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This is the Desserts Archive Page
- Almond and Coffee Tart (1)
- Apple Pie (2)
- Baked Apple (Gluten Free) (1)
- Banana Dosai (1)
- Bavarian Fruit (1)
- Birthday Cakes (2)
- Flower Cake and Cupcakes (1)
- Number Cakes (1)
- Blueberry Pie (1)
- Chocolate Chestnut Sausage (1)
- Chocolate Hershey Kiss Pretzel Sandwich Candy (1)
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- Decorating Cookies (1)
- Pebernødder (1)
- Pfeffernüsse (1)
- Pfeffernuesse (1)
- Cupcake Tree (1)
- Dessert Crepes (1)
- Food Sculptures (2)
- Galettes des Rois or Kings Cake (3)
- Kings Cake (1)
- Pumpkin Tart (1)
- Roly-Poly Jam Pudding (1)
- Roscón de Reyes – Twisted Roll of Kings (1)
- Royaume (1)
- Tang Yuan (1)
- Tarte Tatin (1)
- The Thirteen Desserts of Christmas – Les Treize Desser (1)
- Wet Walnuts (1)
- Yuan Xiao (1)
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My Tweets
Archive for the 'Desserts' Category
Contents
Posts
Banana Dosai – A Dessert from India
Monday, September 14th, 2009I came across a video for Banana Dosai today. It looks yummy! We’ve been trying to ease our kids into Indian food – we love it and we’d like to expose our children to the varied cuisines of the world. Some Indian food is too spicy for younger American kids. This dessert looks like a good introduction. Banana Dosai is like banana pancakes or dumplings.
Depending on where you live, you may need to find a specialty food store to find some of the ingredients or order them on the internet. It’s possible you could simply substitute the butter for ghee (which the chef in the video says you can) and cake flour for maida (this I’m not sure of and I haven’t tested it myself yet).
Recipe for Banana Dosai
4 ripe bananas
1/4 to 1/2 cup chopped cashews
1/4 to 1/2 cup chopped raisins
Butter or ghee (a type of clarified butter)
1/4 cup maida (finely milled wheat flour – similar to cake flour in the West)
1/2 cup Rice flour
crushed cardamom seeds (optional)
Sugar to tasteMash bananas. Add chopped raisins, cashews, rice flour, maida and a little sugar. Mix. Add a little crushed cardamom seeds if desired. It should be a pasty consistency.
Griddle should be at 325 F. Put spoonful of batter on griddle. Put a few drops of ghee on top of batter and let it cook until lightly brown on both sides.
Here you can watch it made…
I’d skip the spicy sauce that the chef in the video recommends, if you’re serving this to children!
This is a good dessert for the Indian Festival of Diwali!
You can find more Indian recipes at at Vahrehvah.com .
Enjoy!
Mama Lisa
Recipe for Bavarian Fruit
Saturday, July 25th, 2009Monique Palomares, who works with me on the French version of Mama Lisa’s World, sent me this blog post and recipe from France…
This morning, I made a full cake pan of "bavarois aux fruits" (Bavarian Fruit) for this evening… it’s an easy and cool recipe to make for the summer:
1 liter (4 cups) Fruit Juice of your choice (except pineapple, kiwi fruit, papayas, peaches, mangos, guavas, and figs because the gelatin won’t set due to certain enzymes in these juices.)
6 Gelatin Sheets (4 sheets equal the amount of gelatin in the 1/4-ounce packet of Knox powder gelatin found in the US – therefore in the US you’d need 1 1/2 -1 envelopes which should be 2 Tablespoonfuls.)
2 Egg Whites
20cl (7 ounces) Heavy Cream
150g Sugar (2/3 cup)
Vanilla-flavored Sugar (in France it’s in 7.5 grams poaches, but I think a couple of drops of Vanilla Extract should do) (Optional)
1) Dip the gelatine sheets in cold water if you’re using sheets. Otherwise, if you’re using powder, mix the gelatin powder with the juice. Warm the fruit juice on the stovetop on low. (If you’re using the gelatine sheets add them at this point into the tepid/warm fruit juice). Do not boil the juice or it will ruin the consistency of the gelatin! Stir until gelatin is dissolved – this should take a few seconds.
2) Allow to cool then put in the fridge long enough for it to be half set. When it is, beat the two eggs whites in a separate bowl until stiff, add the sugar. Whip the cream in a separate bowl until foamy and stiff and add the vanilla extract. Gently add both mixtures to the half set mixture of juice/gelatin. It’s better done with a whisk. Pour the mixture into a glass pie dish. My cake pan is 12" in diameter and about 3" high (7cm). Put it in the fridge to set… and voila!
