Office Treats

It was my first day back at work today after 15 months of maternity leave! So of course, I had to bring in lots of Thermomix treats for my work mates!!

 

These are great, as they can be cut up into bite sized pieces and go a looong way! Everyone had them for morning tea and munched on them throughout the day!!

 

 

Office Treats

 

Custard Scrollshttp://thermotwinning.blogspot.com.au/2015/08/custard-scrolls.html

 

Vanilla Bean Marshmallowshttp://thermotwinning.blogspot.com.au/2015/08/vanilla-bean-marshmallows.html

 

Summer Rollshttp://thermotwinning.blogspot.com.au/2015/09/summer-rollhoney-nougat-log-replica.html

 

Salted Caramel Fudgehttp://thermotwinning.blogspot.com.au/2015/10/salted-caramel-fudge.html

Salted Caramel Fudge

Sadly, I am at the end of my maternity leave, and starting work tomorrow :'(

I got my Thermomix halfway through my maternity leave, so of course, I just have to make some Thermomix goodies for my first day back at work!!

 

This is something I would have never attempted pre-Thermomix days, with all the exact temperatures. I have made this a few times now and ahhh so amazing!!! I have eaten fudge from simpler recipes which are generally just heated up condensed milk and chocolate. This is a tad more complicated with more ingredients and temperature settings, which makes it have a texture between salted caramels, and fudge - so it is more of a chewy fudge and not so 'powdery' tasting as some types of fudge.

 

 

Salted Caramel Fudge

 

Salted Caramel Fudge Recipe:

 

http://www.recipecommunity.com.au/baking-sweet-recipes/salted-caramel-fudge/163022

 

Add butter, condensed milk, golden syrup, glucose syrup and brown sugar

Mix 5 minutes/50 degrees/Speed 1, then mix 5 minutes/70 degrees/Speed 1

 

 

Condensation forming after heating up on Varoma temperature in Step 4

 

 

Wipe off condensation from the inner sides of bowl

 

 

Wipe off condensation from lid

 

 

Add white chocolate pieces and mix 2 minutes/Speed 2

 

 

Pour caramel mixture into square silicon pan

 

 

Sprinkle with salt flakes and place in fridge to set

 

 

Once chilled, cut into small pieces, I cut it into 8 x 8 squares

 

 

= 64 delicious salted caramel fudge pieces!!

 

 

 

Cheese, Bacon and Pineapple Bread Rolls

I had no bread in the house today, so thought I would whip up some cheese, bacon and pineapple bread rolls for the boys lunch today as we are going out and it needs to be 'pram friendly'.

 

 

Cheese, Bacon and Pineapple Bread Rolls

 

Thermomumma's cheese and bacon bread rolls:

 

Ingredients:

 

360 grams water, lukewarm

1.5 teaspoons sugar, optional

2 teaspoons dried instant yeast

600 grams white bakers flour

2 teaspoons salt

2 teaspoons bread improver

1 tablespoon oil

150 grams mixed cheese & bacon (grated), topping

 

Method:

1. Add all ingredients (excluding cheese & bacon) to your thermo bowl in order. Combine 15 seconds, speed 3. Then knead 6 minutes dough function. 
2. Transfer dough to a thermomat or oiled bowl & cover with a tea-towel. Let this sit & rest for 15 minutes before working with it.
3. Turn dough out onto a thermomat or oiled/floured bench & punch out any gasses that may have formed.
4. Divide dough into 12 x 80g lots (you may have a little dough left). Now place a tea-towel over your dough to stop them from drying out while you start rolling them into nice tight balls. Now arrange on a baking tray spaced a few cms apart. With a sharp knife use the middle of your blade and cut a sharp slit over the top of your dough balls.
5. Place your tray in a nice warm moist area to prove. If you are proving in a dry heat please spray your dough with water & cover your tray or the dough will dry out.
6. Once grown to the desired size cover the top of your rolls in cheese & bacon then place in a preheated oven on 180* fan forced for 20/25 mins, or until golden brown. Take off tray immediately & place on cooling rack.

  

I forgot to cut a slit on the top this time round, but the toppings stayed on fine. I also didn't weigh the dough (daylight savings = TIRED + LAZY), and just cut it into 12 pieces by eye, by cutting the 1 piece of dough into 2, then those 2 pieces into 4, then those 4 pieces into 3 pieces = 12.

