Daring Bakers’ challenge: Pomegranate Crostata

I spent the day with my good friend K., who I’ve known for many years, maybe a good 8, although I’m not quite sure, time is flying and I tend not to litter my memories with facts and figures. It’s just one big Proust-like stream of consciousness that delights at odd, unplanned times. I’m afraid that if I catalogued happy memories, I’d access them to the point of rendering them mundane. So it is. My friend and I came together to catch up and engage in a bit of consumerism this Black Friday. To kick off the day I hosted a brief tea at my home and served mini crostatas, layered with cream cheese and pomegranate puree. I am very lucky to have received a visit from my pomegranate fairy C. (thanks C.!!) recently. So, I will be infusing everything with the fruit for a couple of weeks to come.

I was recently visited by the pomegranate fairy, C.

The crostatas were inspired by this month’s Daring Bakers’ challenge, which incidentally is due, so to speak, today! The 2010 November Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Simona of briciole. She chose to challenge Daring Bakers’ to make pasta frolla for a crostata. She used her own experience as a source, as well as information from Pellegrino Artusi’s Science in the Kitchen and the Art of Eating Well.

My crostata shells, which I blind-baked before filling w. cream cheese and pomegranate puree and a 2nd baking session

The tart recipes Simona provided were with eggs, so I had to make a few substitutions to my own recipe, because any of you who follow the Veggie Test Kitchen know that I am obsessed with making tarts. I altered my classic tart recipe by simply adding powdered sugar, lemon zest and vanilla extract. I am not a big fan of sweet pastry crusts, so I added only 1/4 cup of the sugar.

The star of this crostata (Italian for ‘tart’) was the pomegranate puree I used as the top layer. This was an experiment that consisted of blending pomegranate seeds. I bet on the idea that blending long enough would pulverize the seeds. That didn’t exactly happen. During my attempt to strain the mush I ended up with a small shot of pure pomegranate liquid that I surely couldn’t bake. So, I drank it. And it was so much better than the bottles of ‘pure’ Pomegranate juice that I usually buy. I saw the leftover mush and thought, great, good as jam, right? Wrong, somewhat anyway. The seeds weren’t so bad (they survived largely crushed), and the crostata was great! I will have to figure out a way to really pulverize the seeds for the future. Other than that, I’d say this was a hit. The classic Italian crostata is made with a layer of fruit preserves much like my attempt here. I like the idea, and am glad to have added it to my tart repertoire.

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Oreo Chocolate Truffles

I’ve been randomly watching too many videos on tempering chocolate and other wonderful confections recently. My goal is to chart a serious course in the wonderful world of chocolatier-ing at some point in the future. The whole process. Down to the beans. This is a dream I guess you could say. I’ve been thinking about this recently. If there were no limits to what you could spend your life and days doing, what might you do?? Without a doubt, I would spend my mornings making pastries and confections in some well-light Parisian kitchen. I would have a fail-proof recipe for eggless double-decker macaroons that taste not much different from the wonderful goodness on display at Ladurée down the way. I’d spend my nights with the expats, and my vacations scouring the world, Indonesia, Ecuador… for the best cocoa crops. I’d retire to trading beans on the exchanges, and probably die as fulfilled as one can be after a life on earth. Maybe writing it down counts for something to the universe?? One can only hope, I suppose.

Making truffles in my little kitchen is a humble attempt into this world, and at that Oreo ‘truffle’s. A gateway to the gateway you could say. If oreo truffles could even be called truffles is suspect, as they lack the central tenet of truffle-ism, which is to possess a ganache heart. We can leave tradition and let it slide for the moment, as we’re currently spending our days in the States, which is about innovation and evolution, and lexical violations that might inspire people to venture in their kitchens with a smile are OK.

