Raspberry, Almond, and White Chocolate Bread Pudding with Vanilla Cream Sauce

February 19, 2020 amcarmenLeave a comment

Hello Everyone! I hope everyone had a great weekend celebrating love, be it with your families, friends, or significant others. Tonight I’ll be sharing an elevated version of a classic bread pudding recipe.

Bread Pudding is a bread-based dessert that originated in Europe, but popularised in many countries’ cuisines. It is typically made with stale bread, with milk or cream, eggs, butter, and depending whether the pudding is sweet or savoury, a variety of other ingredients.

Sweet bread puddings may use sugar or honey, fruits, nuts, vanilla, and spices such as cinnamon and/or nutmeg. The bread is soaked in the liquids together with the other ingredients, baked, and then served with either ice cream or a sauce. Tonight’s recipe will include all of the above, with raspberries, white chocolate, and sliced almonds, topped with a rich vanilla cream sauce.

PREP TIME 1 HOUR | COOKING TIME 1 HOUR | SERVES 6-8

INGREDIENTS

For the bread pudding

1 loaf wholemeal bread
1 punnet (250g) fresh or frozen raspberries
1 large free range egg
100h mascarpone cheese
2 cups soy milk
1/4 cup white granulated sugar
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
Handful of sliced almonds
Handful of white chocolate chips

For the raspberry coulis

100g fresh or frozen raspberries
1/4 cup white granulated sugar

For the vanilla cream sauce

100g unsalted butter
200ml heavy cream, or all purpose cream
1/4 cup white granulated sugar
2 tbsp plain flour
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
1/4 tsp salt

METHOD

Bread Pudding: Grease a rectangular baking dish, mine was about 7.5″ x 11″ in size, with the unsalted butter. Cut the bread slices in half diagonally and arrange them into the baking dish. Set aside.
Whisk together the egg, soy milk, sugar, mascarpone cheese, ground cinnamon, and ground nutmeg until well combined. Pour over the bread, making sure to press the bread down to absorb the egg mixture.
Top with crushed raspberries, white chocolate chips, and sliced almonds. Sprinkle an extra tablespoon of sugar on top if you wish. Cover with aluminium foil and let it sit for about an hour before baking.
Preheat oven to 180C (350F or gas mark 4) about 45 minutes into its sitting time. Baked, covered for 30 minutes, and then uncovered for another 30 minutes or until lightly browned and set.

Raspberry Coulis: Chuck the raspberries and sugar into a small saucepan and cook over low heat, stirring occasionally to make sure it doesn’t burn on the bottom. It doesn’t take long before the juices start to run and things start to look syrup-y.
After the sauce has simmered for about 10 minutes, it should be just right. Not too thick, not too thin. Optional: If you like your raspberry sauce satiny-smooth, pour the mixture through a fine-mesh strainer. Then use the back of a ladle to push it through, discarding the seeds and reserving the sweet, fruity puree.
Pour on top of the bread pudding and leave to seep.
Vanilla Cream Sauce: Melt butter in a medium-sized saucepan over low heat. Once melted, increase the heat to medium and add the flour. Whisk together for about 10 minutes until it has a nutty aroma, but make sure not to brown the roux.
Add the salt, cream, and sugar, whisking until the mixture becomes thick. Remove from the heat and stir in the vanilla extract. If your sauce is too thick, you can add a few tablespoons of soy milk to loosen the sauce a bit.
Drizzle or pour a generous amount of the vanilla cream sauce over a warm single serving of the raspberry bread pudding and enjoy immediately!

Before I end tonight’s post, do check out my Blueberry Bread Pudding recipe that I tackled back in 2017. I also made an all-crust bread pudding with dates from 2014; it’s not up on my blog only because I made it out of the blue one night with leftovers from an afternoon tea party I held when I was still living in Australia.

BON APPÉTIT

– Ally xx

Sweet Purple Sweet Potato Toasts (3 ways)

July 23, 2018 amcarmenLeave a comment

Hello everyone! Apologies for not getting this post up last week as it was supposed to – I feel like I’ve been repeating myself in every post so far but yes, things have been hectic. Amongst the hecticness I speak of, my sister also arrived back from Singapore last week. Other than that, nothing exciting has happened over the past week – the week ahead though will definitely be one to remember.

Anyway, I’ll keep tonight’s introduction short and just dive straight into the recipe. To recap, the theme for this month on Amcarmen’s Kitchen is to hero Sweet Potatoes for breakfast! At the beginning of he month, I shared Savoury Orange Sweet Potato Toasts 3 Ways for you, and tonight I’m going to share you a Sweet Purple Sweet Potato Toasts 3 Ways for those who prefer a sweet option rather than savoury to kick start their mornings!

Preparing your Sweet Potato Toasts

PREP TIME 10 MINS | COOKING TIME 20 MINS* | MAKES 5 SLICES**

*Baking time time will vary depending on the size and thickness of your sweet potato slices.
**Or how-ever-so-many slices you can get from a single sweet potato

INGREDIENTS

1 large purple sweet potato, wash and dried

METHOD

Preheat oven to 180C (350F or gas mark 4). Place a wire rack on a large rimmed baking sheet.
Trim both ends from the sweet potato using a knife and slice them lengthwise into 1/4-inch thick slabs using a knife or mandolin slicer.
Arrange the slabs in a single layer on the wire rack and bake for about 15-20 minutes or until the potatoes are tender, but not fully cooked.
Remove the potatoes from the oven and allow them to cool on wire rack completely before transferring to a storage container. They can be stored in the fridge for up to 4 days.

When it’s go-time simply add the desired number of slices to your toaster and toast away. Setting it on the highest setting takes only one toasting cycle to get them how I like them (warm, bubbly and crispy on the edges). Just be wary that yours may need more or less depending on the toaster that you are using. Adjust to your liking!

Notes/Tips:

- Look for sweet potatoes that are relatively shaped like a tube so that they’re easier to slice.
- Don’t remove the skin because fibre in it is good and it helps the slices hold up better during storage.
- Using a mandolin slicer gives you uniform slices of sweet potatoes, and is easier and safer than using a big knife.
- Allow them to cool completely after baking before stacking them in a container or they’ll get sweaty and will definitely take longer to toast when you’re ready to eat them.

Now the fun starts – you get to add toppings! The possibilities are pretty much endless but these three are my absolute favourite combinations for a yummy start to my day – the sweet edition!

