{3-ingredient coconut ice-cream in hermie}

There are so many ice-cream flavours around that I can't even imagine some of them when I hear what a friend has recently tried. Having said that, one of my favourite ice-cream flavours is coconut. However, this is a flavour that is rarely sold in the shops in Australia and I'm sure that if it was, it would be full of additives and numbers that I don't want to be putting into my body. I have found it once in an Asian Grocer, however it was very watery and a granita-like consistency that was very hard to scoop when frozen solid.

So, when I received Adam Liaw's latest recipe book for Christmas, "Asian After Work", I was pleasantly surprised to find the simplest coconut ice-cream recipe in there. I had to give it a go and took it to a friend BBQ for dessert. It was a great hit! Here it is "Thermomix" converted. Enjoy xx

100 grams raw sugar

420 grams coconut milk (1 400ml can)

300 grams thickened cream (about 1 300ml carton)

1. Place sugar into dry TM bowl and mill 10secs/ speed 10.

2. Add coconut milk and cream to bowl and cook 6mins/ 90C/ speed 2 until sugar is dissolved and mixture is warmed through.

3. Pour into a freezer proof container and chill in the freezer for about 5 hours.

4. After 5 hours, pour mixture back into TM bowl and churn 10secs/ speed 6. Then, 2-3 times/ 2 secs/ closed lid position. Re-freeze for about another 5 hours or even better overnight.

5. Serve as is, with a banana fritter or with some sweet tropical fruits like Rambutan & Pineapple (as above).

Makes about 700ml.

Tips: If you don't have thickened cream, you can use pouring cream. However, you may need to repeat step 4 again (which will add time to the freezing length).

{easy apple crumble in hermie}

As you would know from previous posts, we are a dessert family. The other night, I had made dinner and when it was cooked realised just how small it was going to be and I didn't want hungry tummies afterwards. As I hadn't actually planned any dessert (for once), I quickly scrummaged around the kitchen to see what I had and came up with a super easy apple crumble that can be made with a few simple ingredients and not much effort. I'm almost embarrassed to call it a Mei original recipe... it is that simple.

Apple Filling:
2 large Granny Smith apples, peeled and cubed ~3cm (about 400 grams)
500mls water for cooking
sprinkle of ground cinnamon to taste

Crumble:
1/2 C plain flour
1/4 C brown sugar
1/4 C castor sugar
4 tablespoons butter

ice-cream or cream for serving

1. Preheat oven to 190C.
2. Place apple in TM basket. Add water to TM bowl and cook 12mins/ varoma/ speed 3.
3. Meanwhile, in a separate bowl, add all crumble ingredients and 'rub' together until it forms a sand like texture.
4. Spoon apple into a 4 Cup capacity pie dish and spread evenly. Sprinkle cinnamon over the top to taste.
5. Spread the crumble over the top.

6. Put in oven to bake for 20-25mins or until golden.
7. Serve immediately with ice-cream or cream.

Serves 4

Bon Appetit xx

Notes: This crumble is quite a fine crumble. If you would like to make it coarser, I would try replacing half the flour with some roughly milled oats and/or some roughly chopped walnuts. Also, as I'm in a hurry and there's 12 minutes for the apple to cook, I make the crumble manually. If you wanted to wait, I'm sure you could make it in the Thermomix using the turbo button a few times. 

** update 19th March 2014 ** 
Please find below, the "complete" Thermomix Version.

Crumble
100 grams butter, cut into 2cm cubes
80 grams plain flour
60 grams brown sugar
60 grams castor sugar

Apple filling
500 grams water
2-3 largish granny smith apples

1. Pre-heat oven to 190C. Place all crumble ingredients into TM bowl. Mix 2-3times/ 1sec/ closed lid position/ Turbo. Set aside for later.
2. Place water into TM bowl. Heat 5mins/ 100C/ speed1.
3. Meanwhile, peel and core the apples. Cut into 2-3cm cubes and place in TM basket. When water is finished, place TM basket into TM bowl and steam apples 10mins/ Varoma/ speed3.
4. When steamed through, pour apples into baking dish and top with reserved crumble. Bake in oven 20-25mins.

