French Fridays With Dorie - Honey Rose Spiced Madeleines and Giveaway Winner

“Don't part with your illusions. When they are gone you may still exist, but you have ceased to live.”
~ Mark Twain

Did I manage to fool you into thinking that I made madeleines this week for French Fridays? Well, the batter was for madeleine cookies for sure, but I do not own a madeleine baking pan. Although I've had these delicious, made-for-dunking cookies before, I'd never been tempted to make them until this week's recipe came along. As soon as these came out of the oven and were popped into my mouth, however, I wondered why I never tried my hand at making them for they were A+ delicious!

Cupid's Cobbler: Plums with Rose-Basil Seed Cream

“Your heart is my piñata.”

  Chuck Palahniuk

I'll be the first to tell you that I'm no romantic. Not that I'm opposed to being wined, dined, pampered and adored by people whom I adore in return. No, in fact I've had more than my fair share of being spoiled rotten, so why the heck do I find it hard to return the favor? Maybe it's because I'm way too practical and analytical for my own good that I uhh... never really initiate anything special for Valentine's Day. Well, not wholeheartedly, anyway. :-)

But Valentine's next week, and I feel like I have to at least show the people around me how much they're loved and appreciated, and since I don't say that often enough, I'm hoping that this heart-pumping cobbler would speak volumes. There's an abundance of plums right now, so I've used both Black Amber Plums (purple) and Fortune Plums (red) and topped them with heart-shaped sweet cream biscuits to make this non-traditional cobbler. Try presenting this dish to someone and see if it doesn't make their heart melt. (If it doesn't, then may I suggest that perhaps that person doesn't have any business being inside your emotional space, hmm?).

I have this family of heart cookie-cutters that were still in their packaging, even though it's been a year since I'd bought them. I'm not sure why I'd even gotten them actually... to use in case of emergencies, I suppose. Or for Diva D for when she makes her lovely cookies. Or maybe I was hoping to get soppier with increasing age. In any case, I reckoned all passionate bakers should have at least one heart-shaped cookie cutter in their arsenal of baking tools.

So no, I haven't suddenly gotten all mushy in the run-up for Valentine's when I baked this. What I have become with age (and a big dose of hindsight) though, is appreciative. So you could say that I wanted to show my appreciation to my loved ones by presenting them with my very own version of Cupid's Plum Cobbler.

Now, plum is not the first fruit you would normally think of when you're hoping for some sweet loving. Neither would you think of a cobbler being the food of romance, it just dawned upon me. Grapes or strawberries dipped in chocolate would be what I imagine you'd order from room service to get you through an evening of passion. But wait, you don't know this cobbler like I know it!

Apart from the creamy biscuit topping, the plums are flavored with orange, and served with rose-scented cream that contains....wait for it... soaked basil seeds! Seeds of several basil varieties become gelatinous when soaked in water, and here in Asia, we frequently use them in drinks and desserts. In my home, a favourite use of basil seeds is to add them to pink rose syrup, called air bandung. It gives the drink a bit of a crunch and basil seeds also help the body cool down  on a hot day. On their own, they don't actually taste of anything.

I think of frog spawn whenever I see this... but don't let that statement put you off! 

Audacious? Yes, quietly so. Hopeful? Oh yes, definitely so! Now..... where is that honey of mine?

Clandestine basil seeds

Plum Cobbler with Rose-Basil Seed Cream
Serves 6
Ingredients:
Filling
10 ripe plums, pitted and sliced into wedges
1/3 cup caster sugar
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
Finely grated zest of 1 orange
2 cups freshly squeezed orange juice
Pinch of salt

Cream Biscuits
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
125g cold butter, cubed
1/2 cup thickened cream
1/2 cup milk
Extra milk, for brushing
2 teaspoons caster sugar

Rose-Basil Seed Cream
300ml thickened cream
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 teaspoons rosewater
1/4 cup caster sugar
1 teaspoon basil seeds, soaked for 5 minutes

1. Preheat oven to 200C. Prepare filling by combining plums, sugar, flour, orange juice and zest, and salt. Pour the mixture into a 22cm round baking dish and bake for 15 minutes until the fruit is softened.

2. Meanwhile, prepare the cream biscuits topping. Mix the flour, baking powder in a bowl with a fork. Add the butter and rub the flour into the butter with your fingertips. Work quickly until the mixture resembles coarse breadcrumbs. Make a well in the centre and radually add the cream and milk. Stir briefly until the dough just comes together (it'll still be a bit soft and sticky).

3. Turn dough out onto a floured surface and knead quickly 8-10 times until smooth, but don't overwork the mixture. Gently flatten to with a rolling pin to about 1.5 cm thick. Flour a heart cookie cutter and cut enough shaped doughs to cover the top of the cobbler.

