Tiffin for coeliacs

Ingredients

8 oz bought gluten free biscuits (doesn't much matter how horrible or tasteless they are; they can be ginger or lemon flavoured or just plain).
4 oz best salted butter
2 tablespoons granulated sugar
2 tablespoons golden syrup
1 tbsp cocoa powder
Some raisins/cherries/nuts/marshmallows/dates/mixed peel or whatever you fancy (not maltesers: they have wheat in them): about a handful of these things or more if you like.
8 oz bar of good chocolate, plain is best.

Method

1. Put the biscuits into a strong plastic bag and bash them into small pieces with a mallet.
2. Put the butter, sugar and syrup into a pan and warm them together until melted. 
3. Add the cocoa and throw in the biscuit pieces and the other bits and pieces.
4. Mix to a stiff mixture.
5. Grease a square or oblong tin (small swiss roll tin) or plastic box with good butter, and press the mixture into it. Flatten the top.
6. Break the chocolate into pieces and put in a small basin. Warm the basin of chocolate in a pan of water, until nicely melted. 
7. When the chocolate is nice and runny pour it over the warm mixture in the tin, and let it set.
8. Cool in the fridge. Cut into pieces with a knife.

Baked chocolatey ricotta cheesecake

For the base:

175g crunchy cocoa biscuits, anything with a classic biscuit consistency will do.
80g butter

Crush the biscuits (in a bag, with a rolling pin, or in a food processor) until fairly fine crumbs with some larger bits.  Cut the butter up and melt it in a bain-marie or microwave. Add the butter to the biscuits (in a bowl!) and use a spoon to combine thoroughly.

Butter your cheesecake tin (20 cm springform tin) thoroughly and line with greaseproof paper (on the bottom will do). Put the butter-biscuit mixture in the bottom of the tin and press down until it forms an even and compact covering over the whole base of the tin, about 1cm deep. Use the back of a spoon or your knuckles to press it down.

Put it in the fridge for 30 mins while you prepare the filling.

For the filling: 

120g dark chocolate, 50% cocoa
250g ricotta
250g greek yoghurt
3 eggs (if very big, use 2)
100g granulated sugar
35g cocoa powder
optional: grated rind of one lemon
cocoa for dusting the top of the cake

Break the chocolate into pieces and melt in a bain-marie or microwave. Separate the egg yolks from the egg whites, and whisk the yolks with the sugar. Separately, whisk the whites with a pinch of salt until they form firm peaks.
Turn out the ricotta into a large bowl and cream it for a moment or two using a wooden spoon (add the grated rind of one lemon at this stage if you like!), then add the yoghurt gradually, followed by the egg yolks/sugar mixture, the melted chocolate and finally the whipped egg whites.

Pour the mixture into the tin, in which you have already prepared the biscuit base. Smooth the top, and bake in the centre of the oven at 160°C for about 50 minutes.

When done, remove and leave to cool in the tin. When it is lukewarm, place it in the fridge to chill for at least 2 hours.

When chilled, remove from the tin, dust with cocoa powder and serve, or if you like first decorate it with petals made of white chocolate and lemon slices, as below...



On a piece of greaseproof paper, sketch out petal shapes with a pencil.
Break up 75g white chocolate and melt in bain-marie or microwave. Using a spoon, fill in the petal shapes you've drawn on the paper with white chocolate. Leave to cool for a few minutes, then transfer to the fridge to harden up (at least 30 minutes).

Meanwhile cut the lemon into slim slices and simmer for 10 minutes in a pan with 100 ml water and 100g granulated sugar. Remove the lemon slices and cool them on a piece of greaseproof paper.

Place one of the lemon slices on top of the cake. Around it, arrange the white chocolate petals.If you like, outline them with a little dark chocolate sauce or melted dark chocolate.


Serve the remaining lemon slices together with the cake, if you like.



Keep the cake in the fridge :-)

Winnie the Pooh's chocolate pudding (=blancmange)

(For chocolate sauce for puddings, reduce the amount of cornflour to one tbsp per half pint. You may prefer that proportion for the blancmange too.)

