“Baking chocolate-chip cookies – an act that makes all seem right with the world….”
Dorie Greenspan on Twitter
I’m back!! Just got in from Sydney 2 days ago, and am left wondering why good times fly by so quick. Had an absolutely wonderful time Down Under, a vacation we have come to look forward to. En route, we took a 3 day break in Hong Kong, thoroughly enjoying the the geographical diversity and amazing views it offers! It’s a place we never tire of …We enjoyed these cookies in Hong Kong, happily munched with leisurely cups of morning coffee… who would have thought! Made them for The Secret Recipe Club a day before we flew out, a great pick from Bizzy B Bakes, the blog I was partnered with this month. Bizzy B’s baking blog is full of infectious enthusiasm. She’s a huge fan of Dorie Greenspan, and does mainly gluten free recipes. {I’m late posting as life hit me full in the face the minute we got back.} From a very cool Sydney to a very HOT / 40C in Delhi {and 77% humidity}, I hit reality pretty soon. There are suitcases to be unpacked, laundry to be done, the kids are incessantly whining for a pup ASAP, school projects await completion, pictures need editing, mails lie unanswered … and a hungry blog stares at me!
It’s June with Bizzy B Bakes, my secret partner for the month @ The Secret Recipe Club, the brainchild of the very talented & sweet Amanda of Amanda’s Cookin’. The idea behind the club – Each month you are “assigned” a participating food blogger to make a recipe from. It’s a secret, so don’t tell them you are making something from their blog! Click on the link if you want to join the fun!!
As Chef Bizzy B said of the Cranberry, Pecan and White Chocolate Cookies … “First, I thought that this unusual combination would not go together but they did mesh beautifully and I have a new cookie to add to my repertoire. The richness of the flavors blended together is just right. I love the softness of the cranberry in contrast with the harder pecans and chocolate – I love chocolate.” I used tart dried cherries instead of cranberries, and dark chocolate chips instead of white chocolate.The recipe was indeed SIMPLE, a one bowl wonder!About Hong Kong … what’s not to love about this beautiful spot on Earth which has so much on offer. Thanks to the hub visiting Hkg often , we were leaping off ferries, trams and the MTR like we’d been here forever. It’s a network beautifully connected and easy to use. We’ve done the Peak often in the past, but the lad wanted to once again, so we chugged up the steep slopes in the Peak Tram to alight to breath taking views of the city, harbour etc.The harbour was crossed umpteen times, the iconic Star Ferry carried us from end to end offering us great views of the harbour all around. Raced and caught the Symphony of Lights just in time. We felt the pulse of Hong Kong … from contrasting landscapes of steep mountains with dense greenery to bays, beaches and rivers, from high rise buildings to the busy, bustling lanes of Stanley Market etc … fun!
[print_this]Recipe: Chocolate Chip & Tart Cherry Cookies
Summary:The richness of the flavors blended together is just right. The softness of the tart cherries in contrast with the harder dark chocolate wins you over.
Prep Time: 15 minutes Total Time: 40 minutes Ingredients:
1 cup flour
1/2 cup oats
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup dried tart cherries
1/2 cup dark chocolate chips
Method:
Preheat oven to 180C.
Beat butter in a large mixing bowl until fluffy, about 2-3 minutes.
Add sugar and beat until blended.
Beat in egg, then add vanilla and mix.
Add dry ingredients and mix well until blended.
Using a sturdy wooden spoon, dried tart cherries, chocolate chips and nuts, mixing in until well blended.
Drop tbsps of cookie batter on a lightly greased baking sheet, flattening slightly with a fork if desired.
Bake cookies until just golden, checking after 12 minutes.
It’s May with Megan, my secret partner for the month @ The Secret Recipe Club, the brainchild of the very talented & sweet Amanda of Amanda’s Cookin’. The idea behind the club – Each month you are “assigned” a participating food blogger to make a recipe from. It’s a secret, so don’t tell them you are making something from their blog!I was thrilled to find my April Secret Challenge recipe picked by The Pioneer Woman in her postWeb Deliciousness: Strawberries!
Ree was generous with her words. She said “Old Fashioned Eggless Chocolate Cake with Balsamic Strawberry Cream Filling by Passionate About Baking. This is the first time I’ve seen this food blog and the photos are just spectacular, not to mention the treats themselves. Wow.”, and then went on to add another of my posts in the round-up to say”Whipped Strawberry Curd Cream Tartlets with Walnut Shortbread Crust. My, oh my. I don’t know what to say.”
