Pear Cranberry Crisp

A couple of years ago, Hubby and I took a trip to France. We ate drank and were merry and brought back some fun in alcohol form to share with our families. My parents were on the receiving end of a bottle of armagnac and some Creme de Caramel a la Fleur de Sel (sea salt creamy caramel liqueur).

A wedding, a house, a pregnancy later and those bottles still hadn't been opened as my parents were waiting to share them with us. I had not been able to consume any during my pregnancy so we waited.

Well recently, we had another reason to celebrate. I discovered that I have an older brother. It's kind of a long story, but essentially he is my father's son from a relationship before he met my mom. Our whole family has embraced this new family member and his lovely wife, and when we all got together for a meal recently we cracked open the bottles from France.

The Creme de Caramel was well received and everyone agreed that it would be worth the airfare to France to fetch another bottle. The armagnac however, did not get such rave reviews.

Maybe we just weren't drinking it right (I later read that you should use champagne flutes and merely sip it), but it was a potent drink without the smoothness of cognac that we have grown to love. I guess the "if you just down it, it's not so bad" theory bantered about by a few at the table was not the ideal solution.

So my dad insisted that we take the bottle of armagnac home, which we did. And I decided I would use it cooking, because although it was strong stuff, it did have some nice rich tones.

Then, luck had it, the book by fellow blogger David Lebovitz (and I use the term 'fellow' loosely, as I aspire to be in the same league as him someday), Ready for Dessert was on the shelf of my local library.

I took it home and spent some serious time ogglingtaking in all the photos that could send your diabetes skyrocketing with one glance. For someone with a serious sweet tooth, this book is a little slice of heaven.

I had some delicious bartlett pears sitting around, since they are in season, and decided to start out with something easy.

This pear crisp was great using an olive-oil, transfat free margarine (but if David asks, you didn't hear that from me!), although I'm sure if made as recommended with butter, it could be even better.

Anyhow, the recipe calls to soak the dried fruit in grappa. I substituted armagnac and was not sorry!

Enjoy!

Pear Cranberry Crisp

Fruit filling

3/4 cup dried cranberries

3 tbsp armagnac

8 medium pears

1/3 cup granulated sugar

2 tsp vanilla extract

Topping

3/4 cup all purpose flour

1/2 cup of chopped pecans

1/2 cup brown sugar

2/3 cup cornmeal

1 tsp ground cinnamon

1/2 cup good quality margarine (canola oil/olive oil blend) or butter

Place cranberries in a cup with the armagnac and let the fruit soak up the liquor for at least 1/2 hour. 

Peel, core and cube the pears. Place in an 9 x9 inch square baking dish. Mix in granulated sugar, vanilla and soaked cranberries and armagnac.

In a bowl, mix together flour, brown sugar, chopped pecans, cinnamon and cornmeal.

Add in the margarine and combine to make a coarse meal.

Spread evenly over fruit mixture and bake at 350F for 45 to 50 min until top is bubbling and a deep golden brown.

Recipe adapted from Ready for Dessert by David Lebovitz.

Recipe notes: In the book, the recipe calls to blend the topping ingredients in a food processor before adding chilled butter.

Ontario's best, in one cake!

Blueberries are pure nostalgia for me. Having grown up in a small town on the outskirts of a small Northern Ontario city, I spent many a summer in the blueberry patch, and nothing tastes like summer like blueberry pancakes, or one of my ultimate favourites blueberry upside-down cake.

If you're a regular reader of my blog, you'll notice I have an obesssion with affinity for upside-down cakes, from apple to pineapple to rhubarb and blueberry, I think they’re a great way to showcase a fruit (although I’m not sure that rhubarb can be considered a fruit). They let the flavour of the fruit shine through and offer up a moist crumby companion to soak up the juices.

This recipe was adapted from the wonderful Earth to Table recipe book. I tried it at first with just blueberries, but then was struck with inspiration when our local peaches starting hitting the markets. Bettina Schormann the pastry chef half behind this tasty tome serves up the cake with some crème fraiche. I whisked a little maple syrup into some yogurt for a lighter accompaniment.

I also added in a little lemon zest into the recipe which is decadently buttery. Blueberries and lemon go exceptionally well together, so I figured why not. The little bit of tartness helps cut through the richness of the cake, so well.

This cake can be made in a 10 inch cast-iron skillet, or any other 10 inch cake pan that is at 2 ½ inches deep.  If you make it in the skillet, you cut down on dishes, as you can melt the butter and sugar together directly in the skillet before adding the fruit.

The beauty of using the peaches and blueberries is you can use as little or as much of each fruit as you like. If you only have 3 or 4 peaches, you can add more blueberries, they just fill in the spots where there are no peaches.

After trying it this way, I would likely do more peaches and less blueberries next time for a more visually striking cake, since the berries bleed quite a bit, and stain the peaches. To skin your peaches, make a shallow X with a knife at the opposite end of the stem, blanch in boiling water for 2 minutes or until skin loosens slightly. Immediately submerge in ice cold water, and the skins will slide right off.

