Posted by Lucy Baker, August 29, 2008 at 1:45 PM
Been wondering all week about the gooey, nut-studded, fudge-drenched dessert on the cover of Chocolate Epiphany? It's a flourless milk chocolate cake with grapefruit and hazelnuts.
The recipe is simple to prepare and yields extraordinary results. The mild milk chocolate allows the tart grapefruit and toasty hazelnut flavors to really shine through, plus it provides an intriguing contrast of textures in every bite. Making your own candied grapefruit is worth the extra effort, but in a pinch, the store-bought kind will do. Skip the milk chocolate sauce, and this cake is perfect for transporting you to an afternoon tea party.
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In addition to excerpting a recipe from Chocolate Epiphany each day this week, we're also giving away five (5) copies of the book. Enter to win here.
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Posted by Lucy Baker, August 28, 2008 at 3:15 PM
Who knew that trying to find apple cider in August would be like searching for fresh watermelon in February? Earlier this week, with my heart set on making this delicious scallop dish, I went to one farm stand and three supermarkets—and sent my boyfriend to two more—before finally procuring a bottle of cider at the specialty organic store Key Food on Flatbush Avenue in Brooklyn.
The only problem? It was a huge, gallon-sized bottle, and all I needed was a single cup. What to do with the leftovers? Make ice cream, of course! Specifically the apple cider ice cream from A is for Apple by Greg Patent and Dorothy Hinshaw Patent, which is one of my all-time favorite cookbooks. The recipes are simple and never fail to yield superb results; from the moist, low-fat cinnamon apple cake to the hearty apple cider-marinated beef short ribs.
I followed the recipe exactly, except for the last-minute addition of three tablespoons of Applejack (the liqueur made from concentrated hard cider) simply because I had some on-hand. The results were sensational—creamy, apply, and delicately spiced with the flavors of cinnamon and brandy. If you don't have an ice cream maker, Greg and Dorothy note that the caramel custard base is a delectable sauce in its own right, spooned over berries, crumbles, or fruit pies.
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Posted by Lucy Baker, August 28, 2008 at 1:15 PM
Today's Cook the Book recipe for chocolate sticky toffee pudding puts a multinational spin on a traditional British dessert. French pastry chef François Payard adds Dutch-processed cocoa powder and semisweet chocolate chips to the sponge cakes, and Irish cream liqueur to the sauce.
These individual puddings make ideal dinner party desserts. Not only are they perfect for a crowd (the recipe serves fifteen), but they can be prepared up to two weeks in advance and stored, tightly wrapped, in the freezer. Spoon the whipped cream on at the last minute. It will melt into the warm, fudgy pudding.
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In addition to excerpting a recipe from Chocolate Epiphany each day this week, we're also giving away five (5) copies of the book. Enter to win here.
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Posted by Lucy Baker, August 27, 2008 at 12:00 PM
The following recipe is from the August 27th edition of our weekly recipe newsletter. To receive this newsletter in your inbox, sign up here!
Revered pastry chef and author François Payard notes that, "while not specifically low in fat," you can make this recipe for coffee & chocolate panna cotta with skim milk for a healthier alternative. The apricot preserves serve as a surprisingly delicious garnish.
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Posted by Lucy Baker, August 26, 2008 at 1:30 PM
Almost everyone is a chocolate lover. But recently, more and more people are making the leap to chocolate connoisseur. This new breed of aficionado is interested in more than milk vs. semisweet, Scharffen Berger vs. Callebaut. They want to know the math—specifically, the ratio of cacoa to other ingredients in their beloved bars.
To that end, François Payard, author of this week's Cook the Book selection, Chocolate Epiphany, specifies certain percentages of chocolate with each recipe, instead of calling for "unsweetened" or "bittersweet."
Here is a simple guide:
38-40% = milk
50% = semisweet
60% = bittersweet
72% = extra bittersweet
99-100% = unsweetened
Today's recipe for Charlie's Chocolate Pudding Cake calls for 50 percent, or bittersweet, chocolate, which François notes is best for ganaches and fillings. Indeed, this dessert is about as rich as they come. Since it is baked in a water bath, it retains a molten, pudding-like center. Then in the final stages, it is coated in a rich, fudgy glaze that imparts an impressive shine.
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In addition to excerpting a recipe from Chocolate Epiphany each day this week, we're also giving away five (5) copies of the book. Enter to win here.
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Posted by Lucy Baker, August 20, 2008 at 12:00 PM
The following recipe is from the August 20th edition of our weekly recipe newsletter. To receive this newsletter in your inbox, sign up here!
School is starting soon, and early in the evening there is an ever-so-slight nip in the air. It may almost be fall, but there's still plenty of summer left. Straddle the two seasons by preparing this week's recipe for grill-baked gingerbread apples, which combines crisp autumnal apples with everyone's favorite warm-weather cooking technique: grilling.
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Posted by Joshua Bousel, August 15, 2008 at 7:30 PM
For all my love of raspberries, I rarely cook with them—their cost gets in the way. So it was a joy to see a huge sale sign above six remaining boxes of raspberries on a recent trip to the grocery store, marking the end of the short raspberry season when prices drop dramatically. I quickly bought all that were left on the shelf and started cooking with them at home.
Almost all of these went into an excellent raspberry sherbet. The leftovers got pureed into a syrup to top peaches, perhaps the greatest of grilled fruits. After one taste of the sauce, the bright flavor of the raspberries had me rushing to the grill to take care of the peaches, expediting this tasty union.
Peaches grilled and sauced, I thought I'd be in heaven, but was surprisingly left in purgatory. Something was sorely missing—and that was vanilla ice cream. With none on hand, I went for the next best thing: heavy cream whipped with sugar and vanilla to dollop on the peaches. Suddenly, all was right in the universe.
