Cranachan with Oat and Almond Streusel

Please let me introduce you to one of my newest dessert obsessions...the Cranachan. This Scottish dessert is delectably creamy yet light and luscious.

Cranachans are made with yogurt, whipped cream, honey and whiskey and traditionally host loads of fresh raspberries folded into their creamy middles. However, berries aren’t in season but citrus is at its peak, so my version of the Cranachan includes blood orange and navel orange segments. Thinking back to childhood memories of orange creamsicles, I added a vanilla bean to the mix and the whole thing just sung.



A homemade Oat and Almond Streusel is crumbled on top, giving nice crunch and texture. This dessert is easier than pie to put together and the reward is just delicious.

Citrus Cranachan
2 cups whole milk yogurt (or greek yogurt)
2 cups heavy cream
1 vanilla bean, seeds only (or you can use 2 teaspoons extract)
½ teaspoon lemon zest (optional)
½ cup scotch
2/3 cup honey
pinch of salt
Orange segments, skin and pith removed

Whip the cream with the vanilla, lemon zest and salt until stiff peaks form. Set aside.

In another bowl, whisk together the honey and whisky. Whisk in yogurt until completely smooth.

Fold the whipped cream mixture into the yogurt mixture in three additions. Put into serving dishes and top with orange slices and Oat and Almond Streusel (recipe below).

Oat and Almond Streusel
2 cups rolled oats
1 ½ cups sliced almonds
¼ teaspoon cinnamon
½ teaspoon salt
½ cup honey
½ cup grapeseed oil
1 ½ teaspoons vanilla

Preheat oven to 300 degrees.

Combine the oats, almonds, cinnamon and salt in a medium sized bowl. Set aside.
Combine the honey, grapeseed oil, and vanilla in a bowl. Whisk to combine. Pour the honey mixture over the oat mixture and stir with a silicone spatula to coat. Spread mixture on a sheet tray lined with parchment paper (or sprayed with pan spray) and bake for about 25-30 minutes until golden (stirring mixture after 12 minutes).

Sour Cherry and Raspberry Crumble Bars

Here we are in the middle of January and I am inconveniently craving berries. I need a berry fix...and nothing else will do.


Because we are months away from berry season, baking with frozen berries or a high quality jam is a good compromise. I particularly like making Sour Cherry and Raspberry Crumble Bars. It is an incredibly simple recipe that includes a buttery and tender shortbread crust that is spread with sour cherry jam and dotted with frozen raspberries. Then, more of the dough is crumbled on top so that the beautiful jammy filling is peeking through the golden crumble.


When these bars are baking, the delicious smells that come out of the oven will make you wish air was edible.

Sour Cherry and Raspberry Crumble Bars
1 (10 ounce) jar sour cherry preserves
3/4 cup raspberries (thawed, if frozen)
1 teaspoon lemon juice

1 1/2 cups butter, softened
3/4 cups sugar
2 large egg yolks
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon lemon zest
Pinch of salt
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup rolled oats

Directions
Preheat oven to 350°

Combine preserves, raspberries, and lemon juice in small bowl; mash with fork until combined but some berry pieces remain. Set aside.

Beat butter, sugar, salt and lemon zest in mixer bowl until light in color and fluffy.

Beat in egg yolks (one at a time).

Beat in Vanilla.

Mix in flour, salt and oats until a soft dough forms.

Divide dough in half.

Press one half into 15x10-inch jellyroll pan.

Spread the dough evenly with the fruit mixture.

Scatter the remaining dough on top of the preserve layer (clump dough with hands)

Bake 45 minutes, or until golden brown.

Cut into bars.

Poppy Seed Roll

Poppy Seed Rolls remind me of my Mom, who I'm missing a lot after a nice holiday visit. Since she's on my mind, I decided to bring the glory of the Poppy Seed Roll to this sweet little blog space.


My Mom’s stories of the delicious Poppy Seed Rolls she ate as a child are missing just one thing: my Grandmother’s recipe. This is obviously a situation that needs to be rectified…

And so, I took it upon myself to create the Poppy Seed Roll of my Mom’s childhood; a softly sweet, bready roll spiraled with lots of poppy seed filling.

You can opt to make or buy poppy seed filling (I’ve had luck with the poppy seed filling made by a company called Solo). However, your most delicious bet is to make the filling yourself, and its actually quite easy. Simply simmer poppy seeds down with some milk, sugar, honey, orange zest, a pinch of salt and a hint of vanilla (raisins are NOT permitted…Mother’s rules). When it tastes delicious, your filling is done.


