Cronuts and Croissants

YUM.

Cronut fever has died down a bit, but I made these at the height of the media frenzy just to see if I could. You know what, they were bloomin' yummy. Super chuffed, you should all try at home. I picked up some great tips from the wonderful Jo Wheatley (Winner of GBB2011) at her blog Jo's Blue Aga, although I will confess hers look far more yummy than mine.

Definition: A cronut is a deep fried donut shaped croissant. BUT BETTER

The reason I have coupled a range of other pastries into this post is that the pastry dough used in all is the same. Make up a batch and have a beautifully butter heavy day with friends and family. I can tell you they did not last long at all in my house.

CRONUTS

• Decide how much of your dough (see recipe here) you want to allocate to Cronuts. I went with 1/3^rd for cronuts, 1/3^rd for pain au chocolat/raisin and 1/3^rd for plain croissants. Cut this amount off the main block of dough with a bread knife, and put the rest back in the fridge.

• Decide on how you want your cronuts- sugar coated? Glazed? Drizzled in chocolate and filled with cream? You can have a real mixture, and have great fun playing around with flavours. I went for cinnamon sugar coated cronuts filled with vanilla cream. The world is your baking oyster- go for flavour combinations you love.

• Roll the dough out to around 3.5 cm thick, and then use a round cutter to cut out your donuts. To create the hole in the middle, find something that is at smaller than half the width of the original cutter you used- Jo suggested the larger end of a piping bag nozzle which worked a treat for my mini circles. Put these in the fridge/freezer for at least an hour so they are super cold.

• If you have a deep fat fryer, great- use it. I do not, however, and so I shallow fried them in a deep frying pan, a ton of oil and some guess work on temperature. Use your worst looking cronut to test- they should turn golden brown after a few minutes on each side, and the pastry inside should be flaky and buttery. Burnt on the outside and raw on the inside? The temperature is too high. Once fried, toss them in your sugar to coat- I mixed caster sugar with cinnamon for a twist. Fill with cream if desired- best eaten warm!
  

  

         

CROISSANTS

This is just a different way of shaping the dough - how you flavour them is up to you. I am going to try some savoury croissants next for Brunch, but for this blog I have just coated them in a touch of apricot jam to get that lovely shiny look.

Roll the dough out to about 1 cm thick, and cut out a large circle - I used a large dinner plate. Divide the circle into 8 ( like you would a pizza) and seperate the slices. Roll each one out a bit wider with your rolling pin, and then proceed to roll them up from the outside (the crust of the pizza) to the inside, tucking in the pointy end.

Leave in a warm place to prove for 30-40 minutes, whilst pre-heating the oven to 200C. Cover with an egg wash and bake on a baking tray for 20-25 minutes. Immediately wash with a small amount of melted apricot jam. BEAUTIFUL.

Rachel x



Laminated pastry- the best pastry in the world!

This post is a pre-amble to my next post about Cronuts- how to make laminated pastry. This pastry is used for croissants, pain au chocolat's and a tonne of other beautiful pastries.

This laminated dough is essentially layered with butter, which is done by folding the pastry into 3 every few hours. Make this the night before for best results.

·         500g Strong White Flour

·         1.5 tsp salt

·         7g fast action dried yeast

·         25g caster sugar

·         300-320ml lukewarm water (lukewarm, not cold. Crucial difference.)

·         400g COLD unsalted butter

1. Easy as pie- put all the ingredients except the butter in a bowl, mix until the dough forms and then knead for 5 minutes or so on a floured surface. Put make in the bowl and leave to prove for 1 hour.
2. Take the cold butter, place between 2 pieces of laminated baking paper and flatten with a rolling pin to around 20cm by 60cm. This is hard work- don’t give up!
3. Take the dough, which should have doubled in size, and roll it out to 20cm by 60cm. Lay the sheet of butter on top of the dough in the top 2/3rds, and fold the bottom 3^rd of the dough over the top of the butter layer- think like a butter sandwich! Then fold the top 3^rd down over the rest of the butter sandwich.
4. This process will be repeated around 4 times, once every hour for 3 hours after you do the initial fold, and once in the morning an hour before you start baking. Leave in the fridge between each fold.

