Berry good dessert

After all the craziness of the past several weeks, it was really nice to go out for dinner on Saturday.  The daycare periodically does Parents Night Out, and we try to take advantage of it when we can.  (We also spent part of our evening grocery shopping at Central Market once we were done, but it was nice to do it by ourselves.)  We had a lovely meal, but as is usually the case after having an appetizer and entree, neither of us had room for dessert.  Since we enjoyed the food so much, I'd love to see what the restaurant does with dessert sometime--of course J would point out that I say that all the time, but we never do it. =)  

The whole thing got me thinking, though.  One reason that I'd like to go out for dessert is to be inspired and get new ideas.  On the other hand, my standards are pretty high these days--more often than not, I could probably make something at home that would be better.  And why spend calories on something that isn't really worth it?  I was reminded this weekend of how far my skills have improved over the past few years, when I made the French Strawberry Cake that was last week's pick for Tuesdays with Dorie.  Once upon a time, I would have been rather intimidated by a cake like this one, but instead I just thought it would be fun.

First off, my apologies to Sophia and Allison, our hosts for this week, for being so tardy with my post.  (Being out of town unexpectedly will do that to you.)  But I'm glad I finally found the time to make this lovely seasonal cake.  I admit to being a little crazy, though--I actually made the batter for the genoise totally by hand.  Why?  Just to see if I could.  Besides, I figured I could burn off at least a few calories that way. =) 

I played around just a little with the recipe.  For the cake flour, I used KAF's unbleached cake flour blend.  I used extra large eggs, since that was what I had on hand.  Since my eggs were right out of the fridge, I placed them in a bowl of hot water to warm up while I got everything else together.  For whisking both the egg mixture and later the whipped cream, I used my really big balloon whisk (rather than a spatula) and one of my biggest bowls.  I find that when whipping things by hand, using both of those makes the process go faster.  I also used the balloon whisk to fold the dry ingredients into the egg mixture, a trick I learned from making Rose Levy Beranbaum's chocolate angel food cake.  I baked the cake in an 8"x2" round cake pan lined with parchment paper, for about 26 minutes.

I must have done something right, because my cake rose right to the top of the pan.  I had no trouble slicing it into three layers.  I assembled the cake on a cardboard round, layering the cake with the macerated strawberries and some of the whipped cream mixture.  Then I coated the cake with a crumb coat of the whipped cream.  I made extra cream (roughly double the original amount, I think) because I wanted to do a bit more decorating with it than the original recipe called for.  I decided to use my 1M tip to pipe large stars all over the surface of the cake.

The verdict?  I'm quite happy with how this cake turned out.  It was a big hit with all of us.  Brianna was quite disappointed this evening when she found out that we'd already eaten it all.  Next time, though, I will probably use more strawberries.  (I kind of guestimated the amount, since my container was measured in pounds, rather than dry pints.)  I'm also curious how it would be with other fruit, so I'll have to make it again to try some variations.

If you'd like to try this lovely cake for yourself, you can find the recipe on Sophia's blog or Allison's blog.  And be sure to check out the Links to see how the rest of the TWD bakers fared with their French Strawberry Cakes.  

Words with kids

Several months ago, I treated myself to an early 40th birthday present and got an iPod touch.  I admit, that was partly because Jamie got one for Christmas and I saw how cool they are and wanted my own.  (And then I followed that up by treating myself to an iPad 2 once I got my annual bonus.)  I'm still on the hunt for good apps, both for cooking & baking and other stuff.  Several of my twitter friends introduced me to Words with Friends, which I really enjoy.  Brianna, of course, has been looking for any excuse to get her hands on my iPod, so she kept asking if she could help me with my games.  I finally gave in and let her play her own game against Jamie.  It's always interesting when she asks me about the meaning of some of the words that he plays.  Being of sound mind, I put a dictionary on my iPod, too, so now she can just look things up for herself.  She also likes to do the math to figure out how many points she'll get for a particular play.  For those who currently have games going with me, I have to admit that B has been playing some of my turns against you, too. =)

Gillian has her own word thing going on.  She's at that age where she hears things but doesn't always understand them.  It's often quite entertaining when she repeats what she thinks she's heard.  I'm sure many of you have heard young kids singing, for instance.  One of my all-time favorites was listening to G singing Bon Jovi--"You give love a bandaid, bandaid!"  Lately, though, she seems to be saying things to see what she can get away with.  I had to have a conversation with her the other night after she and B were in the bathroom, and I heard her tell B to "get off the freakin' step!" (We keep step stools in all the bathrooms.) And it was all I could do to keep a straight face one night when I heard her say something under her breath when she was mad about something I asked her to do.  I wasn't sure if I'd heard her right, so I asked her to repeat what she'd said.  She hesitated, and then told me "Bandit!" 

