Black Forest self-saucing pudding to start 2018

Happy New Year, everyone! :)

I haven’t posted anything new on the blog for quite a while, even though I have several great recipes to share with you: my workload last December tripled and I was working like crazy in order to get things done before taking a few vacation days. I had also promised myself that on those vacation days I would not seat in front of a computer and I am proud to have kept the promise – I really needed the time off. Of course I am only human and used my mobile to post and check Instagram and Twitter, but that was kept to a minimum and it was a lot less than I had expected.

I got back to work and because we still have some amazing cherries around I thought I’d share this self-saucing pudding with you: it is delicious and easy to put together. Here in Brazil cherries are easier to be found in the summer, but if you are facing winter don’t worry: this recipe is also great using frozen raspberries instead of the cherries – it will no longer be a Black Forest pudding, but it will taste great all the same.

Black Forest self-saucing pudding
own recipe

Batter:
¾ cup + 2 tablespoons (125g) all purpose flour
3 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
1/3 cup (67g) granulated sugar
1 ¼ teaspoons baking powder
pinch of table salt
¼ cup (56g) unsalted butter, melted and cooled
1/3 cup (80ml) whole milk, room temperature
1 large egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 teaspoons cognac – use kirsch if you have it at home; or omit alcohol all together
1 cup (150g) fresh cherries, pitted and halved
¼ cup (42g) dark chocolate chips or chunks – I used one with 53% cocoa solids

Topping:
½ cup (88g) light brown sugar, packed
1 ½ tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
½ cup (120ml) boiling water
whipped cream or vanilla ice cream, to serve

Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F. Lightly butter four 1-cup (240ml) capacity heatproof ramekins.

Start with the batter: in a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, cocoa, granulated sugar, baking powder and salt. Set aside.
In another medium bowl, whisk together the butter, milk, egg, vanilla and cognac. Pour over the dry ingredients and stir just until a thick batter forms. Stir in the cherries and chocolate. Divide batter evenly among the ramekins.

Topping: in a small bowl, combine brown sugar and cocoa. Sprinkle over the batter. Place the ramekins in a baking sheet, then pour 2 tablespoons boiling water over each ramekin, gently pouring it over the topping. Bake for 20-25 minutes or until mixture rises and a crust forms. Serve immediately with whipped cream or vanilla ice cream.

Serves 4

Dark chocolate and dulce de leche puddings

By your comments and emails I think you’ve been enjoying the healthier recipes I’ve been posting here in the past few months, and that makes me really glad – I believe that eating better food has increasingly become important to many people, even to young people like my sister.

However, I’m sure I’m not alone here when I say that certain situations call for decadent sweets: a celebration, friends coming over for dinner, a broken heart – these are not the time to think of nutritional values, these are the times for butter, cream, chocolate, or all of them together.

You can go ahead and add dulce de leche to that mix, too – why not? :D

All those ingredients are combined in these puddings, and they are delicious, but very, very rich, so be warned; they also work well for entertaining because they can be assembled in advance and be placed in the refrigerator – when you want to serve them, pop them in the oven, they are ready in no time at all.

Dark chocolate and dulce de leche puddings
slightly adapted from the always amazing Donna Hay magazine

1 can (380g) dulce de leche
1/3 cup (80ml) heavy cream
200g dark chocolate, chopped
¼ cup (56g) unsalted butter
3 eggs
½ cup (88g) brown sugar, packed
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
½ cup (50g) almond meal
pinch of salt

Preheat oven to 200°C/400°F. Place the dulce de leche in a bowl and whisk until smooth. Add the cream and mix well to combine. Divide the mixture among eight 1 cup (240ml) capacity ovenproof cups or ramekins.

Place the chocolate and butter in a heatproof bowl over a saucepan of simmering water and stir until the chocolate is melted and smooth. Cool slightly. Place the eggs, sugar and vanilla in the bowl of an electric mixer and beat for 8–10 minutes or until doubled in size. Fold the chocolate mixture, almond meal and salt through the egg mixture. Divide between the cups, on top of the dulce de leche. Place on a baking sheet and bake for 12-15 minutes or until risen and the centers are soft – do not overbake or the mixture might overflow.
Stand for 5 minutes, then serve.

