Showing posts with label Desserts. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Desserts. Show all posts
I had asked Todd to pick up some croissants for me when he went into town yesterday, thinking that wasn't something he could mess up. WRONG!
Poor Todd . . . he thought he would save some money and buy the ones that were running out of date, so they were stale and not at their best (which is how I wanted them) and after traveling home in his bag, kinda squashed. (Why do men always squash the bread????) I just bit my tongue and didn't say anything and then changed my plans.
Poor guy. Whenever I ask him to pick me up something at the store . . . he looks a bit like a deer caught in the headlights. He always, always gets the wrong thing, and he knows it. It's inevitable. I don't complain any more. I just sigh inside and try to smile. I have come to the conclusion that men and woman really are from completely different planets.
Whenever I see a man wandering the grocery store aisles with cell phone to the ear, I have a little chuckle to myself. Poor guys . . . it is the rare man who knows where things are and exactly what his wife wants, and who actually brings home just what she wanted, instead of something not quite right!
So anyways, I took the stale croissants and made a delicious pumpkin and milk chocolate bread pudding with them, and turned my lemons into lemonade. Better to do that than to offend the one I love. He was happy, and I get to show you something else that's delicious. Everybody wins.
Rich, buttery, spicy and oozingly laced with milk chocolate. Delicious. Simple. Decadent. What more could you want?
*Pumpkin and Milk Chocolate Bread Pudding*
Serves 6
1/4 tsp ground cardamom
1/2 tsp salt
Whisk together the remaining ingredients, making sure they are well combined. Pour this over the croissant pieces and toss to coat. Pour into the prepared baking dish, making sure that the chocolate is evenly spaced amongst the croissant bits.
The Toddster and I had a pretty in depth conversation the other night about pumpkin. He thought pumpkin was a very bland recipe. I had made a delicious pumpkin pie for dessert when we had the missionary elders over and we were talking about pumpkin.
He hadn't realized that the pumpkins which are normally used for pumpkin pies are the smaller sugar pumpkin variety. I know some people use the larger ones and that's ok . . . but if you want a really great pumpkin pie you want to use a sugar pumpkin. They are lovely and sweet, and I don't think you could call them bland at all!
I have always found the larger pumpkins to be lacking in flavour in comparison and their texture is not quite the same. I do like them roasted though . . . as with any of the autumn vegetables, roasting brings out a lot of the natural sweetness. I just roast them with a bit of olive oil, salt, pepper and garlic.
Anyhoo . . . this pie I am showing you here today went down a real treat with the missionaries (and with the Toddster), It's a bit different than your usual pumpkin pie in that it has an oatmeal cookie crust and a buttery crumble topping.
It's nicely spiced and that buttery cookie crust is to die for. I guess it is somewhat like an big fat round oatmeal cookie stuffed with spicy creamy pumpkin . . . and what's not to like about that???
It is absolutely stunning cut into wedges and served with a nice dollop of lightly sweetened whipped double cream on top . . . or served still slightly warm, topped with a scoop of vanilla ice cream . . . and yes, lashings of custard would go down a real treat as well. I hope you will give it a try and when you do you will come back and tell me how much you enjoyed it! Coz I just know you will. It's a cert!
I have always found the larger pumpkins to be lacking in flavour in comparison and their texture is not quite the same. I do like them roasted though . . . as with any of the autumn vegetables, roasting brings out a lot of the natural sweetness. I just roast them with a bit of olive oil, salt, pepper and garlic.
Anyhoo . . . this pie I am showing you here today went down a real treat with the missionaries (and with the Toddster), It's a bit different than your usual pumpkin pie in that it has an oatmeal cookie crust and a buttery crumble topping.
It's nicely spiced and that buttery cookie crust is to die for. I guess it is somewhat like an big fat round oatmeal cookie stuffed with spicy creamy pumpkin . . . and what's not to like about that???
It is absolutely stunning cut into wedges and served with a nice dollop of lightly sweetened whipped double cream on top . . . or served still slightly warm, topped with a scoop of vanilla ice cream . . . and yes, lashings of custard would go down a real treat as well. I hope you will give it a try and when you do you will come back and tell me how much you enjoyed it! Coz I just know you will. It's a cert!
*Pumpkin Crumb Pie*
Serves 685ml evaporated milk or single cream (1/3 cup)
While the bottom crust is baking, whisk together all of the filling ingredients until smooth. Remove the bottom crust from the oven and pour this mixture over top. Return to the oven and bake for 15 minutes.
This is a lovely cake that I always used to make using just apples. They almost melt into the cake, making it beautifully moist. The other day I had some pears that I wanted to use as well, and so I used half pears and half apples with the most delightful results!!
I kicked up the spice a bit. Normally I use only cinnamon, but pears go so very well with cardamom . . . and nutmeg is a warm spice that goes well with most fruits, and so I added some of each of those.