Beware, if you leave it too long outside at dessert time, it’ll somewhat melt, it’ll look like a mess you’ll need to use a ladle!
Enjoy!
Monique
Note from Mama Lisa: I asked Monique about the consistency of the dessert and she said, "It’s less thick than Jell-O. It’s more or less the consistency of a mousse, but maybe a little more set. So you must serve it as soon as you take it out of the fridge. Then you can cut it and serve it with a cake server."
Blueberry Pie Recipe made with Fresh, Unbaked Blueberries… Yum!
Tuesday, June 30th, 2009
My sister, Gwen, makes this wonderful blueberry pie every summer. This blueberry pie recipe leaves most of the blueberries uncooked. What’s so great about that is that you get the plumpness of fresh blueberries in your pie. (It doesn’t have the gooey feel of a baked blueberry pie – that might be more appropriate for the cooler weather). My sister’s pie is a very refreshing treat in the hot weather!
Blueberry Pie Recipe
Ingredients:
6 cups of Blueberries (2 1/2 pints) washed & drained
1/4 – 1/2 cup Cold Water
5 Tbsp. Flour or Cornstarch (we use flour)
Pinch of Salt
1/2 – 1 cup Sugar (depends tartness of berries)
1/2 cup Water
10 inch Pie Shell Baked (My sister uses frozen – I used a Graham Crust in the photo above.)1) Wash and drain berries thoroughly. Mix together 1/4 cup cold water, flour & salt to make a smooth paste (add more water as necessary to make a smooth paste).
2) Mix 1 cup blueberries, sugar, 1/2 cup water and paste in saucepan. Bring to a boil and stir until mixture thickens. Remove from stovetop to cool.
3) When mixture is cool add remaining berries and put into already baked pie shell.
4) Optional – top with fresh whip cream. Mix 1 pint of heavy cream with 2 – 3 Tbsp. of confectionary sugar and whip with mixer.
Enjoy!
Many thanks to my sister, Gwen Eichler, for sharing her recipe with us!
Mama Lisa
Wet Walnuts Recipe
Sunday, June 21st, 2009
It’s time to eat ice cream… with the warm weather here. Why not make your own wet walnuts as a topping when there’s a special occasion? I made some for tonight’s Father’s Day dessert: Wet Walnuts over Vanilla Ice Cream… My husband’s favorite!
I’m a strong believer in adapting recipes to your family’s tastes, so feel free to leave out the cinnamon from the recipe below, or change the recipe in other ways that suit you best. I’ll include notes at the end about possible adaptations. We love cinnamon and found the little hint of it to be a nice addition to the wet walnut recipe below.
Ingredients
1 cup Walnuts
3/4 cup maple syrup
1/8 cup corn syrup
1/8 teaspoon cinnamon1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
2. Chop up the walnuts…
3. Bake the walnuts in the oven on a cookie sheet or baking pan for about 12 minutes.
4. Mix together maple syrup, corn syrup and cinnamon. Add in the walnuts once they’re done cooking. Stir and voila! You’re ready to eat! Serve over ice cream.
Notes on adapting the recipe: The corn syrup is optional. It lightens the flavor of the maple syrup. I mixed pure maple syrup with "pancake" syrup. This gave it a lighter flavor too. Some people add in a little ginger powder for a different flavor. You could also use less syrup if you want to be conscious of calories. I’d say you could get away with using a total amount of 1/2 cup of syrup. In that case your walnuts won’t be as syrupy. However you adapt it, if you use these general guidelines above, it’s hard to go wrong with wet walnuts. You’re basically mixing walnuts and sweet syrup. What can be bad about that?!
Enjoy!
Mama Lisa
Fun Sweet “Sushi” to Make for Kids
Wednesday, March 25th, 2009
Yuta, Yoji and Miki made this awesome “sushi” for a school birthday party. It’s made out of homemade rice crispy treats, gummy fish and fruit roll-ups. How cute and cool!
The one question everyone’s asking is: How did they get the rice crispy treats to be soooo pure white? Any ideas? If so, please let us know in the comments below! (I also wonder where you get the faux lacquer boxes?)
Thanks!
Mama Lisa
Chocolate Hershey Kiss Pretzel Sandwich Candy a.k.a. "Grids"
Monday, March 16th, 2009Here’s a yummy recipe given to me by Corrine Lewack. Corrine pointed out that it’s a good “math” teaching recipe to make with kids, since it involves counting out candy kisses and then doubling the amount of pretzels per kiss to make “sandwiches”.
