Chestnut Baklava Recipe (+Giveaway)

Have you ever had trouble serving baklava? It gets sticky, messy and difficult to handle. I found a solution by using shredded phyllo dough instead of sheets of phyllo dough and baking it in individual molds. They tend to trap the syrupy goodness in their web instead of getting soaked and sticky. Since it's the holidays, I wanted to add the flavor of Christmas to the baklava, so I added chestnuts. I layered both chestnut purée and roasted chestnuts into the baklava, along with crushed pistachios for color and flavor. I also substituted date syrup for honey, which added a depth of flavor and a strong contrast of color.

If you're looking for a dessert recipe for the holidays that's easy to make but looks elegant, consider baklava. It's an easy, stress-free dessert that is sure to please everyone.

I used pure, organic date syrup from Organics Are For Everyone. If you've never tried date syrup before, you're in for a treat. You can use it in place of just about any syrup. Date syrup has a mild tanginess to it that balances the sweetness. I especially like it on waffles, pancakes and French toast. For a chance to win two jars of date syrup from Organics Are For Everyone, enter today's 25 Days of Giveaways contest. And if you're interested in making this recipe today, you can get a 20% discount from Organics Are For Everyone by using the "FATALE" promo code (good till 12/21).

Make sure you're a fan of PhamFatale Facebook fan page and Organics Are For Everyone, or follow @Phamfatalecom and tweet about this giveaway. To make it easy, you can just copy and paste this tweet if you’d like: "2 jars of Organics Are For Everyone pure date syrup #Giveaway from @Phamfatalecom and @DateSyrupRocks: http://bit.ly/sp4V7y"

Pistachio Dessert: Pistachio Creme Brulee Recipe (+Giveaway)

If you've been following my culinary adventures, you've probably noticed how much I love pistachios! Daddy (my father-in-law) went to visit one of his friends in Sacramento who grows orchards of pistachios. Daddy brought bags filled with fresh pistachios back for me to have fun with. I had never seen or tasted the raw product and it was amazing. The color is richer and greener. Daddy said raw pistachios are very common in India and picking the pistachios brought him back in time. There were so many pistachios that I had to come up with creative ways to make use of them. I immediately thought of making pistachio paste by grinding and blending them raw with a little Bourbon Barrel Vanilla Sugar. I also added pistachio oil to make the paste smooth and creamy because pistachios contain very little natural oil compared to other nuts. I also added a touch of almond extract to give the pistachio paste a nice aroma.

I didn't stop there. I used the paste to flavor a typical French dessert: crème brûlée. I've made crèmes brûlées so many times (lavender, banana, cherry, masala chai, matcha green tea, lemon, chocolate, vanilla, butterscotch, even a savory garlic flavored-one!) that after checking back on PhamFatale.com, I was surprised to see that I never posted this particular version! The pistachios were so fresh that it was almost guaranteed that the crèmes brûlées would be divine. To accentuate the dessert, I used vanilla sugar from Bourbon Barrel in the pistachio paste, the custard mixture and the brûlé part itself. It’s just more evidence that a few exquisite ingredients can transform the simplest foods (eggs, milk, cream and sugar) into something extraordinary.

In addition to tasting incredible, this naturally green-colored dessert can be part of your Halloween table. The kids can have their Snickers and Twix; I’d rather have one (or three) of these pistachio crèmes brûlées!

Baklavash (Baklava Recipe)

After receiving flatbread from California Lavash, I've experimented with a lot of savory dishes, making pinwheel appetizers, sandwich wraps, chicken soup and a goat cheese tart. I decided it was time to also satisfy my family's sweet tooth. I made a baklava-style dessert using lavash bread, hence the name "baklavash"! The preparation is similar to making baklava (also spelled baclava or baklawa), except phyllo dough is replaced with the lavash, which makes the task a lot easier. When working with phyllo, you have to be sure to assemble the dessert pretty fast and keep the unused portion covered with a wet towel at all times as phyllo tends to dry out quickly. With lavash, you can take your time and not worry about this problem.

I filled the layers of lavash with ghee (Indian-style clarified butter), ground cinnamon, blossom honey, walnuts and pistachios (my favorite nut). It’s a stress-free, easy dessert, and I love the convenience of it!

Fig Dessert Cup Recipe

I've recently received feedback about PhamFatale, saying that some of the recipes I post seem too complicated and the instructions can sometimes be a bit intimidating. If that describes you, then you are going to love this recipe. It may look fancy and complex, but it’s actually very simple.

The basics of these cute little desserts are roasted figs in individual baked lavash bread cups. I filled the edible cups with store-bought instant pistachio pudding and sprinkled the top of the fruit with crushed pistachios to repeat the flavor from the filling. I prepared the receptacle for each dessert by molding rounds of lavash bread in the cavity of mini-tart pans. I separately roasted fresh figs from our garden that I drizzled with flavorful maple syrup. Doesn't that sound yummy?



It took me no time to complete this elegant-looking sweet treat. So next time you want to serve dessert, give this recipe a try. If you really want to impress your friends, call it "figues rôties à la pistache". French names make everything sound fancy!

Cantaloupe and Cheese Appetizer Recipe

I love Emmentaler cheese. It has mild, fruity and nutty attributes, which pair incredibly well with fruit. One fruit it particularly works well with is cantaloupe. Since I had both on hand, I caramelized the cantaloupe in a little butter and then alternately skewered it with cubes of Emmentaler on cocktail picks. I finished the cute bites with crushed pistachios.

These cheese appetizers are easy to prepare and get devoured amazingly fast too. They would fit quite well in a buffet style party. Even if you aren’t planning a party, take advantage of the wonderful fruit that's currently in season, because summer won’t be here forever!