Labor Day Desserts

Hello from the other side of Labor Day! This early September post brings tidings of how I spent - or more specifically, ate during - my long weekend. I visited towns of the new and port varieties, doing Newburyport, MA one day and Newport, RI another. Your blogger is a sucker for New England seaside villages, so she got the most out of summer's last hurrah.

Newburyport

Ah, Newburyport - perhaps my favorite of all those villages, the place I could easily visit each weekend, the town which every other town should emulate. My family has a bit of history with the area, so I try to get there each summer. I'm so glad I was able eat fresh seafood at Michael's, sample fresh beer at Newburyport Brewing Company, enjoy live music in the waterfront park, browse endearing local shops, and eat raspberry chip ice cream at Gram's Homemade Ice Cream.

Gram's makes many fantastic flavors, but years (decades?) of trips have led me to zero in on this one. The raspberry flavor of this bright pink ice cream is not the diluted, overly saccharine version you usually find. Rather, it is bright and tangy, with a freshness (and occasional seed) that convinces me that real berries are in it. Imagine a sorbet's pert flavor with an ice cream's composition. Then, it has two kinds of chocolate chips! First, we have large, flat, semisweet chips. These brittle additions add a nice crunch, though they don't really melt in your mouth. Then, we have the scene-stealers. Imagine the tiniest possible peanut butter cups, but instead of having peanut butter on the inside, they're filled with raspberry jam. Such glorious nuggets were liberally incorporated into the ice cream, so that one could get tangy berry freshness, smooth creaminess, a bitter chocolate crunch, the warmth of milk chocolate, and a small burst of fruit all in one bite. A treat if I've ever had one!

Gram's always gets me going, but I was beyond excited to discover a new bakery off State Street! Buttermilk Baking Company's unassuming sign somehow caught my eye; when I walked up to their storefront and opened the door, I knew I had found the Clear Flour of Newburyport. You're greeted by the heady scent of warm, buttery dough and fresh fruit; you see cases filled with fruit tarts, pies, cakes, cookies, scones, all with that hearty and rustic look. It turns out that they're a year-old farm-to-table operation that clearly takes pride in what they've hand-made from local sources. (Thanks to Buttermilk's site [linked above] for this image!)

I took a small peach raspberry pie home, and boy, did it deliver! It made a fantastic visual impression, due to a lightly browned crust ornamented with sparkling turbinado sugar and occasional oozed filling. Also, I love the little dough heart that crowned it all!

The interior was similarly impressive. The filling had peach slices, finely-chopped peach bits, and whole raspberries, reduced by the oven into a soft and gooey mixture. I doubt any sugar was added to the filling, it was so delightfully tart. There may have been spices in there - I couldn't quite place what I'd call a faint chutney quality - but that quality didn't take away from the main event, the superior fresh fruit.

The combination of crust and filling was perfection. The crust was solid, chewy, and buttery, and it really stood up to the dense filling. Its bottom and sides did not get soggy! No flimsy flakes here, phew. The filling had mostly settled into the pie's base, but the top crust crumbled nicely (with its crunchy sugary bits!) into the filling to guarantee all bites had fruit and pastry.

Buttermilk offers a wide range of pies. I wonder what they'll have when I'm next in town. Will I bring home an apple cranberry? A strawberry rhubarb? Or even a Mississippi Mud?!

Newport
I saw a different side of Rhode Island's tony town this weekend. A past excursion involved the lovely Cliff Walk and amblings among stately homes, while this trip centered on the (unfortunately tourist-trap-like) shopping area and waterfront scene. At least there were delicious desserts among the tacky tees!

To me, fudge isn't eaten under "normal" circumstances. I won't crave it in the city or my hometown. Rather, I'll get it on getaways only. It's like it can't exist without quaint architecture, wildflower gardens, cobblestone streets, a town square, and fresh mountain or seaside air. Fortunately, such places tend to have at least one small-batch fudgery - and Newport was no exception! The Newport Fudgery's fudge is hand-whipped in copper kettles; imagine churning butter on a larger (and tastier) scale. They had at least 10 flavors available, so I left with (only) two! I ate the gooey treats over the next few days. I don't have pictures for you, but one description might get your mouth watering.

The fudge's texture was perfect - talk about incredibly smooth and consistent, entirely lacking the graininess that often spoils fudge. Flavor-wise, I'm happiest with the chocolate peanut butter fudge. It was a creamy, harmonious blend of milk chocolate and peanut butter; I really can't imagine a better expression of those two ingredients together. The only downside? It had occasional peanuts mixed in, which got soggy over time. Gross! The triple chocolate fudge was much less appealing, even though it lacked nuts. I thought of Baker's chocolate squares, fudgified - sure, you can tell it's made predominantly from semisweet chocolate (as the other two chocolate flavors stayed hidden), but there's also a waxy, chalky taste that really disappoints. I wonder if more sugar would have helped? This was my first semisweet fudge, and I won't need another.

I ate a completely different dessert on-site! Newport Cookie Company has a delightful bakery store that offers cookies, cupcakes, and ice cream in a tea room-inspired setting. Their big draw, for us, was the make-your-own ice cream sandwich. You could choose any of their varied cookie offerings, and an ice cream flavor, to create your own dessert heaven. I chose a heath bar cookie, a chocolate peanut butter chip cookie, and cookies 'n' cream ice cream.

