Archive for Desserts

28 Jun 2010
Dairy recipe • Desserts • Fruit recipe • Harvest • locavore log

Blueberry Season

Yesterday I knew summer was here.

icecream-blueberry-005

How did I know it? No, not because the temperature was – again! – over 90 (over 32 C) in the shade; 116 (47 C!!!) in the sun insisted the thermometer (wish I misread that). Not because the creek is drying up – although it is and we need rain badly. Not because it’s muggy, because it surely is and it has been feeling like August for too many days (somebody actually installed a small fan in the new chicklets’ pen – that’s how hot and stifling it is).

No, it’s  because the day before yesterday the first empty cicada shell was spotted, still hanging onto the smoke tree trunk, split open in the back -  the cicada who lived in it for many years under the earth now gone to live in the sun for a few months, singing. Yesterday I heard the first cicada sing. The sure sign of summer. Cicadas do not make mistakes.

Yesterday morning I also picked blueberries at a small pick-your-own bramble farm, a few miles from me. I suppose that’s another sign of summer Read more

sylvie | 10 comments | Tags: ,
22 Jun 2010
Desserts • Fruit recipe • locavore log

Sour Cherry Ice-Cream Without An Ice-Cream Maker

I do not recommend trying to make ice-cream at a 4-H Camp without an ice-cream maker, without electricity, in 90 ° F weather (32 C) and in 20 minutes. It just does.not.work.  The kids were good sports about tossing or shaking leaky bags full of ice, but it was a complete failure. They were also very good sports about the eating the “milk shake”; at least there were roasted bananas and cherries to go with that… sigh…

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But you can make ice-cream without an ice-cream maker -  and pretty decent ones at that. Read more

sylvie | 3 comments | Tags: ,
08 Dec 2009
Desserts • locavore log • Snack

Cornmeal Cookies

Cornmeal is simply not used enough in sweets.

There, I said it: eat more cornmeal.

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I like soft polenta (mush) and hard polenta (either – like oatmeal – taste sooo much better when made with milk instead of water). I like cheesy grits and creamy polenta. I like it with bits of smoky bacon and fried fresh sage leaves too. I like upside-down cranberry cornmeal cake and cornmeal cranberry loaf – actually anything with cornmeal & cranberries. As in those cookies. Read more

sylvie | 6 comments | Tags: , ,
10 Oct 2009
Dairy recipe • Desserts • Fruit recipe • locavore log • Recipes

What To Do With Quinces

Isn’t that what you are asking yourself?

You are not?

quince

sigh…

you know, quince is not a very popular fruit nowadays. And really it is a shame, because nothing else has it piquant aromatic floral taste… pineapple, jasmine, guava and sweet vanilla, with a hint of clove. Some even say that it was quince that Eve offered Adam…

On Monday, just before work, I stopped by Jenkins Orchard in Woodville. Inquiries made in the summer revealed that yes, they had some quince. Yes, they should have them in the fall. Yes, they were picking them when ripe. Not too many people ask for them. But “the old timers like to preserve them”. The “old-timers” and the French lady, I guess… Read more

sylvie | 23 comments | Tags: , , ,
03 Apr 2009
Cookery • Desserts • locavore log • Recipes

Butter Cookies From Brittany

That’s “Brittany” as in “French Brittany” the westernmost maritime province of France.

galette-bretonne-009

Following my recent post on making Petits Pots de Yogurt With Strawberry Compote, Paula and Mary both asked about the golden cookie pictured next to the yogurt, and would I please provide the recipe?

Glad you ask.

The cookie is called Galette Bretonne in French and is a very simple cookie, totally unsophisticated: a real country cookie, really, with only a few ingredients and a pure butter taste (Butter from Brittany is renowned throughout France, and so are confections made with it). It’s similar to a short-bread cookie. Need I say, get the best butter possible? There, I said it.

