Nutella-Banana Pudding Parfait

I don't think any lengthy story about pudding, it's relatively simple to make and it goes with any season.  It's a comfort food in our house and we love creamy pudding of any flavor but I think Nutella-flavored pudding ranks high in taste and popularity.  I paired it with banana pudding, which has all-natural flavor and none of the yellow coloring.  These two puddings go well with crumbled graham crackers for added crunch.  Alternately layer the puddings in a serving dish, voila, you have a parfait.

Banana Pudding

Makes 4 cups

2 small ripe bananas, about 12 ounces

⅓ cup sugar

2 ½ cups whole milk

3 tablespoons cornstarch

½ teaspoon salt

¾ cup cream

2 large egg yolks

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

In a 3-quart saucepan, thoroughly mash together the bananas and sugar.  Pour in the milk.  Warm over medium heat almost to boiling (the surface of the milk should quiver and vibrate).  Turn off the heat.

Puree the banana-milk mixture in a food processor or blender.  Pour it back into the pan and warm it for 3 to 5 minutes over medium heat, until bubbles for around the edges and the center of the milk is vibrating.  Turn off the heat.

Put the cornstarch and salt in a medium bowl.  Slowly whisk in the cream, making sure there are no lumps. Whisk in the egg yolks.  It is important that this mixture be as smooth as you can make it.  (To be really sure, reach into the bowl and gently rub out any lumps.)

Pour a ladleful of the hot milk into the bowl with the slurry.  Whisk vigorously to combine.  The mixture should come together smoothly, with no lumps.  If you see any, add a little more liquid and whisk them out.  Pour this mixture back into the pan slowly, counting to 10 as you do and whisking constantly and vigorously.

Turn the heat back on to medium.  Work all the angles of the pan, and scrape the bottom.  It will take 2 to 5 minutes to bring the custard to a boil, with large bubbles that slowly pop up to the surface.  Boil, whisking constantly, for 2 minutes.  Turn off the heat and stir in the vanilla.

Immediately pour the custard into a shallow container.  Place plastic wrap or buttered wax paper directly on the surface to cover it, and refrigerate for 2 hours, or until fully chilled.  

Nutella Pudding

Makes 4 cups

3 tablespoons cornstarch

½ teaspoon salt

1 cup cream

2 egg yolks 

2 cups whole milk

¼ cup sugar

¾ cup Nutella

½ teaspoon vanilla extract

Put the cornstarch and salt in a medium bowl.  Slowly whisk in the cream, making sure there are no lumps. Whisk in the egg yolks.  It is important that this mixture be as smooth as you can make it.  (To be really sure, reach into the bowl and gently rub out any lumps.)

Whisk the milk and sugar over medium heat in a 3-quart saucepan until bubbles form around the edge of the milk and the entire surface begins to quiver.  Turn off the heat.

Pour 1 cup of the hot milk into the bowl with the slurry and whisk vigorously to combine.  They should come together smoothly, with no lumps.  If you see any, add a little more liquid and whisk them out.  Pour the tempered slurry back into the pan slowly, counting to 10 as you do and whisking vigorously.

Turn the heat back on to medium.  Work all the angles of the pan, and scrape the bottom.  It will take 2 to 5 minutes to bring the custard to a boil, with large bubbles that slowly pop up to the surface.  Boil, whisking constantly, for 2 minutes.  Turn off the heat and stir in the vanilla.

Put the Nutella in a bowl and ladle in about 1 cup of the hot pudding.  Whisk until smooth, then add the Nutella mixture back to the pan.  Whisk until thoroughly combined, add the vanilla, and stir.

Immediately pour the custard into a shallow container.  Place plastic wrap or buttered wax paper directly on the surface to cover it, and refrigerate.  This pudding is firm enough to be eaten warm after 30 minutes or so in the refrigerator.  

Source:  Bakeless Sweets byt Faith Durand

Christmas Almond Truffle Bars

I finally had a time to bake sweets for Christmas...ah, the joy of having two-week break from work.  It gave me a motivation to bake, it prepared me to be ready for Christmas.  Thus the sweet is aptly named Christmas almond truffle bars.  I've made this actually years before, don't remember anymore if I've ever blogged about it; but it doesn't matter, does it?  A recipe is a recipe; especially this type of recipe, everyone are always happy to be reminded to use it again.

I have big plan to do during the break, aside from doing some shoot for work that is.  I'm hoping that will be done quickly so I can focus on baking leisurely.  My mom also wanted to do baking together with me, so why not make several if time allows.  My plan is to try making panettone and stollen before Christmas.  It's an ambitious plan, isn't it?  I mentioned this plan with two of my walking partners, and they all said that these two bread were basically fruitcakes because they contained candied fruits!  I was mad at them in a good way, trying in vain explaining that they were different.  One of them was a performer and she just did a Christmas show which she sang about fruitcake in it.  Nobody likes them, there are  suspicious things in fruitcakes, and those funky stuff stuck to your teeth.  She is a funny gal and I still like her despite our different food preferences.

