Raspberry Panzanella

First of all I want to credit Adrian for making the raspberry jam. He volunteered to help. "Is it really that easy to make jam?" Well, see for yourself.

This recipe took me by surprise. It's hassle free and yet unbelievably flavorful. Besides it 's also pretty on the plate. Adrian was already asking for a remake while his plate was still half-full. This recipe has so much potential - you can make it with other berries, different fruits, nuts, etc. I happened to have some leftover fruit salad from the day before - mango, papaya, grapes in a lemony sweet dressing -. I also added some date honey to sweeten up the plate. Hope you enjoy this as much as we did.

Ingredients:
(serve 2)

• Frozen raspberry
• Pure coconut syrup
• 4 slices Day-old bread, sliced into 1" cubes
• 1/4 cup unsalted butter
• 1/4 cup Natural cane sugar
• pinch of salt
  
• Pecan nuts, chopped
• Fruit Salad
  
• Sour cream (lemon juice + Cream)
• Poppy seeds
• Date honey
  

1. Heat and bring raspberry and coconut syrup to boiling. Turn it down to medium low and let it simmer. Stirring occasionally. Taste and adjust with more sugar or raspberry. Heat till the juices reduced to jam consistency. Let it cool.
2. Preheat oven at 150C. Melt butter, sugar and salt in a pan until the sugar caramelized. Remove from heat and toss in bread cubes. Toss to coat evenly.
3. Repeat step 2 with chopped pecan nuts.
   
4. Pour bread cubes and pecan nuts to a large baking pan in one even layer. Bake in the oven for 15 minutes, tossing every 5 minutes, until golden all over. Remove and let cool to crisp up.
   
5. Place toasted bread cubes and nuts in a big bowl and mix in raspberry jam. Serve on individual serving bowl. Serve with a scoop of sour cream and fruit salad. Sprinkle with poppy seeds. Drizzle with date honey.
   

Tahini Muffins with Mulberry

Nok Pinnada gave me a box of fresh mulberry, along with the beetroots and some lettuces. I wasn't sure what I could do with the mulberry besides eating them fresh. I was paranoid they will turn bad before I could eat them all. Therefore I immediately turned the mulberry into jam as soon as I got home. I had been waiting to do something with it since then. Now came the chance.

Here's a website for tahini. You'll find a brief write up on this sesame products and some recipes to go with it. I once made my own tahini: just grind up toasted white sesame seeds and add some oil. However it's such a pain to make because I don't have a food processor; it took considerable patient to grind them in batches after batches after batches with the grinder. When I eventually invest in a food processor, there going to be so many more homemade condiments: Nutella, peanut butter, tahini, and all kind of nuts spread. Until then, I digress.

Instead of using raisin as suggested on the website, I replace it with mulberry jam. When Adrian came home to the muffins, his first reaction was "they are blue". I was thinking black. I promised some students I would bring something yummy to them this Saturday if they come to my Yoga class. I was rather hesitant to pack the muffins, thinking if I should have baked something "sinful" with chocolate, or sweet and pleasant like strawberry, instead of the boring oatmeal, and tahini.

As I walked down to the apartment pier, waiting for the boat, I found a turtle sitting there next to one of the boat man. How interesting! It must have crawled up from the river. It was very curious and was sticking its head around its new place. Soon more residents came down and the turtle drew quite a commotion. Little did the turtle know what a day it made for us.

As the BTS approached Siam station, there was loud noises coming from nowhere. I didn't know what it's about since it was in Thai. Then I remembered the news announcement of "biggest rally by the red-shirts" over this weekend. When I got down from the BTS at Chitlom, I bumped into Pi Or. I thought she had just finished her practice. Turned out, she was going to come to my class but because of the protest in the area, the streets were blocked and all the major shopping malls were closed, including Central Chitlom, where we usually walked through to get to the studio. And she couldn't call to the studio, thinking it might have been closed. "Oh no. What am I going to so with the muffins?" that was my thought. I somehow persuaded her to come with me. We braved the sea of red-shirted people and their rally cars, reached at the studio little perturbed by the loud noises over the speakers along the street.

