Glam-up the traditional Rice Krispie Treat with Earl Grey for a Fetus Fiesta~!

a.k.a., a gender-friendly Baby Shower that just won the Best Title Award!


As the time runs short, I allowed my favourite flavour and aroma to guide through a mysterious venture, giving me the inspiration to dress up an ordinary treat in a savoury couture.


~ Earl Grey Rice Krispie Treat ~



3 tbs Unsalted butter
10 oz package Miniture marshmallow
6 cups Cocoa Rice Krispie
Earl Grey Ganache
- 4 Earl Grey tea bags
- 10 oz Chocolate couverture (60-71% cacao), chopped finely and place in a bowl
- 1 cup Heavy Cream
Melted white chocolate for final touches, French silver dragees optional


1. In large saucepan melt butter over low heat. Add marshmallows and stir until completely melted. Remove from heat.

2. Stir in the cereal until well coated.

3. Using buttered spatula or wax paper evenly press mixture into buttered 13 x 9 x 2-inch pan. Allow the mixture to cool.

4. Pour Earl Grey Ganache (recipe below) and spread evenly over the treat. Allow it to solidify prior cutting into desired sizes and shapes.

5. Drizzle the pieces with white chocolate.


Earl Grey Ganache:

1. In a small sauce pan, bring the heavy cream to a slow simmer.

2. Add the Earl Grey tea bags and allow them to seep in the cream for 5 minutes.

3. Remove the tea bags and bring the heavy cream back to a boil.

4. Pour the boiled cream over the chopped chocolate, allow the chocolate to melt undisturbed for 1 minute.

5. Stir the cream and chocolate mixture gently until chocolate has completely incorporated into the cream.


For further information on Earl Grey tea, please check out my other post:
"Earl Grey....from an obsession to a devotion...."


Bon Appetit~!

A Christmas cookie exchange sparked the integration of my favourite ingredients....Earl Grey Infused Dark Chocolate Cookie!

~ Earl Grey Infused Dark Chocolate Cookie ~
Since I work at a nutrition research laboratory, to make these cookies just a tad healthier, grapeseed oil is used.


This recipe is an extension to a recent article on Earl Grey:
"Earl Grey....from an obsession to a devotion"


Makes 2 dozen cookies

135g grapeseed oil
100g light brown sugar
150g granulated sugar
55g unsweetened cacao
2 Earl Grey tea bags, grind finely with a coffee grinder
3 large eggs
1 teaspoons vanilla extract
50g bittersweet chocolate, melted and cooled
180g all-purpose flour
7g baking powder
1 pinch salt
200g bittersweet chocolate, coarsely chopped


1. Preheat oven to 350oF. Sift together the flour, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.

2. In a large bowl with the grapeseed oil, stir in the brown and granulated sugars, then stir in the cacao and Earl Grey tea powder until incorporated.

3. Stir in the eggs, one at a time, then the vanilla. Scrape in the melted chocolate, and mix until incorporated.

4. Gradually stir in the flour mixture in 3 additions, do not over mix. During the final addition, add the chopped chocolate along with the flour.

5. Freeze the dough for 4 hours or overnight.

6. Line 2 baking trays with parchment paper. Scoop the cookie dough into tightly formed balls using a small ice cream scoop (size 24). Arrange the dough on the prepared baking trays, about 2 inches apart. Bake for 8 minutes, then turn and bake for another 4 to 5 minutes. Remove cookies from trays with a wide metal spatula and cool on wire rack.

Bon Appetit!

Earl Grey....from an obsession to a devotion....

For those who knows me well, or not, it is certainly not a secret when it comes to my obsession towards this tea, the Earl Grey, which in my opinion has the most provocative aroma that excites both our olfactory and gustatory neurons. An unexplainable but a magical bond, very much like love....it is what makes us homosapiens unique, whether the other end of the bond is a person, or just a simple cup of tea.


This obsession became a devotion, as I marry my passion in pastry making, with this loose leaf of heaven. The versatility of teas are visioned in variety of cuisines; from the infused Oolong duck served at a Chinese banquet, to an addictive homemade potato chips sprinkled with smoky black tea, the idea of tea as an ingredient has just begun to unfold.


Named after the 2nd Earl Grey, British Prime Minister in the 1830s and author of the Reform Bill of 1832, Earl Grey tea is a tea blend with a distinctive flavour and aroma derived from the addition of oil extracted from the rind of the bergamot orange, a fragrant citrus fruit typical of Southeast Asia and grown commercially in Italy. Traditionally the term "Earl Grey" was applied only to black tea; however, today the term is used for other teas that contain oil of bergamot, or a bergamot flavour.


Apart from the original blend, many boutique tea stores sell a similar blend with added rose petals known as French Earl Grey. My choice has always been the Earl Grey with Blue Flowers, which has an elegant touch.

Ohh the "London Fog", not the well famed brand for their trench coats in defense against the Britain's foggy weather, is a combination of Earl Grey, steamed milk and vanilla syrup, the perfect combination of the calcium rich dairy and this fragrant tea.


With the "Earl Grey Macaron" as the debut of the Earl Grey series, there are many more luring recipes yet to come, as my tribute towards this love of mine....

http://lafleuraucacao.blogspot.com/2009/10/earl-grey-macaronnew-creation-for.html

Earl Grey Macaron....new creation for The Macaron Series!