What you will need:
25 Hershey Kisses (Plain)
50 Snyder’s of Hanover Pretzel Snaps (they are little 3 square x 4 square rectangular pretzels)
1 large sheet pan
Aluminum Foil or Parchment Paper (to cover the sheet pan… who wants to clean? LOL)Math: You will need 2 unbroken pretzel snaps for every 1 kiss. You will probably want to make more. (This is good for the kiddies, they can count out the kisses and double the amount of pretzels per kiss).
What to do:
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
Unwrap the kisses. Foil is not tasty.
Place parchment paper or aluminum foil on the sheet pan.
Place pretzel snaps on the sheet pan.
Place a Hershey Kiss in the center of each snap. (See Photo 1)
Put kiss/pretzel in the oven for only TWO MINUTES… NO MORE! Remove from oven.
Place a Pretzel snap on top of melted kiss, push down slightly to make a sandwich. (See Photo 2)
Allow Grids to cool… or place in the refrigerator for quick cooling.
Getting ready for their quick melt in the oven. (They will retain there kiss shape but will be soft).
Voila! These are soo good… perfect for those salty/sweet moments!
Corrine wrote, “I must thank my wonderful sister-in-law, Jenny for bringing this recipe into our lives… Enjoy! xo xo”
Here are some variations to the recipe given by Corrine’s friends:
Cindy Roter wrote: “How clever! I can so see topping those little babies with peanut butter… Thanks for the share. Cindy”
Chelle Baldwin wrote: “I can top this one! Same idea but different ingredients. Get the pretzels, top with a rolo. Heat on low in the oven for a few minutes, then take it out and smoosh the rolo down with either a pecan or another pretzel. Super yummy!”
Susan Leonard Evans wrote: “Hahhaa, AWESOME! Thanks for sharing, I’m definitely going to try these. Also, I’ve had similar treats using "pastel-colored" chocolate wafers. Someone made them around Easter – they were yummy AND festive! Just an option :) Thanks again – xo xo xo xo”
Thanks to all of you for the great, yummy ideas!
Mama Lisa
A Food Sculpture à la Miro
Saturday, December 20th, 2008This week is a lesson in how creative food can look! Below is a photo of an edible version of Miro’s sculpture “Dona i ocell” (Lady and Bird) that’s in Barcelona, Spain. Monique in France saw this food sculpture at a holiday party. The second photo is of the actual sculpture in Barcelona.
Check out the Cupcake Tree photo I posted the other day.
Many thanks to Monique of Mama Lisa’s World en français for sharing this photo with us.
-Mama Lisa
A Cupcake Christmas Tree
Thursday, December 18th, 2008Corrine Lewack made this wonderful cupcake Christmas tree – that you can see in the photo above – for a party. Here’s what she wrote about it:
“Here’s the cupcake tree.. not as easy as I thought… well it was easy… but had no patience tonight to space the cupcakes properly.. but… I wouldn’t have had enough.. this is 47 cupcakes.. :ahem, I don’t know WHAT could have happened with one of them: lol… probably could have used another 20ish cupcakes to make it more “tight”… and it was messy… maybe next time make cupcakes with a hardened glaze frosting on top? Not sure.. the cupcakes are “stuck” onto an aluminum-foil-wrapped 12″ Styrofoam cone with toothpicks… suggest using the “flat” toothpicks.. cuz those suckers are POINTY…
All suggestions will be gladly accepted… :) .. p.s. dontcha love my dairy cow salt and pepper shakers? xoxo”
I asked Corrine if she used the whipped icing that you can buy in the stores, because that would be softer. She said, “it WAS the whipped type of frosting… never again, lol.” I’d suggest instead using regular icing (i.e. not whipped) so it doesn’t drip off. If anyone has any other suggestions, please let us know in the comments below.
Thanks!
Mama Lisa
How to Make Pumpkin Tart
Wednesday, November 26th, 2008
This recipe is from Monique from France. She gave two versions: one for a dinner tart, the other, a dessert tart.
Monique used a banana squash pumpkin in France.
In the US, I’d recommend using a small pie pumpkin for this recipe. (Or if you’re tight for time you can use a can of plain pumpkin puree.)
First you have to cut, cook and peel the pumpkin to get it in a cooked pureed form.
You cut off the top of the pumpkin and then cut it in half vertically. Then you scoop out the seeds and pulp. (You can keep the seeds and bake them at a low temperature later to make roasted pumpkin seeds.)
