Saucy monkey Pudding

How many of you have over ripe bananas going to waste in your fruit bowl? You know as well as I do that there is only so much banana bread that you can make. So you'll be delighted with this pudding from Short and Sweet. This time it's for hot, buttered nutty bananas with a banana chocolate sponge. Serves four. As an aside, and an important one at that, I couldn't resist making a pudding with this name.

As this super scrumptious recipe has been published in the Guardian, you will have to go there for the details, but please leave a comment here.

Published in The Guardian.

Miraculously, I didn't change a thing!

I've been asked to direct you to the Guardian page for the recipe.

Dan Lepard's Rum Cake

Although this recipe was published in 'The Guardian', those of you who have seen the previous post will know that I have the wonderful book from Dan Lepard so I actually used that one. I also cooked it in a round thin in the shape of an 'O' as Dan suggested. I think that this helped as the cake cooked more quickly than if it was a traditional round cake. The moisture in the cake might have made it sink.


Please don't expect this to be a pretty cake but, what it lacks in looks it makes up for in taste. I think that you will see that the cake is very moist. It could be the pineapple that is cooked in the mixture or the copious amounts of rum that were included in the ingredients and poured over it after cooking. Who cares really as the result was mouthwatering.

I did have to make some changes, not because I thought that the recipe needed it, but because I was missing a few ingredients and so I substituted, almonds for brazil nuts, raisins for dates and mixed spice for the spices. otherwise it was exactly as published and I must say, delicious. You will not regret making this cake. Your only regret will be in eating the last slice.

Recipe can be found here at the Guardian

Almond Croissants

Don't you just love almond croissants? They are the prize of the flavoured croissants as far as I am concerned and as far as my husband is as well. So it's a good thing to know that they can be reproduced easily and far more cheaply than those in the supermarket. However, you will need to rely on the supermarket for the basic butter croissants that are used here. I haven't gone the whole hog and made the croissants myself.

I don't know if you are aware of it but almond croissants were originalt produced by French bakers to use up stale croissant that they didn't want to dump. Someone had the bright idea of filling them with a frangipain mixture and the almond croissant was born and thank God for that is all that I can say.

These almond croissants are really easy to make and this recipe will make the filling and the topping for 6.

6 stale croissants... buy the reduced croissnts that the supermarket sells off. They are perfect for this and so cheap.

Filling
1 egg
70g of ground almonds
70g butter
70g caster sugar
a few drops of bitter almond essence
flaked almonds for the topping.

All you need to do is mix all of the filling ingredients, except the flaked almonds, together until you have a smooth paste.
Slice the croissants in half horizontally and fill with the croissant mixture. Be sure to keep some back to spread on top of the croissants and then sprinkle with flaked almonds as shown in the picture above.
Cook in a medium oven about 180 degrees C for about 10 to 15 mins. watch them as you don't want te mixture on top to over cook. The filling should still be a bit soft. It will continue to cook for a few minutes even when taken out of the oven. See the picture below.
Now, if you can resist and I do recommend that you do, leave them alone for about 10 minutes. This will allow the filling to finish cooking and the croissants to cool down to an acceptable temperature. They are not good if they burn your mouth.


Enjoy.

Chocolate and Hazelnut Bars

This recipe has been adapted from the one given by Rachel Allen in her recent book. I found it on the BBc web site. I've made some changes as I thought that her recipe was too sweet so here is my version.

For the chocolate base:
200g/7oz butter
50g/2oz cocoa powder
200g/7oz caster sugar
2 free range eggs, beaten
225g/8oz plain flour
For the hazelnut caramel layer
125g/4½oz butter
1 x 397g/14oz tin condensed milk
2 tbsp golden syrup
75g/3oz caster sugar
125g/4½oz toasted and halved hazelnuts
For the chocolate topping
200g/7oz dark chocolate, chopped
1 tbsp sunflower or vegetable oil

Method
1. Preheat the oven to 160C/325F/Gas 3 and line the base of or grease, a small Swiss roll tin measuring 20x30cm/8x12in.
2. In a medium sized saucepan over a medium heat, heat the butter for the chocolate base, stir in the cocoa powder and then the sugar and mix until smooth.
3. Remove from the heat and stir in the eggs until mixed and then the plain flour.
4. Spread the chocolate base over the prepared tin and bake in the oven for 20 minutes until firm on top.
5. Remove from the oven and set aside to cool while you make the hazelnut caramel layer.
6. In a medium-sized saucepan over a medium heat, melt the butter and then add the condensed milk, golden syrup and sugar.
Turn the heat to low and stir continuously for 12-15 minutes until the mixture is dark caramel in colour (do not let it burn).
7. Remove from the heat and stir in the nuts. Spread evenly over the chocolate base and allow to cool.
8. Melt the chocolate in a bowl sitting over a saucepan of simmering water. When it is melted, stir in the oil and then pour over the caramel layer and smooth out, leaving to cool and set.
9. To serve, cut into squares. These will keep for a week in an airtight container.