Gluten Free Brownie

This Gluten Free Brownie is one of the best chocolate brownie ever. It’s fluffy, rich in chocolate, crispy with walnuts and gluten free. One thing though and that is do make sure that you use the best quality chocolate you can find. Enjoy xx

Ingredients:

• 3 eggs
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 1/2 cup butter
• 1 cup semi sweet chocolate chips
• 1/3 cup corn starch or rice flour
• 1 1/4 cup almond meal
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 3/4 cup walnuts

Methods:

1 . Preheat oven to 400 °F.

2 . Melt chocolate chips and butter in a double boiler*.

3 . In a bowl, mix together the sugar, flour, almond meal, vanilla extract and eggs.

4 . Slowly add the chocolate mixture into the bowl and mix again. Add the walnuts.

5 . Cover a 9*9″ brownie pan with parchment paper and pour the brownie mixture.

6 . Bake for 20 minutes. (Don’t over cook it, it will lose its fluffiness). Let it cool for 15 minutes before serving.

* Double boiler technique: 

Add 1” of water to a medium saucepan or pot and bring to a very gentle simmer. Place a heat-safe bowl on top of the pot so that the bottom of the bowl is not touching the water. You want the steam from the water to gently warm the bowl. Add the chopped chocolate and butter to the bowl and stir occasionally with a spatula until smooth and melted.

Spinach, Bacon and Ricotta Stuffed Shells

This recipe is a rich and hearty pasta dish that’s easy to make! Jumbo pasta shells filled with creamy ricotta and spinach filling. Bon appetit !

Ingredients:

• 12 jumbo pasta shell
• 16 ounces ricotta cheese
• 2 ounces bacon, cut in tiny stripes
• 2 cups fresh spinach leaves, roughly chopped
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup (125 g) grated Parmesan cheese
• 15 ounce can tomato sauce
• 1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar

Method :

1 . Preheat your oven to 375 F.

2 . Cook pasta,according to cooking instruction and set aside.

3 . In a large nonstick skillet, heat olive oil over medium-high heat. Add the bacon and cook for 5 minutes, until it starts looking crispy. Set aside in a small bowl.

4 . In the same skillet, and over medium-high heat, add chopped spinach and cook until it starts to wilt, about a minute, stirring constantly. Remove from heat.

5 . For the sauce: Combine the pasta sauce and balsamic vinegar in a pot over medium heat. Bring to a light simmer while stirring together. Then pour the sauce into a 9×13 inch baking dish, spreading it out.

6 . Combine cooked spinach, ricotta cheese, and salt in a mixing bowl. Stir until well mixed. Lastly, add the pieces of bacon into the mixture.

7 . Use this mixture to generously stuff each pasta shell, and place the stuffed shells on top of the sauce in the baking dish.

8 . Cover with foil and bake for 25 minutes at 350 F. Uncover and bake for another 5 minutes.

9 . Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese and serve.

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Classic French Macarons

Today’s recipe is probably the most difficult recipe you will see on the blog but I had to share. I’m not sure if it’s the rainbow of color, the infinite list of possible flavors or the adorable two-bite size but I never have enough of those classic french macarons.

It is definitely not the easiest pastry to make but with the good recipe and some patience you will do great, believe me !

Ready for the challenge?

Ingredients:

Meringue:

• 80g (40gx2) egg white, at room temperature
• 20g white sugar
• 1 pinch of salt

For the sirup:

• 100g sugar
• 35g water

Mix of Almond Meal:

• 100g almond meal
• 100g powdered sugar
• food coloring of your choice

* I recommend using grams and only grams for this recipe. You will need to be really precise and so it is best to use an electronic scale.

Utensils:

• 2 baking sheets
• parchment paper
• template for macarons, here
• cooking thermometer
• electronic scale
• mesh shieve

Method:

1 . Separate the egg whites: Weigh 40g egg whites 2 times and store them in the kitchen at room temperature in 2 small containers covered with plastic wrap.

2 . Prepare the almond meal mixture: grind almond meal with the powdered sugar in a food processor until fine. Sift the almond meal-powdered sugar mixture through a mesh sieve. This step is very important because it will define the smooth look of your macaron shells. Set aside.

3 . Preheat the oven to 290ºF and position 2 racks in the lower section of the oven. Line 2 rimmed baking sheets with parchment paper.

4 . Place egg whites in the bowl of a stand mixer (or use a hand mixer), and begin to beat on medium-high. When the eggs are frothy, gradually add granulated sugar 1 tablespoon at a time until fully incorporated.

5 . Meanwhile, prepare the syrup. In a small pan, add 100g sugar and 35g water. Stir a little before turning to heat on over medium heat and immerse the cooking thermometer in it. Wait until the syrup increases temperature up to 230°F.

