On a warm spring evening, about 20 young adults were involved in a progressive dinner! Entree began at Clara, Laura and Ruth's place (bruscetta and Zarta), then to Megan's for home made lasagne (which was delicious thanks Megan for bringing me some). Then the friends began arriving at mine for dessert, they were full and tired but thankfully they still ate (there was lots of food). So before I show you the menu, I would like to thank Mum for cutting up the strawberries and whipping the cream, offering people tea when I was too exhausted and helping with various things, thank you to Elise and Natalie who helped with coating the fritters in cinnamon and sugar, and thanks to everyone for coming, eating and being awesome!
So I wanted to make something that people could nibble while they sat around. I found these sugar and cinnamon fritters in Donna Hay's season cookbook. They were soooooooo easy to make and really nice, especially when hot. The only challenge was to keep the oil at the right temperature. If only we had a gas stove! They tasted quite similar to donuts, although maybe the texture was a little more dense. Donuts can tend to be very oily and make you feel like a fatty and thankfully these were not like that at all!
So for dessert they were two main components I guess, not including fruit, cream and ice cream. So I though the safe option would be to make something with fruit for the healthy nuts and then something with chocolate (you cant go wrong with chocolate). So I made a mixed berry clafoutis also from Donna Hay's seasons cookbook. Everyone who had a piece really liked it, although personally I was dissapointed. When discussing it with Natalie, I came to the conclusion that it was the custardy eggyness of it that I didn't like. It was like a custard berry tart I guess, and seeing as I had no idea what a clafoutis was I am not surprised it came out different to what I expected. I think I am more of a fan of mixed berry tarts with shortcrust pastry, something with a little crunch and less soggy. At least it looks pretty...
Finally, the star of the show: dark chocolate and coffee puddings (although the coffee flavour was rather subtle). A Jamie Oliver recipe..
These were flippin amazing! Ruth, who is dairy intolerant even had one and we wrote a song about it. It was a rendition of U2's 'With or Without you' about how Ruth can't live with chocolate or without it. She felt a little sick after but said it was totally worth every mouthful! What a darl!
These were really good and even better the next day! They weren't too overly sweet as the dark chocolate and coffee made them a little bitter. Which meant you could eat more of them which is a bonus. It was a long process to make them though and seeing as I was making a double batch it took longer. I had to freeze ice cubes the previously day of melted chocolate and coffee which were placed inside the mixture being baked. There was three components to the mixture made in separate bowls and combined at the very end. We used cups to bake them in, although ramekins would be great also (need to buy some of them). We only had 6 cups so Mum and I were searching for any oven proof small bowls to use, therefore there was chocolate puddings of all shapes and sizes. Once cooked you can either eat them in the cups of turn them upside down onto a plate and cut them open to let the chocolate and coffee ooze out!
Overall a success of an evening. I am blessed with lovely friends and company! Thank you to all my friends for being in my life and eating my cooking, even when its scary (e.g when Elise found a cockroach in a brussel sprout I cooked: I have come a long way since then don't worry!).
Thank you for singing and laughter and spring fun! xoxo
