We’ve put together 4 nostalgic dessert recipes, chocolate-chip cookies, bread pudding eclairs and chocolate pudding to make you feel right at home.
Chocolate-chip cookies
MAKES 20 • TOTAL TIME 3 hr
INGREDIENTS
Butter 170 g
Brown sugar 2 cups
Eggs 2
Vanilla essence 1 tsp
Flour 2 cups
Baking soda 1 tsp
Dark chocolate, roughly chopped 150 g
Sea salt 2 tsp
70% dark chocolate, optional 100 g
METHOD
1. Add the butter to a pan over medium heat. Once melted, it will begin to foam and bubble. Stir for a few minutes. Remove from the heat once it has turned a deep golden colour. Place in a large heatproof bowl and set aside to cool for 15 minutes.
2. Add the sugar to the butter and whisk to combine. Add the the eggs one at a time and beat well. Add the vanilla.
3. Sift together the flour and baking soda. Add to the butter mixture and fold through until combined. Add the chocolate.
If you aren’t using extra chocolate, keep a few pieces behind.
4. Mix in the chocolate to disperse it well; do not over-mix. Place the dough in the fridge for 1 hour, or overnight. Preheat the oven to 180ºC. Line two trays with baking paper.
5. Scoop 2 tbsp sized amounts (35 g) of dough out and roll into one ball. Repeat with remaining dough to create 15–20 biscuits. If you are using more dark chocolate, roughly chop up your slab and place pieces onto your dough balls. This will create delicious pools of chocolate on top of the biscuits.
6. Place dough balls in the freezer for 10 minutes to firm up.
7. Bake cookies for 10–12 minutes until golden. Remove from the oven and bang the tray on the counter to deflate the cookies, sprinkle with sea salt flakes and enjoy.
Pear bread pudding with ice cream and caramel sauce
SERVES 6 • TOTAL TIME 1 hr 15 min
INGREDIENTS
FOR THE SALTED CARAMEL
Water ½ cup
Sugar 1 ¼ cups
Heavy cream 1 cup
Sea salt ½ tsp
FOR THE BREAD PUDDING
Milk 3 cups
Sugar ¼ cup
Butter 3 tbsp
Cinnamon ½ tsp
Salt ¼ tsp
Eggs 4
Baguette loaves, thickly sliced 2
Pears, thinly sliced 3
Melted butter, to brush 3 tbsp
TO SERVE
Vanilla ice cream
METHOD
FOR THE SALTED CARAMEL
1. Add the water and sugar to a medium-sized pot over low heat. Using a wooden spoon, stir until the sugar has completely dissolved and there are no remaining granules in the water.
2. Stop stirring completely. Turn the heat up to high and let the mixture come to a boil.
3. Let it bubble for 5–7 minutes; it will begin to start turning an amber colour. Once the mixture is an even golden colour, add the cream and begin to stir vigorously. The mixture will bubble up. Stir until the bubbles disappear.
4. Add a sprinkle of sea salt and pour your caramel into a heat-safe jar. Leave the jar open for the caramel to cool.
FOR THE BREAD PUDDING
1. Preheat the oven to 180ºC. Grease a 25 cm round baking dish.
2. Place the milk and sugar in a pot over medium heat and stir until the sugar has dissolved, then remove from the heat. Do not bring to the boil. Add the butter to the heated milk and stir through.
3. Add the cinnamon, salt and eggs to the milk. Stir well to combine.
4. Dip each slice of bread into the milk mixture, arrange the bread and pear slices in a circular pattern in the dish. Gently pour the milk over the bread, moving over the whole dish to soak all of it evenly.
5. Bake the bread pudding for 40 min until set but still slightly wobbly. Cover with tinfoil if it starts to brown too much.
6. Brush with the remaining butter once the pudding comes out of the oven.
7. Serve the pear bread pudding with a few scoops of ice cream and a generous drizzle of caramel sauce.
Top tip Rather safe than sorry! Caramel can be quite intimidating, if you’d rather skip this step, then feel free to use syrup, honey or store-bought caramel sauce.
