Avocado Chocolate Mousse

Serves 2-3

   

Oh yeaaaaah, talk about smooth, creamy, sweet, velvety luxuriousness. Chocolate mousse made from avocado is something I’ve been meaning to try for a long time, and something about which, no matter many good reviews I’d read or overheard, I was still a little doubtful. The moment of truth came when I was brainstorming dairy-free dessert ideas for my nephew. His mom just had a baby and we’re bringing dinner over next week. He’s almost four, so I know he hasn’t been exposed to loads of different desserts and can only, realistically, be so bummed about his allergy and about all the desserts that he misses out on—I imagine the biggest ones in his mind are birthday cake and ice cream. But I still like to think outside the box for him, when possible. I resist just making cookies with margarine or shortening because I love a culinary challenge, and it brings me such joy when someone gets to eat something they thought they never would. Case in point: chocolate mousse for the lactose intolerant. Long story short, I had an extra avocado lying around and decided to give it a go last night. Actually, I have to admit another motivation: Sawyer has refused avocado his whole short life. This, to me, is the greatest freaking mystery on the planet. Every other baby we knew, during the phase of introducing solids, loved avocado. Most of them still like it. But his categorical refusal of anything green has branded this food for him, and it drives me crazy. Every time he sees it in something he says, “mama I don’t want dat green bean!” Saying that it’s an avocado and not a green bean is beyond pointless. So I thought, “If I can get this mule-child têtu to eat avocado mousse, my hope in his future will be restored.” (Because I’m pretty sure avocado is the first step on the path toward world peace.) So, back to the mousse: I consulted a few recipes and ended up winging the simplest version possible—many variations have cashew, peanut or almond butter, but as you probably know, lactose intolerance often goes hand-in-hand with nut allergies, as is the case with my nephew. So here’s more or less what I included:

1 ripe avocado

1/4 C maple syrup

2 Tbs soy milk

2 Tbs dark cocoa

pinch of salt

Put it all in the blender or food processor and process until smooth. The result? Is it as good as they say? I’d venture to say it’s better. Truly. It’s like the greatest culinary hornswoggle ever, but, like, a horswoggle for good. A world peace farce, if you will. However: as someone who has both made and eaten a lot of chocolate mousse, here and abroad, it is not—in the spirit of full disclosure—very much like mousse. It’s more like chocolate cake batter pudding…which is maybe even better.

As you can see, it was a big hit with monsieur anti-veg. Maybe when he’s 18 he’ll learn the truth about his new favorite dessert.

Pear Custard Tart

Serves 8

I’m not sure why there is such a proliferation of desserts on here lately—we really aren’t eating all that much dessert. We have had company since Fielding was born, and that was the occasion for this particular delight. And when I say delight, I mean deeeee-light. My mother has declared this “one of the all-time great desserts” that she has tasted in her life time. That’s saying a lot, coming from someone with a sweet tooth and who has all manner of sweet lusciousness to choose from when picking a life-time frontrunner for number one. The great advantage to this tart is that you can whip it up in about 15 minutes, making it ideal for casual weeknights and unexpected guests.

Crust:

1/2 C cold butter, cut into chunks

1/4 C white sugar

1 1/2 C flour (I always combine whole wheat and white flours)

pinch salt

1 tsp vanilla

1-2 Tbs cream, half and half or milk

 

Filling:

2-3 pears peeled and sliced

1/4 butter at room temperature

1 C sugar

2 eggs

1 tsp vanilla

pinch salt

1/4 C flour

For crust: place flour, sugar, butter and salt in the food processor and process until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Slowly add vanilla and milk until dough comes together into a ball. Press crust into greased 9-in pie pan, tart pan or spring form pan and refrigerate until ready to fill. (I always use foil in my spring form pan because I have bad luck getting it to release well on such crusts…I don’t know why.)

 

For the filling: Set the pears aside. Place remaining ingredients in the food processor and blend until smooth. Peel, core and slice the pears; arrange them in a circular pattern in the crust and pour the filling over. Bake at 350 degrees for 45-55 minutes.

