Malvern Pudding

I have always been a fan of 'Old fashioned Puddings' I saw this by chance when I was doing a bit of catch up TV. There was a bit of Country File before my programme and they were making this glorious pudding of which I didn't know the name. Programme forgotten I started googling and found my recipe. It came from Malvern College in Malvern, Worcestershire. Of course no mind for my waistline it had to be made.

It involves buttery cinnamon apples covered in an egg custard made with cream. It is gorgeous. It is meant to be served hot from the oven which I did but as there was enough left for next day into the fridge it went. Oh my lord I have to tell you I loved it even more when it was cold. Double whammy. So good for entertaining made in advance and chilled. Lovely served hot on a cold winters evening. Comfort food at its best. Did I tell you I was watching my waist line?

This traditional Georgian dish combines buttery cooked

 apples with a creamy cinnamon sauce.

Ingredients

The Apples

50g/2oz butter

1kg/2lb 2oz cooking apples, peeled, cores removed, sliced

50g/2oz granulated sugar

2 lemons, zest only

The Topping

825ml/1 pint 10fl oz double cream

50g/2oz granulated sugar

4 free-range eggs, plus 2 yolks beaten

50g/2oz demerara sugar

½ tsp ground cinnamon

Preparation

. For the apples, heat a large frying pan until medium hot,

 add the butter and apples and cook for 6-7 minutes, or until 

the apples have softened but still have their shape.

. Add the sugar and lemon zest, stirring well, and cook for 2-3
  more minutes.

 Transfer the apples to an ovenproof dish.

. Beat together the eggs & granulated sugar then gently

 mix in the warmed cream and strain over the cooled apples

. Bake in a medium oven until the egg mix is set, but still 
   
wobbly (approx 1 hour) leave to cool slightly

. Mix the demerara sugar and ground cinnamon together in a 

bowl, then sprinkle over the top of the dish and dot with the

 remaining butter. 


Grill for 5-6 minutes, or until golden-brown and bubbling.

Spoon the pudding into shallow serving bowls and serve .

My Notes

I made half the quantity and it gave four servings.

I did not do the grilling bit. Too much faff for me. I sprinkled

 cinnamon on the top before putting it in the oven and about

 half way through sprinkled over demerara sugar.


Oh and remember it may count as one of your five a day!!!

 That will make up for the calories 

Sticky Lemon Slice

I found this fabulous recipe on a Blog the other day. Lesley has just started blogging and her Blog 'Eat Etc' is well worth a visit. I am looking forward to much more. This recipe is so easy and yet so divinely sweet and tangy I'll be making it again and again. These little bars are lovely with a cup of tea or with a big dollop of double cream on top. It contrasts with the tang of the lemon perfectly. Thank you Lesley for a real keeper.

Sticky Lemon Slice

Base
225g/8oz unsalted butter, softened
70g/2 1/2 oz icing sugar
275g/10oz plain flour

Topping
400g /14 oz granulated sugar
4 medium eggs, beaten
4 tbsp plain flour

1 tsp baking powder

grated zest of 2 lemons

90ml lemon juice, strained

icing sugar to dust

Preheat oven to 170. C./150.C Fan/325.F/Gas3

 Line base of non-stick 32 x 21cm/ 12" x 8" Swiss roll tin with baking paper.

Base: 

Put butter in food processor and process until whipped.

Add icing sugar and process until light in colour (creamed). 

Add flour and process until mixture forms a ball.  

Tip into tin and press flat.  If mixture is sticky, keep your fingers dusted with flour. 

Bake 15 minutes, then remove from oven. 

Leave oven on.  

While base is cooling, make topping.

Topping: Tip sugar into the cleaned bowl of food processor and add eggs.  Process 1 minute. 

Transfer mixture to a bowl, sprinkle flour and baking powder over top.  Add lemon zest and juice, mixing together with a large spoon.  

Pour mixture on top of base (it will fill the tin).  

Bake for 30-35 minutes, or until golden and firmish to touch.

Cool in the tin, then dust with icing sugar and cut into squares. 

Transfer to airtight container when cool.  Will keep for 3-5 days.

