Pudding for a Prince

When I was in 4th grade I did a report on Queen Elizabeth II, which involved dressing up as her and setting up a display in the school library and speaking to people when they passed by.  It was during my research on her that I first learned she had a grandson close to my age, a Prince, who would someday become King.  I, like most girls, dreamed of being a Princess.  But I never hoped that Prince William would meet me, fall in love with me and whisk me away to his palace in England.  I knew I would never be his Princess because he wouldn’t marry a commoner, (how wrong was I on that!) and because a British Royal would never marry an American, (obviously my research on the Queen did not fully educate me of the events which led to her Father’s ascension.)  Even though I never pined after the Prince, I have had a mild interest in his life, so I was eager to see the Royal Wedding this week. 

Sadly, we were not invited to the wedding, although my children are decedents of English and Scottish Royalty and my husband is 24th cousins with the Queen.*  We understand the snub, of course, they were trying to have an intimate wedding.   

I’ve still not seen the wedding, electricity has been out because of the terrible storms that shattered the South on Wednesday.  I had planned to watch the wedding with my own little Prince William and Princess Sophie.  Instead we have spent a lot of time sitting on the front porch, reading the newspaper, and counting our blessings. 

I want to share a recipe adapted from the book, In The Royal Manner by Paul Burrell.  Burrell is an interesting character if you know anything about him.  He was Princess Diana’s butler and served her until her death.  His book gives “expert advice on etiquette and entertaining.”  Some of the recipes he shares are favorites served at Kensington Palace among other royal residences.  It’s a nice book to help with fancy party planning and cozy dinners or picnics with your family.  I enjoyed getting the peek into the royal household.  Below is a recipe most certainly eaten by Prince William as a child. 

Banana Bread and Butter Pudding

Serves 4

3/4 stick of butter, softened

3 oz. sultanas or golden raisins

1 vanilla pod

12 oz. single cream or half and half

6 thick slices of white bread

1 banana

3 eggs

3 tablespoons light brown sugar

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Grease a small baking dish, (just big enough to hold three sandwiches tightly.)  Dot the dish with half of the raisins.  Split the vanilla pod and scrape out the seeds.  Add the leftover pod, seeds and cream to a small sauce pan.  Heat on medium to medium high heat until warm but  not yet boiling.  Remove from the heat and allow the vanilla to steep for at least 30 minutes or until the mixture is room temperature.

Spread one side of each slice of bread with the butter.  Thinly slice the banana and make three banana sandwiches.  Trim the crusts off the sandwiches and cut the sandwiches into triangles.  Place the triangles in the dish, they should overlap a little. 

Whisk the eggs and sugar together until smooth.  Remove the pod from the cream and whisk into the egg mixture. Pour over the bread.  Top with the remaining raisins.

Place the dish inside a larger pan with tall sides.  Pour boiling water into the outer dish until it comes about halfway up the inner dish.  Bake for 30-35 minutes.

Burrell suggests serving hot with pouring cream, (light whipping cream will do).

Click here for the Printable Recipe at Tasty Kitchen.

I’m sending this to Dessert Wars.  This last challenge was vanilla.  Believe it or not, this was the first time I’ve used a vanilla pod.  A sharp knife is very important.  Just letting you know.

As February’s Dessert Wars Winner, I’m not currently eligible to win any more challenges until December. But I can’t leave you without showing you what this month’s winner will receive.

The winner of April's competition will receive the following prize package:

Beanilla Sampler Pack of Vanilla Beans

Lenox Personalized Musical Cupcake

1,000 ideas for Decorating Cupcakes, Cookies & Cakes

Organic Valley $50 Gift Certificate

Organic Prairie $50 Gift Certificate

Theme Kitchen $50 Gift Certificate

BEKA Cookware Crepe Pan

Whisk and cupcake necklace from Moon & Star Designs

You will be rewarded for your loyalty, if you take part in every challenge and don't win, you will still be eligible to compete in the December Challenge. For more details check the rules tab.

 

*Really, they are.  Nana and I are working to prove the family ties, but it’s gonna take a while.  But we are on it!

Dessert Wars: Go Green

March’s Dessert Wars challenge is Go Green. To celebrate St. Patty’s Day and the color green, the challenge is to create a dessert using naturally green ingredients. We must use at least one traditional dessert ingredient and at least one non-traditional ingredient.

Traditional	Non-Traditonal
Green Apples	Cucumber
Green Grapes	Green Tea
Limes	Wasabi
Pistachios	Green Chilies
Honeydew Kiwi	Basil or other green herbs
Green Pears	Soybeans/Tofu
Mint Pandan	Vegetables like Spinach or Peas
	Lemon Grass
	Green Cheese
	Avocado

My inspiration came to me in a funny way. I wasn’t sure what I was going to do for this challenge. Then one day I was adding wax to my Scentsy warmer. It smelled so good, and I realized that the scent was Cucumber Lime. Perfect! Now what to make with that? I settled on a granita, something I’ve never made before, but it’s so easy I don’t know why I haven’t yet.

