It’s coming up for spooky time again, and all our groups and activities seem to like Halloween parties, so I’ve been on the lookout for quick, easy, and frightfully fun Thermomix Halloween ideas. I want these to be as quick and uncomplicated as possible, so I’m on the lookout for Thermomix recipes.
For a lot of these recipes you’re going to have to rely on Google Translate, but as far as I can tell, that shouldn’t be a problem. Read through the recipes first and if there’s anything you’re unsure about, you can always fall back on an English recipe, using these themed-styling ideas.
Witch Fingers
These have been redone on loads of blogs, but the original seems to be this one. If you scroll towards the bottom there’s a pretty decent English version (once you’ve done a Google translate)
Pumpkins, Pumpkins, Everywhere
Pumpkin Parmesan Soup is perfectly seasonal, and served in a large pumpkin would make a fabulous centrepiece too. And use clementines to double as jack-o-lantern pumpkins, or peel them and stick a tip of celery stalk inside to look like pumpkins. That looks really cute!
Eyeballs
Another recipe that would look great on the Halloween table, the eyeballs recipe from Thermomix Tarif Defterim.
Brooksticks & Log Piles
Make cheese biscuits into cheese straws, then stack them up as log piles or turn them into brooms using string cheese and chives. Individual portions as starters or dotted around a table, they do add to the effect.
Spider Cupcakes
Another from Thermomix Tarif Defterim, these Spider Cupcakes require specific items, like the liquorice strings, but they do look rather spectacular.
No Bake Spider Web Cake
I love the look of this no bake spider web cake, but the instructions are a bit confusing if you don’t speak the language – Google translate doesn’t do a great job on this one! I might try this with a Nutella Cheesecake filling instead, using the Oreos around the outside as their recipe suggests, and then make the spider web out of something white.
Ghost Pizza
This is such a simple and effective Halloween theming idea, and you can adapt it to any ghoulish shape, really. So clever! The main thing to remember is that you need to put the cheese on afterwards, so that it doesn’t melt and lose it’s shape.
Minipizza Scream
I love love love these mini pizza scream crackers – they are so great for dips. You could season them with herbs or salt, I expect.
Carrot arancini (Rice Balls)
Thermo Recetas has a fabulous looking carrot rice ball recipe that involves carrot and olive and is a nice savoury option.
I don’t normally fall over myself to do anything special for Halloween, but when I saw these Mis-Fortune cookies, I pretty much had to have them.
They would make the most perfect after dinner treat if you’re doing anything on Halloween – or if you’re a closet Goth and want to bring your inner darkness to the table.
The box contains – obviously – an unlucky 13 misfortune cookies. Each is individually wrapped in a frightful wrapper decorated by frightened cats, ghouls and a teddy bear that’s seen better days, all in a style reminiscent of Tim Burton.
Inside the wrapper is a pitch black misfortune cookie, shaped like a traditional fortune cookie. Crack it open with a perfect snap, and inside you’ll find a black paper with your mis-fortune written on it.
My first misfortune cookie was so macabre, I had to laugh out loud: Your best days are already behind you. Well, I’d just spent the morning with two tired and grumpy children after an intensely busy week. How did the misfortune cookie know?!
Well, on that cheerful note, I risked a bite of the cookie, half expecting it to be made of dried out black pudding or something equally unpleasant sounding and tasting. Fortunately the producers take mercy on your taste buds and provide a delicious tasting fortune cookie – but it is the only thing they take mercy on.
With messages like “Happy? It won’t last!” and “At least I believe in you. Me. A piece of paper” your guests will be served a hard dose of reality, but I bet they’ll laugh about it. This will be like Christmas, where everyone’s taking turns sharing theirs for everyone to groan and laugh over.
Whether as an after dinner amusement, or if you’re feeling flush and want to give them out to trick or treaters, these will go down a storm, I’m pretty confident!
These Misfortune Cookies are made from wheat flour, sugar, glucose syrup and contain Soya Lecithins. They are coloured by carbon, rapeseed oil and also contain flavouring, salt and sodium bicarbonate.
