Lemon Soufflé

Hubby and I rung in the New Year in low key fashion.  We were both a bit under the weather.  Me with a cold.  Hubs with an ear infection.  We kept it simple and made dinner at home and rented The Dark Knight Rises on pay per view.  Dinner was nice.  He made homemade pasta (which I love because it doesn't weigh you down the way store bought dried pasta does).  I made an easy oven roasted tomato sauce to top it off.  I also pan seared some fish my dad caught on a recent deep sea fishing excursion.  I wish I knew the name of the fish...it actually had a greenish hue in it's raw form--apparently the best of the catch on Dad's trip.  It was a beautifully buttery flaky white fish when cooked.  Really delicious.  To cap it off, we decided the eve of 2013 deserved a special dessert.  Lemon soufflé.  Our very first homemade soufflé.  

I have heard of the troubles soufflé can cause.  Apparently soufflés can be rather finicky with potential for a number of things to go wrong.  I'm happy to say we didn't encounter any issues.  We did take two out of the oven slightly early, but other than that, they turned out great! 

The recipe comes from Baking & Pastry from the Culinary Institute of America.  Neither of us has attended the CIA, but Hubby picked up the book at our local restaurant supply store last year to learn more about bread making.  He's made several of the bread recipes.  The soufflé is the first non bread recipe we've tried from the book.   The book is written in textbook format and there are few pictures.  You will also have to break out your kitchen scale, because everything is by weight.  Many of the recipes are fairly large scale, but this one was manageable, filling 8 ramekins. 

This is about 10 minutes after they came of the oven and you can see they are already deflating

The soufflé starts with making a lemon infused pastry cream.  The cream is made in advance so it has time to cool.  We made our pastry cream before we started on the main course.  Once dinner was done, we moved on to part two of the soufflés.  The ramekins got a slather of butter all over the inside, all the way up to the rim and a dusting of sugar.  Egg whites were whipped to medium peaks and the pastry cream and egg whites get oh so gently folded together.  The delicate mixture carefully goes into the ramekins, onto a baking sheet and into the oven.  We crossed our fingers.  We weren't sure how long to cook them since our ramekins were smaller than the ones called for in the recipe.  So we sat on the kitchen floor with the oven light turned on and watched them like a hawk.  We really did sit on the floor.  One of cats joined us, wondering what the heck we were doing.  Turns out they cooked the same length of time as the original recipe called for.  And much to our surprise...the little buggers rose up a good inch past the top of the ramekin.  Success!

I topped mine with sugared raspberries.  It was delicious.  A soufflé is light, and airy.  The lemon flavor, subtle....nice.  If you could eat clouds, I would imagine it would be a lot like eating a soufflé.  These are so light, that you might feel like it's a good idea to eat 2.  I mean, if you have a bunch of left over soufflés, best to eat them to before they deflate, right?  Once they deflate they lose all the wonderful textural puffy lemony cloud custard qualities. 

We both ate 2.  It was the right thing to do. 

Though the recipe may look a little intimidating, the steps are straightforward and very manageable.  It's not as bad as it looks.  Promise.

On a photography note...these photos were taken around 8pm without any special lighting.  I set my camera up on the new tripod Santa brought me and allowed a long shutter release (I'm sure I'm not saying that right).  Then I used the white balance editing tool in Lightroom to take all the yellow lighting tints out of the picture.  Though these aren't as good as a natural lighting option, I was pretty amazed with the results.  Go Santa with the tri-pod. 

I hope 2013 is treating you well thus far.  Happy New Year.

Enjoy! 

Lemon Soufflé
adapted from Baking & Pastry: Mastering the Art and Craft

Makes 8 four ounce (1/2 cup) ramekins

1.5 ounces butter, melted and cooled
17 ounces lemon pastry cream (recipe below)
1 ounce egg yolks
6 ounces egg whites
2.5 ounces sugar
Extra butter and sugar for ramekins

Lemon Pastry Cream:
16 ounces milk
5 ounces sugar
3 ounces all purpose flour
2 ounces eggs
1.5 ounces egg yolks
0.25 ounces lemon zest (about 3 large lemons)

Start by making lemon pastry cream.  This needs to cool completely before making the soufflé. 

