Category: Cooking

Today is National Make Up Your Own Holiday Day. So my made up holiday is “Chocolate Covered Strawberry Day”.

I made some chocolate covered strawberries. I warmed up some chocolate and then dunked strawberries in it. Then I let them cool. We will eat them for dessert.

Have fun making up your own holiday!

Yesterday, Mommy made some bread that used a lot of egg whites. She wanted to make custard because Daddy LOVES it.  She taught me how to make custard and now Daddy is going to LOVE me when he gets home.  When Momma is gone, I can make custard for daddy. It is very good.   It is easier than I thought, and here is the recipe we used.

• 1 1/2 cups milk
• 1 1/2 cups coconut cream
• 1/4 -1/2 cups vanilla sugar plus 2 tsp vanilla sugar to add to eggs
• 1/8 tsp salt
• 8 egg yolks
• 5 Tbl cornstarch
• 2-5 Tbl butter

• Optional: Replace milk and coconut cream with half and half, or replace coconut cream with whipping cream
• Replace vanilla sugar with regular sugar.
• Use one vanilla bean, cut in half and seeds scraped into the half and half.  Use the bean to make your own vanilla sugar.

Mix milk, coconut cream, salt and sugar (I used 1/4 cup) until dissolved over medium heat in heavy sauce pan.

Meanwhile beat the egg yolks with 2 tsp vanilla sugar.  When sugar is dissolved, whisk in the cornstarch.

When milk mixture just starts bubbling, turn off heat.  Whisk it little by little into the egg mixture to warm it up. When about half transfered, pour it all back into the saucepan.  Over low heat, whisk until it thickens up. Turn off heat, put in bowl. Add butter and mix well.

Eat warm.  Or place plastic wrap over it so it doesn’t get a crust.  Place in refrigerator. Lick out cooking pan when it cools slightly. Daddy said if the custard is pourable, eat it over pies or cakes.  If it is firm, eat it like pudding.  He likes it both ways a lot!

This is very very good, but next time we are going to try it without cornstarch.

P.S.  Daddy said that he would really like it with real fruitcake, like he used to eat when he was younger.  I don’t know how to make it.  If you have a recipe I could surprise him with, could you please send it to me?

We met a lady who was from Sudan. I liked her.  She gave me this dessert recipe to try and it was good! It is sticky and sweet. She said it was one of the favorite desserts of people in Sudan.

She was fun to talk to. I hope that I can meet her again sometime.

Basboosa

Syrup Ingredients

• 2 1/4 cups sugar
• 1 1/2 cups water
• juice from 1 lemon (or 2 tablespoons orange juice)
• 1 teaspoon honey(optional)

Cake Ingredients

• 2 cups semolina
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 stick butter, softened
• 1 cup whole milk
• 1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 1 tablespoon baking soda
• 2 eggs
• blanched split almonds

Prepare syrup first. Dissolve sugar in water in a medium saucepan. Add lemon juice and bring to a boil. Once the syrup begins to boil, add in honey. Reduce heat and allow to slowly boil for about 8-10 minutes. Remove from heat and set aside.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly grease and flour a 9×12 baking dish.

Cream together butter and sugar in a mixing bowl. Add eggs and vanilla.

In a separate bowl, combine semolina, baking powder, and baking soda. Slowly add to butter and egg mixture. Stir in milk.

Pour mixture into baking dish and smooth with spoon.

Take a butter knife and make diagonal lines from left to right and complete to make diamond shapes. Place an almond in the center of each diamond. Bake for 25 minutes.

Remove cake from oven and pour syrup over cake until no more can be absorbed. Allow to cool for 20 minutes. (Is never served warm…sitting even a day is fine!)

We picked rhubarb from Oma’s garden. Then I asked Momma if we could make rhubarb pie with it. She said yes, so I made rhubarb pie. We changed the recipe because Daddy does not want to eat gluten, because it upsets his stomach.

The pie crust did not work because it all dissolved into the the pie.  It was really sweet too. It was good as the topping though. It might be good for a cheese cake bottom.

We adapted a pie crust to fit ingredients that we had.  You can find the original here.

• 1.5 cups ground almonds (Almond flour)
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 cup coconut oil at room temperature
• 2 Tbl maple sugar

Make a pie crust by preheating oven to 325 degrees.  Combine ground almonds, salt, baking soda, coconut oil and maple sugar in a bowl. Carefully press a thin layer into a deep dish pie pan. (If you use a shorter one, you will have extra topping on top).  Bake for 10-15 minutes or until golden. Preheat oven to 425 degrees.

• 7 cups rhubarb
• 1.5 cups sugar
• 1/4 cup coconut flour (we ground up unsweetened coconut until fine)

Combine rhubarb with sugar and then add coconut flour.  Pour into pan.

Sprinkle remaining “crust” on top.  Bake in 425 degree oven about 25-30 minutes. Be sure to put something under the pie so it does not bubble all over the stove!

It smelled really good and tasted really good. We will have to try again 🙂