Blackberries & Buttermilk Caramelised White Chocolate

PREP TIME 5 MINS | COOKING TIME 5-10 MINS | SERVES 1

INGREDIENTS

Blackberries, fresh or frozen (thawed)
Sweet potato slice(s)
Whittaker’s West Coast Buttermilk Caramelised White Chocolate (Artisan Collection), roughly chopped

METHOD

Place the sweet potato slices into a toaster and toast on the highest setting until warm, bubbly and crispy on the edges.
Top with the above garnishes and enjoy!

Banana, Blueberries & Peanut Butter

PREP TIME 5 MINS | COOKING TIME 5-10 MINS | SERVES 1

INGREDIENTS

Banana slices
Blueberries, fresh or frozen (thawed)
Chia seeds
Granola
Peanut butter
Sweet potato slice(s)

METHOD

Place the sweet potato slices into a toaster and toast on the highest setting until warm, bubbly and crispy on the edges.
Top with the above garnishes and enjoy!

Strawberries & Goats Cheese with Balsamic Reduction

PREP TIME 5 MINS | COOKING TIME 5-10 MINS | SERVES 1

INGREDIENTS

Balsamic reduction
Goats Cheese
Lemon zest
Strawberry slices, fresh
Sweet potato slice(s)

METHOD

Place the sweet potato slices into a toaster and toast on the highest setting until warm, bubbly and crispy on the edges.
Top with the above garnishes and enjoy!

And there you have it – three simple ways you can make you mornings sweeter, brighter, full of colour, healthier, and energising altogether! I’ll TRY to get the last post for the month up, if not on Wednesday night, then on Thursday night hopefully – fingers crossed!

BON APPÉTIT

– Ally xx

Blueberry Bread Pudding

May 18, 2017 amcarmen1 Comment

Hello Everyone! I apologise for posting a day late – I got home quite late last night. Actually that’s a lie, I got home at a decent hour but because I was super full from the Korean BBQ Buffet Dinner that I had with two of my colleagues, I just wanted to take a shower and then go to sleep. Even though we work together and basically see each other 6 days a week for 8 hours, we don’t really get to just chill and catch up with each other, be it talking about our personal life or just random office gossip. All in all a great night with great company over great food.

In other news, I hope everyone had a great weekend, celebrating with their Mom’s on Mother’s Day. Ours didn’t quite go as planned, or well it did but we all ended up disappointment so to say. We, or my Mom actually, wanted to try out a restaurant that she had been eyeing for a while now for their breakfast buffet. We got there all excited and everything only to be disappointed with the buffet itself – or should I even call it a buffet really? To me, there wasn’t a substantial amount of food to call it a buffet, and hello?! What breakfast buffet doesn’t have an egg station?! I was immensely frustrated that I could not have sunny side up eggs, or scrambled eggs to go with my… Soggy hash browns and non-existent beef rashers, but instead had to suffice to cold pancakes and waffles. Outrageous. They had fried noodles though, which at first I thought was probably the only thing that could save me from further dissatisfaction – but I most definitely regretted taking a plate full of it. The noodles were subpar but paired with the most bitter vegetables ever which was enough for me to just push the plate away. A waste I know, but I couldn’t risk an upset tummy at that point. So what did I actually eat? Their assortment of breads and under-seasoned prawn noodle soup – a lot of it just to get my money’s worth. My Brunei friends/followers, if you’re wondering what restaurant I’m talking about, it’s Anjung Saujana at the International Airport. Their al a cart menu looked comparatively better, but meh, still not enticing enough for me to ever step foot in there again to be brutally honest. Sorry!

That aside, I was able to save Mother’s Day by putting together a lovely Blueberry Bread Pudding, filling it up with basically anything and everything I had left lying around from the previous blueberry recipes I have whipped up for Amcarmen’s Kitchen. I had some leftover white chocolate chips from my Blueberry Lemon & White Chocolate Scones, leftover ricotta cheese from last week’s recipe of Blueberry & Ricotta French Toast Roll Ups, and the most important leftover ever – the bread crusts from last week’s recipe as well (remember I said not to discard the bread crusts in that post? This is why).

So back when I was still living in Sydney, I think at that time I was just starting my final year of university, I hosted a little flowery tea party for 4 lovely friends of mine one fine weekend afternoon. One of the eats on the menu was finger sandwiches, and to be completely honest, I forgot what we actually put in them. I have a feeling it was tuna or egg sandwiches, but I really cannot remember. Anyway, that’s not the point, the point is that finger sandwiches usually have the crusts cut off and I distinctly remember that time saying that I was going to keep the crusts and make something out of them. If I remember correctly, I did make an all-crust bread pudding out of them, and this was the caption to the end result when I posted a photo of it on Instagram:

Any normal person would’ve either thrown them away or fed them to the pigeons – I am not a normal person. So instead of throwing leftover bread crusts from the tea party, I went on and made a bread pudding with almond flakes and dates out of it #freshfromtheoven #someonecomeoverandeatitwithme #foodporn #foodgasms — click here to see the full image of my Date & Almond Flakes Bread Pudding from way back in 2014.

PREP TIME 1 HOUR | COOKING TIME 1 HOUR | SERVES 12

INGREDIENTS

200g ricotta cheese
1 punnet (125g) fresh blueberries
3 large free range eggs
2 cups milk
1/4 cup white chocolate chips
2 tbsp maple syrup
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
Handful of flaked almonds
Granulated sugar (optional)
Leftover bread crusts + half a loaf of white bread
Unsalted butter, for greasing

METHOD

Grease a rectangular baking dish, mine was about 7.5″ x 11″ in size, with the unsalted butter.
Cut the crusts off the remaining half loaf and lay the bottom of the baking dish with the crusts, making sure to cover as much of the bottom as you can.
Spread all of the ricotta cheese on top of the bread crusts and top with half of the blueberries and half of the white chocolate chips.
Cut the crustless slices of bread diagonally in half and arrange to cover the layer of ricotta cheese, blueberries, and white chocolate chips. Set aside.
Whisk together the eggs, milk, maple syrup, ground cinnamon, and ground nutmeg until well combined. Pour over the bread, making sure to press the bread down to absorb the egg mixture.
Top with the remaining blueberries, white chocolate chips, and flaked almonds. Sprinkle about a tablespoon of granulated sugar on top if you wish. Cover with aluminium foil and let it sit for about an hour before baking.
Preheat oven to 180C (350F or gas mark 4) about 45 minutes into its sitting time. Baked, covered for 30 minutes, and then uncovered for another 30 minutes or until lightly browned and set.
Let it stand for 5 minutes before serving. Enjoy!