I love Megans blog Megans Cookin’ – Sweet, Savoury, Simple … goes the tagline. Her blog is delicious and we are addicted to her chocolate chip oatmeal snack bars; these are a weekly bake in our home. I have tried them in numerous avatars, with different flour substitutions like whole wheat and buckwheat {in addition to healthy oats in there}, and with different conserves, jams etc {homemade bitter orange marmalade, homemade strawberry vanilla bean conserve, blueberry conserve} …… with chocolate chips, with dark chocolate on top, without dark chocolate on top. They are THAT POPULAR at home and the kids love them! I had made a batch the morning I got a mail from Amanda telling me my secret partner was Megan.Could Amanda have guessed what I had just baked? I couldn’t post the same bars again as I have already done so on PAB. I hadn’t slathered them with dark chocolate this time because the weather is really hot, so I thought I’d use them some other way!Here’s what I did. I ran about 5-6 energy bars in my thermomix and got fine biscuit crumbs. My plan was to use them as a sweet tart base, with a cherry pie filling as cherries are in season here and very very tempting to use! Thought I’d do a bittersweet chocolate filling as in this Bittersweet Chocolate Marquise with Crème Chantilly & Balsamic Cherry Sauce I had recently made.That morning, an ardent local baker,the sweet Nidhi, messaged me literally begging me for a vegetarian something after she had drooled over the Bittersweet Chocolate Marquise. She’s allergic to eggs; I just had to oblige this lovely girl. {BTW, Nidhi, just finished reading the book you got me, and I loved it!}So the filling was rapidly reworked to accommodate Nidhi and her no egg request. You will not believe how delicious this turned out to be!! Finger-licking good, and well set too. Chocolate and cherries, like chocolate and strawberries, are a combination made to please the spirit!For folk with egg allergies or for a vegetarian version, I have an eggless tart recipe in this Whipped Strawberry Curd Cream Tartlets with Walnut Shortbread Crust. You could also use graham crackers or digestive biscuit crumbs.Take a look at the cross section. A filling that was smooth, luscious and sang the dark chocolate cherry song out loud! The diva on diet begged for more, and adamantly had two helpings despite being literally hit on the head and reminded of her diet! The son charmed his way to seconds! The base was full of chocolaty goodness too … a winner of a tart!This time I didn’t cook the cherries into a sauce. I barely simmered them in brown sugar and balsamic vinegar for 1-2 minutes, just to soften them and to help get them a glazed look, then fished them out of the sauce and cooked the syrup to a thick reduction. Oh, I added a dash of lime juice as well to give it a kick. Worked nicely!
[print_this]Recipe: Nutella & Cherry Chocolate Tart
Summary: A vegetarian filling /chocolate tart filled with deeply luscious dark couverture chocolate and nutella.
Prep Time: 15 minutes Total Time: 40 minutes Ingredients:
1 sweet chocolate tart base, 9″ {recipe follows, or premade etc}
500ml low fat cream, room temperature
200gms dark chocolate {I used 55% couverture}
2/3 cup Nutella
2 tbsp cornflour
100gms fresh cherries, pitted, halved
Method:
Mix cornflour in 1/2 cup low fat cream.
Place remaining cream, dark chocolate and Nutella in a heavy bottom pan, and simmer until the chocolate melts, stirring constantly.
Add the remaining cream & cornflour mix and continue to stir until mixture thickens to a batter like texture, thicker than flowing custard.
Cool for about 30 minutes. Sprinkle baked tart shell with the pitted and halved cherries. Pour the chocolate mixture over this, level out and chill for at least 3-4 hours, until set. Pour the balsamic cherry topping over, chill for another 30 minutes, remove from pan and serve.
Recipe: Chocolate Tart Prep Time: 15 minutes Total Time: 40 minutes Ingredients:
5-6 energy bars {recipe here}, powdered in processor
50gms unsalted butter, melted
Method:
Preheat the oven to 180C. Keep a 9″ round tart pan with a removable base ready.
Mix the cookies crumbs and butter.
Turn out into a 9″ tart pan and pat out evenly to cover the base and work into the sides. Mine was uneven on the sides, but the filling merged in later. {Also was not roll-able maybe because of the intense heat}
Bake for about 30 minutes. Cool completely on rack. It will firm up when cool. Loosen the shell, and leave it in the tart pan.
