Category Archives: Sweet

Recipes, Sweet, Vegan

Bunoelos – Mexican dough

October 5, 2015 Hortense Leave a comment

For about 20 units. Serves 6

Ingredients:

150g Self-rising flour
1 pinch of salt
100ml water
Zest of 1 whole lime

Method:

Mix everything in the bowl. Sieve the flour in a large bowl, add the salt and the lime. Mix well, then, add the water and work the dough to obtain a lump free stretchy dough.

Cover the dough and leave it to rest for 10 minutes.

Meantime, heat about 300ml of vegetable oil. If you’ve got a chip pan, use it. What we are looking for, is to have enough oil so the dough ball will rise to the surface within seconds after being dropped in the oil. The oil should be really hot.

To test that the oil is hot. Drop in a very small piece of dough. If it stay on the bottom of the pan. Leave it to heat well and do another test.

Once the oil is hot. Cut the dough in small pieces and put them into the oil… 5-10 piece at a time depending on the size of your pan. Fry for 3-5 minutes until the balls are brown all over. PS: You won’t be able to use a knife to cut the dough… you will have to be creative with a spoon or your fingers… It is a very sticky dough.

Using a skimmer (that big cooking spoon with holes like a colander) remove the now browned dough from the oil and put them on tissue/absorbing paper. Repeat until all done.

Can be served warm just rolled in granulated sugar.

I served mine with a lime syrup. The recipe will be in the next post. But you can also pipe jam or hazelnut chocolate in the individual dough ball…

This recipe was created as part of a Mexican menu made for www.MadeByHortense.com. Enjoy!

Recipes, Sweet

Apricot crumble with golden desiccated coconut

September 14, 2015 Hortense 2 Comments

Crumble for 5

Ingredients:

2 tins drained halved apricots
8 teaspoons white sugar
100g desiccated coconut (optional)
225g ready crumble mix
Salt
Butter
Instant custard

Method:

Preheat the oven at 190°C.

As the oven heats up, lay the coconut on a baking tray and roast until golden. This should take 5 to 8 minutes at 190°C. Don’t forget to stir with a spatula every minutes on 1 and half minute or so to even out the golden colour. Once the coconut is roasted, remove the tray from the oven and allow to cool down before transferring into a bowl. Set aside.

Drain the apricots halves set aside.

Rub a generous amount of butter in all the ramekins including base and sides. Set aside.

In a small bowl, mix 8 teaspoons of sugar with 3 teaspoons of the golden coconut and two small pinches of salt. Mix well then spoon in each of the 5 ramekins 2 generous teaspoons (heaps) of the mix.

Once that is done, layer tightly in the ramekins 5 to 7 halved apricots. Sprinkle a pinch of roasted coconut on top of the apricot before covering everything with the crumble mix.

Place the individual crumble ramekins in the middle of the oven for 40 minutes at 190°C.

Keep an eye on it as you won’t want the tops to burn. Ideally, around 30 minutes into the baking, the sugar should start to brown and bubble up then make its way to the top of the crumble.

The other 10 minutes in the oven will allow the sugar at the bottom of the pot to caramelize. Using clear glass ramekin will help you to see thru the changes in the pudding.

The custard used here is a custard that just needed boiling water. It wasn’t too sweet and helped to lessen the sweetness of this pudding…

Serving suggestion - Custard on the side — Serving suggestion – Custard on the side

Serve (hot or cold) as suggested dusted with the remaining golden coconut. Enjoy!

Recipes, Sweet, Vegan

Tinned tropical fruits sorbet

August 24, 2015 Hortense 4 Comments

I chose to do a tropical sorbet because it is very practical and innovative way to use tinned fruit. I find that tinned fruits often have an after taste. In a sorbet form the after taste disappears.

Ingredients for 500ml sorbet:

1 small tropical fruits tin 410g
1 small carton Guava juice 200ml
1 table spoon sugar granules
Zest of ½ an unwaxed lime

Method:

This sorbet was made the old fashion way; a fork, patience, and elbow grease. This version is for people without ice-cream maker.

Open the tropical fruits tin, drain the fruits and discard the syrup.