Serves 8

Chocolate self-saucing pudding - perfect to go with a soccer game

Warm desserts are something I crave even in hot days (I’m crazy, I know), and if I don’t make them when I have other things going on in the oven I think of them every time I sit on my couch to watch a movie or a TV show (there days those have been replaced by soccer games, actually). :)

I am not a chocoholic and will choose a fruit based dessert over chocolate any day, but while going through one of my old Donna Hay magazine issues searching for inspiration I saw these really pretty chocolate pots and having tried self-saucing puddings before (including chocolate ones) I could not resist them – to the kitchen I went to make these, especially for the Germany vs Ghana game. It is an easy recipe, quick to put together and that needs little over 10 minutes in the oven. Next time I want to give it a try using almond milk.

A really good match and a delicious dessert to go with it – what else could I ask for on a Saturday afternoon? ;)

Chocolate self-saucing pudding
from the always wonderful DH magazine

100g all purpose flour
¾ teaspoon baking powder
pinch of salt
2 tablespoons cocoa powder
45g brown sugar
½ cup (120ml) whole milk, room temperature
35g unsalted butter, melted and cooled
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Sauce:
90g brown sugar
2 tablespoons cocoa powder
1 cup (240ml) boiling water

Preheat oven to 180°C/350°F. Place flour, baking powder, salt, cocoa, brown sugar, milk, butter, egg and vanilla in a medium bowl and whisk to combine. Divide the batter among four 1-cup capacity ovenproof bowls or cups and place them on a baking sheet.
Sauce: combine the brown sugar and coco in a small bowl and sprinkle over the puddings. Top each pudding with ¼ cup (60ml) boiling water. Bake for 12-15 minutes or until the top is firm, like a cake (the sauce will be underneath). Serve right away.

Serves 4

Vanilla rice pudding with Port syrup

One of the things I love about watching now movies I saw for the first time on my teen days is seeing known, acclaimed actors at the beginning of their careers. I watched “Witness” last week again, after so many years, and saw Viggo Mortensen as one of the Amish guys (those of you who have been reading me for a while know I’m a huge fan – he is part of my acting Olympus, along with Mr. Fiennes and Mr. Roth). :)
I did not remember Viggo was at that movie, but I once read something here that I completely agree with: even then one could see he had potential, and now, after working with great directors – pairing up beautifully with another favorite of mine – he’s one of the best out there.

I guess I can say the same about this dessert: rice pudding is already good and comforting, but gets even better made with real vanilla and topped with this Port syrup.

Vanilla rice pudding with Port syrup
slightly adapted from Donna Hay magazine

1 cup Arborio rice
1 cinnamon stick
1 vanilla bean, split and scraped
4 cups (960ml) whole milk
1 cup (240ml) heavy cream
½ cup + 1 tablespoon (212g) caster sugar

Sticky Port syrup*:
½ cup (88g) brown sugar, packed
¼ cup (60ml) Port wine

Place the rice, cinnamon, vanilla (seeds and bean), milk, cream and sugar in a large saucepan over medium heat. Stir until the sugar is dissolved and bring to the boil. Reduce the heat to low, cover and simmer, stirring occasionally, for 30-35 minutes or until rice is al dente. Discard the vanilla bean**.
Make the syrup: place the brown sugar and the Port in a small saucepan over high heat, stirring to dissolve the sugar. Bring to the boil, reduce the heat and simmer for 1 minute or until syrupy – it will thicken as it cools.
Divide the rice pudding between six cups or small bowl and top with the sticky Port syrup.

* the original recipes calls for Marsala

** rinse the vanilla bean and remove any traces of cream/milk. Let it dry naturally then place it in your sugar jar

Serves 6

Teacup banana puddings

With all this heat, fruit goes ripe in no time – as much as Joao and I love bananas (and eat them on a daily basis) it is impossible to go through a bunch in 2-3 days.

These teacup puddings looked adorable on the magazine – I cannot resist bananas and caramel together – and were also a perfect way to use the egg whites I had left from making ice cream.