To make pastry cream:

Combine 8 ounces of milk with lemon zest and 2.5 ounces of sugar in a saucepan and bring to a boil, stirring and pressing on lemon zest to release flavor.  Remove from heat, cover and allow lemon zest to steep in hot milk for 10 minutes. 

While the lemon zest is steeping, Combine flour and remaining 2.5 ounces sugar in a medium bowl.  Whisk in remaining 8 ounces of milk, eggs and egg yolks until mixture is smooth.  Set aside.

Prepare an ice water bath in a bowl large enough to accommodate the bowl you will put finished pastry cream in.  Don't fill too full as you don't want any water to get into the pastry cream.
 
Remove lid from the milk/lemon mixture and return to heat and bring just to a boil.  Strain mixture into a bowl, pressing on lemon zest to release all the liquid.

Whisk in 1/3 of hot milk mixture into the egg mixture, whisking continuously.  Whisk in remaining hot milk, again, constantly whisking.  Return combined mixture back into the saucepan and bring to a boil over medium heat, whisking constantly.  The mixture will take several minutes to thicken.  But when it goes, it goes quickly.  You want to achieve a loose pudding consistency.  The mixture should coat the back of a wooden spoon and leave a trail when you run your finger through it. 

Transfer the mixture to a clean bowl and place the bowl in the prepared ice water bath.  Cover pastry cream with plastic wrap pressed directly to surface of the cream.  Allow to cool for 30 minutes or so, then transfer to the refrigerator until ready to make soufflés.

To make soufflés:

Preheat oven to 350 F.  Coat the inside of the ramekins with soft butter.  Coat completely all the way up to the rim.  Dust ramekins with sugar and place on a baking sheet.

If pastry cream is chilled, use a hand mixer to bring to a smooth consistency.   Using a spatula stir in melted cooled butter and egg yolks until completely combined.

In the bowl of an electric mixer, fitted with the whisk attachment, whip egg whites on medium speed until soft peaks form.  Gradually sprinkle in sugar while continuing to whip.  Whip until medium peaks form. 

Gently blend 1/3 of the egg whites into the pastry cream base.  Gently fold in remaining egg whites until thoroughly combined. 

Portion soufflé mixture into ramekins gently spooning it in until it's a generous 3/4 full.  Space ramekins evenly on baking sheet and bake until soufflé is lightly golden and has risen 1 inch above the rim of the ramekin, about 20 minutes.

Sprinkle with powdered sugar (optional) and serve with fresh berries.

Serve immediately.

Strawberry Tid Bits and a Tart

I did it.  I ate all three baskets of strawberries I bought last Sunday at the farmer's market. 

By myself. 

It took me 6 days and three breakfasts of strawberries, yogurt and granola, one breakfast of berries with a Nutella scone, two desserts of strawberries dipped in Nutella and the finale was this strawberry tart.  And surprisingly, I am not sick of strawberries!  I am actually a little sad they are gone.  I might just be heading back to the farmer's market this week.

Storing Your Strawberries - Tip of the Day

I mentioned earlier this week, I've struggled in the past to store strawberries for more than a day or two without them growing mold or looking sad and sickly.  I've tried several methods which have all proven to be unsuccessful.  Some of these unsuccessful methods have included, storing them in the fruit drawer of the fridge in the packaging they come in; storing them in a cool, unrefrigerated, spot in the packaging they come in; washing the berries, removing the green tops, allowing them to fully dry and storing them in the fridge in a zip top bag with as much air removed as possible (this is the most successful of the unsuccessful methods).