You can find them at a number of retailers online:
I love Basil. It’s such a sensory herb, with the ability to transport you to just about anywhere – usually in Italy.
I also love chocolate, and one of my favourite memories is from my honeymoon, some 10 and a bit years ago, where we spent time backpacking through Italy, from Sorento through to Bergamo. Our last night was in a hotel in Turin, and by the time we got there we were pretty worn out. The 4-star hotel had an amazing jacuzzi in the bathroom, and with promises to return one day, we didn’t venture further than the cafe on the corner.
This particular cafe, however, had a delicious selection of home made chocolates and ice cream, and I fell in love with the combination of Basil and Chocolate. No, it’s not one you come across often, but it works – trust me, it works.
I recently agreed to participate in a challenge where I had to come up with a recipe that speaks to the taste of Italy, and I can’t think of much that speaks of Italy like Basil does, so here is my contribution: Chocolate Mousse with Basil Cream – and here is my advice: don’t knock it till you try it!
This is an incredibly rich mousse. We had two people (including two children) sharing the two ice cream bowls of mousse & cream in the pictures, and it was still a lot. So it’s a great sharers dish.
We hope you love the Chocolate Mousse & Basil Cream as much as we do!
Easy French Chocolate Mousse – Kids In The Kitchen
Recipe Type: Dessert
Cuisine: French
Author: Luschka
Prep time:
Cook time:
Total time:
Serves: 2-3
Serve with home made clotted cream, strawberries & mint leaves!
Ingredients
335g double cream
10 fresh basil leaves
15g icing sugar
150g chocolate
2 large eggs, separated
2 tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Instructions
For the Basil Cream
In a sealable container, add 200g cream and whole basil leaves together.
Cover and put in the fridge for 5 hours. After that time, remove the basil leaves and discard
Add the icing sugar to the cream and whisk to stiff peaks. (I find it easiest here to transfer into a piping bag, and set aside.
Regular Instructions
Melt the chocolate in the microwave, on a double boiler, in a bowl nestled inside a pot on the stove top (making sure not to get any water in) or however you normally melt chocolate.
While it’s melting, whisk the egg whites to stiff peaks, adding the sugar slowly as you whisk, then put the egg whites in the fridge.
Next, whisk the cream to stiff peaks, and place in the fridge.
Finally, in a large bowl add the vanilla extract to the egg yolks and mix until smooth. Pour the melted chocolate slowly in to the egg yolks, stirring all the time.
Next, add the cream to the egg and chocolate mix, and stir till it’s all combined.
Finally fold in the egg whites. Do not beat, whisk or over stir this as doing so will cause the mousse to collapse. Follow instructions below for combining.
Thermomix Instructions
These instructions are for one bowl. If you have two, melt the chocolate in one and do the whisking in the other.
Place the egg whites and sugar in the Thermomix bowl and whisk with the butterfly speed 4 about 1 minute. Keep an eye on it – the freshness of your eggs and the temperature will affect how long you need to whisk this for, and you don’t want it to collapse again, so just stop when you reach stiff peaks.
Scoop into a bowl and set aside in the fridge
Wash out the bowl and dry thoroughly.
Pour the cream in and add the butterfly again. Whisk the cream for about 30 seconds/speed 4. Again, keep an eye on it – freshness of cream and starting temperature of cream will affect how long it needs to be whisked for. You don’t want butter!
Set aside the cream, and wash and dry the bowl.
Add the chocolate to the Thermomix bowl and chop speed 5, 10 seconds.
Heat to 50C/Speed 2/ 3 minutes. Meanwhile in a large bowl, mix the egg yolk and vanilla extract and stir to combine. When the chocolate is melted pour in a thin stream whisking together. (Don’t pour the egg into the hot chocolate or you’ll end up with scrambled eggs.)
Add the cream to the bowl, whisking to combine.
