Peanut Butter Ice Cream with Chocolate Sauce & Salted Peanuts

Last week we suddenly experienced a mini heat wave. The sun was bright and shining and the temperature was in the low 20’s. Suddenly people everywhere were appearing in shorts and sandals, making the most of the unexpected weather. I love the feeling of stepping into the warm rays of sun, it seems to send a ripple along my arms and make me shiver – does anyone else experience this? Everything seems so much more cheery and content when the sun is shining. I even managed my first impromptu picnic of the year in Bedford park, which has to be a record!

The warm weather also brings about BBQ’s and ice cream. The latter is much more exciting for me and so I dusted off my ice cream maker and set to work. The one ice cream I always intended to make last year and never got round to was peanut butter ice cream and so naturally it was my first ice cream of choice.

I cheated slightly by using a pre-made custard as my base, you can of course make your own, but I was feeling impatient. To this I added copious amounts of crunchy peanut butter, for added texture and flavour and it was churning away in under 30 minutes.

Once softly set I had an impatient half hour wait while it chilled in the freezer until it became the perfect scoop consistency. In the meantime I made a simple chocolate sauce and crushed some salted peanuts to adorn my ice cream.

It turned out to be one of the best ice creams I’ve ever had! There was no mistaking the peanut butter! I find the flavour so satisfying and it lent a wonderfully rich and creamy mouthfeel. The little chunks of nut throughout adding a nice crunch, without being so big as to distract from the smoothness of the ice cream itself. The bitter dark chocolate ganache and the extra salty peanuts on top provided a wonderful sweet ‘n’ salty contrast. So simple yet completely delicious.

Sadly the weather didn’t last and it’s now gone back to being cold and dreary. They even have 6 inches of snow up North, talk about extremes! Hurry back sunshine!

Peanut Butter Ice Cream with Chocolate Sauce & Salted Peanuts

Peanut Butter Ice Cream
400g thick custard – homemade or shop bought
400ml whole milk
50g icing sugar
200g crunchy peanut butter

Chocolate Sauce
(This only makes a small amount as its best made fresh each time you want a scoop)
30g dark chocolate
2 tbsp double cream
Salted peanut to decorate

Method
Set your ice cream to freeze*
Mix the custard (cold if homemade) milk and icing sugar together.
Place the peanut butter into a small bowl and heat ever so slightly in the microwave to soften it. You don’t want it to get hot.
Whisk the peanut butter into the custard base and pour into your ice cream maker and churn according to manufactures instructions. It should be thick and softly set when done, about 45 minutes.
Transfer the ice cream to a large container and place in the freezer to stiffen up for about 30minutes.
Meanwhile, make the chocolate sauce. Break the chocolate into small pieces and place into a small bowl along with the cream. Heat in the microwave for 30 seconds, until the cream just begins to bubble. Keep an eye on it though.
Allow the mixture to sit for a further 30seconds before stirring together to create a smooth glossy sauce.
Scoop your ice cream into serving bowls, drizzle over some of the chocolate sauce and a sprinkling of chopped salted peanuts.
Eat and enjoy in the sunshine
Makes 1 litre ice cream

* If you don’t have an ice cream maker, simply pour the ice cream mix into a plastic container and place in the freezer. Take it out every half and hour and give it a bit of a whisk to ensure an even freezing, until you’ve reached your desired consistency.

Daring Bakers October 2011 Challenge: Povitica!

The Daring Baker’s October 2011 challenge was Povitica, hosted by Jenni of The Gingered Whisk. Povitica is a traditional Eastern European Dessert Bread that is as lovely to look at as it is to eat!

Povitica, pronounced ‘po-va-teet-sa’ is traditional Eastern European dessert bread that is traditionally served during the holiday season. It is also known as Nutroll, Potica, Kalachi or Strudia. It is a heavy sweet bread that requires quite a bit of time, skill and patience to make, meaning they often sell for extortionate amounts. Povitica is quite unique and unlike any other kind of bread I’ve ever come across. It looks a little rustic on the outside, but once sliced, reveals the most amazing swirls of thin dough interlaced with sweet sticky filling. I love how its not even just one swirl, but two or three individual swirls in each slice. It really is quite extraordinary, a real show stopper!

The traditional filling for this bread is an English walnut filling, but we were allowed to choose our own flavours. Keeping with the nutty theme I decided to use ground pecans and chestnut puree. As the swirls created inside the bread reminded me of cinnamon rolls, I also added raisins and cinnamon which together with the nuts gave it a wonderfully flavoursome and festive flavour.

