Welcome to the kitchen, Rachel Khoo!

All recipes and photography by food stylist Rachel Khoo…

“I would happily eat 3 desserts and just skip the starter and main. I’m definately a “pâtisserie-a-holic”. What I love about sweet things is the reaction they get. Mention to someone you’re making some sweet treat and you’ll see their eyes light up immediately. Desserts are meant to be shared. Bake a cake, wrap up some pieces and pop around to your neighbours and you’ll have no problems borrowing that extra cup of sugar whenever you want. So here are several sweet treats which are perfect for sharing but also just as good for curling up on the sofa and eating all by yourself…

chilled pandan soufflé:

crème pâtissière

2 tbsp cornflour
200ml cream
200ml milk
1 tsp pandan essence (or vanilla)
8 pandan leaves
3 egg yolks

egg white mixture

5 sheets of gelatine
3 egg whites
150g caster sugar

4x 3″metal rings

To make the pandan soufflé cases. Wrap a pandan leaf around a metal ring, cut to the right length. Place inside the ring. Cover a board or flat plate with plastic film and place all the pandan cases on the plate/board.

For a “soufflé” effect: Cut 4 strips of parchment paper about 1 inch longer than the circumference and at least 1 1/2 inches taller than a 6-ounce ramekin. Wrap a parchment-paper strip around each of 4 ramekins to form a collar, and secure with tape.

crème pâtissière

Heat the milk, cream and the rest of the pandan leaves in a heavy-based pan. Bring to the boil and then simmer for 10 minutes (or until the leaves have softened). Take off the heat and leave to infuse for 30 minutes. Remove the leaves. Bring the cream mixture back to the boil. In a separate bowl, beat the egg yolks with half of the sugar, then gradually beat in the cornflour. Meanwhile soak the gelatin in cold water.
When the milk and cream begin to scald, remove from the heat and slowly trickle the hot liquid over the egg mixture, whisking thoroughly as you do so. Transfer the mixture back into the pan, add the pandan essence and stir over gentle heat for about 3-5 minutes until it is smooth and thick. Transfer the crème patissière to a bowl.

Whisk the egg whites to a stiff peak, add the rest of the sugar half way through. Squeeze the water out of the gelatin. Dissolve it in a pot over a gentle heat and mix into the crème patissière. Fold the egg whites into the crème patissière.

Spoon the mixture into the pandan cases. Refrigerate for at least 4 hours or overnight.

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almond panna cotta with raspberry coulee:

3 gelatine leaves
250ml almond milk
250ml double cream
2 tsp almond essence
25g sugar

4 ramekins

Soak the gelatine in cold water until soft. Heat the all the other ingredients in a pan until it comes to the boil. Take off the heat. Squeeze out the water from the gelatine, add to the cream mixture. Stir well until all the gelatine is dissolved. Pour into ramekins and leave to cool. Once cool put into the fridge and chill for at least 4 hours (or overnight).

To unmould: Run a sharp knife around the ramekin and then dip the ramekin in a large bowl of hot water for 10 seconds. Place a plate on top of the ramekin and turn over.

Serve with raspberry coulis*

* I just heat frozen raspberries up with some sugar and a bit of water if necessary. Wizz it up with a blender and pass it through a sieve. Or if I’m feel extra lazy I just buy ready made stuff. Shock horror!

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biscuit poppets!

200g butter, softened
200g sugar
2 eggs
550g flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp vanilla essence

100g icing sugar
1 tsp vanilla essence
A couple of tbsp of water

Man/Woman cookie cutter

Makes at least 40 small poppets.

Cream together butter, vanilla essence with sugar until fluffy. Add beaten eggs and sifted flour with baking powder. Bring together to form dough. Wrap dough in cling film and leave to chill for 30mins. Meanwhile preheat oven to 170°c. Flour surface and roll out dough to 4mm thickness. Cut out biscuits. Place on baking paper lined tray. Chill for another 10 minutes. Bake for 15 minutes or until golden brown, depending on size of biscuits. Leave to cool. Mix together icing sugar, vanilla essence with enough water to make a thick paste. Pipe decoration.

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Thanks Pia for putting me in the kitchen. It’s really a great honour. Enjoy!”

Bisous,

Rach x

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Enjoy everyone, and thank you Rachel, what a treat it is to have you here! To view Rachel’s blog, click here. And to see the original recipe posts, click here, here, and here.

Bon appétit!