Category Archives: Home Baking

Christmas Pudding Rice Pudding

The Twelve Recipes of Christmas

Christmas Pudding Rice Pudding

Dawn: (Singing away) On the Twelfth day of Christmas my true Love Food gave to me….

Andrew: Something that will cook slowly whilst we take down the decorations.

Dawn: Will it take that long to untangle the lights?

Andrew: Several hours after the cat has been at them.

Dawn: What do we have left in the Christmas larder?

Andrew: A small Christmas pudding, some citrus fruit that has seen better days and the remnants of some pudding rice.

Dawn: Do you still have your inventing hat on?

Andrew: I’ll fetch it and get to work. If it still fits…my hair needs cutting!

Two hours later: Andrew emerges triumphant from the kitchen.

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Ingredients

1 Small Christmas pudding (or leftover portions)

100g pudding rice

1 pint/500ml semi-skimmed milk

50g caster sugar

Grated rind of one lemon and one orange

1tsp vanilla essence

Method

  • Preheat the oven to 150⁰C, gas mark 2.
  • Rinse the rice in a sieve under cold water to remove the starch. Leave to drain.
  • Butter an ovenproof dish.
  • Crumble the Christmas Pudding
  • Add the rice, grated zest, sugar, vanilla essence and crumbled pudding to the dish and mix.
  • Pour in the milk and stir so the ingredients are spread evenly.
  • Place into the oven and bake for one and a half to two hours, until the rice pudding has firmed but has a wobble in the middle.
  • Allow to cool for 10 to 15 minutes before serving.

Dawn: Gorgeous smell and what an amazing colour!

Andrew: An ingenious way to use remaining Christmas ingredients that would simply gather dust in the cupboard.

Dawn: Rice Pudding should give you enough energy to get on with removing the decorations now!

Andrew: Wasn’t that your job?

Dawn: You’re learning to multitask remember!

For more in this series of festively inspired food ideas, then follow this blog here and keep up-to-date on Twitter. Facebook and Mumsnet are websites you’ll find us on, too – so keep looking for tasty recipes coming!

Orange and Lemon Panettone Bread and Butter Pudding

The Twelve Recipes of Christmas

Dawn: (Still singing as if her life depended upon it) On the sixth day of Christmas my true Love Food gave to me…

Andrew: Bread and butter pudding!20151225_212704

 

Dawn: Bread and butter pudding! My dear chap, that is not Christmassy! It’s rather everyday!

Andrew: Not this version!

Dawn: This had better be good!

Andrew: Well the bread is replaced by panettone, which we often see as a Christmas gift these days.

Dawn: That’s very true. Many people aren’t sure how to serve it, and with so many cakes around it may go stale.

Andrew: Well that’s not a problem. In fact panetonne keeps its texture for a while, even after slicing.

Ingredients

Serves 6 to 8

  • One panetonne
  • 50-100g butter
  • Orange marmalade
  • A handful of dried fruit
  • 50ml of orange or lemon liqueur
  • 300ml double or single cream
  • 3 egg yolks
  • 50g caster sugar
  • 50g demerara sugar
  • A few squares of good quality chocolate

Method

  • Place the dried fruit in a saucepan. Add the liqueur and warm over a low heat for five minutes. Remove from the heat and allow to cool.
  • Preheat the oven to Gas 6/200⁰C.
  • Slice the top, bottom and sides from the panetonne, then slice the remaining pieces into 1cm wide slices.
  • Butter each side of the panetonne, including the offcuts.
  • Spread one teaspoon of orange marmalade on each slice, then cut into triangles.
  • Arrange these in a lightly greased ovenproof dish in rows, so they are packed and overlapping.
  • Pour the cooled fruits and liqueur evenly over the panetonne.
  • In a bowl, mix the caster sugar and egg yolks into the cream.
  • This custard can then be poured evenly onto the pudding and left to absorb for 30 minutes.
  • Dot the top of the pudding with a few dollops of marmalade and the chocolate which can be grated or thinly sliced.
  • Bake in the preheated oven for 30-40 minutes until golden and crunchy on top.
  • Serve on its own, with cream or ice cream, fresh custard or fresh fruits.20151225_215428

Dawn: You know Andrew, you have won over my early doubts!

Andrew: The cleanliness of your bowl tells me that!!!

Dawn: Another winner! I’m a panettone bread and butter convert!

For more in this series of festively inspired food ideas, then follow this blog here and keep up-to-date on Twitter. Facebook and Mumsnet are websites you’ll find us on, too – so keep looking for tasty recipes coming!

Bejewelled Pavlova

The Twelve Recipes of Christmas series continues and this delightful pudding would look great at a New Year’s Eve celebration as well as welcoming guests on Christmas Day and throughout the festive season.

Drum roll…Bejewelled Pavlova

20151228_165818Dawn: (Still singing as if her life depended upon it…or singing for her supper…er, pud treat) On the fourth day of Christmas, my true Love Food gave to me…

Andrew: A delight of a desert; the perfection of pudding; the aficionado of afters; the doyen of desserts…

Dawn: Enough of the alliteration Andrew!

Andrew: Definitely Dawn!!

Dawn: And what do we have here?!?

Andrew: Pavlova! This is a meringue-based dessert named after the Russian ballerina Anna Pavlova. Like a meringue cake with a crisp crust and silky interior usually topped with fruit and whipped cream.

Dawn: Oh joy, oh joy! Perfect for the Christmas table! However, it requires a great deal of patience.

Ingredients

Serves 6 to 8

For the meringue

4-5 large free-range egg whites

225g/8oz caster sugar

½ tsp vanilla essence

1 tbsp cornflour

For the filling

400ml/14fl oz double cream

Fruit of your choice, fresh or tinned

A sprinkling of icing sugar, to decorate

Method

  • Preheat the oven to 150C/300F/Gas 2.
  • Draw a guide circle on a sheet of baking parchment (paper) using a plate as a template. Turn the paper over, and set to one side.
  • Whisk the egg whites in a large, clean bowl with a hand or electric whisk until they are stiff but not dry.

Andrew: This can be tested by holding the bowl over the head of a friend.

Dawn: I’ll just retreat to the other end of the kitchen while you do that!

  • Whisk in the sugar, a spoonful at a time, for a few seconds between each spoonful. The slow addition builds up volume in the meringue and make it stiff yet silky and shiny. Finally, whisk in the vanilla essence and cornflour until well combined.
  • Position the baking parchment, drawn side down, on the baking sheet, held in place by a dab of meringue mix in each corner.
  • Spoon the meringue into the still-visible circle. Shape with a rubber spatula to create a large meringue nest, with soft peaks rising on all sides and a well so that the whole construction resembles a very large “nest”. Place in the centre of the oven and bake for 1 hour until very lightly coloured and crisp on the outside. (If the meringue seems to be becoming too brown, reduce the temperature of the oven). After 1 hour, turn the oven off and leave the meringue for a further hour.
  • Remove from the oven and leave to cool completely.

Dawn: We did this one evening and returned to it the next day to complete the dish.

  • Carefully remove the meringue from the baking parchment, using a spatula if necessary, and place onto a large serving plate.
  • Whip the cream into soft peaks and spoon into the centre of the meringue.
  • Top with the fruit of your choice.
  • Decorate and dust with sifted icing sugar to serve.

Andrew: We used redcurrants, nectarines and kiwi for a bejewelled effect.

Dawn: Anything to hand or in season will be fine. Passion fruit, pomegranates, summer fruits…the list is endless and we suggest you use what fruits you have in or seasonal produce.

Andrew: Peaches, apricots: there is no limit to your imagination.

Dawn: A delight to behold and looks very pretty! It’s very reminiscent of a Christmas “Welcome” door wreath! Simply gorgeous and oh, so more-ish to eat!

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For more in this series of festively inspired food ideas, then follow this blog here and keep up-to-date on Twitter. Facebook and Mumsnet are websites you’ll find us on, too – so keep looking for tasty recipes coming!