The bread itself is quite heavy, by which I mean by weight rather than texture. On average a loaf weighs an amazing 2.5 pounds, over 1.2kg! Despite this, it wasn’t dense, chewy or hard going, but surprisingly soft, moist and springy.

The gooey sticky filling was divine, faintly coarse from the nuts, creamy from the divine chestnut puree (I adore this stuff) and the cinnamon and sultanas adding little burst of fruity stickiness when bitten into. It tasted a bit like the filling for a praline chocolate, just fabulous! The small amount of cocoa didn’t add much to the flavour, but ensured a dark filling, helping to create the striking swirl effect within each slice.

I so nearly didn’t attempt this loaf, unsure how it would reproduce gluten free, as so far my bread based gluten free baking has been a bit hit and miss. I’m so pleased I decided to take the plunge and make this bread. It was absolutely fabulous and that moment of slicing into the loaf and revealing the swirls tucked away inside was one of pure delight. I was dancing round the kitchen in such a good mood – It worked!

Bing gluten free the dough was a little fragile to work with and probably a bit thicker than gluten-containing dough, but I’m more than happy with my results. I had a little bit of a scary moment thinking about getting it into the tin in one piece, but in the end I went for the classic, quick scoop and plonk method using my hands and it worked fine.

I enjoyed the bread so much than I’m planning on using the recipe again, only this time slicing the roll into rounds and baking them as sticky buns or cinnamon rolls. It was so good! Thanks so much Jenni for introducing me to this bread and pushing me out of my comfort zone!

Click here to see other Daring Bakers Povitica’s

Povitica with Pecan, Chestnut, Cinnamon, Raisin Filling

To Activate the Yeast
½ tsp caster sugar
½ tsp buckwheat flour
2 tbsp warm water
1½ tsp dry active yeast

Povitica Dough
120 ml whole milk
40g caster sugar
½ tsp salt
1 egg
25g unsalted Butter, melted
260g gluten free flour (100g buckwheat, 80g white teff, 80g brown rice flour)
2 tsp xanthan gum

Pecan, Chestnut, Cinnamon, Raisin Filling
50g pecans
40g sultanas
3 tbsp sweetened chestnut puree
50ml milk
50g butter
1 egg yolk
55g caster sugar
1 tsp cocoa powder
½ tsp cinnamon

To Activate the Yeast
In a small bowl, stir together the sugar, yeast and flour. Add the water and stir well. Leave to one side for 5 minutes until thick and foamy.

To Make the Dough

In a medium saucepan, heat the milk and sugar together until the milk is hot, but not boiling, and the butter melted. Set to one side and allow to cool for 5 minutes.
In a large bowl, mix the milk, egg, sugar and the salt until combined.
Add the flour mixture and xanthan gum and pour over the yeast mixture. Use a spatula to work the dough together into a thick paste. It may be slightly sticky. Beat the batter until smooth using the spatula, adding a little more flour if it seems particularly sticky, although it should still be soft.
Cover the bowl with the dough loosely with a layer of clingfilm and place somewhere warmish to rise for one and a half hours until risen and slightly puffed looking.

To Make the Filling

Grind the pecans with half the sugar in a food processor or spice grinder until very fine.
In a bowl, mix together the ground nuts, sugar, cinnamon, cocoa powder, raisins and chestnut puree. Heat the butter and milk together until the butter has melted and then pour over the filling mix and stir together well. Finally, beat in the egg yolk. It will be quite liquid.
Transfer to the fridge to cool and thicken slightly while the dough is proving.

