Walnut and Macadamia Brownies

In the past week I've used 1kg sugar, 600g chocolate and 450g margarine in pursuit of the perfect vegan brownie.

In the past few years I've eaten various attempts at brownies by restaurants / cafes and only been impressed by one - Herbies in Exeter. They were kind enough to give me their recipe, however when I eventually tried it I found it to not work at all :(

They suggested they be cooked at 300^oC, which when I tried at my oven's max (260^oC) they burnt within minutes.

More interesting than the recipe itself is the technique - to take them out of the oven half way and knock the air out by banging a counter. I've not found reference to any other recipes using this technique through Google. If makes sense though - allow the mixture to rise creating texture but then knock the air out.

There seem to be many recipes online for what is essentially badly cooked cake mixture - not my idea of brownie! I've lost count of the number of forum posts I've read where people have claimed to have discovered brownie when their chocolate cake attempt went badly wrong.

To me a brownie should be crisp on the outside, cakey towards the egde then fudge (boarding upon gooey) in the centre. Not 'fudgy' - why make it fudge like when you can make real fudge?

The recipe I've created is essentially fudge (sugar + fat + chocolate) with enough flour and raising agent to separate out and form cake at the edges. I used Herbie's slamming technique, but increased the cooking time, lowered the temperature and added 2 slams.

I'm really pleased with the result - it excludes ingredients not generally found in British kitchens (egg replacer, specialist flours etc) and is simple to make. I used macadamias and walnuts, but any nuts can be used. I would recommend that you do use some form of nut though - my final test omitted them (for cost) and it didn't cook as well.

One important thing to note: these brownies improve with age. When you take them out of the oven the very centre will appear to be too gooey. Only when they've fully cooled (several hours later) will they have reached the right consistency. The first time I made them I thought the recipe was a failure - it wasn't until I tried them again a day later that I realised they were near perfect.

If you use a different size pan to me (e.g. they're thicker or thinner) then you'll need to play with the cooking time.

Wet Ingredients: 300g Soft Brown Sugar 50g Caster Sugar 150g Soya Margarine 1 tsp Vanilla Extract 120ml Soya Milk

Dry Ingredients: 125g Wholemeal Flour 40g Cocoa Powder 1/4 tsp Salt 2 tsp Baking Powder

Other Ingredients: 140g Chocolate 75g Walnuts 75g Macadamia Nuts

Start by melting the wet ingredients together in a pan over a low heat. Use a whisk to ensure they're fully combined and the sugar dissolved. Be careful not to overheat or take the mixture to the boil - it'll change the consistency if you do (e.g. you'll make toffee):

Leave to cool - if it's too warm when you add it to the dry ingredients then it'll melt the chocolate and again change the end consistency.

Mix the dry ingredients, then thoroughly combine in the wet:

Chop the chocolate into chunks if not using chips. Chop or break the walnuts. Chop the macadamias if whole. Add to the mixture and stir briefly:

Line an 11x7 inch pan with silicone sheet or baking paper, fill and even out with a spatula:

Place in a 200^oC (180^o fan) oven for 10 minutes, then remove and bang down on the top of the cooker. If it's risen at all you should see it deflate. Return to the oven for a further 10 minutes. Remove and bang again, then place back in the oven for its final 10 - it should have 30 minutes in total.

Finally remove from the oven, bang for a third time and place the tin in an ice water bath to stop the cooking (a larger pan with ice cubes and water will do the trick - just make sure the water doesn't go over the sides!).

Leave in the pan for a few minutes, then lift out:

Leave to cool for a few hours, then slice into 12, remove from the silicone/paper and leave to cool completely - overnight is best. If you don't you'll find it quite gooey in the centre (a good thing?).

I'll experiment with using the brownie in other recipes (ice cream, sundaes, cheesecake etc), but it's incredibly moreish on its own (I've eaten a lot of this stuff this week!). Today we enjoyed some with mint tea:

Something I don't make nearly often enough - handful of mint steeped in water with sugar. It's so much better than tea from bags!

Hot Praline Chocolate

Quick post so I don't forget the magic formula. I do that - I go through phases of making something regularly then several months later can't for the life of me remember the recipe.

This is *the* best hot chocolate I've ever tasted.

