Tag Archives: Strawberry

Strawberry Parcels

This recipe is for something that I imagined up myself, we were going to a BBQ and I wanted to take something along for after so I raided my cupboards and decided to make Strawberry Parcels. Here is my recipe:

Ingredients

  • 300g of Chopped Strawberries
  • 90g of White Sugar
  • 1tbsp of Lemon Juice
  • 50ml of Water
  • 50g of Butter
  • 50g of Brown Sugar
  • 2 Tortilla Wraps
Strawberry Parcels Ready for Filling

Strawberry Parcels Ready for Filling

Method

  1. Cut the tortilla wraps in half
  2. Use the wrap to lune a ramakin making sure that you do not damage the wrap leaving any holes and set to one side
  3. Then put the strawberries, white sugar, water and lemon juice into a pan
  4. Cook on a low heat for 5 minutes until the strawberries soften and a syrup forms
  5. Spoon a 4th of the strawberries into each ramakin leaving as much of the syrup in the pan as possible
  6. Then fold over the edges tucking the wrap into a parcel
  7. Then in the same saucepan add the butter, brown sugar to the leftover syrup and combine over a medium heat
  8. Bring to the boil stirring constantly
  9. Then reduce the heat and simmer for 3 minutes
  10. Pour the sauce over the parcels and let stand for 45 minutes
  11. Whilst this is standing preheat the oven to 175C
  12. Then bake in the preheated oven for 15 minutes until golden
Strawberry Parcels Ready for the Oven

Strawberry Parcels Ready for the Oven

Serve warm with vanilla ice cream!

This recipe for Strawberry Parcels is really simple and perfect for the summer. It is the best time for delicious strawberryies so you have to make the most of using them in your cooking, this dessert is great to finish off the day. It is not too rich and sweet and therefore does not leave you too full after a smokey BBQ!

Fruit Tarts with White Chocolate Cream Filling

Yesterday was Canada Day and I was invited around to my Canadian friends apartment for a ‘Happy Canada Day‘ party.  There was a plentiful supply for food and drinks but I thought it would be rude to turn up empty handed so I made Fruit Tarts with White Chocolate Cream Filling. The idea for fruit tarts has been inspired by the hot summer we have been having here in Berlin this week and my craving for fruit as opposed to the usual need for chocolate. I have been seeing lots of these recipes about and wanted to try one for myself, I will admit this recipe has been adapted to make up for the slight kitchen disaster I had when the tarts collapsed in the oven, but I managed to save them and they still tasted great. So this is my recipe;

Ingredients

  • 192g of Flour
  • 113g of Butter
  • 50g of Sugar
  • 1/4 Tsp of Salt
  • 1 Egg
  • 200g of White Chocolate
  • 4 Tsp of Icing Sugar
  • 300g of Cream Cheese
  • 1 Kiwi
  • 50g of Strawberry’s

My Tart Shells Ready for the Oven

Method

  1. Combine the sugar, flour and salt in a bowl
  2. Cut the butter into thin slices and add to the mixture
  3. Mix together until it is crumbly
  4. Add the egg and mix together until all of the ingredients are moistened and beginning to form together
  5. Lightly press the mixture into a ball and chill in the fridge for 30 minutes
  6. After 30 minutes take out of the fridge and pull of a small chunk of the dough and press into a silicone mould with your fingers – be careful to keep the thickness consistent
  7. Use a knife to trim any excess from around the top and repeat this process until all of the dough is used
  8. Place into a preheated oven at 180C and cook for 20-25 minutes watching carefully as cooking times can vary
  9. Remove from the oven and leave to cool
  10. Whilst the tarts are cooling you can prepare the filling
  11. Mix the cream cheese and icing sugar together in a bowl
  12. In another glass bowl melt the white chocolate over a pan of simmering water
  13. When all of the chocolate has melted add half of the cream chesses and stir thoroughly, then repeat with the rest of the cream cheese
  14. Set side and slice up your kiwi and strawberry’s
  15. One the tarts have cooled remove them from the mould carefully and fill with the white chocolate cream filling and place the desired fruit on top
  16. Chill for 1 hour before serving

My Fruit Tarts with White Chocolate Cream Filling

These little tarts came out really well in the end, thankfully better than I had expected half way through. They were really delicious and not sickly so they were great to enjoy for Canada Day in a very hot and humid Berlin. If you are going to make these I would love to know how they come out for you, but be warned this recipe is time consuming and fiddly!

