Fat Girl FAT... a weekend of warm puddings

This past weekend was rather chilly which put me in the unfortunate position where I felt the need to produce warm puddings all weekend.  Needless to say the scales are not my friend this morning, but I'm hoping that if I am very good for the next 48 hours I'll be able to reverse the damage.  Fingers crossed.

These puddings are not the prettiest puddings in the world, but they do taste good.  They all required very little effort and use ingredients that are generally found at home, so I was able to impress the family with ready steady cook.

Friday night : Lemon Pudding
Saturday night : Chocolate Pear Pudding
Sunday: Milk Tart



Friday night:  Lemon Pudding
A light lemony saucy sponge type pudding

Ingredients
55g butter
115g sugar
grated rind and juice of 1 lemon
2 eggs separated
55g self-raising flour
285ml milk

Method
Soften the butter slightly in the microwave.  Using a cake mixer, cream the butter and sugar in a mixing bowl before adding the lemon rind and juice, egg yolks, flour and milk and folding together until mixed.

In a separate bowl beat the egg whites until stiff.  Fold into the pudding mixture gently before pouring into an ovenproof pudding type dish.  Place pudding dish into a roasting tin, and pour a kettle of boiled water into the roasting tin to surround the pudding dish.

Bake at 200 for 45 minutes.



Saturday night:  Chocolate Pear PuddingA chocolate sponged topped pear affair

Ingredients
1 can pears drained
60g flour
15g cocoa powder
60g castor sugar
75g butter
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/8 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla

Place the pears in a small round oven proof dish.  The pears should fill the dish.  The one I use is the size of a side plate.

Mix the remaining ingredients together using a cake mixer.  Spread over the pears.

Bake at 200 for 30 minutes. 

I served this pudding with some chocolate sauce out of a bottle, but you could serve it with ice-cream or cream or all of the above.



Sunday night:  Milk Tart
A South African light custart tart topped with cinnamon

I am not going to share this milk tart recipe as I don't believe it tastes authentic.  Milk Tart is a traditional South African custard tart that is topped with a sprinkling of cinnamon.  This tasted good, but not as good as it could.  So I will redo the milk tart in the near future and share the best recipe I can find.

Boysenberry and Apple Strudel

Tomorrow night we have decided to only have desserts for dinner because we can. As this isn't 'best practise' when it comes to parenting, I was trying to think of a recipe that might contain fruit and protein, that might be 'almost healthy'. Then the word 'strudel' popped into my mind. No, it is not healthy, but it is good, and if you're only going to eat desserts then why not have your favourites. It does contain fruit and ricotta cheese which is healthy, just ignore the sugar and butter parts of the recipe. If you want a truly healthy dessert, try freezing banana and strawberry bite size pieces. Blend these with a little yoghurt/milk until it reaches ice-cream consistency. The end result is sugar free ice cream which can be lactose free if you use soy milk or yoghurt.

Anyway, back to the strudel...

75g butter
90ml light muscovado sugar
3 egg yolks
1 lemon, grated rind only
¼ tsp nutmeg, grated
250g ricotta cheese
8 large sheets filo pastry
200g boysenberries
2 apples, peeled and sliced
2 tbsp sliced almonds
icing sugar, for dusting
To serve créme fraîche


Preheat the oven to 190C. Soften 15g of the butter. Place it in a bowl and beat in the sugar and egg yolks until light and fluffy. Beat in the lemon rind, nutmeg and ricotta. Set aside. Melt the remaining butter in a small pan. Working quickly, place a sheet of filo on a piece of greaseproof and brush generously with the melted butter. Put a second sheet on top and repeat the process. Continue until all the filo has been buttered and layered. Spoon the ricotta mixture over the filo pastry and spread until it covers the pastry - leave a border around the edge. Scatter over the apples and boysenberries. Fold in the filo border and use the greaseproof paper to carefully roll up the strudel. Grease a baking sheet with butter and place the strudel on top. Scatter the almonds over the top. Bake the strudel for 35-40 minutes until golden and crisp. Dust with icing sugar and serve with créme fraîche.

Bella Biscotti

I love biscotti especially with a cup of real coffee or accompanying a chocolate mousse. This recipe is so easy, and is much tastier than the variety you get in coffee shops. I have included milk chocolate in this instance as I am baking them for children, but you can add different flavour chocolates like dark, or white, you can roll the biscotti mix in the kneading stage in a tablespoon of instant espresso powder for a coffee flavour, or add nuts like almonds.

Biscotti

1 1/2 cups of flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
2/3 cup of castor sugar
60g butter
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
2 eggs
250g slab milk chocolate

Preheat oven to 180 degrees
Mix the flour, baking powder and castor sugar
Cut in the melted butter
Beat the eggs and vanilla
Add to the flour butter mix to make a dough
Sprinkle flour on clean work surface
Knead the dough lightly before flattening dough on surface an inch thick
Chop the chocolate in 1cm square pieces and push into flattened dough
Roll the dough into a sausage shape approx 30cm long
Place on greased pan and flatten with the back of a spoon
Sprinkle top with castor sugar and bake for 30 minutes
Cut log into slices 1cm thick
Place slices on a greased baking sheet and bake for another 5 minutes
Allow to cool before indulging in one or two or the whole lot

Bake a Cupcake

Finally getting back into the swing of things after a lovely hiatus on the South Island of New Zealand where we survived on the red wine, dark chocolate and french fry diet. Was very pleased to see my kitchen again as campervan cooking is rather challenging.

Tomorrow my eldest son is finally having his kindergarden graduation. To celebrate this momentous occasion, he has to arrive armed with treats for all his friends. His suggestion was to bake cupcakes which ended up being a fun activity for both him and I, although I must confess I don't think I'd ever attempt more than 4 dozen at a time because just dealing that amount of sugar is a bit disturbing, let alone the colouring and decorations.

Cupcakes are the easiest things in the world to make, and there is no limit to what you can put on top of them in terms of colour and decorations. You can keep it simple by simply icing the tops, or add cherries, sugarcraft or any edible naughty you might like.

To make cupcakes in a food processor mix together 2 eggs, 125g soft butter, 125g self-raising flour, 125g castor sugar, 1 tsp vanilla, 3 tbsp milk. Divide evenly into 12 cupcake paper cases placed in a 12 muffin baking tray. Bake for 15 minutes on 170 degrees C. Remove and allow to cool. Cut the tops off to level the cupcakes. Mix icing sugar with a little water to a thick icing consistency. Add colour of your choice and ice the tops of the cupcakes. Decorate to your hearts content and enjoy.