Ahh, pecan slice, how you fill me with delicious joy!
Ingredients - crust (17 x 26 cm (6.5 x 10 inch) rectangular cake tin)
230g flour
60g brown sugar
1 tsp salt
1/4 tsp baking powder
80g cold butter
Ingredients - pecan filling
185g brown sugar
230g corn syrup (2/3 cups)
100g butter
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp table salt
2 eggs
4 cups pecans
Method
1. Preheat the oven to 175C (350F). Line a 17 x 26 cm (6.5 x 10 inch) baking tin with baking paper.
2. Make the crust - add all the crust ingredients to a food processor and whizz until combined. It should look like a powder.
3. Press the crust mixture into the baking tin. Bake for about 20 minutes, until the crust is lightly golden.
4. While the crust is baking, begin making the filling - start by melting the butter.
5. Whisk the sugar, corn syrup, melted butter, vanilla extract and salt together. I do this by hand.
6. Add the eggs and mix them in.
7. Chop the pecans roughly and mix into the batter. If you like, you can skip the chopping and leave them as halves.
8. Once the crust is done baking, pour the filling straight on top (make sure that the pecans are distributed evenly) and bake for another 30 minutes. Cracks should have appeared on the surface and it should be golden brown.
9. Let the slice cool in the tin. The filling will solidify more as it cools so it will be easier to cut and serve.
9. Cut the slice into squares or rectangles and enjoy!
These chunky cookies are melt-in-your-mouth shortbread packed full of creamy gianduja and crunchy macadamias. This recipe originally calls for hazelnuts, which ties in with the gianduja, but I only had macadamias on hand when I made this and it was still glorious.
Recipe adapted from: Chewy Gooey Crispy Cruncy Melt-In-Your-Mouth Cookies by Alice Medrich
Ingredients
225g butter/margarine
125g white sugar
2 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp salt (if using unsalted butter/margarine)
310g flour
125g chopped gianduja (or milk chocolate if you don't have gianduja on hand, though I highly recommend getting some because it's so good)
3/4 cup macadamias or hazelnuts
Method
1. Chop your gianduja into largish chunks. Roughly chop the macadamias and toast them in a frypan or in the oven on the grill setting, then set them aside to cool.
2. Beat the butter, sugar, vanilla and salt until blended.
3. Stir in the flour until moistened.
4. Stir the gianduja and nuts into the dough. At this point, my dough was kind of bitsy and didn't really look like a normal biscuit dough; but have no fear!
5. Refrigerate the dough for a few hours or overnight if you can.
6. When you're ready to bake the cookies, preheat the oven to 160C (325F).
7. Using your hands, take roughly tablespoons of dough and pat them together to form a ball. Due to the sheer amount of nuts and gianduja, you may need to do a bit of squishing to make sure the cookies stick together!
8. Place the dough balls on baking paper or silicone mats, making sure they have a little space to spread (about 5cm).
9. Bake for about 20 minutes or until they are lightly golden on the top.
10. Cool the cookies and consume at your leisure. If desired, sift some icing sugar on top for that extra touch of sweetness.
This recipe is for a lovely cakey loaf, which is sweet, moist and very visually pleasing. It does take quite a while to make since you have to make the two different batters using different techniques, but it's definitely worth it! I found that the finished loaf lacks a strong pistachio flavour, but the pistachio batter takes on a honey flavour that contrasts beautifully with the chocolate. The pistachios sprinkled over the top get lovely and toasted in the oven, adding a fragrant crunch to top everything all off!
Recipe adapted from: Chocolat: The Chocolate Bible by Le Cordon Bleu
Ingredients - chocolate batter (11 x 21 cm (4 x 8 inch) loaf)
60g butter
3 eggs
210g caster sugar
90mL cream
A pinch of salt (if using unsalted butter)
135g flour
30g cocoa powder
1 tsp baking powder
Ingredients - pistachio batter
60g butter
1 tbsp water
200g caster sugar
1 tsp honey
35g pistachios
3 eggs
90mL cream
A pinch of salt (if using unsalted butter)
165g flour
1 tsp baking powder
Additional pistachios for garnishing
Method
1. Preheat the oven to 160 C (320 F) and line a loaf pan with baking paper.
Make the chocolate batter.
2. Melt the butter in the microwave and set it aside to cool.
3. Beat the eggs and sugar until light and creamy. I used a handheld mixer.
4. Gently beat in the cream, melted butter and salt.
5. Sift the cocoa powder then fold it into the batter along with the flour and baking powder. Set the chocolate mixture aside.
Make the pistachio batter.
6. Melt the butter and set it aside to cool.
7. Heat the water, 20g of sugar and the honey in a small saucepan. I used a tiny one-egg size frying pan. Stir until the sugar is dissolved and then bring to the boil. Remove from the heat and set aside.
8. In a blender, blitz the pistachios until they're a fine powder. My food processor wasn't awesome enough for this, so I ended up with finely chopped pistachios.
