Lifespan of a Chennette

You may recall that in my recent post, Ode to the Bread Van, I rambled on, reminiscing about all the goodies that were to be had from Trini bakeries and bread vans. With nary a picture to illustrate. Especially unfortunate for those who may not have known some of the goodies I mentioned. This post will rectify this situation (mostly, I am still looking for a madeleine!). Text in quotes is me copying from the last post…no need to try to come up with new words, right?

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The featured item in the last post, the Biscuit Cake is up there at the top. And to your right, you can see the insides of this cake/biscuit/cookie. I did not get a chance to make it (from this recipe posted at Celnet.org.uk) over the past weekend, but I did enjoy this one from a neighbourhood bakery. “Biscuit cake is so named, possibly because it is shaped like a big biscuit (American terminology=cookie). While it may appear firm and hard on the outside, it should have a softness to the bite with a milky mild sweetness, and appears almost unleavened? Of course those dryness-czars have attacked this delicacy as well and many bakeries had versions that were dry and tough and unappealing unless dunked in tea.”

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Jam Tarts

“flaky layered pastry, twisted into a big triangle, with bright red jam of unknown (to me) origins, warm so that the jam oozed out when you bit into it, with the top of the pastry glistening with its light layer of crystallized sugar. The pastry would be so good, you’d eat the dry ends even if they didn’t have a speck of jam!”

Sadly, this is NOT a traditional jam tart, which uses FLAKY pastry. I gather that more and more places are making them like shown in the photo, with PUFF pastry. Sigh. Same jam filling I remember, but why mess with the pastry??

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Currants Roll

“this is a Trini classic – similar flaky pastry as the jam tart, but rolled out and sprinkled with currants and sugar and rolled up, baked and sliced diagonally creating that recognisable shape with layers of pastry and currants rolled around inside.”

This is not the greatest currants roll example. I will replace it with another when I get to another bakery! Too few currants and not quite enough layers. But still, decent pastry.

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(Coconut) Rock Bun

“This is like a drop bun, with coconut flavour, and the “rock” really refers to the rough hard exterior – the inside should still be soft. It’s scone like, not rolled out smooth, but dropped onto the baking sheet, so it looks like a rock I suppose. I used to eat all around the outsides before the middle – the hard outsides were my favourite part.”

Cynthia posted a recipe this past Saturday, for Fruit Rock Bun, which you can try out as a variant of the rock bun. The recipe linked to before is Trinigourmet’s.

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Coconut Turnovers

These were not in my post, but aka_lol mentioned them, reminding me that they are “the bread and butter” of bakeries (his pun).

These are lovely yeasty soft, slightly sweet and spiced bun dough rolled around a sweet and spiced coconut filling. The Guyanese have their solara, we (and the Bajans) have these turnovers. And as for buns and hot cross buns, check out Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner and Punch and Tastes Like Home.

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Cassava Pone

This wasn’t in my original post. I think largely because as a child I did not like pone. The squishy texture, spicing etc, were not appealing to me. Now, however, I love it. When it’s done right of course. Moist and sweet, with spices and a slight crunch of coconut. That’s the way I like it. I don’t mind if it is cassava pone, or pumpkin, or sweet potato or a mixture. Just get the right balance of sweet and spice with the perfect moist-with-a-bite texture and I can enjoy.

Recipes on Trinigourmet and Simply Trini Cooking.

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The photos I took this weekend of the bakery haul are all in one set on my Flickr.