Crustless Chai-Coconut Pie

Disclaimer: This post was sponsored by Egg Farmers of Ontario. 

Spring is definitely in the air and Easter is right around the corner so it was great to receive an eggs-citing (see what I did there?!) lacto-ovo vegetarian friendly dessert recipe from Egg Farmers of Ontario. Their Crustless Chai-Coconut Pie is fairly easy to make and the unique flavour combination is sure to be a hit with the foodies at your Easter table.

What I loved about the Crustless Chai-Coconut Pie is that it is an easy dessert that’s suitable for a special event such as Easter, but it’s also simple enough for less formal occasions.

If you would like to learn more about Egg Farmers of Ontario, please visit getcracking.ca for a copy of this recipe and tons of other egg recipes that are sure to please you and your family.

Crustless Chai-Coconut Pie

An easy and aromatic dessert that’s suitable for any occasion. Dress it up topped with rum spiked whipped cream!

Serves: 6 to 8

Prep Time: 15 minutes   Cooking Time: 35 to 40 minutes

Ingredients:

1⁄4 cup (50 mL) all-purpose flour

1 tsp (5 mL) ground cinnamon

1⁄2 tsp (2 mL) each ground ginger, cardamom and allspice

1⁄4 tsp (1 mL) ground cloves

1⁄4 tsp (1 mL) baking powder

1⁄4 cup (50 mL) butter, softened

1 cup (250 mL) granulated sugar

3 large eggs

1 tsp (5 mL) vanilla extract

3⁄4 cup (175 mL) light cream (5%)

1-1⁄2 cups (375 mL) sweetened shredded coconut

Whipped cream (optional)

Preparation:

Pre-heat oven to 350°F (180°C). Grease a 9-inch (23 cm) glass pie plate.

In small bowl, combine flour, spices and baking powder. Set aside. In a medium bowl, using an electric mixer on medium speed, beat together butter and sugar until combined. Add eggs and vanilla and beat until creamy and well blended. Stir in cream and flour mixture; mix well. Stir in coconut. Pour into prepared pie plate.

Bake for 35 to 40 minutes or until set and golden brown.

Place on rack to cool. Serve at room temperature with whipped cream, if desired.

Tip: Use shredded or flaked coconut for this recipe.

Tip: Cover and refrigerate leftovers for up to 3 days or freeze for up to 2 months.

Nutrients per serving (1/6 recipe): 360 calories, 17 g total fat, 181 mg sodium, 49 g carbohydrates, 2 g fibre, 6 g protein. Excellent source of vitamin B12. Good source of  folate and iron.

Monsieur Félix & Mr. Norton in Markham + a CONTEST!

My husband and I were on our way to brunch in Markham and we were in charge of bringing dessert. I knew this crowd would be into bite-sized treats and I immediately thought of the delicious, gooey goodness of fresh cookies from Monsieur Félix & Mr. Norton in Markham.

This company has been a part of my life for years and I’ve been buying their scrumptious cookies since I was in my teens. A few years ago, I was looking for something fun and cute to give my fiancé (now husband) at our engagement party. I immediately thought of Monsieur Félix & Mr. Norton`s popular Cookie Bouquet® and I knew it would be perfect. They made up a 24 stem Cookie Bouquet® of his favourite cookies and they were a hit!

We walked into the shop at about 11 am on a Saturday and the amazing aroma of fresh cookies was in the air. I don’t know about you, but the smell of baked goods makes me weak in the knees and I let out a sigh of happiness every time!  We noticed that quite a few things had changed since our last visit. In addition to fresh cookies and fudge, they were now selling…wait for it…CUPCAKES!

When we visited, they had Belgian Chocolate, Vanilla Bean, Baileys Mocha, Caramel Crunch, Lemon Coconut, Peanut Butter Chocolate, Red Velvet and Double Chocolate. It was so hard to choose which flavours we wanted to try. I was excited to hear that they change their flavours seasonally, so I’m looking forward to trying their spring and summer cupcakes too.

I was so distracted by the cupcakes that I almost forgot about the cookies, their signature product. My favourite flavour is Ménage à Trois®, which contains a yummy blend of milk, white and dark chocolate chunks. My hubby’s favourite is Lemon Delight which is a delicious lemon cookie with white chocolate chunks and candied lemon.

Since my last visit, they’ve expanded their cookie gift packaging selection and they are now selling wedding favours – beautiful little boxes filled with cookies (to my friends who are getting married soon, THIS is THE takeaway gift that guests want!).

