Roasted Pineapple

A little over a month ago I decided that I was a little out of control in my ice cream consumption. So, I've been looking to fruit-based desserts to satisfy my sweet tooth. This is sufficiently sweet and makes me feel just a little fancy as I eat it. It's based on this recipe from bon appetit.

1 medium ripe pineapple, peeled, cored, and cut into wedges and slices

1/2 cup packed dark brown sugar

1/2 cup orange juice

3 tablespoons honey

coarsely chopped pistachios

mascarpone cheese

Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Spray a baking sheet with cooking spray and arrange the pineapple on the baking sheet. Roast on a lower rack in the oven for 10 minutes. Turn over the pineapple and roast again on the bottom rack of the oven for 12 minutes.

Whisk together the brown sugar, orange juice, and honey. Divide the pineapple among four plates. Pour sauce over the pineapple and sprinkle the chopped pistachios over the pineapple. Add a spoonful of mascarpone cheese and serve.

Makes 4 servings.

Cold Peach Soup

I never end up taking a picture of this soup and it's probably because I'm too busy wolfing it down to grab my camera. Maybe next time I'll remember and add a picture. This soup can be served as an appetizer or as dessert. We usually enjoy it as a dessert. I made a couple small changes to my mother's recipe, which may have come from bon appetit in the '80s. Here's how I make it:

7 large peaches, pealed and quartered

1/4 cup sugar

1 cup plain yogurt or sour cream

1/4 cup lemon juice

1 tablespoon orange juice concentrate

1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon

Optional: 1/4 cup peach schnapps

Puree the peaches and sugar in a food processor. Add remaining ingredients and process until smooth. Transfer to a bowl and refrigerate. Makes about 6 servings. Garnish with peach slices.

Peach Cobbler with Rum-Pecan Ice Cream

I've got this in the oven as I type. I've made it a few times in the past and it's really quite wonderful. It was originally from a 1999 Cooking Light issue. I've made a few minor changes.

Rum-Pecan Ice Cream

1.5 quarts light french vanilla ice cream (I use Eddy's Slow Churned), softened

1/4 cup rum

1/4 cup chopped pecans

Combine ice cream, rum, and pecans in a bowl. Cover and freeze. (I generally just put the ice cream back in the package that it came in.)

Cobbler

Crust

2 cups flour

3 tablespoons sugar

1 tablespoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup flaked, sweetened coconut

6 tablespoons butter, cut into small pieces

1/2 cup evaporated 2% milk

2 large egg yolks

Filling

4 to 4 1/2 pounds peaches, pealed and sliced

1 cup packed brown sugar

1/2 cup flour

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon nutmeg

Dash of salt

1 tablespoon sugar

Combine 2 cups flour, 3 tablespoons sugar, baking powder, and salt in a food processor and pulse a few times to blend. Add coconut and butter and pulse until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Combine evaporated milk and egg yolks. Remove 1 tablespoon of milk mixture and set aside. Add remaining milk mixture to the food processor and pulse just until combined. Press mixture onto a sheet of plastic wrap and form a 6-inch square. Wrap with additional plastic wrap. Refrigerate at least 30 minutes. Roll Dough between two sheets of plastic wrap into a rectangle about 9-inches by 13-inches.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Combine peaches and next five ingredients in a large bowl. Spread evenly in a 9-inch by 13-inch baking dish. Remove plastic wrap from dough and place on top of peach mixture. Brush dough with reserved milk mixture and sprinkle with 1 tablespoon sugar. Bake 35 minutes or until golden. Cool on a wire rack for 30 minutes before serving. Serve with a scoop of rum-pecan ice cream. Makes 16 small servings. We are pigs so it's about 8 servings for us.

Chocolate Guinness Floats

This is an amazing dessert beverage. I wish I could take credit for the idea, but yet again it was a bon appetit idea. When I saw this in the February 2011 issue, I knew I had to try it. I was pregnant at the time, but I finally tried making these about a month ago. I'm not much of a beer drinker, but if I drink beer, I tend to prefer darker, smoother beers and I've liked the beers with chocolate in them. However, my mother doesn't like Guinness at all and she really liked these, so if you're at all intrigued, just try making them!

Since the recipe is available online, I'm sharing it here.

Float

1 cup heavy cream

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Kahlua

cocoa syrup

chocolate ice cream

3 bottles Guinness or other stout

Whip the cream and vanilla extract using an electric mixer. For each float, place one scoop of chocolate ice cream in a glass. Pour 1 tablespoon cocoa syrup and 1 tablespoon Kahlua over the ice cream. (Alternative: I prefer 2 tablespoons cocoa syrup and 2 tablespoons Kahlua per float.) Add half a bottle of stout to the glass, pouring gently down the side of the tilted glass to prevent too much head from forming. Spoon a dollop of whipped cream on top and drizzle cocoa syrup over the whipped cream. Serve with a straw. Makes 6 floats.

