Pears with Elderflower

This is such a simple dessert. It's light and refreshing and the delicate flavour of elderflower is the ideal accompaniment to poached pears.

 

Of course, you can always add some extras like the dairyfree macaroons I posted last month and a dollop of soya yogurt, cream or non dairy icecream!

If you haven't tried it before, elderflower cordial makes a lovely drink mixed with sparkling or still water.   

 Ingredients 

4 firm (not over ripe) pears

3 tbsp elderflower cordial

1 tsp lemon juice

1 tbsp golden castor sugar

500ml cold water

Method

Pour the water into a pan and add the elderflower cordial, lemon juice and sugar.  Stir over a low heat until the sugar has dissolved.  Slowly bring to the boil and simmer gently for about 10 minutes until the liquid has reduced a little.

Meanwhile, carefully peel the pears and, leaving the stalk intact, cut in half.  Scoop out the core with a teaspoon.  

Place the pear halves in the hot liquid and simmer uncovered for about ten minutes until cooked.

 

Transfer the pears to a serving dish together with the poaching liquid and leave to cool. 

     Chill in the fridge and serve cold.

Pear and Apple Tart

Now's the time to be making the most of this year's bumper crop of apples and pears and here's a special autumn treat. This traditional French fruit tart looks and tastes so good.  It's really easy to make and, because it's made with eating apples and ripe pears, it's sweet enough without adding sugar!

As well as being sugar free, it's also free from eggs and dairy too.  The shortcrust pastry is made with flour and equal quantities of vegetable fat and dairy free margarine with a hint of cinnamon for added flavour.  The fruit is cooked to make a rich, smooth filling without losing the lovely fresh flavour of an autumn harvest!

A French pâtisserie recipe that's healthy and simple?  Must be too good to be true, surely?  Why not make it for yourself and see!

Ingredients              

225g plain white flour
55g  vegetable fat (Trex)
55g  dairy free sunflower margarine (Pure)
½ tsp cinnamon
pinch salt

About 700g sweet eating apples
About 700g ripe pears
1 large orange
50g dairyfree margarine




Start by preparing the fruit.  Peel the apples and pears and leave whole.  Then using a coarse grater, grate each piece of fruit into a large bowl, discarding the core and seeds.

Using a fine grater,  remove the zest of the orange and add to the bowl with 3 tbsp of the freshly squeezed orange juice.

In a large non-stick frying pan,  gently heat 50g dairy free margarine.

When it's melted, add all the grated fruit and stir well.

  

Cook over a high heat, stirring constantly!

After about 10 minutes or so, the moisture from the fruit will have evaporated and the mixture will have thickened, so much so that when you run the spoon across the pan, there is no juice remaining!

 

Set aside the fruit mixture whilst you make the pastry (or you can always make it the day before and keep in the fridge).

For quickness, I often make pastry in a food processor.  Measure the flour, vegetable fat and margarine and place in the processor with the salt and cinnamon. Process briefly until the mixture resembles bread crumbs.  

Add 3 tbsp water slowly through the funnel at the top whilst the machine is running.  As soon as you see the pastry coming together to form a ball, switch off.  It's best not to overwork the pastry.  

(If you prefer to make the pastry by hand,  sift the flour and cinnamon into a large mixing bowl and add a pinch of salt.  Place the vegetable fat and margarine in the bowl and chop into small pieces with a knife. Then using your fingers, rub the fat into the flour until it becomes crumbly and resembles breadcrumbs.  Add about 3 tbsp water and, using the knife again, mix together to form a soft dough.) 

Dust your work surface with a little flour, then roll out the pastry thinly into a rough circle shape approximately 2 - 3cm larger than the greased shallow 24 cm loose-bottomed flan tin.  

Carefully transfer the pastry to the tin.  I find the best way to do this is to roll the pastry loosely round a rolling pin and then lift it into the prepared tin.

Ease the pastry into position and make sure no air is trapped underneath.  Gently strengthen the sides to avoid it shrinking down when baked and trim away the excess pastry with a knife. 

Either cover and leave in the fridge until needed or bake straightaway.

Preheat the oven to 200C/180C fan/Gas Mark 6 and put in a baking sheet to heat through.

