Your Daily Sweets (2005-2012)

[jumanggy]

GTO: Thanks! I think, the treadmill for me. And just fish (FISH!) and vegetables.. (but I'm watching Heroes and I can't help myself eating potato chips...)

Rob: Thanks you so much! I can't wait! For Filipino desserts, since most people don't have ovens, steamers are invaluable. I'm intrigued to find out what you baked.

[GTO]

Heroes is awesome, I was a little bit "Meh" to begin with, didn't think I'd get into it, but yeah, really enjoying it. (Not dessert related I know.)

Looking at those truffles is making me feel ill though, Mark. Despite all the stuff I do with chocolate, I cannot stand truffles. They're like eating the core of a Planet made of chocolate and usually cause me to feel violenty sick, if not physically vomit. Lol, I'm sure you make fantastic, textbook truffles however!

[Tri2Cook]

Awesome stuff. I wanted to throw a couple things in for the "dessert-a-thon" but I don't have a lot of time this weekend. I don't have anything to offer with the beauty of the "driftwood" cake and can't offer the mouthwatering creativity and sheer volume that gfron1 and jumanggy brought to the table so I decided to put on the thinking cap and make the theme of my contribution "Weird".

First, I decided to twist the old catering standard by napoleon-izing it. alternating layers of cantaloupe/honey/tahitian vanilla sherbet and honeydew/honey/rosewater sherbet seperated by crisp salty/sweet layers of caramelized prosciutto. It's topped with honey sweetened, peppercorn infused whipped cream.

Next is buttered peas 'n' carrots. Mousse of pea puree, butter, honey, lemon zest and juice and a pinch of nutmeg folded into vanilla whipped cream. Mousse of carrot puree with butter, honey, tangerine zest and juice and a pinch of cinnamon folded into vanilla whipped cream. A sauce of browned butter, sugar, cream and vanilla bean. Topped with candied carrot pieces.

P.S. I won't be offended by "yuck" replies.

[gfron1]

No yucks here - I love the creativity. How did the napoleon taste - it looks perfect after a weekend of overly sweets.

[Ling]

Inspired by bergerka's foodblog this week, I made a Valrhona chocolate mousse with olive oil (Colli Etruschi Blera?), black pepper, Maldon. The mousse is Herve This's recipe from Molecular Gastronomy, since that's the theme for dinner tonight. It's made with nothing but water and chocolate, and is at once richer and lighter than standard chocolate mousse--richer, because it has no cream to cut the flavour of the cocoa, and lighter because there is little fat to dull the taste of the chocolate. The biscotti is flavoured with anise and wild fennel pollen.

[David Ross]

Inspired by bergerka's foodblog this week, I made a Valrhona chocolate mousse with olive oil (Colli Etruschi Blera?), black pepper, Maldon. The mousse is Herve This's recipe from Molecular Gastronomy, since that's the theme for dinner tonight. It's made with nothing but water and chocolate, and is at once richer and lighter than standard chocolate mousse--richer, because it has no cream to cut the flavour of the cocoa, and lighter because there is little fat to dull the taste of the chocolate. The biscotti is flavoured with anise and wild fennel pollen.

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Good Lord, that is simply beautiful. Nice job.

[Tri2Cook]

How did the napoleon taste - it looks perfect after a weekend of overly sweets.

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I'll trade you one for one of those avocado milkshakes. The napoleon was pretty good. A little less salty would have been better but that's ok, I was just having fun. The sherbets turned out really nice. The veggie mousse experiment wasn't as good as I hoped but was better than I honestly expected. Most liked the carrot, the response to the pea was mainly "I don't hate it but I'm not sure I actually like it either". That's ok though, again I was just messing around. No plans to keep it around for future use. Every now and then I have to get the goofiness out of my system.

[prasantrin]

"Whew!"  You meant that for the desserts, but it fits for passing your exams even better!  We've been rooting for you thousands of miles away.  And in fact, we had the same dessert theme going (for the most part) - A Filipino celebration.  Your exam completion desserts are in the oven and coming this afternoon!