Also, the key to this kind of cake is to have your ingredients at room temperature. Butter and eggs should be room temp before attempting this cake, or it will not rise properly. The butter and sugar must cream together well and create a light airy mixture before adding in eggs.  

A big thanks to my little brother who picked me a couple of baskets of wild blueberries  to make this possible!

Blueberry Peach Upside-Down Cake

Topping:

¼ cup of unsalted butter

½ cup packed brown sugar (I use dark demerara sugar)

4 peaches, skinned and cut into eighths

2 cups fresh wild blueberries (frozen works too)

Cake

1 ½ cups all purpose flour

1 tbsp baking powder

¾ cup yellow cornmeal.

Zest of one lemon and about 1 tbsp of juice

2 tsp of vanilla extract

1 cup butter  (told ya it was buttery!)

¾ cup granulated sugar

4 eggs

½ tsp salt

¾ cup yogurt

Preheat oven to 350 F.

For topping

Melt butter and brown sugar together until sugar melts  (do not overcook, or butter will burn, I tell you this from experience!).

Arrange sliced peaches in a decorative fashion, and fill in spaces with blueberries. Set aside.

Cake:

Whip butter with the paddle of an electric mixer until light and airy, add in sugar and continue to beat until fully incorporated. Add in eggs one at a time, beating between each addition.  Add salt, lemon zest and juice, and vanilla and mix well.

In a separate bowl, mix together flour, cornmeal and baking powder, making sure to eliminate any clumps. (Sift if necessary)

Next, add dry ingredients into egg, butter and sugar mixture. Fold in well, Stir in yogurt.

Scoop cake evenly over fruit topping, and spread out to cover pan completely.

Bake for 50 minutes or until topping achieves a deep golden brown look and a toothpick inserted in centre of cake comes out clean.

Run a knife around the edge of pan and invert onto a plate while still warm to ensure fruit loosens from pan.

OK, and since you made it this far, I'll give you another reason to keep coming back... pictures of my beautiful little boy! He's a handful, but when he makes faces like this, well, it's all worth it!



Lemon-Thyme Buttermilk Ice Cream

There's something about lemons that I love in the spring. They have a way of waking up flavours like nothing else.

A couple of years ago for Mother's Day, I tried my hand at fresh thyme and lemon scones, (which incidentally also had buttermilk in them) and they were fabulous.

This Mother's Day, I scaled things back a bit, making only 6 dishes instead of my usual 8 to 10, after all, I am eight months pregnant, and the energy required to grow another human being inside of you is quite high. Needless to say, I'm feeling drained.

So with Mom and Mom-in-law here, we celebrated over a tarragon scented crab and asiago strata, some homemade granola, fruit salad, a tossed green salad and a ricotta and rhubarb tart.

What's that you say? That's only five dishes! Yes, I was forgetful, and left my big experiment, the lemon-thyme buttermilk ice cream in the freezer. Lack of sleep apparently impairs brain function too.

So, instead of serving up the ice cream with the tart as intended, everyone got a little after the meal, and it was a surprisingly light and refreshing palate cleanser.

I can't take complete credit for this recipe. After reading another blog about buttermilk lemonade, an interesting cocktail that I'm not sure I could sell to my mom, I decided it was time to resurrect the lemon-thyme flavour profile with ice cream. Buttermilk has a nice tang that complemented the lemon well, and the thyme is subtle hint in the background.

This is a fabulous pairing with fresh strawberries, which are just about in season here in Toronto. I think I'll be making this again before spring is up!

Lemon-Thyme Buttermilk Ice Cream

6 egg yolks

1 1/2 cups sugar

1 1/2 cups buttermilk

1/3 cup lemon juice

zest of one lemon

1/2 cup light cream

1 tbsp chopped thyme

First start off making a lemon curd-like mixture.

Mix together the egg yolks, light cream, lemon juice, zest and half of the sugar. Stir over a double boiler until mixture thickens slightly. You should be able to draw a line through the back of a wooden spoon coated with the mixture. Add in thyme, and let mixture cool at room temperature for half an hour before refrigerating overnight.

Add buttermilk and remaining sugar to a pot and heat gently just enough to dissolve the sugar. Mixture does not have to be hot, but just coming up to room temperature. Whisk into lemon curd, slowly.

Strain entire mixture through a fine mesh sieve. Put through ice cream maker and process according to manufacturer's instructions.

Refrigerate for several hours before serving. This is more like an ice milk and is very scoopable right out of the freezer!

Save room, there's pie!

What to serve for dessert, when just a plain old pie won't do?

 My family loves pecan pie, and it's become a bit of a tradition at Thanksgiving, since it's far too rich for an everyday dessert. So it's a given that we had pecan pie, but I needed a little variety

I wanted something different, and I've never been great at apple pie, in fact, I've messed up a few. Usually the apples end up undercooked, and the crust a little doughy on the bottom

This time though, I gave myself plenty of time to make sure it was baked through, sliced the apples thinly and to make things more interesting, added a layer of cooked cranberries.

Apple Cranberry Pie

First you cook the cranberries

2 cups cranberries

1/2 cup of pomegranate juice

1/2 cup brown sugar

sprinkle of cinnamon

Simmer until all cranberries are popped and the mixture is thick.

