Malibu Rum Peach&Mango tarts (vegan)

6 Comments May 24, 2015 Rita Anastasiou

Peach and mango…What an exotic,cooling and versatile flavor combination! You can use it for both savory and sweet recipes,smoothies,cream,ice cream and when you add a little bit of rum in it is a great cocktail or in this case,a curd!

Summer is almost there and I decided to make little tarts,to remember my childhood.  Going at the beach almost every day,To visit my grandfather’s village. A small village  in Sparta,so picturesque with such a great history!

Competing with the other kids,who is going to eat the most ice creams during the summer. When we were kids,my brother and I,used to buy fruit tarts and ice cream every summer! It’s something like an unwritten tradition in Greece,to eat tarts every summer. Sweet memories…I wish I could get into a time machine and turn the time back… Our only worry was to get our homework done,usually the last minute!

Luckily,my little precious,hyperactive daughter and I will go to Greece,this summer for a month.! I can’t wait to relive my childhood through her! How wonderful for her  it will be to experience a summer vacation in Greece for that long!

Back to tarts. I love tarts!  The crust is a perfect vessel. Sweet,savory or both! While I was truing to find a light version of curd,without all these eggs, I found this incredibly easy and delicious recipe,with some adjustments,though. It’s  really light and scrumptious! You take a bite and instinctively you close your eyes to enjoy it,like in the commercials. So refreshing,with the subtle taste of the coconut rum and the sugar is just enough to balance all the flavors and sweeten it.

Hope you will enjoy as much as we did!

 

Ingredients for the curd:

• 1 mango,diced and ripe
• 3 peaches,peeled,diced and ripe
• 4 tbsp sugar
• 2 1/2 tsp cornstarch
• 2 tbsp Malibu rum
• 1 tbsp lemon juice

Ingredients for the pie crust:

• 2 cup  coconut flour
• ½ cup almond flour
• ¼ cup virgin coconut oil, melted
• 1 tbsp sugar
• 1 tbsp vanilla extract
• 4 tbsp banana,smashed

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Instructions:

for the curd

Combine the peaches,mango  and sugar in a blender and puree until smooth. In a small bowl, whisk together the lemon juice and cornstarch until smooth; add to the peach-mango mixture. Puree until as smooth as possible.

Pour the mixture into a medium saucepan. Cook over medium heat until the mixture starts to boil. Stir frequently and cook a few more minutes or until it thickens. Add the Malibu rum and remove from heat. Let cool to room temperature. you can store it in an airtight food container in the fridge.

for the pie crust:

Pour all the ingredient into a food processor.Blend until a crumble is forming.

With your hands gather the crumble to form a ball of dough.It will stick and hold perfectly together.

Place the dough ball between plastic wraps.Press with your hand and then start rolling until thin about half an inch thickness.

 

Transfer onto a greased muffin tin. Bake at 350 F for 15 minutes or until golden brown.Cool down before removing the crust from the mould.

 

 

 

Masticha cake with vanilla-rosewater cream (Politiko)

Leave a comment May 2, 2014 Rita Anastasiou

Mastic tree

Greek cuisine has been at some point,influenced by the middle eastern cuisine. We adapt it according to our taste and domestic products. Like this masticha cake,which was made from Greeks of Constantinople,with masticha from the Greek island Chios.. Chios is a very beautiful island full of green, blue-green sea water,a lot of history and mastic trees!

I missed this dessert… You know…once you go to live for the rest of your life in a different country,you miss EVERYTHING! Even the food that you hated,back then when you were just a kid and your mom forced you to eat! Everything is different.. I felt a little bit nostalgic the past few days… The food,my family,the beach…

Back to the dessert!! I changed it a little bit because of my celiac,but it’s way much better than the one my mom used to make…!

For the cake we’ll need:

• 1 cup almond flour
• 1 cup cornmeal
• 1/2 cup coconut flour
• 200 ml fresh sqeezed orange juice
• 1 tsp. baking powder
• 1/2 tsp. baking soda
• 1 cup sugar
• 1/2 tsp masticha powder ( you can also find it at the stores as Arabic gum)

For the syrup:

• 1 1/4 cup sugar
• 1 cup water

 

For the cream:

• 3egg yolks
• 3 cups milk
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/3 cup cornstarch
• 1/4 tsp. salt
• 3/4 tsp. vanilla extract
• 1 tsp. rosewater

 

How to make it:

preheat the oven at 350 F.