Finally, add the egg whites and gently fold them in. If you whisk or stir too vigorously you’ll knock all the air out of the egg whites and your mousse will fall flat.
To Finish
Smaller ramekins or glasses are better for this desert as it is very rich.
Place a layer of chocolate mousse in your serving dish and flatten out.
Next you need a layer of basil. I find piping it around the edges first then in through the centre the easiest, before adding a final layer of chocolate. If you’re confident in your piping skills, pipe a pattern of the basil cream on top – I messed it up first time, so scooped it up again, hence mine looks a bit chocolatey.
You can serve it immediately for a light and fluffy mousse, but it’s equally delicious, if a bit denser and less airy a few hours later.
I bought pears a few weeks ago thinking my girls would eat them, but they were hard, and stayed hard, till they started looking beyond their best, so I decided to make a baked pudding with them. I have been trying to use my Varoma more, so thought a steamed pudding would be nice too, specially since this ‘summer’ is hiding behind thick rain clouds today.
I have no idea how you would steam a pudding on the stove top, but if you do, I’m sure this will be easy to make even without a Thermomix.
I also think the flavours in this can easily be adapted – adding cloves, raisins, cardamom as you like. And I like to serve this with home made clotted cream or ice cream.
Steamed Pear Pudding With Orange Butter Sauce
Recipe Type: Dessert
Cuisine: Steamed
Author: Luschka
Prep time:
Cook time:
Total time:
Serves: 4 puddings
Serve with home made [url href=”https://www.keeperofthekitchen.com/2015/08/19/diy-clotted-cream-in-the-slowcooker-or-crockpot/” title=”DIY Clotted Cream In The Slowcooker Or Crockpot”]clotted cream[/url] or ice cream, or just on it’s own
Ingredients
For the fruit
2 pears, cored and chopped in rough cubes
25g butter
20g sugar
teaspoon cinnamon or all-spice
juice of one orange
For the pudding
125g butter
110g caster sugar
2 eggs
130g self-raising flour
zest from 1 orange
Instructions
Chop pears into cubes and place in the Thermomix bowl.
Add butter, sugar and spices and orange juice and cook 5 mins/ Varoma Temp/Speed 1
Spoon into rammekins or heat-proof dishes
In the Thermomix, whisk the butter and sugar together for 50 seconds/speed 4
Add the eggs, self raising flour and zest and beat together for 30 seconds/speed 4
Spoon into rammekins, above the fruit
Place the rammekins into bottom ‘shelf’ of the Varoma and put the lid on
Add water up to the 1l mark in the bowl, place the Varoma on top and steam for 25 mins/Varoma Temp/Speed 3
Turn upside down onto a serving dish and serve with clotted cream or icecream
This week my home schooled kids are learning about France, because we’re heading off to Disneyland Paris in a few weeks. They don’t know this though – they think we’re going to Paris to learn about ‘old stuff’. We will spend a day in Paris too though, just to make sure their learning wasn’t for nothing.
One of the things you learn when learning about France, beyond capital city and population size, is food, and since we have very little by way of groceries at the moment (someone left the car door open, leaving the light on over night and us with a flat battery today. RAC finally reached us well after bed time tonight, so grocery shopping tomorrow!) I was quite literally faced with four onions, two day old bread and some cheese to come up with a dinner idea… you can see where I’m going with this, I’m sure.
One of the books we’re using for our studies at the moment is called France: Food and Celebrations* by Sylvia Goulding, with a bunch of recipes for kids to make, so while I could do this with so much more ease in the Thermomix in 15 minutes, I still feel it’s really important for my kids to learn to cook traditionally first, so that they can understand the basics of cooking – and from there the sky is the limit.
For this French Onion Soup, I didn’t add the traditional Gruyere, so the kids’ just had a strong cheddar on theirs. I added some Chaource to mine. Chaource is a French cheese, originally manufactured in the village of Chaource in the Champagne-Ardenne region. Chaource is a cow’s milk cheese, cylindrical in shape at around 10 cm in diameter and 6 cm in height. It has a soft inside, like an already baked Camembert, and has a beautiful very mild blue cheesy tang to it. It’s really lush, a very unknown cheese in the UK and easily available from Tesco and just works in this soup. (Sorry French traditionalists!)
