Out of Ideas

[ladysprite]

Okay. I love to bake. Dessert is one of my favorite things. But I'm completely stumped, right now.

I need to come up with a Passover-friendly dessert idea, and I am drawing a complete and utter blank. Cake is out. Cookies are out. Pie? Right out. Rice pudding? Nope. Fruit crisp? No can do. Panna cotta isn't portable enough. Most puddings have cornstarch. I could make lemon curd, but I refuse to eat it on matzoh, and just serving it plain with a spoon doesn't work. Poached pears aren't make-ahead enough. My favorite macaroon recipe has corn syrup in it, and all the other ones I've found are too dry and mealy for me to be comfortable serving them to anyone not related to me by blood or marriage. Flourless chocolate cake or meringues are technically options, but to be honest, I can't stand either of them, and I'm a selfish enough bitch that I'd rather not make a dessert that I'm not willing to eat.

I am at the point of tearing my hair out. I have too much pride to just give up and bring a couple of pints of ice cream, but I can't think of anything else.

So please, any suggestions? I'm open to just about anything.....

Comments

[leanne-opaskar.livejournal.com]

I'm not entirely sure what the restrictions are, as I see corn syrup is out. Is corn starch also out? If not, how about this?

Mayan Spiced Chocolate Pudding

[leanne-opaskar.livejournal.com]

Never mind, I see now that cornstarch is out. Let me ponder.

!

[leanne-opaskar.livejournal.com]

Aha! Let me know if these work for you:
Gluten-Free Dark Chocolate Brownies

These are simply awesome. My friends like them better than regular brownies. (: Hope it's helpful.

Re: !

[leanne-opaskar.livejournal.com]

(really -- let me know what the actual restrictions are -- it'll be easier to come up with ideas. Sorry for spamming your comments. (: )

Re: !

[ladysprite.livejournal.com]

No grain of any kind. So those are right out; they have rice flour. :( I appreciate the thought and the ideas, though.

There's got to be *SOMETHING* I can make, though.....

Re: !

[leanne-opaskar.livejournal.com]

* Dates stuffed with pecans and dusted with powdered sugar
* Raspberry soup -- or whatever fruit soup you like, but I love raspberries
* Clementines in warm black tea
* Pears poached in wine with chocolate sauce
* Homemade creamsicles or liqueur-spiked popsicles (eatingwell.com has great popsicle recipes)
* Cream cheese flan (let me know if you want the recipe -- it's one I have from culinary school)
* Creme brulée

Re: !

[leanne-opaskar.livejournal.com]

* Fresh figs or figs soaked in liqueur, stuffed with sweetened & cinnamoned mascarpone or ricotta
* Frozen chocolate-dipped bananas
* Pineapple, mango, and/or papaya, drizzled with coconut milk and topped with pistachios
* Chocolate bar chunks made into sandwiches with your favorite nut butter
* Slice bananas, roll in cocoa powder on the sides, top with coconut
* Lychees -- can make with canned or fresh -- drain (pit if fresh), then freeze to a sorbet-like consistency
* Stew together peaches, fennel, sugar, five-spice powder. Serve over vanilla ice cream, mascarpone, or ricotta. Top with pistachios.

Re: !

[jacketeer.livejournal.com]

Holy cow, every single one of these sounds so delicious! Must try a few..

Re: !

[leanne-opaskar.livejournal.com]

By the way -- tapioca is not a grain. It's made from manioc root. (: Tapioca pudding, boba, and anything using tapioca should be OK.

_Moosewood Restaurant Low-Fat Favorites_ has a pumpkin custard recipe that has no grain in it, which sounds pretty tasty to me. (No tapioca in that. There was a tapioca fruit parfait recipe on the previous page that made me think of it.) They also have a pineapple-buttermilk sherbet which is simply buttermilk, pineapple, and sugar.

Whew. I think that's everything I can think of at the moment. Hope something in there helps. *hugs* Good luck!

Re: !

[leanne-opaskar.livejournal.com]

Oh, and DUH, how dare I call myself Italian ...

Zabaglione is always a showstopper. A pain to make, but delicious. Serve with fresh berries and whipped cream.

Sorry I'm so late....

[flaviarassen.livejournal.com]

Matzah is made from flour & you can always use cake meal - substitute it at 2/3 per cup of flour for any recipe.

I have a recipe for nut cake that is entirely gluten-free as well as KFP - do you still need it?

[cyan-blue.livejournal.com]

This is the recipe I'm planning to try this year:

http://www.food.com/recipe/lemon-honey-almond-cake-kosher-for-passover-213101

[cyan-blue.livejournal.com]

And we just made it, and it was wondrous. The kids are raving about it and declaring it a new annual household tradition :)

[cyan-blue.livejournal.com]

PS Don't worry if you can't find Matzo Cake Meal... whirring Matzo Meal through the food processor til fine works well.

[mindways]

I see many suggestions above, but I'll mention just in case: lemon curd or jam can be served on thin slices of cheese to excellent effect.

[anu3bis.livejournal.com]

Agreed - someone brought most excellent kosher-for-passover lemon bars this year, and they were lemony goodness.

