Here in Toronto, we have a lovely grocery store chain called Loblaws; you may have heard of them through their widely distributed President’s Choice (PC) products, a high-end food product range created by Dave Nichol. What has this got to do with my recipe today? Patience grasshopper…
In recent years, Loblaws has rebranded themselves and have created a truly upscale grocery shopping experience; their stores are beautiful and inspiring. The Toronto flagship store is the Loblaws at the old Maple Leaf Gardens and they merchandise product in a visually appealing way, so much so, that a long-time shopper like me, ends up adding a few extras into my grocery cart when I shop there! In addition to an inspiring shopping experience, Loblaws offers cooking classes! Some of the cooking classes are demonstration-style and for $10 (Canadian) we watch a real Chef cook a couple of recipes to make a meal, and at the end of the demonstration we get to eat the results! And, because they promote several PC products, we are given a $10 Loblaws gift card to use at our leisure! Win/win in my opinion.
In December, they offered a special cooking class focusing on a few new premium Black Label PC products, but they only advertised it to regulars at the cooking classes. It was a bit more expensive ($15 Canadian) but SO WELL WORTH IT! I went with a bunch of friends and we made an evening of it. We cooked up some pretty amazing things that evening, Crispy Sesame Rice cakes with PC® Tuna Tataki, PC® La Belle Rivière Cheese, Cranberry and Pear Stuffed Roasted Turkey Breast with Peri Peri Kale with PC® Hollandaise Sauce. I enjoyed the turkey and Kale so much, I made it for JT for Christmas Day dinner. The pièce de resistance was the Avocado Lime and Coconut No-Bake Cheesecake, but our Chef decided to make it a semifreddo instead and he won me over. As you know, I am not much of a dessert eater, but the semifreddo was too difficult to resist, I polished off my entire slice! I have since made the semifreddo version of this tart and sweet dessert without the crust and it was very well received. Just after the holidays, I had an avocado on its way out so I thought I’d recreate the dessert using a caramel sauce I made for a Christmas party and froze the leftovers, the recipe below, Salted Caramel Semifreddo with Skor Bits is the result. I served it for a dinner party last week. It’s not much of a calorie saver (duh, caramel sauce!) but it’s a nice treat from time to time, plus did I mention it has Skor® bits?
Salted Caramel Semifreddo with Skor® Bits
A KitchenInspirations Original Recipe
Makes about 500 mL (about 2 cups)
Ingredients:
- 160 g cream cheese (about 3/4 cup)
- 1 ripe avocado (mine was on the smaller side but larger will work too)
- 2 tbsp lemon juice
- 85 g (about 1/3 cup) caramel sauce (or to taste)
- sea salt
- 2 tbsp Skor® caramel bits
Directions:
- Combine cream cheese, avocado, lemon juice and caramel sauce in the small bowl of your food processor (I used my Cuisinart Smartstick mini processor attachment).
- Prepare your freezer-safe containers by spraying them with non-stick spray and lining with parchment if possible (round containers may prove difficult).
- Evenly sprinkle sea salt and Skor® bits on the bottom of each container and pour the cream over. Cover and freeze overnight.
- Using the parchment to lift out the semifreddo (or dip ever so slightly into warm water), put it on a cutting board and slice or plate. Drizzle with additional caramel sauce and sprinkle lightly with sea salt. Serve immediately.
That store sounds fantastic. And your semifreddo is so pretty. I’d love some – it’s so hot here I need something refreshing xx
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I’ve tossed those Skor bits into cookies and blondies, but who knew they were so pretty on top like this. Fun class. GREG
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I was wondering if the semi-freddo was white or not. I guess the avocado answers that question. Mr Skor is new to me, but if he does salted caramel I’m in!
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Hi Dave, I have to admit, the green was a slight bit off-putting at first, but it definitely reads lime in the lime semifreddo. But if you are looking for a healthier fat, than the avocado is definitely the route.
Mr Skor could be swayed toward the salty version, the little caramel bits are not salted though.
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I love grocery stores! The only kind of shopping I really like. Neat recipe — I haven’t had Skor candy in ages, but it’s good stuff. This dish is a nice way to feature it.
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Thanks so much, John. When we travel, we love checking out the grocery stores in different countries. I just love Julius Meinl in the Graben in Vienna!
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It’s sounds extremely original and looks really beautiful. The combination of flavours makes me wonder how it tastes… I have never had avocado in a sweet dish.
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Hi Sissi, when we made the dessert in the cooking class, we had an avid avocado-hater in our midst and she LOVED the dessert. The avocado flavour is quite subtle and being frozen will disguise it even more. It makes such a creamy dessert, I think you would like it.
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Thank you, Eva, for the explanation. I must try it one day because I love avocado (there are avocado haters???).
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I had a Canadian friend who was also obsessed with President’s Choice but she had particular tastes. But now you’ve said how good it is I really believe it!
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Hi Lorraine, PC products, like any retail item, have gone through many phases. For example, when Dave Nicol first left, the quality plummeted and we refused to buy it for years. Their recent update with Black Label has made us revisit some of their items and I am happy to report they are back to the quality we have come to expect.
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Wow, I love the quality and cost of those cooking classes! What fun. And any dessert with both caramel and Skor bits has my attention, too. With avocado, can’t it be considered a healthy dessert? I think so 😉 It’s beautiful, too!!!
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Thank you so much Liz, and yes, I would have to tick off the healthy box for this treat.
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Sounds like an interesting recipe, Eva. I don’t think you have those caramel bits here.
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Hi Liz, I’m sure you could make even better caramel bits, they are such a lovely textural and flavour addition to this dessert.
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I’ve gotta pin this recipe!!
And, you know what, when we lived in Quebec, not far from Quebec City, the grocery store (IGA.. I think) sold President’s Choice foods – they were always excellent. I especially loved President’s Choice French Canadain meat pies (tourtier). I like them so much that I bought some just to bring back to the States.. but the border guards took them… simply because – at the time – there had been a small outbreak in Canada of Mad Cow disease… and the pies contained a bit beef, along with the pork. I was sooo disappointed and the guards felt bad because, normally, I could’ve brought them across no problem.
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Hi Cecile, what a shame. Canadians cannot bring any kind of meat back into the country—I was also disappointed because there were many cured meats that are Spanish specialties that I would have loved to bring back home. Too bad about your meat pies.
Our guests enjoyed the salted caramel semifreddo, I hope you do too!
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That was only for a short time. And that was me going into the States from Canada.
But you’re telling me you can’t bring ANY type of meat into Canada. That’s a total bummer…
I’m sure you’re guests enjoyed that delicious, creamy semifreddo & I know I will as well. ; o )
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Wow, Eva. That looks so pretty! I knew Loblaws held cooking classes, but never thought about taking one. They sound fun! I might just register for one next time I shop there!
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Hi Michela, thank you for your comment. I have to warn you that they don’t allow you to specify allergies or dietary restrictions. My vegetarian friend just goes with the flow and doesn’t eat the meat in the meal, he trades off with his wife who does eat meat.
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