Chicken Salad with Buttermilk Chive Dressing

A quick post for the middle of the week, and oh my god it's savoury. AND healthy. What's going on??? I wouldn't normally post about a salad, but I felt compelled to share this one with you because it took me about 5 seconds to prepare and it was so tasty and pretty healthy too. I like to think of it as my 'leftovers salad', which is where I throw together whatever I have in my fridge in the hope that it resembles a meal. It's great for when you have leftover roast or BBQ chicken from dinner the night before.

There's obviously nothing mind blowing about the salad itself; just baby spinach, chicken and corn, but the dressing is good part. I always end up with leftover buttermilk from baking and other than making pancakes and scones, I don't have many uses for it. Buttermilk is kind of magical though. It's thick and creamy and anything that you bake with it turns out super moist. But it's low fat! And it works awesome in a salad dressing, making it a great replacement for those ultra fatty creamy dressings without any loss of flavour. As Tomred wisely said to me once, it's all about the dressing.

Chicken Salad with Buttermilk & Chive Dressing
1 1/2 cups Shredded chicken breast (or whatever leftover meat, or tuna)
1 bunch/bag baby spinach (or whatever salad greens you prefer)
1 cup sweet corn kernels, cooked (fresh or frozen)
(Basically you can throw in whatever leftovers you like)

For the dressing:
225ml buttermilk
2 tbsp freshly chopped chives
2 tbsp white vinegar
1 tbsp low fat mayonnaise
1/4 tsp sea salt
1/4 tsp freshly ground pepper

These instructions are so easy I feel silly: place all the ingredients for the dressing in a bowl and whisk to combine, adjust to taste if necessary. Place all the remaining salad ingredients in a large bowl and toss with dressing. Top with extra freshly cracked pepper. Enjoy!

Edit: OH I nearly forgot! It's my blog's 1st birthday today!! Yay! Happy Birthday little blog :) I think a cake is in order....

Finger Bun Bites

I usually hate high humidity. A lot. I grew up in Malaysia, the home of high humidity, and it was the bane of my existence. As a nerdy 14 year old, my pet peeve was stepping out of an air-conditioned place into the sticky night air, and having my glasses mist up immediately, blinding me instantly. I hated my glasses almost as much as the humidity when I was 14. But even now, after so many years when I should have gotten used to it, the humidity still gives me the shits. I get extremely cranky when the air is hot and heavy, much to the amusement of those around me. Apparently short, cranky people look funny. BUT. I do know one good thing about these hot sticky days. While they are almost the worst possible conditions for macaron baking, and are generally not too pleasant for having the oven on, they are perfect conditions for bread making. The warmth means you can prove your dough for the minimum amount of time and your dough will rise quickly and as perfectly as expected. So on one particularly humid day, I had the itch to make bread. And what better bread to make than the humble finger bun?

I LOVE finger buns. Fat, fluffy and pillow soft finger-shaped bread rolls, usually with sultanas in the dough, which are slathered in thick icing and topped with sprinkles, cinnamon or coconut. It's the ultimate Aussie treat to leave any child with a sticky face and hands, and on an intense sugar high. It beats a boring, greasy old doughnut any day in my opinion. I got caught up in the idea of making smaller versions of these huge finger buns, that you could quickly pop into your mouth. Usually when I get the craving for one of these I'll grab one from Baker's Delight and then gorge myself and feel incredibly sick afterwards, such is my lack of self control. I always like the idea of shrinking down the portion sizes of any dessert, it makes it easier to share and easier to stop yourself from going nuts and pigging out.

While searching for the perfect bun recipe for these finger bun bites, I happened to stumble upon this fantastic looking Japanese-style sweet bun dough recipe. I absolutely adore the light, fluffy texture of these sweet buns that you get from Asian bakeries, and I thought it might be interesting to try it with a finger bun. The recipe also uses an interesting technique I've never tried before, where you prepare a water-roux mixture to add to the dough, which is meant to give the bread some springiness. I adapted the recipe slightly, since I took some of the effort out by using my dough hook attachments on my hand mixer rather than hand kneading. If you don't have dough hooks, feel free to follow the original recipe instructions. One thing I would recommend you invest in is a thermometer, so that you can make your water roux just right, and also check that your wet ingredients are lukewarm and not too hot so that they won't kill the yeast. I use this IKEA meat thermometer for all my low (less than 130 degrees C) measurements, and a glass sugar thermometer (which only costs about 10 bucks) for all my high temperature measurements. It takes a lot of stress out of many cooking and baking processes and it's so cheap!

