Living in the 21st century, we are slowly switching to the convenience trend. We tend to take the easier, simpler and faster option in many things in life, one of which is our food. Brewed coffee in the morning? Not anymore, instant coffee saves us a load of time given our busy schedule. Instant noodles fill us up in three minutes compared to a hour in the kitchen preparing a decent meal. And just when you thought only the staples get a taste of being in the fast lane, desserts are now being whipped up in an instant!
We just held a dessert making seminar entitled "Easy Desserts with Martin Braun". For those of you who are unfamiliar with the name, Martin Braun is a product line that we carry in our company, Sonlie International. It focuses on pre-mixes or "convenience products" for desserts, pastries and baked products.
Here are some of the desserts we presented in the seminar:
I decided to put a little twist to it by adding chocolate in the mixture, topped with a slice of banana and some chopped nuts for added texture.
Tiramisu Crunch If you read my article entitled "Cafe Gourmand: Dessert with a Surprise", I raved about a chocolate dessert I had in France which has a unique crunchy texture. It definitely had me trying my own ways to make a similar one when I came back. Soon enough, I found an economical and easy way to make the dessert with two simple ingredients, crushed store bought wafers and Mohrenglanz, an easy melt chocolate from Martin Braun.
To add a nice texture contrast, I served it with a tiramisu cream using our AE Tiramisu, a whipped cream stabilizer infused with the flavor of mascarpone cheese and other ingredients of the Italian dessert.
Chocolate Tiramisu TwistAgain, the pirate in me wanted to replicate certain desserts I had. This time, from the entry "Great Desserts from Lille, France", that one had a chocolate and mascarpone mousse over stewed apples, topped with whipped cream. And so, when I was doing my "shopping" in the Martin Braun area of our little stock room, I encountered two products. First is the "Mousse au Chocolat" or Mousse Brown. It is an Instant chocolate mousse in powdered form, meaning no cooking and no eggs, just milk, cream and the powder. Secondly, I realized that the AE Tiramisu (same as the one above) had the flavor of mascarpone in it, so why not blend them together?
The result was the Chocolate Tiramisu Twist. A mousse with the flavor of chocolate and tiramisu sitting on top of stewed apples, topped with whipped cream. I sprinkled toasted desiccated coconut to add a snowy finish to it. The wafer stick was just a last minute addition, but it gave the dessert some added height. Good decision there. :)
These are some of the technicians' take on how usual breakfast dishes can be turned into dessert!
Abby's DelightAside from being very talented baking consultants, the technicians of Sonlie have a very romantic side to them. Abby's Delight is named after the wife of our technician Wilson. What made him decide to name this dessert after her is because Abby is very fond of ice cream, which ironically is not present in this dessert. However, sitting on top of the fried philo pastry is a scoop of tiramisu flavored whipped topping (similar to what I used above) which gave it the look of ice cream. Its base is simply a nicely cut piece of toasted bread on strawberry jam.
Sunshine PancakesMade by our technician Reynan, the Sunshine Pancakes are named such for two reasons. First, home made pineapple jam is spread around the plate giving the dessert a yellow 'glow'. Secondly, these pancakes share the name with Reynan's significant other. The pancakes, combined with the fruity sweetness of jam paired with the texture of whipped topping made this dessert like a Filipino vesion of the crepe.
Some other desserts presented in the seminar:
Creme Brulee TwinsThis dessert is a combination of two creme brulee bases. At the bottom of the glass is creme brulee mixed with one of the products we offer, Bensdorp Cocoa to give it a slight bitter-chocolate effect. After setting for a few minutes, the classic creme brulee is poured on top then whipped topping and crushed graham crackers are added as garnish.
Banana Creme BruleeHere is another variety of our instant creme brulee. This one has mashed bananas incorporated in the mixture to have an even distribution of the banana all over the custard base. Made by one of our technicians who does not enjoy bananas very much, he seemed to have a sixth sense when concocting the recipe for this dessert. It tasted like a very creamy banana cake if you ask me.
Tiramisu with Apple Cinnamon
Chocolate Madness
Wafer Sans Rival
We had a dessert buffet after over ten recipes were finished within three hours time.
For those who attended the seminar, thank you very much and I hope you enjoyed it! For others who are interested to join, please call 831-8882 for details on our next Easy Desserts with Martin Braun seminar.
