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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!

Tapioca Raspberry Verrines – Heart Of The Matter

I thought that after some rich mousses, very sweet pastries and buttery brioches, B. and I could use a little dessert break. I know our waistlines and hearts would thank us…it is spring after all! There are plenty of gorgeous seasonal fruits available at the market and since we did a good house spring cleaning our eating would not suffer a lighter dessert fare.

I also thought that Ilva’s and Joanna’s event The Heart of The Matter was a great pretext to come up with a little easy, tasty creation using what I had picked up at the market one morning. I love raspberries….maybe as much as I love lemons. Stranded on a desert island, I would be completely satisfied with a bowl of these and a dollop of whipped cream. I don’t use tapioca very much because of the gelatinous texture it takes when it is cooking. I was on the lookout for big pearled tapioca but the Asian market I go to was closed so I had to fall back on the regular kind. I was not really sure of the end result when I cooked the tapioca layer of the verrine but it thickens a bit when cooling and becomes more like rice pudding once completely refrigerated.
This dessert uses minimum sugar, milk (you can use low fat), and plenty of fresh fruit. Even the topping won’t put your heart into shock!

Tapioca Raspberry Verrines, from Tartelette, inspired by the cover of this book:

Serves 4

1/3 cup tapioca
2 1/2 cups milk (I used 2%)
1/2 cup sugar, divided
1 1/2 cups raspberries (could use frozen)
1 1/2 tsp. gelatin
1 Tb. water
1 cup graham cracker crumbs
2 Tb. sugar
1/4 tsp. ground ginger
1/4 tsp. ground cinnamon
2 Tb. butter

For the tapioca pudding:
In a heavy saucepan combine the milk, tapioca and 1/4 cup sugar. Cook over medium heat until the mixture thickens up, about 10 minutes, stirring every so often. Remove from the heat and let coo to room temperature.

For the raspberry layer:
Combine the remaining sugar and the raspberries in a saucepan and cook over low heat to break the raspberries a little so that they release their juices and soften up.
In a small bowl, sprinkle the gelatin over the tablespoon of water and let it get soft.
Remove the raspberries from the stove and gently stir in the soften gelatin. Stir until it is completely incorporated. Let cool to room temperature.

For the topping:
In a saucepan, combine the graham cracker crumbs, sugar, spices and butter and cook until the mixture lumps up and gets toasty. Let cool completely.

Assemble the verrines:
Divide the tapioca pudding and raspberries evenly among 4 glasses or other containers.
Right before serving, sprinkle about 2 Tb. of the crumb topping among the verrines.

Funny thing is that this was meant to be shared between friends in sunday night, but a terrible wind storm kept each couple home so we had ours and we had theirs on monday night… I hope that if they read this they will invite us again…!

Sugar High Friday 29: Cocoa Nibs Pavlovas

Well, there is more to these than just "pavlovas"…

I really thought I would have to sit this one out…The theme for this month’s Sugar High Friday was "Raw Chocolate" …. where am I going to find raw chocolate in my neck of the woods? There were the obvious choices like homemade chocolate including cocoa butter in the ingredient list, or cocoa nibs that I had successfully located a couple months back. I was feeling less than inspired. I kept looking at my pantry, at the cocoa nibs, at the fridge, and then inspiration came late friday night with these:

Cocoa Nib Pavlovas, Avocado Cream, Honeyed Strawberry and Pineapple, Cocoa Nib and Pistachio Praline….

Yep….just that…Really, I can’t be left alone… and before you turn your heads away, let me tell you that sweet avocado rocks! I wanted to keep up with the raw theme throughout this dessert so beside the cocoa nibs everything else is in its original form. I thought at first of filling the meringue disks with a citrus curd or a chocolate cream, but I wanted something soft and light that would let your mouth taste the cocoa nibs as well as the crunch of the praline.

I am not going to lie, I was a bit skeptical about having avocados on the sweet side, but I found tons of recipes out there for avocado dessert so it gave me the confidence to break away from my savory conceptions and get whipping. And you know what…it is amazingly good!

All the components can be made up to one day ahead. These were assembled and served saturday night for a dinner party. I did not tell people about the avocado part, everybody assumed it was pistachio custard until one guest asked me for the recipe and everybody stopped eating, raised their heads, looked at their dessert funny for a minute and digged in again to the sound of :"crunch…crunch…crunch…this is so surprising…this is so good…"

Cocoa Nibs Pavlovas, adapted from Eggbeater, via Simply Recipes:

Makes 12 shells, but I only used 6.