For now, let's have this recipe written down.


Christmas Almond Toffee Bars

Makes one 13 x 9" pan

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

For the crust:

2 cups vanilla wafer cookies, crushed

1/4 cup brown sugar

1/3 cup unsalted butter, melted



For the caramel:

1 stick (1/2 cup) unsalted butter

1/2 cup brown sugar



For the topping:

1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

1/2 cup bittersweet chocolate chips

2/3 cup chopped almonds

------------------------------------------------------------------------

Preheat oven to 350°F; butter a 13 x 9" glass baking dish.

Process vanilla wafers in a food processor until smooth. Combine the crushed cookies with 1/4 cup brown sugar and 1/3 cup melted butter in a big bowl.

Press the mixture into the prepared dish, tamp it down with bottom of a glass or a measuring cup. Bake for 8 minutes, or just until set.

Meanwhile, heat 1 stick butter and 1/2 cup brown sugar in a small saucepan over medium heat; stirring to blend. Bring mixture to a boil and boil 1 minute without stirring.

Immediately pour the mixture over the cookie crust, then return the dish to the oven. Bake an additional 10 minutes, remove and cool for 2 minutes.

Combine both chocolate chips in a bowl and sprinkle them over the toffee and let stand until they're glossy, about 5 minutes. Spread the chocolate over the toffee using an offset spatula, then sprinkle the nuts on top. Tap the nuts down with your fingers so they will adhere better to the chocolate. Cool bars completely.

Remove the toffee from the pan. To break it into pieces, cut with a sharp knife into bars.

Source: adapted from Holiday Cookies by Cuisine At Home

Bittersweet Truffle Tart

I shared this tart with my Bunco friends a few weeks ago. Rich, chocolaty, and creamy; those three words pretty much summed up the end result.

There's so much to write but I'm still finding the time; it's been a long week and busy month.  I'll leave with a recipe to share, though.  Until later.

Bittersweet Truffle Tart

Makes 10 servings


2/3 cup all-purpose flour

1/2 cup powdered sugar

1/2 cup ground blanched almonds

6 tablespoons butter, softened

1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

1 1/4 cups whipping cream

12 ounces bittersweet or semisweet chocolate, chopped

1/4 cup granulated sugar

1/4 cup strawberry jam

Whipped Almond Mascarpone, recipe follows

Bittersweet or semisweet chocolate shavings (optional)


Preheat oven to 350°F.

For crust: In a large bowl, combine flour, powdered sugar, ground almonds, butter, and cocoa powder. Beat with an electric mixer until combined. Knead gently with hands until mixture comes together. Press dough onto the bottom and up the sides of an ungreased 9- or 9 1/2-inch fluted square or round tart pan that has a removable bottom or a 9-inch pie plate.

Bake for 12 to 14 minutes or until crust is slightly puffed. Cool in pan on a wire rack.

In a medium saucepan, combine whipping cream, the 12 ounces chocolate, and granulated sugar. Cook over medium heat just until chocolate is melted, stirring occasionally. Transfer to a medium bowl; whisk in strawberry jam. Cover and chill about 1 hour or until mixture is cooled and slightly thickened, stirring occasionally.

Beat cooled chocolate mixture about 30 seconds or just until the color lightens slightly. Pour into crust, spreading evenly. Cover and chill about 2 hours and until firm.

Prepare Whipped Almond Mascarpone. Using a small sharp knife, gently loosen edges of crust from side of pan. Remove sides of tart pan. Spread the whipped mascarpone over top of tart. If desired sprinkle each serving with chocolate shavings.

Whipped Almond Mascarpone: In a medium bowl, combine half of an 8-ounce carton mascarpone cheese, 2/3 cup sugar, 1/3 whipping cream, and 1/8 teaspoon almond extract. Beat with an electric mixer on medium speed until smooth. Beat on high speed until mixture is thick and holds firm peaks.

Source: Holiday Baking Better Homes and Gardens 2008

Pumpkin Chiffon Cake

I fell in love the first time I saw it.  Maybe you are sick of pumpkin by now, but it is only the second week of November, and Thanksgiving is only two weeks away.  I am just trying to make it relevant :)  So, I made pumpkin chiffon cake.  I did not realize that I actually like light and airy cake like chiffon better than any other cake.  The light texture was fooling me by thinking that since it is weighed next to nothing I could eat a few slices at one time.

The flavor of the pumpkin was subtle, the way I like it and it did not need any more adornment other than a sprinkling of confectioners' sugar.  It was quite the best of chiffon cake I have ever tasted.  The cake in the pictures looked deflated in the middle because I had to take the pictures the day after, but do not be discouraged, the taste was still terrific.

Head over to this site, where you will find the recipe.

