pudding

Waffles

A while back I was reading Nancy’s wonderful blog Good Food Matters and she was saying about the memories created by a waffle maker (check out the post, it really is lovely), now my own daughter had asked me about waffles that very week, asking me what they tasted like and whether  I could make her one.  I don’t own a waffle maker, and it is nigh on impossible to make a waffle without an iron.  My parents asked me what I would like for Christmas, so I asked for a waffle maker.  It was delivered to my door in October – a lovely early Christmas present.

Since then I have been experimenting with different recipes.  Some with whipped egg white, some without, some with buttermilk, some with plain milk. Anyway, I have found that whipping the egg whites does make the waffle a bit lighter, but it also requires another bowl and a bit more work. Buttermilk does add a lovely back note, but it means you have to make sure you have buttermilk in the house.  For these reasons here is the recipe I now use most often.

I haven’t stopped experimenting though and I intend to try yeast waffles soon, and chocolate waffles and buckwheat waffles (like Nancy’s).  I made potato waffles the other week, which were good but not perfect and so require a bit more experimentation before they appear here.

The waffle maker will not be a gadget that sits at the back of our cupboard any time soon and hopefully one day I will be able to write a post like Nancy’s.

200g plain flour
3 tbsp granulated sugar
½ tbsp baking powder
200ml milk
squeeze of lemon juice
60g melted butter
½ tsp vanilla extract
2 eggs

Method

Put the flour, sugar and baking powder in a bowl.  Measure the milk and add the squeeze of lemon juice. Pour the milk, melted butter, vanilla extract and eggs into the flour mixture and whisk well until combined.

Heat the waffle maker or iron according to the manufacturer’s instructions and pour in the mixture and cook until well browned.

Eat warm with butter and maple syrup, or chocolate spread, or jam, or marmalade or anything else that you fancy.

They can also be frozen and warmed through by placing in a toaster or back into the waffle iron.

PS I forgot to say, but if you are looking for further waffle inspiration then check out Mangocheek’s wonderful suggestions for something a bit beyond the basic waffle.

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Fruit loaf bread pudding

A bit unusual for us this, but this morning I found myself with about half of the Fruit Loaf left.  Now, I made this three days ago, so whilst I was happy to have one more slice toasted I feared that the rest might end up as chicken food.

My youngest loves bread pudding, so it seemed the obvious way of getting the rest of the loaf consumed.  Sorry chickens!

Actually this is the perfect way to use up this loaf, my normal bread pudding recipe requires dried fruit, mixed spice and the zest of an orange.  Well, all of this is already in there, with the marmalade taking the place of the orange zest.  So this was easy peasy to put together and tastes really lovely. I did add a little extra mixed spice and some nutmeg because I love aromatic bread pudding.

750 – 800 g (10-12 oz) leftover fruit loaf
50g (2oz) melted butter
300ml (½ pint) milk
1 egg
½ tsp mixed spice
½ tsp freshly grated nutmeg
75g (3 oz) dark brown muscovado sugar

Method

Break the bread into a large bowl.  Traditionally you are supposed to remove the crusts but it would be a shame to remove the crust of this loaf as it is so tasty so I didn’t.  I just made sure the crusty bits were broken up quite small.  Combine the melted butter and the milk and pour over the bread.  Give the mixture a good stir and then set aside to soak for 30 minutes.

Beat the egg and add to the bready mixture, along with the spices and sugar and stir well to combine.

Butter a shallow dish, I used my ceramic flan dish with measures 23 cm.  Pour the mixture in and level the top.  Place in a preheated oven at 180°c, gas mark 4 or the Baking Oven of the Aga for about 1 hour.  It may take a little longer, depending on your oven.  It should be golden brown and firm to the touch. Allow to cool a little.  It’s good warm or cold.

 

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Cherry Cheesecake

Staying with the cherry theme…

I can’t really take the credit for this as Mr OC made it.  I did however hover nervously, not quite in the background, interjecting occasionally.  I am the back seat driver of the kitchen it seems.   I did make the cherry sauce for the top though, as I needed to have some contribution to the proceedings ( a control freak – moi?).

