Patisserie | The Mindfulness Kitchen

Lemon and Elderflower Tart

By Emma Hawkins | June 22, 2020 | Comments 0 Comment

Summer has arrived and I don’t think much says summer more than a slice of this lemon and elderflower tart! Since lockdown began I’ve become really interested in foraging in my local area, and this year I noticed how much elderflower there is where I go for walks! I now can’t step outside my front door without getting a whiff of some gorgeous elderflower on the wind. I’ve used the flowers to decorate the top of this tart, but the flavour of elderflower in the filling comes from elderflower cordial so you could make this all year round!

Recipe

Serves 12

Time: 2 hours, plus lots of chilling and baking time

Ingredients

For the pastry

265g plain flour
A pinch of salt
3 tbsp caster sugar
170g unsalted butter
1 egg yolk
3 tbsp cold water

For the filling

4tbsp elderflower cordial
160ml lemon juice
2 large eggs
2 large egg yolks
225g caster sugar
338g unsalted butter

To decorate (optional)

2-3 elderflower heads
A few meringue kisses
1 fresh lemon
Fresh cream to serve

Method

Begin by making the pastry. Put the flour, salt and sugar into a bowl and mix together with a table knife. Add the butter and use the knife to cut it into small lumps. Then go in with your fingers and rub the butter into the flour until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs. (Shaking the bowl side to side every now and then can help bring the bigger lumps to the top).
In a small bowl mix together the egg yolk and the water. Pour this into the breadcrumb mixture and stir until the mixture forms a smooth dough ball. Wrap the dough in clingfilm and leave in the fridge for at least 1 hour to chill.
Take the pastry out of the fridge and roll it out on a lightly floured work top so it’s about 2 cm wider than your tin all around.
Carefully lift the pastry sheet up and fit it into the tin, making sure it fits snug into all the flutes. Leave the pastry in the fridge for at least 30 minutes to chill.
Pre-heat the oven to 180C. Take the lined tart out of the fridge. Take a rolling pin and roll over the top edge of the tart to trim off the excess pastry.
Take a sheet of baking paper around the same size as your tart case and scrunch it up into a ball. Carefully un-crumple it and then fit it into the tart case, making sure there’s enough excess sticking out the top. Fill the pastry case with baking beans (or rice) and then bake it in the oven for 10 minutes until starting to look baked.
Take the baking beans and the baking paper out of the tart case and put the tart back into the oven to bake until golden brown all over and crisp. Leave the tart case to cool completely in the tin.
Now make the filling. Put the elderflower cordial, lemon juice, eggs, egg yolks, and sugar into a large pan and whisk over a medium heat until the mixture reaches 75C on a thermometer. (This will get the mixture up to the temperature to set, but any higher and the mixture will curdle).
Sieve the mixture into a bowl and leave to cool for 5 minutes. Then, when the mixture is about lukewarm, add the butter into chunks and whisk until it’s melted and incorporated into the mixture.
Cover the filling with clingfilm and leave in the fridge for at least 2 hours to chill.
Whisk the filling mixture to break it up a little and then pour it into the cooled tart case. Smooth it out so it forms an even layer and then put it into the fridge to set completely overnight.
The next day take the tart out of the fridge and take it out of the tart tin. Then, if you’d like, top the tart with elderflowers, meringue kisses and wedges of fresh lemon and serve with fresh cream!

Thanks for reading!

Emma x

Strawberry Croissants

By Emma Hawkins | February 3, 2019 | Comments 0 Comment

With veganuary over now I’m in that weird period where I’m still adapting to the fact that I can eat pretty much anything I want! I’m also super looking forward to going back to unrestricted baking and being able to get experimental again. Even though I don’t have the equipment at Uni to be able to make everything I’d like to, or even the time for that matter, making super complex, tasty treats is so so satisfying and a great way to de-stress!

I made these over Christmas break when the only two things I was focusing on was cooking and catching up on my art course. As holidays are the only time I have access to a sizeable kitchen I go a little crazy whenever I’m home and just cook non-stop, finally able to make all the things I’ve wanted to make over the past term! Recently in the food-sphere coloured croissants have started to become everyday (we even have pinstriped ones like these in college for breakfast now!) and as I’m a complete nut for food crazes I knew this was something I’d have to try myself. It does make the dough a little longer to put together as you have to work with two doughs instead of one, but as it’s a flipping long process anyway it’s worth it just to get the extra jazz hands moment when they’re made.