Nutella Brownies--Bake sale #2

Who doesn't like brownies?  There are people who like them fudgy, then there are who like them cakey.  I like my brownies kind of in between, because when it gets too fudgy it has become a fudge instead of a brownie :)

Who doesn't like Nutella?  Though it's not the healthiest food on earth, it has become a favorite in the US recently.  I've eaten Nutella since I was young so nothing could take away my habit of eating it.  Slather it on toasted bread or bagel, it's a perfect after work snack for me.

This brownies recipe combine the best of the two flavors together.  Add chopped hazelnuts in it, you may find it more irresistible to eat just one bar.  Good luck keeping it intact in whole!

Nutella Brownies

Makes 16 brownies



3/4 cup all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

3/4 cups hazelnuts

1/2 cup unsalted butter

2 ounces unsweetened chocolate, finely chopped

1/4 cup Nutella

2/3 cup sugar

2 large eggs, lightly beaten

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/2 tablespoon hazelnut liqueur (Frangelico), optional



Preheat oven to 350 degree F.  Line an 8-inch square pan with foil, leave extra foil overhanging on two sides of pan, grease the foil and set aside.  Combine the flour, baking powder, and salt in a small bowl.

Toast hazelnuts in the oven until fragrant, about 10 minutes.  Immediately dump them in a clean kitchen, let cool for 10 to 15 minutes.  Rub hazelnuts vigorously with towels to remove skins.  Some skins will still stick to the nuts, which is fine.  Roughly chop, and set aside.

Fill the bottom of a double boiler with 1 inch of water and bring to a simmer over medium heat.  Combine the butter, chocolate, and Nutella in the top double boiler.  Whisk the mixture occasionally until it's completely melted.  Set aside to cool slightly.

Whisk together the sugar and egg in a large bowl.  Using a wooden spoon, stir in the chocolate mixture and the vanilla, then stir in the flour mixture until just incorporated.  Stir in the chopped hazelnuts.

Pour the batter into the prepared pan.  Bake for 30 to 35 minutes, or until just set.  Cool completely in the pan on  a wire rack.  Lift brownies out by the foil and cut into 16 squares.



Source:  adapted from The Only Bake Sale Cookbook You'll Ever Need by Laurie Goldrich Wolf and Pam Abrams

Everybody eats an apple cake

I really shouldn't post an apple cake when it's not in season anymore.  Sure, you could always eat apples all-year round nowadays; most of the apples come from growers in Washington states, which is close enough to Oregon that I could say it's coming from local--meaning Northwest area.  But these photos have been sitting in my hard drive, neglected, because I have some other things to do; like birthday and anniversary :)  I intend to post this and one more recipe before I'm leaving for Indonesia in less than two weeks.  It's hard to imagine-- a trip that's been occupying my mind, and my hubby's for a year--is finally approaching its date of departure.  I'm quite happy, actually; a trip to somewhere warm, humid, with lots of tropical delicacies will recharge my body and mind.  Quite the opposite of what's happening right now, with the rain still coming down in Oregon.  Some time in the following week, the weather will hopefully change its course to more summer-like climate.

I'm still writing and taking photos, some last minute assignments before the big day, one that I really have to finish a few days before the dateline.  Having a deadline is something that I have to get used to, for almost fifteen years my life hasn't had a deadline before.  Well, except for wanting to have a child, that is--but its deadline wasn't set by me either--when it happened, I thought my deadline was over.  So, yeah, this is totally new, the deadline is real and set according to the calendar :)

There's no deadline for making apple cake, that's for sure.  Anytime you feel like you want to eat one, you can make it.  Except maybe the apples won't be as tasty as in season ones.  This cake's title is Everybody's Jewish Apple Cake from Marcy Goldman's book, A Treasury of Jewish Holiday Baking; an easy cake for weekday baking.  I love everything that is Jewish food, especially it's bread recipes.  In fact, I just recently made a variation of this apple challah again, I love getting my hand all floury from making it.

There's nothing spectacularly special about this cake, but when it's served warm and just came out of the oven, maybe your heart will melt and you say yes, I will make this again and again.

Just An Apple Cake

Makes 10 to 12 servings



8 cups peeled and sliced apples (a mix between sweet and tart apples such as Cortland, McIntosh or Golden Delicious)

2 cups sugar

1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

3/4 cup vegetable oil

3 eggs

1 cup fresh orange juice

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1/4 teaspoon salt

2 teaspoons baking powder



Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.  Grease a 10-inch springform pan.

In a large bowl, toss the apples with 1/2 cup of the sugar and the cinnamon.  Blend the oil with the remaining sugar.  Beat in the eggs, then the orange juice and vanilla.  Fold in the flour, salt, and baking powder to make a smooth, soft batter.

Spoon half the batter into the prepared pan.  Top with the apples, then the remaining batter.

Bake until the cake is crusty and set on top, about 45 minutes.  Cool on rack.  Serve warm.

