Almond Meal

I love using almond meals in my friands, tarts, and cakes. I often use them in replacement of flour as it has such a beautiful taste, gluten-free and is easier on the stomach. 
Prior to owning the thermomix, I used to buy almond meal from the supermarkets. The last time I bought a packet, it cost me $8ish o.0!! That is OUTRAGEOUS... considering how easy and cheap it is to make it. You only need water and almonds plus 5 mins grinding time.
Never will I be buying almond meal again...

Ingredients

• Almonds (see below for variations)
• Water* (optional)

Method

1. Blanch almonds in water* (optional) and depending on your recipe, you can remove the skins - this gives it a finer texture (eg. when making macarons).
2. Throw them into the thermomix and grind 10 sec/sp10 or until fine - depending on amount of almonds used

Yep. It's that simple!

*I have on many occasions  just thrown in the almonds and grinded them without blanching them first - they still turn out fantastic :)

For Variations - You can also replace almonds with hazelnuts or pistachios! 

Basic TM Macarons

To be honest, I was never a big fan of Macarons. Sure they're pretty... but I could never understand how they could fetch such a large price tag?! There seems to be such a huge hype with everyone making them, even my hubby asked me if I could make a batch. How could I say no? He paid good money for the thermomix, he can have whatever he wants!
But I hate wasting food, I've heard of the many failures people go through when making them... so I decided to try a simple recipe I found on Superkitchenmachine by Mara.
I liked how the recipe doesn't call for a huge list of ingredients, so even if I failed, it wouldn't be too exy and I wouldn't feel so bad. 

After making them successfully (ok, so not very pretty, but still tasty) for the first time, I found myself already fantasising about making my next batch. So warning, this could be addictive!! :)


Ingredients

• 75g almond meal
• 140 icing sugar
• 10g granulated sugar
• 60g egg whites (approx 2 eggs)
• pinch of fine sea salt

Method
Prepare your equipment:

• Line 2 baking trays with baking paper with your macaron cookie stencil
• A piping bag in a tall glass

1. Measure the almond meal and icing sugar in the TM and pulse Turbo 4-5 times to 'sift' the mixture. This is what is called the 'Tant pour tant' or TPT. Set aside
2. Clean and dry the TM bowl and insert the butterfly. Add your granulated sugar, salt, egg whites and whisk for 4 min/3.1/2 sp/MC off. The meringue needs to be really, really firm, slightly glossy and looking maybe a bit too dry. It should be stuck to the sides of the bowl. You can add colouring while it's beating
    
3. Pour the meringue into a big bowl and add the TPT to it. Most recipes tell you to do these in parts and gentle about the folding, but the recipe I followed didn't require all that - suits me :p Just be steady folding the batter. It should deflate and get a thinner consistency. After about 20 folds ish, it should make ribbons that disappear into the batter (for this amount anyway)
4. Pour the batter into the piping bag. I put my piping bag in a tall glass and spoon the mixture in. Cut the tip and pipe the cookies onto your sheets. Make sure they're spaced 5 cms apart or they will stick together (happened to me as I got too greedy and tried to put them all on the one sheet). This recipe makes approx 50 cookies or 25 filled macarons.
    
5. Lift the trays straight up with both hands (parallel to your flat work bench), drop the tray a few times. Rotate 90 degrees and repeat until you do all 4 sides. This step lets out all the air bubbles which would cause the surface to crack if they stayed inside the macaron. Set aside for about 30mins while the macarons dry (time depends on temperature and humidity - shells should be dry to touch without sticking to fingers).
6. Preheat your oven to 120C (fan) or 150C (no fan) - although you may need to test with your oven as every oven is different. Don't bake them higher than 150C. Bake one tray at a time in the middle rack - every oven is different so keep your eye on them and work out how long it takes accordingly. It's so exciting when you see 'feet'!!
   
7. To check if they're done, life the corner of the baking paper and try to peel it from the bottom of the cookie. If it sticks, it isn't ready. If it comes off, take out the tray and put the second one in. Cool on the rack with the baking paper (it's easier to remove them once they've cooled) and pipe your desired filling. 

