Brandy Basket Peach Melba!

We have just enjoyed these for our dessert! Makes 2, but you can easily multiply the recipe.


Brandy Snap Baskets:

1tbsp. Golden syrup
25g / 1oz. vegan spread (or butter, if you eat dairy)
25g / 1oz. vanilla sugar (made by adding a split vanilla pod to a jar of sugar, or you can just use plain sugar and add 1/2tsp of vanilla extract)
2tsp. Brandy
1/2 tsp. ground ginger
25g / 1oz. plain flour, plus 1 heaped tsp.
Small pinch of salt

Melt the first three ingredients together over a medium heat and simmer for a few minutes to combine, then remove from the heat and stir in the brandy. Sift in the flour, ground ginger and salt, and mix. Leave to cool for about ten minutes, the mixture will be a thick golden liquid. Preheat the oven to 180C while you're waiting for the mixture to cool, and line a baking tray with baking parchment / greaseproof paper.

Drop two blobs of mixture onto the tray, dividing it equally between them. Leave about four inches between the blobs as they spread considerably during cooking. Bake for 10 - 15 minutes, keep checking after the first 5-7 mins as they can burn and cooking time will depend on your oven. They are done when they're bubbly, spread out and chestnut brown.

After removing them from the oven, let them cool for a minute, and as soon as you can stand to pick them up, peel them off the baking paper and form the baskets. You can either press them over an upturned ramekin or push them into the bottom of a mug, and they will set firm within a minute. If they harden too quickly, pop them back into the oven to soften for a minute.

For the Peach Melba:

50g/2oz. Raspberries
1 heaped tbsp. icing (confectioner's) sugar
2 peaches, not over ripe or they will turn to mush when you skin them
2 scoops vanilla ice cream (I used Swedish Glace vegan ice cream)

To skin the peaches, place them in a pan or heatproof bowl, and cover with just-boiled water. Leave for one minute, then drain and rinse under a cold tap. Slice them in half, remove the stones and slip off the skins.

For the raspberry sauce, simply push the raspberries through a sieve to remove the seeds, and sift the icing sugar into the puréed berries. If there are any lumps, just leave it a few minutes and they will dissolve.

To assemble, place a brandy snap basket onto a plate, add two peach halves, a scoop of ice cream and drizzle with raspberry sauce. Sprinkle with toasted flaked almonds, if you like. Devour!