Chocolate Log Cabin Part 2

When I left you last week, we were just about to construct the cabin. If you need to read part 1 to refresh your memory, then feel free to do so; I'll wait, no worries.

You're back! Good, I was beginning to get worried and thought I might have to call Lassie.

First you need to make some glue to hold the logs. This is simple. Take a pound of dark cooking chocolate (or dark chocolate melts), break it into small pieces, put the peices in a bowl and nuke that sucker. 20 seconds in the microwave, then stir, then another twenty, etc. It won't take long before you have a bowl of dark chocolate liquid glue!

Start assembling by using one long wall log, one short wall log at 90 degrees, and one interior support. And lots of chocolate glue.


BTW, if you aren't sure about the wall logs and such, reread part one.



You'll soon notice (as I did) that your logs need to be glued to the greaseproof paper otherwise they'll slide around. More dark chocolate glue to the rescue.




You don't want to do only two walls at a time, so after two or three logs, start on the other two walls.




Don't forget your other 3 interior braces and use lots and lots of the dark chocolate glue.




A few things you make have noted by now...

One: You've had to reheat (nuke) the dark chocolate a time or two.

Two: You didn't use enough chocolate.

Three: You are very glad I had you put the semi-cooled logs in a sealed plastic bag overnight so they are somewhat flexible.

Four: You've noticed the short walls are about an inch inside the long walls. This gives a nice log cabin look.

Here's where you should be at:




Next step is to plaster the exterior of the walls. The plaster is made of half dark chocolate and half milk chocolate. Melt it in the microwave as before and stir it to combine.

Now grab a rubber cake spatula and start slathering it on!




After you slather all the sides with chocolate plaster, you can then glue your roof supports on --kinda like A-Frame cabin look:




Use lots of dark chocolate to glue on those roof supports, and then let the whole thing set for a few hours (or overnight) to "cure" somewhere cool (and away from any kids or chocolate lovers).

Next up: Roofing!

Chocolate Log Cabin Part 1

*burp*

*ssssstttttttrrrreeeeetttttccccchhhhhhhhh*

The above was the some from my tummy and the sound of the elastic on the waistband of my shorts. Ahem.

Before I give you any particulars or just how much chocolate and sugar was used, here's a pic of the finished cabin just before we started consuming it:




There are several things I learned while making this sucker --this list is in no particular order of importance, BTW.

*Don't make this in the middle of a 2 week holiday feast/gluttony session

*Don't make this in the middle of a hot Aussie summer

*When asking for tips (thanks Gretchen), don't ask after you are already halfway through. I'll be using many of her tips NEXT time.

*Get a lot more chocolate than you think you'll need.

*Ditto for the cream.

*Same for the sugar.


Not including the dough for the logs, here is a brief list of the approximate amounts that went into the cabin:

Dark Chocolate: 2 pounds

Milk Chocolate: 1 and a half pounds

White Chocolate: 1 pound

Heavy Whipping Cream: 2 litres (half a gallon)

Sugar: Around a kilo (2 pounds)

Cocoa Powder: half a cup


Ummmmmmm, yeah... drool...


But before I put of pics of the construction and a description, you'll first need to make the logs. I used a variation of my pretzel dough for making the logs of the cabin. I didn't baste them in an egg wash, nor did I sprinkle salt on them cus I figured that would just interfere with all the chocolate flavour. I also used less baking powder as I wanted them to be a bit denser than a normal soft pretzel.

Oh yeah, instead of simmering the uncooked logs in water with baking soda (that's how you get the pretzel flavour, btw) I added extra baking soda to the dough.

Here's what you need for enough dough to make a cabin of around 13 inches by 6 inches.

3 cups plain flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tbsp baking soda
1/2 tsp sea salt
1 tbsp raw sugar
1 and 1/4 cups (310 mls) water.

What you do:

Mix all the dry ingredients in a large bowl. Add the water and mix it all together. Knead the dough a few times in the bowl till a nice, soft dough is formed, and add a bit more water (if it's really stiff) or a bit more flour (if it's really runny).

Grab a small piece of dough --a bit bigger than a golf ball, see:




Roll it between your hands




And then roll it out on a surface, starting from the middle and working your way to the ends:




At this point you should have a dough string about 8 inches long. Now put your hands back in the middle and roll it out again




And you'll now have a thin strand of dough around 14 inches (or so) long




Make enough to fill a baking tray and lay them on it:




Bake at 180 C (350 F) for ten minutes or so. Check them regularly as every oven is different. Here's what the batch of cooked "logs" looks like cooling on a rack:




Let them cool, then put them in a plastic bag, seal the bag, and let them sit overnight. This it to keep them soft so that not only are they easy to cut and trim, but so that you can bend them if needed.

