Spot Dessert Bar: An Exercise in Gluttony

Smoked coconut cheesecake
I think I have to start this off with a story about my friend B, whose birthday was the cause for this giant sugar glut. B used to sit next to me at work, and I have no doubt I drove him insane for the year or two we sat together, with my constant muttering and cursing. Anyway, one year for his birthday, we decided to mess with his desk--and by mess with his desk, I mean we printed out about 100 pictures of David Hasselhoff and plastered his cubicle with them. Anyway, so I had missed his birthday proper as we were in HK, and we had this conversation when I came back:
Me: So, we should go celebrate your birthday!
B: Yeah, let's go eat dessert.
Me: Just dessert? I mean, we can go to dinner first and then have dessert? Or a drink and then dessert?
B: DESSERT.
Me: Are you sure? Not even a drink?
B: DESSERT.*


White miso semifreddo
Dessert it was! Our original plan was to go to Chikalicious and then to Spot Dessert Bar for a bit of a dessert crawl, but Chikalicious wasn't open the day we were going. In hindsight, this turned out to be a good thing, because I am sure I would have died from sugar overload had we gone to both places! Spot is on St. Marks Pl, an area of the city that I no longer spend much time in, so at first I was just surprised to see all the changes (glad to see Trash and Vaudeville at least is still hanging on, though). Spot is a cute little place, but man, get there early. We did (while everyone was eating dinner, I bet) so didn't have a problem getting a table, but by the time we left there was a line.


Yuzu Eskimo
You can probably tell just from glancing at these photos that we had...a LOT of desserts. There's an "omakase" option on their menu, which apparently is 9 desserts--they have 8 on their menu, so one of the desserts you get two of. We thought with 9 desserts that they would be tasting-size portions, but no! We got 9 full size desserts! Eep! We also foolishly ordered drinks, and before we knew it, the parade of sugary deliciousness started to arrive.


The top photo, the smoked coconut cheesecake was one of my favorites. Above is the green tea tiramisu, which I was quite skeptical about, but turned out to be pretty tasty.


This was one of my favorites in terms of presentation! How cute is this? It's a little flask of Thai tea served with the creme brulee. The creme brulee was a little bit of a let down; too eggy.


Another one of my favorites, although this doesn't seem to be on their website. I think it was a pumpkin spice cake of some kind, and my only regret was that at this point, I was way sugared out.


Sorry for the crap picture here; my hands were having the sugar shakes! We had two of these (B took the other one home, there was no way we were each eating an entire one.) Check out that green tea lava center! We were told that this is one of their most popular desserts, and I can see why.


And finally, a deconstructed soft cheesecake. Then we walked about 40 blocks, which did precisely nothing to assuage my sugar guilt.

Happy birthday, man! This post is dedicated to you. Next year...I expect a giant party. I'll bring the novelty cake.


Spot Dessert Bar
13 St. Marks Pl (between 2nd and 3rd Ave.)
212-677-5670

*This conversation may or may not be a dramatization ;)

Sweet potato glutinous rice balls!

Okay, so the name doesn't exactly roll off the tongue, but fortunately for you, this is easier made than said! One of my friends at work and I periodically trade links to recipes (for instance, I think I talked her into making Portugese egg tarts this weekend...muahaha!) and a little while back, she sent me a link to Christine's Recipes. I don't remember the original recipe she linked to, but I was browsing (it's a great blog!) and came across this post on sweet potato glutinous rice balls. The pictures looked so nice and reminded me of tang yuan (which I love, but have never made myself), so I knew I had to make these.


I decided to make both purple and orange sweet potato versions, since I happened to have stocked up on both. The first step to making these is to cook your potatoes; steaming is called for in the original recipe, but I baked mine, and it worked out fine. I wouldn't boil them, though! The ratio is 1 part glutinous rice flour to 2 parts of sweet potato, although of course, you will adjust based on how moist your potatoes are. I had to add a bit of water to the purple version, because they are much drier in texture than the orange sweet potatoes. You want a pliable, slightly moist, but not sticky dough. It actually feels a bit like playdough to me!


Pinch off a piece, approximately ping pong ball sized, and roll into a smooth ball. Then take your thumb and make a well; be careful not to go all the way through.


Fill with a chunk of palm sugar. Or, if you are like me and were too lazy to go to Chinatown to buy palm sugar, fill with some dark brown sugar. Pinch to seal, and then roll between your palms to make a nice smooth ball. Repeat with the remaining dough.


