EAT DRINK LIVE

ZEST FOR LIFE.

It may seem a little mercenary mentioning the Irish Blog Awards when I haven't offered you so much as a biscuit in over a week but the blog fever has begun and I don't know about you but I could really do with a night out. And after all I did bring a sweet, zingy, lemony dessert.

          

If you think Eat Drink Live deserves a night out in a HOTEL in DUBLIN surrounded by ADULT conversation then click anywhere along here to find out what you need to do to vote. To top it all off I would get to go to a tea party hosted by Sabrina (right up my alley don't you think?) and a brunch hosted by Debs. If there is anything I can do for you in return, anything at all, don't hesitate to call. My number is 555......

LEMONY CHEESECAKE

• 250g ginger-nut biscuits (or digestives)
• 100g butter, melted
• 600g cream cheese
• 100g icing sugar
• 1 large lemon, zested and juiced
• 280ml double cream
• 300g lemon curd ( homemade or shop bought)

1. Line the base of a 9 inch spring-form tin with greaseproof paper. Crush the biscuits in a bag, beating vigorously with a rolling pin. Put the crumbs in a bowl and stir in the melted butter. Press the crushed biscuits into the base of the tin and put in the fridge to set for an hour.
2. Beat the cream cheese and icing sugar together until smooth and soft. Add the finely grated zest and juice of the lemon and beat again to combine. Pour in the cream and beat again until smooth and completely combined.
3. Spread the mixture over the biscuit base and smooth the top with a spatula. Spoon over the lemon curd and smooth this over the top too. Return the cheesecake to the fridge to set overnight.
4. To unmould run a warm knife around the edge of the cheesecake and carefully remove the sides of the tin. Transfer to a plate to serve.

You could squeeze 10 slices out of this if you really must.

I TAWT I TAW A PUTTY TAT!

I did I did taw a putty tat. But if you're a Daring Baker looking for a festive Yule Log I'm afraid the cat ate my homework. Many a baked-good intention has been made and quickly put aside this year and our challenge this month is the latest to fall. I'm at 1000 muffins/brownies/cupcakes and counting this week with two of the busiest days of the year still to come. So humble apologies along with Christmas wishes to everyone and just make your way to the Daring Baker blogroll on the right for oodles of festive cheer.

My daughter and I did squeeze in a hour or so of covering the kitchen in chocolate trying to recreate the cat in these cat and dog truffles we spotted a few weeks ago. Master chocolatiers we are not and only one was suitable for photographing, all the others got into a cat fight and are nursing lopsided ears and bent tails. And half of the truffle mixture was unceremoniously dumped in icing sugar and left at that. Not that we're complaining as half the fun was in the licking of fingers cleaning up that had to be done afterwards.

I'm going to try and do a quick post on Christmas Eve, but to all of you unlikely to be visiting then, have a wonderful Christmas full of family, friends and good food.

Now where's that mean ol' putty tat?

Recipe to follow later this evening.

THE ICE CREAM ON THE CAKE.

Could I interest you in a little stress-relieving rolling pin bashing this weekend? This is my second trial run of the Ice Cream Cake that featured on Nigella Express a few weeks ago. The recipe is not on the website and I don't have the book, but it's pretty easy to replicate after watching Nigella shamelessly flirting with it. All you need is a big tub of vanilla ice cream and the desire to assault a variety of biscuits and treats with a large blunt object. Beat them all together (will the carnage never end) and freeze until ready to devour.

Val and her lovely boys helped to hoover up the first attempt and this one is an excuse to use the chocolate and peanut butter chips that came all the way from the US only to be mangled in an electric mixer. The end result is worth all the violence and this is definitely coming to my mum's house for Christmas to top up the banoffi pie and trifle that are absolute necessities. It can be made anytime from now on and hidden away until needed. Some of the ingredients may be hard to find depending on where you live ( I got the choc/peanut butter chips on eBay). Though Nigella defies anyone to improve on her combination, a trip to your local shop and a selection of whatever are your favourite treats will make the cake your own. I added Maltesers and I stand by them, but that's my own humble opinion. Despite it's simplicity it makes a decadent dessert made even more special when served with a butterscotch sauce or Kieran's hot fudge sauce which you can see below (yes the plate does match the cake stand, I am that sad).