Prick the base of the flan all over with a fork, place a piece of foil or greaseproof paper on top and fill with baking beans (any dried beans) to stop the pastry base from puffing up whilst baking.

Place on a heated baking sheet in the oven at 200C (G.M. 6)  and bake for 15 minutes, then remove the beans and foil and place the flan base back uncovered in the oven for 5 more minutes or till completely cooked through but not brown.

Fill the pre-baked pastry base with the cooked fruit mixture and level the top neatly with a knife. 

 

If you like, you can make lattice strips to decorate the top.  Roll out the pastry trimmings and cut into even strips with a pastry cutter or knife.  

 

Lay 5 parallel strips vertically over the filling, then fold two alternate strips away from you.  

Place the first strip horizontally across the middle, then replace the two verticals.

 

Fold the other three vertical strips towards you and place a second one horizontally. Replace the vertical pieces.

 

Fold the three vertical strips away from you and place a third strip horizontally.  Then replace the vertical ones.  Continue with the two remaining strips to form the lattice.

Here it is completed!  Don't worry about the rough ends. You can tidy them up later.

Brush the pastry strips with a little cold water and return the tart to the oven.  Bake for a further 20 to 25 minutes until golden. Serve on it's own, with natural soya yogurt or Swedish Glace non-dairy icecream.

Let me know what you think!

Chocolate Pear Cake

Here's a lovely dairy-free and egg-free dessert that I've been making regularly for at least fifteen years but it's still a favourite in our house!

Because I'm more conscious of my sugar intake these days, I don't eat a lot of puddings, especially not straight after a main course.  However, I do love a good dessert especially when we have friends round for a meal. Having a whole evening to savour each other's company as well as the food is a real joy so I never rush to clear away the plates and dishes after each course!  Usually everyone's happily chatting away and anyway, it gives us time to let the food digest and make room for what's to come!

This Chocolate Pear Cake takes very little effort to make. In fact the only difficult part is remembering to buy your pears the week before so they're not rock hard!  Any variety of pears will do, such as conference or rocha.  It looks really impressive and tastes delicious too, especially served with a spoonful of Swedish Glace non-dairy vanilla or chocolate icecream.  

It can be made well in advance and kept in the fridge for a few days.   


Ingredients               Serves 6

Topping:

25g dairy free margarine (e.g. Pure)
25g light brown raw cane sugar
3 or 4 pears 
1 heaped tbsp roasted chopped hazelnuts

Cake:
75g dairy free margarine
85g unrefined golden castor sugar
100g self-raising flour
25g cocoa (e.g.Green & Black's)
half tsp instant coffee
2 tbsp soya milk

Method

First grease and line an 8" sandwich tin with greaseproof paper or baking parchment.  

Then make the topping by melting the margarine and sugar together in a bowl in the microwave or alternatively in a small pan. 

Mix with a wooden spoon until blended then spread over the base of your lined tin.

Peel and quarter the pears. Cut each quarter lengthways into three.  Then arrange them neatly in a wheel design around the edge of the tin, overlapping the pieces. 

Spoon most of the chopped nuts into the centre. 

Preheat the oven to 180C/160C fan/Gas Mark 4

Whisk the margarine and sugar together for about a minute until light and creamy. 

Sieve the flour and cocoa together and gradually add to the mix, blending well until the ingredients are incorporated but don't overmix. Finally add the coffee and enough milk to make a fairly stiff cake mix.

Now transfer the cake mixture to the tin.  To avoid disrupting the pears, spoon the mixture a little at a time until most of the pears are covered.  

Then with a knife or your fingers, gently press the cake mixture down and carefully level the top.

Bake for 30 minutes until the sides are just beginning to come away from the tin.   Leave to cool in the tin on a cooling rack.  

When it's cold, cover and place in the fridge.  

When you're ready to serve,  take a knife and run it around the edge of the tin.  Then place your serving plate on top and carefully tip it over so the cake drops out.  If it doesn't come out straight away, hold the cake tin and the plate firmly together in your hands and give it a gentle shake.

Remove the parchment paper and add a few extra chopped nuts in the centre.

Make your own Dairyfree Yogurts

I've always loved fruit yogurts and grew up eating Ski yogurts which were one of the first to be launched in the UK in the 1960's.  Forty years on, I'm still enjoying yogurts though now I only eat dairyfree ones.

