Dessert – Page 2 – Goboroot.com

Rhubarb Cream Cheese Cornmeal Muffins

It’s getting a bit difficult for me to create yet another rhubarb recipe after having already included several in my blog. Nonetheless, I came up with this cornmeal muffin idea in a delightfully whimsical manner.

I knew I wanted to cook some rhubarb from the garden so I started daydreaming and burrowing my face into the fur of one of my Labradors. If you are a dog owner, you know what I’m talking about! “Oh, you smell like cornmeal behind your ear…” Yes, the light bulb went off! Another strange coincidence was when I opened my food recipe journal and the first thing I saw was this old wrinkled handwritten recipe that read “Blueberry cornbread muffins.” I’m not kidding you here. It must be a 12 year-old-recipe because I used to hand copy recipes from food magazines just after I came to Canada for the sake of improving my English! I don’t remember ever having baked it though. Haha, it’s really funny… it appeared at just the right time to give me a clue as to what recipe I should share next.

mint_tea

Rhubarb Cream Cheese Cornmeal Muffins

Makes 12 small muffins

2 cups rhubarb, cut into ½ inch pieces

6 tablespoons cane sugar

½ package (250g) cream cheese, room temperature and cut into cubes

¼ cup sugar

1¾ cups cake flour (I used this instead of all-purpose because it ran out)

¾ cup cornmeal (fine textured)

2/3 cup cane sugar

½ teaspoon salt

1 tablespoon baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 1/3 cups 2% milk

1 large whole egg plus 2 egg whites

2 tablespoons canola oil

Place rhubarb and the sugar in a small saucepan over medium high heat, cook to dissolve sugar and continue until just before the rhubarb loses its shape. Strain the excess juice for another use (see below). Let cool.

In a bowl, beat the cream cheese and sugar until smooth.

Preheat the oven to 375F.

Combine the flour, cornmeal, sugar, salt, baking powder and baking soda well in a bowl. In a separate mixing bowl, combine all remaining ingredients except cream cheese and whisk until smooth. Then, pour the wet ingredients into the flour mixture. Mix just until all the ingredients are moist. Add the rhubarb and lightly mix with a spatula.

Pour the batter into a muffin cup-lined tin and spoon a big dollop of the cream cheese into each muffin cup. Bake until golden brown, for about 20 minutes. A cake tester inserted into the centre should come out clean. Let cool.

Serve warm or at room temperature. Store any leftovers in an airtight container and refrigerate.

Mint Tea

A bunch of mint leaves

Hot water

Wash the mint and cut into 1 inch pieces. Place the mint in a teapot (a jar in my case), pour hot water over top and steep for a few minutes. Strain into individual cups.

Rhubarb Refresher

Ice cubes

Extracted rhubarb juice (from above recipe)

Dash of lemon juice

Carbonated water or club soda and/or rum!

A sprig of mint leaves

Freestyle to accommodate whatever one’s heart desires.

Rhubarb Custard Ice Cream

I realized that there was no better time to create this recipe than when my neighbour’s daughter, who lives on a farm, handed me two and a half dozen colourful eggs that she had just gathered. Immediately I thought about turning them into omelettes with chunks of goat cheese and chives, adding them to pancakes, making a pudding… oh, yes, there seemed to be too many possibilities.

However, last year, when I wrote the rhubarb tart recipe, I already had a special ice cream recipe in mind to introduce when my rhubarb returned. So today, I finally made a custard ice cream mixture and combined it with my long awaited seasonal treat: rhubarb. As I had been itching for the rhubarb stalks to become tall enough, it was the perfect timing. There is something irresistible about this combination, which features just the right tartness combined with a sweet, creamy egginess. This ice cream will make a special dessert to share with my friend who recently invited us to her dinner party, as she is quite passionate about rhubarb!

freshly_picked_rhubarb

Rhubarb Custard Ice Cream

This recipe involves creating three elements: the rhubarb stew, the custard ice cream mixture, and the honey ginger cookies.. Churn the ice cream a few hours before serving time and freeze to achieve the best texture—this will allow each component to stand on its own instead of being totally absorbed together. It may sound like a lot to accomplish, but it’s really not. All you must do is organize your time wisely and then it’s as easy as pie!