Sometimes there are interesting words in cooking and baking, too.  When I got my most recent issue of Bon Appetit, a couple things caught my eye.  One was the assortment of frozen desserts--I have my eye on the Peach-Vanilla Cream Pops, but that will be another post.  The other, which was the first thing I made from the issue, was the Strawberry Conserve.  Conserve--that's a term you don't hear all that often.  I looked up a definition for it, which was "a sweet food made by preserving fruit with sugar; jam."  The article says that since the recipe doesn't use commercial pectin, you end up with "a conserve of soft berries in a barely set syrup."  The conserve is pretty easy to make and gave me a great excuse to buy some pretty half-pint canning jars.  I doubled the recipe, which gave me 4 small jars of strawberry syrupy stuff.  Basically, you macerate strawberries with sugar and lemon zest.  Then you cook the strawberries briefly to soften them, and then remove the strawberries and simmer the liquid until it thickens into a syrup.  

The verdict?  Well, I've made two double batches so far, and if I can get my hands on some more good strawberries, I'll probably make some more.  It'll last for about a month in the fridge, so hopefully I can enjoy some strawberry goodness for a lot of the summer.  I was surprised by how wonderful the conserve was, especially since it had such a simple ingredient list.  We've had it over pound cake and on top of ice cream.  I even made my own fruit-at-the-bottom yogurt by topping it with some plain Brown Cow.  If you find yourself with a surplus of strawberries, I recommend giving this recipe a try.  You can find the recipe here at Bon Appetit.  

What's buggin' you?

I was having a rough day when I got to work on Friday.  I was trying to leave it at home, but as soon as someone asked me if I was okay, I realized that maybe that was easier said than done.  I was missing my mom, a lot.  Long-time readers of my blog may recall that my mom died three years ago, in March.  While the date on the calendar has some significance, what really sticks with me is the fact that it was on Good Friday.  And of course, that date changes from year to year.  Even though I knew it was coming, it still surprised me a bit how emotional I was feeling.  (It shouldn't have, when I think about how stressful this year has been so far.)

I always think about Mom on the night before Easter as I'm filling baskets for the girls.  She was the one who taught me to count everything that I put into the baskets, down to the last jelly bean.  Why, you ask?  Because siblings are competitive, and will immediately notice any differences in who got what.  In fact, one of the first things Gillian did Sunday morning was pull everything out of her basket and count it.  I don't think she actually compared it to what Brianna had (she was just proud of her counting skills), but you can bet B would have said something if she thought G had more of anything. =)

Just in case the candy wasn't enough sugar for the day, I wanted to make something yummy for dessert on Easter.  I've been searching for a good vanilla pound cake since I got my latest batch of vanilla beans.  I've made several recipes and always end up with the same thing--cakes with good flavor but a dry mouthfeel.  To find new recipes to try, I've been using a nifty new tool that I discovered thanks to Jessica of cookbookhabit.  It's called Eat Your Books, and basically provides you with a comprehensive index for the cookbooks already on your shelves.  It doesn't give you the recipes, just helps you figure out where to look.  When I searched for "vanilla pound cake" I got 23 results from my 98 cookbooks.  A few were obviously recipes that utilize pound cake as an ingredient, and some were for other flavor variations that included vanilla in the ingredient list.  But I got about a dozen recipes for what I was really looking for, a basic vanilla pound cake.  I've already tried a few of them that weren't quite what I was after, and this time decided to check out the recipe in Joanne Chang's Flour.  

What appealed to me about this particular recipe was that it uses melted butter folded in at the end, rather than the creaming method.  I've made a similar recipe in the past, the Rum-Drenched Vanilla Cakes from  Baking From My Home to Yours.  Both recipes use the same mixing method.  First, you whip together sugar and eggs.  Even though Chang's recipe says to mix the vanilla bean seeds with the melted butter, I took a page from Dorie's book and rubbed them into the sugar before I started mixing.  Once the egg mixture is really light, you gently fold in the dry ingredients (flour, baking powder, salt) and then fold in a mixture of melted butter and some heavy cream.  

Part of why I wanted to make a dense cake like pound cake is that I thought it would be perfect in my new pan--I found this adorable bug pan when I was at Costco on Saturday.  It only holds a total of 3 cups, so I put the rest of the batter in one of my mini (2-cup) loaf pans.  The bugs baked for 20 minutes, while the loaf took 30.  (One thing to note--all of my pans were filled a bit too much, so next time I'll probably fill the bugs a bit less & put the extra batter in a 3-cup pan.)

