Ave Maria: Fresh Strawberry Cheesecake Parfaits

It was cookbook club time again, and our selection was Mexican Made Easy by Marcela Valladolid. There were some very tasty-looking recipes in there, full of spice and heat! But I really wanted to make a dessert, so I focused on that chapter and selected something described as a trifle. It used things like sweetened condensed milk, evaporated milk, and fresh limes. Yum! Instead of something like pound cake, however, the recipe called for Maria cookies as the base, which are akin to tea biscuits and completely delightful. And the most wondrous things of all? After shopping for my ingredients, I actually FOLLOWED THE RECIPE to make the dish. Exactly. To the letter. Okay, I added a little splash of vanilla extract, but otherwise totally the same. And used some zest as well as the juice of the limes. BUT THAT WAS IT, I PROMISE. I layered and poured and layered again, and you know what? It was terrible! The flavors were excellent, but the consistency lacked...consistency.

It was like a baby had left their teething biscuits in all that milk and then you found this lime-zest-flecked montage-strosity the next day. I must have done something wrong, but I didn't have time to make anything else, so I suffered and brought my soupy mess to the meeting anyway. To everyone's credit, they dutifully tried it. Thankfully, there was a knockout dessert from another member, and all the other dishes were fantastic. But those Maria cookies haunted me. I knew they could be put to better use, and they had paired so well with the creamy milk and the sharp fruitiness of the lime. Heck, they were even delicious on their own! And I still yearned for a layered dessert, something to please the eye as well as the palate:

Fresh Strawberry Cheesecake Parfaits

Ingredients:
10 Maria cookies (or other plain tea biscuits), finely crushed (you should have about 1/2 cup crumbs)
2 Tablespoons butter
8 oz. cream cheese, room temperature
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3/4 lb. fresh strawberries, hulled and diced

Melt butter in a skillet over medium-low heat and add cookie crumbs. Stir to coat the crumbs with butter, then continue to toast the crumbs for another 3-5 minutes, stirring occasionally, until fragrant. Let cool completely.

In a small bowl, thoroughly combine cream cheese, sugar and vanilla extract until smooth. Using four glass dishes/containers/wine glasses (about a cup in capacity), place a quarter of the cooled crumbs in each. Carefully add a fourth of the cheese mixture to each dish, and spread slowly to cover the crumbs. Finally, add a fourth of the strawberries and serve!

Notes: The parfaits can be made 2-4 hours in advance and stored, covered, in the fridge until ready to serve. Absolutely use any kind of berry, fruit, or a combination to your taste. Can't be bothered to layer? Just make a double or triple batch of the cheese mixture and serve in a bowl as a dessert dip with sliced fruit and Maria cookies on the side (the cookies are also available in chocolate in many stores). I haven't tested it, but I bet the cookies would make excellent s'mores—if you try it, let us know in the comments!

>o<

Easier Than Pie: Individual Pumpkin Custards

With the holidays fast approaching, we all need some go-to recipes that can be made quickly, store easily and, above all, taste wonderful. These little pumpkin custards meet all those demands, giving you a rich, not-to-sweet treat that can proudly be served after any meal—and they even make a great breakfast, too!

Individual Pumpkin Custards

Ingredients:
1 can (15 oz.) pumpkin puree
1/4 cup honey (or pure maple syrup)
2 large eggs, room temperature
1 cup (8 oz.) heavy cream
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 teaspoons ground ginger
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground cardamom
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves

Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Line a standard 12-cup muffin tin with parchment liners and set aside.

In a medium bowl, stir all ingredients together until smooth and creamy. Divide batter evenly among liners in prepared pan (they will be fairly full) and bake for about 25-30 minutes, or until set and no longer wobbly in the center. Let custards cool completely in the pan, then carefully lift out and refrigerate in an airtight container. These are best made at least one day ahead to allow the flavors to develop. They can be served with whipped cream, ice cream, or simply garnished with a few chopped, toasted pecans.

Notes: The custards will hold their shape once refrigerated overnight, while still retaining their smooth interior. If you have some oranges on hand, a teaspoon of grated zest would be heavenly folded into the batter before baking. Feel free to use any combination/amounts of spices that you like best or would typically use in your favorite pumpkin pie recipe. Be sure to share your variations in the comments!

>o<

Join the Club: White Chocolate Pudding

I'd heard of cookbook clubs before, but had never seen one in my area. It also never occurred to me to initiate one myself! But, as very good fortune would have it, my own local library started one recently, and I was thrilled. The first book on the list: the smitten kitchen cookbook. I signed up to bring a dessert, brought my copy home, and started reading.

Although I was certainly interested in Deb Perelman's personal story, and the reasons why she cooks and blogs, I confess I mostly had eyes for the recipes themselves. The book was nicely broken down into seven main sections, with other smaller sections offering tips, techniques, and suggestions. Each recipe was accompanied by a story of what prompted their creation, and all were mouth-watering while being extremely easy to follow. The book club meeting itself was incredibly festive and fun. There was a good cross-section of recipes represented, including a mixed beverage which definitely helped add to the holiday feel :-) Best of all, everything was delicious.

Although there had been several desserts that caught my eye, the one I kept returning to and finally decided to bring was the White Chocolate Pudding. But I was nervous—I'd never made pudding from scratch before, and couldn't remember ever having used white chocolate in the kitchen. I was also willfully adapting the recipe from the original (which I happily found out most of my fellow participants had done with their recipes as well). There were a few lumps in the end product, but it tasted just fine, and was much easier to make than I thought it would be. I was happy to learn a new technique, engage with like-minded home cooks, left feeling wonderfully full and very excited for our next meeting!

White Chocolate Pudding

Ingredients:
3 Tablespoons tapioca flour (also sold as tapioca starch)
1 Tablespoon granulated sugar (I used vanilla sugar)
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
2 1/4 cups whole milk
4 1/2 ounces white chocolate, broken into small pieces
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Whisk tapioca flour, sugar, salt and milk together in large, heat-proof bowl. Place in a pan over gently simmering water and cook for about 15-20 minutes, whisking to avoid lumps, until the mixture coats the back of a spoon. Add chocolate and whisk until melted and smooth, another 2-4 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in vanilla; let cool 5 minutes, then spoon into serving dishes. Cool to room temperature, then chill in the fridge for at least one hour before serving. Garnish with fresh fruit or other toppings, if desired.

Notes: As mentioned, this is adapted from the original recipe in the cookbook, which used cornstarch instead of tapioca flour for thickening. I also used a bit more vanilla in my version. The original had a quick blackberry curd as a topping; although the two contrasting layers were visually striking (and I'm sure would taste fabulous), I wanted to be able to isolate the flavor of just the pudding this first time around.

>o<