It was our first Christmas as cruisers, and it arrived rather unexpectedly. We’d been anchored for a couple of weeks on Picaroon, our Hardin Sea Wolf, at Norman Island in the British Virgin Islands. Without the traditional holiday cues — decorations, holiday parties and snow — we’d hardly noticed it was Christmas Eve when we were invited to join local cruisers for a potluck dinner the next day.

“Make figgy pudding!” insisted Philip, my British husband. Figgy pudding is a fond nickname for what we Americans call plum pudding, and I know of it only from English Christmas carols and holiday stories. I’d obliged and made it for several holidays running, but now lacked key ingredients on the boat. Then it struck me: Plum pudding is pretty much a denser, richer version of Caribbean black cake, also traditionally served at Christmas. With a recipe for neither, and no Internet access, I decided to improvise. And use lots of rum, just in case.

The final result was still warm when we dinghied over to Willie T’s bar for the cruisers’ Christmas potluck. It was such a hit, even the bar’s local staff asked for the recipe!

Caribbean Christmas Pudding

Ingredients:

• 2 cups raisins
• 1 cup currants or dried cranberries
• 1/4 cup dried or fresh orange peel, chopped
• 2 cups water
• 2 cups flour
• 1 tablespoon cinnamon
• 2 teaspoons powdered ginger
• 1 teaspoon ground allspice
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1/4 teaspoon fresh nutmeg
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 cup butter, softened
• 1 cup packed brown sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1/3 cup dark rum
• 1/3 cup Madeira
• 1/2 cups pecans or walnuts, chopped
• 1/4 cup candied ginger, chopped
• Confectioner’s sugar (optional)

Steps:

Chop half the raisins roughly. Combine all raisins, currants, orange peel, and water in saucepan. Simmer 20 minutes until water is absorbed; let cool. Sift together flour, cinnamon, ginger, cloves, nutmeg, and baking powder. In another bowl, cream butter and brown sugar until fluffy. Add eggs and whip until light. Whisk in rum and wine (or substitute ⅔-cup water). Fold liquid mixture into dry mixture. Add fruit mix, nuts, and candied ginger. Fold all ingredients together. Pour batter into a greased metal or heatproof glass bowl that fits into a larger pot. Cover bowl tightly with foil. Place a strip of folded foil underneath/around bowl to serve as a handle and place in pot. Add enough water to pot to come about halfway up the bowl. Bring to boil; reduce heat to medium-low, cover pot, and steam for about two hours, or until an inserted skewer comes out clean. Remove bowl, cool, then invert onto a serving plate. Dust with confectioner’s sugar or glaze (add 3 tablespoons rum or water to 1 cup powdered sugar and pour over cooled cake). Serves 10.

Tip: Use a Pressure Cooker
by Lynda Morris Childress

If you have a pressure cooker aboard, use it for this dessert. (Place covered bowl on the cooker’s steamer plate with one cup water beneath. Bring to pressure. Steam for one hour.) For anything that requires extended cooking time, a pressure cooker such as the 8-quart Vitaquick by Fissler is an invaluable galley item. Pressure cooking cuts cooking time significantly no matter what’s in the pot, and the energy savings alone make them worth the price.

Do you have a favorite boat recipe? Send it to us for possible inclusion in Sailor & Galley. Tell us why it’s a favorite, and add a short description of your boat and where you cruise. Send it, along with high-resolution digital photos of you aboard your boat, to sailorandgalley@cruisingworld.com.

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Cruising quickly became a way of life for my husband, Paul, and our three children after we set sail from Marina del Rey, California, aboard Zephyrus, our Lapworth 36, with our larder fully stocked. We reprovisioned in Mexico, then sailed to the remote Marquesas Islands, a 21-day voyage.

There we immersed ourselves in the islands’ culinary delights. We feasted on fish, lobster, pig, fresh goat, coconuts, bananas, and fruits we’d never seen before. It was in the Marquesas that I developed the following recipe. It’s ideal for cruisers because it requires no eggs and can be made with reconstituted dry milk. Although most people will eat this as a dessert, aboard our boat it became a special cruising breakfast that nothing since has ever equaled!