The verdict?  This is an excellent pound cake recipe.  The finished cakes had a nice tight crumb and a great texture--not too dry.  I'm already thinking of different ways to change up the flavor of the batter and other pans to bake it in (I have a couple of mini bundts as well as my madeleine pans--which I think would be good since the cakes had humps on the backs).  The shapes were a big hit with the girls--they had fun debating which one to eat first.  They split the butterfly and the ladybug--both shapes that were symmetrical, so that there wouldn't be fights over who got the bigger piece. =) (another thing I learned from my mom)

I highly recommend getting your hands on a copy of Flour.  I've really enjoyed everything I've made from it so far.  If you want to try this particular recipe, you can find it here on Rose Levy Beranbaum's blog.  The vanilla bean variation is at the end of the recipe.  

Milestones

Any parent can tell you that there are all sort of milestones that you look forward to with your children.  As babies, you are excited about them learning to crawl and walk and talk and--very important, this one--sleep through the night.  As they get older, you mark different occasions, such as the first day of school and the first loose tooth.  As the mom of an 8-year-old and a 4-year-old, I've been through all of those.  But then last week, I got to make note of a new milestone that I wasn't expecting.  I don't think they have a spot in the keepsake book for your child's first x-ray. =) 

Yes, thanks to my younger daughter Gillian, I've now had the exciting experience of taking my child to the urgent care facility to have her foot x-rayed.  Thank goodness it turned out to be just a bad sprain, no broken bones.  I just really hope that this isn't going to be a trend with her.  I didn't have my first sprain until I was in college, and was even older when I got my first stitches.  Honestly, though, that's pretty surprising, since I've always been quite a klutz.  I've mostly just had lots of scrapes and bruises that I can't remember acquiring. =)  I have to say, it worries me that Gillian is starting all this at 4.  *sigh*

I did have some other, more enjoyable, new experiences over the weekend, thanks to this week's Tuesdays with Dorie recipe.  Sarah of teapots and cake stands picked Strawberry Rhubarb Double Crisp for us to make this week.  I was happy because this gave me a chance to use my new baking pan that I got recently from King Arthur.  Phyl got one recently and recommended it, and I really like the pretty green color.  Even better, it was on sale!  (and might still be)  

Another new thing with this crisp was the idea of using part of the crumb mixture to make a bottom crust, then using the rest for the top.  I've done that for bar cookies, but not for crisp.  I also like the new idea of adding crystallized ginger to the crumb mixture.  One last new thing--I don't think I've ever used strawberries in crisp, since they can get watery when cooked.  Cooking and thickening the strawberry part ahead of time took care of that problem.  I did make one change to the recipe.  I'm not a big fan of rhubarb, so I didn't use it.  I thought about using cranberries to get some tartness (a good idea from Kayte), but then Nancy suggested using apples to get the same sort of bulk as the rhubarb.  I used some fairly tart Macintosh apples, which worked nicely.  (Oops, just realized that I made one other change--I left out the nuts so my girls would eat it.)  (Okay, last one--I also reduced the sugar to 3/4 cup since I thought it might be too sweet without the rhubarb.)

The verdict?  Yum!  This crisp was really delicious.  The combination of strawberries and apples was very good, and I love the chewy bits of crystallized ginger in the crust/crumbs.  Ginger and strawberries is a great flavor combination that I'm going to have to remember.  Both girls liked it, as did Jamie (though he couldn't quite place the ginger flavor at first).  I ate mine without ice cream, both for dessert and breakfast the next day.  I enjoyed the texture of the bottom crust, and will have to try the same technique with other fruits.  

If you'd like to try this recipe for yourself, head on over to Sarah's blog.  And to see what everyone else thought of this week's selection, check out the Links.

When life hands you berries...

I take my lunch to work most days.  It generally consists of some sort of leftovers and fresh fruit on the side.  What sort of fruit is definitely a seasonal thing.  In the fall, it's usually apples.  (I don't like pears, or I'd take those sometimes, too.)  In the winter, it's some sort of orange citrus, usually satsumas or tangelos.  Then as we get into spring, I switch to berries--mostly strawberries, but with some raspberries or blackberries thrown in as well.  Next up will be peaches, then plums/plumcots/pluots.  And then back to apples...  What other sorts of fruit do you like to eat that would be lunchbox friendly?  It occurs to me that my rotation could use a little more variety. =)

For now, though, I'll keep eating the berries.  I've been buying tons because they all look so good right now.  (Plus I discovered that I can buy really good ones in large quantities relatively inexpensively at Costco.)  For lunch I just sprinkle a little sugar on top, but at home I've been trying other things as well.  The shortcakes were a bit hit, and Brianna and Gillian both like berries with vanilla yogurt (especially stirring it to make the yogurt pink).  But sometime we don't eat them quickly enough, and they start to go south.  So what to do with a whole bunch of fruit that's a bit past its prime?  Mash it up and freeze it!  With a few additions that is--you definitely need sugar for a scoopable sorbet.  The process was relatively easy.  I can't really say quick, because I chose to strain the fruit puree to remove the seeds--so I wouldn't have to listen to complaints from B&G, and also because I prefer it that way.  I also made some popsicles in addition to the sorbet.

