the honey eater » dessert

Peach Pie

naomi — Wed, 28 Jul 2010 22:06:09 +0000

At the moment, I’m far away from home, in Stockholm to be exact. The days are long and constantly shift between clouds and blinding sunlight; you’re never quite sure if it’s going to rain or if you’re going to get a sunburn from minute to minute. I’ve been gone for nearly a week and still have another three weeks of traveling ahead of me. I can’t remember when I took a trip that was so long and so relaxing. Vacations like this make being an adult a whole lot of fun.

Because we’re gone so long (I’ll be away for a month in total) we decided to sublet our apartment. This meant that before we left we had to make some headway into the stocks of food cluttering up the refrigerator. Frozen muffins were defrosted, soups were eaten, and a big pot of vegetables was mixed up. I also had a single pie crust that I had to use, leftover from making these. The Saturday before we left I saw piles of beautiful peaches at the market and couldn’t resist buying a bag (or two) to help me use up that extra crust.

I may have mentioned it before, but I love having some pie crust at the ready, it means you can whip up a pie or tart in no time at all and everyone thinks you’re some kind of magic (and who’s to say that you aren’t?). Sunday morning, while Amir was still asleep, I rolled out my crust, peeled and sliced my peaches, tossed them with some sugar and flour and then threw it all in the oven. As I crawled back into bed, less than an hour later, Amir asked me what I had been up to and I said, oh so casually “there’s a peach pie in the oven.” The expression on his face said it all: some kind of magic. Eating peach pie for breakfast is pretty magical, even if you make it yourself (maybe especially when you make it yourself). We ate nearly half the pie that morning.

Peach pie

I was fairly conservative buying fruit because we were leaving and only bought 10 peaches. The pie was good, if a little thin. I’m upping the number of peaches because I believe a pie overflowing with fruit is always best.

I prefer to pre-bake my pie crust just a little so that the bottom gets nice and crispy. If you’re feeling lazy (as I often am) you don’t have to bother.

1 single pie crust

12-16 peaches
3/4 cup brown sugar, very lightly packed
4 tbsp flour
1/4 tsp or so ground nutmeg
dash of vanilla (optional)
milk or water for brushing (optional)
coarse sugar (optional)

Roll out pie crust and place in a buttered 9″ pie dish. Place pie dish in freezer. Gather up the scraps of dough and place them in the freezer as well.

Preheat oven to 425-degrees F.

Peel peaches, if desired, by cutting an “x” in the bottom and placing them in boiling water for about 30 seconds and then transferring the peaches to an ice bath. You can also leave them fuzzy. Slice the peaches about 1/2-1/4″ thick and place in a bowl. Stir in the sugar, flour, nutmeg and vanilla (if using). Set aside.

Your pie crust should be nice and chilled now, line it with aluminum foil, then place your pie weights in the foil and put the crust in the oven. Pre-bake for about 10 minutes, then take out the weights and let bake for another 5. Your crust should be white and might start to brown just a little. Don’t worry if it shrinks a little, that’s normal. If there are cracks, patch them up with some of your scraps, it helps keep the juices from flowing outside the crust and sticking to the bottom of the pan.

In the meantime, roll out the scraps of pie crust and cut out circles (or whatever shapes you prefer).

When the pie crust is ready, take it out of the oven, and using a slotted spoon (or your [very clean] hands) transfer the peach filling to the pie crust. Decorate with your scraps, brush with milk or water and then sprinkle with coarse sugar (totally optional). Cover the edges of your pie crust with a pie shield or aluminum foil. Place in the oven and bake for 35-40 minutes, or until the peaches are tender and the filling in bubbling. Serve warm with whipped cream or mascarpone cheese.

*This tea towel of Swedish endearments was given to me by my aunt and uncle shortly after they moved to Sweden. It is my favorite dish towel and only gets used for the most important of tasks, like wrapping still-warm pies.

Banana Pudding

naomi — Fri, 23 Jul 2010 09:14:18 +0000

Once upon a time, I worked in an office and made money. It’s true, it happened. One day, a swarm of consultants descended upon us and made us take the Meyers-Briggs Type Indicator test. When we got the results, (I’m an INTP) I was described as a “mad-scientist”, often distracted with many projects going at the same time. Me? Distracted? Never!