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Posted by Amanda Clarke, August 14, 2008 at 7:30 PM
While visiting Milan in the spring, I tried something I had never tried before: a carrot-yogurt tart. With its tender, nutty crust and tangy, cheesecake-like yogurt filling, topped with toothsome, barely cooked shredded carrots, the tart was a study in textures. Plus the subtle, complementary flavors tread the line between sweet and savory. I filed the idea away, vowing to play with it once I returned to my own kitchen.
In the midst of catching up and getting settled back into life after the trip, the tart quickly fell out of my thoughts. Then, while taste-testing a buttermilk tart recipe intended to accompany spiced plums, the carrot-yogurt tart came rushing back to me. This one had the light, creamy, mildly tart filling and fragrant, nutty, cereal-based crust—all that was missing were the carrots.
Plums aside, it was full speed ahead with the carrots from then on, and I’m quite pleased with the results. With all the textural interest of the original, this carrot-buttermilk tart is more assertively flavored than its mild, bordering-on-bland inspiration, falling more definitively into the dessert realm. That said, I wouldn’t think twice about having a nice wedge for breakfast.
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Posted by Lucy Baker, August 14, 2008 at 5:45 PM
Although I never had a backyard pool as a kid, I spent many a hot summer afternoon in my neighbor's pool practicing somersaults, backflips, and cannonballs. All that swimming certainly worked up an appetite. My favorite post-pool treat? A Creamsicle. I loved how the tart, icy orange shell contrasted with the sweet, velvety filling.
Though I've long since given up water gymnastics in favor of lounging on an inflatable raft—with sunglasses on and beer in hand—I still adore the slightly unconventional combination of citrus and cream. This week, I decided to make my own adult version of the classic frozen pop.
There are many wonderful frozen ice cream, juice, and yogurt pops in Pichet Ong's uncanny cookbook, The Sweet Spot: Asian Inspired Desserts, including one for lemon cream pops. With only five ingredients (and all of them super cheap) it seemed like the perfect base for building my own rendition: just simmer milk, cream, sugar, and a pinch of salt, then add lemon juice and zest.
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Posted by Amanda Clarke, August 6, 2008 at 7:00 PM
I love corn. When it’s in season, I sneak fresh sweet corn into every meal that I can. Before it goes out of season, I cut a bunch off of the cob to keep in the freezer, and when that runs out, I content my urges with store-bought frozen or canned. I eat the fresh stuff straight off the cob or use the stripped kernels of all varieties in quesadillas, salsas, salads, soups, stuffings, casseroles and pastas. I even enjoy corn in desserts, but it wasn’t always that way.
My first encounter with corn in a sweet context came perhaps 20 years ago, in the form of pancakes—delicate, fresh kernels had been folded into the batter before it was dolloped into a skillet of hot bacon fat. I was appalled: not at the bacon grease (even then I inherently understood that just about everything could be elevated by association with bacon), but at the corn.
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Posted by Robyn Lee, August 6, 2008 at 12:00 PM
The following recipe is from the August 6th edition of our weekly recipe newsletter. To receive this newsletter in your inbox, sign up here!
This week's recipe is for grilled nectarines with maple crème fraîche. The fresh berries make for an extra-stunning presentation.
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Posted by Lucy Baker, August 1, 2008 at 1:00 PM
To my mind, the only way to make a homemade pie even better is by smothering the top with a thick layer of sweet meringue. Patty Pinner, author of this week's Cook the Book selection, Sweetie Pies, agrees. In the final chapter of her cookbook she draws a parallel between women getting dressed up ("a silk scarf tied ever so nicely, just enough bangles on the arm to send out the right chime, a striking fragrance to draw out the inner beauty") and decorating pies:
"Sometimes all you need are a few lustrous trimmings to help you get your groove back...the same goes for pies. Sometimes you can change the entire appearance and taste of a pie simply by embellishing it with a little meringue top."
Today's recipe is for Daddy's Mother's Blueberry Meringue Pie. A syrupy mixture of blueberries, lemon, and cinnamon is poured into a flaky pie crust, dotted with butter, and briefly baked before being covered with a thick cloud of sugary meringue. Could there be a more perfect summer dessert? I don't think so.
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Posted by Lucy Baker, July 30, 2008 at 12:00 PM
The following recipe is from the July 30th edition of our weekly recipe newsletter. To receive this newsletter in your inbox, sign up here!
Susan Howell's banana coconut tarts are great for a crowd. The recipe yields twelve tarts, and can be prepared in a mini tart or muffin tin. Plus, the rich, tropical flavors are perfect for late summer celebrations.
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Posted by Lucy Baker, July 29, 2008 at 11:00 AM
On a recent vacation to Ithaca, New York, I sampled some of the flavors at Purity Ice Cream, a local parlor that has been serving scoops since 1936. Normally I'm pretty decisive when it comes to placing my order, but this time, as the line snaked forward and my turn approached, I found myself at an unexpected loss. There were so many flavors and add-ins—a dizzying array of ripples and swirls, chips and chunks as far as the eye could see. One kind even involved tiny chocolate cows!
In the end I settled on the appropriately named Finger Lakes Tourist, which consisted of chocolate ice cream studded with white chocolate chunks and toasted hazelnuts. It was delicious, but as I savored my cone I found myself wondering: whatever happened to the original, most basic form of chocolate chip ice cream?
In Italian, stracciatella literally means "torn apart." The eponymous gelato flavor is chocolate chip ice cream in its purest form: vanilla with fine chocolate shavings. The shavings melt in your mouth along with the ice cream, resulting in a very smooth taste unlike that of American chocolate chip ice creams, which often involve pieces of chocolate the size of small coins.