The verdict?  Very yummy!  I doubt I could exactly duplicate the flavor, since I don't know exactly how much of each berry I had, but I think any combination of berries would be tasty (including adding blueberries; I didn't because I don't like them).  And I just love the purple color contributed by the blackberries, even though it does stain.  (It's a good idea to have kids wear some sort of bib with the popsicles.)  One other thing I'd like to try is lime juice instead of lemon.  I'm sure there will be more sorbet coming out of our kitchen this summer. =)

I pretty much made things up as I went along (and consulted The Perfect Scoop to get an idea of how much sugar to use), but here's more or less what I did.  Enjoy.

Mixed Berry Sorbet

• 900 grams (about 2 pounds) mixed berries (any combination of raspberries, strawberries, blackberries, etc.)   (I'm guessing a bit here; once pureed and strained, I ended up with 730 grams)
• 200 grams (1 cup) granulated sugar  (can be adjusted to taste)
• 1 tablespoon vodka
• 1-2 tablespoons lemon juice   (I think lime would also be good)

Wash and hull the strawberries, then trim any bad spots and cut them into pieces.  Pick through the other berries and discard any that are not good; rinse them with water and drain.  Place the fruit in a deep bowl and puree with an immersion blender.  (Alternatively, puree in a blender, in batches if necessary.)  Strain the puree to remove seeds.  (You don't have to, but I prefer it, especially when using blackberries.)  Add the sugar and stir to dissolve.  You can adjust the sugar to taste, but I recommend using at least 150g (3/4 cup); if you use too little, the sorbet will be icy and harder.  Stir in the lemon juice and vodka.  You don't have to add the vodka, but it helps keep the sorbet from freezing too hard.

Place the fruit puree in a container (after adding the sugar I had about 4 cups) and refrigerate until very cold.  Churn the mixture in an ice cream maker according to the manufacturer's instructions.  The sorbet will still be soft; pack it into a freezer-safe container and freeze until firm.  

You can also leave out the vodka and pour the fruit puree into popsicle molds, then freeze until firm.  I did both--after adding the sugar, I filled the molds, then I added the vodka and lemon juice to the remaining puree and made the sorbet.

Tongue-tied

I'm probably dating myself, but who else had a Strawberry Shortcake doll (when they were first popular)?  I had Strawberry and Apple Dumplin'.  My sisters had various other dolls.  Brianna doesn't have any of the dolls, but she has a number of Strawberry Shortcake books.  They're a parent's worst nightmare.  Don't believe me?  Then you try reading one aloud some time! =)  Here's a sample:

"When Strawberry Shortcake visits Seaberry Beach, she daydreams about a little mermaid named Pearlberry who wants to live on land more than anything in the world.  A Berry Fairy offers to make Pearlberry's wish come true--but only if Pearlberry promises to leave her home in the ocean forever."

Lots of berry this and berry that, and crazy character names.  And these things are long!  It makes me tired just thinking about it.  All I have to say is, thank goodness Brianna can now read them for herself.  And she actually enjoys reading to Gillian, too, which is good for both of them.  Not to mention it gets me off the hook at least some of the time. =)

Now one strawberry shortcake I don't have any trouble talking about is the one we made for Tuesdays with Dorie this week.  My awesome and funny blogging friend, Cathy of The Tortefeasor, picked Tender Shortcakes for us this week.  It's a wonderful choice for this time of year, with lots of fresh berries in the stores.

Several people noted on the P and Q that Dorie’s shortcakes must have been rather large, and that they reduced the recipe. I decided to cut it in half. One thing I’ve been doing recently is converting all my measurements to grams; it’s easier when measuring and adjusting recipe yields, since I don’t have to bother with fractions. I realized last weekend that I’ve finally gotten reasonably comfortable with metric measurements--I was watching a baking show on the Cooking Channel that used grams, and the measurements actually made sense to me. So what I ended up with was:

270g (2 cups) all-purpose flour (King Arthur)
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspooon table salt
42g (3 tablespoons) vanilla sugar
85g (6 tablespoons) cold unsalted butter
170g (6oz) cold heavy cream

Shortcakes are basically biscuits, so they were quick to make. You whisk together the dry ingredients, then rub in the butter (I did it by hand; you could also do the whole thing in the food processor if you want), then add the cream and stir with a fork until the dough starts to come together. Then you knead it just a bit to bring it together the rest of the way. I used my #16 scoop (1/4 cup) to divide up the dough and ended up with 9 shortcakes.  I baked them for 14 minutes.

The only change I really made to the recipe (other than reducing it) was to substitute vanilla sugar for the granulated sugar. I love Dorie’s direction to rub citrus zest into sugar and have taken to doing that with vanilla beans as well. A few weeks back I did that with some sugar and then realized that I didn’t need it for a recipe. So I had a bunch of vanilla sugar on hand. I put some in the shortcakes, sprinkled some over the cut up strawberries, and used some to sweeten the whipped cream.