Using a hand blender, liquidise the fruits and add the guava juice. Add the sugar and zest. Mix well until the sugar granules melt.

Pour the mix in a plastic container with lid and place it in the middle section of the freezer for 1 hour 30 minutes.

After that, bring out the container and break the ice/sorbet crystals that are starting to form with a fork or a hand blender. I used a fork throughout as I wanted the lime zest specks to still be visible at the end. So, mix well and return the container in the freezer. If you do care about the lime specks, just use the hand blender instead.

Breaking the sorbet crystals with a fork

Repeat the process 2 more times before the sorbet is ready to serve.

If you are not serving it right away, after breaking the ice/sorbet crystals 3 times, return the bowl in the freezer. If you serve the sorbet 5, 10 hours later or the next day, take the bowl out of the freezer 15 minutes before hand. That way, the sorbet won’t be too hard to scoop out.

Enjoy!

PS: this foodbank related recipe was part of current series I am presenting on Croydon Radio. For further information go to http://www.MadeByHortense.com. The Sorbet is in the Mexican menu.

General, Hot dishes, Recipes, Sweet, Vegan

Next, a foodbank menu

June 7, 2015 Hortense Leave a comment

Next, a foodbank menu.

Cold dishes, Recipes, Sweet, Vegan

Pumpkin seed and oats cake

February 19, 2015 Hortense Leave a comment

Ingredients for 7 – 8 portions:

Oat, sugar and tinned fruits are from the parcel

100g pumpkin seeds
100g breakfast oats
100 self raising flour
50g sugar
salt
50g dairy free butter – melted
200ml rice milk
175g mandarin segments
1 teaspoon baking powder

Method:

Heat the oven at 200C.

Drain the mandarin segments and set them aside. Do not throw away the syrup.

Using a blender, blend together at once, the pumpkin seeds, oats, 40g sugar, melted butter, 200ml milk. Once that is done, pour the mix in a bowl and sieve in the self raising flour and the baking powder. Add in a pinch of salt and mix until the batter is completely lumps free.

If you’ve got ramekins, grease them then spoon in each of them 3 to 4 tablespoons of the cake mix.

Place a segment of mandarin in some of the ramekins before putting them in the oven at 200C for 25 minutes. Leave to cool for 10 minutes before serving.

In the meantime, prepare the mandarin sauce with a pinch of dried ginger powder. Melt the remaining 10g of sugar in as small milk pan. Let it go slightly golden then add in the mandarin segments with ginger and 3 table spoons of the mandarin syrup. Keep stirring until the liquid has evaporated and the remaining liquid is slightly heavy. This should take about 5 minutes.

The Mandarin sauce

Serve as suggested below and allow the cake to soak in a bit of the sauce. Enjoy.

Recipes, Sweet

Christmassy Victoria

December 22, 2014 Hortense Leave a comment

I was invited for an interview on Croydon Radio and decided to take a dish from the book with me, so I made a Christmassy version of the Victoria cake. You can listen to the interview here It is a 2hrs show with DJ Tom C I am on from 1h20mins.

Please click here to see the full recipe for the sponge cake.

To make is Christmassy, you will need:

1 quarter of a small pomegranate
2 kiwis
1 small pack of crispy M&Ms
3 plastic holy bush leaves
Strawberry jam
12g Dr Oetker Jelly granules

This cake will serve 8 to 10 people with a portion worth 25 to 60p depending on if you are on a low budget or get your ingredients from a foodbank.

Shopping:

If I had most ingredients from a Foodbank, my extras would be as follows:

The sponge mix 25p, I got 3 pomegranates from my local street market for £1 so the quarter I have used only cost me 10p.

From the same market I got 20 Kiwis for £1.00 so, using 2 of them cost me 10p.

I found the holy bush on a Christmas wreath I found in the 99p store lets value the leaves at 10p

Then the M&Ms pack at 70p and the pack contains about 30 pieces. I used 3p worth for my cake.

All the extra used total up to less than £1.00.

