Chocolate Orange Hazelnut Frangipane Tart

Maggie Beer Inspired Mini Frangipane Tarts

I have been wanting to try making a frangipane tart for a while and when I heard that the Sweet Adventures Blog hop hosted by Dining with a Stud was to be 'nuts' I thought this would be a great opportunity to try it. Having never tried one, I thought I'd better go with a tried and tested recipe, so I found Maggie Beer's Rhubarb Frangipane in an old MasterChef Magazine. I wasn't happy, though not to try something a bit adventurous for the blog hop. My hubbie suggested choc orange as a flavour combo to go with nuts, and when I saw hazelnut meal in Woolies I was convinced that would be a great match. Not content to jump straight into adaptation, I made the original one too but did them in a muffin tin so we could have mini versions of both! They were pretty rustic looking, because the pastry is quite tough to work with in such a small hole, but both worked really well, and they were the perfect size for being able to taste both! Personally I preferred the original with the tart rhubarb, but all the guest loved the chocolate orange hazelnut flavour - rich and gooey with the melted chocolate inside and perfect for chocaholics!

I am not going to post Maggie's Rhubarb Frangipane recipe here, but just the Choc Orange Hazelnut Frangipane. It's based very heavily on Maggie's in the method, but obviously the ingredients differ! Also, I used her pastry recipe with sour cream recipe too - Thanks Maggie for the inspiration today :-)

Chocolate Orange Hazelnut Frangipane Tart

Maggie's Sour Cream Pastry
100g cold unsalted butter
125g plain flour
1 tablespoon cocoa powder
60g sour cream

Blitz the butter, cocoa powder and flour in a food processor till it resembles breadcrumbs;
Add sour cream and blitz again till combined;
Pour out onto the bench and knead until smooth;
Shape, cover in cling wrap and cool in the fridge for 30 mins

Tarts
Pastry as above
zest of 1 orange
65g unsalted butter
85g caster sugar
1 egg
1 tablespoon of orange liqueur (Grand Marnier or Cointreau would suit - I used Sabra, a Choc Orange Liqueur)

Choc Orange Hazelnut Tarts

1 tablespoon plain flour
100g hazelnut meal
12 squares of dark chocolate
1/4 cup of marmalade
Pastry
Preheat oven to 200C;
Split pastry into 6;
Roll out cooled pastry till it's about 2 mm thick;
Line hole of a muffin tray with thin pastry;
Trim the edges and smooth out in the tin;
Repeat in 6 of the muffin tray holes;
Pierce the base of the pastry with a fork about 3 times each;
Place in the freezer for approx 15 mins;

Tart
Meanwhile, you can start to make the frangipane filling - cream the butter and sugar with the orange zest in the food processor until light and creamy;
Add the egg and beat till combined;
Add the tablespoon of liqueur and blitz again;
Add hazelnut meal and plain flour and process again until combined;

Pastry
Blind bake the pastry for 10-15 mins (cover the pastry with a small sheet of baking paper and pastry weights);
Remove pastry weights and baking paper and return to the oven for 5 mins, or until the pastry is crisp and cooked;
Remove muffin tin from oven and cool slightly;

Tart
Reduce the oven temperature to 170C;
Split the frangipane mixture between the 6 pastry cases;
Push 2 blocks of chocolate into the frangipane mixture;
Put into the oven for 20 mins;
Remove from oven and carefully spread a small teaspoon of marmalade on each of the tarts;
Return to oven for 10 mins or until the filling has puffed up and the marmalade has melted to create a glaze;
Serve warm with thick pouring cream.

Tomorrow 2012 begins - MasterChefAU 2012 that is!

Tomorrow 2012 begins! Well Masterchef 2012 that is. I can't wait! I've been having withdrawals from cooking competitions since MKR finished a few months ago, and have been anticipating the start of MasterChef for weeks now!

I have managed to avoid the previews (all but one ad with a couple of hopeful contestants wringing their hands together in a vehicle) so I have no idea what this season will bring!

What I hope though is that they bring the Mystery Box and Invention Test combo back and that we see more of the personality of the Chefs and what they can really do. Last season I wished they would show more of what the Chefs cooking style really was. I know Jimmy from two series ago only seemed to cook curry but wow! what curry that was and it was amazing to see all he could do when given a bit of freedom. The contestants last year though seemed to be on a shorter leash with less personality that showed through.

I also hope that the Celebrity chef challenge is a weekly feature. How inspiring to see the top Aussie chefs in action with their signature dishes.

I am also hoping that I happen across a team challenge some day. Who do you have to know to wangle myself into the pizzeria or sushi bar the Contestants take over for the night?

Finally I am looking forward to being inspired to cook some fantastic meals. I love the recipes I have tried from the Masterchef kitchen and can't wait for some pressure test challenging recipes and to see the judges in action in their Masterclasses.