Then you can cook it in a steamer on the stovetop until it’s soft. Or you can cook it in the microwave in a covered dish in about two inches of water – until soft – about 15 to 30 minutes. (It’s okay if you need to slice up the pumpkin a bit to fit into the pot.)
Once the pumpkin is soft, allow it to drain. Then you can peel it and puree it.
Add three eggs and ½ to 1 cup of a dairy product – Monique used Greek yogurt but you can use cream or milk (though milk makes the result more watery).
At this point, the recipe varies, depending upon whether you’re making a dessert tart or a dinner tart. Here are instructions for both.
For a Dessert Tart: Add sugar to taste (or any sweetener that can resist heat), a large handful of raisins and powdered ginger, cinnamon or Chinese five-spice powder.
Monique lines a tart pan with a ready-to-use pie crust. Optionally, you can spread a couple of tablespoonfuls of prune or chestnut spread over the crust. Then she pours in the pumpkin mixture and bakes it for half an hour or so in a 400°F oven. Allow to cool.
For a Dinner Tart: Monique adds two cloves of crushed garlic, salt and pepper. She lines a tart pan with a layer of ready-for-use crust and pours in the pumpkin mixture. Then she sprinkles with Swiss cheese on top before baking. You can also make dinner tarts with butternut squash instead of pumpkin. Bake at 400°F for about 30 minutes.
Many thanks to Monique from Mama Lisa’s World en français for sharing this recipe with us!
-Lisa
UPDATE: I made the dessert version of this tart the other day. I didn’t use the prune or chestnut spread (since they’re hard to find in the US). I did use canned pumpkin, milk, eggs, cinnamon, sugar and raisins, following the directions for the dessert tart above.
We liked it better chilled – it tasted a lot like a pumpkin pie – but thinner and subtler. -Lisa
Light Apple Pie Recipe + Apple Picking Traditions + Recipe for Gluten Free Baked Apple
Monday, October 20th, 2008Every year we go apple picking in September or October. One of our favorite orchards has dwarf apple trees, which has been nice with little kids. Though next year we may be able to graduate to an orchard with normal sized trees since our kids are getting taller.
One treat we make after apple picking is home-made apple pie with vanilla ice cream. Last year I posted a recipe for a delicious recipe for apple pie that had lots of cinnamon. This year we made a light pie, with less sugar. This recipe has more of a lemon flavor, which we surprisingly liked a lot! The same night we had the pie, my son’s friend ate over. His friend can’t eat gluten. So I made for him a baked apple with cinnamon sugar. I’ll post both recipes below.
Apple Pie Recipe
2 Frozen Pie Crusts
8-10 small to medium Apples (7-8 cups sliced)
2 1/2 t. Lemon Juice
1/4 t. Grated Lemon Rind
1/3 c. Sugar
1/4 t. SaltMix to Sprinkle on Top
2 t. Sugar
1/8 t. CinnamonPreheat oven to 425°F.
Take out the 2 frozen pie crusts. Turn one of the pie crusts out of its pan and onto wax paper. Leave the other in its pan. Let sit for 10-15 minutes.
Peel, core and cut the apples into 1/4 inch slices. You should have 7 to 8 cups of apple slices. Then mix the apples with the sugar, lemon juice, lemon rind and salt.
Pour apple mixture into the pie crust that’s in the pan. Wet the rim of the crust with a little water. Gently place the second crust over the pie, trying to match up the ends of the bottom crust and the top crust. With a fork, press down around the ends of the crust, pressing the 2 crusts together. Make four neat slits on the top crust to allow the steam to escape. Sprinkle mixture of 2 t. sugar and 1/8 t. cinnamon on top of pie.
Place a cookie sheet, covered with aluminum foil, under the pie. Bake for 15 minutes at 425°F.
Reduce oven heat to 375°F and cook for about 45 more minutes. The pie is done when the apples feel tender when poked with a butter knife.
If the crust is starting to get too dark at any point during baking, you can put aluminum foil loosely around the edges of the pie crust to prevent it from burning.
To reheat the pie later on: After the pie has cooled you can reheat it in a 325°F oven for about 15 minutes.
Serve with vanilla ice cream or whipped cream.
*****
This baked apple was extremely easy to make. My son’s friend loved it. Though I have a confession to make: it’s filled with sugar and cinnamon.
Gluten Free Baked Apple
2 Apples
1/8 cup Brown Sugar
1/8 cup White Granulated Sugar
1/2 – 1 t. Cinnamon (to taste depending on who’s eating it)-Mix the brown sugar, the white sugar and the cinnamon.
-Horizontally cut off the top 3/4″ of the top of the apple and set to the side (this top you can put back on for cooking).
