Cakes & Bakes: Cardamom rice pudding

We’ve finally polished off all the Christmas Day left overs. I made a (surprisingly delicious) fritata using up a couple of sliced up roast potatoes, sprouts and stuffing. It’s amazing what you can throw together to save on wasting food!

Today has been frosty all day and at times like this, all the body craves is comforting carbs. This hot, creamy cardamom rice pudding just hits the spot!

It’s quick to pull together, foolproof and is delicious served hot with a side of pouring cream or vanilla ice cream.

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Cardamom rice pudding

2017-03-10 17:20:15

Serves 4

Prep Time

10 min

Cook Time

1 hr 30 min

Total Time

1 hr 40 min

Prep Time

10 min

Cook Time

1 hr 30 min

Total Time

1 hr 40 min

Ingredients

100g/3½oz short-grain pudding rice
400ml/14fl oz single cream
400ml/14 fl oz full-fat milk
50g/2oz caster sugar
5 cardamom pods

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Instructions

Preheat the oven to 150ºC/300ºF/Gas mark 2
Put the rice into a sieve and rinse under a cold water tap
Drain off excess water and put the rice into a shallow, wide oven-proof dish
De-husk and grind the cardamom pods in a pestle & mortar
Put the cream, milk, sugar and ground cardamom into a medium-sized saucepan
Put the saucepan on a medium heat and stir until the sugar has dissolved (or you can heat the ingredients in a large glass measuring jug in the microwave on high for 2 minutes)
Remove from the heat and carefully pour the liquid over the rice and give it a little stir
Bake the mixture for 1½ hours, by which time the pudding should have a golden brown top
Allow to cool for a few minutes before serving with cream or ice cream

H is for Home Harbinger https://hisforhomeblog.com/

Cakes & Bakes: Shortbread rounds, three ways

Whenever the biscuit stash in our store cupboard reaches critical levels there are normally two obvious options to remedy the situation. Firstly, I can whip out a pre-made refrigerator cookie dough roll from the freezer. Alternatively, if the frozen stock is depleted, I can whip up a quick batch of shortbread.

Justin bought me this vintage wooden biscuit mould a few weeks ago, so it was a great opportunity to use it for the first time to make some shortbread rounds.

We think the mould might be Indian so we’ve added a few spices in homage – cardamom, ginger and vanilla.

The swirl pattern it makes is just beautiful – I needed to sprinkle some polenta into the mould so the dough didn’t stick and it also helped with the definition.

We liked all three flavours. And it has to be said that, if we hadn’t been trying to think of suitable Indian spices for biscuits, we probably would never have tried cardamom shortbread – yet we both thought that it was very successful. I’ll definitely be making these again soon!

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Shortbread rounds, three ways

2017-03-10 18:10:33

Ingredients

175g/6oz/¾ cup plain flour
50g/2oz/½ cup cornflour
50g/2oz/¼ caster sugar, plus extra for sprinkling
115g/4oz/½ cup butter, chopped
1 cardamom seed, removed from the pod and ground
¼ tsp vanilla essence
¼ tsp ground ginger

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Instructions

Preheat the oven to 160°C/325°F/Gas mark 3. Lightly flour the mould with semolina (or plain flour if you don't have it) and line a baking sheet with non-stick parchment paper
Sift the flour, cornflour and sugar into a mixing bowl. Rub the butter into the flour & sugar mixture until it binds together and you can knead it into a soft dough
Divide the dough into thirds (130g/4½oz each) and gently knead the ground cardamom into one, vanilla into the next and ground ginger into the last
One by one, place each ⅓ of dough into the mould and press to fit neatly and evenly. Invert the mould on to the baking sheet using your fingers if necessary to gently to release the dough shape
Bake for 20-25 minutes, until pale golden in colour
Sprinkle the top of the shortbread with a little caster sugar and cool on a baking sheet
Cut the rounds into 'petticoat tails' whilst still warm

H is for Home Harbinger https://hisforhomeblog.com/

Cakes & Bakes: Rhubarb, apple & cardamom crumble

In a recent post, we mentioned that Justin wasn’t a massive fan of fruit crumble – there was utter disbelief amongst some of our readers! We’ve talked through it over recent weeks – it’s good to get things out in the open. To be precise, he doesn’t like a soggy zone between the fruit & browned topping. The merest hint of uncooked, wet flour and there’s real distress.

Now we’ve identified the true cause of his phobia, we’ve been able to work through it together (with the help of a crumble counsellor) and have experimented with different methods. We don’t add any water to the fruit or pre-cook it any more – and top with thinner layers of crumble mix to produce crispy, crunchy perfection. There’s no stopping him now – strawberry, pear, plum – bring it on!

So, for this week’s Cakes & Bakes we’ve got a crumble – rhubarb, apple & cardamom crumble.

The cardamom adds a distinctive and really interesting twist…

…and chopped almonds in the topping also worked well.

So, the only decision left to make – custard, cream or ice cream. It was a custard kind of day for us!!

Second helpings for Justin – we really have moved forward from those dark, crumble-free years!

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Rhubarb, apple & cardamom crumble

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Course Dessert

Cuisine British

Servings 2

Ingredients

2 large stalks of rhubarb
1 Bramley apple
50 g/1¾oz demerara sugar
3 cardamom pods
100 g/3½oz plain flour
25 g/1oz rolled oats
10 g/⅓oz almonds roughly chopped
75 g/½oz cold butter cubed

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 200ºC/400ºF/gas mark 6
Remove the cardamom seeds from their husks and grind finely with a pestle & mortar
Slice the rhubarb into 2½cm/1inch slices
Peel, core & chop the apple into 1cm/⅓ cubes
Put the rhubarb, apple, half the ground cardamom and 2tbs of the sugar into a medium-sized bowl and mix until the sugar coats the fruit evenly
Decant the mixture into a 30cm x 15cm oven-proof dish
In a medium-sized bowl, add the flour, oats, sugar, chopped almonds, butter and remainder of the cardamom. Rub in the ingredients with your fingers until they resemble coarse, lumpy breadcrumbs
Cover the sugared fruit evenly with the crumble mixture
Cook for 20-30 minutes until the top has begun to brown and fruity syrup is bubbling up
Allow to cool slightly and serve with custard or vanilla ice cream

rhubarb, apple & cardamom crumble ingredients

Keyword apple, cardamom, crumble, fruit crumble, rhubarb