Cocoa Panna Cotta - My Way

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When an idea that's like a marble rolling around in a steel drum won't be quieted, sometimes you just gotta get it out of your head and into the saucepan. So to speak.

I can't remember now where I read this, but someone, somewhere said that you cannot successfully caramelize Splenda-Sugar Blend. Pah!, I say. Yes you can.

And to prove it I've made a variation of the Cocoa Caramel Panna Cotta from my previous post, not only using the Splenda-sugar for the caramel, but also substituting fat-free 1/2 & 1/2 and regular 1/2 & 1/2 for much of the heavy cream.

In doing so, I've made it way lower in carbs and lower in fat while still retaining its creamy, silky texture. In fact, I like this version better than the last: It doesn't have any of the coating-the-roof-of-your-mouth feel that using all heavy cream can sometimes impart; and it sets up prettier, creating a layered effect of dark to light chocolate color.

Yes, Virginia, even though you might be eating lighter fare after the indulgences of the holidays, you CAN, at least once in a while, indulge in dessert.

Lower Fat - Lower Carb Cocoa Panna Cotta
Adapted from The Essence of Chocolate, by Robert Steinberg and John Scharffenberger
Ingredients:
2 1/2 teaspoons gelatin
1/4 cup water, divided
1/4 cup Splenda-Sugar Blend
2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder (I used Ghirardelli)
1 1/2 cups regular 1/2 & 1/2
1/2 cup fat-free 1/2 & 1/2
1 cup heavy cream

Preparation:

Lightly spray six 4-ounce souffle cups with Pam. Using a paper towel, evenly distribute the Pam over the bottoms and up the sides of each cup, leaving a thin film. Set aside.

Place 2 tablespoons of the water in a small bowl and sprinkle with the gelatin. Stir and set aside. This will become very firm.

Combine the cream and both 1/2 & 1/2s into a glass measuring cup and microwave until lukewarm. Set aside.

In a medium saucepan, place the remaining 2 tablespoons of water and the Splenda-Sugar Blend over medium heat. Cook for about 10 minutes or until the liquid is a deep amber color, brushing the sides of the saucepan with a wet pastry brush if crystals form.

Remove the saucepan from the heat and quickly stir in the cocoa powder, stirring until fully blended.

Return the pan to the heat and slowly add the warm cream mixture, stirring constantly. The caramel will harden at first but will finally dissolve as the mixture heats up. Keep stirring until there are no hard bits left in the pan.

Remove the pan from the heat again and add the gelatin, stirring until it has dissolved, then strain the entire mixture through a fine mesh sieve into a pourable container.

Divide evenly among the prepared souffle cups and transfer to the refrigerator, covering the tops with plastic wrap so a skin doesn't form.

Refrigerate until set and slightly jiggly, at least 4 hours. Overnight is ideal.

I rather ruined the top photo by thinking I had to run a knife around the souffle cup to un-mold the panna cotta. But with the addition of the film of Pam (thank you for your support Jann), all you really need to do is flip cup and plate, give it a good shake, and the panna cotta will freely fall out, making for a smoother edge than you see in my photo.

Cook's Notes:

I opted out of preparing the custard sauce, adding a dollop of homemade creme fraiche as a garnish instead.

This dessert is so lovely in both taste and texture, it can stand on its own. A small shaving of good bittersweet chocolate around the plate is all it would need to give it a fine presentation.

Because gelatin is used to firm up the panna cotta, I see no reason why whole or 2% milk couldn't be substituted for the heavy cream, lowering the fat and calories even further. Give it a try!

Finally, you may have noticed that in my previous post I did not write out the recipe, providing a link and an explanation instead, but have written it for this post, creating what may seem to be a contradiction. Because I changed the recipe ingredients and the explanation of preparation significantly enough, I felt comfortable in giving credit to Mr. Scharffenberger and Mr. Steinberg for their wonderful recipe that I then adapted to suit my tastes. And because I now have their book, I'm not lifting anything from Mr. Leite's site.

And that's about all I'm going to say on this subject. :)

Cocoa Panna Cotta With Custard Sauce

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Another dessert from our holiday menu, this one putting a beautiful finish on Christmas dinner, comes straight from Leite's Culinaria. The recipe can be found here and in the marvelous cookbook The Essence of Chocolate, by Robert Steinberg and John Scharffenberger.

I changed just one thing in the recipe, substituting Splenda granular for the sugar in the custard sauce. Because the panna cotta itself begins with caramelizing sugar, one must use granulated sugar or it won't work.

This panna cotta, or "cooked cream", is absolutely delightful: silky smooth with a just-sweet-enough-but-still-bitter cocoa and caramel flavor that marries perfectly with the smooth custard sauce. It was the perfect finish to a rather rich leg of lamb dinner (subject of a near-future post.)

Be sure to make it well in advance so it can chill in the fridge.