The ice cream is beginning to melt so I had better dispose of the evidence. This food blogging is a dirty job...

Slightly bashed version of Nigella's recipe from Nigella Express.

ICE CREAM CAKE

• 1.5 litres of vanilla ice cream
• 150g bourbon creams
• 40g Crunchie bar
• 100g honey roasted peanuts
• 100g chocolate and peanut butter swirl chips (or plain choc chips or choped up bar of chocolate)
• 50g Maltesers (optional)

1. Take the ice cream out of the freezer to soften slightly. Line an deep 8 inch cake tin with cling film. You may need to overlap two sheets and don't worry about smoothing it too much, the swirly ridges left behind are rather pretty. Crush the biscuits in a bag until you have small rubbly pieces and slightly larger chunks. Give the Crunchie and Maltesers a good bashing inside their wrappers and chop the peanuts roughly (or whack them with the rolling pin too.)
2. Put the ice cream in the bowl of an electric mixer with a paddle attachment or in a large bowl with a wooden spoon to hand.. Beat the ice cream in the mixer on a low speed for a minute until smooth and soft. Hold back a little of each of the rest of the ingredients to decorate the top of the cake when ready to serve, then pour the rest into the bowl and beat them into the ice cream on a low speed until thoroughly incorporated. Don't overbeat. If using a bowl and wooden spoon just follow the same directions.
3. Pour the mixture into the lined tin and cover with another sheet of cling film. Freeze for at least a few hours until solid. Remove from the freezer about twenty minutes before serving then remove from the tin and unwrap the cling film. Transfer to a cake stand or large plate and sprinkle over the leftover rubble. Serve with butterscotch sauce or hot fudge sauce.

Serves me.

A ROAD WELL TRAVELLED.

The edible gifts continue on a well worn and rocky road. My daughter's Christmas fair was on yesterday after weeks of much anticipation. I remember when I was at school that our fair came second in the excitement scale only to Christmas day itself. Rooms full of treasure, books and grubby raffle tickets that held the key to the giant teddy bear that would make my life complete. Sadly, I've never won anything in a raffle and adult sized rose-tinted glasses have taken the glitter from a roomful of other peoples efforts at de-cluttering.

No such reality problems for my little one, she was very proud of her rocky roads, wrapped in cellophane and sporting sparkly ribbon as they sat on the table with the gingerbread trees and clothes-peg angels. My mum and sister helped to make sure they were a sell-out and she spent the afternoon spending her earnings on everything that caught her eye (€5 goes a long way in a 7 year olds hands when her aunt and grandmother are subsidising her on the sly. I sense some payback from my mum who had to find space for 8 years worth of tat.) Whether you have kids needing to earn some cash or not this is the perfect no-cook recipe for your inner chocoholic if you have 5 minutes to spare and the willpower to resist nibbling for a couple of hours.

Now that the countdown has begun in earnest and our Christmas spirit is at the "I love everyone" level be warned that though I won't have much time to post here it will all be cinnamon spiced, cranberry coloured gushings from now on. 

Barely adapted from How to be a Domestic Goddess.

ROCKY ROAD

• 400g milk chocolate
• 75g 70% cocoa dark choclate
• 150g mini marshmallows (or large ones snipped up with a scissors)
• 150g brazil nuts

1. Line a 9 inch (or similar size) tray with baking parchment. Melt chocolates in a large bowl in the microwave or over a saucepan of simmering water and set aside to cool slightly. Roughly chop the brazil nuts and cut up the marshmallows if using big ones. Stir nuts and marshmallows into the chocolate making sure everything is thoroughly coated in chocolate. Pour everything into the lined tray and put somewhere cool to set. Don't put in the fridge if possible as the chocolate will become dul in the fridge.
2. When set cut up into fairly small pieces and wrap in squares of cellophane (I begged mine from a florist) and tie on a jaunty festive ribbon.

Makes approx. 30 squares.

ANYONE FOR TENNIS?

