Salted Caramel Chocolate Meringue Brownies – intense chocolate brownie, sticky salted caramel, and peaks of gooey torched meringue.  Jump to Recipe 

I have finally found a way to get something out of that commute to the hospital. Podcasts. Or TedTalks, more specifically. 15 minute segments of interesting, original ideas, presented from the unique perspectives of experts in those fields, who more often than not are captivating public speakers. Perfect for the 45 minutes sitting in the car when I might otherwise be flicking mindlessly through peak-hour radio shows and adverts. And I’m not forcing myself to listen – this isn’t a microbiology channel, or a way of studying by listening to a podcast on the treatment of heart failure – it is what I might choose to watch if I had a few more hours spare in the evening.

Already, I’ve learnt that my procrastination habit might really be sign of innate creativity (I wish). But in the talk “The surprising habits of highly original thinkers”, Adam Grant details his psychology experiments where they discovered that the most creativity is generated by people who don’t complete the task set them straight away: they start early, but take almost until the due date to finish, leaving it churning away in the back of their mind for the longest period. However, this doesn’t mean you should wait until the night before to start something…because you will be so stressed and rushed that you won’t have much creativity then either! And you should always doubt your ideas – because when have doubt, you will go onto make improvements and refinements, searching for a better option. Kind of counterintuitive.

I never thought conversation was something that should be studied, but Celeste Headlee (the award-winning radio host) convinced me in ’10 ways to have a better conversation’. One of her points was that we have an overwhelming habit of thinking of something – an anecdote, something from our day, something sparked by what someone said 2 minutes ago – and then not really listening anymore until we say our bit. We then become “just two people shouting out barely related sentences in the same place”. Maybe a little extreme, but you get the gist. It happens to me, it has happened to people talking to me, it happens in TV interviews and on radio – and I had never really noticed it as a issue. Because you stop listening properly.

I’ll stop before I bore you to death, but both those talks are 100% worth a listen. It’s just 15 minutes, after all.

And if you can’t be bothered to make better conversation – just make these salted caramel chocolate meringue brownies, and people will love you anyway. A dark, rich, chocolate-studded brownie is topped with a layer of sticky salted caramel. Glossy meringue is piped into peaks on top, then torched until a speckled gradient of white and brown emerges. More salted caramel is drizzled on top – because I couldn’t help myself. It felt right, okay? 

So in your mouthful, you end up with intensely dark chocolate brownie, salty-sweet caramel, and a balancing fluffy cloud of meringue. It’s hard to stop at a single piece.

The post Salted Caramel Chocolate Meringue Brownies appeared first on The Brick Kitchen.

No-churn passionfruit raspberry pavlova ice cream – creamy vanilla ice cream layered with tangy raspberry coulis, passionfruit swirls & meringue shards.  Jump to Recipe 

Life changing.

I cannot believe I have never tried no-churn ice cream before. I had been a little ‘above’ it, assuming churned gelato was obviously superior, that pasteurising and aging and specific temperatures were all aspects worth consideration – and consequently never made it. The prohibitive time and effort meant a trip to Gelato Messina was far easier!

I think it was the sweetened condensed milk involved that put me off for a while longer – like, how could something with sweetened condensed milk be a real ice cream?

My new answer is IT CAN. IT SO SO SO CAN.

Because this passionfruit raspberry pavlova ice cream is one of the best I have ever tasted. Creamy, sweet vanilla ice cream base is layered with tangy raspberry coulis, passionfruit swirls and crispy edged-fluffy inner crushed meringue shards. It takes all of 10 minutes to make once the meringue and raspberry coulis are done, and then 6 hours freezing time later, you have a batch of ice cream that rivals anything storebought. The meringue and coulis recipe actually make enough for 2-3 batches of ice cream, so you will have leftovers to use in something else (meringue, berries and cream jars?) or just to make more ice cream with.

The possible flavour combinations that could be used with this ice cream base are endless- I’m thinking espresso chocolate with brownie chunks, roasted pear and rhubarb, apple crumble, lemon curd and blueberry swirls, caramel with sticky date pudding chunks…

AND Christmas is only ONE week away now. If your city/town/area is anything like Auckland right now, everyone (and everything) is going insane. The traffic is awful, the shops are packed, the stress is practically palpable, the radio is crammed with Christmas advertising, work is crazy busy (like, why does everyone suddenly want doughnuts the week before Christmas?) and most of the joy and family focus of Christmas seems swamped with a tide of commercialism.

For my part, I am incredibly unprepared thanks to those 9-12 hour doughnut shifts – Christmas dessert for 25 people is on me (!) and planning and Christmas shopping have yet to happen. If this is you as well, this ice cream is perfect. Make it a couple of days ahead (a couple of batches if you are feeding lots of people), and scoop it in the sun after Christmas dinner. Pavlova is an iconic dessert here in the Australia and NZ, but can be challenging in humid weather when you are trying to use the oven for 1000x other things in the days before Christmas. This way you can incorporate an easier meringue (made ahead, or even store-bought), into an easy but impressive ice cream to relieve dessert pressure on the day.

It could also be a worthwhile addition if your main dessert is something like Christmas pudding or trifle, which can be a little divisive (especially among the under-20s!) – have it on hand for those who aren’t fans of the traditional brandy-soaked puds. Even if you aren’t as disorganised as I am, you could still serve it at a relaxed dinner on Boxing Day, or around New Years celebrations – summer is all about beaches and barbecues, right?

If you are one of those Northern hemisphere people enjoying a white Christmas, feel free to experiment with more wintery flavours – chocolate, caramel, roast apples & pears, sticky date….

This recipe is part of a virtual Christmas lunch party with other Australian (and NZ) food bloggers, all serving up amazing recipes that you could use on the day. A big thank you to Bec at Dancing Through Sunday for organising it! Check out the other dishes here:

• Dancing Through Sunday – Vegetarian Stuffing Balls
• Champagne and Chips – Ice Cream Terrine
• The Alimental Sage – Festive Summer Salad 
• 84th and 3rd – Nectarine Almond Streusel French Toast 
• Whats for Eats – Sugar Crunch Cookies

The post No-Churn Passionfruit Raspberry Pavlova Ice Cream appeared first on The Brick Kitchen.