-Core the apple.
-Put the sugar mixture into the apples and then cover with the apple tops.
-Wrap the apples in aluminum foil and bake on 375F for about 20-25 minutes, until soft.Take off tops and serve in bowls with vanilla ice cream or whipped cream.
If there’s any sugar mixture left over you can use it for the top of the apple pie.
Kids Birthday Party Idea – Decorate Cookies
Wednesday, August 6th, 2008Kids Love to decorate cookies and cupcakes – I’ve used this as an event at two of my daughter’s birthday parties. When she turned two I had the kids decorate their own cupcakes to eat. This year she turned 7 and the girls at her party decorated cookies as one of the activities.
I made round sugar cookies in advance – two per girl. (If you want to cut down on your work you can buy the pre-made sugar cookie dough in the dairy section of the supermarket.) Then we prepared white icing. We made three pretty pastel colors for them to use – pink, lavender and yellow. (If it’s for a boy’s party I would make more boyish colors.)
Then I had fun toppings available for the kids to use: sprinkles, crystal sugar, M & M’s and chocolate chips.
The activity took about 15 – 20 minutes. We wrapped up the cookies on plates for the kids to take home.
The kids had a ball!
(This doesn’t have to be just for parties or holidays – you can do this on a rainy day just for fun.)
How to Make a Pretty Flower Cake – It’s Easy!
Sunday, August 3rd, 2008In my last post, I explained how I made a number seven cake for my daughter’s birthday. I also made a flower cake. This is even easier to make!
What you’ll need:
One box of cake mix
White Icing
Food Coloring
Chocolate Chips
Large Platter (Preferably Round)All you have to do is make one 8″ round layer cake and 12 cupcakes. You should be able to do this with one box of cake mix (at least in the US). Then you ice the cake. If you want it to look like a typical flower, you can use yellow icing on the round cake. You can do this by mixing a little yellow food coloring into white vanilla icing.
Then you can make the cupcakes have a different color icing for the petals of your flower. Mix another color food coloring with the white icing and spread it on the cupcakes. I made them pink by using a couple of drops of neon red food coloring. Then arrange the cupcakes around the round cake on a large round platter.
Then you can put the chocolate chips around the yellow icing on the cake to look like seeds.
That’s all you need to do to make a pretty flower cake!
Happy Baking!
Mama Lisa
Birthday Cake Idea – Make a Number Cake for Your Child!
Friday, August 1st, 2008It’s time for my daughter’s birthday. She’s turning 7 and she wanted a number 7 cake. It turned out to be pretty easy to make. You can choose any kind of cake you’d like to make. Prepare it as you would normally but bake it in a 9 x 13 inch rectangular cake pan. After it’s cooled off, place it on a large tray or cookie sheet. If you’re making a Seven Cake – cut out the seven as I did below.
1) First cut out a triangle on the left…
2) Then cut off the bottom right corner of the cake…
3) Then remove the bottom corner (you can put icing on it separately if you’d like)…
4) Put the icing on the cake…
5) If desired, you can decorate the cake (or let your kids decorate it like I did)…
Then you have a finished cake!
You can use different shaped pans depending upon what number you’d like to make. If you’d like, you can draw a template of the number using the backs of your pans and paper. Cut out the number on paper first then cut it out of the cake using the template you made.
Have lots of icing on hand – you’ll need more then usual, since it’s harder to ice cut cake. You might need to put thicker layers of icing to cover the cut portions neatly.
Happy Baking!
Mama Lisa
Fun Cooking with Kids: A Monkey on a Stick and a Ladybug Cookie
Thursday, July 17th, 2008My daughter made these great treats at our local library.
It shows what a little imagination and some candy can do! You can adapt these ideas to any theme for a kids party, a unit in the classroom or just for fun at home.
-Mama Lisa
A Food Eaten for Santa Lucia in Sweden
Wednesday, December 5th, 2007My friend and colleague Monique in France made the biscuits called Lussekatter that they serve in Sweden for Santa Lucia on December 13th. She sent me a photo of what they look like…
I also noticed that Frog with a Blog linked to a recipe for glögg that he likes. But beware! It looks like it has a kick to it!
-Mama Lisa
Apple Season – A Recipe for Tarte Tatin
Tuesday, October 9th, 2007It’s apple season again. Why not charm your guests by making a French Tarte Tatin this year instead of the traditional Apple Pie?
Tarte Tatin is reminiscent of an upside-down cake in that you actually turn the tart upside down after baking it.
