Posts Tagged ‘fruit’

Merry Christmas, everyone!

We celebrate the happiest day of the year with plenty of red meat, traditional English sides, and a froufrou dessert I always like to tackle. Usually I make a cranberry upside down cake, but this year I wanted to try something different so I made a spin on a pear tatin, which was scrumptious to say the least. Plus chruscikis, cookies, hot apple cider, Holiday blend from The Roasterie and plenty of Usinger’s during the day.

Have a holly jolly holiday! I’ll be off in my food coma now, surrounded by DVDs and my family, but here’s a nice large selection of photos from our holiday. Enjoy! (recipes at the bottom if you’d like to scroll past!)

One of my biggest holiday indulgences.

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I am so, so excited about this post. I’m practically bouncing in my chair with glee writing this because not only have I been waiting months to finally try this idea out, but it turned out to be an amazing success.

There’s no big story as to where I got the inspiration for this dish. I was musing to Rach in late July that I wanted to get an ice cream maker and play with flavors, and I mentioned the idea of a peanut butter ice cream/concord grape sorbet sundae, like “PB & J” – how fun would that be!? And then because for me it’s over-the-top or nothing, I wanted to go a step further and play with the “sandwich” idea even more, came up with this.  Concord grape sorbet sandwiched between peanut butter cookies.  “PB & J” turned up to 11.

This is one of those desserts where I’m clinging onto summer by my fingernails, refusing to let go.  Ice cream and sorbet will soon be replaced with apple tarts and pumpkin breads, so this is my final hurrah.  The tricky thing here is concord grapes are only in season for about a month – during Sept/October, thus me waiting a few months before I was able to make this. I stubbornly wanted only concord grapes since that’s the classic jelly pairing with a PB & J sandwich.  I had to call around a bit before I found a few pints at a Whole Foods nearby and snatched them up tout de suite. The flavor of the sorbet is so intense, so childhood-reminiscent turned grown-up complex it’s perfect for the beginning of fall and that back-to-school feeling in the air.  Sandwiched between sweet, sugary-rich peanut butter cookies… it’s hard to describe just how awesome it tastes.  You’ll have to try it yourself (now! go!) to find out.

It seems fitting that a week long drought of posts would be quenched with something labeled “quick” since it reflects why  there was a drought at all.  Work has been taking it all out of me this week and the last thing I felt like doing upon dragging my feet through my apartment door was cooking, so thus the drought.  I have something extra-super-special I’m making this weekend that I’ve been looking forward to for months (which will be posted Monday) but for now, I whipped this together tonight and it was scrumptious.

My dad messaged me this afternoon asking what he should do with a few boneless, skinless chicken breasts since my mother is away at her 40th high school reunion in Milwaukee.  Being a man who will happily eat frozen pot pies and canned peaches every night, I began suggesting the easy recipe below and realized just how tasty it sounded to me. So I went ahead and made it for myself, determined to post something new before my epic post Monday.  And here it is.

I’m loved and loathed around my office. Working for a sports publisher, the majority of those walking around are perfectly fit, love being that way, and loathe anyone who may derail them. Yet they grudgingly love and thank me every time I bring in the leftovers from whatever I choose to bake, or even worse, intentionally bake something and bring in the entire portion.

“You’re going to break the will of every person in this office!” is something I hear all too often, and yet I revel every time I see a cyclist reach for another cookie. I’m like a drug dealer around here and love every minute of it!

Knowing the birthdays of two of my coworkers were coming up and another’s last day was today, I figured making something sweet was on the docket. I’ve been itching to work with rhubarb since the summer began, and I kept trying to think of something fun to do with it. I’m not a huge fan of pie (heresy, I know!) so I went to the guru of pastry that I know – my friend Rach’s mom. She was notorious for bringing the best cupcakes and sweets with her when she would visit Rach in college (and Rach was kind enough to share), so I inquired if she could pass any great summer fruit dessert recipes my way. This is what I was sent and hoo boy, is it a treat. Sweet and tart and the crumbly crunchy-munchy topping. It’s like a coffee cake but better.

I changed it slightly by adding strawberries to the mix (they’re just so perfect right now) and making the topping more of a streusel. The sprinkles were the curious thing in the recipe, and when I asked if they were for color or sweetness, Rach confirmed yes to both, but also replied: “My mom says it’s grandma’s recipe and she’s dead, so she’s guessing at this point. It doesn’t matter, it’s so good when it hits your lips!”

Truer words never spoken.