Recipe for Chia Seed Pudding

Okay, I'll admit it.  I was a little dubious about all the buzz around chia seeds.  I mean, in my day, we all had chia pets-those ceramic pigs, dogs etc that grew fuzzy when you watered them.  Remember?

But, I kept reading recipes with chia seeds and articles about the health benefits of chia seeds (fiber, protein, omega fatty acids).  Dr. Oz is talking about them and says they are one of the five supplements we all need to know about.   So one day when I saw a bag at Whole Foods, I impulsively threw it in the buggy.

So now what?  Well, the first thing I did was substitute chia seeds for flax seeds in one of my favorite bread recipes.  It turned out great.   Couldn't say that the taste was any different but the chia seeds were more visible than the flax seeds and made a nice looking loaf.

Here's a website with some info on chia seeds as well as recipes.  I took one of their pudding recipes and simplified it and was surprised how good it was!  Sort of like tapioca pudding, but better to me (Mr. ELEB would disagree, he LOVES tapioca pudding).


Yield: 3 servings
Time: 5 minutes (plus overnight-mine went about 18 hours)


Ingredients:
1/3 cup chia seeds
1 cup light vanilla soy milk
1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract


Optional for serving:
Finely chopped nuts
Dried fruits
Dollop of fat free whipped cream (or the real thing)


Method:
Mix seeds, milk, and vanilla together.
Chill overnight in the fridge.
Serve with optional ingredients as desired.


Pretty easy and has a good taste and texture.  The calorie count, if you count, is about 150 per serving before any optional stuff, so not too bad and good quality calories at that.

Just mixed

After overnight in fridge

Served

So, I'll be looking to try more recipes with chia seeds.  Have you made anything with them?

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Recipe for Armenian Nutmeg Cake-Daring Bakers

Oh boy.  This is an Armenian version of a coffee cake, but not quite as sweet.  It is however, wonderfully delicious!  The original recipe called for nutmeg, which I used, but I also added some cardamom which just gave it the most amazing flavor.  

The Daring Bakers’ April 2012 challenge, hosted by Jason at Daily Candor, were two Armenian standards: nazook and nutmeg cake. Nazook is a layered yeasted dough pastry with a sweet filling, and nutmeg cake is a fragrant, nutty coffee-style cake.  I chose to make the nutmeg cake for this month's challenge, but have the nazook recipe tucked away for later.

Yield: 16 servings

Time: 50 minutes

Ingredients:

• 1 cup 2% milk
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 2 cups cake flour (280 grams)
• 2 tsp single acting baking powder (aluminum free)
• 1 ½ cups light brown sugar (350 grams)
• 1 ¼ sticks unsalted butter(150 grams)
• ½ cup finely chopped walnuts
• 1 tsp freshly ground nutmeg
• 1 tsp ground cardamom
• 1 egg white

 Method:

• Preheat oven to 350. 
• Mix baking soda in to the milk and set aside.
• Put flour, baking powder, brown sugar in food processor and pulse until mixed.
• Add in the butter and pulse until a tan crumb forms.
• Pour half the crumb into a spring form pan (Mine was 10 inches, 9 inches would make a thicker cake but all I have is 10”).  Press to form a crust on the bottom of the pan.
• Add the egg white, milk and baking soda mixture, and spices to food processor, and mix until a thin, slightly lumpy batter is formed.
• Pour batter over crust and gently sprinkle with walnuts.
• Bake for 30-40 minutes.
• Cool in pan, then remove and serve.

Some of my fellow participants reported problems with the batter not firming up or with the nuts migrating down in to the cake.  I made sure to use finely chopped nuts and gently sprinkled them on the top.  Not sure if the fact that I used a larger spring form pan (10 inches versus the 9 inches called for) made a difference, but my cake was cooked in the allotted time.

This was super easy to make and we really enjoyed it both as a breakfast treat and as dessert (Mr. ELEB had it with whipped cream, of course!).

See cakes from other Daring Bakers here.

