BRAZIL..APPLE PUDDING Pudim De Macas

8 large baking apples, cored, peeled, and sliced
1/2 cup finely chopped citron
juice of 1/4 lemon
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 cup raisins
1/2 cup shredded pistachios

Place 5 of the sliced apples in pan with sugar. Cover apples with water and cook until tender. Add raisins, citron, and nuts. Stir. Cover bottom of buttered baking dish with 1/2 remaining raw apple slices. Pour cooked apple over apple slices. Top with remaining apple slices and lemon juice. Serve Hot. 4 servings.

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BRAZIL AVOCADO DESSERT

2 medium avocados, pitted and peeled
3 tablespoons lemon juice
1/4 cup sugar
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup heavy cream, whipped
4 whole fresh strawberries

Place avocados in electric blender with lemon juice, sugar, and salt. Blend for 1/2 minute, or until light and fluffy. Spoon into 4 sherbet glasses. Top each serving with whipped cream and whole fresh strawberry. 4 servings.

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AVACADO WHIP BRAZIL Abacate Batido

Brazil nuts would make a fine garnish for this dish.

1 medium avocado, pitted and peeled
juice of 1 lime
2 tablespoons sugar
1/4 pint vanilla ice cream

Mash avocado. Add lime juice and sugar. Add ice cream. Beat with rotary beater until smooth. Chill. 2 servings Approximately 1 cup.

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BANANA TORTE...BRAZIL...TORTA DE BANANA

1/2 CUP BUTTER
1/2 CUP SUGAR
1 CUP SIFTED FLOUR
1 TEASPOON ACTIVE DRY GRANULAR YEAST

4 BANANAS, PEELED
1/2 CUP SUGAR
1/8 TSP. SALT
1 TABLESPOON BUTTER
2 TABLESPOONS LIME JUICE
1/2 TEASPOON NUTMEG
1 CUP HEAVY CREAM, WHIPPED

Cream butter and 1/2 cup sugar. Add flour sifted with yeast. Empty mixture into 9-inch pie pan. Press into shell shape. Bake at 375 F. for 10 minutes in preheated oven. Press bananas through sieve. Put banana pulp into saucepan with 1/2 cup sugar, salt, and 1 Tablespoon butter. Stir while cooking over medium flame until mixture comes to a boil. Remove from heat. Cool. When mixture is cool to the touch, whip in lime juice and nutmeg. Pour into baked shell. Chill. Top with whipped cream. 9 inch torte.
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BRAZILIAN LACE COOKIES..Biscoito de Renda Brasileira

1 cup brown sugar
2 tablespoons water
1/2 cup butter, melted
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 cup chopped Brazil nuts
1 cup all purpose white flour

Mix sugar and water to make thick paste. Add butter, cinnamon, nuts, and flour. Shape in balls about 1 inch in diameter on baking sheet at least 2 inches apart. Bake for 15 minutes at 325 F. Remove from oven. Let stand for half a minute. Lift from baking sheet with spatula. (If wafers become too hard to take off easily, return to oven for 1 minute and then remove). Yield 5 dozen.

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BRAZIL NUT CRUNCH COOKIES..Biscoito de Castanha do Para

1/2 cup sugar
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups ground Brazil nuts
1 egg white

Add sugar and salt to ground Brazil nuts. Mix well. Beat egg white until stiff. Fold into nut mixture. Drop by level teaspoonfuls on greased baking sheet, 2 inches apart. Flatten by pressing with bottom of glass covered with damp cloth. Bake at 350 F. for 10 minutes. 5 dozen cookies.

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MOCHA BRAZIL NUT ICE CREAM..Gelado al Moca e Castenha do Para

1 envelope unflavored gelatin
1/4 cup cold water
1 cup strong hot coffee
1 square unsweetened chocolate, melted
3/4 cup light brown sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 can (14 1/2 ounces) evaporated milk
1 1/2 cups heavy cream
3/4 cup chopped, roasted Brazil

Soften gelatin in cold water. Dissolve in hot coffee. Add slowly to melted chocolate, blending well. Add brown sugar and salt. Stir until sugar dissolves. Cool.

Add vanilla, evaporated milk, and cream (not whipped). Pour into refrigerator freezing trays. Freeze until consistency of stiff mush. Stir in Brazil nuts. Freeze firm. Garnish with unsalted Brazil nut chips. 8 servings.

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BRAZIL FRIED CREAM..Torrijas de Nata

3 egg yolks, lightly beaten
1 cup heavy cream
1 egg, beaten
butter
powdered sugar
cinnamon

Whip egg yolks into cream until stiff. Spread mixture about 1/2 inch thick in greased pan. Cook slowly over low flame. Remove from heat and cool. Cut in squares and remove with spatula. Brush with beaten egg. Fry in butter. Sprinkle with sugar and cinnamon. Serve hot. 2 servings.

