Christmas puddings, the best I have ever tasted!

This year stir it up Sunday fell on the 22nd of November, that's the day when traditionally everyone makes their Christmas puddings with all the members of the family taking turns to stir it up! In typically disorganised fashion I missed the 22nd by almost two weeks but I always make the puddings and this year was no different, I was just a bit late!

Stir it up!

Christmas pudding can be a bit heavy and hard to eat especially if you try to eat it right after Christmas dinner like we always do in my family, in my search for the perfect pudding I've tried lots of different recipes in the past some better than others. The most successful was a recipe from Riverford Organics called The best Christmas pudding I have ever tasted, with a name like that I had high expectations, thankfully it didn't let me down.

Like a lot of traditional British puddings Christmas puddings are cooked by steaming, the mixture is spooned into a pudding basin, covered tightly and placed in a pan of simmering water (lid on) and steamed for two to three hours. If you have never made a steamed pudding before it can be a bit daunting but it's really very easy, once you've made your mixture you can just leave them gently simmering while you go and do other things. Just don't let the pan boil dry!

The puddings waiting to be steamed, I won't see them again until Christmas day.

I wouldn't say that this makes a 'light' pudding but it is lighter than normal, it's also sweet, fruity, boozy and delicious. I changed the recipe slightly by switching some of the raisins and sultanas for dried apricots, you could use all kinds of dried fruits, cherries, cranberries or figs would be good. You could also add nuts such as walnuts or pecans, the recipe is really flexible.

The great thing about making Christmas puddings is that they keep almost indefinitely, in fact the flavour gets better over time so the earlier you make them the better!

Find the recipe here.

Mini peach crumbles

I love a good fruit crumble, they were one of the first things I learned to cook, usually with fruit I had picked myself which more often than not meant damsons. I loved making them so much I was making at least 1 a week, I got so good at it I could have a crumble in the oven in less than 10 minutes!I might not make them quite that often any more, but at this time of year when it is getting cooler and darker my thoughts still turn to crumble. It is the perfect pudding for autumn, comfort food at it's best.
They are really easy to make and almost impossible to mess up, plus you can be creative with the filling. I once made a banana and strawberry crumble which was certainly an interesting combination!
I like to play around with the topping too, it's great with nuts for extra crunch and flavour, or oats for a different texture. I sometimes add spices as well, cinnamon is an obvious but delicious choice paired with apples.
This time I kept it simple, using peaches for the filling and a basic recipe of half the weight of butter to flour with sugar added to taste. How sharp the fruit is will affect how much sugar you need. For four people I would normally use 8oz flour, 4oz butter and 20z sugar.

• Rub the butter into the flour until I have a breadcrumb texture then stir in the sugar
• Place fruit in a baking dish with a little sugar
• Pour over the topping and bake at about gas 4/180C/350F until golden

Instead of making one big crumble like I normally would, I made individual crumbles in these ramekins which I've had for ages and never used. I like how it turned out, they look good and everyone got their own individual pudding.

Apricot cream tart, My best dessert ever?...

Last week I made what I think is my best ever dessert, I didn't set out to make it but I couldn't resist a whole bagful of fresh apricots for £1! there was probably 4lbs of fruit which is way more than we could eat so... My Dad made some jam which is really good, and I made an Apricot tart.
The recipe is loosely based on Rick Stein's redcurrant tart that was in Sainsbury's magazine. I changed the redcurrants for apricots and made an almond pastry as it goes so well with apricot, the filling is a custard filling made with double cream, eggs, icing sugar and a real vanilla pod. First I made the pastry, it's a simple all butter shortcrust recipe to which I added a little sugar and almond extract, this was blind baked to make the case.
The filling is made from half a pint a double cream, 2 eggs, 5oz sugar and vanilla. The apricots were stoned and halved, placed in rings in the pastry case, I then poured in my custard mixture and baked it in a low oven for about an hour.
The result is a dessert that not only looks brilliant but tastes great, the flavours were perfectly balanced and it was just the right level of sweet and a contrasting sharpness from the fruit, the pastry was crisp and delicious. Overall it was perfect!
This would be fantastic to take to a bring and share lunch which is what I plan to do.

English Tea, Bakewell tarts and chocolate muffins

I have just read an article from the BBC that a new guide states that in England afternoon tea is "enacted daily" apparently at 4:00 we all stop, get out the tea pot, delicate sandwiches and fruit cake!
I'm sure anyone who is English will find this amusing, as obviously the author of this guide has never been to England, or at least not in the last century. As an Englishman I would like to make it clear that this is nonsense, I and no one I have ever met does this. However last Saturday for the first time ever we had tea...A traditional English tea refers to a meal rather than the drink, although a proper tea pot is essential. It traditionally involves delicate finger food such as cucumber, salmon or ham sandwiches, small cakes often feature as do larger cakes such as Victoria sponge or a fruit cake. Scones are also very popular and are usually served with jam and clotted cream. Although very unusual in homes now, afternoon tea is still a feature in grand hotels such as The Ritz.