The next morning your dough should be gloriously risen and airy- if it is not, it is likely that you water was too cold at the first step, so the yeast wasn't properly activated.

See the next post for what to do with this glorious stuff!

Rachel x

Lilac and Lavender

Ah meringues, such a sweet, sweet classic, always enjoyed with strawberries and cream, a summertime favourite, enjoyed by Etonians in a mess and er, people that went to polytechnics too, consisting of only beaten egg whites and sugar, how simple.... 

But wait a sec, lavender flavoured? And sorry, they're lilac? 

"Ooh ar. Not for me thanks. Bit modern that is" I hear you say as you back away from me slowly like i've age reversed a couple of years and started to experiment with interesting scented herbs and food again in some early quater life crisis (anniversairy of my birth is infact looming).


Fear not! Im not trying to heal anyone herbally or cure insomnia, i made these simply because:

1.    I’ve never attempted meringues before and felt this bbq weather was the perfect excuse to try for a classic summer pud.

2.    Purple is my bestest colour.

3.    The lavender sugar was reduced in sainsbos (hard times remember guyz)

4.    The big misshapen pastel coloured stacks of meringues in Borough market always look fabulous and I wanted to ‘ave a go myself creating these sugary clouds of happiness

5.    Lily, lavender and lilac are a good alliteration and MAN do I love me one of those.


Observe the prettiness i then created.

The recipe is adapted from Lily Vanillis basic plain meringue recipe. I deducted 10 grams of plain sugar and added the infused lavender one instead to make up the 280g.

It’s incredibly easy to follow and I (for once) didn't have one single panic moment in the kitchen. Mostly, because i took my time and didn't cut any corners- chemistry was never a strong subject for me at school, i spent more time listening to my chemical romance with my friend Lucy and waving at Rachel if she walked past the science block than i did paying attention- however- as cooking is in itself a science, i had to pay lots and lots and lots of attention to everything i did from temperatures to timings and could not sing along to my spotify playlist (badly) and drink cups of tea as is my usual baking routine! 

I will happily admit i will gloss over long instructions to do with anything and seem to think i'm always right (haa i hear you ALL say) but i'd heard many a disastrous meringue story (mostly on come dine with me) and knew for once, i had to be patient and good and did what the instructions told me in fear of messing with some big bad baking sciencey rules.


And voila perfect, pretty, homemade sugary mountains of marshmellowy yet crunchy moreish meringues were created!

Tips:

-I was vigilant with my whipping speeds (start v v slow only allowing small bubbles in first), egg white tempreture (room, always!) and sugar adding (not all at once!).

-Let all your crazy lady tendacies out at once by cleaning all your equipment within an inch of its life to remove all grease and/or rub a lemon around your mixing bowl (i did both, cause hello, crazy lady!).

-I made one batch (about 8 large) freehand with a metal spoon and piped small neat ones with the leftover mixture (freehand ones turned out to be my fave!).

-Fan oven setting is allowed unlike when baking cakes! Hurrah!! Swirly heat!

-Always always leave for an hour or more in the oven once it is switched off so they set just right.

-However it still infused through the meringue making the soft pillowy inside a lovely colour of lilac.

-The lavender flavouring, although it does seem peculiar and bubble bath like to be putting into food, was a sweet success, i added just the right amount so that it wasn't too over powering, and so it leaves a very faint added sweetness to the meringue, a very soft floral lift if you will, without tasting like soap or something you found in the flower bed! 

-I almost like to think the lavender adds a cutesy old fashioned spin on this classic, perfect for afternoon tea with strong cups of earl grey, it would work well with macaroons and cute purple cupcakes too, so i can't wait to experiment with infused sugar more now i know its not too overpowering or odd in food. 