I recommend wrapping the poppy seed filling up in a light and buttery dough. I like using the same dough I use for Cinnamon Buns, you can find the recipe here: http://bit.ly/7Pd7sj . Next, I roll out the dough, load it up with poppy seed filling, roll it up and then bake it until golden. I like to then paint it with a bit of warmed apricot jam and drizzle on some simple vanilla glaze made of confectioner’s sugar and vanilla extract.


Yum…a soft and light bread full of deliciously sticky poppy seed filling…which is slighty nutty and has a teeny little crunch. The gentle tang from the apricot jam is perfect. If you’ve never tasted a Poppy Seed Roll before, I urge you to try this out...and don’t forget to share the recipe!

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Low Fat Chocolate Chip Cookies

‘Tis the season for holiday cookies! Sugar cookies, molasses cookies, spice cookies, nut cookies, big cookies, small cookies, rolled cookies drop cookies, cookie bars…sheesh…I’ve got a lot of baking to do! Speaking of which, I want to share one of my favorite cookie recipes with you…something to keep in your cookie arsenal for years to come: Chewy Gooey Low Fat Chocolate Chip Cookies.

Yes, you read correctly LOW FAT cookies. Now, before you run for the hills and start cursing my name, please give this recipe a chance. I promise you that it’s not just some cardboardy cookie with the single virtue of being better for you. The number one reason you will love these cookies is because they are fantastically delicious. The low fat bit just makes the package that much sweeter.


This ooh so gooey and chewy chocolate chip cookie recipe is a bit different than a traditional chocolate chip cookie recipe. First, it relies on browned butter (a technique where butter is melted on the stove until it turns light brown and starts smelling nutty). Browning the butter bumps up the buttery flavor meaning you can use less of it while maintaining the same intensity. Also, in order to keep these cookies moist and chewy, dates are used. The dates are chopped up, cooked down and strained so they become a puree (and are undetectable in the final cookie). The dates do not impart any fruit flavor in this cookie, thanks largely to the browned butter.


The rest of the ingredients are more standard…I like to use all dark brown sugar because I like it’s deep intensity. A good amount of vanilla and some salt round out the rest of the flavors and make these cookies out of this world. This is a chocolate chip cookie recipe to replace all others.

Chewy Gooey Low Fat Chocolate Chip Cookies
(adapted from Cook’s County)

1 cup water
4 tablespoons finely chopped dates (I like using Medjool dates)
3 tablespoons butter
2 cups all-purpose, unbleached flour
½ teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
1 ¼ cups packed brown sugar (dark or light)
1 large egg
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
½ cup semisweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.

Bring water to boil in small saucepan and add dates. Simmer until tender and most of the water has evaporated (~20 minutes). Using a rubber spatula, press dates through a fine-mesh strainer into a medium bowl (discard the bits that you can’t get through the strainer). You should have about ¼ cup of the date puree.

Cook butter in a saucepan over medium heat until nutty brown (~4 minutes). Let cool.

Whisk the flour, baking soda and salt in a medium bowl. Set aside.

Beat (with a stand mixer or by hand) the browned butter, brown sugar and date puree in a medium bowl until blended. Beat in the egg and vanilla until combined. Add flour mixture and mix until combined. Reserve 2 tablespoons chips and stir remaining chips into the batter by hand.

Roll 2 tablespoons of dough at a time into balls to get 18 cookies. Space the cookies about 2 inches apart on the cookie sheets. Press the remaining chocolate chips evenly over the cookies.

Bake until the edges are golden brown and center are soft and puffy, 15-18 minutes. Rotate the cookie sheets halfway through baking. Cool cookies completely on baking sheets.

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French Apple Tart

It took me months to decide on a dessert to make for the Thanksgiving table. Yes, months.

Given my tendency to overdo it when it comes to desserts... **flashback to when I brought 6 different desserts to a mid-day gathering of about 8 people** ...I decided to focus on making just one lovely dessert. A novel idea, I know.


There is something nice about having only one dessert to focus on. I appreciate it more that way and there is no internal battle as to which dessert I want to be my last bite (this is a very important decision if you are me). As long as there is more than enough dessert to go around, having only one dessert available can be liberating.

