My ice-cream obsession now plagues my every waking hour, so I thought it was about high time I made my own. Pralines & Cream is my absolute favourite flavour of Haagen Dazs and it’s impossible to get in Korea. So it seemed as good as place as any to start. The ice-cream itself its stupidly easy to make, whipping and mixing  and that’s it. You can keep it as straight vanilla or add whatever flavours you like to jazz it up. I went for my lovely pralines mixed with a caramel sauce. It was divinity itself maybe even better than the Haagen Dazs version. I can see a Fat Girl ice-cream range in my near future!

Ingredients

600ml of cream

200g of condensed milk

2 tablespoons of vanilla extract

Pralines

200g of pecans

200g of light brown sugar

100g of butter

4 tablespoons of milk

A pinch of salt

Toffee sauce

4 tablespoons of butter

10 tablespoons of light brown sugar

200ml of full fat milk or cream

Directions

1. To make the ice cream, put your cream, condensed milk, and vanilla extract in bowl and whisk until it becomes thick. It should be very thick, stop just before it starts to turn. It’s much easier to do this if you have an electric whisk. Once it’s nice and thick put it into a seal-able container and pop it in the freezer until it sets(usually 4-8 hours). It’s so easy, right? If you only want plain vanilla you can just eat it as it is.

2. To make the pralines, melt the butter in a saucepan on a low heat, then stir in the sugar. Once the sugar has melted a little stir in the milk. Let it cook for about 5 minutes, stirring occasionally until the sauce thickens and starts to turn golden brown. Add the pecans to the sauce and stir to make sure they are coated and cook for a further minute. Turn off the heat and spoon out the pralines onto grease-proof paper, allow to cool. Then pop them in the refrigerator to set for a few hours. Once they have set, you can bash them into pieces using something heavy.

3. To make the toffee sauce put the sugar and butter in a saucepan and heat on low. Once the butter has melted and starts to combine with the sugar, add in the milk or cream. Continue to cook for about 5 minutes, until you have a thick golden brown  toffee sauce. Allow to cool before adding to the ice cream along with your pralines. Voilà easy homemade ice cream!

I’m fairly certain that all my regular readers are well aware of my lust for ice-cream these days. It’s actually getting quite out of control, as these lovely luxury ice-creams run quite high. Thankfully they are rich and creamy so one does the job.

I’ve been on a mission to dig out the tastiest frozen treats in Seoul, so I knew I was going to have to bite the bullet sooner or later and leave the loving sanctuary that is Itaewon-dong and head over to Fell + Cole in Hongdae. I’m not a huge fan of Hongdae so wasn’t relishing the trip, however luckily for me I checked their facebook page and found they had opened a brand new branch in Jong-no which was terribly easy for me to visit.

They have about 12 flavours which change daily. They all have crazy names like Busan Seagull, Corny White, and Youth Potion No.6. If you want to find out the flavours before you head to the parlour then they post them daily on their facebook page. However if you like a little mystery in your life as I do, head on over and just try them all until you find one that suits your fancy. I think we were rather lucky in this regard as there were no other customers, I’m thinking on a hot and sunny Saturday trying 6 may be frowned upon, at least by those waiting in the queue.

So after trying the numerous different ones I settled upon Lemon Frozen Yogurt (5,200). The Fat Boyfriend is a fan of all things, fruity, zesty and sour. So this really ticked all the boxes for him and I knew it would have to be one of the two we ordered. It was rich, creamy, sweet, and zingy all at the same time. Pure poetry in ice-cream form. No one could turn down that beauty on a hot day.

I decided upon the Tough Cookie (5,200). A bit of a dull choice for a foodie, but I couldn’t seem to decide between the others. The Strawberry was too mild, the Burnt Caramel too sweet, the Love Potion a strange blend of sesame and something. So the Tough Cookie was just right, (I think I may have been channeling Goldilocks)! It was a creamy ice-cream filled with cookie nuggets.

On their website they have a huge range of sorbets on the menu, but sadly they had none at the Jong-no store, which was very upsetting as I had brought along my friend Vanessa from Vegan Beats website to enjoy the wealth. So she left with an empty tummy. However I was quite happy and shall certainly pay another visit, next time I am in the area.

