Espresso Chocolate Chip Pancakes

Today is a public holiday in New Zealand.  Not only does Labour Day commemorate the struggle for an eight-hour working day, but here it's also the day that really kicks off summer.  We are normally blessed with a hot sunny day on which everyone flocks to the beach and gets a nasty dose of sunburn, because somehow in our collective winter stupor we've forgotten about the great big hole in the ozone layer over New Zealand.  It's the day on which it is usually considered any risk of frost has passed and it is safe to plant tomatoes - we threw caution to the wind and planted ours last weekend.  No frost came, the sky didn't fall, the tomatoes appear to be thriving.

Unlike Labour Days passed, today is cool and breezy, low cloud is clinging to the hills around us, and rather than feeling the urge to flock to the beach, it felt more like a day for a late sleep-in, curl up on the sofa with a couple of movies, and enjoy a leisurely brunch.  A leisurely brunch in fact of espresso, chocolate chip pancakes, with a side of honey-roasted pineapple and yoghurt, and extra coffee.  Now I've got your attention, haven't I?!

It's Secret Recipe Club reveal day, and I can now tell you that my assigned blogger this month was the lovely Emily at Life on Food.  Having been born in Iowa, grown up in Georgia and Maine, Emily now lives in Connecticut with her husband, who also shares her passion for food and cooking.  Emily has a major in economics and works as a building consultant with colleges and universities.

Until this morning I wasn't hundred percent sure which one of Emily's many dishes I was going to make.  Emily has been blogging since 2009, and churning out on average around 300 posts a year, she gives new meaning to the word prolific.  That's a whole lot of dishes to choose from - just settling on a short list was pretty hard, let alone choosing just one.  My short list included New England Clam Chowder (although I'm not sharing that with you today, I will definitely be making this sometime soon), Lamb Meatballs with Toasted Orzo (this just reminds me of sunshine and Greek holidays), Cinnamon Rolls, and Shrimp Thai Noodles with Spicy Peanut Sauce.

But in the end, today is unquestionably a day for pancakes, and I love the "grown-up-ness" of Emily's Coffee Chocolate Chip Pancakes.  These are pancakes you make for a couple of lazy adults who just want to swan around for the day, not the ones you whip up for the kids before they rush out the door to sports day.  Emily's pancakes used instant coffee powder, but as we never have instant coffee around here, I brewed a double shot of espresso instead.  I didn't have any chocolate chips on hand either, so I subbed in some cacao nibs.  I think the slightly "bitter" flavour is another element that elevates these pancakes to grown up status. The main "liquid" ingredient in the batter is yoghurt, but I found, once I'd mixed up my batter, that it was very thick - I think this was probably because I only have very thick Greek-style yoghurt rather than a more "runny" variety, so I ended up having to add about 1/2 to 3/4 cup of milk to loosen the batter to the right consistency.  Use what you have and adjust accordingly.  The coffee flavour in these pancakes is not overt - it just adds that certain "je ne sais quoi" that gives a depth of flavour and leaves you wondering what it is.  Someone around here who hates coffee with a passion, thought they tasted pretty good - when he asked me what was in them, I said it was zucchini - never, ever would I let on that it was coffee.  Hopefully my secret is safe with all of you out there.

I served these pancakes with a side of this Honey Roasted Pineapple and a dollop of natural yoghurt.  It only takes a moment to prepare, and it takes care of itself in the oven while you cook the pancakes.  The vanilla and cinnamon perfumed honey and pineapple sauce hit just the right flavour notes drizzled over the pancakes, but if you just want the pancakes straight up maple syrup, or even just a generous knob of butter, would be perfect.

Espresso Chocolate Chip Pancakes Recipe
Adapted slightly from this recipe
from Life on Food

1 cup plain flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 tablespoons sugar
pinch of salt
double shot of freshly brewed espresso, cooled
1 tablespoon butter, melted and cooled
1 egg
1 cup natural yoghurt
1/2 to 3/4 cup milk, as necessary
1/3 cup cacao nibs (or chocolate chips)
extra butter for frying

Sift together flour, baking powder, and baking soda into a medium-sized bowl.  Add sugar and salt and mix to combine.

