Chocolate Chunk Almond Flour Cookie Surprise

This pic was snapped when the cookies came fresh from the oven.

These chocolate cookies found their way onto my baking tray quite by surprise, as all good things tend to sneak up on and surpass our expectations, in the most delightfully surprising way. This recipe - inspired by one found in an almond flour cookbook I received as a birthday gift from my aunt - was made to create the most tender and comforting of cookies. A tease on any counter top, these cookies are secretly healthy, unabashedly rich, and quickly disappear to places unknown. Finders keepers...

Chocolate Chunk Almond Meal Cookies

1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup light brown sugar
1 large egg
1 tblsp vanilla extract
400g (roughly 1 cup and 2/3) blanched almond meal (not flour!)
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
100g coarsely chopped dark chocolate (70%)


Preheat oven 180C/350F.

In a large bowl, combine butter and sugar until smooth. Add egg and vanilla and mix until smooth. 

In a medium bowl, combine almond flour, salt, baking soda, and cocoa powder.

Add dry ingredients to wet and combine until well incorporated. Stir in the chocolate chunks.

(Try not to eat the batter)

Spoon large dollops of the batter onto a non-stick or lined baking tray, and gently flatten with fingertips. These cookies will not spread out much when baking in the oven, so its best to flatten the batter dollops before putting them in the oven. Bake for 12mins. Makes about 24 medium sized cookies.

These cookies have fast become Haut Appétit's most fashionable cookie, and this woman evokes les biscuits chocolats through her Chanel flavoured style, on the streets of Paris... 

Pic courtesy Harpersbazaar.com

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Forget gyros and spanakopita, its all about the sesame seeds!

Sesame seed brittle, and an island cat eying my treat

Foodies are all too familiar with the culinary delights of Greece - greek salad, feta cheese, mousakas, gyros, and my undying favourite spanakopita. But dare I say they have become a bit mundane? 

I have somewhat of a history with Greece... My international modelling career began in the ancient city of Athens (a popular development market for models) where I became well acquainted with food from street vendors on-the-go between castings and jobs. There aren't really any healthy on-the-go food options in Athens, except for various street vendors selling a selection of nuts and seeds sweetened with honey and sugar. These nibbles became my allies when sustenance was needed, and I developed a true appreciation for their somewhat healthy, sweet, and crunchy allure. 

However, these small treats that are so common in Greece, often go unnoticed and unappreciated. Years on, during a recent weekend get-away to the islands of Poros and Hydra, after gorging on spanakopita and baklava, I was reacquainted with sesame seed brittle and sugar coated roasted nuts - the perfect crunch. My aim is to bring these treats into your consciousness, readers, so that you may try them yourselves one day...

I came across this old bakery that had apparently been open on the island of Hydra since the 1930s - seed brittles aplenty

Chowing down outside the bakery in a Belstaff jacket

Cars were prohibited on the island, so donkey was mode of transport of choice. I'm still regretting not taking a ride...

Sunset in the nearby island of Poros

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Summer Pudding

I have a particular English friend who loves summer pudding. Before seeing Ina Garten make a summer pudding on her cooking show Barefoot Contessa, I had only rarely seen it grace the tables of my many lifetime food encounters. Obviously wanting to make this pudding for my English friend in question (as I love to feed my friends and as of late have been referred to as "the feeder"), I thought I better brush up on its history, if only to avoid looks of utter disapproval and disgust at my ignorance for not being familiar with the Summer Pudding. 

Unfortunately, I didn't find much information... Only that summer pudding is a quintessential English summer treat and that its origins can be traced back to Victorian England, late 19th century. However, according to greatbritishkitchen.co.uk, the earliest published summer pudding recipe was published in a book titled "Sweets No. 6" by S. Beaty-Pownall published in 1902. Old, English, and delicious.

Right - enough of the history, onto the food...

Summer Pudding 

(Adapted from Ina Garten's Summer Pudding Recipe)

• Ingredients
• 1 pint fresh strawberries, hulled and sliced
• 1 1/2 cups sugar
• 1/4 cup water
• 1 pint fresh raspberries, divided
• 1 pint fresh blueberries or blackberries
• 2 tablespoons Fragoli (strawberry liqueur)
• 1 loaf brioche, or Challah (1 to 1 1/2 pounds) - stale bread is ideal, as it helps absorb more of the fruit juices.
• whipped cream to serve

Combine the strawberries, sugar, and 1/4 cup of water in a medium saucepan and cook uncovered over medium-low heat for 5 minutes until the sauce begins to thicken and the strawberries soften. 

Add 1 half pint of raspberries, and all the blueberries, and cook, stirring occasionally, until the mixture reaches a simmer. Cook for one minute until all the berries are soft. Off the heat, stir in the remaining half pint of raspberries and the Fragoli.

Slice the bread in 1/2-inch-thick slices and remove the crusts. In the bottom of a 7 1/2-inch round by 3-inch high souffle or cake dish, ladle about 1/2 cup of the cooked berry mixture. Arrange slices of bread in a pattern (this will become the top when it's unmolded) and then add more berry mixture to saturate. Continue adding alternating layers of bread, and berries. Finish with cooked berries, using all of the fruit and syrup.

Place a sheet of plastic wrap loosely over the pudding. Find a plate approximately the same diameter as the inside of the souffle dish and place it on top. Weight the plate down with a heavy can and refrigerate (I used a baked beans Heinz Beans can for British effect). Remove the weight after 6 to 8 hours. Cover the pudding with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight.

Just before serving, run a knife around the outside of the pudding and unmold it upside down onto a serving plate. Serve in wedges with whipped cream.

Serves about 8.

Stewing the fruit

Layering the bread and berries

After 8 hours of waiting...Voilà! 

I was told by my English friends that the result was delicious, however they recommended (because this is how their Mum made it...) assembling the pudding in a large bowl mold instead of a souffle or cake dish because that way it holds its shape much better as seen below. Next time, I shall try it! 

She is certainly berrylicious...

Pic courtesy Harpersbazaar.com

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Petits Fours and the English Countryside

Cliveden House

You might look at this title and think, how can something French and something English go along so well together? The rare time that Miss French and Mr English might be squashed delightfully together in a sentence with ease and agreement, is if food is involved. Now you might not find bubble and squeak, spotted dick, or a proper fish and chips in most parts of France, but if the English should welcome anything French, it should be la pâtisserie - that is desserts and pastries of every kind imaginable.

Petits Fours at Cliveden House

For those unaware, petits fours are small confections or desserts usually eaten at the end of a meal with coffee or tea. "Petit four" is French for "little oven". There are different kinds of petits fours like petits fours secs (dry petits fours like biscuits or puff pastry) and petits fours glacés (iced petits fours which are decorated with icing in some way). There are also petits fours salés (savoury petits fours, like small canapés). A mini brief on petits fours...

Enjoying a petit four in the Terrace Dining Room

I tried these delicately sweet petits fours while on a weekend get-away to Cliveden House - an unabashedly grand manor house in the English countryside. The petits fours included a raspberry macaron, hazelnut milk chocolate fudge square, dark chocolate pistachio fudge, mini meringue tartlet, chocolate truffle, pistachio nougat, and a sugared gummy...yummy.

View of the lawn

www.clivedenhouse.co.uk


Clivedon House, the kind of place that makes you want to sit around doing this, dressed like this all day...

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