My Notes 

I found the base was very sticky so I added a tablespoon of flour to the food processor and whizzed again 

Thank you Lesley for a great recipe

Baked Coconut Custard

I love Grannymar's Blog. She does not have a food Blog but Monday is 'Food Monday' and she always has an interesting recipe. Good old fashioned uncomplicated food of which I am so fond. I love baked custard and when I saw this some time ago I just had to make it. The use of coconut milk instead of cream is lovely. It makes it a very light dessert. It looks pretty and so quickly prepared it would be perfect for a dinner party. I think the addition of a crispy thin shortbread biscuit would set it off perfectly.


Coconut Custard Serves 4

Preheat your oven to 150.C/300F/Gas 1-2

Ingredients

4 eggs
3 ozs light brown sugar
8 fluid ozs coconut milk
1 teaspoon vanilla essence

Method

Place all the ingredients into a food processor and process until smooth or mix together with a whisk in a bowl by hand. 
Transfer to individual lightly buttered ramekin dishes
Place the ramekin dishes in a deep sided tin and place in the oven.
Pour water into the tin to come approximately half way up the side of the dishes.
 Bake for 35-40 minutes or until the custard has just set but has a little wobble.
Present as your imagination takes you.

A Pie For Grannymar

My Blogging friend Grannymar has a dairy intolerance. I know she uses 'Pure' which is a dairy free spread. I wondered if it could be used for making pastry instead of my usual butter and white fat. My other half gets terrible indigestion with pastry and I was unsure whether it was the fat or the dairy part. I decided to experiment. Unfortunately it would seem it's the fat causes my hubby's problems but Grannymar if you like pastry this works very well. It does make the dough very short so a bit footery to work with but the result was lovely short crisp pastry. The filling in the picture is mango and pear. I needed to use them up. It made a gorgeous filling. Worth repeating I think. I always use the same pastry recipe. It came from my Aunt who is in her nineties and her pastry recipe was always a closely guarded secret until fairly recently. It makes the crispest pastry ever.
So Grannymar enjoy your pie.

Pastry

225g /8oz Self Raising flour (If using plain add a teaspoon of baking powder)
100gms/4oz butter
50gms/2 oz white fat
1 tablespoon icing sugar
Milk to bind

I do my pastry in the food processor
Whizzing the flour and icing sugar together
Add the fats and whizz until like fine breadcrumbs
Then add a little cold milk to combine (It will form a ball)
Add the milk in very small amounts. Easy to add hard to take away and you don't want soggy pastry dough. It should be quite firm
If doing by hand, rub the fats into the flour with your finger tips until it looks like fine breadcrumbs and then stir in a little milk to combine.
Wrap the dough in a plastic bag or cling film and pop in the fridge to rest for a little while.

This amount will make a dinner plate sized tart.

Pumpkin Pie

There is a saying 'As American as Apple Pie' I have always thought as American as Pumpkin Pie would be better. I always associate pumpkins with our friends across the pond. When I was a child and when my children were wee there wasn't a pumpkin to be seen here. We had to dig out turnips for our 'Jack o' Lanterns'. Not the easiest task in the world. The shops and markets are full of pumpkins now of course. They are such a cheerful sight with their lovely autumny orange colour glowing. I bought two to carve for my grandchildren. Such an easy job to do and such smiling little faces the results produced. I was left with all the pumpkin innards and I have been dying to make pumpkin pie for years. I wanted an American to give me the recipe. I mean if you are going to do a thing you might as well do it right? One of the girls on Vi's pantry who is American kindly gave me her recipe. I can't tell you how gorgeous this is. For anyone who has never tasted it, it's like very spicy custard tart and is a perfect dessert. I have another bag of cooked and pureed pumpkin in the freezer and would like to make individual ones next.




A Few Notes

The recipe as you will see calls for canned pumpkin. A little wander round Google told me that 2 1/2 cups of cooked pureed pumpkin equals a 16 oz can.

I boiled the raw pumpkin for about half an hour and pureed it. This gave me approximately 2 1/2 cups per pumpkin.

I used double cream where it called for whipping cream

I used my own pastry recipe as I knew I would get into a mess with American measures here.