I often feel a bit mad, but rarely like a scientist, except when I’m making caramel. When I make caramel I feel like an alchemist turning base elements into pure gold. That’s certainly what you get when you make the banana caramel that flavors this pudding, pure molten sweet delicious gold.

You don’t have to make the banana pudding, if you go just as far as making the caramel you will be more than happy. It’s delicious mixed into plain yogurt, or blended with milk and frozen into a banana sherbet. I would imagine that it’s also very good sandwiched between a two shortbread or some chocolate cookies. However, if you do make the pudding, oh if you do! it is manna from heaven. I like mine layered with homemade shortbread but do with it what you will. I challenge you not to eat it all in one go.

Banana pudding
Stolen, blatantly, from Francis Lam

If you have never made caramel before, go to Francis Lam’s original recipe for a more thorough description of the process.

For the caramel:

2 very ripe bananas, pureed until they’re the consistency of pancake batter
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup water

Stir together the sugar and water and bring to a boil. Turn down to a simmer and wait for it to caramelize. Watch it closely and when it starts to turn nice and golden, take it off the heat. It will continue to cook a little. Stir in the pureed bananas, it will probably bubble up like crazy, it’s okay, keep stirring and soon you will have the magical elixir of life, banana caramel. Let it cool and then put it in the fridge, you will have more than you need for the pudding, but you will have no trouble eating it all.

For the pudding:

1-1/2 cups whole milk
1/2 cup heavy cream, plus more for whipping
3 tbsp cornstarch
2 eggs
6 tbsp sugar
1/4 tsp salt
2 tbsp unsalted butter, cut into pieces
1/4 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup banana caramel
1-2 bananas
shortbread cookies (or whatever cookies you have on hand)

Mix a few tablespoons of the milk with the cornstarch in a large saucepan, make sure all the cornstarch dissolves, set aside.

Heat up the rest of the milk and the cream in a medium saucepan until small bubbles start to form around the edge but the milk is not boiling. While your milk heats up whisk the eggs, sugar and salt into the milk-cornstarch mixture.

Slowly whisk the hot milk into the egg mixture.

Set the pan over medium-low heat and stir constantly, adding the butter a piece at a time. The mixture will begin to thicken and eventually will feel like pudding (if it lumps a little just whisk the lumps out). Once it reaching pudding consistency turn the heat to low and let it cook for another minute or so.

Pour the pudding through a mesh strainer into a bowl. Stir in the banana caramel and the vanilla. Lay a piece of plastic wrap directly onto the pudding’s surface, let cool completely before putting it in the fridge.

When your pudding is cool, try not to eat it all straight from the bowl. You can make one big pudding or (as I like to do) make several individual puddings in little glass dishes. You’ll want to crush some of your cookies and press them into the bottom of your dish. Then you’ll spoon in some of the pudding. Add a layer of cookies and a layer of sliced banana, then more pudding. More cookies, more banana, more pudding. Deck with whipped cream and crushed cookies. Let sit in the fridge for about four hours, to let the cookies soften and the flavors meld. Enjoy!

Blueberry Apricot Mini Pies

naomi — Fri, 09 Jul 2010 03:01:40 +0000

I’m in L.A. for a few days, visiting with my family and relishing the heavenly west coast weather. Cool and grey, it would probably be infuriating if I lived here and were wishing for summer and the beach, but it’s pure bliss coming from the inferno that New York has been this past week. As has been noted by more than one blogger, the east coast (and the midwest) has been suffering from quite a heat wave. It hit 103 on Monday and I steadfastly refused to turn on the oven despite my desire to make summer pies. On Tuesday, I caved.

I just couldn’t help it: I had apricots sitting in a basket on my windowsill, fresh blueberries left over from making soda, and a pie crust languishing in the fridge, before I knew it the oven was on. My handy thermometer told me it was over 95 degrees in our kitchen and I banished Amir, shaking his head at my foolhardiness, to the air conditioned living room/bedroom to save one of us from baking along with our desserts.