Chocolate covered matzah is right out in my book.

These were a hit last year:
http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Ambrosia-Macaroons-350830

[herooftheage.livejournal.com]

Chocolate fondue?

[mamatiger.livejournal.com]

I don't cook, but I did find this!

Passover Desserts:

http://kosherfood.about.com/od/passoverdesserts/Passover_Desserts.htm

And! The Kosher Baker:
(this one looks like a winner, I think)

http://kosherbaker.blogspot.com/

[jenni-the-odd.livejournal.com]

Cheesecake with a nut-based (instead of flour) crust?

[ladysprite.livejournal.com]

I was thinking about that, but every recipe for a nut crust I can find includes flour. If you have a recipe that doesn't, I'd *LOVE* to have it....

[meranthi.livejournal.com]

I have a recipe for pecan tart, with a pecan crust, but I can't remember if it has flour in it. I just remember the pecans and butter. I can look tonight, if you don't find something else.

[qarylla.livejournal.com]

You can make macaron, which I've been told are hard but I've never had a problem (every recipe I've made for that is only nut-based flour). Smitten Kitchen has a glorious chocolate roll that is a passover dessert that was posted yesterday. Or you could just make pavlova and top with lemon curd and berries.

Chocolate Cake Roll
Pavlovas
Canelle et Vanille (where I go for my macaron ideas)

[dreda.livejournal.com]

I have successfully made a nut crust that was just crushed-nigh-to-powder nuts, butter, and sugar - it was very sticky and I was very glad I'd lined my springform with parchment paper, but it did work.

Takes a crapton of nuts, but when is that bad?

(NB: so far, most successful with pecans.)

[jenni-the-odd.livejournal.com]

This blog (http://healthyindulgences.blogspot.com/search/label/cheesecake) has several cheesecakey-type options, none of which involve wheat flour. To convert the sugar subs back to sugar, I believe it's a 1/1 swap with erythritol, and eliminate the stevia.

[z-gryphon.livejournal.com]

I contest the contention that simply eating lemon curd with a spoon is unacceptable.

(Failing that, I always thought the whole idea with Passover was austerity, such that dessert of any kind was rather outside the spec, as it were. But then, I'm also given to understand that hardcore rules lawyering is something of a sport to the truly observant Jew, so who knows, maybe that's part of the fun. And before anybody throws anything at my head, I just want to make it plain that I heard that from a guy I used to have to cover Friday evenings for! :)

Also: Bananas Foster. It doesn't have grain in it, and it's on fire! Desserts don't get a lot better than that.

[ladymondegreen.livejournal.com]

Passover isn't so much about austerity, it's just that it's had a lot of rules applied to it over the years that have caused it to become a more austere holiday than the "giant lamb-barbecue and hang out with your whole town on the hills around Jerusalem" pilgrimage festival it once was.

People got some crazy ideas about grains that resembled wheat between 1200-1750 and it's led to some really laughable, but frequently updated rule sets. Thank God for quinoa, tapioca and other things that make modern Passover not intolerable for those of us that can't digest potatoes. :)

[blaisepascal]

Would honey or a heavy sugar syrup work as a substitute for corn syrup in your macaroon recipe? Unless the recipe depends on the chemical properties of glucose solutions instead of sucrose or glucose/fructose blends, it should be reasonable to substitute.

Likewise, starch is starch for the most part, so you could use potato starch instead of corn starch in the pudding (unless pre-packaged mix, in which case the corn starch is already in the mix).

For an SCA gig I once was involved in the making of marzipan by hand. It's Passover-friendly, being basically almonds, sugar, egg white, and flavoring. Some recipes call for confectioner's sugar so you'd have to make sure that didn't have any added corn.

I suspect "oh, I thought you were Sephardic" won't work.

[browngirl.livejournal.com]

I second the suggestions of subbing in honey for corn syrup and potato starch for corn starch.

[medeaschild.livejournal.com]

Potato starch is totally acceptable. That's the 'trick' M and I depends on for Passover friendly dishes.

[mermaidlady]

Are you willing to work with matzah meal? It opens up a lot of possibility, like cakes. Here are a few more ideas.

NB: I've not tried any of these. I usually make a chocolate souffle roll, but it is basically a big meringue (with a chocolate filling), which you say is out.

[joannahurley.livejournal.com]

Epicurious has several Kosher-for-Passover recipes. In the past I've made jam thumbprint cookies and an apple sponge cake from there. I found the cookie recipe but can't find the apple one: http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Almond-Thumbprint-Cookies-234276

And here's their entire search. They're not all kosher, though, but most of them are:

http://www.epicurious.com/recipesmenus/holidays/passover/recipes?browseByAtt=119

[meranthi.livejournal.com]

We've done panna cotta for gaming, usually made in individual containers for ease of transport. And no carmalized crust. In case you want to fall back on that.

[autumnesquirrel.livejournal.com]

You could put the lemon curd in little chocolate cups. That's not quite the same as eating it with a spoon. Not that I think there's anything wrong with eating it with a spoon.

[jiggliusceasar.livejournal.com]

Email qarylla. She has awesome ideas in this regard.

