Roasted Strawberry Custard Tarts

This week at I Heart Cooking Clubs, we continue cooking with the gorgeous Donna Hay, and our theme for the week is Easy Entertaining ... or, put another way, how to entertain effortlessly without finding yourself crying over spilt custard.

Now let me begin by telling you that I actually love to entertain.  The nurturer in me, the one who loves to feed others, enjoys nothing more more than a group of friends or family around my dinner table, and the opportunity to fill them with as much food as I can manage.  There is no amount of effort that seems like too much trouble to me.

Where it all goes off the rails for me is dessert.  No matter how much I love to cook and entertain, I hate making dessert.  There are people I know who see this part of the meal as the opportunity to really shine, to pull out all the stops and go for something truly spectacular ... I'm not one of them.  Dessert terrifies me.  It definitely has to be something which can be made the day before, so that a fall-back position can be found if it all goes wrong.  So dessert at my house will usually be some homemade ice cream or sorbet (one of the few things I'm actually quite good at, thanks to the trusty ice cream machine), maybe a pavlova (yes, on a good day, I can manage to turn out a passable pav, though I've had my failures there too), or a simple fruit platter.  Anything else really ... forget it.  My hands down favourite dessert is a Citron Tart - never made one, as there is way too much that can go wrong with that.  Second favourite dessert is my Dad's steamed pudding - never made that either, since there is the terrifying possibility that it will be either under cooked or over cooked, and worse still might completely fall apart when turned out of the pudding basin.  And that would just be downright embarrassing, especially when you're going for that "Ta Dah" moment.

So, although there were literally dozens of "Easy Entertaining" meal ideas I could have chosen from any one of my Donna Hay books (in fact nearly everything Donna produces fits that criteria perfectly), I thought that I might challenge myself, and Donna, to see if she could come up with an easy entertaining dessert idea that I could manage to put together without it all going horribly wrong.  It had to be suitable for preparing the day ahead;  it had to be easy enough for even a "dessert-dunce" to create;  and it needed to look spectacular, or impressive, or at the very least pretty.  And, I've got to say, between us we very nearly pulled it off ...

Flicking through my copy of Marie Claire Dining by Donna Hay (now published as Donna Hay Entertaining), I came across her recipe for Portugese Custard Tarts.  The recipe sounded achievable (even for me) ... store-bought flaky pastry, so no making pie crust (always a bonus);  the custard filling seemed simple enough;  and I could see that these could be made the day before - in fact you could even make the tarts the day before you want them, and make the custard the day before that if you wanted.  Recipes which can be broken down into several prepare ahead stages are always winners for me.   They sure looked kind of cute ...

... and, in fact, they also tasted pretty good just like this too, but somehow these just seemed like a little treat to enjoy with a cup of coffee, and not quite dessert.  A little something else was needed.  And then I cast my eye over the punnet of fresh strawberries I'd just brought home from the market, and remembered back to the Honey Roasted Strawberry Compote I made a while back to go over French toast.  I also remembered my lovely friend, Beth, at OMG! Yummy recently making some roasted fruit with pomegranate molasses, and thought that swapping out the balsamic vinegar in my compote for some pomegranate molasses, and adding a shot of orange liqueur, would make a wonderful topping for these little tarts and magically transform afternoon tea into dessert.

The only thing that prevented this from being completely effortless was having to clean the oven afterwards ...

... 'Nough said.  I know you won't make the same mistake.

Roasted Strawberry Custard Tarts Recipe

Adapted from a recipe by Donna Hay

from Donna Hay Dining

Makes 8

Click here for a printable copy of this recipe

2x sheets ready rolled puff pastry, thawed

for custard filling

1/3 cup sugar

1/3 cup water

2 cups milk

2 tablespoons cornflour

2 egg yolks

1x vanilla bean

for strawberry topping

1x punnet strawberries

2 tablespoons honey

1 tablespoon pomegranate molasses

1 tablespoon orange liqueur, such as cointreau (I used "44")

To make the custard filling, put sugar and water into a small saucepan, set over low heat, and stir constantly until the sugar has dissolved.  Increase heat until syrup is boiling, reduce heat and simmer for 1 minute.  Remove from heat.

Place cornflour in a medium sized bowl, and add just enough of the milk to mix the cornflour to a smooth paste.  Once completely dissolved, slowly add the remainder of the milk, whisking constantly.  Whisk in the egg yolks.  Slowly pour in the sugar syrup, again making sure that you whisk constantly to avoid curdling the eggs.

Return everything to the saucepan.  Split the vanilla bean lengthwise, scrape out the seeds, and add both seeds and bean to the saucepan.  Set pan over gentle heat, and stir constantly until the mixture thickens.

