Chocolate pecan tart

I suspect this may be the same as a Mississippi mud pie but haven’t called it that in case, like key lime pie, there’s a specific ingredient/aspect that defines it and I’m not aware of it!  These things can be a minefield so I thought I’d avoid causing any offence – in all honesty it was the inclusion of pecan nuts that made me just think, ‘hmm, best not go there!’

It’s a bank holiday weekend so that means the glorious euphoria that only an extra day off work can bring!  I wanted to make something that would last all weekend and provide dessert.  This met the brief and was also a tart that I knew we wouldn’t get bored of – seriously, how you could you ever tire of chocolate tart?

The tart souffled up whilst cooking and sank when cooling.  Don’t panic when this happens; although my outer ring of pecan nuts stood up like sentries and meant the edge couldn’t sink back down giving an ‘interesting’ final look!  Here it is souffled….

….and sunken:

I do admire the design of pecan nuts – they look like shrivelled brains.  Walnuts and pecans have it sewn up regarding ‘interesting looking nuts’.  Most nuts are a bit dull looking – smooth and pale, but these two have raised the bar and always make me pause to look whenever I bake with them.  The complexity in shape that nature can produce is fascinating.  I’ve re-read what I’ve just written and concede that some people may find it weird.  I can assure you that it’s when I say I’ve started talking to the nuts that you should worry (or when I claim that they answer back!)

Ingredients

For the tart base:
225g biscuits – I used hobnobs, but digestives or ginger biscuits would also work
100g unsalted butter, at room temperature

For the filling:
170g plain chocolate
170g unsalted butter
4 eggs
170g dark muscovado sugar
150ml whipping cream
100g pecan nuts

To serve: whipped cream

Method

Start by making the base: blitz the biscuits to crumbs in a food processor, then add the butter and blitz again until you have clumpy wet sand.  NB. If you use the food processor there is no need to melt the butter, unlike it you use the old ‘bash the biscuits with a rolling pin’ method!

Press the crumbs into a 20cm loose bottomed flan tin taking care to come right up the sides.

Place in the refrigerator while you make the filling.

Preheat the oven to 190C/fan oven 170C/375F/gas mark 5.

Melt the chocolate and butter together over a gentle heat.

Leave to cool for about 10 minutes – if the mix is too hot the eggs will scramble when you add them causing a lumpy final texture.

Whisk in the eggs and sugar until smooth and well combined.

Whisk in the cream.

Pour into the chilled biscuit base and place the pecan nuts on top, arranged however you wish.

Bake for 30-40 minutes or until the chocolate filling looks set.

Leave to cool before de-tinning.  Don’t worry that your tart will settle as it cools – this is normal.

Serve in generous slices with cream.

Bask in the glory of the wonderful thing you have created.

Eat

Pecan cupcakes with cream cheese frosting

I haven’t yet baked a single cupcake during 2016 so thought it was about time I rectified this most heinous situation.  The pecan sponge is an adaptation of a recipe where it was intended as a 20cm cake served as dessert with toffee sauce.  Most sponges can be converted into cupcakes pretty simply by a reduction in baking time.

The original recipe used maple syrup instead of the golden syrup I used; I made this switch because Mr CC actively dislikes the smoky flavour of maple syrup.  He’s not known for being picky about food, there are probably less than a handful of no-go ingredients for him, so it would seem rude not to accommodate him.  I prefer golden syrup too!

Take time to blitz the pecans to a fine crumb but, at the same time, don’t blitz them for too long so they start to release their oils.  Once you hit the look of ground almonds, stop!  I kept mine perhaps a bit coarser than ground almonds:

Pecans have a robust flavour so I chose a cream cheese frosting as I thought it would hold its own against the nuts.  The tang of the cream cheese works well and I kept it simple with a dash of vanilla.

There are three distinct flavours to these cupcakes – cream cheese, syrup and pecans.  They all hit together but the pecan is the one you’re left with at the end.  They are sweet – as you’d expect with sugar, syrup and pecans (which I always think of as a sweet nut) - but it’s a flavoursome sweet rather than a sugary sweet; you aren’t left with itchy teeth!

Ingredients

For the sponge:
200g unsalted butter, at room temperature
150g muscovado sugar
350g pecans – blitzed to fine crumbs in a food processor
3 eggs
100g golden syrup
150g self raising flour

For the frosting:
200g unsalted butter, at room temperature
300g icing sugar
180g cream cheese – I used Philadelphia
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

To decorate: pecan halves

Method

Preheat the oven to 170C/ fan 150C/340F/gas mark 3 ½.

