Chocolate Cinnamon Challah

I get all jittery and excited when attempting something new, although instinct forces me to revert to the safety net, a quantum of familiarity. Challah was one of those ideas which I wrestled with in my head. I wanted to feel good about turning it into something like french toast/ some flavoured version/lay on the stuffing options, please, that kind of thing. I came across a recipe for double chocolate chip challah quite a while ago but stuffed it in the back of my mental archives; I’m always timid when it comes to doing something old and traditional justice. The first attempt yielded too dry a texture (second photo below), though the taste and crumb itself wasn’t too far off the mark because the cocoa and decent amount of sugar incorporated into the batter made it more flavourful than expected. One does love surprises. So I adjusted the oil quantity to bump up the moisture, took it easy on the flour.

If you wish, you can attempt a chocolate gradient version– to each of the sections in the braid, you can add different quantities of cocoa, then adjust the remaining flour quantity from there. Who wouldn’t hit that stuff with a good knob of butter and honey? Please tell me, do.

Chocolate Cinnamon Challah (makes one large or 2 small loaves)

600g all-purpose flour

12.5g active dry yeast (1.5 tbsp)

300ml warm water

1 tsp white sugar

35g cocoa powder (Hershey’s Special Dark works wonderfully here)

2 eggs

170g sugar

1 tsp salt

1 tbsp cinnamon

2 tsp vanilla extract

65ml vegetable oil

1 egg (for the egg wash)

pearl sugar (for sprinkling before baking)

In a small bowl, mix together the yeast, sugar and water. Wait 6-10 minutes for the yeast to activate, forming a thick layer of light brown foam on top.

Weigh out the flour and cocoa and put the two in separate bowls. In a large mixing bowl, whisk together 200g of the flour (a little more than 1.5 cups), the salt, sugar and cinnamon. Once the yeast has foamed up, add it to the flour mix and stir in briefly using a wooden spoon. Then, mix in the vanilla extract, eggs and vegetable oil. Add 125g of the remaining flour and stir into the dough. If using a mixer, switch to the dough hook attachment, but otherwise make like Simpleton Alex and use a wooden spoon or your hands to incorporate the flour. At this point, the dough will still be a little wet and shaggy. Almost limp.

Take the dough and roughly divide it into three. I just used my hands and eyes to guesstimate here. If you’re feeling very scientific, you may use a weighing scale for precision. Put each dough third into separate medium bowls (re-use your mixing bowl for one of them). To one of the dough thirds, add half the cocoa powder, a tablespoon at a time, and 60g of flour, give or take. I needed 60g but you might need a little more of less. I say a tablespoon at a time because it really depends how dark you wish to go with your bread. Do the same for another third. To the remaining third of dough, add the rest of the flour, though you might not need all of it. All thirds should have a similar texture after kneading for around 5-10 minutes– smooth, elastic, with a little bounce when you press its surface. Let the dough thirds rise in their individual bowls (greased first) for 2-3 hours.

Preheat the oven to 177C (350F). Remove the dough thirds, which should have at least doubled in size, from the bowls and place them on your work surface. Roll each to at least 12 inches or more in length. If you’re making 2 smaller loaves, divide each in half first before braiding. Press the tops together and start braiding like how you would do with your hair. Left over middle, right over middle, you get the gist. Once you reach the tails, brush the loaf (or loaves) with one beaten egg, and sprinkle with pearl sugar. Let rise for an hour, before baking in the preheated oven. The challah should feel fluffy to the touch, still retaining that bounce. Bake for 25-30 minutes. I took mine out at 17 minutes and it was perfect by then. The top of the chocolate part should be dark and shiny, and the plain part of the braid will be golden-brown. Mmm.

Freeze this loaf and slice whenever you want. It reheats wonderfully in the microwave! 20 seconds straight out the freezer to return to room temperature, then toast for maximum pleasure. Butter and jam/honey. Life is sweet like chocolate and cinnamon.

