Liquorice pudding

Yes you read right liquorice! I’m a big fan and I love the taste so if you do too give this a try. You may have to add more liquorice to the recipe because pure Italian are not always available haha. I also garnished it with some pieces instead of the salt to add more flavor. Enjoy!

Ingredients

60 ml water
1 teaspoon(s) pure italian liquorice pellets (such as amarelli rossano)
2 tablespoon(s) light muscovado sugar
175 ml double cream
2 teaspoon(s) cornflour
1 tablespoon(s) milk
soft sea salt flakes (to serve)

Method

1) Put the water and liquorice pellets in your smallest pan and bring to the boil, stirring or whisking frequently to help the liquorice melt. Once it starts bubbling, turn off the heat and leave for 5 minutes, stirring or whisking every now and again.

2) Turn the heat back on and whisk in the sugar, then the cream, and bring to a bubble. Remove from the heat.

3) Spoon the cornflour into a little bowl, cup or ramekin and slake it with the milk: which is to say, whisk in the milk until you have a smooth paste.

4) Pour this, whisking as you go, into the mixture in the saucepan. Still whisking, put the pan back on the heat and bring back to a bubble, whisking all the while, for 20-30 seconds, or until thickened.

5) Divide between 2 heatproof glasses or cups and – unless you want to eat this hot – cover, touching the surface of the puddings, with clingfilm or baking parchment that you’ve wet with cold water then wrung out (this is to prevent a skin forming, a thing I cannot tolerate), and put them in the fridge to chill for at least 2 hours or overnight.

6) Let the puddings come to room temperature before serving, and remove the clingfilm or baking parchment and smooth the tops with the back of a teaspoon. Put the soft sea salt on the table to sprinkle over as you eat, if wished. For those of us who love liquorice, this pudding is a sheer, spine-tingling joy.

Source: Nigella.com

Rainbow cake

I must say I am not a fan of food coloring but it is a rainbow cake! Trying it once in a life time You can use an vanilla cake recipe that you have or ones that are already in a box. If you do not have one, this is a recipe from joy of baking.

Ingredients:

1 box vanilla cake

Food coloring (yellow, blue, green and red), to make more colors have some fun and mix colors (for example: red and yellow, red and blue.)

Apricot jam

1 cup whipping cream

Walnuts for garnish

Method:  

1) Make the cake according to the recipe you are doing. Divide the cake batter into small separate bowls equally.

2) For each bowl add a separate color or mix two colors, mix well to have a uniform color.

3) You can use any pan you wish I used two 20 cm round pans. In each pan divide the batter of each color equally (if you are using one pan then no need to divide, just spread on top of each other).

4) Bake the cake as the recipe suggests or the instructions.

5) After the cakes have cooled. Add any color if you wish to the whipping cream then beat it. Spread apricot jam on the top of one cake (if you have one cake you can cut it in half) then some of the whipped cream. Put the second cake on top. Spread the rest of the whipped cream on the assembled cake and garnish it.  Enjoy.

Orange & cardamom scones

I have never tried to make scones before but this recipe seemed versatile in which you can keep most of the ingredients and just change the ones that have to do with the taste. The original recipe had lemon zest and dates in it.

Ingredients:

150 ml milk
150 ml cream
Zest of 1 or 2 oranges (depending on the size and how much you like the taste)
1 egg
2 tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon cardamom
3 cups self-raising flour (if none then add 6 teaspoons of baking powder to plain flour)

Method:

1) Beat the milk, cream, egg and the orange zest together in a bowl. Combine the sifted flour, cardamom and sugar in another bowl (usually like muffins the dry and liquids each alone then combined together). Make a well in the flour then add the other ingredients. Make a dough  (it will be a bit sticky and soft).

2) Flour lightly the top of the area you want to stretch the dough on and your hands but do not knead much. When the dough is evenly stretched using your hands (press from the center) about 2 cm, cut out the scones with a floured dough metal cutter. If you can’t cut anymore then knead the dough back into shape to reuse it.

3) Grease a shallow tray with butter and put grease proof paper and scones on it. Glaze then with milk mixed with sugar.

4) Preheat oven to 200 C/400 F/gas mark 6. Bake for 10-15 min or until golden brown. They sound hallow when tapped firmly on the top with your fingers. Turn scones onto wire racks. If you prefer crusty scones, cool the scones uncovered. To soften the crust, wrap hot scones with a clean tea-towel.

Adapted from Master chef Australia recipe and Australian Women’s Weekly Home Baked tips.

Quick and delicious chocolate truffles

Who does not like melt in your mouth chocolate truffles?! This is a very quick way of doing it with yummy results. You can use any good quality dark chocolate you wish, some already have flavors like mint, orange, berries, etc.

Makes 30 small truffles

Ingredients:

227 g (8 ounces) semisweet or bittersweet chocolate, cut into small pieces

1/2 cup (120 ml) heavy whipping cream (double cream) (35-40% butterfat)

2 tablespoons (28 grams) unsalted butter, cut into small pieces

5 to 6 leaves fresh mint

Coatings:

Cocoa Powder

Finely chopped, ground pistachios

Other options: Melted or tempered chocolate, confectioners sugar (icing or powdered), toasted and chopped Nuts (pecans, walnuts, almonds, hazelnuts), toasted coconut and shaved chocolate.

Method:

1) Place the chopped chocolate in a medium sized heatproof bowl. Set aside.

2) Crush the mint slightly with the end of spoon. Heat the cream, mint and butter in a small saucepan over medium heat. Bring just to a boil.