Serves 4

Ingredients:

3 rounded tablespoons of cornflour (One tbsp = 1/2 oz)
2 rounded tbsp cocoa powder (One tbsp = 1/2 oz)
3 rounded tbsp granulated sugar (One tbsp = 1/2 oz)
1 pt (or half a litre) of milk
A few drops of real vanilla essence (or use vanilla sugar)
Chopped walnuts etc for decoration (optional)

Method:

1. Put the cornflour and cocoa in the bottom of a measuring jug.
2. Add a little of the milk and create a thick paste. Stir till the dry ingredients are smooth and thick, with no dry bits.
3. Add a bit more of the milk and stir again till there are no lumps.
4. Add about half the milk, so that you have a good wet mixture to pour.
5. Pour the mixture into a 2 pt non-stick saucepan. 
6. Add the rest of the milk.
7. Put over a low to moderate heat and start heating it up.
8. Add all the sugar.
9. Stir carefully to keep it from sticking on the bottom. If it's sticking or turning too quickly for you to keep up, turn down the heat. If it's doing nothing turn up the heat.
10. It will thicken and then boil. Allow it to boil for about three minutes or so.
11. Draw the pan off the heat and stir in the vanilla essence.
12. Pour the mixture into a large bowl, or small glass dishes, or a lightly oiled jelly mould.
13. If serving in dishes, decorate the top with walnuts or other sprinkles.
14. If using a jelly mould, allow to cool until it is firm. Then gently pull the edges away from the mould with your fingers at the top surface; place a large plate upside down over the mould; invert the whole thing, without dropping either the plate or the pudding. Put the plate down on a table. If the pudding doesn't drop out of the mould, lift the mould a bit and coax the pudding out with your fingers, by letting the air in at one side till it flops out.

Cocoa and oatmeal crunchy biscuits

These are scrumptious and quick to make.

4oz /100g butter
3oz /75g sugar (vanilla sugar is good)
4oz/100g plain flour
1oz/25g cocoa powder
Vanilla essence (if not using vanilla sugar)
1oz/25g medium oatmeal (if you don't have oatmeal, you can use rolled oats chopped finely in a whizzy machine)

Cream butter and sugar, add flour, cocoa, oatmeal and vanilla and mix well with wooden spoon until you get a smooth, stiff dough.

Roll it out on a floured surface to about 1/4 inch thick, and cut out small/medium size shapes (approx 1 to 2 inch diameter). Put these on a greased baking sheet and bake at 180ºC / mark 4, for 10 mins. When out of the oven leave for a minute or two on the baking sheet and once they've hardened up a bit transfer to cooling rack.

Hazelnut and honey biscuits

5 oz (125g) plain flour
pinch of salt
4 oz (100g) butter
2 1/2 oz (±60g) sugar
3 oz (75g) ground hazelnuts (or start with whole hazlenuts and chop them very finely in a nut-chopper)
A few tablespoons clear honey
2-3 oz plain chocolate (optional but highly recommended).

Cream the butter and sugar until soft. Stir in the ground hazlenuts, flour and salt. Mix well then turn out onto a floured board and knead to a smooth dough.
Roll the dough out to about 1/4 inch thick. Using a small plain round cutter (oval is also good, but avoid shapes with too many delicate edges), cut out as many biscuits as possible. Place the biscuits on a greased baking tray (or several greased baking trays) and bake in the centre of a moderate oven (350F, Gas 4, 180C, 160 in fan oven) for 10-12 mins or until just golden brown at the edges. Remove from tray and cool on a rack.
Next, sandwich the biscuits together in pairs by sticking them together with honey.
Lastly, break the chocolate into squares and melt it (either in a bain-marie or in the microwave). Dip the biscuits into the chocolate so that they are half covered, then allow to set (place biscuits on greaseproof paper to avoid chocolate coming off again).
These are excellent served with coffee :-)

Red Velvet cupcakes

This recipe is rather American and the result is very sweet but also rather yummy. This came to me third hand, based on Hummingbird bakery's recipe.

For the cakes

• 60g butter, at room temperature
• 150g caster sugar
• 1 egg
• 10g cocoa powder
• Red food colouring (enough to make the mixture really red!)
• ½tsp vanilla extract
• 120ml buttermilk
• 150g plain flour
• ½tsp salt
• ½tsp bicarbonate of soda
• 1½tsp white wine vinegar

For the icing (reduce by 1/2 if only making 6 muffins instead of 12 cupcakes):

• 300g icing sugar

• 50g unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 125g cream cheese

1. Preheat the oven to 170°C/325°F/gas mark 3. Grease and line a deep-holed muffin tin (6 holes) or shallow bun tin (12 holes). You can line with paper cake cases or squares of greased greaseproof paper (5in x 5in works for muffin tins) which form "tulip" cases.
   