Now that you know what doesn't work, I am happy to say I can now tell you what does work.  The lady who sold me the berries at the farmer's market shared her preferred method for storing these crimson beauties.  I tried her suggestion and I got 6 full days of beautiful berries.  I had eaten them all by day 6, but I have a feeling they could have gone at least another day or two, possibly more.  Here's the method:

1. Don't wash the berries until you are ready to use them
2. Remove any berries that are already soft or where the skin is broken and discard or set aside to eat (you could use these in a smoothie, strawberry sauce or strawberry puree)
3. Place a paper towel on the bottom of a tupperware container (with a tight fitting lid) large enough to hold all your berries 
4. Place the dry, unwashed, unblemished berries on top of the paper towel, in a single layer, preferably not allowing the berries to touch and top with another paper towel
5. Layer paper towels and berries until all your berries are stored, finishing with a paper towel on top of the last layer and store the tupperware in the refrigerator

When you are ready to use your berries, simply wash them, pat them dry (or let them air dry on a towel) and use.  This storage method has by far, been the best I've tried to date.  If you have strawberry storage tips I would love to hear about them in the comments section below.

Strawberry Facts

Did you know....

• 1 cup of strawberries has more vitamin C than an orange? 
• Strawberries are high in fiber, potassium and anti-oxidants (all good things from what I'm told)
• 1 cup of halved berries is approximately 50 calories and low in sugar
• Strawberries can be used for beauty purposes too...make a strawberry face mask consisting of berries, heavy cream and honey....sounds a lot like dessert to me!
• Strawberries are delicious (okay, this more my opinion than a fact)

Now let's talk tarts.  I pulled together two recipes I've had success with to come up with this personal sized strawberry tart (or you can also make one large 9 inch tart).  Back when I made these lemon tarts, I froze two mini tart crusts.  Figured it was about time to use them.  And remember the Boston cream pie I made late last year?  And how I RAVED about the pastry cream?  Yep, I made the vanilla pastry cream for this tart (though the chocolate pastry cream would be equally tasty). 

The sweet almond shortbread crust from the tart makes a great base to fill with thick, creamy vanilla custard.  It's like eating cookies and pudding.  Top it with fresh strawberries and you have a pretty irresistable dessert on your hands.

You can make this recipe over two days, making both the tart dough and pastry cream the day ahead.  You can either bake off the tart crust the day before and then wrap it in plastic wrap for filling the next day...or bake it the day you serve it.

Enjoy!

Strawberry Tart

Yields 4 mini tarts or 1 nine inch tart

Note: If you make the entire recipe in the same day, start by making the pastry cream since it needs to chill for a few hours. 

For the vanilla pastry cream filling:
adapted from Matt Lewis and Renato Poliafito's Baked Explorations

Note: Only half a recipe is needed to fill 1 large tart or 4 mini tarts. The full recipe is listed below. This custard is delicious all on its own so feel free to make the full recipe.  You could even dip berries in it.

7 egg yolks
3/4 cup sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup cornstarch
3 cups whole milk
3 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
2 tablespoons light rum (I omitted)

Set aside a medium heatproof bowl and fine mesh strainer.

Whisk egg yolks, half of the sugar, salt and cornstarch in a medium bowl until the mixture is pale, thick and smooth.

Bring the milk and remaining half of sugar to a boil in a medium saucepan over medium heat.  Once the mixture boils remove the pan from the heat and very slowly whisk 1/3 of the hot mixture into the egg mixture, whisking continuously (you don't want scrambled eggs).  Slowly pour the tempered egg and milk mixture back into the saucepan with the remaining milk while continuously whisking.  Place the pan back on the stove over medium heat and continue to stir until mixture boils for 2 minutes (or until thick, like pudding).  Be careful not to overcook or burn the pastry cream or it will have a bitter aftertaste.

Remove the pan from the heat and strain the pastry cream into the medium bowl you previously set aside.  Stir in the butter and vanilla (and rum if using) until butter is melted and fully incorporated.  Allow the mixture to cool for 15 minutes and then place plastic wrap directly on the surface to keep a skin from forming on the pastry.  Refrigerate until fully chilled and set, about 4 hours or overnight.