250g digestive biscuits
150g soft butter

400g cream cheese (room temperature)
60g icing sugar
300ml double cream
1 tsp vanilla extract
½ tsp lemon juice

For the topping:

1 can of cherries in fruit syrup
2 tsp arrowroot, dissolved in 2 tbsp of water
Glug of cherry brandy (optional and to taste)

Method

Put the biscuits in a food processor and whiz until crumbs.  Add the soft butter and whiz again until combined. (If you don’t have a food processor then place the biscuits in a freezer or sandwich bag and bash with a rolling pin until crumbs.  Melt the butter and pour in the biscuits and stir to combine.)  Press the crumbs into a loose based springform tin measuring 20cm.   Using the back of a metal spoon is the easiest way of doing this.  Place in the fridge whilst you prepare the cheese part.

Place the cream cheese, icing sugar, vanilla extract and lemon juice in a bowl and beat until smooth.  Softly whip the double cream and then lightly fold it into the cream cheese mixture.  Spoon this onto the biscuit base and smooth with a palette knife.  Chill in the fridge until just before serving.

Make the sauce ready to pour on top just before serving.  Empty the cherries and the syrup they are in into a saucepan.  Add the arrowroot and water solution and stir well.  Place on a gentle heat and simmer until the sauce has thickened.  Add a glug of cherry brandy to taste.  Pour into a bowl and chill until you are ready to pour over the cheesecake before serving.

When you are ready to serve, run a knife around the edge of the cheesecake and release the springform tin.  Keep the cheesecake on the base of the tin and place on a serving plate.  Spoon the cherries and as much of the sauce as the cheesecake will take over the top.

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Chocolate roulade, with a touch of the Black Forest

This was another of my contributions to my Dad’s birthday pudding bonanza.  It’s a flourless creation, which means that my gluten-intolerant sister can enjoy it.  I really like Black Forest gâteau, and anything with cherries and cherry brandy in it is always a big hit with me.  So I opted to add these, but you could add Marron Glaces for a chestnutty treat or just opt for the simpler (but nearly as delicious) chocolate and cream combo.

When I rolled it, I had as usual added far too much filling and it all oozed out.  But, actually I like it this way, it makes it look a lot more decadent and that can never be a bad thing, surely?

For the roulade (recipe from Delia Smith’s Complete Cookery Course):

6 eggs, separated
150g (5oz) caster sugar
50g (2oz) cocoa powder

A swiss roll tin (a shallow sided tray) measuring 29cm x 18cm, greased and lined with baking parchment.

Whisk the egg yolks until they begin to thicken, then add the sugar and whisk again until the mixture thickens a little more, but you don’t want it to be too thick.  Add the cocoa powder and mix until combined.  In a very clean bowl whisk the egg whites until they make soft peaks.  Add one-third of the egg whites to the egg yolk mixture to loosen the mixture and then carefully fold in the rest of the egg whites, retaining as much air as possible. Carefully pour this mixture into the tin and lift the tin to spread the mixture evenly.

Place in a preheated oven at 180°c, gas mark 4 or on the middle shelf of the Aga’s Baking Oven and cook for 20-25 minutes until the cake is springy to touch. Leave it in the cake tin to cool.

Make the chocolate ganache:

225g (8oz) good quality dark chocolate
225ml double cream
Cherry Brandy (to taste, I tend to put a good swig in, I know that isn’t very scientific, but keep on tasting until it suits you)

Chop the chocolate finely and place in a shallow and long dish. Heat the cream in a saucepan until just under boiling point. Pour the cream over the chocolate and leave to melt for a few moments.  Stir gently until well combined and then add the cherry brandy to taste.

Softly whip 200ml of double cream and drain a can of cherries.

Place a fresh piece of baking parchment on the worktop, it should be a little bigger than the cake.  Dust this with cocoa powder and turn the cake onto it.  Peel off the baking parchment from the bottom of the cake.  Spread the chocolate ganache over and then dot with the cherries.