Fell + Cole have three locations in Seoul, one in Hongdae, One in Apgujeong and one in Jong-no. I visited the Jong-no branch. To get there take a train to Jonggak station (line 1). Aim to come out exit 1(but you can’t at the moment due to construction) so take exit 2 and double back on yourself. The entrance to the Grand Seoul Mall is right there in front of you. Fell + Cole is down one level on B1. You can’t miss it. For more information you can call on 02-2158-7909, or check out their website or facebook page.

I’m way behind the times once again, as honey chip ice cream has been popular for months and months already. In my defense I did try to go to the original icecreamery Soft Tree several times, only to be dejected when I found out that they didn’t have any honey chip. Apparently there’s quite the scandal as numerous copycat ice cream parlous set up and used all the city’s wealth of honey comb. And faux paraffin comb became more rife than fake Louis Vuitton handbags on the subway, gross or what.

However Sweetruck opened it’s doors in Itaewon so I figured why not give them a try. With their fast assurance that their honeycomb is completely the genuine article, I ordered up myself a cup.

There are only three ice-creams to choose from, milk, chocolate or a mix. I’m not a huge fan of chocolate ice-cream which is strange because I enjoy both chocolate and ice-cream. Just not together (I’m a very complex individual). You can also get a cup or a cone. The cones are just the plain waffle cones, so I went the cup. As much as I enjoy edible containers, I’ve now been ruined for life by the amazing glazed cones that they have at Swi:t B and a regular cone will never quite cut it anymore.

The ice-cream was delicious, very creamy, but with a slightly sour taste. It kind of tasted like milk that’s just about to go off. The kind that when you taste you know it’s now or never. It was still tasty though, but I’m not sure if that’s the way it always is supposed to taste or if I got an iffy batch. I shall have to have another and see. But either way it’s incredibly creamy and yummy. The honeycomb was also terrific, what an ingenious idea and I don’t even like honey that much. Juicy honey and crumbly comb texture, no wonder people are queuing up left right and centre to get one of these bad boys. As you can see below you can get a range of other sauces on your top of your ice-cream if you don’t like honey, but the honey comb is amazing so just get that.

Sweetruck has a variety of locations all over Seoul but I visited the Itaewon branch which is located at 1st floor, 182 Itaewon-ro, YongsanSeou-gu, Seoul. To get there take a train to Itaewon station (line 6) and come out of exit 3, Sweetruck is just on your right. You can call them on 02-793-5800 or check out their website  for more information.

It’s my birthday!!!! Fat Girl is now 2 years old. And what a two years it’s been. This past year has flown so fast and I want to thank all of my wonderful readers for all your love and support over the past year. Just knowing that my recipes and reviews are there to help you makes all the hard work worth it. In the past year I have gained another 1000 followers taking me up to 2080. I have become a columnist for Chip’s Map’s  and written various articles for 10 magazine. I was voted as one of the top 7 blogs in Korea by Groove Magazine and I have just started a new assignment working for Trazy.com (Travel Crazy, great name or what?) Writing my own Fat Girls Fab finds pieces on different themes. As well as this I have done two cocktail pop up events, one semi successful, one incredibly so. And I ran a stall at the handmade market in Kyungnidan.

As a thank you to all my wonderful readers I want to run a competition for you to win a box full of my delicious and home made goodies. I haven’t whipped it up yet,  but it will hopefully include a bottle of my cucumber gin, hummus, tasty garlic dip, muesli,potato salad, wasabi pea dip, a few baked goodies and whatever else I manage to make.  If you would like to get your hands on this box of gourmet goodness all you have to do is share this post on your facebook page and complete the following sentence. To celebrate the fabulous Fat Girl’s birthday I would give her ……………………. . So put your thinking caps on and come up with your wittiest and funniest gift ideas. Real gifts will be accepted ;)

So since it’s my birthday and all, I was pretty much obliged to make a cake. After the success of last year’s Rainbow Cake I knew I really had to pull out all the stops, but sadly my cake decorating abilities haven’t really improved all that much since last year. I really backed myself into a corner by going for gold that first year, but whoever thought Fat Girl would have made it to 2 years old, not me that’s for damn sure. Anyway to two I made it and a cake was needed. The thought of baking in this heat put the fear of god into me, so I knew the way forward would be the watermelon cake. Not only does it look great, it’s fresh, simple, tasty, and healthy too (although it somewhat goes against my mantra). I even decided to skip the regular cream and use whipped coconut milk instead too so it’s vegan and lactose friendly too. Again, surprisingly easy to make, you should give it a go, next time you are in need of a dairy free alternative. You can of course use plain old whipped cream if you prefer or even frosting.