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Ooohhhhh! I hope you made him some Sans Rival! I haven't seen one of those in ages (not since I was in the Phil. March 2006)!! Or some bibingka. I love bibingka!

[jumanggy]

Ooh, I just had Sans Rival a week ago. (That's peanut or cashew dacquoise layered with egg yolk buttercream and chopped peanuts/ cashews.) I'm not a butter fan (shocking I know) but it did taste good... What kind of Bibingka do you prefer, Rona? It's as confusing to me as simply the word "pudding" must be to the British... But no mind, I like most of them if not all.

Tri2Cook, I knew you were gonna come up with something very original. I'm very curious about legume-based desserts, especially how the Japanese use adzuki beans (I've seen the Haagen-Dazs ice cream but I've never coughed up the money for it..). I'm only familiar with Hopia (not Haupia, this one's a moon cake-like thing filled with sweetened mung bean paste usually). I served the desserts with lots of potato chips for saltiness.

Ling, that looks great... The mousse looks sorbet-y.

[prasantrin]

Ooh, I just had Sans Rival a week ago. (That's peanut or cashew dacquoise layered with egg yolk buttercream and chopped peanuts/ cashews.) I'm not a butter fan (shocking I know) but it did taste good... What kind of Bibingka do you prefer, Rona? It's as confusing to me as simply the word "pudding" must be to the British... But no mind, I like most of them if not all.

Is bibingka the same as cassava cake? The one I like is kind of chewy, and very coconut-y in flavour. I'd have to ask my mother for specifics. I love Sans Rival--but it must be made with cashews! None of that peanut stuff!

Brazo de Mercedes would be nice to see, too. At a bakery in Bacolod, you have a choice of a condensed milk-based filling or butter-based filling. I prefer the butter one. Butter=good!

[gfron1]

And last, but not least for my weeekend of baking. From the jumanggy Collection: That's Dr. Jumanggy To You Mister!

Just as Mark has grown from simple rice cookies to chocolate rice puddings, he is now a doctor (well, almost), and now he deserves a revamped Filipino classic: The Cassava Cake. I took a traditional recipe, all of which ended with "dump a can of sweetened condensed milk on the top." And as jumanggy has mentioned he doesn't like things overly sweet, and also likes pineapple. This version of Cassava Cake starts with freshly grated cassava. The topping is a light mango mousse. The glaze is pineapple lemon grass. I also experimented with crusts. The bottom is three layers of lumpia wrapper brushed with butter between each layer. The edges are a series of layers of fillo dough brushed with butter.

I expected this to be a dense, heavy cake. Instead I got a light, well balanced sweetness with a nice little tang on top.

Congratulations Mark!

[jumanggy]

Rob: Oh, I KNOW! Regular cassava cake topping is dizzying. My family's a big fan of cassava cake and not-to-sweet desserts, so I may adapt your version someday (you're right... egg roll wrapper could find so many more uses here). Thanks so much for the desserts, I'm kind of humbled that you've made more indigenous fare than I have in my life! Thanks also for the congratulations and support. It's been a while since I've been in a hospital setting, a scrawny kid barking out orders like something out of a Pixar film. I hope it still gives me space to be a foodie like docsconz. I'll wait for your entry on Blogquat.

Rona: someday I may have to index the many confusing kinds of bibingka. Some are gelatinous and sticky, some are spongey and cakey, some are like blocks of rice porridge, depending on the region. Brazo de Mercedes (soft meringue roll filled with a neon-yellow custard) is something I planned on making, but I couldn't decide if I wanted to give it a chocolate twist or if that would destroy it. I've only ever seen or tasted the condensed milk version (10 egg yolks with sugar and a can of condensed milk).

[DesertCulinary]

Sadly, we finished up the last of some Soft Baked Butterscotch-Chocolate Chip cookies tonight that I made a couple days ago for the Wednesday treat day. Soft, slightly chewy and a pleasant butterscotch background.

