Goat. Cheese. Ice cream. You heard me. When I saw this recipe, I just HAD to try it. And cherries were all over the place at the farmers market, so the timing was perfect.
I used one pint of cherries, but I would have liked a higher ratio in the final product so I would recommend using 2 pints. Either way, pit, combine with sugar and cornstarch, and roast until the juices form a syrup.
The ice cream base is made with goat cheese, cream cheese, cornstarch, milk, cream, sugar, and corn syrup. Once you have processed it with your ice cream maker – layer the ice cream and the cherries into a container, do not mix! Allow to set up in the freezer and enjoy this sophisticated ice cream. (more…)
This rustic beauty came about by accident. I had intended to make a cherry pie, but my plans for obtaining cherries fell through. So I ended up with some pie dough and nothing else. I went to the store to see what fruit was available and found some Turkish figs. “This could definitely work,” I thought. Then I thought of a creamy smear of mascarpone underneath, and oh! What if I added in some goat cheese, too?
So I dumped a container each of goat cheese and mascarpone cheese into bowl with some honey and mixed them together. Then I got to thinking, “What about some cardamom in here?” So in it went.
I rolled out my pie dough and spread the cheese mixture over it. I only ended up using half of it, but it made a great dip for crackers and fruit so that was fine. I arranged the quartered figs over the spread and then had another thought. “You know what goes great with cardamom? Coconut!” So I dug out some sweetened coconut flakes from the pantry to sprinkle over the top. A brush of cold water and sprinkling of turbinado sugar later, and my masterpiece was ready to bake.
I threw a lot of ingredients into here, but they ended up blending perfectly. The spread sort of merged with the flaky crust to make a creamy base for the figs; and the coconut came out perfectly toasted. Bonus? My husband was out of town and I got to eat the whole thing myself! This recipe may have been an accident, but I will definitely be making it again. (more…)
This is a classic desert that works really well for Independence Day (Anything with berries does, really). It’s quick to put together and very pretty, so keep it in mind for next year!
All you need is sponge cake, pound cake, or lady fingers; canned custard or pudding mix; whipped cream; and fruit. Then layer them up however you want and let it sit together in the fridge for a few hours to meld.
I used lady fingers (brushed with Cointreau), vanilla pudding, whipped cream, strawberries, blueberries, and raspberries. The amounts depend on your serving dish and your preferential ratio of fruit to cream. I used 2 packs of lady fingers, 2 boxes of pudding, 1 can of whipped cream, 1 medium container of strawberries, and 1 pint each of blue berries and raspberries. My layers were lady fingers, pudding, strawberries, whipped cream, lady fingers, pudding, whipped cream, blueberries and raspberries. I probably could have used more berries.
I have been dying to make this pie ever since I discovered the recipe last summer, sadly too late for strawberry season. I love the combination of sour cream and fruit – really, REALLY love it. One of my favorite pies ever is this creme fraiche and peach pie that you know I will be making as soon as peaches are in season.
The filling is so easy it’s almost silly, but before we get to that I want to talk about this crust. This crust! First of all, can we acknowledge that that is the prettiest crust I have ever made? She’s improving, ladies and gentlemen! Part of that is due to how easy this crust is to work with. I had thought I discovered the secret to good crust two years ago with Martha Stewart’s half butter, half shortening pate brisee – BUT, then I discovered this recipe with butter and lard. Lard, folks, is the bomb. Why have I never used it before?! After all, shortening is just pretending to be lard – so why not go with the real stuff? The texture, the taste, the ease of rolling it out even when it’s cold – *sigh*. Please tell me you will make this. Seriously, go make it right now. (more…)
Happy Easter, everybody! I am actually doing a holiday post in a timely manner, who woulda thunk it? Last Easter I focused on eggs, this time I wanted to go on the theme of ham and peas.
Ham and peas, it is! Unlike at Christmas, when I accidentally made a pork roast instead of a ham, I got it right this time and did a Dr Pepper glazed ham. Yes, I said a Dr Pepper glazed ham – awesome.
Take a fully cooked smoked ham (I went with an 8 lb, spiral sliced, partial bone) and place it cut side down on the rack of a roasting pan (or on a cookie rack set inside a rimmed baking sheet). Pour 2 cups of Dr Pepper (not diet) and 2 cups of water into the bottom of the pan. Cover with foil and cook for 15 minutes per pound at 325 degrees – 2 hours, in my case.
About half an hour before the cooking time is up, start to make your glaze. Boil some pitted prunes in Dr Pepper until they are plump. Set the prunes aside and whisk in mustard, brown sugar, and cider vinegar. Remove the ham from the oven and raise the oven temp to 425 degrees. Remove the foil, and drizzle the glaze over the ham, then return it to the oven for about half an hour to cook the glaze.
