Sweets for your Sweet - Buttermilk Pudding with Sangria Jelly and Nut Wafers

Do you celebrate Valentine’s Day? We don’t. Not really. I’ve never been a flowers and chocolates and teddy bears with hearts kinda girl. But I do love love, and Lance and I are romantic just in general, so I’m all for people taking the opportunity to tell that special someone that you love them. Lance and I are actually going to a comedy show for the Fringe Festival on Valentine’s Day. But we’ll have a nice dinner beforehand. Not sure what yet. All I know is that this is our Valentine’s Day dessert. It’s a little different, a little quirky and is most importantly, a little bit lighter and not too sweet in this summer heat! As an added bonus the components are made early(ish) with chilling time, or can be made a day or so in advance and assembled before serving, making it great for dinner parties. Or romantic dinners, where less cooking time means more couple time!

I am a huge fan of sangria. And buttermilk. And nuts. So this dessert is a combination of all of those things. Luckily, Lance is too – so it can feel like I’ve made it for him. Each element here has a small level of sweetness, which combine for a lovely dessert with a fun play on textures – without overwhelming you with sweetness. The buttermilk pudding is smooth and creamy, the sangria jelly has a little chew – not quite jube, but a bit denser than a normal jelly. Add the crunch of the nut wafers and you’ve got a party going. They, by the way, are the easiest crackers to make. And so delicious!

The jelly and wafers make more than you need for the buttermilk pudding portion, but the crackers in particular are so moreish that you won’t find a problem eating the rest of those by themselves! But they both make the best addition to a cheese platter. And I might’ve had some of the jelly with my breakfast granola. And it might’ve been absolutely delicious!

 

Sangria Jelly

500mL dry red wine (such as Cab Sauv, or Shiraz)

50 gm caster sugar

8 gelatin leaves

Juice and peel of one orange (peeled in large strips)

Juice and peel of one lemon (peeled in large strips)

2 bay leaves

2 cardamom pods

4 cloves

1 stick cinnamon

Lightly oil a shallow rectangular dish that can will hold 500mL and set aside until required. In a medium pot, bring red wine, sugar, citrus juice and peel, and spices to a simmer and stir to dissolve sugar. Set aside for the flavours to infuse for an hour. Strain through a fine sieve into a clean pot and bring back to a simmer. Place the gelatin into a bowl of cold water and leave to soften. When the wine mixture comes to a simmer, squeeze excess water from the gelatin and gently drop into the wine. Stir to dissolve the gelatin then set aside for 15 minutes to cool slightly.

Gently pour the jelly into the prepared container and refrigerate until set – around half an hour. When ready to serve, turn out of container, and cut into small cubes.

Buttermilk Pudding

(makes 4 serves)

1tsp vanilla bean paste

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1 1/2 cups buttermilk

3 egg yolks

1/2 cup caster sugar

2 tablespoons corn flour

Combine the vanilla bean, cinnamon and buttermilk in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Cook, stirring, for 5 minutes or until mixture is almost at a simmer. You want it to come to temperature very slowly, so the buttermilk doesn’t separate. It’s much more temperamental when heating than normal milk.

Whisk egg yolks, caster sugar and corn flour in a bowl. Slowly pour the milk into the egg mix whilst whisking. Once it’s all combined, pour into a clean saucepan and put back over medium heat. Cook, stirring, for 4-5 minutes or until mixture thickens. Strain through a fine sieve into a container with a spout, then pour into your desired serving vessels. Tap onto the counter to get rid of air bubbles. Wrap with cling film and pop in the fridge to chill and set, at least an hour.

Hazelnut and Almond Wafers

¾ cup almonds

¾ cup hazelnuts

3 heaped tablespoons brown sugar

Zest of one orange

¼ tsp ground cardamom

2 egg whites

Preheat oven to 180C

Put the almonds and hazelnuts into the bowl of your food processor and pulse until broken up into tiny pieces. You want mainly ‘meal’ texture, but a few bits a little larger is fine. Add the brown sugar, cardamom and orange zest, and pulse to mix. Add the egg whites and pulse until it comes together in a ball. It’ll be fairly sticky.

Lay out a piece of baking paper the size of your baking tray, put the ball of dough on it, then place another piece of baking paper over the top. Roll the dough out evenly, and thinly (around 2mm) to spread across the size of your whole baking tray. Carefully peel off the top layer and put in the oven.

After about 10 minutes, it will have dried fairly considerably and will have turned paler in colour. Remove from the oven and cut into squares/rectangles with a pizza cutter or sharp knife (pizza cutter is a much easier and neater way of doing it). Place back in the oven for another 10-12 minutes or so until golden. The pieces will have shrunk away from each other and formed individual wafers. Watch them carefully this second time as they can burn easily.

Set aside to cool on the tray and finish drying out for half an hour before putting on a cooling rack to cool completely. Store in an airtight container.

Assemble the three components however you artistically like!

Christmas in July - Cloudy Mulled Apple Cider

This mulled apple cider is all Lance’s design. Traditionally we’ve made a mulled wine for Christmas in July, but having had mulled cider a few times over the last couple of winters, and loving it, Lance decided he wanted to give that a go. He wanted it to be a delicious cloudy cider and achieved this by adding apple puree. The spices are the same traditional mulled wine spices, but with more emphasis on the ginger and vanilla. I used homemade vanilla vodka, but use whatever you have at hand. Or, in a pinch, you can use vanilla extract (or add a vanilla bean in the mulling spices). Choose a drier style cider so it's not overpoweringly sweet.

