This is the best ever chocolate tart…and I mean EVER! A crispy shell forms on top and then opens up to a soft, but not gooey, chocolate centre before you hit the crisp pastry that lies beneath. It is absolutely divine served with vanilla ice cream – or you may prefer cream.
If you’ve never made your own pastry before now is the time to start. Don’t be daunted by it, it’s really quite simple. I use this recipe whenever a sweet pastry shell is required, it works time and time again. It can be made by hand but I prefer to use my food processor. The trick with pastry is to handle the dough as little as possible, you need to keep your hot little hands away from the buttery goodness. In the food processor you really don’t need to make any contact with it at all. If making it by hand, just work quickly and in a cool area. If you’re making pastry on a hot day you’ll need luck on your side.
I think I initially pulled the pastry recipe from a cookbook called The Food of France – it’s an excellent book. The tart filling is from Delicious. Wicked Desserts.
Serves 8

Ingredients
Sweet pastry
340g plain flour
pinch of salt
90g icing sugar
150g unsalted butter
2 eggs beaten
Chocolate tart filling
150g dark chocolate (55% cocoa)
120g unsalted butter, chopped and chilled
5 eggs
220g caster sugar
70g plain flour, sifted

Method
For the pastry, in a food processor whizz up flour, salt and icing sugar until well combined. Add the butter, make sure it’s chilled, and pulse until the dough reaches a consistency of breadcrumbs. Add the eggs and process until just combined, be careful not to over process it. If making by hand, combine flour salt and icing sugar. Rub in the butter with your fingertips until the consistency of breadcrumbs. Stir through the eggs. At this point it is the same for both methods. Turn the dough out onto the bench and knead for about 15 seconds until smooth. Wrap the dough in cling film and rest in the fridge for 30 minutes. Tip: If you want to work quicker with your dough flatten the dough into a disc to chill it down quicker.
While the dough is resting grease a 24cm loose bottomed tart pan and preheat the oven to 180°C. Make sure you get into all the grooves if using a fluted tin. Once the dough has rested remove it from the fridge and begin to roll it out on a floured bench top. Again, try to work quickly. Once it has reached the desired thickness, about 4mm, roll the dough up onto your rolling pin to loosely place over the tart pan. Ease the dough into the pan, try not to stretch the dough at all, and gently push it into place making sure the pastry comes into contact will the entirety of the pan. Trim the excess dough about 1cm above the edge of the pan, the pastry has a tendency to shrink which this will allow for. Place back in the fridge to rest for another 10 minutes, longer on a hot day.
Once rested remove from the fridge and fill with baking weights (or rice), using a sheet of baking paper as a barrier. This will ensure your pastry doesn’t puff and rise when you don’t want it to. Blind bake for 10 minus, remove the paper and the weights and bake for another 10 minutes. It is cooked once the pastry has taken on a matt look and there are no shiny bits left. Remove from the oven and it is ready to be filled.
To make the filling place the chocolate and butter in a double boiler to melt the chocolate and butter. Wait until half the chocolate has melted before stirring it. Remove from the heat and set aside. In another heatproof bowl whisk together the eggs and sugar and place over the simmering water. Whisk continuously until thick, this can take a while. Once you lift some of the mixture out main part and it drizzles back in leaving an indentation it is done. Whisk in the chocolate mixture and finally the flour.
Pour the filling into the pastry case and bake for 20 minutes or until just set – when you put your finger gently on top you shouldn’t get too much of a wobble.
Serve warm or at room temperature and definitely with vanilla ice cream, or cream if you must.

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The Galette des Rois (King’s cake) is the traditional treat/pie/cake used to celebrate Epiphany in France. It’s basically an almond cream sandwiched between two sheets of puff pastry…how can you go wrong?! Although Epiphany usually falls on January 6th, the Galette is usually available throughout January in French patisseries. I may have missed January 6th for this post but at least it’s still January! When I was 15 I went to France on exchange for 3 months – luckily I didn’t come back home until the end of January. I loved the Galette so much we had one almost every single day at lunch.  It is just so delicious and to my surprise quite easy to make!
There is a fun little ritual that goes with it too. Hidden inside the Galette is a fève – typically a dried kidney bean or a small little ceramic trinket. The bakery who made the best Galette (in our opinion) had obviously stocked up on little ceramic boats, therefore I also have quite the collection of boats!

