Yogurt Parfait with Mango and Cardamom

Mango, brown sugar and cardamom! These were the three delicious ingredients on my list for this month's joust at the Leftover Queen forum! And I ended up with a parfait.

Did you know that "parfait" means literally "perfect" in French? And also it is:
1 : a flavored custard containing whipped cream and syrup frozen without stirring

2 : a cold dessert made of layers of fruit, syrup, ice cream, and whipped cream
(Merriam-Webster dictionary)

My parfait is made with frozen greek yogurt. Parfaits are usually made in layers in a tall glass, but I used a serving plate instead.
For the custard:
2 cups greek yogurt (substitutes: vanilla yogurt or ice cream)
2 to 3 tablespoons honey

For the mango syrup:
3 tablespoons light brown sugar
3 to 4 cardamom pods, split open
1/2 cup water
1 mango, peeled and sliced

1) Mix together greek yogurt and honey. Line bottom and sides of muffin pans with loose fitting plastic wrap or parchment paper. Divide the mixture between the lined muffin pans and freeze for about 2 hours.

2) In a sauce pan heat sugar, cardamom pods and water until sugar dissolves for about 5 minutes. Add mango slices and cook for 2 minutes. Remove from heat and leave fruit to cool.

3) Remove the parfait from the freezer. Remove the plastic wrap or parchment paper. Place the parfait on serving plates and drizzle the mango syrup around each one.

Recipe adapted from Woman and Home magazine.

Avocado Lassi - Grow Your Own # 3

Lassi is a typical Indian shake that can be either sweet or salty. It is yogurt-based and it contains spices, like cumin, and fruits, being mango the most common. This is another recipe I came up with for our Summer that is just around the corner. I used avocado and as I did a little research I found out that avocado contains nearly 20 vitamins, minerals and phytonutrients, including vitamins E, C and B, among others and it has monounsaturated fat, just like olive oil. Also, I wanted to point out a cultural factor: in Brazil avocados are associated mostly with sweet food and not with salty food as in many countries. Another ingredient I used, the lemon balm or melissa, a member of the mint family, is a very resistant perennial plant that grows indoors so well and can be used to make teas, salads or added to juices.

Ingredients
1 avocado
1 cup yogurt
2 tablespoons honey
leaves of fresh lemon balm (from my indoor garden)
1 cup ice (optional)
Sugar to taste
Directions:

1) Scoop the avocado pulp into a blender. Add the yogurt, honey, lemon balm and sugar to taste. Blend until pureed.

2) Add ice and blend again. Serve cold. You can pour jelly into the cups and add the lassi. I used the avocado peels as bowls.

This is my contribution to Andrea's Recipes monthly event: Grow your own.

Peach Cobbler - October AFAM (A Fruit a Month)

It all started with a magnet I bought long time ago in Atlanta, Georgia, the "Peach State." I had never tried peach cobbler before and decided to give it a shot. And one thing intrigued me, the difference between Cobblers, Crumbles and Crisps. The best explanation I found, of course, with Martha Stewart. I changed the recipe on the magnet a little, because I used canned peaches.

Mansi is hosting an event called A Fruit a Month. This month's fruit is Peach. To participate all you have to do is post a recipe on your blog, include a brief intro about the fruit choice and the concept of your dish. For more instructions, please visit her blog.

The roundup will be announced between 5th-7th November. So make sure you send in your entries before Nov 1st.


Peach Cobbler
1/2 cup margarine
3/4 cup milk
1 cup flour
1 tbs baking powder
3/4 sugar
1 large can peach halves, drained (or 4 cups fresh peeled peaches sweetened to taste)

1) Melt margarine in 8 x 12 inch (20 x 30 cm) dish. Mix flour, baking powder, milk, and sugar. Add to melted margarine.

2) Add peaches, but do not stir. Bake at 375 °F (180 °C) for about 40 minutes. Serve warm with ice cream.

Hints:
- You can use self-raising flour, in this case, do not add the baking powder.
- Use any juicy fruit: peaches, apples, blueberries, blackberries, strawberries, raspberries.

Strawberry Chocolate Éclair Cake

Another version of the chocolate éclair cake. I added strawberries on top for the perfect finishing touch. This dessert was so requested by our family and friends that I ended up enhancing the cake's presentation!

Cream puffs and éclairs always catch my attention at every bakery, imagine then a whole cake made with this pastry. I found this recipe on Kerri's blog, and decided to give it a shot. 

A family favorite recipe.

Crust (Cream puff/éclair): 
1 cup of water
½ cup butter or margarine
½ tsp. salt
1 cup plain flour
4 eggs

1) Put water and butter in a medium saucepan, bring water to boil; simmer until butter melts. Remove from heat.

2) Mix salt and flour; add all at once to water; butter mixture. Stir until dough forms a ball. Add one egg at a time, beating well with a wooden spoon after each addition.

3) Spread in a greased jelly roll pan (15x10x1 inches) (38x25x2.5 cm) I think a 13x9 (33x23) pan would work if you don’t have the bigger one.

4) Bake at 400ºF/205ºC for 30 minutes. Remove from oven and press flat (wait a minute or two so you don’t burn yourself). Cool.

5) Spread filling and topping over crust. Serve cold.

Pastry cream filling:  
1 can sweetened condensed milk
1 1/2 can milk (use the can to measure milk)
1 tablespoon cornstarch
1 tsp vanilla extract

In a small saucepan over medium heat, combine sweetened condensed milk, milk and cornstarch and then bring to a boil, stirring frequently. The mixture will thicken. Add the vanilla. Transfer to a shallow bowl and press plastic wrap directly to prevent a skin from forming. Use as a filling for cakes, éclairs etc.

(Sometimes I use a creamy Brigadeiro recipe (Brazilian chocolate truffles) instead of the pastry cream as filling.)

Topping:
1 8oz tub of Cool Whip  Spread on top of pudding mixture.
Garnish with fresh strawberries.

˜˜˜˜˜˜˜˜˜˜˜˜˜˜˜˜˜˜˜˜˜
Or you can use this filling instead of the Pastry cream:
2 packages of instant vanilla pudding
2 ½ cups of milk
8oz (227 g) package of cream cheese, softened

With electric mixer, beat the cream cheese and add just a little milk at first (if you add too much at once you’ll end up with lumps of cream cheese). Keep adding milk gradually while beating. Then add the 2 puddings and beat until thick. Spread over crust. Serve cold.