Printable recipe


Other Daring Baker's Challenges I've participated in:

• Dutch Crunch
• Oatmeal Raisin Whole Wheat Quick Bread
• Simple Biscuits
• Sans Rival Cake

Recipe for Banana Bread in a Mug

I've seen, and mostly ignored, all the recipes on line for cakes cooked in a mug in the microwave.  We just don't eat dessert much (other than the requisite square of dark chocolate after dinner).  However, when I saw this recipe for banana bread done in a mug on Kita's blog, Pass the Sushi, I book marked it for the inevitable time when I had some sketchy looking (brown spotted) bananas on the counter.  

Well, that time came pretty soon after, so I whipped this up and was pleasantly surprised how good it was.  I changed things up from the original recipe (whole wheat flour, stevia, egg whites, cinnamon, walnuts)  but followed the general premise.  Both taste and texture were about as good as most banana bread I've had cooked conventionally.  Who knew?   


This would be a fun kitchen activity with kids (supervised of course).  The beauty in this is portion control.  This made a generous serving...Mr. ELEB and I ate some one day, both with some whipped cream as you see and also spread with butter (our favorite), and there was still some left for him to have the following day.  But then it was gone...no loaf of banana bread calling out "Susie, come have a bite".  Maybe I need to think of the whole "cake in a mug" idea with more of an open mind! Thanks for the inspiration, Kita.


Yield: about 3 servings
Time: 5 minutes


Ingredients:

• Cooking spray
• 3 TBSP whole wheat pastry flour
• 2 TBSP Stevia in the Raw
• pinch of salt (because of the Stevia use less than 1/8 tsp)
• 1/8 tsp baking powder (because of the Stevia, make it a generous 1/8 tsp)
• 1/8 tsp baking soday (because of the Stevia, make it a generous 1/8 tsp)
• 4 TBSP liquid egg whites
• 1/4 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 TBSP canola oil
• 1 TBSP low fat milk
• 1 (very) ripe banana, mashed
• 1/8 tsp cinnamon
• 1 TBSP finely chopped walnuts
• Optional: whipped cream or butter for serving

Method:

• Spray a microwave safe mug with cooking spray (make sure it is a large mug; double the size of ingredients before cooking).
• Add all ingredients to mug and whisk together.
• Cook on high in microwave for 3 minutes.
• Carefully remove from microwave and let cool for 5 minutes.
• Turn out on to a plate and serve with a sprinkle of cinnamon and nuts, with a dollop of whipped cream or butter as desired.

Have you tried any cake in a mug recipes?  What did you think?

Printable recipe

Recipe for Oatmeal Raisin Whole Wheat Quick Bread-Daring Bakers Challenge

I used to be a chocolate chip kinda girl, now more an oatmeal raisin one.  Don't get me wrong, I love chocolate but when reaching for a cookie, I'm more likely to go for the oatmeal raisin one.  Well, the truth is I'm happiest when I can have an oatmeal chocolate chip cookie!  I don't know why oatmeal raisin cookies were on my mind when I came up with this recipe for February's Daring Baker's Challenge.  I'm glad they were though, because this Oatmeal Raisin Whole Wheat Quick Bread is terrific.  


The Daring Bakers’ February 2012 host was – Lis! Lis stepped in last minute and challenged us to create a quick bread we could call our own. She supplied us with a base recipe and shared some recipes she loves from various websites and encouraged us to build upon them and create new flavor profiles.


The challenge instructions were quite good and very helpful in putting this together.  Here are some of the great tips Lis gave us:


Quick breads can be created by the following methods:

• Muffin (or the two-bowl) method – The dry and wet ingredients are kept separate and then are combined quickly and gingerly by adding the wet to the dry, and folding the two together with only a few strokes. The idea is to not over-mix, basically moistening the ingredients and leaving the batter slightly lumpy, with wisps of flour showing (even small lumps are fine) so as not to overdevelop the gluten in the flour which will keep the bread tender. An over mixed batter creates tough and rubbery muffins/quick breads. Since over-mixing will cause "tunnels" – holes where the air bubbles can escape – which will make the quick bread tough.
• Creaming method – The butter and sugar are beaten and creamed together until smooth and fluffy. Next, the egg and liquid flavoring are added to the butter and sugar mixture. The dry ingredients and other liquids are folded in last. This method is best when baking cakes since a lot of air pockets are added into the mixture. Folding in the ingredients creates even more air pockets to keep the cakes light and fluffy.
• Cutting in method – The chilled fat is cut into the flour. The fat results in a flaky texture since the fat melts while in the oven. This method is best used when baking biscuits, scones or pie crusts.
• Depending on the recipe and the type of quick bread, there are also three different types of batter:

