The Best Fluffy Pancakes recipe you will fall in love with. Full of tips and tricks to help you make the best pancakes.
When it's hot, or you simply don't feel like switching on the oven, no-bake desserts are the answer. Chocolate coconut squares, tiramisu or creamy biscuit slices mainly need one ingredient we often underestimate: time in the fridge.
The fridge is your oven
With no-bake desserts, the structure doesn't form in the heat but while they chill: chocolate and butter firm up, biscuits absorb moisture and soften, creams thicken. So the chilling time in a recipe isn't a suggestion, it's part of the method. Most of these desserts are at their best after resting in the fridge for at least a few hours, often overnight.
A biscuit base
For a base made of crushed biscuits and butter, it's important that:
- the biscuits are finely ground, otherwise the base crumbles;
- there is neither too little nor too much butter – the mixture should look like damp sand and hold
together when squeezed;
- the base is pressed down firmly into the tin, most easily with the bottom of a glass.
Creams and toppings
Whip cream-based fillings while cold and only until firm – cream whipped for too long starts turning into butter. Melt chocolate slowly, over a pan of simmering water or in the microwave in short bursts, and let it cool a little before mixing it with cold ingredients so it doesn't seize into lumps.
How to slice neatly
- Slice the dessert well chilled, when it is firm.
- Dip the knife in hot water, wipe it and cut. Repeat for every cut.
- Cut a chocolate topping before it has set completely, or use a well-heated knife.
Storage
Keep desserts made with dairy, cream or mascarpone in the fridge, covered, and eat them within a few days. We give the exact time with each recipe. Many squares and slices can also be frozen – cut, and separated with baking paper – and thawed in the fridge.
Raw egg safety
Some traditional recipes, tiramisu for example, use raw eggs. Use fresh eggs from a reliable source, keep the dessert in the fridge and eat it soon. For children, pregnant women, older people and people with a weakened immune system, choose a recipe without raw eggs or use pasteurised eggs.