For these tarts we are using two distinct types of apples. Bramley apple for full on flavour, backed up with a dash of good cider. Green apples, Granny Smiths of French Golden delicious provide texture and a hint of freshness to the tarts. These tarts can be made the night before and stored in the fridge. The trick is to glaze and seal the apple with melted butter and lemon to spot the apple discolouring.
How To Be A Shortbread Expert. There are thousands of recipes for shortbread, and an equal number of opinions as to the ingredients, methods, and baking. I suppose really you could think of shortbread as posh pastry, uplifted to celebrity status.
How to make Ricciarelli Biscuits, these Italian delicate almond cookies with a melt in the mouth centre are usually enjoyed during Christmas time in Tuscany. Try them out as an alternative to or in addition to mince pies when entertaining guest over the holiday. And note to self, remember to try our Luxury Cranberry and Whisky Mince Pies.
Ricciarelli Biscuits, also make great gifts, wrap them in cellophane bags and hand them out to friends for a very personal gift.
To get the best flavour we are going to make our own ground almonds. If this is a problem for you, shop bought ground almonds will work. Try and get the best quality you can to get the freshness. I avoid using shop bought almond essence as its closer to paraffin than almonds. You can buy a very good almond oil but its quite expensive, and may be hard to find.
Using a small food processor, grind the almonds down. This is best done in two batches to avoid the almonds becoming too warm with the friction created. If the almonds are overdone, oils will be released from the nuts and they will begin to form a paste, spoiling the mix.
Split the vanilla pod longways and using the back of a small knife scrape out the seeds.
Take a mixing bowl and add the vanilla with all the dry ingredients. Using a very fine grater remove the zest from the lemon and add to the bowl. Mix everything together and set aside.
Take the stainless-steel bowl and insure it is spotlessly clean. Any traces of fat on the bowl or the whisk will prevent the whites from aerating.
Separate the eggs allowing the white to fall into the bowl keeping the yolks separately for other uses. Add a pinch of salt to help the whites expand then whisk to stiff peaks.
When the whites are ready, tip them out onto the dry ingredients and fold the white into the mix to make a soft paste.
I like to leave the bowl to stand for about 10 minutes at this point to allow the mix to settle. paste.
Take a large flat plate and add a liberal amount of icing sugar. Using two dessert spoons scoop shapes of dough a little smaller than your thumb onto the sugar. Roll the shapes in the sugar, then transfer each one to a lined baking tray pressing the flat of your finger down to flatten the dough slightly.
Bake for 10-12 minutes until the edges are a light golden colour and the centres are just soft. Cool the biscuits on a wire then sieve icing sugar over the top.
When complete cooled store in an air-tight container where they should be fine for 3-4 days.
Enjoy Life!
John.
Hi, my name is John Webber, award winning chef and tutor, now retired to the west coast of Scotland. Welcome to our blog focusing on food, cooking, and countryside. My aim is to pass on my years of skills and knowledge together with an appreciation of the countryside.
Join us to experience the beauty of the west coast, cook some great food and be at ease in the kitchen.
Join The ‘Westcoaster Newsletter.
Sign up to our newsletter to receive regular updates of what’s new and upcoming at ‘The Westcoaster.’
©John Webber. 2023
These Chocolate Custard Cookies are so easy to make, which is a good job as they don’t last long when people start tucking in. They are great just served as a cookie adults and children both love them.
This bakers guide will answer all your questions about flour. Types and grades of flour are explained. Along with a range of alternative flours. See our tips on baking and using different types of flour.
These homemade Welsh Cakes are easy to make and are a great addition to an afternoon tea spread. They are a variation of a griddle scone and shortbread, lightly spiced and finished with a coating of sugar.
These delicious, mango and coconut tarts are great served as a memory of summer in the middle of winter. Filled with coconut pastry cream and topped with fresh mango and lime syrup they never fail to impress. Serve them as a dessert, or as part of a dessert selection. And they make a stunning addition to an afternoon tea.