I had my 5 year old slice the onions (we use this ‘safe’ Pampered Chef slicer) and then stir them on the stove till they were translucent. Meanwhile my 3 year old layered bread and grated cheese in soup dishes. I poured the water in to make the soup, transferred everything to the grill and removed it from there again.
I should add here that this is probably a meal for two, but for one adult and two children it’s ample. Considering you’re eating a slice of bread and an onion with some cheese, it’s incredibly filling, and very rich.
French Onion Soup – Kids In The Kitchen
Author: Recipe adapted from France: Food And Celebrations
Prep time:
Cook time:
Total time:
Serves: 3 soups
The original recipe calls for duck or goose fat. I used regular salted butter.
Ingredients
2 large or 4 small brown onions
large dollop butter (20g)
1 teaspoon sugar
1.5 litres beef stock (reduce to1000g if using TM31 Thermomix and cook without MC)
4 – 8 slices day old bread
100g shredded cheddar cheese
100g other cheese (for kids I leave this one out and use just cheddar as that’s rich enough for them) Gruyere or Chaource
salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
Regular Recipe
Peel and thinly slice onions.
Add butter and onion to a pan and sauté till they are translucent and beginning to brown, about 5 – 8 minutes.
Add stock and simmer for 25 minutes.
Meanwhile, grate the cheese, and layer cheese and bread in an oven proof soup bowl (Individual bowls are better than one serving dish) Start with a thin layer of cheese, top with bread, another layer of cheese, and end with a layer of bread, reserving some cheese for later.
When the soup is cooked, spoon onion and soup into soup bowls and top with remaining cheese.
Place under grill for 5 – 10 minutes, keeping an eye on it till the cheese is browned. The dishes will be hot, so transfer carefully to a counter.
For the Thermomix
Add one or both cheeses to the Thermomix (drop over running blades) speed 5, 10 – 15 seconds.
Clean the bowl and set the cheese aside.
Add the onions and butter to the Thermomix and blend 10 seconds speed 4.
Sauté for 8 mins/100C/spoon speed. (If you can, do this on the stove, I do prefer the flavour)
Add the stock (remember to keep to the limits in the Thermomix, so 2000g for TM31)
Cook reverse speed, Varoma/15 mins, without the MC
Meanwhile in the soup dishes, start with a thin layer of cheese, top with bread, another layer of cheese, and end with a layer of bread, reserving some cheese for later.
When the soup is cooked, spoon onion and soup into soup bowls and top with remaining cheese.
Place under grill for 5 – 10 minutes, keeping an eye on it till the cheese is browned. The dishes will be hot, so transfer carefully to a counter.
I know you’re wondering what on earth I’m doing posting a Christmas recipe in August, but since I’m in the Northern Hemisphere, and it’s summer here, now’s the right time for me to test something I’ve been toying with in my mind for ages.
We spent last Christmas in Australia, and Christmas day was really very hot, as Perth is wont to be late December. I bought the Christmas pudding my mum used to buy and made her special brandy sauce and we ate our Christmas pudding – but we ate it because my mum used to make it and she wasn’t there anymore, but it lead me to thinking that it would be great to have the same flavours, but in a more seasonally appropriate fashion.
A quick Google showed me that my genius idea of brandy butter ice cream isn’t original (isn’t it sad when that happens 😉 ) but I looked at a few recipes, made some adjustments and came up with this below.
I don’t have an ice cream maker either – just to add to the complication, so you can make this recipe with any and all or absolutely no gadgets. As it happened, I also didn’t have butter, so had to first make that from some extra cream!
