Slow Cooker Butterscotch Pudding

I use my slow cooker quite a lot but never really for desserts. I have a book called The Slow Cooker and it has a section at the back on cakes and desserts and decided a little while ago to try a butterscotch pudding.

It's not very healthy - full of sugar and cream - but as an occasional treat I think it would be OK! I reduced the quantities to serve two, and definitely wouldn't have been able to get six ramekins into my slow cooker at the same time. You cook the puddings in a water bath so they set like a custard - they taste really good.

To serve two, you need:
1 tbsp. butter
pinch of salt
137g soft brown sugar
150ml double cream
85ml milk
2 egg yolks, beaten
1 tsp vanilla extract

Melt the butter in a small pan and mix in the sugar and salt. Pour in the cream and milk and heat until just simmering but don't allow the mixture to boil.

Put the egg yolks into a bowl and pour in the cream mixture slowly, whisking as you go. Stir in the vanilla extract and pour the mixture into two ramekin dishes.

Put the ramekin dishes into the slow cooker and carefully pour water into the slow cooker, taking care not to get any water into the puddings, until the water comes half way up the sides of the ramekins.

Cook on low for about two hours or until the puddings are set.

Cool the ramekins on a wire rack for 15 minutes then cover with clingfilm and refrigerate for 2 hours.

Top with whipped cream to serve

These are very sweet as you might imagine and I could only eat half of one- but I couldn't have made them smaller as these were the only ramekins I have! My husband had no problem polishing one off anyway!

I'm sharing this with the Slow Cooked Challenge, hosted by Lucy at BakingQueen74 and also Treat Petite, hosted by Stuart at Cakeyboi and Kat the Baking Explorer.

Layered Butterscotch Oreo Pudding

When I went to a barbecue at my friend Ros' house over the summer she made this amazing dessert.

Either luckily or unluckily for me (as I am trying to diet, but it looked amazing) I don’t like mint, and there was mint flavour in both the filling and the chocolate! My other half loved it though so I decided to make the same type of dessert but with a different flavour – butterscotch.

 

I had seen a new flavour of Oreo in Asda (which has been available in America for a long time) called Golden Oreos. They are a bit like custard creams but a little saltier I think, and really nice (though not as good as chocolate Oreos!). I also wanted to incorporate these into a dessert so decided to make this the bottom layer.
 

 

I completely followed Ros' recipe so I won't repeat it here; the only changes were that I used Golden Oreo cookies instead of chocolate Oreos for the base, and for the filling I left out the mint Aero, the green food colouring and the mint extract and instead I used butterscotch flavouring.

Similarly for the topping I left out the mint Aero and mint extract and instead decorated the top with some butterscotch chips I got in the US. It was a very indulgent and very nice!

I'm sharing this with We Should Cocoa, hosted this month by It's not easy being greedy, on behalf of Choclette of Tin and Thyme as the theme this month is America.

 

Hershey's Cookies 'n' Creme Pudding

I seem to have had barely five minutes to sit still since moving into our new house at the end of August; we still haven't finished decorating or unpacking! I suddenly realised I hadn't so much as thought about what to make for Alphabakes, the blog challenge that I created with Ros of The More Than Occasional Baker. She is hosting the challenge this month and has chosen the letter H.

While I'd love to browse through my 100+ cookery books, time is not on my side this month and I do have a huge bag of ingredients beginning with H to use up... my boyfriend's mum went to America in September and brought me back several bags of Hershey's kisses. So I decided I had better use that as my H ingredient and find a recipe that would fit!

I've made a few things with Hershey's kisses before that all turned out pretty well. My boyfriend particularly likes the Cookies 'n' Creme flavour, though they are not my favourite, but I thought they might work well in a dessert. I found this recipe for Cookies 'n' Crème Pudding on the Hershey's website. It was a little runnier than I would have liked but still firm enough to be eaten with a spoon and it tasted very creamy and chocolatey. My boyfriend particularly enjoyed it!
You can find the recipe here.

 Unwrap precisely 28 Hershey's Kisses

 

 Bringing the corn flour, sugar, salt and milk to the boil

After stirring in the egg yolks and returning to the boil then adding the butter and Hershey's kisses and stirring until melted you then pour into serving glasses.

This recipe makes four small portions or two large ones.

I'm sending this to Alphabakes, the blog challenge I created with Ros of The More Than Occasional Baker. She is hosting this month and has chosen the letter H.

I'm also sending this to Treat Petite, the challenge hosted by Stuart at Cakeyboi and Kat of the Baking Explorer, as their theme is Thanksgiving and saying thank you. As these use American candy I think they would be a lovely treat for the end of Thanksgiving dinner.

James Martin's Orange Curd Pudding

Recently I have been adding to my cookery book collection every time I go into my local charity shop - but I've had to stop as I've run out of space on my shelves! One of my last purchases was James Martin's Desserts - James Martin is regularly seen on Saturday Kitchen on the BBC which I do like to watch when I get the chance. I liked the look of his 'fresh orange curd pudding' which looked quite cake-like in consistency and perfect for a cold day. It's also very simple to make.

Serves 4

You need:

300ml orange juice

grated zest and juice of 1 lemon

60g butter, softened, plus extra for greasing

90g caster sugar

4 eggs, separated

70g self-raising flour

1/2 tsp baking powder

160ml milk

Preheat oven to 180C and butter the sides of a 1-litre ovenproof bowl. Put the orange juice and lemon juice in a saucepan, bring to the boil and simmer until reduced by half, then set aside to cool.

In a bowl, beat the butter, sugar and lemon zest, then gradually mix in the egg yolks.

Fold in the flour and baking powder. Then stir in the orange and lemon juice and the milk.

In a separate bowl, whisk the egg whites until stiff and gradually fold into the mixture.

Pour the mixture into your greased bowl and stand it in a roasting tin. Pour boiling water into the tin so it comes half way up the side of the bowl.

Bake in the oven for about an hour - check in the last ten minutes to make sure the top isn't getting too brown. You can cover the dish with foil to stop the top burning if necessary.

Serve the pudding hot. You can sprinkle the top with icing sugar and it would also work well with custard. The texture is like a doughy cake with an intense citrus hit - it was really nice.

I'm entering this in Alphabakes, the blog challenge I host with Ros of the More Than Occasional Baker, as the letter we have chosen this month is O.

The theme for this month's Calendar Cakes, hosted by Laura of Laura Loves Cakes and Rachel at Dollybakes, is puddings, so I am sending them my orange curd pudding as well.