WHAT A BEAUTIFUL CAKE. No, not to look at, it's actually kind of ugly to look at, but flavour-wise, this cake cannot be beat. It's just gorgeous!
I added some toasted walnut pieces for a bit of crunch. I do like a cake that is interesting and has different bits in it, don't you??? But fear not, if nuts are not your thing, you can easily leave them out, no problem. Likewise the sultanas.
I had some caramel sauce left from the other day when I made those pumpkin fritters. A bit of that warmed up and spooned over top went down a real treat. It was absolutely perfect with this cake. It almost tasted like a candy apple cake then . . .
Of course, vanilla ice cream would go very well also . . . or custard, for what is icecream but frozen custard anyways. Oh heck, why not go whole hog and have clotted cream. Now that would be fantabulous!
*Pear and Apple Spice Cake*
Makes one large tube cake
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
1 tsp vanilla paste
3 cups of peeled and thinly sliced pears and apples (I used cox's apples and conference pearsfrom our own trees) (355g)
Sift together the flour, spices, salt and soda. Set aside. Put the oil and sugar into a large mixing bowl. Beat together with an electric mixer, or a stand mixer (using the paddle blade) for five minutes, until thick. Beat in the eggs, one at a time and continue to beat until creamy. Stir the dry ingredients into the batter. Fold in the fruit and nuts. Spread this batter into the prepared pan, smoothing the top over. Bake for 1 hour and fifteen minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the centre comes out clean.
Speaking of cakes, it's always nice to have a nice tin to store all of your baked goodies in. I was recently sent this lovely cake tin from Rex London. I fell right in love with it. This Three Tier Red and Cream Cake Tin has a lovely vintage look which I just adore.
Made from sturdy enamel coated tin, all three compartments are ample in size and close air tight to help keep things fresh. It would make a wonderful Christmas gift for that baker in your life who also adores anything vintage looking. It sells for £34.95. Its a beautiful way to keep three separate baked goodies stored properly without taking up a lot of counter space! It gets a 10 out of 10 from me! I love the colours and the vintage look of it.
I was also sent this adorable set of 12 Christmas Carnival Mini Loaf Baking Cases, also from Rex London. Made from sturdy card and beautifully decorated in a vintage Christmas images they are the perfect size for individual loaves, perfectly sized for gift giving. I would buy three sets and then bake three different loafs in each set and then present 12 lucky elderly neighbors and friends or singletons with a gift of one of each, wrapped and tied up in a pretty bow for the holidays. I can't think of one person that would turn that down.
They held up very well in baking without discolouring or going all floppy. How cute is that? These are also very reasonably priced at only £1.95 for the set of 12, which I think is great! They also have alot of other types of baking cases for the holidays as well as a whole array of different items in the Christmas Carnival Design!
Many thanks to Rex London for sending me these!! I highly recommend both!
Note: Although I was sent these to try, any and all opinions are my own.
I got really lucky this year. Aldi (which is one of the cheaper grocery stores) had tinned pumpkin on special a month or so back. I was so excited. It can sometimes be a really difficult ingredient to find on the cheap over here in the UK. Normally you pay over the odds for it, if you can find it. (I have had success in Waitrose and Sainsbury's and of course there is Skyco as well.)
So anyways, they had it in Aldi for a really reasonable price and I loaded up on it! I think I bought 24 tins, much to Todd's embarassment and chagrin! But then, I am a North American and I love pumpkin! I think I am converting him to the idea as well.
Especially when I make him such deliciousness as these fabulous Pumpkin Fritters. They are delightful little light spicy puffs of pumpkin! And that sauce . . . oh baby. It is fabulous!
Of course if you can't find the tinned pumpkin puree, you can make your own. There is a great recipe for a roasted one here. And of course there is another good version on the BBC food site.
Simple to make, just stir all the ingredients together and drop them into hot fat, cooking them until they are puffed and golden brown. Just make sure you fat isn't too hot as you don't want the outsides to cook too fast, or your insides will be raw, and you don't want that!
The sauce is gorgeous. Rich and caramel flavoured with just the hint of vanilla. So delicious together. And you can refrigerate any leftover sauce for on ice cream or pancakes even. Scrummo!!
Oh, and don't worry about the leftover pumpkin. I am going to tell you something delicious to do with that tomorrow! ☺
*Spiced Pumpkin Fritters with a Vanilla Caramel Sauce*
Makes about 20 fritters
icing sugar for dusting
pinch sea salt
When there are just two of you living in a house, dessert isn't something you make very often. At least that is the way it works for me. It usually doesn't all get eaten and if I haven't been able to give it away, then it gets thrown out. So normally I only do dessert when we have company.