To get the pink colour in these I used some amazing gel food colourings that I got for Christmas. You can of course get normal ones from supermarkets, but I’d really recommend getting some of these if you want to get good results. They’re way more concentrated than the cheap stuff, meaning you can add less and still get a bright colour without affecting the consistency of your mixture! You can buy them in specialist food shops or on Amazon as I did, and you can get so many colours for a fairly low price (also as you’re only using a little bit at a time they’ll last you a long time!) You can even use the colours to paint on the outside of the dough once it’s rolled up so you could make rainbow croissants (I’m thinking Pride week) or paint them with specific colours (for a match or party etc)!

Recipe

Makes 25

Time: 3 hours plus chilling and baking time

Ingredients

For the white dough

250g Strong white bread flour
100g Plain flour
30g Unsalted butter
25g Caster sugar
5g Salt
8g Fast-action dried yeast
1/2 Egg
55ml Milk
100ml Cold water
200g Unsalted block butter

For the red/pink dough

250g Strong white bread flour
100g Plain flour
30g Unsalted butter
25g Caster sugar
5g Salt
8g Fast-action dried yeast
1/2 Egg
55ml Milk
100ml Cold water
A few drops of red gel food colouring
200g Unsalted block butter

To Decorate/Fill

75g Strawberry jam
1 Egg, beaten

Method

Begin by making the white dough. Put the flours and butter into a large bowl. Rub the butter into the flours until crumbly.
Mix in the sugar, salt and yeast and then add the egg, milk and water and stir together until a smooth dough forms.
Turn the dough out onto a worktop and knead for about 10 minutes until smooth and stretchy. Wrap the dough really loosely in cling film and then leave to rise in the fridge for 24 hours.
Do the same for the red dough, this time adding the food colouring in at the end. Then rest it the same as the white dough.
Now you’re ready to laminate the dough. Take one of the blocks of butter out of the fridge and place it between two sheets of cling film. Bash it into a 12cm square and then place it back into the fridge to firm up. Do the same for the other block.
Take one of the doughs out of the fridge. Roll it into a 25cm square that’s 1 cm thick. Place the butter in the middle so it’s corners hit the centre of the sides of the dough square (a diamond in a square).
Fold the dough up around the butter like an envelope and then roll the dough out into a 22 x 40cm rectangle.
Fold over one third of the dough, and then the top third down to cover it. Wrap the dough in cling film and then chill in the fridge for 30 minutes. Do the same with the butter and the folding for the other dough.
Once the dough has chilled take it out of the fridge and roll it out again to make a rectangle again. Repeat the folding and chilling process and then repeat this twice more. Do the same for the other dough.
Wrap the two doughs very loosely in clingfilm (so they have room to rise) and then leave in the fridge overnight.
Now shape the dough. On a lightly floured surface roll one of the doughs out to a 31 x 41 cm rectangle. The dough will resist being shaped but just keep going and you’ll get there. Put the dough sheet to one side and then repeat with the other coloured dough.
Place the red dough on a lightly floured work top and brush it lightly with some water. Then put the white dough on top and roll the sheet out into a rectangle 31 x 81 cm. Trim the rectangle down to make a neat 30 x 80 cm rectangle.
Cut the rectangle in two to make 2 rectangles 15 x 40 cm. Take one of the rectangles and cut a little notch every 10cm along one edge. Then measure the other edge: cut one notch at the first 5cm, and then cut a little notch every 10cm.
Take a knife or a pizza cutter and cut diagonally between the notches to make a series of triangles 10cm at the base and 20cm high. Repeat with the other rectangle of dough.
Take one triangle and stretch it a little to make the dough taught. Then put a little blob of jam at the wide base before rolling up the croissant from the wide base to the point. Place the croissant onto a lined baking tray with the join underneath. Repeat until you’ve used all the dough to make some croissants.
Cover loosely in clingfilm and then leave for 2 hours to rise and double in size.
Pre-heat the oven to 180˚C. Take the beaten egg for the decoration and lightly brush it over the pastries. Then bake the croissants in the oven for 15-20 minutes until golden brown and risen. Leave to cool a little before eating!

Thanks for reading!

Emma x

Mirror Glaze Chocolate Gateau

By Emma Hawkins | July 15, 2018 | Comments 0 Comment

I’m back to what I really love making – complex patisserie! Being the massive baking nerd that I am I love making things like this that take ages but look really cool once finished. This gateau is mirror glazed, which is a kind of icing that has a gorgeous reflective finish. I always find something really elegant about mirror glazed things and when done right they can look really professional. They also have this deceptive, exterior simplicity to them which is broken when they’re cut into and all the layers, colour and textures pour out, like the doors being opened to a vibrant party.

