Chicken and Waffles

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Maybe my first post in a new year should maybe have been some sort of healthy, detoxifying dish to balance out the recent holiday season with all it’s chocolate, cookies and big family meals. But then I got a new waffle maker for Christmas. That combined with me and an American friend reminiscing about the American brunch dish of Chicken and Waffles made up my mind to go with something, very much the me got opposite of a healthy and detoxing start to the year (oops!).

Chicken and Waffles is a dish popular in the Southern States but it has also become somewhat trendy as a brunch option in NYC by now with places such as Pies and Thighs in W’burg converting people to it every day. It’s just so good with it’s unsweetened waffles alongside the crispy friend chicken and, in this case also, some spiced apples.

You have to start by marinating the chicken pieces overnight.
I’d suggest that, in the morning, you start with the stewed apples, which can then be left aside while you fry the chicken and bake the waffles.

For the chicken you’ll need:

  • 8 pieces of chicken on the bone (drumsticks or thighs)
  • 1 1/2 cups of buttermilk
  • salt and pepper
  • flour
  • vegetable oil for frying

In a ziplock bag, mix the chicken and buttermilk. Season well with the salt and pepper and leave it, to marinate, in the fridge overnight.

The next morning fill a plate or bowl with flour in which you dip the pieces of buttermilk marinated chicken. Heat vegetable oil, ideally in a cast iron pot, until it bubbles when you drop a little bit of flour in it. Using tongs fry the pieces of floured chicken in the boiling oil until they are cooked through (this varies on the size of the chicken but usually takes at least 5 minutes).

For the stewed apples you’ll need:

  • 25g butter
  • 50g demera sugar
  • 4-6 apples (depending on size), peeled, quartered and cored
  • ½ tsp ground cinnamon

The receipe for these is pretty much the same that I featured here with my pancake and cinnamon apples.  The the butter has to be melted with the sugar and spices, then the apples are added and soften over a low heat.

For the waffles you’ll need:

  • 2 cups all-purpose flour
  • 3 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
  • 1 teaspoon sugar
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 2 large eggs
  • 4 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
  • 1 1/2 cups buttermilk

In one bowl mix all the dry ingredients: flour, baking powder, sugar and salt.
In another bowl, or a jug, mix the eggs with the buttermilk and melted butter/oil. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ones and mix well.

Preheat and lightly grease your waffle iron and when it’s hot, pour big spoonfuls of the batter into the waffle iron and bake until the waffles are golden brown and lightly crisp.

Serve with maple syrup – and a good cuppa coffee!

Baked Apples

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For my last post in this year, I have chosen to let you know how to make the tastiest winter warming dish of baked apples stuffed with marzipan, almonds and apricots.

I am in Berlin at the moment, where I saw one of those nice old, tiled ovens the other day, typically for Berlin, where all the old flats here used to have them, as a heating system. My gran had one too and there was a little compartment in it, that a tray of apples would slide into and slowly bake, so they were a regular treat during the winter months.

Admittedly, they would not appear for breakfast or brunch but rather in the early evenings, however, I think serving a tray of baked apples along with a jug of custard or vanilla sauce is a good idea any time of the day…

For 4 portions you’ll need:

  • 4 apples (sour ones work especially well)
  • 80g dried apricots
  • 3 tbsp chopped almonds
  • 1 tsp grated rind of an unwaxed lemon
  • ½ tsp of cinnamon
  • 100g marzipan
  • ½ of one lemon
  • 1 tbsp unsalted butter
  • 250ml apple juice
  • custard or vanilla sauce, to serve

Soak the dried apricots in warm water for 20 minutes to soften them.
Once that has happened chop them up into small pieces.

Preheat the oven to 200 degrees Celsius.

Mix the ingredients for the filling – the chopped apricots, the marzipan, almonds, lemon rind and cinnamon – in a bowl. This is easiest done by getting your hands in there, which is one sticky business but worthit.

To prepare the apples, cut a small slice off the bottom of each apple, so they can stand straight without wobbling too much. Then cut the top off, leaving it aside as a lid for the apple later. As soon as the ‘lid’ is cut off rub the lemon over the apple, as it will otherwise go brown immediately. Now core the apples, using an apple corer. I hope you guys in the US and UK have them to!?

Place the apples in an ovenproof dish and stuff them with the marzipan filling generously, so they all have a little mount of filling which then gets topped with a little butter, before pouring the juice around them. Add the apple ‘lids’ laying them in between the apples and bake everything for about 20 minutes when the apples will be soft still keep their shape.

Serve straight away with custard or a thick vanilla sauce and enjoy!

Chocolate Crinkle Cookies

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It’s beginning to feel a lot like Christmas…and it’s about time!

So how about some last minute Christmas cookie baking?!

You have still got time for it – pretty much a whole weekend – and you wouldn’t have wanted to make these cookies much before anyway, as they are best eaten within a few days, so that you can enjoy their chewy chocolateness (which I assume is not an actual word but really should be).

They are quick and easy to make all you need is:

  • 90g ground hazelnuts
  • 2 tbsp sugar
  • 170g dark’ish chocolate, ideally around the 50-60% mark
  • 325g plain flour
  • 2 tbsp cocoa powder
  • 2tbsp baking powder
  • ¾ tsp salt
  • 115g unsalted butter
  • 325g light brown sugar
  • 2 eggs
  • 60ml milk
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • 150g icing sugar

To make the cookies:
For extra flavour, dry roast the ground hazelnuts in a dry pan over a medium temperature, moving them around with a spatula so they don’t burn but brown evenly. Depending on the size of your pan you may need to do this in 2 batches.

