Tiramisu

Time for another dessert that's bad for you, but oh-so-great on the taste buds!  We in the Calico Kitchen, yes even including Bow-Tie Calico, think that it's OK to have these waist-increasing treats, as long as they are taken in moderation along with healthy food and enough exercise.

Tiramisu is Italian for "pick me up", which is exactly how you'll feel after trying this sumptuous dessert.  The combination of biscuits, coffee, cheese, chocolate and eggs that somehow come together in a taste explosion in your mouth is a distinctive experience.  You'll need to try it to see what I mean.

Da Original Gangstur has been wanting to make this for a while, so we finally decided to give it a try.  It wasn't too hard to find a simple recipe.

There's a nearby Italian deli so we were able to find good biscuits and mascarpone.  The mascarpone is expensive but improves the dish.


Ingredients

• 125 ml strong coffee (1/2 cup)
  
• 60 ml Kahlua liqueur (1/4 cup).  Rum is a good alternative
• 4 eggs, separated
• 60ml sugar(1/4 cup)
• 250g mascarpone cheese, room temperature (2 x 8oz. packages)  If you can't find mascarpone, and I mean after really trying, then cream cheese will be acceptable.
• 250g package of lady fingers (8 oz)
• About 30 g of cocoa powder for sprinkling on top.  (1 oz)  Alternatively, you can finely grate some chocolate.

Beat the egg yolks

Directions

The egg yolks, sugar and cheese

1. Combine the coffee and Kahlua, and set aside to cool.
2. Beat egg yolks. Add sugar gradually until well mixed. Add cream cheese and mix well. 
3. In another bowl, whip egg whites until soft peaks form. Fold into the cheese mixture.  Be careful to mix these as little as possible, otherwise the egg white foam will collapse.
4. Spread a layer of cheese mixture into a glass serving bowl. Dip lady fingers into the coffee mixture and cover cheese layer.
5. Repeat the layers until the pan is full
6. Sprinke chocolate on top
7. Refrigerate 6 hours or overnight.

Whip the egg whites

Layer the biscuits and egg and cheese mixture

Sprinkle with cocoa

And, of course, Bow-Tie Calico approves.

 

Bacon and Egg Breakfast Muffins

This is another favourite of ours.  It takes a little bit of time to prepare, but is oh-so-dee-lish.  We generally try to stick to having it for special occasions only, as there are quite a few calories in one of these.

Some of us may be familiar with this type of breakfast treat, from one or more of the American fast-food chains. Is this version better?  You decide.

This is not really the type of dish that needs a recipe, but it's amazing how many people have not thought of making it.  So, in the best tradition of stating the obvious, here we go.


Ingredients for each muffin

• an English muffin
• an egg
• a slice or two of bacon.  Back bacon (aka Canadian bacon) is good too, and a slice of ham is another option.  Or skip the meat altogether if that's your thing.
• A slice of cheese.  Swiss is good, but any other "meltable" cheese is fine, too.

Directions

1. Cook the bacon. It should be put into a cold pan and cooked slowly until perfection.   For best results, it should be chewy and not very crisp.  Remove the bacon from the pan and place on a paper towel to drain.  Wipe out the pan and return it to the stove for the next step.
2. Fry the eggs.  This can be done with a hotter pan than the bacon.  Partway through cooking, flip them over to help cook the yolk until it's just hard.  A minute or so before the eggs are done, top it with the slice of cheese so it melts just a bit.
3. Optional: put some herbs and spices on the egg when it's first put into the pan.  We like freshly ground black pepper and dried basil.  But other flavours are good, too.  A little bit of cumin goes especially good with eggs.
4. While the eggs are cooking, toast the muffins.
5. Assemble the muffin.  Stack the egg and cheese on the muffin and top with bacon.

Enjoy.  You'll see why we think that this is a treat and loaded with calories because, really, who can eat just one?  We challenge you to try.

Even Bow-Tie Calico approves!

Cheesecake Fruit Flan

For other desserts we tried to make healthier alternatives to some standard dishes. But in a complete turn-around, we proudly present today's dish, one that's pretty much as bad for you as anything else you care to make. Sure, we cut the sugar and used whole-wheat flour instead of white. Plus we have real fruit. But that's not going to make up for all the fat and calories that we left in.

Still, it tastes great and is easy to make. And it looks divine. Should we do it? Da Original Gangstur says "yea!"

This recipe makes enough for a rectangular flan pan that's about 25 x 40 cm (10 x 15 inches), which is a fairly large pan. We cut the quantities by about a third for our smaller pan that is about 25 cm in diameter.


Ingredients

Crust

• 500 g (2 cups) whole-wheat flour
• 2 ml (1/2 tsp) cream of tartar
• 10 ml (2 tsp) baking soda
• 125 ml (1/2 cup) icing sugar
• 125 ml (1/2 cup) butter
• 125 ml (1/2 cup) vegetable oil
• 1 egg
• 2 ml (1/2 tsp) vanilla extract

Filling

• 250 g (8 oz) package cream cheese, softened
• 30 ml (2 tbsp) white sugar
• 2 ml (1/2 tsp) vanilla extract

Fruit toppings

• Just about any kind of fruit you want. We used strawberries, blackberries, a kiwi and an apricot. Also good are other kinds of berries, mandarin segments and even banana slices. Try to get an assortment of colours so it will look yummay.

Glaze

• 15 ml (1 tbsp) cornstarch
• 30 ml (2 tbsp) white sugar
• 125 ml (1/2 cup) water
• 125 ml (1/2 cup) orange juice
• The juice of half a lemon

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 175 C (350 F). Grease the pan with butter.
2. Crust: in one bowl, sift together flour, cream of tartar and the baking soda. In a larger bowl, cream together the sugar, butter, oil, egg, and vanilla. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and blend well. Spread the dough evenly on the bottom of the greased pan. Bake until golden brown, 10 to 12 minutes. Put the pan on a rack and cool to room temperature.
3. Filling: cream together the cream cheese, sugar, and vanilla. Spread on the cooled crust.
4. Fruit toppings: slice and arrange the fruit on the flan.
5. Glaze: mix the sugar and cornstarch in a small saucepan. Add the water, orange juice and lemon juice. On medium heat, boil slowly for one minute. Remove from heat and cool to room temperature. Spoon or brush the glaze evenly over the fruit.
6. Refrigerate until ready to serve.

And Bow-Tie Calico approves. Of course she does.