Baking for Breast Cancer

As mentioned in yesterdays post, a number of us at work baked pink-themed goodies for a morning tea in aid of The National Breast Cancer Foundations Pink Ribbon Day. Virtually everyone in the office (30 or so people) sampled our collective wares, and proved that 10am on a Monday morning is plenty late enough for cake...

Naturaly, I tried to be a little different from the usual suspects of pink icing and berries, instead making a couple of things using Pink Peppercorns, which still have that peppery flavour, albeit with a slight citrus tinge. They also look pretty damn cool.

(Top Left)

EL BULLI's WHITE CHOCOLATE AND FENNEL LEAF 'FOSSILS' WITH PINK PEPPERCORNS
(From El Bulli 1998-2002 via Hungry in Hogtown - Makes 24 (approx))

1. Arrange small fennel leaves on a transparent sheet and add lightly crushed pepper.
2. In a small Ziploc bag, heat approximately 100 grams of white chocolate in the microwave until is just melted.
3. When just melted, snip off a corner of the Ziploc to make it a pastry bag.
4. Squeeze white chocolate over each leaf, then cover with another transparent sheet and press until "it is like a fossil."
5. Chill.

(Bottom Left)

CHOCOLATE, LIME CURD AND PINK PEPPERCORN MERINGUE TARTLETS
(From Bron Marshall's Website, makes 24 mini-muffin (i.e. tiny) sized tarts)

Chocolate Pastry

1 cup of plain white flour
2 tablespoons of quality cocoa
a pinch of salt
85 grams of butter
½ cup of caster sugar
1 small egg or 1 large yolk

1. Sift the flour, cocoa and salt into a large bowl or food processor.
2. Cut the butter into small cubes and rub into the flour either with your hands or using a food processor, until it resembles fine breadcrumbs.
3. Whisk the castor sugar and egg together and add to the mixture to make a firm dough.
4. On a lightly floured bench or board knead the mixture until it forms a smooth ball.Handle as little as possible to prevent the pastry from becoming hard when baked.
5. Cover the pastry with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 20 minutes.
6. Preheat the oven to 180°C, 350°F or gas mark 4.
7. On a lightly floured board or bench carefully roll out the pastry.
8. With a round cookie cutter cut the dough into rounds to fit patty or mini muffin tins.
9. Bake blind for 6 to 8 minutes and remove from the oven.

Lime curd

¾ cup of white sugar
1 ½ tablespoons of cornflour (cornstarch)
½ cup of water
½ cup of lime juice
grated zest of two limes
2 egg yolks
30 grams of butter, cubed

1. Stir the sugar, cornflour, water, lime juice and grated lime zest over a low heat until all the sugar has dissolved
2. Continue to heat gently until the mixture has thickened somewhat.
3. Remove from the heat and whisk in the egg yolks and butter.
4. Continue to cook over a bain marie until the desired, fairly thick consistency has been reached.

Meringue

2 egg whites
pinch salt
½ cup of caster sugar
1 tablespoon of pink peppercorns, crushed

1. Beat the egg whites and salt in a extremely clean bowl until soft peaks form.
2. Gradually add the sugar, beating well until all the sugar is dissolved and the meringue is glossy.
3. Fill the baked tartlet shells with a spoonful of lime curd and then pipe the meringue on top of each tartlet.
4. Finally, sprinkle with a few crushed pink peppercorns.
5. Place them back in the oven for 5 minutes until the meringue is cooked through and slightly golden.

-------

The White Chocolate 'Fossils' looked amazing, but took a couple of bites to get used to - the combination of the chocolate and fennel is very unusual. Those at work who were willing to take the plunge and tried them said much the same. Yes, they're a little gimmicky, but it was worth it for experimentations sake...

The tartlets were a roaring success. Sure, it took me two goes to get the meringue right (the first batch wasn't thick enough) but I surprised myself with my pastry skills, considering I'm not that much of a baker. The sweetness of the meringue contrasted nicely with the tartness of the lime curd, with a little bit of spice from the peppercorns to round things off.