I used a tablespoon of mixed spice instead of the spices specified.

I also used marmalade instead of the apricot jam specified as that is what I had.

Recipe (with thanks to Caesersalad)


Ultimate Pumpkin Pie

Crust: (or, substitute your favorite crust)

1¼ cups all purpose flour
½ cup powdered sugar
½ cup chilled butter, cut into pieces
3 T. whipping cream

Filling:

¾ cup sugar
1 T. packed light brown sugar
1 T. cornstarch
2 t. ground cinnamon
¾ t. ground ginger
¼ t. (generous) salt
1-16 oz. can solid pack pumpkin
¾ cup whipping cream
½ cup sour cream
3 large eggs, beaten to blend

¼ cup apricot preserves

Method

For crust: Preheat oven to 350°. Blend first 3 ingredients in processor until mixture resembles coarse meal. Add cream and process until moist clumps form. Gather dough into ball; flatten into disk. Wrap in plastic; chill 15 minutes.

Roll dough on floured surface to 14" round. Transfer dough to 9" glass pie dish. Trim overhang to 1". Fold overhang under. Crimp crust. Freeze 15 minutes.

Line crust with foil (I use the non-stick foil with the non-stick side down), pressing firmly. Bake until sides are set, about 10 minutes. Remove foil. Bake crust until pale brown, about 10 minutes more. Set the crust aside and reduce the oven to 325°

For filling: Using a whisk, mix first 6 ingredients (sugar through salt) in bowl until no lumps remain. Blend in pumpkin, whipping cream, sour cream and eggs.

Spread preserves over crust; pour in filling. Bake until filling puffs at edges and center is almost set, about 55 minutes. Cool on rack.

When the pie is completely cool, cover and chill until cold. (Can be made one day ahead).

Caesersalad's Notes:

If the pie isn't completely cool when you cover it and refrigerate it, it will sweat. I do love that this pie is designed to be made a day ahead.

My pie takes longer than 55 minutes; so, plan accordingly and watch for the middle to just stop jiggling.

Do use a 9" or deep dish pie pan as this is a very large amount of filling.

Plum Crumble

I had some sad plums sitting in the kitchen. They were annoying me intensely as they were bought as'Ripen at Home' you know the sort of thing. They were still hard but were beginning to go bad. I love plums and didn't want to waste them. I put my thinking cap on and decided to make a crumble. This is what I did.


Plum Crumble
To serve four

8 - 10 plums
1 tablespoon brown sugar
1 teasp cinnamon
A good slug of Marsala or other sweet dessert wine ( or fruit juice would do)

Stone and half the plums and place in a saucepan
Sprinkle them with brown sugar and cinnamon and stew them gently in the Marsala until just tender, about ten minutes.
Lift them out and place them, with the juice, in a buttered oven proof dish.





Crumble.

12 (approx)digestive biscuits
2 tablespoons of flour
4 tablespoons of brown sugar
100gms/4ozs butter.

I whizzed it all together in the food processor but if you are doing it by hand you could smash the biscuits to fine crumb in a plastic bag with a rolling pin. Rub the butter into the flour stir in the sugar and then the biscuit crumbs
Scatter the crumble over the plumbs
Bake in a pre heated oven 180.C/160/CFan/350.F/Gas4 for about 15-20 minutes.

It was delicious. I certainly will use this again with other fruits. Lovely and golden and crunchy

Orange Panna Cotta

I have heard much of this very simple dessert. I didn't know however that it was so simple or I would have made it ages ago. For some reason I had it in my head that this was a very exotic and complex dish. I was a great fan of jelly whip as a child. Oldies will remember the strawberry jelly with evaporated milk whipped in at the point of set. Oh I loved that. Even ordinary jelly with evaporated milk poured over sets my heart a flutter. I am very easily pleased. Panna cotta has shot to the top of my favourites list on finding out just how simple it is to make. It's just exotic jelly really. A perfect dessert as it tastes wonderful and is oh so easy to prepare. Looks lovely too so it could happily grace any table before the cheese and port. Endless variations too. It would be lovely sitting in a little pool of fruit coulis or perhaps a chocolate or caramel sauce. This particular one is lovely. Just a little hint of orange. Perfect. Thank you to Kerry who gave me the recipe.

