Raspberry vacherin

With a gluten-free husband, I’m always on the lookout for yummy gf dessert recipes. This one is easy to make. It can also be made in advance and assembled on the day which is useful. I didn’t add the passionfruit and used a wild berry sorbet. When I cut it, it looked nothing like the picture below – it was too hard to cut the meringue – but it tasted delicious. I used the egg yolks to make this gluten-free chocolate tart.

 

Note:

The meringue does spread a little. If it doesn’t fit back into the springform pan, use a knife to gently carve off some of the edge until it fits.

I used a slightly bigger pan, but the sorbet layer wasn’t quite high enough.

Banoffee ice-cream tart with toffeed pecans

I was looking for something easy but spectacular for Christmas dessert and this tart won. I also liked that it could be put together over a few days so felt hassle free on the day. It can be frozen, but its quite hard to cut and eat once it is. The toffee sauce is also amazing and I’ll definitely be making it again to go over ice-cream. To make it gluten free, I made a gluten free pastry shell using half of this recipe, but you could also just use gluten free biscuits and follow the recipe.

Notes:

Once you’ve put the ice-cream into the pastry shell, make sure to keep it level in the freezer or the ice-cream runs to one side.

The toffee cooled and set quite quickly once I put the nuts and butter in. Next time I’ll put the butter in first and stir it through, and consider heating the nuts so they don’t set so quickly.

Peach mousse

This is a really light, low-fat dessert that’s super tasty too. Perfect on a hot summer’s day or to finish off a heavier meal.

Note:

To whip properly, the evaporated milk needs to be really cold. Put the tin in the fridge overnight and then put it in the freezer for an hour before you use it.

Sorry, I forgot to take a pic of my final product again!

Lemon cordial

This is a great way to use up an abundance of lemons. It’s very refreshing and great with tap water or sparkling mineral water if you want to be a bit more fancy for guests. The taste of summer!

Ingredients:

8 lemons

3 Tbsp citric acid

3 Tbsp tartaric acid

8 cups boiling water

6 cups sugar (Note: I reduced this to 4 cups and it was sweet enough)

Place the boiling water and sugar in a pot and heat until the sugar dissolves. Stir through the citric and tartaric acids and leave the syrup to cool.

Rind four of the lemons. Squeeze the juice from all eight lemons. Mix into the cool syrup.

Pour into clean bottles, seal and refrigerate.

Dilute with still or sparkling water and serve.

Notes:

• This recipe made almost three wine bottles plus the two bottles in the picture. You could easily make half or even less.
• New Zealand Meyer lemons are very sweet. I reduced the sugar to four cups and it was still sweet. You could experiment with even less sugar.
• Tartaric acid is not the same as cream of tartar, and did not seem readily available in the shops. I read online that you could use cream of tartar and double the quantity, but this left the cordial gritty and murky. I would leave the tartaric acid out if you can’t find it. (Not sure what it’s purpose is, and whether it may have a preserving function).
• I previously made it and did not keep the cordial in the fridge and it went off.
• Lemons can be squeezed and the juice can be frozen (put it into ice cube trays for easy portions). You can also freeze the rind, or you can chop them into wedges and freeze them to use in drinks.
• Search my blog (top right corner) for “lemon” and you’ll find a few other recipes that can help to use up the glut of lemons.

Brown sugar meringues with red wine plums

This is a really firm meringue that holds its shape well. The plums are delicious with the meringue. A very easy dessert that looks very impressive. These meringues would also be delicious with strawberries.

Serves 6.