Every year at this time little tables appear at the sides of the major roads around Ireland. Behind these tables sit the sullen figures of teenagers hunched over their mobile phones, thumbs flying over the keypads in an attempt to alleviate their boredom. Very occasionally one will be reading a book. In front of these tables are signs which read "Strawberries". The first sighting of these signs (and their unhappy guardians) are what pinpoint the beginning of the summer for me, grey skies notwithstanding.

The strawberries are invariably from Wexford and are considered to be some of the best in the country in season, with a festival held in their honour every year. It is the extra few hours of sunshine they get down there in the sunny south-east that makes for plump, deep-red, juicy berries that scream summer, so I braved the carpel-tunnel syndrome vendor and claimed my generous basket of fruit. By the time I got home I had enough left for this strawberry tart from the June chapter of Nigel Slater's Kitchen Diaries. My good friend Lorraine @ Italian Foodies makes the same tart but I've never gotten a slice so I just had to try it for myself. Sigh...  The simple biscuit shell is based on the premise that it should be too hot in your kitchen to go to the trouble of making pastry. I was just too bloody lazy and wanted to have something ready and in my greedy hands before that other bastion of summer Wimbledon begins. The first round of the mens singles starts at 1 o'clock and one should really have some form of strawberries and cream nearby, to celebrate talented boys running around in white shorts. It's tradition.

My little one demands credit, and all subsequent royalties, for the beautiful picture above as she was the one who took it. (I swear there is no blogging child labour camp in my house.)

This recipe is taken from Nigel Slater's Kitchen Diaries

Body and kitchen climate willing, try this wonderful step-by-step recipe for a crisp buttery pate sucrée from the queen of fruit tarts (sorry Tamami it just slipped out!)

STRAWBERRY & MASCARPONE TART

• 1 large egg
• 1 tbls caster sugar
• 250g mascarpone cheese
• couple of drops of vanilla extract
• 250g, strawberries, hulled and thinly sliced
• 250g almond, orange or sweet oat biscuits ( I used 200g shortbread biscuits, 50g digestive biscuits (graham crackers) and the finely chopped zest of half a medium orange)
• 75g butter, melted

1. Nigel used a 34 x 12cm rectangular tin, I used a 24cm (9inch) shallow tart tin. I had a little biscuit mixture left over but the filling was the perfect amount. Crush the biscuits to a coarse powder in a food processor, or therapeutically in plastic bag bashed by a rolling pin.Thoroughly mix the butter into the crumbs and press the mixture into the base of the tin and up the sides. Be firm but don't compact them too hard you want it too crumble a little once cut.
2. To make the filling, Separate the egg, put the yolk in a bowl with the sugar and beat for a few seconds until blended. Beat in the mascarpone until you have a custard-coloured cream. Stir in a little vanilla extract. With a clean whisk, beat the egg white until it stands stiff, then fold into the mascarpone mixture.
3. Spoon the mascarpone into the biscuit crust, spreading it smoothly right out to the edges. Arrange the sliced strawberries, as artistically as you please, on top of the mascarpone. Chill in the fridge but remove 20 minutes before serving to allow the full flavour to develop.

Serves 6-8 (according to Nigel, I beg to differ.)

AZTEC GOLD

                         

Another chocolate recipe? Well, if I must...! Despite the title, and the archaeologist within me struggling to assert herself, this is not going to be an history lesson on the origins of chocolate, though Wikipedia will give you a nicely condensed background should you choose to wander over there. The mood uplifting properties are well known, it's affinity with many other flavours, coffee, chili, orange, strawberries, need to be explored and yet, for those of us who have a deeply profound relationship with the stuff, the only questions that we need the answers to are: where? and when?

Despite my attempts at a cunning disguise I don't think I'm fooling anyone with my chocolate "muffin". It is of course an ice cream, or a sorbet to be precise. Inspired by the "Aztec" hot  chocolate served in Murphy's in Dingle and fuelled by a new book purchase, this chocolate sorbet has a warm spiciness that you don't sense until it melts down your throat, adding heat to the icy chill and damn is it chocolaty. Originally called Like Water for Chocolate (this book is on my must read list but I've never seen the film) it breaks the supposedly cardinal rule of not mixing chocolate with water, but as we all know rules were meant to be broken, especially when the result tastes like this. After following this recipe I visited Ice Cream Ireland and sure enough Kieran had a chocolate sorbet recipe from last year. His one contains cocoa as well as chocolate and demands a trial run.

