Waiting For My Brilliant Career

If there are two things that cause me to salivate most, they are cookies and gelato. The utter elation I feel upon entering or let alone catching sight of a gelateria is unmatched. Extreme is one’s passion, that at one point I even considered becoming a gelato taste-tester, I’m serious. There’s no question about it, the girl loves her cookies and gelato.

Such was my fanciful childhood ambition that even to this day, I will go around telling people that if my career in communications were to go bust, my plan-B was to be a gelato taste-tester. Oh to be that valiant soul who would taste every new flavour of gelato before it is let loose on an unsuspecting public. This was to be my noble cause, until I hit a slight snag when I couldn’t find job listings for “Gelato Taste-Tester” on seek.com.

So if anyone is indeed searching for that fearless individual to try all manner of gelato flavours, I am here waiting for the call. In the meantime I make do with my Giant Espresso Cookie Gelato Sandwiches. Here, the genius behind taking two pieces of bread and filling it with something is elevated to another level with the amalgamation of cookies and gelato in these gigantic dessert sandwiches.

I used the Espresso Gelato recipe from The Ultimate Frozen Dessert Book, but store bought gelato is just as good. Quite literally these sandwiches take two full fists to eat and there is no respectable way of eating them. If you are eating them correctly, it is certain you will end up with crumbs strewn across your face and gelato dripping down your to your elbows. This is not a dessert recommended for a first date or dinner with the queen. It is more appropriate for those times you are able to freely indulge your “inner Nigella” and enthusiastically shove mouthfuls of the stuff down your throat.

Giant Espresso Cookies
(makes around 10 cookies)

½ cup butter
1 cup soft brown sugar
1 egg
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 ½ cup all-purpose flour
½ tsp baking soda
2 tbsp espresso powder
pinch of salt

Preheat oven to 180°C.
Cream the butter and sugar in a bowl until light and fluffy.
Add the egg and vanilla and beat thoroughly.
Then incorporate all of the dry ingredients, in four additions, ensuring that dough is mixed well.
Using a mechanical ice cream scoop, scoop out dough onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper, and bake cookies for about 8 minutes.
Cool them on a wire rack.

When cookies are cooled, fill two cookies with gelato flavour of your choice. Press the cookies together until gelato spreads to the edges. Enjoy!!

NOTE: I suggest not baking the cookies for too long keeping them fairly soft in the middle as when you add the gelato its coldness will help harden the cookies.

Nigella's Molten Chocolate Babycakes

As you may have noticed there has been a slight chocolate explosion on this blog, and i guess in my kitchen. Starting from this post I have made about four other desserts using chocolate. All of these creations come as a result of an impulse bulk purchase of several different brands of chocolate. I bought three blocks of Lindt's Dark Coverture Chocolate, three blocks of Green and Black's Organic Dark Chocolate and two blocks of Michel Cluizel's Tamarina Chocolat Noir (all 70% cacao). I was quite literally like a kid in a candy store; I couldn't make up my mind and G was giving me the "can we go now-look" as we had another appointment to attend to. So there was a certain amount of haste in my choices, but nonetheless I was very pleased with my selection.

With the last remnants of chocolate I decided to make Nigella's Molten Chocolate Babycakes. The recipe is from her book How To Be A Domestic Goddess, but you can also find the recipeMax Brenner's in Paddington inspired this creation as that it somewhat resembled the chocolate soufflé on their menu. These babycakes are a lot denser and richer than Max's soufflé and they tasted absolutely divine, with each spoonful literally melting in your mouth. on her website. A recent visit to

If you are not a fan of chocolate, you want to steer very clear of this recipe because it is not at all subtle; however if you happen to be a lover of chocolate as I am, then this is one you must try. This almost-flourless cake, is as Nigella explains dead easy to make and if perhaps you are making them for a dinner party they can be prepared ahead of time and kept in the refrigerator until you are ready to bake. Make sure that your baking time is relatively short, about 10-12 minutes as that you want the inside of the cakes to remain soft and gooey. Eat them straight away so that all that warm chocolate gooey-ness isn't lost. I suggest pairing it with some vanilla bean ice cream or even a fruit sorbet. The tartness of the sorbet is a great compliment to the rich chocolate. It may be a good idea to have a glass of something nearby, one too large a spoonful has been known to get stuck down one's throat.