The trick when making something like this is just to take your time and to not rush any of the steps. I actually made this one over three days, partly because I was a bit busy and so I was making elements whenever I had some free time. This meant that I could leave each element to set completely which was really useful for when it came to assembling, although it would also be possible to make this in a single day if you wanted to.

Recipe

Serves 10

Time: 3 1/2 hours plus lots of chilling

Ingredients

For the Brownie

55g Butter
70g Dark chocolate
1 Medium egg
70g Caster sugar
15g Plain flour

For the Jelly

200g Frozen Strawberries
1 tbsp Lemon Juice
50g Caster sugar
2 1/2 Leaves of Gelatine

For the Crispy layer

100g Cornflakes
50g Milk chocolate

For the Mousse

3 1/2 Leaves of Gelatine
175g Milk chocolate
175g Dark chocolate
220ml Milk
350ml Double cream

For the Glaze

150ml Double cream
135g Caster sugar
60g Cocoa powder
3 Leaves of Gelatine

To Decorate

2 Fresh strawberries

Method

Begin by making the brownie. Pre-heat the oven to 180˚C. Grease and line a 12.5 cm round tin with butter and baking paper.
Put the butter and chocolate into a glass bowl over a pan of gently simmering water and leave to melt.
In another bowl whisk the eggs and sugar together until pale and fluffy. Pour in the chocolate mixture and stir together until smooth. Add the flour and mix it in until everything is combined.
Pour the brownie mixture into the lined tin and bake in the oven for 10-15 minutes until a crispy top has formed and the cake is still a little gooey. Take the cake out of the tin and then leave it to cool until needed.
To make the jelly put the strawberries, lemon juice and sugar into a pan and bring to the boil. Then leave to simmer until the sugar has dissolved and the strawberries have become a mush (about 15 minutes).
In another bowl leave the gelatine to soak in some cold water for 5 minutes, until it’s soft and flexible.
Blend the strawberry mix into a puree with a hand blender and then add the gelatine to the warm mixture. Stir until the gelatine is completely dissolved and then leave to cool.
Line a 12.5 cm round tin with cling film and then pour the cooled jelly mix into the tin. Leave to set in the fridge for at least 3 hours or until needed.
Next make the crispy layer. Melt the chocolate in a heatproof bowl over a pan of simmering water.
Pour the melted chocolate into a bowl with the cornflakes and mix everything together until the flakes are completely coated in the chocolate.
Line a 12.5 cm round tin with clingfilm again like you did with the jelly, and then tip the cornflake mixture into the tin. Even the layer out with a spoon so that it’s relatively flat. Then leave to cool/set and leave to one side until needed.
When everything’s ready (the brownie, jelly and crispy layer) you’re ready to make the mousse. Put the gelatine into a bowl with some cold water and leave to soak.
Finely chop the chocolate until it’s the texture of a broken up ice cream flake. Then transfer the chocolate to a bowl.
Heat the milk in a pan until it reaches a boil. Take the pan off the heat, squeeze the gelatine to remove excess water and then stir it into the milk until dissolved. Then pour the warm milk over the chocolate to melt it and stir to make sure it’s smooth. Set aside to cool.
Pour the cream into a bowl and whisk until soft peaks form. When the chocolate mix is completely cool, fold the whipped cream into the mixture until the colour is even and the mixture is smooth.
Line a 17.5 cm tin with clingfilm. Pour a little of the mousse mixture into the lined tin so that it just covers the base. Leave the tin in the fridge for 30 minutes to set this layer.
Once set, carefully place the jelly layer in the centre of the entremet. Then top the jelly layer with the brownie and then the crispy layer. Pour the rest of the mousse over the layers so that they’re completely covered. Then leave everything in the fridge to set for at least 4 hours, or better overnight.
When ready make the glaze. Put the cream, sugar, cocoa and 150ml water into a pan and heat gently until the sugar dissolves. Bring the mixture to the boil and then leave for 2 minutes. Remove the pan from the heat and leave to cool slightly.
Soak the gelatine in a bowl of cold water for about 5 minutes, until flexible. Squeeze out the excess water and then add the gelatine to the glaze and stir to dissolve.
Cool the glaze down to 38˚C and then it’s ready to use. This can take a while so I’ve found that transferring it into another bowl and whisking it every so often will help! Sieve the glaze to make it super smooth.
Unmould your gateau and place it on a wire rack with a large roasting tin underneath to catch the excess glaze that will drip off. Then pour the glaze over the cake so it evenly covers the gateau. Leave the gateau for 30 minutes to allow the glaze to set slightly.
Quarter your strawberries and then place them around the top of the gateau. Serve!

