Hazelnut Meringue Cake

Ingredients

• 4 egg whites
• 250g unrefined brown sugar or caster sugar
• 3-4 drops vanilla essence
• 1/2 teaspoon vinegar
• 110g browned and ground hazelnuts
• 225g raspberries or other summer fruit
• 300ml double cream
• icing sugar for dusting

Method

Whisk egg whites until stiff, add sugar bit by bit and continue whisking until very stiff. Whisk in vanilla essence and vinegar. Then fold in nuts. Divide between two 20cm sandwich tins or make dollops on non-stick baking parchment. Bake 'bout 40-50 minutes in a 180c oven. Turn out onto wire racks to cool.

Note: The top of the meringue will be crisp and the inside soft like marshmallow. Whisk cream lightly and flavour with vanilla. Use 2/3rd's of cream to fill meringue and the remaining 1/3 on top, in a pattern of your choice, after dusting top with icing sugar. Put fruit in the middle and on top or just in the middle.

Note: When putting the two meringues together, put bottom to bottom, so that the two crispy outsides are facing outwards.

Enjoy...

Sticky Toffee Pudding

At cooking class today, Sticky Toffee Pudding and Hazelnut Meringue Cake, which I will save for you!

Although the method below says to put the dates into a pan, I thought I would take the short cut by nuking them. I slapped the timer on, and then promptly forgot... to see black plutonium seaweed crawling out of the nuclear reactor.

Sometimes being lazy can make lots more work!

Sticky Toffee Pudding
Ingredients

• 180g stoned dates
• 250ml warm water
• 1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
• 80g olive oil or butter
• 80g-180g unrefined brown sugar -adjust according to your sweet tooth!
• 2 medium eggs or large!
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 180g self-raising wholemeal flour

Method
Chop dates, tip into saucepan with 250ml water, bring to a simmer, add 1 teaspoon of bicarb and simmer until dates are softened ('bout 5 mins).
Beat oil with sugar, add eggs and beat, add vanilla extract and beat, add flour and beat, add dates and their water and beat slowly!

Pour into a prepared 20cm round tin or 22cm square tin. Bake in the oven at 180c (gas mark 4) for approx 40 mins.

Sauce
There is a sauce, it's optional.

120g light muscovado sugar
80g butter
4 tablespoons of double cream

Put sugar, butter and cream into a saucepan. Stir together over a low heat, bring to a simmer for a minute of so.

Serve
With the toffee sauce and custard or cream!

Enjoy...

Christmas Star Lights

Am house bound with daughter, as we both have stinking colds.

So blue and sunny out there, perfect for wondering around and taking snaps. ahh!