Joy the Baker » summer

Lemon Meringue Pie Milkshakes

joythebaker — Mon, 05 Sep 2011 03:35:36 +0000

I have a super power. I can look at a sad, understocked, and unloved fridge… and find a dessert in it. You have the bottom scrapings of the peanut butter jar, a bit of powdered sugar, and some random chocolate chips? Dessert. You have honey and walnuts? I think there’s something we can do there. You have marshmallows? Um… that’s totally dessert. You’d be surprised of the wonders you can work with strawberry jam. Bacon can be salty dessert. Bake it with brown sugar, you big dummy. Granola? Put that on anything and drizzle it with honey. Barbecue sauce!? Wait… only if you’re desperate. Capers? No… those aren’t ever dessert. Maybe I’ve gone too far.

Here’s a dessert that came from my (slightly) understocked fridge. Ok.. truth be told, I had lemon sorbet in my freezer. Maybe that doesn’t exactly count as understocked… but maybe I’ve just spoiled myself. I mixed tart lemon flavors with creamy milk and crunchy graham crackers. The result is a no muss, no fuss, anytime dessert-y good time.

This is another one of those loose recipe situations. Life doesn’t always require lists. Let’s just go with it.

Grab a blender and a pint of tart lemon sorbet. Blend sorbet with about 2/3 cup of milk. I used a few splashes over 2/3 cup. Once milkshake is blended smooth and thick, add a hearty handful of crumbled graham crackers. Stir with a spoon. Spoon the milkshake into 4 small glasses. Top with whipped cream and more graham cracker crumbled. Eat with a spoon and big ol straw. Enjoy immediately. Recipe makes about 2 1/2 cups of milkshake.

It’s creamy, bright , crunchy, DELICIOUS!

Salt and Vinegar Potato Salad

joythebaker — Mon, 29 Aug 2011 08:01:28 +0000

I made a thing that tastes like another thing…

Salad that tastes like chips.

Wait… would anyone sign up for chips that taste like salad?

No.

Wait…. Cobb Salad chips? Yes. How can we make this happen?

Ok. I’m totally distracted. I need to tell you about potato salad before the summer slips away.

This salad is special. There’s pickling and beans involved.

This salad is exactly 48 times more delicious than it is photogenic. It is salty, bright, crunchy, and tangy.

There are two extremely important ingredients in this salad. Pickled onions and Old Bay Seasoning.

Thinly sliced red onions are combined with salt and cider vinegar and left to pickle for about an hour.

This simple action really softens the flavor of the onions. Like… tremendous. It’s such an amazing trick.

I found myself sneaking bites of raw onion a they were pickling. Raw onion. And I’m totally not an onion person.

Trust me… this is delicious.

As far as the Old Bay Seasoning goes…. do not skip this important and wonderfully tangy ingredient. It’s my new perfume, face scrub and shampoo. Leave me alone.

Salt and Vinegar Potato Salad

recipe adapted from Shutterbean

Print this Recipe!

1 large red onion, cut in half them sliced thinnly

1/2 to 3/4 cup apple cider vinegar

1 teaspoons salt

1/2 pound fresh green beans, sliced into 1-inch bits

4 pounds New Potatoes

1 tablespoon Old Bay Seasoning

1/3 cup olive oil

In a medium bowl, combine sliced onion, 1/4 cup of apple cider vinegar, and 1/2 teaspoon salt. Toss to coat and let sit at room temperature for about 1 hour. Toss occasionally during the hour.

Place clean, sliced green beans in a bowl and set aside.

Place un-peeled potatoes in a large pot. Cover with cold water and add a hearty pinch of salt. Bring to a boil, then simmer until potatoes are cooked through. Check the potatoes after about 15 minutes of simmering. Insert a sharp knife into a potato, if it meets just a bit of resistence, the potatoes are almost done cooking. When the potatoes have another 3 to 5 minutes of cookies, add the greed beans. Let beans simmer with the potatoes until potatoes are cooked through. Drain both the potatoes and beans into a collander.

