Sweets / Desserts

Belgian Buttermilk Waffles With Fresh Raspberries, Yogurt And Honey

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Today I rolled breakfast and lunch into one yummy, satisfying brunch by preparing these special treats. Waffles were served on special occasions at our home when I was a kid. It was one of the dishes my dear Mom excelled on preparing.
Eating and enjoying them today made me wonder why I did not prepare waffles more often in the past (I will in the future)
While I am a sucker for pancakes, today reminded me why I always preferred waffles. The crisp texture on the outside and the light softness of the interior put’s them just a step above pancakes…..
While way back then the waffles were usually accompanied by fresh apple sauce (freshly made and canned by my Mom in Fall to last for the whole year), I now prefer raspberries in yogurt and honey which makes the dish much more lively, both visually and taste-wise.
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Bon Appetit ! Life is Good !
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Waffle Batter :
Ingredients :
1. 1/3 cup flour, 4 tsp baking powder, 2 tsp sugar, 1/2 cup melted butter, 1. 3/4 cup buttermilk, two egg yolks (whisk the two egg whites to stiff peaks)
Method :
Mix dry ingredients well, add buttermilk, egg yolks and melted butter, fold-in whisked egg whites
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P.S.
I love the slight bitterness of the cocoa to contrast with the sweetness of the rest of the dish; if you don’t, substitute the cocoa with castor sugar 🙂
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Belgian Buttermilk Waffles With Fresh Raspberries, Yogurt And Honey

sprinkle with more cocoa powder, fresh raspberries and top with whipped cream

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Preparation :
To read instructions, hover over pictures
To enlarge pictures and read instructions, click on pictures
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: mix fresh raspberries, Greek yogurt, honey, vanilla extract and a dash of lime juice

: mix all ingredients and lightly break-up the berries

: prepare waffle batter

: brush a hot waffle iron with melted butter, add waffle batter

: place first waffle on a warm plate, sprinkle with cocoa powder

: top with the strawberry yogurt and a generous dollop of whipped cream

: top with another waffle

: sprinkle with more cocoa powder, fresh raspberries and top with whipped cream

: Belgian Buttermilk Waffles With Fresh Raspberries, Yogurt And Honey

: Belgian Buttermilk Waffles With Fresh Raspberries, Yogurt And Honey

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Strawberry And Chocolate Pizza

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Strawberry And Chocolate Pizza

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Some years back I run a few hotels as Executive Chef in Mexico. One of our hotels had three beach restaurants, one of them a sandwich shop which I converted into a pizza restaurant. Pizzas right on the beach were of course a great hit, especially at night. Two of the menu-options consisted of “Fruit Pizza”, which turned out to be bestsellers, despite their novelty. (See the pic’s below). When you think about it, many simple pies originally used a yeast dough similar to pizza dough, so why not. The texture is of course totally different from the crumbly shells we are now used to, but I always have been a fan of the less sweet, more sturdy yeast dough shells or bottoms. Besides, if you have a frozen pizza shell as a standby in your freezer, the whole affair takes only a few minutes to prepare which makes it a great solution for the munchies that sometimes attack late at night 🙂
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Bon Appetit ! Life is Good !
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Many years ago in Mexico……..
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: Banana And Strawberry Jam Pizza

: Strawberry And Pastry Cream Pizza

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A few days ago at my house……….
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: Strawberry And Chocolate Pizza

: Strawberry And Chocolate Pizza

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Preparation :
To read instructions, hover over pictures
To enlarge pictures and read instructions, click on pictures

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: wash strawberries, cut tops

: pat the strawberries dry

: spread strawberry preserve on pre-baked pizza dough

: mix sour cream with honey and a dash of vanilla extract, spread on dough

: top with girardelli milk chocolate chips

: top with strawberries

: add more chocolate chips

: bake at 400F until chocolate starts to melt

: let cool to room temperature, brush with melted strawberry preserve

: to serve, dust with castor sugar, cut into slices and add a dollop of the sour cream mixture to each slice