BON APPÉTIT

– Ally xx

Blueberry Lemon & White Chocolate Scones

May 3, 2017May 10, 2017 amcarmen3 Comments

Hello Everyone! I’ll make tonight’s post quick only because I am mentally and physically exhausted from both being sick and basically juggling so many projects simultaneously today. I managed to tick at least 70% of my list of things to do for work so I’m pretty happy about that, but it’s going to be a busy weekend!

Anyway, tonight’s recipe is one of my favourite go-to-brekkie when I was still living in Sydney for my university studies. When I lived up in the lower North Shore, I’d always walk about 15 minutes from home to catch the train to the city, and then a bus to campus. Along the way, I’d stop at Baker’s Delight and pick up a freshly baked Blueberry Lemon & White Chocolate Scone before hopping onto the train. I’d then have my scone on campus in the lecture hall, or tutorial rooms while waiting for class/lecture to start. It would alway make my mornings a little bit better especially when I’d have to be on campus by 8 or 9 in the morning.

So since the theme for the month of May on Amcarmen’s Kitchen is Blueberries, I decided to whip up my own batch of Blueberry Lemon & White Chocolate Scones to get into the nostalgic zone. I followed my own recipe for Basic Scones which I posted way back in mid-2014, and added blueberries, lemon juice and zest, and white chocolate chips into the mix.

PREP TIME 20 MINS | COOKING TIME 20-25 MINS | SERVES 12 SCONES

INGREDIENTS

3 cups self-raising flour, plus extra for dusting
1 punnet (125g) fresh or frozen blueberries
80g chilled unsalted butter, cubed
1 cup milk
1/2 cup white chocolate chips
Juice of half a lemon
Zest of 1 lemon

METHOD

Preheat oven to 200C.
Sift the self-raising flour into a large bowl and add the cubed butter together with the lemon zest. Rub the butter into flour using your fingertips until the mixture resembles a breadcrumb texture.
Make a well in the centre and add the milk, lemon juice, and blueberries in. Mix with a flat-bladed knife until the mixture forms a soft dough. If the mixture is a bit dry and crumbly, add more milk if required. Turn onto a lightly floured surface and knead gently until smooth (don’t knead the dough too much though or your scones will be quite tough).
Pat the dough into a 2cm-thick round, and cut into 12 equal logs.
Place scones onto a tray lined with baking paper, 1cm apart from each other. Lightly sprinkle the tops with a little flour and bake for 20 to 25 minutes or until golden and well risen. Serve warm with a nice cup of tea!

BON APPÉTIT

– Ally xx

White Chocolate Snickerdoodle Blondies

November 30, 2016 amcarmenLeave a comment

Hello Everyone! Wow! I can’t believe that it’s the last day of November today! Once again, another month managed to slip right under our noses! Christmas is nearing, and in the blink of an eye, it will be 2017! Anyway, I’m not going to give a brief recap of my year just yet – I’ll probably save that for sometime in December – I’ll just give you a recap of my week as it was indeed a busy one! Firstly, I have been home alone for the past 5 nights as my Mom and my sister flew off on Friday to visit the other sibling over in Singapore. Secondly, I had two back-to-back events that I helped with the event decorations for, one was Phantom of the Opera themed (but very minimal/close to none on the decorations that actually resembled anything from Phantom of the Opera), and the other was an Alice and Wonderland/Enchanted Forest themed Staff Appreciation Night. I had loads of fun designing the initial proposal for the decorations, and of course helping with execution of the decorations onsite.

My next task, in terms of event decoration is to propose and present to the client, the theme ‘The Chronicles of Narnia; The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe’ for a corporate 25th Anniversary Dinner coming up in mid-January. The presentation will be on Friday and I’m both excited and nervous at the same time; fingers-crossed that they will like my idea and that they see the underlying meaning of the chosen theme. Other than work, I scored VIP tickets from my Boss to watch Coreyah and JinJo Crew perform at The Rhythm of Korea on Saturday night. It was a free event hosted by the Korean Embassy here in Brunei as a sort of launching of their moving in to their new Embassy which will happen sometime in December if I’m not mistaken – so yes, this was an early celebration for the general public.

A cross between a chewy blondie and moist butter cake, these blondies are studded with white chocolate chips and ribboned with sweet cinnamon sugar! — Sally’s Baking Addiction

But enough of the long-winded, personal life stories and let’s move on to tonight’s recipe shall we? So, I think you guys can probably tell that this is another recipe followed and adapted from none other than Sally’s Baking Addiction. I honestly think that the theme for this November shouldn’t have been ‘Cooking with Chocolate’ but rather Sally-themed instead haha! Anyway, I don’t actually have much to say for this recipe as it was kind of just a I-need-to-bake-something-for-my-blog-but-what-should-I-bake kind of moment early on the Sunday morning before I went grocery shopping to make sure I had all the ingredients. I came across this recipe while browsing and I thought that it’d be interesting to make.

PREP TIME 15 MINS | COOKING TIME 30-35 MINS | SERVES 12-15 BARS

INGREDIENTS

For the blondies

2 & 1/3 cups plain flour
1 cup white chocolate chips
3/4 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup packed light brown sugar
3/4 cup unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
2 large free range eggs, room temperature
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 & 1/4 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt

For the cinnamon-sugar filling

1/3 cup granulated sugar
2 tsp ground cinnamon

METHOD

Preheat oven to 180C (350F or gas mark 4). Line a 9×9, 11×7, or 9×13 inch baking pan with parchment paper, leaving enough overhang on the sides to easily pull the blondies out of the pan and cut once done.
Combine the plain flour, baking powder, and salt in a small bowl, then set aside. Beat the unsalted butter on high speed using a hand or stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, in a large bowl. Beat for at least 1 minute until creamy, and then add in the granulated and brown sugars, beating for 2 full minutes on high speed until light and fluffy. Scrape down the sides and bottom of bowl when needed.
Beat in the eggs and vanilla on high speed, scraping down the sides and bottom of the bowl as needed. On low speed, beat in dry ingredients until just combined. With a large wooden spoon or rubber spatula, fold in the white chocolate chips.
Spoon half the batter into pan. It will be a relatively thin layer, but try to spread it across the pan evenly. Combine the cinnamon and sugar and sprinkle on top of them bottom layer, reserving 1 tbsp for the top. Spread the remaining batter over top. Some of the cinnamon-sugar will mix into the top layer as you spread it, which is fine. Sprinkle the top with remaining cinnamon-sugar.
For a 9×9 or 11×7 baking pan, bake for 30-35 minutes or until golden brown and a toothpick inserted in the centre comes out clean. For a 9×13, bake 22-26 minutes or until golden brown and toothpick inserted in centre comes out clean. Cool completely for about 1 hour.

