There is nothing more refreshing than having a hot meal on a chilly day.
Need new ideas on how to warm up your kitchen and your stomach before winter ends?
Well, take out your pots and pans and put one of these recipes by award-winning television chef and confectionery connoisseur Grace Stevens to the test.
Decadent hot chocolate
Yields: 1
Ingredients
800ml full cream milk
250ml cream
60ml cocoa powder
200g chocolate (chopped)
5ml vanilla extract
Marshmallows (to serve)
Method
In a saucepan, bring the milk and cream to a simmer (small bubbles around the edge of the pot).
Add cocoa, vanilla, and chocolate. Stir until chocolate is melted.
Divide between mugs and top with marshmallows and a sprinkle of extra chocolate.
Pumpkin fritter doughnuts
Ingredients
500g diced raw pumpkin
150ml milk
1 egg yolk
35g soft butter
20g fresh yeast
3 ml salt
650 ml of flour
30ml castor sugar
Oil for frying
Castor sugar and cinnamon to dust
Method
Preheat the oven to 200ºC.
Place pumpkin onto a baking sheet and drizzle with olive oil, and season with a little salt.
Bake for 35 minutes until soft.
Mash the pumpkin with a potato masher and measure off 125ml.
Dissolve yeast in milk, add yolks and stir well.
Combine flour, salt, and pumpkin. Add soft butter.
Pour in the milk mixture and combine all ingredients well.
Knead for about 5 minutes on a floured surface. You may need to add a bit more flour until your dough is combined but not sticky.
Return to a large bowl and cover with a cloth. Allow doubling in size. About 60 minutes.
Knead the dough (knockback) gently to return to its original size. Divide into 16 equal-sized balls.
Shape into ring doughnuts by pushing the index finger through a ball of dough and widening the hole until a ring doughnut is formed. Make an extra-large hole because during frying, it will get smaller.
Place doughnuts onto a floured tray and cover with a cloth. Allow doubling in size.
Fry in hot oil until golden on both sides, flipping over each doughnut to fry on the reverse side. Test to see if the oil is hot enough by putting a little bread in the oil. If it bubbles, the oil is hot enough for the doughnuts.
Drain doughnuts on a kitchen towel before tossing in cinnamon sugar.
These are best eaten shortly after they are fried off. Store them in an airtight container once they are cool. The dough can be made and left to prove in the fridge overnight.
Baked lemon dessert
Yields: 1
Ingredients
50g butter
220g castor sugar
1 zest of lemon
100ml lemon juice
3 eggs, separated
50g flour
250ml milk
Method
Preheat the oven to 180ºC and boil a kettle.
Grease 6 large ramekins or one large dish
Place ramekins in a rectangular cake tin or a casserole dish.
Place butter, lemon zest, and sugar into a food processor and blitz on high until butter is pale.
Add lemon juice, flour, egg yolks, and milk and mix to a smooth batter.
Whisk egg whites till firm. They shouldn’t be stiff.
Fold the mixtures together.
Divide the batter between the ramekins.
Pour hot water into the dish till the water goes about halfway up the sides of the ramekins.
Bake for 45 minutes.
Remove the ramekins from the water and serve warm.
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