In a small bowl, whisk together espresso, melted butter, egg and yoghurt, until everything is well combined.

Make a well in the centre of the dry ingredients.  Add the yoghurt mixture, and mix until only just combined.  Thin with milk if necessary.  Fold in the cacao nibs.

Place a non-stick frypan over medium heat and add a small knob of butter.  As soon as butter is sizzling, add spoonfuls of the batter to the pan.  Cook for two to three minutes before flipping, and cook for a further two to three minutes on the other side.  Remove to a warm place and continue until all the batter has been cooked.

Serve immediately.

Hope you enjoy this dish as much as I did, and visit the links below to check out all the other great dishes my Secret Recipe Club friends made.

Secret Recipe Club is a way to not only find, but share new blogs.  Each month, one member is assigned to another member from their group "secretly" (hence the name).  That person selects a recipe (or more) to make, photograph, and then will draft up a blog post.  Everyone in the group posts on the same Monday together and gets to see who had their blog and what recipe(s) they chose.  It's such a fun experience and it's a great way to get new followers, too.  There are always new blogs to discover and our club has plenty to offer!  If you are a food blogger and interested in joining the Secret Recipe Club, be sure to check out the Join SRC page.

An InLinkz Link-up

Mocha, Date & Meringue Ice Cream

Pot Luck week at I Heart Cooking Clubs is always one of my favourite weeks, because it means that we get to cook with any one of our ten IHCC chefs.  For me that usually means the irresistible opportunity to catch up once again with my favourite chef, Yotam Ottolenghi.

This is timely, because this month at Tasting Jerusalem** we are exploring cooking with date syrup, through the lens of Ottolenghi's book Jerusalem.  I've use date syrup a few times before in dishes such as this Butternut Squash & Tahini Spread, which is finished off with a drizzle of date syrup.

Date syrup has a consistency similar to maple syrup, agave nectar, brown rice syrup or runny honey, and makes a great substitute anywhere you would use any of those ingredients, but the flavour is so much more, for want of a better word, "exotic" and complex than any of them.  The sticky sweetness of dates, combined with the intense flavour and aroma of rosewater, makes for an ingredient that will transport you to places far flung.

I've also used date syrup in these Pumpkin, Date & Chocolate Scones ...

... but today I wanted to come up with something that was altogether more indulgent and which really played to the exotic nature of this ingredient.

Doing a little research, I found my inspiration in Ottolenghi's recipe for Chocolate, Rose & Walnut Ice Cream.  This seemed like a good starting point, and I thought I could come up with my own version.

To start with, I simplified the whole process by using a combination of coconut cream, condensed milk, and melted dark chocolate, instead of the typical custard base used in the original recipe.  Since I had decided I was going to work date syrup into the recipe, I didn't need rose water, as that flavour is already sufficiently pronounced in the syrup.  I also wanted actual dates in the ice cream, as well as the syrup, so I soaked them in some freshly brewed espresso to soften them, before swirling into the ice cream.  And for that all important crunch, I replaced the walnuts and digestive biscuits Ottolenghi used, with some crumbled meringues.  I love the way they hold their texture, and keep that little bit of "chewiness" even once frozen.  I did think about also including some cacao nibs, but I think it would have been an ingredient too far, and the depth of chocolate flavour here is more than sufficient without it.

Ottolenghi served his ice cream with chocolate sauce drizzled over the top, which seemed a bit unnecessary in the circumstances, and some little cubes of Turkish delight sprinkled over the top.  I think this would have been delightful, but I didn't have any on hand.  He also finished with a little sprinkling of dried rose petals - another delightful touch, which I did have and would have added, but the ice cream was melting and for the life of me I couldn't find them in the cupboard (note to self:  time to give the cupboard a clean out!)