The next day...

Make your base. I used a piece of heavy cardboard about a foot and a half by 3 feet. Wrap the cardboard in cling wrap (saran wrap or whatever you want to call it) and then wrap it in some grease-proof paper.




Time to start sorting your logs. Keep the longest ones for the roof (you want an overhang). I used 7 for each long wall (14 in total) and cut another 7 in half for the two short walls for a total of 21 logs for the walls.

One log was cut into 4 pieces for use as interior bracing, 9 long ones for the roof, and four left over for the roof supports and whatever else was needed.

See?




I then cut the tips off all 14 of the long wall logs so not only would they be equal length, but they'd look like logs too. Did the same for the pieces of the short wall. Make sure you keep the cut tips (about an inch long each) cus you'll need them to help brace the roofing logs.




It's now time to assemble it! That'll have to wait till part 2,3,4 etc as it's now 90 f in the shade, 112 F in the sun, and the pool is singing her Siren's Song.

Dark Chocolate Sauce with Shiraz

This is a very good sauce. Very good. Seriously good.

Now, I'm not sure on the exact amounts of stuff as I do a lot of "eye-balling" in the kitchen. But this'll give you a good start.

The idea is you want the sauce to still be pourable when it cools, but still be tasty and chocolaty.

Here's what you need:

2 cups of dark cooking chocolate (melts or pieces from a bar)
1/2 glass shiraz wine (and the other half for the cook)
3 tbsp butter
1/2 whipping cream *update* 1/2 CUP whipping cream, darned typos

What do you do?

This is easy. Chuck it all into a thick bottomed saucepan. Lowest heat possible. Stir or whisk it as the chocolate melts. As soon as the chocolate is melted and everything is stirred together, turn the heat off.

You can use it hot, or use it as cold.

This year for the Christmas morning brunch everyone had a dish of this chocolate sauce for use. Most just dipped the fresh strawberries in the sauce. I, of course, dipped pretty much everything in the sauce including rolled up shaved prosciutto. It was very tasty! I even dipped chocolate sea shells in the chocolate sauce, mmmmmmm. I even poured a bit into my champagne glass and then filled the glass with a vanilla and cream flavoured sparkling wine (from Nurioopta). Yummy.

Panforte

More holiday recipes! Woo-hoo!

This is one I've made for the last 3 holiday feasts, but this year it'll be substituted with my peanut butter cheesecake with hot fudge topping.

So, like *what* does panforte mean? Hmmmm, let's see... "forte" means "strong", and "pan" means "pan", which could be Peter Pan. Ahhh, *peter* is slang for penis, so I guess this would be a penis that's strong? Like an erection?

No, no, I'm joking! If you like nuts and chocolate, then this is for YOU.

One Continental Panforte

What you kneed:

130 gms (a bit over 1/2 cup) macadamia nuts --note: I use cashews since they are a LOT cheaper here
130 gms chopped walnuts
130 gms slivered (not silvered) almonds
150 gms (2/3 cup) chopped, pitted, dates
180 gms (3/4 cup) sultanas --raisins are dried red grapes, sultanas are dried white grapes; you can use raisins if you like
250 gms (1 cup) cooking chocolate --you know, the kind for melting
60 gms (1/4 cup) desiccated coconut
125 gms (1/2 cup) flour
125 gms (still 1/2 cup) cocoa powder
125 gms (really! still 1/2 cup) icing sugar
60 gms (1/4 cup) butter
125 gms (gosh, still 1/2 cup) apricot jam
75 mls (1/3 cup) cherry brandy (leave a shot or two for the cook)


What you due:

Chuck all the nuts, fruits (sultana counts as a fruit here), coconut, flour, cocoa, and icing sugar in a bowl. Mix it all together.

Melt the butter and chocolate in a double boiler. (If you don't have a double boiler, then here's a neat trick (came up with it myself): put the choc and butter in a metal bowl, place the bowl over the top of a pan of boiling water. Duh! One instant double boiler! You can paypal me whatever amount you'd like for that tip.) Add the apricot jam and cherry brandy to the melting mixture and stir well.

Once the double boiler stuff is melted, then add it to the bowl of dry stuff and mix thoroughly.