 

 

For a variation: substitute almond extract for vanilla, sprinkle sliced, toasted almonds on top, and/or add 1/2 ground almonds to the crust.

Currant Frozen Yogurt

Serves 6-8

Talk about enjoying the fruits of our labors! On Tuesday my friend Harmony and I, after months of scheming and failed attempts, finally made our first trip this season to the magnificent Berry Patch Farms in Brighton, CO, a family owned you-pick organic farm. Among the other things that we harvested that day was an incredibly labor-intensive pile of currants. Neither of us has much experience with fresh currants, and Harmony had the unparalleled idea of turning them into frozen yogurt. This was a total boon because I’d been meaning to try frozen yogurt in my ice cream maker for awhile and just hadn’t gotten around to it. One batch of homemade yogurt later, the dream was alive. It’s amazing how it’s sweet, tangy, and creamy all at the same time.

But first, a few pics from the farm. Here we are in the hay wagon!

 

Dragging the kids around past snack and bedtime:

Strawberry fields forever—Sawyer eats every other berry he picks:

And here are the luscious, ruby red currants.

And now the recipe:

2 1/2 C thick plain yogurt (I used my homemade yogurt recipe with organic one and a half percent milk, strained to make it thicker)

1/2 C sugar

1 1/2 C currants, washed and picked through to remove debris

1/2 tsp vanilla

Puree the currants in the food processor then run the mixture through a sieve to remove the seeds and bits of skin. Stir the remaining puree into the yogurt. Add the sugar and vanilla and stir until blended.

Cover and chill. Process in your ice cream maker according to manufacturer’s instructions. Degustez!!

 

 

Brownies with Speculoos Pâte à Tartiner

Serves 8

This requires a little background, I believe. A pâte à tartiner is simply a spread, usually sweet, something you would put on bread or a crepe or a scone, for example. Nutella is probably the pâte à tartiner that Americans know best, but brace yourselves, fellow countrymen, because there’s an up and coming, snot-nosed hotshot called Speculoos Pâte à Tartiner ready to take its place. I first read about this on David Lebovitz's blog a few months ago when he discovered it at his local Monoprix. I was completely inspired and outrageously curious. Luckily a friend of mine was in Paris at that moment, so I shot off a quick email with the link to the story, and asked him, if it wasn’t too much trouble, to pick up a jar for me. My generous friend brought TWO jars back for me!

But let me backtrack: what is this stuff?? Maybe you’ve heard of a sublime little gingerbread cookie called Biscoff—you get them on airplanes sometimes in the states (after a little research I’ve discovered that it’s Delta Airlines that serves them regularly).

Or you can find them at a lot of grocery stores in the fancy cookie section--they are European, after all. In France those cookies are called Speculoos, and the French have a passion for dipping them in hot spiced wine. Perhaps if you’ve seen the movie Amelie you remember a scene where the Glass Man gives Amelie “du vin chaud et des speculoos!” Or maybe not. Anyway, this pâte à tartiner is the soft liquid version of that cookies. It’s like Nutella, like I said, but Speculoos flavored! And it’s indescribable. Everyone that comes to the house these days gets a sample—“Wait, don’t go yet, I have something incredible for you to taste!” And they all marvel. No one knows quite what to do with it, since our country doesn’t have a long history of putting sweet spreads on bread beyond jam, and we don’t do much crepe eating normally. Most of the lucky samplers have agreed, therefore, that the best solution is to just stick your finger in the jar once a day, when you need just a little somethin’ sweet. I agreed, until I saw a recipe in Sunset Magazine for brownies with globs of Nutella in the center. I HAD to try this with the Speculoos Pâte à Tartiner. I know most people don’t have access to random other people who are returning from France and who can smuggle a jar home for them, so you’ll be glad to know that the American branch of the company, Biscoff, sells the spread.