Orange Panna Cotta

Ingredients

Vegetable oil, to grease
600ml thickened cream
150ml milk
2 teaspoons finely grated orange rind
100g /4oz caster sugar
2 tablespoons boiling water
3 teaspoons gelatine powder

Method

Brush six 125ml (1/2 cup) capacity dariole moulds with oil to lightly grease.
Place the cream, milk, orange rind and sugar in a small saucepan and cook over low heat, stirring constantly, for 10 minutes or until the sugar dissolves and the mixture is heated through. Strain the cream mixture through a fine sieve into a heatproof jug.
Place the water in a small jug. Sprinkle withthe gelatine. Whisk with a fork to dissolve. combine the gelatine mixture and cream mixture.
Pour the mixture evenly among the moulds. Place the moulds on a tray. Place in the frige for 4 hours or until set.
To serve, invert 1 dariole mould onto a serving plate. Cover with a hot, damp cloth and, holding the mould to the plate, shake to remove panna cotta.

Baileys Cheese Cake

My hairdresser Wendy gave me this recipe at Christmas time. It is so quick and easy. Quick and easy is always good at Christmas. It was such a hit I made it today for the family who have a habit of dropping by for dinner. Very very rich unhealthy and huge in calories. If you want healthy don't eat dessert. Have an apple. It takes but a few minutes to throw together and just needs a little chill in the fridge.

Baileys Cheese Cake

500g/1lb 4 oz Philadelphia Cheese
100g/40z icing sugar
250mls/9fl oz/1 cup double/heavy cream
Baileys Irish Cream to taste


Base

15 digestive biscuits
50g/2 oz melted butter

Method

Crush the digestive biscuits into fine crumb and mix with the melted butter. I did this in the food processor.
Press into the bottom of a 20cm/8" springform cake tin

Mix all the other ingredients together in a large bowl.
Beat until smooth, thick and well combined
Pile on top of the biscuit base
Chill in the fridge until needed
That's it

I decorated it with bits of chocolate. I just spread strips of melted white,milk and dark chocolate on the work top then when it was hard scraped it up with a palette knife to make splinters. I had too much so I popped the extra in a jar for another day.

Strawberry Cheese Cake Ice Cream

I found this wonderful recipe at Gloria's. Gloria has a lovely Blog and churns out so many lovely dessert recipes you nearly expand just reading them. She has a heart of corn and her friendliness comes across cyber space loud and clear. We had a great chat about gardens as I noted in one of her pics a lovely row of Liquidambar in Autumn colour. Gloria is in Santiago in Chile. The other day I dropped by her Blog, as is my want, and this recipe had to be made. Oh it is the nectar of the Gods. I used my ice cream maker to make it but it is not necessary to use one as long as you have a freezer. Strawberries are in season now so there is no excuse not to make it. So easy. No custard to make just everyday ingredients. I made it this morning and i have to say it's the first time I've had ice cream for breakfast. It now sits tidily in it's box in the freezer but it won't last long. Far too tempting. I couldn't be bothered sorting ingredients into metric and imperial measures. Gloria's cups work perfectly

Ingredients

2 Cups of strawberries (fresh or frozen)
4 oz/100g cream cheese softened.
1 cup of milk
1 cup of double cream
3/4 cup of caster sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract (optional)
Flaked chocolate, toasted slivered almonds, mint leaves to garnish.

Method

Place the strawberries in a bowl and mash them. Not too much. You do want to leave some wee bits of strawberry visible in the ice cream.
In a mixing bowl with a hand held mixer beat the cream cheese until smooth.
Add 1/2 a cup of the milk and mix until just blended
Add the mashed berries, remaining milk, cream sugar and vanilla (if using) and beat gently until combined.
Freeze the mixture in a metal dish or other container and freeze for 1 1/2 hours.
Remove from the freezer and beat well.
Return to the freezer for an hour.
Serve in cones or glasses

Garnish with the chocolate or almonds or mint or all of them.

