ICE CREAM CAKE

I love ice cream and even though its not yet summer, I say its never too late or too early to have ice cream and what better to have with ice cream than Oreo ice cream cake. Did someone say yummers. One thing  would warn though, it is quite easy to gobble everything up on one sitting so be careful of how much you eat and enjoy. 

Ingredients

• Oreo cookies
• 1/4 cup Cream cheese
• 100g Dark chocolate
• 50g White chocolate
• 3/4 cup Double cream
• Vanilla ice cream (leave out of fridge to soften to room temprature making it easier to spread)

How to make:

-I used two packets of 125g oreo cookies, which have about 14 cookies so in total about 28 cookies. 

-Remove cookies from all packaging and place into a ziplock bag (reserve about five cookies).

-Using a rolling pin crush cookies into crumbs (if you have a food processor, place in the food processor and pulse for a few minutes until it becomes fine crumbs).

-Place one cup of cookie crumbs into a bowl add cream cheese and mix properly till fully combined.

-Taking about a tablespoon at a time of mixture roll into balls (I had 12 balls in total, you can make them as big or as small as you want).

-Line a loaf pan with cling film or baking paper (this helps to remove cake after its frozen).

-Randomly place cookie balls into bottom of loaf pan.

-Pour just enough ice cream to completely cover cookie balls, place into freezer for 30 minutes.

-Remove loaf pan from freezer evenly spread half of the cookie crumbs and pour more ice cream just enough to reach the top of the loaf, sprinkle remaining cookie crumbs. Cover with cling film and place in freezer for at least four hours or preferably over night.

-About 30 minutes before removing the ice cream cake from the freezer make the ganache. Chop the dark chocolate and the white chocolate into small bits, the smaller it is the easier it will be to melt, place into separate bowls.

-Place double cream into a small pot and heat up over a low heat ( because I was making two different ganache I heated up cream separately) 2/4 cup goes into dark chocolate and remaining 1/4 cup goes into white chocolate.

-Let this to stand for a couple of minutes, the heat from the cream melts the chocolate, mix properly until mixtures comes together completely. Leave to cool down slightly but still be pourable.

-To unmold, remove ice cream cake from freezer leave to stand for a couple of minutes, make a cardboard base (I just cut a piece of cardboard to the exact shape of the cake and covered in foil) and place on the top and flip over remove loaf pan and cling film.

- Put some cups into a wide dish (this helps to catch excess glaze and not leave too much of a mess). Pour cooled dark chocolate ganache in the middle of the cake. Using the back of a spoon spread ganache to the edges to create a kind of drizzled effect. Fill a ziplock bag with white chocolate ganache, snip the tip off with scissors and drizzle over the top making quick movements back and forth (i know it does get really messy, this is not the prettiest looking dessert but its defiantly delicious). 

-Using remaining Oreo cookies decorate the top of the cake (I am not much of a decorator but I tried my best) Place in the freezer for an extra hour to allow ganache to set up.

-Transfer the whole dessert into a serving platter, I had little white chocolate ganache left over which I drizzled over Oreo cookies and also on each slice of cake. Heat up a knife by placing inside a cup of hot water for a few minutes, clean with a paper towel and slice in order to get nice neat slices.

 I love white chocolate!!!

NIGERIAN CHIN-CHIN

Ingredients:

• 1 Cup all purpose flour 
• 3 tbsp caster sugar
• 3 tbsp softened butter 
• 1 egg
• 1/2 tsp salt 
• 1 teaspoon flavourings of choice (I used nutmeg)
• 4-6 cups Oil for frying

How to prepare:
-Sift flour, baking powder and nutmeg, sugar and salt in a bowl and mix well.

                        

-Add softened butter into the flour, using fingers to work it in, till it is mixed properly with a breadcrumb like consistency.

                          

                          

-Make a well in the middle of flour/butter mixture and add egg.

                           

                                      

-Use fingers to mix egg with flour till it comes together in a dough. This may take a while but it will surely get there.

                           

-Using a rolling pin and a cutting board (or a flat surface) roll out dough to about an inch thick, roll dough only once do not stress and re-roll, and cut into desired shapes. I cut mine vertically then horizontally into cubes.

                             

-Place a pan over medium heat, add oil to deep fry chin-chin. I test the temperature of the oil by dropping a small piece of dough.

                               

-Fry chin-chin stirring continuously till the chin-chin turns a golden brown colour. I fried in two batches to avoid over-crowding.

                                 

-Remove chin-chin from oil and place on a paper towel to drain excess oil and leave to cool down.

                                   

-Chin-chin can be stored in a dry airtight container and kept for up to a week or two.

                            

For a healthier option instead of frying.

-Preheat oven and lay some wax paper on a baking tray.-Place chin-chin dough on the wax paper and bake for about 25 minutes checking frequently to avoid burning.

