Mascarpone | Aapplemint

Mango Tarts

All, Baking, Dessert, Featured 16 Responses »

Apr 272012

For the past whole week, I’ve been having this uncontrollable desire to make Mango Tarts. I’d end up thinking of it at the weirdest of hours and places. It got so bad, that in my dreams last night I was wondering what flavors I would use and what to top it off with. So this afternoon I knew it had to be done. With summer in its full glory, the Mangoes are all over the place and probably the reason why I’ve been craving them. I’ve used Alphonso mangoes, but you could go for any kind you like. You will not believe me when I tell you India alone has about 70 varieties of mangoes, all off which are listed here. I find looking up varieties of fruits and vegetables a really interesting side project to cooking. A little over a month ago when I was having some computer problems, I really found the whole focus to research and blogging was interrupted. Now, with my broadband speed test up to scratch, along with my brand new MAC, I am back to myself, living and loving indulging in the possibilities of my kitchen creations. Back, focussed to my mango tarts. The mascarpone is ever so slightly sweetened and infused with lime zest to cut through the rich filling, but my tart shell recipe is something I swear by. It never fails me and the tarts are crumbly and just so perfect. The marshmallow is what came to me in my dreams. Hahaha, its true, and they do taste quite nice. Just make sure you use unsalted pistachios.

Ingredients

For the Pastry

335g Plain Flour
235g Unsalted Butter
100g Icing Sugar
3 Egg Yolks

For The Mascarpone Filling

1 tub of Mascarpone
3 tablespoons of icing sugar
zest of 1 lime
120 ml whipping cream
3 ripe Alphonso mangoes

For The Marshmallow

Couple of white/vanilla ‘mini’ marshmallows
half cup of chocolate sauce
half cup of coarsely ground unsalted pistachios

Prepare the pastry by rubbing the cold butter with the flour and icing sugar until a fine crumb is achieved. Add the egg yolks and bring together. Divide in two portions and wrap in cling film and chill for at least two hours. Roll out the pastry and line individual pastry rings . Trim off the excess pastry and blind bake in a preheated oven at 180C for about 20 mins or until the base is golden brown. Allow to cool, and store in an air tight box till ready to use.

For the mascarpone filling, simply mix all the ingredients and whip it all up till firm and well blended. Refrigerate till ready to use.

For the mango slices, peel the mango and horizontally cut of the two big cheeks off the mango. Now finely slice them and keep ready to use.

The marshmallows need to be dipped in the chocolate sauce and then rolled in the ground pistachios. Place on a tray and refrigerate till needed.

Now that everything is ready, its pretty easy to put it together. Spoon in the mascarpone filling in the cases. Place the slices of mangoes over it making a rose like shape and top it off with the marshmallow. You can have it immediately but it tastes best after letting it sit in the fridge for about 5 hours.

Matcha, Mascarpone n Dark Chocolate – Happiness !

All, Dessert 87 Responses »

Sep 182008

Do you ever have one one those days, when you’re feeling a bit low, and you start asking yourself questions .. why ? Well last weekend i was feeling exceptionally low, and started asking myself, ” What is happiness ?” – ” How do you define Happiness ?” … n then i went on n asked everyone i met for the rest of the week … here are a few replies i got …

- Happiness is exploring new places, tasting new things

- Happiness … depends, right now drinking tea and enjoying the cool weather is happiness. I wouldn’t change for anything.

- Happiness is…(profound) knowing that sadness exists …(practical) Sharing a great meal w/love

- Happiness is with Friends and Family

- I define happiness as … sitting quietly on my front porch, watching a rainstorm dance by, observing all of nature joyously celebrating it’s abundance

- I define happiness as … walking through the dewy summer grass barefoot, the smile on a person’s face upon seeing you, the warm sun shining on your face, the feeling of being completely loved faults and all

- Happiness is … having the freedom, health and opportunity to do great things for myself and others.

- Happiness is being at peace with myself and those around me and being able to give

- I define happiness as … standing in the rain and really feeling every single rain drop that touches you, and knowing that each drop is a not a tear from God above but a drop of his everlasting love falling sown on us.