Ruminations aside, these are tremendously easy to make for those of you out there who may be thinking this is something you just cannot do at home due to the mess factor, the burning chocolate factor (this is real, and a menace, I have burned holes through many storage apperatusses due to overheating chocolate), or any other factor. It requires simply, one pair of hands, a double boiler, oreos, cream cheese and semi-sweet baking chocolate. The recipe I used is quite widely disseminated over the web. I think that maybe the only unique aspect in my go at it is that I chose to coat my truffles in melted dark chocolate. For the oreo truffle, many people choose to coat in melted white chocolate. If I were to do it again, which I definitely will, I would never again coat truffles in melted chocolate. I am going to get creative with the powder coatings. It’s the cleanest, most presentable method, and further, truffle centers tend to be quite rich so coating them with a powder would result in a more balanced finished piece.

Oreo Chocolate Truffles
(makes 20 two-bite pieces)

21 oreo cookies (do not get the double-stuffed stuff), uniformly crushed
4 oz of full-fat cream cheese, at room temperature
1 cup of semi-sweet chocolate baking chips

Mix the crushed oreos and the cream cheese with your hands until both are thoroughly incorporated. You should be left with a ball that looks like stiff mud. Roll out small balls with a melon scoop or with your hands. You should end up with about 20 small balls (as pictured). In a double boiler (or in the microwave, but be careful if you plan to use a microwave, as chocolate heats very quickly. I would suggest using a glass bowl and zapping at 15 second intervals, stirring in between), melt your chocolate chips until smooth, stirring consistently. Turn off the heat and dip your oreo balls in the melted chocolate. Lay the truffles on wax paper to harden. You can garnish your truffles with toppings before they set. Refrigerate for about an hour to allow the truffles to set. These can be stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to one week.

Cheers.

Pomegranate Carrot Cake

Thanksgiving inspires a plethora of wonderful side and dessert recipes. Having a stronger sweet tooth, I’d say, my attention is always immediately drawn to the cakes I see. Cake recipes, pictures, descriptions, you name it. I’m all over cakes. One of the cakes I’ve been meaning to check off of my To Do list most recently is the Carrot Cake. It seems like such a natural idea to make a vegetable cake in the wintertime, I don’t know why. It’s kind of the same weird inclination that makes you want to eat fruit in the summertime, just a body clock thing I suppose.

While researching a good Carrot cake recipe, and eggless mind you, I noticed that a good number of recipes tend to mix a fruit juice into the batter. I’ve so far seen orange juice, pineapple juice, and applesauce used. In an effort to use what I have, and to put a personal spin on the dish, I ended up squeezing some pomegranate seeds to make a few teaspoons of pure juice that I put into my cake batter. In keeping with the pomegranate accent, I filled the center of the cake with pomegranate seeds. It’s a very interesting cake. And most importantly, MOIST. I’m very pleased with this cake, and plan to make it many times again in the future. 

Carrot and Pomegranate Cake
(makes two mini 2-layer cakes, or alternatively one 9-inch round cake pan. I make my mini layered cakes by baking in crème brûlée dishes)

1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 tbsp flax-seed powder mixed in with 3 tbsp warm water (this simulates the inclusion of one egg)
1/2 stick of butter, room temperature
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup sour cream
1/4 cup milk
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup sugar in the raw
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup shredded carrots
2 tsps pure pomegranate juice

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.

Mix the dry ingredients (flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, salt) in a bowl.

In a separate, and large bowl, heat your butter for about 15 seconds in the microwave. To this bowl, add the wet ingredients (flax-seed ‘egg’, brown sugar, sugar in the raw, vanilla extract, milk and sour cream). Mix until all of the ingredients are thoroughly incorporated.

Slowly add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients while mixing. Once thoroughly incorporated, add the carrots and pomegranate juice.

Pour the batter into a greased and floured 9-inch round cake pan, or 4 crème brûlée dishes.

Bake on 350 degrees for about 30 minutes or until the cake(s) is(are) able to pass the toothpick test.

Garnish with cream cheese frosting & 1 cup chopped walnuts

Cream cheese frosting
(from Breakfast Lunch Dinner Punch)

4 oz cream cheese
1/4 cup butter
1/2 lb icing sugar
1 tsp vanilla essence

Beat ingredients together until fully incorporated.

If looking for a quick fix for the topping, try my lazy trick of mixing 1 part ready-made frosting with 3 parts cool whip. The cool whip acts to tone down the sweetness of the ready-made frosting. You can control the level of sweetness by adjusting the ratio of cool whip/ready-made frosting accordingly.

