I love banana splits and root beer floats.  Yes, I am that childish.  I think that it is an art to take these simple desserts from childhood and run with them.

The other night Marc was out of town with our 10 year old Sean.  Sean is involved with the JBQ (Junior Bible Quiz) group at church and they had regionals in Longview Texas.  Our kids won, by the way, and will be at Nationals in Rockford, Illinois.  Anyway, when someone is out of town the rest of us try to do something different as well.

Now, I admit..I am a weird mom.  I have been known to get my kids up within 15 minutes of going to bed and bundle them into the car in their pajamas and make a *slurpee run*.  There is something fun about a clandestine slurpee in the middle of the night.  The other thing that I am well known for is declaring that it is banana splits for dinner.  No meat, no potatoes, no organic asparagus.  Nope.  Banana Splits.  Big enough that you could not eat dinner and one of these.

Unhealthy? On a regular basis, yes.  But once in awhile? Unexpected?  The perfect way to be the coolest mom on the block.  You can buy ice cream at the store or use one of the recipes from me, here at Baking Delights.  Just use the search tool at the top.

And never underestimate the power of a banana split.

Peanut Butter Banana Splits

• Hot fudge sauce, commercial or homemade
• Caramel sauce, commercial or homemade
• Whipped cream
• Ripe bananas
• Vanilla ice cream, commercial or homemade
• Peanut butter sandwich cookies, broken in large pieces
• Peanuts

You know what to do.  Place sliced bananas at the bottom of a shallow dish.  Add two scoops of ice cream.  Cover one scoop with caramel and one scoop with fudge sauce.  Sprinkle with broken cookies.  Add a dollop of whipped cream and sprinkle with peanuts.

images:marye audet

The March 2009 challenge is hosted by Mary of Beans and Caviar, Melinda of Melbourne Larder and Enza of Io Da Grande. They have chosen Lasagne of Emilia-Romagna from The Splendid Table by Lynne Rossetto Kasper as the challenge.

O.k..with that said.. I only check the Daring Kitchen about once a month.  Sometimes I get there twice but not too often.  So when the date got changed from the 29 to the 27 I didn’t know.  You can bet I totally freaked on Friday when I saw daring lasagnes popping up all over the internet.

I was reassured that for this month the 29th was acceptable but that in the future the post date will be the 27th.  Whew. I have made homemade lasagne before numerous times..In fact I have made homemade lasagne from homemade pasta to homemade ricotta to homemade sauce…so this challenge seemed to me as if I would be cheating by doing a regular lasagne.  I thought about chicken and artichoke Parmesan lasagne…I thought about prosciutto, pear, and bleu cheese lasagne…I thought and I thought..How could I be different and challenge myself?

Dessert lasagne..only rule I gave myself was..No chipotle.  This is what I came up with:

Cannoli Dessert Lasagne with Ganache

Yeah.  Cardamom pasta cooked in orange juice, star anise, and sugar, wrapped around a sweet cannoli filling, drizzled with bittersweet chocolate ganache, topped with whipped cream and garnished with pistachios.

So…here’s how I did it.  Ready?

Cannoli Filling

1 pound of whole milk ricotta, drained in a cheesecloth for 30 minutes

4 oz cream cheese

4 oz bittersweet chocolate chopped

1/2 cup chopped pistachios

3/4 cup sugar

pinch of cinnamon

1 tablespoon vanilla

Whip the cream cheese and the ricotta together until well blended.  Add the sugar, cinnamon and vanilla, and beat well.  Stir in the pistachios and chocolate and set in the refrigerator to thicken.  This is best made one day ahead if possible.

Cardamom Pasta

2 tablespoons very fresh cardamom

2 cups flour

2 Eggs

2 tablespoons walnut oil (not toasted walnut oil..just plain walnut oil)

Pinch of salt

1 tablespoon finely grated orange zest

couple of tablespoons of orange juice if needed to acheive the proper consistency

Mix dry ingredients.  Beat eggs and stir in to flour mixture with walnut oil.  Form into a ball.  Knead for about 10 minutes until the dough is very supple and elastic.  Cover and set aside until ready to roll or at least 1 hour.

Unless the dough is sufficiently relaxed you will not be able to roll it thin enough.  The main cause of pasta dishes that are just bland or mediocre is the pasta being too thick.  A thin pasta is delicate and adds a whisper of texture and flavor.

On a counter dusted with flour roll the dough as thinly as possible.  You will want to be able to almost read a newspaper through it.  Cut it in long strips about 2 1/2 inches wide.

Mix 2 quarts of orange juice, 1/2 cup of sugar, four whole star anise, a pinch of salt, and about 4 cracked cardamom pods (or a few teaspoons of cardamom) in a pan.  Add enough water to make it deep enough to cook the lasagne noodles.

Bring to a boil and then carefully add the noodles while stirring.  Cook until done.  You do not want these to be al dente..you want them to be cooked well but not mushy.