1/2 C butter

1 oz. unsweetened chocolate, finely chopped

1 C sugar

1/4 C unsweetened cocoa powder

2 large eggs

1 tsp vanilla

1/2 tsp salt

3/4 C flour

1/2 C Speculoos Pâte à Tartiner (Ok, or Nutella…)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease 8 cups of a muffin tin (I used cupcake papers because I don’t trust my muffin tin, a cheap piece of crap, to release the things I bake in it). Melt butter in microwave, stir in chopped chocolate until smooth. Add sugar and cocoa and stir to blend. Whisk in eggs, vanilla and salt. Add flour and blend until smooth. Spoon batter into muffin cups. Make a small dent in the center of each and spoon in 1 Tbs of pâte à tartiner. Bake for 20-24 minutes. Let cool 10 minutes, loosen, remove from pan, and transfer to a cooling rack.

Cake Balls from Cake Scraps

Servings depend on your leftovers

No, I didn’t make these for myself, but that didn’t stop me from eating loads of them along the way. No, a moment of celebration is due, not just for my friend Kristen, who is expecting a little boy a few weeks after me, and at whose baby shower these will (hopefully) be devoured, but also because with this project I have FINALLY finished using up all the wedding cake leftovers. These babies are a combination of the cake tops from the wedding cake layers and the chocolate frosting leftover from the vegan cupcakes. I think maybe Paula Dean (oh no, HER again!) first came up with the ideas for cake balls, but the person who has taken them to extraordinary heights is no doubt Bakerella; just click on ‘cake pops’ on her home page and prepare to be flabbergasted by her patience, longsuffering, and genius for miniature treats on a stick.

Chris and our brother-in-law were milling around the kitchen while I was in the initial stages of making these—“hmm, yum, what’s that?” "Those are cake balls." There was some not very stifled laughter, and the only thing that could have ensued with two dudes hearing “cake balls” did: lots of jokes about chocolate salty balls. If you missed out on this particular pop culture gem, now’s your chance to hear it. Discretion is advised; it is South Park after all.

Ok, enough tomfoolery; back to the cake balls. If you glance at Bakerella’s or Paula Dean’s recipe, you’ll see that they recommend a boxed cake mix and a tub of frosting, but to me the only reason to make these is when you have leftovers like I did, in which case you have to guess a little on the proportions. I just mushed in all together in a bowl and, in retrospect, should have added the frosting little by little, as they ended up being wet enough to make them difficult to work with. Bref, here’s how to precede when you don’t have exact measurements:

Pulse cake scraps in your food processor until they become cake crumbs. Combine them in a bowl with your leftover frosting:

Here’s mine all mixed up—pretty heavy on the frosting.

Roll the mixture into balls and place on a cookie sheet with waxed paper; freeze. I used my tiny scooper, then went back after they’d been in the freezer for 20 minutes and rounded them out by hand, cause the stuff was just too sticky to mess with at room temperature. But if you look at the pics on Bakerella’s site, you’ll see that hers are much more cakey and workable. It’s a question of taste, I imagine, because having to freeze them wasn’t a big deal, and now they’re SUPER moist, like rum balls, mmmm!

The next step is to dip/roll the frozen balls in melted chocolate—I used dark here, but you could of course use milk or while, or even poured fondant; whatever rings your bell. I melted about a package and a half of dark chocolate chips over a bain marie with 2 tablespoons of shortening (this thins the chocolate a little and makes it easier to coat the balls). Fish ‘em out with a fork, wipe the tines on the edge of the bowl a few times, and place them back on the waxed paper to harden.

 

The last step is to decorate them, if you wish. In my mind I pictured little squiggles made with melted white chocolate, but once I got into my cupboard I realized that I’d used all my white chocolate in a fudge recipe awhile ago. Oh well. So I made a quick milk/powdered sugar frosting, tinted it blue (for baby boy, of course), put it in a zip lock, cut the tip, and piped a few inept little designs on the balls.

