Desserts
A thief in the kitchen – Mini vanilla polenta cake with rum roasted peach
Sep 3rd
Un voleur dans la cuisine – Mini gâteaux de polenta à la vanille et pêches rôties au rhum
Who said that polenta only needs to be eaten in savory dishes? I was so excited about this dessert, that I have been thinking about it for days. Let’s also enjoy the peaches while they last, soon they’ll no longer be available. I cannot believe it’s already September.
In France, we have some semolina based desserts like this one (gâteau à la semoule) that the kids usually love (well adults too). So I somehow decided to play with polenta. You need a medium to fine grind. I don’t like to use the coarse kind that much. This polenta has such a fragrant vanilla and milky flavor, I could not stop eating it from the pot. The peach is roasted in honey and rum, which makes every bits a real delight. If you combine on your spoon some polenta cake, peach, mascarpone and run sauce, you might end up being addicted to it.
The peaches need to be ripe but still firm so they don’t overcook quickly while in the oven.
While I was playing with my dessert, I got caught on the phone for a short time, I did not realized that someone was stealing my crumbs. My dog Enzo is as obsessed with food as I am. Of course, a dog being a dog, his obsessions limit themselves too eating food rather than preparing it. I think if I were a dog, I would be just like him. While distracted on the phone, I did not see Enzo, open the kitchen cabinet, and steel the breadcrumbs jar. He opened the lid, left the lid laying on the kitchen floor, took the bread crumbs jar in “his room”, spreading the crumbs on the rug before eating them, and of destroying the jar in pieces. Then after his fight with the crumbs, he hid underneath the bed to hide, knowing he was in trouble.
When I saw his moustache I could not stop laughing, schnauzers have funky moustaches that get easily dirty.
Ingredients for 4
For the polenta cakes
- 200 ml milk
- 30 g heavy cream
- 1 vanilla bean cut lengthwise and beans scraped
- 100 g sugar
- 65 g polenta
- 2 tbs golden raisins
- 8 dried apricots, unsweetened and cut in small pieces
- 3 tbs rum
For the roasted peaches
- 2 large yellow peaches, peeled and cut in half and seed removed
- 1 tbs honey
- 2 tbs brown sugar
- 1 tbs sliced almonds, toasted
- 4 tbs mascarpone
Preparation
For the polenta cakes
In a pot, combine milk and cream, sugar and vanilla bean. Bring to a boil. Add polenta gradually while stirring. Keep stirring for about 20 minutes (you can also use express polenta). Add extra milk if the polenta gets too thick. Add raisins and apricots pieces. Mix well. Spread in a flat surface keeping the thickness to about 2 cm. Let it cool. Using cookie cutters, or rinds, cut 4 circles.
For the roasted peaches
Grease a baking dish with butter. Place peaches halves (flat part down). sprinkle with sugar and honey and cook in a pre-heated oven at 400F for about 15 minutes, then turn the peaches on the other side. Let them cook for another 10 minutes, then deglaze with rum (the soaking rum). Put peaches back in the oven for 5 minutes. Remove from the oven let them cool a little.
Place one polenta cake in a plate. Add half peach on top. Add mascarpone on the side and sprinkle with rum sauce.
Goodbye San Francisco – Crostata with blueberries and yogurt cream
Aug 15th
Arrivederci San Francisco – crostata ai mirtilli con crema allo yogurt
It’s time to take a little time off and go where the sun is always happy and shining, not the Caribbeans but Baja Mexico. California has been under a horrendous weather, it’s so cold that the heat is back in the house, I am back wearing winter clothes such as thick ski jacket and woolen sweaters. So for a little while, I might not be posting recipes but maybe Mexican beaches and sunset.
Now, I have to find my bikini since the last time I wore it was two years ago. Swim suits are not my favorite things to wear, I always feel the bikini is too small, if I move to fast, the strings will untie. Not being the typical French woman who goes topless on the beach, I get a little paranoid about my top or bottom failing on me. Last time I was in the South of France, no one seemed to worry about the swim suit strings! Vive le topless!