Back from the beach, Zabaglione cheesecake, and Indulge summer edition

Today I got back from the beach, it's always good to walk in to my own home.  It's really home sweet home.  My family loved the time we spent at the beach, the location of where we stayed was perfect.  Siletz Bay is a quiet place to have a weekend getaway that my husband said that we should go back more often to the area to explore it.  I'm all for it!  My husband had a great birthday celebration, it's the way he'd like it, just us and his best friends.  My son also had a blast, I let him stayed up late for two nights, way up late, but he amazingly could sleep with the noises the other two boys made.  After two nights of late night sleep, too much laughs, food, and walking around the beaches, I'm ready for a quiet week.  Unfortunately, this week till the third week of June, mine would be busy.  I'm ready to spill an introduction of what my life would be in the next few months.

Early on this year, I was approached by the editor of Indulge magazine.  Indulge is an online publication from Zupan's grocery store, which is a locally owned in Oregon.  To my surprise, she liked what she saw and read in my old blog.  I was asked if I wanted to write for them for the summer edition, recipes and photos, the whole work.  I could hardly believe my ears, me?  I was starting to know my way around photographing food, to make it the way I wanted it to represent my style.   But I'm still making mistake and thus, still learning with each photo I make for my blog.  Of course, I then said yes :)  Why would I want to pass this opportunity?  If I screw up, then the worst thing that'd happen was that she'd say no.  My first assignment was making pizza, complete with the dough and basic tomato sauce recipes, along with three pizza recipes and an introduction.  This week the magazine is up and running, looking at the recipes and my name on them make me feel so proud of myself, so relieve that finally someone pays notice, so happy that I could cry any time I see my name in it.  Ever to correct myself though, I still think that I could do better with the photos, which I would do it on the next issue :)  The link for the magazine could be accessed here by clicking on the image.

So, what's next for me?  I'm going to do some other shoots they asked me to do and also a few recipes to make and photos to shoot; all has to be done before I'm going for my vacation towards the end of June.  I'm feeling a bit overwhelmed, no surprise there.  Not since I graduated from college that I have to do something that has dateline, this is one of the thing that I have to get used to.  I'm pretty good at pacing myself and I hate to procrastinate so finishing early is no problem for me.  It's the execution and photo shoots that still get me doubting myself.  Plus, imagine finding fresh produce many months ahead before the intended season arrives, it's not easy to find.  I'm praying that one thing that I need to make will be available within the next two weeks, or I'll be toast!

Leaving that thinking for a while, I will share a cheesecake recipe that I tried a while back.  No, this was not something I made for my wedding anniversary; I didn't have time to make one myself but my friend bought us a cake to beach for us to enjoy.  I just need to write it down right now before time is running out for me.  This cheesecake was so good with cherry kirsch sauce or chocolate fudge buttercream.  To make cherry kirsch sauce, simply simmer 1 cup of cherry juice from jarred sour cherries along with 2 cups of the cherries.  Add 1/2 cup of sugar and 1/2 cup of kirsch, cook until the syrup becomes thick and reduced to about 1/2 cup.  Voilà, you'll have cherry-kirsch sauce good enough to eat with every slice of cheesecake.  The other thing that was good paired with the cheesecake was truffle fudge topping which I will share here too.

Zabaglione Cheesecake

Makes 12 to 16 bars



For the crust:

2 1/2 cups almond biscotti crumbs

1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted

For the filling:

2 packages (8 oz. each) cream cheese, softened

1 lb mascarpone cheese

3/4 cup granulated sugar

1/4 cup all-purpose flour

3 eggs

2 egg yolks

1/4 cup Marsala wine

2 teaspoon vanilla extract



To make the crust: Line a 13- x 9-inch pan with aluminum foil and grease the foil with butter.  In a bowl, combine biscotti crumbs and butter.  Press into bottom of prepared pan and freeze.

To make the filling: In a mixer bowl fitted with paddle attachment, beat cream cheese, mascarpone cheese, sugar and flour until very smooth, for 3 minutes.  Add whole eggs and egg yolks, one at a time, beating after each addition.  Mix in wine and vanilla.  Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F.

Pour over the frozen crust, smoothing out to sides of pan.  Bake in a preheated oven until top is light brown and center has a slight jiggle to it, 45 to 55 minutes.  Let cool in pan on a wire rack for 2 hours.  cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 6 hours before cutting into bars.  Serve with cherry-kirsch sauce or truffle fudge frosting with lots of chocolate shavings.

Truffle Fudge Frosting

Makes about 2 1/2 cups



12 oz. milk chocolate, chopped

6 oz. bittersweet chocolate, chopped

1 cup plus 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened

In top of double boiler over simmering water, melt milk and bittersweet chocolate, stirring until smooth.  Let cool until no longer warm to the touch.

In a mixer bowl fitted with whip attachment, beat butter and melted chocolate on medium speed until uniform in color, about 3 minutes.  Place bowl in the refrigerator for 10 minutes to firm the frosting.  Return to the mixer and beat until fluffy, about 2 minutes.

Decorate the cheesecake any way you want it with the frosting!



