DOTMC January 2011: Orange Ring Cake

Ingredients:

3/4 Cup unsalted butter                              3/4 Cup all-purpose flour

1Tbsp dark corn syrup                               3/4 Cup self-rising flour

2 medium oranges                                       finely grated rind of 1 orange

3/4 Cup superfine sugar                              2 to 3 Tbsp orange juice

3 eggs, beaten


Directions:

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Grease 1.5 quart ring cake pan and spoon syrup into the bottom.

Grate rind of one orange. Cut all of the white peel and pith from two oranges and slice the oranges into rounds. Arrange the orange slices over the syrup in the pan.

Cream together butter and sugar until pale and fluffy. Gradually beat in the eggs, beating well after each addition. Sift both fours into the mixture and fold in, adding orange rind and enough orange juice to make a soft consistency.

Spoon the mixture into the ring pan and smooth the surface. Bake in preheated oven for 45-55 minutes or until risen, golden, and firm. Cool in the pan for 10 minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack to cool completely. Serve warm or cold, with extra syrup drizzled over. Happy New Year!!

I'VE BEEN WORKING ON SOME PIE

A spicy peanut pie (Sorry Jada!) to be exact. This one had it's issues, but makes for a gorgeous little pie shot, huh?

As usual lots of whoopies abound as well. Keep on dessert making people!

Pure Evil (aka Chocolate Pate)

So, I know I am super late. I'm November and it's Christmas. I had a small disaster with my original cake which I made in November. It became known as "the dirt cake" and it took me awhile to shake off that failure. I will attempt "the dirt cake" again next November. It will not beat me!
The success: Chocolate Pate with Espresso Whipped Cream
If you're on a diet don't even make it. Don't even look at it. It's evil.
I used to make this at an old place I worked. The original recipe had old coffee in it and a crushed walnut crust. I didn't want to do that since I'm allergic to nuts. It also came out more fudgy than pate-y. So I combined an internet recipe and the old one to get this.

Ingredients:
24 oz. semi sweet chocolate chips
1/4 pound unsalted butter
6 whole eggs
2 egg yolks
4 egg whites
Well buttered cake pan

for whipped cream:
1 pint heavy cream
powdered sugar
vanilla
instant espresso or instant coffee
water
Pre-heat oven to 325

Melt butter and chocolate in top of double boiler stirring occasionally

Whip whole eggs and yolks until lemon yellow and fluffy.

once chocolate is melted, pour hot water from double boiler into water bath

Whip egg whites into a meringue

Once chocolate is cooled to room temperature, fold egg mixture and meringue into chocolate

Pour into pan and place pan into water bath

Bake for one hour at 325
Thirty minutes in, rotate the cake. Be gentle.

Cool completely in the fridge.

Whipped Cream:

Dissolve 1 tablespoon instant espresso in 1 tablespoon warmish water. Let it cool. I put it in the freezer. Add 1 cup powdered sugar, 1 teaspoon Nicole's homemade vanilla and one pint heavy whipping cream and whip it!

LEMON MELANG ON TV WITH CAKE

Darling Dessert Makers! I had the pleasure of "preparing" a cake I have been making at work on the local CBS affiliates live daily program Virginia This Morning. It was nerve wracking and also quite fun and they asked me to come back and do another sometime next month- EEK!

CAKES MEN LIKE

It was Marty's birthday and I made him a chocolate banana cake.
I think he liked it.

October DOTMC

Butter Pumpkin Cake

Ingredients

For the purée:

2 tsp. vegetable oil

1 medium-large Sugar Pie pumpkin, cut in half and seeded

For the cake:

¾ cup unsalted butter

2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour

1.5 tsp. baking soda

1.5 tsp. ground cinnamon

¾ tsp. table salt

¼ tsp. ground cloves

1.5 cups granulated sugar

2/3 cup light brown sugar

2 large eggs

¼ cup buttermilk

For the topping:

1.5 tbs. unsalted butter

2/3 cup pecans

2 tsp. light brown sugar

¼ tsp table salt

For the frosting:

½ cup unsalted butter

8 oz. cream cheeses, at room temperature

¼ cup light brown sugar

1.5 cups confectioners’ sugar

Pumpkin Purée

1. Preheat over to 350°, brush pan with oil. Place pumpkins halves on the pan cut side down and cook for about 45 minutes or until tender

