No-bake Eggless Green Tea Creme Caramel

Seeing how well my No-bake Eggless Chocolate Creme Caramel turned out, I was feeling rather bold and wanted to try a green tea version.

Voila!

No- Bake Eggless Green Tea Creme Caramel

Green Tea Custard :
2 Tbsp powdered gelatin
1250 ml full cream milk
80 gm castor sugar
3 Tbsp custard powder
2 Tbsp green tea powder

Caramel :
1 cup sugar
3 Tbsp water


Method:

Make caramel first

Put sugar and water in a small pot and heat on medium flame until it starts to turn a light golden brown. Watch it carefully and don't turn away (not even a sec!) when you're doing this because once the syrup turns golden it darkens very quickly after that and will continue to do so after removing from heat. Do not stir. Once the sugar/caramel turns a light golden brown, remove from heat, swirl the pot a little to let the colour even out and then pour directly into your mould or ramekin dishes. Swirl the mould around so that the caramel covers the bottom and reaches up the sides a little. Let cool and harden. Do this quickly as the caramel hardens in no time.

Make custard

Pour the milk into a medium pot and sprinkle the gelatin over it. Let the gelatin soften a little. Meanwhile mix  the sugar, green tea powder and custard powder in a bowl, then add into the milk/gelatin mixture. Stir to mix and bring to a simmer STIRRING ALL THE TIME with a wooden spoon until the mixture thickens and coats the back of the spoon. Sieve the custard. Pour the sieved custard into the mould over the hardened caramel and chill in the refrigerator overnight or until set.

No-Bake Eggless Chocolate Creme Caramel

Creme caramel is  one of the most popular dessert around. You'd easily find them on the menu in any restaurants or cafes. It is essentially a custard baked in a mold with a layer of caramel at the bottom. When inverted out for serving, the silky custard pudding sits beautifully presented in its pool of sweet syrupy caramel sauce. What's not to like?

As much as I like creme caramel, I rarely make this dessert at home. It was probably years ago the last time I made one. I remember it came out one pockmarked ugly looking pud! Creme caramel is not as easy to make as it seems, at least to me. I always wondered how other people seem to make such  beautiful and perfectly smooth looking creme caramel.

When I saw this divine looking Creme Caramel  from 'Cherry On A Cake', I couldn't believe that it was EGGLESS and required NO BAKING! It really piqued my curiosity - maybe this is THE secret to silky smooth caramel. I wasted no time at all and was in the kitchen right away. 

Well, what do you know, I ran out of milk and had only chocolate flavoured milk. I didn't want to drive out to the store just to buy milk, so what the heck, chocolate creme caramel it was! My gamble actually paid off. It  was lite, silky, chocolaty and yet surprisingly creamy. While my Daughter G and I agreed the pud was yummy,  it definitely could do better without the bitter taste (I had overcooked the caramel!),  my dear Hubby thought otherwise. He liked the slight bitterness and said it balances the sweetness of the pud.   

From now on, this  no-bake eggless version will be my (secret) go to recipe for creme caramel! Purists may frown and scoff  at this fake pud but who cares when you can eat to your heart's content and put your cholesterol concious mind at peace! Anyone who is also averse to the slightest whiff of eggy smells would surely welcome this fake version. But what I like best about this recipe is the no-bake part ... which means no tedious water bath and no fiddling & poking about to check if the pud is baked. I can rest assured that my creme caramel comes out smooth & silky every time .... and  not a pockmarked flop!


No- Bake Eggless Chocolate Creme Caramel

(Recipe adapted from "Cherry on a Cake" here ) 

Chocolate Custard :
2 Tbsp powdered gelatin
1250 ml chocolate flavoured full cream milk
80 gm castor sugar
3 Tbsp custard powder
2 Tbsp cocoa powder

Caramel :
1 cup sugar
3 Tbsp water


Method:

Make caramel first

Put sugar and water in a small pot and heat on medium flame until it starts to turn a light golden brown. Watch it carefully and don't turn away (not even a sec!) when you're doing this because once the syrup turns golden it darkens very quickly after that and will continue to do so after removing from heat. Do not stir. Once the sugar/caramel turns a light golden brown, remove from heat, swirl the pot a little to let the colour even out and then pour directly into your mould or ramekin dishes. Swirl the mould around so that the caramel covers the bottom and reaches up the sides a little. Let cool and harden. Do this quickly as the caramel hardens in no time.