Source:  adapted from The Cheesecake Bible by George Geary

Coconut and Pineapple Sundaes

Why is it that when people think of coconut and pineapple, they'll think of tropical island? I guess because coconut trees grow along the beach on tropical islands, and the closest tropical island to mainland US is Hawaii where there's a lot of pineapple grown so people put that two together constantly.  Personally, when I am looking for tropical flavor I will look in rambutan, guava, star fruit, and papaya among many others.  But sadly, finding those fruits in the US are hard and when they're available the prices are exorbitant.  So, I make do with coconut and pineapple to chase away my tropical blues.

The idea of making this sundaes came from two sources, one was my ice cream making book and the second one was from Sunset magazine.  I modified some ingredients and a refreshing concoction was made.  The coconut ice here is lighter than coconut ice cream since there's no custard base to make.  By sauteing pineapples in butter, I was able to bring out the sweet, mellow taste of them; they're then doused with a bit of rum to heighten the flavor.  In the end I included toasted shredded coconuts and lime zest to make this duo come together.

Coconut Ice

Serves 4 to 6



2/3 cup water

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1-14 oz. can coconut milk

1 tablespoon butter

2 cups fresh pineapple chunks

1/4 cup rum

Zest of 1 lime

Toasted shredded coconut



Put the water in a medium saucepan.  Add sugar and coconut milk and bring to boil, stirring constantly.  Remove the pan from the heat and leave the mixture to cool, then chill well.

If using ice cream maker, churn the mixture until firm enough to scoop.

Melt butter in a medium frying pan over high heat.  Add pineapple chunks and cook until caramelized slightly, about 5 minutes.  Add rum and cook until it resembles a syrup.

To serve:  scoop coconut ice into dishes, spoon warm pineapple chunks on top and decorate with lime zest and toasted shredded coconut.

Chocolate Macadamia Coconut Cookies

I guess I got distracted yesterday since I haven't had a chance to post the recipe for the cookie I promised from my last post.  This recipe was chosen just because I had the urge to make cookies right away, and chocolate is always an easy pick.

Chocolate Macadamia Coconut Cookies

Makes about 5 dozen



1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened

1/2 cup granulated sugar

3/4 cup packed light-brown sugar

2 large eggs

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour

1/4 cup unsweetened Dutch-process cocoa powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon coarse salt

1 1/2 cups macadamia nuts, coarsely chopped

1 3/4 cups sweetened flaked coconut

3/4 cups bittersweet or dark chocolate chips



Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Put butter and sugars in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment; mix on medium speed until smooth, about 2 minutes. Mix in eggs, 1 at a time. Stir in vanilla.

Sift flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder, and salt into a medium bowl. Mix into butter mixture on low speed until well combined. Stir in macadamia, coconut, and chocolate chips.

Using a 1 1/2-inch ice cream scoop, drop batter onto baking sheets lined with parchment paper, spacing 2 inches apart. Flatten slightly. Bake until set, 10 to 12 minutes. Let cool on sheets on wire racks 2 minutes. Transfer cookies on parchment to racks to cool completely. Cookies can be stored in airtight containers at room temperature up to 1 week.



Source:  adapted from Martha Stewart.com

Chocolate Bread Parfait

Would you throw away leftover bread if you've known that you could make this heady yet luscious chocolate bread parfait?  I wouldn't so you shouldn't either.  I love the idea of using leftover bread which is abundant in Umbrian cuisine; it's kinda like genoise cake but in a slightly chewy way met chocolate-coffee-rum sauce.  This recipe was sent to me a long time ago but I haven't had time to make it sooner.  Spring is already here but this week, it's quite rainy and cold in Oregon so I thought making this parfait sounded perfect for the weather.

This is an honest and humble dessert, using simple and basic components but the result will sway you away.  The sauce is on the spot, not too sweet, very chocolatey, and the rum shines on.  I had to substitute almonds for pistachios because they're what I had at home.  Even with that, they didn't take away the flavor intended in the dessert.  Half of the recipe was just enough for us, more than that meant I need a strong determination not to eat all of them!

Chocolate Bread Parfait (Pane di Cioccolato al Cucchiaio)

Serves 6



8 ounces bittersweet or semisweet chocolate, finely chopped

8 ounces country-style white bread, crusts removed

1/2 cup freshly brewed espresso

2 tablespoons dark rum

2 tablespoons sugar

1 1 /2 cups chilled heavy cream

1 cup sliced almonds, toasted---I used pistachios

Recommended equipment: A large rimmed tray or baking sheet, such as half-sheet pan (12 by 18 inches);  a spouted measuring cup, 1 pint or larger; 6 parfait glasses or wineglasses, preferably balloon-shaped

Put the chopped chocolate in a bowl set in a pan of hot (not boiling) water.  When the chocolate begins to melt, stir until completely smooth.  Keep it warm, over the water, off the heat.