The recipe turned out just as I'd hoped, the dough was light and fluffy, almost cloud-like. Unfortunately I over-baked them slightly, so they turned out a bit drier and harder than I would have liked, but I did attempt some full sized buns which turned out amazing. So my advice to you if you do try the recipe is to make sure you don't over-bake them! I did half of the dough with sultanas (the ones with the white icing and sprinkles), and the other half plain (with pink icing and dessicated coconut). In hindsight, I think the best combination would have been to have all of them with sultanas AND coconut. I brought these along to Lex's trial run for the Time Out Taste Test, where he fed us the most awesome bah kuh teh, pork belly, scallops and celeriac mash. Thanks Lex!! I felt very spoilt. But I ate so much of Lex's dinner, I was completely stuffed by the time dessert was on the table. Also, with sticky date pudding and chocolate marquise to choose from, I didn't want to touch the finger bun bites! They were better saved for morning tea at work the next day, to help everyone get over their Monday-itis. I would love to try that bread recipe again with some Asian style fillings, but they did work pretty well as finger bun dough.

Sticky Finger Bun Bites
(adapted from this Japanese-Style Sweet Bun recipe)
325g bread flour (I found Lighthouse brand Bread & Pizza dough at the supermarket, not sure how important it is that you use this type of flour)
100g plain flour
35g milk powder
75g caster sugar
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 sachet (7g or 2 1/2 tsp) instant dry yeast
1 egg, lightly beaten
150ml (approx.) lukewarm water, adjust as necessary
40g butter, room temperature, cubed
25g (just under 2 tbsp) bread flour
125ml (1/2 cup) water

1 tbsp caster sugar + 2 tbsp warm milk, for glazing
Approx 500g icing sugar
Warm milk, around 1/4-1/2 cup, adjust as necessary
Dessicated coconut
Sultanas (approx 100 g)

Prepare the water-roux:
Combine 125ml water with 25g bread flour in a small saucepan. Cook over low to medium heat, stirring continuously until it reaches 65 degrees C. It should have thickened into a paste by this stage. Remove from the heat and cover saucepan with clingfilm. (If you don't have a thermometer, cook until it starts to thicken and then cook for about another minute before removing from the heat) This water roux can be kept in the fridge for up to a day in an airtight container, but do not use if it has turned grey in colour.

Prepare the bun dough:
Sift bread flour, plain flour, milk powder, caster sugar and salt into a large mixing bowl. Add instant dry yeast and mix well. Form a well into the centre and add egg and lukewarm water roux and mix in. Then, with an electric mixer and dough hooks on low speed, gradually add just enough lukewarm water to form into a slightly sticky, soft dough. Knead with dough hooks on about medium high speed for 10 minutes until smooth and elastic.

Knead in butter using dough hooks on high speed until well combined. The dough should be quite sticky and very elastic and will stretch like chewing gum when pulled.

Form into a ball and place in a large, greased bowl and cover with cling film. It should double in size (should take about 1 hour in warm weather, longer in winter months). Optimum room temperature for this first prove is 28°C with a humidity of 75%. To test if the dough has risen properly, dip a finger into bread or plain flour and poke down into the centre of the dough as far as your finger will go and pull out again – the hole should remain if it is ready. If the dough springs back, then it is not ready, continue to prove further.

Punch down, (add sultanas at this point if you want) knead briefly and form into a ball. Using your hands, form small balls of dough for the finger bun bites, approximately 3cm in diameter (try to keep any sultanas in the dough hidden under the surface of the balls, as they will expand in the oven). Place balls on 2-3 lined baking sheets, about 5cm apart and cover with clingfilm. Leave to double in size again (about 1 hour in warm weather, longer in winter months). Optimum room temperature for this final prove is 38°C with a humidity of 85%.

Bake in preheated 190°C oven for about 10-13 minutes, or until light golden brown.

When buns are nearly ready, dissolve caster sugar in warm milk. Remove buns from the oven and while still on the tray, brush the tops with the sweet milk glaze. Place to cool on a wire rack.

