Category Archives: Desserts

Galette Des Rois

January 1, 2016 6:00 pm / Leave a Comment /

Galette Des Rois

When my daughter was living in France on exchange she was delighted to learn that the French serve this delicious galette on the 6th January as part of their New Year celebration.

It is not at all difficult to make, basically just puff pastry and ground almonds like a frangipani tart.  This recipe is from the lovely book ‘Pies & tarts’ by Stephane Reynaud that I received for my birthday.

When cooking this use the combi if you have one, otherwise use Fan Forced or ‘Supercook’ as some brands call it.  Refer to my function chart here.  As I mentioned in my curry puff recipe, nothing makes puff pastry ‘puff’ like a combi!  Be sure to preheat the oven tray for this.  If you have a combi that also has bottom element only you could do a further stage with 10 minutes bottom element as part of the cooking time.  This will ensure you have a beautiful cooked base.  Or, even better, if your combi (or oven) has a function with the fan and bottom element then use that for the complete baking time. You cannot ‘blind’ bake this galette.

Ingredients:

375g puff pastry
180g blanched almonds
180g castor sugar
180g unsalted butter
4 eggs

Method:

  1. Preheat combi oven with the flat tray @ 180°C
  2. Grease and flour a 20cm tart tin.  I used the traditional French ‘ring’ that doesn’t have a base but a normal tin is fine but try using it without its base (so with baking paper on the bottom only.  See step 6).  This really does help brown and cook the base.
  3. Process the almonds with the sugar in a food processor until finely chopped.
  4. Melt the butter, add it to the almond-sugar mix then incorporate 3 eggs.
  5. Set aside the yolk of the remaining egg.
  6. Roll out two thirds of the pastry to 3mm thick.  Tear off a piece of baking paper large enough for the tin to place your galette on.  As the tin is preheating in the oven, assemble the galette on the paper.  Place the pastry in the tin, allowing the edges to hang over.
  7. Fill with the almond cream.
  8. Glaze the edges with the reserved egg yolk.
  9. Roll out remaining pastry and cover the pie, pressing the edges to seal.
  10. Draw a rosette pattern on top using the tip of a knife.
  11. Brush with egg wash.
  12. Slide the galette on its paper onto the hot oven tray.  Place back into the oven and bake on Combination mode 180°C + 30% steam for 30-45 minutes until golden brown.

 

 

Posted in: Combi Steamer, Desserts

Theresa’s apricot cake

October 19, 2015 3:37 pm / 2 Comments /

Apricot cake

This is a favourite family recipe that means Summer to us.  It was made regularly by a very special lady who made it for us when we visited her in her home in Templestowe, Melbourne.  She would go outside and collect a few ripe apricots that had fallen from her tree and whip this up in no time.  She was Austrian, loved to entertain and passed away some years ago but the memory of her and her wonderful cooking still remains with us all 🙂

Ingredients:

125g butter
1 cup sugar
1 tsp vanilla
rind 1 lemon
2 eggs
2 cups self raising flour, sifted
milk to make soft batter

Method:

  1. Beat butter and sugar until pale.
  2. Mix in lemon rind and eggs one at a time mixing well after each addition.  Add vanilla.
  3. Fold in sifted flour with enough milk to make a smooth batter.  If you have used unsalted butter it will need a pinch of salt added with the flour.
  4. Spread into flat slice tin.  Top with halved apricots skin side down.
  5. Sprinke with a little sugar and cinnamon if apricots are not ripe or if you like these flavours.
  6. Bake 160° Fan Forced 30-45 minutes.
  7. Dust with icing sugar when cold.

Delicious served for afternoon tea or dessert with whipped cream. 🙂

 

Posted in: Baking, Cakes and Biscuits, Desserts

Homemade yoghurt from the steam oven

July 12, 2015 10:08 pm / 4 Comments /

Homemade yoghurt from your steam oven.

After I did a cheese making class at our friend Maxine’s place a few weeks ago I got inspired to try to make yoghurt.  We had a great time making feta & ricotta (this is so easy I will never buy ricotta again!) and Maxine also makes her own yoghurt which was delicious.  She uses a commercial yoghurt making machine and purchases the culture required.  I for one don’t want another small appliance anywhere near my kitchen so I did a bit of reading up about making your own yoghurt at home and decided that the steam oven is the perfect appliance to use.  Yoghurt needs a constant, accurate temperature for many hours or overnight for it to set.  With my steam oven you can set the time and go as low as 40°C with one degree increases so what better appliance to use to set yoghurt perfectly at 43°C.  For anyone who has another brand of steam oven that doesn’t have this degree of accuracy then I am sorry I don’t think it will work for you.  By all means give it a go at the closest temperature setting you can get, all you will lose is one litre of milk 🙂

I also wanted to try to make yoghurt using a few spoonful’s of commercial yoghurt instead of purchasing the culture and it worked!  Make sure you use commercial yoghurt with a ‘live’ culture.  Unless it says that on the container then it isn’t live but plenty of good quality yoghurts are easily available now which contain this form of culture.