I wanted to celebrate this so needed vacation by making my mom signature sweet. She makes this pie at least once a week since the number of guests stopping by the house is ridiculous, so there is always something sweet to nibble on. Her recipe comes with a jam topping mixed with sliced almonds.
I added almond flour to the crust to give it a nutty after taste. Crostate are typical Italian “tarts”. In Italy, they call the crust: pasta frolla, whereas in France, it’s called pâte brisée but the process is similar.
This crust is not a pasta frolla, my mom always use baking powder in her crust and she melted the butter instead of incorporating it cold and by pieces. This pie tastes more like a cake, and is lighter than a traditional crostata with pasta frolla, since the quantity of butter is less. I flavored it with lemon zest to give a little kick. Overall, I was somehow faithful to her recipe but you don’t always have to be faithful in the kitchen!
Bye bye grey sky, cannot wait to leave you…
Ingredients for 6
For the crostata
- 4.9 oz (or 140 g) flour
- 2.82 oz (or 80 g) almond flour
- 2.46 oz (or 70 g) sugar + 1 tsp
- 2.46 oz (or 70 g) butter, melted
- 2 eggs
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- zest of 1 1/2 lemon
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1 cup blueberries
For the yogurt cream
- 6 tbs plain Greek yogurt
- 6 tbs heavy cream, whipped
- zest of 1 lemon for decoration
Preparation
In a mixing container, mix flours together. Add sugar, eggs, vanilla extract, melted butter, lemon zest and baking powder. Start mixing all ingredients together, adjusting with flour if the dough is too sticky. For a small homogeneous ball. Butter a non stick mold (about 20 cm diameter) and using your hands spread 2/3 of the dough regularly on the surface of the mold.
Place blueberries on top of the dough leaving one inch around the edges. Using your hands, push carefully blueberries in the dough. Using the leftover dough, start rolling it forming a little rope like you would when making gnocchi. That rope should be about 2/3 inch thick. Place rope across crostata forming a cross shape. Using same process, form another rope and place around the edges of the crostata.
Cook in a pre-heated oven at 365-370F for about 30 minutes, until the crostata is slightly golden. Do not overcook or the crostata will be too hard. The crust has the texture of a cake and should not be too crunchy, it needs to remain soft and moist. Sprinkle with powdered sugar and serve at room temperature.
For the yogurt cream
Whip heavy cream and mix carefully with yogurt. Top one slice of crostata with the cream-yogurt mixture and sprinkle with lemon zest.
Peach folie – Peach-mint soup and peach-rosemary bouchées
Jul 7th
Folie de pêches – Soupe pêches-menthe et bouchées pêches-romarin
This is only for those days you have a lot of peaches in your kitchen, lots of mint in your garden and a huge desire to eat peaches…berries and peaches are some of the fruits I don’t get tired of eating. When my Greek grocer next door saw me with all those peaches in my basket, he asked me if I was going to kill myself with them. I told him that’s what was probably going to happen…that would be a great way to die, if you ask for my opinion. Death by peaches. As much as I am not a sweet tooth, I adore fruits and fruit-based desserts, they’re refreshing, light, put me in a great mood and energizing me for the day. Alors voilà, encore des pêches!
The peach syrup has been infused with mint and vanilla, then enhanced by a a dollop of yogurt and light touch of cayenne pepper. The bouchées which are really tiny (1.5 inch diameter) look like muffins but they’re really not, have a subtle rosemary flavor, since the peaches have been caramelized in a butter, honey and fresh rosemary blend. This makes a light and refreshing dessert. I served this as a dessert to a dinner and it’s always so pleasant to have a fruity bite when people are no longer hungry. It cleans your palate and the herbal touch tells you: This is the end.