With Swiss meringue rosewater buttercream

with Salted Caramel

I like to refrigerate them overnight

Tips

• For chocolate macarons, add 10g pure cocoa powder with the icing sugar for the sifting.
• For coffee macarons, 2 tsp espresso powder.
• For lime/lemon/orange macarons, add zest of 1 or 2 fruits when making the almond meal
• Macarons are better after 24 hours. I normally fill them and keep them in the fridge
• If you want to decorate the tops, sprinkling has to be done while the surface is still wet but painting when the skin is already formed.

Almond and fruit tart

We recently had some interstate family friends visit for a weekend. My sister volunteered to make her delicious Vietnamese Royal noodle soup (Bun bo hue) so I opted to make dessert.
Not being a huge fan of Asian desserts, I thought to bring something everyone would like... something fruity and tarty :p

So I made an Almond and fruit tart. My picky brother really liked it so I can foresee myself making this again... soon...

I wanted to use blueberries for colour and because everyone loves them. But they were $9 :( used grapes instead 

For the delicious pastry:

This mix makes enough pastry for 2 tarts. You only need one for this recipe, so the other can be wrapped securely in gladwrap and frozen for up to 2 months

• 125g icing sugar
• 220g cold butter
• 375g bakers flour (or plain)
• 2 egg yolks, cold

1. Preheat oven to 170C and grease a tart tin
2. Add sugar, butter and flour to TM. Pluse Turbo 4-5 times (or Mix for 10 seconds on speed 6)
3. Scrape down sides of bowl and pulse another 5 tim es (or mix) until mixture is coarse
4. Add egg yolks and pulse Turbo (or mix) again until mixture is smooth and comes together in your fingertips
5. Divide the pastry in half and roll out one half on a lightly floured surface or mat. Gently press into the tart tin and trim off any excess. Keep it in the fridge for 20mins
6. Gladwrap the excess securely in the freezer and start working on the filling 
7. After the 20 minutes, line the pastry with baking paper. I weigh it down with dried lentils/beans. Blind bake for 10 minutes and then remove the beans/lentils and paper
8. Prick pastry with a fork and bake for another 5 minutes or until golden brown
9. Set pastry aside at room temperature to cool

For the filling:

• 250g butter, softened
• 250g sugar (I use raw or brown)
• 4 eggs
• 250g almond meal
• 50g plain flour
• Fruits and flaked almonds to decorate

1. Beat butter and sugar for 10 sec/sp4. Scrape down sides of bowl and beat again until combined
2. With TM running on sp 4, add eggs one at a time. Leave to mix for 20-30 sec after the last egg, scraping down the sides of bowl if necessary
3. Add almond meal and flour. Beat for 20 sec/sp 4, scrape down sides of bowl and beat again
4. Pour mixture into cooled pastry case. I like to sprinkle a little flaked almonds on top
5. Baked for about 1 hour or until firm in the centre
6. Decorate with fruit and flaked almonds. If you want, you can dust some icing sugar on top

Anzac biscuits

Time just flies with a baby! It's so amazing how quickly bubs grows and how happy he makes us :) Isaac turned 5 months around Anzac Day this year and since he was so well behaved, I had time to make some patriotic snacks. 
Now I've never been a fan of Anzac biccies - especially the ones bought from supermarkets... Yuck! too hard and just bleh... I found a recipe on the TM forum and thought to try a chewier version... yum! I didn't like getting my hands sticky but as my sister was babysitting, I didn't have to worry about carrying bubs with dirty hands :p

Ingredients

• 120g butter
• 40g syrup
• 2 tbs water
• 1 tsp bicarb soda
• 90g rolled oats
• 120g sugar or to taste (I used way less)
• 120g plain flour
• 50g desiccated coconut

Method

1. Preheat oven to 160C
2. Add butter, syrup and water to TM. Mix 2 min/70deg/sp2 until fully melted
3. Add bicarb soda and mix 5 sec/sp3
4. Add remaining ingredients and mix 1 min/interval speed
5. Roll teaspoonfuls into balls and place on a lined baking tray. Press lightly with back of spoon, allowing room for spreading
6. Bake until golden brown (10-15 min) - if you want more crunch, bake for longer (keep in mind that they harden up once cooled)
7. Leave to cool on trays for a few minutes before transferring to a cooling rack