Cake scrap ice cream cake

Oh yeah! Thanks to my sister-in-law Sheri who had the brilliant idea of turning wedding cake scraps into an ice cream cake. Though I feel like I betrayed her vision a little by turning it basically into more wedding cake…with ice cream. Here’s the idea, in any case: put your cake scraps in the food processor and turn them into crumbs. Press them into the bottom of a pan (I’m using at 8x8 square here, but it obviously depends on your quantity of leftover cake scraps). If you have leftover fillings, you could layer them like I did here: raspberry filling, topped with vanilla ice cream (I softened the ice cream in the fridge for about 40 minutes before spreading it, and had previously frozen the raspberry layer for about the same amount of time), topped with lemon curd (I refroze after the ice cream addition for about an hour). After that press another layer of cake crumbs on top, and frost with any leftover frosting. When it came time to serve this last night I let it soften on the counter for about a half hour before trying to dig in—it would have been a futile exercise otherwise, but 30 minutes was just perfect. This particular ice cream cake is riiiiiiich. Or in the immortal words of Le Mechant Pat Hibulaire: “Riche! Riche! Richissme!!” So if anyone nearby wants a slice, PLEASE come to our house and take some; we’ve been up to our ears in cake practice rounds and leftovers for awhile now, so please help us out!

Milk Chocolate Pistachio Tart

Serves 8-10

Once again, not my picture. We’re in between vacations right now—the scant three and half days between arriving home and setting out again—and things are a little topsy-turvy here. I made this tart for cooking club before we set out on family vacation part one, but forgot to take my camera with me…so no one’s food got photographed, unfortunately. Anyway, this is a Martha Stewart recipe that was in her magazine this month that immediately—and I mean immediately—became an obsession. A few thoughts: delicious as it was—and it really was, I think we each had two servings at cooking club—it was a little on the sweet side. So I’m thinking I’ll try it with dark chocolate next time, if only to experience a surely delectable variation on the original. Next, maybe it was the Colorado dryness, but my pistachio paste was never more than crumbs, so I added a little water. I think I added a little too much—probably a tablespoon or two would have been sufficient. You could also increase the oil a little.

CRUST

3/4 cup all-purpose flour, plus more for surface

1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

1/3 cup unsalted shelled pistachios, chopped

Salt

1 stick unsalted butter, room temperature

1/4 cup sugar

1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

PISTACHIO PASTE

1/2 cup unsalted shelled pistachios

1/4 cup sugar

Salt

1 teaspoon safflower oil

FILLING

5 ounces milk chocolate, chopped

1/2 cup heavy cream

1/4 cup whole milk

1 large egg, beaten

Garnish: finely chopped pistachios (optional)

Coat a 9-inch fluted round tart pan with a removable bottom with cooking spray. Make the crust: Whisk together flour, cocoa powder, chopped pistachios, and 1/4 teaspoon salt. Beat butter on medium speed until fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add sugar, and beat until pale, about 2 minutes. Reduce speed to low, and add vanilla, then flour mixture; beat until just combined and dough holds together when pressed between 2 fingers. Press dough into a disk, and wrap in plastic. Refrigerate for 15 minutes. Confession: as usual, I just poured all the ingredients into my food process and hit “on.” Took about 30 seconds.

Roll out dough to 1/4-inch thickness on a lightly floured surface. Press dough into bottom and up sides of tart pan. Trim excess dough flush with edges of pan using a knife. Refrigerate until firm, at least 1 hour or overnight. Meanwhile, preheat oven to 325 degrees.

Bake until firm, about 30 minutes. Let cool completely; reduce oven temperature to 300 degrees.

Meanwhile, make the pistachio paste: Pulse pistachios, sugar, and 1/4 teaspoon salt in a food processor until mixture begins to clump together. Add oil, and pulse until smooth and paste-like. Spread evenly into bottom of cooled tart shell, pressing firmly with the bottom of a measuring cup until flat and smooth.

Make the filling: Place chocolate in a heatproof bowl. Heat cream and milk in a saucepan over medium heat until almost boiling; pour over chocolate. Let stand for 2 minutes. Slowly whisk until smooth. Let cool for 10 minutes. Stir in egg until combined. Place tart shell on a baking sheet, and pour in filling. Bake until just set, 30 to 35 minutes. Let cool. Garnish with finely chopped pistachios.

