New Crepes and Other Things

To any who might read my blog, I apologize for being so conspicuously absent this past month. I got a craving of a different sort - a craving to draw, paint or something along those lines and that has occupied my time of late. Since we moved to Arizona last summer, we are occupying a far smaller house than had been our usual, and there are no spare rooms to set up my painting supplies (easel, table to hold all my paints, brushes, paraphernalia, chair). That leaves me with a lot of supplies, but no way to truly use them. Racking my brain for some way to satisfy this urge to create a picture of some kind, I finally remembered my iPad Pro and an app called Procreate. I love the app. I love being able to zoom in and work on intricate things. And I love what I've created. I have yet to attempt printing my work, so I have no idea whether this is a truly viable venue to work from, but at least it has calmed my creative urges to some degree. These are some things I have done this month.

My "Procreate" Art

And then, anyone who knows me, also knows how much I love frogs, and tadpoles and the color red, when it comes down to it! Frogs have been a life-long fascination for me. In all their strange forms, I just find them cute / adorable / interesting. And so, I chose to create a little folly with a whole lot of tiny little Poison Dart Frogs. These little bitty frogs are often less than an inch long. While they mainly live on the rainforest floor, once their tadpoles emerge, they are taken, individually, on their mother's back, to great heights up into the trees and deposited in any tiny body of water - often in the centers of bromeliads. Each tadpole is placed into its own body of water, with this great journey undertaken repeatedly until all are safely stowed, and then mama frog has to repeat the journey to each tadpole daily, for feeding. And so, my little folly; with one or two more frogs still to be set into the picture before I am done:

Frog Frolicking Folly

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On to FOOD:

My First Try at Buckwheat Rye Crepes

My son and his significant other also live in AZ, but nearly 4 hours away from us. They are currently living in a huge motor home, by choice. And over winter, it sprang a leak and mold was forming, so it is now in the shop for repairs. While it is being repaired, they needed to dispose of a lot of foods that would spoil in their fridge, so they bestowed their largesse on me. 

Crepes, Belgium and Buckwheat

One of the things they gave me was an unopened, but thawed, box of "Belgian Boys" Belgian Crepes. I had never bought crepes before, though I have made them - see my recipe here. I had no idea what the crepes in the box were like, only that they said "Belgian style." Once I opened the box, knowing I had the ingredients for fillings whether these turned out to be sweet or savory style, I found them to be a little sweet, so that left out a savory filling. They were also rather dark in color, compared to any crepes I had made or eaten in past. Until we sat down to have them as dessert, I had reserved any possible judgement on them, but oh my, were they ever tasty! I commented to my husband that they might just have buckwheat in them, as I am pretty familiar with that flavor. I use buckwheat flour in pancakes, breads, scones and anywhere I can find use for it. So, I checked the ingredient list on the package. 

Lo and behold, not only buckwheat flour, but also rye flour and "maize starch," (I am assuming might mean cornstarch, but I am not certain) in addition to "wheat flour." These crepes are made in Belgium. I am not at all sure that the ingredient list shows things in order of how much of any one thing is in them, as is the usual for in the U.S. The ingredients listed "water, wheat flour, sugar, vegetable oil, eggs, buckwheat flour, rye flour, maize starch, soy flour, dextrose, salt, natural flavoring, natural vanilla extract." 

Second Try at Buckwheat and Rye Crepes

I felt that I might just be able to duplicate these crepes, at least to my own standards of taste. As usual, I went online and checked out recipes for "Belgian crepes with buckwheat flour." I had no idea what I was getting into!

Turns out that in parts of France, and Belgium, buckwheat crepes are a real "thing." Two ingredients: buckwheat and water. Period, end of story. Eaten as a savory crepe and often folded around a food as with a galette or rustic pie, these are apparently very well known and loved - as well as devilishly tricky to make!