Remove from heat and pour into a clean bowl.  Allow to cool slightly, then cover the surface of the custard with a piece of plastic wrap - this will avoid a skin forming on the surface of the custard.  Now leave to cool completely, leaving the vanilla bean in the custard to allow maximum flavour to be infused from the bean.  (You could easily do this a day in advance.)

To make the tarts, preheat the oven to 200 degrees C (400 degrees F), and lightly grease a muffin or patty tin.  Cut pastry into 10cm (4 inch) circles, and use to line the muffin or patty tins.  Remove vanilla bean from custard, and spoon custard into the pastry shells, no more than 2/3 full.  Bake in the preheated oven until the custard is golden and firm - about 20 minutes, depending on the depth of your tins and filling.  Remove from the oven and cool slightly before removing tarts from the tin and leaving on a wire rack to cool completely.

To make the strawberry topping.  Cut strawberries in half (or quarters if they are very large), and place in an ovenproof dish which is only just big enough to fit all the strawberries snugly but in a single layer.  Drizzle over the honey, pomegranate molasses and orange liqueur, and stir gently to combine everything.  Bake in a preheated oven at 180 degrees C (350 degrees F), until the strawberries have softened slightly, but still retaining their shape, and juices have begun to run and become syrupy.  Remove from oven and cool completely.

To complete the tarts, arrange two or three pieces of strawberry in the centre of each tart and drizzle over a little of the strawberry syrup.  Serve immediately.

If you would like to get to know Donna Hay a little better, and to see all the fabulously "easy entertaining" dishes my friends have come up with, then do go visit I Heart Cooking Clubs and check out the links.

I will also be submitting this post to Sweet New Zealand.  Inspired by Alessandra Zecchini, Sweet New Zealand is an event for all Kiwi bloggers (whether living at home or abroad), or all foreign bloggers living in New Zealand, to link up their sweet treats.  This month, Sweet New Zealand is hosted by my very lovely friend Mairi at Toast.

I'll also be sharing this post this week at See Ya In the Gumbo hosted by the lovely Michelle at Ms. enPlace, Weekend Cooking hosted by Beth at Beth Fish Reads, and at Foodie Fridays hosted by Designs by Gollam.

         

Pear & Chocolate Clafouti

This week at I Heart Cooking Clubs, where we continue our journey with the highly inspirational Yotam Ottolenghi, our theme is "Fruitfull".   Time to choose an Ottolenghi dish which features fruit, whether it be fresh, dried or frozen, and let me tell you there are many.  I love the way in which Ottolenghi combines fruit with savoury ingredients in many of his dishes - it's one of the many things that I find incredibly appealing about his food - but this week I just decided to run with dessert.

When it comes to dessert, much as I like to eat a nice "fancy-schmancy" dessert, making them is not my idea of fun ... no latent pastry chef in this girl.  No, dessert making for me has to be simple and fuss-free - the kind of thing that you can knock together in a few minutes, but which still looks elegant and most of all tastes great.  And one of my favourite desserts, both to make and to eat, is a clafouti - after all, what's not to love about fruit baked in a light and delicate egg custard?  Although it is traditionally made with cherries, and only cherries, you can really use any fruit which is seasonal - I know French housewives everywhere are probably throwing their hands up in horror at this suggestion, but really you can.  I was inspired by the recipe for Individual Plum Clafoutis in Ottolenghi: The Cookbook, but with stone fruit being out of season here right now, pears seemed like a good option.  And, of course, if you're having pears, you might as well have chocolate, right?  The two are after all made for each other.

This dessert is a doddle to make, and although these servings look quite substantial, the clafouti is in fact quite light, so this is certainly not the kind of dessert that is going to weigh you down at the end of a meal.  A nice alternative to a fruit tart or crumble in that regard I think, and infinitely quicker and easier to make.  At the risk of shocking a few French housewives, I hope you'll throw caution to the wind and give this a try.

Pear & Chocolate Clafouti

Adapted from a recipe by Yotam Ottolenghi & Sami Tamimi

from Ottolenghi: The Cookbook

Makes 4 large individual servings

Click here for a printable copy of this recipe

2x large ripe, but not soft, pears (I used Beurre Bosc)

3x large free-range eggs

70g (2-1/2 oz) caster sugar

70g (2-1/2 oz) plain flour

1 teaspoon vanilla paste (I used Heilalla)

150ml (5 fl oz) cream

pinch of salt

100g (3.5 oz) dark chocolate, roughly chopped (I used Whittaker's Dark Ghana)

icing sugar to dust

Preheat the oven to 170 degrees C (340 degrees F).  Use medium sized individual, ovenproof dishes or tins - I used some gratin dishes which were 14 cm (5-1/2 in) in diameter, and 4 cm (1-1/2 in) deep.  Lightly brush the insides of the dishes with a little vegetable oil and set aside.