When potatoes are cool enough to handle, use your fingers and a sharp knife to peel most of them. This might seem totally annoying. It is. I didn’t peel all of my potatoes. I like the rustic feel of some skin.

Coarsely slice potatoes into large chunks. Place potatoes and green beans in a large bowl, and top with pickled onions. Toss to coat. Add another 1/4 to 1/2 cup vinegar, Old Bay Seasoning, and 1 teaspoon salt. Top with olive oil and toss to coat. Serve warm or cold. It’s also super delicious after a few days rest in the fridge.

Peach Blueberry Pie

joythebaker — Mon, 15 Aug 2011 08:26:41 +0000

Before you roll your eyes, and dismiss this dessert as something that’s too complicated for you… something that’s out of your skill set… something that you simply don’t have the time or energy for… please. Just give me a minute.

Everyone should know how to make a pie.

If you know how to make pie, you know how to make love.

What do you do for a living? Are you an accountant? How do you do that? I can barely count. Are you a barista? A lawyer? A super mom? A welder? A hat maker? Awesome.

I want you to know how to make a pie. It’s really important to me. Can we get on this together?

There are things you should know before we start.

Making pie is not necessarily easy. Pie is rarely perfect. Making pie might be a little frustrating.

Wait… who was that person that said the best things in the world are also the easiest? No one. People don’t say that… because it’s totally not true.

Am I doing a good job with this pep talk? Do I need to yell?

Making pie starts by making pie crust.

Stay with me. We can totally do this. We don’t need to buy that pre-made junk.

Homemade pie crust is part of the love we’re making. It’s love. We can’t cut corners.

Get on board with butter. Cold butter.

We use our fingers to quickly incorporate the cold butter cubes into the flour mixture. It seems like a lot of butter. It seems like a lot of blessings from heaven.

We’ll add just a touch in vinegar to the dough. What!? Yea. Don’t worry. We won’t taste it.

A touch of acid really helps with the flakiness of the crust. Pro tips.

Are you worried about how shaggy this crust is?

This is where the love comes in.

Loving hands divide the shaggy dough and gently knead it into two disks. Tender but strong hands. Do you have those? We need the dough to come together, but we want to leave little bits of butter speckled throughout the dough… so we come with the tenderness.

See the butter bits!? That’s what we want.

These disks get wrapped in plastic wrap and refrigerated for an hour.

We refrigerate dough because we want to moisture to distribute, and the butter to re-chill. Refrigerating the dough will make the rolling process easier.

Fruit time.

I’m certain that there are few things better than ripe summer peaches and fresh blueberries.

Because this is pie, we have to add a thickener (flour and cornstarch) and a few spices for flare.

Sprinkle and toss. Again with the tender but firm hand.

A generous sprinkle of flour on a clean counter is how we’ll start rolling out the dough.

Do you see what happened here? Near the center of that dough was a tear in my crust… because that’s real life. I patched it and rolled the crust out just a bit more.

Oops… yea… I had to take a bit more extra crust and patch it again.

That’s love.. sometimes it needs a band-aid.

We’ll roll two crusts. Pile in the fruit mixture, and pile on another crust. Pinch the pie crust with your fingers, or press together with a fork. Both are pretty pretty.

Brushing with a beaten egg makes for a beautiful brown top.

Extra cinnamon sugar? Always a good idea.

Beautifully golden brown pie.

It’s not perfect, but somehow it’s perfect in those imperfections. Well… if our imperfections include sugary baked peaches and blueberries in a buttery crust… I suppose it’s a good life after all.

The crusts tore bit. I patched them. The crust browned as it did, with some sides darker than others. The fruit bubbled over a bit. It took just over two hours to come together. All of this? Totally fine.

Slice generously and serve with vanilla ice cream. It tastes like pure summer. It tastes like Sundays after church. It tastes like grandmothers. It tastes like pure love. It’s important. I really want you to know how to make love. Will you do this? Please. Awesome. High five.

Peach and Blueberry Pie

makes one 9-inch pie

Print this Recipe!