For those without an ice cream maker, there is a freezer method which in the end I had to use as impatience got the better of me and I didn't leave mine to cool for long enough so it didn't freeze in my ice cream machine. This method does involve a food processor though. The cinnamon and cayenne are my way to add a little Aztec gold to the lily.

Oh dear look, my muffin is melting, I need to do a little deconstructive surgery...

This recipe is adapted from Sweet Alternative by Ariana Bundy (I'll be coming back to this book in the not too distant future)

CHOCOLATE SORBET

• 450ml filtered or mineral water
• 225g best quality dark chocolate, chopped
• 150-175g golden caster sugar, regular caster sugar can be used also
• cinnamon stick, cayenne pepper to taste (optional)

1. Heat the water with the chocolate and sugar until boiling. Remove from the heat and drop in a cinnamon stick and a couple of pinches of cayenne pepper. Leave to cool completely before removing the cinnamon stick and churning in an ice cream machine. If you don't have an ice cream maker, freeze the mixture for a few hours until hard, then cut it up into chunks and whizz in a food processor until smooth. Then refreeze for another hour.
2. I scooped mine into silicone muffin moulds and froze for an hour before unmoulding and pouring over chocolate sauce. You should get six "muffins" from this recipe, just serving scoops I reckon you could serve four.

Serves 4-6

NIGEL'S CHOCOLATE SAUCE

• 90g chocolate
• 25g butter
• 25g caster sugar
• 1 tbls golden syrup
• 100ml milk

1. Melt the chocolate with the butter in a bowl over barely simmering water. When melted, add the sugar and golden syrup and stir until dissolved. Now add the milk and continue stirring regularly until the sauce begins to thicken. Set it aside to cool until you are ready to use it. Any extra sauce can be stored in the fridge for several days until you think of something else to do with it.

In keeping with this recipe's cunning disguise I'm going to send it incognito over to Muffin Monday 03 which has a spicy theme. Hopefully it will be able to maintain it's cover.

DOUBLE TAKE

                        

A flying visit today as I have to run out the door to pick up my little one. She's been rebelling against my addiction to the computer, (particularly if she does not play a starring role) so blogging is confined to school hours and post-bedtime. As this is also baking time, a battle of wills often occurs. While I worship the countertop my Kenwood stands on there are times when (yes even I) cannot summon the will to bake and would rather take refuge in rambling on about it instead.

However, no baking required here, this is an old fashioned double-chocolate cheesecake I found in an old collection of dessert recipes. I no longer have the book and the mildly adapted recipe now resides somewhere in the tangle of my brain, so apologies for any plagiarism. As I said it is an old-fashioned, refrigerated cheesecake, no baking, no mascarpones or ricottas, just full-fat cream cheese, cream, two kinds of chocolate, full-fat milk, sugar, butter and biscuits... all in one place. Serve this with a generous drizzle of raspberry coulis and it should count as one of your five-a-day.

Oops got to run, duty calls, will post the recipe later...

... now that the petite dictator is in bed...

DOUBLE CHOCOLATE CHEESECAKE

• 400g cream cheese, room temperature
• 100g caster sugar
• 120ml milk, room temperature
• 125g dark chocolate 60-70% cocoa solids, melted and cooled slightly
• 75g good quality white chocolate, melted and cooled slightly
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 250ml cream (double or single)
• 1 tbsp gelatine
• 60ml cold water

For the base:

• 200g digestive biscuits (my American bakers-in-arms can use graham crackers)
• 100g butter, melted
• 1 tbls cocoa powder