Ingredients:  Makes 1L

1L full cream milk
3 tbsp. commercial plain yoghurt with live culture

Method:

  1. Sterilise your jars in the steam oven by placing them upside down, with their lids in a perforated tray @ 100°C for 15 minutes.
  2. While you are doing this heat the milk on the stove until it reaches 82°C.  Fill the sink with 3cm of cold water and when the milk reaches temperature then remove the pot from the stove and sit it in the sink to cool.
  3. Lower the temperature of the milk to 46°C.
  4. Place the commercial yoghurt into a small mixing bowl.
  5. Remove one ladle of hot milk from the pot and add to the commercial yoghurt, stir to combine.
  6. Pour into the sterilised jars, cover and set in the steam oven @ 43°C for 5 hours.  Because the temperature is so low I didn’t even need to refill the water container.
  7. Set another timer to remind you to turn off the steam oven a few minutes before the end of cooking time.  This will stop it automatically reducing the steam and cooling the cavity down.

Don’t be tempted to open the door but leave the jars in the steam oven for another 2-3 hours minimum until cool then place in the refrigerator until required.

Easy and delicious served with your favourite fruit.  Try with my steamed rhubarb or Winter fruit salad.

Posted in: Breakfast/Brunch, Desserts, Gluten free, Healthy eating, Steam Oven

Bread & butter pudding

May 29, 2015 2:44 pm / 2 Comments /

Bread & butter pudding

This is the ultimate pudding if you have a combi oven as it really is quicker without the need for a water bath, just pop it into the oven on Combination mode and in just under an hour you have the perfect bread and butter pudding.  This is almost half  the cooking time than a conventional oven.  Amazing!

This version is also little quicker to whip together by using buttered raisin bread.  There are other versions you can do with this standard custard base.  Brioche is delicious, as is Panettoni or an artisan fruit loaf.  Another option includes spreading with marmalade after the butter but I prefer just a dusting of sugar.  If you use marmalade just spread some on the middle layer of bread and cover with more buttered slices.  This will stop it burning on the top.  If your using plain bread then sprinkle with a few sultanas over each layer.  Also delicious with dark chocolate chips!

This is a smaller recipe to serve four.  For six serves and a bigger pudding increase the eggs to 5, sugar to ½ cup and milk to 3½ cups.  Cooking time would be approximately a further 10 minutes.

Ingredients:  Serves 4

6-8 slices raisin bread or fruit loaf, buttered
3 eggs depending on their size
¼ cup sugar
2 cups milk
1 tsp vanilla essence
Sugar to sprinkle over

Method:

  1. Grease a shallow, ovenproof dish with butter.  The pic shows my small Le Creuset 8cm x 26cm.
  2. Cut the bread if necessary and place tightly in the base of the dish with the buttered side down.
  3. Add another layer with the buttered side up.  It should be tight – no gaps so cut your bread the way you need to make it fit.  You should have at least three layers.
  4. Beat the eggs, sugar, milk and vanilla together.
  5. Pour over bread, pushing down so that it sinks in the custard.
  6. Sprinkle with sugar.
  7. Bake on Combination mode 160°C + 80% steam for 50 minutes.  It will come out of the oven puffed but will drop.  This is normal.

Serve warm with fresh cream 🙂

 

 

 

Posted in: Baking, Combi Steamer, Desserts

Steam oven cheesecake

December 11, 2014 12:58 pm / 6 Comments /

Steam oven cheesecake

This is a cheesecake, totally cooked in the steam oven with Christmas flavours. Decorated with some fresh cherries this is a lovely festive dessert you can serve as part of a buffet or instead of a traditional steamed Christmas pudding here.

I have had lots of interest in the pudding over the last few weeks.  Everyone with a steam oven realises now just how much easier it is to cook a pudding without the hassle of boiling it on the stove top.  No excuse not to make your own!

I love a traditional, baked Italian ricotta cheesecake but in this recipe I have combined the different cheeses to make a smoother, creamy texture.  The steam oven works a treat for something like this which needs a moist oven environment and won’t dry out the biscuit base.  This can be a problem when baking a cheesecake in a traditional oven.  It also gives it a gorgeous texture.

Make sure you cover it really well with foil so it doesn’t get wet.  Of course, you can alter the fruit and nut selection or leave them out completely.  We do however love the texture of the nuts in this 🙂

Ingredients:  Serves 10-12

1½ cups sweet biscuit crumbs
100g butter, melted
½ tsp cinnamon

Filling:
250g cream cheese, at room temperature (a must)
250g smooth ricotta (in a tub)
¾ cup castor sugar
2 tbsp. cornflour
1/3 cup cream
3 eggs
2 tsp lemon juice
1 tsp baking powder
¾ cup sultanas soaked in ¼ cup brandy for 30 minutes
¼ cup slivered almonds, toasted

Method:

  1. Combine biscuit crumbs, cinnamon and butter and press into base of a lined 23cm springform tin.  See my tip here.  Don’t be tempted to use the whole packet of biscuits. Chill.
  2. Beat softened cream cheese, ricotta and cream together until smooth.  Do not over beat.
  3. Add sugar, lemon juice, eggs, cornflour and baking powder.  Mix well.
  4. Fold in sultanas and nuts and pour into prepared base.
  5. Cover tightly with foil.
  6. Steam @ 100°C for 55 minutes.  It should be just set around the edges and soft in the centre.
  7. Uncover and cool.  It will firm up on cooling.
  8. Chill until required.   Overnight is probably best.
  9. Remove from fridge 30 minutes prior to serving.  Top with fresh, pitted cherries and serve berry coulis to drizzle.  You can make this by heating half a cup of raspberries, ¼ cup water with 1-2 tablespoon of caster sugar and a dash of liquor or squeeze of lemon until dissolved.  Push through a fine sieve to remove the pips.

 

 

Posted in: Christmas cookery, Desserts, Dinner parties, Party Food, Steam Oven

Flourless chocolate cake

November 9, 2014 11:57 am / Leave a Comment /

Flourless chocolate cake

Julie, the Home Economist from Ilve Appliances in Sydney sometimes makes this delicious cake as part of their cooking class.  I enjoyed it so much when I tried it that I extracted the recipe from her.  She new the ingredients off by heart which is always impressive.  Now that’s a good cook!

I am melting the chocolate and butter in the steam oven here but the rest of the cake is cooked in a traditional oven on Fan Forced.

Another gluten-free option to have up your sleeve for when you need that special dessert.

Ingredients:

180g Lindt, 70% dessert chocolate
100g butter
1  1/3 cups packed brown sugar
1 cup almond meal
4 eggs, separated

Method:

  1. Grease and line a 20cm springform tin.
  2. Melt the butter and chocolate together until smooth, you can do this in the steam oven following the link above or in a bowl over a simmering pot of water.  Let it cool.  If you are cooking the cake in the combi, wipe out the steamer now so it will dry before cooking.
  3. Beat egg yolks and sugar until soft and creamy.
  4. Fold in cooled melted chocolate, mix well then add almond meal.
  5. In a separate bowl beat egg whites until soft peaks form.  Don’t overbeat they should be a medium hold.
  6. Gently fold into chocolate mixture starting with one spoonful of the egg white to work it in then very gently with the remainder.
  7. Bake @ 160°C Fan Forced for 1 hour.

Add whipped cream and berries to the top of the room temperature cake to serve. Yum

Note:  Even better if warmed slightly before serving and the cream added at the last minute.  Do not serve cold from the refrigerator.

 

Posted in: Baking, Cakes and Biscuits, Chocolate, Desserts, Gluten free, Traditional Ovens

Creme caramel

October 30, 2014 11:49 am / 12 Comments /

Creme caramel

The steam oven is perfect for cooking custards because you have low, accurate temperature control.  I mentioned this in the post on the Crème brulee here.  The worst thing that can happen when your cooking a custard is to cook it at too high a temperature so that the custard overcooks.  You may have had this before, the texture is not smooth and can be ‘grainy’ or ‘rubbery’.  Without the worry of this, the only thing you need to ensure is that you cover your dishes so that you don’t get any water forming on the top.  One large piece of foil is fine.

With no need for a bain-marie or water bath in the steam oven, how did we ever bother cooking custards before in a conventional oven!