3 pumps Sweetbird Hazelnut Syrup

380ml Alpro Fresh Soya Milk

6 squares Kinnerton Dark Chocolate

3-4 Vegan Marshmallows

Soyatoo Squirty Cream

Chocolate Shavings

Any brand of syrup (most are vegan) will work, though I'm not sure if the pump amounts are the same. Praline is my favourite - I'm not a fan of 'toasted marshmallow' syrup or ones designed more for coffee (butterscotch, gingerbread etc). I've blogged previously about using Kahlua or Creme de Menthe instead which is also good, but alcoholic too.

Whilst you can make hot chocolate simply by heating milk; microfoaming it with an espresso machine's steam wand will give you a much better mouth feel. Always add the syrup to the milk before steaming - that way the foam contains the flavour and doesn't go all beany.

This recipe doesn't strictly need marshmallows, but they're a good addition if available. I've found its better to melt them in advance - otherwise you don't really pick up their taste and end up having to eat them separately at the end with a spoon. I use a blow torch because it's quickest and more fun than using a lighter. The best brand I've tried are Alternative Stores (sold online and in Vx). The only brand I wouldn't recommend is Anandas - all that we've tried (from One Earth shop in Birmingham) have tasted stale.

Kinnerton Dark is in most supermarkets, is cheap and has a fairly low cocoa content, making it less bitter than say 70%. You can use the chocolate of your choice, but the trick I learnt through trial and error it to not add too much. Otherwise it won't dissolve properly and you loose some of the hazelnut flavour.

If you've a food processor then I highly recommend using it to grate an entire bar of chocolate, then store it in a small tupperware and use it for icecream and topping hot chocolate. We recently acquired a bag of Montezumas hot chocolate shavings which give the same effect, though costs quite a bit more.

Method: Pump the syrup into a large mug, break up the chocolate and add, then cover with soya milk. Microfoam to about 70 degrees:

Stick a spoon in and give it a good stir under the surface so that the chocolate incorporates into the milk without destroying the foam:

Toast the marshmallows, then float on the surface:

Top with squirty cream and shavings:

Enjoy immediately! :-)

Mint Chocolate Shots

I've been a bad, bad Vegan MoBo blogger.

Considering I'm the only one though however and that I never stated I'd post every single day, I think it's allowed.

The reason I've not blogged recently is simple: I've been lazy. That and that the post I planned to do went wrong, horribly wrong.

A few weeks ago I made up a gorgeous shot using creme de menthe, cream, chocolate syrup, irish whisky and kahlua. Cleverly I snapped a picture on my iPhone for twitter and wrote down the ingredients, but not the measurements.

When I came to recreate it on Sunday I found that I just couldn't get the quantities right, and my attempts really didn't taste good at all - too alcoholic, too creamy, too sweet etc. I fundamentally don't agree with blogging / posting a recipe which really doesn't work - there are way too many crap recipes on the internet already.

It's 12.43am and I should really be in bed, but procrastination has allowed me to revisit the concept and I'm pleased to announce that this time it worked. Therefore I'm writing it down this time!

Ingredients (serves 2):

• 1 shot Irish Whisky
• 2 shots Fresh Soya Cream
• 1/2 shot Chocolate Syrup
• 1/2 shot Creme de Menthe
• 1/2 shot Kahlua
• Squirty Cream
• Grated Chocolate (optional)

Add all ingredients bar the last 2 to a cocktail shaker with ice, and shake till your hands go numb from the cold. Pour into glasses and top with squirty cream. Top with grated chocolate if so inclined.

Drink in 2-3 gulps, attempting to drink half the cream with each, mixing in your mouth before swallowing.

It's kind of like a mint version of the baileys recipe I posted last November (my blog is almost a year old!) and kind of not. I know that Baileys now sell a mint version, but it came out after I turned vegan so I've never tried it and can't comment on simularity.

Creme de Menthe

is good stuff.

I tried mint syrup as a kid and wasn't impressed. I was therefore not overly excited to find that De Kuyper alcoholic creme de menthe is vegan a month or so ago when @M_tohappyvegans wrote to them to check. It turns out that both the white stuff (which I've never seen in shops) is vegan, as well as the green stuff (in most supermarkets).

As part of my quest to own all vegan suitable booze I bought a bottle anyway, and was pleasantly surprised.

It mixes incredibly well with chocolatey things, such as chocolate soya milk. I plan to make a mint chocolate torte at some point (I've still not made this again since I blogged it back in Feb).

It also works really well in hot chocolate, substituting creme de menthe for kahlua in this recipe.

