Banana and Baileys Bread and Butter Pudding

I am giving you a recipe this week that I actually made ages ago but never seemed to write it down and I do not know why! I have never tried making bread and butter pudding, or to be honest ever even tried it, but seriously what is there not to like, it basically has all my favourite things in it bananas, Baileys, walnuts and chocolate. I was inspired by a recipe whilst watching a Jamie Oliver show and here is my version of Banana and Baileys Bread and Butter Pudding;

Ingredients

• 100 g of Butter
• 10 Slices of White Bread
• 100g of Caster Sugar
• 1tbsp of Caster Sugar
• Seeds from 1 Vanilla Pod
• 4 Eggs
• 600ml of Double Cream
• 600ml of Semi-skimmed Milk
• 4 Banana
• 75g of Walnuts
• 100ml of Baileys
• 100g of Milk Chocolate Chocolate

Banana and Baileys Bread and Butter Pudding Ready For The Oven

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 180°C
2. Lightly butter the all of the slices of bread on one side
3. Then cut each slice in half (so you have 20 rectangles)
4. In a bowl whisk the sugar, vanilla seeds and eggs together until well combined
5. Then add the cream and milk whilst continually whisking until smooth and set aside
6. Now peel and slice your bananas and crush up the chocolate and walnuts and set to one side
7. Grease an oven dish with butter
8. Then place a layer of bread in the bottom of the dish, sprinkle a little of the banana slices, walnuts and chocolate and then another layer of bread
9. Repeat until you have used all of the ingredients
10. Drizzle over the Baileys and custard making sure you moisten all the bread
11. Leave to stand for around 20 minutes until the bread begins to soak up the liquid
12. Bake in the preheated oven for 35 minutes until the pudding starts to set around the edges whilst wobbly in the middle
13. Remove from the oven and allow to cool slightly
14. Then sprinkle the caster sugar over the top and serve with cream (or ice cream)

Banana and Baileys Bread and Butter Pudding

As a first attempt at both making and eating a bread and butter pudding of any sort, I have to say that my Banana and Baileys Bread and Butter Pudding was really delicious. It certainly was not gourmet food but more of a family Sunday lunch dessert that can be enjoyed by everyone, home comfort food I would call it, it comforted me and my stomach.  I would love to try and make it again using a different filling, I think this is a great recipe that can be used for most occasions when you need a dessert to serve at least 8 that you can prepare in advance.

What are your favourite ‘comfort food’ recipes?

Apple Enchiladas

So, the day has arrived it is one year since I started allaboutchantelle and I am so happy I am still here sharing my recipe with everyone reading them!

To celebrate a brand new recipe that was chosen by my boyfriend and made for dessert with our closest friends last weekend, the recipe is a twist on a savoury dish but could not be sweeter. Here is my recipe for Apple Enchiladas;

Ingredients

• 600g of Apples (peeled, cored and chopped)
• 175g of White Sugar
• 135ml of Water
• 2tbsp of Cinnamon
• 2tbsp of Lemon Juice
• 6 Flour Tortillas
• 115g of Butter
• 110g of Brown Sugar

Apple Enchiladas

Method

1. Put the apples, 75g of white sugar, 10ml of water, cinnamon and lemon juice into a pan
2. Cook on a low heat for 5 minutes until the apples soften and a syrup forms
3. Spoon a 6th of the apple mixture into each tortilla
4. Roll the tortillas up, tucking in the edges and place seam side down into an oven dish
5. Then in the same saucepan put the butter, 100g of white sugar, brown sugar and 125ml of water and combine over a medium heat
6. Bring to the boil stirring constantly
7. Then reduce the heat and simmer for 3 minutes
8. Pour the sauce over the enchiladas and let stand for 45 minutes
9. Whilst this is standing preheat the oven to 175C
10. Then bake in the preheated oven for 20 minutes until golden
11. Serve hot with whipped cream or vanilla ice cream

I loved how inventive this recipe was a great twist on the savoury recipe we all know and love, they were really delicious but I am a fan of baked apple desserts. These Apple Enchiladas were simple and delicious and can be versatile too, just fill with strawberry, peaches or whatever takes your fancy!

I hope you enjoy the recipe and I hope you are still enjoying my blog, today more than any other I want to say thank you for stopping by!