2. Cream the butter and the sugar until very light and fluffy. Add the egg and beat until thoroughly mixed.
3. In a separate bowl, mix the cocoa powder, red food colouring and vanilla extract together into a paste. Add that to the cake mixture and beat until thoroughly combined. The mixture should be red, not brown, by the end. If it isn't red, add a bit more red colouring.
   
4. Pour in half the buttermilk and beat (or whisk with an electric whisk). Add half the flour, and continue to beat, then add the rest of the buttermilk, followed by the rest of the flour, beating continuously until the mixture is lovely and smooth. Lastly, add the salt, bicarbonate of soda and vinegar (yes, really). Continue to beat for one or two minutes.
5. Pour the mixture into the paper cases until two-thirds full and bake in the preheated oven for 20–25 mins, or until springy. A skewer/cake tester should come out clean. Lift the cupcakes out of the tin and cool on a rack.
   
6. Now make the icing: Soften the butter - it wants to be lovely and soft but not quite liquid. Cream in the icing sugar - start with a wooden spoon and once the sugar is mostly in, blend together with a whisk if possible. Add the cream cheese and beat the mixture until it is completely incorporated and has turned fluffy, at least 5 mins. Beware not to overbeat it though, it might get too runny.
   
7. When the cupcakes are completely cold, spread the icing over them with a spoon.
   

Chocolate Krispies

To make 5 large bars or ten little nests (double this if you are having hungry friends round!)

Ingredients

 1 oz butter
1 oz (1 tbsp) castor sugar
2 oz (1 tbsp) golden syrup
3/4 oz (1 level tbsp) cocoa powder
1 1/2 oz (7 tbsp) rice pops

Optional: 1 tsp grated orange peel

Method

1. Melt the butter in a pan and add the syrup and the sugar. Stir until the mixture is smooth. Add the cocoa powder and mix well.
2. Fold in the rice pops (add the orange peel now if available).
3. Mix until the rice is well coated. Turn out into a non-stick loaf tin and press down with the backs of your fingers. Alternatively form into nests or clumps in paper cake cases.
4. Allow to cool. 
5. Cut the block into bars when almost cool, using a plastic spatula.

Mint Choc Chip Cake

Perfect for summer!

6 oz butter/marg
6 oz sugar
3 eggs
8 oz self-raising flour
8 oz chocolate chips (or chipped chocolate)
a little milk
two teaspoons of peppermint extract
green food colouring

butter
cocoa powder
icing sugar

Line and grease a fairly deep 7 or 8 inch tin. Cream butter and sugar. Add eggs, fold in flour and add chocolate chips. Add a little milk to make it slightly less stiff (but it needs to be fairly stiff or the choc chips will sink). Add 2 teaspoons of peppermint extract, and some green colouring if you like your cake to be the right colour.

Bake at 160-180 depending on your oven, for about 1hour 15.

When the cake is cool, mix up some chocolate butter icing (butter, cocoa and icing sugar) and spread it over the cake. Or use whatever your favourite choc icing is. Yummy.

Orange Choc Chip Cake

6oz butter or marg
6oz caster sugar
3 eggs
8 oz self-raising flour
8oz chocolate chips (milk or dark)
1 orange
orange oil (optional)

icing sugar
cocoa powder


Line and grease a reasonably deep 7 or 8 inch cake tin. Cream the butter and sugar, add the eggs, fold in the flour and choc chips. Zest the orange (quickest way to do this is with a potato peeler) and add the zest to the cake mixture. Then halve the orange and squeeze one half of the orange juice into the cake mixture. For added orangeyness (recommended), add a few drops of orange oil.

Spoon into the tin and bake for 1 hour 15 mins on about 180C (a bit less in a fan oven).

When the cake is cool, mix a few spoonfuls of cocoa powder, several spoons of icing sugar, and the remaining juice from the orange, to make choc-orange icing. Spread over the cake, and leave to set.

Fondant au Chocolat (version with chocolate)

200g (8oz) Dark Chocolate
3 tbsp water
150g (6oz) Butter
150g (6oz) Sugar
50g (2oz) Plain Flour
3 eggs

Icing sugar to dust

Break up chocolate, place in bowl with 3 tbsp water. Melt using bain marie or microwave. While melting, cream together butter and sugar, then carefully add eggs and flour. Fold in melted chocolate.