Try to enjoy with strawberries and whipped cream. If they last that long. They're very moreish and most sweet and light. They melt in your mouth like candyfloss. I scoffed half the glossy mix before it was even cooked. I was in some bizarre lavender  infused calm world whilst bouncing of the walls on sugar at the same time for the rest of the afternoon. I highly recommend.


Holly x


P.s HOW cute is my pink egg box that my mums friend gave us with fresh eggs from her chickens?

Lily Vanilli's Basic Meringues

Here is a rough guide to Lily Vanilli's basic meringue recipe. Her book is filled with such interesting and imaganative creations that i was apprehensive at first to attempt her recipe rather than sticking with an old school recipe, but she explains it so well and breaks it down into easy steps- as well as explaining all the science behind it which really helped and made me pay extra attention to what i was doing- although get back to me once i've attempted her 3 tier bitter chocolate orange cake, i have a feeling the impressive photography of this cake matches the complex recipe *faints*.

6 large egg whites- at room tempreature

1 tsp lemon juice

280g caster sugar

(i used 270g plain caster sugar and 10g sainsbury's taste the difference lavender infused sugar)

One baking tray, lined. 

1. Preheat the oven to 120 degrees fan assisted/gas mark 1.

-Prepare a baking tray with non stick baking parchment- stick down with some of the meringue mix to stop it folding up in the oven!-

2. In a bowl with an electric whisk whip egg whites- very slowly- you only want small bubbles to get in at first- once they start to foam slightly and look less liquid add the lemon juice and continue whisking until soft peaks form (still very light and airy but starting to hold shape)- approx 5 minutes 

3. Now you can slowly beat in the sugar- 2 tablespoons at a time- and continue to increase the speed until stiff peaks form

-The mixture should stick up when you move the whisk away, if it flops back down (don't be crude now) then whisk further.

4. Do the upside down bowl test- i dare ya.

-This is when i add the food coloring and fold it in very, very carefully, i found turning the whisk round once with the coloring helped create the lovely swirled effect. 

5. Use a metal spoon to dollop the beaten whites onto the prepared baking tray, or pipe, up to you, spooning by hand makes them look very big and messy in a good way!

-Do this straight away and don't leave the mixture to sink or knock it about to much- it won't make big fluffy meringues! 

6. Bake for 1 hour until set- they will have a still soft but crisp shell formed.

7. Turn off the oven and leave to dry for another hour.

Tips:

-Grease or oil, as well as plastic, can damage the whites from forming.

-Lemon juice round a clean bowl will help remove any dirt or grease.

-Keep the oven temperature low- or you will end up with burnt peaks!

-Create small bubbles on a low speed first. You don't want big pockets of air.

-Only increase the speed as you are adding the sugar to create your stiff peaks.

From Lily Vanilli's book Sweet Tooth

Easy Peasy Paprika Pepper Quesadilla...

......wiiiiithhomemadechilliandlimeguacamole.
Holy Guacamole! Try saying all that after a few tequilas. I DARE YA.

Its only 10am on a Saturday morning and about, roughly, i'd say, 100 degrees outside (weather girl career plan B sorted). If you eat a fry up right now, i will think you a) must be so hungover you can't tell its sunny and scorchio or b) you're one of those people who eats fry ups on holidays in spain and therefore get out of my kitchen right now.
SO.
Ditch the bacon grease and ketchup on hot summer mornings and head straight for a mexican brunch.
Fresh, spicy, light, bright ingredients (except the cheese but who doesn't love cheese on all the foods OK?) make for the best type of breakfast. These are so quick and easy and 10000% tequila hangover proof. Rachel loves tequila more than me. Im sure she could manage 20 of these after that night we had in exeter...
The homemade guacamole is also so, soooo easy and takes just a few minutes. Don't worry if you don't have a blender an electric mixer, just going at it with a spoon pretending its someone you hate will work just as ok and offer some free therapy at the same time.