• Pour Batter: This type of batter has a dry:liquid ratio of 1:1. Because there is so much liquid in this type of batter, the result is very moist and dense.
• Drop Batter: This batter has a dry:liquid ratio of 3:1. This batter will result in a moist but fluffy baked good.
• Stiff Dough: This batter has a dry:liquid ratio of 7:1 This batter will result in a very light and fluffy baked good.
• Lower gluten flours are best to make quick breads you can replace 4 tablespoons in each cup of all-purpose flour with cake flour in most recipes or replace 2 tablespoons in each cup of all-purpose flour with corn flour (cornstarch) if you wish to lower the gluten levels of your flour.
• Flour should be sifted to aerate it which gives more rise therefore a lighter crumb to the final baked goods.
• Add fruit, nuts, etc. after lightly combining the wet and dry ingredients. Then give the batter one more light-handed stir and you're done. Is the batter still thick and lumpy? That's exactly what you want.

With all that good information and some sample recipes to look at, I was ready to go.  I wanted a moist but fluffy quick bread so I used the muffin (two-bowl) method, sifted my dry ingredients and approximated a 3:1 dry to liquid ratio with my ingredients (a little more of the wet ingredients because I assumed the oats would soak up a fair amount).

Yield: 1 loaf (9x5 pan)

Time: 60 minutes

Ingredients:

• ¾ cup whole wheat flour
• ¾ cup cake flour
• 1 ½ cups old fashioned oats (uncooked)
• ¼ cup sugar (plus more to sprinkle on top-optional)
• ½ tsp salt
• 2 tsp baking powder
• ½ tsp baking soda
• 2 TBSP cinnamon
• 2 eggs
• ¾ cup 2% milk
• ¾ cup plain non-fat Greek yogurt
• ¼ cup macadamia nut oil
• ½ cup honey
• ½ cup golden raisins
• Baking spray (or butter)
• Parchment paper

 Method:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
• Lightly spray a 9x5 loaf pan with baking spray (or spread with butter) and line with parchment paper sling. Lightly spray parchment.
• Sift flours, sugar, salt, baking powder, baking soda and cinnamon together in a bowl.
• Stir in oats and raisins.
• In a second bowl, mix together the egg, milk, yogurt, oil and honey.
• Stir wet ingredients into dry, just to mix.   Batter may be a little lumpy, that is okay, don’t over mix.
• Pour into parchment lined loaf pan.
• Bake for 45 minutes or until a wooden skewer inserted in center comes out clean.
• Sprinkle top with sugar when removed from oven (optional).
• Cool 10 minutes in pan on a rack then remove from pan and continue cooling.
• Serve room temperature, warmed or toasted.

A perfect loaf, if I do say so myself! Breakfast treat, dessert, afternoon tea?  Yes, yes and yes.

This is the first time I used the parchment sling with a loaf pan-it works like a charm, so don't skip that step. So easy to remove the loaf, just lift the parchment.

Printable recipe


Here's more info about the Daring Bakers and some of my other baking challenges:

Biscuits (aka scones in some parts of the world!)

Sans Rival Cake

Quick Valentines Treat

I know not everyone can get fresh strawberries right now.  If you can, this quick treat is always appreciated!


I hope you have a Happy Valentines Day tomorrow!

Recipe for Sans Rival Cake - Daring Bakers

On Friday, I spoke of everything in moderation and trying to eat healthy most of the time.  Well, I'm sure you can appreciate that this lovely cake fits in the "occasional treat" category here at Eat Little, Eat Big.  Last month I joined an adventuresome group of bloggers who try monthly challenges to expand our culinary aperture and to get out of our comfort zone.  Catherine of Munchie Musings was our November Daring Bakers’ host and she challenged us to make a traditional Filipino dessert – the delicious Sans Rival cake!

