Early strawberry season means it's time for cake

Posted on June 17, 2012 by bilrob

Early strawberry season means it’s time for cake

I headed straight to my recipe file when I heard a recent news report that Minnesota strawberries are ripening earlier this year. Growers are expecting a sensational strawberry season, with predictions in some parts of the state that picking could begin as early as, well, right now.

My thoughts turned to all of my favorite strawberry desserts. My Auntie Vera’s strawberry shortcake has always been a seasonal tradition, mounds of sweet biscuit dough crumbled into a cereal bowl, topped with slices of fresh, sweet strawberries and whole milk or cream. My taste buds revved up when I thought of the fresh strawberry pie my friend, Micky, used to treat me with when I lived in Fargo. She’d carefully arrange whole strawberries into a baked pie shell, heaping them up with the largest, most beautiful berries on top. Then she poured a sweet glaze over the berries, made of sugar and cornstarch and a couple spoonfuls of strawberry-flavored gelatin.

It seems we all have a favorite strawberry dessert that has become a seasonal tradition. This summer there should be an abundance of sweet, ripe, locally grown strawberries, allowing for all of the old favorites as well as some new ones to add to the recipe box.

Strawberries and Cream Chocolate Roll is reminiscent of the old-fashioned jellyroll desserts, pinwheels of light, airy cake rolled up with jelly. This dessert, though, is a cake roll made with a recipe I got from a family friend when I was in high school. The Ukrainian woman was a fabulous baker and cook. She taught me how to roll up the hot chocolate cake that was baked in a jelly roll pan, using a sugar-coated kitchen towel. The cake was bendable while it was hot. As it cooled in the towel, it took to its new shape, making it very easy to reroll once it was filled. My Ukrainian friend filled her chocolate roll with a coffee-flavored sweetened whipped cream mixture.

Feeling creative, I sweetened some cream cheese and spread it over the cooled cake. I made some strawberry glaze by slightly adapting the recipe used by Micky in her pie. It had been years since I used any kind of flavored gelatin. I thought it a bit strange when the mixture cooking in a pot on the stove became foamy and almost came right over the top of the pot. The cooled glaze didn’t seem thick enough on the first try. I made another batch, increasing the cornstarch by another tablespoon. As it foamed in the pot before I even put it on the heat, I realized my mistake. I had used baking powder, not cornstarch. The baking powder was in a similar container as the cornstarch in my pantry. The third batch of glaze prepared with cornstarch worked like a charm. I can tell you that one (3-ounce) box of strawberry-flavored gelatin will be just enough for three batches of Strawberry Filling.

Later that evening, I discovered the workout pants I’d been wearing all day were inside-out. It was one of those days, I guess.

Strawberries and Cream Chocolate Roll may become a new favorite, maybe even a summer tradition, at your house — no matter which way you’re wearing your pants when you make it. Just be sure to use cornstarch rather than baking powder in the Strawberry Filling.

Strawberries and Cream Chocolate Roll
For the Chocolate Roll:
4 eggs
3/4 cup granulated sugar plus extra for sprinkling
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

For the Strawberry Filling:
2/3 cup sugar
2 tablespoons cornstarch
2 tablespoons strawberry-flavored gelatin
2/3 cup water
2 cups chopped fresh strawberries

For the Cream Filling:
1 (3-ounce) package cream cheese, room temperature
1 1/4 cups sifted powdered sugar

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 15- x 10- x 1-inch jellyroll pan. Line the greased pan with waxed paper. Grease and flour the waxed paper. Set aside.

In a large mixing bowl, beat eggs at high speed of an electric mixer until foamy. Gradually add 3/4 cup sugar, continuing to beat for 5 minutes until mixture is thick and fluffy. Sift flour, cocoa powder, baking powder and salt together. Add sifted ingredients to bowl and blend on low speed. Add vanilla and mix to blend.

Pour batter into prepared pan, spreading evenly. Bake for about 11 minutes in preheated 350-degree oven. Cake should spring back when pressed lightly with a finger.

Sprinkle large, clean linen or cotton kitchen towel with granulated sugar in a 15- x 10-inch rectangle.

Remove cake from oven and immediately loosen from sides of pan and turn out onto sugared towel. Slowly and carefully peel off the waxed paper. Starting at a narrow end, roll up hot cake and towel together. Let cool completely on wire rack.

