Banana Pudding with Caramel Sauce – made in a rice cooker!

This is yum!  The caramel sauce is addictive; I was such a piggy that I licked the leftover off the plate!  I was interested in this recipe as it is made in the rice cooker and the only thing I have tried making in the rice cooker before apart from rice has been a risotto, not exactly adventurous.  You do need to check the rice cooker every now and then to ensure it is on the right setting as specified in the recipe.

Ingredients:
Banana Pudding:
30g butter, melted, plus 60g extra
2 tablespoons brown sugar, plus ⅓ cup extra
1 small banana sliced, plus 2 extra, mashed
1 egg, lightly whisked
½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
2 tablespoons milk
1 cup self raising flour

Caramel Sauce:
300ml cream
½ cup firmly packed brown sugar
80g butter

Method:
Grease and line the base of a rice cooker bowl with baking paper.  Drizzle the 30g of melted butter over the paper in the base of the bowl and sprinkle the 2 tablespoons of brown sugar evenly over the top.  Layer the sliced banana on top of the sugar and set aside.
Combine the extra melted butter, extra brown sugar, egg, cinnamon, extra mashed banana and milk in a medium bowl.  Sift in the flour and fold it into the banana mixture gently.  Spoon the mixture over the bananas in the prepared rice cooker bowl.
Carefully level the top and cover.  Press the rice cooker to ‘cook’ and cook for 5 minutes.  Switch the cooker to ‘warm’ and stand for 10 minutes.  Put the rice cooker back on to ‘cook’ and cook for a further 3 minutes.  Switch it back to ‘warm’ and stand for 10 minutes.  Do not remove the lid during this process.  Repeat the process twice more or until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out cleanly. 
Turn the pudding onto a serving plate.  Remove and discard the baking paper.

To make the caramel sauce:
Wipe the rice cooker bowl clean.  Add the cream, sugar and butter to the bowl and stir well.  Press ‘cook’ and bring to the boil.  Cook and stir for 5 minutes or until  the sugar dissolves and the mixture has thickened slightly.  Transfer the sauce to a heatproof jug.

To serve, drizzle slices of the pudding with the caramel sauce and plate with ice cream or whipped cream.

Sticky Date Pudding with Caramel Sauce

 

1 ¾ cups dates, coarsely chopped
1 ½ cups boiling water
1 teaspoon baking soda
90g butter, softened
1 ¼ cups brown sugar
3 eggs, lightly beaten
1 ½ cups self raising flour
⅓ cup walnuts
⅓ cup pecans

Caramel Sauce:
1 cup brown sugar
300ml cream
100g butter, cubed

Preheat the oven to 180°C.  Grease a 22cm round cake tin, line the base and sides with baking paper.
Combine the dates and boiling water in a heatproof bowl.  Stir in the soda and then stand for 5 minutes.
Blend or process the date mixture with butter and sugar until smooth.  Add the eggs and flour; blend or process until just combined.
Spread the mixture into the prepared tin and sprinkle evenly with the nuts.  Bake for 1 hour or until cooked when tested.  Stand the cake for 10 minutes before turning out onto a wire rack.

Caramel Sauce:
Combine the ingredients in a medium saucepan.  Stir over a low – medium heat, without boiling, until the sugar is dissolved.  Simmer whilst stirring the liquid for 3 minutes.
Brush the surface of the hot cake with ¼ cup of the caramel sauce.  Serve with the remaining sauce.

*This pudding can be frozen for up to three months.

Self Saucing Chocolate Pudding…

On Saturday while out shopping Simon and I found a set of ramekins on sale for under $10 at Stevens so we grabbed them (as they were a bit bigger than the weenie ones we had) and they actually came in handy that night :)
Andie, Rob and Matthew came around for a visit so we tried out Courtenay’s Self Saucing Pudding recipe, but made it as individual servings in the ramekins.  It worked really well – I thought the pudding tasted delicious and they looked pretty awesome in their little dishes.  Thanks Courtenay for the recipe!

Self Saucing Chocolate Pudding

 
Now that it’s getting colder it is the perfect excuse to bake yourself a yummy warm pudding! This is super quick, super easy and super delicious. Another bonus about this pudding is that it can all be mixed in the dish you cook it in (I suggest using a Pyrex dish).

Ingredients:
1 cup self raising flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 tablespoon cocoa
½ cup white sugar
60 grams butter
½ cup cold milk
1 teaspoon vanilla essence
2 teaspoons cocoa
½ cup brown sugar (can substitute with white sugar)
2 cups boiling water

Method:
Mix flour, baking powder, first measure of cocoa (1 tablespoon), and sugar in your cooking dish.
Melt butter, add milk and vanilla and mix to combine with dry ingredients.
Mix second measure of cocoa and brown sugar. Sprinkle on top.
Carefully pour boiling water over.
Bake in a 180˚C oven for 35 minutes, or until cooked.
Serve with ice cream and/or cream.

*Because of using the brown sugar the sauce had a yummy caramel taste, if you want it to be more chocolatey I would recommend using the white sugar.

Gü Naughties… YUM!

So, these are good.  Devilishly good.
I don’t really know what you would call them – ‘Goo’?  The brand is ‘Gü’ anyway.

I picked up the chocolate rolls tub while out shopping today, but you can get Rocky Road and Millionaire’s Flapjack (whatever that is) tubs too. 

The chocolate rolls were a chocolate cake with a swirl of a chocolate sauce through it, then coated in chocolate.  I opened the container when I got to the car to try one, and by the time I got home (like a whole 2mins away) quite a few were ‘missing’.  They’ve been in production since 2003, but have just launched in New Zealand in February.  So, if you are from another part of the world these might not be a new thing, however, they are new to us kiwis and I just wanted to spread the word because they are delicious – and if everyone else eats them I won’t feel so fat and guilty about being a piggy.

Mini Chocolate Christmas Puddings

OMG these are so cute, and easy, and yummy, and they aren’t full of that disgusting Christmas fruit mince!

To make these I just used a pack of marshmallows and guessed the amount of chocolate I needed.  However, the amounts below will make around 58 little puddings:

58 large marshmallows
2 cups milk chocolate melts
1 cup white chocolate melts
Cachous to decorate

Basically, you need the same amount of marshmallows as the amount of puddings you want to make.  I stuck my packet in the fridge to make them cold so the chocolate would set on them quicker.

Melt the milk chocolate.  Place each marshmallow on a fork and dip into the melted chocolate (like I do in my truffle recipe).  Don’t worry too much about covering the bottom of the marshmallow because if you put them into little mini cupcake papers later no one is going to see.  Allow the chocolate to set and then remove from the forks.

Melt the white chocolate.  Using a teaspoon drizzle a little of the chocolate over the top of the milk chocolate covered marshmallows.  Spread the chocolate with the spoon so a little dribbles down the side, so it looks more like icing.  Before the white chocolate sets, place a few cachous on top to decorate.  Finish the presentation off by placing your mini puddings into mini cupcake papers :)

   
Oh, how’s that for Christmas cute?  Haha, I’m such a geek!