Saturday, June 25, 2011

Rhubarb Custard Melting Moments

To truly appreciate food you have to know how to cook and Food Bloggers are no exception. With the upcoming Brisbane Food Bloggers Picnic I knew I had to plate up something unique, tasty and visually splendid so I turned to my book shelf. I settled on Rhubarb Custard Melting Moments from the Women's Weekly Cookies cookbook as there something so appealing about the bright red rhubarb custard nested between two golden discs. I started by stewing 3 large stems of chopped rhubarb with 3 tablespoons of sugar and three tablespoons of water on low heat until the rhubarb was pulpy. Try to avoid taste testing as you could quite easily polish off the stewed rhubarb at this stage.


I then placed 2 tablespoons of custard powder, 2 tablespoons caster sugar and 1 cup of milk in a saucepan. I stirred it until the mixture boiled and thickened. Once I was happy with the consistency I removed it from the heat and added 2/3 cup of stewed rhubarb and was disappointed with the colour.


Thankfully my red and pink food colour pastes came to the rescue and gave the custard the desired colour. Once the custard had cooled, I covered the bowl in cling wrap and placed it in the fridge to set.


I preheated to 160°C before whipping 500g softened butter, 1 teaspoon vanilla extract and 1 cup of sifted icing sugar until light and fluffy. I then sifted in 2 cups of custard powder and 2 cups of plain flour and combined.


Lightly grease a cookie sheet and roll rounded teaspoons of mixture into balls. Place then approximately 5cm apart and flatten slightly with a floured fork. Bake for 15 minutes and allow them to stand for at least 5 minutes.


Once they are cool, take two golden discs and sandwich them together with your rhubarb custard. If you pad your container, they travel quite well and are best enjoyed with a cup of tea. Yum!

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