Banana and Honey Ice Lollies

I've never bought an ice lolly for my son which has led to full on, lying back, kicking, screaming because he wanted more.  Apart from my son's behaviour (and not wanting to reward it), it's not going to make you feel too bad giving him two.

It's also a great way to use up and store bananas which are past their best as you do want them slightly over-ripe.

Banana and Honey Ice Lollies - makes 4-6 depending on mould size

Ingredients

1 ripe banana
2 tsp runny honey
1/2 tsp vanilla extract or vanilla bean paste
100g, 3.5oz Yogurt (low fat is fine)

Method

Peel and chop the banana.  Blend the ingredients together.  Pour into an ice lolly mould and freeze until solid.  Run some warm water over the outside of the mould to release them.

Don't give to under 1's due to the honey (you could always miss it out if your bananas are super ripe and sweet.)

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Cauliflower Pakoras; great finger food for kids

Cauliflower pakoras are something I'd never made before until recently, but as part of my 7 a day challenge I made some vegetable pakoras using peas and loved them.  When I moved house a few days back and restocked my cupboards (including buying some gram flour), the helpful assistant in the shop suggested cauliflower was pretty good and, in fact her favourite.  She also said that fresh spinach was, in her opinion much better in Indian food than frozen.

I always like a bit of advice when it comes to cooking so I gave it a go.  The jury is out in the spinach.  In my opinion frozen is just as good but the great thing about baby spinach is you can use it as a salad vegetable or cook with it and it just so happened I had some in my fridge so I went with it.
Traditionally I don't think the cauliflower is precooked but although I don't like soggy cauliflower, I'm not overly keen on cauliflower which bites back either so I partially precooked mine.

 

Caulflower pakoras - serves 2-3

 

Ingredients

 

7 Small cauliflower florets
30g, 1oz Fresh spinach, finely shredded
100g, 3.5oz Gram flour (chickpea flour, garbanzo bean flour, besan)
2 tsp Garam masala
1/2 tsp Madras curry paste (or more if cooking for adults if liked)
Juice of 1/2 lime
1/2 tsp Baking powder (use gluten free if avoiding gluten)
75 - 150ml Cold water
Oil for frying
 

Method

Part cook the cauliflower by boiling for approx 4 minutes so still firm but almost cooked.  Cut into halves.

Heat up approx 1 inch of vegetable oil in a deep saucepan.  Never leave hot oil unattended.
 

Mix the flour, curry paste, lime and baking powder with enough water to make a batter like consistency.

Add in the spinach then add in the cauliflower.  Try a drop of batter in the oil, if it sizzles immediately, put a coated piece of cauliflower and see how it cooks.  If it browns too quickly but the batter is still runny inside, lower the heat.  If it takes a long time and seems greasy, increase the heat.

Cook in batches of 3-4.  Leave to drain on kitchen roll then serve as a starter, a side dish or as I did for my son with some rice cooked with peas and some mango chutney mixed with plain yogurt to dip.
 

Reheating:  Once cooked, keep in the fridge and either eat cold (although they do go a bit soft) or much better, reheat in a preheated 180oC / 350F oven for approx 6-10 minutes or until warmed through and crisp.  It's almost worth making extra to have the leftovers with no effort the next day!?

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Goats cheese frittata, great for kids

My son eats pretty well, I know what you're thinking, "My kid won't eat goats' cheese and they're certainly not fans of broccoli!".  They can and they might just surprise you.  My 3 year old is a bit of a cheese fan (as am I) and I do love quiches.  The thing is, calorie wise and salt wise the pastry adds loads and, although I'm a fan of crisp, buttery pastry, the filling is where it's at with a quiche anyway and you know what?  I can be bothered to make a quiche about once in a blue moon.  By making it as a frittata, it's mega quick, easy and tasty and the result looks like you've spent ages over something dead simple.  I'd happily serve this to adults and it would make a pretty nice starter with a spinach salad dressed with walnuts and vinaigrette.  Also, cunningly, by excluding the crust, this recipe is now also wheat free as well as being vegetarian.

As a result of this love of the frittata's taste, ease and convenience you might notice I've been messing around with frittatas made like crustless quiches (i.e. in the oven) a lot recently.  I've always been a fan of goats cheese quiches so tried making a frittata along similar lines. It was meant to be beautifully arranged circles of a small goats cheese log, but that didn't turn up on my food order (the perils of ordering food online) so the presentation isn't quite as pretty as I hoped it would be but it was really tasty.  I mean REALLY tasty.  I'm definitely making this again!

