Saffron Desserts

[Sophie Cook]

I love Saffron and I've had the occasional dessert which uses it, however I've never baked with Saffron or made a saffron dessert.

 

Does anyone have any interesting Saffron Recipes? I've seen a Saffron Cheesecake around but I'm not sure...

 

Looking for inspiration!

 

 

 

[Jim D.]

This is probably not the kind of thing you are thinking of, but I made chocolates using Jean-Pierre Wybauw's recipe for a saffron ganache.  Although the spice was used only to infuse the cream--and only a tiny amount was called for--I absolutely hated it.  I do realize that it is undoubtedly my unsophisticated palate that is at fault, but all I could think of was iodine.  Maybe a cheesecake would be better--with the tiniest quantity of saffron.  I have lots of saffron in my cupboard (once worked with a historian of Spain who brought it back directly from Spain in great quantities), but at this point I restrict its use to seafood and some Indian dishes.

[CatPoet]

You could do  saffron semifreddo,  saffron pannacotta or a Swedish  dish,, it is like rice pudding with saffron served with jam and whipped cream.  They say that traces of saffron and rice can be found on the island where this recipe comes  as far back as Viking times, the local say that the dish is that old minus the jam and whipped cream which came later.

In Sweden we eat a lot of saffron  in Decmeber  so I do have  few dessert with it.

 

Oh I do have a lovely  recipe for saffron rolls filled with marzipan, it looks like cinnamon rolls but taste better. I could translate the recipe for you  if you want?

[cakewalk]

Not a dessert, but if you like to bake bread there's St. Lucia Buns, which are heavily saffron-flavored. I've made the recipe below, I thought they were great.

 

http://www.joepastry.com/2012/making-swedish-saffron-rolls-lussekatter/

[Sophie Cook]

Thanks everyone!

 

CatPoet - the swedish rice pudding dish sounds very intriguing! Do you have a recipe? I'm curious to try.

 

Swedish rolls sound lovely, but I don't like Marzipan.

[CatPoet]

Well you can make the rolls with raisin cream or just make plain rolls. I translate the recipe when the kid had fallen a sleep.

[LizD518]

David Lebovitz has a recipe for saffron ice cream in "The Perfect Scoop".  It was delicious.

[CatPoet]

Oh well the lussekatt recipe is the same one I uses for the almond rolls, how ever it is the two raisin pushed in two each bun....  I post the different types of filling that can be used.

Edited September 2, 2014 by CatPoet (log)

[Sophie Cook]

Love saffron ice cream - unfortunately i do not have an icecream maker.

 

CatPoet, thank you - I would love to see your recipes

[BeeZee]

I made poached pears and saffron was part of the poaching liquid, that was a pretty tasty one and gave the pears a nice golden hue. Looked good with vanilla ice cream.

[CatPoet]

A tip  for grinding saffron threads to fine powder.   In pestle and mortar  add the  saffron threads and 1 lump of sugar, now start  working both of them to fine powder and to get the maxium flavour and colour out of saffron  add 1 tablespoon of vodka and leave for 5- 10 minutes

[Smithy]

Love saffron ice cream - unfortunately i do not have an icecream maker.

What about saffron semifreddo instead? Then you just need a good mixer; a hand mixer would do. It may be that a good strong arm would also do, but I'm not one of those who whip meringues by hand. :-)

[teonzo]

I made a bunch of stuff with saffron:

 

Entremet with apricots, saffron and pistachio
http://www.teonzo.com/immagini/torte/albicocche_zafferano_pistacchio.jpg

Plated dessert with white asparagus, saffron and hazelnuts
http://www.teonzo.com/immagini/dessert/asparagobianco_zafferano_nocciole.jpg

Pralines with saffron and porcini mushrooms
http://www.teonzo.com/immagini/ciocc_conf/praline_zafferano_porcini.jpg

Plated dessert with saffron, orange and basil
http://www.teonzo.com/immagini/dessert/zafferano_arancia_basilico.jpg

Macarons with walnuts and saffron
http://www.teonzo.com/immagini/biscotti_mignon/macaron_noci_zafferano.jpg

Entremet with figs, saffron and almonds
http://www.teonzo.com/immagini/torte/fichi_zafferano_mandorle.jpg

 

Figs and saffron is a great pairing now that we are in figs season, it was traditional for ancient Romans.

If you are interested in some recipes I'll try to translate them.

 

 

 

Teo

[Sophie Cook]

I made a bunch of stuff with saffron:

 

Entremet with apricots, saffron and pistachio

http://www.teonzo.com/immagini/torte/albicocche_zafferano_pistacchio.jpg

Plated dessert with white asparagus, saffron and hazelnuts

http://www.teonzo.com/immagini/dessert/asparagobianco_zafferano_nocciole.jpg

Pralines with saffron and porcini mushrooms

http://www.teonzo.com/immagini/ciocc_conf/praline_zafferano_porcini.jpg

Plated dessert with saffron, orange and basil

http://www.teonzo.com/immagini/dessert/zafferano_arancia_basilico.jpg

Macarons with walnuts and saffron

http://www.teonzo.com/immagini/biscotti_mignon/macaron_noci_zafferano.jpg

Entremet with figs, saffron and almonds

http://www.teonzo.com/immagini/torte/fichi_zafferano_mandorle.jpg

 

Figs and saffron is a great pairing now that we are in figs season, it was traditional for ancient Romans.