For the tart dough:
adapted from Dorie Greenspan's Baking: From My Home to Yours

1 ½ cups all purpose flour (or 1/4 finely ground almonds or another nut and 1 ¼ cups flour) - I used nuts and flour

½ cup confectioners’ sugar

¼ tsp salt

1 stick plus 1 tablespoon (9 T) very cold (or frozen) unsalted butter, cut into small pieces

1 large egg yolk

Place the flour (and ground nuts), sugar, and salt in a food processor and pulse to combine. Drop in pieces of cold butter and pulse until mixture has pea size lumps of butter.  Stir the yolk in small bowl and add it slowly to the flour mixture through the feeding tube, pulsing after each addition. Once the egg is in, hold the pulse button down for 10 seconds at time until the dough looks like curds.  Once you reach this point, turn the dough out onto a clean work surface.  Using your hands, knead the dough very lightly to incorporate all the dry ingredients.

Dorie recommends pressing the dough into a buttered 9-inch tart pan (or 4 mini tart pans) with a removable bottom, pressing the dough evenly into the bottom and up the sides of the pan.  Be gentle with pressing the dough into the pan allowing the pieces to just come together.  Prick the bottom of the crust several times with a fork.  Freeze the crust for at least 30 minutes prior to baking. 

The method I used is to gently roll the dough to 1/4 thick between two pieces of waxed paper or parchment, laying the dough into the buttered pan(s).

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.  Use cooking spray or butter to coat the shiny side of aluminum foil and place it buttered side down, against the crust.   Place the tart pan(s) on a baking sheet and bake for 15 minutes for mini tarts and 25 minutes for a large tart.  Remove from oven and gently remove the foil.  If the crust puffs up just gently press it back down with the back of a spoon. Return to oven and cook for an additional 5 to 8 minutes or until set and golden brown.  Cool completely on a wire rack before filling.

For the strawberry topping:

3 cups of sweet, ripe, strawberries, washed, dried, hulled and sliced vertically into 1/8 - 1/4 inch slices.

Assemble the tart:

Wait until you are ready to serve your tart(s) before assembling so the crust does not get soggy.  Fill the tart(s) full with vanilla pastry cream.  Top the tart(s) with the sliced strawberries, in a circular pattern starting from the outside of the crust and working your way in, allowing the strawberries to overlap slightly.  Serve immediately.

Creme Brulee

When Hubs and I go out for dinner, I almost always order dessert.  Shocking, right?  But most of the time I can't get Hubby to help me eat it.  Unless....it's creme brulee.  If creme brulee is on the table, you better get your spoon in there before it gets inhaled by he who shall not be named.  I think it's pretty safe to say it's Hubbies favorite dessert to order out.  Honestly, I think it's the only dessert he orders out.  So when I planned the menu for our Mystery Dinner this past weekend, I knew creme brulee would be our dessert. 

I didn't realize how easy creme brulee was to make. Though it's easy, you have to build in time for baking, cooling and chilling in the frigde.  I'm not always good at reading a recipe through and factoring all these little details in.  But thankfully, we started the creme brulee first and had enough time for our dessert to be ready by the time we finished eating dinner. 

So when Hubs and I got married 9 years ago, one of the fun kitchen gadgets we got for our wedding was a kitchen torch.  It's been sitting, unused, in it's original box for 9 years.  Pretty sad.  I think I was a little afraid of it.  Turns out torching stuff is fun.  Ok, torching sugar is fun.  I haven't torched anything else....yet.  If you don't have a kitchen torch, I hear you can caramelize the sugar under the broiler. Though I also hear it's more difficult to get the desired affect.

This recipe is another example of how a few simple ingredients can turn into a fabulous dish.  The best part is the spoon making that first crack through the browned glassy sugar surface.  Then you find the light, creamy vanilla custard lying beneath.  Delicious! 