Let me tell you, dear readers, it was worth it. For dessert that night we each enjoyed our own little pie with a dollop of whipped cream, the fruit sweet and tart and surrounded by a flaky, buttery crust, a perfect ending to a smoldering day. Even Amir conceded that my baking had been a good idea after all, despite the fact that he thought I was suicidal at the time.

The next morning, while I put off packing, we ate the remaining blueberry apricot pies with a dollop of mascarpone on top; I would brave the most extraordinary weather for such an exemplary breakfast.

Blueberry Apricot Mini Pies

Blueberries and apricots are one of my favorite combinations and the moment apricots were in the market I whipped up the beta version of these pies. That was a few weeks ago but I didn’t measure anything and we ate them so quickly I didn’t have a chance to take any pictures. I made them again, measuring cups and camera in hand, just for you (because we didn’t enjoy them in the slightest).

For the pie crust*:

2-1/2 cups flour
1 tsp salt
14 tbsp cold butter
4 tbsp leaf lard
4-6 tbsp cold water

Whisk together the flour and salt. Using your hands, mix the butter and lard into the flour until the mixture forms pieces the size of large peas. Still using your hands, mix in the water, 1 tbsp at a time, until the mixture is moistened and just holds together.

Pour the dough onto the counter and push it away from you with the palm of your hand. Form the dough into two disks, wrap in wax paper and place in the refrigerator to cool for at least 30 minutes.

Butter four 1-cup ovenproof dishes. Roll out the dough, place it in your dishes, and place them in the freezer. Preheat oven to 425-degrees.

For the filling:

8 apricots, sliced into eighths
1/2 pint blueberries
1/2 cup sugar (I used demerara sugar, but you can use whatever kind you like)
1 tbsp instant tapioca

Mix together all the ingredients, set aside.

Place pie crusts on a baking sheet and pre-bake for about 8-10 minutes, until the dough begins to color slightly (you can skip this step if you’re feeling lazy, I sometimes do). In the meantime, roll out the top crust and cut into whatever decorative shape you like.

Fill pie shells with filling and cover with top crust.

Bake 30-35 minutes, or until the crust is golden and the filling is bubbling.

Serve at room temperature with a dollop of whipped cream or mascarpone.

*You will only need 1/2 this amount but it is always good to have extra pie crust on hand, so just toss it in the freezer until you’re ready to use it.

You can also substitute butter for the leaf lard.

Blueberry Lemon Polenta Cake

naomi — Wed, 09 Jun 2010 23:31:33 +0000

I have been writing this blog for a whole year now. It started on a rainy New York day just like today. I talked about graham crackers and language, two of my favorite things in the world. It’s been a simple but monumental year, teaching, traveling, and almost finishing my Master’s degree (just one more month!). It’s been nice having this little piece of virtual space, a sort of mental garden. It’s been a place to write something other than academic papers, to try out new recipes, and experiment with photography. I have been so grateful to hear your voices in the comments. It’s been fun and I hope to be able to post more (and more regularly) in the coming year.

Today I have a lovely cake for us. Something simple, easy to throw together and delicious to eat. It all started with this post by Olga over at the Sassy Radish. I made the cake and loved it, tangy, sweet and studded with fruit – what is there not to love? But I cannot make anything without thinking about what I will do the next time and so while I was eating one cake I was dreaming up this one in my head. It was everything I hoped it would be: soft and yielding but slightly chewy from the polenta, full of toothsome blueberries and bright bursts of lemon, a perfectly simple, rustic cake.

Blueberry Lemon Polenta Cake
adapted from Gourmet Today

1/4 cup water
1 tsp cornstarch
1 tbsp fresh lemon juice
1/3 cup + 1/2 cup sugar
2 cups blueberries
grated zest of one lemon
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup polenta*
1-3/4 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 large egg
1/2 cup whole milk
1 stick (8 tbsp) unsalted butter, melted and cooled to room temperature

Preheat the oven to 400 F. Grease an 8″ square pan.

Stir together the water, cornstarch, lemon juice and 1/3 cup sugar in a small saucepan. Stir in the blueberries and bring to a simmer. Simmer about three minutes, stirring occasionally.

Whisk together the flour, baking powder, salt, lemon zest, and the remaining 1/2 cup sugar in a bowl.

Whisk together the milk, egg, and melted butter in a large bowl. Whisk in the flour mixture until just combined.

