This little pudding is such a good one. Flavours that we know and love (hello strawberries and cream) but with a little unexpected addition of lime. The textures are fun too; velvety pannacotta, and crunchy sugar on top of the berries.
It’s also easy to make in advance – you can make the pannacotta the day before and finish off with the strawberries and sugar just before serving.
Vanilla pannacotta with strawberries and lime sugar, serves 4
500 ml double cream
1 vanilla pod
50 ml caster sugar
2 gelatin leaves
Topping:
1 punnet strawberries, washed, trimmed and quartered
4 tbsp caster sugar
1 lime, the zest
Put the gelatin in a bowl with cold water to soak. Cut the vanilla pod in half and place it in a saucepan. Add cream and sugar. Bring to the boil and simmer for a few minutes while stirring with a whisk. Remove from heat and divide into four footed glasses. Leave to cool then refrigerate for at least three hours. Cover when starting to set.
Before serving, prepare the strawberries. In a little bowl mix sugar and lime zest. Spoon the strawberries on top of the pannacottas and spoon the lime sugar on top.Serve immediately.
If you’ve read the blog for a while you know that pannacotta is one of my go-to puddings. Partly because it’s delicious (duh!) but mainly because it’s so easy to make in advance. You just take it out of the fridge, add toppings if any and off you go.
Many people seem a little scared of making it at home, but with good quality gelatine leaves (I like Dr Oetker’s) it really is super simple and doesn’t take long to make. But it does require some planning as it needs quite a few hours to set in the fridge. At least six (as it needs to cool down first) but I usually make it the day before or the morning of, for a dinner the same day.
This particular pannacotta recipe is an ode to autumn and apples and almost like a deconstructed crumble with a creamy element.
The apples are soft and sweet but with a little acidity and the crumble topping adds crunch and texture. I really enjoyed this and after a few attempts I got it just right.
Vanilla pannacotta with fried apples and oat crumble topping, serves 4
Pannacotta:
500 ml single cream
1 vanilla pod
50 ml caster sugar
2 gelatin leaves
Apples:
2 apples (local ones are best), washed, cored and diced
1 tbsp salted butter
1 tbsp golden syrup
1/4 lemon, the juice
tiny pinch of salt
Oat crumble:
150 ml jumbo oats
1 tbsp salted butter
1 tbsp caster sugar
Make the pannacotta well in advance: Cover the gelatin leaves with cold water in a bowl. Make a cut lengthways in the vanilla pod and add to a saucepan. Add sugar and cream. Bring to the boil and let it simmer for a few minutes while stirring. Remove from heat. Squeeze the excess water out of the gelatin and add to the pan. Stir to dissolve. Divide between four small bowls or glasses, pouring through a sieve . Leave to cool then let them set in the fridge for at least 6 hours.
Remove the pannacottas from the fridge as you prepare the toppings (or make the toppings before dinner and heat up in time for serving, in which case keep the pannacottas refrigerated). In one non-stick frying pan, add 1 tbsp butter on medium heat. Add the apples and allow them to soften. Add the golden syrup when the apples are soft and fry for another 2 minutes. Add the lemon juice and a little salt. Set aside, covered.
In another non-stick saucepan, add 1 tbsp butter on medium heat. Add the oats and toast the oat flakes until golden brown while stirring. Add the sugar and stir to combine.
Divide the apples between the pannacottas and top with the sugary oats.
Even before my boyfriend and I lived together I would spend most weekends at his flat and obviously cook a lot in his kitchen. One day looking through the cupboards for something useful I spotted a chocolate fondue set, complete with chocolate and marshmallows. It had never been used but he knew it had been there a long time so I made sure to use fresh chocolate and marshmallows for our first chocolate fondue. I also added some crispy things like little waffles and wafer rolls to dip, and of course strawberries.
We’ve made it a few times since, and I thought it was the perfect pudding on Valentine’s Day with heart shaped marshmallows (yes, I’m a sucker for things like that)!
It’s actually vey easy to make the chocolate sauce, and as to what to dip – you decide, but I recommend a few different textures and flavours, and definitely something fruity and sharp to cut through all the sweetness. I have listed the dippers we had below and although I love them all I highly recommend the butter crisps.
Chocolate fondue, serves 4
150 g dark chocolate (approx 60% cacao), roughly chopped
50 g milk chocolate, roughly chopped
125 ml single cream
a tiny pinch of sea salt
To dip:
strawberries, rinsed
marshmallows
Jules Destooper butter crisp waffles
wafer curls
Heat up the cream until almost boiling in a non-stick saucepan. Once hot, take it off the hob and add the chocolate. Leave it for a minute or so to melt before stirring well. Add the salt and mix again. Pour into a chocolate fondue pot and serve straight away with a selection of things to dip.
