Raspberry Dacquoise

And one last Valentine's Day dessert for the month of Love: a Raspberry Dacquoise. I didn't even know what a dacquoise was until last month, when I read this recipe on Chocolate and Zucchini (still the food blog that I most faithfully read, although David Lebovitz's chocolate tempering post recently caused me to friend him on Facebook and become one of his 3000 friends, no joke). I'm not entirely sure that I do know what a dacquoise is even after having made one, but I'd like to think I made it successfully since I enjoyed eating it, as did my guests.

There seem to be many variations on the dacquoise riff, but here's how this one goes: you make a very thin cake of ground hazelnuts*, almonds, powdered sugar, and stiffly whipped egg whites. The cake gets cut out in the shape of a pastry mold** (another thing whose existence this recipe brought to my attention). You make a cream of whipped heavy cream, strained Greek yogurt, a tad of sugar, and a touch of vanilla, all thickened by gelatin. The cream gets spread into the pastry mold on top of the bottom layer of cake, and raspberries are lined inside the mold, around the edges and through the middle. Cream fills up the remaining mold space, leaving just enough room at the top for the top layer of cake. After some chilling time, you make some sort of stencil for the top, dust it with powdered sugar, and serve it to the rejoicing of your guests.

This is probably one of the most sophisticated and involved desserts I've ever made, and it was more than worth the purchase of the pastry mold and time required to make it. Now to find more dacquoise entremets to make, and more uses for the pastry mold!



*Whole Foods has ground hazelnuts, but they are $11.99 for 14 oz. I bought 16 oz. of whole hazelnuts at Trader Joe's and ground them myself in the food processor, and that 16 oz. was less than $5. I suggest you compare before buying!
**Sur La Table was the only store where I could find the pastry mold without going to a speciality or professional store. It was also called a square ring or mold, and at Sur La Table they were hung from the ceiling - I was lucky to find a salesperson who remembered they were there, after I had repeated the same description to them several times. Since I had never seen a mold in person, this was somewhat difficult! I recommend exploring your options online prior to purchasing, in order to expand the materials, shapes, and sizes available to you.

Valentine's Marshmallows: Cinnamon, Rose, and Peppermint

Before February ends, I need to share more Valentine's Day treats for the month of Love. I made cinnamon, rose, and peppermint flavored guimauve (marshmallows) for a Valentine's party; the cinnamon were coated in red sprinkles and dipped in dark chocolate, the rose were tinted pink and drizzled with white chocolate, and the peppermint were layered with purple sprinkles and dipped in dark chocolate. I left a few plain hearts for the hot chocolate, as you see here, and all were a hit.

The cinnamon marshmallows dipped in chocolate are my new favorite: lightly spicy and reminiscent of Mexican hot chocolate. So good!

Cinnamon marshmallows: flavor 1/2 marshmallow recipe with 4 tsp ground cinnamon dissolved in several tsp water.

Rose marshmallows: flavor 1/2 marshmallow recipe with 2 tsp rose water (for a light rose flavor)

Peppermint marshmallows: flavor 1/2 marshmallow recipe with 2-3 tsp peppermint extract (use 2 tsp if the marshmallows are not going to be dipped in chocolate; 3 tsp will stand up better to the chocolate, and the chocolate will take the sharp edge off the stronger peppermint)

Dessert Sushi: A Concept in Process

I have decided to share this work-in-progress with you. Of course, this food has been made and eaten already, but the concept is not finished in my mind.

I've been thinking about the idea of dessert sushi for months, ever since I discovered that I could cut out my marshmallows into shapes and build things with them. Since the marshmallow is so versatile, I thought that I could make dessert sushi in the manner of California rolls, with the marshmallow serving as the "rice" on the outside, and all sorts of nice things to fill it up: ganache, salted caramel, nuts, fruit, coconut - you get the idea. And why not dust the outside with nice things as well to replace the sesame seeds?

So here's how it went this time:


I made the marshmallow in a thin layer and let it sit for a day, having dusted the initially sticky top side with roasted nuts and chocolate shavings. The next day, I cut it into sections that I estimated would roll into the right size, and started laying down the fillings. Pictured above is a layer of ganache on the marshmallow, with dried raspberries (rehydrated a tad) down the middle.


I had been concerned that the individual rolls would not hold together, but the marshmallow amazed me: it not only stretched around the fillings, it also stuck to itself when pinched, as long as the edge did not get moistened by the filling.



