I am not a baker and never will be one, as I am missing the ‘Perfectionist’ gene. I mean, I do on rare occasions stick things in the oven that do not involve careful measuring. I generally don’t stock eggs so basically it is mostly savory dishes or the occasional birthday cake that I bake. You are probably thinking it should bode well for our waist lines but no, it hasn’t worked out that way!
I do experiment a lot with buttermilk and yogurt as substitutes for eggs. See here for my eggless spinach pancake recipe. Last couple of weeks I have been working with strained yogurt in baking. I developed a super simple recipe and it has passed the taste test of a bunch of kids who stayed over after a Harry Potter movie viewing this past weekend.
For the Pomegranate Yogurt Custard/Pudding
1/4 cup strained yogurt + 2 tablespoons {Fage 2%, you can use homemade strained yogurt or Labneh}
1/4 cup sweetened condensed milk
2 tablespoons of pomegranate juice {I used freshly squeezed}
2 tablespoons pomegranate seeds
Preparation
Preheat oven to 350
Line a mini muffin pan with cup cake liners.
Keep an oven proof glass baking dish larger than the muffin pan ready.
Whisk the first three ingredients thoroughly to blend. Then add the seeds. Pour a tablespoon and a half of the mixture in each of the cupcake liners. Place the muffin pan in the baking dish. Pour water in the baking dish such that water comes up to less than half way up to the muffin pan.
Place the baking dish in the oven and bake for 30 minutes. Remove from oven. The custard/pudding will begin to get firm. Gently remove the pudding cups from the muffin pan and place on a tray and allow to cool. Refrigerate it for at least three hours. The pudding will have firmed up. Serve as is or peel the liner off very gently and plate it. Decorate with pomegranate seeds if you wish. These taste like little cheesecake bites and you’ll never know it is eggless or made from yogurt.
Sending this off to Monthly Mingle “Fruit in Baking’ Event hosted by baker extraordinaire Deeba of Passionate about baking.
Another variation of my yogurt pudding, Maple infused with a walnut, maple sauce. Just substituted maple syrup for the pom juice.
Food Notes
- If there is too much water in the yogurt {not strained enough} you might see clear liquid pooling around the yogurt bites. Just move the pieces onto another plate. Fresh pom juice being very thin, dilutes this recipe, so you might see some pooling around this recipe too. With the maple pudding I didn’t see any, probably because the syrup is not as runny.
- You can also bake these directly in ramekins and serve it chilled.
Thanks for dropping by.
Best, S.
16 comments
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November 24, 2010 at 4:39 am
Deeba @ PAB
Absolutely gorgeous Sandhya. these are stunning. Who would have thought you could bake an eggless custard so well. I ♥ them, and am so glad you brought them to the Mingle. Thank you! I love both flavours.
November 25, 2010 at 9:07 am
Raj
good work sandhya. got the link from usha mami. you write well, and your recipes and photos are ‘drooling’. keep it up.
Raj
November 25, 2010 at 9:28 am
vegetarianirvana
First family member comment! Thanks, Raj. Always good to have Usha in your corner!
November 25, 2010 at 10:47 am
tasteofbeirut
I make custards with labneh, as it is common to do so in lebanon; however, I have never baked with labneh (although I thought about it the other day); thanks to you, I know it is possible, and love the result!
One question: is the concentrated milk sweetened?
November 25, 2010 at 11:53 am
vegetarianirvana
I was happily surprised, thought the yogurt would ‘split’. It was creamy and exactly like a creamy cheese cake filling. I used sweetened condensed milk[ Eagle Brand]. I tried the recipe with fat free sweetened condensed milk also. It turned out very similar in taste but less rich. I might try pom molasses next time instead of fresh pom juice. If you attempt these, let me know how it turned out.
November 25, 2010 at 10:55 pm
Nachiketa
That’s so innovative…. must try baking with this….
Lovely pictures…
Cheers,
The Variable, Crazy Over Desserts – Nachiketa
Catch me on facebook @ Crazy Over Desserts
November 26, 2010 at 7:28 am
vegetarianirvana
Hi N,
Welcome to my blog.
November 26, 2010 at 4:19 am
Sally
These are gorgeous and cooking with pomegranates…would never have considered it until I visited your site. Thanks
November 26, 2010 at 7:12 am
vegetarianirvana
Hi Sally, Thanks for dropping by. It is so wonderful to meet new peolpe through blogs.
November 26, 2010 at 1:55 pm
Sasa
Pomegranates are so jewel like and pretty but I never can think of what I want to use them for, this looks lovely and so festive too…
November 28, 2010 at 10:35 am
Happy Cook
Thankyou for visitng my place and adding a comment 🙂
I love creamy desserts and this with youghurt looks healthy and delicious.
Was reading you earliers few posts you mean your family didin’t know you had a blog.
November 28, 2010 at 11:07 am
vegetarianirvana
That’s right! I just wanted to see if it was something I wanted to do long term and didn’t want my family, especially my kids get very excited. Thank god that phase is over, it was so hard to hold things down with one hand and photograph with the other while precariously perched to get the right shot!
November 28, 2010 at 11:00 pm
Sowmya
Hi Sandhya,
The pudding looks so melt-in-the-mouth and the recipe is unique! Thanks for sharing!
Cheers,
Sowmya.
November 29, 2010 at 3:33 pm
Ananda Rajashekar
oh love the colour luks brilliant 🙂
November 30, 2010 at 7:46 am
shaz
Hello Sandhya, lovely to meet you! What gorgeous puddings. I’ve been meaning to try hung yoghurt for a while now, this has definitely given me incentive 🙂
December 25, 2010 at 12:55 am
Maris (In Good Taste)
These look delicious! I love the colors, too. Beautiful photos!