Merveilleux

They are deliciously delicate, light and crunchy, Merveilleux the French Belgian cream pastry consists of two meringue kisses sandwich and covered with cream and usually covered in grated chocolate.

Social media is an amazing forum where you can find a lot of inspiration. Back in 2015 I saw pictures of a wonderful little treat and I thought it was these Merveilleux, but I remember them a little different, and a little more detailed. Maybe I am confusing  the name with something else. I googled, but I could not find what I was looking for, my search though led me to this site Aux Merveilleux. After reading up on these over a hundred years old treat on different sites and blogs, I decided had to try to make these.

I made a very simple version, with unsweetened whipped cream,  grated chocolate and of course meringue. Why unsweetened, it is because I think the meringue already are way too sweet. I understand that you can make these with different flavour and toppings. So this is just a guide to how to make these.

You need:

meringue kisses
Whipped cream
Grated chocolate or topping of your choice
Make the meringue,  see recipe further down or you can buy ready-made ones
Grate the chocolate.
Whip the cream.

As you can see from my pictures I made the two different ways.

1. I piped the cream on  the meringue and then drizzled chocolate on top.

2. I used a spatula to cover the meringue.

Sandwich a dollop of cream between two pieces of meringue and then cover it with cream, lastly sprinkle with topping.

Meringue
2 egg whites, room tempered
125 g sugar

Preheat the oven to 150 C

Whisk the egg whites staring out on low speed allowing bubbles to shape, then increase to high and continuous whisking until soft peaks form.
Add the sugar to the egg whites one big spoonful at a time. Once all the sugar is added, continue to whisk for 5 – 7 minutes, or until all the sugar is dissolved. You should be able to rub the mixture between your fingers and not feel any grit from the sugar, and it forms a smooth shiny peak on the tip of your finger.

Line two baking sheets with parchment paper. Place a dab of meringue on the bottom corners the parchment, and press down so the paper sticks to the pan.

Spoon the meringue mixture into a large piping bag fitted with a wide round nozzle. Pipe the meringue mixture evenly to form meringue kisses, anywhere between 3-5 cm, depending on the size you want.

Put the trays in the oven and reduce  the oven temperature to 100°C

Bake for 1 – 1,5 hours until the meringue can easily be lifted off the parchment paper with their bases in tact. Let them  cool completely. You can  store the meringues in an airtight container, and they will keep for up to a couple of weeks.

Basic recipes for chia puddings

Another chia pudding post from me in just a short time, but what can I say I love chia seeds and use them quite often. This is why, chia seeds are mini powerbombs filled with more calcium than milk, more antioxidants than blueberries and more Omega-3 than Salmon, google it if you do not believe me 🙂

The texture of these pudding can be similar to a tapioca pudding, gelatinous. For some this can take a little getting used to and for other like me who are used to tapioca “dis is da bomb”. These seeds are so versatile and are a great protein-packed addition to many recipes because of their ability to thicken and gel. Best of all you can cook with them too.

Mango and strawberry yoghurt chia pudding

Chia seed pudding is a simple and delicious way to easily get the benefits of chia seeds. It takes minutes to prepare and fill  up on proteins and nutrients. Fill small mason jars, old baby food jars or even squeeze pouches to have on-the-go breakfast, snack or everyday dessert option.

There is no hocus pocus to make chia pudding. You need a gelling agent, a liquid of some kind, you need seeds and you need flavouring and maybe sweetener. You need a few minutes to prepare and then a little patiens, the seeds need a few hours to gel. The best thing is to make the pudding before you go to bed and enjoy it in the morning. If you do not want the little gelled pearls, you can blend the mixture in a blender.

Chiapudding made with almond milk, sweetened with agave syrup

Here are some basic recipes, and what you do with it is up to you.

Ingredients for milk based:

2 cups coconut milk (homemade or natural), soy milk, regular milk
1/2 cup Chia Seeds
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract or other flavouring
dessired amount of sweetener  natural or artificial.

Made with coconut and chocolatemilk from Alpro

Ratio forsmoothie based:

2 cups Smoothie
1/4 -1/2 cup Chia Seeds, depending on the thickness of your smoothie

Made with three different smoothies and topped with oatmeal yoghurt pudding

Ingredients for yoghurt based

2 cups yoghurt, plain or flavoured
1/4 cup Chia Seeds

If you are using plain yoghurt
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract or other flavouring
dessired amount of sweetener  natural or artificial.