Spread the softly whipped cream on top and then taking hold of one the shorter edges of baking parchment use this to roll the cake over to make a log.  If the filling oozes out, don’t worry just use a knife to spread it back onto the ends of the roulade.  If the cake cracks then that’s a bonus part of its appeal.

Enjoy in thick slices.

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Toffee Apples

They might not look perfect but they got the thumbs up from my two girls and the girl next door.

Toffee apples always remind me of Bonfire Night and as that night is nearly upon us I felt the need to make toffee apples.  Also, we recently took the girls to the annual Apple Day at The GreenWood Centre and there were toffee apples on sale, however by the time we had fought our way through the crowds there weren’t enough toffee apples left.  So I promised to make them some and last week I managed to find the time.

Actually, it takes surprisingly little time to make these, especially if you don’t mind how haphazard they look when they are finished.

PLEASE BE VERY CAREFUL , BOILING SUGAR IS EXTREMELY HOT.  It is best to do this in a quiet kitchen unaided by small children.

3 eating apples
3 lolly sticks
100g (4oz) granulated sugar
50ml (2 fl oz) water
15g (½ oz) butter
1 tbsp golden syrup

Silicone sheet or non-stick baking parchment, a pan of boiling water

Pour the sugar and water into a heavy-based pan and heat over a gentle heat until the sugar is dissolved.  Add the butter and syrup and bring to a fast boil.  Use a sugar thermometer and bring the mixture to the hard crack stage (150°c).  If you don’t have a sugar thermometer then boil for about ten minutes until a deep golden colour and drop a small amount into a cold glass of water.  It should form a hard ball straight away.  If it clouds the water at all it isn’t ready. Boil for a few more minutes and test again.

Whilst the toffee  is boiling, bring a pan of water to the boil and drop the apples in for a few seconds.  This will remove any waxy coating and  help the toffee stick to the apples.  Remove from the water and dry well.  Stick the lolly sticks into the apples.

When the toffee is ready, take it off the heat and working quickly dip each apple into the mixture until well coated and place on the silicone sheet to harden and cool. If the mixture starts to harden before you are finished then place back on the heat for a minute or so.

To clean the pan, fill it with water and place back on the heat until it cleans itself.

DO NOT BE TEMPTED TO LICK THE SPOON.

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Proper trifle – citrussy


I have discovered that it is quite hard to take a good photo of a trifle. All that cream on top is boring to look at.  But this trifle was not boring to eat.  I am not an inveterate trifle maker, I think I made one for Christmas about 7 years ago, but I do love a good trifle.  It was my Dad’s birthday and I felt the need to make a trifle to act as one of the many desserts we had that day (the list also included chocolate roulade, Christmas pudding, apple pie, syrup steamed pudding, baked apple and chocolate fudge cake – well there were twenty people to feed and we like to put on a spread.)

A trifle is a fairly easy thing to make but it does take quite a bit of time to assemble all the parts and there does need to be time to allow each layer to settle. I started mine on the Friday to serve on the Sunday. On friday I made the madeira cake, on saturday morning I soaked the cake with sherry, placed the tinned orange segments on top and made the jelly.  On saturday evening I made the custard and on Sunday morning I whisked the cream for the top, and then just before serving I sprinkled generously with hundreds and thousands because a trifle isn’t a trifle without this addition.

If you are a proper foodiephile then the notion of putting jelly and tinned fruit into a trifle and then topping it with hundreds and thousands may send you a little frantic with worry, but this is my trifle and I like it this way (and it tastes delicious and brings back memories of childhood Christmases. Although I am pretty sure that it would have been Rowntree jelly and Bird’s custard back then, but feel free to use these if you want to take the even easier route towards trifle perfection).

This time I used a lemon flavoured madeira cake, tinned orange segments and made a jelly from orange juice to lend a citrus theme to my jelly, but you could spread raspberry jam thickly over the sponge before drowning in sherry and make a berry flavoured jelly.  Or, if you must be sophisticated, then you could spread the jam, and miss out the tinned fruit and jelly altogether – it will be trifle, just not as I know it.