While cake is cooling, prepare strawberry and cream fillings.

For Strawberry Filling, stir sugar, cornstarch, gelatin and water together in a saucepan. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly until mixture is thick, about 5 minutes. Cool completely, then stir in chopped strawberries.

For Cream Filling, beat cream cheese until fluffy. Gradually add powdered sugar, beating until smooth.

Unroll cooled cake and remove from towel. Dollop Cream Filling over cake and spread to cover. Top with Strawberry Filling, spreading evenly over the cream mixture.

Reroll cake, starting with narrow end. Place seam-side down on serving platter. Cover and chill in refrigerator at least 3 hours and up to overnight before serving. Makes 8 to 10 servings.

Tip from the cook

–I like to refrigerate the dessert overnight for best flavor and easy slicing. An electric knife is a good tool for creating perfect, clean slices of Strawberries and Cream Chocolate Roll.

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Dessert Chef Alice Medrich's Recipe for Grilled Chocolate Sandwiches

Posted on June 6, 2012 by bilrob

PHOTO: Chef Alice Medrich's grilled chocolate sandwiches are shown here.

Dessert Chef Alice Medrich’s Recipe for Grilled Chocolate Sandwiches

Calling all chocoholics… The only thing better than a chocolate dessert is a chocolate dessert that is easy to make.

In her new cookbook, “Sinfully Easy Delicious Desserts,” award-winning chocolatier Alice Medrich cuts the complicated out of baking and offers recipes that turn sophficiated homemade treats into something any chef can tackle.

Here is one of those recipes.

Grilled Chocolate Sandwiches

Makes 2 sandwiches

Crusty, hot, and melty chocolate sandwiches make a decadent snack, but cut into daintier portions and nestled with a scoop of vanilla ice cream, they make a dynamite dessert for company. They’re fun too.

Ingredients:

eggs Unsalted butter

PHOTO: Chef Alice Medrich's grilled chocolate sandwiches are shown here.

eggs 4 slices sweet or sourdough French bread or firm white sandwich bread

eggs About 2 ounces broken or chopped semisweet or bittersweet chocolate, or 1/3 cup chocolate chips
Coarse sea salt (optional)

eggs 1 tablespoon sugar mixed with V teaspoon ground cinnamon (optional)

Directions:

Butter one side of each slice of bread generously. In a skillet big enough to hold them, cook the slices butter side down over medium heat, just until pale gold on one side. Cover two of the slices with chocolate. Flip a naked slice on top, butter side up. Cook, turning the sandwiches as necessary, until the chocolate is softened and the sandwiches are browned on both sides. Serve immediately, sprinkled with a pinch of sea salt or a dusting of cinnamon sugar, if you like.

You can find more of dessert chef Alice Medrich’s favorite recipes and techniques for cooking with chocolate in her new cookbook, “Sinfully Easy Delicious Desserts,” in stores now, and on her website, http://alicemedrich.com/

Chocolate with Bill & Sheila

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Desserts - Apple and Apricots

Posted on April 10, 2012 by bilrob

Desserts Apple and Apricots

We were browsing through our databases this morning, removing duplicate copies and deleting a few recipes that had bits missing, when we came across these two desserts that had not seen the light of day for some time.

Both of these desserts contain our favourite fruits, apples and apricots. We grow these in our garden, so we are always on the lookout of new ways to use them. I think you will also like these two desserts – Apple pie and Apricot cream desserts

HIGH-RISE APPLE PIE

PASTRY
2 ½ cups plain flour
1/3 cup icing sugar
185g butter
1/3cup water, approximately
1 egg white, lightly beaten
1 tablespoon castor sugar

APPLE FILLING
6 large apples, sliced
1/3 cup sugar
½ cup water

CITRUS SAUCE
1/3 cup custard powder
1/3 cup sugar
1 ½ cups milk
1/3 cup orange juice
2 tablespoons brandy
2 teaspoons grated orange rind

Pastry: Sift flour and icing sugar in bowl, rub in butter. Add enough water to mix to firm dough. Roll out two-thirds of pastry on lightly floured surface till large enough to line base and slightly overlap side of a 20cm spring-form tin. Spoon filling into pastry case. Roll out remaining pastry, brush edge of pie with egg white, cover with pastry. Press edges of pastry together firmly, trim. Cut a few slits in top of pastry, brush with remaining eggwhite, sprinkle with castor sugar.

