A Little Peanut Butter for a Pal.

For a Pal

Merriam-Webster.com defines Pal as a close friend.  So, I guess the title of this post should  change but then again, it is there and I am not rethinking it!!!

This whole Twitter/Facebook/MySpace/WordPress world brings us together with others we would never have had the opportunity to meet in the not so distant past.  It seems we are all a friend of a friend of a friend these days.  Luckily, I have met many a folk from across the globe….and some very “Wonderful” folk I might add!!!  The “pal” I am referring to today is not in some far off land or even a different US time zone…she is literally over the hill and across the river from me and yet we have never met!

What’s this about you ask….well this “pal” asked a mutual friend (sorry PP….”oh! but I don’t!”) if I would make her a Chocolate Peanut Butter Cheesecake and since I love me some cheesecake, I did!!!!

It's all about the ganache!

A bit of a sidenote now that I am about to give you the lowdown on this cheesecake and its making… It seems my new Pal has just recently learned she passed her CCRN’s so my dear I hope you enjoy a celebratory slice!!

Now comes either the disappointment or the intrigue, it depends on how comfortable you are with flying solo.

I make many a cheesecake and I have no real recipe just a couple rules.

• 1 X LG egg for each 8 0z. cream cheese  (use best available CC, no “store brands”
• Bake in a water bath
• Bake @ 400 degrees for 15mins, reduce to 300 degrees till center jiggles ever so slightly (please don’t mar the beautiful top of a cheesecake by inserting a skewer or knife to check for doneness!!)

The rest my friends is something I wing!!!!  Sweet, savory, crusts, flavors etc., etc.  There of course are some other rules but these come with time.

• Don’t overbeat the batter.  Too much air causes the cheesecake to crack, even when using a water bath, which cuts down on this a bit.
• Do mix 1 egg at a time into the cream cheese till it is fully incorporated
• Do practice often till you get to know the “it’s done jiggle”!!!

Now for those who need a bit more instruction, as best as I can recall, here is what I did for this particular cheesecake.

Crust:

• 3/4 cup crushed oreos
• 1/2 cup dry roasted peanuts
• 4 TBS melted butter

Pulse oreos and peanuts in processor till fine, slowly drizzle in butter till it comes together.  Pat into bottom of 10″ springform pan.

Batter:

• 40 oz cream cheese
• 5 eggs
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 2 tsp vanilla
• pinch of salt

Divide the batter and add 1 cup creamy peanut butter to 1 half and 1 cup chocolate ganache to the other.  Pour PB batter over the crust and level, next pour chocolate batter over PB batter.  Place foil prepared* pan into a water bath that comes 3/4 way to top of pan then into oven, bake 15 mins at 400 and then finish off at 300 till you get the “it’s done jiggle.  Let it come to room temp and then refridgerate at least 10 hrs.

Once it was chilled, I then topped it with a white chocolate peanut butter ganache, back to the fridge to let that firm up.  Run a knife around the rim of the pan to loosen the cheesecake, release the lock and serve it up!!!!!

* I should have stated this sooner but when using a water bath to bake in a springform pan you must cover the outside of the pan with a couple of layers of foil so no water seeps in while it is baking!

Congrats Edy!

And as a final tease….some of my favorites.

• The Classic- a bit of lemon juice and grated rind in the batter and top with fresh fruit.
• German Chocolate-Chocolate batter with coconut and mini chocolate chips folded in.
• White Chocolate Raspberry- Fold white chocolate ganache into batter then swirl with a sweet raspberry compote.
• Chicken Jalapeno with cumin minis- a freakin’ awesome appetizer!!
• Lobster with Garlic clarified butter drizzle- Only 16 oz cream cheese packed with diced tail meat and a bit of lemon zest, drizzle with garlic clarified butter and brunch is served!!!

Getting back to the roots of Strudel!!!

Apfelstrudel, how do I love thee? Let me count the ways!!!!!

Well, I guess I need to rethink my love for it, or at least the classic Viennese version.  Which of course brings me to this…..