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Posted by Lucy Baker, July 28, 2008 at 1:15 PM
More than 35 years ago Joyce Carol, a friend of cookbook author Patty Pinner's mother, entered this Black and Blue Pie in a local baking contest, where it was chosen as first runner-up. According to Joyce Carol, it would have won first place if the judge's favorite niece wasn't also a contestant.
Of course I wasn't there, but it’s hard to believe anything could top this simple, summery combination of blueberries and blackberries, lightly spiced with cloves, nutmeg, and vanilla. This is the kind of pie to enjoy for dessert, warm and straight from the oven, and then again, the next morning for breakfast.
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Don't forget: in addition to excerpting recipes, we're giving away five (5) copies of the book. Enter to win here.
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Posted by Amanda Clarke, July 23, 2008 at 3:30 PM
Anybody who has eaten in a contemporary Italian restaurant is likely to be familiar with the tasty simplicity that is bruschetta. It's little more than toasted slices of bread topped with flavorful combinations of whatever beans, vegetables, herbs, and cheeses suit the mood or happen to be on hand. For Italian chefs and home cooks alike, bruschetta is an easy and infinitely versatile preparation for delicious canapés, appetizers and accompaniments that look attractive without being expensive. By substituting pound cake for the bread and crowning it with sweeter, fruit-based mixtures, you have bruschetta dolce. It's a a fantastic opportunity to take advantage of beautiful summer fruits and the residual heat of the grill, and it makes the ideal finale to your next summer barbecue.
What to Put on Your Bruschetta
Although it's not a classic Italian preparation, bruschetta dolce is nonetheless at its best when prepared according to the basic tenets of classic Italian cooking—freshness, flavor and simplicity. Select only one or two key flavors, perhaps a perfectly fresh fruit and a creamy, mild cheese, and then choose a few simple accents, like toasted nuts or fresh herbs, that will enhance and round out the base flavors and textures. Bear in mind that the same tricks used to make simple savory bruschette so satisfying apply just as well to bruschetta dolce, so don’t be afraid to use them. Add smoothness and aroma with a drizzle of spicy olive oil; bring out overall flavors with a pinch of salt; make fruit flavors stand out against rich, fatty backgrounds with a dose of citrus juice or a complementary vinegar.
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Posted by Robin Bellinger, July 18, 2008 at 2:30 PM
Here’s a confession: until recently I did not really understand the appeal of pie. As a child I didn’t care for things that were crisp and buttery, like shortbread and crust, and that was that. In the past few years, however, I started eating pie when politeness required me to, and soon saw that perhaps this dessert had something to offer (although it was still no cake, cookie, or ice cream in my book). My first successful homemade pie, baked to celebrate this past fourth of July, completed my conversion to enthusiastic pie-eater.
I had had good luck in the past with shortbread-type crusts for Frenchified tarts, but one or two previous attempts at American-style flaky crust had disappointed me. In the end, the pie crust that brought me around is the one my mother has used for years. Every Thanksgiving, convinced that I did not like crust, I would eviscerate her apple pie and pass the empty shell with its beautiful brown flaky-but-tender top edge on to my grateful father. Oh, the years I missed out on this crust! I won’t dwell on it now—I will simply bake more pies. This recipe is so fast, easy, and delicious I can’t imagine ever needing to track down another.
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Posted by Lucy Baker, July 16, 2008 at 12:00 PM
The following recipe is from the July 16th edition of our weekly recipe newsletter. To receive this newsletter in your inbox, sign up here!
There are the dainty French macaroons perfect for afternoon tea and sandwiches. Then there are the chewy, dense, coconut bombs of New York deli fame "sweet enough to wake you up from a stupor induced by bagels and lox." This recipe for vanilla-coconut macaroons, excerpted from The Food Life, is for the latter.
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Posted by Lucy Baker, July 10, 2008 at 11:30 AM
- makes 1 1/2 quarts -
Loosely adapted from a recipe by Gale Gand.
Don't know what to pair this ice cream with? Read my recommendations along with other à la mode alternatives.
Ingredients
2 cups whole milk
2 cups heavy cream
1/2 a vanilla bean
1 cinnamon stick
3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
5 large egg yolks
3/4 cup sugar
Procedure
1. Combine the milk, cream, vanilla bean, cinnamon stick, and ground cinnamon in a large saucepan over medium-low heat. Cook, stirring constantly, until just under a boil (you will see bubbles along the edges of the pot and steam rising from the surface). Remove from heat.
2. In a medium bowl, whisk the egg yolks and the sugar until lightened. Slowly add a few tablespoons (no more than a 1/4 cup total) of the hot milk mixture into the yolks, whisking constantly, then add the yolks back to the rest of the milk, whisking constantly.
3. Cook the mixture over medium-low heat until thick enough to coat the back of a spoon (if you run your finger across the spoon in a line it shouldn't drip; a candy thermometer will register 170°F). Be careful not to let it boil.
4. Strain the mixture through a sieve into a bowl. Discard the vanilla bean and the cinnamon stick. Chill until very cold, at least 4 hours or overnight. Freeze in an ice cream maker according to the manufacturer's instructions.
Posted by Lucy Baker, July 10, 2008 at 11:30 AM
- makes about 1 quart -
Adapted from Nightly Specials by Michael Lomonaco.
Don't know what to pair this sorbet with? Read my recommendations along with other à la mode alternatives.
Ingredients
8 ounces sweetened coconut milk
1/2 cup shredded, unsweetened coconut, toasted
Procedure
Combine the coconut milk and 2 cups of water in a large bowl and chill for several hours in the refrigerator until very cold.
Freeze the mixture in an ice cream maker according to the manufacturer's instructions. Stir in the toasted coconut. Keep frozen until ready to serve.
Posted by Lucy Baker, July 10, 2008 at 11:30 AM
- makes about 1 quart -
Don't know what to pair this ice cream with? Read my recommendations along with other à la mode alternatives.