Assembling the Dough

Thoroughly grease a 1lb (8 x 4.5") loaf tin well and line the base and up two sides with a long strip of greaseproof paper.
Spread a clean sheet over your entire work surface so that it is covered (I used two large overlapping sheets of clingfilm).
Sprinkle a couple of tablespoons of flour over the top and place the dough on the sheet and roll the dough out with a rolling pin, starting in the middle and working your way out, until you can’t get it any thinner. It should be very thin, as thin as you dare without breaking it.
Spoon the prepared filling evenly over dough and use a spatula or clean hands to spread it out into an even layer, covering the dough – it will still be very soft.
Lift the edge of the cloth/clingfilm and gently roll the dough up as if making a swiss roll. Try and keep it quite tight, using the clingfilm or sheet to help you lift and roll the dough.
Once the dough is rolled up into a rope, gently, curve one end up alongside the dough, while curving the other end down to create an ‘S’ shape of dough. This will give the dough its characteristic look when sliced.
Quickly scoop up the dough and place it into the loaf tin. Don’t worry too much about how it falls, as long as you keep it in its ‘S’ shape.
Brush the top of the loaf with any scrapes of leftover filling mixture (or a little milk and sugar if you prefer).
Allow the dough to rest for 15 minutes while you preheat the oven to 180C.
Once the oven is up to temperature, bake for 15 minutes before reducing the heat to 150C and baking for 45 minutes more. Cover the loaf with a sheet of foil for the last 15 minutes if it’s looking too brown.
Remove the bread from oven and leave to cool almost completely in the tin, before running a knife around the edge and turning out.
Serve in thick slices and marvel at the intricate swirled design of the bread and filling.
Eat within 3 days or store in the fridge and eat within a week – 10days.
Makes one Povitica loaf

The Cake Slice October 2011: Apple Cake with Spiced Cream Cheese Frosting

It’s been an exciting month for the Cake Slice Bakers. We’ve chosen a new cake book, welcomed new members and baked our first cake from the new book. I can now reveal that our new cake book for the next 12 months is… The Cake Book by Tish Boyle and our debut cake was Apple Cake with Maple Frosting. I’m thrilled to say this cake was fabulous and if it’s a marker of cakes to come, then this book looks like being a winner!

Each month the Cake Slice Bakers all vote on which cake they want to bake next month – we’re very diplomatic like that :) The recipes in The Cake Book are set out into 8 chapters, with the first 4 being more of your traditional style cake – Angel & Sponge cakes, Pound & Coffee cakes, Butter & Oil cakes and Fruit Based cakes. The last 4 chapters are more dessert styles cakes – Flourless cakes, Cheesecakes, Mousse & Ice Cream cakes and Meringue cakes. In order to get a good mix of all different styles of cake throughout the year one month we will bake a cake from one of the 4 traditional style cakes and then the following month one of the 4 dessert style cakes. This months apple cake came from the traditional cakes, fruit based cakes selection.

This cake looks a little plain and dare I say, ordinary on first glance, but don’t let its humble appearance fool you. It’s packed full of baked apple chunks and bursting with spices with a scattering of walnuts thrown in for good measure. It’s then served with a creamy spiced cream cheese frosting, the perfect autumnal cake.

Cinnamon, cloves, ginger and brown sugar are added to the cake batter to give it its spicy warming flavour which goes perfectly with the soft sweet apple chunks, baked inside. I also added a little ground star anise, as I love its liquorice aniseed flavour. I used buckwheat flour to make it gluten free and found its nutty grassy overtones to be the ideal base for this spiced fruity nutty cake.

The accompanying cream cheese frosting was meant to be flavoured with maple, but I’m not a big fan of maple and find it often overpowers other flavours. I wanted the spices to be the star of the show and so left out the maple and added a little extra spice instead. I also chose to serve the frosting on the side of each slice, so cake eaters could add their own amount of frosting - everyone in my house like different amounts of icing on their cake.

The frosting itself was divine and I even spread the leftovers on some crackers after we’d polished off the cake. It was rich and creamy, wonderfully spiced and not too sweet. It also kept its smooth spreadable consistency rather than turning sloppy as I’ve had happen to me in the past. It’s now my go-to cream cheese frosting recipe.

Apple and spices are two of my favourite flavours (see blog title!) so this cake definitely got the thumbs up from me. I loved its unfussy appearance, keeping secret its wonderful flavours until you’ve taken that first bite. It kept moist for several days too. I can’t wait to see what next month dessert style cake is!

Click here to the Cake Slice Blogroll

Apple Cake with Spiced Cream Cheese Frosting

(Recipe adapted from The Cake Book by Tish Boyle)

Apple Cake

180g buckwheat flour (or plain flour)

1 tsp baking powder

½ tsp xanthan gum (if making GF)

1 tsp cinnamon

¼ tsp ground cloves

¼ tsp ground star anise (optional)

½ tsp ground ginger

¼ tsp bicarbonate of soda

100g butter, softened

150g light soft brown sugar (recipe stated 215g)

1 tsp vanilla extract

2 eggs

160ml buttermilk

120g peeled and chopped cooking apple or sharp eating apple

50g walnuts, chopped

Spiced Cream Cheese Frosting

170g full fat cream cheese

40g butter, softened

½ tsp vanilla extract

¼ tsp cinnamon

1/8 tsp ground ginger

Pinch of nutmeg

115g icing sugar

1/8 tsp maple flavouring (I left this out)

Apple Cake

Preheat the oven to 180C and grease the base and sides of a 9inch square baking tin. Dust with flour and set aside.

