The White Ramekins

food & photography

  • Home
  • Recipes
  • Portfolio
  • About

Christmas Mince Pies

December 28, 2014 by TheWhiteRamekins

christmas mince pies

Having been disappeared for almost a month now from this lovely little corner of my life, I now feel all the more difficult to make a come back and share something with you all lovely readers. That’s quite strange, as I have never felt this kind of reluctance sharing anything happening around in this space. And ironically, that is when this is the most interesting and joyous work I get to do all because of this blog, which is truly an integral part of my life now. People do relate to me with my blog, my creative outlet and I love being identified this way the most. I can’t stay away for a very long time, you see.

christmas mince pies

I had been traveling to London for a short work assignment early this month, and so was bound to stay away from my kitchen, my oven and my food props. And by the time I got back, the month was about to over. December being the holiday time, I had lots to catchup. There are plenty of recipes which I had thought to try out before this year goes by. With a bad time management and a hurry to bake something for Christmas at least, I soaked up my dry fruit.

christmas mince pies

How could I let the Christmas to just pass by like that, without soaking the dry fruit. Although it was just four days away, I still thought to not let it go like that. This time, I didn’t want to bake a fruit cake, rather I had mince pies playing on my mind. In fact they were all over my mind, ever since I first tasted them from a local merchant at Portobello Road market in London. Since then, I went crazy about them and I was gorging on them almost every other day during my stay in the city.

christmas mince pies

I had have lots of memories about food and markets in London, which I tried to capture them in my camera {I know, I have yet to post about it soon, promise 🙂 }. So, the fruit cake this time got overruled by the cute little mince pies. They look all the more festive.

christmas mince pies

I adapted this recipe minimally from Nigella Lawson and added lots of orange marmalade which uplifted the flavors of dried fruits and also compensated for the short soaking time. I took them to a friend’s place for the Christmas night dinner and they soon got disappeared from the table. Everyone liked them to their last bits. I am definitely making them now every year for Christmas.

christmas mince pies

Christmas Mince Pies
2014-12-28 08:19:22
Christmas Mince Pies
Write a review
Save Recipe
Print
for the pastry
  1. 240 grams plain flour
  2. 60 grams cold vegetable shortening
  3. 60 grams cold butter
  4. juice of 1 orange, chilled
  5. approx. 350 grams mincemeat
  6. icing sugar (for dusting)
for the mincemeat - makes about 2½ cups
  1. 350 grams dried cranberries
  2. 1 tsp ground cinnamon
  3. 1 tsp ground ginger
  4. ½ tsp ground cloves
  5. 100 grams currants
  6. 100 grams raisins
  7. 100 grams prunes, chopped
  8. finely grated zest and juice of 1 orange
  9. ½ tsp vanilla extract
  10. 4 tbsp orange marmalade
For mincemeat
  1. Heat the orange juice, zest and orange marmalade in a saucepan over low heat, until marmalade is completely dissolved into the juice.
  2. Add the remaining ingredients for mince meat into the saucepan and continue to cook on low heat for 10 minutes, or until most of the liquid is absorbed by the fruit. Let cool completely. Store in an airtight container and let rest in the fridge for a minimum of 3 days.
For the mince pies
  1. Then once you are ready to make your mince pies, get out a tray of miniature tart tins, each indent 2 inches in diameter, along with a 2¼ inch round biscuit cutter and a 1¾ inch star cutter.
  2. Chop the cold butter and shortening into the flour and blitz in the bowl of your food processor to make a coarse breadcrumb like mixture.
  3. Pour the orange juice down the funnel, pulsing until it looks as if the dough is about to cohere; you want to stop just before it does (even if some orange juice is left). If all your juice is used up and you need more liquid, add some iced water.
  4. Turn the mixture out of the processor or mixing bowl onto a pastry board or work surface and, using your hands, combine to a dough. Then form into 3 discs.
  5. Wrap each disc in clingfilm and put in the fridge to rest for 20 minutes.
  6. Preheat the oven to 220°C.
  7. Lightly flour your work surface and roll out the discs, one at a time, as thinly as you can, but one sturdy enough to support the dense mincemeat.
  8. Out of each rolled-out disc cut out circles a little wider than the indentations in the tart tins; Press these circles gently into the moulds and dollop in a scant teaspoon of mincemeat.
  9. Then cut out your stars with your little star cutter – re-rolling the pastry as necessary – and place the tops lightly on the mincemeat.
  10. Put in the oven and bake for 12-15 minutes: keep an eye on them as they really don’t take long.
  11. Remove from the oven, taking out the little pies straight away from the pan onto a cooling rack and letting the empty tin cool down before you start putting in the pastry for the next batch. Carry on until they’re all done.
  12. Dust with icing sugar before serving.
By Himanshu Taneja
Adapted from Nigella's Christmas
Adapted from Nigella's Christmas
The White Ramekins http://thewhiteramekins.com/
christmas mince pies 