[ricevermicelli.livejournal.com]

Smitten Kitchen has an awesome looking thing this morning, specifically intended as a Passover dessert: http://smittenkitchen.com/2011/04/heavenly-chocolate-cake-roll/#more-7362

[aerynne.livejournal.com]

I'm dying to try this recipe from smitten kitchen for a chocolate cake roll with whipped cream inside.

[mermaidlady]

That's very much like a cake I've made for Passover a few times, only I made a chocolate (non-dairy) filling.

[ladysprite.livejournal.com]

Ooh! That looks amazing, and like a serious contender... :)

[flaviarassen.livejournal.com]

I see by the date that you are still open to suggestions. Here's my nut cake recipe - it's been taste-tested twice & absolutely nothing was left behind at either event (the one where I made 2 cakes, someone asked to take the entire 2nd cake home)

Ground Nut Cake
1 1/4 cups sugar, separated
2 1/4 cups ground almonds
3/4 cup ground pistachios

You can use ANY type of ground nut, and also ground coconut, just so long as the volume is the same, and the bulk is nuts, not coconut. I used a 1:4 ratio when I made it.

1/4 cup sifted potato starch
5 eggs, separated
pinch of salt
2 Tbsp oil
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup liquid (cold tea/coffee, orange juice – etc.)
Frosting
2 Tbsp crushed pistachios (Garnish)
4 oz confectioners sugar
1 teaspoon lemon juice
4 Tbsp warm water
Regular tube pan, greased.

Method:
1. Whisk egg yolks and gradually incorporate 1 cup of the sugar. Continue until the mixture is bright and fluffy.
2. In a separate bowl mix the nuts, potato starch (making sure the starch is thoroughly incorporated, so as not to clump when wet ingredients are added), and oil; and then incorporate vanilla.
3. In a separate bowl whisk the egg whites with the salt first, and then gradually whisk in the rest of the sugar until stiff peaks are formed.
4. Add yolks to nut/egg mixture.
5. Add liquid to yolk/nut mixture (Do not feel obligated to add all the liquid if the thick mass loosens up enough to incorporate into the egg whites with less liquid)
6. Fold the egg whites into the nuts mixture gently only until combined.
7. Pour the batter into the pan.
8. Insert into a 350 degree preheated oven, and bake for 40 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the cake comes out dry.
9. Remove from the oven and invert; allow to cool completely.
10. Prepare the frosting by whisking the lemon juice, confectionery sugar and warm water well.
11. Spread evenly on the cake and sprinkle the crushed pistachios.

[surakofb5.livejournal.com]

How about a flourless chocolate cake?

[mamatiger.livejournal.com]

Hm, I'm not sure what it is about flourless cakes you don't like? But here's a recipe that looks tasty to me at any rate:

http://www.cookingchanneltv.com/recipes/chuck-hughes/chocolate-raspberry-cake-recipe/index.html

Ingredients
CHOCOLATE CAKE BATTER:

12 eggs, separated
1 cup sugar
1/3 cup cocoa, sifted

Also, chocolate mousse looked good, too.

(Chuck's Day Off is SUCH a fun show to watch!)

Matzah Muffins

[tinyplasticmeat.livejournal.com]

I made these for our seder and they turned out so good even my baked-goods-averse boyfriend ate about half of them and asked for more.

The recipe was originally posted at the Weird Jews (http://weirdjews.livejournal.com/) livejournal community.

1/4 cup matzo cake meal
1/4 cup potato starch (gluten free!)
2 T sugar
1/4 t salt
3 large eggs
1/2 cup vegetable oil

Preheat to 325. Grease muffin pan or use liners.
In a 2-quart bowl sift the matzo cake meal, potato starch, sugar & salt together.
In a small bowl beat eggs & oil together. Add to dry ingredients. At this point you can fold in another 1/2 cup sugar and add 3/4 cup chopped nuts of your choice and/or 1 teaspoon of cinnamon, ginger nutmeg, and/or 1/2 cup raisins, chocolate chips, etc.
Spoon the batter into your prepared tin filling about 2/3 full. Sprinkle with cinnamon sugar or plain sugar. Bake 25-30 minutes until brown. Makes 12 muffins.

I added probably too much cinnamon, but they still turned out great. Almost better the next day.

Melt-in-your-mouth, flourless, kosher-for-Passover chocolate coconut cake!

[cyan-blue.livejournal.com]

Here's another...

From: http://kosherfood.about.com/od/passoverdesserts/r/cake_coconut.htm

Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 40 minutes
Total Time: 55 minutes
Ingredients:

* 6 eggs
* 1 cup sugar
* 1 cup coconut
* 100 grams chocolate, grated or 1 cup grated chocolate

Preparation:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit (180 degrees Celsius).
2. Grease a 9x13 baking pan.
3. Separate eggs.
4. Whip eggs whites until soft peaks form. Add sugar.
5. Add eggs yolks, coconut and grated chocolate.
6. Spread mixture in pan.
7. Bake at 350 degrees Fahrenheit (180 degrees Celsius) for 40 minutes.