Grease (butter) and line* (wax paper or grease-proof paper) a deep cake dish (or pretty much anything that'll go in the oven) and bake for 30 mins in a 150 C (300 F) oven.

When you pull it out, it'll seem moist and sticky but will firm up upon cooling.

Once it's cooled (at least two hours), pop that baby out and slice it up! Oh, it'll keep for weeks if you so desire (yeah, right!).

*you really don't need to line the dish, once it's cooled, just float it in a sink of hot water for a minute and then it'll slide right out.

This sucker weighs over 3 and a half pounds! Chocolate, nuts, brandy, etc! Ahhhhh, I'm not responsible for any increased waistlines... You've been warned.

Bananas Flambe'

These are so easy and so tasty! You just need to make sure you've got good, solid bananas. If your 'nanners have gone too ripe, then make banana jam instead.

But, if you've got fresh, solid 'nanners, then try this:

Bananas Flambe --Dingo Dave style

What you knead:

Some firm bananas, pealed, and halved lengthwise
At least a half cup of butter
Half a cup (or so) of raw sugar
A splash of high quality rum

Before I start with the "what you due" section, there's a few points I'd like to write about regarding the above stuff.


Bananas vs plantains... Hey, anyone know Don King's phone number? Sounds like a good fight to me.

For those of you knot (not) in the know, a plantain IS a banana; just larger and starchier. musa paradisica is the latin term for a plantain. Since a plantain is much starchier (I love that word: STARCHIER) than a standard banana --musa sapientia-- you have to make sure it's cooked longer than a banana. So if you are using plantains in this recipe, make sure you slice them thinly and cook them longer.

Trivia: You've all scene (seen) seens (scenes) of a jungle on the Telly (TV) where banana trees abound --Oh Puuuuuh-leeeeaaaassssseeee try to say that fast! But it may interest you to know (and then again, maybe not) to learn that a banana plant is botanically classified as an HERB. Gotta love them big herbs. Yo, Herb! Is that you dude?

Next topic: sugar... raw sugar is what used to be known as brown sugar yonks ago (a long time ago). Brown sugar now means ugly refined sugar with ultra-processed molasses added --YUCK! So... Raw Sugar Is Cool.

High Quality Rum: I don't think I need to talk about the fact that 151 from the Windies is best, eh?

Oh crap, almost forgot: what do you get when you heat butter and sugar in a saucepan? You get butterscotch (duh). Guess what? It orginates from the same area as Scotch! You know: Scotland. Traditional butterscotch is a hard candy-like treat; the mixture is allowed to cool, then it hardens, then you eat it. The wonderful butterscotch topping that you are all familiar with that is put upon your ice cream has lemon juice and cream added to it while cooking the mix in a double boiler. Let me know if you want to know how to make your own, no worries.

Ok, back to the recipe:

What you due

Melt the butter and sugar in a fry pan. When it's melted, put the bananas in. Turn them after a few mins so that they are browned on both sides (hey, it's just sugar). Then toss in the splash of 151 dark rum (reserving enough for the cook), then light it (if you have a gas cooker you don't need to light it, it should light itself).

When the flames die down (die flames, DIE), serve it up over vanilla ice cream, making sure you pour lots of the flambe'ed butterscotch topping over it.

Enjoy!


BTW, I have gathered all the fixin's for this year's Holiday Feast. Well, except the fresh stuff, I'll be getting that daily. Anywho, starting Monday the Twenty-Oneth I'll start posting holiday recipes complete with pictures. I'll even give you detailed details on how to make WP's infamous Charlotte Rouse.

Spicy Roasted Almonds

Yes, it's that time of the year when everyone roasts nuts. Anyone remember the old joke about Chet's nuts? This post has nothing to do with Chet's nuts.

These almonds are spicy. If you don't like spicy, then just halve (or quarter) some of the seasonings.

Now, I've done this for a small amount of almonds (the cockatoos ate the rest before I got to the trees) so just double or ten-tuple everything if you've got a lot of almonds.

What you need:

1/2 cup of shelled almonds (with the skin on) --that's 50 grams or about 2 ounces.
3 tsp olive oil
1/2 tsp ground black pepper
1/2 tsp sea salt
1 tbsp chilli flakes
1 or 2 tbsp crushed garlic

What you do:

Add everything except the garlic to a steel saucepan or wok. Heat on low heat for 5 or 6 minutes (the almonds will have just started to plump up). Stir often and keep them nuts moving.

