A Christmas Carol

[eddy_declercq]

This time it's not a SAP or other computer related subject. Sorry about that. I think that people have better things to do than sit behind their computer's these days and a bow long bent at last waxes weak. So I thought I would share a pudding recipe with you. I got this one from a woman's magazine – Libelle for the connoisseur - the other day. Yes, I do read these kinds of magazines and don't find anything wrong with that. Actually, I always put my nose into it whenever we visit my parents in law since I like cooking and discovering new recipes.
I made this (together with other cakes and bavarois) for my colleagues on my birthday (December 19th ). They seemed to like it and I find it a welcome change from the classic Christmas pudding and "stollen". So here it is.
Ingredients:

• Slices of white (milk) bread
• 3 or 4 pears (depending on their size)
• 5 decilitres (16,90 fluid ounces of water mixed with 200 grams (7,0548 ounces) of sugar to make a syrup
• 50 grams (1,7637 ounces) of chopped crystallized fruit
• 9 decilitres (30,43 fluid ounces) of cream
• 3 table spoons of sugar
• 200 grams (7,0548 ounces) of chopped white chocolate
• 50 grams (1,7637 ounces) of black/pure chocolate chips
• 5 sheets of gelatine/jelly (3 grams (0,1058 ounces) per sheet)
• A 1 litre (1,76 UK pints / 2,11 US pints) capacity (Charlotte) cake tin

Method:

• Cook the pealed and chopped pear in the syrup for 15 minutes
• Soak the gelatine in cold water
• Whip 4 decilitres of cream together with the sugar
• Heat up the rest of the cream and add the white chocolate and gelatine. Let it rest and cool down a bit.
• Remove the crusts from the slices of bread and toast the slices. Soak the toasted bread in the white chocolate emulsion and then cover the cake tin with it.
• Add the crystallized fruit, pears, chocolate chips and whipped cream to the emulsion
• Pour it all into the cake tin and let it stiffen in the fridge overnight

I hope you all enjoy making and eating it.

Having said this, it was an exciting SDN year for me. I hope you've enjoyed it as much as I did. Don't forget to post what you've liked the most in Best of SDN 2005 your suggestions ... forum thread. Have a good holiday and I hope to see you again next year for another exciting and adventurous SDN year!