In the end, this ice cream is everything I wanted it to be.  Rich and chocolatey and almost fudgy;  there are delightful little of nuggets of chewy dates and crunchy meringues;  the date and rose flavours really come through without overpowering, and linger long enough on the palate to tantalise the mind with thoughts of far flung places.  I think I should have called this Magic Carpet Ice Cream.

Mocha, Date & Meringue Ice Cream Recipe
Inspired by a recipe by Yotam Ottolenghi
Makes about 1 litre
Download the free recipe card here

1/2 cup finely chopped, dried dates
3 tablespoons freshly brewed espresso
1 tablespoon date syrup
400ml (13.5 fl oz) coconut milk
2/3 cup sweetened condensed milk
200g dark chocolate, melted (I used Whittaker's Dark Ghana)
40g (1-1/2 oz) crumbled meringues

Place chopped dates in a small bowl.  Pour over the hot espresso and date syrup.  Stir to combine, and set aside until the dates have softened, and mixture has cooled.

Break chocolate into smallish pieces.  Place in a bowl over a pot of gently simmering water, making sure the water is not actually touching the bowl.  Stir from time to time, until the chocolate is melted and glossy.  Set aside and allow to cool completely, but without re-solidifying.

In another bowl, beat together the coconut milk, condensed milk and melted chocolate, until everything is well combined.

Churn in an ice cream maker according to manufacturer's instructions.

Empty ice cream into a freezer safe container.  Stir in the softened dates and crumbled meringues.  Cover the surface of the ice cream with a piece of non-stick baking paper, and put in the freezer to firm up.

Serve generously whenever you have itchy feet.

If you would like to get to know Yotam Ottolenghi a little better or any one of our other IHCC chefs, then do go and visit my friends at I Heart Cooking Clubs and see what they've all cooked up for Pot Luck week.

** Tasting Jerusalem is a virtual cooking community exploring the vibrant flavors and cuisine of the Middle East through the lens of Jerusalem: A Cookbook by Ottolenghi and Tamimi published by Ten Speed Press. You can follow along and cook with us by subscribing to omgyummy.com, following the hashtag #TastingJrslm on Twitter and Instagram, liking our Facebook page or joining our Google+ Community and finally checking out all of our groups’ dishes on Pinterest.

I'll also be sharing this post at See Ya In the Gumbo hosted by the lovely, and very amusing, Michelle at Ms. enPlace, at Weekend Cooking hosted by Beth Fish Reads, and at Foodie Friday hosted by Designs by Gollam.

         

I will also be submitting this post to Sweet New Zealand.  Inspired by Alessandra Zecchini, and hosted this month by Michelle at Munch Cooking, Sweet New Zealand is an event for all Kiwi bloggers (whether living at home or abroad), or all foreign bloggers living in New Zealand, to link up their sweet treats.

Espresso Caramel Bars & a "Clayton's" Post

Back in the late '70s/early '80s, here in New Zealand, we had a non-alcoholic beverage called Claytons, which at the time was marketed as "the drink you have when you're not having a drink". Pretty soon, the word "Claytons" passed into common usage to describe anything that was considered a poor imitation of, or poor substitute for, the real thing.  So I'm bringing you today a Claytons post - a poor substitute for a witty and engaging post, but I hope you will agree is better than no post at all.

Somehow this has been a very "spare time deprived" week, and I now have a back log of posts to try and churn out over the next couple of days.  So, I'm sorry to deprive you of some interesting dialogue to entertain you with, but in the interests of sharing a great recipe with you, I'm cutting straight to the chase.