2. Let cool, peel pumpkins and purée the flesh in a food processor until smooth (set aside 1.5 cups)

Cake

1. Preheat oven to 350°, butter and flour pan (I used a bunt pan, but you can also used two 9-inch pans)

2. Melt butter until it turns golden-brown (~4 min.), let cool

3. In a medium bowl, combine flour, baking soda, cinnamon, ginger, salt and cloves

4. In a large bowl, combine 1.5 cups of the pumpkin purée, granulated sugar, brown sugar, eggs, buttermilk, and melted butter

5. Combine dry and wet ingredients

6. Pour into pan and bake for ~30 min, let cool

Cake topping

1. Melt butter over medium heat in a nonstick skillet

2. Add pecans and cook until slightly brown (~ 2 min)

3. Add brown sugar and salt until pecans are glazed cook for an additional 2 min, let cool

Frosting

1. Melt butter over medium heat, until golden-brown, let cool

2. Using a mixer, beat the butter, cream cheese, and brown sugar, until light in color and the brown sugar has dissolved

3. Gradually beat in the confectioners’ sugar and continue beating until fluffy

Assemble cake and devour!

SEPTEMBER DOTMC

This is a special DOTM because it's my very own sister's first submission! I am not positive but I am pretty sure that is her and my little nephew diggin' in on Nana Lucy's Holiday Bread!
Thanks Christianna, I love the illustrations you did!!

WHAT'S THE TIME? IT'S PIE TIME!

Pies. They are so beautiful, so practical, so representative of our collective dessert experience as a nation.There is a book, I love called Pie Everyday with tons of all sorts of pie recipes in it and crusts. I wish I had it. Not that I don't own dozens of cookbooks with great pie recipes! I need to have a visit to my kitchen library and get a nice "pie list" going. Here are some that I want to try as I ponder the cooler weather and all the festivities to come:

Apple Cheddar
Spicy Pumpkin in a cornmeal crust with candied pepita garnish
Butterscotch Pie
Bourbon Buttermilk
Cranberry Pecan
Chocolate Tart with Marshmallow topping
Caramel Apple
and of course concord grape if I can find any down here~

In years past me and my wonderful friend Molly threw annual cookie parties. They were a sight to behold
This year as I no longer live in NYC with all of my buddies, I decided to start a new tradition. PIE PARTY.
What do ya think?

Mustard Bread

This is definitely not a desert but I know how much we love mustard and great women around here. It's a savory specialty of someone I love dearly who left this world way too soon last week. I made a batch last night with wet eyes and a heavy heart, but it was a delicious tribute to my dear Kath. I suggest you whip some up for your Labor Day BBQs and picnics (even if they end up being indoors). On that note (Labor Day), here's to the moms, cooks, and caring souls who feed us, care for us, and inspire us with their great work and great food.

Peach-Blueberry Cobbler (v)

Treat for the dog-days of summer.

Adapted from Martha Stewart Living, August 2005 (p146). Tip-o-the-hat to Veganaise for being such a great cream substitute in this recipe.

2½ pounds peaches, halved lengthwise, pitted, and cut into ¾-inch-thick wedges (about 8 cups)

1 cup blueberries (about ½ pint)

²⁄₃ cup granulated sugar

3 tablespoons cornstarch

2 tablespoons packed light-brown sugar

1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice

1 teaspoon finely grated peeled fresh ginger

salt

2 cups all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

½ cup (1 stick) cold unsalted soy butter, cut into small pieces

1 vanilla bean, halved lengthwise (or 2 tsp vanilla extract)

¾ cup Veganaise + ¼ cup water

Sanding sugar for sprinkling

1. Pre-heat oven to 375°, with racks positioned in upper and lower thirds.
2. Stir together peaches, bluebetries, ¹⁄₃ cup granulated sugar, cornstarch, brown sugar, lemon juice, ginger, and a pinch of salt in a large bowl. Transfer to a 12-by-8½ inch (2-quart) baking dish; set aside.
3. Whisk flour, baking powder, and remaining ¹⁄₃ cup granulated sugar in a medium bowl or stand mixer. Cut butter into flour mixture using a pastry blender or 2 knives to form clumps that are no larger than small peas.
4. Scrape vanilla bean seeds into the Veganaise; stir with a fork to combine. Discard pod. Add cream mixture to flour mixture; stir until a soft, sticky dough forms. Using a spring-loaded ice-cream scoop, scoop out 10 equal portions of dough onto the filling & sprinkle with sanding sugar.
5. Protect your oven with a parchment-lined cookie sheet on the lower rack. Bake cobbler on the top rack until the topping is golden brown and juices ar bubbling (55-70 minutes). If topping browns too quickly, cover loosely with foil.
6. Let cool 1 hour before serving.