[David Ross]

Last night I made one of my favorite recipes-A fruit tart in a pastry crust made with toasted hazelnuts, a layer of pastry cream with smoked cheddar, and instead of the normal apples, I used fresh apricots. The apricots actually turned out better than when I have used apples.

I pre-baked the tart shell and then spooned some of the cooled pastry cream into the shell. The tart shell is my basic pastry crust recipe with some toasted hazelnuts added. The pastry cream is a basic recipe with some smoked Tillamook cheddar stirred in at the last minute of cooking.

I blanched the apricots in hot water for a few minutes then put them in an ice water bath. Then I peeled off the skin, leaving the apricots whole. Then I poached the apricots in a mixture of water, sugar, some orange liquer, a vanilla bean and a cinnamon stick. The apricots naturally start to split in half after about 10 minutes in the poaching liquid, so it was very easy to cut them in half and take out the pit. I let the apricots cool before adding them on top of the pastry cream.

It wasn't totally necessary, but I thought it would be nice to serve the tart with some vanilla ice cream and a toasted hazelnut tuille cookie. The cookie was another taste of toasted hazelnuts.

[Tri2Cook]

Last night I made one of my favorite recipes-A fruit tart in a pastry crust made with toasted hazelnuts, a layer of pastry cream with smoked cheddar, and instead of the normal apples, I used fresh apricots.  The apricots actually turned out better than when I have used apples. 

I pre-baked the tart shell and then spooned some of the cooled pastry cream into the shell.  The tart shell is my basic pastry crust recipe with some toasted hazelnuts added.  The pastry cream is a basic recipe with some smoked Tillamook cheddar stirred in at the last minute of cooking.

It wasn't totally necessary, but I thought it would be nice to serve the tart with some vanilla ice cream and a toasted hazelnut tuille cookie.  The cookie was another taste of toasted hazelnuts.

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Nice! Smoked cheddar pastry cream? That's awesome! I'm gonna have to try it.

[kaneel]

This is one of the reason why i love egullet!!!!

[GTO]

Here are two of my recent desserts.

Rice pudding with local raspberries, from last week.

And tonight - David Lebovitz's 'Plum Streusel Cake.'

[gfron1]

Both look great - its hard to get size perspective on the plum cake. Either they are small plums or large almond slivers. Either way they look super!

[lexy]

Both look great - its hard to get size perspective on the plum cake.  Either they are small plums or large almond slivers.  Either way they look super!

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Those look like the kind of small plums that seem to be more common in England than they are in North America. Both look great GTO!

[GTO]

Thank you both very much!

You're right lexy - They're little tiny greengages, about walnut size.

[Rose&Thorn]

I made a year's supply of Seville orange marmalade last weekend. Had to find things to do with it other than eating it on toast.

I found this on Bay Tree Food Company.

It was really good, but you have to eat it with ice-cream to cut the tartness.

[RuthWells]

I've really enjoyed catching up on everyone's pix today -- amazing stuff!

It's been a long time since I've posted anything, but I've been baking like a madwoman this summer. I've just completed an 8-week fundraising project, selling baked goods every weekend in our town center. We raised $800 (woohoo!), and if you're interested, you can read all about it here: www.cookiesforacure.blogspot.com

A few of the items that sold well:

Zucchini cupcakes with buttercream

Sesame anise melts

Cranberry chews

Lemon poppy seed muffins

More zucchini cupcakes with buttercream

[DesertCulinary]

We are getting ready to move into the new house this week, so I thought I should make us something to munch on while we are busy unpacking. So, I made these Lavender-Scented Lemon Pistachio Biscotti today.

[azurite]

Last night, for dessert at a friend's house, we had huckleberries picked that morning and the day before, with whipped cream with some sugar added as it was beaten. Delicious.

azurite

[Nina C.]

Here are a few recent desserts!

then a dessert from this week, a fig and raspberry galette, served with slices of gorgonzola dolce drizzled with wildflower honey. So amazingly good. I could eat this every day.

Edited September 4, 2007 by Nina C. (log)