I was really touched and honored to have 15 students showed up at my class despite the uncertainties and havoc these protesters were causing in the city center. When I announced of the muffins that I brought, I kind of wondered if I should have told them the ingredients - too healthy? I was so relieved when the students told me that they liked it. The health conscious ones liked it that it's not too sweet and delicious enough to be an indulgence. The skeptics were surprised what a treat "healthy" ingredients can be. PHEW~

Ingredients:

Mulberry Jam

• Fresh mulberry
• Natural cane sugar
• Freshly squeeze lemon juice

1. Put mulberry into a pot and sprinkle enough sugar to cover the top. Cover the pan and let it sit overnight. The berries release juices overnight.
   
2. Bring the pot to simmer over medium heat. Taste and adjust with sugar and lemon juice. Let it simmer for another 10 minutes.
3. Remove and spoon over to storing jar. Cover and refrigerate till needed.

Tahini Muffins
(7 big muffins)

• 2 cups rolled oats
• 1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
• 1 cup natural cane sugar
• 2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup whole milk
• 1/2 cup organic tahini
• 1/2 cup virgin coconut oil
• 2 eggs, beaten
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla essence
  
• 1 cup mulberry jam
• 1/2 cup pecans, chopped

1. Preheat oven at 180C. Grease a muffin tray with virgin coconut oil.
   
2. Sift together oat, flour, baking powder, baking soda, sugar and salt in a big bowl. Set aside.
3. Whisk together milk, tahini, coconut oil, eggs and vanilla essence till well blended.
4. Pour tahini mixture into flour mixture. Fold to combine. Stir in mulberry jam and chopped pecans.
5. Spoon batter over muffin tray. Bake at 180C for 25 minutes.
   

Mascarpone Pancake with Grapes and Blue Cheese Sauce

Our neighbor, Pi Soo, gave us 4 blocks of cheeses her husband brought back from France. Apart from the blue cheese and goat cheese, which I'm familiar with and distinctive enough to distinguish, I have no idea what the other two blocks are. Pi Soo, too, has no idea what they are besides "this one is the strongest". Thanks.

Today's pancake is yet another showcase of putting what's available to the table. I vaguely remembered making some blue cheese grapes salad some time ago - I knew this sweet fruit and acquired cheese will work in compliment. But it somehow didn't seem right to have blue cheese salad for breakfast.

Then my thought wandered into ricotta pancake, sour cream pancake, cream cheese pancake.... etc. What about blue cheese pancake? I don't see why it wouldn't work. But I wasn't going to risk the most important meal of the day on my experiment and decided mascarpone pancake would be more of a sound thing to do.

Since Adrian was making a savory omelet with the "strongest cheese", it seemed gastronomically correct to balance it out with a little more sweet. Hence the addition of honey, which went surprisingly great with the blue cheese sauce.

Ingredients:
(serve 2)
Blue Cheese Sauce

• Blue Cheese
• Cream cheese (soften at room temperature)

I didn't measure the amount used. The cheeses were more or less in equal part. You may add a splash of whole milk to thin it out if necessary. Blend the ingredients to a smooth consistency.

Roasted Maple Pecan

• Pecan nuts, roughly chopped
• Coconut oil
• 1 tablespoon Real Maple syrup
• 1 teaspoon natural cane sugar

Use just enough coconut oil to coat pecan nuts evenly. Toss the nuts with maple syrup and sugar. Bake in the oven at 150C for 10 - 15 minutes. Remove from oven and let it cool.

Mascarpone Pancake

• 3/4 cup all purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 - 2 Tablespoons natural cane sugar
• 1/4 cup homemade mascarpone (soften at room temperature)
  
• 1/4 cup whole milk
  
• 1 egg (lightly beaten)
• 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 1/2 teaspoon lemon zest

To serve

• Seedless green grapes and black grapes, halved
• Nectarine, cut into wedges
• Blue cheese sauce
  
• Honey
• Roasted Maple Pecan
  
• Mint leaves
  

1. Sift together flour, baking powder, and sugar. Set aside.
2. Whisk together mascarpone, milk, egg and vanilla essence.
3. Fold the mascarpone mixture to flour mixture. You may add more milk to desired consistency. Stir in lemon zest to combine.
4. Coat and heat a 8" saucepan with coconut oil. Pour 1/2 of the batter to the heated pan and fry until the surface is bubbly. Flip and fry the other side till lightly browned. Repeat with the remaining batter.
5. Serve with fresh fruits and blue cheese sauce. Sprinkle with pecan nuts and drizzle honey around. Garnish with mint leaves.
   

