Category: sweet

desserts, cookies, cakes, etc.

sweet, Uncategorized

Butterscotch Budino (makes 8-10 portions) with Luxardo Cherries

Featuredby natashasajeLeave a Comment on Butterscotch Budino (makes 8-10 portions) with Luxardo Cherries

Most recently we enjoyed this dessert at Talula’s Garden in Philadelphia–just a pudding, but butterscotch flavor and cherries send it over the top. Restaurants garnish with caramel sauce and whipped cream–gilding the lily? Recipes are all over the internet, here’s mine. I never buy brown sugar, I just add molasses to cane sugar. In my mind, it doesn’t make sense to burn molasses, which is already burned, so I just add it to the milk/cream mix after the caramel has been made. Date molasses is hard to find, but if you do, you won’t regret the fruity flavor that complements the cherries–the real maraschino, used to garnish Manhattans.

From Harold McGee, I learned that caramelizing sugar with water enhances flavor. The sucrose molecules have more time to become glucose and fructose components and the resulting caramel has a more complex flavor.

200 grams granulated sugar (about one cup)

1/2 cup water

scant tsp sea salt

2 Tbs date (or other) molasses

4 cups mix of heavy cream and milk or half and half–try 3 cups cream with 1 cup milk, or 4 cups half and half, warmed.

2 eggs & 4 egg yolks

4 Tbs cornstarch

4 Tbs butter

1 Tbs vanilla or 1 Tbs scotch or brandy (or both if you like)

35 or so Luxardo cherries

Whisk the eggs, yolks and cornstarch together until perfectly smooth.

Heat the cream/milk in microwave until very warm.

Melt the sugar with water until it caramelizes over medium high heat. It should be quite dark. Swirl, don’t stir, while it is cooking. Watch it.

Add the warm cream mixture to the caramel and turn the heat to very low, allowing the caramel to dissolve. Stir in the molasses.

Pour about a cup of the hot caramel cream into the egg/starch mixture. This tempers the eggs and prevents them from curdling. Pour the tempered eggs/cream mixture back into the pot and whisk over medium low heat until it thickens–about 4 minutes. Take off the heat and whisk in butter, vanilla, scotch. Taste to see if it needs more salt. If I have salted grass-fed butter, I use that.

If the mixture has any lumps, strain through a mesh sieve. Stir occasionally as it cools to just warm room temperature. Drain cherries and stir into the pudding, then ladle into sherbet or other dessert glasses or bowls and refrigerate for up to three days. Garnish with whipped cream and serve with crisp cookies.

sweet

Snow Cap Cookies, Variable and Adult

by natashasajeLeave a Comment on Snow Cap Cookies, Variable and Adult

Over the many years I’ve made these cookies, which are sometimes called “crinkle” because of the cracks, I often changed the ingredients, and the cookies were always delicious. I made them gluten-free, using sweet rice flour/tapioca starch or chestnut flour (which is sweet, so you have to cut the sugar). I made them dairy-free, using coconut oil. I made them vegan, using coconut oil and flaxseed eggs (1 Tbs. ground flaxseed mixed with 2.5 Tbs water.) I used Dandy Blend (ground dandelion, chicory, and beetroot) instead of instant coffee. Most recently, when I found a package of organic Ecuadorean cocoa mix (excellent! of course I tasted it) on our apartment building’s thrift table, I subbed that for the cocoa and the sugar. The recipe withstands these changes, I think, because the chocolate is dominant. My go-to is 72% Pound Plus from Trader Joe’s, but I have also used unsweetened chocolate and increased the sugar. You could use sweeter chocolate ( say 55%)and eliminate the sugar from the recipe (but not the molasses, because it adds a certain chew and bitter edge). The percentage refers to the cocoa solids–the higher the number, the less sugar.

Many recipes lurk out there (including, quelle horreur, one that uses boxed cake mix and whipped nondairy topping) and you may even find the cookies in supermarkets. Below is a recipe with variations that I hope won’t disappoint. I think of it as “adult” because of the bitter complexity created by the molasses and coffee. But because the sugar coatings are the first thing your mouth tastes, they initially seem sweeter than they are, and while the texture resembles fudge, the taste does not. Cold, they are chewier than at room temperature.

8 ounces 72% chocolate, chopped and melted (I use the microwave– stir after a minute, letting residual heat melt any chunks, microwave again for 20 seconds if there are many unmelted pieces)

4 ounces butter (one stick) or coconut oil

2 Tbs. molasses

1/2 cup sugar (you can substitute brown sugar for the sugar and molasses–I don’t buy brown sugar because it it is just white sugar with molasses added; if you are using sweeter chocolate (lower cocoa solid number), cut back on the sugar).

2 eggs (or flaxseed variation)

1 cup flour (all purpose, chestnut, g/f blend, etc.) If using sweet rice flour (2/3) and tapioca starch (1/3) they should together weigh 4 ounces. If using chestnut flour, reduce the sugar by half.

1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder (alkalinized or not)

2 Tbs. instant coffee or Dandy Blend or espresso powder

2 tsp. baking powder

1/4 tsp salt (omit if using salted butter)

granulated and powdered sugar, for coating

I make the dough in a food processor, but you can also use a mixer.

Cream the fat, sugar, cocoa, coffee. Add the eggs, then the flour and finally the melted chocolate. At this point you can scrape out the dough and turn it into a plastic-wrapped package for chilling and then cutting into squares (which can then easily be rolled into balls), or you can just put the container in the refrigerator for about 30 minutes. Yes, the outside will chill faster than the middle, but I can live with that, with the bit of mess it makes to create balls of dough and roll them first into granulated and then into powdered sugar.

At this point, if your kitchen is warm, you can chill the balls of dough right in the bowl of powdered sugar. If the balls are holding their shape, place them on a parchment-covered cookie sheet toward the top and middle of the oven and bake at 325 for 9-10 minutes. As soon as they are puffed and spread, take them out. (One has to be careful not to overbake recipes with chocolate!) Allow to cool before moving into tins or a plate or eating. (The chocolate will cool and will provide stability.) I’ve kept these for a month in my refrigerator, and I suspect the vegan version will keep even longer because coconut oil is more stable than butter.