Bake in moderately hot oven 20 minutes, reduce heat to moderate, bake further 30 minutes or until golden brown. Stand 30 minutes before removing from tin. Serve hot or cold with sauce.

Apple Filling: Place apples in saucepan with sugar and water, bring to boil, reduce heat, simmer 10 minutes (or microwave on HIGH for about 5 minutes) or until tender; cool to room temperature.

Citrus Sauce: Combine custard powder and sugar in saucepan, stir in milk and orange juice, stir constantly over heat (or microwave on HIGH for about 3 minutes) until mixture boils and thickens, stir in brandy and rind.

LUSCIOUS APRICOT CREAM

Desserts can be made a day ahead of serving. Recipe unsuitable to freeze or microwave.

1kg apricots
1 cup castor sugar
1 cup water
3eggs
1/3 cup castor sugar, extra
1 tablespoon gelatine
3 tablespoons lemon juice
1/4 cup passionfruit pulp
300mI carton thickened cream

Peel apricots, halve and remove stones. Combine sugar and water in saucepan, stir constantly over heat, without boiling, until sugar is dissolved. Add apricots, bring to the boil, reduce heat, simmer for about 10 minutes, without stirring, until apricots are tender. Remove apricots from syrup, reserve syrup and 8 apricot halves for the top of the dessert.

Blend or process remaining apricots until smooth. Beat eggs and extra sugar with electric mixer or rotary beater in top half of double saucepan or heatproof bowl over simmering water until thick, transfer to large bowl; cool. Sprinkle gelatine over lemon juice, dissolve over hot water, cool to room temperature; do not allow to set.

Stir apricots into egg mixture with gelatine mixture, passionfruit and cream. Pour into a lightly oiled 20cm ring pan, cover, refrigerate overnight. Turn onto serving plate, top with reserved apricots and syrup.

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Barbecue time – Dessert

Posted on April 6, 2012 by bilrob

Barbecue time – Dessert

No matter how much your guests have enjoyed their main meal, they can usually be persuaded to squeeze in a little dessert. Served with coffee, liqueur coffee or perhaps a dessert wine, a sweet offering, whether it be light and refreshing or sinfully rich, is the perfect end to a successful barbecue.

There’s no better way to finish a meal than with a nice dessert. But it’s not much fun for you to have to disappear into the kitchen to slave over dessert while everyone else relaxes outside.

Fortunately, all the dessert recipes in this section can be prepared ahead of time, so that you can have them on the table in minutes.

When entertaining, you need to feel confident that what you are serving will look and taste as good as the dessert recipe suggests, so here are a few tips to help you achieve dessert perfection. If you are making the Fresh fruit pavlova dessert , for example, you will want the meringue to be perfect. There are several methods for making meringue, but you must start with a clean, dry mixing bowl. lt’s best to have your egg whites at room temperature and, if possible, use caster sugar as it dissolves faster than any of the larger crystal sugars.

Beat the egg whites to soft, firm or stiff peaks, as the recipe requires – the aim is to reach maximum volume without overbeating. When you think the meringue is ready, take a little mixture and rub it between your thumb and forefinger. It should feel smooth and slightly gritty; if it’s too gritty it will need extra beating.

Cheesecakes as a dessert can also be an uncertain entity, and it’s often difficult to tell whether they are cooked through. A simple test is to gently wobble the cheesecake with the oven door slightly ajar, leaving the cheesecake in the oven. It should have a slight wobble. If you remove the cheesecake from the oven before it is properly cooked, it will sink. Allow to cool completely before refrigerating overnight for a firm, rich and creamy texture.

Dessert 1 – Key Lime Pie

Spring is here and I can’t think of a better dessert to have then a tart Key Lime Pie. The graham cracker crust is filled with a silky, creamy lime filling that is bright and fresh. The lime zest incorporated into the filling and sprinkled on top of the pie adds an extra pop of flavour, colour and fresh lime aroma. The pie is topped with sweeten whipped cream to help cut the tartness. I think this dessert pie is great for a beautiful spring brunch and would be great for Easter. I plan on making this recipe through the summer months. It’s easy to make; the hard part is waiting for the pie to chill and set up before you devour it!

