Saturday afternoons . . . a relaxing time that usually finds me in my kitchen, experimenting and puttering to the dulcet tones of Rod Stewart and the American Songbook. (I love those albums!)



We usually skip lunch, and eat our dinner mid-afternoon, complete with a tasty pudding . . . kind of like at Christmas, but without the gifts and crackers . . . it usually holds us through until Sunday morning with maybe only a snack of cheese and toast in the evening or something similar . . .

January Saturdays call for comfort meals . . . warm and filling . . . and stodgy puddings equally as comforting!



Stodgy doesn't mean awful though . . . it usually means rich and deliciously tasty. Puddings such as this fabulous version of a Sticky Toffee Pudding, using the wonderfully rich sweet flavours of Maple Syrup, creamy dates and crunchy toasted macadamia nuts.



With it's scrummily moreish Maple Cream Sauce, this is a pudding fit to please even the most jaded palate! I dare anyone not to like it!! How could it ever get any better than this????



Well . . . ahem . . . lashings of cream do add an additional layer of scruminess.



This is bliss . . . gooey stick maple puddings, moistly filled with dates, topped with baked on and buttery maple syrupy toasted nuts, sitting in a pool of maple cream and then drizzled with cold cream . . . whilst Rod Stewart warbles in the background. Ahhh . . .



This is Sticky Toffee Pudding . . . but pimped to the n'th degree!! It doesn't get any better than this!!



*Sticky Maple Nut Puddings*
Serves 6
Printable Recipe

The smell of this baking is enough to send everyone in to the kitchen to ask what's for dessert! Gooey sticky maple and macadamia nut topped date puddings, served with a moreish toffee sauce and of course cream. Why not! (You may want to double the sauce!)

80g of soft light brown sugar (1/2 cup packed)
150g of unsalted butter, softened (a scant 3/4 cup)
170ml of pure maple syrup (2/3 cup)
70g macadamia nuts, toasted and coarsely chopped (1/2 cup)
185g of chopped pitted dates (1 cup)
185ml boiling water (3/4 cup)
1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
2 large free range eggs
60g plain flour (1/2 cup)
60g self raising flour (1/2 cup)

Sauce:
90ml of double cream (1/3 cup)
2 TBS pure maple syrup
25g of unsalted butter (2 TBS)

Pouring Cream to serve



Preheat the oven to 180*C/ 350*F/ gas mark 4. Butter 6 8-ounce ramekins. Cut out parchment paper circles to fit into the bottoms and line each of them with a circle. Place on a baking tray and set aside.

Measure out 2 TBS of the brown sugar. Cream together with 60g (2 14 ounces) of the butter and half of the maple syrup. Spoon into the bottoms of the cups. Evenly sprinkle each with an equal portion of the chopped nuts.

Place the dates in a saucepan with the water. Bring to the boil. Remove from the heat and stir in the soda. Let sit for about 10 minutes, before beating with a spoon to break up the dates until almost smooth. Beat in the butter and then the eggs, one at a time. Sift together the flours and then stir them into the date mixture. Divide this batter evenly amongst the cups.

Bake in the heated oven for 25 to 30 minutes until well risen and a toothpick inserted in the centre comes out clean. Leave to cool for five minutes before inverting into 6 pudding bowls. Peel the paper off carefully.

In the meantime, combine the cream, syrup and butter for the sauce in a small saucepan. Bring to the boil and then simmer for about 5 minutes until slightly thickend. Spoon the warm sauce around the puddings and serve with some pouring cream..

The recipe I have to share with you today creates something almost too dangerous to have in the house . . .



Seriously . . . tis a good thing this is the season of giving . . .



Imagine a chewy, fudgy, buttery blonde brownie . . .
stogged to overflowing with scrummy little bits of rich, sweet white chocolate . . .



and crunchily addictive hunks of macadamia nuts . . .
Now . . . top it with a gooey, sticky caramel toffee topping.



See???? I have created a monster . . .
but what a scrumdiddlyumptious way to go!




*White Chocolate and Macadamia Nut Blondies*
Makes one 8 inch square pan, or 16 bars
Printable Recipe

Squidgy blonde brownies stogged full of white chocolate, macadamia nuts and glazed with caramel!

4 ounces softened unsalted butter (1/2 cup)
9 ounces soft light brown sugar (1 1/4 cups packed)
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 large free range eggs
5 ounces plain flour (1 cup)
3 1/2 ounces coarsely chopped macadamia nuts (3/4 cup)
3 to 4 ounces white chocolate, chop coarsely
250g soft toffees (about 1/2 cup packed)
2 fluid ounces water (1/4 cup)

Preheat oven to 180*C/350*F/ gas mark 5. Line an 8 inch square pan with parchment paper leaving an overhand to ease in lifting the bars out when done. Butter the pan and the paper lightly.

