adds depth to the flavour, and counters the sweetness a bit. It’s not particularly orange-y with the 1 ½ tablespoons they specify – I’d be tempted to put in  a bit more next time I make it. Perhaps also some very finely grated orange zest. I also wonder whether the Cointreau and vanilla extract should actually be beaten in at the end, after the cooking.

But all in all, delicious, for very little effort.


Ingredients
400g chocolate, chopped
395g can of sweetened condensed milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
150g unsalted butter, chopped
1 ½ tablespoons Cointreau

Lightly grease a 16cm square tin and line with non-stick baking paper.

Put chocolate, condensed milk, vanilla, butter and Cointreau into a medium, heavy-based saucepan over a low heat and stir until all the chocolate and butter has melted. Increase the heat to medium and simmer for 3-4 minutes until smooth and slightly thickened. Pour into prepared tin, leave to cool then refrigerate until set. Using a sharp knife, cut into squares. Store in the fridge.

(If you wanted to make white chocolate fudge, you could easily do so by just substituting white chocolate for the dark chocolate. I'd also up the amount of vanilla a bit. And change (or leave out) the liquer - maybe Bailey's instead?)

Recipe Books

I guess the books you like will be influenced by the type of food you like to cook and eat. Me, I like simple food with strong flavours, and I love to bake. I also like reading recipe books for pleasure, so I love books where there is a short background blurb about each recipe. Here are some authors I’ve used a bit:

Nigella Lawson: I love her interest in food, her emphasis on flavours. But I have to admit, I’ve had some real problems with some of her recipes – incorrect measurements, lack of detail in instructions, and underwhelming results. There have been a few real gems – her recipe for spaghetti alla carbonara is one of my all-time favourites – but overall, her books are a bit hit-and-miss. I think she’s better watched than read.

Donna Hay: these recipes are always clear and easy to follow and very reliable, and often have a nice twist. The results are usually delicious and good to look at.

Jamie Oliver: another cook who I think is better watched than read. I’ve been really uninspired by most of the recipes in the books of his that I have read.

Delia Smith: usually pretty reliable, I like the way she explains why you do things; results can be a bit on the boring side.

Women’s Weekly: these recipes are easy to follow and very reliable. The results are usually good, if a bit boring and plain.

Elizabeth David: I have only actually ever cooked one or two things from her books, but I love to read them for fun.

Other favourites…?

Bailey's Cheesecake - oh yeah!

I tweaked a basic baked cheesecake recipe to make this one.  It was made as a birthday cake, so it's enormous. I baked it in a large oblong roasting tin with high sides.  Forgot to take a photo - sorry about that.

Ingredients (serves approx. 25)
500g sweet biscuits (Granita/digestive are best), crushed
250g butter, melted
1tsp mixed spice

1kg cream cheese
1 1/2 cups (330g) caster sugar
9 eggs
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup (250mL) Bailey's Irish Cream

50g dark chocolate, melted

Grease baking tray and line with baking paper.

Mix together crushed biscuits and melted butter.  Press into prepared tin.  Chill for 30 minutes.

Pre-heat oven to 160 degrees C (140 for fan-forced).

Beat eggs and sugar until thick and creamy.  Beat cream cheese in a separate, large bowl until smooth.  Add egg mixture, Bailey's and vanilla extract to cream cheese, beat until combined.  Pour mixture over prepared base.  Drizzle top with melted chocolate to give marble effect.

Bake for approximately 50 minutes or until firm in the middle.  Leave to cool in oven with door ajar.  Cover, refrigerate.

White Chocolate, Cranberry and Almond Torte

(Gluten-free, reasonably low in fat)


This torte was unlike any cake I’ve ever baked before. I suppose it was closest in composition to a pavlova, but the small amount of flour in it completely changed the texture. I wasn’t displeased with the result, but not really that impressed either.


It was easy enough to make. Eight egg whites beaten with caster sugar to make a typical meringue mix. Gently folded through a small amount (40g) of self-raising flour (I wanted the cake to be gluten-free, so I used g/f SR flour), sweetened dried cranberries, chopped white chocolate, and chopped roasted blanched almonds. Then gently poured the mix into a springform tin lined with baking paper and baked for 50 minutes or so.