Anyone else excited about rhubarb right now?! I just love it (you’ll find lots of lovely recipes here) and as it’s still cold out (it snowed earlier in the week!) I thought it best to start this rhubarb season with a warming crumble. It was also the perfect opportunity to improve on the recipe a little; to make it perfect!
All I did was to reduce the sugar a little and substitute some brown sugar for caster sugar to let the rhubarb flavour come through more, and it made such a difference! It was yummy before but now it’s *chef’s kiss*.
My perfected rhubarb crumble, serves 4
ca 250 g rhubarb, washed and cut into smaller pieces
60 g caster sugar (to balance the acidity from the rhubarb)
Crumble:
100 g softened butter
200 g plain flour
65 g soft brown sugar
70 g caster sugar
1 tsp baking powder
Butter an ovenproof dish. Place the rhubarb pieces in the bottom. Scatter the sugar on top. Combine the ingredients for the crumble in a mixing bowl using a wooden fork. Pour on top of the rhubarb. Place in 175C oven for about 30 minutes or until the fruit is soft and the top golden brown. Serve with double cream, custard or ice cream.
I write about comfort food a lot. The kind of food that feels like a hug and that’s sometimes needed after a tough day, on a cold day or when you just feel a little delicate. Comfort food for me is a lot about texture, I often want something soft or creamy, ideally with melted cheese. A creamy pasta dish fits the comfort food brief for me and so does anything with creamy mashed potatoes.
But recently I have discovered comfort food in the form of pudding too, something I actually hadn’t thought about until I made this sticky toffee pudding. I think find it comforting because it’s soft and warm and silky. It feels like a wonderfully warm hug and that is desperately needed these days, isn’t it?!
The original recipe is by baking queen Mary Berry but I have altered it a little to fit the ingredients I had at home. If you prefer to use the original recipe you’ll find it here. I also halved the recipe as I didn’t have enough butter to hand for the full batch when I first made it, but then realised that the halved recipe was the ideal size for me. It was enough for 4-6 servings which I find is plenty for such a decadent pudding.
Preheat the oven to 180C/160C Fan. Butter a shallow ovenproof dish.
Put the butter, sugar, eggs, flour, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda and golden syrup into a mixing bowl. Beat using an electric whisk for about 30 seconds or until combined. Pour in the milk gradually and whisk again until smooth. Pour into the prepared dish. Bake for 30–35 minutes or until well risen and springy in the centre.
To make the sauce, put all the ingredients into a saucepan and stir over a low heat until the sugar has dissolved and the butter has melted. Bring to the boil, stirring for a minute.
To serve, pour half the sauce over the pudding in the baking dish. Pour the other half into a jug to serve along side the pouring cream. Eat warm.
When I put this on the table at a dinner party before lockdown (the last dinner with friends in fact) I got so much praise. To me, a pavlova is easy to make, and even more importantly, to make ahead! But I agree it looks impressive and inviting with it’s fluffy white meringue and pillowy whipped cream topped with gleaming pink pieces of just-soft-enough-rhubarb.
That dinner in March seems forever ago now, but thanks to the forced Yorkshire rhubarb, it was rhubarb season both then and now, giving us a link back to that more carefree time.
But as we are now allowed to see friends again, let’s celebrate it with a really good pudding!
Rhubarb Pavlova, serves 6-8
140 g egg whites (4)
220 g caster sugar
8 g / 1 tbsp corn flour
4 g / 1 tsp white wine vinegar
3 dl whipping or double cream
400 g rhubarb
400 g rhubarb, endstrimmed
200 ml water
200 ml caster sugar
Beat the egg whites until foamy and add the sugar bit by bit while beating until stiff peaks. Add corn flour and vinegar and fold it in with a spatula.
Divide the meringue in two, shaping two circles on two parchment clad baking trays.
Bake in the middle of the oven, for 60 minutes. Turn the oven off and leave the meringues in the cooling oven with the door open until the oven has cooled down.
Cut the rhubarb into 4 cm long pieces and place in an ovenproof sig with sides. Bring sugar and water to the boil in a saucepan. Pour the syrup over the rhubarb and place in a 100C oven for 30 minutes. Leave to cool completely.
Lightly whip the cream. Place one meringue round on a cake plate. Spread with whipped cream and drizzle with rhubarb syrup. Place the other meringue round on top. Spread with whipped cream and top with rhubarb pieces and syrup. Decorate with a sprig of mint.
