Canneles

Breakfast of champions?

Well, Nipponnin Is off in Hawaii helping with the grandkids. Not sure if you noticed any of my sense of jealousy in that bland statement. But it is there. Just a little. So, she gave me a recipe and instructions to make this and post it for all of you, her faithful readers. The wikipedia entry for this makes it sound less delicious than I think it is, but I guess beauty is in the eye (or taste) of the beholder and all… And it did give me permission to eat these for breakfast. It is one of my favorites. Besides, this gave me a good excuse to buy a pan. It needs to rest in the refrigerator for 24 – 48 hours so plan ahead.

Recipe and instructions (Print recipe here)

Equipment needed: Cannele molds

• 4-1/4 cups of milk
• 3 Tablespoons unsalted butter
• 5 extra-large egg yolks
• 1 extra-large egg
• 2-1/4 cups sugar
• 2 teaspoons vanilla
• 2 cups unbleached pastry flour
• Nonstick cooking spray

1. Bring 2-1/2 cups of the milk and the butter to a boil in a medium saucepan. Remove from heat and set aside to cool slightly.
   
2. In a large bowl, whisk together the egg yolks, the egg, sugar, vanilla and the remaining milk. Whisk in the flour.
   
   
   
3. In a steady stream add the milk mixture from step 1 – whisking to combine.
   
4. Pour the batter through a fine sieve into another bowl.
   
5. Cover and refrigerate for 24 to 48 hours.
   
6. Heat oven to 400 F. Spray molds with cooking spray and place in freezer for 20 minutes. Place molds about 1-1/2 inches apart on a baking sheet.
   
7. Remove batter from refrigerator and whisk gently. Fill each mold to 1/2 inch from the top. Bake until they slip easily from the mold and are evenly browned, 1-1/2 to 1-3/4 hours.
   

The figs loved the hot weather so we had more than we could eat. I made a few bottles of jam. Love it with fresh bread.

Nipponnin will be back in a couple of weeks. She is still posting her #todaystapas on Instagram, so please look her up there to see what she is up to.

Fig Framboise Tarte

いちじくのタルト

All of sudden, ‘POW’! The figs (desert king variety) from the tree in our back yard are ripe and ready, thanks to very warm weather…with the weight of loaded figs, some branches are bowing… Long live the King!
Oh yai yai! Why couldn’t they be ready a few at a time?  Given away to friends and neighbors but we still have plenty left…and some of them past prime and getting way too mushy.

I have copies of fig tart/cake recipes from fellow food bloggers and all are fabulous though, I decided to challenge the recipe from an old Today’s Cooking Magazine, just because of the raspberry sauce. Although it’s not difficult, this requires patience…it needs a lot of nap, I mean rest time. .

Ingredients and Instruction for one 9 inch tart pan (Print Recipe Here)

For crust – Or use your favorite recipe for biscuit base. My past recipe is here

• 35g Viscosity flour (薄力粉)
• 140g Bread flour (強力粉)
• 125g unsalted butter, cubed
• 1 egg yolk, mix with salt and milk from below in a small bowl
• 3/4 teaspoon of salt
• 40g milk

1. Put flours and cubed butter in a large bowl and keep in the freezer for at least 1 hour.
2. Put #1 mixture in a food processor and run until it looks like cornmeal. Add egg mixture and quickly combine until it just comes together. Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate to rest for 2-3 hours.

For Almond Cream

• 90g unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 70g granulated sugar
• A pinch of salt
• 1 egg beaten
• 90g almond flour

1. Put butter and sugar in large bowl and whisk well until color gets light and fluffy.
   
2. Add beaten egg at little at a time, whisk until smooth.
3. Add almond flour and combine well. Chill for about 1 hour in refrigerator.

Set biscuit batter in a tart pan – dust with flour on a clean flat surface. roll out the batter to one size larger than pan and fit in the pan (1/4 inch thick?). If the batter gets too soft, put back in the refrigerator for a few minutes. Roll the rolling pin on top of the pan to cut off the excess dough. Prick bottom with fork. Keep in the refrigerator until ready.

