Rum Truffles (Vegan)

These are one of my favourites. As is the case with most vegan food, you really need to be in the mood to make it... cos it takes a while (one reason it is hard to be totally vegan!) you need to allow about 2 hours in total to prepare these!

As a poor student I don't have a lot of money to spend on pressies at christmas so I make up little bags of rum balls and mini christmas puddings for people :)

To make about 15 (very large) rum truffles:

60g raisins (2oz)
90ml dark rum (3fl oz)
90g firm margarine (3oz)
125g gram flour (1/4lb)
45ml maple syrup (3tbs)
50g carob powder (5tbs)
3tbs desiccated coconut (3tbs)

- Put the raisins in a small bowl, pour the rum over and set aside for at least half an hour.
- Melt the margarine in a small saucepan, stir in the gram flour to make a firm roux and cook GENTLY for 2-3 minutes. Stir in the maple syrup, rum and raisins and continue stirring until thoroughly mixed. Remove from heat.
- Set 2tbs of the carob powder aside and add the rest to the saucepan. Mix thoroughly to a thick, slightly sticky, uniformly coloured paste.
- Put the desiccated cocnut and the remaining 2tbs of carob powder on a plate and mix together till the coconut becomes carob coloured
- Take teaspoonfuls of the truffle mixture, drop them into the coconut and roll them around to make well-coated balls
- Refrigerate for at least an hour

Serve with freshly-brewed (fair trade) coffee and brandy... mmmmm
You can replace the rum with brandy or liqueur and/or the raisins with dates if you so desire.

*with love from faerie the crazy hippie*
Happy Christmas all!

Key Lime Pie

The basic recipe is a Delia Smith one but I have changed it slightly and also added some alterntives at the end to make it a bit different.

Dessert
Serves: 8 (or 6 if you're greedy like me!!)
Difficulty: Easy
Preparation Time: 20 minutes
Cooking Time: 35 minutes

Ingredients
For the base:
3.5 oz (95g) butter
8oz (175g) digestive biscuits

Filling:
1 level tablespoon grated lime zest (3 limes)
5fl oz (150ml) lime juice (4-5 large limes)
3 large egg yolks
14 oz (400g) condensed milk

Method:
1. Place the butter in a pan over the lowest heat to melt

2. Then crush the digestive biscuits. The easiest way to do this is to lay them out flat in a polythene bag and crush them with a rolling pin, rolling over using a lot of pressure.

3. Empty the contents of the bag into a bowl and add the melted butter and mix well.

4. Place the butter-crumb mixture in the flan tin and, using your hands, press it down evenly and firmly all over the base and up the sides of the tin.

5. Then place it on the baking sheet and bake on the centre shelf of the oven for 10-12 minutes, or until crisp and golden brown.

6. Place the egg yolks and lime zest in a bowl and, using an electric hand mixer, whisk them for about 2 minutes, or until the egg has thickened.

7. Add the condensed milk and whisk for another 4 minutes.

8. Finally, add the lime juice and give it another quick whisk, then pour the whole lot on to the
baked crust and return it to the oven for another 20 minutes, or until it feels just set when you lightly press the centre with your little finger.

9. Remove it from the oven and, when it's completely cold, cover it with clingfilm and chill until needed. Serve cut in slices with crème fraîche and a twist of lime for decoration. Also yummy with ice cream!

Alternatives

1. Instead of digestives, use your favourite biscuits for the base. I often use ginger nut with chocolate digestive
2. Use lemons instead of limes
3. Add another fruit to the lemon or lime filling such as passion fruit, mango, raspberries or strawberries

Simmered Pears in Red Wine.

Winter side dish or dessert.
Serves: 2
Difficulty: Easy
Preparation Time: 15 minutes
Cooking Time: 50 minutes

Ingredients:
- 8 firm cooking/dessert pears (in Holland we use Gieser Wildeman or Saint Remy pears),
- bottle of red wine
- caster sugar ( I use 10 dessert spoons of sugar, but you can add more (or less) if you like)
- 2 cinnamon sticks,
- Rind of halve a lemon or 400 ml. orange juice

Method:

1. Peel the pears, leave the stem and don’t cut them (if you want, you can slice the bottoms off to help them to stand up easily in the pan or when served).

2. Pour the wine into a large saucepan. Stir in the sugar. Put the pears into the pan and add the orange juice and cinnamon sticks. Bring to the boil and then turn down the heat to a simmer. Put a lid on and cook for 45 minutes or so (Gieser Wildeman or Saint Remy pears take longer – 90 minutes or so), until beautiful red and soft but still retaining their shape.

3. When you eat them as a side dish, eat them hot!(Delicious with roasted potatoes) If you want to use them for dessert, let them cool in the liquid. Serve with cream, or mascarpone, or just plain vanilla ice-cream and some port-wine or some of the liquid

Enjoy!

Tip: you can store these pears in your freezer (store them in a container with the liquid)
Tip2: Don’t throw away the liquid….it’s very tasty and you can drink it or use it as a sauce

Sara's easy pudding

A friend of mine gave me this recipe that is so simple it's unbelievable! She is definitely of the "can't cook, won't cook" school so this is great if you want to impress without any hassle!

Ingredients

1 pack of frozen summer fruits
1 box of ready made meringues

Method

Defrost the bag of frozen fruits and put into a serving bowl.

Crumble the meringues into the fruit. Leave for about 5 minutes and serve!

Serve with double cream or ice-cream.

See, told you it was easy!

You can make it a bit posher if you want by using fresh berries sprinkled with a little sugar and leave to stand for 1/2 hour. And make your own meringues if you're feeling really clever!