Chocolate & Ginger Tarts

Who can resist the lovely glossy lure of chocolate ganache! Combine it with pastry and preserved ginger and you've got a special treat. These lovely little tarts will earn you brownie points with your loved ones...or you could just save them all for yourself ;-)

The pastry was an interesting recipe containing flour, ground almonds, icing sugar, salt, unsalted butter, vanilla seeds and an egg yolk. Once baked it held together well and it was nice and light. The tart cases were blind baked with baking beans but if you don't have beans you can use rice. To more easily line each case with baking parchment, scrunch up the parchment before lining as this means it sits more easily inside the case.

 

I've used this muffin pan method before to make Mini Mississippi Mud Pies and it does give you nice little tarts but the effect is rather rustic...but this is an Edd Kimber recipe and Edd's tarts were rustic too!

Preserved Stem Ginger in Syrup is easy to find at the supermarket, I picked some up at Tescos. Each little tart has a secret cache of finely chopped ginger hidden at the bottom and chocolate and ginger are perfect partners.

The filling for the tarts is a classic chocolate ganache. The ganache included the addition of light brown muscovado sugar, this always gives a little bit of a fudgy taste and it also gives sweetness which cuts through the dark chocolate to provide balance. Once ready 40g of unsalted butter was added to the ganache, when mixed in this gives a lovely glossy finish.

The easiest way to fill the tart cases is to transfer the prepared ganache into a measuring jug and then pour the required amount into each one. The pastry recipe made 12 cases but mine were quite large so I only had enough ganache to fill 10 cases fully and I would have liked to have filled these 10 a little more!

To give an extra special finish to the tarts I used a little edible gold leaf on the top of each one. You can get edible gold leaf from most cake decorating shops or websites, mine came from Surbiton Sugarart.

You can buy it as a sheet or flaked in a little pot. It is reasonably expensive with the pot above costing £4.35 but it does add that extra sparkle to a special bake.

These tarts neatly fit into two baking challenges this month. The first is We Should Cocoa, with usual host Choclette from Choc Log Blog taking a break it's hosted by Jen from Blue Kitchen Bakes this month. We Should Cocoa was co-created by Chele at Chocolate Teapot and the theme this month is 'Chocolate and Ginger'.

The second challenge is Classic French, again hosted by Jen from Blue Kitchen Bakes. This challenge aims to help us tackle a different French classic each month, this month the theme is Chocolate Ganache...so again these fit in perfectly!

Ingredients

275g plain flour
25g ground almonds
50g icing sugar
1/2 tsp salt
175g unsalted butter
1 large egg yolk
1-2 tbsp ice-cold water
1 vanilla pod (seeds)
4 pieces of preserved stem ginger in syrup, finely chopped

Chocolate Ganache

225g dark chocolate
185 ml double cream
45g light brown sugar or light brown muscovado
40g unsalted butter, softened and cut into cubes

Makes 12

Start by making the pastry and preheating the oven to 180c/160c fan/gas 4. The recipe suggests making this by hand...but I cheated and used a food processor...you could obviously do it either way. I put the flour, icing sugar, almonds and salt into the food processor and then added the cubed unsalted butter. Then whiz the mixture until it resembles rough breadcrumbs. At this stage add the egg yolk and ice-cold water and whiz again. The initial recipe suggested a tablespoon of water, however I found I needed two. Turn out the pastry on to the counter and then bring together by hand. Squash into a disc and then wrap in clingfilm before putting it into the fridge for 30 minutes to an hour.

Once the pastry is ready, take it out of the fridge adn leave to rest at room temperature for 10 minutes. Whilst it's resting, lightly grease a 12-hole muffin pan. Lightly dust your work surface with flour and then roll out the pastry to a thickness of 3-4mm (I used spacers). Using a 10cm circular cutter, cut out 12 discs of pastry, you may need to re-roll a couple of times. Put each disc into one of the holes in the muffin pan and press in gently. Then line each tart with baking parchment before filling each one with baking beans. If you don't have baking beans you can use rice.. Bake for 12-15 minutes, then remove the parchment and beans and bake for another 5-10 minutes or until golden. Leave to cool in the pan before filling. Be gentle when removing from the muffin pan.

Finely chop the preserved ginger and sprinkle in the base of each tart. Next make the chocolate ganache by finely chopping up the chocolate and putting it in a bowl. Then put the double cream and light brown sugar in a small saucepan and heat on medium until just coming to the boil. Pour this cream mixture over the chocolate and leave for two minutes until gently stirring together. Add the butter and stir to combine, you should end up with a lovely glossy, silky ganache.