Ingredients

2 cans of coconut milk

1 tablespoon of vanilla

3 tablespoons of icing sugar

1/2 a teaspoon of xanthan gum

1 watermelon

Fruit for decoration

Directions 

1. To turn the coconut milk into cream you need to put the cans in the fridge unopened overnight. When you are ready chill a bowl and your beaters. Then open the bottom of the can and pour off the milk (to save for smoothies or other delicious treats)and then put the cream part in your chilled bowl. Whisk with an electric mixer, you might be able to do this by hand but it would need an awful lot of elbow grease. Whisk until it becomes thick like regular cream, it should take around 5 minutes. Add the vanilla extract and sugar powder if using and whisk for a little longer to incorporate. If you have any xanthan gum, it will help the stability but it’s not necessary.

2. To make the cake part, cut the top and the bottom off of the watermelon then remove the green outside by cutting the pieces off length wise. It doesn’t need to be perfect, you can cover up the imperfections with the frosting. Once you are happy with the shape, pat the watermelon down to remove the extra juice.

3. Take your lovely whipped coconut cream and cover the watermelon in a smooth layer. I then took a piping bag and used it to make some cuter decorations but it’s really up to you. Finish up with some fresh fruit and all the decorations your heart desires. Happy Birthday me!

I went to a potluck la few weeks ago and decided to make these for one of my dishes. It’s growing cold and I thought these would be just the ticket to keep everyone nice and warm. Thanks to dear old Costco and their giant sized portions of everything, I had plenty of cream cheese and bacon in the fridge. I threw in a little cheddar and some spring onions for good measure and had a nice tasty little treat on my hands. They were so nice I made them again just for us the next day.

Ingredients

1kg of potatoes

3 or 4 rashers of bacon

200g of cream cheese

150g of grated cheddar (or any hard cheese you have)

6 spring onions

1 tablespoon of ranch mix or onion powder

1 teaspoon of mixed herbs

1 teaspoon of garlic powder.

A pinch of salt and pepper

Directions

1. Score a line in the top of the potatoes and bake them in the oven for about an hour at 190 degrees Celsius. Korean potatoes are generally pretty damn small so an hour should be ample time. If you are using big baking potatoes from home then you could go up to two hours.

2. When the potatoes are cool enough to handle, cut them in half length ways and scoop out all the potato in the middle and put it in a mixing bowl so only the skins remain.

3. Add the cream cheese to the scooped out potato and mix together. Add in the grated cheese, herbs, ranch mix, salt, and pepper to the bowl and combine.

4. Cut the bacon into small pieces then fry on a high heat until they are crispy. Then add into the cheese and potato mixture. Then cut or slice the spring onion into little pieces and stir into the mixture too.

5. Spoon the cheese and potato mixture back into the potato skins until they are all full. You will find that it all fits nicely despite the extra ingredients you added.

6. Put the potatoes back into the oven for another 15 minutes at 200 degrees Celsius to give them a nice crispy topping and enjoy. Voilà the unhealthy way to enjoy potatoes.

Taco salad is crazy delicous! Perhaps not so healthy, but definitely delicous. I made this for our 4th of July barbecue. It’s not the kind of salad I would eat everyday lest I become confined to my house, but  it’s certainly nice for a treat. It went down a storm at the BBQ, so I thought I would share the recipe with you. This is the full fat, calorie ridden version, but you could make it much healthier by using less chips and cutting out the cheese and sour cream

Ingredients

2 chicken breasts

5 drops of Tabasco (or as much as you need)

1 tablespoon of Worcestershire sauce

1 tablespoon of Mexican seasoning

1/2 a red pepper

1/2 a yellow pepper

1/2 an onion

1/2 an avocado

1/2 a can of kidney beans(use black beans if you can)