These bars can be made 3 days in advance and kept in an airtight container at room temperature until ready to serve. Bars freeze well, up to 3 months. Simply thaw overnight in the refrigerator and bring to room temperature before serving. Leftover bars can be stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator or at room temperature for up to 1 week.

BON APPÉTIT

– Ally xx

White Chocolate & Macadamia Red Velvet Cookies

November 23, 2016November 23, 2016 amcarmenLeave a comment

Hello Everyone! I don’t think I ever mentioned it in the past 3 posts for the month of November, but I’m pretty sure that most of you who follow my blog are smart little ducklings and have already probably figured out that the theme for Amcarmen’s Kitchen this month is all about Procrastibaking – well, really, not really. The theme isn’t just centred around baking, but it is most definitely about baking with… CHOCOLATE! How did I come up with this month’s theme you ask (well if you didn’t ask then read ahead hehe), I wanted to bake a Chocolate cake for my birthday this month, and I had two chocolate-linked recipes sitting in my archives waiting to be post up on my blog, and so… Baking with Chocolate came into play!

Or you could probably just say that I’ve been lazy and haven’t been in the mood to cook on Sundays for the past few weeks – which is partially true. It’s not that I was being lazy – it was more like I wanted to have a Sunday to myself doing whatever I want, meaning doing nothing actually *cheeky grin* instead of slaving away in the hot kitchen the whole afternoon. I’ve probably mentioned this in a post before, but for those of you who don’t know, I work 6 days a week from 8am to 5pm. By Sunday, all I want to do is just sit back and do nothing, however, if I did do that, I wouldn’t be able to keep up with Amcarmen’s Kitchen any longer.

Anyway, enough of my rants, let’s move on to tonight’s recipe – an adaptation from none other than my favourite baker out there, Sally’s Baking Addiction. You can find the original recipe for these cookies over on her blog. If you went over to visit her blog, you’d notice that they are actually Red Velvet Chocolate Chip Cookies, but I decided to do a little twist and use white chocolate chips instead and pair them with macadamia nuts! The perfect combination in my opinion! I’d like to take this opportunity to share a recipe by a friend of mine, also known as Brendon The Smiling Chef, for his “I Love You This Much” Giant Red Velvet Cookie. I remember the time we met up and cooked together for my Auguest series last year, Brendon baked a Giant Chocolate Chip Cookie from the left over cookie dough he had from his “Cookies & Cream” inspired dessert. I think I might bake a Giant Cookie for next week actually!

PREP TIME 1 HOUR 10 MINS* | COOKING TIME 10 MINS | SERVES 18 COOKIES

*Includes chilling time

INGREDIENTS

1 & 1/2 cups + 1 tbsp plain flour, spooned and leveled
1 cup semi-sweet white chocolate chips (plus a few extra for after baking)
3/4 cup packed light (or dark) brown sugar
1/2 cup raw macadamia nuts, roughly chopped
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup unsweetened natural cocoa powder
115g unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
1 large free range egg, room temperature
1 & 1/2 tbsp red food colouring
1 tbsp milk
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt

METHOD

In a medium-sized bowl, whisk together the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt together until incorporated well. Set aside.
In a large bowl, beat the softened butter using a handheld or stand mixer with a paddle attachment on high speed until creamy, about 1 minute. When necessary, scrape down the sides and the bottom of the bowl. Add in the brown and granulated sugar, beating until combined and creamy, about another minute. Then, beat in the egg, milk, and vanilla extract, scraping down the sides and bottom of the bowl as needed. Once mixed, add the food colouring and beat until combined.
Turn the mixer off and pour the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients. Turn the mixer on and slow beat on low speed until a very soft dough is formed. Beat in more food colouring if you’d like the dough to be a brighter red.
Add in the white chocolate chips, and roughly chopped macadamia nuts and use a spatula to combine with the dough mixture. At this point, the dough will be sticky.
Cover the dough tightly with aluminum foil or plastic wrap and chill for at least 1 hour (and up to 3 days). Chilling is mandatory.
Preheat the oven to 180C (350F or gas mark 4) (177°C). Line two large baking trays with parchment paper or silicone baking mats and set aside.
Scoop about 1 and 1/2 tablespoons of dough and roll into a ball, as pictured above. Place 9 balls onto each baking sheet and bake each batch for about10-11 minutes. The cookies may have only spread slightly and that’s ok. Simply press down on the warm cookies to slightly flatten and form crinkles. Stick a few chocolate chips into the tops of the warm cookies (optional and only for looks).
Allow the cookies to cool on the cookie sheet for 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool down completely. Enjoy and share with family and friends!

BON APPÉTIT

– Ally xx

Brendon’s Cookies & Cream

August 11, 2015January 16, 2019 amcarmen3 Comments

Hi Everyone! Hope you’re all having a lovely day wherever you are. My name is Brendon D’Souza and I am a writer and food blogger from Sydney. I’m very honoured to be a part of this Auguest series and have some exciting dessert creations to share with you over the next two posts.

I launched my website Brendon The Smiling Chef in 2012, posting simple recipes that I had cooked for dinner. I developed skills in food styling and photography through internships and writing and editing roles at Green Lifestyle, Grapeshot, Australian Catholics and Youth Food Movement Australia and started to apply these skills to my recipe posts. This year I plan to make a few exciting changes with the website and include a restaurant review section called “Smiling & Dining @” which features reviews that I publish at Zomato While you’re there feel free to check out all my foodie adventures in Instagram at @brendonthesmilingchef.

I met Ally a few months ago at a food blogging seminar held in Sydney and she told me all about her passion for exploring cultures through food, which is something that I too love! We caught up a few weeks ago for a fabulous cooking day where she showed me how to make some delicious Filipino recipes (Which you can check out at Brendon The Smiling Chef next week). The recipe that I’m going to share with you today is a bit of an invention that I have drawn from my experiences of growing up here in Australia. Like Ally, I too am a bit of a third-culture foodie. My family are Indian and are originally from the state of Goa which sits on the West Coast of India. Goa is largely influenced by the Portuguese, who colonised the region in around the 16th Century, so our culture, customs and cuisine are surprisingly similar to Europe. I was born in Bahrain and lived there for two years before we migrated to Australia in the mid-nineties.

