Peppermint Crisp Pie

Think banoffee pie .... minus the bananas .... with crispy, chocolatey, minty goodness.

This recipe calls for a couple of bars of Nestle Peppermint Crisp bars, I haven't managed to find anywhere that sells these bad boys apart from Cyber Candy.  Mint Aero would be a good replacement though.

The recipe comes from one of my favorite cook books Apples for Jam by Tessa Kiros.

Serves 10-12

200g Digestive Biscuits

100g Butter, melted

600g condensed milk

400ml Whipping cream

100g Peppermint Crisp bars, chopped

To make the caramel, put the cans of condensed milk into a saucepan & fill with enough water to cover the cans.  Bring the saucepan up to a boil & cook for 2 hours, make sure the water is kept topped up, otherwise the cans could explode!  Leave to cool.

Crush the biscuits & put them into a bowl with the butter:  Mix together well & then press firmly onto the base & a little way up the sides of a 26cm (10 1/2 inch) pie dish.  Put into the fridge to set.

Beat the caramel in a bowl with a wooden spoon until smooth.  Carefully spread over the biscuit base, trying not to lift any of the biscuit crumbs.

Whip the cream until it holds it's shape well, but take care not to overwhip it.  Spoon it over the caramel to cover the whole surface & scatter the peppermint chocolate over the top.

Keep in the fridge before serving.

Sour Cherry & Pistachio Fudge

You can't go wrong with some proper homemade fudge ..... unless you get the cooking wrong, which is quite easy.  Your best bet it to use a sugar thermometer, so you can get the fudge to the correct 'softball stage' of 118oC.

I found this recipe on the back of a condensed milk can, but it is also available on the Nestle Carnation Milk website . You can add whatever you like to the fudge, fruit, nuts, chocolate chips or even a good glug of whisky!

Cocoa dusted chocolate truffles

These truffles are really easy to make and look pretty professional.  

You can add a splash of rum, brandy or any other alcohol you like.  You can also roll the chocolates in chopped nuts or crushed biscuits.

The recipe is from Unwapped by Green & Blacks.

Makes 36

275g dark chocolate, minimum 60% cocoa solids, broken into pieces

250ml double cream

50g unsalted butter, at room temperature

50g cocoa powder

Place the chocolate in a large bowl.  Bring the cream to the boil and pour it over the chocolate.  Stir gently until the chocolate has melted, trying not to create bubbles.  Leave to cool for  2 minutes, add the butter in two staged and stir in gently.  Once the butter is incorporated, the ganache should be smooth and glossy with no oil slick on the surface.  If the mixture splits and an oil slick appears, put the whole lot in a food processor and blend briefly until the mixture re-emulsifies.  Set the truffle mixture in the fridge for a minimum of 3 hours or overnight.

Remove the ganache from the fridge about 15 minutes before you want to make the truffles, depending on room temperature.  Put the cocoa in a bowl.  Ensure your hands are cold and dry, then dust with cocoa.  Take spoonfuls of the ganache mixture (use a teaspoon) and roll the mixture into a ball in your cocoa dusted hands.  Drop each shaped truffle into the bowl of cocoa, turn it around then toss it between your palms to remove any excess powder.

The truffles can be returned to the fridge and kept for up to 2 days.

White chocolate & pistachio baked cheesecake with a ginger crust

This recipe from Orchards in the Oasis by Josceline Dimbleby is just a basic recipe for cheesecake.  

You can add any flavours to the cheese mix and use any biscuits you fancy for the base.

I chose white chocolate and pistachio after trying a similar flavour combination at Mrs Marengo's Vegetarian Cafe & Cake Shop, Soho.

150g ginger biscuits

50g butter, plus extra for greasing

225g curd cheese

2 tablespoons of whole milk

1 level tablespoon of cornflour

75g golden caster sugar

1/2 level teaspoon of salt

2 large free-range eggs, separated

icing sugar for dusting (optional)

110g shelled pistachios, finely chopped

100g white chocolate, melted

50g white chocolate chunks

Butter a loose-based 22-23cm round cake tin.  Crush the biscuits in a food processor and turn into a large bowl.  Melt the butter, pour onto the biscuits and stir to combine.  Press evenly over the bottom of the cake tin and chill.

