I adapted these recipes from magazines, changing
most of the doses and some of the ingredients. My mum and I had great fun
experimenting and the whole family enjoyed the treats.
Almond
flakes biscuits
You need: 400
g of self raising flour, 3 eggs, 150 g of light brown sugar, 100 g of melted
butter and some drops of vanilla extract.
For the topping: 50 g of butter, 50 g of light brown
sugar, 2 tbsp of honey and 200 g of flaked almonds.
Mix the ingredients for the dough, knead it then
roll it out. Place the pastry on a greased oven tray and cut it into squares.
Bake for 10 minutes at 180° C. In the meantime prepare the topping by mixing
all the ingredients in a pan and heating it for 5-10 minutes on the hob. Take
the biscuits from the oven and spread the flaked almond mixture on top, keeping
the squares separated. Bake for another 10-15 minutes till slightly brown.
Chocolate
meringues
You need: 3 egg whites, 150 g of icing sugar and 50
g of dark chocolate chips.
Whip the egg whites until stiff, then mix in the
icing sugar. Melt the chocolate chips in a pan and add most of them in the meringue
folding it gently, not mixing it in completely. Spoon the meringue mixture on a
greased oven tray and drip the remaining melted chocolate on top. Bake for 50-60
minutes, 150° C.
Biscuits
and dark chocolate semifreddo
You need: 100 g of golden caster sugar, 150 ml of
double cream, 150 ml of milk, 100 g of rich tea biscuits roughly chopped, 100 g
of dark chocolate and 4 eggs.
Whisk the eggs with the sugar, melt the chocolate in
a pan with 50 ml of milk and add it to the eggs together with the biscuits and
150 ml of milk. Whip the cream and add it to the mixture. Pour it into a loaf
tin lined with cling film and freeze it overnight. Serve cut in slices with
cream or raspberry coulis.
Walnut
and cream Swiss roll
For the Swiss roll you need: 4 eggs, one tbsp of
honey, 100 g of sugar and 100 g of self raising flour.
For the filling you need: 2 tbsp of milk, half a tsp
of instant coffee, 150 g of whipping cream, one tbsp of sugar and 100 g of
ground walnuts.
Prepare the sponge for the Swiss roll by beating the
eggs with the sugar, add one tbsp of honey and all the flour. Pour the mixture
on an oven tray lined with baking paper. Bake for 15-20 minutes, or till
slightly brown at 180° C. Spread a damp tea towel on a surface, sprinkle some
sugar on it and turn the sponge out onto the tea towel. Roll it up while still
hot and let it cool.
Prepare the filling by whisking the cream with the
sugar. Warm the milk and add the coffee granules. Mix the coffee with the cream
and add the ground walnuts. Unroll the sponge and spread the cream and walnut
mixture on it, leaving some aside for decoration. Roll it up again and decorate
with the left over cream and maybe some walnuts. Chill overnight before
serving.
Filling
for cannoli siciliani
We bought the cannoli shells in an Italian
supermarket in Surrey, so we had only to fill them.
For the filling you need: 750 g of ricotta, 300 g of
sugar, 75 g of chocolate chips, mixed peel and/or glacé cherries halves.
Mix the ricotta with the sugar and chill them for
two hours. Add the chocolate chips and chill again for one hour. Fill the
cannoli shells using a piping bag and decorate the ends with mixed peel and/or a
glacé cherry half. Chill before serving.
I used this ricotta mixture to fill a sponge cake
and a Swiss roll, instead of chocolate chips I had 100 g of ground dark
chocolate. I mixed all the ingredient and chilled them for two hours. I cut the
cake in half and dampened the two halves with milk, then spread the ricotta
mixture on one, put the other half on top and chilled everything overnight
before serving it. For the Swiss roll you follow the same procedure of the
previous recipe. Decorate with icing sugar and ground dark chocolate.
Nutella
and yogurt bread loaf
You need: 250 g of flour, one tsp of baking powder,
half a tsp of bicarbonate of soda, two tbsp of sunflower oil, 150 g of golden
caster sugar, three tbsp of nutella, four
tbsp of full fat plain yogurt and 2 eggs.
Beat the eggs then add oil and sugar. Mix all the other
ingredients except the nutella and the yogurt. Divide the mixture into two
bowls. Add the nutella to one of them and the yogurt to the other. Grease a tin
loaf and alternate a layer of the yogurt mixture to a layer of nutella mixture.
Bake for 30-40 minutes at 180° C. Decorate with icing sugar and stripes of
melted nutella.
