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Sweet Vanilla Recipes

White Chocolate Vanilla Pixie Cookies

Tiny sweet bites freckled with vanilla beans melt hearts.

Ingredients:

¼ cup butter
4 oz white chocolate
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cups sugar
1/4 cup of ground almonds
2 teaspoon baking powder
3 eggs
1 Bourbon vanilla pod, beans scraped
Confectioner's sugar

Method:

Pre-heat oven to 300 F. Line your cookie sheet with baking paper. Prepare a bowl filled with confectioner's sugar for dusting.

Melt white chocolate, butter and vanilla bean caviar on a double boiler. Stir until white chocolate and butter are well combined.
Remove the white chocolate mixture from heat and stir in remaining ingredients (except powdered sugar) until a sticky soft dough is achieved.
Refrigerate the cookie dough for 30 minutes so that it hardens slightly.
After 30 minutes, roll the cookie dough into 1 inch balls and dredge it in confectioner's sugar. Place the dough balls 1-inch apart from each other.
Bake for 20 minutes in the oven and transfer the cookies into a cooling rack. Make sure the cookies are cooled completely before storing.

Servings:
This recipe makes approximately 30 cookies.

Hot Butter Cardamom Vanilla Drink

A soothing frothy drink that's perfect for the day after the storm.

Ingredients:

500ml of milk
1 teaspoon of butter
1 vanilla bean, scraped and pods reserved
Seeds from 3 cardamom pods
2 tablespoon of sugar

Method:

In a pot, heat up milk until it almost comes to a boil. Add vanilla bean and cardamom seeds in to steep for 30 minutes.
Strain milk over a sieve to collect the vanilla pods and cardamom seeds. Discard the cardamom seeds and empty vanilla pods.
Heat up milk again, careful to not come to a boil, add 1 teaspoon of butter and sugar. Whisk until the milk is frothy. Serve piping hot.

Servings:
This recipe serves 2 – 3 persons.

The Lemon-Vanilla Pound Cake (Recipe from A Series of Kitchen Experiments.)

A perfect marriage of lemon and vanilla comes in the form of a buttery pound cake.

Ingredients:

1 3/4 cups (230 grams) cake flour, sifted
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/8 teaspoon salt
226gram of unsalted butter, room temperature
200gram superfine or castor sugar
4 large eggs, room temperature
2 vanilla beans (this recipe used Bourbon and Tahitian, feel free to use either one exclusively)
Zest from two lemons

Method:

Pre-heat oven to 350F and line your 9x5x3 inch baking pan with parchment paper and butter. Set aside. Sift flour, baking powder and salt together in a bowl for later.

Cream butter and sugar until it doubles in volume and become pale and fluffy with an electric beater.
Add eggs, one at time and mix until they are well incorporated into the mixture. After your second egg, add the lemon rind and vanilla caviar in. You might find that the batter will look like it is starting to separate when the fourth egg is added in but don't worry, this is perfectly normal. They will come together again when flour is added into the mixture.
Separate the flour into three parts. This will ensure an evenly mixed batter. Mix the batter with a spatula instead of the electric beater when the flour is added in to avoid over mixing.
Once all the flour is combined, pour the batter into the cake container that has been lined with parchment and greased with butter. Bake for 50minutes - 60 minutes or until the skewer inserted comes out clean.
Let the cake cool before cutting and serving.

The pound cake’s flavour gets better the next day. Use it to make trifle or as a cake base for desserts.

Servings:
This cakes serves up to 10 people.

Savory Vanilla Recipes

Pan-seared Scallops with Creamy Vanilla Whiskey Sauce

Fresh scallops and vanilla is like a marriage of flavours in heaven in this sweet creamy sauce

Ingredients:

8 large scallops
1 tablespoon olive oil
salt
freshly cracked black pepper

For the sauce:
1 tablespoon of chopped fresh parsley
1 clove of garlic, minced
Caviar from ½ vanilla bean, scraped
1 tablespoon olive oil
¼ cup of cream
¼ cup of whiskey
salt

Method:

Prepare the sauce first by heating the olive oil in the pan. Add mince vanilla caviar, garlic and cream, let it come to a simmer.
Add whiskey in and cook the sauce until it is reduced slightly. Toss in the chopped fresh parsley after the sauce is ready. Set the sauce aside and tend to the scallops.
In another pan, heat the pan on high until it is very hot. Season the scallops with salt and pepper and brush both even sides of the scallops with olive oil.
Pan-sear the scallops for 1-2 minutes on each side. The sides on the scallops must be slightly browned each time.
To serve, place scallops over some fresh baby spinach and spoon over the Vanilla Whiskey sauce over.

