Chilled Zabaglione (Bill Granger) with Savoiardi Biscuits

We are not having eggnog this Christmas... Instead, we are having chilled zabaglione served with Savoiardi biscuits! - Both are nice, light and airy treats. Together, they are perfect for our summery Christmas!

Zabaglione is an Italian dessert or sweet beverage, made with egg yolks, sugar, and a sweet wine, usually Marsala wine. Zabaglione, being the dessert version is typically very light, whipped to incorporate a large amount of air.

Accordingly to Wikipedia, this Italian dessert is in fact very popular in many countries. In US, zabaglione is usually served in a champagne glass with fruits such as strawberries, blueberries, and peaches. Zabaglione is also known as sabayon in France, sambayón in Argentina and Uruguay, sabajón in Colombia and sambayón in Venezuela.

Why is zabaglione such a popular dessert around the world? Simply because it tastes really light, creamy and good!!!

In Venezuela, there is also a related egg-based dessert drink called ponche crema which is consumed mostly exclusively at Christmas time. Adapting this similar idea, I love having zabaglione for our Christmas too.

Having a high amount of Marsala wine in each serve of dessert, I wouldn't recommend serving this dessert little kids. I can substitute Marsala with juice but zabaglione without Marsala are simply NOT REAL!!! 

Boy, tasting itsy bitsy tiny bit of zabaglione: This custard is yummy! Can I have more, please?
Mum, feeling extremely guilty: Only if you are older... eeer... Have more sponge biscuits!

Sorry son! All I can allow is to give you just a lick of a spoon - Ops!

Chilled Zabaglione with Savoiardi Biscuits - Perfect for our summery Christmas :)

The ingredients to make zabaglione

whisk and microwave, whisk and microwave, whisk and microwave...

... and serve after well-chilled

Making the Savoiardi biscuits

The sponge biscuits after baking ...

They are good being spoons to scoop and eat zabaglione...

Good too being on its own... Son, these sponge biscuits are for you :p

Before proceeding on to the recipes, you might ask why am I baking the Savoiardi biscuits using this All Recipes.com recipe. To be honest, I didn't really plan ahead to bake these Savoiardi biscuits and used this recipe as it is an obvious highly-rated recipe that I can find with the help of Googling. Thanks Google and All Recipes! These Savoiardi biscuits are fantastic!

Here are the recipes
(with my modification and notes in blue)

Chilled Zabaglione from the books, Best of Bill by Bill Granger 

Serves 4
6 egg yolks
80 g caster (superfine) sugar
(reduced to 20g for 1/3 of the recipe)
185 ml Marsala
finely grated zest of 1 lemon
1/2 tsp natural vanilla extract
(replaced with vanilla paste)
185 ml cream, lightly whipped

To serve with savoiardi (lady fingers) biscuits

Whisk the egg yolks, sugar, Marsala, lemon zest and vanilla in a heatproof bowl over a saucepan of simmering water for about 5-6 mins, or until the mixture is light and frothy. - I did that with lots of whisking and microwaving mixture with short bursts of medium-low power. Remove from the heat and allow to cool. Fold in the lightly whipped cream, then pour into four glasses or a serving dish. Chill for at least 2 hrs.

Serve with savoiardi biscuits, if you wish.

Note: Using 1/3 of the recipe, I made 2 serves of chilled zabaglione filling half of 2 small drinking glasses.

Savoiardi biscuits from All Recipes.com

4 eggs
2/3 cup white sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/8 tsp salt
3/4 cup all-purpose flour

Preheat oven to 375°F (190°C or 170°C fan forced). Line baking trays with parchment paper (or silicon mats). Prepare a pastry bag with a size 6 tip (1/2 inch) - I used Wilton tip 1A. Separate the eggs. Whisk the egg yolks with 1/2 of the sugar and all of the vanilla. Beat until very light colored. This will take about 5 mins.

In a clean bowl beat the egg whites until they hold soft peaks. While beating, slowly add the salt and the remaining sugar until combined. Gently fold the beaten egg whites into the egg yolk mixture. Sift the flour over the egg mixture and gently fold it in.

Fill the pastry bag with half of the batter and pipe 3 1/2 inch fingers, 1 1/2 inches apart, in rows on the parchment paper. Continue with the second half of the batter in the same manner. - Batter can be quite runny and would require fast piping to get biscuits into good shapes.

Bake at 375°F (190°C or 170°C fan forced) for about 15 mins until firm to the touch and golden. Remove the paper and fingers from the baking sheet and place on racks to cool. After cooling, remove fingers from the paper and use, or store between layers of wax paper in a airtight container. These freeze well.

Note: Using half of the recipe, I made 12 sponge fingers and baked them at 170°C fan forced for 15 mins and at 160°C fan forced for another 10 mins.