On the face of it they may look daunting. But don’t be put off, all the component parts can be made a day or two in advance making it a straightforward process to assemble the tarts and impress your guests. I have described each component separately here as I think it’s important to think of each element independently. Any part of this could be used in different dishes. Think of this as four recipes in one.
This is a great pastry for smaller tarts, crisp without been tough. Half a recipe is enough to make four by 7cm tart shells. Go to our post on ‘How to use perforated tart rings‘ if you need help to produce the tarts. I’ve done this as two separate posts to simplify the process. Of course you could use the same fillings below with any small pastry tart shells.
125g unsalted butter (soft)
75g icing sugar
45g ground almonds
50g egg yolks (2 med)
210 plain flour
pinch salt
Place the soft butter, salt, and icing sugar into a room temperature bowl and cream together. Beat the mixture until it is light and fluffy then fold in the ground almonds followed by the egg yolks.
Fold in the flour taking care not to overmix. Turn the dough out onto the work surface and form into a flattened ball. Put the dough inside a plastic bag and chill in the fridge for at least an hour before use. You can of course make the pastry ahead of time and freeze it until needed. It should keep about three months in the freezer.
While the pastry is been made, and baked it’s a good time to make the syrup and crystallised ginger to go with the tarts. Both can be made well ahead of time and can also be stored in the freezer ready for use.
2tbsp (heaped) very thinly cut matchsticks of fresh ginger
6tbsp water
8tbsp caster sugar
Dash lemon juice
caster sugar to coat the strips
You will need a small saucepan, with a fine sieve. A shallow tray covered with a layer of caster sugar and two forks.
Half fill the small saucepan with water and add the ginger strips. Bring the pan to the boil, then strain the pan into a fine sieve discarding the water. This will take a little fire out of the ginger and soften the texture. Add the measured water, sugar, and lemon juice to the pan and return to the heat. One the pan is simmering, and the sugar has dissolved add the blanched ginger and cook on a steady simmer for about five minutes.
The syrup should now be thickened, just a bit thinner that runny honey. Remove the pan from the heat and using a fork, lift some of the ginger strips from the syrup. Let them drain on the fork for a few seconds then drop them onto the tray of sugar. Take a clean fork and coat the ginger in sugar aiming to get individual strips of ginger coated all over in the sugar. Go back to the pan again, remove more ginger and repeat the process. Make sure you don’t mix up the forks and get into a sticky mess.
Once all the ginger is coated leave it on the tray for ten to fifteen minutes to cool and set then separate the ginger from the sugar and store it in a small airtight container until needed. If moisture is kept away the ginger it will keep for a few weeks.
Don’t throw away the left-over sugar or syrup. Use the sugar in baking and the syrup will have a wonderful ginger kick which can be used to glaze a cake or sponge. Store it in the fridge or freeze it for later use.
120ml water
130g caster sugar
Juice of a lime
2 peeled strips of lime zest
½ star anise
1 small green chilli (a green finger chilli is ideal)
1cm cinnamon stick
This is a wonderful accompaniment to any fruit-based dessert particularly tropical fruits. Try it to lift a Panna Cotta or to compliment a Lemon Tart. Its best made the day before but it’s not essential.
Place everything apart from the chilli into a small pan and bring to the simmer. Don’t let the pan simmer more than a couple of minutes or you will get too thick a syrup. Pour the syrup into a bowl and let cool slowly. This will give time for the flavours to develop.
When the syrup has cooled take the chilli and stab it four or five times with the point of a small knife, DO NOT cut it open. Add the chilli to the syrup, cover the bowl and place the syrup in the fridge. If possible, leave the syrup overnight but remember to remove the chilli in the morning. The idea is to let the sugar gently pull the flavour out of the chilli without extracting too much heat. This recipe will make more than you need. But as with the ginger syrup this can be stored in the fridge or frozen for later use.