Thank you Dan, Michele and Amanda for sharing your passion for all things sweet – we came in for cookies but we left with cupcakes too! P.S. Monsieur Félix & Mr. Norton is proudly Canadian and the staff wear beautiful Canadian flags on their chef coats too. They only use fresh, high quality ingredients in all of their products and it shows.

I’ve almost filled up my Monsieur Félix & Mr. Norton V.I.P card (you get a stamp for every $10 you spend in the store and after 12 stamps, you get 1lb of cookies for free!) and I’m already thinking of what I’m going to get next time I visit…mmmmmm : )

Info:

Monsieur Félix & Mr. Norton
Markham Town Square
8601 Warden Ave, Unit #16
Markham,ON L3R 0B5

North-East Corner of Warden Ave & Hwy 7

Phone: (905) 479-2172
Website: http://www.cookiesandfudge.com
Facebook: Monsieur Félix & Mr. Norton Markham
Twitter: @felixnorton_gta

 Here comes the fun part… 

CONTEST – Win a Magnummm of Cookies® (I have 2 to give away!)

The lovely folks at Monsieur Félix & Mr. Norton are giving away a Magnummm of Cookies®  to two readers of Milk & Eggs.

What`s a Magnummm of Cookies® you ask? It`s a beautiful champagne bottle filled with 25 freshly-baked cookies, presented in a handsome black gift box – valued at $34.99

To enter:

STEP 1 – Visit the Monsieur Félix & Mr. Norton website at http://www.cookiesandfudge.com/ to learn about their yummy products

STEP 2 – If you`re on Twitter, follow @savvari and @FelixNorton_GTA and tweet the name of any of their cookie or cupcake flavours that you would like to try. Example:

@savvari I want to try the ___________ from @FelixNorton_GTA #FelixNorton

OR

If you`re on Facebook, “Like” Monsieur Félix & Mr. Norton Markham

Then, leave a comment on this blog post with the name of any Monsieur Félix & Mr. Norton cookie or cupcake flavours you would like to try.

Are you on Twitter and Facebook? Follow all steps above to receive more entries into the contest!

Contest closes on Friday March 23 at 12 pm EST, so get your entries in soon!

IMPORTANT!

-You may enter once per day.

-If you are one of the two winners, you MUST pick up your prize from Monsieur Félix & Mr. Norton in Markham, Ontario. Therefore, you must live in the GTA (Greater Toronto area) or be willing to drive to Markham.

Good luck!!

_________________________________________________________________________________

WINNERS! 

Congrats to @_Lenito from Twitter and Fiona Thom from Facebook for winning the #FelixNorton contest! You’ve each won a Magnummm of Cookies® from Monsieur Félix & Mr. Norton!

_________________________________________________________________________________

Mary Luz’s Pastel Tres Leches

Those of you who know me personally know that I’m a huge fan and active user of Twitter. The information I’ve received and the experiences I have gained in the past 4 years have all been due to this magical 140-character messaging system. Through Twitter, I’ve had the pleasure of meeting a number of great people, many of whom are professionals in food and one such woman is the lovely Mary Luz Mejia – @maryluzonfood on Twitter (Note:  follow her on Twitter and you will learn a lot about food!).  I was on the hunt for a great Pastel Tres Leches recipe and she was more than happy to share hers.

Pastel Tres Leches (from Spanish, “three milk cake”) is a sponge cake soaked in three kinds of milk: evaporated milk, condensed milk, and heavy cream. Yes, I know that that sounds extremely decadent but if you consider the fact that you will only eat a small piece of it (or at least attempt to!), it doesn’t sound so bad right?  : ) I first tried this incredible cake at a restaurant a few years ago and I was hooked. I will refrain from sharing the name of the restaurant because sadly, they stopped making this cake the way they originally did (serious mistake on their part!).

This cake has a wet texture which is similar to a few East Indian desserts such as Ras Malai and Rasgulla. Based on this, I thought my family would enjoy it and I was right…they ate the whole cake!

Mary Luz recommends serving it with whipped cream or vanilla ice cream and mango slices. I served it with whipped cream and Bon Maman’s Caramel Spread (Dulce de Leche), to add more decadence : )

Mary Luz Mejia’s Pastel Tres Leches

(The original link for Mary Luz’s recipe is located here on the Edible Toronto site at http://bit.ly/w7Gc5D )

Makes 10 servings

Cake

5 large eggs, separated

1 cup granulated sugar

1/3 cup whole (3.25%) milk

1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract

1 cup all-purpose flour

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp cream of tartar

For the milk syrup

1 can (12 oz) evaporated milk

1 cup sweetened condensed milk

1 cup whipping (35%) cream

1 tbsp dark Cuban rum (Note:  I didn’t have any at home so I used Captain Morgan Dark Rum)

1 tsp pure vanilla extract

My garnish

Fresh lightly sweetened whipped cream

Bon Maman’s Caramel Spread (Dulce de Leche)

To make the cake:  Generously butter a 13- x 9-inch baking dish; set aside. In a medium bowl, beat the egg yolks and ¾ cup of the sugar until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes. Whisk in the milk and vanilla. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour and baking powder. Add the liquid ingredients to the flour mixture. Using a rubber spatula, mix until just combined.