For the Crust:

2 1/2 cup all-purpose flour

2 tablespoons sugar

3/4 teaspoon salt

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, cold, cut into cubes

5 tablespoons plus 2 teaspoons ice cold water

1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar

For the Filling:

about 3 pounds ripe peaches (I used about 6 peaches)

1 cup fresh blueberries

1/2 to 2/3 cups granulated sugar (depending on the sweetness of your peaches)

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

scant 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg

1/8 teaspoon ground ginger

1/8 teaspoon ground coriander

3 tablespoons all-purpose flour

1 tablespoon cornstarch

2 teaspoon fresh lemon juice

1 egg, beaten, for egg wash

2 tablespoons sugar and 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon, for topping crust before baking

To make the crust, in a medium bowl, whisk together flour, sugar, and salt. Add cold, cubed butter and, using your fingers, work the butter into the flour mixture. Quickly break the butter down into the flour mixture, some butter pieces will be the size of oat flakes, some will be the size of peas. Stir together the ice cold water and vinegar. Create a well in the butter and flour mixture and pour in the water and vinegar mixture. Use a fork to bring to dough together. Try to moisten all of the flour bits. On a lightly floured work surface, dump out the dough mixture. It will be moist and shaggy. That’s perfect. Divide the dough in two and gently knead into two disks. Wrap each disk in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 1 hour.

To make the filling, wash and slice peaches. In a medium bowl, combine peach slices and blueberries. In a small bowl, whisk together sugar, spices, flour, and cornstarch. Pour the sugar mixture over the fruit, and gently toss together with a wooden spoon. Stir in the lemon juice. Place bowl of fruit in the fridge to rest while you roll the crust out.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Place a rack in the center of the oven, and place a baking sheet on the lower rack, just below where you’re going to place the pie. This will catch any pie drippings without making a mess of your oven.

Remove one of the pie dough disks from the fridge. On a lightly floured surface, roll dough out into about a 13-inch round. Roll the dough a few strokes, then use your fingers to move the emerging circle around the floured surface. This ensures that the dough isn’t sticking to the work surface. The circle won’t be perfect, that’s ok. Try not to get any tears in the rolled out dough, but if you do, they can be patched together with extra dough. When you roll the dough and you can see it start springing back, that means that the butter is warming and the crust shouldn’t be rolled out anymore. Gently lift the 13-inch round from the floured surface and center in the 9-inch baking dish. Place in the fridge while you roll out the top crust.

Roll out the top crust just as you did the bottom crust, moving the dough across the floured surface every once in a while, and creating a roughly 13-inch circle. Remove the bottom crust and fruit filling from the fridge. Gently pour the fruit filling into the pie dish. Carefully remove the top crust from the work surface and drape over the fruit in the pie dish. With a small knife, trim the crust, leaving about 3/4-inch overhang. With your fingers press the top and bottom crusts together and fold under. Use a fork or your fingers to crimp the edges of the dough. Cut five small slits in the top of the crust so the juices and steam can vent. Brush lightly with beaten egg and sprinkle with cinnamon sugar mixture.

Place pie in the oven and bake at 400 degrees F for 15 minutes. Reduce the oven heat to 375 and bake for 45 to 55 more minutes. Remove from the oven when crust is browned and golden, and the juices are bubbling. Remove from the oven and allow to cool for 2 hours before serving. Place covered in the fridge to store. Pie lasts up to 3 or 4 days.

Peach Cobbler for One (or two if you’re nice)

joythebaker — Wed, 10 Aug 2011 07:35:51 +0000

Update! Check out the latest Joy the Baker Podcast! Episode 13 is LIVE!

Things I Say Too Often:

- Duh. Totes.

- How you livin’?

- Why is this orange juice making me more thirsty!?

- Shut it.

- Huh?

- Dddrrrriiiiiiiiivvveeeeee (faster please)!

- Small coffee. Room for cream, please.

This I Don’t Say Often Enough:

- Hey Mom. Thanks for birthing and raising me. That couldn’t have been easy. You did a great job.

- Hey Dad. Thanks for working so hard to 35 years to support your family. I appreciate you so much.

- Oh geez. Was I being passive aggressive just then? I’m sorry. I understand that that’s totally annoying. I’ll try to be aggressive aggressive next time.