180g rich coconut milk
2 large egg yolks
35g caster sugar
8g plain flour
8g cornflour
1 fresh kaffir lime leaf
Icing sugar to dust over
Medium saucepan
2 Pyrex bowls
Wisk
Silicone spatula
Small sieve
Take the can of coconut milk and give it a good shake then measure the liquid into a pan that’s wide enough to let you mix the contents of the well. Add the lime leaf then bring the pan to a simmer and turn off the heat.
Weigh the sugar, flour, and cornflour into a bowl large enough to take all the ingredients and mix to a paste. Use a little of the left-over coconut milk to loosen the mix if needed. Have a second medium sized bowl on hand which has a touch of oil rubbed around the inside. This will avoid the finished coconut cream sticking to the bowl.
Slowly whisk the warm (not hot) coconut milk into the bowl. Don’t tip it in all at once or you may get lumps. Pour the mixture back into the pan and return to a medium heat. Give it one last whisk then change over to a flat tipped silicone spatula to do the stirring.
Keep stirring the mixture all the time working the spatula back and forth across the base of the pan and around the sides. This action, combined with the flexible flat face of the tool keeping in contact with the pan will stop the mix sticking and burning. A wooden spoon just cannot do this.
As the mixture gets near to the simmer it will begin to thicken and should become like thick porridge. As soon as this stage is reached, or if you see any signs of boiling tip the cooked pastry cream into the greased bowl. Remove the lime leaf then scrape all the cream out of the pan and flatten slightly with the spatula. Using a small sieve cover the surface of the cream with a thin layer of icing sugar the cling film the bowl over. The steam trapped under the film will turn the sugar to a syrup and stop a thick skin forming on the top of the cream as it cools. Let the cream cool completely before use.
4 x 7cm blind baked individual tart shells
1 Medium Pyrex bowl
Whisk
Chopping board and knife
I large ripe, but not soft mango
1 passion fruit
70ml double cream
1 ½ tsp caster sugar
Dash vanilla extract
Disposable piping bag
Small spoons
Icing sugar to serve
Peel the mango and cut neat 1cm slices from the flesh then cut the slices into 1cm cubes. Use the offcuts to make a smoothie or eat them as chefs treats.
Pour the double cream into one of the bowls and add the vanilla and sugar. Whisk the cream to a light peak, don’t over whish or the cream may curdle later.
Take the cooled coconut cream and give it a few beats with the whisk to break it up. Once it is smooth begin to fold in the whipped cream with a spatula. Once the cream is incorporated stop mixing, overdoing it may curdle the cream. You should have a mousse texture that will support itself if pushed up with a spoon.
Transfer some of the mousse to a piping bag. I recommend plastic disposable bags which are more hygienic than the old cloth type. They are made of recyclable plastic so once used can be washed and popped into your plastics bin.
Trim about 4 cm off the point of the bag (never do that before you fill the bag!). Applying gentle pressure to the bag fill each of the tart shells just below the rim with the mousse.
Spoon a little of the lime syrup over the diced mango as if you were dressing a salad. Then using a small spoon top each tart with the diced mango. Finish each tart with a few strands of the crystallised ginger. Serve the tarts finished with flicks of the syrup, a few strands of ginger and a dusting of icing sugar.
Yes, that is a lot of work, but don’t be put off as I said at the beginning, its really four recipes in one. make the pastry the week before and freeze it until you need it. The syrup can be made a few days ahead or again frozen. The coconut cream and tart shells are made the day before. All you have to do on the day is fold the fresh cream into the coconut, dice the mango and put the tarts together. And remember very importantly, any of these elements could de used to make another dessert. So your never just learning one thing!
Enjoy Life,
John.
Hi, my name is John Webber, award winning chef and tutor, now retired to the west coast of Scotland. Welcome to our blog focusing on food, cooking, and countryside. My aim is to pass on my years of skills and knowledge together with an appreciation of the countryside.