Strawberry Rhubarb Tartlets—small and smaller

Makes 6 small and 20 smaller tartlets

   

I didn’t grow up with rhubarb--heck, I didn’t grow up with much more than frozen corn and canned green beans—but I’ve eaten it and experimented with it over the years and have become a fan. Chris, however, is a long-time lover of the strawberry-rhubarb combo, so when a few stalks were coming in our organic box this week, his cravings were the priority. “What do you want me to do with the rhubarb?” I asked him probably five times over the weekend, because at $3/lb I can hardly think of a greater tragedy than rotting rhubarb in my produce drawer. I never did get a proper answer from him so I had to take matters into my own hands. Chris isn’t a big cake eater, so while I have a great rhubarb coffee cake recipe from a family friend, some kind of pie seemed to be the best choice. But I’m not big on fruit pies. And so the dilemma arises: when there are only two of us in the house (toddler doesn’t count; we all know he gets a piece of chocolate the size of a grain of sand when cleans his plate), one of whom has to be REMINDED to eat dessert (that would be Chris, not me), a whole fruit pie could sit on the counter for a veerrryyy long time. Solution: mini-tarts! Just pop ‘em in your mouth! Freeze ‘em for later! Offer ‘em to guests without the bother of a plate and fork! This happened to also be the maiden voyage of my mini-muffin pan, which I’m ever so excited about. Why are there sizes ‘small’ and ‘smaller’? Because I got lazy. I still had a third of my fixins left after the mini muffin pan was full, so I did the rest in a regular muffin pan and cooked them at the same time.

Crust:

1 1/2 C flour

1/2 tsp salt

2-3 Tbs sugar

1/2 C chilled butter or butter and shortening mixed

2-4 Tbs ice water

Blend flour, salt, sugar and butter in food processor until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Add ice water until dough just comes together. Wrap in plastic wrap and chill one hour.

Filling:

1 lb rhubarb, washed and trimmed

1 lb strawberries, hulled

1 C sugar

3 Tbs cornstarch

Again, I opt for the food processor because, with the diminutive size of these tartlets, you do not want big nuggets of rhubarb getting in your way. So pulse the rhubarb and the strawberries separately until they are more or less diced. Stir them together with sugar and cornstarch in a large bowl, and let them macerate for about 20 minutes while your dough it chilling.

Preheat oven to 350. Grease a mini-muffin pan, and a regular muffin pan if you’re lazy too. To do my exact proportions, divide dough into thirds. In the palm of your hands roll two of the thirds into about 10 little balls each (20 total). Roll the last third into 6 larger balls. Flour your work surface and rolling pin. Flatten the little balls into about 2.5-in in circles, then press into mini-muffin pan. Roll the larger into about 3.5-in circles and press them into the larger muffin tin. Fill close to the top with filling. Put them in the oven at the same time—bake the minis for 25 minutes, and the larger ones for 35-40.

Dust with powdered sugar or, even better, with a tiny dollop of whipped cream.

Making a Star Wars birthday cake

 

A friend of mine recently agreed to let me have a go at making a birthday cake for her son who has a food allergies, and who loves Star Wars. So I used my trusty egg/dairy/nut free chocolate cake recipe to get started.

In this recipe soy milk, olive oil and margarine replace the butter, while silken tofu and cornstarch replace the eggs.

3/4 C olive oil

2 C sugar

4 oz. (about 1/2 C) silken tofu

1 1/2 C + 2 Tbs soy milk

2 tsp vanilla

2 C all-purpose flour

1 tsp baking soda

3/4 tsp baking powder

2 Tbs cornstarch

3/4 tsp salt

3/4 C cocoa powder

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Place olive oil, sugar and tofu in your blender or food processor and blend for 2-3 minutes. In the meantime mix dry ingredients in a small bowl. Add milk and vanilla to the oil-tofu mixture and blend until combined.

Pour liquid into large mixing bowl, add dry ingredients and beat until well mixed. Pour into two greased 9-in. round pans, or one greased 9x13 in. pan. Bake 25-30 minutes for round pans, and 30-35 for 9x13. A toothpick inserted in the center should come out clean.

Dark chocolate frosting

1 C dairy-free, non-hydrogenated margarine, such as Earth Balance

4 C powdered sugar

4-6 Tbs soy milk

2 tsp vanilla

2-3 oz unsweetened dark chocolate, melted

2 Tbs corn syrup

Blend margarine and powdered sugar in food processor until ingredients begin to come together. While processing, add vanilla and corn syrup, then soy milk in a steady stream until the desired consistency is reached. Transfer frosting to bowl and beat in melted dark chocolate.

