Cherry Jelly Cream Tart

This is a variation on another recipe I once knew about, where they added Red wine or Port into it, and my recipe doesn't call for a whole cup of sugar either!

1 packet of Port Wine Flavoured jelly crystals
150ml Boiling water
100ml Cold water
1 Cup of thickened cream
1 Can of Cherries (or you can use fresh/frozen, doesn't really matter)
1 sweet pie flan or make your own.

In a jug or mixing bowl make up the jelly with the boiling water, then stir in the cold. Allow to cool to blood temperature or thereabouts then stir in the cream. Set aside in the fridge to cool for an hour or 2 (it will get thicker, but don't allow it to set).
Scatter the cherries in the pie flan then gently pour the creamy jelly mixture over the top. Set in the fridge for a few hours/over night and serve with fresh whipped cream! :)

Jelly + Cream

Got a bit happy with the cream! 

Mars Bar Slice

There's only TWO recipes that I still remember off hand and actually use from my year 8 home ec. class, all the other stuff was useless shit I never bothered to learn. (First being the Lemon cheesecake posted earlier, and this, Mars Bar Slice.)


About 4-5 normal sized mars bars, chopped
50g butter diced
2-3 cups of rice bubbles
Block of chocolate and some more butter to spread over the top if you wish.

In a double boiler melt together the mars bars and butter, once it's melted through, pour it over the rice bubbles in a mixing bowl and combine gently. Spread out into a slice tin/whatever. Melt the other chocolate and butter to spread over the top of the slice mixture and set in the fridge over night or at least a few hours. :D

Chicken with Basil, Tomato & Feta

These were quite tasty, not bad for something whipped up quickly with very little in the fridge :p

4 (or however many you need to feed, etc) chicken breast fillets, skin off
Some crumbly feta cheese
Fresh basil leaves - Thanks again Rob & Nic for the plants! Coming in VERY HANDY!
Fresh sliced tomato(s)
Cracked black pepper

Seal the chicken off in a hot frying pan to begin with just so it gets the lovely light golden colour, don't worry because it will finish cooking in the oven.
Lay them out on a baking tray and top with 2 slices of tomato, some fresh chopped or torn basil leaves and crumbly feta, and then the cracked pepper.
Bake at around 180C for about 20 minutes or until the chicken is cooked. :)

Mmmm I just love picking off the crispy bits of Feta and eating them :D

Apple, Blueberry & Raspberry Crumble

Epic desserts are awesome! Made this lastnight on the spot, probably a wee bit much sugar but it's still good! :D

4 medium sized Pink Lady apples (or whatever you prefer.. I had some of these that needed eating up, that's all!) Diced smallish
1 cup fresh or frozen Blueberries
1 cup fresh or frozen Raspberries

Place the above mentioned fruits into a baking dish/pie dish/something suitable.

For the crumble:
Mix together in a bowl 1 cup Self Raising flour, 1/2 cup brown sugar, 1/4 cup soft butter and a good sprinkle of Cinnamon. Rub the mixture together with your hands so it kinda resembles crumbs.. kind of. Sprinkle it over the top of the fruits, and bake at 180C for about 15 minutes, and the top is a lovely light brown colour.
Serve with icecream, custard or fresh cream.. or all 3!
Sorry no pics! But it was very very tasty!!

Creamy Tarragon Chicken

This was the first time I'd used Tarragon with chicken, and it really does go so well together! Delicious!
It's a bit of a random recipe, but worth it.