This cake is based on what I perceive to be fairly traditional French pastry principles:  layers of dacquoise (nut meringues) held together with a decadent butter cream frosting.  Using a sharp serrated knife, I sliced the Sans Rival into very thin slices, getting about 24 slices from the cake.  I wrapped each in wax paper and then froze in a freezer bag.   We enjoyed a piece of cake when it was made and then another one later in the week.  I took some pieces to a dinner party where it was well received.   It freezes very well and I'm patting myself on the back here that we didn't eat it all over the course of a couple of days!

Two of the four dacquoise layers

Building the cake

Finished Sans Rival Cake

Catherine gave us options for the cake (adding in cocoa for a chocolate version) but I went with the traditional cashew dacquoise and vanilla flavored butter cream frosting.  I do think chocolate meringues with hazelnut or mocha flavored icing would be awesome.  At the dinner party, we were wondering if you could use Nutella!?

Yield: 12-24 slices (depending on how you slice it)

Time: About 2-3 hours (I used disposable 9" cake tins so I could cook all the layers at once)

Ingredients:

Dacquoise

• 10 large egg whites, room temp
• 1 cup white granulated sugar
• 1 teaspoon cream of tartar
• 2 cups chopped, toasted cashews (divided)
• Parchment paper, butter and flour for pan(s)

Butter cream frosting

• 5 large egg yolks, room temperature
• 1 cup white granulated sugar
• 1/4 cup water
• 1¼ cup (2½ sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
• 1½ teaspoon vanilla extract (I would add another 1/2 tsp next time)
• Raspberries for decorating (optional)

Method:

Dacquoise

Note: You will need four layers which, depending on how many pans you have, you may have to bake in batches. Be sure to use fresh parchment paper and cooled pans for each batch or use disposable pans as I did (still with parchment paper and butter/flour).

• Preheat oven to 325°F.
• Line cake pan bottoms with parchment paper and butter and flour the sides really well.
• In a large clean, dry glass or metal mixing bowl, beat egg whites on medium until foamy (2 mins.). 
• Sprinkle with cream of tartar. Gradually add sugar, a couple of tablespoons at a time, continuing to beat now at high speed until stiff shiny peaks form.  (about 7-10 mins.)
• Fold in 1 1/2 cup of the nuts, reserving the remainder to use for decoration.
• Divide meringue into four equal parts. Spread in pans, evenly to edges. 
• Bake in preheated oven for 30 minutes, or until golden brown. Remove the meringue from the baking pans while still hot; allow to cool slightly. Peel off the parchment paper while it is still warm.
• When cool, trim edges so that all 4 meringue layers are uniformly shaped (serrated knife works best).

Butter cream frosting

• Beat egg yolks at high speed until the yolks have doubled in volume and are a lemon yellow.
• While yolks are beating, put the sugar and water in a heavy pan and cook over medium heat, stirring the sides down until all the sugar is dissolved and the syrup reaches 235°F on a candy thermometer (or thread stage).
• With the mixer on high, very slowly pour the syrup down the sides of the bowl into the egg yolks.  Continue beating on high until the mixture is ROOM TEMPERATURE (about 15 mins). 
• Still on high, beat in the soft, room temperature butter a tablespoon at a time. 
• Add flavoring after you beat in the butter.
• Refrigerate the buttercream for at least an hour, and whip it smooth just before you use it.

Assembly

• Set bottom meringue on serving plate with a dab of butter cream to hold it in place. 
• Spread a thin layer of butter cream and then place another meringue on top. Repeat with a thin layer of butter cream, meringue, thin layer of butter cream, meringue, and finally butter cream the top and sides. 
• Decorate with reserved nuts and raspberries (if using).
• Store in fridge.  
• To freeze, slice into thin pieces, wrap in wax paper and then place in freezer bag.  Stays fresh at least 2 weeks.  Remove from freezer to come to room temp prior to serving.

I really enjoyed this challenge.  If you are interested in more information about the Daring Kitchen challenges, here is the website.

Printable recipe

Recipe for Vanilla Coffee and Cream Rice Pudding

Rice pudding.   Mmmm, one of my favorite childhood desserts.  There are several ways to make it-stove top, oven baked, and stove top-to-oven.  There are sweet versions, savory versions, versions with raisins.  This one, cooked on the stove top, has both a delicious coffee flavor-from using coffee as some of the cooking liquid-and vanilla flavor-from using a vanilla bean.  Oh, and the real cream that is stirred in at the end doesn't hurt either!