Coconut Macaroons

Coconut macaroons, finished product

I tend to like my desserts less sweet, and almost bordering on savoury (hence my obsession with tarts). However, for the sake of expanding my range of baking knowledge, I made these macaroons for the first time a few months ago. While I was practically indifferent to them (and as a result ended up giving most away), I received rave reviews. Go figure. So, for a recent celebration of exchanged desserts I was asked to make the macaroons, and so I did (even though I would have preferred to make a tart!!).

For those of you scared of baking, know that these are incredibly easy to make and almost hard to ruin. I’m more of a hybrid baker-cook, so following directions to a T isn’t really my thing. I like to have a roadmap but improvise along the way. As a result, I end up excelling, I guess, at baking items that don’t require absolute precision. This is one of those items. Classic macaroons are a different story, but the coconut variety just require 4 ingredients (5 if you count salt), a fork, bowl, oven and baking sheet. Very simple.

Coconut Macaroons
(makes two full size baking sheets)

-1/4 cup of flour
-2.5 cups of shredded coconut
-1 can of sweetened condensed milk
-1/8 tsp vanilla extract
-1/8 tsp salt

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Mix all of the ingredients in a large bowl, combining the dry ingredients first. Bake for about 20 minutes or until the bottoms show golden brown (it will be very apparent).

Note: be very careful if you plan to use a dark or black baking sheet. I wouldn’t use a black baking sheet at all. The bottoms almost certainly will burn. Another issue of importance is using a surface that won’t cause the macaroons to stick. The last time I made these I used wax paper as a buffer between the baking sheet and macaroons. But this didn’t solve the problem entirely, as I was still left with a few messes across my batches. This time I was lucky to have my new silicon baking pads, which are amazing. They require no cooking spray, wax paper, etc. and the macaroons slipped off easily.

what the macaroons should look like before going into the oven

Peanut Butter Pie

We entertained a few international house guests this past weekend. In an attempt to contribute a bit of American flair to our Friday night dessert I made a Peanut Butter Pie. Admittedly, I did not come up with this idea on my own. My roommate bought a pre-made pie crust a while back (not the graham cracker kind), and I’ve been trying to figure out what to do with it ever since. Whenever I want a ‘pie’ I usually make a tart! So, this pre-made crust has kind of been a burden lingering in the refrigerator.

The foodbuzz network has a database of recipes which I used to skim through looking for anything I had all the ingredients to make, which left only (sad, I know) Peanut Butter Pie. In the end, I used the following recipe (link), which isn’t from the foodbuzz network, go figure. This peanut butter pie tastes a bit like a frozen version of the peanut butter part of a Reese’s pieces peanut butter cup (mouthful isn’t it). I garnished with shaved truffles, but you can always go heavier on the chocolate contribution. A little extra chocolate never hurt This is probably the easiest dessert I’ve ever made. I think it took a full 15 minutes, if even, not including the time to freeze.

Peanut Butter Pie
(makes one 9-inch pie)

1/2 (4oz) a pack of cream cheese at room temperature
3/4 cup confectioners’ sugar
1/2 cup peanut butter
1/2 cup milk
1/2 (8oz) package frozen whipped topping, thawed
1 pie crust (graham cracker is preferred)
handful of shaved chocolate truffle shavings
 
Beat the cream cheese, sugar, peanut butter and milk until smooth. Fold in whipped topping. Pour into pie shell. Cover and freeze until firm.

B’s Perfect Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

My friend B and I plowed through a marathon baking session this weekend, making three batches of goodies:

1. Rustic Goat cheese Apple Walnut tart
2. Pomegranate Melting Moments cookie sandwiches
3. B’s perfect oatmeal chocolate chip cookies

This session was not without purpose. I hadn’t seen my friend in a while and we kind of bond over a love of food given our shared vegetarian diet constraint. So, now that I have this ongoing project of cooking/baking new things, we thought it would be cool to center a night around baking. The weather has been so depressing recently that it just felt right to hole up inside and whip up endless trays of warm, hearty treats.

