DB Filipino Desserts

Catherine of Munchie Musings was our November Daring Bakers’ host and she challenged us to make a traditional Filipino dessert – the delicious Sans Rival cake! And for those of us who wanted to try an additional Filipino dessert, Catherine also gave us a bonus recipe for Bibingka which comes from her friend Jun of Jun-blog.

Filipino desserts were chosen to be this month's Daring Baker challenge.  Already wheat-free with lots of eggs and low dairy these recipes were a fun adventure that began with making salted duck eggs.  Raw duck eggs sat on my pantry shelf, curing in a salt brine, for over 20 days before they were boiled and used as a garnish for the sweet rice cake, Bibingka.  The salted eggs weren't that strange in flavor but the texture was unusual.  To complete the authentic flavor, the rice cake bowl was lined with a banana leaf I clipped from my own banana plant.   It was an interesting combination but not something I loved.  The Sans Rival was a more familiar recipe for a chocolate nut meringue, cashew in the original recipe/almond in mine, layered with French butter cream.  The meringue was wonderful, chewy and nutty and a tad crispy.  The lack of real butter in my butter cream was disappointing but mattered little to the kids who haven't had anything frosted in a while.  It was fun to try some new things.  Thanks for the challenge Catherine!

Links:
-For the complete challenge recipes visit our host, Catherine, at her blog Munchie Musings.  The Sans Rival recipe is her creation.  For the original Bibingka recipe and more Filipino food take a look at the site Jun-blog.
-My alterations this month were simple.  Coconut oil in place of the butter in the Bibinka and no cheese.  I used Spectrum Butter Flavor shortening in the butter cream, remember that it is unsalted and so you need to add salt to the egg yolks so that it will dissolve.  The butter cream was flat tasting without any salt and added later it didn't dissolve.  If I were to try this butter cream again I would try  adding a single tablespoon of milk (almond or coconut) to cut the waxiness of the shortening.  It did pipe beautifully though!

The chocolate Sans Rival

A vanilla frosted version requested by Alex

My banana plants

Their sacrificial leaf

My flock feasting on $1ea after Halloween pumpkins.  

They graciously provided the eggs for this challenge.

Our dog Perfect, I'm recently trying to get her out with the poultry with the hope that I can train her to help in some way.  Of course I have no idea what I'm doing but she is smart and obedient and starting to get over her puppy craziness.

Pumpkin Donut Holes (redone GF/DF)

I made these last week to bring to our orchard trip because even though the place we visited doesn't sell donuts it is ingrained in me that cider must equal donuts.  Besides, it had officially been at least 3 months since my last donut frying and four times a year seems reasonable to me.  These are a work in progress because the batter is too loose to make into rings and can only be scooped into donut holes but that doesn't stop them from being delicious!

GF Pumpkin Donut Holes
Thanks to Comfy Belly's Pumpkin Muffin recipe for giving me a starting point.
Makes ~ 3 dozen holes

1/2 cup roasted pumpkin puree (or use canned pumpkin)
3/4 cup maple syrup
4 eggs
1/2 cup sweet rice flour
6 tablespoons arrowroot starch
6 tablespoons coconut flour
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon grated nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon allspice
1/2 cup fine maple sugar + 1 teaspoon cinnamon, optional for coating the finished donuts
+Fat to fry in, I used rendered beef tallow but of course you could use another high heat fat/oil.

-Warm your fat/oil, you will need at least an inch but preferably two inches in a heavy pot.  I use a enameled cast iron dutch oven to fry in.
-Mix the pumpkin, syrup and eggs by hand or in a food processor.
-Whisk together the dry ingredients and add to the wet.  Process or stir until combined.
-When the fat reaches 350 degrees F, scoop tablespoon sized blobs of batter carefully into the hot fat.  Add more blobs but do not overcrowd.
-Turn the holes gently with a wire spider or slotted spoon.  Fry until dark golden brown, ~ 1 1/2 minutes.   For the best results time a sacrificial hole and cut it open at one minute to see if the interior is cakey and cooked through.  Then judge how much more than one minute you may need of frying time.
-Remove the donuts and drain on a wire cooling rack set over a baking sheet to catch any dripping grease.
-After they have cooled enough to handle quickly, roll them in maple sugar and cinnamon mixture.  They are also good with a chocolate glaze.

*In search of a vegan pumpkin donut made with wheat flour?  Here is my recipe from a few years ago.  For a gluten-free and vegan option, I am fairly certain that these recent donuts would work well with flax eggs (1 tablespoon flaxseed meal + 2 tablespoons water = 1 egg) but I haven't tried it yet.

Some Halloween pictures to share as well, one of the family

Me and my little devil, Alex

Angel Penny and John the dark wizard

DB Chocolate Marquise (done dairy-free and honey sweetened)

 The May 2011 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Emma of CookCraftGrow and Jenny of Purple House Dirt. They chose to challenge everyone to make a Chocolate Marquise. The inspiration for this recipe comes from a dessert they prepared at a restaurant in Seattle.

This month I've been far too busy to do much blogging.  There has been gardening, Alex's school, houseguests and trips downstate, 15 new birds (9 new ducks and 6 chickens), lots of poking around outside looking for morels-- plus I seem to be terribly accident prone this month.  I usually rack up a number of burns, cuts and bruises but this month I've added a smashed shower door, a sunburn and a punctured foot to my list.   Let's hope I piled all of this into May and will have a pleasently uneventful, productive and relaxing summer.