Pesto Cheesecake

I chopped up a bunch of basil and parsley with pecan nuts the other night to make pesto - what a delicious good way to preserving vegetables before they wilt. Cover it with enough olive oil and it just basically sit, fresh as it is, in the corner of refrigerator for a long enough time till I need it again. Usually I would leave out salt and lemon juice until just before using the pesto.

I scaled the recipe down to a 4" x 7" casserole dish, good enough for two persons. You may triple the volume and bake it in a 8" springform pan as you would with ordinary cheesecake. The recipe I found uses breadcrumbs as crust. I used the wheat biscuits left from whatever dessert I last made with. The crust was a tad to the sweet side, which turned out to be an interesting compliment to the savory cream cheese pesto layer. I also threw in some sun dried tomatoes because I was thinking they had been sitting in the fridge for a wee bit too long.

Adrian enjoyed this very much. Initially he was going to save a piece for next day. Then he kept picking at the crumbs. Eventually he devoured what's left of the picking with a cup of coffee.

I guess this dish is meant to be some Italian appetizer to serve over garlic bread or cracker. But why limit my imagination? I just happened to fry up some sunny-side up to supplement the nutritive profile of our Sunday breakfast. OH! Not the forget a bed of fresh from the farm organic lettuces, courtesy of my lovely friend, Pinnada :)

Ingredients:

• 4 pieces wheat biscuits, crushed
• 1 Tablespoon Parmesan cheese, grated
• 1 Tablespoon butter, room temperature
• 4oz cream cheese, soften
• 1/3 homemade ricotta cheese
• pinch of salt and cayenne pepper
• sun dried tomatoes, chopped
  
• 1/3 cup homemade pesto
• Pecan nuts

1. Preheat oven at 160C. Lightly grease a 4"x7" casserole dish.
2. Roll together biscuits, Parmesan and butter. Press to the bottom of prepared dish. Bake in the oven for 10 minutes, until the crust is lightly browned.
3. Blend together cream cheese and ricotta until smooth and fluffy. Fold in sun dried tomatoes and pesto. Season with salt and cayenne pepper to taste.
   
4. Pour evenly over biscuit crust. Sprinkle with pecan nuts. Bake for 45 - 60 minutes - center should move just slightly when shaken.
5. Cover and refrigerate overnight. Loosen the edges with knife and transfer to individual serving plates.
   

Monster Cookies

Last night we went over to Sandra and Nico's new house in Ari for a housewarming-cum-Christmas party. The party was aptly themed "Bring your own food". How convenient. There's also the gift exchange, which was a real challenge for me. For days I was harassing friends for ideas. Some of the suggestions I got included: toiletries, photo frame, towel.... non of which was very inspiring. Most importantly, non of which was gift I personally want to receive.

Eventually in the morning of our big night, Nuk showed me the picture of her gift through Yahoo Messenger: two baskets of large eggs. Let me re-frame that: two baskets of large eggs with double yolks. Go figure. Anyway I guessed it's not illegal to bring food item. So I decided instead of buying a hamper, why not bake some cookies? I did a pretty good job with my first batch of cookies for Yim's birthday. I think.

After some reading, I got the idea that cookies basically come from the same batter. You can add whatever you want for that extra personal touch. I found this recipe recipe for kids that uses multi-colored MnM's chocolate candy. I made some changes to suit the adult taste: dark chocolate in the peanut butter cookies for half the guilty sugar rush; and pecan nuts and Mars bar niblet to make up for the lack of sugar rush in the aforementioned recipe. Redundant. I know.

These recipes make 3 dozens cookies each. I baked a dozen each because the box can't fit more than that. Lame. I know. But hey! Look I put a ribbon over the box!

Adrian and I were leaving early and we got to pick our gifts before everyone else. I got a Calvin and Hobbe's from Sandra. MY FAVORITE! This is probably one of the best "lucky draw" gifts I've ever get. Adrian got a Starbuck's card from Gate. What else can a coffee addict ask for? Sandra later text me and said that whoever got my cookies shared them with everyone: "it was a hit!"

