Nanna Connie's Truffles

Spring is in the air and Easter is around the corner. These are the sort of days when you want to be out and about and definitely not tied up in the kitchen.

This week, even though the weather was warmer outside, my slow cooker made an appearance on the kitchen cupboard.

But this article is not about food, it's about something sweet to help you clear up the cupboards before the Easter eggs and and chocolate bunnies take over.  This recipe is ideal to de-clutter your shelves.

Even though the blog is "Baking in Belgium" these Truffles are the truffles in the old sense of the word and not the Belgian chocolate versions!

Quite easy to make, these truffles could be a weekend project with your little ones.

Start off by melting some butter in a sauce pan. I would use around 30g to 50g depending on the amount of cake / biscuits you have but do not exceed the 50g.

Once the butter has melted, stir in the any pastries you may have,  It is important that these are crumbled very well, alternatively you can use a blender to chop them finely.

When I say pastries, I mean yesterday's pain chocolate or pieces of Panettone, biscuits, chocolates or chocolate bars.

Make sure that they are all crushed or mashed up very well so that there are no large chunks that can be identified.

Once you have stirred them in, add enough milk or tinned milk to make sure they are well soaked.  Don't worry about adding too much milk, that will only mean you will need to cook the mixture for longer. 

Now, time to season! I like adding a few oats to my mixture to make them 'healthier'  You can add a dash or two of Rum if you have an adult audience. 

If you will be serving these to children I suggest some vanilla essence and perhaps some grated orange zest.

Sprinkle in 2 tablespoons of cocoa and stir continuously.

Taste the mixture. 

At this point you could also add some candied fruit or some nuts.

Keep on stirring over a low heat until the mixture starts to come away from the sides of your pot. Your stirring will become harder as the mixture 'dries' further.

When you decide that you have cooked it long enough, remove from the heat and let it cool for about 10 mins.

Then, using a teaspoon , roll the mixture into small balls and place them in a prepared plate filled with coconut. Roll the ball in the dessicated coconut until the truffle is well coated.

Keep on repeating this until all the mixture is rolled.

Place the coconut balls in the fridge for about 30 minutes then take them out and give them a final roll in your hands to fix their shape.

Once complete, store in the fridge for up to 2 weeks, even though mine never last that long!
If you want to make them look a little fancy, place each truffle in a small paper case.

How to make your own sausage rolls in Belgium

If you, like me, think that sausage rolls are a very mundane food that is readily available from every corner shop, then you, like me (and especially my children) will be very shocked when you come to Belgium.

Sausage rolls are essentially British and apart from England and other places, such as Malta which have been influenced by its cuisine they are quite hard to come by!

Finding a Pain Saucisse in a shop is like finding a pot of gold.

The exhilaration goes on for hours and the purchased items are guarded and finished right up to the very last crumb, even if this means ripping the bag and shaking the contents out on the plate or sometimes even the table.

This technique, according to my wee ones, is the best for getting the crumbs tucked away in the little crevices that every paper bag has.

So, if they are so hard to come by, there is no other solution but to do them at home!

There are 2 simple ingredients to making sausage rolls :

1) The puff pastry
2) The sausage meat

In this article I shall be giving the recipe to making your own puff pastry, which woulds hard but in truth is not. It just requires more resting time than your normal short crust.

You can of course, head down to any supermarket and get a packet of pâte feuilletée, that would be puff pastry for you and me!

For the sausage meat, I used the haché préparé which is a mixture of pork and veal minced meat.  


For the puff pastry, I followed the one in my Great British Bake Off Book (the first version)

For the sausage meat, I opted for the Belgian minced meat labelled as Porc et Veau which would be the closest to what we are used to.

To 500g of mince I have added 1 small and finely chopped onion and 4 fresh sage leaves, also finely chopped.

Now the best way to get all these ingredients thoroughly mixed in is by using your hands and sort of 'mash' the mixture together.

If you are a little squeamish and not too keen on mixing mince meat with you hands, then opt for a fork.

To assemble the sausage roll, roll the pastry out on a lightly floured surface. Make sure that your pastry is not too thick. It should be about the thickness of two 50c coins placed on top of each other.

Next place the minced meat along the bottom most part of the width of your rolled out pastry.

Roll the pastry around it making sure to leave just a slight overlap which will seal your roll.

Cut off the excess pastry and stack it neatly one piece on top of the other so that you may use it again. 

If you roll up the un-used pastry in a ball then you will loose they layers the next time you bake it! Pity really.

So, once you are ready to seal the pastry, brush the end with a little egg-wash. Egg wash is simply 1 egg which has been beaten with a fork!

Place the sausage roll on a baking tray lined with baking paper. It is best to using the baking paper even in the case of a non-stick baking tray as the meat is quite fatty and some of that fat wi most certainly ooze out.

Can an obviously decide make smaller rolls for parties or as a packed lunch so feel free to cut your roll before place it on the baking sheet so as not to damage your equipment.

Once your sausage rolls are ready to bake, your make make little incisions on the top to make them pretty and to allow your pastry to puff up nicely.

Last step is to brush the top of the pastry with the egg-wash. 

Now bake your rolls in a preheated oven at 160C for a convection oven.

Before placing your tray in the oven however, make sure that the oven has actually reached the required temperature. 

You may use an oven thermometer which would sit in the oven and mark the exact temperature or you may use the gauge in your oven. 

If you have an electric oven, you should have a little red light that will go off once the desired temperature is reached.  Even though every oven is different, is should take around 15 - 20 minutes for your oven to reach this temperature.

Your sausage rolls are ready to take out of the oven once they are nice and golden!

These roll cans be frozen and re-heated in the oven from frozen.

If you intend to make a batch and freeze it, I suggest that you bake them till they are a pale gold colour.

Once you re-heat and hence re-bake them you will have a little bit more leeway on the baking time.

Savory Broccoli Cake

Broccoli might not be everyone's favourite veggie but here is an easy way you can add them to your diet. 
This recipe was passed on by a friend of mine and I must admit that it is truely yummy and super quick! Took me less than 1 hour from start to finish (as in baked!)

 

So here is what you will need:

250 gr self raising flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

8-10 small broccoli florets or about half a large head
1 small spring onion
4 eggs

75 ml olive oil

Salt and pepper to taste
Grated cheese such as Gruyere

 

 

Before you start the preparation, pre-heat oven to 180 degrees Celcius.

Place the flour, baking powder, spring onion and the raw broccoli florets in the blender and whizz for about 30 seconds until the broccoli is chopped into small pieces.

Now, measure the oil and crack the 4 eggs into the same container.
Add the liquid to the flour and whizz again.
Finally season with salt, pepper or some herbs such as thyme.

The mixture should resemble that of a stodgy cake mixture and should not be as flowing as cake batter would usually be. 
Place the batter into your prepared cake tin or loaf tin.
I used a 1.5L loaf tin.

Sprinkle the top with some grated Gruyere and bake for about 20 minutes or until a skewer comes out clean.

.....and there you have it!

You might also want to add about 100g of lardon or bacon bits to the mixture before baking.
If you do this, then I suggest you stir them in by hand as the blender would chop them too finely.