3 egg whites
3/4 cup sugar
2 1/4 tsp cornstarch
1/2 cup cocoa nibs

Preheat oven to 275.
Mix the sugar and corn starch and set aside. In a stand mixer fitted with the ballon whisk, start whipping the egg whites to soft peaks. Slowly add the sugar mixture in a slow steady stream, or one tablespoon at a time. Stop the mixer and with a spatula, fold in the cocoa nibs.
Line 2 sheet pans with parchment paper, and with a large spoon, mounds 12 meringue rounds. Bake at 275 for 40 minutes. Reduce heat to 250 and bake for another 20 minutes. At this point you can remove them from the oven, or turn the oven off and let them cool in the oven for a few hours. I let mine sit there overnight.

Avocado Cream, adapted from Avocado.org:

Serves 6

3 avocados, pitted, skin removed and cut into cubes
1/4 sugar, or to taste
1 cup heavy cream
juice of 1 lime

In a food processor, combine all the ingredients and puree until smooth. Refrigerate until ready to assemble.

Cocoa Nib and Pistachio Praline:

100 gr. sugar, divided
1/4 cocoa nib
1/4 shelled raw pistachios

Line a sheet pan with parchment paper and set aside.
In a heavy saucepan, melt 50 gr. sugar until light golden brown. Add the remaining 50 gr. sugar and stir until the sugar melt and the caramel is dark golden. Remove from the heat, quickly add the nuts and the nibs. Pour it onto the sheet pan and let cool completely. Break into pieces to decorate the meringues.

For the fruit I just cut up some strawberries and pineapple and drizzled them with some honey to taste.

Assemble the Pavlovas:
Do this just before serving.
Set one meringue disk on a plate. Scoop about 1/4 cup of the avocado cream. Spoon some fruit over the cream and add piece of praline to decorate.

This was perfect last night, as it was still over 80 degrees at 8pm, and it finished our dinner al fresco with style, simplicity and a very light feeling both in the stomach and the mouth.

Pear And Blue Cheese Mini Cakes With Cardamom and Rosemary

Let me start by saying "thank you" for understanding my frustration last night and for your support which prevented me from banging my head against the computer screen or eating half the cheesecake I had baked earlier. I love the blogging community because whatever ails you, evening something trivial as losing your post, a lot of you came and offered advice, humor and great relief that I may not be a complete 'puter moron after all!

Now back to our regular programming.

It is no news that I have been hooked on blogging events… like an addict I impatiently await my directives every month and the creative and talented Meeta did not disappoint with her latest Monthly Mingle focusing on savory cakes. I was happy to come up with something that would combine my love of savory and sweet foods. Yes, B. and I do not live on desserts and pastries only….well except on sundays it seems like!

The first time my mom made a savory cake I thought it to be the strangest thing in the world…back then I already knew I would live for all things sweet! She would bake, slice thick and cubes perfect morsels of cakes with ham and gruyere, roasted red pepper and feta, crab and dill, etc…her combinations were endless. They became some my favorite items to make and serve with a glass of wine before dinner, at a cocktail party and other events involving finger foods. I regret not copying her recipe down when I visited this past Christmas and my parents are relax in the Alps I chose not to bither them with such a small inquiry. I figured I could easily come up with my own and so I went googling around. After reading many a savory cake recipe I finally settled on this one.

I already had an idea of what I wanted for this challenge: something sweet, something salty and one or two spices and/or herbs to complement them. I played around for a couple of days and came up with a dozen combinations of fruits such as figs/prosciutto, pineapple/ham, peppers/feta, seafood/mascarpone. The possibilities are endless, limited only by your imagination. I decided upon pear and blue cheese because of their classic sense of companionship. I love cardamom in everything, especially crushed up over roasted pear, and the grassy flavor rosemary goes well with both fruit and blue cheese.Instead of my mom’s usually little cubed morsels, I chose to bake these in regular sized muffin tins.

Pear And Rosemary Mini Cakes With Cardamom and Rosemary, adapted from Regal:

Makes 12 muffin sized cakes

200 gr. flour (about 2 cups) You could use half regular and half whole grain flours.

2 tsp. baking powder

pinch of salt

3 eggs

10 cl. milk

5 cl. olive oil

1 pear, peeled, cored and diced

5 oz. blue cheese, crumbled

1 tsp. ground cardamom (I used fresh green pods that I crushed with the back of my knife)

1 Tb. dried rosemary

In a large bowl, combine the flour, baking powder and salt. Add the eggs, olive oil, and milk and whisk until well combined. Gently fold in the pear, cheese and spices/herbs with a spatula until incorporated.