Ingredients
3/4 cup pure maple syrup (grade A)
1 cup whole milk
2 cups heavy cream
pinch of salt
4 large egg yolks
3/4 teaspoon maple extract
Procedure
1. In a medium saucepan over moderately high heat, boil the maple syrup until reduced slightly, about 5 minutes. Lower the heat and stir in the milk, cream, and salt. Cook until just under a boil (you will see bubbles along the edges of the pot and steam rising from the surface). Remove from heat.
2. In a medium bowl, whisk the egg yolks until lightened. Slowly add a few tablespoons (no more than a 1/4 cup total) of the hot milk mixture into the yolks, whisking constantly, then add the yolks back to the rest of the milk, whisking constantly.
3. Cook the mixture over medium-low heat until thick enough to coat the back of a spoon (if you run your finger across the spoon in a line it shouldn't drip; a candy thermometer will register 170°F). Be careful not to let it boil.
4. Strain the mixture through a sieve into a bowl. Add the maple extract. Chill until very cold, at least 4 hours or overnight. Freeze in an ice cream maker according to the manufacturer's instructions.
Posted by Amanda Clarke, July 9, 2008 at 2:45 PM
Originally intended as a simple breakfast to be enjoyed with morning coffee before a hard day’s work, shoo-fly pie is heavy, rich and thoroughly satisfying, best enjoyed in smallish portions.
Because molasses remains the central flavor of this pie, it is important to use one that you like. To my taste, a half-and-half mix of Grandma’s Original molasses, which is mild to the point of tasting like a brown-sugar simple syrup, and Brer Rabbit, which is much more aggressively flavored and rich, works nicely.
Read my feature on shoo-fly pie to learn more about this dessert.
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Posted by Robin Bellinger, July 3, 2008 at 5:45 PM
In her cookbook The Taste of Country Cooking, Edna Lewis says there was always pound cake on special summer occasions to eat with whatever berries and fruit were left over from canning and preserving. This cake is dense and delicious, with a crumb that is slightly heavier and pleasantly chewier than my usual recipe (Rose Levy Beranbaum’s, which melts in your mouth). It has a pleasing soft but dark brown crust. “Oh,” I thought when I tasted it, “this is what Sara Lee pound cake is trying to be.” I mixed it by hand with butter right out of the refrigerator, as she directs, and was delighted by the results.
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Posted by Robin Bellinger, July 3, 2008 at 5:45 PM
When I made Edna Lewis's blueberry cake with blueberry sauce from her cookbook The Taste of Country Cooking I used a 9 x 9 x 2-inch baking pan, and my cake bubbled over a bit; next time I’ll set it atop a baking sheet. I will also drain my blueberries more thoroughly, as this time they were left too liquid. Nevertheless, I thought this was good (even if it was not as mind-blowing as the plain pound cake), and Andrew, who loves blueberries, thought it was extremely tasty. I would love to eat this with vanilla ice cream or whipped cream.
I must confess that I used regular baking powder, but to simulate the Royal Baking Powder called for in the original recipe, combine 2 parts cream of tartar with 1 part baking soda and use the called-for quantity of that mixture.
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Posted by Lucy Baker, July 3, 2008 at 4:50 PM
This week for my magazine recipe review I wanted to tackle a classic, American summer dessert perfect for the 4th of July. Initially, I had my heart set on baking the Red, White, and Blueberry Shortcakes from the July issue of Bon Appétit. What could be more festive or color-appropriate? But after careful consideration I decided against it. While the recipe seems spectacular, it also looks time-consuming and a bit labor-intensive when it comes to assembling and serving the shortcakes. The 4th is all about spending time outside with family and friends, not indoors in a hot kitchen. I wanted to make something as quick and easy as it was delicious.
Nectarine-Raspberry Crisp with Spiced-Oatmeal Crumb Topping, also from the July Bon Appétit, fit the bill. The ingredient list was short and the preparation simple—even the nectarines are left unpeeled. Fruit crisps and crumbles are incredibly homey, comforting, and honest. They also travel well, so if you’re a party guest as opposed to host this Independence Day, a crisp would make a perfect pot-luck dish.
This version turned out unbelievably juicy and syrupy, with just the right balance of sweet and tart flavors. The cardamom in the crumb topping provided an unexpected note of spicy complexity, enlivening the standard cinnamon-oatmeal combination. While it may not consist of flag-inspired hues, this crisp will definitely dazzle—especially when topped with a scoop of vanilla ice cream.
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Posted by Amanda Clarke, July 2, 2008 at 10:45 AM
My paternal grandmother, a no-nonsense mother of seven and grandmother of more, was the master of simple, hardy crowd-feeding fare. Aside from slabs of ice cream—cut thick from half-gallon blocks—the dessert I associate with her most is the plop, a sticky, fruity cake-like concoction.
A less than appetizing moniker, plop is nonetheless illustrative of the dessert’s honest, homey simplicity. I’ve always supposed that the name refers to the fact that one just plops all of the ingredients into the baking pan, but it may also refer to the method of serving the often structureless dish: by plopping heaps of it into bowls or onto plates. Regardless, it’s a dead simple, versatile, delicious crowd pleaser that requires no refrigeration and only gets more moist and tasty in the heat and humidity of a summer’s day, making it just the thing for an informal 4th of July gathering.
Consisting of little more than pancake batter poured over a thick layer of fresh fruit, plops fall somewhere between cobblers and quick breads, sharing territory with dowdies and buckles. And, as with all those dishes, there are no hard and fast rules for making plops.
