If there is one dessert that I make when I need or want something from my boyfriend it's probably a chocolate molten cake.  There is something about the decadent nature of this dessert that causes the recipient to feel beholden to anyone who takes the time and effort to prepare it.  The best kept secret about this dessert is the fact that despite being an impressive and seemingly complicated thing to make, it is fact a breeze to whip up.  But please don't tell anyone else about this.  For if you want someone to feel indebted to you, make them a molten! 

This recipe comes from Nigella Lawson's, How to be a Domestic Goddess . 

Molten Chocolate Cakes 

• 1/2 Stick unsalted butter at room temperature 
• 1/2 Cup sugar 
• 12 ounces of bittersweet chocolate
• 4 Large eggs
• 1/3 Cup flour 
• 1 Teaspoon vanilla
• 1 pinch of salt
• 6 ramekins (ceramic molds) approx. 6-ounces in size, lined with parchment paper 

1)  Prepare the ramekins that you'll bake the moltens in:  butter them and line the bottom with parchment.  This step will insure that the moltens will ease out of the ramekin molds after baking.

2)  To start melt the chocolate because it needs a chance to cool before you add it to the rest of the ingredients.  To melt the chocolate start by boiling a pot that has about 3-4 inches of water in it – you want there to be enough water so that it won't evaporate quickly but you also want to be able to rest a glass or metal bowl over the pot without the bottom of the bowl coming in direct contact with the water.  The idea is to melt the chocolate with indirect heat, i.e. the steam from the water.  Once the water comes to a boil turn down the heat to medium and place a glass or metal bowl over it and add the chocolate to the bowl.  If using bars of chocolate break them into small pieces so that they will melt faster.  Once the chocolate melts take off the heat and and allow to cool.  I find Ghirardelli's bittersweet chocolate works well in this recipe and their bars come in 4 oz. size so you need exactly 3 of them.

3)  Cream the butter and sugar together in a large bowl while the chocolate cools.   The butter must be at room temperature so that it's softened and easier to work with.  This just means using a spoon to stir them together until totally incorporated.  Then add one egg at a time and beat into the mixture.  Once you've added all 4 eggs add a pinch of salt (I use sea salt) and the vanilla extract.  The next step is adding the flour.  And finally, mix in the melted chocolate.

4)  Fill the ramekins with the batter evenly.  You can either cover them with plastic wrap and refrigerate until you're ready to bake them or you can bake them immediately.  If you cook them immediately bake for 10-12 minutes at 400F.  If refrigerating them bake for 12-14 minutes at 400F.   I recommend serving with your favorite vanilla ice cream.

Note:  To more easily remove the moltens from their ramekins after they've baked, gently slide a knife around them to loosen and flip onto a plate.

Enjoy! 

I've written in the past about strong food-associated memories and none are as strong for me as those that surround family holidays – especially Christmas.  The mere smell of clementines remind me of Christmas time along with the smell of cloves and cinnamon.  Since Kareem and I usually head home for the holidays I've tried to capture some of the festivity in our apartment by making gingerbread cookies.  These cookies fill the house with the aromas of spices and the plateful of decorated cookies serve as a reminder of the upcoming holidays.  Since it's also the season of giving I love to have a treat to bring friends.  The recipe that I use is from Martha Stewart and the only alteration I've made is to roll out the dough a little bit thinner than she recommends and I cook them for less time.  The result is a more crisp cookie but if you prefer softer gingerbread feel free to disregard my notes.  I love the spiciness of these cookies – the black pepper offers a hidden zing that is unexpected and definitely unorthodox but the fact that these cookies aren't overly sweet is what makes them ideal for decorating in sugary sweet royal icing.  

• 6 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 2 sticks unsalted butter (room temperature)
• 1 cup firmly packed dark-brown sugar
• 4 teaspoons ground ginger
• 4 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cloves
• 1 teaspoon finely ground black pepper
• 1/2 teaspoons salt
• 2 large eggs
• 1 cup unsulfured molasses

1)  In a large bowl sift: flour, baking soda, and baking powder. Set aside.

2)  In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream butter and sugar until fluffy. Mix in spices and salt, then eggs and molasses. Add flour mixture; combine on low speed. Divide dough in thirds, and wrap in plastic. Chill for at least 1 hour.

3)  Heat oven to 350°.  On a lightly floured work surface, roll dough 1/8-inch thick.* Cut into gingerbread people shapes. Transfer to prepared baking sheets. 

4.  Cut out desired decorations and place on cookies. Bake until crisp, but not darkened for about 20 minutes. Let cookies cool on wire racks.

*Note:  I rolled the dough out a little bit thinner than Martha recommends and baked them for about 8-10 minutes – until crisp.  

