Lemon Posset

The taste of summer in a pot

Wonderfully citrus - a summer pleasure

Ingredients: 

• Juice and zest of four emons
• 500ml double cream
• A few basil leaves
• 125g caster sugar

Directions: Put the lemon juice in a heatproof bowl.  Meanwhile, heat the cream, lemon zest, basil leaves and sugar in a non-stick saucepan until the cream just starts to boil.

Remove from the heat and slowly add the cream to the lemon juice (make sure you do it this way around) whisking slowly as you go.  The mixture will start to thicken.

Remove the basil leaves by pasing through a sieve or if you're not that fussy just pick them out.

Allow to cool then pour into ramekins, or small jars, and set aside in the fridge for at least three hours.

Serve with strawberries.

Basic Crepes

Sweet or Savoury - Crepes are always a winner

 

Ingredients: makes about 8 - depends on the size of the frying pan! 

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 eggs, lightly beaten
• 1 cup full-fat milk and 1 cup water or 2 cups low-fat milk [recommended]
• 2 tbps melted butter
• Pinch of salt

Directions:

Whisk all the ingredients together into a smooth batter ensuring there are no lumps.  The melted butter is all important as it stops the crepes sticking to the pan!

Make sure your pan is hot, oil it a little and then add the batter using approx 1/4 cup for each crepe.  Roll the pan in a circular motion  so the crepe thinly covers the entire pan.

Cook for a minute of two and then flip with a spatula and cook for one minute on the other side until golden.

Serve hot and enjoy with Lemon & Sugar, Maple Syrup, Nutella, Fruit &Cream or whatever takes your fancy.

Hokey Pokey Honeycomb

Hokey Pokey is the best type of Honeycomb !

Great as a candy treat or as decoration with desserts like mousse, ice-cream or use a an ingredient of Rocky Road.

Ingredients:

• 75g / 3oz caster sugar
• 2 tablespoons golden syrup
• 1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda (aka bread soda)

Directions:

Heat the sugar and golden syrup in a pan stirring constantly until the sugar is completely dissolved.  Add in the bread soda and stir like crazy - the bread soda will froth up almost immediately.  Keep stirring until all the bread soda is dissolved and there are no lumps.

 Pour the mixture onto a sheet of grease-proof paper (or into grease-proof moulds for candy).  Allow to stand for 15 minutes until cold and then smash into pieces.

Excellent spinkled over ice-cream.

Big Fat Cookies

Chewy, chewy, chewy Cookies

Ingredients:

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 3/4 cup unsalted butter, melted
• 1 cup packed brown sugar
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
• 1 egg
• 1 egg yolk
• 2 cups semisweet chocolate chips

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C). Grease cookie sheets or line with parchment paper.
2. Sift together the flour, baking soda and salt; set aside.
3. In a medium bowl, cream together the melted butter, brown sugar and white sugar until well blended. Beat in the vanilla, egg, and egg yolk until light and creamy. Mix in the sifted ingredients until just blended. Stir in the chocolate chips by hand using a wooden spoon. Drop cookie dough 1/4 cup at a time onto the prepared cookie sheets. Cookies should be about 3 inches apart.
4. Bake for 15 to 17 minutes in the preheated oven, or until the edges are lightly toasted. Cool on baking sheets for a few minutes before transferring to wire racks to cool completely.

Apple and Honey Muffins

Healthy Eating Recipes

Ingredients:

• 2 egg whites 
• 240g (8 oz) Wholemeal flour 
• 1 tablespoon baking powder 
• 1/2 teaspoon salt 
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon 
• 170ml (6 fl oz) skimmed milk 
• 4 tablespoons vegetable oil 
• 4 tablespoons honey 
• 110g (4 oz) chopped cooking apple

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 190 C / Gas mark 5. Lightly grease one 12-cup muffin tin, or line with paper muffin cups.
2. Lightly beat egg whites.
3. In a separate bowl, mix dry ingredients thoroughly.
4. In a separate bowl, mix together milk, oil, honey and apples. Gently fold in egg whites to the wet mixture. Add the wet mixture to the dry ingredients. Fold together until just moistened. Batter will be lumpy.
5. Fill greased muffin tins two-thirds full. Bake about 20 minutes until lightly browned.
6. Leave in the tins to cool then turn the muffins out onto a wire cooling tray.