Ingredients for 5-6
For the peach soup
- 2 white peaches, peeled and cut
- 2 yellow peaches, peeled and cut
- 1 vanilla bean, cut lengthwise
- 10 mint leaves
- 2 tbs agave syrup
- 1.2 cups water
- 6 tbs plain yogurt
- 6 pinches cayenne pepper
For 12 rosemary bouchées
- 2 eggs
- 60 g butter, melted (+ a tsp extra)
- 20 g kamut flour
- 30 g chestnut flour
- 20 g white flour
- 3 tbs almond flour
- 40 g agave syrup
- 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1 rosemary sprig, chopped
- 1 tbs honey
- 2 peaches, peeled and diced
Preparation
For the peach soup
Mix water, agave syrup, mint, vanilla beans and bring to a boil for about 5 minutes, then let it cool and infuse the syrup. Drain and set aside. When syrup is cool, place some of it in a blender with peaches and mix into a smooth consistency. Refrigerate for at least one hour. When ready to serve add one 1 tsp of yogurt in the middle and a pinch of cayenne.
For the peach rosemary bouchées
Melt butter in a pan, add honey, then when the mixture turns thick, add peaches. Coat peaches with mixture for about 3 minutes, then add rosemary, cook for an additional 2 minutes, then remove from heat. In a mixing container, beat eggs with butter, agave syrup and the different flours. Add baking powder and mix well. Fill up individual mini molds such as silicon molds with the batter. Add 1/2 tsp of the peach mixture in the middle with some rosemary. Bake in pre-heated oven at 360F for about 20 minutes. Let them cool and serve with peach soup.
The entire Provence in a jar – Lavender yogurt with peach-apricot compote
Jun 16th
Toute la Provence dans un pot – Yaourt à la lavande sur lit de pêche-abricot
Lavender simply evokes Provence. Wherever I go, if I see lavender, that makes me think about the South of France but particularly about Provence, its wonderful lavender fields and cicadas singing. I adore Provence, its picturesque medieval villages, its natural light, wonderful cuisine and friendliness of its inhabitants…but most of all, the delicious sensation of the Provencal sun caressing your skin with a light breeze, making it pure heaven. I think that’s one thing I really miss about Mediterranean climate, being able to dress lightly until midnight without wearing any sweater sipping a Pastis…that is true happiness.
Does anyone know where the last picture has been shot? It’s a famous city in the South of France…
So to celebrate Provence, I wanted to make something combining summer and Southern fruits like peaches, apricots and lavender flavor; and this delightful yogurt has all of it in one bite.
Homemade yogurt can be made in many different ways, in a pressure cooker, in the oven, and of course in a yogurt maker, like I do. Well, it’s the easiest way to make them and the only way I know not to fail them, so why take the complicated route when you can take the easy one? There is definitely nothing better than homemade yogurts, nothing to compare with store bought yogurts, they can be creamy, thicker, depending on the time you leave them to incubate, and the amount of powdered milk you use. I have been substituting powder milk with evaporated milk and it works quite well.
Ingredients for 8 yogurts
- 4 cups milk
- 1 plain yogurt or 1 bag of lactic ferments
- 6 tbs evaporated milk
- 2 tbs unsweetened condensed milk
- 3 yellow well ripe peaches, peeled and cut in pieces
- 2 apricots, cut in pieces
- 2 tbs sugar + 2 for the milk
- 2 tbs lavender
Preparation
In a pan combine peaches, apricots and sugar and cook to obtain a thick mixture. Remove from heat and let it cool.
Boil milk with lavender, then remove from heat and let it cool to less than 45C. Drain to remove lavender flowers.
In a mixing container, mix yogurt with condensed milk, evaporated milk and sugar. Add gradually milk.
Divide the fruit compote in each jar, then pour carefully milk mixture. Place yogurt in yogurt maker and let it incubate for about 8 hours. Remove from yogurt maker, place lids on and place in the refrigerator for about 3 hours.
So did you find out where this is?
The palet Breton got dressed up – Pistachio palet breton dressed with mascarpone cream, raspberries and raspberry coulis
Jun 12th
Le palet breton s’est habillé – Palet breton à la pistache garni de crème au mascarpone, framboises, et coulis de framboises
Some days are a little more morose than others, and lately my mood has been affected by many things and partly by the San Francisco weather…I hate to talk about weather changes, because I think it is a little annoying to hear, and it sounds like “old bored people’s” discussions and if I look at last year posts around this time of year, it was the same thing…the fog rolling in. Everyone talks about the weather in this city because it changes so fast and every district or neighborhood has its own micro climate…and honestly when buying a house in the city you want to make sure you are not in a “fogged in” area, if you do, you better love wearing ski jackets in June. So when it rains, or you need a little quick fix to cheer you up, make palets, they’re easy to make and so delicious!
