Tag: Pudding

Gluten free chocolate fudge pudding

~ Sophie ~ Leave a comment

A gluten free, slightly-adapted version of a dessert from the brilliant and incredibly talented Ravneet Gill. This has all the rich fudginess of a decadent pudding with none of the dry crumbliness that you often get with GF food. Feeds 2 generously

  • 30g soft light brown sugar
  • 50g dark chocolate, broken into pieces
  • 2 eggs
  • 60g caster sugar
  • 50g greek yoghurt
  • 35ml veg oil
  • 80g gluten free plain flour (and of course with regular flour if you don’t need it to be gf)
  • 15g cocoa powder
  • ½ tsp bicarb
  • 1 tsp baking powder
  • A pinch of salt
  1. Pre-heat the oven to 160C fan (180C) and stick the kettle on
  2. Mix the brown sugar and chocolate in a small bowl with 50ml boiling water
  3. Warm in the microwave for 30 seconds to ensure the chocolate is melted and sugar is dissolved, stirring to combine
  4. Scrape this oozy mixture into the base of an enamel or ceramic baking dish
  5. In a mixing bowl, whisk together the eggs and caster sugar until pale and voluminous
  6. Add the yoghurt, oil and 3 tbsp water and continue to whisk until thick and smooth
  7. In a separate bowl, combine the gf flour, cocoa powder, bicarb, baking powder and salt
  8. Then just add the dry ingredients to the wet and stir together into a smooth batter
  9. Pour this gently and evenly over the sauce in your baking dish
  10. Seal the dish with foil and then place it into a larger roasting tin
  11. Pour boiling water into the large roasting tin around your pudding, until it’s about halfway up the side (possibly easier to do this while the double-tin situation is already sitting on the oven shelf)
  12. Transfer into the oven (very carefully!) and bake for 40 mins
  13. Remove from the water bath and leave to cool for 5 mins
  14. Serve with custard or vanilla ice cream. You’re going to be so happy you made this

Wine jelly

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Turns out you can make jelly OUT OF WINE. I can’t tell you how exciting this development is. It’s two of my absolute favourite things, and it’s elegant as heck.

  • 400ml wine
  • 150g sugar
  • 2 strips lemon zest and juice of 1 lemon
  • 4 sheets gelatine, soaked in cold water
  1. Put the sugar, lemon zest strips, lemon juice and 100ml of the wine in a saucepan
  2. Heat on medium, stirring, until the sugar dissolves. Take the pan off the heat.
  3. In the meantime, soak the gelatine leaves in cold water for 5 mins, then scoop them out and add them to the wine mixture, stirring until they dissolve
  4. Discard the zest and sieve the syrup into a measuring jug
  5. Add in the rest of the wine and make up to 600ml with cold water
  6. Pour into the bowl you’re going to serve it out of – or into fancy individual serving glasses – and chill for at least 4 hours before serving

Customise with different wines (make it pale pink with rosé!), use mulling spices in the syrup with red wine, add fruit juice instead of water, or drop berries or peaches into the bottom of the serving dish before adding the jelly mixture.

Peach and marzipan tart

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A simple summertime dream dessert, flavours of peach, raspberry and almond. Peach melba delight.

  • 320g ready rolled puff pastry
  • 200g marzipan
  • 2 large peaches, not too ripe and squishy
  • 2 tbsp apricot jam
  • 150g raspberries
  1. Pre-heat the oven to 200C fan (220C) and take the pastry out of the fridge
  2. Unroll the pastry onto a lined baking tray (maybe just use the paper that came rolled around the pastry)
  3. Score a rectangle around the pastry 1½ cm in from the edge
  4. Slice the marzipan finely, 1-2 mm thick – or grate it if it’s hard
  5. Lay or scatter the marzipan on the puff pastry in a single layer within the scored rectangle
  6. Halve and slice the peaches into 2 mm slices
  7. Place the peach slices over the marzipan in overlapping rows like fish scales
  8. Bake for 20 mins then turn the tray and give it another 7 mins
  9. Take the tart out of the oven, leave to cool for 5 mins
  10. Melt the jam in a small pan the brush it over the peaches until glossy and sticky then scatter the raspberries evenly over the top
  11. Serve warm with raspberry ripple ice cream on the side

Custard

~ Sophie ~ 1 Comment

Easier than I had imagined to make from scratch. When you planned an apple crumble but forgot this essential accompaniment, you can whip up some creamy, thick, unctuous custard in between the main course and pudding (while the crumble is cooling from volcano temp to something edible). Feeds 4.