Growing up in Western Sydney, I was surrounded by a wealth of multicultural diversity and from a young age I was introduced to the cultures and cuisines of the Philippines, Southern America, Malta and Vietnam to name a few. Despite all this I have to admit that as a child I was very embarrassed about being Indian. It’s one of side-effects of growing up in Anglo-Saxon society. I saw myself as different from all the other kids at school. I had black hair, brown skin and brown eyes rather than blonde hair and blue eyes. Now that we’ve all grown up, a lot of my friends have said that they experienced these feelings too! I would cringe when I opened my lunchbox to find the beautiful Goan prawn curry and rice that mum had packed for me. What would the other kids think? We never really ate much Indian food at home when we were younger because my sister and I, being True Blue Aussies, didn’t like the pungent spices used in most of our cooking. They were too hot for our tiny tastebuds to handle. In these instances, six-year-old Brendon would drag a chair to the kitchen and reach for a jar of tomato paste sauce to put together my version of Spaghetti Bolognese; 1 kilogram of beef mince with 1 jar of tomato paste, yes paste (#IcantbelieveIdidthat), stirred through.

The 2000’s came along we noticed a number of American food products appearing on the supermarket shelves including Pop Tarts, Oreos, and Krispy Kreme Donuts. My favourite was Hershey’s Cookies ’n’ Creme bar, (or the Mars® counterpart Dove), a dreamy combination of white chocolate with tiny chocolate cookie pieces. It was ever popular among my Filipino friends. They had experienced this delight for years because it was sold in all the Filipino grocery stores. We saw it as a luxury because it was so new! It became one of my favourite flavour combos and, to nine-year-old Brendon’s delight, even started appearing in ice creams and cheesecakes!

I was playing around with the idea of reinventing Cookies and Cream and turning it into a sophisticated dessert. Chocolate chip cookies would definitely feature because who doesn’t love a good chocolate chip cookie? A white chocolate and vanilla bean ganache could represent the Cream and a 70% dark chocolate ganache would balance the sweetness. It had been a while since I’d tried to make macarons from scratch but I thought it would be nice to have some chocolate almond cigars to add another texture and flavour to the dessert. We made up the recipe for these while referring to the Master Adriano Zumbo’s for rough measurements. They weren’t as smooth on top but they made delicious chewy cookies.

PREP TIME 30 MINS | COOKING TIME 15 MINS | SERVES 2-3

INGREDIENTS

For the white chocolate and vanilla bean ganache

100ml pure cream
200g white chooclate, chopped
1 tbsp vanilla bean paste
1 tsp glucose syrup

For the bitter dark chocolate ganache

100ml pure cream
150g dark chocolate (min. 70% cocoa solids)
1 tsp glucose syrup

For the chocolate almond cigars

1 free range egg white
250g caster sugar
150g almond meal
2 tbsp Dutch process cocoa powder

For the chocolate chip cookies

250g unsalted butter, softened
200g dark chocolate, chopped
200g milk chocolate, chopped
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup plain flour
1/4 cup baking powder
1 free range egg
1 tbsp vanilla bean paste (or extract)

METHOD

Preparation

White chocolate and vanilla bean ganache: Place the cream and white chocolate into a microwave-safe bowl and stir to combine. Heat for 30 seconds on medium then give the bowl a stir with a spatula. Continue to heat and stir the ganache in this way until smooth. Alternatively you can place the chocolate and cream into a heatproof glass bowl set over a pan of simmering water and stir until melted. When smooth, add the vanilla bean paste and the glucose syrup and stir until smooth. Allow to cool completely. Transfer the ganache to a disposable piping bag, seal the end with a rubber band and place in the fridge until cold but pliable.
Bitter chocolate ganache. Place the cream and dark chocolate into a microwave-safe bowl and stir to combine. Heat for 30 seconds on medium then give the bowl a stir with a spatula. Continue to heat and stir the ganache in this way until smooth. Alternatively you can place the chocolate and cream into a heatproof glass bowl set over a pan of simmering water and stir until melted. When smooth, add the glucose syrup and stir until smooth. Allow to cool completely. Transfer the ganache to a disposable piping bag, seal the end with a rubber band and place in the fridge until cold but pliable.

Chocolate Almond Cigars

Pre-heat the oven to 150C (300F or gas mark 2). Line a baking tray with baking paper and set aside.
Place the egg white into a clean stainless steel or glass bowl free from grease or dirt. Whip to soft peaks using clean electric beaters. Add 1 tbsp of castor sugar to the egg whites and beat for 20-30 seconds or until the sugar has dissolved. Continue to add the sugar in this way until you have a glossy meringue. Sprinkle the almond meal and cocoa powder over and fold using a spatula to form a smooth batter.
Transfer the batter to a disposable piping bag, twist the opening to enclose the filling and carefully cut off the tip of the bag to create a hole 2cm in diameter.
Pipe 5cm cigars onto the baking sheet. You will need about 8 for this recipe. Allow them to rest for 10 minutes.
Place the tray on the middle shelf of the oven and bake for 10-15 minutes or until the cigars have risen. Remove the tray from the oven and allow them to cool. When cool, take your piping bag with the white chocolate ganache and pipe a line down half the cigars. Sandwich with another cigar on top.

Chocolate Chip Cookies

Place the butter and sugar and vanilla into the bowl of an electric mixer and beat until fluffy. Alternatively use electric hand beaters. Add the egg and beat until combined. Add the flour, baking powder and salt and stir to form a smooth dough. Add the chopped chocolate stir to combine.
Roll out 12 cookies using 2 tsp cookie dough for each. Place them onto the prepared baking tray leaving about 3cm between each cookie for spreading. You will only need a small amount of the dough for the recipe but I’ll show you what you can do with your leftovers in my next recipe. Wrap the leftover dough tightly with cling wrap and place in the fridge.
Place the baking tray on the middle shelf of the oven and bake for 10-15 minutes until the cookies have spread. Remove from the oven and allow to cool.
Crumble 4 of the cookies to form cookie crumbs.

Plate up the dessert

This is where the fun begins. Feel free to let your imagination run wild. Sprinkle the cookie crumbs across 4 serving plates. Pipe some white chocolate ganache onto each of the serving plates. Then rest a cigar along the ganache. Divide the chocolate chip cookies among the plates. Make a 1cm hole in the piping bag with the biter chocolate ganache and pipe them around the plate. Serve.