Brandy Butter Christmas Cake Icecream
Recipe Type: Dessert
Cuisine: Christmas
Author: Luschka
Prep time:
Cook time:
Total time:
Serves: 700g
Ingredients
130g butter
100ml/95g brandy
300ml/300g milk
2 egg yolks
175g light soft brown sugar
150ml /150g double cream
Christmas Pudding (as much as you have)
Instructions
Melt the butter on a stove till it’s just browning, then remove it so it doesn’t burn.
Add the brandy and set aside to cool.
Warm the milk in a pan, while you whisk the yolk and sugar till it is lighter in colour. Don’t let the milk boil.
On the stove
Pour the hot milk over the sugar mixture, whisking continuously, then return to the saucepan set over a low heat. Cook for 3-4 mins, stirring the whole time until the custard thickens enough to coat the back of the spoon.
In the Thermomix
If you’ve whisked the sugar mixture in the Thermomix, add the hot milk to the sugar mixture and cook on 60C/3:30mins/speed1. This should make a custard, thick enough to coat the spoon.
Once all the sauces are cooled:
Whisk the double cream to stiff peaks. Mix the brandy butter with the custard then mix in to the cream. Make sure it’s all combined well, then put it in the freezer.
Making the ice cream
If you have an ice cream maker, follow the instructions to make ice cream. If you don’t, add it to your Thermomserver or any other dish and remove from the freezer every half hour to stir and break down all the crystals.
After 5 times – about 2.5 hours – crumble the Christmas pudding into the ice cream mix together, and leave to set till you’re ready to serve. (If you’re using an ice cream maker, follow their instructions on adding bits.)
Remove 10 – 15 minutes before serving, depending on your outside temperature, and enjoy.
3.2.2925
This recipe features in A Very Thermie Christmas, where you can find it and 50 other recipes perfect for a Thermomix assisted Christmas. Read more about it here.
It’s an ice-cream time of the year, and my kids seem to want some every single day at the moment – one of those side effects of living in a sea side town too: whenever we go to the beach, they think they’re in for a treat. It’s hard to say no too, when all around us holiday-makers are enjoying one of the rich and creamy Isle of Wight ice creams.
I decided it was time to break out the ice lollies again, and get some yoghurt made up. My girls are perfectly happy with frozen yoghurt as ‘ice cream’ so it works out well for all of us – they could even have them for breakfast.
I have these NUK ice lollies that I use for the kids because they take about two tablespoons of yoghurt, which makes a perfectly sized ice lolly. After one, they’re satisfied, making it an all round healthier treat than anything from a box or even a normally bigger than they they can eat soft serve.
The flavours are forgiving – you can pretty much do anything you like, but here are some of our favourites.
Mint & Chocolate Chip is always a good flavour combination, you can add cacao or cocoa to make it a chocolate flavoured frozen yoghurt, but even without that, it’s tasty, and by the time the fro-yo has frozen, the mint permeates through. Delicious. A few hits of choc-chips throughout and there’s nothing not to love.
See how good these look? But they’re only two tablespoons worth of yoghurt and yet sufficient to end a craving.
I thought the mint and chocolate might settle at the bottom, but was pleasantly surprised that it didn’t.
5g of mint leaves is a lot – on a TM31 it doesn’t even register – hence the ingredients say up to 5g. It’s a pretty forgiving recipe, so if you need to add a bit more or less of any ingredient, it won’t cause any problems.
Add the chocolate chips and the yoghurt and mix well.
Transfer into icepop moulds or into a shallow dish, wait till it’s frozen, then serve.
Thermomix Instructions
Add up to 5g mint leaves to the Thermomix bowl and mix speed 5/10seconds.
Add the butterfly, the chocolate chips and the yoghurt and mix 30 seconds, speed 3, scraping down the sides if necessary.
Transfer into icepop moulds or into a shallow dish, wait till it’s frozen, then serve.
3.2.2925
These flat peaches were incredibly juicy. The flavour from them was exceptional, but the problem with that is that they have a higher water content, which makes them freeze a little more ‘icy’ rather than ‘creamy’ which is what you’d get from a higher fat content in the yoghurt. In a ice pop it (like in the moulds above) it doesn’t really make much of a difference, but if you were hoping for a cone-style scoop it needs a longer thaw time.