  • 300ml whole milk
  • 2 egg yolks
  • 1 tbsp corn flour
  • 1 tbsp caster sugar
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
  1. Put the milk in a small saucepan and heat gently until it starts to bubble around the edges
  2. While the milk is heating, whisk together the egg yolks, corn flour, sugar and vanilla in a large bowl
  3. Pour the hot milk in a stream over the egg mixture, whisking constantly (potentially a 2-person job, depending on how stable your bowl is)
  4. Then give the saucepan a quick rinse and pour the egg mixture back into the pan
  5. Cook the custard very gently over a low heat, whisking constantly, until the custard thickens. You’ll think it never will and then suddenly it will be thick and everyone will be happy!
  6. Take the pan off the heat and serve warm

Rhubarb, apple and almond pudding

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Warm, comforting, fragrant. Tangy with fruit and richly sweet with almond sponge.

1 cooking apple, peeled, cored and sliced
1 small eating apple, peeled, cored and diced
400g rhubarb, cut into 2cm pieces
3 heaped tbsp soft light brown sugar
2 heaped tbsp cornflour
1 tsp cinnamon
140g ground almonds
140g unsalted butter at room temperature
140g golden caster sugar
2 large eggs, beaten

  1. Pre-heat the oven to 160C fan (180C)
  2. Place the apples and rhubarb into a ceramic baking dish
  3. Throw in the brown sugar, cornflour and cinnamon and toss the fruit until coated
  4. In a big bowl, cream together the butter and caster sugar until pale and fluffy
  5. Beat in the eggs a bit at a time until well combined
  6. Then fold in the ground almonds
  7. Dollop big spoonfuls onto the fruit and then spread the mixture evenly
  8. Bake for 1 hour and leave to stand for 15 mins before serving warm with custard

Pears poached in sweet wine

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Dessert so light, fresh, cool and fruity – and of course delightfully boozy. A wonderful end to a rich meal.

  • 3 firm conference pears
  • 100g caster sugar
  • 1 litre water
  • Juice of 1 lemon
  • 375ml sweet dessert wine (like a moscatel)
  1. Mix the sugar and water in a medium saucepan
  2. Heat on low until the sugar dissolves, then turn the heat up and bring to the boil
  3. While the syrup heats, peel the pears, then halve them lengthways and scoop out the cores with a little spoon or the tip of a sharp knife
  4. Rub the pears with the cut surfaces of the lemon to stop them from browning
  5. Add the pears, the lemon shells and the lemon juice to the boiling syrup and lower the heat to a simmer
  6. Cook until the pears are tender and looking ever so slightly translucent – this can take up to 25 mins for really unripe ones, just 10 mins if they’re softer to start with
  7. Remove the pears from the syrup and put on one side
  8. Boil the syrup hard until just about 200ml is left and it’s got syrupy
  9. Turn off the heat, stir in the sweet wine and pour over the pears
  10. Chill thoroughly before serving – ideally over night

Serve with a scant scatter of toasted almond flakes and a few tart berries floating in the bowl with the pears – blackberries are beautiful, or red currants

Raspberry cheesecake

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Tart, sweet, tangy and creamy, this delectable cheesecake is a study in yummy contrasts.