Yummy Toffee Sauce

Great with Ice-Cream (or on it's own if you're all out of ice-cream)

This is a quick and easy way to make a delicious toffee sauce, just Yummy as Michael says!


Ingredients:

• 50g Brown Sugar
• 50g Irish Butter
• 125ml Milk (or cream if you really need the calories)
• 3 tbs Golden Syrup

Directions:
Melt the butter and sugar over a high heat with the sugar until fully dissolved. Whisk in the golden syrup and milk (or cream) over a moderate heat until just boiling. Remove from the heat and allow to cool sufficiently to thicken a little. Pour over ice-cream and enjoy.

Above sufficient to make a very generous sauce for 6 bowls of ice-cream.

Lavender Ice-Cream

To make this unusual lavender ice cream dessert, store bought culinary dried lavender or freshly picked lavender can be used. Using an ice cream machine does make the process easier, but there is no reason not to make fabulous homemade ice cream in the freezer compartment.

3 Ingredient Lavender Ice Cream Recipe
Makes 4 servings

Ingredients:

• 6ozs honey
• 1 tablespoon fresh lavender flowers or 1 level teaspoon dried culinary lavender
• ¾ pint double cream

Directions:

• Place the honey into a heavy bottomed saucepan, over a low heat.
• Crush the lavender flowers with a spoon, and add them to the honey.
• Stir in the cream and mix gently.
• If you have an ice cream machine, transfer the mixture and follow the manufacturer’s usual directions until frozen.
• If you don’t have an ice cream machine, whisk the mixture until it becomes thick. Put it in a shallow container suitable for freezing, cover, and place in the freezer. After half an hour, take it out. It should have started freezing from the outside edges, but not be fully frozen in the middle. Whisk to break down the ice crystals and make it smooth. Put it back in the freezer and repeat after another half an hour. You may need to do this a total of three or four times until the ice- cream is frozen through and smooth, with lavender speckles.

Ice Cream Serving Tips:
Move the ice cream from the freezer to the fridge about half an hour before serving, and it will be the perfect texture.
Serve small quantities of lavender ice cream in a shallow wineglass or dish, with plain shortbread,and garnish with a fresh sprig of lavender, for a dessert with a difference!
To Store the Lavender Ice Cream
Put lavender ice cream into a suitable container with about half an inch spare at the top to allow the mixture to expand.
Lay a sheet of clingfilm against the surface of the ice cream and close with an airtight lid. Store it in the coldest part of the freezer.
Note: Using Home Grown Lavender
It’s best to pick the flowers in the morning after the dew has dried. The lavender flowers will be at their best and the scent will be wonderful. You can use any of the varieties, but English Lavender is particularly good because of its sweeter scent.

Champagne Sorbet Recipe

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups sparkling wine or champagne
• 1 cup white granulated sugar
• 1 Tbsp light corn syrup
• 1 teaspoon of lemon and or grapefruit zest
• 1 1/2 cups fresh grapefruit juice
• 1/4 cup fresh squeezed lemon juice
  

Method

1 Put champagne, sugar, corn syrup, and zest into a saucepan. Bring to a vigorous boil so that the sugar completely dissolves, remove from heat.

2 Strain into a stainless steel bowl (will help cool down faster), add the grapefruit juice and lemon juice. Chill completely. To do this, either place bowl in a larger bowl half-filled with ice water, and stir until champagne solution is completely cold, refreshing the ice in the outer bowl if necessary. Or you can cover with plastic wrap and chill in your refrigerator over night. I put the bowl in the ice compartment of our freezer for a couple hours, because it fits, chills quickly, and is far enough away from the other food in the freezer.

3 Process the mixture in your ice cream maker according to the ice cream maker directions. Transfer mixture to a storage container and freezer in your freezer until firm, at least 6 hours.

Strawberry Frozen Yogurt Recipe

Ingredients

• 3 cups sliced fresh strawberries
• 3 Tbsp lemon juice
• 2/3 cup to 1 cup sugar (depending on how sweet you want the result, and how sweet your strawberries are to begin with)
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup whole milk
• 1 1/2 cups full fat yogurt (if use low or non fat, then add 2 Tbsp cream)

Method

1 Place the strawberries, lemon juice, salt, and sugar in a medium saucepan. Heat on medium heat, stirring, until the sugar has completely dissolved. Use a potato masher to mash up the strawberries as the mixture is heating. As soon as all of the sugar has completely dissolved, remove from heat and let sit for 10 minutes.

