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Chocolate Mint Pots de Crème

Sometimes I do things backwards.  Instead of seeing a recipe I like and then wondering what I could make it in, I see a beautiful baking tin, pie plate, or in this case ramekin, and then I go looking for a recipe to suit it.

In this case I came across a recipe for these beautiful Pots de Crème in Sunset magazine.  I just loved the sound of chocolate mint and the pretty pale green color of the custard.  Who wouldn't like the idea of a custard that tastes like a peppermint patty?

I had never heard of chocolate mint before but I was lucky enough to find a plant at my local farmers' market.  This amazing herb comes from the spearmint family and has a purple stem with green leaves. You can use it like any mint plant in drinks, salads, desserts, sauces or as a garnish. I have it growing in a big pot and it has taken off like crazy.  I think this is the beginning of a wonderful relationship.

You need to start this recipe earlier in the day if you plan on serving it on the same day since it needs to steep for two hours to infuse the mint flavor, and then it requires chilling after you have made the custard.  Other than that it is a very simple dessert that will impress everyone after the first bite.

 
Chocolate Mint Pots de Crème 
(Printer Friendly Recipe)
 
Ingredients

• 2 cups heavy cream
• 2 cups milk
• 3 ounces (3 big handfuls) chocolate mint sprigs, plus leaves for garnish
• 1 cup sugar
• 8 large egg yolks
• Sweetened whipped cream
• 1/2 cup chocolate shavings

Preparation   

1. Heat together cream, milk, and mint in a medium pot over medium heat until mixture starts to simmer. 
2. Remove from heat, cover, and let steep about 2 hours.  
3. Preheat oven to 300°F. 
4. Set 8 ramekins (4 oz. each) in a large roasting pan or baking dish.  
5. Reheat cream mixture to a simmer; strain into a medium bowl. 
6. Whisk together sugar and yolks in a large bowl, slowly add cream to yolk mixture, whisking constantly.  
7. Pour mixture into ramekins, dividing evenly. 
8. Fill pan with hot water until it reaches halfway up sides of ramekins.  
9. Cover pan with foil and bake until custards are set and jiggle only slightly in the center, about 30 minutes. 
10. Remove from oven and let sit in hot water 30 minutes. 
11. Transfer ramekins to a baking sheet, cover, and chill at least 2 hours and up to 3 days.  
12. Serve with whipped cream, fresh mint leaves, and chocolate shavings, if desired.

 
Recipe by Sunset magazine

 

Malasada Bread Pudding - and my 100th Post Giveaway!

Malasadas just seem to call my name. I know that they are not good for me but I am helpless to resist.  Here in Hawaii these little bundles of yeasty goodness are rolled in plain sugar, cinnamon sugar, or li hing sugar.  They are also available filled with coconut (haupia) custard, chocolate custard, vanilla custard, or the flavor of the month - which at the moment is banana custard.  I like mine plain and rolled in regular (white) sugar and my favorites come from Leonard's Bakery on Kapahulu Avenue, just a short drive from Waikiki.  In Hawaii Shrove Tuesday is known as Malasada Tuesday and sales more than triple on this day.  They are also a staple at school fairs, and some schools are quite famous for their individual recipes.

Malasadas are also know as Portuguese donuts. They are made from a yeast dough, have no hole in the middle, and are deep-fried in oil. Tradionally they are rolled in granulated sugar, but variety is the spice of life and there are many different routes you can go with these. They are at their most delicious whilst fresh and still hot.  On the rare occasion when you have leftovers, do what I do and make Malasada Bread Pudding.  I based my recipe on one that I found here, but I do not put in any raisins, dried cranberries, or chocolate and I make my custard with a combination of cream and milk.  I really would love to try making Malasadas myself.  I have a few different recipes that I can try, so when I find one I like I will post about it.  Until then I will keep lining up at Leonard's for my treats.  If you do not have somewhere nearby that sells malasada's then you can definitely make this recipe using regular sugar donuts.