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Posted by Lucy Baker, June 22, 2008 at 3:00 PM
Ever since I first started baking as a child, I've been searching for a recipe for strawberry cupcakes—perfect, pink confections with the sweet flavor of pure sunshine. There are plenty of versions to be found, but most call for frozen strawberries or strawberry jam. I wanted cupcakes that incorporated actual berries—preferably ones I had plucked from a bush myself from the rows behind my local farm stand. After years of searching to no avail, I had all but given up.
Enter Martha Hall Foose, author of this week's Cook the Book selection, Screen Doors and Sweet Tea. I literally squealed with joy when I turned to page 230 and discovered her recipe for Ponchatoula Strawberry Cupcakes. Not only do the cupcakes call for 1 cup of mashed ripe strawberries but the frosting uses 1/2 cup as well. The results are gorgeous—tender little cakes with a beautiful rosy hue, perfect for any tea or birthday party.
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Posted by Robin Bellinger, June 17, 2008 at 1:45 PM
Last week when I reported that I had been comforted to learn that a woman can nibble and sip during labor, many experienced people spoke up to say that they thought this was a horrible idea. Another (falsely?) comforting thing I learned recently was that during the early phase of labor, while waiting for contractions to get strong and frequent enough to send you to the hospital, you should occupy yourself with calm and pleasant distractions. Suggested activities were walking, napping, having a snack, knitting, and baking; as Andrew said, “This is like a list of your all-time favorite things to do.”
Now I’m wondering if it’s unrealistic to plan on doing some serene baking as my contractions build, whether because I’ll be too hyper or in too much pain. I hope it works out, though, because baking makes me super happy, and I’ve already decided what I want to take to the hospital to share with nurses and visitors: the whole wheat chocolate chip cookies I made for myself a few weeks ago. Unfortunately, I can’t make them again right away for myself; I ate so many I tipped the scales at the doctor’s office, inspiring a mini-lecture about nutrition, and I’m afraid I can’t trust myself to ration them out sensibly. The whole wheat flour definitely doesn’t make them healthy, but it does give them a special taste and chewy texture that I really like. I don’t like a lot of chocolate in my cookies, but if you do, use two cups of chips instead of one.
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Posted by Ed Levine, June 15, 2008 at 1:00 PM
This week's Cartoon Kitchen features Serious Eats' cartoonist in residence Larry Gonick's spin on honey cake. —Ed Levine
Posted by Lucy Baker, June 13, 2008 at 1:30 PM
My dad isn't much of a fruit-and-vegetable kind of guy, but he loves pineapples. Growing up, we always had Dole juice in the fridge, and fresh pineapples ripening on the counter—I learned from an early age that canned rings just wouldn't do.
Today's Cook the Book recipe, excerpted from New South Grilling, is for a perfect Father's Day dessert: Caramelized Pineapple with Pineapple Sherbet. Wedges of fresh pineapple are brushed with melted butter and sugar, then grilled until the flavors are nutty and concentrated and paired with a simple version of sherbet made with sweetened condensed milk.
The best thing about this recipe is that each half stands out on its own. If you don't have a grill, just make the sherbet and serve scoops garnished with fresh mint and sugar cookies. Likewise, if you don’t have an ice cream machine, top the grilled pineapple slices with premium store-bought vanilla.
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Posted by Robin Bellinger, June 13, 2008 at 12:45 PM
I’m about to type a cop-out phrase that I would immediately cut if I were editing someone else’s work: I don’t know if I can find words to express how I feel about strawberry shortcake. What keeps coming to mind is Buddy’s gleeful, innocent enthusiasm in Elf: “Smiling’s my favorite!” Strawberry shortcake’s my favorite, no contest, and I look forward to it all year long. Properly made it offers purer pleasure than any other food I know. It is luxury, it is summer, it is bliss.
Strawberry shortcake is not a towering, gloppy affair, nor should it ever involve Cool Whip, a little boat of grocery store sponge cake, or out-of-season strawberries. It is a biscuit (preferably a cream biscuit) split in half and topped with barely sweetened sliced strawberries and whipped cream. It looks appealingly homey, but its balance of flavors and textures is simply elegant. It melts in your mouth and tastes ambrosial. It’s easy to make and, despite what the cookbooks say, still pretty good the second day. Lindsey Shere’s recipe is a thing of beauty. If you say you don’t like strawberry shortcake, I say either you hate strawberries (and who are you?) or you’ve just never tried the real thing.
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Posted by Leah Greenstein, June 9, 2008 at 4:00 PM
- serves four -
Adapted from The Perfect Scoop by David Lebovitz.
Ingredients
4 cups blackberries
1 cup water
2/3 cup sugar
2 tablespoon rosewater
2 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
3 tablespoon candied ginger, finely chopped
4 ripe peaches, halved
2 tablespoon olive oil
Procedure
1. Puree rinsed blackberries with water, rosewater, and sugar until smooth.
2. Pour blackberry puree through a fine sieve to remove seeds.
3. Stir lemon juice into blackberry puree and then chill mixture down to 45°F.
4. Pour sorbet batter into your ice cream maker, adding ginger pieces just before it's done churning. Using a rubber spatula, scrape the sorbet into an airtight container and freeze 4-6 hours.
5. When sorbet is ready, fire up your grill and brush peach halves with olive oil. Place peaches on grill cut side down and cook until warmed through, about 4 minutes.
6. Plate sorbet and peaches together and enjoy.
Posted by Lucy Baker, June 6, 2008 at 1:30 PM
I recently invested in a tart pan, and have been having all kinds of fun baking delicious desserts with fresh berries, ground almonds, and—of course—lots of butter. It's amazing how the crust's fluted edges really up the impressive factor. The tarts I've been making couldn't be more simple, yet they look bakery-professional.
In The Splendid Table's How to Eat Supper, authors Lynne Rossetto Kasper and Sally Swift include a recipe for a Rustic Jam Shortbread Tart that is incredibly versatile. While the recipe calls for wild blueberry or tart cherry, you could also mix together bits of jam from the bottoms of the jars in your refrigerator. For a tangier version, substitute chutneys, conserves, or marmalades. Add whatever spices or zests inspire you.