Once the cookies have cooled they can be decorated using royal icing.  I've used the icing that comes packaged in a tubes from the grocery store but find that they don't harden and cause the cookies to stick to one another.  Royal icing is super easy to make and any crafts store or cooking store will sell frosting coloring.  

Royal Icing

(This recipe makes a lot of icing)

• 4 Cups confectioners sugar
• 3 Tablespoons meringue powder (or dried egg whites as I found them labeled in my super market – in the baking section)
• 6 Tablespoons of warm water (might need a little more than this to achieve smooth frosting that is easy to pipe from a piping bag – it should fall from a spoon in ribbons)

1)  Mix all of the above ingredients together and if desired divide into bowls and add colorings of your choice.

2)  Using a piping bag or plastic bag fitted with a pastry tip you can begin decorating the cookies.  

My current read is Ruth Reichl's 'Tender at the Bone.'   I'm only on page 84 but can reliably say I'll be reading her next two books as well.  I find myself laughing out loud and reading passages to my boyfriend almost every other page.  I love Reichl's writing style as she recounts humorous tales of her childhood experiences mostly revolving around food.  Most certainly a woman with whom I'd have lots to talk about.

One memory that she recounts is that of her grandmother's housekeeper, Alice and the delicious apple dumplings that she used to make.  And as invariably happens when I hear about a familiar sounding recipe I am reminded of my own food associated memories.

Many summers ago my brother, sister, mother, and I stumbled upon a secret patch of blackberries along a path down the street from where we lived.  Every day while they were in season we'd go down to the sprawling bramble with tupperware containers and pick as many of these beautiful berries as we could fit into our little plastic boxes.  We managed to eat plenty too as we were busy at work which left us with purple tongues and belly aches.  Since we had more berries than we knew what to do with my mom got creative and after she'd made enough jars of jam and compote she made turnovers.  I watched her make them and they seemed simple enough so it was with those turnovers in mind that I tried my hand at making these.  One thing that's so great about this turnover recipe is that it's incredibly easy, especially when enlisting some help from Pepperidge Farm and you can substitute any fruit that you like.  I made mine with pippen apples because those seemed appropriate for the season and I'd been inspired by Reichl's story as well as Ivonne's recently posted entry on delicious apple turnovers . 

Your house will smell amazing as these bake in the oven.  This is one of those super simple recipes where the end result far outweighs the effort!  I was excited to have house guests Will and Bea at the ready to try these turnovers.  Plus, maybe if I lure them with yummy food they'll come and visit again soon?

Quick and Easy Apple Turnovers 

• 1 package puff pastry, I used Pepperidge Farm
• 4 large apples, sliced, cored and cut into small pieces
• Juice of one lemon
• 3-4 Tablespoons of brown sugar (depends on the sweetness of the type of apples you use, if tart then go with 4 tbsp.)
• Pinch of salt (to offset the sweetness)
• 1/2 Teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 Tablespoon flour
• 1-2 Tablespoons butter
• 1 egg
• Raw sugar (turbinado)

1)  Lay out the puff pastry to defrost – package says for about 40 minutes at room temperature.  Preheat oven to 400F.

2)  Meanwhile, in a bowl add the peeled, chopped apple, the lemon juice, brown sugar, salt, vanilla extract, flour and stir together.  You can let this stand while the pastry finishes thawing. 

3)  When the pastry has thawed open it up gently to prevent the dough from breaking (puff pastry comes with 2 folded sheets) but if it does break don't worry, you can easily use your fingers to press it back together.  Sprinkle some flour on a flat surface like a clean kitchen counter or table and lay the dough on it – using a rolling pin or clean wine bottle if you don't have a rolling pin – gently roll it out just to even it and meld the creases together – we aren't trying to thin out the dough too much here so be gentle. 

4)  Cut the square of dough into four equal pieces and add a spoonful or two of the apple mixture in the middle of each square.  Put a small dab of butter on top of each pile of apples – about a quarter of a tablespoon.  Run your fingers under the tap or put some water into a small bowl and using your fingers or a pastry brush put just a little water along two adjoining edges of the square – this will act as the glue to hold your little turnover package together.  Then picking up the opposite corner from the one you just added the water to pull the dough over the apple to meet the other side and pinch the edges together.  Do this for all of the turnovers.

5)  Beat the egg in a small bowl and with your pastry brush (if you don't have a pastry brush you can use a folded up paper towel and use it like a brush – I try to be resourceful) gently paint the tops of all of the turnovers – this will give them a lovely shine.  Sprinkle on some of the raw sugar – the egg will act like a glue here and you'll have a lovely sweet crust.  Using a fork poke some holes in each of the turnovers to allow them to vent as they cook.  Place on a baking sheet and bake for 25 minutes.

This recipe makes 8 turnovers.

Enjoy!

