I just spent the loveliest six weeks at home. It’s the first time this year that I’ve been home for more than a few weeks at a stretch and boy did I need it. I leaned hard in to the rhythms of being home: cooking dinner, evening runs, couch time with Trevor, grocery shopping, sleeping in, long yoga sessions, learning a new sonata on the piano. I have always been a creature of habit and a bit of a homebody – a few weeks of chill is a type of bliss for me. Travel makes the pleasures of being home that much sweeter.

Since getting home, I turned 29. Trevor turned 29. I got my first pair of glasses, and was amazed by the clarity of trees in the distance, and of our TV. The fruit trees bloomed and faded in a whirlwind few days. Our garden turned from a patch of dirt with a handful of lonely daffodils into a plot bursting with green potential. The first rose opened, and the irises are brilliant in full bloom. Every day we get a few perfectly ripe strawberries – whatever the pesky robin doesn’t get overnight. We had a rainy mother’s day brunch by the fire that turned into a brilliantly sunny walk in the woods an hour later. My best friend from high school got married in the Boston Public Library on a chilly grey day filled with love and champagne. It’s a beautiful time of year to be in Boston and I’m so grateful to be home for it!

For each of our birthdays I made a cake. For mine, a vanilla sponge with strawberry jam and strawberry buttercream. For Trevor, an earl grey sponge with honey-fig buttercream. Both cakes disappeared without a problem, but Trevor’s earl grey cake was truly special. Pretty cakes are not my strong suit (a buttercream expert I am not) but this tasted so good that I covered it up with fresh figs and flowers and snapped a few pictures so I could share it with you. I can’t take credit for either recipe component, only the combination. The earl grey cake is from Liv for Cake and the Italian meringue fig buttercream is from Sticky Spatula. I struggled a bit with the buttercream splitting after a night in the fridge, but the flavor was beautiful and paired perfectly with the cake. If you have a special occasion coming up that calls for subtle flavors and a bit of refinement, I highly recommend this cake!

Earl Grey Cake with Honey-Fig Buttercream

A beautifully-flavored and moist Earl Grey Cake topped with an Italian Meringue Buttercream flavored with fig jam. Elegant and refined for a celebration. This makes a 3-tier, 6-inch cake.

Cake recipe adapted from Liv for Cake. Frosting recipe adapted from Sticky Spatula.

• Author: Katie at the Kitchen Door

Ingredients

For the cake:

• 1 cup whole milk
• 4 bags of early grey tea, divided
• 1 1/2 sticks salted butter, at room temperature
• 1 1/2 cups sugar
• 3 large eggs, at room temperature
• 1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 2 1/4 cups AP flour
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp sea salt

For the buttercream frosting:

• 1/2 lb. ripe figs
• 1 1/4 cup granulated sugar, divided
• 4 TBS honey
• 3 egg whites at room temperature
• 1/4 cup water
• 1 1/2 sticks unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

For decorating:

• 6 fresh figs
• honey

Instructions

For the cake:

1. Microwave the milk on high until steaming, about 60-90 seconds. Add three of the earl grey teabags to the milk and let steep for 10 minutes. Remove the teabags, pressing any extra milk out of them with a spoon. and discard the teabags. Set earl grey milk aside, allowing it to come to room temperature.
2. Add the butter and the sugar to a mixer and beat with a paddle attachment on medium until it is pale, creamy and very smooth, about 2 minutes. Turn off. Add one egg and beat on low just until the egg is incorporated. Repeat with the remaining eggs, one at a time. Scrape the sides of the bowl with a spatula as needed to ensure that all the ingredients are being evenly mixed.
3. In a medium bowl, whisk togther the flour, baking powder and sea salt. Cut open the remaining earl grey tea bag and pour the tea into the flour mixture. (If the tea is in very large pieces, pulse it in a coffee grinder before adding to the flour). Whisk to combine.
4. Add 1/3 of the flour mixture to the batter and beat on low just to incorporate, about 30 seconds. Add 1/2 of the earl grey milk and beat just to incorporate, another 30 seconds. Repeat twice more, ending with the final 1/3 of the flour mixture. You should have a smooth, spreadable batter without any lumps.
5. Preheat the oven to 350F. Butter the bottom and sides of three, 6-inch cake tins. Cut a round of parchment paper to fit into the bottom of each tin and use this to line the bottom of the each tin. Divide the cake batter between the tree tins, using a spatula to evenly smooth the batter out. Batter should fill a little more than half-way up each tin. Bake the cakes in the preheated oven for 40-50 minutes. They are done when the cake surface springs back when lightly pushed down, and a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. Remove from the oven and let cool for 10 minutes, then run a knife around the inside of each cake tin and invert to release the cake. Let cakes cool completely on a cooling rack before frosting.

For the frosting:

1. Wash and quarter the figs, removing and discarding any remaining stems. Place in a saucepan with 1/2 cup of the sugar and the honey. Gently mash the figs with a wooden spoon. Bring to a simmer over medium heat. Simmer, stirring often, until the figs are soft and jammy, about 15 minutes. Strain the jam through a mesh strainer, setting the thinner jelly aside to add to the frosting. Save any remaining fig chunks for another purprose (or just eat them!).
2. Place the remaining 3/4 cup of sugar in a saucepan. Add the 1/4 cup water and stir to fully moisten the sugar, taking care not to get sugar water on the sides of the pan (which may cause the syrup to crystallize). Bring the sugar water to a boil over a medium-high heat. Clip a candy thermometer to the side of the pan and bring the sugar to 240F. As soon as it reaches this temperature, turn off the heat.
3. Add the egg whites to the bowl of a mixer. Beat on high until they are white and frothy and form soft peaks. At this stage, continue beating while very slowly and carefully drizzling the hot sugar syrup down the side of the bowl into the egg whites. Pour in a thin stream until you have used all the sugar syrup up – egg whites should be glossy and hold stiff peaks.
4. Continue beating the egg whites on medium speed until it is room temperature with no warmth felt through the bowl. At this stage, begin adding the butter 1 TBS at a time. Butter should incorporate into the frosting smoothly. Once all the butter is incorporated and the frosting is smooth and glossy, add the fig jelly to the buttercream and beat until incorporated. If you’re having trouble with the buttercream, try reading some of the tips in this article.

For assembly:

1. If necessary, use a serrated knife to cut any domed top off of each cake so that both the top and bottom of each cake is flat. Use a dab of frosting to stick the bottom layer cake to a cake stand. Smooth a thick layer of buttercream on top of the bottom layer of cake, then top with the next layer of cake. Repeat until you have three layers of cake with two layers of buttercream between them.
2. Smooth a thin layer of buttercream all around the cake. If the cake is crumbling into the frosting, pause here and refrigerate the cake for 30 minutes to set the crumb coat, then continue frosting so that you have a smooth, thick layer of buttercream on all sides of the cake. Top with fresh figs, sliced in half, and a drizzle of honey.

The post Earl Grey Cake with Honey-Fig Buttercream appeared first on Katie at the Kitchen Door.

I’m home from my last trip of the year and very ready for a few days off for Christmas. Originally I had all kinds of last minute errands planned for today, but it’s treacherously icy outside. After a brief trip to the grocery store, the freezing rain had us turning tail to get back inside. Now we’re all sorts of cozy – wrapping presents, baking cookies, assembling this year’s gingerbread house, and listening to Christmas swing music. Although I still have a bunch of miscellaneous little things to do tomorrow, I’m so much happier for being forced to take a rest day. December always feels like a bit of a sprint, and now I want to slow way, way down.

If you’ve left your Christmas baking to the last minute, like I inevitably do, I have a simple little cookie recipe for you. They may not be the world’s prettiest cookie, but these Pecan Crescent Cookies are wonderfully tasty. I just took a batch out of the oven and can verify that they are just as good as I remember. You can also make them from start-to-finish in less than 45 minutes with only pantry ingredients. Perfect for a day when you really don’t want to leave the house (see: freezing rain).

These cookies are incredibly easy to make. All you need to do is pulse the ingredients in a food processor, then shape and bake the cookies. I found the recipe in the giant Bon Appetit Cookbook last year, hidden amongst dozens of other cookie recipes. After the first batch received rave reviews, I made a second and third tray. Now in their second year on our Christmas cookie tray, I think we can declare these a Christmas staple. They’re crumbly and tender but not dry, and just barely sweet. They almost toe the line between sweet and savory. In fact, if you opt to skip the powdered sugar, they are delicious with a little blue cheese.

I hope all of you find a day or two to slow down over the next week. Have a wonderful Christmas if you’re celebrating!

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Pecan Crescent Cookies

A simple, nutty, pecan crescent cookie perfect for the Christmas cookie tray. 

Recipe from The Bon Appetit Cookbook.

• Author: Katie at the Kitchen Door
• Yield: 20 cookies

Ingredients

• 3/4 cup pecans
• 1 cup AP flour
• 1 stick chilled butter
• 1/4 cup packed dark brown sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
• pinch sea salt
• powdered sugar

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 325F. Place the pecans on a cookie sheet. Toast in the oven for 4-5 minutes, until just fragrant. Take care not to let them burn.
2. Add the toasted pecans and all other ingredients to a food processor. Pulse several times until the dough looks crumbly, then process on high until the dough begins to come together. Press a bit of dough together between your fingers – if it holds together, the dough is ready. If not, blend a bit longer.
3. Use your hands to gather the dough together. Pinch off a little more than a tablespoon of dough and form a short rope of dough by squeezing the dough in the palm of your hand. Place the rope on a cookie sheet and shape into a crescent, smoothing any lumpy parts. Repeat until you have used all the dough. Bake the cookies for 25-30 minutes, until just barely firm to the touch. Let cool completely, then sift powdered sugar over the top of the cookies.

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In the few days I had at home last weekend I managed to catch the very beginning of red currant season. Red currants are still fairly uncommon in the US. Astringent and seedy, I can see why they don’t fit in with the sugar-sweet raspberries and mellow blueberries we favor, but I’d like to make a case for them. Firstly, they’re beautiful – translucent globes that shine with red juice. They freeze well – and when frozen they make the most satisfying marble sound as you drop them into a glass bowl. They also add an acidic complexity to otherwise saccharine fruit desserts.

