Siff Week #3 - Just Desserts, and Gluten-free Choc Chip Cookie Bars

Last Tuesday I went to the Tomislav-Black Star Pastry SIFF 'special dinner' night, titled Just Desserts. Despite the name, I didn't actually believe it was going to be mostly desserts until we arrived and saw the menu. Yeah, I know.

According to staff, the two chefs Tomislav Martinovic and Chris The teamed up on every dish. Each contributed elements to each course - so for instance The (a pastry chef) did the pastry on the meat pie, while Tomislav (leaning more towards the molecular gastronomy angle) did the granita-esque version of tomato sauce on the side. Between them, it was a very pretty meal, and although the dishes were dessert, they never veered towards the overly sweet. Instead a mix of sour, salty, tart, crunchy or hot kept the entire meal in balance.


Amuse bouche consisted of a test tube of Delamotte champagne and another of violet granita. Pour one tube into the other, swirl and drink - mmm, flowery.


First course: Grilled strawberries, mint and white chocolate. With 2008 Bress 'The Kindest Cut' Gewurztraminer, Victoria. This looked stunning, red and green and white against a slab of black tile, but was probably the least substantial of the courses.


Goats curd cheesecake with elderflower and pistachio. With 2008 Alacia Moscato D'Asti, Piedmont Italy. My favourite dish of the night - loved the sourness of the cheesecake with the sweetness of the elderberry.


Caramel icecream and toasted peanuts - served in a cone, the topping snapped and crackled in your mouth like those kid's candies! With 2007 Juniper Cane-cut Riesling, Western Australia.


Warm chocolate mousse, olive oil and sea salt, flavoured with horseradish; opinions differed, but I thought all the flavours worked. With 2008 Alan & Veitch Merlot, South Australia.


Beef mince pie, grilled onions and (frozen, granita-like) tomato sauce. With Karlovacko beer, Croatia.


Rice crackers with sea salt and vinegar - the vinegar came in a little bottle for us to spray it on the chips ourselves. One of Tomislav's signature dishes.


Take-away box from Black Star Pastry - very cute. Though I do think the rose-flavoured macaron was far too sweet, and the canelle a little burnt; my favourite by far was the fig and orange cake (top right corner).


Despite vowing not to bake this month (due to the amount of sweets I've been consuming), I decided to make an end to the last of the gluten-free flour sitting in my cupboard by making the following cookie bars. The result was far from perfect, as I'll explain below, but when I took these to work they were swiftly devoured!


Choc Chip Cookie Bars

Preheat oven to 175C (350 F). Lightly oil or line with parchment a brownie baking pan.

In a mixing bowl, beat together:

3 large free-range organic eggs
1/2 cup vegetable oil or saffoil
2 teaspoons vanilla essence

Add in and beat:
1 cup firmly packed organic light brown sugar - which I reduced to about 2/3 of a cup

Add in and beat, or mix in a separate bowl and then make a well and beat in the wet ingredients:
2 cups gluten free baking flour - I used White Wings
1/2 teaspoon baking powder

Stir in:
3/4 cup sweetened flaked coconut
1 cup dark chocolate chips

Using a rubber or silicone spatula, spread the dough evenly in the baking pan. The mixture is VERY sticky and heavy, so the spatula works much better than a wooden spoon. If you like, add some extra chips to the top and lightly press into the batter.

Bake on a center rack until the bars are set, about 21 to 25 minutes, depending upon your oven. Despite what the original recipe says, they will NOT turn golden, they'll be a warm yellow at best.

Do not over-bake - you want them a bit chewy - this is where I overshot because I was aiming for colour instead of consistency! Sadly, mine wound up too dry. Sigh.

Allow the bars to cool on a wire rack before cutting.

Makes 15 to 18 squares; I made well over 20.