Marquesan Banana Delight Recipe

Makes four to six servings

Ingredients:

• 3 tablespoons cornstarch
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 2 cups milk or reconstituted dry milk
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 tablespoon butter
• 3 large or 4 small bananas, sliced
• 1 1/2 cups white rice, cooked
• 1 14-ounce can coconut milk

To make vanilla pudding, combine cornstarch, sugar, and salt in a saucepan off the heat. Add milk gradually, stirring constantly, until well blended. Heat over medium heat, stirring, until mixture is thick and begins boiling. Remove from heat. Quickly stir in vanilla and butter. Chill for 2 hours. To assemble: Cover the bottom of a medium serving bowl (or of individual dessert bowls) with vanilla pudding. Add a layer of bananas, then a layer of rice. Alternate layers. Finish with a layer of pudding. Whip coconut cream (see “How to Make Whipped Coconut Cream”) and top with a thick layer. Add sliced bananas or any fruit on hand. For an easier alternative: Use boxed vanilla pudding mix. Don’t whip coconut cream; drain as directed in sidebar, stir, and spread thick coconut cream over top.

How to Make Whipped Coconut Cream

Coconut cream is a wonderful alternative to traditional whipped cream. Making it’s easy. Here’s how:

• Place canned coconut milk in your fridge or on ice, upright, for at least 3 hours; overnight is better. This will separate the solid cream from the liquid.
• Open can; drain off all liquid. You want only the very firm coconut cream. (You can reserve liquid for another use.)
• Put only the firm coconut cream in a mixing bowl. Whip with electric or battery-operated hand mixer, or with an old-fashioned egg beater, for 5 minutes or until the coconut cream is the consistency of dairy whipped cream. Notes: This is delicious, but not as sweet as whipped cream. Add a bit of (optional) sugar or a dash or two of vanilla for extra flavor. If you add too much liquid coconut milk, the result will have the consistency of pre-made whipped dairy topping—but it still tastes good!

Can be Be Prepared: At Anchor
Prep Time: 3 Hours
Degree of Difficulty: Medium

Click here for more delicious dessert recipes to cook on a boat!

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Our family called New Zealand home for two busy years while fitting out the interior of Elcie, our custom-built aluminum catamaran. We were ultimately preparing for a voyage home to the U.S. East Coast via the South Pacific and the Panama Canal.

One Sunday in early summer, we were invited to breakfast by some Kiwi friends. These ex-professional sailors had settled in lovely Nelson, at the top end of the South Island, after a transpacific voyage, and we enjoyed a relaxing meal while trading tales of past nautical adventures. They served hot crêpes, thin as parchment, which arrived steaming beneath a cloth napkin. An abundance of fillings were laid out before us, including our own contribution: fresh-picked berries. Each crêpe, whether savory or sweet, was delicious. We were hooked. By order of a decree from our two young daughters, Emma and Molly, the Sunday-morning breakfast menu aboard Elcie was forever set. On our 10,000-mile voyage home to Chesapeake Bay, we enjoyed crêpes nearly every Sunday morning. The fillings changed to match the season and our latitude. Now, this Sunday breakfast is an anchor in our busy cruising lives.

Ingredients:

Makes 6 servings

• 2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 1/2 cups milk
• 4 large eggs
• 1/4 cup butter, melted but not bubbling

Steps:

In a mixing bowl, combine flour and salt. In another, smaller bowl, beat together milk and eggs. Make a well in the flour mixture and pour in the liquid mixture. Blend until smooth. Stir in butter. Cover and let sit for at least 30 minutes.

Heat a wide nonstick pan until medium-hot. Wipe the bottom of the pan with a bit of butter on a paper towel. While tilting the pan toward you at a 45-degree angle, pour in a scant 1/3 cup of batter. Tilt the pan from side to side to finish covering the surface. Return pan to heat. Crêpe is ready to flip when the top looks dry and the edges are just beginning to curl. Use a spatula to flip; cook briefly on the other side. Set aside and cover until all crêpes are cooked. Makes ten or eleven 10-inch crêpes.

Fanciful Fillings
by Lynda Morris Childress

There are countless fillings for crêpes, both savory and sweet. Let your tastes, imagination, and the availability of ingredients be your guides. Here are some suggestions.