9. Pour the honey mixture into the blender and whiz until a paste is formed.
10. Combine the eggs, remaining sugar (180g) and pistachio paste. To do this, I beat the eggs and sugar then used the flat of a spatula to smear the paste over the side of the bowl to blend it in. The paste is very sticky, so it didn't beat straight in with my hand mixer. (I suspect that it might have been easier if I used the Kitchenaid with the paddle attachment). My method took a bit of time and elbow grease, but worked eventually!
11. Gently beat in the cream, melted butter and salt.
12. Fold the flour and baking powder into the mixture.
Assemble the loaf.
13. Alternate large scoops of the pistachio and chocolate mixture in the loaf tin, building it up layer by layer. There isn't a definitive method of doing this, just lump it all in there however you feel like! When you're done, use a knife to swirl the mixture a bit. Don't over-swirl or you'll lose the definition between the two coloured batters.
14. Sprinkle some pistachios over the top.
15. Bake for about 1 hour, or until a skewer inserted into the loaf comes out clean. I had to bake mine for about 1 hour and 45 minutes in my finicky oven.
16. Let cool in the pan for a bit, then let the loaf cool completely on a wire rack.
Enjoy!
Do you ever have those days when you're feeling down and only a long-time-loved, tried-and-tested recipe will make you feel better? For me, that recipe is brownies. There's something calming and therapeutic about licking the batter off the spatula and the sides of the mixing bowl while the batter that made it into the brownie tin is baking in the oven.
For this batch of brownies, I tried something a little different and ended up dousing them in caramel and coconut and pecans. They were absolutely mouthwatering.
(21 x 31 cm (8 x 12 inch) brownie tin)
Recipe Adapted From: How To Be A Domestic Goddess by Nigella Lawson (the brownie), and Sugar High (the caramel topping)
Ingredients - caramel
2 cups white sugar
1/4 cup corn syrup (I used Queen Glucose Syrup)
1/2 cup water
3/4 cup thickened cream
2 tbsp butter
1/2 shredded coconut
1/2 cup chopped pecans
Method
1. In a heavy-based saucepan, combine the sugar, corn syrup and water. Cook over a medium heat and stir occasionally until the mixture reaches 175 C (350 F) on a candy thermometer, or turns a light brown colour. This should take a while, so don't expect it to happen immediately!
2. After the mixture goes brown, remove it from the heat and quickly add 1/2 cup of the cream and all of the butter. Mix until combined. It will froth a bit, but keep stirring and it'll go down.
3. Stir the rest of the cream into the caramel.
4. Take about half of the caramel away (for use later). Stir the shredded coconut and chopped pecans into the remaining caramel.
5. Set the caramel aside and start making your brownie batter! I used Nigella Lawson's awesome recipe, the ingredients and method of which can be found here on my blog.
6. For this particular brownie, I decided to load up with the caramel because I had extra and, why not? So, I poured a layer of brownie batter into my tin and then drizzled plain caramel on top. (You can skip this step if you want - it makes the brownie deliciously sweet and chewy, but if that's not your thing, move right on ahead!)
I topped that off with another layer of brownie batter, making sure to cover up all of the caramel.
7. Now it's time for the coconut-pecan topping. Blob it on top of the brownie...
...then swirl it around a bit with a knife.
8. Bake for 30-40 mins, or until the top is crackly. A skewer inserted in the middle should come out a bit gloopy, because you don't want your brownie to be all cakey! (Unless, of course, you like it that way - but I prefer my brownies to be sludgy and dense).
9. Leave the brownie to cool in the tin for a while then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. I left mine in the fridge overnight to make it easier to cut.
10. Chop into whatever size pieces you desire and enjoy!
The drizzle of caramel that I sandwiched between the layers of brownie batter sunk down to the bottom, giving the lower half of the brownie a chewy texture and the rich caramel taste. Meanwhile, up top, the coconut and pecan mixture provided a crunchy and chewy texture to break up the heaviness of the brownie. This combo is definitely a winner.
These are the best blondies that I've ever tasted. They taste a lot like these choc chip cookies due to their brown sugar base, but they're chewy from the coconut, crunchy and nutty from the macadamias, and the white chocolate adds a bit more sweetness.
Plus, this recipe can be done completely by hand - no intense beating required!
Recipe adapted from: Brown Eyed Baker
Ingredients (20 cm (8 inch) square cake tin)
115g flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
95g butter
135g brown sugar
1 egg
3/4 tsp vanilla essence/extract
3/4 cup shredded coconut
1/2 cup macadamia nuts
85g white chocolate or white chocolate chips
Method
1. Toast your coconut - either under the grill setting of the oven, or in a frypan - until golden brown.
2. Preheat the oven to 175 C (350 F).
3. Chop your chocolate and macadamia nuts into large chunks.
4. Melt the butter in a large bowl.
5. Whisk the brown sugar into the butter until combined.
6. Add the egg and vanilla, whisk until combined.
7. Fold the flour, baking powder and salt into the batter with a spatula until just combined.
8. Stir the coconut, white chocolate and macadamias into the batter.
9. Working quickly, pour the batter into a 20cm x 20cm square pan lined with baking paper.
My batter turned very thick after I added the coconut so I had to spread it out to the corners.