Broccoli and Goats Cheese Frittata - makes enough for two but any leftovers are great cold

Ingredients

110g, 4oz Broccoli (see make it thrifty below)
3 Eggs
2 tbsp milk
1 tbsp cornflour (cornstarch)
30g, 1 oz Extra mature (extra sharp) cheddar
90g, 3oz Rinded goats' cheese, often called 'ch�vre blanc'

Method

Preheat the oven to 180oC, 350F, Gas mark 4.

Chop the broccoli into very small florets or pieces (include the stalk, see below) put in boiling water on a hot hob for 4 minutes, then drain and rinse with cold water

Mix the egg, milk, cornflour and cheddar together.

Line a 7 inch round cake tin with non stick baking paper.  Spray or grease with oil.  Pour in half of the frittata mixture, scatter on the broccoli then pour the rest over the top.

Thinly slice the goats' cheese and arrange on the top.

Bake for 17-20 minutes (it took 18 in my oven). 

Leave to cool for a bit, it's better served warm or cold rather than hot.  Is the humble frittata the ideal dish for busy parents to cook?  No harm is done if your baby cries out for your attention just as you're taking your first bite.  Even better if you don't get to eat (we've all been there), leftovers are just as good kept in the fridge and eaten the next day.  Don't say I don't think about you busy parents too! 

Make it Thrifty:

Make this recipe cheaper by making use of the broccoli stalk as well as the florets.  Just trim off the end and cut into an approx 1cm / half inch dice and cook with the normal broccoli florets.  

This post is an entry for the #ShortcutEggsperts Linky Challenge sponsored by British Lion Eggs. Learn more and find recipes at www.eggrecipes.co.uk

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Simple Baked Southern Fried Chicken

Ok, sorry to remind you but we're approaching New Year and the time for those resolutions.  What will yours be this year?  Lose weight?  Stop smoking?

Have you ever noticed how resolutions are always about what we don't want rather than what we do want?  That's a bad thing because we're not wired that way.  Don't think about a pink elephant.  Go on, think about ANYTHING else apart from pink elephants.  Don't think about it.  You're thinking about it aren't you?  You can't help yourself!

Anyway, in general, I'm always of the opinion that a bit of what you actually fancy is better than 101 diet products.  Let's face it, if you buy diet biscuits, you eat more biscuits don't you?  Go on, we all know the truth...  So although I'm not a huge fan of dieting per se, I also managed to lose quite a lot of weight in the last two years.  You didn't know that about me did you?  I am now a shadow of my former UK size 16/18 self and am now a comfortable size 12, size 10 in Fat Face or White Stuff on a good day with a fair wind behind me (and size 8-10 in US terms which is even better!)

I can't pretend that I'm healthy all of the time either.  It's not true.  I do exercise but I also occasionally eat chips and, very occasionally, fried chicken.  But that said, I can't bring myself to actually fry chicken at home, I can feel my arteries hardening at the thought and there is something a bit gross about the extreme fattiness of it.  If I ever do buy fried chicken (from a certain well known High Street chain), I always drain it on the paper towels to make it a bit less greasy before eating.

So this recipe is good all round.  Lower in fat but also much less greasy which is a good thing and makes it tastier.  No frying smells to stink out the house and you can feel slightly more virtuous for having your cake (or chicken) and eating it!  Just don't eat 10 pieces because it's 'healthier'!

Southern 'baked' chicken - Makes 4 pieces

Ingredients

200ml, 7 fl oz Semi Skimmed (2% fat) milk
1 tbsp Dijon mustard
1 dried chilli
4 large chicken thighs, skin on and bone in
60g, 2oz Plain (all purpose) flour
2 tsp Paprika
80g, 2.5oz Cornflakes
1/2 tsp Garlic powder
Salt and pepper
Spray oil

Method

Mix the milk with the mustard and chilli.  Soak the chicken in this mix for about an hour.

Crush the cornflakes then add to the flour, paprika, garlic powder and seasoning (miss out salt for very young kids).

Preheat the oven to 200oC / 400F / Gas Mark 6.

Take each piece of chicken out of the milk mixture.  Put each into the dry mix covering them, then onto a lined baking sheet.

