Pavlovas with Meyer Lemon Curd and Fresh Berries
It seems that the warm summery weather we experienced two weeks ago was just a cruel, cruel joke. Not funny Boston. Not at all.
Over a month ago, when the weather was much like it has been the last week (dark… gloomy… wet… depressing…), I was using happy meyer lemons to substitute for the absent SUN, and I made these pavlovas and a meyer lemon curd. They were fun, light and bright, and rather uncharacteristic for me since they weren’t a cookie and didn’t have a crust! Pavlovas are meringues that are crispy on the outside, but fluffy and marshmallow-y inside, a textural dream. The tart lemon curd is rich and lemony; a little goes a long way because the pavlovas and whipped cream are just ever so lightly sweetened. Now that the berries are really coming into season and I’ve taken a peek at the 10 day forecast (more un-summer-like weather), I think I should make these again SOON!
For those that hate wasting anything in the kitchen like me (it’s my asian-ness), you’ll be happy to see that the number of egg WHITES in the pavlovas corresponds exactly to the number of egg YOLKS needed for the lemon curd… serendipity! I was left with quite a bit of lemon curd left over- which would seem to pose another kitchen conundrum- but stay tuned for how my resourcefulness prevailed!
Guinness Brownies
I have been holding out on you.
But not on purpose, I promise!
I baked these Guinness brownies at the end of 2010, and in the midst of the holiday craziness, visiting families on opposite coasts, getting engaged, and turning 29, I somehow forgot to post about these stout-y chocolate-y chocolate brownies.
But what better day to tell you about a dessert infused with Guinness than the day where we all celebrate as the Irish do and lift a (few) pint(s) to good ole Saint Paddy??
Rustic Plum Tart
Now that I can no longer be in denial about the arrival of fall, especially after the last 2 days of frost-warning-worthy weather, I feel like I have been racing to snatch up the last of the summer produce in attempt to get some last-minute summer baking in before I give in to apples, pumpkins, and pears!
Now I know that local farms haven’t picked a plum or peach in months here on the East coast, so the plums and peaches I have been buying are most likely from my native California. I know it’s not very green of me, but to be completely honest, sometimes the stomach wants what the stomach wants, and I am not one to argue with my stomach (because I KNOW I will lose)!
This recipe is so simple and so lovely… perfectly rustic. Just a few everyday ingredients and my out-of-season plums produced a tart that puffed up deliciously around each wedge of juicy plum tartness, and tasted like it had twice the amount of butter than it actually did (win!). What took me by surprise was the amazing texture of the tart: it was cakey and soft in the center and satisfyingly crunchy at the edges. I attribute the cool texture to the method in which cool (not cold) butter is cut into the dry ingredients until it resembles wet sand. Once baked, these pockets of air remain, resulting in a lightness that I just didn’t expect. And that I loved. And that I very much want to eat again. Except I think that I will have to wait until next year, when plums are back in season!
Hazelnut Milk Chocolate Panna Cotta
It was the summer of panna cottas; after having made my first a little over 2 months ago (and becoming instantly smitten with its creamy, dairy goodness), I suddenly seemed to find panna cottas everywhere I turned- on every restaurant dessert menu and prevalent in the food blogosphere. It’s like when I finally learned what siRNAs were (light-years after my biological-science-inclined peers), and suddenly, they were the answer to 90% of every quiz question in our paper-reading class my first year of graduate school. Panna cotta is the answer to my dessert cravings!
This panna cotta seems quite decadent, being richer and sweeter than my first, due to a healthy dose of Nutella and chocolate, but thankfully it is not OVERLY sweet and you don’t feel like you have to run 10 miles or restrict yourself to salads for a week after eating this. This recipe requires less gelatin, which results in a softer, more pudding-like consistency, but next time I would increase the gelatin a bit. Also, I highly recommend sprinkling toasted hazelnuts on top for a nice crunch with the creamy panna cotta.
Salted Caramel Brownies
There are some baked goodies that I am just too scared to be alone with in my apartment. Like this one. Because the odds are, I will be eating the whole batch myself. Straight from the pan. In 48 hours or less.
And I don’t even really like chocolate. I know, I’m weird. But it’s just that when it comes to desserts, 3 times out of 4, I will pick the fruit-based over the chocolate. Except if the dessert was THIS. Super-rich and chocolate-y brownies. Smothered in sweet sweet caramel, which would almost be TOO sweet if it weren’t for a generous pinch of salt that pulls the whole brownie out of the “ho hum, I’ve had one of these before” category and into the realm of “OMG HAND ME ANOTHER BEFORE I HURT SOMEONE!!!”