Here’s the triple layer baby all frosted and ready to go:

 

Next I covered it with blue fondant:

It was Chris’ idea to put tiny Vader helmets on the sides—genius in action. An exacto knife made quick work of these tiny galactic overlords:

Hmm, sort of a Vader-Skeletor effect, but I think everyone will know who it is:

On the black fondant ribbon at the base of the cake I used my trusty letter cutters to write the immortal Star Wars message:

Personalized for the birthday boy:

Then added stars:

And more stars, and light sabers:

 

And then Meredith’s wicked cake topper:

 

And the birthday boy himself, the Force flowing through his veins.

Homemade Ricotta Cheese

Makes 2 cups ricotta

I’ve been hearing for years how amazing (and easy) homemade ricotta is, and while I believed it, I didn’t buy into the superlatives until I tried it myself (in the wake of a failed goat cheese attempt) for our homemade themed cooking club meeting this month. This was faster and easier, in fact, than making yogurt (whose ease I’m endlessly advertising), and the result was so…sublime. And I mean sublime in the historical sense, the one where the object in question is so lofty and majestic as to inspire in the viewer (or taster) the idea of his own death. Yup, this stuff is powerful.

2 quarts whole milk

1 cup plain whole-milk yogurt

1/2 cup heavy cream

2 teaspoons white vinegar

1 teaspoon salt

In a large pot, bring the milk, yogurt, heavy cream (if using), vinegar, and salt to a boil. Very gently boil for one to two minutes, until the milk is curdled:

Meanwhile, line a strainer with a few layers of cheesecloth (I just use a clean kitchen towel) and set it over a deep bowl:

Pour the milk mixture into the strainer and let drain until desired thickness is reached. Gather the cheesecloth around the curds and squeeze gently to extract any excess liquid. Makes 2 cups.

To serve with crackers: drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with fresh ground pepper.

To serve with cookies or use in cannoli or another dessert, sweeten with sugar, add mini chocolate chips if desired.

You could also, of course, use it in the traditional ricotta-ways, like in lasagna or ravioli, but it’s so unbelievably delicious homemade that it almost seems a shame not to just eat it with a spoon.

Mini Pavlovas with Lemon Curd

Serves 10-12

Total bliss. Period.

Meringue
1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

2 teaspoons white vinegar

1 1/2 Tbsp cornstarch

1 1/2 cups granulated sugar

6 large egg whites at room temperature

Pinch salt

Lemon curd

1/2 C butter

3 lemons

2/3 C sugar

6 egg yolks

1 egg

Garnish with fresh fruit, whipped cream

Place rack in the middle of the oven and preheat the oven to 275°. Pour the vanilla and vinegar (if using) into a small cup. Stir the cornstarch into the sugar in a small bowl.

In a large bowl of a heavy-duty mixer, fitted with whisk attachment, whip egg whites, and salt, starting on low, increasing incrementally to medium speed until soft peaks/trails start to become visible, and the egg white bubbles are very small and uniform, approximately 2 to 3 minutes.

Increase speed to medium-high, slowly and gradually sprinkling in the sugar-cornstarch mixture. A few minutes after these dry ingredients are added, slowly pour in the vanilla and vinegar. Increase speed a bit and whip until meringue is glossy, and stiff peaks form when the whisk is lifted, 4 to 5 minutes. I love the almost electric tendrils that are left on the whisk when the meringue is ready.

Pipe or spoon the meringue into 10-12 large round mounds that are 3 inches wide on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper or a silicon liner. I had neither of these, so I improvised with cooking spray and some cornstarch; worked fine. With the back of a spoon, create an indentation in the middle of the mound for holding the filling once meringue is baked. I had a little trouble with this too—it was just so sticky! No matter what I did I ended up with a peak, and I was worried about them getting too spread out, so I just gave up. Ultimately not a problem. I could only fit 8 on a cookie sheet, so I put the rest in small ramekins. I think next time I’ll just do two cookie sheets and switch their position half-way through the cooking time.