So, the first of the treats was a variation of the rustic tart I’ve been very openly obsessed with posting here for the past few weeks. This might actually be my 9th tart in the span of like 20 days or something similarly strange. My inspiration here was the abundant apple supply we have here at the house, and a cylindrical block of honey goat cheese I picked up recently. For the tart crust (see my earlier post for the recipe and step by step), I substituted white flour with whole wheat as my ‘experiment’. It was NOT good. The classic sensational pleasures of the tart (flaky, butter goodness) were killed with this crust. My hunch is that in order to adapt the whole wheat to parallel the experience of the white flour crust, much more butter will need to be added, in addition to other substitutes that I honestly hadn’t looked into at the time. The whole thing was a bit cardboard-like and not picture worthy, although I managed to salvage a shot from my recycle bin to post here in case you’re interested. For the base I spread a layer of honey goat cheese, then followed with sliced apples and a brown sugar/chopped walnut topping. 

Oh, another thing worthy of noting here is that the pictures featured in this post are the first I’ve taken using a backdrop!! The reason I decided to go this route is because the overcast depressing winter sky is rendering all times of day unworthy of shooting with natural light!! Not to mention we baked all these goodies at night, so using a backdrop (in this case white) is the closest I was able to get to simulating mid-day. I will most likely expand my repertoire of backdrops and venture into props for your amusement. I’m sure staring at white space is going to get boring over time =)

Back to the food, the second batch of goodies was a spin on Liv Life’s Passionfruit Melting Moments. Her pictures were amazing and made me want to get my hands on those cookies. My attempt here is a version that replaces about 3/4 cup of pure pomegranate juice for the passionfruit juice that the original recipe calls for. The recipe is exactly the same otherwise. The extras I will note here are that the recipe only makes about 6 cookie sandwiches (if you decide to go down the road of filling) and that I would aire on the side of cooking them longer, like 15 minutes minimum, with an eye on them for the remainder. My result was delicious. The cookies really do just about melt in your mouth, likely attributable to the combination of corn starch and powdered sugar. My hunch is that it’s possible to make these cookies gluten-free all the way. It’s going to require some experimentation and research. In the meantime, I don’t really plan to make these cookies for a while. I’d say I had my fill. I realized in the course of sampling that I’m not really a cookie person. Maybe there is a petite French woman inside of me somewhere, but I don’t like my desserts too sweet, and definitely prefer a cake or a tart any day. 

Okay, now to the amazing cookies…

Whenever we do potlucks, my friend B brings the most amazing oatmeal chocolate chip cookies. I’ve always had her near, so I’ve had the luxury of being complacent in learning to bake them myself. But since I’m now interested in learning to cook and bake wild storms, I had to learn to make these cookies. There is a bit of a chemistry experiment involved, but don’t let that derail you. They are, for the most part, easy enough and they are delicious crowd pleasers.

B’s Perfect Oatmeal Chocolate Chip cookies
(from a Reader’s Digest best of issue many years ago, makes about 24 cookies)

1 cup soft butter
1 cup brown sugar
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 cup boiling water
1 tsp vanilla
1 + 1/4 cups flour
1/2 tsp salt
2 cups quick oats
12 oz chocolate chips (I like bittersweet, the original recipe calls for semi-sweet)

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.

Cream the butter and sugar together. In a separate vessel, dissolve the baking soda in boiling water. Stir this into the creamed butter/sugar mixture. Add the vanilla and dry ingredients to the mixture. Finally, add the chocolate chips. Drop small balls on an ungreased cookie sheet. Bake at 350 degrees for 10-12 minutes.

