Strawberry, Almond and Coconut Crumble

I love a traditional pudding, I would happily say that the crumble is my favourite but I also love Bakewell, cheesecake, bread and butter pudding, well pretty much any pudding...yet I always find something so comforting with a crumble. The only downfall is I would happily eat a several portions, or the whole thing if i had the chance...not like I've ever done that before (well maybe once hehe)

Apple is always the traditional option for a crumble and yes I love that but then I discovered strawberry crumble and that was it....love at first taste! I could happily eat this dessert morning, lunch and dinner, now wouldn't that be fantastic..well as long as my waist line didn't get bigger haha!

To add a little something to an already wonderful crumble I decided to add some tasty coconut (one of my favourites, there's probably not many recipes I don't add this too) and now I truly have died and gone to heaven, it gives this dessert so much depth and extra flavour! If you find yourself with some strawberries lurking in the back of the fridge, I promise you you won't be disappointed 

Strawberry, almond and Coconut Crumble

Filling

600g strawberries, hulled and quartered

20g caster sugar

25g ground almonds

25g dessicated coconut

3 tsp vanilla extract

Crumble

300g plain flour

170g Demerara sugar

200g butter chilled and cut into cubes 

20g ground almonds

85g flaked almonds

100g dessicated coconut

In a deep dish add the strawberries and then add the sugar, ground almonds, dessicated coconut and vanilla extract and stir round

Crumble

In a bowl add the flour and sugar.

Add the butter to the flour and sugar and rub with your fingers to until you get a bread crumb like consistency

Add the ground almonds, flaked almonds and dessicated coconut and stir through

Pour the crumble topping on top of the strawberries and pop into the fridge

Pre heat the oven to 190c/180c fan 

Place the crumble into the oven for around 35 minutes until golden on top

Serve with some double cream or ice cream :))

Perfect summer treat

Bakewell Ice Cream

I seem to have been a bit MIA recently...so I have several recipes that I want to fill you in on, one of them being another ice cream flavour that I've been working on! One of my favourite desserts is a Bakewell tart and I've recreated it in muffin form and cake form so why not in an ice cream...honestly it really works and its almost like your biting into a Bakewell tart...yummy hehe :))

Bakewell Ice Cream

1 can (14 ounces) Condensed milk
2 cups (475ml) Double Cream
6 tsp almond extract
3-4 heaped tbsp raspberry jam

In a bowl, stir together condensed milk and almond extract. In another bowl, whisk the double cream until you get stiff peaks (easier using an electric whisk) With a rubber spatula, gently fold whipped cream into condensed milk mixture. Pour into a large tupperware tub and spoon the raspberry jam into the ice cream mixture and using a skewer swirl it round.
freeze until firm, usually about 6 hours and enjoy :)

You can of course add some fresh raspberries in to it as well :)

Almond, Orange and Pine Nut Biscuits

Despite this awful weather we are having I'm determined to bring you some easter/spring inspired recipes. My recipe today is a lovely biscuit with wonderful fresh flavours (inspired by Spain)
Almond, Orange and Pine Nut Biscuits...easy to make and easy to eat haha :))

Almond, Orange and Pine Nut Biscuits

240g plain flour
125g ground almonds
Zest of 1 orange
200g salted butter
125g caster sugar
2 egg yolks
25g toasted pine nuts (more if you wanted)

Put the flour, ground almonds, orange zest and butter in a food processor and whizz until the mixture looks like breadcrumbs. Add the sugar, egg yolks and whizz to a dough. Tip onto a lightly floured work surface and knead in the toasted pine nuts very gently or you can keep the dough in the food processor and whizz so the pine nuts are finely chopped. Shape into a log, Wrap in cling film and chill for an hour.
Heat the oven to 180C/160c fan. Cut the dough into biscuits and arrange on a lined baking sheet. Bake for about 15 minutes and allow to cool on the baking sheet. (Due to the ground almonds they are fairly soft at first so allow to cool thoroughly.)

You can of course replace the orange with some lemon zest for a sharper fresher taste :)