Makes about 1 quart

Rhubarb Stew

3 cups rhubarb, chopped into 1 inch pieces

¼ cup plus 1 tablespoon cane sugar

1 teaspoon freshly squeezed lemon juice

Place the rhubarb and sugar in a small saucepan and cook over medium high heat until no shape is visible. You can agitate the rhubarb pieces here and there to help dissolve. Add the lemon juice and stir.

Cool, transfer to a container and refrigerate overnight.

Custard Ice Cream Mixture

2 cups whole milk

1 vanilla bean, split lengthwise and scraped

6 large egg yolks

½ cup plus 1 tablespoon cane sugar

1 cup whipping cream (Avalon’s organic one is my favourite)

Bring the milk and vanilla pod with pulp to a gentle boil in a saucepan over medium heat. Remove from the heat, cover and let sit for 10 minutes to infuse the milk.

While waiting, prepare a large bowl filled with ice cubes that can hold the finished custard mixture in a small bowl. This will speed up the cooling process. Set aside a small bowl.

Whisk the egg yolks in a medium bowl and add sugar; continue to whisk until well combined. Whilst whisking, gently add a quarter of the hot milk into the yolks. Continue to whisk, and add the rest of the milk in a steady stream. Discard the pod. Return the egg yolk mixture to the saucepan.

Bring the mixture to a gentle boil over medium heat and whisk continuously until thickened, for about 5 minutes. Do not over boil. Strain the mixture through a sieve into the prepared small bowl. Set the bowl on the ice cubes. Add some water to the ice bath. Stir constantly until cool.

Add the whipping cream and stir to combine, then refrigerate overnight.

Honey Ginger Cookies

1/3 cup butter, room temperature

1/3 cup sugar

1 large egg

1 tablespoon honey

½ teaspoon ginger juice extracted from a piece of grated ginger

2/3 cup rolled oats, milled finely in a food processor

1 cup cake flour

½ teaspoon baking powder

A pinch of salt

Sift the flour, baking powder and salt together; set aside. Cream the butter in a large bowl with a beater. Add the sugar and stir well until fluffy. While beating, add the egg, honey, and ginger juice and combine well.

Switch to a spatula, add the oat and flour mixture and combine until flour is not visible. The mixture will be very soft, but no worries. Try to form it into a ball and store in a Ziploc bag; flatten to make a disk shape and place in the freezer for about 30 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 320F. Flour the work surface and roll the dough with a rolling pin to 1/3 inch thickness, trying to form a square shape. Using a knife, cut into 2 inch squares. Transfer to a baking sheet lined with parchment paper and bake until golden, for about 15 to 20 minutes.

Cool and store in an airtight container.

Next day, place the rhubarb container in the freezer while you churn the custard mixture according to the manufacturer’s instructions. By individually freezing custard and rhubarb before layering, it will be easy to achieve the separation between the two.

Transfer half the custard ice cream to the bottom of a large container, and dot with the half portion of semi-frozen rhubarb. You can reserve some cookies to serve on the side of the finished ice cream. Break the rest of the cookies into 1 inch pieces and stud half of them between the rhubarb and into the custard. Repeat another layer on top. Flatten the surface and freeze for a few hours before serving.

Carrot 3 Ways

If you are like me you may tend to fall into a routine and continue for a long time without a clear purpose: in this case, I’m talking about the drinking coffee routine. When mindlessly following a routine, you may lose sight of the fact that what you’re doing isn’t at all healthy. Examples of this phenomena are shown in the movie “Food Matters,” which sends a strong message that what you eat is what you are. In the last few years since I started my garden, my partner and I have totally changed the way we live and eat, mostly for the better. However, if we are not paying attention, our best efforts to live more healthfully and consciously could be subverted.