Ingredients:
1¼ Cup graham cracker crumbs
¼ Cup sugar
5 Tbs melted butter
1 14 oz can of condensed milk
1 whole egg
1 Cup lime juice (key lime juice can be used but keep in mind key limes are tarter and more bitter than regular limes. You can cut the amount of juice down to ½ Cup for the recipe)
zest of 1 lime

Whipped Cream:
1 Cup heaving whipping cream
3-4 Tbs of powdered sugar (depending on how sweet you like it)
1 tsp vanilla
Garnishes: lime zest and lime slices

Directions:
• Preheat oven to 350° F.
• In a medium bowl, combine graham cracker crumbs, sugar and butter. Press the mixture into a 9 inch pie or tart pan. Place pie pan on a baking sheet and bake until golden brown, about 10 minutes. Remove from oven and let crust cool to room temperature.
• In another bowl, whisk together condensed milk and egg until smooth. Add lime juice and zest and whisk until combined and smooth. Gently pour filling into cooled pie shell (on baking sheet) and bake on the middle rack for 15 to 18 minutes until center of pie has set. Remove from oven and cool pie on rack and then chill in the refrigerator for at least two hours. Top with whipped cream and garnish with lime zest and slices.
Whipped Cream:
• In a large, deep bowl, add heavy whipping cream, powdered sugar and vanilla. Using an electric hand mixer whip the ingredients together on medium high speed for 7 to 8 minutes until it begins to hold stiff peaks.
Enjoy!!

Source: Kitchen Runway.com

Dessert 2 – New York Cheese cake

1/2 cup self-raising flour
1 cup plain flour
1/4 cup caster sugar
1 teaspoon grated lemon rind
80 g butter, chopped
1 egg

FILLING
750 g cream cheese, softened
1 cup caster sugar
1/4 cup plain flour
2 teaspoons grated orange rind
2 teaspoons grated lemon rind
4 eggs
2/3 cup cream

CANDIED RIND
1 cup caster sugar
rind of 3 limes, 3 lemons and
3 oranges, shredded
1 1/2 cups cream

1 Sift the flours into a large bowl, and add the sugar, lemon rind and butter. Rub in the butter with your fingertips until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs. Make a well in the centre and add the egg. Mix with a flat-bladed knife, using a cutting action, until the mixture comes together in beads. Gently gather the dough together and lift out onto a lightly floured work surface. Press together, wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 20 minutes, or until firm.

2 Preheat the oven to hot 210°C (4l5°F/Gas 6-7). Roll the pastry between 2 sheets of baking paper until large enough to fit the base and side of a greased 23 cm round springform cake tin. Ease into the tin and trim the edges. Line with a piece of crumpled baking paper and pour in some baking beads. Bake for 10 minutes, then remove the baking paper and beads and flatten the pastry lightly with the back of a spoon. Bake for a further 5 minutes. Allow to cool.

3 To make the Filling: Reduce the oven to slow 150°C (300°F/Gas 2). Beat the cream cheese, sugar, flour and rinds until smooth. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating after each addition. Beat in the cream, pour the filling over the pastry and bake for 1 hour 25-35 minutes, or until almost set. Cool, then refrigerate.

4 To make the Candied Rind: Put the sugar in a pan with 1/4 cup water and stir over low heat until dissolved. Add the rind, bring to the boil, reduce the heat and simmer for 5-6 minutes. Allow to cool and drain the rind (you can save the syrup to serve with the cheesecake). Whip the cream, spoon over the cold cheesecake and top with Candied Rind.

Dessert 3 – Tiramisu

3 cups strong black coffee, cooled
¼ cup dark rum
2 eggs, separated
250 g mascarpone
g 1 cup cream, whipped
20 large sponge finger biscuits
2 teaspoons dark cocoa powder

1 Combine the coffee and rum in a glass or jug.

2 Using electric beaters, beat the egg yolks and sugar in a small bowl for 3 minutes, or until the mixture is thick and pale. Add the mascarpone and beat until the ingredients are just combined. Using a metal spoon, fold in the whipped cream.

3 Using electric beaters, beat the egg whites until soft peaks form; then fold quickly and lightly into the cream mixture with a metal spoon.

4 Dip half the biscuits, one at a time, into the coffee mixture. Drain off any excess and arrange in the base of a serving dish about 20 x 25 cm and 6 cm deep. Spread half the cream mixture over the biscuits.

5 Dip the remaining biscuits into the coffee mixture and repeat layering with the biscuits and cream mixture. Smooth the surface with a spatula and dust with cocoa powder. Refrigerate for at least 2 hours to allow the flavours to develop (best refrigerated overnight). Serve with fresh fruit.