Granita is a Sicilian dessert with many variations. It can either be coarse and crystalline or smooth and slushy. The technique I’m giving provides the coarse texture.

Cucumber Lime Granita

Serves 4

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup water
• pinch of salt
• zest of two limes, divided
• 3 tablespoons lime juice (about 2 limes)
• 2 cucumbers

Directions:

In a small saucepan, add the sugar and water. Swirl the pan to mix. Then bring to a boil on medium-high heat. Reduce to medium-low and simmer for 2 minutes to make a thin syrup. Take the pan off the heat and allow to cool to room temperature.

Now is a good time to zest and juice your limes. Then, using a peeler, peel the cucumber, cut off the ends and slice the cucumber in half lengthwise. Scoop out the seeds using a melon baller or a spoon. Chop the cucumber into smallish cubes until you have 2 cups.

Add to a blender the cucumber, lime juice, half the zest, salt, and 1/3 cup of syrup. Puree until it is nice and smooth. Pour into a shallow dish, cover and stick it in the freezer for 2 1/2 hours.

Remove the dish from the freezer, uncover and rake a fork through the mixture. Recover and return to the freezer for another 1-2 hours. Repeat the raking/freezing process every 1-2 hours until you are left with nothing but tiny ice crystals.

Serve in chilled glass vessels of your choice. Garnish with the remaining lime zest.

Pioneer Woman has a great step-by-step for making granitas. Check it out!

Click here for the Printable Recipe at Tasty Kitchen.

As February’s Dessert Wars Winner, I’m not currently eligible to win any more challenges until December. But I can’t leave you without showing you what this month’s winner will receive.

The March prize package includes:

Whisk and cupcake necklace from Moon & Star Designs

Beanilla Sampler Pack of Vanilla Beans

Lenox Personalized Musical Cupcake

1,000 ideas for Decorating Cupcakes, Cookies & Cakes

Organic Valley $50 Gift Certificate

Organic Prairie $50 Gift Certificate

Theme Kitchen $50 Gift Certificate

BEKA Cookware Crepe Pan

Click here to see the Dessert Wars rules

Warrior

 

 

I hope you will allow me bragging rights here.  I have won February’s Dessert Wars with my Pain au Chocolat.  This means, not only have I won a great prize package, but I have a spot in December’s Ultimate Competition.  I’ll be going up against ten other Dessert Warriors, eleven runners-up and anyone who participated in all eleven challenges.

Because I’ve already won a challenge, I’m ineligible to win any other challenges until December, but I will still be participating each month to challenge myself and to use each challenge as warrior training. 

If you have a blog and you want to challenge yourself in the dessert arena, go take a look at dessert-wars.com and join the fun!

Congratulations to February’s Runner Up

BriarRose of Flour Dusted

who made 

Dark Chocolate and Lemon Bundt  Cake

Click here to see February’s Dessert Wars Round-Up.

Dessert Wars: Dark Chocolate and Hearts

Dark Chocolate and Hearts is this month’s challenge for Dessert Wars. Dark Chocolate is quite possibly my favorite food. So it broke my heart when during my pregnancy with Sophie I had a food aversion to chocolate. I couldn’t believe it! I couldn’t get enough of pinto beans of all things, but chocolate? No thank you! Weird huh?

I can think of several really easy ways to use dark chocolate and hearts, but since the reason to compete in Dessert Wars is to “step outside your comfort zone, push yourself in the kitchen to learn new skills and get your creative juices flowing,” I decided to attempt something I have on my Foodie To Do List. That is to work with laminated dough. Even if you don’t know what laminated dough is, you’re certainly familiar with it if you’ve ever had a croissant, Danish or anything made with puff pastry.

Lamination is achieved by spreading butter over rolled out dough, folding and rolling out again. This rolling and folding process is repeated until the dough has many layers. The butter in between these layers of dough create the flakiness and lift in the baked dough. And it sure makes it yummy too! There’s only one way to make it any better, that’s right, add chocolate…and hearts! I’m making Pain au Chocolat, you can join me every step of the way or just scroll down and see the pictures.

By the way, I love the name Pain au Chocolat. French names sound so fancy, but translated it just means chocolate bread. I think I’ll start naming everything in French. How do you say peanut butter and jelly sandwich in French?

