Archive | December, 2012

Easy ice cream Christmas pudding [and simple home made Christmas chocolates]

17 Dec

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Firstly – an apology for the lack of photos with this post. I’ve been baking like a mad woman in the last few weeks for various Christmas-related events and even though I intend to photograph as I go for my blog it hasn’t turned out this way.

Sigh.

First up, a super easy Christmas ice cream pudding that I’ve been making for many, many years. I have no idea where the original recipe comes from but it is embarrassingly easy.

This is so simple and a perfect dessert for Christmas Day in Sydney, which is, without fail, a squillion degrees. I made nine desserts for my mother-in-law’s Christmas lunch on the weekend and this was the first thing to vanish.

GATHER:

2 litres best quality vanilla ice cream, softened

1 cup mixture of sultanas, currants and raisins

Good splash of rum

¼ cup glace cherries, chopped

2 tablespoons cinnamon

LET’S GET TO IT:

Soak the dried fruit [but not the glace cherries] in rum and leave overnight.

Line a 2-litre pudding basin with cling wrap, leaving overhang.

Working quickly tip the softened ice cream into a large bowl and stir in rum-soaked fruit, cinnamon and cherries.

If desired place some home-made chocolates [see below] in the base of the pudding basin, then add ice cream. Smooth the top then fold over the overhanging cling wrap. Wrap in foil and freeze overnight.

Home made Christmas chocolates

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I found a similar idea for these little chocs online and Christmas-afied them using red and green Christmas sprinkles from a baking store. Simply line two mini muffin pans with mini liners. Place 150g your choice of chocolate with a splash of canola oil in a bowl over a pan of simmering water. Stir until melted and glossy. Pour chocolate into mini pans until bottom is covered and then a bit more. Sprinkle over Christmas sprinkles and place in fridge for a few hours until firm. Remove and discard wrappers.

Miss 7 and I made these for her to hand out to her class. We bundled a few up in cellophane bags for all of her classmates. I should have taken a photo…

Chocolate peanut butter brownies – perfect for Christmas Day

11 Dec

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Chocolate and peanut butter is always a winning combo and makes a perfect foil to all that fruit cake’n’pud traditionally offered around the Christmas table.

This easy-peasy brownie would also make a fab addition to any Christmas parties or festive barbecues.  You’ve probably got all six ingredients in your kitchen so why not make a pan of this right now? You will thank me later…

The recipe was found on BBC Good Food’s site, a fabulous place to while away the hours. I added some roasted, salted peanuts on top and boy did it make this sweet sing.

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GATHER:

225g crunchy peanut butter

200g dark chocolate, broken into pieces

280g soft light brown sugar

3 medium eggs

100g self-raising flour

handful roasted, salted peanuts

handful dark chocolate drops

LET’S GET TO IT:

Preheat oven to 180C and grease and line a 20cm pan with non-stick baking paper.

Melt peanut butter, chocolate and sugar in a pan over low heat, stirring occasionally, until the sugar has just about melted.

Turn off heat and use a wooden spoon to beat in the eggs one by one then stir in the flour.

When everything is mixed in pour into tin, then dot the peanuts and dark chocolate drops on top.

Bake 25-30 minutes, until top is firm but inside still fudgy.

Cool and cut into squares.

 

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