2 Stir in the milk and yogurt, until completely incorporated. Place the mixture in the refrigerator, and chill for at least an hour, preferably several hours, until completely cold, before proceeding.

3 Process the mixture in your ice cream maker 20 to 25 minutes; if you don't have an Ice-cream maker then put the mix in a tub in your freezer but remove it every 10-15 minutes and stir vigorously with a fork - this stops ice crystals forming. It will take longer to freeze this way but the results are just as tasty.

Not sure this instruction is necessary - Eat immediately or keep in freezer until served.

Blueberry Frozen Yogurt Recipe

Frozen blueberries work great for this recipe.

Ingredients

• 3 cups fresh or frozen blueberries (about 1 1lb)
• 3 Tbsp lemon juice
• 3/4 cup to 1 cup of sugar (depending on how sweet your blueberries are, and how sweet you want the result to be)
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/8 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1 1/2 cups full fat plain yogurt (if using low or non-fat yogurt, add 2 Tbsp cream)
• 1/2 cup whole milk

Method

1 Place the blueberries, lemon juice, sugar, salt, and cinnamon in a medium saucepan. Heat on medium heat, stirring, until all of the sugar has dissolved. While the mixture is heating, use a potato masher to mash up the blueberries. When all of the sugar has dissolved, remove from heat and let cool for 10 minutes.

If you want a smooth result, you can process the cooled mixture in a food processor, or skip, in which case you'll have pieces of blueberries which can add flavorful texture to the frozen yogurt.

2 Stir in the yogurt and milk until completely combined. Chill the mixture in the refrigerator for several hours (or overnight) until completely cold.

3 Process the blueberry yogurt mixture in your ice cream maker according to manufacturer's instructions (usually about 25 minutes). If you don't have an ice0cream maker, put the mixture into a plastic tub and place in the freezer, remove every 10-15 minutes and stir vigorously with a fork. It'll take a little longer but taste just as good.

Serve immediately (it will be soft) or let it firm up a bit by freezing it for several hours. Makes about 1 quart but won't last long!

Brown bread ice-cream

Surely a candidate for the healthiest ice cream ever? A novel way of including wholegrain into your kid’s diet.

Serves 4- Suitable for vegetarians

Ingredients

• 110g wholemeal breadcrumbs
  
• 110 dark brown sugar
  
• 2 eggs
  
• 290ml of double cream
  
• 150ml of single cream
  
• 2 drops of vanilla essence
  

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 200°C/400°F/Gas mark 6
   
2. Leave the breadcrumbs to dry out in the oven for around 15 minutes or so
   
3. Mix the sugar in with the breadcrumbs and bring back to the oven for another 15 minutes
   
4. Remove from the oven, allow the mix to cool
   
5. Crush the sweetened crumbs together with the back of a spoon
   
6. Separate the egg yolks from the whites
   
7. Beat the yolks and mix in with the cream and the crumb mix
   
8. Whisk the egg whites until they are slightly stiff
   
9. Add to the mix and freeze in an airtight plastic container.

GingerBread Man / House

A seasonal favorite... and not just for Christmas

You can have great fun with your family making gingerbread men (women, children and pets too) and of course a gingerbread house.

If you are making a house, do a plan before hand so you don't end up with four sides and no roof!







Ingredients:
For the dough:-

• 200g butter
  
• 200g dark muscavado sugar
  
• 7 table spoons golden syrup
  
• 600g plan flour
  
• 2 tea spoons bread soda
  
• 4 tea spoons ground ginger
  
• 2 tea spoons ground cinnamon
  

For the icing:-

• 2 egg whites
  
• 500g icing sugar
  

To decorate:-

• Selection of sweets and jellies - M&Ms are good for color.  An essential part of the decorations in at least a few children let loose to decorate as they see fit.

Directions:
Heat the oven to 180c.  Melt the butter, sugar and golden syrup in a heavy pan.  Remove from the heat and while it is cooling (only slightly) mix together the flour, bread soda and spices in a separate bowl.  Stir all together to make a dough.  Roll out onto sheet of greaseproof paper to a thickness of about 5mm.

