pudding – A True Love of Mine

Caramel Croissant Pudding with Spiced Rum and a sneaky cocktail

So I feel like I begin every post here with an apology for not posting more frequently. This time i’ll keep it short and sweet.

SORRY!

And give you a big piece of this!

Its a Caramel Croissant Pudding from a recipe by Nigella Lawson. I thought that since it’s the festive season I would spice it up with a little splash of Captain Morgans Spiced Rum. Which I then used in a delicious apple cocktail that i’m going to show you later.

Its pretty much just a normal easy peasy bread and butter pudding but its lifted by the addition of buttery, flakey croissants. The caramel custard that gives it a deeper, richer flavour. If you’re scared of making caramel, I totally understand. I’ve thrown out enough caramel that turned mysteriously black and stinky in the blink of an eye and i’ve also been disappointed by many an anaemic looking caramel that had barely turned vaguely golden before I panicked and took it off the heat.

So, make sure that you have everything ready before you start to make your caramel custard. That means tearing up your croissants and squishing them into the baking dish.

Like this!

Once you’ve done that you need to bite the bullet and make your caramel. I’ll share with you my two tips for nervous caramel makers:

1. Go slow! It might take significantly longer but I would rather have the heat a little lower and have more control over it than blast the heat and watch in horror as my caramel turns into a black smoking mess

2. Keep a close eye on it! It might seem like it is taking forever to turn golden but you can guarantee that the moment you leave your pot to go answer the phone, brush your hair, do whatever else you want to be doing, that will be the moment that you will be in trouble!

The only problem you might have is that when you pour the cream in the caramel will solidify. If you just keep it on the heat and keep stirring it will melt down again and be absolutely fine. Trust me!

and it will look like this!

And then, after it has been baked it will look like this…

and smell delicious!

Isn’t that one of the greatest things about baking? When the whole house smells delicious? Sometimes I find myself wanting to bake something just for the scent I know will permeate the house. Who needs scented candles or disgusting fake air fresheners when you have an oven?

So, my lovelies, what do you like to smell as its cooking? Weird question, I know!

p.s. I know I said i’d give you a cocktail recipe but you might just have to check back tomorrow!

Caramel Croissant Pudding with Spice Rum (Adapted from Nigella Lawson)

Ingredients

5-6 croissants – stale is better
200 grams caster sugar
4 tablespoons water
250 ml thickened cream
250 ml full cream milk
4 tablespoons spiced rum
4 medium eggs (beaten)

Method

Tear the croissants into pieces and arrange in a large baking dish. One that can fit 1-2 L will be ok.
Place the caster sugar and water in a medium sizes saucepan on a medium heat
Let the mixture bubble away but do not stir! You can swirl it around the pan to distribute any dark spots. Wait until it turns a deep gold (the recipe says 3-5 mins but it seems to take much longer for me! Just keep going until you reach the colour you like)
Turn the heat down to low and pour in the cream. It will spit a bit so be careful. Whisk in the milk and rum as well. Remember that it will solidify but if you put it back on the low heat and keep whisking it will dissolve.
Take the pan off the heat and pour in the eggs (while still whisking! You don’t want the eggs to cook!)
Pour the caramel custard over the croissants and leave to steep for 5-10 mins
Place in the oven for 20 minutes at 180 degrees celsius.
Serve with cream or ice-cream.

Dark Chocolate Butterscotch Pudding

Its still super freakin cold. In case you didn’t get the memo Sydney peeps. Its the kind of weather that makes you want to have the oven on all the time just to heat the house. The kind of weather that makes you stay in bed until midday, get up for some hot chocolate, then go back to bed. The kind of weather that just requires snuggles. And this pudding.

And butterscotch caramel.

ohhhhhhh butterscotch caramel.

Its no secret that I like Donna Hay recipes. Although I find the magazine a little light on, it is great for simple dishes that work pretty much every time. This recipe came from the June/July 2011 edition of the Donna Hay Magazine but I dug it out the other day when I was sorting through my mountains of cooking magazines. I’m such a sucker for a gooey, sumptuous sweet on the front cover of a magazine. I must be an advertisers dream.

