Hot Chocolate Chip Cookie Pies

image & recipe @yummly.com/PickyPalate

image & recipe @yummly.com/PickyPalate

image & recipe @yummly.com/PickyPalate

Ingredients:

1 roll Pillsbury Pie Crust, thawed and cut into 12 2 1/2 inch circles (I used a cup to press out all the circles)
1 batch of your favorite cookie dough

1 egg white plus 1 teaspoon water
3 Tablespoons Turbinado sugar or normal granulated sugar
Powdered sugar for dusting on top

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Place all 12 pie crust circles onto a baking sheet. With a small cookie scoop, place a heaping teaspoon of cookie dough into the center of each pie round, pressing cookie dough down slightly without touching edges of pie crust. DO NOT overfill each pie, if too full the dough breaks through the pie.

2. Dip your finger in water and brush bottom 1/2 of the pie crust edge with water and fold top crust over to seal. Using fork tines, press to seal around edges. Continue until all crusts are sealed. Poke each little pie on top once or twice for steam holes. Lightly brush each pie with egg white whisked with a teaspoon of water then sprinkle with turbinado sugar (normal sugar is also fine). Bake for 20-22 minutes or until pie crust is just barely golden. Note that some of the cookie will escape through the pie crust, if this happens, just cut them in half and no worries. To prevent it, make sure you don’t overfill your crusts.

3. Just before serving sprinkle with powdered sugar and even ice cream if desired. Make sure to enjoy these warm, shortly after out of oven!!

Profiteroles with Coffee Whipped Cream

image & recipe @yummly.com / myrecipes.com

Ingredients

• 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 teaspoons sugar 
• 1/3 cup butter 
• 3 large eggs, beaten
• Parchment paper
• Coffee Whipped Cream
• Hot fudge topping

Preparation

1. 1. Preheat oven to 400°. Stir together flour and sugar.
2. 2. Bring butter and 3/4 cup water to a boil in a 3-qt. saucepan over medium-high heat, stirring occasionally. Immediately remove from heat, and quickly stir in flour mixture all at once. Beat with a wooden spoon until mixture is smooth and leaves sides of pan, forming a ball of dough. Gradually add eggs, beating until mixture is smooth and glossy.
3. 3. Drop dough by rounded tablespoonfuls onto a parchment paper-lined baking sheet.
4. 4. Bake at 400° for 20 minutes or until puffy and golden brown. Remove from oven to a wire rack. Pierce 1 side of each cream puff with a knife to allow steam to escape. Cool completely on baking sheet (about 20 minutes).
5. 5. Cut each cream puff in half horizontally. Dollop Coffee Whipped Cream onto bottom halves; top with remaining halves. Cover and chill until ready to serve. Drizzle with hot fudge topping just before serving.
6. Try this twist!
7. Profiteroles with Coffee Ice Cream: Substitute 1 1/2 cups coffee ice cream for Coffee Whipped Cream.

Passionfruit Mango Tarts

Makes 12

image & recipe @gabo.ninemsn.com.au

Ingredients

For the pâte sucrée

• 250g plain flour
• 100g butter, chilled and diced
• 100g icing sugar
• 2 free-range eggs, lightly beaten

For the filling

• 180g butter, chopped
• 2 free-range eggs, lightly beaten
• ½ cup caster sugar
• 1 teaspoon grated lemon rind
• pulp of 6 passionfruit
• 3 large mangoes

Utensils

• 12 x 6cm individual fluted tart tins

Method:

1. Place the flour, butter and icing sugar into a food processor bowl and process until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs. Add the eggs through the feed tube and process until the ingredients are just combined. Place the dough onto a floured board and knead lightly until smooth. Wrap in cling wrap and chill for 20 minutes.
2. Preheat the oven to 160°C. Roll out the pastry on a lightly floured surface. Cut 12 x 10cm rounds and line the individual tart tins with pastry. Cover the pastry with non-stick baking paper and weigh it down with a thick layer of dried beans or rice. Bake for 15 minutes, then remove from the oven and carefully lift out the paper and weights. Return to the oven for a further 5 minutes. Cool and unmould from the cases.
3. To make the filling, place a large metal bowl over a pot of boiling water. Take care not to let the bottom of the bowl touch the water. Whisk together the butter, eggs and caster sugar until the mixture thickens, then remove from the heat. Fold in the lemon rind and passion fruit pulp. Cool completely. Spoon the cooled filling into the pastry cases. Slice the mango flesh finely and arrange in a rose pattern on top of each tartlet.

Brandy Snaps

Yields: 16-20

image & recipe @gabo.ninemsn.com.au

Ingredients

For the snaps

• 50g butter
• 60g brown sugar
• 60ml (¼ cup) golden syrup
• 50g (⅓ cup) plain flour mixed with 1 teaspoon ground ginger

For the filling

• 1 vanilla pod
• 160ml (⅔ cup) thickened cream, whipped until firm
• 1 teaspoon brandy (optional)

Utensils

• baking tray, lined with baking paper

Preparation Method

1. Preheat the oven to 170—180°C. Place the butter, sugar and golden syrup into a small, heavy-based pan, and heat over a low heat until the butter is melted and the sugar is dissolved (be careful not to boil the mixture as it may crystallise).
2. Cool the mixture slightly, then add the flour and ginger mixture. Mix until well combined.
3. On a prepared baking tray, drop 4 large teaspoonfuls of mixture to make neat circles. Leave ample room to spread.
4. Bake for around 8 minutes or until they are bubbling, lacy looking and dark golden in colour (they should spread to around 10—12cm in diameter).
5. Remove from the oven and slide the baking paper onto a wire rack. Allow the snaps to cool until firm enough to move yet still pliable enough to shape. (A wide spatula and palette knife are helpful.)
6. Roll the snaps around a lightly oiled wooden spoon handle to form a cylinder shape, then slip them off the handle and cool on a wire rack.
7. You will need to work quickly at this point so your snaps are shaped prior to them cooling and setting. (If the snaps cool too quickly on the tray prior to shaping, you can place them back in the warm oven to soften again.) Repeat with the remaining mixture.
8. To make the filling, split the vanilla pod and scrape the seeds into the cream (and brandy, if using). Place the cream in a piping bag. When the snaps are totally cold, fill them with the vanilla bean cream to serve. Note: once filled, serve immediately as they will soften quickly.

Tip

If you want to shape a basket, lay the biscuit over an inverted Chinese tea cup or similar and allow it to droop downwards. To make a cone, twist the biscuit to come together at one end only.

Coffee Scrolls

Yields:  12-14

image & recipe @gabo.ninemsn.com.au

Ingredients

For the dough

• 1 x 7g sachet dried yeast
• 275ml (1 cup plus 1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon) warm milk
• 1 free-range egg
• 450g white bread flour plus extra for rolling
• 25g caster sugar
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 50g unsalted butter, melted
• 1 cup sultanas

For the filling

• 50g butter
• 2 teaspoons cinnamon
• ⅓ cup brown sugar

For the icing

• 2 cups icing sugar
• 20–30ml strong espresso coffee

For the sugar syrup

• ¼ cup caster sugar, dissolved in 2 tablespoons boiling water

Utensils

• 1 baking tray, lined with baking paper

Preparation Method

1. Dissolve the yeast in the warm milk, beat in the egg, and then mix in the flour, sugar and salt. Add the melted butter and mix until evenly combined. Leave for 10 minutes, and then knead in the sultanas.
2. Lightly oil a 20cm area of worktop. Turn out the dough and lightly knead it. Return the dough to the bowl and leave it for 10 minutes. Knead once or twice more at 10-minute intervals, then cover and leave until risen by half — about an hour.
3. Flour the worktop and roll out the dough to a large rectangle shape, about 1cm thick.
4. Melt the butter and add the cinnamon and brown sugar to dissolve. Cool, and then brush evenly over the dough.
5. Roll up the dough tightly from the longer side, cut into 3cm wheels and place almost touching on the baking tray. Cover and leave somewhere warm until almost doubled (approximately 30 minutes).
6. Towards the end of the rising time, preheat the oven to 220°C. Bake for about 15 minutes.
7. Mix the icing sugar with the coffee a little at a time to make a thick coffee icing. Brush the baked buns with the sugar syrup while still warm to make them glossy, then spoon or drizzle with a generous amount of the coffee icing.