This recipe is ideal for using up fruit that may be over-ripe or slightly bruised.  I used peaches, plums, and a mixture of frozen berries that I had in the freezer (raspberries, blueberries, blackberries) although if you have fresh berries those would be fantastic.  I also used some lemon zest and freshly grated ginger which added a refreshing zing to the fruit.  This dessert is so good served bubbling hot out of the oven with some vanilla ice cream on top.  

Summer Fruit Crisp

• 3 ripe peaches, sliced into about 1/2-1 inch pieces (it's fine if they are over-ripe or slightly bruised – just cut off the bruised areas)
• 3 plums, cut into about 1/2-1 inch pieces
• 1 cup of mixed berries (you can use either frozen berries or whatever fresh kind you have available)
• 1 teaspoon lemon zest
• 1 teaspoon grated fresh ginger
• 1/2 cup butter
• 1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar
• 3/4 cup oatmeal (quick cooking)
• 1/2 cup flour
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/3 cup sliced almonds

Note:  You can easily swap in other fruit that you like or that you happen to have on hand. 

1)  Preheat oven to 350F.  Begin by cutting the fruit and adding it all into a 9X9 baking dish, add the berries too.  Grate the ginger over the fruit and also add the lemon zest.  Give it a little stir to that the lemon and ginger are evenly distributed among the fruit.

2)  In a pot melt the butter and once melted add the brown sugar, oats, flour, cinnamon, and almonds.  Stir until it's a crumbly mixture and pour it evenly over the fruit in the baking dish.   Bake in the oven for 45 minutes or until the crust is golden brown and the fruit is soft.  Serve with vanilla ice cream!

Enjoy! 

And in case you’re wondering what I decided to do with those adorable little apricots, well I made a delicious compote with them to serve over cold ice cream.

Apricot Compote with Vanilla Ice Cream

4-5 Apricots sliced (will make about 2 cups worth sliced)
4 Tablespoons water
1 1/2 Tablespoon sugar (you may need to add more depending on how sweet the fruit is to begin with, tasting is the best way to tell)
1 pinch cinnamon
Your favorite kind of vanilla ice cream

Optional: toasted walnuts to top – toasting is super simple, just add the nuts to a dry pan and place over medium heat. Toss occasionally and keep an eye on them as they’ll toast quickly and you don’t want them to burn and turn bitter. You’ll know when they’re ready because they’ll give off a great nutty aroma and they’ll change color only slightly. You’ll also notice that they become slightly shiny as their natural oils emerge.

1) Add the sliced apricots to the pot along with the water, sugar, and cinnamon. Start the pot on a medium to high heat and bring to a boil and then turn down to a simmer – allowing it to simmer until the fruit gets soft and a thick sauce develops (about 5-10 minutes).

Serve over cold ice cream and top with toasted walnuts (if you like nuts)! This easy compote can be made with all kinds of fruit – it’s great with berries, apples, pears or any combination thereof! This is such a great easy recipe to know because you’ll be able to whip up a fantastic dessert with minimal effort anytime. Also, if you ever have any over-ripe fruit or bruised fruit rather than throw it away try making a compote – these fruit will be delicious with ice cream as shown here, simply as it is, or with yogurt.

I decided to make meringues for my maiden attempt with the whole pastry bag thing. Once I came up with the idea of meringues, my mind began to wander. I thought of the lovely pavlovas that I’d seen Nigella Lawson create, and the wonderful one I recently enjoyed at Balthazar with my dear friend Karen in New York City. Then I had the epiphany to actually try my hand at making them myself. Pavlovas are a delicious contrast in textures and flavors. The three elements of a pavlova are 1) the meringue base, 2) the topping – usually fruit, and 3) the whipped cream. The meringue is crunchy, airy, light, and slightly chewy while the fruit is a little tart, and the whipped cream is sweet and rich in flavor. The beauty of pavlovas is that preparing each step is incredibly easy. The only thing that requires a bit more effort is the making of the meringue. And actually, come to think of it, you don’t need to pipe the meringue to make these pavlovas. I’m just doing it here as an excuse to try out my new purchase.

This is one of those desserts that generates a “wow” from people because it looks so impressive. The secret, as you’ll see, is that it only takes a little effort.

Mini Pavlovas with Stewed Berries (Meringue with Stewed Berries and Whipped Cream)

For the meringues I looked at my old Fanny Farmer cookbook and used this as a starting point. I then took a few liberties. The first is to add a 1/4 teaspoon of white wine vinegar to the meringue mixture. I know that sounds totally bizarre, but Nigella recommends that white wine vinegar makes these meringues more chewy, which is a quality that I very much like in my meringues.

Another little tip: if you rub the inside of the bowl you use to beat the egg whites with a lemon slice, it will make for more fluffy meringues. The logic there is that egg whites are incredibly sensitive and if there is any fatty residue in the bowl–even though it may appear clean–it could prevent the egg whites from acheiving maximum fluffiness, which is what we’re looking for here. I know this all sounds bizarre but the egg whites are the only temperamental part of the recipe, I promise!