Okay, this was so NOT what I was looking for. Yet any search that involved the word buckwheat along with crepes yielded only this sort of crepe. If I skipped the word buckwheat in the search for "Belgian Crepes," I got plain white flour crepes. Okay, so back to my drawing board.

My Version of These Crepes

Second Try at Buckwheat and Rye Crepes

I opted to take my old tried and true recipe for crepes and just play with the flour amounts. In essence, the ingredient list on the box of Belgian Boy crepes listed all the normal things in my crepes: flour, liquid, fat, eggs. All I had to do was change the flours out a bit, add vanilla, use oil rather than butter. My first attempt at these was day before yesterday. They came out splendidly, if I do say so myself. The flavor was exceedingly close to what the boxed crepes tasted like, though I felt that a little more buckwheat was called for. To that end, I remade the recipe yesterday morning, using more buckwheat and less white flour. Other than that, the identical recipe. They already tasted great; this was just my own finickiness at work. 

The results were not hugely noticeable. Still, I could tell a difference, and so my second attempt remains my preferred recipe. If you happen to be able to get hands on buckwheat and rye flours, do give these crepes a try. I made a dulce de leche and cream cheese mixture to put inside them, and this was also amazing.

Buckwheat and Rye Crepes

Makes 7 to 8 Crepes, about 10-inches in diameter

Early in the day, combine together in a bowl the three kinds of flour, sugar and salt. Stir or whisk to dry ingredients to evenly distribute the ingredients. In a measuring cup, combine the water, eggs, oil and vanilla extract. Whisk well and pour all at once into the dry ingredients. Using a whisk, briskly combine the ingredients until the mixture is smooth. No need to overwork the batter. Mix only until smooth. Cover the container and refrigerate at least 3 hours or overnight before proceeding.

Heat a non-stick skillet with a 10-inch diameter base over medium heat until very hot. Put a small amount of neutral oil in a small bowl and use a pastry brush to very lightly coat the surface of the pan. Pour in at least a one-third-cup portion of batter, then quickly lift and rotate the skillet to let the batter reach the edges of the bottom of the pan. You are looking for a 10-inch crepe, made slightly thicker than usual crepes. Once back on heat, watch as for pancakes: there will be small bubbles form, the wet, shiny surface will become dry looking and the edges will begin to turn golden brown and lift slightly away from the pan. This should take about 2½ minutes. Lift an edge with a spatula, and once the bottom is golden, flip the crepe and cook this side for about 1 to 1½ minutes. Remove the crepe to waxed paper and begin again, with lightly brushing the pan with oil. As each crepe is done, set a new piece pf waxed paper atop the first, set the next crepe on top and repeat with each. Keep watch on the heat of the pan. If the crepes begin to get done too quickly and look like there are dark brown spots, lower the heat to medium low. This seems to happen by the end of the second crepe.

Process of cooking crepes

If not using right away, refrigerate the crepes. They can be rewarmed briefly in the pan before using, if needed. 

Dulce de Leche Filling or Dip

Makes 1¼ cup

8 ounces cream cheese
4 tablespoons dulce de leche
2 small pinches of Kosher salt

Place the ingredients into a bowl and stir until smooth or use a hand mixer to mix until smooth. Use a tablespoon or two per crepe, spreading over the surface of the crepe, then roll or fold the crepe to serve, dusted with confectioner's sugar.


My passion is teaching people how to create a harmony of flavors with their cooking, and passing along my love and joy of food, both simple or exotic, plain or fancy. I continue my journey in ethnic and domestic cuisines, continuing my journey to explore diverse culinary experiences and hopefully to start you on a journey of your own. Join me also at A Harmony of Flavors on Facebook, and Pinterest.

Unbelievably Easy Ice Cream

By now, I am pretty sure most people have at least heard of No-Churn Ice Cream. My understanding is that it was invented by British chef Nigella Lawson, but I could be wrong on that. All I can say is, whoever invented it, it is pure genius. I'm embarrassed to say it took me nearly 2 years to get around to trying it out.
 

