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Pomegranate Apricot Brownies

Saturday, July 24, 2021

With chewy edges, gooey center, and so rich chocolate flavour, these gorgeous foolproof fruity chocolate brownies are guaranteed to disappear in no time. The pomegranate seeds and apricot cut through the sweetness, and a dollop of creme fraiche or a scoop of white chocolate ice cream would make this even more decadent. I baked them for about 38 minute and it came out really gooey and fudgy. If you like your brownies a little less 'wobbly', then bake for 3-5 more minutes.

200 g Salted butter, chopped
200 g 70% Dark chocolate, chopped
3 Eggs, medium
180 g Light brown sugar (or up to 250 g if you prefer it sweeter)
80 g White spelt flour
60 g Cocoa powder
120 g Pomegranate seeds
3 Ripe apricots, stoned and cut into pieces

Preheat the oven to 180C/350F. Grease and line a 22cm x 28cm pan with baking paper.
Place butter and chocolate in a medium saucepan over low heat. Cook, stirring occasionally with a wooden spoon until melted and smooth. Remove from the heat and cool for 5 minutes.
Place eggs and sugar in a large bowl. Whisk until well combined. Sieve flour and cocoa over the egg mixture and gently fold to combine. Gradually pour in chocolate mixture, stirring to combine.
Pour the batter into prepared pan and scatter the top with pomegranate seeds and chopped apricots. Bake on the middle shelf for 35-40 minutes or until just cooked through. Set aside to cool completely. Cut into squares to serve.

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Chicken and Cucumber Salad with Carrot Top Pesto

Thursday, July 22, 2021

This hearty everyday salad is a lean-protein powerhouse thanks to chicken and kidney beans. You can also use black beans, chickpeas or edamame instead. Carrot top pesto can be made 1 day ahead. Carrot tops are high in vitamin C, vitamin K, and potassium. Use them as you would parsley, or in place of parsley in recipes. You might not need all the pesto, the rest will keep for a week in an airtight jar in the fridge.

Carrot Top Pesto	Salad
50 g Carrot top greens, stems removed 20 g Parsley 1 clove Garlic, roughly chopped Juice of 1/2 lemon 30 g Roasted macadamia nuts 30 g Parmigiano-Reggiano, grated 1/2 tsp Sea salt 1/3 tsp Freshly milled black pepper 120 ml Extra-virgin olive oil	1/2 Roasted chicken, shredded 3 Persian cucumbers, chopped 1 can / 400 g Kidney beans, drained and rinsed 1 tbsp Dill, chopped 100 g Arugula leaves 100 g Blueberries

Rinse the carrot top greens thoroughly and dry. Strip the leaves from the stems. Discard stems. Place the carrot tops greens, parsley, chopped garlic, lemon juice, roasted macadamia nuts, grated Parmesan, salt, and pepper in a food processor. Pulse several times, scraping sides as needed with a rubber spatula. While the food processor is running, slowly pour in the olive oil in a steady stream. Scrape the sides down with a rubber spatula. Pulse until smooth.
Stir together chicken, kidney beans, cucumber and dill in a large bowl. Add half of the pesto and toss to combine.
Divide the arugula and chicken salad into 3 plates. Sprinkle some blueberries over. Serve with the remaining pesto.

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Red Currant Pull Apart Bread

Tuesday, July 20, 2021

Get some fresh seasonal fruit flavours in your pull apart bread! Bursting with the summer flavours of red currants and vanilla butter, this gorgeous pull-apart loaf is a fabulous addition for any picnic hamper or the ideal solution for easy entertaining.
The best part about this recipe, is that you can use any other seasonal fruit if you can't find red currants. Strawberries, raspberries or plums are excellent substitutes. I am just topping this with a simple dust of powdered sugar, but if you want to attempt a more elevated and decadent topping, you could whip up a quick glaze with cream cheese, powdered sugar and vanilla.

Dough	Filling
250 ml Whole milk, lukewarm 20 g Fresh yeast (or 10 g active dried yeast) 60 g White sugar 2 Medium eggs, room-temperature and lightly beaten 60 g Butter, softened 600 g Plain flour A large pinch of salt	120 g Butter, softened 24 g Dr. Oetker Bourbon vanilla sugar (3 packs) 300 g Red currants Powdered sugar