- Happiness is … comfortable shoes …

- Happiness – Simple stuff: a child laughing, sun shining, flowers blooming, art, feeding people, helping others in need … all make me happy!

According to me there is no perfect definition for happiness. Everyone has their own meaning to it. For some its a long time achievement for some its momentary happiness. I believe happiness is based on happenings, its a fleeting emotion that comes and goes. Takes you up high and at times, low below. Happiness to me comes from little things, from simple joys of day to day life. To me its not a goal … but a feeling of Joy. Joy comes with happiness, you can’t have joy and at the same time you’re unhappy … How do you define happiness … What makes you happy ??

Matcha Green Tea Mascarpone n Dark chocolate Cake

Its always a good thing to have some layers of cake in the freezer. Always comes in handy for these kinda days, when you’re really not upto baking, yet desire something sweet. I always have a layer of genoise n chocolate cake for emergencies … sometimes i get irresistible pangs of sweet cravings, and so i have to be prepared So with the cake at hand, making this dessert cake becomes extremely easy.

1 + 1/2 tsp Matcha green tea powder
1-2 tbsps hot milk
4 tbsps mascarpone
4 tbsp cream
2 tbsp caster sugar
1 + 1/2 tsp gelatin powder dissolved in 3 tbsp water
1 layer of chocolate cake

If you want to make them in individual molds, start with cutting the shapes out in the chocolate cake, 3 layers for each mold. If using one loose bottom round tin, then double the quantity of the ingredients, and take 3 layers of cake. Dissolve the Matcha with the hot milk. Let it cool. Loosen the mascarpone with the cream and beat it up together. Add the sugar, matcha and the gelatin mixture and mix well. Place the bottom layer of the cake in the tin, and pour some of this mixture on the top. If you find it too thick then add some more cream before you pour it on top. Put this in the freezer and let it set. The gelatin will make it set quickly. Once you think its firm enough, repeat this step with the second layer, and then the third. Finally let it set overnight. When you’re ready to serve, loosen the cake and remove from tin. Sprinkle with grated chocolate. Alterately you could just make it in a glass. I cut the broken corners of the chocolate cake and set this dessert in a glass. And the glass version does not need gelatin. Just keep the mascarpone mixture thick, and pour it over the top. This would make for more of a Matcha n Dark Chocolate dessert smoothie Enjoy !

Matcha, Mascarpone n Dark Chocolate - Pure Bliss !!

Blackberry Meringue Cake

All, Baking 59 Responses »

Jun 032008

With summer in full swing, there are gorgeous fruits being imported into the Ghana from Holland, specially these lovely blackberries. I almost let out a scream of joy when i saw these at the supermarket, and bought them right away- 10 $ for all those you see on the cake. Quite a bit, but i still had to. I thought a Meringue cake with some rich mascarpone cheese would be just perfect for them. The texture of the crunchy meringue really works with the creamy cheese n tart berries.

Ingredients

( recipe makes 2 )
225 gms self raising flour ( sifted)
225 gms butter
225 gms sugar
4 eggs
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
2 egg whites
50 gms caster sugar
1 tub mascarpone cheese
100 gms cream

Preheat oven to 140 C, line 2 8″ or smaller baking tins. For the cake its quite simple, in a large bowl put together the butter (at room temp), sugar, flour, eggs, vanilla and beat on slow speed with an electric beater for 3 mins, and then on high for another 2-3 mins. If the mixture is a bit dry then add a few tbsps of milk. Pour equally into both the tins. Now in another bowl, whip up the egg whites till soft peak stage. Add in the caster sugar and further beat till stiff meringue stage, and equally spread over the 2 cakes. Bake till the tops are a nice light brown about 30 mins or till the skewer comes out clean. When its time to serve, beat he cream and mascarpone together. If you like sweeten it a bit with some caster sugar, and then place the berries on top, dust with icing sugar, simple and elegant !

I cut this post short as i need to go pack … i’m off again, this time to Bombay/Mumbai, but promising not to disappear for a long time. Hopefully this time i will keep up with my posts. Ta-Da !