Posted on March 16, 2015February 21, 2022 by alexcrumb 1

Banana Bread Pancakes

Processed with VSCOcam with f2 preset — topped with pistachio butter, ripe banana, strawberries and maple syrup

The world has invented a myriad different types of pancakes. You get thick and fluffy, thin and fluffy, thick and dense with sparse holes for maximum stodge factor in each bite, crepes (if you’re talking all English, that is)… And you get pancakes which are basically hybrids between cake and fluff. Like this. I termed it banana bread because that’s the first thing which popped into my head when I took my first bite, warm and fresh off the stove. It tastes like the stuff– thick, bread-like without being dense or packed, tender and fluffy. Look at how thick each one is! Solid yet soft, like fat lazy men (was that a bit too much? Oops). Gives way to the fork as it glides easily down the stack. The best thing? You can whip up a whole load of these and freeze them for more pleasure in the following days of the week.

Banana Bread Pancakes (makes around 10, adapted from here)

170g all-purpose or whole wheat flour (I used whole wheat here)

2 tsp baking powder

1 tbsp brown sugar

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

1.4 tsp ground nutmeg

1 egg

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 tablespoon honey

2 mashed, ripe medium bananas (or 3 small, or 1.5 large)

1 cup whole milk (or buttermilk if you have that on hand)

45g melted butter (a little more than 3 tablespoons), cooled to room temperature

In a large bowl, whisk together the dry ingredients– flour, baking powder, brown sugar, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the milk, melted butter, egg, vanilla, honey and mashed banana. Add this mix to the dry mix and, using a spatula, fold until just combined. Which means there will be lumps. It won’t be smooth and that’s what you want.

Butter a pan or griddle on low-medium heat. If the heat’s too high, the bottom will brown too quickly but the insides will remain raw. Using a quarter cup measurement, dollop on the batter and spread into circles or whatever shape you like, because it’s too thick to spread freely by itself. Wait to see a few little bubbles come to the surface, around 1-2 minutes, before flipping and waiting for another 30 seconds or so. The second side always takes a shorter time. If serving for many people, put the ones you’ve cooked in a heated oven, until all the batter is used up. If not, just set aside a few for yourself and put the cooked ones on a kitchen towel to absorb excess moisture.

Top with whatever you want, be it butter and maple syrup, or fruit, nut butter and honey/maple syrup (my personal favourite combination).

Posted on March 12, 2015February 21, 2022 by alexcrumb 5

Mini Speculoos Bundts

I’m sure a few of you would have come across the term ‘caveman diet’ in some magazine, book or newspaper article. The whole phenomenon is intriguing and sensible; we basically are advocating a reverting to our ancestors’ lifestyle in the hopes that such a change will propel some sort of advancement in human health. We’ll be healthier, have lower BMIs, stronger bones, etc. It’s all very well and good, right? In a sense, yes. The diet itself is meant to promote a healthier lifestyle. You eat more red meat, fruits, vegetables and natural whole grains, whilst reducing the amount of processed wheat and dairy you consume. You benefit from increased energy and concentration, and better blood sugar levels which don’t shoot up and down like a roller coaster like 90% of the American population. When I first came across this idea, I took it lightly, the brioche and caffeine and egg fan that I am. Heck, the usual ingredients I touch in the kitchen are refined flours, eggs and sugar. Everything which promotes slower metabolisms, obesity, impeded thinking, and heart disease. In one way or another, indirect or not. And now, despite acknowledging its benefits, my attitude towards the caveman phenomenon hasn’t changed drastically. But why scoff at something proven to be beneficial?

I mentioned one of my favourite books in a previous post– The Story of the Human Body by Daniel Lieberman. His writing is superb, impactful; I haven’t come across another book which has altered my perspective on the human body quite as much. The thing is, we as humans evolve to accommodate change. We are so darn flexible, proven by the fact that we aren’t all dead at this point in modern time. I don’t think we need to fully revert to the caveman diet because our bodies have evolved to accommodate all that is available to us. I’m not saying we should gorge ourselves on cakes and sweets all day throughout the year, but in the end, eating more red meat and completely eliminating all the pleasures of the world (you know what I mean here) won’t exactly do your mood or health a tremendous amount of good. I’m no nutritionist, but can’t we advocate balance and not rigid dietary restrictions? I personally cannot take stomach a lot of red meat because I feel as if I have a little animal cemetery cradling my stomach afterward, hence I tend to eat more fish. Let’s just not stop having the cupcake, or mini bundt, treat on the weekend. Let’s live for the balance of what us, these smart cookies, have grown to learn, tweak and love. I’m all for the (occasional) elimination of those horrid processed foods, aka anything in a packet, but sweet tooths, I’m on your side. Go ahead, bake a tray of these. I implore you!