I did originally make this when I bought the magazine last year but it just wasn’t delicious enough to warrant a blog post of its own. I put that down to my own laziness as I couldn’t be bothered making lots of little portions so I just made one big one. That ended up with what seemed to be a lower caramel/pudding ratio. Of which we know no good can come. So this time I made a couple of small changes.

1. I used my kitchen aid! Yay! This baby is seriously the best thing since sliced bread. I love that I can switch it on and leave it to mix and come back with it all tripled in volume and ready for the next stage.

then I used a whole jar of butterscotch spread

is there a more delicious sight than that?

No? Glad we’re on the same page here.

The mixture was much lighter and more aerated after using the kitchenaid rather than just my normal hand mixer. Look at those little clouds of cocoa!

so light that the cooked little cocoa caps just pop up off the top of the ramekin.

Juuuust enough for some caramel butterscotch to peek out

And that isn’t even the best part. Don’t believe me?

the molten pool of caramel butterscotch at the bottom is the best part

you can dip the crunchy/fluffy chocolate pudding top back into the butterscotch for extra deliciousness

or if you’re EXTRA fancy you can top it all off with a scoop of ice-cream.

Damn straight.

So what do you think my lovelies? Can there ever be too much when it comes to butterscotch and chocolate? Hint: if you say yes, then I have no idea how you made it this far…

Dark Chocolate Butterscotch Pudding – Adapted from the June/July 2011 Issue of Donna Hay Magazine

Ingredients

1 jar Butterscotch spread (I bought mine from Dijons Castle Hill and Harris Farm Broadway)

1/3 cup (80ml) thickened cream

200g dark chocolate

60g butter

3 eggs

1/2 cup (90g) brown sugar

1 tsp vanilla extract

1/2 cup (60g) almond meal

optional: ice cream to serve

Method

1. Place the butterscotch in a bowl with the cream and mix well until combined

2. Spoon the butterscotch mixture into the bottom of 6 1/2 cup capacity ramekins

3. Melt the chocolate and butter together and mix until combined

4. Place the eggs, sugar and vanilla in the bowl of an electric mixer and beat on high for 8-10 mins or until the mixture has doubled in size

5. Fold in the chocolate mixture and almond meal then divide the mix between the ramekins

6. place the ramekins on a baking tray and cook at 200 degrees celsius for 12-18 minutes or until risen

7. Stand for a few minutes then top with a scoop of your favourite ice cream!

Vanilla Icecream Pudding Surprise! (Another belated christmas post)

Since I made my confession about strawberries I have been feeling lighter, less freakish, so good in fact that I feel I must make another confession. I love everything that comes with a traditional Christmas – turkey, ham, roasted veggies (particularly roasted veggies! mmmmmm…) cranberry sauce, mustard. Christmas lunch and dinner leaves me completely full and happy. However, and be prepared because you may not believe me when I say, I almost never eat dessert at Christmas.

*whistles*

Yes, you read that correctly. This is the only meal all year that I do not finish with something sweet. Why? I don’t like fruit pudding, I don’t like fruit cake, I don’t like mince pies. It may seem like I don’t like fruit full stop, but that is not the case at all! It’s something to do with the combination of dried fruit, mixed peel and booze that just puts me off Christmas desserts. So this year, when I was given a mission by the mothership to make Christmas dessert, I decided to make a pudding but not of the traditional kind.

Enter…

Vanilla Icecream Pudding Surprise!

One of my birthday gifts from my beautiful mother was a Cuisinart Icecream Machine. I had been trying to make a decent icecream in it since November, but nothing was going to plan. Icecreams were too eggy, too icy, not setting, just plain sucky. This was going to be a Christmas showdown between me and that icecream. Armed with a recipe from the brilliant Guillaume Brahimi, I felt up to the challenge.

I followed the recipe exactly (I like to cut corners and substitute a bit here and there, but not this time baby!)