And a Giveaway!
As this is my 100th post I wanted it to be something special.  On my recent visit to Australia I purchased a few items that I thought would make a fun giveaway and also give the winner a little taste of Australia.  The items I am including are:

1x190g bar of Cadbury Crunchie Dairy Milk Chocolate
1x150g jar of Vegemite
1x52g bar Cherry Ripe
1x200g packet of Buderim Naked (uncrystallized) Ginger
1x165g packet Tim Tams - Dark Chocolate Mint
1x175g packet Tim Tams - Dark Chocolate Rum & Raisin
1x200g tin Milo
1x200g packet Minties
1x350g Foster Clark's Custard Powder
1x85g packet Aeroplane Jelly - Port Wine Flavor
Delicious magazine - June 2011
Australian Good Food magazine - June 2011 issue

I really appreciate everyone who takes the time to read my blog, leaves me comments, and sends me emails but since this giveaway is sponsored just by me I have to limit it to the United States only.  I promise I will try to do an international giveaway soon with similar items.  To enter the giveaway simply leave me a comment.  Of course I would love if you started following my blog or liked me on Facebook, but this is more about me saying thank you, so leave me a comment and you are in the draw.  I will close the entries at 9:00pm on Friday, May 20.  I am using the number generator at Random.org to choose a winner, and I will have the box in the mail the next morning.

We have a winner!
The winner of the box of goodies from Australia - as well as a couple of bonus items from Hawaii - was The Kitchenarian.  Congratulations!  Thank you so much to everyone who stopped by my blog.  As previously mentioned I will try and do another giveaway in a few months with either Hawaiian or Aussie goodies and this one will be worldwide.


Malasada Bread Pudding
(Printer Friendly Recipe)

Ingredients

• 6 day-old malasadas
• ½ cup raisins, dried cranberries, or chocolate chips (optional)
• 4 eggs, beaten
• 1 cup whole milk
• 1 cup whipping cream
• ½ cup white sugar, plus more to sprinkle
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract (I used vanilla bean paste)
• a pinch of nutmeg, plus more to sprinkle

Preparation

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
2. Break malasadas into small pieces into an 8 inch square baking pan or individual ramekins. 
3. Sprinkle with raisins, dried cranberries, or chocolate chips (optional).
4. In a medium mixing bowl, beat eggs, add cinnamon and a pinch of nutmeg. 
5. Add milk, sugar, and vanilla. Beat until well mixed. Pour over bread, and lightly push down with a fork until malasadas are covered and soaking up the egg mixture.
6. Sprinkle with additional sugar and nutmeg.
7. Bake in the preheated oven for 45 minutes, or until the top springs back when lightly tapped.

Based an a recipe found here.

To Try Tuesday - Bill's Berry Tart

Math never was my strong point so it is no big surprise that I missed Pi Day.  I had this great idea that I would make Bill Granger's Cherry Tart to celebrate Pi Day (even though it is, technically, a tart not a pie) but I ended up having 3.14159265 other things to do, so it became a To Try recipe instead.

I planned on using cherries but Costco did not have any and I didn't want to be stuck with a big bag of frozen cherries.  So I went with blueberries instead, using about 2 cups of whole berries to make a single layer in the tart shell.  It therefore became Bill's Berry Tart.





There is not one thing about this tart that I would change - it was amazing.  If you are looking for a easy-to-make dessert that will impress your family and friends then this is your dessert.  Cherries, blueberries, blackberries, raspberries, or even a mix of berries would be great in the filling.  I loved that the crust was a cinch to make and it did not have to be rolled out.  You know how the crust can shrink sometimes when you are pre-baking? Not with this one.  Also, those pie weights that you use to stop air pockets forming in the crust? Well, you will not need them for this crust. Simply make crust in less than 5 minutes, pre-bake, fill with fruit, pour custard over the top, and bake once more.  Mine baked for 35 minutes, so realistically you could have this pie ready in about an hour.  I sprinkled mine with a little powdered sugar after it cooled, but this is optional.  Ice cream or whipped cream would be a nice addition too.  Lastly, the original recipe was in metric, so if you prefer these measurements you can find the recipe here.

Bill’s Berry Tart

(Printer Friendly Version)

Ingredients

Pastry

• ½ cup (1 stick) + 1 tablespoon unsalted butter, melted and cooled 
• ⅓ cup sugar 
• 1¼ cups all-purpose flour 
• a pinch of salt 
• 2 tablespoons of ground almonds 

Filling 

• ⅔ cup cream 
• 2 eggs, lightly beaten 
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract 
• 3 tablespoons sugar 
• 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour 
• 16 oz cherries, halved and pitted 

 Preparation

1. Preheat oven to 350°F.
2. Grease a 9-inch round loose-bottomed tart tin. 

To make the pastry:

1. Stir together the butter and sugar in a large mixing bowl.
2. Add the flour and salt and stir to make a soft dough.
3. Press dough evenly into base and side of tart tin with fingertips.
4. Put the tin on a baking tray and bake for 12-15 mins, until pastry is slightly puffy.
5. Remove from oven and sprinkle almond meal over base.