You might not be familiar with France and its beautiful and picturesque rainy North Western region : la Bretagne (Brittany), they have amazing seafood specialties and many others like this palet breton.
Palet breton is a dry cookie made with a pâte sablée and demi-sel butter. Brittay is famous for galettes bretonnes, palets and other buttery cookies (and crêpes of course). You can find so many brands of those delicious cookies in the supermarkets, so being far away from French supermarkets, I figured I better learn how to make them if I ever want to eat some.
Usually palet breton is about 1.5 com thick, so a little thicker than the ones I made. As any “dry cookie” they’re delicious and very enjoyable with a tea or coffee, or as a little snack. This time, I wanted to “dress them up”, turn them into a little bite as a dessert…and add some extra crunch to it, by adding pistachios. if you don’t have butter demi-sel, use regular butter and add fleur de sel.
Ingredients for about 18 palets
for the palets
- 7 oz (or 200 g) flour
- 3.52 oz (or 100 g) butter demi-sel, cubed
- 2.82 oz (or 80 g) sugar
- 2 yolks
- 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 2.11 oz (or 60 g raw pistachios, roughly chopped
for the mascarpone cream
- 7 tbs mascarpone
- 7 tbs fromage blanc
- sugar to taste
for the raspberry coulis
- 14 oz (or 400 g) raspberries
- 5.29 oz (or 150 g sugar) or more if the raspberries are not very sweet
- 1 tsp lemon juice
Preparation
In a mixing container, mix flour and baking powder. Add butter and mix carefully from the tips of your fingers incorporating it to the flour mixture. Separately mix yolks with sugar and vanilla extract and add to the flour. Form a uniform ball. Spread with a rolling pin in a 1.5 cm sheet. Cut with a small cookie cutter or glass (the cookies are usually thick and small, about 5 cm diameter). Bake in a parchment paper or silpat for about 15 min at 360F. Let them cool.
For the mascarpone cream, just combine all ingredients together.
For the coulis, combine all ingredients in a blender. Filter coulis through a sieve to remove the seeds.
Place a generous amount of mascarpone cream on top of a palet. Add raspberries and top it with coulis and chopped pistachios.
For pineapple lovers – Coconut-pineapple yogurt bouchées with pineapple-rum compote
May 28th
Très ananas pour les fans d’ananas – Bouchées à l’ananas et noix de coco, compote d’ananas et rhum
These last couple of days have been a little on the chaotic side, driving to one side of town to see my doctor, then rushing to the other part of town for a court appearance for a ticket that I thought was so unjustified. It seems like the city of San Francisco needs money, and the police is distributing tickets left and right. I will not contest a ticket for something I did wrong but when it’s not justified, I feel I need to explain myself. Maybe the libra in me who is always looking for justice and balance. Anyway I had never been to court before and that was a strange experience. We were greeted by a Police officer who instructed us to be silent or we would been thrown out of the room. That type of order and authority petrifies me, so I was sitting still without even moving a finger and barely blinking.
Basically after my entertaining day in court, I had very little time to do anything…
I’ve had a pineapple and a whole coconut sitting in the kitchen, screaming for attention…I love those two they’re inseparable, so having a stock of Greek yogurt in addition to this, there was no other option that using everything in a traditional French yogurt cake. The base of the cake had been modified quite a bit, adding chestnut flour (which is one of my favorites flour for baking, it has a delightful sweet nutty flavor). Yogurt cake is to the French as maybe cupcake is to Americans…we learn how to bake it while in school as early as 10 years old. This recipe is not a traditional gâteau au yaourt, It’s been twisted around and is more of a cousin, I have a traditional recipe for gâteau au yaourt here.
I made a pineapple sauce with coconut to be served chilled on the side and complement these little cakes very well, so if you like pineapple, you will love those ones. The yogurt makes the cake very moist and gives that particular lactic after taste that I love.