Creme brulee has very impressive flavors especially since there are only 4 basic ingredients.  Sugar, egg yolks, vanilla and heavy cream.  The creme brulee starts on the stove top by heating the cream and sugar until scalding, but not not boiling.  You slowly stream in the hot cream mixture into the egg yolks to "temper" the eggs or bring them up to temperature so that the hot liquid doesn't scramble the eggs.  Stir in vanilla and pour the liquid through a mesh strainer to catch any bits that may have formed, ensuring you have a silky smooth mixture.  Pour the custard into ramekins and bake for 45 in a water bath.  Cool and then refrigerate to set.  The recipe recommends allowing at least 6 hours to make the creme brulee, but we only had about 3 1/2 and it was just fine.  I halved the recipe and ended up with six 4 oz portions.  I have noted the halved version of the recipe below.

Now, go buy yourself a kitchen torch!


Creme Brulee
adapted from Sarabeth's Bakery From My Hands to Yours

For the custard:
1 pint heavy cream
1/4 cup superfine sugar
4 large egg yolks, at room temperature
1 teaspoon of pure vanilla extract

For the topping:
1/8 cup packed light brown sugar
1/8 cup superfine sugar

Allow at least 4 - 6 hours of prep and cook time before you want to serve your creme brulee.  Preheat oven to 300 degrees F.   Whisk egg yolks in a medium heat proof bowl and set aside near your stove.  Combine cream and sugar in a heavy bottomed small sauce pan.  Bring the cream to barely a simmer, without boiling.  Using a 1/4 cup measuring cup ladle the hot cream mixture and drizzle it slowly into the egg yolks.  Repeat 3 or 4 times and then combine remaining mixture and eggs together and whisk until fully incorporated.  Whisk in the vanilla.  Strain the mixture through a fine mesh sieve into a large liquid measuring cup or a bowl with a pour spout.  Divide the mixture evenly amongst six 4 oz ramekins.  Skim off any bubbles from the surface with a small spoon. 

Place the ramekins in a 9x13 baking dish or shallow roasting pan.  Place the roasting pan in the oven and pull out the rack and pour hot tap into the pan so that the water comes up half way up the sides of the ramekins.  Do not get water in the custard.  (I like to add the water once the baking dish is in the oven because I don't want to balance a heavy dish filled with hot water as I move it from the counter to the stove).  Bake for about 45 minutes or until custards are set.  The custard will move as one solid unit with a small center section that may look uncooked.  Carefully remove the ramekins from the water bath and place on a wire rack to cool.  Allow to cool about 45 minutes and cover each ramekin with plastic wrap and transfer to the refrigerator to fully set.  Refrigerate for 4 hours or over night.

Make topping mixture by combining the brown and superfine sugars.  Press them through a fine mesh sieve into a small bowl.  Remove custards from the refrigerator and remove plastic wrap.  Sprinkle sugar on top of the custards between 1/16 and 1/8 inch thick.  Fire up your kitchen torch and slowly caramelize the sugar, holding the torch 3-4 inches from the custard's surface.  Torch until you reach the desired sugar caramelization.  Garnish with fresh berries and serve.

Sweet Melissa Sundays: Chocolate Pudding

Chocolate pudding baked in the oven?  Definitely a first for me.  Making pudding that didn't come from a box is also a first for me.  When I read through this week's Sweet Melissa Sundays recipe for chocolate pudding it sounded a lot like a pot de creme.  Melissa Murphy describes it as "so thick and creamy on your tongue, one of the richest desserts I have ever eaten--and one of the best."  Sounds like my kind of dessert.

I decided to half the recipe because hubby won't eat chocolate desserts.  But my friend was in town visiting from Chicago and she helped me make it and helped me eat it.  The half recipe ended up making 4 small ramekins of pudding.  The only modification I made to the recipe was to use 72% cacao chocolate.  To account for that I added a touch more sugar. 

The result?  I don't think it turned out quite the way it was supposed to.  First off, mine was not as silky and creamy as I was hoping.  I think I may have overcooked it because the texture of the top of the and outer edges was much more dense then the pudding at the bottom of the ramekin.