AUGUST DOTM SPICY PEACH SORBET (V)

August is for peaches! Summer is for being really lazy about posting on DOTMC!
I dedicate this post to my littlest sister who is in need of non dairy desserts.

I had used my Flip to make a companion video to this recipe to put on Food Punk, and it was really cute and then my computer and Flip had a massive falling out and I lost every video I ever saved. However, I still got a crappy pic with my phone that you see here! Huzzah! Look out for your hard copy in the mail it IS coming. Promise. (For lots of rambling on the recipe below,and some ice cream tips you can check out Food Punk).



4-6 good size peaches peeled and chopped
A couple chiles ( I had dried Chiles de Arbol, but  fresh jalapeno or any such nice chile would work well I think)
2 tbsp of honey
2 tbsp of Sorghum Syrup (or corn, no judgments here)
a pinch of salt
the juice of one lemon and (optional) a shot of Tequila

Cook the peaches in a saute pan over med heat. As they begin to cook and break down add the honey and syrup. Stab your chiles with a paring knife and throw them in. When the mixture looks like it would make an ok jam, take it off heat, discard the chiles and puree mixture in a blender.
( I kept half of one of my chiles and threw him in the blender)
Strain the mixture into a metal bowl. This is annoying but so necessary, just keep pushing the puree through with a spatula.
Make sure to scrape off all the goo clinging to the bottom of the strainer as that is the good stuff!
Put the bowl in the fridge and be patient while it gets nice and cool. (2-4 hrs or overnight)
Freeze according to the ice cream maker's directions

Granita, granita, granita.

Hi everyone! Hope your summertime has been swell. I'm not much of a "summer person," admittedly. It's just... too hot. I don't like being hot. Or sweating. Or humidity. Yeah, I pretty much hate summer and I'm super stoked it is nearly over.

But I'm not a total hater! There is one thing I like about summer: THE FOOD! I weirdly love foods that are associated with heat and boardwalks and outdoor eating (preferably in the shade with a fan or close proximity to an air conditioner). I love food that is grilled outdoors, the smell of burning charcoal or wood, summer berries and stone fruits, watermelons, chilled drinks, and cool/refreshing desserts.

We have a janky window AC unit, so using the oven has been totally off limits for the last couple of months. I didn't have to look far to figure out what this year's DOTMC recipe would be, thankfully. I had some beautiful, super-ripe nectarines from the farmer's market. They were so sweet- but had that tart edge.. the kind of fruit you bite into and just start telling everyone around you about how you have the perfect piece of fruit.
Our dessert drink of choice lately has been Moscato D'Asti... lightly sparkling, (not too) sweet, crisp, fragrant, almost peachy white wine. I thought it would be nice to mix with the nectarines is a frozen way. Thankfully, the two were a perfect pair, and the granita came out beautifully, totally refreshing, and so very easy too.

Below is my recipe card for July's DOTMC... apologies for the tardiness! They'll be in the mail this week.Take care and happy, happy late summer.

More Strawberries! Strawberry Honey Cornmeal Cake

So last week I got another 2.5 quarts of strawberries at the CSA. I had seen a recipe come through the google reader for a blueberry cornmeal cake and I figured I could adapt it a bit and use up some of these strawberries. Per usual, I decided to try it without the refined sugar it called for and used honey instead. This made the batter a bit more liquidy and I think required a bit of extra cooking time (well I needed to bake it longer and I assume this was part of the reason). The honey also caused it to have a much darker color than its cousin the blueberry cornmeal cake. The results were terrific tasting though. The ricotta and yogurt in the recipe ensures such moistness and the flavor combination with the honey and berries is just wonderful. I think this would be the perfect breakfast cake or wonderful at a luncheon with just a tiny bit of extra cream on top for contrast. Give it a try and let me know what you think!
Strawberry Honey Cornmeal Cake
Ingredients