You may use any cookie cutter shape you wish, but the traditional shape is round: I just use a small water glass to cut out the cookies. If you roll out the dough thinly, you’ll have lots of cookies; if you roll it out thick, you’ll have a lot less (but they’ll be very fat). Sometimes, I make thin cookies, sometimes I bake fat cookies. Depends on the mood. You just need to cook the thick cookies a little longer. I can make 4 dozen thin 2 1/4 ” (6 cm) cookies out of one batch or 2 dozen medium-thick cookies or 1 dozen thick cookies. Your choice…

The dry ingredients are measured by weight, not volume, as is typical of a French recipe and in grams. I won’t convert in ounces, because some of you – despite exhortations to the contrary – will read that as fluid oz and use cups. Also the recipe is easy to memorize in grams. Yep, time for you to get a scale! They are not that expensive and they come in really really handy – especially if you start baking for real. The liquid ingredients are measured by volume.

Butter Cookies From Brittany/ Petites Galettes Bretonnes Read more

sylvie | 3 comments | Tags: , ,
30 Mar 2009
Cookery • Dairy recipe • Desserts • Fruit recipe • locavore log

Petits Pots Of Yogurt And Strawberry Compote

Yogurt is for dessert too.

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After a 15+ year hiatus, I am again making yogurt. Easy, tasty, low-tech. Did I say easy? Since I much prefer eating yogurt to drinking milk, I have been making at least two quarts of yogurt a week. Love it! As was explained here: heat the milk (if the milk is pasteurized, I only heat up to 120 F; but I do heat up to 180F when using raw milk). Add milk to a large mason jar with a couple of tablespoons of plain yogurt, shake the jar. Put it in a small cooler overnight with a mason jar full of very hot water. Go to bed. Voila: yogurt for breakfast. I love it.

You can make it in big jars, in small jars, in tiny jars… For all of us who are compulsive jar saver, now there IS an excuse to save to save more jars…

I even bought some “Swiss-style” yogurt. It listed 4 kinds of active cultures (Streptococcus thermophilus, Lactobacillus acidophilus, and L. bifidus and I can’t remember the 4th – how geeky, is that?). It turned out to be less tart than the other yogurt I was getting. I am now keeping an eye out for Bulgur-style yogurt, which I remember as really really creamy and which I think contains – what else? - L. bulcaricus. I tried to add a little cream or half and half to my yogurt, and while it made it richer it still was not that wonderful Bulgarian yogurt (maybe it exists only in my memory?). I guess next time I am at a WholeFood or Natural Store, I’ll have to investigate the yogurt case. So here I am: collecting pretty china tea cups, AND yogurt cultures … See what life in the country can do to a (fairly) level-headed girl?

But then it hit me – I mean about getting creamy yogurt: strain it! It’ll give me a Greek-style yogurt. It worked! Delicious indeed (although not Bulgarian).

More importanly it was a pretty good success at a recent picnic I put together. I used Tristar strawberries, picked in the garden last summer and frozen, with a little sugar and vanilla bean to make my fruit base, combine it with yogurt in small canning jars. And man, I thought I made good ice-cream, but based on the reactions, I obviously need to be making even more yogurt. So any way, here is the recipe for Greek-Style Yogurt with Vanilla Bean & ‘Tristar’ Strawberry Compote – as much as this is a recipe! Read more

sylvie | 18 comments | Tags: , ,
14 Jan 2009
Cookery • Desserts • fruit • Fruit recipe • locavore log • Recipes • Vegetable recipe

Really Cute Teeny Jam Tarts

Who does not like dessert? A little something sweet at the end of the meal? Especially a special meal? Yeah even the people who say they don’t really like sweets love a little dessert.