Reserve 1/2 cup of the blueberry mixture, and pour the remainder into the baking dish. Pour the batter over the fruit and spread the mixture evenly. Spoon the reserved fruit over the batter. Bake for 20-25 minutes or until a wooden toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean.

*I used polenta because it was what I had in my cupboard but feel free to use regular cornmeal.

Strawberry cupcakes

naomi — Wed, 12 May 2010 23:57:52 +0000

Hello.

It’s been a grueling semester but I’m back.

I’ve returned with strawberry cupcakes to boot.

I usually have an aversion to cupcakes, they’re too cutesy and too trendy and have become too associated with all sorts of things I dislike. However, unlike a cake, cupcakes don’t need to be cut, they can be eaten out-of-hand, as-is and are perfect for end-of-semester, in-class parties, which is exactly what these were for. I whipped these up one night while writing a 33-page critique of a standardized test. I frosted them the next morning in between bouts of editing the aforementioned paper. Suffice it to say they’re pretty easy and a wonderful distraction from the merits and faults of the ECLAS-2.

The recipe can be found at the Smitten Kitchen.

n.b. This recipe makes a ridiculous amount of cake. It made about 24 cupcakes plus an 8″ square with a little batter leftover. I cut the square cake into 4 and froze it, then defrosted it, and frosted it, but I’ll tell you more about that later.

Dark Cocoa Brownies

naomi — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 22:15:53 +0000

Valentine’s day slipped by with hardly a whisper this year, no doubt drowned out by the sound of firecrackers going off for Chinese New Year. The Saturday night before we had a huge dinner at a Sichuan restaurant in Queens that involved chilies, chilies, and more chilies. There was rabbit, and rice cakes, and amazingly good steamed buns served with sweetened condensed milk. Sunday was a quiet day: a little breakfast, some olympics, and lots of time spent indoors, relishing in a lazy long weekend.

By the middle of last week I was feeling that maybe I’d neglected Valentine’s a little. I love holidays, even silly ones that many would chose to ignore; any excuse to give gifts, bake sweets and make a special dinner is good enough for me. Because everyone else was doing it, I decided to make these dark cocoa brownies, and I’m glad I did. I cut them into little hearts and sent a package off to my parents, and one of my uncles. The rest we gladly gobbled up ourselves. They’re fudgy and rich and nearly black (I would love to make a Spinal Tap reference but sadly there are some brownies that are blacker: Ms. Dula’s).

Because the recipe has been posted by all and sundry I’m not going to post it again here. You can find it at:

The Wednesday Chef

Smitten Kitchen

Make them and enjoy!

Snow Day (Coconut Cream Pie)

naomi — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 22:55:35 +0000

Today we had a snow day in New York. Public schools were closed, which means that I didn’t have to get up at 6:45 this morning. Even though the snow is still falling outside I think everything will return to normal tomorrow and by 8:30 am I’ll be back in the classroom with 25 five-year-olds to teach.

This pie comes from Betty Crocker’s Picture Cookbook. A lot of people look down on Betty Crocker, but I love this cookbook. The pies are great, and so are the cookies, and there are some great cakes and quick breads too. What’s more the pictures are totally groovy and there’s all sorts of antiquated advice about pleasing husbands and table service with or without servants (sadly, ours is a no-servant house 100% of the time). Just stay out of the salad section, there’s a little too much aspic in there for my taste.

This particular pie, which they call White Christmas Pie (NYC does look kind of like this pie today, all white and fluffy), is a serious keeper. It reminds me of a pie my grandmother makes, where you fold whipped cream into the custard, rather than laying it on top. This pie has an added boost of airiness from a meringue folded in at the end. It is so light it’s like biting into coconut flavored air.

Coconut Cream Pie
adapted from Betty Crocker’s Picture Cookbook

If you’re using sweetened coconut I might cut down the sugar to maybe 1/3 cup in the custard and 1/4 cup in the meringue.

Baked and cooled 9″ pie shell

1 tbsp gelatin (1 envelope)
1/4 cup cold water
1/2 cup sugar
4 tbsp all-purposeflour
1/2 tsp salt
1-1/2 cups milk
3/4 tsp vanilla
1/4 tsp almond extract
1/2 cup whipping cream, whipped until still
3 egg whites
1/4 tsp cream of tartar
1/2 cup sugar
1 cup moist shredded coconut

Soften gelatin in 1/4 cup water, set aside.

