DESSERTS using Native Foods

[Shalem]

WATTLESEED CHEESECAKE

With Outback Pride's Quandong Dessert Sauce & and their Wild Fruit in Syrup.

Recipe: A Taste of the Bush book Vol I

Wattleseed Cheesecake

Recipe uses cream cheese, sour cream, & ground wattleseed soaked in coffee liqueur. I used chocolate caramel liqueur instead, since I had no coffee liqueur, & also added commercial Wattleseed Extract.

Though everyone I'd served this to said it was nice (of their own accord) & I agree, I felt the liqueur overtook any detection of wattleseed. Not sure if this'd also be with coffee liqueur. It's one reason why I feel it to be beneficial if a commercial Wattleseed Liqueur (or creme liqueur) was availabe to use in desserts.

(Looking forward to Castle Glen Liqueur's new production of wattleseed liqueur if it becomes available).

[Shalem]

ROLLED WATTLESEED PAVLOVA

Here's my disappointed attempt at Rolled Wattleseed Pavlova from Dining Downunder cookbook.

My purpose in sharing this is to highlight how professional the one in the cookbook looks (compared to mine!) and to commend the chefs who produced that beautiful pavlova. When you see the one in the cookbook, you'll understand why I'm disappointed with the look of mine, even though it tasted delicious.

I recall reading that this pavlova was famous/ popular in restaurants (Question: I wonder if it's still served in Australia and where?)




It's rolled with Wattleseed Cream which is so yummy (using Cherikoff's Wattleseed Extract), & Dick Smith's Bushfood cereal. To prepare the pav for rolling, the cereal is laid out onto a teatowel, followed by pavlova mixture, then wattleseed cream. Towel's used to help roll it up.

Process looked straightforward until I tried to roll it! As you can see, my pavlova didn't roll smoothly but split at the bending points. This is probably the hardest pavlova I've tried to make.

(Question: I'm curious to know how the chefs who made this pavlova shown in the cookbook were able to produce a such smooth consistency when the pavlova was rolled. Please advise if you know).

If you don't have the book, an photos can be viewed in http://www.cherikoff.net and www.benjaminchristie.com, however the cookbook photo & photo in www.benjaminchristie.com are the better looking versions.

I think the cereal is an interesting, unique ingredient to use in a pavlova.

[planthunter]

Whooorr looks gorgeous

[Shalem]

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Thank you Planthunter.

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JELLY & CUSTARD USING SUPERMARKET READY-TO-SERVE

-Fruit in Jelly tub from supermarkets.
-Ready-to-serve custard from supermarkets and dairy home deliveries.
-Sprinkle ground Lemon Myrtle and Riberries in syrup over custard.
-Approx 2 minutes preparation per bowl.
- For smoother edge when removing jelly, use small palette knife or other means.

[Shalem]

INDIVIDUAL BUSHFOOD TRIFLES USING READY-TO-SERVE PRODUCTS

Mum hasn't taught me to cook, but she's given me a few extremely useful, clever tips, and several recipes that I'm grateful for. One of those recipes is trifle, and one of those tips was to slice up mini swiss roll cakes from supermarkets, then line the base and some way up the sides, of a large clear glass bowl when making trifles. I applied that here with glasses, though a bowl is more effective in showing the cakes. I didn't find them this time, but Mum and I used to buy mini vanilla swiss rolls with red jam inside, and these were very pretty when sliced and lined up in the bowl.