Line two cupcake pans with paper cases – I got 20 generous sized sponges.

Beat together the butter and sugar until light and well combined – it will never go quite as fluffy with brown sugar as it would with caster.

Beat in the ground pecans.

Beat in the eggs, one at a time.

Beat in the golden syrup.

Fold in the flour.

Spoon into the paper cases and bake for approximately 20-25 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the cakes comes out clean.  Mine took 20 minutes.

De-tin and leave to cool on a wire rack lined with either kitchen or baking paper – the reason for this is that the nuts release oils during cooking and by standing it on something absorbent you will end up with nice dry paper cases by the time they’ve cooled.  (NB. Removing them from the tin ASAP stops them continuing to cook when out of the oven -this is what can cause the paper cases to gap and look ugly).

Now make the frosting: beat together the butter and icing sugar until well combined and smooth.

Beat in the cream cheese and vanilla.

If the frosting is very soft don’t be afraid to refrigerate it for 30 mins or so before using.

Pipe over the cupcakes, or spread with a knife if you prefer.

Decorate with pecan halves.

Bask in the glory of the wonderful thing you have created.

Eat.

Florentine biscuit bars

 

This recipe is adapted from the one in the BBC Good Food 25^th birthday edition.  As soon as I saw the combination of florentines and shortbread I was sold!  I always associate florentines with Christmas as that’s the only time of year we ever used to have them; I don’t know whether they have any particular association with Christmas but, growing up, I remember they always used to form part of M&S’s confection/biscuit range.  M&S used to make a mixed box i.e. milk, dark and white chocolate.  Tactically I would always eat the milk first as I was the only one in my family to like white chocolate so I didn’t have to rush with those!

This is a good recipe to use up all the odds and ends of nuts a baker always seems to have in their cupboard; I buy a bag of nuts for a particular recipe and then don’t use them all.  I seem to have endless bags with about 20-30g of nuts left in them – this is where they get to step into the spotlight!

The cherries and pistachios look so pretty in amongst the nuts and chocolate.  You could make it look extremely festive by using red and green cherries…although I try not to think too hard about what they do to turn those poor cherries such a vivid green.  Some questions are best left unanswered.

Ingredients
For the base:
200g unsalted butter, at room temperature
100g golden caster sugar
200g plain flour
100g ground rice flour

For the topping:
25g unsalted butter
75g golden caster sugar
1 tablespoon plain flour
75ml double cream
50g flaked almonds
25g whole blanched almonds
75g chopped nuts of your choice – I used a mix of pistachios and chopped hazelnuts
75g glace cherries, halved
100g chocolate chips


Method
Line a 20cm square tin with baking papermaking sure the paper comes up high enough that you can use it to lift the finished bake up out of the tin.

Use a food processor to blitz together the butter and sugar.

Add the flour and rice flour and pulse until it starts to come together – don’t overwork it or your biscuit will be tough rather than crumbly.

Press into the base of the tin taking care to distribute the mix evenly.

Prick all over with a fork, cover with clingfilm and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes (or up to 2 days).

Preheat the oven to 180°C/fan oven 160°C/350°F/gas mark 4.

Bake the biscuit base for 25 minutes.

While the base is cooking start work on the topping: place the butter, sugar and flour in a pan large enough to take all the other topping ingredients and gently melt together stirring all the time.

When all the sugar crystals have dissolved add the cream and stir until smooth.

Stir in all the nuts and cherries.

Stir in the chocolate chips.   If you prefer, you can omit the chocolate chips and instead melt the chocolate and drizzle over the baked bars.

Spoon the hot nut mixture over the just-baked base and ensure it is well spread out.  Be gentle – a spatula or the back of a spoon works well.

Return to the oven and bake until the top is firm but retains a little squidge; this will take anywhere between 10-20 minutes but it can catch quickly so check every 5 minutes.

Leave to cool, in the tin, on a wire rack.

Cut into fingers.

If you didn’t add chocolate chips, decorate by melting 100g chocolate by your preferred method i.e. microwave or hob, and drizzle over the cold bake. (I like to do this after I’ve cut the fingers as then the chocolate isn’t disturbed with cutting)

Bask in the glory of the wonderful thing you have created.


Eat.

Oat and pear traybake with pecan crumble topping

  

I’m such a cliché but the first whiff of winter and I’m cracking open the spice jars like nobody’s business!  I found the recipe for the oat sponge and crumble topping on a recipe sharing website and decided that it needed an extra element.  Oats, spice and pecans led me to the very easy decision to add some pear to the mix.  Pear is one of my absolute favourite fruits to bake with.