10. Bake for about 25 minutes, or until the top looks cracked and golden brown.
11. Allow to cool in the pan for a bit and then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. Then, go ahead and chop it up into whatever sizes you choose!
Mum bought some caramel chips from the supermarket recently, and they'd been sitting up with the millions of packets of choc chips for a while before I decided to make this recipe. Boy, was it worth it! These cookies have an almost shortbread-like texture, crunchy and melty; the toasted peanuts added crunch; and the caramel chips were a delightful burst of sweetness. Needless to say, these cookies didn't last very long in my house.
Recipe Adapted From: Bake Or Break
Ingredients
310g flour
1 tsp bicarb soda
1/2 tsp salt
185g butter
125g white sugar
60g brown sugar
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla essence/extract
1 cup caramel chips (the original recipe asks for toffee chips, but I have no idea where to get those, so I used caramel chips instead and they were delicious)
1 cup peanuts
Method
1. Chop the peanuts into smaller bits (halves are a good size). In a frying pan or under the grill setting of your oven, toast the peanuts until golden brown. Set aside to cool.
2. Preheat oven to 175 C (350 F).
3. Beat the butter, white sugar and brown sugar together until light and fluffy.
4. Add the egg and vanilla and beat until combined.
5. Stir the flour, bicarb and salt into the butter mixture.
6. Add the caramel chips and peanuts. Mix until combined and the bits are all dispersed in the dough evenly. (The dough tastes amazing, by the way).
7. Roll tablespoon-sized blobs of dough into balls. Place them on your silicone mat/baking paper covered baking trays and press them down a bit until they're flatter on the top. (This is so they don't come out of the oven in slightly-melted sphere shapes - they're more difficult to eat when they're like that!)
8. Bake for 15 mins or until golden brown.
9. Let cool on wire racks and consume.
If you have never tried praline paste, now is the time to make some of your own and become enlightened.
Praline paste is quite simple - it's made from nuts, toffee and, if you really want (I really wanted), chocolate. Commercially produced praline paste is completely smooth but when homemade it turns out with tiny bits of roasted nuts and toffee. It still tastes like heaven. Delicious, chocolatey, nutty heaven. Think Nutella. But better.
Recipe Adapted From: Joe Pastry
Ingredients
225g white sugar
50g water
225g hazelnuts (you can substitute half the hazelnuts for almonds, but I think that hazelnuts taste much better)
(optional) about 2 oz dark chocolate
Method
1. Make sure that your nuts are peeled! If you didn't get blanched hazelnuts, take a look at this post about how to peel hazelnuts.
2. Roast the nuts, either in the oven on grill setting, or in a frypan, until lightly browned. They should start to smell delicious and look a bit oily as their natural oils seep out. When they're done, set them aside to cool.
3. Arrange the nuts on a silicone sheet or a sheet of baking paper on a tray in preparation to pour the toffee on top.
4.. In a saucepan, combine the sugar and water and heat until the mixture turns a light golden/amber colour. If you want a bit more bite to your praline, heat until a darker colour, but I prefer it lighter. This should take quite a while, about five minutes or so, but keep watching it!
If you're using a heavy-based saucepan, keep in mind that the toffee will keep cooking as you are pouring it over the nuts and can end up tasting a bit burnt - so make sure that the toffee is of a lighter colour if you're using a saucepan that retains a lot of heat.
5. Quickly pour the toffee over the nuts.
This was our first attempt at the praline - the toffee was a bit too burnt, as you can see from the dark colour.
On our second attempt, we were more careful with the toffee and hence it is a lighter colour and tasted much better!
6. Wait for the praline to harden. If you're impatient, place an ice pack underneath the tray that the praline is on.
7. Once hard, break the praline into small chunks and place in a food processor.
You can either break the praline by hand, or you can place the chunks in two freezer bags (for added strength, because the bags break quite easily) and bash them a bit with a rolling pin or the flat of a hammer.
8. Blitz in the food processor until the praline becomes liquid-like and smooth. This might take a while, depending on the strength of your processor! Don't be afraid to really blast it, though.
This is the consistency that you want your paste to be - nice and liquid so that it levels itself out.
9. If you want to add chocolate, add it now. The praline paste should be quite hot so if you're using small enough bits (chocolate chip sized), you can just chuck the chocolate in and process until combined. Alternatively, melt the chocolate first and then blitz to mix.
10. Decant the praline paste into a jar (or your mouth) and enjoy on a spoon, on a cake or even on your bread!