Will I make this again?  I'm torn.  I was really sold on Melissa Murphy's description of this dessert.  I might give it another shot after reading about the great success from my fellow SMS bakers.  In the meantime I have some other tasty chocolate creamy desserts I want to try out like the Triple Chocolate Pudding on Tracey's Culinary Adventures and the Chocolate Pot de Creme on A Cooking Life. 

Thanks to Leslie of Lethally Delicious for picking this week's recipe.  Pop over to her site for the recipe.  To see how other SMS bakers did with their pudding click here.

Sweet Melissa Sundays: Ginger Custard Pumpkin Pie

Are you sick of pumpkin recipes yet? I'm not! I've made 3 other pumpkin treats this fall and I have a few more planned. I was excited to see that Debbie selected Ginger Custard Pumpkin Pie for this week's Sweet Melissa Sundays recipe.

I have never actually made a pumpkin pie so I'm not sure how to compare this to making a standard pumpkin pie. But luckily I am very experienced at eating pumpkin pie. I am a huge fan. I love my pie with with cool whip on top...yep...cool whip. Melissa Murphy's Ginger Custard Pumpkin Pie has a distinct ginger flavor which I found to be a bit overpowering. And I like ginger, but there can be too much of a good thing.


The custard is very light, airy and creamy whereas most pumpkin pies have a more dense custard. This pie is tasty but I would cut down the ginger next time. I used my 6 inch pie pan for the first time and halved the recipe. I made half of the all butter pie dough recipe and had enough dough for two 6 inch pans. And luckily I have 2 pans! So I froze one of the pie pans for future use.


Hop over to the Sweet Melissa Sundays site to see other bakers fall pies.

PUMPKIN LOVE ~ Pumpkin Pots de Creme with Candied Spicy Pecans

Carmen of Baking is My Zen has organized a wonderful pumpkin posting effort called "PUMPKIN LOVE" from 6 different bloggers, me included! I was so thrilled to be a part of this. Pumpkin is one of my favorite flavors and really makes me feel like fall is here (which can be challenging in Southern California). I adore all things pumpkin and always look forward to the pumpkin season so I can try out new recipes featuring this delicious and versatile gourd. In short, pumpkin rocks! I think my fellow bloggers would agree and below is a snapshot of the delicious creations these talented bloggers made to honor the humble pumpkin!

Pumpkin Pie Tamales


Bonnie of Sweet Life made Pumpkin Pie Tamales. A cool take on a classic, Bonnie says, "Why should tamales be limited to only dinner...why not dessert?"

Creamy Pumpkin Custard with Rum-Raisin Compote


Jen of NJ Epicurean made Creamy Pumpkin Custard with Rum-Raisin Compote. Jen said she chose this recipe because, "I was sold at the description of this pumpkin dessert - the texture is somewhere between a creme brulee and a light and airy cheese cake.

Pumpkin Whoopie Pies


Rebecca of Beurrista baked up Pumpkin Whoopie Pies. She shared that these are "remembrances of a fun weekend getaway with college girlfriends." I would have liked to be a part of that weekend to get my hands on these whoopie pies!

Pumpkin Gooey Butter Cakes


Carmen, a very talented baker and the hostess of this Pumpkin Love post made Pumpkin Gooey Butter Cakes. She said, "After making fat free desserts one Thanksgiving, everyone in my family missed the Pumpkin Gooey Cake. It is now a must that I bake this cake for Thanksgiving." You can find the recipe on her blog, Baking is My Zen. Thank you again Carmen for bringing all these pumpkin treats together! I am definitely feeling the "Love" and I look forward to adding all these to my list of pumpkin goodies to bake.