"Surprise" Chocolate Cake

Disappointing "4" cake

Creating fabulous culinary creations doesn't work so well if the recipients don't enjoy the food, so we often tame the chilli in a dish or leave the steak on for a few more minutes past a medium rare! We learnt a lesson about catering to the tastes of others a few years ago. My hubbie spent all day decorating a fabulous cake for the 4th birthday of our nephew. Most 4 year old would be pretty impressed, I would have thought, with a cake in the shape of a 4, with a road, real cars and road signs?! However, we realised the hard way that Amadeus was not a big fan of the coloured frosting. So disappointed that he didn't want to eat it until every trace of the orange icing had been removed.

"Surprise" Chocolate Cake

I decided to make the "Surprise Chocolate Cake" from this month's MasterChef Magazine but to make sure it was palatable for all our dinner guests, the surprising thing about how my chocolate cake looked was that mine was missing a segment of the pink pomegranate icing. The cake, with raspberry and chocolate chip surprises, was so moist and I was also surprised by how pink the icing became with the natural pomegranate juice. I was really happy with my creation, and my youngest critic was adamant right up to when I was serving up the cake, that he was to have the un-frosted section!

Addiction

There's rehab for people who are addicted to drugs, AA for alcoholics, Nicotine patches for tobacco addiction, hypnotherapy for chocolate addiction but no therapy, but discipline (or succumbing) to mine.... Cookery Mag Addiction. 

I've had subscriptions to one magazine or another for about 7 years now, after buying my first Delicious Magazine in August of 2004, and I've enjoyed every minute of them. My hubbie wonders why some days I rush to the door to greet him with a look of joy on my face, and others I just calmly keep going with whatever I'm up to! I don't think it took him long to realise that it correlated to whether he was clutching one of my favourite magazines or not. 

The nice thing about my magazine collection, which has recently moved to a new home of it's own bookshelf, as it started getting too unruly, is that I actually tap into the magazines each week to make my menu. I pull off seasonal editions of Delicious, MasterChef Magazine, GoodFood, Gourmet Traveller or Feast Magazine when I'm looking for recipes to cook each week. We have a whole selection and my prolific collection means that we rarely eat the same things twice (although old favourites do come back around every so often!) One of my favourite weekend tasks is to pull a few magazines from the shelf and pour through them looking for menu inspiration.

It's an addiction that space is beginning to curb, and I almost feel satisfied that I have enough recipes to go on.... until the next new food mag makes it's way onto my radar!

Love at First Bite: Valentine Cheesecake

Valentine Cheesecake

My hubbie loves cheesecake. He doesn't have a favourite flavour or type, just as long as it's cheesecake, so despite pouring over recipes in the run up to Valentines Day looking for a romantic dessert, I couldn't get past cheesecake! Conveniently, I'm confident making them now (after many!) and I love them too!

I've been wanting to try one of the cheesecakes from last June's MasterChef Magazine for a while, so the "Love at First Bite" Blog Hop seemed a perfect time. The Alice In Wonderland Cheesecake looks so impressive it kind of ups the cakes...I mean stakes!

Instead of the Alice in Wonderland theme though, I thought I'd go for a Valentine's theme. I had it pictured in my head, beautiful hearts instead of the raspberry circles of the original. However, the raspberry purée mix seems has a mind of it's own. No matter how heart-shaped I moved the piping bag nozzle in the cheesecake, I ended up with a weird round shape! Oh well, I crossed my fingers that it would taste good. In the end it was a smooth, not too sweet, delicious cheesecake and I worked on the heart shapes again directly onto the plate with the left over raspberry purée.

For my ever so slightly adapted for Valentine's Day recipe (instead of the original Alice In Wonderland Cheesecake) keep reading...

Food for Thought

In my one of my "other" lives I am doing my part time Masters so when crunch time comes (and not from a delicious pork crackling) I need to be on my game and alert to juggle studies, work and my other commitments. I leafed through my June MasterChef Magazine and out jumped Curtis Stone... (I wish).. 's quick and healthy recipes - perfect brain food for a time poor exam cramming foodie like me! The key ingredients in the recipes I picked to keep my brain and energy levels high were two relative newbies to my repertoire but well known for their nutritional value: brown rice and turkey. They also both had so many veggies that I got my 5 serves in 1 meal!

Turkey Pot Pie

I prepared the Turkey Pot Pie first. Celeriac is on my "food of the season" list at the moment. I love the creaminess of celeriac mash, with the fragrant flavour. The pie was a hearty combo of the lean but tasty meat, which I have only ever used in a Christmas roast, with some pantry staple veggies and was perfect for the chilly Sydney evening.

Cumin Spiced Lamb

The Cumin Spiced Lamb with Ratatouille Brown Rice was another fabulous nutritional feast to keep my brain ticking over. The nutty low gi rice worked well as the base of the dish and because of the mounds of veggies in the ratatouille, we only needed a few slices of the pink lamb to feel full and refueled!

I loved the healthy, heartiness of both dishes preventing me from munching on snacks, that I could make plenty for lunch leftovers (giving me extra time to study instead of making up sandwiches) and that they kept my brain ticking!