Banana Pineapple Pudding Cups with Toasted Coconut

An avid baker presently cooking in mommy-in-law's oven-less kitchen,I truly miss baking.Sure glad I had some drafted baked goodies to post.


My honest intention was to make a very fruity cup cakes,but when the cup cake recipe went wrong yet tasted incredibly good,I decided to call them pudding cups.

Pineapple and bananas,the two most common tropical fruits,come together to create a pudding like consistency in the cup cakes,while the edges has a crisp golden texture,the collapsed center was perfect for filling with another enjoyable tropical fruit,toasty coconuts.



Recipe : Banana Pineapple Pudding Cups with Toasted Coconut
Yields 6-8 cups
Ingredients
1 1/2 cups Pineapple puree
2 ripe bananas,mashed
1/2 cup fine whole wheat flour
1/2 cup all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder(aluminum free)
2 large Organic Eggs
1/4 cup reduced fat Organic milk or Soy milk.
1/3 cup canola oil
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup brown sugar or 3 tablespoon of natural sweeteners like Honey,maple syrup or Agave nectar

For Topping
1 cup Unsweetened shred coconut

Method
Preheat oven to 375F.Line the muffin tray with parchment cups.
Combine the dry ingredients in a large bowl.In another bowl whisk eggs,mix in pineapple puree,mashed bananas,sweetener and oil,combine.Now bring together this wet mixture slowly in the dry mixture until completely incorporated.
Fill the cups 3/4 th full and bake for 25-30 minutes or until top is golden brown.The cups will eventually collapse ,making space for the filling.



Toast the shred coconut in pan at medium heat until toasted.Fill the toasted coconut in to each of the cups.Serve.



The center is sticky fruity delicious almost like a pudding.

Daring Bakers Challenge February: Flourless Chocolate cup cakes with No-Churn Pomegranate Ice Cream

The February 2009 challenge is hosted by Wendy of WMPE's blog and Dharm of Dad ~ Baker & Chef.They have chosen a Chocolate Valentino cake by Chef Wan; a Vanilla Ice Cream recipe from Dharm and a Vanilla Ice Cream recipe from Wendy as the challenge.

The flour less chocolate cake was total chocoholic's delight,reminded me of the Chocolate Espresso Mousse cake I baked earlier,that was also flour-free.I don't miss making low-fat recipes whenever possible,since I already experimented this kind of cake with no-fat I use just quarter of the fat as mentioned in the Original Daring Baker's recipe,it worked just fine for me.
For the Ice cream thankfully we were allowed to choose our own flavor,Pomegranate was ultimate pick.Since fresh fruit is not in season I choose the store-bought 100% Pomegranate Juice.To make it easier I made a No-churn Ice-cream that does not require the Ice-cream maker.
Bringing the Ice cream together with Cupcakes was a little messy,but worth the effort.These Frozen Cupcakes would make a perfect dessert on hot summer days,speaking of warmth,its still predominantly chilling here,and I'm yearning for a warm change.



Flourless Chocolate Cupcakes
Recipe from Sweet Treats by Chef Wan

Makes 10 Medium cupcakes

Ingredients

16 ounces (1 pound) (454 grams) of semisweet chocolate, roughly chopped
2 tablespoons of unsalted Organic butter
5 large Organic eggs ,separated

Method
1. Put chocolate and butter in a heatproof bowl and set over a pan of simmering water (the bottom of the bowl should not touch the water) and melt, stirring often.
2. While your chocolate butter mixture is cooling,line with the muffin pan with parchment cups or spray a little non-stick spray.
3. Separate the egg yolks from the egg whites and put into two medium/large bowls.
4. Whip the egg whites in a medium/large grease free bowl until stiff peaks are formed (do not over-whip or the cake will be dry).
5. With the same beater beat the egg yolks together.
6. Add the egg yolks to the cooled chocolate.
7. Fold in 1/3 of the egg whites into the chocolate mixture and follow with remaining 2/3rds. Fold until no white remains without deflating the batter. {link of folding demonstration}
8. Pour batter into the prepared muffin pan, the batter should fill the cups 3/4 of the way full, and bake at 375F/190C
9. Bake for 25 minutes until crust appears like brownie cake.The cake will puff up considerably but will collapse later.
10.Get the cup cakes out and cool on a rack.

