Stuck in a rut with puddings

[purpleturtle]

We like to have something sweet at tea-time, but due to a distinct lack of imagination it is nearly ALWAYS yogurt. Sometimes fresh fruit. What are your quick and easy suggestions?

Make up babyrice and mix that in with fruit puree - makes it thicker and a bit more puddingy. I also cook pancakes and chop those up with fruit. Or rice pudding (Tesco does tinned organic) with fruit, or a bit of jam as a treat. Or try making a normal crumble - there's not too much sugar in the topping if you only have it every now and then.

I make clafouti, which is a sort of fruit custard thing. Not too much work, and quite tasty. Or rice pudding, or just regular baked custard.

Hmm, none of these are quick, but all of them are easy.

rice pudding can be quick if you do flaked rice... just heat it in a pan with some milk for about 20 mins...
yummy

other faves... jelly, tinned or fresh fruit and custard, ice cream, trifle....

I do jelly quite often and chocolate blancmange (homemade, not the packet variety) sometimes with little chocolate muffins bought from the shop with it. Not healthy maybe, but that isn't a worry for me.

Thanks for these. I feel a bit more inspired now.

Lonelymum, how do you make blancmange without a packet?

I have done a lot of trial and error with this and I thought I had the quantities right until last time I made the blancmange and it wouldn't thicken! Anyway, it is roughly this:
30 - 40g of cornflour (or maybe more but you can always add more later if the sauce doesn't thicken)
10-15g of cocoa powder (depending on how chocolatey you want it)
a good tbsp of sugar
1 pint of milk

All I do is bung the dried stuff in a jug and add a small amount of the milk and mix to a paste. Then add the remaining milk and heat in the microwave for about 5 mins. Done.

If you have no microwave, you mix the dried ingredients with a small amount of milk, heat the remaining milk in a saucepan, add it to the paste and then return the whole lot to the saucepan and simmer for a couple of mins stirring all the time.

As I say, it is a bit trial and error stuff but no-one seems to mind when it isn't quite right. Pour over little chocolate muffins for a delicious pudding but not one for people who worry about what they eat!

Steamed Syrup Sponge in the M/W

6oz Butter & 6oz Sugar creamed
beat in 3 eggs
fold in 6oz SR Flour and a teaspn of baking powder

pour syrup (or jam or stewed fruit) into buttered pudding basin

pour mix on top M/w for 10 min (may need a bit more)

Lovely with custard

Baked apple? easy in the microwave. Core a granny smith or other eating apple, stuff core with sultanas. Microwave on high for a couple of mins until flesh is soft. Scrape out of skin, flavour with a bit of cinnamon and a small blob of butter. My Dt's( and dh) like it with custard.

Great suggestions! Yum!

Next task is to persuade dd (nearly 4) that she doesn't have to have a yogurt if she's already had a different kind of pudding.

If you are at home a few hours before dinner, a real rice pudding is delicious and extremely easy. This recipe makes quite a lot, but you can re-heat it.

2.5 oz pudding rice
1.5-2 pints full-cream milk
1oz butter
2 tablespoons of sugar
vanilla pod, split, or a cinnamon stick

Heat the oven to 140 C. Put rice with just over half of the milk and the other ingredients into an ovenproof dish. Cook for 3 hours. Once an hour, take it out, stir it and add some of the rest of the milk in order to slacken the mixture. You can add some cream at the end of the second hour and it's also nice eaten with cream.

(From Jane Grigson's 'English Food')

Lonelymum, have you tried making non-chocolate blancmange? I remember loving those little puddings you get in Canada, and the idea of being able to make something like that, quickly, has me very tempted. But would it work with pureed banana added at the end? Or maybe just some vanilla? I'll probably try making chocolate, too, but I'm more tempted by other flavours.

And now I feel an urge to figure out how to make tapioca pudding ... that's my free time gone for a bit then ...

custard nad sponge?

We are having bannanas and custard tonight.

Ok, custard-eaters, do you ever make baked custard? I've read recipes for making it on the hob, but it looks like too much work and stress. I've tried the Good Housekeeping recipe for baked custard, which is 1 pint of milk, 3 eggs, and two tablespoons of sugar. It made custard alright, but I'd say it was almost savoury! How much sugar should I be using?

My mum used to make baked custard and it isn't too sweet... but you can always add more sugar if that is how you want it!

Maybe I'm really after creme brulee or something. I don't have much of a sweet tooth, but I found it not-sweet. And DS1, who is normally delighted to get crumble or any other not-very-sweet dessert said, today, "Mummy, never make custard again!"

yeah... not really the response you want when you've been busy making stuff!

creme brulee isn't too hard to make either. there's a good cheat one that my mum also used to make which i think is basically fresh fruit topped with cream and yoghurt mixed together, and then the sugary topping.

LonelyMum, I had a go at microwave blancmange, and it worked ok ... only I think I overcooked it. I think I expected it to set when hot, which of course it doesn't, and then it was lumpy. Is that overcooking? (I also had to add more sugar as the cocoa powder was pure no sugar stuff and it was going to be savoury chocolate blancmange, which I didn't think would go down well.)

DS1 wasn't impressed, unfortunately. He finally got some the next day, when it had been cooled. His dad gave it to him, and he thought it was the wrong stuff, so he came to see me in the bedroom where I was feeding DS2, shouting, "Dad's giving me the wrong stuff! It's GREASY!". Strange child.

Yes well perhaps I put two tbsp of sugar in my blancmange! Not sure I wanted to admit that on Mumsnet in my original post as some Mners are so health conscious!

Lumpiness means you didn't mix the powders well enough before cooking. You make a smooth paste with the cocoa, sugar and cornflour and a small amount of milk. Then gradually add the rest of the milk mixing all the time - perhpas use a hand held whisk?

No it doesn't set when hot but when it cools. When it is ready it should be thick like custard but definitely not set.

Sorry ds1 didn't like it. My ds1 doesn't either but the other three can't get enough.

fruit crumbles are a big success in my house - good way of getting fruit into themm and I use a different type of crumble topping which tastes lovely - very slight toffee flavour - use brown flour and porrrige oats, brown sugar and butter... and then add other things as you fancy chopped nuts are nice, muesli or cornflakes are good too.

I like putting ground almonds in the crumble topping.

Thanks for the tip, Lonelymum, you're right, I didn't make the paste that carefully. I was hurrying a bit. I'll do it more slowly next time, or maybe use the hand blender thing.

Oh, I made proper American-style pancakes the other morning, which were a big hit, but made me a bit sluggish ... too much white carb as a meal isn't great. But they would totally work as a dessert, and aren't that much work. They also have quite a bit of egg and milk in them, and can be made with half whole-wheat flour.

Oh, it should be like custard when it's done cooking? And then set when it cools? Or like custard when it cools?

Custard sets when it cools IME. Yes the blancmange sets when it cools, but if I didn't give the right amount of cornflour in my recipe then that wouldn't have worked either. Sorry, I did say my method was about trial and error.

Tried the blancmonge lonelymum and it went down a treat. It set ok and was delicious however I defo put 2 very generous tbsps of sugar in! Not exactly healthy but it tasted good!

Healthy enough for me anchovies - it does contain a pint of milk afterall, so healthy for children. I suppose you could eat it with certain fruits - maybe poached pears or something?