pistachio and lemon iced buns

pistachio and lemon iced buns

28 Apr 2024

A few weeks ago, I made a batch of iced pink finger buns, an adaptation of the recipe for pistachio and lemon iced buns from 'Beatrix Bakes: Another Slice' by Natalie Paull which was featured in a recent issue of Delicious magazine. I'd always planned to make a batch of the orginal pistachio and lemon finger buns and when invited over to a friend's place, I said I'd bring along finger buns. I tweaked the recipe a little, made the dough and the zingy lemon stuff when illness intervened, so I put the bun dough into the freezer and a few weeks later, defrosted the dough and made the buns.

There are many steps to making these buns, so I was glad I just had to make the icing and the syrup, and with an early start, the buns were ready to transport by 10.30am on Sunday morning.

Here's the recipe for you which makes 6 buns. For all my recipes I use a 250ml cup and a 20 ml tablespoon, unsalted butter and 60g eggs. My oven is a conventional gas oven so if your oven is fan forced you may need to reduce the oven temperature by 20°C.

Pistachio and lemon iced buns, inspired by this recipe for pistachio and lemon iced buns from Beatrix Bakes: Another Slice by Natalie Paull.

Fruit soak
100g dried fruit (I used a mix of sultanas, currants and dried blueberries)
½ cup boiling water
Finely grated rind of 1 lemon

 
Dough
1 and ¼ tsp yeast
135 mls lukewarm milk
30g honey
1 room temperature egg 
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 cups (300g) plain flour 
½ tsp salt
60g room temperature unsalted butter, cut into small pieces 

Tiff’s zingy lemon stuff (makes 150g)
2 small lemons
2 tbs (40ml) water

Fluffy cream cheese icing
125g full fat softened cream cheese
125g unsalted butter, squidgy soft 
pinch salt
40g yoghurt powder or dried milk powder
125g icing sugar

Syrup
40 mls lemon juice 
40g caster sugar

To finish
30g blanched slivered pistachios
60g butter of your choice

Fruit soak
Place the dried fruit into a small bowl and cover with boiling water. Leave for an hour before draining thoroughly and patting dry with paper towel. Stir through the grated rinds and set aside until needed.

Dough
Grease a large plastic container and set to one side. Combine the yeast, milk and honey in a large liquid measuring cup and rest for 5 minutes or until foamy then stir in the egg and the vanilla. 

In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a dough hook, mix the flour and salt and stir on low to combine. Add the egg mixture and mix on low to combine. With the mixer on low, add the butter, one piece at a time. When all the butter has been incorporated (about 10 minutes) increase the speed to medium and beat the butter into the dough, until all the little butter pieces are incorporated, and the dough comes away from the side of the bowl. Transfer the dough to the prepared container. The dough will be sticky, and you might need a spatula to scrape the dough into the bowl or container. 

Cover the container with a lid or with plastic wrap and let rise for 30 minutes. Distribute the fruit soak over the dough and gently push it into the dough using your fingers. Place your fingers or a spatula underneath the dough and gently pull the dough up and fold it back over itself. Turn the container and repeat this folding again. Continue 6 to 8 more times, until all the dough has been folded over on itself. Re-cover the container and let rise for 30 minutes. Repeat this series of folding 3 more times, for a rise time of 2 hours and a total of 4 foldings. Replace the lid or tightly cover the bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight.

Icing
Place the cream cheese, butter and yoghurt or milk powder and salt in the bowl of electric stand mixer. Sift the icing sugar over the top. Beat with the paddle attachment for 10 minutes on speed 4 (below low) until pale, and fluffy. Store covered in the fridge until needed. If refrigerated, rewarm in the microwave in 20-second bursts until softened.

Zingy lemon stuff
Juice one lemon and place the juice in a non-reactive saucepan with the water. Trim the stalk end off the other lemon, halve it, and remove any visible seeds, then slice into thin half-moons and add to the lemon juice in the saucepan. Cover the saucepan with a lid and simmer over a low heat until all the pith is translucent. Take care the lemon doesn't catch any colour as it simmers. You can also use the microwave - cover with a lid and zap for 3 minutes on high. Cool, then whiz to a paste in a food processor, Scrape into a small container doing a final seed check, and chill.

Assembly
Spray a shallow 20cm x 30cm 5cm deep baking tray with cooking oil spray and line with baking paper. On a lightly floured counter, divide the chilled dough into six, approximately 115g portions and gently shape into balls. Leave on the counter with a tea towel over the top and rest for 10 minutes. This little pre-shape will relax the dough so you can roll evenly shaped with extra flour as possible.