Pain au Chocolat

Makes 20-24 Click here for the Printable Recipe at Tasty Kitchen

Détrempe (Dough Mixture) Ingredients

1/2 cup warm whole milk (110-115 degrees)

1 teaspoon plus 2 tablespoons sugar

4 teaspoons active dry yeast or 1 tablespoon instant yeast

4 cups all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons salt

1/2 stick cold unsalted butter, cut into small pieces

1 cup cold whole milk

Beurrage (Butter Mixture) Ingredients

3 1/2 sticks cold unsalted butter, cut into 1/2 in. pieces

2 tablespoons all-purpose flour

Other Ingredients

1 large egg

1 tablespoon whole milk 1-2 cups dark chocolate, chopped or 24-48 chocolat batons for filling the rolls Writing Chocolate, optional (click for recipe)

Step 1 Make the détrempe: Whisk together the warm milk and 1 teaspoon of sugar. Mix in the yeast and leave until the yeast is activated, around 10 minutes. You’ll know it’s ready when it starts to bubble and grow. In a large bowl add the flour, 2 tablespoons sugar, salt and butter. Cut the butter into the dry ingredients using forks or a pastry blender until the mixture looks like bread crumbs. Add the yeast and cup of milk and stir together with a wooden spoon until the dough forms a ball. Lightly flour your counter and knead the dough until it comes together a little bit more. Don’t knead too much because there will be a lot of rolling and folding done to the dough later. Wrap the dough in plastic cling, but not too tight since there is yeast in the dough it will expand. Refrigerate for at least a half hour or up to an hour.

		Making the Detrempe VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

Step 2 Make the Beurrage: Toss the butter with the flour and stick back in the fridge for 20 minutes. Using a mixer, beat the butter with a medium speed until all the butter is smooth and pliable. It must stay cold too! Wrap the butter in plastic cling and refrigerate until needed.

Step 3 Incorporating the Beurrage with the Détrempe: Lightly flour the counter. Place dough on the counter and lightly dust the top. Roll the dough into a tall rectangle measuring 15x12 inches. Try to make the edges straight and the corners sharp. You can gently stretch the dough to achieve this. Brush off the extra flour. (Extra flour will make for a very dry, tough dough so remember this throughout the whole process.) With your eyes, divide the dough into thirds as if each third was a section of a folded letter. Using your fingers, spread the butter over the top two thirds of the dough, leaving a half inch border around the outside of the dough.

Step 4 Using the Letter Fold: Fold the bottom third of dough over the middle third of dough as if you were folding a letter. The empty bottom third of dough will be resting over the butter of the middle third. Finish the letter fold by folding the top third down. Very lightly pinch the seams together and carefully roll your rolling pin over the dough to seal the seams. As long as your butter is still cold, you may proceed with the next step. If not, wrap the dough in plastic cling and return to the refrigerator for an hour.

Letter Fold VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

Step 5 Using the Book Fold: Lightly flour the counter. Place dough on the counter and lightly dust the top. Roll the dough into a tall rectangle measuring 20x12 inches. Dust off extra flour. Fold the two short sides of the dough into the middle leaving a space of 1/4 inch between the two. Then fold both sides together like folding a book. Roll the dough gently to seal the seams. Wrap and refrigerate for 1 hour.

Book Fold VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

Step 6 Another Letter Fold: Lightly flour the counter. Place dough on the counter and lightly dust the top. Roll the dough into a tall rectangle measuring 20x12 inches. Dust off extra flour. Fold the dough using the letter fold. Gently roll to seal edges. Wrap and refrigerate for at least 2 hours but no longer than 24 hours. You could freeze for up to a month instead.

*This is a really good place to stop for the day. That’s what I did.

Step 7 Cutting and Shaping the Dough: Flour your counter then roll out the dough to a rectangle that is 1/4 inch thick, about 26x14 inches. With a sharp knife or pizza cutter, cut the dough in to 3 1/2 in. x 4 1/2 in. rectangles. For each rectangle, do the following: visually divide the rectangle into thirds as you did with the letter fold before. Place a half tablespoon of chocolate on the top third and fold the top third over the chocolate to the middle. Place another half tablespoon of chocolate where the top third meets the middle and fold the bottom third over the chocolate. Turn the roll over so that the seam is on the bottom.

Making the Rolls VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

*The rolls can be frozen at this point. Just cover tightly with plastic cling and freeze for up to a week. Thaw overnight in the refrigerator before moving on to step 8.

Step 8 Egg Wash and Proof: In a small bowl, beat the egg and then add the tablespoon of milk. Brush each roll with the egg wash. Save the egg wash in the fridge. Set the rolls in a cool spot in your kitchen to double in size for 1-2 hours. Don’t let them get warm!

Step 9 Baking: Move your oven rack to the center of the oven and preheat to 400 degrees. Put the rolls in the refrigerator until the oven is preheated, at least 15 minutes. (You could leave them in the freezer for 10.) Brush again with the egg wash. Bake for 17-22 minutes turning the pan halfway through. You know their done when they are a rich golden brown. Allow the rolls to the rest on a cooling rack before devouring. Drizzle with writing chocolate or pipe decorations.

