Monday No Bake - Roasted Rhubarb Ice-cream

Another quick to make pudding this week.  Hubby came home with lots of rhubarb from the allotment and the same week my recipe card in my fruit box for was a rhubarb icecream - perfect.

Ingredients:
2 sticks of rhubarb
4 tbsp honey
1/2 a vanilla pod
4 egg yolks
300g full fat creme fraiche

Method:
Preheat the oven to 200c/Gas Mark 6.  Place the rhubarb in a roasting tin and roast for 10-15 minutes until tender.
Put the honey in a medium sized pan and gently warm.  Scrape in the seeds from the vanilla pod, and whisk in the egg yolks for about 3 minutes until thickened.  Set aside to cool.
Whisk in the roasted rhubarb then whisk in the creme fraiche.  Spoon into a freezer safe tub, it should be frozen in 2 to 3 hours. 

Thanks for visiting,
Bakebakegirl

Today's top three Spotify Songs:

1. Too Bad You're So Beautiful - Duran Duran
2. Being Followed - Duran Duran
3. Blame The Machines - Duran Duran

Monday No Bake - Chocolate Yoghurt Whip

I was looking for something fast for pudding and I saw this in a Sunday magazine.    I really liked it - the greek yoghurt gives it a nice tang, but Mini wasn't keen - I don't think it was sweet enough for her!

The recipe makes a lot - much more than 6 ramekins.   So I made 3 ramekins and then froze the rest to have as ice cream.   I just did the no churn way of freezing for a couple of hours, whisking, freezing again - and repeating once more.

Ingredients:
50g cocoa
150ml freshly squeezed orange juice
500g tub greek yoghurt
4 medium egg whites
100g caster sugar
Finely grated chocolate

Method:
Place the cocoa and orange juice in a pan and bring to the boil, whisking until smooth, pour into a large bowl and cool.
Add the yoghurt to the bowl and combine.  Whip the egg whites until stiff and whisk in a couple of tablespoons of sugar at a time until you have a glossy meringue.  Fold this into the cocoa mixture.
Divide between the ramekins and cover with the grated chocolate - chill to set.

Thanks for visiting,
Bakebakegirl

Today's top three Spotify songs:

1. Scream and Shout - Will.i.am and Britney Spears
2. Porcelain - Moby
3. Teardrop - Massive Attack

Monday No Bake - Lemon Yoghurt Mousse

I have spoken about pairs of recipes I make and after making the chocolate creme brulees I searches for a recipe to use up egg whites that wasn't meringues and then kind of adapted what I had in the fridge to make this mousse.

Ingredients:
250g low fat greek yoghurt
Juice and zest of one lemon
2 medium egg whites
100g caster sugar
Raspberries to decorate

Method:
Whisk the egg whites until stiff peaks - keep whisking and gradually add the sugar until you have a glossy meringue.
Mix the lemon juice and zest with the yoghurt and fold in the meringue.  
Spoon into 4 glasses and top with as many raspberries as you like! Chill in the fridge for a couple of hours.

Best eaten on the day as the  next day the fourth one had separated - was fine after a mix to combine again!

Thanks for visiting,
Bakebakegirl

Today's top three Spotify songs:

1. These Boots Are Made For Walking - Nancy Sinatra
2. Love Again - Rae Morris
3. Keep On Moving - Five

Monday No Bake - Chocolate Creme Brulees

Today is a bank holiday so the three of us went for a walk to see the bluebells in Pryors Wood, Stevenage. We are members of the Herts and Middlesex Wildlife Trust and have previously been to these woods on an organised bug hunt which was great fun when Minibakebakegirl was a bit smaller.

The bluebells were so pretty, we did a bit of a circular walk - with Minibakebakegirl and I stopping to take photos every so often.   The sky was very blue and the sun quite warm - yesterday was so drizzly here and that is the usual bank holiday weather so this was a welcome change.

My usual creme brulee recipe is baked in the oven but this Rachel Allen recipe is a no bake one.  I made this in the afternoon to have for dinner, however it wasn't set properly - still yummy but I would make this the day before next time.  You can find the recipe here.

