Summer Sweets

The summer heat brings such big and juicy blackberries! The only trouble is dodging the thorns that come with em'...

Banana Chocolate Steamed Pudding with Chocolate Ganache

The first time I had steamed pudding was on the farm in Ireland and boy, was it unforgettable! Steamed pudding is like a cross between cake and a muffin- super dense and moist. It's extremely easy and manageable to make. At first, it's weird because your steaming it but when you get over that, your addicted to the results!

Banana Chocolate Steamed Pudding

Serves 6

1 3/4 cups self rising flour OR 1 3/4 cups all purpose flour and 2 tsp baking powder

6 Tbl unsalted butter, softened

2 ripe bananas

6 Tbl sugar

1/4 cup milk

1/2-3/4 cup chopped chocolate or chocolate chips

Pinch of salt

Prepare a steamer by filling a stock pot half way full of water. Cover and heat to boil. Butter and dust with flour a 6-cup deep bowl. Sift flour and baking powder in another bowl and cut in the butter until it resembles coarse bread crumbs.

Mash bananas in another bowl (sorry, lots of bowl needed for this one) then stir into the flour mixture. Whisk in the milk, egg and sugar. Fold in chocolate.

Put the batter in the buttered bowl and cover with foil. Foil should almost be to the bottom of the bowl and should be secure so no water gets in.

Once the stock pot is at a steady boil, carefully put the bowl into the water and cover. Steam for two hours. Add water as needed to keep constant steam. When done, run a knife around the top of the pudding to loosen it, then turn it over onto a serving dish. Serve hot with ganache over it.

For the chocolate sauce/ganache:

1 cup cream

1 cup chocolate chips

Heat cream in a small pot until a simmer, then pour over chocolate chips. Let sit for a minute then stir until smooth. Let sit/cool until desired thickness. Pour over steamed pudding and enjoy!

Christmas Madness: Lemon Bars

Today is the day I officially started baking all my Christmas treats! I eased my way in with a classic Lemon Bar, a quick and easy bake. Also a  great palate cleanser that contains some fruit!... Yep, I may be rationalizing to make myself feel better about all the sugar in these bad boys. Change of subject. 

Have you ever noticed if you have lemon trees by your house, on your way to work/school, or behind a reachable fence? Well, my Dad does and of course a bit of hoarding comes with it. They're like prized gems that need to be taken right now or you may never be able to find them again! For a few days, decent piles of lemons keep appearing on the counter until one evening he said "What are we gonna do with all these lemons? We probably have enough for lemon bars." Yeah Dad, we have more than enough. So Voila, Lemons Bars it is! I know everyone has a certain recipe they use, but it's okay, I'll share mine anyway. It sure is reliable!

You might be wondering, "what is going on with those lemon bars? They look funky!" Well, lately I've been baking some things that are supposed to be dusted (heavily of course) with powdered sugar. And every time I share with my boyfriend, he inhales the sugar and it makes for a very awkward moment when he clears his throat and gives me the look. So today, he gave a wonderful suggestion of blow torching/caramelizing the powdered sugar! It totally works, tastes good and insures no accidents. If ya got one, try it... but beware, it can burn easily.

 2 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 cup powdered sugar

2 Tbl cornstarch

1/4 tsp salt

3/4 cup butter

4 eggs, lightly beaten

1 1/2 cups granulated sugar

3 Tbl all-purpose flour

1 tsp lemon zest

3/4 cup lemon juice

1/4 cup milk or half-and-half

Powdered sugar for dusting

Preheat oven to 350' F. Butter a 13x9 inch baking pan. In a medium size bowl combine 2 cups flour, the 1/2 cup powdered sugar, cornstarch and salt. Cut in until course crumbs. Press mixture into the bottom of the prepared pan. Bake for 18-20 minutes or until edges are golden.

Meanwhile, for the filling, in a medium size bowl combine eggs, lemon juice and zest, sugar, 3 Tbl flour and milk/half-and-half. Pour filling over hot crust. Bake 15-20 minutes or until center is set.  Cool completely in pan. Dust with powdered sugar and caramelize with a blow torch. Cut into bars and serve!

Persimmon Cookies

All around the Sierra Nevada Foothills, you'll find this bright orange fruit that are irresistible to not pick. Like every year, I went on a rampage and got too many to play with. Yep, I could give them away, but they're so darn pretty! So here's a simple old school recipe that I got from a 1970's cookbook of my Mom's, that is a promising way to get these gems off your table and into your belly!

1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup butter
1 beaten egg
1 tsp baking soda
1 cup persimmon pulp
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/8 tsp nutmeg
2 cups flour
Optional: 1 cup dried fruit, nuts, or chocolate chips

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Cream sugars, vanilla, butter, and beaten egg. Then add the baking soda and persimmon pulp to the sugar mixture. Sift the flour, salt and spices into the persimmon mixture. Drop spoonfuls onto a greased cookie sheet and bake for 10 to 12 minutes.

Fig and Almond Cream Tart with Quince glaze

Drove by a huge fig tree and had to take some- they were perfectly ripe! I decided to make a tart because I have a delicious recipe for almond cream and some left over almond meal. The almonds and figs are a great match! It's so sweet that a bit of lemon juice does a lot of good by adding a bit of acid/tartness. The quince glaze was a good last minute decision. The other day my sister and I utilized her neighbors quince tree and made some jelly- turned out really nice. 

With a bit of planning, this tart was a nice bake. Aren't the colors beautiful?!

Tart Dough
From A little taste of France- thanks Jamie!