Teacup banana puddings
from Donna Hay magazine

1 ½ tablespoons (21g) unsalted butter, room temperature
1 cup (175g) brown sugar, packed
¼ cup (60m) water*
2 bananas, thinly sliced (lengthwise)
½ cup + ½ tablespoon (75g) all purpose flour
1 cup + 1 tablespoon (150g) icing sugar
¼ teaspoon baking powder
¾ cup (75g) almond meal (ground almonds)
3 egg whites
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
5 ½ tablespoons (77g) unsalted butter, melted and cooled

Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F; butter well four 1-cup (240ml) capacity ovenproof teacups.
Place the butter (21g), brown sugar and water in a small saucepan over low heat and stir until sugar is dissolved. Bring to the boil and cook for 3-4 minutes or until the sauce is syrupy. Set aside.
Place slices of the banana in prepared teacups. Spoon half the sauce over the bananas, place the teacups on a baking tray. Set aside.
Sift the flour, icing sugar and baking powder into a medium bowl and mix in the almond meal. Add the egg whites, vanilla and melted butter and stir to combine. Spoon the mixture over the bananas and bake for 20 minutes or until golden and cooked when tested with a skewer. Invert the puddings onto plates and serve with the remaining sauce.

* next time I make these, I’ll be using cream instead of water to make the caramel – with water, it turned out too dark and too runny

Makes 4

Citrus delicious pudding

I have a new obsession: delicious and put-together-in-a-minute desserts that get transformed while the oven – two different textures in only one dish.
It all started with Bill’s banana pudding and last weekend I tried Donna Hay’s citrus pudding: half of it becomes sort of a sponge cake, and the other half is similar to silky baked custard. So, so good.

Something tells me I’m gonna love Nigella’s hotcake – and I won’t be waiting for the holidays to make it. :D

Citrus delicious pudding
from Donna Hay magazine

6 ½ tablespoons (91g) unsalted butter, softened
2 ½ cups + 2 ½ tablespoons (330g) caster sugar
1 ½ cups + 1 tablespoon (375ml) milk
3 eggs
¼ cup (60ml) lemon juice
¼ cup (60ml) lime juice
½ cup (70g) all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
finely grated zest of 1 large orange
icing sugar, for dusting

Preheat the oven to 180ºC/350ºF.
Place the butter, sugar, milk, eggs, lemon and lime juices, flour, baking powder and orange zest in the bowl of a food processor and process until smooth - I tried mixing the batter in my Kitchen Aid but it didn’t work well (the butter didn’t get mixed at all). So I switched to an immersion blender.
Pour into a lightly greased 5-cup (1.2 liters) ovenproof dish and bake for 1 hour or until golden.
Dust with icing sugar to serve (I forgot).

Serves 6

Banana butterscotch pudding

I’m here today on a very special mission: I must convince you, my dear readers, to make this dessert next time you see a very ripe, freckled banana hanging around.

Banana bread is delicious, and so are banana cakes and cookies, but hear me when I say you’ll be an extremely happier person once you’ve tasted this pudding. Did I mention there’s caramel sauce involved? Oh, yes, there is. Plenty of it. Yum.

Mission accomplished. :D

Banana butterscotch pudding
from Simply Bill

¾ cup + 2 tablespoons (125g) all purpose flour
pinch of salt
3 teaspoons baking powder
½ cup + 1 tablespoon (112g) caster sugar
1 banana, mashed
1 cup (240ml) milk
6 tablespoons (84g) unsalted butter, melted
1 egg, lightly beaten
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Topping:
¾ cup + 1 tablespoon (140g) brown sugar, packed
3 tablespoons golden syrup – I used corn syrup
1 cup (240ml) boiling water

Preheat the oven to 180ºC/350ºF.
Sift the flour, salt and baking powder into a medium bowl; add sugar and mix.
Add the banana milk, butter, egg and vanilla extract and whisk together until well combined.
Pour into a greased 2-liter baking dish.

Topping: mix the brown sugar, golden syrup and water in a small pan and bring to a boil (give it a stir so sugar is dissolved).
Pour the boiling mixture carefully over the pudding, place the baking dish inside a baking sheet then bake for 30-40 minutes or until cooked through when tested with a skewer.

Serve with vanilla ice cream – I served with yogurt and its tang flavor matched the sweet caramel wonderfully!

Serves 4 – I think it definitely serves 6

Passion fruit coconut caramels

Aside from “Damages” second season, I haven’t watched anything interesting lately. The movies I want to watch will take a while to get here, so I think the solution will be a quick trip to the video store.

Knowing my DH mag would take a while to arrive – the editions follow the seasons here on the South Hemisphere, so there will be plenty of delicious winter recipes – I reached for my plan B when it comes to wonderful food.