Ingredients:
(make 2 dozens)

For the Peanut Butter cookies:

• 1/4 cup butter, soften at room temperature
• 1/4 cup organic creamy peanut butter
• 1/4 cup unrefined white sugar
• 1/4 cup natural brown sugar
• 1 egg
• 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 1 1/4 cup unprocessed all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 cup dark chocolate chips
  
• sea salt

For the Mars Bar Cookies:

• 1/2 cup butter, soften at room temperature
• 1/4 cup unrefined white sugar
• 1/4 cup natural brown sugar
• 1 egg
• 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 1 1/4 cup unprocessed all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 3 Mars Bar,
  
• 1/4 cup pecan, chopped
• sea salt
  

1. Preheat oven to 180C. Line baking parchment over a baking tray.
   
2. Cream together butter (peanut butter) and sugar. Whisk in egg and vanilla extract. Set aside.
3. Sift flour, salt and baking soda in a separate bowl.
   
4. Fold flour mixture into butter mixture. Add fillings.
5. Transfer batter to baking parchment one tablespoon at a time. Sprinkle with sea salt. Bake for 15 - 18 minutes.
   

Maple Pecan and Pear Spelt Scones with Maple Pear Butter

This lady whom I'm doing rehabilitation work with, Shobie, has been putting herself on a diet. She's also religiously following the liver detox menu I gave her - it's no joke walking around carrying 96kg of weight. Being a vegetarian, she's not contented with just vegetables (something to think about). She loves everything starchy and processed especially white rice and mashed potatoes. She claims she can eat just rice and broccoli, whole day.

However she's determined. She got rid of the bag of candies that her nurse carried around with her, and she shunned social events just so she doesn't "have to" eat them (peer pressure, I guess). If you knew her, you'd know how big of a sacrifice that is for her. In order to keep her motivation high, I decided to make a deal with her: she shall eat no sweets and refined carbohydrates unless it's from me; I will bring her one treat every week.

It was very daring of me to do so given what a foodie she is. But she approved of my bagels "I need you to open a bakery", "you should sell your bagels to au bon Pain". That gave me plenty of confidence.

I decided to start with scones - her favorite -. Despite her distaste for whole wheat products, I used spelt flour in this recipe. It's nuttier and sweeter than usual whole wheat flour - an answer to people who want good, tasty whole grain products. Spelt has high water solubility, so the nutrients are easily absorbed by the body. It is also higher in fiber, B Vitamins and proteins than the common varieties of commercial wheat. People who are allergic to wheat may be able to tolerate spelt because its proteins are easier to digest. Nevertheless, it is NOT gluten-free.

It doesn't have an exciting flavor as the Strawberry and Goat Cheese Scones or the Wholewheat Blueberry and Raisin Sour Cream Scones. However, the scones have just the right amount of softness that they feel like "home". I loved watching how the maple pear butter just melt over the warm scones. Not only did Shobie approved, she also raved about them to her sister, San, whom together with her husband, I'm teaching Yoga to. I brought some to San the next day: you can't please one sister and not the other while both of them are your paying clients.

Ingredients:

(makes 16 small scones or 10 large scones)

For the maple pear butter:

• 1 large ripe sweet pear, peeled, cored and cubed
  
• 1/4 Cup butter
  
• 1 1/2 Tablespoon pure maple syrup

1. Simmer pears in a pot of water over medium heat until pears are soft and water evaporated.
2. Let cool slightly. Stir in butter and maple syrup. Let stand at room temperature to thicken before storing in refrigerator.

For the scones:

• 3 Cups Organic Spelt flour
• 1/3 Cup natural cane sugar
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 3/4 Cup butter, cut
  
• 3/4 Cup buttermilk (lemon juice + milk)
  
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
  
• 2 medium size sweet pears, peeled and diced
  
• 1/2 Cup chopped pecans
• sugar
  

1. preheat oven to 180C.
2. Combine flour, sugar, baking powder, cinnamon, baking soda and salt in a medium bowl. Cut in butter with a pastry blender until butter is the size of peas. Stir in buttermilk, vanilla extract, pears and pecans. Turn mixture onto a lightly floured board and knead several times until dough is smooth.
3. Separate dough into 4 portions. Press each portion into a 5" circle and cut into 4 wedges with a sharp knife. Or, roll dough out into a 10" circle and cut into 10 wedges.
   
4. Place wedges 1-inch apart on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Sprinkle lightly with sugar. Bake for 20 minutes or until golden brown on top.
5. Serve warm with Maple Pear Butter.
   

Homemade Spiced Pecan Milk

It's dairy free, vegan, and it's raw. You can drink it warm, chilled, or with ice; pour it over a bowl of cereal; or have it in place of milk or soy milk over an espresso. What is it? It's Homemade Spiced Pecan Milk.