Ingredients

1 tsp cornflour

1 tsp wine vinegar (I used red wine vinegar)

1 tsp vanilla extract

3 egg whites

100g caster sugar

50g light muscovado sugar (I couldn’t find muscovado sugar so I used brown sugar)

For the plums:

200ml red wine

85g light muscovado sugar

1 cinnamon stick

9 large ripe plums, halved and stoned (The plums I used had yellow flesh but I think plums with red flesh would be nicer)

400g creme fraiche (I used thickened cream)

1. Heat oven to 140 degrees C. Line a large baking sheet with baking paper. Blend together the cornflour, vinegar and vanilla to make a paste. Whisk the egg whites until they are stiff and glossy, then whisk in the sugar in three batches, adding a little paste and whisking back to firm peaks each time. Keep whisking until the meringue is thick and heavy. (See meringue notes below)
2. Spoon 6 meringue heaps onto the baking sheet, spaced apart, then shape into nests by making a dip in the centre of each with the back of a spoon. Bake for 1 hour, then turn off the oven and leave to cool in the oven for a further hour.
3. Put the wine, sugar and cinnamon stick in a medium pan and bring to the boil, stirring to dissolve the sugar. Add the plums, then poach gently for 4-5 minutes, until just tender. Remove the plums with a slotted spoon, peel off the skins, then set the fruit aside.
4. Increase the heat under the sauce and boil hard until reduced to a thick syrup, about 5 minutes. Pour into a jug, then leave to cool.
5. To serve, set the meringue nests on serving plates and spoon the creme fraiche into the centre of each. Place 3 plum halves on each and drizzle over the sauce. Serve without delay.

Notes:

• I found the skins didn’t come off easily once the plums had been poached. Next time I will try to plunge the plums into boiling water for a minute then into cold water before I poach them to see if the skins come off easier. Or alternatively peel them.
• If you are storing the syrup and plums overnight, store them separately as the sauce becomes too juicy.
• You can make the meringues and plums the day before and put them together when you are ready.

Notes on making meringues:

I’m not a meringue expert but here are a few tips:

• It’s best if eggs are room temperature.
• If there is any oil in the egg whites they will not whisk properly. Wash your hands before breaking the egg, wipe down the bowl and beaters with vinegar on a paper towel and if you get any egg yolk into the whites, start again.
• The whites need to be very heavily whipped. It’s best to do this with a proper kitchen mixer, not a handheld mixer.
• The eggs should be whipped until very stiff before even adding any sugar. This can take around 10 minutes.
• Add the sugar slowly, beating in between. To test if it has dissolved properly, rub some of the mixture between your fingers.
• If meringues are not left in the oven to cool for at least an hour or overnight, they will weep.

UPDATE

I made these with seasonal green and yellow kiwi fruit and a kiwi fruit coulis. Blend one teaspoon of icing sugar per kiwi fruit to make the coulis and then add more sugar if needed to taste. Here is a pic of the kiwi fruit version:

Chocolate marshmallow mousse

Ingredients

24 marshmallows
1 x 100gr dark chocolate
1 tin ideal milk
2 tsp instant coffee
37, 5 ml water
37, 5 ml chocolate
Liqueur of choice

1. Chill ideal milk overnight and place in freezer for about an hour before beating. It beats better when very cold
2. Cut each marshmallows into four and place in a double boiler with chocolate broken into pieces, water and instant coffee. Heat and stir till melted and mixed and smooth. Place aside to cool.
3. Whip ideal milk until very stiff and thick – about 10 minutes. Fold in the chocolate mixture and add a dash of liqueur.
4. Pour into individual serving dishes or a large bowl.
5. Decorate with cream, cherries and grated choc or crumbled Flake.

Notes:

• Don’t worry if the mixture is lumpy – it settles in the fridge
• I wrote it can be frozen but I have never tried it.
• The marshmallow mix settles to the bottom of the pudding.

Easy Ice Cream

This is one that my mom used to make. It’s so delicious! She also used to add crushed halva sometimes and make halva ice cream.

Ingredients
2 eggs
1 tsp flavouring
3 Tbsp sugar
250ml cream

1. Whip together eggs, sugar and flavouring until very stiff and white (+/- 10 minutes on whipping).
2. Beat the cream in a separate bowl.
3. Fold the cream into egg mixture and set in freezer (takes 4-5 hours).

Notes
Doesn’t keep for more than about a week because of the cream. You can add nuts, cherries, choc etc and set in a mould.