Line & grease bottom of large springform tin or equivalent. Pour mixture into tin and bake in preheated oven at 150ºC for 25-30 mins.

When done, the cake should be slightly crispy on top, soft in middle. Cake tester doesn't need to be clean.

Turn upside down and dust with icing sugar. Serve cold or warm with creme anglaise.

No flour chocolate cake

250 g bitter/plain chocolate
2 tbsp milk
6 tbsp sugar
6 eggs separated
240 g ground almonds

(For some reason the hand written version of this recipe also has [butter & flour) written on the bottom of the left column of ingredients... possibly it means butter and flour the tin before you pour the stuff in)

Preheat oven, 180ºC.

1. Melt the chocolate with the milk in a bain marie vel sim.
2. Mix melted chocolate with almonds, sugar and egg yolks and beat well.
3. Fold in the stiffly beaten egg whites and pour into cake tin, preferably with removable base. [no size given...]
4. Bake in preheated oven for 3/4 to one hour.
5. When cool, turn out and sprinkle with caster sugar/icing sugar to decorate.

Icing:

125 g plain chocolate
50g unsalted butter
1 egg, beaten
175 g sifted icing sugar

1. Melt chocolate and butter in bain marie
2. Mix with wooden spoon
3. Add egg and beat until smooth
4. Remove mixture from heat.
5. Stir in icing sugar and beat until smooth and glossy.
6. Pour straight on for smooth thin icing or leave to cool for thicker icing (recommended)
   

Choc Orange Bars

Ingredients:
For the bottom:

4 ozs butter
2 ozs granulated sugar
4 ozs Self Raising Flour
3 ozs rolled oats
2 rounded teaspoons of cocoa powder
pinch of salt

For the icing:

4 ozs icing sugar
2 rounded teaspoons of cocoa powder
About 2 dessertspoons of undiluted orange squash or orange juice

Method
Melt the butter in a saucepan. Weigh up the dry ingredients together and add them to the hot butter. Mix well.
Grease a 7 inch square sandwich tin.
Press the mixture into the tin.

Bake for about 25 minutes in a moderate oven, 368º F, 185ºC, Fan oven 175-80.

Now make the icing. Sieve the icing sugar and cocoa into a small basin. Mix to a coating consistency with not much orange squash/juice. Orange squash gives a better flavour. If using orange juice, add about four drops of orange oil if available.

Spread the icing over the hot cake.

When almost cold, cut into fingers.

Chocolate moussingues aka what to do with gone-wrong-meringue-mixture

What do you do when your meringue goes wrong? You got distracted and whisked the egg whites as if you were making royal icing instead of meringue. Now you've put the sugar in and it's a nice shiny white sloppy consistency. Bother.

Well, providing you still have eggs left, fear not.

1. Put the bowl of gone-wrong-meringue aside and cover. Wash your beaters.
2. Start your meringue again with fresh egg-whites and sugar, reserving the yolks for later, and beat the egg-whites properly this time.
3. When you have time e.g. the following morning, pre-heat the oven to gas 3 and return to the gone-wrong mixture and the egg-yolks left over from the new meringue. Find that scrap of cooking chocolate lurking in the cupboard because there isn't enough of it for any recipe, or mix equal weights of cocoa powder and melted butter. I think I used about 2oz chocolate for 2 egg yolk/white. Melt it in the microwave.
4. Stir the egg-yolks into the chocolate a bit at a time and beat with a fork or electric whisk until smooth.
5. Transfer the chocolate mixture into the ex-meringue mixture and mix well with electric whisk. You will get small air bubbles but it will still be runny.
6. Decant into 4 or so ramekins, filling each one about 1/2 to 2/3 full. Stand in a baking tray and place in centre of oven. Cook for 25 mins or so until set. Serve immediately for best puffed-up souffle-style effect but they taste good cold too.

Chocolate squidgey cake

6oz SR flour
6oz sugar
6oz margarine or butter
4 tsp cocoa
2 eggs
2 tbsp golden syrup

Melt syrup, butter and sugar in a saucepan. Add flour and cocoa and stir well, removing from heat. Add egg (ensure mixture has cooled a little) and mix well. Pour into 2 greased and lined 8" sandwich tins and cook for 20 mins at Gas 5.

