I was frolicking in Paris last week when Jennifer from Domestic Goddess announced her very own blogging event Sugar High Fridays. For the inaugural installment of SHF the ingredient or theme would be white chocolate.
So today, while browsing Food Porn Watch I noticed Jennifer had updated her site and that's when I found out about the event! The White Chocolate focused experiments were due today. Ack! What to do!
You see, officially white chocolate cannot be called "chocolate" because it has no cocoa solids from the chocolate liquor. The FDA doesn't classify it as chocolate. It can be pretty awful, especially if it is a lower quality white chocolate that uses vegetable fat instead of cocoa butter. It is not my favorite type of "chocolate". I never have it around. I did not remember having any at home. Should I even bother to participate?
After all, I have been basically hanging out at home in my pajamas, recovering from a tad of jetlag (or that is my excuse for taking the rest of the week off) since I came back from Paris Tuesday night. I only left the house yesterday to drive with Mr. C to Bellevue for a quiet dinner--to catch up on the trip and each other-- at Bis On Main.
And, and, besides...I have tickets to PNB's The Tragedy of Romeo & Juliet tonight at 7:30. I don't even know what to wear. All my pressed black pants are still in my suitcase. My hair! It has been in a bun all day. A blowout is key. No way, I have no time!
But then, the proverbial light bulb lighted up! After a desperate scavenger hunt in my pantry, I noticed that I did have some white chocolate! My friend A, on a recent trip to her native South Africa, had very thoughtfully brought back some South African chocolate for me and one of the bars was Cadbury's Dream Creamy White Chocolate! Yippee!
Quickly, I scrounged around the kitchen for ideas on what to make. No time for online research. Not at 3pm anyway! I had to get going fast! So I looked around the pantry. Aha! Pecans! On top of my dining room table, a basket of fruit Mr. C had purchased as a welcome back home treat for me, while he was away in Montana. Bananas and Pears. The question was, what to use, the bananas or the pears? Bananas it is!
Now, what to do with the white chocolate, bananas and pecans? Ok! Let me check the fridge? No, maybe the freezer instead? And there, all the way in the back, behind palmier dough, puff pastry packets, puff pastry shells, Dorot garlic and parsley, frozen asparagus, a big fat Ranger chicken and two bottles of vodka, there it was, my Sugar High Friday salvation: a box of my trusty and ever so handy Athens Mini Fillo Shells.
The are frozen mini shells of fillo (phyllo) dough that are fabulous for last minute amuse bouche, for quick and easy appetizers--hot or cold-- and dessert ideas. They are fully baked. You just fill them and serve or you can fill them up and bake until filling is hot (usually about 5 to 8 minutes). For health nuts, they contain no saturated fats or cholesterol. So hey, how can you lose? Which is why I always keep them around (I get these from Larry's Markets). Mostly, for emergencies and off the cuff, last minute entertaining. They come 15 to a box so it is plenty for a family dinner or small gathering.
After roasting the pecan bits (from Trader Joe's) for a few minutes I took them off the stove and set aside. Then, in a small bowl I mashed two large and beautifully yellow bananas. 1/3 of a cup of roasted pecans went in. I mixed everything together with my lovely Rösle Saucepan Whisk --it has a square-ish bottom that serves as a masher in a snap-- and filled the shells with the banana-pecan mixture. With a Microplane Extra Coarse Grater I grated the Cadbury Dream White Chocolate all over, creating subtle mounds of white chocolate on each top of shell to cover the filling.
The filled and topped shells were set on a baking sheet lined with an Exopat Mat. In a pre-heated oven (350F) they baked for 8 minutes. I took them out of the oven, garnished each shell with more roasted pecan bits and more grated white chocolate and popped one in my mouth tout de suite.
Yum yum yum! Fresh banana flavor, crunchy roasted pecans that complement the fruit so well and the creamy, sweet and silky white chocolate, melted on top. All inside the crunchy and flaky shell that breaks in your mouth as you take your first bite. Dreamy indeed! If only I can exercise some restraint and not eat the whole tray (Mr. C is going to love these!) as my pre-theater dinner before I leave for McCaw Hall. Ha!