The May Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Linda of make life sweeter! and Courtney of Coco Cooks. They chose Apple Strudel from the recipe book Kaffeehaus: Exquisite Desserts from the Classic Cafés of Vienna, Budapest and Prague by Rick Rodgers.

As with anything, often there is more than one way to arrive at the final destination and strudel is no different.  The strudel my “granny” made, the strudel I make and the strudel I adore are not  strudel in the classic Viennese way.  With no hanging my head in shame, I proudly proclaim my love for strudel made with phyllo dough!!  This is not to say I won’t eat the classic Viennese version but there is an obvious difference in the doughs, both visually and texturally, and I prefer phyllo.

Visually the difference is more than obvious.

Phyllo vs. Strudel

Texturally it is a bit more subtle.  Phyllo is like a 2000 year old papyrii disintegrating into a myriad of crackling shards when you bite into it.  Strudel dough is more like a thin leather scroll, dried and cracked but yet still retains a little “tooth” to it.

All of this being said, this months challenge was more about technique for me than taste.  Being that I have technically cheated on every strudel I have ever made, I figured giving the “real thing” a go would be fun…and thanks to

Linda and Courtney

it was!!!!

I stayed very close to the posted recipe with only 2 small changes.  The first being that I eliminated the walnuts and the second being I used Alpine Spice in place of the rum to soak the raisins.  The dough, for me , was the star in this show and after reading the forums and a few things on wikipedia, I had concerns.  Legend has it that the “Austrian Emperor’s perfectionist cook decreed that it should be possible to read a love letter through it“.  Being that I have a tendency to put holes in a lightly tossed pizza dough, I was positive I would end up with a Swiss strudel and not a Viennese one.

(I hope everyone caught that sad reference to swiss cheese!)

My concerns were for naught, this dough was absolutely a marvel to work with.  Not only did I manage to get the 2′x3′ dimensions suggested, I far exceeded them and I could have read numerous love letters through it.  My only “ahhh hell” moment came right after I knew I was done stretching but I had to go one more!!!!  Just a small tear, alas perfection was not to be!!!!

Just shy of perfection!!

Dat's how I roll!!!!

Lovin' from the oven

Strudel Viennese!

As for getting back to the roots of strudel, I am so glad this opportunity was given…I found that the technique for making the dough is not as bad as I thought it would be.  However, and I can only speak for myself on this, I have every intention of continuing my cheating ways and using phyllo for my strudel!!!

And please visit my fellow Bakers who dare!!

A Rose for Momma!!!!

So this is a day behind schedule but then again “prompt” is not my middle name!!!!

Happy Mother’s Day to all!!

My Mom and my Mother-in-Law are no longer with me, so Mother’s Day is more a day for thought around these parts anymore.

This year however, I was given a Mother’s Day gift!!  Yes, I know, technically, I can’t be considered a mom but then again, I have a tendency to think of some of those around me as my kids.  So, in an odd sort of way I am a Mom!!!!

One of my kids, Widdah, is a culinary student specializing in pastry and yesterday she brought to work some practice icing and her piping kit.  As you all may recall “piping” is not my forte and it was her intent to teach me to make a piped rose…and my friends she did just that!!!

I am not known for my “warm and fuzzy” nature, quite the contrary!!!  Although, yesterday I was beyond giddy with the excitement of actually learning and succeeding at making a piped rose….so much so that my little Widdah was somewhat taken aback, as she has never seen that side of me.

“My Dear, it’s the little things…”

What you see above is what she taught me, although I did do a little photoshop work, as the practice icing was blue.  I think she understood a little how very happy this tutoring made me but what I think she doesn’t know is….

No matter where your externship and life takes you….

…every piped Rose I see from now on will remind me of you and how much I was thrilled you gave me a

Mother’s Day Rose!!!

Happy Easter-It’s all about the sauce!!!