When cooled, sandwich together with butter icing. Good with coffee-flavoured butter icing too.

Chocolate sauce for ice-cream

The recipe from the little scrap of green paper in the recipe folder.

Makes plenty for 4!

3 level dsp cocoa
1 rounded tsp cornflour
2 1/2 floz water
5 oz sugar

Put cocoa, cornflour and water in a saucepan. Bring carefuly to the boil, mixing well. Add sugar. Reboil when required, adding a knob of butter.

Super-fudge (choc) brownies (made with cocoa)

7oz butter
2oz cocoa powder
2 cups sugar
4 large eggs, beaten
1 cup plain flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla essence
3/4 cup chopped nuts or mini-marshmallows (optional)

1. Preheat oven to 180C/350F/Gas 4. Take a 9"x13" baking/roasting dish. Cut a piece of foil, mould to shape of dish, then place in dish and spray or grease foil.
2. Melt butter in saucepan or bowl. Stir in cocoa.
3. Remove from heat and stir in sugar. Beat in eggs one at a time.
4. Stir in flour, salt and baking powder, then add vanilla essence, nuts etc.
5. Pour into tin, spreading evenly. Bake 25-30 mins until moist and fudgy. Test with cake tester or fork - it should come out with sticky crumbs attached.
6. Remove from pan when cool. Cut into squares. Decorate with melted white chocolate if desired.

NB These freeze well.

Grandma's Chocolate Pudding II (larger quantities)

The family recipe book has some alternative quantities written in. Here's the version with those larger quantities instead of the original. It makes a bigger pudding with the same amount of sauce.

For the sponge:

4 oz Self raising flour
3 level tablespoons of cocoa powder
2 oz butter/margarine
4 oz caster sugar
A third of a cup of milk
a few drops of vanilla essence

For the Sauce (which sinks during the baking)

2 oz soft brown sugar
1.5 level tablespoons of cocoa powder
half a pint of boiling water

a sprinkling of caster sugar

An ovenproof dish of 1.5 pint capacity. Oven 355º F or Gas mark 4

Method

1. Sift the flour with cocoa.
2. Cut the butter into small pieces and ix into the sifted ingredients, with the caster sugar.
3. Stir in milk and vanilla essence.
4. Turn mixture into greased dish, spreading evenly.
5. Mix soft brown sugar and cocoa together and sprinkle over the pudding mixture.
6. Pour over the boiling water
7. Bake at 355º F or Gas mark 4 for 35 mins.
8. Sprinkle the top with caster sugar before serving.

Grandma's Chocolate Pudding I (original version)

For the sponge:

3 oz Self raising flour
2 level tablespoons of cocoa powder
1.5 oz butter/margarine
3 oz caster sugar
5 tablespoons or a quarter of a cup of milk
a few drops of vanilla essence

For the Sauce (which sinks during the baking)

2 oz soft brown sugar
1.5 level tablespoons of cocoa powder
half a pint of boiling water

a sprinkling of caster sugar

An ovenproof dish of 1.5 pint capacity. Oven 355º F or Gas mark 4

Method

1. Sift the flour with cocoa.
2. Cut the butter into small pieces and ix into the sifted ingredients, with the caster sugar.
3. Stir in milk and vanilla essence.
4. Turn mixture into greased dish, spreading evenly.
5. Mix soft brown sugar and cocoa together and sprinkle over the pudding mixture.
6. Pour over the boiling water
7. Bake at 355º F or Gas mark 4 for 35 mins.
8. Sprinkle the top with caster sugar before serving.
   

Choc fondue made with cocoa powder

Fudgey Chocolate Fondue

Ingredients:

• 4 oz butter or margarine
• 2 oz Cocoa powder
  
• 6 oz sugar
• 4 fl oz evaporated milk or light cream
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• Assorted Fondue Dippers: pound cake pieces, marshmallows, cherries, grapes, mandarin orange segments, pineapple chunks, strawberries, fresh fruit slices

Directions:
1. Melt butter in small saucepan over low heat. Remove from heat; immediately stir in cocoa. Add sugar and evaporated milk.

2. Cook over low heat, stirring constantly, until mixture is smooth and hot. Remove from heat; stir in vanilla. Fondue will thicken slightly as it cools. Serve warm with Assorted Fondue Dippers. About 1-1/2 cups fondue.