Amaretto and Raisin Rice Pudding

For some inexplicable reason I was craving rice pudding, something I had never had before.

Since I didn't know if I would like it or not, I decided to head to the fridge section of the supermarket and pick one up. The sheer disappointment when I got home and discovered that I had only picked up a stupid yogurt! So, I took this as a sign to make some.

I followed the basic recipe on the back of the pack, to just cook the rice but upped the volume a little bit. Obviously I couldn't just leave it as the pack had suggested. I had to add some yummy things-sweet almond liqueur called Amaretto and a fistful of raisins.

I can now safely say, I like rice pudding!



Ingredients:
Serves 8-10 generously, can easily be halved.

3 Cups Water
1 1/2 Cups Uncooked Pudding Rice
5 Cups Whole Milk
1 Cup Double Cream
1/2 Cup Castor Sugar
1/3 Unsalted Butter
1/4 Cup Amaretto
1 Cup Raisins
Pinch of Salt
Zest of a Lemon

Method:
1. Begin by cooking the rice. Bring the 3 cups of water to the boil, stir in the lemon zest, rice and a pinch of salt.
2. Reduce heat and simmer until the water has been absorbed, stirring occasionally.
3. Remove to a dish.
4. In a large pan place the butter, milk, cream and sugar. Bring to the boil.
5. Add the rice, raisins and Amaretto and cook down until rich and creamy about 20-30 minutes. Stir occasionally.
6.Place in a serving dish and serve lovely and hot or delicious and cold.

*If you are cooling this before serving, transfer to a dish and cover with cling film directly on top of the rice pudding so a skin doesn't form*

Banana Chocolate Cupcakes with Vanilla Buttercream

'Ooohhh are those cupcakes?!' This is generally what people say around these little individual cups are delishness.

This recipe makes really soft, fluffy airy cakes and the Vanilla Buttercream is awesome-my favourite recipe.

Come on get yo' bake on!

Yum Cupped Cakes :)



Ingredients:
Makes 12
Adapted from 'Cupcakes From The Primose Bakery'
125g Unsalted Butter, soft
250g Caster Sugar
2 Eggs, beaten
1 Teaspoon Vanilla Extract
250g Plain Flour, sifted
2 Teaspoons Baking Powder
1/2 Teaspoon Salt
4 Ripe Bananas, Mashed
175g Good Quality(30%-70% cocoa solids) Plain/Milk Chocolate, chopped into small pieces
1 Quantity Vanilla Buttercream-see below

Method:
1. Preheat oven to 180 Degrees Celsius and line a twelve holed cupcake tray with cupcake cases.
2. Cream butter and sugar together in a large bowl until pale and smooth-about 5 minutes.
3. Add the eggs one at time along with the vanilla essence. If necessary scrape the sides of the bowl with a spatula.
4. Sift the flour and baking powder together, then add to the egg mixture. Stir until combined.
5. Add the mashed banana and the chocolate chips. The mixture should resemble cookie dough.
6. Scoop the mixture into the cases FILLING NO MORE THE THREE THIRDS OF THE WAY UP!!
7. Bake for 20-25 minutes until a skewer comes out clean.
8. Remove and allow to cool for 10 minutes in then, then remove onto a wire rack to cool completely.
9. Once cooled-ice these little beauties!

Vanilla Buttercream:
Ices 15ish Cupcakes
Ingredients:
100g Unsalted Butter, soft
60ml Milk, room temperature
2 Teaspoon Vanilla Extract
500g Icing Sugar, sieved twice

Method.
*Just to have a really smooth Buttercream I always sieve Icing Sugar twice*
1. In a food processor beat the butter, milk, extract and 250g of icing sugar until smooth-about 7 minutes.
2. Gradually add the remaining icing sugar until smooth.

Toffee Apples

Halloween has arrived and my sister requested I make some Toffee Apples.

Toffee Apples remind me of Halloween when I was younger, except I remember cellophane wrapped toffee coated soft apples. It was always so disappointing having your teeth sink through the toffee and soft apple flesh! These are a lot different in that they are crisp, crunchy apples with hard crackling toffee finished with sprinkles.

