A few weeks ago when I was in Home Depot I picked up a small butane torch with the idea that it would be great for meringues and creme brulee.  Plus, you know…playing with fire is fun.

I have been intrigued since I found out that Honey Baked Ham does their glaze with a torch, and I used one at the restaurant to help finish dishes.

So, last night I wanted to make a creamy pudding but not go to the trouble/time of creme brulee.  I made a microwave custard and then sprinkled the top with turbinado sugar and torched it.

Perfect!

The turbinado sugar has larger crystals and so when it melts and caramelizes it ends up better than regular sugar.  It has a different taste as well.

I know, the lighting in the image is pitiful but my kitchen lighting is pitiful and it is now dark when I take most of my pictures..sigh.  Trust me on this one..you want a propane or butane torch for your kitchen.

We had pasta with a hearty mushroom and tomato sauce, kalamata olive bread, salad with balsamic dressing and this almond pudding that is so rich it is unbelieveable that it is simple and microwaveable.

Oh..the other thing I wanted to mention.  If you don;t do custards and puddings in the microwaves you are missing out..they come out so creamy and they are so quick to do with no scorching or curdling!

Creamy Almond Pudding with Caramelized Sugar

• 2 cups half and half
• 1 cup whole milk
• 1/4 cup flour
• 4 egg yolks
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1 tsp good vanilla or a 1/4 inch piece of vanilla bean
• 1/2 tsp organic almond extract
• pinch of salt
• 1/4 cup unsalted butter
• 1/4 cup turbinado sugar crystals

1. Mix the flour, sugar, and salt
2. Whisk in the milk and half and half making sure that there are no lumps
3. Beat in the egg yolks
4. Microwave on high for about 5 minutes, stopping to whisk every minute or so.
5. When it begins to thicken change the power level to 5 and continue to microwave, whisking every minute, until the mixture thickly coats a spoon.
6. Remove from microwave and stir in butter.  Allow to cool for 10 minutes.
7. Stir in the extracts.
8. Sprinkle with the turbinado sugar and flame with the torch until sugar bubbles and melts.

Makes  6-8 servings

Image:Marye Audet

Post from: Baking Delights

Any way..because of my chaotic life it took me until yesterday to make the recipe she sent the ingredients for. This is not baked, I am sorry, but i htought your interest in this experiment might outweigh your desires for my oven to be heating up my kitchen when it was 104 degrees. Yeah. 104. Blech. No we do not use air conditioning. Double blech.

The recipe was for Sago Pudding with Palm Sugar. It looks really pretty in the picture in the book. The sago looked to me like tapioca. And the result, MY result, looked more like unconstructed tapioca pudding. Hey! Leading edge dessert making! I read that unconstructed desserts are all the rage in the big cities.

The first thing was to chop the palm sugar, which comes in cones, coarsely. I did that and I tasted it..I thought it tasted a bit like a combination of horehound and maple. Strong but good and very sweet.

Next I had to cook the sago. I had a running commentary from the kids on this..Fish eggs! Spider eggs! Are you making tapioca? Aren’t you suppose to cook it in the milk?

So far so good. Then I rinsed and drained it..and had to put a cheesecloth in the colander so the sago wouldn’t go through. Then I let it cool..I didn’t have the cute individual cups that they showed in picture so I had to put it in a casserole dish. In the fridge it went.

When it chilled the sago stuck together but it was tasteless. Like globules of water. You serve it with a syrup made from the palm sugar and water, and coconut milk. When I put the syrup on the sago moved apart and it really looked like tapioca..unconstructed tapiooca. LOL!

But…it was good in a comfort food sort of way. It was a homey kind of taste and the kids liked it enough that it was gone after lunch. I don’t think I did it right, sorry Eunice! But I loved the fun of trying it!

Here is the recipe if you want to try it:

12 c water

1 c pearl sago

1 1/3 c palm sugar coarsely chopped

2/3 c water

1 c coconut milk

pinch of salt

makes 4 small jellies (mine made a huge bowl of unconstructed tapioca pudding)

Bring 12 c water to boil in large pan. Stir in sago and simmer, stirring, for 10 minutes. Remove from heat, cover and let set 10 minutes. AT this point the sago should be transparent.

Put into a strainer adn rinse under cold water to get the excess starch off so rains will separate. Drain thoroughly. Spoon into small dessert glasses and chill well.

Combine sugar and water in small saucepan and simmer until sugar dissolves. cool

To serve turn sago out onto plate. Spoon some syrup and some coconut milk combined with a pinch of salt over the top.

Post from: Baking Delights

When I got married back in the dark ages it was a well kept secret (by me) that I could not cook. I could make bread, brownies, and spagetti. My mom was of the school that felt the less time I spent in the kitchen the less mess she had to deal with. My 6′6″ husband came with no operating instructions but a HUGE appetite. I was amazed at the amount of food he could put down…He ate more in a meal than I ate in several days and I am not exaggerating. As you can see this was not a promising combination. I would wait for him to go to the base (we were military) and I would begin supper. Sometimes I had to cook a recipe several times (and throw out the result) before the finished product was edible and I became adept at turning a failure into something edible by calling it something else. It turns out that this was one of the best cooking lessons I would ever learn. I put it to good use the other day when I made an angel food cake and got distracted (who me? ) as I was folding the flour into the beaten egg whites. The angelfood cake was edible but a little tough and not at all like what I wanted. I tore it into pieces and sprinkled them with left over coffee while I quickly created an almond custard in my microwave. I poured the custard over the cake and then with a flash of inspiration made a praline sauce to swirl on top. I finished it by sprinkling with almonds. Voila! Angel food Pudding. You can substitute a bought angel food cake for the homemade but since the texture of hte cake doesn’t matter much in this why not use this as an excuse to practice making the perfect angel food cake?

Basic Angel Food Cake

1 c sifted cake flour
1 1/4 c sugar
1 c egg whites
1 tsp cream of tartar
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp mexican vanilla extract
1/2 tsp almond extract
1. sift the flour and 1/4 c of the sugar together.
2. beat the egg whites, cream of tartar, and salt until frothy.
3. Add remaining sugar a little at a time until stiff peaks are formed but the egg white is not dry.
4.Add flavorings
5. Sift 1/4 of the flour at a time over the mixture and fold in gently.
6 Pour in a large ungreased tube pan and bake at 350 45-60 minuntes.
7 invert pan and let cake hang until cool (if cake rises over the top you can invert the pan over a glass bottle.

When cake is cool, cut or tear into bite sized pieces and sprinkle with 1 c coffee.or enough to moisten cake. set aside

Custard:
2 egg yolks
1/4 c flour
1 c sugar
3 c milk, half and half or cream
pinch salt
1/4 c unsalted butter
1 tsp mexican vanilla
1 tsp almond extract
1. whisk together until frothy
2.microwave for 6-8 minutes, or until thickened, whisking smooth every minute.
3.remove from microwave and add butter and extracts.
4. stir until butter melts and is incorporated into custard
5. Pour over cake pieces.

Praline Sauce
1/4 c unsalted butter
1/4 c dark brown sugar
melt together in nonstick sauce pan over medium heat, whisking until there is no more graininess. Pour in a swirl over the custard. Top with 1/2 cup almonds. Chill. Serves 8..

Post from: Baking Delights