Join us to experience the beauty of the west coast, cook some great food and be at ease in the kitchen.
If you enjoyed your visit with us, please subscribe up to our newsletter to receive regular updates of what’s new and upcoming at The Westcoaster. Subscribe Here
©John Webber. 2023
Learn the technique of making small crisp tart shells using perforated rings. Great for entertaining with a variety of fillings.
The festive period looms and it’s time to begin thinking about my Christmas Mince Pies and organising things to make the period as enjoyable and stress free as possible. And it’s particularly time for me to think about this year’s mince pies filled with cranberry and whisky mincemeat.
All you need to know about – Eggs. As a cook there are a number of ingredients life would be very difficult without and eggs are definitely one of them. Whether it’s in baking, mousses, meringues or just a fried egg butty we use eggs almost every day. Having an understanding of eggs, and how we can use them, opens a wealth of opportunities. It may also shed some light on the how and why of what we do with them, and possibly what went wrong.
Eggs have suffered from a good deal of bad press over the years. Back in 1988 the government put out a warning that vulnerable people should not eat eggs that we not completely cooked through. This was because teats had shown extremely high levels of Salmonella in the egg which if not completely eradicated by cooking would cause food poisoning. I remember some hotels refusing to serve eggs with a runny yolk to protect themselves from possible litigation.
I’m please to say that today that that danger has been averted and the recommendation now states that it is safe to eat UK Lion Stamped Eggs undercooked. If you’re not using stamped eggs, it still a good idea to check if the flock has been inoculated against salmonella.
Always check the use by date on the eggs, this is not only for safety but gives you an idea if the egg is going to be suitable for the use you want to put it to i.e., Poached Eggs take a look at my Poached Egg, Kale and Bacon post for the best method to poach an egg.
What is a fresh egg?
Now let’s have a look at why freshness is important if we want to poach or fry an egg.
look at the image of a fresh egg above, the yolk is sitting central in the white and the white is sitting up proudly supporting the white. Its this robustness of the white that will form the shape of the cooked egg.
Now in the shot above of an old egg, the white is flat, has no strength to it and the yolk is unsupported. try to poach that and you are likely to get a lonely yolk with strands of white string moving around the pan. However the older egg white is more suitable for meringues and could be used for Butter/Sugar Batter cakes. Have a look at the yolk, the deep rich colour may make you believe it’s a better more nutritious egg. it’s could be if its from somebody who has their own birds. Its more likely the colour has been controlled by additives in the chicken feed. This also applies to brown eggs, see below. Where a belief has grown that they will be better. Its of course the classic route to success. Produce what people think or has been led to believe is better.
Eggs are safe to eat after the use by date in fact the F.S.A advice states that “eggs can be eaten after their best before date, as long as they are cooked thoroughly until both yolk and white are solid, or if they are used in dishes where they will be fully cooked, such as a cake”. So if you have some eggs past their best before date, don’t waste them, get your baking hat on!
A very common question at the cook school related to the storage of eggs. Current advice is that you should store them in the fridge at home. But you say, in the supermarket, they are just sitting on the shelf at room temperature? Yes, that’s right, and there is a logic, have a look at the box you bought then in. It’s there to protect them, right? We yes but it also has a second function. Notice that the eggs are stored pointed end down. The blunt end of the egg contains the air sack where bacteria can enter by keeping this at the top, we keep it away from the yolk which will keep the egg fresher longer and protect the vulnerable yolk. Having more of the liquid egg surrounded by the box means the egg will dehydrate less and be less prone to drawing in contamination. This also has the advantage of keeping the yolk in the middle of the egg which looks much better if you are making hard boiled eggs for a salad.