Roll the balls into smooth, even diameter cigars about 15cm long. Place the dough cigars in parallel lines on the lined tray. Space them apart by 1cm so they'll touch during baking. Free-range, far apart buns won't puff as much without support from their bun buddies. Spray the tops with cooking oil and cover with plastic wrap. Leave at room temperature for the final proof (around 1 to 1½ hours depending on room temperature) or until they're a little puffed and snuggling one another. 

Towards the end of the proof, preheat the oven to 220°C, conventional. While the buns proof, finish the icing by stirring in 50g of the zingy lemon stuff. Set aside at room temperature or refrigerate if it's a warm day. 

Syrup
Combine the juice and sugar in small non-reactive saucepan and bring to a simmer. Simmer for 30 seconds, until viscous like oil. Turn the heat off and set the syrup aside to cool at room temperature. Chop the slivered pistachios into a coarse crumb.

When the buns bounce back lazily when poked, put them in the oven. Turn the heat down to 190°C conventional and bake for 18-20 minutes. The bun tops will be a light tan colour, springy to touch, and the internal temperature will be 95°C. 

As soon as the buns come out of the even, brush the syrup all over the tops and sides. Leave the tray to completely cool on a wire rack for around 1 hour. If your icing is chilled, take it out of the fridge now.

To finish 
Pull a bun away from its buddies. Using a small, sharp serrated knife, split the cooled bun lengthwise like a hot dog bun, keeping the base intact, and smooth a good smear of softened butter on each cut side. 

Press the halves back together. Load the softened icing into a piping bag with a medium plain nozzle in place. Pipe a tight squiggly spine down the top of the bun and sprinkle a pile of crushed pistachios liberally on top. Serve within an hour or two of icing the buns.

I shared the buns with my friends and their 2 daughters, who'd just returned from a swimming lesson. I'd say the buns were inhaled rather than eaten as they disappeared so quickly. They really are very delicious and as far as we're concerned they don't need to be served with butter, they are just perfect the way they are.

See you all again next week with some more baking from my kitchen.

Bye for now,

Jillian

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apple and blackberry crostata

apple and blackberry crostata

You know summer is over when the fruit shop only has apples, pears and mandarins are on display. Blackberries also make an appearance at this time as do quince and pears.

When I was in Liguria a few years ago, a jam filled crostata was standard breakfast fare and I saw the biggest crostata ever in a local pastry shop in Santa Margherita Ligure. Ever since then I've wanted to make a crostata. About a month ago I received an email from Australian Gourmet Traveller which featured this recipe and the wheels were set in motion.

I decided to stick with my tried and true almond shortcrust pastry recipe, but made the apple and blackberry marmellata filling. If fresh blackberries are a bit too pricey where you live, frozen berries can be used in their place. 

Here's the recipe for you which makes a 10 x 33 cm rectangular tart. For all my recipes I use a 250ml cup and a 20 ml tablespoon, unsalted butter and 60g eggs. My oven is a conventional gas oven so if your oven is fan forced you may need to reduce the oven temperature by 20°C.

Apple and Blackberry Crostata 
Almond shortcrust pastry
¼ cup (45g) icing sugar
¼ cup (30g) almond meal
1⅓ cups (200g) plain flour
Pinch salt
1½ tsp grated lemon rind
110 g (4 oz) cold unsalted butter, diced
1 egg, lightly beaten
Cold water

Apple and blackberry marmellata

30 gm butter
2 small royal gala apples (about 240g), peeled, cut into 1 cm pieces
2 small Granny Smith apples (about 250g), peeled, cut into 1 cm pieces
18 g ginger, finely grated
275 g blackberries
250 g caster sugar

Assembly
Egg wash, for brushing
2 tbsp raw sugar, for dusting
Double cream to serve

Pastry
To make the pastry, combine all the dry ingredients and the rind in a food processor, and whiz for a few seconds until well combined and free of lumps. Add the cold butter and whiz until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs. 

Add the egg and sufficient cold water and whiz until a soft dough just starts to form around the blade. Remove the dough from the food processor and gather the pastry into a ball; flatten slightly before wrapping in plastic and placing in the fridge. Refrigerate the pastry for 30 minutes. 

Roll out two-thirds of the pastry on a lightly floured surface into a 4mm-thick rectangle and line a 10 cm x 33 cm rectangular tart tin, trim edges. Place in the fridge until required. Roll out remaining pastry on a lightly floured surface to 4mm thick, then place in the fridge until required.  

