Berry Custard Flan

It's now a standing joke on family meal night that where possible I like to add toffee sauce to everything. I mean I do make my own sauce and it is very tasty and everyone likes it, I just seem to try and pair it with everything ;)

So once again this dessert was paired with a lovely homemade toffee sauce. The beautiful thing about this dessert is that it looks so pretty and tastes very yummy, but requires very little skill or effort, which is very handy when you've been paying more attention to the main course :)

This is similar to a dessert I've already posted except I changed the cream to custard and chose berries instead of strawberries ....

Ingredients:
1 store bought flan case.
custard - I used birds custard powder and made it thicker than the instructions said but you could be fancy and make your own
your jam of choice
a selection of berries or your favourite seasonal fruit.

Method:
Cook the custard according to the instructions / your recipe.  Remember to make it thicker than usual as it will need to set and hold it's shape. Place in the fridge to set and cool. (roughly and hour).
Spread an even layer of jam on the flan case, this I like to call the moist maker like on friends with the turkey sandwich episode? anyone ? no, ok...
Now spread/pour on the cold custard and return to the fridge to set again, roughly half an hour or so.
Now your flan is ready to decorate s you wish. I used raspberries, blueberries and red currents but you can choose what you like.
Layer them on top of the custard and that is it!

TOFFEE SAUCE.
1 large knob butter
3 tablespoons soft dark brown sugar
1/2 pint double cream.
 Melt the butter in pan, add the sugar, gently stirring, and then add the cream. Do not over cook, but make sure the sugar is dissolved.  I serve my toffee sauce warm so it is runny as it goes thicker is cool.

 It's a little messy to dish up, but I think that was because my custard wasn't quite thick enough, so be careful not to make it too runny..

Lastly Alfred was being a little pain as I was photographing the dessert, cheeky little worm :)

Pudding in a hurry

This dessert is a bit of a cheat, but let's face it who really cares in the end as long as it tastes good!

I was stuck for an idea for a pudding after our Thursday meal night, and nipped to the supermarket to find something to make! I could have bought a fully ready made dessert but then you loose the fun of making it and the glory when everyone devours it, so I bought the flan base and topped it with fruit and whipped cream. I also had a toffee/butterscotch sauce to drizzle on top which made it really yummy.

Ingredients:

1 large flan case

1 tablespoon of lemon curd (or another jam/jelly of your choice)

1 tablespoon of icing sugar

300 ml double cream

1 punnet of raspberries

1/2 punnet of strawberries

a few sprigs of mint

Sauce:

75g butter

78g dark brown sugar

100ml  double cream

Simply unwrap your flan case and place on a serving dish/plate. Spread a generous layer of lemon curd of jam along the top of the flan case. This helps to add more moisture as they can be a little dry, and adds a little tang. Now add the icing sugar to the cream and whip until firm but not over whipped. Spread your cream over the lemon curd layer.  Now chop your strawberries and layer them, along with the raspberries over the cream. I added a few mint leaves for colour, but that's optional! Dust with a little more icing sugar and that is all folks!

If you want a sauce- which I highly recommend, then this goes perfectly!

Melt the butter and sugar in a large pan. Stir gently and once all is melted, pour in the double cream. Mix thoroughly and pour into desired jug. I left the jug on the table so everyone could help themselves, and it was very popular!

It's also really good on ice cream or on its own on a spoon if you have no will power like myself....