For Thanksgiving, I wanted to make a fun dessert that was slightly intricate and accessibly fancy. It needed to make sense with the rest of the meal, and leave people pleasantly full, not overly stuffed. And thus began my Thanksgiving dessert debate.


First, I “decided” to make a fluffy Lemon Cake with Meringue Frosting…but no, it was a bit too intense and flashy. Then, I thought about doing a Cardamom Pound Cake with Poached Oranges…but, eh…I wanted something lighter. Maybe a Pear Cranberry and Walnut Pie? No. And on and on it went…

Right about the point when I was even annoying myself with the dessert flip-flopping, I figured it out; a classic and beautiful French Apple Tart. The recipe is from America’s Test Kitchen, so I knew it would be good.

It wasn’t just good, it was scrumptious. The crust was snappy and flaky, the apples were tart and sweetly caramelized. It was exactly what everyone wanted.



You can find the recipe here: http://www.americastestkitchen.com/recipe.asp?recipeids=4530&iSeason=8

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Peppercorns? In Shortbread?

I have a baking challenge for you. Try using what are normally savory ingredients in a sweet baking application.


Now, I’m only being so commanding because I truly think it will be an enlightening baking adventure. My muse? A Cracked Peppercorn Shortbread success story.

It’s amazing how the taste of something as familiar as pepper changes when introduced into a sweet, crumbly shortbread. It becomes floral and more nuanced…without losing its kick. It’s really something fantastic.


The sky is the limit here, and creativity is key. My next flavor adventure will be a peanut butter and cayenne cookie…and then perhaps a cumin-scented butter cake.

If you want to give the peppercorn shortbread a whirl, I recommend adding about 1 teaspoon finely ground pepper for each cup of flour called for in your favorite shortbread recipe. Try using a variety of peppercorns...I used black, green and white. Then, I sprinkled the top with a mixture of sugar and more cracked pepper. Who knew pepper could be so sweet?

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Cardamom and Pear Upside-Down Cake

I have a flavor secret weapon: Cardamom.


It wasn’t until I went to pastry school that I truly discovered and fell in love with Cardamom. In my experience, it’s one of those ingredients that many people have heard of but don’t know how to use…nor are they aware of the magical powers it possesses in the deliciousness department. Cardamom’s flavor is both pungent and sweet, it reminds me of cinnamon, ginger and citrus.


Cardamom is a member of the ginger family and is one of the most expensive spices out there (luckily, a little goes a long way). The most common varieties sold are green and black. I tend towards the green cardamom in baking, but you can use either variety depending on your taste. To me, black cardamom is a bit bitter and has kind of a blunt flavor compared to the green variety.

For maximum flavor, I recommend buying the cardamom in their pods and then grinding it in a spice grinder. You can also find it in powder form but it’s a little iffy as to how strong the flavor will be…it could have been sitting on the grocery store shelves for longer than you’d like to imagine.


Cardamom has a warm and lingering flavor that is full of complexity and is quite wonderful in baked goods. I especially like pairing it with fruit, like pears in this Cardamom and Pear Upside-Down Cake.


Here, the cardamom takes on a very warm and cozy quality that is perfect for dessert tables in the fall and winter months.



Cardamom and Pear Upside-Down Cake
Upside-Down Topping:
2 Bartlett Pears, peeled, cored and cut into ¼ inch slices
½ stick of butter
2/3 cup brown sugar
pinch of salt
2 teaspoons juice from an orange

Cake:
1 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
¾ cup sugar
¼ cup brown sugar
2 eggs
¾ stick of butter
zest from 1 orange
¾ teaspoon cardamom
½ cup sour cream
1 ½ teaspoons vanilla extract

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Butter the bottom and sides of a 9-inch round cake pan (I used a pan with a removable bottom, but it’s not necessary).

For the Upside-Down Topping:
Heat the butter, brown sugar, salt and orange juice in a skillet over medium heat. Once the butter has melted and all sugar is dissolved, take off the heat and pour mixture into the cake pan.
Arrange the Pear slices overlapping one another on top of the sugar mixture. Set aside.

For the Cake:
Melt the butter with the orange zest and cardamom. Once butter is melted, set aside to cool.
Whisk the flour, baking powder and salt together in a medium bowl. Set aside.
Whisk both sugars and the eggs together in a large bowl until thick and smooth. Slowly whisk in the melted butter mixture until combined. Add sour cream and vanilla and whisk to combine. Add the flour mixture and whisk just to combine.
Pour batter into the pan over the pears and spread evenly. Bake until cake is golden brown, ~35-40 minutes.