Chocolate layer cake adorned w. molded chocolate collar (Vegan)

I have been spending a bit too much time on baking desserts recently, and tend to use these sorts of dishes as bookends to my day. This simply means that I eat cakes and tarts for breakfast and then go back for a 2nd dosage at the end of the day for dessert. In the meantime, I’ve been kind of preoccupied with some issues here and haven’t been eating good foods throughout the day, in the pages so to speak. I noticed that I’ve been very lethargic over the past few days and I need to stop this spiral!!! So, I am going on a fruit and veggie diet for the next week. Check back for some interesting recipes (maybe?). Although, this week is about practicality, so I won’t be focusing on creativity, just getting back to nourishing my brain and my body! So, please enjoy this last sweet treat before my mini hiatus =)

Cherry Tea Cakes recently posted an awesome piece on chocolate collars with a how-to video link (see below). This inspired creativity is why I love the foodie community. The chocolate collars are molded chocolate strips that frame the outside of the cake to give it that ‘someone cared enough to dress me up and I belong in a serious pastry case’ look. I generally don’t bake without a couple of days notice, but after seeing this video and having recently vowed to make a vegan chocolate cake, I just got up and started baking within minutes, literally.

The vegan chocolate cake is a special calling, as I generally find the cakes I get from vegan restaurants to be dry and uninteresting. They make me wish I hadn’t entertained the idea of cake at all!! I decided to start with a basic recipe online. It’s pretty classic and posted just about everywhere (the one requiring vinegar). I made two small two-layer cakes, and only decorated one with the collar, the other is still waiting for my creative hand to receive inspiration from somewhere!!

The cake was, unfortunately, dry!!! I plan to try an applesauce or chocolate pudding variation in the future. In the event that it’s just impossible to produce a moist vegan cake (this just can’t be!!), layering is an excellent tactic. The more layers, the better. If one can construct multiple, perhaps 4+ thin layers sandwiching frosting, this would be optimal, as the cake layers would be too thin to detect the dryness, and that dryness would be infused with the moistness from the frosting. It would be sensory confusion, at least we can hope. For the frosting I just used a pre-made container, as I was kind of thrown off guard by this experiment and didn’t have vegan cream cheese on hand.

Making the collars

Note on the chocolate collar: the one I did here (pictured below) has what you can call a very ‘rustic’ look to it. I didn’t take much care to ensure the chocolate was spread evenly in making the collar, which is key if you are going for a very refined and classic look. I was just experimenting, and I quite like the rustic look. Taste wise, chocolate collars don’t add too entirely much to a chocolate cake. It does, however, add a variety of texture, which is paramount to inspired creative cuisine. I think taking this to the next level would involve flavored chocolate collars (think mint, cayenne pepper, etc..). Check out the video (below) for directions on construction.

When constructing the collars, start here. The cake should be lightly frosted so that the molded collars will stick to the sides of the cake.

              For a cake this size you will need only a handful of chocolate chips (I used Ghirardelli dark chips). I heated them in a microwave in my glass tart dish, originally trying this experiment with tupperware. FAIL!!! Within one minute the thing was fried and the chocolate had died, leaving an ugly stench in its wake. So, if you do go the microwave route, stick to a very durable dish, porcelain preferably, and keep your eye on it like a hawk. You’ll want to warm the chips until they’ve just begun to melt. They will still retain the general shape of the chips, but that’s fine. Once you stir them, the mixture will become smooth, and if not, just keep zapping them at 15-ish seconds. It’s better to be cautious with chocolate!

Vegan Chocolate cake:
(makes two mini 2-layer cakes)

3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/6 cup unsweetened cocoa
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1/4 cup coffee (at room temperature)
1/3 cup soy milk
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 tsps vinegar

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Mix all the dry ingredients. It’s best to sift them so as not to let pass any dry clumps. Add the wet ingredients (sans vinegar) and mix with a fork until fully incorporated. Once incorporated, mix in the vinegar. Bake in a 350 degree oven for 25-30 minutes.

Rustic Walnut Plum Tart

Rustic Walnut Plum Tart

This tart was a milestone for me. Tarts were one of my biggest culinary fears. Now that I’ve plowed through that barrier and seen how easy they can be to make (maybe not easy, but doable for sure), I have so many ideas for others, including mini rustic tarts, savory tarts (like this goat cheese and tomato tart) and the like. 

Overall, this tart was a success. I served it with the coconut-chocolate truffle ice cream that I made the night before. With the tart, I made the mistake of adding too much of the dry sugar mixture to the top. It was so dense that the plums didn’t absorb it all and I had to keep adding additional butter cubes to the topping during the baking process. This is why the top of the tart looks kind of grey instead of showing the concentric pattern of the plums, which I meticulously cut and arranged. 