Look at that monster! The ice cream was made by Gifford's, a Maine creamery whose distribution pattern seems to match wherever I'm allowed to have fudge. (I've seen their New England-inspired flavors before, at Woodman's of Essex - a fried-seafood institution just a short drive from Crane Beach.) Their cookies 'n' cream flavor is solid, though they use more Oreo crumbs than actual cookie pieces. The cookie "bread" was what really stole the show! The chocolate peanut butter chip cookie was lumpy and soft, almost like a chewy brownie, with a pleasantly rich chocolate flavor. The chips were sweet and gooey, obviously preferable to actual peanuts. The heath bar cookie was flatter and stronger, made of a sugar cookie dough with heath bar crumbles scattered throughout. I appreciated the cookie's (very high) candy density! I love the caramel notes and solid crunch that toffee brings to baked goods.

That said, these three parts didn't stay together too well. I spooned most of my ice cream out the sandwich's sides, and broke off cookie pieces as they crumbled away. However, those cookie bits that got soggy with melting ice cream were particularly good.

I'd stop by the Cookie Company again, though who knows if I'd get a cookie? I might have to encourage their tendency to decorate with my favorite color - seriously, all non-cookie items had purple flourishes - by buying a cupcake. :-)

Tips, Taps, Desserts

I've heard a lot about Brian Poe's cooking, thanks to friends who know him and his food. So, Jeff suggested we check out Poe's newest venture, The Tip Tap Room. What's in a name like that, you ask? Basically, meat (offered as tips from animals both everyday and exotic) and beer (flowing from the taps). As if meat and beer weren't enough, I was told they had good desserts. Never one to shirk dessert duty, we went. And an epic meal happened!

(Disclaimer: This is going to sound like a lot of food, but even the main portions were all appetizer-size or slightly smaller. So, we got little tastes of lots of things!)

The appetizers kicked things off right. Here is rock shrimp fried in kataifi and nori noodles, served with cucumber salad in a sweet chili ginger sauce.

Rock shrimp are small, sweet, and crisp. Their sweetness was a nice complement to the umami of the noodles wrapped around them. Those noodles were also crisp, but the sauce had softened them in places; so, there were a variety of textures in play. The sweet chili ginger sauce, with its fiery, tangy, and sugary notes, also played into the depth of the dish. I must confess, I forgot about the cucumber salad when I saw our next appetizer. Poe's take on grilled figs, stuffed with blue cheese and wrapped in pancetta, was another burst of varied but complementary flavors.

Sweet figs, tangy cheese, and salty pancetta were all soft delights. Burnt balsamic butter gave extra flavor to those pieces of pancetta that fell onto the plate! I liked having the balsamic flavor, often too vinegary for my taste, incorporated into something creamier. I could enjoy its unique taste without being overwhelmed.

The main course (meat course?) came next. The item at left is a yak burger with beer cheese and bacon. The little bit of beer cheese I had - most of it ran off the burger - was tasty, and the bacon was distinctive thanks to Poe's "Beacon Hill" curing process. I'm glad I tried yak, but I don't think I'll get it again. Yak is really lean, and it had none of the moisture that I usually enjoy in medium-rare meat. It was still tender, though, and the burger nearly fell apart as I ate it. The flavor was earthier, grassier, and more natural than beef.

The burgundy (!!!) meat at right is an ostrich tip. I hope its extraordinary appearance suggests how extraordinary it was to eat. The tip had marinated for a day prior, and was therefore succulent and tender. Ostrich is tougher than other birds, but the marinating softened it considerably. Some enjoyable chewiness remained, though! The flavor is unlike any other meat's. It's deep, and gamey, and doesn't need any salt or spices. Wow! I'd eat this again, and again, and...again.

An epic meal, right? Just wait. Things were about to get crazy, which apparently happens when your friend knows the chef and you advertise your love of desserts to said chef. We had planned to share the bread pudding. That apparently wasn't enough for Chef Poe. He surprised us with...

3 DESSERTS.

My eyes grew wide as the staff brought them all out at once. Let's go through them in as much detail as I can muster; please excuse my spotty recall from this taste-bud overload!

I don't normally like this type of dessert, but the bread pudding was to die for! It was made of brioche pieces that had been mixed with blackberries and white chocolate.

The bread was soft and chewy, but not too dry or soggy. (Most bread puddings I've had are one extreme or the other.) The brioche's pleasant vanilla flavor wasn't overwhelmed by the pudding's other parts. There were only a few berries throughout, which makes me think that berry juice or jam contributed most of the fruit flavor and color. The white chocolate worked well with the vanilla notes in the bread, and added a creamy consistency to the dessert that would have been missing otherwise. A dollop of whipped cream and a mint leaf served as garnishes. Then, the whole thing was drizzled in whiskey caramel. I love caramel, but dislike whiskey; fortunately, this sauce had much more of the former. It was a great sugary topper to a surprisingly complex dessert.

Next up was a lemon souffle with raspberry sauce!

I loved the pure fruit flavors in this dessert. Nothing was unnecessarily sweetened, so every bite was full of vibrant tang. The souffle was light as air, with so much flavor relative to its density. The raspberry sauce was a substantive anchor to the dish. A glaze reminiscent of thinned lemon curd was drizzled over it all, and a mint leaf plus streusel-like crumb topping were the finishing touches.

I've saved the best for last. This dessert wasn't on the menu, but I hope it gets there someday so everyone can try it! Behold a unique take on the brownie sundae, with brownies in port sauce in the foreground and a chocolate pudding cup in the background.