The verdict? Wow. This was a fabulous dessert. The shortcakes ended up being the perfect size. As several people commented, the biscuits are tasty enough to eat on their own, though the fruit and cream didn’t hurt. =) Mine didn’t taste strongly of vanilla, but it was a subtle presence in the dessert that was quite good. Everyone’s plates were quickly cleaned.

For the full recipe, head over to Cathy’s blog (plus she writes the most entertaining posts!). And be sure to check out the Leave Your Links page to see what everyone else thought of this week’s recipe.

Berry good...with chocolate

I had every intention of getting this week's Tuesdays with Dorie recipe and post done early.  Then life got in the way.  My older daughter, Brianna, has been sick since last Thursday (with what we think its strep--what fun).  So the past four or five days have mostly been spent tending to her and juggling schedules with my husband.  The funny thing is, the only reason I managed to get this done at this point is because I ended up staying home from work again today.  Otherwise, I'd be lucky to get this posted by this weekend... =)  

This week's lovely selection comes from Cooking with Cristine.  It's hard to believe that there are still people who joined the group almost two years ago are just now getting to choose recipes.  Just like it seems crazy that I've been doing this for over two years.  Cristine made a great seasonal pick, with the Quick Classic Berry Tart.  A number of people questioned the "quick" part of this recipe.  Once you have the components ready, the assembly of the tart does go quickly.  But it does take some time to get everything ready.  Fortunately (especially for me, the way the past several days have been), different parts can be made ahead of time.  The tart consists of a buttery, crisp tart shell, some pastry cream, seasonal fresh fruit, and a glaze.

I could tell that Brianna was feeling at least a little better when she showed some interest in the tart.  Once I described to her what I was making, she only had one question--"Can you make the filling chocolate instead of vanilla?"  Since that was the first food-related request she'd made in several days, I decided to go with it.  I knew the extra pastry cream wouldn't go to waste. =)  One advantage of the chocolate cream is that it uses only 4 egg yolks, rather than 6, since the chocolate thickens it as well.  I already have way too many egg whites in my freezer, and will have more now that we're getting into serious ice cream season.  (I need to make something to use some of them up!)

I've made Dorie's pastry creams a number of times, so it didn't take me long to get this one done.  I made it Monday night, and put it in the fridge to chill overnight.  (with plastic wrap on the surface--I hate skin on top of things!)  My original plan was to try to get the tart crust baked before work this morning.  But then I ended up staying home with B again, so I didn't have as much time pressure as I expected.  I mixed up the dough in the food processor, patted it into my new rectangular tart pan (more about that in another post), and stuck it in the freezer while we took Gillian to daycare.  When we got back, I baked it, letting it get a nice, dark golden brown.  Then this afternoon, I assembled the whole thing.  I put the pastry cream in the tart shell and topped it with whole raspberries and quartered strawberries.  Actually, B did the strawberries--she's definitely feeling better than she was.  (and isn't contagious anymore after four days of antibiotics)  Then I glazed it with some raspberry jam that I heated in the microwave and thinned with a bit of water.

The verdict?  Well, the different parts are certainly good.  We've had the tart crust a number of times, and love it.  And anything resembling chocolate pudding is always popular in this household. =)  Plus how can you go wrong with fresh strawberries and raspberries?  As for all together, it's very good. Gillian gave it two thumbs up--"Mommy, this is so good!" Brianna wasn't as enthusiastic about the crust, but loved the pastry cream and fruit.  I liked the whole thing, with the different flavors and textures.  I love chocolate with both raspberry and strawberry.

If you'd like to try this one for yourself, Cristine has the recipe on her blog.  And you can find the chocolate pastry cream recipe here.   Don't forget to see what everyone else did with this week's recipe--you can find links here.  

We all scream for ice cream

The calendar may say that it's just the beginning of May, but it's definitely starting to warm up.   For Tuesdays with Dorie, we're getting into the time of year when fruit recipes and frozen treats become more popular.  This week's selection comes from Becky of Project Domestication, and she picked Burnt Sugar Ice Cream for us to make.  Of course, lots of people like to eat ice cream year-round, but it gets more attention during the warmer months.  I’m spoiled—when I bought my current ice cream maker, it came with an extra freezer canister.  I keep one in my freezer all the time so I can make ice cream on short notice--as soon as I take the canister out, the other one goes in.