Cocoa Syrup

2/3 cup sugar

1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

2/3 cup boiling water

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Whisk the sugar, cocoa powder, and a pinch of salt together in a small saucepan. Pour 2/3 cup boiling water into a heat-resistant measuring cup. Whisk just enough boiling water from the cup into the cocoa mixture in saucepan to form a smooth paste, then whisk in the remaining water. Bring to a simmer over low heat, stirring constantly. (I get impatient and use medium heat and it has come out fine.) Simmer syrup 1 1/2 minutes, stirring often. Remove from heat. Stir in vanilla extract. Cool to room temperature. Can be made 3 weeks ahead. Cover and chill.

Blueberry Crisp

This blueberry crisp is based on a recipe from Cooking Light from back in 2000. One of my changes was to make it less light. Shame on me. Oh well. The original recipe was good, but I wanted more lemon flavor, more cinnamon, and more crisp. With a scoop of vanilla ice cream, this is a wonderful summer dessert.

3 pints blueberries

2 tablespoons brown sugar

3 tablespoons flour

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1 tablespoon lemon juice

zest from one large lemon

1 1/3 cups flour

1 cup brown sugar

1 cup old-fashioned oats

2 teaspoons cinnamon

9 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into small pieces

Preheat oven to 375. Combine first 6 ingredients in a medium bowl. Spoon into a 9-inch square baking dish. Combine flour, brown sugar, oats, and cinnamon in a bowl. Cut butter in with a pastry blender, 2 knives, or even with your hands (my preferred method, though it is messy) until mixture resembles coarse meal. Sprinkle over blueberry mixture. Bake for about 30 minutes or until bubbly. Makes about 8 servings.

Olive Oil Cake with Candied Orange Slices

Another bon appetit recipe... Yes, I do get recipes elsewhere, but so many from bon appetit have looked or sounded really good lately. Aside from the time it takes to candy the oranges, this is a relatively easy and quick cake. I actually got the candied orange going and then made the cake batter while the orange slices candied. I just made sure to stir the orange slices every few minutes.

The flavor of the cake sounds a little strange, but it's a very moist and delicious cake. I can't even taste the olive oil in it. I mostly tasted the cardamom and orange flavors. The only significant change I made to the recipe was using ground cardamom instead of the cardamom pods for the candied oranges. We were out of the pods but had plenty of ground cardamom.

The recipe is available on the bon appetit website. Here's how I made it with that slight change in the form of cardamom for the candied orange:

candied orange and syrup

1 cup sugar
3/4 cup orange blossom honey
1/2 teaspoon ground cardamom
1 small orange, thinly sliced

Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Bring sugar, honey, cardamom, and 3 cups water to a boil in a medium heavy saucepan, stirring until sugar dissolves. Add orange slices. Reduce heat to medium-low; simmer, turning orange slices occasionally, until tender and syrup is reduced to about 3 cups, about 40 minutes. Arrange orange slices in a single layer on prepared baking sheet. Strain syrup.

Can be made 1 day ahead. Cover syrup and orange slices separately; chill. Return orange slices to room temperature and rewarm syrup slightly before using.

cake

1/2 cup olive oil plus more for brushing
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup semolina flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon ground cardamom
1/2 teaspoon coarse kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 cup sugar, divided
3 large eggs, separated
2/3 cup plain whole-milk yogurt
zest from 2 oranges
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Chopped pistachios, toasted

Preheat oven to 350°. Brush 9-inch springform pan with oil. Whisk both flours and next 4 ingredients in a medium bowl. Using an electric mixer, beat 1/4 cup sugar and 1/2 cup oil in a large bowl for 1 minute. Beat in egg yolks, then flour mixture. Beat in yogurt, orange zest, and vanilla. Using clean, dry beaters, beat egg whites in another medium bowl until soft peaks form. Gradually beat in remaining 1/4 cup sugar until firm peaks form. Fold egg whites into batter just to blend in 2 additions. Transfer to prepared pan; smooth top.

Bake cake until a toothpick inserted into center comes out clean, about 25-30 minutes. Pierce hot cake all over with a skewer. Slowly drizzle 3/4 cup warm syrup all over. When syrup is absorbed, slowly pour 3/4 cup more syrup over. Reserve remaining syrup for serving (optional). Let cake cool in pan on a wire rack. Run a thin knife around edge of pan to release cake. Remove pan sides. Arrange candied orange slices over. Sprinkle pistachios over. Cut into wedges and serve.

We found that the cake was so moist that it didn't need more syrup, so I added optional in parentheses above. The syrup is tasty and I did save it. We'll probably use it on vanilla ice cream.

Lemon Cornmeal Cake

I just made this cake for a family picnic on Saturday, but I forgot to take a picture of it, so I'm using a picture from the first time I made it. I really couldn't get my act together and plan something to make to bring. I was actually planning to try an olive oil cake with candied oranges, which I still plan to make soon, but I was really tired on Friday night and was trying to take good care of myself because I had another plugged milk duct (a recurring problem I'm having with Adeline), so I went to bed and figured I come up with something on Saturday morning. By some miracle I thought of this cake and actually had all the ingredients I needed to make the cake and glaze. I didn't bother with the blueberry sauce this time. I really like the blueberry sauce, but I don't think the cake needs it to be really good.