- Thank you for reading my blog. I appreciate you so much.

- I understand where you’re coming from.

- I love you. From on the inside. It’s major.

- More pie, please.

I’m learning. Life is short. Say what you mean. Stop saying DUH all the time.

I’ve also learned how to make myself a fake-out pie on the quick.

A ripe peach is cut in half and pitted. A bit of peach flesh is scooped out… we need to make room for mega amounts of coconut almond streusel. Priorities.

When baked, the fruit softens and sweetens. When baked, the topping melts, browns, and crisps.

Two mini peach cobbler/crumbles in about 25 minutes flat.

This is a quick and hearty summer dessert. It’s totally breakfast meets dessert… meets I just made myself dessert at midnight when I’m supposed to be falling asleep reading The Help.

Do you have ice cream at home? I don’t. I pretend that cold milk is ice cream. Close enough in a pinch.

Consider making this dessert with nectarines, plums, or apricots this summer. Pick a stone fruit and get baking. It’s so warm and satisfying.

It’s a mini version of this Strawberry Pineapple Crumble.

Simple and delicious. I understand if you don’t want to share.

Peach Cobbler For One (or two if you’re nice)

Print this Recipe!

1 ripe peach

1/4 cup all-purpose flour

1/4 cup packed light brown sugar

3 tablespoons old-fashioned oats

1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

pinch of salt

1 tablespoon shredded coconut

1 tablespoon slivered almonds

2 tablespoons cold unsalted butter, cubed

Place a rack in the center of the oven, and preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Slice a peach in half and remove the pit. With a small spoon, scoop out the the dark red pit center, creating just a bit more room for the crumble topping.

In a small bowl, whisk together flour, brown sugar, oats, cinnamon, salt, coconut, and almonds. Add butter and, with your fingers, work the butter into the dry ingredients. Quickly break up the butter until it is well combined. Some of the butter bits will be the size of oat flakes, others will be the size of small peas.

Place peach halves, cut side up, in a small, oven-safe dish. Top each peach half with a generous portion of crumble topping. Heap it on!

Bake for 20 minutes, until topping is golden brown. Remove from the oven and serve warm with vanilla ice cream or cold milk. Peaches are best served warm from the oven.

Quinoa Black Bean Mango Salad

joythebaker — Wed, 27 Jul 2011 21:58:56 +0000

I’m slightly confused by vacations.
So I’m supposed to get on a plane, go to a place, wear a bathing suit, and… not blog?
That’s strange. That’s confusing. That makes me uncomfortable.
I’m not good at vacation. I can’t be the only one.

I threw together this super easy lunch salad before I left.
It’s healthful! We’ve got fruit, bean protein, and great grains.
I was thinking about bikinis when I made this.
As soon as I get back, I’ll be thinking about butter again. Promise.

I used millet and quinoa to make this salad magic.
Quinoa is one of my favorite grains. Super hearty. Super healthy. Wonderfully filling.
Millet you might know as bird seed. Yea. True. Birds have the right idea because this stuff is the business! Healthy, filling, good!

Feel free to use any combination of grains you like. Maybe farro? Maybe brown rice? Maybe couscous? Think it up and make it happen!

Quinoa Black Bean Mango Salad

Print this Recipe!

1 cup uncooked quinoa
1/2 cup uncooked millet
1 ripe mango
1 (15 ounce) can black beans, rinsed
1/3 cup chopped scallions
Juice of 1 lemon
Olive oil
Salt and pepper to taste

Place quinoa in a fine mesh strainer. Rinse under cool water for 2 to 3 minutes. Place quinoa in a medium saucepan with 1 1/2 cup water. Bring to a boil. Add a bit of salt. Reduce to a simmer and cook until water is absorbed. Remove from heat and let stand for 5 minutes before fluffing. Cool slightly.

In a medium saucepan, bring 1 1/2 cups water to a boil. Add millet and a bit of salt. Reduce to a simmer, cook uncovered until water has absorbed and millet is fluffy. If you don’t stir it too much during cooking, the millet will be fluffy.

