Mark's Ricotta Hotcakes with Honeycomb-Crunchie® Butter

Well, I was totally spoiled by my amazing husband for Mother's Day.  Not only did he bring me a piping hot mug of my favorite Ka'u coffee and the newspaper in bed, but he also made me ricotta hotcakes a la Bill Granger - but better, so much better.

I went to Bill's on my recent trip to Australia.  It is always a dilemma trying to decide what to order because everything sounds (and tastes!) so good.  Both my daughter and I settled upon the ricotta hotcakes with honeycomb butter.  It is one of those dishes that, if no one was looking, you totally want to lick the plate clean.  The honeycomb is not the usual comb you would find in honey, but rather a confection made from sugar, golden syrup, water, and baking soda.  It is also the basis for two iconic candies from Australia - the Violet Crumble and the Crunchie.  The Violet Crumble is available in some parts of the U.S., but I have never seen a Crunchie bar here.

Upon my return I told my husband about the restaurant visit, mentioning that we would have to try making them sometime.  Little did I know that he absorbed this little request and put a plan in place to make them for me on Mother's Day.  This is a huge deal because my husband does not cook very often.

Not only did he make hotcakes that totally rival Bill's, but he also had to overcome the obstacle of not having access to honeycomb here in the U.S.  His solution was to use a candy bar from Australia called a Crunchie when making the butter.  I am gob-smacked at how resourceful he was.  This butter melted over the top of the hotcakes and was a chocolate-honeycomb dream.  I realize that Crunchies are not readily available here, so to make this butter you have a few choices - make honeycomb from scratch, buy a Violet Crumble bar if they are available in your area, or lastly I think a SKOR bar would work well in this too.

Along with the ricotta hotcakes, he and my daughters also made some french toast from Punalu'u Sweatbread and a beautiful platter of tropical fruits.  The cherry on top was a glass of pink champagne and guava juice.  What an truly wonderful Mother's Day.

I barely had time to grab my camera and take a quick photo before they were devoured.

Ricotta Hot Cakes With Honeycomb Butter

(Printer Friendly Recipe)

Ingredients
Hotcakes
1 ⅓ cups ricotta
¾ cup Milk
4 eggs separated
1 cup all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 pinch of salt
50 g butter
fresh strawberries halved (I prefer banana)
icing sugar for dusting

Honeycomb Butter
250 g unsalted butter softened
100 g sugar honeycomb crushed with a rolling pin or a Crunchie bar
2 tablespoons honey

Preparation

Hotcakes  

1. Place ricotta, milk and egg yolks in a mixing bowl and mix to combine.
2. Sift the flour, baking powder and salt into a bowl.
3. Add to the ricotta mixture and mix until just combined.
4. Place egg whites in a clean dry bowl and beat until stiff peaks form.
5. Fold egg whites through batter in two batches, with a large metal spoon.
6. Lightly grease a large non-stick frying pan with a small portion of the butter and drop 2 tablespoons of batter per hotcake into the pan (don't cook more than 3 per batch).
7. Cook over a low to medium heat for 2 minutes, or until hotcakes have golden undersides.
8. Turn hotcakes and cook on the other side until golden and cooked through.
9. Transfer to a plate and quickly assemble with other ingredients.
10. Stack 3 hotcakes on a plate and top with strawberries and a slice of honeycomb butter.
11. Dust with icing sugar.

Honeycomb Butter

1. Place all ingredients in a food processor and blend until smooth.
2. Shape into a log on plastic wrap, roll, seal and chill in a refrigerator for 2 hours.
3. Store leftover honeycomb butter in the fridge for up to 24 hours, or in the freezer - it's great on toast.

Recipe from Bill's Sydney Food by Bill Granger.

I thought I would also include some photos from my trip to Bill's in Surry Hills.

To Try Tuesday - Bill's Berry Tart

Math never was my strong point so it is no big surprise that I missed Pi Day.  I had this great idea that I would make Bill Granger's Cherry Tart to celebrate Pi Day (even though it is, technically, a tart not a pie) but I ended up having 3.14159265 other things to do, so it became a To Try recipe instead.

I planned on using cherries but Costco did not have any and I didn't want to be stuck with a big bag of frozen cherries.  So I went with blueberries instead, using about 2 cups of whole berries to make a single layer in the tart shell.  It therefore became Bill's Berry Tart.





There is not one thing about this tart that I would change - it was amazing.  If you are looking for a easy-to-make dessert that will impress your family and friends then this is your dessert.  Cherries, blueberries, blackberries, raspberries, or even a mix of berries would be great in the filling.  I loved that the crust was a cinch to make and it did not have to be rolled out.  You know how the crust can shrink sometimes when you are pre-baking? Not with this one.  Also, those pie weights that you use to stop air pockets forming in the crust? Well, you will not need them for this crust. Simply make crust in less than 5 minutes, pre-bake, fill with fruit, pour custard over the top, and bake once more.  Mine baked for 35 minutes, so realistically you could have this pie ready in about an hour.  I sprinkled mine with a little powdered sugar after it cooled, but this is optional.  Ice cream or whipped cream would be a nice addition too.  Lastly, the original recipe was in metric, so if you prefer these measurements you can find the recipe here.

Bill’s Berry Tart

(Printer Friendly Version)

Ingredients

Pastry

• ½ cup (1 stick) + 1 tablespoon unsalted butter, melted and cooled 
• ⅓ cup sugar 
• 1¼ cups all-purpose flour 
• a pinch of salt 
• 2 tablespoons of ground almonds 

Filling 

• ⅔ cup cream 
• 2 eggs, lightly beaten 
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract 
• 3 tablespoons sugar 
• 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour 
• 16 oz cherries, halved and pitted 

 Preparation

1. Preheat oven to 350°F.
2. Grease a 9-inch round loose-bottomed tart tin. 

To make the pastry:

1. Stir together the butter and sugar in a large mixing bowl.
2. Add the flour and salt and stir to make a soft dough.
3. Press dough evenly into base and side of tart tin with fingertips.
4. Put the tin on a baking tray and bake for 12-15 mins, until pastry is slightly puffy.
5. Remove from oven and sprinkle almond meal over base.

To make filling:

1. Whisk together cream, eggs, vanilla, sugar. 
2. Add flour and whisk until well mixed.
3. Arrange cherries over pastry base and pour cream filling over cherries.
4. Bake for 40-50 minutes until filling is firm.
5. Leave to cool and serve with cream or ice-cream.

Serves 8-10.  Original recipe appears in Holiday by Bill Granger.