Salted Dulce de Leche No-Churn Ice Cream (served over Best Peach Crisp Ever)

My idea came about when my sister-in-law was having her house moved. Yes, they moved her house to a new lot! I'd never heard of such a thing until I came up to South Dakota, and as a matter of fact, the same house had been moved once before! But back to my sister-in-law... She had a couple of cans of sweetened condensed milk that were a couple of months past their expiration date. Since the cans were not puffed or distended, I said, "How about making Dulce de Leche?" This question got a resounding YES! And then, I got thinking about what I could make with it.  

Dulce de Leche Turtle Cheesecake

I have a most amazing cheesecake recipe, called Dulce de Leche Turtle Cheesecake. I made it when I first tried out making dulce de leche of my own, back in 2013. It was so good I nearly cried! And, while I could certainly have made that cheesecake again with complaints from no one, I thought about it some more and got wondering about ice cream. And in particular, that "no-churn" kind I had read about, so simple, yet never tried. 

Since the recipe, such as it is, calls for a base mix of one 14-ounce can of sweetened condensed milk and 2 cups of whipping cream, whipped . . . I wondered if it could possibly make any difference if the sweetened condensed milk was substituted with a can of sweetened condensed milk that was first turned into dulce de leche? I wanted to try it out. 

Also, since I am a huge fan of Talenti brand's Salted Caramel Gelato, I planned to make this ice cream salted. Not too salted, as my sister-in-law does not like to actually taste salt in her sweets, but just enough to make it interesting. 

Making Dulce de Leche

Dulce de Leche

If you haven't made dulce de leche before, it is simplicity itself. I make it in my slow cooker on low. First, remove labels from one or two cans of sweetened condensed milk. Lay them on their sides in a slow cooker and cover with water. Turn on low and leave it for 8 to 9 hours. Eight hours yields a slightly lighter caramel and nine hours a slightly darker caramel. This process can be started before going to bed, allowing it to slowly cook into amazing caramel-ly goodness overnight, or start it early in the morning, to be done by dinner. Either way, once the time is up, turn off the slow cooker, but leave the cans in the water to cool completely. Once cooled, write on the cans with an indelible pen the date and what is in the can(s). Voila. 

While there are other ways to accomplish this process, this method allows the dulce de leche, still sealed in its can, to be stored for a bit longer, until needed for your recipe, without pressure to have to use it up right away.  

The Salted Dulce de Leche No-Churn Ice Cream I made was just superb. 

Salted Dulce de Leche No-Churn Ice Cream

Makes one 9 x 5-inch pan worth

Salted Dulce de Leche No-Churn Ice Cream

1 can dulce de leche (above), cooled
2 teaspoons caramel flavor, or vanilla extract
1½ teaspoons Kosher salt
2 cups heavy whipping cream, whipped

Pour the dulce de leche into a large bowl. Add in the caramel flavoring or vanilla extract and the salt and stir in. In a separate bowl, beat the whipping cream until just stiff. Fold the whipped cream into the dulce de leche until completely blended with no streaks remaining. Pour into a 9 x 5-inch loaf pan and set in the freezer to chill for at least 5 hours. If adding any flavoring pieces, such as chocolate or caramel chips or other add-ins, do this after two hours. The ice cream will have started setting but still be soft enough to fold.

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Once I tasted this ice cream, all sorts of possibilities came to mind. Mint Chocolate Chip has traditionally been my favorite ice cream (until I discovered the Talenti Salted Caramel Gelato), so for sure that will be one I must try. Our friend Rich, who loves all things chocolate, would be one to try out chocolate no-churn ice cream for. I love coffee flavor also, so that will be another I want to try, but not while my sister-in-law is in residence, as she does not drink coffee or eat anything coffee flavored.  So I have a list of ideas for future flavors of this amazingly creamy ice cream. The fact that it is so easy to make makes it doubly (or triply) dangerous 😀.


