Norwegian Apple Trifle for #Food of the World

We are going all the way to Norway for this month's #Food of the World event. I have little knowledge of Norwegian cuisine, so I went looking for recipes online. Thankfully I found this amazing blog, Nordic Diner, written by Trude who lives in Oslo now but spend her childhood in Northern Norway.

I was spellbound by her photos of Norway, the greenery, the mountains, the clear blue water, everything looks so pristine and picturesque. So Norway has been added to my bucket list now :-)

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Canadian Nanaimo Bars for #Food of the World

For this month's #Food of the World event, we are visiting our neighbor Canada. The first dish that came to my mind when I thought of Canada was Nanaimo Bars. But I wanted to do my due diligence and googled for vegetarian Canadian dishes. None of the results I got motivated or inspired me to make the dish. So I went back to Nanaimo bars -- and I'm very glad I did.

Nanaimo bar is a popular Canadian dessert that requires no baking and is named after the city in which it was first created. It consists of a wafer crumb-based bottom layer topped with a custard flavored butter icing which is finally covered with melted chocolate. There are quite a few variations to the base recipe and are made with different types of crumb, different flavors for the icing (like Nutella, peanut butter, mint etc) and different types of chocolate topping.

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Individual Pumpkin Pies in Baby Food Jars

I'm currently obsessed with desserts made in baby food jars. I have been collecting my daughter's baby food jars and using them to serve individual desserts at parties. Idea actually came after seeing these cute little mango pannacottas that Sia @ Monsoon Spice served for her son's birthday. I fell in love with her clicks and the idea of reusing baby food jars and started to store them instead of recycling them.

I made individual cheesecake parfaits for my daughter's first birthday. They were instant hit at the party. Unfortunately I couldn't take pictures of them. Will definitely plan to make them soon and post it here for my own future reference.

I made these individual pumpkin pies for Thanksgiving party. This is more like a parfait with the flavors of pumpkin pie -- crispy graham cracker layer, sweet pumpkin pudding layer, crunchy candy/ toffee layer, creamy cinnamon-whipped cream layer. 

After making this pumpkin tiramisu which had a homemade cake layer along with the pumpkin pudding layer, I wanted to make something that was quick and easy to make. I also wanted to add different textures to the parfait which is why I added some crunchy, sweet candy bits as a layer.

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Deconstructed Vegetarian S’mores

6th day of Blogging Marathon, I can’t believe I posted continuously for the past 6 days. Yay.. for me. I’m so happy to be a part of this marathon as there is a certain sense of camaraderie among the marathoners and the kind of constructive feedback we have been getting from each other has been really helpful. All thanks to Valli for starting and organizing this event and hopefully I can be a part of your future marathons too.

So for today’s Kid-friendly recipe and to celebrate Valentine’s Day, I made these super simple and easy deconstructed s’mores that happen to be vegetarian too. I used Marshmallow fluff that uses egg whites instead of gelatin making this a vegetarian dessert. Also since I was making this at home and not on a camp fire, I wanted the dish to be eatable with a spoon. Google search led me to this recipe and the end result was equally exquisite.

Here’s the recipe:

Ingredients:
Graham cracker crumbs – 6 tsp, divided
Instant Chocolate pudding mix – ½ of 1 package
Marshmallow fluff – ½ cup
Pure vanilla extract – ½ tsp

Method:

• Sprinkle 1½ tsp of graham cracker crumbs in the bottom of four 7 oz. ramekins. Gently spread the crumbs so that they cover the base.
• Follow package instructions and prepare the instant chocolate pudding. Divide the pudding evenly between the ramekins. Pour the mixture slowly to avoid the crumbs being disturbed; pouring along the side of the ramekin helps a lot.
• Place the marshmallow fluff in a small ziplock bag. Squish to one corner, tightly twist the top to make a piping bag. Snip the corner and gently pipe the fluff onto the pudding.
• Let sit for about an hour in the fridge to allow marshmallow to set. Use a crème brulee torch if you have one or broil in the oven with the oven door open until the tops are golden brown. Serve immediately topped with some fresh blueberries.

The top gets stiff and crackly and the combination of the crisp marshmallow layer with the smooth chocolate layer and the sweet and tart blueberries..... mmmmm... this definitley made our Valentine's day special. Hope all of you enjoyed your Valentine's day.

Don't forget to check out what the other Marathoners are cooking up in their kitchens.

Azeema, Bhagi, Champa, Sowmya, Gayathri Anand, Gayathri Kumar, Harini, Jay, Kamalika, Mina, Meena, Padma, PJ, Priya Mahadevan, PriyaSuresh, PriyaVaasu, Rujuta, Saraswathi, Savitha, Shanavi, Smitha, Srivalli, Suma,Usha,Veena.