JULIA SPENCER-FLEMING: It's another fabulous recipe/ history/ cooking lesson with our own Celia Wakefield! This time, she's showing you how to make a confection treat perfect for a hostess gift, a special dinner, or, let's face it, for yourself.
I first had this Chocolate-Orange treat as a tart - very rich and so delicious. I was glad when Celia suggested a non-pastry version, because, I have to admit, I'm not great with pastries. Don't let the weight measurements or the fact it's candy scare you off - the only step that took any work at all was grating the orange zest, and once all the ingredients were assembled, it came together in ten minutes flat.
My grateful thanks to Julia, who keeps my nose down on her
grindstone where the posts are concerned, for giving me the continued
opportunity to work my writing skills and give you something delicious.
I hope everyone had a Happy Thanksgiving without too much kitchen crisis and with gratitude for all we have. The Sunday after Thanksgiving says it’s that time again, and whether you took part in Black Friday or not or however your family celebrates at this solstice time, I am sure that you recognize ‘The’ season is upon us.
I am most grateful for my Jungle Reds community. While I don’t post often I read JRW each morning and enjoy seeing the comments. So kudos to Julia for inviting me to share some memories and recipes so many months ago. We all have our own ways of managing this season whether we put up a tree at Thanksgiving or observe the tradition of the twelve days of Christmas or perhaps no tree, but another symbol to celebrate passing the Shortest Day.
I must admit that most of the
celebrating done with my family isn’t based on childhood memories. However, the
Christmas that we returned from Ceylon (Sri Lanka) to England does stick in my
memory; the family gathering at my grandparents’ house outside London with my
mother’s siblings and my cousins. There were always lots of Christmas treats to
eat. Picture a large dining room with space for my grandparents, three adult
children and spouses plus six grandchildren gathered around the table with
plenty of room.
However, it was the sideboard that drew my attention away from wearing my first pair of nylons (30 denier, I was 12), the cool feel on my legs, pinch of the suspender belt plus my fear that I would ladder them. Laid out on the mirrored sideboard was a whole Stilton cheese. It was understood that no one was to touch the cheese except with express directions from my grandfather. It was his cheese! In addition, there was an oval bamboo box with a picture on the lid of a desert oasis with a camel and rider plus the date palm: a box of dates, still on their branch and so sweet. I was almost as fascinated by the photo as I was to eat a date. Dates were only seen at Christmas. Then there was a box of Turkish delight cosily bathed in icing sugar, which got all over my velvet dress and was a clue to what I might have been eating out of turn. The spread was completed with a ham set up to be carved, accompanied by a bottle of Maderia and a Wedgwood Biscuit Barrel full of wholemeal digestive biscuits - the best to eat with the Stilton. Such deliciousness.
Once
Victor and I were settled in the USA and Olivia had joined the family I started
to build our own Christmas traditions and loved sharing with friends. I would
cook a ham and pease pudding on Christmas Eve before Midnight service. On
Christmas Day in the absence of a sideboard, I would greet friends with a table
full of delicious nibbles before the big meal; a ham, chicken liver pate and of
course smoked trout pate plus cheeses and some fruit. Then the traditional
dinner, which rang the changes over the years finished with Christmas pudding,
mince pies and hard sauce. Stockings had to have chocolate as well as oranges
or apples and sometimes both in them, the preference was a Terrys Chocolate
Orange.
Last year Victor handed me a recipe from The Guardian Weekly which intrigued me. Rachel Roddy is a food writer based in Rome. The Dark Chocolate and Orange Tart caught Victor’s eye and he was keen for me to make it. Well, this had been the chocolate of choice for our stockings for many years so why wouldn’t I make it for him? With just the two of us in the house it did seem a lot of work, but a family celebration for Olivia and my joint birthdays gave me the push to take the leap, even though all the measurements were metric and I needed to make the tart case gluten free.
