Dessert – Page 12 – Rosemary and the Goat

Eton Mess

Most unusual name for a delicious and royal dessert.

When I first heard someone talking about this dessert, I thought I heard “eaten mess”. Of course this wasn’t right and I’m just getting over an ear infection and thought my hearing was going for sure. So, I started a search. I googled (what would we do without google?) “eaten mess” and came up with Eton Mess. A dessert fit for the Royals.

Last week I got so caught up in the wedding of Kate and William. When all of this started with the engagement several months ago, I really didn’t think I would be watching with enthusiasm every little news sniblet that hit the TV. But, I was wrong and it wasn’t long before I was watching every movie and program that came on about Princess Di to what the dress, cake and food might be like for Kate and William’s wedding. And, yes, I did get up at 3:00 a.m. last Friday to start watching all the coverage.

What little girl doesn’t love Cinderella and the fairy tale ending. I loved The Officer and a Gentleman where Richard Gere rushed in at the end of the movie and swept up the fair maiden and off they go into the sunset. I love happy endings and if I don’t like the way a movie ends, I rewrite it in my mind to end the way I want to see the final scenes.

Eton Mess is an English dessert that starts with torn meringue cookies mixed with whipped cream and strawberries and layered with a raspberry sauce. This dessert is traditionally served at Eton College’s annual cricket game against Winchester College. The dish has been known by this name since the 19th century. You can use any type summer fruit but the strawberry is the traditional way of preparing this light and summery dessert. I added the raspberry sauce to the layers. Good twist.

I’m serving mine in my vintage champagne glasses I got when we were married 42 years ago. I guess that makes me vintage, or almost. I love the bowl type champagne glasses for drinking champagne, serving desserts or even using as a small table decorations holding a little fern and a few flowers.

May 6, 2011 By Sherry

Dessert/ Desserts/ Ice Cream

Chocolate Mousse with Salted Caramel Ice Cream

Wedding Bliss!

Ok, I’m sitting here writing this blog after a long day of wedding dress shopping with my daughter and my daughter-in-law.

After a morning of shopping and my FIRST bridal shop and then lunch at Waltons Fancy and Staple (Sandra Bullock’s restaurant) we went to our second and then third bridal shops. WOW! is all I can say.

I had my first son in 1973 and then my second in 1976 and I love them dearly, but oh how I wanted a little girl who I could take shopping, curl her hair and dress up in pretty pink dresses and dream of a wedding someday when I would be able to watch her try on wedding dresses. Well, she is now a grown, beautiful young woman and is the apple of our eye and a twinkle in her fiance’s eye.

Well, this was the weekend. It was so hard because every dress, absolutely every dress, was beautiful on my daughter. By the end of the day she had narrowed the dresses down to 2 maybe 3 dresses and I still don’t think I could pick a favorite. I know she will be beautiful in it the day of her wedding this October.

April 16, 2011 By Sherry

Cake/ Food Stories

Cupcakessssssss!

Can you teach an old dog new tricks?

Now don’t take me wrong, I’m not saying I’m an old dog or anything like that. I think I may still have a few new tricks in me.

Lately, it seems like I tend to get obsessed with things. For instance, cooking for the blog, trying to make my camera take better food pictures, and taking computer classes at the Apple store. Now I’ve started a miniature fairy garden and ordered my first house for it and now I’m trying to figure out how to make a miniature pond and table and patio for the fairy garden.

Now if that isn’t enough, three weeks ago, I started cake decorating classes at Hobby Lobby and then turned around and signed up for fondant and gum paste classes the following day. I must have been nuts at the time.

I’ve been catering for 20 years and one thing I have always wanted to know how to do was to decorate a pretty cake and hey, why not learn to make fondant covered cakes and flowers at the same time.

March 27, 2011 By Sherry

Cake/ Dessert

Green Velvet Cake In A Jar

Something green for St. Patrick’s Day!

Is your table going to be full of GREEN food for St. Patrick’s day. l hope you will make at least a green salad of some sort, put on a green table cloth or place mats, wear green earrings, make an Irish dish, play some Irish music, and then sit back and enjoy this Green Velvet Cake. What more could you ask for on St. Patrick’s day — other than a Chicago St. Pat’s day parade.

I may have said this before but my husband’s cousin traced back their family tree all the way back to Ireland (grandmother) and Scotland (grandfather) and when my husband tapes this paper trail up in our dining room, it goes all the way around three walls. That was quite a job to trace ancestors back that far. I hope some day we will make the trip to Scotland and Ireland and I think I might like doing a pub crawl (even though I don’t drink beer).

When I think of St. Pat’s I think of Ferris Bueller and that infamous movie. Loved that show. And I think of Rolla, MO where my husband when to school and they had such crazy St. Pat party weekends where the frat house would turn everything green from the beer to milk to mashed potatoes.

March 12, 2011 By Sherry

Candy/ Dessert

Almond Joy Candies

A chocolate fix for anyone who loves chocolate!

