Very few people make blancmange these days, indeed you can't always find it in the shops. The good news is that you don't need to! The boxes of blancmange that my mum used to buy said on the front "Brown and Polson's flavoured cornflour" and that is just what blancmange is, cornflour. With a packet of cornflour, a pint of milk and the sweetener and flavour of your choice you have a simple, delicious, softly wobbling pudding. You can add colouring if you choose, but part of the fun in this house is to play guess the blancmange by not adding colour, or if I am feeling perverse I make yellow blancmange that tastes of strawberry or blue that tastes of caramel!
The way the ingredients are written look a little strange, but they are based on historical tradition. Blancmange was always made with a pint of milk which translates to exactly 568mls and because I took the original weight of cornflour from a sachet of blancmange after they started to use metric measures the cornflour is 37g. Measurement is rather precise for this recipe as you want your blancmange to set, but you want a gentle wobble rather than bounce and just 1g either side can affect the texture quite considerably. So I always weigh my ingredients on a digital scale, weighing the liquid as well as the dry ingredients. Conveniently for milk and water millilitres and grams are interchangeable so it is easy to weigh. I use electronic scales for accuracy and convenience, as you can re-set them easily to zero.
So
568mls of milk
37 grams of cornflour
4 teaspoons of sugar or more to suit your taste
Natural flavouring of your choice follow any guidlines on the bottle for jow much to use, or start out with a small capful and check for taste.
Colouring if you want, used sparingly if you don't want it fluorescent!
I make my blancmange in a jug in the microwave. It is very difficult to give timings for this as microwaves vary so much. If you do decide to try it in the microwave then you will need to use a microwave proof two pint jug to avoid it boiling over and until you are sure of your timings I would recommend standing it on a large microwavable plate to avoid a horrible mess on your turntable. If you make it in the microwave you will need to stir it every thirty seconds after you have added the cornflour. Do read the traditional method before embarking on it in the microwave as the steps are the same.
I'll give you the old fashioned method here.
Measure your milk and pour all but a couple of tablespoons or so of it into a saucepan and bring it to a boil. Keep an eye on it as you measure out the other ingredients as burned milk stinks and cleaning the cooker top is a nuisance.
Mix the remaining ingredients into the the small amount of milk you reserved, you will need to mix this very thoroughly to make sure that your cornflour has no lumps. I use those cheap little whisks which look like they have a spring on the end, I find them easier than a ballon whisk and better than a spoon. If you don't have a whisk try beating it thoroughly with a fork.
As soon as the milk comes to a boil take it off the heat. Give your cornflour a final thorough mix as if it has stood for more than a few minutes the cornflour can congeal into a solid lump.
Pour about half of the hot milk into the cornflour mixture beating it all the time, then give it a really good stir to make sure it is well combined. Then tip this back into the saucepan and stir it thoroughly to combine the remnaining milk. NB do not use a wire whisk in your non-stick saucepan or it won't stay non-stick! Use a wooden spoon or a silicone spatula.
Put the saucepan back on the heat and stir it continuously until it comes back to the boil, then reduce the heatu and let it simmer very slowly for a couple of minutes stirring all the time. It will thicken as it comes to the boil, but you need to continue to simmer it to make sure that the cornflour is thoroughly cooked. You need to keep the heat low and stir all the time, right into the corners of the pan to make sure it doesn't burn.
Pour it into your serving dish or dishes and leave it to cool for an hour or so before eating. It will keep for a couple of days in the fridge.
This looks difficult when written down, but it really is very straightforward. If you get lumps don't panic, pour it into your serving dish through a sieve.
If you want to make it in a mould to turn out on a plate there are a few more steps to it, but I'll talk about that another day!
Enjoy
Karen Lizzie
xxx
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