It looked pretty good churning away so I got to work on the ‘surprise’ part of the dish

What else would it be?

Guillaume’s recipe uses Mars Bars and Toblerone but I wanted to add the Cherry Ripe to make it a bit more festive, and because they were sitting in my cupboard begging to be used. And who can ignore a cry for help from a poor little chocolate bar? I only used 1.5 bars of each type of chocolate 1. so I could snack without detracting from the finished product and 2. because, well, it was just too much to put 6 full bars of chocolate in

I got a-chopping (and a-snacking!)

When the icecream was churned, I added the chocolate and poured it into the pudding basin

don’t forget to line your pudding basin with cling wrap so that you can get your pudding out when you want to eat it

you can use the overhang to cover the icecream to protect it in the freezer

Like this! Then pop it in the freezer overnight to set properly

Even though I lined the pudding basin with cling wrap, I still needed to dip the bottom of the bowl in hot water for a few seconds to help it come out properly. I made a chocolate sauce to go with the pud because it didnt feel like the usual custard and cream would be appropriate. However, I won’t post the recipe because although it was ok, it wasnt amazing and therefore not blog worthy.

mmmmm pud

yummo!

The icecream was smooth and creamy and vanilla-y and, studded with chocolate it was the perfect end to christmas day.

Although I made this recipe as a delicious christmas pud, you could do it in any shape or with any surprise. Im thinking M&Ms, nutella, snickers, oreos, the possibilities are endless! It’s almost like a Cold Rock at home. Mmmmmm…

So, my lovelies, if you made this icecream, what surprise would you add?

Vanilla Icecream Pudding Surprise – Adapted from the Christmas Tree Icecream Recipe by Guillaume Brahimi (published in the Sydney Morning Herald Good Living December 14, 2010)

Ingredients

375ml milk

375ml pouring cream (I used pure cream)

3 vanilla beans

8 egg yolks

150g caster sugar

1.5 Mars Bars (roughly chopped)

1.5 Toblerone bars (roughly chopped)

1.5 Cherry Ripe bars (roughly chopped)

Method

1. Bring the milk and cream to the boil

2. Slice the vanilla beans in half lengthways, scrape the seeds out and add to the milk and cream

3. In a separate bowl, whisk the egg yolks and sugar until well combined, then gradually add a third of the hot milk mixture and combine. Do this very gradually so as not to cook the eggs!

4. Put the egg and sugar mixture back into the pan with the remaining liquid and stir over medium heat until the custard reaches 80-85 degrees celsius or until it thickens enough to coat the back of the spoon

5. Immediately remove from heat and strain the mixture into a bowl (I had my bowl in an ice bath to make sure the mixture absolutely stopped cooking) and chill overnight

6. Churn in an icecream machine according to the manufacturer’s instructions. While the icecream is churning, line your mould with cling wrap leaving enough around the edges to fold over the top of the icecream

7. Once the icecream has reached desired consistency, stir in your chocolate and pour into the mould, folding the cling wrap over the top to protect it from the freezer. Freeze overnight or for 24 hours until set

8. To remove, dip the bottom of the mould in hot water for a few seconds and use the edges of the cling wrap to lift it out of the mould. Drizzle with the sauce of your choice and enjoy!

Chocolate Pear Pudding

So its definitely onesie weather! When its this cold you absolutely need a warm dessert to round off a meal and let your body know its time to wind down to go to bed. And who knows how to make a quick, warm, comforting dessert better than anyone? Nigella does. After a dinner of roasted veggies, I thought i’d try the Chocolate Pear Pudding from the Nigella Express cookbook. Partly because I love the chocolate/pear combination, mostly because I wanted something super quick and easy! (And also I think the little pear halves look really cute laid out on the bottom of the pan!)

Look! Pear bums!

True to the book it came from, this recipe is truly a scrumptious dessert made the express way. I was worried that the cake batter was too thick to produce a moist cake but, trust in Nigella, for only she can show you the true way to amazing desserts. (Don’t worry, I haven’t lost faith in The Saint, but Nigella really is the queen of the quickie dessert.)