If you are making a house, follow your plan and cut out the sides and roof - cut out your doors and windows. Place the gingerbread shapes on a tray into the freezer for about five minutes - this helps them keep their shape as they cook.

For the Ginger Bread Man / Woman / Children - cut out the shapes and place flat a baking tray lined with greaseproof paper.

Cook for between 15 and 20 minutes until it has turned darker brown.

Make the icing by whisking the egg white and sugar together until firm.  Once completely coled, decorate your cookies with icing, sweets and jellies.

For the house, use the icing to glue the walls together and to keep the roof on.  Dab the sweets with icing to make them stick to the walls.

Eat & enjoy.

One minute Meringue Cake

Eton Mess stacks

From the hallowed halls of Eton (a prestigious private school in England) comes Eton Mess - a scrumy dessert but this one is ready in a jiffy.

Ingredients:
For the Meringue

• 1 Egg white
• 12oz Icing Sugar
• 1 tsp crushed cardamon seeds

For the toppings

• 142ml Double cream
• Juice of 1/2 lemon
• 10oz Raspberries

Directions:
Whisk the egg white and add the sugar and seeds. You should have a firm icing. Roll the icing into 8 golf ball size balls. Place two balls on a piece of greased baking paper at opposite ends of your microwave. Cook on full power for 30-40 seconds until quadrupled in size. Lift off the paper and allow to cool.

Whip the cream with the lemon juice. Crush half the raspberries and fold through the whipped cream.

To serve, place a little cream in the centre of the plate and settle one meringue on top (the cream on the plate stops the stack from sliding around too much). Add more raspberry cream on top and then another meringue. Finish with more cream and some whole raspberries. Dust with icing sugar and serve.

Note: Traditional Eton Mess has the above just all bunged together in a "mess".

Lemon Semi-Fredo

Not ice cream nor sorbet... it's Semi-Fredo

Ideally served in slices so you'll need a loaf tin for this one... ice cream from a baking tin!



Ingredients:
6 Egg yolks
150g Castor sugar
150ml Lemon juice
Zest of one lemon
375ml Cream, lightly whipped

Directions:
Whisk the egg yolks, sugar, lemon juice and zest in a glass bowl over a saucepan of boiling water. Keep whisking and as the mixture heats up it swell in volume. Keep going until it is approximately double in size and light and fluffy. Remove from the heat and allow it to cool giving the odd whisk every now and again.

When the mixture is fully cold, fold in the whipped cream.

Line the loaf tin with cling film (saran wrap for you Americans out there) so that you can lift the semi-fredo out when set. Freeze until solid, a few hours or so should do it.

Slice and serve.

PS. I use the "spare" egg whites from this recipe to make meringues... they go great together.

Strawbery Glaze

How to save a sunken cake...

This will turn an ordinary failed sunken cake into a divine dessert! Sometimes the best laid plans and all that... cakes collapse and you're left with something which know tastes pretty good but doesn't look at that great. Here's rescue remedy; fill the hole with this easy to make glaze.

Of course, you could just make the glaze for an ordinary cake too!

• 2 cups fresh strawberries, washed, hulled and halved, divided
• 1 cup sugar
• 1/4 cup cornstarch
• 1/4 cup Grand Marnier (or other orange-flavored liqueur) optional
  

Mash 1 cup of the strawberries. Combine mashed and unmashed strawberries, sugar and cornstarch in a saucepan. Cook over medium heat until thickened, stirring constantly.

Remove from heat and stir in Grand Marnier. Cover and chill. Makes about 1-1/2 cups.

Easy Choclate Cake

Decadent & fool-proof - a rare combination

Chocolate cake is always a real crowd pleaser but may cooks are put off by the complicated steps, masses of ingredients and time it takes. Now, a really easy cake to make but with fantastic results. A rich dark fudgy taste.

It took me less than 1/2 an hour to make; it will probably take even less to polish it off!


Ingredients:
240g Butter
270g Dark chocolate
6 eggs, separated
250 g sugar
120g flour (sieved)

Directions:
Preheat he over to 180c. Prepare a spring-bake cake tin by buttering and dusting with flour - this stops the cake sticking to the tin.

