Say Hello to the Queen!

The other day I was scrolling through WordPress Reader, looking at posts of blogs I follow, when a "suggested" one popped up. It was actually a political rant from England, but it mentioned a dessert I'd never heard of before: Hello to the Queen. The narrative suggested that it was well known so I Googled it. It turns out it's a dish that served in the touristy places where backpackers in India hang out. I searched a bit and found it mentioned in a handful of blogs. The consensus seemed to be that once a guy from Israel asked for all the ingredients in this sundae  - only in huge amounts. He put it all together and gave it a grand name. Other travelers thought it looked pretty good and so it became a common request along the hiking circuit in India. As far as I could tell it always has a base of a broken up Digestive brand biscuit or a graham cracker square, followed by warm chocolate sauce, caramelized bananas, vanilla ice cream, and finished with whipped cream. I read that some include chocolate chips, nuts, and even marshmallows - so I think anything goes.  It's so easy kids can make it if an adult helped them with the caramelized bananas.  Below is a no frills recipe for caramelizing the bananas as well as the steps in assembling this super easy glorified banana split. P.S. This was the most visited post I ever had- it got over 10 thousand hits - Ha!

Easy Caramelized Bananas  

Place 1/4 cup butter, 1/4 cup brown sugar and a couple bananas that have been cut in half and then lengthwise into a stick proof skillet. Gently give just a stir or two while the butter and sugar melt over medium high heat.  

Let the banana pieces sit undisturbed in the melted mixture for about 5 minutes a side or until they are lightly browned. Be careful when turning the banana piece over so it will stay together. 

Directions for Assembling Hello to the Queen:

Break up a Digestive biscuit or graham cracker square in the bottom of each serving bowl.

Drizzle one tablespoon of  warm chocolate sauce over the biscuit.

Add two caramelized banana slices to each bowl.

Set a scoop of vanilla ice cream on top.

                 

 

 Heap on the whipped cream.

Drizzle another tablespoon of chocolate sauce over the top and dig in!

The Kane Sisters' Carrot Cake

This post should actually be called the Mueller sisters' carrot cake for its true original source. During summers between college semesters, my sister and I worked as life guards at a country club. (My brother actually was employed there too, but I was off in the real world by then.) We worked with the Mueller girls who were blonde, blue eyed, very pretty, and obsessed with dieting.  In fact, that was pretty much the topic of conversation around the pool. Except - at some point this recipe surfaced. I can't remember how, but I know it's from them. For years my sister and I brought it to pitch-ins and parties. The directions on it are very strange for a cake recipe since the first thing is to combine eggs and oil, but the result is honestly the best carrot cake I've ever had. It is the gold standard to which I compare all other carrot cakes. The cream cheese frosting is just a bit different as well; definitely not as much powdered sugar than other recipes I've seen. The result is a bit more tangy and less sweet. For a pitch-in I bake this in a 9 x 13 pan, but it also makes a great eight inch layer cake.

Ingredients for the Carrot Cake:

3 eggs

1 cup vegetable oil

2 cups flour

1 1/2 cup sugar

2 teaspoons baking soda

2 teaspoons cinnamon

1 teaspoon salt

3 cups shredded carrots

1 cup raisins

1 cup undrained crushed pineapple

1 cup flaked coconut

1 cup chopped walnuts

 Ingredients for the Cream Cheese Frosting:

2 (8 oz.) packages cream cheese

1/2 cup butter, softened

2 cups powdered sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions for the Carrot Cake:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour either a 9 x 13 baking pan or two eight inch cake pans.  Beat the eggs and oil together until they are combined.

Add the flour, sugar, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt and mix well.

Stir in the carrots, raisins, coconut, pineapple, and chopped nuts. Pour into the 9 x 13 pan or evenly divide the batter between the two cake pans. Bake the 9 x 13 pan for about 50 minutes and the cake pans for about 40 minutes. When done, the edges will be coming away from the side of the pan, the cake will spring back when touched in the middle, and an inserted toothpick will come out clean. Let the pan(s) sit for 5 minutes after they are taken out of the oven. Then, run a knife along the edges between the cake and the pan. Turn the pan upside down on a wire rack and gently tap the edges and top of the pan to loosen it. Lift the pan up to release the cake. Allow the cake to completely cool before proceeding to frost it.

