Blackforest trifle

Blackforest gateaux sponge

2 tins cherry filling

Custard

1.     2 tbsp cornflour

2.     1.5 cups milk

3.     0.5 cup sugar

4.     1 egg

5.     Some chocolate

6.     vanilla

·         Grated chocolate

Blackforest trifle

Yellow and brown custard pudding

BASE

·         1 pack rich tea biscuits

·         2 tbsp butter

Well this dessert is something my mother used to whip up when we guests decided to pop by on short notice. It was a matter of throwing everything together, mix and pour. 

What you will need 

1 pack of rich tea biscuits / nice biscuits

3 tablespoons of melted butter

YELLOW CUSTARD

3 egg yolks

0.5 tsp vanilla essence

3 tbsp corn-flour

1 cup sugar

3 cups milk

BROWN CUSTARD

3 egg whites

4 tbsp coco powder

1.5 tbsp corn-flour

0.5 cup sugar

1.5 cups milk

TOPPING
Chocolate (grated) or coco powder to decorate

To start off with, you will need to break the biscuits into quarters (approximately). Pour over the melted butter and mix with your hands. I use a pyrex dish for this pudding, and scatter biscuits evenly over the base of the dish. 
Now, place all ingredients for the yellow custard into a pot and stir over medium hob til it thickens. Pour this evenly over the biscuit base. 
For the brown custard, place all ingredients in a pot over medium heat, and stir til it thickens. Pour that over the yellow custard. You are nearly done now. Simply allow it to cool by placing it in the fridge. 

Before serving grate some chocolate and scatter it on top, or you can simply dust it with coco powder..and voila, pudding is ready to serve. 

Ghrayba biscuits

Ghrayba 

This is a very tasty biscuit that is made and sold all over the Middle East. It is like a butter cookie that melts in your mouth. I was at a friends place, and she had a selection of food there for us. Everything was displayed beautifully and it was as though she had hired professional caterers. Anyway, it was time for tea, and I helped myself to a piece of this fine cookie. Immediately i needed to know where she bought these little delights, and it turned out that she actually made them herself. It so happens that her father owns a famous Lebanese bakery, and this is where she learnt all her skills. So she kindly offered to give me the recipe, and I didn't hesitate. 

    Preheat oven to about 180 C and prepare a baking tray (lightly grease it). 

    So what you will need for this: 

           3 cups self raising flour

·         3 cups icing sugar

·         6 tbsp ghee

·         2/3 tbsp coconut butter

·         Pistachio (optional)

        Simply a matter of kneading all the ingredients together barr the pistachio, and shaping it. Some pwople shape it as a small circle, then place a pistachio in the centre, and others prefer to shape it like a small pretzel (which is what I normally do). Sometimes if im out of pistachios, I wont even bother, and they taste just as good. 

    Bake for about 5 minutes, you don't want it to brown. Remove and allow to cool. And there you have it.. Bon apetit :)

Bake for 5 minutes ONLY

Asyas Eid Cookies

This recipe was given to my mother from a very good friend of hers who unfortunately passed away soon after. She was such a talented cook. It was never enough to have one of anything when it came to her cakes or cookies. During the Eid celebration, people normally go visiting family and friends, and most of the time, you dont go empty handed. So these cookies were given to us during Asyas visit to us over Eid. These cookies, were among one of a variety of home made pieces of art that she made. Peanut lovers, will love this cookie recipe! 

So here is what you need

·         125g butter

·         1/2 cup icing sugar

·         1 eggs 

·         1/2 tsp baking powder

·         3/4 cups cornflour

          Vanilla Essence     

·         Flour accordingly

FILLING

·         Apricot jam

·         Red food colouring

COATING

·         Egg white

          Peanuts (toasted and coarsely chopped in a chopper. 

Mix all the dough ingredients together. Add flour bit by bit. The dough should become firm and smooth. Not too hard though! So once you have a smooth dough ball, leave it to relax in the fridge for about 30 minutes. 

Roll into small circles and place a dent in the centre of each.

Dip into the egg white then coat the outside with the peanuts.

Bake in a preheated moderate oven Gas Mark 5 ‘til golden.

For the filling, mix about 2 tablespoons of apriot jam with 1 or 2 drops of red food colouring. Finally, fill the centre  of the biscuit with the jam filling. And there you have it. A delicious 

Um Ali

Um Ali is  an Egyptian dessert that is just unbelievably delicious. Um Ali translates to Ali's mother.

I moved to the Abu Dhabi this year, and it was here that I was introduced to this amazingly delicious dessert. Every buffet I went to aaaaaaaaaaalways served Um Ali,  and these were five star buffets. My first experience of Um Ali was just perfect, and I looked forward to the next time I would taste it again. But for some reason, the other Um Alis werent quite the same standard as that of my very first Um Ali experience. They just didn't seem to get it right. So I started experimenting at home, trying to make my own perfect version of it, and I finally did. This is a very very very tasty and so easy to make, 
What you need

1 package of frozen puff pastry (about 500g) OR about 6 large croissants

1  can of sweetened condensed milk

3 cups water

nestle thick cream (usually comes in a 170g can)

3/4 cup mixed nuts finally chopped (pistachio, almonds, peanuts..etc)

1/2 - 3/4 cups coconut flakes (depending on taste)

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Preparation:

Preheat oven to 200 C/ Gas 6. Cook puff pastry sheets as per instructions on greased baking sheets til they are puffed and golden.  Dont turn off the oven as we will be using it again in a few minutes. If you are using ready croissants, then just slightly warm them up.

Break the puff pastry/ croissants into 2 inch pieces and place in a baking dish (9x12). I usually use a Pyrex dish as I serve directly from that. Sprinkle the mixed nuts ( you can use absolutely any type of nuts you like, I usually use flaked almonds and ground peanuts) and coconut evenly over the puff pastry.

Now, in a separate saucepan, pour in the sweetened condensed milk, the vanilla extract, and the water and cook on medium heat for about 3-5 minutes. Once this is done, leave it to cool for about a minute.

Pour the sweet milk mix over puff pastry/croissants, nuts and coconut. sprinkle the thick cream (qishta/kishta) over the top and bake in the oven for about 15 minutes. This is perfect served warm. 

If you want it to look pretty, sprinkle the top with some ground pistachio just before serving. Enjoy :)

Abambar / Soft Almond Macaroons

Again these biscuits are very popular in Libya. They make an appearance at most libyan functions/ events. 

What you will need

225g/8oz crushed nuts/almonds

225g/8oz icing sugar

4 egg whites

2 tsp almond essence

pinch of salt

Whole / Halved blanched almonds 

In a bowl, whisk the egg whites until frothy. Add the sifted icing sugar in small batches and continue whisking at high speed until stiff peaks form. Gently fold in the ground almonds, salt and essence, being careful not to over work it. The mixture should be light but firm enough to hold its shape.

Line a baking tray with baking paper. Spoon out equally sized rounds. Make sure you space them out as they expand when baking. Place an almond in the center of each round. Leave it stand in the tray for an hour or so. Before baking, preheat oven to 170/Gas 3 and bake in middle rack til it is a light golden colour.