For some of us school went back this week and for others (like me) the excitement comes next week! I actually really like the holidays and love having lazy mornings and days with no huge plans. We get to just hang out a bit and have some fun.

BUT..... I also love them going to school haha. I get so much more done and they are happy to go as well which is great :-)

Chocolate custard is always pretty popular in our house and so I thought I'd give it a bit of a makeover with some orange for their lunchboxes. 

Now if your kids are a bit fussy like mine and aren't into the zest and like things really smooth, you can leave that out and the flavour will be "less orange" :-)

I did blitz my orange zest in the Thermomix but the kids weren't that excited about it (probably would have been better really finely grated). I also tried peeling a whole orange and leaving the zest in big bits thinking I'd be able to just pull it out at the end. I cooked the custard on reverse but the zest did break up a lot and I ended up having to strain the custard - which was fine and it was nice and smooth, just a pain to do ;-)

This recipe is pretty forgiving, feel free to adjust what milk or amount of juice you use, and you can also adjust the amount of starch if you want it thicker or thinner.

When my kids were younger I used to put the custard in reusable food pouches and I still do use them a lot, but I thought I'd show you this nifty little container from Decor that I use. I have about 4 and I find them great for putting individual serves of food in the fridge for my kids. Great for cut fruit, custard, jelly, yoghurt - whatever really. They're quick and easy to clean in the dishwasher too and stack on top of each other well. I got mine at Target.

 

Dairy Free Choc Orange Custard

Gluten free, wheat free, dairy free, nut free, soy free, refined sugar free (can be egg free)

Ingredients:

10g orange zest (grated if not blitzing in Thermomix) - or see notes above
400mls quality coconut milk
100mls fresh orange juice
2 tbsps raw cacao powder
½ cup (75g) coconut sugar (or sweetener of choice)
30g corn starch (use any GF starch you like)
2 eggs (increase starch to 50g if you can't use eggs)
Pinch of salt

Method:

• Place eggs (if using), orange zest, cacao, sugar, starch and salt into a large heatproof jug and whisk together with the orange juice and 100mls of the milk until well combined and smooth
• Heat the remaining coconut milk in a pan until hot but not boiling
• Pour the hot milk slowly into the jug with the other ingredients and whisk continuously
• When all of the milk is added, return the mixture to the pan and cook on a low heat until it is the thickness you like
• Pour into pouches or ramekins and set in the fridge

Thermomix Method:

• Grind sugar, starch and cacao in Thermomix on speed 9 for 10 secs, remove from bowl and set aside
• Blitz orange zest on speed 9 for 5 secs, scrape down and repeat - really finely grate if your kids like things super smooth or leave out
• Add sugar mixture and all other ingredients to Thermomix and cook 90 degrees, 7 mins, speed 4
• Pour into pouches or ramekins and set in the fridge
  
  

 Recipe From happytummies.com.au - Copyright 2017 Happy Tummies

That's it! Enjoy. Lisa x