Emergency Pudding

Strawberries 'n' Cream 'digestive' sanwich 

My niece and nephew came round for the dinner the other night. I always cook something nice for them and usually make pudding too as I know how much they love it and it gives me an excuse to experiment with new recipes. That day, however had been a bit hectic and I just didn’t have time for a pudding. They were bitterly disappointed and I racked my brains to come up with something, anything that would put a smile on the glum faces around the table. Inspiration struck as I thought about what I had available. I’d been experimenting with making my own digestive biscuits and they’d come out pretty well, I had some strawberries hanging about in the fridge and half a pot of leftover cream. I pondered for a minute then came up with an emergency pudding solution. Everyone got to work: My nephew (15 yrs old) and my toddler set about whipping the cream. My niece (10 yrs old) chopped the strawberries and put them in a bowl with a spoonful of sugar and a squeeze of orange juice and I grated some dark chocolate into a little bowl. We set out the biscuits and all the other ingredients on the table and took it in turns to create and photograph our own ‘sandwich’. The result was fab – the unmistakable sandy texture of the digestives worked really well with the light and fluffy cream and juicy strawberries and the chocolate sprinkles brought it all together (after all, what’s a pudding without chocolate?). It tasted yummy, it was fun to do, it was easy and we had a real laugh taking ‘stylish’ photos for the blog.

Muffin Improvisation

blackberry and yoghurt muffins

I’m excited about these muffins in the same way I got excited about finally being able to turn a cartwheel when I was 7 years old. I’ve been practising muffins for ages now with disasters of varying degrees and more recently a few successes. A few days ago I decided to finally become my own Guru (for more about being your own Guru, see Beyond Chocolate) and make up my own recipe – my own Masterchef thing.  My son had threatened nuclear war in the supermarket a few days before and I’d managed to appease and contain him with a punnet of overpriced, sour blackberries which had been sitting in the fridge, ignored ever since. I wanted to use those – they’d probably end up tasting ok ensconced in a muffin. I had some Total Greek yoghurt (full fat) hanging about. I based the mixture on the FoolProof Yoghurt Cake and took the best tips I’d picked up from all those different muffin recipes I’d used. I let the blackberries sit in a tablespoon of the sugar for a bit and then I tossed them in the dry ingredients before adding the eggs, yoghurt and oil which I’d lightly whisked together in a separate bowl. The Total worked really well and is actually better than the Onken I’ve been using for the purpose of making muffins. It makes the mixture stiffer then the smooth batter you get using a more watery yoghurt and that helps get a muffin consistency. 

These muffins are light and fragrant and have these wonderful bursts of blackberryness inside them. I’m ridiculously thrilled with them.

Time needed to put together: 10 mins

Cooking time: 25-30 mins

Storage: They keep for a few days in a Tupperware.

Portions: Makes about 12 muffins

What you’ll need

• 1 small pot of plain yoghurt (150mls)*

*Use the pot the yoghurt comes in to measure out the other ingredients.

• 1 pot vegetable oil (sunflower or other flavourless)
• 1 to 2 pots of sugar (depending on taste)
• 3 pots plain flour
• 1 pinch of salt
• 3 eggs
• 1 rounded tbsp baking powder
• 1 small punnet of blackberries

How to put it together

1. Heat the oven to 180°C/350°F/gas 4.

2. Measure out the dry ingredients into a large mixing bowl. Sift or stir well to make sure it mixed well.

In another bowl or, better, a jug, whisk together the eggs, oil and yoghurt until smooth.

Pour the egg mixture onto the dry ingredients and then add the blackberries mixing just enough to bring the batter together. Do this gently so you don’t mash the blackberries to a pulp.

Spoon into muffins cases and cook for 25-30 mins or until skewer inserted in the centre comes out clean.

FailProof Yoghurt Cake

This recipe is insanely easy. Use the pot the yoghurt comes in to measure out the other ingredients.

1 small pot of plain yoghurt
1 pot vegetable oil (sunflower or other flavourless)
1 to 2 pots of sugar (depending on taste)
3 pots plain flour
3 eggs
1 rounded tbsp baking powder


Putting it together:

Heat the oven to 180°C/350°F/gas 4.

1) Measure out all the ingredients using the yoghurt pot into a large bowl. Mix thoroughly with a wooden spoon until you have a smooth batter.

2) Pour into a loaf tin (approx 9’ x 5’) and bake for 45 to 55 mins or until a skewer inserted in the middle of the cake comes out clean (I have noticed that the time very much depends on the oven).

Variations:
Stuff I've played with and that's worked out well. Send me yours.

Lemon: add juice and zest of a lemon

Apple: chop one large or two medium apples into smallish pieces and add to batter before pouring into loaf tine. Add 5 mins or so to cooking time.

Banana and choc chip: add 1 large or 2 small well mashed bananas and 150 grams of dark chocolate chips to the batter. Add 5 to 7 mins cooking time.

Coconut: use coconut yoghurt and add a handful desiccated coconut to the batter.