To make filling:

1. Whisk together cream, eggs, vanilla, sugar. 
2. Add flour and whisk until well mixed.
3. Arrange cherries over pastry base and pour cream filling over cherries.
4. Bake for 40-50 minutes until filling is firm.
5. Leave to cool and serve with cream or ice-cream.

Serves 8-10.  Original recipe appears in Holiday by Bill Granger.

To Try Tuesday - Portuguese Custard Tarts

I found this recipe for Portuguese Custard Tarts courtesy of the Cooking Channel and Bill Granger.  For those who might not have heard of Bill, he is a very popular Australian self-taught "cook", who was quoted in Food & Wine magazine as saying "I learned how to cook in a domestic kitchen which keeps my food simple and instinctual".   I just love his easy going manner and simple approach to food.  He has eight cookbooks, including his latest, Bill's Basics.  It is no big surprise that I own them all.

Pressing plastic wrap on the surface prevents a skin forming on the custard

Bill's recipe originally calls for puff pastry but I still have quite a few pie crusts left over from Thanksgiving and Christmas.  What can I say, Sam's Club was selling rolled and read-to-use Pillsbury pie crusts in bulk so I stocked up on a bargain.  I decided that two of these crusts would make a good replacement for the puff pastry.  I also wanted to make mini tarts because they are a nice little mouthful, and also because they are so darn cute.  I simply used a fluted biscuit cutter and gently pressed the cut out pastry into a mini muffin tin.  I had enough dough to make 48 mini tarts, although I only had enough custard to fill 30 empty tart shells, so I filled the remaining ones with jam.

My only complaint about these tarts is that the custard is very sweet. Next time I make them I will definitely cut the sugar in half.  I really don't think I will miss it as they are quite rich to begin with. About 12 disappeared before I had even finished taking these photos.  I was surprised because my husband is back in training mode so he is usually very disciplined about eating sweets, but I guess these were hard to resist.

Portuguese Custard Tarts

(Printer Friendly Recipe)

Ingredients

• 3 egg yolks
• 1/2 cup superfine sugar (I used regular)
• 2 tablespoons cornstarch
• 1/2 cup heavy cream
• 2/3 cup milk
• 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
• 2 refrigerated pie crusts, thawed 
• nutmeg for sprinkling, if desired

Directions

1. Place the egg yolks, sugar and cornstarch into a saucepan and whisk them together. 
2. Gradually beat in the cream and milk until smooth. 
3. Place the pan over medium heat, and stirring constantly, cook until the mixture thickens and comes to a boil. 
4. Switch off the heat, and stir in the vanilla extract. 
5. Transfer the custard to a bowl, cover the surface with plastic wrap to prevent a skin from forming, and leave out to cool. 
6. Preheat the oven to 375°F. Lightly grease 2 x 24 count mini muffin pans. 
7. Lay the pie crusts on a lightly floured board and, using a biscuit cutter, cut rounds from them.  Gather the left-over pastry scraps and re-roll, cutting more rounds as needed.
8. Press one round into each mini muffin hole. 
9. Spoon the cooled custard into the pastry cases, sprinkle with nutmeg if desired, and bake until the pastry and custards are golden, about 20 to 25 minutes. 
10. Leave the tarts in the pan for 5 minutes, and then remove and transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. 

Recipe adapted from Bill Granger and the Cooking Channel.

To Try Tuesday - Vanilla Bean Flan

I always go crazy during the holiday season when all of the baking magazines hit the shelves.  I just cannot seem to resist, even though I tell  myself I really should show some restraint.  There is just something about seeing all of those dazzling cookies, cakes, and other treats that gets my attention every time.

Of the stash I purchased one of them was Popular Plates Holiday Baking - Easy Recipes from America's Great Chefs.  Now whilst I might argue that a few chefs in this magazine might not quite qualify for one of "America's Great Chefs" there were a couple of recipes that I immediately flagged to try.

One of the flagged recipes was for a flan. The recipe is by Ingrid Hoffman from the Food Network. I don't know about you but I love a good flan, and I find it hard to believe that I have never tried making one.  I love the contrasting taste of the deep intense caramel against the creamy silkiness of the custard.  This one was a little different because it had cream cheese in the custard base.  Since I had some left over cream cheese that needed to be used up I decided that this would be my To Try recipe.

