Creme fraiche ring doughnuts | Dan Lepard

Dan Lepard's quick and tasty ring doughnuts with creme fraiche. Photograph: Tricia De Courcy Ling for the Guardian

Quick to make for those times when your doughnut craving won't quit. The hole in the middle of a ring doughnut allows the hot oil to bubble through and cook the doughnut faster.

Makes 10
350g plain flour, plus more for rolling
25g unsalted butter
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
100g creme fraiche
? tsp salt
? tsp ground nutmeg
50g caster sugar
100ml cold milk
3 tsp vanilla extract
1 medium egg
Vegetable oil, for frying
Icing sugar, to finish

1 Place the flour in a bowl, rub in the butter, then add the bicarb. In another bowl beat together the creme fraiche, salt, nutmeg, sugar, milk, vanilla and egg. Ready the oil for frying (see my classic jam doughnut recipe, here).

2 When the oil is at 155C/310F, and you have your tray covered withyour paper towel ready, pour?the creme fraiche mixture in with the flour, and mix with a spoon to a soft dough.

3 Lightly flour the worktop, roll the dough to about 2cm thick and cut discs about 10cm in diameter with a 3cm hole in the middle. Fry for about 3-4 minutes until golden, then drain on kitchen roll. Re-roll the dough, cut out more doughnuts and fry as before. Roll in icing sugar while warm.

View the original article here

Recipes without ... | Dairy-free chocolate and cherry creme brulee

A dairy-free cherry chocolate creme brulee. Photograph: Jill Mead for the Guardian

This dairy-free and egg-free twist on creme brulee is a perfect introduction to free-from cooking – ingredients to suit almost anyone, using flavours and ideas from across the world. Chocolate and cherry are famously found in Germany's Black?Forest gateau, while torching sugar on custard is a tradition in France and Spain. Cinnamon from Africa, sugar from the West Indies (or Suffolk) and soya from Asia complete a surprisingly global combination.

Serves 4
180g cherries
3 tbsp water
? tsp cinnamon
250g soya cream
25g granulated sugar, plus extra for topping
1 tbsp cornflour
75g dairy-free dark chocolate

1 Rinse and pit the cherries. Chop them roughly and place in a small saucepan with 1 tbsp water and the cinnamon on a medium heat. Simmer for 5 minutes.

2 Distribute the cherries across four heatproof ramekins and set aside.

3 To make the custard, pour the soya?cream into another saucepan and?add the sugar. Place over a medium?high heat.

4 In a cup, mix the cornflour and 2?tbsp of water until you have a smooth mixture. Tip it into the saucepan, stirring all the time.

5 Keep stirring and allow the mix to boil. It will thicken until it is roughly the consistency of yoghurt. At this point, take it off the?heat, break the chocolate into regular-sized chunks and add them to the pan. Keep stirring until?the chocolate has melted and completely mixed in.

6 Pour the custard into the ramekins. Smooth the top of each dessert with the back of a teaspoon. Place them in the fridge for at least an hour.

7 To serve, sprinkle a tsp of sugar over the top of each dessert. Blast briefly under the grill or with a cook's?blowtorch.

I specify dairy-free dark chocolate, because some dark chocolate brands contain milk fat. However, even if the ingredients are dairy-free, there may still be trace contamination. Plamil sells dairy-free and gluten-free dark chocolate (plamilfoods.co.uk). If you need a nut-free chocolate, try Kinnerton (kinnerton.com). They have a dividing wall in their factory that keeps nuts in?their place: there's even segregated?warehousing, segregated product trays, segregated mould washing – even the engineering tools?are only used on one side of the?wall or the other.

View the original article here