Isn’t this beautiful. Hand dipped chocolates! Yum!

Here’s a new candy recipe for your collection. I have always loved Almond Joy candy bars. My only complaint was that you only got two almonds on top of each piece. I only put one almond in each of these, but since you are the candy maker, you can hide a few extra down in the filling if you feel the urge. Be sure to make a few of these for Valentine’s Day. I did, but I gave them away since I have sworn off sweets (and a lot of other stuff) for 21 days.

A great little afternoon treat. A cup of hot chocolate or sipping chocolate would hit the spot on a cold Valentine’s Day.

Do you remember Valentine’s Day when you were a little kid looking for the perfect container to turn into a Valentine Box for your school party. I remember gathering up rows of crepe paper and making ruffles and gluing them around a shoe box, cutting a hole in the top and taking it to school and eagerly awaiting for valentines to be dropped in. I remember the red punch, the cupcakes with red and pink frosting, the little hard candy hearts with “Be My Valentine” printed on them. I remember the first heart shaped box of chocolates my husband gave me when I was 15. Now I get flowers. Much less fattening. 🙂

February 12, 2011 By Sherry

Cake/ Food Stories

De-railed Thomas the Train Cake

How sagging frosting became the hit of the party.

Most people would have been in tears when they opened their refrigerator and saw all the frosting drooping off the sides of their cake. BUT, not me.

My son Paul was making a Thomas the Train birthday cake for my grandson’s 2nd birthday. It was a beautiful 3 layer perfectly level chiffon cake and I have to say it was totally my fault the French buttercream did not turn out. I miscalculated the butter; 24 oz. is NOT 3 sticks of butter, but 6.

So, here’s what happened. When we saw the cake sagging. I laughed and said “this looks like a train wreck”. Since little Milo loves the part of Thomas The Train when the train wrecks, my son took his black frosting and besides the Happy Birthday, he made a train track and had it continue off the side of the cake. And then we used some of the Thomas the Train car pieces and stuck them in the side and bottom of the cake like they had just driven off the side of the cake. I have to say it was ingenious and saved the day.

Milo looks happy with his cake even though the train de-railed.

Looks like mom might be explaining that Thomas fell off the cake. Oh, whatever, it still tasted wonderful.

I definitely owned up to my mistake and the kids and adults all loved the cake and cupcakes.

Moral of the story — don’t let minor derailments spoil the party. After all, kids just want something sweet, they don’t care what it looks like.

January 17, 2011 By Sherry

Desserts/ Morning Foods/ Side dish

Macadamia Nut Pineapple Casserole

No I haven’t been to Hawaii

But I have a friend on her way there and I hope she will bring back pictures of pineapple fields and macadamia nut trees and maybe of she and her husband doing the hula on the beach.

I love finding a recipe that can be served for brunch, lunch or with dinner and this is such a recipe. I received this recipe back in the 70’s from a friend in our church group and even though I don’t make it often, it has remained one of my favorites.

My sister and I put together two cookbooks of our favorite recipes, one called Double Delight (we are twins) and the other Two Peas In A Pod. In our first book if we both had a recipe we liked and we couldn’t agree which one to put in, we would do both versions, each one of us thinking “ours” was the best. Her pineapple dish had pineapple chunks, Colby cheese and did not have the bread cubes. My recipe takes on more of a bread pudding consistency.

This recipe is delicious with brunch or goes great with a pork roast or baked ham or even a Caribbean themed party. It is very easy to throw together.

January 7, 2011 By Sherry

Cookies/ Cookies/Bars/ Dessert

Santa Kisses

Just about any kind of kiss is a good kiss!

But, for the holidays, these are especially nice and so easy to make, and, for some reason, I keep hearing Marilyn Monroe singing “Santa Baby” —

“Santa baby, slip a sable under the tree, for me

I’ve been an awful good girl

Santa baby, and hurry down the chimney tonight”

(I have some Santa Kisses for you!)

Find a you tube version of this song — you’ll love it!

I remember when I was a kid my grandmother would buy these certain peppermint sticks that my grandfather liked. I think the brand was Bob’s and they were twisted sticks and they were so much fun to twirl in your mouth until you had a really sharp point on the end of the stick. My grandmother always seemed to like the peppermint balls that kind of melted in your mouth. And, my little brother use to love peppermint canes and sometimes at Christmas we would try and buy the biggest stick we could find and I’m sure it took months for him to eat the whole thing.

I made this recipe for two parties I catered this season and will be making them for my family as well.

December 16, 2010 By Sherry

Dessert/ Desserts

Irish Cream Cheesecake

Are you a hoarder of recipes?

I never thought of myself as a hoarder. At least not in the sense that my house is full of piles of stuff that I can’t stand to part with. If I don’t use it, I figure I don’t need it. BUT, when it comes to recipes I will hang on to one for years before getting around to trying it.

