Apple & Rasberry Iced Tea

What makes a great hostess? Who's with me in feeling like a failure in this regard most of the time? Guests swish in all glammed up, and you're standing there in the kitchen covered in a cloud of self raising flour in bare feet wondering where time got to. In a flash you have bolted to the bedroom, thrown on that trusty little black dress and cleaned up with a baby wipe-only to realise your guests are standing around without a drink in hand. There's nothing like that sense of  panic of feeling like the world's worst host or hostess (they should make a TV reality show on that one)
Never feel like that again. Be the host (est) with the mostest.

-Plan your gathering in advance. Try to visualize the ambiance, mood and the food you want to create. Make a list of cooking supplies you will need for your meal, as well as music choices for the night, beverages that you will serve and of course, dessert. Make a list also of when you will be making each of the edible components of the night. Make sure that there are a few you can make in advance to reduce the fluster and time spent in the kitchen when your guests are over. Ensure one option is non alcoholic, for those who are the designated drivers, or pregnant.

-Make sure you take into account any of the guests who may have allergies or intolerance when planning the menu.

-Feel free to buy any food from the store to make your job quicker and easier, as long as some components are home made (okay, lets leave that packet of quick cook pasta Alfredo on the shelf, though). You can buy things like meringue nests that can make putting together a dessert effortless and quick, and it looks like you've slaved the whole afternoon over the stove for your guests.

-Keep the food simple. You may want to look like Mather Stewart, but refrain from creating anything too complex and time consuming. At least make sure this is not the first time you are cooking the meal-it may go terribly wrong or just not taste as good as you thought it would. Also, if you are planning a three course meal, ensure there is a variety of textures and flavours. Too much of a good thing can often be a bad thing! (for example, risotto for entree, curry and rice for main and creamed rice for dessert. Too much rice, obviously. Keep the entree and dessert lighter than the main.)

-The first bite is taken with the eyes. Keep the dishes looking good! A sprig of fresh herbs here and there goes a long way and makes it look like you've made efforts where you have not.

 -Have your table set in advance, if possible. Also, any mood lighting such as tealights or candelabras should be lit before guests arrive so that they can experience the ambiance change as soon as they enter your house. If you are dining outside, such as the garden, fairy lights or tea lights set out in mason jars is a lovely way to make the even magical by creating warm glowing surroundings. If you're not planning on lighting any wicks, see if you can dim the lights a little.

-Prepare a welcome charcuterie platter in advance. You can whip this out of the refrigerator as soon as you hear the first knock on the door. Place it somewhere central where the guests can see it and help themselves to it while you fix the last bits and pieces of the food or set the table. You could also have a tray of drinks ready and waiting to be given for after your guests put down their coats and bags.

-Have a small table or coat rack handy so you can take jackets and bags when your guests enter. Your friends will love to be waited on, and it makes them feel more special.

-Surprise your guests with something unexpected. When my girlfriends come for tea, for example, I like to pamper them by offering to give them a Jamberry Manicure while we chat. This works well for an afternoon tea, but you might like to try something less time consuming if you're holding a dinner party. A friend of mine has a drinks trolley that he wheels out when he entertains. There's a cocktail book on the trolley along with a selection of liqueurs, and the guest chooses one, and the host will create it for them. You could also have a little take home gift of chutney or something you have made as a thank you for the guest's company.

-Make sure there is something on your charcuterie platter or tea and coffee tray that your guests have never tasted before, just to add to the experience. It might be some cookies from a foreign country, or wasabi covered dried peas to snack on-something exotic and unusual. These sort of surprised are often pleasant and make the night memorable.

-Chill out! Have a glass of wine or something to relax before any one arrives. Turn that groovy music on. And if anything goes off plan, go with it, just roll with the punches. Your guests are actually there for your company-the food, atmosphere and the rest are just a bonus. Enjoy yourself!

Do you have any other tips for entertaining? What's your fool proof go to? We'd love to hear! And while I'm waiting for your responses, I'm going to be sipping this delicious iced tea. Its delightful on hot summer days and so easy to make in bulk, you could pour some into a bottle and tie a ribbon around it and send it home with your guests! Perfect for sipping on a balcony with a good friend in the afternoon too, with a side of cake. There should always be cake.

APPLE & RASPBERRY ICED TEA

4 strong black tea bags
4 cups boiling water
2 cups iced water
1/2 cup concentrated Apple Raspberry cordial (add more or less to taste)
2-3 tbsp lemon juice
1/4 cup mint leaves

In a large heat proof jug, place the tea bags and boiling water. Stir the tea bags around and let steep for two or three minutes. Discard the bags. Add the chilled water and concentrated cordial to the tea. Add lemon to taste. Before serving, garnish with mint, ice and a slice of lemon if desired.