Savory: Try ham and cheese, shrimp or crab and cream sauce, bacon or sausage with cream cheese and chutney, and spinach and hollandaise sauce or cheese.

Sweet: Nutella and banana, grated coconut, or sliced peaches all make delicious fillings. Berries and whipped cream or yogurt with honey are delightful, too. Or try a Kiwi favorite: crushed pineapple, fresh lemon juice, and sugar.

Look for inspiration in your own fridge or galley locker to initiate your own onboard crêpes tradition.

Click here for more delicious treats to cook on a boat!

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Few people have ever tasted partridgeberries, or even heard of them, but for cruisers from the northeastern part of the United States to Newfoundland or from the Pacific Northwest, these small red berries are a gourmet’s delight, worthy of the effort it takes to pick and process them.

Partridgeberries, also known as lingonberries or cowberries, are ground-hugging plants native to the Arctic tundra and the wind-swept moors of subarctic regions. They ripen in September and are said to be rich in antioxidants. So when I was delayed on the northern tip of Newfoundland awaiting a new transmission for Kuan Yin, my 32-foot Tahitiana, I ventured out one sunny afternoon to harvest the little red treasures that local people were telling me about.

It was moose-hunting season, so I wore a bright-yellow jacket and carried a big blue plastic bucket for my bounty. Identifying partridgeberries wasn’t difficult.

They grow singly on trailing evergreen vines with paired, roundish leaves. The only other red berries on the moors grow in clusters and are a brighter red in color and almost translucent. To pick them, I crouched down or worked on my hands and knees, my fingers seeking out the dark-red fruits half-hidden under tiny green leaves. I soon saw the benefit of walking a little farther afield to seek out the sunniest, sheltered spots where partridgeberries thrive. As luck would have it, I found the thickest patch only on my third afternoon and just as daylight was fading. My hands were cold and so numb that the abundant berries tumbled through my fingers as I picked them, and I had to abandon the mission.

Occasionally I heard the crack of a rifle across the valley or was greeted by a passing hiker. But mostly I was alone on the moors for hours. The wind in my hair, the view of the hills unbroken for miles—it was almost like being at sea. I returned home to Kuan Yin cheered by the time in the sunshine and fresh air and satisfied with the reward for my efforts.

That evening, I cleaned and washed the berries thoroughly in fresh water. The richness of partridgeberries comes from their dense fruit and their tartness. Making jam is the most popular way of preserving partridgeberries in Newfoundland. (If you don’t have access to partridgeberries, cranberries are a good substitute.) I used less sugar than a local recipe called for, so my mixture wasn’t as sweet and therefore didn’t set like jam. However, this is the perfect complement to pancakes, yogurt, and vanilla ice cream. Every time I treat myself, the partridgeberries remind me of those glorious days when life is as rich as it can possibly get.

Berwick’s Berry Preserves

• 5 cups fresh partridgeberries (or cranberries)
• 1 cup water (add a bit more if needed to prevent scorching)
• 3 cups sugar
• 1 2-ounce packet of pectin

Clean and rinse the berries. Put berries and water in a large cooking pot. Bring to a boil and simmer until soft, about 15 minutes. Use a potato masher or the back of a wooden spoon to slightly crush the berries. Stir in sugar and keep stirring until completely dissolved. Sprinkle in pectin and stir until dissolved. Bring to a brief boil, turn off heat, and immediately ladle into sterilized Mason jars. Twist on lids and leave to cool. Check that lids have “popped” to seal, or use any sterilized jars and keep refrigerated. (For a thicker jam, use 5 cups of sugar and 4 ounces of pectin). Caution: Partridgeberry (and cranberry) juice stains permanently, so be careful. Yields about eight cups.

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Bananas in Sweet Rum Sauce

Turning 50 is quite a milestone for anyone. My 50th birthday was looming, and to help commemorate it, one of my sisters, Gill, flew in from Paris, halfway around the world, to join us in La Paz, Mexico, aboard Outrider, our Westsail 42. On the day, we sipped delicious French champagne from Gill in the cockpit, watched the sunset, then enjoyed an excellent dinner out with several cruising friends. Live mariachi music capped off a perfect birthday.

