At last- tidy trifle!!

Trifle tastes dreamy but sadly never seems to look quite as appetising when it’s plopped in a dish in front of you!  Well not any more with Australia’s leading food editor and best-selling cookbook author Donna Hay’s delightful take on this traditional Christmas dessert…

1 ½ cup (375g) mascarpone

⅔ cups (160ml) single (pouring) cream

2 tablespoons brown sugar

18 store-bought sponge finger biscuits

1 cup (250ml) dessert wine

250g strawberries, trimmed and sliced

300g fresh raspberries

1 cup (250ml) single (pouring) cream, extra

1 tablespoon icing (confectioner’s) sugar, sifted

Place the mascarpone, cream and sugar in a bowl and whisk until soft peaks form. Set aside. Lightly grease and line a 7cm x 32cm tin with non-stick baking paper with enough paper to hang over the sides. Dip 6 sponge fingers in wine and place in the base of the tin. Top with half the strawberries and half the raspberries. Spread with half the mascarpone mixture. Dip another 6 sponge fingers in wine, place on top of the mascarpone and top with remaining berries. Top with remaining mascarpone mixture. Dip the remaining sponge fingers in wine and place on top of the mascarpone. Cover with plastic wrap, place on a baking tray and weigh down with cans of food. Refrigerate for 8 hours or overnight. Turn out onto a serving plate. Place the extra cream and sugar in a bowl and whisk until soft peaks form. Spoon over the trifle to serve. Serves 8.

posted by Emily

An edible snow globe?!

It’s now less than seven weeks until Christmas everyone, can you believe it?  So in the run up to the most magical time of the year, we’ll be posting some Christmas food and recipe ideas for you to try.

If you’re like me and you find traditional Christmas puddings a little stodgy and heavy after a rich main meal, why not try Marks and Spencer’s Snow Storm dessert as a lighter alternative?

Inspired by snow globes (we’d never have guessed!!), the vanilla jelly dome comes sprinkled with coconut flakes on a base of white chocolate and cranberry pannacotta.

I’ve not tried this yet (let me know if you do) but even if it isn’t to your taste, it’ll certainly look brilliant on the table!!

Thank goodness for grown-up jelly!

 Vanilla Panna Cotta with Raspberry Jelly (serves 4)

Raspberry Jelly
100g fresh raspberries
1 sachet diet raspberry jelly
250ml water

Vanilla Panna Cotta
400ml pure cream
15 tablets Splenda, dissolved in 1 cup boiling water
1 vanilla bean
2 teaspoons powdered gelatin (vegetarians- powdered agar agar can be substituted for the same quantity) 

Method:
 - Lightly spray 6 half cup moulds with cooking spray. Place raspberries in the bottom of each mould.
 - Mix together the raspberry jelly sachet 1 cup boiling water. Stir until completely dissolved.
 - Add 1 cup of cold water and stir. Gently pour ¼ cup of jelly over the top of the raspberries.
 - Cover and refrigerate for 2 hours or until jelly has set.
 - Combine the cream and dissolved Splenda liquid in a small saucepan over low heat.
 - Split the vanilla bean lengthways, scrape out the seeds and add them to the saucepan.
 - Use a whisk to evenly distribute the seeds through the panna cotta mixture.
 - Add the gelatine and stir until it is dissolved, being careful not to boil the mixture. Remove from heat and let stand at room temperature until cooled.
 - Stir panna cotta mixture to allow the vanilla seeds to float through the cream and gently pour into the moulds.
 - Cover and refrigerate for at least 2 hours or until set.
 - To serve, dip the outside of the mould quickly in a bowl of hot water to loosen and invert onto serving plates.

Source: Empower Foods

Posted by Emily

Recipe of the Week: Redcurrant and Apricot Clafoutis

These look delicious… add all sorts of seasonal fruit depending on your mood!

1 egg + 1 egg yolk
1/4 cup blond cane sugar (+ 2 Tbsp for the apricots)
1.5 Tbsp butter
3/4 cup + 1 Tbsp unsweetened coconut milk
1 Tbsp cornstarch
1/4 cup quinoa flour, sifted*
1 tsp Matcha tea, sifted
7 oz red currants
4 apricots, quartered
Confectioner’s sugar to sprinkle (optional)

* can be substituted with all-purpose flour

Directions:

Recipe from La Tartine Gourmande.

Posted by Emily.