Islands in the sky, food & travel

(Version française en cours...) Sometimes it's time for quick and simple no-bake desserts, ready on the go, and just perfect for gluten-free or cow's milk-free diets. And they make for a nice treat on dessert platters.  Here's the recipe for mini Eton mess verrines (I used soy yogurt) :  Ingredients : Mascarpone cream : 3 eggs yolks 1 cup confectioners sugar 240 g vegan mascarpone (you can also make your own : 500 g yogurt or soy yogurt, 20 g coconut oil, pinch of salt) 1 teaspoon vanilla or whisky Cake layer : A dozen gluten-free lady fingers  (Or you can make your own : 2 egg yolks, 3 egg whites, 90 g sugar, 120 gluten free flour blend, 1 tablespoon cornstarch, 2 tablespoons flaxseed melted in 1 tablespoon of water, 1 tsp baking powder.  Pipe on cookie sheet and bake in oven in 300° F (150° F) for 12-15 minutes. 2-1/2 cups fresh or frozen strawberries, cherries raspberries, blueberries, currants. Layer in a large deep glass terrine or pan : first lady fingers, then mascar

(Version française en cours...) Hi everyone!  Hope you had a nice holiday to date.  Exhausted much?  Don't you love this in-between festivities period, so we can rest and catch up a bit?  I didn't have time for posting recipes with running around all over the place, but here is a recipe for a delightful and surprising holiday dessert. Something “Fire and Ice” reminding me of a favorite series...   We made this as a family and it was great fun layering the meringue and firing things up.  A word of caution, the ice cream melts fast and the meringue can slide down, trust me, I know from experience (serious fail having us in hysterics). So leave the ice cream cups in the freezer and only take out when ready to start piping the meringue and serving. You must work fast on the meringue, you can put the cake and ice cream together and put back in freezer and then add gelatin and meringue and fire up only before serving. At the base is a white layer cake topped with ice cream (I chose t

(La version française va arriver...) Hello, everyone! Next in the well-known biopic series «What to do with egg whites,» here’s a tasty dacquoise that’s flourless and easy to make, and to make matters even more serious, chocolatey.  I added raspberries and apricots and a caramel mascarpone cream for a bit of drama.  Here’s what you’ll need : 4 egg whites  1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar 140 g powdered sugar 40 g almond flour 20 g unsweetened cocoa powder 40 g cornstarch Pinch of salt Preheat oven to 225° F (110° C). Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper. With a mixer, beat egg whites with cream of tartar until stiff. Add sugar and beat until glistening, you’ll feel resistance in its thickness. In a separate bowl, mix dry ingredients and fold into egg whites. Spread with spatula or knife over cookie sheet and bake 40 minutes + 15 minutes with heat off and oven door ajar.  Remove parchment paper and allow to cool on a wire rack.   For the caramel mascarpone cream: 3 caramel candies (or 2

(Traduction francaise demain, j'ai Netflix) This is a bit of a show-off dessert, but once in a while, you give in to the hype, amirite?! For the gluten-free pastry shell, click on my recipe "Pear and berry tart" (see table of contents), or use store-bought, or your favorite recipe. I used fruits I had on hand, but others that could work : lemon or lime curd, banana toffee, strawberry, pumpkin... Now for the meringue, it looks fancy but there's nothing easier and it's actually quite fun. This is my next recipe in the World Premiere Biopic Series « What to do with egg whites », so life changing !  The ingredients are for a small 7-8 inch pie, you know, for 3-4 people (or 1 very hungry lockdowned person), so double the quantity if you are baking a larger pie. I used equal quantities of egg whites and sugar, using my fancy kitchen scale, get one, they are amazing (actually a gift from my bank). I pulverized, sorry, I love that word, ground the caster sugar beforehand

(Traduction française plus bas) Hi everyone ! Can't get rid of me.  Don't know what to do with egg whites? You've come to  the right place.  I'll post a recipe a week with egg whites leading up to Christmas. A girl's gotta have goals. I usually have lots of egg whites and always feel wasteful just tossing them in the trash.  So I started freezing them, thanks to the advice of a chef friend.  They freeze just great.  When you're ready to use them, just leave on the kitchen counter 3-4 hours to defrost.  When they're at room temperature they're ready to whip.  Some of the cakes on this blog were done with frozen egg whites (dacquoise, chocolate pavlova roll, caprese, meringue...) Almond biscotti are so simple to make and always hit that particular craving : they're crunchy and tender at the same time, have that extra chewiness from ground almonds, that special flavor from the almond extract or Amaretto that always reminds me of Italy.  And once you mas

(En français plus bas) In the heart of winter, nothing warms the soul, and ultimately, the stomach like comfort food.  So many to chose from.  I'll post a recipe a week to while away these long months.  Crème brulée is a favorite but not everyone has a kitchen torch (or like to torch everything like I do and set the smoke alarm off). If you do like torching, see creme brulée recipe under "Sweets".   For a change of pace, custard creams are similar in texture and taste, here's the recipe for a salted caramel custard with something else crunchy on top, nuts. Ingredients :  120 g of sugar (du sucre) 1 tablespoon of water (1 c-à-s d'eau) 50 cl milk (du lait) 4 egg yolks (jaunes d'oeufs), keep the egg whites for cookies or cakes to come.... 1 teaspoon lemon juice (jus de citron) 1 teaspoon vanilla extract or 1/2 vanilla bean (1 c-à-c de extrait de vanille ou sucre vanillé ou la moitié d'une gousse de vanille) 30 g of salted butter (du beurre salé) 1/2 teaspoon

I don't think we had enough Thanksgiving desserts, what say you? Not funny. After all the marathon baking last week, I decided to whip up a quick no-bake and gluten-free dessert.  The pineapple mousse is also very easy to make and quite versatile.  I may try to layer it next time to make parfaits for Christmas... we'll see.  The mocha buttercream with no added sugar is also a keeper, so delicious, we were licking it off the spatula. But I digress, here's the recipe. Praline layer 150 g praline chocolate (or half semi-sweet half white chocolate) 2 teaspoons of milk or whipping cream 10 gavottes (5 packets of 2), (or 1/2 cup of gluten-free cornflakes) 2 teaspoons praline (caramelized nuts) Line a loaf pan with parchment paper. Melt the 2 chocolates with milk.  Once completely melted and creamy, fold in crushed gavottes or cornflakes. Add praline.  Add this first layer by crying Pineapple mousse:  3 sheets gelatin, softened in cold water 5-6 rings of pineapple, pureed in a mix