Balsamic Zabaglione
A great Italian dinner calls for an Italian dessert.
I got the idea for this from Bon Appetit. I changed things around because...well... that's what I do. Besides... I needed to work with the ingredients I had at home.
Balsamic Zabaglione
- 1 cup heavy cream
- 4 egg yolks
- 1/4 cup sugar
- 1/4 cup Marsala
- 1 tbsp good quality balsamic vinegar
- 1 pint blackberries
- 3 golden plums
- 1/4 cup Marsala
- 1/4 cup honey
For zabaglione, whip cream to stiff peaks and refrigerate.
Whisk the egg yolks with the sugar, marsala, and balsamic vinegar. Place the bowl over a saucepan of simmering water and beat with hand-held mixer until the mixture is thick and foamy. Remove the bowl from the heat and continue beatinging until the zabaglione is completely cool.
Gently fold the zabaglione into the whipped cream and chill.
Meanwhile, place the fruit in a large bowl. In a small saucepan, bring the marsala and honey to a boil. Add the fruit and toss to coat. Spoon the fruit into wine glasses and top with zabaglione.
It was the perfect ending to a perfect meal.
Back to reality, tomorrow.
TastyKakes and Sunday Dinner
Question... When is a TastyKake not a TastyKake?!?
Answer... When it's homemade, of course!
We spent the day with our friends KJ and Debbie yesterday. Typical Sunday Italian Dinner. Start eating at one, finish 4 hours later.
Everything was great! Debbie made a fantastic meat sauce that perfectly covered mounds of spaghetti. I had two helpings. And salad... antipasta... Of course I didn't take any pictures, but I was able to convince them that we just had to take a bit more dessert home!
KJ's birthday is the day after mine so Debbie made her her favorite birthday cake; a homemade version of a TastyKake Peanut Butter Kandy Kake.
Okay. We all know I'm not from the area and have no real allegiance to things like TastyKakes. They're just not something I'm going to run out and buy.
But MAKE?!? OMG! I could eat one of these every night!
I didn't get the recipe - yet - but the concept is fairly clear... It's a white cake (not a cake-mix white cake) that, after it comes out of the oven, peanut butter is smeared on it while it's still hot, and then melted chocolate is spread over that.
It's brilliant!
Ok here it is!
Candy Cake Recipe
- 1 cup milk
- 2 Tbs butter
Scald and set aside
- 4 egg whites
- Dash of salt
- 2 cups flour
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 2 cups sugar
- 2 tsp baking powder
Mix egg whites, sugar, and vanilla until light. Mix in flour, salt, and baking powder. Add cooled milk/butter.
Put in jelly roll pan and bake at 350° for 20 minutes. Take out and spread 12 oz peanut butter on top. Put in fridge to chill.
Melt 8 oz. Hershey chocolate in double boiler and spread on top of cool cake. Refrigerate to harden.
Peach Pie
The baking gods were smiling down upon me for this one. This came out just like they always should - and rarely do.
The crust was perfectly flaky (just like me!) and the filling was rich and flavorful -and- held its shape without being pasty. Just like it's supposed to!
I used 4 peaches and 2 apricots - because that's what was in the house. But any combination would work.
A bit of pastry flour helps to lighten the crust a bit and make it more tender. If you don't have any, just use the flour you have.
Peach Pie
Crust:
- 2 cups flour
- 1/3 cup pastry/cake flour
- 2 sticks butter, frozen
- pinch salt
- 2 tbsp sugar
- 1/2 cup ice water
Using a food processor, add flours, salt, and sugar. Pulse to mix.
Chop up frozen butter and add. Pulse until butter is incorporated and mixture looks grainy.
Slowly add ice water and pulse until mixed.
Turn out onto counter. Press and form mixture into two disks - one larger and one smaller (bottom crust, top crust). Wrap in plastic and refrigerate about an hour to allow the flour to properly absorb the water and to relax the gluten.
Roll out bottom crust and place in pie plate.
Make Filling.