Chocolate Orange Frosting

This weekend I thought I would share the recipe with you for my latest and favouritist Chocolate Orange Frosting. It is just to die for and tastes great decorating any cake or cupcakes. Here is my recipe;

Ingredients

• 75g of Icing Sugar
• 25g of Cocoa
• 75g of Butter
• Rind of half an Orange
• 2tbsp of Freshly Squeezed Orange Juice

Chocolate Orange Frosting

Method

1. Cream together the icing sugar and butter until smooth
2. Then add the cocoa and mix thoroughly
3. Finally add the orange rind and juice and mix together
4. Use a palette knife or icing bag to decorate your cake!

I just had to share this Chocolate Orange Frosting recipe and instruct everyone to make cakes with this as it is so delicious! It tastes just like Terry’s Chocolate Orange and what can be better than that?

 

Vanilla Sponge with Chocolate Orange Frosting

Last week it was one of my friends first birthday in Berlin, when you move to a different country this is always a slightly strange occasion and you usually miss out on the traditions from back home. So to celebrate I decided to invite her over for dinner and surprise her by making a birthday cake (with secretly trick candles)!  It didn’t take much to decide, I knew I had to make a cake with this frosting again so this week my recipe was Vanilla Sponge with Chocolate Orange Frosting;

Ingredients

• 200g of Caster Sugar
• 275g of Butter
• 4 Large Eggs
• 200g of Flour
• 1 tsp of Baking Powder
• 1 tsp of Bicarbonate Soda
• 1tbsp of Vanilla Extract
• 75g of Icing Sugar
• 25g of Cocoa Powder
• Rind of Half an Orange
• 3tsbp of Orange Juice

 

Vanilla Sponge with Chocolate Orange Frosting

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 190C
2. Mix the flour, bicarbonate of soda, baking powder and sugar in a bowl
3. Mix in 200g of butter until crumbly
4. Add the eggs and blend until mixture is smooth
5. Add the tbsp of vanilla extract and stir in
6. Pour the mixture evenly into 2 shallow cake tins and bake in the oven for 25-30 minutes
7. Once baked take them out of the oven and allow to cool for a few minutes
8. Then remove from the cake tins and place on a wire cooling rack
9. Allow to cool thoroughly before beginning the frosting
10. Once cool, place 75g of butter, icing sugar, 25g of cocoa, 3tbsp of orange juice and the zest of half an orange in a bowl and mix together thoroughly until smooth
11. Before frosting the cake I usually trim the top of the cakes to create a flatter surface for the look of the final cake
12. Then using a palette knife spread 1/4 of the frosting on to the top of one of the cakes, once covered place the other cake upside down on top and push down lightly, so you have the flat base as a top
13. Then use the rest of the frosting to smoothly cover the cake filling in any gaps between the 2 sponges
14. Allow to set then serve

 

Cut into Vanilla Sponge with Chocolate Orange Frosting

This cake was really delicious and I think it was appreciated by all of those who ate it! The Vanilla Sponge was a great base for the stronger and so delicious flavours of the Chocolate Orange Frosting, that I must say is becoming my favourite!

What are your favourite frosting flavours?

Sweet and Sour Chicken

New Years Resolution – lose a lot of weight, easier said than done when I just love baking, so this year baking has been cut down to treats, real treats, not every week treats and birthdays! This started my quest to find meals that are low calorie but not low portion, otherwise I will just eat more than I should, during my quest I stumbled upon the Hairy Biker’s Diet show ”The Hairy Dieters‘ where they set out to lose a substantial amount of weight by still eating good food and not eating like a rabbit! This show has become the source of my imagination as they created loads of great recipe where they just use more of the good bits so you can still eat well and lose weight. But first I decided to try out their recipe for creating  a takeaway Sweet and Sour Chicken at home;

Ingredients

• 425g of Pineapple Chunks in Natural Juice
• 2tbsp of Cornflour
• 2tsbp of Soy Sauce
• 2tbsp of White Wine Vinegar
• 2tbsp of Brown Sugar
• 2tbsp of Tomato Ketchup
• ½ tsp of Dried Chilli Flakes
• 2 Boneless, Skinless Chicken Breasts cut into even chunks
• 2tbsp of Sunflower Oil
• 1 Onion cut into Wedges
• 2 Peppers cut into large chunks
• 225g of Water Chestnuts, Drained and Sliced
• 2 Garlic Cloves, Peeled and Crushed
• 25g of Fresh Root Ginger, Peeled and Grated
• Freshly Ground Black Pepper