Peel the pears, cut in half, and remove the cores.  Now slice thinly lengthwise, without slicing all the way through, so that the slices remained attached to each other at the stem end.  Fan out the slices from the stem and place half a pear in the base of each dish.  Sprinkle one quarter of the chocolate over each one.

Separate the eggs, placing the yolks in a medium sized mixing bowl and the whites in a small one.

Add the caster sugar to the egg yolks and, using an electric mixer, beat until the mixture is thick and pale.  With a rubber spatula, fold in the flour, then gently mix in the vanilla paste, cream and salt.

Whisk the egg whites to stiff, but not dry, peak stage.  Then gently fold the egg whites into the batter.

Pour the mixture over the pears and chocolate, and bake in the preheated oven until puffed and golden, and skewer inserted into the middle comes out clean - about 20 minutes.

Dust with icing sugar just before serving.

If you would like to get to know Yotam Ottolenghi a little better, then do go and visit my friends at I Heart Cooking Clubs and see what they've all cooked up ...

... or check out Ottolenghi: The Cookbook and Ottolenghi's other great titles available from Amazon USA, Amazon UK or Fishpond NZ.

         

I will also be submitting this post to Sweet New Zealand.  Inspired by Alessandra Zecchini, Sweet New Zealand is an event for all Kiwi bloggers (whether living at home or abroad), or all foreign bloggers living in New Zealand, to link up their sweet treats.  This month, Sweet New Zealand is hosted by my friend Nicola at Homegrown Kitchen.

I will also be sharing this post at See Ya In the Gumbo hosted by the delightful Michelle at Ms. enPlace.

Spice Cookies

This month at Tasting Jerusalem, we're sampling Ottolenghi's baked goods.  Having recently made (and adored) Ottolenghi's Plum & Oat Bars, I had no hesitation dipping into more of his sweet treats.  Jerusalem: A Cookbook has some positively sensational sweets and desserts, but I figured these Spice Cookies would make a great wee treat to take into the shop for my work friends to enjoy.

We're also dipping into Something Sweet from Ottolenghi at I Heart Cooking Clubs this week, so this post is doing double duty.

In the introduction to this recipe, Ottolenghi says, "These are very loosely inspired by duvshanyot (round iced cookies, made with honey and spices, typically for Rosh Hashana), or pfeffernusse.  They are actually more closely related to an Italian spice cookie and are hugely popular on the sweet counter at Ottolenghi over Easter and Christmas."  In fact, when I shared these at work, the first reaction I got was, "these taste like Christmas".

The cookies are crisp on the outside, and slightly softer on the inside, delicately spiced, with lovely hits of chocolate, raisins, and citrus.

I made a few minor changes to the recipe, mostly just to suit what I had on hand.  I used raisins soaked in an orange liqueur, rather than the currants and brandy called for in the original recipe - I think cranberries would be a nice alternative too.  I added in some cardamom, just because I love it, and left out ground allspice which I didn't have.  Also, because I failed to observe baking rule 1.01, I failed to read the recipe through before I started, and then discovered in the midst of everything that I had little more than a tablespoon of butter on hand, instead of the 1/2 cup required by the recipe.  I wasn't going to run out to the supermarket at that stage, so a few tablespoons of yoghurt to the rescue, and things worked out fine.  I can't say what difference the butter would have made to these cookies, but I certainly didn't feel as though the absence was discernible.  Also, the original recipe only asked for 1/2 an egg - as there is no world in which I would measure out 1/2 an egg (and then be left wondering what to do with the other 1/2), I put in the whole egg.  I also thought this might compensate for the lack of butter.  Lastly, I topped them off with some of my homemade Seville Orange Spoon Sweets, instead of the chopped candied peel called for in the original recipe.

I hope you give these a try.  I have to say that I'm not normally a huge cookie lover - given the choice I would usually opt for a piece of slice, or even cake.  These were, however, delicious cookies.  They were easy to make and the house smelled amazing while they were baking.  I would definitely make these again.