I've actually made this ice cream before.  The first time I made it was as part of a Daring Bakers challenge, back in February of last year.  I’m kind of surprised that I haven’t made it since, but that’s probably because I’ve been too busy trying out other flavors.  More recently, I made the Caramel Ice Cream recipe from Thomas Keller's Ad Hoc at Home.  The ingredients for the two recipes are pretty much the same—sugar, water, cream, milk, egg yolks, and salt.  Dorie’s recipe also includes vanilla.  Where the two differ is in the proportions.  The Ad Hoc recipe uses a 1:1 ratio of cream to milk, whereas the TWD recipe is 1:2.  The Ad Hoc recipe also uses a significantly higher proportion of egg yolks—5 yolks for 2 cups of liquid, versus 4 yolks for 3 cups.  The question is, is it worth it to make the richer recipe?

To even the playing field a bit, I adjusted the liquid in Dorie’s recipe, using 12 ounces each of milk and cream.  I also increased the amount of salt from a pinch to ½ a teaspoon of kosher salt.  I did want to try the vanilla, so I warmed the milk and steeped a vanilla bean pod in it.  (I started to scrape the seeds out and rub them into the sugar like I usually do, then realized that might not be the best idea if I was going to then make caramel with the sugar.  So that vanilla sugar is now earmarked for next week’s pastry cream. =)  And there was still enough in the pod to flavor the milk.)  I usually add a bit of corn syrup to the water and sugar as insurance when making caramel, but forgot to do that this time.  It seemed okay, but the caramel seized up a lot when I added the liquids to it.  About 5 minutes of heating and whisking took care of that problem, though.  Then I carefully tempered the hot caramel mixture into the yolks.  Since the mixture was already quite warm, it didn’t take long at all to heat the custard to over 170F.  Once it was done, I strained the mixture into a bowl sitting in an ice bath and stirred to cool it down.  Once it was pretty cool, I put it in the fridge to chill completely before churning it into ice cream.

So, the verdict?  This ice cream is very good.  But my memory of the Thomas Keller ice cream is on a whole different level.  The flavor is similar (and I liked the vanilla bean addition), but the extra yolks give the TK ice cream an incredibly smooth texture.  The TK ice cream isn't something I’d make all the time, but it’s really worth it to go with the extra richness.  My girls aren’t as excited about caramel ice cream as Jamie and I are, so I dressed it up a bit for them.  Strawberries have been everywhere lately and I had some that really needed to be used, so I made a cooked strawberry sauce.  I was surprised at how tasty it was with the caramel—I didn’t expect the flavors to work that well together.

This week's Tuesdays with Dorie recipe also turned out to be a great reminder that I've been meaning to write about another subject--my Adopt-a-Blogger buddy, Lindsay.  I've been meaning to introduce all of you to her and her blog.  Her blog is Scoop Adventures--yes, you guessed it, it's all about ice cream!  She includes recipes for ice cream (and other frozen desserts), as well as reviews of ice cream and places that serve it.  I asked her some questions so we can all get to know a little more about her:

How long have you been blogging and why did you decide to start?

I have been blogging since July 2009.  I decided to start my blog so I could share my thoughts and adventures related to ice cream.  Before I started the blog I had already visited many ice cream shops, so I wanted to share that experience with others.  Plus I was about to embark on the task of learning to use my new ice cream maker and making recipes, so why not write about it?

How did you decide on the theme for your blog?

I think I kind of described that above.  I love ice cream so that was easy.  There is also more info on my About Me page.

What are some of the blogs you like to read?

Oh, there are several!  I love the blogs with pretty food pictures and helpful tips.  Some of my favorites are listed on the side bar of my blog.  I really enjoy reading Tartlette, Running with Tweezers, Gluten-free Girl & the chef, use real butter, to name a few.  There are definitely more.

What is your favorite food and/or cuisine? (that you either like to eat or make)

Well the easy answer would be ice cream.  But I also enjoy many desserts, especially those featuring fresh fruit.  Other than dessert, I enjoy Asian flavors such as Thai and Indian cuisine.  My favorite dish of all time is probably my mom's lasagna.

What do you eat when you just can't decide what to make for dinner (or just don't have the energy for it)?

Usually spaghetti, or we order pizza.  My favorite quick meal, especially when my husband is out of town and I don't feel like cooking too much, is Mac & Cheese with tuna fish mixed in.  Sounds weird but its awesome!

What is your favorite kitchen gadget?

My zester.  Couldn't live without it.

What piece of kitchen equipment is at the top of your wishlist?  

Sounds silly, but a good candy thermometer...still don't have one.  Another item I'd like is a Foley Mill.  Nothing fancy. I'm fortunate to have a lot of kitchen gadgets already.

Who is your favorite cookbook author and/or favorite cookbook?

This is a tough question.  The cookbook I reference the most is Perfect Scoop by David Lebovitz.  Many of my recipes for ice cream as variations of his recipes.  He provides excellent inspiration.  My favorite "food" cookbook right now is Martha Stewart's Cooking School.

Share a couple of interesting non-blogging facts about yourself...