 

Sweet and Sour Chicken

Method

1. Firstly you need to prepare the sauce, to do this drain the pineapple in a sieve over a bowl so you keep all of the juice (you need around 150ml), set the pineapple aside
2. Place the cornflour and 3tbsp of pineapple juice in a bowl and mix together to create a smooth paste
3. Add the remaining juice and 150ml of water, then stir in the soy sauce, vinegar, sugar, ketchup, and chilli flakes until thoroughly combined and set aside for later
4. Heat 1tbsp of oil in a frying pan and stir fry onion and peppers for 2 minutes over a high heat
5. Add another tbsp of oil and the chicken to the pan and stir fry for another 2 minutes until coloured on all sides
6. Then add the garlic, ginger, pineapple chunks and water chestnuts and stir fry for another minute
7. Give the sauce mixture a good stir and add to the pan with the chicken and vegetables and stir well
8. Season with some black pepper and bring to a simmer
9. Cook for 8-10 minutes until the sauce has thickened and glossy and the chicken is tender and cooked throughout stirring occasionally.

Serving Suggestions

Serves 4 and tastes great with boiled rice!

The idea of this Sweet and Sour Chicken recipe was to be low calorie and taste great and it really did achieve both for under 500 calories you get a large meal that reminds you of a takeaway! Win win! One warning I have for this recipe is, prepare everything first, most of your time will be spent preparing then when you start cooking it all goes so fast and I was glad to have been organised, if you try to do it as you go it won’t work! However, after the first time you make it, it seems easy and you will want to make it again and again! In fact this is on the menu tonight in our house and will certainly become a regular treat for us!

I have one more low calorie takeaway recipe to share with you but if you have any I would love to hear them!

Banana Walnut Cupcakes with Chocolate Frosting

It was my boyfriends birthday in December and I made him a loaf of Banana Bread to take to work, the flat smelt so lovely for the next two days I was so jealous I had not made it for me. So in a moment of inspiration and with a birthday party being held at home I decided to expand my cupcake making to experiment with these ingredients.  I have been using lots of flavours such as cinnamon and ginger but this time it would be Banana Walnut Cupcakes with Chocolate Frosting. This is my recipe and it could not be easier;

Ingredients

• 100g of Caster Sugar
• 150g of Butter
• 2 Large Eggs
• 100g of Flour
• 1/2 tsp of Baking Powder
• 1/2 tsp of Bicarbonate Soda
• 3 Mashed Bananas
• 50g of Crushed Walnuts
• 12 Whole Walnuts
• 75g of Icing Sugar
• 25g of Cocoa Powder

Banana Walnut Cupcakes with Chocolate Frosting

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 190C
2. Mix the flour a sugar in a bowl
3. Mix in 75g of butter until crumbly
4. Add the 2 eggs and blend until mixture is smooth
5. Add the banana and crushed walnuts and stir to combine
6. Bake in cupcake cases for 15-20 minutes
7. Allow to cool on a wire rack before frosting
8. Once cool make the frosting by combining the icing sugar and cocoa powder
9. The add the final 75g of butter and mix together until smooth
10. Then put into an icing bag or use a palette knife to frost the cupcakes
11. Place one whole walnut on top of the frosting for decoration

I usually attempt to be modest with my food (well sort of) but with these Banana Walnut Cupcakes with Chocolate Frosting I just can’t. They are truly delicious, I could easily eat 3 or 4 in one sitting and still probably want more. So far I have to say these are my favourite cupcakes that I have made especially with such an easy recipe to follow!

What are your favourite cupcakes?

