Thursday, October 25, 2012

easy chocolate rolls

I spent most of last week planning for and working out the logistics of a cooking demo cum recipe sampling organised by Touch Community Services as part of the activities for the Ultimate Hawker Festival, in aid of all its beneficiaries.



It was a busy week, punctuated by nightmares of forgetting what I wanted to say and stuttering on stage, and fantasies of waking up the day after, knowing I had not made a fool of myself in front of all the denizens of Millenia Walk... and their mothers.

My fingers are cramped from crossing, but, thankfully, the fantasies won out. *phew*



What I'm trying to say is that's why you haven't seen any updates till now. Anyway, the fantasy won out, and I actually had fun to boot. Hubs was my lovely assistant. He did a magnificent job of keeping his head down, fixating on the pot in front of him, and keeping his insides, inside him, though he was sure he would freak out on stage, right after I did. Guess we're both braver than we thought ;)



Today's post is something I had tucked away in my folder and almost forgotten about. I made it a few weeks ago, when the big boy asked for pain au chocolate but it was too hot, sticky and humid to even think about making a laminated dough.



Still, not wanting to disappoint, I made this lazy version which uses a quick leavened rub in dough that was tender, buttery, with much less butter than a traditional pain au chocolat would need.  The key to perfect rolls is to aim for lumps of butter interspersed throughout the dough and once so formed, to handle it as you would a prickly porcupine - very, very gingerly.



So mission accomplished in a sliver of the time for an actual pain au chocolat, I was happy, big boy was happy and I hope you will be too, when you breeze through this recipe and sit down half an hour later to coffee and bites of these flaky, chocolaty rolls....







15 comments:

  1. I love anything with chocolate and you pictures are so good. I make chocolate roll with store bought puff pastry sheets and nutella. My son loves it :-) Even your version sounds really simple and do-able.

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    1. Hi Vijitha, thanks for visiting. Blogging is such a pleasure, with appreciative readers like you :) Oh! I must try this with Nutella soon - it's almost always in my kitchen cupboard and everyone at home is Nutella mad!

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  2. Love the food photography! Must've been a nerve-wrecking event. Glad all's well. Have a lovely weekend, Denise! xoxo

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    1. Hi shirley. I guess it's always a bit scary when you have to speak in front of a crowd but luckily it was a friendly audience and i managed to overcome my nerves. I wonder if seasoned public speakers ever get to the stage where they feel no nervousness at all...

      Thank you for your always kind words :-) Hope you have a great weekend too!

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  3. Glad to hear you had a blast at the Hawker Festival. I can't help but burst out laughing when you said your hubby did a magnificent job keeping his head down. I am trying the picture the two of you with apron and all :D

    Anyway, these chocolate rolls look so good and doable. Apart from the mooncakes, it has been a while since I made anything with a pastry. I am beginning to miss it. Beautiful pictures as always!

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  4. They look so yummy, and the name sounds super appropriate, looking at those step by step photos :-) I've made upside down tarts with a similar dough and it felt almost like puff pastry. I bet this is very similar to the "real" pain au chocolat. Certainly a recipe to keep. And the pics are simply gorgeous, each and every one of them. You are turning into an artist, Denise :-). Now I know where all these artsy pins were coming from yesterday ;-)

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  5. I love it! Flaky chocolate rolls without the need for croissant dough AND less butter? I'm definitely making this next week!

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  6. Delicious! I'm all for a recipe that will allow me to savor it within 30 minutes :)

    I hope the cooking demo went well!

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  7. mmmm..this looks absolutely something that I would LOVE! Looks divine!

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  8. Hi! I love your pictures & your recipe sure makes it looks easy!
    But my dough keeps separating, and i've tried adding more milk but it just crumbles! Any idea why? I really want to make these, they look too yummy!

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  9. Hi Snowball, if you're using a measuring cup for measuring the ingredients, it will not work. I use a standard (English) teacup for all my measurements as stated at the bottom of my sidebar, on the right of this page. Measuring cups differ in capacity from 225 ml - 250 ml depending on whether they are made in the US, UK or Australia. Standard English style teacups pretty much always have a capacity of 200 ml regardless of where they are made.

    Another reason could be that you are using a hard (high protein) flour instead of regular flour. Perhaps you could try this again and let me know how it works out?

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    1. Also, very important - if you are using cup measurements, never pack down the flour into the cup. Just fill it lightly then slide a blunt knife across the rim of the cup to level and 'cut' off any excess flour Hope this helps :)

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  10. I have read your blog it is very helpful for me. I want to say thanks to you. I have bookmark your site for future updates. See Instagram photos and videos from 'Gramho' hashtag.

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