Filed Under: Pastry, pies Tagged With: baking, christmas, food, holiday, mincemeat

Self Saucing Chocolate Pudding

August 30, 2014 by TheWhiteRamekins

Self Saucing Chocolate Pudding Dark chocolate puds, brownies, cakes and all other chocolate desserts are my favourite and they taste even better if topped with a generous scoop of very nice vanilla ice cream. And you can go down the heavenly lanes of taste even further if you drizzle some warm chocolate fudge sauce on top of it. It might sound highly sinful but believe me, we all love such sinful desserts once in a while. Self Saucing Chocolate Pudding And there are times when you crave for such goodness so badly. I have not had even a good dark chocolate bar in recent times, forget about pudding or a cake. Summer had been putting me off from the chocolate and I had been gorging more on fruits than anything else for the dessert. But trust me, you can not stay away from dark chocolate for long if you love having desserts so much. Self Saucing Chocolate Pudding Self Saucing Chocolate Pudding   I had been flipping through the pages of Oz magazine Delicious, which my friend brought me last year, and you know what, it had a large section on chocolate. I felt almost trapped and I couldn’t resist. And I had to make this Self saucing chocolate pudding from Australian Masterchef Matt Preston. Self Saucing Chocolate Pudding     Self Saucing Chocolate Pudding I have a special place for the classic  vintage recipes in my heart. Be it an Indian Kheer (rice pudding) or a Dark chocolate pudding, they have an impact like no other recipe can ever have. And this pudding is amazingly easy and takes no time to bake. It rather surprises you when the sauce oozes out of the bottom of the pan when you dig in your first spoon into it. It is almost magical and divinely tasteful. Self Saucing Chocolate Pudding I divided the pudding to be baked into three smaller pie dishes, but if you like you can make it in one single large ovenproof dish. You can enjoy it warm with some pouring cream or vanilla ice cream or even cold straight out of fridge.  Self Saucing Chocolate Pudding

Self Saucing Chocolate Pudding
2014-08-30 11:48:40
dark chocolate self saucing pudding
Write a review
Save Recipe
Print
Ingredients
  1. 150 gm flour
  2. 200 gm caster sugar
  3. 50 gm unsweetened cocoa powder
  4. 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
  5. 60 gm melted butter
  6. 125 ml milk
  7. 1 egg
  8. 1 tsp vanilla extract
  9. 50 gm dark chocolate, coarsely chopped
  10. 2 cups boiling water
Instructions
  1. Preheat the oven to 160°C. Grease an 1.5L (6-cup) or 3 2-cup capacity ovenproof baking dish.
  2. Sift the flour, 110g sugar and 25g cocoa into a bowl. Add dark chocolate and stir to combine. Make a well in the centre.
  3. In a separate bowl, whisk melted butter, milk, vanilla extract and egg. Gradually pour into the well, then fold to combine.
  4. Spread mixture evenly into prepared dish. Combine remaining 110g sugar and 25g cocoa and sprinkle over the top of the pudding. Carefully pour 2 cups boiling water over the top of the pudding without disturbing the sprinkled cocoa powder too much.
  5. Bake for 30-35 minutes until the top is firm. Stand for 10 minutes to cool slightly.
  6. Dust the warm pudding with extra cocoa and serve immediately with vanilla ice cream.
By Himanshu Taneja
Adapted from Delicious Magazine
Adapted from Delicious Magazine
The White Ramekins http://thewhiteramekins.com/