In a bowl, mix together the flour, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda, spices and xanthan gum (if using) and set aside.

Peel, core and chop the apple into 1-2cm chunks and roughly chop the walnuts.

In a separate bowl, beat the butter until soft and creamy. Add the sugar, a little at a time, beating well to combine.

Add the vanilla and the eggs, one at a time, beating well between each one.

Scatter over a third of the flour mixture, followed by half the buttermilk and mix well. Add another third of the flour, the rest of the buttermilk and mix again, finally adding the remaining flour mixture.

Fold in the apple and walnuts.

Pour the mixture into the prepared tin and smooth out the top until level.

Bake for 25-30 minutes until lightly golden and springy. It won’t rise that much due to all the apple.

Leave to cool in the tin before spreading with the cream cheese frosting and serving in generous squares.

Store any leftover frosted cake in the fridge. Alternatively, simply frost each square of cake before you eat it – leaving the cake at room temperature in an airtight container and the frosting in the fridge.

Spiced Cream Cheese Frosting

Beat butter and cream cheese together until well combined and smooth. Add the vanilla, spiced and maple flavouring (if using) and beat again.

Slowly add the icing sugar, mixing as you go.

Beat until fluffy, then store in the fridge until required.

Amazing Peanut Butter Choc Chip Cookies

Flourless peanut butter cookies are one of those seemingly magical recipes that in my mind shouldn’t work. There is no flour, grain or starch of any kind and no butter or oil and yet by simply mixing together peanut butter, sugar, an egg and a smidgen of raising agent you end up with fabulous chewy, crispy, creamy cookies. Huh? I don’t stop too long trying to explain it. It works, its good and that’s all I need to know.

I already have a recipe for peanut butter cookies on this blog and it’s the one I make when I’ve got a peanut butter craving. However, earlier this week I was browsing online and came across a slightly different recipe that included chocolate chips too! I adore peanut butter and chocolate together and so it took my literally 20 minutes from seeing the recipe to baking them.

These cookies are AMAZING! They are thicker and creamier than my previous peanut butter cookies, with a slightly crisp outer surface which yields to soft, chewy, peanut intensity middles. They are sweet, deliciously creamy and nutty. When you bite into a little chunk of dark bitter chocolate it’s just the perfect pairing, especially when the chocolate is still slightly melty from the oven. Insanely good!

I took the cookies to share with some friends and we polished off the lot. No one would ever guess they were gluten and dairy free! (check your dark chocolate) I’m going to try them with crunchy peanut butter next time, but these will take some beating! I urge you to drop what you’re doing and go bake some now!!!

Amazing Peanut Butter Choc Chip Cookies

Ingredients

240g smooth peanut butter

160g caster sugar

1 egg

½ tsp bicarbonate of soda

100g dark chocolate chips/chunks

Method

Preheat the oven to 180C. Line a tray with a silicone baking sheet.

Mix the peanut butter, sugar, egg and bicarbonate of soda together in a bowl using an electric whisk until well combined. (It will be very thick)

Add the chocolate chips and beat in.

Scoop up tablespoonfuls of the mixture and roll them into balls using your hands. Place them on the baking tray, leaving a 1-2inch gap. (Leave them as balls if you want extra thick, yet smaller sized cookies or flatten the tops slightly to create very thick discs if you want slightly larger, yet still thick cookies)

Bake in the oven for 12 minutes.

Remove from the oven and leave to cool for 3 minutes. Carefully transfer the cookies to a cooling wire using a palette knife – they will still be quite soft.

Leave to cool to room temperature before devouring.

Store in an airtight container.

Makes 12 cookies

Raspberry Hazelnut Tart with Triple Hazelnut Ice Cream

Today’s date will always hold a great meaning for me. It was on this date (28th September) last year that a pivotal life changing event occurred – I was told I had coeliac disease and could therefore no longer eat wheat, gluten, rye, barley and oats in all its weird wonderful and often delicious forms. I remember vividly sitting there as mixed emotions flooded through my mind. Relief, that they had finally found out what was wrong, devastation at the loss of some of my favourite foods, excitement about what this could all mean and bewilderment about where to start.

