Liquorice pudding

I was intrigued when I discovered this liquorice pudding in Nigella Lawson’s Nigellissima cook book. I love the flavour of liquorice; in ice cream, in All Sorts… and now in a creamy pudding.

Nigella recommends you use Amarelli Rossano liquorice pellets (which were out of stock when I tried to buy some), but there are a few other brands available such as Simpkins Nipits, Barkleys pure liquorice pellets and Bel Canto imps (which are little rounds rather than pellets).

Liquorice pellets were originally produced as aids to clear the throat; natural liquorice is a mucoactive agent, which means that it helps to clear mucus from the airways. Perfect little cough & cold sweets!

The recipe quantities make two little puddings – perfect for Justin and me. It’s easy to up the amounts if you’re making it as a family or dinner party dessert. It’s a quick dish to make, it can be prepared in advance and chilled and is just gorgeous. Don’t forgo the addition of the sprinkling of salt flakes as you eat – it really does lift the flavour – like salted caramel.

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Liquorice pudding

Nigella Lawson

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Course Dessert

Cuisine Italian

Servings 2 people

Ingredients

60 ml/2 fl oz water
1 tsp pure liquorice pellets
2 tbsp light brown muscovado sugar
175 ml/6 fl oz double cream
2 tsp cornflour
1 tbsp milk
sea salt flakes

Instructions

Put the water and liquorice pellets into a small saucepan (such as a milk pan) and bring to the boil, stirring or whisking frequently to help the liquorice melt
Once it starts bubbling, turn off the heat and leave for 5 minutes, stirring or whisking every now and again
Turn the heat back on and whisk in the sugar, then the cream, and bring up to a bubble. Remove from the heat.
Spoon the cornflour into a little bowl, cup or ramekin and slake it with the milk: which is to say, whisk in the milk until you have a smooth paste
Pour this, whisking as you go, into the mixture in the saucepan. Still whisking, put the pan back on the heat and bring back up to a bubble, whisking all the while, for 20-30 seconds, or until thickened
Divide between 2 heatproof glasses or cups and - unless you want to eat this hot - cover, touching the surface of the puddings, with cling film or baking parchment that you've wet with cold water then wrung out (this is to prevent a skin forming) and put them in the fridge to chill for at least 2 hours or overnight.
Allow the puddings reach room temperature before serving. Remove the cling film/parchment and smooth the tops with the back of a teaspoon. Put the salt flakes on the table to sprinkle over as you eat, if desired

Keyword liquorice, pudding

Cakes & Bakes: No-bake Nutella cheesecake

I’ve been pining for my stove and oven; there’s been no home-made bread, cakes or biscuits for almost 2 months.

Consequently, when I came across Nigella’s no-bake Nutella cheesecake recipe, I knew it was the one to make for this week’s Cakes & Bakes recipe.

I’ve not unpacked many of my kitchen appliances – just the yoghurt maker, toaster, microwave and slow-cooker. I had to grind my digestive biscuits with a pestle & mortar; they did a ‘fine’ job!

Surprisingly, Nutella is something that, we only discovered today, neither of us remembers ever buying or tasting before. What’s wrong with us? What a treat we’ve been missing out on!

Even without the aid of electrical appliances to do all the hard work, this recipe was quick and simple to prepare. And it’s just so delicious and morish… definitely one that will be made again & again.

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No-bake Nutella cheesecake

2019-09-18 14:34:45

Ingredients

250g/8¾oz digestive biscuits
75g/2⅔oz soft unsalted butter
1 x 400g jar Nutella (at room temperature)
100g/3½oz chopped toasted hazelnuts
500g/17⅔oz cream cheese (at room temperature)
60g/2oz icing sugar (sifted)

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Instructions

Break the digestive biscuits into the bowl of a processor, add the butter and a 15ml tablespoon of Nutella and blitz until it begins to clump
Add 25g/3 tablespoons of the hazelnuts and continue to pulse until you have a damp, sandy mixture
Tip into a 23cm/9" round spring-form cake tin and press into the base either using your hands or the back of a spoon. Place in the fridge to chill.
Beat the cream cheese and icing sugar until smooth and then add the remaining Nutella to the cream cheese mixture. Continue beating until combined
Take the spring-form out of the fridge and carefully smooth the Nutella mixture over the base
Scatter the remaining chopped hazelnuts on top to cover and place the tin in the fridge for at least four hours or overnight
Serve straight from the fridge for best results

By Nigella Lawson

Adapted from Nigellissima: Instant Italian Inspiration

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

Cakes & Bakes: Marzipan cake

You may remember that I baked some jammy marzipan tartlets a couple of weeks ago. I wanted to use up the marzipan that I had left over. What better way than this easy marzipan cake?