Shortcrust Pastry

This is a basic recipe I use for my shortcrust pastry. It's incredibly quick and simple to make and the ingredients can usually be found in most households! I use them mainly as a base for my quiches:


Ingredients

• 200g bakers flour (or plain)
• 100g butter, cubed
• pinch salt
• 50-60g chilled water

Method

Shortcrust Pastry

1. Place flour, butter and salt into TM and mix for 10 seconds on speed 6
2. Add water and mix a further 5-6 seconds on speed 6 to form a rough dough. Add more water if needed to bind the dough
3. Turn onto a floured surface or silpat mat and knead lightly
4. Keep in fridge in flat disc before use in recipe

Perfect amount for a quiche

Vegetarian Quiche

After Isaac was born, I was always conscious of the weight I gained throughout pregnancy. Family never seemed to forget reminding me either. So finally, after Isaac turned 4 months, I got back into playing squash on Sundays with my hubby and some friends. It felt so great to get back into the game! Although I was so unfit (coming off the courts as red as a tomato and breathing like a mad woman), it felt good to run, sweat and socialise again :) 
The other day, we lost track of time and played until 19:00PM! All I could think about on the way home was what I could cook in between washing the baby (who was covered in both our sweat) and having my own shower. Normally, I would've gone dumplings... but we finished that off a few nights ago.
While DH bathed the baby, I opened the fridge and assessed what was there... not much :( mushrooms, baby spinach and a few eggs. I almost always have cheese, olives and sundried tomatoes at home too so decided on making a quiche - that way DH could take the leftovers to work too. 2 birds with 1 stone (yay)! By the time both boys were done bathing, I had already prepared the dough and filling, whacked it in the oven and was ready to jump in the shower myself. I took my time and enjoyed the hot water on sore muscles that haven't been used in years! After feeling refreshed, I came out and relaxed on the couch with the family before taking the quiche out of the oven for dinner. Simple, quick and delicious :)

Ingredients

I use a Shortcrust Pastry for all my Quiche base recipes.

For this recipe, I used in the filling:

• 4 eggs, beaten
• 3/4 cup milk (I didn't have any cream at home)
• handful of baby spinach, mushrooms, sundried tomatoes, black olives
• shredded cheese - amount varies on how much you like it. I like it a lot :p!
• salt and pepper to taste

Method

You can choose to saute the veggies if you like, but I prefer to throw ingredients in the quiche raw (they're already going to cook in the oven anyway, why use more fat right?)

1. Chop your veggies as desired and arrange them with some cheese in your shortcrust pie
2. Whip milk and eggs until fluffy, mix with pinch of salt and pepper 
3. Pour the batter into the pie crust 
4. Bake for 15-20mins, then place remaining shredded cheese on top
5. Bake until firm

    

Vietnamese Mayonnaise

Have you ever tried the Vietnamese breadrolls (banh mi) from the Asian bakery?
I have always loved the creamy mayonnaise that they slop on freshly baked bread. 
Recently, mum asked me if I could make some for her with the TM. I've never tried to before, but wanted to help her out. So I tried making a small batch in case it didn't turn out well... turns out that I should have made more because it turned out delicious :)!! 
I will never be buying mayonnaise again...

Ingredients

• 2 Egg yolk
• 1/2 cup oil (canola or corn)
• 1 tbs vinegar (or fresh lemon juice)
• Pinch of Salt
• For variations, you can add seasonings such as mustard, garlic, chipotle, ginger, sesame oil etc (optional)

Method

1. Using the butterfly attachment (on top of the blade), add in egg yolk, lemon juice, salt and Mix 20sec/speed 4
2. Remove the butterfly and whip On speed 5, slowly adding the oil on top of the measuring cup of the thermomix. Once you can hear the mayonnaise thickens up, you can add oil in a bit faster – will take approx. 2-3mins

That's how easy it is! This amount only makes a small amount which is enough for my family. Can easily be made into bigger batches. Lasts up to 3 weeks in the fridge