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Banana-Pistachio Bonbons & Chocolate Pudding

Or…"monkeying around instead of finishing my spring cleaning"… according to B.

Right then I lifted my eyebrows and replied "well then, if this is monkeying around I am sure you won’t care if I eat it all …"

I have never seen a man picking up a vacuum cleaner faster than he did when he saw what I had just pulled out of the oven! Up until know I had never seen the necessity to re-arrange our cleaning responsabilities so why do it now…"I feed you honey, give you clean clothes and love you, darling…Keep vacuuming"

A conversation on the state of the pantry and the fridge with my dear friend C. made me realize it was about time to organize my shelves again and use the (many) items i had bought for a particular recipe that I had never gotten around to make or that left me with extra "stuff" such spices, flours, extracts and in this case spring roll wrappers (scroll down to the bottom of the link) and plenty of fine chocolate needing to be used!

I had bananas getting tired of staring at us day after day, pistachios about to take a trip to the neighbors' because they were feeling abandoned, and wrappers about to get as wrinkly as prunes, and plenty of chocolate to share the love.

I decided to make little banana packets with the spring roll dough and I shaped them into candy wrappers, baked them and served with some form of chocolate… When I usually make them, I use vanilla beans cut in half lengthwise to tied the ends but I did not feel like using my precious loot on a casual weeknight dinner.
Instead of making my staple chocolate sauce of heavy cream, chocolate and spat of butter (which works great as an impromptu fondue), I decided to make B.’s childhood favorite: chocolate pudding. I grew up on mousse, he loves his mama’s pudding…except dear mother-in-law never seems to find the recipe…I got inspired by this one from Gourmet Magazine, and the serving amount was perfect for 2, no sharing…!

Banana and Pistachio Bonbons:

Serves 2

4 spring roll wrappers
2 bananas
1 Tb. lemon juice
1/4 cup toasted, chopped pistachios
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup of butter, melted

Peel the bananas and cut them into small cubes, add the lemon juice.
Lay a wrapper down on a clean cutting board, brush with some melted butter, sprinkle with 1 Tb of sugar, add 3 Tb or so of diced banana, add 1 Tb of pistachios. Roll the wrapper into a log and secure the ends with kitchen strings or vanilla bean (cut in half and soften if necessary), to form a candy wrapper type package.
Repeat with the remaining ingredients and bake for 10-20 minutes or until golden brown.
Let cool to room temperature.

Chocolate Pudding, adapted from epicurious:

Serves 2

1/2 cup sugar
2 tablespoons cornstarch
4 ounces fine-quality bittersweet chocolate
2 Tb cocoa powder
1 1/2 cups whole milk
1 large egg yolk
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
1/4 teaspoon vanilla

In a heavy saucepan whisk together sugar, cornstarch. Add chocolate and cocoa powder to sugar mixture.
In a bowl whisk together milk and egg yolk and gradually whisk into chocolate mixture. Bring mixture just to a boil over moderate heat, whisking constantly, and boil 1 minute, whisking. Remove pan from heat and whisk in butter and vanilla.
Divide pudding between two 8-ounce ramekins. Chill puddings in freezer, surfaces covered with plastic wrap, until cooled, about 30 minutes.

I regret I did not make more for tonight…the wrappers are good any time of the day, cold-warm-hot. And the pudding….I scored major points with B. Good I have got a birthday coming up!

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Comments


Deborah April 20, 2007 um 12:38 am

These are so beautiful!! What a wonderful treat!


Anonymous April 20, 2007 um 12:53 am

ah this is so funny. I made rhubarb bonbons, just like these 😉 Meme longueur d’onde 😉

Love your version, a lot!


Katie B. April 20, 2007 um 3:09 am

Those look fantastic! I love that you referred to bonbons and pudding as a weeknight dinner – totally a dinner I can get behind!