NOTES: this recipe is largely dependent on your tastes and the strength of your chosen tea and cordial brands. Alter as desired. A few tablespoons of sugar or honey may be added to the hot tea if desired to increase the sweetness. You can also use other flavours of cordial to change the type of iced tea-the options are endless!

Chocolate Mint Ganache Tart

There's an insane quantity of chocolate right here. When hubby went to pick up the three blocks of Lindt Excellence Mint, and two Cadbury Dream whites, the check-out-chick must have thought he was out on a weekend binge-or his wife was having an emotional breakdown of catastrophic proportions. Despite being made with five blocks of chocolate, I made two tarts with this quantity, and both measured about 15cm in radius. So that's one giant 30cm tart coming right up! (or a thicker 28cm or 25cm tart, whatever you have on hand in this size range would be fine. I highly recommend using a springform tin if you have one) It will feed an army, and it will be gone before you can look twice at it.

Ever had the pleasure of sinking into one of those delightful Choc mint slice biscuits? They're moreish. And this is just like a giant choc mint slice biscuit, but made by Lindt. And laced with creme de menthe to take it up a notch. 

There is no substitute for good quality chocolate, and I recommend only using the very best for this tart. It will be well worth the money. Also, don't go out and spend up on a bottle of creme de menthe, unless you have it handy already in your liquor cabinet. A little peppermint or mint essence/flavouring will be a budget friendly alternative, and a lot of the mint flavour comes from the top layer of ganache any way. So go lightly on the essence if you use it-the subtle flavours in this made it a heavenly experience for the taste buds.
When you let that splade glide down through the layers, you'll pass through a thick, dark minty lindt layer of fudgy, smooth chocolate ganache, through to a pale green filling made with white chocolate and creme de menthe- finishing off with a thin crust of chocolate shortcrust pastry.

 

 CHOCOLATE MINT GANACHE TART (Adapted from Australian Good Taste - January 2012 , Page 84)

Pastry: 

1 2/3 cups plain flour 
125g butter, chilled and diced
1/3 cup icing sugar
2 tbsp dark cocoa powder 
1 egg yolk
1 1/2- 2 tbsp cold water (I used a little more, to get a smooth texture)

White Chocolate Ganache:

150ml (2/3 cup) heavy or thickened cream
300g white chocolate, roughly chopped (I used about 1 1/2 blocks of Cadbury Dream Chocolate)
2 tbsp creme de menthe liqueur (or about 1/2 tsp mint or peppermint essence/extract)

Dark Chocolate Ganache:

250ml (1 cup) heavy or thickened cream
3x 100g Lindt Excellence Mint Intense Dark Chocolate blocks


Grease your  spring form round tin (I used 2 15cm tins to make this recipe. To make one tart, use a tin any where around 25cm) To make the pastry, process the flour, butter, icing sugar and cocoa powder until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs (feel free to use your hands!) Add the egg yolk and enough chilled water so that the mixture starts to form  a soft dough. Kneed until smooth, then form into a disc shape and wrap in plastic wrap. Rest the dough in the refrigerator for 10 minutes to firm up. 
Remove from refrigerator and place between two sheets of baking paper. Roll to fit into your desired tin, ensuring the pastry comes up the sides of your tin. Trim any excess. Place in the refrigerator for a further 20 minutes.
Preheat the oven to 180C.
Place the tin on a baking sheet and blind bake for 10 minutes. (this is done by placing pastry weights in the tin, or placing a piece of baking paper inside the tin with rice on top of the paper to weigh it down)
Remove the weights. Bake for a further 10 minutes. If any cracks appear, smooth them over with a little egg white. Set aside in the tin to cool.
To make the white chocolate ganache, place the cream in a small saucepan and bring to the boil. As soon as it begins to boil, remove from heat and add the white chocolate. Stir until the chocolate melts and mixes in well with the cream. Add the creme de menthe and incorporate.
Pour this over the cooked pastry and chill for 1 hour to set.
To make the dark chocolate ganache, place the cream in a small saucepan and bring to the boil. As soon as it starts to boil, remove from heat and stir in the Lindt chocolate until melted and well combined. Pour over the set white chocolate ganache and smooth. Chill for three hours before serving.

Notes: Run a knife under boiling water before cutting for a smooth cut. This tart freezes well, so it's great to make ahead! Once the tart is set, wrap in plastic wrap, ensuring the wrap is close against the ganache. Then wrap again, or place in an airtight container and freeze. Thaw by placing on bench top or in refrigerator for several hours.