The recipe for a hard fruit – apples, hard nectarines, and anything else that you would normally have to bake first – is the same as for a soft fruit, with the difference that you’d have to sauté the hard fruit first.
While honey makes the frozen yoghurt sweeter, especially if you’ve opted for natural yoghurt, it also helps emulsify it a little.
Hard Fruit Frozen Yoghurt Recipes
Recipe Type: Dessert, Yoghurt, Frozen Yoghurt
Author: Luschka
Prep time:
Cook time:
Total time:
Serves: 400g
My nectarines were still hard even though the skin was going wrinkly. I decided to saute them for a few minutes in some honey, which made all the difference. This works for all hard fruits, like apples.
Ingredients
3 Hard Nectarines (or other fruit)
1tbs (15g) Honey
300g Natural Yoghurt
Instructions
Regular Instructions
Chop the nectarines roughly, making sure to remove the pip.
Place in a pot on the stove with the honey and saute for 5 – 10 mins until it’s soft.
If you want the fruit chunky, leave it as is, but if you want it smoother, mash or purée the fruit.
Add the yoghurt and stir to combine.
Transfer into icepop moulds or into a shallow dish, wait till it’s frozen.
You’ll need to leave the fro-yo for a few minutes to soften up before serving.
Thermomix Instructions
Add the nectarines to the Thermomix, making sure to remove the pip.
Add the honey and sauté for 3 mins/ Speed 2/ Varoma until it’s soft.
If you want the fruit chunky, leave it as is, but if you want it smoother, mix Speed 5/30 seconds.
Add the yoghurt and the butterfly and stir to combine (speed 3/20 seconds)
Transfer into icepop moulds or into a shallow dish, wait till it’s frozen.
You’ll need to leave the fro-yo for a few minutes to soften up before serving.
3.2.2925
We serve these in one of three ways:
Either in an ice lolly like in the first picture
Or in a flat container you can scoop from. We live the chocolate covered waffles for serving too.
Or mix two flavours together by pouring the first ‘batch’ into a container and putting it in the freezer for 10 minutes while preparing the second batch, then pouring it over or creating a swirl. It’s a really tasty way to enjoy two flavours together.
Soft Fruit Frozen Yoghurt Recipes
Recipe Type: Dessert, Ice Cream, Frozen Yoghurt
Author: Luschka
Prep time:
Cook time:
Total time:
Serves: 400g
It’s hard to give exact figures here, since the recipe is very forgiving, and since the point of it is to use up extra fruit and avoid wastage. Cook time is freezing time, but obviously depends on the size of your container.
Ingredients
3 Soft Fruits (the amount of fruit doesn’t ‘really’ matter. Add what you have.)
1tbs (15g) Honey
300g Natural Yoghurt
Instructions
Regular Instructions
Chop the nectarines roughly, making sure to remove the pip.
Place in a pot on the stove with the honey and saute for 5 – 10 mins until it’s soft.
If you want the fruit chunky, leave it as is, but if you want it smoother, mash or purée the fruit.
Add the yoghurt and stir to combine.
Transfer into icepop moulds or into a shallow dish, wait till it’s frozen.
You’ll need to leave the fro-yo for a few minutes to soften up before serving.
Thermomix Instructions
Add the fruit to the Thermomix, making sure to remove any pips. Chop speed 4/10 seconds.
If it’s very juicy, reduce some of the juice.
If you want the fruit chunky, leave it as is, but if you want it smoother, mix Speed 5/30 seconds.
Add the yoghurt and the butterfly and stir to combine (speed 3/20 seconds)
Transfer into icepop moulds or into a shallow dish, wait till it’s frozen.
You’ll need to leave the fro-yo for a few minutes to soften up before serving if you want it scoop-able.
3.2.2925
Play around with the flavours and see what your favourite combinations are!