Cream together the butter and brown sugar until light and fluffy. Beat iin the vanilla and eggs, one at a time. Stir in the flour, making sure it is completely incorporated. Fold iin the nuts and chocolate. Spread into the prepared pan. Bake in the heated oven for 35 to 40 minutes. Remove from the oven and allow to cool on a wire rack.

Place the toffees in a small saucepan, along with the water. Cook and stir over medium low heat, stirring constantly until the toffees are melted and the mixture is smooth. Using a fork, drizzle the hot caramel glaze over top of the brownies. Allow to cool completely before cutting into squares.

I've been wanting to make this cake for awhile now . . . but for some reason there have been no ground almonds to be found in any of the stores locally. Perhaps there is a shortage or some such. Most annoying as they are an ingredient I use fairly often!



I decided to take the bull by the horns today and make my own.



I have always been a bit leery of grinding my own, because if you take it just that little bit too far . . . nuts can become a bit oily . . . and I didn't want that to happen.



I read somewhere recently though, that . . . if you add a bit of the sugar from the recipe to the nuts as you are grinding them, this can help to prevent that from happening . . . so this I tried . . . and with great success I might add!




We are having company tonight for a small group scripture study and then a time of fellowship and refreshments afterwards. I thought this cake would go down a real treat.





It's dense and rich and oh so buttery and delicious. It's one of those cakes that actually gets better tasting as the days go on . . .

Not that you will have it around that long. It's really that good that it will disappear . . .

lickety split!!



*Almond and Orange Syrup Cake*
Serves 8
Printable Recipe

A beautifully dense and delicious cake, with a sticky orange topping.

250g blanched almonds (about 2 cups)
225g of caster sugar (1 1/4 cups)
50g of self raising flour (1/3 cup plus 1 TBS)
250g of unsalted butter at room temperature (1 generous cup)
the grated orange zest of 2 large oranges
4 large free range eggs
60g of flaked almonds (about 1//2 to 3/4 cup)

Orange Syrup:
the freshly squeezed juice of two large oranges
55g of caster sugar (a heaped quarter cup)

To serve:
Creme fraiche or extra thick double cream

Preheat the oven to 180*C/350*F/gas mark 4. Butter a 9 inch springform pan and set aside.

Put the almonds into the food processor along with 1/4 of the sugar. Process until finely chopped. Transfer them to a bowl. Rub the orange zest into the sugar with your fingertips until it gets very fragrant. (my favourite part of this and a tip I learned from Dorie Greenspan.) Tip the sugar and flour into the bowl containing the almonds.

Beat the butter until fluffy. Beat in the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition to mix in well. Add the flour mixture in two batches, beating again after each addition until well combined. Scrape the mixture into the prepared pan. Level off. Sprinkle with the flaked almonds.

Bake for 45 to 55 minutes, until golden on top and set. If you think it is browning too quickly, then cover with foil, shiny side up.

While the cake is baking make the orange syrup. Place the orange juice and sugar into a small saucepan. Bring to the boil, stirring until the sugar is dissolved. Remove from the heat and keep warm.

Once the cake is done remove it from the oven and poke it all over with a skewer. Spoon the orange syrup over the top of the hot cake, allowing it to soak in.

Let the cake cool before cutting into slices to serve. Pass the creme fraiche or cream.

Note - a spring of rosemary simmered in with the orange syrup gives it an elusive and wonderful flavour addition! Discard the rosemary before spooning the syrup over the cake.





I chose a random numbers generator to pick a winner of the Kellogg's Family Breakfast Hamper and guess what, it chose Number 1! I wish I could have one of these sent to each of you. Heck I wish I could have one of these myself! Angie, you are the winner. Let me know your details and I'll arrange to have it sent to you as soon as! Take heart the rest of you. I'll be hosting another giveaway soon and I think the next one is going to be kitchenware!

Clafoutis is a French Dessert, normally made with ripe cherries, placed in a well buttered dish and covered with a rich batter, which bakes around them . . . kind of like a rich custard really.

You serve it lukewarm and dusted with icing sugar and it's really, really lovely.



You don't have to just make it with cherries though. Clafoutis is also very delicious when made with other stoned fruits . . .



Fruits like apricots, nectarines, peaches . . . and my favourite Plums!!!



My batter deviates somewhat from the norm as well, in that I have added sweetly fragrant Orange Flower water and some grated orange zest. Orange is a flavour that goes very well with plums.



If you wanted you could use an orange flavoured liqueuer instead of the Orange Flower water . . . such as Cointreau or Grand Marnier. Another tasty version includes prunes which you have soaked in armagnac.