When it comes to making the shortbread crust, Lynne and Sally offer this tip: pulse the ingredients in the food processor just until they begin to form small clumps. It's better to stop processing a bit too early than too late.
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Posted by Robin Bellinger, May 30, 2008 at 12:45 PM
If I had to make a lifetime commitment to one dessert, forsaking all others, I would probably choose vanilla ice cream. Maybe we’d spice things up sometimes with caramel sauce or a gingersnap on the side, but my heart would never stray from my pure, cool, fragrant sweetie.
The only trouble with making vanilla ice cream yourself is that the raw ingredients looks so gorgeously wholesome that you are liable to end up convinced the product is good for you. This line of thought will seem more and more reasonable as you near the end of your first bowl and start thinking of a second. But what’s your waistline when true love is at stake?
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Posted by Lucy Baker, May 29, 2008 at 12:45 PM
I love cheesecake, but I rarely eat it because it's such a fat bomb. Have you ever Googled the calorie count for a slice from the Cheesecake Factory? I have, and the results aren't pretty. No wonder the restaurant refuses to post nutrition facts on their website.
While I have a huge sweet tooth and I love to indulge, I'm a firm believer in moderation. And no matter how creamy, sugary, or chocolaty, desserts that have calorie counts in the quadruple digits just aren't worth it. Don't you agree?
Today's Cook the Book recipe, excerpted from Top Chef: The Cookbook, is for Low-Fat Berry Cheesecake. Created by chef Elia Aboumrad in season two, it was part of an entire meal that topped out at less than 500 calories. Health food staples such as a granola and flax cereal are combined with low-fat yogurt and cream cheese, and topped with sun-ripe berries and fresh mint. Trust me—you won't even miss the fat.
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Posted by Lucy Baker, May 28, 2008 at 12:00 PM
The following recipe is from the May 28th edition of our weekly recipe newsletter. To receive this newsletter in your inbox, sign up here!
In the second season of Top Chef, contestant Cliff Crooks created an everything-but-the-kitchen-sink ice cream flavor that included chocolate cookie crumbs, marshmallows, graham crackers, and slivered almonds. All you need to add is the cherry on top.
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Posted by The Serious Eats Team, May 22, 2008 at 2:00 PM
This brownie was created by Brooks Headley, executive pastry chef at Del Posto in New York City. If you don't want to splurge on the aceto balsamico tradizionale, you can try reducing a supermarket balsamic vinegar in a nonreactive saucepan. Just be careful in the reduction—let it go too long, and your saucepan is toast. Here's the recipe's backstory »
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Posted by Lucy Baker, May 22, 2008 at 10:00 AM
Growing up, Fudgsicles were always my favorite ice cream truck treat. Sure, Rocket Pops were fun because they dyed your tongue blue, and Creamsicles were cool because they were almost like two desserts in one, but nothing was quite as deliciously drippy as a frozen chocolate pop. I loved peeling off the wax-paper wrapper and taking that first lick, the way the Fudgsicle dissolved from ice to cream in my mouth. Long after I was finished, I would chew the stick like a giant toothpick, hoping for just one more taste.
Recently, I got to thinking: How hard could it be to make my own fudge pops?
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Posted by Robin Bellinger, May 21, 2008 at 2:15 PM
- serves 4 to 6 -
Adapted from Entertaining by Martha Stewart.
This delicious dessert reminds me of an unbaked cheesecake. If you don’t have coeur à la crème molds, you might try spooning the mixture into a strainer lined with cheesecloth and setting the strainer over a bowl overnight. To serve, unmold as a dome or simply scoop out individual portions. I modified this recipe a lot, making the cheese mixture much sweeter and the strawberry sauce much less sweet, and these are my measurements below. The vanilla in the cheese mixture is also my addition. However sweet you decide to make the cheese mixture, it really does need the fruit sauce—the combination is much more delicious than the individual parts. This was good, but I must admit that I like Ina Garten’s recipe better.
Ingredients
3/4 pound cottage cheese
8 ounces cream cheese
1/2 cup crème fraîche or sour cream
2 tablespoons powdered sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar, divided
1/2 cup heavy cream
1 teaspoon vanilla
Seeds from 1/2 vanilla bean
1 pound strawberries, hulled
1 small container raspberries
Procedure
1. In the bowl of an electric mixer (I used a handheld mixer), combine the cottage cheese, cream cheese, and crème fraîche. Beat until smooth. Add the powdered sugar and 2 tablespoons granulated sugar. Whip the cream and fold it into the cheese mixture along with the vanilla and vanilla seeds.
2. Line a 3-cup heart mold with cheesecloth, letting the cloth hang over the edges. Spoon the mixture into the lined mold; fold the cheesecloth over the top and put the mold on a tray in the refrigerator overnight.
3. To make the strawberry sauce, mash the strawberries and raspberries. Cook over low flame with the remaining 6 tablespoons sugar until soft. Press through a fine sieve and chill. (I chose to leave the berries unsieved so they would have some texture).
4. To serve, unfold cheesecloth and invert mold on a serving plate. Remove the cheesecloth. Garnish with strawberries and pour some sauce all around. Serve additional sauce in a bowl or pitcher.
Posted by Robyn Lee, May 14, 2008 at 12:00 PM
The following recipe is from the May 14th edition of our weekly recipe newsletter. To receive this newsletter in your inbox, sign up here!
In their Mediterranean cookbook Wine Bar Food, Cathy Mantuano and Tony Mantuano say that ring-shaped honey fritters are the typical fritters of southern Italy, where they're known as scalidi. They're meant to be eaten after being allowed to sit for a few days and soak in the honey.