Finally, pour the ganache into each tart case, I used a jug for ease. Allow to set for one hour before serving. You can then add a little more chopped ginger on top and/or some edible gold leaf. This goes really well with whipped cream.

* Adapted from Edd Kimber's Say it With Cake.

Winter Preserving Workshop

Before Christmas I went on a festive bread making course run by Anna, otherwise known as the Culinary Anthropologist. I enjoyed the course so much that I immediately signed up for another. I attended the Winter Preserving Workshop today and have come back laden with lots of delicious goodies and new ideas. The workshop is one of a series, the others being Spring, Summer and Autumn, and they are run in conjunction with Riverford who you may well of heard of, as they deliver beautiful veg boxes, meat and dairy straight to your door.

Kate from at What Kate Baked recently reported that according to Stylist Magazine, 2013 is to be the year of preserving and it seems that it may be so. There has been much talk of marmalade on twitter and plenty of recipes in the food magazines. So although I can't share with you the recipes here, I thought I would share the top tips I learnt from the course. However, if you are looking for a recipe, one lady on the course recommended Nigel Slater's recipe!

Here's what we made on the course:

1. Seville Orange Marmalade

• The oranges are boiled first to soften the rind which is then sliced, you can choose your favourite, fine or thick shread!

 

• Sevilles only have a short season...and it's now...so why not make up a batch of marmalade and then save it until next Christmas and give it out as Christmas presents. By then it will taste great!

2. Moroccan Preserved Lemons

• The lemons are preserved using a lacto-fermentation process.
• Once ready the lemons are great in dishes such as Morrocan tagines. We enjoyed them in a chickpea salad at lunchtime.

3. Spiced Pickled Oranges

• This has white granulated sugar and light brown sugar in, along with white wine vinegar.
• Goes well with meats.

4. Clementine Jam

• We tested a sample of this jam at the beginning of the day and it had a lovely bright colour and tasted delicious.
• This is ridiculously easy to make, it just involves blitzing quartered clementines in a food processor, adding the sugar and then leaving it overnight. It's boiled for a short period of time and then jarred. So simple and yet so tasty...amazing!

• You can also make this one with Tangerines and Satsumas.

5. Blood Orange and Port Jelly

• This was a lovely clear liquid which was strained using the jelly strainer you can see above...a nifty bit of kit.
• If you don't have a jelly strainer, line a large bowl with muslin and pour in the liquid and solids. Tie the muslin together at the top tightly and then hang it over a bowl so that all the liquid drips out. This can take some time.

• This is a lovely recipe that goes really well with gammon, game and cheese.

How to tell if your preserve has set:

• The mixture will start to give off less steam as it turns syrupy and the bubbles will also appear less watery.
• You will see a visible change in the mixture and the bubbles will start to rise up the pan.
• You can try the 'Flake Test' which could really be called the blob test - put a wooden spoon into the mixture and then hold it up so the mixture runs off. It is ready when the last few drops hang on the spoon and then drop off in a blob rather than run off (sorry not a very technical explanation!)
• Finally, the 'Wrinkle Test' - when you think the marmalade might be ready put about half a teaspoon on a chilled saucer. Leave it for a minute or two and then push your index finger through the marmalade, if it wrinkles up and leaves a clean area where you swiped your finger through then it is ready, if not then keep going! The picture below show marmalade that isn't ready!

• Finally, if you want to be technical you can use a sugar thermometre where the setting point is 104.2 degrees.

Some top tips:

• When filling the jars you can use a jam funnel to prevent spills.

• Putting lemon juice in the marmalade helps it to set as it is high in pectin and apparently it keeps the colour bright. Most recipes should include the lemon juice.
• To steralise the jars wash them thoroughly and put them on a baking tray which then goes in the oven, switch on the oven and heat to 140 degrees. They should be in the oven for at least 10 minutes but it is probably best to just leave them in there until you need them.
• To steralise lids you can either boil them in a saucepan for 10 minutes or it's actually easier to place the lid straight on the jar when ready, tighten and turn it upside down for a little while which will also steralise.

• When filling the jars, use two jugs, one for pouring into the jars and a filling jug to transfer the marmalade to the pouring jug. This prevents mess, you can also hang your filling jug on the edge of your preserving pan when you're not using it.
• Fill your jars to the top to try and eliminate air.
• Always put a date on your preserves so you know when it was made and when it will be good until.
• Finally, you may find a scum forms on top of your marmalade as it boils. You can either skim this off the top or towards the end add a small knob of butter which will dissipate the scum. Although, don't add too much as you may flavour the marmalade.