- 4 peaches and 2 apricots (or any combination)
- 2/3 cup sugar
- 1/3 cup flour
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- 1/4 tsp ginger
- 1/4 tsp cardamom
- 2 tbsp butter, melted
Preheat oven to 400°.
Cut peaches into chunks. (I very rarely peel fruit.) Place into bowl and then add sugar, flour, and spices. Mix very well - until filling is a bit gluey. Add melted butter and mix well. Pour into crust.
Roll out top crust and place over top. Seal edges and make a decorative crimp, if desired.
Cut vent holes in top crust and bake about 1 hour to an hour and 10 minutes or so.
Cover crust with a bit of foil if it gets too brown.
Guaranteed good!
The food processor really does make the quickest and easiest pie crust. I used to use 3:1 butter to shortening back in the day, but I've found that the all-butter food processor crust is every bit as light, flaky, and tender without the partially-hydrogenated fats. 2 tbsp butter per serving isn't exactly health food to begin with.
But boy was it good!
Deep-Fried Snickers Bar
If it hadn't been my birthday, I probably wouldn't have done this. I mean, as low as they are, I do have my standards.
But standards be damned, this is one I had to try. I'm thinking that I had one of these at the Iowa State Fair something like 17 years ago, but the old mind is kinda foggy. I've certainly seen them made enough times, though.
The secret is to freeze the candy bar before frying and use a thicker batter than the thin beer batter we used for dinner. I reworked it a bit - added a bit more flour, a pinch of baking powder, a bit of sugar and a drop of vanilla.
I have to admit that it was pretty good. Not "stellar" or "fantabulous", but pretty good. The batter was good, the filling was good. Gooey, peanuty, chocolaty...
I did enjoy it, but not enough to make one, again, I don't think. The concept is great, but it just lacked that "wow" that I was kinda hoping for. I'm just not sure it was worth the calories.
But that's okay. I can now say I have made a deep-fried Snickers bar.
Another one to scratch off the bucket list.
Caramelized Peach Upside-Down Cake
I've been lovin' the peaches. Plums and apricots used to be my favorite summer fruits, but I just can't abide the things being sold back here. Dry, flavorless, and never-ripening. The peaches - yellow peaches - on the other hand, have been pretty good.
I had just a couple left and wanted to use them up for dessert tonight, so I thought I'd peruse some old Gourmet magazines. I found a good one from 2004.
Caramelized Peach Upside-Down Cake
To prevent the caramelized peaches from sticking to the parchment paper, unmold these flavorful little cakes while they're still warm.
Active time: 50 min Start to finish: 1 1/4 hr
ingredients
- 1 tablespoon plus 2 teaspoons unsalted butter
- 6 tablespoons plus 1 teaspoon cake flour (not self-rising)
- 1 1/4 lb medium peaches (about 4)
- 9 tablespoons packed light brown sugar
- 2 large eggs
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/8 teaspoon almond extract
Special equipment: a muffin tin with 6 large (1-cup) muffin cups; parchment paper
preparation
Put oven rack in middle position and preheat oven to 400°F.
Melt 2 teaspoons butter, then brush muffin cups with some of it. Chill muffin tin 2 minutes to set butter. Line bottom of each muffin cup with a round of parchment paper, then brush cups and parchment with remaining melted butter and chill 2 minutes more. Divide 1 teaspoon flour among muffin cups and shake to coat, knocking out excess flour.
Cut an X in bottom of each peach and immerse peaches in a large pot of boiling water until skins loosen, about 15 seconds. Transfer peaches with a slotted spoon to a large bowl of ice and cold water to cool. Peel peaches, then pit and halve lengthwise. Cut peach halves lengthwise into 1/2-inch-thick slices, then cut slices crosswise into 1/2-inch pieces.