Eclairs with coffee cream
SERVES 10 • TOTAL TIME 1 hr 20 min
INGREDIENTS
FOR THE CHOUX PASTRY
Flour 70 g
Butter, cubed 50 g
Water 55 g (2 tbsp + 2 tsp)
Full-cream milk 55 g (2 tbsp + 2 tsp)
Salt ¼ tsp
Sugar 1 tsp
Large eggs, lightly beaten 2
Icing sugar 1 tbsp
FOR THE CHOCOLATE GLAZE
Dark chocolate, finely chopped 80 g
Cream ⅓ cup
FOR THE WHIPPED COFFEE CREAM
Instant coffee 1 ½ tsp
Whipping cream 1 ½ cups
Icing sugar 3 tbsp
TO DECORATE
Chocolate sprinkles
Lavender flowers
METHOD
FOR THE CHOUX PASTRY
1. Preheat the oven to 200ºC. Line a large oven tray with baking paper and draw ten 10 cm long lines. Flip over the paper.
2. Sift the flour into a small bowl. Place the butter, water, milk, salt and sugar in a pot and place over medium heat. Stir until the sugar has dissolved and the butter has melted. Remove from the heat when the mixture just starts to boil.
3. Quickly add the flour and vigorously stir with a wooden spoon to form a paste.
4. Return the pot over medium heat and cook the paste, stirring constantly, for 2 minutes until a film of dough clings to the base of the pot. Transfer the dough to a large bowl and set aside until cool.
5. Once cooled, add the whisked eggs to the dough a little at a time, mixing until fully incorporated between each addition with a wooden spoon. Continue adding egg until the dough is smooth and glossy but still holds its shape. You may not need to add all the egg. When dropped off a spatula, the dough should form a ‘v’ shape.
6. Transfer the dough to a piping bag fitted with a star nozzle. Pipe log shapes using the drawn lines as a guide. Flatten any pointed ends using a finger dipped in water, then dust the eclairs with the icing sugar.
7. Place the eclairs in the oven and immediately lower the temperature to 180ºC. Bake for 30 minutes until lightly golden and crisp. Remove from the oven and prick one end of each eclair with a skewer to release any steam. Place back in the oven for 2 more minutes. Set aside to cool.
FOR THE CHOCOLATE GLAZE
1. Place the chocolate in a heatproof bowl. Place the cream in a small pot and heat gently until it start to bubble around the edges. Pour over the chocolate and leave for a few minutes, then whisk until smooth and glossy.
FOR THE WHIPPED COFFEE CREAM
1. Dissolve the coffee powder in a few tablespoons of cream. Place the coffee mixture, remaining cream and icing sugar in a mixing bowl and whip to stiff peaks with an electric hand mixer.
TO ASSEMBLE
1. Slice the eclairs in half using a serrated knife. Dip the top half of the eclairs into the chocolate glaze and place on a wire rack to drip. Pipe cream onto the bottom half of the eclairs. Sandwich all the eclairs together carefully. If the glaze is too thin
it will run, refrigerate for a bit longer before dipping.
Storage tip: Assembled eclairs are best eaten straight away. Unfilled eclairs can be kept in an airtight container for a few days or frozen. Crisp them up in the oven before filling.
Self-saucing chocolate pudding
SERVES 6–8 • TOTAL TIME 55 min
INGREDIENTS
FOR THE PUDDING
Flour 2 cups
Cocoa powder ½ cup
Baking powder 1 tbsp
Salt 1 tsp
Caster sugar ½ cup
Brown sugar ½ cup
Eggs 2
Milk 1 cup
Butter, melted 130 g
Vanilla essence 2 tsp
Instant coffee powder 1 tsp
FOR THE SAUCE
Brown sugar 1 cup
Cocoa powder 6 tbsp
Boiling water 2 cups
Double-thick cream
METHOD
FOR THE PUDDING
1. Preheat the oven to 160ºC. Grease a 30 × 20 cm baking dish.
2. Sift the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder and salt into a large mixing bowl. Whisk in the sugar.
3. In a separate bowl, whisk together the egg, milk, butter, vanilla and coffee powder until well combined.
4. Add the wet mixture into the dry mixture and mix until combined. Spread the batter into the prepared baking dish.
FOR THE SAUCE
1. Whisk together the brown sugar and cocoa in a heatproof bowl or jug. Add the boiling water and mix until the sugar has mostly dissolved.
2. Gently pour the sauce onto the pudding over the back of the spoon.
3. Bake the pudding for 40–45 minutes or the top is firm and the pudding is bubbling around the edges. Allow to cool for 10 minutes before tucking in. Serve with scoops of ice cream, if desired.
Recipes & styling: Sjaan van der Ploeg:
Stylist assistants: Kirsty Buchanan & Jezza-Rae Larsen
Photography: Chanelle Naudt/hmimages.co.za
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