Chapter XI – what to do with your sweet stash

Never let it be said that I don't give you alternatives – here are variations of “a Hodgepodge”

… aka a mess – think of Eton Mess – the world is your meringue, fly by the seat of your pants!

I just love to be able to pull ingredients for a speedy sweet straight from the store cupboard/pantry and freezer and serve a dessert worthy of the extra calories! What follows is a series of recipe ideas and variations - elements of which you've already made ahead and are part of your store cupboard and freezer!

Without further ado :

Hazelnut Hodgepodge

Serves 1

3 meringue kisses, crushed

1 scoop of vanilla ice cream

A sprinkle of toasted, chopped hazelnuts – 25g approx

30g fresh or frozen raspberries (defrosted) - do not sweeten

1 tbsp sticky toffee sauce – loosen in microwave for

15 secs on medium

Assembly

A glass bowl or sundae dish makes this

dessert stand out, layer as follows :

crushed kisses

scoop of ice cream

sprinkle of hazelnuts

raspberries but reserve the juices

drizzle of sticky toffee sauce

drizzle of raspberry juices

Add a final sprinkle of hazelnuts

Then there's take 2 :

Cherry and Chocolate Hodgepodge

Serves 1

1 410g tin of Black Cherry pie filling with

fruit separated from juices

3 meringue kisses, crushed

25g of chocolate – see below

As with the previous Hodgepodge recipe a glass bowl or sundae dish is perfect for this dessert.

Tip the cherries into a sieve and let the juices drip through – this will take a while since they are dense – it's worth the wait.

Assemble with the meringues, add a dessert spoon of cherries then add tiny pieces of chocolate of your choice – the list is endless but here's an idea or five :

plain chocolate drops

crushed Maltesers

small pieces of Rocky Road

bash a crunchy (in its wrapper – so convenient, no bits

other than where you want them to be!)

bash a flake (in its wrapper)

In the photos below I used tiny pieces of Rocky Road.

Add another dessert spoon of cherries. With the juices reserved add a drop of water to loosen – loose enough to be able to drizzle over the top of the cherries.

You'll have cherries and juices left over but I can't believe this is going to be a problem. You could either repeat the dessert or use as a topping over ice cream. If you want a grown-up version, add a drop of Kirsch to the juices but don't tell anyone I said so!

You don't have to use cherry pie filling – I used Dark Sweet Cherries which I get from Sainsbury's and come in 450g bags at £2.30. You can use fresh cherries if you wish but their season is short and they are expensive. If you use fresh cherries then you'll need more juice. You can get cartons of cherry juice from either Waitrose or M&S.

OR

You could make a quick, soft set cherry jam!

For alternatives and extras … read on