Just promise promise me you WILL use lots of lime, chilli and paprika and bright red crunchy peppers and we're sorted.
These also make for a healthy pizza alternative if you can't quite bring yourself to eat this much cheese in the AM and want it with beer (who am i kidding. really).

For the Guacamole:

2 ripe avacados

1 lime squeezed

Chilli powder to taste- fresh chillis even better if you can face it in the am!

Paprika powder to taste

Put all the ingredients in a food processor or blender and blitz. Season with the spices to taste!

For the Quesadilla:

2 tortilla wraps per person

Grated cheese

Fresh peppers, chopped

Paprika to taste

Head your griddle or pan on a high heat, grease pan, lay down one tortilla and load on the cheese and peppers and sprinkle with pepper and paprika to taste, place the second tortilla on the top and press down- i used a bacon press because god knows why but there's on in this house- flip over when the cheese starts to melt inside and the side of the tortilla starts to brown. The edges should go nice and crispy! This works well with cajun chicken also!

Plus you can add sweetcorn, chorizo etc etc into your quesadilla. To be honest i haven't eaten pizza in weeks, it was friday, i love making fresh guacamole and i wanted to play with my new camera. Do what ever the bloody hell you like with these ha!

p.s first brunch recipe post on this blog yay! 

Holly x

Big Blueberry Muffins For Breakfast

When most folk buy a new camera what do they do? Oh you know, maybe take a walk and photograph some landscapes, take pictures of their friends, family, maybe even their pets. What did i do? Headed straight for a quick and easy but damn yummy blueberry muffin recipe from my magnolia bakery book to create some little bundles of blueberry joy that would make for the perfect test subjects for my new camera. I was picturing big fluffy white muffins with bright blue spots all over them to make for fantastic foodie bloggy photos.
What i got was even better! Big proud, fluffy, but dense (good dense, buttermilk was involved, however full fat milk works fine) with bursts of burst purple blueberries, specks of white chocolate chips and lovely glazed tops.
Why did i add white chocolate? Er cause. Chocolate.
Oh they also read the manual. I have a certificate somewhere that says i'm pure BA boss at photography, so i left the manual in the box and headed straight for the kitchen. So really i still have no clue how to use my new camera.

Next time i make them i will 100% use chocolate chunks from an actual bar rather than chips, there wasn't enough chocolate! Are you a crazy woman i hear you all cry. Well when i took them into work Hayley who sits on the desk opposite noticed pretty much straight away. And if a fellow lady notices there isn't enough chocolate about, well, we have a problem!
However when you did get a bite of the dense soft sponge, big soft blueberry and a decadent swirl of the white chocolate all at once then it was the perfect combination i had pictured when fruit, chocolate and breakfast foods join together in holy muffin matrimony.
They made for welcomed thursday breakfast treats in the office and in the saxton household. Apart from my sister who is weirdly allergic to white chocolate. The milky bar kid is tres sad.

The really quick and easy one bowl recipe from the magnolia bakery book is in the link after the pics. Bring that cliche freshly baked muffin smell into your casa pronto!

Tips:
-I made my own DIY cases with squares of baking paper cut 20cm wide, place them over the muffin tin and use a small cup to press them down into the tins. The muffins cooked fine in them and have a real home baked look about them without the lines you normall get from shop bought cases.
(I used normal cases too for the ones to take to work with leftover batter)
-This makes them look great on a plate (poet wheeey) in little nests of scrunchy baking paper. 
-Try and find small blueberries, as in smaller than already quite small blueberries?! (i have officially gone mad) mine were a little too big (?!) and left quite big pockets in the sponge. However win some/lose some cause they also meant for that great purple dye on the sponge and when they burst they left an almost sweet jam like texture. 

-Use big big big chunks of good quality white chocolate for real rich decadence.

-Remember to spinkle with caster sugar before you bake them- this creates the lovely golden brown tops!

If you dont eat these warm with butter i won't ever talk to you again. Cheers.

Holly x

CLICK BELOW FOR RECIPE