{choc chip biscuits in hermie}

One of the simple things in life is to sit down for a break in the afternoon with a yummy biscuit and a cup of tea. These chocolate chip biscuits are my absolute favourite and are a recipe from the classic Women's Weekly books that I remember my mum having in the kitchen when I was growing up. It has the perfect ratio of sugar and butter so that when the biscuits are baked and warm, the outside is crispy and the inside is chewy.... just the way I like it. I was determined to be able to make these in the Thermomix and we finally have success the second time round. Happy baking x

125 grams softened butter, chopped in 2-3 cm cubes
100 grams caster sugar
100 grams brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla essence
1 egg
260 grams self raising flour (I sometimes use wholemeal flour)
120-150 grams dark choc bits

1. Pre-heat oven to 180C.
2. If you're disorganised like me and use butter straight from the fridge, put the butter in the TM bowl and melt 1min / 40C/ stir speed. Otherwise, skip this step.
3. Add butterfly. Add sugar and essence to bowl and mix 1min / speed 3/ reverse. Keep the butterfly going and add the egg through the MC hole. (This is effectively 'creaming' the butter and sugar together)
4. Remove butterfly.
5. Add flour and choc bits. Mix 10sec/ speed 3 or until combined.
6. Scoop teaspoons of dough onto silicon mats or baking paper and bake for 13-15 minutes until lightly golden.

Teaspoons of biscuit dough waiting for the oven

7. Cool on trays for 10 minutes and then eat straight away!

Makes 50 biscuits

Bon Appetit xx

Serving suggestion: Follow the recipe to make a yummy chocolate ice-cream then sandwich a scoop between 2 biscuits... it's so delicious you won't be able to stop at one!

Choc-chip ice-cream sandwich

Tips: Do not overmix this dough. It will end up with overworked batter and biscuits that are flat. They still taste good though. Also, it is very tempting to double the quantities (as the biscuits don't last long) however, it ends up in overworking the dough. Lastly, leave some for the next day :-)

Variations: Instead of adding dark choc chips, try white choc chips and dried apricots. Thanks to my friend Georgia for this version xx

{chocolate ice-cream in hermie}

I love chocolate in all forms especially ice-cream. The one below just a variation on the yummy everyday vanilla ice-cream recipe. It's a great dessert after any main meal and it's not too sweet due to the high cocoa content in the chocolate used. I also like to serve it wedged between 2 choc chip biscuits for more chocolatey goodness.

100 grams dark chocolate, broken into small pieces (I used 70% Lindt)

1. Put chocolate in TM bowl and grate 10sec / speed 9.

2. Follow recipe from everyday vanilla ice-cream. Alternatively, if you want chocolate flakes throughout the ice-cream, reserve 1/3 of the grated chocolate and proceed. Add chocolate flakes at step 3 when you do the final churn of ice cream in the Thermomix.

Makes 600 ml (approximately)

Bon Appetit xx

Tips: This is quite a hard yet creamy ice-cream due to the addition of chocolate. So that it is easy to scoop out, I leave it out on the bench before we eat dinner or do a quick blast in the microwave for 15 seconds.

{everyday vanilla ice-cream}

In my household, we like to eat dessert. Sometimes it is just fruit and most of the time, it is a great tool to get my 3.5yr old little one to eat their main meal! One of our favourites is ice cream. My issue with supermarket ice cream is that there are so many unnecessary additives and ingredients added that I feel bad eating them let alone feed them to my children. For example, why does colouring need to be added to vanilla ice cream when the natural colour is how it should be (see above picture). Now with the Thermomix, I can make my own without adding the 'nasties' and I don't have to spend an extra $200-$400 for an ice cream maker...

2 egg yolks
500 full-fat pouring cream (I use Bulla to support an Australian owned company)
150g castor sugar (I find this a bit sweet so would probably add 120-130g)
1 vanilla bean, halved & insides scraped
pinch of sea salt

1. Place all ingredients into bowl. Cook 6min / 80C / speed 4.
2. Remove vanilla bean and pour mixture into container with cover. Put in freezer for 5-6 hours until set wobbly.
3. Remove from freezer and cut into ice cube size pieces (if required. Mine was still a bit watery). Put in mixing bowl and blend 20sec / speed 9 then 10 sec / speed 4. 
4. Pour back into container and freeze overnight before serving.

Bon appetit xx

Makes about 600ml or 8 portions.

Stay tuned... i'm thinking my next batches will be chocolate and pistachio :)

This recipe is based on the "Everyday Cookbook" by Thermomix with some tweaks here and there.