Ingredients
- Mini swiss roll cakes (rollette) from supermarkets;
- Ready-to-serve thin custard from supermarkets and dairy home deliveries with my addition of ground Lemon Myrtle mixed through.
- Ready-to-serve fruit in jelly tubs from supermarket;
- Ready-to-serve prewhipped cream from supermarket with my addition of Wattleseed Extract stirred through;
- Ready-to-serve Ribberies in syrup (Riberry Confit) from http://www.cherikoff.net

Notes
(a) There are thick ready-to-serve custards available, but the "runny" thin custard is ideal to use here, as it fills any air gaps and provides a "waterfall" effect.
(b) My rollette pack had vanilla, pink and chocolate swiss roll cakes, so it provided more colours in the glasses.
(c) This pre-whipped cream is very light, almost a texture like mousse. Once extract stirred through, pours very easily into glasses. This cream'ss quite different to the very thick pre-whipped dollop cream shown in photos of Breads topic (page5-6) under CW's Scone Mix Buttermilk Pikelets.
(e) 1 jelly tub for 2 glasses; 2-3 rollettes for 2 glasses.






DECORATIVE EFFECTS OF WATTLESEED & LEMON MYRTLE

If Riberry Confit is not available for you, or you wish to omit them, the above photo shows that just a sprinkling of Roasted Ground Wattleseed (left glass) and ground Lemon Myrtle (right glass) on top is a pretty decoration.

TRIFLE RECIPES FROM BUSHFOOD COOKBOOKS

The boomerang trifle recipe from Dining Downunder Cookbook shows how to make individual trifles in bowls with ingredients laid next to each other. A cake is cut out in the shape of a boomerang, which I think is cute and clever.

Fun
I had fun assembling the above trifles into their glasses, and it was interesting to see all the different colours forming and coming together as they were being made.

[Shalem]

More information in Cakes topic.

[Shalem]

PEAR & NATIVE FRUIT CUSTARD FLAN

Made with all ready-to-serve products shown in next photo. Sponge flan, custard, canned pears with chocolate syrup from supermarket. Outback Pride's Wild Fruits in Syrup and their Quandong Dessert Sauce from online stores.

Spoon/pour in custard, sprinkle with Lemon Myrtle Sprinkle or Lemon Myrtle, top with pears and native fruits, drizzle over quandong sauce.

Flan base has a texture and taste of dry sponge cake. My husband said he prefers this base over a biscuit or shortcrust pastry base, just as a personal choice thing, whereas my preference is a different base. The problem with this type of base is it doesn't seem to handle wet fillings very well for long, so it's probably best to prepare this, then serve it immediately.

Some custard did pour out after cutting a piece, but didn't for others. There are other thick versions of ready-to-serve custards from supermarkets and dairy home deliveries, that could be used instead.






Served with chocolate syrup that comes in the can of pears.



Served with Quandong Dessert Sauce instead of chocolate syrup.



A plainer version (no Quandong Dessert sauce or almonds)

Sometimes when I take out fruit from jars of Outback Pride's Wild Fruits in Syrup, I find little "surprises". For example, this black fruit in the centre of this flan came out of this jar. I had never seen this in any of the other jars I'd bought, and I've no idea what it is.

Pricing Note on Outback Pride Wild Fruits in Syrup: In this topic, I mentioned I'd paid $12 for this jar. In case you're not aware, they can be purchased cheaper than this. There is a large distributors list on Outback P's website: http://www.outbackpride.com.au

[Shalem]

FRUIT CRUMBLES

Fruit crumbles are yummy and comforting, but can be simple to make & fast to cook.

Major Components: Bottom layer of fruit, and top layer of crumble mixture usually consisting of flour, rolled oats, brown sugar & butter.

With bottom layer, If a nice canned sliced pie fruit or cooked fruit is used, it will greatly cut down cooking time. If using "raw" fruits, crumbles will take far longer to cook & it'll be tricky trying to "coordinate" with the crumble on top not overcooking/burning. With top layer, crumble mixture can easily & quickly be made by hand stirring & mixing all ingredients. Fast using butter techniques discussed below.

Bushfood Fruit Crumbles: Photo below use pre-cooked canned pie apple. Some ideas for bushfood fruits are re-constituted Quandongs, Quandong Confit, Riberry Confit. There's more information on Confits in Dining Downunder topic & elsewhere, and as they are ready-to-serve pre-prepared fruits in syrup, they'll cut down cooking time. This also applies to Outback Pride's Wild Fruits in Syrup jar.