Blueberry and strawberry yoghurt chia pudding topped with vanilla yoghurt overnight oats

Blueberry and strawberry yoghurt chia pudding topped with vanilla yoghurt overnight oats

Instructions

For Blended/Smooth Version:  Place all ingredients in blender and blend on high for 1-2 minutes until completely smooth.
For Whole Chia Seed Version:

Blend all ingredients except chia seeds in a blender until smooth (including any added flavors, fruits or chocolate). Whisk in chia seeds.
Pour mixture into a jar or glass container and place in the refrigerator for at least 4 hours or overnight to gel. I prefer to make this at the evening before I go to bed to have it ready for a fast breakfast the next day. It is also great to make in the morning for a delicious pre-made dessert after dinner.

Topp the pudding with desired fruit and toppings.

 

 

 

 

Chia chocolate pudding

Healthier snack bursting with omega 3. This chia pudding is made with coconut and chocolate milk from Alpro, topped with fresh strawberries, raw coca nibs and chopped almonds.

Chia pudding is so easy to make, you only need chia seeds, liquid, flavours, sweetener. You can basically make any flavour of pudding with this nutritious seed. Your fantasy is the limit, but bare in mind that you eat chia seeds because of the health benefits they give you, so do not go overboard with sugar and artificial flavours.

For this little snack you need:

2 cups Alpro coconut and chocolate milk or another prefered chocolate milk
10 tbsp Chia Seed
1/2 tsp vanilla extract or powder(ground wanilla pods)

Fresh strawberries
cocoa nibs
chopped almonds

Pour the chocolate milk into a bowl and whisk in chia seeds and vanilla. Put the bowl in the refrigerator for at least 4 hours or overnight to let gel. I usually prepare chia pudding in the evening before I go to bed for a quick breakfast the next day. It is also great to make in the morning for a delicious dessert in the evening.

Fill little dessert cups with the pudding and top with raw coco nibs, chopped strawberries and almonds.

Enjoy the snack free of guilt.

In the picture below the chia pudding is made with lemon flavoured soy yoghurt.

Persimmon, cinnamon and ginger drink, Sujeonggwa

 

When we ate korean bbq during the warmer months in South Korea we always got a small cup of icy cold drink at the end of the meal. Sujeonggwa 수정과 a sweet, lovely refreshing cold drink with the taste of cinnamon, ginger, a hint of persimmon and always topped with three pine nuts, they say it helps your digestive system.

Healthy treats and juices with a slow juicer

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I have been making a few healthy juices and frozen treats while testing a Panasonic Slow Juicer MJ-L500. This little wonder of a machine can prepare  juices and frozen treats from fruits and vegetables, while preserving valuable enzymes and nutrients.

MiniMe and I have been drinking immune boosters and body cleansers, plus making frozen treats this past week.

 

In the past I have been making nice cream in a blender and I have to confess that with a blender it is a bit inconvenient, you have to push down the frozen fruit all the time and the blades get stuck quite often. Another thing that is a minus with a blender is that it takes to long and the fruit melts.

This machine is fast working and grinds everything to a pulp in a blink of a moment. 500 g of frozen cut fruit and berries turns into a yummy treat in less than 2 minutes maybe 3.

We made two different nice creams, a vegan ice cream that is sugar free and lactose free. One with frozen pineapple, papaya and mango. The machine crushes everything so you make use of all the goodness in the fruit, no waist.

Norwegian coffee cream

I do not know if anyone has used this name before, but it is popular to give your dessert and dishes names, so I called this Norwegian creme. A delicious, sinful, rich and creamy chocolate ice cream flavored coffee and aquavit.

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This recipe is an ice cream recipe for dairy ice cream that does not crystallize. When flavouring ice cream bare in mind that the more moisture you use the greater the risk is that the ice cream crystallizes.

vanilla ice cream

1 egg
5 egg yolks
1 cup sugar
the seeds of one vanilla pod

Whip the ingredients to a fluffy mixture

500 ml heavy cream
0.5-1 cup sugar

whip together

Fold the two mixtures (and flavouring) together gently, pour in to an airtight container and freezer for at least 6 hours.

If you make this the morning, freeze and serve as dessert in the afternoon.

Norwegian creme

200 g melted dark chocolate
0.5 dl dark coffee/double shot espresso
0.5 dl aquavit.

Melt the chocolate over a double boiler add coffee and aquavit and stir. this should be like a thick sauce.
Fold the sauce into the ice cream mixture, pour in to an airtight container and freezer for at least 6 hours.

Coconut and ube ice cream sandwiches

One of my dads favorite deserts was Ube halaya, purple yam boiled, grated and mashed and cooked in condensed or coconut milk with butter until a thick paste. I haven’t been able to find any purple yams in my vicinity, but I found ube ice cream:)

I thought I could make ice cream sandwiches, but what kind of cake or cookie should I use, I wanted to use a typical Filipino cookie. After googling I decided to make something a little closer to home(Norway) and used a recipe for a cookie typical around Christmas time here, coconut macaroon.