I like this as the first drink of the night. It’s quite sweet, but it is a very warming welcome in to your home for a Christmas in July party. If you reheat it or make it in the slow cooker and keep it warm, it also makes a good end-of-the-night, most people have gone home, sit on-the-couch warming your hands in a mug and chat til 4am drink.

 

 

Mulled Cloudy Apple Cider

(serves 8-10 depending on glass size)
1 pink lady apple (or granny smith), peeled, cored and finely diced
90mL vanilla vodka (3 shots)
1 cup + 2 tbsp sugar (divided)
juice and peel 1 lemon
juice and peel 2 oranges
2 cinnamon sticks
5 cloves
2 bay leaves
thumb size piece of ginger, peeled and sliced
1 tsp whole allspice berries
8x 330mL bottles apple cider

Put the apple pieces, vanilla vodka, citrus juices and sugar into a small pot and bring to the boil. Simmer for 20 minutes until the apple has completely softened. Carefully blend this mixture to a puree in your blender. You can leave it to cool first if you want it to be safer to blend.

In a large pot, add I cup sugar, peel, cinnamon sticks, cloves, bay leaves, ginger, all spice berries and one bottle of cider. Stir over a medium-high heat until the sugar dissolves, then simmer on low until the mixture becomes syrupy and all of the spices infuse – around 20 minutes. Stir through the puree and remaining apple cider and keep on the low heat until the drink is warm. Serve in mugs, with cinnamon sticks for swizzle sticks. Try avoiding the spices when ladeling into mugs.

For an extra kick, try adding a shot of spiced rum such as Coruba or Captain Morgan!

This can also be made in a slow cooker. Follow the above stages with the insert on burners and at the stage of adding the puree and extra cider, put the insert into the slow cooker and leave it on low for the duration of the party to keep it warm.

Christmas in July - Chocolate Salted Caramel Pavlova

This is Lance’s current favourite food. I first made it for Mothers' Day and now he requests I make it all the time. If it didn’t mean I ended up with 8 egg yolks to deal with, I probably would! It is a brilliant dinner party dessert because it can all be pre-made and assembled on the day. The caramel and peanut praline can be made a few days in advance, the meringue is best made the day before to allow it to cool fully. I have made the meringues 3 days in advance too, as long as you store them in airtight containers, it works fine. Just don't assemble until a maximum of a few hours before serving.

The pavlova is rich and sweet and creamy, with the best combination of crispy meringue, sticky caramel, silky cream and crunchy praline. You only need a small slice, but then you go back for more. It’s so addictive! It looks both impressive and rustic at the same time.

 

 

Chocolate Salted Caramel Pavlova

(serve 8-10)
8 egg whites

400g caster sugar

4 tbsp cocoa powder (unsweetened)

1 tbsp balsamic vinegar

60g dark chocolate (I use Chilli Lindt, which happens to be equal to 6 squares), finely chopped)

600mL heavy cream (alternatively, 500mL whipping cream, whipped to firm peaks)

1 batch salted caramel (recipe below)

1 batch peanut praline (recipe below)

Position your oven racks in the middle two rows. Preheat oven to 180C

Line 3 baking trays with baking paper. On the back of them, trace a circle around a dinner plate around 24cm in diameter with a thick dark pen. Lightly spray the inked side with cooking spray and place ink side down on the trays. This helps stop them moving when you are adding the meringue.

Put the eggwhites in the bowl of your standmixer with the whisk attachment and whisk until soft peaks form. With the mixer still running, add a tablespoon of sugar at a time and continue beating until it goes stiff and glossy. It’s ready when you can lift the head of the mixer and the eggwhite mixture doesn’t drop off the whisk.

Take the bowl out of the machine and sift the cocoa powder, vinegar and chocolate. Gently fold this through the eggwhite mixture until it is an even pale brown colour.

Divide the mixture evenly between the 3 circles and then smooth with a spatula or back of a spoon to create flat, even layers.

Pop the trays in the oven and reduce the temperature straight away down to 140C. Cook for an hour. Don’t open the door at all during this time. When it’s ready, it will be crunchy on the outside and a little golden on the edges. Turn the oven off and leave the door of the oven ajar (use a wooden spoon to prop it open if necessary) and leave to cool completely inside. This will take a few hours.

To assemble, place one meringue on your serving plate and spread ½ of the caramel sauce over it. You’ll need to be very gentle so you don’t crush the meringue. Spoon 1/3 of the whipped cream on top of the caramel and spread. Top with a second meringue, then caramel, then cream. Finally add the third meringue, spread the remaining cream and sprinkle the chopped peanut praline over the top.

Salted Caramel Sauce

1 cup sugar
4 tbsp water
55 g butter
100mL cream

½ tsp fine sea salt

Add sugar and water in a medium saucepan over low heat. Stir until sugar has dissolved. Increase the heat to high, every so often, swirl the pot to keep mixture moving, but do not stir. The mixture will then start turning a nice caramel colour, when this happens, remove from the heat and add the butter, salt and cream. Whisk to combine, set aside to cool.

Peanut Praline

¾ cup raw peanuts

1 tbsp butter

1 tbsp brown sugar

¼ tsp salt

Melt butter and sugar in a frypan and stir until the sugar dissolves into the butter. Add the salt and stir through, too. Add the peanuts and stir to cover in the sugar mixture. Leave to toast for 2 minutes or so, then toss to toast the other side of the nuts. When the mixture smells toasty and nutty, spread out onto a lined baking tray and leave to cool and harden.
Break up/cut into smaller pieces to put on top.