One year on I am feeling happier and healthier and have only had one big meltdown, rather embarrassing in the cereal isle of my local supermarket. I adore cereal and used to snack on it straight from the box and weirdly enough have found this much harder to give up than bread. I happened to go down the cereal isle one day and was looking at all the different, new and yummy cereals on offer and just broke down in tears. Thankfully it was early in the morning and no one saw me as I cried over a box of cranberry granola. Aside from that, life is good. I currently have a few other health issues brought on by my late diagnosis of coeliac disease, but over time I should be back to fighting fit. Onwards and Upwards is my motto!

To celebrate my one year gluten free I decided to make a delicious gluten free dessert and serve it to friends and family without them knowing it was gluten free. I wanted something impressive and indulgent to show that missing gluten in no way means missing out!

I decided on a variation of a frangipane tart, replacing the ground almonds with hazelnuts, using fresh raspberries instead of jam and baking it in chocolate gluten free pastry. As I was on a roll I also made some triple hazelnut ice cream by using ground toasted hazelnuts, hazelnut spread and hazelnut liqueur. I presented this in a dark chocolate tear drop shell and also made a few chocolate pastry batons with the scraps of leftover pastry.

The photo of the dish is a little fuzzy as it was dark by the time we sat down to eat, but I was pleased with the results. My favourite part was the hazelnut ice cream which was divine! It had an intense hazelnut flavour with a thick texture from the ground hazelnuts. The hazelnut liqueur added an extra dimension and also meant it stayed wonderful smooth and creamy. Enjoyed by all, gluten free or not!

Raspberry Hazelnut Tart with Triple Hazelnut Ice Cream

Raspberry Hazelnut Tart
250g Gluten free chocolate shortcrust pastry (below)*
60g butter
60g caster sugar
60g ground hazelnuts
1 egg
100g fresh raspberries

Method
Preheat the oven to 190C and place a baking tray into the oven to heat up.
Roll out pastry and line 8inch/20cm fluted tart tin. Cut off any excess and place in the fridge until required. Keep any scraps to make the pastry batons (below)
Make sure the butter is soft, then cream it together with the sugar until well combined.
Beat in the egg, followed by the ground hazelnuts.
Pour the hazelnut mixture into the tart case and arrange the raspberries on top, pushing them into the frangipane.
Place the tart on the hot baking tray and bake for 20-25 minutes until lightly golden and set.
Serve warm or at room temperature with the hazelnut ice cream and batons.
Serves 8
*Note: If you don’t want to make your own pastry, use standard pre made sweet shortcrust pastry.


Hazelnut Batons

Reroll any scrapes of chocolate pastry and cut them into thin strips. Place on a baking tray and scatter the top with a little extra caster sugar and ground hazelnuts. Bake for 15 minutes until crisp.


Gluten Free Chocolate Shortcrust Pastry

225g gluten free flour mix (I used 100g white rice flour, 80g potato flour, 50g white teff flour)
20g cocoa powder
1 tsp xanthan gum
120g butter
1 egg
50g icing sugar
1 tbsp cold water

Method
Have an 8inch/20cm tart tin ready.
Mix all the flours, icing sugar, cocoa powder and the xanthan gum together in a bowl to combine.
Make sure you butter is soft, if not blast it in the microwave for a few seconds. Add to a separate mixing bowl along with half the flour mixture, the egg and water. Beat with a spoon or spatula to form a paste. (Yes I know this goes against all traditional pastry making!) Add the rest of the flour and bring the mixture together to form a dough, switching to your hands at the end. Knead the dough gently for 1 minute to ensure everything is well combined.
Roll out the pastry between two large sheets of clingfilm to the size and shape of your tart tin, plus an extra 1-2 inches for the sides.
Peel off the top sheet of clingfilm, and use the base sheet to help you flip the pastry into the tin and press it down gently. Trim off the excess. Patch up any cracks with the off-cuts of pastry.
Place in the fridge while you prepare the filling.