The brownies were your average dense, chocolatey baked goods, cut into small squares and positioned beautifully around the plate. They sat on small pools of a really strong port sauce, with aggressive raisin and alcohol notes, and were covered in stripes of chocolate frosting. Some strawberries added a fruity twist. I liked how many flavors there were in that small space, but the piece de resistance was hiding in the pudding cup. Here's a closeup of the treats within.

First of all, what do we see here? Deliciously creamy Valrhona milk chocolate feves and white chocolate batons, whose virtues I have previously extolled in these pages. Smaller chocolate shavings across the percent-cacao spectrum. Light-as-air whipped cream. Crunchy caramelized sugar. So many different kinds of sweet! And secondly, what's hiding beneath? The chocolate pudding, mixed with some creamy alcohol - Kahlua, or Baileys. This is how I like my desserts turned "adult", with something that itself is a liquid dessert. I absolutely loved this "desserts within desserts WITHIN DESSERTS" approach.

I think I've hit on something the Tip Tap Room does well, in both the sweet and savory realms - multifaceted gastronomic delights that give you as much as possible in every bite.

Jeff and I got through most of what was before us. I felt guilty leaving some delicious bites behind, but I know I'll be back for more. Thanks, Chef Poe and the Tip Tap Room, for a really unique dining experience!

The Friday Night Burger Crew Does Dessert

The Friday Night Burger Crew, somewhat of a "thing" in December 2011, has come back in full force in January 2012 - though not always on a Friday, and usually with more than a burger. In fact, adding "Dessert" to our name would be appropriate! Let's review what we ate together this month.

Our first gathering featured a Fleming's burger and a Finale dessert, on a Wednesday, no less. If I had a picture of the burger, it would probably get blogged in this post, but I'll have to content myself with telling you all about a new item at Finale that combines two of my favorite things. This, dear readers, is Finale's peanut butter pie!

This immense dessert consists of a thin cocoa-peanut crust, one thick layer of peanut butter mousse, a thin chocolate ganache layer interspersed with peanuts, another thick mousse layer, and a substantive frosting-style topping of chocolate ganache. Garnishes include crumbled peanut brittle, chocolate gelato, and a creamy peanut drizzle.

The pie's crust is unremarkable. A dry blend of cocoa powder and peanut flour, it has less flavor than you would expect, and it crumbles too easily. The mousse itself is interesting, but not substantive enough to be the core, defining component of the dessert. It is extremely light and fluffy, with a very faint peanut butter flavor. It's more of a sturdy whipped cream than any mousse I've had, so I could more easily see it as a garnish on a cake or tart. The ganache layer separating the mousse layers is delicious, albeit too thin; fortunately, the topping makes up for that! The peanuts sounded like a nice touch but were actually disappointing. They had become too soggy in their proximity to the moist mousse, and as you may know, few dessert items are more unpleasant to me than soggy nuts. Moving on up the cake, we end with a gloriously thick topping of that chocolate ganache. Smooth, dense, and bittersweet, it is the perfect opposite to the airy, sugary mousse.

The garnishes are complex and interesting. The gelato, a chilly burst of bittersweet Valrhona chocolate, packs enough chocolate punch to compensate for any bites of pie lacking ganache. The peanut drizzle, seen at the tip of the pie, is boldly nutty and heavy with cream. The dessert as a whole benefits from the assertive peanut flavor; I only wish there was more of it on the plate! I do not recommend the peanut brittle, seen at the far side of the plate. Nuts, salt, sugar, and condensed milk do not make for a dessert, in my opinion, though the powdered brittle would be an interesting topping for the gelato or the ganache.

I'm not sure if I would order this pie again, but I appreciate Finale attempting a flavor pairing that is near and dear to my heart!

The Crew's next outing found us dessert-ing at an unexpected location. Firebrand Saints serves all manner of meats - the options include, and go beyond, mind-blowing burgers - in a bustling industrial space near Cambridge's Kendall Square. (I'm totally obsessed with the Kendall nightlife renaissance, btw.) I came to FS for the burger, and stayed for the cherry pie! They serve pies made from local fruits; we could choose from pear-cranberry, cranberry-nut, or cherry pie, to be served with chocolate or strawberry ice cream. The cherry/chocolate combination sounded the most appealing, and wow, did we make a good choice. Look at this beauteous slice, with its plump fruit, thick crust, and generous scoop:

The cherries were a delight, so tangy and juicy and bursting with flavor. I detected a hint of citrus in the filling, most likely to brighten the taste (as I have done with apples), and maybe even a faint nuttiness, though I saw no nuts. The crust was really unusual, giving me even more encouragement to try making a crust from scratch. It was simultaneously flaky and substantive, something I've never encountered. The surfaces browned so nicely, and you could taste the warm butter in every chewy, mouth-coating bite. The ice cream was a bit too dense on its own, but that became a non-issue when it was left to melt over and into the pie.

I would guess that FS switches up their pies based on whatever fruits are available on any given day; so, I'd love to go back and see what other varieties they serve. In the meantime, I have a renewed appreciation for fruit pies, particularly the cherry variety. I usually overlook that genre when considering what dessert to order or make, but I now have some compelling evidence to change my ways!

Pre-Thanksgiving Feasts

Sometimes I'll digress from this blog's dessert focus and talk generally about awesome food. What better time to post such digressions than around Thanksgiving, when nearly every day involves epic eats?

Friendsgiving!