Adapted from Gluten Free Goddess

Siff Week #2

Picking up from the last post, I returned to Single Origin to sample the next in their Origin Breakfast series. This time we had coffee and food from Nicaragua. The coffee - again, prepared 3 ways by siphon, cold drip and espresso - was more aromatic and flavourful than last week's Yemenese blend, and the different preparations really brought out different flavours. In a word, yum.


Also yum - beans and tamale, the latter wrapped in a banana leaf, with a side of avocado salsa.


To finish we were served little glasses of rice pudding with blood orange and biscotti. This was delicious and gone all too soon - we eyed with envy a neighbouring table which seemed to have much larger servings than we did. Hmmm.


Then on the weekend things got ridiculous - I went to not one but TWO high teas, starting with the Marie Antoinette-themed tea at the Westin Hotel, Martin Place. The lobby cafe at the hotel is so lovely, all light and glass and sandstone, and it feels very much exactly the right place for something as finicky and pretty and indulgent as high tea.


The Marie Antoinette theme is mostly just a gimmick, but to get in the spirit of things the Westin adds a domino to every place setting, and there's a pretty carved fan for each table to play with as well. Though staff encourage you to take the masks home, the fans are (sadly) Westin property.


The savoury plate is included in the menu under the rather grandiose title There is nothing new except what has been forgotten. Okay. The plate included slow cooked roast beef with crème cheese stuffed baby belle peppers; avocado and shrimp tartar inside choux pastry; blt and deviled egg finger sandwiches; and kiwi and orange croissant with mascarpone. We agreed this plate was generally stronger than the sweets, though less delightful to the eye.


The sweets (titled, as you'd expect, Let them eat cake!) included lime curd meringue tart, topped with a portrait of the queen; chocolate cream with exotic fruit caramel and candied walnuts; macaroons with fresh blueberries; and beetroot and cherry cup cakes. The chocolate cream was by far my least favourite dish, and I couldn't taste the beetroot in the cupcakes (though others claimed they could), but the whole thing looked fantastic which almost made up for it. Yes, I'm easily won.


Here's a close-up of the queen. Not pictured, but included of course, were unlimited tea and coffee, and scones with jam and cream, all of which were of a very acceptably delicious standard.


The second high tea, at the Museum of Sydney Cafe, was a much less fanciful affair. Despite the muddles I had with the booking beforehand (our reservation was at various times taken, not taken, re-taken, on the wrong day, etc) once we arrived both the tea and coffee were served briskly, and the food almost at once.


Here's the scones with jam and cream, and two types of mini quiche - mushroom, and lorraine - topped with a pretty flower. (Not pictured are the finger sandwiches, filled with variously cucumber, salmon, chicken, and curried egg.)


Here's the sweets, which were quite nice if not outstanding - though as you can see there was rather a heavy hand with the icing sugar in the kitchen. Topped, again, by a pretty flower, if only you could make it out from underneath all that snow.


The tea arrived in plain white pots but was served in prettily mismatched cups and saucers, like so. The whole thing had a bit of a charmingly home-style feel, though for food alone I would have to rate the Westin higher.


So there's week 2! And now for more salad.

SIFF Week #1

The first week of the Sydney International Food Festival (or Crave, or whatever they're calling it this year) is over and SO MUCH eating has already occurred!

In lieu of any recipes (as if I've had time much less appetite to bake) here's a brief photographic overview:


Cocktails at Monkey Magic, Surry Hills, for Cocktail of the Month. The drink in the photo is actually a Deus Ex Nectar - orange blossom belvedere and Pedro Ximenez sherry - so, not actually the cocktail of the month. I give my promise as an eyewitness that the SIFF deal was excellent value, for whatever that's worth!



