DB: Traditional English Pudding

The April 2010 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Esther of The Lilac Kitchen. She challenged everyone to make a traditional British pudding using, if possible, a very traditional British ingredient: suet.

Well this challenge didn't work out that well. I actually managed to steam the pudding, but when it came to flipping it over....well lets just say it was one big mountain of steamed dough - tasty steamed dough! So after all I had something to work with. Filled it in glasses, topped it with whipped cream and fresh strawberries yummy!

I made a lemon steamed pudding with candied strawberry bits

Steamin'!

Some extra whipped cream anybody?

Lemon Steamed Pudding:

150g butter, softened

• 3/4 cup caster sugar
• 2 large lemons, rind finely grated, juiced
• 2 eggs, at room temperature
• 1 1/2 cups self-raising flour
• 
  
• Grease a 6-cup capacity pudding basin. Line base with baking paper.
• Using an electric mixer, beat butter, sugar and lemon rind until light and creamy. Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating well after each addition. Sift flour over mixture. Add 1/3 cup juice. Fold until just combined.
• Spoon batter into basin. Smooth surface. Cover basin with baking paper and foil. Secure with string (see note). Place a trivet or inverted saucer in a large saucepan. Sit basin on trivet. Pour boiling water into saucepan so it comes halfway up side of basin. Cover saucepan. Cook pudding over medium heat for 1 1/2 hours, adding more boiling water as required.
• Lift basin out of saucepan. Remove foil and paper. Turn pudding onto a warm plate. Top with lemon zest. Cut into wedges and serve with cream. (or whipped cream)
• 
  
• Original from: Taste.com

back and forth

Hey there everybody,

Just wanted to let you know that I moved back to Tel Aviv (from Germany).

It will take a while until I'll be back on track and posting regularly, after all I'm without my pantry, mixer and any baking utensils - so I hope you understand.

Hope to be back posting ASAP !

Gala :)

Mocha fluff Cookies

It takes a few tries to get exactly right, but it's totally worth it. Deep chocolate flavor in a chewy dense cookie.

I must admit I'm the owner of one of these, oddly enough these cookies are the only recipe I can imagine making from it (that isn't rice crispy treats). I appreciate the creativity but lets be honest; Fluff lemon mayonnaise? Fluff cheese and mustard sandwich? Noooooo thank you!

This recipe uses one whole jar of marshmallow creme, scooping out a whole jar definitely has something magical about it...

Midnight Mocha Madness:

1 ½ cups (250 gr) semi/bittersweet choc. chopped

90 gr (¾ stick) butter

⅓ cup cocoa

¼ cup sugar

¼ tsp salt

1 tsp espresso powder (or instant coffee)

One 7 ½ ounce jar marshmallow fluff

1 cup flour

½ tsp baking powder

2 tsp vanilla extract

1 large egg

1 cup chopped pecans

Preheat oven to 200c.

In the top of a double boiler or in a microwave . melt together chocolate, butter, cocoa, sugar, salt and espresso powder. Stir occasionally until smooth. Remove from the heat and stir the marshmallow fluff into the warm chocolate mixture. Stir in the flour, baking powder, vanilla and egg. Mix until the batter comes together; it will seem dry at first, but within a minute minutes or so it will come together. Stir in the nuts.

Drop the cookie dough by the heaping tablespoonful onto baking sheet, to prevent the cookies from spreading too much, refrigerate the dough 15 minutes before baking. Bake cookies for about 10 minutesuntil their tops puff up and look set.

Allow them to cool 5 minutes before handling, they are fragile cookies.