Marmellata
Heat butter in a large frying pan over medium-high heat, when foaming, add both apples; cook, turning occasionally until lightly browned (4 minutes). Add ginger and blackberries, stir for 1 minute. Add sugar; stir until dissolved. Bring to a simmer and cook until mixture gels when tested on a cold saucer (15-20 minutes). Spoon into a container and refrigerate until chilled (4 hours or overnight).

Assembly
Place a heavy-based oven tray in the oven and preheat the oven to 180°C, conventional. Take the lined tin from the fridge and spoon in cooled jam mixture. Take the pastry sheet out of the fridge, then cut into 15mm-wide strips. Arrange the strips in a lattice pattern over jam, press pastry edges to seal and trim excess. 

Brush the pastry with the egg wash, dust with demerara sugar and place on the preheated baking tray. Bake until the pastry is crisp and golden (40-45 minutes). Cool in tin before serving. Crostata is best eaten on day of making.

I shared this with one of my neighbours and took the rest into work. My neighbour declared it some of my best work and I have to say, topped with cream, the crostata was delicious.

See you all next week, with some more baking from my kitchen.

Bye for now,

Jillian

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helen goh's anzac cake

helen goh's anzac cake

22 Apr 2024

Last year, ANZAC Day came and went so quickly I didn't have time to bake anything to commemorate the day so I wasn't going to make the same mistake twice. 

The cake of ANZAC Day 2023 was Helen Goh's ANZAC Cake. When I looked through the cupboard I had everything I needed. I just needed to snaffle a sprig of rosemary from the local Bellevue Hill flower box with which to finish the cake.

The cake has all the constituent ingredients of ANZAC biscuits, just in cake form. The oats are in the base and the coconut in 2 forms, coconut milk in the cake and shredded coconut in the topping. Please don't think about forgoing the topping, reminiscent of the topping found on a lumbarjack cake, because it's the topping that makes the cake.

Here's the recipe for you adapted from here, which makes a small loaf cake.  For all my recipes I use a 250ml cup and a 20 ml tablespoon, unsalted butter and 60g eggs. My oven is a conventional gas oven so if your oven is fan forced you may need to reduce the oven temperature by 20°C. If you'd like to make a larger cake, refer to Helen's original recipe.

Helen Goh's Anzac Cake 

Cake 
65g rolled oats 
135ml canned coconut milk
112g plain flour
1 tsp baking powder 
scant ¼ tsp baking soda
½ tsp salt 
80g unsalted butter, at room temperature, plus extra for greasing tin 
65g soft brown sugar (light or dark) 
65g golden syrup 
2 large eggs, at room temperature
icing sugar, to serve 

whipped cream, to serve

a sprig of rosemary

Topping
40g unsalted butter 
50g soft, light brown sugar
50g dried shredded coconut 
30ml cream or coconut milk
pinch sea salt

Method 
Preheat the oven to 190°C, conventional. Grease and line a small loaf tin with baking paper, allowing an overhang on the sides to ease lifting the cake out when baked. 

Place the oats in a food processor and pulse a few times to achieve an uneven texture – some fine and some more coarsely cut. Transfer to a bowl with the coconut milk, stir to combine, then allow to soak while you prepare the rest of the cake. 

Sift the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt into a bowl. Set aside for the time being. 

Combine the butter, brown sugar and golden syrup in the bowl of a food processor fitted with the paddle attachment and blend on medium-high speed until creamy. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. The mixture will have the appearance of scrambled eggs at this stage, which is normal. Scrape down the bottom and sides of the bowl, then add the oats soaked in coconut milk. Beat on low speed until just combined, then add the sifted dry ingredients and mix a few seconds longer – it won't be completely incorporated yet. 

Remove the bowl from the food processor and finish folding the batter with a rubber spatula, then scrape into the prepared loaf pan. Place on the middle shelf of the preheated 190°C conventional oven and bake for 45-50 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the middle of the cake comes out clean. 

While the cake is baking, place all the ingredients for the topping in a saucepan and stir over low heat until the butter has melted, and the ingredients are combined. Once the cake is cooked, remove from the oven (keep the oven on) and gently spoon the topping mixture evenly over the surface of the cake. Return to the oven and bake for another 12-15 minutes until the topping is golden brown. 

