#196_Brazo de Mercedes with a Big Twist

Brazo de Mercedes turned into a pie!

I still need to come up with a good name for this dessert. It is kind of a heinz 57 thing where I put everything I love in one pie, i.e. mangoes, custard, coconut cream and meringue.

The idea is taken from Brazo de Mercedes, but instead of rolled, the meringue is baked in a pie tin then filled with custard cream filling, hence a Pie. The cream filling, click here, has coconut cream and home made mango jam, then mounded some shaved fresh mangoes on top. Sorry, I don't have time to write down the recipe right now. I'm making this for our Fundraising Event on Saturday.

For Custard Cream filling recipe, click here.

#162_ Blueberry Mango Custard Tart

Blueberry Mango Custard Tart

This is my entry to the Blogger's Blueberry Recipe Contest sponsored by the US Highbush Blueberry Council.

I made this dessert using the Mango Custard Tart, recipe #160,
with a very slight tweak.
Instead of using two mangoes, I just used one,
cubed it and hid it under the cream filling on the crust.
Then arranged the blueberries on top of the filling.

One discovery that amazed me while making this dessert was the marriage between the mango and the blueberries. I didn't think it was possibly good. I was in awe! because it was like made in heaven! they go together really well. Hope you'll try this recipe because it is really worth trying. It is very fantastic! I'm not saying it to pat myself on the back. This is my third time in a row using the cream filling and won't be the last one.
I think I am obsessed with the cream filling.
Beware, it is really very addicting!

For this dessert you'll need:

1 pkg (8oz) Fillo Dough
1 recipe for Custard Cream Filling
2 cups blueberries
1 stick butter, melted
I ripe mango, cubed


Preparing the Fillo Dough:

It is probably best to use one of those tart pans with removable bottom for this kind of crust, but I don't own one, so I just improvised. If you read my previous entry, #160, you'll know that I'm just a newbie with Fillo dough.

So this is how I assembled the Fillo dough sheets. This might not get the approval of Pastry Chefs, but it worked for me.

I thawed out 1 package of Fillo dough for about 30 minutes
then I tore about 5 inches off the dough (left side of photo)
so I have square sheets to work with.
I brushed each sheet with melted butter.

I piled each buttered sheet on a greased baking pan
in a staggering manner then tucked under
the pointy ends to form a rough circle.

I then took some pieces of dough sheets that I tore off and twisted them as I lay them around the edges. Before sliding it in the oven, I partly cut the crust about 3 inches from the edges. This way when you slice the tart before serving, the crust won't break into pieces as the crust is so flaky and crunchy. I learned a lesson from the first one I made. I baked the pastry in a pre-heated 350 degrees oven for about 20 minutes.

I encountered a little problem though while baking the crust.
The dough keeps puffing up, so I kept pricking the bottom with tines of a fork.
Other than that, Fillo doughs are actually easy to work with.

Custard Cream Filling:

(from recipe #160)

3/4 cup white sugar
1/3 cup flour
1 cup fresh milk
1 cup coconut cream
6 egg yolks, slightly beaten

Mix the flour and sugar together in a sauce pan

Pour in the milk and the coconut cream and stir until the flour is totally dissolved. Turn stove on. Over medium heat cook the mixture until it becomes bubbly, stirring constantly, then turn the heat down to medium low and continue to stir. (I didn't have to cook this in a double boiler). Actually this is the only hard part of making this dessert.... constantly stirring the mixture. In a way, this makes a good work out for the arm!

Take the pan off the stove and pour in the egg yolks little by little, continuosly stirring the mixture. Make sure not to get impatient and pour in the yolks more than a tablespoon at a time, otherwise you'll end up with scrambled eggs.

When all the yolk is added in to the mixture, return the pan to the stove and continue to cook, stirring constantly until the mixture thickens but spreadable like the consistency of mayonnaise.

Assembling the tart is as easy as 1-2-3

I sliced the mango into cubes,

filled the baked pastry with the cubed mangoes then spooned the Custard Cream Filling over the mangoes. I then arranged the blueberries on the top of the cream filling, but they can also be mixed in with the cream filling, if you prefer so.
The purple in the middle is a dollop of blueberry yogurt.

Hope you give this a try.
ENJOY!

Update: 7-31-09

I shared some of the Blueberry Custard Tart to a sweet neighbor and friend after I took pictures of it for this post...

the other day she brought me back the plate with a lovely thank-you card.
She is such a sweet lady.
Thank you, Kristy. I'm glad you liked it!

#161_Irresistible Mango Custard Pizza Pie

Doesn't this look like pizza?
At first glance, it looks like pineapple pizza.
I didn't realize it until I was uploading these photos.

The crust is the Puff Pastry that I was going to use for the
Mango Custard Filling for the recipe #160,
after I had that disaster trying to make Brazo de Mercedez.

Here's how I did it:

After thawing the Puff Pastry,
I rolled it out on a floured surface to form a circle.
It didn't need to be a perfect circle.

I don't have any experience working with Puff Pastry
other than using it to make pot pies.
So, this is how I formed the edges.
It might not be a professional way, but it worked:
I transferred the dough onto a greased baking pan
and folded over the edges making twisted pleats.

Brushed the dough with egg wash and with tines of a fork,
I then pricked the bottom of the dough.

I baked the dough in a pre-heated 350 degrees oven
for about 20-25 minutes.
When the center of dough overly puffed up while baking,
I gave it more pricks.

I filled the baked crust with the
Mango Custard Cream Filling.
(recipe here)

Now you can choose whether you want to use
the Puff Pastry or the Fillo Dough.
The choice is yours,
they are both fantastic!!