Ingredients for about 14 individual cakes (or one large)
- 3 eggs
- 6.34 oz (or 180 g) sugar
- 7 oz (or 200 g, or about 4 large tsp) Fage Greek yogurt
- 4 tbs coconut oil melted
- 1 cup flour
- 4 tsp chestnut flour
- 3.5 oz (or 100 g) fresh coconut, grated
- 1/2 fresh pineapple (1/4 diced and 1/4 crushed)
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1 tsp baking powder
For the pineapple-coconut sauce
- 1/4 pineapple
- 3 tbs coconut milk
- 1 tsp rum
- 2 tsp agave nectar
Preparation
For the cakes
In a mixing container, beat eggs with sugar. Add yogurt, keep mixing, then add oil.
Add flours and mix well to obtain a smooth consistency. Add vanilla extract, baking powder and baking soda.
Add coconut and diced pineapple carefully blending everything together.
Pour batter in individual molds and cook in a pre-heated oven at 365-379F for about 30 minutes or until cooked all the way through.
Let it cool and remove from molds, preferably silicon molds.
For the sauce
Blend all ingredients in a mixer and refrigerate.
The cat lost its tongue – Grilled apricots with goat milk yogurt, figs, cardamom, honey and “langues de chat”
May 18th
Le chat a perdu sa langue – Abricots grillés au yaourt de chêvre, cardamome, figues, miel et langues de chat
One of the best meals I have ever had was in Biarritz, for those who have traveled to France and who went to Pays Basque, must know Biarritz. It’s located in the Southern part of France on the Atlantic coast, close to the Spanish border. I remember this rustic restaurant that looked more like a chic cabin with dark wood decor and an amazing menu. The dessert I ordered was quite simple, just the way I like it. It was a long glass filled with a sheep milk yogurt type of mixture, a cherry compote and topped with honey but it was so good that I still vividly remember at this time the sensation of pleasure I got at the first spoonful.
In the Basque region, you can find wonderful cheeses made with sheep milk since the Pyrénées Mountains are close by, where lots of sheeps are raised.
It’s been a while, I felt like having this particular combination of grilled fruit and goat milk yogurt. I adore grilled fruits, the grilling makes the flavors and sweetness stand out but I find sheep milk yogurt to be stronger and goat yogurt suits my taste buds better. This can be a snack, a dessert or something you make anytime because you have some cravings.
After seeing some beautiful juicy and sweet apricots at my Greek barn, next door, I decided that apricots were part of the game…Summer fruits are out, maybe not at their best quality yet, since it’s still the beginning of the season but Mr. Greek grocer found delicious and sweet ones. He picks himself his fruits and vegetables and gets up at 2am to go to the market, so he always get gorgeous produce.
Langues de chat is literally translated into Cat’s tongues, just because those flat cookies do have that long shape resembling a tiny tongue. They’re usually longer and narrower than the ones I have made.
Their origin is traced back to the XVII century, and their deliciousness kept their popularity through the times. They’re traditional French cookies, and very easy to make, you cannot fail making langue de chat, I promise. Even the beginner bakers will make great langues de chat.
Ingredients for 2
- 3 apricots
- 1 goat milk yogurt
- 2 tbs lavender honey
- 2 figs
- cardamom powder
- 1 tbs pistachios, chopped
For the langues de chat
- 2.64 oz (or 75 g) butter
- 3 egg whites
- 3.52 oz (or 100 g) flour
- 3.52 oz (or 100 g) powder sugar
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
Preparation
For the langues de chat
Take the butter out of the refrigerator to room temperature about 30 minutes before using it. In a mixing container, mix butter and sugar together, add vanilla extract. Beat the white slightly (don’t whip them), and add to the butter/sugar mixture. Add flour and mix again.
Using a piping bag (douille) lay a small amount of batter on a silicon sheet (silpat) or parchment paper. Leave some space in between each cookie, they tend to spread when cooking. Cook in a pre-heated oven at 355-360F for about 10-15 minutes until the langues de chat are slightly golden from the sides. Let them cool and set aside.