Sift icing sugar and gradually add warm milk until you it forms a very viscous, thick white paste. I found it was easier to add milk until it was too runny and then add additional sifted icing sugar to make it as thick as I want. It is thick enough when it can be spooned thickly onto the buns without dripping down the sides. Add any food colour you might want, and then cover each finger bun bite thickly in icing and dip the top into a bowl of dessicated coconut or sprinkles.

Leave to set on wire rack. Store in an airtight container, best eaten within a day but can also be stored in fridge for a couple of days and warmed up slightly in the microwave before eating.

Mini Grasshopper Pies

Apparently, the only thing I can pay attention to when I watch movies and TV shows is the food. This time, I was watching a past episode of Glee (*sigh* I miss Glee!) and there was grasshopper pie. Here in Australia, we don't get grasshopper pie and most people haven't heard of it. The mere mention of the name raised suspicious eyebrows and wrinkled noses when I mentioned it. Apparently my friends now think that I'm insane enough to put real grasshoppers in my desserts, which is kind of great. But I loved the sound of this pie, with its chocolate biscuit crust and a fluffy, marshmallow-like peppermint filling. Also, they were appropriately green, just in time for St Patrick's Day!

I've always loved the combination of peppermint and chocolate. But I get the feeling it's a combination that you either hate or love. And I've come across some people who just can't stand it, but most people I know adore it. I think this may be one of the best ways to enjoy the combination, apart from after dinner mints, mint choc chip ice cream and these chocolate peppermint creams. The filling is light and super fluffy, like a peppermint cloud! And the biscuit base nicely compliments the filling in taste and texture.

I decided to test out a Martha Stewart recipe, after doing a bit of research on the grasshopper pie. It seemed appropriate to be using a Martha recipe for some reason. But I wasn't too happy with the texture and flavour of the filling, and was also trying to figure out the best chocolate biscuits to use for the base. I've made quite a few changes in my recipe, taking out the fresh mint since I felt it gave it a really leafy green flavour which I wasn't fond of. But feel free to follow her recipe if you think you'd like the taste of the fresh mint. I tried using Oreos for the base, as well as Choc Ripple biscuits, and both turned out delicious, but I think I prefer the Oreo base.

OMG it's a teeny tiny slice of pie with a teeny tiny spoon!

This dessert is usually made as a full size pie, in a big pie dish, but I liked the idea of making little individual portions, it's always easier to share and there's a nice ratio of filling to crust :) Oh and an extra note for those who are wondering, it's going to be pretty quiet on the restaurant review front. I really haven't been eating out much, in an attempt to save money and calories, and am thinking about phasing out reviews from my blog completely. Thoughts? Comments?

Mini Grasshopper Pies
(loosely adapted from this recipe, makes approx 10 small pies)
1 pack of Oreo cookies, filling removed (or substitute with Choc Ripple biscuits, enough to fill 1 1/2 cups when crushed)
1/2 cup dessicated coconut
65g unsalted butter, softened
2/3 cup + 3/4 cup whipping cream
3 eggs
1/8 cup sugar
2 tbsp creme de menthe (can replace with 1-2 tsp peppermint essence and a few drops of green food colouring)
1 tsp peppermint essence
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
4g powdered gelatine (approx 1.5 tsp)

Preheat oven to 180 degrees C. Crush chocolate biscuits finely in a plastic bag, or in a food processor. Add dessicated coconut and butter and pulse in processor until it comes together, it should feel like moist dirt. (If you don't have a food processor, just stir together in a large mixing bowl to combine)

Press mixture firmly into individual foil tart shells, or you could also try using a greased muffin tray but you might have issues removing the crusts later. Bake in oven for about 10 minutes, make sure it does not burn. Remove from the oven and leave to cool, it should set once it cools.

Place 2/3 cup of cream in a small saucepan with peppermint essence and vanilla. Bring to the boil over medium heat and then set aside to cool. Beat remaining 3/4 cup cold cream until stiff peaks form and store in the refrigerator for later. Place creme de menthe in a heatproof bowl and sprinkle gelatine over the top to allow it to soften. Place egg yolks and sugar in another heatproof bowl and whisk until the sugar has dissolved.

Prepare an ice bath and set aside. Carefully pour warm cream mixture into creme de menthe bowl, whisking to combine. Place this bowl over a pan of simmering water, whisking constantly for about a minute or two, until the mixture is hot and all the gelatine is dissolved.