Update: 8-6-09

By all means use this variety of mangoes. The peels are all yellow, no specks of green on them. Here in North America they are called Manila mangoes, click here. You can find them at most Oriental stores and at Costco.

#160_Incredible Mango Custard Tart

I never had a goofier day than the day I was making this dessert for a Filipino get-together. First of all, my heart was set on making Brazo de Mercedez which is a Filipino dessert made of baked meringue with custard cream filling. Usually the custard is made of condensed milk and egg yolks, but I made mine totally different.

Early in the day, while making the custard filling for the "Brazo.." I found out that I didn't have enough fresh milk called for in the recipe, so I substituted some coconut milk which turned out to be super delicious! This is not an exaggeration and I don't usually like to pat my own back either, but because I'm so elated by the amazing result of this custard cream filling, I can't help but let everybody know how good it turned out.

The addition of the coconut cream in the the cream filling makes the taste so awesome and the amount that I added in was just the right amount. When you bite into it, the taste of coconut is not overpowering the custard, instead it just stays in the background. The blending of all the ingredients is so perfect and out of this world that when I first sampled the filling I thought I died and gone to heaven! I kid you not, it is that good.

I don't want to bore anyone reading this post with what had transpired while I was making the "brazo" dessert, so I will try not to go into details of the dilemmas I encountered along the way but rather give a synopsis.

Making the meringue for Brazo de Mercedes

While making the meringue, I got side-tracked and in short, the meringue didn't turn out, so I quickly grabbed a box of supposedly Puff Pastry from the freezer and set it on the counter to thaw out. I knew this would take about half an hour to thaw them out plus 18 minutes to bake the crust. By now, I had about an hour before I had to leave to go to the party. About 25 minutes later, when I opened the box, and to my dismay, they were not Puff Pastry, but instead they were Fillo Dough! I had used it before as a wrap but not as a pastry shell and I definitely didn't have time to thaw out the Puff Pastry again. So my first impulse was to go to the store and get some ice cream and cookies to take instead, as I had made a commitment to bring desserts. These desserts sure were stressing me out! (BTW, stressed, spelled backwards is desserts). Whenever I'm under any kind of pressure my brain freezes. I knew I had to calm down to get my brain to function and working right. Taking a deep breath didn't do it.

After a few gulps of my favorite soda, I finally calmed down and was able to figure out how I can best use the Fillo Dough for this dessert.

Well, I was 20 minutes late to the party but everybody liked my serendipitous dessert. It even got two thumbs up from the persnickety eaters. Sometimes good things can come out of mishaps!

So now, what I'll do is to put the recipe for the Brazo de Mercedez on the back burner for now, and post the recipe for the Mango Custard Tart.

The only caveat for this recipe is that you might need to figure out what to do with the egg whites if you don't want them to go to waste...that is, if you have time to make use of them. If you do, you probably can make some divinity or meringue cookies,etc. otherwise, aww, just chuck it.

Mango Custard Cream Filling:

3/4 cup white sugar
1/3 cup flour
1 cup fresh milk
1 cup coconut cream
6 egg yolks, slightly beaten
2 ripe mangoes, cubed

Mix the flour and sugar together in a sauce pan

Pour in the milk and the coconut cream and stir until the flour is totally dissolved. Turn stove on medium and cook the mixture until it becomes bubbly, stirring constantly, then turn the heat down to medium low and continue to stir. (I didn't have to cook this in a double boiler). Actually this is the only hard part of making this dessert.... constantly stirring the mixture. In a way, this makes a good work out for the arm!

Take the pan off the heat and, pour in the egg yolks little by little, continuously stirring the mixture. Make sure not to get impatient and pour in the yolks more than a tablespoon at a time, otherwise you'll end up with scrambled eggs.

When all the yolk is added in to the mixture, return the pan to the stove and continue to cook, stirring constantly until the mixture thickens but spreadable like the consistency of mayonnaise.

Add in the cubed mangoes and set aside.
(The filling can be made a day ahead and stored in the fridge).

The Custard Filling with coconut cream, chunks of mangoes
in a flaky and crunchy Filo pastry shell make this dessert so unique
and super delish and yet simple and easy to make.

Preparing the Pastry

There are 2 packages of Fillo dough in a box and each package has 20 sheets. You only need 20 sheets for this recipe.

1) Line a baking pan with a parchment paper.
2) Take a sheet of Fillo dough and brush with melted butter and lay it on the baking pan. Do this with each of the 20 sheets of Fillo dough stacking them on top of each other on the baking pan in a staggering manner. If they tear out don't worry, just overlap them. They don't have to lay flat on the baking pan so it is okay if they wrinkle up. This is not supposed to be a perfect crust.
3) After all the sheets are laid on the baking pan, roll up the edges. (Actually, what I've done because I was in a hurry, I took out more sheets from the other package, maybe about 4-5 sheets at a time, roll them up and twisted them and place them around the edges. It worked really good. If you look closely at the top picture, you can see that the edges have that twisted effect).
4) Bake the pastry in a pre-heated 350 degrees oven for about 20 minutes or until it turns golden brown.
5) Take the pastry out from the oven and set it on a platter and fill it with the Mango Custard Cream Filling.

I'm already so excited thinking about the endless ways I can use the cream filling in different kinds of desserts. In fact I'm already thinking of using it to make a Boston Cream Pie. And how about mango sushi using malagkit? Not a bad idea, aye?

ENJOY!!!

UPDATE: 8-6-09


This is an update after a friend of mine made this recipe using the red/green kind of mangoes. She said the custard cream filling tasted so good but the mangoes tasted so bland.
Please, by all means, use this variety of mangoes...they can be found in most Oriental stores and at Costco. They are called Manila mangoes. Unfortunately, just like some other fruits they have their season.