Thanks for reading!

Emma x

Neapolitan Brownie Cheesecake

By Emma Hawkins | June 17, 2018 | Comments 0 Comment

My parent’s are aiming to walk the South West Coastal Path over the next few years and so last week we were all on holiday to kick-start the journey. As we were walking loads, we were in Devon, and it was insanely hot, it goes without saying that we ate a tonne of ice cream. So in homage to all of that I decided to do an ice-cream themed bake for Father’s day.

In truth, I’m more of a mint choc chip girl than Neapolitan, but I thought that the classic vanilla, chocolate, strawberry layer thing was too good to not use for this. I also finished my Art Foundation course the other day (silent whoop!) and so after that I treated myself to a brownie cheesecake thing from Tescos. I’ve seen brownies being used in cheesecakes for years but that was the first time I tried it myself, and boy was it good. So rather than having a biscuit base for this one I made a fudgy brownie, and dare I say it I think it’s better than a biscuit base. It’s chewy, rich, and is way easier to transport/slice into as you don’t have crumbs flying everywhere!

This one has a few elements to it, but it’s all very easy to put together when broken down. For the swirls on the top I used strawberry jam which worked way better than I thought it would! If you’d prefer something sharper for the topping you could use marmalade, raspberry jam or boil up equal parts fruit and sugar to make a thick puree.

Recipe

Serves 12

Time: 1 hour, plus chilling

Ingredients

For the Brownie

230g Caster sugar
100ml Vegetable oil
2 Medium Eggs
½ tsp Vanilla extract
55g Cocoa powder
90g Plain flour

For the Cheesecake

1 tbsp Vanilla bean paste
550g Cream cheese
50g Icing sugar
250ml Double cream

For the Topping

2 tbsp Strawberry jam
200ml Double cream
4 Small fresh strawberries, plus extra for serving
2 tbsp Chocolate sprinkles

Method

Begin by making the brownie. Pre-heat the oven to 160˚C. Grease and line a 9-inch cake tin with baking paper.
Put the sugar and oil into a large bowl and whisk to combine. Add the eggs and vanilla and whisk these in to make a smooth mix. Add the cocoa and whisk it in carefully, it will explode out of the bowl a lot! Finally, add the flour and whisk it in to make a smooth batter.
Pour the mixture into the lined cake tin and bake in the oven for 15-20 minutes so that a crust has formed and the middle is goey but baked through. Leave to cool in the tin.
Now make the cheesecake layer. Put the vanilla and cream cheese into a bowl and whisk together until smooth. Add the icing sugar and double cream and then whisk again until the mixture is lump-free and beginning to thicken.
Once the brownie is completely cooled pour the cheesecake mix on top and smooth it over with a spatula.
Spoon the strawberry jam into a small bowl and beat it with a small spoon to break it up and make it slightly runny. Spoon blobs of the jam onto the cheesecake and then mix it around with a knife a little to get a swirl effect.
Put the whole cheesecake into the freezer for 1 hour, and then leave in the fridge for another 3 hours, or better still over night to set.
When ready start prepping the topping. Pour the double cream into a bowl and whisk until soft peaks form. Spoon the mixture into a piping bag fitted with a star-shaped nozzle. Pipe rosettes of the cream around the edge of the cheesecake.
Quarter the strawberries and then push them into the gaps between the cream rosettes. Finish with some of the sprinkles and serve chilled!

Thanks for reading!

Emma x

Deconstructed Mississippi Dessert

By Emma Hawkins | April 18, 2018 | Comments 0 Comment

Back in November I made a Mississippi mud pie for thanksgiving, which if I say so myself was pretty darn good. So for a while now, being the massive chocoholic I am, I’ve been thinking how I could re-interpret it, and with a little refinement make it into an awesome dessert. With Masterchef just finished I’ve been going through a bit of withdrawal, but I’ve been super inspired by all the incredible cooking on the show, and so I decided now would be the time to make a more delicate dish, like this delish deconstructed mud pie.