I've drunk half a bottle so far (with help) and will no doubt find other combinations that work well with it.

Edit: Now I think about it - I've actually made quite a few good tasting cocktails using this now. Too bad I can't remember how to make any of them.....

Chocolate Egg Eating Festival Greetings

It's been a good year for both vegan chocolate eggs and accidentally vegan hot cross buns.

My excuse for not being a better blogger this week is that we're away on holiday in Dorset at the moment.

We made 2 cakes for the day itself, a standard chocolate buttercream and a made up almond marzipan one. I substituted 100g flour for 100g ground almonds and vanilla essence for almond in my standard sponge. I then added a layer of marzipan to the batter and cooked at a lower temperature for an extended period. The resulting cake got covered with marzipan and lightly grilled.

It tasted pretty damned good, but was quite moist and would be better suited as a bakewell tart sponge rather than a cake in its own right. I'll blog it if I ever get round to it (there is some shortcrust pastry that needs using as it happens.......)

Hazelnut Truffles / Reverse Engineering

I've been a bit crap at blogging recently - too many interests and not enough time.

I tend to go in phases, dedicating the little time I have mostly to one thing for several weeks/months, then move on. Recently I've switched attention to iPhone development - whilst I've a general dislike for Apple I find potential for an additional revenue stream through releasing apps quite appealing. I purchased a mac mini 2 weeks ago and am learning Objective-C, which is similar enough to other languages I 'speak' (I mainly code Java, Perl & PHP but have a working knowledge of Python, TCL, C, C++, C#, JavaScript and various others).

Programming and cooking are not too dissimilar. One of my interests is network protocol design and reverse engineering - figuring out how new applications talk over a network/the Internet so I can write my own code that captures, interfaces with or modifies traffic passing between them.

Reverse engineering ranges from trivially easy to insanely difficult. More often than not application programmers are not experts in networking, so use either an existing protocol their language has an API for (such as HTTP) or implement their own crude protocol in plain-text. Better programmers write their own protocols for efficiency, which makes the task a bit more complex. If encryption is used it's unlikely (though not impossible) that you'll get very far, though it may be that only the payload is encrypted and control data is still modifiable.

Recreating commercial food products is often easy too, following a similar process and pattern of logic. Start with facts (ingredients listing, literature about process etc) and informed guesses (has it been cooked?), write a plan (recipe) then move to testing. It's likely it was made using similar techniques to those you're already familiar with, modified only for preparation in bulk.

Product wrappers in the UK (and most places) list ingredients in order by weight. If a percentage is shown on an ingredient then you know that each ingredient preceding has a higher percentage and each afterwards has lower.

Knowledge of the chemical properties of ingredients helps, particularly how they interact with others. Figuring out why an ingredient was included allows you to guess at processes employed (such as an emulsifier), the stage in which it was added, perform substitutions (for a 'nicer' or more readily available ingredient) and omissions (we don't need preservatives or colouring agents). McGee on Food and Cooking is an excellent book and reference guide on the properties of ingredients. Wikipedia is good too.

Companies sometimes hide actual ingredients under another product or category, such as flavourings. It's not always easy to discover what the components of these are, beyond taste alone.

For sake of example (not gluttony of course) I'll introduce the concept with a nice (but chronically overpriced) vegan truffle that is widely available and doesn't need naming. They're easy to make and the ingredients cost a third of the finished item price.

The ingredients on the wrapper are: chocolate (55% cocoa), coconut oil, hazelnuts (18%), cocoa.

An observation test shows that the amount of cocoa (used for dusting) is negligible. Thus if we ignore it for now and know that 18% is hazelnuts then the rest must be coconut oil and chocolate, both in larger amounts than 18%. 18% coconut oil is a lot, so it's fair to guess that there's not a lot more than this in the product. Let's say that 20% is coconut oil and 62% is chocolate.

55% cocoa solid chocolate is cheaper and less bitter than higher concentrations. I'm choosing to use 70%, which I personally prefer and fairtrade bars of are readily available. It will make the end product slightly more bitter and less creamy, but given the amount of coconut oil in the product I really don't think it needs any more fat.

I'm going to use a 100g bar of chocolate, and guess that 20g of it used for coating. 100 / 62 = 1.61, so 1.61 * 18 = 29g hazelnuts and 1.61 * 20 = 33g coconut oil.

Coconut oil is solid at room temperature. As it needs to melt before adding the first step is to place the bottle in some boiling water, then set aside until later.