Enjoy




Note: I didn't use vanilla. The flavour is perfect without it.

Thank you Gloria.

Tiramasu

I am not a huge maker of desserts as generally we don't eat them very often. When we are having company I usually fall back on old faithfuls like cheese cake or pavlova as they always work so well, are popular and are easy to put together. On my husband's birthday I was having the family round by way of a small celebration..........well maybe not that small as there were fourteen of us. I was browsing through Nigella Lawson's "Christmas" and I spied this. It was a large cake so would be perfect and it is not so much about baking as assembly. I could not find the chocolate cakes she spoke of but used some chocolate chip muffins from my supermarket in store bakery. They worked very well. Highly recommended for a gathering when you have lots of other things to organize as it can be mad well in advance. It looks good on the table and tastes wonderful. Very rich so it stretches a long way.

You Need

3 x 350gm/12oz
300 - 400mls Tia Maria
1-2 teaspoons cocoa for dusting
23cm/9 inch spring form cake tin wrapped with cling film or foil on the outside to prevent any leaks.

For the Filling

2 eggs
75gms/3oz caster sugar
500gms/ 1lb 2oz mascarpone
250 mls double cream
125 mls Tia maria

Slice the cake thinly and pour the 300 mls Tia Maria into a shallow dish ready for soaking the slices as you kneed them.

Before you start layering the cakes, whisk the eggs and sugar, and then beat in the mascarpone and double cream.
Gradually add the 125 mls Tia Maria to make a creamy spreadable layer for the cake

Using approx 1 cake per layer, dunk the slices in Tia Maria before lining the tin with them.
Each layer should not be too thick but juicily compact and solid

Spread a third of the cream mixture over the soaked cake slices.

Repeat with another layer of cake and cream. Finish with a layer of cake and reserve the last third of the cream in a covered bowl.

Press the cake layer down to make it as smooth as possible, then cover it with cling film and put the fridge overnight or for up to four days.

When you are ready take the cake out of the fridge, unmould it onto a plate. Spread with the last of the cream then dust with cocoa.

The cake is too damp to take it off the tin's base but the cake is so good looking you'll never notice the base.

Old Fashioned Apple Tart

This is a real old fashioned family stand by. I can hear purists say 'It's not a tart it's a pie' but in this small corner of the globe it's Apple Tart and that's that. The pastry , so crisp and light, is a family recipe so has been proven time and time again. Lovely hot from the oven with ice cream or whipped fresh cream. A plain and simple dessert or something nice for afternoon tea with friends. I like to bake it on an old enamel plate I have had forever as it keeps the pastry crisp but any plate will do. A sandwich tin is good too for giving a deep tart

Pastry

225g /8oz Self Raising flour (If using plain add a teaspoon of baking powder)
100gms/4oz butter
50gms/2 oz white fat
1 tablespoon icing sugar
Milk to bind

Filling

Three medium cooking apples
Approximately 2-3 tablespoons soft brown sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon powder

Beaten egg for glazing
Caster sugar to sprinkle on top of the tart
Lemon juice to stop the apples browning

I do my pastry in the food processor
Whizzing the flour and icing sugar together
Add the fats and whizz until like fine breadcrumbs
Then add a little cold milk to combine (It will form a ball)
Add the milk in very small amounts. Easy to add hard to take away and you don't want soggy pastry dough. It should be quite firm
If doing by hand, rub the fats into the flour with your finger tips until it looks like fine breadcrumbs and then stir in a little milk to combine.
Wrap the dough in a plastic bag or cling film and pop in the fridge to rest for a little while.

Pre-heat your oven to 200.C/180.C fan/400.F/Gas.6

Meanwhile peel the apples and slice finely into a bowl. I have an old fashioned box grater with a fine slicing side and use this.
Squeeze over the lemon juice and stir gently to cover the apples.
Sprinkle over the brown sugar and cinnamon and set to the side.
Retrieve the pastry from the fridge and divide in two. One piece to be slightly smaller than the other for the base of the tart.
Grease your tart plate well
Roll out the smaller piece of pastry and place on the plate.
Spread the apple mix on top.
Use the egg wash round the edge of the pastry
Roll out the bigger disc of pastry and place on the top.
Trim the edges and crimp all round to seal.
Cut a little hole on the top to let the steam escape.
Glaze with the beaten egg and pop in the oven for approx. twenty minutes or until golden brown.
Sprinkle over a little caster sugar when it comes out of the oven.
Enjoy

Daring Bakers Cheesecake

The April 2009 challenge is hosted by Jenny from Jenny Bakes. She has chosen Abbey's Infamous Cheesecake as the challenge.