It’s great fun hosting dinner parties together with mamma, because that means we share the cooking! At a dinner party at home in early January I made two types of crostini to start off with it. The main course (which mamma was in charge of) was rather substantial so we opted for nibbles and bubbles on the sofa instead of a starter at the table. Mammas slow-cooked was absolutely wonderful and this very classic pudding was a perfect end to our dinner. I made the vanilla creme brûlée I’ve made for years, but I realised it was quite hard to find on the blog, so wanted to highlight it again.
The original recipe, courtesy of Swedish chef Tina Nordström, had cardamom in it, which I removed but in essence this is her recipe and the only one you will ever need for creme brûlée. I have adapted it a few times too, here is a delicious Amarula Cream version and here is a summery elderflower adaptation.
Vanilla creme brûlée, serves 4-6
5 egg yolks
100 ml caster sugar
350 ml double cream
150 ml whole milk
1 vanilla pod
2 tbsp caster sugarto sprinkle on top
Preheat the oven to 110C. Bring the cream and milk to a boil in a saucepan. Cut the vanilla pod in half lengthways and add it to the cream mixture. Stir the egg yolks and the sugar together in a bowl – no beating required. Pour the cream mixture into the egg mixture and stir (don’t beat or whisk) until the sugar has dissolved. Remove the vanilla pod.
Pour the mixture into crème brûlée dishes and bake for 35-40 min (my oven needed about 1 hour). Remove from oven and let cool in room temperature. Sprinkle the caster sugar on top and caramelise it using a blow torch just before serving.
For me a baked Alaska feels really festive, in a retro sort of way, and it’s the perfect excuse for using sparklers! My mother often makes a baked Alaska for New Year’s Eve too, but hers is with a thicker oat cookie base and she uses regular meringue and cooks her in the oven whereas I prefer Italian meringue and a blow torch.
I also think it’s fun to make individual ones, but only if there aren’t too many of you. This year (I have made this pudding before but with different flavours) I used vanilla and dulce de leche ice cream and served it with a strong dark chocolate sauce. I think it worked really well like this and it’s a joy to eat!
Baked Alaska with dulce de leche and vanilla ice cream and chocolate sauce, serves 4
4 oat crisps for the base (but make a whole batch – they’re scrumptious on their own too!)
4 large scoops no churn dulce de leche ice cream(recipe below)
Place an oat crisp on each plate. Place the ice cream on top trying to make a dome shape. Cover with the meringue using a spatula. Using a blow torch, scorch the meringue until golden brown all around.Serve with sparklers and chocolate sauce.
Separate the eggs. Beat the yolks and the sugar until pale and fluffy. Add the dulce de leche and beat some more. Whip the cream in a separate bowl and fold it into the dulce de leche mixture. Beat two egg whites until stiff peaks in a separate bowl and fold into the dulce de leche mixture. Pour into a Tupperware box and freeze for at least 4 hours before serving.
This pudding is probably the easiest there is. Consisting of only two (!) ingredients this white chocolate crème is a breeze to make but also a total joy to eat. The acidity in the soured cream makes the crème feel less rich and the raspberries serve the same purpose while also adding a fruity freshness. The biscuit crumbs can be omitted but add a nice crunch.
White chocolate crème with raspberries and biscuit crumbs, serves 4
Melt the chocolate (over a Bain Marie or in the microwave), mix in the soured cream and stir until glossy and smooth. Pour into a cold bowl and refrigerate for 30 minutes. Shape to quenelles and place in bowls. Decorate with raspberries, biscuit crumbs and mint.
If you love a creme brûlée but don’t always have the patience to make it, then this is for you. This Spanish cousin of the creme brûlée is much easier to make as it doesn’t need the water bath oven time, but it still offers that caramelised lovely sugar on top of the vanilla crème.
Crema Catalana, serves 6
100 ml (80 g) caster sugar
300 ml cream
1 tbsp corn flour
5 egg yolks
250 ml milk
1 tsp vanilla
1 pinch of sugar per bowl for serving
Whisk ety yolks, corn flour and sugar until fluffy in a bowl. Bring milk, cream and vanilla almost to the boil. Remove from heat and pour little by little into the egg yolk mixture while whisking. Pour the milk mixture back into the pan and let it thicken on low heat while stirring. Pour into bowls when it has thickened and leave to cool. Refrigerate until serving.
Scatter the bowls with a little sugar and blow torch until golden (or in lieu of a blow torch use the grill on the oven to caramelise the sugar). Serve with berries.
Scandelights 