1. It is important to take the cream cheese and the milk out of the fridge about an hour before you need them or the chocolate will re-solidify when you add it to the cream cheese mixture, resulting in chocolate chips. Not without it's own charm, but what you are looking for here is silky smoothness. Make the base by either whizzing the biscuits in a food processor, or therapy style by putting them in a bag and beating them with a rolling pin. Stir in the cocoa, then add the melted butter and stir again. Press the biscuit mixture into the base of a 9 inch spring-form tin. Refrigerate for at least 20 minutes.
2. Put the water in a small bowl and sprinkle over the gelatine ( I have also used agar-agar flakes but I didn't keep notes so I wouldn't be confident in giving an accurate measurement). Put the small bowl into a saucepan of hot water (not boiling, I usually boil the kettle before I start anything else and then pour this water into a saucepan). When the gelatine becomes spongy stir into the water. Stir regularly until completely dissolved and the liquid is clear, set aside to cool slightly.
3. Meanwhile beat the cream cheese in the bowl of a stand mixer until smooth or use an electric hand-whisk and a large bowl. Add the sugar and beat again. Lower the speed of your mixer and gradually add the milk along with the vanilla. Continue beating until smooth again, scraping down the sides if necessary. To be honest, I reckon all you need is a bowl and a wooden spoon but I don't like to make my mixer feel left out.
4. Whip the cream in another bowl, until it forms soft-peaks. Put a third of the cream cheese mixture into a smaller bowl, don't worry about being precise just do it by eye. Stir in the melted white chocolate until combined and then stir a third of the gelatine. Fold in a third of the softly whipped cream with a spatula. This is the top layer for the cheesecake.
5. Repeat the process using the remaining cream cheese mix, the dark chocolate, gelatine and whipped cream. Pour the dark chocolate mixture onto the biscuit base retaining a couple of tablespoons to swirl on top. Carefully pour the white chocolate mix on top and spread out with a spatula. Drizzle the extra dark chocolate across the top and swirl with a skewer or cake tester taking care to only swirl into the top layer. Refrigerate for at least four hours but I think it benefits from an overnight chilling, making it the perfect prepare ahead dessert. Which is good because now you have to wash all those bowls.

Serves 8 if you don't invite me to dinner.

LAST OF THE LEMON CURD....FOR NOW

                         

My Daring Baker friends might want to avert their eyes right now because I'm revisiting Crepe-gate, although only briefly and on a very small scale. From the moment we were given the original recipe of the chocolate crepe cake I had wanted to try a lemon version. Pancake Day in our house was always about the lemon and sugar and although Nutella has since raised its chocolatey head, even my little one is sometimes torn between the two. Besides, I still had a little lemon curd left over.

I had a basic idea of how I wanted to do it, plain crepes and a white chocolate ganache to cover, but I couldn't decide how exactly to fill them. Not wanting to just use the lemon curd neat, but also not much in the mood for making a custard based lemon cream, this is supposed to be a pared down version, I had to wait for laziness to inspire me. Delicious magazine had what I needed (you may have noticed I have used it once or twice before) with this simple Lemon curd and ginger fool which I made even simpler by omitting the ginger. Beating a little mascarpone with some icing sugar, then folding in some barely whipped cream and finally stirring in the lemon curd, but only just. I can cope with that.

I think shop-bought crepes would be fine to use in this recipe as the the layers soften when left to sit in the fridge, and no fingers will be harmed in the process. To be honest the only reason I made my own is because I was making them for the little one anyway. Make the petals the day before to get yourself started. It's not hard to assemble the cakes as their mini stature makes them easier to handle than the large cake, and less likely to take a trip south while your back is turned. The assembly itself is a little time consuming, but in a methodical way so you can let your mind wander in whatever direction you may choose.

Me, I'm quite tired after all that, I could do with a sit down and a little bite.

P.S. Since posting this earlier I found two links which may be of interest, one is by fellow Daring Baker Lis at La Mia Cucina compiling all the original darkest crepe cakes in one place. Then I found this mille crepe gateau on the delectable Dean and Deluca website. At a whopping $100 for a puny 20 layers I think I may be selling myself short. Cheques can be sent in the mail... thanks.

MINI WHITE CHOCOLATE CREPE CAKES

For the crepes: follow the recipe from Pancake Tuesday or even use shop-bought crepes. 

