Cranberry Apple Pie

I had a bit of pie dough in the freezer leftover from Thanksgiving, a bag of apples from the CSA, and another bag of fresh cranberries - I can't resist buying fresh cranberries when they are available - so I thought it'd be a good idea to combine all into a pie. I used this recipe from Joy the Baker which I followed exactly, except for the fact that I used salted pepitas instead of pistachios in the crumble, which I think came out great. This is probably one of the best pies I ever made, it is delicious and came out perfectly. I have eaten slices for breakfast these past two mornings (!). So, so yum.

Granola Bars

Still coming off a gluttonous Thanksgiving, I went the healthy route with Dorie Greenspan's Granola Energy Bars for my treat this week which, I think, will now be on regular rotation on my baking schedule. I used chopped pecans, slivered almonds, salted pepitas, cranberries, chopped dried apricots, chocolate chips and coconut as my flavorings. Very yum and very healthy since they are made with no sugar. The brown rice syrup that she recommends to use was found at Whole Foods and was mildly sweet; perfect for these bars. I cut mine kind of big and got 15 bars out of the batch. Will definitely be making these again.

Thanksgiving edition: Pecan Pie, French Lace Cookies, Carrot Cake with Ginger Marscapone Frosting, & Cranberry Cocktails

There is no photo evidence of my Thanksgiving creations but I have to say, all three things came out PERFECTLY. My favorite were the french lace cookies which were so simple and so delicious and kept pretty well for about a week. All my T-Day recipes - dinner and dessert - came from Ina Garten's "Foolproof" cookbook, and everything was delish. Check out the book to find these desserts. My versions came out just as picture-perfect as Ina's. No joke!

Edited to add: not a dessert, but also made this cranberry cocktail by David Leibovitz to enjoy during the day while our turkey was cooking. I am normally not a cocktail person but these were excellent, not sweet at all but with a perfectly smooth cranberry flavor. Yum!

Brownie Roll-Out Cookies

I have made these many times before but was craving something chocolate-y so thought they'd make a good snack: Smitten Kitchen's Brownie Roll-Out Cookies . Mine came out much darker, almost black, because I used Hershey's Special Dark cocoa instead of regular cocoa. They are rich, buttery, chocolate-y, with a good hint of salt. This recipe makes a TON of cookies - like 6 dozen - so good for holidays and for passing around to friends and co-workers (I gave my mom 2 dozen cookies right off the bat). I was boring and just used a glass to cut out the dough, but would of course work well with some fun cookie cutters. I like that mine came out kinda small so I don't feel too gluttonous if I eat 3 or 4 at a time...

Chocolate Banana Almond Meal Cake

 

Some of my most surprising baking projects come from taking stock of what's in my pantry and then Googling the ingredients to see if a recipe exists using them all. This past week that happened when I realized I had cocoa, bananas and almond meal that I wanted to use up. Lo and behold I found a cake using these ingredients. So I made it! My one tweak was to throw in a 1/4 cup of brown sugar - I only had a little brown sugar left and wanted to use that up, too. I like this recipe because there is no white sugar or flour in it, so it seems "healthy." Result: a pleasantly bitter, barely sweet chocolate cake with a faint banana taste to it. It was good. If I make this again I might completely eliminate the brown sugar, and maybe throw in 1/2 cup of chocolate chips to make it a little more decadent.

Thumbs up.

Chocolate Peanut Butter Globs

All the recipes I made this past month were just kind of blah, so I wanted to make something really decadent this past weekend. So I turned to Queen of Decadence, Ina Garten, for recipe inspiration and found this recipe for Chocolate Peanut Butter Globs in her "Foolproof" book. WOW: these were amazing, addictive, and hit the spot perfectly. They are cookies but they are so dense and chocolately that they are almost brownie-like. I need to drink a huge glass of water when I eat them. Delicious! 

Date & Nut Truffles

I got a huge package of dates from Trader Joes, thinking I could just snack on them plain. I tried a few and I wasn't too crazy about them (maybe they were just poor quality dates, I don't know). So I started searching out recipes to make with them and found these truffled energy bites from Sally's Baking Addiction. I really like the carob-based energy bites that you can find at health food stores, so I thought this would be a good alternative. But...something is just off about them. There is no added sweetener in this recipe, so they are not sweet at all. They taste nutty. Virtuous. While they look pretty on a plate they are just kind of blah. I rolled them in ground flax seeds, which doesn't necessarily add anything, taste-wise, to them. They aren't terrible, though. Just boring.

Ground Cherry Muffins

I have been doubting the efficacy of keeping a blog like this, until the other day when I was able to dig back in my archives to look for a recipe I made months ago in order to come up with this Ground Cherry Muffin recipe. It really helped to be able to look back and alter an old recipe!

The CSA sent us more ground cherries this past week. Over the past year, I had made coffee cake and a different muffin recipe with them, but this time I thought I'd use the Peter Hunt Blueberry Muffin recipe and swap in the ground cherries instead.

2 cups flour (PH calls for pastry flour. I used a combination: 1 1/2 cups all purpose flour, 1/2 cup almond meal)

3 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt

1/2 cup sugar

2 eggs

3/4 cup milk 

4 tablespoons melted butter 

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 cup gooseberries
2 tsp TJ's Flax Seeds with Blueberries (optional topping which I would not use again)

Preheat oven to 400. Mix and sift dry ingredients. Stir eggs, milk, butter, almond extract and blueberries together, and mix with flour mixture. Spoon into muffin tins. Bake for 12-15 minutes.

The muffins came out well; I like the bit of almond flour which adds a little nutty flavor to them. I thought that dusting the tops of the muffins with the TJ's flax seed mix would be a nice little health bump - I only used 2 tsps - but it actually tastes kind of weird. Conclusion: Peter Hunt's muffin recipe is infinitely adaptable; using ground flax seeds as a garnish is not a good idea.

