No sooner had they finished lapping up the ice cream from May's Improv Cooking Challenge; the boys were asking what the ingredients were that Kristen had chosen for June's Challenge. (They love to watch contestants' reactions when emptying the basket ingredients for "Chopped" on the Food Network.)
When I told them cherries & almonds they gave me all kinds of yummy ideas; the youngest pleading for Cherry Almond Biscotti. Because the house heats up when I bake during the summer, I decided to whip up something that didn't use the oven. My thoughts turned to a gluten-free dessert based on crêpes & pastry cream. Because I am avoiding processed sugar, I decided to attempt making each with honey, instead.
The cherries we found at Sprout's were quite delicious as is, but I knew I needed to make a sauce to "drape" over the filled crêpes.
After pitting & stemming the fruit, they were cooked slightly on the stove with a little honey & water.
The pastry cream process frightens some people. There's something about not tempering the eggs correctly & ending up with scrambled eggs in a sweet milk sauce that scares me...
 |
| (important to whisk the cornstarch & salt in smoothly!) |
But I braved it.
 |
| honey & milk! |
The most difficult part was trying to document the process pictorially with one hand while whisking with the other!
Turned out just fine!
I found my Honey Pastry Cream recipe here. It looked to be quite delish; but I used 2 whole eggs instead of 4 yolks because we don't like things tasting too eggy around here (& we're filling crêpes, for cryin' out loud...) Turned out sweet & creamy -- I'll probably use a little less honey next time (and there will be a next time!) I make it.
For the crêpe-making I used my vintage crêpe-maker.
Unbelievable easy!
(sorry for the "steamy" pics...)
The most difficult part of this process was keeping the almond flour mixed in -- so I stirred the batter in between forming each crêpe.
The flavor of the almond crêpes can be enhanced by adding almond extract, if so desired. I've come to a point in my taste buds' lives where I enjoy natural flavors. (Thus, I added no vanilla flavoring to either my cherry sauce or the pastry cream...)
The almond crêpe does not handle exactly the way regular flour ones do. But I managed to roll them easily enough without too much cracking.
 |
| (gotta brown the other side...) |
 |
| (forgot to stir the pastry cream after it chilled) :( |
Did NOT have a problem eating them, however...
YUM!
(sigh)
HEY! Check out what the other "Improv-ers" came up with:
