SUMMER COMFORT PUDDINGS

Ingredients

1 cup sugar
1/2 cup olive cooking oil
Pinch of salt
4 tablespoons of golden syrup
1 large organic egg
2 cups all purpose flour, plus extra for dusting the blueberries
1 teaspoon powdered ginger
1 teapoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon mace
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 cup fresh blueberries plus extras for garnishing
1 cup buttermilk
Sugar for sprinkling on top

Preheat an oven to 350 degrees

Method

Grease a baking tray with butter, and dust the blueberries with a tablespoon of flour, this may seem irrelevant but if you don't they will sink to the bottom, the dish will still taste sublime but look awful. Once dusted shake off any excess and then they will be evenly placed in the finished gingerbread.

beat the sugar, oil, salt and golden syrup thoroughly. Add the egg and mix again until combined.In a separate bowl, sift together the flour, spices and baking powder.
Add the flour mixture to the liquid mixture, a third at a time, alternating with the buttermilk, mix well after each addition. Gently stir in the blueberries, and pour the batter into the prepared tin sprinkle some sugar on top, and bake in the preheated oven for about thirty five minutes.

This photograph of Eton mess gives a fair impression of the dessert, this is a rather elegant photogenic version.

To mkake this dessert it is not essential to make your own strawberry juice but if you do then you need to get started the day before you want to eat it.

Ingredients

450g strawberries, washed, hulled and quartered
1 level tablespoon caster sugar
250g meringue (recipe below)
250ml whipping cream
Strawberry juice (recipe below)

Place the prepared strawberries in a bowl. Sprinkle over the sugar, mix carefully and set aside at room temperature. Meanwhile, break or chop the meringue onto the fruit. Whip the cream until it holds it shape just, it should still be pourable. Mix with the strawberries and meringue, drizzle with strawberry juice (if using) and serve.

Meringue

250g egg white
250g caster sugar
250g icing sugar, sieved

Preheat the oven to 110C. Whip the egg white and, when soft peaks start to form, add the caster sugar. Continue beating for five minutes, then add the icing sugar. Beat slowly for five more minutes. Spread the mixture on to a nonstick baking sheet and bake for two hours, or until the meringue is crunchy and dry. Leave to cool on a rack.

Strawberry juice

This produces a wonderfully pure juice that will keep in the fridge for several days and has many other uses, from pouring over ice cream to the base for a cordial. These quantities will make 250ml of juice, though it can be reduced to taste. The fructose intensifies the strawberry flavour, but this will still be delicious with sugar instead.

750g strawberries, washed and hulled
70g fructose (or icing or caster sugar)

Quarter the strawberries and place in a bowl. Sprinkle with the fructose (or sugar) and cover with clingfilm. Choose a saucepan over which the bowl will sit snugly, fill with 3-4cm water and place over a very low heat. Place the covered bowl on top of the pan and leave for an hour and a half; the water should be only lightly simmering. Take care not to let it evaporate and top up as necessary.

When the time is up, carefully lift the bowl from the pan and remove the clingfilm. Place a clean, unused double muslin or dry J-cloth in another bowl, so that it lines the bowl and hangs over the edges. Tip the still-warm contents of the strawberry bowl into the cloth-lined bowl. Gather together the edges of the cloth, thereby enclosing the mix; you should now have a bag-shaped package. Using string, tie shut the neck of the bag, then hang the sack from a shelf of the fridge. Place a bowl underneath, to catch the juices, and leave to drain overnight. Next day, discard the contents of the sack - all of the strawberry flavour will have been taken out of the fruit, so there won't be much to be gained from eating it.

Ingredients

450g raspberries
400g of other soft currants,
8 slices firm, good quality white bread
3 tablespoons white sugar
3 tablespoons water
Clotted cream to serve

Method

Sort through the fruit, tenderly, picking out any that are unripe, or too squidgy.
Pull the currants from their stems then put them, with the raspberries, in a stainless-steel saucepan over a low gentle heat. Taste the fruit for sweetness and add sugar accordingly. For normal, sweet raspberries and slightly tart currants, 3 tablespoons is correct, because the finished pudding has an element of sharpness to it. Add a couple odf tablespoons of water and boil. The currants will start to burst and give out their juice. They need no longer than three or four minutes at a cautious simmer.

Slice the bread thickly. Each slice should be about as thick as your little finger. Cut the crusts off the bread. Set one piece aside, then cut the rest into 'soldiers', that is, each slice of bread into three long fingers. Using a glass or cup as a template, cut a disc of bread from the reserved slice and push it into the bottom of the pudding basin.

Line the inside of the basin with the strips of bread, pushing them together snugly so that no fruit can escape, and keeping a few strips for the top. Fill the bread-lined basin with the fruit and its juice - it should come almost to the rim. Lay the remaining bread on top of the fruit, tearing and patching where necessary, so no fruit is showing.

Put the basin in a shallow dish or bowl to catch any juice, then lay a flat plate or small tray on top with a heavy weight to squash the fruit down. Some juice may escape, but most will soak into the bread. Leave overnight in the fridge.

Remove the weights, slide a palette knife around the edge, pushing carefully down between bread and basin so as not to tear the bread. Put a plate on top, and then, holding the plate in place, turn quickly upside down and shake firmly to dislodge the pud.Serve with clotted cream.

Mango Apricot Frozen Yogurt

You can try to cut the amount of sugar half, but the yoghurt flavor will be more pronounced. if you are like me and love yoghurt that is great, if not play with the sugar quantity - just make sure you use equal parts water as you do sugar.

Ingredients

1 cup sugar
1 cup water
3 ripe mango, skin and seed discarded
1/2 a fresh papaya
2 cups thick Greek Yogurt

In a small saucepan, boil the sugar and water together for 3 minutes or so - until the sugar has completely dissolved. Remove from heat and let cool. Mix together
the mango, papaya, simple sugar until just combined. Transfer to a bowl and refrigerate until very cold. Pour the batter into your ice cream maker and follow your machine's instructions.

1 1/2 lbs ripe peaches, peeled, pitted and sliced
1/4 cup chopped crystallized ginger
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
3 tablespoons unsalted butter
1/3 cup sugar

2 1/2 cup unbleached flour
1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon dried ginger
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1 stick unsalted butter, softened
1 cup raw cane sugar
1/4 cup brown sugar
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 cup milk

Method
Preheat oven to 350°F. Toss sliced peaches with ginger, cinnamon and nutmeg. Set aside.Sift together flour with baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, ginger and nutmeg. Set aside.
In a mixing bowl beat sugar with butter until light and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each. Add vanilla. Add flour mixture and milk, alternately. Mix until smooth. Set aside. Heat a 10 to 12-inch cast iron skillet over medium heat. Add three tablespoons butter and a third-cup sugar. Cook until golden brown and bubbling, stirring occasionally. Arrange gingered peaches on the bottom of the pan. Pour batter over the peaches.Bake 45 to 50 minutes, until golden brown and firm in the center.

Allow to cool for 20 minutes, run a knife around the cake and invert onto a serving plate. Serve warm topped with vanilla or cinnamon ice cream.

Chocolate-Peanut Butter Marble Cake

Ingredients

Cake

2 1/4 cups cake flour
2 1/4 teaspoons baking power
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup unsalted butter, softened
3/4 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
3 large organic eggs
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
3/4 cup milk
1/2 cup crunchy peanut butter
2/3 cup dark chocolate melted

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease and flour two (9-inch) round cake pans.

Method

In medium mixing bowl, sift together cake flour, baking powder and salt.
In a large mixing bowl, using a mixer on medium speed, beat together butter, brown sugar and granulated sugar until creamy, about 1-2 minutes. Beat in eggs and vanilla until combined, about 1 minute. Reduce mixer speed to low and beat in flour mixture, alternating with milk, until combined, about 2 minutes; remove half of the batter and place in medium mixing bowl. Beat peanut butter into one of the bowls filled with batter until combined. Beat melted chocolate into the other bowl filled with batter until combined.

Divide peanut butter batter into each cake pan, placing only on one side. Divide chocolate batter into each cake pan, on the opposite side; swirl batters together using a butter knife. Bake for 35 minutes or until well risen and a toothpick inserted into cake comes out with moist crumbs attached. Cool for 12 minutes, on a wire rack, before running a knife around outside edges and inverting onto wire racks to cool completely.

Chocolate Icing

2/3 cup granulated sugar
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
3 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 cup milk
1 cup unsalted butter, softened
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips, melted

In a small saucepan, whisk together sugar, flour, cocoa, salt and milk; bring to a boil, whisking frequently. Boil 1 minute or until thickened; remove pan from heat and strain mixture into a small bowl. Cool completely in the refrigerator or freezer.

Beat the butter until creamy, about 1 minute, in a large mixing bowl, using a mixer on medium speed. Beat in "chocolate pudding" mixture until well combined, about 1 minute. Beat in melted chocolate until well combined and fluffy, about 2 minutes.

Ingredients

For the Filling:
3 pints strawberries, sliced
2 tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 cup double cream, whipped

For the Shortcake
2 cups all-purpose flour
3 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
5 tablespoons sugar
6 tablespoons cold unsalted butter, cut in small pieces
3/4 cup heavy cream
2 large egg yolks
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

Method

Combine strawberries, sugar and vanilla in a large bowl and cover. Allow to macerate in the refrigerator overnight.

Preheat oven to 375ºF. Lightly butter a baking sheet.

Sift the flour, baking powder and 4 tablespoons sugar into a bowl. Add the butter, using fingers to work it quickly into the flour until the mixture resembles fine crumbs. Add the cream and yolks and gently mix together with your fingers until the dough just holds together.

Knead the dough on a floured surface until it is just smooth. Roll the dough out 3/4-inch thick. Using a floured 2 1/2-inch or 3-inch cookie cutter, cut out 4 rounds. Gather the scraps, re-roll, and cut 2 more rounds.

Put the 6 rounds on the prepared baking sheet. Brush with the melted butter and sprinkle with the remaining tablespoon of sugar. Bake in the center of the oven for 15 to 17 minutes, until the biscuits start to brown and are firm to the touch.

Cool the biscuits on a wire rack; carefully split them in half. Heap the bottoms with strawberries. Dollop with the whipped cream, then replace the biscuit tops. Serve immediately with remaining whipped cream on the side.

Ingredients

1 kg large cherries, pitted
3 tablespoons caster sugar
2 tablespoons amaretto liqueur
75g amaretti biscuits
150g self-raising flour
150g unsalted butter, chopped
110g caster sugar, extra
3 tablespoons ground almonds
5 tablespoons flaked almonds
Whipped cream, to serve

Method
Combine cherries, sugar, liqueur and 1 tablespoon water in a bowl and toss gently dont break the cherries. Smash the amaretti biscuits in a plastic bag, until coarsely chopped, add flour, butter, extra sugar and ground almonds and process until just combined. Transfer to a bowl and stir in 1 tablespoon water. Place cherry mixture in a lightly greased 19cm square ovenproof dish, sprinkle over crumble mixture and flaked almonds.

Bake for 35-40 minutes. Serve warm with whipped cream.

Bakewell pudding comes from the town of Bakewell in Derbyshire, it is often called a Bakewell tart and that in truth is a cheaper version wcich contains flour to make an almond sponge, the true Bakewell has no flour only almonds.
Ingredients

225G Puff pastry
4 Tablespoon Raspberry Preserve
110 G Ground almonds
110 Gram Caster sugar
50 Gram Butter, softened
3 organic Eggs, beaten
scant 1/2 Teaspoon Almond essence

Method

Pre-heat oven to 200 °C / 400 °F / Gas 6.

Roll out the pastry on a floured surface and use to line a 900 ml (1 1/2 pint) shallow pie dish. Mark the rim with the prongs of a fork. Brush the jam over the base. Chill in the refrigerator while making the filling.

Beat the almonds with the sugar, butter, eggs and almond essence. Pour the filling over the jam and spread it evenly. Bake for 30 minutes or until the filling is set. Serve warm or cold with fresh cream or custard.

Ingredients

1/2 pound (2 sticks, or 1 cup) butter
1 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
1 1/4 teaspoons kosher salt
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
11 ounces butterscotch chips
3/4 cup light corn syrup
1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon water
2 cups roasted salted whole cashews

Preheat oven to 350°.
Spray a 9%u2033x 13%u2033 pan with cooking spray. Using two sheets of parchment paper, line the pan's width and length, creating a parchment "sling." Spray parchment paper with cooking spray.
Beat together the butter, brown sugar, and salt for two minutes, then add the flour and mix on low until it just holds together. Lightly press dough evenly into the prepared pan and prick with a fork. Bake for 30 minutes, until the crust is a golden color.

In a heavy saucepan over low heat, stir together butterscotch chips, corn syrup, and water. Stir until mixture comes to a simmer and butterscotch chips are melted. Pour over crust.

Sprinkle cashews over the butterscotch caramel. Bake for 5 minutes. Cool completely on a wire rack. After cooling, remove from pan and use a very sharp knife to cut into bars.