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Showing posts with the label Fresh As

Vegan meringues with chickpea brine (Aquafaba)

After making  Aquafaba Vegan Pavlova  I tried to make meringues. I changed the recipe only a little, and used less sugar (still experimenting though!) Ingredients 1 Can of chickpeas (just the brine - i.e. water, which already has salt) 200 g icing sugar 1 tbsp cornflour A few drops of lemon juice  a few drops of vanilla essence Fresh As plum powder (optional) Beat the brine first, then when it is nice and peaky add the sugar, one tbsp at the time, and the cornflour. Add the lemon juice and vanilla at the end and beat some more. I added some Fresh As plum powder to half of the mixture and then piped the two types of meringues onto a tray lined with baking paper and baked them  at about 75°C fan for about three hours. I offered them to some adult students at the Italian school to taste them, about half of them tried them but I didn't tell them that they were vegan, they liked them and when I told them what they were they could not believe it! Hea...

Quince jelly step by step

I love quince jelly, lovely project for rainy days! Wash and quarter some quinces, removing the pips, then boil the lot with lemon juice and a little water until the fruit is soft and mushy.  Put the pulp inside a jelly bag, cheaper if you just use a clean pillowcase (I have one which I use just for jellies) and hung it over a bowl (using a broom and two chairs) for a day and night. This way the juice will drop into the bowl. As a rule if you like a clear jelly do not squeeze the bag! But I confess that I gave it a little squeeze… I wanted to get more out of it! Measure the juice and add the same amount of sugar, then boil again. I had lots, so I put half in a container to set, and added  Fresh As  Raspberry powder to the other half for a quick raspberry jelly. Delicious! Photos and Recipes by Alessandra Zecchini  ©

Mandarin and blueberry chocolates

I made these with my daughter, we used  Fresh As  freeze dried mandarins and blueberries, plus some dark chocolate (the darkest the better for me, and chose a non-dairy one for vegan chocolate). Just need to melt the chocolate and then half dip the mandarin slices. The freeze dried blueberries… sorry but you cannot see them… but we just added a few to the remaining chocolate (after we used all the mandarin slices) and then poured the mixture in chocolate molds. So easy, quick, and petty too! Photos and Recipes by Alessandra Zecchini  ©

Homemade mascarpone with Tawari honey, pistachio and dried strawberries

Homemade mascarpone with Tawari honey, pistachio and dried strawberries Making mascarpone at home is one of my favourite occupations these days! A part from the 'magic' of it, and the resemblance to a chemistry experiment (I made this with Max, actually, he made it with me in the background giving instructions and liked doing it!) it is also so much cheaper, fresh and delicious that the one you buy!  For the mascarpone recipe just click   here , it is easier that you may think! When the mascarpone is ready just add a tbsp of honey (I used  Airborne Tawari Honey ) and fold. Divide the mascarpone into 4 cups and it is ready to be eaten or topped with what you fancy.  For this recipe I just toasted a few pistachios in a pan, then I rub them with a tea towel to take away loose skins and chopped them coarsely. Then I also added some  Fresh As  dried strawberries, crunchy and full of flavour and aroma. A simple dessert that everyone loved...

Chocolate and plum mousse with Italian meringue base and Fresh As plum powder

What I like about mousses is that you can just improvise, and as long as you beat well the main ingredients (eggs and cream) you can never go wrong! I made this with Arantxa; while I made the Italian meringue and whipped the cream she whipped the egg yolk, and while she folded the chocolate I folded the plum cream, and there was a lot of licking of spoons and bowl at the end, and 7 lovely mousses in the fridge! 3 large free range eggs, separated 2 tbsp icing sugar 50 ml water 300 ml cream 1 tbsp cocoa2 tbsp sugar 1 tbsp  Fresh As  Plum Powder (plus some to sprinkle) Start by making an Italian meringue base: whip the egg white until stiff. In the meantime boil the water and icing sugar into a syrup. When the syrup is bubbly, start to thickens and smell like candy (but before is turns white or caramel! Be careful here!) pour it at once into the egg whites, (while beating). Keep beating until the meringue is cold again. In another bowl beat the egg yolks with the...

