Custard and White Chocolate Cookies

These cookies came about because of two previous recipes I’ve blogged:
1) These white chocolate cookies which are the biggest hit on my blog. I was surprised, because whilst I remember the cookies and they were delicious, it’s still a pretty unassuming recipe.
2) These custard creams adapted from a Marcus Wareing recipe. I really enjoy doing biscuit challenge posts and so there was quite a lot of pressure when I tried making these as they are my favourite shop-bought biscuit. The results were also a hit.

Therefore, when I saw this recipe for Custard and White Chocolate Biscuits, combining the best of both recipes, I knew I had to give them a try! The result did not disappoint! They have a surprisingly large amount of custard powder in them, which gave the cookies quite a sandy texture and also a slightly orange tone. The amount of white chocolate didn't seem generous in the recipe but I think suited it well because otherwise, combined with the custard powder, they would be too sweet. I think they were nicest straight out of the oven when they were still soft in the middle and the chocolate was melting, as the biscuits became quite solid after a few days. This didn’t stop them being moreish though, particularly as I made them fairly small meaning the recipe made a large batch! They went down a treat with my friends too, despite already having had a bowl of tomato soup, ramekin of jelly and slice of pie each!

You can find the recipe here – enjoy!

Rhubarb and Custard Tart

In American cooking, rhubarb and strawberries seem to be a majorly popular flavour combination. Here in England, its rhubarb and custard. Sharp bright pink rhubarb and creamy yellow custard – it’s definitely a strong rival to rhubarb and strawberry. Whether in two bold stripes in a hard boiled sweet, hot custard poured over a rhubarb crumble or both flavours combined together in a huge luxurious tart like today, it’s always a winner.I’ve been wanting to make  a rhubarb and custard tart for a while now and had several different recipes saved in my ever expanding Sweet To Make file. I was reminded of this idea when I came across an amazing looking Custard Tart in the fabulous book Street Food Revolution but decided to save that for a special occasion due to the 12 (!) egg yolks it requires. I eventually chose a John Torode recipe, because surely the co-juduge of Masterchef will have trustworthy recipes (and also something in me always trusts BBC Food recipes). It also was not extravagant with eggs, seemed simple and intrigued me as to how the 300ml of double cream would ever set into a firm filling.But I needn’t have worried, it all turned out ok. More than ok! This tart was so good. I seem to be loving the mix of tart and creamy flavours at the moment, first the pannacotta, then this combination of the rich custard and vanilla poached rhubarb that still has a hint of its sharpness. I know it’s a bit past the rhubarb season now as I made this a few weeks ago, but I didn’t want to let a whole year go by without posting this. You never know, some lucky people might still have some growing or have been clever and frozen some for the winter. If not, I’m sure the combination of raspberries or blackberries with custard would be just as delicious. Enjoy!

Nutmeg Custard Creams

When I began my Biscuit Challenge here on the blog, a long time ago, I constantly refrained from attempting the infamous custard cream. Bourbons, digestives, snickerdoodles and most recently ricciarelli, amongst others, have all been made as part of the Biscuit Challenge and have all been tasty. They haven’t been exact replicas of the shop bought original, but when baked with regular ingredients and care – plus with delicious results – does this really matter? When I finally attempted custard creams, I decided to step a little bit further away from the original.Marcus Wareing, a Gordon Ramsay trained and Michelin-starred top chef, is renowned for his nutmeg custard tart, which has been served to the Queen. Taking this success and running with it, he’s adapted his recipe to create what he calls Nutmeg Custard Cream Yo-yo’s. The biscuits were easy to make, and the final product was ultra rewarding. The nutmeg makes the final cookies spicier and warmer than your standard custard cream and when I make these next (which I definitely shall do) I think I’ll add even more. The biscuit itself had the best texture – sandy yet crisp and very moreish.  When I made bourbons I missed the firm square of chocolate cream filling – which I think now you can only properly get with shop bought biscuits which can use preservatives and E-numbers – but with these the soft and creamy custard filling was delicious and perfectly flavoured. Mmm. Just right to fill that 4pm biscuit craving :) The only change I made to the recipe was that instead of forming a log of cookie dough and slicing it up, I found the dough much easier to roll out and cut with a cookie cutter. I also added more custard powder to the biscuit dough, as I wanted to be sure the flavour would clearly some through which, happily, it did. You can find the recipe here, and I hope you do attempt the British biscuit tin favourite – and enjoy!

Charlotte Russe

My Mum’s birthday falls on the 8th August, right in the middle of our holiday in France and Spain. Whilst this meant she was lucky enough to enjoy sunshine and swimming pools on her birthday – there was no homemade cake! Now in family with bakers and cooks, there should ALWAYS be a homemade birthday cake. So once we were home, out came the recipes!
Before we had left, my Mum had noticed a gorgeous looking Charlotte Russe in the window of the patisserie Paul. Paul is a very fancy French bakery which has now spread its chains all over London as well as smaller branches at motorway service stations! Whilst the standard of baking there is very high, this sure pushes up the prices! The rather small (if beautiful) charlotte russe my Mum saw was practically £20! So, a homemade one it was definitely to be.
A Charlotte Russe is essentially when you line a tin or bowl with sponge fingers, and pour in a “bavarois”. The bavarois in the recipe I followed was a custard thickened with gelatine, with whipped cream and raspberry puree stirred in – then refrigerated in the tin. We (my Mum & I) topped our russe with whole raspberries which we set with a raspberry glaze, but we thought that the raspberries looked prettier without. The exact origins of the charlotte russe is, as with many desserts, not 100% exact. It is either thought to be named after the British Queen Charlotte (1744-1818, wife of George III) or to have been invented by the French chef Marie Antoine Careme (1784-1833), who named it in honour of his Russian employer, as russe is Russian in French.
You can find the recipe I followed here except I made a few alterations…..
Instead of four miniature desserts, I used one large tin. I found I needed 4 gelatine leaves to make the custard set properly, and I also used two packets of frozen raspberries for the mousse and bought extra fresh raspberries for the top. Although I just used shop-bought this time, the recipe also includes how to make your own sponge fingers, which would improve the dessert even more!

The charlotte russe involves quite a few steps, so I split it over two days – which is easy seeing how the bavarois needs at least 4 hours or overnight to set up well. I’m pleased with how the final product turned out and it looked so pretty waiting to be devoured! The rich raspberry mousse was delightfully offset with the crunchy sponge fingers, and the whole glazed raspberries added another dimension of sharp juicy goodness :) Whilst I wouldn’t rush to make this dessert again– it was a really good one to make as it was my first time using gelatine and a right show stopper!