Nanaimo Slice

I have been wanting to make this slice for some time now, ever since I tasted it at a local cafe. It is a canadian treat and I had never even heard about it until recently. This no-bake slice is made up of three layers. The first is a chocolatey, nutty, coconut, biscuit crumb base not dissimilar to chocolate slice or a cheesecake base. The middle layer is a custard flavoured buttercream filling and the final layer is a chocolate ganache. 

Richness overload! It is very sweet and indulgent. I probably could have halved the filling in the middle to make it less of a heart-attack-inducing treat. So I ticked this off my bucket list of baked goods (well technically no-bake) and put it on my "stuff to try for realsies list". Now that I have made them myself, I look forward to trying these treats IN Nanaimo, Canada...one day.

Nanaimo Slice

Adapted from I Wash You Dry

What you will need

For the base

1/2 cup butter, room temperature
5 tbsp cocoa powder
1/2 cup sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1 egg, lightly beaten
1 1/2 cups plain biscuits processed to crumbs (you can use gluten free biscuits)
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
1 cup desiccated coconut

For the filling
1/2 cup butter, room temperature
2 tbs custard powder
3 tbsp cream
2 cups icing sugar

For the topping

115g milk or dark chocolate
3 tbsp butter
2 tbsp cream

What you will need to do

Prepare a slice tin by lining it with baking paper and set aside. Set up a  heatproof bowl over a saucepan of simmering water making sure not to let the bowl touch the water. Place the butter, cocoa, sugar and vanilla in the bowl and whisk until melted and sugar is dissolved. Remove the bowl from the saucepan and quickly add the egg and whisk until combined. Return the bowl to above the saucepan and stir cooking for another 2 minutes. Remove from heat and add the crushed biscuits, walnuts and coconut. Mix until all combined then press into the prepared tin. Place in the fridge to set.

To make the filling, beat the butter, custard powder and cream in a bowl until light and fluffy. Gradually add the icing sugar until light and fluffy and sugar has dissolved. Spread out over the base and return to the fridge.

To make the topping, place the chocolate butter and cream in a heatproof bowl and place over the saucepan of simmering water just like for the base. Stir until melted and smooth. Remove bowl from the saucepan and leave to cool for about 10 minutes. Pour chocolate mixture over the top of the slice and spread out. Return to the fridge until the chocolate has set. Remove from fridge and slice into pieces.

Chocolate Brownies - My New Favourite!

I hadn't cooked with chocolate for a while and I was having withdrawals. I wanted to make something to take to a friends place for a BBQ and thought brownies would be perfect. But I decided to try a new recipe (risky I know) because there was still this certain brownie texture that had alluded me up until now. That dense and almost chewy texture as apposed to super moist cake-like texture. I had a good feeling about this new recipe.

In the past I had always tried to use brownie recipes that use cocoa powder instead of chocolate for convenience reasons but this time I went for the real thing. These brownies are amazing! They are exactly that texture I have been searching for and the nuts just really add to the experience. Topped with chocolate ganache they are to die for and extremely morish. Another great thing is you make it in one saucepan so its not too messy!

It is safe to say that when I open my own bakery, these babies will DEFINITELY be on the menu! I found the recipe floating around on Pinterest and it is a David Lebovitz recipe. I am really starting to like this guys recipes... a lot!

Chocolate Brownies

Adapted from Leite's Culinaria

What you will need

85g butter
225g dark chocolate
3/4 cup sugar
1tsp vanilla
2 eggs
1/4 cup flour
1/2 cup walnuts, chopped

1/2 cup pecans, chopped

200g dark chocolate

100ml cream

What you will need to do

Preheat oven to 175*C and line a square baking tin with baking paper.
In a small saucepan melt the butter and chocolate over low heat. Stir until melted. Take off the heat and add the sugar and vanilla, stir until combined. Beat in eggs one at a time. Add the flour and mix rigorously for a whole minute until it becomes smooth and glossy and pulls away from the side of the pan a bit. Apparently this step is crucial to getting the right texture at the end. Stir in the chopped nuts and pour batter into prepared tin. Bake for 30 minutes or until the centre feels almost set. You do not want to over cook them. Take out of oven and cool in the tin.

To make the ganache. Place the cream and chocolate in a small saucepan and melt over low heat, stirring constantly. Once melted, pour over the top of the brownies still in the tin and leave to set. I put mine in the fridge to set quicker :D.

Pistachio Macarons with Chocolate Ganache and Vanilla Buttercream

It has been a while since I have made macarons. These turned out surprisingly well considering I tampered with the ingredients from my usual recipe and just added however much I wanted of pistachios. In fact the measurement of pistachios was 'however many I could peel before I got bored/annoyed/sore fingers'. I had intended to add some green food colouring to give them a more 'Pistachio' look but it completely escaped me. The ganache and buttercream was just left over from some cupcakes I made but it was super delicious sandwiched between pistachio macarons.

I've not been having a great time at work lately which is a shame because I love what I do. Throw in a bit of home sickness and my mood has been somewhat unpleasant to say the least. These little pick me ups make me feel a whole lot better both in the making and the eating. Creating these delicious little morsels from a few simple ingredients just gives me hope that one day this will be what I get to do day in day out :) And the fact that just one little bite can lift my mood to new heights is a pleasurable bonus!

Pistachio Macarons with Chocolate Ganache and Vanilla Buttercream

What you will need

3/4 cup almond meal
3/4 cup icing sugar
1/4 cup ground pistachios (I peeled/ shelled some pistachios then processed and sifted them, keep the bits that were too big to get through the sieve and set aside for later)
1/4 cup caster sugar
2 egg whites

200g chocolate melts
100ml cream

1 cup icing sugar
100g butter
2 tsp vanilla essence

What you will need to do

Prepare two baking trays with baking paper and set aside.
In a bowl sift the almond meal, icing sugar and ground pistachios and set aside. In another bowl beat the egg whites until soft peaks form. Add the caster sugar and beat until a thick merengue forms. Add the merengue into the sifted dry ingredients. Start mixing quite vigorously to combine ingredients and then fold until mixture is shiny and moves slowly in the bowl when tilted.

Place mixture into a piping bag fitted with a round tip about 1cm wide. Pipe small rounds onto the baking trays about 2cm wide (I made some extra small ones about 1cm wide too). Leave a good sized gap between each round as they will spread slightly. Tap the baking tray quite hard onto the bench to get any bubbles out of the rounds. Sprinkle the rounds with any leftover pistachio bits that were too big to get through the sieve. Leave the trays out on the bench for anywhere from 30 minutes to 2 hours, depending on the temperature and weather, until a dry skin forms on the rounds and you can touch them without it sticking to your finger.

Preheat the oven to 150*C and place trays in for about 10 minutes. They may need longer depending on your oven. The shells will be ready when the feet have formed and no longer look soft. They won't brown too much on top but the bottoms might just start to brown. Take out the trays and leave them to cool down on the tray. Once they are cool to touch remove them carefully from the baking tray and set on a wire rack to continue to cool.

To make the ganache, bring the cream to boil then pour over the chocolate in a heat proof bowl. Stir until all the chocolate has melted then set aside to cool down and firm up.

To make the buttercream, beat the butter and icing sugar until pale and creamy. Beat in the vanilla.

To fill the macarons, prepare a piping bag fitted with a round tip about 1cm wide. To fill the piping bag, holding it upright put the buttercream on one side of the bag and put ganache on the other side. This way you will get a swirled effect when you pipe. Pipe the filling onto half of the shells and then sandwich together with the other shells.