: Strawberry And Chocolate Pizza

: Strawberry And Chocolate Pizza

: Strawberry and Chocolate Pizza

: Strawberry and Chocolate Pizza

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Chilled Fruit Milk

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While I absolutely love smoothies, which are not exactly difficult or complicated to prepare, sometimes I crave an even simpler drink – fruit milk.
Chilled fruit, milk and a sweetener such as honey or fruit-preserve, blended and voilà – the embodiment of deliciousness at your fingertips 🙂
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P.S.
Of course in years past, I added liquor as well, usually rum, vodka or cognac 🙂
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Cheers ! Life is Good !
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Smoothies on ChefsOpinion
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Chilled Fruit Milk

bananas, raspberries and strawberry marmalade

add milk

blend until smooth

Chilled Fruit Milk

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I Once Was A Sinner………

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Sex, Drugs And Rock & Roll –
– Like most folks, I was not an angel growing up and growing old 😦 🙂
However, nowadays I am a lot older, a bit wiser and much less healthy, so the only sin I still engage in (ruefully) are the few sweet things which are left to me, such as cake, ice cream, whipped cream and chocolate.
Like everything else, I share them with Bella (tiny amounts of chocolate only, which she does not enjoy as much as ice cream and whipped cream anyway)
Here is an example of an afternoon sin-filled session which we both enjoyed 🙂
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Life is Good ! Enjoy It While You Can !
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: Mine……

: Mine…..

: Ours…..

: Bella’s……….

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Breakfast Of Champions # 51 – Blueberry Buttermilk Pancake With Fresh Pomegranate Yogurt

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Getting out of bed in the morning sucks ! 😦
Getting out of bet in the morning to this sweet beauty sucks less 🙂
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Bon Appetit ! Have A Wonderful Day 🙂
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More “Breakfast Of Champions”
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More “Pancakes”
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Breakfast Of Champions # 51 – Blueberry Buttermilk Pancake With Fresh Pomegranate Yoghurt

Breakfast Of Champions # 51 – Blueberry Buttermilk Pancake With Fresh Pomegranate Yogurt

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Preparation :
To read instructions, hover over pictures
To enlarge pictures and read instructions, click on pictures
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: cut fresh pomegranate in half

: remove all seeds

: mix with Greek yogurt, sugar and vanilla extract

: mix well, keep in fridge until serving-time

: mix one cup of flour with four egg-yolk, one tspn sugar, half tspn vanilla essence and enough buttermilk to form a batter, whisk the egg-whites with one tblsp sugar to stiff peaks

: fold the egg whites into the batter

: add washed, DRIED blueberries

: add to a preheated, lightly buttered pan, cook until just set, flip and finish cooking in a 400F oven

: remove pancake to serving platter

: top pancake with pomegranate yogurt, dust generously with castor sugar

: Breakfast Of Champions # 51 – Blueberry Buttermilk Pancake With Fresh Pomegranate Yogurt

: Breakfast Of Champions # 51 – Blueberry Buttermilk Pancake With Fresh Pomegranate Yogurt

: Breakfast Of Champions # 51 – Blueberry Buttermilk Pancake With Fresh Pomegranate Yogurt

: Breakfast Of Champions # 51 – Blueberry Buttermilk Pancake With Fresh Pomegranate Yogurt

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EASY DOES IT # 30 – Cinnamon Roll And Fruit-Pudding

Dear Friend’s,
Although most of the followers of ChefsOpinion are culinary professionals, there is also a large segment of followers who are just starting to enjoy cooking on a slightly higher than basic level. I have therefore decided to publish, under the moniker “Easy Does It“, from time to time some very basic recipe variations of dishes (and even pre-cooked dishes) which otherwise might seem too complicated to some folks. I will break them down to the easiest, most simple instructions, so that those of you who are intimidated by elaborate recipes will be able to prepare these dishes properly, adjusted to your taste and liking, right from the get-go.