• 1 tablespoon vegetable oil 
• 1 1/3 cups all-purpose flour
• 2/3 cup yellow cornmeal
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 6 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 2 large eggs
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
• 1 cuphoney
• 10 tablespoons (1 1/4 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
• 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
• 1 cup ricotta cheese
• 1/3 cup plain yogurt
• 3 cups fresh strawberries, quartered

Special Equipment

• 10-inch-diameter springform pan with 2 3/4-inch-high sides

Preparation

Preheat oven to 325°F. Coat 10-inch-diameter springform pan with 2 3/4-inch-high sides with vegetable oil. Whisk flour and next 3 ingredients in medium bowl. Whisk oil, eggs, vanilla, and honey in another medium bowl. Using electric mixer, beat butter and 1 1/2 teaspoons salt in large bowl until creamy. With mixer running on medium speed, gradually add egg mixture; beat to blend. Beat in flour mixture just to blend. Add ricotta and yogurt; beat on low speed just to blend. Pour half of batter into prepared pan. Scatter 1 1/2 cups strawberries over. Spoon remaining batter over in dollops, then spread to cover blueberries. Scatter remaining strawberries over.

Bake cake until top is golden brown and tester inserted into center comes out clean, about 1 hour 15 minutes. Cool completely in pan on rack.

Serves 12

Lemon Ricotta Maple Strawberry Biscake

Now that's a dessert name! (uh... maybe not). 

Strawberries are here in full effect. I have had a box in the fridge for a few weeks with no time to make anything. Last week the CSA opened and I got a quart more! Thank goodness those little guys can last a while if you don't wash or mess with them. Tonight I had my first opportunity to make something and decided to take a stab at a variation on a strawberry shortcake. I found the recipe below and made a few twists (replacing the sugar with maple crystals, jettisoning the almond extract and slivered almonds and baking them on a sheet like biscuits instead of in muffin tins). I am pretty sure the maple changed the chemistry a bit as they were smoother and had less rise, but they were really really good. A perfect base for the macerated strawberries (I added a tiny bit of crushed lavender and a little maple syrup) and whipped cream. 

Lemon Ricotta Biscake

Cook Time: 20 min

Yield:12 biscakes

Ingredients
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup plus 1 teaspoon maple crystals or more as needed for sprinkling
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
1 tablespoon finely grated lemon zest (from 2 lemons)
1 cup whole-milk ricotta cheese
1 large egg
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice

Directions
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Whisk the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a medium bowl to blend. Using an electric mixer, beat 1 cup maple crystals, butter, and lemon zest in a large bowl until light and fluffy. Beat in the ricotta. Beat in the egg and lemon juice,. Add the dry ingredients and stir just until blended (the batter will be thick and fluffy).

Divide the batter among the prepared muffin cups. Sprinkle the remaining 1 teaspoon of maple crystals over the muffins. Bake until the muffins just become pale golden on top, about 20 minutes. Cool slightly. Serve warm or at room temperature.

MARCH DOTM POPS BY AMELIA

I told you guys Amelia's DOTM was gonna be worth the wait. You will be getting these in your mail box but if you are already crazy from the heat perhaps you'd like to make some now!!! Just click the images to see the luscious recipes for these weather appropriate treats!

Apple Rhubarb Galette

I can't resist buying the new fruits and veggies that are coming into their season even if I have no baking plans. Last night I remembered the rhubarb I bought on Saturday in my fridge and decided to see how quickly I could put something together with it. I went to my trusty Mark Bittman pie crust recipe (easy for me because it's basically one cup flour, one stick butter + ice water and a little seasoning, in this case some maple crystals and a pinch of salt), sautéed the rhubarb with some apples in a tablespoon of butter, added some more maple crystals and baked at 375 for about 35 minutes. Before I put it in I drizzled some olive oil over the edges because I just couldn't resist. What is wrong with me???  I might sauté the filling a little less or not at all next time and add a bit more sweetener, but I have to say, this was the perfect breakfast treat today. Serves 4 easy. 