This is my weekly post for I Heart Cooking Clubs, where we are cooking along with Giada de Laurentiis, who I'm pleased to see appears to be gaining popularity already with those who were initially not so enthusiastic about sharing this time with Giada.  Our theme for the week was chocolate, which was just the excuse I needed to make these Espresso Caramel Bars that I've had bookmarked for months.  As is so often the case when you keep eyeing up a recipe for months on end, you have high expectations, and of course it very often follows that the higher your expectations the greater your disappointment when you finally get around to making it.  In complete contrast to the norm however, these Espresso Caramel Bars exceeded all my expectations, and I will definitely be making these again.  Let's face it - crispy, biscuit crumb base;  ooey, gooey, slightly chewy, caramel centre;  fudgy, espresso chocolate topping - what's not to love?

Notes: 

We don't have graham crackers here in New Zealand, so I substituted digestive biscuits in the base and, in actual fact, I didn't have quite enough of those so I added a few vanilla wine biscuits in as well.  I imagine you could also make this recipe gluten-free by substituting with some gluten-free biscuits in the base.

Also, the chocolate topping calls for instant espresso powder, which I don't have.  I substituted with a 1/4 cup strong espresso which worked just fine.  I also used dark, bitter chocolate instead of the semisweet called for in the original recipe - I think this could be a bit sickly sweet with semisweet chocolate.

Lastly, I didn't sprinkle the suggested smoked sea salt over the top, because I simply didn't have any, but I can imagine that would be a nice addition.  I did, however, use regular butter instead of unsalted in the base and the caramel, which I think balances out any potential this has for being too sweet.

Espresso Caramel Bars

Adapted slightly from recipe by Giada de Laurentiis

Click here for a printable copy of this recipe

For the crust:

vegetable cooking spray

170g (6 oz) graham crackers or digestive biscuits

1/4 cup sugar

170g (1-1/2 sticks) butter, melted

For the caramel:

1/2 cup cream

113g (1 stick) butter, room temperature

1-1/2 cups brown sugar

1 tablespoon water

For the topping:

2 cups semisweet (or dark) chocolate chips

1/2 cup cream

1-3/4 teaspoons instant espresso powder or 1/4 cup strong espresso

1 teaspoon smoked sea salt, optional

Preheat oven to 175 degrees C (350 degrees F).  Spray the base of a 23 cm (9 inch) round springform tin with cooking spray, line with baking parchment, then spray the paper and sides of the tin.

Break the biscuits into the bowl of a food processor, add the sugar, and process both together until you achieve the appearance of fine breadcrumbs.  Add the melted butter, and continue to process until the mixture forms into clumps.  Tip the mixture into the prepared baking tin, and using your fingers spread it out and press gently into an even layer.  Bake in the preheated oven for 10 to 12 minutes or until the crust is just golden.  Remove and cool for 15 minutes.

Meanwhile, combine all of the ingredients for the caramel in a medium-sized, heavy-bottomed pan.  Set over medium heat and stir until the mixture is smooth.  Bring the mixture up to a boil and then, without stirring, cook until the mixture reaches 240 degrees F (use a candy thermometer) - about 7 minutes.  Very carefully pour the hot caramel over the still warm crust.  Cool for 20 minutes, then freeze until firm - about 10 minutes.

Now to the topping.  Combine the chocolate and cream in a small bowl, set over a pan of simmering water, and stir until the chocolate has melted and the mixture is smooth.  At this stage add either the espresso powder or liquid espresso, stirring to combine well.  Remove the baking tin from the freezer, and pour the chocolate over the top of the caramel, smoothing with a spatula.  Sprinkle the smoked sea salt over the top if you're using it, and refrigerate for 1 hour or until firm.

Remove from the fridge, and allow about 30 minutes for everything to come to room temperature.  Run a slightly wet, warm knife around the sides of the tin, between the tin and the chocolate layer, and then release the side of the tin.  Lift out of the base, remove the paper, and cut into bars or squares.  Store in an airtight container.

Interested in getting to know Giada a bit better?  Then do go and visit my friends at I Heart Cooking Clubs and see what they've all been cooking up ....

.... or check out Giada's Kitchen and many of her other titles, available from Amazon, Book Depository UK and Fishpond NZ