2 butterflied/flattened a wee bit chicken breast fillets, or those thigh bits if you like that.. or even maryland drumsticks would go well I'd imagine..
About a cup or 2 of seasoned plain flour
Cup of chicken stock
300ml thickened cream
Around a tablespoon of fresh or dry chopped tarragon
1 medium sided onion, diced finely
Spoon of butter

Dredge the chicken through the seasoned flour and shake off the excess (keep the rest of the flour), heat the butter in a pan and lightly fry the onion, then add the chicken, browning lightly. Remove the chicken and add the stock and leftover flour, stirring through to remove lumps etc. Stir through the cream and tarragon then place the chicken back in (this can all be done if you have a deep enough pan, mine is about 2" deep.) Simmer lightly, stirring occasionally and spooning the liquid over the chicken as needed, then lid on, for around 20 minutes or until the chicken is fully cooked.
Remove the chicken to plates and spoon over as much or little sauce as you like, I would suggest serving with mash, polenta or cous-cous.

cheesey bacony corn muffins

I am bored out of my mind today and so far it's only lunch time! I like to bake when I am bored, (ok that's a lie.. I like to bake at 2am "just cos" also.. I just love baking :p ) and had limited ingredients today, so in place of milk, I used thickened cream. Turned out fine. You can use either.

2 cups self raising flour
1/2 a can of creamed corn (pick a good brand.. I've been using generic brand. I am sure there's nicer out there!)
2 eggs
1/2 cup roughly of milk OR thickened cream
1/2 cup grated tasty or "bitey" cheese, either is nice
Salt & pepper to taste
A few rashes of bacon diced, with rind and fat removed.

You can sift your flour if you want to be all fancypants, I won't think any less of you. I tend to not sift for most recipes and use the excuse "Did our great-grannies sift flour back in the day? I think not."
mix in the salt and pepper, crack the 2 eggs in and mix in the milk/cream and corn. If you think you need more milk/cream, add a wee bit more. Since I was running on limited supplies, I mixed a touch of water to the pot of cream and swished it about and poured it in.
Stir in the bacon and cheese, and spoon into a lightly greased 12-hole muffin pan.
Bake for oh.. I don't know.... 20 minutes I guess? 

And don't open the oven door half a dozen times to check on progress...

Chocolate mud cake

It was hubbys birthday yesterday, the big three-oh. I had originally planned to make him a kiddies style birthday cake decorated with fondant to a lion-face theme.. My how the time came around so quickly! I was totally not prepared at all, what with everything else going on! He loves mud cakes, wouldn't allow me to buy him a mudcake from the Cheesecake Shop, so I made one. From scratch. :)

This is a very simple recipe I got from one of my cookbooks -
(for this recipe it calls for dark chocolate, but I  used Cadbury Dairy Milk.)

1 cup unsalted butter
250g dark chocolate

150g self raising flour
150g plain flour
1/2 cup cocoa powder (something nice!)
2 1/4 cups caster sugar
4 eggs lightly beaten
2 tablespoons oil
1/2 cup milk
3/4 hot water

Preheat the oven to 160C, line a 9inch round cake tin with baking paper/oil etc.

Put the butter and chocolate in a pot on the stove with 3/4 cup HOT water and stir over a low heat until smooth, then remove from the heat.
Sift the flours and cocoa powder into a large mixing bowl, and stir in the sugar and make a well in the center. Combine the eggs, oil and milk then pour into the flour/sugar. Mix using a metal/wooden spoon by hand. Gradually mix in the butter mixture. Don't worry, it is meant to be a very wet/sloppy mixture, I freaked out too but it's all good!
Pour the mixture into the tin and bake for around 1 3/4 hours. I tested mine around the 1 hour mark, the top was still wet, so I gave it a further 10 minutes and it was perfect!

Leave it in the tin until it's completely cold then turn out and wrap firmly in plastic wrap, and leave over night in the fridge.

The recipe's icing calls for a chocolate ganache, which is just melted butter, cream and chocolate together, poured over the cake. I did something totally random and made a type of chocolate cream - thickened cream and butter heated together in a pot until just beginning to boil, then poured over a bowl of broken up chocolate, stir until smooth. HOWEVER, I stuffed up and used 600ml of cream, so I had to wait for it to chill before pouring it over the cake (otherwise it just runs right off!). Lets just say I learnt a thing or 2..
Anywho the end result is great.

I sat the cake on an upturned bowl, which was over a pizza tray to catch the drips. Don't worry, all that lovely chocolate cream was not wasted. Once I plated it, I scooped up the choccie cream into a bowl for a dessert :D