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07
Sept 2024
Yemi's Food Stories: a day with Grantley Hall's pastry chef
Yemi Adelekan is a food writer and blogger who was a semi-finalist in the 2022 series of BBC TV’s Masterchef competition.
Every Saturday Yemi writes on the Stray Ferret about her love of the area’s food and shares cooking tips – please get in touch with her if you want her to review a restaurant, visit your farm, taste the produce you sell or even share a recipe.
I love to meet the brains behind the scenes of iconic and well-loved restaurants in the Harrogate district, and each chef stands out for distinct reasons.
When I first met Stefan Rose - affectionately known as Stef the Pastry Chef - during the Great Yorkshire Show, I was impressed by his excitement, passion, joy and artistry when it comes to pastries and desserts.
Originally from Durham, Stef first discovered a love for food during a gap year in Fiji, where he was inspired by the flavours. However, he was halfway through studying to become a teacher before he realised he could make his passion a career.
He's been part of the Grantley Hall team since 2019, and has a long and impressive resumé, working at some of the top kitchens across the UK, under the watchful eye of highly regarded chefs imcluding Claire Smyth and Lee Bennett.
His enviable career history includes stints at Thierry Dumouchel Patisserie in Garforth, Dominique Ansel Bakery in London, The Boxtree Ilkley, The Connaught Hotel, Marcus Wareing at The Berkeley and Restaurant Gordon Ramsay.
He's no stranger to the screen either; he was part of the team responsible for the iconic stopwatch dessert on the BBC's The Great British Menu, in which fellow Grantley Hall chef Samira Effa was representing the North-East.
I was delighted to be invited to spend the day in Grantley Hall's kitchens, watching Stef and the pastry team work their magic.
It was an eye-opening insight into the level of detail needed to create the pastries and desserts, and I was lucky enough to be gifted a recipe by Stef himself, which I'm now sharing with you.
Explaining the dish, Stef said:
We often serve these delightful treats alongside our crème brulée, as part of our Fletchers restaurant menu.
As we approach the autumn, this cinnamon flavour works perfectly, but this can easily be left out, or replace with vanilla extra, citrus zest, matcha green tea, for example.
If desired, the amaretto can also be replaced with other flavoured liqueurs, for example Grand Marnier, or whatever else you may have at home.
(Image: Jack Hardy)
Stefan Rose's cinnamon amaretti biscuits
Ingredients
- 3 medium or large egg whites.
- 260g ground almonds.
- 205g caster sugar.
- 20g amaretto.
- 3 tsp ground cinnamon.
- caster sugar (for rolling).
- icing sugar (for rolling).
Method
- Preheat the oven to 170C. Whip egg whites on a stand mixer to medium stiff peaks.
- Put the ground almonds, caster sugar and and cinnamon into a large bowl. Gently fold in the beaten egg white and then add in the Amaretto liquor, stirring until you have a smooth paste.
- Roll into small balls, around 25g each, or the size of a medium sprout.
- Place 4 tbsp caster sugar into a bowl or container and 4 tbsp sieved icing sugar into another
- Roll each raw biscuit in the caster sugar, reshape again into a nice ball, then roll in generous amounts of icing sugar.
- Spread out on tray lined with nonstick baking mat or parchment and bake in oven immediately.
- If they are not baked immediately the icing sugar will dissolve and they won’t have the beautiful white external crust.
- Place in the oven and cook for 13-14 minutes at 170C until they look cracked and lightly golden brown. Cool down to room temperature and enjoy with a cup of tea.
- The biscuits will keep in an airtight container at room temperature for up to three days.
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