Cool in the pan for 20 minutes. Loosen the cake from the pan by running a butter knife or small offset spatula around the inner edge. Place wire rack on top of cake and flip over the cake (you may want to do this over parchment to catch any drips). Gently remove the cake pan and allow to cool completely.

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Cranberry and Pear Galette

The weather in San Francisco is completely unhelpful when it comes to determining the seasons. If you’re not paying close attention, an entire month can slip away with little trace. I’m still trying to figure out where October went…if it weren’t for the Halloween pictures, I wouldn’t believe it was over.

Well, at least I can count on the produce at the farmers markets to help me (loosely) keep up with the time of year. And, based on the bounty of pears, apples, persimmons, cranberries, squash and pomegranates…well, we’re in the midst of autumn.

The fall and winter months are synonymous with warm fruit desserts. Tender fruit baked with homey spices, perhaps a crisp and nutty topping, a flaky crust, or buttery biscuits that absorb the flowing juices. Perfect with a scoop of ice cream, which immediately starts melting into the fruit creating the most delicious bite. It’s impossible not to slow down for a moment and say “mmmmm”.


Pears and cranberries are a simply lovely combination in fruit desserts. The sweetness of the cooked pears melts into the tart cranberries. Add some frangipane to the mix and you can’t go wrong.

One of my favorite ways to feature fruit in desserts is in the form of a galette, or a free-form pie (think of it as a pie without the pan).

In this version, I used Bartlett Pears which turn from green to golden as they ripen. The flavor of the pears will come through, even if you start with slightly under-ripe pears. This galette is not only beautiful and delicious but as easy as…well, pie.

Cranberry and Pear Galette
For the Crust:
1 stick cold, unsalted butter, cut into ½ inch pieces
3-4 tbsp cold water
1 1/4 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1 1/2 tsp sugar
1/4 tsp salt

For the filling:
2 Bartlett Pears, cored, peeled if desired, and cut into chunks
1/2 tbsp cornstarch
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/8 tsp cinnamon
1/3 cup fresh or frozen cranberries

1/3 cup slivered blanched almonds
1/4 cup sugar
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/2 stick room-temperature unsalted butter
1 egg
1 Tbsp flour
2 drops almond extract

Heat oven to 400 degrees.

Place the butter pieces in a bowl or plate and freeze for at least 20 minutes. Refrigerate the water in a small cup until needed.

Place the flour, sugar, and salt in the bowl of a food processor and process for 10 seconds to incorporate the ingredients. Add the frozen butter pieces and pulse 6-10 times until the butter and flour mixture looks like crushed crackers and peas.

Immediately transfer the butter-flour mixture to a large bowl. Sprinkle a tablespoon of the cold water of the mixture and fluff it in. Then, add another and another, until 3 tablespoons have been added. Continue to fluff and stir 10 to 12 times. It will not be a cohesive dough at this point, but before bringing it together, you need to test for the correct moisture content. Take a handful of the mixture and squeeze firmly. Open you hand if the clump falls apart and looks dry, add a bit more water (one teaspoon at a time). The dough is done when it holds together (even if a few small pieces fall off). If the butter feels soft and squishy, refrigerate before continuing. If it’s still cold and firm, continue to the next step.

Turn the dough onto a work surface and gently knead 3-6 times. Flatten the dough into a 6 inch disk and wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 30 minutes.

For the filling, put the pears, cornstarch brown sugar and cinnamon in a bowl and toss together. Set aside. Grind the almonds with the sugar and salt in a food processor until the almonds are finely ground. Add the softened butter and process (scrape down from food processor sides if needed). Add eggs one at a time, making sure first egg is thoroughly mixed before adding the next. Add the flour and almond extract and mix well.

Dust a work surface with flour and set the disk of dough on the flour. Dust the top with flour and roll it out until you’ve got a14-15 inch circle bout 1/8 inch thick. Fold the dough circle into quarters and transfer to a sheet pan, then unfold dough.

Put the almond mixture in the center of the dough leaving a 3 inch margin on all sides. Mound the pear mixture on top of the almond mixture and then put the cranberries on top.

Fold the excess dough up over the fruit in a clockwise direction until the fruit is enclosed (there should be about 4-6 inches of exposed fruit in the middle).

