Top o’ the morning to ya!
Were you mint-ed out with all the St. Patrick’s Day Recipes?
Hope not, because I have one more to share!
Yesterday’s special dessert: a fudge-mint parfait. (Yes, today is St. Patrick’s Day, but I had to make it early so I could blog about it before St. Paddy’s Day is over!)
Vegan cream, spelt flakes, and Chocolate-Fudge Frosting.
Like St. Patrick’s Day in a parfait glass.
(St. Patrick’s Day goes French??)
Soy-Free Peppermint Cream
(Makes 1 1/2 cups: one Katie-sized serving!)
- 5 tiny drops pure peppermint extract
- sweetener of choice
- 1/16th tsp salt
- scant 2 1/2 T water (20g)
- 1/2 serving agar base (recipe linked below)
- 3 drops coconut extract (Optional, but highly recommended)
- Optional (for green hue) handful spinach (I used frozen) (You could use green food coloring. Or opt to keep the cream white, like candy-cane cream!)
Instructions: First, make up the agar base. When the base is cooled, put half of it in a blender (or Magic Bullet) with all the other ingredients and blend away. Whip very well. I like to put it in the freezer for a few minutes prior to eating, so it’s super-cold.
See original whipped-cream post for Nutrition Facts.
I’m really lovin’ this holiday-parfait thing. Other holiday parfaits so far:
I’m thinking, for Easter, a carrot-cake parfait is a must. Carrots, raisins, walnuts… delicious ideas are already spinning. (Oh, and in case you were wondering, I totally upped the saturation of that green cream. It did not look as pretty when I ate it!)
When you eat:
What’s most important: looks or taste?
Do you like to make your meals look pretty, using fancy plates and garnishes? Or do you just throw things together and not care about the appearance, as long as it tastes yummy? I do a little of both. Sometimes, I’m in the mood to be fancy-schmancy. But at other times–especially when I’m in a rush–prettiness just goes out the window.
Same if I’m eating a food that can’t look pretty, like my No-Cream Cream of Broccoli Soup.
Taste is definitely the most important. Sometimes the ugliest things taste the best! It’s our taste buds, not our eyes that will be ulitimately be experiencing the food anyway.
HAPPY ST PATRICK’S DAY my lovely Irish friend!! You are a genius and that parfait looks to DIE for!! My food is ugly most of the time, but adding chocolate chips beautifies anything in my opinion!! 😛
And although I haven’t had time to make anything green, I am celebrating still!! I’m eating broccoli right now and am having your naughty girl fudge for dessert!! That fits cos YOU are Irish so it counts, right? 😉
Chocolate fuge cake ALWAYS counts. I don’t care what flavor it is. It counts! But gosh, girl, we should’ve made mint chocolate fudge, huh? 😉
I totally WOULD have done but I have no peppermint extract!! 🙁 I need some STAT!!
Oh yes you do! I wish I could personally deliver you some. Hey, maybe some day I will! 😉
Yum, I love parfaits and I love mint in mine!
Taste is definitely more important, but I still like my meals to look somewhat presentable! If they don’t, they tend to look unappetizing to me. And If I’m serving others, I definitely like my food to look pretty!
I love your creativity Katie!
taste matters more. some of the best dishes i eat look like a bowl full of ugliness but oh so tasty.
I always prefer my food to be appealing to the eye, but lets face it…some things just look nasty! I.e. Indian curry…you get the idea. I’m actually writing for work an article on how chemo patients can increase their intake when food has lost its appeal, and one of the suggestions is to go for visually appealing food. It really is amazing what a difference yummy *looks* matter to appetite!
I think I put equal emphasis on looks and taste–as a foodie, I obviously want it to taste heavenly, but the artistic side of me also likes to make it pretty:)
I used to make the agar base all the time just to have on hand, but it’s been forever! I love it mixed with rice and cinnamon for rice pudding!
I am so taste over looks. Like, the best cupcakes are always the simple, homemade ones. The over the top extravagant ones from the stores never taste as good!
i always eat with my eyes first 🙂