ORANGE TIAN

Note: There are quite a few steps to making this dessert: however a lot can be made in advance.  The Orange marmalade can be made several days ahead of time and the caramel sauce and orange segments preparation should be made the day before you make the dessert. The whipped cream should be  firm enough to make the dessert to set in the freezer for long enough or they will fall apart when you unmould them.

FOR THE PATE SABLEE
INGREDIENTS:
2 medium sized yolks at room temperature
Granulated sugar 6 tbsp + 1 tsp/2.8 oz/80 grms
vanilla extract 1/2 tsp
unsalted butter 1/4 cup + 3 tbsp ; 3.5 oz ; 100 gms ice cold , cubed
Salt 1/ 3 tsp ; 2 gms
All purpose flour 1.5 cups+ 2 tbsp ; 7 oz ; 200 gms
Baking Powder 1 tsp ; 4 grms

Put the flour, BP, cubed butter and salt in a food processor and mix well, In a separate bowl, add the egg yolks vanilla extract, and sugar and beat with a whisk until the mixture is pale, pour this mixture in the food processor and process (I used my hand as I don't have a food processor), until the dough just comes together, If you find that the dough is still a little too crumbly to come together, add a couple of drops of water and process again to form a homogenoous ball of dough. Form this into a disc, cover with plastic wrap and leave to rest in the fridge for 30 minutes
Preheat over to 350 degree Faherheit, Roll the dough onto a lightly floured surface until you obtain a 1/4 inch thick circle.
Using a cookie cutter, cut out circles of dough and place on a parchment lined baking sheet and Bake for 20 minutes or until the circles of dough are just golden.

FOR THE MARMALADE:
INGREDIENTS:
1/4 cup + 3 tbsps/ 3.5oz/100 gms Freshly pressed Orange Juice
1 Large Orange used to make orange slices
cold water to cook the orange slices
pectin 5 gms
Granulated sugar: use the same weight as the weight of oranges slices once they are cooked

Finley slice the orange, place the orange slices in a medium-sized pot filled with cold water. Simmer for about 10 minutes, discard the water, re-fill the cold water and blanch the oranges for another 10 minutes
Blanch the orange slices 3 times, This process removes the bitterness from the orange peel, so it is essential to use a new batch of cold water every time when you blanch the slices.
Once blanched 3 times, drain the slices and let them cool
Once they are cool enough to handle, finely mince them (using a knife or a food processor, I used my mixie)
Weigh the slices and use the same amount of granulated suar or use a cup measurer for both.
In a pot over medium heat, add the minced orange slices, the sugar you just weighed, the orange juce and pectin. cook the mixture till it reaches a jam consistency (10-15 minutes).
Now your Marmalade is ready (this is absolutely delicious and was my kids favourite, they told me it was far better than the shop bought one, as I had to beg them to try for the first time!!, they were bowled out by the taste of it).

FOR THE ORANGE SEGMENTS:
For this step you will need 8 oranges
cut the oranges into segments over a shallow bowl and make sure to keep the juice. Add the segments to the bowl with the juice.
(This was my disaster, my oranges were quite sour and made the orange tian sour!!, so what I learnt was when slicing check each orange to see if it is sweet!!)

FOR THE CARAMEL
INGREDIENTS:
1 cup , 7 oz/200 grms Granulated sugar
1.5 cups + 2 tbsp /14 oz/400 gms Orange juice

Place the sugar in a pan on medium heat and begin heating it. Once the sugar starts to bubble and foam, slowly add the orange juice, as the soon as the mixute starts boiling, remove from the heat and pour half of the mixture over the orange segments
Reserve the other half of the caramel mixture in a small bosl, you will use this later to spoon over the finished dessert, when the dessert is assembled and setting in the freezer, heat the kept caramel sauce in a small saucepan over low heat until it thickens and just coats the back of a spoon about 10 minutes it takes, you can then spoon it over the orange Tians

