An Attempt at Ingeniousness

The moon came out early!

     That title makes me sound awfully conceited. But, I'm not conceited I promise, I was just (for a moment last week) trying to do something new. I was trying to be different. I wanted to make tofu for dessert. And, yes I know it's been done before - many times. There are enough tofu chocolate pudding recipes online to make me think people have stopped making chocolate pudding any other way. Except, of course, they haven't because talking about chocolate pudding makes me seriously crave the one I made so long ago without any tofu at all.

     You know, I think the worst part about blogging is that I can't start going back and repeating things I have already made because I wouldn't be able to blog about those. I must forge ahead, but I feel like I didn't really get to enjoy that pudding in the rush of making and photographing and trying to post before midnight that was my life before I realized I didn't have to blog everyday. Sigh, the path of a food blog is not all strewn with roses. Rose petals actually because if it was supposed to be strewn with roses I should have expected these little thorns. Ok, the bad analogy is over. We can all breathe a deep sigh of relief now.

     To return to the point at hand: tofu dessert. Well, I know tofu pudding has been done, but really this whole experiment started out without me thinking of tofu at all. It started out because, remember those Coconut Lemon Bars? The ones I had issues with because the filling slopped all over the place because I tried to make them in only half a baking sheet? Well, since some of the filling spilled out, one corner of the bars got baked without any filling at all- as a kind of big cookie. Well, most of that got eaten, but some was left behind, and then of course there were all the bits of crust that were stuck to the pan. And immediately I got to thinking, what can cookie stuff be used for? Cookie crumbs? Cookie crumb crust. Hence, you know, the hammer above for cutting up my cookie crumbs since I don't have a food processor.

     So, I wanted to make some kind of a tart with a cookie crumb crust. I still had some lemons left, and I had some yogurt....and I didn't want to go grocery shopping because I had to leave for Boston. Of course, if I had gone grocery shopping I wouldn't be back to eating eggs and grilled cheese sandwiches for every meal the past two days, but that is neither here nor there. So, I was sitting there thinking deep thoughts about lemon and yogurt. And that is when it hit me: I had to use up the tofu too! And now you know where this....tofu pudding tart...thing came from.

     For once, this is not something I think you should run off and try to make. I definitely will make another tofu dessert soon, or fix this one, but it is all an experiment. I mean, I made it in my steel tiffin so I would be able to make the crust out of how many cookie crumbs I had. I used the bit of tofu (about 1/4 of the block probably) and lemon and strawberry jam I had lying around. It didn't even set properly! Notice the filling oozing. But, it didn't taste half bad. I tried to mix the tofu up with only my hand mixer, so there were still some small tofu bits. If you have a food processor, you wouldn't have that problem meaning this dessert would taste good and have good texture. I guess I am not a complete failure after all. And, we did manage to eat all of it (me and DL - who didn't even guess it was tofu inside till I told him!), so I guess there's something to say for experimenting. And when you need something light and sweet, maybe tofu pudding is the way to go. It just....might need some tweaking.

Tofu Tart (Work in Progress) 

For the Crust: (for a 5'' diameter round) 

1/3 cup Shortbread-style Cookie Crumbs; pulverized with hammer or pulsed through a food processor
2 tbsp Butter

Mix together (or food process-together) the crumbs and the butter until the mixture is doughy. Then, spread it very carefully along the bottom of the tin. It will not be a thick layer.

Note: I didn't have enough cookie crumbs so I also had some granola in there. Granola doesn't break easily under hammer, I suggest sticking to cookie crumbs.

For the Filling: 

1/4 block Tofu
1 tbsp Lemon Juice
3 tbsp Sugar
1/3 cup Yogurt 
1/2 tbsp Strawberry Jam 

First, chop the tofu into very small pieces. Then, food process it (or put in a large bowl and try using a hand mixer to get it even smaller, but that probably won't work). Either in the food processor or still mixing with the hand mixer, add the lemon juice and allow the tofu to combine with it thoroughly. Then, add the sugar, yogurt, and jam. Mix everything together until it is thoroughly combined and the tofu is as disappeared as possible.

Pour the filling onto the crust. Allow it to set overnight in the fridge. It will not be completely set, but it will not be as liquidy either. Then, use spoons and eat it out of the tiffin because it is virtually impossible to cut slices.

I feel as though I am writing a joke recipe, but I guess in a way that is what this is :) Enjoy your own experimenting!

I am HOME

      

     I am home. Wow. Finally. Home and twelve hours of sleep, that's all I really needed. I'm also so sorry about the flan post. The pictures are so awful! That is what sleep deprivation does to me. But, now I am back and oh so bubbly. Being able to sleep and not worry about what I have left in the fridge to eat, it does help my mindset a lot.

You can see me! 

     So, what did I make in this state? Ricotta pudding. Maybe this sounds strange to you. But, this lemon ricotta pudding is my go-to comfort food. I have made it so many times I have lost count, and the recipe book I get it from now falls open to it's page. It's delicious warm, a browned crust, and then oozing citrusy pudding underneath.

     I love this dessert. It makes me feel all warmed up on a cold wintery day, but it is also not too heavy. I think lemon has that lovely property of making desserts feel like they cannot possibly weigh you down - I just realized that could be considered a bad pun, sigh. Regardless, it made me happy. Using the handheld beater and then the electric mixer - oh how I missed a Kitchenaid - also helped with my beautific state.  

Awaiting its baking - in blue roasting pan.

     So, after spending the day resting on the couch, I got up and finally made this pudding. It was - if you haven't already guessed - amazing. It was everything I said it was, and sprinkled with a little powdered sugar, the best end to a meal I finally did not have to cook myself. Ah heaven.

Lemon Ricotta Pudding

Adapted from Dessert by Katy Holder 

1 1/2 cups Sugar

1/4 cup Butter

1 1/2 cups Ricotta

3 Eggs Separated

1/4 cup Flour

1/2 tsp Baking Powder

1/4 cup Lemon Juice

Confectioners Sugar for Sprinkling

        Pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees and grease a casserole dish with 6 cup capacity. Set some water to bowl. In one bowl, beat the butter and sugar together thoroughly with an electric mixer. Then, add the three egg yolks and beat them in. In a small bowl, whisk together the flour and baking powder. Add the dry mixture and ricotta alternately to the butter-sugar-egg yolk mixture, beating well after each addition. In a separate bowl, whisk the egg whites until they are stiff and form peaks (if using the same mixer: clean the whisks well). In two batches, fold the egg whites into the rest of the mixture. Place the casserole dish on a roasting pan, and fill the casserole dish with the mixture. Place them both in the oven, and then fill the roasting pan with water so it comes halfway up the dish. Bake for about an hour (it took me about 45 minutes, or until a toothpick pushed into the center comes out clean and the pudding doesn't jiggle when you pull the pan. The top will be browned, don't worry. Then, let it cool a little, and sprinkle confectioners sugar over the top. Lastly, serve, and eat!