strawberry mousse...thermomixed!

need i say that this is so easy? the most fiddly thing about this is sprinkling the gelatine over the water...

1 1/2 teaspoons gelatine
1/3 cup water
100 grams sugar
250 grams strawberries
300 ml cream

place the water in a bowl and sprinkle the gelatine over the water. place the bowl over hot water to allow the gelatine to swell. stir to dissolve the gelatine and set aside.

place the sugar, strawberries and cream into the thermomix bowl and blend together on speed 8 for 15 seconds. add the gelatine mixture and mix for 5 seconds at speed 5.

pour the mixture into your favourite glasses, ramekins or bowls and refrigerate until set.

fruit and nut pretend truffles

last week at jan's, we decided to go through her cupboard and use up all the scraps of dried fruit, nuts and seeds...we even used up all the honey making these.

300 grams nut and seeds (we used a combination of brazils, almonds, sunflower seeds, sesame seeds)
150 grams dried fruit (we used cranberries, apricots and pears)
100 grams honey
extra sesame seeds to roll the truffles in


pop everything into the thermomix bowl and blitz on speed 7 until the desired consistency is acheived.

form into balls, roll in the extra sesame seeds and refrigerate until firm before serving.

su-lynn's lime cheesecakes

this is a great recipe of su-lynn's. you can make them ahead, in fact, you have to, and the are make nice, neat servings.

su-lynn's lime cheesecakes

500 grams cream cheese
1 cup castor sugar
1 cup cream
rind and juice of 1 1/2 limes
butternut cookies

place the butternut cookies at the base of the serving 12 cups.
beat the sugar and lime rind together. this releases the lime oil.
add the cream cheese and beat to combine.
add the cream and beat until smooth.
add the lime juice and beat again.
spoon into the mixture over the butternut cookies.
refrigerate for several hours. this softens the cookies.

quick apricot mousse

remember my strawberry mousse from last year? i thought that was pretty effortless. this is even more so. and three ingredients, to boot.
this is another offering from the same australian women's weekly menu planner i got the cream cheese flan from; this one's from page 54.

825 gram can apricot halves
2 teaspoons gelatine
300 grams sour cream

drain the apricots and reserve 1/2 cup syrup. sprinkle the gelatine over the syrup and allow to soften over a bowl of hot water.
puree the apricots, add the sour cream and gelatine mixture and mix until combined throughly.
pour into individual dishes and refrigerate until set.

isn't that easy? i'd suspect that it might be diabetic friendly if you used apricots in natural juice, but you should check that out with a dietician just to make sure.

cream cheese flan

every so often, i like to flip through my australian women's weekly menu planners. i don't have the whole set and would love to complete it if it is at all possible. anyway, this recipe is from the third book of the first series and was printed in 1987....page 58, if you must know. i love these little books - they hark to a different time and the recipes in them have that quaint quality to them, retro, if you like, but definitely not mainstream.
a gluten free version of this flan can be made if gluten free biscuits are used for the base.

this flan can be made up to 1 day ahead; store, covered, in the refrigerator. recipe unsuitable to freeze.

1 1/2 cups (185grams) sweet biscuit crumbs
90 grams butter, melted
250 grams cream cheese
1/2 cup sugar
2 eggs
2 teaspoons lemon rind
300 grams sour cream

combine the biscuit crumbs and butter and press over the base of a 23 cm flan tin; refrigerate until firm.
beat the cream cheese and sugar until soft, add the eggs and lemon rind and mix well.
add the sour cream and beat to combine.
pour the mixture into a saucepan and whisk over heat without boiling until slightly thickened (or microwave on high 8 minutes, stopping every 2 minute to whisk mixture).
pour mixture over biscuit base, cool and refirgerate several hours or overnight.

decorate with whipped cream, drizzled chocolate and strawberries if you'd like.

choclate crackles

miss c had her party on saturday, and she made specific requests; she wanted fairy bread and chocolate crackles. can you believe it? she's nearly 18 (we had the party early) and she wanted children's party food. beanstalk did voice his disdain by asking if i had to listen to her, but then, i had already worked out what i was hoping to do.
the fairy bread was a real hit. it was gone...
chocolate crackles were popular too, but the time they were brought out, most of the crowd had had their fill.

250 grams copha
5 cups rice bubbles
1 cup coconut
1 1/2 cups icing sugar
5 tablespoons cocoa

melt the copha.
combine the rice bubbles, coconut, icing sugar and cocoa in a large bowl and pour over the copha and mix thoroughly.
spoon into 24 paper patty pans and leave to set.

that's it.

lemon coconut squares

i know this slice is as old as the hills and most people know how to make it, but i had never made it until recently. i avoided making it because i knew how delicious it was, having eaten other people's creations; i had to show some restraint - if i made it, i'd eat it, simple as that. what was i thinking?

1/2 cup sweetened condensed milk
125 grams butter
250 grams biscuit crumbs
1 teaspoon grated lemon rind
1 cup coconut

lemon icing
1 3/4 cups icing sugar
3 tablespoons lemon juice
30 grams butter

place condensed milk and butter in a small saucepan and stir over gentle heat until the butter melts. stir in the biscuit crumbs, rind and coconut and combine well. press into a laminton pan lined with baking paper. chill for an hour.
make the lemon icing by combining the icing sugar, lemon juice and butter until smooth. spread over the prepared base and allow to set. once set, cut into squares to serve.

lemon posset

lemon posset is something i've bookmarked for a long time. i've actually bookmarked many things for a long time, but this is something that got lucky (at least i hope so). it is simplicity itself. you only need three ingredients: lemons, cream and sugar. there is no baking involved and minimal cooking time.
make this when lemons are in season - that goes without saying. also, make this for those who like lemon desserts - that, also, goes without saying.
i like making small servings and find little espresso coffee cups and chinese teacups a perfect size - just enough to get a lemon hit and crave a little more.