Thank you to Jenny for this month's challenge. I have never made a baked cheesecake before and I was delighted to have the opportunity to try. It was gorgeous. Very simple to make. The only problem was the amount of mixture for the size of the pan. I would certainly reduce it next time and a next time there will be. This was delicious. I added rose water to the mix and drizzled with rose syrup. A few pomegranate seeds for colour. It was heaven on a plate. I can't urge you enough to try it. It's a bit like making baked egg custard, done in a ban marie in the oven. The variations in flavour are endless. All you need is this one basic recipe.

Abbey's Infamous Cheesecake:

crust:
2 cups / 180 g graham cracker crumbs
1 stick / 4 oz butter, melted
2 tbsp. / 24 g sugar
1 tsp. vanilla extract

cheesecake:
3 sticks of cream cheese, 8 oz each (total of 24 oz) room temperature
1 cup / 210 g sugar
3 large eggs
1 cup / 8 oz heavy cream
1 tbsp. lemon juice
1 tbsp. vanilla extract (or the innards of a vanilla bean)
1 tbsp liqueur, optional, but choose what will work well with your cheesecake

DIRECTIONS:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (Gas Mark 4 = 180C = Moderate heat). Begin to boil a large pot of water for the water bath.

2. Mix together the crust ingredients and press into your preferred pan. You can press the crust just into the bottom, or up the sides of the pan too - baker's choice. Set crust aside.

3. Combine cream cheese and sugar in the bowl of a stand-mixer (or in a large bowl if using a hand-mixer) and cream together until smooth. Add eggs, one at a time, fully incorporating each before adding the next. Make sure to scrape down the bowl in between each egg. Add heavy cream, vanilla, lemon juice, and alcohol and blend until smooth and creamy.

4. Pour batter into prepared crust and tap the pan on the counter a few times to bring all air bubbles to the surface. Place pan into a larger pan and pour boiling water into the larger pan until halfway up the side of the cheesecake pan. If cheesecake pan is not airtight, cover bottom securely with foil before adding water.

5. Bake 45 to 55 minutes, until it is almost done - this can be hard to judge, but you're looking for the cake to hold together, but still have a lot of jiggle to it in the center. You don't want it to be completely firm at this stage. Close the oven door, turn the heat off, and let rest in the cooling oven for one hour. This lets the cake finish cooking and cool down gently enough so that it won't crack on the top. After one hour, remove cheesecake from oven and lift carefully out of water bath. Let it finish cooling on the counter, and then cover and put in the fridge to chill. Once fully chilled, it is ready to serve.

Pan note: The creator of this recipe used to use a springform pan, but no matter how well she wrapped the thing in tin foil, water would always seep in and make the crust soggy. Now she uses one of those 1-use foil "casserole" shaped pans from the grocery store. They're 8 or 9 inches wide and really deep, and best of all, water-tight. When it comes time to serve, just cut the foil away.

Prep notes: While the actual making of this cheesecake is a minimal time commitment, it does need to bake for almost an hour, cool in the oven for an hour, and chill overnight before it is served. Please plan accordingly!

Some variations from the recipe creator:

** Lavender-scented cheesecake w/ blueberries - heat the cup of heavy cream in the microwave or a saucepan until hot but not boiling. Add 2 tbsp of lavender flowers and stir. Let lavender steep in the cream for about 10-15 minutes, then strain the flowers out. Add strained cream to cheesecake batter as normal. Top with fresh blueberries, or make a quick stovetop blueberry sauce (splash of orange juice, blueberries, a little bit of sugar, and a dash of cinnamon - cook until berries burst, then cool)

** Cafe au lait cheesecake with caramel - take 1/4 cup of the heavy cream and heat it in the microwave for a short amount of time until very hot. Add 1-2 tbsp. instant espresso or instant coffee; stir to dissolve. Add this to the remainder of cream and use as normal. Top cheesecake with homemade caramel sauce (I usually find one on the food network website - just make sure it has heavy cream in it. You can use store-bought in a pinch, but the flavor is just not the same since its usually just sugar and corn syrup with no dairy).