For the lemony madeira cake (adapted from Jill Brand’s Best Kept Secrets of The Women’s Institute Cakes and Biscuits):

For a 15cm square tin or an 18cm round tin, greased and lined with baking parchment.

115g (40z) softened butter
115g (40z) caster sugar
2 eggs
165g (6oz) plain flour
2 tsp baking powder
grated zest and juice of 1 lemon

Method
Cream the butter and the sugar together until really light and fluffy.  Beat the eggs into the mixture one at a time. Sieve the flour and the baking powder together into the bowl and gently fold in with the zest and juice of the lemon.

Pour the mixture into the tin and cook in a preheated oven at 160°c or gas mark 3, or on the grid shelf placed on the floor of the baking oven of the four-oven Aga for about 1 hour.  It is ready when a skewer comes out clean. Allow the cake to cool in the tin for 10-15 minutes and then turn out onto a wire rack to cool completely.

When the cake is completely cool, cut it into slices that will fit neatly into the bottom of your trifle dish and the cover liberally with a good sherry. I used 150ml over my sponge.

Once the sherry has had time to soak in, drain a tin of mandarin segments and place these on top of the sponge.  It’s a good idea to place some against the sides of the bowl so that they can be seen when all is assembled.

For the orange jelly (taken from The River Cottage Family Cookbook):

The juice of about 6 oranges – enough to make just below 600ml.
the juice of 1 lemon
50g icing sugar
4 leaves of gelatine ( but check pack instructions as they can differ, you need enough to set 600ml of liquid)
half mug of just boiled water

Method

Combine the juice of the lemon and the oranges with the icing sugar.  Place the gelatine leaves in the half mug of just boiled water and stir until dissolved.  Pour the gelatine water into the orange juice and stir well.  It should now make 600ml of liquid.  Pour this jelly over the sponge and oranges and place in the fridge for several hours or overnight until set.

For the custard (recipe taken from Delia Smith’s How to Cook, Book One):

570ml (1 pint) double cream
1 vanilla pod
6 egg yolks
1 dessertspoon cornflour
50g (2oz) caster sugar

Method

Pour the cream into a small saucepan. Split the vanilla pod and scrape out the seeds and place these into the cream, along with the pod.  Heat the cream over a gentle heat until just below simmering point.  Whilst that is happening whisk the egg yolks with the sugar and cornflour in a large bowl.  Pour the hot cream over the egg mixture whisking all the time to prevent the eggs from scrambling. Pour the whole lot back into the pan and back onto the gentle heat stirring all the time.  The custard will thicken and it should coat the back of a spoon, so that when you run your finger down the spoon the line where you did this is clear.  Pour the custard into a bowl and stir for a minute or so until cool, sprinkle a little sugar over the top  to prevent a skin from forming and leave to cool completely.

Pour the custard over the jelly layer of the trifle, sprinkle with a  little more sugar and place back in the fridge.

Whisk 600ml (1 pint) of double cream until softly whipped and spread over the custard layer.  Sprinkle over your choice of decorations just before serving.

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Apple pie in the Aga

A lady called Una contacted me to ask how to cook an apple pie in the Aga as she could not find a recipe online. Well I do love apple pie, it definitely ranks up there as yet one more of my favourites ( well I like my food, so there are a lot of favourites).  So as soon as I was given some apples by a friend I made this and have now finally got around to blogging about it so hopefully rectifying Una’s dilemma.

Apple pies, in my opinion, need a shortcrust pastry and a good cooking apple – preferably a Bramley.  Now I like my apple pie to be on the tart side of things so I am more sparing with the sugar, if you prefer yours a little sweeter then add another 25g (1 oz) of sugar.  You can make shortcrust with all butter, but I do like it with half butter/ half shortening or lard.  Make sure both are straight from the fridge and that your hands are cool, as warm pastry is not a good thing.