6 . When the syrup is at temperature, slow down the bowl mixer and slowly incorporate the boiling syrup by slowly pouring it on the edges of the bowl.  Continue to beat the egg white mixture for 10 minutes to let it cool.

7 . Add the last 40g egg white into the almond meal mixture and the food coloring of your choice.

8 . Add half of the sifted almond mixture, and gently fold it into the meringue using a flexible silicone spatula. Lift from the bottom, up around the sides, and toward the middle. Once the almond mixture is predominantly incorporated, add the second half and repeat the folding motion.

9 . When the almond mixture is just incorporated, you will need to transform the batter into the appropriate texture. Using the flat of the spatula, scrape batter from the sides to the center. You will need to repeat this until the batter slowly and continuously drips back into the bowl when you scoop it up with the spatula making like a « ribbon »

10 . Pour batter into a pastry bag fitted with a 0.4-inch tip. On your prepared baking sheets, pipe out 1-inch rounds in the circles.

*You can place a macaron template under your parchment paper to help you make regular macarons. You can find my template here.

11 . Holding the baking sheet in both hands, rap each baking sheet firmly on the counter two or three times. This smooths out the tops and helps form the frilly foot on the bottoms of the macarons. Allow the piped macarons to dry, uncovered, for at least 20 minutes.

12 . Bake for 13 minutes and then remove them from the oven, and let it cool. When fully cooled, assemble the macarons with your choice of filling. For those ones I chose strawberry jam !

Crunchy Chicken Spring Salad

Hope everyone is doing well. I just came back from my trip to the USA and it is now so sunny in Paris. It’s awesome ! On this Sunday I though a spring salad would be perfect. I pretty much used whatever I had in my fridge and it came out pretty nice.

Ingredients: 

Crunchy Chicken:

• 4 chicken thigh fillets, skin removed (no bone)
• 2 cups flour*
• 1 egg
• 2 cups bread crumbs*

*For a Gluten Free option use corn starch instead of the flour and cornflakes instead bread crumbs. You can go check out my gluten free Gluten Free Crunchy Chicken here.

• 5 cups Romaine lettuce leaves, washed and dried
• 1 avocado, sliced
• 2 roma tomatoes, sliced
• ½ cup Parmesan cheese slices
• Salt and pepper, to season

Balsamic Dressing:

• 2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
• 6 tablespoons olive oil

Method:

1 . The crunchy chicken : With a sharp knife, detail the chicken into strips. Add salt and pepper to the chicken pieces. Place the flour, the beaten egg and the bread crumbs in three different plates.
2 . Heat the oil in a saucepan. Dip the chicken strips into the flour, into the egg and finally into the bread crumbs to cover them completely. Cook for 15-20 minutes, turning them often enough to prevent them from burning.

After that, the salad comes together so FAST. Throw all ingredients into a bowl and dress with the reserved dressing. That’s kinda it.

3. Slice chicken into smaller pieces and prepare salad with lettuce, avocado slices, tomatoes, Parmesan cheese and finally chicken.

4 . Dressing: Mix the balsamic vinegar with olive oil. Drizzle with the dressing; season with salt and pepper; serve.

 

 

Upside down Apple Pie

Another Apple pie recipe!  This french classic is infused with caramel in every bite. Made with caramelized apples and baked upside down in a bed of caramel it is by far one of my favorite. If like me you also like apple pie you can also go check out my Yogurt Apple Cake and Gluten Free Apple Pie recipe ! 🙂

Ingredients:

• 6 apples peeled and thinly sliced ( pink lady or ganny smith)
• 1/2 cup butter
• 1 teaspoon of sea salt
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 dough for pie crust

1 . Melt butter in a 10 inch spring form pan over medium to medium high heat.

2 . Add 1 cup sugar and cook, stirring constantly, for 2 minutes or until sugar is melted and begins to turn golden brown. Remove from heat.

3 .  Nicely arrange apples around this edge of pan. Then, fill the middle with the remaining apples slices. Add a second layer of apple ( this second layer does not need to be pretty since you won’t see it after flipping the pie).

4 . At this point, the caramel might look like it’s hardened but that’s OKAY, it will loosen up as the cooking and baking proceed. Cover the pan with foil, put the pan back on heat and cook apple for 5 to 10 minutes, until apples have softened.

5 . Preheat oven to 400F. Remove pan from the heat and cover immediately with the pie dough (be careful not to burn yourself). Roll the edges of the dough against the edges of the pan. With the tip of a knife, drill a small hole in the center of the dough to allow the steam to escape.

5 . Bake for 40 minutes until the crust is golden. Let it cool for 10-15 minutes and then flip it. Scrape out any apples or caramel that might’ve stuck to skillet, and put them back into place on the tart. Don’t wait much longer or the caramel will stick to the pan.

Add some vanilla ice cream over that and you’ll be heaven.