Ally and I had lots of fun with the plating. Check out our attempts.

Happy cooking and keep smiling,

Brendon D’Souza 🙂

Polvorón Pops (Popvoróns)™

August 7, 2015January 16, 2019 amcarmen3 Comments

Hello everyone, it’s Jialing again, with my second/final recipe for this week. It’s been a pleasure sharing my recipes with you, and I hope to do it again in the future, but in the meantime, feel free to add me on Instagram – @jialingmew. Also, check out Tuesday’s Chicken Pastel Mini Pot Pies if you haven’t already 🙂 Today’s recipe is another one of my Filipino favourites, but this time based on a sweet treat called Polvorón, which is made with powdered milk and toasted flour and wrapped in colourful cellophane.

I’d previously tried to bring packs of polvoron back to Sydney with me after a trip back to Manila so that my Australian friends could try it, but was told at Sydney Airport Customs that it was on the permanent confiscation list, because of the powdered milk. But fortunately, Australia is not doomed to a polvorón-less fate! The ingredients are actually all very easy to find, and had I realised at the time that they were so simple to make, I wouldn’t have had to go through all that trouble with Customs.

To be quite honest, although I had made polvorón before, a very long time ago, I sort of had to make up this recipe as I went along, adjusting the proportions using some educated guesswork. Traditionally, polvoron is shaped with a special metal tool – that I did not have access to. So I was stuck with the option of cookie cutters, which of course, were nowhere to be found (and probably would not work out at all, looking back in retrospect), and finally, shaping them by hand. I then had one of my pressure and stress-induced moments of genius, and polvorón cake pops happened! Luckily it worked out (better than expected, actually), so I didn’t have to come up with a different recipe, and I can quietly sit down to calmly write about this experience. The recipe can easily be adjusted to make more (or less), which is a bonus! So we all lived happily ever after ❤

PREP TIME 20 MINS | COOKING TIME 15 MINS | MAKES 16-20 POPS

INGREDIENTS

1 cup chocolate chips or melts (I used 1 cup each of dark and white chocolate)
1 cup plain flour, sifted
1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted
1/2 cup powdered milk
1/2 cup white sugar
Additional toppings (i.e. crushed nuts or cereal, desiccated coconut, sprinkles, cocoa powder, etc)

METHOD

Using a frying pan or wok, toast the all purpose flour gently on low-medium heat, stirring the flour constantly until it is very lightly browned throughout, about 10-15 minutes. You should notice a change in the aroma of the flour, though the colour change will be very slight, so keep a watchful eye on the pan! Do not overheat, as the resulting taste will be bitter (a helpful tip is to keep a small bowl of all-purpose flour nearby so you can keep checking the colour difference). Once flour is toasted, remove from heat and pour into a large heat-safe mixing bowl.
Make the polvorón mixture by adding the powdered milk and white sugar to flour, stirring until well combined. Add the melted butter and continue to stir (or use hands) until the mixture resembles wet sand, and holds when pinched. At this stage, you can eat some of the polvorón mixture (highly recommended – it’s divine) and add more sugar or powdered milk to your liking. If the polvorón mixture is too dry, add a teaspoon of melted butter.
Using your hands, firmly pack a small amount of the mixture into a 1-inch ball, rolling in between palms to shape. Set completed ball aside on a baking paper-lined plate or small tray, and repeat until the rest of the mixture is used up (should make around 16-20 balls).
Using toothpicks or BBQ skewers (I used BBQ skewers, and cut them in half), very slowly and carefully insert pointed end about 2/3 of the way through each ball. If the ball cracks, gently press around cracked areas and reshape around the inserted skewer. Place the polvorón pops in the fridge to harden while preparing the next step.
Melt chocolate using a double boiler method, being careful not to allow any steam into the chocolate. Alternatively, place into a microwave-safe bowl and heat in the microwave on high for 15 seconds at a time, stirring between intervals, until chocolate is fully melted (please note that you may need to adjust intervals according to your microwave).
Place bowl of melted chocolate on a clean surface, and pour selected toppings separately into small bowls or dishes arranging work surface so that all the bowls and dishes are all adjacent to each other.
Remove polvorón pops from the fridge, and dip one at a time into the melted chocolate mixture (the chocolate will start to set once removed), then immediately into the toppings. Transfer back to the tray and continue dipping and coating the remaining pops.
Serve immediately, or store in a container and keep refrigerated until needed. I’m not exactly sure what the shelf-life of these is, but I’d recommend eating them within 2 weeks – if you can even resist eating them for that long #polvoronparty #theend

ENJOY YOUR MEAL!

Jialing.

Lemon Molten Cakes with Raspberry & Cream

May 10, 2015January 8, 2019 amcarmen2 Comments

Hello Everyone and Happy Mother’s Day to all mothers out there, and most especially to my mother. You are braver than you believe, stronger than you seem, smarter than you think, and loved more than you know. Happy Mother’s Day to you Mumu; love you forever and always, even if we sometimes don’t see eye to eye.

There is nothing more sincere than a mother’s love for her children, and this picture clearly portrays your love for me while I care more about putting my hairband on for the picture (but really I’ve got my eye on the food).

Last week after my Mom’s birthday celebration (and that whole fiasco that I had with baking her cake), I asked her what she wanted me to bake for her for Mother’s Day, and I’m not gonna lie, but said aloud to her, “please not another cake” – the troubles of my mother being born a week before Mother’s Day. We both started thinking for a while, and then I remembered that I wanted to make this cake back when I was still in Sydney. Now I know I said no cakes, but this technically isn’t a massive layered cake, but instead, mini molten lava cakes.

Somewhere back in July last year, I hosted a tea and scones party for some of my favourite ladies, and one male housemate. We had an assortment of tea of course, homemade scones, homemade strawberry jam, and homemade lemon curd. I had a lot of strawberry jam left over, but I had a way of finishing it by having it with toast in the mornings with a cup of tea. Lemon curd on the other hand I had no clue on how to consume it. I then searched for other recipes that used lemon curd, except for the obvious lemon meringue pie/tart since I am not a huge fan of meringue. I then came across this recipe and I instantly knew that this was the recipe that I was going attempt – but never got around to doing so. Reasons? I actually don’t remember. I think it was because the lemon curd had been sitting in the fridge for weeks and probably already off at the time I decided that I want to make these molten cakes. After that, I wasn’t bothered to make a whole new batch of lemon curd just for this dessert to happen. But now for Mother’s Day – I don’t see any better chance to have a go at these!