After the celebration, however, we were ready for some rest and relaxation, so we left Marina Palmira for the roughly 20-mile sail on the Golfo de California to the islands of Partida and Espiritu Santo. We spent a week in the beautiful, calm anchorages of Caleta Partida, Ensenada Grande, and El Cardonal, not once experiencing the coromuel winds that can sometimes blow through La Paz from the south, usually starting up in the evening. These winds, if strong enough, can wreak havoc on the anchorages on the west side of the islands, making for uncomfortable nights at anchor. But we got lucky that week.

Most days were spent hiking, snorkeling, swimming, and fishing. In the evenings, we enjoyed leisurely dinners in the cockpit: steaks, chicken, or freshly caught fish, cooked to perfection on the barbecue and served with a green salad or a vegetable dish. Of course, good wine was served, either hearty red or crisp, chilled white. Life aboard was sublime—until one evening, when my husband, Jeff, asked, “What’s for dessert?” Oops! I knew that I’d forgotten to provision for desserts, but I’d been hoping that nobody would notice.

As luck would have it, I had a few bananas aboard as well as a bottle of dark rum stashed safely in the galley. Gill came to the rescue by whipping up a quick and tasty treat: bananas in rum sauce. It was a perfect ending to what might otherwise have been a not-so-perfect evening. A few days later, our wonderful island sojourn ended, and we reluctantly returned to the marina. We tied up to the dock and sat in the cockpit to watch the sunset just as the dreaded coromuel kicked in and blasted by on its way out to the islands. The wind gods had smiled on us. It’d been a great week aboard Outrider. The only thing missing was my other sister!

Bananas in Sweet Rum Sauce
4 bananas (firm, but ripe)
4 teaspoons butter
1/4 cup brown sugar, firmly packed
1/4 cup dark rum, or apple or pineapple juice
1 teaspoon lemon juice
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg, grated
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon, ground
Vanilla ice cream or whipped cream (optional)

Peel bananas and halve lengthwise. Melt butter in a large skillet over moderate heat until it bubbles slightly, then sauté bananas for 1 minute. Remove skillet from heat and add brown sugar and rum or juice. Return skillet to heat and continue to sauté until sugar begins to melt, about 30 seconds. Add lemon juice, nutmeg, and cinnamon and cook over moderate heat, stirring and shaking skillet occasionally, until sauce is slightly thickened, 1 to 2 minutes. Place bananas on serving plates, pour sauce over bananas, and serve with optional ice cream or whipped cream. Serves four.

Can Be Prepared: At Anchor, Under Way
Prep Time: 15 Minutes
Degree of Difficulty: Easy

For more recipes to cook on a boat, click here.

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My husband, Dave, and I were aboard our Tayana 37, ¿Que Tal?, in the La Mona anchorage located at Bahía de Los Angeles, a town on the Baja shoreline of the northern Golfo de California. Night would bring a full moon, and preparations were under way for an end-of-summer party to celebrate. During a full moon, the tidal range here is about nine feet, and at peak tide, a tiny cove behind a sand spit fills with water. When the tide turns, the pent-up water rushes out through a four-foot cut in the sandbar.

By midafternoon, about 20 cruisers, eager with anticipation and clutching throwable cushions and floats, were lined up to bodysurf the whitewater pouring through the cut. Some friends even persuaded their dog to take a ride while perched on a boogieboard! Our dog refused even to think about it; she spent her afternoon digging for crabs on the beach.

As the rush of water diminished, we turned our attention to playing water volleyball or to simply lounging in the warm water, our cold drinks in hand. A barbecue on the beach followed.

Returning to ¿Que Tal? later that night, Dave and I sat on the foredeck watching a very romantic full moon rise above the dramatic hills surrounding the anchorage. It was the perfect moment to enjoy a special nightcap treat that I’d prepared that morning: no-bake Booze Balls. The air temperature earlier in the day had climbed above 100 F, so I hadn’t wanted to heat up the oven to cook. These no-bake cookies were the ideal solution.
Now we reclined on some throw pillows and nibbled on these delicious morsels and talked about where we wanted to sail next.

There simply were no two ways about it. This day had definitely exceeded the dream.