My mum recently bought mountains of speculoos/biscoff cookie spread for her own kitchen experiments. Yes, another reason why I love her so much. Lotus Biscuits are actually the best thing dunked into hot and milky English Breakfast tea. And there are a million things one can dip into hot and milky tea. Speculoos and cream cheese has been done before, and I love how this recipe incorporates both without overwhelming either flavour. The speculoos is the obvious flavour in the cake batter, which is on the slightly denser side to hold up the integrity of a robust mini bundt. Topped with crushed speculoos biscuits, salted caramel sauce (had some extra left over), and coconut date sugar. The cream cheese frosting and crushed biscuits are enough here; I just happened to have leftover ingredients which amped up the light and otherwise more predictable bites of speculoos heaven.

The crushed biscuits on top offer the loveliest texture contrast. The recipe itself is so simple because the speculoos spread already has flavours like cinnamon and vanilla, so the rest is just a matter of 5-minute mixing, tops.

Speculoos Mini Bundts (makes 12, adapted from Baked Bree)

58g soft, unsalted butter

140g Speculoos/Biscoff spread (a half cup)

225g (1 cup) white sugar

2 eggs

80ml whole milk

1.5 teaspoons vanilla extract

188g all-purpose flour (around 1.5 cups)

1 1/4 teaspoons baking powder

quarter teaspoon of salt

For the cream cheese frosting:

113g softened cream cheese

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

125g icing sugar

2-3 tablespoons milk (test according to preferred consistency)

Preheat your oven to 177C and butter a mini bundt or cupcake tin. In a small bowl, briefly whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt. In a large bowl, beat together the speculoos spread, butter and white sugar. Beat for at least a minute, until light and fluffy. Beat in the eggs and vanilla. Add the flour mix and mix briefly to incorporatel the mix should look a bit dry but still sticky. Pour in the milk and fold in to incorporate. The batter shouldn’t be too thick or thin, and will resist ever so slightly when allowed to drop from the spatula.

Fill the cupcake/bundt molds full with the batter. Place in the preheated oven and bake for 16-20 minutes. Mine were done at the 18-minute mark. Test the inside by poking in a wooden skewer. They should have risen significantly but still look smooth and golden-brown on top. Allow the bundts to cool on a wire rack whilst you make the cream cheese glaze. Beat together the icing sugar, cream cheese and vanilla. Add milk, a teaspoon or tablespoon at a time, until you reach the desired consistency.

Remove the bundts from the pan once cool and using a knife, cut off the tops. This step obviously isn’t necessary if you’re just making cupcakes! The cupcake tops you get from making mini bundts are like an added bonus. I had a couple toasted for breakfast the other morning and they go wonderfully with nut butter and honey…. or the classic butter and marmalade, though the cake is already pretty sweet on its own. Place the bundts the right way up on the cooling rack, and drizzle the cream cheese glaze on top, allowing it to dribble down the sides, down the ridges formed by the cute little molds.

Optional: Sprinkle crushed speculoos biscuits on top

Posted on March 8, 2015February 21, 2022 by alexcrumb 0

Maple Pearl Sugar Brioche

There’s nothing wrong with reverting to the classics. I’m a serious fan of innovation and weird mismatches that actually work (referring to my previous post here), but I was overcome by the staunch determination to conquer something truly ubiquitous, something most of us rely on the real professionals for. I’m only an amateur baker who does all this whizzing, whisking and whipping in the kitchen for pure fun, but knowledge of and experience with the classics is required for any further exploration, right?

