What is it they say about April showers that seems to apply to Sydney at the moment? We are awash with neverending rain and gloomy skies that make me want to stay rugged up all day, nibbling pastries and sipping tea.

April is usually one of my favourite times of the year, what with the many hot cross buns I have already put away (straight onto my hips). At school, April was the time we exchanged Easter eggs, made plans to meet up during the holidays, and talked endlessly about the showbags we were going to get at the Royal Easter Show. This year is made even more exciting by the impending visit of my sister and her family from New Zealand. It’s been awhile since I last saw my little nieces. We are planning to take them (and B) to their first ever Show, and I expect I’ll be sharing pictures of our day spent there, in the near future.

In the meantime, this weather has put me in the mood for a little baking. These brioche scrolls were inspired by a delicious matcha and adzuki bean danish we had at Sadaharu Aoki’s patisserie when we were last in Tokyo. I spread a very generous layer of green tea custard on the brioche dough, scattered some chopped candied ginger and white chocolate on top, then rolled up the dough and portioned it into 12 pieces. These scrolls are incredibly good, straight from the oven, when the custard is still warm and slightly oozy. I had two just while standing there, supervising them as they cooled the rack.

Raquel of Growing Up Green recently passed on an award to me. As thanks, I am dedicating these green tea custard scrolls to her.

Green Tea Custard Scrolls :
(makes 12)

Brioche :
(based on a recipe in Gourmet Traveller Sept 2006)
80ml milk
5g dried yeast
300g plain flour
2 tablespoons caster sugar
1 egg, at room temperature
100g unsalted butter, softened

250 – 300g green tea custard (recipe below)
optional extras : sweetened adzuki beans, chopped candied ginger or white chocolate buttons etc

Warm the milk in a saucepan (to about blood temperature), add the yeast and whisk until yeast dissolves. Stir in 30g flour and stand for 10 minutes or until foamy.

Combine remaining flour, sugar and 1/2 teaspoons sea salt in an electric mixer fitted with a dough hook and mix for 2 minutes on lowest setting. Pour in yeast mixture and egg, mixing until it just comes together [Note: Add a splash more milk if the dough is looking too dry]. Increase speed to medium, add butter a little at a time, then increase speed to high and mix for 5 minutes or until smooth. Transfer dough to a lightly oiled bowl, turn to coat, cover with plastic wrap and stand in a warm place for 1 hour.

Turn brioche dough onto a lightly floured surface, knock back, then knead lightly until smooth. Roll out a 20cm x 55cm rectangle, then, with the long side facing you, spread evenly with green tea custard, leaving a 2cm border on the far long side. Scatter any optional extras you want on top of the custard. Roll into a cylinder, then cut into 12 even pieces and place, cut-side down, closely on a baking paper-lined oven tray and stand for 10 minutes or until risen. Bake at 180’C for 30 minutes or until light golden.

While still warm, brush lightly with a little apricot glaze. When cooled, dust with more green tea powder or icing sugar.

Green tea custard :
(based on a recipe from Pastry : Savory and Sweet by Michel Roux)
[Note: This recipe yields more custard than you need for the scrolls. You can cut the recipe by half, or make the full recipe and use the custard in other ways – as a filling for crepes, for example]
6 yolks
125g sugar
20g plain flour
20g custard powder
500ml milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 teaspoons green tea (maccha/matcha) powder (or more, if you like it stronger)

In an electric mixer, whisk yolks and a third of the sugar until very thick and pale. Whisk in flour, custard powder and green tea powder.

Heat the milk with the remaining sugar and vanilla. When it boils, pour it onto the egg yolk mixture. Mix well, then return to the stove. Bring to boil, stirring continuously with a whisk. Let it simmer for two minutes, stirring, then strain the custard into a bowl. Place some cling film over the surface of the custard to prevent a skin from forming. Allow to cool completely before using.

(The best way to rapidly chill down the custard is by placing the bowl in an iced water bath. This custard can be made ahead, and kept in the fridge for several days before using.)

If your local supermarket has recently been suffering from a severe lack of caster sugar, chances are, you live in my neighbourhood. Up until last week, fudge and I had been existing on this planet, on separate orbits. Even now, I feel like we will forever remain on speaking, but separate, terms. But it was a swift sweet romance and breakup that had to happen : my kitchen, it overfloweth with fudge.

This obsessive affair all started with Lorraine and her quest to make the perfect creme brulee fudge. A few perfectly harmless emails were thrown back and forth, concerning the subject and I confessed at that point that I had never really paid much notice to fudge. Fudge? Isn’t that merely a clash between condensed milk and chocolate, coupled with a few extra expensive visits to the dentist?

Her enthusiasm however leaked into my innocent fudge-free world, and soon I was reaching for every single possible cookbook I had that might contain information on fudge.

In theory, fudge is a crystallised sugar confection, produced using a somewhat similar method to fondant, with the addition of flavours, fat and dairy products (butter, cream, milk). Who would have guessed that such a simple handful of ingredients accompanied by a deceptively easy set of instructions, could yield so many different results? It is with some relief that I read Greweling’s statement that, “in spite of the fact that these candies are often made by nonprofessionals, achieving the proper crystal size and moisture content, and therefore a smooth creamy texture, is not a simple feat”. Indeed, Greweling is quite detailed and comprehensive on the topic and has a few recipes I would love to try, as soon as I get my hands on some invert sugar. Wybauw had similar points to note regarding fudge, but the few recipes I tried of his didn’t work well enough for me to be convinced that I had been successful.

Seven batches later, and I have finally come across a recipe that I’m fairly happy with. I’m still experimenting with it, so a final recipe shall be forthcoming in a future post.

In the meantime, for those wanting to make an easy, quickfix, crowd-pleasing batch of fudge, you can’t go wrong with the recipe below. This is not by any means a traditional fudge, but whatever you want to call it, it is incredibly delicious and deserves at least two seconds in the spotlight. The lemon juice and salt cleverly elevate this above the many pedestrian fudge recipes of its ilk. In fact, the next time I make this, I would be tempted to add even more lemon/lime juice, to further cut the sweetness of the white chocolate.

White Chocolate Fudge :
(based on a recipe in The Cook’s Guide to Chocolate by Christine McFadden and Christine France)

600g good quality white chocolate, chopped
375g sweetened condensed milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/2 teaspoons lemon juice [or lime juice]
pinch of salt
(optional : 175g extra ingredient of choice – eg. pistachios, cranberries, dessicated coconut etc)

Grease and line a baking tin with greaseproof paper. [The choice of tin is up to you, depending on how thick or thin you want your fudge to be (for presentation purposes). The Cook’s Guide recommends an 8″ square tin.]

In a saucepan over low heat, melt the white chocolate and condensed milk until smooth, stirring frequently [use a heatproof spatula, to make sure no bits get stuck on the bottom of the pan]. Remove from the heat and stir in the vanilla extract, lemon juice and salt. Stir in any additional ingredients. Spread the mixture in the prepared tin. Chill for 2 – 4 hours until set.

She is black. Pastel polka dots all over her body like a clown disguised as a leopard. Sweetness and joy, with a killer heel.

Every girl has her favourite pair of shoes. They are the ones that make her feel like a million dollars, whether she’s in jeans or a cocktail dress. The ones in which she clicks down the street proudly, feeling strong yet vulnerable. The ones that cost too many clams to obtain, but which have paid back in emotional dividends too complicated to calculate.

Yes, every girl has her favourite pair of shoes. This is an ode to mine.