Remove from the oven and leave to cool for 15 minutes before lifting the loaf out onto a wire rack to cool completely. Sift over some icing sugar, top with a sprig of rosemary (for remembrance) and serve with cool, whipped cream if desired. 

I shared this cake with my neighbours, who found the cake as delicious as I did. This recipe is a definite keeper.

See you all again next week with some more baking from my kitchen.

Bye for now,

Jillian

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passover week 2024 - passover amalfi lemon cake

passover week 2024 - passover amalfi lemon cake

16 Apr 2024

This is a recipe I've made a few times before, which I've only lightly renovated for Passover. An Amalfi lemon cake is made using a whole lemon, olive oil, eggs, sugar, almond meal with a small quantity of either flour or polenta to bind it together. I swapped my Passover baking mix (equal quantities of superfine matzo meal and potato starch) for the flour and skipped the small quantity of baking powder.

As it's an oil based cake, if you'd like to keep it pareve, skip the whipped cream topping, dust the top of the cake with icing sugar and serve it with the syrup and perhaps a citrus fruit salad. The lemon syrup is key here and in the future, I'd double the quantity. Also, if you can, make the cake the day before you serve it as I think it gives the cake a bit of time to mature and develop its flavour.

Here's the recipe for you which makes a 17cm cake. If you'd like to make a larger version refer to the linked recipe. For all my recipes I use a 250ml cup and a 20 ml tablespoon, unsalted butter and 60g eggs. My oven is a conventional gas oven so if your oven is fan forced you may need to reduce the oven temperature by 20°C.

Passover Amalfi Lemon Cake - adapted from Delicious magazine 
Ingredients
1 small lemon (preferably seedless)
1/2 cup (125ml) extra virgin olive oil 
125g almond meal
50g passover baking mix (superfine matzo meal mixed with potato starch)

Pinch salt  
2 eggs
125g caster sugar

  
Lemon syrup
1/4 cup (55g) caster sugar
Juice of 1 lemon 

Candied Lemon Slices - optional

1 lemon, thinly sliced into rounds

⅓ cup caster sugar

⅓ cup water

 
To decorate

candied lemon slices, optional
250mls cream, whisked to stiff peaks 

Method 
Place lemon in a deep saucepan, cover with cold water and place a small plate on top to keep lemon submerged. Bring to a rapid simmer over medium heat. Cook for 20 minutes or until lemon is just soft, topping up water if needed, or microwave the lemon with 1 tbs water in a covered bowl for 3-4 minutes, then drain and cool completely. Cut into quarters and remove seeds. Place in a blender with oil and whiz until smooth and emulsified. Set aside. 

Preheat the oven to 170°C, conventional. Grease and flour a 17 cm-round cake pan with superfine matzo meal and line the base with baking paper. Mix together the almond meal, passover baking mix and salt. Place eggs and sugar in a bowl and whisk to combine, then whisk in lemon puree and the almond meal.

Spread into the prepared pan and bake for 45-55 minutes or until the top is just firm and a skewer inserted in the centre comes out clean. Cool in pan for 1 hour, then invert onto a wire rack and cool completely.

Lemon syrup
Combine sugar and juice of 1/2 lemon in a small saucepan over medium-low heat, stirring to dissolve the sugar. Bring to a simmer and cook for 4-6 minutes until thickened and starting to caramelise. Cool syrup, then mix in remaining juice of 1/2 lemon until combined. Cool completely to room temperature. 

Candied lemon Slices

To make the candied lemon slices, put the water and sugar into a frying pan over a medium heat. Cook for about 10 minutes or until the mixture begins to turn golden brown. Slide in the lemon slices and cook for a few more minutes before turning over. Cook until well coated with the toffee. Carefully remove the lemon slices from the toffee and place on the baking paper to cool. Arrange a few of the slices over the top of the cream to serve. Any leftover lemon slices can be stored in an airtight container in the fridge between pieces of baking paper.

To serve 
Top the cake with cream, drizzle with syrup and decorate with a few candied lemon slices.

This went down very well with my taste testers, aka workmates, who had no idea the cake had been renovated for Passover. I've made this cake twice before but I don't remember having a slice so I can't compare the 2 versions. Both times I made the larger version with double the lemon syrup. The lemon syrup is key here and in the future if I make a smaller cake, I'd double the quantity of syrup as it makes the cake, literally.

See you all again tomorrow with another bake for Passover Week 2024.

