School Dinners Cornflake Tart – remember?
For some strange reason I have had a longing to make one of these for ages. Maybe because the school has FINALLY started up school dinners, and the tales of what-they-ate-today has brought all sorts of memories back (but they have no pink or brown or white custard? What’s with that?). On chatting to various friends-of-a-certain-age about school dinners, one dish was universally clamoured after, no matter where we went to school. The Cornflake Tart. You remember it? Pastry base, layer of jam, then crunchy golden cornflakes spread on top?
Well.
I was chatting with the lovely mother in law a couple of weeks ago about this – she was a teacher, and ALSO remembers it fondly. In fact she exclaimed “Oh! I have the recipe for that! I asked the school cook for it at my last school (circa 1978). Would you like it?”
Would I!
And so – here, for you, is the real, actual, proper, straight-from-the-school-cooks-mouth recipe for School Dinners Cornflake Tart. Enjoy.
Shortcrust Pastry
6oz/180g flour
3 oz/80g butter (original recipes says half margarine, half lard… I stuck with butter!)
1floz/30ml water
Filling
4oz/110g Golden Syrup
3oz/80g Cornflakes
2oz/40g Butter (again recipe says Margarine)
1oz/30g Sugar
4oz/110g Red Jam
Method
1. Line the tart trays (I used a flan dish, and remember my school serving this up in enormous tray bake tins) with the pastry and crimp the edges
2. Prick the pastry all over and bake blind, for approx 20 minutes at Gas 6/400F/200C/180 Fan
3. Melt the butter, sugar and syrup in a large heavy bottomed saucepan, then stir in the cornflakes.
4. Spread a thin layer of jam over the pastry case and place the cornflake mix on top.
5. Return the tart to the oven for 5 minutes to allow the mixture to set.
Extra steps not actually in the original recipe:
6. Do NOT leave the tart in the oven longer than 5 minutes, or you end up with one that looks like mine…
7. Serve with a heap of gloopy thick yellow custard (or take the school dinners pink custard option) – and tell me you don’t feel better afterwards. And also about 9 years old.
And yes, I MIGHT have left the tart in the oven a bit long. And I MIGHT have broken off the worst of the burnt bits before I took the photo. And it MIGHT be in a rather dated pink flowery dish that was a wedding present nearly 20 years ago. And I MIGHT have forgotten to photograph it looking beeyootiful with custard because everyone was too greedy to wait, so had to photograph the seconds instead. But don’t care – it was still a thing of deliciousness, and comfort-in-a-bowl.
Read MoreThe Four, The Life, the Laundry – In Which They Eat Pancakes!
Okay – here it is. Our Pancake Day effort. This morning, tempted by some really very evil Tweets this morning, I decided the boys might like a change from their usual Golden Syrup-fest. So I surprised them with this :
Once the boys had polished off one each of these, only No.1 managed a 2nd. Boy went for his more usual plain (yes, as in just-the-pancake; no toppings at all. Odd child, I know), and Jolly had a mini one with his favourite maple syrup. Never before have they been contented with so few pancakes! Win!
Read MoreHelens comfort recipes – Cheesy Pasta
When my daughter is a little under the weather (by that I mainly mean teething) she, like her brother before her, seems to prefer blander, ‘comfy’ food. Spaghetti bolognese and shepherd’s pie seemed to be too much for her this week, so today, instead of resorting to eggy bread (again), I decided to try her with macaroni cheese, baby style. I tried to take a photograph of the finished result, but she was ravenous and couldn’t wait for me to find the camera. My poor half starved child.
Read MoreSlopsville – The Rice Pudding.
Happy Joe
So I finally got around to making Helen’s rice pudding. Kind of. I thought there was only one way to make rice pudding. So I didn’t think I needed to bother making the arduous trek from the kitchen to the computer (about ten feet) to look up Helen’s recipe. How different could it be from the one on the side of the rice box? That was my first mistake.
My second mistake was to not read the “recipe” all the way to the end. I scanned it, I did. I knew that at the end it said to put the rice pudding in an ovenproof dish and so I happily followed the rest of the instructions. I put the milk in a pan and brought it to the boil. It boiled over. Of course it did. Ignoring the mess, I added the rice and gave it a stir, at which point sheets of burned milk floated to the top. I hoiked them out and threw them in the bin. I stirred. I hoiked. I threw. I started to get a bad feeling. I turned the hob off and shoved the pan to the back of the stove and went off in a huff.