Happy Baking

This post is linked to Cook like a Star, organised by me, Bake for Happy Kids, Yen from Eat your heart out and Mich from Piece of Cake. Wanna cook or bake like Bill Granger? To join, simply cook or bake any recipe from here or here or here or his cookbooks and link with us at this Zoe's, this Yen's or this Mich's post for the whole of November and December 2013. 

To use this linky tool, please make sure that: (1) Your post must be a current post. (2) Please mention Cook like a Star in your post and link back to us at Zoe from Bake for Happy Kids, Yen from Eat your heart out and Mich from Piece of Cake. Cheers!

For more details, please see this.

Here are my blogging friends that have joined me cooking for this event. Please visit their blogs for more of their 5-stars cooking.
I am submitting this post to Aspring Baker # 38 - Boozy-licious organised by Jasline, from Foodie Baker.

I am also also submitting this post to Baby Sumo's Christmas Recipes Collection 2013 hosted by Yen from Eat your heart out.

Lassi Kind of Mango Puddings (Bill Granger)

Raise your hands up if you like mangoes!
The hands up me says... Me me me me me me...

Raise your hands up if you like mango pudding!!!
The hands up me says... Me me me me me me me me me me me me me me...

I wish that I have more than a pair of hands to tell you how much I like mango and mango puddings. Seeing lots of mangoes in our local market, I'm thinking and craving a lot for mango puddings.

There are two types of mango puddings that I have made before and they were made with evaporated milk. After seeing Bill Granger's preference of not using evaporated milk in his mango puddings, I'm curious to try his version which is made of yogurt and cream and has a rather lassi-like texture.

After enjoying these puddings, yes that I like to make some little judgement here... and these are the few things that I really like about this recipe:

• The amount of sugar added into these puddings can be adjustable accordingly to the sweetness of the mangoes used. I have reduced the amount of sugar dramatically from 115g to 40g and the sweetness is still good enough for us.
• Instead of using 3 tbsp of natural yogurt and 3 tbsp of cream, I have chosen to use the mid-fat option, Greek yogurt (with 10% fat) and it makes the puddings taste really good!
• Lastly, I would highly recommend the addition of lime juice into mango puddings. Unlike these, the mango puddings that I have made without lime / lemon juice loses their bright yellow glow on the next day. Mainly, I think the reason is because the antioxidants in the citrus juice helps to prevent puréed mangoes from browning.

Bill Granger's Lassi Kind of Mango Puddings

Instead of using cream and low fat yogurt, I'm using this mid-fat option.

Dissolve sugar and gelatine in 1-2 tbsp of boiling water.

Purée two of these Kensington Pride mangoes first

Combine all ingredients and purée until smooth

Pour mixture into four bowls

This is not the jelly-like of puddings... Rather the viscous lassi kind. Nice!

Here's the recipe from the book, Bill's Everyday Asian by Bill Granger
(with my modification and notes in blue)

Serves 4

2 gelatine leaves (4.5g) or 1 1/2 tsp powdered gelatine
(I used gelatine leaves)
3 tbsp cream (replaced with Greek yogurt)
115g caster sugar
375g mango flesh, puréed (about 1-2 mangoes)
(I used Kensington Pride which is the fragrant type with moderate fiber)
3 tbsp natural yoghurt
(I used Greek yogurt and used 6 tbsp in total)
1 1/2 tsp lime juice
1 mango, peeled, stoned and diced

Soak the gelatine leaves in cold water or gradually sprinkle the powder over 1 1/2 tbsp water in a medium-sized bowl.

Place the cream (replaced with 2 tbsp water), sugar and soaked gelatine in a small saucepan over medium heat and stir until the sugar has dissolved. Remove from the heat and allow to cool for 2 mins.

Stir in the mango purée, yoghurt and lime juice and whisk (or gently purée) to combine. Pour the mixture into four 180ml bowls, cover and refrigerate for 4 hrs to set. Serve the individual puddings topped with the diced mango.

Enjoy the treat

This post is linked to Cook like a Star, organised by me, Bake for Happy Kids, Yen from Eat your heart out and Mich from Piece of Cake. Wanna cook or bake like Bill Granger? To join, simply cook or bake any recipe from here or here or here or his cookbooks and link with us at this Zoe's, this Yen's or this Mich's post for the whole of November and December 2013. 

To use this linky tool, please make sure that: (1) Your post must be a current post. (2) Please mention Cook like a Star in your post and link back to us at Zoe from Bake for Happy Kids, Yen from Eat your heart out and Mich from Piece of Cake. Cheers!

For more details, please see this.

Here are my blogging friends that have joined me cooking for this event. Please visit their blogs for more of their 5-stars cooking.
This post is also linked to Cook-Your-Books #7 organised by my baking buddy, Joyce from Kitchen Flavours