Secret Recipe Club - Homemade Nutella Apple Coconut Chocolate Pop Tarts

I wish all my friends' houses were connected to mine via secret tunnels.

~ Blue Lady at tumblr.com

Whenever the Secret Recipe Club event rolls around, I feel as if I'm being given the opportunity to bear someone a precious gift. Not only to the blog owner that I'm assigned to by the event host, Amanda of Amanda's Cookin', but also to you, my friends and readers. So this month I'm lucky enough to get Savor The Thyme owned by the incredibly hip and talented Jennifer. I'm not sure why I've never come across her blog before this assignment but once I looked through it, I was hooked. There are plenty of healthy recipes using fresh and 'real' ingredients that I felt rather spoilt for choice. More than that, there is a paragraph in her 'About' page that sums up everything I myself personally value where she says:

"I believe in a healthy lifestyle and family: To us that includes being healthy physically, emotionally, and spiritually. It includes great times with friends, life experiences and lots of hugging and laughing."

Well, I don't know you from Eve, Jennifer....but I think we could be psychological twins! I hope you will view this attempt at one of your recipes as a gift from me, 8000 miles away. To everyone else, go and discover Savor The Thyme now, for that is really my gift to you. 

Of Figs, Mangoes, Pull-Apart Bread and Pudding Cake. A Guest Post Exchange with Evelyne of CEE.

Have I got something special for you today! Well, it's two recipes actually....one here and one over at Evelyne's blog, Cheap Ethnic Eatz, because we have both decided to do a guest post exchange cooking something that inspired us out of the other person's blog. By way of an intro, I first met Evelyne at an online cooking party (IIP). Through her various posts, I got to know that she's one adventurous gal and pretty fearless at trying out exotic and unusual flavors in her recipes. She's plenty of fun, has a big heart and gets really excited whenever she's out at the farmer's market because she tries to buy a little bit of everything.... Wait, am I describing Evelyne here or myself? Definitely Evelyne! But we're so much alike and that's probably why I said yes! when she asked me to do this fun project with her. 

      

I chose to bake her sweet potato pudding cake because I'd been dazzled by her description and photos of it from the word go. You can check the recipe out on my guest post on her blog. In the meantime, please join me in warmly welcoming Evelyne with her sweet-savory version of my pull-apart bread. The flavor combinations here just blew me away, and I know you'll feel the same way!

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The Secret Recipe Club - Classic Coconut Cakelets With Mango Curd Filling

Can I tell you a secret? But you must promise not to keep it to yourself. I've recently joined the Secret Recipe Club, a blogging concept initiated by Amanda of Amanda's Cookin'. The idea is that each participant is assigned another participant's blog out of which they are to choose a recipe, cook it, write about it and keep mum (quiet, zip-lipped, shush) about it until the actual date of posting. Sounds like fun, yes? Well you already know that I've never been one to shy away from a bit of fun :-).

The Brangelina of Polvorons - Blackberry, Black Sesame, Coconut-Lavender and Raspberry. Also Giveaway!

In order to have friendship you must look past the color to the soul, because within the soul lies a rainbow of many colors

~ Lyman Frank Baum

About a month back, I introduced you to the joys of Polvoron, a crumbly shortbread widely enjoyed in Spain, Mexico, Argentina, and the Philippines. It's crafted with milk powder, butter, flour and sugar, and delicious when eaten with coffee, tea, or alone as a snack. On my last post about these delectable little sweets, I added three different ingredients as flavorings - matcha (green tea), chocolate and red dragonfruit.

This time round, I wanted to experiment a bit more with other flavors and came up with these winning 4 (or 5): blackberry, raspberry, black sesame and a combination of coconut and lavender. I'm not ashamed to make this confession - I prefer making polvorons to macarons. Like good guys vs. bad guys, the former's more reliable, no eggs need to be aged, no ovens need to be turned on, you can make them whether rain or shine and best of all, no tearing-out-hair sessions need occur when the feet don't form. Polvorons, in fact, don't have feet and always turn out the way you envisage them to be!