Read MoreHelen’s Bread & Butter Pudding Recipe
Our culinary-genius Helen has rustled up another yum-scrum recipe for us…
Bread & Butter Pudding
I have found this to be a great way to fill my daughter up. It can be eaten by the whole family but I blend my daughter’s with a little extra milk. It looks like bland mush but it still tastes great.
50g butter, melted plus extra for greasing
300g bread (I tend to use brioche)
500ml full fat milk
3 eggs
75g caster sugar
2 tsp vanilla extract (or vanilla pod)
1 tbsp soft brown sugar and 1tsp cinnamon for sprinkling on the top
- Slice the brioche into thin slices and brush with melted butter.
- Using the extra butter grease the oven dish.
- Arrange the brioche in layers in the oven dish.
- Heat the milk in a saucepan until boiling.
- Whisk the eggs with the sugar and vanilla extract
- Pour the milk over the eggs whisking continuously.
- Pour the milk and egg mixture over the bread (you may need to strain the eggy milk mixture through a colander first).
- Sprinkle over the brown sugar.
- Allow to soak for half an hour (if you’ve time, if not just put into oven).
- Place into a pre heated oven (150 fan) for one hour or until the custardy centre is set.
You could also add to the layers of bread some raisins or thinly sliced apples – whatever works for you (I put apples in the one pictured).
You can read Helen’s own blog here – http://www.redders.typepad.com/
Read MoreNew recipe – Helen’s Eggy Bread Recipe
(Okay, I cheated on this one. It was begged requested from Helen by ME ;). I have fond memories of eggy bread – under the guise of ‘Gypsy Toast’ in 70′s Essex – but have never made it for my own children… oh the shame).
Eggy Bread has been Eggy Bread to me all my life, but apparently it is also known as French Toast or Gypsy Toast. The version I always do is savoury and served with a blob of tomato ketchup but you could also do a sweet version and serve it with fruit. When I was on camp with the Girl Guides I remember breakfasts of Eggy Bread, baked beans and sausages. My baby daughter has it simple and plain.
Recipe
2 eggs
Splash of milk
2 slices of white bread
Olive oil and a knob of butter
Beat eggs in a bowl with the milk.
Heat a frying pan with a splash of olive oil and the butter
Cut the slices of bread in half and dip one at a time in the egg mixture soaking it through.
When the pan is hot (you can tell by dripping in a splash of egg. If it sizzles it’s ready) add the soaked bread.
Don’t have the heat too high as they will cook to fast on the outside and not on the inside.
Flip over
Serve
For my daughter I cut them into soldiers just as they are.
For sweet versions once cooked you could dredge with icing sugar or cinnamon and brown sugar. Or even maple syrup (*note from Laura – or lemon and sugar, just like pancakes)
You can read Helen’s own blog here – http://www.redders.typepad.com/
Read MoreLakeland’s Electric Yoghurt Maker review
I can’t begin to think how much I spend a week on yoghurt (6 of us, each having at least one a day…), and I usually spend the extra on the organic versions because children’s yoghurts especially are so often full of additives and sweeteners. So I was really excited when Lakeland asked if we’d like to review their own electric yoghurt maker – I thought it would be interesting to see if the children would take to fresh live yoghurt and choosing/making their own flavours.
So, with some trepidation, before I went to bed I added the milk, the live yoghurt, turned the machine on… And returned on the morning to find… Separated milk. Hmph.
So I re-read the instructions, and also used the handy tips from other reviewers on Lakelands own site.
The second time I heated the milk and allowed it to cool to warm. I also remembered to switch on the maker 5 minutes before putting the jar in. Pour the milk into the container, and without much shaking put it in the maker. Next morning? Gorgeous thick natural yoghurt! Oh yes!
So after some playing around, have found a pretty well fool-proof recipe for really thick yoghurt: (look away now if you’re in need of a fat-free version..) 150ml double cream in jug, fill to 850ml with full fat milk. Then use some of the milk to blend up 3tbs of skimmed milk powder, just like you make up custard powder. Add it all together and pop it in the maker.
MMMMMMMMMmmmmmm….
(we’ve also used the boxes of Easi-Yo powders in the yoghurt maker – totally supremely delish also)
The children have thoroughly enjoyed creating their own flavours too – thanks to the grandparents bumper harvest we have a freezer full of fruit & berries, and they simply choose a few, blend them, and stir into the yoghurt. One likes his with honey, one likes his au naturel – and She Who Is Two snaffles it down any which way she can get it.
Needless to say I no longer spend a fortune on yoghurt, and love my yoghurt maker very extremely a lot.
The Electric Yoghurt Maker is available from Lakeland for just under £20. Buy one. You’ll love it.
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