Posts Tagged ‘dessert’
salted watermelon sorbet
To me, nothing says summer more than watermelon. Well, that and suffocating humidity, but thankfully this dish solves that woe.
Refreshing and sweet, I could eat watermelon with every meal during summertime, especially for dessert. And as much as I can happily eat a few slices of freshly sliced melon, this recipe for watermelon sorbet from Salty Sweets (seriously my favorite dessert book ever) came across my path and quickly shot to the top of my “to cook” queue. For those who have never done it, sprinkling salt on watermelon actually brings out the sweetness and of course adds a fabulous salty flavor, so don’t knock it til you try it!
Be sure to use fleur de sel or a flaky, light sea salt. You want something gentle and mild in flavor – no kosher or table salt here. It’ll dissolve best and also won’t leave a harsh aftertaste. If you’re not keen on the idea of salted sorbet, just omit it and try out the watermelon on its own. I’m sure it’s delicious.
rhubarb galette
Quick Friday post, quick Friday… dessert!
Cleaning out my fridge and freezer in a mad dash before I move cross-country, I have a lot of frozen pie crusts on my hands. “I mean, when you’re making one, why not make two?” was my mantra for awhile there, but now I’m thawing and baking like crazy to get rid of (but not waste) my freezer stash.
Galettes or free-form tarts are one of the most fun, easy, and versatile things to do with pie crust. The sky is the limit for filling ingredients, but since it’s spring and glorious rhubarb has arrived in force, I couldn’t resist making a bubbling, syrupy, sweet-tart treat like this.
This is a fantastic dessert for all those intimidated bakers out there because it comes together quite easily, uses only 5 ingredients, and is so delicious (and impressive!) you’ll never believe how simple it was to put together.
Small admin note: I will be moving over the next few days so it’ll be quiet around here. But don’t worry – a new post will be on its way soon enough!
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black & white bundt cake (happy birthday, jonesing for + very exciting news!)
Happy Birthday, jonesing for… !
One year ago today I started my blog and it’s been nothing but fun since. This whole thing began after encouragement from friends since I enjoyed taking pictures of whatever I was cooking, and liked typing up a few words about it as well. I’ve had so much fun sharing my love of cooking and recipes, and nothing makes me happier than hearing my friends and total strangers have been inspired to cook from recipes I post.
And I have something even bigger to celebrate than my blog’s anniversary. I’m so excited to announce I’ve just accepted a position as the new Test Kitchen Assistant for a national food magazine! I’ll be testing recipes, assisting food styling, grocery shopping, and working in the test kitchen for a living – a.k.a. my dream job! Words cannot express how excited and blessed I feel to be able to do what I love for a living as young as I am. Getting out from behind a desk and back into the kitchen means the world to me, so now it’s really time to celebrate!
So to celebrate, I wanted to bake a cake – a very special cake. In a way, this entire post, blog, and really my career, is dedicated to my oldest sister, DeAnna. She honestly is the biggest reason I pursued cooking – admiring her life as a pastry chef when she was younger and always being enchanted with whatever she was baking or making. This bundt cake is one of the earliest food memories I have of being impressed with food, thinking the black and white drizzle was so fancy, the cake shape so odd, the entire thing just being special. So I wanted to go back to my roots with this one.
Unfortunately neither D nor my mom could find the recipe. They both tore their kitchens apart looking for it to no avail, which seemed almost poetic in a way. I got to just create my own version, which is exactly what I like to do here. So I took a simple chocolate bundt cake recipe and oomphed it up, adding coffee and buttermilk, using a chocolate ganache drizzle instead of melted semi-sweet chips, and I had to stay true to the white chocolate drizzle – even though I’m not a huge fan, you can’t get that stunning white color with anything else, and since the cake isn’t overly sweet, it balances out.
So thank you to my readers, family, and friends for a wonderful year! I can’t wait to see what this next year has in store!
willa mae’s apricot balls
I have many food aspirations, but the highest ranking right now is to become a better baker. In reality, it should be labeled “Become a good a baker as Willa Mae,” because that is the level I aspire to.
The aforementioned Willa Mae is a lovely elderly lady my mom visits and does errands for at a local retirement home in KC, who often gifts my mother with her latest baked goods. Back in high school Willa Mae’s zucchini bread was unbeatable (still is), and now every Christmas her cookies are just beyond to die for. Perfection. All her own recipes (now that is art) and all delicious.
My mom passed this recipe along to me after declaring it “The best cookie I have ever eaten,” which is really saying something. I loved the recipe. It has all the great quirks of a seasoned and creative baker – steaming the apricots, specifying store-brand vanilla wafers, and then the best instruction of all – you have to let the cookies sit for at least 4 days to let the flavors develop.
It sounds like torture to wait (it was), but it is incredibly important you do! I tried the cookies right away and then the next day, and found them to be just okay – but I didn’t lose faith. I tried them again 4 days later and it was like magic. The texture had solidified, the almond had mellowed, and everything seemed to gel. They were divine. It was so mind-boggling how different (and better) they tasted, I couldn’t get over it! So I ate another… and another… and another…
irish coffee sheet cake
“If you’re lucky enough to be Irish, you’re lucky enough.”
With St. Patrick’s Day here, I knew I wanted to bake something to celebrate one of my favorite cultures. I was kicking myself a bit since I previously made cupcakes which are, well, practically the most perfect Irish stereotypical culture themed dessert, but thankfully, this fit the bill quite well.
Drinking whiskey straight isn’t something I do often, but cooking with it is phenomenal. It makes everything aromatic, malty, and just richer. Combined with coffee and chocolate, this cake is out-of-this-world in the flavor levels. Topped with more coffee-whiskey glaze, these are borderline Paula Deen level indulgent, but hey, it’s a holiday which automatically means indulging. Which makes it okay…. right?
A holy triumvirate.
MY WALNUTS!
