Raspberry truffles

This is the 1st time for me to do the chocolate truffles..it's kind of exciting! I really enjoyed making them! It's fun and I cannot stop myself licking the melt chocolate and the ganache filling!! They're absolutely tasty :)



I decided to make this because we love the fruit liqueur more than others and it's also easy to find them somewhere in our house.






Raspberry truffles

Shells (15 truffles)

White chocolate 160 grams

Ganach

Heavy cream 25 grams
Glucose syrup 8 grams
White chocolate, chopped 66 grams
Raspberry liqueur 8 grams

Raspberry jam

Prepare the shells and get them ready to fill the ganache.


For the ganache

1. Combine the heavy cream and glucose syrup in a saucepan and bring to boil.

2. Pour the hot cream mixture over the chopped chocolate and let it sit for 1 min. to allow the chocolate to melt.

3. Use the spoon to stir the mixture in small circles in the center of the bowl until it emulsifies.

4. Stir in larger circles till all the chocolate has melted. If necessary, place the ganache over the warm water (not excessing 34° C) to melt the chocolate.

5. Pour in the liqueur and stir the mixture until it's homogeneous.

6. Pour the ganache into the bowl, place plastic wrap directly on the surface of the ganache. Allow the ganache to rest at room temerature until it reaches 25° C or around 20 mins.

7. Pipe the ganache into the shells to fill only halfway and refrigerate the shells for 10 mins to firm the ganache.

8. Pipe the raspberry jam in the center on top of the ganache filling.

9. Fill the shells with remaining ganache almost to the top of the shells.

10. Allow the ganache to crystallize at room temperature for 1 hour.

11. Seal the shell with tempered white chocolate and rest at room temperature until all set.

P.S Thank you P'Thip (Bonbini) for her tips in making chocolate.

Enjoy!

Thumbprints ... Christmas Cookies

Lately, I enjoy making cookies as Christmas gift which I usually do every year. Apart from gingerbreads, chocolate chip cookies and sugar cookies..I also made thumbprints as well.



The recipe is taken from "Baking from my home to yours" by Doris Greenspan, I chose this one because we love shortbread and the texture of this one is similar to shortbread. But I made some changes by using almonds and strawberry jam instead of hazelnuts and raspberry jam.




1 3/4 cup finely ground almonds
1 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
2 sticks (8 ounces) unsalted butter at room temperature
1/2 cup sugar
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
1/2 tsp pure almond extract
Confectioners'sugar for dusting
about 1 cup strawberry jam

* I used vanilla sugar so I did not put the vanilla extract

1. Preheat the oven to 350°F. Whisk together ground almonds and flour.

2. Beat the butter and sugar together on medium speed until light and fluffy.

3. Add the extract and beat to blend.

4. Reduce to low speed and gradually add the nut-flour mixture, mixing only until it is incorporated into the dough.

5. Working with a teaspoonful of dough, roll the dough between your palms to form small balls and place them 2 inches apart on the baking sheets.

6. Steady each cookie with the thumb or the end of a wooden spoon to poke a hole in the center of each cookie.

7. Bake for 15-18 mins, rotating the sheets from top to bottom and front to back at the midway point.

8. When the cookies are baked, remove the baking sheets from the oven and let the cookies rest on the sheet for 2 mins before transferring them to the rack and sifting confectioners'sugar over them.

9. Repeat with the remaining dough, remember to cool the baking sheets before baking the next batch.

10. Bring the jam to boil in the microwave then fill it in each cookie's hole.

11. Cool to room temperature.

Let's enjoy the Christmas cookies.

I also think to send this Thumbprints Cookies to Susan of Food Blogga for season 2 of Eat Christmas Cookies (If I can because I just noticed that today is the last day I can submit) - a nice event Susan organizes,Announcing Eat Christmas Cookies, Season 2, http://foodblogga.blogspot.com/2008/11/announcing-eat-christmas-cookies-season.html

My 1st homemade croissants.

Yappy.... finally I can make croissants!!!

I have never thought to make croissants myself although we like to have them for breakfast. I always thought it was complicated and I didn't dare to make them. But, we got lot of butter in the fridge and I gotto get rid of them. So, I decided to make a trial.

I saw the recipe in the "Tartine" baking book for a long time and also my friend Pook told me that she have made it and it turned out so good.

