The Dessert Blog

Maple Syrup actually (if you didn’t already know) originates from the Maple Tree. These Trees can only be found in cold temperatures, which is why Canada and the northern part of the USA are the two biggest producers and really the only two making a difference. Of course it does help that the USA are the biggest consumer of the syrup.

Maple Syrup can really be put on anything at all from waffles, pancakes, crumpets, French toast and porridge. A personal favourite is on a fried breakfast. As well as this it can be used in baking purposes such as the making of sweets. As well as this is it sometimes used as flavouring in beers.

It is often thought that it wasn’t until the Europeans discovered Canada that Maple Syrup was actually discovered but recent evidence has risen to suggest that Native Americans living up in the north eastern part northern America discovered the trees secrets. They stumbled across the liquid sap and realised it was a good energy source. So when the spring hits they would all go off and ue the tools they had to make incisions in the tree so they could gain acess to the sap.

Today Canada makes just over 80% of the worlds maple syrup and in 2005 produced more than 26.5 million litres of the stuff. There are now many different types of maple syrup out on the market including sugar free syrup for Diabetics which is a brilliant idea but perhaps sometimes there needs to be a point where they should stop devloping the product. Diabetics can now ruin their teeth too now.

If you want to learn more about this fascinating tree and the syrup it produces then why not book one of those hotels in Canada and get yourself over there. A Canadian holiday could be just what you need to relax and they even offer an Alaskan cruise.

Imagine strolling through the streets of Paris, France; when you come across the most beautiful little corner café. You hunger for something sweet and delicious; a scrumptious French desert is just what your tummy desires. Even if you are unable to go to France; you can bring France to you with these mouth watering traditional deserts you can make from your very own kitchen. Bon Appétit!

French crepes with strawberry and vanilla jam

Serving size: Serves 4
Cooking time: Less than 15 minutes

INGREDIENTS

200g plain flour
¼ teaspoon of salt
30g castor sugar
3 medium eggs
1 cup milk
50g butter, melted, plus extra for frying crepes
1/3 cup of Bitton Gourmet Strawberry & Vanilla Jam (or to taste)

METHOD

Sift the flour, salt and sugar into a mixing bowl. Make a well in the centre of the mixture and add the eggs.

Using a whisk, gradually bring the dry mixture into the eggs, followed by the milk and then the melted butter. Whisk gently until the mixture is smooth, being careful not to over mix.

Place a large non-stick frying pan over a medium heat and add ½ teaspoon butter. Add a spoonful of the crepe mix to make a thin layer over the bottom of the pan. When you see the edges of the crepe turn brown, flip them over and cook until golden. Fold and serve with a tablespoon of Bitton Gourmet Strawberry & Vanilla Jam over each one.

Berry-filled Crepes with Raspberry Coulis

Serving size: Serves 4
Cooking time: Less than 30 minutes

INGREDIENTS

1 ½ cups Creative Gourmet frozen Summer Fruits, Forest Fruits or Mixed Berries
2 cups of Gourmet frozen Raspberries
2 tablespoons caster sugar
4 Creative Gourmet frozen French Style Crepes

METHOD

1. Defrost Summer Fruits, Forest Fruits or Mixed Berries until just defrosted.

2. Meanwhile, to make raspberry coulis, place frozen raspberries and sugar in a small saucepan. Bring to the boil, stirring and mashing with a wooden spoon, over medium-low heat. Simmer for 1 minute. Set aside to cool slightly. Press raspberries in a sieve over a jug to strain (discard seeds).

3. Warm crepes according to packet directions. Dividing the fruit evenly, spoon defrosted Summer Fruits, Forest Fruits or Mixed Berries into the centre of each crepe and fold over.

4. Spoon raspberry coulis onto serving plates. Top each with a berry filled crepe. Dust with icing sugar and serve immediately.

Classic French Tart

Serving size: Serves 10 or more
Cooking time: More than 1 hour

INGREDIENTS

100g dark chocolate, melted
strawberries, blueberries and raspberries, to decorate
½ cup strawberry jam, melted and sieved

crème pâtissière
2 tablespoons cornflour
3 egg yolks
1/3 cup caster sugar
600ml of pouring cream
1 teaspoon vanilla paste
125g cold unsalted butter, chopped
300ml thickened cream whipped

almond pastry
2 teaspoons almond essence
100g block marzipan, softened for 20 seconds in microwave
250g unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 cup caster sugar
1 ½ cups plain flour
125g packet (1 cup) almond meal

METHOD

To make crème pâtissière, whisk cornflour, yolks and sugar in a medium bowl until well combined. Bring cream and vanilla to the boil in a medium saucepan.

Whisk one cup of the hot cream into yolk mixture and then return to pan with remaining cream. Whisk continuously until mixture comes to the boil and has thickened. Remove from heat and quickly pour into a large heatproof bowl.

Gradually whisk in cold butter until well combined, cover mixture with baking paper and refrigerate for several hours or until cold. Fold in whipped cream.

Preheat oven at 180°C/160°C (fan forced). Grease a deep round 26cm loose bottomed flan tin.

To make almond pastry, beat marzipan and essence with an electric mixer until smooth. Add butter and sugar, beat for about 5 minutes or until light and fluffy Fold in combined flour and almond meal until mixture forms a soft dough.

Press the dough onto the base and the side of prepared pan. Place tin on an oven tray. Line pastry with baking paper, then fill with dried beans or rice.

Cook for 30 minutes, remove baking paper and dried beans and cook for a further 10-15 minutes or until pastry is golden brown. Remove from oven. Cool pastry case.

Brush inside of pastry case with chocolate and refrigerate for 10 minutes or until set.

Spoon crème pâtissière into prepared case, smooth over top. Decorate with fresh fruit and brush top with jam.

Serve with fresh whipped cream.

Would you like to participate in a fun activity with your kids? How about trying an activity that will provide them an opportunity in which to practive some valuable home-ec skills? Try baking. Kids love to eat desserts and making them is a similar activity to making crafts except crafts don’t taste good? There is a number of sweets from which to choose, but today we will focus on a unique treat that the kids will a lot of fun making and eating: candy sushi.

It really does look a lot like the real thing and that’s what kids love: playing make believe. It’s kind of like playing “house”, they pretend to make a real, actual dish. They play “make believe”. They’ll want to take their finished sweets masterpiece to their teachers. They’ll want to show off their “work of art” to their grandparents. They’ll call their aunts and uncles and broadcast to the world about their “master piece”. This will start a string of other desserts they’ll want to make with mom or dad, giving you more fun things to do with your kids.

What is candy sushi?

It’s a combination of crisped rice cereal that represents the real rice, gummy worms (you could also add red string licorice) to represent the fish, and all wrapped in a fruit roll up (or fruit leather) which represents seaweed. It represents the real sushi version of makizushi rolls.

How do you make candy sushi?

The technique of making candy sushi is not complex. You only need a few ingredients and there’s no baking involved. There’s just a little prep work involved, mixing melted butter and marshmallows with crisped rice, pressing and rolling the mix, adding some gummy worms, cutting the mix into rolled pieces and then wrapping them in fruit leather. Sushi candy rolls have a pretty presentation, tasty delicious and above all, are fun for the kids to create!

Don’t refrigerate them for too long or the gummy worms and fruit leather will begin to harden and lose flavor. Give them away as candy gifts or eat them yourself. Find a decorative Japanese dish on which to serve them. And to add a twist serve the treat with some chocolate dipping sauce, which you got it: represents soy sauce. If you decide to eat them yourselves then you and the kids can pretend you paid a visit to a sushi bar.