3) Immediately pour the boiling cream over the chocolate and allow to stand for a minute or two. Stir with a rubber spatula until smooth. (If the chocolate doesn’t melt completely, place in the microwave for about 20 seconds, or over a saucepan of simmering water, just until melted.) Cover and place in the refrigerator until the truffle mixture is firm (this will take several hours or overnight).

4) Place your coatings for the truffles on a plate. Remove the truffle mixture from the refrigerator. With your hands, a small ice cream scoop, a melon baller, or a small spoon form the chocolate into round or mis-shaped bite-sized balls. Immediately roll the truffle in the coating and place on a parchment lined baking sheet or tray. Cover and place in the refrigerator until firm. Truffles can be refrigerated for a couple of weeks or else frozen for a couple of months. Bring to room temperature before serving.

To Toast Nuts: Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (177 degrees C) and bake nuts (pecans, walnuts or almonds) about 8 – 10 minutes or until brown and fragrant. For hazelnuts toast about 15 minutes or until the skins start to blister. Remove from oven and roll in a clean dish towel. Let the nuts ‘steam’ for about 5 minutes and then remove the skins. Once the nuts have cooled, chop coarsely.

Adapted from Chocolate truffles, Joy of Baking

Spice Muhalabiya (milk pudding)

I wanted to mix things up a bit and the end result was not bad at all! I really liked the taste. If you like creamy puddings and spice try it out.

Serves 6-8

Ingredients:

3 cups of milk
1 cup of liquid cream
5 tablespoons of corn flour
½ cup milk
8 tablespoons of sugar
1 teaspoon rose water
1 teaspoon orange blossom water
¼ teaspoon ground mahlab/mahlepi
¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon
3 cinnamon sticks
¼ teaspoon of mastic gum ground with a ¼ teaspoon of sugar

Method:

1) Mix together the milk, cream, sugar, both cinnamon and mahlab. Put on medium heat and stir slowly and constantly with a wooden spoon. Mix together the corn flour and the ½ cup of milk then add to the heated mixture.

2) Before the mixture starts to boil remove the cinnamon sticks and add the ground mastic gum with sugar. Continue stirring until the mixture boils and thickens. Remove from heat and add both rose and orange blossom water.

3) Pour mixture in individual dishes or in one large bowl. Leave to cool then cover and put in fridge. Garnish with ground cinnamon.

Adapted from Anaheed’s eastern sweets book

Pancake cake with chocolate filling

This cake can be done in many different ways with any pancake recipe. You can use cream or any filling you wish. You can also add nuts if you wish. I made it simple with just a ganache chocolate filling.

Pancake

Ingredients:

1 2/3 cup all purpose flour (220g)
2 eggs
1 tablespoon sugar
1 teaspoon yeast
1 2/3 cup milk (40cl)

Method:

1) Mix the flour, eggs, sugar, and yeast (diluted in a tablespoon of warm water) in a mixing bowl. Gradually add the milk and leave to rest for 30 min.

2) Lightly grease the griddle/pancake pan with a cotton cloth moistened with oil or a brush. Pour half a ladle of batter and spread. Leave to cook until the batter is set. Flip with the spatula and cook on the other side.

Taken from a booklet that came with a crepe maker called “crepes from around the world”.

Chocolate ganache

Ingredients:

125g dark chocolate chopped coarsely
1/3 cup (80ml) whipping cream (you can add more cream to make it lighter but not to the degree it is does not stick to the pancakes)

Method:

Stir ingredients in a small saucepan over low heat unit smooth.

Taken from The Australian Women’s Weekly: Home baked

Layering:

Put the first pancake on the plate and cover it with a some chocolate filling and continue like this as much as you wish then top the cake with rest of the chocolate.

Orange poached pears with crepes

This dessert can be eaten hot or cold per preference.

Poached Pears:

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups orange juice without pulp
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/4 cup white sugar
1/2 tablespoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
3 whole pears, peeled and cored (you can half them if you wish, saves time)

Method:

1) In a large saucepan over medium heat, mix together the orange juice, brown sugar, white sugar and cinnamon. Bring the mixture to a boil, stirring to dissolve the sugar. Place pears into the syrup, and cover; simmer pears until a thin wooden skewer can pass through easily, spooning sauce over pears and turning pears over during cooking time.

2) Transfer pears to individual serving dishes. Continue cooking the syrup, stirring often, until thickened, remove from heat and stir in vanilla extract (if using a vanilla pod put it at first with the pears). Pour the sauce over the pears to serve.

Adapted from All recipes

Crepes:

Serves 10 medium crepes

Ingredients:

1/3 cup sugar (70g)
1 tablespoon oil or melted unsalted butter
1/3 cup water
1 teaspoon of salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 eggs
1 ¾ cup all-purpose flour (200g) + 1 tablespoon (10g) (if you have buckwheat flour then use 1 table spoon of that)
2 ¼ cups milk

Method:

1) In a bowl mix the sugar, 1 tablespoon of flour, melted butter or oil, water, salt, vanilla extract and the eggs.

2) Alternate adding the rest of the flour and the milk, mixing well after each addition (use hand mixer).

3) To cook the crepes you can use the pan cake or crepes pan or any pan you have, put batter (depends on size of the pan) so it covers on all of the pan after brushing it lightly with oil (do that after each addition). Wait until the batter changes in color and not liquid like with a few bubbles like 40 seconds or more and flip it to the other side for a few seconds until it is golden. Repeat until batter is done.

Taken from a booklet that came with a crepe maker called “crepes from around the world”.