After reading carefully for the recipe I told myself, "hmmm.. it seems a hard job to do but worth to try it"



AFter 2 days working on it, I can say that it's absolutely fabulous! The taste and the outcome are so good for me.

I would like to give all the credit to the writers in this book, they help the beginner croissants baking like me to reach my goal!

Thank you.

Apple and Raisin Jalousie .... something we cannot resist!

For us, apple is a queen for this season. There are many kinds of apple available in the supermarket. I have tried almost all of them but "Pink Lady" is still my favourite. For making the dessert, I prefer the one that so pity I cannot remember the name, the taste is sweet and sour.

I told myself that next time I go to this fruit stall; I will make a note for its name.




I made it at noon but we did not have any left for our dinner dessert! It’s hard to believe that but it’s happened to us!

I used the recipe from "Baking Bible” and I just changed only one ingredient to suit us.

For the rough puff pastry

225 g. plain flour
a pinch of salt
140 pliable butter cut into small cubes
6-9 tbs (85-140 ml)ice-cold water

For the filling

225 g. apples
30 g. unsalted butter
55 g. light brown sugar
squeeze of lemon juice
1 tbs rum ( I used this one instead of brandy)
55 g. raisins

To finish

milk
caster sugar

For the rough puff pastry

1. Sift the flour with the salt into a large bowl. Using a table knife, toss he butter cubes with the flour.

2. Sprinkle 6 tbs of water over the flour and stir quickly with a table knife so the paste clumps together.

3. Using your fingertips to gather the lumps together, leaving any dry mixture in the bottom of the bowl.

4. If necessary, you can add water over any remaining dry flour to make it into a soft but not sticky paste.

5. Knead the paste lightly once or twice to bring it together into a smooth, even-texture paste.

6. Form the paste into a rectangle 2 cm. thick and wrap it in clingfilm or greaseproof paper. Chill for at least 10 minutes.

7. The butter must not be allowed to become hard or it will tear the paste when it is rolled out.

8. Give the paste a total of 4 rolls. (as before photo) If the paste still looks streaky after 4 rolls and folds it can have one more before being used. Allow the pastry to relax at least 10 minutes before using.




For the filling and finishing

1. Heat the oven to 220° C or 425° F

2. Roll the pastry ito 2 thin rectangles. One is around 13 x 20 cm. and the other should be 17 x 25 cm. Prick the smaller all over with a fork. Chill until firm.

3. Make a filling , Peel and core the apples and cut into large chunks. Melt the butter with sugar and allow to caramelize then add stir in the apples and lemon juice.

4. Cover with the lid and cook until the apples are tender but not mushy. Stir in rum and allow to cool. Stir in the raisins.

5. Bake the smaller piece of pastry until brown and crip. Remove from the oven and turn over the baking sheet and allow to cool.

6. Spread the filling all over it.

7. Lay the larger pastry on a board. Dust it lightly with flour so nothing sticks and fold it in half lengthways.

8. Using a sharp knife, but through the folded side of the pastry in parallel lines, at right angels to the edge. (it like when you were cutting between the teeth of a comb)

9. Leave an uncut margin about 2.5 cm. wide, all round the other edges, so when you open up the pastry you will have a solid border.

10. Lay the cut pastry on top of the pastry covered with the filling and tuck the edges. Brush the top layer carefully all over with milk. Sprinkle with sugar.

11. Bake for about 20 minutes or until well-browned. Save warm or cold.

Hope you enjoy. ^O^

Triple chocolate semifreddo

I have to confess that I really missed my kitchen when we were away from home nearly 2 months. So, once I back home I made pasta for our lunch and we told ourself that now we are home!!

Baking is the one I mostly missed, we got the invitation for dinner from my friends, Kate & Scott. I told myself it's the perfect time for making Triple chocolate semifreddo as we are kind of people who love eating chocolate!




I made this from Donna Hay cookbook, the one I felt in love at first sight when I saw from my friend, Pook (Dailydelicious) and she sent me some recipes from this book making me really happy. Thank you Pook.

We absolutely enjoyed the result. Just from the first bite....I felt like the touch of the angel's wings ^O^



250 g. dark chocolate, chopped
3 eggs
2 eggs yolks
110 g. caster sugar
430 ml. cream
100 g. chopped white chocolate (the recipe said 1/2 cup)
100 g. chopped milk chocolate (the recipe said 1/2 cup)

Place the dark chocolate in a heatproof bowl over the saucepan of simmerig water and stir until melted and smooth. Set aside.