Bye for now,

Jillian

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passover week 2024 - passover sachertorte with apricot compote

passover week 2024 - passover sachertorte with apricot compote

14 Apr 2024

Welcome to Passover Week 2024. I thought it was time to make a showstopper for Passover. I turned to the baking queen, Natalie Paull, and adapted her recipe for sachertorte with apricot compote but made it passover friendly and dairy-free. Instead of flour, I used superfine matzo meal and potato starch then topped the cake with a dairy free chocolate ganache adapted from here and swapped apricot syrup for the apricot liqueur.

Passover baking is always a little unpredictible. Even though I thought I'd completely folded the superfine matzo meal through the batter, I did not and annoying white blotches could be seen when I cut the cake into slices. I admit to using a bit of creative Photoshop and artfully draped apricot slices to conceal the worst of the blotches.

Matzo meal does not bake the same way as flour and the cake exterior was very dry to the touch. Even a generous coating of apricot jam couldn't glue the ganache to the cake and some of the ganache detached when I sliced the cake. The next day, the cake was easier to slice and both the texture and flavour improved as the cake matured. That's good news because it means the cake can be made and coated with ganache well ahead of time and is all the better for doing so.

I served the cake with some of the leftover apricot compote, so if you plan to do the same you might want to double the quantity of the apricot filling. 

Here's the recipe for you which makes a 3.5 x 7 inch loaf cake. For all my recipes I use a 250ml cup and a 20 ml tablespoon, unsalted butter and 60g eggs. My oven is a conventional gas oven so if your oven is fan forced you may need to reduce the oven temperature by 20°C.

Passover sachertorte with apricot compote
Chocolate sponge  
100g dark (70%) chocolate, chopped
15g Dutch cocoa powder
15ml extra virgin olive oil
pinch fine salt 
135 mls water 
4 large eggs, at room temperature
120g caster sugar
45g superfine matzo meal
40g potato starch

 
Apricot filling – you’ll only use about half this quantity 
410g can apricots in juice
Large strips of peel and the juice of 1 orange
¼ cup (55g) caster sugar

Water Ganache 
200g chopped dark chocolate (48%)
80ml boiling water
20mls maple syrup 

Decoration
60g apricot jam
30g dark (70%) chocolate
Dutch cocoa, to dust

Method
Preheat oven to 200°C/180°C fan-forced. Grease base and sides of an 8 inch square pan and line with baking paper.

Chocolate sponge

Place chocolate, cocoa, oil, pinch fine salt and 135 mls water in a medium saucepan. Bring to a simmer over medium heat, whisking constantly until smooth and starting to simmer. Scrape into a large bowl. Set aside until lukewarm.

Place eggs and sugar in a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment and whisk for 8 minutes on medium-high speed until thick and tripled in volume. Meanwhile, sift matzo meal and potato starch together 3 times.

Add egg mixture to chocolate mixture and gently fold until combined. Sift over half the flour mixture, gently fold until almost all incorporated, then sift over the remainder. Gently fold until there are no floury or chocolatey streaks.

Scrape into the prepared tray and smooth out to level. Bake for approximately 25 minutes or until the top is dry and the sponge is springy. Rest for 10 minutes before inverting onto a cooling rack, peel away the paper, then re-invert and cool fully. 

Filling
Drain apricots over a medium saucepan and add the orange peel, juice and sugar to the syrup. Bring to the boil, stirring until sugar dissolves. Gently boil for 15 minutes until a thick syrup forms. Next, thickly slice apricots, add to syrup and simmer for 5 minutes to soften. Set aside to cool. Reserve syrup and the peel for decoration. 

Assembly
Cut sides of the sponge to straighten, if needed. Cut into two equal pieces. Place the first piece back onto the cooling rack. Brush with 1 tbs of the apricot syrup and gently spoon over half the apricot mixture, lightly pressing the apricots into the sponge with the back of the spoon. You could use apricot jam for this step if you like. Brush remaining sponge with syrup and place, syrup-side down, to finish. Adjust sponge stacks to align pieces and press lightly. Brush crumbs from the side, cover with plastic wrap and chill overnight. The following day, return the cake to the cooling rack. Warm the jam in a small bowl in the microwave with 1 tbs boiling water and brush top and sides of cake with the jam.

Ganache
Place the chopped chocolate in a heatproof bowl. Pour over the boiling water. Either microwave for 20 seconds on high, or place a bowl over a saucepan of simmering water for 1-2 minutes, to melt the chocolate. Gently stir together with a whisk until combined and smooth. Now stir in the maple syrup. Set aside at room temperature for 20-30 minutes until ganache thickens to a spreadable consistency. 

