Desserts « Eating Our Hearts Out

Archive for the ‘Desserts’ Category

Obsession… for Jenny

Sunday, September 4th, 2011

That’s what we’re going to talk about today. It’s my latest fragrance. That’s a lie. It’s not actually. Still, it’s great. I got an ice cream maker. I’ve used it to make some pretty tasty treats. The nice thing about it is how easy it is to make gluten free desserts. The bad thing about it is that it requires you to actually follow directions. Darn appliance! How dare it!

If I were in kindergarten, I would get a big fat for “follows directions”. It’s amazing I ever made it through college the way I completely disregard directions. As I’m sure you can imagine, sometimes this “flaw” leads to absolute disaster. It’s why I’m a bad baker. And other times, it leads to complete brilliance. It’s why I’m a good cook. True facts.

In ice cream making, it generally leads to a mess. You know… if you don’t freeze the bowl completely before trying to freeze the ice cream. For the record, it was frozen-ish. I didn’t completely disregard the owner’s manual. It was just… a bit sloshy inside, still. Just a bit. My first ice cream recipe didn’t so much turn into ice cream. It more turned into a delicious beverage. The second time wasn’t much better. Third time’s the charm, though.

And now that I’ve gotten the freezing part down, I’m back to not following directions. In this case, it turned out great.

See?

I found this recipe. It’s posted all over the internet. Apparently, this David Lebovitz guy knows a thing or two about ice cream. And I’m sure it’s a good recipe. I’m also sure that what I ate this afternoon was not that recipe. So by all means, try his. But also try this one. Because, while similar, my version has an absolutely intense chocolate flavor that was probably created by the extra chocolate I put in it. Whoops.

Before I tell you that this is the best chocolate ice cream I’ve ever eaten, you should know something. I don’t actually like chocolate ice cream. When the boyfriend and I are picking out ice cream, he always goes for something with a chocolate base. I always choose something with a vanilla base. We’re ice cream incompatible. Not sure if that’s a deal-breaker… But this ice cream has changed all of that. It’s chocolate. It’s ice cream. And I love it. So does the boyfriend.

Chocolate Ice Cream:
Adapted from The Perfect Scoop by David Lebovitz

2 cups heavy cream
3 Tablespoons cocoa powder (I skimped, it’s true. Go Dutch-processed if you want. I’m sure it’d be good.)
8 oz. semisweet chocolate chips
1 cup whole milk
3/4 cup sugar
pinch of salt
5 large egg yolks

Start by whisking together the 5 egg yolks. You can do this later, but I have trouble multi-tasking. Get them ready and out of the way. Do it in a medium bowl. You’ll use this later.

Whisk together 1 cup of cream and the cocoa powder in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Bring to a boil, then reduce temperature. Simmer for 30 seconds. Remove from heat and add the chocolate chips. Mix together until the chocolate has all melted. Slowly mix in the remaining cup of cream. Pour this into a second medium bowl. Place a mesh strainer on top of it.

Now take the same saucepan and mix together the milk, sugar, and salt. Warm milk mixture over a low heat. When it’s warmed through, slowly whisk the milk mixture into the egg yolks, just a bit at a time. You don’t want to scramble the eggs. Now transfer the egg mixture back into the saucepan. Stir the mixture constantly over medium heat until thickened. Pour the mixture through the mesh strainer into the chocolate mixture. Now place that whole bowl into an ice bath and stir until cool. Chill the mixture until cold to the touch. Then freeze according to ice cream maker’s directions. (Seriously. Do what they tell you to.)

Posted in Comfort Food, Desserts, Gluten Free, Ice Cream, Recipes | 1 Comment »

Nothing bugs me more…

Wednesday, August 3rd, 2011

I realize I’ve probably begun a thousand sentences that way. Trust me when I say that I mean them all. I really do. But like I was saying, nothing bugs me more…

… than when shows contradict themselves.

Like in Better Off Ted, when Linda says she’s been with the company for 6 months, but then a few episodes later, they flash back 1 year and a half to where Veronica steals her up-do.

Or in Gilmore Girls, when Lorelei tells Dean that “she’s not riding your motorcycle”, and Dean’s all like, “I don’t have a motorcycle.” Then, in the very same season, when Christopher first shows up, Dean is like “I have a such and such kind of motorcycle.” Ugh! Annoying.

But since I’ve been so negative, let me tell you about something I do like. In fact, I like it a lot. Cherry cobbler.

This cobbler is pretty much divine. For serious. Oh yea. And it’s gluten free. Oh, you didn’t realize that? Yea. Nobody would know if I didn’t tell them.

This cobbler is amazing, and can be made with a variety of fruit. It comes out crispy on the top. Soft and fluffy underneath. With the warm, juicy fruit beneath that. I blame it on the butter, myself. I blame a lot of stuff on butter, actually. Anyway, try this. I fed it to a bunch of gluten lovers, and they didn’t know the difference.

I’m opting out of giving you a picture for two reasons. My roommate didn’t take any. That lazy bum! Also, because… well… cobbler isn’t the most photogenic of foods. Mostly the first. The second one is just my justification.

