Category Archives: Puddings

Apple and Fig Crumble

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Apple and Fig Crumble

This recipe makes 4 small individual crumbles.

INGREDIENTS

  • 320g chopped apples
  • 80g dried figs
  • 4 teaspoons brown sugar
  • 60g plain flour
  • 60g rolled oats
  • 60g butter
  • 60g brown sugar
  • white sugar

METHOD

  1. Heat the oven to 180ºC.
  2. Toss apples and dried figs with the brown sugar in a bowl.
  3. Divide among 4 ramekins, pressing fruit down well.
  4. Blitz the flour and the butter in a food processor.
  5. Add the sugar and oats and mix well.
  6. Spoon the crumble mixture over the fruit, pressing down well with the back of the spoon.
  7. Sprinkle some white sugar over the top of each one.
  8. Bake in the oven for 40 minutes.
  9. Leave to cool for 15 minutes before serving.

Steamed Orange Sponge Pudding in the Pressure Cooker

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I’ve been enjoying experimenting with the mini-oven which we can use with the solar power but today there were cloudy skies and much needed rain.

I decided to bake a steamed sponge in the pressure cooker and looked around for some ideas. I first thought about cooking it in the normal way in a pan with boiling water but the recipes I looked at said it would take 2.5 hours. I didn’t have that much time so wanted to find a quicker method using the pressure cooker.

I made this and it came out fine.

STEAMED ORANGE SPONGE PUDDING

INGREDIENTS

  • 100g butter
  • 100g brown sugar
  • 100g self-raising flour
  • 2 eggs
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1 orange, zested and juiced
  • 4 tablespoons of marmalade

METHOD

  1. Boil some water in a kettle.
  2. Butter a pudding bowl.
  3. Cream together the butter and the sugar.
  4. Beat in the eggs.
  5. Add the flour and stir thoroughly.
  6. Add the rest of the ingredients and 1 tablespoon of the orange juice and the zest, and mix well.
  7. Pour the mixture into the pudding bowl.
  8. Cover the top with foil and place a plate on top.
  9. Add the boiling water to the pressure cooker.
  10. Place a silicone mat on the bottom of the pressure cooker.
  11. Lower the pudding bowl gently into the pressure cooker. The water should come half way.
  12. Secure the lid of the pressure cooker and bring up to pressure.
  13. Turn down the heat and cook for 50 minutes.
  14. Turn off the heat and leave for 5 minutes.
  15. Quickly release the pressure and remove the pudding bowl.
  16. Check to see that it is cooked and pour the rest of the orange juice over the top.
  17. Serve with cream.

Rhubarb Crumble

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RHUBARB CRUMBLE

Rhubarb Crumble

This is another pudding I’ve prepared and the cooked in the breadmaker.

 

RHUBARB INGREDIENTS

  • Sticks of rhubarb, trimmed and cut into 1.5cm pieces
  • 1 dessertspoon sugar
  • 2 dessertspoons water

CRUMBLE INGREDIENTS

  • 50g butter
  • 50g sugar
  • 50g porridge oats
  • 50g plain flour

METHOD

  1. Put the rhubarb, sugar and water in a small pan and cover.
  2. Put on medium-high heat and cook for 5 minutes.
  3. Stir well and then leave with the lid on for another 5 minutes.
  4. Divide between 4 small ramekin dishes.
  5. Blitz the crumble ingredients until they ressemble fine breadcrumbs.
  6. Spoon the crumble mixture over the rhubarb and press down firmly with the back of a spoon.
  7. Cook in the breadmaker on the BAKE setting for 40 minutes.
  8. Serve with cream or ice-cream.

Bottled Blackberry Mousse

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blackberry mousse

BOTTLED BLACKBERRY JUICE

This recipe solves the problem of what to do with the avalanche  of blackberries that we have at the end of every July. We don’t eat a lot of jam so this is perfect for us. In the 1970’s, my mother used to make a foamy mousse made out of jelly and evaporated milk.  We have now got enough bottled blackberry juice to make over 100 portions. It is packed with vitamin C and the gelatine is apparently very good for bones and reduces osteoporosis.