No-Bake Booze Balls

• 3 cups vanilla wafers (or, say, shortbread cookies), crushed
• 1 cup powdered sugar
• 1 cup walnuts or pecans, chopped finely
• 2 1/3 tablespoons cocoa powder
• 3 tablespoons corn syrup
• 1/2 cup rum, bourbon, Triple Sec, or Grand Marnier
• Additional powdered sugar, for dusting

Crush vanilla wafers finely using a food processor, a blender, or by placing them in a resealable bag and rolling with a rolling pin or wine bottle. Place crushed wafers in a medium bowl and add the powdered sugar, nuts, and cocoa powder. Mix well. In a small cup, mix the corn syrup and the alcohol. (This helps to thin the corn syrup so it’s easier to mix with the wafer mixture.) To make these without alcohol, substitute orange juice. Add the liquid mix to the dry mix and mix thoroughly. It will be very stiff.

Form the mix into 1-inch balls, then roll in powdered sugar. Place on a plate or piece of waxed paper to dry for 1 hour. Store in a tightly lidded container or resealable bag. Makes two dozen.

If you don’t have time to shape the individual balls, make the mixture in an 8- by 8-inch pan. Sprinkle the pan with powdered sugar, press the mixture into an even layer in the pan, then sprinkle the top with powdered sugar and/or more nuts. Cut into 3/4-inch squares.

Can Be Prepared: At Anchor, Under Way
Prep Time: 45 Minutes
Degree of Difficulty: Easy

For more recipes to cook on a boat, click here.

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Though most cruisers keep vinegar aboard, few of us appreciate its versatility. Everyone knows that different varieties of vinegar are a cook’s delight, used in everything from salad dressings to glazes and sauces. But there are many uses for this staple both outside and inside the galley that you may not know about. We keep Eurisko, our Creekmore 34, well stocked. White or cider vinegar works in all of the following suggestions.

Outside the galley: Use a 50/50 solution of water and vinegar as a hair rinse. When conserving water is important, this technique reduces the amount of water needed to rinse out shampoo.

Adding half a cup of vinegar to your laundry wash water helps remove dirt and stains.

Vinegar can loosen the sticky residue left by labels and tape. Because vinegar neutralizes urine odors, you can also use it to clean the head or mop up pet accidents.

Aside from cleaning, vinegar can be employed for other onboard chores. For instance, uncured epoxy can be wiped off tools with vinegar, and a few strategically placed drops work wonders to release stubborn nuts and bolts.

My favorite, most often-used vinegar trick is for corroded zippers. Let a few drops of vinegar sit on and around the corroded zipper pull. The vinegar eats away at the corrosion overnight or sometimes within a few days. Apply only as much force as you’d normally use to pull the zipper. If it doesn’t budge, give it more time and vinegar. Before we tried this method, we threw away countless items because of now-useless corroded zippers.

In the galley: Include a bit of vinegar in marinades to help tenderize meat. After cutting an onion, rub vinegar on your hands to remove the odor. Set out an open dish of vinegar to keep fruit flies away. When your galley-sink drain emits a foul odor, is slow to drain, or is completely clogged, try the following: Pour baking soda as far into the drain as you can. (I use a skewer to push at least half a cup of baking soda deep into the drain.) Heat two cups of vinegar. Slowly pour hot vinegar into the drain. If you immediately plug the sink, the pressure will help push whatever is clogging it out the through-hull. Only try this if you trust your plumbing fittings! Otherwise, the baking soda/vinegar mixture will bubble up into the sink, often bringing the offending particles with it. Continue pouring the hot vinegar into the sink until all the baking soda is neutralized.

But here’s the icing on the cake: When you’re in a remote area and out of fresh eggs and milk, vinegar can satisfy your sweet tooth when used to make this delicious chocolate cake. You can play with this recipe: Drizzle with a simple icing glaze, dust with confectioners’ sugar, or frost. Add ground walnuts if you want—the possibilities are endless! Garnish with edible flowers, such as the jasmine in the photo.

Eggless Chocolate Cake

• 3 cups flour
• 2 cups sugar
• 6 tablespoons cocoa powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 2 cups cold water
• 3/4 cup cooking oil
• 2 teaspoons vanilla
• 2 tablespoons cider vinegar

Mix dry ingredients in a large bowl. Make three increasingly larger holes in the dry mixture. Pour water and oil in the largest hole, vinegar in the medium-sized one, and vanilla in the smallest. Mix well. Pour into a lightly greased 9- by 13-inch pan or similarly sized round baking dish. Bake at 350 F for approximately 30 minutes. Serves 10.