Cherry Cobbler:

Ingredients:

1/2 c. butter, melted
1 c. milk
1 3/4 c. Bob’s Red Mill all purpose, gluten free flour
3 t. baking powder
2 c. sugar
4 c. cherries, pitted (or thereabouts)
1/2 t. cinnamon

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 375. Then pour the melted butter into a 13×9 pan.

Now, you deal with the cherries. Get them in a big pot on the stove with 1 cup of the sugar and the cinnamon. Stir those bad boys until they boil.

Meanwhile, mix together the milk, flour, sugar, and baking powder. No lumps. I mean it. Get your whisk out. A fork just may not do the trick. For serious. Listen to me.

Now pour the batter over the butter. Don’t you dare stir those two together. Then dump the cherries in after that. Again, don’t stir.

I said “don’t stir”. That doesn’t mean you can’t be strategic about your dumping. You know what I mean…

Now bake it all together for 30-40 min or until golden brown on top.

Posted in Comfort Food, Desserts, Gluten Free, Recipes | 2 Comments »

When life hands you lemons,

Thursday, May 5th, 2011

make lemonade.

When strawberries are in season, make strawberry upside down cake.

And when you’re gluten intolerant, do it anyway.

Photo by Nathan Clendenin

I was in a weird mood tonight. I told my roomies that I needed some “Jen-Jen” time. I did. Real bad. I locked myself in my room and laid on my bed. Didn’t do anything. Just laid there. Then I watched Gilmore Girls. Then I laid there some more. It was pretty great.

I made this cake a few nights ago. It was amazing fresh. It wasn’t bad a few days old, though. That is to say: I’d totally eat another piece.

But let’s talk about this cake. It’s basically a pineapple upside down cake minus the molasses and canned fruit. I’m pretty ok with those. And then, naturally, I removed all of the gluten as well. That part is optional, I suppose. Here are the details:

Photo by Nathan Clendenin

Strawberry Upside-down Cake:

1 pint strawberries, sliced
1/2 cup sugar
1-2 Tbls. butter, melted
1 box yellow cake mix, prepared according to directions on box

Note: These are really approximations. A lot of it is going to depend on the cake mix you use and the pan you put it in. GF cake mixes usually make less than standard boxed cake mixes. If you’re curious, I went Betty Crocker. But only because I’m new to this, and it’s one of the cheapest I could find. I also cooked mine in my 10 inch spring form pan. The spring form-iness of the pan wasn’t the point, so if you don’t have one, don’t sweat it. I was just going for a big pan that would create the maximum strawberry to cake ratio. More cake is going to mean more strawberries and more sugar. Be flexible, and have fun.

Preheat oven to 350. Lightly grease the bottom of your pan. Seriously. I mean lightly. Spread the strawberry slices all over the bottom of your pan. They can overlap a bit, no biggie. You definitely want coverage, though. Sprinkle the strawberries with sugar. All of it. I’m serious. Now pour the butter evenly over the strawberries. (My mom used to use pineapple juice instead of butter here, mostly because she reserved the juice from the can. It totally works here, and if you’re looking to cut back on unnecessary fat in your diet, I recommend it. It’s quite yummy, still. Promise.)

Here’s where I started mixing up the cake batter, and that turned out to be a really good thing because it gave the butter and sugar and strawberries to all kind of hang out and get to know each other. You definitely want the sugar, butter, and strawberries to be good friends. Trust you me. You do.

Dump the batter on top. Be a little bit more gentle than that since you don’t want the strawberries to get messed up. Make sure the batter is spread evenly. Then bake that cake according to box directions. I think it’ll be around 30 minutes. Don’t be silly, though. Make sure it’s done. Ovens vary like whoa.

Once it’s cooled for a bit, flip that baby out onto a plate. It’s the most deliciousest thing ever. No lie.

Posted in Cake, Comfort Food, Desserts, Gluten Free, Recipes | No Comments »

Creme Brulee

Wednesday, February 23rd, 2011

I really do need better metadata for my posts. Seriously. I’m a “metadata architect” or some such nonsense in real life, and you all let me keep my blog in such disrepair. Why? It’s your fault, you know…

So I made this creme brulee. Why? Because my brother and sister-in-law gave me a kitchen torch for Christmas. And N & R gave me ramekins for my birthday. It kind of had to happen.

Photo by Nathan Clendenin

The first time, I used this recipe. It worked like a dream. But Nathan wasn’t around to photograph it. Besides, I didn’t really expect my first attempt to turn out so well. Isn’t creme brulee supposed to be difficult or something?

… so I made it again. Except I messed it up. Because I only have 4 ramekins, not 6. So I had to make 2/3 of a recipe. Which is kind of hard to do. And I’m usually pretty good at math. But I don’t like measuring. Remember that?

And I messed it all up. Because I did 2/3ish of all the ingredients, except for the cream. That was an accident. It wasn’t the same. But no complaints. You know what that means?

Creme brulee is too easy for you not to make it. Also it’s way too good. Oh. My. Goodness. It’s good. See?