Diwali Greetings and a Meme

All, Dessert 44 Responses »

Nov 072007

So much for me staying away from sweets … Ha ! Well but u cant blame me its Diwali . Hindus all over the world are celebrating the New Year on Friday. I was supposed to be back home by now celebrating with my family, but here i am, thinking about all the fun i am missing out on. Diwali would at par with Christams- for Christians , Eid Al Fitr – for Muslims , The Chinese New Year – for the Chinese, and so on …. i guess u get the idea
I remember when i was younger, i would really look forward to Diwali … firstly for the 15 days of holidays, and then the new clothes, visiting my cousins and grandparents , getting together n bursting fire crackers at night, lighting lanterns and little diyas( little mud n oil candles) that would sparkle in the dark, distributing sweets, and the best part of it all would be collecting money from our elders. All of us 8 cousins used to shower n wear our new clothes and be ready early in the morning and as soon as our grandparents, n uncles n aunties used to come we used to make them line up them and start touching their feet for blessings ( thats a traditional thing ) and then in return collect brand new crisp notes of 10 /20/50 rupees. Hehe … n during these 2-3 days all relatives come to greet u , so we would be asking for everyones blessings .. n ofcourse blessings came with a 20 buck note tucked in … so by the end of the season we used to all be rich . Well now tables have turned … i find myself giving money to the little rascals in my family now … , but yes its alawys fun .

Well so heres wishing all my dear friends a Happy Diwali n a Prosperous new year. May you have the best year ahead with gr8 joy n happiness, gr8 health and of course tons of wealth

Its a festival of light, love, sharing and caring and now i miss my mum She used to make Shrikhand and Puri along with a lot of other delicacies on the big day. Shrikhand would be fresh curd tied in a muslin cloth and hung overnight in the fridge till all the water drained out, leaving a thick rich creamy curd. I wanted to make some my self but i used mascarpone instead … thought triple cream would be a nice substitute to hung curd. I made 2 flavours here. The first would be pureed mango, saffron a bit of caster sugar n mascarpone. And the second is mascarpone, cream , caster sugar , cardamom , pistachios and caster sugar. Layer them in the glass and top up with sliced pistachios and saffron. Chill and serve.

http://img255.imageshack.us/img255/5020/thinkingbloggerpf8.jpg

And now for the Meme ! Last week Francesco of The Food Traveller nominated me for the “Thinking Blogger Award”. Its my first time ever participating in one , and this one is pretty simple. Just have to name 5 blogs that make you think, say a few things about them and invite them to do the same. Francesco is far to kind to put me on top of his list. Its truly an honour to know that someone who has such a fantastic blog himself thinks my blog is worthy of praise. I am humbled by his kind words. And now to talk about my 5 , the ones that really inspire me and make me think … (BTW look here for the rules.)

1 . Matt from Matt Bites

Who is one of the sweetest person i’ve come to know through blogging. He is extremely talented, kind, helpful, funny, honest and all that reflects on his blog.

2. Nolan from Chef Ledarney

A Canadian Chef in Japan, an artists soul trapped in a chefs body and a super chef in the making …( wow did i just “chef” 3 times in a sentence!) … gr8 now go chk out his blog …

3. Keiko from Nordjlus

Without whom i dont think i would’ve had this blog today. I stumbled onto her blog last year
and was so inspired by it , i had to make my own, i was so excited i even wrote to her before i started off and then of course as soon as i did she was there to support me with her kind words

4. Mohini from Mango Power Girl

Is from Seattle and has come to become a very close friend, all thanks to blogging. She has a fine vegetarian blog, and personally i think its a gr8 challenge to be veg !

5. Bea from La Tartine Gourmade

Who’s creations and photography are spectacular. Always an inspiration to me .

There are many more wonderful blogs that i’d like to nominate but that would be breaking the rules … aww i wish it were’nt only 5 !!!