Chill the galette in the refrigerator for 20 minutes.

Bake for 30-35 minutes until crust is golden brown and the filling is bubbling.

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Sweet Bookery: "The Sweet Life in Paris" by David Lebovitz

Good friends, good food and good books…all together in one place. You can’t get much better than a pastry-inspired book club. Sweet Bookery includes some of the kindest, funniest and smartest people I know; my former pastry school classmates.

The first book we read was The Sweet Life in Paris by pastry chef and author, David Lebovitz. It’s a funny and endearing story about his move from San Francisco to Paris, and his experiences living as an American in Paris (with a heavy emphasis on the food). The book is full of hilarious anecdotes, words of advice and helpful tidbits. Not to mention some awesome recipes (both sweet and savory).

Since the book is full of fantastic recipes, it seemed logical to whip up a few for the meeting. I made his French Chocolate Macarons, which were less finicky than many other Macaron recipes. They had that wonderful crispy-chewy texture that is characteristic of a Macaron, and were lusciously chocolaty.


I also made some American Macaroons, which seemed appropriate given the context of the book. I used a David Lebovitz recipe for this as well (although it was from his website instead: http://bit.ly/25RXWh).


A fantastic Fig-Olive Tapenade recipe was both savory and sweet with a bit of crunch from the fig seeds that was unexpected and pleasant. I served it with Rosemary bread from the bakery where I work.


The recipe in the book for Spiced Nut Mix is out of this world good, and is a perfect sort of snack. It’s a tad spicy, slightly sweet, salty and crunchy. It’s also a lovely topping for ice cream.


A few of the other book club members brought some desserts from the book (drat! I didn’t get a chance to get any pictures of those tasty morsels).

Now, we are trying to decide what book to read next. It’s got a lot to live up to…

Gateau Marjolaine

I laughed, I cried, I ended up with a cake…not an uncommon sequence of events in my world.


When I’m in the middle of baking a recipe involving lots of finicky components (like some sort of layer cake), I will likely reach a point when I debate scrapping the whole messy project and heading downstairs to the Whole Foods Bakery instead.

Cakes that include lots of layers and fillings almost always look bad before they look good, at least mine do. The Gateau Marjolaine, a cake with multiple layers, is a perfect example.

The Gateau Marjolaine is a cake for special occasions, and the recipe I’m familiar with consists of layers of Dacquoise (a meringue that is baked like a cake) that is then layered with chocolate ganache, coffee buttercream (or hazelnut praline buttercream) and almond cream. It is covered with rich chocolate ganache and toasted almonds or hazelnuts. Sounds delicious…and really, it is…but it’s creation isn’t always pretty…


I started losing faith in my Gateau Marjolaine fairly quickly…the cake layers were crumbling before me as I tried to smooth the fussy fillings into place. Instead of setting up as I had envisioned, the buttercreams created a sort of slip and slide with the cake. And then, there was the matter of the ganache. It had become a magnet for my clothing and was getting all over the place. I even found some in my pocket.


Luckily, I regained control of my Marjolaine mishap by putting the entire thing into the fridge and taking some deep cleansing breathes. The fridge is a good sort of time-out for unruly baking projects. It straightens things out a bit and gives the baker some more control.

After much mayhem, frustration, and eventual delight, the Gateau Marjolaine was deliciously worthwhile.

Plating Desserts - A Sugar Plum Tartlet and a Nectarine Tea Cake

Plating desserts is such fun! You get to experiment with different textures, flavors, temperatures, colors, and shapes with results that are delicious and make people happy. All in all, I suppose it’s really just playtime with sweets.

It’s incredible how the same dessert component can morph depending on how it’s plated. Take a simple piece of chocolate cake for example…it could be cut in a triangle, or a circle or a rectangle…could be filled or not, have a sauce or not, be on a square plate or an oval plate or in a glass…and so on…forever.

However fun it can be, plating desserts is challenging. Although it might be easy to think up a bazillion plating ideas, when it comes to the actual dessert architecture, well that’s an entirely different story. The plate is too big, the cake isn’t the right shape, the sauce is too thick, ARGH.

Last week in class, we were given a stocked pantry (full of fruits, nuts and sauces) and were told to create two plated desserts.


The first dessert I put up was a Sugarplum and Chocolate Meringue Tartlet with Cocoa Nib Cookie Crumbs and Caramel Ice Cream.