INDIVIDUAL APPLE CRUMBLES

Above Chicago Metallic cookware, bought as one with all pieces shown, is cleverly designed like a tray, such that I can make these crumbles in advance & pop them in fridge till ready to bake. Trickiest part I found is to determine your oven temperature & cooking time, not necessarily the recipe's, so as not to burn the crumble. Some got burnt because I followed recipe's oven details, but I've gotten to know my oven now. Crumbles best served immediately & they're nice eaten when warm.

Cooking in a Raclette Grill: A fun easy way to cook individual fruit crumbles and not burn them, is to cook them in a raclette plan of an electric Raclette grill. There's photos & information on raclettes in Photos topic.

Crumbles can also be served as a whole dish instead of individual.



ABOVE: CRUMBLE MIXTURE

As I tend to have bushfood cereal more often in my house than rolled oats, and I know it's a tasty sweet cereal, I used it in my crumble mixture.




With Ready-to-serve custard and my addition of ground Lemon Myrtle mixed through it.

MAGGIE BEER'S LEMON MYRTLE CUSTARD APPLE CRUMBLE

During the week, I taped the following episode on foxtel. Good timing, as coincidentally, & not knowing what contents, watched it night before I planned on making my crumble above. So I can discuss it here. Maggie Beer demonstrates her custard apple crumble in which she uses Lemon Myrtle powder in her crumble, and infuses fresh Lemon Myrtle leaves in her custard she uses to serve the crumble with.

Incorporating butter easily: With the butter part of crumble, Maggie uses grated chilled butter so it's easy to just stir it through mixture. With mine, I used softened butter left out at room temperature, so it was easy to beat it with sugar using spoon, then mix rest of ingredients in with wooden spoon till combined. These 2 methods help simply butter component & avoids an appliance. Simple, quick, effortless.

Her recipe's at http://www.abc.net.au/tv/cookandchef, Series 3 - 2008, episode 30, Lemon Myrtle & Pizzas.

KAY JOYCE'S FRUIT CRUMBLE

In her book "Bushfood Herbs & Spices", Kay Joyce's Fruit Crumble uses cornflakes, rolled oats, coconut, dark brown sugar, flour, butter and Cinnamon Myrtle in her crumble. She serves it with custard, whipped cream or ice cream. Her suggestions for fruit are: Quandong, plums, rhubarb, peaches, apples, apricots, pears, berries, mango.



Flour missing in above photo. Above pre-cooked canned apple slices are tasty & firm pieces (ie didn't go mushy on baking).

[Shalem]

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Extra Note on Fruit Crumble: With previous post, I said Maggie's grated chilled butter method can be stirred through mixture. She said she finds it difficult to rub butter into flour with her fingers, so she uses it grated. I can't remember what method she then uses, whether grated butter helps her fingers to rub in butter into flour, or whether it's stirred in. Nonetheless, either method should probably be okay as butter will eventually cook down. Both methods could be tried, after which it can be determined which one is preferred. Or instead, just continue to follow your recipe. Also 4 crumbles in photo are unbaked & not served with anything, so they don't look the best.

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MINI-CHEESECAKES




BAKED ILLAWARA PLUM MINI-CHEESEKCAKES

Ground Wattleseed decorates the plate.

Made in party pie appliance shown & described page 5 of Breads topic.

Bases: Shortcrust pastry from supermarket & crushed biscuits.
Recipe: appliance manual.
Cooking time: 5.5 minutes.

Cheesecakes don't usually have shortcrust pastry bases but necessary in this appliance to remove cheesecakes. Filling: cream cheese, egg, flour, sugar, cream.