Spice Cookies Recipe

Adapted from recipe by Yotam Ottolenghi & Sami Tamimi

from Jerusalem: A Cookbook

Click here for a printable copy of this recipe

125g (4 oz) raisins

2 tablespoons orange liqueur (I used "44")

240g (8 oz) plain flour

1/2 tablespoon cocoa powder

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon ground cardamom

1/2 teaspoon ground ginger

1/2 teaspoon grated nutmeg

1/4 teaspoon salt

150g (5 oz) dark chocolate, finely chopped (I used Whittaker's Dark Ghana)

35g (1 oz) room-temperature butter

3 heaped tablespoons natural yoghurt

125g (4 oz) caster sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla paste (I used Heilala)

grated zest of 1/2 lemon

grated zest of 1/2 orange

1x medium free-range egg

1 tablespoon diced candied citrus peel

(I used these Greek seville orange spoon sweets)

Glaze:

3 tablespoons lemon juice

160g (6 oz) icing sugar

Preheat oven to 190 degrees C (375 degrees F).

Soak the raisins in the liqueur for 10 minutes.

Meanwhile, sift together the flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda, spices and salt.   Add the chopped chocolate, and mix well.

Cream together the butter and sugar, using an electric beater, just until well combined.  Then add the yoghurt, vanilla paste, and citrus zest. Continue beating for about a minute, then add the egg and beat for a further minute.

Now add the dry ingredients and the raisins, along with their soaking liqueur.  Mix until everything comes together - you might need to use your hands.

Roll spoonfuls of the dough into round balls and place them on baking sheets lined with baking paper, about 2cm (3/4 in) apart. (* See note below)

Bake the cookies in the preheated oven, until the outsides have firmed but the centre is still a little soft - about 15-20 minutes.  Remove from the oven, cool on the baking trays for 5 minutes, then transfer to a cooling rack set over a sheet of parchment paper.

While the cookies are still warm, whisk the glaze ingredients into a thin, smooth icing, and then drizzle a tablespoon of icing over each cookie - it will drip away, leaving a very thin glaze on the cookies.  Finish with a little of the candied peel on top of each one.

Store in an airtight container.

*Note:  The recipe did say at this stage to rest the cookies in the fridge for an hour before baking.  I didn't notice this until after I'd put the cookies in the oven, and I don't think they suffered adversely for this omission.

I am sharing this post at Tasting Jerusalem, a virtual cooking community exploring the vibrant flavors and cuisine of the Middle East through the lens of “Jerusalem: A Cookbook” by Ottolenghi and Tamimi published by Ten Speed Press. You can follow along and cook with us by subscribing to omgyummy.com, following the hashtag #TastingJrslm on Twitter and Instagram, and liking our Facebook page.

If you would like to get to know Yotam Ottolenghi a little better, then do go and visit my friends at I Heart Cooking Clubs and see what they've all cooked up ...

... or check out Jerusalem and Ottolenghi's other great titles available from Amazon USA, Amazon UK or Fishpond NZ.

         

I will also be submitting this post to Sweet New Zealand.  Inspired by Alessandra Zecchini, Sweet New Zealand is an event for all Kiwi bloggers (whether living at home or abroad), or all foreign bloggers living in New Zealand, to link up their sweet treats.  During the month of June, I will be hosting Sweet New Zealand right here at Couscous & Consciousness.

And, just because I really like to spread the love around, I'm also sharing this post this week at See Ya In the Gumbo hosted by the lovely, and very amusing, Michelle at Ms. enPlace.

Plum & Oat Bars

This week on our journey with Yotam Ottolenghi at I Heart Cooking Clubs, we're Going With The Grain.  I love all kinds of grains, and they form a significant part of my regular diet.  Flicking through my Ottolenghi cookbooks (Ottolenghi: The Cookbook, Plenty and Jerusalem: A Cookbook), all manner of quinoa, rice, farro, barley, freekah and bulgur wheat dishes appealed, but somehow this week I felt I wanted to get a little sweet with Yotam.

His recipe for Raspberry and Oat Bars from Ottolenghi: The Cookbook is one that I've had bookmarked for about three years and, deciding that oats were going to be my grain of choice, this seemed like the perfect opportunity to make it.

In the absence of some raspberry jam, I subbed in some of my homemade plum jam, and I found the tartness of the plum jam to be a good foil to the sweetness of the caramel nut topping.  Oh yes, there is caramel and there are nuts!  Came as something of a surprise to me too.  

Now I don't know about you, but when I come across something labelled as an "(anything) and Oat Bar", I'm mentally imagining something that has some kind of "oaty" topping, or which is vaguely akin to a muesli (granola) bar.  Even when I read through the recipe, I still didn't quite get what this was going to be like - quite possibly because I am not really a baker.  So when Ottolenghi says in the recipe introduction "Wonderful with a strong after dinner coffee", I was thinking "No way!"  Granola bars with morning coffee (possibly even for breakfast), yes, but with after dinner coffee, definitely not.  Were YO and I about to have our first disagreement - surely not.  Now, don't get me wrong, I was not for one moment doubting that these were going to be great, I just envisaged something that didn't quite fit with my idea of a postprandial sweet treat.