I was worried the currants might be overripe by the time I returned from my trip to Asia. I wanted to make sure I could use at least a few in a new recipe, so I picked the reddest of the bunch. With them (and some frozen ones leftover from last year), I made a Red Currant Crème Brûlée, inspired in equal parts by dinner at ForettaBarinn last week in Iceland, where I had a delicious rhubarb crème brûlée, and by Nigel Slater’s beautiful cookbook, Ripe. Trevor has promised to watch over the rest of the berries and optimize their harvest so that I can enjoy as many as possible when I get back home.

Sometimes when people ask me what my favorite food is, I tell them that it’s cream. This is only partially a joke. Accordingly, crème brûlée is one of my all-time favorite desserts, and it can be very difficult for me to not order it. Luckily (dangerously?) it’s very easy to make at home – just a simple custard of egg, cream, and sugar, gently baked in a bain marie.

This particular crème brûlée – with a layer of homemade red currant jam on the bottom – was exceptional. The sweet, silky smooth custard just barely punctuated by bursts of tart red currant jelly, the crackling burnt sugar crust – it’s more than the sum of its parts, for sure. I only wish I hadn’t inadvertently calculated the nutrition facts when pouring all two cups of lovely cream into the bowl. If I hadn’t known, I would have eaten more.

I didn’t remove the seeds from my homemade red currant jam because I don’t mind them. But if you want a really smooth jam, strain the jelly through a fine mesh strainer after simmering. You can also use store-bought red currant jelly if you don’t have any of your own fresh currants around.

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More Red Currant Recipes…

Red Currant Crumb Bars

Red Currant Kompot

Red Currant Chutney

Red Currant Crème Brûlée

A fruit-on-the-bottom version of Crème Brûlée using a thin layer of homemade red currant jam. 

Inspired by Nigel Slater’s Ripe and the crème brûlée at Forettabarinn.

• Author: Katie at the Kitchen Door

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups fresh or frozen red currants, stems removed
• 1/3 cup plus 6 TBS of sugar, divided, plus more for caramelizing the tops of the custards
• 1 TBS raspberry liqueur
• 2 cups of heavy cream
• 1/2 vanilla bean
• 4 large egg yolks

Instructions

1. For the red currant jam: Combine the red currants, 6 TBS of sugar, and the raspberry liqueur in a small saucepan. Lightly crush some of the currants with the back of a wooden spoon to release their juices. Bring to a simmer over medium-low heat. Simmer until the currants have burst and softened and the sauce has thickened to the consistency of a thin jelly (it will continue to thicken as it cools). This should take about 10-15 minutes. Remove from the heat. If a very smooth jam is desired, strain through a fine-mesh strainer while still hot, discarding the seeds. I prefer to use it un-strained. Set jam aside and let cool to room temperature.
2. For the crème brûlée: Preheat the oven to 325F. Place the cream in a clean, medium-sized saucepan. Carefully slice the vanilla bean in half lengthwise and use a small spoon to scrape the vanilla seeds into the cream. Add the vanilla bean to the cream as well. Heat cream over low heat until it just reaches a slight simmer, stirring the cream frequently to prevent a skin from forming. Once it reaches a simmer, immediately remove from the heat and let steep for 4-5 minutes. After 5 minutes, use a spoon to remove the vanilla bean.
3. In a large, heatproof bowl, whisk the egg yolks and the remaining 1/3 cup of sugar together until the egg yolks are pale in color and the sugar is mostly dissolved. While continuing to whisk the yolks, pour the warm cream over the egg and sugar mixture. Whisk until very well combined.
4. Divide the red currant jam between four 6-oz ramekins, spreading the jam out so there is a thin layer on the bottom of each ramekin. Carefully pour the cream mixture over the top of the jam, doing your best not to mix the jam and the cream. Place the filled ramekins in a large, high-sided baking dish or casserole. Carefully fill the baking dish with very hot water so that the water reaches halfway up the sides of the ramekins. Don’t get any water inside the ramekins! Carefully transfer the baking dish to the preheated oven. Bake until the centers of the custards are just barely set – they should still jiggle slightly when the dish is moved – about 45-55 minutes. Remove from the oven and let cool completely, then remove the ramekins from the  baking dish, cover with plastic wrap, and chill for at least 2 hours.
5. Just prior to serving, remove the chilled crème brûlées from the fridge. Spoon a thin, even layer of sugar over the top of each custard. Use a pastry torch to caramelize the sugar until it is melted and browned all over, forming a thin crust on the top of each crème brûlée (here’s a video to help!). Serve immediately.

Notes

You will need a pastry torch and 6-oz oven-safe ramekins for this recipe.

The post Red Currant Crème Brûlée appeared first on Katie at the Kitchen Door.

2017 Update: This one-bowl lemon pound cake remains a perennial favorite with my family, making appearances at most summer dinners. I love that it’s so easy and requires almost no planning ahead. It also turns out consistently time after time, the true measure of a great recipe. I served it at a backyard dinner party at my house and took the opportunity to update the photos and the recipe below. This one is worth rediscovering!

Sitting in bed, listening to the crickets chirp and snuggling under the down comforter to ward off the lovely night breeze reminding me that fall is just around the corner, I’m feeling pretty good about today.  The rain finally stopped, the humidity that’s been hanging over everything and making it impossible to breathe lifted, and the sun came out with a fresh breeze to accompany it.  I woke up more refreshed than I’ve felt in days, having finally spent a night by myself in my own bed. I spent the day swimming and sunning and watching my brothers and cousins mess about in boats.  At lunch I had a few spoonfuls of the creamiest homemade peppermint stick ice cream, and after lunch it got quiet enough at the dock for the loons to swim up and be photographed.  I went for a jog at dusk, then sat down to a steaming bowl of this pork and black-eyed pea chili, followed by a slice of this incredible lemon pound cake you see here, topped with wild raspberries and blackberries that I picked along Lily Lane yesterday afternoon.  I’ve been uncharacteristically anxious and stressed these past few weeks, and it’s nice to step back and appreciate the calm and joy of simplicity.  Days like this should not be taken for granted, they should be savored.

Like this one-bowl lemon pound cake. Because this cake recipe is one of the best ever.  I don’t know where it came from, or how old it is, I just know that it’s nearly perfect.  It’s one of those recipes that’s been passed from mother to mother at bake sales and pot lucks, scribbled down from memory on a notecard.  My own mother makes it at least once every two weeks in the summer, when fresh berries, the cake’s perfect foil, are abundant and super-sweet.  She received it from a friend at a church picnic, and we love it so much that she even used to send it to us as a care package at school.  We’ve shared the recipe with aunts and friends, and one of my aunts even shared it with the owner of a bakery, who immediately added it to her menu.  It’s that good.

In addition to its sweet lemon flavor and perfect consistency, a few other things make this cake noteworthy. First, it uses exactly one bowl. No separating dry ingredients from wet ingredients, just beat everything together and pop it in the oven. It even goes into a cold oven and bakes from there.  Both of these characteristics make me think that this recipe is from another decade. It’s exactly the kind of cake I can see grandmothers making 60 years ago – no fuss, with so few ingredients that it can easily be made from memory.  You don’t even need to plan far enough ahead to preheat the oven.

It couldn’t be easier to make, or more of a crowd-pleaser to serve.  Dress it up with a drizzle of lemon glaze or a bowl of fresh berries and homemade whipped cream, and it’s elegant enough for company. Or wrap it up in a bit of plastic wrap and stick it in a lunchbox, and it becomes the perfect mid-morning snack.  The almond and lemon extracts give it the perfect scent and flavor, the inside of the cake is dense and moist, and the outside gets a crackly-sweet glaze as it bakes. My brothers and I can never resist breaking off little pieces of the sweet “crust” as the cake cools.  If you make this cake, which I sincerely hope you do, please make it exactly as written at least once before changing it.  Generally, I adjust recipes as I think best – even if it’s just changing the type of sugar or the amount of extract, but this one is well tested.

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One-Bowl Lemon Pound Cake

This Lemon Pound Cake is a favorite family recipe in the summer. We always serve it with berries and whipped cream, although sometimes a simple lemon glaze is nice as well (or both! What’s stopping you?). It’s an easy, consistent cake that feeds and pleases a crowd.

This recipe came to my family through a friend at a picnic, and my mother has been making it ever since. If anyone knows the original source, please share!

• Author: Katie at the Kitchen Door
• Yield: 16
• Category: Dessert

Ingredients

• 3/4 c. butter, softened
• 2 1/2 c. sugar
• 5 eggs
• 2 1/2 c. flour
• 1 c. whipping cream/heavy cream
• 1/2 tsp lemon extract
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/2 tsp almond extract

Instructions

1. Prepare a large bundt pan by greasing and flouring the inside.  A cooking spray works best to get all the creases of the bundt pan.  In an electric mixer or large bowl, cream the butter and sugar together on medium speed.  Since the ratio of sugar to butter is so high, the creamed butter will not get as fluffy as in some recipes, and may remain grainy.  This is fine – it’s not a fussy cake!  Add the eggs one at a time, leaving the mixer on low speed, or beating by hand until fully incorporated in between additions.
2. Add 1 1/2 c. flour to the batter, and beat until incorporated.  Next, add 1/2 c. of the heavy cream and beat until incorporated.  Add and incorporate the remaining 1 c. of flour, followed by the remaining 1/2 c. of cream.  Beat until smooth and fully incorporated.  Mix in the lemon, vanilla, and almond extracts.
3. Pour the batter into the prepared bundt pan.  Place pan in cold oven, then turn heat to 300°F, and bake cake for 90 minutes.  Cake top will be beginning to crack when cake is done.  Turn oven off and leave cake in oven for 15 minutes longer.  Remove cake from oven, and allow to cool for 15 minutes in pan.  Then, turn cake over onto a cooling rack and allow to cool completely before serving.  Serve with fresh berries tossed with a bit of sugar, and a dollop of homemade whipped cream.

The post One-Bowl Lemon Pound Cake appeared first on Katie at the Kitchen Door.