ILLAWARA PLUM SAUCE


As I had no Illawara Plums, which I'd then have to use an appliance or a recipe to make them into a sauce/puree, I used the Illawara Plum Sauce shown in photo further below. Sauce came out in drops onto above mini-cheesecakes just before I baked them, hence this brown pattern/effect. This type of packaging from store (which saves more space in fridge than bottles), & with sauce nearing its end, meant it was able to fall out in drops.






Above: Supermarket Ingredients for base. This crushed biscuit base is an option for convenience or if an appliance is not available to crush biscuits.





Above: ingredients for filling. See important note below on this.


Making Filling by hand: Appliance manual says use electric mixer to beat cream cheese, then mix in remaining ingredients in stages, but a lack of or use of appliance shouldn't discourage anyone from making this. I was able to make this smooth filling entirely & easily by hand in 2.5minutes. I softened cream cheese in microwave till soft, using 30% medium low defrost cycle. I beat cheese with wooden spoon, then added liquids (egg, cream) next to make beating easier, followed by dry (flour, sugar), & finished off with metal hand whisk beating till smooth. Do not start with whisk as all cream cheese will stick in it.


DINING DOWNUNDER'S BAKED ILLAWARA PLUM CHEESECAKE


In DD's cookbook, their individual cheesecakes are baked in ceramic dishes (ramekins) like those shown in Fruit Crumble previously. Except for plum, their filling uses exact ingredients to party pie appliance's & their Illawara Plums are pureed by an appliance.

Why, why, why??:
Recipe states it's a favourite dessert in America. If so, why can't it be here in AUSTRALIA, where it must've came from?
I'd never even heard of Illawara Plums, let alone Illawara Plum cheesecake, till I saw them in this book not too long ago, (& I am 40 years of age & lived in Australia for past 35 years), yet Americans seem to have known about this plum & cheesecake before me!!


OTHER TYPES OF MINI-CHEESECAKES & COOKWARE


Sara Lee Mini-Cheesecakes: Supermarkets now sell these. To make a quick effortless stunning dessert for a party or entertaining, top these mini-cheesecakes with ready-to-serve Fruit Confits from Cherikoff & Dining Downunder store. A local small business home delivery supermarket sells these mini-cheesecakes in bulk quantity & price, so it'd be handy for parties.

Mini-cheesecake Trays: Online kitchenware stores sell these specialty trays but 1 brand is expensive or frequently out of stock. 2 brands that make these are Chicago Metallic & Bakers Secret. I've seen & read of cheaper methods, and that's to use a muffin tray or mini-muffin tray, though I haven't tried & tested these.





Above: Mini-muffin oven tray. Cooks 24 at a time, while party pie appliance does 8 larger ones.

[Shalem]

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Correction to previous post: I wrote cheesecakes don't usually have shortcrust bases, however, it's incorrect. When I flicked through my Women's Weekly mini-book called Cheesecakes, Pavlovas & Trifles, there was a baked cheesecake that used shortcrust pastry. My favourite is unbaked cheesecake with biscuit bases, & I don't think I've ever made baked cheesecakes except for mini ones in previous post, so I may've been unfamiliar with what I wrote. Edit later.

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Above: LEMON IRONBARK MINI-CHEESECAKES

Following on from mini-cheesecakes in previous post, here's another form of mini-cheesecake. With leftover frozen empty pastry shells bought from supermarket & used in mini custard tarts of Breads topic, I filled with unbaked Lemon Ironbark cheesecake filling. Photo & botanical name of ground Lemon Ironbark in Lemon Ironbark topic, & it comes from an Australian eucalyptus tree (I think).



Above: LEMON IRONBARK CHEESECAKE

Unbaked cheesecake filling uses Kay Joyce's Lemon Ironbark Cheesecake recipe from her "Bushfood Herbs & Spices" book. It uses condensed milk, cream cheese, lemon juice & whipped cream. After filling above small tart shells, I used an 18cm springform cake pan for small amount of remaining mixture.

