Category Archives: Dessert

Cookies to satisfy any craving

2 September 2012

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pbcookie

When I was a kid, peanut butter cookies were my favorite treat. My mom used to make them by rolling the dough into balls and flattening them by making criss-cross fork imprints on the top. I used to love eating them warm shortly after they came out of the oven.

Around the same time, my grandmother in Wisconsin sent me a couple books from the “World Famous Muriel” series. In each book the heroine, Muriel, would solve mysteries as long as the person seeking her help provided her with peanut butter cookies. My grandmother must have seen that we had that in common.

Even now, I still enjoy peanut butter cookies; but I now use a recipe that incorporates chocolate. When I’m craving something sweet, I often turn to Curtis Stone’s Peanut Butter Cookies With Chocolate Chunks. The best part is how quickly they can be made. I had seen him make these cookies on an episode of “Take Home Chef,” and was delighted when the recipe was included in his most recent cookbook, “Relaxed Cooking With Curtis Stone.”

The original recipe calls for 5 ounces of semisweet chocolate. The first time I made them, all I had was a 4-ounce semisweet chocolate bar, and that turned out to be plenty. I once used chocolate chips, but I prefer chunks of chocolate for this recipe. When it comes to breaking up the chocolate, I’ve found the best way to do it is to smack the wrapped 4-ounce bar of chocolate on the edge of the counter until it feels broken up enough. The different size chunks add a homemade charm to the cookies. If using a stand mixer, just throw the whole bar into the bowl and let the stand mixer break it up into chunks.

The recipe says to remove the cookies from the oven when they’ve puffed up and begin to brown on top. At first, it might seem like you’re taking them out prematurely, but really, follow the recipe. The cookies continue to cook because of the residual heat. If you follow the recipe, you’ll have large, soft cookies to satisfy your sweet tooth.

Ingredients
1 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup natural chunky peanut butter
1/2 cup (packed) light brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated / caster sugar
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 ½ tablespoons honey
1 large egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
4 ounces semisweet chocolate, coarsely chopped

Preheat the oven to 350 F.

Mix the flour, baking soda, and salt in a medium bowl.

Using an electric mixer, beat the peanut butter, brown sugar, granulated sugar, butter, honey, egg, and vanilla in a large bowl until well blended.

Stir the dry ingredients into the peanut butter mixture in 2 additions. Stir in the chopped chocolate.

Scoop about 3 tablespoonfuls of dough for each cookie onto the prepared baking sheets, spacing them 2 1/2 inches apart.

Bake for about 12 minutes, or until the cookies puff and begin to brown on top but are still very soft to the touch.

Cool the cookies on the baking sheets for 5 minutes.

Using a metal spatula, transfer the cookies to a rack and eat warm or cool completely.

A new spin on classic lemon bars

12 August 2012

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My mom has had a well-loved copy of the red-and-white checkered Better Homes and Gardens Cook Book on her shelf for as long as I can remember. It sits beside her small, handwritten cookbook full of some of her — and my — favorite recipes. While Joy is usually my go-to book for American classics, its recipe for lemon bars leaves much to be desired — that’s where The Better Homes and Gardens book comes in.

Once in a while I’ll be in the mood to experiment with a classic recipe, and lemon bars is a great one to modify. I’ve found that the recipes I make well are the best to play with.

On a recent trip to Trader Joe’s, I purchased a bottle of blueberry juice. As I was looking at the lemon bars recipe, it occurred to me that some of the lemon juice could easily be substituted. I also had leftover toasted coconut and coconut milk from the coconut-rum ice cream I made last week that needed to be used.

I set to work and broke up the toasted coconut and added it to the crust, and substituted the coconut milk for the milk called for in the filling. The final product was exactly what I’d hoped it would be. The blueberry flavor mellowed the tartness of the lemon, but both flavors were still prominent in the result. The bits of toasted coconut added a nice bit of texture to the crust. Substituting all of the lemon juice with blueberry juice would likely work, too, should anyone be so inclined to make an entirely blueberry version.

This kitchen experiment definitely goes down as a success.

Ingredients
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1/3 cup toasted coconut
2 tablespoons cornstarch
1/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup butter
4 eggs, lightly beaten
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1/2 cup lemon juice (if using fresh lemons, squeeze about 4)
1/4 cup blueberry juice
1/4 cup coconut milk
1 tablespoon vanilla sugar

Preheat oven to 350 F. Grease a 13-inch-by-9-inch pan.

In a bowl, combine the 2 cups flour, powdered sugar, toasted coconut, cornstarch and salt. Cut in butter until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Press mixture into the bottom of the prepared pan. Bake 18-20 minutes or until edges are golden.

Meanwhile, in a medium bowl, stir together eggs, granulated sugar, 3 tablespoons flour, lemon and blueberry juices, coconut milk and vanilla sugar.

Pour filling over hot crust. Bake for 15-20 minutes more or until center is set.

Cool completely in pan on a wire rack. Cut into bars. Cover and store in the refrigerator.

A taste of Tahiti

5 August 2012

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Until Saturday, I had never attempted to make ice cream. Every recipe I’d ever seen required an ice cream maker, and I never felt that was worth the investment. When I turned on the Food Network on Saturday morning, Giada De Laurentiis was doing a show on foods inspired by her Tahitian vacation. One of the things she was making was Tahitian Ice Cream. Her recipe didn’t require an ice cream maker, so I decided to try it.

The process of making the ice cream was a lot simpler and quicker than I had anticipated. Once the cream is whipped to the proper consistency, just mix in the rest of the ingredients, put it in the dish and freeze it.

