Sweeten Up Your Sweetheart With Pistachio-Avocado Cream

Posted on February 15, 2013 by April

I have to admit, I’m pretty dubious about the idea of aphrodisiatic foods. Desire is a pretty tricky thing to pin down, for one. But the placebo effect is a powerful thing, too, and I’m certain many people think aphrodesiacs work because they want to believe they do.

With that, I’ll leave it to my fellow Eaters to explain what science and folklore have to say about the avocado’s purportedly amorous qualities (the Aztecs are sure to come up). In the meantime, I’ll instead try to sell you on the idea of avocados as a sweet food.

Because why not? They’re smooth, rich and creamy, and there’s nothing inherently savory about them. Avocados have long been a popular milkshake flavor in Vietnam. In this country, vegans discovered long ago that they make a tasty dairy-free base for chocolate pudding.

Lucky for us, the idea is catching on. You’re increasingly likely to find avocado ice cream or gelato at swanky shops in the summer months.

In the meantime, why not try this Persian-inspired, pudding-like pistachio-avocado cream? There’s no cooking required, so it couldn’t be easier.

I found inspiration in this California Avocado Commission recipe, which uses Crème de Cacao. But I made a number of tweaks based on my love for Indian sweets and the delectable orange blossom-pistachio cupcakes my dear friend, Rubina, baked recently for a wedding.

If you’re partial to Indian or Middle Eastern sweets, you’re likely to enjoy this treat, too — even if the sweet avocado idea seems strange. And if it leaves you feeling romantic, well, added bonus! Maybe those Aztecs were onto something ….

Pistachio-Avocado Cream

I think subbing rosewater for the orange blossom would make for an equally delicious flavor. One word of warning, though — both rosewater and orange blossom water can quickly overwhelm a dish. It’s best to start with a small amount and add just a wee bit more at a time, tasting as you go. Also, you’ll notice most ingredients below are “to taste.” Again, you’ll want to taste while you’re mixing things together to end up with a flavor balance that suits you.

1 large avocado
1 1/2 to 2 tablespoons lime juice (to taste)
1/2 cup powdered sugar (to taste)
3/4 cups roasted, shelled (unsalted) pistachios
2 1/2 teaspoons orange blossom water (start here, then add more, 1/4 teaspoon at a time, to taste)
1/4 cup coconut milk
1/2 to 1 teaspoon ground cardamom (to taste)
1/2 cup heavy cream, whipped to stiff peaks

Grind pistachios until fine in a food processor or blender. Add all additional ingredients except the heavy cream and blend until smooth, scraping down as needed. Taste and make any flavor adjustments you like. Scrape into a bowl and fold in the whipped cream until your dessert is incorporated — but don’t stir too much, or you’ll lose all the whipped cream’s lift. Enjoy!

Makes about 4 small ramekins

Tagged with: avocado, cardamom, coconut milk, creme de cacao, Dessert, pistachio, pudding, whipped cream
Posted in Sweet

My Sweet Nightmare

Posted on January 25, 2013 by Sarah

Here’s a tip: never look at the nutritional content of cheesecake. I made that mistake years ago after buying a whole one from a chain that shall remain nameless. The calorie and fat content still haunt me to this day. The only way to conquer my fear is to face it.

Welcome to my nightmare. Time to make it over.

My challenge didn’t seem quite so challenging. Cheesecake is traditionally sweet … in other words, lots of sugar. And let’s not forget all that fat from the cream cheese and the butter. It all adds up.

To start, I checked out some recipes in my cookbooks and online. I saw some healthier alternatives for the cream cheese filling using tofu or lower-fat cream cheese. They all seemed to use a combination of ingredients that were lower in fat and calories, and all around healthier. To try to achieve the consistency of cheesecake, I settled on a combo of Neufchatel cheese and Greek yogurt.

As a special request from my hubby, I made a chocolate cheesecake. Of course, in choosing chocolate we are going to have more calories than if we went with a plain or vanilla cheesecake. To compensate with a healthier option, I used dark chocolate. Health benefits galore! It decreases the risk of stroke and heart disease, lowers blood pressure and the bad LDL cholesterol, and it’s full of antioxidants and fiber.

My favorite element of cheesecake is that graham cracker crust. I could seriously just flip my slice over and munch up that crunchy, dense bottom. Is that gross? Ok … moving on. As much as I love graham cracker and want to keep it, I thought it was a perfect place to experiment. The recipe I went with replaced the crust with a simple almond meal. I found it to be a little bland and didn’t have that consistency I wanted. Next time I would add in some crushed up almonds or walnuts … something to get that crunch back into the crust.

And lastly, how to tackle “the sweet”? I haven’t done much baking using alternative sweeteners. Sugar is in my bloodstream … passed down from generations and generations. Whatever alternative I was going to choose, it had to be natural. This recipe uses honey in the filling to sweeten it. I found that this wasn’t quite enough to cut the richness of all the dark chocolate, but I solved this by eating more raspberries with my bites of cheesecake.