Making filling by hand: A while ago in this topic, I said I'd make a lemon ironbark cheesecake by hand & time the filling. Using quantities in Kay's recipe, room temperature cream cheese & pre-whipped dollop cream, I placed all ingredients into KitchenAid 3L (small) mixing bowl, started with wooden spoon to break & beat, then changed to a hand whisk, taking me around 3mins 45 seconds. This was point at which I felt a bit tired & was happy that small lumps remaining are insignificant. (Don't start with a hand whisk as cream cheese will not release from it, & may be best to use a small mixing bowl as it helped me break lumps quicker & better than larger one as quantities are small).

Other decoration tips: Lemon Ironbark is mixed through Paul's dollop cream which is piped with Wilton 1M cupcake tip but other star tips can be used. Another option is to leave cream plain & sprinkle Lemon Ironbark on piped cream. Pauls' Dollop Cream is an excellent pre-whipped cream product which I used for filling & piping decoration & is obtained from supermarket or dairy home delivery. I used it in Kay's recipe as I couldn't be bothered whipping cream for such a small quantity.

Dollop Cream18CM Springform Pan

Springform pans: They're ideal for making cheesecakes in, as top releases from base by a clip, thereby making it easier to transfer onto serving dish. However, a sharp knife may be required to go around edge before releasing, otherwise filling can rip open. I put sheet of baking paper in between base & top before clipping together so I can peel it away easily from base afterwards.

Rosella Confit flowers: As mentioned other times, these are soft Rosella Flowers in syrup, & top 2 photos are decorated with these but with petals only. Shown are not whole flowers. In their soft syrup state, petals are easily torn/ripped off which is how I've been decorating with them so far.


Above photos give an indication of what the original photos look like without Rosella Confit flowers. I feel sprinkling of Lemon Ironbark makes an acceptable & cheaper decoration to both types of cheesecakes (though not sprinkled in mini ones).



Jar contents shown in Dining Downunder topic.

Taste test: Yum. Lemon Ironbark is beautiful when biting into cheesecake. I can't sense any aroma or taste of this Ironbark until I bite into it (ie my nose can't sense it until it's in my mouth, unlike a hot curry spice that may be sensed before eating), & whether it's an aroma or taste, I am unsure. (Try it & you'll know what I mean!). I only used 1 teaspoon Ironbark as per Kay's recipe (& that's all I had left!) but it was enough to detect its presence, more so in the mini-cheesecakes. Had I more left, I probably would've used more than a teaspoon as I tend to use more quantity of a bushfood spice than what other authors put in their recipes, because that's how I like it.



Above: Ground Lemon Ironbark

FINAL NOTE ON LEMON IRONBARK

Please commercialise ground Lemon Ironbark: I was introduced to Lemon Ironbark when I was visiting Bunya Mountains in Queensland, Australia. Knowing nothing about Australian bushfood cooking (& probably never heard of it!), I decided to purchase ground Lemon Ironbark & Kay's bushfood cookbooks from her tearoom gallery called Bunya Forest Gallery. Since then, I have not seen this spice for sale (except 1 other store) or in recipes anywhere else. This is disappointing beause I think this is such a beautiful, aromatic spice that I wish I was able to purchase it just as easily as Lemon Myrtle (with practical quantities available for home cooks), so much so that I prefer Lemon Ironbark in cheesecake over Lemon Myrtle (I know I've said this once before in this forum). So I'm very glad Kay's provided these two items because I am truthfully telling you that this cheesecake & spice are two of my absolute favourites.

[Shalem]

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Clarification: In Illawara Plum Mini-Cheesecakes, I wrote it was America's favourite dessert & was surprised why I hadn't known about this plum & cheesecake before Americans. I have since re-read the sentence in Dining Downunder book & may have misunderstood the context as it starts with "This America's favourite dessert". As soon as I read "this", I interpreted as meaning Illawara Plum Cheesecake. Anyway, I apologise for reading it wrong, but it wouldn't surprise me if there are Americans who have known about or tried this plum &/or cheesecake before me.