Homemade mascarpone with honey, pistachio and dried strawberries

Making mascarpone at home is one of my favourite occupations these days! A part from the 'magic' of it, and the resemblance to a chemistry experiment (I made this with Max, actually, he made it with me in the background giving instructions and liked doing it!) it is also so much cheaper, fresh and delicious that the one you buy!  For the mascarpone recipe just click   here , it is easier that you may think! When the mascarpone is ready just add a tbsp of honey (I used Tawari) and fold. Divide the mascarpone into 4 cups and it is ready to be eaten or topped with what you fancy.  This time I just toasted a few pistachios in a pan, then I rub them with a tea towel to take away loose skins and chopped them coarsely. Then I also added some  Fresh As  dried strawberries, crunchy and full of flavour and aroma. A simple dessert that everyone loved! Photos and Recipes by Alessandra Zecchini  ©

Fresh As raspberry agar agar

Agar agar must be the easiest pudding ever, and it is vegan and gluten free. Also, if you don't use too much sugar it will be low in calories (and no fat, I guess…).  For 4 serving I use 500ml of water, half tsp of agar agar powder (usually I use 1 tsp, but I wanted a softer and more wobbly jelly) and 1 tbsp of sugar (here too, personal taste!). For the  Fresh As  fruit powder dosage, it depends on your taste; for most fruit (like  pineapple ) I use 1 tbsp, or 1 and half tbsp (like  passion fruit ), but the raspberry powder is so intense that half tbsp with suffice, using the other half just to sprinkle on the jelly when is set. Bring to boil and pour into 4 jelly moulds. Let it cool down, refrigerate, and serve (with more  Fresh As  powder sprinkled on top).  Photos and Recipes by Alessandra Zecchini  ©

Raw, vegan and gluten free sweet for Christmas? Homemade marzipan!!

Marzipan is the perfect sweet for the Holiday Season, and this is RAW, VEGAN and GLUTEN FREE, so it seems to cover most of the current food trends :-). Click  here  to see the recipe and step by step images (including how to use apricot kernels). Note that for colouring this time I didn't use berry juice but  Fresh As  raspberry powder, and also quite a bit of spiraling powder for a darker green hue. The nuts on top are optional, of course. I am entering this recipe for Sweet NZ #40, to enter your November Recipe  click here . Photos and Recipes by Alessandra Zecchini  ©

Raspberry Pudding made with Fresh As Raspberry Powder

No raspberries this season, but you can make this pudding with freeze dried raspberry powder! I used  2  free range egg whites (no egg yolks or you will not get a pretty pink colour!), 3 tbsp of sugar, 1 tbsp of flour  500 ml of milk, 20 g butter and 2 tbsp of  Fresh As  Raspberry powder. Stir the first 4 ingredients and then, once the custard is thick, add the following two, stirring well. Turn off the heat and pour into 4 glasses.  Refrigerate before serving.  Top with frozen raspberries if you like. . Photos and recipes by Alessandra Zecchini  ©

Blog Candy: win two packs of Fresh As Products

Attention all food bloggers and friends of Sweet New Zealand: Remember to enter your sweet recipes this month (info  here  - I am hosting so you will need to email me the entries) by February 27th and  you will be in the draw to win  two delicious packs of  Fresh As  products: Raspberry Powder and Strawberries slices. You can enter old recipes as long as you add the SNZ logo. You can enter as many times as you like, winners will be chosen with Random.org, so you just need to be lucky!

One pot quick and easy frozen mango yogurt, two ingredients!

Nothing could be easier, and with only two ingredients (and yes, two of my favourite NZ products:  Fresh As  and  The Collective Dairy ). I used many different  Fresh As powders and freeze dried fruit slices  (you can find a few recipes  here ) in the past, but this time the choice was mango, as I like mango ice cream, and I guessed that mango frozen yogurt would be good too! I mixed 3 tsp of mango powder (btw, this is just 100% mango) to 450 g (half a jar) of  Straight Up  yogurt, and the put it in the freezer for two hours, stirring from time to time. The I whipped everything with an immersion blender (so I didn't even need to take the yogurt out of its pot) and served it. Easy as! Photos and Recipes by Alessandra Zecchini  ©

Fresh As raspberries, lychees and feijoas dipped in dark chocolate

I like dried apricots, nuts and other dried fruit dipped in dark chocolate, but this time I used  Fresh As  freeze dried fruit. The flavour is really intense, and the texture completely different, crispy and fresh! I used dried raspberries, dried lychees and dried feijoas. I had friends around and everything disappeared in no time. Most people preferred the raspberries, but I preferred the lychees and Max the feijoas. I did the mandarins already  here , and I am pondering about the next fruit to try! Photos and Recipes by Alessandra Zecchini  © This recipe is for Sweet New Zealand, this month of April hosted by Monica of Delissimon.  

