I pity da foo!

Great summer treat! I just made a blackberry fool. Super easy and delish. I made what will be about 2 servings worth, and wasn't really measuring anything. So here's a rough guide:

Using a fine mesh sieve, puree the following:
8 plump blackberries
1/3 of a chipotle pepper (the type in the can with adobo)

To the puree add a squeeze of lime juice and about 1 tablespoon of brown sugar. Mix until thoroughly combined.

In a separate bowl combine 1 cup of heavy cream with 1/2 tsp vanilla and 1.5 tablespoons powdered sugar. Beat on high until soft peaks form.

Fold the blackberry mixture into the whipped cream. Scoop into bowls and serve with a handful of fresh blackberries for garnish.

SO light. So refreshing. Dee. Licious.

Best Pancakes Ever?

I received a recipe via email last Sunday. It was entitled "The Best Pancake Recipe." I thought it sounded promising, and looked easy. I could BAKE the pancake!

Turns out, the thing that came out of my oven was not at all a pancake in the traditional sense. Given the composition (lots of sugar, not much flour, lots of eggs) I should have recognized it for what it would end up being: a custard. Yes, a slightly more meaty custard than something like creme brulee. But certainly a custard. I do think this would have been lovely as a light dessert. It really isn't a breakfast item. So, I'm kind of disappointed.

Pros: This was super easy. And it looks really pretty once its done.
Cons: None, if you wanted a dessert.

Ingredients:

1 large or 2 small ripe pears (I used anjou)
1/2 cup sugar (set 1.5 tablespoons aside in a small dish)
1/4 cup flour
3 eggs
2 tsps vanilla
1 tablespoon butter, melted
Pinch of salt
1/2 tsp cinnamon

1. Preheat oven to 400. Spray a 9" cake round with vegetable oil.
2. Peel, core, and slice the pear into thin wedges. Layer on the bottom of the pan.
3. In a food processor, combine the large portion of the sugar, flour, eggs, vanilla, butter, and the pinch of salt. Process until combined, about 30 seconds.
4. Pour the liquid mix over the pears. Bake in the oven for 25 to 30 minutes, until the top is springy.
5. Remove from oven. Turn the broiler on. Combine the remaining sugar and the cinnamon in a small dish, then sprinkle the mixture over the top of the pancake. But in the broiler. Broil in 1 minute increments until the top is a beautiful golden brown color.

Word to the wise: be careful with the broiler. My broiler has two settings, so I put it on low. It was taking forever, and I was getting impatient. So I put it on high AND left it for two minutes without checking. Mistake. Big mistake. Definitely ended up with a little bit too brown top. Oh well.

Another word to the wise: Let this set for a bit before trying to plate it. The custard needs to cool and settle. You can always plate it and reheat it a bit. But if you try to cut it and put it on a plate just a few minutes after it comes out of the oven it will crumble into a pile of mush.

Definitely a dessert. Not a breakfast dish.

Easy and Elegant Dinner Party Dessert

God I love aliteration, don't you? But enough about my great title. Let's talk about the dessert!

The hands down best dinner party desserts are the ones you can make a day in advance. That way you don't need to use your oven for your dessert while you're also trying to use it to make your dinner. And it won't screw up your timeline, or require any effort while you're having post dinner conversation with your guests.

I've found that, generally, custards and cremes and things of that nature are pretty great dinner party desserts. Not only can they be made in advance, they actually demand that you make them in advance so that they have enough time to set.

The type of dessert I'm talking about here is the kind offered in fancy shmancy restaurants. So you're thinking, "uh oh! must be complicated!" right? Wrong! Panna cotta is surprisingly simple. And, as it turns out, so is pot de creme!

This recipe will help you put together adorable and delicious Bailey's Pot de Creme. Not your normal chocolate pot de creme, which means you won't compete with fancy restaurants where your dinner guests may have experienced pot de creme. Great plan, right? And the active time on this is only about 30 minutes. The dessert must be made with at least 4 hours of fridge time, but can be made with 24 hours of fridge time. So easy. So delicious. Giant win for you!

Ingredients: (This is to serve 8. I cut it in half)
1.5 cups of heavy cream
1/4 cup Bailey's liquer
1 cup whole milk
1/2 cup sugar
8 egg yolks
Pinch of Salt

1. Mix together the heavy cream and the whole milk in a heavy bottomed sauce pan. Bring to a simmer, remove from heat and let stand.

2. In a medium bowl, whisk together the egg yolks, sugar, and salt.

3. Whisk in the warm cream/milk mixture.

4. Mix in the Bailey's.

5. Strain the mixture into a 4 cup measuring cup.

6. Pour into pots de creme or small ramekins.

7. Place ramekins in a deep baking dish. Fill baking dish with hot water, up to a 1/2 inch below the rim of the ramekins. Cover the baking dish with foil. I recommend doing all of this on the stove top over your oven, because moving the baking dish is kind of scary!

8. Place the hot water bath in the oven. Bake at 325 for approximately 25 to 30 minutes, until the center of the pot de creme is just set.

9. Let the dishes cool on a wire rack. Once cool, cover them with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 4 hours. Serve with a dollop of whipped cream.

And its that easy! How could this dessert not be delicious? It's almost entirely fat, sugar, and alcohol!

Candied Bacon!

I was reading an article about New Year's Eve party hosting, and it suggested putting out candied bacon. Candied bacon?! How had I never thought of this? I love bacon. I love candy. Why hadn't this amazing idea come to me?

Now, sometimes you put together two awesome things and get something awful. Example: riding a scooter = awesome, playing in the rain = awesome, scooting in the rain? Distinctly not awesome. But I was willing to give this candied bacon thing a try.

The recipe the article offered looked like this:

8 strips of bacon
4 tbsp light brown sugar
Pinch of cayenne

I decided to try a few different varieties. I made one strip of bacon following their recipe. Then I did a strip using granulated sugar instead of brown sugar. And a third strip of bacon where I substitute maple syrup for the brown sugar.

The maple syrup was definitely the easiest of the three to prepare for the oven. Granulated sugar came in second, and the brown sugar came in a distant (and kind of annoying) third. I could dredge both sides of the bacon with the syrup and the sugar. Not so much for the brown sugar. With the brown sugar I had to sprinkle the sugar mixture onto the bacon once it was in the pan.

Speaking of the pan, I crumpled some aluminum foil to line the baking sheet, so that the bacon didn't sit in its own fat while baking. Popped into the oven for 15 minutes at 325, and then cranked up the heat to 375 for 5 minutes.

How did the flavors compare? Brown sugar was the clear and easy winner. It had the best "candied" effect, giving the bacon a little extra crunch. It also had much more depth of flavor when compared with the granulated sugar. The maple syrup had good flavor, but I really liked the extra crunch from the brown sugar. Another perk of the brown sugar was that it gave the strip of bacon a more rich color than the granulated sugar.

So, brown sugar is a bit more difficult to work with, but that's definitely the way I'll go when I make this dish to bring to a party!

Christmas Dessert - A Holiday Parfait

Parfait sounds kind of lame, I know. But this was a great and easy to assemble dessert that looked really pretty. I will admit, however, that I thought it was out of balance. I was really worried it would be too sweet, and instead it ended up being a bit too tart. I needed one more layer of sweetness somewhere.

Here's what I did. I made a homemade cranberry sauce, but went light on the sugar. Here's the cranberry sauce recipe:

1 bag cranberries
1/2 cup sugar
Zest and juice of 2 oranges
1/4 ruby port
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp cardamon

I used three 8 oz containers of mascarpone, and whipped in about 2 oz of grand marnier and 1/3 cup sugar. I also shredded a small block of bittersweet chocolate, but I think semi sweet or milk chocolate would work better. I'd recommend shredding enough to have a half cup. Crush nila wafers (about six per parfait, this amount of mascarpone will easily make six large servings) in a plastic bag. Segment one to two blood oranges per parfait, and then chop them roughly.

Using pretty serving glasses (I used large shrimp cocktail glasses), layer in the following order: thin layer of cranberry sauce, nila wafers, shaved chocolate, mascarpone, oranges, mascarpone, chocolate, nila wafers, thin layer of cranberry to cover the top.

For that classy finishing flair, top with a little shaved white chocolate. Serve chilled.

This is very simple, very elegant, and I think with a few adjustments will be a super hit, rather than just a very good dessert.

Thanksgiving Cake of Gloriousness

Technically this is a Brown Butter Pumpkin Layer Cake. But doesn't my name sound so much more...glorious?!

This is a complicated looking recipe, but it really wasn't that hard. I'm going to break it down into pieces.

To start, prepare two 9" round pans. Butter them, put a round of parchment at the bottom of each one, butter the parchment, and then flour the cake pans. Pre-heat the oven to 350.

The Cake:
3/4 cup unsalted butter
2 cups all purpose flour
1.5 tsp baking soda
1.5 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp ground ginger
3/4 tsp table salt
1/4 tsp ground cloves
1.5 cups of plain pumpkin puree
1.5 cups granulated sugar
2/3 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
2 large eggs
1/3 cup buttermilk

Melt the butter in a heavy duty sauce pan over medium heat. Cook, swirling the pan occasionally, until the butter turns a nutty golden-brown, about 4 minutes. Transfer to a small bowl and let sit for 15 minutes.

In a medium bowl whisk the flour, baking soda, cinnamon, ginger, salt, and cloves. In a large bowl, whisk together the pumpkin puree, granulated sugar, brown sugar, eggs and buttermilk until very well blended. With a rubber spatula, stir in the flour mixture until just combined. Gently whisk in the brown butter until completely incorporated. Divide the batter evenly between the two pans.

