Dessert – Page 5 – Rosemary and the Goat

Julia’s Berry Clafoutis

So what is a clafoutis anyway?

You should make this while you can still get those beautiful, juicy summer berries.

A clafoutis is a French baked dessert of fruit, traditionally black cherries that are arranged in a buttered dish and covered with a batter that is somewhere between a cake and custard. And, when it is dusted with that messy but breathtaking delicious powdered sugar it makes a dessert that you want to hide away from everyone and keep it all for yourself.

If the dish contains anything other than the traditional cherry then it is supposed to be called a flaugnarde. But, if “clafoutis” is good enough for Julia Childs, who am I to argue with a name.

Several years ago I made an Almond Cherry Clafoutis and have made it several times since. The consistency of my Cherry Clafoutis was definitely between a custard and cake but this recipe of Julia’s is more cake-like that mine.

September 2, 2017 By Sherry

Dessert/ Ice Cream

Blueberry Lavender Ice Cream

Gotta try at least one new ice cream recipe this summer.

Have you ever seen fields of lavender? When we were in France several years ago I was disappointed that we didn’t get to see fields of purple; but we were there too early in the year. I have seen fields of lavender in Texas at Becker Vineyards and also at Matanza Creek in Santa Rosa, California which were both breathtaking. Since purple is one of my favorite colors I wanted to try some using some culinary lavender I had bought in Austin awhile back.

I was taught years ago in school that you don’t use artificial coloring in food (I think the exception has to be decorated cookies and cakes). Green should never be used in Key Lime Pie. You know that PURPLE is my favorite color (have I said this before???). So how am I making my purple ice cream then if I can’t use that little bottle of purple food coloring I have that I use for cookie frosting — blueberries, of course.

July 22, 2017 By Sherry

Cake/ Dessert

Vienna Sacher Torte

I didn’t have to go to Vienna to try this cake.

These are the post cards I got from my friend, so I just had to try the cake.

I have a friend, Janet who just spent ten days in Austria with her granddaughter, Sarah, who is in school there for the year studying engineering. I loved getting emails and text from her with their iternary and what they were eating every day.

So on to one of her desserts of the day. I’ve heard of sacher torte for years but never made it. But after getting a post card from Janet with this dessert and the picture of her and her granddaughter Sara eating it. I knew I had to make it and what better reason than another dessert to take to a bunch of ladies who love to try the things I make — good or bad. Usually I don’t take the “flops”, they go in the trash.

May 24, 2017 By Sherry

Cookies/ Cookies/Bars/ Dessert

Chocolate Chocolate Chip Cookies

Thanks David for this recipe.

I love David Lebovitz blog Living The Sweet Life In Paris. We were in Paris and southern France back in 2012. Paris was kind of a blur with two bad knees that didn’t know then that in 3 months they would be replaced. So many restaurants, good food, stops in the afternoon for frites and wine or macarons that it’s hard to remember that trip unless I go back and read my journal about all the great food we had and all the interesting things we saw.

Through David’s blog I can see Paris through his eyes. He has authored seven cookbooks and his blog is full of information about cooking classes, vacationing in Paris and much much more. I’m always excited to get an email with his newest post to his blog.

So, when this Chocolate Chocolate Chip Cookie popped up one day I knew exactly who I was going to make it for. We have a friend, Gordon, who is a chocolateholic and these are his favorite cookies that he usually buys at Randall’s grocery and then hides them from his wife so he can have them all to himself. I do not blame him on these cookies, they are that good you will be hiding them too.

April 30, 2017 By Sherry

Dessert/ Pies/Tarts

Raspberry and Pistachio Cobbler

Finished off all those raspberries.

With summer almost here and all those berries starting to come in season, ya need to put this on your list of things to try; especially if you need a good cobbler type dessert to throw together to take to a gathering of friends.

I love to pick my own berries and hoping timing is right this year for us to be around when blackberries, strawberries and raspberries are in season for the picking. I’ve given up on picking blueberries or at least to freeze them because I don’t care for them once they are frozen. I guess they are ok in blueberry muffins or bread or cobbler but I don’t like to eat them frozen like I do the other berries.