Some useful items for making jam and marmalade:

1. Preserving pan

2. Jam funnel

3. Sugar thermometre (if using)

4. Jars/Clip Top Kilner Jars (maybe essential rather than useful, it could be rather messy otherwise ;-)

5. Labels - The labels for our preserves were hand-drawn but a lady who had previously attended the course but if you want to make your own, here are some sites that you could try: The Jam Labelizer, HW Desgins, Lakeland or the Preserve Shop.

Most of these links take you to Lakeland but obviously lots of other companies offer everything you need for preserving.

Did you know?

• In order to call your jam, jam it has to contain at least 60% sugar! Our European counterparts have less sugar in their jam as they take advantage of a loophole in EU legistlation.

Finally, you may be interested in this article from the Guardian on 'How to Make the Perfect Marmalade' and if you've been inspired to try making marmalade then Riverford offer a Marmalade Kit with all the lovely fruits that you'll need, along with a recipe. They also offer a number of other kits using seasonal fruit throughout the year. Interestingly, I saw a marmalade kit in Tesco's the other day too!

Once you've mastered the basics, why not be more adventurous. For example, we tried Bergamot Orange Marmalade when we arrived for our course, it had a distinct flavour of Earl Grey. You can also add alcohol such as Cointreau. Then once you're feeling really flash you can enter into the Dalemain Marmalade Awards which are held annually.

This is a rather information heavy post, so I hope you're still with me but here's one last thought...one lady asked what is the difference between jam and marmalade and a conserve and a preserve? I'd love to know your thoughts on this one! I'm by no means a preserving expert, in fact quite the opposite, so any other hints and tips would also be gratefully received :-)

Create Your Very Own Recipe Book!

Always dreamed of being the next Mary Berry or of having your very own recipe book published? Sadly this is only a dream for most of us but if you want to preserve your recipes and photos for posterity and for future reference then this could be the answer.

After just over a year in blogging I decided that I'd like to have all of my favourite recipes in one place as most blog recipes come from a variety of different sources, so I had a little look on the internet and came across photobox, a site where you can create photo books. They also have a special template should you wish to create a recipe book.

 

With this service you can choose how many pages you have in your book, it's not cheap as the basic book is £29.99 and the price increases with every double page spread you add. Other features include a choice of lay outs and backgrounds. I stuck with a fairly plain background and went with one recipe per double page spread as you can see below.

I chose fairly simple everyday recipes for my book, ones that I will probably make again in the future and that could be made on a fairly regular basis. However, I also wanted to include some of the more technical cakes and bakes that I've made on my blog in the past year. I therefore decided to add some photo pages at the back without recipes...it's lovely to see all your handy work in one place!

Once complete, I placed my order and the book arrived in about a week. I was really pleased with the result...the pages are lovely and glossy and the photos nice and sharp. I think I'll be using my recipe book long after I've given up blogging...and I'm sure when I leaf through it in years to come it will remind me of lots of great bakes.

Your recipe book could also make a great gift for anyone who likes baking. Another option is to make your book available to the public on the photobox website and then anyone who wants to can purchase a copy...perhaps you could become the next Mary Berry after all! :-)

***Please note that this is not a sponsored post. I just wanted to make my own recipe book and happened to use photobox but other companies do offer a similar service. Another site that offers a 'make your own cookbook' option is 'blurb'. If you decide to make a recipe book I'd love to hear your recommendations for great sites.

Happy baking!

Calendar Cakes Round Up - January

Our first entry this month was from Lisa at Good food, Shared. Lisa made these lovely Chocolate Beetroot Cupcakes. They have a fudgy texture with no hint of the secret ingredient which remained undetected by her kids!

Fleur from Homemade by Fleur created these lovely Parsnip, Lime and Warm Spice Muffin. Fleur reports that these muffins will easily satisfy a sweet tooth even though they have reduced sugar. She also grew the parsnips in her garden. This is a interesting and original recipe.

 

Next up was Joey from Little Accidents in the Kitchen. Joey made healthier Matcha Cupcakes, matcha is not something I've really come across very often but these cupcakes look great and have the distinctive green colour of the matcha. These cupcakes were healthier as the butter was replaced with applesauce and the sugar was reduced. The matcha also has health benefits in itself, including acting as an anti-oxidant.