Melt the chocolate in a double boiler/metal bowl over simmering water (or even in the microwave) stirring until smooth.

Mix all your dry ingredients for the dough: the flour, baking powder, cocoa powder and salt.

In another bowl, beat together the butter, brown sugar with an electric whisk for a few minutes until creamy. Add one egg at a time, bating them in between and then beat in the melted chocolate, vanilla and milk until all is well combined. Now slowly mix in the flour mix and finally the nuts. Cover the bowl with a plastic wrap and chill it until firm, for about 2-3 hours, in the fridge.

To bake the cookies:
Preheat the oven to gas mark 4 and put your oven racks in the upper and lower third of the oven, so you can bake two baking sheets at the same time. Line two large baking sheets with parchment paper and set a bowl with the icing sugar next to them.

Halve the dough and chill1 half back in the fridge, wrapped in plastic warp. Roll the remaining half in to small balls, which you then roll in the icing sugar, so they are generously coated with it. Arrange the icing sugar coated balls about 2 inches apart on the sheet.

Bake, switching tray positions halfway through, until the cookies are puffed and cracked but still feeling soft – for about 12-18 minutes in total. Transfer to a rack to cool – and repeat all over again with the remaining dough.

Once all cookies are cool, keep them in a tin for up to 5 days.
If I don’t see you before…

Merry Xmas!!!

Dark Chocolate Pudding Pots

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I am writing this from the US where I have just been celebrating Thanksgiving.

I therefore feel a little bad that I have not had the time to post something suitable on time for this holiday, such as a pecan or pumpkin pie receipe. But I will try and give you one of those in time for Christmas…

In the meantime I thought I’d give you a dark chocolate pudding receipe.
I am calling it pudding as I am in America right now. In England we would probably just call it a rich chocolate pot, as a pudding is usually of the steamed variety there. So as a compromise I will name them Chocolate Pudding Pots. Whatever you want to call it, it is a rich and comforting treat, so quite suitable for these colder days.

One word of warning though, the receipe uses raw egg, so make sure the chocolate puddings get eaten within a day or two and are kept in the fridge.

For 6 portions you will need:

  • 2 eggs
  • 170g good-quality dark chocolate, finely chopped
  • 4 tbsp water
  • 4 tbsp caster sugar
  • 4 tbsp unsalted butter
  • a pinch of salt
  • a small pot of double or whipping cream, whipped to soft peaks

Separate the whites and yolks of the eggs and beat the egg whites with an electric whisk until they form stiff peaks. Leave the egg yolks aside for a moment.

Combine the chocolate, water, sugar, butter and salt and melt them gently in a double boiler/ bain marie or even a stainless steel bowl set over a saucepan of simmering water (the water should not touch the bowl though). Remove from the heat, let it cool down for a few minutes and then beat in the egg yolks. 

Now gently fold the egg whites under until the mix has a smooth and even texture. Pour into 6 small glasses or bowls (you could use larger ones but as these puddings are so rich, you might find a large sized pudding a bit too much in one sitting) and top with some whipped cream.

Keep in the fridge before serving!

 

 

 

Apple Custard Tarts

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As it’s still apple time, I thought I’d give you one more receipe with apples.

It’s a bit of a cheat’s receipe as instead of making the tarts fully from scratch, you can use ready made puff pastry – the one that comes rolled up and can be found in fridge sections of most supermarkets these days.

You still have to make the custard but as they say, every little helps…

For 12 tarts you will need:

  • 1 pack/roll of ready-made puff pastry (the ones from the fridge section)
  • 250g apples
  • 5 tbsps lemon juice
  • 2 tbsps butter
  • 150g plus 3 extra tbsps sugar
  • 250ml milk
  • 1 vanilla pod, split and seeds scraped out
  • 1 tbsp flour plus a little extra to roll the pastry out on
  • 1 pinch of salt
  • 1 egg plus 3 egg yolks
  • 100g almond flakes
  • 2 tbsps icing sugar
  • a 12-hole muffin tray
  • margarine/ butter/oil for greasing
  • baking parchment

Take the pastry out of the fridge and let it rest at room temperature for about 10 minutes, in which time you can prepare your muffin tray: lightly grease the wells of the tray, then cut out 12 strips of about 4x12cms, from the baking parchment and line each hole with one strip (this helps getting the tarts out later).

Roll out the puff pastry, to take the paper out that it’s rolled up with, then roll it up again and cut into 12 pieces. On a lightly floured surface, roll each piece out to a flat circle of about 11cms in diameter. Lightly press these puff pasty circles into the wells of the muffin tray.

For the apple filling, peel and core your apples and cut them into small pieces.

In a pan heat the lemon juice, butter and the 3 tbsp of sugar until the sugar dissolves, then add the apple pieces and soften them for about 3-4 minutes over a low heat. Then tip the apple pieces into a sieve set over a bowl, so you can save the syrup for later, and divide the apple pieces between the 12 puff pastry lined muffin wells.

Now is the right moment to preheat your oven to 200 degrees Celsius.
To make the custard, bring the milk and the vanilla seeds to the boil. Mix the flour, 150g sugar and salt and add this mix to the milk on the stove, continuously stirring it in with a whisk. Bring everything back to the boil, then take it off the heat and let the mix cool down a little before you whisk in the egg and egg yolks (otherwise you will get a scrambled egg custard).

Pour the custard over the apples and bake the tarts for about 10 minutes in the preheated oven.

For the finishing touch, mix the almonds with the left over apple syrup and top the tarts with them before letting them cool down.
Dust with icing sugar before serving!