If I was on a low budget my shopping list would be:

Cake mix is 25p from Sainsbury’s, dark chocolate is 79p from Lidl, butter (Stork) cost £1 and a good quality jam costs 99p to £1 either at the 99p or pound shop. I could also use supermarkets’ own brand at less than 50p. I got my pack of eggs from the 99p store. A pack of 10 fresh eggs at 99p and I only needed 2 of them as I needed 4 sponge cakes to stack.

Prep:

Before you start making the cake and chocolate covering, make sure that all the prep is done as all goes very quick once the sponge is baked.

Kiwis: peel rinse and cut them as neatly as you can. Dab them with kitchen tissue and set aside.

Pomegranate: cut and gently remove the jewels without popping them. Gently rinse and place on a kitchen towel to dry.

Holy leaves: cut and remove the inside of the leaves as you will only use the out lines. Rinse and set aside.

Method:

Now that all the prep is done, follow the instructions on here… after you have covered the cake with chocolate, give it 2 to 3 minutes, then, start decorating. You have to wait for the chocolate to set a bit to avoid the decoration sliding off the top of the cake.

First place the Kiwis in the centre and hold them there with a tooth pic.

Now carefully place the leaves and fill them with the grenade jewels, then, the M&Ms. Tap each item gently to make them stick on the chocolate.

Place all in the fridge for 10 minutes. Meanwhile prepare the jelly. The jelly will help to glue every element of the decoration to the cake and also prevent the fruits from looking pale.

To prepare the jelly, place 1 sachet of jelly in a small cup and add 5-7 table spoons of boiling water then stir quickly until all the granules melt.

Immediately get your cake out of the fridge and using you patisserie paint brush gently paint your fruits with the jelly. Just one layer will do. Place the cake back in the fridge and it will be ready to serve in 30 minutes.

The Bank Cook's Christmassy Victoria — The Bank Cook’s Christmassy Victoria

If you can, get the children involved and they will have fun doing it.

Et voila! You are done! Hap-pee Christ-Mass!

Recipes, Sweet

Marmalade sponge sandwich

May 31, 2014 Hortense 1 Comment

Ingredients for 5 portions:

Tesco values sponge mix
100g dark chocolate tablet
20ml vegetable oil (or hazelnut oil)
1 orange
150g marmalade
1 egg
Butter for greasing

Method:

Carefully follow the instructions on the sponge mix package to prepare the two halves of the sandwich. Before pouring the mix to bake, grate and mix in the zest of 1 orange.

Once the haves are baked, leave to cool for few minutes and turn both of them upside down.

Score the base of both cakes and evenly spread the jam on them making sure that it is well absorbed. Now put both cakes on top of each other on the jammed side. Set aside.

Preparing the chocolate covering. Break the tablet of chocolate in small pieces and place them in a heat-proof bowl. Add the 20ml of oil. Now, in a small sauce pan, boil 300ml of water and place the bowl containing the chocolate pieces in it while it is still simmering.

Gently stir the contents of the bowl until all the pieces of chocolate are melted and all what is left is a very smooth, rich and glossy chocolate sauce.

Now place the sponge sandwich on a rack or a plate, then pour the chocolate sauce on it making sure to cover all the top and the sides of the cake too. One single layer of the sauce is just enough to keep it light. Decorate the cake before placing it in the fridge to allow the chocolate to harden. 30 minutes to 1 hours should be enough depending on the thickness of the chocolate covering.

The cake above was decorated with heart shapes filled with white chocolate shavings on the outer and poppy seeds in the inner heart. The fresh orange piece were lightly dipped in caramel before being placed on the edges of the cake. Make sure to decorate your cake before placing it the fridge to harden.

This would be a great birthday cake or one to offer to friends.

Cold dishes, Sweet

Rice pudding Ice cream

May 24, 2014 Hortense Leave a comment

Ice cream with chocolate shavings or crushed biscuits

Ingredients for 1 litre:

190g rice pudding
300g peach slices – drained
1 teaspoon of vanilla essence
500g natural yogurt
20g sugar
Shavings of white & dark chocolate
Crushed ginger biscuits

Method:

In a mixing bowl, pour the natural yogurt and the sugar mix until the sugar has melted.