For the filling:

• 75g mascarpone
• 4 tbsp icing sugar
• 250ml double cream, lightly whipped
• 8 tbsp lemon curd (shop-bought or home-made)
• few drops of vanilla

For the ganache:

• 250g good quality white chocolate, finely chopped
• 125ml double cream
• about 1 tbsp unsalted butter, melted, optional

For the chocolate petals:

• 85g white chocolate, melted
• 1 tsp lemon zest, finely chopped
• fresh raspberries, to garnish

1. Make the petals first because they need to set. Place a long sheet of tin foil on a flat work surface. Melt the chocolate in a microwave or in a bowl over a pan of simmering water. Stir in the lemon zest and continue to stir until smooth.
2. Dip the back of a tablespoon, or teaspoon depending on what size petals you want, into the chocolate and smear it gently onto the foil, moving the spoon towards you. Allow the petals to set until firm then slip the blade of a small metal spatula under each petal to release it from the foil.
3. Remove and place in an airtight container up to 3 days.
4. Make the filling by beating the mascarpone and icing sugar until smooth. Lightly fold in the whipped cream then stir through the lemon curd with a fork so that you can still see streaks of lemon curd.
5. To get six, three inch diameter, six layer cakes you'll need 9 or 10  eight inch crepes. Cut 3 inch rounds out of your crepes and layer with about a tablespoon of filling. Use six layers for each mini-cake and continue layering crepes and filling until you have 6 cakes. Assemble them on a large plate and put in the fridge to set, while you make the ganache.
6. Make the ganache by placing the chopped chocolate in a medium bowl, then heating the cream until it has just boiled. If the cream gets a skin on top, pour it through a strainer over the chocolate in the bowl. Stir the chocolate until smooth. Adding melted butter will create a higher sheen to the icing, but it is not essential.
7. Remove the cakes from the fridge and gently transfer to a wire rack placed over a baking tray, using a spatula. Pour over the ganache to coat, scooping up the excess ganache with the spatula to spread over any patches that didn't get covered. While the icing is still wet place the petals around the top, slightly overlapping to make what should, hopefully, look like flowers. Place a fresh raspberry in the middle to finish it all off. Then refrigerate again until set. Dust with icing sugar and serve with extra raspberries. Just a note on the petals, I didn't temper the white chocolate so it did develop a slight bloom of white streaks, so next time I might exert myself enough to temper it, though the icing sugar did disguise the streaks in this case!

Makes 6, 3 inch cakes.

MARS ATTACK!

                         

I'm taking part in my first ever bogging event and I'm cutting it fine with the deadline, which is today. The event is called Hay Hay Donna Day (inspired by the antipodean food queen Donna Hay) and it takes place every month, this being the 11th installment. Each month a different theme is chosen, last month it was cheesecake this month it's mousse, hosted by Helene at Tartlette. I wanted to try something a little fancier, but as I was running out of time and someone's got to eat what I post about I went for this Mars bar mousse, which, happily, is a favourite in my house.

Milder in flavour than a typical bittersweet chocolate mousse, they are rich and fudgey and popular with children. I found the recipe in a chocolate supplement that came with Good Food magazine a couple of years ago. Make them posh for a party by using white china cups and sprinkling with chocolate shavings, or go large for a family get together by sizing up the recipe, piling it into a big bowl, mounding it with whipped cream and scattering over some more chopped Mars bars. I defy anyone not to be enticed.

I know that chocolate has featured here a lot lately but I'll have to beg for your forbearance a little while longer, as I'm taking part in another two events, both of which are chocolate inspired. I came across a quote recently by the chocolate loving American cartoonist John Q Tullius that said "Nine out of ten people love chocolate. The tenth person always lies." So deep down you know you want it.

If you are unhappy using raw egg whites (most recipes advise that pregnant women, the elderly, babies and toddlers should avoid raw eggs) try these simple milk & white chocolate moose.