Pecans are jam packed with antioxidants, proteins and unsaturated fats. The plant sterols in pecan have been shown to lower high cholesterol level. And ladies, listen up: a diet rich in nuts helps lower risk of gallstones in women. Men, save yourself.

Nutrition aside, this is so super cool. You can do the same with other tree nuts and even sunflower seeds. If you intend to use the milk for other purposes, simply omit coconut milk and the spices. If you'd like a smoother beverage, pour the pecan milk through a sieve lined with cheesecloth. You can do a few things with the strained pecan meal: dehydrate it, turn it into flour and throw in to your bread or pastry.

When I made the milk I realized how many unnecessary ingredients there are in commercial non-dairy milk (as the almond milk carton in the refrigerator shows). Not only is there lots of sugar, but also ingredients that I don't recognize. Besides, it hurts whenever Adrian craves for almond milk; it's insanely expensive. I may not have the mathematics worked out, but it doesn't take a genius to figure the cost of making it at home is less than buying from store. I think I'm on to saving big money.

Updated: I made almond milk in pretty much the same way: blend together soaked almonds, water and honey. A few questions:

1. Why the need to drain the soaked water and blend with fresh ones? Why is it ok to retain pecan-soaked water but not almond-soaked water?
   
2. Why the need to add salt in soaking pecan but not with almond?

Anyway I did add some salt eventually: it brought out the otherwise missing nutty flavor in the milk. Speaking of which, do you know the almond we buy are actually mutant from its potentially toxic wild bitter almond? This common, domesticated, delicate almond has evolved from its Mediterranean/ Middle Eastern origin - it grows and matures under much colder horizon.

Back to the milk.

I strained the milk of its almond meals, roasted them in the oven and am looking for ways to use them in future baking. As they baked, they continued to give out sweet smell from the honey - I found myself inhaling deeper each time I tossed them around.

Without wasting time, I immediately put the fresh homemade almond milk to good use: Vegan Chocolate Pudding! Yum Yum Yum =))

Ingredients:
1/4 C pecan
4 C water
1/2 tsp sea salt
1/4 cup raw honey
1/3 cup coconut milk
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg

Additional honey for sweetening.

1.)Combine the pecans, salt, and water in an air-tight container. Seal and leave to soak in the refrigerator for overnight.

2.) Pour the soaked pecans and the water mixture into a blender. Add the honey, coconut milk, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Process on high for two minutes or until the mixture is well combined and smooth. Sweeten to taste and store in the refrigerator. This will last one week refrigerated in an air-tight container.

Pumpkin Pie Oatmeal

I've been getting into flaxseed again. I fell out of it since I finished the last packet of golden flaxseeds that I brought back from KL. Then I found out they are for sale in Villa Market. Not only flaxseed but psyllium hull too. So now I'm back to adding both to my morning smoothie, fruit salad, cereals, fruit juice, salad.... in every which way I can sprinkle them on. A quick tip: if you feel like having a dessert or late night bite but don't want the guilt, add psyllium hull to fruit juice and let it sit. It will become a jelly of sort.

Let me get back to this recipe. The primary reason I'm making this for breakfast is because I wanted to get rid of the 1/4 pumpkin left from Pumpkin Risotto. Secondly, I'm getting bored of having the typical breakfast treat: pancake, muffin, scones, french toast... you know the drill. So I decided to make my own oatmeal, and add flaxseed to it. Flaxseed is obviously optional in this recipe. But it's so good for you there really isn't any reason not to include it.

Enough of flaxseed.

Not only is this absolutely delicious, and provides all sorts of great nutrients to begin the day, but it’s a snap to throw together. Seriously!

For instance, I mixed up all the ingredients and pop the ramekins in the oven, started to prepare omelet, added the nutty topping after 10 minutes, began cooking omelet and smoothie, finished everything in 7 minutes and there! A wonderfully-smelling kitchen and Voila! A simple, satisfying, and oh-so-delicious breakfast is served. :)

You may top it with a splash of milk and raisin. I had mine with mixed berries smoothie.