FFWD - Mustard and the United Nations of Bâtons

'Allo, 'allo, what 'ave we 'ere? That's a whole lot of puff pastry bâtons for this week's French Fridays with Dorie's recipe cook-along. Actually, the recipe in the book called for just Mustard Bâtons, but then Dorie's bonne idée section led me astray. As in, waaay astray... My imagination got the better of me and everyone in the house ended up feasting on a bâton buffet.

Now, Dorie herself admits that she uses storebought puff pastry every time she makes these. I, on the other hand, have a bucket list of to dos that includes free-falling from the sky, swimming in the ocean with sharks and hmm, making puff pastry. The other two are doable, done even, but making my own puff pastry from scratch.... I had never been too sure if I could pull it off. It may have something to do with all the butter, the rubix-cube folds and the waiting time involved - I would simply go mad!

But I went ahead and did it, anyway. In the least painful way possible. As luck would have it, I found this link on how to make the 'quickest puff pastry' that took me all of 5 minutes to put together and roll (but still needed to chill it in the fridge for an hour before using). That sounded more like it. Lo-and-behold... I managed to produce these really cute, gnome-like bâtons below. It was my test run with puff pastry-making, and while it did rise and produce the layers, it hadn't risen as much as I had hoped. A quick text message to Diva D to "please pick up some puff pastry on your way home, mwaah!" later, and I was ready to play.

My 'junior' bâtons out of homemade puff pastry....more flaky than puffy.

I started off with the mustard bâtons recipe but soon graduated to making other savory combinations and finally, ventured into sweet bâtons. The recipe for mustard bâtons here isn't so much a recipe as it is a set of instructions. I am not at liberty to share it with you but you can find it in the book, Around My French Table or I found an official link here.

My United Nations of Bâtons

Alors, here are my versions! (Click on images to enlarge)

SAVORY BATONS

Mustard with Lavender Salt Bâtons

2 T mustard

1 T sea salt

1/4 t lavender flowers (dried)

Sprinkles: Nigella seeds (or blackseeds)

How to: Chop or blend the sea salt and lavender together until fine, stir into the mustard and spread. Brush eggwash on pastry and sprinkle Nigella seeds on top before baking.

Mustard with Shallot Bâtons
2 T mustard
1 T red shallots, chopped finely
Sprinkles: Shredded Nori (seaweed)
How to: Stir chopped shallots into the mustard, and spread. Take a small sheet of Nori and shred or cut into tiny ribbons with scissors. Brush eggwash on pastry and sprinkle Nori on top before baking.

Basil Pesto with Pumpkin Seeds Bâtons
Sprinkles: Pumpkin seeds
How to: Follow the pesto recipe in Dorie’s book (pg. 488) but substitute pumpkin seeds for the pine nuts. Brush eggwash on pastry and sprinkle more pumpkin seeds on top before baking.

Chilli and Garlic Bâtons
3 large, red chillies
3 cloves garlic
1 T sugar
1 T extra virgin olive oil
2 T grated cheddar cheese
Salt and pepper, to taste
Sprinkles: Cumin seeds
How to: Grind chillies, garlic and sugar together, then drizzle in the olive oil. Add cheddar cheese and blend until well distributed. Season with salt and pepper, then spread on pastry. Brush eggwash on pastry and sprinkle cumin on top before baking.

Hah! I forgot to take a picture of the sesame batons so here's the actual sesame spread (middle)...

Sesame Bâtons
4 T sesame powder or seeds

1 T chopped ginger
1 T olive oil
1 T black soy sauce
Sprinkles: Sesame seeds
How to: Grind sesame and ginger, then drizzle in the olive oil and soya sauce. Blend for a few more seconds, then spread on pastry. Brush eggwash on pastry and sprinkle sesame seeds on top before baking.

  SWEET BATONS

Nutella with Chilli Bâtons
2 T Nutella
1/4 t chilli or paprika powder
Sprinkles: Chilli powder
How to: Really? Is there a need? :-)

Nutella with Macadamia Bâtons
2 T Nutella
2 T macadamia nuts, chopped finely
Sprinkles: Chopped macadamia nuts

Banana and Palm Sugar Bâtons
1 ripe banana, mashed
2 T grated palm sugar
Sprinkles: Shredded coconut ribbons
How to: Spread the mashed banana onto the pastry and sprinkle palm sugar all over it. Brush eggwash on pastry and sprinkle coconut ribbons on top before baking.