15 cherry tomatoes

100g of grated cheese

1 large handful of leetuce

1/2 a bag of tortilla chips

A bunch of Cilantro (고수)

Dressing

200ml of sour cream (about 1 cup)

1-2 tablespoons of lazy lime or lemon juice

2 tablespoons of finely chopped cilantro

A pinch of salt

A pinch of pepper

A pinch of cumin

Directions

This salad is pretty easy to put together, it’s just about chopping everything. To make the chicken, marinate in the Tabasco, Mexican seasoning and Worcestershire sauce for about 30 minutes. Then cook in the oven or fry in a pan until the chicken is completely cooked then leave to cool, before cutting into slices.

Wash and shred your lettuce. Finely chop the onion and cilantro. Cut the red and yellow peppers into pieces. Slice the avocado. Rinse your beans if using canned, and crush the tortilla chips.

To make the dressing, finely chop the cilantro and combine with the sour cream, lime juice and spices.

Once everything is prepared put all the ingredients in a large bowl, toss together and top with the dressing. If you are anything like me you will end up making a double batch of this, just because it’s so good. In fact I’m having it again for dinner tonight. Feliz Viernes!

After another afternoon browsing Pinterest I came across this recipe for a broccoli cheese bread. I instantly wanted it, and I am glad I did, because it tasted even better than I imagined. I made several changes to make it more suitable to what I could find easily here in Korea but the basic principle was still the same. After discovering how easy this is to make, I have thought of various other varieties I will be able to try in the near future.

Ingredients

250g of pizza dough(recipe here)

1 head of broccoli

100g of cream cheese

200g of grated cheese (I used a mix of mozzarella and cheddar)

Directions

Boil your broccoli for about 5-8 minutes so it’s softer, but still has a little crunch. Then leave to drain before chopping up into very small pieces. Roll out the pizza dough into a a large rectangle. Mine was roughly 35cm by 20cm. Then top with cream cheese or ricotta. Sprinkle on the grated cheese, then top with the broccoli.

Roll the bread up like a big sausage then cut into 7 pieces. Place the pieces into a round buttered tin.

Bake in the oven at  180 degrees for about 20-30 minutes until the dough has cooked and the cheese has melted and is golden brown. If the top is catching, then cover with foil after the first 15 minutes. Pull off each piece and serve. Voilà, broccoli cheese bread.

It may have taken me 29 years but I have finally made the best dessert ever. I have found true heaven in cheesecake form. I know I claimed the same when I made my lemon cheesecake but this one is even better. My lovely boyfriend brought me a rather large stock of Malteasers back from Hong Kong, when he went on a boys’ rugby trip last month. I fancied making a dessert with them and was rather tempted by the Lorraine Pascale cake, but making a cake is such a lot of hard work in this weather. So I had a quick search on pinterest for Malteasers and came across a picture of a Malteaser and Toblerone cheesecake. Sadly I am not the genius who came up with this winning combination. However when I clicked on the link there was no recipe to be found. So I created this one myself. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did, I devoured the last one in mere hours and I’m pretty sure that the same thing will happen the next time I make it. It may seem a little cruel to include Malteasers in a Korean food blog but Whoppers are available here which are very similar, if not get your friends and family to get you some or order them online, they are amazing.

Ingredients

3 tubes of oreos

2 bags of malteasers

3 small Toblerones (100g)

300g of cream cheese

200ml of whipping cream

2 tabelspoons of peanut butter

1/2  a stick of butter (60g)

1 tabelspoon of vanilla extract

100g of icing sugar (sugar powder)

Directions

Crush the Oreo’s into fine crumbs. I used a blender as it’s mush quicker as they are all in separate packets. Melt the butter in a saucepan then mix in the Oreo crumbs. When combined pack into your tin. Soften your cream cheese in a bowl then mix in the peanut butter. Grate the Toblerones into this mixture, and crush 1 bag of the Malteasers and mix it in too. In a separate bowl whip the cream until its thick. Add one tablespoon of vanilla extract and the sugar powder and stir until it has dissolved into the cream. Add the cream cheese peanut chocolate mixture to the bowl of cream, and make sure everything is mixed together. When ready, spoon the mixture on top of the Oreo base. Flatten the top with the back of a spoon. Take your second bag of Malteasers and push them into the top of the cheesecake so only half of each one is showing. Put in the fridge and leave to set for at least 4 hours.Voilà  the devilishly decadent cheesecake of your dreams.

