Big Jelly

This isn't a recipe, but it's something I make for family get-togethers.

I use a 3 litre Pyrex bowl, and buy six packets of jelly. I've found that lime and raspberry are the favourite flavours, so I always use two each of those, and add one or two other brightly-coloured flavours (here I used lemon/lime and orange).

I start the jelly at least one day before it's needed, by making up a double amount of one flavour (a total of 1 litre) and leave to set in the fridge. I prop a folded-up teatowel under one side to tilt it as this makes it look a little more interesting from the outside (mainly for me - I'm sure no-one else really notices!) - but for the last layer I allow it to sit flat so the top is even.


Every few hours, after each layer has set, I add the next layer until all the jelly is used.

A half-demolished Easter Sunday Big Jelly.

Berry Sorbet

This was going to be Nectarine Sorbet, as I had some overripe nectarines that needed using - but when I went to cut them up I realized I'd waited too long and they had lost most of their taste. In the freezer I had some frozen mixed berries, so I used them instead.

Put 225 g sugar in a saucepan and add 150 ml water. Heat gently until sugar has dissolved.

When sugar has dissolved, increase heat and boil for 1 minute. Remove from heat and allow to cool. (I forgot to boil the sugar and it worked out fine - although it took ages to freeze, so maybe this was why.)

Puree or blend about 450 g fruit and then seive to remove any seeds. Stir fruit into the cooled sugar.

I heated frozen mixed berries in a pan, mashed them up and then pushed them through a seive.

Make in an ice cream maker. I stood my sugar/fruit mixture in the freezer for a couple of hours to make sure it was totally cold, and then churned it in the ice cream maker. It wouldn't freeze convincingly, but after a night in the freezer it was perfect - not too soft, not too hard.

Delicious! A beautiful colour and intensely flavoured.

Ingredients:
225 g granulated sugar
150 ml water
450 g fruit

Mango Smoothie Ice Cream

I read about this very quick and easy way of making ice cream on the Claytons Blog, where Coby made a banana version. It uses sweetened condensed milk and doesn't need to be churned in an ice cream maker.

I made mine with mango instead, as it's pretty warm here at the moment, and mango is such a summery flavour. Coby said her children called theirs 'banana smoothie ice cream' which is a good name, so mine is 'mango smoothie ice cream'.

Put the condensed milk and cream in a large bowl, then mash up the mango with a fork and add that too.

Whisk it up really well with electric beaters. (This was very splattery, probably because of all the little lumps of mango.)

Pour into a container and freeze for several hours. Take it out of the freezer 15-20 minutes before serving, because it will probably be spoon-bendingly hard at first.

It's a pretty sweet ice cream - not really surprising when you think that condensed milk is one of the sweetest substances known to man.

Today, for some reason I decided it needed biscuits and melted dark chocolate, but they weren't necessary at all - it definitely doesn't need accompaniment.

Ingredients:
Flesh of 1 mango
400 g can of condensed milk (I used skim)
Enough cream to fill the empty condensed milk can (about 300 ml according to Coby)

Golden Polenta Cake

Polenta Cake with ice cream and blackberries

This is a lovely cake designed to be eaten with fruit - and ice cream goes really well too. I found it in a book called 'Trattoria' and assumed it would be very similar to Nigella's Orange Cornmeal Cake, also for eating with fruit. Instead this cake is more like a sponge whereas Nigella's is more moist and dessert-like.

It is very easy to make - you gently mix wet ingredients (egg, oil and milk) into dry (polenta, 00 flour, caster sugar and baking powder) then pour into a loaf tin lined with a strip of baking paper.


Bake in the middle of a 200 C oven for 50-55 mins until top is golden and a skewer comes out clean.

The cake is very plain if eaten on its own, but goes really well with fruit and ice cream, the polenta adding a slight crunch and nuttiness. My children all demolished a healthy-sized bowlful each for dessert today!

Ingredients:
175 g Italian '00' flour
175 g coarse polenta
150 g caster sugar (I used 100 g)
2 tsp baking powder
1 large egg, lightly beaten
175 ml whole milk
6 tbsp sunflower oil (I used olive oil)

Brown Bread and Butter Ice Cream

The finished ice cream


Toasted breadcrumbs and sugar (I had to stop myself from scoffing all these!)