The end result is a light, shortbready, oaty base, topped with a layer of sweet-but-tart plum jam, and then the whole thing is topped off with a thick layer of nuts and caramel.  Oh, that topping!!  Gooey caramel and a mixture of macadamias, hazelnuts, almonds and cashews.  Seriously, this slice is all about the topping, so don't let that title confuse you - this is no dull little "health" bar - this is definitely a decadent little treat, and definitely lives up to its promise of being a great after-dinner treat.  I thought about changing the title to something which might more fairly represent what these bars really are, but then it occurred to me that, as long as I keep calling them "Plum & Oat Bars", I can convince myself that it's ok to eat them for breakfast!

I don't do a lot of baking, and so I don't have an extensive repertoire in that department.  I'm also a fairly "apprehensive" baker, so when something turns out great it both surprises and delights the heck out of me in equal measure.   Well let me tell you that these bars might just be the best thing I've ever baked, and it's exciting to discover that Ottolenghi can surprise and delight me in the sweet department as well as all the savoury dishes I've come to love.

I made a few small changes to this recipe.  Firstly, as mentioned I used plum jam instead of raspberry.  I adjusted quantities to fit the slice tin that I wanted to use, as opposed to the small square tin used in the original recipe.  And, I used a different combination of nuts:  the original recipe called for flaked almonds, pecans, hazelnuts and Brazil nuts.  Really you could use any combination you like.

Plum & Oat Bars Recipe

Adapted from a recipe by Yotam Ottolenghi

from Ottolenghi: The Cookbook

Click here for a printable copy of this recipe

For the base

170g (6 oz) plain flour

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

140g (5 oz) butter, cut into cubes

80g (3 oz) caster sugar

pinch of salt

110g (4 oz) rolled oats

For the filling

1-1/2 cups plum jam (I used homemade)

For the topping

400g (14 oz) assorted nuts, roughly chopped

(I used a combo of macadamias, almonds, cashews & hazelnuts)

140g (5 oz) butter

100g (3-1/2 oz) caster sugar

60ml (2 fl oz) milk

1 teaspoon vanilla

Preheat the oven to 170 degrees C (340 degrees F).  Lightly grease the base and sides of an 18cm x 32cm (7in x 12in) slice tin, and line it with baking paper.

Begin by making the base.  Sift the flour and baking powder together and put into your food processor.  Add the cubed butter, and blitz together until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs.  (You could rub the butter into the flour by hand, but I'm an inherently lazy cook, so I'm happy for the food processor to do the work).  Remove to a bowl, add the salt, sugar and rolled oats, and mix to combine everything well.

Press this mixture (though not too hard) into the base of your tin, and bake in the preheated oven until lightly golden - about 20 minutes.  Remove from the oven and allow to cool.

Once the base has cooled, spread with the jam.

Now make the topping.  Place the chopped nuts in a bowl and set aside.  Put the butter, sugar, milk and vanilla paste in a small saucepan set over medium heat.  Stir constantly until the butter is melted and the sugar has dissolved.  Remove from heat, pour over the nuts and mix well.

Spread the nut mixture over the jam and return the pan to the oven until the nuts are golden brown - about 30 minutes.

Remove from the oven and leave to cool completely before removing from the tin.

Slice into bars or squares and serve.

If you would like to get to know Yotam Ottolenghi a little better, then do go and visit my friends at I Heart Cooking Clubs and see what they've all cooked up ...

... or check out Ottolenghi: The Cookbook and Ottolenghi's other great titles available from Amazon USA, Amazon UK or Fishpond NZ.

         

And while we're on the subject of Going With The Grain, check out these other grain-filled recipes from Ottolenghi I've shared before:

Aubergine & Lemon Risotto

Fried Zucchini, Pea & Quinoa Salad

This will be my submission this month to Sweet New Zealand, inspired by Alessandra Zecchini and hosted this month by Bridget at After Taste - can't wait to see what sweet treats everyone has come up with this month.

I will also be sharing this post at Food on Friday hosted by Carole at Carole's Chatter and at See Ya In the Gumbo hosted by the lovely Michelle at Ms. enPlace.