Angela from Garden, Tea, Cakes and Me brought us these Carrot and Sultana Mini Loaves. I love sultanas and I love mini loaves...so these are perfect! The carrot also adds a moistness and is a healthy element in this bake. It's also cream cheese frosting.

Miss Flash from Food, Glorious Food made a Low Fat Coffee and Walnut Cake. Coffee and Walnut is a perennial favourite, so it's good to have a low fat version on hand if you need cake but are trying to spare the calories! The recipe is from Harry Eastwood's Red Velvet and Chocolate Heartache recipe book...described as the ultimate feel good book of natural cakes that taste naughty. Many of the recipes contain vegetables.

Something a bit different now from Elizabeth's Kitchen. Post-Workout Protein Bites. They have all sorts of goodness in them, including brown rice flour, courgette, banana, date, almond milk and agave syrup. The purpose of these protein bites was to aid Elizabeth's strength training as she is a volunteer crew member for the RNLI no less!

A zingy entry next which provides a bit of respite from the heavy flavours of Christmas. Kat from The Baking Explorer made this Orange and Pomegranate Cake. These seasonal fruits produced a lovely moist cake with the added anti-oxidant properties of the pomegranate seeds.

This Carrot and Apple Olive Oil Cake from Ruchira at Cookaroo has a lovely list of ingredients, which apart from the obvious include cinnamon, all spice, milk and walnut. It looks really lovely and moist and has a Quark frosting, Quark being a virtually fat free soft cheese.

Next a Plum Cake from Santosh's Kitchen. The dried fruit for this cake was soaked in brandy for 4 days before use. It also contains nuts which contain good fats. The walnuts can help lower cholesterol when eaten as part of a healthy diet. The cake was finished with a striking bell design created with a dusting of icing sugar.

Lisa at Good Food, Shared gave us a second healthy offering, a Date Cake. As Lisa says 'Dates are full of carbohydrates which will release their energy slowly throughout the day, so after you coffee break you'll have energy to tackle into the day's long list of jobs. Dates are also a source of fibre, for every 100 g of dates, approximately 8g is fibre and to top it all off they are low in fat'. So not just a tasty cake but a healthy one too! :-)

Next we have a tempting treat from lovely baker Angela at The Charmed Cupcake. Hazelnut, Banana and Coconut Cupcakes. These cupcakes are made without frosting and contain hazelnut oil which Angela explains 'has a similar composition to extra virgin olive oil with high content in Omega 9 and Omega 6 fatty acid. This makes hazelnuts another healthy cooking oil option with flavourful taste'. I'd love to try one of these.

These next muffins from Hazel at the Cupcakery are right up my street. They're Good Mornin' Muffins with a wonderful burst of fruit from the mixed berries, this also makes them lovely and moist. Delicious!

Muffins proved very popular as a healthy option this month...and here are mine...Wholemeal Spelt, Apple, Carrot and Pumpkin Seed. These were tasty but they did taste like healthy muffins...I guess they're never going to taste quite the same though. I took one to work each day for a snack and they filled a hole perfectly.

From my co-host and bundt queen, Rachel at Dolly Bakes, we have a Chocolate Beetroot Bundt. This bundt took it's inspiration from the American version of The Office where one of the characters, Dwight Schrute is a beet farmer! This turned out to be a moist cake with a soft texture, that wasn't overly sweet.

A fabulous muffin next...Dukkah and Sun Dried Tomato Muffins from Helen at Fuss Free Flavours. These are our first savoury muffins and they also use an ingredient I've never even heard of...Dukkah which is an Egyptian spice blend traditionally containing herbs, nuts and spices. The muffins are also egg free but do contain milk and oil from a jar of sun dried tomatoes as the wet ingredients...delicious!

Kim at Cakes from Kim brought us these Skinny Lemon Cupcakes. The recipe is from the 'Hairy Dieters' and there are only 175 calories per cupcake. They're made with sunflower oil, milk and natural yogurt and there are also blueberries hidden inside. Kim recommends this recipe as apparently they don't taste any different from their full fat counterparts!

Another cupcake next from Ruchira at Cookaroo. Adapted from a Primrose Bakery recipe these are Maple Granola Cupcakes. These cupcakes also have yogurt in them and the granola is homemade. Ruchira is a big fan of maple syrup and I have to say I am too, so I'd love to give one of these cupcakes a go!

Any bake that is guilt free has to be a winner...so I'm definitely going to try this 'Guilt-Free Bran Fruit Loaf' from Crumbs and Corkscrews. Louise made this as a tasty treat which could still be enjoyed whilst following the Weight Watchers plan.

