Apple cupcakes with dried flowers

 

I have a selection of dried petals: blue cornflowers, red petals (a mixture of rose, verbena, dianthus) and orange and yellow (marigold and calendula), ready to add to a cake or cupcakes or muffins.

Ingredients for 12 cupcakes/muffins

4-5 Oratia Beauty apples

40 ml water

10 ml lemon juice

120 g salted butter

3 eggs

130 g sugar

A few drops of pure vanilla essence (optional)

200 g self-rising flour

Dried flowers

For the icing:

100 gr butter

100 g sugar

more dried flowers

Preheat the oven to 175°C. 

Line a 12-muffin tray with cupcakes paper cups.

In the meantime place the water and lemon juice in a mixing bowl, peel and slice the apples and drop them directly into the lemony water.

Melt the butter in a jug, either in the microwave or in the oven (while the oven is warming up for the cupcakes). Place the eggs and sugar in a mixing bowl and whisk, using an electric beater, until the mixture looks light and pale yellow in colour. Slowly add the melted butter and the vanilla essence, if using.

Keep beating at a low speed now; add half of the flour followed by half of the lemony water from the apples. Add the rest of the flour and water and keep beating making sure that there are no lumps. Add the apples and the dried petals. Divide into the cupcakes paper cups.
 
Bake for about 18-20 minutes, until golden brown at the top. You can also check by inserting a toothpick into the cupcakes: if it comes out clean the cupcakes are ready. Remove the cupcakes from the tin and let them cool down. The icing is optional, I just mixed some melted butter with sugar and used it to top the cupcakes, then sprinkled more dried petals on top. 

Photos and Recipes by Alessandra Zecchini ©

Panna cotta alla rosa - Rose panna cotta

These little roses from my garden smell delicious, I often use them for desserts, liquors, decorations... anything I can think of. They are organic and safe to eat (otherwise I wouldn't be here writing this!)

Panna cotta alla rosa

Ingredients

tiny rose petals, as many as you like

150ml water

a few drops of lemon juice

3 tbsp sugar

500 ml cream

100 ml milk

1 tsp rose water (optional)

half tsp agar agar

more rose petals to decorate

Pick the rose petals and rinse with cold water, then place in a pot with the water, lemon juice and two tbsp of sugar. Bring to boil and simmer for 5 minutes.

Let them cool down, the water will turn pink. Add the cream, milk, remaining tbsp of sugar, agar agar and, if using, rose water, and bring back to the boil. Divide between 4 (or 6 smaller) pudding bowls (this panna cotta is very soft, not to be flipped)

Chill and serve, with a few fresh rose petals. Just amazing!!

Photos and Recipes by Alessandra Zecchini ©

Vegan chocolate and coconut cream puddings with edible flowers

1 can coconut cream

1 l oragnic soy milk (I use Vitasoy, either Original, Milky or Calci Plus)

4 tbsp raw sugar

2 heap tbsp cocoa (the better the cocoa the better the flavour, so don't go for cheap baking cocoa, but for 'hot chocolate' quality)

2 tbsp cornflour

Natural Vanilla essence 

1 tbsp icing sugar

Edible flowers to decorate

Place the can of coconut cream in the fridge (possibly one day ahead). Dissolve the dried ingredients with a little soy milk to make a paste, then add the rest of the milk and mix well. Put on the stove on low and, always stirring, bring to simmering point. Make sure that you stir well, especially around the borders and bottom of the pot, so that the pudding has a smooth consistency. As soon as it start thickening turn the element off, add the vanilla essence (if using) and keep stirring until it has cooled down a bit. Divide into 8 dessert ramekins or small bowls and refrigerate. When the pudding is set open the can of coconut cream and scoop out the cream top, leaving the water at the bottom of the can (this can be added to other dishes, like curry or rice. Whip the coconut cream with a drop of vanilla essence and the icing sugar. Top the chocolate puddings with the whipped coconut cream.

And now for the flower decorations: choose only organic flowers, here we have borage, rose petals, violets, diantus petals (small carnations), calendula petals (pot marigold). Wash the flowers and petals with water, I let mine soak for white a while and shake them gently to make sure that there are no insects (this is a Vegan dish after all!). A few flowers or petals will suffice, as they are only decorations, although to be eaten. Refrigerate again so that the coconut cream set, and then serve.