Repeat with all of the pieces of chicken and then spray with the spray oil then put in the oven for 40 minutes, turning once.

The result was crunchy, gently spiced and tasty.  A hit with my 3 year old and me!

Mix it up; to make it more spicy if making just for adults or adventurous kids; use more chilli in the milk mix or a touch of cayenne pepper in the dry mix.

This would be great with coleslaw







So remember, when making your resolutions, think about what you do want this year, not what you don't and you never know, you might just achieve it!

I've linked this up to Nomday Monday and create, link inspire

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How I decorated my Christmas cake (and I'm rubbish at this kind of stuff)

I'm no sugar crafter.  You will see this from my results but although an amateur, I am quite pleased with how my cake turned out this year and the big secret was, it was so easy.

There is no hard stuff here but I'll give it to you with all the short cuts...  You don't even need an icing bag!


I use ready made ready to roll marzipan and icing.  The first thing was to make the leaves.

Add some green food colouring to some ready to roll icing.  Try to avoid the "Southampton colours", especially if feeding to kids.  To do this, add in a few drops with a bit of icing sugar then kneed it in on a board (be careful, food colourings can stain).

Once the colour is consistent, roll it out.

I have some plunger cutters for some of the leaf types, otherwise I use cookie cutters.  If you don't have a plunger cutter for the markings, get a non poisonous leaf which hasn't been sprayed, e.g. a rose leaf and press the reverse side into icing.  Cut out the shapes.

Leave the leaves to dry, dry some on scrunched foil or on something cylindrical so they don't all dry flat.  This just looks a bit cooler!  If you like, either make some icing with slightly different shade of green or pick out the veins with additional colour.

Leave these to dry.  It might take a day or two if you do paint them with colour.

When you're ready to ice your cake, roll out the marzipan.  Warm up some apricot jam with a little water in a microwave.

Put your cake on the surface you're going to present it on, this might be a plate or a board.  Put it upside down so you have the flat side on top.

Brush the cake with the apricot jam then press on the rolled out marzipan, cutting off excess and moulding it with your hands.  Experience with play dough may be useful here...

Then boil some water while you're rolling out the icing.  Brush the marzipan layer with water then cover again with the icing.  This layer is a bit more forgiving than the marzipan.

Trim off the excess then add your decoration!

To make it stick or if you're right into the fancy icing stuff, mix some egg white with icing sugar until really stiff then use that for all that fancy icing stuff or to stick on your easy icing leaves.

Stand back and wait for admiration!  Leave it to dry out uncovered (but away from insects / pests / curious children and animals) for a few hours before covering.

Please add your Christmas cake pictures to my Facebook feed!

Merry Christmas from Mamacook!

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Turkey Sliders for all ages

A slider, so I'm told is a small burger.  I've mixed these up by making them with turkey (seasonal) but also sneaking in some hidden vegetables (why not) and a bit of spice!  These are super easy and healthy because they're made with white meat and baked not fried.

I do have a bit of love for sweet chilli sauce.  Although when my son was under 1 I diligently avoided giving him sugar as much as possible, I eased up as he got older.  Sweet chilli as an ingredient is a great way to introduce some gentle spicing in a way that is more predictable than using a small amount of chilli.

He tried some of my sliders with sweet chilli sauce but on balance preferred his served with ketchup.  Had I got any in the house, I would have served these with baked sweet potato wedges but I didn't so I served with cooked carrot sticks instead.  Might seem a bit strange but he loved it!

Turkey Sliders - made 5

Ingredients

125g, 4.5oz Minced (ground) turkey
60g, 2 oz Grated courgette (zucchini)
1 tbsp Thai style sweet chilli sauce
1 tbsp chopped fresh Coriander (cilantro)

Method

Mush all of the ingredients together then shape into patties and chill on a tray lined with baking paper and covered with cling film (saran wrap).

When ready to cook, preheat the oven to 200oC, 400F, Gas Mark 6.  Remove the film and bake for approx 18 minutes or until cooked through.

Serve in small buns with lettuce and either sweet chilli sauce or tomato ketchup.  I have to admit I liked them and I'd be tempted to make them again just for me!

It just so happens that January's Family Foodies challenge is all about 'hidden goodies'.  Is there a more appropriate challenge for Mamacook?  I think not!  So I've submitted this along with a few other recipes to Bangers and Mash and Eat your veg's challenge:

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Low Sugar Mini Cherry Tarts - Great for kids or grown ups

I'm showing my age now, the urge to type "damn fine cherry pies" was very strong.

