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.