I have a confession: I don’t get people who claim to not like sweets at all…like how and why would you do this to yourself! I am not a massive sweet tooth myself but I do love the occasional sweet treat (read weekly). Used to be obsessed with chocolates which clearly shows on my waistline but now I am wiser (I try to be most of the time) and I believe sometimes indulgence is good.

I may be writing about how to make a dessert that requires zero effort  but I am not very keen on making desserts at all! I will cook up a storm any day but I need a plethora of  planning/inspo and need very good reasons to actually make a dessert. However, the Marie pudding didn’t need much planning (maybe because I fancied living on the edge when I was younger) and  we needed a dessert for Eid besides the usual rice and vermicelli puddings. I wanted to add something to the table but since my sister didn’t trust my non existent culinary skills back then, I was only allowed to make an innocent marie pudding that could never go wrong.

So, if you want an easy and no fuss dessert, then please make this!

What you need:

•  2-3 packs of Marie biscuits 
•  Half a can of condensed milk 
• 1-2tsp of instant coffee 
• Chocolate syrup ( optional)
• 2 tsp orange zest ( optional) 
•  6-7 almonds ( opntional) 

You don’t have to accurately measure out the ingredients as listed above, only because it really depends on how many layers of marie you can fit in your dish and also how much of a sweet tooth you are.

Let’s get down to the easiest part now. Take any shape ( an oval one would be best) and  size pyrex dish and get layering.  If you have kids in the house, get them to help you  and I am sure they will have more fun than you will!

Steps:

1. Brew yourself a cuppa and while you are it make a cup of black unsweetened coffee. Let the coffee cool.

2. Drizzle condensed milk generously to cover the base of the pyrex. 

3. Now, one marie at a time soak each in the cold coffee for a few seconds. DO NOT over soak, we need the biscuit to be slightly soft not soggy.  The soft biscuit will be able to absorb the condensed milk. Layer the base with the biscuits. 

4. Drizzle condensed milk over the biscuit layer, try not to over do this step. The sweetness otherwise can be overpowering, but if you want it to be that extra sweet then go crazy! 

5. Repeat steps 3 and 4, until you have stacked a good few layers of sweet maries. Now you can alternate between the condensed milk and chocolate syrup, or you can do a bit of both on each layer ( At your own discretion). 

6. For the final layer, try to make the drizzle look nice (only if you are a freak like me) , sprinkle the orange zest. Let the pudding refrigerate overnight, the taste only gets better the longer it sits in the fridge. 

Garnish with slivers of toasted almonds before serving.

 

I hope you have fun making this and love every bite of it too!