Monday, March 30, 2009

Creamy wheat berry and honey dessert

**This is not a gluten-free recipe and was posted before I eliminated gluten from my diet.**

Creamy wheat berry and honey dessert, adapted from Lorna Sass's Whole Grains Every Day, Every Way
While flipping through Lorna Sass's whole grains book, I came across another great dessert. I loved her bulgur pudding that I made, so I knew that this would be good. And, I had some milk that I needed to use, so this seemed like the perfect opportunity to try this out.

Creamy wheat berry and honey dessert (adapted from "Whole Grains Every Day, Every Way" by Lorna Sass)

1 1/2 cups milk (whole or 2%)
1 Tbsp honey
1 1/2 cups cooked wheat berries (see below)
pinch of salt
generous pinch of cinnamon
2 Tbsp currants (or raisins or chopped dates)

Stir milk and honey together in small saucepan and bring to a boil. Stir in wheat berries, salt, and cinnamon. Return to a boil, reduce heat slightly, and let simmer for 30 min, stirring occasionally. Discard the skin that forms at the top and add currants. Continue to simmer until the mixture gets really thick (about 10 min). Serves 3.

To cook wheat berries, combine 2/3 cup wheat berries and 3 cups water in pot and bring to a b
oil. Reduce heat, cover, and simmer until wheat berries are tender (about an hour). Drain wheat berries. You can store them in the refrigerator for a few days, or the freezer for a few months.

This was very similar to the bulgur pudding, and every bit as delicious. The main difference is the texture because the berries retain their chewiness while the bulgur gets extremely soft. I love both varieties, though. I'm still crazy about wheat berries, kamut, bulgur, and every other variation of wheat that I can get my hands on. Mom told me that the bulgur pudding was one of the weirder things that I've made, but both were incredibly sweet (I promise!) and very similar to rice pudding. I'm looking forward to trying one out on her to see what she thinks. I could eat this all day, except for the fact that it's extremely filling.

Jihva for Ingredients - wheat
This was so delicious, that I have to submit it to the Jihva for Ingredients blogging event because this month's theme is wheat. I have to celebrate and share one of my favorite grains! This month JFI is hosted by Roma at Roma's Space, and I'm excited to participate!

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Wow! Looks perfect. Thanks a lot for sending this creamy dessert to the JFI-wheat event.

Rajee said...

So new to me. Looks delicous. I've to try it. Glad to see u here when u participate wheat event.

Katie said...

Rajee - it was new idea for me too, and I'm very glad that I tried it out!