Funny . . . the traditions we hang on to . . . like the apple being the forbidden fruit in the Garden of Eden . . . and Eve being responsible for the fall of mankind . . .



Oh well . . . it all makes for a scrumdiddly pudding.



Eve's Pudding was not something I had ever heard of before I came over here to live. One night the cook at the care home I worked at when I first came here made it for the residents one night . . . I never got to taste it, but the name intrigued me! It wasn't long before I was looking it up and finding out how to make it.




You can find my recipe for regular Eve's Pudding here. And, mighty tasty it is too!



This is a slight variation on that theme . . . you all know how I like to grab the ball and then run with it. I can never leave well enough alone. I've added some tasty cranberries to the mix. They give it a slight tartness and lots of colour.



Oh my but it's some delicious, and very seasonal. I alway buy up bags of cranberries when they hit the shops before Christmas, and then I throw them into the freezer so that I have these tasty little berries to use whenever the mood hits.



They're not just for sauce you know! (I think you can buy them in the freezer section of Waitrose as well. Not sure about the other shops) I love using them in tasty quick breads and they make a scrumptious pie too.



This is my favourite way of using them though . . . sweet and tart, topped with a moist sponge and then served up warm with lashings of warm custard. That's a must!!




*Cranberry Eves Pudding*
Serves 6
Printable Recipe

A slightly different version from the traditional Eve's Pudding. Easy Peazy, and oh so scrummy yummy! Lashings of warm custard are a given!

1 1/2 pounds cooking apples, peeled, quartered,
cored and cut into thick slices
4 ounces frozen cranberries
3 ounces of caster sugar (a scant 1/2 cup)
1 TBS water

Topping:
4 ounces unsalted butter, at room temperature (1/2 cup)
4 ounces of caster sugar (a generous half cup)
2 large free range eggs
4 ounces self raising flour (a scant 1 cup)
2 TBS fresh orange juice
the grated zest of one small orange

Icing Sugar for dusting
Warm custard, or cream for serving

Preheat the oven to 180*C/350*F/ gas mark 4.

Place the apples and cranberries into a 2 1/2 pint baking dish, at least 2 inches deep. Sprinkle the caster sugar over top along with the water. Place into the heated oven and allow to cook for about ten minutes while you make the topping.

To make the topping measure all the ingredients into a bowl and then whisk together until smooth with an electric whisk. Remove the fruit from the oven and spread this batter evenly over top. Return to the oven and cook for 30 to 40 minutes until golden brown and the top springs back when lightly touched.

Dust with icing sugar and serve warm with custard or cream.

Note - You could also use Blackberries, in which case I would use lemon zest and juice in the cake batter instead of orange! Equally as scrumptious!!

When I was a teenager, my mother discovered a recipe for Chili Con Carne. It was on the back of a Tomato Soup Tin. My father absolutely loved it!!

Because my father loved it, that meant we had it every Saturday night for supper, throughout my teenage years. This was amazing actually . . . as this was the man who had told my mother for years and years that the only spices his mother had ever used were salt and pepper, and who refused to eat any dish that was spiced with anything else.



My mother discovered oregano . . . and chili powder. Life was never the same again. Suddenly our food became colourful and more flavourful. It wasn't too long after that she discovered green peppers . . . and pepper steak was born! (At least in our house anyways! Can you believe I had never tasted a pizza until I was about 16??? I know!! I was sooo deprived!!)



I've come a long way from those early bowls of chili . . . they were rather bland actually . . . just tinned tomato soup, beans, onions, and ground beef with some chili powder and oregano thrown in for good measure.



Thankfully, I have been a lot more adventurous in my experimentations . . . and my tastes. Mind you . . . it's a completely different world out there these days . . . it's a much smaller place and so much more is available to us.



This is a fantastic bowl of red, or chili as it is commonly called. Rich and flavourful and oh sooooooo scrummy! We like it with grated cheddar cheese dusted over the top, and a bit of chopped onion . . .



With crusty white rolls to mop up all of those lovely juices, thick like gravy . . .

Can anything on earth taste any better than white bread and gravy? I think not! Especially if it's chili gravy! Yum!! Yum!!



*The Best Chili Ever*
Serves 8
Printable Recipe

You can't beat a big tasty bowl of red. This is rich and flavourful and rib stickin' good!

