Fahrenheit to Celsuis

Measuring by weight rather than cups? What is this business?! Baking in the UK can be a bit difficult. As to no surprise, I joined the baking society at Queen Mary, University of London (if ya didn’t know, that’s where I’m currently studying). I walked into the society fair (society = club here) and that’s the table I gravitated towards. So for the first meeting, we had to bring our “signature dish.” I don’t have one… or at least I don’t think I do, but I brought cookie dough cheesecake bars ‘cause I got really great compliments for those back home (see ‘Hug from Inside’ blog entry). Despite being a wonderful country full of art, culture, dry humor, and scrumptious chocolate bars (Crunchie bars are the BEST)… they do not have graham crackers! Oh the horror! As an American, I can’t imagine anything else for the crust of a cheesecake. Luckily malted digestive cookies are a decent substitute. However, they aren’t as aromatic and sweet as graham cookies. Shucks.

For the next club meeting, our theme was “healthy.” First of all, I have to say, WHAT THE HEY?! If you’re going to be healthy, don’t bake. ‘Nof said. Baking is about BUTTER and SUGAR. There are healthy recipes, but baking is not for people on diets. Being a student and not wanting to spend money on too many ingredients here, I decided to work with what I had and made a red and yellow plum tart. I used the basic recipe for a tart crust (very similar to a pie crust recipe) and then cooked the sliced plums with cinnamon and brown sugar. I also sprinkled a bit of brown sugar on the crust (yeah, really not going for the healthy theme) to give it an extra crunch. It turned out good, but it was a bit too sour for my taste (I tried to not add too much sugar into the filling), but other people liked it. The filling is really based on your taste (no precise measurements here). If I had more ingredients, I’d probably add corn starch to the filling and maybe other fruit.

Oh! And I got to take a chocolate truffle making course! For the “cheap” price of £49 you can sign up for a chocolate course with ChocolateDelight. Now, this is actually a cheaper option because the other courses from other companies look questionable and dinky and yet charge more. There are also two day courses that go more in-depth, but they are much more expensive and who has two days to kill for chocolate making (I wish I did…). Truffles are fairly easy and it’s all about temperature. I did learn a bit about chocolate history, which was pretty cool. I also got lost and showed up half an hour late (yeah, my map skills are nonexistent), but I didn’t miss much. You can watch a cute and crazy video the instructor made if you’re curious about the general process (musical style!). Also, one fun and simple recipe  I learned was for chocolate crisps (at least that’s the name I’m giving it ‘cause I don’t remember what they are called). Take tempered chocolate (which will cool hard) and mix in a bit of mint extract (or any other flavor you want) and coarse brown sugar. Spread the mixture evenly over parchment paper on top of a slab until it’s about the thickness of the sugar grains. After it hardens, use the back of a knife and run it along the chocolate to break up the sheet. Then crinkle up the parchment paper and the chocolate pieces will easily peel off. This is great for snacking and with tea and coffee.

I don’t know if I’ll ever get really comfortable and use to baking here, but it’s a start! I just have to make sure I convert Fahrenheit to Celsius so I don’t burn anything. Oh, and lastly look out for Delia Smith’s home cooking lessons online! They come out February 28^th and should be wonderful (I went to a recording of the Graham Norton Show and saw her!).