FOR THE WHIPPED CREAM:
INGREDIENTS:
1 cup/7oz/200 gms Heavy whipping cream
3 tbsp of hot water
1 tsp Gelatine ( substitute with agar-agar flakes,Xanthum Gum)
1 tbsp Orange Marmalade (see above recipe)

In a small bowl, add the gelatine and hot water, stirring well until the gelatine dissolves. let the gelatine cool to room temperture while you make the whipped cream, As I used xanthum Gum I just dissolved the powder in warm water and used it instead.
Combine the cream in a chilled mixing bowl, whip the cream using a hand mixer on low speed until the cream starts to thicken for about one minute.  Add the confectioner sugar, Increase the speed to medium-high.  Whip the cream until the beaters leave visible trails in the cream, the add the cooled gelatine slowly while beating continuously. continue whipping until the cram is light and fluffy and forms soft peaks. Transfer the whipped cream to a bowl and fold in orange marmalade.

ASSEMBLING THE DESERT:
Make sure you have room in your freezer, Line a small  tray or baking sheet with parchment paper, Lay out cookie cutters, Drain out the orange segments on a kitchen towel, I drained them in a sieve fist and then on the kitchen towel, Have the marmalade, whipped cream and baked circles of dough ready to use.
Arrange the orange segments at the bottom of each cookie cutter. Make sure the segments all touch either and that there are no gaps. Make sure they fit snuggly and look pretty as they end up being top of the dessert. Arrange them as you would sliced apples when making a tart.
Once you have neatly arranged one layer of orange segments at the bottom, add a couple spoonfuls of whipped cream and gently spread it so that it fills the cookie cutter in an even layer, then top it with the dough circle, before that spread a small even layer of orange marmalade on each circle of dough, this side should touching the shipping cream, gently press on the cirle of dough to make sure the dessert is compact.
place the desserts to set in the freezer to set for 10 minutes.
using a small knife, gently go around the edges and make sure the dessert is easy to unmould, Gently place your place on serving plate on top of a dessert and turn the plate over and add a spoonful of carmale sauce and serve immediately.
Check out from other daring bakers here and their lovely creations.

My verdict:
My only problem was my oranges, the oranges I segmented were quite sour and it spoiled the taste of orange tian !!, so I feel it is better to check the oranges before using them. I did not use Gelatine as it is made from the collagen of animal parts, A vegetarian substitute is Agar Agar flakes or Xanthum Gum both help as binding product in the recipe.

The post Orange Tian - Daring Bakers challenge March 2010 appeared first on My Veg Fare.

GLUTEN FREE GRAHAM WAFERS AND NANAIMO BARS

• 1 cup (138g) Sweet rice flour (also known as Glutinous rice flour)
• 3/4 cup (100g) Tapioca Starch/Flour
• 1/2 cup (65g) Sorghum Flour
• 1 cup (200g) Dark Brown Sugar, Lightly packed
• 1 tsp Baking soda
• 3/4 tsp Kosher salt
• 7 tbsp (100g) Unsalted Butter
• 1/3 cup honey, Mild-flavoured such as clover
• 5 tbsp whole milk
• 2 tbsp Pure Vanilla extract

• 1/2 cup (115g) Unsalted Butter
• 1/4 cup (50g) Granulated Sugar
• 5 tbsp Unsweetned Cocoa
• 1 Large Egg, Beaten
• 1 & 1/4 cups (160g) Gluten Free Graham Wafer Crumbs (see previous recipe)
• 1/2 cup (55g) Almonds (finely chopped)
• 1 cup (130g) Coconut (shredded, sweetened or unsweetened)

Middle Layer

• 1/2 cup (115g) Unsalted Butter
• 2 tbsp and 2tsps Heavy cream
• 2 tbsps Vanilla Custard Powder
• 2 cups (254g) Icing Sugar

Bottom Layer

• 4 Ounces (115g) -Semi sweet chocolate
• 2 tbsps (28g) Unsalted Butter

The post Gluten Free Graham Wafers and Nanaimo Bars for Daring Bakers's Challenge January 2010 appeared first on My Veg Fare.