Carrot Bread with Cider and Olive Oil

Every so often, a recipe will pop up on my Facebook feed or be printed in a magazine I'm reading that not only sounds delicious, but also features ingredients I already have in my kitchen. Such was the case with this Carrot Bread with Cider and Olive Oil from Smitten Kitchen that I made last week. It came together quickly and baked up perfectly. The blend of spices in the recipe was really nice and paired well with the cider and carrots. The olive oil kept the cake moist. But, for some reason, I was kind of underwhelmed with this. It was a tasty fall snack but I think I'd only make it again if I had excess cider and carrots to use up.

No pics this time!

Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies

Depending on how I look at it, I am either lucky or unlucky to have an office mere steps away from a coffee shop that sells the most addictive chocolate chip cookies ever. Problem is, these cookies are about 5 or 6 inches in diameter - aka, huge - and I do not have enough willpower to save half for later after I start eating one. The other day, I was craving one badly, but I held back when I realized I had the ingredients at home to make my own cookies. I ended up making these peanut butter cookies from Smitten Kitchen  which were really similar to peanut butter blossoms, except the chips were mixed in to the batter instead of placing a Hershey kiss on top. Verdict: they are pretty good. I hold back from calling them stellar because I ended up using some natural peanut butter from Wegman's that was strangely flavorless. While I love natural peanut butter for PB&J's (or, directly from the jar on a spoon), in my opinion it does not work well in peanut butter cookies. Skippy or Jif is the way to go. So if I make these cookies again I will have to get some Skippy to get the peanut butter flavor I like. For some reason, peanut butter cookies are more "fall-ish" to me than anything pumpkin flavored!


                                                       

1 year baking diary anniversary recap!

I cannot really call this a "blog" - first off, my photography SUCKS and I am the first to acknowledge that. Secondly I don't make up any of my own recipes, I just use what other people have come up with, sometimes substituting ingredients according to what I have on hand - but I will classify it as my Baking Diary. Over the past year, I have made a combination of old favorites and brand new (to me) recipes, had many successes and a few outright failures, and had fun sharing these goodies with family and friends.

About mid-way through the year, I calculated how much butter I used in previous recipes and realized in horror I had used EIGHT POUNDS of it. So, starting in the spring I made a conscious effort to choose recipes calling for little to no butter, and I can honestly say that I preferred the recipes in the second half of the year to the butter-heavy recipes in the first half of the year. Coincidentally - or not! - I also ended up using less sugar in the second half of the year. So I could classify several of these as relatively "healthy" desserts and snacks.

I went through the archive and came up with a recap of favorites and failures!

Old favorites (always on heavy rotation in my baking repetoire):
-Chocolate chip banana bread
-Walnut Jam Cake
-Cranberry Tart
-Chocolate Cherry Zucchini Cake
-Peanut Butter Blossoms
-Lemon Crunch Blueberry Muffins


New favorite cookies: 
-Chocolate espresso shortbread
-Chocolate walnut cookies
-Pecan, Oat and Dark Chocolate Chunk Cookies


New favorite cakes: 
-Mexican Lime Icebox Cake
-Roasted Banana Cupcakes with Honey Cinnamon Icing
-Macaroon Cake


CAKEWRECKS (kinda scared to ever try these again): 
-Orange Glazed Polenta Cake
-Spiced Honey Cake
-Fresh Plum Cake


Honorable Mentions: 
-Old Fashioned Blueberry Cake. This cake came together beautifully, however, the strong molasses flavor paired with the sweet blueberries made for a weird combination. I guess if you are a huge fan of molasses, this could be perfect for you. Maybe next time I will use a lighter molasses variety.
-Peach Beer Sorbet. This was Out of This World Delicious and sooo easy to make. It tasted like summer on a spoon. Perfect in every way. I have a tiny bit of this left in my freezer and I will be sad when it is all gone!

Apple Slab Pie

Does anyone else have this problem? You go apple picking, get overzealous, and then bring home a couple dozen apples too many and you have NO IDEA how to use them all? That happens to me every year. My kids thought it was so great to take an apple out of the bowl, take one or two bites, and then return the apple back to the bowl (I either ended up finishing most of the half-eaten apples and then turned the rest into applesauce). But for the other apples I had, I found this recipe for Apple Slab Pie  on Smitten Kitchen that called for 8 cups of apples - perfect! That ended up being about 8 large apples, if I remember correctly.

In addition to using up a ton of apples, this recipe was perfect for many other reasons. I have never had a slab pie before but I like it better than apple pie. The crust-to-filling ratio was perfect. You could eat it in your hand and it was not messy at all (surprisingly!). It could feed a crowd - as you can tell in the photo, mine was cut into 15 slices. The crust cooked through uniformly and it was a golden brown on top. Bonus - you could prepare the apples and the crust dough the night before baking it, which is what I did.

While I do bake a lot, I have not always had a lot of luck making homemade pie crusts. I was nervous to try this because I was making it to serve to guests, so I was extra careful when I was mixing up the dough, making sure I wasn't handling it too much because I wanted to keep the butter as cold as I could. It ended up rolling out perfectly the next day, and baking up to a crispy golden brown.

I thought it tasted great using a mix of apples from the orchard but I think if you just used macintosh or golden delicious apples, it could be just as yummy.

So. Incredibly. DELICIOUS. Better than regular apple pie! 

Macaroon Cake

I love, love, LOVE anything almond flavored. So I knew I'd have to try this cake. I got the recipe from "Jeni's Splendid Ice Cream Desserts" book, and like she describes in her write-up, it is light, fragrant, and has a candied outside and gooey inside in the best possible way. This was a crowd pleaser, and gone within 24 hours of making it. The only negative about this cake is that almond flour is pricey, so even though it is super easy to make and the kind of cake you could have on hand for everyday, the price of the almond flour alone makes it more of a "special occasion" cake, to me. There is no white flour or butter in the cake, so that is a plus!

1 3/4 cups almond flour
6 large eggs, separated, at room temperature
1 1/4 cups sugar
Grated zest of two oranges (I used dried orange zest, about a tablespoon)
4 drops almond extract (don't be tempted to use any more; this was plenty!)


Preheat oven to 350. Butter the bottom of a 9" round cake pan and line with a round of parchment. Butter the parchment. Dust the pan with flour and shake out the excess.

