Pain perdu with cranberry compote

I'm using cranberries again but it will be the last time in a while (it's just that I bought a big pack so I need to use those cranberries in one way or in another).
In this recipe, I'm not using speculoos but some pain d'epices (or ginger bread), which is however flavoured with similar spices. It's also very nice with some brioche and makes the perfect tea time snack.

To make pain perdu for 4 persons you need:

Ginger bread (or slightly stale bread or brioche)
2 eggs
50 g of sugar plus some for dusting in the saucepan
Vanilla extract
20 cl of milk
20 g of butter

For the cranberry compote you need:

100 g of cranberries
80 g of sugar

1. Start with the compote. In a small pan, heat together the cranberries, the sugar and a tablespoon of water over a low-medium heat until the fruit is soft. Leave to rest then crush the fruit with a fork until you get a mushy compote. Taste and add more sugar if too sharp.
2. Once your compote is cool, mix together the eggs, the sugar, the milk and the vanilla sugar in a deep plate. Dip your bread, cut into thick slices, in the egg mixture for a few seconds.
3. In a saucepan, heat together the butter and a little bit of sugar over a medium heat. Add the sliced bread and cook for a couple of minutes on each side until golden.
4. Serve the warm pain perdu with the compote. Yum, yum...

Speculoos milk pudding with cherries

For this second recipe, I'm again using the speculoos spread but this can be easily replaced with a teaspoon of cinnamon, or crushed spiced biscuits. This recipe was inspired by a little French book entitled 'Speculoos Lotus, les 30 recettes cultes'.
Very simple and quick to make, these 'crèmes de lait' however need to set in the fridge for a couple of hours.

To make four puddings you need:

• 4 tbsp of speculoos spread (or 30 g of crushed spiced biscuits, or 1 tsp of cinnamon)
• 80 cl of milk
• 40 g of corn flour
• 100 g of frozen cherries (or any other red berries)

1. In a saucepan, mix together the milk, the corn flour and the speculoos. Bring to the boil then reduce the heat and leave to simmer until the mix thickens.
2. De-frost the cherries and place them at the bottom of four ramekins.
3. Pour the speculoos milk pudding onto the cherries and leave the ramekins to set in the fridge for two hours.
4. When ready to serve, de-mould the individual puddings onto plates. Et voilà!

Speculoos charlotte with cranberry coulis

Here we are, my very first post! I will start by introducing my blog, which is about food but more precisely about ingredients and recipes that I really enjoyed as a child. The aim, here, is to each week, pick an ingredient and create three recipes around it. Being French, some of the products used might not be easily found here in the UK but I will always try to suggest an equivalent product. Most of the recipes are very easy to make and use organic ingredients whenever possible.

For the first three posts, I've decided to focus on speculoos, a spiced biscuit particularly popular around Christmas time. The thought of it just makes me want to snuggle up under a blanket to eat those cinnamony treats while drinking hot chocolate. 

The other day, I was in the jam and honey aisle at the supermarket and hit upon a speculoos spread. Intrigued, I bought it and tried to find ways to use it. Here's my first idea: a Speculoos charlotte. The charlotte is one of my all-time favourite French desserts. So easy to make and so rewarding from a presentation point of view.

To make four little charlottes, you need:

• 4 tbps of speculoos spread (or crushed spiced biscuits)
• 20 cl of whipping cream
• 12 ladyfingers
• A few tbps of milk

For the coulis, you need:

• 100 g of cranberries (plus 8, optional for presentation)
• 2 tbps of icing sugar
• Mint leaves (optional for presentation)

1. Whip the cream until firm. While whipping, add in the speculoos spread. Leave the mixture to set in the fridge for at least 30 minutes.

2. In the meantime, line four ramekins with cling film. Cut the ladyfingers in two and dip them for a few seconds in a bit of milk. Then, line the sides of the ramekins with the biscuits.

3. Put the whipped speculoos cream in the ramekins and leave to set in the fridge for at least another 30 minutes, or up until 24 hours.

4. For the coulis, put the cranberries together with the icing sugar and bit of water in a pan to simmer on a low-medium heat for about 30 minutes, making sure they don't burn. Once the cranberries are soft, crush them further with a fork before passing the coulis through a sieve. Because cranberries are quite sharp, add more sugar if the coulis is too tangy. Leave to cool in the fridge

5. Before serving, de-mould the charlotte onto a plate and place the coulis all around.

You can add a couple of cranberries and two mint leaves on top of the charlotte so it looks a bit like a Christmas pudding. Ok, it might be a bit late for Christmas but never too late for that charlotte. Enjoy!