Dragonfruit and Lemon Bâtons

2 T dragonfruit flesh, mashed

1 T lemon zest

Sprinkles: Cinnamon sugar

How to: Spread the mashed dragonfruit onto the pastry and sprinkle lemon zest all over it. Brush eggwash on pastry and sprinkle cinnamon sugar on top before baking.

Phew, that was a long one! I'm passing the baton on to you now. Check out what the other Doristas over at French Fridays with Dorie have under (or inside) their bâtons!

Dragonfruit and Coconut-Lime Bread Pudding

“Enchant, stay beautiful and graceful, but do this, eat well. Bring the same consideration to the preparation of your food as you devote to your appearance. Let your dinner be a poem, like your dress.”


- Charles Pierre Monselet, French journalist

It's that time of the year and red-fleshed dragonfruit has made its appearance in the markets once again here. How long I have waited for you to return.... you fushia-pink, non-fire-snorting ball of juiciness! The dragonfruit is in time to be part of this recipe I've created especially for The Bread Pudding of the Month Club. My friend, Victoria over at Mission: Food hosts this monthly event and if any of you have made/are going to make a bread pudding dish this month, please do hop over there and join us!

In my previous recipes using dragonfruit, I mentioned that on its own, the fruit has very little flavor. Almost like a watered-down kiwi, with a similar texture when it's ripe. Because of this, I flavored the custard out of coconut milk and lime to give the bread pudding some tangible character. The dragonfruit was not completely hopeless because its flesh, when blended with the custard, gave the pudding its striking fushia-pink hue that turned to a baby pink color once cooked.

For as long as I can remember, I've held the perception that bread pudding of any kind and flavoring can only be enjoyed fully after a light meal of salad and... well, just salad. Many times when I've had a hearty main course plus appetizer, I've had to turn up my willpower and turn away this filling dessert. Even as my heart screams, "I WAAAANT!". Okay, I tell a white lie. Sometimes I do have a bite, but I can't really get into it, you know, because I'm so full by that time. If only the serving portions were smaller in the restaurants...

Wait, if I was the one making them, I could make them in a size my stomach can handle. So how does mini-bread pudding sound to you? Because that's exactly what I made. My individual portions were so 'mini' they were the size of a small teacup (150ml capacity). No danger of over-indulging here! And once the puddings were turned out for serving, they even fitted nicely on the saucer, just like a cup.

You can, of course, fashion the bread slices into any shape or cube it and dump it all in the ramekins without any grand order. I decided to cut my bread into rounds and arranged them stacked on top of each other in the ramekin. The smaller circles formed a flower-like pattern on top. Tastes the same, just looks prettier. Oh, such visual animals we all are....

Barbie would love these figure-friendly portions

Instead of serving the bread pudding with cream or any type of sauce, I decided to top it off with fresh fruit. Yes, more dragonfruit! You can save all the trouble by simply chopping and sprinkling the fruits on top of the pudding, but.... I served them as dragonfruit balls skewered with toothpicks and stacked upright on top of the pudding. The fruit balls were chilled in the fridge beforehand, so when you eat this, you can feel their juicy coolness against the warmth of the bread pudding on your palate. Three dessert fork-scoops later, my portion of mini-bread pudding was all gone. To quote Goldilocks, "It was just right".

                                                                            Baby pink love

Dragonfruit Bread Pudding on a saucer. Enjoy!

Dragonfruit and Coconut-Lime Bread Pudding
Makes: 4 small ramekins (150ml capacity)

Ingredients:
6-8 slices stale bread, cubed or cut into circles with cookie cutter
1/2 cup dragonfruit, chopped roughly
1/2 cup coconut milk
1 large egg
4 tablespoons caster sugar
1 lime, juice only
Vegetable oil, for greasing
1/2 of a dragonfruit, scooped into balls for topping

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 325F/165C. Fill a 9x9-inch baking tin with water halfway up and place on the middle rack in the oven. This will be the water bath.