The second dessert was a Nectarine Tea Cake and a Stone Fruit-Pistachio Verrine with Browned Butter and Rum Cream. A verrine is a layered dessert that is similar to a parfait.



Since dessert plating can induce mild anxiety attacks in the pastry-obsessed, it’s nice to have some pointers:

Go for odd numbers: Put 1 or 3 cookies on the plate instead of 2 or 4.
Balance is important but don’t be rely on symmetry: If you put a raspberry on one side of the plate, maybe put a few chopped nuts on the other side on a slight angle, or just leave it blank.
Try out different heights and shapes: Combine circles with lines and swooshes, etc.
Use interesting vessels: Try putting a custard in a jar or using a pretty glass or interesting looking plate, it’ll make a big difference.
Use a variety of textures and temperatures: Try to have something crunchy, something smooth, something warm and something cold on the plate.
The magic number 3: On a basic level, try to include the main dessert, a sauce and a garnish on each plate.
If you can’t eat it: Don’t put it on the plate…no matter how pretty it is.
Don’t put anything on the plate that isn’t in the main dessert: Just say NO to the random mint leaf!

Happy Plating!

Danish Pastries You'll Want to Eat

My experience with Danish…of the pastry sort…has been bleak. I blame it on icky motels' “complimentary breakfasts” where the boxed Danish (usually resembling a coffeecake) is a standard feature…neighboring stale white bread, a broken toaster and jelly in plastic containers.

Inside the feeble pastry box, with a plastic “window” (try not to look in!), is a slab of soggy-sweet Danish dough. It’s usually filled with some sort of fruity/tar-like goop and high-fructose corn syrup is mandatory. This Danishy thing is disgusting just to look at, let alone eat.

But it’s simply not fair, right or reasonable to judge all Danish against this sucrose abomination. And so, let’s figure out the real deal with Danish. Is it actually edible?



If you tend to enjoy warm, yeasty breakfast pastries (given they are made by a competent baker), then you’ll make room in your heart and tummy for the Danish. It’s sweet, crisp and soft at the same time, sticky in a nice way, and can host a variety of fillings from cream cheese to fruit to nuts to whatever else…in fact, if you have any interesting Danish filling ideas, let me know!



Making Danish follows almost exactly the same process as making Croissants (for reference, see my 7/24/09 post on Croissants). The main difference is that Danish dough contains more eggs, which makes it a bit softer and more tender. It is formed into a variety of traditional shapes and is usually brushed with some sort of fruit jam/glaze immediately after it emerges from the oven. I especially like the way a Danish wreath looks, and it’s actually a simple shape to make.

You start by rolling the dough into a rectangle, and then you fill the middle (I used a lemon cream cheese filling topped with blueberries). Be sure to leave a bit of an edge on so you can seal it without the filling gushing out.



Then, you roll it up, shape in into a circle and make slits along the sides (mine were about 2 inches deep and 2 inches apart). You then turn the dough in between the slits to face up (so you can see the filling).



Then you bake it, glaze it…and eat it.

Chocolate with Alice Medrich

Oh, I wish it were last Wednesday, I wish it were last Wednesday....sigh, no luck. I suppose I shouldn't try to live in the past, but last Wednesday’s pastry class with Alice Medrich was so amazing, I can't bear to let it go. At least I can write about it, although it’s a shame there will be no tasty samples this time around.

So, “Who is Alice Medrich?” you ask. Or, if you already know who she is, then your mouth is surely watering. Alice Medrich is known in the culinary world as the “First Lady of Chocolate” (I wonder if the “First Lady of Muffins” is up for grabs…). This woman deserves her title. She introduced upscale, European chocolate desserts to America and was the founder/owner of the San Francisco based chocolate shop, Cocolat, for over 15 years. She has written numerous books, received multiple James Beard awards, and has seduced many hungry followers all over the world.

Oh, and the desserts she makes! She started the demo by making a “Celebration Cake” with layers of rum-soaked chocolate Genoise (a light, airy cake), a crunchy chocolate-hazelnut layer, chocolate mousse, mascarpone and raspberries in the final layer. The cake was enveloped in shiny, hard chocolate and was topped with chocolate fans (something she made effortlessly, but have since caused me much anxiety and chocolate dismay trying to replicate).