4. Remove the dish from the oven and reduce the heat to 180C. Top the fruit with the biscuits, brush with extra milk and sprinkle with sugar. Bake for 30-40 minutes until biscuits are golden and the fruit is bubbling.

5. For the rose cream, combine cream, vanilla, rosewater and sugar. Whisk to soft peaks before stirring in the drained basil seeds. Cover and chill until needed. Serve the cobbler warm with rose cream.

Rosewater Macadamia Mini-Tarts

"The Queen of Hearts, she made some tarts, All of a summer day: The Knave of Hearts, he stole those tarts And took them quite away!"

Dodgson
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, ch.11, 'Who Stole the Tarts?'.

Whenever I think of macadamia, I automatically think of Australia and Hawaii. That's because during my younger days, friends or relatives who had travelled to these faraway lands (when I was young, the world seemed bigger) frequently brought us back chocolate-covered macadamia candy as gifts from their trips. As an adult, I learnt that macadamia nuts are actually native to Australia, but were imported to Hawaii where they thrived. They are apparently also now grown in New Caledonia and Indonesia.

When I bought my big bag of macadamia nuts (unshelled....urrghh), I knew I wanted to make tarts with them. The buttery-flavored nuts would be soft enough to cut through with a knife and would be perfect as a tart filling. On its own, though, I felt it wouldn't give enough of a kick and all of you who visit here often would know that I'm all for tastebud-titillation when it comes to anything I bake. Macadamia always tastes heavenly with orange or chocolate but as usual, I resisted the temptation to go with the norm. It was my James Dean-rebel gene exerting its dominance in the kitchen yet again.   

So I think of Rosewater, and flashes of Indian sweets (gulab jamun), Turkish Delight and air bandung (pink rosewater-flavored, sweet drink) cross my mental palate. The possibility of a floral, buttery, nutty-flavored tart seemed more tempting and was definitely more my style. Subtle but memorable. No mere coincidence then that my life is reflected in many of my baked goodies...

Rosewater lending a floral note to the pastry and filling.

When it comes to making an undeniably tasty crust, I like to use the rather nutty, low-gluten and easier-to-digest spelt flour. Although my crust is not butter-less (fat chance!), it is eggless as spelt makes the dough stickier to work with. And I incorporated just enough Rosewater in the dough (as well as the filling) to enable you to detect the floral note as you bite into the tart. I'm partial to eating flowers, what can I say?

Shelling brings me no joy.... but oh, anything for the buttery nut!

Apart from the nailbreaking session with the macadamias, this was probably the one of the easiest tarts I have ever made - and I don't say that lightly because I've made many easy tarts. Cooking and prep times are also minimal, so this is a good one to impress guests for when they drop by darnedly unexpectedly.

The custard filling rises in the oven but falls and wraps itself around the nuts upon cooling.

It's a known fact that incorporating macadamia nuts into a heart healthy diet can reduce cardiovascular disease risks. Macadamia nuts have higher levels of monounsaturated fats, like those found in olive oil compared with other tree nuts. I had actually piped melted, white chocolate over several of these tarts but I'm not showing you them so that we can all keep to the perception that these mini-tarts are indeed, healthy. ;-)

Rosewater Macadamia Mini-Tarts
Makes: 9 mini-tarts (2½ inches wide)
Ingredients:
Spelt Rosewater Crust
250g spelt flour
125g cold butter, cubed
2 to 3 tablespoons Rosewater*
(*you can get this at Asian culinary stores)

Macadamia Cream Filling
200g whole macadamia nuts, shelled
1/3 cup brown sugar, packed
1/3 cup heavy cream
2 tablespoons corn syrup
1 egg
1 ½ tablespoon Rosewater

Method:

1. Make the crust first: in a bowl, rub the cold butter into the flour until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs. Make a well in the center of the mixture, gradually add Rosewater and knead the flour into a pastry ball.

2. Preheat oven to 180C. Divide dough into 9 balls, take one and press onto the base and sides of a mini-tart pan (1-cm deep) to form the crust. Repeat with the rest of the dough balls. Prick the base of the crust with a fork several times to release hot air while baking.

3. Place tart pans in the oven and bake for 10 minutes.

4. In the meantime, prepare the custard cream filling. Whisk the brown sugar, cream, corn syrup, egg and Rosewater for about a minute until well-combined.

5. After 10 minutes, remove the semi-cooked spelt crust from the oven. Arrange a layer of macadamia nuts on the base of each crust and carefully pour the custard cream on top of the nuts, filling it until you just cover all the nuts.

6. Bake at 180C for 15 minutes until custard is just set. Remove from the oven and leave to cool on a rack for about 10 minutes. Mini-tarts can be served warm or cool with ice-cream or whipped cream.