Pour into muffin tins (use paper molds or grease well), and bake at 350 for 25-20 minutes or until a knife inserted in the middle comes out clear.

Let cool to room temperature.

Notes: baked as the recipe is written, we both regretted not taking a more pronounced stance: sweet or savory. In the morning, I would not mind a little bit more sugar whereas in the afternoon a little bit more salt would be appreciated. I am just so bad at choosing that I have come up with my own solution: a spat of strawberry jam in the morning and a spat of salted butter in the evening.

These are great for a sunday brunch, dinner party and they are great as mid morning or afternoon snacks. They taste fantastic with a cup of tea.

A Mouthful Of A Name…

Pear And Blue Cheese With Cardamom And Rosemary….

Problem is I have just spent the last hour blogging about them and Blogger &%^$$(# lost my post in cyber space and I stared at the error message on my screen cursing in French…

Right now, I don’t have the energy to re-write it….and I am still fuming… give me one hour or a day and I’ll tell you all about them escpecially since I made them for lovely Meeta's Monthly Mingle.

Lazy Sunshine Salad


I told you I had gotten the bug… The second installment of my love for "Verrines" is inspired by this cool little book and my never dying love for blood oranges. When I see them in the store around December-January I tend to buy several bags at a time, that and kumquats…I currently have 8 pounds of the gorgeous beauties sitting on my counter and ideas flying through my mind every minute.

We had company for dinner the other night and flipping through the pages of the book I noticed a recipe for an apple crumble in a "verrine". Just the sight of those juicy cooked apples topped with a cinnamon crumble was enough to make my stomach growl. But I was in the middle of juicing blood oranges, not slicing apples. I did not have the desire to crank the oven on either as it was still pretty warm outside. I started this dessert by thinking "well, I’ll just make a fruit salad and layer it with Greek yogurt and crushed ginger cookies"…but I was lusting after that picture, those nice juicy fruits….and then the Kitchen Fairy kissed me on the forehead and I started whisking some blood orange curd, caramelizing some kumquats…and oops….there you have it.

The blood orange curd is from Sara’s Kitchen, and her blood orange sauce. Thank you Sara!

Layered Fruit Salad, Greek Yogurt, Blood Orange Curd and Caramelized Kumquats, aka Lazy Sunshine Salad :

Serves 4

Fruit Salad:
1 apple, peeled, cored and diced
1 kiwi, peeled and diced
1 banana, peeled and diced
1 blood orange, peeled and diced
zest of 1/2 a lime + juice
1 Tb honey

Blood Orange Sauce:
¼ cup sugar
1 T grated blood orange zest
2 large eggs
2/3 cup blood orange juice

Combine sugar, orange zest, orange juice and eggs in a saucepan. Cook on medium heat, whisking constantly, until sugar is dissolved and the mixture thickens. Let cool to room temperature.

For the cookies: I had a stash of these in the freezer especially to be used crumbled on top of mousses or other creamy desserts, so it was perfect timing, but here is the recipe again:

Double Ginger Cookies, adapted from Cooking Light
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
3/4 cup chopped crystallized ginger (I use 1/3 cup)
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1 1/4 cups sugar, divided
1/2 cup applesauce
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1 teaspoon grated lemon rind
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract

Lightly spoon flours into dry measuring cups, and level with a knife. Combine flours and next 5 ingredients (flours through ground ginger); stir well with a whisk. Make a well in center of mixture. Combine 1 cup sugar, applesauce, and next 4 ingredients (applesauce through vanilla). Add to flour mixture, stirring just until moist; cover and chill dough at least 1 hour. I skip this step and add 1 Tb of water to the dough.

Preheat oven to 350°.Lightly coat hands with flour. Shape dough into 24 balls (about 2 tablespoons each; dough will be sticky). Roll balls in 1/4 cup sugar. Place balls 2 inches apart on baking sheets coated with cooking spray. Bake at 350° for 15 minutes or until lightly browned. Cool 1 minute on pan. Remove from pan; cool completely on wire racks.Note: These freeze well. Place cooled cookies in a heavy-duty zip-top plastic bag; store in freezer for up to 1 month. Thaw at room temperature.
I usually get more cookies, 30 – 32.

Caramelized Kumquats:
Wash and cut in half a pint of kumquats (except the ones I popped in my mouth while cooking)and put them in a heavy saucepan with 1/3 to 1/2 cup sugar, cook over low heat until the sugar is dissolved and all the kumquats are nicely coated with the syrup.

Last step: have fun layering everything in the order you want with some Greek yogurt or fromage blanc or any of your avorite creamy concoctions and top with a layer or blood orange sauce and a few caramelized kumquats.