Melt the butter and chocolate in a glass bowl over a pan of simmering water; allow the chocolate to melt slowly without the glass bowl touching the water. Meanwhile, whisk the 6 eggs yolks with the sugar until thick. Also, whisk the 6 egg whites until frothy with soft white peaks.

When the butter and chocolate and fully melted, add to the egg yolks and sugar and mix well. Fold in the sieved flour and when fully mixed fold in the egg whites.

If you're feeling extra decadent, add some broken chocolate pieces to the mixture before pouring into the prepared tin.

Bake for 40 minutes or until the sides are set. Allow to cool before removing from the tin; dust with icing sugar. It will hold for a few days and in fact will taste better the day after it's made - if you wan wait that long!

Serve with Baileys whipped cream and a few raspberries... or just eat it!

Originally from Domini Kemp's tweaked recipe from Alice Waters.

Delicious Chocolate Truffles

Easy to make, heavenly to eat! Chocolate Truffles

Truffles have an air of debauchery about them - too much, too good - over the lips and straight on the hips. Maybe so, but they are delicious and this recipe is just so easy - it's foolproof.



Ingredients:

• 275g Dark Chocolate - choose one with a high Cocoa percentage; the higher the cocoa the more bitter the chocolate so experiment, I use 72%.
• 250ml Double Cream
• 50g Butter
• 50g Cocoa powder for dusting

Directions:
Break up the chocolate into small pieces and place in a bowl with the butter. Heat the cream gently to boiling point and pour over the chocolate pieces and butter. Stir until smooth and then stir a bit more!

Set the mixture aside for a few hours to set; three hours or so should do it.

Now the fun bit; for those who like getting Chocolate all over their hands, use a teaspoon to scoop out the mixture and roll it gently between your hands until it forms a ball. the heat from your hands will melt the outside of the truffle leaving a right mess on your hands. if you're not so keen on the messy hands, use a small melon baller to shape the truffles instead.

Drop the truffles into a bowl with the cocoa powder and roll around until the truffle is covered in the powder. Set aside in the fridge for a few hours.

Before eating, remove the truffles from the fridge and allow to warm a little before eating.

Heavenly... and easy.

Variations:

White Chocolate Truffles

Easy - use white chocolate instead!

Liquor Truffles

Add some liquor to the cream - I like Baileys Irish Cream

Nut Chocolate Truffles

Add some nuts to the mixture before it sets - try slivers of almonds, crushed pistachios... what takes your fancy. You can even add Peanut Butter.

Nuttela Chocolate Truffles

Add a tablespoon of Nuttela to the mixture - really delicious with a hint of hazlenut!

Really Easy Fudge

Delicious Chocolate Fudge made easy

Not strictly baking I know but this is so easy and oh sooooo good. Fudge should melt in the mouth but importantly not leave you with a mouth full of sugar crystal. This recipe is fail-safe - my kids love making this.

Lots of stirring required, so doubles as an upper arm workout!





Ingredients:

• 225g Butter (about 1/2 a pound)
• 900g Sugar*
• 1 Tin Condensed Milk
• 1/2 Tin of full fat milk (used the empty condensed milk tin)
• 1/2 Teaspoon of vanilla extract
• 3 Teaspoons of Cocoa powder**

* I use regular sugar but you can also use castor sugar for a more refined and smoother fudge
** This is optional; leave out the cocoa powder and you get vanilla fudge which is just as nice.

Directions:
Over a moderate heat melt the butter with the condensed milk and milk. Add the sugar and allow time to dissolve. Once the sugar is fully dissolved, boil the mixture until the colour changes to a caramel/fudge colour - keep stirring throughout. To test if the fudge is ready, take a spoon and allow a drop to fall into a glass of cold water - if it forms a soft-ball then it's ready.

Take off the heat and stir as the mixture cools. It might take upto 10 minutes for the mixture to thicken - keep stirring.

Once thick, and your arm is really started to ache, pour the mixture into a prepared tin or tray such that the fudge is approx one inch think. Put the tray into the fridge and allow to cool - a few hours should do it.

Cut into cubes or your favourite shape and enjoy.

Note: If the fudge hasn't set enough after a few hours in the fridge then you probably didn't boil it for long enough! Put the semi-set mixture back into a pot over the heat and boil again - no harm done.