It will be so gorgeous when it comes out! Let it rest, loosely covered on a cutting board (this photo is before I turned it on its side for slicing). Meanwhile, pour all the pan drippings into the saucepan you cooked the glaze in. Bring to a boil, skimming off the fat, and add in the prunes and a cornstarch slurry to thicken. Serve the prune sauce with the ham. (more…)
Curry. Banana. Ice Cream. When I found this recipe, I flipped. It sounded AMAZING. One of the best truffles I’ve ever had was a curry banana flavor.
And there aren’t just plain old bananas in here, either. No – they are roasted bananas. And not only that, but roasted with brown sugar and butter. Is anyone else drooling right now?
These smell incredible when they come out of the oven, covered in sticky brown sugar goodness. You scrape all that sweet stuff into a blender with whole milk and your favorite sweet curry powder, then into the ice cream maker – simple as that. I am seriously in love with this ice cream.
I am also in love with this milkshake that I made with it, chocolate syrup, and Bailey’s. Boozy milkshake for the win!
3 medium-sized ripe bananas, sliced into 1/2 inch pieces
1/3 cup packed light brown sugar
1 tbsp butter, cut into small pieces
1 1/2 cups whole milk
2 tbsp sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/2 tsp freshly squeezed lemon juice
1/4 tsp coarse salt
1 tsp sweet curry powder (I used this one)
Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
Prepare bananas and toss them with the brown sugar and butter in a small (2-quart) baking dish. Bake for 40 minutes, stirring once during baking, until the bananas are browned and cooked through.
Scrape contents of the dish (bananas and the thick sugar syrup) into a blender or food processor. Add the milk, sugar, vanilla, lemon juice, salt, and curry powder, and puree until smooth.
Chill mixture thoroughly in the refrigerator (4 hours). Pour into your ice cream maker and churn according to manufacturer’s instructions. Transfer to a plastic container, press wax paper onto surface, and freeze until firm (about 4 hours).
We are finally getting into some Spring weather here but I am way behind on my posts, so I’m sorry if the cold weather stuff drags on a bit! I actually made this Pumpkin Cream Cheese Loaf all the way back in October – yikes! Put it uses canned pumpkin, so you can make it whenever that is available. I found this recipe through Pinterest which advertized only 500 calories for a WHOLE LOAF!(!!!) Oh-em-gee! Can it be true? Delicious and healthy? The unicorn of pumpkin loafs?! EDIT – Well, no in short – it is not. It actually has more than 1000 calories per loaf and it doesn’t taste that great. But I will leave it on here in case someone has a use for it. EDIT
Okay, I wouldn’t really call it healthy. It’s low calorie and low fat due to the use of low-fat cream cheese, egg whites vs whole eggs, and applesauce vs oil. And it uses half fake sugar and half real sugar, but I’d still call that a sugary snack.
As for deliciousness? I’d call it okay. You can definitely taste the fake sugar and it isn’t as dense and luxurious as the real thing, but it’s a pretty good substitute. So all-in-all I’m going to call this decent but not amazeballs. (more…)
I’ve stated before how obsessed I am with figs. I snatch them up whenever I see them at the store. Jasper does not share my love of these little jewels, which means more for me! Bwahahahaha! …Okay I’m fine now, sorry about that.
Mostly I like to eat my figs with cheese – this makes me ridiculously happy. Coincidentally (or not), I also like to eat my cheese with fig jam. Anyway, one of the most popular pairings for figs is blue cheese, so I wanted to play around with that a bit.
I broiled the figs with blue cheese so that they were hot and melty, but I didn’t stop there…
I topped them off with crispy prosciutto and honey.
It’s okay if you drool a little, I understand.
Going in a sweeter direction – I also made some balsamic glazed figs with mascarpone.
Adapted from this recipe – I tossed the figs with a glaze made from balsamic vinegar, sugar, orange juice, and orange zest and broiled them. Then I served them on top of mascarpone whipped with cream and sugar.
The cream melting into the hot figs with the sweet and tangy glaze… yeah – this was pretty much heaven.
In my ever-continuing quest to find healthier foods, I stumbled across this recipe. Cupcakes, that are diet-friendly, in my favorite tropical flavor combo, made with only 5 ingredients! Yeah – these are awesome.
For the cake part, you only need 2 ingredients (only 2!) – cake mix and canned crushed pineapple. That’s it! The pineapple takes the place of the eggs and oil making these super low-fat. (more…)
I always crave ice cream during the summer – who doesn’t? But now that I am trying to be more healthy, I am looking for alternatives. I found this recipe for Creamy Blackberry Frozen Yogurt that only used 3 ingredients and had to try it! Super creamy, sweet, and delicious – this was more than I was hoping for. Plus this recipe will probably work with any fresh fruit.
Does anyone have any recommendations on what I can replace the sweetened condensed milk with to make it even more healthy? Honey, maybe?
3 cups fresh blackberries
3 cups Greek yogurt
1 14 oz can sweetened condensed milk
In a blender, puree the blackberries with the sweetened condensed milk. Strain the mixture through a fine mesh sieve to remove most of the seeds (optional).
In a medium bowl mix the puree with the Greek yogurt. Pour the mixture in to your ice-cream maker and follow the manufacturer’s directions.