Lemon meringue tart at Becasse, to go with the Let's Do Lunch deal of risotto of South Australian prawns and proscuitto, served with Brown Brothers wine. The risotto was very nice, as were the amuse bouche of black olive biscotti and the restaurant's signature fresh bread. The best part of the meal, perhaps, were the envious glances cast towards our table when we received our beautiful little pre-desserts: kiwi fruit granita with tiny meringues, orange jelly and champagne mousse. I drink your envious glances! I drink them all up! :9



Azuma Kushiyaki's double bento box of desserty Sugar Hit goodness. This included a chocolate mousse with berries, pannacotta, matcha green tea tart, wasabi ganache tart, madeleine, orange macaron (with smiley face) and a glass of Brown Brothers' dessert wine - all for $20! There were certain elements that didn't quite work (the berries on the mousse, the pastry on the tarts) and opinions amongst our group were quite divided over the matcha and wasabi tarts but for the most part this is by far the best value and cutest Sugar Hit I've ever seen.


Finally, I got up at an INSANE (for me) hour to make our 7.30 am booking at Single Origin's Origin Breakfast of coffee, served 3 ways, and Yemen-themed food.


First up was siphon coffee. The barista made the coffee for us right at the table - not without some difficulty, as the morning breeze played havoc with the open gas flame - which I thought was extremely impressive! (Though, when I have tried to describe it to other people since then, they don't seem particularly impressed. "So, it was basically like that stovetop camping coffee, but in a fancy glass flask?" "... well. Basically.")



The savoury course consisted of saltah (a spiced egg and rice dish) and flatbread. Very tasty.



Cold-drip coffee, which we were told took all night to prepare with 'one drip every other second'. No heat is applied to the beans at all. The barista compared the end result to cognac!



The third and final coffee was the classic espresso - YUM. Mine was a skim flat white.



And last of all a dessert we were told had been prepared by the chef and his girlfriend - adorable! We weren't actually told what it was, so all I can tell you is that a) the cake was caramelly and layered, and b) those are preserved prunes on the side, and c) it was SO GOOOOD.


So there's week one. Now I need a salad.

Lemon cloud tea cookies

With October and the Sydney Food Festival just days away, we're on the cusp of a whole month of eating. But for early starters, there were at least two festivals this weekend to eat one's way through:

First up was Oktoberfest. Due to trackwork, the usual 10 minute train ride from Central turned into a 70 minute (!) two-bus commute to Tempe and the Concordia German Club. The beautiful weather and the historical re-enactments, complete with musketfire, almost made up for it.



And of course there was the obligatory schnitzel, sauerkraut, strudel, and schnapps. If you've never been to the Concordia club, I do recommend it. As their souvenir steiner suggests, it's where beer and kangaroos meet.



On Sunday it was time for the Malaysia Festival in Tumbalong Park at Darling Harbour. Lots of colourful costumes and performances, and some equally colourful food. (Full disclosure: this pink rose-flavoured drink was horrid, but it LOOKED great. Like something Hello Kitty would drink!)



For the less sweet-toothed, there was also plenty of curry, laksa, roti and rojak; and at least five different stalls selling their own versions of nasi lemak. Om nom!



My favourite, however, was both brightly coloured and sweet - dadar pandan, or pandan crepes filled with coconut and palm sugar, mmm...




Okay so the recipe below has nothing to do with this weekend of festival eating, except timing. Note I went back to my old fave, Technicolor Kitchen, for the recipe - I make no apologies.

This was a quick, easy recipe. I followed the instructions faithfully but overall I thought it could've been a bit more punchy in flavour, a little richer. As is they are a light biscuit best had with tea or coffee.


Lemon cloud tea cookies

1 1/2 cups (210g) all purpose flour
3/4 cup cornstarch
4 teaspoons baking powder
1/8 teaspoon salt
113g (8 tablespoons/1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
1 cup (140g) confectioners’ sugar
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon lemon juice
1 teaspoon finely grated lemon zest


Preheat oven to 160°C (325°F) and line two large baking sheets with baking paper.

Sift the flour, cornstarch, baking powder and salt in a bowl. Set aside.

Combine the butter and confectioners' sugar until light.