This is a lighter Crème caramel than usual, using only milk and less sugar.  A good option for this time of the year when we are all trying to lose those Winter kilograms!  You can alter the recipe to half milk, half cream if you wish but only heat and infuse the vanilla into the milk.

Cooking times will vary on the size and type of the dish.  A large custard will take approximately 35-50 minutes.  It should be set around the edges and be ‘wobbly’ in the centre.  They should firm up on cooling.

Ingredients:  Serves 8:

700ml milk
1 vanilla bean, split lengthwise and seeds removed or 1 tsp vanilla paste (not essence)
1/4 cup castor sugar
4 large, 800g eggs, beaten

Caramel: 1 cup sugar + 1/2 cup water

Method:

  1. For the caramel combine sugar and water in a small saucepan.  Stir on moderate heat until sugar has completely dissolved.
  2. Increase heat and boil steadily, without stirring until a deep golden colour.  Watch it, it will continue to darken so don’t take it too far.
  3. Pour into base of 8 small, half cup size ramekin dishes, swirl around so that caramel covers each base.
  4. In a medium saucepan combine milk, vanilla bean or paste and sugar.
  5. Bring slowly to the boil, stirring to dissolve the sugar and set aside to infuse for 10 minutes.  This will give you better flavour.
  6. Remove and scrape out vanilla seeds.
  7. Lightly whisk eggs in a bowl and then whisk again into hot milk mixture.
  8. Pour over caramel in each individual ramekin and cover with foil.
  9. Steam @ 90°C for 30 minutes or until set when tested.
  10. Uncover so that condensation doesn’t form on the top.
  11. Chill at least 4 hours or overnight and revert onto dessert plates to serve.

Note:  Adapted from Miele, you can omit the caramel to make this into a plain baked custard. Use the same recipe and add freshly grated nutmeg to the top prior to cooking.

 

 

Posted in: Desserts, Dinner parties, Eggs, Gluten free, Steam Oven

Pear and ginger upside down pudding

September 18, 2014 1:54 am / 3 Comments /

Pear & ginger upside down pudding

I have been cooking this cake/pudding for years and everyone loves it.  It was a recipe I discovered in an old Vogue Wine & Food cookbook in the 80’s and is always delicious.  Moist, spicy and served warm it is the perfect end to a casual lunch or dinner.  It is worth the little extra effort to warm it before serving.

Be careful that the pears need to be ripe and not too large as the batter will not cover them.  There isn’t actually a large quantity of batter so be mindful of this.  You could slice the pears and arrange decoratively over the base of the pan if necessary.

Ingredients: Topping

60g butter
100g soft brown sugar
4 small-medium ripe pears, peeled cored and cut in half lengthwise
Pecans or walnut halves

Gingerbread:

125g Plain flour, sifted
¼ tsp salt
½ tsp bicarb-soda
2 tsp Cinnamon
½ tsp ground nutmeg (freshly grated if possible)
1 tsp ground ginger
small pinch ground cloves
125g soft brown sugar
1 egg beaten
½ cup milk
60g melted butter
90g Golden Syrup

Method:

  1. Preheat oven to 180°C or 160°C Fan Forced.  Line a 22cm tin with baking paper.
  2. To make the topping:  Melt the butter in a saucepan, add the brown sugar and stir until the sugar has dissolved.  Be careful that it doesn’t burn.  I have just melted the butter in the base of the pan while the oven is preheating but the sugar didn’t melt and the result was not as good.
  3. Pour the mixture into the lined tin and arrange pears upside down, core side down and place a nut in each core place.  If you have anymore space scatter a few extra nuts around or between the pears
  4. To make the gingerbread:  Sift together all the dry ingredients
  5. Combine the egg, sugar, golden syrup, milk and cooled butter
  6. Stir into the flour mixture
  7. Beat well for 1 minute until smooth and pour over pears.
  8. Bake in pre-heated oven for 40-45 minutes
  9. Allow to cool slightly before turning out onto a large plate.

Serve with cream 🙂

Posted in: Baking, Cakes and Biscuits, Desserts

Apple & rhubarb crumble

August 29, 2014 10:41 pm / Leave a Comment /

Apple & rhubarb crumble

Sometimes I need to be reminded, usually by my children, that I shouldn’t think a recipe is too simple or too basic and not put it on the blog.

This is one of those recipes.  Our very basic apple and or rhubarb crumble that doesn’t contain oats in the topping but is just that yummy mix of crumble ingredients with golden brown, toasted almonds on top that you can throw into a food processor and have in the oven in about 10 minutes flat.

