Cheddar and Marmite Scones

Last week Kaffeine had a menu that loosely celebrated New Zealand in honor of Wiatangi Day. Instead of savoury muffins, a roulade of Cheddar and Marmite Scones was decided. These are a New Zealand favorite and a traditional part of growing up being Kiwi. In every kitchen, you are almost guaranteed to find of a copy Edmond's Cookbook. This is a cooking bible for every Kiwi household and a life-saver for most mothers. All recipes are tested, simple and fool-proof. Since first published in 1908 several varieties of scone recipes have been featured in Edmond's Cookbooks.
However, I still prefer the Yankees' technique for scone making and I've married the flavours of a Kiwi savoury scone into the method used to make an American scone. Ultimately your arteries are worse off but the texture and flavour is far, far superior.

500g plain flour
250 salted butter, cold
2 tablespoons baking powder
1 teaspoon sea salt
150g mature cheddar, grated
250ml buttermilk
150ml double cream
1 large egg

FILLING:
300g mature cheddar, grated
100g marmite

Method:
Mix flour, baking powder, salt and cheddar to a large mixing bowl. Grate the butter and add to the dry ingredients and rub into flour using your hands. When the butter is well blended, pour buttermilk, cream and egg, and gently knead together until you can form a ball. Dust a clean surface and a rolling pin with flour and put the scone dough at the center. Sprinkle a little extra flour over scone dough and begin to roll out. It's best to try and keep a rough rectangle shape as you roll. If the dough sticks to the rolling pin or bench top, dust with a little extra flour. Once the dough is roughly 1cm think and a rectangle shape, trim the edges. Carefully spread the Marmite over the surface of the scone dough and make sure you get Marmite around the edges as this will help the roulade to stick when the time comes to roll the dough into a cylinder. Evenly sprinkle the remainder of the cheddar over the dough, and starting from the bottom edge of the dough tightly roll the scone dough away from you, pressing the dough as you roll will create a tight and firm roulade. Once you have a long cylinder-shape roulade, roll the scone dough back and forth to even out and to help seal the edge. Slice the scone cylinder into around 15-16 pieces using a sharp knife. Line a large baking tray with parchment paper and lay the scones by 4's along the tray. When baking, the scones will grow and stick together and can be torn apart after baking. Place scones in oven on middle shelf, set at 180˚C for 24 minutes. Once cooked leave the scones to cool for 15 minutes before tearing apart.

Whoopie Pie

Photo proved by Sadiq Photography Blog (Click here)

What is a whoopie pie? Two sponge-like biscuits sandwiched together with icing. Rumor has it that these baked treat were invented by Amish women who would use leftover cake batter to make biscuits and sandwich them together using icing. Whoopie pies got their name because the men would shout "WHOOPIE!" when they see what was in their lunch baskets.

So to celebrate the American election and hopefully all-things Obama, here's my recipe for whoopie pies. Definitely worth a try.

300g plain flour

30g dark cocoa powder

1 ½ teaspoons baking powder

½ teaspoon of salt

250ml buttermilk

1 teaspoon vanilla

110g soften unsalted butter

200g golden caster sugar

2 eggs

Icing:

280g giant white marshmallows

150ml double cream

250g cream cheese

1 teaspoon vanilla

Method: 

Place flour, cocoa, baking powder and salt in small bowl and whisk together until evenly combined.

Pour the buttermilk and vanilla into a small jug and stir together.

In a large bowl whisk the sugar and butter together with electric hand beater until pale and creamy, then separate the eggs and whisk in yolks until smooth.

Alternately beat the buttermilk and dry flour mixtures into creamed butter and sugar until all incorporated.

Beat egg whites until stiff peaks form then gently fold into woopie mixture using a metal spoon and gently transfer mixture into piping bag.

Line 2 large baking trays with parchment paper and pipe 8 even blobs onto each tray leaving large gaps between each whoopie pie. Bake in oven at 180ºC for 12 minutes. Once baked, leave to cool completely. 

For the icing place marshmallow, cream, cream cheese and vanilla in large bowl and place over a pot of simmering water to melt. Stir marshmallow every now and then until melted and all ingredients and well combined. Remove bowl from heat and place mixture in the fridge for around 15 minutes to cool down.

Once the icing is at room temperature, whip it using an electric handmixer until light and fluffy. 

Evenly spoon the icing onto 8 of the whoopie biscuits and sandwich together with remaining of the whoopie biscuits. Leave to set for half an hour before eating. 

Kaffeine's Brownies

Here's a revised version of my dirty dirty evil brownies with a new stunning picture thanks to Etienne, plus an updated method.
When developing this recipe for Kaffeine I had Peter (Kaffeine's owner) and Cathrine (Ex-lead barista/manager) test several batches till it was perfected. I think the main reason these brownies stand out from the rest is the brand of cocoa powder, its called Barry Cocoa and I get it sent in from France. Ive seen it stocked in a few decent deli's and serious chocolate stores and well worth the extra £££! I must also put a little disclaimer here too... Unless you intentionally want to wake up in the middle of the night panting and in a sweat don't eat more than 1 piece for dessert. And if you're feeding a small child my brownie recipe I'd only let them eat a quarter of one piece, its not worth mentioning the hyperactive behaviour that follows.
Even with all my warning these Brownies are amazing and I sincerely haven't tasted better which is why its probably one of Kaffeines strongest sellers.

300g Dark Belgium chocolate drops (53% cocoa solids)

100g Cocoa (24% cocoa fat)

4 Eggs

150ml Cream

250g unsalted butter

100g plain flour

500g sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 teaspoon baking powder

METHOD:

Third fill a small pot with water and place on high heat element, dice the butter in to small cubes and place in a medium sized stainless steel mixing bowl with chocolate. Once the water has come to a simmer place the bowl over pot (make sure the bottom of the bowl isn’t touching the water as this sometimes splits chocolate) and stir occasionally till the butter and chocolate are melted and well combined then remove from heat. Add cream, eggs and vanilla to the melted chocolate and beat till well combined. Put in a large mixing bowl sugar, flour, cocoa, and baking powder and mix together with a spatchular or wooden spoon, pour wet mixture over dry and mix beat together till smooth.

Line a 30x20cm (3cm deep) baking tray with parchment paper and pour brownie batter into the tray, even out with back of spoon and bake at 180oC for 30-35minutes.

The brownie should still be a bit soft and wobbly when removed from the oven. Leave brownies too cool for 8 hours before cutting into 16 piece's.