This is one of my favorite college traditions, which many of us BC alums still in the Boston area have kept alive in the years since. It all started our sophomore year, when we were living in suites and had access to our own kitchens for the first time. What could be better than a friendly potluck the weekend before we all went home for Thanksgiving? Mary offered to do the turkey and stuffing if the rest of us contributed sides…and as a result of these efforts, the common areas of Edmonds 333 were filled with feasting and fun.

8 years later, we still gather at someone’s apartment for Friendsgiving; Pat and Alyssa were kind enough to host this year. Here is my dinner plate!

As you can see, my portions were in no way moderate. (How can they be, when there is so much deliciousness to be had?) This made eating dessert difficult, as I had hardly any room for it. However, I managed to fit in a slice of my apple spice cake, a chocolate peanut butter cookie, and some chocolate pudding pie with an interesting cookie and nut crust. The only thing missing? One of Lena's "drunk pies". For the record, I would have had the chocolate-Frangelico pie!

*Burp.* I did not eat for 16 hours following that meal. I then broke the fast the following day with…

Sausagefest!

Dante regularly hosts spectacular food events. I had a blast at their Al Fresco Fiasco, so when Laura suggested we attend another event on November 20, I obviously said yes. Their yearly pre-Thanksgiving events have focused on a particular type of food – for example, a Ravioli Rumble or Soup Slurpdown – and this year’s sausage-themed event was…the Sausagefest. Chefs from area restaurants served bite-size portions of sausages and accompaniments throughout Dante’s restaurant space and patio.

I’m not traditionally a fan of sausage. I could rattle off a list of why: its composite nature, fashioned from what I consider the reject parts of its source animal(s); nausea-inspiring collegiate encounters with “street meat”; its (gross) best friends Onion and Pepper, and so on. However, I ate well at this event. I think the variety of meats presented – like wild boar! – and creative accompaniments – like cranberry jalapeno salsa! – piqued my interest. Also, Dante!

My favorites were:

• ArtBar’s wild boar sausage in a miniature hot dog bun,
• Stella’s pork sausage with pickled onion, citrus aioli, and crispy potatoes, and
• Prezza’s mild fennel sausage with polenta, tomato sauce, and grated Parmesan.

Many attendees also liked these; Stella’s Evan Deluty was crowned “Sausage King” at the end of the event!

I then moved on to Brighton for…

Short Ribs and Dreamy Apple Pie!

Greg is an impressive cook! I knew this as soon he made me steak over the summer…and I was actually happy to eat it. (Believe it or not, your foodie blogger had never enjoyed a steak until then.) There have been many more delicious meals since that first cooking adventure. All the while, though, he has said that his short ribs are one of his best dishes. I got to see, and taste, that for myself this weekend...after quite the cooking process. The ribs were prepped with some oil, salt, and pepper, and then stewed in a savory sauce of red wine, tomato juice, onions, and shallots, all in a stock pot in the oven, for nearly 4 hours. The pieces of meat had fallen off their bones by the end of that time, and the sauce had taken on a deep, complex flavor. 

Imagine tender, flaky, flavorful beef, with creamy mashed potatoes and the sauce the ribs had cooked in. If it’s possible for meat to very nearly melt in your mouth, I think that’s what happened here. I enjoyed mixing everything together for the best of all meal components in every bite!

Dessert, courtesy of yours truly, was supposed to happen after dinner. We ended up being too full to enjoy it then, but fortunately the next day – today! –  has restored my appetite. One slice in, I know this is a go-to recipe. What is this dessert, you ask?

I came across this Dreamy Apple Pie recipe online, and was instantly intrigued by the creamy sauce used to coat the apples, as well as the pie’s substantial crumble topping. I followed the Pioneer Woman's guidance exactly, with these exceptions:

• Trader Joe’s pie crust instead of homemade – I know, she who prides herself on from-scratch baking really needs to suck it up and just make a crust already. However, I thought the premade version would be easier to work with.
• Cortland apples instead of Granny Smiths – would you have expected anything else?
• Moar cinnamon. Obv.

A few comments on the making of the pie:

• The heavy-cream-based filling, oh my! A nectar of the gods. This syrupy sauce smelled warmly of vanilla and sugar; my extra cinnamon was not enough to overwhelm the more subtle flavors in the mixture.
• I assembled the crumble topping in the food processor as instructed. Wow, that thing can make perfect crumble topping…in less than 10 seconds! I actually over-processed the ingredients and ended up with larger, sticky chunks of topping; I manually broke them apart to achieve a more typical crumble appearance.
•  The premade crust was a tad too thin. I tore it in several places as I tried to get it in the pie dish. I can see homemade crust having an advantage here, since I could roll it to an acceptable thickness.
• The pie baked for 1 hour, and was gently covered in foil up to the last 10 minutes. Those last, uncovered 10 minutes were all we needed to pleasantly brown the pie’s surfaces.

And now, thoughts on the finished pie! The crust was fairly typical and pleasingly buttery. The apples softened an appreciable amount but did not turn to mush, and some of their juice merged with the sugar-cream mixture. In fact, the Londonderry Cortlands' slight tang provided a pleasant and necessary contrast to that sauce. The sauce added a creamy heaviness to the pie, which wasn't a problem in a small slice - no ice cream topping needed! - but would have been overwhelming in a larger one. Still, it was very smooth and sweet, and just apple-y enough. The crumble topping was the best part. Of course, the crumble layer being nearly as thick as the apple layer immediately won me over. There was more to appreciate than just quantity, though. The chopped pecans added a nice nutty depth in both flavor and texture, and I'm still so impressed with the topping's consistency as achieved with the food processor. Overall, I love what this recipe does in terms of taking standard pie ingredients, doing something slightly different to them or adding new twists to the old favorites, and finishing with a really unique and memorable pie.