Place the eggs, yolks and sugar in a heatproof bowl over a saucepan of simmering water and whisk for 4-5 minutes or until the mixture is thick and pale.

Remove from the heat and beat with an electric mixer for 5-6 minutes or until cool.

Fold through the melted dark chocolate and set aside.

Place the cream in the bowl ad beat until soft peaks form.

Fold the egg and chocolate mixture and the white and milk chocolate through the cream.

Pour the mixture into a metal bowl or cake tin. ( I made 6 glasses an one small cake tin) cover and freeze for 4-6 hours or till firm.

Enjoy ^O^

I got tagged!!

I got tagged from my friend Pook, Dailydelicious and this is the first time I got tagged in blogspot as well.

Let’s go to see the details for the tag:

For anyone who has been tagged you this is the rules:

Each participant answers questions about himself or herself. At the end of the post the participant tags 5 people. Their names are posted letting them know they’ve been tagged. They then have to read the participant’s blog. The tagged let’s the tagger know when he’s posted his answers.The questions are:

What was I doing ten years ago?

I started working for a British Company in which I worked till I moved to Italy.

What are five (non-work) things on my to-do list for today:

1. Cooking.

2. Cleaning the new dishes I just bought yesterday.

3. Reading the book that I have not finished yet.

4. Checking my mail.

5. Doing my sewing projects.

Snacks I enjoy:

1. Fonzies ( Cheese flavour snack)

2. Snickers

3. Jelly

4. Bread with Nutella

5. Nuts

6. Potato Chips San Carlo

Things I would do if I were a billionaire:

I know .... I know it’s impossible for me to become a billionaire but I always dream about what I would do if I won the big lottery …hehehehe

Anyway, my wish list is quite long so I just put the ones which are related to myself.

1. Buy a nice & small house with big kitchen (full of cooking equipment), sewing room and bathroom … why big bathroom??? It’s my secret ^O^

2. Take full course of cooking & baking.

3. Open a small restaurant having a book’s corner …. sure, I won’t miss the chance to be the Chef ^-^

4. Living here in summer and be in my homeland in winter.

Places I have lived:

There were not so many places I have lived in my life, one of them is my home town, Bangkok, a big and crowded city, another one is Chiang Mai, the place I lived for my bachelor degree. At present, I am living in a small town, north of Italy.

Jobs I have had: (paid jobs?)

1. Employee in the company I mentioned above.

And the people I tag are ….. I could not think about this now. Will wrote it later.

Almond White Chocolate Cupcakes

As Helen, http://tartelette.blogspot.com/
is hosting the monthly event Sugar High Fridays, http://www.domesticgoddess.ca/pages.php?page=10002 which created by Jennifer, http://www.domesticgoddess.ca/ . Once I read through the details of Sugar High Fridays #43, http://tartelette.blogspot.com/2008/05/announcing-sugar-high-friday-43-citrus.html I was really interested to join this event.

To tell you the truth, I thought about many desserts for this event, but finally I decided to do these cupcakes the one we really enjoy making & yesssssss....eating!!!

Then I thought about the frosting as normally I make from chocolate and cream cheese but this time I want to get some fresh orange tasting.

For the cupcake I made almond white chocolate cake , one of my favourites which I always like to make it.

Ingredient ( for 6 cupcakes):

45 grams flour
1/4 ts baking powder pinch of salt
75 grams butter, room temperature
45 grams sugar
1 egg
50 grams almond powder
30 grams white chocolated chopped


Preheat the oven at 175° C and prepare the muffin cups.

Whisk butter in high speed until it's creamy and pale yellow. Gradually add the sugar and keep whisking until they are fluffy and sugar dissolves.

Change to low speed and add the egg and beat until blended.

Gradually add flour and almond powder and mix them. Add white chocolated chopped and mix them together.

Drop 2/3 in the muffin cups and bake them for 15 minutes.


For the citrus icing

50 ml. fresh orange juice, strained
1/2 ts lemon juice
180 grams di icing sugar
2 ts powder egg white


Beat together in medium speed for 1 minute and then turn to high speed and keep on beating till it's thick and soft peak for 3 minuts.


For the decoration, I made the butterflies from marzipan just to get the atmosphere of spring.