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!