IMPOSSIBLE PIES

Film and food.

One of the owners of Looses Cookshop recommended the film Julie & Julia because I’m a food blogger myself. I know I’m very late and I don’t know why I hadn’t seen it yet. Well now I have and of course I loved it.

As most of you know the film is based on not just one but two true stories and works in two timelines. One is about Julia Child and the other about a contemporary food blogger Julie who is cooking her way through Julia’s book on French cuisine.

Even though I should probably relate to Julie more, I found Ms Child a lot like me: she’s very tall and loves butter. Oh, and there’s one more thing… the pearls. At one point Julie cries: ‘Pearls! The woman wears pearls in the kitchen.’

Honey, I wear pearls in bed. A lady needs her pearls.

Luckily for her, Julie starts to appreciate the beauty of pearls herself.

On to the food then...

The recipe is not French but it could easily be. I saw the original recipe here but it didn’t work so I had to adjust it quite a bit. Not much remains of the original but the ingredients.

The baking temperature was too low, there was too much flour, too much desiccated coconut and the instructions were a bit risky to say the least. You really want me to mix lemon juice with egg and milk? I did, actually, and luckily it did not split. The second time it did.

The original tag-line for the pies is ‘Impossible to resist’ but I think ‘Impossible to get right’ is more accurate.

Why are they called pies and not cakes? I don’t know.

The pies should have a firm, browned top and a sauce underneath. You just won’t get this if you use the amount of flour and coconut the original recipe quotes. I did try and below you can see the result.

The sauce should move into the hole but as there is too much flour and desiccated coconut, there is no sauce.

The second time I already reduced the amount of flour and coconut but it wasn’t enough. There was a lovely sauce at first but as the pies continued cooking at the table due to still being hot, the sauce firmed up.

The third time I used barely any flour and less sugar as well and converted all the measurements into volume for simplicity.

The pies were divine.


Impossible pies – made possible


6 tbsp sugar
1 tbsp gluten-free flour mix
7 tbsp desiccated coconut
0.5 tsp (2.5ml) gluten-free baking powder
zest of one lemon
5.5 tbsp coconut milk or milk
1 egg
1 tbsp melted butter, salted is fine
4 tbsp lemon juice


Mix together sugar, flour, desiccated coconut and baking powder.

In a separate bowl, mix together lemon zest, coconut milk, egg and melted butter.

Combine the mixtures and add lemon juice. Mix well.

Divide equally between two ramekins or small ovenproof dessert bowls.

Heat up the grill and brown the top of the pies. You can use a kitchen blowtorch if you don’t have a grill.

Bake in 200°C until the top is firm. The pies will be wobbly but will firm up slightly.

Serve when warm, not piping hot.

'Bon appétit!'

BYRON BAY GLUTEN-FREE COOKIES

Paul from Beyond the Bean sent me a sampling pack of Byron Bay cookies. I am in no way connected to either company and am free to write an honest review.

Byron Bay are an Australian company that also seem to have a UK branch since the cookies I received were baked over here. Although the samples I got are all gluten-free, they mostly do regular cookies.

The cookies reviewed are dark choc orange, sticky date & ginger with walnut, white choc chunk & macadamia nut, Dotty and triple choc fudge.

The cookies weigh 60g (about two ounces) each and are individually wrapped in order to be convenient for cafés. Boxes of cookies, and cookies of various shapes and sizes are also sold if you shop online. These 60g ones can be bought online by the dozen if you can’t find a local distributor. A quick Google search will give you a couple of websites.

To make the test a full experience, I paired the cookies up with a drink.

Ready to open the box, with my testing equipment a.k.a. mug ready.

Dark choc orange
With rooibos tea.



After coming home from work in the middle of the night I want a definite pleaser and this one seems like a safe bet: I like dark chocolate and I like orange, and I love the combination.

Being the first Byron Bay cookie I have laid my eyes or teeth on this looks a bit like an ice hockey puck: thick, circular and hefty.