After all, just because you are not (yet ?) a professional chef should not prevent you from enjoying great food at home. 🙂
Enjoy !
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If you are still looking for a great, delicious, good-looking and easy to prepare dessert for your upcoming x-mas feast (or any other feast 🙂 ), give this beauty a shot.
It will take all of about 15 minutes of actual prep time, yet the result is extraordinarily delicious.
I have served mine with just a bit of whipped cream, but a fruit coulis or chocolate sauce will add an extra layer of taste, texture and color.
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Bon Appetit ! Life is Good !
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! Please find an update to this post at the bottom of this page !
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Cinnamon Roll And Fruit-Pudding

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Preparation :
To read instructions, hover over pictures
To enlarge pictures and read instructions, click on pictures
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: 6 ea store-bought or home-made cinnamon rolls

: break into large pieces, to 2 cups of whole milk add a few drops of vanilla extract, pour over cinnamon roll pieces, soak for 20 minutes

: meanwhile, dice apples , slice bananas

: saute apples in a bit of butter until lightly caramelized

: lightly squeeze milk from cinnamon rolls into a bowl, add 4 large eggs and 3 tblsp honey, whisk until smooth

: add apples, bananas and a generous handful of dried cranberries

: mix together without breaking-up the roll pieces

: fill into lightly buttered baking dish, sprinkle with 2 tblsp of sugar

: bake at 375F for about 1 hour

: when top of pudding is golden brown and pudding has almost set, remove from oven, loosely cover and let rest for 15 minutes

: serve cinnamon roll pudding with whipped cream

: Cinnamon Roll And Fruit-Pudding

: Cinnamon Roll And Fruit-Pudding

: Cinnamon Roll And Fruit-Pudding

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Following, a few pics of the leftovers I served the next day 🙂 ( With added strawberry coulis )
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: EASY DOES IT # 30 – CINNAMON ROLL AND FRUIT-PUDDING

: EASY DOES IT # 30 – CINNAMON ROLL AND FRUIT-PUDDING

: EASY DOES IT # 30 – CINNAMON ROLL AND FRUIT-PUDDING

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Tortilla Dulce

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When I got out of bed this morning, visions of sweet crepes swirled around my head and after I walked Bella for an hour around the lake, we were ready for our sweet reward. As I gathered the ingredients from the fridge, I came across some leftover tortillas from last nights dinner. Now, as you probably know, flour tortillas are a very versatile ingredient and are perfectly suited for a sweet dish, especially when a lot of sauce and other moist ingredients, such as fruit, are involved. So that settled things, tortillas instead of crepes it was. Turns out that for my personal taste, the tortillas, because of their more sturdy texture, were actually better suited than crepes for this particular dish 🙂
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Bon Appetit ! Life is Good !
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Tortilla Dulce

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Preparation :
To read instructions, hover over pictures
To enlarge pictures and read instructions, click on pictures
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: cook sugar on low heat

: cook sugar until caramelized

: add heavy cream, simmer until lightly thickened

: creamy caramel sauce

: apple, pears & oranges

: cut the apple and pears around the core, peel the oranges

: cut apple and pears into cubes, filet the oranges

: saute in butter with a dash of sugar and a few drops of organic vanilla essence until heated but not mushy

: flour tortilla

: spread tortilla with raspberry marmalade

: spread Greek yogurt on top of marmalade

: top center-line with the sauteed fruits

: roll tortilla

: almost……..

: put tortillas on ovenproof dish, sprinkle with sugar

: gratinate tortillas under broiler until sugar caramelizes

: serve tortillas with caramel sauce

: Tortilla Dulce

: Tortilla Dulce

: Tortilla Dulce

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Easy Does It # 28 – Banana-Walnut-Cake Pudding