Directions for Making the Cream Cheese Frosting:

Beat the cream cheese and butter together with an electric mixture. Add the confectioners sugar and vanilla extract and continue to beat until all the ingredients are combined together. Ice the top of the 9 x 13 pan or divide the icing between the two eight inch layers. Place the first layer on the plate and put about a third of the icing on top, spreading it from edge to edge. Top with the second layer and heap the rest of the frosting on top, extending it to cover the sides as well as the top. If you start to get crumbs in the frosting, get a clean knife to continue. Go back if possible and gently cover any of the crumbs with excess icing. Store in refrigerator.

Brazo de Reina - Queen's Arm

Simple yet impressive at the same time, Brazo de Reina (Queen's Arm) is pretty darn delicious. This light and airy sponge cake rolled up with a layer of caramel filling inside is a great finish to any meal. A couple of years ago we had a cookout and Allison's friend from Chili, Grace, brought it for dessert. It was a huge hit since anything where Dolche de Leche is involved is scrumptious. Several months later I went over to visit with Grace's mom, Mariana, and she served me a slice of it with coffee. It was so yummy that I quickly said yes when she offered me of a second piece! She shared the directions for making it and I was surprised to learn that all it consists of is six eggs, six tablespoons of sugar, and six tablespoons of flour. And glorious Dolce de Leche. I use Nestle brand; it is found by the canned condensed milk in the grocery store. The only thing tricky about Brazo de Reina is peeling the parchment paper away from the sponge cake, but I learned that if you grease the paper with a bit of butter, it is easy. Even if the edges get torn a little (which happens to me), they are hidden when the cake is rolled up. After it is baked and assembled, a dusting of confectioner's sugar and a sprinkling of fresh raspberries are all that is needed to finish it off. Everyone will think it's something extraordinary (and it is) just don't tell anyone it wasn't hard to make!

Ingredients:

6 eggs

6 tablespoons sugar

6 tablespoons flour

1 (13.4 oz.) can Dulce de Leche

Fresh raspberries and a tablespoon of confectioner's sugar for garnishing

Also needed:

Parchment paper and a smidgen of butter

Clean cloth dish towel and 1/4 cup confectioner's sugar

Small mesh strainer 

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and lightly coat it with the butter. Separate the eggs. Beat the egg whites until very stiff.

 Then, beat in the sugar and the yolks until mixed in.

 Now add the flour and mix it in.

 Pour the batter onto the parchment lined baking sheet and with a rubber spatula, spread the batter out evenly. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes.  When it is done it will be more pale that brown. The key is that when it is touched it bounces bake and makes a distinctive sound.

 Immediately, sprinkle the 1/4 cup confectioner's sugar evenly all over the dish cloth and invert the baking sheet on top of it. Lift the baking sheet up to release the sponge cake. Gently peel the parchment paper away from the sponge cake. 

Starting at one end, roll the sponge cake up - dish cloth and all, Set aside and allow to cool. 

When the sponge cake/dish cloth roll is no longer warm, gently unroll it. Carefully smooth the Dulce de Leche over the top, making sure it goes edge to edge. 

Now reroll the sponge cake up - this time without the dish cloth. 

Place the sponge cake roll on a serving platter. Put the extra tablespoons of confectioner's sugar in the fine mesh strainer and sprinkle it over the top of the roll. Garnish with raspberries.

Variations: Mix the Dulce de Leche with 2 tablespoons of orange juice or chocolate milk. Or fold 1/2 cup whipped cream into the Dulce de Leche.

Simple Apple Crisp

Around our house the acronym "OPR" means Other People's Recipes. This little term came about after Jenn and I spent a frantic day last November making and photographing eleven recipes. I had come up with the idea of doing an article featuring the favorite holiday recipes from the writers who contributed to the community magazine I write for. The deadline for the piece was several days away, but it fell right when Jenn and I were to be driving her car across the country to move her to California.  So, the two of us had a wild time using just about every measuring spoon and baking dish in the house while depleting all of our baking supplies. The results were interesting; some of the dishes were delicious and some were a little different than our palates were used to. The main thing I realized though, was that each recipe had a memory behind it which made it special to the person that submitted it. We had a great time that day and I wouldn't trade that memory for anything!  The apple crisp recipe posted here happens to be an OPR as well. It belongs to my friend who hired me to cook it for her.  It's an OPR to keep!