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BRAZIL STEAMED CUSTARD..Pudim

1/4 cup sugar
1 1/3 cups water
3 eggs, beaten
1 can (15 ounces) sweetened condensed milk (NOT evaporated milk)

Melt sugar in skillet, stirring constantly until a light brown syrup forms. Gradually blend in water. Combine condensed milk and eggs. Add to syrup mixture, stirring rapidly. Pour into greased 1 quart mold. cover mold. Place on rack in deep kettle. Add boiling water to 1/2 the depth of mold. Cover kettle. Steam for 40 minutes. Cool before turning out of mold to serve. 6 servings.

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GAUCHA TORTA BRAZIL

1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup sugar
1 cup sifted white flour
1 teaspoon active dry granular yeast
1 can sweetened condensed milk (15 oz)
2 eggs
1/2 cup peach jelly or preserves

Cream butter and sugar.

Add flour sifted with yeast. Empty mixture into 9-inch pie pan. Press into shell shape. Bake at 375 F. for 10 minutes in preheated oven. Combine sweetened condensed milk with eggs. Beat well. Spread peach jelly over bottom of baked shell. Add milk-egg mixture. Bake for additional 25 minutes at 325 F. Cool. 6 to 8 servings.

The Wonderful World of Cooking.
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BRAZIL..BANANA PASTE WITH CHEESE...BANANADA COM QUEIJO

2 1/4 cups granulated sugar
1/2 cup water
3 medium bananas, peeled and sliced
1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
Confectioners' sugar
1 pound Muenster or cream cheese

Mix granulated sugar and water; cook for 5 minutes, or to a thick syrup. Add bananas and cook until glossy. Remove bananas and mash. Continue cooking syrup until it spins a thread. Return mashed bananas to syrup and cook, stirring, about 10 minutes longer, or until thick. Add lemon juice and cook for another 3 minutes. Pour into a serving dish and dust with confectioners' sugar. Serve with slices of cheese followed by strong demitasse (Brazilian cafezinho) Makes 6 to 8 servings.

NOTE: A similar paste is made with guavas and other fruits.

Woman's Day
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Brazil--Nectarine-Apple Tart with Pecans and Pistachios

source--Chef: Vincent Koperski
Restaurant: Mistral Restaurant, Renaissance Hotel
Sao Paulo, Brazil

This creative version of fruit tarts turns everything inside out. Caramelized fruit is mounded in shallow soup plates, then surrounded by a ring of caramel sauce. The crust of the tart is turned into long thin tuiles which are placed on top. Of course there's a scoop of ice cream! Note that the tuiles could make an appearance with many other desserts or as interesting cookies in their own right. By rolling them out on sugar instead of flour, you instantly give them a lovely glaze as they cook.

Makes 4

1 sheet puff pastry dough, thawed
1 cup sugar

Caramel Sauce

1-1/2 cups sugar
1/2 cup water
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 tablespoon salted butter
1 cup heavy (whipping) cream, heated

Caramelized Fruit

4 apples
2 nectarines
1/2 cup sugar
4 tablespoons unsalted butter
8 pecans
100 pistachios, shelled

4 scoops vanilla ice cream

To prepare the pastry: Roll out the pastry dough to press flat, then roll up into a cylinder. Cut into small pieces, like small jelly rolls, cover with a damp cloth, and place in the refrigerator for 1 hour to firm. Preheat the oven to 425 F. Line a baking sheet with a silicone liner or parchment paper. Spread the sugar on a work surface. Roll out the pastry circles on the sugar, creating long oblong tuile cookies, about 3 inches wide, 6 to 8 inches long, very thin. Put on the prepared baking pan and place in the oven for 5 minutes, until the sugar caramelizes and the pastry is golden. Remove and let cool.

To make the caramel sauce: Place the sugar and water in a medium, heavy saucepan or saute pan. Bring to a simmer over medium heat, swirling occasionally. Cook, swirling the syrup in the pan, until the mixture turns golden brown. Remove the pan from heat and stir in the butters with a wooden spoon. Add the cream to the sugar mixture, stirring constantly. Be very careful as the mixture may spatter when the cream is added. Return the pan to low heat and stir constantly until the sauce is smooth. Set aside; keep warm.

To caramelize the fruit: Peel, core, and slice the apples into very thin sections. Cut the nectarines in half, remove the pits, and slice into thin sections. Melt the sugar in a non-stick saute pan or skillet over medium heat and cook until it turns light golden brown. Add the apples and toss them in the melted sugar off the heat until coated. Add the butter and stir together with a wooden spoon until smooth. Cook until the apples are glazed and softened. Add the nectarine slices and gently stir into the mixture. Cook 30 seconds. Add the nuts and stir together. Cook 1 minute. Remove from heat.

To serve: Mound caramelized fruit in the centers of four soup plates. Pour a ring of caramel sauce around the fruit. Stand one tuile in the fruit on each plate At the last minute, add a scoop of vanilla ice cream to each and lay another tuile against the ice cream.