Sunday Fiasco and Cheesecake

All, Dessert 60 Responses »

Oct 172007

Imagine …. you have friends coming over for Sunday lunch, which was planned over a week in advance, and they’ve requested Chinese. U are excited and want to impress, so you go all out and plan a really fancy menu… duck, grouper, crabs , prawns , beef , man tau , dumplings , udon noodles, tofu … , …. 3 desserts … the works ! Start a day ahead and go to the other side of town on a blazing hot day to get the ingredients while u are sick and your head is spinning and u even have diarrhea ( gross i know … sorry ). Not to mention the aching wisdom tooth which is digging into your cheek and making your whole left side sore. And you have to run frm one place to gather all the things, which are available in all different directions n specially to find a special ingredient – Mascarpone cheese which apparently is not available anywhere. Finally get back home in the evening and start off immediately, cutting, marinating n preparing getting everything ready for the next day. By the time you are finished its almost 11 and the last thing you do is whack a cheesecake in the oven which requires 1 hr 20 mins to bake. With an oven like mine which takes 45 mins to bake a 25 min recipe its definately going to take longer. So u are up till 2:30 a.m watching n waiting till the damn thing is done( which is another story altogether ). Finally u hit the bed with an alarm set for 7:30 as you have to go to the fish market at the port to buy some fresh seafood. U do wake up on time, brush and run. Manage to get some fresh crabs, prawns, and a beautiful Grouper. Back home, making the dough for Man Tau … steamed bread as it needs 2 hrs 20 mins to rise …. n still running around trying to organize which plates to serve what in, getting the place tidied up as you are expecting them at around 1 p.m …. and back to the kitchen , preparing the cold starters and dipping sauces. And then your mobile gets a “TEXT MESSAGE” saying sorry cant make it ..bla bla bla …. and you go like hmmm why couldn’t they have called instead … or more over why didn’t they inform a day ahead … but never mind u say alrite at least the others are comming … still gotta finish a few things. At around 12 u call the others as u want to make sure they have the directions to your house ( we moved recently ) and they go like … oh but didn’t u know we’re not comming, didn’t someone call u yesterday ( no ! no one did !!!) !!! At that point what do you do ???? What would your reaction be ??? Obviously try n coax them to come … after all you’ve slogged your sick butt out for them. But nothing … all you end up with is 2 fridges full of food and a very very very foul mood !

Can you believe that … your own friends … ! I think i’m just being too touchy about the whole issue and over reacting, anyone else and i wouldn’t have minded … would’ve just invited someone else over the next day and recycled the food, but this time i was just too pissed off. But now that i’ve shared it i feel better. Phew. So now that thats done … let me tell you about my cheesecake.

Amarula Chocolate and Mascarpone cheesecake with a Hazelnut and flapjack crust.

You may want to know what Amarula is. It is a South African cream liqueur made with the fruit of the African Marula tree. To me its Africa’s version of Irish Cream. Its a little sweeter and less alcoholic compared to Baileys Irish cream , and its obviously the preferred drink here. I thought it would be perfect for my cheesecake, which was a Delia Smith recipe but i had to change it drastically as i believe they never give the perfect recipe and u never get the results they claim to get. Also i did make a BIG mistake of using Creme Fraiche instead of the Fromage frais ( cuz thats what i found… not easy getting European products in Ghana). So well i had to re do it. Imagine my disappointment, when after baking it for almost 2 hrs i touch the cake and it still wobbles like a water bed. Eek ! i poured out the whole thing again and added some eggs and some more mascarpone whisked it all together and re baked it. And voila – it worked ! So here’s the full proof recipe …

Ingredients

200gms dark chocolate
2 x tub mascarpone
2 x 200g fromage frais 8% fat
2-3 shots of Amarula
6 large eggs
80 gms caster sugar
100 gms chopped hazelnuts
270 gms Lyons country snapjacks – crushed by hand
50 gms melted butter
chocolate curls to decorate

Start with the base of the cheesecake. I used a 26 cm loose bottom tin. Mix the butter, hazelnuts and biscuits and press it in the tin all over the bottom and raise it a little on the sides. Bake it for 20mins at 150 degrees C , and let it cool.
For the cheesecake, start with melting the chocolate in a double boiler and melt till smooth. In another big bowl mix the mascarpone and fromage frais with an electric hand whisk and when blended to a smooth consistency add the eggs and sugar. Mix it well again and fold in the melted chocolate and Amarula. U can use Irish cream instead . Pour it into the tin and bake for 1 hr 20 mins or till u think the cheesecake is set and very slightly wobbly at the center.May take longer depending on your oven. Then remove it gently and leave it on the counter and let it cool and then chill it overnight. To serve decorate with chocolate curls.