How to blind bake without pastry weights:

Choc Mint Vacherin

The french have it sorted. Fine dining with simplicity-good, uncomplicated flavours, impressive without pretense. So it was at Boucher in Graceville where I celebrated my birthday on Sunday with some beloveds, after tucking away succulent rib eye beef with chive and sour cream roasted potatoes, roasted beetroot, picked onions, a salad of lightly dressed rocket and a side of bread, butter and the airiest, lightest, Yorkshire puddings you've ever passed between your lips. The dessert was incredible, and I only managed to fit it in due to having one of those dessert stomachs many women in particular find they have after a large dinner (presumably a separate organ from the stomach we all carry around our middle region.) It consisted of a lofty, rectangular slice of sponge cake, thinly layered with dark chocolate ganache and was accompanied by orange and a most exquisite ice cream flavoured with fennel seeds. It was heaven on a plate, and so gorgeously presented.
Going to Boucher reminded me of all the hot spots in Queensland we're yet to hit, and when my husband found this list of 50 meals you should have eaten if you live in Brisbane, I knew we had to make this a more frequent expedition.  It can rack up a bit of a bill though if you're out fine dining every weekend though so we keep an eye out for great food coupon deals where you can get the gourmet experiences for less. That always makes the experience more enjoyable. Fine dining for less. Bring it on.
But if you're stuck at home as I am this weekend, and you can't make it out to any nice restaurants, you might like to try making this Mint Vacherin at home for dessert. It's a show stopper and makes you look like a pro in front of your friends, but it's simple and elegant and easy (it's french, once again!)
So what's it like to sink your teeth into it? There are three layers of chocolate speckled meringue, wedged with a filling of whipped, mint infused cream and the richness of dark chocolate, topped with mint leaves and lashings of more of that dark chocolatey goodness and cream.
Irrésistible!

CHOC MINT VACHERIN (adapted from Today's Nest)

Meringue:

3 egg whites
3/4 cup caster sugar (or superfine sugar)
1 tsp corn flour (or corn starch)
45g dark chocolate, finely grated

Filling:

140g dark chocolate
1 1/2 cups thickened cream (or heavy cream)
1 tbsp. mint leaves, finely chopped
2 tbsp caster sugar (or superfine sugar)

Garnish:

Extra chocolate to grate or drizzle
fresh mint leaves to decorate

Preheat the oven to 135C.
Take a pencil and one sheet of baking paper and place draw out three identical rectangles approximately 4 inches wide by 10 inches long. Place this paper into the baking sheet. Set aside.
To make the meringue, beat the egg whites in a clean dry bowl. When you have achieved soft peaks, gradually add 1/2 a cup of the sugar. Whip into stiff, glossy peaks. Fold in the remaining sugar, the corn flour and the grated chocolate shavings until only just incorporated. (Over folding will deflate your egg whites.)
Fill a piping bag fitted with a 1/2 inch round tipped nozzle. Pipe horizontal lines of the mixture across each drawn rectangle on the baking tray, making sure that each line of meringue mixture touches the next slightly. (This ensures the meringue rectangle is one solid piece once cooked.) Bake for 45 minutes, then rotate the tray. Continue to bake for a further 45 minutes.
Turn the oven off and leave the meringue to cool in the oven.
When cooled, remove the tray and gently take the three rectangles off the baking sheet. You may need an egg flip to assist you.
To make the filling, carefully melt the chocolate in a heat proof bowl in the microwave, stopping at 20 second intervals to stir until smooth. While the chocolate is still warm, spread it on to two of the meringue rectangles. Set aside.
With a mortar and pestle, muddle the mint with the sugar. Add this to the cream in a medium sized bowl, and whip into soft peaks.
Place one of the chocolate covered meringues onto your serving dish. Pipe one third of the cream over the chocolate. Add the other chocolate coated meringue on top of this cream, and repeat with another third of the cream. Top this with the final layer of meringue, and pipe the remaining cream down the centre. Decorate with the extra chocolate and remaining mint leaves.

NOTES: heat a very sharp knife under hot water before cutting, using a sawing motion. This helps to cut through the hardened chocolate layers without breaking and ruining the look of the delicate dessert.