Toad in the Hole

As the England game was on last night (the less said the better) and we were having some friends over for dinner and to watch the game I wanted to make something ‘English‘ so after being highly indecisive and quite unimaginative I decided to make Toad in the Hole. However, one of our guests had never tried it and in fact did not even know what it was so it turned out to be a great choice and here is the recipe;

Ingredients

  • 12 Sausages (Pork or Poultry, which I use as I do not eat pork)
  • 225g of Plain Flour
  • 3 Eggs
  • 225ml of Milk
  • 165ml of Water

My Toad in the Hole Ready for the Oven

Method

  1. Firstly cook the sausages on a baking tray in the oven, at 180 they will take 12-15 minutes
  2. Whilst they are cooking place a baking dish (around 25cm x 25cm) in the oven with a little bit of oil in it to heat up
  3. Sift the flour into a bowl and create a well in the centre
  4. Break the eggs into the well and beat into the flour
  5. Gradually add the milk and water and continue to beat until the batter is smooth
  6. When the sausages are cooked pour the batter mix into the dish with the heated oil and add the sausages
  7. Put into the oven for 35-40 minutes and serve

Serving Suggestions

I simply served this dish with gravy and mixed boiled vegetables and it tasted great

My Yummy Cooked Toad in the Hole

This meal was so quick and easy but still tasted great! It really was in-keeping with our English themed evening which was finished off with a strawberry and biscuit bake that was home-made by our guests for dessert!

Strawberry and Banana Smoothies

Today is a wet and windy day in Berlin so the boyfriend and I elected to stay in with yummy treats and lots of TV.  So after my first attempt during the week with some left-over, bordering gone off fruit we made smoothies. As the fruit bowl is full after the weekly shop we have to choose which fruits we wanted. On the menu today; Strawberry and Banana Smoothies.

Ingredients

  • 2 Bananas
  • 8-10 Strawberries (dependant on size)
  • 200ml of Juice (we used multi-fruit but whatever takes your fancy)
  • Lots of Ice

My Strawberry and Banana Smoothies

Method

  1. Put all of the ingredients into a blender and blend until smooth

Serving Size: 2 glasses

The smoothies tasted great and are a really refreshing treat when it is hot, which it is here despite the wind and rain. The best thing about making smoothies is that there is no rules or guidelines, put whatever fruit you want in them and experiment with the flavours, all of my attempts have tasted great!

If you have a favourite smoothie flavour I would love to hear them.

Eton Less Mess

This weeks dinner party dessert was a trifle come Eton mess concoction that I juist made up, however it tasted delicious. I have only attempted to make meringue once since I was taught my boyfriend’s mum who is the queen of delicious meringue. The last attempt was successful; and tasted great but I was feeling a bit more inventive this weekend so I went for something a little different.

My Eton Mess/Trifle

This was the final result and as you can see I layered the pieces of broken meringue, whipped cream, strawberry’s and kiwi to make a trifle style dessert, even though my aim was an Eton mess (in reality I did not know how to make that) but regardless it was really yummy and this is how I made it;

Ingredients

  • 4 Egg Whites
  • 8oz of Sugar
  • 1 tbsp of Lemon Juice
  • 400ml of Whipping Cream
  • 2 Kiwis
  • 250g of Strawberrys

My Meringue Ready to go into the Oven

Method

  1. Pre heat the oven to 150
  2. Separate the egg whites into a large bowl
  3. Whisk until stiff (use the holding over head test)
  4. Add the sugar in stages through a sieve whilst continuing to stir, until all the sugar has been added and the mixture is still stiff
  5. Add the lemon juice and whisk again
  6. Pour the mixture onto a baking tray lined with baking paper
  7. Put into the oven and turn down to 130
  8. After 1 hour turn off the oven and leave the meringue to cool overnight
  9. When your meringue is cool remove from the baking paper and place into a large bowl
  10. Break the meringue up into smaller pieces, but make sure you are not just left with crumbs
  11. Set aside for now and prepare the whipped cream and slice up your fruit
  12. Then place half of the meringue into the bottom of a glass bowl and push down to create an even layer
  13. Then top with cream and fruit in separate layers
  14. Repeat again, but at this point place the fruit in a decorative manner so your dessert looks pretty
  15. Serve into individual bowls

The recipe says to leave the meringue in the oven over night, this is how I was taught to make it, this weekend however, I was out on Saturday evening so I made mine the morning before I needed it, I still gave it 3-4 hours to cool but my meringue was a little stickier than it should be, although I like it that way. Just make sure when you are making this dessert that you have set aside enough time for it to cool properly!

My Beautiful Presentation

You can use as much or as little fruit as you like, and really whichever fruits are your favourite, I think that strawberry’s taste great with the cream and meringue pieces and I added kiwi as I only tried it for the first time a few weeks ago and discovered that I like it and had been avoiding it for no apparent reason! I would love to hear your suggestions for toppings for this dessert.