So this is going to be very short and sweet.  Well wishes to all.  Today I spent a quiet Easter with Ray and we had our typical, ham, scalloped potatoes, pineapple glazed carrots, all accompanied by a salad and crusty dinner rolls.  Pretty tame.  However, I had a hankering for lamb and despite the fact that he won’t touch the stuff, I went ahead and stuffed a leg of lamb.  I found the recipe off of facebook and you can all find it here, it was pretty straightforward and not at all a difficult task.  The stuffing was simply, mint, shallot ( I used garlic and onion) and bleu cheese.  Stuff it, roll it, roast it, simple as that.  To finish it off was a sauce….OMG the SAUCE!!!!!!  Reduced pan drippings, red wine followed by more reduction, thicken with ground roasted pine nuts, remove from the heat and add more bleu cheese.  All I can say is the lamb was divine but truth be told, I would have been content with the pan of sauce and a straw!!!!!!  Try it, you are gonna like it!!!!!!

And again, to everyone out there, “Christos Anesti!”.

What I did today…and why you are going to Laugh!

So today is the 3rd* and final reveal day of this months Daring Baker Challenge for March and well…..I am writing this actually before I have even begun!!!!

*apparently sometime between the last time I visited the site and yesterday the reveal date kinda changed on me!!

When I first joined the DB, 11 months ago, I was soooo good at gettinig it done early and having the time to contemplate a post, not so much as of late.  Lately, I have been scrambling and today I am scrambling HARD!!!!

Let me first off get the formallity out of the way….

The March 2009 challenge is hosted by Mary of Beans and Caviar, Melinda of Melbourne Larder and Enza of Io Da Grande. They have chosen Lasagne of Emilia-Romagna from The Splendid Table by Lynne Rossetto Kasper as the challenge.

…now let me drive this baby home so I can get in the kitchen!!!!!

I am of Italian descent so I am more than familiar with fresh pasta, bechamel, ragu and of course lasagne, so this month didn’t really phase me much.  However, being that this particular version of lasagne is much lighter than mine, I have decided  to deviate very little  from the recipe Mary, Melinda and Enza have chosen.  My version of lasagne is laden with layers of sausage, ground veal, ground beef, garlic scented ricotta and pasta (a typical pan of my lasagne goes at least 15lbs).  This is a much lighter version and I figured give it a go!!!

Why then, if it is something I am comfortable with and actually a bit less work than I normally put into, am I scrambling…..and again, scrambling HARD??  Well, this “cake thing” of mine is kinda “taking off”, this week alone I have done 7 cakes (5 paying, 2 gratis), along side of the normal 2 stores to run, 2 dogs to deal with, a house that NEEDS attention and of course my very own RAY!!!  It’s sunday you say, the day of rest…not around these parts, I have a cake due for tuesday, one I have always wanted to try but was always intimidated by, well today is the day…this cake is a 3 tiered, carved, fondant coated work of engineering….one of those wobbly wacky looking Dr Suess cakes.

That’s the scramble, so why are you now going to laugh?

As I said earlier, I am not deviating from the recipe much, initially I thought we had no choice but to make spinach pasta and Ray doesn’t “do” spinach, so I told a couple people about it and they are waiting for a taste…this then means I have a sunday meal to make as well, and guess what picky boy wants!!!!

Meatloaf and mashed potatoes!

So go ahead and giggle kids, as I am off to …

Peel potatoes

Chop onions

Make Bechamel

Make Pasta

Bake 9 cake layers

Form meatloaf

Put lasagne together

Bake

Bake

Bake!!!!!!!!

BTW It is 10:58am and I vow to have this post finished, photographed and posted by the end of the day…I refuse to be late this time!!!!!!  So more later.

2:44pm- First snag of the day came at 11:30am, the girl that was to open one store was going to be late, as the subway in PGH was down for some reason, so I had to go in.  Got the pasta made there, here are some bad pics from cell phone camera.

Mise en place!

a'kneeding we will go!!

Time to rest!!

5:34pm-Snag number 2, camera batteries dead, so no pics of me rolling sheets, but it is a quick charge and you will see them drying.  Along with the first of the cake tiers cooling.