At first I’m not too happy about the individual wrapping, though I understand it’s a necessity. My opinion changes in an instant when the orange aroma reaches my nostrils. It’s strong for something that’s not exactly hot straight out of the oven. The plastic does a great job at keeping the flavour and smell in.



The texture of the cookie is very dense and dry, very close to shortbread. The chocolate is of good quality but there isn’t enough cocoa in the dough. The flavour doesn’t quite live up to the expectation created by the lovely, strong smell. Maybe needs more sugar or butter as well as the cocoa?

A bad close-up of the texture. Very dense.

Overall the cookie is very satisfying and rooibos is the perfect drink to go with it.

8/10

Hubby’s verdict: Nice. Feels like a ‘real’ cookie, not a gluten free one.




Sticky date & ginger with walnut
Accompanied by English breakfast tea with milk and sugar.




After a good experience I was ready to go for something risky. This cookie is not something I’d buy for myself so I thought I might get it out of the way and leave the nicer cookies last. How wrong was I.

My Aussie cookie and my English cuppa on my English carpet.

Again, the smell is lovely: just slightly spicy and quite sweet. The texture is soft and very pleasant after the comparable dryness of the Dark choc orange cookie. The soft texture works well with the flavours of the cookie: it’s very comforting, sweet and has a perfectly harmonious blend of spices. A shortbread-like texture wouldn’t probably bring out the flavours equally well.

Texture.

No one flavour dominates and the balance is so good I can’t even tell what the exact flavours are. After a look at the ingredient list I feel silly for not realising it myself.

The dates are indeed sticky and are a nice contrast to the soft, crumbly dough.

I kept thinking about this cookie for a long time afterwards. It’s beautiful.

10/10

Hubby: Pretty good.


White choc chunk & macadamia nut
With sweetened apricot tea, no milk.



The cookie crumbles very easily but the texture has a very nice mouth-feel: soft and delicate, almost melting. Not a bit dry. Again, the texture suits the flavour.




The flavour is sublime. It is sweet, buttery and slightly nutty.

I’m surprised to find that this cookie ‘only’ contains 12% butter compared with 20 % of the Dark choc orange one. My message to Byron Bay: whatever you did to this cookie to make it so luscious, do some of that to Dark choc orange, too.

This has a very rounded and calorific yet sophisticated and delicate flavour. If you like shortbread, you’ll love this. The amount of bits in the dough is perfect, enough to create nice surprises and texture but not roughness.




A surprisingly elegant cookie. Amazing.

10/10

Hubby: Awesome!



Dotty (triple choc with Smartie-like sweets)
Not accompanied by a drink due to milk having run out and general weekend laziness.




A slab of medium-brown dough that photographs as grey. The sweets on the top are not very brightly coloured – some were even light brown, not an appealing colour to children. The packaging is more colourful and the name is simple and fun to appeal to children.




The cookie weighs a majestic 60g, as do the other varieties, so it’s maybe a bit too much for a toddler but that just gives mum or dad the perfect excuse to have some too. There’s a generous amount of chocolate and cocoa in the dough. Very filling and satisfying.

The only drawback remains the colours. I’d like to see a stronger warm shade in the dough and some brighter Smarties to replace the light brown ones.

Also, the sugar coating on the Smarties had cracked slightly during baking. I don’t mind but kids can be fussy. Maybe the chocolate recipe or the coating needs tweaking.




8/10

Hubby: OK but a bit too rich.



Triple choc fudge
With milk





Very chocolaty dough with a generous amount of chocolate bits. The promise of some fudge confuses me because I can’t find any. I’m surprised to find some toffee, though. Maybe a case of Australian versus British English?




Anyway, the toffee/fudge is a perfect addition to a triple choc cookie. It gives it a nice update. We’ve all had dozens of triple choc cookies, haven’t we, and they’re pretty much the same but not this one.

