Saturday 6 November 2010

Chocolate and Berry Puddings

Sadly, a few months ago my lovely Gran passed away. She did leave me some money, however. Although I did want to save some of the money, I decided I wanted to buy something special that I could keep and use and remember my Gran by. After much thought and deliberation I decided on buying some products from the Le Creuset range of cookware. My Gran had always been into cooking and baking and I knew she would approve of this purchase and I knew it would be something that I would enjoy using over and over again in my kitchen.

I have always adored Le Creuset and on many an occasion have stopped to gaze over it in my local Debenhams. There were so many different pots and pans to choose from in so many beautiful colours. In the end I went for a cast iron casserole dish, a large pie dish and 4 ramekins in the gorgeous volcanic orange colour.

I found this recipe in the Waitrose magazine a few months ago and thought at the time that this would be the first recipe I'd make to go in my new little ramekins. This recipe was so simple to make and hardly took me anytime at all. The pudding rose perfectly and I loved the combination of the chocolate pudding with the raspberries at the bottom. My Gran would have loved these little puddings too...she always was a chocaholic!!

Chocolate and Berry Puddings

45g butter plus extra for greasing
120g frozen summer fruits (I used all raspberries)
150g plain chocolate, broken into small pieces
75g caster sugar
2 eggs, seperated
1/2 tsp vanilla essence
2 tbsp icing sugar, optional

Preheat oven to 200c
Butter the sides of 4 x 175ml ramekins, divide the berries between them.
Melt the chocolate with the butter in a bowl over a pan of water.
Whisk the sugar and egg yolks with an electric whisk until light and creamy, then stir in the vanilla.
In another bowl whisk the egg whites into soft peaks.
Fold the chocolate mixture into the whisked egg yolks, then fold in the egg whites with a large metal spoon.
Spoon the mixture into the ramekins and bake on a baking sheet for 12-14 minutes until risen but still slightly wobbly. Dust with icing sugar.


(I spread the recipe over the 3 ramekins as mine were of a slightly larger size than the recipe called for. Having now made this recipe I think it would probably work just as well with 4 of my ramekins!)

I really wanted to get a picture of the inside of the puddings and as I ate 2 out of the 3 puddings there was every opportunity to do this. But for some reason I'd tuck into the pudding and completely forget about taking a picture until it was too late and I was on the last spoonful..sorry!


5 comments:

  1. Mmmmmm - what a great way to remember your Gran. She sounds like a woman after my own heart ... and yours too I dare say ;0)

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  2. Your Le Creuset ramekins are beautiful and will prove to be a great investment and reminder of your Gran. One of my most treasured possessions is my Gran's old brown stewpot, which I use regularly to make beef stew, exactly like she used to make when I was a little girl.

    The recipe looks good. I find Waitrose recipes excellent. (Just recently made their recipe for madeleines - scrummy.)

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  3. I'm sorry about your Gran. These ramekins look like a good investment, and they're beautiful. And those puddings! I can't resist chocolate-raspberry combinations :)

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  4. That's a lovely way to remember your Gran and I heartily approve of the colour you chose. I've been eying up those ramekins for a long time, but have still not steeled myself to buy them.

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  5. aw cat what a lovely way to keep the memory of your gran going. such a lovely post and they look delicious!

    Im having a wee giveaway, you should enter : D xxx

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