Bake the cakes until a tester comes out clean, about 28 minutes. Let the cakes cool in the pan for 10 minutes before flipping the cakes out onto a rack. Allow them to cool completely.

The Topping:
1.5 tbs unsalted butter
2/3 cups pecans
1/2 cup raw, unsalted, hulled pepitas (I actually didn't use these because I couldn't find them, so if you can't find them, just use more pecans)
2 tbs packed light brown sugar
1/4 tsp salt
2 tbs chopped crystallized ginger

Melt the butter in a nonstick skillet over medium heat. Add the nuts and cook until the pecans brown, about 2 minutes. Add the brown sugar and salt, and stir until the sugar melts and the nuts are glazed, about 2 minutes. Stir in the ginger pieces, and remove from heat. Allow to cool in the nonstick skillet.

The Frosting:
1/2 cup unsalted butter
8 oz cream cheese, at room temperature
1/4 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
1 1/4 cups confectioners sugar

Melt the butter in a heavy duty sauce pan over medium heat. Cook, swirling the pan occasionally, until the butter turns a nutty golden-brown, about 4 minutes. Transfer to a small bowl and put in the freezer to chill until the butter is just firm. Using a spoon, carefully scrape the butter from bowl, leaving the browned solids at the bottom.

Using an electric mixer, beat the butter, cream cheese, and brown sugar on medium-high speed until light in color and the brown sugar has dissolved, 2 minutes. Gradually beat in the confectioners sugar and continue beating until fluffy, 1 to 2 minutes.

Assemble the Cake:
Put one layer of the cake on a cake stand. Cover with 1/2 cup of the frosting. Sprinkle 1/2 cup (or about 1/2 of the topping) over the frosting, and then top with the second layer of the cake. Use the remaining frosting to frost the remaining cake. Add the rest of the nut mixture on top of the cake.


I know I know. There's a lot going on in this recipe. But it turns out really really delicious. And pretty!

Happy Holidays!

In my family I am the designated dessert maker. Okay, okay. I designated myself dessert maker about 6 years ago, when I decided I was tired of store bought pies. I always try to make something new and different. I've got a contingent of anti-chocolaters, a majority are chocoholics, and then there is my Uncle who won't eat anything I make, so he doesn't count at all.

This year I decided to do a bread pudding. After perusing a few recipes, I settled with a panettone bread pudding that had an amaretto cream sauce. The recipe is herewww.foodnetwork.com/recipes/giada-de-laurentiis/panettone-bread-pudding-with-amaretto-sauce-recipe/index.html

Having no chocolate dessert would have caused an uproar, so I paired my bread pudding with the following alcoholic hot chocolate recipe: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/emeril-lagasse/hot-chocolate-drink-recipe/index.html

So, for the bread pudding, I found the panettone at the grocery store in a box in the bakery section. And when I opened it, it smelled delicious! I trimmed off all the outer crust, and cubed the pieces. I put them in a 13 x 9, and covered it with the cream/custard mixture. I let it sit in a cool, but not cold, room for about 45 minutes. Every ten minutes I'd press the bread down into the custard mixture to make sure it was soaking. Then I popped it into the oven and baked it slightly longer than the recipe called for. My grandma's oven is old, and not so hot.

While the bread pudding was baking, I prepared the amaretto sauce and the hot chocolate. Nothing special to say about the amaretto sauce. I probably could have used a little more cornstarch, because it didn't thicken as much as I would have liked. But the flavor was very nice, and the yield was plenty to cover the bread pudding.

On the hot chocolate, I doubled the recipe. I put the milk and cream on the burner to let it come to a low boil, and while I waiting I measured out some of my other ingredients. I do not recommend doing it that way. Measure out your ingredients first, because once the milk comes to a boil, it quickly goes from low to high to "OMG ITS BOILING OVER ON MY GRANDMA'S ELECTRIC RANGE AND NOW EVERYTHING SMELLS LIKE BURNT MILK!!!" Yeah, you get the picture. Now, I can tell you that the boil over was not the end of the world, and the hot chocolate still turned out delicious. But it was an awful mess, so watch your pot.

A useful tip here. I couldn't find the Dutch processed cocoa powder. You should not use regular cocoa powder when the recipe calls for dutch processed. But you can convert regular cocoa powder to "dutch processed" by adding 1/8th a tsp of baking soda per 3 tablespoons of cocoa powder. Worked fine for me.

My final recommendation on the cocoa is that homemade marshmallows would have been fantastic. I used fresh whipped cream, and while it was nice, I think marshmallows would have been better. And, of course, sprinkle some shaved chocolate over the top, because it makes things look classy classy.

I'll be honest, this was not the best pairing. Each dessert on its own was delicious, but served together and at the same time they were too sweet, and a little overwhelming. I probably could have served the bread pudding, then waited a bit and served the hot chocolate. Also, hot chocolate works better when its cold. 65 and sunny in So Cal is not really the weather for hot chocolate! But this hot chocolate would be awesome around a fire in a snowy state.