My passion is teaching people how to create a harmony of flavors with their cooking, and passing along my love and joy of food, both simple or exotic, plain or fancy. I continue my journey in ethnic and domestic cuisines, continuing my journey to explore diverse culinary experiences and hopefully to start you on a journey of your own. Join me also at A Harmony of Flavors on Facebook, and Pinterest.

Dulce de Leche Turtle Cheesecake

I wrote a couple of days back about my inspiration for making a Dulce de Leche Turtle Cheesecake. I made the cheesecake part then, and finished the toppings to serve it for our New Year's Day dinner last evening. It certainly delivered on every wish and hope I had. And - it is completely Gluten-Free! My sister-in-law suggested that this cheesecake might also be really good with a shortbread type crust, and I agree.

My goals while making this cheesecake were:

1. that it not be too cloyingly sweet
2. to use coarse salt, making it a "salted caramel" style
3. that the cheesecake part be smooth and creamy

After tasting the finished cheesecake last evening, I believe I accomplished all of those goals. The filling was dreamy-smooth. It was not too overly sweet. The salt balanced perfectly. Even a tiny amount more would have been too much salt, but it worked perfectly just as it was made. 

My Dulce de Leche Turtle Cheesecake, finished

There are a couple of things that might have been better - not about the flavor, because that was, to me, perfect and just what I was looking for. The toppings were my sticking point. The flavors were great, so no problem there. My initial thought had been to use broken pecans, strewn over the top of the cake. However, I went back and forth, even discussing with my sister-in-law, about whether to leave the pecans on top whole, or broken. I selected whole pecans to toast, just in case I decided on decorating the top in a symmetrical manner. I ended up using whole pecans in a beautiful pattern, but in retrospect, broken pecans might have been the better choice. The reason? Trying to eat the cheesecake required trying to cut a bite around a whole pecan, making either a really large bite, or eating around it and then deciding on the pecan. Not a huge problem; not insurmountable, but still... 

The other thing that could have been better is the melted chocolate over the top. I used good-quality chocolate chips and placed them into a piping bag. I set the piping bag with the top edges turned down over a tall water glass to support the bag. I just stuck the bag with the glass into the microwave to melt the chocolate with short 20-second intervals. Initially, I was going to melt the chocolate with butter or oil, to soften it and then put it into a bag. Later I decided to just melt the chocolate alone. Once the chocolate was zig-zagged over the cheesecake and chilled, trying to cut through the hardened chocolate drizzle was almost impossible without destroying the slice entirely. I used the knife to rap sharply against the hardened chocolate drizzle to try and make a place to cut a slice. The slice still was not clean. In retrospect, I believe adding a tablespoon of cooking oil to the chocolate while melting would give a softer final result.

All in all, not huge problems, and the taste results were spectacular, so here is my recipe:

Dulce de Leche Turtle Cheesecake

Makes one 9-inch cheesecake

Dulce de Leche Turtle Cheesecake, sliced

PECAN CRUST
1¼ cup pecans
2 tablespoons + 1 teaspoon sugar
¼ teaspoon vanilla extract
2½ tablespoons softened unsalted butter
½ teaspoon coarse salt (Fleur de Sel)
¾ cup dark chocolate chips

FILLING
3 (8-ounce) blocks cream cheese, softened
14 ounces dulce de leche; reserve ¼ cup aside for topping
½ cup brown sugar
2 tablespoons cornstarch
½ cup sour cream
½ vanilla bean, split and scraped
½ teaspoon coarse salt
4 eggs

TOPPINGS
1½ cup broken pecans
¼ cup reserved dulce de leche
½ cup semi-sweet or bittersweet chocolate

Make Crust: Preheat oven to 375 degrees (350 on Convection). Combine the pecans, sugar and vanilla extract in the bowl of a food processor; process until the pecans are coarsely chopped. Add the butter and process until the nuts are finely chopped. Press the mixture into the bottom and 1 to 1½ inches up the sides of a 9-inch springform pan. Bake the crust for about 12 to 15 minutes or until very fragrant. As soon as the crust comes from the oven, sprinkle in the half teaspoon coarse salt and then the chocolate chips. Set aside while preparing the filling. The chocolate chips will become soft. With a spatula, spread the melted chips evenly over the crust. Allow to cool thoroughly. Reduce oven to 300 degrees (275 on Convection).