In the end, I learned that making a healthy, sweet cheesecake wasn’t quite as scary as I thought it would be. There are TONS of options for changing the filling, the crust, and replacing the sweet component. Cheesecake makes an awesome vessel for experimentation.

Dark Chocolate Cheesecake with Almond Crust
I found my inspiration on Pidge’s Pantry, tweaked slightly.

Crust
3 cups almond meal
½ cup unsalted butter, melted

Filling
16 ounces Neufchatel cheese, at room temperature
6 ounces plain Greek yogurt
4 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
½ teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons honey
3 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
7 ounces dark chocolate (around 85 percent cocoa)
2 ounces semi-sweet chocolate
2 tablespoons soy milk

Topping

8 ounces dark chocolate (around 70percent cocoa)
fresh raspberries

To make the crust, combine the almond meal and melted butter. Press into the bottom of a 9-inch springform pan. Bake at 350 degrees for about 10 minutes to set the crust. When done, remove from oven and set aside.

Using a mixer, combine the cheese and soy milk, beating until it is smooth and fluffy, about 2 minutes. While it is beating, melt the 7 ounces dark and 2 ounces semi-sweet chocolate using a double boiler (or a makeshift one: I like to use a small Pyrex mixing bowl, set over a small pan of boiling water, to melt chocolate. But be careful not to get any water in the chocolate — it will ruin it).

Add the eggs to the mixer and beat another minute. Add the vanilla, yogurt and honey till combined. Then add the cocoa powder, mixing to combine. While the mixer is running, pour in the melted chocolate and mix until it is fully incorporated. Pour the mixture into the pan and spread it evenly over the almond crust.

Boil 4 cups of water and pour into a pan. Place the pan on the bottom rack of the oven. This will help to keep the cheesecake moist as it bakes. Bake the cheesecake at 350 degrees for 30 to 35 minutes. When done, the top will be firm and slightly cracked. Allow to cool completely before removing the side of the springform pan.

To make the topping, melt the 8 ounces dark chocolate in a double boiler. Allow the chocolate to cool for about 10 minutes and pour over the top of the cheesecake evenly. You can smooth the top with a butter knife, allowing some to fall off the sides here and there. Top with raspberries.

Tagged with: almond, cheesecake, cream cheese, dark chocolate, gluten free, healthy, honey, raspberries, yogurt
Posted in Sweet

Spice Things Up With Some Spirited Pecans

Posted on December 14, 2012 by April

Nothing like some holiday spirits to inspire a gift idea. In this case, bourbon and dark rum.

I’d never liked bourbon until, several years ago, my brother-in-law poured a splash into the whipped cream that topped a Thanksgiving pumpkin pie. It’s a bit of a tradition in my husband’s family, and now I can’t imagine a holiday pie without a little extra spirit. This year, we dolloped our bourbon whipped cream on a fantastic pecan bourbon pie.

Mmmm … pecans and bourbon. Now there’s a nice combo. It got me thinking that a spiked pecan blend would make a lovely contribution to a holiday party, or, with some pretty packaging, a tasty gift.

Problem was, by the time I had this epiphany, we’d already polished off our bourbon. Luckily, most any rich, dark spirit pairs well with pecans — like dark rum, for example. And we had plenty of that in the house: good old Captain Morgan, and a much higher-shelf El Dorado 15. With my alcohol picked out, I set to work on technique.

There are several standard methods for mixing nuts and spices. The folks at Cooks Illustrated note that a common one, coating the nuts with a sweet egg-white wash, gives you a pretty candy-like product. I wanted something a bit lighter, so I instead riffed on their suggested approach: Toast your nuts, stir them into a butter/sugar/spirit mixture on the stove, and toss with a sweet spice mixture. The best part, aside that these are addictively delicious, is that they are super-duper easy to make. They come together faster than you can polish off your tumbler.

So give it a whirl, and then give them away. Or maybe you’ll just want to chop and sprinkle them over the spiked whipped cream that tops your next holiday pie.

Rum Spiced Pecans
Adapted from Cook’s Illustrated, via WBUR’s On Point

2 cups raw pecan halves
4 tablespoons sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons table salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg
2 tablespoons dark rum
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
4 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 teaspoons brown sugar

In a 350 degree oven, toast the pecans on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper until they start to darken and smell roasty. This will take about 8 minutes or so. Halfway through, turn your cooking sheet so you toast the nuts evenly. Then place the cookie sheet on a rack to cool.

While the nuts are toasting, make the spice mix by stirring the ingredients above from the sugar through nutmeg together in a medium bowl.

When your nuts are no longer hot, bring the rum through brown sugar to a boil in a medium saucepan, stirring constantly, over medium-high heat. Add the pecans and stir, stir, stir until the liquid is evaporated (about two minutes or so).

Pour the nuts into the spice mix bowl, tossing until they’re nicely coated. Pour them back onto the parchment-covered baking sheet to cool.

Tagged with: bourbon, cream, Dessert, nuts, pecans, rum, whipped cream
Posted in Sweet