Thanks for visiting,
Bakebakegirl

Today's top three Spotify songs:

1. Kiss Kiss - Holly Valance
2. Bamboleo - Gipsy Kings
3. Kiss me - Sixpence None The Richer

Monday No Bake - Cake Pops

 

I have labeled this as a No Bake post as my recipe uses up left over cake.  But you can make your own sponge especially for cake pops if you want to!  

A few weeks back, I make the teeny tiny Lamington sponge - and put it in the freezer.  So last night I put it in the fridge ready to make cake pops this morning. These quantities make 12 cake pops.

Ingredients:
240g sponge
120g buttercream
100g chocolate

Method:
Whizz the sponge in a food processor (or break up by hand) until it resembles breadcrumbs.  Mix in the buttercream and bind everything together.  Roll into small balls and place on a tray lined with greaseproof paper.  Using a cake pop stick make a small hole in each one.  Place in the fridge to firm up for at least an hour.  Melt the chocolate. Dip a stick in the chocolate and then stick in the cake ball.  Place back in the fridge for about 10 mins.  Then dip the whole cake pop in the chocolate allowing the excess to run off.  You can either stand the pops upright in a block of polestyrene or upside down on the greaseproof lined tray.  I have fashioned a stand out of a supermarket cardboard cake stand that I have punched some holes in.

Today was CatK's first time of going outside.  We went for a wander round the garden together for a little bit, then he jumped up on the shed and was off into my neighbour's garden.  I went back inside to do some housework, but I kept looking into the garden to see if I could spot him!  After a bit he come back in :o)  But not for long as he wanted back out again.  He was out for hours and came in about 3pm for a sleep!  I did ask him where he had been, but he didn't disclose any information!

Thanks for visiting, 
Bakebakegirl.

Todays top three Spotify Songs;

1. Feel Good Inc - Gorillaz
2. Frozen - Madonna
3. Linger - The Cranberries

Monday No Bake - Top Hats

 

Whoooooooosh!  That was 2013 - where has the year gone?!

It's been a great year - the summer was a proper summer with hot sunny days and we had snow earlier in the year.  I love extremes of weather - better than the wet and windy Christmas we are having....

Now as a final treat for the year I am making Top Hats - these usually cause a huge Twitter discussion along with Chippy Sauce!  They are a Scottish kids party treat - so yummy and so easy to make.  Literally melt some chocolate - dip the bottom of a marshmallow in the chocolate and put into a petite four case, dip a Smartie or an M&M in the chocolate and stick to the top!  Do not mock these till you have tried them - I could eat the whole plate! 

 

 

Here's to a fantastic 2014 - Happy New Year to all my readers - whether you are a regular or just occasionally pop by - thank you :o)

My top ten countries based on pageviews are currently:

1.  UK
2.  US
3.  Russia
4.  Germany
5.  Australia
6.  Ireland
7.  China
8   Vietnam
9.  Canada
10. France 

What a range :o)



Hope to see you next year!

Bakebakegirl

Today's top three party songs:

1. Jump Around - House Of Pain
2. Tiger Feet - Mud
3. Venus - Bananarama

Monday No Bake - Chocolate Slice

It's the start of the school summer holidays here.  Minibakebakegirl really enjoyed her last week of Primary School.  They performed three nights of The Lion King, we went to see it on the Wednesday night - it was excellent.  It has still been very hot here and the Headmistress did say that they had recreated the Africa ambiance in the hall!  After the show there was the Year 6 presentation for all the leavers where they were each presented with a dictionary.  There was a slide show with photos of all her year from reception to their school journey last month.  I did have a lump in my throat - little diddy Minibakebakegirl - where has the last 6.5 years gone....

As I said it has continued to be hot here (apart from Saturday and early Sunday which was very cloudy) so I didn't fancy baking today.  Instead I made a fridge cake.   Fridge cakes are great as you can just throw in what you like: nuts, maltesers, other biscuits, chopped dried fruits - they all work well.