Grill apricot halves in a grill pan or grid, on each side. Sprinkle some honey on top. Mix cardamom with yogurt.
In a bowl, place 3 apricots halves in the bottom. Add yogurt, top it off with remaining honey, figs and pistachios. Serve with 2 or 3 langues de chat.
Tart for those who don't like desserts – Tart-brioche with coconut, fromage blanc and pineapple
Apr 29th
La tarte pour ceux qui n’aiment pas les desserts – Tarte briochée à la noix de coco, fromage blanc et ananas
My good friend Ute came for dinner, she is German, I am Franco-Italian and we have exactly the same tastes, likes and dislikes as far as food and cuisine is concerned. We love the same flavors and dishes so it’s really a pleasure to cook for her, I don’t have to think for days about the menu. We both don’t like sweets too much but agree that a meal needs to end by a dessert, so I had to come up with something that would be filed in the dessert category without being too sweet.
When planning a dinner for picky people which becomes more of a headache than a real pleasure, it’s a sign that your guests are food un-educated, which is not the case for Ute and she is definitely my favorite guest to have around. Voilà, j’ai trouvé mon dessert! et en plus c’est léger!
Originally were supposed to try a new restaurant called George known for its seafood specialty dishes, then the rain started to pour and even though je ne suis pas en sucre as we say in French (I am not made out of sugar therefore will not melt), we decided to not go out…because after all I might melt, well the mascara will since the wind broke all my umbrellas.
For those who are not much of a sweet tooth and who like light desserts, this one is really for them. I loved it even better the day after while it was chilled. No heavy frosting, not a lot of sugar, just natural, fresh flavors due to the fresh pineapple and coconut milk.
I love to use fromage blanc in this dessert, but hard to find in the US, so I mainly substitute Fage Greek yogurt in any recipe requiring fromage blanc, either the 2% or the regular and it works perfectly. I used brioche as the “crust” instead of a regular pâte brisée or pate sucrée which resulted in a moist and semi-soft texture crust which also absorbed the coconut/fromage blanc mixture. You can serve it with some vanilla ice cream if you want, but I kept it “light”.
You can use individual deep molds or a large one, I prefer individual portions, it feel like everyone gets a whole full dessert and is a controlled portion.
Ingredients for 6
- 6 slices of brioche (or enough to cover one large dish)
- 250 ml coconut milk
- 400 g Fage Greek yogurt
- 60 g sugar
- 60 g coconut, shredded
- 1 egg
- 1 tbs golden raisins (soaked in rum)
- 6 slices pineapple (core removed)
Preparation
Cover the bottom of the molds with brioche ensuring there is no space in between each slice of brioche.
In a pan, heat coconut milk and reduce a little. Remove from heat, add fromage blanc, egg and sugar. Mix well. Add coconut flakes. Mix all ingredients to obtain a smooth texture.
Pour on top of brioche. Add pineapple slices and sprinkle with raisins.
Cook in a pre-heated oven at 370F for about 30-40 minutes, until the mixture has thickened. Remove from the oven, let it cool. Sprinkle with powdered sugar. Eat at room temperature or chilled.
A less famous polenta – Sweet polenta cake with strawberry-rhubarb compote
Apr 19th
Una polenta sconosciuta – Polenta dolce con salsa alle fragole e rabarbaro
Sometimes I like to feature recipes that did not travel too far, like this one. I went for dinner at a Basque restaurant in San Francisco a few nights ago and one of the dessert item was “gâteau de maïs à la compote de fraises“, cornmeal cake with strawberry compote. Then I realized that there is an Northern Italian cake that sounds just like this one, but I decided to skip dessert since I had a filling appetizer and entrée. I will have to go back and check out the Basque version now!
Everyone knows savory polenta, but there is another sweet version that a few people know, la polenta dolce. Well, if polenta dolce (sweet polenta) is a less famous way of preparing polenta, it is certainly not less delicious. In Lombardia (Milan, Brescia and Monza are the biggest cities) dessert based polenta are not that rare, and this recipe is a typical Lombard dessert and a good member of gastronomia Lombarda. It makes sense, since those regions produce a lot of polenta, when you drive through this area, you see so many corn fields, it’s so obvious that the production and consumption of polenta is high in these areas.