Assemble and Bake – Heat oven to 356 F. Slice figs, skin on (you need about 6-8 figs) in wedges. Put almond cream in a piping bag with 1/2 inch round tip (if the cream is too cold, whisk to make smooth first). Pipe out from center of tart (it is not necessary but I smoothed out with a rubber spatula). Arrange fig wedges on top of almond cream, place it on a large cooking sheet to prevent spillage. Put in the oven and bake for about 1 hour. When it’s done, place on cooling rack.

Raspberry sauce – 200g  of frozen raspberries or fresh raspberries and 100g granulated sugar in a food processer, run until pureed. Strain through mesh to remove seeds. Add 1 drop of food coloring to enhance color (optional).  Note: for short cut, I used seedless raspberry jam, thinned with little bit of warm water. Spread the raspberry sauce on top of cooled tart. decorate with skinned, wedged cut figs and mint leaves. Voila!Okey-dokey…What do I do with rest of figs?

From Today’s TAPAS Instgram posts (#todaystapas) – lemon cheese cakes for a friend who is not feeling well…

Stuffed Goya (the recipe featured in Orange Page magazine)….ground chicken, ginger and other seasoning… Uniquely bitter aftertaste I enjoyed.

It’s true! Delicious food makes you happy even for the time being!
Clap along if you feel like happiness is the truth!

Figgy!

Grilled Fresh Figs

Figs were ripe when we came back from the trip. They are overripe in fact…the weight of the fruits were too great so that the branches broke off. Where have you been? We were ready for you a week ago…

I figured out quickly what I should do with them. I called to my husband; ‘Honey, Turn-up the grill’ ‘ We need to smoke’em! I said figuratively.

Grilled fresh figs for ice cream (adapted from Fine Cooking magazine) (Print Recipe here)

Necessary equipment: barbeque grill

• Figs – 10 to12, the magazine recommended Black Mission Figs, we used Desert King, stemmed and halved lengthwise Note: we only grilled 6 figs.
• 1 Tablespoon olive oil
• 1-2 Tablespoons aged balsamic vinegar
• 2 Tablespoon granulated sugar
• 1 teaspoon chopped fresh thyme
• Vanilla ice cream
• 2-3 Tablespoons honey
• 4-5 mint leaves, thinly sliced (optional)

1. Heat up - a gas grill to medium low or prepare a low charcoal fire.
2. Brush - set the figs cut side down and brush the rounded side with oil. Flip and brush the cut side with the balsamic vinegar.
3. Mix - Sugar and chopped thyme in a small bowl. Sprinkle over the figs.
4. Grill - set figs on grill cut side facing up. Cover the grill and cook until the sugary tops start to bubble and the bottom of the figs get light grill marks. 5-8 minutes.
5. Serve immediately over scoops of ice cream, drizzled with honey and sprinkle with mint if using.

We’re blessed to be able to vacation in Hawaii. To see our two gorgeous grandkids then to visit fascinating Big Island, the money was well spent.

 
Akaka Fall has a nice trail.  Azuki special at Matsumoto Shave Ice
 

Sansei’s signature Apple Tart. Ships ahoy to snorkeling tour!

The sprawling, mega hotel has it’s own monorail inside of the hotel. From main lobby to our room was about 10 minutes by foot. By tram also takes 10 minutes, because our compound is 3 stops away.

Flavorful Acai bowl from Tropical Frozen Yogurt in Kona.   
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A petite French patisserie in Hilo with few selection of sweets. The store closes at 4 pm!, we managed to squeeze inside by 3:57pm.  

The Donkey Ball Chocolatier in Kainaliu, I like the silly name.
The original King Kamehameha statue in Hawi, my husband taking photos in heavy rain.

Historical Bamboo’s lilikoi cheese cake. Donkey crossing sign reminded us of the kangaroo crossing signs in Australia. 

See my nice tan?Hawi doing there?…it’s all rain, can’t see the black sand beach.The wooden poster hung in little café in Hawi gave me a chuckle!Sunset at Volcano National ParkA spectacular night view of volcanoI saw this sign in Hwy.19 on the way to Hilo.

I hope you’re enjoying the summer…Oh hi Chelsea! the next door neighbor’s cat was under my feet while we were grilling figs outside…missed me? Yeah?…me too.