Grind the hazelnuts to a fine powder - I made mine slightly too course. If sugar was an ingredient I'd guess that they'd been made into praline, but the company in question tends to favour raw products and I'll leave this step out.

If water were included it'd be possible that a hazelnut cream had been made, but as it's not just chop and melt the 80g chocolate, then stir in the hazelnuts.


Stir in the melted coconut oil and pour into a foil tray approximately the size of 10 truffles. As the chocolate won't be visible after coating and dusting (nor will it want to crack when bitten into), we don't need to temper it first.

Place the mixture in the freezer, then melt the remaining 20g chocolate. Adding some extra chocolate to it will help with dipping (I added another 30g).

I have every confidence that you can find an alternative use for any wasted chocolate (ours got melted again with golden syrup and marg, then poured on icecream with pieces of mazipan and maple syrup).

When set, turn the block out onto a chopping board and trim the sides. Cut it into 10 portions.

You can see that I left a few larger pieces of hazelnut in the mixture, which sunk to the bottom.

Dip each truffle in chocolate in turn, placing on a plate that has been dusted with sieved cocoa. As the chocolate solidifies sieve cocoa onto the surface. Place in the fridge to set, then roll each in further cocoa.

Keep in the fridge, but remove and leave at room temperature for 15-20 minutes before consuming for optimum consistency.

White Chocolate Torte

You'll have to excuse me whilst I make all the white chocolate based things I've been lusting over during the past decade.

I was always under the impression that tortes contain egg, but having done some reading up recently it would appear that about half the recipes online consist of only chocolate and whipped cream. A few years ago even this would have been pretty impossible to veganise, however now it's really quite easy. Having read 10-15 recipes I concocted a vegan version, which I'm now blogging for your reading pleasure.

A fair few recipes use a crushed amaretti biscuit base. As vegan friendly amaretti biscuits aren't available (that I know of) I made a standard biscuit base, adding 1 tsp almond essence. For me this was too much - next time I'd use 1/2tsp. My partner however thinks it was just right.

The top is just white chocolate and whipping cream, in a ratio that allows it to set up when chilled to the point where it can be cut into slices. As the white chocolate drops I'm using are ultra sweet already the torte is a bit sweeter than I'd like. Hence making a relatively tart raspberry coulis to serve it with.

I'm really pleased with how it turned out aesthetically and honestly it tastes pretty good. I think it could use some refinement however - find a way to make it less sweet and take out some of the almond flavour (either less essence or using ground almonds instead).

Ingredients

• 250g Digestive Biscuits
• 50g Margarine (melted)
• 1 tsp Almond Essense
• 300ml Soya Whipping Cream
• 200g White Chocolate Buttons
• 150g Raspberries
• 50g Icing Sugar
• 1/2 tsp lemon juice

Start by making the biscuit base. Place the biscuits into freezer bags and smash with the end of a rolling pin. If you use a food processor ensure you don't make the crumbs too fine. You're aiming for a uniform crumb - not too big, not too small.

Melt the margarine and whisk in the almond essence. Pour over the biscuits and combine until fully coated.

Place the biscuits into an oiled loose bottom 8 inch tin, then press down with the back of a spoon. When compacted as much as you can use your fist to really press it down, ensuring an even thickness across the surface. As a tip - if it doesn't hurt your knuckles you're not pressing hard enough! Getting it nicely compacted now will ensure it won't fall apart when you come to serve.

When complete place the tin in the fridge to set up the base while you make the topping.

Start by melting the chocolate in a bain marie. Yes, I know I've said previously that bain maries are for whimps, but they really are quite useful for white chocolate, which is far more prone to burning than dark. You need a pyrex bowl that will fit over a pan of boiling water, such that the bottom of the bowl isn't touching the water. Take care as steam escapes from around the edge of the bowl and stir the chocolate as it melts. You really don't need much water in the pan - the last thing you want is it bubbling over the edge and into the chocolate (which will ruin it).

Once the chocolate has melted allow it to cool. Meanwhile whip a 300ml carton of soya whipping cream (I used Granovita, which we acquired a year's supply of recently when it was on offer in Sainsburys, at 32p a pack). It doesn't really increase in volume that much, but after a couple of minutes with an electric whisk the texture will change and it become more light. When the chocolate has sufficiently cooled; fold it into the cream. If the cream is too cold or chocolate too warm then you won't achieve the smooth consistency you're aiming for.