I must admit to having had one problem: I had a heck of a time getting the panna cottas to unmold from their souffle cups. Whether this had to do with the molds themselves or is a flaw of the recipe, I don't know. I'll be trying it again and when I do, I'll wipe a very thin film of light oil on the inside of the molds.

One more note: This recipe is very easy to make. When I found that one recipe wouldn't fill enough molds for my dinner guests, I was able to quickly whip up another batch.

Another note: Why didn't I type out the recipe for you? Well, David Leite, a dear man and my first food-writing teacher, has a really big thing about usurping copyrighted material from his web site, and from that of others as well, and from cookbooks. This list goes on.

According to my research while taking his on-line class, and the findings of others, recipes fall into a VERY gray area of copyright law, in that a list of ingredients cannot be copyrighted but the written instructions, or artistic expression, on how to assemble said list can, to put it very simplistically.

If you've been reading by blog for any length of time, you will know that I print recipes from all over the place, always giving credit where credit is due. Still, out of respect for my teacher's feelings on the issue, I do not take any recipes verbatim or otherwise from his site.

Plus, this way I get to plug Davis, his delightful writing and Leite's Culinaria by inviting you to click on the links I've provided and give him a visit.

Persimmon Bars With Creme Fraiche

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It has become a Christmas Eve tradition at our house to have a large pot of andouille sausage, chicken & prawn soup on the stove (recipe coming), a hearty loaf of locally made artisan bread ready to butter and an easily hand-held "something" for dessert.

This makes serving a hot meal to those who arrive at different times of the day and evening easy. No formal sit-down dinner, any of the food items can be held in a lap or set on a counter to eat while talking and catching up with precious company.

Over the next days, I'll be posting many of the recipes prepared over the Christmas weekend, beginning with Christmas Eve.

And since life is short, as my dear friend George used to say, I'll begin with dessert.

These persimmon bars have been adapted from a recipe I found on Epicurious. By replacing half of the all-purpose flour with whole wheat flour and the sugar with Splenda granular, I've come up with a lower carb, higher fiber snack. The lemon glaze was omitted; a spoonful of home made creme fraiche offered instead.

Persimmon Bars
Adapted from Epicurious

Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups persimmon pulp (from 3-4 very ripe persimmons)
1 1/2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
1 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
1 cup white whole wheat flour (I use King Arthur brand)
1 teaspoon salt (scant)
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground nutmeg (freshly grated is best)
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1 large egg
1 cup Splenda granular
1/2 cup light vegetable oil
2/3 cup golden raisins
1 cup finely chopped walnuts

Preparation:
Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees.

Butter a large baking pan (I used a 9x13-inch pan), then add several spoonsfuls of flour, turning the pan until the butter is coated with the flour. Tapping the pan, remove the excess flour.

After cutting away the stem and seeds from the persimmons, peel them and drop the very juicy pulp into a mesh strainer that has been placed over a bowl.

Using a rubber spatula or a wooden spoon, mash the pulp through the strainer, discarding any fibers and seeds that remain.

Stir the lemon juice and baking soda into the puree and set aside. (The puree will foam and then jell slightly.

Sift the flours, salt and spices together in another small bowl.

In a large bowl, whisk the egg, Splenda, oil and raisins until just combined. Add the flour mixture and the persimmon mixture alternately, beginning and ending with the flour mixture, stirring until just combined.

Stir in the walnuts.

Spread the batter into the prepared pan and bake for at least 20 minutes or until golden brown and a skewer inserted into the center comes out clean.

Cool completely on a rack, cut into 2 1/2 x 2 1/2 inch squares and serve with a dollop of creme fraiche.

May Visions of Sugar Plums...

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...dance in your heads

Merry Christmas!

I'll be taking a bit of a break for the holidays

My very best wishes to all of you for a joyous,

prosperous and peaceful 2007

Holiday Persimmon Flan

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At our neighbor's Solstice celebration potluck last night, just twenty out of the thirty people present raised their hands when asked if they wanted persimmon flan for dessert. For some, persimmon anything seems foreign.

I was not surprised however, when a few someones gave other dessert-less someones a wee bite, exclaiming, "You've got to try this!", and little by little those who had opted out began wandering in to the kitchen, looking around expectantly to see if there was any left.

There wasn't.

Upon seeing the empty dessert platter, the look on one woman's face was so woebegone that I thrust the platter and a spoon into her hands so she could scoop up the few bits that remained along with a tiny bit of caramel sauce.

Converts are made every time I serve this delectable dessert. The recipe below has been doubled from the original to make two 9-inch round flans. I have changed some of the ingredients to provide a lower-carb, lower fat dessert.