Toss slightly cooled quinoa and millet with mango, black beans, scallions, lemon juice, olive oil, and salt and pepper to taste. Serve.

This salad lasts 3 days in the refrigerator.

Double Chocolate Indoor S’mores

joythebaker — Mon, 18 Jul 2011 07:52:57 +0000

Here’s a peek inside my crazy brain.

Sometimes… I wonder how many years I’ll get to live. Not in a morbid way. Come on. I’m totally into living. I just wonder. It’s healthy.

I wonder how many years I get to live… and what the sum total of that living will look like.

How many people I’ll love. How many people loved me. How many songs I’ll sing loudly and badly. How many prayers say. How many communions I’ll take. How many sunburns I’ll endure. How many gardens I’ll plant and kill. How many cats I’ll have. How many pairs of jeans I’ll buy. How many miles I’ll bike ride. How many bottles of wine I’ll drink. How many tears I’ll shed. How many slow dances I’ll have. How many letters I’ll write. How many people I’ll smile at. How many times I’ll apologize. How many cookies I’ll bake. How many first kisses I’ll have. How many kids I’ll have. How many photos I’ll take. How many flowers I’ll smell. How many countries I’ll visit. How much life I absorb.

Mostly though… I just really like lists, and cookies, and chocolate, and toasted marshmallow.

This recipe is a story about chocolate on chocolate on toasted marshmallow.

It’s a summer love story… really.

How many love stories am I going to have in the sum total of my life?

This particular love story starts with cocoa powder and butter.

Cocoa and butter get crumbly and sandy and look like dirt.

Go with it. It’s definitely love.

It’s working out.

Wait. Let me take it back a minute to ensure that you know what I’m really talking about here.

We’re making S’mores. Indoor. With homemade chocolate wafers and melted chocolate.

Pure love.

These chocolate wafers are some of the best, and easiest cookies I’ve ever made.

The dough comes together in a snap, and gets rolled out immediately, between two sheets of parchment paper.

No refrigerating. No flour mess.

Bust out the ruler to make things right.

This is incredibly satisfying.

Slicing is also incredibly satisfying for my crazy brain.

And this is how these little darlings bake up. Crisp and softly square.

Crisp chocolate cookies from the oven. Melted chocolate and stove top toasted marshmallows.

It’s summer love. Get it while the livin’ is good!

Double Chocolate Indoor S’mores

makes about 20 2-inch square sandwich cookies

cookie recipe from: The Essence of Chocolate

Print this Recipe!

3/4 cup granulated sugar

1 1/2 cup plus 3 Tablespoons all-purpose flour

3/4 cup plus 1 Tablespoon unsweetened cocoa powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoons salt

15 Tablespoons (7 1/2 ounces) unsalted butter, but into 3/4-inch cubes, at room temperature (this is important)

Position the racks in the lower and upper thirds of the oven and preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.

In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, combine the sugar, flour, cocoa powder, baking soda and salt and mix on low speed. With the mixer running, add the butter a few pieces at a time. The mixture will have a sandy texture at first and then will begin to form peddle-size pieces. As soon as the dough starts to come together, stop the mixer. Make sure all the butter is well incorporated. If there are large butter pockets, mix for a few seconds more.

Form and roll the dough straight from the mixer. The dough becomes hard to work with if chilled.

Transfer the dough to a board, and knead together. Use the heel of your hand or a pastry scraper to shape the dough into a block about 5 by 7 inches. Cut the block into two pieces.

One at a time, roll each block of dough between two pieces of parchment or waxed paper until about 1/8-inch thick. Use a ruler and pizza slicer to slice the dough into 2×2-inch squares. Place 1/2 to 1 inch apart on the prepared baking sheet. Form excess scraps into the second half of dough, and roll again.

Bake for 12-15 minutes, rotating the sheets halfway through the baking. Remove from the oven and cool on the sheets for 2 to 5 minutes. They’ll be too soft to move straight from the oven. Transfer the cookies to a cooling rack and let cool completely.