As I said in my last post, I promised to write up a recipe for the pastry leftovers.  Because I don't know how much pastry you might have, the quantities are per tart.  Please adjust for the number you have!

This isn't sugar free.  Jam is laden with sugar but there is around 1-1.5 tsp jam per tart and only half of that is sugar, not massive amounts of sugar at all, much less than a commercial tart.

Mini Cherry Pies

Ingredients

Leftover pastry (see the chicken and mushroom pie recipe if you would like the pastry recipe from scratch)
1/2 tsp jam per case (see instructions for more info)
5-6 Frozen, defrosted pitted cherries per tart
1 tbsp jam additional or more if you have several tarts

Method

Preheat the oven to 200oC / 400F / Gas Mark 6.

For this, I would use a 'red' jam, ideally cherry but strawberry or raspberry is fine as long as it's not too seedy.

Roll out the pastry and cut circles big enough for a fairy cake tin, gently push them in.

Put approx half a teaspoon of jam in each pastry hollow.  Bake for approx 10 minutes or until the pastry is crisp.  Allow to cool for a couple of minutes.

Heat the additional jam in a microwave with a tsp boiling water until boiling (for approx 1 minute).  In the meantime, top the tarts with the defrosted cherries.  Once the jam is molten, pour over an additional half tsp over the top to glaze.

Allow to cool for a couple of minutes then serve slightly warm with a sprinkle of icing (confectioners) sugar if liked or cream.

Ok, not the healthiest recipe in the world but not awful either.  A dainty little fruity treat.  I'd rather give one of these to my son any day than a chocolate biscuit!  This is my ethos on life; I am happy giving my son treat foods but I try and put fruit and vegetables into every bit of food I can and I always try and use natural 'real' foods.  The fights I've had with our nursery who think sugar free instant whip is a great pudding for toddlers...

Make it Thrifty:

Oven cooking uses a lot of energy so ideally cook these when something else is already in the oven.  Why not make the chicken and mushroom pie at the same time as making these for pudding?

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Gingerbread men

...or considering the time of year... Gingerbread Mummies!!!

I posted a recipe for Gingerbread men a while back (or ninja bread men, I do like a play on words!)  This though is adapted to give a lighter result which is less dominated by anything other than the ginger flavour.  I found the treacle in the old recipe tended to drown out the spicy warmth.
Gingerbread Men � Makes 8-20 depending on size

Ingredients

60g, 2oz Butter or margarine (use non dairy to make dairy free)

60g, 2oz Caster sugar

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

1 tbsp Runny honey

115g, 4oz Plain (all purpose) flour

1 tbsp Ground Ginger (Powdered Ginger)

Pinch mixed spice (pumpkin pie spice)

Method

Preheat the oven to 180oC, 350F, Gas Mark 4.  

Cream the butter and sugar, add the honey, vanilla extract, cream together then mix in the dry ingredients.  Bring together with your hands and kneed lightly.  Roll out thinly, using flour to dust and cut out the men.  Reroll any scraps and repeat.

Put the men or shapes onto baking trays lined with non stick baking paper.

Bake for approx 8-10 minutes or until starting to brown and crisp (they won't be completely crunchy until allowed to cool).

Cool on a wire rack, then decorate.

I did the gingerbread man "Mummy" decoration with a simple plain buttercream and a narrow plain nozzle criss crossed over the men.  I then cut off the excess at the sides of the biscuits and did the eyes with some black writing icing (I can never find I get a 'true' black from home colours.)

I have no idea whether having one of these is better than eating a pile of sweets.  Ok, one of these is obviously better than a pile of sweets but I have always thought that home baking, even unashamedly full on, naughty ingredients home baking like this is somehow more fulfilling than sugary sweets.  Hey, I could be wrong but it makes me feel good.

Store in an airtight tin and they should keep a couple of days.

There's no need to decorate these in the Hallowe'en style I've suggested, you could make it more traditional or, a great idea for a kids party, get some writing icing and get them to decorate them themselves!  Surprisingly popular with adults as well as kids!

Over 1 year olds only please because of the honey.  Enjoy!

Make it Thrifty:

A pretty cheap recipe as it is but look out for bags of Indian or Chinese spices rather than buying ginger in tiny jars.  It does lose a bit of potency over time but it still keeps reasonably well.