Make custard

Pour the milk into a medium pot and sprinkle the gelatin over it. Let the gelatin soften a little. Meanwhile mix  the sugar and custard powder in a bowl, then add into the milk/gelatin mixture. Stir to mix and bring to a simmer STIRRING ALL THE TIME with a wooden spoon until the mixture thickens and coats the back of the spoon. Sieve the custard. Pour the sieved custard into the mould over the hardened caramel and chill in the refrigerator overnight or until set.

Japanese Coffee Jelly



Simple easy dessert for coffee lovers.



Japanese Coffee Jelly Recipe

(from 'Hunger Hunger (A Daily Obsession)' here)

(makes 4 to 5 glasses)

Ingredients:

500 ml water

10 g gelatine powder (about 1 heaped tablespoon)
5 tablespoon caster sugar
2 tablespoon instant coffee powder

Method:

1. In a saucepan, boil the water.

2. In a small bowl, mix the gelatine powder with 5 to 6 tablespoons of the boiling water until gelatine is dissolved. Set aside the gelatine mixture.

3. Remove the saucepan from  heat, add in the coffee powder and sugar, stirring well until sugar is dissolved. Then add in the gelatine mixture, stir well.

4.Pour into molds or glasses, leave to cool in room temperature, then chill until set in the fridge.

5. Serve the set jelly  with whipped or pouring cream.

I scream, U scream, We all scream for Green Tea Ice Cream!

This is my first time making green tea ice cream and it is the best ice cream I've ever made. It's so creamy, it beats those from Japanese Restaurants hands down! Yup, HANDS DOWN!

My Daughter agrees with me too. I didn't need to offer or serve the ice cream to her. She just helped herself  to the ice cream and finished the whole batch within a couple of days. Heck, I got to enjoy only a couple mouthfuls.

'YUMMERS!' was what my Daughter said everytime she had her fill of this.

Found the recipe here as  I was trawling the net looking for a good green tea ice cream recipe to finish off the green tea powder leftover from the Green Tea Tiramisu I made. Now, instead of needing to finish of my stash of green tea powder, I need to buy more to make more of this delicious ice cream!

Green Tea Ice Cream
(yields 6 small scoops)

Ingredients:

2 tablespoons green tea powder (matcha)
2/3 cup granulated sugar (Reduced to 1/3 Cup and I used caster sugar)
3 egg yolks
3/4 cup milk
3/4 cup heavy cream

Method:
1. In a small bow, mix the green tea powder with 2 tablespoons granulated sugar.

2. In a separate bowl, mix together the egg yolks and remaining sugar.

3. Pour the milk into a small pan and gently heat until it's just about to boil (You'll see some bubbles appearing on the edges. Do not let it boil). Remove the from the heat and mix a few spoonfuls of the warm milk with the green tea powder/sugar mixture in a small bowl. When you have a smooth paste, add it to the remaining milk in the pan, then gradually combine with the egg yolk/sugar mixture.

4. Return mixture to the stove and heat gently over low heat (taking care to not let the mixture boil), until the mixture coats the back of a spoon. Remove from the heat, strain through a fine sieve, and allow to cool completely.

5. Lightly whip the cream and then add it to the cold green tea custard.

6. Transfer the mixture to a large container and chill for an hour or two in the refrigerator.

7. Put the chilled mixture in the freezer and freeze until half frozen about 1 hour (you'll see the mixture is frozen around the edges but the middle is not). Remove from freezer and mix well with a spoon or fork (stir very vigorously) to break up the ice crystals, return the mixture to the freezer. Repeat this 3 more times as it freezes every 30 minutes (you'll find the ice cream gets stiffer) to ensure that the ice cream is smooth.

Note: If u have an ice cream maker, skip Step 7, churn the mixture according to your ice cream maker's instruction after chilling the mixture in Step 6.