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When I first met my husband, Robb, he owned a Wauquiez Gladiator 33— a sturdy, beamy sailboat that took to the Atlantic Ocean like a whale with wings as he raced her around the Cape of Good Hope and along South Africa’s west coast. She was a cheeky yacht, always up in front with the bigger girls and easy to spot with her lipstick-red hull. Her name? Second Love.

“Clever name for a boat!” friends would say to him. “That should keep your wife happy!”

“Not really,” Robb would reply. “I have two boats!”

A few years later, we said good-bye to Second Love and bought a Montevideo 43. We had to change her name, and not wanting to incur Neptune’s wrath, I researched the correct procedures for renaming a boat. Once I knew the rules, I carefully removed from the boat everything that bore her previous name.
According to Roman mythology, one has to ask Neptune to remove the original name from the Ledger of the Deep. For the ceremony, we stood solemnly with friends while holding two bottles of champagne. Robb popped the first cork very loudly to summon the sea god; I dropped a tag with the boat’s previous name on it into the sea. This was supposed to be followed by a few drops of champagne, but instead there was a large splash—the sacrificial slurp for Neptune was accidentally the entire bottle!

After much laughter, we all agreed that such a generous gift could only bring good fortune. But one remaining bottle of bubbly wouldn’t suffice for our libations, so I rummaged down below and found six bottles of red wine, most of which we shared with our guests. While Robb opened the last champagne bottle very carefully, I called on the wind gods and read the blessing. He gently poured the champagne over the bow, pocketing the cork for use as an emergency bung. Warning: Naming your boat, like choosing a mate, shouldn’t be taken lightly! We named her Summer Love, and at the end of the evening, I used the remaining red wine to take the direct route to the Captain’s heart by creating poached pears with mint chocolate sauce.

Nectar-of-the-Gods Pears

• 1 cup sugar
• 2 cups red wine
• 1 cinnamon stick
• 1 clove
• 1 strip orange peel
• 6 ripe, firm pears, peeled, with stalks intact
• 4 ounces mint chocolate
• 1/2 cup heavy cream
• Sprigs of fresh mint (optional)

In a saucepan, dissolve the sugar in the wine. Add cinnamon stick, clove, orange peel, and pears. Bring to a boil, reduce heat, and simmer for 20 to 25 minutes. If the liquid doesn’t quite cover the pears, turn pears halfway through cooking and baste them throughout. Leave pears to cool in liquid (preferably covered, in fridge, overnight). Take half the poaching liquid and return it to the saucepan. Discard the rest. Heat gently and reduce until thick and syrupy.

Heat cream in a saucepan until it starts to bubble around the edges. Break up the chocolate and melt in the cream, stirring constantly. Place each pear on a plate. Spoon syrup over each pear and drizzle with the mint chocolate sauce. Garnish with fresh mint and fresh cinnamon sticks or sweet biscotti, if available. Serves six.

The post In the Name of Love appeared first on Cruising World.

valentines dessert

Since retiring in 1992, my husband, Carl, and I had been rattling around the Caribbean aboard Camryka, our Pan Oceanic 46 pilothouse cutter. Spectacular anchorages abound in Panama’s Archipiélago de Bocas del Toro, but we especially wanted to see Laguna Porras, also known as Dolphin Bay, which lay about eight miles south; cruising friends we’d met in the eastern Caribbean had built a house there. George and Sue Hemming took us walking through their jungle trails, pointing out orchids, parrots, and the bright colors of what people call poison-dart frogs. Butterflies danced in Sue’s flowers. Suething, their Gulfstar 45, bobbed alongside Camryka, both boats tucked behind a reef in front of the house. The Hemmings introduced us to their only nearby expatriate neighbors, David and Linda Cerutti, a former charter captain and his wife. The Ceruttis’ pristine property, where cacao trees prosper under a rain-forest canopy, is so lush that it could be confused with a national park. As a hobby, David makes and sells chocolate, and he loves explaining to cruisers the ins and outs of growing and processing cacao in his tiny “chocolate factory.”