I've linked this lovely old recipe up to the Spice Trail Ginger challenge.

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Hidden Vegetable Sausage Rolls for the Whole Family

I've often said it's great to have a hidden vegetable recipe up your sleeve to ensure your kids are getting enough of their 5 a day.  All kids go through their fussy stages and vegetables are often the victim of it.

Hidden Veg Sausage Rolls - makes 30-35 small sausage rolls

Ingredients

1 onion
Spray oil
1 small or half a large courgette (zucchini) mine weighed 125g / 4.5oz
1 small carrot, mine weighed 60g, 2oz
1 tbsp chopped parsley
400g, 14oz Good quality sausage meat or sausage meat squeezed from the skins of sausages
500g, 18oz Ready rolled puff pastry
Milk to brush

Method

Finely dice the onion and soften in some fry oil.  Grate the carrot and courgette and add to the onion and fry gently until everything is softened and reasonably dry.

Put into a bowl to cool.

Preheat the oven to 180oC (fan), 200oC (conventional), 400F, Gas Mark 6.

Roll out the pastry.

Mix the sausagemeat and vegetables together with the parsley with your hands.  Form into a sausage shape along the pastry, allowing space to ensure you can fold the pastry over the top.  Press the pastry edges together and prick with a knife to allow steam to escape.  Cut into small sections (or larger ones if you prefer) and place onto baking paper.  Brush with a little milk.

Bake in the oven for approx 14-18 minutes (for small sausage rolls) or until cooked through and golden.

Allow to cool a little until cool enough to give to your child or cool completely on a wire rack and serve cold.  Put in the fridge if not serving immediately.  Also freeze well.

To reheat, defrost completely if frozen then warm in the oven at about 180oC for 10 minutes.  Once reheated serve warm.

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Watermelon Ice Lollies Great for Toddlers

If I can encourage you to do one thing this summer, which is setting out to be a scorcher, is buy an ice lolly mould.  Ice lollies are so expensive to buy and often full of sugar, artificial food colourings and other stuff which isn't all that great for kids.

Much better is to make your own lollies out of fruit or fruit juice with a little added sugar if needed.  Even if you do add something to make it sweeter, it's still far more natural, lower in added sugar and can count towards their 5 a day!  In fact, one of these ice lollies contains 60g of fruit and only around half a teaspoon of added sugar.

So here is my latest ice lolly recipe.  My 3 year old said "I like pink lollies best" when he had one of these and was upset when I wouldn't give him one at 6:30pm because it was bath time!

Low Sugar Watermelon Ice Lollies - made about 5 but depends on the size of your moulds

Ingredients

300g, 11oz Watermelon, preferably the seedless kind or the type with only soft seeds or see method
1 tbsp Caster sugar (may need slightly less, depending on how sweet your melon is)

Method

If you have a watermelon with seeds, you may find the majority of them are in a single layer.  To save hassle, cut this layer out, otherwise you have a little bit of a job picking out the black seeds.  If the seeds are soft and whiteish then just leave them in.

Cut up the flesh into small pieces and put into a blender.  You need 300g / 11oz of cut up fruit.  Add the sugar and blend.  You might need to shake it a bit and poke it down to get it going but once it starts, the watermelon will blend really easily.  Don't be tempted to add water.

Once you have a smoothish slush, pour into the moulds and leave to freeze overnight.

Help to remove from the moulds by running the outside of the mould under warm water and easing out the lolly.

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Ninja bread men for kids (or Gingerbread men)

My mother is my inspiration in life in general.  Incredibly intelligent she didn�t have the breaks in life nor the education.  At the time giving a woman an education was seen as a waste of time and money.  How much we have moved on.  I was lucky enough to have all the opportunities she didn�t and she encouraged and supported me through everything in life, every bump, every triumph, every disaster and here I am with two degrees a Dr of Chemistry and she still is far my superior.

It�s funny how we learn how to love and be loved first from our parents.  My Mum shows people she loves them through food and I have inherited this from her.  This was the first ever recipe I made with my son and I remember making it with my Mum when I was little.  I also handily got some cool �Ninja� bread man cutters from an online shop which I loved and so did my son but he made some hearts for me too.

This does make a very traditional, crisp gingerbread man with a strong ginger flavour which is how I had them when I was little.  If you prefer them a little softer, take them out a little earlier or it might be an idea to substitute the flour for self raising (they will spread though).  If you like a milder flavour, cut down on the ginger a little.