300 mls cream
1/2 cup sugar
100mls lemon juice (about 2 lemons)

place the cream and sugar in a small saucepan and bring to the boil and allow to bubble gently for 3 minutes. stir to disslove the sugar.
remove from the heat, add the lemon juice and stir to mix thoroughly.
pour into your receptacle of choice - i manage between 6 and 8 small serves with the espresso cups.

lemon cream cheese slice

this recipe come from the australian women's weekly's simple slices cookbook. this is a handy little A5 sized book which seems to contain alot of the favourites from over the years.

2x150g packets coconut macaroons, crushed
140g butter, melted
2 tablespoons honey


filling
3 teaspoons gelatine
1/4 cup (60ml) water
500g packaged cream cheese softened, chopped
280g jar lemon butter
1/2 cup (125ml) sour cream


grease 20cm x 30cm lamington pan; line base and two long sides with baking paper, extending paper 2cm above edge of pan.
combine macaroons, butter and honey in medium bowl; mix well. press into prepared pan, roughen surface using a fork. pour filling over macaroon base; refrigarate until firm.


filling
sprinkle gelatine over water in cup. stand in small pan of simmering water, stir until dissolved. beat cheese in medium bowl with electric mixer until smooth. add gelatine mixture and remaining ingrediants, beat until smooth.


makes about 10


tip this recipe can be made three days ahead and kept, covered, in the refrigerator.

strawberry mousse

for one reason or another, i have always avoided making mousse. i don't know whether it was the gelatine aspect, the cream whipping aspect, having to use the blender then having to wash it up, or in this case, the use of fresh, luscious berries in a dessert, when i often wonder why people don't just eat the berries just as they are, rather than fiddle with something so perfect. however, now i know why one would make a strawberry mousse - because it is soooo delicious, and oh so easy, especially the way i do it. and what made me take the plunge? it's strawberry season now and perhaps i couldn't justify not making a mousse anymore.

1 punnet (250 grams) strawberries, washed and hulled
1/2 cup sugar
300 mls cream
2 teaspoons gelatine
1/3 cup boiling water

place the gelatine in a small bowl and pour the boiling water over and stir until the gelatine has completely dissolved. set aside while the straberry mixture is being prepared.

place the strawberries, cream and sugar in the beaker of a 1 litre capacity coffee plunger and use a bamix (or other kitchen wand) to blend the contents together. once smooth, pour in the gelatine liquid and blend again.

pour the resulting mousse mixture into 150ml capacity serving glasses or ramekins. the size of your glasses will determine the number of servings you get; i usually get about 5-6 servings and find that this is ideal - any bigger, and one could experience mousse overload, and any less may not be quite satisfying enough.

refrigerate for a couple of hours, or overnight, if time permits. we tend to go through these mousses very quickly (read they are eaten as soon as they set, if not before), however, i did find one behind some other containers in the fridge which was a couple of days old and still very delicious, so i can say they do keep a couple of days quite happily.

crunchy chocolate peanut slice

this slice is delicious, no doubt about it and to think that it came about from a decent, but not favourite biscuit. on the 4th, i made chocolate peanut biscuits which had to take a back seat to the hokey pokey biscuits. since i couldn't let the perfectly good biscuits go to waste, and also to satisfy my desire to try out a new slice recipe, i hit two birds with one stone and put them together and the result was a great new slice!

this process also lead to a new discovery - i thought it might be better to refresh the week old biscuits by microwaving them. well, warm biscuits simply crumble with gentle agitation - no need for a food processor of rolling pin here. do make sure it is gentle agitation as anything too rough will render tough crumbs rather than tender ones, or just crumble the biscuits with your fingers.the plain biscuits i thought were a necessary addition to add texture, as without them, the slice is very dense and rich - the crunch gives the whole a another dimension.

this, again, is a very easy slice - just melt and mix, really, and you can't have it any easier than that. quite delectable.

200g butter
300g chocolate peanut biscuits, crumbled
100g plain biscuits, chopped roughly
6 tbsp golden syrup
4 tbsp cocoa powder

line a 20cm square baking tin with baking paper.
melt the butter and syrup in a pan. stir in the cocoa, then thoroughly stir in the biscuits.
spoon into the tin and press down firmly with the back of a spoon.
chill until set.
slice as desired.

chocolate peanut butter dreams by whisks

these are surprisingly good, especially when you consider how easy they are to make. they're fudgey and they don't heat up the house too much since they're a stovetop creation, so no oven required! they are quite rich, so don't go overboard eating them, unless your constitution can handle it (how many times can i keep saying they/theyare/they're?). i made mine by pouring the mixture in a loaf tin lined with baking paper and slicied bars off as required, rather than making little mounds of mixture.

1 1/2 cups sugar
5 tablespoons cocoa
1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup milk
3 cups quick oats
1 cup peanut butter (smooth or crunchy)
1 teaspoon vanilla

put the sugar, cocoa, butter and milk in a large saucepan and bring to the boil. allow to boil for one minute, then remove the saucepan from the heat.

add the oats, peanut butter and vanilla and mix well. this can be done with a wooden spoon, or if you don't have the energy, an electric mixer.

at this stage, you can either drop tablespoons of the mixture onto a baking sheet lined with baking paper, or pour the mixture into a lined cake tin to set in one piece so you can slice it up to serve.

leave the mixture to cool before serving. refrigerating the mixture will make it fudgier. your call - i like it fudgier.