These days, there are plenty to choose from and, whether you are normally dairyfree or not, soya fruit yogurts are a popular healthy snack/dessert. It goes without saying that Alpro is the brand leader in the UK, readily available in all the supermarkets.  Healthfood shops also stock Provamel and Sojasun which are all delicious and there's also a French manufacturer Sojade who make a range of organic yogurts.  Asda have their own brand of soya yogurt, a cheaper alternative, that also tastes quite good.

Most manufacturers make a plain unflavoured yogurt and again, Alpro is the most readily available. It has a really creamy texture that's delicious on it's own or you can add your own fruit. 

Making your own plain yogurt is very easy, works out cheaper and, even better, means you are not adding to landfill with all those endless plastic cartons  (though for years, I've recycled mine as plant pots in the greenhouse, with a hole in the bottom for drainage, or taken them to our local recycling centre.)  You don't need any special equipment or ingredients and the end result is lovely, maybe a little milder than a bought one, but ideal if you want to combine fruit with it, or use it in savoury dishes.  More about that later ....

Making your own fruit yogurts is fun too as you can create so many more flavours and add less sugar too.   One of our favourites is pear with stem ginger and crushed ginger biscuits.
  
We also love banana yogurt - handy when you have lots of ripe fruit to use up! 


BANANA YOGURT
 

For one generous portion, you'll need one ripe banana,  a teaspoon of golden castor sugar and about 3 level tablespoons of plain natural yogurt.

Banana yogurt is made in moments with a hand-blender but you could also mash it by hand for a chunkier version or reserve slices of banana to add in later.  

For the smooth version,  put one peeled banana in a tallish container with the sugar and blitz down.

Add the yogurt and blend thoroughly before pouring into a dish. 

Banana yogurt tastes wonderful but can look boring and will also discolour if you don't eat it fairly soon (which never seems to happen in our house!)  So it's best to jazz it up by serving it in a nice dish or fancy glass and adding a topping like chopped roasted hazelnuts and sliced kiwi fruit.

PEAR AND GINGER YOGURT     Serves 2

1 small ball (or half a large one) stem ginger
2 ripe pears
3 tbsp plain yogurt

Some crushed ginger biscuits (e.g. Fox's Ginger Crinkles) go well with this yogurt and are a lovely surprise when you find them at the bottom of the dish!

Place four biscuits in a bag and crush with a rolling pin.

Melt about 15g dairyfree margarine in a bowl (takes seconds in a microwave) then add your biscuit crumbs. 

Place at the bottom of two glass dishes.



To make the yogurt, peel and chop the pears and place in a bowl.  

Cut a few thin slices of stem ginger to save as a garnish and finely chop the rest.  Add to the pears with the natural yogurt and mix.

Spoon the yogurt mixture on top of the crushed biscuits.  Place your reserved slices of ginger on top.  Eat immediately or chill until required.

MAKE YOUR OWN PLAIN YOGURT

I use a Salton Yogurt Maker (circa 1980!)  but a yogurt maker isn't essential.  A thermos flask or any container that you can keep in a warm place will do just as well. I don't use a thermometer either or do any other technical things many books tell you to do.  Simply use a bought plain soya yogurt as your starter.  After that, keep back some of your own home-made yogurt to start the next batch.


Ingredients

If you want to make a smaller quantity, just halve the ingredients.

1 litre unsweetened soya milk
3 tbsp Alpro plain yogurt at room temperature
(or use some of your previous batch as starter)

First, plug in your yogurt maker to heat up or pour some warm water into your thermos flask/yogurt container.

Pour the milk into a pan and heat gently.  It's best not to do this in a hurry. You don't want the milk to boil or heat too quickly as the bottom of the pan can easily burn and ruin the taste.  When the milk is getting hot and steamy, but not boiling, remove from the heat and leave to cool for a few minutes. 

Then, once you can dip your finger in and it's still hot but not uncomfortable, add your plain yogurt starter and whisk in well to distribute.









Pour into a yogurt maker/thermos flask and leave for about 10 to 12 hours.

If using an ordinary container, leave in a warm place.
Transfer to the fridge and leave for at least 12 hours before using. 

It will keep for well over a week and don't forget to save a few tablespoons to make your next batch!