Dessert 4 – Fresh Fruit Pavlova

4 egg whites
1 cup caster sugar
1 1/2 cups cream, whipped
1 banana, sliced
250 g punnet strawberries, sliced
2 kiwi fruit, sliced
pulp from 2 passionfruit

1 Preheat the oven to slow 150°C (300°F/Gas 2), Line a large oven tray with non-stick baking paper and draw a 20 cm circle on the paper. Beat the egg whites with electric beaters in a large dry bowl until soft peaks form. Gradually add the sugar, beating well after each addition. Beat for 5-10 minutes until all the sugar has completely dissolved.

2 Spread the meringue mixture onto the tray inside the marked circle. Shape the meringue evenly, running the flat side of a palette knife along the edge and over the top. Run the knife up the edge of meringue mixture, all the way round, making furrows. This strengthens the pavlova, stops the edge crumbling and gives it a good, decorative finish.

4 Bake for 30 minutes, or until pale and crisp. Reduce the heat to very slow 120°C (250°F/Gas 1/2) and bake for a further 10-15 minutes. Turn off the oven and leave the pavlova inside to cool, using a wooden spoon to keep the door ajar. Top with whipped cream and arrange with fruit. Drizzle with passionfruit pulp.

Desserts with Bill & Sheila

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Great dessert recipes for the slow cooker

Posted on February 22, 2012 by bilrob

This apple dessert was cooked in a slow cooker.

Great dessert recipes for the slow cooker

Cooks who employ a slow cooker are well aware of the appliance’s time-saving ability and ease of use for all-in-one recipes, soups and even breakfasts, but they also can be used to turn out a variety of dessert.

Stacey Swafford of Cleveland, Tenn., uses hers to create Slow Cooker Baked Apples for small dinners, Sunday morning breakfast and Christmas brunches.

“I can start them [earlier] in the day,” she said, “and by the time dinner is done, dessert is ready when we are. I also enjoy making them for breakfast by starting them on Saturday night for Sunday morning breakfast.”

Bevelle Puffer of My Family Dinners, a Hixson business that offers meal-assembly dinners, said she has not delved into any desserts but finds slow-cooker meals a great way to save time and put a healthy meal on the table for the family to enjoy together.

“If you know your morning will be too busy to put the ingredients together for the Crock-Pot,” she said, “put it all together the night before and just dump into the Crock-Pot before you leave for work. Or put together a meal, freeze it and save for that day that you know will be incredibly busy. The frozen ingredients can go into the Crock-Pot on low, and by evening, dinner is done.”

Some months ago, Connie Eldridge, a member of Soddy United Methodist Church, contributed a recipe for Triple Chocolate Mess to the congregational newsletter.

The dessert, which uses a chocolate cake mix, instant chocolate pudding and chocolate chip morsels, results in a spoonable gooey chocolate cake with chocolate icing.

Paired with vanilla ice cream, the dessert is similar to the Hot Fudge Cake that Shoney’s restaurants have served for years.

Triple Chocolate Mess

1 box chocolate cake mix (not pudding cake)

1 pint sour cream

1 small package instant chocolate pudding

1 6-ounce package chocolate chip morsels

3/4 cup oil

4 eggs

1 cup water

Spray Crock-Pot with nonstick spray. Mix all ingredients and put in Crock-Pot and turn on low. Cook for 61/2 hours. Do not open lid while cooking. Serve with vanilla ice cream.

– Connie Eldridge

Slow-Cooker Baked Apples

4 baking applies, cored but left whole

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1/3 cup brown sugar

4 tablespoons butter

Place apples in slow cooker, making sure each is standing on the bottom of the slow cooker. Combine cinnamon and brown sugar. Stuff equally into the cored-out center. Top each apple with 1 tablespoon butter. Cover. Cook on low 4 hours or overnight for breakfast and a wonderful-smelling kitchen

– Stacey Swafford, Cleveland

Key Lime Cake

1 box lemon cake mix

1 box lime gelatin

3 eggs

11/2 cups unsweetened applesauce

1/2 cup orange juice

6 tablespoons confectioners sugar

1/2 cup lime juice

Icing

8 ounces cream cheese, softened

1/4 cup butter, softened

2 cups confectioners sugar

3 tablespoons lime juice

Spray slow-cooker liner with nonstick spray. Mix the first five ingredients and pour into slow-cooker liner. (Yes! It’s green!) Cook on low for 2 hours, or until a toothpick stuck in the center comes out clean. Turn off the slow cooker. Mix 6 tablespoons confectioners sugar with 1/2 cup lime juice. Poke holes all over the cake with a toothpick while it’s still in the slow cooker. Pour the lime juice mixture over the top, and let the cake cool. Mix the frosting ingredients. Turn the liner upside down on a serving plate to remove the cake from the liner. Frost the cake.