The pear is fruity and juicy and stops the sponge being too dry or heavy.  The nutty crumble topping adds texture and richness; the dark sugar seeps into the cak almost like a sauce.  I served the cake at room temperature with a cup of tea but it would work so well warm with ice cream or custard.  You could even bake it in individual pudding moulds for a fancy dessert (but reduce the cooking time accordingly).

Adding fruit to a batter always increases the wetness during baking so it’s worth draining the tinned fruit and patting it dry with kitchen paper.  I think that without the addition of the fruit the sponge may have been a bit dry; the juice was absorbed by the oats making an almost fragrant sponge – imagine an oaty bread pudding and you’re pretty close.  Have I mentioned how much I love baking with pears?

I suspect it won’t be an issue, but the cake keeps really well for several days.  The pear keeps the cake soft, and the nuts in the crumble topping improve with age (unlike the baker!).

I took a photo of a slice and went for my obligatory ‘fork shot’.  Then I went for another...and another....and it ended up like this:

NB.  The crumbs were left on the plate for artistic purposes and were polished off the moment I put the camera down!  Waste not, want not etc.......

Ingredients

For the cake:

100g porridge oats
330ml boiling water
115g unsalted butter, at room temperature
220g dark brown soft sugar
2 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
215g plain flour
1 tin diced pears – the tin was 410g with a drained weight of 225g

For the crumble:

100g dark brown soft sugar
10g plain flour
½ teaspoon cinnamon
½ teaspoon grated nutmeg
40g unsalted butter – cold
100g pecan nuts – roughly chopped

Method

Preheat the oven to 190C/ fan oven 170C/ 375F/ gas mark 5.

Grease a 30cm x 20cm traybake tin.

Cover the oats with the boiling water and put to one side.

Now make the crumble topping: Mix together the sugar, flour, cinnamon and nutmeg.

Rub in the butter until you have lumpy crumbs.

Stir in the chopped pecans.

Place in the fridge until needed; a cold crumble is always easier to scatter over the top as your hands won’t melt the butter as much.

Now return to making the cake: Beat the butter and sugar until soft and well combined – it will never go fluffy and whippy when you’re using dark sugar.

Beat in the eggs, vanilla and cinnamon.

Fold in the baking powder, bicarbonate of soda and plain flower.

If there is any, drain any unabsorbed liquid away from the oats and fold them into the mix.

Spoon the batter into the prepared tin. 

Drain the pears and pat them dry with some kitchen paper.

Scatter the diced pears over the batter and gently press down into the batter.

Sprinkle the chilled crumble over the top of the batter.

Bake for approximately 30-40 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the cake comes out clean.

Leave to cool in the tin before de-tinning and storing in an airtight container.

Bask in the glory of the wonderful thing you have created.

Eat.

Nutella pecan brownies

Nutella pecan brownies...there’s not a word to dislike in that!  I loved these!  The nutella adds a richness and roundness of flavour to the brownie that compliments the chopped pecans.  I think they are up there as the most flavoursome brownie I’ve tasted....and I liked how the nutella added to the squidginess too.

I used dark chocolate for the brownies, where usually I’d be tempted to use milk or half milk/half dark.  The nutella is milky and sweet and I didn’t want to overdo the sweetness as I like a brownie with a strong hit of cocoa goodness!

Brownies are one of the few things that Mr CC and I disagree on (also on that list are Michael Buble, how interesting science is, coffee and capers).  He can’t get past the texture, which for me is the whole point of a brownie!

Footnote: this could actually be the footnote for any brownies I have ever made....Mr CC took the leftover ones into work for his colleagues...he tried one...and he liked it.  But he doesn’t like brownies.  Except for all those brownies in the recent past he has tried and liked.  Men are funny!

Ingredients

150g unsalted butter
100g nutella
100g dark or milk chocolate, broken into squares (I used dark)
3 eggs
150g caster sugar
80 self raising flour
50g pecan nuts, chopped finely plus a further 12 pecan halves for the top

Method

Preheat the oven to 200°C/fan oven 180°C/400°F/gas mark 6.

Line an 18cm (20cm will work too) square pan with baking paper.

Place the butter and nutella into a small saucepan and place over a gentle heat.  Stir occasionally.

When the mixture is melted and smooth turn the heat to the lowest setting and add the chopped chocolate.