It's so easy to do and so very tasty . . . the batter is silky and buttery . . . the fruit almost tart . . . the nuts all toasted and crunchy on the top.



This is bliss, pure and simple. Of course you could serve this with some vanilla ice cream or a dollop of creme fraiche. Then it would be double bliss . . .

Plums make this a very autumnally delicious dessert!! (It's hard to believe that August is almost over!!)



*Plum Clafoutis*
Serves 8 - 10
Printable Recipe

Deliciously simple . . . yet impressive.

softened butter and caster sugar to butter the dish with
10 ripe but firm plums, halved and pitted
4 large free range eggs
6 TBS caster sugar
5 TBS plain flour
450ml of cream (2 cups)
1 TBS orange flower water
the grated zest of one orange
70g of flaked almonds (1/2 cup)
icing sugar for dusting

Preheat the oven to 190*C/375*F/ gas mark5. Butter a large round baking dish or flan dish. Dust with sugar, knocking any excess out.

Place the plums down into the dish, cut sides down. Beat the eggs together with the sugar and flour until smooth. Whisk in the cream, orange flower water and orange zest. Pour the resulting batter over the plums in the baking dish. Sprinkle with the almonds. Bake for 40 minutes, until well risen, lightly browned and set. Remove from the oven. Cool to lukewarm. Dust with icing suga and cut into wedges to serve.

Note - baking times are subjective and vary according to your own oven. I can only speak from my experience with my own oven. If you think that your clafoutis is browning too quickly, then you may loosely cover it with some foil during the last ten minutes of baking. If you find that it's not set by the end of the suggested cooking time, then by all means leave it in for a bit longer. I also like to have all of my ingredients at room temperature when I start, so take your eggs out of the fridge about an hour before you want to use them and measure out the cream and allow that to come to room temperature as well. This may allow for a shorter baking time. If your ingredients are cold then it will take longer of course!

Also I use Double Cream for this.

Okay . . . I put my hand up. I confess. I JUST love (adore even) peanut butter.

If I had to choose only one thing out of everything possible to have as a food on a deserted Island . . . I would choose peanut butter. Seriously. Ok . . . umm . . . maybe chocolate would win out, but trust me . . . only by a narrow margin. What could be better than peanut butter . . . or chocolate???


Peanutbutter and Chocolate together! The ultimate marriage of flavours . . . heavenly bliss . . . totally.



And when you combine that scrummy combination with the tasty crunch of buttery oats and chopped toasted nuts, well . . . I don't mind saying . . .



YOU HAVE SOMETHING TOTALLY IRRESISTABLY SCRUMMILY ADDICTIVE!!!

You just can NOT eat just one . . . I kid you not!





Rich. Decadent. Moreish.

Make them today. You will NOT regret it! Trust me on this.


Okay . . . so maybe your hips might protest, and eventually regret it a teensy weensy bit . . . but . . . you can always tell them that oats are healthy and cholesterol lowering. Very good for you in fact.

And that, my friends, is definitely the truth! ☺



*Peanut Butter, Chocolate Chip and Oat Bars*
Makes 36
Printable Recipe
Deliciously oaty bars with a creamy peanut butter filling, and stogged full of rich chocolate chips and crunchy toasted walnuts. What's not to like??

18 ounces of rolled oats (2 1/4 cups)
12 ounces soft light brown sugar (1 1/4 cups packed)
140g of plain flour (1 cup)
1/2 tsp baking soda
8 ounces of butter, softened (1 cup)

Filling:
1 (397g) tin of sweetened condensed milk (14 ounces)
(NOT evaporated milk)
2 ounces creamy peanut butter (1/4 cup)
1/2 tsp vanilla
6 ounces semi sweet chocolate pieces (1 cup)
60g coarsely chopped toasted walnuts (1/2 cup)

Preheat the oven to 180*C/350*F/Gas mark 4. Butter a 13 by 9 inch baking pan well, or spray with nonstick cooking spray. Alternately line with parchment paper and butter the paper, leaving an overhang for ease of lifting out when cooled.

Combine the oats, brown sugar, flour, baking soda and butter in a large bowl. Mix together at low speed with an electric whisk until crumbly. Reserve 2 cups of the mixture for the topping and set aside. Press the remaining crumbs into the prepared pan, evenly, to form the base.

Whisk together the condensed milk, peanut butter and vanilla. Pour this over the crumb base, spreading it out evenly. Sprinkle the chocolate chops and nuts over top. Sprinkle the reserved crumb mixture over top evenly and lightly press down to adhere.

Bake in the heated oven for 25 to 30 minutes, until golden brown. The centre will not be set. Allow to cool on a wire rack for about an hour and a half, or until completely cooled before cutting into bars. Fantastic!!