Whilst being predominantly chocolate based, each element here contributes a unique texture and flavour to the dish so it doesn’t come across too rich. Almost like an ombre there’s a crumbly, very rich chocolate crumb, a lighter but fudgy brownie, a creamy sweet chocolate custard, and then a light whipped cream, all served with chocolate shards and a sharp raspberry coulis to cleanse the palette. (As you can probably tell from how pretentious that sounds, I’m pretty proud of how this one has turned out). Unlike my other fancier dishes this one is also fairly easy. There are a lot of elements but each one doesn’t require too much knowhow to make, so it’s worth giving a go!

Recipe

Serves 5

Time 2 hours, plus cooling time

Ingredients

For the Chocolate brownie

110g Butter
140g Dark chocolate
2 Medium eggs
140g Caster sugar
30g Plain flour
100g White chocolate, roughly chopped

For the Chocolate custard

100g Dark chocolate
290ml Whole milk
3 Egg yolks
60g Caster sugar
15g Plain flour
1 tbsp Cocoa powder
20g Cornflour
160ml Double cream

For the Chocolate crumble

100g Plain flour, plus extra for dusting
150g Unsalted butter
55g Cocoa powder
40g Caster sugar
5g Sea salt

For the Cream

300ml Double cream
1 tsp Vanilla bean paste

For the Coulis

150g Raspberries
100g Caster sugar

To Decorate

50g White chocolate
100g Dark chocolate
5 Fresh raspberries
A few sprigs of fresh mint

Method

Pre-heat the oven to 180˚C. Grease and line a 15×15 cm loose tin with butter and baking paper.
To make the brownies put the butter and chocolate into a bowl over a pan of simmering water and leave to melt.
Take another bowl and whisk the eggs until pale and fluffy with an electric whisk. Add the sugar and continue to whisk until it leaves a trail when the whisk is taken out.
Fold the chocolate into the eggs, sieve in the flour and add the white chocolate. Fold everything again until combined.
Pour the mixture into the lined tin and bake for around 20 minutes until a crust has formed on top and it feel slightly firm. Set aside to cool.
Now make the chocolate filling. Put the chocolate into a heat-proof bowl and melt over a pan of simmering water. Then put the milk into a pan and heat until just boiling.
In another bowl whisk the egg yolks, sugar, plain flour, cocoa powder and cornflour until smooth. Pour in the milk whilst whisking until smooth. Pour the mixture back into the pan and cook gently, whilst whisking, until just starting to thicken. Take off the heat, stir in the melted chocolate and then leave in the fridge to cool completely.
Take the filling out of the fridge and whisk to break up. In another bowl whisk the double cream to soft peaks. Fold the cream into the chocolate mix and then pour this into a pipping bag. Put this into the fridge to chill for 2 hours.
Now make the chocolate crumble. Put all the ingredients into a bowl and mix until a smooth dough forms. Roll this out on a lightly floured surface to make a thin sheet. Put this onto a baking tray lined with greaseproof paper and bake in the oven for 10 minutes. Take out of the oven and crumble with your fingers to make a crumble/crumb-like texture. Then put it back into the oven to bake for another 10 minutes until crisp. Set to one side to cool.
Next whip up the double cream and vanilla into soft peaks (when it just holds its shape). Spoon this into a pipping bag with a round nozzle and leave in the fridge to chill until needed.
Then make the chocolate shards. Put the white and dark chocolates into separate heatproof bowls over pans of gently simmering water. When melted transfer the white chocolate to a piping bag with a small, round nozzle. Take a sheet of baking paper or acetate and drizzle the white chocolate in a squiggle pattern over it. Leave to set completely at room temperature.
When set, take the dark chocolate and spread over the white chocolate in a thin layer, making it smooth with a palette knife. Leave to set.
Finally make the raspberry coulis. Put the raspberries and sugar into a pan and heat gently until the raspberries mush and gently simmer.
Pour the mixture into a sieve and press through with the back of a spoon to get the juice and pulp but to remove the seeds. Pour this into a pipping bottle with a small, round nozzle and leave in the fridge until needed.
When ready to plate up begin by cutting 3 small circles out of the brownie. Place these in a semi-circle around the edge of the plate. Take the chocolate custard and pipe blobs of it around the brownies. Then take the fresh raspberries and arrange them in a crescent around the other elements. Then take the cream and fill in the gaps. Then sprinkle the crumble in the gaps to make a crescent shape and then break the chocolate sheet into shards and place them around the plate. Take the coulis and pipe spots of it around the plate, and then put the rest into a jug to serve with the dessert. Garnish with the fresh mint and serve!

Thanks for reading!

Emma x