Take some pie dough (enough for a two-crust pie), use your favourite recipe (I personally prefer an all-butter crust). Roll it out to fit the bottom of a 9-inch pie plate, with one inch overhanging.

Then you take some Granny Smith Apples. (If you prefer your pie to be not quite so tart, you could use a Golden Delicious). You'll need about 6 apples.

Peel, core and slice the apples thinly. Thin slices allow the pie to cook through before the crust gets too dark. Squeeze a little fresh lemon juice over the apples to keep them from browning.

Add 1/2 cup brown sugar and 1/2 tsp cinnamon  and 1 tbsp cornstarch to the apples, and stir. Then spoon half the apples into the pie crust, evenly. Then spread the cranberry mixture over the apples. Top with remaining apples and then take about 1 1/2 tbsp of butter and dot the top of the mixture. Following so far?

Next top your pie with the other part of your pie crust, and make sure to make a couple of vent holes.

Fold in the edges, crimp and brush with an egg wash (1 egg and 1 tsp water, beaten).

Bake at 350F for about 40 minutes.

Birthday chaos with a sweet ending: Chocolate Mint Cake

I have a confession to make.

Baking is not my forte. Sure I can bake the occasional treat, scones, cookies, muffins, and of course my specialty is cheesecakes, and lately I've even tackled a few pies (with limited success). But when it comes to fancy elaborate desserts, the Kitchen Vixen quickly becomes the Kitchen Victim. The whole idea of making things according to a scientific process, where the measurements need to be exact, is a skill I have yet to master. I need more patience, and calm. My cooking is chaotic and exciting, but baking needs a more methodical approach that I have yet to develop. The other day while making this cake for my stepson's birthday, I committed the cardinal sin of baking—I didn't read the entire recipe before baking it. So as I prepared the filling and let it cool, I was perplexed as to why the mixture of whipping cream and chocolate wasn't thickening. I couldn't understand it and thought that my measurements must have been off. If I had been cooking, I would just add more of whatever substance would make the mixture thicker, and so following my instincts that's what I did. I threw in some more chocolate and started melting it. Then I read the instructions again, and had to stop. Quickly, I realized that the mixture needed to be whipped to be thickened. I immediately took it off the heat and strained out the solid chocolate. Somehow, the cake gods must have been smiling on me because in the end it all turned out fine. The cake even looked pretty. Not quite as I had imagined, but not far off. So what kind of cake does this boy-cum teenager enjoy? Well I took a guess and went with Mint-Chocolate, due to his affection for the green-tinged icecream of the same persuasion. “You made it?” he asked as he pondered the uncut cake. “From scratch?” I’m glad I didn’t throw in the towel half way through.

Nathaniel's Birthday Cake

Adapted from Triple Chocolate Cake with Chocolate Mint Filling Bon Appetit Dec. 2001

Filling
8 oz imported white chocolate
1/2 cup whipping cream
1 tbsp light corn syrup

4 oz of mini chocolate chips
1/2 tsp peppermint extract

Cake
1 cup all purpose flour
1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
3/4 cup unsalted butter, softened
1 cup sugar
1/3 cup (packed) dark brown sugar
2 tsp vanilla extract
3 large eggs
3/4 cup buttermilk

Chocolate Glaze
4 oz bittersweet or semisweet chocolate, finely chopped

4 oz of milk chocolate, finely chopped
1/2 cup unsalted butter, cut into pieces
1 tbsp light corn syrup
1 tsp peppermint extract

Filling

Melt chocolate with cream and corn syrup over a double boiler, stirring until smooth. Remove from heat, add in peppermint extract and let cool to room temperature. Once cool, pour mixture into stand mixer bowl and whisk until thickened. Stir in mini chocolate chips and refrigerate.

Cake

Prepare two 9” round cake pans. Butter pans; line bottom with a round of parchment paper; butter paper; flour cake pans. Preheat oven at 350 F

Sift together flour, cocoa powder, salt, baking powder and baking soda. Set aside. Put butter into stand mixer bowl and beat until light in colour. Add in both sugars and continue to mix until creamy. Add in vanilla extract and eggs, one at a time, beating between each addition. Add in half of flour mixture and incorporate with half of buttermilk. Repeat with remaining flour and buttermilk.

Pour mixture into prepared pans.

Bake for 20 minutes, or until tester inserted into centre of cake comes out clean.

Cool cakes.

Once cool, place one cake on serving plate. Spread filling over top of cake. Place second cake on top of filling.

Glaze

Melt chocolates over double boiler with butter, corn syrup and peppermint extract.

Let cool slightly, so mixture is slightly less runny, but can still be poured. Pour half of glaze over cake. Spread over top and let drip over sides. Chill for about 15 minutes. Pour remaining glaze over cake, and spread over sides, smoothing chocolate on edges.

Refrigerate until 1 hour before serving.

Vixen’s note:

For those of you who bake a lot and like rich cakes, you may be tempted to add more chocolate to the cake mixture, as I was. I am glad I refrained as the filling and glaze are extremely rich, and the less rich cake was very complimentary.

Happy eating!