Weekend cooking: raspberry ripple icecream

The weekend's a time when I sometimes get the opportunity to cook something different or fun, a change from the quick and easy routine of weeknights. Come and see what I've been up to this weekend...


One of the times I feel challenged by my big girl's food allergies are when I need to prepare a special dessert, and I never want to leave her out. So many desserts include egg in the list of ingredients, including many of my favourites: tarts, pavlova, mousse, cakes and puddings.

Some lovely friends came to visit last night and cooked us dinner. What a treat! We had delicious spring rolls, noodles and traditional Vietnamese pancakes with fresh herbs and a vast array of fillings including tofu for me and pork and prawns for everyone else. It was all amazing and a very enjoyable experience. Thank you L & D x



For dessert I wanted to make a fruit tart and when I was researching what I could use instead of the usual creme patissiere I stumbled upon a recipe for a delicious looking icecream that didn't use eggs. It also looked easy and didn't require the use of an icecream machine. I thought it might be nice to make this as well in case the tart didn't work out, and knew it would probably be a winner with the kids. The ingredients are quite decadent and it's certainly a special occasion dish. It's quite rich and sweet so you can only eat a little (though I did push it and have a second serve, narrowly avoiding feeling sick ;-) It's lucky that I did make it as the tart was kind of OK but not great, whereas everyone enjoyed this one and it's all gone now, always a good sign! Here's the recipe in case you'd like to try it.

This recipe is adapted from the one I found in Australian Good Food magazine.

Easy egg-free raspberry ripple icecream

300g frozen raspberries*
80ml apple juice
150g caster sugar

1 1/2 cups thickened cream
300g (about 3/4 can) sweetened condensed milk
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Place the raspberries and juice in a small saucepan on medium heat. Bring to a simmer. Cook for 5 mins, until raspberries soften. Add caster sugar and stir until sugar dissolves. Increase to high heat and bring to boil. Reduce heat to a medium-low and simmer for 5-6mins, until syrup thickens slightly. Remove from heat and cool completely.

Strain berry mix through a fine sieve, discarding as many seeds as possible.

Using an electric mixer, beat cream until soft peaks form. Add condensed milk and vanilla extract and beat until soft peaks form. Pour cream mixture into a loaf tin lined with cling film.

Drizzle about 3/4 of the raspberry mixture over the cream mix, reserving the remainder. Using a spatula or knife, stir mixture gently in a swirling motion a few times or until a nice pattern is formed but the syrup is not thoroughly mixed through. Cover with foil and freeze overnight or for at least 5 hours.

To serve, take out of freezer and let soften slightly. Then cut into slices and serve with remaining raspberry syrup.

Serves about 8.

* Any frozen berries could be used. The original recipe used blackberries, which would be lovely, but as I couldn't get those I used raspberries instead. If you wanted to use fresh berries they may just need to be cooked a little more until they break down.

Egg-free pancake teddy faces

When we first found out our big girl had an egg and nut allergy I scoured cookbooks and websites for some basic recipes for cakes, biscuits, muffins etc without eggs. In the process I came across a pancake mixture that we've been cooking since, based on this one.

Then whilst on our holiday in Fiji I noticed that the resort breakfast buffet chefs made pancakes in the shape of teddy bear faces. I felt sorry for my big girl that she couldn't have them so when we came home I tried making them and they were a hit. On mornings when the kids are not interested in eating much or are tired of the usual breakfast foods these are a welcome change. I usually cook some small circles out of the batter after the faces are made and send some with the big girl's school lunch and take some to the park as snacks for the littlies, as they're great snacks.



The absence of eggs does make for a different pancake texture and I don't think they'd work well as large pancakes or crepes, but in small plate or pikelet size they're good.

Egg-free pancakes

1 cup self raising flour
1/2 teaspoon bi-carb soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon sugar
1 cup milk
1 1/2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1/2 teaspoon vanilla essence

Sift flour, bi-carb soda and salt. Add sugar and whisk together.

Add vanilla and oil and half the milk. Whisk together, then gradually add the rest of the milk until thick pouring consistency. I find a whisk much better than a wooden spoon for the whole recipe even though it gets a bit stiff to whisk as lumps are less likely to form.

Heat frying pan to about medium heat and grease with vegetable oil spray. Pour in enough for the 'head' (I do about 12cm width) and then add the 'ears' with a tablespoon of batter added to each side of the head. Cook until the edges look dry and bubbles start to form on the surface then flip over, cook a few minutes and take out. Spray the pan before each pancake – they do stick otherwise.

Then decorate with jam, fruit or whatever you and your kids like.

Makes roughly 6 bears.