Triple Hazelnut Ice Cream

4 egg yolks
100g caster sugar
300ml double cream
300ml milk
2 tbsp Nutella
75g freshly ground hazelnuts
1 tbsp Frangelico (hazelnut liqueur)
1 chocolate transfer sheet & 50g dark chocolate (optional)

Method
Lightly toast some skinned hazelnuts in a dry frying pan until lightly toasted. Use a spice ginger or small food processor to grind the nuts and 20g of the caster sugar until they resemble very fine crumbs. Be carful not to overdo it or it will start to form a paste.
Place the milk, cream and Nutella together in a saucepan and heat until hot but not boiling. Meanwhile, lightly whisk the egg yolks and remaining 80g sugar together until combined. Mix in the ground hazelnuts.
Carefully pour a little of the hot cream mixture over the top of the egg yolks and whisk well. Add the rest of the cream, whisking constantly.
Pour the mixture back into the saucepan and stir over a low heat with a spoon or spatula for around 5-6 minutes until the mixture thickens enough to coat the back of the spoon. Do not let the mixture boil as this will cause it to split and curdle.
Once ready, pour into a clean bowl and stir in the hazelnut liqueur. Leave to cool before transferring to the fridge to chill for at least 4 hours until very cold.
When chilled, churn in an ice cream machine until thick and set, or transfer to the freezer until required.
Serves 6-8

How to made a chocolate tear drop shaped ice cream mould

Cut a plastic strip from a special chocolate transfer sheet, about 3-4cm high. Coat the side imprinted with the design with melted dark chocolate and form into a tear drop shape, with the chocolate coating facing inwards. Secure with a paper clip and place in the fridge to set for 5 minutes. Once set fill the mould with the still softly frozen hazelnut ice cream and place in the freezer to firm up until required.
Just before serving peel away the plastic outer sheeting, leaving the chocolate shell and imprint surrounding the ice cream. Top with a few extra fresh raspberries

Zesty Red Grapefruit, Cranberry & Walnut Biscotti

A few days ago I was hunting in the cupboards for something crunchy to nibble on for my mid morning snack, but nothing really appealed. I suddenly got the image of biscotti drifting into my head and I realised that was exactly what I’d been craving. Biscotti! I hadn’t made or eaten those for ages. They used to appear on blogs almost on a weekly basis and yet I’ve not seen them around for a while. I checked my blog and realised that the last time I baked biscotti was December 2009!!! Yikes! It was certainly time for a biscotti revival.

I decided to try a new recipe, and the one that most appealed to me was from Prue Leiths Baking Bible, a wonderful book that I really don’t use often enough. The reason it caught my attention was that it used some cornmeal/polenta as well as the flour in the dough. As biscotti and polenta are both Italian this seemed quite fitting. I used the base of this recipe but changed the flavour of the dough and add-ins to be my own.

I had open bags of both dried cranberries and walnuts sitting on the counter and so they seemed the ideal additions to my biscotti dough. My hand was reaching for an orange to zest into it too, when I spotted a red grapefruit lurking at the back and decided to use this instead. Red grapefruit has a stronger, sharper citrus flavour than orange, but I loved the idea of it with the sweet cranberries.

The cornmeal gave the dough a very sunny yellow colour that made the glossy red cranberries shine out. I used a gluten free flour mix in place of wheat flour and realised that biscotti are the perfect gluten free cookies. Biscotti’s very characterises call for it to be crispy and crunchy rather than soft and chewy, the latter can often be hard to achieve with gluten free baking.

After baking, slicing and baking again I was rewarded with a tray of delicious biscotti. The cranberries and walnuts looked so pretty scattered throughout the dough and the cornmeal had retained some of its golden colour and lent a pleasant light texture to the biscotti along with a slight grittiness. This was a good sort of grittiness though, similar to the grains you get in shortbread, rather than nasty “I’m eating sand” grittiness!

The cranberries stayed wonderfully chewy and the chunks of walnut were soft and nutty, providing a great contrast in textures and flavours.

The aspect of the biscotti that most surprised and pleased me was how strongly the red grapefruit flavour came through. At first there was just a hint of zestiness, but once you were more than two nibbles in this developed into a really intense zingy grapefruit flavour that danced across the tip of my tongue, lingering on for several minutes even after I’d finished munching. Woooh it was definitely zingy!

Biscotti are so addictive; I’ve been finding myself nibbling at them at all times of the day. The great thing about them is that they keep for several weeks in an airtight container meaning they make great gifts for friends and even survive trips through the post. Come on everyone, its time for biscotti revival!

