The Sugar Mill Caribbean Cookbook (40 page)

Preheat the oven to 350°.

To make the filling, beat the chocolate, sugar, butter, milk, and Tía Maria together with a whisk. Add the beaten eggs and walnuts, and stir. Pour the filling into the chilled tart shell, and bake the tart for 30 to 40 minutes or until the top is dry and firm.

To decorate the tart, place strips of waxed paper in a criss-cross pattern on the top, and sift on powdered sugar. Carefully remove the paper. Serve the tart with vanilla or chocolate ice cream.

 

Makes 1 9-inch tart

Cheesecake is a much-loved dessert to follow any dinner. Adding rum and chocolate simply embellishes an already superb finale.

 

To make the crust, preheat the oven to 350°. Blend together all the crust ingredients. Press the mixture on the bottom and 1 inch up the sides of a 10-inch springform pan. Bake the crust 8 minutes, then let it cool.

Beat together the cream cheese, sour cream, sugar, and vanilla. Put the rum into the top of a double boiler or into a heat-proof bowl, sprinkle on the gelatin, and let it soften 10 minutes.

Stir the gelatin mixture over simmering water until the gelatin dissolves, then beat the solution into the cream-cheese mixture. Beat in the melted chocolate. Pour the mixture into the prepared crust, and refrigerate the cake until the filling is firm.

Before serving, remove the metal ring, and decorate the cake with chocolate leaves or grated chocolate.

 

Makes 1 10-inch cheesecake

With this basic filling, a well-stocked bar at your disposal, and a freewheeling spirit of adventure, you can create an almost infinite number of tarts—each different, all delectable. Choose the most appropriate crust, and proceed.

 

 

Preheat the oven to 350°. Mix together all the ingredients for either the graham cracker crust or the cookie crust, and press the mixture onto the bottom and side of a 9-inch tart pan. Bake the crust 10 minutes. Let it cool.

Make the filling: In a small saucepan, stir together ½ cup of the sugar and the gelatin. Blend the egg yolks with the water and flavorings. Cook the sugar-yolk mixture over medium heat, stirring constantly, until the mixture is thickened. Let it cool.

Beat the egg whites until they are foamy. Beat in the remaining ½ cup sugar, 1 tablespoon at a time, and continue beating until the egg whites form stiff, glossy peaks. Fold the gelatin mixture into the meringue, and spoon the mixture into the prebaked 9-inch tart shell. Chill the tart before serving.

 

Makes 1 9-inch tart

Almost everyone loves a luscious banana cream pie, but we like to gild the lily by lining the crust with chocolate.

 

Preheat the oven to 400°.

Bake the pie shell for 8 to 10 minutes, until it just begins to brown on the edge. Remove the pan from the oven, and immediately sprinkle the chocolate chips into the shell. Return the pan to the oven just long enough to melt the chips. Spread the chocolate with a spatula to cover the bottom of the pie shell.

Dissolve the sugar and salt in the milk. Whisk the egg yolks with the cream and cornstarch in a heat-proof bowl or the top of a double boiler. Slowly whisk the milk mixture into the egg yolks. Set the bowl or pan over simmering water, and whisk constantly until the mixture thickens to a pudding-like consistency, 7 to 10 minutes. Remove the custard from the heat, whisk in the butter and vanilla, and strain the custard through a fine sieve into a bowl. Put plastic wrap directly on the surface of the custard, and allow it to cool.

Slice two bananas crosswise into the chocolate-coated pie shell. Pour the cooled custard over the bananas at once. Chill the pie for at least 1 hour.

Just before serving, spread the pie with the whipped cream. Peel the remaining banana, score it lengthwise with a fork, cut it into thin crosswise slices, and arrange the slices around the edge of the pie. Sprinkle the toasted coconut in the center, and slice and serve the pie.

A tropical classic, this brisk dessert deftly balances sweet and sour on a warm Caribbean night.

 

Preheat the oven to 350°. Beat the egg yolks until they are light yellow and thick. Stir in the condensed milk, then the lime juice and zest. Pour the mixture into the prepared crust.

Beat the egg whites with the cream of tartar until they are thick, and very slowly beat in the sugar. Beat until shiny peaks form. Spread the egg whites over the filling, making swirls and peaks.

Bake the pie 15 minutes. Let it cool before serving.

When fresh papayas are available, try this island delicacy. Although our local papayas are small and yellow-fleshed, we were lucky enough to get some seeds that produced trees with truly astonishing fruit. Stateside friends tell us their produce departments often sell these large, red-fleshed fruits as "Mexican papayas." Weighing up to ten pounds and full of flavor, these papayas are perfect in this pie.

 

Sprinkle the gelatin over the water, and allow the gelatin to soften for 10 minutes.

In a saucepan, combine the papayapurée, ½ cup sugar, and the beaten egg yolks. Cook the mixture over very low heat, stirring constantly, for 20 minutes or until it is thickened. Add the softened gelatin, stir until it is dissolved, and stir in the lime juice. Pour the mixture into a bowl set in a larger bowl of ice, and stir the mixture until it is thickened (but not set). Or place the bowl in the freezer until the mixture is thickened.

Beat the egg whites with the salt until the whites hold soft peaks. Add the remaining ½ cup sugar, 2 to 3 tablespoons at a time, and continue to beat until the meringue is stiff and shiny. Fold the meringue into the custard, and pour the mixture into the pie shell. Chill the pie for 3 hours or until it has set.

Whip the heavy cream, and sweeten it with confectioners' sugar. Put the cream into a pastry tube, and pipe a pretty design onto the top of the pie. Garnish the pie with the crystallized ginger and papaya or pineapple, and slice and serve.

Meringues are always a good thing to make if you find yourself with leftover egg whites. Piping the meringues into the form of seashells is fairly easy. We try for something resembling a nautilus shell, but be creative—pipe the meringue in any design you like.

 

To make the meringues, preheat the oven to 250°. Beat the egg whites until they hold stiff peaks. Gradually beat in 6 tablespoons sugar, and continue beating until the mixture is glossy. Fold in the remaining sugar. Fit a pastry bag with a ½-inch shell tube, and fill the bag with the mixture. Pipe the mixture onto a baking sheet to make twelve shell-shaped meringues. Sprinkle them lightly with sugar, and let them set 5 minutes. Then bake the meringues about 1½ hours, or until they are firm. Transfer them to wire racks to cool.

Whip the cream. Beat in the banana liqueur and sugar to taste. Fold in thechopped bananas, and chill the mixture.

When you're ready to serve, cut the meringues in half horizontally, and spoon some of the banana cream on one half. Sandwich the halves together to form complete shells.