LEMON FRUIT TWIST

We will be preparing this ' lead up to Christmas " bun . A little Christmassy treat to share with a cuppa when friends call in for a catch up before the big day . Preheat your oven to 160 deg C . Lightly grease an oven tray and line with baking paper . Place 2 nd 1/2 cups of self raising flour in a large bowl and rub in 60 gm of butter / marg. Stir in 1 tbs of castor sugar , 2 tbs of sultanas ,1 dsp of lemon rind , tghen 1 lightly beaten egg and 1/2 cup of milk . Now knead the dough on a 'lightly' floured surface until smooth .( use the heel of your hand.) Divide the dough into 3 , roll each into 40cm roll . Plait the rolls firmly together to form a round shape . Place on the oven tray and bake in your preheated oven for 20 minutes . While the dough is in the oven , prepare your sugar glaze ...mix 1 tbs of sugar with 2 tbs of boiling water and mix till the sugar is completely dissolved . At the end of baking time 20 minutes , brush the twist with your sugar glaze and then return it to the oven for 5 minutes . Lift on to a wire rack to cool . Okay now prepare your lemon icing ... Mix together 3/4 cup of icing sugar , 1 tbs of lemon juice , 15 gm of softened butter / marg and 1 tbs of boiling water ... to mix to a pouring consistency . Drizzle your twist loaf with the icing . Sprinkle with 2 tbs of mixed peel and 2 tbs of chopped glace cherries .

DESSERT OPTIONS

CHILLED AND FROZEN DESSERTS ..... These include jellies, ice -cream, gelato, granita and sorbet. These can be desserts in themselves, used as a base or filling for other frozen desserts or served as a side to a host of many other sweets. FRIED DESSERTS ...... While pan frying and deep frying are not usually associated with desserts, we can't forget that crepe and fritter batters form the base for many desserts. Crepes or pancakes can be wrapped aroound fillings, or simply eaten with lemon juice and sugar, stacked and drenched with sauces, infused with flavourings or layered. Sweet fritters are deep fried batter, sometimes containing fruit or nuts. Fried desserts are best eaten hot and served dusted with sugar. ACCOMPANIMENTS..... For a change from serving ice-cream or cream with desserts try ...creme fraiche, mascarpone or sour cream. Mascarpone, a rich heavy cream cheese served in Italy with pastries, cakes and fruit. Yoghurt makes a great foil for very sweet desserts. You can also add honey to Greek yoghurt and serve with fresh fruit. Sorbet makes a light and refreshing change to ice-cream. Creme anglaise is a thin pouring custard, perfect served with baked desserts and puddings. Fruit coulis ( pureed fruit with sugar ) should be light and not too sweet allowing the taste of the fruit to shine. Try a berry coulis with a rich chocolate cake.

DESSERTS ...( PART 2 )

PUDDINGS .... Puddings are often steamed for hours in a pudding basin to bring out the rich flavour and dense texture they are know for . Back in the day they were made with suet , dried fruits , starch , spices and spirits . Now a day they are made with a range of flavourings such as chocolate, fruit , ginger and dates . Puddings are often served with a sauce that enhances the base flavour , such as chocolate , toffee or lemon . FRUIT DESSERTS .. Always select firm , ripe fruit for your fruit dessert , avoiding any with bruised or discoloured skin and always take advantage of surplus fruits in season . Many stone fruits are delicious preserved in spiced liqueurs . Dried fruit poached with cinnamon , cloves and your favourite liqueur make a great winter dessert when there is not always a great variety of fresh fruit available .

DESSERTS ( PART 1)

Desserts whether it's a creamy custard or a fruit sorbet , dessert is the part of a home cooked meal we all look forward to . EGG BASED DESSERTS..... Custards , ice- creams , mousse and meringues are all egg based desserts . Custard can be baked in a water bath to create bruille or creme caramel . Creme patisserie is a thickened custard used in fruit tarts or for filling profiteroles . Mousse and bavarois are thickened , moulded and chilled custards . A tiramisu is an Italian coffee flavoured layered dessert with sponge fingers , custard and mascarpone . BAKED DESSERTS.... Baked desserts such as pastries , cakes , pies and tarts require a little more effort to prepare than other types of desserts . Souffles do need to be prepared carefully , do not over whip the egg whites , gently fold them into the souffle base and bake immediately . Souffles must be served straight from the oven .

WHOLEMEAL , BANANA AND MIXED FRUIT LOAF with a COCONUT HONEY TOPPING .

Grease and line 15cm X 25cm loaf pan Preheat your oven to 1690 deg C. Place 1 and 1/2 cups of self raising wholemeal flour into a large bowl, mix in 1 cup of wheatgerm, 1/2 cup of raw sugar and 250 gm ( 1 and 1/2 cups ) of mixed fruit. Using a wooden spoon stir in 125 gm of melted butter / marg, and 1 and 1/4 cups of milk , 2 lightly beaten eggs and 1 cup of mashed bananas ( 1 used 3 really ripe bananas). Now pour the batter into the prepared pan. Bake for 1 and 1/4 hours or until a skewer inserted comes out clean . Let stand for 5 minutes before turning out to a wire rack . Once the cake has cooled , prepare the coconut honey topping . Place 30 gm of marg / butter in a small saucepan with 2 tbs of honey , heat until butter has melted and combined with the honey. Now add 1 cup of shredded coconut , stir for 5 minutes or until the coconut has lightly browned. Carefully smooth over the top.

PUMPKIN

Pumkins are also known as winter squash and are a really versatile vegetable . Pumpkins can be baked , pureed and boiled . Pumpkins take on the flavours of spices and can be cooked in a curry or baked in the sweetest desert . The flesh of the pumpkin can also be candied and made into jams and preserves . There is one thing you can't do with pumpkin and that is serve it raw . You can add pumpkin to a gratin , a mash , a warm salad or in a cake . There are so many varieties of pumpkin , and they come in all shapes , sizes , colours from miniatures to 45 kg monsters . The skin of the pumpkin can be smooth , segmented , ridged or warty and can range in colour from blue/ grey to green , yellow striped to cream tan .

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EGGPLANT

The eggplant is often thought of as a Meditteranean vegetable as some of the most iconic eggplant dishes come from that part of the region . But let's not forget caponata and egg plant parmigiano from Italy , ratatouille from the south of France , moussaka from Greece . Turkey is thought to have at least 1000 recipes for eggplant of which imam biyildi is the most known . So it might suprise you that the eggplant is native to Asia , possibly originating in India or Burma . The English took the French name aubergine for eggplants as the first eggplants they encountered were small ,egg shaped and ivory white in colour . There are many eggplant varieties , they come in many shapes , sizes and skin colours , from black, pink and white striped , lavender or green .