Individual Fruit Pavlova’s with Peach and Raspberry

Firstly I hope everyone had an amazing Christmas, I know I did and if you did as much cooking as me I am sure your fridge is as full of leftovers too! I did so much cooking over Christmas I did not know when to start when putting my recipes here but in the end I decided to start with dessert! This recipe for meringue has actually been passed to me by my boyfriend’s mum and if I do it to half of her standards I would be proud of my attempts, before eating her pavlova I did not even supposedly like pavlova! I have done it a few times with varying results but after deciding that it would be dessert on Christmas day I wanted to practice and play with the toppings so I could put my own mark on it. So here is my recipe for Individual Fruit Pavlova’s with Peach and Raspberry’s:

Ingredients

• 60z of Sugar
• 3 Egg Whites
• 1tbsp of Lemon Juice
• 200ml of Whipping Cream
• 2tbsp of Icing Sugar
• 1tsp of Vanilla Extract
• 250g of Raspberry’s
• 3 Peaches (with the skin and stone removed and chopped into chunks)
• 3tbsp of Caster Sugar

Individual Meringues Ready for the Oven

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 150C
2. Separate the egg whites into a large bowl
3. Whisk until the egg whites are stiff (should be able to turn upside down without movement)
4. Add the sugar in stages through a sieve whilst continuing to whisk until all sugar has been added and the mixture is still stiff
5. Finally add the lemon juice and whisk again
6. Now carefully spoon out the mixture out (onto a baking tray lined with baking paper) into 4 individual circles then build up the edge of the circles with the mixture to create a well in the middle of your meringue
7. Put into the oven and turn the heat down to 130c
8. After 45 minutes turn the oven off but leave the meringue in the oven for at least 3 hours (overnight is better)
9. Once ready to serve whip your cream together with the icing sugar and vanilla extract and fill the middle of your meringues with the cream
10. Then finally for the fruit filling place the raspberry’s, peaches and sugar into a small saucepan and put on a low heat for 7/8 minutes until the sugar and raspberry’s form a sauce and the peach has softened
11. Then pour over the cream and enjoy

Individual Fruit Pavlova’s with Peach and Raspberry

These Individual Fruit Pavlova’s with Peach and Raspberry were made as a test run for Christmas day and on this attempt they were truly delicious and the recipe worked exactly as it should, however in truth the attempt for Christmas day did not go to plan. My meringue for a reason I am not quite sure of failed, big time, so I had to improvise and used the same ingredients as above but made individual Eton Mess’s for everyone.

Individual Eton Mess

Which luckily tasted just as great and avoided me having to come up with another dessert at short notice. I am lucky that this was the worst thing to happen whilst cooking this Christmas, I hope all of yours went just as well!

Apple Crumble

I have wanted to make an Apple Crumble for months now, but it just did not seem to fit in with the hot and humid summer months here in Berlin. So for me as soon as the weather turned cold it could mean only one thing! Here is how I made it;

Ingredients

• 100g of Rolled Oats
• 100g of Wholemeal Flour
• 60g of Brown Sugar
• 80g of Butter
• 600g of Apples once Peeled and Chopped
• 75g of Caster Sugar
• 2tbsp of Water
• 2tbsp of Cinnamon
• 2tbsp of Lemon Juice

Apples Ready for the Crumble

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 190C
2. Peel, core and chop up the apples into small chunks
3. Then put the apples, sugar, water, cinnamon and lemon juice into a pan
4. Cook on a low heat for 5 minutes until the apples are coated and sticky
5. The place in an even layer in your oven dish
6. Set aside and in another bowl place the flour, oats and brown sugar into a bowl and mix well
7. Cut the butter into small cubes and add to the mixture
8. Mix with your finger tips until it resembles and even crumb texture
9. Cover the filling with an even layer of the the crumble mixture
10. Put into the oven and bake for 20-25 minutes until the crumble is golden and the apple hot

Golden Apple Crumble

Serving Suggestions

Pouring Cream, Ice Cream or Custard all make great accompaniments

If this Apple Crumble does not have you salivating over your keyboard then quite frankly there is something wrong with you and you must make it right away and then eat it and then come back and tell me it is not truly delicious! Since making this for dinner at friends 3 weeks ago I have made 2 mini ones for us at home just by cutting the ingredients all by half and using a smaller dish as it is actually really quick and simple to make. I would love to hear from you if you make it for yourself or if you have any other crumbles that I should try.