I found an easy almond cake recipe by The Domestic Goddess herself, Nigella Lawson.

She used a ring mould tin – something that I have stored away in my cake tin drawer but gets little use. As I was greasing it – and it needs a LOT of greasing to get the cake out whole – Justin piped up, “Oh no, not the dreaded bundt tin!”. The last time I used it, he complained at how dry the cake turned out.

That wasn’t a worry this time – probably due to the addition of an entire pack of butter! It was moist, soft, fragrant, delicious.

Click here or on the image below to save the marzipan cake recipe to Pinterest

Marzipan cake

2019-05-21 18:49:10

Serves 10

Prep Time

10 min

Total Time

1 hr

Prep Time

10 min

Total Time

1 hr

Ingredients

250g unsalted butter, softened
250g marzipan, softened
150g caster sugar
¼ tsp almond essence
¼ tsp vanilla extract
6 large eggs
150g self-raising flour

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Instructions

Preheat oven to 170ºC/150ºC Fan/325ºF/Gas mark 3
Chop the butter and marzipan to make them easier to break down, and put them in the bowl of the food processor, fitted with the double-bladed knife, with the sugar
Process until combined and pretty well smooth
Add the almond essence and vanilla extract. Process again
Break the eggs one at a time through the funnel, processing again each time
Tip the flour down the funnel, processing yet again, and then pour the mixture into the prepared tin, scraping the sides and bottom with a rubber spatula
Bake for 50 minutes, but check from 40
When the cake looks golden and cooked and a skewer comes out cleanish, remove from the oven and leave to cool in the tin before turning out

By Nigella Lawson

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

Cakes & Bakes: Nutty treacle tart

This week, I realised that we have lots of bags of nuts coming to their use by date. I think we were given most of them as Christmas presents last year – and, more than likely, we’ll be receiving even more in a few weeks time.

I needed to use them pronto and I’d seen a nut-filled Nigella recipe a week ago that looked tasty. She calls it pecan-plus pie; an Anglicised version of the American pecan pie. I didn’t have any pecans in my nut hoard, so I’ve rechristened mine, nutty treacle tart.

I wasn’t too sure about the pastry case when I was making it; plain flour, vegetable oil and a pinch of salt. It looked very oily when the dough came together and was being pressed into the flan dish. I needn’t have worried though, it turned out perfectly fine – crumbly and biscuity.

The treacle sauce is sweet and unctuous but not sickly. One thing I’d do if making this nutty treacle tart again, however, is roughly chop the larger nuts. The Brazils were a bit large when trying to cut the tart into slices and also when spooning bits into my mouth!

Nigella’s instructions are to bake the tart for 40 minutes at 180ºC. After spending that length of time in the oven, my tart was still quite liquid and (thanks to my clear glass flan dish) I could see the pastry still had a ‘soggy bottom’. I’d suggest upping the oven temperature a bit or cooking it for a little longer… or both; just keep checking on in it as it bakes.

Serve it (I prefer it cold) with a dollop of whipped cream or crème fraîche.

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Nutty treacle tart

2018-11-28 15:36:42

Serves 12

Cook Time

45 min

Cook Time

45 min

Ingredients

225g/8oz plain flour
½ teaspoon salt
125g/oz vegetable oil
60ml/2fl oz full fat milk
150g/5¼oz golden syrup
100g/3½oz soft butter
200g/7oz soft light brown sugar
1tsp vanilla extract
350g/12⅓oz mixed nuts
3 large eggs

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Instructions

Preheat your oven to 180°C/160°C Fan/350ºF/gas mark 4
In a large mixing bowl, combine the flour, salt, oil and milk to form a rough dough
Tip it out into a 25cm /10" diameter flan dish, and press the dough evenly into the base and up the
sides of the dish, slightly coming up over the top if possible. Put it into the freezer
Melt the golden syrup, butter and brown sugar over a lowish heat in a saucepan
Add the vanilla, stir, then take off the heat and allow it to stand and cool for 10 minutes
Remove the pastry-lined flan dish from the freezer, and arrange the mixed nuts on it
Whisk the eggs into the slightly cooled syrup until it looks like a caramel mixture, then pour it over the nuts
Bake in the oven for 45 minutes, or until the filling has set and the pastry is golden brown
Allow to cool completely before slicing and serving

By Nigella Lawson

Adapted from Nigella Christmas

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