Showing posts with label dessert. Show all posts
Showing posts with label dessert. Show all posts

Friday, 24 May 2013

Bourbon Biscuits and Lime Pie


Last week, I decided to rectify the fact that I hadn't eaten a chocolate Bourbon for six years by baking some myself. The resulting Bourbon biscuits were so good that I ate most of the first batch before they'd even cooled down! As wonderful as the biscuits were, I couldn't eat all of them. (When you're testing a recipe, you end up making at least two, sometimes many more, batches in order to perfect the recipe.) The lime meringue pie was born from a need to use the rest of the Bourbons before they went stale.


The biscuits form the base of what is basically a Key lime pie – except that you shouldn't really call it 'Key lime' unless you use limes from the Florida Keys - with meringue on top. I have a habit of separating eggs to use just the yolks or whites in a recipe and leaving the other part in the fridge to be rediscovered when it's too late to use them. That's why there's meringue on my lime pie – I could use the whole egg this way (and it looks great, too).



Chocolate and lime work so well together that it's a shame more desserts don't use them. The smoothness of the chocolate mellows the sharpness of the lime, while the slight bitter edge to both add a sophisticated touch. I've made a lot of lime meringue pies in my time, from now on, I'll always use a chocolate base.

If you fancy making your own lime meringue pie this weekend, head over to Domestic Sluttery for the full recipe.


Thursday, 22 December 2011

Free From & Festive - Day 11

Trifle.

Need I say more?

Surely the trifle is the greatest of all the desserts?  OK, it's a bit "retro" and I'm sure there are loads of food snobs out there who are sneering at me as we speak, but I don't really care.  In my opinion, Christmas is about home comforts, family favourites and a healthy amount of nostalgia.  Otherwise, why do we watch all those old films and repeats of Christmas specials year after year?

The only part of a trifle that is not gluten free is, of course, the sponge at the bottom so I have some suggestions for effective substitutions.  I have used, with success a few slices of banana bread, a couple of muffins, and sponge cake (especially useful if you have overcooked your cake - don't chuck it out - remove any burnt bits and freeze until you need it) in place of sponge fingers.

As we near the end of our 12 days of gluten free Christmas recipes and reviews, it falls to me to bring you a recipe for trifle.  Admittedly I have not gone for an entirely traditional trifle recipe, instead I have combined it with another traditional dessert, Crannachan.

Crannachan Trifle


250g gluten free sponge (I think Fran's gingerbread cupcakes would work well in this)
2-3tbsp Drambuie, or other whisky liqueur
250g frozen rasberries
500ml custard (use ready made, there's too much going on at this time of                           year to be fussed with making your own)
300ml double cream
3tbsp gluten free oats

  • Cut your sponge into slices and cover the bottom of a large bowl, or about 6 individual glasses.
  • Sprinkle the Drambuie over the sponge and leave for about 5 minutes to soak in.
  • Cover the sponge with the raspberries.  (As they defrost the juice will soak into the sponge.)
  • Pour the custard on top and spread evenly.
  • Whisk the cream until just at soft peaks (I do this by hand because you're less likely to over-whip), if you like you can fold a touch more Drambuie into the cream at this point, then cover the custard with the whipped cream.
  • In a dry pan, gently toast the oats, moving constantly, until lightly browned. Leave to cool before sprinkling on top of your trifle. (Since it's Christmas, I mix a little edible glitter in with the oats before sprinkling -let them cool first)
  • Keep chilled until serving.

My favourite thing about the Christmas holidays is that you don't feel guilty about eating leftover dessert for breakfast, and the trifle is the king of the cheeky-pudding-brekkie!