With an electric mixer, beat egg yolks and sugar in a large bowl until pale and thick. Add zest and almond extract, followed by the almond flour, mixing very well.

Use clean beaters to beat the egg whites in a large bowl until stiff peaks form. Fold them into the yolk and almond mixture until well combined, being careful not to deflate the batter.

Pour mixture into prepared pan. Bake 40 minutes, or until cake feels firm to the touch. Remove from oven and cool completely in the pan on a rack.

          

Again, the photos don't do it justice but this cake was perfect. 

Plum and Gooseberry Muffins

My CSA keep sending plums so I keep making plum desserts. This time, I used the remaining plums from last week's box and added gooseberries form this week's box to make a variation of a Smitten Kitchen receipe (original seen here)

6 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted, browned and cooled.

1 large egg, lightly beaten

1/4 cup granulated sugar

1/4 cup light brown sugar

1 1/2 cups flour

3/4 tsp baking powder

3/4 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp salt

Pinch of ground cinnamon

Pinch of freshly grated nutmeg

1 tablespoon orange zest, fresh or dried

1 cup pitted and diced plums

1 cup gooseberries

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Butter twelve muffin cups.

Whisk the egg with both sugars in the bottom of a large bowl. Stir in the melted butter, then the sour cream. In a separate bowl, mix together the flours, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon,nutmeg, and poppy seeds, and then stir them into the sour- cream mixture until it is just combined and still a bit lumpy. Fold in the plums and gooseberries.

Divide batter among prepared muffin cups. Bake for 15 to 18 minutes, until the tops are golden and a tester inserted into the center of a muffin comes out clean. Rest muffins in the pan on a cooling rack for 2 minutes, then remove them from the tin to cool them completely.

These muffins lasted for three days in an airtight container. 

Fresh Plum Cake

Oy. This would have been perfect if I used a bigger pan.  It turned out to be a cakewreck, overflowing in the pan and making a mess in the stove! Ina's recipe also called for peaches, but I used plums instead. I think the substitution worked great, especially with the addition of the pecans, which paired nicely with plums. I also think this would be great with apples or pears. The butter, eggs, and yogurt I used were all at room temperature and the batter was so light, fluffy and perfect that I am even more disappointed that this didn't come out well. 

Ingredients:

1 stick unsalted butter, at room temo
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 eggs, room temp
1 cup Greek yogurt, at room temp
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon
2 cups fresh plums, diced
1/2 cup chopped pecans 

Preheat oven to 350. Ina says to grease a 9" square pan, but this was not big enough. Definitely use a 9 x 11 or even a 9 x 13.

In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter and 1 cup of the sugar for 3-5 minutes, until light and fluffy. With the mixer on low, add eggs, one at a time, then the yogurt and vanilla, and mix until smooth. In a separate bowl, sift together flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt. With the mixer on low, slowly add the dry ingredients to the batter and mix just until combined. In a small bowl, combine the remaining sugar with the cinnamon.

Spread half of the batter evenly in the pan. Top with half of the plums, then sprinkle with 2/3 of the sugar mixture. Spread remaining batter on top, arrange the remaining plums on top and sprinkle with remaining sugar and pecans.

Bake for 45-55 minutes, until toothpick inserted into center comes out clean.

No photos of the finished product because, cakewreck! But here are a couple photos of the gorgeous plums I had:


                  

Fresh Plum Gratin

Dorie Greenspan makes perfect desserts. Her book, Baking Chez Moi, is essentially a dessert bible. I got a lovely batch of fresh plums from my CSA and knew that Dorie would have something plum-based in her book and this plum gratin was the answer. So easy, so delicious, and endlessly tweak-able based on what kind of fruit and nut combination you want to use (the original recipe is for raspberries and pistachios; but I really enjoy the plum and almond variation). Would be good with ice cream or whipped cream fresh out of the oven, or with a few spoons of plain Greek yogurt for breakfast the next morning.

Ingredients

Fruit:2 1/2 cups fresh plums, washed, pitted, and cubed1 lemon, juiced2 teaspoons sugar

Almond Cream:

6 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature⅔ cup sugar¾ cup ground almonds or almond meal2 teaspoons all-purpose flour1 teaspoon cornstarch (I accidentally put 2 teaspoons in, but it turned out fine!)1 large egg2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

Instructions
Prepare almond cream: In a large bowl with a hand mixer, beat butter until smooth and creamy, about 3 minutes. Add the sugar and beat for 1-2 minutes more. Add the ground almonds, flour, and cornstarch and beat until the mixture is smooth once again. Drop in the egg and beat for a minute or so, until it is thoroughly incorporated. Beat in the vanilla. Press a piece of plastic wrap against the surface and refrigerate for an hour.

Center a rack in the oven and preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Place the plums in a bowl and squeeze the juice of a lemon over them. Add the sugar, mix everything together and let sit, stirring occasionally, for 5 to 10 minutes, until a little syrup has developed.

Spread fruit evenly over the bottom of a 9" pie plate. Spoon almond cream on top and use a spatula to gently smooth the cream evenly over the fruit. 

Bake for 35 minutes, or until the gratin is golden and the fruit is bubbling. Serve at room temperature. (Also tastes good directly from the fridge the next day!)

Peach Beer Sorbet

This sorbet is so ridiculously easy to make, and full of concentrated peach flavor. I am not that good of a writer to convey how perfect it is. You don't taste the beer flavor at all, but I imagine the beer helps to add some kind of depth to the sorbet. In her book, Jeni has other variations - like using fresh cherries with cherry beer - and since there are a number of lambic beer flavors (I used this brand), it will be fun to try out other fruit and beer combinations to make other sorbets. This is such a refreshing treat to have on a hot summer night.

1 pound fresh stone fruit (cherries, peaches, plums, apricots, etc). I used 3 1/2 peaches (the other 1/2 was too perfectly ripe not to eat standing over the sink!)
1/2 cup sugar
1/3 cup light corn syrup
3/4 lambic beer, chilled

Peel peaches or apricots, if using. Remove stones and puree fruit in a food processor until smooth.