The original recipe can be found on The Gallery Gourmet and this recipe makes about 8 cakes but I guess differs on the size of your moulds/ramekins.

PREP TIME 15 MINS | COOKING TIME 13-15 MINS | MAKES 4 CAKES

INGREDIENTS

120g white baking chocolate, roughly chopped
100g unsalted butter
3/4 cup Homemade Lemon Curd
2/3 cup plain flour
1/2 cup confectioners’ sugar
4 large free range eggs, lightly beaten
4 large free range egg yolks, lightly beaten
2 tsp freshly grated lemon zest
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
Pinch of salt

Accompaniments

Confectioners’ sugar for dusting
Whipped cream
Fresh raspberries

METHOD

Preheat the oven to 220C (425F or gas mark 7). Grease 8 ramekins with softened butter or non-stick baking spray. Place them onto a baking tray and set aside.
Melt the butter and white chocolate in a large microwave-safe bowl, stirring every 15 seconds (for a total of 60-90 seconds) until melted and smooth. Remove from the microwave and whisk until smooth.
Add the flour, sugar and salt; mix well. Then add in the eggs, egg yolks, lemon curd, lemon zest, and vanilla extract and whisk until well blended. Divide the batter evenly into the prepared ramekins.
Bake for about 13-15 minutes or until the edges are just starting to to turn golden brown, and the centre is puffy and just beginning to set. Transfer the ramekins to a wire rack and let cool for 5 minutes.
Run the tip of a paring knife around the edges of the cakes to loosen them and then invert the cakes onto small dessert plates or dishes.
Dust the top with confectioners’ sugar, garnish with fresh raspberries, and serve with whipped cream.
Share with the family (or friends) and enjoy!

PS: I completely forgot about the whipped cream when I was photographing the cakes, and by the time I had the cream ready and whipped, I found out that my Mom and my sister had already dug into the perfect molten cake that I specifically set aside for my photograph (the other cakes weren’t as runny as the one I had opened for the photo). The whipped cream nicely balances out the sweetness and tartness of the cakes.

BON APPÉTIT

– Ally xx

Sadhana Kitchen

February 8, 2015January 5, 2019 amcarmen2 Comments

Hello Everyone! Not only is it another Review Sunday but it is also my 100th post on the blog! 10 months ago I started this blog out of pure procrastination. Basically I was bored over the Easter break and was in no mood to tackle the many assignments that I had at the time for uni. Thus this blog was born. I have long been interested in food even way before 10 months ago, and was encouraged by many to start up a blog. I can say now that what was once just hobby, I have now grown to put much more effort into each dish that I prepare and into each blog post that goes up 3 times a week. I don’t want to say that blogging is now my ‘job’ as it sounds a little bit like ‘I have to do it’ kind of thing. It’s not about me having to do a blog post for everyone out there, but it is more like I do it because I want to do it – if that makes any sense? Anyway, I am just super happy about how well I have been doing with my blog and I have some exciting new changes coming up in the next few months. I am also looking to building up my followers both on wordpress and other social media platforms such as Facebook and Instagram, so if any of you guys out there have any tips on how to do this, your help/knowledge will be much appreciated!

Now on to today’s post – Sadhana Kitchen! I first came to know about this little gem through posts on Instagram from various food bloggers. What attracted me to their menu was that the food they served was always so colourful through the uploads I came across while browsing through my newsfeed. The great thing about Sadhana Kitchen, even though it does not really matter in my case, is that they are gluten-free, organic, raw, and vegan – Sydney’s first organic wholefoods and raw foods café. Now, when I made mention that it does not really matter to me, I meant that I am not gluten intolerant, nor am I a vegan, but I was quite intrigued as to what kind of foods do those with dietary requirements eat since I am a person who can eat almost anything and everything. I often find myself saying how I’d never go vegetarian or vegan because I love meat too much to give it up but after paying a visit to Sadhana Kitchen, I have a whole new appreciation for healthy, organic, and raw superfoods. Though I don’t think that I will ever find myself converting, maybe not right now that is. I can’t say what will happen in the future, maybe tomorrow I will wake up and suddenly transform into a ‘crazy vegan lady’ as one of the waitresses mentioned about her obsession over veganism.

I’ve been here a total of two times, both with friends whom I know to have an appreciation for healthy foods but not necessarily vegans themselves. I thought that they’d be the perfect company for a nice weekend lunch. What was funny though was that one of my friends that I went with (she who shall not be named, but you know who you are), actually asked the lady at the counter if they put any ice cream in their smoothies – I mean, even after my other friend and I explained to her that they would definitely not put ice cream in their smoothies since its all about the vegan. The lady gave her a sort of weirded out look and said that they only use frozen fruits in their smoothies. Though I felt bad, I could not stop laughing on the inside.

This place I feel could do with a lot more seating space. Both times that I’ve been, and not even on the hour when normal people have their breakfast and/or lunch, like I’m talking 2 o’clock in the afternoon, it’s always packed. The first time we visited we were lucky enough to snag the only table left, but the second time around we weren’t so lucky. We waited about 20 minutes before we could run and grab a table, and after we did the place started empty out slowly.

FRAPPES: PITAYA PUNCH
Pitaya (dragon fruit), strawberries, banana, and orange ($9.50)

I love dragon fruit, but even though this is called a ‘pitaya’ smoothie, the banana taste came across more predominantly. A refreshing smoothie nonetheless and had a very vibrant colour to it which made it even more appealing to the eye.

GREEN SMOOTHIES: COOL MINT
Seasonal greens, orange, mango, and flax seeds. Vitamin, mineral, and fibre booster with omega-3 fatty acids ($9.50)

Though I wasn’t quite sure about what greens were added to the smoothie (but I’m guessing either kale, spinach, or even both), the mint flavour really came through. Again, refreshing for a warm summer day.

SUPERFOOD SMOOTHIES: WARRIOR SMOOTHIE
Blueberries, raspberries, banana, sprouted brown rice protein powder, chia seeds, coconut oil, mesquite, and almonds. Packed with muscle building cholesterol free protein, omega-3 for brain function, and calcium & manganese for healthy bones ($9.50)

The epic of smoothies! Very thick though so it was a bit difficult to drink from the straw.

RAW SANDWICHES: BLAT
Sadhana coconut bacon, lettuce, avocado, tomato, coriander and house-made mayo, in between two sliced of onion bread ($14.50)

What intrigued me about this dish was the ‘coconut bacon’ which basically was just coconut that was made to look like bacon and even had the texture of bacon. I’m not sure about whether it’s an innovative way of thinking from Sadhana Kitchen, as in if it’s actually already a thing that someone else came up with, but definitely creative idea!

