No Cook Chocolate Tart

MUNCH RATING: 4/5

I got this recipe from the BBC Good Food website and the original recipe can be found here.

CHANGES TO THE RECIPE:
I tweaked it slightly by using chocolate chip cookies for the base, to make it extra chocolatey! There seemed to be a lot of butter in the base mixture, so I used a whole pack of biscuits so that it wasn’t so greasy.
Other people on the website have said that adding the vanilla to the chocolate makes it go funny, so I added it to cream instead as suggested.
This was really easy to make and tasted delicious – it’s very rich though so you only need a small portion!

• I used a square 8x8 inch tin as the rectangular one they suggested seemed far too big. It’s a good idea to line it with a piece of greaseproof paper which is bigger than the tin so that it’s easier to remove it from the tin.
• Serves 8 

Ingredients:

• 250g pack chocolate chip cookies (I used Tesco own brand)
• 100g butter
• 1 tbsp golden syrup or honey
• 100g bar dark chocolate (I used Bournville)
• 100g bar milk chocolate (I used a Cadbury Easter egg)
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 2 tbsp icing sugar , plus extra for dusting
• 200ml whipping cream 

Directions:

1. Crush the biscuits by putting them in a large, strong, plastic food bag and bashing with a rolling pin. Melt the butter with the syrup or honey in the microwave, then stir in the biscuits. Press onto the base and up the sides of your tin and chill while you make the filling.
2. Break up the two chocolate bars and put in a large bowl. Melt in the microwave for 2-3 mins on Medium, stirring halfway through, then sift in the icing sugar.
3. Whip the cream until it just holds its shape. Stir in the vanilla extract, then fold into the melted chocolate. Pour into the prepared tin and smooth the top. Chill for at least 2 hrs or for up to 2 days.
4. Just before serving, remove the tart from the tin and slide it onto a flat plate (loosen edges first with the tip of a small pointed knife). You will find it easier to remove the tart if you leave it at room temperature for 30 mins.

Lighter Lamb Burgers

MUNCH RATING: 1/5

This recipe is from BBC Good Food magazine and I liked the sound of it because the couscous and carrot make it a healthier burger. I did tweak the recipe slightly to use ingredients I already had and although the burgers were quite tasty, we weren’t keen on the texture. Even though I used more lamb mince than the recipe suggested, there wasn’t enough of a meaty texture to the burger, which is what we really wanted. It is a good way to make the mince stretch but I don’t think I’ll be making this recipe again.

I froze 2 of the burgers, but we don’t want to eat them again as burgers, so I’ll have to create a recipe to use them up!

I’ve written the recipe as I made it, but you can find the original recipe here: Lighter Lamb Burgers.

• Makes 4 burgers 

Ingredients:

• 100g / 4oz couscous (I used a Thai Curry flavoured packet)
• 2 carrots, finely grated
• 400g pack lamb mince
• 3 spring onions, finely chopped
• 4 fresh mint leaves, finely chopped
• 1 egg plus 1 egg yolk, beaten 

Directions:

1. Place the couscous in a heatproof bowl and pour over 100ml boiling water. Leave for a couple of minutes until all the liquid has been absorbed. Squeeze any liquid out of the carrots, then stir into the couscous along with the mince, spring onions, mint and egg. Season well.
2. Chill in the fridge for at least 1 hour for them to firm up.
3. Shape the mixture into 4 large burgers. Transfer to a non-stick baking sheet, then grill under a high heat for 6-8 minutes on each side.

Cheat’s American Pancakes

MUNCH RATING: 5/5

Traditional American Pancakes are made with buttermilk (see recipe here) but I rarely have that in the fridge! These Cheat’s pancakes contain all the ingredients that you would normally have to make cakes, so can be whipped up whenever you fancy them!

• Makes: 10 – 12 pancakes
• You will need: large mixing bowl, small mixing bowl, large non-stick frying pan 

Ingredients:

• 200g / 7oz self-raising flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• pinch of salt
• 25g / 1oz caster sugar
• 1 egg, beaten
• 300ml / ½ pint milk
• 25g / 1oz butter (melt this in the frying pan)
• sunflower oil or a little butter for cooking
• golden or maple syrup to serve 

Directions:

1. Mix together the flour, baking powder, the salt and sugar in a large bowl.
2. Mix the egg and melted butter with the milk.
3. Make a well in the centre of the dry ingredients and gently mix in the wet ingredients until you have a thick batter. - Do not overmix, the batter should have small to medium lumps!
4. Let the mixture rest for about 10 minutes, this will result in lighter, fluffier pancakes. I normally pour the batter into a measuring jug to make it easier to pour dollops of the batter into the frying pan.
5. The frying pan should have enough grease from when you melted the butter, so you can start cooking your pancakes. Drop a large tablespoonful of the batter per pancake into the pan to make pancakes about 7.5cm across. Make three or four pancakes at a time. Cook for about 3 minutes over a medium heat until small bubbles appear on the surface of each pancake, then turn and cook another 2-3 minutes until golden.
6. Cover with kitchen paper to keep warm while you use up the rest of the batter.
7. Serve with golden or maple syrup. 

COOK’S NOTES:

• You can keep any leftover batter covered in the fridge and it will be absolutely fine to use the next day.