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So I am walking down the “forbidden” cake-isle at Publix, heroically ignoring every sweet temptation that beckons, almost reaching the end of the line and – BANG – there it was, the most delicious looking banana-walnut cake loaf you can imagine. Now, from my ( past 🙂 ) experiences with the Publix bakery department, their baked goods are pretty good, at least at the location I am shopping close to my home. I have been a huge fan of banana – walnut cake (and banana bread) ever since I had my first taste in the Caribbean many years ago. Sadly, I have not encountered many good versions over the years, with most of them being too sweet, too heavy, too dry and /or lacking strong banana taste or all of the above. Not so the one I got at Publix. Like so many of their baked goods, it was absolutely delicious. Very light, bursting with banana flavor and chock-full of walnuts, all for a very reasonable price.
(NO – I am not being endorsed by Publix, although maybe I should be 🙂 )
As soon as I got home, I dug into the first loaf, almost ate the whole thing and was a very happy camper (Probably shaved a day off of my life right there 😦 )
So the next day I had one more loaf and a bit from the first one. I decided to improve on a perfect thing and prepare “Banana-Walnut-Cake Pudding”.
Originally, bread pudding (or cake pudding) was prepared to utilize stale bread or cake and revitalize it with the additional moisture from the egg/milk custard. Nowadays, people are usually less frugal. However, bread pudding and cake pudding have proven to be a popular dessert in countless variations, made with any kind of savory bread or sweet baked goods, from cake to doughnuts to cinnamon rolls and so forth, and with a great assortment of different custards and different nuts, fruits, dried fruits etc. There are fantastic versions out there, impeccably prepared and a pure delight to eat. Unfortunately, as with many other such simple concoctions, a vast sea of less than stellar bread puddings and cake puddings can and will be found, ruining the reputation of this wonderful dish. Too often, it is dry, tasteless and overly sweet and the bread or cake used would have seen a more honorable end to itself by being tossed straight into the garbage.
Not so the baby you see below. It was very light, very moist, with a superb thin, crisp, caramelized crust on the bottom, not too sweet and with the added goodness of vanilla and Greek-yogurt.
All in all, definitely the very best cake pudding I have ever tasted.
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Bon Appetit ! Life is Good !
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P.S.
The usual practice of whisking the milk and eggs together before soaking the bread or cake results in a more firm (dry?) version, which is more suitable for a commercial application where one lets the pudding cool down a bit before cutting it into perfect shapes.
My way of soaking the cake in the milk first, then adding the eggs and mixing it all carefully to avoid the cake pieces to break up results in a much more moist cake, encased in a light custard, which together form a marvel of perfectly textured pudding ; There – I said it – perfect 🙂
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P.P.S.
Because of the moist and almost creamy texture of the pudding, I decided not to turn the raspberries into a sauce as I originally had intended, which turned out to be a wise decision.
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Banana-Walnut-Cake Pudding

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Preparation :
To read instructions, hover over pictures
To enlarge pictures and read instructions, click on pictures
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: banana-walnut cake

: brush a ovenproof dish generously with butter

: whisk 3 cups of milk, 1 cup of greek yogurt, 1 tblsp sugar and a dash of organic vanilla extract

: cut the cake into large pieces, soak in the milk

: whisk 3 small eggs with a dash of organic vanilla extract and 1 tblsp of sugar or honey

: when most of the milk is absorbed by the cake, mix the rest of the milk with the eggs, carefull not to break-up the cake

: fill into ovenproof dish, top with butterflakes and sprinkle with sugar

: bake until custard has just set and bottom has lightly caramelized

: sprinkle with fresh raspberries and confectioners sugar

: Banana-Walnut-Cake Pudding

: Banana-Walnut-Cake Pudding

: Banana-Walnut-Cake Pudding

: Banana-Walnut-Cake Pudding

: Banana-Walnut-Cake Pudding

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Strawberry, Vodka & Chocolate Smoothie

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Welcome back, summer !

It is 5.00pm and the temperature is still at 83F. Feels almost like summer. Of course, this is the perfect temperature. As soon as it get’s a bit hotter, just like all good Floridians, I will of course complain that it is too hot ! But, today, it’s just perfect 🙂
To celebrate, I made for myself a great smoothie which was just the right thing to have outside, waiting for the sun to go down, listening to classic rock on Big 105.9 and watching madam chasing geckos.

Cheers ! Live is Good !