Drain well and pat dry.

Ganache

8 ozs of chopped bittersweet chocolate

1 cup heavy cream

Bring cream just to a boil.  Remove from heat and add chocolate, stirring until smooth and melted.  Keep warm.

Assemble

Take a noodle and lay it flat on the counter.  Spread it with a thin layer of the cannoli filling.  Carefully and gently roll it up.  Drizzle some of the ganache on a serving plate, carefully lay the lasagne on the plate at an angle.  Drizzle with more ganache.  Garnish with a dollop of whipped cream and a sprinkling of pistachios.

Makes 8

Once again, thanks to the Daring Bakers for helping me to push myself to be a little more creative than I would normally be

images (c)Marye Audet 2009, all rights reserved

From the time Erin was small we have enjoyed special times together.  She loves tea in all of its forms more than I do and if I want to particularly bless her a quick trip to Teavana with do it…or a click to Adagio. Or… When we had the tearoom Erin was invaluable to me for her creative input.  SHe has an incredibel eye for the creative details and we created some tiered tea services that were not only droolworthy but perfect for the cover of  Tea Time magazine.

Sadly the antique tiered dishes are gone with the tea room and this was not as beautiful as she deserved.  But they were delicious and special enough for a birthday.

The smoked turkey combines with a spread that is made from dried cranberries, pecans, and cream cheese for  delicious, and delicate tea sandwiches.  If it had been for me I would have added a bit of bleu cheese but Erin is not a fan…yet.   If you are going to make your own bread for these then try an orange flavored quick bread loaf for a really elegant flavor pairing.

• 1 8 oz package cream cheese, room temperature
• 1 cup dried cranberries
• 1 cup chopped pecans
• pinch of salt
• pinch of chipotle if you have it
• tablespoon of grated orange zest
• 1/2 lb good quality deli smoked turkey, sliced on a “1″
• Bread with crusts removed

In a food processor, or by hand, mix the cream cheese, cranberries, pecans, orange zest, chipotle, and salt together until well blended.  You may need to add a little milk or cream to get a good spreading consistency.

Spread 1 tablespoon of the mixture on one slice of bread.

Roll three turkey slices up and lay them over the top of the spread.

Spread the other piece of bread with 1 tablespoon of the mixture and lay spread side down over the turkey.

Cut diagonally in fourths.

That’s it…Easy and delicious!

image:(c) marye audet

It may sound weird but my family gave this root beer pot roast at least a hundred and fifteen stars.  Maybe more.  There is something about the soda that makes the meat buttery and tender, absolutely melt in your mouth good.  The root beer adds a subtle sweetness and a nice spicy touch.

Since it is cooked in a slow cooker the actual work time for this is less than 10 minutes.  The carrots added to the cooking liquer give it an added sweetness and onion adds a little depth.  It is very similar to a Sauerbraten in many ways.  Serve it with some homemade rolls and mashed potatoes and your Sunday family dinner is Mayberry RFD perfect.

The kind of root beer that you use will make such a difference in this.  I suggest that you try an artisan microbrewed root beer for the very best results…but A & W would be my next choice.  Remember that the complexity of flaqvors in the root beer will creat the complexity of flavors in the finished dish so a fake, chemically rootbeer will never be as good as a good one.  End of sermon.

Root Beer Pot Roast

• Black Angus organic pot roast, 5 lbs
• 36 ozs of root beer, room temperature
• Salt and pepper to taste
• 10 organic carrots, peeled and cut into chunks
• 1-2 onions, optional

Season roast on all sides and set aside for 15 minutes while you prepare the carrots.

Heat a frying pan and add just a touch of olive oil.

Brown roast on all sides, just until you get that nice caramelization crispiness to the meat.

Pour 1/3 of the room temperature root beer into the slow cooker.

Add the meat carefully.

Add the carrots and onions if you are using them

Pour the rest of the root beer over the roast and cook on low for 8 to 10 hours.

Serves 8-10 hungry people

images:c) restless chipotle 2009, all rights reserved.

Since Erin is still taking it easy and resting with the new baby, I have spent a lot of time at her house this week taking the other kids to school and picking them up.  I suppose I am telecommuting since I am working from her house.  Anyway, her birthday was March 26 and I wanted to make it a little special, even though we are doing the celebration when she is back on her feet.  After all, 27 is an important birthday.

Erin loves anime, cherry blossom scented body items, and has a real affinity for Japan…so I wanted to make something in that theme but also easy since I would be cooking at her house with limited resources.

I used a white cake mix as the base on this.  I wasn’t sure what she had and what she didn’t.  Use any white cake recipe that you like, or even a cake mix-no one is going to know.

The rose and cherry flavor of the cake was delicate and floral.  The house smelled amazing.  The green tea frosting was the perfect compliment to give this dish an exotic flair.  It was quick enough that I had everything done in less than an hour and a half, including smoked turkey, dried cranberry, and pecan tea sandwiches that I made for her.

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