Once cookies are baked and cooled, melt chocolate in a double boiler or in the microwave for 30-45 seconds on 50% power. Toast marshmallows over the stove flame, or on a cookie sheet under the oven broiler. If you use the broiler, keep a close eye on the marshmallows. They toast very quickly.

Spread melted chocolate on underside of cookie. Top with warm, toasted marshmallow, and top with another cookie. Eat em up!

Angel Food Cake with Vanilla Strawberries

joythebaker — Wed, 06 Jul 2011 05:38:30 +0000

Real talk:

I’ve never once made an Angel Food Cake.

Real talk:

It has scared the heck out of me.

Wait… I need how many eggs? Wait… I don’t grease the pan? Hold on just a second… I have to hang the cake upside down!?

What is this? Is this science? Is this some sort of trick?

Real talk:

I finally made my own Angel Food Cake.

Real talk:

There were only two moments during the making and cooling of this cake that I thought I had completely ruined the whole thing. I hadn’t. I was just kinda freaking out for no good reason.

Real talk:

You need a fancy pan (not that fancy, it’s just a tube pan), and enough faith to hang this cake upside down for a bit… but it’s totally worth it. These are true words.

Angel Food Cake, if you’re unfamiliar, is a super light cake made from eggs whites… lots of egg whites.

This particular recipe calls for a dozen large egg whites.

I’m totes making ice cream with the yolks… trust.

You’ll also need a bit of flour, sugar, and salt.

Without these things… you’d probably just have a frittata. That’s not cake.

Egg whites get beaten to medium peaks. Sugar is added, so they’re a bit glossy.

Dreamtown.

Once the eggs are beaten, you gently fold in the dry ingredients.

Folding is different from stirring. Folding flour into egg whites means swooping the spatula from the bottom of the bowl, over atop itself. Bring egg whites from the bottom up and over. We’re incorporating ingredients without deflating the eggs.

That’s a full, ungreased cake pan.

Ungreased!? Yea… don’t freak out. I kinda did. We use an ungreased pan so that the egg whites have something to hold on to (the pan) as they rises.

Oh man… that’s baked.

Make sure you give the cake the skewer test. A skewer is poked inside of the cake, and if it comes out dry… perfect!

A wet/underbaked cake will sink as it cools. Not cool.

Smash some sugar and vanilla bean into sliced strawberries. Let rest in the fridge while the cake cools (upside down) ((totally weird and awesome)).

As the cake cools, it will begin to separate itself from the sides of the pan. Phew. When the came comes out of the oven you’ll (if you’re anything like me) wonder how the dang cake is going to be removed from the pan.

After cooling… it totally wants to come out. It may need a little coaxing with a butter knife… but I promise… with a little tapping and fudging, youre golden!

This cake is light as air and sweet as sugar… because there’s totally sugar in here.

The strawberry topping is a simple mixture of sliced strawberries, sugar and vanilla bean. Add a touch of whipped cream.

Angel Food Cake with Vanilla Strawberries

makes one cake

recipe from Alton Brown

Print this Recipe!

1 3/4 cup granulated sugar

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 cup cake flour, sifted

12 large egg whites, at room temperature

1/3 cup warm water

1 teaspoon vanilla extract, or 1/4 teaspoon almond extract

1 1/2 teaspoons cream of tartar

1 pint fresh strawberries

2 to 4 teaspoons granulated sugar (depending on how sweet your berries are)

1/2 scraped vanilla bean

Place a rack in the center of the oven and preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

In the bowl of a food processor, fitted with the blade attachment, grind sugar for about 2 minutes. This will help create a super fine sugar that will be better absorbed into the egg whites.

Place half of the sugar in a small bowl.

In a large bowl, sift together the remaining sugar, salt, and cake flour. Set aside.

In the bowl of an electric stand mixer, fitted with a whisk attachment, beat together the egg whites, water, extract, and cream of tartar medium speed. If you’re worried that the cream of tartar is too chunky… don’t worry, it’ll smooth itself out. Beat on medium high, gradually adding the sugar from the small bowl, until medium (not stiff) peaks form. The meringue will hold a trail of the beaters through it, be glossy, and won’t be overly foamy.