Somehow I did manage to whip up this month's Daring Baker challenge.  Looking at the recipe I initally was annoyed and frustrated.  Recipes for mousse are so tough to do dairy-free, especially if you are also mostly soy-free as well like us and don't have the option of using silken tofu.  Then I went through a pouty phase where I complained in my head that the hosts chose a recipe that didn't even have a mandatory baked item.  It's supposed to be Daring *Bakers* not Daring Desserts!  But eventually I came up with a game plan and forged ahead.  I've been eating almost no refined sugar since the beginning of the year so the first change I made was to use honey to sweeten all the components.  I also substituted unsweetened baking chocolate for the bittersweet and swapped carob powder for the cocoa.  For that tricky heavy cream I gave extra chilled coconut cream a try and I spiced my mousse and nuts with ginger and black pepper.

The changes ended up being fairly simple and the result was pretty decent.   The ginger and pepper went well with the honey flavor and yet dark chocolate was still the star.  The mousse texture was a little grainy when still hard but smoothed nicely when I let the squares warm up a little more.  With all the egg and yolks they still were light and creamy.  But the best part was the nuts--they are fantastic!!  I'll be making batches (and batches and batches) of them again.  So thanks for the challenge Emma and Jenny, as always I'm happy to be a Daring Baker and give something I would never try to make a chance.

Here are my altered ingredient lists. All of these are scaled to make 1/4 of the original recipes or 6 servings each with 1 (2"x2") cube of marquise.  Instructions and original ingredient lists found here on the Daring Kitchen.
Chocolate Marquise
3 large egg yolks at room temperature
1 large egg
3 tablespoons honey
Chocolate Base, barely warm (ingredients follow)
½ cup coconut cream*
½ cup carob powder (for rolling or dusting)
*By coconut cream I mean I took can of coconut milk and placed it in the fridge unopened overnight. I then scooped out only the thick cream and left the watery liquid to be used in another application. I chilled the measured amount of cream in the fridge and whipped it like heavy cream using chilled beaters and a chilled bowl. It doesn't get the volume of heavy cream but does get fluffier. I then combined the whipped coconut cream with the chocolate base before folding it into the egg/yolk mixture.  This is the opposite of the instructions which have you mix the base with teh yolk mix first.  This way the egg mixture is able to transfer as much volume and air as possible to the finished dish.

Chocolate Base
3 oz (85 grams/ 6 tablespoons) unsweetened chocolate
1/3 cup + 2 teaspoons coconut cream
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1 tablespoon tequila
2 tablespoons honey
1/4 teaspoon vanilla
1 tablespoon carob powder
1/4 oz (1/2 tablespoon/8 grams) coconut oil, softened

Torched Meringue
3 large egg whites
3 tablespoons honey
Splash of apple cider vinegar
1/8 teaspoon ground ginger

Honeyed Spiced Pecans
2 tablespoons honey
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 large egg white
1/2 cup pecans, ideally soaked and dehydrated first

Links:
-For the instructions to go with my ingredient lists, or the original recipes, visit our hosts Emma of CookCraftGrow and Jenny of Purple House Dirt.  Or see the complete recipe here on the Daring Kitchen site.
-Emma and Jenny learned how to make this marquise dessert when they worked together at a Seattle restaurant. The recipe is adapted from one developed by Bennie Sata, a Seattle-area pastry chef who introduced the city to one of its iconic chocolate desserts. They also included vegan recipes which were created by Ashlae of Ladycakes.
-Visit the Daring Kitchen to see the baker blogroll and other treats made this month.

My favorite Instagram shot from this month

Alex and Penny drawing together

Penny sitting in a patch of ramps.  She was stealing cooked ramp greens from my plate just yesterday.

I'm adding this to Simply Sugar and Gluten Free's Slightly Indulgent Tuesdays

Trying Black Cardamom (with a fish recipe)

This month's Spice Rack Challenge was cardamom.  Cardamom seemed like a simple spice to pick a recipe for but I've always used it in a prepared spice mix (like garam masala) or in a sweet baked good.  When I saw the many types of cardamom listed for the challenge I was determined to give a new one for me a try, black cardamom.  Not directly related to green and white cardamom, I'm still making up my mind about this interesting spice.  I love it's smokiness, especially since I'm avoiding my beloved spicy smoked paprika while nursing, but when I tried using the inner seeds ground I found it too camphorous and unpleasant.  I'm going to use the rest of my stash to make some homemade garam masala or maybe some more of this cod, which was my one success.

Black Cardamom Cod
Makes ~3 servings

1 lb Pacific cod or other firm white fish, cut into large chunks
1 cup coconut milk
2 teaspoons coconut oil
1 small onion, sliced
2 carrots, peeled and sliced
2 cloves garlic, sliced
3 whole black cardamom pods
1 tablespoon grated fresh ginger root
1 bay leaf
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground green cardamom seeds
1/4 teaspoon whole coriander, toasted and then ground
1/8 teaspoon ground turmeric
salt and freshly ground pepper

-After you toast and grind your coriander, add the oil and onion with all the spices including salt and pepper to a heavy saucepan.  Cook to soften slightly.  Add the garlic and cook until fragrant.
-Add the coconut milk and carrots and taste for salt and pepper.  Then bring up to a strong simmer, cover and cook until the carrots are almost done.
-Add the fish and cover.  Cook until the fish is just cooked through.
-Serve over rice or cauliflower rice. Either remove the black cardamom pods and bay leaf before serving or warn your diners that they are not to be eaten.

Links:
-Other cardamom recipes I have online are my Danish Braid and from way back these Cardamom and Candied Ginger Shortbread. I've been blogging for over three years now!
-I procured my black cardamom from The Spice House.
-Visit Mother's Kitchen next Wednesday for the collection of cardamom recipes.