Place the cooling rack over a baking tray to catch any dripping chocolate, pour ganache slowly over the cake, guiding ganache to fall down the sides. Smooth top and sides with a metal spatula to evenly coat and set aside to set. 

While ganache sets, melt the remaining dark chocolate in a microwave-safe bowl in 30-second bursts and smooth thinly onto a sheet of baking paper. Cover with a second piece of baking paper and roll up to form a 2cm-diameter cylinder. Freeze for 30 minutes, then unroll – the chocolate will break into shards.

Once the ganache has set, lift the cake carefully onto a serving plate using an egg lifter. Just before serving, top the cake with the chocolate shards, dust with cocoa and top with reserved candied peel. Cut with a hot damp knife. To get the neatest slices I found it best to cut the cake longitudinally first then crosswise. Serve with the remaining apricot compote. 

You know how I don't like chocolate cakes, well I'll make an exception for this one which was absolutely delicious, especially the ganache. I may have even had 2 slices.

See you all again tomorrow with another bake for Passover week 2024.

Bye for now,

Jillian

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passover week 2024 - chocolate almond macaroon teacakes

passover week 2024 - chocolate almond macaroon teacakes

Some recipes only need to be lightly adapted to become Passover friendly and this Claire Ptak recipe from her book, Love is a Pink Cake, is one such recipe. All I had to do was swap the cornflour for potato starch and I was done. The recipe is naturally gluten free and if you made the hot water ganache recipe from the Passover Sachertorte with apricot compote post, these little treats would be dairy free as well. 

The recipe is a bit fiddly but the teacakes are delicious and not too sweet. The original recipe was for 12 teacakes but I halved it to make 6. I doubled the marshmallow recipe though just to ensure there was sufficient marshmallow to go around. If you make 12 teacakes, I would make a 3 egg white marshmallow recipe just to be on the safe side.

Here's the recipe for you which makes 6 teacakes. For all my recipes I use a 250ml cup and a 20 ml tablespoon, unsalted butter and 60g eggs. My oven is a conventional gas oven so if your oven is fan forced you may need to reduce the oven temperature by 20°C.

Chocolate almond macaroon tea cakes - makes 6
For the almond macaroon base
25g flaked almonds, lightly toasted
37g almond meal
80g caster sugar 
2 tsp potato starch
1 egg white

For the marshmallow
2 egg whites
100g caster sugar
3 tsp golden syrup
Small pinch fine salt

For the chocolate ganache 
100g dark chocolate, roughly chopped 
120g cream

1 tsp maple syrup

To finish

25g flaked almonds, lightly toasted

Method
Preheat the oven to 170°C conventional and line a large baking tray with baking paper.

Mix the toasted flaked and ground almonds, 50g of the caster sugar and the potato starch together and set aside. Put the remaining sugar and egg whites into a clean bowl and whisk together to form soft peaks. Fold the two mixtures together, then spoon 6 x 5cm circles of the mixture onto the lined tray and flatten slightly with the back of a spoon. Bake for 20 minutes, then carefully peel off the paper and allow to cool on a wire rack.

Marshmallow

Put all the ingredients into the metal bowl of your stand mixer and set over a saucepan of simmering water (do not let the water touch the bottom of the bowl or it will cook the egg whites). Whisk continuously by hand with a balloon whisk, until the sugar dissolves and the mixture is very warm to the touch. If using a sцgar thermometer, whisk continuously for 2 minutes, or until it reads 70-75°C whichever comes first. Transfer the bowl to your electric mixer (fitted with the whisk attachment) and whisk quickly until stiff peaks are just beginning to form.

Put the mixture in a piping bag with a large round nozzle. Pipe large bubble shapes onto your cooled macaroons (or use a spoon).

Ganache

Put the chopped chocolate into a heatproof bowl. Heat 100g of the cream until just beginning to bubble, then pour it over the chocolate. Let it sit for 10 minutes, then stir until smooth. If the ganache is a little broken or spilt, stir in the remaining cold cream and stir until smooth.

Position the wire rack of macaroons over a baking paper-lined tray, to catch any chocolate drips. Spoon the chocolate over the marshmallow macaroons, coating them evenly. Top with the flaked almonds, then leave to set for 15 mins before serving.

The teacakes do not have a long shelf life so I would serve them the same day they're made.

See you all tomorrow with another bake for Passover Week 2024.

Bye for now,

Jillian

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