Passion fruit coconut caramels
slightly adapted from Australian Gourmet Traveller

1 cup (200g) demerara sugar, divided
¾ cup + 1 tablespoon (200ml) coconut milk
1/3 cup (80ml) heavy cream
2 eggs
2 egg yolks
1/3 cup (80 ml) passion fruit juice*

Combine ½ cup (100g) demerara sugar and ½ cup (120ml) water in a small saucepan and stir over medium-high heat until sugar dissolves, then bring to the boil and cook for 4-5 minutes or until caramelized. Remove from heat and pour into six ½ cup-capacity ovenproof dariole moulds** and set aside.
Preheat oven to 150ºC/302ºF. Combine remaining ½ cup (100g) demerara sugar, coconut milk and cream in a saucepan and stir over medium heat until sugar dissolves, then bring just to the boil. Whisk eggs, yolks and passion fruit juice to combine, pour over cream mixture, whisking to combine, then strain into a jug. Pour into prepared moulds and place in a roasting pan. Fill pan halfway up sides of moulds with boiling water, cover pan with foil and bake for 25 minutes or until just set. Remove moulds from water and refrigerate until cold.
To serve, dip mould bases in boiling water, invert onto plates and unmould.

* to make passion fruit juice, blend passion fruit pulp in a food processor to crack seeds, then strain through a fine sieve.

** I used three 1-cup-capacity soufflé bowls and doubled the oven time

Serves 6

Baked pear custards

Let me tell you a secret: I’m a lazy person. Depending on the subject, not one beats me in the lazy department.

Joao and I had plans to go to the movies last Saturday. I’d already chosen the movie, the session... But the thought of going to a crowded mall – they are really full here in Sao Paulo on weekends – made me drop the idea. I looked at the hubby and he read my mind: “Ok, Ok, let’s stay in”. :D

But I’m no lazy when it comes to cooking and baking: I made lunch for us, baked a batch of cookies and finished up with these custards – they turned out to be my favorite recipe of the day.

Baked pear custards
from Donna Hay magazine

2 cups (480ml) pouring cream
2 eggs
1 egg yolk
1/3 cup (67g) caster sugar – I used vanilla infused sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 corella pear, thinly sliced – I used Williams
freshly grated nutmeg, for sprinkling

Preheat the oven to 150ºC/300ºF.
Place the cream in a saucepan over medium heat until it just comes to the boil. Place the eggs, egg yolk, sugar and vanilla in a bowl and whisk until combined. Gradually add the hot cream, whisking constantly to combine and to avoid cooking the eggs.
Pour into four 1 ½ cup (360ml) capacity ovenproof bowls/dishes and top with the pear slices. Place on a baking tray and cook for 20-25 minutes or until just set – this is a very silky dessert.
Sprinkle with nutmeg to serve – the magazine doesn’t mention if you these custards are supposed to be served hot or cold; I tried them warm and cold (after a night in the fridge) and think both ways work great.

Serves 4

My dad's favorite dessert: Sweetened Condensed Milk Custard

Although we still are counting calories at home, I’ll take a break from the healthy/low fat posts and show you my dad’s favorite dessert: sweetened condensed milk custard.

Last Saturday we celebrated his 59th birthday and I cooked and baked for the party. Unfortunately, I didn’t get good photos of the food – not even of the cake. I think everything was OK, because there was nothing left. :)

This custard is extremely popular here in Brazil and loved by many of us. As fattening as it looks (and is), you should give it a try – I just ask you not to put the blame on me once you get hooked.

Sweetened Condensed Milk Custard

Caramel:
160g caster sugar
100ml boiling water

Custard:
1 can sweetened condensed milk (395g)
2 cans of whole milk – use the condensed milk can to measure the milk amount
3 eggs
½ teaspoon vanilla extract

Pre-heat the oven to 200ºC/390ºF.

For the caramel: place the sugar in a saucepan over medium heat and cook until it begins to melt. Using a wooden spoon, stir it from time to time to make sure the melting process is even.
When the sugar turns into a dark brown syrup, add the water – carefully not to get burned – and cook it until there are no more sugar lumps.
Remove from heat and pour this caramel inside a 19cm ring pan, coating the sides well.
Set aside.

For the custard: place all the ingredients in a blender and blend for a couple of minutes. Pour the mixture into the prepared pan. Cover it with foil.
Place the prepared pan inside another pan and pour hot water until it comes half way the ring pan. Bake for 1 hour and 30 minutes or until a skewer/small knife inserted comes out clean
Leave it to cool then refrigerate for at least 6 hours.
Unmold and serve.

Serves 10.