two recipes from the food network

Intro
Well The Great British Bake-Off has started on TV, and I'm being told bits and bobs about it (I haven't yet seen it as I can't get BBC here). What I hear so far though is interesting, I am keen to see just what I should have been like to make it on to the show. I know my recipes would have been great from what I hear. I look forward to catching up on it

Food!

Slightly cheating at posts here but I'm watching the food network, in Minnesota, and thought I'd write up two recipes as they are presented on the show. So the format for the recipes isn't traditional but they should work. I haven't got photo's but believe me when I say they look absolutely great.

Forgive the american measurements (I use grams and ounces usually), but 1 stick of butter is about 4 ounces so that's a good way to start, and you can usually buy American cups in most cooking shops.

Chocolate hazelnut drop cookies
2 sticks of unsalted room temp butter
1/4 cup of powdered (icing) sugar, cream them together, whilst creaming get a jar of chocolate hazelnut spread. Make sure all sugar is mixed in and then add 1tsp of vanilla extract and mix again. add two cups of all purpose (plain) flour, one cup at a time, slowly mix in using an electric mixer and the paddle attachment, scraping down the sides.
Measure out 1/2 cup of chocolate hazelnut spread, spoon it into the cookie dough, mix it all together and this turns it into a chocolate dough.

Line a baking sheet with baking paper, so the cookies don't stick. Use a small ice cream scoop and portion out the dough. Bake at 350 degrees for 10-15 minutes, cool on a cooling wrack until completely cool.
Roll them in icing sugar until they are covered.


Salami and apricot scones.
I'm in two minds about this write up as she's used a scone mix!

Anyway, it'a one packet of scone mix, 1 stick (4 ounces) of cold butter cubed,  mixed in a food processor until the butter in mixed in, (you could make the scones from scratch though I suppose).
Next add about 1 cup of chopped apricots, then add 6 ounces of salami chopped as chunky as you like. Add some thyme leaves, lightly chopped. Mix it up so all the apricots and salami are coated in flour and butter mix. 1 cup of butter milk is added next and then mix it all together until it's all incorporated. Spray a baking sheet with non-stick baking spray.
Use a one cup measure to scoop out the dough onto the sheet, bake at 450 for 20 minutes or so, until browned and fluffy.

I'm not sure Paul Hollywood would approve of these scones, I remember making some classic scones for him and they were "disappointing", but then scones aren't something I'm very used to making, so it's something I need to work on.

Alchemaic baking.
I had one of these tarts at Austin Java, a great place for lunch and breakfast if you are ever in Austin.

There was no pastry or biscuit crumb side to this tart so I imagine it was cooked in a spring form mini tin. The meringue was only just browned. I wanted to make a chocolate mint variety of this for the Great British Bake-off. With a chocolate biscuit base made from crushed bourbons, and then a mint/marshmallow filling made by warming milk, adding marshmallows and melting them and then adding peppermint essence and green food colouring to make a sort of grasshopper filling.
The top would then have been a cooked meringue made from the method where you dissolve the sugar into the egg whites in a double boiler before you whisk them up, this makes a very creamy, silky meringue which can be eaten without being baked but would still take colour and stay fluffy.
I was thinking about just letting the mint filling set, piping on the meringue and then using a blowtorch to brown it.

Dream Bars.

 These are so easy to make and extremely tasty and the variety of things you can use for toppings make it a truely alchemaic baked dish.

Start off by baking a simple shortbread using the 1,2,3 method. These are the ratios of sugar, butter and flour respectively e.g. 3 cups of flour, 2 cups of butter and 1 cup of sugar or 300g of flour, 200g butter and 100g of sugar (though the cup proportions work the best). If you end up not making enough then just make some more and fill the rest of the baking pan.

Preheat oven to a baking temperature and in the bowl of a freestanding mixer, with the paddle attachment, add the ingredients and beat until a smooth paste is formed. I was freaked out when I first did this as I was used to making bread crumbs by rubbing the fat into the flour and then bringing it together by hand. I was feeling lazy and thought my friends mixer would do it quicker but it blended the butter and flour together in to a dough before I had time to realise what was going on. I carried on though and believe me the base is so crumbly light and perfect for this dish that I will be making it this way in the future!
Press the dough into a baking pan that's lined all the way up the sides with baking parchment (not tin foil as this will stick to the final dish!) and bake it until it is golden brown and firm, then let it cool slightly in the pan, don't remove it from the baking tin.

On to the top of the cooled shortbread add some dessicated coconut, dried fruit of whatever you desire (last time I used blueberries and raspberries), and then, and this is the best bit, open and pour over two cans of condensed milk, being sure to 'poison-test' the condensed milk first.

'Poison-testing' is the most vital part of baking, it's a selfless act of tasting the pre and post cooked product to ensure it won't poison your friends, even better is if a friend is there to back up your opinion, it's an honour to be asked to poison test a baked good and something that is extremely important.

Pop it back into the oven and bake it until the condensed milk has become a caramel. For extra awesomeness put some marshmallows on top and pop them under a grill to brown them (or use a blowtorch).
Let it cool slightly and, then remove it from the pan, using the foil to lift it out and when it's completely cool, cut into bars and serve. If you serve it warm, it would go very well with cream or custard and served cold it would go best with a cup of java.

And Finally

Queso dip.

A very delicious cheesy dip that I first tried in a great Tex-Mex restaurant in Austin. Essentially you get a pound of melty, mild cheese, sauté some onion, chillies and chorizo and then cube up the cheese, and put it all into an oven proof dish and melt in the oven. Then serve hot with tortilla chips, eat it quickly so it doesn't solidify. I suppose it's a bit like a mexican fondue.