English Custard Tart (Pie)

I was just sitting there minding my own business, when an ad came up for a recipe for “magic crust custard pie”. After reading the recipe, I suddenly had the urge to make and eat a lot of custard pie, albeit an English custard tart (… don’t get me started). Now the custard tarts I’m used to are English custard tarts; the ones that are speckled with freshly grated nutmeg, the ones that are fragrantly eggy, smooth on the tongue, lightly sweet and wobbly. We never had custard tarts for dessert, they were more like a ”cake” to be enjoyed with tea, and boy, do I miss Birds the confectioners!

Since the “magic crust custard pie” recipe was too easy to pass, I decided to make it the same day I saw it. I mean, why not? I had all of the ingredients at home, only the result was so bad, I felt sickened by the ingredients I had just wasted. For once, I followed the recipe to the tee, and the result was an abomination. Why on earth it had almost 300

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Banana Cream Pie

My first encounter with banana cream pie was when I wanted to know if I could buy “banoffee pie” in the US. The answer was no, but we have something similar called banana cream pie. Ok, it does have some similarities, but it’s not exactly the same. The main difference is that banoffee pie has a “toffee” layer instead of the vanilla flavored pastry cream filling.

I’ve never made this because although I love buttery pastry (crust), banana, pastry cream and cream, I just didn’t find it appealing to make.  The pie itself has no redeeming nutritional value, other than there is bananas in it. It is packed full of fat, sugar and more fat.

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Milk Chocolate Pots de Crème

This really is the dessert that makes it all better!

I was handed a spoon and a bowl of this stuff a few days ago, and was told that it would make it all better… yep, it pretty much did. Each spoonful filled my senses with joy and delight. It’s chocolaty, smooth and incredibly delicious. It almost tastes like a chocolaty caramel. It’s even better with lightly sweetened vanilla whipped cream.

The best part is that it’s so simple to make, the bad part is that there is a setting period! Not to worry, after the wait, you will indeed be rewarded.

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Lemon and Berry Ricotta Cake

There was a tub of ricotta sitting in the fridge for a little while, and was due to expire soon. As you all know, I hate wasting food, so I thought I’d find a sweet recipe that would help me use it up. It surprised me how many people only thought ricotta was used in savory dishes, such as pasta! *shrugs*.

Anyhow, I stumbled across a seemingly simple recipe. It sounded easy, and I had everything already at hand. So, on Sunday, I decided to whip up a batch of this cake. Let me describe the taste and texture sensation: bursting berries full of tang are sandwiched between a light and zesty lemon sponge base, and a soft, lightly sweet and creamy custard-like topping. It’s seriously to live for!

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Awesome Apple Pie

It was 4^th July, a holiday that really doesn’t mean much to me, other than I get the day off from work: yay! We went for a hike, and then there was a craving for pie, cherry pie. Unfortunately, PCC only had rhubarb and strawberry or apple, so we opted for apple.

The store-bought apple pie was pretty good, but sadly the pastry (crust) was made from shortening. Ok, I understand that this helps sell the pie for vegans, but I am partial to buttery pastry (crust). So, the quest to make a homemade apple pie began. The question was would my homemade apple pie be as good as, or better than the store-bought variety?

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Rijstevlaai – Dutch Rice Pudding Flan/Pie

If you’ve ever been to the Netherlands, you’ve most likely stumbled over a shop that sells Dutch flans/pies, vlaai (pronounced “fly”). Vlaai originates from the Limburg province of the Netherlands, but they can be found almost everywhere. The variety of vlaai is a dieter’s nightmare, but I don’t really care for that! My favourite variety is the creamy rice version. These flans/pies are different from others that are traditionally known, the pastry case/shell is made from a lightly yeasted, bread-like dough, not a crisp short pastry.

There’s a warning that comes with this recipe: do not make this with soy milk. If you do, the filling is absolutely vile,

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Apple Crumble

So, it seems that my sister, J, has started taking a passion into cooking. This doesn’t at all surprise me, considering I come from a family that is passionate about food. On Saturday, she was ranting about making apple crumble with custard on Facebook. I haven’t had apple crumble in yonks. She was going to have it with Ambrosia custard, oh yum. I just couldn’t get it out of my mind, I had to bake something!

I had lemons in the fridge, I was going to make lemon bars again, but then I thought sod it, I have all of the ingredients to make apple

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Best Ever Lemon Bars

Lemon bars are quite popular in the US, but I’d never heard of them until we moved here. They were requested for an event that I was providing the catering for. The first batch was somewhat of a disaster (… don’t ask), but the second worked well.

Since then, I made another smaller batch over the Christmas season. They are now becoming my favorite go to recipe. The shortbread like base is crisp and buttery, and the custard like topping is zesty, tangy and lemony. They are basically like a transformed version of lemon meringue pie, without the meringue.

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Spiced Pumpkin Custard Pies (Tarts)

I was so excited to have Thanksgiving and Black Friday off this year. It was four days off in a row. That’s the most I have had since I started work at my new place in May. However, I was greeted with some personal issues a couple of days before, which resulted in me thinking long and hard about my future.

I don’t usually celebrate Thanksgiving. In fact, I go out of my way not to celebrate Thanksgiving. Why? I am a non-American, and am thankful everyday for what I have. To demonstrate how I went out of my way not to celebrate it, I had a whole chicken that I wanted to roast, but decided to roast it on Friday instead. I didn’t want to be seen as celebrating Thanksgiving.

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Toasted Black Sesame (Goma) Ice Cream – Vegan

Ever since I ordered black sesame jin dui (fried sesame glutinous rice balls) at a dim sum restaurant in Vancouver B.C., J has been slightly obsessed with the aromatic flavor of black sesame seeds. He refused to eat any jin dui stuffed with red bean paste! I, on the other hand, am no stranger to the wonderful aromas of black sesame seeds. One of my favorite desserts is sweet black sesame soup.

When I saw the recipe for “black sesame ice cream” in my latest test book “The Vegan Scoop”, I just had to try it! I adapted the recipe by toasting

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