It's roundup time boys and girls! The second official spin off of Alberto's
blog burning invention has officially come to a sugary, white chocolaty
close. And what a diverse bunch of recipes we have! I'm very impressed by
all the work that went into everyone's white chocolate-themed confections.

For the inaugural edition of SHF:ISTBE I thought white chocolate would be an interesting theme ingredient to tackle. Personally, I had not been a fan of the "non-chocolate" until recently (and still would probably choose dark or bittersweet first) but sometimes you just gotta go against the grain, or in this case, against the bean. Also, I thought it would be an interesting
challenge for those of us with the courage to create something from an
ingredient we might not choose on an ordinary occasion. This seemed to be a theme in many of the entries: "I normally don't bake with white chocolate, but for SHF I rise to the occasion with this!".

Okay on to the entries:

I'll keep it domestic first, and start with fellow Torontonian Clement of a la cuisine! His White Chocolate and Rice Milk Flan with White Chocolate-Pistachio Emulsion looks, sounds, seems and appears absolutely divine. He started out with the observation that he didn't like white chocolate and challenged himself to make a dessert with it and judge it from there. It worked! He ended up with quite a delicious concoction that made me drool and wonder where he lives. Thanks, Clement!

Next up, we wander on over to Chicago, where Linda of At Our Table made a really delicious looking batch of white chocolate fudge (with pecans! yay!). Linda, yet another non-fan of white chocolate made her fudge specifically for her husband, Win, who apparently loves white chocolate. It looks like a fluffy, creamy white chocolate dream...I sure hope her husband was as impressed as I was!

Staying in the United States we peek into Alice of In My Breadbox's kitchen. There we come across a really scrumptious-looking White Chocolate and Ginger Cheesecake that makes me, the non-ginger lover, want to run out and buy ginger, in all of it's lovely forms. This cheesecake looks really moist and with the ginger is probably very light and tangy. Another anti-white chocolate baker, Alice ended up with (in her words) a "phenomenal" cheesecake! Congrats!

Off to Pennsylvania, where Donna of There's a Chef in My Kitchen searched everywhere for the star ingredient for her delicious-sounding white chocolate and strawberry dessert lasagne...the white chocolate flavour mix pictured above...I apologize for "advertising" a product that ended up being so difficult to find (I did find it here, sorry, Donna!). Of course, Donna took Alice's advice from the last IMBB edition: when all else fails a stiff drink and some take-out is the perfect end to a disappointing day and indulged in the theme of the day with freezer box White Chocolate Macadamia Nut Cookies with a chaser of Amarula on ice. How decadent can you get?

On to Seattle, where the Seattle Bon Vivant somehow managed, in between recovering from her recent trip to Paris, getting ready to go out that night, trying to figure out what to wear and how do do her hair (all very important, time-consuming things!) she managed to whip up (literally, she did these on the fly) some quite yummy looking Banana, Roasted Pecan & White Chocolate Mini Fillo (Phyllo) Shells. She made me tired just reading about how busy her day was! All that running around...oh, and I hope Mr. C. enjoyed them as well.

Let's go back to the east coast of North America and stop in Maryland to visit with Cathy of My Little Kitchen. The smells are overwhelmingly good in there with her Chocolate Bread Pudding with White Chocolate Sherbet waiting for us. Cathy had never cooked with white chocolate before now but her combination of these two chocolaty concoctions looks very very tasty indeed.

Now we pay a visit with Karen from Edible Tales and commiserate with her over a near-accident and then horror of horrors...water in her chocolate. I know just how disappointing kitchen accidents are. But! She pulled it off with a "stash" of Ghiradelli white chocolate she found in her pantry and made some stunning White Chocolate Ice Cream, which she topped with cacao nibs. Delicious, creamy and obviously quite satisfying ...I hope her day only got better from then on!

And off to World on a Plate where everyone's favourite, Macadamia Nut White Chocolate Chip Cookies were the white chocolate fare of choice. I have a friend who has been asking me for this very recipe so I will be very happy to refer her there. This recipe looks fairly simple and the cookies look absolutely magnificent! Thanks!

Last -- but certainly not least -- we jet off to Copenhagen to see Zarah Maria of Food & Thoughts and her White Chocolate Soufflées. These little bowls of light and fluffy white chocolate goodness just look and sound wonderful. Surprisingly enough she'd never made a soufflée before now and it turned out perfectly...that her stepmother claimed to be the best dessert she's ever had! Now, what better complement is there?

Me? Check out my White Chocolate and Pecan Nanaimo Bars...even my mother, the woman who hates white chocolate said they were good.

Phew! I'm full just thinking about all of these white chocolate inventions! And...my teeth hurt. I think I need some milk to go with all of them. Thanks to everyone who participated (and a special note to Johanna of The Passionate Cook who tried but had some sort of white chocolate disaster) - I hope everyone had as much fun as I did!

Any ideas for next month?