Creme de Menthe Chocolate Fudge Slice

I have a bit of a confession to make. I'm one of those people that is easily inspired to do things and then, like water on a firecracker, it often fizzles out before it really goes off. I have the best intentions of course. I suppose that comes with being sanguine in nature. As you can imagine, I'm a bit of a hoarder (so many possibilities in this!) and pintrest will be the death of me. My junk cupboard is filled with all sorts of unfinished projects--because half way through them, I get a huge inspiration for something else and have to start it before the inspiration I forget and lose the interest to do it. I don't know how that darling husband puts up with me.
Anyway, I'm pretty proud to say that my baking passion has not fizzled out (thanks to you all, and my "the way to a man's heart is through his stomach" theory--which happens to be true), and neither has this blog! Unlike so many of my interests, this has somehow stayed consistent, and happily, I find myself writing Lick The Spoon's 200th post. Yes I have a baby on my knee and am writing at a painful rate with one hand, whist she chews on the other with her not-so-gummy mouth. But it's still the 200th post!
Here's a recipe I had a dream about. Yes, that happens frequently, and then I just have to create it. Minty creme de menthe filling wedged between fudgy brownie base and a corrugated layer of thick, chocolate fudge ganache. Oh my! This is a lady killer. A man killer too, as a matter of fact. I couldn't quite get the intensity of mint flavour I wanted with the creme de menthe, so I intensified it by adding a little mint essence just to jack up the flavour a notch. You can substitute the creme de menthe for 1 tsp. mint essence if you don't have any of that sublime liqueur handy, and add a few drops of green food colouring in it too. There, there's a cheats non-alcoholic version for you. Enjoy!

CREME DE MENTHE CHOCOLATE GANACHE SLICE (A Lick the Spoon Original)

Base:
1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup cocoa powder
1 cup brown sugar, firmly packed
2 eggs
1/2 tsp. vanilla
1/2 cup plain flour
1/4 tsp salt

Filling:
1/4 cup cream
2 tbsp. green creme de menthe
3 cups icing sugar
1/2 tsp. mint essence (optional)

Fudge Ganache:
200g dark cooking chocolate
2 tbsp thickened cream
mint leaves to garnish (optional)

Preheat your oven to 180C.
Melt butter and remove from heat. Stir through the cocoa and brown sugar until combined.
Beat in the eggs and vanilla. Next, blend in the flour and salt. Spoon the batter into a greased and lined 18x18 square baking dish. Bake for 15-20 minutes. Remove from heat and set aside to cool.
Meanwhile, prepare the filling by placing cream, creme de menthe, icing sugar and essence in a medium bowl. Beat until well combined and at the desired thickness and flavour. The filling should be thick yet spreadable.
Spread over the top of the base layer. Refrigerate while making the ganache.
To make the ganache, gently melt the chocolate using your microwave, checking and stirring every 20 seconds or so until the chocolate is almost melted.  Stir to melt the last of the chocolate. Set aside to cool momentarily. Remove the slice from the refrigerator.
Working quickly, add the cream to the chocolate and stir thoroughly to combine. The mixture thickens quickly, so mix in a timely manner and immediately spread over the top of the filling. You can add a pattern to the top of the slice by using the tip of a butter knife.
Refrigerate until ready to serve, then cut into squares.

All Things Light and Bubbly....

As I have previously mentioned, my husband is my inspiration in the kitchen. He once said that one should always approach love and cooking with reckless abandon...so I did.
So we can blame the extra calories we all gain on him for this recipe I created (not that I count them anyway). You will not be able to stop eating this Mint Chocolate Aero Mousse once you start. It is so light, and just melts in your mouth. It is the perfect dessert for summer, and is so easy to make. You will probably want to double the recipe, or triple it. I wish I did! This recipe serves 3...or 1, depending on your self-control...

MINT CHOCOLATE AERO MOUSSE

1/2 can evaporated milk, chilled
1 1/2 tsp. gelatine powder
3 tbsp. cocoa powder
1/4 cup boiling water
1/4 cup caster sugar
peppermint essence to taste
green food colouring
1/4 cup white chocolate

Dissolve the gelatine in water and leave to cool.
Meanwhile, beat the chilled evaporated milk with an electric beater until thick, like cream. (approximately 2 minutes)
Add the sugar, essence and cooled gelatine, and beat until combined. Take 1/3 of this mixture and place in a separate bowl. To this bowl, add the food colouring until you reach the desired shade of green. You may also add more essence to make this part stronger in flavour.
Mix cocoa powder through the greater part of the mixture until well combined. Spoon into individual dessert glasses.
Take the green mousse mixture and spoon over the top of the chocolate mousse. Some of it will sink. Make a swirling pattern with the end of a spoon for a nice effect. Cover with plastic and refrigerate until set.

To make garnish, take the white chocolate and melt. Add essence and colouring as desired. Spread onto a sheet of grease-proof paper until smooth. when set, you may grate it, curl it or break it into pieces to decorate the top of each mousse. Alternatively, grate a peppermint crisp bar over each dessert glass.