Very satisfying and sweet. I almost forget about the milk.

The amount of chocolate and other bits can be seen on the bottom of Byron Bay cookies. The top is cleaner, maybe to maintain an elegant image of the company.

9/10

Hubby: Good.



My overall view of the samples remains very positive. These are definitely something I'd pick up at a café but they seem to be hard to find. I suppose that's what Beyond the Bean are trying to fix, though.

After a quick Google, I discover that Café Bar Marzano at The Forum in Norwich should stock these but they didn't have any when I checked yesterday. Some larger Sainbury's stores should stock them too.

Dear reader, have you come across Byron Bay cookies? Where?

VISITOR COUNTER FURY

Web-counters.org decided to update their website in a way that disabled all their customers' visitor counters. Of course they have no contact info on their website.

I was getting close to a thousand visitors since last summer.

Do not click on the Click button next to the counter. It's an advertising tool that can't be removed and will only take you to web-counters.org.

UPDATE 20/09/10: I have now removed the visitor counter because of another glitch.

I will still be able to see the number of visits because Blogspot records them but the number will not be visible to readers. I apologise for this but if anyone's curious, Salt & Thyme is definitely getting more popular.

Thank you for your visit, my dear reader!

ORANGE AND DARK CHOCOLATE NANAIMO

Just when you thought it couldn't get any better. A classier take on Nanaimo bars.

Now that is sexy. Eat your heart out, Nigella.

Cut after a few minutes, when still a bit soft.

This is how nicely these cut at fridge temperature.

First layer:
As before

Second layer:
As before, with added orange oil.

Third layer:
75g dark chocolate
50 unsalted butter
10ml sunflower oil

Method for third layer: Melt butter and oil in a saucepan, add chocolate and mix until melted. Allow to cool down a little and spread on the cake. Set in the fridge. Cut and eat.


The original Nanaimo bars were wolfed down quite fast but after two batches I was feeling a bit adventurous. Certain recipes online use some additional ingredients in the custard cream layer to give it a new flavour and that got me thinking about the Polish orange oil in the depths of my cupboard. I also wanted to create a shinier, softer chocolate layer that wouldn't crack at fridge temperature.

Maybe the milk chocolate was to blame? Dark chocolate works better with orange anyway so I sent the hubby away to Tesco's to get some of that.

The first layer works as it is. I did use a bit of pistachios, though, when I ran out of pecans but only a little bit.

I also prepared the second layer as before, apart from adding some orange oil. You can also use an alcohol-based orange flavouring.

The smell of the custard cream was divine. I could hardly spread it on the biscuit base for feeling so dizzy at the aroma.

At this point I let the cake set in the fridge until the second layer was very hard to the touch.

Meanwhile I prepared the top layer using dark chocolate, also adding a little bit of oil to keep the chocolate soft at fridge temperature. The result was a beautifully glossy surface that was easy to cut into.

Should you, however, prefer to eat your bars at room temperature, remember that condensation will happen – at least if you live on this humid island. Some unfortunate bars ended up looking like they had blisters.

COMING UP: NORFOLK FOOD FESTIVAL

The Norfolk Food Festival consists of various events spread around the near future though the main events are around the end of September.

There will be a food fair on Sept 25th that I will not miss. You will also have a chance to have a Norfolk afternoon tea, witness The Tallest Jelly Competition and a sausage competition Battle of the Bangers.

Click here for events calendar.

The Norfolk Food Festival is also on Facebook and Twitter.

NANAIMO BARS

Criminally good stuff.






The defendant was doing her washing at the laundrette in question when a photograph in the complimentary magazine she was reading caught her attention. It was of a cake-stand filled with the most decadent treats, and a man standing next to it with the expression of a proud father on his face. One of the treats on the stand was a chocolaty bar-shaped object, temptingly glistening in the perfect lighting the photographer had arranged.