The world may not need another blog post about strawberry-rhubarb pie, but I need to write this one. Because it’s not just about pie, it’s about a pie for my dad. My dad has the misfortune of his birthday only being a week or so before Father’s Day, so we tend to lump the two together. Also he’s quite difficult to shop for, so we tend to… not shop for him. But this year I’m going to celebrate him properly – starting with this blog post, and a strawberry-rhubarb-raspberry pie.

I become more and more grateful for my parents the older I get. Particularly this year as we prepare for our wedding, I don’t know where we would be without them. We’re getting married at their house in Maine, and my dad built us a barn, by hand, for the reception. It’s absolutely beautiful and so special to be celebrating at a place we both love. (Lest you think I’m even more spoiled than I am in reality, the barn, who’s primary purpose will be boat storage, was always in the long term house plan, just bumped up a few years). The long farm tables we’ll gather at will be my dad’s handiwork as well. Not to mention the hours of yard work and prep required to host a wedding!

The wedding is a big thing, but I’m grateful for all the little (and other not so little) things too. The emergency plumbing assistance when our pipes burst while we were in Portugal. Bringing us a piano rescued from a friary. The tax help phone call I make every year on April 14th. Driving me and a pile of my adult friends to and from our high school reunion last weekend when we did a little too much day-drinking. Teaching me how to play soccer and to sail, even though I never really fell in love with those things. Teaching me to play piano, which I do love.

My dad doesn’t like to sit still. He always has a dozen projects going on, and a “master plan” he’s ready to share with you. When we’re up in Maine, he can usually be found tractoring something or cutting down a tree – we (lovingly) call him The Onceler. He loves to be on the water, the reason we find ourselves with such a collection of boats. Some of my fondest memories of Maine are of early mornings out on the harbor, dad at Clifford’s helm, skimming the ocean’s surface while its still glassy, looking for dolphins.

I could go on, but the point is, my dad is a good guy. Some might say a Great Man. And it’s time to tell you about this the pie. My dad has always loved strawberry-rhubarb pie, but after many attempts deemed “a little too soupy” my mother refuses to make any more. Don’t get me wrong, my mom is an amazing cook, and she’s particularly good at baking pies. But strawberry-rhubarb pie is just not her thing.

So I’ve taken the baton from her and am the strawberry-rhubarb pie baker this year. Actually, I made two pies – one to take to my dad last weekend, and one to share here. I added raspberries to both, making this a strawberry-rhubarb-raspberry pie, and did my best at a lattice crust. Trevor is a bit persnickety about these things but I think even he approves of this lattice. The filling is still a little bit loose – I’m not sure there’s a way around that – but holds together well enough to slice neatly. Just make sure you don’t cut into it right away, as it needs several hours post-baking to set up properly.

Happy birthday and happy father’s day, dad! I love you and I hope my pie was up to snuff.

Strawberry-Rhubarb-Raspberry Pie

A not-too-soupy, not-too-firm Strawberry-Rhubarb-Raspberry Pie with a lattice crust and a hint of vanilla.

Adapted from Smitten Kitchen and Sally’s Baking Addiction.

• Author: Katie at the Kitchen Door
• Yield: 8-10
• Category: Dessert

Ingredients

• 2 1/4 cups flour
• 1/2 tsp sea salt
• 1 1/2 sticks (12 TBS) salted butter, cold
• 2 eggs
• 4 TBS ice cold water
• 1 1/4 lbs rhubarb, sliced in half inch slices (about 4 cups)
• 1  lb strawberries, sliced (about 3 cups)
• 1/2 lb raspberries (about 1 1/2 cups)
• 1 1/2 tsp vanilla
• 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1/3 cup white sugar
• 1/4 cup tapioca granules
• 2 TBS whole milk, for brushing the pie crust

Instructions

1. Make the pie crust: In a large bowl, mix the flour and sea salt together. Cut the cold butter into the bowl in small pieces, aiming for about 1/2 TBS per piece. Use a pastry cutter or a fork to cut the butter into the flour until it is crumbly with pea-size pieces of butter. Whisk together the eggs and the ice cold water in a small bowl until evenly combined. Add about half of the egg mixture to the flour and use a fork to quickly mix, moistening as much of the flour as you can. Test to see if the dough will hold together when pressed. If not, continue stirring in a splash of the egg mixture at a time until the dough just barely holds together when gathered into a ball. Once the dough holds together, stop adding the liquid, form into a ball and wrap tightly in plastic wrap. Refrigerate the dough until thoroughly chilled, at least 30 minutes.
2. Prepare the filling: Add the sliced rhubarb, sliced strawberries, raspberries, vanilla, cinnamon, brown sugar, white sugar, and tapioca granules to a large bowl. Stir gently with a wooden spoon until all of the filling ingredients are fully mixed and the fruit is coated with sugar. Set the filling aside.
3. Make the pie: Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Prepare a flat work surface for rolling out the dough by putting a dusting of flour on the work surface and on a rolling pin. Divide the dough into two pieces – one that uses 2/3 of the dough and the other that uses 1/3 of the dough. Roll the larger pieces out into a large circle that is about 1/4 of an inch thick and 12 inches in diameter. Carefully transfer this piece of dough into a 9-inch pie plate. Very lightly press the dough into the pie plate so that it the dough is touching all of the sides of the pan. You should have at least a half inch of overhang on all sides.
4. Spoon the filling into the prepared pie crust, taking care to fill the pie evenly and remove as many air gaps as possible by spreading the fruit around. Roll the second piece of pie dough out into a circle and cut into strips that are about 1/2 inch wide. Arrange the strips in a lattice pattern on the top of the pie. You may need to adjust pieces of the filling as you work to get the lattice strips to lay flat. Once you are happy with the lattice, gently press the lattice pieces into the edges of the lower pie crust, then trim the crust, leaving just a little bit of overhang (the crust will shrink as it bakes – press the overhang under the rim of the pie pan if you want it to stay all the way to the edge).
5. Use a pastry brush to brush all of the exposed pie crust lightly with milk. Bake for 20 minutes at 400 degrees F, then lower the temperature to 350 degrees F and bake until crust is golden brown and filling is bubbly, an additional 60 minutes. Let cool completely, preferably overnight, before serving.

Notes

I have made this pie with both tapioca granules and cornstarch. Both help stabilize the filling, but neither is perfect. Feel free to use whatever you have on hand.

Letting this pie sit for several hours before slicing it will help reduce soupiness.

The post Strawberry-Rhubarb-Raspberry Pie appeared first on Katie at the Kitchen Door.

I didn’t intend to post two dessert recipes in a row. Normally, I try to keep things balanced and fairly nutritious around here (especially now that I’m in full-blown wedding planning mode and realllly starting to think about how that strapless dress is going to look). But, sometimes my recipe inspiration is for things like homemade spinach wraps… and sometimes it’s for Banoffee Eton Mess.

If “Banoffee Eton Mess” is meaningless to you, let me explain. This dessert mashes up two classic British desserts – banoffee pie and eton mess. We’ve been intermittently watching The Great British Bake-Off and it has substantially increased my desire to bake all sorts of British things. And to call them “bakes,” of course. I have also begun to fantasize about living in that magical baking tent filled with pleasant people and cakes, surround by green fields and flowers.

I digress. Banoffee Pie is a sticky sweet dessert that consists of dulce de leche, bananas, whipped cream, and a shortbread crust. It’s kind of childish and simple and a very fun thing to say out loud. Banoffee. I think the name may be the primary reason that Trevor requested it as his birthday dessert, given that he doesn’t like bananas. Not to worry, I didn’t leave it that simple anyways. First, I turned the “offee” into peanut butter dulce de leche. Yum. Next, I made these as layered parfaits, adding a layer of crumbled meringue to the party. Which meant I could also call it Eton Mess – a mixture of broken-up meringues, whipped cream, and fruit. Tah dah! Peanut Butter Banoffee Eton Mess.

The beauty of this dessert is that you can make it all homemade or store-bought, depending on how ambitious or lazy you are feeling. Unsurprisingly, I made everything except the shortbread myself. I suppose I also did not grow the bananas. But if you’re in a hurry, everything – whipped cream, meringues, dulce de leche – can be bought at the store and simply assembled. But if you are making your components, a note on the meringues: meringues are both incredibly simple and a little bit tricky. I always seem to both under-whip and under-bake them. So a note to you – as well as to future Katie – whip your egg whites until they are really stiff! And really shiny! Then bake them for at least an hour and leave that oven door closed.

If you’re not into bananas or meringue or cream or British things, then I have one favor to ask. If you do nothing else, please make a jar of peanut butter dulce de leche and eat a spoonful every night when you get home from work. This will not be good for your wedding photos but it will be good for your soul. Dulce de Leche for the Soon-to-be-Bride’s Soul, or something like that. And with that, enjoy your weekend, friends!

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Peanut Butter Banoffee Eton Mess

A mash-up of two classic British desserts – Eton Mess and Banoffee Pie – made a little bit American with the addition of peanut butter. Layers of sticky-sweet peanut butter dulche de leche, shortbread cookies, whipped cream, banana, and meringue make a delicious dessert.

• Author: Katie at the Kitchen Door
• Yield: 6

Ingredients

• 1 cup of dulce de leche, store bought or homemade
• 1/2 cup of creamy peanut butter
• 8 oz. of shortbread cookies, crumbled
• 4 cups of whipped cream
• 3 ripe bananas
• 24 small vanilla meringues, store bought or homemade

Instructions

1. Heat the dulce de leche in a microwave for 30 seconds in a microwave-safe bowl, just to warm it up. Repeat with the peanut butter. Both the peanut butter and dulce de leche should be warm enough that they mix easily – if not, heat for a little longer. Stir together until evenly combined.
2. Take out 6 glasses – stemless wine glasses work well. Place a layer of crumbled shortbread cookie in the bottom of each one. Top with a large spoonful of whipped cream and a layer of sliced bananas. Drizzle a tablespoon of peanut butter dulce de leche on top. Gently crush a few of the meringues and sprinkle the crumbled bits over the top. Top with more cream, more dulce de leche, and another layer of crumbled shortbread. Finish with a final layer of cream, a few pieces of sliced banana, one whole meringue, and more dulce de leche. This is more of an art than a science, so layer the way you want to!

