Korea Chocolate Bread 초코 버터 브레드 |Tom n Toms Style|

It's FRIDAY FRIDAY FRIDAY. It is also the last day of this blogging week :(

I'm surprised that I've been able to keep blogging for a week because so much has been happening, and I've just been so swamped and busy as well. But it's here. day 5 of recipes, and I'm really happy to share this one with you guys. Especially after  the response I got for a similar recipe I shared earlier.

I shared the Tom n Toms Honey Butter Bread a while back, so today I've come back to cap this week off with the Tom n Toms Choco Butter Bread. This one is just as indulgent, if not more because of the chocolate. And the version I share with you may be best left to group gatherings because you will drown in the richness of the dessert.

You know the drill, it's time to get started

Ingredients
5cm thick piece of white bread (white tastes best)
4 tbs butter
4 tbs nutella ot any chocolate spread
2 tbs chocolate sauce
2 tbs strawberry
1 scoop vanilla (or chocolate) ice cream or whipped cream (from a can is fine)

Method 
1. Preheat the oven to 180 C.
2. Spread butter on one side of the bread.
3. Cut the bread into 9 cubes and keep the shape of the bread.
4. Put the bread into the oven for 10 minutes or until golden brown.
5. Spread nutella on the buttered bread.
6. Place scoop of ice cream on the centre, or a generous amount of whipped cream. Top with lashings of chocolate and strawberry sauce. Serve immediately.

And there you have it, another delectable Tom n Toms creation to enjoy at home.

THAT is it. I hope that you have enjoyed my week's worth of blogs because it certainly has been fun to be sharing some of my favourite little snacks and tid-bits with you guys this week. This week I've been sharing things that I would usually deem to small or easy to make for a normal recipe, but with the nature of this weeks posts I think it has been OK.

Please do continue to scroll through all the recipes on the blog if you would like more, especially because I don't really know when I'll be back with another post :/ But please do remember to stay safe, healthy and happy. 

Homemade CocoHodo

So I’m writing this post as I sit on the plane to go on holidays. And mannnnn it is boring. So I decided that I’d just write up another blog post, even though this post won’t be going up for a couple of days.

I hope that you guys enjoyed the last post, Tom n Toms style honey bread, I’m really craving some at the moment……… too bad I’m on a plane and not actually going to a place that has Tom n Toms.

Anyways, today I’m going to be introducing you to another Korean snack food, and that is the coco hodo’s. These are little walnut pastries that are shaped like a walnut. These are particularly popular during winter when you can get them from street vendors. They are a particularly good in between meal snack to take on the go. They are quite inexpensive to buy, but it is always more fun to make your own.

To me I’d call them Korean profiteroles, although not really. It's made from a walnut pastry with a red bean filling and are AMAZING. The name is a bit deceiving when it is said in English, you sort of expect it to be made with chocolate coco = cocoa, but that might be just me.

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And that was all I got up to on the plane. I never actually managed to finish the post and here I am more than a month after returning finishing off the post. I'm so sorry for not posting much over the last 2 months, but I couldn't even access blogspot when I was on holidays and uni just got so overwhelming when I returned. I mean I've got exams in like 1 1/2 weeks and I and epically screwed.

Anyways, I hope that this recipe is going to satisfy your craving for new recipes and I'll try my best to put out recipes on a more regular basis. It should be quite easy once exams are over this semester. And I can't wait to share photos of the food that I ate whilst I was on holiday.

Anyways, back to today's recipe. Coco hodo. I'm pretty sure that I've covered all the introductory bases so let's move on to the recipe. I'm going to use a profiterole kinda pastry, so a choux pastry since I have no idea how to make the actual pastry, but I'll be adjusting it so it is similar in taste.

