Monday 7 January 2013

Christmas Dessert Madness and Mayhem

This year for Christmas, I said, I'd make the dessert. And of course I had to come up with something ridiculously grand, which I had never done before. What is a fun Christmas dinner without panic attacks and cold sweats?
After much experimenting and seven straight hoyrs in the kitchen prepping on Christmas Eve, I produced a (if I may say so myself) super yummy dessert!

Lime Panna Cotta, Raspberry Sorbet, Lime and Raspberry Macarons and a Raspberry Coulis


Lime Panna Cotta (serves 4-6)

200 g fine castor sugar
200ml semi-skimmed milk
450 ml soya cream light
3 to 4 limes
1 lemon
250 g mascarpone
3 sheets of gelatine

For this recipe I use semi-skimmed milk and soya cream light to ease a little on the load of fat. You can use full fat milk and normal cream, but your dish will be much heavier and of course cooking time will differ.

Put the sugar, milk and cream in sauce pan and bring to the boil while gently stirring. Once the cream mixture is gently boiling, leave it to simmer for an hour to an hour and a half. It will have the consistency of a thick custard. Stir occasionally.
Soak the gelatine sheets in cold water. Meanwhile remove the pan from the heat and stir in the mascarpone, if you have lumps, use a stick blender to remove them.
Juice the limes and lemon, this should give about 150ml of juice. Add a bit to the mixture and mix till you have a smooth mixture and taste before you add more juice. I use about 140ml, but you may want more or less depending on your sweet tooth and/or taste of lemons and limes.
Squeeze the gelatine sheets dry and stir them through your mixture one by one.
Divide the mixture over your panna cotta molds, leave to cool to room temperature and then put in fridge and leave overnignt.


Raspberry Sorbet (serves 4-6)

300g frozen raspberries
1,5 shotglas raspberry vodka (or plane vodka with some raspberry syrup)
Juice of half a lemon
75g icing sugar
75cl water

Leave the raspberries to defrost. Once defrosted, put in a bowl with the vodka and let soak for two hours. Stir occassionally so all raspberries soak up vodka. Drain as much of the liquid as possible (and set aside to mix with some Coke Light later, yumm).
Blend the raspberries with the stick blender and pass the goo through a (plastic) sieve into the pan, pour the water and lemon juice through as well. This makes the passing of the raspberry goo easier and you sieve out any lemon bits as well. (nb. quite a large amount of pitty muck remains). Add the sieved icing sugar and stir. Gently heat the mixture to a boil and leave to boil for a few minutes. Turn off the heat and let cool for five minutes. Pour the mixture into a freezer proof container and leave to cool to room temperature. Put the container in the freezer and stir the sorbet every thirty minutes until it really starts to set. Remove from freezer one minute before you are ready to start plating.

Raspberry coulis (8-10 personen)

250gr frozen raspberries
48ml raspberry balsamic
40 ml water
28 ml lemon juice
(icing sugar/liquid stevia)

Defrost the raspberries. Transfer them to a bowl and pour the balsamic in. Leave to soak for two hours, stir occassionally. Puree with a stick blender.
Pour the water into a sauce pan, pass the raspberry goo through a (plastic) sieve, strain the lemon juice with it. Give it a good stir amd bring to a boil. Leave to boil for ten minutes. Pour into a bowl and leave to cool. Once cooled add icing sugar and/or liquid stevia to sweeten. Do not use powdered stevia as it gives a bitter after taste. Leave for a day, uncovered, at room temperature.

Raspberry macarons 10-20

37,5g aged egg whites (at least 24h, preferrably 48h)
100g fine caster sugar
25 ml water
red foodcolouring

37,5g fresh egg whites
62,5g finely ground almonds
62,5g icing sugar

Make sure your mise en place is complete before starting!
Weigh your almonds after sieving them, you lose quite a bit. Mix the almonds through the icing sugar and add in the fresh egg white, mix till you have a thick paste.