Servings:

This recipe serves 3-4 people.

Roasted Guinea Hens scented with Orange, Cloves and Vanilla

A twist on this festive roast; the addition of vanilla gives this dish a certain je ne sais quoi.

Ingredients:

2 guinea hens, cleaned
½ cup of butter, softened
zest from 1 orange, reserve orange
¼ teaspoon powdered clove (or grind 4 clove spice of your own in a mortar & pestle)
Vanilla caviar from two vanilla bean (use Tahitian or Bourbon vanilla), reserve empty pods
2 large potatoes cut into chunks
1 large onion, cut into quarters
2 carrots cut into chunks
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon freshly cracked black pepper

Method:

Pre-heat oven to 375 F. In a roasting pan, arrange the carrots, potatoes and onions on to the bottom layer of the pan. Season them lightly with some olive oil, salt and pepper.

In a large bowl, add the butter and gently whip the butter with a spatula to soften it up for easier handling.
Add orange zest, powdered clove, vanilla caviar, salt and pepper into the butter and mix well. Now the compound butter mixture is ready for use.
Dry your guinea hens with some paper towel to absorb extra moisture. With two fingers separate the skin of the breasts to create a pocket for stuffing the compound butter. With a tablespoon, scoop two spoonfuls of butter and stuff it in between the skin and breast meat with your fingers.
Now, rub the extra compound butter in the cavity and around the rest of the guinea hen. With the zest-less orange, cut them into quarters and stuff it in the cavities of the guinea hens.
Roast in the oven for 45 minutes, check by inserting a skewer in the thickest part of the thigh and if juice runs clear, the guinea hens are ready.

Servings:

This recipe serves 2-4 people.

Savory Butternut Squash Tart with Vanilla

Delicious chunky squash tart scented with vanilla is a vegetarian favourite.

Ingredients:

300 grams butternut squash, skinned and cubed into ½ inch size
1 red pepper, julienned
¼ cup of frozen spinach, defrosted
1 clove of garlic, minced
Caviar from one vanilla bean, reserve empty pod
½ cup of Parmesan cheese a bit more for sprinkling
½ cup of milk
1 tablespoon olive oil
Salt
Black cracked pepper

For the pie crust:
2 cups of all purpose flour
½ cup of butter, cut into small cubes
3-4 tbsp cold water

Method:

First prepare the pie crust by combining butter and flour together in a large bowl. With your fingers mix the two together until the texture of the flour resembles wet sand with pea size crumbs. Test to see if the flour holds together when you squeeze a handful in your palms. If it holds its shape, move on to the next step.
Adding 1 tbsp of water at a time mix the flour until it comes together into a dough.
Pour the content over your working counter top and bring the dough together cleanly with your hands. Shape it into a disc-shape and wrap it with saran wrap. Keep in the refrigerator for 15 minutes.
Heat a large pan over the stove with olive oil. Once pan is hot, add the vanilla caviar, empty pods and squash cubes in. Season with some salt and pepper and sauté the butternut squash until it is slightly browned on the sides.
Add the garlic, red pepper and spinach in and sauté for a minute more before adding parmesan and milk in. Let the pan come to a slight simmer, turn heat to low and let it cook for a few more minutes to get the flavours combined. Turn off heat and let the pie-filling cool a little bit.

Grease a 9-inch pie pan and preheat the oven to 350F.

Take the pie crust dough out of the fridge and roll it out until it is approximately ¼ inch thick. Press the dough into the greased pie pan and pre-bake in the oven for 8-10 minutes.
Once the pie crust is pre-baked, pour the pie filling into the crust and sprinkle some more parmesan cheese over the top. Bake in the oven for 25-30 minutes or until the parmesan crust browns over the top.
Let the pie cool completely before serving.

Servings:

This recipe feeds up to 8 people.

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