Recipe adapted from Nigella's recipe.And David Lebovitz's method of making Ice cream without machine.
No-Churn Pomegranate Ice Cream
3 cups of pomegranate juice,preferably POM
2 cups Coconut milk(or use 1 cup half & half milk and 1 cup light cream)

Method
Whisk the cream with the juice until soft peaks forms.Transfer in a freezer proof container,cover tightly and place in freezer.After about 30 minutes,while the mixture is just starting to set ,stir and return to the freezer.Repeat this 3-4 times i.e every 30 minutes until mixture is almost frozen takes about 2-3 hours.Cover and keep in refrigerator until time to serve.


Assemble the cupcakes and Ice cream
Check out this cool page,which gave me the idea of making Ice cream cupcakes.
After the cup cakes are completely cooled,removed its parchment cups if used.Transfer cupcakes back to the muffin pans,even out the surface,since the chocolate cupcakes were a little hallow on the inside after baking,I simply had to lightly press it until almost half full.Cover with plastic wrap and freeze the cupcakes for at least 2 hours until hardened.
Get the Ice cream out ,let sit for 30 minutes until softened to work with.After the cupcakes are frozen,scoop the ice cream and set over the cupcakes just until the cups are full.Cover and return to freezer,let set for 2-3 hours before trying to get it out.Warm a small sharp knife under hot running water ,run the warm knife along the edges of the ice cream cupcake until it’s easily lifted out of it’s tin.

Serve
I made some pomegranate syrup,by reducing 1 cup Pomegranate juice with a tablespoon of brown sugar to 1/2 a cup.Cool completely before drizzling on the cupcakes.Garnish with fresh berries,I used the tangy sweet blackberries.

Thank you Wendy and Dharm for the Sweet Chocolaty challenge.Check out how other Daring Bakers have whipped up this delectable delight.

Sweet Potatoes Peanut Butter Cup cakes with Peanut butter Cream cheese frosting.

With the goodness of both sweet potatoes and peanut butter combined,these are not your average cupcakes.Though I could eat the super healthy
warm roasted sweet potatoes as it is ,using them in a cupcake makes its incredibly moist delightful treat.Peanut butter adds the extra nutrition.And also one can go generous with the frosting,cause the creamy Mono saturated Peanut butter is healthy replacement for the Saturated fat butter.For more on nutrition of sweet potatoes see my previous post here and Peanuts to fight diabetes here.

Ingredients
2 cups sweet potatoes,mashed or pureed(about 1 medium size sweet potato),See how to cook sweet potatoes?
2 heaping tablespoon Peanut Butter,chunky or creamy,see how to make home made peanut butter?.
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 1/2 cup all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder(aluminum free)
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
2 large Organic Eggs(or replace with Ener-G egg replacer powder or 1/2 cup flax seed meal)
1 cup reduced fat Organic milk or Soy milk.
1/2 cup Extra virgin olive oil or Vegetable oil
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup dry fruits like cherries,cranberries,raisins or blueberries
1/2 cup brown sugar or 1/4 cup of natural sweeteners like Honey,maple syrup or Agave nectar

For frosting
1/4 cup Low fat cream cheese
2 tablespoon Pure Honey or Maple syrup or Date Syrup
2 tablespoon of Peanut butter,creamy
Some roasted pistachios for garnish.

Makes about 10-12 cup cakes.

Method
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.Line the muffin tray baking cups.
Combine the dry ingredients in a large bowl.In another bowl whisk eggs,mix in sugar and oil,add the sweet potatoes and peanut butter ,combine. .Now combine this wet mixture slowly in the dry mixture until completely incorporated.
Fill the baking cups 3/4 th full and bake for 20-25 minutes or until toothpick inserted comes out clean.

Cool completely.

Prepare the frosting by whipping the frosting ingredients until smooth and spreadable.Slather over the cooled cupcakes using a spatula ,sprinkle with finely chopped pistachios.

These peanut rich Cupcakes along with the other peanut rich recipes Mirchi Ka salan,Nutty Chutney and Peanut bites are my entry for Let Go Nuts : Peanuts event,hosted by Aquadaze of Served With Love.
Mildly sweet and simple enough to bake for beginners,I'm also sending these to One page cookbooks ,Simple dessert event,hosted by Varsha of Will-o-wisp.And to Vandana's Baking for beginners.


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