Another lovely recipe idea next, these Wholemeal Date Scones are from Utterly Scrummy Food for Families. These are recommended as a quick, cheap and healthy after school snack. The scones have half wholemeal flour and also provide fibre from the dates.

Everyone's favourite next...Blueberrry Muffins from Joey at Little Accidents in the Kitchen. Joey managed to get a supersized punnet of blueberries for a bargain price...and what better way to use blueberries than in a muffin. They also contain yogurt to make them nice and moist and there is very little sugar and no butter...this was replaced by apple sauce, which I've never considered before but it sounds like a great idea.

Caroline from Caroline Makes made this Vegan Apple Cake when she met up with some school friends, one of whom was vegan. This is a great recipe to have up your sleeve should the need arise and I've never tried any vegan baking before, so maybe one to try!

An interesting bake up next, it's an Orange, Pistachio and Avocado Cake from Rachel at Blissfully Scrumptious. Rachel reports that you would never know that the cake has avocado in but it is lovely and light and moist. This cake has a citrus kick, texture from the pistachios and some orange syrup drizzled over the top.

I love the colour of the icing on this Chocolate and Beetroot Cake from Kitchen Delights. The recipe is from Fiona Cairns Bake and Decorate book. It contains vegetable oil for a light cake and you don't need to grate the beetroot either which is a bonus, as it is blitzed in the food processor. For a healthy cake there is just a little hint of naughtiness with chocolate drizzled over the top.

Lisa from Good Food, Shared entered these White Chocolate, Oat and Raisin Cookies. The goodness in these cookies comes from the porridge oats and sunflower seeds which have cholesterol lowering properties. They also provide long lasting energy. Another bake with a little treat, these also have white chocolate chips.

And now for something a bit different, a lovely Zesty Orange Terrine from Caroline at Caroline Makes. Thre recipe is from Slimming World. This was made as a healthy alternative to food available at a family gathering. It's made with orange jelly, orange segments and Total Greek Yogurt. I love fruit in jelly, so I'd be quite happy to dive in.

Here's another great entry from Fuss Free Flavours. Helen made these Chocolate, Orange, Date and Seed Energy Balls. I was really impressed that these were made in a dehydrator no less. If you want to know more check out the link on Helen's blog post. These energy balls contain peanut butter, dried apricots and flax seeds amongst many other yummy ingredients.

A classic pudding next...an (almost) Sugar Free Bread and Butter Chocolate Pudding. Choclette from Chocolate Log Blog made these with Truvia which is a calorie free sweetner made from the Stevia leaf. The chocolate is fairtrade and there are also health benefits to a little bit of dark chocolate. So there's never been a better excuse to make a pud!

This Fig Cake with Greek Yogurt comes from Turquoise Lemons. It was made for a cake club with the theme being healthy cakes...perfect! It's a more-fruit-than-cake cake from Leon's Baking and Puddings book. The serving of Greek yogurt is also the perfect accompaniment to this cake.

We have Sweet Potato, Celeriac and Sultana Muffins up next from Jen at Blue Kitchen Bakes. These muffins contain quite a lot of veg which gives them a squidgy texture and they work well as a breakfast option which will keep you going through until lunch. There's also no butter or oil in these muffins. The inspiration for these again came from Harry Eastwood's Red Velvet & Chocolate Heartache book.

Next up...more lovely blueberry muffins from Helene at I Cook With Butter. Helene's new year's resolution was to try and bring more variety to her baking, as like most of she has many baking books but tends to stick with the same recipes every time. The result of this resolution was these lovely moist muffins. The recipe is from Nigella. Yum!

Energy bars and bites have also been proving popular this month...these Chocolate Cherry Energy Bars were made by Janice at Farmersgirl Kitchen for Breakfast Week. They contain cherry flavoured cocoa powder which has real natural cherry flavour which really enhanced the taste of the energy bars. They're also sugar free and perfect for breakfast on the go.

Finally, a lovely entry from Angela at My Golden Pear. These are Carrot and Coconut Muffins with a Chocolate Topping. These are really pretty little muffins with a secret....there is no butter, no refined sugar and they are grain free...how's that for healthy! The muffin itself is made with coconut oil, coconut flour, honey, carrots, raisins, shredded coconut, eggs, bicarb and cinnamon...I'm seriously impressed.



Thank you all for your amazing entries...these healthy cakes and bakes are all fabulous and if you're still on your January health kick then there are surely some recipes here that will keep you going!