My only complaint? There is absolutely no way to serve a clean slice of this stuff. Instead, you may expect a plate of pie...slop. It's all good slop, I promise!

~~~

After all that indulgence, I'm going to give my stomach a break - until Thanksgiving, that is. Stay tuned for more on that holiday in these pages!

If The Bakery Has 'Flour' in Its Name...

...I'm going to love it.

Greg has now recommended two establishments with this fortuitous word in their name. First came the Flour, over 2.5 years ago; this blog is pretty much a testament to how that introduction went! Then, just a few weekends ago, came Clear Flour Bread on the Brookline/Allston line, a happy discovery from his recent move to that area. I knew as soon as I smelled the buttery, doughy aroma of the block surrounding the bakery that we would have a memorably delicious breakfast!

The bakery itself has a tiny corner storefront, so tiny that there is room for maybe only 6 patrons inside. We lined up in an orderly fashion along the sidewalk with the rest of the to-be-patrons, and awaited our turn to be granted access. Such lines are a test of my patience, particularly when I can smell the delights I'm waiting for - but, we got there early enough that the line wasn't too long, and we had a box of four pastries ready to go in less time than I've waited in many lines at the other Flour. That Saturday morning was unusually bright and warm for October, so we repaired to a nearby park to share the spoils. Here they are, with their backdrop of Brookline grass.

This sampling of pastries really illustrates Clear Flour's versatility...and excellence. From the upper left, moving clockwise:

• Currant donut - this is easily the most substantive donut I've ever seen. It was breadier than most donuts, too, forsaking all cake-like elements for a more rustic, natural taste. The currants were plump and moist, a far cry from the raisin-like items you usually see in scones. I don't know if they absorbed the batter's moisture, or if this bakery simply uses fresher fruit? Either way, this item was unique. My one bite was more than enough.
• Gruyere croissant - I must wax rhapsodic about this. The croissant was the epitome of flaky, buttery, crisp yet chewy, melt-in-your-mouth pastry goodness. Imagine butter being spun into thin filaments or films, and then made solid, with so many warm, creamy flavors in each delicate flake. And then, to think - they filled that already-perfect baked item with cheese! Gooey, subtle, savory cheese! My tastebuds are whimpering for more as I write this. I challenge anyone to mention a better Bostonian croissant in the comments!
• Chocolate croissant - the same buttery glory of the above, filled with bittersweet pastry chocolate. The chocolate was evenly distributed throughout the croissant's base, leading me to enjoy pastry and filling in most bites. A rare treat.
• Plum tart - this rustic fruit tart was really exemplary, and it puts all daintier fruit pastries/danishes to shame. Heavy puff pastry dough formed the base and sides of the tart, which was then filled with plum slices, the occasional puff pastry dollop, some crumble topping, and a dusting of powdered sugar. Overall, the pastry was sweet, but no one component was overwhelmingly sugary. The puff pastry dough had an almost-sconelike taste, even. The dough touching the plums, and the plums themselves, were pleasantly gooey. I eat plums so rarely that their flavor and texture were an enjoyable surprise. Then, the topping crumbled nicely upon eating. I felt well sated, yet refreshed, after eating the tart.

Here is a close-up of the plum tart. Mmm!

There are few things for which I would gladly hop the T at 9:00AM on a Saturday morning, and honestly, with a Flour location within walking distance of my apartment, I didn't think another bakery 45 minutes away would be one of them. However, Clear Flour has now won that distinction. (As if there were any doubt, with a name like that!) I can't wait to go back.

Weekend Wontons

Here's a dilemma. It's 9:30PM on a Sunday. You last ate at 3:30PM, enjoying a later Friendly Toast brunch of monstrous chocolate-toffee pancakes, or a breakfast burrito with homefries. What are you going to make for dinner?

As I found out this past weekend, the correct answer is...wontons! Berry, chocolate, and bacon wontons, to be exact. It was a good answer. These dessert-like interpretations of the savory Asian appetizer are really easy to make, and they're tasty to boot! Here are the ingredients and process.

• wonton "skin" / wrappers
• frozen mixed berries (fresh berries risk turning into mush during the frying process)
• chocolate chips
• bacon, cooked
• canola oil
• powdered sugar (optional)

1. Lay out a wonton skin. Rub its edges with water.
2. Put a small amount of frozen fruit, chocolate chips, and/or bacon crumbles in the middle of the skin (for square wontons) or slightly toward one corner (for triangular/trapezoidal ones). I made berry chocolate or bacon chocolate wontons; never did the berries and bacon mix.
3. Fold the wonton skin over the filling onto itself, and press the wet edges against each other to form a seal.
4. Fold the sealed parts together, and press them securely. This extra step will help secure against breaking and bursting during the frying process.
5. Experiment with shapes and sizes! Multiple wrappers can be secured together, etc.
6. Heat approximately 1.5 inches of oil in a saucepan.
7. Drop the wontons in the hot oil, and fry them until done.
8. Remove the wontons from the hot oil, and let them cool to an edible, yet warm, temperature.
9. Dust with powdered sugar, if desired.
10. Enjoy!

Behold, our happy little confections! You bite through the crunchy outer shell, with its characteristic taste of oil and salt, and are met with a burst of warm fruit filling and melted chocolate. I was surprised at how much air snuck into the wontons, since they were folded rather tightly; this also disappointed me a little, because then I imagined the air space being filled with that much more gooey chocolate. Alas. Maybe the solution will be to stuff them more next time? The bacon chocolate wontons were also great, though obviously less gushy. If I make that variety again, I'll cook the bacon for less time. Chewier bacon may be a better complement to a crunchy shell than crunchy bacon. Either way, the salty sweetness was great.