Time: 30 minutes plus cooling time
Yield: 6 servings


Ingredients:

• 1 cup strong coffee (I made mine twice as strong as usual; flavored coffee works well, I used French Vanilla flavor)
• 1 cup milk
• 2/3 cup organic cane sugar (or whatever sugar you prefer)
• 1 vanilla bean
• 1 cup medium grain white rice
• 1/2 cup whipping cream, plus some reserved for topping

Method:

• Bring coffee, milk and sugar to a gentle boil
• Split vanilla bean pod open, scrape out seeds and add seeds to liquid.  
• Stir well and then drop in the empty vanilla bean pod.
• Add rice and simmer, covered, for 25 minutes, stirring occasionally.
• Remove from heat and remove vanilla bean pod.
• Stir in cream.
• Serve warm, room temperature or cold topped with a dollop of whipped cream.

Yes, it's a bit decadent so don't eat the whole pan in one sitting.  If you like rice pudding and like coffee you will really love this!  Have you made over any of your childhood favorites?


Printable Recipe

Recipe for Godiva Chocolatier French Vanilla Coffee Adult Milkshake

How about a frosty, creamy adult beverage to cool you down?  Thanks to the kind folks at Godiva Coffee and the Foodbuzz Tastemaker program, we were treated to two bags of Godiva Chocolatier Coffee.  These coffees are inspired by Godiva's most popular truffles and make a lovely cup of coffee.  In our care package was a bag of French Vanilla Coffee and one of Chocolate Truffle Coffee-the kitchen smelled amazing when making morning coffee!  This recipe is for a poolside creamy iced drink or an after dinner drink in lieu of dessert.  It's decadent!

Yield: 1 drink
Time: 5 minutes plus time for coffee to cool

Ingredients:

·    8 oz strong brewed Godiva Chocolatier Coffee, French Vanilla, cooled to room temperature

·    Ice

·    ½ cup vanilla gelato

·    Drizzle of coffee hazelnut liqueur (more or less depending on your preference)

·    Dollop of whipped cream

Method:

·    Pour coffee over ice and drain once coffee has chilled.

·    Add chilled coffee and gelato to blender and blend until smooth.

·    Pour into a glass and top with drizzle of liqueur and dollop of whipped cream.

·    Alternatively, include the ice for a more slushy drink.

Printable recipe

I received the two bags of coffee and coupons from Godiva as part of the Tastemaker program.  The opinions and recipe are my own.

Recipe for Figs with Spiced Mascarpone Cheese

It's a rare thing, in my experience, to see figs on Maui so when I saw some recently I grabbed a basket.  Now what to do with them?  I wanted something simple and something that would complement the not-too-sweet taste of the figs.  I also wanted a little bit of decadence.  I thought about something with goat cheese and figs, which I've had in restaurants and know is a good combination.  Not really what I was aiming for, though.  I thought of Chef Dennis's mascarpone cheesecake recipe and thought "Brilliant!"

I'm enamored with cardamom lately, using it most recently in a marinade for tuna. The aroma and flavor are very pleasing to my taste buds and nose.  Always looking for a way to use it, I mixed a sample of mascarpone and cardamom.  Loved it.  Given the figs aren't that sweet, the honey adds just the right touch to balance the richness of the cheese and the orange adds one more layer.  Mmmm.

Time: 15 minutes

Yield: 6 servings

Ingredients:

• 12 ripe figs
• 3 ounces mascarpone cheese (or cream cheese)
• ½ tsp ground cardamom
• 2 tsp freshly squeezed orange juice
• 2 TBSP honey
• Zest of 1 orange

Method:

• Wash and dry figs.
• Trim stem end off and slice in half.
• Mix cheese, cardamom, and orange juice together.
• Spread cheese mixture over fig halves.
• Drizzle honey over fig halves.
• Garnish with orange zest.
• Serve chilled.

These figs could be an appetizer (I might consider skipping the honey) or dessert, which is how we ate them.  I'm going to be on the look out for more figs (but I'm not holding my breath-I think the season is over?)

What seasonal things have you stumbled over in the store lately?


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