April 18, 2017 By Sherry

Cake/ Dessert

Mini Double Chocolate Berry Cakes

Good things come in small packages.

Good things do come in small packages. If a person with normal cravings is served a large piece of chocolate cake what do you think they would do? Maybe eat the whole thing or eat just a few bites then wish later they had finished the cake. I know I don’t want to go to bed with chocolate regrets knowing that if I had finished that cake I would be completely satisfied.

You can finish this cake and not have any guilt feelings about eating too much even though you cleaned your plate because this is a tiny 4-5 bite serving.

Just how many chocolate things do I like? Well, I have to start with Tootsie Rolls, then chocolate covered strawberries, chocolate chip cookies, chocolate cake, Milk Duds in my movie popcorn, chocolate pot de creme, York Peppermint Patties (one of my favorites), chocolate cheesecake, chocolate bread; you name it if it is chocolate I’m going to like it.

April 6, 2017 By Sherry

Cookies/ Dessert

Linzer Heart Cookies

Sweets for your sweetie.

Don’t you just love Valentine’s Day. For some it is a good excuse to go out to dinner or to give someone special a gift, some red roses, or box of candy. For me it is a challenge to cook a new recipe and come up with a very nice dessert.

Back in the day when schools allowed parties for all occasions plus birthday parties, there were room moms just waiting to sign up to bring homemade treats. Valentine’s Day was my favorite holiday when I was a kid and when I volunteered as a room mom for my kids.

In our younger years we (seem to always refer to myself as “we” since I have a twin sister) made valentine boxes to put our valentines in that we would be getting from fellow classmates. I particularly remember one year my mother helping me make ruffles of pink and red crepe paper to glue to my shoe box with a hole cut in the top. I’m sure for the party we had red punch, lots of candy and there were always cupcakes and more than likely we were all wired from all the sugar before we got home; but guess what, we survived.

February 5, 2017 By Sherry

Cookies/Bars/ Dessert

Pumpkin Biscotti with Chocolate and Pumpkin Seeds

Pumpkin and Chocolate were made for each other.

Don’t you just love Thanksgiving and all the special dishes that you, your mother, or even your grandmother make each year.

We all have our favorites. Just give me turkey, dressing, giblet gravy, and cranberry sauce (even the canned variety will satisfy me) and I’m good.

My friend Peggy has to make her husbands favorite cranberry salad every year or he would be boycotting dinner. My friend Linda has to do turkey whether they are at home or at a campsite and they spent Thanksgiving one year camping in freezing temperatures. And, my friend Janet reminded me of one of my favorites which I always forget — pimento cheese stuffed celery.

I’m not a fan of pumpkin pie but I love my Chocolate Pumpkin Muffins or my Pumpkin Bread Pudding and if you are looking for a breakfast treat over the Thanksgiving holidays, please try my pumpkin biscotti.

November 19, 2016 By Sherry

Candy/ Dessert

Honeycomb Shards

Shards of sweetness.

What’s your favorite type of candy? Is it chocolate, (or not), chewy, sour, salty, or hard? If it’s called candy I like it.

My mother always made the best pecan brittle and I remember watching her make it during the holidays. She would roast the pecans that she had picked up out of our yard, cook the sugar mixture until it was just the right temperature and then throw in some baking soda. That was my favorite part; I loved seeing it foam up and almost spill over the pan right before she would pour it up onto a buttered cookie sheet to cool and then be broken into pieces for either us to eat or go to a friend in need of some sweets.

Some recipes call this candy toffee, sponge toffee or cinder toffee; whatever you call it I think you will enjoy the amazing taste from this quick to make confection. I’m not really sure how it differs from a brittle but it isn’t nearly as hard to eat. My first attempt was using light corn syrup but then I wanted to try a recipe using honey. I couldn’t really tell the difference and in my third batch I used 2 tablespoons of syrup and the rest of the 1/2 cup filled with honey.