Ingredients:

(serves 2)

• 1/2 cup old fashioned oats
  
• 1/2 Tbsp. whole flax seeds
  
• 1 1/4 Tbsp. brown sugar, packed
• 1/4 tsp. cinnamon
• 1/8 tsp. allspice
• 1/8 tsp. nutmeg
• 1/4 tsp. lemon zest
• 1/8 tsp. salt
• 1/4 tsp. vanilla
• 1/4 Tbsp coconut oil
  
• 1/2 cup pumpkin puree (about 1/4 pumpkin)
  
• 1/2 cup milk

Topping:

• 2 Tbsp pecans, chopped
• 1/2 Tbsp. coconut oil
  
• 1/2 Tbsp. brown sugar

1. Preheat oven to 175C. Grease 2 individual-sized ramekins. Set aside.
2. Combine the first eight ingredients (oat through to salt) in a medium-sized bowl. Stir well.
   
3. In a separate bowl, combine vanilla, coconut oil, pumpkin, and milk. Whisk thoroughly. Pour the pumpkin mixture into the oats, and stir until combined.
4. Divide mixture evenly between 2 ramekins. Bake at 175 degrees for 10 minutes.
5. Meanwhile, combine the ingredients for the topping: chopped pecans, coconut oil, and brown sugar. After the oatmeal has baked for 10 minutes, remove and divide topping mixture evenly between the ramekins. Bake an additional 7 minutes.
   
6. Cool for 5 minutes before serving.
   

Spicy Broccoli Mango Salad

I wish I have better description for this salad: It's a perfect blend of smooth and sweet from the dressing and mangoes, crunch from the broccoli and a little heat from the sweet-hot pecans.
When I saw the fresh peaches, I simply couldn't resist its succulence. I figured given the similar texture and sweet-tartness, peaches should work just as good as mangoes would in this salad. I'm glad I was right.

I also sprinkled the salad with more ground red pepper just to spice things up. Adrian and I give this dish a two-thumb up :) Try it with the Tofu Steak!

Ingredients:
(serves 3 cups)

SWEET-HOT PECANS:
2 teaspoon sugar
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1/4 cup pecan, coarsely chopped

DRESSING:
6oz natural passion fruit yogurt
1/6 cup mayonnaise
1/1 Tablespoon apple cider vinegar
pinch of salt

SALAD:
2 1/2 cup fresh broccoli florets and cut up stems
1 medium mango, peeled and diced
1 tablespoon red onion, finely chopped.

1. Lightly oil a skillet. Add sugar and red pepper; mix well. Stir in pecans. Cook over low heat, stirring occasionally, until sugar mixture is melted and pecans are coated. Remove from heat; set aside on a plate to cool.
2. In a small bowl, mix all dressing ingredients with a wire whisk until smooth.
3. In a large bowl, combine all salad ingredients.
4. Add dressing to salad; toss gently to mix. Store in the refrigerator and sprinkle in hot pecan just before serving.
   

Camembert and Blue Cheese Turnover

I'm going to be teaching Yoga at Cocoa Island in Maldives for the month of July and August. That's a total of 7 weeks away from my husband. Big Deal! What's he going to do with food? I've got to make sure there's 'something' in the fridge for him. Here's two easy to make sweet turnovers. They are perfect for breakfast with a cup of espresso (Adrian's take).
Despite the incessant assurance and encouragement from Divya (my Canadian Indian neighbour), I'm still hesitant about making my own dough. Hence, I took the easy way buying the ready made puff pastry from the store. I have to say they are really good. I just don't like waiting to defrost.

Sweet Baked Camembert
Ingredients:
Puff pastry sheet
Homemade raspberry jam
Dried cranberry
Almond slivers
Camembert
Maple syrup
Ground cinnamon

1. Prepare puff pastry sheet as instructed. I divided one sheet into four quarters and used a quarter of a round camembert for each quarter of the pastry sheet.
2. Sprinkle each quarter with dried cranberry (or raisins) and a couple tablespoons of raspberry jam. Top with slivers of almond.
3. Fold the pastry into desired shape. If you are not baking them yet, wrap each pastry with plastic or cling film and store in zip lock bag in the freezer.
4. To serve, preheat oven to 180C. Defrost the pastry at room temperature.
5. Make a few small holes on the pastry using a fork. Drizzle the top with maple syrup and sprinkle with ground cinnamon.
6. Bake in preheated oven for 15 - 20 minutes until golden brown. Let cool slightly before serving.

It's the same steps for the blue cheese turnover except it's paired with chopped pecan and dried figs.

Sweet Baked Blue Cheese
Ingredients
Puff pastry sheet
blue cheese
chopped pecan nuts (or walnuts)
4 Dried Figs, quartered
Maple syrup
Ground cinnamon