Granita, despite my children calling it ice cream, is actually a semi-frozen dessert made from sugar, water and various flavourings. It is related to sorbet and Italian ice; but in Sicily it has a coarser, more crystalline texture – a bit like this recipe below.
Watermelon is a childhood memory for me. It reminds me of hot days, living in a hot, hot place, and my mother deciding to to make dinner, because who wants to cook when it’s 42C outside?! It reminds me of sweet sticky nectar running down my arms, of getting hosed down in the garden. It’s a good memory, and while we now live on – quite literally – the opposite side of the world, and the watermelons are round and have softer skins, but I love that I’m able to pass this same memory on to my own little girls now too.
When there’s left over watermelon – and sometimes there is – I like to make a watermelon and rose water granita. It keeps the watermelon going for a few days more and it is just so refreshing.
I hope you’ll love it as much as I do!
Watermelon & Rosewater Granita
Recipe Type: Summer, Ice Cream, Dessert
Cuisine: Italian
Author: Luschka
Prep time:
Cook time:
Total time:
Serves: 800g
Granita is light, easy and refreshing!
Ingredients
80g caster sugar
125 ml water
600g watermelon
1 teaspoon rose water
Instructions
Regular Instructions
Add 80g caster sugar to a saucepan with 125ml water and bring it to boil. Allow it to boil for 3 minutes, then put aside to cool down completely.
Liquidise the watermelon – a couple of minutes in a food processor should do it – and add the rose water. Place in the fridge.
Once the sugar syrup is cool, mix the two together and place in the freezer. I use a metal bowl.
Remove from the freezer every 30 mins to stir, making sure to break up all the lumps. After 90 minutes and three stirs, the granita should be ready to eat.
Decorate with washed rose petals if you have any, and enjoy.
Thermomix Instructions
Add 80g sugar to the Thermomix and pulse 3 or 4 times.
Add water and boil Varoma/Speed 2/3 mins.
Put aside to cool down completely.
Add the watermelon to the Thermomix and add the rose water, then speed 5/2 mins.
Once the sugar syrup is cool, mix the two together and place in the freezer. I use the ThermoServer.
Remove from the freezer every 30 mins to stir, making sure to break up all the lumps. After 90 minutes and three stirs, the granita should be ready to eat.
Decorate with washed rose petals if you have any, and enjoy.
There are a lot of sweet-teeth in my family, so when Father’s day rolled around, it seemed fitting to make a delicious cheesecake filled with a family favourite – marshmallows. I mean, what could possibly go wrong, right!
In retrospect I should have cut the marshmallows in halves or quarters, just to make them more bite-sized, but it didn’t make it taste any the worse.
I love that this cake is no-bake, I love that you can make it a day ahead for the best firmness, and I love that it’s delicious!
This is a very forgiving recipe. So long as you don’t over whip the cream. It’s really easy with two bowls, but I only have one and it’s not a huge faff – just make sure to clean the bowl properly before adding the cream.
Ingredients
10 – 15 Marshmallows (1 cup mini marshmallows)
250g Digestive Biscuits
75g Soft Butter
400g Double Cream
500g Cream Cheese (at room temperature)
100g icing sugar
Instructions
As compared to the picture above, chop the marshmallows into chunks. A regular marshmallow in four pieces or so would be fine. Alternatively, pop them in the Thermomix and chop on speed 4 for 5 seconds.
Clean out the bowl (doesn’t need to be washed)
Add the biscuits and the butter to the bowl and mix till it resembles wet sand. (30 seconds speed 5)
Sprinkle over the base of a cake tray, and press down so that it creates a firm and solid base for your cheesecake.
Put it in the fridge for a couple of hours and make sure to wash and properly dry the bowl.
When the base is ready, whip the double cream to stiff peaks. Keep an eye on it so it doesn’t turn to butter. Add the cream cheese and icing sugar and mix (with the butterfly) (speed 2, 30 seconds).