Fig, Vanilla & Chocolate Jam (Bayildi ev Kadini)

One of my favourite dishes is an aubergine dish called Imam Bayildi.  I love it not just for its deliciousness (what's not to love about aubergine, tomatoes, garlic & onions simmered in copious (and I really do mean copious) amounts of good olive oil), but I also love the name of it and the story behind it.  Loosely translated it means "the imam fainted" or some say "the imam swooned".  Opinion is divided, however, on whether the imam fainted with pleasure at the flavour of the dish, or whether in fact he fainted when he discovered the cost of the ingredients his wife had used in the dish (olive oil then being a very prized and expensive ingredient).  Either way, it's a "swoon-worthy" dish.

So why am I telling you this, and what could it possibly have to do with Fig, Vanilla & Chocolate Jam? Well, quite simply, when I scooped up a big spoonful of this jam on a hot, flaky, buttery croissant, I almost swooned myself with the sheer pleasure of it.  If only, I thought, I could come up for a name for this that might convey such delight.  If a magnificent aubergine dish can be called "the imam fainted", could this wonderous jam then perhaps be called "the housewife fainted"?  With a little bit of help from Google Translate then Bayildi ev Kadini is what I came up with - of course, I've placed a huge amount of faith in the translator here, so if this really says something horribly inappropriate in Turkish then you will let me know won't you?!

Fig, Vanilla & Chocolate Jam Recipe (Bayildi ev Kadini)

Makes about 3 cups

Click here for a printable copy of this recipe

1 kg (2 lb) fresh figs

500g (1 lb) sugar

2x vanilla pods

100g chocolate of your choice, roughly chopped

(I used Whittakers Hazelnut)

Cut figs in half and place in a heavy-bottomed, medium-sized pan along with the sugar.  Split the vanilla pods in half, scrape out the seeds, and add the seeds and the pods to the pan.  Stir a few times.

Set the pan aside and allow to stand for about 24 hours.  By this time the sugar will be mostly dissolved, and the fig juices running.

Set the pan over medium heat and stir constantly until the sugar is completely dissolved.  Now turn up the heat and boil rapidly until thick and gloopy and "jammy".  Towards the end you need to keep an eye on it - you want to take it to a stage where it is well reduced and it is just about to catch on the bottom.

Remove from heat and bottle into sterilised jars by putting a spoonful or two into the bottom of the jar, then add a layer of chopped chocolate.  Continue alternating layers of jam and chocolate until the jar is full.  The heat of the jam will melt the chocolate a little allowing it to ooze through the jam a little, but without melting it completely, so that when you dive into the jam you get some nice big chunks of chocolate.

Now you know what I'm having for breakfast tomorrow ... what will you be having?

This will be my submission this month to Sweet New Zealand, inspired by Alessandra Zecchini and hosted this month by Monica at Delissimon - can't wait to see what sweet treats everyone has come up with this month.

Plum & Cardamom Cake

The thing I love about plums - actually, there are several things I love about plums, this is just one of them - is the way they just seem to go on and on, one variety after another appearing each week at the market, so that plum season seems to linger well into autumn.  After all the other stone fruit  have finished for the season, the plums keep coming making it feel as though summer is lingering just that little bit longer.

After picking up a few kilos of plums at the market the other week, and having made a couple of batches of jam, I was in the mood for plum cake.  Flicking through Annabel Langbein's book More Taste Than Time, Fast Track Food for Busy People (a great book I've had in my collection for a long time), I came across her recipe for French Plum Cake.  Spiked with vanilla and lemon it sounded delicious, but it also seemed very "summery" and I was looking for something that felt a little more autumnal.

Then it came to me.  Having been in the midst of preserving season, I had been looking around at lots of books on canning and preserving lately.  In my search, I had stumbled across Canning for a New Generation: Bold, Fresh Flavours for the Modern Pantry by Liana Krissof.  I've not added this one to the collection yet, though it's on the wishlist, but after reading all the reviews and all the raves for the plum cardamom jam, I've been obsessed with that flavour combination ever since.

This seemed like the perfect inspiration for "autumnising" my cake.  So I added in the cardamom, obviously; I also left out the lemon, and replaced the sugar with brown sugar for a little more depth of flavour.  This is a big recipe, and although the original recipe calls for baking in two round springform tins, I baked one large "slab" cake in a brownie tin.

This makes a delicious dessert cake - also fabulous for breakfast!  It's best eaten warm on the day it's baked, and I loved it with a dollop of thick Greek-style yoghurt or a drizzle of runny cream.  Would be wonderful too with some good vanilla ice cream.  As I mentioned, this makes a lot of cake, and unless you're feeding a pretty big crowd you're going to have a lot of leftover cake.  This is not a bad thing, as this cake freezes exceptionally well.  Baking in a rectangular tin, meant that it was easy to cut into perfect, serving-size squares, with a plum half in each portion.  Once cut into portions, I wrapped each one in clingfilm and stashed them in the freezer - once thawed, 30 seconds in the microwave is all it takes for the perfect breakfast on the run or a quick mid-week dessert.

