Can anyone recommend a dip?

Ingredients:

* 1 x pot of yogurt (1/2 cup or 125 g)
* 2 x yogurt pots of sugar
* 2 x eggs
* Grated zest of 1 lemon
* 3 x yogurt pots of flour
* 1-1/2 teaspoons baking powder
* 3/4 yogurt pot of neutral-tasting oil or melted butter

Syrup

* 1 cup of orange or lemon juice
* Sugar to taste

Directions:

1. Heat the oven to 350ºF/180ºC. Beat the yogurt and the sugar together in a bowl. Beat in the eggs and lemon zest. Sift the flour with the baking powder and beat in. Finally, add the melted butter (or oil, although it doesn't taste quite as nice) and beat the whole mixture well. Pour into non-stick muffin tins or a greased and floured loaf pan. Bake until a toothpick comes out clean, approx. 25 minutes.

Note: recipe makes 12 muffin-sized cakes (use the big muffin pans as the batter will overflow) or 1 loaf.

Syrup

1. Heat orange or lemon juice with sugar, to taste, and cook until the sugar has dissolved, 3 to 5 minutes. Prick the tops of the cakes with a fork, and spoon the syrup over so it sinks into the cakes.

I tried this recipe on Sunday and hubby loved it!

A non alcholic cocktail. Mix the following into a large jug and stir thoroughly:

If you want it alcoholic then add some white rum (quantity to your own desire!).

Ingredients

3 large baking potatoes, scrubbed
1 large egg (if mixture is too dry, use another egg)
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground white pepper
Pinch of freshly grated nutmeg
1/4 cup freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano
2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour, or as needed

Instructions

1. Boil potatoes in their skins. Drain and allow to stand until cool enough to handle. Scrape skin from potato with paring knife. Press them through a potato ricer. Spread the riced potatoes into a thin, even layer on the work surface and allow to cool completely.

2. In a small bowl, beat together the egg, salt, pepper and nutmeg. gather cold potatoes into a mound and form a well in the center. Pour egg mixture into the potato well. Knead the potato and egg mixture together with both hands, gradually adding the grated cheese and enough of the flour, about 1 1/2 cups, to form a smooth but slightly sticky dough. It should take no longer than 3 minutes to work the flour into the potato mixture; remember, the longer the dough is kneaded, the more flour it will require, and the heavier it will become. As you knead, repeatedly rub dough from hands and scrape it from the work surface back into the dough.

3. On a flour-dusted surface, dust dough and cut it into 6 equal pieces. Form dough into a rope. Slice rope into 1/2-inch thick rounds. Set on a baking sheet lined with a floured kitchen towel. Repeat with remaining dough. At this point, gnocchi must be cooked immediately or frozen.

4. To cook gnocchi, drop into salted boiling water. Cook, stirring gently until tender, about 1 minute after they rise to the surface of the pot.

I served this gnocchi with a homemade red sauce. Was simply divine. Enjoy!

Welsh Cakes
(Makes about 10)

8oz flour
½ level tsp baking powder
Pinch salt
3oz butter
3oz sugar
2oz sultanas
½ level tsp mixed spice
1 beaten egg
Milk to mix

1.Sieve flour, baking powder and salt together in bowl
2.Rub in butter, sugar and remaining dry ingredients
3.Stir in egg and add enough milk to make a firm dough
4.Roll out into ¼- ½ in thick
5.Cut into 3” rounds
6.Cook in a heavy buttered frying pan for about 10 mins turning when underside is brown
7.Serve warm with butter*

*I usually leave mine to cool slightly before sprinkling with a little sugar.

These are still warm (honest!) - off to make a pot of tea!

Name another dish best served cold.

The mother in law of one of my co-workers makes these for him to bring for potlucks at work. They are spectacular. Clearly you vary the ingredients. This recipie makes about 100 per the cook.

1.5 lbs of ground pork
4 bags of dole cole slaw
4 groups of vermicelli noodles ( comes with 5 groups of noodles in one bag or about 12oz of noodles )
Sliced onion ( as much as you want to use )
3 eggs
Salt
Pepper
1 tsp of MSG ***I would leave this out as MSG and I have our issues
2 pkgs of thin egg roll wraps

Combine all ingredients in to large mixing bowl. Mix thoroughly with hands. Place spoonful of mix in wrap and roll diagonally. Use a brush of raw egg too hold wrap in place. Deep fry until golden.

Now I guess not everyone can claim to have a dessert named after them - unless you're called Pavlova.

This was a recipe given to me by my mum.

Ingredients

1 packet of Ginger Nuts (or fingers)
Sherry
Double Cream
1 tin Mandarin Oranges
Pouring Cream (optional extra)

Method

Whip the double cream until it makes soft peaks. Dip the biscuits in the sherry one at a time and sandwich them together with the whipped cream. Keep repeating this until you have used all the biscuits and have a long roll or oblong (if you've used the fingers) on your serving dish. Cover the "cake" with whipped cream (as you would a yule log) and decorate with the drained mandarin oranges.

Put in the refrigerator until time to serve - with pouring cream.

Having soaked up the sherry, the ginger biscuits take up a Tiramisu type consistency and are barely recognisable. The dessert is wickedly sinful - that's not how it came to be named after me I hasten to add!

So how did it come to be called "Alaska Marian"?

Many years ago I made this dessert and took it into work (probably on a birthday as you do!) We didn't manage to eat it all and a young YTS asked if she could take some home for her mum. Her mum enjoyed it so much and asked what it was called. She said "I'll ask Marian" her mum misunderstood and thought she said "Alaska Marian"

So there you have it! Enjoy

I made these last night and they are totally cute and also v tasty...
They were in a book under 'wholesome cookies' but I think you'd be deluding yourself if you thought that they were healthy...
I guess they don't have any butter in - perhaps that's why...
Anyway - recipe as follows:

5oz macademia nuts
3tbsps milk (I used semi skimmed, but full fat might be better)
5oz demerara sugar (plus more to decorate)
1 egg
Vanilla essence
5 oz plain flour
Nutmeg
Salt
Bicarb

- Squish up nuts and milk until they are smooth(a bit like marzipan) - I did this by hand, but would be much easier in a food processor.

- Beat nut mix together with egg, vanilla and sugar.

- Add flour, pinch of salt, some nutmeg and about a tsp of bicarb and mix.

- Form mixture into little balls and roll in extra sugar - put on baking sheet and press down a bit.

- Bake for about 10 mins at a good baking temperature - I think this would be gas mark 4 - I usually use about 175 in my fan oven.

- Stuff them all in your mouth at once, preferably whilst making appropriate nomming noises.

Should have taken some tasteful pictures.
I didn't follow the final step exactly to the letter, so it may be possible still to do this when I get home tonight...

What is the worst thing to stuff olives with?