Homemade lemongrass and ginger ice cream

I love the flavours of lemongrass and ginger on its own and they are even better when brought together. A lemongrass and ginger iced tea is just the perfect drink to uplift and refresh one’s mind and body on a warm day while a hot lemongrass and ginger tea warms and soothes one’s soul in the evening (and it’s even better since it’s caffeine free).

This lemongrass and ginger ice-cream is a more indulgent version of its tea counterpart. I replaced some of the sugar with honey for some mild sweetness with floral accents and threw in some candied ginger bits for that additional mild heat and spiciness.

I really like this ice-cream. It may not be as rich and decadent as the dark chocolate sorbet or as refreshing as the kiwi sorbet. However, it has a bold flavour that comes through the creaminess of the ice-cream. It has an incredible effect for me for it brings to mind the calming cup of lemongrass ginger tea served post-spa sessions.

Yes, I think that is what does it for me.

Recipe: Lemongrass and ginger ice cream
(Adapted from David Lebovitz’s “The Perfect Scoop)
Makes 1/2 litre tub

I tweaked David Lebovitz’s vanilla ice cream recipe, replaced some sugar with about a tablespoonful of honey because I think honey goes well with lemongrass and ginger.

Ingredients:
3 stalks of lemongrass, cut into 3″ length and bruised
a thumb length of ginger, peeled and sliced into 1/4″ rounds
125ml whole milk
15g leatherwood honey (or any you like)
130g sugar
250ml heavy cream
pinch salt
3 large egg yolks

candied ginger (optional)

Method:

1. Warm the milk, sugar, honey, half the amount of cream and salt in a medium sauce pan. Add in the bruised lemongrass stalks and sliced ginger. Cover and let the flavours infuse at room temperature for about 20 – 30 minutes.

2. Pour the remaining half of the cream into a large bowl and set a strainer on top. In a separate medium bowl, whisk together the egg yolks. Pour in the warm mixture into the egg yolks, whisking constantly, then scrape the warmed egg yolks back into the saucepan.

3. Stir the mixture constantly over medium heat with a wooden spoon, until the mixture thickens and coats the back of the spoon. Pour the thickened mixture into a strainer, remove the lemongrass and ginger pieces, and stir the strained mixture into the cream. Stir till cool over an ice bath.

4. Chill the mixture thoroughly ( I like to put it in the refrigerator for about an hour at least). Freeze the mixture in your ice-cream machine according to the manufacturer’s instructions.

Lavender and blueberry friands (financiers)

I have never tasted friands/financiers until my stay in Sydney. These tea cakes are so ubiquitous that they are virtually at every cafe in the city; they come in different shapes and sizes, sometimes they have an addition of chocolate chips or mixed berries.

After trying it, I went to do my own research on the origin of financiers/friands. Financiers originated from France and its name came about because the traditional ones are shaped like gold ingots since it became popularised by a cafe along the financial district in Paris. The term ‘friands’ is used more popular in Australia.

I’m glad that I got to try them because they have since become one of my favourite tea-time snacks. They are soft, moist cakes with an exceptional nutty flavour from the beurre noissette. Beurre noisette is a French term for hazelnut butter literally. To get beurre noisette, you simply cook the butter over heat until golden brown. This gives a nutty flavour to the butter.

This time, instead of making the usual financier, I decided to play around with the flavours. It was a strange morning when I woke up with the images of lavender and blueberries in my mind and I thought that image was both pretty and soothing.

I was initially apprehensive about the two flavours working together. It was only after making a batch of these that I went to google ‘lavender + blueberry’; there I was pleasantly surprised to find over 4  million results that matched my search terms!

Have I been missing out on something for too long?

I think the key of making this combination work is to ensure that the strong flavour of lavender does not overpower the other flavours – in this case the nutty flavours from the  beurre noisette and the pocketful of juicy, berry flavours of the blueberries.

With these lavender and blueberry friands, I’m inspired to have a tea gathering with an English high tea inspired spread. Think: honey madeleines, salmon, cream cheese and cucumber sandwiches, some scones with jam and clotted cream. All served on dainty and pretty china with a good pot of earl grey.