Marinated strawberries with Greek yogurt and dried lychees

This is a super easy and super yummy sweet treat, gluten free and low in sugar too. Hull and cut the strawberries into halves (or quarters, if very big) then place in a bowl with a tbsp of sugar and 2 tbps of lemon juice. Stir and let them rest at room temperature for a few hours stirring from time to time to get more juice out, then refrigerate until serving time. To assemble place a few strawberries and their juice in tumblers, top with 1 tbsp or 2 of Greek Yogurt (I used  this one ) and finish with a  dried lychee.   Photos and Recipes by Alessandra Zecchini  ©

miniature puddings in shot glasses

For the Custard: 3 free range eggs 4 tbsp sugar 2 tbsp flour 1.5 l full cream milk Vanilla essence Mix the eggs with the sugar and flour and add the milk slowly. Simmer until the custard thickens then add the vanilla essence. I pour some in a large bowl, then once cool I topped it with whipped cream, some lime and passion fruit curd (made by Ken) fresh raspberries and cherries, and ground pistachio. I had lots of custard left and I put some in some shot glasses. I added some 72% dark chocolate to the remaining hot custard and made some chocolate mini puddings for more shot glasses. I topped some of the chocolate puddings with pistachio, and other with cream and fruit of blackcurrant powder (from  Fresh As ). Some of the vanilla mini puddings were also topped with cream and fruit, and others with the lime and passion fruit curd.  I had some extra custard so I also made a quick trifle with lots of red fruit! Photos and Recipes by Alessandra Zecchini...

Cupcakes with dried blueberry slices and blackcurrant powder


 Ingredients
  (for my basic vanilla cupcake recipe)
 120 g butter 
3 eggs
 130 g sugar 
A few drops of pure vanilla essence 
200 g self-rising flour
 60 ml milk
  And then optional:
  Fresh As  Blackcurrant powder
 Fresh As  Dried blueberries slices
 Makes 12 cupcakes
 Preheat the oven to 175°C. Line a 12-muffin tray with cupcakes paper cups. Melt the butter in a jug, either in the microwave or in the oven (while the oven is warming up for the cupcakes). Place the eggs and sugar in a mixing bowl and whisk, using an electric beater, until the mixture looks light and pale yellow in colour. Slowly add the melted butter and the vanilla essence.
 Keep beating at a low speed now; add half of the flour followed by half of the milk. Add the rest of the flour and milk and keep beating making sure that there are no lumps. Divide the mixture into three and 'colour' on part with some blackcurrant powder (to mak...

Blackcurrant coconut macaroons

A super easy and quick recipe for purple blackcurrant and coconut macaroons! My husband loves coconut macaroons, and I often make them if I have some leftover egg whites.  I just made a meringue base with egg white and more or less the same amount of icing sugar (this time I had 2 eggs whites). To add interest I included one tbs of  Fresh As  Blackcurrant powder. The colour was very pretty! Then I folded in some dried coconut, enough to make them 'spoonable' over a baking tray, lined with the  Lynette's baking sheet  I won form blogger  Zo . Nice to use a baking sheet that can be recycled over and over again! I Baked at 100 C for an hour or so and then I let them dry with the oven door open. They aren't pretty, but they are nice, and gluten free too :-).  Photos and Recipes by Alessandra Zecchini  ©

Doris Plum Fruit Smoothies

This is too easy and yum!!! And how often do you get plums in your smoothie? 500 ml apple juice, 2 bananas, 1 tbsp  Fresh As   Plum powder Blend well. Serves 3-4 vitamin loving kids! Photos and Recipes by Alessandra Zecchini  ©

Passion fruit and Cape Gooseberry Agar Agar Jelly

I used more or less the same recipe as for the  pineapple agar agar : 500 ml of water for one tsp of agar agar, then instead of  Fresh As  pineapple powder I used their Passion Fruit powder, one and a half tbsp of it, and two tbsp of sugar (since the passion fruit powder is more sour than the pineapple powder). I still have Cape gooseberries in the garden, I picked a few and cut them into two, them place then in the jelly cups before pouring in the hot agar agar.  Photos and Recipes by Alessandra Zecchini  ©

Pineapple Agar Agar Jellies

We all know of the  enzymes of certain raw fruit (pineapple, papaya, kiwi etc) that won't make jelly, or agar agar, set. And also that cooking the fruit first will stop the problem. Or using canned fruit!  But the only canned fruit I use is mango pulp (to make  mango agar agar pudding , in fact) and I was just wondering... wondering... if the  Fresh As  pineapple powder, having been freeze dried, would still have those enzymes... so I tried. I used 500ml of water, boiled it and added 1 tsp of sugar, 1 tbsp of  Fresh As  pineapple powder and 1 level tsp of agar agar. I simmered everything for one minute and then poured it into 4 individual jelly moulds. I used these colorful ones, when the agar is set you just remove the lid at the bottom and they should pop down. Should. We actually shook them a bit! The pineapple puddings were fresh and fragrant, not too sweet (the sugar ratio was perfect) and I liked the flavor, although my husband and t...