SADHANA LASAGNE
Layers of zucchini pasta, cultured cashew cheeze, basil pesto, walnut mince, wilted spinach, and chunky tomato sauce ($15.50)

This was the dish that I had the first time I came around to visiting Sadhana Kitchen. Don’t be fooled by the size of it on the dish, it actually filled me up good! Loved the flavours of the dish and that walnut mince really looked like meat mince that you’d find in your traditional lasagne.

CARROT AND WALNUT FALAFEL PLATE
Carrot and walnut falafels served with seasonal greens, pickles, olives, zucchini hummus, and beet dip ($16.50)

This was the other dish that I had the second time around. I initially wanted to order their Prana Pad Thai which had kelp and zucchini noodles, but they unfortunately ran out. I had no regrets though because this dish did not only look pretty on the plate and appealing to the eye, it had great flavour and was also surprisingly filling (just not a filling as the lasagne of course). The ‘falafels’ had a nice crunch to them as well as a roasted flavour. The dips complimented them nicely and the salad on the side really enhanced the flavours that it needed to bring it to the next level of flavour satisfaction.

SADHANA SUPER BOWL
Shredded kale, house-made sauerkraut, cherry tomato, cucumber, and pesto zoodles served with Brazil nut cheddar, sundried tomato, and smoked paprika hummus ($17.50)

I’m not quite sure as to how this dish tasted, only because this wasn’t my dish to consume. I had a taste of the zoodles (zucchini noodle) but that was basically it. To me, this dish looked like a bowl of vegetables – that’s it really, though my friend did find it quite satisfying.

SNICKERS CHEEZECAKE
Cashews, almonds, walnuts, desiccated coconut, coconut oil, coconut sugar, vanilla, dates, sesame, and salt ($12.50)

This cheezecake was made with layers of nougat creme, milk chocolate, and chocolate ganache topped with caramelised nut clusters. Probably my favourite from the two of the cakes we had. The flavour really came through as it almost tasted like a traditional snickers bar – when I say traditional, I mean it in a way that it doesn’t taste like the vegan alternative.

WHITE CHOCOLATE & SALTED CARAMEL BANOFFEE PIE
Cashews, desiccated coconut, coconut oil, stevia, cacao butter, sesame, vanilla, dates, maca, mesquite, and lucuma salt ($12.50)

This banoffee pie was made of layers of banana creme, salted caramel creme, and white chocolate creme on a walnut & coconut biscuit base. The name itself was already enough for me to be sold on ordering it, but I must say that that was probably the only good thing about it, the name. I don’t know what it was, but the cake didn’t quite tickle my fancy. I think it was the taste of it? Like the banana tasted a bit off, not that they used a bad banana, but it was more like you know it’s supposed to be banana, but it doesn’t taste like banana kind of thing. It was also the cake that was ignored for a while on the table when we dug into our desserts.

SALTED CARAMEL SUNDAE COCOWHIP
Twisted SK coconut cocowhip, topped with half a caramel slice, cacao nibs, himalayan pink salt, and house made superfood caramel sauce ($13.00)

The second time we came around to visiting Sadhana Kitchen, it was all about the cocowhip hype. To be honest, it was alright. Loved the added toppings, but I felt like the cocowhip was a little bit too soft. By the time we dug in and had about 2-3 spoons each, it was almost like soup, and it wasn’t even a particularly hot day as well for it to melt so fast!

Before I end, here are a few things that you might want to know about organic/raw foods, and veganism:

Veganism is the practice of abstaining from the use of animal products and by-products, particularly in diet.
Foods that are prepared and processed without exceeding 40°C are known to be raw. This way of preparation allows the food’s natural enzymes to stay intact, which in return gives your body the most benefit and easy digestion.
The best place to start improving your health is by improving what you eat. This is the main reason why Sadhana Kitchen insist on using only pure, organic seasonal produce that is free from harmful toxins to create delicious dishes.

Overall, I would definitely recommend this place for those who are fans of organic and raw foods, and of course those who are all about the vegan. I would also recommend this for those who are experimenting with food and are open to broadening their palettes. Like I said, I would probably never go vegan myself, but having experienced the foods has really made me appreciate how else it can be prepared and still be as filling and delicious as what I am used to eating. The food is a definite 8.5 out of 10 for me. Their main menu was the stand out, but their dessert disappointed a bit, even though I was even more excited for their dessert menu. Service was good, and the ambience could be a bit better. Value for money is variable, I don’t know about spending $12.50 for a slice of cake. I definitely hope to visit again soon as I am curious to know what the vegan substitute for their ‘eggs benny’ is and their prana pad thai with kelp and zucchini noodles looks too good to pass up! *drooling*

Sadhana Kitchen
147 Enmore Road
Enmore, New South Wales
Australia, 2042

– Ally xx

AMCARMEN'S KITCHEN

A Third Culture Foodie

Tag: White Chocolate

Raspberry, Almond, and White Chocolate Bread Pudding with Vanilla Cream Sauce

PREP TIME 1 HOUR | COOKING TIME 1 HOUR | SERVES 6-8

Sweet Purple Sweet Potato Toasts (3 ways)

Preparing your Sweet Potato Toasts

PREP TIME 10 MINS | COOKING TIME 20 MINS* | MAKES 5 SLICES**

Blackberries & Buttermilk Caramelised White Chocolate

Banana, Blueberries & Peanut Butter

Strawberries & Goats Cheese with Balsamic Reduction

Blueberry Bread Pudding

PREP TIME 1 HOUR | COOKING TIME 1 HOUR | SERVES 12

Blueberry Lemon & White Chocolate Scones

PREP TIME 20 MINS | COOKING TIME 20-25 MINS | SERVES 12 SCONES

White Chocolate Snickerdoodle Blondies

PREP TIME 15 MINS | COOKING TIME 30-35 MINS | SERVES 12-15 BARS

Brendon’s Cookies & Cream

PREP TIME 30 MINS | COOKING TIME 15 MINS | SERVES 2-3

Polvorón Pops (Popvoróns)™

PREP TIME 20 MINS | COOKING TIME 15 MINS | MAKES 16-20 POPS

Lemon Molten Cakes with Raspberry & Cream

PREP TIME 15 MINS | COOKING TIME 13-15 MINS | MAKES 4 CAKES

Sadhana Kitchen