Melt remaining tablespoon butter in a 10-inch heavy skillet over moderate heat, then stir in 3 tablespoons brown sugar and cook, stirring occasionally, until sugar is melted and bubbling, about 2 minutes. Carefully add a scant 2 cups peaches (caramel will splatter and sugar will seize), reserving remaining 1/3 cup peaches, then reduce heat and simmer, stirring occasionally, until peaches are tender and caramel is syrupy, 6 to 8 minutes. Spoon cooked peaches and caramel evenly into muffin cups.
Purée reserved peaches in a blender until smooth. Beat together eggs, salt, almond extract, and remaining 6 tablespoons brown sugar in a bowl with an electric mixer at high speed until mixture is creamy and tripled in volume, 3 to 5 minutes in a stand mixer or 6 to 8 minutes with a handheld. Reduce speed to low, then add puréed peaches and mix until just combined. Sift remaining 6 tablespoons flour evenly over egg mixture and fold in gently but thoroughly until just combined.
Spoon batter over caramelized peaches and bake until golden brown and a wooden pick or skewer inserted in center of a cake comes out clean, 10 to 12 minutes. Cool in muffin tin on a rack 2 to 3 minutes, then invert a platter over muffin tin and flip cakes onto platter while still warm. Reposition any peaches that have stuck to parchment and serve cakes warm or at room temperature.
In typical Gourmet fashion, the recipe is a bit convoluted and unnecessarily complex. I reproduced it verbatim, so read through it first. It's actually quite easy.
And yummy.
Grilled Pork Chops and Banana Cake
For not having much of an appetite, we're still eating. The colds from hell linger on. And on. And on. And on.
Tonight was the pork chops from yesterday, a sweet potato and a red potato, roasted with garlic and rosemary and sage from the garden. And frozen peas because they were there.
The chop was perfectly charred. It was about all I could taste - until Victor's dessert.
I could actually smell this baking.
Banana Cake
- 2 cups cake flour
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 cup butter, softened
- 1 cup sugar
- 3 large eggs, room temperature
- 2 teaspoons vanilla
- 3/4 cup milk
- 2 bananas, mashed
Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease and flour bundt pan.
Combine flour, baking powder, and salt.
Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs, one at a time. Add vanilla and mix until completely combines. Add banana. Slowly add flour alternately with milk. At end of addition batter should be smooth. Divide between 2 pans.
Bake about 40-45 minutes or until tester comes out clean.
I made a chocolate ganache for the top and then covered it with unsweetened coconut.
Yum.
Feed-A-Cold Peach Cake
Feed a cold, starve a fever. That's what we learned as kids. So I'm feeding this cold, whether I can fully taste it, or not.
It's just a basic yellow cake with fresh peaches mixed in, whipped cream on top, and a half-peach sliced atop that.
Really simple. Really good.
I even broke down and used a cake mix tonight. Shocking, I know, but illness does require sacrifice. I have actually found *one* store-brand cake mix without partially-hydrogenated fats or high fructose corn syrup. And it's only the yellow. All the others have mega-crap in them. Of course, all of the national brands have 'em and I don't buy 'em.
One thing to note... When you add things like fresh fruit chucks to cake batter, they will sink to the bottom unless you coat them with flour before gently stirring in. 99% of the time I don't bother, but if you want the fruit to be more-or-less evenly disperseed throughout the layer, you should.
Dinner done. Dessert done. I'm off to bed. I need to make an appearance at work tomorrow.
Chocolate Banana Pie
Think OMG delicious! And then multiply it. That's what you get when Victor heads into the kitchen and makes a clean out the refrigerator pie! This was last night's dessert that I didn't get posted.
The cookie crust started out as the chocolate chip cookies I made last week and froze. The chocolate pudding to use up some whole milk we had on hand from making ice cream, the bananas were getting to the use me today or make banana bread tomorrow stage...
And then we topped it with whipped cream.
It didn't come out of the pie plate in perfect wedges. But it didn't matter.
It rocked!
And there's more for tonight.
Peach and Almond Upside-Down Cake
The day is just not complete without dessert at our house.