— Hopealicious.blogspot.com

Dessert Recipes with Bill & Sheila

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How to jazz up your Christmas pudding

Posted on December 31, 2011 by bilrob

How to jazz up your Christmas pudding

By Samuel Muston

Christmas pudding divides people like a festive game of Monopoly. For some, the steamed mound of dried fruits and brandy is the embodiment of the festive season.
Nothing can match its extravagant booziness, its weightiness, and its entrance, aflame, to the dining table. It is, to them, a bells-and-whistles dessert.

For others, and I count myself among them, it is less inviting. It is simply an excess on top of an excess, like putting icing on top of a cream cake. After a lunch consisting of pâté or soup as a starter, turkey and all the trimmings, roast potatoes and a small reservoir of bread sauce, why would you eat a Christmas pudding so dense that you can cook it with a coin in the centre without it having any discernible ill-effects?

So I put up with the arctic cold to visit Gü desserts’ development kitchen in Walthamstow, North-east London. For today I will be creating my own Christmass dessert. With the help of Gü’s head chef, Fred Ponnavoy, formerly of Cecconi’s in Mayfair, I will be whipping up a special version of Gü’s new Christmas dessert: a festive chocolate bauble. A strange confection consisting of a football-sized perspex sphere filled with chocolate and all things indulgent, which Ponnavoy has been working on in his kitchen for 11 months.

The idea came to Ponnavoy at the Gü Christmas party last year. “I’d filled all the baubles on the tree at the party with chocolates and sweets for people to take away at the end of the night. Everyone loved it. So I thought, “why not go one better and create a Gü alternative to Christmas pudding and why not just put it in a bauble?”

The result, sitting before me on the stainless steel worksurface, is half way between a trifle and a bombe. Multi- layered, with 65 per cent cocoa chocolate ganache giving way to dark mousse with an inch-thick base of raspberry or cherry compote. It is decadent and rich but not heavy, which is exactly what Gü wanted. Today, though, it won’t be the standard product we’ll be making.

This afternoon, Ponnavoy and I will be tweaking the recipe slightly. Creating 10 special edition, never-to-be-remade Independent Gü Christmas baubles, signed by me and yours for the winning if you take part in the Gü competition on this page. But, the question is, what should the Independent bauble have in it? It needs to be unusual – independent, even – but still gooey enough to be Gü. So out goes the raspberry compote and in comes my own personal fruit favourites: Alphonso mangoes and passion fruit. Both fruits are mixed and made into a zesty compote.

Now what to put on top of that? We rule out a layer of chocolate sponge as a little jarring. A version made from desiccated coconut, however, seems to strike the right tropical note. The mousse has to be milk chocolate, dark being overwhelming for the mango – so an inch of it forms our third layer. At the moment with it’s cloud-like, airy surface it looks like a chocolatey trifle. What’s really missing is the layer of Gü chocolate ganache on the top – so on it duly goes. The five Christmas trees that stick up from the top are the crowning touch, rising from the surface like a coronet’s rays.

It looks, if I do say so myself, pretty. And the taste – gooey, chocolatey and with alternating treats on every level – is as indulgent as you’d hope a Christmas dessert to be, but without the Christmas-pudding heaviness that makes you take to your bed post-lunch. As Ponnavoy points out it’s fun, a conversation-starter. “We want the baubles to be a treat, something fun. What we didn’t want was for it to be heavy and stodgy like a Christmas pudding. It is something you can enjoy even after Christmas lunch, and yours, I think, will be especially light.”

But what if you don’t win a bauble, have a chef with Michelin-star experience and half a hundredweight of chocolate to hand? Well, to see you through the festive period Fred and his staff have created three Christmassy treats that are long on wow factor and short on heaviness. Check them out below; you won’t find a sixpence anywhere.

