Fanning the Flames of Passion - Crêpes Passion

It's that time again. The BakeSpace International Taste Tour is traveling through the Wonderful World of Crêpes. This was kind of serendipitous for me, since I was already on a Crêpe binge anyway. So you know the Crêpes Sucrée that I made about 2 weeks ago....? Well I stored them in the freezer until I was ready for this dish.

I was REALLY excited to make this dish. I had it all planned out, as I have been toying with this, in my head, over the last year. Then I ran into a snafu. I was unable to obtain any ripe passion fruit. Luckily, I had Passion Fruit juice, Ceres brand, in the cupboard to use as my last resort.

Sadly it's "laced" with apple and pear juices for sweetness. Granted, it's great that it's 100 percent juice and contains no high fructose corn syrup, but it played down the exotic tartness that IS passion fruit. Which kind of bummed me out. Of course, I now had to drop the sugar from my original plan and try to reduce the juice to intensify the flavor. Still too sweet... So, I added Key Lime juice to brighten the acidity a little without modifying the flavor too much. Then, I figured, since I had already adulterated my (already adulterated) passion fruit with lime juice, that a few Wild Lime leaves would add a nice perfume to the dish; especially if I tossed in a hint of Canton (Ginger Cognac).

Flames of Passion

1 recipe Crêpes Sucrée
1 1/4 cup Passion Fruit juice
2 oz unsalted butter
3 leaf lobes from Wild Lime (Makroot), fine chiffonade
1 TB Water
1 TB Key Lime juice
2 TB Canton (Ginger Liqueur)
1/4 cup Light Rum

Make crêpes and set aside. (or thaw some out)

Place 2 Lime Leaves on a cutting board and fold them over.

Cut out the stem. (you only need 3 of the lobes)

Then Chiffonade thinly.

Place 1 cup of Passion Fruit juice in a small sauce pan, and reduce too 3/4 cup.

Melt butter in a small skillet, add passion fruit reduction, lime leaves, water and key lime juice.

Bring mixture to a simmer for 3 minutes, then carefully dip each crepe in the sauce,

and fold crêpes into quarters and arrange in a chaffing dish.

After all the crêpes have been dipped, folded and arranged, carefully add rum and Canton to the sauce, stir to combine, try to not let it catch fire yet, but bring it back to a simmer.

If your chaffing dish has a heat source underneath, ignite it now. (I used another skillet on the stove)

Carefully pour the Passion sauce over the Crêpes,

let the mixture simmer again, then ignite, just like you would for Crêpe Suzette.

Let the flame die on it's own, then kill the heat source underneath the chaffing dish.

Serve while warm with a sprinkling of Passion Fruit Seeds. (I used green Passion Fruit seeds just for a visual)

Alternately, you can skip the rum/Canton step, and arrange crêpes in a shallow oven proof dish, pour sauce over crêpes and broil for 4-5 minutes before serving.

Verdict - I don't think it was passion fruity enough. The Makroot lime made for an exotic fragrance... which was nice. But it REALLY needs real passion fruit pulp. Then I think it would have been completely awesome!! (sigh) Next time.

And NOW on with the Tasty Tour...... See what all my Beeps (BakeSpace peeps) have been up to as they take you on a tour of the wonderful world of the Crêpe in all it's form.

(Sorry, this iframe plugin malfunctioned)

Thank you for joining us on out International Taste Tour of the wonderful world of crêpes.

Mangia!!
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Fire and Ice… Cream that is! - Bananas Foster Split

I love Bananas Foster, but I hate it when the ice cream turns into soup about half way through my delicious dessert. So I have come up with, what I think, is a sound solution to the problem.
Serving Fried Ice Cream with the Bananas Foster; the crispy corn flake coating should insulate the ice cream from the hot rum syrup of the Bananas Foster; sort of the same idea as a Bakes Alaska...


Fried Ice Cream is something that can be made ahead and kept frozen until ready for frying. This really is a 2 night dessert, as you will need a whole evening of freezing, dredging, re-freezing, dredging and finally freezing over night before they are ready to fry up. I prefer to use Coconut oil for frying because it’s one of the few safe deep frying oils, peanut being one of the others.

Now, now.... Before everyone goes screaming for the hills thinkin I am insane… Hear me out… Cause Coconut oil has gotten a REALLY bad rap over the years…..

All Polyunsaturated oils (Canola, Soy, Corn, Safflower and Cottonseed) begin to polymerize (or become plastic like) when subject to temperatures above 200 degrees. This is due to their high Polyunsaturated fat content. Olive oil and Macadamia nut oil, while higher in Monounsaturated fats, have lower smoke points and are not good for deep frying. On the other hand, Coconut oil is composed primarily of Saturated fat making it fairly stable at higher temperatures… This is supposedly bad for you, however, after sifting through all the hype and big business propaganda started by the rapeseed (canola) and soy industry -- Coconut oil in particular is composed of medium chained saturated fatty acids. These shorter fat molecules are broken down by the liver and do not necessarily contribute to high blood cholesterol. A a matter of fact, they have been shown to create a healthier HDL/LDL ratio in the body. Caprylic, Capric (found in Goat Milk) and Lauric (an essential fatty acid for building and maintaining the immune system) are just a couple of these types of fatty acids making up coconut oil… These are the types of fats used in baby formula because they are easily digested.