First,I make the cream and I let it cool in the fridge.

Beat the egg yolks well in a bowl,stir in the milk.

Mix sugar,cornstarch and salt in a saucepan.

Gradually stir in,a small amount of milk mixture each time..

stir constantly till the cream starts thickening up.

remove from heat and add the rosewater in the end.

Make the cake:

Dissolve baking soda into the juice.  In a medium bowl mix all the ingredients together. It may seem a little runny and not as much as a cake,but if you continue stirring is getting thicker.

put the mix into the greased pan (9 or 10 inches if possible) and bake for 30 minutes.

once is done,let it cool and make the syrup. In a small pot put the water and sugar and let it boil in a medium heat for about 8 minutes.

once is all done,slowly with a tablespoon pour it all over the cake and let it absorb the syrup.

when it’s cool down,pour the cream on top. Let all the flavors blend together..!

the cake is so moist and all the flavors come along together! Is not overly sweet,because I put almost half of the sugar it really needs,nutty and light! You really have to try it!

 

2 chocolate Cake Balls!

3 Comments November 23, 2013 Rita Anastasiou

Few days ago,I saw someone on TV making cake pops,but unfortunately, I didn’t have the sticks,neither All purpose flour,so I was trying to find a coconut flour cake recipe And so I found it.. But the cake was extremely dense and I had to add something to make it moist and fluffy. I made this coconut flour cake balls,and of course I add couple more things…!!

I added:

• 1/2 cup melted chocolate chips into the batter
• 1 tsp. almond extract
• 1/3 cup coconut cream

I divided  the batter in two to make a dark chocolate cake and I added:

• 1/3 cup cocoa powder
• 1 tbsp dark rum

Instead of cake pan,I used muffin tins,because there were easy to use later on!

when the muffins are done,let them cool completely. In two separate balls,crumble the muffins. There were so moist and fluffy,that I didn’t have to add any cream cheese to make it lookPrepare a baking sheet covered with wax paper or parchment,take a bit of a cake mixture and roll it into a smooth ball. There were so moist and fluffy and I could easily roll it into a ball,that I didn’t have to add any cream cheese to make it like the usual cake mixture. But if it doesn’t,add few spoons of coconut cream.

Let it on the fridge for couple of hours. After you refrigerate them,cover them into a melted white chocolate and melted semi-sweet chocolate.

Unfortunately, I was trying to find my photos in my camera,but accidentally,I deleted the photos that I was preparing the  cake,but I have the results!!

And there are great!! So moist and delightful! We sure,devour them all!

 

 

 

 

Baked doughnut-like holes

3 Comments September 16, 2013 Rita Anastasiou

Last week it was a very busy week for us… I didn’t have much time and simultaneously, I had  bunch of ideas! Like these nights,that you don’t think anything else,while you are ready to sleep,but what to cook for the next day..

We were planning Anna’s first birthday and a lot of beautiful ideas came to our minds! Colorful cake and balloons,games for the kids… Talking about birthdays,yesterday,we attend to a friend’s  baby boy’s first birthday and it was great! The party took place at the park,a lot of music,great food (Gluten Free!!) and kids were playing!

   

 

So, the last week I wanted to make doughnut holes. I wanted to make an easy recipe,though without dozens of ingredients that sound more like scientific terms…! Like it or not,that’s what I have to eat…These “scientific terms”.. But I’m OK with that! The recipe that I found is easy,and the doughnuts look like coconut doughnuts- cake. That’s why I wrote it as doughnut-like holes!

We’ll need:

• 1/4 sugar
• 1/4 coconut oil,or regular butter
• pinch of salt
• 1 tsp. GF vanilla extract
• 1 egg
• 5 tbsp coconut flour
• 1 tbsp almond milk
• powdered sugar and cocoa powder to roll the doughnuts

Method:

Preheat the oven at 350 F.

In a medium bowl,cream  together,the first 4 ingredients in an electric hand mixer. Add egg and almond milk and mix thoroughly for about 2-3 minutes,in a medium speed.

Sift in coconut flour and stir to combine. Let dough sit for a minute and shape it into 10-12 1-inch balls.

Place evenly on baking dish and bake for 13 minutes. Let cool and roll them into the powdered sugar and the cocoa powder.

*I put a small piece of pear in each ball.

**Put them in the fridge for 1 hour and then eat them. There are so moist and delicious!