You should also note that the box prevents the shells touching. If the eggs were in contact with each other contamination could spread from egg to egg and spoil the whole batch. So, if you have one of those metal wire chickens sitting proudly on your worktop, send it off to the charity shop and keep your eggs in the fridge in their box. The shell is porous and will ready absorb flavours in the vicinity of the egg. Now this means we need to be careful not to store our eggs close to strong cheese or onions then try and make a sponge with them. Of course, if you have a truffle or two on hand you can place them in a contain with the eggs and infuse the essence of truffle to impress your friends.
Don’t forget though to bring out any eggs you will be using to warm up to room temperature before use.
So, there we have it, now let’s look at an egg itself. There are three main parts. The shell, the white and the yolk. You may have also seen a couple of while strands or blobs when cracking eggs. These are called `chalazae’ think of them as elastic bungees, there function is to support the yolk and keep it central in the egg where it is protected by the white.
Egg whites v Yolks
Yolks.
The yolk contains all the fat of the egg together with the cholesterol. It also has roughly half of the protein in the egg along with most of the vitamins and minerals in the egg. The yolk is a natural binding agent when added to soups, pastry, mousses, mayonnaise, etc. That’s partly due to it lecithin content which is the mystery ingredient when making chefs foams to top off a dish. It’s the binding and thickening ability of the yolk that makes them so valuable in the kitchen. If you have an excess of yolks keep then in the fridge in a small container with a small amount of water covering them to stop a crust forming on top. Check out our Food Files page on Understanding Pastry to see how egg yolks work in pastry.
Whites.
You may argue that compared with the yolk the egg white is uninteresting, not a bit of it. The white is around 90% water with the balance been proteins. The most important of these to us is albumen which is fundamental in allowing the white to hold an important ingredient – Air.
When egg white are beaten the protein begins to unravel known as denaturation. As we continue to beat the eggs these strands of protein begin to hold air. As the air and the water in the white become in contact the protein begins to bond together and hold a foam. This foam become a vehicle for us to introduce air into a mixture like a mousse or a souffle. A very small amount of acid (lemon juice) added to the white after denaturation assists the binding and make for a more elastic foam. If the beating is overdone and the binding is over stretched the foam will begin to collapse and fall in on itself. Adding sugar to the whites once a good foam is created stiffens up the whites and gives stability (meringue). You can still overdo it though and of course you may not want sugar in the dish you are creating. Any fat present in the whites or on the tools we are using will prevent the proteins from binding and its impossible to create a foam. If you have leftover egg whites keep them in the freezer. Not only is this a really handy standby the process of freezing and defrosting breaks down the protein and helps them wisk up to a foam easier than fresh ones.
Personally, I always prefer to whisk whites by hand as I can control the whisking and judge the density of the foam. When using a machine to do the job for you it all too easy to over whisk and collapse the foam. Years ago, the curved base bowl used for beating whites were made of copper combined with a bulbus whisk known as a balloon whisk. Today we still use the whisk but not the copper bowl, stainless steel is the material of choice. Not only is it easier to clean but the action of vigorously beating the white could remove tiny amounts of copper into the food which is poisonous to us.
So, in the kitchen the whole egg is useful to us as a component in cakes and pasties -understand pasty. But it’s the flexibility of the individual parts of the egg that excite us.
In practical terms use egg yolks to enrich, bind and thicken a preparation. We use egg white to lighten by adding air, like a souffle or strengthen a preparation by adding more protein, like a chicken mousseline. Think of a crème brulee, soft, rich, texture eaten out of a container- we use egg yolks. For a crème caramel, a bit firmer, not as rich and sitting up proudly we use whole egg. The addition of the white gives the dessert the ability to support itself.
The next time you are using egg in a dish or baking try to work out what the egg is providing and how best to maximise on the affect it brings. You may be able to improve the result and begin creating new ideas.
Enjoy life.
John
Demystifying Perfect Pastry provides an insight into the ingredients and methods of making basic pastry.
Blind baking made easy. make you own tarts and pies at home without fuss.