Yellow Plum and Mint Cheesecake with Almond Mascarpone.

All, Dessert 12 Responses »

Aug 082007

I had never in my life seen yellow plums, and so when i saw these in the fruit section of the supermarket i had to buy them. They had a lovely light delicate scent, a thin but very sour skin and a sweet juicy pulp. I ate a few and then began staring at the remaining 8 pieces. Now what do i do with these … obviously a voice inside me was screaming dessert … ! Not sure what i was going to do, i started with cutting the plums and poured some honey over it and cooking them gently for 4-5 mins. It caramalize the plums giving it a rich golden brown colour and a lovely fragrance. I tasted it … arrg it was too damn sour, so i threw in a few mint leaves ( yes i plucked them frm my garden )) while it was still hot hoping it would help. But it was still too sour, so added 2 tbs of sugar. Still sour, but better. At this point only one thing was going through my mind.This has to be turned into a cheesecake. Only the cheese n cream will balance out the sweet n sour of the plums – and so i got to it. Whisked up the cream with a tbsp of caster sugar just till it was holding shape. Beat in the mascarpone and a tsp of almond syrup. Crushed digestive biscuits with my fingers as i wanted them to be coarse, i like a bit of crunch. Mixed in a bit of melted butter and pressed it down in the glass and chilled it a for a while. The rest is a piece of cake ) pun intended . Mascarpone /plums/mascarpone/some more plums/garnish of mint leaves….Tada ! Dessert is ready. Don’t know how it tastes though. They’re chilling off in the fridge, will have them only after dinner. Keep u posted on how it turned out.

Ingredients

serves 2 – in glasses

6 yellow plums
1 tbsp natural honey
2 tbsp sugar for the plums
1 tbsp caster sugar for the cream
4 tbsp whipping cream
2 tbsp mascarpone cheese
1 tsp almond syrup or a few drops of extract
2 digestive biscuits
2 tsp melted butter
a few leaves of mint

* update :- i ate one and shared the other one with a friend, who said ” he’d never eaten anything like this before ! i should start selling this stuff here .” haha no i’m not bragging , seriously he wiped the glass clean and even ate the garnish. I’m glad it turned out gr8. In fact i’m having some guests over tomorrow for dinner. I just might repeat these

Twist on Tiramisu

All, Dessert 7 Responses »

Aug 032007

Its just one of those days when u are craving for something sweet, actually particularly for Tiramisu, so u set of for the kitchen, and start making it, only to realize u dont have rum and cocoa powder.But u still gotta have Tiramisu ! come what may and so this twist on it.

I used Cointreau instead of rum, strong coffee instead of espresso, orange zest in the mascarpone, and chocolate flakes instead of cocoa powder. The basic tiramisu recipe was from Delia Smith but i had to tweak it. It turned out pretty nice, coffee, orange and chocolate goes very well together and I was proud of myself. So much so that i even served it for dinner to my guests as this recipe makes 6. Now i couldn’t eat them all by myself,as u see blogging hasn’t really helped my waistline

)

Ingredients

250gms Mascarpone
3 large eggyolks
2 large egg whites
50gms caster sugar
grated zest of one orange
3 tbsps Cointreau
24 boudoir biscuits
150ml very strong coffee
100gms chocolate made into flakes with vegetable peeler
Black cherries to garnish

Beat the egg yolks with the sugar 3 minutes. In another bowl, stir the mascarpone with the orange zest then gradually beat in the egg yolk mixture. Beat well until the mixture is smooth before adding more. Separately whisk the egg whites till they form soft peaks and lightly fold this into the mascarpone mixture and set aside.

Next, break the biscuits in half, then pour the coffee and Cointreau into a shallow dish and then dip the sponge fingers briefly into it, turning them over – they will absorb the liquid very quickly.If u are not quick there are chances u will end up with a soggy mess. Now simply layer the desserts by putting 3 of the soaked sponge halves into each glass, followed by a tablespoon of mascarpone mixture and a layer of flaked chocolate. Cover the glasses with clingfilm then chill in the refrigerator for several hours and serve straight from the fridge – I think it tastes better very cold.U can go in for layers , but since my glass didn’t have much space i stuck to just one.Garnish with some black cherries.