50g (2oz) vegetable shortening or lard
50g (2oz) butter
225g (8oz) plain flour
203 tbsp of cold water

2-3 cooking apples, peeled, cored and cut into chunks
50-75g (2-3oz) granulated sugar

Method

If you are using a food processor then tip the flour into the bowl of the processor, add the diced butter and shortening/lard and pulse for a few seconds until the fat is incorporated into the flour and the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs.  Add 2 tbsp of water and pulse again (you may need a little extra water or not quite that much) until the mixture starts to come together.  Try not to over process, you need to stop as soon as it starts to come together. Remove the blade and form the mixture into two flattened discs. Wrap in clingfilm and place in the fridge for 30 minutes to chill.

If you aren’t using a food processor then make sure your hands are cool by running cold water over them.  Then place the flour and the diced fat into a bowl and using the tips of your fingers rub the fat into the flour until it resembles fine breadcrumbs.  Add the water and then mix using a pallet knife at first and then your hands until it is a smooth dough.  Try to handle it as little as possible.  Divide into two flattened discs and cover with clingfilm and refrigerate for 30 minutes.

You will need a pie dish or plate. Mine is 20cm in diameter and 3cm deep.

Remove the pastry from the clingfilm and lightly flour the worktop and your rolling-pin. Roll the first disc of pastry until it is big enough to cover the bottom and the sides of the dish. Press it carefully into the dish.  Place your chopped apples into the dish and sprinkle with the sugar.  Roll the second disc until it is large enough to cover the dish. Brush a little milk around the edges of the pastry and place the lid of pastry on top and crimp around the edge to form a seal with two fingers.  Cut off any excess pastry. You can brush the top with milk too.

Place the pie on the floor of the roasting oven of the Aga for about 20-25 minutes until the pastry is golden. In a conventional cooker, place in a preheated oven at 220°c for about the same amount of time. Allow to cool slightly before enjoying warm with lashings of cold double cream or custard. My mouth is watering at the very thought.

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Chocolate and orange tart

My goodness this is good!

My sister-in-law is a keen cook and has a huge folder full of ripped out pages from recipe magazines with some of her favourite recipes.  I was spending a lovely half hour looking through this file when I came across a recipe for Chocolate and Orange Mascarpone Tart which just looked as if it needed to be made. I borrowed the cutting, and if Janice is reading this, it will be coming back to you soon, I promise.  I meant to make the tart over a month ago, but didn’t quite manage to find the time before we went away.  The tub of mascarpone that I had bought though had a surprisingly long shelf life so when we returned from our hols I was very pleased to see that if I was quick I could still try my hand at this little gem of a tart.

Now, I am afraid that there is no evidence of which magazine this cutting was originally taken from, but as I seem unable to take a recipe at its word I have made my own adaptations to it anyway.

It’s really delicious and really rich, so a 20cm tart will easily serve 12 people if not a few more and it still tastes good a few days after being made – I know because I have been doing plenty of experimenting!

For the base:
200g dark chocolate digestives
50g unsalted butter, melted
zest of 1 orange

For the filling:
250g mascarpone, at room temperature
100g cream cheese, at room temperature
3 eggs, at room temperature
grated zest and juice of 2 oranges
150g light brown soft sugar
½ tsp vanilla extract
½ tsp fine sea salt
50g good quality dark chocolate
50g good quality orange flavoured dark chocolate ( I used Lindt Excellence Orange Intense Chocolate, which has delicious orange crispy bits)

Method

Preheat the oven to 200°c (gas mark 6, 400°f).

Whizz the biscuits in a food processor, or place in a food bag and bash with a rolling-pin until they make fine crumbs.  Add the biscuit crumbs to the melted butter with the orange zest and mix to combine well.

Press the biscuit crumb mixture into a 20cm springform cake tin, making sure it is well pressed down. Place in the fridge to chill  whilst you make the filling.

Melt the chocolate in a heatproof bowl over a pan of simmering water.

Place all the ingredients for the filling, except for the chocolate, into a food processor and whizz until smooth. Add the chocolate and whizz again until combined.  Pour this filling over the biscuit base. Bake in the oven for about 30 minutes until just set and risen slightly at the edges.  Slide a knife around the edge of the tart to loosen it and then leave in the tin to cool.  Chill in the fridge for several hours or overnight before serving. Serve with plenty of cream.