I made a few changes to the proportions but the ingredients are what they’re supposed to be. A good friend of mine from Milan used to eat soft polenta cooked in milk with raisins and sugar and my mom would look at this with a suspicious eye, thinking those people from the North eat funny things. Many Northern regions such as Friuli, Venezia, Piemonte do have their own versions of Polenta dolce and some other polenta-based desserts, but I somehow like this version with almond powder (or flour) and marsala, but if you like cherries, you can also use maraschino which is a Venetian liquor made with cherries (and also available in the US).
You can serve it with any accompaniment you like, I love strawerries and rhubarb compote so much that I can eat it with anything, yogurt, ice cream, cakes, etc…and with this polenta cake it works perfectly. These polenta cakes are delicious, and can be eaten for breakfast as well, they’re not very sweet nor greasy and very hearty.
Ingredients for 6 individual cakes
- 2.11 oz (or 60 g) butter
- 3 eggs
- 2.46 oz (or 70 g) sugar
- 2. 46 oz (or 70 g) white flour
- 3.14 oz (or 90 g) yellow polenta
- 1.76 oz (or 50 g) almond flour (or almond meal)
- 3 tbs marsala or maraschino
- 1 tsp vanilla extract or vanilla powder
- 1 tsp baking powder
Strawberry-rhubarb compote – see recipe here
Preparation
Melt butter and in a mixing container combine with sugar. Mix well with an egg beater. Add eggs and mix well for about 10 minutes. Add the rest of the flours carefully, and vanilla, marsala (or maraschino) and baking soda.
Divide in 6 individual molds or a large one. Cook for about 30 minutes in a 370F pre-heated oven.
Let it cool and serve with a berry or fruit compote.
Either way, it's good – Chocolate pot de crème or panna cotta?
Apr 15th
Quoi qu’il en soit, c’est bon – Pot de crème au chocolat ou panna cotta?
Again it’s that time of the year…allergy season. Stuffy nose, runny eyes, and non stop sneezing, at least it’s a sign that warms days are ahead…of course a little energy for cooking related activities especially with the anti histamine pills that make me feel like my head is a giant pumpkin and weight 300 lb. So when you are in that type of mood and need to cook for a dinner, you’ll have to somehow find a menu that does not require too much standing, nor being too focus on too many details. Alors voilà, this is the last course of the menu, a very easy dessert for a chocolate tooth.
Sometimes it’s difficult to differentiate between two similar dishes, those pots de crème have the consistency of pot de crème but have the ingredients of a panna cotta. Panna cotta has no eggs in its mixture unlike pot de crème. Basically panna cotta gets its thickness due to the gelatin sheets or agar agar whereas pot de crème use eggs as thickening agent. So let’s say pot de crème are heavier and creamier therefore cannot be served upside down like panna cotta would thanks to the gelatin. Panna cotta is served with some sort of fruit coulis or flavored crème anglaise and pots de crème are served with whipped cream (as if there is not enough in the mixture!!). I see panna cotta the Italian version of the French pot de crème and I don’t think I have a preference, donc il n’y a pas de jaloux! (no one is jealous).
Ingredients for 7-8 people
- 5.29 oz (or 150 g) semi sweet chocolate
- 1 pint heavy cream
- 10. 14 fl oz (or 300 ml) low fat milk
- 2.46 oz (or 70 g) sugar
- 2 tbs vanilla extract
- 0.35 oz (10 g) agar agar or gelatin sheets
Preparation
Soak gelatin sheets or dissolve agar agar in water.
In a pot, mix milk, cream and sugar, then add chopped chocolate if using chocolate bars or you can also use chocolate chips. Bring the mixture to a boil allowing the chocolate to melt slowly. Let it boil for a few minutes, at that point, the chocolate will be melted.
Remove from heat and add gelatin sheets (or agar agar) and stir well to let the gelatin dissolve completely in the mixture. Add vanilla extract.
Humidify small cups or ramequins. Pour the chocolate mixture, let it cool and refrigerate for at least 4 hours.