Blogging is not my full time job (but I'd like to keep that a secret).  I love to spend time with my husband and two cats, enjoying the warm weather in New Orleans.  I actually love everything about food and enjoy going out to eat and trying new things.  In my spare time, I run and bike...I always say that I run to eat. :)

For more information and some great ice cream recipes, head on over to Lindsay's blog!  For the Burnt Sugar Ice Cream recipe, check out Becky's blog.  And to see what everyone else thought of this week's Tuesdays with Dorie recipe, check out this week's links.

Berry good cheesecake

So it would seem that April is cheesecake month for the Daring Bakers. =)  Last year, we had fun making cheesecake pops.  This year we have a different cheesecake to play around with.  The April 2009 challenge is hosted by Jenny from Jenny Bakes.  She has chosen Abbey's Infamous Cheesecake as the challenge.  We had to use the basic cheesecake recipe provided, including a crust, but were free to play around with flavorings of both the filling and the crust, as well as toppings.  In fact, we were encouraged to be quite creative. =)

I've made cheesecake quite a few times, so I wasn't too concerned about the process.  The cheesecake recipe provided was fairly straightforward, though a bit different than the one I usually make.  My favorite one is from Rose Levy Beranbaum.  It uses sour cream, while the one for the challenge uses heavy cream.  And I usually use just egg yolks, rather than whole eggs.  I always use a water bath, so I was comfortable with that as well.

The big question was how to play around with the recipe.  I knew that I'd be making the cheesecake near the end of the month.  As I've mentioned before, I tend to be the maker of birthday cakes wherever I work.  One of my employees has a birthday on the 28th, and cheesecake is his favorite.  But when I asked him what kind he likes, he said plain!  Or maybe I should say, classic. =)  With strawberry sauce.  So I kept things simple.  The big challenge for me was actually making different sizes of cheesecakes at the same time.  I wanted to make a 7-inch cake to take into work, and planned to make several 4-ounce ramekins with the remainder of the batter.  

One thing I knew I wanted to do was to use a pastry crust, rather than crumbs.  I never seem to have good luck with crumb crusts.  The butter leaks out of the bottom of the springform pan, and it seems like half the crust always stays in the pan when I try to remove slices.  So I turned to my trusted source, Dorie Greenspan's Baking From My Home to Yours, and made the Sweet Tart Dough for the crust.  I used it to line the springform pan and four 4-ounce ramekins.  I wanted to make sure that the crusts wouldn't get soggy, so I baked them pretty well, until they were getting brown around the edges.  While I let the baked crusts cool, I worked on the filling.

I like the bit of tang that sour cream usually gives my cheesecake.  Since I wasn't using it for this one, I increased the citrus a bit.  I used the juice of one lemon and one lime in the filling, about 3 tablespoons total.  I reduced the vanilla to one teaspoon, and added about a tablespoon of rum as well.  Other than that, I stuck to the basic filling recipe.  Oh, and did I mention that I had the great luck to find Philadelphia cream cheese on sale for $0.99 a package?!  The filling was enough for the pans I'd prepped with a little left over, so I filled two little 3-ounce ramekins as well (no crust).  One of the difficulties with using a springform pan in a water bath is the chance that water will leak into the pan and make the bottom of the cheesecake soggy.  Part of my plan to prevent that was using the pastry crust.  Some people have mentioned wrapping the pan with plastic wrap and then heavy duty foil (the water bath keeps the plastic from getting too hot).  Instead of that, I put my springform pan inside one of the disposable liners I use for my slow cooker (I trimmed it down a bit), and then wrapped it in heavy duty foil to hold it in place.  The ramekins, of course, didn't need anything like that.  

I knew that my larger cheesecake would take the longest to bake, so I gave it a head start.  I put it in the water bath in my roasting pan and put it in the oven.  After it had been in for 20 minutes, I added the ramekins to the pan and set the timer for another 20 minutes.  At that point, none of the cheesecakes looked done, so I gave them another 10 minutes.  The ramekins all seemed pretty done then, so I took them out of the pan.  The 7-inch pan seemed to take forever.  I gave it another 15 minutes.  It was still jiggly in the middle, but that was expected.  I turned off the oven and left it in for 45 minutes.  The ramekins were pretty firm after cooking on the counter for a bit, so I just moved them to the fridge.  I let the larger pan cool to room temperature and then refrigerated it as well.