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Posted by Robin Bellinger, May 13, 2008 at 12:30 PM
Has your baby reached the "papaya" stage? Image from The Nest
Earlier in my pregnancy I kept coming across books and websites that would inform me of baby’s current size by comparing her to a fruit or vegetable. This struck me as very funny, and I kept hoping to find or create a website that laid all those yummy baby sizes out in a week-by-week parade of fruit.
Sure enough, someone had already done it: I discovered this baby/fruit chart at The Nest while conducting my ceaseless research about what infant paraphernalia we actually need and what we can skip. Apparently our baby is now the size of a papaya, soon to move into eggplant territory. Yes, I’m trying to ignore that alarming watermelon looming in the future. Meantime, here is a recipe for papaya sorbet in honor of baby Bellinger.
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Posted by Robin Bellinger, May 11, 2008 at 4:00 PM
For the last year or two I’ve been obsessed with the idea of floating island even though I had never tasted it. It’s an old-fashioned dessert that sounded to me like pure delight: chunks of caramel-drizzled meringue in a puddle of crème anglaise. I’m neutral when it comes to meringue but figured that any dish involving a sea of crème anglaise had to be right for me.
Afraid that my dark-chocolate-loving husband would turn up his nose at the combination of vanilla custard, caramel, and fluff, last week I made it for my family in Houston. Reader, this involved a lot of time standing at the stove patiently stirring and vigilantly watching the candy thermometer. And then the meringues didn’t really succeed. My mother and I dished it up anyway. And?
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Posted by Lucy Baker, May 9, 2008 at 1:30 PM
I saved the best for last. Today's Cook the Book recipe, the final one to be excerpted from Cowgirl Cuisine, is for a deep, dark, incredibly dense Chocolate Whiskey Cake. This is one of my go-to, never-fail dessert recipes: I've made it for a bourbon-loving friend as a going-away present and for my boyfriend on his birthday. Why not make it for my mom on Mother's Day? Served with a mug of spiked coffee, it would be the perfect ending to a special, home-cooked meal.
Spiced with black pepper and cloves, this cake has subtle gingerbread flavors. The whiskey becomes more pronounced if it sits overnight, so it’s a great make-ahead dessert.
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Posted by Lucy Baker, April 29, 2008 at 3:45 PM
Turn this Greek yogurt and honey into a light, creamy dessert.
When it comes to cream-based desserts such as puddings, mousses, and flans, panna cottas have always been my favorite. Add to that Serious Eats' collective obsession with Greek yogurt, and it was easy to choose what to make for this week's magazine recipe review: Yogurt Panna Cottas with Honey from the May issue of Food & Wine.
The recipe was created by Marisa Chruchill, a San Francisco-based pastry chef and cooking instructor, and a former contestant on Top Chef. In her version of the Italian classic, tangy fat-free yogurt replaces the heavy cream. The results are not only decadent and velvety, they're also downright healthy—only 120 calories and a trace of fat per serving.
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Posted by Dorie Greenspan, April 10, 2008 at 1:15 PM
Photograph by Alan Richardson
Here's my go-to cheesecake recipe, a classic that can be varied in almost limitless ways. (I've got 11 variations in my book, Baking: From My Home to Yours, and the only reason I stopped there was that it would have taken way too many pages to keep going.) It's an almost traditional New York Cheesecake—it's missing the lemon, which, of course, you could add—and it's tall and lush and, no surprise, creamy. I usually make it with a graham cracker or chocolate cookie crust, but if you'd like to make this for a Passover meal, you can easily omit the crust or use macaroon crumbs.
You'll see that I use either sour cream or heavy cream in the cake. The sour cream will give you a tangier cheesecake, more New York, I think, while the heavy cream is milder. As long as you keep the measurement at 1 1/3 cups, you can use whatever combo of the two you'd like. You can also add fruits or nuts, swirls of chocolate (melt some chocolate and mix it in with some of the cake batter) or flavor the cake with an extract or oil. Whatever you do, serve something light beforehand—the cake is rich and, even though everyone knows it, people still reach for seconds.
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Posted by Robin Bellinger, April 8, 2008 at 1:00 PM
Last month my mother and I were talking about what babies eat and when during their first year, and she asked me if I was planning to make my own baby food. "Of course I am planning to," I said, “but I understand that things get a little crazy when you're dealing with a baby." My dreams of beautiful little jars of farmer's market vegetables lovingly pureed by mama will, I'm sure, soon be abandoned when mama is not getting the generous amount of sleep to which she is accustomed.
The difficulties of the third trimester, pain of labor, and complications of breastfeeding are all described in excruciating detail in pregnancy books, but the infant’s overwhelming needs are just vaguely, ominously mentioned. I believe it’s true because everyone says so, but I still don’t quite understand how a tiny baby can take up so much time that you have trouble sneaking in a shower. I guess we’ll find out soon enough.
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Posted by Adam Kuban, April 4, 2008 at 5:15 PM
The week's final Cook the Book recipe, adapted from The Sweet Melissa Baking Book, appears today at the insistence of Serious Eats overlord Ed Levine. And though Sweet Melissa Patsisserie is only a few blocks away from my home, I haven't yet tried this Butterscotch Pudding. I just asked Ed why he insisted we highlight this recipe: "Because it's great," he said. "It's not too sweet. It's incredibly creamy. It's smooth. It's the best butterscotch pudding I've ever had in New York City."
And how many have you tasted, Ed?
"A lot! I taste every one I come across!"
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Posted by Emily Koh, April 3, 2008 at 2:30 PM
Today's Cook the Book recipe, adapted from The Sweet Melissa Baking Book, is one that Melissa Murphy says is her favorite—Sour Cherry Pie with Pistachio Crumble. Developed by her friend and one-time pasty chef at Sweet Melissa Patisserie, it's also one of the most popular pies at the shop.
