september – october: comfort food

This month we’re bringing you our favorite comfort food desserts. Because who doesn’t love curling up in front of the TV (or in bed!) with a bowl of ice cream or slice of warm pie?

* image from http://firstlookthencook.com

 

july-aug: anna’s strawberry and rosemary shrub

This isn’t party food, but I think party drinks (especially alcoholic ones) also qualify for this month’s theme! I first heard of / tried a shrub syrup when I was doing an olive mill tour and tasting at Round Pond Estate in the Napa Valley. A shrub syrup is a fruit syrup mixed with vinegar (originally the vinegar was used to preserve the fruit), which sounds like an unusual combination, but it makes for a really refreshing drink, especially on a hot summer’s day! In addition to olive oil, Round Pond also makes their own red wine vinegar. On the tour, we sampled some food and drinks using their products, including a shrub cocktail using their red wine vinegar.  Shrub syrups can simply be mixed with soda water, or you can also add alcohol to make a really tasty cocktail! We weren’t allowed to have alcohol on the tour (which is ironic since Round Pond Estate is also a winery) so I had to try making a shrub for myself to see what it would be like in a cocktail!

Simply choose your fruit and any other additions – I used strawberry and rosemary.

Muddle, add sugar and let sit at room temperature for a couple of days. Then add vinegar (I used apple cider vinegar) and either strain immediately and refrigerate for a sharper taste, or let sit at a room temperature for another few days before straining and refrigerating for a more mellow, slightly fermented taste (I prefer to strain the syrup straight away after adding the vinegar). The syrup will keep refrigerated for a few months.

I mixed my cocktails with vodka, but gin was also a crowd pleaser. The syrup can be made in advance for a party and mixed when guests arrive. There aren’t too many ingredients to combine (the flavor is all infused in the syrup) so it’s a quick cocktail to make if you’re playing host!I also packed a pre-mixed bottle for a camping trip and it went down very well in front of the campfire!

Recipe adapted from Strawberry Rosemary Shrub Recipe (I cut down on the sugar in the recipe by half)

may-june: anna’s sour cherry crumb bar

This post is well overdue as June was taken up by my wedding and honeymoon (woot!) and May was a little crazy with all the preparations. I’m now back home trying to adjust to real life…. the good thing about it is that post-wedding, I can actually eat the sweets I bake (woot woot!)

What a treat to have fresh sour cherries to bake with! They arrived in a friend’s CSA box and were the inspiration for my bake sale dish. I’ve never baked or cooked with them before, and was really excited to use them.

I used the same base recipe as the blueberry crumb bar I made for the breakfast cereal theme back in 2013.  I made some adjustments, including replacing some of the flour with ground pecans (freshly roasted and ground pecans add the best flavor) and using orange zest and juice in place of lemon.

These bars are delicious and the sour cherries are really something special! I made them for a Fourth of July party but they would definitely be popular at a bake sale too!

Find the recipe here

march-april: beet panna cotta with meyer lemon mousse and chocolate crumbs

I have to admit that the thing that drew me to this dessert recipe was the color! The hot pink color comes from beets and is completely natural. I also love desserts that are unique and incorporate savory components. I’ve seen several recipes for brownies and cakes that use beets, but this was definitely the first time I’ve seen them in panna cotta!

The recipe paired the panna cotta with a layer of meyer lemon curd and I also wanted to add a layer of crunch. I decided on chocolate to pair with the earthy flavor of the beets.

I have to say that this dish was really tasty! The flavors and textures came together really well. It’s also a really beautiful and elegant looking dessert and is something I can’t wait to make again!

Recipe adapted from Bon Appetit

january-february: anna’s earl grey and clementine friands

For my tea dessert, I really wanted to make a plate with a few different components. I wanted to combine the tea flavor with some fruit as well as something creamy. Clementines are in season right now and it was really hard to go past them for the fruit component since they have such a great flavor. Since I was using citrus, earl grey was the obvious choice of tea, and I settled on mascarpone for the creamy component.

I decided to make friands, which are one of my favorite cakes, made from almond meal and egg whites. There’s a small amount of flour in them too, but I used a gluten free flour mix, which I find is a great trick for making cakes lighter. I made my own almond flour in my trusty vitamix and threw in the earl grey leaves to blend together.

I used clementines in both the friands (zest) as well as the mascarpone cream (juice) and served some fresh segments on the side. The friands turned out beautifully – very moist and light. I used a good amount of earl grey tea leaves in the recipe and the flavor came through really well.

The great thing about the friand recipe is that it uses 5 egg whites, and the 5 remaining egg yolks are just the right amount for my go-to ice cream recipe!

Find the recipe here

 

 

 

 

 

november-december: salty & sweet

Salty and sweet desserts are all the rage these days. Desserts not only use salt to enhance the sweetness but also ingredients such as bacon and even miso!  Stay posted to see our salty & sweet creations!