It could be fun to start a series on dessert versions of traditionally savory foods. Heck, I'll even create a special tag for such posts. Anyone have suggestions to that end?

Cupcakes & Cocktails

I recently attended an exceptionally fun Cupcakes & Cocktails class at the Boston Center for Adult Education! 14 or so students came together in a large, well-equipped kitchen to be guided through the creation of three cocktails and three alcohol-infused cupcakes. I had expected the class to be more of an intensive learning experience than it was, but I came away with a few good tips and more than a few good memories. While each student got their hands in the pot - or rather, the mixing bowls and the ovens - at least once throughout the course, I was unusually lucky by getting to craft all three cocktails in addition to performing the expected baking tasks. I guess that's what happens when you (unintentionally) take a seat by the drink station!

So, what did we make?

• Birthday Cake shots - pineapple juice, amaretto, and vodka shaken to the point of frothiness and then decanted into glasses, topped with whipped cream and sprinkles. This most cake-like of libations was simply adorable, and tasty too.
• Jello Shot cupcakes - strawberry box mix plus strawberries and coconut rum, baked and then drizzled with un-set (liquid) strawberry jello. The frosting was simply pulped strawberries mixed with butter and more than one bag of powdered sugar. The cupcakes were topped with small squares of "mosaic" jello, which was an aggregate of small cubes of different-flavored jellos mixed together with plain gelatin. The cake itself was slightly too moist for the comparatively-thin consistency of a box cake. I couldn't detect any coconut or rum flavors, but the strawberry flavor was out in full force thanks to the incorporated berries and colorful jello drizzle. The frosting was faintly berry-flavored, assertively sweet, and surprisingly stiff. The jello was, well, jello.
• Sangria - macerated apples, peaches, orange slices, and lemon wedges steeped in a mixture of shiraz spiced with cinnamon and cloves, Grand Marnier, and apple juice. The result was a good, dark, winey sangria with plenty of sweet and juicy fruit.
• Sangria cupcakes - melted chocolate chips, cocoa powder, and red wine mixed in to a standard cake recipe, baked, and then topped with wine frosting and wine-soaked fruit compote. The very dense, finely-crumbed cake was robustly chocolatey, and there was a hint of berry jam flavor thanks to the wine. I think this treat had the best cake of the three. The frosting was like eating a concentrated dessert wine (sugar-wise, not alcohol-wise!), and while several fruits were used in the boiled wine compote, only the pineapples retained their shape and distinctive flavor. The strawberries and blueberries were lost to the wine.
• Apple Cider hot toddies - hot mulled cider and a shot of whiskey poured over a pat of spiced butter, garnished with whipped topping, a cinnamon stick, and spiced graham cracker crumbs. The resultant drink was warm and comforting, with just the right balance achieved between a kick (generous spicing, alcohol) and smoothness (whipped topping and melting butter). The highlight of this drink was the butter, which had been softened in its plain state and then blended with brown sugar, nutmeg, and cinnamon. I'd love to make my own spiced butter, and use it for more than just drinks!
• Tiramisu cupcakes - vanilla buttermilk cupcakes cut in half, with espresso-Kahlua syrup poured over the cut edges. The cupcakes were then reassembled with a dollop of marscapone-Kahlua frosting holding the halves together. The tops of the cupcakes were decorated with another dollop of frosting, plus some chocolate shavings. This was an excellent cupcake! I love the dense yet creamy-smooth texture achieved when baking with buttermilk and cake flour. The coffee flavor additions really shone against the plain cake canvas, and the marscapone frosting was unexpectedly airy and creamily smooth. It had none of the crystalline, faintly-crunchy texture of the stawberry frosting, though similar quantities of powdered sugar were used. I thought it complemented the cake very well, and I enjoyed the fact that it used so much dairy - it was almost as if I were eating a latte instead of straight-up espresso.

Here are some pictures from the class!

I really appreciated getting to work on several involved baking recipes and trying my hand at mixology. I even got to helm a KitchenAid standalone mixer - the appliance of my dreams! - as it whipped up some delicious frosting for our little treats. While a to-go box of 12 leftover cupcakes and all remaining strawberry frosting were delicious takeaways from the class, I hope the more practical skill- and knowledge-oriented takeaways will have more staying power. What are some good tips that I learned in this class?

• Macerate your fruit. Toss the fruit you plan on using in baking, or a drink, with sugar, and let it sit for 20 minutes or so before use. The sugar, by creating a solvent imbalance with the fruit, draws the juices forth from the fruit and releases the fruit's flavor. I really noticed the beneficial difference made by this process in the sangria and the strawberry frosting.
• Spices are welcome anywhere. I feel like a whole new world has been opened to me now that I am acquainted with spiced butter.
• Use an ice cream scoop when filling cupcake liners. The amount of batter held by the 2oz. half-sphere scoop is usually just right, and if it isn't, it's a lot less messy to correct the amount with a clean-edged scoop than a runny spoon.
• Don't fill your cupcake liners more than 3/4 full. That may be common knowledge, but as a traditionally overenthusiastic filler it was good for me to hear.
• Frosting shouldn't flow. When whipping up frosting with a mixer or beater, you can tell it's ready when you lift the whisk attachment from the frosting. It should stay static, in a column of sugary goodness, between the elevated mixing apparatus and the bowl.