~Earl Grey Macaron~
with dark chocolate hazelnut praline ganache filling....


This article is part of "The Macaron Series"
http://lafleuraucacao.blogspot.com/2009/10/in-mood-for-loveand-macaronthe-macaron.html

Makes 20 macarons

Ingredients

Macaron:
65g Almond meal
80g Icing sugar
40g Castor sugar
50g Egg white
8g Earl Grey tea powder

Preheat your oven to 325oF
1. Stack two or three heavy baking trays. Line the top tray with Silpat.
2. Process the almond meal and icing sugar at high speed to achieve a fine powder. Incorporate the Earl Grey tea powder into this mixture and sift to break up any lumps of powder.
3. In a clean bowl, beat the room-temperature egg whites until foamy and just at soft peaks. Gradually beat in the castor sugar, adding a little at a time. Beat on medium speed for a number of minutes until you have a firm, glossy and compact meringue.
4. Sprinkle half of the dry mixture over the meringue and fold in with a spatula using a circular motion around the bowl and under the batter. Repeat with the remaining powder. You don't need to be gentle, but the goal is to incorporate the dry ingredients quickly to avoid overmixing. *It's better to undermix than overmix.
5. The final batter should be the colour of pale brown, smooth and thick but flowing. A ribbon of batter dropped from a spoon onto the top of the remaining batter should take about 30 seconds to disappear.
6. Spoon the batter into a piping bag with a 8-10 mm nozzle and pipe evenly onto the baking paper. Mild peaks should settle back into the batter eventually. If they don't disappear, tap the tray repeatedly on a table until the peaks have largely disappeared.
7. Leave the piped batter to dry for anywhere between 20 mins and two hours.
8. Place the tray in the oven and bake at 325oF for 12 minutes.
9. At the 5 minute mark the shells should have lifted and developed 'pied' or the feet. At the 6-7 minute mark they should be starting to colour just slightly.
10. Remove from the oven and leave on the tray for a minute or two.
11. Once removed from the sheet, leave the shells to cool on a wire rack, face up.


Dark Chocolate Hazelnut Praline Ganache Filling:


227g Valrhona 71% chocolate couverture
125mL Heavy Cream
114g Hazelnut Praline Paste (store bought or homemade)

1. Chop couverture finely and place it in a bowl.
2. Heat heavy cream in a saucier till almost boiling.
3. Pour the hot cream into the couverture, allow the couverture to seep in hot cream for 1 minute. Gently stir mixture until all the couverture has melted and incorporated with the cream.
4. Place in refrigerator and allow it to harden to form the ganache.
5. Whip ganache until it reaches a creamy consistancy. Gently fold in the praline paste.


Assemble the Earl Grey Macarons:
1. Place the whipped ganache with praline into a piping bag and pipe mixture onto one macaron shell.
2. Gently press an un-piped shell onto the ganache until the ganache just reaches the rim of the macaron.
3. Dust very lightly with cocoa powder if desired.

Bon Appetit!

dans l'amour de macaron....une magnifique expérience à L'Atelier de Joël Robuchon

There is no need to explain further on our love with the French macaron....there are no pâtisseries like the macaron, a visual and sensual enlightenment in a minute elegant package. A macaron is a traditional French pastry from Nancy, a commune of the Meurthe et Moselle département, in northeastern France. Dating back to the 18th century, the macaron is made of egg whites, almond powder, icing sugar and sugar. This sweet pastry came out of the French courts' baker's oven as round meringue-like domes with a flat base.

In the early 1930 the tearoom and pastry-shop Ladurée in Paris started selling the new creation of Pierre Desfontaines, grandson of Louis Ernest Ladurée: two traditional dome halves sandwiched with a sweet filling between: the ganache. This resulted in giving the new macaron a larger size, the possibility of flavored garnishes, and a newfound moistness that came from the garnish. Whereas the traditional macaron was sweet and dry and crunchy, the new macaron had the added attraction of being delicately crunchy on the outside, while moist, chewy, and flavourful on the inside.


Apart from the most well known Paris pâtisseries Pierre Hermé and Ladurée for their French macaron creations, it was the jewels at L'Atelier de Joël Robuchon in Hong Kong, that turned my love into a devotion. Unlike the macarons at Pierre Hermé and Ladurée that come in grandes variétés of seasonal flavours, and are not shy to display their vibrant characters, there are only 8 flavours featured at L'Atelier de Joël Robuchon, each with a soft pastel colour that complements the delicate texture of this prized French pâtisserie. The sweetness was much milder than those I savoured in Paris, allowing each of the signature flavours plus the backnote of almond to trigger a more complete and intense chemoreception.


My affair with L'Atelier de Joël Robuchon was not meant to end with just their macarons, when my gaze was redirected towards a pâtisserie featuring no other teas but The Earl Grey....I was sold simply from its stunning presentation - en forme de dôme de mousse gently kissed by a thin dust of sprayed chocolat blanc. It was unimaginable that its taste could be more phenomenal....it was the perfect representation of the marriage between Earl Grey and citron, and tasting it on the rocking Star Ferry ride between Central and TST just gave the extra edge. The flavourful mousse was expertly formed to create a fluid mouth feel, and to heighten the textual experience, the skillful chef added petites pastilles de chocolat croustillant.


Leaving this treasure chest with une boîte de macaron, I knew it was enough to bring forth the jealousy from my strange companion on a dreadfully long flight.