2. Line the base of ramekins with cooking foil and brush their insides with vegetable oil to grease. Arrange the bread circles or cubes in each ramekin until it reaches the top. Set aside while you prepare the custard.

3. In a blender, add the chopped dragonfruit, coconut milk, egg and sugar and process until smooth. Pour this mixture over the bread in the ramekins and press the bread pieces down with the back of a spoon. Squeeze or drizzle a splash of lime juice over the top layer.

4. Carefully arrange the filled ramekins inside the preheated water bath and bake for 35-40 minutes until the tops are just browned. Leave to cool for about 5 minutes before serving. To turn out, run a thin knife around the edge of the ramekin and invert onto a small plate. Invert again onto a dessert plate so that the browned layer is on top.

5. For the fresh fruit topping, use a melon scooper to form about 8 balls from the dragonfruit flesh. Take 2 balls and skewer them with a toothpick. Press this fruit skewer on top of a bread pudding and serve immediately.

Blood Orange Onde-Onde with Dark Chocolate Filling

won't you celebrate with me
what i have shaped into
a kind of life? i had no model.
born in babylon
both nonwhite and woman
what did i see to be except myself?
i made it up
here on this bridge between
starshine and clay,
my one hand holding tight
my other hand; come celebrate
with me that everyday
something has tried to kill me
and has failed.

won't you celebrate with me by Lucille Clifton

When I think of sunny skies and a lightness in the air, I think of onde-onde, a favorite childhood dessert. Made of glutinous rice flour and filled with anything from nuts, sweet bean paste to palm sugar, with a decadent coating of grated coconut, these fresh, round dumplings are for me the epitome of simpler days, of happiness. My mother used to make onde-onde in the traditional pandan (green) flavor, filled with brown palm sugar that just melts in your mouth.  I opted to fill mine with chocolate because it won't be a Foodiva recipe if I didn't sex things up a bit!

I also added blood orange juice into the mix because I figured it would give a pretty, baby pink coloring and a subtle citrus fragrance to the overall dessert. In case you didn't already know it (although I can’t imagine why?), pink, citrus and chocolate go very well together… yes, they do.

The best thing about this dessert is that it can be made within minutes, with no baking involved. You only need to boil the onde-onde balls for about a minute before they are cooked and ready to eat!

The second best thing is what happens as you take a bite out of the soft, chewy onde-onde. Its contents spew out, then you start to feel and taste the sweet, dark chocolate oozing slowly onto your tongue. Sensory-wise, it's right up there fully approved by Dionysus (Greek God of Earthly Delights). Taste-wise, it's pretty good, too. Come on... you get chocolate, peanut, coconut and yes, blood orange flavors in one go! And that's before you even swallow.

Blood Orange Onde-Onde with Dark Chocolate Filling
Ingredients:
1 cup glutinous flour
2/3 cups blood orange juice

200g dark chocolate, chopped into 1/2cm chunks
1 cup dessicated coconut flakes

Method:
1. In a large bowl, combine the glutinous rice flour with blood orange juice and knead lightly to form a dough.
2. Pinch a small piece of the dough (about 1/4 of it) and drop it into a pot of boiling water. When the dough rises up the surface, remove it with a slotted spoon and shake off the excess water. Mix it back into the main dough and knead well to form smooth dough.(Adding cooked to uncooked dough stabilizes the whole dough). Cover the dough and set aside for about 15 minutes.
3. Bring the pot of water to boil again. Pinch a small piece of dough (about a tablespoon) and flatten lightly. Fill the center of the dough with about 1/2 teaspoon of chocolate. Pull the dough up to cover the chocolate, and pinch to seal the dough. Roll in your palm to form a smooth ball and drop about 5-6 glutinous rice balls at a time into the boiling water. When the rice balls float to the surface, remove them with a slotted spoon and shake off the excess water. I usually tap the spoon on an absorbent paper towel.
4. Coat the rice balls with coconut by rolling them in the flakes. Serve immediately. Also keeps for 2 days, covered, at room temperature.