Layered Pavlova Torte

serves 8-10

image & recipe@gabo.ninemsn.com.au

Ingredients

For the meringue

• 6 egg whites
• 1½ cups caster sugar
• 1 teaspoon cornflour, sifted
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 teaspoon white vinegar
• 150g almond meal, toasted
• 250ml thickened cream, whipped
• 250g strawberries, hulled and sliced or chopped
• 2 tablespoons passionfruit pulp

To finish

• fondant and food dye to make strawberries and leaves

Utensils

• 2 baking trays, lined with baking paper
• Preparation Method

1. Preheat the oven to 160°C. Draw 3 rectangles, 24cm long x 12cm wide, on the baking paper. Place the paper, ink side down, onto 2 baking trays.
2. Beat the egg whites in a clean bowl until stiff peaks form. Add the sugar a little at a time, beating well between each addition. Add the cornflour, vanilla and white vinegar. Fold in the almond meal.
3. Spread or pipe the meringue evenly over the rectangles. Bake for 50—60 minutes, then turn off the oven and allow the meringue to dry for a further 30 minutes. Remove the meringue layers from the oven and rest them on a wire rack to continue cooling.
4. Spread some whipped cream over a meringue rectangle and top with fruit. Layer another rectangle on top with more cream and fruit. Finish with a third layer.
5. Colour the fondant red and pink with the food dye and shape into small strawberries. Dye some fondant dark green (use blue and yellow dye plus a small amount of red to avoid a lolly-green colour). Shape this into leaves. Decorate the top meringue with a final smear of cream and top with the fondant strawberries and leaves.

Pavlova torte

Prep time: 40mins

Cook time: 35mins

Serves 10

image & recipe @taste.com

• 8 egg whites
• 430g (2 cups) caster sugar
• 1 tbs cornflour
• 2 tsp white vinegar
• 480g (2 cups) 99 per cent fat free vanilla custard
• 2 x 150g ctns Vanilla Creme Fruche
• 4 gold kiwifruit, peeled, thinly sliced
• 8 strawberries, washed, hulled, halved
• 2 passionfruit, halved
  
  1. Preheat oven to 160°C. Line 3 baking trays with non-stick baking paper. Draw a 22cm disc on each piece of paper.
  2. Step 2
     Use an electric beater to beat the egg whites in a clean, dry bowl until soft peaks form. Gradually add the sugar, 1/4 cup at a time, until the sugar dissolves and the mixture is thick and glossy. (you can tell if the sugar has dissolved by rubbing a small amount between two fingers. If it's still grainy than it hasn't dissolved completely) Beat in the cornflour and vinegar. (Once you feel the mixture is ready, hold the bowl upside down. If the mixture remains in the bowl than you know it's ready).
  3. Step 3
     Spoon the meringue mixture evenly among the prepared discs and smooth the surfaces. Bake, swapping the trays halfway through cooking, for 35 minutes or until the meringues are crisp and dry. Turn oven off. Leave meringues in oven, with the door ajar, to cool completely.
  4. Step 4
     Place 1 meringue disc on a serving platter or cake stand. Spread half the custard over the centre, leaving a 2cm border. Repeat with another meringue disc and the remaining custard. Top with the remaining meringue disc. Spread with the Fruche. Arrange the kiwifruit and strawberries on top. Spoon over the passionfruit pulp to serve.