It emerged that the man was a former shoe designer starting a cheeky brasserie in London. The defendant was first tempted to perform the vile act she is accused of, when she noticed that the shoe man had kindly provided the magazine with a recipe for the bar.

The defendant thought long and hard. She had no pen or paper. Her mobile phone could perhaps be used to store the recipe until she got home, but writing it in the manner of text messages did not appeal to her.

She then looked around her and found that the only other customer at the laundrette was a darling of an old man, who was already packing up his newly washed clothes. When the man was gone, temptation proved too much and the defendant tore off the page. The defendant would like to plead guilty, Your Honour.





Evidence: The dedendant was in possession of the above objects.


NANAIMO BARS

Bottom layer:
100g unsalted butter
50g sugar
5 tbps cocoa powder
1 egg, beaten
200g digestive biscuits, or similar
75g desiccated coconut
100g finely chopped pecans

Pop the biscuits in a plastic bag and whack them with a rolling pin until fine. Melt the butter with the sugar and cocoa in a saucepan.




Mix in the dry ingredients and then the beaten egg. At this point I panicked at the amount of biscuit mix I had and decided to make two trays of bars. Next time I'll make just the one.




Line a 23x23cm baking tray with greaseproof paper or foil. Press the biscuit mixture in evenly and chill in the fridge.


Second layer:
2 tbsp custard powder
3 tbsp milk
50g butter
250g icing sugar

Mix together custard and milk, add butter and sugar. Be patient and beat until very light – lighter than what I've got here. Spread on the biscuit base and chill.





Top layer:
75g dark chocolate
50g butter

Melt the butter in a saucepan. Let the chocolate melt in the warm butter and mix well.




Allow to cool but not set. Spread over the second layer and chill.




When set, cut into bars or squares. The top layer will cut neatly when room-temperature, not fridge-cold.




This is a traditional recipe named after a town in Canada. The second and third layer are so sweet you definitely need a thick biscuit base for balance. I decided to make mine half as thin, as I mentioned earlier, and it ended up a little bit too thin in comparison.

The terrorised magazine was the Style supplement of The Sunday Times, the latest issue, I think. Name of recipe quoted by the article was Mrs Cox’s killer Nanaimo bars, and I don’t think killer was used purely to mean ‘awesome’. Carb alert! These will give you a nice sugar high if that’s what you’re into.

Mrs Cox’s son Patrick the Shoe Man will be opening Cox Cookies & Cake at 13 Brewer St., Soho, London on September the 1st.

A BIT OF FUN

Here's a couple fun websites for your enjoyment.

Pimp That Snack is about creating ginormous versions of world-famous snacks. We love photos, don't we, and this website has plenty. The users range from college rascals who have never cooked before to mature foodies. Check out the ganstalicious fig roll or the monumental Creme Egg. Yes, a lot of the recipes are British, which is refreshing. Put the kettle on while you browse, love. http://www.pimpthatsnack.com/

Ooh, I think one of the chocolate bars would make a nice gift for a teenage boy. Evil plan emerging...

Another fun website is Apocalypse Cakes: Recipes for the End http://apocalypsecakes.wordpress.com/

Now this is baking made fun. The names of the cakes are great but the recipes seem functional and the final result always looks quite professional. Have a look at the Branch Davidian Texas pecan pie with a flaming cross stuck upright in the middle. Now that's impressive, even though it may not be something to make for your mum. I think any mum would appreciate some Sodom and Gomorrah fruitcake, though! Boy, that cracks me up. Or maybe make yourself a Raining Blood cake while listening to the Slayer song? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZO5T2MHmHnk&feature=av2n

One cake they're definitely missing is one raleted to a zombie apocalypse. I definitely need to send them feedback on that after I finish typing this.

An impostor has emerged! Since June 2010, there has been a saltandthyme.com competing with my saltandthyme.blogspot.com. They must be doing quite well, too, since I found them first when looking for my own blog. Boo!