Chocolate Pudding Cups

Ingredients 

 Makes 6 dessert bowls 

 For the Chocolate Pastry Cream Pudding:

 1 cup milk 

2 egg yolks 

2 tbsp corn starch 

¼ cup sugar 

2 tsp salted butter 

½ tsp vanilla essence 

1 slab dark chocolate – broken into small bits (reserve some for topping) 

 Topping :

½ cup whipping cream or spray can of whipped cream 

4 oz dark chocolate - grated 

 Directions 

To make the chocolate pudding: Mix the sugar and corn starch in a small bowl. Whisk in the egg yolks, beating until light in colour. Heat the milk in a saucepan over high heat to bring to a boil, then remove from the heat. Temper the egg yolk mixture with the heated milk. (Slowly pour about half of the milk into the egg mixture while whisking vigorously, then pour back into the milk saucepan, again whisking vigorously). Bring the mixture to a boil, whisking constantly, for 1 minute. Add the bits of chocolate and mix gently till the chocolate is completely melted and the mixture is smooth. Remove from the heat and stir in the butter and vanilla essence. Immediately pour this through the strainer. Let it cool for about 5-7 minutes. 

Beat the whipping cream till stiff peaks form. Keep in the refrigerator for later use. You can also use a ready-made can of whipped cream. Once the chocolate pudding has cooled slightly, pour a large spoon full of pudding into dessert bowls and distribute evenly till all is used up. Keep in refrigerator to cool for a couple of hours. 

Just before serving, top with a dollop of whipped cream and grated chocolate.

Semolina Pie

 

Semolina Pie

“This semolina pie is perfect with an afternoon cup of tea. It represents the simple cooking of Croatia and is one of the traditional recipes from the city of Zagreb.”

Ingredients

For the pastry:

250 g (8.8 oz) all purpose flour

50 g (1.7 oz) sugar

50 g (1.7 oz) butter

2 tablespoons rum

1 tablespoon grated lemon

For the filling:

500 ml (17 oz) milk

4 tablespoons sugar

1 sachet vanilla sugar

40 g (1.4 oz) semolina

2 eggs

For sprinkling:

Powdered or icing sugar

Directions

Mix flour and sugar. Thinly slice butter, add rum and grated lemon and knead the dough. Wrap it up in plastic foil and leave in the fridge for an hour.

Add 2 tablespoons sugar and vanilla sugar to milk and let it boil. Gradually sprinkle semolina flour into the milk and cook for 5 minutes. Let the semolina cool down. Meanwhile separate the egg yolks from the egg whites. Mix the egg yolks with the remaining sugar, beat the egg whites until stiff. Mix the egg yolks with the semolina and gently fold in the beaten egg whites. Divide the cooled dough in two portions. Grate one half of the dough into a greased baking pan (18×30 cm/7×11 in), pour over the stuffing and then grate over it the other half of the dough. Bake in a preheated oven at 180°C (350°F) for 40 minutes.

To serve, sprinkle the cooled pie with powder sugar, cut into rectangular slices and serve with tea.