In a medium saucepan, whisk together the sugar, flour and salt. Slowly whisk in the milk. Cook over low heat, stirring constantly until it comes to a boil. Boil for 1 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in softened gelatin. Cool.

When partially set, whisk until smooth and stir in the vanilla and almond extracts.

Gently fold in the whipped cream.

Whisk the egg whites and cream of tartar until foamy. Slowly add in the sugar and continue whisking until stiff peaks form.

Gently fold the meringue into the custard.

Gently fold in the coconut.

Pour into the cooled pie shell, sprinkle with extra coconut. Chill until set (about 2 hours).

Pistachio Cake

naomi — Sun, 07 Feb 2010 20:19:38 +0000

Last year, after I whined about the price of nuts in New York, my mom said she’d see if she could get me some nuts wholesale through one of her suppliers (if you didn’t know, she has a shop in Los Angeles). A month or so later, a guy comes by and delivers a 25-pound box of nuts, half almonds, half pistachios. 25 pounds! I got a bunch of bags and portioned out the nuts and stacked them in the freezer. We made it through the almonds fairly quickly, a short roast in the oven and they made a perfect snack. The pistachios however, lingered. Maybe it’s the shelling, and the fact that we’re lazy, or the mess that we make eating them. I’m not sure why, but a year later we still have the better part of 12-1/2 pounds of lovely bright green pistachios in our freezer. That is about to change. . . .

When we left for our European vacation this winter we asked our komsije (neighbors) if they could check our mail and keep an eye on the apartment. When I came back, not only were there piles of mail of the coffee table, but there were also gifts. This was my gift. It’s a nut grinder our komsinica’s mom sent from Croatia. I had been big-eyeing this cake for a while, but never could make it because I had no way of grinding the pistachios into a flour. You can imagine how happy I was to have that problem solved once and for all. It wasn’t long before this cake was coming out of my oven.

How sad that I had to wait so long! This cake is delicious on it’s own and is perfect with a cup of tea. It tastes like you set out to make a middle eastern pastry, but instead of layering the philo dough and nuts you ground it all together and made a cake. It is very moist, and not too sweet, with a toothsome, nutty crumb and ever so slightly perfumed by the rose water.

Pistachio Cake
Adapted from Breakfast•Lunch•Tea*

Don’t be put off by the large amount of rosewater, it has such a delicate flavor you hardly taste it. If you can’t find rosewater or just really hate it, you can substitute 1/2 tsp vanilla extract.

This is a fairly large cake, next time I might divide it between two pans and freeze one for later. However, we ate it over the course of a week and it was nearly as good on the last day as it was on the first.

for the cake:
250 g (about 2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
225 g (1 cup) sugar
grated zest of 1 lemon
2 tbsp rosewater
4 eggs
100 g (1 cup) ground almonds
100 g (1 cup) ground pistachios
50 g (1/3 cup) all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
pinch of salt

for the glaze:
50 g (1/2 cup) pistachios, whole or chopped
50 g (1/4 cup sugar
juice and zest of one lemon

Preheat the oven to 350º F. Butter and flour a 10″ round cake pan.

Cream together the butter and sugar until light and creamy. Mix in the lemon zest and rosewater. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating thoroughly after each addition.

fold in the ground almonds, ground pistachios, flour, baking powder and salt.

Pour the mixture into the prepared pan and bake for about 40 minutes or until a tester inserted in the middle comes out clean.

To make the glaze, heat the pistachios, sugar, lemon juice and zest in a saucepan over low heat until the sugar has dissolved and pour it over the cake.

*My aunt and uncle gave me this book for my birthday several years ago. I loved the book and visited Rose Bakery when I was in Paris in 2007. It is a very hip place with really good food, and though I’m not a Vegetarian myself, they have a lot of Vegetarian options on the menu, which is nice. A year or two later, an old friend (my roommate in college) moved to Paris for grad school. He sent me an email telling me he’d got a job at this place, the Rose Bakery, did I know it? Did I ever! I had the shortbread from this cookbook in my oven as I typed my response.