I do wish I had learned more about baking with alcohol, since it's not as simple as arbitrarily replacing a "dry" recipe's wet ingredients with spirits and such. Fortunately, I have a new cookbook that should educate me on that topic.
 
Here's to baking, drinking, and any combination of the two!

A New Use for Goat Cheese

I added a springform pan to my bakeware arsenal this past weekend. What better way to inaugurate it than to make a cheesecake, and an unconventional one at that? A love of goat cheese and cranberries inspired the latest dessert to emerge from my kitchen. The recipe was begging to be tried for several reasons:

• The from-scratch crust requires a food processor. Is there a new food processor currently sitting in my kitchen? Yes!
• You get to candy your own orange peel. I am now slightly more experienced in making garnishes; also, why not apply this skill toward making orange chocolate in the future?
• The cranberries become an enticing drizzle when coated in warm honey. I’ve wanted to use some Napa Valley honey, obtained in October 2009’s California trip, for a few months, and here was my chance. My cranberry love goes without saying.
• Goat cheese in a dessert – need I say more?

Here's the finished cake, along with the orange and cranberry garnishes. Highlights of the production process include making the sugared and spiced graham cracker crust, something I have always enjoyed eating yet have not made until now; mixing turbinado sugar in the cake over granulated sugar, with the goal of giving the cake a grainier sweetness; peeling oranges with a vegetable peeler and sauteeing the julienned peel in melted sugar; and removing the pan's side after refrigerating the cake overnight – yes, it actually worked!

Most of the resulting tastes and textures were unexpected. The cheesecake itself looked runny, but it held its shape. It then melted instantly on my tongue. This strange state did not last – the cake has dried out since its weekend baking, and its texture and firmness have come to approximate "regular" cheesecake. The goat cheese flavor was not very distinct, with the finished product resembling ricotta cheese and cannoli filling more than the cheese I used. The turbinado sugar initially added graininess to the cake, but that roughness disappeared as the granules dissolved in the days post-mixing. Both versions of raw-sugar sweetness were enjoyable. The candied orange peel looked great on the cake, and it was pleasantly tangy for the first few chews – however, after that, the innate bitterness of the peel revealed itself. I don't know if we should have peeled thinner swaths of zest, or if the julienned strips should have been boiled longer. Either way, I was disappointed in this garnish and would like to improve or refine the process going forward. The honeyed cranberries were a delight, and were the one outcome of this recipe that tasted as I had expected. The extreme sweetness and tartness was perfect with the cheesecake, whose flavor profile sat squarely between those extremes.

This dessert gets a high score for creativity, though I plan on exploring traditional cheesecakes with my newly-initiated springform before I return to the goats' pen.

Not Your Average Thanksgiving Dessert

My family challenged me to make a “lighter” Thanksgiving dessert. This was a reasonable request – Thanksgiving dinner is a huge affair, and even I have trouble coaxing the “dessert stomach” open after heaps of delicious turkey and plentiful, delectable sides. So, it was out with the pumpkin pie, and in with a flavorful, holiday-appropriate, and deceptively light treat from Martha Stewart’s Great Food Fast cookbook. Here’s how to make the Cranberry Upside Down Cake:

• 8 T unsalted butter
• 1 C sugar
• 1/2 t ground cinnamon
• 1/4 t ground allspice
• 1 3/4 C cranberries
• 1 large egg
• 1 t vanilla extract
• 1 1/4 C all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 t baking powder
• 1/4 t salt
• 1/2 C milk
• Sweetened whipped cream

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Rub the bottom and sides of an 8" round cake pan with 2 T of the butter. (Note: this degree of buttering is not necessary, but give the pan a better-than-normal coat.)
2. In a small bowl, whisk together 1/2 C of the sugar with the cinnamon and allspice. Sprinkle the mixture evenly over the bottom of the pan, and arrange the cranberries in a single layer on top.

3. Cream the remaining 6 T butter and 1/2 C sugar until they are light and fluffy. Add the egg and vanilla; beat until well combined.
4. In another bowl, whick the flour, baking powder, and salt together.
5. Add the flour mixture to the butter mixture in three batches, alternating with the milk, until well combined.
6. Spoon the batter over the cranberries in the pan, and smooth the top. Place the pan on a baking sheet, and bake it until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean (30-35 minutes). Then, let it cool on a wire rack for 20 minutes. When it is time to remove the cake from the pan, run a knife around the edge of the cake and invert it onto the platter.

There was not enough bursting of cranberries to significantly soak the cake with juice – so, this is more of a tea cake with a well-secured cranberry-sugar topping than an upside down cake proper. You can see from the post’s first image that the recipe’s recommended amount of berries did not completely cover the pan. I wonder if adding additional cranberry coverage would improve the juiciness - I'll test that out when I bake this next. The topping is a refreshing combination of sweet and tart, with the allspice providing a hint of bite that initially catches you off guard. The caramelized sugar is somewhat crunchy, and that plus the warm, soft berries is a textural treat. The cake below has a pleasant buttery vanilla flavor, and its texture is somehow creamy and light. Whipped cream is not necessary, but it doesn't hurt to add another light, sweet flavor (and texture!) to the dessert.

It goes without saying that I was able to make room for this after the holiday meal!

How About Them Apples!

Oh, the fun of baking with apples! I must share two treats made with this fall’s Londonderry Cortland harvest.