Plum & Cardamom Cake

Adapted from a recipe by Annabel Langbein from

More Taste Than Time, Fast Track Food for Busy People

Click here for a printable copy of this recipe

8x fresh plums

1/4 cup brown sugar

1/4 teaspoon ground cardamom

1-1/2 cups brown sugar

300g (10-1/2 oz) butter

3x free-range eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla paste (I used Heilala)

1 cup milk

3-1/2 cups flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon ground cardamom

Preheat your oven to 180 degrees C (350 degrees F).  Lightly grease a 22cm x 32cm (8-1/2" x 12-1/2") brownie pan, and line tin with parchment paper - you want the parchment paper to overhang the sides a bit so that once cooked you can lift the cake out of the tin rather than inverting it.

In a small bowl combine the first measure of brown sugar and cardamom.  Halve the plums, remove the stones, and put the plum halves into a medium sized bowl.  Add the sugar and cardamom, and toss through the plums.  Set aside for about 45 minutes.

In another bowl, cream together the butter and the second measure of brown sugar.  Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition to make sure each egg is full combined.  Stir in the vanilla paste.

Sift together the flour, baking powder, and second measure of ground cardamom.  Now add the milk and sifted dry ingredients in batches, alternating between the two.

Once everything has been incorporated, pour the batter into the prepared tin, and arrange the plums (cut side up) in rows on top of the batter.  Just sit them on top - as the cake cooks, they will sink down into the batter.   Drizzle any fruit and sugar juices from the plums over the top.

Bake in the preheated oven for 55-65 minutes, until a skewer inserted into the centre of the cake comes out clean.

This will be my submission this month to Sweet New Zealand, inspired by Alessandra Zecchini and hosted this month by the lovely Lesley at eat, etc ... - can't wait to see what sweet treats everyone has come up with this month.

I'm also sharing this post at See Ya In the Gumbo hosted by the lovely Michelle at Ms. enPlace.

Mango Melting Moments - Great Food Bloggers Cookie Swap 2012

I'm not much of a baker, as most of you know by now if you've been visiting here for a while.  You won't find that many recipes here for baked goods, though surprisingly (to me at least) the few baking recipes that I have posted are amongst my most popular.  Christmas baking to me usually amounts to nothing more than the ubiquitous Christmas cake, and perhaps a dozen or two Christmas mince pies.  So it intrigues me when I read how some of you spend virtually all of December baking dozens and dozens and dozens of cookies.  Not only can I not imagine actually baking all those cookies, I equally can't imagine where they all go.

Anyhow, on one of my tours around blogland I came across a post about the Great Food Bloggers Cookie Swap, and thought it might be fun to join in.  After all, what's not to love about sending out a batch or two of cookies to fellow bloggers, and getting cookies back in return.  So, I signed up and Clare at Major Cake's Kitchen Affair (a new to me blog) did too, so a swap was on.

Of course, I spent several weeks deliberating over what to bake, and I confess to more than a little anxiety.  When you're not an experienced baker, the possibility of failure is high and, let's face it who wants to send a batch of failed cookies to a fellow blogger.  I was also hoping to be able to put a bit of a personal touch to whatever I made, but again that would be straying into risky territory for a novice baker.  In the end I decided on an adaptation of this recipe for melting moments.  Melting moments are one of my favourite cookies, and I hoped fervently that Clare might be a lover too.  I put my own spin on it by adding vanilla paste to the cookie dough, and some freeze-dried mango powder to the filling.    The resulting cookies were light, buttery, and flecked with vanilla, and the hint of mango flavour in the filling made a nice twist on the original without being too risky.  In the end I was thrilled to be able to send these to Clare and I hope she enjoys them.

In return, Clare sent me these stunningly festive Christmas Shortbreads.  Every single one of them was individually wrapped, which was a lovely touch.  These shortbreads are deliciously crisp and buttery, with a bit of crunch from the sugar on top, and the red and green sprinkles really say Christmas.  Do go and visit Clare - she has only been blogging for a few months, but her blog is already chock full of delicious sweet treats.  I'm very tempted by her recipe for Homemade Limoncello - looks like a great project for the weekend.

