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    Entries in "freeze dried raspberries" (2)

    Saturday
    Dec032016

    Faux Gingerbread Mushrooms 

    faux gingerbread mushrooms, gold dusted ferrero rocher balls and chocolate shards. 

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    You're planning on making a Bûche de Noël (Yule log) for your Christmas centre piece? Add some quick and easy forest---y charm with faux gingerbread mushrooms and gold dusted chocolates.  

    You will need Pfeffernüsse, the small spiced gingerbread cookie. I've used store bought but you could use homemade. 

    Put a little melted white chocolate on the back of a cookie, using a skewer drag through the white chocolate from outside edge inwards to create the mushrooms "gills", remove any excess chocolate from the centre with the end of the skewer. Put the cookie to one side to dry and repeat. 


    Once the chocolate is dry, with a small brush dust cocoa powder or brown cake dust (I used both) to colour and shade your mushroom cookies. 

    Roll a piece of marzipan (or modelling chocolate, or fondant) into a snake shake and cut lengths for stems. Attach stems with a tiny bit of white chocolate, allow to dry and add shading colour if needed.  All done :) 

    Add a golden touch to your truffles or bought chocolates...

    I've use ferrero rocher balls.... unwrap your chocolates and using a soft brush dust your chocolates with gold cake decorating/food dust.  

    Chocolate shards for surrounds: Spread tempered chocolate on a piece of non stick baking paper. Roll it up whilst still melted and pop in fridge to set, unroll and it will break into shards ready to use. 


    I went with a sprinkling of crisp freeze dried raspberry pieces for colour and a burst of flavour, they are a last minute addition as they soften fairly quickly when exposed to air. We used fresh blackberries and tiny fresh strawberries with last years cake. 

    Cacao nibs (often sold as cocoa nibs) are a nice addition for a more adult palate, crunch and a little bitter. 

    Happy baking, don't forget the Christmas bling :) 

    Friday
    May012015

    Freeze dried fruit meringue 

    blackberry bash eton mess cupcake with freeze dried blackberry meringue and fresh tarragon 

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    Ok, I confess. I did tell him they were lollies, my step son that is... when he was little and we were going to the city for the day I'd buy him a packet of freeze dried fruit for a treat.

    Freeze dried fruit is an awesome patisserie ingredient, with the intense flavour and natural colour of fresh real fruit and slight "fizz/sherbet" mouth feel. 

    Freeze dried fruit powders come in a plethora of fruit, veg and herbs, whole, pieces and powder. 

    You can use freeze dried fruit powders in all of your favourite frostings from buttercreams to seven minute, just add a few teaspoons of powder (or to taste) in the last minute on mixing.  

    freeze dried black berry whipped cream

    Ganache and whipped cream you betcha :) The more creamy, the more fat your mixture contains the more powder you will have to use. The resulting flavours aren't as intense as "meringue" but still add a flavour boost. 

    Macaron shells and meringues come to life with a fresh flavour burst of chosen fruit. Think pavlovas, meringue based roulades and souffles too. 

    Cookies, biscuits, cake batters, tart and pie crusts can all be flavoured/coloured with freeze dried fruit powder. I made the best ever passionfruit shortbread last Christmas thanks the to addition of freeze dried passionfruit powder. 

    Wake up your breakfast by adding freeze dried fruit powders or pieces to your homemade granola, stir through yoghurt, add to your waffle batter or add a spoonful to your smoothie. 

    One of my favourite uses for freeze dried fruit powder is just flavouring sugar. Here castor sugar/super fine is flavoured with freeze dried berry powder and used for donut coating sugar. Flavoured sugar; a few teaspoons of freeze dried fruit powder per cup of sugar, mix and then store in an airtight jar. Use as required on you tea cakes, pancakes, donuts and the like. 

    Blackberry meringue

    You can use any meringue recipe italian, french or swiss... just add powder in last, about a tablespoon for 3-4 egg whites.

    Pre heat oven to 90cel  (194F) 

    line baking tray with non stick paper

    4 egg whites are room temperature

    220g (7.75oz) caster sugar (superfine)

    I pinch of cream of tartar

    10 to 15 grams (0.35 to 0.50oz) of freeze dried blackberry powder

    Whisk egg whites with an electric mixer until soft peaks form, gradually add sugar until combined, add blackberry powder and continue to whisk until thick and glossy.

    Spread onto prepared tray and bake for one and a half to two hours. Turn oven off and leave in oven until cool about another 2 hours.  

    Bash or break pieces off to stir through chantilly (vanilla) whipped cream with fresh berries for you eton mess. Either serve in small glasses, a giant bowl or fill cored cupcakes with the mixture. 

    I used fresh tarragon to add, ummm well "freshness" and the herbal aniseed flavours compliments the blackberries beautifully. 

    Haven't used freeze fruit before? Then I would suggest you start with raspberries, whole, bits or powder or passionfruit powder. Unless you are growing your own, both these give you the most bang for you buck and they are popular too!  

    A note on colours; blackberry, blueberry and black currant all give a "purple colour range", for pink or red use raspberry, sometimes the strawberry powder whilst tasting of fresh strawberries gives you an orange colour hue.

    Pros:   intense concentrated real fruit flavour, intense natural colour, slight fizz, a little goes a long way, your not adding excess liquid to you mixes, enjoy fruit out of season. Whole freeze dried fruits can be ground to powder or broken into small bits. 

    Cons:  cost, it's not inexpensive, powders will clump, pieces soften if exposed to moisture... silica sachets recommended if you buy a larger quantity than a sachet. 

    Where to get it is going to depend on where you are located: places to look specialty supermarkets and food stores, health food stores, patisserie supplies store. Seek out local growers for supreme quality. 

    New Zealand: Fresh As this brand is available to ship to Australia and also available from gourmet grocer online  

    Australia: The Essential Ingredient Sydney, Melbourne and online    

    Tastebom has a nice range, as does Melbourne Food Depot 

    US:  Amazon  

    Happy Baking :)  

    You might also be interested in red plum fruit caviar 

    or an easy white chocolate plastique