Can you hide veggies in your desserts?

                

              Maybe you really like vegetables or you’re just on some crazy health kick and think that most desserts are evil. Or even better, maybe you need to trick your kids in to eating more vegetables, but can you do it?

               
              Of course you can! You can do anything you want to do, including hide things in desserts. If people use to hide files for prisoner’s to use to escape in cakes, then you can learn to hide veggies in there too. It is way easier.

              We all know the typical vegetable pastries: carrot cake, zucchini bread, sweet potato pie, but we can get more veggies in there than that. Michael Laiskonis, creative director at the Institute of Culinary Education in New York, said

"Incorporating vegetables in dessert recipes is more about creating a flavorful dish and realizing that vegetables have various functionalities rather than using a particular one for 'shock value' alone." 

    Some vegetables cook in similar ways to fruits like eggplant to apples and pears and some can also be substitutes for high-fat ingredients such as avocados for fat in ice creams, gelato and mousse.

                The Unexpected Evolution of Dessert

http://www.ift.org/food-technology/past-issues/2012/november/features/the-unexpected-evolution-of-dessert.aspx

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Here are a couple neat recipes I found on my journey into veggie sweets

Melanzane al Cioccolato

This recipe originated in the monastery of Tramonti in the mountains above the Amalfi Coast town of Maiori. During the Middle Ages, the monks dipped their eggplant in a liqueur mixed with herbs, spices and sugar. When chocolate was brought to Europe from the New World in the 16th century, the Amalfi people started dipping their eggplant in chocolate. Today the tradition continues with delicate this melanzane al cioccolato.

2 to 3  small eggplants
12  ounces of semi-sweet chocolate, melted
4  tablespoons of coarsely chopped pignoli nuts
6  tablespoons of candied orange peel

- Slice the eggplant very thin.

- Drag each piece through flour and egg 

- And deep fry until golden brown.

- Drain and let cool.

- While the eggplant is cooling, slowly melt          the chocolate in double-boiler.

- Mix in the nuts and orange.

- Layer the eggplant in a medium size baking platter.

- After the first layer is made, continue layering by alternating eggplant with chocolate.

"The combination of chocolate, eggplant, orange and pignoli nuts will surprise you!"

Compliments of  http://cooking-vacations.com/

Sweet Tomato Cake with Olive Oil & Cinnamon

http://www.lovefoodeat.com

1 ½ cups of whole wheat flour

1tsp baking powder

1 tsp. baking soda

1tsp cinnamon

A pinch of salt

¾ cup white/brown sugar

1 cup chopped tomatoes

½ cup olive oil

3 tbsp. apple cider vinegar

- Blanch the tomatoes, skin them and deseed them.

- Chop them finely. 
    - Make sure you drain most of the water from it.

         *Too much water might make your cake too soft.*

- Mix all the dry ingredients in one bowl.

- And all the wet ingredients in a separate bowl mix well.

- Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients. 
    - Mix till combined. 
         *Don’t over mix or beat it.*  

- Spoon into a greased pan. I used a 9 ½ inch round pan.

- Bake at 190°C for 25 to 30 minutes  
       *Insert toothpick, if it comes out clean it's done!*

Enjoy!