Monday, 9 September 2013

Milk Tart goodness!

Weather has definitely change , dramatically , and in my opinion not for the good . I love the heat , hot weathe is more my cup of tea but needles to say I'm need to get use to having more cold weather than hot .

When the weather hits "chilly" I crave the comfort foods . I love the traditional Milk Tart from South Africa . It is mainly milk and the mixture is very running when you pour it in the dish to bake but fear not it does set :)
It's such a light  guilty pleasure that , guilty or not , you could enjoy 2 slices in a row ( or even more LOL)
So here is my recipe for a Crust Less Milk Tart , it definitely is cheap to make witch is always helpful .

Ingredients :
4 eggs ( separated )
200g White Sugar
60g melted butter / Margarine
140g White All purpose flour
1tsp Baking Powder
Pinch of salt
1tsp Vanilla extract
1liter Milk ( low fat or skim also works )
And a mixture of sugar and Cinnamon ( like you would use on crepes )

What to do :
1.Preheat that oven of yours to 180C , this mixture is enough for 1 large tart or 2 smaller ones.Grease your dish/es .
2.Beat together the egg yolks , white sugar and melted margarine .
3.Add to this the flour , baking powder and the salt and mix well .
4.In a seperate bowl beat the egg white till they form a stiff peak .
5. With a large metal spoon fold in one spoon of the egg white into the egg yolk mixture at a time . Keep doing this till its all mixed in .
6. Mix the vanilla with the milk and slowly add this to the egg mixture . Now pour this into the baking dish/es.
7. Bake for 40-50 min , the middle should still be "giggly " . If your baking one large dish I would suggest baking it for 15 min longer .
8.When you remove it from the oven sprinkle it with the cinnamon mixture and allow to cool to room temp . I then put it in the fridge personally for about a hour .
You can serve this hot , cold or room temp . I like mine warmed up a bit .

Happy Baking xoxo



Sunday, 8 September 2013

Simple brownies

Its been a while since I have blogged or even thought of blogging , but here I am back and ready to blog away ... well that is if my cat would at this current point in time would let me :) If you have a cat you probably know what I'm on about , your lap top key pad is their sleeping spot .

My Mom has been sending me these series of baking books called "Best Baking" ,each book is dedicated to either brownies , cakes , cup-cakes , deserts , you get the picture .I have the first 3 in the series 1# Cup-Cakes 2# Cakes and 3# Brownies and Biscuits. I've baked a few odd things out of each book but with the hours i keep with my day job , witch nearly almost always feels like a night job , I just need to settle for the days I have off to bake.

My husbands been away on training and as much as I love how clean the house has been since he has been gone I must admit that its been quiet and lonely , sorry Phoenix my kitty your great company but the language barrier does become a problem every now and again . My husband is due to be back LATE tonight so I decided why not have some home baked brownies ready and waiting for him for when he gets home , after all who doesn't want a brownie at 11:30pm ;)

So lets talk CHOCOLATE , a girls best friend! I decided to just bake the simple, basic and easy kind for tonight . I popped down to the store and just stocked up on some Cadburys milk chocolate , OK yes I had two chocolate blocks on the way home but what was a girl to do ;) hehehe
This recipe is straight out of Best Baking 3# Biscuits and Brownies .

 Ingredients :

What to do :

1. Preheat that oven to 160C . Get a 8in square baking tin and grease and line it with baking paper.
2. Gently melt all that lovely chocolate in a heat proof bowl that you have placed over a pan with simmering water. Add the butter and the water , leave the chocolate and these to melt and stir only once.
3. Remove the bowl off the heat and set it aside to cool , once it has cooled add the vanilla, sugar and the eggs. 
4. Fold in the flour and salt and once its all mixed up pour it all into the baking tin.
5. Pop it and all its chocolate goodness in the oven and allow it to bake for 30-35 min. They should be still a bit gooey in the centre .
6. Leave it to cool in the tin and once it cooled to room temp turn it over and cut into squares.

So there they are in all there chocolate glory . 
you will have a darker brownie if you use dark chocolate and you can even use half dark and half milk chocolate .
I think next time Ill add some pecan nuts and some dark chocolate chips , yum , and serve these hot straight out the oven with some French vanilla ice cream.

Happy Baking XOXO