1 TBS oil
2 medium onions, peeled and chopped
3 fat cloves of garlic, peeled and minced
4 green chilies, trimmed, seeded and chopped (or to taste)
1 pound of extra lean beef mince (ground round)
1 pound of beef sirloin, trimmed and cut into small cubes
1 (400g) tin of chopped tomatoes in juice (14 ounce)
1 tomato tin measure of dark ale
1 tomato tin measure of beef broth
225ml (1 cup) dark strong coffee
2 heaped dessertspoons of tomato puree (about 3 TBS)
3 1/2 TBS tomato ketchup
2 ounces soft light brown sugar (1/4 cup)
1 TBS ground cumin
1 TBS cocoa powder
(not hot chocolate drink mix)
1 tsp dried oregano
1 tsp mild chili powder, or to taste
1 tsp ground coriander
1 tsp fine seasalt
4 (400g) tins of kidney beans, drained and rinsed (14 ounce tins X 4)

To serve:
Chopped onion
grated strong cheddar cheese

Heat the oil in a large pot over medium heat. Add the onions, garlic and chilies. Cook and stir until soft. Add the meats. Cook, stirring, til browned. Stir in the cumin, cocoa powder, oregano, chili powder, coriander and sea salt. Mix in well. Stir in the tomatoes, ale, beef broth, coffee, tomato puree and brown sugar. Add the beans. Bring to the boil, then reduce the heat to a low simmer. Cook, stirring occasionally over low heat for about 2 hours, til nice and thick and rich. Serve hot with some chopped onion and cheddar cheese sprinkled over the top. Delicious!

Brrr . . . Baby it's cold outside!!! Time to cuddle up indoors with a good book by the fire! Time to break out the woolie socks and jumpers . . . Time for soup!



Hot steaming soup . . . bone warming, tummy hugging, soul comforting soup.



This recipe today is proof positive that you need neither fancy expensive ingredients nor extreme talent to create a soul warming delicious soup.



All you need is a few simple ingredients and a bit of ingenuity. All the elements of comfort are in this soup . . . warm milk . . . hot buttered toast . . . meltingly tender soft squidgy onions . . . rich oozy and tangy melting cheese . . .



I think cheese and onion are the quintessential good marriage of flavours. If you don't like cheese and you don't like onions . . . you had better look away now, coz you won't like this.

But it you love them as much as I do, then you'll absolutely go crazy over this.



Trust me!!! Would I lie to you???




*Cheese and Onion Soup*
Serves 4
Printable Recipe

This may be quick and easy but it's not short on flavour. Proof positive that you don't need complicated or expensive ingredients to make something quite, quite tasty!

4 medium sized onions, peeled and coarsely chopped (about 2 cups)
16 ounces boiling water (2 cups)
16 ounces whole milk (2 cups)
a knob of butter
a couple of handfuls of grated strong cheddar cheese (I like to use a good Farmhouse cheddar)
4 slices of buttered toast (I like a hearty whole wheat)
seasalt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
a pinch of grated nutmeg
2 spring onions, finely chopped for garnish

Place the chopped onions into a large saucepan along with the boiling water and some salt. Simmer until tender. The onions should be quite translucent and very tender. This should take about 20 minutes. Add the milk and bring back just to the boil. Reduce the heat to a simmer and cook for a further 15 minutes. Add the knob of butter and season to taste with some salt, pepper and a p9inch of nutmeg.

Put a slice of buttered toast into the bottom of each of four heated soup plates. Top each with some of the cheese. Ladle the hot soup over top and sprinkle each with a garnish of chopped spring onions. Serve immediately.

Todd's niece June and her boyfriend Jason drove up from Essex to visit us this past weekend. What a sweet and adorable couple they are. We were really pleased that they came up to spend a few days with a couple of old fogies like me and the Toddster!!



While I was waiting for them to arrive I thought to myself, I'd love to bake them something *WOW* just to make their visit that little bit extra special!



And then I thought to myself, I'll bake them my Lemon Drizzle Cake, which is sooo easy and yet sooo yummy!



And then I thought to myself . . . but why leave it at that??? Why not turn my easy peasy Lemon Drizzle Cake into Lemon Drizzle Fairy Cakes, and then bake them in white polka dotted pink cases??? Coz something called a fairy cake and in a white and pink polka dot case just has to taste much better than a mere cake, doncha think???



And then I thought to myself . . . but why leave it at that??? Why not fill these lucious little fairy cakes, each one . . . with an extra little dollop of lemon curd???



And then I thought to myself . . . but why leave it at that??? Why not cover that crunchy lemon drizzle soak . . . the one that soaks itself into the heat of the finished cake and makes it all scrummy yummy . . . why not cover that drizzle soak, with an equally as scrummy lemon drizzle icing???



And then I thought to myself . . . but why leave it at that??? Why not decorate each moist lemon drizzle fairy cake, stuffed with lemon curd, glazed with a crunchy lemon sugar glaze, and drizzled with a lemon drizzle icing . . . with some cute little Lemon Jelly Slices???



And so I did.



Yum!



*Lemon Drizzle Fairy Cakes*
Makes 8
Printable Recipe

Lucious lemon flavoured fairy cakes, filled with some lemon curd, and then soaked with a lemon sugar mixture and then finally topped with a lemon drizzle icing and some sweet little lemon jelly slices! Oh so Scrummy Yummy!!