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Rhubarb crumble

It’s lovely to go on holiday and relax with the family, but it is also lovely to come home.  It is especially lovely if when you go on holiday winter seems to still be hanging around and then you come home three weeks later  (a longer holiday than planned thanks to that dastardly volcano!) to find that spring has certainly sprung. So much has changed, the trees are in full leaf, the apple blossom is heavy, the wild garlic is everywhere (and past its best for that salad I was planning) and the weeds seem to have taken over the veg patch. We have been back for over a week now and much of that time has been taken up with sorting out all that post that has piled up, cleaning the (volcanic?) dust that has accumulated and doing some heavy-duty gardening.  Never before have those knee pad thingys that you can buy from the garden centre seemed so appealing.

What was so lovely to come home to (apart from family and pets) was that first trek around the garden to see what was coming up (ignoring the weeds).  The mint, of which there was no sign when we left, is now a foot high.  I reprimanded myself for not getting round to cutting last year’s dead sticks back before I left, but that has now been rectified. The rhubarb, which was just a couple of nobbles peering out of brown earth when we left is now positively taking over its corner of the garden.  I was very pleased to see both of these things as mint is something which I add to my cooking as often as possible and I love and adore rhubarb.

So, one of the first meals we had on our return was minted aubergines followed by rhubarb crumble.  Both of these were demolished before I managed to get the camera out so you may have to wait a while for the recipe for the minted aubergines, but I have made the crumble again and so here it is in all its lovely spring is here glory.

6 sticks of rhubarb, prepared by peeling, if not forced rhubarb, and slicing into chunks
grated zest of 1 orange
juice of ½ orange
4-6 tbsp vanilla sugar

For the topping:
25g (1oz) pecan nuts
175g (7oz) plain flour
100g (4oz) butter
50g (2oz) sugar

Method

Spread the rhubarb into a deep pie dish and grate the zest of an orange over.  Pour over the orange juice and sprinkle with the vanilla sugar.

I always prepare my crumble in a food processor by whizzing the flour and nuts together until the nuts are finely ground. Add the butter and pulse until the mixture looks like breadcrumbs.  Add the sugar and pulse until the crumble is crumbly. If you don’t have a food processor, then place the pecans into a food bag and bash with a rolling-pin until fine and then add to the flour.  Dice the butter and then rub into the flour using your fingertips and then mix in the sugar.  Sprinkle this crumble topping all over the rhubarb.  I like to have little bits of rhubarb peeking out so that the juices caramelise on the top.

Here is the crumble how is should be eaten, with cream poured generously over, and it’s just as lovely cold as it is hot.

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Chocolate banoffee cup

We had friends for dinner last night and I needed a dessert.  I was going to do a rum chocolate cup, but then I spotted the bananas in the fruit bowl and couldn’t resist a banoffee pie, but I had no biscuits to crumble and I couldn’t be bothered with making pastry, so this was it – a combination of banoffee pie and the chocolate cup that I was going to make.  Very yummy it was too, although you probably wouldn’t want to eat two, it is decadently rich. The chocolate ganache sets in the fridge so when you dip your spoon in you get the combination of a hardish chocolate and a silky smooth caramel.  Mr OC described it as tasting like a Mars should taste.

Please notice that lovely evening sunshine we had yesterday – oh joy, the light is returning!

To make 6 cups

2 bananas, sliced thinly
2-3 tbsp rum (optional)
400g dulce de leche (otherwise known as Carnation Caramel)
150g 70% chocolate
300ml double cream

Method

Divide the banana between the 6 cups or glasses and pour a splash of rum over each.  Mix the dulce de leche in a bowl until smooth and then spoon over the bananas.  Chop the chocolate finely.  Scald the cream in a pan over a medium heat.  Remove the cream from the heat and stir in the chocolate until smooth.  Pour the chocolate ganache over the caramel. Place in the fridge until ready to serve.

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