6:46pm-Snag number 3, no this one is much more an EVENT!!!  While making the bechamel I let the dogs go out in the yard for a bit, as per usual when they returned they pranced around the kitchen.  However, I was working on my roux and was being careful not to go past “blonde” on it, so I paid no mind to the happy romping pooches.  Long story short…there was a pail of driveway tar out back, somehow it was knocked over and here is the result!!!!

Step 1

Step 2

Step 3

Many STEPS!!!!

8:18pm-Things are looking up, dinner is done, more cakes in the oven, camera battery is good to go and Mr. Picky Eater is on “floor patrol”!!!!

Cute but bad dog on a clean floor!

9:07pm-Taking a Celebrity Apprentice break!!!!

To hell with the time checks, the water is boiling and it will be done in time.  The complete recipe can be found here.  The only variation from the original recipe was in my Bechamel.  When I make this sauce I typically dice a small onion and a couple cloves of garlic and simmer that in the milk, I then strain the milk into the roux and cook as directed in the recipe.  I used my own sauce and not the recipe given, I would share that recipe with all of you but then it would no longer be my secret sauce and I would not be a happy boy and let’s face it, after the day I have had we all want me to be a happy boy!!!!!!  So I am in the final stretch, it is finally in the oven, obviously I am not going to be eating it tonight but I can say the cooked pasta was divine!!!!  It was perfectly “to the teeth”, just as any good pasta should!

TADA, out of the oven with 20 minutes to spare…the only thing is I may not get a plated photo in time, so here is one that has been edited a bit so as not to spoil what I hope will be the surprise!!!!!

A bit more color than it should have...yummy nonetheless!!!

And now, one last picture and hopefully a surprise… we are the Daring Bakers, which to me means we go a bit beyond the norm on occasion.  Since I have been so into cakes and I have never to my recollection seen a round lasagne…. well, I dared!!!!

Lasagne in the Round!

Ok, so all done but it was a LOOOOOOONNNNNNNNNGGGGGGGGGGGG day and the only way to sum it up would be to quote my dear Mrs. P, “FAAAKKKK!!!”.

Boston Cream Pie the Irish Way!!

Denise’s Birthday…must bake cake…what to do?

She’s Irish (update, I was mislead a bit…she isn’t Irish afterall), born the day after St Pat’s and likes Boston Cream Pie, Viola!, Irish twist on a Classic.

No sordid details on this one other than I have always wanted to bake a “Stout” cake and this seemed the time to do it!!!

Ok, 2 sordid details…

• The batter is so damn good there is almost no need to bake the cake.
• The scent of simmering stout, butter and cocoa is heaven and the scent of the cake baking is a must experience for yourself!!!!

Stout, Butter and Cocoa Heaven!

Your typical Boston Cream Pie consists of three components

• A Butter or Sponge Cake
• A Dark Rum scented Custard Filling
• A Chocolate Glaze or Ganache

My version differs only in 2 ways, The Stout Cake replaces the sponge/butter cake and instead of rum, well of course, I used Irish Whiskey.

Pastry Cream

adapted from Boston Cream Pie recipe from Yankee Magazine

• 1 1/2 teaspoons butter
• 1 cup milk
• 1 cup light cream
• 1/4cup sugar
• 2 teaspoons cornstarch
• 3 eggs
• 1 teaspoon Irish whiskey

In a saucepan, heat butter, milk, and light cream to just below a boil. While this mixture is cooking, combine sugar, cornstarch, and eggs in a bowl. Whip until ribbons form. When the butter-cream mixture reaches the boiling point, slowly whisk in the sugar-egg mixture and cook to boiling, stirring constantly. Boil for 1 minute. Pour into a bowl and cover the surface with plastic wrap (to prevent it from forming a skin). Chill overnight if possible. When thoroughly chilled, whisk to smooth out and flavor with Irish whiskey.