St. Lucian Cocoa Tea

Cocoa tea is a rich breakfast drink (like European hot chocolate) from St. Lucia. I confirmed the recipe with a St. Lucian chef I met in my travels who added that small doughnut-like pieces called "hot bakes" are sometimes boiled in the cocoa tea, making the drink more of a porridge-style breakfast meal. This recipe is just for the tea.

Makes 2 servings
2 cups soy or light coconut milk (or your favorite kind of milk)
½ cup grated dark chocolate*
¼ teaspoon grated nutmeg
¼ teaspoon grated cinnamon
1 bay leaf
2-4 tablespoons turbinado sugar
1 scraped vanilla pod or 2 teaspoons of vanilla extract
1 tablespoon white flour or cornstarch (optional)

Note: Works best with a double boiler.

Directions

1. Bring the milk to a boil and quickly lower heat. If you are using a double boiler, make sure the milk is steamy hot. 
2. Add the grated cocoa, nutmeg, cinnamon and bay leaf and let simmer gently for 2-3 minutes.
3. Stir in vanilla and if you want a thicker drink, add flour (or cornstarch) stirring continuously.
4. Add sugar and stir until dissolved.

*The Grenada Chocolate Company makes amazing Caribbean dark chocolate. Any 70%+ dark chocolate will work well.

Moroccan Kaab El Ghzal

Almond-Mango Crescent Cookies
A rich, mild almond cookie from Morocco with a zesty tang from baked-in dried mango.
Some varieties have pastry dough wrapped around the almond/fruit filling, but this one combines all ingredients into a biscuit. To see how to make the dough-filled version, watch Moroccan blogger Alia make her version on youtube.

Makes 15 - 20 cookies
1 cup raw almonds, finely ground
½ cup Wholesome Sweeteners powdered sugar
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon almond extract
1 Ener-G egg replacer (or 1 egg)
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
½ cup earth balance (or butter), at room temperature
½ cup sesame seed
½ cup of minced dried fruit like mango or pineapple

Directions

1. Take soy butter out of fridge & preheat oven to 350º
2. Knead almonds, sugar, flour, almond extract, egg, cinnamon, nutmeg, and butter in mixing bowl and mix well. A sticky dough will form. Add water a tablespoon at a time if a ball of the dough does not form, or add flour if dough is too sticky to pinch.
3. Pour sesame seeds onto a plate or pie pan.
4. Pinch off walnut-sized pieces of dough (keep them small, the cookies are rich).
5. Flatten the dough in your palms and fold in 1 teaspoon of minced dried fruit. Form the dough into a cylinder and roll dough pieces in seeds to coat.
6. Sculpt the cylinder into a crescent, thicker in the middle, tapering at the ends and curved.
7. Place side by side onto lightly greased cookie sheet and bake in oven for about 40 minutes or until golden brown.  Let cool for 20 minutes before serving.

April DOTMC coming soon!

Friends,
April is almost May and I apologize for the late-coming recipe! I've been traveling for a few weeks.
Though my long-awaited (and saved-up-for) Moroccan adventure was diverted south but volcanic ash, I spent a while in the sun and underwater in the West Indies.
I'll be posting two recipes via US Post and blogger tomorrow, both in tribute to a place I visited, St. Lucian Cocoa Tea and where I hope to visit some day (soon!?), Moroccan Almond-Mango Crescent Cookies.
Talk to you soon!

CON TODO MI CORAZON CAKE

For my wonderful friend Molly's 'lady party' in honor of her getting married, I made a simple and gorgeous vanilla rum cake. I served it with a mango puree and whipped cream and it was fantastic.
I had had a Tonka bean that I was going to use in lieu of vanilla in it but LIKE A FOOL, I lost it! Can you believe it! I almost cried. What a bummer. Tonka is like a leathery,tobacco-esque vanilla like bean from South America and you cannot get it in the U.S. as it is not approved by the FDA.
For favors I made these shortbread jam filled hearts, that have their own story.
It was a lovely time!!!

Lavender Lace Cookies

Passover just passed and boxes of cookies and macaroons were flying around my office. In one of the boxes were some lace cookies and I realized that those are my favorite cookies since childhood but I forgot what they were called. I especially loved the ones with chocolate in the middle.  Well it turns out, these are probably among the easiest cookies to make and simply delicious. I happened to have some lavender handy so I ground it together with my sugar, added the other ingredients (including Lang's special vanilla!) and voila... my favorite cookies in my own hands.