For the longest time, I’ve woken up in the mornings and immediately begun looking forward to a cup of coffee. That is, until my friend suggested that I cut back on my morning intake to improve my health. For sure, I love coffee’s aroma and richly sweet taste, but mostly I love the idea of enjoying a cozy morning routine, which for so long has featured a cup of coffee.

After discussing “Food Matters” with yet another friend, we both decided to majorly cut back on coffee. We still haven’t finished watching the whole movie yet, but definitely got the message in the first 20 minutes. My routine shifted from a cup of coffee to a cup of matcha latte and then to freshly made raw juice, thanks to our friends’ influences. However, I still allow myself a cup of coffee now and then when I have the chance to visit BEAUCOUP BAKERY & CAFÉ, Le Marché St. George, or a few other neat places in Vancouver whose artistry and cozy atmospheres are just too hard to resist! So try this juice, slaw and if you need the coziness, I also baked for you a decadent cake made with another harvest from the spring cleanup.

carrot_cake

Carrot Juice

Serves 2

1cup carrot, washed, peeled and roughly chopped

1 small apple, peeled and cored

2 large oranges, peeled

¼ of whole pineapple, rind removed, cored and roughly chopped

2 ice cubes

Place all the ingredients in a blender (we adore our Vitamix for this), and blend until smooth. Add water to achieve your preferred consistency and serve.

Carrot Slaw

Serves 4

4 large carrots, peeled and julienned

2 garlic cloves, roughly chopped

1 small knob ginger, chopped

A handful of chives, roughly chopped

¼ cup rice vinegar

½ teaspoon cane sugar

1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon soy sauce

1 tablespoon toasted sesame oil

2 tablespoons white sesame seeds, roasted in a skillet

2 tablespoons tahini

Combine garlic, ginger, chives, vinegar, sugar, soy sauce, sesame oil and tahini in the bowl of a food processor and proceed to blend well. If you don’t have a food processor, don’t worry, but just chop everything fine, place in a jar and shake well to blend.

In a large bowl, mix the carrots and the dressing well and chill. You can serve in a couple of hours. If you have leftovers, the dish is indeed very tasty the next day. I would sneak this slaw into a sandwich made with leftover cold pork tenderloin sliced along with lots of cilantro leaves or whatever is on hand (or in the fridge) the next day.

Carrot Lemon Cake

Makes 9 x 5 x 3 inch loaf pan

1 cup butter plus extra for greasing, room temperature

1/3 cup plus 1 tablespoon sugar

3 large eggs, room temperature, beaten

1 cup grated carrot

2 tablespoons sour cream

Lemon zest from 1 lemon

1 tablespoon fresh orange juice

1 ½ cups cake flour plus extra for dusting

2 teaspoons baking powder

¼ teaspoon salt

Icing

2 to 3 tablespoons lemon juice

¾ cup icing sugar

Combine the flour, baking powder and salt, mix well and set aside. Grease the pan with extra butter, dust flour removing the excess and keep refrigerated until the batter is ready. Preheat the oven to 350F.

Cream the butter with an electric beater in a large bowl until fluffy. While continuously beating, add the sugar in a few installments and beat until well combined. Add eggs gradually and beat to blend. Switch to a whisk, add the carrot, sour cream, ½ lemon zest and orange juice, and stir to combine. Proceed rhythmically by beating the batter each time you add an ingredient.

Add 1/3 of the flour mixture into the batter and incorporate. Switch to a spatula, add the rest of the flour mixture and gently combine until no flour is visible.

Bake until tested skewer comes out clean, for about 50 minutes. In the meantime, make icing. Place the sugar in a small bowl and add the lemon juice and the rest of the lemon zest a small amount at a time. Stir well, making a smooth consistency.

Let the cake stand for 10 minutes, and then remove from the pan to cool. Drizzle the icing over top. Slice and serve at room temperature.