Sweet Blog Archive: October, 2010

10/20: Anatomy of a dessert

When it comes to dessert ideas, I always follow my taste buds.  I come up with my best stuff when I indulge my sweet tooth.  This could be why I’ve never really had a desire to make “low-cal” or “healthy desserts.”  What’s the fun in that?  Since I’ve been consulting for an Asian style restaurant I’ve been able to tap into all my childhood favorites for inspiration–particularly the sweet stuff I craved from the dim sum cart.  One of them is this visually stunning confection called the black sesame roll.  When I was a kid I called it “Kodak” because it was as black as camera film.  It’s delicate gelatinous layers could be unraveled like a fruit roll up and eaten in one long strip.   And so began my fascination with anything black sesame–mom’s rich, impossibly silky sweet black sesame soup, black sesame candy, and more recently mom’s mochi with sweet black sesame filling.  So when I was thinking about new desserts it came to me–why not try to make something with black sesame?

Thus was born the coconut and black sesame panna cotta.  This would be the perfect amalgam of two of my favorite Chinese desserts, black sesame soup and coconut pudding (well really more like coconut jello).  The coconut panna cotta was easy enough.  I substituted a certain amount of coconut milk for whole milk, added some coconut powder to the cream and a tiny bit of coconut extract.  The black sesame creme, however, proved to be a bit more challenging.  Lucky for me, mom is a great resource.  In fact she rose to the challenge and actively participated in my experiments.  Did you know you have to rinse the black sesame first to flush out the sand and grit, and then carefully toast them in a wok to bring out the nutty sweet aroma?  And who knew that certain brands were “blacker” than others?  The brand mom favors has more pure black sesame seeds than the one I bought, which to my dismay had far too many pale seeds that did not impart enough color to the milk and cream even when steeped overnight.  And just how much ground black sesame does it take to give the panna cotta the right shade of dark graphite?  A hell of a lot!

After all the experimentation, I got the seal of approval.  Mom loved it.  Now of course it could be that she had a hand in it’s creation.  But then again, I couldn’t have done it without her.

Posted October 20th, 2010  |  2 Comments

10/11: Autumn State of Mind

Every time I walk into a store these days, whether it’s Target or Costco, I’m forcefully reminded that Halloween is just right around the corner.  Time to load up on those jumbo bags of candy corn and mini Snickers.  But it hard for me to get a sense of the autumn when it’s 70 degrees and sunny outside.  The neighborhood produce market still has nectarines and plums on sale for crying out loud!  Of course some of it probably tastes crappy.  It’s their mere presence at the fruit stand, intruding upon the first crop of pomegranates and persimmons that throws me off.  I need to get my fall groove on!   It’s time for me shift gears and think pears, apples, pumpkins…

If there is one single dessert I can make to get me into an autumn state of mind, it’s Sticky Toffee Pudding.  Yeah, I know the English eat it all year round.  In fact, I think it might actually be the national dessert of Great Britain, sort of the way the pavlova is to the Aussies.  But to me, it has always represented the fall, with all it’s wonderful rich, dark flavors.  My version–or I should say one of my many versions–includes not only the traditional sticky dates, but crystallized ginger, espresso, and Guinness.  I bake mine in a water bath to insure the proper degree of gooey goodness. This is what I want to tuck into on a chilly day…or night.  Once I make the first batch, I’m on a roll.  Then it’s maple pumpkin cupcakes, sweet potato pie, pear bread pudding, Halloween sugar cookies…..Let the autumn carb loading begin!

Posted October 11th, 2010  |  Leave a Comment