NOTE: I made this again but instead of using nutmeg, I used 1 tsp of cinnamon and after frying I rolled my chin-chin in cinnamon sugar. It was truly delightful.

                   

                   

SUNDAY LUNCH

This is my take on the traditional coconut rice. I usually make use of golden basmati rice but that was not available so I made use of easy cook long grain rice but the results are just as nice.

Ingredients:

• 2 1/2 cup easy cook rice
• 2 cups coconut milk
• 1 onion
• 1 Habanero pepper
• 1 chilli pepper
• 1 tsp minced ginger
• 1 tsp minced garlic
• 1 tsp thyme
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 2 seasoning cubes ( I used knorr cubes)
• Sweetcorn
• Sliced bell peppers
• Salt to taste
• Pepper to taste
• Water

How to prepare:
-Place a large pot over high heat add rice and enough water to completely cover rice. Parboil rice for 4 to 5 minutes, remove from fire, wash and drain rice and set aside.

                                   

-Dice peppers and onions according to preference ( I diced mine finely, be careful when handling habanero pepper).

                                    

-Place a different bowl over medium heat, add olive oil heat for a few minutes.

-To the oil add onions, minced ginger, minced garlic and peppers. Stir fry.

                                     

-Add coconut milk, seasoning cubes and thyme.

                                      

-Leave coconut milk mixture covered until it begins to boil.

                                       

-Add parboiled rice to coconut milk and mix properly completely covering rice with coconut milk ( you can adjust for salt and pepper at this point).

                                         

-Cover rice and reduce heat. leave for rice to get ready this would take about 15 to 20 minutes.

-Add sweetcorn and sliced bell peppers (you can use any vegetables of your choice). I diced some left over chicken breast which had already been cooked and added to the rice.

-Mix and leave to steam together for 5 minutes.

                                             

-Remove from fire. Serve and enjoy. I served this with pieces of peppered chicken

FRENCH TOAST DIPPERS

This is a fun and interesting twist to the classic french toast. French toast or eggy bread is a dish made by dipping bread (usually stale bread) in beaten eggs and fried. This is my recipe of making french toast as a sweet dish making use of cinnamon, vanilla essence and sugar and served with a crème fraîche and macerated strawberry sauce.

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup caster sugar
• 2 tsp cinnamon 
• 1 tsp lemon juice
• 1 tsp Vanilla extract
• 100ml crème fraîche
• Punnet of strawberries
• 4 brioche bread rolls
• 2 eggs
• 60ml whole milk

How to prepare:

-The first thing I make is the cinnamon sugar, this is typically made by mixing 1/4 cup of caster sugar with 1 tablespoon of cinnamon (I use caster sugar because it has a much finer grain). I usually make a lot of this and store in a air tight container at room temperature.

 

-Wash, hull and slice strawberries add remaining 1/4 cup of caster sugar and lemon juice and mix until strawberries are completely coated with sugar and leave for 30 minutes. Stir strawberries through crème fraîche.

-Prepare the bread, I made use of stale brioche bread rolls cut in half. Any bread can be used to make this toast, if using sliced bread remove crust and slice into strips.

-In a bowl crack eggs add milk, vanilla extract and remaining 1 tsp of cinnamon, beat until well combined.

-Place a pan over medium heat and add a knob of butter.

-Dunk each piece of bread into egg mixture soaking both sides. Remove and place on a wire rack sprinkle cinnamon sugar over top.

-Place in a pan  and fry till a golden cinnamon sugar crust forms, flip only once and fry other side  until golden brown.

-Serve in a plate with a dusting of cinnamon sugar and a scoop of  strawberry crème fraîche.

BREAKFAST CUPCAKES

This past Saturday I decided to be creative and make these very delicious breakfast cupcakes.
Now cupcakes may not seem exactly like an ideal breakfast food but don't knock it till you try it, its the perfect combination of all your favourite breakfast foods.

Ingredients

• 3 slices of Bacon
• 6 Slices of Ham
• 2 Potatoes
• 6 Eggs
• Salt to taste
• Pepper to taste

 How to prepare:

-Peel and slice potatoes in to medallions place in a pot of water and boil until potatoes are soft.

-Slice bacon into bits and fry as preferred (I do not like my bacon too crispy so I did not fry for too long).

-Grease a cupcake tray properly, this is a necessary step because these cupcakes tend to stick a little.

-Place one piece of ham into the bottom of the cupcake tray, add boiled potatoes and cooked bacon bits.

-Crack one egg into each cup (to prevent shells from breaking into eggs I break into a separate bowl and poured into cupcake tray). You can also scramble eggs before pouring into cups.

-Season with salt and pepper as desired and place in a pre-heated oven at 190 degrees for 14 to 18 minutes. If you prefer your egg whites a little runny serve at this point, I like mine cooked through so I baked for 20 minutes after baking I covered my cupcakes with foil paper and left for five minutes before serving.

I served these delicious cupcakes with a couple of grilled sausages and chicken dippers.