Photos and Recipes by Alessandra Zecchini ©

Do you know the name of these Campanula flowers, and Vegan chocolate pudding with strawberries and edible flowers

Sue gave me these beautiful flowers, the purple ones smell like honey, so delicious!

I believe that they are a type of Campanula (bell flowers), but I don't know the exact name. 

Do you?

Vegan chocolate pudding with strawberries and edible flowers

Arantxa picked flowers from the garden: roses, lavender, sage, violets and nasturtiums 

 I made my trusted vegan chocolate pudding, and since we are in season I wanted to top it with some strawberries, and maybe some flowers too? So I asked Arantxa to look after this.

For 4 puddings:

500 ml oragnic soy milk (I use Vitasoy, either Original, Milky or Calci Plus)

2 tbsp raw sugar

1 heap tbsp cocoa (the better the cocoa the better the flavour, so don't go for cheap baking cocoa, but for 'hot chocolate' quality)

1 tbsp cornflour

Natural Vanilla essence (or a little cinnamon if you prefer)

Strawberries and edible flowers to finish.

Dissolve the dried ingredients with a little soy milk to make a paste, then add the rest of the milk and mix well. Put on the stove on low and, always stirring, bring to simmering point. Make sure that you stir well, especially around the borders and bottom of the pot, so that the pudding has a smooth consistency. As soon as it start thickening turn the element off, add the vanilla essence (if using) and keep stirring until it has cooled down a bit. Divide into 4 dessert ramekins or small bowls (or teacups) and refrigerate. Cut the strawberries and place over the puddings, then add the petals of edible flowers (I think that maybe there was a bit much here, with lots of lavender, rose and sage aromas… but it was definitely a very perfumed dessert!).

Photos and Recipes by Alessandra Zecchini ©

Rose Cordial, step by step

If you have roses in your garden, and they have not been sprayed (organic) you can make your own rose cordial, beautiful and pink! The recipe is the same as for the elderberry flower syrup.

For this you will need 1 l of water, 1 kg of sugar, organic rose petals (at least 1 cup full, but the more the better), 30 g of citric acid and 3 organic lemons. Wash and cut the lemons and put them in a pot with all the other ingredients (or in a large jar, if you have it). Let this mixture stand for three days, stirring from time to time. Don't go over three days or it may ferment. 

After this time filter the syrup through a muslin cloth, squeezing the lemons and flowers well. 

Boil the filtered syrup for 5 minutes, removing any possible scam forming at the top. Cool down and filter again, through a finer cotton cloth this time (I do this in a funnel directly over the bottles. Use as a cordial for water, or as a syrup for cakes and desserts.

 Photos and recipes by Alessandra Zecchini ©

Kawakawa meringues and biscuits

Kawakawa meringues

If you like to forage in the New Zealand bush you may be familiar with kawakawa, and know that it was used in traditional Māori medicine. Also, the leaves make a great tea! But you can also use the leaves instead of vanilla to flavour desserts: they have a distinctive taste which is good for biscuits, meringues and custard puddings (like Crème brûlée). It has a peppery flavour and it works!

For the meringues and biscuits I started with the Italian meringue, which is made by adding hot sugar syrup to the beaten egg white. Actually, the Italian meringue doesn't need to be cooked as the hot sugar syrup already 'cooks' the eggs, and it is often used as the base for many desserts. But yes, it can also be used for making hard meringues. The so called French meringue is mostly used in New Zealand (egg whites and sugar, rather than hot sugar syrup), and it is easier to make, but to get the kawakawa into the meringues you need a hot syrup! Once you master it you can make meringues with all sort of herbs!

Kawakawa meringues

Ingredients: 

250 g egg white

500 g sugar

about 150 ml water 

a few kawakawa leaves, washed and broken with fingers (discard the stalks)

Beat the egg whites with 100g of sugar. In the meantime melt 400 g of sugar in 150 ml of water over a flame, and the kawakawa leaves and bring it to boil. If you have a sugar thermometer it should reach

121° C, but I don't have one and I just guess when the syrup is ready: it starts to bubble and 'smells' right.

Pour the syrup into the egg whites and keep beating until they are cold again.