Otherwise, the tart was perfection. I even got a rave review from my toughest critic (the mother, who is quick to point out every flaw…ex) once I served a friend a mini blueberry pie that I made, and she said to him ‘do you like it? i didn’t like it. i thought the dough was too soft’) who found me the next day to discuss which other fruits I might be willing to make tarts out of for her. 

To make the rustic beauty, I combined two recipes from the web (here and here): 

Rustic Plum Tart
(makes about 6 servings) 

Tart crust/shell:
1 + 1/2 cups all purpose flour, plus extra for the work surface
1/2 cup butter (cut into 1/2 inch pieces)
1/2 tsp salt
3 – 6 tbsps ice water 

Filling:
3 large plums
little less than 1/2 cup raw cane sugar
1 tsp ground cinnamon
3 tbsp all purpose flour
1 handful of chopped walnuts 

To make the tart shell:
Using the pastry blade in a food processor, combine the flour, sugar, and salt. Add the butter, and blend in the processor until the mixture resembles coarse meal. Slowly add the water, 1 tbsp at a time. Only add enough for the dough to hold together without becoming wet (it should look like the picture to the left). Pulse just until dough begins to hold together. Turn dough out onto a clean surface. Gather into a ball and flatten into a 6-inch disk. Wrap in plastic wrap and chill for 1 hour. 

While the dough chills, prepare the fruit filling. Cut the plums into 1/2-inch-thick wedges. In a separate bowl, combine and mix the raw sugar, cinnamon, flour and chopped walnuts. 

Preheat oven to 425°. Roll out the dough on a floured surface to make a 12-inch round about 1/4 inch thick. Transfer to dough (this might be tricky, that is why it is imperative that your surface is beyond well-floured) to a wax paper lined baking sheet. 

Sprinkle 1/3 of the dry sugar mixture on the dough circle, leaving a clean border of about 2 inches all around. Arrange the plum slices in concentric circles on top. Sprinkle the remaining sugar mixture and top with butter (as shown). 

 

Bake until the crust is deep golden brown and fruit is bubbling (this can take anywhere from 30-50 minutes). Once removed from the oven, set the tart on a wired cooling rack. 

Video: Inspiring composition (Parisian desserts)

I found the link to this short video (2:42) on Sweet Freak’s site and it made me think about how someone might justify the seemingly superficial world of food of this calibre, not just sweets, but the full range of high-end food. So, there is the most apparent argument, that is: we are what we eat, and by extension if we fill our bodies with thoughtful, high-quality ingredients, the machines that are our bodies, will function at full capacity, all things being equal (e.g. exercise as a form of machine maintenance). I would agree with this thought, but it doesn’t wholly apply to consuming the high-end of the spectrum that concerns itself with composition as much as flavor and quality. The most valuable element of the experience for me is that I simply derive inspiration from witnessing and consuming an artistic plate that is both composed impeccably and that tastes amazing. Why? Someone held themselves to a very high standard to create this plate, so by virtue of consuming that plate, I am consuming excellence. So, it isn’t about the wheels of my body being greased in the best oils, but about my mind consuming inspiration from the full sensory experience of the meal. It keeps me inspired and creative, which evolves into a form of joy as I practice this creative excellence in my own kitchen. The creative excellence, along with the joy that practicing it brings, becomes part of me and I carry it with me beyond the bounds of my kitchen.

Consuming the excellence inspires me to pursue my own excellence, and so I feel obliged to sponsor these innovators.

Reflection aside, this video carries a high dosage of food porn. If you at all love Paris, macaroons, the Ladurée tea room at Harrods, lingering in the windows of pastry shops, etc. then you will love this video as much as I do!!

