For those who love rhubarb this is a very easy way to serve it up as a dessert. This old recipe suggests serving it with strawberry yoghurt, which would probably be OK, but ice cream or just plain cream would possibly be even better.
This recipe was on the Carnation Sweetened Condensed Milk tin label. I must admit I’ve never made it because I have a strong preference for baked cheesecakes over this no bake type. I think it’s because way, way back the first piece of cheesecake I had was in a little cafe in Toorak and coffee when ‘European’ baked cheesecake was very new and trendy in Melbourne.
Reading this recipe has made me drool for a slice of it covered in thick cream. Although I guess even if I started to make it now it would be a few hours before it would be ready. Worth the wait though……
Winter steamed puddings were always on the menu in our household when I was young. They had the benefit of being cheap and easy to make as well as filling and delicious. Mum made a variety of fruit ones, but I don’t think she even made a banana one. Now I’ve found this recipe I’m wondering why she didn’t.
In years gone by baked apples served with a nice thick custard or ice cream was a pretty standard family winter dessert. Inexpensive, tasty and filling, not to mention quick and easy to make. This old 60s recipe Mum kept is a little more fancy as it wraps the apples in a sweet crusty coating. A little more trouble to make, but it is still inexpensive, tasty and filling.
The filling for this tart is pretty simple, just the apricots and jam. It seems unusual not to have a creamy/eggy type filling over the top, so I think the marscapone or thick cream would be essential.
You can definitely tell the age of this recipe by the ingredients – jelly and Carnation Evaporated Milk and in fact I found the recipe is in a Carnation Evaporated Milk pamphlet. The combination of the jelly and evaporated milk makes a really light dessert, almost like a flummery, which was one of Mum’s favourite desserts to make. It has the advantage of also not been very expensive, a bit of a bonus these days.
It’s not surprising I’ve decided to post this recipe today. Here in Melbourne we’re in the middle of a heatwave. It’s 38o outside now and the same is predicted for the next couple of days. So the idea of a bowl of nice cold ice cream is very appealing…….
As far as I can work out Mum must have found this recipe in an English magazine on one of her trips to the UK. It doesn’t look very appetizing, but I suspect if you love rhubarb it would taste really good. It certainly would be a good way to use up rhubarb if like my father you grow a good crop each year. As it’s English you’ll need to covert the fresh rhubarb to 1.25kg, the water to 150ml and the caster sugar to 250g.
I must confess that I’ve never been a fan of no bake cheesecakes, but I do like the idea of this one with the chocolate swirl on top and maybe an extra layer of whipped cream. As it’s an old 1960s recipe you’ll need to covert the butter to 125g-185g and the cream cheese to 250g.
Beb's Recipe Drawer 