As soon as the chocolate starts to melt, turn the heat off and leave the chocolate to melt into the butter mix.  Stir occasionally until the chocolate has completely melted.

In a large mixing bowl whisk together the eggs and sugar until it is light and whippy.

Pour in the chocolate mix and beat together.

Fold in the flour and chopped nuts.

Pour into the prepared tin and gently sit the pecan halves on top – space them out evenly as this will help you to cut the brownies later.

Bake for 30 minutes or until the brownies are almost baked.  There’s no right or wrong here – it depends how squidgy you like your brownies.  Make sure you take them out just before they are how you like them as they will continue to cook and firm up as they cool.

Leave the brownies to cool for 20 minutes in the tin before lifting out and cutting into 12 brownies.

Bask in the glory of the wonderful thing you have created.

Eat.

Blueberry, cherry, cranberry and pecan oaties

 

Fruity oat biscuits and just in time for the first hint of summer!  Somehow using blueberries, cherries and cranberries rather than the more usual dried fruit fare makes these tasty, fresh and new – a refreshing change for your palette.

These are classic fruity oat biscuits but with an almost hidden secret: pecans.  In all honesty, I’m not sure you’d know the biscuits contained pecans (I chopped mine quite small) but you’d know there was something extra as there is a rich roundness to the flavour that is an unusual, but most welcome, addition to an oat biscuit.

The texture is like a crisp flapjack.  I must warn you that the dough is sticky in its raw state.  Don’t fret when you’re shaping the dough into a fat sausage for chilling – it really firms up in the fridge and is easy to work with.  A good sharp long bladed knife makes the cutting easier – I experimented with a serrated knife and it rather butchered the dough!

A very popular bake this one – the CCB (Caked Crusader’s Brother) commented that they had everything he loved about a biscuit.  When asked what this was, his first (and only) response was that they were, “big”.

Save yourself time and double the quantities for a 24 biscuit batch; they keep well for days and are very pleasing to have in the biscuit tin for emergencies.....such as needing a biscuit urgently.

Ingredients

175g plain flour
½ teaspoon baking powder
85g porridge oats
175g golden caster sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
140g unsalted butter – straight from the fridge
90g dried fruit – I used blueberries, cherries and cranberries but raisins or sultanas would also work
50g pecans – chopped
1 egg

Method

Place the flour, baking powder, porridge oats, golden caster sugar and cinnamon in a large bowl and mix together.

Add the butter and rub the mixture through your fingertips until the butter is completely incorporated.

Stir in the dried fruit, nuts and the egg.  At this point the mixture will be wet and clumpy but not quite coming together.

Use your hand to bring the dough together then tip out onto a large sheet of clingfilm.

Roll the dough into a fat sausage and flatten the ends.  You’re aiming for a diameter of about 6cm.

Wrap in clingfilm and place in the fridge for about an hour or until the dough has firmed up.

Preheat the oven to 180°C/fan oven 160°C/350°F/Gas mark 4.

Line two baking sheets with baking paper.

Remove the biscuit log from the fridge and unwrap the clingfilm.

Cut the log into 12 fat discs and place on the baking sheets.  Don’t worry if the biscuit log crumbles a bit while you cut it – it will squidge back together.

Bake for approximately 15 minutes or until golden.  Mine took a bit longer – approx 20 minutes.

Leave, on the tray, to cool and firm up.

Store in an airtight container.

Bask in the glory of the wonderful thing you have created.

Eat.

Pecan tart

It’s easy to get stuck in a baking rut and keep making similar things using your favourite ingredients. Every once in a while it’s nice to ask someone else for inspiration – this week I asked Mr CC to pick ingredients for me to use and he chose pecans and maple syrup. So obviously, it had to be pecan tart (nope, I won’t call it pie – sorry!)

I know most people would call this ‘pecan pie’ but I really struggle calling something ‘pie’ when it doesn’t have a pastry lid. It breaches all that is right in this world to misname baked goods in such a way. The Oxford English Dictionary defines pie as “a baked dish of savoury or sweet ingredients encased in or topped with pastry” – note the “encased in” bit – the pastry must seal in the filling. I’m disappointed that the OED allows anything topped with pastry to be called a pie but I’ll leave that battle for another day. So to sum up – this is a TART and not a PIE. Now that that can of worms has been successfully opened I feel a lot better....I’m no psychic but I sense this may lead to some comments....

The pastry interested me in this recipe as it didn’t use egg; normally my short crust pastry always uses egg yolk. It produced a drier, more biscuity pastry which contrasted well with the incredibly rich and sticky filling. The filling sets firm but, while the top sets hard, the inside remains soft and moist.