It’s said to have first been made by mistake by one of two sisters who ran a hotel in France in the late 1800’s. Her name was Stéphanie Tatin. The story goes that one day Stéphanie was in a rush while making an apple tart. She forgot to put the tart dough on the bottom of the tart pan. Realizing her mistake, she put the dough on the top of the apples. She cooked it that way and turned it upside down when it came out of the oven. It was délicieux! The tart was such a success that Stéphanie decided to start serving it to her guests thereafter!
The ingredients to make this tart are very simple. We used Red Delicious apples and bought pre-made pie dough to make it. The apples need to be firm, non-baking apples, so they don’t get mushy.
Here’s our recipe…
Tarte Tatin
5 Apples
1/2 cup Sugar + 2 T. to Coat the Pan
1/2 Stick Butter + 1 T. to Butter Pan
Pie DoughPreheat oven to 350˚ F.
1) Peel and core the apples. Then cut them into quarters. Then cut the quarters in half in the other direction. Mix apples with the sugar to coat.
2) Melt the butter in a frying pan over medium to low heat. Sauté the apples until slightly tender on the outside.
3) Butter and heavily sugar a tart or pie pan. Place sautéed apples into pan.
4) Roll out pie dough so that it’s big enough to cover the apples. Put the dough over apples and tuck edges of the dough down around the apples to touch the bottom of the pan.
5) Cook for 30-40 minutes or until the crust is golden.
6) When the tart is done, turn it over into a dish that has sides. The tart will now be upside down.
7) Serve warm with heavy cream poured over each slice if desired. You can also serve Tarte Tatin with vanilla ice cream.
Bon appétit!
-Mama Lisa
Many thanks to Monique Palomares of Mama Lisa’s World en français for sharing this recipe with us!
UPDATE: I recommend that you cook this tart while singing Pomme de reinette!
Yuan Xiao and the Lantern Festival in China
Monday, April 16th, 2007
Yuan Xiao is a traditional food for the Lantern Festival in China. The Lantern Festival is at the end of the Chinese New Year celebrations. People go outside with lanterns, watch the dragon dance, set off firecrackers, and they eat Yuan Xiao. (Yuan Xiao is also called Tang Yuan.)
There’s a sweet version and a salty one. The sweet version is made of sticky rice wrapped around black jasmine, white jasmine or peanuts with sugar. Sometimes there’s something else like fruit inside.
Recently, Hanchao, a woman from China who lives in my neighborhood, treated me to a luncheon that featured Yuan Xiao. Xuemei (also from China) was there, as was Rae from Taiwan.
Hanchao made Yuan Xiao with black sesame paste, and Xuemei made it with red beans. Both were wonderful to taste!
I mentioned how I would love to share the recipe for Yuan Xiao with my readers.
The ladies told me they don’t have cookbooks in China like we have in the West. Recipes are passed on from mother to daughter, from sister to brother and from friend to friend. They were amazed at how we have such precise measurements in our recipes and how we can duplicate the exact same recipe each time. They teach each other recipes by cooking the meal together.
Hanchao said she would try to write down her recipe for us. Here is what she sent me…
Hanchao’s Yuan Xiao Recipe
3 cups sticky rice flour
1 1/2 cups chopped black sesame seeds
1/2 cup sugarThe black sesame seeds that I bought were fresh. You can put the sesame seeds on a cookie sheet in the oven on 375 F. Stir a few times while cooking. Cook until it tastes good – about 30 minutes.
Mix chopped sesame with sugar in a blender until smooth. This is the filling. Set aside.
Put 1 – 2 cups of water into the sticky rice flour and mix to make the dough. You can use up to a total of 3 cups of water. Add the water slowly, because if you add to much, it will be too gooey – in which case you can add more flour. You want it to be smooth like pie dough or playdough.
Shape the dough of the sticky rice into half balls, put a teaspoonful of filling into the half ball. Close the half ball to form a full round ball and smooth out it by rolling it between your hands.
Put the Yuan Xiao into boiling water. Cook until all the Yuan Xiao float on the surface of the water. Cook for 30-60 minutes. Serve in the water it’s cooked in, like a soup.
Some people will serve Yuan Xiao in a sweetened broth. I asked Hanchao about this and she said she only uses water.
Yuan Xiao (Tang Yuan) are a symbol of family unity and happiness. People serve them to their family on the last day of the Chinese New Year celebration. It’s a symbol that the family will be happy and complete in the upcoming year.
Many thanks to Hanchao for sharing her recipe for Yuan Xiao with us!