Pipe the meringues on a oven try lined with baking paper and bake at 50° C for 4 hours. Leave for another day to dry completely and then enjoy!

For the biscuits:

Same recipe as above, but keep some meringue aside and then fold in a bit of self rising flour, adding a spoon at the time until you have a soft batter that is still full of air and can be piped through a pastry bag.

Pipe out some longish biscuits and then bake at 160° C for about 30 minutes, or until they smell done! Let them dry for another day before storing away. They last for ages! 

Kawakawa biscotti

Variations

Kawakawa and rose meringue: I picked some rose petals (below) and sprayed them with grappa, then I placed them in a jar with a little caster sugar for 2-3 days, not to dry them, but just to preserve the smell. Finally I folded the sugary petals into the Italian meringue before piping it on the baking tray. I used roses, but violets, gorse and other flowers would be suitable too.

I made all of these for our Slow Food foraging feast last Sunday, they were a success!

Photos and recipes by Alessandra Zecchini ©

Crêpe cake with Cointreau butter and flowers

Our friend David came to stay, it was his birthday a few days ago, but I didn't have time to bake a cake.  So I just used some ready made sweet Crêpes (pack of 9) and whipped about 100 g of unsalted butter with one heap tbsp of icing sugar and a good dose of Cointreau (to taste!). I spread the butter cream on the Crêpes and topped it with edible flowers from the garden (you can do this if the flowers in your garden have not been sprayed). I added a few Alpine strawberries (also from the garden) and voilà! An instant cake that looked great, and tasted good and took no time! Sometime we need to 'cheat' a little!

I am entering this recipe for Sweet New Zealand, the monthly blogging event for Kiwi bloggers. Our November 2013 host is Mairi from Toast, click here to enter. 

Photos and recipes by Alessandra Zecchini ©

Pasta with asparagus and cream sauce

More asparagus! For the pasta I used penne, and for the sauce:

1 onion
1 bunch asparagus
2 tbsp olive oil
1 glass white wine
salt to taste
200 ml cream
black pepper
chopped Italian parsley
Parmesan to serve (optional)

Finely chop the onion and the asparagus spares (keep the tips aside). Sauté the onion and asparagus spares with the olive oil, when they start to colour add the white wine, then cover and simmer, stirring from time to time and adding a little water when necessary. Simmer for at least 30 minutes, better if longer: the onion needs to be really soft. Add salt to taste. Add the cream and then the asparagus tips and simmer for a few minutes until the cream bubbles. Add freshly ground black pepper, chopped Italian parsley and the penne pasta, cooked al dente and drained (a little of water from the pasta is good too for a creamier sauce). Serve immediately, with parmesan cheese if you like.

And to finish today post: sweet smelling rambling roses from my garden.

Photos and recipes by Alessandra Zecchini ©

Mini upside down cakes with rose buds and rose water syrup

For the sponge use the same recipe I published yesterday (click here), but pour the batter in greased muffin/cupcake tin. Once the mini cakes are ready tip them over and prepare a syrup with a little water (about 50 ml),

a little sugar (2 tbsp), and 1 tbsp of rose water (available in many

Middle Eastern and Asian shops, or deli shops). This dose is good for about 4-6 mini cakes. Pour slowly over the cakes and decorate with rose buds or rose petals

Fresh rose buds and petals are better, but in winter you can use edible dried rose buds. These are from a pack of Chinese Rose Tea, available in Chinese and Asian shops.

Photos and Recipes by Alessandra Zecchini ©

Pairing Chocolate with Rose and Raspberries, and a chance to win Party Food for Girls in Australia and New Zealand

Photo and Recipe by Alessandra Zecchini ©

Just enough time today to post a decorating idea for chocolate cake: I used rose flavoured icing (egg white, icing sugar and rose water) with fresh raspberries. It wasn't exactly planned, the rose icing was leftover from making rose cupcakes, and I needed to use it up. But the flavours worked very well together: chocolate, rose and raspberry, I will do it again :-).

Also a little notice for Kiwis and Aussies: there are 5 chances to win a copy of Party Food for Girls by clicking here. All you have to do is to fill in your details and write, in 25 words or less, whats your favourite party theme. It is good that for once a competition is open to Australian as well of New Zealand residents, so good luck to all!

Ciao
A.