The verdict on the big cheesecake will have to wait.  But we did sample one of the little ones.  I briefly considered trying to take the cheesecake out of the ramekin, but quickly decided that wasn't going to work.  So we just attacked it with a couple of spoons.  For the topping, I diced some strawberries and sprinkled them with sugar.  I added a splash of rum and a bit of lime zest to echo the flavors that I added to the cheesecake.  The verdict?  This is a really good cheesecake recipe.  The texture is firmer than the one I usually make--not a bad thing, just a bit different.  That's probably due to the whole eggs instead of just yolks.  I'm glad I went with a simple approach--it really let the flavor of the cheesecake come through, which paired nicely with the strawberries.  Guess there's a reason why that's a classic combination, huh? =)  Jamie and I really enjoyed it.  The buttery crust was good as well, though a bit hard to get out of the ramekin.  It should be easier to deal with on the larger cheesecake.  All in all, definitely a recipe that I'd like to make again.  (Oh, and I lied--we ate two.  We had one of the extra 3-ounce ones to see how the cheesecake tasted on its own.  Really good.)

The recipe for the tart dough can be found in this article.  For the cheesecake recipe, head over to Jenny's blog.  And be sure to check out the blogroll over at The Daring Kitchen to see what everyone else came up with this month!

Close encounters of the strawberry kind

I was fortunate enough to find some more good strawberries when we went shopping on Sunday.  I ended up buying a 2-pound container because they looked a lot better than the smaller ones.  We ate about half of them on Sunday, and then the rest ended up in the fridge.  They sat there until yesterday, when I decided that I'd better do something with them before they went bad.  (Especially since I'd already had that happen with some raspberries a day or two before.)  

Brianna's been bugging me to make ice cream or popsicles, since it's been so hot.  I did remember to find room in the freezer for my ice cream machine canister, but I really don't like fruit ice creams that much--I'd rather put berries on my ice cream than in it.  So while I was out yesterday I stopped by Target and picked up a popsicle mold.  I can't say that I really used a recipe.  I just hulled the strawberries (I had about a pound), sliced them into chunks and tossed them in my blender.  Then I added a few tablespoons of sugar (to taste) and the juice of a lime.  I pureed everything together, filled the molds and popped them in the freezer.  I actually had more puree than I needed--more on that in a minute.

The verdict?  Brianna and Gillian both loved them.  Gillian hasn't really had popsicles much, so I kept my eye on her for a while.  Then I made the mistake of turning my back for a minute or two:  

I know it's a bit blurry, but the picture was too good to pass up.  =)  At that point I resigned myself to the fact that she was going straight to the tub afterwards, and let her finish.

And of course, I had to take pictures of Brianna, too:

As for the rest of the strawberry puree?  I added some orange juice, a bit more sugar, some rum and some frozen peaches and blended everything until more or less smooth and slushy.  Brianna was a bit put out that I wouldn't share my "grownup smoothie" with her.  =)

Picture this (TWD)

So you know you've really gotten into this food blogging thing...  when you get up in the middle of eating your dessert so you can take another picture of it.  Which is exactly what I did Sunday night.  =)

That got me thinking about how much things have evolved over the past 6 months since I started doing this.  Thank goodness for digital cameras and being able to take a whole bunch of pictures to see what works and what doesn't.  I think the single thing that has helped the most was discovering the macro setting on my camera, so I can take close-up shots that aren't blurry in front and focused on something in the background of the picture.  I've tried different things, like taking pictures as I make a recipe (to show some of the process), but I think what I like best is taking interesting pictures of the final result. 

On to the recipe that inspired the photographs of my interrupted dessert...  La Palette's Strawberry Tart was selected by Marie of A Year From Oak Cottage for this week's installment of Tuesdays with Dorie.  This seemed to be a pretty popular choice with most people, since in many areas it's a good time of year for strawberries. I hit the jackpot for good fruit at the end of last week--juicy peaches, fragrant raspberries and some good-looking strawberries.  It turned out that the strawberries weren't quite as ripe as they looked, but they were still pretty tasty.  I didn't have quite as many as I needed, so some of the raspberries ended up in my tart as well.

This tart uses the same dough as we used for the French Lemon Cream Tart back in April. When I made the dough before, I went with mini tarts, so this was the first time I baked a full-sized shell with it.  I found the dough pretty easy to work with, and freezing the dough in the pan before baking worked quite well.

Next, the recipe calls for strawberry jam to be spread on the crust.  I actually have a jar of strawberry jam in my fridge, but I really don't care for it--for one thing, it's way too sweet for my taste.  So I ended up going with my favorite raspberry fruit butter, which was nice with the raspberries that I added to the tart.  I tossed the berries with a bit of sugar, and once they'd had a chance to produce some juice, I spooned them over the crust.  

The verdict?  Yum.  This is definitely one to make again, as long as we have really good fruit.  I wouldn't recommend it otherwise.  Next time I may try some sort of topping, such as the creme fraiche that Dorie suggests, but simple is good too.  If you want to make your own delicious strawberry tart, the recipe can be found in Baking From My Home to Yours.  Don't have a copy?  Enter here to see if you can win one and join the fun at Tuesdays with Dorie. While you're there, don't forget to check out the blogroll for more beautiful tarts.