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While I like to think myself fairly conversant in making pretty no-bake sweet endings like sorbets, ice-creams, mousses and cold confections that use them to build more elaborate desserts such as Sundaes and Jubilees, dessert baking is not my forte. Oh, don’t get me wrong, I have a number of baked desserts in my repertoire (Tarte Tatin & Upside Down Cakes come to mind), but those are – shall we say – on the rustic, if delicious, side…. While a good tarte tatin is a thing to eat with gratitude, sophisticated it is not! However, many guests do remember the meal finale, not only how it tastes, but also how it looks: so grand it should be, or at least cute. A plate of fruit, no matter how fresh and how artistically presented, most often won’t do.

So… in my quest to prepare cute small desserts that I can conjure blindfolded, that can be prepared in advance if needed, that are not too heavy, and inspired by blogs such as Tartelette and Cannelle & Vanille, I am practicing small portion desserts.

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Disclaimer: you really should check Helen’s blog (Tartelette) and Aran’s blog (Cannelle & Vanille) if you are interested in gorgeous, inspiring, innovative sweets of all kinds. Both Helen and Aran are professional pastry chefs who are sharing their recipes with the rest of the world. While their creations look incredible (just the photos will startle your eyes wide open), they seem accessible; nonetheless, they require finesse and a sure yet delicate touch to produce such perfect-looking confections… I said I was inspired, I did not say I was there. Helen and Aran display a dedication to and an understanding of their craft that is admirable. Me? I just want to make pretty seasonal desserts that get all eaten with a sigh of satisfaction.

I have had request for snacks too lately. Something about brownies. But I though I’d get some practice with one of the basic dough, Sweet Short Crust Pastry, a very versatile dough great for making cookies, tarts, tartelettes, and one that can substitute for puff pastry in Tarte Tatin. It can also be made in advance and rolled and shaped shortly before baking. Unlike other crust, sweet short pastry does not need to be blind-baked: the egg in the dough prevents the pastry from becoming soggy when baked with its filling.

I’ve got jams, I’ve got canned pears that was put up in the fall and I’ve got frozen berries that I picked this summer. So I made a bunch of Pear and Quince Jam Tartelettes and some Wineberry and Raspberry Jam Tartelettes. (The snack eater appreciated them!). But really any fruit and jam that are complementary will work – as well as custard and pine nuts! Read more

sylvie | 4 comments | Tags: , , , , ,
28 Oct 2008
Cookery • Desserts • Fruit recipe • Recipes

Pineapple Upside Down Cake for 150

pineapple upside down cake

Note: Recipe has been updated on February 11, 2009 to clarify some instructions and correct a typo.

When we moved to the country, we decided to join the local Volunteer Fire and Rescue Company. It took us a while to actually do it, but both Keith & I became members early this year. My role is strictly support and fund raising. For instance, I build our web site, I help with putting together flyers, brochures, with setting up fund-raiser dinners, breakfast, bake sales etc. Those activities are more critical than ever this year, as we are buying a much needed new fire tanker. Joining a volunteer fire company is a sure way to become more engaged in a new community and it allows you to give your time and your skills to your local community in a way that makes a difference: we help neighbors in emergencies.

This past week-end, WVFR offered an-all you can eat ham & oyster dinner as part of its continued efforts to raise money for our new tanker fund. I was working that night, cooking a 5-course dinner for 11 on a lovely hilltop house, I would not be able to participate. So I said I would bake one of my specialties: a pineapple upside-down cake.

I have a soft spot for upside-down cakes (something easily verifiable by looking at the list of cake recipes I posted so far); I love pineapple, one of the fruit growing at my childhood home; and I love the uncomplicated unsophisticated sheer goodness of a good pineapple upside down cake. Don’t get me wrong, I have eaten my share of unpalatable ones – generally too dry. But this cake is moist and flavorful.