I probably clipped this recipe almost 20 years ago and put it in a ring binder I use to keep all my “clipped” recipes in. I have advanced somewhat to using MacGourmet on my new computer and can make my own categories and import all my old files in from MasterCook. I even have an app now for my iPhone that links my computer cookbook so where ever I go, I have my recipes with me. You can never tell when someone might stop me on the street and ask for a recipe.:)

I’ve made this cheesecake once once before (about 7 years ago) and remember it as being one of the best cheesecakes I have ever made. The recipe went back into my files and was forgotten until now, and while searching though old favorites, I happened upon this recipe again and this time it won’t go back into my files and forgotten — it will be marked as a “tried and loved” recipe. So, for your holiday table this would look beautiful with some bright red raspberries as a garnish and maybe out a glass of Irish Cream in small shot glass to serve along with it.

December 12, 2010 By Sherry

Dessert/ Pies/Tarts

Coconut Oatmeal Pie

Chess, yes, oatmeal, yes, buttermilk, pecan, yes! Pie, YES

Did your mother or grandmother ever make chess pie, or maybe buttermilk pie, coconut, pecan, or oatmeal pie? If so, you will love the taste of this Coconut Oatmeal Pie. I think it has flavors of all those pies combined.

I was in Hubble and Hudson grocery the other day (small gourmet specialty market) and, like always, I’m looking around for something new to try and I came across these all natural baby coconuts that are entirely edible. When I say baby, I mean teeny tiny. They are about the size of a nickel.

There’s nothing more fun to me than walking through small specialty grocery stores. My friend, Peggy and I always enjoy exploring markets. Now, I know you think that is really boring, BUT, when we were in Italy a few years ago, we found this small market and were fascinated by the different types of meats (rabbit for one), butchered and just laying there in the display case. And the butcher was so nice and explained what different items were. We’ve found very interesting and unusual items in Asian markets in China town in NYC and also San Francisco. So, when I walk through our local gourmet store, there’s always something that catches my eye.

Back to the baby coconuts. I just tasted one and they taste just like unsweetened coconuts and you can eat the shell. I mainly bought these for a garnish for these cute little Coconut Oatmeal Pies.

December 6, 2010 By Sherry

Cake/ Dessert

Dreamsicle Cupcakes

Didn’t you love those dreamsicle ice cream bars when you were a kid!

We were visiting our new grandson, Oliver, in Chicago a couple of weeks ago. He’s now 3 months old and boy, how time flies. Seems like it was just yesterday that we went up to Chicago to meet the new Michie baby boy. And, it seems like just yesterday I was a little kid eating cho cho ice cream malt cups and those dreamy dreamsicle ice cream bars.

I love mixing orange sherbet and vanilla ice cream together in a parfait class because it reminds me of dreamsicles that use to drip down my arm on those hot summer days in Missouri and I still love that flavor of orange and vanilla mixed together.

There’s a bakery in Lincoln Park (Chicago), Sweet Mandy B’s, that has the best baked items ever, and we went there after lunch at Longman & Eagle one day. Of course, we had to come home with some molasses frosted cookies that my son loves and some 7 layer bars, chocolate cookies, a macaroon and this wonderful little Dreamsicle Cupcake.

I was staring at this lone beautiful cupcake sitting in the box along with all the other cookies and really wanted to gobble it up all by myself. After all, I was the one thinking of dreamsicles and having all these childhood memories, but I shared the cupcake because I wanted everyone else to see how delicious it was. I KNEW I could make this cupcake.

November 9, 2010 By Sherry

Dessert

Candied Orange Quarters

One of my husband’s favorite candy is orange slices.

And he doesn’t care if they are Brach’s or some store brand of orange slices, whether they cost $3.00 a package, or 99¢ a package. He likes them all. While in Madrid, on our last part of our Spain trip, we happened upon several confection shops. There were all kinds of cookies and sweets. (See some of the below candy pictures). We had just finished a really nice lunch of gazpacho and a huge plate of paella and we were really wanting something sweet. Or, should I say, I was wanting something sweet so we started window shopping for something that would satisfy our sweet tooth and I’m sure we were drooling all over ourselves by the time we found these oranges.

These beautiful orange sections were staring at us from the window saying “come get us, you will love us”. So, we didn’t want to disappoint the people who worked so hard making all of these delicious treats. I have to say that these were the most delicious, juicy candied oranges I have ever put in my mouth. In Brugge we saw some candies orange slices dipped in chocolate but I have seen those before, but, I have never seen quartered candied oranges before that you could eat the whole thing, peeling and all. And, the only disappointment was when we swallowed the last bite we knew it was –“all gone” as my grandson, Milo would say.

Plate of goodies we purchased. I almost think these oranges were drizzled with honey because they were really juice and almost a little gooey. I love the way they put your treats on the little gold paper plate and this was “to go” and they wrapped the tray with paper and tied with string.

So, before our plane had even taken off for the US, I was already Googling how to make these delicious treats. I found a recipe on Food and Wine’s website and set out trying to make these for my husband. They were a delightful surprise.

October 19, 2010 By Sherry

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