 

I learnt how to shape rolls with this following Youtube video:

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Q_HaC8NgPg

 

I always add pineapple to my cheese and bacon bread recipes as my husband is obsessed with it! Note: I didn't Thermomix blitz the toppings as I prefer the toppings chunkier. For the 12 rolls, I used:

 

 

150 grams diced bacon pieces +

 

 

3 x tinned pineapple slices

(cut into small pieces and placed on paper towels to soak up the excess juices) +

 

 

A few handfuls of pizza cheese (tasty/parmesan/mozzarella)

 

 

After 20 minutes @ 180 degrees

 

 

 

 

Apricot and Craisin Mini Fruit Balls

The boys latest favourite word is 'ball'. They will point at anything that is round and say 'ball' and they love not just their toy balls and balloons, but also all sorts of round shaped fruits - oranges, apples, mandarins, lemons etc. So thought I would combine their love for balls with some colourful fruit snacks!

 

 

Apricot and Craisin Mini Fruit Balls

 

I used the recipe for the apricot fruit balls, and the cranberry fruit balls (but used craisins instead) and doubled each recipe as I didn't have any of the dried fruits in my pantry:

 

http://www.trtlmt.com.au/mini-fruit-balls/

 

They look great and are so easy to make, the boys loved them and it is a great size for them! If you don't have a Thermomix you can easily make these in a fruit processor!

 

 

Apricot balls - Dried apricots, desiccated coconut and honey

 

 

Apricot mixture blitzed

 

 

  Craisin balls - Craisins, dates, desiccated coconut and honey

 

 

 Craisin mixture blitzed

 

 

Roll mixture into balls and coat with desiccated coconut

 

 

 Apricot and Craisin Mini Balls

 

 

Yummy!

 

 

We can't get enough of these mini fruit balls!

 

 

 

Chunky Spaghetti Bolognese

This has become my husbands favourite spaghetti bolognese recipe. It feeds 6 - 8 people so it gives us a few meals and is great for my husband to take to work.

Chunky Spaghetti Bolognese

Chunky Spaghetti Bolognese Recipe:

http://www.recipecommunity.com.au/pasta-rice-dishes-recipes/chunky-spaghetti-bolognese/229376

The mince meat is cooked in the steaming basket which keeps it 'chunky' as the Thermomix has the tendency of sometimes over blitzing meat to mush.

The recipe is fantastic, however I make the following changes:

• Add 2 carrots + 3 stalks of celery and blitz it all together in 1 step with the garlic and onion for 10 seconds/Speed 5.

• Add a whole tub of tomato paste (I hate having a half empty tub!)

Add additional carrot and celery

Blitz 10 seconds/Speed 5

Cook mince meat in the steaming basket

Mince meat cooked through along with the sauce

Add mince meat in the last 5 minutes to integrate with the tomato based sauce

Once the bolognese sauce is made, I keep it warm in my Thermoserver, and wash out the Thermomix bowl to make the spaghetti.

There is ALOT sauce made in this recipe. For half the sauce, I usually make about 400 grams if making 3 servings - 2 HUGE servings for my husband (including 1 to take to work the next day) and 1 smaller serving for myself.

I then refrigerate or freeze the remaining sauce for another day and make the spaghetti fresh for when I use it.

If using up the sauce in 1 lot for a big feed, I would make the spaghetti the old school way in a pot, as 400 grams is pretty much the max that would fit in through the MC hole. You could probably use up to 2 packets of spaghetti (1000 grams) as it is very 'saucy' and goes a long way.

SPAGHETTI (Thermomix)

Ingredients:

1200L water

1 tablespoon salt

250 - 400 grams spaghetti (approx. 100 - 150 grams per serve)

Method:

1. Add water and salt in bowl and cook 10 minutes/100 degrees/ Speed 1 (MC on).

2. Add spaghetti through MC hole (MC off) and cook for time on package (mine is 11 minutes)/100 degrees/reverse/Speed 1)

The result is perfect al dente spaghetti everytime!!



Chunky Spaghetti Bolognese - I make 2 huge servings for my husband (1 straight into a container for his lunch the next day), 1 smaller serving for myself, and a lot of leftover sauce to refrigerate/freeze for another day.