So when my lab planned a BBQ and I offered to bring a dessert… I knew I would be saving myself the guilt by getting my lab to eat the other 15 slices. Muahaha, suckers.
Cherry-Almond Clafoutis
Clafoutis. Pronounced: CLAH-FOO-TEE.
Kind of sounds like some kind of horrific fungal disease you could catch by walking barefoot in a public gym bathroom, doesn’t it? Luckily, it’s not!
A clafoutis is an egg-y, custard-y French dessert, traditionally made with cherries, but easily adaptable to any fruit you wish. Because it’s summer and I’m smitten with sweet cherries (but not so much their price per pound…), I made cherry clafoutis with a hint of almond flavor.
As they bake, the clafoutis puff up to monstrous heights, but unfortunately, even wonderful French desserts cannot defy the law of gravity forever, and eventually fall back to a more humble height (right, soufflés?). But that’s ok, because they are still tasty! Clafoutis are so simple to make and its simplicity really allows the fruit to shine, plus, they are not too sweet so you never feel too guilty consuming them (even for breakfast)!
Twice Baked Strawberry Rhubarb Pie
All summer I had been dying to take advantage of the season’s best strawberries and rhubarb and bake my very first strawberry rhubarb pie! It wasn’t until over a week ago that I finally had the time, ingredients, and, perhaps most importantly, acceptable kitchen temperature (it temporarily dipped below DON’T EVEN THINK ABOUT TURNING THE OVEN ON IN THIS HEAT). But before I could even share it with you, I went home to California for 6 days and I was distracted with: favorite Bay Area foods (Burmese, sushi, dim sum, and my Grandma’s dumplings); a surprise 60th birthday FEAST (12 courses of tasty Chinese food!!!!) and reunion with dear cousins currently living around the world; lychee smoothies with the guy who took me on my first date in high school (we saw Titanic); a wind-y carsick-inducing (though beautifully scenic!) family trip to Muir woods and Stinson beach in the new family car; visits to both sets of grandparents; buckwheat crepes, ice cream, and wine in the afternoon in the Mission; inhaling half a Chicago-style deep dish pizza while watching the Bachelorette finale with my best friend (and her best canine friend); new earrings; spending a day with my parents washing the cars, yardwork, and picking out kitchen countertop and flooring samples; lunching and laughing with the two lovely ladies I used to play Barbies with; enjoying the spectacular WICKED with my mom; perusing (and drooling in) the used cookbook section of my favorite independent bookstore, Green Apple Books in SF, AND 4 hours of Top Chef and 5 hours of the Kardashians (in Miami… dra-MA) thanks to in flight TV!
Whew. All THAT and there was sadly NO TIME for either a post on pie or one of my California visit staples: In N Out cheeseburger and fries with a half vanilla/half strawberry milkshake!
But, better late than never, right? This strawberry rhubarb pie starts with a pre-baked bottom crust (inspired by this twice baked pie) that stays decidedly NON-SOGGY, despite the best efforts of the juicy fruit filling. It’s a bit of extra work, but I really liked the result.
I’d never had rhubarb before (celery’s red doppelganger by appearance.. but apparently of no actual relation), and was so excited to try. This filling showcases the opposing sweetness of ripe strawberries and tartness of fresh rhubarb- and the ultimate harmony when the two are together. Like Batman and Robin. Larry and Balki. Andreas and me (haha). As a strawberry-rhubarb-combo-virgin, I had imagined it would be good… but I had no idea HOW GOOD. The rhubarb, once cooked, becomes soft and smooth, with a great citrusy-tart flavor and a bit more bite than the even softer strawberries, thus creating a great texture that other fillings lack. I am now daydreaming about this new super duo (Strawbarb? Rhuberry?) over yogurt, ice cream, panna cotta, in jam, as sorbet…
Pink Lady Cupcakes
Pink! I really hated that color when I was growing up. I could never understand why it was assumed that just because I had two X chromosomes, I would want to wear pink, carry a pink backpack, and be immersed in an all-pink bedroom. It’s possible that I picked blue as my favorite color as my way of rebelling against society and my mom’s interior decorating color scheme.