It does sound like a pretty sight, doesn’t it?

x,
jo

Recipe: Lavender and blueberry friands (financiers)
Makes 6 rectangular ones (the ones I make are rather big)

Friands/financiers are mini French cakes. The original flavour of friands is nutty from the buerre noisette and it has great texture because of the high proportion of ground almond used. The addition of dried lavender lends the friands more character with a hint of floral flavour and the biting into the blueberries gives way to moist, plump berry goodness.

Ingredients:
115g egg whites, room temperature
130g caster sugar
55g plain flour
85g ground almonds
80g unsalted butter, cubed
1/2 tsp dried lavender for culinary use
70g fresh blueberries
pinch of salt

Method:
1. Prepare beurre noisette: Place the cubed butter and dried lavender into a small pot. Place on a stove with medium fire. Heat the butter and swirl the pot occasionally. The butter will start to melt before the the milk solids (white) start browning. The butter will have a golden brown colour. Set aside to cool, allowing the lavender flavour to infuse while you prepare your other ingredients.

2. In a bowl, place sugar, flour and ground almond, salt together. Whisk the dry ingredients a little. Add in the beurre noisette (including the brown sediments and dried lavender).

3. Add in the egg whites slowly while whisking till incorporated. You do not need to create too much volume in the egg whites. Add in the fresh blueberries to the batter and fold through.

4.  Spoon the batter into your moulds (I used rectangular silicon moulds), if you are using aluminium moulds, do grease your moulds with melted butter to ensure that the friands do not stick after baking. Bake in a preheated 190 degrees celcius oven and bake for 15- 18 minutes (depending on the size of the friands), or until golden-brown and it springs back slightly to touch.

5. Allow them to cool to room temperature before serving. You can dust them with some icing sugar if you are serving them to friends for tea!

How to make chocolate macarons

I don’t know how I found myself in the kitchen making macarons. I guess it had to do with the leftover egg whites in the fridge from my ice-cream experiment.

It’s not a bad thing to make macarons. They are pretty and good to eat. Believe me when I say I can eat more than a couple at a go.

I wrote a earlier post on seeking perfection with fleur de sel macarons. I have had my share of bad macaron days where I come face-to-face with bad macaron batches (think cracked shells, no pied/feet etc).  As they say success is a poor teacher, I think I’ve learnt the most about macarons through my failed attempts, and trial and errors.

I’ve written a detailed recipe for these chocolate macarons with some tips and troubleshooting for macarons. I hope this would be helpful to anyone who is baking macarons for the first time and to those who are looking to troubleshoot some macaron problems.

These teeny-tiny morsels are worth your time and effort – the pride and exhilaration that you will get from making successful ones is almost unimaginable.

Here’s to macarons – to those who love them and those who are brave enough to bake them!

love,
jo

Recipe: Chocolate macarons
Makes 40 regular macarons

Upon discovery of the Italian method in macaron making, I have not looked back. It is by far my favourite method of making macarons. I find that this recipe produces a much more stable macaron mixture and it works incredibly well in a humid country!

These macarons are rich, very rich. I like them because they have shiny and smooth shells and when you bite into them, they give way to a chewy center that screams macaron-perfection. They aren’t too sweet either – as the richness of the dark chocolate ganache balances out the sweetness of the shells.

Chocolate macaron shells

Ingredients:

Group 1:
130g ground almond meal
25g dutch-processed cocoa powder
150g icing sugar
70g egg whites (*aged, if possible), room temperature

 Group 2:
150g caster sugar
30ml water
60g egg whites(*aged, if possible), room temperature

Method:

1. Prepare your baking trays: Place baking parchment on trays and trace 2.5cm circles on the paper, spacing them about 1.5 to 2cm apart. You can use cookie cutters as a guide.
2. I usually dry my ground almond meal in a low temperature oven (about 40-50 degrees celcius) for approximately 10 minutes as ground almond tend to absorb moisture. Then process it in a food processor with the icing sugar.
3. Sift the ground almond meal, icing sugar, and cocoa powder into a bowl and whisk the dry ingredients before adding theegg whites in group 1 and whisk again until you get a well-incorporated, smooth paste.

