Bonet is a chocolate pudding similar to a crème caramel, typical of the Piedmont and Valle D’Aosta regions (North West of Italy). The classic version comprises of cocoa, amaretto biscuits and rum.
My Tumeric and Ginger Bonet was my entry for a contest held by Giallozafferano (Italy’s most famous food hub), and Italian blood donor association AVIS.
The contest
The contest was part of an awareness campaign for blood plasma donation, and the theme was the color yellow. So any course, any ingredient, as long as the color yellow was predominant in the photo.
I love participating in contests where there are specific themes or ingredients.
But in this case I had more room for creativity. I opted for amaretto biscuits with ginger, a combination is quite common in gelato.
From the amaretto I had the idea of the bonet which, in the original version as I mentioned earlier, is a chocolate pudding with eggs, caramel and amaretto biscuits.
I ruled out chocolate as the color yellow was the priority.
The problem then became balancing out all the flavors, especially the amaretto and caramel. I had to do a few tries with amaretto before getting somewhere decent. As far as caramel is concerned I decided to use it as a sauce, and not to use it in the molds like a normal bonet. That way the caramel tended to top everything else. The tumeric was mainly to give that lively yellow color. I believe the result is pleasant to the eyes and gratifying to eat, as ginger makes this dessert nice and fresh.
The bonet can be garnished either with caramelized almonds or crumbled amaretto.
I will keep on participating to these contest just for fun. These contest are a bit like my running races: every Sunday I run one but never win.
Beauty is not in the destination, but in the journey. Or something along those lines 🙂
Tumeric and Ginger Bonet (Italian Pudding)
Ingredients
For the caramel sauce:
- 150 g sugar 5.3 oz
- 60 g water 2.1 oz
- 60 g boiling water to add to the caramel 2.1 oz
For the bonet (pudding):
- 500 g milk 18 oz
- 80 g sugar 2.8 oz
- 4 eggs
- 40 g amaretto biscuits 1.4 oz
- 2 tbsp rum or brandy
- fresh ginger a piece of 3 cm/1.2 in
- 1 tsp of tumeric powder
For the caramel almond crumble:
- 150 g almonds peeled (5.3 oz)
- 150 g sugar 5.3 oz
- 1 tbsp water
or alernatively:
- coarsely crumbled amaretto
Instructions
For the caramel sauce:
- In a heavy bottom small pot cook the sugar with 60 g (2.1 oz) of water at medium heat. When the caramel becomes golden add 60 g (2.1 oz) of boiling water. Careful! Caramel gets very hot so pay extra attention when pouring the boiling water.
- Mix with a silicon spatula and then filter the caramel through a strainer and transfer to another bowl.
For the bonet:
- Bring the milk to boil. Turn off the heat and add the grated ginger, crumbled amaretto and the tumeric.
- Stir and leave to rest for 10 minutes.
- Mix with an immersion blender. Filter through a strainer and leave to cool off.
- Put to boil 1.5 l of water (50 oz). Pre-heat the oven at 160°.
- Crack open the eggs in a big bowl and add the sugar. Mix with a whisk but without whipping.
- Add liquor and milk, then mix. Pour the mixture in 6 aluminum disposable cups.
- Line a high edge baking tin with baking paper. Put the aluminum cups in the tin and fill it with the boiling water. Water should reach half of the cups.
- Cook in water bath in the pre-heated oven at 160° C (320° F) for 35-40 minutes. To check if they are read use a toothpick: insert the toothpick and if it comes out dry-ish they are ready.
- Let them cool off before transferring them in the fridge. Refrigerate for ate least 3 hours.
- Remove the bonets from the cups with the help of a knife, transfer directly on the serving plate.
- Garnish with the caramel sauce and the caramelized almond crumble (or alternatively with crushed amaretto).
For the almond crumble:
- In a heavy bottom pot put the sugar and 1 tbsp of water. Put on low heat while turning with a wooden spoon.
- Add the almonds (whole) and keep mixing with the wooden spoon until the caramel will be amber colored.
- Distribute the almond on a surface covered with baking paper and let them cool off.
- Once cold chop them in the mixer or more coarsely with a knife.
- Garnish as desired.