OK, Science part is over. Now, let's get to makin' this Banana Split with attitude starting with the Fried Ice Cream.......

Fried Ice Cream

1 Pint Vanilla Bean Ice Cream
2 1/2 cup Crushed Cornflakes (Kellogg's but Not Tony the Tiger)
1 tsp Cinnamon
Optional 1/4 tsp Chili powder or Cayenne
1 egg
1 TB Sugar
1/2 tsp Vanilla
Coconut oil, or Peanut oil for frying

With an ice cream scoop, form 4 balls of ice cream.

I like to twist mine up in plastic wrap to hold a, more or less, round shape, but you can also simply place the scoops on a plastic lined baking sheet, and cover them with plastic wrap.

Freeze for at least 3 hours.
Roll your cornflakes to create crumbs.

You want them about this size, not fine crumbs like a cheese cake crust, but more of a medium.

In a bowl, combine the Cornflake crumbs with Cinnamon and cayenne/chili powder, if using, and toss together in a shallow dish.

Dip the ice cream balls in the crumb mixture until fairly well coated (but it doesn't have to be perfect, cause your gonna do this again to build up layers)

and return to the freezer for 1 hour on an aluminum foil lines baking sheet. (wax paper will work, but aluminum foil works better - it pulls the heat from the ice cream and chills faster)

In a bowl, beat the egg, sugar and vanilla.

Dip the coated ice cream balls into the egg,

then roll in the crumb mixture, coating completely.

Freeze for 1 more hour.

Repeat – Dip & Roll

but this time freeze them overnight, wrapped in a couple layers of plastic wrap to prevent burn.


Through the magick of Blog technology, we are going to take a quantum leap to the future and complete our deep fried Ice Cream. ;)

Queue Time Travel Music…. <<---------- Like the beginning of Dream Weaver by Gary Wright…..

The Next day …..

Heat the oil in a large pot or fryer to 400 degrees F.
One at a time, lower the ice cream balls into the oil

and fry until golden brown, about 30 seconds to 1 minute.

Remove from the oil

and place on paper towel to drain for 30 seconds,

then move to a dessert bowl and serve.
Repeat with the remaining ice cream.

If you are preparing an accompaniment, like I will be… Once fried. these can be stored in the freezer wrapped tightly in several layers of plastic wrap for up to 30 minutes while you complete any accoutrement.......

Bananas Foster

A simple dish that goes great over Deep Fried Ice Cream, Crepes, Waffles, etc... Flambé always looks impressive to your guests. Please be advised of 2 things:

• Please have a pan lid and a fire extinguisher or baking soda handy before attempting this recipe. I use to think it was not a big deal, and people were just overly cautious, that is until the “Saganaki Project” when I caught my stove top on fire and almost lost my eyebrows as well as the sleeve of my shirt.
• Most, but not all, of the alcohol burns off during the flambé, if you can’t indulge in alcohol, you may want to make some other dessert.

4 TB unsalted butter
1/4 Cup + 2 TB Dark Brown Sugar Packed
3/4 tsp Mace
1/2 tsp All-Spice
1/4 tsp Cinnamon
3 TB 99 bananas liqueur
4 Bananas (slightly green), sliced in half, then split lengthwise yielding 8 pieces
1/4 Cup Meyers Dark Rum

I peel my bananas from the bottom when I do this, I just think is works better.

Cut them in half and then slice in half, lengthwise. (if you try do slice the whole banana, it has a tendency to break)

Melt butter in a 10 to 12 inch heavy skillet over low heat.

Add Brown Sugar, Allspice, Cinnamon and Mace;

Stirring until the sugar dissolves.

Add 99 bananas and bring sauce to a simmer.

Place the banana slices in the skillet keeping them evenly spaced in the pan.

Cook for 1 minute on each side while spooning the sauce over bananas as they are cooking. (You are poaching the bananas in syrup.)

Bring sauce back to a simmer and add rum.


BEWARE: The sauce will flame on its own if it’s hot enough; this is especially true if you are working on a gas range.
If not, once it begins to steam, there will be alcohol vapor, use a stick lighter or fireplace match to ignite the sauce.

QUICK---TURN OFF THE LIGHTS!!

Continue cooking until flame dies out, approximately 1 to 2 minutes.
OK, shows over.... Turn the lights back on.
Remove bananas from pan to serving dishes.

If the sauce is too thin, cook for 1 to 2 minutes longer until slightly thickened, like pancake syrup.
Immediately spoon the sauce over the bananas.


And now, the Bananas Foster Split------

Add a scoop of the Fried Ice Cream.

Spoon more caramel sauce over the top.

Add some Gran Marnier whipped cream.

NO Maraschino cherries need apply, thank you; just hand me a spoon already!!!! AWESOME!!!


Mangia!!
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