Ingredients for an 8 by 8 Inch Baking Dish

6 cups of peeled, sliced apples

3/4 cup packed brown sugar

1/2 cup oatmeal

1/2 cup flour

1/2 cup butter, softened

1 teaspoon cinnamon

(1 tablespoon lemon juice mixed with 1 tablespoon water if using sweeter apples)

Directions:

I use an apple peeler to cut away the skin of the apples. Then I quarter them, cut out the core, slice them up, and place them in a baking dish.  My favorites to use are Granny Smith, but I also like Jonathan. If I am using a sweeter apple such as a Fuji, I mix one tablespoon of water with one tablespoon of lemon juice and sprinkle the mixture over the apple slices.

While the oven is preheating to 375 degrees, mix together the brown sugar, oatmeal, flour, butter, and cinnamon until crumbly. Spoon evenly over the apples in the baking dish.  Place in the oven and bake for 35 minutes or until it is brown and bubbly. This is especially good served with vanilla ice cream or even just a drizzle of heavy cream.

Desserts Designed to Impress - Not Stress!

     Providing a special dessert that is not only delicious, but also looks fabulous is the ultimate compliment to guests.  It makes them feel they are important enough for the host to go to the trouble to prepare something exceptional.  Unfortunately, our busy lives leave little time to slave away in the kitchen – especially with the hectic holiday season approaching!  The desserts included here still look and taste wonderful, but they are super easy to make - thanks to some short cuts that can be taken!  Instead of whipping the cream up from scratch, Cool Whip can be used.  Likewise, store bought raspberry jam and lemon curd shave off lots of precious time that would be used making homemade sauces. Each of these desserts has a "history" in our family.  The tiramisu is a company dinner party dessert;  in the summer I use fresh raspberries in place of the wintertime toffee bits.  The ice cream bombe has been the finish to several wedding showers and the torte is a holiday favorite the girls would put together while the rest of the dinner cooked.

Toffee-White Chocolate Tiramisu

 

Ingredients:

2 (6 oz.) white chocolate baking bars

¼ cup heavy cream

1 (16 oz.) container of Cool Whip

1 (3 oz.) package of cream cheese

3 (3 oz.) packages of ladyfingers

¼ cup strong coffee

¾ cup toffee pieces (divided into ¼ cups)

Directions:

 

Put the white chocolate and heavy cream in a bowl and microwave it for 30 seconds.  It will keep its shape until it is stirred smooth. If necessary, microwave it again for about 15 more seconds.

. 

 In a large mixing bowl, beat the cream cheese until fluffy.  Then beat the melted white chocolate mixture into the cream cheese. 

 

Take ½ of the Cool Whip out of the container and gently fold it into the white chocolate mixture. 

Next, line the sides and bottom of a springform pan (or glass bowl) with ladyfinger halves.  Brush the ladyfinger with the coffee (save some coffee for the next layer of ladyfingers).  Spread half of the white chocolate mixture over the ladyfingers and sprinkle the top with ¼ cup toffee bits. 

 

 Repeat with the remaining ladyfingers, coffee, white chocolate mixture, and toffee bits.  Cover with enough remaining Cool Whip to reach the top of the pan.  Sprinkle with the remaining ¼ cup toffee bits and refrigerate 4 hours. Remove side of springform pan before serving.

Ice Cream Bombe

 

 

Ingredients:

3 ½ cups graham cracker crumbs

1 cup butter

2/3 cup sugar

1 cup peanuts (or 1 cup butter)

3 pints ice cream, each a different flavor

Bottled chocolate sauce

 

 

Directions:

 

Put graham cracker crumbs, butter, sugar, and peanuts in food processor and process to mix.  Press mixture along the bottom and sides of a well-greased Bundt pan.