Pumpkin Pots de Creme with Candied Spicy Pecans


And lastly, I made Pumpkin Pots de Creme with Spicy Pecans. When Carmen asked me to be a part of the Pumpkin Love blog post, I was completely flattered and super excited! I wanted to try a new recipe and immediately went in search of pumpkin treats online. I toyed between several recipes, including pumpkin cinnamon rolls, pumpkin souffle, pumpkin pots de cream and pumpkin cream pie with gingersnap crust. Ultimately I went with pumpkin pots de cream because I adore chocolate pots de creme and I thought a pot de creme would be delicious with pumpkin. A recipe from Vera of Baking Obsession caught my eye. To see gorgeous photos her pumpkin pots de creme click here. By the way, I plan to make all the other pumpkin recipes I listed above, with the pumpkin cinnamon rolls on the short list!

Back to my pots de creme...these were very easy to make. No mixer required. Just a bowl and a whisk. The only special tool, which really isn't all that special, is a fine mesh strainer. It moves into the special category for me because I don't own one. So I ended up improvising by using my sifter and I sifted my mixture. It worked ok, but I think I should just break down and invest in a proper mesh strainer. Just when I think I have all the basics! If you compare my photos to Vera's you will see her pots de creme look a little silkier than mine. I bet she has a fine mesh strainer!

The ingredients are simple...most of these I already had in my kitchen.


Simply whisk all the ingredients together and then pour into 6 ramekins. The ramekins go in a dish or pan large enough to accommodate them and then you transfer the the dish to the oven and fill it with hot water until the water reaches about halfway up the sides of the ramekins. Bake for about 35 minutes until the pots de creme are set but still jiggle a little. Once cooled, remove the ramekins from their water bath and transfer them to the refrigerator to continue setting, at least 2 hours.


While your pots are cooling you can move on to making the candied pecans. This too is super easy! Just a few ingredients make up the candy coating and you toss the pecans in the mixture.


Into the oven for 5 minutes to "melt" the candied coating and then you give them a stir to spread out the pecans. 10 more minutes in the oven and your nuts are candied. The nuts will brown and the mixture will start to bubble and you know it's done. Then you dump the nuts onto a piece of foil to separate the nuts before the candy hardens. It hardens quickly, so you have to work fast. Note that these are sweet and spicy pecans. The spiciness comes from black pepper and cayenne pepper. I have baked with cayenne before and knew it was too spicy for me so I left it out. The pepper still provides a spicy kick. Or you can leave out the spicy elements altogether!


If you are patient enough to wait for the 2 hour refrigeration period the result is a silky, creamy pumpkin custard. Unfortunately I am not that patient and could only wait an hour. The pot de creme is delicious with a scoop of Haagen Daas Dulce de Leche (caramel) ice cream on top. The ice cream starting melting faster than I could photograph it! I really must try harder to exercise patience.



It's also yummy with fresh whipped cream. I tried that too, but didn't snap a photo. This custard is very similar in taste and texture to pumpkin pie filling, but much more smooth and silky. The candied pecans add a nice crunch and pair perfectly with this tasty custard.



Recipe:

Pumpkin Pots de Cremefrom Vera of Baking Obsession

For pots de crème
1 cup canned pumpkin
1/2 cup light brown sugar, lightly packed
1 cup light cream
2 large eggs
3 large egg yolks
1 tbsp molasses
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp fresh grated nutmeg
1/4 tsp ground cloves
1/2 tsp salt

For candied pecans
1 tbsp honey
2 tbsp light corn syrup
1 1/2 tbsp sugar
3/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp (generous) freshly ground black pepper
1/8 tsp cayenne pepper
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1 1/2 cups pecan pieces

Make pots de crème:
Preheat the oven to 325 F and position a rack at the center. Lightly oil six-4-oz ramekins. Have ready a roasting pan that is at least 2 inches deep and large enough to hold the ramekins. Line the pan with a clean kitchen towel and arrange the ramekins evenly in the pan.

In a medium bowl, whisk together all ingredients. Strain the mixture into a 4-cup glass measure or a bowl with a pouring spout. Pour the custard into the prepared ramekins.