Try to remember to have cooked your stewed apples and rhubarb in the steam oven earlier so that the fruit can cool.  You can cook them together but for this crumble you need a little more sugar so use the quantities of sugar below or to taste.

Ingredients:

500g green apples, peeled and sliced
1 bunch of rhubarb, chopped into 2cm pieces
2-3 tbsp. sugar for the fruit, or to taste
1 cinnamon stick, broken
3 whole cloves (optional)

Crumble mixture:
½ cup Self raising flour
¼ cup butter
3 tbsp. coconut
3 tbsp. brown sugar
¼ cup slivered almonds

Method:

  1. Pre cook apples and rhubarb as in the links above in the steam oven or stew on the stove top until cooked.  Cool
  2. Grease a medium size, oven proof dish.
  3. Preheat oven to 160°C Fan forced
  4. Rub butter into the flour with your fingertips until flour resembles fine breadcrumbs or you can do it all in a food processor.
  5. Add brown sugar and coconut and mix or process until mixture just starts to come together.
  6. Mix fruit together and place into greased dish.  Taste for sugar and add more if required.
  7. Crumble over topping mix, covering with an even layer.
  8. Top with almonds and bake for 30-40 minutes until golden brown and bubbling.
  9. Cool a little before serving.

Serve with cream or ice-cream 🙂

Also delicious with all sorts of other fruit, especially stone fruit in season.

 

 

 

Posted in: Baking, Desserts

Lemongrass & kaffir lime creme brulee

August 11, 2014 9:59 am / 3 Comments /

 Lemongrass and Kaffir Lime Creme Brulee

I have had many requests from people all over the world to cook a crème brûlée in the steam oven so here it is!

So much easier than bamboo baskets over pots of boiling water that may boil dry or a bain-marie in the oven.  More importantly a steam oven has precise temperature control, making it perfect for delicate things like this so you can cook with confidence knowing that you are not going to overcook them.

The only thing that you need to do for a crème brûlée in the steam oven is to cover the dishes so the condensation doesn’t pool on top of the custard.  Pop them all into the solid steamer tray and straight into the oven.  I greased my dishes with a tiny bit of oil which may not be necessary but easier to spoon from the dish in any case.

If you don’t have a Miele steam oven they may take a bit longer.  Check them after 1 hour, they should still ‘wobble’ a little.  If your oven can’t do 85° then go to 90°. The dishes should hold approximately 140-150ml each, although my dishes were larger but not filled to the top.

Perfectly cooked and a nice change from the classic vanilla.

Ingredients:  Serves 6

750ml thickened cream
1 vanilla bean, seeds scraped
5-6 kaffir lime leaves, finely chopped
1 stick lemongrass, bruised and finely chopped.  Use about half the stem.
70g caster sugar
6 egg yolks
Extra raw sugar to caramelise tops, ground finely if possible

Cinnamon tuiles

2 egg whites
70g caster sugar
50g melted butter
35g plain flour or I used Gluten free plain flour with success
½ tsp ground cinnamon

Method 

  1. Stir cream, vanilla bean and seeds, lime leaves and lemongrass over lowest heat for about 10 minutes or until almost boiling.  Remove from heat and set aside for 15 minutes to infuse.
  2. Strain and discard solids.
  3. Whisk sugar and egg yolks until combined. Gradually whisk in strained cream mixture.
  4. Strain mixture into six heatproof dishes.
  5. Put all the dishes onto the large solid steamer tray (I used the flat one).  Cover with foil and cook @ 85°C for one hour.
  6. Remove from the steam oven, uncover and let cool.  Refrigerate at least 4 hours or until ready to serve.  Can be cooked the day before and refrigerated overnight.

Preheat oven to 180°C Fan forced.  Line an oven tray with silicone or baking paper.

  1. To make tuiles, place egg whites in a bowl. Whisk until foamy.
  2. Whisk in sugar and butter.
  3. Add combined sifted flour and cinnamon. Whisk until just combined
  4. Spread teaspoons of mixture onto prepared tray into the shape of your choice.  They need to be spread really thinly.
  5. Bake for about 5 minutes or until dark golden.
  6. Sprinkle tops of brûlées with extra sugar.  It is better if the raw sugar is ground.
  7. Cook under a hot grill or caramelise sugar with a blow torch.

Serve brûlées with tuiles.

Recipe adapted from My Kitchen Rules and also Luke Nguyen. 

 

Posted in: Desserts, Gluten free, Steam Oven