*Warning* The toffee when cooking gets extremely hot so be careful not to drop any on your skin.




Ingredients:
225g Demerara Sugar
110ml Water
25g Butter
2 Tablespoons Golden Syrup
1/2 Teaspoon White Wine Vineagr
6 Braeburn Apples/Granny Smith Apples
6 Lollipop Sticks
Sprinkles-optional














Method:
1. Put sugar and water in a saucepan and simmer until the sugar has dissolved stirring constantly.
2. Once sugar has dissolved remove briefly from heat and whisk in the rest of the ingredients.
3. Return to heat, place a sugar thermometer on the side of the pan and boil until it reaches 138 degrees celsius/hard crack stage. Alternatively boil for 12 minutes.
4. While sugar is boiling pierce the bottom of the apples with the lollipop sticks.
5. Once the toffee is ready, dip the apples in. Roll them around and generously coat them in the toffee.
6. Roll the toffee coated apples in sprinkles if you please.
7. Leave the apples to harden on a baking sheet lined with parchment.

Chewy(I promise!) Oatmeal, Raisin and Almond Cookies

I have tried SEVERAL cookie recipes all of which have resulted in crispy cookies and me in a bad mood. I am not a crispy cookie kind of gal, I prefer a cookie with a squidgy soft centre and this recipe definitely delivers!!



Ingredients:(Makes approx 16 cookies)
125g Unsalted Butter, softened
2/3 Cup Light Brown Sugar (Packed Tightly)
1 Large Egg
1 Teaspoon Vanilla Extract
3/4 Cup Flour
1/2 Teaspoon Bicarbonate Soda
1/2 Teaspoon Ground Cinnamon
1/2 Teaspoon Salt
1 1/2 Cups Porridge Oats
3/4 Cup Raisins
1/2 Cup Almonds Chopped








Method:
1. In a stand-up mixer cream the butter, sugar, vanilla and egg together until smooth.
2. In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, cinnamon, bicarb soda and salt.
3. Stir the flour into the butter and add the oats, raisins and chopped almonds.
4. Using an ice-cream scoop, scoop the dough onto parchment lined baking trays. The dough should be 2 inches apart.
5. Transfer to a fridge and chill for 15-20 minutes.
CHILLING THE COOKIE DOUGH WILL RESULT IN YOU HAVING A THICKER COOKIE
6.Preheat oven to 175 degrees Celsius.
7. Bake for 10-12 minutes-the baking time will differ depending on your oven. The cookies should be golden brown around the edges and a little doughy looking in the centre.
8. Allow to sit on the baking sheet for 5 minutes before removing to cool on a wire rack.
Delish!!

Salmon, Pepper and Tomato Frittata

Autumn is here and I'm ready for some home cookin'.
I'm ready for warm and rustic meals.
I'm ready to make a frittata.

There is something so yummy about a frittata. Its morish smell, its ever changing versatility, its appealing appearance and most importantly its undeniable ability to please every time!

Skulking around the kitchen I found a basket of fresh eggs, left over baked salmon and with a garden full of fresh herbs my first thought was "We're having frittata for dinner!".









Ingredients:
12 Large Eggs
50ml Milk
2 Peppers-red/green/yellow/orange
1 Large Tin of Corn
1 Red Onion
1 Large Spanish Onion
Large Handful Fresh Chives
Large Handful Fresh Parley
1 Medium Tomato, sliced
2 Baked Salmon Fillets
50g Grated Cheddar Cheese
Plenty of Salt and Pepper

Method:
Preheat oven to 200 degrees celcius.
1. Slice the onion and peppers and place in a large bowl.
2. Drain the corn and add to the bowl.
3. Drizzle with a little olive oil,season generously and with your hands mix thoroughly.
4. Roughly chop the herbs and set aside.
5.Crack all 12 eggs into another bowl, add the milk, chopped herbs, cheese and season.
6. Line a 30cm x 12cm dish with greaseproof paper.
7. Transfer onions, pepper and corn to the dish.
8. Crumble over the salmon.
9. Whisk the eggs and pour over the salmon.
10. Top with the sliced tomato and cover with a layer of tin foil.
11. Bake for 30 minutes covered. After 30 minutes remove foil and bake for a further 20 minutes or until the centre is set.
12. Serve with a simple green salad and brown bread.

