Slow cooker Saucy chocolate pudding

Electricity has become horribly expensive, so I don't bake nearly as often as I used to. While I was browsing Pinterest this morning, I came across some yummy looking recipes for desserts made in the slow cooker. After reading through a few, I started to wonder if I couldn't try some of my old  faithful, favourite recipes and just cook them in the slow cooker instead,  which brings me to my newest adventure - "Slow Cooker Transformations" :)
The first experiment will be a yummy chocolate fudge pudding which I got from my trusty Snowflake Too Fresh To Flop recipe book.

I made it exactly as I normally would, except I put the batter into a greased slow cooker and cooked it for 2 hours on high.

The verdict : Delicious:)

Christmas Eve: Slow cooker roast beef

So I know it's a while after the event, but in case there are any people who are new to using their slow cookers, here's how I used mine to make roast beed last Christmas Eve:)

 

I hadn’t used my slow cooker for literally years, but after seeing so many delicious looking recipes on Pinterest, I decided to haul it out of retirement. I knew that it is one of the more reliable methods of ensuring your meat stays tender and I didn’t want to risk drying out my meat for such a big event. I read so many recipes that I can’t remember who really inspired this one, but it was probably from www.allrecipes.com.

I first browned the beef over high heat on the stove and put it in the slow cooker. I then quartered an onion and laid it all around, along with about 6-8 halved cherry tomatoes and half a cup of red wine and cooked this on high for 4 hours. After 4 hours, I took out the meat, stuck the hand blender in the slow cooker and pureed the onion and tomatoes and poured this mixture into a saucepan on the stove. After bringing it to a boil, I added some Bisto and made a gravy. I then sliced the meat and laid it back in the slow cooker and poured over the gravy and set it on low to keep warm till my guests arrived. It tasted every bit as good as it looked! My fussy, tactile-defensive 6yo even had 3 helpings of the beef :)