I’ve made brioche pretzels before, dived right in the deep end, no basic loaf or anything first, just a ‘ah-how-posh-and-fun’ kind of feel. Even added some chocolate chips and lemon zest to add to the childish fun. However, thanks to underestimation of the proofing and kneading time, I merely scraped by with a pseudo-brioche. Flat, dense, and just a little too hard on the bottom. The inside was fluffy, but the exterior betrayed a better could-be texture. Think I’ve got it this time, but the method I use here is adapted from something a little more unorthodox, whereby it’s all in the hand work, and the kneading time isn’t too horrid. I also used a little less yeast, because the first loaf I got using the original recipe was a tad too yeasty and the rise wasn’t as perfect as could be. Making this bread is actually fun, if you like to get down and dirty. It’s going to be sticky, wet and yellow, but that’s the magic of excess fat, eh? Rich, eggy, sublime.

The crumb is light and tender, with the slightest stretch, though never feeling or tasting under proofed. The final result will look yellow. Easy to freeze, then microwave and cut for whatever you want really, be it toast, topped with good butter and honey or maple syrup, or dunked in freshly whipped eggs for a french toast morning.

Brioche (makes one standard 9×5-inch loaf, adapted from La Tartine Gourmande)

For the loaf:

210g all-purpose flour

5g instant yeast

78g unsalted butter at room temperature, cut into medium-sized chunks.

2 tbsp white sugar

pinch salt

80ml milk, warmed slightly in the microwave

2 eggs

1 egg for the egg wash before baking

For the maple pearl sugar:

60g white sugar

1tsp maple syrup

The day before you make the brioche or earlier in the day, make the maple pearl sugar. Mix the sugar and maple syrup in a bowl using your fingertips. It should be wet and clumpy. Tip the maple sugar on a plate and flatten using your fingers, about a half-inch thick. Cover the plate with cling wrap and leave in the fridge to set. After 4-6 hours, the sugar will have formed a malleable, solid layer, which can be broken up into smaller chunks, similar to that of pearl sugar. Yum yum. Leave it in the fridge before using.

Now for the brioche. Use a mixer if you wish, but I used my hands for everything. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, salt and yeast. Make a little well in the centre and, with your hands or a wooden spoon, mix in the warm milk briefly. Work in the butter (I find it easier to use your hands for this part) chunk by chunk, making sure each chunk is mostly incorporated before adding the next. It will be sticky and oily, but don’t fret.

Add in the eggs one by one. Stir the first egg in with a wooden spoon, then use your hands to really work it in. It will look messy and clumpy at first, but keep trying to incorporate the dough and egg together. I ended up working the dough when it was suspended in the air, stretching it then folding it over itself again, like kneading in mid-air. It worked, and I saved myself a lot of clean-up hassle later on. Do the same for the second egg. It will be very sticky, difficult and incredibly wet. That’s exactly what you want.

Once the eggs are worked in, dump the soft, yellow mass of dough into the same bowl and continue to ‘knead’ with a wooden spoon. Beat it with your wooden spoon, mimicking the kneading action in the bowl. Knead for a good 5-7 minutes. The dough will look like a pale baby’s bottom, smooth, taut, flawless, but still very sticky. After kneading, leave the dough in bowl (it’s already greased enough), cover and let the dough rise for an hour. After an hour, put the dough in the fridge and leave for another 2 hours, or overnight.

After the couple of hours, take the dough out of the fridge and the bowl. Preheat your oven to 190C and grease a 9×5-inch loaf tin. Punch the dough down a little, then weigh the dough and divide it into 6 equal pieces. My dough weighed around 450g total, so each piece was 75g. The cold dough is a dream to touch and work with. Roll each piece into a ball and pop into the greased loaf pan. After rolling all the pieces into balls of the same size, you should get a 2×3 row of balls in the loaf pan. Beat an egg and brush the top of the loaf with the egg wash. Finally, take the maple pearl sugar and sprinkle it on top of the loaf. You will get pea-sized chunks as well as normal sprinkles.

Bake the loaf for 30-35 minutes. If you wish, take a piece of aluminium foil and cover the top of the loaf after 15 minutes to prevent over-browning. I used the middle mark and stopped the baking after 33 minutes, and it turned out perfectly.