Oh... I know that I'd be doing much better at the Friday weigh-in if I forsook this nightly ritual, but... ya know what?!? Life is about living, not being a size 3.
So tonight, with some absolutely delicious peaches in the house, I decided on a peach upside down cake.
I found a recipe at Epicurious using peaches and pecans, but I didn't have any pecans in the house and had lots of almonds and almond meal.
I have to say that it totally rocked. The cake was unbelievably good, the peaches perfect, and the almonds added just the right amount of crunch.
Peach and Almond Upside-Down Cake
For peach and pecan topping:
- 1/4 cup (1/2 stick) unsalted butter
- 1/2 cup (packed) golden brown sugar
- 1 cup slivered almonds
- 3 peaches cut into 8 wedges
For cake:
- 1 1/2 cupsall purpose flour
- 1/2 cup almond meal
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp nutmeg
- 1/2 tsp cinnamon
- pinch salt
- 1 cup sugar
- 1/2 cup butter
- 2 large eggs
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1/2 cup whole milk
preparation
Peach and Pecan Topping:
Melt butter in medium saucepan over medium heat. Add brown sugar; whisk until sugar dissolves, about 1 minute. Pour mixture into 9-inch-diameter cake pan with 2-inch-high sides; spread evenly over bottom of pan. Arrange peach wedges, covering pan bottom. Sprinkle with almonds.
Cake:
Preheat oven to 350°. Combine first 6 ingredients. Beat sugar and butter in large bowl until butter is pale, about 4 minutes. Whisk eggs and vanilla in small bowl until well blended. Add egg mixture to butter mixture, 1 tablespoon at a time, beating until well blended after each addition. Add flour mixture in 3 additions alternately with milk in 2 additions, beating just until blended after each addition. Drop batter by large spoonfuls atop almonds and peaches in pan; spread evenly and gently.
Bake cake until golden brown and tester inserted into center comes out clean, about 55 minutes. Transfer cake to rack; cool in pan 25 to 30 minutes (do not cool longer or peach layer may stick to pan). Run small knife around sides of cake to loosen. Invert onto serving platter. Cool.
Boston Cream Pie
Tonight's dessert was going to be peach ice cream. Until, that is, Victor caught sight of a Boston Cream Pie on a TV show. he casually mentioned that he'd love for me to make on, one of these days. So, of course, I took the hint.
It's definitely been a while since I made one. I know that nowadays even the Parker House - where the Boston Cream Pie originated - makes them in cake pans. But I decided to follow tradition and make it in a pie plate.
This recipe comes from the Food Network.
Boston Cream Pie
Cake
- 1 cup plus 2 tablespoons sifted cake flour
- 2/3 cup sugar
- 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 cup milk
- 1/4 cup cooking oil
- 2 egg yolks
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 2 egg whites
- 1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar
- Pastry cream, recipe follows
- Ganache, recipe follows
Pastry Cream Filling:
- 2 cups whole, 2 percent fat, or 1 percent fat milk
- 1/2 vanilla bean, split lengthwise, seeds scraped out
- 6 egg yolks
- 2/3 cup granulated sugar
- 1/4 cup cornstarch
- 1 tablespoon unsalted butter
Ganache:
- 8 ounces semisweet chocolate
- 1 cup heavy cream, boiling
Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a medium mixing bowl combine flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt. Make a well in the center of the flour mixture. Add milk, oil, egg yolks, and vanilla. Beat with an electric mixer on low to medium speed until combined. Beat an additional 3 minutes on high speed and set aside.
In a large mixing bowl, beat egg whites and cream of tartar on medium to high speed until soft peaks form. Pour the egg yolk mixture over the egg white mixture and fold in. Gently pour the batter into a 9-inch greased pie pan. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes or until the top springs back when lightly touched. Invert the pan onto a wire rack. Cool completely.