Persimmon Flan
adapted from Potager by Georgeanne Brennan
Ingredients:
1/2 cup sugar, divided
2 cups persimmon puree from about 4 large very ripe hachiya persimmons
1/2 cup Splenda granular
2 cups milk, cream or regular 1/2 & 1/2, your preference
2 cups fat free 1/2 & 1/2, such as Land o Lakes
6 eggs
1 1/2 cups egg substitute (equivalent to 6 eggs)
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

Preparation:
Click here and scroll down to "preparation" to see how to cut, peel and de-seed a persimmon. When you have 2 cups of pulp, place it in a saucepan and cook, stirring often, over medium heat for about 5 minutes. The pulp will change to a lighter color and look somewhat gelled.

Remove from the heat, puree in a blender and put through a strainer, discarding any fibers that remain. Set aside.
Place 1/4 cup sugar in each of two 9-inch round cake pans and place each over low to medium heat on your stovetop.
Using a hot pad, tilt the pans as the sugar melts, coating the bottom of the pan. When the sugar has melted and is a deep, golden brown, remove the pans from the heat and tip them so the melted sugar coats both the bottom and the sides of each pan. Set aside.
Preheat your oven to 325 degrees and arrange two racks in the the center part of the oven, spacing them far enough apart to receive a roasting pan on each rack.
Combine the cream and 1/2 & 1/2 in a saucepan and set over medium heat until bubbles form around the edge of the pan. Remove from the heat.
In a bowl, combine the eggs and the egg substitute and beat lightly. Add the 1/2 cup Splenda, salt and vanilla.
Pour the cream mixture slowly into the egg mixture, whisking constantly but gently until fully combined. Vigorous whisking will create bubbles, the ruin of many a flan. Stir in the persimmon puree.
Place each cake pan in its own large roasting pan and divide the custard between the two cake pans, filling them to just under the rims.
Pour very hot water into each roasting pan until it comes up halfway on each cake pan.

Bake the flans for about 40 minutes or until the just centers jiggle when given a gentle shake and a knife inserted into the middle of the flans comes out clean.
Remove flans from the oven and allow to come to room temperature. I usually refrigerate them overnight before serving.

To serve, run a knife around the edge of the flan, place a plate over the top and, holding both the plate and the cake pan firmly in your hands, flip them both together allowing the flan to drop onto the plate. You may have to give the cake pan a shake if it doesn't immediately release the flan. The caramelized sugar will run over the flans and down the sides, making a sumptuous presentation. As you can see in the photo above, a few bits from the custard has joined the caramelized sugar. This is home cooking, not absolute perfection.

This my third and final entry for Kalyn's special herb blogging event, Holiday Cooking with Herbs. Kalyn will be rounding up all the entries early tomorrow morning so she can then travel to enjoy Christmas with her family. If you want to join in, be sure to send her your link today.

Cook's Notes:
Sometimes I have left over custard after filling the cake pans. When this happens, I just place the leftovers into 4-ounce custard cups and put them into the water bath around the cake pans. These make even lower carb desserts as there is no caramelized sugar present. Plus, you can eat them right out of the cups.

This flan will form layers as it bakes because the persimmon puree is lighter than the custard base. This not only gives the tongue different textures to explore, but I consider it a lovely presentation as well.

LAST CHANCE TO BID: Menu for Hope III

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Is all your holiday shopping finished?

Or do you, like me, still have a few little items to get, maybe to tuck into Christmas stockings, send to a dear friend, or place in festive little boxes that each of your dinner guests will open?

Will you spend at least $10 on each of these last-minute gifts?

I have a suggestion for you: For each $10 donation that you give to Menu for Hope III, you will be able to choose a chance to win from a wide array of prizes that have been donated by the food blogging community around the world.

Your donation dollars, made in a special person's name if you wish, will go to feed the world's neediest people. Your giftee then gets the chance to win a very special prize, hand-picked by you.

Tomorrow, Friday, December 22nd, is the last day you will be able to bid on some of the most generous, glamorous, and simply outstanding prizes ever donated by the global food blogging community in a single event. Each one is worth way more than, some WAY, WAY more than, the price of a single $10 donation.

As I write this, a Menu for Hope III has raised over $42,600, all of which will go to the UN World Food Programme to help feed those who live in a world of starvation, day in and day out.

If you've been seeing my messages below the Menu for Hope logo on my sidebar for the past two weeks, or received an email from me imploring you to donate to this most worthy of causes while having a chance to win spectacular prizes, and have been putting it off,

NOW IS THE TIME TO ACT!

I'm not going to give you a plethora of links to visit. Just one.

The most important link is this one:

First Giving - Menu for Hope III. This is the place to make your donation and pick the prizes you would like a chance to win. You will be able to read about the UN World Programme, the previous Menu for Hope campaigns, see who else has donated, how much and what prizes have been bid on. Links are provided for you to view and choose from all the prizes that have been donated.

There's not much time left! This campaign to help feed the world's hungry children, women and men will end promptly at 6:00 PM tomorrow, in just over 24 hours from now.