Lavender Lace Cookies 

2/3 cup turbinado sugar

1/2 tsp dried lavender

1 egg

2 tsp melted butter

1/4 tsp salt

1/4 tsp vanilla extract

1/3 cup unsweetened dessicated coconut

2/3 cup raw oats

Preheat the oven to 350. Blend the sugar and lavender in a mortar and pestle until the lavender is finely crushed throughout the sugar. Set aside (this can be done well in advance). In a medium mixing bowl, beat the egg. Add the lavender sugar and mix well. Stir in the remaining ingredients. Line a baking sheet with parchment or a Silpat and drop the dough by half-teaspoons about an inch apart. Bake for 10 minutes, or until the edges are lightly golden brown. Allow to cool fully before removing from sheet. 

Chocolate Chile Coconut Truffles

I recently made a dessert that called for vegan chocolate ganache and being the freaker that I am, made double the recipe just to make sure I didn't run out. Well, that left me with a quart of delicious ganache and no where to go with it, except to these truffles! Man they were easy and satisfying to make! I had extra coconut too so I rolled them in that. Next time I might try cocoa powder with a bit more chile to have even more kick, or toasted coconut. The un toasted did give it a sort of nice chewiness contrast to the chocolate so maybe I'll make a few of each. This recipe does yield quite a few truffles so it's great for gift giving season or just cut it way down.

Chocolate Chile Coconut Truffles

8 ounces bittersweet dairy-free chocolate, coarsely chopped
8 ounces semisweet dairy-free chocolate, coarsely chopped
1 15-ounce can coconut milk
1/2 t. pure vanilla extract
1 t. Mexican chile powder
1 pint unsweetened dried coconut flakes

Preparation:

Make the ganache filling. Place the dairy-free dark chocolate in a heat safe bowl. Set aside. In a small saucepan over medium-high heat, heat the coconut milk until it just starts to boil, add chile and whisk well to combine. Pour the hot coconut milk over the chopped chocolate, and let sit for 5 minutes without stirring. After 5 minutes, add the vanilla extract and stir the mixture using a wooden spoon until smooth and glossy. (This will take about 1-2 minutes of continuous stirring.) Pour into a shallow container and refrigerate until semifirm, about an hour.

Put the mixture into a bowl of a stand mixer and whip until fluffy, about 5 minutes. Wearing  gloves, roll 1/2 teaspoons of chocolate into small balls, roll in coconut and drop on a parchment lined baking sheet. Refrigerate until the chocolate is firm, about 15 minutes.

yields about 70 truffles

OLYMPIC FEVER! NOW IN PIE FORM!

At first, I was not too excited about the winter Olympics truth be told.
It was Lindsey Vonn's triumph over her injury, and Shaun White's billion dollar smile and California demeanor that pulled me in. But then, of course, who can possibly resist the drama of the men's figure skating, with it's heros and villains.

So last night as I held my breath watching the ski jumping competition, I got to thinking of gold medals....in pie form!
I was inspired by the "Save Room For" recipe for Pear-Raspberry Heart Pies in the February issue of Martha Stewart Living, which appears to be a variation from last year's February issue for a whole pie.
Having no whole fruit on hand, and yearning for a golden medallion of my own, I went with orange-lemon marmalade and the results were...ahem, winning!

BLIZZARD PIE

On Wednesday it was all snowtastic around here and I only went to work for maybe 3 hours. Which was awesome and left me with oodles of hours to mess around in my kitchen while flakes fell outside my window which is ambience that you cannot beat.
So I made a pie and some Macaroni and Cheese.
Last weekend, on Superbowl Sunday, ( oh and by the way WHO DAT!!!!!!!!) my lovely friend Cathy brought me over Pecans from a relative's farm. They were so tasty and needed to be celebrated in pastry form.
When you are a dessert freak like myself, you usually have pie crust in the freezer.
It helps that the best pie crust recipe I have encountered, makes crusts aplenty:

1 lb butter
1 lb AP flour
1/2 lb cake flour ( i just increase the AP, if I don't have it)
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking powder
6 oz COLD water
Cut butter into pieces combine dry ingredients, rub in butter with hands or a paddle, leaving pea size pieces.
Add in water until dough holds together.
Shape into 2 discs, wrap in plastic and chill until firm

Aaaaaanyway, back to this

Blizzard pie.

