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!

Vanilla Rooibos with Coconut and Macadamia Bread Pudding and YBR

Your kind words and support have made me feel like it's time to come out of the woodwork and cook up something nice for you. Think of it as my Thank You :-).

I also feel that I need to fulfill some obligations to fellow bloggers this month. The first is the Bread Pudding of the Month Club hosted by my lovely friend, Victoria at Mission Food. Anyone who has made bread pudding during the month of March is invited to link up to her event, and I'd greatly encourage you to check it out before the month is out, soon! This is my contribution: Vanilla Rooibos with Coconut and Macadamia Bread Pudding, topped with White Chocolate Cream Sauce.

I first discovered this blend of Vanilla Rooibos tea when I stayed at an upscale serviced apartment in Virginia last year. The housekeeping ladies, bless them, left out fresh fruits, pastries and the most amazing coffees and teas for their guests every morning and I guess that was where I got hooked on this rich and full-bodied tea with a creamy vanilla finish. This organically-grown Rooibos is also rich in vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants, and is a naturally caffeine-free infusion, so it was only inevitable that I cargoed home boxes of the stuff when I left Virginia! They're distributed by Tealeaves.com, in case you're interested.

Since I love the heavenly aroma, I decided to flavor my bread pudding with Vanilla-Rooibos and wrapped the bread with coconut and macadamia to give a lush, tropical feel to it. But that's not all, top the warm pudding with a white chocolate cream sauce and you know you've arrived in the big leagues when you take a bite out of this. It's called the Power of Attraction, don't you know?

Here's the step-by-step, folks:

Now for the slightly tedious part, but only slightly....

Bringing up the rear for another event, please head out to Your Best Recipes hosted by the lovely, uber-accomplished Nancy of Spicie-Foodie. My best recipe for February was my Valentine's Cupid's Cobbler made of plums, cream biscuits and rose-basil seed cream! Check out her site for other participants' contributions or send her your best recipe before the end of March. Gosh, I just realise that I haven't got any recipe, let alone a best one, for March! But there are a few days left, and there's hope yet....

Vanilla Rooibos with Coconut and Macadamia Bread Pudding and White Chocolate Cream Sauce
Ingredients:
Bread Pudding
2 organic Vanilla Rooibos teabags
1 litre milk
1/2 cup palm sugar, grated
2 eggs, lightly beaten
8 slices stale bread, crusts removed
50g butter
1/2 cup sweetened dried coconut slivers, chopped finely
1/4 cup macadamia nuts, chopped finely
Butter, for greasing pan

White Chocolate Cream Sauce
200g white chocolate
200ml heavy cream

Method:
1. Butter a shallow baking dish (1-2 inch deep) and set aside.
2. Flatten each bread slice with a rolling pin and use the rest of the butter to spread on one side of the bread slice.
3. Spoon about a teaspoon each of chopped coconut and macadamia on top of a buttered slice, then roll the slice tightly to form a cylinder. Cut each cylinder into three 1-inch long slices and arrange the circles tightly (cut-side up) on the base of the baking dish in one layer. Do this with all the bread slices until the dish is full. Set aside while you make the custard.
4. Place the milk and vanilla rooiboos teabags in a pan and heat until just starting to boil, stirring constantly to prevent the milk from burning. Remove from heat while you prepare the egg mixture.
5. Whisk eggs and palm sugar in a small bowl, then add a cup of the warm milk and beat further. Pour this mixture back into the pan with the rest of the milk and stir until it just starts to simmer. Remove the teabags.
6. Carefully spoon the custard onto the bread slices until they are completely soaked and the custard reaches the rim of the baking dish. Bake at 180C for 30 minutes. Drizzle with white chocolate-cream sauce before serving.

7. For the sauce, simply warm the cream in a pan on medium-low heat and add the white chocolate until completely melted. Use immediately.

Rosewater Macadamia Mini-Tarts

"The Queen of Hearts, she made some tarts, All of a summer day: The Knave of Hearts, he stole those tarts And took them quite away!"

Dodgson
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, ch.11, 'Who Stole the Tarts?'.