When the Ceruttis invited cruisers in the Bocas del Toro area to participate in their annual Valentine’s Day Chocolate Cook-Off, we readily joined in. On February 14, with the gala in full swing, the contestants’ tables sagged with glorious cakes, pies, mousses, cookies, drinks, breads, sauces, and candy. Like wine stewards, contest judges sniffed, inspected, and savored each entry. Yes, their job was a hard one, but as they say, somebody had to do it.

David presented a crisp US$100 bill to the winner-and then came the moment that everyone, especially the cruisers, had waited for: sampling the entries. Imagine a plate filled with a variety of luscious dark-chocolate treats-a chocolate-lover’s I’ve-died-and-gone-to-heaven scenario. There were no losers in the bunch.
Joellen Jeffers’ Fudge Brownie Parfait won the Ceruttis’ prize that year, and she willingly shared her recipe. Dessert doesn’t get any better than Joellen’s rich chocolate brownies with great dollops of even richer chocolate parfait layered in a pretty glass and topped with fluffy whipped cream.

But wait! How could I make this multi-step delight in my two-step galley, especially at times when we anchor days from the nearest grocery? Hmmmm-if I put chocolate pudding in a fancy glass, wouldn’t it be next of kin to parfait? And if I tossed an extra half a cup of dark cocoa into the batter, wouldn’t my made-from-a-box-mix brownies get rave reviews? And weren’t there always several packets of whipped topping mix in Camryka’s lockers? Cooking while cruising means making do with what you have. Guess what, Joellen? Your recipe has gone cruising! So far, all the guests who serve as judges aboard Camryka agree that Cruisers’ Fudge Brownie Parfait is a winner! Thanks, Joellen!

Cruisers’ Fudge Brownie Parfait

1 box chocolate pudding mix
1 box chocolate brownie mix
1/2 cup dark chocolate, ground finely
1 package whipped topping mix
or 1 can prepared whipped cream
1/4 cup chopped walnuts
Maraschino cherries, for garnish

Prepare pudding according to package directions. Cool, cover, and chill. Prepare brownies according to directions, but add 1/2 cup ground dark chocolate to batter. Bake, cool, and cut into squares. If using whipped topping mix, prepare according to package directions and chill until ready to serve. Assemble in six glasses: Layer one brownie square, add a large dollop of chilled pudding, add a second brownie square, then another dollop of pudding. Top with cream, nuts, and a cherry. Serve immediately. Serves six.

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Mango Cheese cake 368

After several months of leisurely cruising from Jamaica to the cays of Belize in Serenade, our Cal 29, it came time to think about a place to leave her for hurricane season. Many of the sailors we met base themselves in the Rio Dulce of Guatemala, so my husband, Bruce, and I found ourselves crossing the bar outside Livingston and motoring up the spectacular rain forest-lined gorge to the lakes inland, beyond the reach of hurricanes. Dotted about the shores of the lake are many small marinas where boats can be left securely while the owners take a break. All too soon we were sung, with a jungle view from the cockpit, being serenaded by the sounds of frogs.

Leaving boats for several months means cleaning out your fridge, and as our boat buddies left, I found myself with a gift of groceries that included two packages of cream cheese and a bag of ripe mangoes. A recipe for pineapple cheesecake came to mind, and with some improvisation and a few more local ingredients, I whipped up a mango cheesecake with thoughts of sharing it with the few other cruisers who were still around us. Alas, it was so delicious, we at the whole thing ourselves!!

Base:

4 ounces butter
1 package plain sweet biscuits
1 teaspoon cinnamon

Filling:

2 packages cream cheese
½ (one half) cup condensed milk
½ (one half) cup cream, beaten
1 cup mangoes or pineapple, blended or chopped finely
1 package Jell-O (choose the flavor!)

Melt butter. Crush biscuits finely and combine with cinnamon. Lightly grease a spring-form pan and press crumb crust over the base. Refrigerate while preparing the filling. Dissolve the Jell-O in half the amount of water required on the package and refrigerate to let it partially set. Beat together the cream cheese and condensed milk, then stir in fruit pulp, Jell-O, and cream. Pour onto prepared base and refrigerate until set – about 24 hours.

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