After 5 or six minutes, add the crushed garlic. Stir together. You can turn the heat off one or two minutes after adding the garlic. Keep it moving cus you don't want anything to burn.

Turn the whole mess onto a plate and let it cool.

Last thing... ummmmm, eat them! With a beer! While watching sports!

BTW, these are some of the most tasty treats to me.

Cream Cheese Made Easy

Or should this be "Cream Cheese for Dummies"? Hmmmm... nah, then I'd be insulting a very smart lady in Squarebanks working on her PHD with classes like Ice Physics and the like.

This recipe is basically a "How to make curds without rennet and then what to do with the curds", nothing fancy. And the next day you'll be enjoying wonderful cream cheese with chives and smoked salmon on your bagel. Aren't I nice?

BTW, does it surprise you that a bloke who makes his own Worchestershire Sauce also makes his own cream cheese? No, doesn't surprise me either.

This is kinda a variation on curds for cottage cheese, but instead of using buttermilk to separate the curds, I use lemon juice. See, when you use buttermilk and milk --1 part buttermilk to 4 parts regular milk-- you have to be very careful with the temp kept at 82 C or 180 F. With lemon juice you don't have to be so careful, and you don't need nearly as much lemon juice as you would buttermilk.

Notes: when making anything cheesy, make sure you use stainless steel. No aluminium, no teflon coatings. Also, I use full cream milk powder, much cheaper that way. And keep the whey as it makes a great soup base. You can easily sterilise your cloth for the curds by tossing it in boiling water for a minute.


What you need to make 1 and 1/2 pounds of really good cream cheese:

1 gallon (about 4 litres) of whole milk
1/4 cup lemon juice (doesn't need to be exact)
1 bit of sea salt


Isn't that simple!!!! There's a few non-food items you'll also need:

Large thick-bottomed stainless steel pot

A stainless steel slotted flat spatula (you'll find good ones in the barbecue section of your local outdoors shop)

A strainer (metal mesh)

Large hankerchief (cleaned and sterilised) OR a chex cloth (cleaned and sterilised) OR cheesecloth (cleaned and sterilised)

One of them clip on cooking thermometer type thingies (if you aren't good at estimating temp of simmering milk)

Some kind of heat source (I recommend a stovetop, but if you are camping then a campfire will do)


What you do:

Put the milk in your pot. Turn the heat on LOW. As the milk heats, stir it regularly with the spatula making sure to scrap the bottom so the milk doesn't burn to the base of the pot. When the milk gets to 70 to 80 C (158 to 176 F) add the lemon juice. Amazingly enough, curds will start to form! WOW! Just like your magic kit you had as a kid!

Stir with the spatula and MAKE SURE YOU SCRAP THE BOTTOM so the curds don't stick to the bottom of the pot. After a minute of stirring, turn the heat off. The curds will continue to form, no worries.

Let it cool for 10 to 15 minutes. Scrap the bottom of the pot with the spatula so no curds stick to the pot.

Line your strainer with your chex cloth (or whatever you are using) and strain the curds over a bowl (or your soup pot if you are making soup that day and need the whey).

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Hmmmm, the whey... If you aren't making soup that day or the next, then put the whey in a freezerable container. I've frozen whey before and it still makes a good soup base. Remember to let the whey cool to room temp before freezing, of course.

Or you can just drink the whey! It's very tasty, trust me.

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So what to do with the curds in the cloth lined strainer? Simple, bring the corners of the cloth together and tie them up tight. Then tie two corners of the cloth over your faucet in the kitchen sink. Let it drain overnight.

Obviously, don't run the faucet while the curds are hanging there!


The next day...

Plop the drained curds into a bowl. Add a couple pinches of sea salt. Mix it all together with a spoon, and beat the mix with the spoon until it's creamy.

TA-DA!

You now have about a pound and a half of cream cheese that'll keep in your fridge for a week.

Now comes the fun part: THE TASTY ADDITIONS!

At this point I'll usually divide it into four smaller bowls, and add flavourings to each bowl. Perhaps I'll mince up some smoked salmon and add that to a bowl of the creamy goodness. Maybe minced chives in another. Minced fresh tomatoes are always good. So's fresh chopped basil leaves. Minced onion? Why not! Heck, use your imagination! Mix 'n' match!

There's quite a lot of other things to do with the curds and you don't even need a cheese hoop! BTW, it's easy to make your own cheese hoop from a can...

I know many of you from my other blog were expecting something like SHISHKABOB KANGAROO BALLS, but don't worry cus that's coming soon to a theatre near you.