The result certainly looked quite good. The main shortcoming I think was the dry texture. If I had left out the flour, it would have been a pavlova, and would have been quite soft and marshmallow-y in the middle. But the addition of that small amount of flour seemed to make the texture very dry. Maybe that was partly due to using g/f flour instead.

If I were to make this torte again, I think I would make a raspberry puree or syrup to pour over the top when serving, just to moisten it up a bit, or spread some sort of cream on top (perhaps melted white chocolate and cream whipped together and chilled).

Pumpkin and Sweetcorn Soup

I was experimenting with pumpkin soup last weekend, and stumbled across a really nice combination - pumpkin and sweetcorn.  I can't remember the exact quantities, but I'd say there was probably close to two parts pumpkin to one part sweetcorn.

Ingredients (measurements approximate)
1kg ripe pumpkin (Kent or butternut are both good), chopped into chunks
500g frozen sweetcorn kernels, left out for a few hours to defrost, then drained
3 spring onions (or 1 brown onion), chopped
1-2 cloves garlic, minced
Stock (powdered is fine - I used Vegeta)
Chilli powder (optional)

Saute spring onions and garlic in a small amount of oil in a large pan.  Add pumpkin and stock (just enough to cover the pumpkin - probably about 3 cups or so).  Cover and simmer for 10 minutes or so or until pumpkin begins to soften.  Add drained sweetcorn, simmer for 10 minutes or so more until all ingredients are tender.  Blitz with a hand blender.  Season to taste.

As long as you haven't added too much stock, the soup should be thick and rich when you've blitzed it.  If too thick, just add more water.  A small amount of chilli adds a nice kick, just don't overdo it.  The great thing about soup is that it's always a work in progress; it's easy to just add more of something else if the flavour's not quite right.

Best Marshmallows for Hot Chocolate

I have discovered that these marshmallows from Coles are the best for melting on top of hot chocolate.  Much better than the more expensive ones (and a bargain at $1.64 a bag).  I'm not totally sure why - perhaps because these have a lower sugar content and are more puffy so they melt better.

Lemon Cake with Marscapone and Lemon Curd

This recipe is originally from Annie Bell’s Gorgeous Cakes, but has been tweaked a bit by me.

The cake is dense, damp and intensely flavoured, and the lemon marscapone filling is strong but not cloying. It’s not overly delicate – looks more like farmhouse kitchen cooking than a patisserie creation. But the flavour is so rich and simple, it’s a really special cake, and a nice alternative to the ubiquitous chocolate that is always the first thing to mind when you think “rich cake”.

I am always amazed by the value you can get from a single lemon. Such a concentrated, full flavour from an ordinary, cheap ingredient.

Marscapone is an expensive ingredient, but I’ve discovered that it does freeze – I bought a container marked down at the supermarket close to its used-by date and froze it. I put it in the fridge overnight to de-frost slowly, then whipped it well with the lemon curd, and it was fine.

Ingredients

Cake
225g butter at room temperature
225g raw sugar
225g self-raising flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
4 eggs
50mL cream
Zest and juice of one lemon

Curd
Zest and juice of one lemon
2 eggs
60g butter
90g raw sugar

Topping
150g marscapone cheese
Juice of one lemon
50g raw sugar

Make lemon curd. Put all curd ingredients in a bowl over simmering water. Whisk until it thickens. Cover with clingwrap and leave to set.

Make cake. Pre-heat oven to 170° (160° fan-forced). Grease two 20cm round cake tins. Cream butter and sugar together, beat in remaining ingredients (can also be done in food processor). Divide mix between two prepared tins. Bake 40-45 minutes or until cooked.

Topping. Mix lemon juice and sugar together, pour slowly over the two takes while still warm and in tins. Leave to soak in as cakes cool.

Assemble. Mix curd (you may not need all of it) with marscapone, use to sandwich cakes together. Decorate the top as you wish (eg. dust with icing sugar). Okay to cover with clingwrap and refrigerate if needed.