For the cakes:
140g self raising flour (1 cup)
4 ounces butter (1/2 cup) (115g)
115g caster sugar (2/3 cup)
2 large free range eggs
2 dessertspoons of lemon curd
the grated zest of one lemon
more lemon curd for filling the fairy cakes

For the topping:
the juice of 1/2 lemon
2 TBS caster sugar

For the icing:
4 ounces icing sugar (1 cup) (no need to sift)
the juice from the other 1/2 of the lemon

To decorate:
mini lemon jelly slices

Preheat the oven to 180*C/350*F. Line 8 muffin cups with paper liners. Set aside.

Put all the fairy cake ingredients into a food processor. (with the exception of the additonal lemon curd to be used for filling the cakes.) Blend together for 2 minutes, until smooth and creamy. Dollop about 1/2 of the batter into the prepared muffin cups. Top each with about 1/2 teaspoon of additional lemon curd, then cover with the remainder of the cake batter. Bake for 30 to 35 minutes or until the tops spring back when lightly touched and a toothpick inserted in the centre of one comes out clean.

While the cakes are still hot, and before removing them from the tin, mix the lemon juice and sugar together until the sugar dissolves somewhat. Prick the cakes all over with a toothpick and then carefully spoon the lemon/sugar mixture over the top, allowing it to soak in. Let sit for about 10 minutes before removing from the tin to cool completely on a wire rack.

To make the icing, whisk together the icing sugar along with enough juice from the other half of the lemon to make a drizzeable icing. Spoon this over top of the cooled cakes and then top each with a couple of lemon jelly slices. Delicious!!

I had always thought that my most favourite of all pies was Pecan Pie . . . I have been known in my younger years to buy a Frozen Mrs Smith's Pecan Pie and eat the whole dang thing all by myself!! (The word gluttony comes to mind.)



But then again, I am mighty partial to Lemon Meringue and Apple as well . . .



Actually if I am being honest . . . and I try to be . . . I just plain love pie. You put it into a crust and I am there!



One of the tarts I really love over here is the old fashioned Treacle Tart, a traditonal English tart filled with a mixture of golden syrup, breadcrumbs, lemon and eggs. Oh my . . . but it is some delish!



Golden syrup itself is delish . . . think of a thick amber coloured syrup . . . sweet and stick, with an almost caramel like flavour . . . it's really quite addictive! I love it on my oatmeal in the morning, and have been known to just take a spoonful and sit there greedly slurping it like a sticky runny lollipop. (There is that gluttony word again!)



From Wikepedia:

Treacle tart is featured in the Harry Potter books, and is known to be Harry's favorite food. He is often depicted as eating the dessert during various Hogwarts feasts, and the aroma of the dessert features prominently in "the most powerful love potion in the world" for Harry in Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince, which gives off the combined smell of each individual's favorite scents.

This dessert is also featured in the movie Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. The childcatcher, in an attempt to lure out the children from the basement, calls out that he is giving away free sweets. His mention of free treacle tarts is the selling point for the boy, convincing him to be lured out into the street.

"Treacle tart" is also Cockney rhyming slang for "sweetheart".



Now tell me . . . how could you not absolutely love it after all that???



Us gluttonous Rayner's like ours with cream spooned over top. Why not!



*Treacle Tart*
serves 8
Printable Recipe

Adapted from a recipe I found on Good Food by Lulu Grimes. Sticky sweet and oh so moreish.

short crust pastry to line a 9 inch tart tin
500g of golden syrup ( a scant cup and a half)
125g of fresh breadcrumbs (a generous 2 cups)
the juice and zest of one lemon
2 large free range eggs
a pinch of fine sea salt

Preheat the oven to 190*C/375*F/ gas mark 5. Roll the pastry out between two sheets of cling film to a circle large enough to fill your tart tin with a bit of overhang. Remove the top piece of cling film and carefully invert it over the tin, gently easing it into the corners with your knuckles, trying not to stretch it. Leave the overhang. Line with greaseproof paper and baking beans and blind bake for 10 to 15 minutes, or until the pastry looks set and dried. Lift out the paper and baking beans. Take a rolling pin and roll it over the edge of the tart tin to trim of the overhang of pastry neatly. Return the tart tin to the oven for a few minutes to dry the pastry out further. Remove from the oven and reduce the temperature to 160*C/32*F/ gas mark3.

Mix together the syrup, breadcrumbs, lemon juice and eggs, along with a pinch of fine sea salt. Pour this mixture into the tart base and bake for a further 50 minutes, until the filling has lightly set. Remove from the oven and allow to cool completely before cutting into wedges to serve.

Three variations:

1. Stir 1 finely chopped ball of ginger and 1 tsp ground ginger into the filling before baking.

2. For a dark treacle tart, use 400g golden syrup and 100g black treacle in the filling.

3. To add a touch of luxury and to result in a softer set, stir 2-4 tbsp double cream into the filling before baking.