Dessert
Sweet Peanut Balls
Peanut confections like this are popular in Peru and the other Andean countries.
1 pound skinned peanuts, toasted, cooled and finely ground in a food processor
1 cup sugar
1 large egg yolk
2 teaspoons butter
1/4 cup milk
Pinch of salt
Coarse, plain or colored sugar for coating
In a large, heavy saucepan, combine all the ingredients except the coating sugar. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until the mixture pulls away from the side of the pan, about 10 minutes. Transfer to a buttered plate and let cool. Shape into 1-inch balls and roll in coarse sugar. Place in small paper cups and refrigerate in cookie tins for up to a week or in the freezer up to 3 months. Makes about 40 balls.
Source: Adapted from the ‘South American Tables’ by Maria Baez Kijac (Harvard Common Press, 2003).
Per ball: 88 calories (57 percent from fat), 5.9 g fat (0.9 g saturated, 2.8 g monounsaturated), 5.9 mg cholesterol, 3 g protein, 6.9 g carbohydrates, 0.9 g fiber, 4 mg sodium.
If you go
What: Pastry is Art
Address: 12591 Biscayne Blvd. (Keystone Plaza), North Miami
Contact: 954-263-8978, pastryisart.com
Hours: 7 a.m.-7 p.m. Monday-Saturday, 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Sunday
Prices: Sandwiches $4.50-$8.50, pastries $1.25-$2.75, desserts $2.50-$4, cakes $20-$35
FYI: Large decorated cakes start at $250 for butter cream and $350 for fondant.
The name of Jenny Rissone’s North Miami bakery-cafe encapsulates her approach to baking: Pastry is Art. From mini cheesecake balls to layer-cake-size cupcakes, she brings an artist’s eye to her work.
A graduate of Le Cordon Bleu in Lima, the Peruvian-born pastry chef came to Miami for a family reunion 11 years ago, and a year later returned to stay. She worked at a French bakery, then as the pastry chef at Trump International Beach Resort, the Eden Roc and other hotels before starting a wholesale dessert business a year and a half ago.
In December she opened a retail shop in North Miami’s Keystone Plaza, but still supplies hotels and restaurants with pastries and designer desserts. Students from nearby Johnson & Wales work as interns to get experience and academic credit.
The small shop with milk chocolate and vanilla walls and magenta and lime green accents is a great spot for breakfast, lunch or a coffee break.
Sandwiches include Peruvian-style egg salad with avocado and tomato and butifara, which shares its name with a sausage but is made with country ham, red onion and aji amarillo salsa. The signature sandwich combines chicken, brie, caramelized onions, peaches and candied pecans for a sweet and savory taste.
Sweets include Argentine alfajores, Brazilian brigadeiros (truffles made with sweetened condensed milk and cocoa powder), Cuban guava and cheese pastries, Greek baklava, Sicilian cannoli, French eclairs and Mexican wedding cookies.
There are also flourless chocolate cake bites on sticks, rugelach, pistachio strawberry tarts, cherry Danish and cranberry-orange scones as well as mousses and panna cotta. Giant cupcakes filled with chocolate cream make perfect birthday cakes. Treats here are indeed edible art.
Linda Bladholm’s latest book is “Latin and Caribbean Grocery Stores Demystified.”