*Baked rolls will only last one day, but you must keep them unwrapped. To keep longer, wrap each pain well with plastic then put them all together in a large freezer bag. They can hibernate in your freezer for up to a month! Then just thaw them for about 30 minutes then bake them for 7-8 minutes in a 350 degree oven.

Now I know there’s a lot to do here, but nothing is very difficult. I think the hardest thing for me was rolling out the cold dough. As far as it being time consuming, yeah, it takes a lot of time, but most of that is spent in the fridge. Trust me, if I can find the time to do this with a infant and a toddler, then with a little planning probably anyone can. Just make sure you read the instructions really well before you start.

I definitely recommend finding the chocolat batons to use. They should make things easier. I couldn’t find the chocolate that I really wanted to use, so I just used semisweet chocolate chips. Instead of keeping them whole and lining them up on the dough, I tried to chop them in my food processor and it chopped them too fine. It was a mess. So keep that in mind. But I will definitely order some batons for next time. Nevertheless, these were amazing! I will make these again many times.

GREAT NEWS!!! I won this round. Check this post for more info.

Congratulations to January’s Dessert Warrior

Heather of Girlichef who made

Fried Nutella Ravioli.

Congrats also to January's Runner Up

Xiaolu of 6 Bittersweets

who made

Chocolate Nutella Alfajores

Click here to see the January Round-Up.

The February prize package includes:

Whisk and cupcake necklace from Moon & Star Designs

The Smartshopper Electronic Grocery List Organizer

Beanilla Sampler Pack of Vanilla Beans

Lenox Personalized Musical Cupcake

1,000 ideas for Decorating Cupcakes, Cookies & Cakes

Endless Vanilla and Cinnamon Extract

Unlimited Layers: A Recipe for Turning Your Passion into Profits

Organic Valley $50 Gift Certificate

Organic Prairie $50 Gift Certificate

Theme Kitchen $50 Gift Certificate

BEKA Cookware Crepe Pan

Click here to see the Dessert Wars rules.

Dessert Wars: Nutella

There’s a new game in town: Dessert Wars. It’s the creation of bloggers Christine “Momma Cupcake” at The Cupcake Bandits and Reeni “Cinnamon Girl” from Cinnamon Spice and Everything Nice.

Dessert Wars is a progressive blogger competition with monthly winners who will go head to head at the end of the year (December) to secure the position of ULTIMATE DESSERT WARRIOR and win a grand prize package. Each month you will be challenged with a theme ingredient and/or a specific dessert to bake. For example; one month it may be to use lavender in a dessert, the next month it might be to bake a pie. This will leave room for you to express your own creativity. The more creatively you embrace the theme, the more likely you are to win!

This month’s inaugural challenge is Nutella.

There’s still a few days left to enter the contest. Click here to view the complete rules.

Here’s a list of the fantastic prizes one of us will win!

-Whisk and cupcake necklace from Moon & Star Designs

-The Smartshopper Electronic Grocery List Organizer

-Beanilla Sampler Pack of Vanilla Beans

-Lenox Personalized Musical Cupcake

-Crepe Pan from BEKA Cookware

-1,000 ideas for Decorating Cupcakes, Cookies & Cakes

-Endless Vanilla and Cinnamon Extract

-Unlimited Layers: A Recipe for Turning Your Passion into Profits

-$50 Gift Certificate to Theme Kitchen

-$50 Coupon Redeemable for Organic Valley Products

-$50 Coupon Redeemable for Organic Prairie Products

So on to my entry...

Nutella is good for a lot of things like crepes or just slathered on toast. I’ve also noticed that it’s nice to use to give a flavor boost to chocolate pudding. But I can’t stop there. I usually make a mousse with it and fill phyllo cups. This time I thought it would be fun to try to make mini pies, so that’s what I did.

First, make a pie crust dough. Roll the dough into 1 inch sized balls. Place each ball in the cups of a mini muffin pan. Use either a mini tart shaper or the bottom of a shot glass to shape into mini pie shells. Prick the bottom of each shell with a fork.

Bake the pie shells in the oven at 350 degrees for 20-25 minutes or until golden. Let crusts completely cool before filling.

To make the filling, combine 1 3/4 cup of milk and 1/4 cup of Nutella. Whisk together until it is well mixed and resembles chocolate milk. Add one 1.4 oz box of Chocolate Instant Jello Pudding. Mix well and refrigerate until set.

Meanwhile, let an 8 oz. tub of Cool Whip thaw on your kitchen counter. Once it is thawed, add a few spoonfuls to the pudding and stir together well. Then gently fold in the rest to make a light fluffy mousse. Use a pastry bag to fill your pie shells. Or forget all that and just grab a spoon and dig in!!

Click here for the Printable Recipe at Tasty Kitchen.