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Above: BANANA SPLIT

This uses my Rosella Syrup & Riberry Ice-cream from Ice-cream topic, plus the Quandong Dessert Sauce & Macadamia Nut products shown below.

In the past I made banana splits with a split banana, ice-cream, chocolate syrup or chocolate sauce, crushed peanuts & sometimes a glace cherry, & I think they are generally made like this.




To introduce Australian bushfood products, I replaced chocolate syrup with Quandong Sauce; peanuts with Macadamia Nuts, and glace cherries with a Riberry Confit. I used a mortar & pestle to crush Macadamia Nuts, as I prefer it over a food processor since I can control size & texture of the crush. As I wrote in Icecream topic, Macadamias & Ice-cream are so yummy together, & I like the textural crunch of crushed Macadamias.

Taste Test: Yuuuuuuuuuuummmmmmmmmmmmoh! (Don't worry, I only ate a spoonful )

[planthunter]

I'd love to eat the rest.

[Cherikoff]

Shalom, I am please that you like my recipes and for the mention of the Dining Downunder cookbook.

Just for your reference, for the rest of March and all of April I am discounting the cookbook to $15 plus postage. Times are tough in the food industry what with floods, fires, droughts and elections (in NSW) and so I'm looking to lift on-line sales even if it means losing a few dollars on the book. All it needs is for anyone wanting a discounted copy to go to http://www.dining-downunder.com/shop and order. It might make a reasonable gift for anyone interested in food or as an advance purchase for Xmas.

This would be a good time to register as an affiliate at http://www.dining-downunder.com/idevaffiliate and possibly make a few dollars if you can refer anyone to the on-line store.

Cheers,
Vic

PS In regards to the Wattleseed pavlova, I see so many recipes where sugar is added to Wattleseed cream. Can I urge anyone making Wattleseed cream to leave out the sugar? The delicious nutty, coffee-like flavour of the Wattleseed (well, Cherikoff Wattleseed at least) is masked by sugar and who needs the calories anyway? Most other desserts using Wattleseed are also best with reduced sugar if possible.

[Shalem]

WATTLESEED RIBERRY CHEESECAKE



Here's my small cheesecake flavoured with roasted ground Wattleseed & decorated with glace Riberries. Wattleseed is used in the cheesecake filling, the piped cream decoration & for sprinkling on top.

Some Suggestions for WATTLESEED PRODUCTS

Unless they exist commercially I am unaware, but I'd like to see the following Wattleseed products produced for home & business use:

(a) There are chocolate spreads like Nutella, Nui coconut & dairy free ones. Is it possible to create a Wattleseed spread or chocolate wattleseed spread?

(b) There are various vanilla bean products like pure vanilla extract, vanilla sugar, vanilla bean paste, vanilla syrup so is it possible to produce similar products for Wattleseed? I would particularly like to see a Wattleseed Paste on the market which has a similar concept to vanilla bean paste. What this would consist of is softened wattleseeds that had been soaking in boiled water, then seeds scooped out, maybe mixed with a little syrup to help extract it out the product bottle. This'd save the cook from preparation work involved with each recipe. The manufacturer can then have 2nd product of Wattleseed Extract or other products developed from leftover Wattleseed liquid that seeds were soaked in. (Note: Wattleseed Extract can be purchased from http://www.cherikoff.net).

***Does anyone have any ideas, opinions or expertise on this? Are there products out there already (without me having to do a long search)?***

[Shalem]

I hope forum admins don't mind me posting this but my cousin Naureen decorated this pavlova shell I made. Doesn't it look pretty? She had the unique idea of covering the entire pav sides & all with whipped cream, whereas I'd only ever seen cream placed on top. Her decoration of the fruits was also her doing. I thought you might enjoy seeing this, or gaining some ideas.