Zesty Red Grapefruit, Cranberry & Walnut Biscotti
(Recipe loosely based on a recipe from Leiths Baking Bible)

Ingredients
200g gluten free flour* (I used Doves brand, a mix of rice, maize, potato, buckwheat and tapioca flours)
55g fine ground cornmeal/polenta
100g caster sugar
2 eggs
40g dried cranberries
40g walnuts
Zest of ½ red grapefruit
½ tsp vanilla extract
½ tsp bicarbonate of soda

Method
Heat the oven to 180C. Line a large baking tray with baking parchment or a silicone sheet.
In a large bowl, beat the eggs, sugar, vanilla extract and zest of the red grapefruit together until well combined.
Roughly chop or break up the walnuts into large chunks and add to the bowl along with the cranberries. Stir briefly.
Scatter the flour, cornmeal and bicarbonate of soda over the top and mix it all together using a spatula. It should be quite soft and sticky.
Wet your hands before transferring the dough to the lined baking tray and shaping into a thick long log shape.
Bake in the oven for 20 minutes until puffed and lightly golden brown.
Remove from the oven, dampen a tea towel (it should not be too wet) and drape over the top of the biscotti and leave for 10 minutes (this keeps the top soft and makes slicing easier – my own discovered tip!)
After 10 mins, remove the towel and slice the biscotti into 1cm slices on the diagonal.
Arrange the slices back on the baking tray, laying them flat.
Bake in the oven for a further 15 minutes before removing from the oven and transferring to a wire rack to cool.
Store in an airtight container. Keeps well for around 3 weeks!
Make great gifts, packed in little boxes or bags.
Makes around 25 biscotti

*If not making gluten free then replace with an 170g of plain flour

Kulfi Inspired Pistachio, Saffron & Cardamom Rice Pudding Ice Cream

Kulfi is a milk based frozen desert of Indian origin that is similar to ice cream, only a little denser and richer. It often comes in gorgeous exotic flavours including mango, rose, saffron and cardamom. I have been fortunate enough to sample traditional kulfi a couple of times and always loved its rich creaminess and exciting flavours.

Indian rice pudding (I don’t know the proper name) is another one of my favourites. Often served cold, flavoured with cardamom and topped with slivers of pistachios. Last weekend I was trying to think of new ice cream flavours and decided to see what would happen if I used rice pudding as my base along with saffron, cardamom and a few chopped pistachios to create a kufli inspired ice cream.

I’m not ashamed (too much) to admit that I used a canned rice pudding. You could of course make your own but this would have taken more time than I had allocated myself and so I cheated/improvised. To get the best flavour and colour out of the saffron I steeped it first in a little warm milk. This created a lovely sunny yellow colour which gave the ice cream a rich creamy golden hue and helped the flavour develop.

The chopped pistachios added little nuggets of buttery texture along with their pretty green colour. They stayed quite soft in the ice cream, not going too hard or brittle which was nice. Cardamom is one of my favourite, yet often underused spices. It’s so distinctive and aromatic and worked brilliantly with all the other flavours.

Once churned all the flavours were apparent, with the earthy complex saffron and cardamom being most prominent. I loved how you could still clearly see the streaks of golden saffron scattered throughout. Saffron is quite distinctive (and expensive) so a little goes a long way.

The rice pudding itself got a little pulverised during churning, lending a thicker, creamier texture to the finished ice cream, but not quite as much ‘rice texture’ as I’d originally hoped.

I adored the finished ice cream, it was so different to anything else I’ve had before while having definite Kulfi overtones. It was quite rich and aromatic so small single serve scoopfuls were enough to satisfy the taste buds. It’s probably not at all authentic and I apologise to anyone who is horrified at my ice cream creation, but it tasted delicious to me.

Kulfi Inspired Pistachio, Saffron & Cardamom Rice Pudding Ice Cream

Ingredients
2 x 400g tins rice pudding
100ml milk
½ tsp ground cardamom
50g shelled pistachio nuts
40g caster sugar
Pinch saffron strands

Method
Place the saffron strands in a small bowl and pour over the milk. Place in the microwave and heat on defrost for 30-60 seconds until the milk is just warm. Stir and leave the saffron to steep in the milk for 15 minutes.
Meanwhile, pour the rice pudding into a bowl and stir in the cardamom and sugar.
Roughly chop the pistachios and add to the rice mix along with the saffron milk, including the strands of saffron, which will be a vibrant sunny yellow colour.
Stir to combine and place in the fridge to chill for 30 minutes before churning in an ice cream maker until thick. Alternatively, transfer it into a large container and place in the freezer; stir the mix every hour until set.
When thick and almost frozen, serve at once or freeze until required.