Put the marshmallows on the base of the cheesecake, then pour over the cheese mix. (If you have a deep dish layer marshmallows, cheese, marshmallows, cheese).
Smooth the top and put in the fridge till you’re ready to serve. You can eat this same day, but next day is even better!
I use a springform tin, gliding a knife around the edges to loosen first, then releasing and serving on the base.
Our family had some pretty amazing travel plans for this year, and if things hadn’t gone as they did, we’d be setting off from Sintra near Lisbon in Portugal roundabout now, for Spain. One of the things I remember from a previous visit to Portugal is Pastel de Nata – Custard Tarts – which are delicious sweet baked custard tarts in a puff pastry shell. If you’re a fan of the Nando’s restaurant chain, you may recognise these as one of the only desert options on the menu, but I’ve never been a fan of them! There’s nothing quite like fresh, home made tarts. It just wins out. No surprises there, I suppose.
I’d like to be all holier-than-though, but I actually bought this puff pastry, because as Lorraine Pascale, James Martin and Jamie Oliver all say – there’s no reason not to! Especially if you buy the all butter pastry. It’s about £1 more than the ‘normal’ one, but it’s so much better, with a much nicer taste and no bitter aftertaste. It’s well worth paying that bit extra.
If you are going to make it, have a look at this easy puff pastry recipefrom Jane at Why Is There Air?
Sprinkle the icing sugar before you’re going to serve, as it will be absorbed and you won’t see it and if you keep adding sugar it becomes terribly sweet. My five year old was the icing sugar distributor in these photos and she was, shall we say, liberal in her application 😉
Portuguese Custard Tarts Recipe
Recipe Type: Desert
Cuisine: Portuguese, European
Author: Luschka
Prep time:
Cook time:
Total time:
Serves: 12 pies
The cooking time here does not include the cooling time once the custard is cooked before it is baked. Add at least another 30 – 50 minutes depending on your temperature. If you cover the custard with plastic while it’s cooling it shouldn’t form a skin, but if it does just mix it up – you won’t notice it in the final product.
Ingredients
115g White Sugar
1 Egg
2 Egg Yolks
10g Cornflour
400g Full Fat Milk
2 tsp Vanilla Extract
300g All Butter Puff Pastry
Instructions
Thermomix Recipe
Weigh out the milk and set aside.
Place the white sugar into the Thermomix Bowl and mix at Speed 5 / 10 Seconds
Add one egg and two yolks to the bowl. (don’t bang against the Thermomix bowl as that tends to upset the scales)
Add 10g cornflour and mix it all together, Speed 5 / 2 Seconds
Set the Thermomix to 90C/Speed 5/ 7 minutes and start it running
Add the milk slowly in a steady stream – it should take about 30 seconds to add.
When it’s finished, add the vanilla extract and do a quick speed 5/ 1 second to mix it in.
Remove the lid and leave to cool.
If you’re making the pastry, now’s a good time to do that. Role out the pastry and use a cutter to cut 12 circles big enough to cover your muffin pans.
Spray the pans, add the pastry and press down to make the ‘cases’.
Once the custard is cooled all the way down, heat the oven to about 180C
Add a tablespoon or two of the custard to each muffin case – don’t fill it all the way to the top.
Cook for 20 – 25 minutes. The custard will puff up and look pillowy and like it’s going to overflow but when you take it out of the oven it’ll collapse down again.
Bake until the tops are brown – I don’t like them blackened, but I’ll leave it to your personal preferences on that.
Remove from the oven and set aside to cool down thoroughly. They can be eaten warm, but are just as delicious cold.
.JPG)
Another from Thermomix Tarif Defterim, these Spider Cupcakes require specific items, like the liquorice strings, but they do look rather spectacular.
A quick Google showed me that my genius idea of brandy butter ice cream isn’t original (isn’t it sad when that happens 😉 ) but I looked at a few recipes, made some adjustments and came up with this below.
See how good these look? But they’re only two tablespoons worth of yoghurt and yet sufficient to end a craving.
