Nuts

When I read that the theme for Maison Cupcake’s seventh Forever Nigella blog event was ‘Iced Dreams’ (this month hosted by Arthi at Soul Curry) there was no thought process involved – it was straight for the peanut butter, dark chocolate, double cream and golden syrup for me.

This really could have been a ‘Silent Sunday’ post with just a picture and no words because there really are no words to describe how good this ice-cream sundae is.

The sauce for the sundae is SO easy to make and it transforms a simple bowl or glass of ice-cream into something truly spectacular. It is worthy of a place at the dinner party table (does anyone still have dinner parties or has this been relegated to watching Come Dine with Me on the TV?) or at any barbecue or even just for those sofa evenings when a good dose of comfort food is required.

The recipe is on-line at Nigella.com and is called ‘Chocolate Peanut Butter Fudge Sundae’ or it can be found in Nigella Express – my most used Nigella book.

Make it!

Nigella calls it her “ultimate ice-cream sundae” and I love her attempt at a disclaimer: “Obviously, if you’re not a peanut-eater, it won’t be for you, but for everyone else it is the stuff of dreams.”

Nigella suggests using a combination of toffee, vanilla and chocolate ice-cream but this time I went for a white chocolate number, obviously smothered in the peanut sauce and topped it with chopped hazlenuts. In actual fact the ice-cream is just a minor detail – it’s the sauce you want – and plenty of it!

If you have any left, you can store it in the fridge and just gently re-heat when needed or do as I do and stir some into hot milk to make a peanut butter hot chocolate once the sun has gone down. Mnnnnn.

Do take a look at the current Forever Nigella challenge and rules and join in! It’s a very popular blog event and a great way to share the Nigella love and discover new blogs! Thank you Sarah and Arthi for hosting.

This is a quick breakfast post in response to Helen’s Breakfast Club challenge this month hosted by Helen herself over at Fuss Free Flavours.

The theme this month is cereal and we are asked to do something interesting with it. So, I made homemade ‘granola’ using rolled oats very lightly coated with honey, rapeseed oil and mixed nuts gently toasted in the oven.

Granola is very popular breakfast cereal in America, essentially it is a cereal made of oats that are baked until crisp and then dried fruits are added. Muesli (Swiss) is also a well-known breakfast cereal, but in muesli the oats are not baked. Granola is really easy to make, stores well in an airtight contained and best of all as you are making it yourself you can adjust the flavours, for example, to include more cinnamon. I used cinnamon sugar as I had it in my cupboard but if you don’t have that use brown sugar and add a teaspoon of cinnamon powder instead. This granola can also be sweetened with maple syrup too instead of honey before baking.

Once baked the granola is crisp and crunchy and can be eaten either with milk or yoghurt. You could also make it healthier by adding fresh fruit to your bowl. This weekend we had ours with little pots of homemade blackcurrant compote – calling it ‘Ribena Berry Sauce’ encouraged my kids to add some to make their cereal purple! I also slightly defeated the pursuit of crunchiness by pouring hot milk over mine – but that’s just because I am fan of having hot milk with all kinds of cereal.

Add your fruit, whether dried or fresh to the oats and nuts after baking. You are looking out for a gentle golden colour so be careful not to burn!

Honey Nut Toasted Oats with Ribena Berry Sauce

Oats inspired by a recipe for ‘Crunchy Granola’ by Michelle Stern

The Whole Family Cookbook

Ingredients

300g rolled oats (not quick cook)
50g pecan nuts, finely chopped
50g almonds, finely chopped
75g cinnamon sugar
A pinch of salt
60ml honey or maple syrup
60ml rapeseed or vegetable oil
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
50g raisins and/or chopped dates

For the Blackcurrant Compote/Ribena Berry Syrup

150g blackcurrants
2 tablespoons caster sugar
60ml water

Method

1. Pre-heat the oven to 180 degrees celcius

2. Put the oats, nuts and cinnamon sugar into a bowl and mix well.

3. Combine the honey, oil and vanilla in a separate bowl, mix and then pour over the oats and nuts. Stir well to combine – it won’t be greasy.

4. Pour the mix onto a baking tray lined with greaseproof or baking paper and spread into an even layer.

5. Bake for 20 minutes and stir after 10 minutes to ensure the top bits don’t get too toasty.

6. While this is baking, put the blackcurrants, sugar and water into a small pan. Heat until the mixture begins to bubble, stir and cook for five minutes. (Check your oats in the oven!!) If you want the blackcurrant sauce to be thicker, cook for a further few minutes on a low heat. Take off the heat and leave it to one side.

6. Take the oats of the oven and leave to cool. Add the raisins and/or chopped dates.

7. Serve with cold or hot milk or yoghurt. Store the rest in an airtight container.

Blackcurrants are in season in the UK at the moment – they are a wonderful summer fruit – so I will link this up to Simple and in Season too.

Nuts

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