Anyway, the Galette is cut into portions and the youngest member of the party is to hide under the table as to not sneak a peak of where the fève may be hiding in the Galette . Once divided the host points to a portion and the youngest will be asked “pour qui?/for who?” This continues until everyone has a portion. Whoever gets the fève is then the king or queen for the rest of the day. When purchased from a bakery you will typically be given a paper crown to take home with your Galette. How fun!

Ingredients
2 sheets puff pastry – fresh or frozen, whatever you’ve got on hand
100g sugar
100g almond meal
100g butter, chopped & chilled
2 eggs
1 tbsp rum (optional)
egg wash (1 egg & 100ml milk)

Method
Preheat the oven to 180°C.
Defrost the puff pastry if using frozen.
To make the filling put sugar and almond meal in a food processor. With the motor running add the chopped butter and beat until the consistency of breadcrumbs. Still with the motor running add the eggs and rum. Process until combined. If you don’t have a food processor simply combine the sugar and almond meal. Rub the butter into the mixture with your fingertips until it resembles breadcrumbs. Beat in the eggs and rum.
Lay out the pastry and cut a 21 cm round and a 24 cm round. Place the smaller round on a baking tray lined with baking paper. Pile on the filling and spread it out leaving a 1.5 cm border around the edge. At this point hide the little fève in the mixture, pushing it down so that it won’t be evident through the pastry. Brush the edge with the egg wash and lay the other round on top, gently sealing the two layers together around the edge. Using a sharp knife decorate the top in any pattern you like. Poke some holes through the pastry for steam to escape during baking. Brush with egg wash.

*Tip: When dealing with puff pastry try not to brush with egg wash on the sides of the pastry – this will limit the pastry from rising to its full potential.
Bake in a oven for 25 minutes, or until golden brown. Allow to cool before serving.

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It was pudding’s birthday recently. What do you buy someone who lives in Darwin where it’s always hot? An ice cream maker of course! So it’s about time I get an ice cream recipe up here so he can actually use it!
Peppermint choc-chip is my all time favourite ice cream. I was in the garden this afternoon watering the veggie patch and noticed the peppermint I planted a couple years ago, and subsequently relocated to a pot, was taking over the strawberries…again. Hot tip: Never plant peppermint or mint in the garden, always plant it in a pot. No matter how many times you think you’ve ripped all of it out, it reappears! So I didn’t need much more of an excuse to apply the freshly picked peppermint to a good use.
Makes about 1L of ice cream

Ingredients
250ml milk
500ml cream
150g caster suger
Bunch of peppermint or mint, leaves picked
6 large egg yolks
90g dark chocolate, or milk if you prefer

Method
In a heavy-based saucepan combine milk, sugar, 250ml cream and peppermint leaves and bring to the boil. Remove from the heat and steep for half an hour. Pour the mixture through a sieve and push as much flavour out of the peppermint as you can, or want to.
Reheat the milk and cream mixture until just boiling. Meanwhile, whisk the egg yolks in a separate bowl. Once the milk mixture is ready whisk into the egg yolks. Pour back into the saucepan and heat over a low heat, stirring constantly. The mixture will thicken, don’t take your eye off it, and is ready once it reaches 80°C or the mixture coats the back of the spoon – if you run your finger across the spoon the mixture shouldn’t run back together.

Remove from the heat and whisk in the remaining 250ml of cream. Chill the mixture and churn in the ice cream machine according to manufacturer instructions.
While the ice cream is churning melt the chocolate in a double boiler arrangement. Once churned pour the ice cream into a container little by little.  Drizzling the chocolate over the ice cream, like you’re creating layers through the ice cream. When scooping the ice cream it will break up into delicious little chunks. Place in the freezer for a couple of hours to properly set. YUM!