Ganache

• 8 oz chopped chocolate bittersweet or semi-sweet
• 3/4 whipping cream
• 2 TBS Butter ( I use salted)

Place the chopped chocolate in a medium sized stainless steel bowl. Set aside. Heat the cream and butter in a medium sized saucepan over medium heat ( I often use the microwave for this step, of course using a microwave safe bowl). Bring just to a boil.  Immediately pour the boiling cream over the chocolate and allow to stand for 5 minutes. Stir with a whisk until smooth.

And now…………

Chocolate Stout Cake

Direct from the KA site using ingredients by weight option.

• 16 ounces stout or dark beer, such as Guinness
• 1 pound (4 sticks) unsalted butter
• 4 1/2 ounces Dutch-process cocoa
• 17 ounces KA unbleached AP flour  (I used Robin Hood)
• 1 pound, 12 ounces sugar
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
• 4 large eggs
• 6 ounces sour cream

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Grease and flour three 8″ or two 9″ cake pans, and line them with parchment paper circles. Be sure your 9″ pans are at least 2″ deep.  Place the stout and butter in a large, heavy saucepan, and heat until the butter melts. Remove the pan from the heat, and add the cocoa powder.  Whisk until the mixture is smooth. Set aside to cool to room temperature.  Whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt in a large bowl; set aside.  In a large mixing bowl, beat together the eggs and sour cream.  Add the stout-cocoa mixture, mixing to combine.  Add the flour mixture and mix together at slow speed. Scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl, and mix again for 1 minute.  Divide the batter equally among the prepared pans.  Bake the layers for 35 minutes for 8″ pans, or 45 to 50 minutes for 9″ pans, until a cake tester inserted into the center comes out clean. Remove the cakes from the oven and cool on a rack for 10 minutes before turning the cakes out of their pans and returning to the rack to finish cooling completely before assembly.  Being that I was doing 2 layers and my 9″ pans are only 1 3/4″ deep I was lucky enough to get a very nice 6″ round as well from the batter.

The verdicts are in and all seem to be very positive on this one.  I ended up getting a few orders for this one as it sat, but my personal opinion was it would have been multitudes better without the custard filling.  Not that it was a bad addition but this is such a uniquely flavored cake the custard kind of competed a little more than it should have with that uniqueness.  I had one minor issue and that involved my 9″ pans, which aren’t 2″ deep, as suggested…I should have started testing for doneness a little sooner than I did, I think I could have gotten away with only 40 minutes oven time.

From beginning to batter to baked!

This one is most definitely a keeper!   Although a very special occasion kind of cake as if you take a look at the nutrition information on the KA site, you will see this isn’t a cake for the faint of heart!!!!  It’s slightly malty taste and it’s just shy of sweet chocolatey richness is something everyone should try!!!

Cascades of Chocolate...what better finish?

And finally here is why I spoke with such authority against the custard version that everyone raved over… my little 6″ gem with a simple powdered sugar glaze.   Hands off this one is all mine!!!!!!!

Hands off!

Do Not attempt to adjust your screen…

We are currently experiencing technical difficulties.

Another challenge and well it didn’t go so well!!  As for taste and overall ease it was a good one.  As for what I envisioned and what I executed that is another story, which I choose not to bore you with at this time.

The February 2009 challenge is hosted by Wendy of WMPE’s blog and Dharm of Dad ~ Baker & Chef.
We have chosen a Chocolate Valentino cake by Chef Wan; a Vanilla Ice Cream recipe from Dharm and a Vanilla Ice Cream recipe from Wendy as the challenge.

As is typical of DB challenges we were given a bit of leeway with what we could do with a particular element and the ice cream in this challenge was where I chose to play.  Aside from steak my all time favorite flavor on earth is dark chocolate and orange, so I decided to use a recipe I ran across awhile back but had yet to have reason to make.

Chocolate-Studded Grand Marnier Ice Cream Recipe

from Fern Glen Inn B&B

I followed the recipe to the letter with only an addition of 1tsp. of orange extract.   Fan-freakin’-tastic!!  This stuff had the power to hide a multitude of sins and considering what I did to the Valentino, I guess I made the ice cream work overtime!!!