Every now and then you just have one of those days, that nothing but a calorie ridden bowl of pasta can make you forget. Sometimes only butter, cream, and copious amounts of cheese can cure you of your woes. Enter the chicken alfredo, just perfect for such an occasion. I don’t think my recipe is particularly authentic but this is how I always make it and it always hits the spot. It’s comfort food at its finest, quick and easy to make, and extremely satisfying.

Ingredients

200g of  dried pasta

1 chicken breast

1/2 an onion

3-6 cloves of garlic

5-6 mushrooms

200ml of cream

100ml of milk

1 -2 glugs of white wine

1 chicken stock cube

1 knob of butter

1 glug of olive oil

1 teaspoon of freshly chopped parsley

Freshly grated parmesan (as much as it takes for you to feel good again)

Directions

Finely chop the onion and garlic and fry in the olive oil for a few minutes until they have softened and become translucent. Chop the chicken breast into pieces and add to to the pan and fry until it has cooked. While the chicken is cooking put your pasta on to boil. When the chicken is done remove everything from the frying pan and put it in a bowl to the side. Drop your knob of butter into the pan and add the mushrooms, cook for a few minutes until they are done, then add the cream, milk, and wine and bring to the boil and reduce the heat so it’s simmering. Crumble in the stock cube and stir until its dissolved and the wine has cooked off. Drain your pasta once it is done. Then add the chicken and onion back into the pan with the sauce and mix together. Pour the chicken and sauce on top of your drained pasta and make sure it is evenly coated. Sprinkle with your chopped parley and grated parmesan. Serve in a bowl and top with more parmesan. Pour yourself a glass of that wine and say ahhhhhhh. Voilà my everything will be okay chicken alfredo.

In France they call it pain perdu, in America French Toast, and in England the far less glamorous eggy bread. A few days ago I  discovered that I am absolutly amazing at making French toast.  I have to confess that I haven’t really eaten my fair share of french toast over the years but it is now one of my favourite foods. In England we’re not really a fan of sweet things for breakfast. We like a savoury start to the day. A bowl of crunchy nut corn flakes is as crazy as we get. However when my bestest friend in the world came to visit  me last week, she introduced me to this fabulous phenomenon. We had some pretty amazing French Toast at the W in Taipei and some hideously awful dry crap at a well-known restaurant in Itaewon which will remain nameless. After tasting that dried up piece of cardboard I knew I could do better. So I set upon making my first batch, and suffice it to say, I nailed it. It almost makes me want to set up a restaurant just to sell my own Fat Girl French Toast to the masses. You too can make amazing French Toast, all from the comfort of your own home with little to no cooking skills needed. It’s so easy a monkey could make it, so wow your friends the next time you have them over for brunch. The key is using good bread. I picked up this loaf of morning toast from Paris Baguette (3,000). It’s half way between a croissant and bread and is perfect for French Toast goodness.

Ingredients

1 loaf of bread (Morning toast bread)

300ml of cream

300ml of full fat milk

3 eggs

1 tablespoon of vanilla extract

4 tablespoons of sugar

Half a stick of butter (for frying)

Directions

Cut your loaf into 3/4 of an inch thick slices. I made mine using a fresh loaf but if you let it go stale for a day I am told it’s even better. In a large bowl beat together the eggs, milk, cream, sugar, and vanilla until mixed together. Heat your pan to a low/medium temperature and throw in a knob of butter. Dip a slice of bread into the custard mixture, let it soak up those juices, then turn it over to do the other side and throw it into the frying pan. Depending on the size of your frying pan you will be able to cook 2-3 slices at a time. After a few minutes it should be golden brown on the bottom side. Flip it over and do the other side for a few more minutes. Making sure that the custard has set in the middle, remove from the pan and cook the remaining slices. Serve with berries, maple syrup and, if your feeling extra naughty, throw on some whipped cream or ice cream. At this point a bit more cream really isn’t going to hurt. Voilà the fattest French Toast in town!