The recipe for this cake came from bon appetit. The recipe is online. It struck me on Saturday morning that this is a really easy cake to make. Not only did I not need my mixer, but it bakes in one pan and you glaze it while it's hot, so no need to let it cool before frosting it like with most cakes.

I followed the recipe just as it was written, so just follow the link above if you decide to try it. I figured I would just add some thoughts about baking/cooking in general.

First is the fastest, easiest way I've found to get lemon (or other citrus) zest. I use a microplane (Microplane 40020 Classic Zester/Grater). It is fantastic. I've also used the small shredding side of a cheese grater and the traditional hand held zesters. The microplane is by far the best I've used. I got mine as a gift from my mother-in-law, but it would so definitely be worth the money if I'd bought it myself. Considering how much I use mine, I don't even think $10-$15 is much to spend on one.

Another thing I thought I'd share is the order in which I whisk liquids together. I also start with eggs in a bowl and whisk them. Then I add the melted butter while I'm whisking. I never worry about the butter being completely cooled. I just melt it as the first thing I do when I start a recipe and then add it when it's time. Next I add the milk and vanilla extract slowly while whisking. I find that I end up with better blended liquids by doing this. Basically, I start with the thicker, fattier liquids and work towards the milk and vanilla extract. When a recipe calls for brown sugar, I always whisk that in with the egg before adding other liquids.

Strawberry Shortcake

It's finally strawberry season again. This and peach season are my two favorite fruit seasons. Mmm. Here's how I make strawberry shortcake:

Strawberries

2 quarts strawberries, washed, stems removed, and cut into halves or quarters

3 tablespoons sugar

Add sugar to strawberries. Stir to coat strawberries with sugar. Let sit at least 15 minutes so sugar will dissolve.

Biscuits

2 cups plus 2 tablespoons all purpose flour

2 tablespoons sugar

1 tablespoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened

1 egg, slightly beaten

1/3 cup whole milk

1/3 cup heavy cream

(or 2/3 cup half-and-half instead of milk and heavy cream)

Preheat oven to 450 degrees. In a mixing bowl, stir together the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt. Cut in the butter until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Add the egg, cream, and milk; stir with a fork until just moist. Form into a ball and pat out on a floured surface to a thickness of 1/2 to 3/4-inch. Cut into rounds with a large round cookie cutter or an inverted glass. Stack two biscuit rounds, one on top of the other on a baking sheet. Place on a greased cookie sheet (or a silpat lined cookie sheet -- my preference) and bake for about 14 minutes. Makes about 6 double height biscuits.

Whipped Cream

1 cup heavy cream

3 tablespoons sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Add cream, sugar, and vanilla extract to a mixing bowl with whisk attachment and beat on high speed until cream is whipped.

Assembly

Place one double biscuit in a large bowl. Add a scoop of french vanilla ice cream. Add about 1/6 of the strawberries. Top with whipped cream. Makes 6 large strawberry shortcakes.

Blueberry Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

Growing up, my mother used to make a carrot cake with cream cheese frosting for me for my birthday in November using carrots from our garden. My sister's birthday is in July, so she got a blueberry cake with cream cheese frosting for her birthday made with blueberries from our blueberry bushes. It's kind of funny now how much I took our fantastic yard and vegetable garden for granted growing up. We had so much fresh fruit and vegetables grown on our own property. The main drawback for me raising my girls in a city is that there is no way I can give them the experience of growing a lot of our own food. Our yard is just too small and too shaded.

I have no idea where the original recipe for this cake came from. I imagine my mother made a few changes and I've made a couple additions. Here's my version of the recipe:

Blueberry Cake

1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened

2 cups dark brown sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 eggs

3 cups all-purpose flour

1 tablespoon baking powder

zest from one large lemon

2 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon nutmeg

1 cup whole milk

3 cups fresh blueberries, tossed with flour

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Prepare two 9-inch round cake pans by greasing with butter or shortening and dusting with flour. Cream butter and brown sugar together. Add vanilla extract and eggs and beat well. Mix the flour, baking powder, lemon zest, cinnamon, and nutmeg together. Add the flour mixture to the butter, sugar, and egg mixture alternately with the milk in three additions. Fold in the blueberries. Bake for about 35 minutes until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cakes comes out clean. Cool in the pans for 10 minutes on a wire rack. Turn the cakes out of the pans onto wire cooling racks. Cool completely before frosting.

Cream Cheese Frosting

16 ounces cream cheese, softened

1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

2 1/2 cups confectioner's sugar

Beat the cream cheese, butter and vanilla extract together. Gradually add the confectioner's sugar, beating until completely blended before each addition.

This is a sort of loose cream cheese frosting.  If I want it a little stiffer for frosting the sides of the cake, I'll put it in the fridge for 5-10 minutes and then stir it before frosting the sides.