I had some bramley cooking apples that someone had given us that I wanted to use and I found this crumble recipe on the BBC food page, which looked good, but it made far too much. I liked the premise of a crumble using sultanas and dates though, so I kept those and added Calvados instead of rum, because I always have Calvados in my larder, but never rum.
I also cut the quanitities down by a half more or less and added my own version of a crumble topping as I really like mine, but am not overly fond of the one that most desserts use over here. I'm sorry, you can take the North American out of North America, but not the North America out of the North American! There will always be some things I think we do better.
The end result was a perfectly sized crumble for two people. A bit of indulgence, without having all of those leftovers to tempt you into digging in again and again . . .
Because dates and sultanas are naturally sweet, you don't need to use as much sugar as you normally would in a crumble filling, and their caramel like sweetness goes very well with the tartness of the Bramley apples.
Bramley apples break down so nicely in crumbles I think. Fluffy and tart. I like that. The topping of course it's crowning glory. Enjoy! (OF course if there are more than two of you, the recipe can easily be increased !)
*Toffee Apple Crumble for Two*
Serves two generouslybut can be easily multiplied to serve more
A tasty two person sized crumble filled with lots of apple, sultanas, and dates. Reminiscent of a sticky toffee pudding in a way, but extra fruity and with a moreishly buttery crisp topping!
cut into thin slices
2 TBS flaked almonds
pinch salt
Place
the sultanas, dates, sugar, calvados, butter and mixed spice into a
bowl. Stir and then heat in the microwave for about a minute and a half
until the butter is melted and the sugar is syrupy. Toss in the apple
slices and lemon juice. Spread into a small (about 4 cup) buttered
casserole dish, taking care that the dried fruit is scattered throughout
the apples.Serve warm with ice cream, custard or pouring cream.
This is a simple and delicious traditional type of tart that is perfect for people who are not really fond of desserts that are overly sweet.
The combination of a rich frangipane type of filling, a crisp crust and buttery textured poached pears are just wonderful together. Tinned pears are actually perfect in this, but do dry them off very well before using.
It's also the perfect tart to use stoned fruits with . . . cherries, peaches, nectarines, apricots . . . all go equally as well. Just make sure they are very ripe. You can also use poached pieces of apple and quince.
I like to bake this tart with the bottom of the tart ring removed, so that the bottom of the crust lies directly on the baking sheet. This ensures a crisp bottom. The filling is quite moist and I find that the crust doesn't crisp up as much as I would like if I keep the bottom in the tart tin. The contact of the bottom of the crust with the baking sheet conducts the heat much better. Don't worry about anything leaking. It just won't happen.
It's really quite easy and not at all complicated. It just looks that way! They'll think you slaved all day over it!
It can be our little secret!!
*Pear and Almond Tart*
Serves 8
Printable Recipe
This is a delicious pear tart that is not overly sweet. A classic tart that works well with other fruits also. You can use peaches, cherries, apricots or berries as well quite successfully. (Raspberries are really wonderful this way.) Sliced apples and quince also work very well.
enough flaky pastry to line a 9 inch tart tin
(your own or ready made)
for the almond cream:
200g of sliced almonds (2 cups)
200g of caster sugar (1 cup)
7 ounces butter, room temperature (3/4 cup plus 2 TBS)
4 tsp brandy (optional)
2 large free range eggs
2 TBS whole milk
You will also need:
a tin of pear halves in juice, drained well
(You'll need 6 to 8 halves, depending on the size of the pears)
3 TBS apricot jam
Preheat the oven to 190*C/ 375*F/ gas mark 5. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a nonstick liner. Place the ring to a 9 inch tart pan, with a removable bottom, on the paper. (This tart works out best when you use only the ring, and not the bottom. Due to the moistness of the filling the pastry browns nicer on the bottom when you do this.)
Roll out your pastry to fit into the ring and place it into the ring, trimming as necessary. Chill while you make the almond cream.
Combine the almonds with 50g of the sugar (1/4 cup) in a food processor. Process until finely ground. Set aside. Beat the butter on medium speed with an electric mixer until creamy. Add the remaining 150g (3/4 cup) of sugar and mix to incorporate. Add the almond/sugar mixture and beat until thoroughly combined. Add the salt, brandy (if using) and 1 egg. Mix thoroughly. Add the remaining egg and the milk and mix until light and fluffy.
Fill the tart shell with the almond cream, smoothing the top with a rubber spatula. Arrange the fruit attractively on top. Bake in the heated oven until the crust is golden brown and the filing is set, about an hour and twenty minutes to an hour and a half. The filling should be firm and spring back when lightly touched. Transfer to a wire rack.
Warm the jam in a small saucepan over low heat, just until it is liquid. Press it through a sieve to make a glaze. Brush the warm glaze over the fruit tart right away while it is still hot.
Allow the tart to cool completely before unmolding. Serve at room temperature.
A dollop of clotted cream goes very well!
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