Air Fryer Pain au Chocolat Bread & Butter Pudding

The idea for this came from a day old pain au chocolat discovered the day after we returned from a short break in France.

Serves 1, as I only had one pain au chocolate but could be doubled etc depending on the size of your air fryer

1 pain au chocolat

1 egg

150ml whole milk

2 tbsp double cream or Greek yoghurt (optional)

1/2 tsp vanilla essence (optional)

1 tsp sugar

Slice the pain au chocolat into 1cm thick slices.  

Lay in an air fryer liner.

Beat egg and cream/yoghurt/vanilla essence if using in a mug. Beat in enough milk to fill the mug.

Pour the egg mixture over the pain au chocolat and leave to soak in for 5 minutes or more if you can.

Sprinkle over the sugar and bake in the air fryer for 10-15 minutes at 180C until golden brown on top, the egg mixture is wobbly rather than runny.

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Fruit Pancakes

I made blueberry pancakes for my son's breakfast on his 16th birthday, and have taught him the recipe for a quick high carb breakfast/snack.

Serves 2

1 mug/US cup self raising flour

1 mug milk

1 large free range egg

100g blueberries (I used frozen), raspberries, chopped strawberries, a grated apple or pear, or mashed banana

Whisk the flour milk and egg together into a smooth thick batter.

Stir in the fruit.

Heat a non stick frying pan over a medium high heat for 3 minutes then add a drizzle of oil.  Heat for another minute then add a ladleful of pancake mixture.

Cook for around 3 minutes on one side until the bubbles that start to appear on the surface have all popped and opened, the base of the pancake is a golden brown, and the pancake mixture on the surface is not runny when you tip the pan.  Flip the pancake with a wide fish slice and cook for a further 3 minutes until the bottom is as golden brown as the first side.

Serve with or without maple or golden syrup

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Creamy Tomato & Walnut Pasta Sauce

My teenage son is carb loading for the gym (it's either that or revise for his GCSEs) so I thought I'd make him some high calorie pasta sauce and freeze it in portions for a quick calorific pasta snack.

I tbsp extra virgin olive oil

1 small onion, peeled and roughly chopped

1 large garlic clove, peeled and roughly chopped
1 can chopped tomatoes

100g walnuts 

200g soft cheese (vegan or dairy) or 50g cashews + 100ml water

Gently fry the chopped onion and garlic in olive oil in a sauce pan until just starting to brown.

Add the chopped tomatoes, half a can of recently boiled water, walnuts, and cashew nuts if using. Simmer uncovered for 20 minutes.

When the onion is tender liquidise with the soft cheese or additional hot water if using cashew nuts to the consistency of a thick pourable pasta sauce.  This made more than enough sauce for 500g of pasta.

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Air Fryer Tortilla Chips

We have run out of tortilla chips, and Big Boy (now 15 and 6'2") wants a high calorie snack as part of his bulking up diet for the gym.

I remember reading that tortilla wraps can be baked in the oven to make crispy tortilla chips, so googled whether this could be done in the air fryer rather than turn the oven on for one helping.  They can.  So I have dug out the two remaining tortilla wraps from the freezer than no-one wanted to use as they break when folded, and have stirred grated onion and garlic into some soured cream, and made guacamole. 

Serves 1

1 tortilla wrap
Extra virgin olive oil
Paprika or chilli powder 

Brush a light film of oil onto a wrap and sprinkle with paprika/chilli.

Snip into tortilla chips.

Place in a single layer into an unlined air fryer and cook for 5 minutes at 180C. No need to turn as they blow around in the air fryer! One large tortilla wrap will need to be cooked in at least 2 batches.

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Eggy Bread, French Toast, Pain Perdu

Eggy Bread, French Toast, or Pain Perdu is my teenage son's current high calorie bulking up breakfast of choice, thankfully moving away from ultra processed breakfast cereals

Serves 2

1 large free range egg

40ml whole milk

20g greek yoghurt

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

1/4 tsp cinnamon

2 thick slices wholemeal bread, ideally homemade!

Whisk all the wet ingredients and cinnamon together in a shallow bowl.  Soak the bread in the whisked mixture for a couple of minutes on each side.

Heat 1 tbsp light olive oil in a non-stick frying pan.  Using a wide fish slice, carefully lift the bread out of the egg mixture and slide into the frying pan.  Fry for 2-3 minutes each side until golden and crisp.

Eat immediately.

PS. He has since been introduced by his girlfriend's parents to cooking this in the air fryer, which he says makes it 'puffier'.  Lightly grease an air fryer liner and cook for 5 minutes at 160C, then turn over and cook for a further 5 minutes on the other side.

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