MARS BAR MOUSSE

• 260g Mars bars, chopped into pieces
• 50ml milk
• 4 tbsp good quality cocoa powder
• 3 egg whites
• few drops of vanilla
• chocolate shavings, to decorate

1. Put the milk and cocoa powder on a heavy-based saucepan and stir with a small whisk to get rid of any lumps. Add the chopped Mars bars and place over a very gentle heat, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon, until almost melted. There will probably still be some lumps of fudge. Transfer to a bowl and leave to cool for fifteen minutes, whisking frequently to blend in any pieces of fudge that rise to the surface, leaving a smooth mixture.
2. Meanwhile, whisk the egg whites in a separate bowl until softly peaking. Using a large metal spoon, stir in a quarter of the egg whites to lighten the mixture, then gently fold in the remainder.
3. Pour the mixture into six small cups, glasses or ramekins, then chill in the fridge to set, for at least 2 hours, before serving. Grab a large piece of chocolate and use a swivel blade vegetable peeler to make chocolate shavings to sprinkle on top (I just hold the chocolate over the cups and shave away.)

Serves 6, depending on the size of your cups.

HOLY CREPE!

Before I get started here I feel I owe my mother an apology. It's only when we have our own kids that we realise how oblivious they are to almost everything we do for them. Pancake Tuesday in our house with six children was mayhem and when I had a pancake party last year I realised that those who maketh the pancakes do not eateth the pancakes. So sorry mom we were too engrossed in how many pancakes we were going to be able to claim we ate (grossly exaggerated of course) at school the next day, to notice that you didn't get any!

In those olden days we had ours with the classic sugar and squeezy lemon shaped bottle of Jif juice (it's sharing it's name with a well known household cleaner did not daunt us) but today my little one likes nutella.I'm attempting to be fancy schmancy by having mine with butterscotch sauce and vanilla ice-cream, replicating a dessert I used to have in a favourite restaraunt, The Green Onion ,a (very) long time ago in it's original location on Ellen Street in Limerick.

The butterscotch sauce is simple, the crepe batter even simpler and the vanilla ice-cream bought. If you have time do let the batter rest then stir in the butter when you're ready.It forms little beads in the batter that give you that lacy filigree you only get from an ultra-thin crepe. To flip or not to flip; you decide, what you put on it; the choice is yours. Me, I have to run, I volunteered to help make pancakes with my daughter's class at school, 24 six year olds, 2 litres of batter and 1 frying pan. I wonder if I've thought this through?

CREPE BATTER

• 30g unsalted butter, melted, plus a little more for frying
• 150g plain flour
• 325ml milk
• 1 egg
• pinch of salt

BUTTERSCOTCH SAUCE

• 50g unsalted butter
• 3 tbls light brown sugar
• 2 tbls white sugar
• 150g golden syrup
• 125ml double cream (although I used single cream because that's all I had to hand)

1. For the butterscotch sauce simply put the butter, sugars and syrup in a small pan, bring to the boil over a medium heat and let bubble for a few minutes, then add the cream, stir and give another minute's bubbling. Set aside. You may not use all the sauce, but it will keep in the fridge for a couple of days to be poured over the rest of that ice-cream, it would be a shame to let it go to waste.
2. For the crepes melt the butter and let cool a little. Put the flour (you probably should sieve it), milk and egg into a blender and whiz until combined. Pour into a jug, leave to sit for half an hour, if you can and stir in the butter when you are ready to go. If your doing it by hand, just pour the flour into a bowl, whisk in the egg and milk and pour into a jug as before.
3. Heat your pan over a medium heat, melt a little butter in it and wipe most of it off again with a kitchen towel. Pour 2 or 3 tablespoons of batter into the pan and swirl it to form as thin a pancake as you can. It will cook quckly so when it's just golden underneath, flip it and cook for about 30 seconds on the other side. If you don't have a mouth at the ready to devour them, layer between sheets of greaseproof paper and keep warm in a low oven. Don't leave them too long or you'll end up with crispy pancakes!
4. Serve folded into a triangle with a scoop of vanilla ice-cream and pour over the warm butterscotch sauce. Dig in as rivers of cream and caramel surround your crepe.

Crepe recipe is enough to make 6 x 20cm crepes.