Ingredients:
80g butter
200g marshmallows
1 tbp water
200g chocolate - chopped
125g digestive biscuits - broken into small pieces
125g glace cherries
100g raisins

Method:
This can be made in any sized baking tray or even dolloped into cupcake cases.  it depends how thick or thin you would like it to be.  Today when I made this I halved the ingredients and made it in a loaf tin with a loaf tin liner.  If you are making this in a tin it is best to line with cling film, this will make it easier to take out and slice. 

Place the butter, marshmallows and water in a saucepan and stir over a low heat until melted.  Add the chocolate and again stir until melted and combined.  Remove from the heat and stir in the biscuits, cherries and raisins until coated.

Pour into the tin.  Place in the fridge and chill for a couple of hours until firm.  Slice and enjoy.  This is best kept in an airtight container in the fridge - actually I might get in with it to cool down!

See you next week,
Bakebakegirl

Todays top three Spotify Songs:

1. Love In An Elevator - Aerosmith
2. Janie's Got A Gun - Aerosmith
3. Dude (Looks Like a Lady) - Aerosmith

Monday No Bake - 15s

The weather has continued to be excellent here - finally a proper spell of summer weather - Saturday was hitting over 30 degrees.  Hubby was in Durham on a "man" weekend and Minibakebakegirl was in town with a friend, so I spent my time between the house and the garden with my book.  Our house thankfully, stays nice and cool downstairs in this heat.

Last week Minibakebakegirl made 15s.  Minibakebakegirl found this recipe from one of the people she follows on Youtube.

15s get their name from the fact that there are 15 each of the main ingredients!  The recipe is really easy and you can find it here. 

Instead of making one long sausage shape to slice into pieces, Minibakebakegirl rolls small balls of the mixture and puts into petit four cases.  A great messy job!

Thanks for visiting.

Todays top three Ipod songs:

1. Laura - Scissor Sisters
2. Teenage Dirtbag - Wheatus
3. Choose Life - PF Project - Feat. Ewan McGregor

Monday No Bake - Lemon Cheesecake Spider Webs

I bought these halloweeny cases for cupcakes and then saw a recipe for individual cheesecakes in Sainsburys magazine.   I usually either make baked cheesecakes or cheesecakes made with condensed milk and lemon juice. This recipe uses gelatine which I have never used before.  The leaves are exactly as Nigella describes - little fairytale castle windows!  I found it very easy to use.

Ingredients:
1 x 160g pack Taste the Difference Lemon Shortbread Thins (or digestive biscuits)
40g butter, melted
6 sheets leaf gelatine
50g caster sugar
150g full fat cream cheese at room temperature
200ml double cream at room temperature
zest and juice of 2 lemons
1 x 197g tin condensed milk
50g dark chocolate

Method:
Line a 12 hole muffin tine with paper cases .
Bash the biscuits in a freezer bag until they resemble fine crumbs.  Pour into a bowl and stir in the melted butter.   Divide between the cases, press down - I found this easiest with a shot glass.  Chill.

Soak the gelatine leaves in a shallow bowl of cold water for 5 minutes, remove by hand, squeezing out the excess water and place in a small saucepan with 3 tablespoons of water.  Stir over a very low heat until dissolved.

Put the sugar and cream cheese in a large bowl and whisk until combined,  Add the double cream, lemon zest and juice, condensed milk and dissolved gelatine, whisk with an electric hand whisk  until smooth and slightly thickened.  Divide the mixture equally among the paper cases, filling them to the top.

Pour the melted chocolate into a disposable piping bag and snip off the tip.  Pipe a spiral on to the top of one cheesecake and immediately draw lines from the centre out to the edge to make it look like a spiders web.  Repeat this with the remaining cheesecakes.  At first I piped four spirals on the top row of cheesecakes and then when I went back to draw the lines the chocolate had already set! 

Chill for 3 to 4 hours until set.

 

 



 

This could also be made as one big cheesecake in a springform tin - delicious! 