Combine the pureed fruit, sugar and corn syrup in a 3-quart saucepan and bring to a simmer, stirring to dissolve the sugar. Remove from heat and chill in the fridge for at least 2 hours.

Add the beer, and chill a bit more.

Pour sorbet into the frozen canister and spin until it is the consistency of softly whipped cream.

Pack into a storage container, and freeze in the coldest part of the freezer for at least 4 hours.


                              

Roasted Pistachio Ice Cream

Man, this was delicious. It was so good that I declare it is the best pistachio ice cream I have ever tasted. This is another one from the Jeni's Splendid Ice Cream book, and in her description she writes "this is a highly satisfying ice cream with nearly savory qualities." That sums it up well.

Did not get a photo of it, though (not like I am able to convey how delicious this ice cream is with my terrible photography anyway).

Ingredients

1/2 cup shelled unsalted pistachios (I used salted and it was fine); plus 1/4-1/2 extra if you want to add whole ones to the ice cream

2 cups whole milk
1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon cornstarch
1½ ounces (3 tablespoons) cream cheese, softened
1/8 teaspoon fine sea salt
1¼ cups heavy cream
2/3 cup sugar
2 tablespoons light corn syrup
1/2 teaspoon almond extract

Directions

Toast 1/2 cup of the pistachios on the stovetop or in the oven, just until fragrant and starting to brown. Remove from oven and pulverize in a food processor until the pistachios become a very smooth paste.

Mix about 2 tablespoons of the milk with the cornstarch in a small bowl to make a smooth slurry. Whisk the cream cheese, pistachio paste and salt in a medium bowl until smooth. Fill a large bowl with ice and water.

COOK

Combine the remaining milk, the cream, sugar, and corn syrup in a 4-quart saucepan, bring to a rolling boil over medium-high heat, and boil for 4 minutes. Remove from the heat, and gradually whisk in the cornstarch slurry.
Bring the mixture back to a boil over medium-high heat and cook, stirring with a heatproof spatula, until slightly thickened, about 1 minute. Remove from heat.

CHILL

Gradually whisk the hot milk mixture into the cream cheese until smooth. Add the mint. Pour the mixture into a bowl and set into the larger bowl (filled with ice and water). Let stand until cold, about 30 minutes. 

FREEZE

 Pour ice cream base into the frozen canister of your ice cream maker and spin until thick and creamy.

Pack the ice cream into a storage container,  and seal with an airtight lid. Freeze in the coldest part of your freezer until firm, at least 4 hours.

Scarlet and Earl Grey Ice Cream

I went kind of crazy making ice cream from Jeni's Splendid Ice Cream these past few weeks. This recipe calls for 1/4 cup of loose tea leaves. I didn't have that, so I used 6 tea bags of Earl Grey that I had. The result was a delicate Earl Grey flavor. In the future if I make this, I will use at least 8 tea bags if I don't have loose tea on hand. I really love this combination of Earl Grey and cherries; two very familiar flavors that go so well together. Note! I forgot to freeze my canister thoroughly before I made this ice cream. It had been in the freezer for about 4-5 hours before I tried to use it. As it was churning, the ice cream remained a frozen soup and never got creamy. Discouraged, I put the mixture in the fridge and forgot about it for a few days, until I realized I could just re-churn it in a thoroughly frozen canister. (The canisters really DO need to be in the freezer for at least 24 hours to work properly.) So I took to ice cream mixture out, let it completely melt, and then poured it into a frozen canister and it revived perfectly! The ice cream was saved. 

Ingredients

2 cups whole milk
1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon cornstarch
1½ ounces (3 tablespoons) cream cheese, softened
1/8 teaspoon fine sea salt
1¼ cups heavy cream
2/3 cup sugar
2 tablespoons light corn syrup
1/4 cup earl grey tea leaves (I used 6 tea bags instead)
2 cups sugar-plumped cherries

Directions

Mix about 2 tablespoons of the milk with the cornstarch in a small bowl to make a smooth slurry. Whisk the cream cheese and salt in a medium bowl until smooth. Fill a large bowl with ice and water.

Boil 1/2 cup of water with 1/2 cup of sugar. Add dried cherries. Let cool to room temperature. 

COOK

Combine the remaining milk, the cream, sugar, and corn syrup in a 4-quart saucepan, bring to a rolling boil over medium-high heat, and boil for 4 minutes. Remove from the heat, add the tea and let steep for 10 minutes.

Strain the milk mixture through a sieve, pressing on the tea bags to extract as much cream as possible.
Return saucepan to the heat and gradually whisk in the cornstarch slurry.

Bring the mixture back to a boil over medium-high heat and cook, stirring with a heatproof spatula, until slightly thickened, about 1 minute. Remove from heat.

CHILL

Gradually whisk the hot milk mixture into the cream cheese until smooth.  Pour the mixture into a bowl and set into the larger bowl (filled with ice and water). Let stand until cold, about 30 minutes.

Drain cherries. Pour ice cream base into frozen canister and spin until thick and creamy; add the cherries almost at the end of spinning.

Pack the ice cream into a storage container,  and seal with an airtight lid. Freeze in the coldest part of your freezer until firm, at least 4 hours.

Backyard Mint Ice Cream

When I got engaged, I set up a registry - as you do - and put things like plates, bowls and pitchers on there, almost completely ignoring any fancy kitchen gadgetry. At my shower, my cousin Barbara got me something special and unexpected: an ice cream maker! I didn't even think to add something like this to the registry, and at first I wasn't sure how much use I'd get out of it. Now I can say with confidence that it is one of the best gifts I have ever received. I have used it to make all kinds of ice creams, frozen yogurts and sorbets. It really is an amazing tool. I have only made two ice creams so far this summer (roasted strawberry and dark chocolate) so I made a vow to increase that number before the summer is over :) I almost exclusively use recipes from Jeni's Splendid Ice Cream book.

Since my garden is overflowing with herbs, I decided to make use of the mint for Backyard Mint Ice Cream.