** Tropical – add about a half cup of chopped macadamias to the crust, then top the cake with a mango-raspberry-mandarin orange puree.

** Mexican Turtle - add a bar of melted dark chocolate (between 3 and 5 oz., to taste) to the batter, along with a teaspoon of cinnamon and a dash of cayenne pepper (about 1/8 tsp.). Top it with pecan halves and a homemade caramel sauce.

** Honey-cinnamon with port-pomegranate poached pears – replace 1/2 cup of the sugar with 1/2 cup of honey, add about a teaspoon or more (to taste) of cinnamon. Take 2 pears (any variety you like or whatever is in season), peeled and cored, and poach them in a boiling poaching liquid of port wine, pomegranate juice/seeds, a couple of "coins" of fresh ginger, a cinnamon stick, and about a 1/4 cup of sugar. Poach them until tender, then let cool. Strain the poaching liquid and simmer until reduced to a syrupy-glaze consistency, then cool. Thinly slice the cooled pears and fan them out atop the cooled cheesecake. Pour the cooled poaching syrup over the pears, then sprinkle the top with chopped walnuts and fresh pomegranate seeds.

Some variations from Jenny (from JennyBakes):

**Key lime - add zest from one lime to sugar before mixing with cream cheese. Substitute lemon juice, alcohol, and vanilla with key lime juice.

**Cheesecakelets - put in muffin tins, ramekins, or custard cups. Try baking 20-35 minutes, or until still a little jiggly, and cool as before.

Pineapple Upside Down Cake

We are having a challenge on Vi's Pantry at the moment taking recipes from Nigella Express. This cake was one of the challenges set. This cake /dessert is a real retro dish. So easy to make. Tastes and looks wonderful and, if there is any left, keeps well in the fridge I will definitely be making this again and again. so quick to put together and so pretty on the table. I expect you can make this with fresh pineapple but the canned variety of pineapple rings are so even and soft and easy to mould into the tin.. The fresh may be better for you but I think Ill stick with the canned variety.


2 x 15ml tbsp sugar
6 slices pineapple from a 425g can, plus 3 x 15ml tbsp of the juice
11 glacé cherries, approx 75g total weight
100g flour
1 tsp baking powder
¼ tsp bicarbonate of soda
100g soft butter
100g caster sugar
2 eggs

Method
1 Preheat the oven to 200C/Gas 6.
Butter a Tarte Tatin tin (24cm wide at the top and 20cm diameter at the bottom) or use a 23cm cake tin (neither loose bottomed nor spring form).
2 Sprinkle 2 tbsp sugar onto the buttered base, and then arrange the pineapple slices to make a circular pattern as in the picture.
3 Fill each pineapple ring with a glacé cherry, and then dot one in each of the spaces in between.
4 Put the flour, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda, butter, caster sugar and eggs into a food processor and run the motor until the batter is smooth. Then pour in the 3 tbsp pineapple juice to thin it a little.
5 Pour this mixture carefully over the pineapple rings; it will only just cover it, so spread it out gently.
6 Bake for 30 minutes, then ease a spatula around the edge of the tin, place a plate on top and, with one deft move, turn it upside-down.

Note
I used a 20cm sandwich tin as it is what I had
I used self raising flour and soft marg.

Christmas Pudding

I know it is October and we haven't even reached Hallowe'en but I decided to make my Christmas puddings. There is something about the shortening of the days and the lighting of the fire to warm us that steers my thoughts to Christmas preparations. I also like to let the puddings mature. They taste so much better after a few weeks soaked in Brandy and wrapped in greaseproof paper and foil. Traditionally I should have waited for Stir Up Sunday which is Advent Sunday, the first of the four Sundays before the 25th December or the nearest Sunday to Saint Andrew's day. It is the traditional day for everyone in the family to take a turn at stirring the Christmas pudding, whilst making a wish. On Stir-up Sunday families returned from Church and gave the pudding its traditional lucky stir. Children chanted the following rhyme

Stir up, we beseech thee,
The pudding in the pot;
And when we get home
We'll eat the lot.