Lemon Meringue Pie and a Happy New Year

naomi — Thu, 31 Dec 2009 17:16:49 +0000

I am sitting here, in a friend’s apartment in Berlin with snow falling outside and fireworks going off, thinking of an appropriate way to sum up the past year. It was hard, it was a struggle, it was difficult and heartbreaking on so many levels for so many different people. In a year of hardship there were also a lot of wonderful things that happened: I started grad school and found a career that I truly love, my boyfriend completed his Masters degree and created a beautiful thesis project and, perhaps best of all, my grandmother survived her hip replacement and a heart attack and is up and walking and laughing again. It only feels appropriate to end this year with something tart, and a little sweet, and hope that next year (and the next decade) will be a better.

Lemon Meringue Pie

I had bought some Meyer lemons in the week before my break, with the full intention of making lemon curd. Of course, between one thing and another the curd was never made and the lemons were left unzested and unjuiced. Because Meyer lemons are so lovely (and so expensive) I did what anyone else would do, I packed them into my carry-on luggage and carried them to California. Yes indeed, to California where citrus fruit is plentiful and there are at least three trees on my parents’ block that are overladen with lemons. Ah well.

Lemon Curd
Adapted from Gourment, January and April 2001

Zest of three lemons (a heaping tablespoon)
1 cup lemon juice
scant 1-1/4 cups sugar
4 large eggs
16 tbsp unsalted butter

Whisk together lemon zest, juice, sugar and eggs in a medium saucepan. Stir in butter and cook over low heat, whisking frequently, until the curd has thickened enough to hold the marks of the whisk and bubbles begin to appear on the surface, about 6 minutes. Strain into a bowl through a fine mesh sieve. Cover surface of curd with plastic wrap and let chill.

Meringue

3 egg whites
pinch of cream of tartar
1/2 cup sugar

Whisk together the egg whites and cream of tarter until foamy. Slowly whisk in the sugar and continue beating until whites are glossy and form stiff peaks.

Preheat oven to 400º F.

Pour the curd into a cooled, baked 9″ pie shell. Heap the meringue on top, making sure to seal the edges. Use the back of the spoon to swirl the meringue and form peaks. Place in the oven and bake 8-10 minutes until the meringue is golden. Chill until ready to serve. Watch it disappear.

Gingerbread

naomi — Sun, 20 Dec 2009 16:48:31 +0000

I first made this cookies over ten years ago and I have made them every Christmas since. I usually create a sort of gingerbread UN, with gingerbread men from all around the world: a Scottish guy with a kilt, a Japanese woman wearing an elaborately decorated kimono, a French man with a striped shirt and a cigarette hanging from his mouth.

These are hands-down one of my favorite, and one of my most popular cookies. When my mom’s godson was smaller, we used to make these together and he’d always ask for them when he came to visit. One of my uncles always takes home three or four to eat with coffee. Because of all the molasses and spices, my college roommate used to call these the “bully of the cookie jar.” He meant that in the best of possible ways.

Gingerbread
Adapted from The Betty Crocker Cookbook

The original recipe calls for 1/2 cup cold water to be mixed in with the molasses. For some reason, when I started making these in New York, they felt a little dry so I switched to buttermilk (doesn’t buttermilk make everything better anyway?). If you don’t have buttermilk, use water, it’ll be just fine.

This is the recipe I used to make these.

2 tsps baking soda
3 tbsp cold water
6 cups flour
1 tsp salt
1 tsp allspice
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp cloves
1 tsp ginger
1/3 cup butter, softened
1 cup brown sugar
1-1/2 cups dark molasses (one 12 oz. jar Grandma’s Robust Molasses)
1/2 cup buttermilk

Stir the baking soda into the water, set aside.

Sift together the flour, salt, and spices.

Mix together the butter, sugar and molasses until well combined. Stir in the buttermilk.

Mix the flour mixture into the molasses mixture. Stir in the baking soda and water.

Chill for a few hours or overnight.

Preheat oven to 350° F. Roll out dough very thick (1/2″) (dough is sticky so use plenty of flour.) Bake for 15-18 minutes. Cookies are done when touched lightly with a finger, no imprint remains.