Now for the sad sad details of a simple 3 ingredient cake!!! I had on hand some Ghirardelli semi sweet chocolate,  so I didn’t run out for the bitter chocolate that I wanted.  I figured I would add just a smidge of the hersheys special dark cocao I had as well, that would give me more the flavor I wanted.

RED FLAG #1

(don’t change that which you have never done before)

I melted the chocolates together and well I ended up not with that lovely molten chocolate texture I know and love but something a bit more paste like.  It hadn’t seized but it wasn’t right, it just was too dense for those delicate egg whites to stand up to.

RED FLAG #2

(listen to yourself, you know damn well better than that)

So on to the folding of the egg whites I went, yea I deflated them more than I knew was good but they still had enough lift that I figured it wouldn’t be a total loss.  Which to tell the truth it wasn’t.

The end product was a little “shorter” than expected and hoped, as I was going to split the cake and create a lovely layered look.  And since that didn’t happen, please see the above photo of a snowy screen.

What I planned for and what I ended up with are polar opposites but the overall taste factor was very good.

Here now are a few photos of the progress before I realized my vision was for naught.

The not so smooth chocolate!!

The egg whites awaiting deflation!

The not as short as expected end result!

Folding the chopped chocolate into the ice cream.

As for a final photo of the finished product….  truthfully I wasn’t about to waste the pixels!!!!!   It tasted great but it “weren’t” so pretty.  Please though look here for other great and talented bakers who managed to bring their vision to the plate.

Luckily for me there is next month!!!!

A Little Bit of Precious

15 years is a long time yet it passes in the blink of an eye.

The first time I saw my little “pussy girl” was after asking Ray what he had under his jacket.  He grinned sheepishly and opened the zipper a bit and out popped the cutest fuzziest little head.  Immediately I said “no!”, but the battle was lost.  So the selection of a name began, we had to come up with something original, we had to find the “purr”fect name.  A few days passed with no progress.  Poor precious little girl with no name.  More we thought and still nothing.  We kept saying “she was too precious to have no name”… then we knew…Precious.

Ray and I grew up with her.  A couple of apartments, 2 houses, good times, bad times…life.

She was a typical cat…when she was in the mood for us she’d let us know, when not, well she knew we’d wait.

One thing about her was she never stopped purring.  Literally her engine revved non stop.  Hopefully, this was an indicator of contentment and a good life.  Early this morning, however, the purring came to an end, at least for a little while  as Ray and I wait for her to let us know she needs a little more Love!!

Belated but Heartfelt!

Happy Birthday to you...

You all may recall Carol, well she managed to turn “36″  on Jan 28th and of course I did whip up a little something something for her.  Carol and Scott, of course, both LOVE chocolate…truthfully I don’t think they “do” anything but chocolate, save the occasional peanut butter; so I went to my favorite go-to chocolate cake and thought I would top it with some sort of peanut butter icing.  After perusing multitudes of PB icing recipes I settled on this one, from Blondie and Brownie, and boy am I glad I did.  This stuff was peanut butter silk!!!  It came together like a breeze and OMG was it good…imagine the center of a Reese’s cup but light fluffy and… well all I can say is MAKE IT!!!  Now some of you may laugh at this one as you already may know this but I discovered something while making this, kind of a John Eureka moment.  I have always made Swiss Buttercreams the old fashioned way…pot of simmering water, bowl with egg whites and sugar and a hand whisk, well not no mo’!!!!!  It was late, I was tired and I didn’t have the energy to whip that merengue by hand, so enter stage right my handy dandy hand mixer with whisk  attachment in tow.  Yes, the most obvious often eludes us at times.  Now I am not saying I will never make Swiss Buttercream by hand again but now I know there is really no need to do so.

Just before the Peanut Butter addition

Ok, this is a quicky post and I am off.  Once again Happy Birthday Carol and you guys enjoy Florida we will see you soon!

Almost Done!

Done and Dressed

First Cut

and lastly the innards!!!

Back in the Saddle…or how I turned “Franpanese”!

Anyone remember the the song “I think I am turning Japanese” by the Vapours?