See? Nice and neat :D These are now ready to be cooked. Simply bring a large pot of water to the boil, and then drop the balls in gently. Stir immediately so that they don't stick to the bottom of the pot, as they'll sink. (And don't crowd the pan!) Boil until they float; they will also swell somewhat, especially if you cover the pan. After they float, cook them for another 2-3 minutes, and then scoop out with a slotted spoon. Let drain for a minute and then keep the cooked balls on a lightly greased plate until they're all done.


Just before serving, roll each ball in some shredded coconut. You could also serve these as tang yuan, in a ginger syrup. That would probably be pretty delicious, too (and I'll probably do that with the leftovers!) These should be served still warm, so that when you bite into them you'll get a delicious explosion of liquid sweetness. Mmm, sweet explosions.


Aren't they pretty? :) Happy Saturday!

Watermelon Granita

A couple of weeks ago in the midst of the heat wave (oh it was so hot), I was holed up in my bedroom, sitting on top of the air conditioner, reading foodblogs for ideas for icy treats. And, like a bolt from the sky, I saw this post from Petra of Zoom Yummy. (Have you seen her blog? It keeps me giggling constantly. And hungry.) Granita! Brilliant idea! Cold, sweet, delicious, none of the guilt associated with ice cream--I was sold.

I also had no oranges. SOB.

But, according to an old work evaluation form that I found the other day, I am able to adapt in tricky situations. Surely you will agree with me that this was a tricky situation!

Oh have I mentioned the fact that I've had an unbroken supply of watermelon in the fridge? And that I was starting to get tired (blasphemy!) of watermelon juice? What better way to revive my love affair with watermelon than to turn it into a delicious, sparkly, icy, pink granita!

No need for a recipe. Blend yourself some watermelon chunks. Pour into a shallow container (watermelon juice is so sweet you won't need to add any sugar or syrup, but you may want to try a little lemon zest or juice for zing!). Stick in freezer. Stir every hour or two to break up the ice crystals. It'll start getting slushy, then more granular, and finally, you'll have a container of granita. Scoop or scrape into a bowl, and eat. Or directly into your mouth. Either way, mmmmm. Nothing better on a hot summer day.

Another Classic: Almond Tofu

Here's another Tofugirl family classic--almond tofu or xingren dofu (also known in Japan as annin dofu). This is one of the easiest desserts to whip up, but it is so perfect for summer--so refreshing and light, yet indulgent all at the same time. My mom would always make up a giant pot of this and just keep it in the fridge so that we could all help ourselves whenever we wanted some (which, in my case at least, was all the time). Tofu is a bit of a misnomer, actually, since this is really more like almond gelatin--no tofu involved. We always had it with canned fruit cocktail, which I still kind of love (although I still pick out all the horribly colored cherries) but I decided to jazz this one up a bit by using a fresh fruit salad steeped in ginger syrup. I know the weather is starting to cool off in NYC at least, but we've still got a couple of weeks of warm(ish) weather left--so go on, have a bowl of this and relive your summer memories.


Since this is comprised of milk, some sugar, and fruit, I consider this darn near a health food--so enjoy, guilt free!

Almond Tofu
Makes about 8 servings

For the tofu:
2 packets unflavored gelatin
1/2 to 3/4 cup sugar
1 1/2 cups boiling water
2 1/2 cups whole milk
1 1/2 teaspoons pure almond extract

For the fruit salad:
1/2 cup sugar
1 cup water
a slice of fresh ginger, crushed
assorted fruits (I used grapes, a nectarine, and a plum)

Combine the gelatin with the sugar; use the larger amount if you have a serious sweet tooth, but keep in mind that you are going to be serving this with a sweet syrup and sweet fruit. Pour the boiling water over the sugar and gelatin and stir until everything is completely dissolved. It's much harder to dissolve sugar once you add the cold milk, so try to get it all now. Add the milk and almond extract and stir. Give it a taste, and if you think it needs more sugar or almond flavor, correct it (if you think you need more sugar, I recommend using sugar syrup rather than straight up granulated sugar). Pour into a shallow pan (I used a 9" round pan which gave me a layer about 2" high, but you can use any shallowish pan), cover, and refrigerate until set, usually about 4 hours or so.

While that's setting, you can make your ginger syrup, which is so simple that all you do is dump your sugar, water and ginger slice in a small saucepan and bring to a boil. Stir to dissolve the sugar, and let simmer for another 2 or 3 minutes. Remove from the heat and let cool. Store in the fridge (with ginger slice) until you are ready to serve. When that time comes, cut your fruit into small bits--in my case, I thinly sliced a nectarine, cubed a plum, and thinly sliced some red grapes--and toss in the syrup.

To serve, cut your tofu into diamonds; the size isn't super important, you just want to break it up a bit. Spoon a few pieces of tofu into a small bowl and pour a couple of spoonfuls of syrup and fruit over the top.