Add water and sugar to a sauce pan and turn on heat, keep stirring till the sugar has disolved. Add food colouring. Don't be afraid to be a little extreme, the colour will fade with following steps and during baking. Add thermometer. When the temperature reaches 100C start whisking the eggwhites. (lowest speed). Once the temperature has reached 121C, turn off heat and gently pour the sugar to the eggwhites while beating. Continue beating until the bowl reaches room temperature.
Divide the almond mixture in three parts and fold it into the eggwhites. Scoop this mixture into your piping bag.
Cover a baking tray with parchment paper or a silicone bakingmat. Gently pipe circles mixture onto it. For this recipe I made macarons roughly the size of a euro. Because the macarons were so small, I used a small piping nuzzle for a little more control.when finished piping, gently tap the baking tray on your work bench six times to release excess air. Leave for 45 minutes.
Meanwhile, pre-heat the oven to 150C. Bake for 15 minutes. At 6/7 minutes, open thenoven door briefly. This prevents your macarons heating up too fast and cracking.
After fifteen minutes your macarons should have a firm top but slightly wobbly foot.
Remove baking tray from the oven and leave to cool for ten minutes. Place macarons on roster to let cook and dry further.

Raspberry filling

160g frozen raspberries, defrosted
5 teaspoons fine castor sugar
2 teaspoons corn flour
1 egg, whisked

Blend the rapsberries and pass through a (plastic) sieve into a sauce pan. Add sieved corn flour and sugar, stir in the whisked egg. (if you have lumps, don't be afraid to use the stick blender) heat for five minutes to a boil while stirring. Remove from heat and keep stirring until it thickens. Pour this mixture into a bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Leave to cool.

Once the mixture is cooled, compose your macarons. Do this close to serving, or your macarns will go spungy.

Lime macarons 10-20

37,5g aged egg whites (at least 24h, preferrably 48h)
100g fine caster sugar
25 ml water
green foodcolouring

37,5g fresh egg whites
62,5g finely ground almonds
62,5g icing sugar

Make sure your mise en place is complete before starting!
Weigh your almonds after sieving them, you lose quite a bit. Mix the almonds through the icing sugar and add in the fresh egg white, mix till you have a thick paste.

Add water and sugar to a sauce pan and turn on heat, keep stirring till the sugar has disolved. Add food colouring. Don't be afraid to be a little extreme, the colour will fade with following steps and during baking. Add thermometer. When the temperature reaches 100C start whisking the eggwhites. (lowest speed). Once the temperature has reached 121C, turn off heat and gently pour the sugar to the eggwhites while beating. Continue beating until the bowl reaches room temperature.
Divide the almond mixture in three parts and fold it into the eggwhites. Scoop this mixture into your piping bag.
Cover a baking tray with parchment paper or a silicone bakingmat. Gently pipe circles mixture onto it. For this recipe I made macarons roughly the size of a euro. Because the macarons were so small, I used a small piping nuzzle for a little more control.when finished piping, gently tap the baking tray on your work bench six times to release excess air. Leave for 45 minutes.
Meanwhile, pre-heat the oven to 150C. Bake for 15 minutes. At 6/7 minutes, open thenoven door briefly. This prevents your macarons heating up too fast and cracking.
After fifteen minutes your macarons should have a firm top but slightly wobbly foot.
Remove baking tray from the oven and leave to cool for ten minutes. Place macarons on roster to let cook and dry further.

Lime filling

100cl lime juice
20g fine castor sugar
2 teaspoons corn flour
1 egg, whisked

Sieve the lime juice into a sauce pan. Add sieved corn flour and sugar, stir in the whisked egg. (if you have lumps, don't be afraid to use the stick blender) heat for five minutes to a boil while stirring. Remove from heat and keep stirring until it thickens. Pour this mixture into a bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Leave to cool.

Once the mixture is cooled, compose your macarons. Do this close to serving, or your macarns will go spungy.


Plate up and enjoy!!




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