KITCHEN MISADVENTURE SERIES – Choco cream pie dessert

This recipe is from the cookbook that my kids gave to me as a gift last Christmas - Best desserts from Good Housekeeping. It's actually called Chocolate Cream Pie that requires minimal baking, a bit of cooking and just some bit of assembling...the only problem was that it required a bit of time to make that we failed to anticipate (well, it was my daughter who read the recipe so I was unable to see that some time was needed to allow the filling to set)

My daughter started to crush the choco wafer cookies while I started cooking our dinner Sunday night, the recipe said 12 packs with 2 wafer cookies per pack but we did not use all that she crushed so I guess ten would suffice. Then I melted 4 tbsps butter in the microwave and added 1 tbsp sugar to the crushed cookies which my daughter pressed to a 9-inch pie plate. This was then popped into the oven for ten minutes at 375°F and allowed to cool.

Then in a heavy saucepan, my daughter combined 3/4 c of sugar, 1/3 c cornstarch, 1/2 tsp salt and 3 3/4 c milk that she stirred continuously until smooth and free of lumps. The pan was then brought to the fire and cooked over medium heat still stirring constantly until the mixture has thickened considerably. Let boil for a minute. In a small bowl, lightly beat 5 egg yolks. Then add 1/2 c of the now hot milk mixture into the beaten egg yolks. Slowly pour the egg-milk mixture back into the saucepan, stirring rapidly to prevent curdling. Cook over low heat, stirring constantly until very thick.

Remove saucepan from heat and stir in melted chocolate (3oz unsweetened), 2 tbsp butter, and 2 tsp vanilla until butter melts and the mixture is smooth. Pour hot chocolate filling into cooled crust and press plastic wrap onto surface to prevent skin from forming. Refrigerate until filling is set, about 4 hours. Then with mixer at medium speed, beat 1 cup heavy cream until stiff peaks form. Spoon cream over choco filling and top with chocolate curls or shavings.

Truth to tell, it was my daughter who made most of this dessert herself, since as I said earlier, I was busy making our dinner. Our only problem came when we read that after pouring the choco cream mixture into the wafer crust, we had to wait for four hours while the filling sets inside the refrigerator... uh-oh so I guess our plans for dessert that night just went kaput! So the next day, it was my daughter who made the cream icing and added the chocolate shavings before we got home from the office...I guess she decided not to wait for me anymore and just did it herself. And the verdict – it tasted great! Kudos to my daughter for making this wonderful dessert all by herself!

NEW FAVE ICE CREAM

I made a surprising discovery today…during our January birthday kitakits, someone, I think it was Mike bought ice cream from S and R and when we got around to having our dessert…I was immediately transported to ice cream heaven! Why? Because the ice cream flavor he bought is just my ultimate…ultimate favorite flavor in chocolate – Andes choco mint. And to think that it had been quite some time, in fact, even years when I last was able to taste Andes choco mint, well, I have not been able to visit duty-free shops all that often but I have made some local substitutions in the form of Goya’s choco mint which I discovered, I think, about a year ago…but it still wasn’t the same…but this new choco mint flavored ice cream flavor from S and R is just THE BEST …I swear I just went to ice cream heaven! Now I wish there was an S and R branch near our place so I could go ahead and buy this ice cream whenever I want!

KITCHEN MISADVENTURE SERIES: Peach float

Okay…okay…I will not let these setbacks derail me from getting what I want to do – to make some delish dessert for the weekend! Well, I originally wanted to make some corn muffins but I could not find any cornmeal! So I opted to make choco muffins but this time, it's the baking chocolate bars that I couldn't find. Then, I wanted sana carrot cupcakes but when I got home, I found out that I am all out of cinnamon naman! Oh no...it seems that this may not be the moment yet for me to use my new muffin pans. But nonetheless I am adamant to make some dessert and so I settled for something easy to do - peach float. First, you crush some grahams and press it with melted butter onto a square baking pan. Then, you set this aside and let chill inside the refrigerator. Meantime, beat the chilled cream with condensed milk until it doubles. Spread onto the chilled layer of graham crust then top with more crushed graham crackers and then another layer of cream-condensed milk mixture. Lastly, place the float on top of the cream and let chill for a few hours. There should have been another layer of clear gelatin cooked in the peach halves syrup but my daughter doesn't like gelatin and so I omitted this last step. Next time, though, I would heed a friend's advice and cut the peaches into smaller slices instead of putting the heavy halves in the cream. But nonetheless the dessert was delicious and so easy to do! Will definitely do this again!

KITCHEN MISADVENTURE SERIES 12: Polvoron ala Lucy

Today, my daughter and I shared another bonding moment when we made polvoron using a recipe from Lucy Torres-Gomez which I read in an old newspaper entry( I just forgot when???) The recipe called for the following ingredients (which we were lucky to have on hand) – ½ c toasted flour, ½ c skimmed milk (in lieu of Birch Tree which I understand Lucy is endorsing), 2/3 c white sugar, ½ c unsalted butter.

My daughter just watched and asked a myriad of questions while I was toasting the flour, then she helped measure out the sugar and milk and in mixing in the butter. But what was truly fun for both of us was the molding and wrapping process – we used pretty red Japanese paper to wrap the 23 pieces we were able to make…well, some of them got eaten even before they got wrapped! Which is why our plans to sell sana our polvoron went pfft! The resulting polvoron was so good so we just decided to eat them all!!! Next time we vowed to double the ingredients and take note of the cost of the items we bought (well, because the flour and the sugar was already on hand, I couldn’t recall how much they cost!) so that even after we’ve had our fill of this very delectable dessert, we’d still have something left over to sell…