Anyone realize this is going to be a Daring Baker post?

Anyone wondering what my psychosis today might be???

Alright, let me attempt to lead you down this twisted path.

As stated above this a Daring Baker post and… This month’s challenge is brought to us by Karen of Bake My Day and Zorra of 1x umruehren bitte aka Kochtopf. They have chosen Tuiles from The Chocolate Book by Angélique Schmeink and Nougatine and Chocolate Tuiles from Michel Roux.

As some of you may be aware, I missed both november’s and december’s challenges.  Both of these months are excessively hectic for me and I could neither have wrapped my mind or overly tired body around these to finish them.  I did attempt the caramel cake on december 26th for Ray’s b-day but after baking and letting rest, when I turned it out, it stuck and well…. I flipped.  The Yule Log, there was no way this side of hell, that I was even thinking about it.  So it was bite the bullet and get back in the saddle for this month or else get the boot…not a fan of the boot, so here I am!!!

“Tuiles” is francaise for tile, as in roof tile, as in those wavy terra cotta tiles on many a roof across the globe.  I did little research other than what I read on the Db forum so I am assuming this cookie ( I did the sweet version) gets it name because it is malleable and can be shaped like a tuile!!!

I had no fear of the recipe, nor of the shaping but I was absolutely at a loss for a creative shape.  I thought and I thought and then I thought I came up with the perfect bit of creativity, something completely of the moment that it just couldn’t lose.  It did….honestly it was a one in a million shot but someone posted that they would do this exact thing….arg!!!  Although, hers, Diary of a Glad Housewife,  is the first post I am reading!  So again thinking cap time.

Nothing, emptiness, the void of space…only these words can describe the progress of my thinking.  I gave up and headed over to youtube for a diversion.  I have been feeling nostalgic as of late and I have been listening to alot of 80’s and early 90’s music.  I was never a rocker, I went from Disco to punk to house to techno…always been a “clubby” kinda music listening guy.  So I was following link after link and then I came upon, as mentioned above, “I think I am turning Japanese”.  I never really got into this song as  I always thought it was rather nonsensical; but it did have the kind of beat that always caught me, so I listened.

I swear to you, I have never before used youtube as a menu-planning device nor was it my intent to do so but alas……..I started thinking……Japanese…….sushi…..wrapped…….malleable……tuiles………viola!!!

Yes, I agree, dark and twisted this thing called my brain!!!!!

That was the “why” now here is the “how” I did fruit sushi.

First I started with some leftover white rice (approx. 1 cup) to that I added a 10 ounce can of coconut milk and cooked that down as one would do with risotto.  Before all the liquid was absorbed, I added some vanilla and about 3/4 cup sugar and finished the process.  I would sooo love to tell you my local market had all the tropical fruit that I wanted to use but of course not, it is january and not really the time for peak ripeness, so jarred Dole Tropical fruit cocktail it was.  I then spread the rice on a buttered sheet of parchment in a rectangle, down the middle I placed the diced tropical fruit.  I rolled this all up and popped it in the fridge overnight.  The next afternoon I whipped up my batter, which I colored with green and brown food color paste from Wilton.  My template was cut the night before, I really should have made it a little longer, a simple rectangle 1 inch by 5.5 inches.  As suggested, I baked one just to get a feel for the timing, mine took a bit over 5 mins.  I had cut my stuffed rice log into 1 inch sections and had them waiting for the tuilles.  I did find it to be an easy process but it needed to be very fast as the rice was chilled and that hardened the cookie too quickly and the first few cracked before they could make it all the way around.  I had some leftover rice and I shaped that into smallish logs and decided to do a piped lattice wrap for those;  initially I used a #4 round tip and that was just too thick and the batter spread too much, a #2 created the effect you see below.

This was a fantastic get back in the saddle challenge for me…the recipe was straightforward and more than easy enough.  The free-for-all creativity was just what I needed to set my mind on the year ahead.

And now that I have turned Franpanese, I present you with my Tuiles wrapped fruit Sushi!!!!