Ingredients

2 cups whole milk
1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon cornstarch
1½ ounces (3 tablespoons) cream cheese, softened
1/8 teaspoon fine sea salt
1¼ cups heavy cream
2/3 cup sugar
2 tablespoons light corn syrup
A large handful of fresh mint, leaves roughly torn into small pieces
1/2 cup chocolate chips, melted

Directions

Mix about 2 tablespoons of the milk with the cornstarch in a small bowl to make a smooth slurry. Whisk the cream cheese and salt in a medium bowl until smooth. Fill a large bowl with ice and water.

COOK

Combine the remaining milk, the cream, sugar, and corn syrup in a 4-quart saucepan, bring to a rolling boil over medium-high heat, and boil for 4 minutes. Remove from the heat, and gradually whisk in the cornstarch slurry.
Bring the mixture back to a boil over medium-high heat and cook, stirring with a heatproof spatula, until slightly thickened, about 1 minute. Remove from heat.

CHILL

Gradually whisk the hot milk mixture into the cream cheese until smooth. Add the mint. Pour the mixture into a bowl and set into the larger bowl (filled with ice and water). Let stand until cold, about 30 minutes. Refrigerate to steep for 4-12 hours (mine steeped for about 4 for this recipe, resulting in a pleasant and not overly strong mint flavor)

FREEZE

Strain out the mint. Pour ice cream base into the frozen canister of your ice cream maker and spin until thick and creamy. Meanwhile, melt the chocolate chips - you can use a double boiler or the microwave. When the chocolate is liquid but slightly cooled, pour into the canister as it is churning.

Pack the ice cream into a storage container,  and seal with an airtight lid. Freeze in the coldest part of your freezer until firm, at least 4 hours.

Again, no picture :( But this ice cream is a hit on a hot night!

Mary Brady's Chocolate Cherry Zucchini Cake

Every time our friend Conor goes back to his hometown to visit his parents, his mom makes this awesome cake. One summer, Conor invited Eric and me to spend the weekend with him at his parents house, which overlooks one of the Finger Lakes in New York State. On the drive up, he was telling us that he couldn't wait to have a piece of this cake. Sure enough, when we arrived, there was a tall, dark and beautiful looking cake sitting on the counter. Mary Brady's version had a cream cheese frosting and a chocolate glaze that really put it over the top. At the end of the weekend I asked her if she would share the recipe and a few days later she sent me this. It is honestly one of the best cakes I have ever eaten.


Ingredients:

2 cups grated zucchini, unpeeled         2 cups flour
1 cup canola oil                                    1/2 cup cocoa
2/3 cup white sugar                              1/2 tsp. salt
2/3 cup brown sugar                             1 tsp. baking soda
3 eggs                                                   1 tsp. baking powder
                                                             1 tsp. cinnamon

1 cup chopped sweet cherries (original recipe calls for fresh or frozen, but every time I have made this I have used dried cherries and the cake is wonderful with them)

12 oz package semisweet chocolate chunks less 1/2 cup (reserved for  glaze)

Preheat oven to 375 and prepare two 9 inch cake pans (or one 9 x 11 pan).
Beat eggs, sugars and oil.
Stir in zucchini, then dry ingredients.
Stir in cherries and chocolate
Bake at 375 for 25 minutes
Cool pans on cake rack


I have made this cake several times and have stopped at this step. This cake is incredibly delicious and rich without any additional frosting or glaze. If you want something really decadent, you can add the frosting and glaze; you won't regret it.


CREAM CHEESE FROSTING

Beat together 1/2 cup softened butter, 8 oz. cream cheese and 1 pound confectioner’s sugar. Frost stacked layers and sides of cake.

CHOCOLATE GLAZE

Melt together 3 Tbs. light cream and 1/2 cup chocolate chunks.
Place glaze in plastic bag, seal, snip corner and drizzle in desired decorative pattern over top.


For better or worse, I didn't get any pictures of this! I shared slices with neighbors, two sets of friends, and my mom before polishing off the last of it myself. Sooo good!

Old Fashioned Blueberry Cake

I had printed this recipe months ago, and finally decided to try it this weekend. It's a molasses and fresh blueberry cake, made with no sugar and only three tablespoons of butter. Since I am not a fan of super sweet things, I thought this would be a good option to try. The cake is super dark - it looks like a dark chocolate cake, and frankly, it probably would be delicious to eat a barely-sweet chocolate cake with fresh blueberries in it, but I digress! This would be a perfect cake for someone who loves molasses flavor. I don't think I am that person. Admittedly I got blackstrap molasses instead of mild or full flavor molasses, so that could be part of the problem. I think if I made this again - which I might! - I'd get mild molasses and add 1/2 tsp or so of cinnamon to the batter. I knew I was taking a gamble with the blackstrap. Otherwise the cake came out perfectly; it's a really light and moist cake.

Darkest Chocolate Ice Cream with Dark Chocolate Brownies

Made these to have on hand for a cookout with friends; thought the little kids would like the ice cream and brownie combo and the adults would go for the strong dark chocolate flavor. Brownies from Smitten Kitchen (I made these in a mini muffin pan) and ice cream from a Jeni's recipe. Since the flavor is really intense you only need a little bit - and a BIG glass of water - to sate a sweet tooth.

Didn't get a photo of the brownies but here's a peek of the ice cream:

velvety smooth

Spiced Applesauce Cake with Cinnamon Cream Cheese Frosting

This dessert isn't particularly summery but I had a large jar of applesauce from the CSA that I wanted to put to use so I made this applesauce cake with it. I also cheated on my self-imposed "use little to no butter" rule as this recipe calls for a whole stick of butter for the cake part, as well as three additional tablespoons for the icing. But! It was totally worth it; these are fluffy-light and delicious. I ended up making muffins instead of a full cake. The spices - ginger, cinnamon and cloves - really come through nicely so there is a well-rounded flavor between the applesauce, the spices and the cream cheese icing. I topped some of the muffins with sliced almonds. The other substitution I made was to use rosewater instead of vanilla extract for the batter and the icing, since I had run out of vanilla. These would also be excellent without the icing but I was feeling a little extravagant; calories be damned.