Please be able to say, "I donated to the Menu for Hope III." I know it will make you smile.

I would like to extend a big thank you for an incredible undertaking, countless hours of work, and the sharing of a common vision to Sam Breach of Becks and Posh, and to the founder of Menu for Hope, Pim of Chez Pim. Without the tireless, selfless work of these two women and many other men and women around the world, this campaign would not have happened. Please take a minute, if you can, to visit their blogs by clicking on the blog names and leave them a message of thanks for a job well done.

My Mother's Best Braided Raisin Bread

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As a child, I would watch my mother make this bread every year during Christmas and Easter. Studded with dark raisins, the crust crackling with sugar, we kids couldn't get enough of it.

I can still remember her pulling the braided loaf out of the oven, the cinnamon-y, yeasty smell making my mouth water. Having to wait until it cooled was agony. Having to wait even longer because company was coming was excruciating.

I have her recipe, written in the way only a person who could make this without looking at the recipe would write it: In code. That is to say, many steps are not written down.

It's a good thing that I watched her carefully as she made this or I wouldn't have a clue how to proceed. I have added the missing steps for you.

I haven't made this bread in a very long time, but every year before Christmas, filled with good intentions, I take out the recipe card then some weeks later put it back, bread unmade. My sisters are the bakers in the family.

This year I was determined and am proud to say that as I type this, the braided loaf is achieving its second rise and will be baked, cut and buttered before this is posted.

As both cinnamon and freshly grated nutmeg are used in this bread, making it especially nice for the holidays, this is my second offering to Kalyn's Holiday Cooking with Herbs, which includes spices, plants and veggies as well as herbs. Kalyn will post a round-up of all the entries in this special version of Weekend Herb Blogging on December 23rd and you won't want to miss it.

Then there's the whole low carb thing. Bread is my downfall. I cannot, will not, pass up a few slices of good artisan bread when it comes my way. And that includes walking by the Brio display shelves in my favorite grocery store. Those loaves somehow always manage to jump into my cart. What I do to combat this indulgence is to buy whole wheat, whole grain breads, which have more fiber and more protein, giving a better balance to a low carb lifestyle.

To that end, the one major thing I changed in my mother's raisin bread recipe was to use all white whole wheat flour from King Arthur. I got a bit denser loaf as a result, but it had a fine crumb and made fabulous toast.

Skip's Best Raisin Bread
Ingredients:
1 cup milk, scalded and cooled slightly
2 packages dry yeast
1/3 cup lukewarm water
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup unsalted butter, melted
1 large egg, beaten
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
4 cups flour (I used white whole wheat, she used all purpose)
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg, freshly grated is best
1 1/2 cups raisins (I used golden and only 2/3 cup)
2 tablespoons light oil (she specified melted shortening)
1 egg white, beaten
2 tablespoons sugar

Preparation:
Place the yeast in a small bowl and add the water, stirring until dissolved.
Combine scalded milk, brown sugar, salt and butter then add the yeast and beaten egg.
Sift the flour, cinnamon and nutmeg and add to the liquid ingredients along with the raisins.
Stir well with a wooden spoon (I used my stand mixer, which my mother would have done had she owned one.)
Turn dough out onto a floured board and knead until smooth and elastic, 6 to 10 minutes.
Gather into a ball and place in a lightly oiled bowl, turning over once to coat both the top and bottom.

Allow the dough to rise in a warm spot, covered, until doubled in bulk, about 2 hours.
Turn dough out again and knead a few times.
Shape into a ball, cut off 1/3 of the dough and set aside.
Cut the remaining dough into 3 equal pieces and, using the palms of your hands, roll each piece into a rope 20 inches in length.
Braid the 3 ropes together, tucking the ends under.
Cut the reserved piece of dough into 3 equal pieces and repeat the rope making process, this time ending up with 15 inch ropes.
Braid these together and place on top of the larger braided piece, tucking the ends under.
Brush the tops and sides with the 2 tablespoons of light oil, place on a buttered cookie sheet, cover with a towel and allow to rise again in a warm spot until doubled in size.
Pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees.

Brush the top and sides of the dough with the beaten egg white and then sprinkle the sugar all over. Place on a rack in the middle of the oven and bake for about 40 minutes or until the loaf is golden brown.

You have to let this bread cool just a bit before slicing into it, so here's what you do. When it's cool enough to handle, make yourself a cup of tea, cut yourself a slice bread, slather it with butter or Smart Balance, maybe some jam, sit down, put your feet up and enjoy.

Cook's Notes:
Because I used whole wheat flour, a bit more liquid was necessary so I changed my mother's original 1/4 cup warm water to 1/3 cup. I could have used even more water or added another egg to lighten this bread further although Mr. CC says it's pretty darn good just the way it is. He's the bread eater in the family.