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For the second year in a row, I let my birthday slip past without my customary celebratory blog post. Last year’s blog post is sitting somewhere in WordPress purgatory, photographed, partially written, but never published. It was a lovely pesto pasta salad with green olives and mushrooms that we ate at the beach on a sunny April afternoon. It was good, but not that memorable.

This year, I just didn’t get around to making my birthday dessert in time. I still celebrated my birthday with the usual enthusiasm, but had to take a last-minute trip to Portugal that week. The dessert I had planned – Portuguese Chocolate Mousse with Chocolate Salami – remained a plan. But it’s such a good dessert that I decided this was a “better late than never” situation. Plus, Trevor’s birthday is coming up on Friday so we have an excuse for having a fridge full of chocolate mousse.

This mousse is inspired by the Mercado de Ribeira, one of my favorite Lisbon haunts. Also known as the Time Out Market, it’s by no means a hidden spot. The concept is like an upscale food court, but all of the “stalls” are outposts of the best Lisbon restaurants and vendors. You can find tender grilled octopus doused in olive oil, bacalhau in all its forms, $5 wines, and rich eggy desserts. After 8pm it’s bustling with tourists and locals alike, and reserving a table requires some aggressive seat-saving. But it never fails to disappoint – the food is amazing, the vibe is energizing, and there’s something for everyone.

The chocolate mousse at Nos e Mais Bolos inside the market is amazing. It is rich and pudding-like and has bite-sized pieces of Portuguese Chocolate Salami as a topping. Don’t worry – there’s no meat in chocolate salami. The best way to describe it is as a no-bake fridge cookie. It’s made from cocoa powder, butter, a bit of rum or liquor, and chopped up cookies, then rolled into a log to look like salami. It’s a traditional dessert in Italy and Portugal, so common that I once found it in a vending machine in a 1,000 year old castle on top of a mountain. Really good hiking snack, by the way. It also takes chocolate mousse to the next level.

While researching mousse recipes, I stumbled upon something called “two ingredient chocolate mousse.” It’s an incredibly simple recipe by Heston Blumenthal, which requires nothing other than chocolate, water, and a bowl of ice. Because all Portuguese desserts are made primarily with a ton of eggs and a ton of sugar, I was pretty sure that this magical mousse could not be the answer. But I had to try it anyway, just to see. Because what if two ingredient mousse was really a thing? That would mean that I could have chocolate mousse at any time with only 10 minutes of effort. Dangerous, but also amazing.

So I made two batches of chocolate mousse. The first was the aforementioned two ingredient version. The second was a more traditional mousse, with eggs and butter and a touch of cream. The verdict? They were both really good. Different, but good. The super-simple mousse has a very pure, chocolaty taste and surprisingly creamy texture, but no richness. You want to use your very best chocolate for this, because it’s the only flavor. The mousse loaded up with eggs and butter and cream is obviously much richer, but doesn’t have that same purity. Tasted side by side, the winner kind of depends on my mood at that moment. But to be totally honest? I think most of the time I’ll prefer the two ingredient version. Crazy!

Whether you go the easy route or the rich route, the pieces of Portuguese Chocolate Salami on top add this amazing extra dimension. The chocolate salami is easy to make and super-chocolaty. It’s very rich – kind of the perfect thing to keep in the fridge at all times, as just a bite will satisfy an intense chocolate craving. As my trips to Lisbon are slowing down, I’m happy to have cracked one of my favorite dessert recipes at home. Now I just have about 8,000 pastries left to learn.

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Portuguese Chocolate Mousse with Chocolate Salami

Traditional Portuguese chocolate mousse served with crumbled “Chocolate Salami” – a sliceable chocolate fridge cookie. Inspired by the Chocolate Mousse at Nos e Mais Bolos.

Chocolate Salami recipe adapted from Easy Portuguese Recipes.

Note: this recipe is the traditional, rich mousse with eggs and cream. If you want to try the two-ingredient mousse, the recipe for that is below!

• Author: Katie at the Kitchen Door
• Yield: 4

Ingredients

For the Chocolate Salami:

• 1 stick (4 oz.) salted butter
• 1/2 cup (4 oz.) granulated sugar
• 6 TBS (1 1/2 oz.) dark, high-quality cocoa powder, such as Valhrona
• 2 egg yolks
• 2 TBS port wine, rum, or fruity liqueur
• 7 oz. biscotti or vanilla wafer cookies
• powdered sugar for coating

For the Chocolate Mousse:

• 2 TBS butter
• 8 oz. bittersweet chocolate chips
• 2 TBS port wine or rum
• 1/4 c. heavy cream
• 4 large eggs, separated

Instructions

1. To make the chocolate salami: melt the butter in a medium saucepan over low heat. Add approximately half of the the sugar and whisk to combine thoroughly. Add the cocoa powder and whisk thoroughly. Continue to cook for 1 minute longer, whisking the whole time – mixture should be smooth. Remove from the heat.
2. Place the egg yolks and the remaining sugar in a medium, heat-proof bowl, and whisk until thick and creamy, about 1 minute. Slowly pour in the hot cocoa mixture, whisking the egg yolks vigorously as you do so. Stir in the port wine or rum and whisk to combine. Mixture should be thick, smooth, and glossy.
3. Cut the cookies into small pieces using a serrated knife. Add the cookies to the warm chocolate mixture and stir gently to thoroughly combine. Let the mixture cool to room temperature. Once cool, place a sheet of wax paper on the counter. Scrape the mixture onto the wax paper and shape it into a log roughly 8 inches long. If the mixture is too runny to do this, place it in the fridge for 30 minutes before shaping into a log. Wrap the log in waxed paper and then again and tinfoil. Place in the fridge and chill until firm, at least 2 hours.
4. To make the chocolate mousse: add the butter, chocolate chips, port wine or rum, and heavy cream to a medium metal bowl or double boiler. Bring a small pot of water to a simmer – the bowl should fit snugly on top of the pot without the bottom of the bowl touching the top of the water. Place the metal bowl over the simmering water and melt the chocolate, stirring continuously with a rubber spatula. As soon as the chocolate mixture is fully melted, remove it from the heat. The chocolate should be thick and glossy.
5. In a medium, heatproof bowl, vigorously whisk the egg yolks for 30 seconds, then pour the hot chocolate into the egg yolks, whisking as you do so. Beat thoroughly to combine. Mixture should be thick but run freely from the whisk when lifted. Set chocolate aside and let cool to room temperature.
6. Use a stand mixer or handheld mixer to beat the egg whites until they form soft, shiny peaks. Add half of the beaten egg whites to the cooled chocolate mixture and use a spatula to gently fold the two together. Repeat with the remaining egg whites, doing your best not to deflate the whites. When the two mixtures are fully combined, pour the mousse into four wine glasses or coupe glasses. Refrigerate until firm, at least 2 hours.
7. To serve, cut the chocolate salami into slices, then cut the slices into cubes. Place on top of each glass of chocolate mousse. Serve chilled.

Magic Two-Ingredient Chocolate Mousse

This incredible chocolate mousse has only two ingredients – chocolate and water – with a deep chocolate taste and a smooth, fluffy texture.

Recipe by Heston Blumenthal via Eat Live Run.

Note: this recipes is all about the chocolate you use, so use the good stuff. If you don’t love the flavor of the chocolate, you won’t love the flavor of the mousse. If the mousse becomes grainy as you whip it, return it to the heat and re-melt, then try again.

• Author: Katie at the Kitchen Door
• Yield: 2
• Category: Dessert

Ingredients

• 4.5 oz of bittersweet chocolate chips or roughly chopped chocolate, the best you can afford
• 1/2 cup water
• ice

Instructions

1. Fill a large metal bowl with ice and cold water and set aside.
2. Place the chopped chocolate and the water in a metal bowl. Bring a small pot of water to a simmer – the bowl should fit snugly on top of the pot without the bottom of the bowl touching the top of the water. Place the metal bowl over the simmering water and melt the chocolate, stirring continuously with a rubber spatula. The water should get incorporated into the chocolate as you stir. As soon as the chocolate mixture is smooth and fully melted, remove it from the heat. Place the bowl with the chocolate in the bowl with the ice water, and whisk the chocolate constantly for 2 to 3 minutes, until the chocolate has thickened slightly and the color has become a bit more pale.
3. Divide the mousse into 2 wine glasses or ramekins and chill for at least 30 minutes, then serve.

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I first learned to make crepes in high school. During one French class our professor took us to his house for a simple French cooking lesson. It was a boarding school and most of the professors lived on campus, so this wasn’t particularly unusual. He taught us the ratio – 1:2:1 milk, eggs, flour – and pan-fried dozens of crepes. Like most of my classes in high school, I spent a good portion of it flirting, an activity that was only enhanced by speaking French and eating crepes. French – the language of ballet, patisserie, and love.

I’ve all but forgotten French, but I do remember how to make crepes. They are such a wonderful dessert. At their simplest, they require only 4 ingredients – milk, eggs, flour, and a pat of butter for the frying pan. From there, you can dress them up in seemingly infinite ways. You can stuff them with fruit and cream, stack them in layers with salted caramel to make a crepe cake, or flambée them with a bit of rum. You can make the batter chocolate-flavored or go the savory route and fill your crepes with ham and cheese. They are simple, economical, and delicious.

These Strawberry and Meyer Lemon Crepes are on the fancier end of the crepe spectrum.  The crepe batter itself has a splash of brandy, vanilla, sugar, and melted butter added to the base. After cooking, you spread each crepe with two different strawberry-based fillings. The first is a strawberry-mascarpone cream (it’s the loveliest shade of pink!) and the second is a jammy sauce made from strawberries, meyer lemon, and a splash of vodka. Folded and garnished with fresh strawberries and powdered sugar they make a spring dessert that’s both elegant and simple.

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 Strawberry and Meyer Lemon Filled Crepes

Adapted from Pickles, Pigs & Whiskey. Serves 6.