Mexican Lime Icebox Cake

I have many good things to say about this dessert. First of all, it's hands down one of the most delicious desserts I've ever made. Secondly, it is also the easiest dessert I've ever made (No cooking! Only four ingredients!), and since you don't need to cook anything it makes for a perfect summertime treat. Third, it is exotic enough to impress your friends and family without being too "try-hard." I'm biased: I love key lime pie so any lime-based dessert will pique my interest. Topping it with strawberry slices just pushes it to the next level. Strawberry and lime makes for a great combo, where the sweet strawberries cut the tart lime flavor. Can't wait to make this one again. It's my new favorite.

Roasted Banana Cupcakes with Honey Cinnamon Frosting

Alice turned 1 yesterday! We didn't plan an elaborate celebration but since we gave Elena cupcakes on her 1st birthday, we wanted to continue the tradition for Alice. I was just going to make a basic vanilla cupcake, but while I was flipping through my Martha Stewart "Cupcakes" book I found this recipe for roasted banana cupcakes. Alice LOVES bananas, more so than Elena ever did, and she inhales one for breakfast every morning (one morning I came down late and fed her one, only to find out that Eric had already given her one. This tiny child polished off two whole bananas!). I think we can safely say bananas are her favorite food. I made the recipe exactly as Martha instructed - except I used almond extract instead of vanilla - and I even busted out my pastry bag for the frosting:

                                     

Now, let me just say that I have never jumped on all the cupcake hype in recent years. Who doesn't love cupcakes? That would be me. I am not a fan of cakes or icing in general - I prefer pie! But these cupcakes and the accompanying honey cinnamon icing? Oh my gosh they were delicious. The cupcakes were the perfect fluffy-moist consistency and the icing was so light, like an airy buttercream cloud. I could see myself having cravings for these! All of us loved them - except for the birthday girl! haha. I guess she'll stick to plain bananas for now :)

Lemon Yogurt Anything Cake

This was absolutely YUM. Light, lemony and paired perfectly with the berries. I used a frozen mix of blueberries, blackberries and raspberries. I also used olive oil instead of vegetable. I think I will be making this often! Link here.

(I have a photo of my cake, but even the terrible iPhone photography that I have been plastering all over this blog is no match for how bad this photo came out. So I will spare myself the embarrassment!)

But the cake really was excellent.

Chocolate Chip Muesli Cookies

My recipe inspiration comes from many places: this is a recipe I found printed on the side of a Bob's Red Mill  package of muesli. Their muesli is the best. The recipe is found on their website (but is missing an ingredient). So I will include what I used below, with my alterations based on the ingredients I had on hand.

The cookies scream "healthy." And they are pretty good but the texture is weird. They are springy and chewy but not too moist, which is strange because the applesauce made for a runny batter that I thought would result in a moister cookie.

1 cup cake flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
2/3 cup applesauce
Scant 1/2 cup sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla
1 egg
1 cup Bob's Red Mill muesli
3/4 cup chocolate chips

Heat oven to 375. Blend applesauce, sugar and vanilla together. Beat in egg. Add flour, baking soda and salt and mix till incorporated. Stir in muesli and chocolate chips. Drop by spoonfuls onto greased cookie sheet and bake for 10-12 minutes. Makes 20 cookies.

                                  

Almond Joys

It was Eric's birthday last week. He's not a huge fan of desserts but there are a few things he absolutely loves: turtle bars. Coffee cake. And these homemade almond joys from a great recipe book that I got a few years ago by Karen Solomon, "Jam It, Pickle It, Cure It". So instead of a birthday cake he got these. And he was happy :)

They are incredibly rich and decadent. But very messy to make and to eat. I always make the mistake of making them slightly too large. I have to remember to make them smaller next time.


2 egg whites
Scant 1/2 cup sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp salt
2 cups flaked coconut
24 almonds (you could use roasted and salted or plain; I've used both before and either type is good)
2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips
Additional salt to sprinkle on top of chocolate (optional; but delicious)

Preheat oven to 350. Prepare a cookie sheet with a thin coating of oil.

Combine egg whites, sugar, vanilla and salt in a bowl and mix with a fork till incorporated. Fold in the coconut.

Spoon about 2 tablespoons of batter into your hand and form into a 1 1/2" log. Press two almonds on top of the log and place on the prepared cookie sheet.

Bake for 15 minutes or until bars are brown at edges. Let cool completely on a wire rack.

To coat bars: heat chocolate in a microwave or a double boiler. Using two forks, drop bar into the melted chocolate and coat lightly on all sides. Transfer to a sheet of waxed paper to cool completely.

                                              

Barefoot Contessa's Old-fashioned Banana Cake

I used up three ripe bananas to make this cake which I altered a bit according to the ingredients I had on hand. Namely, I only used 1/2 cup white sugar, yogurt instead of sour cream, cake flour instead of all-purpose, olive oil instead of vegetable, and then I added about 1/2 cup chopped chocolate and 1/2 cup sliced almonds, and did not frost the cake. 

Since it's not frosted, the chocolate and almonds add a welcome crunch and extra flavor. It's a nice alternative to the banana bread I usually make (posted about back in December). It's tasty and moist as-is but frosting would make it pretty decadent. 

Pecan, Oat and Dark Chocolate Chunk Cookies

In Martha Stewart Living's May issue, there are some recipes for non-sweet "healthy" desserts, including these pecan, oat, and chocolate chunk cookies that I made over the weekend. There is no sugar, no flour, no butter and no eggs in these cookies; instead, the recipe calls for pecan flour (made by pulsing pecans in the food processor), maple syrup and olive oil. For flavoring, I used almond extract instead of vanilla. The batter of these cookies worried me - it seemed way too crumby to form a cookie at all. I think I may have needed to pulse the pecans finer than I did. I ended up pulsing about 1/2 cup of oats to make oat flour, and adding that to the batter in hopes of making it all stick together better. I couldn't really tell if it helped though.