When combined place the topping over the base and smooth out. Chill in the fridge, preferably overnight so that it completely firms up. If you skip this step you won't be able to cut it and it'll be a big mess.

As and when it's had time to chill you'll need to remove the torte from the tin. The easiest way to do this is to use a blow torch (over your oven top, ensuring there is no oil/fat which could ignite), as this causes the metal to expand and torte against it to melt slightly. You'll get a much cleaner result using this method than by sticking a knife down the side.

If using a loose bottomed tin (rather than a springform tin); place the bottom over an upturned mug and slide the sides down. Use a palette knife to remove the torte from the tin's base and transfer to the plate from which you'll serve. Place the torte back in the fridge whilst you make your coulis.

Coulis is very simple to make - just blend raspberries with icing sugar and lemon juice. If using frozen raspberries allow them to thaw first.

Once blended force the mixture through a sieve with the back of a spoon, to remove the seeds. Using a sieve larger than the one in the photograph below makes the process a lot easier! (I conceded in the end and washed up the big one).

Slice the torte up and drizzle over the coulis in a more artistic fashion that I was able to achieve, then serve.

Pistachio Macadamia White Chocolate Truffles

It is with great pleasure that I bring to you the best vegan truffles I've ever tasted.

I spent years trying to make white chocolate. Tracking down food grade cocoa butter in the UK was hard enough and eventually involved pretending to run a chocolatiers, setting up an account with a commercial supplier and paying the small order fee of £25. When I had the ingredients I made quite a few of what can best be described (and were subsequently used as) deliciously tasting massage bars - not chocolate.

Organica was a major let down for me. Some people love it, but it's not a great substitute IMHO. The dairy free white buttons that have surfaced recently however are awesome.

I've made several things with them so far and a few nights ago attempted a cashew cream ganache for another recipe I'm working on. It sort of worked, but wasn't as good as I hoped. I decided last night on the way home from work to try making macadamia cream instead, something I've not heard of before but hoped would work better.

As such I ended up making macadamia ganache which worked extremely well. I wanted to add another dimension - a bit of crunch, crack and complimentary flavour. Thus they got rolled in dark chocolate then lightly toasted, chopped pistachios.

Ingredients:

• 75g White Chocolate Buttons
• 75g Macadamia Nuts
• 100ml Water
• 75g Dark Chocolate
• 50g Pistachio Nuts

Soak the macadamia nuts overnight in water. This will make them softer and easier to blend. I should mention that this is a wasteful recipe - I needed to use at least this quantity for my my mini food processor to work properly. It does mean however that you can use this amount of macadamia cream to make more truffles.

Blend the drained macadamias with 100ml of water in a mini food processor until you have a mixture that looks a lot like cottage cheese. Transfer to another container and use an immersion blender to get it as smooth as possible.

Strain the mixture through a sieve to remove the larger pieces. Discard the nuts that do not pass through the sieve or find another use for. You should now have a mixture looking like the bellow, which has only fine grit left in it:

Melt 75g white chocolate gently in a microwave (4 mins at 50% in my 850w, stiring halfway through). Mix 25g of the macadamia cream with it and place in the freezer for several minutes, then move to the fridge.

Finely chop the pistachio nuts (rocking a large, sharp chef's knife back and forth over them is much quicker and far safer than using a small knife) and toast for 30 seconds under a hot grill on a baking sheet.

When the ganache has firmed up divide it into 7 or 8 spoonfulls. Roll each in your hands into smooth balls. You find that washing your hands in very cold water first (and drying) helps keep them cool and the surface smooth.

Place the balls in the fridge to firm up. Melt the dark chocolate and if you know how/can be arsed (I couldn't) temper the chocolate after. Tempering will help the chocolate set quicker and give a pleasing crack when bitten into. It also gives chocolate its shine, however as we're coating it this won't be appreciated.

Dip each ball in the melted chocolate and roll in the pistachios. Truffle dipping forks like the one in the photo cost less than a quid in cookware shops and are very useful, but you can use a fork if you've not got one yet (hint hint).

Ensure that you get the balls fully coated in chocolate and that you let excess drain away before coating. After rolling you may find that sprinkling extra pistachio on the surface and pushing gently helps get a full coat.

So many ideas to try and so little time. I am genuinely extremely pleased with how these turned out however and will certainly be making a larger batch next time.