1 1/4 cups all purpose flour
5 1/2 oz unsalted butter, chilled and diced
1 egg yolk
pinch of salt

Sift flour and salt into a large bowl, rub in the butter until it resembles breadcrumbs. Add the egg yolk and 2-3 tsp cold water, mix till it all comes together. Shape the dough in a disc, wrap in plastic and refridgerate for at least 30 minutes.

When ready to use, roll out the pastry into a circle on a lightly floured surface, fit to tart pan. Trim the edges by pinching off the dough. Before baking, let rest in the refrigerator for about 10 minutes.

Almond Cream

3 oz butter, room temperature
3 oz granulated sugar
1 egg
1 egg yolk
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
3 oz almond meal
1 oz flour
juice from half a lemon

Cream together the butter and sugar. Add the egg, egg yolk and vanilla a little at a time, beating with every addition. Stir in almond meal and flour.

Assembly:

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.
Slice enough figs to cover the tart.
Spread the almond cream on the dough prepared in the tart tin. Bake for 25 minutes, the almond cream should have risen and be lightly golden. After the the first bake, take out the tart and quickly arrange the figs on the tart. I glazed it with homemade quince jelly- any jelly will do. Just dilute it with a bit of water and brush it onto the figs.
Bake again for another 15 minutes or until the edges of the dough are golden brown and enjoy!

Raspberry Almond Tartlets and Nordic Bakery Cookbook

One of my dreams finally came true... I found a delicious Scandinavian cookbook! After falling in love with Stockholm a few summers ago, I was in dire need of a cookbook focusing on Scandinavian baked goods. Nordic Bakery Cookbook is the one. From breads to tarts to cookies, this book covers the best of the Nordic Sea. 

 

I had all the ingredients in my kitchen for the almond and raspberry tartlets so I gave it a try. All I have to say is that they turned out so cute and delicious! If you love almonds, this ones from you!

1 stick butter, melted

2 Tbl cream

2/3 cup sugar

2 eggs

1 tsp baking powder

1/3 cup cornmeal

6 Tbl all-purpose flour

1 cup ground almonds/almond meal

1 tsp almond extract

-Preheat the oven to 350

-Put the melted butter and cream in a small bowl and mix.

-Whisk the sugar and eggs in a mixing bowl with a handheld mixer until light and fluffy, then add to the melted butter.

-In a separate bowl, mix the baking powder, cornmeal and flour together. Fold into the sugar mixture, along with the ground almonds and almond extract, until well combined.

-Spoon a little of the mixture onto the muffin pan cups, just to cover the bottom. Then add three raspberries and top with the rest of the mixture so that the muffin pan cups are three-quarters full. Save remaining raspberries for topping.

-Bake for 15-20 minutes, until golden brown and risen. Let cool for ten minutes before removing from the muffins tin- they can easily fall apart if not cooled. Then let cool before decorating.
-To make frosting mix together 3 Tbl powdered sugar and 2 tsp water. Drizzle the frosting over the tartlets or dip into frosting. Top off with the leftover raspberries.

Strawberry Balsamic Thyme Jam

My oldest sister is an excellent and adventurous canner! She'll make delicious and in my opinion flawless jams, juices pickles and preserves in her kitchen while my three adorable nieces run all over the house. I call that talent!

Yesterday we made two batches of Strawberry Balsamic Thyme Jam (here's the recipe). Sounds funky but trust me, its amazing! It has much more depth than ordinary strawberry jam. Hints of lemony thyme and the little presence balsamic vinegar make it a gourmet flavor combination. 

I simply enjoyed it with whole wheat toast and goat cheese... yum!

Chocolate Blueberry Muffins

 
It seems as if I've been in a chocolate kind of mood the past few days... Probably because the stress of college and the instant gratification chocolate gives! But today, things seemed to finally come together the way I needed them. If you've felt like me lately, you need to indulge in these little guys! I used Ghirardelli's unsweetened baking chocolate with 100% cacao which made them extremely rich. Plus, I added a bit more blueberries just for fun!

Chocolate Blueberry Muffins

1/2 cup butter
3 ounces unsweetened chocolate
1 cup sugar

1 egg, slightly beaten                                                                      
1 cup buttermilk
2 teaspoons vanilla
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 cup unbleached flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 1/2 cups fresh or frozen blueberries

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F and grease 12 muffin cups. In a medium-size saucepan, melt the butter and unsweetened chocolate over medium-low heat until smooth. Remove from the heat and cool slightly. Stir in the sugar, egg, buttermilk, and vanilla. In a large bowl, whisk together the flours and baking soda. Gently mix with the liquid ingredients. Fold in the blueberries. Spoon the batter into well-greased muffin cups, filling to the top. Bake for about 25 minutes. Cool on rack. Drizzle the cooled muffins with the semisweet chocolate. Allow to set at least 15 minutes before serving.

A Must Have...

 

If you love cookbooks this is a must for your collection! Easy ways to prepare a variety of veggies that are absolutely delicious is what you'll find. I've struggled to want and be able to prepare foods like bok choy, turnips and beets but after reading Fast, Fresh & Green, it opened me up to understand the easy and best ways to cook those foods. 

Last night I cooked Roasted Turnips and Pear with Rosemary-Honey Drizzle from Fast, Fresh and Green. All I can say is awesome! The rosemary and honey highlighted the bosc pears and turnips that were cooked crispy and tender. It had a wonderful sweet but savory taste. I felt like the flavor combination of fruit and root was very creative!