Amazingly, the cookies did "stick" together during the cooking process, but they were very, very crumbly out of the oven. They pretty much fall apart when I pick one up. If I had the foresight to save all of the cookie crumbs, they would make an amazing topping for ice cream or yogurt. But I didn't do that :)

The flavor is just about everything I love in a snack: the perfect combination of being barely sweet, slightly salty, and pleasantly nutty. I think the almond extract enhanced the nuttiness to the perfect degree. Snacking on these cookies feels virtuous, not indulgent, but since they are so delicate I have to pack them in a tupperware to bring them to work

dark photo, but a delicious crumbly cookie

Roasted Strawberry Ice Cream

It was waayyyy too hot to bake something this weekend. So I made ice cream instead, using this Strawberry Buttermilk recipe (minus the buttermilk) from Jeni Britton Bauer's book. I'd made this ice cream previously with the buttermilk, but since I didn't have any this time around, I just upped the pureed strawberry content to 3/4 cup. It worked out great.

I got my ice cream maker at my wedding shower. It wasn't on my registry; I didn't even think I'd use it that much. But it has become one of my favorite, most indispensable kitchen gadgets. I have made all different kinds of ice creams, frozen yogurts and sorbets. It's fun to experiment with different flavors, and really comes in handy in the hotter months when I want to make a dessert but don't want to turn on the oven.

I have plastic pint containers (also by Jeni's) that I purchased at a Jeni's shop in Columbus, Ohio one summer when we were driving through on our way to Indianapolis. They are reusable, which is great, but I fear I am down to my last two pints (!) so I might have to restock next time we're in Columbus. This ice cream recipe fills two pint containers.

creamy and delicious

Blackberry custard cake

Before I even got a copy of her cookbook, the thing that really got me interested in Dorie Greenspan was watching this video of her making a delicious looking apple cake in October, aka apple season. Several months later, while searching for some snacks to add to my "to cook" list, I came upon a similar recipe of hers for custardy apple squares. It hit all the right notes: semi-healthy (fruit!) not too sugary or buttery, and sounded pretty quick to make. However, I was not in the mood for apples. The blurb before the recipe even describes them as "autumnal." I figured swapping the apples for berries would work, and would make for a more seasonally appropriate treat. I considered strawberries, blueberries and raspberries - even thought about mixing a bunch of different berries together - but the blackberries looked the tastiest. I bought a 12oz package, and ended up putting the whole lot in, since I figured three medium applies - which is what the recipe calls for - might equal about 12oz. It was fine, but if there was a slightly smaller package would have been even better to get to taste more of the cake.

I tried this cake right out of the oven, and it didn't really wow me. But by the next morning, it was incredible. The berries were almost sandwiched in between layers of custardy cake, and the vanilla flavor mixed really nicely with the berries. I think any type of berry, or a mix of berries, would work well here. I think you could even use coconut flour, coconut oil, coconut milk and shredded coconut to make a more tropical version.

I usually make a snack on the weekend to be able to bring to work at least for part of the week. This cake was gone within 24 hours of making it - it was that good! And Eric, who usually does not have a sweet tooth, said it was delicious. I will have to make this one again.

About 30 minutes out of the oven...halfway gone

Pecan-crusted oat flour genoise

A visit from an old friend is the perfect opportunity to test out a new dessert, so with Meg coming to spend a few days with us last weekend, I made this pecan-crusted genoise cake to have on hand for snacking. It was best still warm from the oven on Friday, but by the time the cake was finished on Tuesday it had lost some of it's luster. This cake was light, barely sweet and nutty, however, I felt it was lacking something. If I make this again I might use almond extract instead of vanilla. Maybe even use a bit of almond meal along with the oat flour. Someone in the comments section at the link suggested using cinnamon, cardamom and orange zest in the batter which also sounds good. It definitely needs a little spicing up to make it an extraordinary dessert.



              

Far Breton and homemade butterscotch sauce

In keeping with my commitment to using less butter in my recipes for the next few months, I searched for a dessert that was different from the cookies, breads and muffins that I have been posting about lately. I knew I found the perfect thing when I read about this Far Breton custard recipe on David Lebovitz's site. It checked all of my boxes: very little butter (1/2 stick) and sugar (1/2 cup) and it was a little unusual but still seemed pretty simple to make. (It was actually ridiculously quick and easy to make!) I prepped everything the night before I cooked it, per David's instructions, which took all of 20 minutes. Instead of using alcohol I steeped the prunes in Earl Grey tea, sweetened with a few tablespoons of sugar and a splash of rosewater.

David says to cook it in a 10" baking dish. I used a 9 x 13" glass Pyrex. Instead of scattering the prunes, I laid 15 of them in rows - 5 across, 3 down - so the cut custard would have one prune per bite, which I think worked really nicely. That meant that I have lots of extra prunes leftover: this morning I stirred some in my oatmeal and I think they'd be tasty in a bowl of plain Greek yogurt. This was an amazing dessert: so light and custard-y, full of vanilla flavor, exotic enough to seem complicated but was actually one of the easiest desserts I have ever made - with very little to clean up (Bonus!). My mom, brother, husband and two neighbors tried it and everyone agreed it was delicious.

In spite of my terrible photo: this was amazing

Sunday was warm day, and since the Far Breton was mostly eaten already, we all were craving a little ice cream after dinner. Mom offered to go to the store to pick some up, so while she was out, I threw together Smitten Kitchen's Butterscotch Sauce. It, too, is very quick and easy to make: I had it ready and cooling on the counter before mom got back with the ice cream. It's great because you can customize the saltiness level, and I like mine pretty salty. I doubled the recipe and sent mom home with a jar of it. It's one of those good recipes to keep in the back of your mind to throw together on a whim. I realize I totally broke my "less butter" rule with this one, but since you only use a little drizzle on a bowl of ice cream, I think I am still sort of in the parameters of my self-imposed butter ban :)

Blue Sky (not quite) Bran Muffins

I recently passed my six month anniversary of keeping this blog archive! I am proud for documenting my snacks on a weekly basis and getting to try a lot of tasty new goodies. However, I just looked back in my archives and did the math: in the past six months I have used over EIGHT POUNDS of butter! Taking that into consideration, as well as impending bikini season, I have decided to focus the next six months on making snacks with very little or no butter at all. I'll save my Barefoot Contessa buttery baking habits for next year's holiday season :)

My first butter-free endeavor was a tasty success, and I will definitely be putting this recipe on regular rotation. I made these delicious muffins that I have been meaning to try since Deb posted about them last year. I used olive oil for the fat, and where she calls for 1 1/2 wheat bran, I used 1/2 cup of almond meal and 1 cup of pulverized oats (this is a substitution that she suggests in the recipe). For the fruit, I used a Dole frozen fruit mix that had cherries, blueberries, raspberries and blackberries in it.

