This self saucing recipe is a dairy free take on Black Forest gateau which is a favourite pudding of mine. It’s really silky smooth, rich and chocolatey and is great on its own or with whipped cream if you are not dairy free or with dairy free vanilla ice cream. The decorations are optional, or you can customise it with whatever you fancy like fresh berries.
Chocolate biscuits are up there as one of the best things to munch on with a cup of coffee or tea, and I love to have a snack on the go at all times. These biscuits are really chocolatey and chewy because they are made with golden syrup. They have quite a grownup taste because the flavours are quite intense and very chocolatey, which I like. You really know you have had a hit of chocolate when you have had one of these. Ralph and I think they are beyond delicious and really moreish.
A really delicious way to use up the Christmas mince pie mountain over the festive period, even the stale ones. This is my own invention and it pimps up the mince pie, turning it from a Skoda into a Ferrari. The tartness of the apple counterbalances the sweetness of the mince pies, which caramelise on top of the apples and it really works as they are a marriage made in heaven. It has all the Christmassy flavours of orange zest and mixed spice then the mix of crunchy top with the creamy apples combo, which for me is pretty perfect. My friends think this recipe is a work of genius.
Recipe
Serves 4-6.
Ingredients:
700g cooking apples, peeled, cored and chopped
25g soft brown sugar
Zest of an orange and two tablespoons of its juice
2 teaspoons mixed spice
(sometimes I double up the filling because I love a lot of apple, this will mean another 15 minutes approx of baking time)
Crumble topping
Several mince pies or more if you are a big mince pie fan
75g butter
175g plain flour (I use wholemeal spelt)
50g soft brown sugar
These tartlets take about 10 minutes to make and another 2 hours to chill. Buy good quality ready made sweet tartlet shells (available at supermarkets) to save time. After they have been chilled, dust with cocoa on top with raspberries or strawberries or decorate with whipped cream blobbed on top with chocolate shavings.
Makes approx. 32.
Ingredients:
200ml double cream
A few drops of vanilla extract
50g of caster sugar
200g of dark chocolate (70% cocoa solids) broken into small pieces
1 ounce butter
I first had this pudding in The Ivy restaurant in London with my dad. My dad almost lived there and therefore could order food without even looking at the menu. It was one of his favourite places to eat and I loved the food so much too that he gave me the cookbook. This is one of the recipes in the book. It is not only easy as it only has three ingredients but its a great combo of hot and cold and sweet and tart which is a winner in the pudding department for me.
Serves 2 greedy people.
Ingredients:
1 box of raspberries, blueberries, and blackberries
100 g of quality white chocolate
125 g double cream