This loaf can be put in a freeze-safe container and left in the freezer for a couple of months. It can be left at room temperature for 1-2 days and nothing more (especially in this bloody hot weather). Whenever you want a nice, slightly sweet treat, just take the loaf out, microwave on high for 20 seconds, cut with a bread knife, then toast or dunk in egg for… Well, does french toast need any explanation anyway?

Posted on February 26, 2015February 21, 2022 by alexcrumb 0

No-bake Honey Avocado Tartlets

I’ll break it down for you. What you see is basically mashed avocado, honey and cream cheese, sitting atop a gingersnap crust. A little shaved chocolate on top. Weird? Ew? Yeah, the rest of my family thought so too. Until they tried it… And loved it. My sister included, and she scoffs at anything that ‘tries too hard’ or ‘just doesn’t work’. Thankfully, this ‘works’. There’s none left in the fridge now, and that makes me happy.

It’s tiny revelations like these that make me determined to carry on pursuing a growing creative streak, egging me on, to keep experimenting with wacky combinations, as well as the tried-and-true stuff. I know I’m typically all about easy, but what’s striking about this particular combination of avocado and gingersnap is its hidden complexity. Look, I had leftover gingersnaps that looked pretty neglected, all the other choccies and biccies stealing the limelight, simple M&S stuff tucked away in the very corner of the fridge. And then, of course, the avocados. On the brink of mild brownness, tenderness (yes, ok, rottenness). Everything was so simple, so random. Nothing to lose. I’ve seen a few avocado frosting recipes before on some health blogs and decided to give the touch of cream cheese a go, though I chucked in some honey, instead of powdered sugar, which was a strong contender as I sat in the kitchen wondering what really would go best with what I had.

The cream cheese in the filling luxuriates what would otherwise simply be avocado on very sweet toast. The gingersnap offers some bite to sharpen its creamy, wholesome counterparts- lots of good unsalted butter and the ripe avocado. Each tartlet is small but rich, holding up its worth. Have two or three the morning after you make them for pure pleasure. Best straight out of the cold fridge, when the filling is slightly stiffer, and the flavours, especially that of the honey, taste fresh and distinct. Creamy, dense, delightful.

Honey Avocado Tartlets (makes around 12 mini 2-inch tartlets)

10 gingersnaps, crumbled (90g after a good smashing)

20g melted butter

half an avocado (around 65g)

50g cream cheese, softened

1 tablespoon thick honey

Either in a food processor or ziploc bag with a rolling pin, bash/whizz the biscuits till you get fine crumbs. Mix this with the melted butter. I used a rolling pin to bash the biscuits, then mixed the butter in by hand. Hand work is so therapeutic. The end result should feel like wet sand.

In a 12-mold tart pan (or if you would like bigger tarts, you can use a muffin tin), press around a tablespoon and a half of the mix into the molds. It took me a good 15 minutes to do this for all 12, but patience is key. Press, press, press. Just try not to let the sweat drip into your work.

In a small bowl, mash the avocado, honey and softened cream cheese together. If your cream cheese is as hard as a block from the fridge, microwave it for a minute or so, or until it’s much softer and pliable. Using a teaspoon measure or your fingers, put (or pipe, if you’re feeling all posh) the filling into the centre of each mold. Place the tart pan into the fridge and let them rest there for at least 4-6 hours. Pop each tartlet out to enjoy later on in the day or the next morning. The crust will be firm and almost crisp. If you want, add some chocolate shavings on top by using a knife and a block of good dark chocolate (thank you extra Mast Brothers goodies), the knife scraping bits off away from you, almost like how you would sharpen a knife. Drizzle more honey on top. These last 3-4 days in the fridge.

Posted on February 20, 2015February 21, 2022 by alexcrumb 0

alexcrumb

recipes, catering, creativity

alexcrumb

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Chocolate Cinnamon Challah

Banana Bread Pancakes

Mini Speculoos Bundts

Maple Pearl Sugar Brioche

No-bake Honey Avocado Tartlets