Place the roasting pan with the ramekins on the oven rack and pour hot water into the outer pan until it reaches about halfway up the sides of the ramekins. Cover the pan loosely with aluminum foil and bake until the custards are set but still jiggle when you shake them, 30-35 minutes.

Transfer the roasting pan to a cooling rack and remove the foil, leaving the ramekins in the water until the custard reaches room temperature. Removed the cooled ramekins from the water bath and refrigerate until chilled, about 2 hours. Wait until they are completely cold before covering tightly with plastic wrap.

Make candied pecans:

Leave the oven at 325 F. Spray a baking sheet with a nonstick spray or line it with a silicone mat. Combine all ingredients except the pecans in a bowl. Stir to blend. Add the pecans, stir gently to coat. Transfer to the baking sheet.

Place a large piece of foil on a work surface. Bake the pecans for 5 minutes. Using a fork, stir the pecans to coat them with melted spice mixture. Continue baking until the nuts are golden and the coating bubbles, about 10 minutes. Transfer the pecans to the foil. Working quickly, separate the nuts with the fork. Cool. Can be made 3 days ahead. Store airtight at room temperature.

Serve the chilled pots de crème topped with candied pecans. Offer additional pecans in a bowl on the side.

P.S.
If you've managed to make through this whole post....look at these gorgeous pumpkins! I had to squeeze this photo in somewhere given this post is paying homage to pumpkin. Happy fall!

Sweet Melissa Sundays: Coconut Custard Pie

I love being a part of Sweet Melissa Sundays baking group because I am continually learning new things in the realm of baking and sweet treats. I thought I was a decent baker, but didn't realize how limited my range of skills were with mostly experience in cookies, cakes and the very occasional pie. But there is so much more to be mastered! This weeks challenge is a custard pie....Coconut Custard Pie selected by Ruby of I Dream of Baking. Making custard is a first for me and this one came together very easily. The recipe calls mixing up the custard in a blender and then into the pie shell for baking.

I opted for 4 rustic mini's in ramekins and halved the filling recipe. I admit, I cheated on the crust this week to save time and bought the pillsbury refrigerated roll crust. Blind baking the crust in the ramekins (blind baking is also a first for me) was a little challenging. I ended up scrunching up pieces of foil and tucking them inside the crust. I pre-baked them for about 20 minutes (which may have been too long because by the time I baked the custard in the crust it came out much browner than I wanted it to be). Unfortunately I lost some of my rustic crust that overlapped the edge of the ramekin when it went into the oven. It wasn't quite sturdy enough to hold itself up.

I'm on the fence about coconut (love the flavor, not so in love with the texture). I opted to do 2 ramekins with coconut and 2 with caramelized bananas.



For the bananas I sliced them about 1/4 inch thick tossed them in lemon juice, laid them out on a foil lined baking sheet and topped each slice with a nice coating of sugar. Then I popped them under the broiler for about 5 minutes until they had a nice color. The one thing I forgot was to spray the foil with non stick spray so the bananas had to be gingerly removed. I filled each ramekin halfway with custard and laid in 5 or so banana slices and then topped it off with more custard. I baked the custard filled ramekins for about 35 minutes until they were set. As many of the other SMS bakers, I also topped off my mini's with fresh made whipped cream and a little toasted coconut and caramelized banana slices. Because like Tracey, I think everything is better whipped cream!





So? How did they turn out? The custard had a nice creamy texture, however it was not sweet enough for my taste. Hubby described it as, "blah". Though I added a heavy layer of coconut at the bottom of each ramekin the coconut flavor was very mild. And I still don't like the texture of coconut. Next time I will add more sugar and will replace milk with coconut milk to get the coconut flavor without the texture. The banana version was also on the blah side....should have doubled the number of banana slices inside and added a dash of banana extract. I would also omit tossing the bananas in lemon juice (it was recommended in a recipe I found to keep the bananas from turning brown...they added a little tang and kept the banana flavor from truly caramelizing).




I enjoyed the custard itself so I will be giving custard another try in the future...most likely without the crust. Thanks for hosting this week's recipe Ruby!