Chocolate Key Lime Pie

This is recipe has gone straight into top ten favourite dinner party desserts, ticking every box along the way - it's super easy to make, you can prepare it the night before, oh and it tastes fantastic too!

I chose to make this recipe as part of this month's We Should Cocoa challenge. Each month, participants have to make a recipe that includes chocolate and another pre-selected ingredient.

This month's challenge is being hosted by Chele of The Chocolate Teapot and the extra ingredient is lime which was a fantastic choice. I love cooking with limes and immediately thought of two chocolate lime recipes that I'd come across recently in Nigella's Kitchen book. I ummed and ahhed for ages but eventually settled on this one and I am so glad I did (the runner up was Chocolate Lime Cake with Margherita Cream). It really is so straightforward to make (I think it took about 30 minutes tops) and I absolutely loved the lime/chocolate combination. A 5 star recipe for sure.

Chocolate Key Lime Pie

(adapted from Kitchen by Nigella Lawson)

300g/10 1/2 oz digestive biscuits

1 x 15ml tablespoon cocoa powder

50g/1 3/4 oz soft unsalted butter

50g/1 3/4 oz dark chocolate chips

1 x 397g can condensed milk, preferably chilled

4 limes to give approx 2 x 15ml tablespoons finely grated lime zest and 175ml juice

300ml double cream

1 square best quality dark chocolate

1 x 23cm x 5cm deep fluted tart tin with loose base

1) Put the biscuits, cocoa powder, butter and chocolate chips into a food processor and process to a dark, damp sandy consistency. Tip into the tart tin and press on to the base and up the sides. Place in the fridge to chill.

2) Pour the condensed milk into a bowl (and if you're using a tin be VERY careful when you lick the lid - which you will). Zest the limes into another bowl and reserve for decoration later. Add the juice of the limes to the condensed milk, whisking to mix.

3) Pour in the double cream and whisk together - in a freestanding mixed or with a hand-held one - until thick, then spoon the mixture into the chilled biscuit crust and use the back of the spoon to finish off the top in a swirly fashion.

4) Chill the pie in the fridge for 4 hours (if the condensed milk was chilled), until firm or, ideally, covered overnight. When you are ready to serve, unmould the pie from the tart tin, but leave it on the base.

5) Grate the chocolate to give a light dusting to the top of the pie then sprinkle with the lime zest. Serve immediately, as it will become soft if kept out of the fridge for too long.

Serves 6-8

The pie can be made 1 day in advance. When chilled and firm, tent with foil (try not to touch the surface of the pie with the foil as it will leave marks) and store in the fridge. Store the zest in a bowl, tightly covered with clingfilm. Decorate with zest just before serving. The pie with keep for a total of 2-3 days in the fridge.

Blondies

I came across this recipe one Sunday afternoon when I was looking for something to satisfy my baking urge. It was the first recipe I found that I actually had the ingredients for and it had been on my to-do list since I unwrapped my cookbook du jour, Nigella Kitchen, at Christmas. I've never made Blondies before partly because, for some reason, I had always thought they would be a bit plain and uninteresting. How wrong I was!

These ones in particular turned out to be so delicious that I've already made another batch since I made the first one. The recipe includes a whole tin of condensed milk which gives them a lovely toffee-sweetness, porridge oats add substance and chocolate chips complete the picture. These come highly recommended from me!

Blondies

(adapted from Kitchen by Nigella Lawson)

200g/7oz porridge oats

100g/3 1/2 oz plain flour

1/2 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda

150g/5 1/2 oz soft unsalted butter

100g/3 1/2 oz light muscovado sugar

1 x 397g can condensed milk

1 egg

170g packet dark chocolate morsels or chocolate chips

1) Preheat the oven to 180c/gas mark 4 and line your square cake tin with foil.

2) Combine the oats, flour and bicarb in a bowl

3) In another bowl mix or beat the butter with the sugar until pale and creamy, then beat in the condensed milk followed by the oats, flour and bicarb mixture

4) When these are well mixed, beat in the egg, and into this relatively thick mixture fold the chocolate chips

5) Dollop the mixture into the prepared tin and smooth it down with a spatula, then cook in the preheated oven for about 35 minutes. When ready it will be quite a pronounced dark gold around the edges and coming away from the tin. It will look and feel cooked on top, though just beneath it will seem frighteningly squidgy. But it firms up as it cools in the tin, so to end up with the requisite chewiness you have to take it out of the oven while it feels a little undercooked.

Makes 16 pieces

Caramel Oat Bars

Otherwise known as Millionaire's Shortbread but with a slight adaptation. Where Millionaire's Shortbread has a base of - yes, you've guessed it - shortbread, this version includes the added bonus of oats. This is a change I wholly approve of - it makes the base lighter and crunchier and adds to the contrast with the soft caramel and chocolate.