(Ninja) Ginger Bread Men � Makes lots

Ingredients

60g, 2oz Butter or margarine

60g, 2oz Caster sugar (regular sugar or granulated sugar is fine, just gives a grainier texture)

1 tbsp Black treacle � sorry US readers, I don�t think there is any direct replacement but molasses is probably closest

115g, 4oz Plain (all purpose) flour

1 tbsp Ground Ginger (Powdered Ginger)

Pinch mixed spice (pumpkin pie spice)

Little milk to mix, use soy milk if liked

Method

Preheat the oven to 180oC, 350F, Gas Mark 4.  

Cream the butter and sugar, add the treacle then mix in the dry ingredients.  Add in enough milk to make to a stiff paste (you might not need it.)  Roll out thinly, using flour to dust and cut out whatever shapes you like, hearts, ninjas...

Bake for around 10 minutes, cool on a wire rack and decorate!  I've linked this to Simple Living's linky.

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Vegetarian "Sausage" Rolls for the Whole Family

I'm not vegetarian but I do like my vegetables and I see no need to have meat in every meal.  There's something great about normal sausage rolls but there's also something a fatty about them too.  So why not do something vegetarian?

Well I gave it a go.  I loved them but the toddler was slightly less impressed (there was a pate sandwich in his eye line which was drawing his attention).  But I liked and will definitely make again.

Vegetable Rolls - makes around 20 or so

Ingredients

1 small onion
1 clove of garlic
200g, 7oz courgette (zucchini), approx one medium size
1 tsp Olive oil
1 tbsp fresh oregano
75g, 2.5oz Feta cheese
1 egg
2 tbsp Quark or cream cheese
Approx 250g, 12oz ready rolled puff pastry

Milk to brush.

Method

Chop the onion into small pieces.  Crush or chop the garlic.  Grate the courgette.  Fry the onion for a couple of minutes in the oil then add in the garlic and courgette.  Fry until softened and the liquid has evaporated.  Put into a bowl to cool.

Preheat the oven to 400F, 200oC, 180oC (fan), gas mark 6.

Once cool, add in the oregano, crumble in the feta cheese, egg and quark.

Cut the pastry into about 2 inch, 5 cm strips.  Put a line of the mix to one side of the pastry.  Fold over to make a long 'sausage' roll.  Seal with a fork along the edge.  Cut little vent holes then cut into short lengths.

Brush with milk and bake for approx 15 minutes or until browned and cooked through.

I froze the few I had left over and then defrosted them for lunch.  Even without warming, they were absolutely delicious.  Maybe it's a Mummy thing!

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Low Sugar Trifle for Babies and Toddlers

This has been something in the ideas bank for a while.  I did originally want to make it no added sugar but it was a tricky task.  I also found by using traditional custard powder, the amount of sugar I was adding was pretty low and I'm not as strict as I used to be!

Trifle - Serves 2 with fairly big portions

Ingredients

100ml, 3.5 fl oz Red Grape Juice
1 Leaf of gelatine (or enough to set a quarter of a pint)
10 Raspberries
300ml, Half a pint of custard (I made mine using 1 tbsp Aunt Bessies custard powder, 2 tsp sugar and half a pint, 300ml of milk following pack instructions)
150 ml, 5 fl oz Double cream

Method

Soak the gelatine in cold water for about 5 minutes.

Heat up half of the juice in a microwave until boiling.  In the meantime, wash the raspberries and dry them well on kitchen roll (I didn't and my jelly turned out a little soft).  Divide the raspberries between two glasses or small bowls if you prefer.

Dissolve the softened gelatine in to the hot juice then once fully dissolved, top up to 100ml.

Pour the jelly over the fruit and then put into the fridge for a couple of hours to set.

When the jelly is set, make the custard and pour over the top.  Leave for a good 4-5 hours to fully set as the hot custard may remelt the jelly a bit.

Whisk up the double cream and then put on top of the custard.  Serve!

My son liked this as you can see (he's in the background).  He described it as "all delicious"!  This is a great egg free pudding too because I used cheat's custard rather than proper custard.  Check the packaging but many custard mixes are both egg and gluten free because the thickening agent is cornflour.

Some day I will make proper custard.  Not today but some day.

This post was not sponsored in any way.  I've linked this up to Sticky Fingers Photo gallery this week "boys"

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