Beat in the eggs one at a time. Batter may look broken and curdled. Beat in the juice and zest. Beat in the flour mixture.

Arrange rounded teaspoons of the dough on prepared pans. Space the balls about 5cm apart. Flour a fork and press a crisscross design into the top of each mound of dough.

Bake the cookies until they spread and become golden, about 20 minutes. Slide the parchment paper off the pan to cool completely.

Makes 48 tiny cookies - I made over 50.

From Technicolor Kitchen

Peanut Butter Cream Pie

"I can actually feel my heart beating faster from all the sugar in this," I confessed as I finished my first slice. So, fair warning, this one is even less healthy than the things which usually appear on this blog!

I made this pie at the suggestion of Michelle, a fellow peanut butter fiend, who saw a similar pie on Man v. Food. After looking at a few different variations, I cobbled the recipe below from a couple of different blogs. It seemed like such a simple recipe, albeit with a lot of different elements...

Little did I know that just about everything that could go pear-shaped in the process did. For instance -

a) I didn't make enough crust for my plate, so had to quickly make some more dough and paste it around the edges. Elegant.

b) Some of my custard burnt and had to be discarded.

c) And I still had twice as much as I needed anyway.

d) The meringue turned out beautiful! But then I put foil over the top and, uh, it wasn't so pretty after that.

e) Apparently you should eat these as soon as you make them. Instead of, say, storing it overnight in the fridge so that the sugar dissolves and becomes a gooey syrupy mess.

For all that, it wasn't a total failure! The layering in particular did turn out kinda nice-looking, and the taste was very rich and nutty. Now that I know where I went wrong, I am optimistic that I can conquer the problems on the second attempt. Provided my heart holds out long enough for me to give it another go, of course.




Peanut Butter Cream Pie

Crust
The Homesick Texan says this is enough to make 2 crusts, so I halved the recipe... and didn't have enough to cover my 24cm pie plate. So I'd suggest, um, making this at 3/4 of the ratio below?

2 cups of flour
1 tsp salt
1/2 cup oil (corn, canola or vegetable)
1/4 cup milk


Mix flour and salt. Mix oil and milk. Pour oil and milk into flour and salt and stir until combined into a dough. If it's too dry, add more milk.

Depending on how much you made, you can reserve some for later or use the whole.

Use a rolling pin to roll out between two sheets of wax paper, then line a buttered pie pan with the rolled-out crust.

Bake at 180C (350F) until lightly golden. Mine took about 20 minutes.


Crumb Mixture

1 cup powdered sugar
1/2 cup crunchy peanut butter
2 tsp cocoa powder

Mix powdered sugar, cocoa, and peanut butter until small crumbs form. Linnea's Blog suggests using a mixer; I found a fork was more than sufficient. For the peanut butter, I used Kraft.


Pudding (custard)
Using Linnea's Blog proportions, I made twice as much pudding as I needed - so I'd suggest halving the amounts below.

1 cup cold milk
1 cup cornstarch
1 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla
3 egg yolks
3 cups milk
3 tsp butter
3/4 cup sugar

Mix corn starch, salt, 1 cup milk, egg yolks and vanilla with a wire whisk and set aside.

Heat 3 cups milk, butter and sugar until scalding, stirring constantly.

Add cornstarch mixture to hot milk while stirring with whisk. Cook until thickened. Remove from heat before it boils.

Place pudding in refridgerator to chill. Stir every 10 minutes.


Meringue
2 egg whites
1/8 teaspoon of salt
4 tablespoons of sugar

Beat your egg whites with salt and when they start to get fluffy add the sugar.


Assembly

Layer as follows: Start with half the crumbs in the pie shell. Then spoon the pudding on top of the crumbs. Place the remaining crumbs on top of pudding.

Finally layer the meringue on top. Bake pie until peaks on the meringue are lightly browned, about 10 minutes at 180C (350F).

Serve immediately.


Adapted from Linnea's Blog and Homesick Texan