Alice introduced us to a relatively new technique; caramelizing white chocolate. She caramelized the white chocolate by placing it in a large metal bowl, and then putting it into a low oven (~250 degrees F), stirring every 10 minutes or so. She served the caramelized white chocolate as ice cream, scooped into the daintiest Coconut Tuile cones. On top were a few crystals of smoked sea salt (an idea she gave David Lebovitz credit for). The salt brought out deep caramel and nut flavors in the ice cream that weren't distinguishable without it. Alas, I have no pictures of this dessert…it was a mad rush to eat the ice cream before it turned into soup, I hope you understand.

Other treats of the night included Coconut Macaroons with grated lime zest and cinnamon in them...



Which she topped with a light chocolate mousse and bittersweet chocolate drizzle.



There was also a Sesame and Chocolate Torte glazed with dark, milk and white chocolate.



And of course there were lots of other chocolate goodies, including crusty French bread that was toasted, tossed in olive oil and then covered in dark chocolate. How divine.



And, as is right and good with all things dessert, there’s more! We had a chocolate tasting, which included a variety of chocolates made by different companies. When tasting, Alice recommended starting with darkest, most bitter chocolates (which had the highest percentage of cacao) and working towards the sweetest chocolates (which had the lowest cacao content). After this experience, I recommend using Valrhona, TCHO or Guittard chocolate for all baking and eating pleasures.

Sesame Nut Brittle Ice Cream "Sundae"

Sweetly cold, creamy and scrumptiously summer…oh, ice cream. Sometimes it’s all you need, and then a little bit more. Although I’ve never segregated my ice cream consumption to certain months of the year, I do eat it more often when the sun is bright and the air is warm.

To me, there is something wonderful about ice cream...especially when it is just starting to melt. The flavors are brighter, taste is sweeter and texture is all the more satisfying. When I was a little girl, I remember filling my bowl with a few heaping scoops of Breyer’s Strawberry Ice Cream and then vigorously stirring it until the consistency had reached a slightly soupy thickness that melted into sweet cream as soon as it hit my tongue. I still think this is the ideal texture/temperature to eat ice cream.

This week in class, we had a seasonally-glorious ice cream challenge: to create an original dessert using the ice cream we had made the week prior (we were each assigned a different flavor, mine was “Sesame”). Sesame Ice Cream is admittedly exotic, I’d never heard of it until I was handed the recipe. It’s an intensely rich and smooth ice cream base that is made with tahini (sesame paste). The texture is somewhere between ice cream, peanut butter and warm fudge.



I found the finished Sesame Ice Cream in need of some textural variation. So, I made a Cashew-Pistachio Brittle that I chopped into pieces and folded into the ice cream. Once I did that, the ice cream’s taste and texture was incredible…it was rich, satisfying and had a deep nutty caramel quality like nothing I’d tasted before. It had also become highly addictive.



To accompany the Sesame-Brittle Ice Cream, I made Coconut Tuile Cookies. The flavors of coconut and sesame bring out the best in one another other, and the lightness of the ultra-crispy thin cookie was a nice contrast to the deeper crunch of the brittle and creaminess of the ice cream…a match made in dessert heaven.

I love the Sesame and Coconut combo, but was wanting for an addition of something tart in the final dessert...I wanted something fresh, something tropical. My original idea was to make a mango sauce. However, there were no ripe mangoes at the market so my teacher bought a papaya instead. I cut the papaya open, scooped the seeds out and was struck by inspiration. I could serve my ice cream in a papaya “bowl”. I decided to brulee the papaya (so the surface would be caramelized with a thin, hard sugar layer that could be tapped and broken with a spoon.



Because the papaya was rather large…and because I was feeling heavy-handed with the ice cream scoop, I decided to make my ice cream concoction a dessert for two (to share or not to share….). I put the papaya bowl with Sesame-Brittle ice cream on top of a dark chocolate sauced plate. Then, I made a mini ice cream cone (using the Coconut Tuile Cookie for the cone). Some softly whipped cream, tuile, brittle and papaya made excellent garnishes. And, luckily, the ice cream was just starting to melt when I served it...

Sesame Ice Cream

1/2 cup unsalted tahini
1 cup cream
2 tsp sesame oil
2 cups milk
1/2 cup sgar
1/8 tsp salt

*optional - any sort of nut brittle...made using your favorite recipe or purchased*

Whisk together tahini and cream until smooth. Whisk in sesame oil. Add milk, sugar and salt and whisk until smooth. Chill and freeze in ice cream machine. If adding nut brittle, add at very last minute, just to mix it in.