In the bowl of an electric mixer (or in a large bowl using a handheld mixer), beat the egg whites until they form soft peaks, then add the cream of tartar. With the machine running, gradually add the remaining ¼ cup of sugar and continue beating until the egg whites are glossy and firm but not dry. Gently fold the egg whites into the batter. Spread the batter evenly into the baking dish.

Bake in a preheated 350º F oven until the cake feels firm when lightly touched and a toothpick inserted in the centre comes out clean, about 30-40 minutes. Let the cake cool completely in the baking dish. Pierce the cake all over with a fork, taking care to not tear it.

To make the milk syrup:  In a large bowl, whisk together the evaporated milk, condensed milk, cream, rum and vanilla. Pour half of the syrup evenly over the cake, waiting until the syrup is absorbed before spooning more on top. Continue to add syrup to the cake until all of the syrup has been absorbed. Cover the cake with plastic wrap and allow to chill in the refrigerator at least 4 hours or overnight.

Garnish: When ready to serve, cut a slice of cake and plate it. I spread some fresh whipped cream onto the piece and drizzled it (ok, so I loaded it!) with Bon Maman’s Caramel Spread (Dulce de Leche). It was delicious!

Muchas gracias Mary Luz for sharing this recipe, I don’t think I will ever order it in a restaurant again!

Eggplant Ricotta Bake

I love Eggplant Parmigiana (my husband makes an amazing version of it by the way) but most of the best recipes take a long, long time to make and you often have to fry the eggplant slices.

On my search to find a tasty eggplant recipe that was relatively easy to make and hearty, I found this great recipe from Everyday Food. Roasting the eggplant slices makes them sweeter and softer, so after you have baked the dish, you will end up eggplant that melts in your mouth! The recipe makes the perfect amount for dinner for two plus leftovers for lunch the next day (it tastes even better the next day!).

Eggplant Ricotta Bake

(Inspired by a recipe from Everyday Food – found here: http://to.pbs.org/qZLrmP)

Makes approximately 4 servings.

Ingredients:

2 large eggplants (1 to 1 ¼ pounds each), sliced lengthwise ¾ inch thick (leave the skin on!)

3 tablespoons olive oil, plus more for your baking dish

Coarse salt and freshly ground pepper

1 container (15 ounces) part-skim ricotta cheese (approximately 1-2/3 cups)

3 large eggs

1 cup grated Parmesan cheese

2 tablespoons fresh chopped basil OR oregano (use dried if you don’t have fresh)

2 cups store-bought marinara sauce

Equipment you will need:

2 baking sheets

1 8×8 square baking dish

Directions

Preheat oven to 450°.  Arrange eggplant slices in a single layer on two rimmed baking sheets.  Brush lightly on both sides with oil; season with salt and pepper (watch the amount of salt you use!).  Roast until eggplant is tender and golden, turning eggplant slices halfway through, for 25 to 30 minutes.

Note:  if you have both baking sheets in the oven on different racks, you will have to switch the position of your trays halfway through, to avoid burning the eggplant on the lower rack.

Meanwhile, in a medium bowl, whisk together ricotta, eggs, ½ cup Parmesan, basil, 1 ½ teaspoons salt (Note: If you seasoned the eggplant slices with a lot of salt, you may NOT need any more in this part of the recipe), and ¼ teaspoons pepper.

Brush an 8-inch square baking dish with oil. Lay a fourth of eggplant slices in bottom of prepared dish; spread with half of marinara sauce.  Top with another fourth of eggplant; spread with half of ricotta mixture.  Repeat layers, ending with ricotta; sprinkle with remaining ½ cup Parmesan.  Bake until bubbling and golden, 20 to 25 minutes.  Cool 10 minutes before serving.

I enjoy serving this with a garden salad on the side for a tasty after-work meal. This also tastes great with some buttered spaghetti on the side (freshly cooked spaghetti tossed with a few tablespoons of butter, a little bit of salt, fresh ground pepper and chopped parsley if you have it).

P.S. The Eggplant Ricotta Bake is terrific the next day as the flavours develop even more. It’s one of those work day lunches you will look forward to eating!