Coconut – Chocolate Truffle Ice Cream

Coconut - Chocolate truffle ice cream, served w. rustic plum tart

I have another solution for the west coast heat: homemade coconut ice cream, laced with chocolate truffle shavings. I love chocolate chip ice creams but when the chips are just frozen chunks of chocolate, you know the variety that sticks in the crevices of your molars for a few minutes, I consider that an inconsiderate oversight on the part of manufacturers. So, for this recipe I shaved chocolate truffles into the batch. It was all made in my kitchen, using my good old arm (getting older every day =() in place of an ice cream maker. The prospect of doing this yourself may seem daunting, but it’s actually easy, surprisingly so. All you’ll need is a mixing bowl (preferably steel so that you can freeze it) and a Saturday (you’ll need to devote a good ten minutes to the project, spaced out over a 4hr period). The recipe I used is adapted from David Lebovitz’ Coconut saffron recipe: 

Coconut – Choco Truffle ice cream
(makes 4 small servings…anything smaller than an overflowing bowl is ‘small’ where ice cream is concerned) 

1 cup coconut milk (canned stuff will do the trick)
2/3 cup half and half (the original recipe calls for heavy cream, but I like to keep it light wherever I can)
1/4 cup raw cane sugar
shavings from 2 chocolate truffles 

Freeze your steel bowl. Bring the coconut milk, sugar and half and half to a boil. Reduce heat, then simmer on low for about 10 minutes. Pour the mixture into the frozen steel bowl, then refrigerate until thoroughly chilled (this should take about 1.5 hrs). Transfer the bowl to the freezer.

here you can see how the outer edge is frozen

After 30 min, check on the mixture. The sides should be beginning to freeze. Whisk the mixture to break up the ice crystals forming on the sides and throughout (you can also use an electric beater). Put the mixture back in the refrigerator for another half hour. Repeat this process at least three times. On the 3rd or 4th time transfer the mixture to a storage container and freeze overnight. The ice cream will be ready to serve the next day!!

Almost vegan, but not quite. The compromise of using coconut milk and half and half resulted in an ice cream that is very quick to melt once spooned into a bowl. It might be better to go the sorbet route for the vegan option, until becoming comfortable enough with non-traditional ingredients that act in place of creams and eggs. I will experiment with real ice cream, e.g. good and fatty cream based ingredients in the future. So, stay tuned for that. 

ALSO: I almost forgot!! The Culinary Physics lectures mentioned in The future of Food have begun, and are available to watch during the live stream hosted from Harvard’s website on Monday nights @ 7pm EST. The next lecture will be streamed on Monday, October 4th and is called Heat, Temperature and Chocolate. Can’t wait!!

Two-tiered mini Birthday cake (low fat) w. Basil cream cheese frosting

I’m awful at remembering significant dates, so when I overheard my brother wishing my mother a Happy-Early-Birthday-b/c-I’ll-forget-to-call-you-on-the-actual-day I figured I’d need to whip up baked goods quickly. I settled on the easiest cake recipe on earth, followed up w. a cream cheese frosting (b/c it’s my favorite). And for sure I knew I was stuffing fruit into the center of this thing, since we’re slightly health-conscious here. Since I know that berries are wonderful w. basil I took the risk of making my cream cheese frosting basil infused. It turned out wonderfully. The basil/berry pairing is so refreshing that I’m planning basil/strawberry cupcakes before the end of fall when the angel of death will claim my poor plant.  

The cake:
Makes 4 two-tiered mini cakes

1 box of Butter flavored cake mix
330 ml of Perrier (make sure to use an unopened bottle)
4 tbsps of butter (melted, still slightly warm), this can be substituted w. olive oil to cut down on the fat, although sometimes you just need to enjoy your butter

Beat the cake mix and Perrier together. Add the melted butter. I like to use warm butter b/c this makes the batter thicken a bit while you’re mixing it.  Add the batter to 8 small, well-greased baking pans. I like to use these crème brûlée dishes; they’re the perfect size and can withstand the heat. Place the baking dishes on a large baking sheet. Bake on 350 degrees for 15-22 minutes (until golden brown and when an inserted toothpick comes out clean). 

Basil Cream-cheese frosting:
This recipe should frost two cakes, you can double this recipe if you’re cooking all 4 mini-cakes at once. I tend to make two-mini cakes (requires the cake recipe to be halved) at a time.