Making an Italian meringue:

1. Place egg whites from group 2 into a greasefree mixer bowl.
2. Heat sugar and water mixture in a clean stainless steel pot on medium heat (do not stir). Just use a clean pastry brush and tap water to brush down the sugar on the sides of the pan. Once the sugar mixture reaches 105 degrees celcius (do use a candy thermometer), start the mixer and whisk the egg whites to soft peaks.
3. When the sugar mixture reaches 118 degrees celcius, remove pot from stove and immerse the pot into a basin of warm water to halt the cooking process.
4. Once the sugar mixture stop bubbling profusely, wipe the bottom of the pot dry before you begin to pour the mixture in a steady stream into the egg whites while the mixer is on high speed. Whisk at maximum speed for about 5 minutes before turning down to medium speed for about 3-4 minutes. The meringue should be firm and glossy. Then, let the meringue cool slightly at low speed.

Folding the Italian meringue with the dry ingredients:

1. Once the meringue has cooled (warm, but not hot!), incorporate a large scoop of meringue into the group 1 ingredients. Fold to combine. You don’t have to be too careful about knocking the air out in this step.
2. Then, add the rest of the meringue into the group 1 ingredients and fold through gently.

How to achieve macaronage?

1. Macaronage is a term used for mixing the batter and spreading the batter against the sides of the bowl until you get a smooth, glossy mixture. You need to achieve macaronage if you want your macarons to form pied/’feet’ after baking. When your dry ingredients and italian meringue is well-combined and well-folded through, smear the mixture against the sides of the bowl with your spatula to achieve macaronage. This should be done about 10- 12 times to achieve a smooth, glossy mixture, without holding peaks. When you lift your spatula, the mixture should fall in about 5-6 seconds. The consistency should be similar to your choux pastry batter.

Piping and drying of macaron shells:

1.  When it is done, pipe the macaron shells onto a baking sheet. You should pipe perpendicular to the table and lift the nozzle once it has spread to the inner line of the circle. The mixture will spread a little.
2. Rap the baking tray against the table top 2 to 3 times. This will help bring any air bubbles to the surface of the macarons and you can prick it away with a toothpick.
3. Let the macarons rest for about 30 minutes in an air-conditioned environment/cool and humid-free environment until they have form a skin and the batter does not stick to your fingers when you touch it.

Baking the macaron shells:

13. Bake in a preheated oven on the center rack at 160 degrees celcius for about 17- 18 minutes. (It is advisable to use an oven thermometer to check your oven temperature and not to rely entirely on the oven setting as there may be some inaccuracies.)
14. Cool the macaron shells before attempting to peel them off the baking sheet. They will come off easily after they are cooled.

Recipe: Dark chocolate ganache filling
Enough to fill 40 regular macarons

200g dark chocolate, chopped
200g cream
50g butter, room temperature, cubed

1. Put the cream into a pot and bring to a boil. When the cream starts to bubble furiously, take it off the heat and let it cool a little before pouring over a bowl of chopped chocolate.

2. Using a spatula, fold the cream and chocolate mixture to combine until smooth and glossy.

3. Cool the chocolate ganache mixture to about 50 degrees celcius before added the chopped butter and whisk in to combine.

4. Cool the chocolate ganache in a fridge. Start whisking the ganache once it is chilled thouroughly. The point is to whip air into the ganache until buttercream consisitency.  The ganache would look a little paler and would able to  hold its shape.

***

To assemble the macarons:

1. Start by pairing the macarons shells. You should try to pair them based on the best fit.

2. Transfer the ready chocolate ganache filling into a piping bag (What I do is to use a disposable piping bag and to cut a small hole)

3. Start piping the chocolate ganache onto the center of a macaron shell. Sandwich with the other half of the macaron shell and twist it to and fro slightly till the ganache fills to the edge of the shell.