Whenever I think of macadamia, I automatically think of Australia and Hawaii. That's because during my younger days, friends or relatives who had travelled to these faraway lands (when I was young, the world seemed bigger) frequently brought us back chocolate-covered macadamia candy as gifts from their trips. As an adult, I learnt that macadamia nuts are actually native to Australia, but were imported to Hawaii where they thrived. They are apparently also now grown in New Caledonia and Indonesia.

When I bought my big bag of macadamia nuts (unshelled....urrghh), I knew I wanted to make tarts with them. The buttery-flavored nuts would be soft enough to cut through with a knife and would be perfect as a tart filling. On its own, though, I felt it wouldn't give enough of a kick and all of you who visit here often would know that I'm all for tastebud-titillation when it comes to anything I bake. Macadamia always tastes heavenly with orange or chocolate but as usual, I resisted the temptation to go with the norm. It was my James Dean-rebel gene exerting its dominance in the kitchen yet again.   

So I think of Rosewater, and flashes of Indian sweets (gulab jamun), Turkish Delight and air bandung (pink rosewater-flavored, sweet drink) cross my mental palate. The possibility of a floral, buttery, nutty-flavored tart seemed more tempting and was definitely more my style. Subtle but memorable. No mere coincidence then that my life is reflected in many of my baked goodies...

Rosewater lending a floral note to the pastry and filling.

When it comes to making an undeniably tasty crust, I like to use the rather nutty, low-gluten and easier-to-digest spelt flour. Although my crust is not butter-less (fat chance!), it is eggless as spelt makes the dough stickier to work with. And I incorporated just enough Rosewater in the dough (as well as the filling) to enable you to detect the floral note as you bite into the tart. I'm partial to eating flowers, what can I say?

Shelling brings me no joy.... but oh, anything for the buttery nut!

Apart from the nailbreaking session with the macadamias, this was probably the one of the easiest tarts I have ever made - and I don't say that lightly because I've made many easy tarts. Cooking and prep times are also minimal, so this is a good one to impress guests for when they drop by darnedly unexpectedly.

The custard filling rises in the oven but falls and wraps itself around the nuts upon cooling.

It's a known fact that incorporating macadamia nuts into a heart healthy diet can reduce cardiovascular disease risks. Macadamia nuts have higher levels of monounsaturated fats, like those found in olive oil compared with other tree nuts. I had actually piped melted, white chocolate over several of these tarts but I'm not showing you them so that we can all keep to the perception that these mini-tarts are indeed, healthy. ;-)

Rosewater Macadamia Mini-Tarts
Makes: 9 mini-tarts (2½ inches wide)
Ingredients:
Spelt Rosewater Crust
250g spelt flour
125g cold butter, cubed
2 to 3 tablespoons Rosewater*
(*you can get this at Asian culinary stores)

Macadamia Cream Filling
200g whole macadamia nuts, shelled
1/3 cup brown sugar, packed
1/3 cup heavy cream
2 tablespoons corn syrup
1 egg
1 ½ tablespoon Rosewater

Method:

1. Make the crust first: in a bowl, rub the cold butter into the flour until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs. Make a well in the center of the mixture, gradually add Rosewater and knead the flour into a pastry ball.

2. Preheat oven to 180C. Divide dough into 9 balls, take one and press onto the base and sides of a mini-tart pan (1-cm deep) to form the crust. Repeat with the rest of the dough balls. Prick the base of the crust with a fork several times to release hot air while baking.

3. Place tart pans in the oven and bake for 10 minutes.

4. In the meantime, prepare the custard cream filling. Whisk the brown sugar, cream, corn syrup, egg and Rosewater for about a minute until well-combined.

5. After 10 minutes, remove the semi-cooked spelt crust from the oven. Arrange a layer of macadamia nuts on the base of each crust and carefully pour the custard cream on top of the nuts, filling it until you just cover all the nuts.

6. Bake at 180C for 15 minutes until custard is just set. Remove from the oven and leave to cool on a rack for about 10 minutes. Mini-tarts can be served warm or cool with ice-cream or whipped cream.