• 1 lb. fresh strawberries, stems removed and cut into 1/4 inch pieces
• 1/3 cup plus 2 TBS granulated sugar
• 8 oz. mascarpone cheese
• 2 TBS butter, room temperature
• zest and juice of 1 meyer lemon
• 1 TBS vodka
• 2 large eggs
• 3/4 cup whole milk
• 3 TBS butter, melted (plus a bit more for coating the pan)
• 2 TBS brandy
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup water
• 1 cup all purpose flour

1. Toss the diced strawberries with the 1/3 cup of sugar in a large bowl. Cover with plastic wrap and let macerate for at lest one hour, or overnight in the fridge.
2. After macerating, spoon half of the strawberries out of the bowl and into a food processor. Puree until smooth. Add the mascarpone cheese and process again until smooth. Cover strawberry-mascarpone cream and chill until ready to use.
3. Place 2 TBS of the butter in a small saucepan and melt over medium heat. Add the remaining strawberries, the strawberry syrup that has collected in the bowl, the meyer lemon zest and meyer lemon juice to the pan and stir to combine. Cook over medium heat, stirring frequently, until the strawberries are very soft and the sauce has become thick and syrupy. This should take about 10 minutes. At this stage, remove from the heat and stir in the vodka. Set aside.
4. To make the crepe batter, whisk the eggs, whole milk, melted butter, brandy, vanilla extract, and water together in a large bowl. Whisk thoroughly until frothy. Add the flour and whisk until you have a thin and smooth batter. The batter should run freely when lifted from the bowl – the consistency should be that of heavy cream. Cover the bowl and refrigerate for one hour.
5. To assemble the crepes, melt a bit of butter in a large non-stick pan over medium heat. Swirl to coat the pan with butter. Using a measuring cup, add 1/3 cup of batter to the center of the pan. Immediately lift the pan from the heat and swirl so that the batter spreads out thinly and evenly to the edges of the pan. Set down over the hat. Cook for about 60-90 seconds per side, or until the edges of the crepe are lacy and there are spots of golden brown on the otherwise pale crepe. Once each crepe is cooked, lay it out flat on a cutting board. To fill the crepes, spread a large spoonful of the strawberry-mascarpone cream over one side of each crepe, then spread a little of the strawberry-lemon sauce on top. Fold into quarters and place on a plate. Drizzle with more strawberry sauce and serve.

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I recently received two lovely food samples – olive oil from Cobram Estate and blood oranges from Limoneira. While I don’t always end up using samples for recipes, the combination of the two was inspiring. Particularly after coming home from Portugal, where olive oil and oranges are often used together in sweets, I knew I wanted to bake something. I decided they were destined for a pound cake.

I’ll be the first to admit that this is not my most original idea. A quick Google or Pinterest search for blood orange and olive oil cake will reveal dozens of beautiful photos. Some cakes are simple, others are glazed with a lovely pink frosting, and others have paper-thin slices of oranges baked on top. They were all so pretty that I couldn’t resist adding my own version to the mix.

Zesting oranges and rubbing orange zest into sugar should be a winter therapy treatment. The smell is an instant mood lifter, and takes me back to sunnier, warmer days. Like the morning we spent eating tangerines straight from the trees in a sunny courtyard in Portugal. Or the afternoon we spent at a plum blossom festival in Odawara, buying sacks of fresh clementines from every other house we passed. One day we’ll live somewhere where it’s warm enough to grow oranges, where it doesn’t snow in March. Until then, we’ll have to rely on the scent of fresh oranges to trigger our happiest memories.

This cake was a lovely surprise, gently sweet and tender. Both the orange and olive oil are subtle but the flavors are distinctly present. The pieces of blood orange interspersed throughout the cake add a pop of juicy sweetness and keep the cake moist. It’s always a sign of a good recipe when I immediately begin running through variations for next time – meyer lemon, olive oil, and rosemary? Grapefruit and star anise? This one will be a staple.

Disclosure: I used olive oil and blood orange samples provided free of charge by Cobram Estate and Limoneira to create this recipe, but I was not otherwise compensated. As usual, all opinions are my own!

Blood Orange and Olive Oil Pound Cake

Recipe adapted from Melissa Clark via the New York Times.

• 4 blood oranges (3 for cake and one for glaze/garnish)
• 3/4 cup of sugar, plus more for candying oranges
• 1/3 cup of buttermilk
• 3 large eggs
• 1 3/4 cup all purpose flour
• 1/4 tsp baking soda
• 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp orange oil (optional)
• 2/3 cup high quality extra-virgin olive oil
• 2/3 cup of powdered sugar

1. Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line a 9×5 inch loaf pan with parchment paper and set aside.
2. Grate the zest from two of the blood oranges into a large bowl. Add the sugar to the bowl and use your fingers to mix the zest into the sugar. Cut one of the zested oranges in half and squeeze the juice into a liquid measuring cup – you should have about 1/3 cup of juice. Add the buttermilk to the measuring cup so that you have 2/3 cup of liquid in total. Whisk juice and buttermilk together, then pour the mixture into the sugar. Whisk until evenly combined. Add the eggs to the bowl and whisk until thoroughly combined.
3. In a separate bowl, stir together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt until no lumps remain. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and stir together until just combined. Stir in the orange oil, if using. Now add the olive oil to the batter a little bit at a time, using a spatula to fold the oil into the batter. Repeat until all of the olive oil is evenly incorporated. Set batter aside.
4. Using two of your remaining oranges (the one you zested and one of the others), cut orange segments into supremes. Do this by cutting the peel and white pith off of the outside of the oranges, then use a paring knife to carefully separate the orange flesh from the translucent membrane of each segment. If necessary, break the orange supremes into pieces that are about 1/4 inch big. Once you have supremed both the oranges, add the orange supreme pieces to the batter. Fold a few times just to incorporate the oranges into the batter.
5. Pour the batter into the prepared loaf pan, using a spatula to distribute the batter around the pan if necessary. Bake the cake for 55 minutes, until golden on top and a knife inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. Let cool in pan for 10 minutes, then lift out by the parchment paper and cool completely on a cooling rack.
6. To make the glaze, cut the last blood orange in half. Squeeze the juice from one half of the orange into a small bowl. Place the confectioner’s sugar into a small bowl and whisk until it is free of lumps. Whisk in the blood orange juice a little at a time until the glaze drips thickly from the whisk when lifted out of the bowl. Cut the other half of the orange into paper thin slices. Pour the glaze evenly over the top of the cooled cake, letting it drip down the sides onto the parchment paper. If desired, candy the orange slices according to this method – this will make the orange slices tender enough to eat in addition to a pretty garnish. Arrange the orange slices on the top of the glaze and serve.

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Yesterday, on the shortest day of the year, I was thinking about darkness, and about light. These past few weeks the dark has been so noticeable, dragging out the hours between when Trevor leaves for the restaurant and when it is reasonable to collapse into bed. I’m beginning to think that darkness, and not the cold and slush as I’ve always thought, is what makes this season so difficult, what pulls me close to apathy and lethargy and general lowness. The reason that, after that apocalyptic winter two years ago hit me so hard, I escape January as often as I can.

But darkness also makes room for us to celebrate light. Light is part of what makes Christmas feel magical. Standing in the cold, breath freezing in the air, watching the twinkling lights draped around the outside of homes. The stillness of a church full of candles, flames moving slowly, illuminating the faces of the people holding them. Sitting by the Christmas tree after the house is quiet, breathing in the sharp fragrance of pine, gazing at the reflection of the tiny lights on delicate glass ornaments. Light at Christmastime brings stillness and quiet and a certain sense of wonder. And it helps us get through the darkness, to remind us that, from today forward, the darkest day is behind us, that we are now spinning towards another summer.

Christmas is practically here, and I’m of two minds about it. Of course, I relish the chance to take a few days to relax with my family, and I love our traditions. On the other hand, I worry that a four day weekend of rushing between houses is not really the relaxation I need, and the need to “be ready for Christmas” (the presents! The baking! The decorations! We didn’t watch Elf yet!) feels like it’s coming from the wrong place, at times. I can say that I’m ready on at least one front and that’s the cookie front: we started baking early and we’ve been flush all month. I even ordered Dorie Greenspan’s new book, finding myself without a cookbook dedicated to cookies (hard to imagine, given the size of my cookbook collection).

The base of these Chocolate Peppermint Cookie Sandwiches is a chocolate cookie from Dorie’s book called a Melody. The Melody cookies on their own are delicious – crisp, buttery, and chocolaty. But I couldn’t leave well enough alone, so I decided to fill them with a simple peppermint-mascarpone buttercream and dip them in chocolate. This treatment makes them seriously decadent – definitely don’t have more than one! But really delicious, and beautiful to boot.

Have the most wonderful Christmas if you’re celebrating, and a relaxing long weekend if you’re not. As one of my lovely Colombian coworkers told me today, “I wish you not just presents, but love and health for the new year.” I thought that was the nicest sentiment, and I wanted to pass it on to you.

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Chocolate Peppermint Sandwich Cookies

Makes 13-15 large sandwich cookies

• 1 1/2 sticks butter, room temperature
• 1/3 cup mascarpone
• 2 1/2 cup powdered sugar
• 1/4 tsp peppermint oil
• 1 batch Melody Cookies, recipe below
• 9 oz. bittersweet chocolate chips

1. Beat butter and mascarpone together until smooth. Add 1 cup of the powdered sugar and beat until fluffy. Add the remaining powdered sugar and continue beating until the consistency is light and smooth. Stir in the peppermint oil. Taste and add additional peppermint oil if desired.
2. Spread a large spoonful of frosting on the flat side of one of the Melody cookies, spreading it evenly out to the edges of the cookie. Sandwich with another cookie. Place on a plate. Repeat until you have used all the cookies. Chill the cookies in the fridge for 30 minutes before dipping in chocolate.
3. Place the chocolate chips in a metal bowl. Bring a small pot of water to a gentle simmer. Place the bowl with the chocolate chips on top of the pot. As the chips melt, stir them with a rubber spatula, scraping down the sides of the bowl. When the chips are just melted and smooth, remove them from the heat. Dip the cookies halfway into the melted chocolate one at a time, using a spatula to smooth the chocolate up the edges of the cookie as needed. Place the cookies on wax paper to dry. Place the chocolate back over the simmering water as needed for a few seconds to keep it melty. Once the chocolate is dry, serve the cookies or refrigerate them until ready to serve.

