homemade desserts

These&nbsp;Homemade Tim Tams are an Australian specialty consisting of two chocolate cookies, sandwiched around chocolate-malt frosting, dipped in chocolate. Sounds pretty good doesn't it?

Homemade Tim Tams

unsalted butter (at room temperature (115 g))

granulated sugar ((1/2 cup, or 115 g))

egg (at room temperature)

oz unsweetened Dutch-processed cocoa powder ((1/3 cup,

oz all-purpose flour

salt

oz sugar

tbsp unsweetened Dutch-processed cocoa powder

tbsp malted drink powder ((like Ovaltine or Horlicks))

oz milk or dark chocolate ((280 g))

coconut oil

Combine the butter and sugar in the bowl of a large stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, and cream until pale and fluffy. Scrape down the bowl, and add the egg and continue beating until the egg is incorporate and the mixture lightens in color. Add the cocoa powder and beat until there are no lumps. Finally, fold through the flour and salt until it is all incorporated. The dough will be very soft.

Scrape the dough out onto a piece of parchment paper. Add a second sheet of paper on top, and roll out the dough between the two sheets until it is a rectangle about 1/4-inch thick. Place the dough on a tray and freeze it for 30 minutes, or refrigerate it for 1-2 hours, until firm.

Preheat the oven to 350 F (180 C). Line two baking trays with parchment paper.

Cut the chilled dough into 28 small 1 1/4 in x 2 1/2 in rectangles. Place them in evenly spaced intervals on the baking sheets and bake for 10 minutes. Let the cookies cool completely at room temperature.

To Make the Cookies:

Cream the butter until soft, then sift in the remaining ingredients and beat until light and fluffy. Spread a heaping teaspoon of filling on half of the cookies, or transfer the frosting to a piping bag and pipe an even layer of filling on half of the cookies. Top with the remaining cookies, then put in the refrigerator to chill while you make the coating.

To Make the Filling:

For the coating, place the chocolate and coconut oil in a heat-proof bowl and melt them together in the microwave in 30-second bursts, stirring after every 30 seconds to prevent overheating. Once the chocolate is mostly melted, remove and stir gently until smooth.

Using a fork or dipping tools, dip a chilled cookie in the melted chocolate and place it back on the baking sheet. If you want to create a wavy pattern on top of the cookies, lightly press the tines of the fork or dipping tool to the top while the chocolate is still wet. Repeat until all of the cookies are dipped. Chill in the refrigerator, then devour!

To Assemble:

These Chocolate Chai Pots de Creme are heavy on the chocolate (of course!) but I also added a generous dose of chai spices. I infused the milk with cinnamon sticks, cardamom pods, and a bit of ginger, to give it a warm, comforting flavor.

Chocolate Chai Pots de Creme

milk

cinnamon sticks (coarsely chopped)

green cardamom pods (coarsely crushed)

tsp ground ginger

oz semi-sweet chocolate (finely chopped)

heavy cream

sugar

Whipped cream

cinnamon chocolate

Place the milk, cinnamon sticks, cardamom pods, and ground ginger in a medium saucepan. Bring the milk to a simmer, so that bubbles just start to appear along the edges, but it does not come to a full boil. Once the milk is simmering, remove the pan from the heat, cover it with a lid, and let it sit for 30 minutes to infuse the milk with flavor.

While you wait for the milk to infuse, place the semi-sweet chocolate in a large bowl, and pour the cream into a small saucepan. Bring the cream to a simmer over medium heat, then pour the hot cream over the chocolate. Let it sit for a minute, then gently whisk the cream and chocolate together until the chocolate is melted and the mixture is silky and smooth. Set aside for a moment. Preheat the oven to 300 F.

After 30 minutes, taste the infused milk mixture, and if the flavor isn't as strong as you'd like, continue to let it sit for another 5-10 minutes, until you're satisfied with the taste. When the milk is finished infusing, strain out the cinnamon stick and cardamom pods, and place the saucepan of milk back onto a medium burner until it simmers.

Combine the egg, yolks, sugar, and salt in a medium bowl, and whisk gently to combine. When the milk comes back to a simmer, whisk the eggs while you slowly pour in about half of the hot milk mixture, whisking constantly so the eggs heat up but don’t cook during the process. When half of the milk has been added, start whisking the milk in the saucepan while you pour the egg mixture back into the pan.

When the milk-egg mixture is combined, pour it into the chocolate bowl, and whisk until everything is well-mixed and smooth. Divide the mixture between 8 1/2-cup ramekins or cups. Arrange them in a 9x-13-inch cake pan, and fill the pan with hot water so that it comes halfway up the sides of the cups. Cover the top of the pan with foil, then poke a hole in each end to let steam escape.

Bake the pots de crème for 35-40 minutes. They're done when you tap a cup and they just barely jiggle in the center. Remove them from the heat, let them cool in the water bath for 10 minutes, then take them out of the water and let them cool to room temperature. Refrigerate the pots de crème until chilled, and top them with whipped cream, cinnamon, and/or chocolate shavings to serve. They can be kept, wrapped in plastic wrap, for up to a week in the refrigerator.

I'm obviously not reading your blog often enough (for shame!), because I almost missed this one. And wow, does it sound amazing. Cinnamon + cardamom + chocolate? This is definitely going on my to-do list. And I'm totally going to hog it all to myself. ;-)

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