Desserts intimidate me. With a blog called Baketard, this shouldn't be a surprise to anyone. During the summer, I make ice cream constantly. I can whip up a soufflé or throw together a silky crème brûlée with the best of them, but when it comes to baking or dough, it's hit and miss. I'm so used to cooking savory foods where you get to improvise according to your tastes, with baking I tend to breeze by steps, forget an ingredient, or be left baffled because I just don't do it often enough to understand things like what a dough should feel like when it's ready. Cooking is joy and relaxation for me. Baking is work. Because of this, I try to find recipes that tickle my brain and inspire me, push my comfort zone a little bit, but don't put me into an all-day, overwhelming project to make something like a cake that I'm unlikely to execute well.I found this recipe at my favorite recipe website, Australian Gourmet Traveller. I've gushed about this magazine before. (I prefer it to our US cooking magazines because it never dumbs anything down for the reader, and the food coming out of Oz these days completely inspires me.) I made this last night to cap off an Italian dinner party, and we all loved it. David and I also loved it left over with our coffee this morning. I don't know WHY we can't diet around here.
The recipe calls for you to make the dough and let it sit for an hour in the refrigerator. I actually made it about 3 hours ahead and it worked just fine. I didn't have golden caster sugar (do they even sell it in the US?) so I sent out a plea to my baking gurus on twitter, and the consensus was to blitz some demerara sugar in the food processor as a substitution. I didn't have any handy, so I blitzed some turbinado sugar (Sugar in the Raw) instead and it worked just fine.
These doughnuts didn't seem greasy, and the chocolate orange flavor came blazing through, even with the honey. Enjoy!
Orange and Chocolate Ricotta Fritters with Honey
Serves 6
225 gm ricotta, drained
30 gm dark chocolate, finely chopped
50 gm golden caster sugar
30 ml orange liqueur, such as Grand Marnier or Cointreau
1 egg and 1 egg yolk, lightly beaten
1 tbsp finely grated orange rind
75 gm (½ cup) plain flour
2 tsp baking powder
For deep frying:
vegetable oil
To serve:
pure icing sugar
To serve:
honey
1. Combine ricotta, chocolate, sugar, liqueur, egg, egg mixture and orange rind in a bowl and mix until smooth, add flour and baking powder and mix to combine. Cover in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 1 hour.
2. Heat vegetable oil in a deep saucepan or deep-fryer to 180C. Using 2 teaspoons, form ricotta mixture into rough quenelles and drop in batches into hot oil. Cook for 1-2 minutes or until golden and cooked through, remove using a slotted spoon and drain on absorbent paper. Dust heavily with icing sugar and serve hot, drizzled with honey.