Slice the bread into 1/2-inch-thick slices, and lay them flat in one layer, close together, on the tray or baking sheet.

Pour the warm espresso into a spouted measuring cup, stir in the rum and sugar until sugar dissolves, then stir in half the melted chocolate.  Pour the sauce all over the bread slices, then flip them over and turn them on the tray, to make sure all the surfaces are coated.  Let the bread absorb the sauce for a few minutes.

Meanwhile, whip the cream until soft peaks form, by hand or with an electric mixer.

To assemble the parfaits:  Break the bread into 1-inch pieces.  Use half the pieces to make the bottom parfait layer in the six serving glasses, dropping an equal amount of chocolatey bread into each.  Scrape up some of the unabsorbed chocolate sauce that remains on the baking sheet, and drizzle a bit over the bread layers.   Next, drop a layer of whipped cream in the glasses, using up half the cream.  Top the cream layer with toasted almonds, using half the nuts.

Repeat the layering sequence:  drop more soaked bread into each glass, drizzle over it the chocolate sauce from the tray and the remaining melted chocolate.  Dollop another layer of whipped cream in the glasses, using it all up, and sprinkle the remaining almonds on top of each parfait.  This dessert is best when served immediately while melted chocolate is still warm and runny.



Source:  reprinted with permission from Lidia Mattichio Bastianich and Tanya Bastianich Manuali, authors of Lidia Cooks from the Heart of Italy:  A Feast of 175 Regional Recipes.

Mocha Rollcake with Strawberries-Lemon Whipped Cream Filling

The title is long but the cake is short and sweet.  I've a passion for Japanese baking books, they're my inspirations even though I can't even read or speak the language.  I'm craving those exquisite pictures on those books and the recipes are also intriguing.  The pictures depicted a variety of combination in desserts that looks pretty in the books though I'm not so sure if I can have all the ingredients here in the US.  But, these don't deter me from deciphering some of the recipes.  Rollcakes are something that I want to learn and be better at making it.  I think rollcakes are pretty, what with the different flavor fillings I can make and also different types of cakes to be used for rollcake.  Sponge cake, choux paste, meringue, genoise, and many other types of cake can be made into rollcakes.  The main thing is to master the rolling part so the cake won't crack, but hey, if it happens grab a bowl and make some frosting!  Slather that on top of the cake, et voilà, the cake is ready.

At this time I made a rollcake with sponge cake base.  The method is practically the same as this post and the filling is the same this post.  I've based my rollcake from two books which I, unfortunately, don't know the name of the books or one of the authors--I only know that on one book the author is Kumiko Yanase.  The strawberries aren't local, I embarrassedly admitted but since they look pretty in rollcake I have to include them.  The one thing that maybe hard to find here, if not cheap to buy, is the mocha paste.  As for myself, I have a bottle of mocha paste that I bought in Indonesia.  Here, I found a company that makes mocha paste which is sold at VeryAsia.com and it's a product of Indonesia as well.

I've never thought that lemon-strawberry-mocha flavors could be combined in a harmoniously in this rollcake but I like it and I love to do more rollcakes in the future.  Looking at the pictures, I feel like it's Christmas once again with the color combination! ;)

Mocha Rollcake with Strawberries-Lemon Whipped Cream Filling

Makes 1 large rollcake



For the rollcake:

6 large egg yolks, at room temperature

5 large egg whites, at room temperature

1oo gr confectioners' sugar, sifted and divided in half

1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar

1/2 tablespoon mocha paste

50 gr all-purpose flour, sifted

50 gr unsalted butter, melted

For the filling:

Lemon curd-whipped cream filling, you'll only need about 1/2 of the recipe

10 strawberries, each cut into quarters

For the whipped cream frosting:

1 teaspoon unflavored gelatin powder

4 teaspoons cold water

1 cup heavy whipping cream, cold

1/4 cup confectioners' sugar

1/2 teaspoon clear vanilla extract

Confectioners' sugar for dusting



Line a 10-x 15-inch jellyroll pan with parchment paper.  Preheat the oven to 400 degree F.

To make the rollcake: In a bowl of stand in mixer with a wire whisk, cream egg yolks and half the sugar until pale and thick.  Add mocha paste and mix in until well blended.  With a clean bowl, whip egg whites and cream of tartar until frothy, add last half of sugar until soft peak, fold a little bit of egg white into the egg yolk and then pour all the egg yolk mixture into the egg whites.  Sift the flour and fold over.  Add melted butter and fold quickly, just until the butter is blended.  Pour batter into the pan.

Bake on center rack for 12 minutes, or until it's light brown and shrink a bit from sides of pan.  Immediately take out from the oven and invert to a parchment paper that's been lightly sprayed with cooking spray and slightly bigger than the cake, on top of a flat surface.  Roll the cake and unroll it , this is to get the cake ready.  Leave the cake to cool for 10 minutes.

