Tag Archives: nuts

Pavlova with Dark Chocolate, Hazelnuts, Passion Fruit and Raspberries

Posted on by

So as it turns out, I’m actually terrible at blogging…

I swear I’ll try and be better. I made this pavlova back in December of 2016 (I know…). I had never made a pavlova before as, although they tasted great the thoughts of actually making one never really excited me. I tend to steer more towards chocolate when it comes to desserts. I persevered, and since you can pretty much do anything with the toppings I thought I’d mix it up a bit!

1.133

I’ll be honest. It’s almost a year ago since I actually made this so I’m not entirely sure if the recipe I have written down is the one I used in the end! But… this combination of toppings was pretty fantastic so I felt the need to share it with the world – shout it from the rooftops if you will.

1.129

I had just bought some passion fruit curd at the Craft Fair in the RDS and was very excited to use it. As it turns out, I didn’t end up using the curd in this at all… But it gave me the inspiration I needed to make this!

Passion fruit is one of my favourite fruits/foods in general, and throw that together with a few other great foods and things get interesting! Some people might say nuts and chocolate don’t have a place on a pavlova, but give this a try and I might change your mind!

For the meringue:
6 egg whites
270g caster sugar
2 tsp cornflour
1 tsp white vinegar
1/2 tsp vanilla extract

For the topping:
300ml fresh cream
50g dark chocolate (melted)
3 to 4 passion fruits
200g raspberries
100g hazelnuts (toasted)
A few squares of chocolate to grate over the top

The quantity of toppings doesn’t need to be precise, just throw on whatever looks about right. Although in this case I don’t think less is more. Pile it on!

Directions:
Preheat the oven to 120°C.

Line a tray with baking parchment. Mark a 24cm (ish) circle in pencil on the underside of the paper as a guide.

Separate your eggs and beat the whites in stand mixer (Kitchen Aid’s are a godsend for this. You can still use a hand mixer but it’ll just take a bit longer!). Whip until stiff peaks form and then start adding the sugar a spoon at a time.

Beat well until thick and glossy.

Spoon onto the lined tray and level off the top so the toppings will sit nicely on top (I on the other hand did not do this…).

Place into the oven for about an hour and a half, or until dry to the touch.

Turn off the oven and leave the pavlova to cool inside with the door slightly propped open.
This should dry it out a bit so it has that nice crispy shell. I made mine on the same day of baking but I read somewhere that leaving it overnight provides great results so I’ll try that next time!

So now it’s time for toppings!

Melt your dark chocolate and drizzle over the pavlova. This will be covered by the cream so it doesn’t really matter if it’s messy. Let this harden a bit before adding the cream.

Beat the cream and layer generously over the top.

Scoop your passion fruit over the top – I also liked to add a full passion fruit cut up on top for decoration.

Scatter the raspberries evenly over the top.

Toast the hazelnuts for a few minutes in the oven or over a pan until fragrant and sightly browned. Crush them up a bit with a rolling pin.

Add to the pavlova et voilà!

1.127

Demolish!

Advertisement

Chocolate Pecan Pie

Posted on by

So! I’m back! I’m finished my masters (which involved plenty of procrastination on my part) and I finally have more time to devote to baking! My friend Lisa over at Mettle Magazine asked me to bake something with an autumn themed for them (which was definitely the kick I needed to get back to blogging). Bear in mind, this was posted in October over there, I’m just a bit behind on posting it up here too.

All I could think of was pumpkin related desserts. Don’t hate me, but I’m just not that excited by them. I mean, they’re fine (it’s still dessert after all) but I’d rather carve a pumpkin than eat one.
Instead of going with some sort of Halloween inspired baking, I decided it’s the season to eat everything, so why not make something rich and decadent. Bikini season is over so it’s time to stop kidding yourself and gorge on all the cake or in this case, pie (not that summer stopped any of us doing that before).

I tried this pie years ago in Avoca and fell in love. So I was very excited when I stumbled upon this recipe this recipe. The only thing that might make it better would be some salted caramel sauce. Drool.

1-118
A slice (or seven) of warm gooey chocolate pecan pie, a mug of tea and series to binge watch, all accompanied with a pile of comfy blankets sounds like the perfect way to spend a cold evening indoors. Seriously though, don’t eat seven slices in one sitting… Although I’m not one to judge if it’s done so over the course of one day, let’s say.

For the Pastry:
225g flour
130g butter
2 egg yolks
Cold Water

For the Filling:
225g dark chocolate
115g butter
115g caster sugar
115g brown sugar
115g flour
140g pecans
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla essence

1-1121-121
Directions:
Begin by making the pastry. Rub the butter into the flour until it resembles breadcrumbs.

Stir in the caster sugar. Then add the egg yolks and a bit of cold water to combine into a dough.

Wrap in cling film and leave the dough to cool in the fridge for about 30 minutes.

While waiting for the pastry to chill, you can start making the filling to speed things up. Preheat the oven to 160°C.

Chop up half of the chocolate (using chocolate chips would have helped with this step) and also chop the pecans. Mix these with both sugars and the flour.

Melt the butter and the other half of the chocolate together, and mix this into the dry ingredients.

Add in eggs and the vanilla to the mixture.

Take the dough out of the fridge now and roll it out on a floured surface. I just greased my tin without lining it and it worked fine, so I’m leaving it up to you to decide.

Place the dough in a round tin, about 25-30cm. A loose-bottomed tin would be easier but it’s not essential (I couldn’t find one).

Pour the filling into the pastry case and bake in the oven for about 40 minutes.

There may be still a slight wobble in the middle. Leave to cool for a few minutes and then dive in head first. It’s recommended you dive in with some vanilla ice cream on hand.

1-126
Embrace your inner pig by shovelling pie in your face.