Filed Under: chocolate, pies Tagged With: baking, chocolate dessert, chocolate pudding, food

Gluten Free Peach Crumble

August 11, 2014 by TheWhiteRamekins

Gluten Free Peach Crumble

With little time to cook or bake at home and work getting increasingly demanding, I am getting to spend less time in kitchen these days. That is why, you hadn’t seen an overly involving or rather too-many-steps recipe up here in recent times. And I am trying to be more efficient the other way. The recipes which are just about bunging in things together quickly to deliver faster and tastier results have been my companion lately.

Gluten Free Peach Crumble

Like the last one, I wrote about my favorite savory egg breakfast these days, Shakshuka. A super easy and quick recipe yet nonetheless delicious. Stone fruits have nearly diminished now, with probably last of the crops on the shelves. I am missing cherries badly, though plums and peaches have still been around. This time again, talking about the breakfast, I made this rather healthier version of gluten free peach crumble.

Gluten Free Peach Crumble Gluten Free Peach Crumble

The peaches I had at hand were slightly over ripened, just perfect to be thrown into a crumble or crisp.  I let them macerate in dark brown sugar and a squeeze of a lime, which helped bring out all the peachy flavors out of the fruit. For the crumble topping, I just pulsed some whole almonds (with skin on) in food processor with a dash of cold butter and jumbo rolled oats. 

Gluten Free Peach Crumble Gluten Free Peach Crumble 6

It made a super crispy and nutty crumble topping, a perfect pair to those mushy and fragrant peaches. I had some in breakfast alongside a glass of milk. And the rest of it with a big scoop of vanilla ice cream made a perfect and rather reduced-guilt dessert. 

Gluten Free Peach Crumble Gluten Free Peach Crumble

Gluten Free Peach Crumble
2014-08-11 10:43:37
A gluten free peach crumble with goodness of fresh peaches, oats and almonds.
Write a review
Save Recipe
Print
For filling
  1. 6-8 medium size peaches {destoned, sliced into 8}
  2. 2 tbsp lemon juice
  3. 1 tbsp cornflour
  4. 2 tbsp dark brown sugar
For topping
  1. 1/2 cup rolled oats
  2. 1/2 cup whole almonds
  3. 75 gm cold unsalted butter (cut into cubes)
  4. 1/3 cup dark brown sugar
  5. 1 tsp vanilla powder
Instructions
  1. Preheat oven at 180 degree C.
  2. For the filling, toss all the ingredients together in a bowl and let them rest for 10 minutes.
  3. For the topping, pulse all the ingredients together in a food processor 4-5 times, until mixture resembles coarse sand.
  4. Place the topping in freezer for 10 minutes.
  5. In a pie dish, arrange the peaches with flesh side facing the pan. Scatter the topping over peaches to cover them completely.
  6. Place on the baking sheet in preheated oven and bake for 25-30 minutes. Take out of oven and let stand at room temperature for 10-15 minutes, before serving.
By Himanshu Taneja
The White Ramekins http://thewhiteramekins.com/

Filed Under: Breakfast, pies Tagged With: baking, crisp, crumble, food, gluten free, healthy, peaches, summer

  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • Next Page »

Hi! I'm Himanshu - a home chef who loves to cook, bake, style and photo shoot... Read More…

Connect with me

  • Bloglovin
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • Twitter

Copyright © 2023 · Foodie Pro Theme by Shay Bocks · Built on the Genesis Framework · Powered by WordPress