Whisking constantly, pour hot cream mixture in a steady stream into the bowl of egg yolks. Place this bowl over the double boiler and continue whisking for approximately 10 minutes. The mixture should be thick and frothy. Transfer bowl to the ice bath and continue whisking, the mixture should thicken further and be quite viscous. Stir in 1/3 of the cold whipped cream until combined, and then gently fold in the remaining whipped cream. At this point if you want your mixture to be a bit less runny before placing in pie crusts, place in the fridge for about 5-10 minutes. Spoon mixture into pie crusts and then chill in the fridge for about an hour, or until it sets.

When ready to serve, remove from tart foils, and top with chocolate shavings. Optionally, you can top with some extra whipped cream.

Have a great St Patrick's Day tomorrow everyone!

Blueberry & Lemon Shortcake

There are plenty of things that make me feel better when I am sick. And since I am currently suffering from some sort of mysterious bug, I am clinging to those comforting things like crazy. In case you didn't already guess, scones is one of them. But this isn't really a scone. It's a shortcake, which seems to be a very confused dessert. I've seen it made with scone/biscuit bases, sponge cake and somtimes even pastry. But for me, I always imagine it as being closer to a scone than anything else. With loads of freshly whipped cream.

So how did this blueberry shortcake come about? Why not a regular old strawberry shortcake? Well I was sitting in bed watching an old Gilmore Girls episode (another comfort thing which makes A's eyes roll with the super girly fast talking) and they were going on and on about blueberry shortcakes. And it sounded really darn appealing to me. Plus I had a huge stash of super cheap fresh blueberries that I picked up from the supermarket. The only thing that made it complete for me was the addition of a ton of lemon zest to the dough to give it a little zing. Oh and in case you are wondering, that stray blueberry wasn't some sort of attempt at food styling, it just rolled off my spoon as I was placing it on top of the shortcake and so I shrugged and went, "Meh, it will do."

As crazy as it sounds, baking scones, or something close to scones makes me feel better when I'm sick. I've done it so much I can do it stress-free and without any extra thought. It's almost therapeutic. And these shortcakes turned out just as I'd hoped, golden and buttery, the lovely scent of lemon, and they just melted in your mouth. With a perfect sweet blueberry topping, made extra fun by the fresh berries that went POP! in your mouth as they burst, and LOTS of freshly whipped cream. The texture of the cakes was actually quite different to a scone in the end, much richer and crumbly rather than fluffy, halfway to a shortbread. It might not actually cure any illnesses but it does leave you feeling all warm and fuzzy.

Blueberry & Lemon Shortcakes
(adapted from this recipe, makes approx 8)
2 cups plain flour
1 tbsp baking powder
2 tbsp caster sugar
1/4 tsp salt
115g cold unsalted butter, cubed
3/4 cup pure cream (whipping cream)
1 lemon
1 cup (approx 3 punnets) fresh blueberries (or frozen)
1 tbsp caster sugar
1 tbsp honey
Extra pure cream for topping

Preheat oven to 220 degrees C. Zest lemon. Sift flour, baking powder, sugar (2 tbsp) and salt together in a large mixing bowl. Add cold butter and use your fingertips to rub together until it is combined into a sandy mixture with some large lumps of butter. Using your hands or a butter knife to combine, gradually add the cream until most of the dry mixture is just moistened. Turn out onto a lightly floured surface and sprinkle the lemon zest over the top. Lightly knead the dough until it just comes together.

Pat the dough into a round about 1.5-2cm thick then use a cutter to cut out your portions. I used a 6cm scone cutter. Place on a lined baking sheet and brush the tops of the cakes with some extra cream. Bake for approximately 12-14 minutes, or until the tops are lightly browned and the dough is set. Cool on a rack.

While cakes are cooling, place blueberries, honey, caster sugar and the juice from the lemon in a small saucepan and cook on medium heat until the blueberries just start to burst open. Remove from the heat and allow to cool and thicken slightly (I placed mine in the fridge to cool it down quicker). Slice shortcakes in half and then spoon the blueberry mixture over the top.

Dollop some freshly whipped cream on top and serve with the other half of the shortcake on top. Shortcakes (unassembled) can be stored in an airtight container overnight, but is best eaten fresh. Blueberry mixture can be stored overnight in the fridge.