Now a heads up for all of you.  Rule #1 - Do not, under any circumstances, get the boiling caramel on you hands or this will happen.

My owie

I am usually so careful about these things, but after wiping up some spilled caramel from the side of a ramekin with a paper towel, the towel accidentally fell and landed on my hand.  I quickly got the caramel off and put my hand under running water but the damage was already done.  Caramel 1, Felice 0.  It was only a small burn so I put aside the dull ache and soldiered on.

Hot bubbling sugar

You will need to move quickly with this caramel because there is a fine line between "golden reddish-brown" and burnt.  I would advise that you take the caramel off just as it is hitting the later stages of golden brown as the pan is still hot and the caramel will continue to cook as you are ladling it into the ramekins.

As per the recipe I let the cream cheese, eggs, and milk all come to room temperature before proceeding.  I found it very hard to get the cream cheese and eggs mixed into a smooth batter.  There seemed to be little lumps of cream cheese in the mix that would just not blend in.  I decided to keep adding all of the ingredients and then check my consistency at the end.  After adding the evaporated milk, condensed milk, and whole milk they were still there so I strained the mixture to remove them before spooning it into the ramekins. Oh, and another word of warning - I was using my KitchenAid, and even with it on the lowest speed, the mixture sloshed everywhere.  I quickly grabbed my shield guard and they helped a little.  Part of me thinks that it might be easier to make these flans with a hand mixer. My ramekins were a little smaller than the suggested 3 1/2-inch ramekins so I ended up with 12 flans.  The more the merrier!

I found that some of my caramel stuck to the bottom of the ramekins as it had hardened like toffee.  To overcome this problem when plating the flans, I boiled some water and poured it in a shallow bowl.  I then ran a knife around the top of the ramekin to loosen the custard, making sure the knife reaches from the top of the flan all the way to the base.  Then dip the bottom of each ramekin in the hot water for about a minute.  Place a serving plate over the top and, whilst holding on to the plate and the ramekin, turn it upside down.  Shake it hard once and the flan should pop out and the caramel will pour over the sides.  I then used the leftover hot water to soak my ramekins because they are a pain to clean with that hardened toffee in the bottom.  Thank goodness this flan tastes so good so I am willing to do the cleanup it takes afterward.

Vanilla Bean Flan

(Printer Friendly Recipe)

Ingredients

• 2 cups sugar
• 1/4 cup water
• 12 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature
• 3 large eggs, at room temperature
• 1 (14-ounce) can sweetened condensed milk
• 1 (12-ounce) can evaporated milk
• 1 1/2 cups milk, at room temperature
• 1 teaspoon vanilla bean paste (or 2 teaspoons vanilla extract)

Directions

1. Place the sugar and 1/4 cup of water in a medium saucepan over medium-high heat. Using a pastry brush, stir the sugar occasionally, being careful not to get any grains stuck against the sides of the saucepan, until it has all dissolved. Swirl the saucepan every minute until the sugar becomes a golden reddish-brown, about 10 to 15 minutes. Equally divide the caramel into 10 to 12 (3 1/2-inch) ramekins and set aside.
   Preheat your oven to 325 degrees F. 
2. Using an electric mixer, beat the softened cream cheese with the eggs on low speed to combine. Increase the speed to medium-high and beat until completely incorporated. Add the condensed milk, evaporated milk, whole milk and vanilla paste/extract and continue to beat together until everything is well incorporated, scraping down the sides of the bowl as necessary, about 2 to 3 minutes. 
3. Ladle the custard over the caramel into the ramekins filling them up to 1/2-inch from the rim. Place a kitchen towel in a deep baking dish or roasting pan and place the ramekins in 2 rows on top of the towel. Place the baking dish in the oven and using a pitcher, pour enough hot water into the baking dish to reach halfway up the sides of the ramekins, taking care not to get water in the ramekins. Cover the baking dish tightly with aluminum foil and bake until the flan is just set, about 30 minutes. When you tap the edge of the ramekin the flan should still wobble in the center. 
4. Carefully remove the baking dish from the oven, remove the foil and let the ramekins cool slightly. Using tongs remove the ramekins from the water and set on a towel to cool for at least 2 hours before serving. 
5. Once cooled completely, the flan can be refrigerated for up to 3 days before un-molding and serving. To serve, run a thin knife around the inside edge of the ramekin to loosen the flan, and then invert onto a plate. 

Adapted from this recipe by Ingrid Hoffman.