Win 'The Sweet Melissa Baking Book'
As is always the case with our Cook the Books, we're giving away a number of them. Enter to win here »
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Posted by Dorie Greenspan, April 3, 2008 at 11:00 AM
While I have been known to exaggerate now and then, I've never gone overboard in my praise for this lemon cream (think curd); I just call it extraordinary and rest assured that I haven't gone overboard.
The recipe comes from Pierre Hermé, my pastry hero, and I think it's fascinating. It has all of the ingredients you find in a traditional lemon curd, but the way you make it changes the cream's texture—Pierre's lemon cream is tangier, lemonier and, I think, lighter on the tongue, than traditional lemon curd. The secret is in the way the butter is added. In a curd, all the ingredients, including the butter, go into a pot and you cook, cook, cook and stir, stir and stir and then, when the mixture cools, it's curd. With Pierre Herme's lemon cream, you cook and stir everything—except the butter—then, when the ingredients have thickened, you put them into a food processor or blender, let them cool a bit, then whir in the butter and keep whirring. Essentially, you make an emulsion. And, because the butter doesn't melt and re-firm, as it does with curd, the lemon cream is silky, luxurious and yes, extraordinary.
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Posted by Lucy Baker, March 25, 2008 at 12:30 PM
I've always wanted to try baking a clafouti, the homey French dessert that is part pancake, part pudding, and part custard. But classic clafoutis are made with fresh cherries, and I was deterred by the idea of pitting cup after cup. So when I saw a saw the clafouti recipe in the April issue of Everyday Food that replaced the cherries with dried figs, I knew I had to make it for this week's recipe review.
The clafouti recipe was part of a larger article about a basic, homemade baking mix (6 cups flour, 3 cups sugar, 2 tablespoons baking powder, and 1 tablespoon salt). The total yield is about 9 cups, which is more than enough to make one batch of every recipe in the article: the clafouti, plus oatmeal blondies, jam sandwich cookies, and silver-dollar pancake sundaes.
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Posted by Dorie Greenspan, March 20, 2008 at 1:30 PM
I must be in a mini-mood—I just looked over my posts from the past couple of weeks and saw that everything was baby-sized. And here's another "small enough to hold in the palm of your hand" recipe. This one is for little bread puddings made in 6-ounce custard cups or ramekins. (Although, now that I think about it, I bet you could make these in muffin cups or, better yet, silicone muffin cups.)
I like to make these with prunes and to flavor the brown-sugar custard with allspice, but they're just as good with dried apricots and ginger (see Playing Around). Whatever dried fruit you use, make sure that it's soft and plump before it goes into your mixture. If your fruit is hard, you can either soak it in some very hot water or steam it for a minute or so, a process called "plumping." In either case, make sure to pat the fruit dry before mixing it into the recipe.
Maybe when the weather is more spring-like, I'll start feeling more expansive and break out the BIG recipes. For now, I hope you enjoy these little babies.
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Posted by Ed Levine, March 16, 2008 at 11:15 AM
This week's Cartoon Kitchen features Serious Eats' cartoonist in residence Larry Gonick's spin on pound cake. —Ed Levine
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Posted by Adam Kuban, March 14, 2008 at 3:30 PM
My Last Supper takes the old "last bite on earth" game to the next level by asking that question of 50 of the world's best-known and most-loved chefs. Though beautifully photographed and almost more of a coffee-table book in size and format, there are some serious recipes in here to accompany the memorable visuals and fun interviews. As this week's featured Cook the Book entry, we'll be highlighting a recipe a day from it. Today's is by Jonathan Waxman, of Barbuto in New York City. These shortbread ice cream cookies are the dessert in an all-too-delicious hypothetical final meal the includes fresh gnocchi with truffles, spit-roasted spring lamb, and guacamole with handmade chips, among (many) other things.
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Posted by Robin Bellinger, March 12, 2008 at 1:15 PM
For me, one of the pleasures of being a young adult was discovering that many of the foods I had rejected as a child were actually edible and, in fact, rather tasty. My mother says I wasn’t a picky eater, but there were certain textures and flavors that did not work for me—mushrooms, fish, olives, guacamole (!), cherries, and, perhaps most deeply, bread pudding.
My grandfather took me to a buffet dinner when I was very small, younger than six, and after surveying my dizzying options I chose bread pudding for dessert because it had such a lovely cinnamon aroma. When the first bite landed on my tongue, I crumpled—mushy bread was not on my list of acceptable textures. The disconnect between inviting smell and (to me) repulsive mouthfeel was so jarring that I did not eat bread pudding again until I was 28, hungry for dessert on a whim, and in possession of a stale loaf of bread.
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Posted by Lucy Baker, March 6, 2008 at 3:30 PM
Photograph from gargoylesoftware on Flickr
Forget budding daffodils, lingering twilight, and afternoon rain showers. For me, the surest sign of spring is the return of street corner fruit stands. So I was thrilled last week to see them beginning to pop up around Brooklyn, some beneath umbrellas, others off the back of pick-up trucks, all overflowing with pineapples, papayas, and pints of strawberries.
It was cause for celebration. And celebrations are cause for ice cream.
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Posted by Dorie Greenspan, March 6, 2008 at 1:15 PM
By the time you read this, I'll be in Paris, where I hope I will have not have discovered that I left half of what I needed in New York. If so, it won't be the first time. For as much as I travel, I'm not a good packer—I'm always stuffing one last thing into a bag—and I'm not terribly organized. I pack at the last minute, which is how I end up taking more of what I don't need and sometimes forgetting that one vital something.
Knowing this about me, my husband wondered why, when nothing was packed and I was still writing to meet a deadline, I decided to make a banana cake. You'd have thought afte