Place baking sheet in the oven. Reduce oven temperature to 250°F. Bake for 50-60 minutes, or until the meringues are crisp, dry to the touch on the outside, and white -- not tan-colored or cracked. The interiors should have a marshmallow-like consistency.

Gently lift from the baking sheet and cool on a wire rack. (I did not remove the meringues in the ramekins.)

To make the lemon curd: mince the lemon zest, juice the lemons into medium sauce pan. Over medium-low heat melt the butter with the sugar, lemon juice and zest. Whisk the egg yolks and egg together. Once the sugar is dissolved and the butter melted, slowly whisk the eggs into the sauce pan. Continue to stir until the curd becomes thick. Pour into a container and place plastic wrap directly on the surface of the curd. Chill until serving.

To assemble the pavlovas: if you weren’t successful at making an indentation, just crush the top a little to make space for the curd. Spoon a few tablespoons of curd onto the meringue, top with fresh fruit (tonight we had sliced mango, strawberry, banana and kiwi) and whipped cream.

  

Mango Kulfi

serves...a lot. This came bursting out of my ice cream maker. Um, maybe a quart?

This is a recipe that I cut out of Vegetarian Times and have been meaning to try for awhile. It is allegedly an Indian frozen treat. I’ve never had the real thing, but this was tasty. The texture is different from ice cream…less creamy, but fluffier somehow. 

flesh of 2 mangos

2 12-oz. cans evaporated milk

1 14-oz. can sweetened condensed milk

1/2 tsp ground cardamom

Puree the mango flesh, transfer to a large bowl and whisk in the milks and cardamom. Freeze in ice cream maker according to manufacturer’s instructions.

Nutty Whole Grain Strawberry-Blueberry Streusel Pie

Makes one 10-12-inch pie

There were several motivations in the creation of this treat (the various parts of which are adapted with great liberty from Mark Bittman’s recipes in How to Cook Everything): the first was a huge amount of strawberries that we weren’t managing to eat fast enough; the second was a beautiful, warm bowl of freshly ground chickpea flour that I was anxious to try out in a baked good; and the third was my exquisite but heretofore unused handmade tart pan that I bought in the most adorable village of Kaysersberg in Alsace, France over winter break. Them’s pie-makin’ circumstances.

Crust:

10 Tbs cold butter, cut into chunks

2/3 C whole wheat flour

1/3 C barley flour

1/4 C brown rice flour

1/4 C chick pea flour

1/2 tsp salt

1 Tbs sugar

4 Tbs ice water

 

Filling:

7-8 C blueberries and sliced strawberries

1/4-3/4 C sugar (depending on how naturally sweet your berries are)

3 Tbs cornstarch

 

Streusel topping:

8 Tbs butter

1/2 C brown sugar

1/2 C walnuts

1/4 C whole wheat flour

1/4 C oats

2 Tbs wheat germ

1 Tbs ground flax meal

Make crust: put all ingredients except water in the food processor and process until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Add water little by little until the dough comes together into a ball. Wrap in plastic wrap and chill 1 hour.

Make the filling: macerate the berries in the sugar for an hour. Drain out the juice and whisk in the cornstarch. Return juice to berries.

Make the streusel topping: combine all ingredients in the food processor and process until nuts are chopped and ingredients are combined into a homogenous crumb mixture.

Assemble! Roll out the pie crust and fit it into your 10-12 inch pie pan. If you’re crafty, you can do fancy things to the edges, crimping or rolling or whatever great pie makers do. I have a bit of a challenge my with totally gorgeous and authentic Alsatian tart pan—it can’t handle “les chocs thermiques,” so I have to preheat it in the oven and then try to unroll the crust into the hot pan. It’s not a huge pain, but it does mean that I’ll never have beautiful edges; it’s just too hot to handle and the crust starts to fall apart as it warms. Anyway: next pour in the filling and top with the streusel mix. Bake at 375 for 45 minutes, or until the topping is crisp and the filling is thick.

Did this just spring forth from a French country house, or what??