Melody Cookies

Recipe from Dorie’s Cookies. Makes about 30 large cookies.

• 2 1/4 cups flour
• 1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder, sifted
• 1/4 tsp baking soda
• 2 sticks butter, at room temperature
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 3/4 tsp fine sea salt
• 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
• 1 large egg white
• turbinado sugar, for sprinkling

1. Whisk the flour, sifted cocoa, and baking soda together in a medium bowl until evenly combined. Set aside. In a large bowl, beat the butter, sugar, and salt together until smooth and light, which should take a few minutes. Beat in the vanilla, followed by the egg white. Beat until smooth again and the egg white is fully blended into the butter. Add half the cocoa-flour mixture and stir just until there are no dry spots left. Add the remaining half of the cocoa-flour mixture and stir just until the dough comes together.
2. Split the dough in half and pat into two round disks. Working with one disk at a time, place the dough between two pieces of parchment paper and roll out into a large rectangle with a thickness of ~1/8 inch. Stack the two slabs of dough (with the parchment paper separating the layers) on a large baking sheet and chill until firm, at least two hours.
3. When ready to bake, preheat the oven to 350°F. Remove the cookie dough from the fridge and place on a work surface. Use a round cookie or biscuit cutter with a scalloped edge to cut circles out of the chilled dough and place them on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Sprinkle turbinado sugar generously on top of the cookies.  Bake the cookies until firm to the touch, about 15-17 minutes. Remove from the oven and let cool for a few minutes before transferring to a cooling rack. Reroll and chill any dough scraps before cutting out additional cookies.

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Only two more weeks until Christmas! Hard to believe, right? I think, in truth, I have mixed feelings about this season. I want to slow down and enjoy it and spend long days just, I don’t know, being festive. Like when you were a kid. But there’s still work and projects and wrapping things up for the end of the year. So, like most things in life, I’m striving for balance, getting things done while also indulging in Christmas activities. I’m also trying not to set unreasonably high standards for myself about what it means to “celebrate.” What this balance translates to in my house is the Swinging Christmas Pandora station playing when I’m cooking dinner, even if dinner is not particularly Christmasy. It means watching Love Actually and The Grinch and A Muppet Christmas Carol with Trevor, even if we only make it through 1/3 of each movie every night. It means baking simple cookies that can be made on a weeknight and saved for later, and spending a few minutes every day just sitting by the tree and enjoying the lights. Because a little bit of Christmas spirit every day adds up!

One of my more ambitious Christmas kitchen projects this year was these Spiked Eggnog Éclairs with Nutmeg Glaze. These are a weekend project, good for a freezing cold Saturday like today. Or, in the spirit of what I wrote above, you can split the prep over a few days, like I did, making the eggnog pastry cream in the morning before work, then baking and filling the shells later. I love eggnog – it’s so indulgent but so good. With a splash of rum and just a hint of nutmeg it’s one of my favorite Christmas treats. So turned into a pastry cream and piped into freshly baked éclair shells? I am definitely into it.

This recipe is adapted from Jenny McCoy‘s book Modern Éclairs, which is full of great recipes for sweet and savory éclairs, profiteroles, and other treats using pate a choux. I particularly like the savory recipes, like the Croque Monsieur Éclairs and the Cheddar, Chipotle and Roasted Corn Gougeres. But for Christmas, I couldn’t resist testing out the very seasonal Eggnog Éclairs. The original eggnog pastry cream recipe didn’t call for any liquor, but having tasted it both before and after adding the rum, I think the spiked version is superior. I always have a tough time piping filling into éclairs, so in the recipe below I call for slicing them in half to fill. But if you’re handy with a piping bag, by all means, fill away.

I hope your Christmas preparations are getting underway, too, if Christmas is your thing. And either way, I hope you’re finding some time to enjoy this festive season!

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Disclosure: I received a review copy of Modern Eclairs from Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, but I was not otherwise compensated and all thought and opinions are my own.

Spiked Eggnog Eclairs with Nutmeg Glaze

Recipe adapted from Modern Éclairs. Makes 20 large eclairs.

For the eggnog pastry cream:

• 4 large egg yolks
• 1 large egg
• 4 TBS cornstarch
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 2 cups eggnog
• 5 TBS salted butter, cut into small pieces
• 1/4 cup dark spiced rum

For the elcair shells and nutmeg glaze:

• 2/3 cup water
• 2/3 cup whole milk
• 10 TBS salted butter, cut into small pieces
• 1 TBS sugar
• 1 1/2 cup bread flour, sifted
• 6 large eggs
• 1 1/2 cups confectioners’ sugar
• 1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
• 3 TBS dark rum

1. To prepare the eggnog pastry cream: add the egg yolks, whole egg, cornstarch, and sugar to a large heatproof bowl. Beat vigorously until very smooth (you don’t want any lumps of cornstarch). Set aside. In a medium saucepan, bring the eggnog to a gentle simmer. Slowly pour the hot eggnog over the eggs while whisking the eggs vigorously to prevent scrambling. Return the mixture to the pot and cook over medium low heat, whisking constantly, until thick and smooth, about 2-3 minutes. Remove from the heat and immediately stir in the 5 TBS of butter pieces until melted. Strain the mixture through a fine mesh sieve into a clean bowl. Let cool about 10 minutes, then stir in the rum. Cover and refrigerate until set, at least 3 hours, preferably overnight.
2. To prepare the pate a choux dough: add the water, milk, butter pieces, and sugar to a medium saucepan. Heat over medium heat until the mixture is boiling and the butter is fully melted. Turn off the heat and add the sifted bread flour all at once, stirring hard until there are no dry lumps of flour left. Turn the heat back on and cook the dough while continuing to stir it constantly until a skin begins to form on the base of the pot (or the dough begins to look slightly dry on the surface if using a non-stick pot), which should take about 3-4 minutes. Remove from the heat and transfer to a bowl. Let dough cool for about 3 minutes, and then add the eggs one at a time, beating each egg into the dough completely before adding the next egg. The final dough should be thick and shiny and slowly run off your spoon when lifted out of the bowl.
3. Preheat the oven to 350°F. Fit a pastry bag with a large star tip and fill the bag with the pate a choux dough. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and pipe long, straight, and thick lines of dough, leaving 2 inches of space between them. Each eclair should be about 5 inches long and 1 inch wide. They will look awkwardly skinny but don’t be tempted to make them wider – they will expand as they bake. Press down any pointy tips with your finger. Bake the eclairs until deep golden brown and cooked through, about 45 minutes. Let cool to room temperature before filling.
4. To fill, use a serrated knife to cut the eclairs in half lengthwise. Fill a pastry bag with the eggnog pastry cream and pipe onto the cut side of each eclair bottom. In a medium bowl, whisk together the confectioners’ sugar and nutmeg until smooth, then add the rum and whisk until a smooth, runny glaze has formed. If the glaze does not drip easily off of a spoon, add a little more rum. Drizzle the glaze over the un-cut side of the eclair tops, using the back of a spoon to smooth out the glaze if necessary. Let the glaze dry before putting the tops back on the filled eclairs. Serve immediately.

The post Spiked Eggnog Eclairs with Nutmeg Glaze appeared first on Katie at the Kitchen Door.

This year Trevor and I are hosting Thanksgiving for the first time. It’s my doing – even though our house is small and unfinished and we’ll need our guests to bring their own chairs, I really wanted to do it, to bring our families together in our home. It will probably be a little bit stressful and uncoordinated and messy, but I’m still thrilled we’re doing it.

I was thinking, on the morning of Election Day last week, how great Thanksgiving is. How it is something truly American and something to be proud of. Two days for the entire country to be with their families, a holiday with no religious element, no political element, just a time reserved for being thankful and being with family. What a nice thing! A holiday designed to celebrate gratitude! I know that sentiment can get lost amidst the planning and family squabbles and food and excitement for the start of the “holiday season,” but let’s try to bring it front and center this year, at least for a few hours next Thursday. In the midst of a busy season, let’s use Thanksgiving as the bright spot that it is – a time to rest, to take a break from our busyness, to slow down and focus on the people and things that matter most to us.

We’re still tinkering with our menu for next week, but last weekend we did a sort of test run, putting together a Latin-inspired Thanksgiving menu. It’s the latest in our series of globally-inspired dinner menus we’ve been creating in partnership with La Crema Wines – the others include October’s autumnal Korean dinner, the summer’s Italian seafood feast, and a Greek-American cookout for Labor Day. I have unexpectedly fallen in love with the Latin culture over the past two years of travel, and a big part of that is due to the food. There’s so much more to Latin cuisine than I realized before I started traveling there. So this Thanksgiving menu is laced with chiles and rich sauces that remind me of dinners in Colombia and Chile.

As a main dish, we created a Mole Roasted Chicken (or turkey, if you’re feeding more than two people!) with a very-simplified mole sauce, that uses the basic techniques of a traditional mole but takes a few shortcuts. We also made a Cornbread, Chorizo, and Poblano Stuffing – I could have eaten an entire tray of it on my own and I think it’s one we’ll repeat next week for the real thing. As a side dish, Chipotle Sweet Potato Pommes Anna, a super simple dish that’s easy to make but has tons of flavor and a lovely presentation. And for dessert, a showstopper of a pie, a far cry from your traditional apple and pumpkin pies but still equally deserving of a spot on your Thanksgiving table: Chocolate Mousse and Passion Fruit Pie.

One of the foods I fell in love with in Latin America, particularly in Colombia, was passion fruit. If you’ve never had the chance to try one, seek it out – it’s sweet and citrusy and tangy and unlike any other flavor I know. Chocolate and passion fruit has become one of my favorite combos, and it’s now my standard order at any gelato place that offers passion fruit as one of the flavors. I first experienced the pure deliciousness of chocolate and passion fruit at a restaurant in Chile that served me an enormous bowl of incredibly rich and decadent chocolate mousse with a passion fruit caramel on top – I think it was the best dessert of my life. I may have to take some more time to think about that statement, but off the top of my head, I can’t think of anything that surpasses it. That dessert was the primary inspiration for this pie, which combines a passion fruit curd with a light chocolate mousse and a buttery chocolate cookie crust.

