The Picnic Game: Food Bloggers A-Z Picnic Basket!

This month I'm playing the Picnic Game organized by that fabulous blogger Louise at Months of Edible Celebrations! Each letter of the alphabet is taken by a different food blogger who posts what they're bringing to the Perfect Virtual Picnic A-Z! Want to find out about the history of the picnic game? Be sure and read the story at Months of Edible Celebrations.

I've been going to this picnic for 5 years! This year I chose the letter "K." I posted "K" is for Kahlua Zucchini Chocolate Chunk Bread last week. Very portable for the picnic. Thanks, Louise, for organizing this virtual feast!

So here's the line-up for the Picnic Game this year! Lots of wonderful recipes and foods from all my favorite food bloggers to enjoy in 'real' time and at your 'real' picnic.

A is for Angel Food Cake

B is for Basil Leaves in Caramelized Prawns 

C is for Chicken Piccata

D is for Darned Easy Potato Salad

E is for Eccles Cakes filled with Leeks, Spinach and Blue Cheese

F is for Fourth of July Picnic S'more Tartlets 

G is for Gluten-free & Eggless Chocolate Steamed Cake

H is for Ham Cheesy Patties

I is for Italian Frittata with Vegetables.

J is for Jelly Roll

K is for Kahlua Zucchini Chocolate Chunk Bread

L is for Lemon Lavender Cupcakes

M is for Meringue Roulade with Raspberries

N is for Nutella Rice Pudding

O is for Old-Time Favorite Iced Red Bean Popsicles

P is for Pickles

Q is for Quinoa Blueberry Mango Salad

R is for Raspberry & Fig Cobbler

S is for Strawberry Cheesecake Ice Cream (Helado de frutillas y cheescake)

T is for Two-Ingredient Ice Cream Bread 

U is for Uninvited (no one took this letter, but "you" can feast on everything here!)

V is for Vegan Mango Salsa

W is for Watermelon Salad

X is for “Xmas Coconut Wreath Cake”

Y is for Yellow Squash Crustless Quiche

 Z is for Zucchini Cake-Double Chocolate

Chocolate Almond Buttercrunch Toffee

Today is Almond Buttercrunch Day. For me that means Chocolate Almond Buttercrunch Toffee. Food & Wine has the easiest recipe from Grace Parisi, and one you'll want to make. It does involve a candy thermometer, but it's  worth it!

No time to cook? Grab a bar of Almond Roca or check out your local chocolatier for Almond Toffee.

CHOCOLATE ALMOND BUTTERCRUNCH TOFFEE

Ingredients

2 cups sweet butter 

1 1/2 cups sugar  

2 Tbsp water 

1 cup salted roasted almonds—3/4 cup coarsely chopped, 1/4 cup finely chopped  

1 Tbsp Madagascar vanilla extract 

1 1/2 tsp coarse sea salt, crumbled  

8 oz bittersweet chocolate, chopped (Of course use the very best chocolate!)

Directions

Line 8-by-11-inch baking pan with foil. Spray foil with vegetable oil.

In heavy saucepan, melt butter. Stir in sugar and water and bring to boil. Wash down side of pan with moistened pastry brush. Cook over moderate heat, stirring with wooden spoon, until deeply golden caramel forms and temperature reaches 300° on candy thermometer, 15 minutes; if sugar and butter separate, stir vigorously to blend. Remove from heat and add coarsely chopped almonds, vanilla and salt. Scrape toffee into prepared pan; let cool for 10 minutes. 

Sprinkle half of chocolate over toffee and let stand until melted. Spread chocolate over toffee and sprinkle with half of finely chopped almonds. Freeze toffee for 10 minutes.  

Invert toffee onto foil-lined baking sheet and peel off foil backing. In microwave safe bowl, melt remaining chocolate. Spread melted chocolate over top of toffee and sprinkle with remaining finely chopped almonds. Let toffee cool, then break into shards. 

Chocolate Tapioca Pudding

Tapioca, along with junket and pudding, were standard desserts when I was growing up. I knew what pudding was, but never junket or tapioca. As a child that was fine, but as an adult interested in food and food derivations, this holiday--National Tapioca Day--got my attention.

According to Ask.Yahoo, tapioca is a root starch derived from the cassava, or yuca plant. It's often used to thicken soups and sweeten the flavor of baked goods, and it makes a great pudding. The cassava plant is native to South America and the West Indies, where its thick, fibrous roots are used in a variety of forms: bread flour, laundry starch, an alcoholic brew, and of course, tapioca pudding.

From Wikipedia: The pudding can be made from scratch using tapioca in a variety of forms: flakes, coarse meal, sticks, and pearls. Many commercial packaged mixes are also available. British schoolchildren have traditionally nicknamed the dish frog spawn, due to its appearance. American children often call it fish eyes and glue.

