Little Box Brownie

A Baking Blog from Melbourne, Australia

Chocolate

Chocolate Pavlova

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So I made Julie and Julia’s chocolate pie in the last post with 3 egg yolks and I had the whites remaining. So naturally I had to find a way to use them up, and really what on this earth could be more delightful than a pavlova? Nothing, nothing at all, well I thought maybe chocolate pavlova but I’m a traditionalist at heart and do prefer a plain pavlova, I know!! How can that be being the chocoholic that I am, but come on who messes with a good pavlova? Me, I do, but I wish I hadn’t. Its good don’t get me wrong but it’s not like Mum’s pavlova, which you can find here.

Anyway my great scheme to uses up the egg whites resulted in me having too use more eggs thereby having left over yolks again, but don’t worry I solved this by making some ice cream. Waste not.

 
Chocolate Pavlova
 
6 egg whites
2 cups sugar
1 tablespoon vinegar
2 teaspoons vanilla essence
2 teaspoons cornflour
1/4 cup cocoa powder
 
Pre heat the oven to 180C
Place the egg whites in a clean dry bowl. With an electric beater whisk until the eggs form peaks, then slowly pour the sugar in, while still whisking. Sift in the cornflour and cocoa powder and pour in the vinegar and vanilla and fold through.
Draw a 20cm circle on three pieces of baking paper and place on baking trays. I do this so they all end up about the same size. I also put a little blob of the meringue on the down side of each corner of the baking paper so it doesn’t move. Place the pavlova’s in the oven and turn down the temperature to 100C. Bake for 1 hour then turn off the oven and leave the pav in the oven until cooled.
 
I have decorated the pavlovas with whipped cream, pomegranate and black berries from a tin. I also reduced the juice from the berry’s with about 3/4 of a cup of sugar then swirled it on top.

Chocolate Pie

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Has anybody out there seen the movie Julie and Julia? I’m sure there are a few, if you haven’t you need to crawl out of that rock you have been hiding under and go and rent it! What are you still doing here, go!! 🙂 Its brilliant, I happen to love it. I’m sure the movie introduced many into the world of blogging and some of the amazing blogs out there where inspired by or started because of it.

I personally have never cooked a Julia Child’s recipe, I know how can that be! The way people talk about her beef bourguignon I really must try it. I have looked at the recipe and thought, wow thats a bit full on, so have gone for something simpler.
I’m  sorry to tell you that today I’m not bringing you a Julia Child recipe, I am however bringing you the first thing you see Julie make in the movie when she has had a pretty depressing day, she comes home and says “I love that after a day when nothing is sure, and when I say “nothing” I mean nothing, you can come home and absolutely know that if you add egg yolks to chocolate and sugar and milk,it will get thick. It’s such a comfort”.Yep thats right folks I made that irresistible chocolate pie!!! 

Every time I watch the movie thats the recipe I want to make, forget Julia’s recipes, I want chocolate pie! So last week when the movie aired on TV, I saw that pie and could resist no more. I did a quick google search and stumbled upon a blog that said they had the recipe and it happened to be the actual director of the movies chocolate pie, Nora Ephron. Sooooo there was no stopping me now that I had this hot little recipe in my hand. If you would like the true recipe find it on Sleepless Foodie blog, or use my slightly adjusted version, which of course is more chocolatey and an absolute winner. I think I might just have to make it every time the movie is on, I couldn’t get enough of it.

 
Chocolate Pie
 
Base
1 packet (250g) of arrowroot biscuits
150g butter
 
Filling
 
3/4 cup sugar
3 tablespoons cornflour
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 cups milk
250g dark chocolate
3 egg yolks
 
Melt the butter in the microwave. Place the biscuits into the food processor and pulse until find bread crumbs. Pour in the butter and pulse until combined. Press the mixture into a round 20cm tin. Set aside
 
Place the sugar cornflour and salt into a bowl and set aside.
Place the chocolate and milk into a saucepan and heat until the chocolate melts, then pour in the sugar mixture and whisk. Continue whisking until the mixture becomes thick about the consistency of melted chocolate. Then whisk in the yolks while still on the heat, do this quickly so you don’t get scrambled eggs. Keep whisking till it thickens then pour into the base. Place in the fridge for 3 hours. If you can wait that long!