It was shockingly hard to find passion fruit near me in Boston, and when I did, they were pretty pricey – $1.99 a piece and I needed 5 to scrape together 2/3 of a cup of pulp. But as soon as I cut into one and that beautiful, tangy smell filled the air I knew it was worth it. Turning the fruit into a curd stretches the flavor and also gives you a filling with a beautiful, silky texture. The passion fruit curd together with the chocolate mousse made the pie pretty much everything I imagined it would be.

The recipe for the pie is below, and you can find the recipes for the Mole Roasted Chicken, the Cornbread, Chorizo, and Poblano Stuffing, and the Chipotle Sweet Potato Pommes Anna on the La Crema blog. All three dishes were designed to pair equally well with La Crema’s Sonoma Coast Chardonnay or their Sonoma Coast Pinot Noir. Since a “help yourself” policy is usually best when it comes to wine and big holidays, it makes sense to choose a few versatile bottles that will be good at any point during the meal and will also give guests the flexibility to choose for themselves. These two La Crema bottles fit the bill perfectly.

Disclaimer: This post is sponsored by La Crema. All opinions are honest and my own.

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Chocolate Mousse and Passion Fruit Pie

Serves 8. Passion fruit curd recipe adapted from Nigella Lawson. Chocolate mousse pie adapted from Chowhound.

For the passion fruit curd:

• 2/3 c. passion fruit pulp (from 6-7 ripe passion fruit)
• 2/3 c. sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 egg yolk
• 1 stick butter

For the chocolate mousse and pie crust:

• 6 oz. chocolate cookies
• 4 TBS salted butter
• 6 oz. bittersweet chocolate
• 1 c. heavy cream
• 2 TBS sugar
• 2 egg whites

1. To make the passion fruit curd: place the passion fruit pulp in a food processor and pulse several times to loosen the juice from the seeds. Strain the juice through a fine mesh sieve into a large bowl. Add about half of the seeds and pulp to the juice, and discard the other half (or eat it!). Add the sugar, eggs, and egg yolk to the passion fruit juice and whisk to combine very thoroughly. Set aside.
2. Melt the butter in a saucepan over medium low heat. Add the passion fruit mixture to the melted butter, whisking vigorously as soon as you add it to the pan to prevent the eggs in the mixture from scrambling. Cook over low heat, whisking continuously, until the curd has thickened to a spoonable consistency. Remove from the heat, pour into a bowl, cover with plastic wrap, and chill until set, at least 3 hours.
3. To make the pie crust: preheat the oven to 350°F. Place the chocolate cookies in a food processor and pulse until they are small crumbs of even size. Melt the 4 TBS butter in the microwave and stir into the cookie crumbs. Press the cookie crumbs around the bottom and sides of a 9-inch tart pan. Bake in preheated oven for 12 minutes, then remove and set aside to cool.
4. To make the chocolate mousse: roughly chop the chocolate and place pieces in a metal bowl. Add ¼ cup of the heavy cream to the bowl with the chocolate. Bring a small saucepan half full of water to a boil. Place the metal bowl over the boiling water and whisk chocolate until evenly melted. Set aside and let cool slightly. Beat the remaining heavy cream together with the sugar until the whipped cream holds a firm peak. Fold half of the whipped cream into the warm chocolate mixture, taking care not to overmix. After incorporating the first half of the cream, gently fold in the second half of the whipped cream, leaving some streaks of white and chocolate. In a clean bowl, beat the egg whites until stiff peaks form. Gently fold the egg whites into the mousse.
5. To assemble the pie: spoon the chilled passion fruit curd evenly over the bottom of the cookie crust. Use a spatula to spread the chocolate mousse over the top of the curd, leaving some of the curd visible around the edges of the pie. Dome the mousse in the center of the pie. Cover with plastic wrap and chill until set, at least 3 hours. You can also freeze the pie for 1-2 hours for a firmer set.

The post Latin Thanksgiving: Chocolate Mousse and Passion Fruit Pie appeared first on Katie at the Kitchen Door.

This month marks the one year anniversary of buying and moving into our house. It’s a little hard to believe it’s already been a year! We had grand plans for the house when we bought it (we still do) but we’ve progressed a little slower (OK significantly slower) than we planned. Our major accomplishment is that we’re halfway through renovating our basement, and really, that’s mostly thanks to Carl (thank you Carl!!!) and to Trevor’s dedicated trench digging. And Trevor has painstakingly renovated the guest room – it’s almost done and is going to look gorgeous with the new orange couch we bought. But even though the to-do list for the house is miles long, I love living in it the way it is. Because it’s ours!

The last time I moved, from the sunny Davis Square house I shared with three roommates, to the little Inman Square apartment Trevor and I moved into, the place that will always be our first apartment, I wrote this post, about all the things I would miss and all the things I was looking forward to. This time, I didn’t have the time to indulge in that kind of thinking before we moved, but now that things are calmer and our new house is starting to feel like ours, I find myself thinking about it more – what I miss, what I love.

There’s so much that I love about our new house. One of the biggest things is the light – every room in our house is filled with sun, and we know at any given time of day the best spot to curl up in the sun for a minute or two. The sun is also the key to the second thing I love – having our own garden, which is thriving. We don’t have tons of space but we are making the most of it: in the front we’ve replaced hedges with a hodge podge of flowers – foxgloves and heather and poppies and whatever else tickled our fancy at the nursery. After much deliberation on varieties, we planted an apple tree this spring, and regularly talk about the wealth of apples we’ll have in oh, say, five years. And along the side of the house are the herbs and veggies and fruit bushes, planted neatly in raised beds that get 10 hours of sun a day this time of year. Almost every night you can find Trevor and I out “walking the grounds,” checking each plant’s progress and then sitting on our stoop to discuss. I love that.

I’m surprised how much I like living in a neighborhood. “Neighborhood” wasn’t particularly high on our list when we were house shopping – we were coming from a series of city apartments where neighbors weren’t really a concept that had much impact on our lives. We never even met any of our neighbors in Cambridge. So we were really lucky to end up moving into a place where neighbor is a word with meaning – people who will take in your trash barrels and check on your house while you’re away, who chat across fences when you both happen to be out. Families with kids that spend all day playing outside. It’s great. And when it’s nice, I like to take long evening walks around the nearby streets, looking at houses and gardens and just enjoying the fact that there’s little traffic and lots of fresh air. In Cambridge I only walked places when I had a destination or an errand – here I walk just to walk.

There’s more. I love having my own office. It might sound materialistic of me, but one of my favorite things is sitting at my gorgeous new desk, with a homemade latte in my favorite mug, snuggled up in my extremely soft jersey robe, catching up on emails and blogging with the early morning sun falling softly through the window. It’s “me-time” at it’s finest. I love that the entire house is filled with gorgeous wooden floors, deeper in color than most. I love that we can change whatever we want about the house. And I like the new routines we’re building, like the Friday morning dates we have at Tamper cafe, one of only two remotely trendy/interesting eating establishments within walking distance.

The list of things that I miss is shorter. I miss being able to walk 30 steps around the corner and find myself in one of best local grocery stores/butchers in the city, the kind of place where you can find pork belly and black pudding and fava beans without having to give it a second thought. Ditto for being able to walk across the street and choose from a selection of trendy bars and restaurants. I miss having a house cleaner – something we could afford when we had fewer rooms and no renovation costs. And I miss being a little closer to our friends, although honestly, we’ve been just as social as before – having easy access to the highway means an Uber home from downtown is only $20 and 15 minutes, which is very doable a few times a month. And I honestly can’t think of anything else I miss. Nothing about the house itself. Just walkability and a handful of individual establishments.

We have a friend who is currently studying for his Master of Wine examination, who knows vast amounts more about wine than I could ever hope to. We have another, mutual, friend who recently brought a bottle of champagne to a soccer game to celebrate a finals win (they lost), only to find upon popping the cork that the champagne had gone flat. Upon discussing this event our wine-y friend told us – “Never save champagne. Open it up on a Tuesday night just because.” We are guilty of holding on to two bottles of fancy champagne that I know have been improperly stored. So we heeded his advice and opened one, just because, and also to celebrate our home-ownership anniversary. We drank half and the rest we poured over this gorgeous Rhubarb Campari Sorbet, which we slupred while watching Game of Thrones (now #champagneofthrones).

A few things to note. One, yes, it might seem wasteful to pour Veuve Cliquot over sorbet. I say, whatever floats your boat. Two, yes, the sorbet in some of these photographs is not at all set – it was almost Game of Thrones time and I couldn’t wait any longer. I need a blast chiller. Three, because of the aforementioned not-set sorbet, I photographed these again the next night. And yes, I opened another bottle of prosecco. Only this time, it was a $10 bottle of La Marca that’s been in our fridge for 2 1/2 years, so, about time. Which brings me to the main point of this paragraph – the prosecco was actually a much better match for the sorbet. It is significantly sweeter and blends better with the sweet and tangy sorbet. So, in conclusion, open your fancy champagne on a Sunday night just because. But if you’re going to pour it over sorbet, open the $10 prosecco instead. Or open both and live it up.

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Rhubarb Campari Sorbet

Makes 1 1/2 pints (3 cups). A Katie at the Kitchen Door original recipe.

• 1 lb. rhubarb, roughly chopped into segments (about 4 cups chopped)
• 1/2 c. water
• 1 c. sugar
• 3 TBS campari

1. Add rhubarb, water, and sugar to a large saucepan and bring to a simmer over medium heat. Simmer until the rhubarb is very soft and almost falling apart, about 10-15 minutes, stirring frequently. Remove from the heat and transfer to a blender. Blend on high until the mixture is a very smooth puree. Always use caution when blending hot liquids! Pour the blended mixture through a fine mesh strainer, using a spatula to press the mixture through the strainer into a large bowl. Stir the campari into the strained rhubarb puree until evenly combined. Chill the mixture until very cold.
2. Churn the chilled rhubarb puree in an ice cream maker according to the manufacturer’s instructions. Once churned, you may need to let the sorbet sit in the freezer for another 1-3 hours before it is firm enough to scoop.