Here are some links for other recipes:
Taiwanese Tang Yuan in an Egg Drop Soup
A Recipe for Pork Tong Yuen and one for Black Sesame Seed Paste Tong Yuen
Recipe for Glutinous Rice Balls with Salted Egg Yolk and Peanut Filling
Kings Day in France and a Recipe for French Kings Cake
Tuesday, January 2nd, 2007Kings Day is also known as the Epiphany and takes place on January 6th. It’s the day the Three Kings are said to have presented their gifts to Jesus.
In France, Kings Day is called Le jour des rois or La fête des rois. In honor of this day they eat Galette des Rois or Kings Cake. Last year I wrote about this fun little French fête and posted a recording of the song J’aime la galette or I Love Cake!
The cake they eat most traditionally in northern France is a flat round cake with an almond/butter filling called frangipane. The tradition is to bake a trinket or bean inside the cake. It’s called la fève in French, which means broad bean. That’s because originally they always baked a real broad bean inside the cake. Now the trinket is also called la fève.
Whoever gets the slice with la fève is King or Queen for the day. They’re given a golden cardboard crown to wear all day long. Their duty as king or queen is to buy or make the next galette des rois!
Since trinkets are hard to find outside of France, Spain and New Orleans (where they have a similar tradition), a good alternative is a whole almond (without the shell of course).
Here’s a delicious recipe for Galette des Rois…
Recipe for Kings Cake – Galette des Rois
Tart Pan about 10 inches in diameter
2 layers of Puff Pastry*
7/8 cup grinded Almonds
1 cup Powdered Sugar
7 T. + 1 1/2 t. softened Butter (just under 1 stick)
2 Egg Yolks + 1 Yolk (keep one of the yolks separate)
A little Milk
2 T. Rum (optional) or 1 1/4 t. Orange Flower Water (optional)1 Fève – trinket, bean or nut (must I say it? be careful – could be a choking hazard!)
*I bought the Pepperidge Farm brand puff pastry which comes in square sheets. If your puff pastry comes in square sheets or doesn’t fit your tart pan, you’ll need to roll it out with a rolling pin on a lightly floured surface. I’ll explain how below.
1) If you bought frozen puff pastry, thaw it in advance according to the directions on the package.
2) Pre-heat the oven to 350°F or 180°C. Grease the tart pan with butter.
3) Mix all ingredients except for 1 egg yolk (and puff pastry) with electric whisk until creamy.
4) Stretch puff pastry with the rolling pin, on a lightly floured surface, until it fits the pan going up the sides (even a little more) and spread the first layer of puff pastry in the pan. Prick with a fork.
5) Spread the cream filling evenly on the first layer of puff pastry and bury the trinket into it.
6) Roll out the 2nd layer of puff pastry with the rolling pin to make it big enough to fit over the first layer. Moisten the rim of the 1st layer of puff pastry with water and cover the first layer with the second layer of puff pastry.
7) Pass the rolling pin on the edge of the pan to cut off the excess dough, then press the two edges together with your finger to make them stick.
8) Make some little holes in the top to allow the steam out or the rim will burst and the filling will overflow.
9) Draw diamonds or half circles starting from the center to the rim like in the diagram below.
10) Brush the top with the 3rd yolk mixed with a small amount of milk. This will give it a nice golden color.
Bake in oven for around 25 minutes. Check from 20 minutes until baked a nice golden brown.
Here are the metric equivalents of the ingredients:
125g Grinded Almonds
125g Powdered Sugar
100g Softened ButterI made this recipe with Orange Flower Water which I purchased on the internet at The Spice House. It gave the Galette des Rois a very unique taste.
Many thanks to Monique Palomares of Mama Lisa’s World en français and Monique’s former colleague Geneviève for the delicious recipe! Thanks also to Monique for her explanation of the tradition and for the diagram and to Monique’s Class of 2006 for the wonderful recording of J’aime la galette.
Merci et bon appétit!
-Lisa
The Thirteen Desserts of Christmas – Les Treize Desserts de Noël
Thursday, December 21st, 2006At Christmastime in Provence, in the south of France, there’s a tradition of having a Christmas meal consisting largely of vegetables, followed by 13 desserts. 13 signifies the number of people at the last supper – Christ and his 12 apostles. The table should be decorated with 3 candlesticks, representing the Trinity. The meal and dessert are eaten before the family goes to midnight mass on Christmas.
Traditionally, a place was also left at the table for ones ancestors. The leftover food was left out all night. This way the ancestors could take part in the meal too. (There’s a similar Day of the Dead custom in Mexico, of leaving out food and a place at the table for ancestors.)