Spread the lemon curd-whipped cream filling on the cake, covering evenly.  Arrange cut strawberries on one of the short side of the cake and scatter some strawberries all around the cake.  Roll the cake tightly and try to peel off the parchment paper from the bottom of the cake as well.  Cover the whole cake with another parchment paper and leave it to cool completely.

To make whipped cream frosting: Combine gelatin and cold water in small ramekin.  Let stand until thick.  Fill a small saucepan with a bit of water and place over low heat.  Stir gelatin until becomes liquidy and remove from saucepan.  Let stand and cool slightly.  Whip cream, sugar, and vanilla extract until slightly thickened.  While beating slowly, gradually add gelatin to whipped cream mixture.  Whip at high speed until stiff.  There'll be leftovers of whipped cream from frosting the cake.

Frost the cooled roll cake with whipped cream and if you like, pipe dots on top of cake with whipped cream.  Scatter cut strawberries on top of whipped cream, press down slightly.  Dust with confectioners' sugar if desired just before cutting.  The cake needs to be refrigerated and will keep for about 3 days.

Rum Raisin Sponge Cake

After about two weeks or so passed with no baking activity, suddenly I was craving something sweet and cakey.  I chose to make this rum raisin sponge cake.  A long time ago I baked this but I made some mistake in the process and it came out wrong.  This time I decided to try again and proceeded to make this today.  The recipe came from an Indonesian baking book, and books from Indonesia are infamous for being ambiguous about explaining the step-by-step process of baking.  I don't know if this has changed lately because the book that I have was bought 5 years ago.  It seems that when it's a book about cake or Western-style baking, the instructions are scanty; I usually have to consult baking books that I bought here.  Even with the help of my baking books, still I'm puzzled as to what kind of method would be appropriate for certain recipes.  Just recently one of my friends complained that she too found that those baking books that she bought in Indonesia were useless, the temperature of the oven is missing as well as how long it is to bake the cake.  So much for hauling many kilos of books, only to found out that they're not worth the money.

Having said that, I still buy some books whenever I travel to Indonesia because Indonesian-style cakes are different from any cakes I found here.  The flavor combination reflects what I used to eat and the recipes are not overly sweet.  Back to the cake, I started by macerating raisins in rum the night before so the flavor will be full-bodied.  Okay, honestly, I made this twice in three days because I messed up during the mixing and the cake was too dense to be called sponge cake.  I did one again today and made some tweaks in the recipe to get everything right.   Besides, my husband is enamored with the cake that he urged me to make it again.

To make the lightest sponge cake, make sure you sift the flour, sift the confectioners' sugar, beat the egg whites to soft peak, sift the flour again before mixing together, fold the ingredients with light hand, and pray that it'll come out intact :)  Here is the recipe for the cake, it seems fitting to eat this since the weather definitely says spring.

Rum Raisin Sponge Cake

Serves 8 to 10



75 gr raisins

2 Tablespoons dark rum

100 gr all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

Pinch of salt

4 egg yolks

25 gr granulated sugar

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

100 ml canola cooking oil

4 egg whites

1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar

75 gr confectioners' sugar, sifted

Extra confectioners' sugar for sprinkling



The day before making the cake, place raisins in a small bowl with the rum and let it steep overnight covered.

Sift flour, baking powder, and salt together in a medium bowl.  Sift confectioners' sugar.  Have ready a 8-x 3-inch round cake pan, grease bottom and sides of pan, line bottom of pan with parchment paper, and grease the paper again.  Preheat oven to 350 degree F.

Place egg yolks and sugar in a bowl of a standing mixer, beat with wire whisk until it turns pale in color, about 2 minutes, scraping sides frequently.  Add vanilla extract and canola oil, beat again for about 1 minute.

In a clean bowl with wire whisk, beat the egg whites with cream of tartar until frothy.  Pour confectioners' sugar gradually, scrape sides if needed.  Beat with high speed until the mixture reaches soft peak.  Take a cupful of egg white mixture to the bowl of egg yolks mixture, stir until combined.  Add this mixture to the egg whites and using folding technique, fold these two together until halfway combined.  Sift flour mixture on top of the bowl and fold again until the flour disappears.  Lastly, add the macerated raisins and fold until well combined.

Pour into the pan, tap the pan lightly on the counter and bake on the center rack about 40 to 45 minutes.  The top of cake should be brown and spring back when touched.  When it's done, immediately invert the pan onto a plate lined with parchment paper.  Peel off the parchment paper from the bottom of cake and invert again onto a cooling rack lined with parchment paper.  Let it cool completely before cutting.  Sprinkle with confectioners' sugar if desired.

Kue Lopis

Kue Lopis is a traditional Indonesian sweet snack.  It is made of sweet glutinous rice wrapped with banana leaves and boiled until it becomes one solid mass.  Then it is eaten with palm sugar syrup flavored with pandanus and kaffir lime leaves along with steamed shredded coconut.  It sounds complicated huh?  But once one learns how to do it, it's not so complicated to make.  A lot of steps, yes, undoubtedly.