Here are the rolls, ready to be cut: pistachio-dusted with white chocolate and diced dried apricots and bing cherries in the middle, walnut-dusted with ganache and crushed coconut cream candies, almond-dusted with caramel and almond slivers, chocolate-shaving-dusted with caramel and ganache, and chocolate-shaving-dusted with ganache and dried raspberries (Not Pictured: the ugliest but perhaps tastiest roll that was the unfortunate guinea pig: pecan-dusted with caramel, ganache, and pecans. I got ambitious and tried to stuff it way too full!).


Here is the messiness that resulted. The rolls being soft and the fillings being of different consistencies, they were difficult to cut evenly. The caramel layer was too thick in most of them, so next time I would make the caramel in a larger pan, or just roll slivers of caramel in the center of some. I would have loved to put toasted shredded coconut in some, but was unable to obtain some prior to making these.

I think it did work to dip the bottom of each cut piece into melted chocolate in order to keep the rolls together, and I am glad that I stuck them in the fridge in order to make them harden quickly and keep the ganache cool. They just had to sit at room temperature a little while before serving so that the caramel could become chewable rather than cooled stiff.



So many things to consider for next time! I definitely plan to scale back the rolls by making the fillings thinner and cutting the pieces smaller (and neater, hopefully). I look forward to serving them on beautiful sushi plates sometime, each roll topped with a fresh raspberry, toasted coconut, or mint leaves, but meanwhile, these tasted good. The scheming will continue until I am satisfied.

Nonfat Plain Frozen Yogurt at TJ's

My current favorite frozen dessert is a new item at Trader Joe's: Nonfat Plain Frozen Yogurt. As much as I want to avoid making my blog an advertisement for TJ's, I cannot deny that there is amazing stuff there...and that I need to make a pitch for this item before it disappears like a number of my other favorites (didn't anyone else like the frozen soba noodle entrée or the matcha green tea powder?).

If you're a fan of EuroTart/Pinkberry/Red Mango or other "pleasantly tart" frozen yogurts (the kinds with live active cultures in them), give this stuff a try. It's not soft-serve, but it's creamy and great with berries on top. Because it's low in fat and sugar, it's relatively low in calories, and can count as a serving of lowfat dairy. And they say those live active cultures are fabulous for your health, in some way or another. Really, I just like the way it tastes with strawberries. And straight from the carton.

So check your local Trader Joe's ice cream section! If it's too tart for you, at least you'll have TRIED a healthy dessert option, and you won't be able to blame me for only posting full-fat and sugar-laden goodies on my blog. And if this item lasts at TJ's, I may have to share my family mochi recipe, which is my other favorite yogurt topping.

Crustless Vegetable Quiche

I've been eating this quiche all week and still haven't gotten tired of it; I think it's become one of my favorite egg dishes that I've made thus far. I got the recipe off the back of a soy cheese package and adapted it to the contents of my fridge, resulting in a healthy breakfast dish with nice body and flavor. This is a quick mix-and-bake recipe that yields a lot of servings, so enjoy the simple preparation and plentiful outcome! Vegetarian-, lactose intolerant-, low-carb-, and high-protein-friendly.


Crustless Vegetable Quiche

12 eggs
3 C nonfat plain yogurt
12 oz. shredded soy cheese or lowfat cheddar/jack cheese mix
5 slices high-fiber sandwich bread, de-crusted and cubed (I like Orowheat Double Fiber)
1 onion, diced
3 C vegetables, prepared as for stir fry (I used several types of kale)
1 clove garlic, minced
1 T Italian seasoning mix (or any other seasoning mix you like)
sprinkling of red pepper flakes
salt and pepper to preference

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 9"x13" baking dish. Prepare the ingredients as listed. In a skillet on the stove top, pre-cook the onion and any tough vegetables (kale or other thick greens, etc. I would avoid broccoli in this vegetable mix, since it becomes overcooked and sulfuric quickly. Spinach, bell peppers, and mushrooms are examples of vegetables that do not need to be pre-cooked.).

Break all the eggs into a large mixing bowl and scramble them well. Stir in the yogurt, and then the remaining ingredients until thoroughly combined. Pour into baking dish and bake for 40-60 minutes. Dish is done when the center is set (not jiggly anymore) and top is starting to brown.

Experiment with different cheeses, vegetables, and seasoning (fresh herbs, anyone?) according to the season!

I've still got one more serving for my breakfast tomorrow...