The custard and crumbs ready to put in the ice cream maker

This is an unusual ice cream from 'Apples For Jam' - using leftover bread for flavour and texture.

Breadcrumbs and brown sugar are toasted, then a custard is made with eggs, vanilla, cream and milk. Melted butter and the sugary breadcrumbs are stirred in and then it's churned in an ice cream maker.

It looks unusual - like it's wholemeal ice cream - and kind of tastes like someone has crushed up sugar cones and stirred them through. Various comments were 'it looks like soggy Weetbix', 'it tastes like muesli' and 'it's like cold porridge' - but the children did ask for seconds, so it can't be that bad!

I'm not sure if I'd make it again, but if I did I'd definitely use less sugar because I think it's too sweet. I'm glad I made this recipe though because it has helped me overcome my 'fear' of making custard (something I've always made by using custard powder) or custard based ice creams, because I now know it's not that hard!

Ingredients:
100 g brown bread crumbs
100 g brown sugar
60 g butter
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
125 ml milk
355 ml cream (I used a 300 ml carton and used a bit more milk instead)

Orange Cornmeal Cake

This is a cake recipe from 'Forever Summer' and it's the sort of cake that's supposed to be eaten as a pudding, for example with fruit and cream.

It's easy to make - beat soft butter until it's light, beat in caster sugar, egg, plain yogurt, orange juice and zest (and orange oil if you have some) - then fold in polenta (cornmeal), flour and baking powder. I made half the recipe and cooked it in a loaf pan lined with a strip of baking paper.

It's a soft, puddingy cake, which adds a light, orangey-buttery flavour to a bowl of fruit and cream or yogurt. It also has a slight crunch because of the polenta. We've been having hot weather here lately, so it's perfect for dessert or afternoon tea.

I have a similar recipe from an Italian cookbook which uses oil and no orange, which I'll be trying soon.

Ingredients:
250 g soft unsalted butter
175 g caster sugar
4 eggs
60 ml plain yogurt
zest of one orange, juice of half
half tsp orange oil if you have it (I found just the juice and zest was a strong enough flavour)
125 g fine (yellow) cornmeal/polenta
50 g plain flour
1 and a half tsp baking powder
To serve: mixed summer berries, and creme fraiche, marscapone or whipped cream

Apple and Orange Frozen Yogurt

The original name of this recipe was 'Apple and Rosemary Frozen Yogurt' from a book called 'Ice Cream!' - I wanted to try it because the ingredients and method appealed to me, but I just couldn't bring myself to put the rosemary sprigs in! So instead of rosemary I added a few strips of orange zest.

The first step is to bring to the boil in a saucepan: 200 ml water, 300 ml apple juice (I used good quality cloudy apple juice from the refrigerated section), 150 g caster sugar, and orange zest strips (or rosemary sprigs if you're braver than me) then simmer for 5 minutes. Cool completely then whisk in 200 g Greek yogurt.

I would say you should then refrigerate the mixture until chilled, before churning it in an ice cream maker, especially if you've got a freezy-bowl maker like I have - I was in a hurry to use the noisy machine before the children's bed time, so I didn't do any chilling and it took ages to freeze.

The result is a light, fruity frozen yogurt, very much like a sorbet. The apple is the stronger flavour with a slight hint of orange. This would be great to eat on a very hot day.

Buttermilk Ice Cream

I saw this recipe on the We Don't Have a Blog Blog, made by Coby. It's a Tessa Kiros recipe from 'Apples For Jam'. I've borrowed this book from the library before, and now I've ordered it from the Book Depository (early birthday present!)

You whisk together 250 ml single cream and 200 g caster sugar until the cream thickens a bit, then add 1 tsp vanilla extract and 500 ml buttermilk. Churn it up in an ice cream maker and put it in the freezer to harden.

It makes a tangy, fresh-tasting ice cream which is perfect with fruit. Everyone else had chocolate topping and hundreds-and-thousands with theirs though!