If you are interested in some recipes I'll try to translate them.

 

 

 

Teo

thank you these look fantastic. I may attempt to make some macaroons!

[pastrygirl]

I like saffron in desserts, have made ice cream and poached pears with it.  I especially like a little lemon or orange zest with it, or typical middle eastern flavors like like pistachio and honey.  How about a saffron creme caramel with orange-pistachio cookies?

[CatPoet]

Saffron Skorpor  ( yeah I know the Italians called them biscoti, but I call them  the Swedish way.)

 

150 gram  butter

500 ml milk

2 tablespoon of dry active yeast.

½ teaspoon salt

1½ dl sugar

½-1 gram of saffron

Ca 1½ litre  plain flour

1 tablespoon vodka

1 sugar lump.

 

Grind the saffron with  the sugarlump to a fine powder, add the vodka and leave.

Melt  the butter, add the milk and let it come to hand hot and pour into a bowl and activate yeast ( I know in  other countries you need to do this, in Sweden we dont and I dont know how).

 

Add sugar, salt, saffron vodka to the bowl,  start stiring in some of the flour then start kneading more  until you have a soft and slightly tacky dough. Keep kneading it for 5- 10 min.

 

Leave to rise for 1 hour.

 

Roll into  50 small balls and leave on  baking tray with paper or flour to rise for  30 minutes. I get 25 per baking tray.

 

 Bake at 225 C  for 15- 20 min. 

 

Cool and  use a fork to split them open.  Now put the heat at 250 C and lay  the bread  split side up, bake until  golden and toasty, that takes 2- 5 minutes so keep an eye on it.

 

So when all are toasted time to dry them out, set the oven as low as it can go and now put trays of single layer buns back in.  Have the oven door a jar and dry them out, that takes about 2 hours, they need to be bone dry.

 

Now you are done and enjoy these with a cup of tea.

[andiesenji]

No one has mentioned saffron cake.  Or Simnel cake that is an Easter tradition in the UK and in certain places in the US where English food traditions are observed - more or less accurately as in some cases the time span has been considerable.

 

We had saffron cake when I was a child - either with orange or with almond and sometimes with both or a lemon version that contained sultanas that had been soaked in saffron-infused liquor. 

 

Just Google Simnel cake and you will get plenty of references. 

[rosik929]

I love baking with saffron, it has a very distinct taste and lends a warmth and richness to the dish, and transforms many desserts from okay to amazing.  It blends very well with cream, for some reason.  It is also used in many Swedish sweetbreads and pastries.  I have made saffron pistachio ice cream that was heavenly; other wonderful desserts that bake well with saffron are a saffron Tahitian vanilla bundt cake and Swedish saffron buns.  For the full recipes with complete instructions, see the following links:

 

http://epicurean-bites.com/?p=40  (saffron pistachio ice cream)

 

http://epicurean-bites.com/?p=49  (saffron Tahitian vanilla bundt cake)

 

http://epicurean-bites.com/?p=151  (Swedish saffon buns)

[ChrisZ]

I made poached pears and saffron was part of the poaching liquid, that was a pretty tasty one and gave the pears a nice golden hue. Looked good with vanilla ice cream.

 

One of my favourite desserts to make is from "Bentley", by Brent Savage.  

Sorry - haven't been able to find a recipe or photos online of the real thing, but here's one of my earlier attempts (which doesn't look anything like the photo in the book).

Basically it's pears poached in saffron, sauternes and orange blossom water, served with a honey mousse and a honey gel.  The saffron poaching liquid is served with the pears.

The thing I love about this dessert is that the mousse is served on a base made of pureed puff-pastry, olive oil and salt.  With the honey mousse it has a similar flavour to baklava, but without the heavy stickiness.  By poaching balls of pear instead of whole pears, it's easy to judge the cooking time perfectly.

[CatPoet]

Simnel cake  doesnt have   saffron in it, not at least the ones I gotten in the Uk nor the recipes my family and friend has.

[Hassouni]

I don't have recipes off the top of my head, but you might try saffron ice cream and shole zard, two Persian favorites

[andiesenji]

Simnel cake  doesnt have   saffron in it, not at least the ones I gotten in the Uk nor the recipes my family and friend has.

The original simnel cake was made with saffron - originally there was a lot of saffron grown in England (Essex) from the mid-fourteenth century through the 17th century until global transportation made other spices cheaper.  One town, Saffron Waldon was named for it.

 

The inclusion of saffron in cakes baked for Easter has persisted in certain areas and fallen out of fashion in others. 

 

Here is a lovely RECIPE that is virtually identical to the one I have made for decades.

 

Another type was a somewhat fruity and custardy cake, baked in a pie crust shell that was flavored with saffron.  I tried making one of these ages ago and was not thrilled with the results, although the woman who gave me the recipe produced a lovely and very flavorful result.

As I recall, it used a lot of eggs and only after my mishap, did I realize that eggs were much smaller back then and I "over-egged" the thing...

 

And here is a recipe for Cornish Saffron Cake (bread), which I tried a few years ago and found to be excellent - I used candied orange and lemon peel only.

Not only was it lovely as is but made an absolutely fantastic toast - extremely tasty with tea.

 

P.S.  I just recalled that I bought some of this topping  last November and used it up during the holidays and early part of the year.  It was an interesting addition to rice pudding and also sprinkled on top of custards.

Edited September 7, 2014 by andiesenji (log)