16 cookies

4 egg whites
200 g sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
200 g desiccated coconut
Pinipig for decoration (Pinipig are immature grains of glutinous rice pounded until flat before being toasted)

Preheat oven to 180 ° C.
Whisk egg whites lightly together in a saucepan. Add sugar, vanilla extract and dedicated coconut.
Set the pan over medium heat and stir with a wooden spoon, make sure the mixture do not stick and burn. When the mass has the consistency of thick rice porridge is the complete, approximately 10 minutes.

I divided the dough into 16 equal parts and rolled them into balls, rolled the balls in pinipig then placed them on a baking paper lind tray and pressed them down a bit so they were 1 cm thick.
Bake them in the middle of oven for about 15 minutes or until golden. Cool on a rack.

Place a scoop of ice cream between to macaroons and enjoy:)

Haluhalo, a cooling dessert for the warm summer months

Refreshing iced dessert filled with a lot of yummy goodness. This is probably one of the most popular desserts in the Philippines

Haluhalo is a dessert with shaved Ice and milk  and most commonly used is sweet condensed milk. Other ingredients include boiled sweetened beans, sweetened palm fruit (kaong), coconut (macapuno), nata de coco, plantains sweetened with sugar, jackfruit , jello, tapioca,, sweet potato, cheese, pounded crushed young rice (pinipig). Most of the ingredients,fruits, beans, and other sweets are first placed inside the tall glass, followed by the shaved ice. This is then sprinkled with sugar and topped with either or a combination of leche flan, purple yam or ice cream, and right before serving you add the evaporated milk.

I on the other hand think that the combination of sugar and evaporated milk is too sweet, plus all the other sweetened ingredients, this dessert is a sugar bomb. My solution is to freeze a two liter carton of milk and shave the frozen milk.

I fill the glass with different treats, you can use what ever you want, sweetened or healthy.

I used some traditional ingredients this time except for the frozen milk.

Sweetened beans
Red colored kaong(palm fruit)
Coconut
Tapioca pearls
Leche flan(creme caramel)
Pinipig
Shaved frozen milk
Ube Ice cream

Rice porrige

One of the must haves during Christmas in Norway is Rice porridge and as tradition goes you hide a blanched almond in it. The person who gets the almond wins a price and the price is usually a marzipan pig.

A small portion for 4

4 dl water

2 dl porridge rice, sushi rice is nice for this purpose

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 l whole milk

1 tsp salt

Butter

sugar

Cinnamon

Boil the rice in water untill the rice is almost cooked and the water is evaporated, reduce the heat to medium and add milk little by little till it becomes thick in consistency. Add the vanilla extract and keep cooking on low heat stirring occasionally making sure the porridge wont burn, lastly add the salt.

Serve the porridge with a click of butter and sprinkle sugar and cinnamon on top.

Brazo de Mercedes with lime curd

 

This filipino velvety smooth meringue  rolled cake is named Mercedes arm and I guess this cake is named after a Mercedes whos skin was pale as snow.
Originally this cake is made with a vanilla custard made with condensed milk and eggs, but this is to sweet for my taste.
I guess could make a differen vanila custard and serve it with fresh berries so it will be sweet and tart.
As you can read from the title I made it with lime curd.

Lime curd

2 tbs shredded lime peel

10 tbs lime juice

3,5 oz butter

2/3 cup sugar

Heat this up in a pot on low heat  untill the sugar is disolved
3 egg

5 egg yolks
Beat the eggs and yolks lightly and ad to it to the sugar mixture, whisk while you do this to get a smooth curd. Heat the mixture on high heat and beating it all the time.
The curd is finnished when it thikens.

Meringue

5 egghvites

1/2 ts cream of tartar
beat this to the soft peak stage, then add

2/3 cups sugar

a little bit at the time one medium speed.
you do not want to over beat this meringue.
Line a baking tray with bakingpaper that you grease lightly.

pour the meringue on the sheet and spread it out to rectangle that is no more than 1/2 inch thik

Bake this on 300 F for about 20-25 minutes

Cover the meringue with a greased baking paper during baking to keep it white, if you do not mind some color you can drop this.

Let the cake cool and spread the lime curd on top before you role the cake.

In the picture below I served the cake plain and on top I served it with grated lime peel an chocolate, chopped nuts, vanilla sauce, gellie tops and mint.

original vanilla custard recipe
7 oz condensed milk
5 egg yolks
1 ts pure vanilla extract
beat the yolk lightly and combine all the ingrediense in a pan an heat up, stir all the time ,when the mixture thikens it is ready-