4. Refrigerate the macarons in a covered container. I find the flavours and texture of the macarons are best the day after (or after 12 hrs). Somehow this allows the flavours time to infuse and the filling helps to soften the shells slightly giving it a chewy texture. Try to consume your macarons within 3-4 days.

*Aged(or matured) egg whites aids in the making of macarons. Leave your egg whites out on the table counter for a day (if you live in a warmer climate, if not, you can leave it out for two days). Sometimes, I leave the egg whites to age in the fridge for a few days. This allows for some evaporation of moisture from the egg whites. It also allows the coiled proteins in the egg whites to relax and this allows them to whisk to its maximum volume.

*If this is the first time you are making macarons, do refer to my previous post on salted-caramel macarons for more macaron tips and tricks!

*You can choose to fill these chocolate macaron shells with a milk chocolate-passion fruit ganache. This is another one of my favourites!

Macaron troubleshooting:

If your macaron shell cracks…

- your oven may be too hot. It is best to use an oven thermometer when baking so as to be sure of your oven temperature. You can also bake the macarons on two tray. This prevents the bottom of the macarons from becoming overbaked and it prevents the macarons from cracking.

If your macarons cannot form pied/’feet’..

- your oven may not be hot enough

- you may have rested/dried the macaron shells for too long

If your macarons are not glossy and looks lumpy…

- you might not have given the macaron mixture sufficient macaronage.

If your macarons form peaks that refuse to settle after piping…

- you might not have given the macaron mixture sufficient macaronage.

If your macarons are hollow with wet bottoms…

- you might not have baked them long enough.

- you might consider moving the macarons to the lower third of the oven for the last few minutes to dry out the bottom.

Dark chocolate and candied ginger sablés

I admit that I forgot about these wonderful sables until my sis and my best friend started  separate yet simultaneous conversations about chocolate chip cookies this week. It seems that fate would have me bake up some of cookies, or more specifically my favourite sablés. I, for one, think that they are better than any chocolate chip cookie.

The funny thing about these sablés is that I started baking them only because I was intrigued with its name – Korova. When I saw its name, I realised that it shared the same  name of the milk bar in Stanley Kubrick’s haunting film, ‘A Clockwork Orange’. To satiate my curiosity, I did some research on it to see if it has got anything to do with the film. It was a tad disappointing that it doesn’t have anything to do with the milk bar or the film. It turns out the name comes from a restaurant in Paris that Pierre Hermé created these cookies for.

That was the only disappointment I have with these cookies. From the first time I made it, I loved it and vowed that I can eat it over and over again (and maybe finish a batch unknowingly in a single sitting).

I remember having oreos and milk when I was a child. Sometimes you don’t question why you have milk and cookies together, you just do and for a good reason too. Though it is a simple childhood/midnight snack, milk and cookies go so well together. These korova sablés pays homage to this humble snack.

This time, as I made Pierre Hermé‘s korova sablés, I played with things a little with the addition of candied ginger in the dough. I like the hint of mild sweet spiciness that zaps through your tongue in the midst of the dark decadent chocolate. It is almost like a good surprise, popping up when you least expect it to and you are happy with it.

Sablés are my favourite cookie texture (if you can actually pick one) – that melt in your mouth buttery goodness, sandy, crumbly mouth feel is exactly what I look for as I bite into a cookie.

Why don’t you bake some up this weekend and store them in a cookie jar, a little ammunition to starve off your midnight hunger pangs. You know they will come in handy when you browse the web and face an onslaught of photos that make you drool, and your tummy growl. You can then turn to some comfort in that little cookie and a glass of milk.

have a brilliant weekend,
Jo

Recipe: Dark chocolate and candied ginger sablés
Adapted from Pierre Hermé’s Korova sablés
Makes 36  sablés

Ingredients:

175g all-purpose flour/plain flour
30g Dutch-processed cocoa powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
150g unsalted butter, room temperature, chopped into cubes
80g brown sugar
75g caster sugar
1/2 tsp *fleur de sel or 1/4 tsp sea salt
1 tsp vanilla extract
150g dark chocolate, chopped into small bits

optional: candied ginger bits

Method:
1. Sift the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda together.
2. Cream the butter with a paddle attachment on the mixture and beat until the butter is soft and creamy.
3. Add in the sugars, salt, vanilla and mix for another minute or two on medium speed.
4. Add in the sifted dry ingredients. Mix until just incorporated. the dough will look crumbly. For the best texture, you would want to work the dough as little as possible once the flour is added.
5. Toss in the chocolate pieces and candied ginger, if using, and mix with a spatula to incorporate.
6. Split the dough into two. Then shape the dough into two logs that are about 4 cm in diameter. Wrap the cookie logs in cling wrap and chill them for at least 2 hr in the fridge.
7. Preheat your oven to 165 deg Celsius. Line the baking trays with baking paper. Using a sharp bladed knife, slice the cookie log into rounds that are 1.5cm thick. Place the cookies on the tray leaving about 2.5cm space between them. (They will spread slightly)
8. Bake only one sheet of cookies at a time, on the center rack for 12 minutes. Allow them to cool on a cooling rack. They are quite fragile to handle when they are just out of the oven, so you should allow them to cool before you moving them about.

*Fleur de sel:  I probably have mentioned this before. I would still say it another time: Fleur de sel is my favourite salt, hands down! Fleur de sel translates to ‘flower of salt’ ( it does sound beautiful right?). It is an hand-harvested salt from the coast of Brittany. The one I use is from the small town of Guérande. Fleur de sel is pricy so it’s best to use it sparingly and I would probably not use it for cooking because you would be cooking off its subtle flavours. I love using it with a just grilled steak, a fresh salad, and especially in chocolate and caramel (it just lifts their flavours).

Appearance wise, it isn’t pure white, maybe a little hints of ash colour. Taste wise, it is definitely a lot less salty than regular salt or sea salt, and an almost unique flavour. Texture wise, it is flaky and also a little moist.  Still, I think the best way for you to understand its flavour is to try it.

Dark chocolate sorbet

I’ve been in a sorbet phase for the past couple of weeks. Made this intensely dark and rich chocolate sorbet, a huge contrast to the light and refreshing kiwi sorbet.

I know that you will probably not believe me when I describe this sorbet to be intense, dark and rich. How can a sorbet be?

I didn’t believe myself until I took the first bite. You won’t get the creaminess that you get with ice-cream but with a good cocoa powder and dark couverture chocolate, this sorbet is even better than a whole lot of chocolate ice-creams that you buy commercially.

Dark, intense, and very sexy.

I have been happily indulging in the sorbet that alas, I forgot to try it with my DOP olive oil from Italy. I have had dark chocolate ice-creams with olive oil before and the combination is magical. From my experience, it’s best with olive oils (use the best that you can afford) with fruity flavours. You can even add a dash of fleur de sel or sea-salt. Don’t just take my word for it – try it even though it may sound bizarre. Only then will you understand how the olive oil transform the dark chocolate ice cream making it smoother, richer.

I shall leave you with that thought while I attempt to convince myself that I need a self-freezing ice-cream machine.

x,
Jo

Recipe: Dark Chocolate Sorbet
Adapted from The Perfect Scoop by David Lebovitz
Makes 500ml

I really like how this chocolate sorbet taste. It’s unbelievably rich, decadent sans calories. What more can a girl ask for?

Ingredients:

280ml water
100g sugar
38g dutch-processed cocoa powder ( I use varlhona cocoa powder)
pinch of salt
85g dark chocolate, chopped
1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Method:

1. Whisk together 210ml of water with sugar, cocoa and salt in a large pot. Bring to a boil, whisking frequently.The mixture will bubble up when it boils so don’t be like me and be smart, use a big enough pot.

2. Remove from heat and stir in the chocolate until it is melted, then stir in the vanilla extract and the remaining 70ml of water.

3. Transfer this mixture into a blender and blend for 15 seconds. Chill the mixture in the fridge for a few hours before freezing it in your ice cream maker, according to the manufacturer’s instructions.