It is very important that there are at least 13 desserts – also called Les Treize Desserts de Noël. The 13 desserts can vary depending upon tradition. Generally, they are:
1. Black Nougats – Symbolizing evil – Hard candy made with honey and almonds.
2. White Nougats – Symbolizing good – Soft candy made with sugar, eggs, pistachios, honey, and almonds.These four are supposed to symbolize beggars, represented by four religious orders (Franciscans, Dominicans, Carmelite Nuns, Augustinians):
3. Dried Figs
4. Almonds
5. Hazelnuts or other nuts
6. Dried GrapesThe symbol of Mary and Jesus’ safe journey from the East:
7. Dates
Some of the other desserts eaten, depending on the region, are:
Oranges
Clementines
Apples
Pears
Grapes
Quince Paste
Melon
Calissons d’Aix (almond-paste pastry with sugar icing)
Oil Cake called Fougasse or Pompe à l’huile (made with Orange Flower Water and Olive Oil)Finally with these desserts, one drinks cooked wine, representing Jesus himself.
One must have a taste of each dessert to have good luck for the whole year.
Bon appétit!
-Lisa
Many thanks to Monique Palomares of Mama Lisa’s World en français for telling me about this tradition!
Recipe for Pebernodder Cookies plus a Kids Game called Mouse
Monday, December 11th, 2006Pfeffernüsse is a traditional German Christmas cookie. Pfeffernüsse literally translates into English as pepper-nut. That’s because most traditional recipes for these cookies are spicy and call for pepper. I believe the “nut” part is because they were traditionally shaped like little balls or nuts. That’s where you get peppernut.
These cookies are also traditional at Christmastime in Denmark. In Danish they’re called pebernødder. They can also be found in English speaking countries. In the U.S. they’re called pfeffernuesse.
Laurel Skelton was nice enough to send me a recipe. Here’s what she wrote:
I have several recipes, but some call for baking soda, and produce a fluffier cookie – NOT what I consider classic Pebernodder. Following is the recipe that produces the smallest, nut-like cookie, but it doesn’t call for much spice. So I make the cookies with a combination of the recipes I have, adding spices from the others to this basic recipe:
PEBERNODDER (Peppernuts)
2 1/2 cups Flour
1 cup Sugar
1 cup Butter
2 Eggs
1 teaspoon Cardamom
1 teaspoon Cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon White Pepper
Grated Lemon RindTake out butter early to soften.
Sift dry ingredients into large mixing bowl. Add butter and eggs and grated lemon rind. Mix well. Kneed with hands until dough is smooth.
Let rest about 1 hour. Then roll out into ropes the thickness of a pencil, and cut into pieces about the size of a pea. Bake on greased cookie sheet in 325 degree F oven until golden brown (about 10 to 12 minutes).
(I omit the lemon rind, add 1 Tablespoon of Molasses and use the following spices: 4 t. Cardamom, 2 t. White Pepper, 2 1/2 t. Ginger, 3/4 t. Cloves.)
Laurel had asked me about a game that kids play with pebernødder. I posted her question on my blog. The first person to respond said that pebernødder were used like tokens for payment when playing games.
More recently, we got a response by Karin Parnis, who used to play a game called Mouse (Mus in Danish), with these cookies. Here’s what Karin wrote:
I used to play a game called “mus” or “mouse” with my grandmother. You must have at least 3 people to play. You line up 10 or so pebbernodder on the table and point one of them out while the person who is “it” closes his eyes. He can then eat the pebbernodder one by one until he touches the “mouse” and the other players shout “MOUSE”. You keep taking turns to be “it” until you’re sick of eating pebbernodder or until there are none left!
Many thanks to Karin and Laurel for writing!
If anyone would like to share other holiday recipes or traditions, please feel free to comment below or email me.
Lisa
UPDATE: I made these cookies both ways. I found both to be very tasty. My children liked the 1st recipe best, but my husband preferred the spicier ones.
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The pfeffernuesse that you see in the US are often made with baking soda and even baking powder. They’re also made into 3/4″ balls before baking – so that they’re a larger, fluffier cookie. When they cool off a little, they’re coated with powdered sugar.
The version above, especially the first version of the recipe, is pretty mild. They’re sort of like a slightly spicy tasting, crunchy, sugar cookie. Yum-my!
In the second version above, you taste white pepper mixed with sweet cookie.
You can tell in the photo above that most of mine came out a little bigger than they were supposed to. My kids helped roll them – so they were all sorts of sizes. But it was a great project to do with kids. For my 5 year old daughter, it was like playing with play dough. It was fun for her, yet she was a big help!
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