Combine milk, yeast and 1 teaspoons of sugar, stir and set aside at room temperature for 10 minutes, untill is gets foamy.
In the bowl of your stand mixer, add in eggs (reserve 1 tablespoon for the topping), softened butter, remaining sugar, yeast mixture, flour and salt. Stir at slow speed for 5 minutes until the dough comes together. Increase the speed and knead until dough is smooth and elastic.
Turn out the dough and shape into a ball. Lightly grease the mixing bowl with a little bit of oil. Return the dough ball into the bowl. Cover with a plastic wrap and let it proof at room temperature for about an hour or until it almost doubles its size.
Grease and line a large loaf pan with parchment paper. Set aside. Mix the butter and vanilla sugar in a bowl until well combined. Rinse and pluck the currants off of the stems.
Lightly flour a work surface and roll out the dough into a rectangle, roughly 50cmx35cm. Brush the rectangle with vanilla butter. Sprinkle the currants over.
Cut the dough into 4 strips and each strip into 5 or 6 even pieces. Stack a few of pieces together and place into the prepared baking tin. Repeat with the rest. Depending on the length of your loaf pan you might even have a couple of pieces left. Simply roll them up into individual buns and place in muffin tins. Cover with a clean kitchen towel and leave to rest in a warm place for 30 minutes.
Preheat the oven to 190C/375F. Brush the top with the reserved egg and bake in the middle of the hot oven for about 30 minutes until nicely golden brown. Remove from the oven let it cool in the pan for 10 minutes. Turn out and dust with powdered sugar.

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Eggless Mayonnaise

Sunday, July 18, 2021

Traditionally, mayonnaise is made using eggs, oil, lemon juice and mustard. If you are allergic to eggs or just don't eat egg, you can still enjoy the rich creaminess without the eggs on your burger, sandwich and potato salad with this eggless variant which uses emulsifying agent-milk in the place of egg. Use almond milk or plain soya milk if you want to go dairy-free.
This is a very basic eggless mayonnaise made with milk, lemon juice, Dijon and olive oil. It tastes like real mayonnaise and has the same texture as mayonnaise. It's made in an immersion blender and keeps well in the refrigerator for up to a week.

100 ml 3.5% Whole milk, cold
1-2 Garlic cloves, minced (or 1/3 tsp Garlic powder)
1 tbsp Freshly squeezed lemon juice
1/2 tsp Dijon mustard
200 ml Extra-virgin olive oil (or sunflower oil)
1/2 tsp Sea salt
Freshly milled pepper

In an immersion blender jar, add milk along with garlic, lemon juice, and Dijon mustard.
Pulse a few times until frothy. Slowly add in oil while continue pulsing until it's emulsifi ed and thick. Season with salt and pepper. To attain a better consistency, chill for an hour before using.

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Apricot Frangipane Tart

Friday, July 16, 2021

Buttery flaky pastry filled with a sweet almond mixture topped with ripe apricot halves-a perfect dessert for high summer when apricots are at their peak with rich colour, sweet scent, and slightly soft. Apricot and almonds are a match made in heaven and this tart makes the most of both of them. For something a little more indulgent, serve with a scoop of ice cream or a dollop of crème fraîche.
Frangipane is a mixture of butter, eggs, ground almonds, sugar, and sometimes a small amount of flour. Substitute other nuts (pistachios or hazelnuts) for new flavours if desired. According to Bakepedia, Frangipane is named after 16th century Italian nobleman Marquis Muzio Frangipani, who invented a bitter almond-scented fragrance that was used to perfume gloveswhile he was living in Paris. French pastry chefs were inspired and invented the recipe, which became a classic.

Pastry	Almond Filling & Topping
180 g Plain flour 50 g Almond meal 100 g Butter, cubed 30 g Vanilla sugar 1 Egg, large	150 g Butter, softened to room temperature 20 g Vanilla sugar 100 g Castor sugar 2 Eggs, large 150 g Ground almonds 20 ml Amaretto (or 1 tsp Almond extract) 8-10 Apricots, halved and stoned 2 tbsp Apricot jam Thyme leaves, to garnish Powdered sugar, to garnish

To make the pastry, either rub the flour, almond meal and cubed butter together using your fingertips until it resembles breadcrumbs or briefly process them in a food processor until just rubbed in. Add the vanilla sugar and mix, then add the egg and process until the mixture just holds together. Do not over work as it will make the pastry tough. Wrap in cling film and chill for 30 minutes.
Roll the pastry out on a floured surface and use it to line a 24cm / 8-inch tart pan. Prick the base of the pastry using a fork then chill the pastry for 10 minutes.
Preheat the oven to 190C7375F. Line the pastry case with parchment paper and fill with pie weights or uncooked rice. Place in the hot oven and bake blind for about 15 minutes, or until the pastry is set and pale brown. Remove the pie weights/rice and paper and return to the oven for about 5 minutes until the base is cooked.
For the filling, cream butter, vanilla sugar and castor sugar. Add the eggs and whisk together, then mix in the ground almonds and amaretto until fully incorporated.
Spoon the almond mixture onto the pastry case and arrange the apricot halves, cut side up, in circles on the top of the almond filling. Bake for 35-40 minutes, until the filling is set and golden. Remove from the oven and leave to cool.
Warm the apricot jam over a low heat then pass through a fine sieve. Brush the warm apricot jam over the top of the fruit to glaze. Garnish with fresh apricots and thyme leaves. Dust with powdered sugar and serve.