Ingredients
125 ml water
125 ml milk
100 grams butter
pinch of salt
100 grams flour
50g walnut flour (or almond meal) -- gives a nutty taste
4 eggs
1 cup red bean paste (store bought or home made)
2 tbs double cream
50g walnuts

Method
1. Heat the oven to 220ᴼC.
2. To make the pastry, melt the butter with water and milk in a large pan.
3. Bring to boiling point and tip in salt and flour. Using a wooden spoon beat hard for up to 30 seconds, till the dough no longer sticks to the sides of the pan.
4. Cool to room temperature (about 10 minutes).
5. While the dough is cooling, line 2 baking trays with baking paper.
6. When the dough has cooled beat the eggs, one at the time till the dough is smooth and glossy. Pour the dough into a pastry bag and pipe out profiteroles (about the size of a walnut) leaving enough space for them to rise, otherwise spoon with teaspoons. Tip your fingers in cold water and smooth the surface of profiteroles, as any spikes are likely to burn.
7. Bake the profiteroles in 220ᴼC for 10 minutes, then reduce to 190ᴼC and bake for another 15-20 minutes, until golden brown.
8. Using a knife poke a hole in each profiterole to let out the steam (and to fill later) and leave them to cool on a rack.
9. While the pastry is cooling prepare the red bean paste. You can adjust the sweetness of the paste to your liking and to make it extra smooth and creaming add 2 tbs of double cream.
10. Also cut the walnuts coarsely and mix it through the red bean mixture.
11. Fill a piping bag with the paste and get ready to pipe the pastry when it is sufficiently cool.
12. Fill the pastry with the hole that is at the base of the pastry.

And you are DONEEEEEEE.

This doesn't turn out to be a chewy as the original, but the pastry remains light and fluffy. It's not the easiest thing to make, but it is nice because it means you can still enjoy coco hodo even if you aren't near a store.

So I hope that you liked this recipe, and I'll try my best to post more often. Maybe in about 2 weeks time I'll have another post out. Until ten remember to stay safe, happy and healthy!!! 

Double Serving of Chocolate

It has been a while since I have posted but I have been sick since Sunday so....things have been a little slow. Today I'm going to be posting up two recipes that I used recently. They are partly mash-ups of things from the internet and also partly my creations.

I wrote down my recipes ages ago, and just happened to use both of them recently. They are both chocolate recipes hence the title of this blog post. I hope that you guys will enjoy it.

The first recipe is a good old favourite for dark chocolate brownies. The dark chocolate helps to create a more intense chocolate flavour and makes the brownies even more addictive than you would think. There isn't much I can say apart from tell you that this is an original recipe, I think.....Anyways, let's get started

Ingredients
250g butter
400g dark chocolate
80g cocoa powder
150g plain flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
360g sugar
4 eggs

Method
1. Preheat an oven to 180 degrees Celsius.
2. Melt the butter and 300g of the chocolate.
3. Add in the eggs to the chocolate and butter mix when it has melted and mix till smooth.
4. Add the cocoa powder, flour, baking powder and sugar to the chocolate mixture. Mix till smooth.
5. Chop up the remaining 100g of chocolate and stir into brownie mixture. (In this step you can also add other chocolate varieties and nuts of you wish)
6. Pour into a rectangular tin and bake for about 40-50 minutes or until the centre springs back.
7. Cool for 20 minutes before cutting and serving.

And there you have it, my version of brownies. You may find that you get a more sponge-y brownie than usual this way, but that is how I like my brownies. If you want the centre to be more fudge-y you can always decrease the amount of flour to about half.

My next recipe is something that I made recently upon a friends request to re-taste my baking. This recipe is going to be for my version of soft chocolate cookies. There isn't much to it, I can't remember where I got the inspiration from but I have made my own changes to it as well. But here goes

Ingredients 

250g softened butter

1 1/2 cup sugar
2 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 cups plain flour
2/3 cup cocoa powder
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
200g milk chocolate

Method
1. Cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy.
2. Add the eggs in one at a time and then beat until well mixed.
3. Beat in the vanilla.
4. Combine the flour, cocoa powder and baking powder in a separate bowl.
5. Melt 100g of the chocolate.
6. Combine the butter mixture, dry ingredients and melted chocolate. Mix well.
7. Leave dough covered in the fridge for an hour or until easily handled.
8. When ready to bake preheat oven to 180 degrees Celsius.
9. Roll tablespoonful sized balls of dough and then slightly flatten them.
10. Bake the cookies for about 15 minutes or until the edges are firm.
11. Whilst cookies are baking, melt the remaining chocolate with about 40ml of water. Mix until smooth.
12. When the cookies are done take them out and let them cool on a wired rack.
13. When the cookies have cooled decorate with the melted chocolate. You may need to reheat the chocolate.

And then you are done. You can decorate the cookies anyway you want, I opted for a squiggly pattern on the cookies.