melts in your mouth

Chocolate Mousse a la Fleur d'Oranges

Unfortunately no fascinating account or entertaining anecdote accompanies this post. This simply is my first ever attempt at mousse and so far it has been a successful venture without too many hiccups. My stockpile of chocolate is slowly dwindling away and so far I have made two other recipes with it and it appears that another chocolate shopping spree is on the horizon.

I adapted a Chocolate and Orange-Liqueur Mousse recipe from Australian Gourmet Traveller’s book Chocolate, but rather than using Cointreau or an orange-flavoured liqueur, I used orange-flower water instead. The result, a more subtle aromatic orange taste, rather than a more intense alcoholic flavour. So here I bring to you my first, of many I am sure, Chocolate Mousse a la Fleur d'Oranges.

Chocolate Mousse a la Fleur d'Oranges
(adapted from Gourmet Traveller, Chocolate)

250g dark coverture chocolate, finely chopped
100g unsalted butter, finely chopped
2 tsp orange-flower water
1 tsp vanilla extract
8 egg yolks, at room temperature
100g caster sugar
5 egg whites

Combine chocolate and butter in a heatproof bowl over a saucepan of simmering water and stir well until smooth and glossy. Remove from heat and whisk in orange-flower water and vanilla.
Whisk egg yolks and sugar until thick and pale, then gradually pour in chocolate mixture and whisk until well combined.
In another bowl, whisk egg whites until stiff peaks form. Gently fold half the egg whites into chocolate mixture until just incorporated, then repeat with remaining mixture. Spoon into ceramic dishes, cover and refrigerate for at least 6 hours or ideally overnight until set.
Serve chocolate mousse topped with double cream and chocolate shavings.

Makes 8 serves.

NOTE: The mousse will keep, covered, in the refrigerator for up to 3 days. Also I have noticed that not a lot conventional supermarkets will stock Orange Flower Water, I bought mine from Aboutlife in Balmain.

Billy's Chocolate Self-Saucing Puddings

Since receiving a copy of Bill Granger's book Bill's Food as a Christmas present last year, he and I have become well acquainted. He has also recently become a guest contributor to the SMH's Good Living section, so has a sort of omnipresence in my kitchen. His fast and simple recipes have been my saving grace all those times when I didn't feel like cooking, but also didn’t want to end up eating a substandard meal. His recipes are great for those on the go and also for those that require a no-fuss policy when it comes to cooking, which includes myself.

On an impromptu request for a quick chocolate dessert from G and my mother, I knew exactly what to whip up. Whenever people need a quick chocolate fix in my household I always reach for my copy of Bill's Food and make his famous Chocolate Self-Saucing Puddings. For me these are utterly fail-safe, to this day I have never ruined this recipe and each time I have made them they have turned out beautifully. I do recommend using a good quality unsweetened cocoa powder (not Dutch-processed or alkalised) as that the cocoa is definitely the primary flavour. The higher the quality of the cocoa powder that you use the better your little puddings will taste.

For this quickie batch I did not have any thick double cream to serve them with, although they are just as satisfying to eat on their own. Also the puddings alone can be reasonably filling so having the double cream makes them doubly filling. They are a great dessert option for winter as they are very warm and comforting. And if all of the little puddings are not devoured that same night they are still just as delicious the morning after. G has even had it for breakfast the following day.

In all modesty I think I have virtually mastered this recipe, although I have still to achieve the level of prettiness in my pictures of the pudding as Bill does in his book. I have never gotten my pictures to look quite as good, but it is something I am aiming for. I guess it doesn't matter after you put a spoonful of the warm chocolate goodness in your mouth. After all no matter how pretty a picture is you still can’t eat it can you?

You can find the recipe for Chocolate Self-Saucing Puddings on Bill's website.