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This pudding is divine. I love chocolate, but I reckon I would rate this pudding above chocolate self-saucing pudding. The sauce has a great balance between sweetness and acidity. Serve with vanilla ice cream and the combination is magical. This pudding is perfect for all seasons.

Serves 4 -6

Ingredients
125g unsalted butter, softened
1 vanilla beans, split and seeds removed
1 tbsp finely grated lemon zest
Juice of 1 lemon
220g caster sugar
2 eggs
150g plain flour
1 tsp baking powder
80ml milk
2 tbsp corn flour
2 oranges, finely grated zest and juice of

Method

Preheat the oven to 180C and grease a 1.5 L oven-proof dish.

In a mixer beat the butter, vanilla seeds, lemon zest and half the sugar together until thick and pale. Add eggs, one at a time until well combined. Fold through the flour, baking powder and salt. Then fold through the milk until combined. Pour batter into prepared dish.

Mix corn flour and remaining sugar. Dust over the pudding batter.

Combine lemon juice, orange zest and juice and 1 cup of boiling water in a jug. Gently pour over the mixture.

Bake the pudding for 40 minutes or until the pudding is golden, or a skewer inserted comes out clean.

Cool for a few minutes and serve with vanilla ice cream.

DEEEELICIOUS!

If chocolate is more of your cup of tea, try my Gran’s chocolate self-saucing pudding, it’s also delicious.

This recipe was sourced from Delicious. magazine, August 2010.

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Crepes are so thin that surely they can’t be that bad for you. What a great excuse when you want dessert! The only problem with crepes that if you need to cook a lot it can take a long time. The good news is that they can be cooked in advance and kept warm until ready to serve.

Crepes can be savoury or sweet, you can really put anything in or on top of them and they’ll taste delicious. Tonight we had lemon and sugar crepes with vanilla ice cream. Is there a better way to use the first lemon from our lemon tree?!

Yield 6 crepes

Ingredients
125g plain flour
pinch of salt
1 tsp sugar
1 egg
205ml milk
2 tsp butter, melted

Method
In a bowl combine flour, salt and sugar. Whisk through egg, milk and melted butter. Continue whisking until smooth. Rest for at least half and hour in the fridge.

Heat a crepe pan, or large frypan, over a medium-high heat. Grease with butter if pan is not non-stick. Pour in 1/4 cup of batter and swirl around the pan to coat. Cook for 1 and a 1/2 minutes. Flip and cook for a further minute. Keep cooked crepes warm while continuing to cook the rest.

Serve with your favourite condiment, and if sweet, don’t forget the ice cream!

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When we were younger we would have dinner about once a week at Gran & Grandpa’s. On the menu there would always be a roast, usually either pork, lamb or beef, and a pudding of some sort. Hands down this was our favourite.

Gran would typically have the batter prepared and in the buttered dish and the sugar and cocoa measured and mixed ready to spread over the batter. One night I finished off the pudding for Gran to put in the oven. I sprinked the sugar & cocoa mixture over the batter and boiled the kettle. I had strict instructions (coming from the table) that the water had to be boiling when it was poured on top of the pudding. So, if I can pass anything on…make sure the water is BOILING!

Ingredients
1 cup self-raising flour
1/2 cup sugar
pinch of salt
1 egg
2 tbsp melted butter
1/2 cup milk
Sauce
1 cup sugar
2 tbsp cocoa powder
1 cup boiling water

Method
Preheat oven to 180°C.
Sift together flour, castor sugar & salt.
Add melted butter, egg & milk, beat until smooth. Pour into a pre-prepared greased dish.
Mix together sugar & cocoa. Sprinkle over batter. Just before putting in the oven pour boiling water over the batter.
Bake for 30-40 minutes. Once ready the sauce will have bubbled up slightly around the sides of the pudding and the pudding will be firm to touch. If still unsure test the pudding with a skewer, making sure it comes out clean.
The pudding is particularly delicious with vanilla ice cream!

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