Meringues
2 egg whites
8 Tablespoons superfine sugar
1 Teaspoon vanilla
1/4 Teaspoon white wine vinegar
I pinch of salt

This will make about four 4-5 inch mini meringues. If you want you can make smaller bite-sized ones instead.

1) Beat the egg whites adding the sugar a tablespoon at a time and once all combined add in the vanilla and vinegar. Beat until mixture forms firm peaks. Use an electric mixer here…

2) No pastry bag: on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper put a dollop of the meringue that is about 4-5 inches in diameter. With your fingers or the back of a spoon make a little well in the middle.

With pastry bag: I used a 21 inch bag with a 865 tip but so long as you use a relatively large tip it doesn’t really matter exactly which one you use. You’ll want to begin by fitting the tip into the bottom of the bag – you might need to cut the bottom of the bag to allow the tip to fit. Then fold down the top of the bag so that you can fill the bag with the meringue mixture. Once you’ve got all of the mixture into the bag pull up the part of the bag that you’d originally folded down and twist it closed. The idea is to work the bag by holding it at the top and squeezing down. (You can experiment with it by piping on a plate or clean counter and then just put the meringue back into the bag again.) I made round spiral disks and then went around the perimeter once to create a rim – essentially making a little bowl for the whipped cream and berries. (I was only going to be making two pavlovas so with the rest of the mixture I just made meringue “kisses” which are just little blobs that I piped from the bag but they look pretty since I was using a star tip.)
3) Next you’ll bake these in 250F oven for 1 hour and then turn off the oven but do not open it for 3 hours. Actually the Fanny Farmer book said to leave them in there for 6 hours but I didn’t leave myself enough time to do that so I took them out after 3 and they were delish. The only thing that was strange was that they weren’t white – they were a lovely soft caramel color and they tasted slightly caramel-like. I don’t know if baking them for less time would resolve this? Any thoughts/suggestions welcome!

Stewed Berries

1) I keep frozen berries in my freezer – they work great for these stewed berries and they are very convenient to have on hand for an easy, quick dessert or to add to smoothies etc.

I add the berries to a pot (factoring about a 1/4 cup of berries per person), add a few tablespoons of water so that the bottom of the pan isn’t dry and a tablespoon of sugar, and put it over medium heat until it starts to boil at which point I turn the heat to low and just let it simmer away for about 5 minutes.

Whipped Cream

1) Put about a 1/2 Cup of heavy whipping cream into a bowl and using a beater mix until it starts to thicken. Add a 1/2 teaspoon of vanilla and a teaspoon of sugar and mix until it forms peaks and is stiff.

Assembling the Pavlova: With the meringue base on your desired serving plate add a dollup of whipped cream, then spoon over the berry mixture (I sometimes like to add some fresh uncooked berries here if I happen to have some on hand), and then add another little dollup of whipped cream on top to finish or dust with some confectioners sugar.

Enjoy!

When I saw beautiful little round strawberry faces today I couldn’t resist their sweet scent and bought them. On my way home I started to contemplate what I would do with them. The obvious thing is to eat them in their natural glory. I could make smoothies with them, strawberry shortcakes…but these were all very familiar to me and I was in the mood to experiment.

I’ve seen many recipes with mascarpone but despite my fascination with this versatile cheese had yet to try it myself. I immediately started to concoct my strawberry mascarpone dessert recipe in my head and by the time I got home was so eager to start puttering around in the kitchen that I dropped my bags and got to work. The result: a light, creamy, fragrant, delicious dessert!

The mascarpone has the rich intensity of whipped cream with a thick texture that is more cheese-like. It is so versatile that it can either be used as a fantastic savory accompaniment, or in a sweet dish, depending on how it is prepared.

Fresh Strawberries with Honey Vanilla Mascarpone

For this dessert I sliced strawberries (1 pint) and macerated them in a little sugar (use less sugar if the strawberries are sweet to begin with – I used a scant teaspoon) and freshly squeezed lemon juice (half lemon).

Meanwhile, I scooped out some mascarpone into a bowl, added some fresh vanilla seeds (buy vanilla beans, cut along the bean with a sharp knife and scrape out the black paste – once added to the mascarpone it will look like the tiny flecks of vanilla that you see in vanilla ice cream) and honey. There were no measurements taken here – everything is done strictly according to taste. It’s all part of the simplicity of the dish.

The strawberries were ready after a half hour of macerating in the sugar and lemon juice. I put a little mound of the strawberries into several bowls and then put a dollop of mascarpone on top. I sprinkled some freshly julienned mint over the mascarpone to finish.

Aside from looking fantastic, all these flavors were perfectly balanced – no one outshining another. I love how simple yet complex this dessert is – the flavors are incredible but the preparation is so easy.

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