Traditionally the shape of kue lopis is triangular, but cylinder shape  is acceptable.  It's easier too in that when it's being boiled, there's less chance that the sweet rice will escape from the package.  For a long time this has been my favorite traditional sweet snack, but I haven't learned how to make it until my mother- and father-in-law visited us earlier this month.  My mother-in-law has a lot of wealth in creating Indonesian dishes and snacks.  So I wouldn't want to miss the opportunity to learn how to make kue lopis from her.  Everytime I see her there's always not enough time to be just the two of us in the kitchen.  Just a few precious hours after we went out to Costco was enough for making kue lopis.  She showed me the easy way to wrap the package, and we could hardly wait until it was done.  When it's done, my husband also arrived home from work, so we all got to taste it and it's absolutely fabulous.  Remember, I haven't eaten this for a long, long time, so I was partially biased :)

Forgive me if I don't include the recipe here, it's her recipe after all and she didn't want to share it with everyone else.  Maybe in the future, when I could get a copyright release from her then I'll write it down here ;)

Oatmeal Butterscotch Pies

How do you choose what to make for desserts?  For me, my inspiration is in my freezer, fridge, and pantry.  I have a tendency to stockpile any things related to baking--yeah, it's a bad habit.  And consequently from time to time I lost track of what I save in the freezer, fridge, and pantry.  Then I really do have to jolt down what I save in the freezer because sometimes I have to throw away things that's been there too long.  But, fortunately this time was not the case for my pie crusts.  I have saved three small-sized crusts from making pies back in October.  For a while I've reminded myself to use those crusts quickly before they'd spoil.  I finally had the time make these individual pies at the end of February.  Yes, these are from last month because I've only the time to post about it now.

The other factor that made up these pies were what I had on my pantry.  I saw butterscotch baking chips, lots of them, and I had the urge to use them; and there's oatmeal--the staple of breakfast item.  I tried to find out what would be best paired with those chips and oatmeal. So  I opened my fridge and saw half a bag of shredded coconut.    Quickly, I browsed my baking book collection and yes, I found a recipe that used all those items.  The final result was these oatmeal butterscotch pies.  If you like oatmeal butterscotch cookies, you've got to make these pies.  These were like giant chewy cookies but with the added crunch of the pie crusts.  That's just even better version.

I made mine on tart pans because of the size of the crusts, and the filling seeped through because of that--but don't worry about that--you could make it on the regular 9-inch pie pan and the recipe belows would be for that size pan.  But if you want to make it into a small pie using 4-inch tart pans like mine, divide the pastry crust into 6 equal pieces.  When it's firm enough to be roll, roll each piece into a circle slightly larger than the diameter of the tart pans.  Tuck the pastry into pan without stretching and press on the crust gently against the sides of pan.  Put them in the freezer for 15 minutes and then proceed with the rest of the recipes, just divide the filling for 6 pie shells.  Just before baking, place a baking sheet under the tart pans to catch drippings.  Bake about 25 minutes, lower the oven temperature to 350 degree F, then bake again about 20-25 minutes or until the center of pie doesn't jiggle much and the crust is dark brown.

Try pairing this with not so sweet whipped cream because the pie itself is already sweet enough.  I like mine with lots of cream, before I know it I eat one whole small pie :)

Oatmeal Butterscotch Pies

Makes one 9-inch pie



1 recipe pie pastry, single crust, your own recipe or use mine here

Filling:

2 large eggs

2/3 cup sugar

3/4 cup dark corn syrup--use light corn syrup is fine if you only have that available

1/4 cup (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, melted

3/4 cup rolled oats--old fashioned or quick cooking, not instant

1/3 cup sweetened flaked coconut

2 tablespoons all-purpose flour

1/2 cup butterscotch chips

1/2 cup chopped pecans

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Prepare the pastry and refrigerate until firm enough to roll, about 1 hour.

On a floured surface, roll the pastry into a 12-inch circle with a floured rolling pin.  Invert the pastry over a 9-inch standard pie pan, tuck the pastry into the pan, without stretching it, and sculpt the edge into an upstanding ridge.  Place it in the freezer for 15 minutes.  Preheat the oven to 375 degree F.

Combine the eggs, sugar, corn syrup, and butter in a large bowl.  Using an electric mixer, beat on medium speed until well blended, about 30 seconds.  Stir in the oats, coconut, flour, butterscotch chips, nuts, and vanilla.  Pour the filling into the chilled pie shell.

Place the pie on the center oven rack and bake for 30 minutes.  Reduce the oven temperature to 350 degree F and rotate the pie 180 degrees.  Bake until the center is set, 25 to 30 minutes.  When done, the top of the pie will be dark golden brown and crusty.  Give the pie a sharp little nudge.  The filling shouldn't move in waves.

Transfer the pie to a wire rack and let cool.  Serve just barely warm or at room temperature.



Source:  adapted from Pie by Ken Haedrich