  • 150g ginger nut biscuits (or digestives if you prefer)
  • 60g butter, melted
  • 600g cream cheese
  • 2 tbsp plain flour
  • 175g golden caster sugar
  • Zest of ½ lemon
  • 2 eggs
  • 150g sour cream
  • 350g raspberries
  • 1 tbsp icing sugar
  1. Heat the oven to 160C fan (180C)
  2. Crush the biscuits and mix well with the melted butter
  3. Press the buttery crumbs into a 20cm spring-form tin and bake for 5 mins, then put on one side to cool
  4. Beat the cream cheese with the flour, sugar, lemon zest, eggs and sour cream until light and fluffy.
  5. Stir in half the raspberries and pour the mixture into the tin
  6. Bake for 40 mins and then check – it should be set but slightly wobbly in the centre. Leave in the tin to cool
  7. Put the rest of the raspberries in a pan with the icing sugar
  8. Heat until they start to break apart and then press through a sieve
  9. Once the cheesecake is cool, de-tin it and drizzle with the raspberry sauce before serving

Marzipan baked apples

~ Sophie ~ Leave a comment

Apple and almond is such a delicious combination, a definite favourite of mine. This recipe combines them in a brilliantly quick and easy pudding for a chilly day. Serve with custard for maximum comfort.

  • 4 large eating apples, braeburn or similar – anything crisp and tart
  • 200g golden marzipan
  • 2 tsp unsalted butter
  1. Pre-heat oven to 180C fan (200C)
  2. Use an apple corer to remove the core from each apple. If you can be bothered, you can carefully scoop the core out bit by bit with a sharp knife to leave a cm of apple in the bottom. I am not that patient so my holes go all the way through
  3. Run a sharp knife around the circumference of each apple, just going through the skin to leave it space to expand a bit without exploding
  4. Divide the marzipan into 4 pieces and roll each one between your fingers into a roughly cylindrical shape about the size of the removed cores
  5. Stuff the apples with the marzipan, pressing in with your fingertips until they’re as full as they can get
  6. Place them right side up into a snug-fitting foil-lined oven dish
  7. Pop a little blob of butter on the top of each one and a splash of water in the bottom of the dish
  8. Bake for around 30 mins until the apples are cooked all the way through
  9. Serve hot (but not so hot you burn your mouth on the marzipan!)

Baked amaretti peaches

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Beautiful golden jewels of a dessert, soft and sweet as a kiss, and ever so simple to make.

  • 4 peaches
  • 30g unsalted butter, softened
  • 50g caster sugar
  • 1 egg yolk
  • 75g amaretti biscuits, crumbled
  • 2 tbsp amaretto liqueur
  1. Pre-heat the oven to 160C fan (180C)
  2. Cut the peaches in half and remove the stones
  3. Place them all, cut side up, in a snug single layer in an ceramic ovenproof dish
  4. Beat together the butter and sugar
  5. Add the egg yolk and beat well, then tip in the crumbled amaretti and mix in to make a fairly stiff mixture
  6. Divide the mixture into 8 pieces, roll into balls and press each one into the centre of each peach half
  7. Sprinkle with amaretto and bake for 25 mins
  8. until the peaches are soft and the topping is golden

Serve warm with a drizzle of cream over the top

Pear frangipane tart

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Fragrant, delicious, crisp and fruity. Frangipane is such a pretty word, and this tart is so pretty to eat! This is a simple version using a pre-made puff pastry sheet.

  • 1 puff pastry sheet (320g)
  • 100g unsalted butter, softened
  • 100g caster sugar, plus ½ tbsp for sprinkling over at the end
  • 100g ground almonds (ideally ground yourself with skin on)
  • ½ tsp almond extract
  • Zest of ½ an orange
  • 1 tbsp plain flour
  • Pinch salt
  • 1 egg, beaten
  • 3 conference pears, peeled, cored and cut into lengthways slices
  • 2 tbsp flaked almonds 
  1. Preheat the oven to 180C fan (200C)
  2. Keep the pastry on the baking parchment it comes rolled in – just unroll it and lay it out on a large baking tray
  3. Use a sharp knife to score a border 2 cm around the edge of the pastry and then prick the base all over with a fork
  4. Bake for 10-12 mins, then remove from the oven and press the base down to flatten it
  5. Cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy
  6. Beat in the ground almonds, almond extract, orange zest, flour and salt until combined
  7. Brush a touch of beaten egg around the border of the pastry, then beat the rest into the frangipane
  8. Spread the frangipane over the pastry base and arrange the pear slices on top
  9. Scatter with flaked almonds and sprinkle with the final ½ tbsp sugar
  10. Bake for 30 mins until golden and set, covering loosely with a sheet of foil if it browns too quickly