8 oz of low fat whipped cream cheese
1 cup of powdered sugar
1 tbsp of vanilla extract
handful of fresh, finely chopped basil

Whip the ingredients together with a fork.

It doesn’t get much easier than this. Assembly isn’t too tricky either. When slightly cooled, turn over the baking dishes, and carefully remove the cakes to place on a cooling rack. Once cooled, place a cake on your serving dish, top w. a layer of the frosting. Add a layer of your berries. Frost one side of another cake and then place the frosted side on top of the berry layer. Then frost the top and sides to your taste. Leaving the sides unfrosted gives the cake an interesting strawberry shortcake/french pastry hybrid look.

Eggless Tiramisu

I loved having tiramisu before I went eggless. Thanks to the lady fingers this dessert is now off limits in restaurants, but a simple substitution using Nilla wafers brings this surprisingly easy to make favorite to the home. Being able to whip up a good range of tasty eggless desserts at home gives you something wonderful to come home to after a long meal out  

Tiramisu:
8 oz. mascarpone cheese
1/2 standard container of Cool Whip
1 tsp. vanilla extract
2 tsp. cane sugar
1/2 box of Nilla wafers
1 cup of coffee (refrigerated)
1 tsp instant coffee
1/2 cup of shaved truffles (a good dark or milk chocolate will work also, depending on your tastes…as long as you’re happy)

Mix the mascarpone, Cool Whip, vanilla extract, sugar and instant coffee. Soak the Nilla wafers in the refrigerated coffee, and layer them in your dish as the base layer. Spread half the mascarpone/Cool Whip mixture over the soaked Nilla wafers. Add another layer of the coffee soaked Nilla wafers, followed by a final layer of the mascarpone/Cool Whip mixture. Refrigerate for a good 3-4 hours; the longer it sits, the better the flavor. Just make sure that your refrigerator is clean ;). Top with the shaved truffles before serving.

Note: Nilla wafers aren’t very porous. They don’t manage to pick up the coffee flavor too well. So, if you’re looking for a really strong tiramsu, where coffee is concerned, I would suggest adding a good quality instand coffee (ha, if that’s possible!) to the mascarpone/Cool Whip mixture.

Vegan twinkies!!!

I’ve been waiting for so long to make these, along w. homemade ice cream, but that’s another day. The cake recipe used is not from scratch, but it’s a great time-saving and lowfat trick. So, here it is:

Vegan twinkies
makes about 16 twinkies
equipment needed: cream canoe baking pan

1 package of Butter flavored or sponge- cake mix
1 can or 330ml of carbonated soda (I use pomegranate soda, but it doesn’t matter what you use, the flavor doesn’t make it thru)
1/2 cup of all purpose flour

For the creme I used this recipe for vegan buttercream frosting

Beat the ingredients until they form a smooth batter. Add the batter to the well oiled baking pan and bake in 350 degree oven for 18-22 minutes. Make three injections on the bottom side of the cakes with the creme (you can make an injection device easily by filling a ziploc bag w. creme and cutting off a corner tip).

Banana Nut Loaf

We’re a bit obsessed with bananas here, and this past weekend bought way too many. So as they’re ripening faster than we can eat them, we decided to bake them in a cake. My mom is a great improviser in the kitchen, and it doesn’t always translate well in the oven. But, these banana cake loaves were excellent. This recipe is very easy to make, based on her much loved walnut cake –the recipe of which is written down nowhere, except maybe tattooed on the inside of her brain somewhere– and follows below.

Banana Nut Loaf
makes 4 small loaves

Ingredients:
4 small ripe bananas (or 3 large ripe bananas)
2 tbsps melted butter
3/4 cup milk
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/8 tsp cinnamon
1/2 cup sugar
1 & 1/2 cup flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 pinch of salt
1/2 cup chopped walnuts

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In a large mixing bowl, mash the bananas. Add all the wet ingredients (butter, milk, vanilla extract, cinnamon, sugar), and mix well with a large fork until smooth. Add the dry ingredients (flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt). Continue mixing the batter until smooth. Fold in the walnuts. Pour the batter into four 6×4 (or two 9×5 pans) loaf pans and bake for 25-30 minutes.