Make Filling: In a mixer bowl, first beat the cream cheese until smooth, then add in the dulce de leche, brown sugar, cornstarch, sour cream, vanilla and salt. Mix well on low speed until well blended. Whisk the eggs together in a separate bowl, then add them, mixing gently until just incorporated; do not over beat at this point. Pour filling over the chocolate in the cooled crust.

Cut a large piece of aluminum foil and set the springform pan in the center. Wrap the foil up the sides of the pan, encasing it completely. Prepare a roasting type pan large enough to accommodate the springform, filling with hot water to about 1-inch up the sides of the pan. Set the larger pan of water in the oven. Set the foil-wrapped springform pan into the larger pan in the oven. Bake the cheesecake for about 1 hour or until just jiggly in the center. Remove from oven and cool completely on a rack. Refrigerate the cheesecake, covered for at least 3 hours or up to 3 days, before topping and serving.

Toppings: Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Place broken pecans on a dry baking sheet and toast for about 10 minutes. Cool the nuts before using. This can be done well ahead and the nuts stored in a sealed container until needed. The nuts may be left whole, to make a lovely pattern on top of the cheesecake, or broken to scatter over the cake.

Melt the chocolate in the microwave, carefully, in 20-second increments, checking each time, until soft. Pour into a piping bag or a sturdy zip-top bag. Set aside.

Finish the cake: Gently reheat the reserved dulce de leche for just a few seconds in the microwave. Scatter broken pecans over the top of the completely cooled cheesecake, or arrange whole nuts in a pattern. Snip a very small hole in the piping bag or zip top bag with the dulce de leche and drizzle a zigzag in one direction over the top of the nuts. Snit a small hole in the piping bag or zip top bag with the melted chocolate and drizzle the chocolate in a zigzag pattern in the opposite direction across the dulce de leche. Keep chilled until serving.

Bon apettit!

 


My passion is teaching people how to create a harmony of flavors with their cooking, and passing along my love and joy of food, both simple or exotic, plain or fancy. I continue my journey in ethnic and domestic cuisines, trying new things weekly. I would love to hear from you, to help me continue my journey to explore diverse culinary experiences and hopefully to start you on a journey of your own. Join me also at A Harmony of Flavors on Facebook, and Pinterest.  

Hummus and Cheesecake

Hummus and Cheesecake don't sound all that good when placed together like that, but it happens to be what I was working on today. 

Separately. 

Dulce de Leche

The cheesecake is an idea I have had for more than a month, but with all the holiday baking and other holiday foods, there just wasn't time to get to this - or even any desire to have yet another sweet around the house. While I still don't need another sweet around the house, I did want to make this and see how it comes out, so it is being created for our New Year's Day Feast.

It all started with making dulce de leche, back that month-and-more ago. I had seen so very many ways to make it with sweetened condensed milk, and wanted to try at least one. The safest way, in my mind was in the crock pot, since once it is made, it does not have to be opened right away, which is a really good thing. So, I took the labels off of two cans of sweetened condensed milk and set them in my crock pot, covered with water. I put the lid on and waited until I was ready for bed and turned on the crock pot to Low. I had read that 8 hours in the crock pot gives a lighter colored dulce de leche and 9 hours gives a darker result. I left it in for 8½ hours, splitting the difference.