Sticky Toffee Banana Brownies

Okay, so imagine if a chocolate fudge brownie and a banana bread had a love child. And now imagine if that love child got married to a sticky toffee pudding. This is what the honeymoon would look like. YES. I know I got a little carried away. It started off as a simple need to use up some ripe bananas, I didn't have any more space in my freezer for it...and then ooh I had leftover Lindt chocolate! And next thing I know I had made this monster of a dessert. But OH MY GOD IT TASTES SO GOOD.

This dessert is what our modern-day Cookie Monster would classify strictly as a 'sometimes food'. Yes, there is basically a whole block of butter once you add the sauce...and a whole lot of cream and sugar...but as long as you can restrict your portion size then you can happily enjoy it. I suppose it's like everything I bake on this blog, everything in moderation.

But I had a little trouble stopping myself from eating a lot of this. When I took it out of the oven the entire corner somehow magically disappeared into my mouth within 5 minutes. When I whipped up the toffee sauce and drizzled it on top with a scoop of vanilla ice cream it was gone even faster than that. And A must have eaten two servings big enough to feed an entire table of people. When I placed it in front of him he said, "It looks good..." to which I replied cockily, "It IS good. It's really good". This made him scoff and tell me I was full of it. But then he ate it. And made a noise that was sounded sort of like, "Mmmohmmmmpphfffffffyummmwowwwohhh", and promptly asked for another portion before he had even finished his first portion. This is coming from the boy who doesn't like desserts and usually looks like he is in pain when I shove a spoonful of something in his mouth for him to taste test.

The key to this dish is the lovely flavour of the ripe bananas mixed in with that rich dark chocolate. I used 70% cocoa Lindt, which meant that the brownie was a bit more bitter and not as sweet as my usual brownies, but this made it perfect for the banana and the sweet sticky toffee sauce. The sauce is very sweet, so if you want to save a few calories and skip the sauce, I would recommend using a less bitter semi-sweet dark chocolate for your brownie. I used vanilla bean paste for my toffee sauce which infused it with a beautifully heady flavour and scent. Make sure you don't overbake the brownie, as it will make it dry rather than fudgy, and it's best eaten on when freshly baked because it will still be gooey and warm inside while having a crackly, crisp outer layer. Vanilla ice cream is a must for me, but I did serve it with just the sauce on its own the next day and it still tasted pretty awesome.

Banana Chocolate Brownies with Sticky Toffee Sauce
For the brownie:
250g mashed ripe banana (approx 2-3 medium bananas)
200g unsalted butter
190g dark chocolate (I used 70% lindt)
3 eggs
230g caster sugar
150g self-raising flour
add banana with chocolate

For the sticky toffee sauce:
175g butter
175ml pure cream
1/2 tsp vanilla bean paste (or 1 tsp pure vanilla extract)
280g brown sugar

To serve: Vanilla ice cream

Preheat oven to 180 degrees C. Grease and line a 20x30cm (or larger if you prefer thinner brownies like me) baking tin. Cut butter into cubes and roughly chop up chocolate and place both in a heatproof bowl. Melt chocolate and butter together over a double boiler (or very carefully in the microwave) and then set aside to cool. I call this The Bowl of Sin.

The Bowl of Sin

Beat eggs and sugar together with an electric mixer on low speed until they are well combined. Beat in chocolate mixture and mashed banana until combined well.

Fold flour gently into the mixture until just combined, taking care to not overmix.

Pour into prepared tin, smooth over with a spatula and bake for about 20-25 minutes, or until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out with moist crumbs and no raw batter stuck to it. It is better to undercook it slightly when taking it out of the oven as it will cook a little more while cooling in the tin.Cool completely in its tray on a wire rack then turn out onto rack and cut into squares.

While the brownies are cooling, place all the ingredients for the toffee sauce in a medium saucepan. Place over medium heat, stirring until the butter melts. Simmer for 5 minutes, stirring regularly. Remove from heat and cool.

Serve brownies with a scoop of vanilla icecream and drizzle the warm sticky toffee sauce on top. Yum.

P.S. Apologies for the really ugly scoop of ice cream in the photos, all I had for scooping the ice cream at the time was a tiny teaspoon, and on a hot day melty desserts are not my camera's friend!