Heat the oven to 170oC.  Put the cheeses into a food processor with the milk, cornflour, caster sugar, salt egg yolks and melted white chocolate if using. Whiz thoroughly and turn into a bowl.  In a clean bowl, whisk the eggs whites with a pinch of salt to soft peaks and gently fold into the cheese mixture along with the white chocolate chunks, using a metal spoon.  

Pour the mixture into the chilled base.  Bake in the centre of the oven for 50-60 minutes or until it feels only just set to a soft touch in the centre.  

Leave to cool completely.

Sift with icing sugar or dab on some gold leaf for extra decadence!

Som Tum - Green papaya salad

I ate this almost everyday in Thailand & picked up the recipe from a cookery school in Chiang Mai.  

It's definitely the best salad your likely to come across.  

The key to this dish is to use lots of chili, your nose should be running & yours eye's watering!!

If you can't find green papaya you can use cucumber or unripe mango.

100g Grated papaya

1 chopped tomato

5 green beans, chopped into 1 inch pieces

A handle of roasted peanuts

2 tbsp fish sauce

2 tbsp lime juice

1 tbsp palm sugar

1 birds-eye chili

Put the chili and peanuts into a pestle and mortar and pound together.

Add the palm sugar, fish sauce and lime juice and pound until the sugar has nearly dissolved.

Add papaya and tomatoes and mix well.

Best Banana Cake with Vanilla butter icing

This is the BEST banana cake you will ever eat. Fact.

The recipe is actually called banana bread, but after I added the icing I think it should be called a cake!  It is taken from Sophie Dahl's Voluptious Delights.

75g soft butter

4 ripe bananas, mashed up

200g soft brown sugar

1 egg, beaten

1 tablespoon of vanilla extract

1 teaspoon of bicarbonate of soda

1 pinch of salt

170g plain flour

Preheat the oven tp 180oc. Grease and line your tin.

Pour the mashed bananas into a big mixing bowl.  Mix in the butter, sugar, egg and vanilla extract.  Add the bicarbonate of soda and salt and mix the flour last.  Pour into the prepared tin.  Bake for 1 hour, remove and cool.

vanilla butter icing

230g butter, softened

113g icing sugar

1 tsp vanilla extract

2 tbsp milk

Beat the butter with an electric mix until pale and fluffy, add the icing sugar vanilla and milk and beat until smooth (about 5 minutes). Spread over the cooled cake.

Red Leicester & poppyseed shortbreads

These delicious biscuits will give you heart-attack with every bite, but they're worth it!

I used an artisan red leicester cheese - the lovely people at Neil's Yard Dairy hooked me up with a nice big chunk! 

The recipe is from Dan Lepard's How to Bake series for The Guardian.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2010/oct/30/red-leicester-biscuit-recipe-lepard

175g plain flour

½ tsp salt

A few good twists of freshly ground black pepper

¼ tsp cayenne pepper

125g unsalted butter, softened

150g red Leicester, grated

Lightly beaten egg white

Poppy seeds

Put the flour, salt, black pepper and cayenne pepper in a large mixing bowl and rub in the butter. Add the cheese and work the mixture to a smooth dough. Roll the dough into a cylinder about 30cm long, wrap it in nonstick baking paper and freeze for half an hour.

Remove the dough from the freezer, peel off the wrapper and stand the stick of dough on its end. Brush the outside all over with egg white, then roll in a scant layer of seeds, so they stick firmly to the outside. Wrap and chill the dough until needed.

To cook, heat the oven to 180C (160C fan-assisted)/350F/gas mark 4. Slice the dough into 0.75cm rounds, lay on a tray lined with nonstick paper and bake for about 20 minutes, until golden.