However you decide to make this, dip a few pieces in chocolate and sprinkle with a little flaked sea salt. My first attempt which was wonderful was from Buzzfeed but I chose to try A Cozy Kitchen’s version for the blog.

October 30, 2016 By Sherry

Cookies/Bars/ Dessert

Chocolate Espresso Pizzelles

Out with the old, in with the new.

A person who likes to bake and cook can never have too many pans or utensils, can they? Maybe I don’t need three pans to make chocolate bouchons which are chocolate “cork” shaped cakes made by Thomas Keller; at the time I bought these molds I worked at Williams Sonoma and was catering and if I were to make these 12 would not have been enough, I needed at least 36 at a time. So is the story behind most of my pans like my 24 tiny 1″ x 2″ bread pans; and they are the cutest little loaves of bread you have ever eaten.

So, what is one to do when they are faced with a lifetime of cooking equipment when trying to clean out a kitchen to have it painted. Well, you go through one thing at a time and say “do I really need that” and 98% of the time my answer was yes and “this is so cute, I will use it sometime”.

I bought my first krumkake iron (or pizzelle) over 25 years ago and it was the kind that you put on top of burner, added the batter, shut the lid, cooked a few seconds, flipped and hoped that it did not burn before making a crisp delicious disk that you could form into a cone or cannoli shell.

Well, when I put my hands on my old krumkake iron I decided that it was time to replace and update the gadget/pan because perhaps I might want to make sone cones or pizzelles. I had bought my daughter-in-law, Missy, an electric pizzelle maker while we were in Chicago as few months ago and we made the Chocolate Tacos.

October 25, 2016 By Sherry

Dessert/ Ice Cream

Peachy Pistachio Ice Cream

Summer may be over but never wrong season for some homemade ice cream.

They said that the first day of Fall was September 22. Not here in Texas. It’s still pretty hot outside and when it’s hot, I want to make some ice cream.

I ran across some good peaches at Trader Joe’s a few weeks ago and just had to make a couple of jars of peach preserves and with the peaches that didn’t get go into the preserves I made this peachy pistachio ice cream and it did its job and cooled us down on a hot summer night when we had some friends over for some rotisserie chicken. With this chicken I made my Salad Luke and some sautéed green beans.

Don’t you just love fresh peaches when they are in season and meet your expectations when you bite into one. Nothing is worst than to pick a peach and have it feel good, smell good only to be kind of tasteless when you eat the thing. My grandmother use to make fried peach pies but used dried peaches that she would cook and put into a homemade crust then lightly fry them in a skillet. Boy, were they ever good.

September 30, 2016 By Sherry

Dessert/ Pies/Tarts

Tropical Rum Cream Pie

A smooth and creamy pie with colorful fruits.

How is it possible to have a recipe that I have forgotten for 30 years. Years ago my sister and I put together a cookbook of our favorite recipes and then a few years later we did another one (Two Peas In A Pod). This recipe for Rum Pie was in our first book that we called “Double Delight” (after all we are twins, so a fitting name.)

Recently I was looking through one of our book for a particular recipe we both use to cook and decided to revisit our dessert section and when I saw this recipe I thought “ohhh, I forgot all about you” and how creamy and rummy you tasted; and how good you would be with some beautiful tropical fruits.

We eat a lot of fruit and I’m always looking for different ones to try but always go back to my favorites which are raspberries, kiwi, pineapple, and mango just because the colors are so beautiful together. My first though on what fruits to garnish this pie with was to use tropical fruits but when I looked up the list of tropicals, raspberries didn’t show up and after making that salsa to go with my Spicy Tuna Bowl that had passion fruit and pepino melon (it was good) I didn’t want to go out on a limb again and try a “new” fruit. Some of those tropical fruits, in my opinion, have soft mushy taste that I don’t care for. Ya can’t go wrong with anything with raspberries, mango, pineapple and kiwi.

August 16, 2016 By Sherry

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