Toasting the coconut proved to be more difficult. The first time I tried toasting it in the oven, as Giada’s recipe instructed, it burned. I checked it and stirred it after four minutes and put it in for another two, but it was completely black after those two minutes. The second time I tried doing it in a pan and pulled it off the burner when it turned golden brown, but I didn’t consider that it would keep cooking in the pan after I took it off the burner. It burned again. The third time I watched it more carefully and took it off the burner when it was light brown. It cooked until it was golden brown. Third time’s a charm.

The recipe calls for light rum, but all I had was dark rum, so the flavor dominated the ice cream. Next time I’ll reduce the amount of dark rum or use light rum, as the recipe says. The consistency was not as thick as store-bought ice cream, but it was still good. The toasted coconut added a nice contrast to the texture of the ice cream. I bet this would also be good served with fresh pineapple as a topping.

Ingredients
1 teaspoon gelatin
1 vanilla bean, preferably Tahitian
2 cups heavy whipping cream, chilled
1/2 cup sugar
1 cup coconut milk
1/2 cup light rum
1/2 cup toasted coconut, see Cook’s Notes

Place 1/2 cup water in a small saucepan. Sprinkle the gelatin over the water and allow softening, about 2 minutes. Cut the vanilla bean in half lengthwise and scrape the seeds into the water mixture using a paring knife. Add the empty vanilla pods. Stir the water mixture over medium heat until the gelatin has dissolved. Set aside to cool slightly. Remove and discard the vanilla pods.

Beat the cream until thick using an electric hand mixer in a medium bowl. Add the sugar and continue to beat until the cream holds soft peaks. Add the water mixture, coconut milk and rum. Beat until thick and light.

Pour the mixture into an 8-by-8-inch glass baking dish. Freeze until the mixture is the texture of soft-serve ice cream, about 2 1/2 hours.

Scoop the mixture into small glasses using an ice cream scoop. Garnish with toasted coconut and serve. Freeze any unused ice cream in an airtight container.

Cook’s note: To toast coconut, place sweetened or unsweetened, shredded or flaked coconut in a single layer in a small frying pan over medium heat. Stir the coconut every couple minutes. Remove from heat when it is just starting to turn light brown. If you leave it in the pan, watch the coconut and continue to stir it until golden brown.

If freezing the ice cream for longer than 2 1/2 hours, allow the ice cream to stand at room temperature until softened, about 30 minutes before serving. Whisk the ice cream until smooth and serve.

Dessert for breakfast?

29 July 2012

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Sometimes I crave something sweet for breakfast; something other than jam on toast or orange juice or a muffin. When I have berries in the fridge and a bit of time to cook, I’ll whip up a clafouti (pronounced klä-fü-ˈtē). “The Joy of Cooking” has a Cherry Clafouti, described as a simple French country dessert, in its “pies and pastries” chapter. It’s like a baked custard. But, once in a while, it can also serve as a treat for breakfast.

I like to use fresh fruit in this recipe. I’ve made the clafouti with both cherries and blueberries, but usually use blueberries because I don’t have a cherry pitter. I find the process of cutting and pitting the cherries makes the process take much longer than I want it to.

It’s nice to have options for breakfast. Give it a shot.

Ingredients
4 large eggs
3/4 cup sugar
1 cup milk
1 tablespoon Cognac or rum
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
Pinch of salt
1 pound of sweet cherries or blueberries (frozen fruit, thawed and patted dry, or canned fruit, drained and dried, can be used)

Preheat the oven to 375 F. Butter a 10-inch, deep-dish pie pan. Beat the eggs and sugar in a medium bowl until frothy, about two minutes.

Add the milk, Cognac and vanilla and beat the mixture until smooth.

Stir in the flour and salt.

Pour the fruit into the bottom of the pan.

Pour the batter over the fruit and place the pie pan on a baking sheet. Bake the clafouti for 10
minutes. Reduce the over temperature to 350 F and bake until the top has puffed (it will sink on cooling) and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, about 35 minutes. Cool for about 20 minutes before serving.

World’s greatest sandwich?

22 July 2012

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When I first saw “Spanglish” a few years ago, the scene in which Adam Sandler’s character makes a sandwich caught my attention. His character, a chef, is making himself a late-night snack. He takes his time crafting exactly what he wants to eat — frying the egg, cooking the bacon, broiling the cheese on the bread. After a long day, it’s his reward for himself.

I tried to make a version of it at the time and remember it being delicious. I recently found myself thinking about that sandwich again, but couldn’t remember everything that was on it, so I turned to the Internet to see if I could find it anywhere.

I found a DVD extra, titled “The World’s Greatest Sandwich,” on YouTube. It turns out the movie producers called Thomas Keller, chef and owner of The French Laundry, in to make what a chef would want as a late-night snack. He said he enjoys something salty with a beer, and the sandwich is what he came up with for Sandler’s character.

The result really hits the spot. I don’t know about it being the world’s greatest sandwich, but it’s pretty damn good.

Late-night BLT sandwich with fried egg and cheese
3 to 4 thick slices of bacon
2 slices Monterey Jack cheese
2 slices pain de campagne (rustic country loaf), whole-grain bread or sourdough bread, toasted
1 tablespoon mayonnaise
4 slices tomato
2 leaves butter lettuce
1 teaspoon butter
1 egg

Cook the bacon until crisp. Drain on paper towels and set aside.

Place the slices of cheese on one slice of the toasted bread and place in a toaster oven or under a broiler to melt the cheese.

Spread the other slice of toast with the mayonnaise, top with the cooked bacon, the sliced tomato and the lettuce.

In a nonstick skillet, melt the butter over medium heat. Fry the egg, turning over briefly when the bottom is set (keep the yolk runny).

Slide the finished egg on top of the lettuce. Top with the other slice of toast, melted cheese side down. Place the sandwich on a plate and slice in half, letting the yolk run down the sandwich.

Makes one late-night sandwich.