Pastry Cream Filling: In a medium saucepan, heat the milk and vanilla bean to a boil over medium heat. Immediately turn off the heat and set aside to infuse for 10 to 15 minutes. In a bowl, whisk the egg yolks and granulated sugar until light and fluffy. Add the cornstarch and whisk vigorously until no lumps remain. Whisk in 1/4 cup of the hot milk mixture until incorporated. Whisk in the remaining hot milk mixture, reserving the empty saucepan.
Pour the mixture through a strainer back into the saucepan. Cook over medium-high heat, whisking constantly, until thickened and slowly boiling. Remove from the heat and stir in the butter. Let cool slightly. Cover with plastic wrap, lightly pressing the plastic against the surface to prevent a skin from forming. Chill at least 2 hours or until ready to serve. (The custard can be made up to 24 hours in advance. Refrigerate until 1 hour before using.)
Ganache: In a medium bowl, pour the boiling cream over the chopped chocolate and stir until melted.
To assemble pie, remove the cake from the pan. Cut the cake in half horizontally. Place bottom layer on a serving plate or board, and spread with the pastry cream. Top with second cake layer. Pour chocolate ganache over and down the sides of the cake. Store in refrigerator.
It came out great! Just like all the ones I ate when I lived in Boston! It's definitely not that Betty Crocker box mix! I am pleased with it.
And speaking of pleased...
This is what I look at every moment I am in the kitchen.
Cybil lays on her side of the kitchen (she knows not to snoop around the island when "Daddy Means It" is cooking) hoping that I will drop something she can have. I almost always do. Sometimes even on purpose!
Chocolate Chip Cookies
Sometimes basic is best.
I had a yen for a chocolate chip cookie tonight. A plain ol' chocolate chip cookie. No cocoa powder, no melted chocolate, no oatmeal, peanut butter, walnuts, coconut, or anything else. A chocolate chip cookie.
I did make monster-sized chocolate chip cookies, however. I can only be so traditional, ya know...
Chocolate Chip Cookies
- 3 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
- 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
- 2 sticks butter
- 1 1/2 cups packed brown sugar
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 3 large eggs
- 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
- 2 1/2 cups chocolate chips (16 ounces)
Preheat oven to 375°.
Mix together flour, baking soda, and salt.
Beat together butter and sugars in a large bowl with mixer at high speed until light and fluffy. Add eggs one at a time to butter mixture, beating until creamy, about 1 minute. Beat in vanilla. Reduce speed to low and mix in flour mixture until just blended, then stir in chips.
Use 1/4 cup disher and scoop 6 cookies onto each parchment-lined sheet pan. Flatten cookies slightly and bake 13 - 15 minutes.
Makes about 24 cookies.
And I only ate 2 cookies! Self-control is a remarkable thing!
Flourless Chocolate Cake
Victor made dessert. Tyler Florence's Flourless Chocolate Cake.
Flourless Chocolate Cake
- 1 pound bittersweet chocolate, chopped into small pieces
- 1 stick unsalted butter
- 9 large eggs, separated
- 3/4 cup granulated sugar, plus 1 tablespoon
- 1/4 cup strong black coffee
- 2 cups heavy cream, cold
- Confectioners’ sugar, for dusting
Preheat the oven to 350°. Butter a 9-inch springform pan.
Put the chocolate and butter into the top of a double boiler (or in a heatproof bowl) and heat over (but not touching) about 1-inch of simmering water until melted. Meanwhile, whisk the egg yolks with the sugar in a mixing bowl until light yellow in color. Whisk a little of the chocolate mixture into the egg yolk mixture to temper the eggs – this will keep the eggs from scrambling from the heat of the chocolate; then whisk in the rest of the chocolate mixture. Add the coffee and mix well.
Beat the egg whites in a mixing bowl until stiff peaks form and fold into the chocolate mixture. Pour into the prepared pan and bake until the cake is set, the top starts to crack and a toothpick inserted into the cake comes out with moist crumbs clinging to it, 25 to 30 minutes. Let stand 10 minutes, then remove sides of pan.
Serve at room temperature dusted with confectioners’ and the whipped cream.
My stomach is smiling.
Expanding, but smiling.