Slightly soften the ice cream.  Layer one flavor at a time on top of the crumb mixture.  Cover with plastic wrap.  Freeze at least 8 hours.  To serve, submerge the bottom half of the pan into a bowl of hot water for 30 seconds.  Invert onto a serving plate, slice, and serve with chocolate sauce.

 

So Easy Raspberry Lemon Torte

 

Ingredients:

 

2 (8 inch) layers yellow cake

1 jar raspberry jam

1 jar lemon curd

1 (8 oz.) container Cool Whip

 

Directions:

 

With a serrated knife, slice each cake layer in half through the middle.  Place first split layer on serving plate and spread with jam.  Top with a split layer and spread lemon curd over it. Top with the third split layer and spread jam over it. Place the last layer on top and frost the whole cake with cool whip.  Garnish with lemon slices and fresh or frozen raspberries.

 

 





 

Disastrous Macaroons and Delicious Meringues

  

                                                Light as a Cloud Meringues =  Many Sweet Options!

A few weeks ago I was thrilled when Yates Yummies got a milestone hit!  Blogspot has a statistics feature that keeps track of how many times the blog has been looked at.  I can't see who visited this site, but the stats do share the search words that people googled to get here.  Some are pretty amusing.  My all time favorite happens to be, "is eating white chocolate with sangria dangerous?"  Recently the August 5th post, "Jose's Chocolate Dipped Macaroons", started getting an inordinate number of hits.  Out of curiosity I googled the words "Jose" and "Macaroons".  Up came the page with Google's suggested web sites.  All websites but my blog directed people to Jose Marechal and his book Irresistible Macaroons.  It turns out that these multicolored cute little egg-white/ ground almond cookies are supposed to be the new cupcake in the foodie world.  Intrigued, I hit on the Amazon link and ordered the book.  When the book arrived, I decided to give it a whirl.  What a lot of effort and what a disaster it turned out to be!  With all the steps that had to be taken - ground the almonds, make a paste with the nuts, boil water and sugar, incorporate it in with egg whites, etc. - I realized I was out of my league! However, as I was whipping up the egg whites I got a flash from the past.  Several years ago, I was lucky to spend some time with a friend from New Zealand whose husband was briefly working in the U.S.  Her trademark offering at pitch-ins were melt in your mouth meringue cookies. She would top them with whipped cream and sometimes kiwi slices. Once she made a classic Pavlova which is one large round meringue filled with fruit and whipped cream. Quickly, I threw my disastrous macaroons in the trash and dug out the handwritten recipe she gave me. It was so simple and so easy!  I made a batch and had a lot of fun pairing them with different sweet combinations.  My favorite involves the Luscious Lemon Curd recipe given below, especially because it's a great use of the egg yolks not used for the meringues.  I also made some smaller sized meringues to make sandwich cookies with various fillings. Ice cream was a great pairing as well.

Simple Meringues
3 egg whites (set eggs out a couple hours before hand)
3/4 cup of sugar
pinch salt (optional)
1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar (makes it a little easier for eggs to whip up)
1/2 teaspoon vanilla (optional)

Follow the steps below:

Place parchment paper on cookie sheet and draw circles the size you prefer for your meringues

Break eggs open and separate whites from yolk by passing yolk back and forth between the shell halves

Beat the eggs, salt, vanilla, and cream of tartar on high until they reach a soft peaks stage

Gradually beat all the sugar in until the mixture is glossy and stiff

Put a tablespoon or two in your drawn circles and spread the mixture flat with the help of a spoon

Bake at 275 degrees in a preheated oven for one hour, then turn the heat off, keep the door closed, till cooled (all night is ok)

Layer with fruit and whipped cream (or Cool Whip!)

or topped with ice cream

As sandwich cookies filled with raspberry jam, Nutella, and orange marmalade

With luscious Lemon Curd - my favorite!

 Luscious Lemon Curd:  In a pan over medium low heat, whisk together the 3 left over egg yolks,  the juice of 2 lemons, and 1/2 cup of sugar.  Then stir constantly with a wooden spoon until the mixture gets thick, being careful never to let it boil.  Take it off the heat and stir in 4 tablespoons butter (I used "I Can't Believe It's Not Butter) until combined.  This is absolutely divine on toast in the morning or as a filling between two layers of a yellow cake frosted with whip cream!