My classic apple dessert is apple crisp. It’s hard to find a dessert that’s easier to make than this. Cut four peeled, cored apples into thin slices; array the slices within a greased 9x9 square baking dish; cover in a crumble topping made of ½ cup (each) oats, flour, and brown sugar, with cinnamon to taste (oh, a tablespoon?) and enough butter to make coarse crumbs when blended with the other crumble ingredients (usually 1 stick). Bake for 30 minutes at 350 degrees, let cool, and enjoy! Doesn’t it look tasty?

Once the obligatory crisp was baked and consumed, it was time to branch into new dessert territory. I made my first apple pie this fall, and the results were promising enough that I look forward to making more. I wanted something slightly different than the standard apple pie, so I turned to Ina Garten of Barefoot Contessa for inspiration. This citrusy apple pie recipe yielded an unusual dessert that grew on me with each bite. The lemon and orange zest and juice added so much citrus that the filling resembled an apple chutney more than simple spiced apples. Fortunately, scoops of vanilla ice cream tamed the tang when needed. Apart from the citrus, the pie filling was conventional - flour, sugar, and warm, cozy spices. You can see the pie in its various stages of progress below. To start, note the heap of fruit! This was only 5 apples; though the recipe called for 8, I didn't want to deal with an even taller mountain. Then, it was difficult to secure the top crust over the mound, but we succeeded and even brushed it with the recipe's sugary egg wash for extra cripsness and sweetness. Next, the steaming finished product is removed from the oven, juices dribbling. Lastly, we have a slice of pie with ice cream at the ready.




And, I must share a postscript. I revisited this cake for 2009's Thanksgiving breakfast, but added one recipe component I had previously ignored: a brown sugar sauce for drizzling and dipping. The result was like a thin caramel, which I poured over the warm cake as soon as the cake came out of the oven. This added delicious, sweet, chewy moisture to the cake, and the caramel taste went really well with the spiced apples. The glaze recipe made a lot of extra sauce, which I saved and poured over individual slices at breakfast time. I also dipped the occasional piece of chocolate in the pseudo-caramel, which was a most welcome treat! I might make the glaze again, cool it, and roll balls of it in melted chocolate in an attempt at caramel truffles.

California Dessertin': Feeling Fruity

Peach Cobbler at The Monk's Kettle

This dessert ended my favorite meal of the vacation, and one of my favorite meals of the year. The Monk's Kettle features Belgian-style beers and fresh, quality interpretations of comfort classics. Bostonians, imagine a smaller, Californified Publick House. I wasn't sure if their desserts could reach the same degree of excellence as my pot pie of the day, but our dessert choice definitely did. The cobbler was served in a small crock fresh out of the oven; the juices dribbling out of the crock may have been bubbling! The peach slices within the cobbler were a variety of thicknesses and the perfect degree of ripeness. Some sugar was mixed in, clearly, but not enough to mask that fresh peach tartness or make the dessert overly syrupy. The crumble topping was thick and oaty with a hint of cinnamon. It may have walked the line between savory and sweet, which I historically consider perfect for peaches. The crumbly dough was then topped with vanilla bean ice cream and garnished with mint. The ice cream melted rather quickly given the oven freshness of the dessert - so, each bite was a delightful combination of tart peaches, buttery cinnamon crumble, and cool vanilla. Does it get better than this?

Baking at the Brewery

This most recent summer weekend came to a delicious close in Portsmouth, NH. After spending the day sunning ourselves at local beaches, we decided that few things could be better than eating pub food and drinking local beer - so, I recommended the Portsmouth Brewery's restaurant, long a family favorite for its hearty sandwiches and relaxed, airy dining space. Even I was pleasantly surprised with the excellence of the establishment's appetizers and dinners - the menu has grown more varied, and the food's quality has increased, over the years - as well as the desserts! The following desserts found their way to our table.

• Chocolate Stout Cake - this monstrous two-layer cake was made with the brewery's own "Black Cat" stout, frosted with milk chocolate icing, and drizzled in chocolate sauce. A hearty dollop of freshly-whipped cream accompanied the dessert, and its purpose became apparent after the first bite. The cake was extremely dense thanks to the stout, and any cool attempt (in cream form) at lightening it was welcomed. Even glasses of beer and water couldn't help the entire cake down. The beer taste was noticeable, but not too distracting. Overall, I found the cake to be too dense, and slightly too dry and bitter - probably nothing that a little extra oil in the recipe couldn't fix!
• Fruit Cobbler - imagine a large ramekin filled with mixed fruit (strawberries, blueberries and raspberries), topped with an inch-thick layer of hearty crumble topping and a finishing dollop of vanilla cream. Such was the glory that I ordered and enjoyed. The berries were fresh, and the crumble topping was well-spiced, with plenty of oaty chunks to crunch. My only objection was to the walnuts strewn throughout the topping. Otherwise, consider this repeat-order-worthy and an inspiration to my own kitchen.
• Vanilla Saffron Pound Cake - this unusual offering was from the "Brewer's Table No. 22" menu, a rotating list of specials with custom beer pairings. The pound cake had a pleasant vanilla flavor with only a hint (fortunately) of saffron, and the clear vanilla glaze drizzled over the confection had the faintest hint of lemon. A cassis-moscado sorbet accompanied the cake, and I thoroughly enjoyed this unconventional medium for black currant flavor.

Impressive for a local pub, eh? We were all stuffed after dining so heartily, so we had no room for Annabelle's Ice Cream, another Portsmouth food favorite. Maybe next time?