Blackberries are now in full flow and although I’ve been making blackberry mousse every couple of days and blackberry jam, I thought it would be a good idea to find a way of making a blackberry syrup that could store and that could be mixed with whipped evaporated milk at a later stage. That way, we could summon up summer at any time in the future.

I prefer to remove the seeds from the blackberries and so use a stick blender to blitz up the blackberries and then pass them through a mouli-légumes. I then weigh the juice and calculate the quantities of sugar and glycerine based on this.

The basic quantities are 750g blackberry juice, 15g glycerine and 50g sugar. In percentage terms this amounts to 2% glycerine and 6.7% sugar.


blackberry mousse

Blackberry Mousse

These are the quantities for 750ml of blackberry juice and 330ml evaporated milk.

INGREDIENTS

  • 750ml blackberry juice
  • 15g powdered gelatine
  • 50g sugar
  • 4 tablespoons water

METHOD

  1. Run some very hot water in the sink and thoroughly clean the jars and lids.
  2. Leave to drain on a tea-towel while you prepare the syrup.
  3. Pour the blackberry juice into a saucepan and bring to the boil.
  4. Boil for 5 minutes or so.
  5. Meanwhile, combine the water, sugar and gelatine in a small saucepan.
  6. Gently heat through, stirring all the while until the gelatine has melted.
  7. Add a couple of ladlefuls of the hot juice mixture to the gelatine mixture and stir well.
  8. Pour the gelatine mix back into the juice pan and bring to the boil.
  9. Fill the jars with the juice.
  10. Close the jars firmly and place upside down for 30 minutes or so.
  11. Turn the right way up and leave to cool.

NOTES

To make up the mousse, use 330ml evaporated milk for 750ml blackberry juice. Whisk the evaporated milk until thick and you can see trace on the surface. Combine the juice and milk and mix well. Put in the fridge to set overnight.

Blackberry Mousse

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blackberry mousseThe year 2020 was THE year for blackberries. We cut the bushes back at the beginning of the year and once they started producing, they didn’t stop. The challenge now was what to do with them so we started experimenting with everything from dried blackberries for the muesli, to blackberry jam and blackberry cordial to mix with gaseosa (the Spanish version of a slightly sweetened soda water or not-so-sweet lemonade) as a non-alcoholic summer drink, but possibly my favourite was blackberry mousse. John told me about the mousse his mum used to make with jelly and evaporated milk so by trial and error I worked out the quantities for this delicious mousse recipe.

I prefer to make the mousse by blitzing the berries first with a stick blender and then passing the liquid through a Moulinex food mill or mouli-légumes to remove the seeds but it is entirely up to you whether you blitz or not. I’ve found that heating the mixture before combining with the evaporated milk results in a stable mousse that doesn’t ferment in the fridge after a couple of days.

The quantities of gelatine and sugar will vary according to the amount of juice you get from the berries. The quantities shown below are based on 750g blackberry juice (without the seeds).

 

BLACKBERRY MOUSSEblackberry mousse

 

INGREDIENTS

  • 750g blackberry juice
  • 15g powdered gelatine
  • 50g granulated sugar
  • 4 tablespoons water
  • 330ml evaporated milk

 

METHOD

  1. Blitz the blackberries with a stick blender and then put through the food mill or mouli-légumes to remove the seeds.
  2. Heat the blackberry juice in a pan and boil for 5 minutes.
  3. Meanwhile, combine the water, gelatine and sugar in a saucepan.
  4. Heat gently until the mixture has dissolved, stirring all the time.
  5. Add several ladlefuls of the juice mixture to the gelatine pan and stir well.
  6. Return the gelatine mixture to the juice pan and stir well.
  7. Remove from the heat.
  8. Leave to cool for 20 minutes.
  9. In a large bowl, whisk the evaporated milk until a trace is left.
  10.  Spoon some of the berry juice into the evaporated milk and continue to whisk.
  11. Gradually add the rest of the berry juice and continue to whisk until the mousse is thoroughly mixed.
  12. Leave to cool in the fridge overnight.