                                        

Chocolate Bark and Perfect Chocolate Cake

There are many reasons to love chocolate bark. Not only is it super easy to make and very tasty, but also it's endlessly adaptable: you can make a huge batch, or a half-batch, and you can throw in any ingredients you have on hand. I have made this white chocolate version a few times, from Ina Garten's "How Easy is That?" cookbook, and Martha Stewart has several innovative versions on her website. I only had 8oz of semi-sweet Baker's chocolate on hand, so my batch was a little smaller. I stirred in a little espresso powder, since many of the other recipes I read included bittersweet chocolate, so I wanted to cut the sweetness with something. I keep it in the fridge and it's nice to nibble on if I feel like having a little chocolate. 

8oz semi-sweet Baker's chocolate
1 tblsp espresso powder
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
1/4 cup shredded coconut

Line a cookie sheet with parchment. Melt chocolate in double boiler. Stir in espresso powder. Spread an even layer on the parchment. Sprinkle coconut on top, and press walnut pieces in the chocolate. Refrigerate for 20 minutes. Break into pieces and enjoy!


            



I also made another chocolate dessert this week: a cake for Elena's 3rd birthday! In the weeks leading up to her birthday she requested chocolate cake several times, and earlier this week, this Perfect Chocolate Cake recipe was published on Food52. I had all the ingredients on hand already, which is always a plus, so I gave it a try. My variations: I used a 9 x 13" pan since I don't have two round cake pans. I stirred 1 heaping tsp of espresso powder into the batter, and I reduced the cooking time; it was done in 20 minutes. I defrosted this cream cheese frosting that I had made at Christmastime and mixed it with a little yellow food coloring - for Spring! The cake was indeed perfect: chocolate-y (but not too sweet), moist, and paired great with the frosting. The two small areas where the cake is exposed at the top of the photo are where Elena took licks of the frosting. She loved it!

Chai Tea Mini Cupcakes

This is a recipe from Martha Stewart's Cupcakes book that I have been meaning to try for a while. Since they make so many, I never really had the right occasion for them until this past week, when I brought them into the office to share with my co-workers. They were tasty but I didn't necessarily associate their flavor with chai tea. But an interesting twist on traditional cupcakes, for sure.

Cupcakes:
3/4 cup milk
2 bags black tea
1 cup all purpose flour
1 cup cake flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 tsp coarse salt
1 heaping tsp garam masala
4 tablespoons unsalted butter, room temp
3/4 packed dark brown sugar
2 large egss, room temp

Preheat oven to 350. Line mini muffin tins with paper liners (I used 1 mini muffin tin, and 6 regular-sized muffins). Bring milk to simmer over medium heat, add tea bags and let steep for 15 minutes. Remove bags, squeezing over pan, and discard. Cool milk completely. Whisk together both flours, baking soda, salt, and spices.

Cream butter and brown sugar until pale and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating until incorporated, scraping sides of bowl as needed. Reduce speed to low and add flour mixture in three batches, alternating with two additions of tea-infused milk. Beat just until combined.

Divide batter evenly among cups, filling each 3/4 full. Bake, rotating tins halfway through, until tops spring back when lightly touched and are pale golden in color, 10-12 minutes. Cool completely un wire racks before dipping the top of each cupcake in the icing.

Condensed Milk Icing: 4 tablespoons unsalted butter, room temp
1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons sweetened condensed milk
Pinch of coarse salt
3/4 cup confectioner's sugar 

Whisk together butter, condensed milk, and salt until smooth, whisk in confectioner's sugar 1/4 cup at a time until combined. Use immediately. I colored my icing with 6 drops of red food coloring, aiming for a light pink color but got more of a Pepto pink instead. Should have only used half that amount! 

Peter Hunt's Blueberry Muffins

The very first vacation I went on with Eric was to Cape Cod. We stayed in Wellfleet, and had a lovely - albeit rainy and unseasonably cool - time cycling on the bike paths, eating our weight in fried seafood, exploring Provincetown and stopping at every little bookstore that we found along the way. I can't remember exactly where I found this little cookbook by Peter Hunt, but I was drawn to the charming illustrations, Hunt's folksy tone, and the picture he painted of his social circle and culinary adventures on the Cape in 1940s-50s (the book was published in 1954). He includes many traditional Portuguese recipes - there was a large and thriving Portuguese fishing community in Provincetown - "Old New England" recipes, and what I imagine to be "Cape-centric" recipes which include a lot of fresh fruits that grow on the Cape, like strawberries, beach plums and of course, blueberries. 

               

                                                   

This is a very simple recipe that is probably delicious as-is, but that I altered because I wanted to use up some different flours I had on hand. I am sure if I had access to a basket of sun-warmed Cape blueberries these would be really incredible, but I had to make due with a combination of fresh and frozen blueberries (both from Trader Joes, though the "fresh" blueberries there are really not that great). I used a cup of blueberries as Hunt instructs, but as you can see from the finished result, the blueberry-to-batter ratio seems a little scant. When I try these again, I might up the blueberry content to 1 1/2-2 cups if I can. These muffins are very light, fluffy, and tasty. 

2 cups flour (PH calls for pastry flour. I used a combination: 1 cup all purpose flour, 1/2 cup pastry flour, 1/2 cup almond meal)

3 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt

1/2 cup sugar

2 eggs

3/4 cup milk 

4 tablespoons melted butter 

1 tsp almond extract

1 cup blueberries

Preheat oven to 400. Mix and sift dry ingredients. Stir eggs, milk, butter, almond extract and blueberries together, and mix with flour mixture. Spoon into muffin tins. Bake for 15 minutes.