Homemade Lemonade

With the weather being so unbelievably nice and how a decent summer should be-I decided to make Homemade Lemonade today! I've never actually made Homemade Lemonade but the idea really appeals to me. I think of all those 1950's housewives in floral dresses adorned with pearls, effortlessly juicing lemons while tending to all their other daily chores!

I discovered that lemonade making is incredible easy and really rewarding! The first icy-cold sip is heavenly and so satisfying. Yes juicing the lemons is tedious-but sitting outside in the glorious sun listening to 'She&Him-Volume Two'passes the time quickly!

Homemade Lemonade consists of four ingredients-water, sugar,lemons and plenty of ice. You begin by making a sugar syrup. Which simply is equal quantities of sugar and water dissolved together in a pot over the heat and boiled for 3 minutes. Sugar syrup keeps really well up to six months well sealed in the fridge.

I had some strawberries, raspberries and left over lemons in the fridge. I used these to decorate the glasses and drop in on top of the Homemade Lemonade-Delicious!









Homemade Lemonade
10-12 Glasses

Ingredients-
1 Cup of Water + 1 Cup of Sugar
2-3 Cups of freshly squeezed lemon juice(about 20-30 lemons), depending on how bitter you want it. I used 3 cups which gave it a nice zing!
1.5 Litre of still/sparkling water.
Ice

1. Pour sugar and water into a pot over a medium heat.
2. Dissolve the sugar and stir constantly until it comes to the boil.
3. Stop stirring once it reaches the boil, and boil for 3 minutes.
4. Remove from the heat and cool completely.
5. Juice all the lemons.
6. In a pitcher filled with ice-pour the cooled sugar syrup, lemon juice and water over.
7. Stir to combine and top with some whole raspberries and lemon slices.
8. Pour into ice filled glasses and enjoy!

Mozzarella Stuffed Meatballs:)

Ok...food stuffed with another food can only lead to something being awesome right?!

These delicious meatballs are stuffed with mozzarella. The mozzarella melts inside the meatball and goes all gooey and stringy and is just so moorish :)

You can use any herb/ spice combo you want in the meatballs but I kept it simple with some garlic and oregano. I am a very big garlic fan and this recipe calls for 4 garlic cloves...feel free to tone down the garlic-ness if you feel like it might be too much!

Mozzarella Stuffed Meatballs:)
Serves 4-

Ingredients:
Meatballs-
500g Minced Meat
4 Garlic Cloves, crushed
1 Teaspoon Dried Oregano
50g Breadcrumbs
75g Mozzarella, cubed into 12 pieces
Small Handful Fresh Parsley, chopped
Sauce-
1 Small Red Onion, diced
2 Roasted Red Peppers, from a jar,drained and stripped
2 Tablespoons Tomato Purée
200ml Beef Stock, I used a Knorr cube
Handful of Fresh Parsley, chopped
To Serve-
Penne Pasta, Garlic Bread and Salad.

Method:
1. Mix the meat, garlic, breadcrumbs, herbs together and season.
2. With clean wet hands roll the meat mixture into 12 meatballs.
3. Taking a meatball at a time and one piece of cubed mozzarella, poke the cheese into their centre of the meatballs and re-roll so it is fully enclosed.
4. Repeat this until all the meat mixture and cheese is gone.
5. Cover and rest in the fridge for 30 min while you make your sauce.
6. Heat some olive oil and fry your diced red onion for about 10 mins.
7. Add the tomato purée, stock, peppers and parsley.
8. Bring to the boil and turn off.
9. Heat another pan and brown your meatballs all over.
10. Add to the sauce and simmer gently the 15-20 minutes until the meatballs are cooked through.
11. Serve piled on top of Penne pasta, garlic bread and a fresh crispy green salad!