And the reason not to make tapioca at home, cassava roots have traces of cyanide in them! The ever-resourceful Mayans, the first known to use tapioca, figured out how to extract this poison for their blow darts, leaving the uncontaminated roots free for eating. Perhaps this information would be better served on my other blog, Mystery Fanfare.

So a processed tapioca should be used in the following recipes. The first recipe for Dark Chocolate Tapioca Pudding recipe is adapted from Kraft recipes and uses instant tapioca. The second recipe uses tapioca that needs to be soaked overnight. I think the flavor is much better, but really for me, it's all about the chocolate.

1. Easy Dark Chocolate Tapioca Pudding 

Ingredients
1 egg
1/4 cup sugar
3 Tbsp. MINUTE Tapioca
3-1/2 cups whole milk
3 ounces dark chocolate (60-75% cacao)
1 tsp. Madagascar vanilla

Directions
Beat egg lightly in medium saucepan with wire whisk.
Add sugar and tapioca; mix well.
Gradually add milk, beating well after each addition.
Let stand 5 minutes. Add chocolate.
Bring to boil on medium heat, stirring constantly.
Reduce heat to medium-low; cook until chocolate is completely melted, stirring constantly.
Remove from heat.
Stir in vanilla.
Cool 20 minutes; stir. (Pudding thickens as it cools.)
SERVE warm or chilled.

2. Longer to make but worth it -- Dark Chocolate Tapioca Pudding
adapted only slightly from JamHands (a great site)  

Ingredients
1/2 cup Tapioca Pearls
2-1/2 cups Whole Milk
Pinch of Salt
2 Eggs, Separated
1/2 cup Sugar
1 Tbsp Madagascar Vanilla
4-6 ounces dark chocolate, chopped

Directions
Soak tapioca in 2 cups of room temperature water overnight. Drain water in morning.
Heat milk over medium low heat in top of double boiler (for just a very short time, do not boil). Add salt and tapioca. Continue to heat until small bubbles appear. Cover, turn heat to very low and cook for one hour. Make sure the milk mixture does not simmer or boil.
Separate egg whites from yolks.
Beat egg yolks and sugar together until light yellow in color. Add a little of hot milk mixture to egg yolks and blend thoroughly.
Add egg yolk mixture into hot milk mixture, stirring constantly.
Place double boiler over medium heat and cook until tapioca mixture is very thick, from 15 – 30 minutes.
Beat egg whites until stiff.
Slowly fold hot tapioca mixture into egg whites.
Stir in vanilla and chopped chocolate and combine thoroughly until smooth.
Serve warm or chilled.

HAPPY TAPIOCA DAY!

Banana Bread with Chocolate Chunks

I have several recipes for Banana Bread, and every time I make banana bread, I change it up a bit. It usually depends on what's in the pantry, and mostly it doesn't matter. Two musts: baking soda and over ripe bananas--black and squishy, if possible!

The other day I was out of whole milk, so I used 1/2 half and half and 1/2 two percent. I actually prefer buttermilk, but you use what you have. Oil or butter? Well, I used butter this last time, but oil works just as well, and I think I might even prefer it, but my canola oil was a bit rank, so I threw it out. I did think about olive oil, but opted for Irish butter! As always, I added chocolate chunks. Oh, and this is a one bowl recipe! How easy is that!!!


BANANA BREAD WITH CHOCOLATE CHUNKS
Makes 1 loaf--easily doubled!

Ingredients
1/2 cup sweet butter, melted
1 cup sugar
2 large eggs
3 medium-sized bananas (I used 4 smaller ones), very ripe
1/4 cup milk
1 tsp Madagascar vanilla
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 cup chopped nuts
1/2 dark chocolate, chopped

Directions
Preheat  oven to 350°F. Line 8 x 5 loaf pan with parchment, letting excess hang over the sides. Spray  inside with nonstick cooking spray. (this last time I buttered the pan and then used some flour)
1. Whisk together melted butter and sugar in mixing bowl until combined. (If you cream the sugar and butter, you'll have a more cake-like banana bread--always a choice!)
2. Add eggs and whisk until combined and mixture is smooth.
3. Whisk milk and vanilla into batter.
4. Peel bananas and add to bowl. Using a fork, mash them into the batter. Leave bananas as chunky or as smooth as you prefer.
5. Add flour, baking soda, and salt to bowl. Switch to spatula and stir until ingredients are just barely combined and no more dry flour is visible. (Don't overstir)
6. Fold in nuts and chocolate.
7. Pour batter into prepared loaf pan. Smooth top of batter.
8. Bake 55 to 65 minutes: Bake until top of banana bread is dark brown with some yellow insides showing (there's usually a crack down the top) and toothpick inserted into middle comes out clean. Baking time varies, so start checking around 50 minutes or so.
9. Cool in pan on rack for 10 minutes.
10. Lift loaf out of pan and set on cooling rack to cool for another 10 minutes before slicing.