Chocolate tart

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I was going to see my little friend Joe and his baby sister, and thought I should take him a little something, after all he had only just celebrated his 3rd birthday. I decided upon a brownie tart, with extra chocolate chips in it just for him. Well it was a hit, he gobbled it up and declared me his new best friend:) So if your looking for a great chocolate tart to make this one will appeal to the young and old and might even make you a new best friend. Happy baking.

Sophia

 Joe’s Chocolate Brownie Tart  
Pastry
 
1 1/2 cups plain flour
2/3 cup white sugar
1/4 cup cocoa powder
250g butter
1 egg
 
Brownie filling
 
200g butter
150g milk chocolate
1 cup white sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla essence
1/4 cup milk
1 cup plain flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 tablespoon cocoa
1/2 cup walnuts (plus extra to sprinkle)
1/2 cup dark chocolate chips
 
Pre heat the oven to 150°C
 
Place the flour, sugar, cocoa and butter in to a food processor and pulse until combined. Then add the egg and pulse again until a dough starts to forms. Remove from the processor, and kneed on a floured surface until just smooth. Wrap it in plastic wrap and place in the fridge for 1 hour.
 
Remove from the fridge and roll out of a floured surface until about 2mm thick, then place into 20cm tart tin. Blind bake for 15 minutes, remove the beans and place back in the oven for a further 10minutes, remove from the oven.
 
To make the brownie filling, melt the buter and chocolate in a double boiler until they combine, remove from the heat and set aside. Mean while whisk the sugar, eggs and vanilla essence together using and electric beater. Slowly pour in the cocolate and butter mixture, then add the milk while constantly beating. Sift the flour, baking powder and cocoa into the mixture and stir to combine. Add the walnuts and chocolate chips, then pour into the tart case. Bake for 1 hour or until cooked.
 

Salted Carmel and Chocolate Macaroons

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These little baby’s are my arch rival, I just can’t make a perfect macaroon to save my life. This next recipe is as good as its going to get, they’re a little bit bumpy, but these baby’s have feet, whoooooohoooooo, finally they have feet, no not the type of feet there going to get up and walk out on me but a little bubble foot like all good macaroons should.
Every time I try to make them something goes astray, it probably has something to do with my inability to follow the instructions, after the first three batches you would think I would learn but sadly no. I was telling one of my most loyal readers that I just couldn’t make them, and the next thing I know she had bought me a cookbook on Macaroons (Thanks G) So after reading through that I have learn’t a few secrets and worked out a recipe that some how miraculously worked. The secret is italian meringue and man oh man do I love the Italians for this one. If you make macaroons with an italian meringue, by pouring hot liquid sugar into the egg whites rather that using sugar straight out of the packet, it works. Well it works for me and as the saying goes if it can work for me it can work for you.
I did read that chocolate macaroons are the hardest and trust me to want chocolate ones, but really who can resist chocolate?

Chocolate Macaroons
 
1 cup sugar
1/3 cup water
4 egg whites
1 3/4 cups almond meal
1  cups icing sugar
1/4 cup cocoa powder
 
Caramel Sauce
 
1 1/2 cups of sugar
50ml water
60ml cream
60ml golden syrup
125g butter
1 teaspoon sea salt
 
Pre heat the oven to 160C
 
Place the sugar and water into a saucepan and heat until the sugar melts and boil for about 4 minutes, brush the sugar down from the sides with a wet brush so the sugar doesn’t crystallise.
 
In and electric mixer beat the egg whites until they form peaks, slowly add the hot sugar syrup while constantly whisking. Whisk until the mixture is glossy.
 
Sift the icing sugar, cocoa and almond meal in to a bowl then slowly fold this into the meringue mixture a little at a time. Place into a piping bag with a 1cm nozzle and pipe 2.5cm rounds onto a lined baking tray. Set these aside until the the tops of the macaroons are firm to touch approximately 30mins.
Bake for 15-20 minutes or until the macaroon bases are firm.
 
To make the caramel filling, Place the sugar and water into a saucepan on a medium heat, stir until the sugar dissolves and it starts to boil. Let it boil until the syrup turns a golden colour. Then remove from the heat and stir in the cream, golden syrup, butter and salt. Be careful not to burn yourself as the mixture will bubble up and let off steam. Leave the caramel for 10mins to cool slightly and spoon onto the macaroons.
 
Makes 12