If you have any leftover condensed milk (I have yet to find a 175 tin of the stuff) and were wondering what to do with it then you might want to take a look at these oat bars or this fudge - you can always halve the quantities!

Caramel Oat Bars

(original source of recipe long forgotten)

Base

100g/4oz butter or margarine

50g/2oz caster sugar

75g/3oz plain flour

75g/3oz porridge oats

Caramel

175g/7oz can condensed milk

100g/4oz butter or margarine

50g/2oz soft brown sugar

vanilla essence

Topping

100g/4oz chocolate, melted (you can use dark or milk chocolate depending on the level of sweetness you're after)

1) Grease a baking tin approximately 30 x 18cm (12 x 7 in)

2) Cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy, stir in flour and oats to form a stiff mixture and press into the tin

3) Bake for 20 minutes at 180c/350f/gas 4

4) Meanwhile, melt the butter, condensed milk and brown sugar in a pan over a gently heat. Simmer for 5 minutes, stirring continuously. Add vanilla essence to taste and beat well. Pour evenly over the cooked base and leave to cool.

5) Spread melted chocolate over the cooled caramel and mark with a fork. Leave to set before cutting into squares.

A dangerously simple recipe

I am cursed with a terrible affliction - I call it chocolate telepathy.

Chocolate speaks to me you see. I hear it calling to me from far off places....the cupboard, the supermarket, the freezer (see below). Against my will the little voices draw me in, enticing me, encouraging me, until I'm helpless to resist. I hear stories of people leaving chocolate untouched in their cupboards for days, weeks even, but I don't believe them.

Today I am suffering at the hands of this little recipe that I found in Nigella Express (I know....Nigella again). Make it at your peril!

Chocolate Pistachio Fudge

(adapted from Nigella Express by Nigella Lawson)

350g dark chocolate (min 70% cocoa solids), chopped

1 x 397g can condensed milk

30g unsalted butter

pinch salt

150g pistachios, chopped

1) Melt all of the ingredients, apart from the pistachios, in a heavy based saucepan over low heat, stirring regularly.

2) Mix in the pistachios (as you can see from the picture I substituted the pistachios for raisins and was more than happy with the result).

3) Pour into a 23cm foil tray (or any tin of similar proportions) and smooth the top.

4) Leave in the fridge to cool then cut into bite-sized pieces.

5) The fudge can now be stored in the freezer presumably with the intention of keeping for a reasonable length of time. Good luck with that.

Two lovely oaty recipes

I often find that a bowl of regular cereal isn't quite enough to see me through until lunchtime so I've been on the lookout for some healthy snacks that will keep me away from the chocolate. I came across this first recipe when flicking through Nigella Express and it sounded like just the thing.

Breakfast Bars

(adapted from Nigella Express by Nigella Lawson)

1 x 397g can condensed milk

250g rolled oats

75g shredded coconut

100g dried cranberries

125g mixed seeds (pumpkin, sunflower, sesame)

125g natural unsalted peanuts

1) Preheat the oven to 130c and grease a 23 x 33 x 4cm baking tin.

2) Warm the condensed milk in a pan

3) Mix the dry ingredients together, add the warmed condensed milk and mix

4) Spread the mixture into the tin and even the surface.

5) Bake for 1 hour and remove from the oven. Leave for 15 minutes before cutting into squares.

These get a big thumbs up from me. They taste great, are easy to make and are pretty healthy too.

While I had the oats out I remembered a favourite recipe from Jamie Oliver. When the weather starts to brighten up and hot porridge becomes less appealing I like to make this for breakfast instead.

Pukkolla

(adapted from The Return of the Naked Chef by Jamie Oliver)

8 large handfuls of porridge oats

2 large handfuls of ground bran

1 handful of chopped dried apricots

1 handful of chopped dried dates

1 handful of crumbled walnuts

1 handful of chopped hazlenuts, almonds or brazil nuts

This part can be made in advance and kept for ages. Mix together and store in an airtight container.

You can, of course, put pretty much whatever you want into this. My combination today included oats, bran, sunflower seeds, pumkpin seeds, linseeds, chopped prunes and chopped apricots.

The night before you need it put some of the above in a bowl (once made up this will keep for two or three days so you can put a few portions in), cover with milk and mix in 1/2 a grated apple per portion. Place in the fridge.

In the morning remove the bowl from the fridge. The mixture will have softened and thickened up so you might want to add a bit more milk. Serve with honey, yoghurt, chopped banana, strawberries, raspberries...whatever you fancy really.