In case you are unfamiliar with dulce de leche, it just means (in Spanish) "a sweet made from milk". The Spanish culture, along with others like Indian seem to use milk for a lot of their sweet treats. When I lived in Guatemala there were at least 3 or more different "typical" candies made with milk, and I loved them all. I am not completely positive, but I believe that dulce de leche is from Spain originally, but it took off and has become known most everywhere now. The husband of my best friend in Guatemala was from northern Spain, and she made him this treat regularly; unopened cans in the pressure cooker for 1 hour, which just gives me the willies, still.

Pecan Crust with melty chocolate chips

Anyway, I made my dulce de leche, allowed it to cool, then stored it in my pantry, until today. Wanting to get a jump on things, I set today as my cheesecake-making day. I had created a recipe - on paper only - of what I wanted to do. My idea was a "Turtle Cheesecake" but using the DdL instead of any other caramel. Pecans are a must for anything Turtle, as is chocolate and the caramel. I made the crust with pecans, sugar, vanilla and butter - so this cheesecake will be completely Gluten-Free. I baked the crust, then straight from the oven I tossed in 1/2 teaspoon of Fleur de Sel (coarse sea salt) and 3/4 cup of dark chocolate chips. As I proceeded with  making the filling for the cheesecake, the chocolate chips softened, and I spread the chocolate over the crust.

Just Baked Cheesecake

The filling is a mixture of cream cheese, DdL, sour cream, brown sugar, vanilla bean, coarse salt and eggs. The batter tasted heavenly and the cheesecake smelled fantastic during the baking process. So far so good. It looks perfect. I intend to top the cheesecake with toasted pecan halves, then drizzle with some reserved DdL and then some melted chocolate. 

Meanwhile, for Christmas Eve and for New Year's Eve I always make lots of little appetizers and snack things; no meal. One of the things I haven't made in a while is hummus, so I really wanted to make that. My husband loves hummus too, and we both prefer it with roasted red pepper in it. I made an addition of caramelized onion, because I  had already made some last week for another application. The caramelized onion is completely optional. In fact, I wouldn't really recommend it unless you already have some made (never a bad idea, but it takes the better part of an hour to make). This was the first time I made hummus with the caramelized onion, and it is excellent, but it was just fine without it, so you decide.

Making caramelized onion was something I did last week, figuring I would make plenty so I had leftovers. I thinly sliced and then rough-chopped 3 large onions. I heated a large skillet with some butter and added in the onions, along with a good pinch of salt and another good pinch of sugar. On medium low, I let the onions cook, stirring occasionally at first, then more often as the onions began to color. It took about 50 minutes before the onions were a beautiful deep caramel color - not burnt. My hummus recipe is as follows:

Red Pepper Hummus with Caramelized Onion

1 can (15 ounce) garbanzo beans / chickpeas, drained and rinsed well
1 small jar (4 ounces) red pepper / pimiento, drained

Red Pepper Hummus with Caramelized Onion

1 large onion, caramelized (about 3 tablespoons)
3 cloves garlic, minced
3 tablespoons tahini (sesame paste)
3 - 4 tablespoons lemon or lime juice
1/2 teaspoon salt, optional
a few grinds of pepper
1/2 cup good olive oil
Place all the ingredients except the olive oil into the bowl of a food processor and process until smooth, stopping to scrape down sides of bowl as needed. With the processor running, pour in the olive oil until it is all incorporated.

A trick I learned a long time ago from a friend; if raw onion or garlic do not agree with you, simply place them in a small bowl to soak for 10 minutes in vinegar. Drain and use for any application. I love garlic and onion, but not raw, so for this recipe I did soak the garlic in white vinegar while prepping the rest of the ingredients. It makes the whole thing far more easily digested and therefore enjoyable. Cheers!


My passion is teaching people how to create a harmony of flavors with their cooking, and passing along my love and joy of food, both simple or exotic, plain or fancy. I continue my journey in ethnic and domestic cuisines, continuing my journey to explore diverse culinary experiences and hopefully to start you on a journey of your own. Join me also at A Harmony of Flavors on Facebook, and Pinterest.