Remove the bowl from the mixer and sift in one quarter of the flour and sugar mixture. Fold with a spatula. Try to avoid stirring the mixture too much. Instead, sweep the egg whites from the bottom of the bowl to the top, incorporating the flour. Add flour mixture in three more batches. Fold until thoroughly combine, but don’t overmix or deflate the egg whites.

Spoon battering into an ungreased tube pan. Ungreased in is important, as it will help the cake rise. The tube pan will be full.

Bake for 45 to 50 minutes, or until a skewer inserted in the cake comes out clean. Remove cake from the oven and carefully invert upside down, propped up on a bottle. This cake cools upside down. Let rest for at least an hour before trying to remove from the pan.

Slice strawberries and mix with sugar and vanilla bean. Let rest in the fridge to create juices while the cake cools.

As the cake cools, it will begin to pull away from the sides of the pan. To remove from the pan, tap the pan with a butter knife, or carefully run a butter knife around the edges between the cake and the pan.

Serve with berries and cream.

Cake will last, well wrapped at room temperature, for up to 3 days.

Simple Roasted Apricots with honey mascarpone

joythebaker — Tue, 28 Jun 2011 07:34:45 +0000

Everything is as sweet as dessert in the summertime.

Living is totally easy:

Morning warmth and sunshine. Just like dessert.

Granola with berries and sweet coffee. Reminds me of dessert.

Chicken salads and pink wine for lunch. Desserty.

Peachy blue sunsets, popcorn for dinner, and roasted apricots for dessert.

Gin and tonics. Totally dessert.

Sleep. Wake. Repeat.

(Oh, but let’s not forget the fact that we still have to totally work hard, and get our hustle on, and keep our eye on the prize, and keep our nails did, and eat our vegetables, and pay our bills, and stay inspired, and just when we think we’ve worked hard enough… we have to try to work a little harder)

But other than that… summertime is totally all dessert, all the time.

Summer fruit is just stunning. I ate most of these fuzzy little apricots just standing in my kitchen, trying to dream up a way to bake them. They’re delicate and sweet, and absolutely my favorite fruit of summer.

Wait… did I say that about peaches last week? Did I say that about strawberries the week before that? I can’t decide. I’m in summer heaven.

I dipped apricot halves in granulated sugar and roasted them under the broiler.

The fruit stays firm, but the tops get crunchy crisp, as the melted sugar creates a light candy shell.

I topped these little gems with honey sweetened marscarpone cheese and a bit of mint and lemon balm. Lemon balm is like lemon mint.

So simple. This dessert takes 5 minutes to create.

You could also try this recipe with ripe plums, ripe peaches or nectarines. It feels fancy… but it’s really just good, simple, summer food.

Simple Roasted Apricots with honey mascarpone

Print this Recipe!

Serves 2

4 apricots, halved and pits removed

2 tablespoons granulated sugar

1/2 cup marscarpone cheese

1 teaspoon honey

1 teaspoon chopped mint

1 teaspoon chopped lemon balm (optional)

Preheat broiler. Place sugar in a shallow bowl. Dip apricot halves in sugar and place in a oven safe dish. Place dish under the broiler and bake for 3 to 4 minutes. Keep an eye on the apricot, and carefully rotate the pan as necessary. Sugar will melt, boil and begin to brown. Remove from the oven and allow to cool slightly.

In a small bowl, mix honey into mascarpone cheese. Place slightly cooled apricots on a plate. Top with a dollop of mascarpone mixture, and a sprinkling of fresh mint and lemon balm. Serve.

These apricots are best served just after they’re baked.

Homemade Ginger Syrup for ginger ale

joythebaker — Fri, 24 Jun 2011 06:56:18 +0000

Homemade Ginger Syrup for ginger ale

recipe from Imbibe Magazine

makes 2 cups ginger syrup

2 cups coarsely chopped ginger

2 cups granulated sugar

6 cups water

Place chopped ginger in a food processor (or blender in a pinch) and pulverize until well chopped.

