Paleo raspberry breakfast bars

Greetings! Today is the last day of the year and boy, it's a SCORCHER. We've had a bit of a heat wave and temps have been consistently over 40°C+ the last few days. Mostly, we've stayed in with the AC on and it's even been too hot to cook. Dinner has been simple cold salads with whatever I could rummage out of the fridge. Breakfast has been slim pickings too.

I guess The Boy got tired of not having anything yummy for breakfast because he asked for the paleo breakfast bar I like to make for us occasionally. This time he wanted raspberries but really, you can do it with any fruit. We've done it with blueberries too.

It was 42°C outside but for The Boy, I put the AC on and then turned on the oven to make these for him. :-)

Strawberry and raspberry sorbet ... in the Thermomix

It's been particularly warm the last few days and the day before yesterday was downright sizzling with temps reaching about 38dC (over 100dF).

We are keeping cool by having salads and cold treats from the fridge and freezer.

We decided to make some sorbet so that we could enjoy a cold, cold treat in the evening.

This is my strawberry and raspberry sorbet RECIPE, which I've lifted from the standard Thermomix Everyday Cookbook and then modified to suit my taste.

Ingredients:

• 150g sugar
• 500g strawberries
• 500g frozen raspberries
• 200g ice
• 1 egg white

Instructions:

• Put sugar into Thermomix and mill for 10 seconds on speed 9.
• Add strawberries, half the frozen raspberries and egg white into bowl. Slowly turn the speed dial to speed 10 and blend for up to 30 seconds until everything is smooth.
• Add the remaining frozen raspberries and the ice. Use the spatula to assist in incorporating the ice into the first batch of sorbet. Slowly turn the speed dial to speed 10 and blend for 30 seconds.
• Use a spatula to mix the sorbet around and blend at speed 10 for another 30 seconds until the sorbet is smooth and the consistency you like it to be.

When blending the second time with the ice, sometimes the blades can get stuck as air pockets get created in the bowl. If this happens, stop blending, open the top and use the spatula to mix the sorbet and ice around till it settles and the air pockets are not there anymore, then continue blending as usual.

This makes enough for 2 large takeaway containers of sorbet.

This tastes absolutely delicious and very berry-ish but not too tart.

It's also a great dessert when served on a bed of dark chocolate ganache.

© This work is copyrighted to Invest-Ex and Destiny's Fortunes Pty Ltd

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I'm no fool ... oh, you mean it's a Raspberry Fool

I  have always found the name of this dessert amusing. That said, it's an old, old dessert dating back to the 16th century and it's simply delicious and very easy to make.

For me, easy to make desserts are a must because I am not most proficient when it comes to baking. As an example, I've now attempted banana bread / cake about five times and each time it has come out different though mostly tasty. I think it has to do with the fact that baking requires a specificity and exactness that is just not in my make up. So, the Raspberry Fool is a winner for me.

And yes, I did do some things differently, but I will leave that for after I give you the RECIPE:

Ingredients:

• 150g (1 punnet) raspberries
• 1 300ml container thickened cream
• 1 tbs icing sugar, sifted

Instructions:

• Set aside 12 raspberries. Place the remaining raspberries in a bowl and use a fork to roughly mash.
• Use electric beaters to whisk the cream, icing sugar until firm peaks form. Fold the mashed raspberries into the cream mixture to create a swirled effect.
• Spoon the mixture into four 125ml (1/2-cup) serving glasses and place in the fridge for 10 minutes to develop the flavours.
• Top the fools with the reserved raspberries and serve with the biscuits, for dipping.

So here's what I did differently:

I used frozen raspberries instead of fresh because they were not in season and even if they were, they are just too pricey to buy.

I didn't just mash up the raspberries (because they were frozen), I dumped them in a pot and made a coulis out of them, which basically involved heating up the frozen raspberries, bringing them to a boil and putting some icing sugar into them and sweetening them up. This made a very lovely, gooey, liquidy mess of raspberry and juice.

Instead of just raspberries (which I didn't have, I used fresh strawberries and fresh blueberries and just layered them in the glass - coulis, cream, fruit, repeat until the glass is filled and then just drizzle some coulis right on top. Mine turned out looking nothing like the picture of the recipe that I was given, of course. You get a picture of mine. :-)

This is a very rich dessert, so a small glass goes a long way.

© This work is copyrighted to Invest-Ex and Destiny's Fortunes Pty Ltd