Tag Archive for 'Dessert'

Apple inside-out cake

Published
by
marc
on April 9, 2008
in Dessert and Fall
. 2 Comments

Apple inside out cake

Mutsu apples are one of my favorite variety. Crisp, green-skinned and juicy, they fall somewhere between a Fuji and a Granny Smith. This makes them delicious to eat and equally suited for baking.

I set out to make an apple upside-down cake, with lots of gooey appley goodness on top. It was late though and mixing a proper cake batter felt like a little more work than I was up for. Then I remembered a recipe from domestic goddess Nigella Lawson. “Easy sticky-toffee pudding” it’s called and as I pulled Nigella Bites off the bookshelf it handily fell open to page 216 and that luscious photo of butter on brown sugar melted together to make a saucey cake. For those of you that haven’t tried it, it has a thin creviced layer of cake under which is a molten pool of warm sugary goo.

Inspired, I shut the the book and set-off to make my apple inside-out cake.

1 apple peeled, cored and cut into cubes
2 Tbs calvados or good quality brandy
1 tsp cinnamon
1/8 tsp ground allspice
1/8 tsp ground cloves
1/2 C dark brown sugar packed
2 Tbs butter cut into small pieces

1 C flour
1/2 C dark brown sugar packed
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 C melted butter
1 egg
1/2 C milk

1/2 C dark brown sugar packed
2 C boiling water

Heat the oven to 375 degees.

Toss together the first 7 ingredients in a 2 L baking dish making sure it’s all distributed evenly.

Put the flour, 1/2 C brown sugar and baking powder in a bowl and whisk together.

Melt the butter, whisk the egg in, then whisk the milk in. Pour this into the dry ingredients and stir until just combined (it’s okay if it’s still lumpy). Spread this over the apples.

Top with 1/2 C brown sugar and pour the boiling water on top. Put it in the oven for about 40-45 minutes. When it’s done, there will be some spongy cake on top with crevices bubbling up molten sugar.

Serve warm with a generous dollop of vanilla ice cream.

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Strawberry buttermilk ice cream

Published
by
marc
on March 20, 2008
in Dessert
. 6 Comments

Strawberry buttermilk ice cream

Strawberry buttermilk ice creamCraving desert, but with no eggs or milk and not enough strawberries to make a sorbet, I thought I might just have to be healthy tonight… Then I spotted a carton of buttermilk! I’ve also been meaning to try using sweetened condensed milk in an ice cream to make it extra creamy, so this seemed like the perfect opportunity.

It didn’t quite turn out how I thought it would taste, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing. Some interaction between the sweetened condensed milk and the buttermilk makes this a dead ringer for strawberry cheesecake. I might even try adding some graham crackers next time:-)

2 C buttermilk
1/2 C sweetened condensed milk
1 Tbs sugar
1/2 C strawberries diced

2 Tbs sweetened condensed milk

Whisk the first 4 ingredients together and chill in the fridge for 30 minutes.

Dump it into an ice cream maker following the manufactures directions.

When the ice cream is done, swirl in 2 Tbs sweetened condensed milk. Serve soft or throw it in the freezer for 30 minutes to set up more like store bought ice cream.

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Grapefruit frozen yogurt

Published
by
marc
on March 9, 2008
in Dessert
. 0 Comments

Grapefruit Frozen Yogurt

Homemade frozen yogurt is perhaps the simplest tastiest thing you can make. The only complicated part is remembering to put the ice cream freezer bowl in the freezer the night before. If you have a self cooling ice cream maker or you just leave the bowl in the freezer like I do, this takes less than 20 minutes to make and tastes better than Pinkberry.

It’s pleasantly icy, refreshing and light. Great in summer or even in the snow after a hearty winter meal. I like using yogurt that has cream on top because it adds just a touch of richness (without all the fat), but if you’re watching calories, feel free to replace with non-fat plain yogurt for an even lighter desert.

Some ideas for variations include adding vanilla, mint, basil or rosemary. Since all of these would ruin the texture, I’d suggest making a simple syrup with the sugar and steep your choice of herb for a while in the syrup.

2 C plain cream topped yogurt (I like Brown Cow)
1/2 grapefruit segmented and roughly mashed
1/2 C superfine sugar

Just combine the ingredients making sure that the sugar is completely dissolved and dump it into the ice cream maker.

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