 

See you next week,
Bakebakegirl

Todays top three Spotify songs:

1. Never Tear Us Apart - Paloma Faith 
2. Carmina Burana - O Fortuna - London Philharmonic Orchestra
3. Devil Woman - Cliff Richard

Monday No Bake - Chocolate Dipped Honeycomb

 

I love halloween/bonfire night.  When I was a teenager BestFriends Aunt and Uncle would have a party every year and I loved the fireworks and the food!  Baked potatoes,  sausages, BestFriends mums slab cake....ooooh I must seek out a recipe for that! 

In this months Sainsburys magazine I spied a recipe for Chocolate dipped Honeycomb.  I have never made this before but felt the wizardry bit of the reaction of the bicarbonate of soda would interest Minibakebakegirl!

Ingredients:
25g light brown soft sugar
125g caster sugar
4 tbsp golden syrup
1 tbsp bicarbonate of soda
100g plain chocolate

Method:
Line a 20x30 cm baking tray with nonstick baking paper.
Gently heat the sugars and the golden syrup in a medium pan, stirring until the sugar has melted.  Bubble vigorously for 1 minute.
Remove from the heat and stir in the bicarbonate of soda and see the mixture froth up.  Immediately pour onto the lined baking tray.  Leave to cool.

Melt the chocolate in a small bowl.

Break the honeycomb into shards and dip the ends in the melted chocolate. Set in the fridge.  Store in an airtight container.

Please be careful if you make this as the molten sugar is very hot - I burnt my finger....but we did oooooh when it frothed up like magic!

 

 

 

This is yummy - far too moreish and didn't last long in our house!

Bakebakegirl

Todays top three Spotify songs;

1. Ghostbusters - Ray Parker Jr
2. Devil Inside - INXS
3. Hungry Like The Wolf - Duran Duran

Monday No Bake - Scottish Macaroon

I've had my sinus op :o(  Hubby told me it needed to get worse before it gets better and it has certainly done that.  I have caught up on sooo much tv - glad I was watching recorded programmes as I kept dozing off and having to rewind to the point where I fell asleep!  I'm onto series 5 of The Big Bang Theory.  E4 completely missed out series 4 but luckily Hubby found it on Tivo and I had a marathon day of watching the second half of it (had watched the first half at Sisters) as it was only available till midnight.  Hopefully once I have finished series 5 it won't be long before series 6 is out here :o)

I supervised MBBG making Hubbys birthday cake on Thursday.  This is my chocolate loaf cake without the orange juice, sandwiched and covered in chocolate buttercream with an M&M topping.  Every year as part of Hubby's presents from his Mum and Dad he gets a different box filled with M&M's.  This years is really cute with little drawers - it will look lovely on my dressing table!

 

 

It looks great doesn't it - tasted good too - even though I can't taste much at the moment! 

On Sunday 26 August me and Sister went to the recording of Radio 4's The Kitchen Cabinet at the BBC Edinburgh Festival Fringe. There was an audience of 200 people and before you went in you had to complete a survey and ask one foodie related question for the panel. Once we were seated the Producer spoke to everyone and explained that 9 questions had been picked for the panel and the 9 "lucky" people would sit in the front row to pose their questions during the show......Sister and I then spent the next 5 mins panicking that we would be picked!!! Luckily we weren't and were able to enjoy the show from where we were sitting - phew. Clarissa Dickson Wright was meant to be on but she had lost her voice. We really enjoyed it.  It was on Radio 4 on Tuesday 4 September 2012 - you can listen to it here. They record an hour and edit it to half an hour - it was interesting to see what they cut out.

They discussed several scottish delicacies - including chippy sauce! One of the sweet scottish delicacies they discussed (and cut out) was Scottish Macaroon - totally different to English or French macaroons - it contains a secret ingredient - potato! Warning: - this is very very sweet recipe - but yummy! 

When I am feeling better I will make the macaroons and update this post with a picture.

Thanks for visiting,
Bakebakegirl

Todays top three Spotify songs:

1. Hey, Soul Sister - Train
2. At Home - Crystal Fighters
3. Uprising - Muse