And there you have it. Here are my two chocolate-y posts today. I hope that you guys will get enough of your chocolate fix from these two posts. And maybe one day I will film myself making these goodies. But until I blog again I hope that you stay safe, happy and most important of all healthy.

Soft Chocolate Pudding

Yea...so it has been more than a day. But better late than never?

I'm not going to be posting a Korean dish today. I felt like doing a good old chocolate dessert that we will all love. I'm going to be sharing with you today my version of a soft chocolate pudding. The centre and runny and chocolate-y whilst the 'crust' around it is soft and delicate.

There is not much that I can say about it without showing blogging to you. So let's get started;

Ingredients
1/2 cup  butter, plus some for buttering the molds
150g 85% dark chocolate or you can go for less intense such as 70% (try and use good quality chocolate)
1 tablespoon cocoa powder
2 eggs
2 eggs yolks
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup flour, plus more for dusting

Method 
1. Melt the chocolate and butter in a bowl over a pot of simmering water. But ensure that the base of the bowl does not sit in the water. Stir it as it melts to get a smooth and shiny mixture.
2. Beat the sugar, egg and egg yolks until it is light yet thick.
3. Beat the chocolate and egg mixtures together whilst the chocolate is still hot and runny.
4. Quickly FOLD in the flour and cocoa powder until just combined.
5. Butter and then lightly flour 4 ramekins.
6. Divide the batter evenly between the ramekins.
7. Preheat the oven to 240 degrees Celsius and bake the ramekins in a hot water bath for about 6-8 minutes. The centre should still be soft, but if it is too soft for your liking then bake it for 10 minutes.
8. Invert the ramekins onto serving plates and let it sit for 10 seconds. (or leave in ramekins)
9. Serve hot with whipped cream or ice cream.

And there you have it a delectable dessert that you can serve up as the nights are getting colder or as the days are getting warmer. It is the perfect dessert to serve all year around.

I hope that you guys will enjoy this chocolate-y recipe that will be sure to fatten you up before Thanksgiving and right before Christmas. It is a good dessert to prepare you for for the festive season. 

This will be it from me today, I hope that chocolate is up your avenue, if it is not I'll be sure to post a similar dessert minus all the chocolate soon. I hope that you will all stay safe, healthy and most of all happy until my next post. 

Bittersweet Chocolate Tart

Hey guys, so today is the first day of my two week break. There is so much that I need to get done in this time, but I haven't forgotten you. I will try to keep on posting, but it might get a bit hard. At least I have posted once in the break ^^

Today I have decided to go with something different from usual. I am going to post about a dish that is NOT Korean. I feel that I should try to expand a bit more and also be posting about other dishes.

Today it is going to be a dessert. Bittersweet chocolate tart. This is a detectable tart that you will love to have as a dessert on a winter's night. It is the perfect way to cap off a week, so do try it some time soon.

Ingredients
250g plain flour
75g unsalted butter, cubed
pinch of salt
90g of sifted icing sugar
4 tbsp full cream milk, and 55ml extra
2 egg yolks
1 cup thickened cream
200g dark bittersweet chocolate crushed
1 extra large egg, beaten
cocoa powder (garnish)

Method
Pastry
1. Place flour, butter, salt and icing sugar in a food processor and process for 20 seconds.
2. Add 55ml milk and egg yolks and process for 30 second
3. Turn dough onto a lightly floured bench and form a ball
4. Wrap in plastic and place in fridge for an hour

1. Preheat oven to 180 Celsius and butter a 28cm tart tin
2. Roll out pastry until 2cm wider than tart tin
3. Gently ease pastry into tin and then rest it in the fridge for 30 min
4. Line tart tin with foil and add rice and blind bake for 20 min.
5. Remove rice and foil and brush with the egg wash and cook for 10 min
6. remove from oven and increase oven temperature to 200 Celsius
7. Make the filling; place cream and remaining milk in a saucepan and bring to boil
8. Remove from heat and add chocolate, stirring until it is smooth
9. Strain the egg into the mixture and stir until absorbed
10. Pour warm mixture into tart shell and smooth off
11. Turn off oven, and bale for 20 min or until set
12. Allow tart to cool, then sprinkle cocoa powder and leave it out until ready to eat (DO NOT REFRIGERATE)





And that is it from me. You now have a wonderful recipe for silky smooth chocolate tart that is perfect all year around.

I will try to post more, but if I can't I really am sorry. Until the next time I post remember to take care, keep healthy and happy!!