Banana Bread with Chocolate and Walnuts

I love bananas, anything banana really, smoothie, ice cream, milk, even those little foam bananas so when one of my best friends made me banana bread I was one happy foodie! She has in fact made me 2 different banana breads that were both absolutely delicious, but she is now back in Vancouver to get married next week (I will be joining shortly before the wedding) so when I really had a fancy for it, I had to make it myself. I wanted to try a different recipe rather than copying hers so I went for Banana Bread with Chocolate and Walnuts and this is the recipe that I came up with:

Ingredients

• 285g of Flour
• 1 tsp of Bicarbonate of Soda
• 1/2 tsp of Salt
• 110 g of Butter
• 225g of Sugar
• 2 Eggs
• 4 Bananas – Mashed
• 85ml of Buttermilk
• 100g of Chocolate Chips
• 120g of Crushed Walnuts

My Banana Bread Dough Ready for the Oven

Method

1. Preheat oven to 180C
2. Sift flour, bicarbonate of soda and salt into a bowl and set aside
3. In a separate bowl cream the butter and sugar together until the mixture becomes light and fluffy
4. Add the eggs, mashed banana and buttermilk to the mixture and stir thoroughly
5. Then fold in the flour mixture until mixed well
6. Then add the walnuts and chocolate and stir in
7. Grease a loaf tin and pour in the mixture
8. Bake in the oven for 45 minutes or until risen and brown
9. Remove from the oven and allow to cool before serving

My Banana Bread with Walnuts and Chocolate Cooled and Ready to Eat

Serving Suggestion

Eat it as quickly as you can before it is all gone!

OK, so even I was impressed with my baking skills on this one, this Banana Bread with Walnuts and Chocolate was absolutely divine and so more-ish, even on a hot day!  This recipe will definitely be going into the recipe book to be made time and time again.

Tomorrow I go on holiday but Carla from The Soupstache has been so kind to offer me one of her recipes to feature whilst I am away, so look out for it!

Lemon Cream and Mixed Berry Compote

I once had this in a restaurant such a long time ago that I cannot even remember which restaurant it was, but I had not forgotten the dessert. It was so scrumptious and more-ish that when I was deciding what to make for our dinner party dessert this weekend there was no other choice.  I am always making things full of chocolate which in my opinion can only be beaten by a delicious lemon dessert. So on the menu this week; Lemon Cream and Mixed Berry Compote served with Home-Made Shortbread Biscuits and this is the recipe:

Ingredients

• 600ml of Double Cream
• 350g of Sugar
• 5 Lemons
• 250g of Mixed Berries (this time I used Blackberries and Blueberries)

My Lemon Cream Drizzled with Mixed Berry Compote and Shortbread for Dipping!

Method

1. Firstly, zest and juice the 5 lemons and set aside
2. Then bring the double cream to the boil in a saucepan
3. Once the cream is boiling turn down the heat to a simmer
4. Add 250g of sugar whilst continually stirring for 2-3 minutes or until the sugar has dissolved
5. Continue to stir as you add the lemon zest and juice
6. Simmer for a further minute before removing the mixture from the heat
7. After 10 minutes of cooling pour the mixture evenly into 4 serving glasses and leave to cool down for 50 minutes
8. After the 50 minutes ensure the mixture is cool before putting into the fridge to chill for at least 2 hours
9. When the creams have chilled for 2 hours you can prepare the compote
10. Put the berries and 100g of sugar in a pan and stir well as you heat them
11. As the sugar dissolves and the berries breakdown bring the mixture to a simmer
12. Simmer for 5-6 minutes / stirring well
13. Remove from the heat
14. Take a spoon and drizzle a small part of the compote over the top of the creams and put back in the fridge to chill for a few minutes
15. Let the compote cool before placing into a jug for serving

Serving Suggestions

Drizzle the Mixed Berry Compote over the top of the chilled Lemon Cream and serve with Home-Made Shortbread Biscuits

I served my Lemon Cream and Mixed Berry Compote in 4 individual mini desserts but this dessert would also be great as one cream that could then be served out into individual bowls if you wanted to split the dessert between more people or even save some for later. Either way this dessert was divine and it was great for me to try baking something a little bit different and I am really proud of myself that this came out so well! Having the shortbread biscuits to dip in were a really great idea and broke up the strong flavours of the lemon and berries, which were surprisingly more sickly than I had anticipated, I suppose fruit is not always healthy!

If you have any other delicious Lemon based desserts I would love to hear your recipes!