I have found that it’s a popular cake at gathering (I rarely have any left over to take home); people of a certain age (over 40) reminiscence fondly about it (how their mom used to make one for their birthdays for example), and yet – not many people make it today. You can be pretty sure to see multiple plates of brownies at a pot-luck, but I have never seen another pineapple upside-down cake (as a matter of fact, a young 18-year old at that dinner had never seen one). It does take a little time to make, but really, not that much. Is this the butter in it that people are afraid of? Is this that there were too many poor versions that were made? For me, it’s one of those ideal, comforting, utterly delicious and homey cake that can be made in advance and is good at any time of the day, like a real homemade pound cake, as a matter of fact. And it’s so good for breakfast with a cup of strong coffee made stove-top in the percolator. Read more

sylvie | 11 comments | Tags: , , , ,
15 Oct 2008
Cookery • Dairy recipe • Desserts • egg recipe • locavore log • Recipes

When You Have Eggs, Make Custard… or Flan

I love a good baked custard – or flan as we call in France (which is not the same as a Spanish flan – maybe a post for another day). And although the last few days have been warm, the down spiraling leaves are letting us know – in no uncertain terms – that cooler times are coming. As a matter of fact, they are supposed to sweep through the area Saturday with near freezing temperature. The next two days are going to be spent in a frenzy of tasks that should have been accomplished weeks ago: digging up the banana trees, moving into the greenhouse all the tender plants I want to keep over the winter, pick up the last of the tomatoes (and up-root the now unsightly plants), harvest all the remaining basil and turn it into pesto… Fat chance of being able to even accomplish half of it!

Maple Vanilla Baked Custard

But at least, on Saturday, as the evening gets really chilly, I can console myself with a nice little flan. Easy to make, it only requires a few ingredients, so it makes sense to get the best ingredients you can: whole local organic milk from pastured cows, fresh fat farm eggs from free-range chicken allowed to roam in the pasture to forage for at least part of their food – and real vanilla bean.

Do you know that this orchid (yes, vanilla beans are the fruit of an orchid) originates from Mexico? When it was exported to other countries in the hope of producing vanilla and break the Spanish monopoly – in the 18th century – growers were very disappointed that they could not get the orchid flower to fruit (it’s because the orchid needs a specialized pollinator endemic to Mexico). It was not until a slave figured how to manually fertilize vanilla in the early 19th century on French Bourbon Island in the Indian Ocean (now Reunion) that the culture of vanilla took off in so many different places around the world. Bourbon Vanilla now comes from Madagascar, Reunion, Mauritius and I believe some of the Comoros Islands. Growers on Reunion are trying to establish international recognition for their vanilla – for cultural, historical, agricultural and culinary reasons.

No matter the origin of your vanilla bean, ensure it’s plump for maximum flavor.

For my custard, especially at this time of the year, I like to add a touch of maple syrup (from not too far Pennsylvania), and so that gives us Maple Vanilla Bean Baked Custard.

Read more

sylvie | 6 comments | Tags: , , , , ,
08 Sep 2008
Cookery • Desserts • Fruit recipe • locavore log • Recipes

Rusty’s Italian Plum Cake

A slice of Rusty\'s Italian Plum Cake

Vanille teased me for being in an “upside-down” baking mood (and she should know – being “down under” in New Zealand) because I blogged back-to-back about Tomato Tatin and then about Upside Down Plum Spiced Cake. I felt like I had to make a post that was not upside down. Well, not really… but I am still working through my 4 gallons of Italian plums, and nobody ever – ever – complains in the house when I make dessert. So, here! ANOTHER Italian Plum Cake.

The recipe comes through courtesy of my mother-in-law. She wrote that it’s from a newspaper clipping dated 9/13/89 that’s in her recipe box. Although the clipped recipe calls for plums, Rusty informed me that she never made it with plums, but has tried it with other fruit – mainly apples (in which case she adds nutmeg because she likes nutmeg) and pears. She says it’s good even cold, great for a snack or for breakfast (her son agrees). I added a little liqueur to the cake, changed the spices used, increased the amount of fruit, and – since I don’t think it’s a torte (which it what the clipping called it), I am renaming it: Rusty’s Italian Plum Cake. I also use white whole wheat flour, which works perfectly fine with this rather rustic (but delicious) dessert. Read more

sylvie | 2 comments | Tags: , ,
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