In a separate mixing bowl place the peach slices and the rice pudding then blend until really smooth.

Gently fold in the yogurt and sugar mix.

Now, pour the mix in a tub and place in the middle section of the freezer for minimum 4 hours.

Take the ice cream out of the freezer about 30 minutes before dishing.

Crushed biscuit option

Once it is ready, serve with chocolate shavings or the crushed ginger biscuits.

Chocolate shavings option

This is a great recipe to create with children. Get them involved. They’ll have fun.

Recipes, Sweet, Uncategorized, Vegan

Golden coconut thins

May 21, 2014 Hortense Leave a comment

Ingredients:

100g desiccated coconut
150g sugar
10 hazelnut – roasted and crushed
Salt

Method:

Spray a bit of oil on the flat tray that will be used to cool down the thins. The light spread of oil will prevent the thin from sticking to the used surface.

Mix the crushed hazelnuts to the coconut.

Melt the sugar on high heat, then stir until it becomes golden and really clear.

Add a pinch of salt to the melted sugar, then put in the coconut and hazelnut. Mix very quickly with a spatula until the sugar is completely absorbed. This process should take 1 minute max… it has to be done very quickly.

Remove from the hob and lay the mix very flat on a dish prepared for it. Using a rolling pin or the back of the spatula, continue to flatten the mix, then create tracks as above on the picture.

The best ones to bite are the ones that are not compact

The tracks you have created will allow you to easily break off the thins once the mix has cooled down and hardened.

If you rather make balls and have a high heat tolerance. You will have to move very quickly as the mix can cool down and harden within a minute… The balls can only be rolled by hand.

…And here is what I made few months earlier… in the dark

Note: melted sugar can be really painful if not handled with care. No children should be around when you are doing these thins.

Adding salt to the melted sugar breaks down its sweetness.

Recipes, Sweet, Vegan

Closed pie with pear and dark chocolate

May 10, 2014 Hortense Leave a comment

Ingredients for 5 portions:

100g Dark chocolate
Tin pear
100g almond powder
100g sugar
1 lemon zest
10ml corn or any vegetable oil
1 Jus-Rol puff pastry sheet

Method:

Preheat the oven at 180C.

Drain the halved pears and cut them in 2 making each piece a quarter. Dry every quarter with paper towel and set them aside.

Mix the almond powder, lemon zest and sugar, together and set the mix aside.

Now prepare the chocolate sauce in the same way as for the sponge and orange sandwich (search the blog).

Spray some vegetable oil on the oven baking tray and lay the puff pastry flat on it.

Cover the pear quarters in chocolate and gently place them length ways on the pastry sheet.

Now, cover the pears with the almond, zest and sugar mix like on the third photo on the top. All you have to do now is just fold the pastry over the pears to create an envelope.

With a knife or fork score the edges of the pastry to seal the envelop. Using a baking brush, gently brush the top of the pie with some vegetable oil before placing it in the oven for 40 minutes at 180C.

Once the pie is ready, let it cool down for at least 10 minutes before serving. The dark chocolate can be very bitter for children, so, serve it to them with an ice cream or a fruit sauce. Enjoy!

	Hortense on Apricot crumble with golden de…
	The future is food b… on Download The Bank Cook booklet
	Bruce Wigand on Apricot crumble with golden de…
	Hortense on Herbs and garlic potatoes
	marita on Herbs and garlic potatoes

	Hortense on Apricot crumble with golden de…
	The future is food b… on Download The Bank Cook booklet
	Bruce Wigand on Apricot crumble with golden de…
	Hortense on Herbs and garlic potatoes
	marita on Herbs and garlic potatoes

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Category Archives: Sweet

Bunoelos – Mexican dough

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Apricot crumble with golden desiccated coconut

Like this:

Tinned tropical fruits sorbet

Like this:

Next, a foodbank menu

Like this:

Pumpkin seed and oats cake

Like this:

Christmassy Victoria

Like this:

Marmalade sponge sandwich

Like this:

Rice pudding Ice cream

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Golden coconut thins

Like this:

Closed pie with pear and dark chocolate

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I may not have much, but, I am Royalty.