Of course now, I’ve learned to embrace the color pink; it has been fully incorporated into my wardrobe. And I couldn’t resist baking up these super-pink cupcakes, flavored and colored by strawberry purée.
The original recipe is for a beautiful 3-layer Pink Lady cake… and now after testing the recipe in cute mini-form, I am fervently wishing for an occasion to eat bake the whole cake! The cake is really moist and light, distinctly strawberry flavored, and well… very… PINK! The cream cheese frosting is the a little more assertive than the cupcakes, which makes a fantastic combination.
Graham Crackers
A few weeks ago, I was inspired to make these lovely strawberry ricotta graham tartlets.
Unfortunately, I chose to be inspired on one of the hottest and stickiest nights of the last few weeks. Which meant rolling out soft buttery dough was pretty much a total disaster. It melted and stuck to my rolling pin, tore and ripped before making it to the baking sheet, but despite it all… they baked up to be a wonderfully spiced cookie. I hesitate to call them graham crackers, because though the flavors were reminiscent, the texture was completely different- more of a dense buttery cookie than a flaky cracker. (P.S. the sweet ricotta and strawberry pairings was also delicious for a light summertime weekday dessert!)
That night, as I was going to bed, I thought about how to make the cookie more flaky and cracker-esque and decided that the method of cutting butter into the flour that makes pie crusts so successfully flaky could certainly be adapted for a cracker! I woke up excited, thinking that I had stumbled upon something NEW to the home-made graham cracker world… and found that of course others before me have already incorporated the technique into graham cracker recipes! So though I can’t really take any CREDIT for this cracker, I am pleased to think that perhaps my brain can think like a baker!
These crackers really are excellent though. It’s interesting to compare common store-bought items to home-made; I always wonder if the home-made recipes are designed to taste like their store-cousins and in reality, taste nothing like the original that the store-bought version was originally fashioned after! These don’t taste exactly like store-bought graham crackers… I think they are BETTER. Whatever flavor it is that makes graham crackers taste “graham-y” is amped up in these cookies… is it the honey and the molasses-y flavor of brown sugar? In any case, the store-bought ones now taste a bit stale in comparison. There is a nice crispy crunch (hooray for the pie technique and a bit of leavening agent!) and I love the cinnamon sugar sprinkling on top.
The crackers (cookies?) were tasty alone, but also fantastic with a bit of jam. My favorite way to enjoy these cookies, however, was in ice cream sandwich form. Yum.
Mango and Vanilla Bean Buttermilk Panna Cotta
It is estimated that up to 90% of Asians suffer from a decrease in lactose tolerance in adulthood. Both my parents are lactose tolerant; my dad is so intolerant, he has basically identified which common grocery ice cream brands use real dairy or artificial ingredients based on the intensity of stomach discomfort and length of bathroom time required after ingestion. (TMI? sorry.) Taking these two gems of information together, I’ve come to realize that the odds are against me; my carefree days of chugging glasses of milk, buying J.P. Licks ice cream by the pint, and creamy pasta dishes are numbered!!
Of course, only now that the countdown is on, I have fallen (and fallen hard) for a cool and creamy LACTOSE-FILLED dessert. What a cruel world!
Panna cotta is made by simmering sugar, milk and/or cream, and gelatin, and allowed to cool until it is set. The texture is amazingly custardy, but without the egg-y flavor. It’s simple and clean-flavored by itself, but can also be gussied up with all kinds of sweet accompaniments- fruits (fresh, poached, macerated, puréed, compotes), caramel, chocolate, nuts, streusel, cookies. I love recipes with lots of different variations because it gives me a great excuse to try the recipe out several times to figure out what combination I like best!
This panna cotta recipe is so amazing (and easy!), I really can’t wait to try it again. The addition of real vanilla bean results in a most beautifully vanilla-infused custard- without the somewhat cloying aftertaste that can come from using extract. And who doesn’t love little speckles of vanilla sprinkled throughout their dessert?! The buttermilk also adds a really pleasant tang that adds such complexity to the flavor. I made a mango purée on the bottom, but in all honesty, this panna cotta is better on its own (or with less purée or milder-flavored fruits) so that you can really enjoy the vanilla and the buttermilk. I know I will be having many more of these because not only are they great cool treats for hot summer days, but also because if that tragic day ever arrives when I realize my lactase has finally failed me, I REFUSE to make this with Lactaid.