Mango Melting Moments Recipe

Adapted from this recipe at Taste.co.au

200g (7 oz) soft butter

115g (4 oz) flour

45g (1-1/2 oz) icing sugar

50g (1-3/4 oz) custard powder

3/4 teaspoon vanilla paste

For the filling:

60g (2oz) soft butter

2/3 cup icing sugar

Fresh As freeze-dried mango powder to taste

Preheat your oven to 160 degrees C (320 degrees F).

Place soft butter in a bowl and beat until pale and creamy.  Add flour, icing sugar, custard powder and vanilla paste, and mix with a wooden spoon until everything is fully combined.

Roll cookie dough into small balls and place on a parchment lined baking tray about 2.5cm (1 inch) apart.  Use the back of a fork to slightly flatten the balls of doughs and leave the traditional indentations in the tops.

Put into the hot oven and bake until lightly browned and cooked through - about 15 minutes.  You may need to turn the tray halfway through.

Remove from oven.   After a few minutes remove cookies to a cooling rack and leave to cool completely.

To prepare the filling, beat butter and icing sugar together until light and fluffy - an electric mixer is ideal for this job.  Add mango powder to taste - I used close to a tablespoon.

Spread filling over the flat half of one cookie, and sandwich with another.  Repeat until all cookies have been filled.

I'm thrilled to have had the opportunity to have participated for the first time in the Great Food Blogger Cookie Swap, and look forward to joining in again next year.  Hopefully a few more Kiwi bloggers will feel inspired to join in next year as well.

This will be a submission to Sweet New Zealand, inspired by Alessandra Zecchini and hosted this month by the lovely Lydia at Lydia Bakes.

Banana, Lemon & Passionfruit Guilt-Free Ice Cream

Could there be any better thing than eating ice cream for breakfast ... absolutely guilt-free?  I think not.  Now of course you could eat this for dessert, but personally I don't really see the point of dessert without a little guilt.  Dessert is, in my view, a time to indulge in every guilty pleasure imaginable and hang the consequences.  I'm sorry but phrases like "low-fat", "sugar-free", "dairy-free", "guilt-free" and, heaven forbid, "healthy alternative" are just not going to cut it for me when it comes to dessert.

On the other hand, if I can indulge in something that is tantamount to dessert for breakfast, without a shred of guilt .... well, that really does it for me.  And this ice cream fits the bill perfectly.  It is really nothing more than banana, yoghurt and vanilla extract - a frozen smoothie, if you like.  I love the fact that, with just a tiny bit of forward planning, you can sit up to a big bowl of this in the morning, and then go off to work with the double satisfaction of just having eaten ice cream and knowing you've had a good breakfast.  Now that's what I call a win-win.

You will need a banana, of course, cut into thin slices.  Pop the sliced banana into a snap-lock bag, and freeze for a couple of hours - I usually do this when I get home from work.  Next, remove frozen banana pieces from the freezer and put into your blender.  Add yoghurt.  Thanks to the spoils of my NZ Food Bloggers Conference goodie bag, I used a combination of The Collective Dairy's Luscious Lemon (my new favourite) and Passionfruit, but any flavour you like that would complement banana is fine.  Lastly, add a good shot of good quality vanilla extract - again, thanks to that goodie bag I used Equagold Tahitian Vanilla Syrup.  Blitz everything up in the blender until smooth, then return to the freezer to firm up.  I usually blend this up just before I go to bed, and then dig into a bowl of ice cream perfection when I get up in the morning.

Hope you give this a try.  There's something about indulging in ice cream for breakfast that makes me sail through my morning with a smug sense of satifaction .... you know that feeling you get when you feel as though you've done something a bit naughty and managed to get away with it.  Don't tell me that you don't know that feeling.

Guilt-Free Banana, Lemon & Passionfruit Ice Cream Recipe

Makes one very generous serving

Click here for a printable copy of this recipe

1x banana

1/4 cup Luscious Lemon yoghurt *

1/4 cup Passionfruit yoghurt *

* or substitute flavour of your choice

1 tablespoon vanilla syrup

Note:  If using natural, unsweetened yoghurt,
I suggest adding a tablespoon or two of honey

Cut banana into thin slices, place in a snaplock bag, and freeze for a couple of hours.

Put frozen banana slices into blender, together with yoghurt and vanilla syrup.

Blend until completely smooth.

Put into plastic container and return to freezer to firm up.

I'm sharing this post with Sweet New Zealand, a monthly blog event created by the very lovely Alessandra Zecchini, and which I'm thrilled to be hosting this month right here at Couscous & Consciousness. This is an opportunity for all Kiwi bloggers (whether you are living in New Zealand or overseas), as well as for non-Kiwi bloggers living in New Zealand, to connect and share some of those sweet treats from your kitchen.  So, head on over here to share something sweet.