Category: Desserts

Coconut sticky rice with mango(e)s

I got the coconut rice recipe here:

https://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/coconut-milk-sticky-rice-with-mangoes-233842

I used the Thai-style sticky-rice steamer:

Palm sugar usually comes in domes of various sizes; it is hard to estimate what 3/4 cup would be; I was probably a bit shy of that, but I don’t like super-sweet things anyways, so I thought it was alright.

Bon appetit!

Lemon Cheesecake Mousse

A mousse! And a non-chocolate version at that! It was delicious. I did double the graham cracker base, as our cups were larger than suggested.

Ingredients

Crust
3/4 cup crushed graham crackers (6 full sheets)
2 Tbsp (26g) granulated sugar
3 Tbsp (42g) butter, melted

Mousse
2 1/2 Tbsp fresh lemon juice
1 1/2 Tbsp water
1 1/2 tsp unflavored gelatin powder
1 1/2 cups (355ml) heavy cream
1 cup (110g) powdered sugar, divided
12 oz (340g) cream cheese, softened
1 (10 oz) jar lemon curd
Sweetened whipped cream for garnish (optional)

Instructions
In a mixing bowl whisk together graham cracker crumbs and sugar. Pour in butter and stir until evenly moistened. Divide mixture among 8 – 12 dessert cups and lightly press into an even layer, set aside.

Pour lemon juice and water into a small bowl. Sprinkle gelatin evenly over top, let rest 5 minutes. Meanwhile, whip heavy cream in a medium mixing bowl until soft peaks form. Add in 1/3 cup of the powdered sugar and whip until stiff (but not lumpy) peaks form (shake cream from beaters, no need to clean). In a separate large mixing bowl whip cream cheese until smooth and fluffy. Mix lemon curd and remaining 2/3 cup powdered sugar into cream cheese mixture.

Heat rested gelatin mixture in the microwave on high power for 30 seconds. Whisk for 1 minute to thoroughly dissolve gelatin, then let cool 3 minutes (no longer or it may start to set then you could end up with little lumps in the mousse). While mixing cream cheese mixture with hand mixer, slowly pour in gelatin mixture then blend until thoroughly combined. Gently fold 1/3 of the whipped cream mixture into the cream cheese mixture to lighten, then add remaining whipped cream and gently fold until combined. Spoon or pipe mixture into dessert cups over graham cracker layer. Cover and refrigerate 2 hours (or up to 1 day ahead if desired) to set. Garnish as desired. Serve cold.

Eggnog Ice Cream

This one was pretty simple and unimaginative. I poured a carton of store-bought egg \nog into our Kitchenaid ice cream maker and let it run.

The ice cream turned out a bit on the hard side, which made it difficult to scoop, and it wasn’t very creamy. It also wasn’t quite sweet enough; some added sugar would have helped. If I try this again, I would probably make a batch of eggnog from scratch, going heavy on the nutmeg and adding extra sugar.

Eggnog Pumpkin Bread with Orange Bourbon Glaze

My plan for this dish evolved a bit. Initially I was thinking of just making a pumpkin bread and somehow infusing it with bourbon, and having it accompany some eggnog ice cream. I had this idea that I should be able to pour some eggnog into an ice cream maker, and end up with eggnog ice cream. I didn’t get to test that theory, though, because our Kitchenaid ice cream maker wasn’t cold enough to actually freeze anything.

I decided instead to incorporate egg nog in the pumpkin bread itself. I used a recipe from my old Joy of Cooking book and made a few minor adjustments:

  • Reduced the amount of ground cinnamon by 1/4 teaspoon and added 1/4 teaspoon of freshly grated nutmeg
  • Used ground allspice instead of ground cloves
  • Substituted 1/3 cup of eggnog for the 1/3 cup of water or milk called for in the recipe
  • Reduced the sugar by 1/3 cup

The recipe was for a 9″ x 5″ loaf pan, but 10″ x 5″ was the closest I had. It worked fine, though the loaf ended up a little shorter than intended. I baked the bread for an hour, as called for in the recipe. It turned out a little dry, so in the future I would decrease the baking time a little.

After the baked bread had cooled for a while, I poked a bunch of holes in the top with a bamboo skewer and poured an orange bourbon powdered sugar glaze over the top, making sure that plenty of it made it down all those perforations.

Orange Bourbon Glaze
  • 1 1/2 cups of powdered sugar
  • 4 ounces of bourbon (I used Bulleit)
  • 2 teaspoons of  freshly squeezed orange juice

The end result was quite tasty, if a little on the sweet side. If I were to do it again, I’d reduce the amount of sugar in the pumpkin bread recipe a bit more, maybe reduce the amount of powdered sugar in the glaze a bit (or increase the bourbon), and let the glaze soak into the bread longer before serving.

Sesame Banana Bread

Here is the sesame banana bread recipe! My only change was a different glaze.

Cake Ingredients
  • 1 cup / 4.5 oz / 125g all-purpose flour
  • 1 cup / 5 oz / 140g whole wheat flour
  • 3/4 cup / 4.5 oz / 125 g dark brown sugar (or muscovado)
  • 3/4 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1/2 teaspoon fine grain sea salt
  • 1 1/3 cups / 7 ounces / 200 g toasted sesame seeds – use a mix of black and white sesame seeds. More than anything, it makes the seeds more visible.
  • 1/3 cup / 80 ml extra-virgin olive oil
  • 2 large eggs, lightly beaten
  • 1 1/2 cups / 12 oz / 340 g mashed, VERY ripe bananas (~3 bananas)
  • 1/4 cup / 60 ml plain, whole milk yogurt
 (or keffir)
  • 1 teaspoon freshly grated lemon zest
Glaze Ingredients
  • 1/2 cup / 3 oz / 85 g sifted dark brown sugar (muscovado)
  • 1/2 cup / 2 oz / 55g confectioners’ sugar
  • 4-6 teaspoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
Instructions

Preheat the oven to 350° F, and place a rack in the center. Butter and flour a 9- by 5- inch (23 x 13 cm) loaf pan, or equivalent.

In a large bowl, whisk together the flours, sugar, baking soda, and salt. Add 1 cup / 5 1/2 oz / 150g + 1 tablespoon of the sesame seeds and combine well.

In a separate bowl, mix together the olive oil, eggs, mashed banana, yogurt, and zest. Pour the banana mixture into the flour mixture and fold with a spatula until just combined. Scrape the batter into the prepared pan and bake until golden brown, about 45 minutes. You want to achieve beautiful color on the cake, but at the same time you don’t want to bake all the moisture out of it. So the minute you’re in that zone, pull it, erring on the side of under-baking versus over.

Transfer the pan to a wire rack to cool in the pan for 10 minutes, then turn the loaf out of the pan to cool completely.

While the cake is cooling, prepare the glaze. In a bowl, whisk together the sugars and the lemon juice until smooth. When the cake is completely cool, drizzle the glaze on top of the cake, spreading with a spatula to cover, and finish with the remaining sesame seeds.