6 ounces of pecans
6 ounces of walnuts
4 ounces of desiccated coconut
4 ounces of chocolate, melted
2 eggs
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 cup of Lyle's Golden Syrup
4 tablespoons butter
one unbaked 9 inch pie crust ( that's right, no blind baking here)

Layer nuts in pie shell, sprinkle coconut over them. This is a nut packed pie so don't get freaked if it looks like too much. Beat the 2 eggs, maybe throw some vanilla in there, set aside.
Put syrup and sugar over med heat, bring to a boil. Take off heat and add butter and chocolate and stir until melted and smooth. While whisking, add the syrup mixture to the eggs and when fully incorporated, pour over your pie. Smush the nuts down if you need to or feel free to mix it up a little as long as you are gentle.
Into the oven at 350-375 for 45 to 50 minutes, until set.

february: salted caramel chocolate lava cakes!

February is a terrible month. The fun of winter (lights, cookies, Santa, etc.) has long passed but spring still seems so far, far away. I have been lucky enough so far not to experience anything a news team might name "snowmageddon," but winter is still sucking pretty hard right about now.

That's why I, and you, need WARM GOOEY OOZY CHOCOLATEY CHOCOLATE CAKE to make it through. When the cold and dark are bringing you down and you're ready to murder some groundhogs hole up with a valentine and make this and feel better.

Chocolate lava cake is basically nothing more than an undercooked cake. You cook the batter over a water bath before baking so that you can take the cake out of the oven early, before the center is set. You can make the batter ahead of time and refrigerate or freeze it. It's so easy but trust me, people will go apeshit for that lava. Serve it warm out of the oven and VOILA, VALENTINES APLENTY.

If you're not into caramel (in which case you'll never be MY valentine, but that's ok) you can skip that step; you'll just have chocolate instead of caramel lava. Make sure to take them out of the oven when they start to look sunken for maximum goo.

This is the best dessert to eat in bed, according to the chef who demo'd this for our class. Take that as you will.



Chocolate lava cake with salted caramel
I'm not sure exactly how many cakes this yields; I halved the recipe so, approximately half a shit ton.

4 egg yolks
4 whole eggs
7 oz butter
150 g dark chocolate (I used 70%, cause that's how I like it, but anything above 55% will do)
3/4 cup cake flour
1 1/4 cups powdered sugar

8 oz sugar
2 oz water
Heavy cream
Fleur de sel or other flaky sea salt


-Preheat your oven to 400.

-Make the caramel:
Have an ice bath ready. Heat the sugar and water in a saucepan. Don't stir it! When it reaches a dark blonde (as seen against a white plate...it will look darker in the pot), stick the pot in the ice bath to arrest the cooking. Add an equal amount of heavy cream and stir to combine. It will be a thick sauce-like consistency. Let cool slightly and firm up a bit.

-Spray some molds, flan cups, ramekins, etc. I used a muffin tin which was a bit of a pain to extract the cakes from but it worked OK.
-Melt the butter and chocolate over a water bath.
-Add the yolks and the whole eggs a little at a time, whisking constantly. The mixture will appear to separate and then will come back together. Cook to 170-180 degrees (this ensures the eggs are pasteurized but not overcooked).
-Add the sifted powdered sugar a little at a time.
-Add the sifted flour a little at a time.
-When the mixture is well-incorporated, pour into molds 3/4 full.

-Form the caramel into small truffle-sized balls and sprinkle with fleur de sel.

-Bake the cakes for a few minutes, just until they start to set up a bit and a crust begins to form. Drop a caramel ball into the middle of each one and bake for another few minutes. They will look slightly sunken and underdone-- this is good. All told they'll probably be in the oven for about 10-13 minutes.

-Pop them out of the molds (or fish them out of the muffin tin with a fork) and serve immediately.

JANUARY DOTM

Tara made a pie for National Pie Day in one of my personal favorite flavor combinations: Cherry Almond! My corner market has cherries right now.....ooooooooo.
And remember.."No exploding pies"!!
Thanks Tara!

Desserts Of The Mediterranean

I've never eaten this much dessert in my life, but I simply could not help it.