Nabeela April 20, 2007 um 3:58 am

I just discovered the joys of chocolate pudding last night….and here you are tempting me with another recipe 😉
(my recipe was taken from Williams Sonoma, Cooking for yourself…which was eggless but still gave me the perfect consistency)


Meeta K. Wolff April 20, 2007 um 5:29 am

Haha! That is a great bribe Helene! Will have to see if it works on my man!! And I totally relate to buying items for recipes and then forgetting to make them. Glad to hear I am not the only one out there 😉
Now to your recipe. I am flabbergasted this is a mighty amazing combo. Those bonbons look really good. Can I have one? I’ll do the dusting for that!


MyKitchenInHalfCups April 20, 2007 um 7:41 am

So chocolate pudding can be used as a bribe to get the husband to vacuum – um I wonder how I didn’t think of that. Now I understand where you find the time to turn our all this fantastic goodies.
Now, what is it with this mother in law who won’t share her chocolate pudding recipe with you.
I’m entranced with the bonbons and pudding as fondue sauce!


Anonymous April 20, 2007 um 12:37 pm

Oh Helen, these sound wonderful! The bonbons are beautiful, and you are so resourceful to use up all of those goodies in such a tempting fashion. The chocolate pudding recipe sounds simple, but decadent!


Anonymous April 20, 2007 um 12:45 pm

I’m so relieved I 'm not the only one!! I have a condensed milk can waiting for me for so long that is going to expire, candied fruit, flours and…and… I better start looking for a good recipe!


Cheryl April 20, 2007 um 1:21 pm

I have never seen anything like these before. They are really awesome. I love how you can just whip things up from leftover ingredients in the house.


B April 20, 2007 um 1:44 pm

wow, these look scrumptious!! I love anything with chocolate and banana. Now that’s what I call cleaning 🙂


Lis April 20, 2007 um 1:57 pm

YUM!!! They are adorable! And dipped in the chocolate pudding has me licking my monitor – AGAIN!

xoxo


Anita April 20, 2007 um 3:04 pm

Helen,
They are so adorable! I love the presentation!! That’s a pretty amazing bribe for your husband!


Anonymous April 20, 2007 um 4:19 pm

You need to open a restaurant so I can eat your food!!!


Clare April 20, 2007 um 5:03 pm

This looks mouthwateringly fantastic!


Patricia Scarpin April 20, 2007 um 5:16 pm

Helene, I’ve never seen bonbons like these – what a lovely treat!


Bron April 20, 2007 um 9:13 pm

Not sure these w~ould bribe my husband, but they could sure bribe me!!


Brilynn April 20, 2007 um 9:59 pm

If you ever feel the need to get rid of high quality chocolate, I’m available. And if you need help eating your creations, I’m available. And if you just want someone to loaf around your house and pester you to make more delicious treats, I’m available.


Anonymous April 21, 2007 um 2:38 am

"I feed you honey, give you clean clothes and love you, darling…Keep vacuuming" – that had me falling out of my chair, I was giggling so much 😉

I wish my pantry cleanouts resulted in such wonderful creations as this! They look like a great energy boost for all that vacuuming 😉


Anonymous April 21, 2007 um 6:33 pm

These are so great! They are almost too pretty to eat…but I think I would get over it…hee hee. Yum!


Blame It on Paris April 23, 2007 um 12:19 am

I thought I was destined to try this today, I had all the ingredients in the same state of needing to be used or lost. But then I discovered the spring wrappers were…already lost.

But I love this idea! It sounds like something that could be a lot of fun at a party, too, with different "bonbon" flavors.


Unknown April 24, 2007 um 2:51 am

These look amazing. I’m so excited that you were able to get that effect without deep-frying them, too, something that would make them too guilt-inducing for me. I cannot wait to try them!


Kajal@aapplemint April 25, 2007 um 2:36 am

how on earth did i miss this one … i’ve never had anything like this before.cant wait to try it now.why does everything good in live have to be fattening !


Anonymous April 26, 2007 um 6:45 am

C’est de la tuerie à l’état pur! J’adore!
La frenchie un peu ukrainski!


Pille May 8, 2007 um 11:40 am

Wonderful and fun presentation!!


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