Place ginger, sugar, and water in a large stock pot. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to a simmer and cook for 1 hour to 1 hour and a half, until the liquid has reduced down by more than half. You’re going from 6 cups of liquid to 2 cups. The boiling syrup will become glossy and silky as it cooks down and nears completion.

Remove syrup from the flame and strain twice through a cheese cloth, or fine mesh strainer, into a large bowl. Let syrup cool slightly before pouring into a bottle to store. Cool completely before incorporating into drinks.

This site tells you that you can make candied ginger from the cooked ginger. Check it out!

Ginger Ale

1 cup club soda

3 tablespoons ginger syrup (or to taste)

lime wedge

dash of bitters (optional)

ice

Combine all ingredients in a glass over ice. Stir with spoon to incorporate. Enjoy immediately. If you wanted to add bourbon… that would be delicious.

Peach and Raspberry Crumble

joythebaker — Wed, 22 Jun 2011 18:37:14 +0000

The smell of peaches reminds me of:

dusty, dirty sneakers. light coming through peach tree leaves. shade. drinking from the hose. wet jean shorts. caked mud. my yellow Sony sport walkman. that Counting Crows cassette tape i loved. my sister’s freckled nose. my dad’s hands. my mom’s laugh. sleeping in the sun in the car, half hearing adults talk. pie. pie pie pie pie pie. pie.

My family and I used to go pick peaches during summer months.

We never had fancy fruit during the year. We didn’t buy containers of raspberries. There were no pints of blueberries in my fridge. Those were too much of a luxury. We had bananas… endless amounts of boring bananas.

But! In the summer! We went peach picking. I remember it like a slow motion, montage movie scene in my head.

I like the keep the peach smell memories tucked away in my crazybrain… you know, to think about awesome things when not so awesome things are happening. Life tricks. I got em. I’m so good at life is downright amazing. Not true. At all… but I’ve got the peach smell memory situation tucked away in my brain just perfectly… for emergencies.

Fresh fruit crumbles are absolutely the most delicious summer dessert, considering the minimal amount of manpower that goes into their creation.

The better the fruit, the better the dessert. It’s as simple as that.

Oh! And don’t try to line up the square colored dots in this photo collage. Don’t do it. It’s just not worth it.

There are some rules to enjoying this dessert:

You’re not allowed to eat all the of crunchy, crumble topping off the top. Unless you live by yourself.. then you totally can.

You must eat this dessert with ice cream. Vanilla, preferred.

You must take a moment to appreciate the beautiful mauve color that this crisp bakes up into. It’s really quite lovely.

Lastly, this dish must be considered a breakfast, lunch, and dinner item… good for all occasions.

Fruit sweet. Oat-y crisp. Comforting summer. Ice cream required. Good(ness).

Oh! I should also tell you that I’m pretty much obsessed with crumbles. Here’s proof.

Peach Berry Vegan Crumbles. Pineapple Strawberry Crisp. Apple Crisp.

For your summer eatings.

Peach and Raspberry Crumble

makes 1 8×8-inch square baking dish

Print this Recipe!

5-6 medium ripe peaches, sliced

1 cup fresh raspberries (if using frozen, just thaw and drain)

1 cup all-purpose flour

1 cup granulated sugar

3/4 cup old fashioned oats

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/8 teaspoon ground allspice

Pinch of salt

1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, chilled and cut into small cubes

Place a rack in the center of the oven and preheat to 350 degrees F. Place sliced peaches and raspberries in a square 8×8-inch baking dish and set aside.

In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, sugar, oats, spices, and salt. Add the butter and toss the mixture together with your hands. Break the butter up into the flour mixture until the butter is the size of small pebbles and oat flakes. This took me about 4 minutes.

Toss a generous handful (about 1 cup) of crumble topping into the peach and raspberry mixture. Toss loosely with your hands. Spread fruit evenly in the pan and top with the remaining crumble mixture. Bake until fruit is juicy and bubbling, and the top of the crumble is slightly browned and crisp, about 30 minutes.

Remove from the oven, let cool slightly, and serve with vanilla ice cream. Crumble is delicious served warm and can be stored, covered, in the fridge and reheated in the oven or microwave for serving.