For our tea I made a Bakewell tart and chocolate muffins.

Bakewell tarts were invented in the town of Bakewell in Derbyshire. They are a similar to the original Bakewell pudding which differs slightly by having no ground almonds, it is more like a custard tart flavoured with almond extract. Although not the same, the tart is derived from the pudding.Whenever we pass through Bakewell I always pick one up from one of the bakeries that sells them. There are three such bakeries each with a secret "original recipe". The shops claim that the pudding was invented by accident in the 1860's when a nobleman visited the White Horse Inn and asked for a strawberry tart, the cook poured the eggs that were supposed to be in the base over the jam and Bakewell pudding was born. This probably isn't true but they're delicious anyway!
Real Bakewell tarts are very different to what you may have tried before, there is no icing and no cherry on top, the real thing is much nicer and I do recommend you try them, you can even buy a pudding by post from two of the the original shops!

The chocolate muffins I made aren't quite so traditional, they are more American style, I should have made little fairy cakes but, I was searching for recipes and these looked delicious. The batter is a bit different to regular sponge mix as it contains a lot of milk ( 1 cup for 12 muffins) They were really tasty and the leftovers had actually improved the next day. The icing is a simple chocolate buttercream.For our tea we also had cucumber sandwiches, ham and salmon open rolls, a Victoria sponge and a selection of bits and pieces such as crisps and olives.

Unfortunately I don't have the recipes to hand, I will post them next week, but here's a similar recipe for Bakewell tart, I used puff pastry for my version which I think is closer to the original.

Rocky road - Cycling food

I had to get back to Uni for lectures on monday, and as it's me I cycle there! Not that theres any alternative without a car.
Anyway I decided to make something to fuel my trip and after a lot of my usual indecision settled on Rocky road cake.
Rocky road cake isn't really a cake at all but, is simply a mixture of chocolate, marshmallows, fruit and nuts.
The ingredients can vary according to taste but chocolate and marshmallows are both essential.
My version had raisins, chopped hazlenuts and walnuts which I toasted in a dry frying pan, (peanuts are more traditional but I had none) glace cherries and obviously chocolate and marshmallows.
As the chocolate is the base for this it is essential that you use a good quality chocolate, dark milk or even white could be used although white chocolate would be very sweet. I'm a dark chcolate person so I used Cote d'or.

Rocky Road
(I havn't given quantities, I just mixed in what looked right)

• Chocolate
• Nuts of your choice
• Marshmallows (the small ones or just cut sume up with scissors)
• Dried fruit such as raisins and sultanas
• Glace cherries

This is so easy to make simply melt your chocolate and mix everything together, put the mixture into a tin lined with baking parchment and leave to set. Easy!

Strawberry and Blueberry tart

I don't know about you but I am bored of winter food, and winter in general come to think of it. Last night we were out for a bring and share dinner, and this gave me a good oppurtunity to make something a bit more "summery", I decided to make a pudding. As we had some pastry at home I decided I would make a fruit tart. The filling is a mixture of cream cheese, icing sugar, vanilla and gelatine (to make sure it set). For the fruit topping I went to Leicester market to see what looked good and found some nice strawberries and blueberries.

So I set to work, first I rolled out the pastry and lined a pastry tart dish, I then blind baked it, left it to cool, spread a thin layer of dark chocolate across the bottom and poured in my filling. When everything had set I decorated it with halved strawberries and blueberries and drizzled it with more chocolate.

As you can see from the picture it looks really good which is exactly what I was aiming for, I wanted something that would stand out and get noticed! The red and blue certainly does that.
This dessert was another success, I seem to have had a string of them lately! it tasted as good as it looks, the addition of a chocolate layer certainly added another dimension that I would add again, as well as helping keep the pastry crisp.

The Recipe

To make your own fruit tart you will need: (Measurements are very rough, I just judged what looked right)

• Shortcrust pastry (I cheated and used ready made, but it would be even better with home made sweet pastry)
  
• 350g Cream cheese


• 1/2 cup icing sugar, (sifted)


• Vanilla extract


• 1 Sachet of gelatine powder


• 60-70g Dark chocolate


• Fruits of your choice

First line you tart dish with pastry, (I used a 10 inch dish) cover with tin foil then baking beans or weights and bake at Gas mark 4 for 15mins after this time remove the foil and beans and bake until golden brown (about 10 mins more. Set aside to cool.

While the pastry cools melt around 50g of the dark chocolate, (this can be done in a bowl over a pan of barely simmering water, or very carefully in the microwave) spread the chocolate over the base and leave to set, this won't take long at all.

Now make you filling by beating the sifted icing sugar and cream cheese together, add a few drops of vanilla, and pour in the gelatine made up according to packet instructions. Make sure everything is well mixed.
Pour the filling into the pastry case and put it in the fridge to set, this should take about 20mins.

Now prepare your fruit if it needs it wash and chop as you like it and arrange it on top, be creative! finally melt the rest of your chocolate and drizzle ove the top.

Done! Now you can look smug and show off your finished dessert.