This is a very rich dessert and it turned out to be surprisingly
easy to make with a couple of hacks. Having eaten a small slice of the tart, we
came to the conclusion that the filling was really a candy, so I have adapted
the recipe to turn the dark chocolate into a sweet for holiday giving. Julia
and I will only make the chocolate orange part for you but I will include the
pastry recipe for anyone who loves to bake tarts.
Now Rachel Roddy states that the key to the choco-orange mix is vigorous beating combined with cutting the chocolate finely. My first attempt had me gathering the dark chocolate from all over the kitchen including some blocks I had bought on sale in a weak moment. The blocks were almost impossible to cut up finely; I grated, shaved, put in a clean cloth and hit with my rolling pin as well as using my heaviest knife and was pretty much beat. But to make up the quantity needed I added chocolate chips and found that they melted straight into the mascarpone mixture as you can see in the video. So just buy the best dark chocolate chips.
There
are two other important tools which will make success here much easier. A scale
with grams as well as ounces, and an instant thermometer. So many recipes are
being published with the metric measurement system now, and a scale is an
inexpensive purchase if you enjoy baking. I offer 2 different measurements for
each ingredient, including cups, where I can make that work.
Chocolate
orange treats
Ingredients:
300g Mascarpone = 1 1/3 cups approximately. I did transfer the weighed amount to a cup measure but of course one does get air bubbles so measure by weight if possible
40g. Superfine sugar = 3 Tbsp sugar(put the same amount of granulated in a small food processor and whirl to get fine sugar)
Grated zest of 2 oranges. Organic is preferred so that the skin is unwaxed or treated.
400g. Dark chocolate = 2 1/2 cups, chopped finer if necessary but not when using chips
80g Unsalted butter, diced = approximately 3/4 stick of butter. Buy the best butter you can! Kerrigold is good, as is Kates of Maine
100ml whole milk = 4 oz. In my case, not having whole milk, I used 3oz 2% milk with 1+ oz heavy cream, making 4+ oz, giving me a little extra in case of need.
Equipment:
- Scale is preferred for accurate measuring
- Fine grater if not using chocolate chips
- Small food processor, if needed to make superfine sugar
- Instant thermometer
Electric hand beater
Silicone spatula
Cupcake papers
Small spoon or ice cream scoop
Method:
In a saucepan warm the mascarpone with the sugar and orange zest and stir to incorporate until almost boiling 190F+ on the instant thermometer. This is the only tricky step as the mix needs to be warm enough to melt the chocolate and I found that an instant thermometer took my worries out.
(I used a larger pan than is probably needed as the chocolate and butter melt down)
Remove pan from heat, immediately add chocolate and diced butter, then BEAT VIGOROUSLY till smooth.
Add the milk to the pan and beat it in. If the mix seizes beat again while adding a LITTLE more milk.
Pour into your baked tart case or into tiny cupcake papers and chill.
Decorating tiny cupcakes is a challenge but if I were competing on the GBBS I would use gold leaf!
Tart case:
If you want to make this as a tart, and it is a great holiday dessert, here is Rachel’s tart recipe.
Ingredients:
120g cold unsalted butter, diced
250g all purpose flour or Almond flour if GF is desired
100g confectioners sugar (different from superfine sugar)
Grated zest of 1 organic orange
2 egg yolks
Cold water if needed
Method:
Rub butter pieces into the flour to resemble breadcrumbs.
Mix in the sugar and orange zest.
Add egg yolks and gently gather the mixture together adding cold water if necessary to create the dough mix.
Wrap and chill for at least an hour.
Roll the pastry out between wax paper or parchment which makes it easier to move.
Spray a pant with a removable bottom with baking spray, then carefully either slide the pastry into the pan or put the pan on top of the pastry and invert, then press carefully into the sides. Rest for an hour.
Preheat the oven to 350F.
Remove from fridge and prick pastry all over, then line with wax paper, add beans or weights and bake for 15 minutes approximately. I like to remove the weights etc before it is completely baked to add a little color. Remove when golden brown and cool.
Pour in the chocolate orange filling and decorate with thin strips of candied orange peel.
Serve with whipped cream or fruit.
