Farming Friends

My mother in law makes fantastic chocolate profiteroles which my husband loves. I therefore wanted to know how to make them so I too could impress friends and family with fantastic desserts. She kindly gave me a cookery lesson and is allowing me to share this excellent recipe with you all.

Chocolate profiteroles are made using choux pastry which are filled with whipped cream and them covered in chocolate sauce.

Ingredients

• 2 and a half ounces plain flour.
• A quarter of a pint of water.
• 2 small eggs (guinea fowl eggs are just the right size!)
• 1 ounce of margarine.
• A quarter of a teaspoon of vanilla essence.
• A pinch of salt.
• A large bar of dairy milk chocolate.
• A carton of whipping cream.

Method

1. Sift the flour into an ovenproof dish.
2. Warm the flour in the oven until it feels warm to the touch.
3. Put the water, margarine and salt into a saucepan and bring to the boil.
4. Remove pan from the stove and add the flour mixing it in thoroughly.
5. Return pan to the stove and cook mixture gently until it leaves the sides of the pan. Make sure that you are mixing all the time and this should take about 3 minutes.
6. Cool slightly, then beat in the guinea fowl eggs a little at a time so that the mixture doesn’t curdle.
7. Add the vanilla essence.
8. Grease a large flat baking tray and splash with water.
9. Using a teaspoon and cold water, spoon the mixture onto a greased tray. Dip the spoon in the cold water before putting the mixture on the spoon as this will help to stop the mixture from sticking and ease the mixture off the spoon.
10. Spoon the mixture into ball shapes.
11. Smooth the edges of the ball shapes with the back of the spoon after it is dipped in cold water.
12. The mixture should make 16 profiteroles.
13. Cook in the oven for 20-30 minutes at 210 degrees celsius or 425-450 degrees fahrenheit.
14. When cooked they will be a light golden brown colour and hard to the touch.
15. Remove from the oven and cut open the profiteroles to let the steam out.
16. Quickly scoop out any mixture from the inner part of the profiterole and discard.
17. Place the lids back on the profiteroles and return to the oven for a few minutes so that the inner part of the profiterole is cooked.
18. Cool the pastry on a wire rack.
19. Fill each half of the profiterole with whipped cream and put back together.
20. Melt the chocolate in a bowl over a pan of boiling water.
21. Add a small amount of cold water to the chocolate and mix in thoroughly until the chocolate is a sauce like consistency and unlikely to set hard again.
22. Pour the chocolate sauce over the profiteroles and serve with or without extra cream.

The profiteroles can be made and then frozen.

The profiteroles can also be filled with other fillings such as cream cheese and chives to make savoury starters or nibbles at parties.

I have to admit that you really have to like profiteroles to make them because they can be tricky to make and require alot of elbow grease. However they are truely worth it. Highly recommended. Just out of interest, the guinea fowl eggs make the pastry a much stronger golden colour.

Eggs need to be rotated for successful hatching.

Eggs can be rotated by hand or rotated using an electric powered automatic egg turner.

The automatic egg turner sits inside the incubator and automatically rotates the eggs during incubation.

Egg turning should stop before hatching occurs.

Here is a guide to the final day of egg rotation for different species of birds eggs.

Bobwhite Quail = 21 days

Canada Goose = 32 days

Chicken = 19 days

Chukar Partridge = 21 days

Cotumix (Japanese) Quail = 15 days

Duck = 25 days

Egyptian Goose = 32 days

Emu = 40-47 days

Goose = 25 days

Grouse = 22 days

Guinea Fowl = 25 days

Indian Runner Duck = 25 days

Mallard = 23-24 days

Muscovy Duck = 31 days

Ostrich = 38-40 days

Partridge = 21 days

Peafowl = 25 days

Pheasant = 21 days

Pigeon = 15 days

Rheas = 30-33 days

Turkey = 25 days

Please note that this is only a guide and this information may differ according to the incubator manufacturer’s guide.

Always consult the manufacturer’s guide when using an incubator and automatic egg turner.

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We are lucky enough to have inherited an orchard which is situated next to our garden.

We have various trees in our orchard which are currently covered in lovely blossom. Take a look for yourself.

The pear tree blossom.

The crab-apple tree blossom.

The cooking apple tree blossom.

The plum tree blossom.

The damson tree.

We enjoy harvesting the fruits every year and look forward to sampling the damson’s when the tree establishes itself. The damson tree was a gift from my parents for my husband’s birthday and was only planted a year and a half ago.

Click on the image below to visit Amazon.co.uk to find out more about this book or visit one of the Farming Friends Bookshops.

The Ajuga is a low growing perennial.

It flowers from late April to August.

The flowers are short spires that grow to a height of 4-6 inches and can vary in colour.

The leaves also vary in colour.

It is a plant that grows well in moist, shady areas.

Ajuga will spread through the border, but can be divided in Autumn or Spring.

I have found the ajuga to be an interesting addition to my garden with the purple spires peeping through the barked area under my large apple tree.

Click on the image below to go to Amazon.co.uk for more information about this book entitled Perennial Ground Covers.

Latin Name: Talpa europaea

What Is A Wet Bulb Thermometer?

A wet bulb thermometer measures humidity and can look like an ordinary thermometer. The only difference is that the bulb on this thermometer is covered with a cloth that is kept wet using a wick and a small container of water.

Wikipedia defines the wet bulb thermometer as a “thermometer that has its bulb wrapped in cloth—called a sock—that is kept wet with water via wicking action.”

A wet bulb thermometer is used to measure humidity (the level of water vapour in the air).

The wet bulb thermometer is easy to read. It is just like an ordinary thermometer.

You can construct a wet-bulb thermometer by attaching a wet cottonwool ball with a rubber band to the bulb of a standard thermometer. However you need to make sure that the cottonwool is kept wet when it is being used to measure humidity.

A hygrometer (also known as a psychrometer) is a humidity measuring instrument that has both a dry bulb thermometer (for measuring the air temperature) and a wet bulb thermometer. This instrument is useful when you want to measure both air temperature and humidity.

Different species of birds’ eggs require different humidity levels when being incubated.

Here is a guide to the humidity levels (wet bulb thermometer) for different species of birds’ eggs.

Bobwhite Quail = 84-86 degrees fahrenheit.

Canada Goose = 86-88 degrees fahrenheit.

Chicken = 85-87 degrees fahrenheit.

Chukar Partridge = 80-88 degrees fahrenheit.

Cotumix (Japanese) Quail = 84-88 degrees fahrenheit.

Duck = 84-88 degrees fahrenheit.

Egyptian Goose = 86-88 degrees fahrenheit.

Emu = 70-75 degrees fahrenheit.

Goose = 86-88 degrees fahrenheit.

Grouse = 82-86 degrees fahrenheit.

Guinea Fowl = 83-86 degrees fahrenheit.

Indian Runner Duck = 84-88 degrees fahrenheit.

Mallard = 84-88 degrees fahrenheit.

Muscovy Duck = 84-88 degrees fahrenheit.

Ostrich = 70-75 degrees fahrenheit.

Partridge = 80-88 degrees fahrenheit.

Peafowl = 83-88 degrees fahrenheit.

Pheasant = 82-88 degrees fahrenheit.

Pigeon = 84-88 degrees fahrenheit.

Rheas = 80-87 degrees fahrenheit.

Swan = 86-88 degrees fahrenheit.

Turkey = 83-86 degrees fahrenheit.

Please note that these humidity levels are approximate and may differ according to the incubator manufacturer’s guide.

Always consult the manufacturer’s guide when using an incubator.

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