I've been thinking about banana pudding for awhile. When I decided to make a batch, I thought about skipping the vanilla cookies entirely but I ultimately came to my senses. I went all the way and made my own cookies.
I based my vanilla cookies on the sugar cookie recipe from the King Arthur cookbook but with some substitutions: butter for the shortening and heavy cream for the buttermilk.
The result was a spheroid cookie that was also pretty dense. The heavy cream was a little too thick for this purpose and didn't let the cookie flatten out in the oven. I thought about making another batch with something a little thinner but I ultimately decided to use them in the pudding.
For the pudding, I used the recipe from the Better Homes and Gardens cookbook substituting heavy cream for milk. I heated the cream and sugar, then used it to temper the egg yolks.
I cooked the cream, egg yolks, butter, and cornstarch until thick. When it was ready, I coated the bottom of my pan with a thin layer.
I put down a layer of cookies and added some milk chocolate niblets. Next, another layer of pudding.
A layer of bananas went in next, followed by the final layer of pudding.
I had reserved the egg whites. I whipped them into a foam and layered them on top of the pudding. In everything went into the oven for about 10 minutes.
The result was beautiful but I could have done better. I used slightly less sugar than the recipe called for but it was still a little too sweet for my taste. The cookies were also a bit dense. But there will always be a next time...
I made candied ginger a few years ago. It's not something I would do every day but I had a lot of fun doing it. I recently acquired a pressure cooker and it inspired an interesting idea to me: why not make candied ginger in the pressure cooker? It should be very soft and flavorful. Here is the result. I peeled two large ginger roots, cut them into small cubes, and put them in the pressure cooker with heavily sugared water. The traditional method first boils the ginger in plain water to soften it and then again in sugar water to candy it. The resulting candy was very tender but still with the characteristic ginger texture. It was also sweet without being overpowering. The traditional method leaves a lot of sugar crystallized around the ginger. The pressure cooker gives a much more subtle result. The ginger stays moist even after it cools but you can dry it in the oven at 350 degrees for about 10 minutes. That inspired me to dip it in chocolate. While I was in the b...









Comments
Post a Comment