I served it at room temperature with thick cream but it would also be lovely warm with ice cream.

You’ll notice in my ingredients list I used half golden syrup and half maple syrup – you can easily use all of one if you wish.

Homage to the dawn of computer games...here is a pecan tart pretending to be a pacman:

Ingredients

For the pastry:

200g plain flour
115g unsalted butter, cold
2 tablespoons caster sugar
cold water

For the filling:
70g unsalted butter, at room temperature
100g light muscovado sugar
70g golden syrup
70g maple syrup
2 eggs, beaten
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
130g pecan nuts, roughly chopped

Method

Start by making the pastry: place the flour and butter in a food processor and blitz until you have breadcrumbs. Alternatively, rub the butter into the flour by hand.

Stir in the sugar and enough water to bring the crumbs to a stiff dough. I pulsed the mix in my food processor and found that 3 ½ tablespoons of cold water was enough.

Form the pastry into a fat disc and wrap in clingfilm, refrigerating for 20 minutes.

Roll the pastry out between two sheets of clingfilm (no extra flour needed) until it is large enough to line a 23cm round loose bottomed tart tin.

Prick the base of the pastry with a fork.

Chill for a further 20 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 200°C/fan oven 180°C/400°F/Gas mark 6.

Cover the pastry with baking paper and weigh down with baking beans.

Cook for 10 minutes then remove the paper and beans and cook for a further 5 minutes.

Put to one side while you make the filling.

Reduce the oven temperature to 180°C/fan oven 160°C/350°F/Gas mark 4.

To make the filling place the butter, sugar, golden syrup and maple syrup into a saucepan and gently heat, stirring all the time, until the ingredients have melted and combined.

Remove from the heat and beat in the eggs and vanilla.

Stir in the chopped pecans.

Pour the mixture into the pastry case and make sure the nuts are evenly distributed.

Bake for 30-40 minutes or until the filling is set. Mine took 35 minutes.

Leave to cool in the tin, on a wire rack.

Serve either at room temperature with thick cream or warm with ice cream.

Bask in the glory of the wonderful thing you have made.

Eat.

Ginger, pecan and rum chocolate brownies

I very much enjoyed Levi Roots’ recent TV series “Caribbean food made easy” and this brownie recipe was the stand out for me as it contains pretty much all my favourite things!

The only disappointment was the cooking time he gave in the recipe. The recipe says 20-25 minutes and mine hadn’t set at that point so I gave my brownies an extra 10 minutes whilst worrying they wouldn’t be squidgy anymore. You’ll see from the photos that I didn’t achieve set brownies but more a chocolate pudding which - don’t get me wrong – was absolutely divine! I’m just telling you this as next time I’d probably give them 40 minutes or so in the oven, but I know ovens vary so you will just have to judge it for your oven.

The flavour combination is perfect and all the flavours and textures are distinct at different times. It would be very difficult to go back to a plain chocolate brownie after these!

I served them freshly baked with clotted cream ice cream for dessert but they would be just as nice at room temperature with some cream or on their own.

Ingredients:
250g plain chocolate (70% cocoa), broken into pieces
250g unsalted butter
5 eggs
350g dark muscovado sugar
2 tablespoons rum (dark rum is best)
150g plain flour
125g pecan nuts, roughly chopped
4 balls stem ginger, finely chopped

To serve: ice cream or cream

Method

- Preheat the oven to 180°C/fan oven 160°C/350°F/Gas mark 4.

- Line a brownie pan (30cm x 20cm) with baking paper.

- In a bowl over a simmering pan of water, ensuring the bowl does not touch the water, melt the chocolate and butter. Stir occasionally.

- Remove from the heat and leave to cool a little.

- Beat together the eggs and sugar until well combined. As the sugar is heavy and granular the mixture won’t appear light and fluffy in the way that it would with caster sugar.

- Beat in the melted chocolate and butter and the rum.

- Fold in the flour.

- Fold in the pecan nuts and ginger.

- Pour (it will be very runny) into the prepared tin.

- Bake for a minimum of 25 minutes but it might take a lot longer. Ideally I think mine should have had 45-50 minutes but ovens vary so take care. When a skewer inserted into the middle only has a little residue on it, I’d say that’s done.

- Stand the brownie pan on a wire rack and leave to cool.

- Cut into squares.

- Either serve warm or at room temperature.

- Bask in the glory of the wonderful thing you have made.

- Eat.