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It is well and truly summer in Boston, at least for now. Today it’s 91° and hazy hot (91! In May! My coworker in Madrid says its hotter here in Boston than in Spain, which almost never happens). The trees have gone from the pale green of spring to the deep green of mid-summer. The zucchini plants are growing by inches every day, and the tomatoes could not be happier (although the delicate foxgloves flop over in the midday sun). The other morning I walked out of the subway station to find a group of 3rd graders on a field trip and the smell of sunscreen hit me full force. It made me smile – the idea of being outside all day, hot and steamy, running through sprinklers and guzzling cold lemonade. The smells of summer are the best – freshly mowed grass, hot pavement, salty sea air. I get tired of summer fast, but for now, it’s a novelty, and I love it.

Last weekend, I was at a beach house on the Jersey Shore for my college roommate’s bachelorette party. Friday the weather was absolutely perfect, and we spent the morning and early afternoon sitting out in the sun, drinking shandies, walking on the beach, and playing cornhole. Around 2, someone had the idea of walking to the ice cream parlor about a mile away and my heart lit up. An ice cream cone with homemade ice cream, eaten on the boardwalk looking out at the beach? The definition of happiness.  The definition of summer. So we put on our shoes and walked the mile to the store – only to find that it wasn’t open until the next day! And of course Saturday was cold and rainy and no one wanted ice cream anymore (except secretly, I did). So I’ve spent all week thinking about that lost ice cream cone, and then it got hot and sunny in Boston and my ice cream fantasies morphed into ice cream float daydreams (inspired by last year’s Bon Appetit article), and here we are, Memorial Day Weekend, and I have boozy, dreamy, Tahini Caramel Ice Cream Floats for you.

This ice cream is an evolution of my favorite recipe, which started with the NY Times Strawberry Sour Cream Ice Cream, morphed into Blackberry Goat Cheese Ice Cream, and here takes the form of Tahini Caramel Date Ice Cream. The custard is almost as thick fridge-cold as it is frozen, which is just the way I like it. For the floats, pour a splash of bourbon in the glass, top with cream soda, add a scoop of ice cream, more cream soda, then finally top with whipped cream and a drizzle of extra caramel and you will be in instant ice cream heaven. For kids, just skip the bourbon. This combination of flavors – dates, tahini, caramel, cream soda, and bourbon – went above and beyond what I was dreaming of. Now I just have to make the ice cream last the whole weekend.

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Tahini Caramel Ice Cream Floats

Serves 2. Inspired by Bon Appetit.

• 2 oz. Bourbon
• 1 bottle cream soda
• 2 scoops Tahini Caramel Date Ice Cream, recipe below
• whipped cream
• Tahini Caramel Sauce, for drizzling

1. Add 1 oz. Bourbon to the bottom of two glasses or sundae dishes. Top each with a splash of cream soda and 1 scoop of ice cream. Pour remaining cream soda over ice cream until glass is almost full. Top floats with whipped cream and tahini caramel sauce.

Tahini Caramel Date Ice Cream

A Katie at the Kitchen Door original recipe, originally inspired by NY Times. Makes 1 1/2 quarts ice cream.

• 7 egg yolks
• 1 c. sugar, divided
• 1 1/2 c. heavy cream
• 1/2 c. whole milk
• 10 whole pitted dates
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 4 oz. neufchatel / low-fat cream cheese
• 1 cup of Tahini Caramel Sauce

1. Whisk the egg yolks and 1/2 cup of the sugar together in a large, heatproof bowl, until yolks are pale yellow. Set aside.
2. Add heavy cream, whole milk, dates, and remaining 1/2 cup of sugar to a large saucepan. Whisk briefly to combine, then heat over medium-low heat, whisking occasionally. When the cream mixture comes to a gentle simmer, remove from the heat and immediately transfer to a high-powered blender. Blend on high until dates are fully incorporated into the cream (always be extra careful when blending hot liquids!). Pour the hot cream mixture directly over the egg yolks, whisking the egg yolks vigorously as you do so to temper the yolks. Then return the mixture to the saucepan. Cook over medium-low heat, whisking constantly, until custard is thick, about 5 minutes, then remove from the heat.
3. Strain the custard through a fine-mesh sieve into a clean bowl, discarding any solids that are left behind. Stir the vanilla extract into the strained custard. Add the cream cheese to the custards in small pieces, and whisk until cream cheese is fully melted into the custard. Cover the custard tightly and refrigerate until cold, at least 3 hours but ideally overnight.
4. Freeze the ice cream according to the directions of your ice cream maker. Just before the ice cream is done churning, drizzle the caramel sauce into the top of the ice cream maker so it swirls into the ice cream. Alternatively, you can transfer the churned ice cream to a loaf pan, drizzle the caramel sauce on top, and use a spatula to swirl the caramel into the ice cream. Transfer the ice cream to a container, cover tightly, and freeze until firm enough to scoop.

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April, as I’m sure you all are well aware, is Earth Month. Although Earth Day itself falls on April 22nd, all month long we celebrate our world and take part in activities to protect its resources – our national parks, our clean water, our food, our air. Over the past year, I’ve begun thinking more about where my food comes from, and what went into creating it. I have more questions than I did before – what did this chicken eat? Was it healthy? What chemicals did this spinach absorb while it was growing? How far did this avocado travel to get to me? I care because how food was raised has a direct impact on not only my health, but the health of the earth. Putting too many constraints around your food sourcing can take away the joy of cooking, so I’m not, and probably never will be, a die-hard locavore or organic eater. But I do believe that when you can afford it, and when you can manage seeking out the best possible ingredients on top of all the other things you have on your to-do list, choosing consciously-raised ingredients is worth it.

I’ve also been noticing more and more how much better I feel when I put good, plant-based foods into my body (or, it might be more accurate to say that I notice more how bad I feel when I fill up on grease and empty carbs). I’ll never totally give up cheese or chocolate or hamburgers, but  I have started to treat those foods as, well, treats. Still, I have a killer sweet tooth, and one of the hardest things for me about healthy eating is finding  desserts that satisfy my cravings without totally blowing my healthy habits.

All this to say that when Star Market approached me about partnering with them on a post for Earth Month, using ingredients from some of the organic and environmentally-conscious brands they carry in their stores, I was on board. Throughout the month of April, they’ve been running their “Every Cart Counts” campaign, encouraging shoppers to choose ingredients from WhiteWave brands like So Delicious, Earthbound Farm, Silk, Simply Pure, Horizon, and Vega. As part of the promotion, some lucky shoppers around the country have had WhiteWave buy their entire cart of groceries when they contain one or more participating items – because a single choice can have a big impact on your health and your environment, and that’s worth rewarding!

Because of the afore-mentioned sweet tooth, I decided I wanted to work on a dessert recipe to help promote this campaign. Something that felt like dessert, not health food masquerading as dessert, but still cut out a little fat and a little sugar from my dessert choices. Using just 5 ingredients – So Delicious Unsweetened Almond Milk, eggs, gelatin, dates, and cinnamon – I made a simple but elegant almond milk panna cotta, topped with a berry sauce using Earthbound Farm’s organic frozen berries. Panna cotta is one of the easiest desserts out there, and I was able to throw this together in 20 minutes right after work, put it in the fridge to set for a few hours, and then enjoy that same night after dinner. It’s very light – since the panna cotta itself uses only dates as sweetener, it relies on the berry sauce for the bulk of its sweetness (although a caramel or chocolate sauce would be equally at home here, I think).

Treat the earth right, treat yourself right – the next time you’re at the grocery store, take a moment mid-shop and look at your cart. Is there anything you could swap for something that will not only be better for you and your family, but better for our environment, too? Could a bag of frozen spinach make a better filling addition than ground beef for your lasagna, leaving you to enjoy a nice steak later in the week guilt free? Would your kids be OK with coconut milk ice cream this week instead of a dairy-based treat? Even the small choices once a week add up – every cart counts!

This is a sponsored conversation written by me on behalf of Albertsons Safeway. The opinions and text are all mine.

Cinnamon Almond Milk Panna Cotta with Berry Sauce

Serves 4.

• 2 1/4 c. So Delicious Unsweetened Almond Milk, divided
• 6 pitted dates
• 2 large egg yolks
• 1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1 packet (1/4 oz.) gelatin
• 1 c. Earthbound Farms frozen berries
• 1/4 c. sugar

1. Place 2 cups of the almond milk and the dates in a blender and blend on high until mixture is smooth. Pour into a large saucepan and bring to a simmer over medium heat, then remove from heat. In a heat-proof bowl, whisk the egg yolks and cinnamon together until yolks are pale yellow and smooth. Pour the hot almond milk mixture into the eggs in a thin stream, whisking the eggs as you do so, to temper the eggs. Pour the mixture back into the saucepan and return to a simmer, whisking the whole time to prevent the eggs from scrambling. Mixture should thicken slightly. Remove from the heat once thickened.
2. Put the remaining 1/4 cup of almond milk in a bowl. Sprinkle the gelatin over the top of the milk and let stand for one minute. Pour the hot almond milk through a fine-mesh sieve on top of the gelatin, pressing on any solids that remain in the sieve to extract as much liquid as possible. Stir gelatin and almond milk mixture to thoroughly combine. Pour the panna cotta mixture into four 4-oz ramekins. Cover each ramekin with plastic wrap and place in the fridge. Refrigerate until set, at least 3 hours.
3. To make the berry sauce, place frozen berries and sugar in a small saucepan, heat over medium-low heat, stirring frequently. Cook until berries have released their juice and have softened to the point where you can squish them with the back of a wooden spoon. Remove from the heat and set aside.
4. To serve the panna cotta, remove the ramekins from the fridge. Carefully run a knife around the edge of each panna cotta to loosen it from the ramekin. Place a plate on top of each ramekin, and invert to unmold the panna cotta. Serve topped with a generous spoonful of berry sauce.

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