DELICIOUSLY DIFFERENT CHRISTMAS DESSERTS
COCONUT SNOWBALL PROFITEROLES

18g water
185g whole milk
160g butter
5g salt
5g caster sugar
210g flour type 45 (or plain)
7 eggs
200g whipping cream
20g caster sugar
1 tin of coconut milk
Dessicated coconut to dust

Bring to the boil water, milk, butter, salt and sugar. Add flour and stir to a paste with spatula. In a mixing bowl using the spatula incorporate the eggs bit by bit until the mixture forms soft peaks. Pre-heat the oven at 230C. Form them into profiteroles on a baking tray, place in the oven then it switch off for 10-12 minutes. Then switch back on again at 160C for around 10-15 minutes. Keep in an airtight container.

To make the chantilly cream, whip the cream with the sugar until it forms soft peak consistency.

For the coconut snow, open and pour the liquid coconut milk into a container. Freeze. When needed, pass through a food processor to create the snow.
Serve straight away or keep frozen and serve when required

To assemble, cut the choux pastry in half, place the bottom of the choux on a plate. Using the back of a spoon, spread the Chantilly cream on the top part of the choux, coat with dessicated coconut.

Pipe some coconut snow on top of the bottom part of the choux, place the top half on top and press gently. Serve at the table and pour some warm Gü chocolate ganache all around it.

EXOTIC SNOWBALL MERINGUES WITH FRUIT SALAD

2 egg whites
100g caster sugar
100g icing sugar
1 mango
Half a pineapple
2 passion fruit
Mango sorbet

To make the meringue, whisk the egg whites on a low speed to create an even structure. Add the caster sugar gradually until the mixture resembles shaving foam. Using a spatula, incorporate the icing sugar. Spoon the meringue inside a dome mould (Flexipan) making sure to create a cavity. Cook at 95C for 50 minutes. Leave to cool and carefully demould. Store in an airtight container.

Peel and cut the pineapple and the mango into small cubes. Cut the passion fruit in two and squeeze them on top of the pineapple and mango. Keep refrigerated until needed. To assemble, place a dome of meringue on to the plate and fill with some of the fruit. Using a piping bag with a nozzle, pipe some mango sorbet into another dome of meringue. Place it on top of the other dome to close the snowball. Serve straight away and pour some mango coulis around it at the table in front of your guests.

MULLED WINE GRANITA

1 bottle of red wine
2 orange peel
2 cloves
1 cinnamon stick
1 vanilla pod
Sugar

Cut and grate the vanilla pod, mix all the ingredients together and bring to simmer. Cool down, sieve and pour into a dish. Freeze. Agitate into a granita just before serving. Would go well with Gü’s hot chocolate soufflé.

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Italian desserts

Posted on August 22, 2011 by bilrob

Italian desserts

The regional cuisine of Italy is surely a delight to the senses. With the pasta, seafood, savoury meats and cheeses, and delicious crusty breads, it is hard to stop yourself from eating until you are packed full. However, if you do not remember to save a little room, you may miss out on the best part: dessert. No one does desserts quite like the Italians. From simple fruity finger foods to savoury layered tortes, the Italian’s make desserts for every palette. From the chocolate lover to someone looking for something lighter and more refreshing, you are sure to find something to your looking in an Italian bakery.

One of my favourite Italian desserts has been a staple of my Grandmother’s dessert table at holiday dinners for as long as I can remember. The best part is that it is something that I was always able to help with. Stuffed dates were always a task that the kids could do, by simply taking the pre-sliced dates and stuffing about a tea spoon full of cream cheese into them and then dotting them each with a pecan, we could be happy to know we had helped. Even if we ate a date or two along the way.

A variation on these desserts, which are popular in Milan takes a little bit more grown up help. After the dates are stuffed with the cream cheese, a grown up can dip the date into a mixture of bittersweet chocolate and milk and then let them harden. The product is a delicious, almost candy-like concoction that appeals to the sweet and the salty taste buds.

There are desserts that many people take for granted. Rice pudding, for example, is one of the simplest pleasures for Italian households. Milk, sugar, rice, and cinnamon are the staples of this favourite, but it can be substituted to taste with extra sugar, honey, nutmeg, or raisins. My personal favourite is with extra cinnamon and dried cranberries. Another simple that many people forget about, or perhaps even loathe, is the Panettone, otherwise known as fruit cake. A staple on many Christmas tables, the Panettone has gotten a bad rep in the United States, perhaps because of its strong Anise taste. When done right though, a Panettone can be truly delightful.