Christmas pudding is always stirred from East to West in honour of the three Wise Men. It is traditionally made with 13 ingredients to represent Christ and His Disciples. Every member of the family must give the pudding a stir and make a secret wish A coin was traditionally added to the ingredients and cooked in the pudding. It was supposedly to bring wealth to whoever found it on their plate on Christmas Day. The traditional coin was an old silver sixpence or threepenny bit. Other traditional additions to the pudding included a ring, to foretell a marriage, and a thimble for a lucky life. All these traditions are more Pagan than Christian harking back to a much earlier time. Along with the wishes and the money and charms there is the flaming of the pudding which represents the winter solstice celebrations in which fire light and warmth are sought in the chill darkness of mid winter.

I have been a bit disappointed in my puddings over recent Christmases. I like them black and rich. The recipes I had attempted were lighter and to me not what they should be. I found this recipe while looking around the internet. I will make no other from now on. The original recipe comes from Jo Pratt. I tweaked it just a little.

This delicious Christmas pudding can make 3x 900g/2lb or 2x 1.5kg/3lb puddings.

Ingredients
50g/2oz self-raising flour
175g/6oz plain flour
1 tsp baking powder
½ tsp freshly ground nutmeg
1 tsp mixed spice
50g/2oz ground almonds
225g/8oz shredded suet
225g/8oz dark muscovado sugar
100g/4oz white breadcrumbs from a 2-day loaf
1.5kg/3lb mixed currants, raisins and sultanas
1 tbsp black treacle
1 lemon, finely grated zest and juice
1 orange, finely grated zest and juice
1 carrot, finely grated
1 medium cooking apple, peeled and grated
2 tbsp brandy or rum, plus extra for flaming
150ml/5fl oz dark ale or stout
4 eggs, beaten
flour and butter, for preparing the basins

Method
1. Sift together the flours, baking powder and spices into a large bowl. Stir in the almonds, suet, sugar and breadcrumbs, mixing well. Add the remaining pudding ingredients stirring well after each addition. Cover with cling film and leave in the fridge or a really cool place for 24 hours or up to 1 week if possible, stirring a few times.
2. Grease and lightly flour either 3 x 900ml/1½ pint or 2 x 1.2 litre/2 pint basins and pack in the pudding mixture. Top the surface of the puddings with a circle of greaseproof paper, then cover with baking parchment or aluminium foil. Fold around the edges of the basin and tie with string, or tightly scrunch the foil under the lip of the basin. Place in a steamer of boiling water for about 6 hours, topping up with water every so often, making sure it doesn't boil away (if you don't have a steamer, you can place the pudding on an upturned bowl in the bottom of the saucepan).
3. Leave to cool and remove the parchment/foil and greaseproof paper and replace with a new lot. The puddings can now be stored in a cool, dry place. On the big day the pudding should be steamed for about 1½-2 hours, or covered loosely and heated in the microwave for about 6 minutes on high power, checking its progress every so often by inserting a skewer into the centre and leaving for a couple of seconds. If the skewer comes out piping hot, the pudding is ready to eat after standing for 1 minute. For more accurate timings it is best to check the manufacturer instructions.
4. To flame the pudding half-fill a metal ladle with brandy (or use as much as you want) and carefully heat over a gas flame or lit candle. When the flame is hot enough, the brandy will light. Pour the flaming brandy over the pudding. Make sure the lights are out when taking to the table for a grand entrance.

Changes I Made

I used 500gms sultanas, 500 gms raisins, 250gms currants and 250 gms chopped prunes.

I also added 2 good tablespoons of cocoa powder. If you have ever tasted Nigella Lawson's chocolate fruit cake you will immediately identify with this addition. It works wonderfully in the Christmas pudding.