I’ve been wild recently about sugar. I know! It’s not an ideal way to live your life, but I just can’t help it! I just want to eat chocolate all the time!!!!!!!!! But not just dry cookies and biscuits. I’ve had a taste for warm, soft chocolate and Gu makes the best!!!!! They have chocolate souffles, chocolate puds, chocolate mascarpone, melt-in-the-middle chocolate, everything!!!!!! Of course, they’re quite small and they are also expensive, so I decided to try and find a simple-ish recipe to get my chocolate at home, and to maybe burn some calories cooking over a hot stove before piling on the pounds eating goodies… :O I found this really straightforward recipe on deliaonline.com:

Ingredients

Preparation

1. First of all place the broken-up chocolate, along with the butter and brandy, in a large heatproof bowl, which should be sitting over a saucepan of barely simmering water, making sure the bowl doesn’t touch the water.
2. Then, keeping the heat at its lowest, allow the chocolate and butter to melt slowly; it should take 6-7 minutes. Then remove it from the heat and give it a good stir until it’s smooth and glossy.
3. While the chocolate is melting, place the sugar , whole eggs, yolks and vanilla extract in a large mixing bowl, place it on a tea towel to steady it, then whisk on a high speed with an electric hand whisk until the mixture has doubled in volume – this will take between 5 and 10 minutes, depending on the power of your whisk. What you need to end up with is a thick, mousse-like mixture that, when you stop the motor and lift the whisk, leaves a trail like a piece of ribbon.
4. Now you need to pour the melted chocolate mixture around the edge of the bowl (it’s easier to fold it in from the edges) and then sift the flour over the mixture. Using a large metal spoon, carefully but thoroughly fold everything together. Patience is needed here; don’t be tempted to hurry it, as careful folding and cutting movements are needed, and this will take 3-4 minutes.
5. Now divide the mixture between the pudding basins (it should come to just below the top of each one) and line them up on a baking tray. If you like, the puddings can now be covered with clingfilm and kept in the fridge or freezer until you need them.When you’re ready to bake the puddings, pre-heat the oven to gas mark 6, 400°F (200°C).
6. Remove the clingfilm and bake on the centre shelf of the oven for 14 minutes if they have been chilled first, but only 12 if not; after that time the puddings should have risen and feel fairly firm to the touch, although the insides will still be melting.
7. Leave to stand for 1 minute before sliding a palette knife around each pudding  and turning out on to individual serving plates. If you’re cooking these puddings from frozen, give them about 15 minutes’ cooking time and allow them to stand for 2 minutes before turning out.
8. Serve absolutely immediately, with some chilled cream to pour over.

umyumyumyumyumyummmm (that’s my full of chocolate face noise).

The best thing about chocolate is that it is great to share.

Enjoy it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Love,
Naimah

[image: culinspiration.files.wordpress.com]

I’m on a mission to find out what Christmas tastes like… I think we in the UK would say it tastes like turkey, stuffing, cranberry sauce and maybe ham. How do you recreate that in a sandwich? Here’s what I’ve come up with so far!!!

Ingredients

• Left over cooked turkey 
• Left over stuffing
• Cranberry sauce
• Hellman’s Mayo
• 2 Cooked rashers of Bacon
• Uncut loaf of whitebread from the bakers
• Lettuce
• Tomato

Preparation

1. Cut the loaf of bread into 2cm thick slices.
2. Butter the first slice of bread.
3. Add a thin layer of mayonaise.
4. Place generous amounts of turkey on the bread.
5. Spread cranberry over the turkey.
6. Add a layer of lettuce.
7. Add a second slice of buttered bread.
8. Add the bacon.
9. Add thin layer of tomato.
10. Cover with a layer of stuffing.
11. Top with the last layer of buttered bread.

Insert bad auntie Christmas joke here: ‘Well, it’s beginning to taste a lot like Christmas!!!!’

Naimah xoxoxo

OK let’s talk yummy scrummy food!!!!

I made the tuna pasta bake the other day, and it turned out really really well!!!! I put too much sauce in it, so was more like pasta bake stew, but I loved it, and I’d love to try the same recipe with different kinds of fish and different sauces. I used tortellini that has sun dried tomatoes in it, I’ve got my eye on some spinach and ricotta tortellini for the next batch. But more on that later!!!

I am still on the hunt for easy,  healthy recipes and I love a good yogurt parfait in the morning. Here’s how I make it:

INGREDIENTS

• 175g granola or porridge oats (I use Scotts or ReadyBrek)
• 500 g vanilla yogurt (I use Onken Biopot yogurts)
• 175g fruit (you can use peaches, strawberries, blueberries, rasberries, or a combination of these!)
• Cinnamon or Nutmeg to taste

PREPARATION

1. Cut the fruit into bite-sized pieces and mix in with the yogurt.
2. In a tall, thin glass (like a pretty dessert cup) create 4 layers. The first layer should be half of the granola, so spoon this into your glass.
3. Put the second later on top of the first. Spoon the yogurt/fruit mixture on top of the layer of granola/oats.
4. Repeat steps 2 and 3 with the rest of your mixture.
5. Gobble it all up and enjoy a healthy start to your day!

Hope you enjoy this yummy, easy recipe with a million variations. I know I do.

See you next time bunnies,
Naimah xoxo