Other than the cannoli, the most popular of Italian dessert is undoubtedly Tiramisu. This alcoholic spongy cake has taken the world by storm with relatively young origins. No one seems to know exactly how the Tiramisu was invented, or by who. What does seem to be agreed upon is that it was invented sometime in the 1960s in the Veneto region of Italy. The ingredients of Tiramisu are basic, but everyone seems to do it a little bit different. Mascarpone, espresso and zabaglione cream make up the complimentary tastes of this delicious dessert, but it would be impossible to create without the base of savoiardi cake, otherwise known as lady fingers. These spongy biscuits make trouble for pastry servers with their delicate spongy nature, but like all Italian desserts are well worth the trouble.

by: Kirsten Hawkins

If you need the recipe for the fabulous version of Tiramisu shown at the top of this page, follow the link below to Bill and Sheila’s Cookbook Dessert section where you will find dozens of dessert recipes as well as the Titamisu.

Desserts – with Bill & Sheila

Decadent Chocolate Dessert Recipes: A Celebration

Posted on July 13, 2011 by bilrob

Decadent Chocolate Dessert Recipes: A Celebration

People now days have little time to cook decent meals for themselves and their family let alone find the time to make a dessert of any kind. There is however nothing better than enjoying a home-made dessert and what with the huge selection of dessert, especially chocolate dessert, recipes to choose from it is easier than you think.

Although a lot of them aren’t too bad, we are not talking about boxed cake or cookie mixes here. Home-made chocolate dessert recipes will take some time to prepare and a little more time to perfect but the effort will be well worth it. Just take a quick look at some ideas you may never have even thought of before.

• Apple Chocolate Chip Dessert Pizza
• Black & White Chocolate Tartlets
• Chocolate And Peanut Butter Blondies
• Black and White Chocolate-Dipped Strawberries
• Chocolate-Almond Ice Cream Roll
• Chocolate Fudge Squares with Mocha Glaze
• Chocolate Waffles With Coffee Syrup
• Chantico Chocolate Cake

There are hundreds of chocolate dessert recipes and they will have all your taste buds begging for sweet release. It’s a dieter’s worst nightmare and once your appetite is satisfied your teeth will be left aching with mischievous pleasure.

You’ll find chocolate recipes for every occasion, from simple, quick dessert recipes to elaborate treats that will have everyone eating out of the palm of your hand. Whether you’re planning for your next dinner party or want a simple recipe the kids will enjoy, nothing says decadence like a chocolate dessert.

Working with Chocolate

Did you know different types of chocolate require different methods for cooking, and when melting chocolate it is best to use a metal spoon as wooden and plastic spoons retain moisture that will cause the chocolate to seize?

Many dessert recipes will require you to melt chocolate in a double boiler. This is really easy to set up. All you need is a glass bowl big enough to hold the chocolate and at the same time fit into the top of a sauce pan without touching the bottom. In the sauce pan you simply boil water and then place the bowl of chocolate pieces on the top of the pan, stirring constantly until the chocolate is smooth.

Fresh fruit can be a perfect and light ending to any meal. You can give it that little something extra and have melted chocolate on the table to dip the fruit into. Satisfy everyone’s taste buds.

If you want delicious dessert recipes as well as the quickest and easiest way to make them without spending hours in the kitchen, just type ‘chocolate dessert recipe’ into your preferred search engine.

Decadent Chocolate Dessert Recipes: A Celebration

Posted on July 4, 2011 by bilrob

Decadent Chocolate Dessert Recipes: A Celebration

People now days have little time to cook decent meals for themselves and their family let alone find the time to make a dessert of any kind. There is however nothing better than enjoying a home-made dessert and what with the huge selection of dessert, especially chocolate dessert, recipes to choose from it is easier than you think.

Although a lot of them aren’t too bad, we are not talking about boxed cake or cookie mixes here. Home-made chocolate dessert recipes will take some time to prepare and a little more time to perfect but the effort will be well worth it. Just take a quick look at some ideas you may never have even thought of before.

Working with Chocolate

Fresh fruit can be a perfect and light ending to any meal. You can give it that little something extra and have melted chocolate on the table to dip the fruit into. Satisfy everyone’s taste buds.

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