dessert

Baked Explorations: Classic American Desserts Reinvented

brittany — Thu, 18 Nov 2010 16:00:00 +0000

Everything good these days seems to be coming out of Brooklyn, so I wasn’t surprised to find that Matt Lewis and Renato Poliafito, authors of Baked Explorations, have a tremendously successful bakery in Brooklyn that is garnering national attention—not to mention a whole lot of love for from the food-centric blogosphere.

This is the second book by the duo; their first was aptly titled Baked and named after their bakery. Lewis and Poliafito are becoming known for upping the ante and recreating run-of-the-mill sweet treats; think the usual suspects—brownies, pound cakes, scones—but on steroids. Their latest cookbook is in the same vein but aims to put a clever spin on classic American desserts. During their travels, Lewis and Poliafito were often approached by fans who wanted to share their favorite desserts that have been passed down through generations at “church suppers and small town gatherings.” Many of these were hyper-regional or long thought of as passé or just plain bizarre, like Mississippi Mud pie or Jell-O pretzel salad—a favorite at Mormon gatherings. (I can personally attest to this—don’t ask.)

Thumbing through a baking cookbook, especially one as stylish and hip as Baked Explorations, is equally enticing and discouraging to me. As I’ve said before, I do not enjoy baking, mostly because I’m very bad at it and looking at page after page of perfectly executed desserts only reminds me of how inferior my baking skills are. That being said, Baked Explorations isn’t all towering, perfectly-iced cakes and multi-tiered treats. There are many recipes that not even I could screw up, including a no-bake cookie.

The first thing that caught my eye was the second recipe in the book, intended for breakfast: pumpkin cheddar muffins. The combination sounded a little odd, perhaps even a tad gross, so naturally I was intrigued. This time of year I’m all about simple pumpkin goodies and have been known to churn out countless pumpkin chocolate chip cookies and more than a few loaves of pumpkin bread. I love when sweet and savory collide and these little gems do not disappoint. Since receiving Baked Explorations just one month ago, I’ve made these pumpkin cheddar muffins a total of six times; I’ve eaten them for breakfast, I’ve dipped them into bowls of turkey chili, and sopped up the last bit of soup in my bowl with them. They are dead simple to make and taste just like you think: cheesy and pumpkin-y, but they’re also spiked with a bit of cayenne pepper that hits your throat ever so slightly after each bite. They are divine.

I really wanted to talk about the Nutella scones, which in theory are perfect. Nutella is a decadent chocolate hazelnut spread from Italy and when you combine it with a chocolate scone and chopped hazelnuts, you should have heaven on a plate. I had a dry hockey puck, but I hope others will have more luck with these than I did. In my defense, making a good scone has a lot to do with baker’s intuition, which I have none of. Plus, the directions for rolling the scones out were complicated at best.

For those of you yearning for diabetes, I highly recommend making the double chocolate loaf with peanut butter and cream cheese spread. I love simple bread/loaf recipes that don’t require yeast or kneading and much like the pumpkin cheddar muffins, this recipe was incredibly easy to whip up. It’s rich, it’s decadent, and it made my toothless eighty-year-old great uncle giggle like a schoolgirl. To me, that’s the ultimate test of a recipe’s yum factor, and this one passed the test with flying colors.

Written by: Tina Vasquez, November 18th 2010

Ani's Raw Food Desserts: 85 Easy, Delectable Sweets and Treats

admin — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 05:34:00 +0000

By Ani Phyo

Da Capo Press

Raw food chef Ani Phyo’s latest cookbook is a creative and diverse collection of no-bake dessert recipes. All of her creations are free of wheat, gluten, dairy, and processed sugar, and rely instead on nuts, seeds, fruit, and natural sweeteners like agave nectar and maple syrup. The hot summer months are a perfect time to explore the world of raw foods, which are mainly prepared using a blender or food processor, although Phyo also includes a chapter on treats requiring a dehydrator. Additionally, the book’s simplest recipes require no appliances at all, just the creative pairing of fruits with herbs (in the “Fruit Simples” chapter) or wine and champagne (in the “Sparkling Desserts” section) for palate-stimulating, party-ready delights.

All of the main dessert food groups are represented here: cakes, cookies, chocolate, ice creams and sorbets, puddings and parfaits, cobblers and crisps, sauces and creams. The book’s gorgeous full-page photographs advertise the recipes well, with sumptuous portraits of Ice Kream Sandwiches, Raspberry Ganache Fudge Cake, and Filled Chocolate Truffles sure to inspire the comment, “it doesn’t look raw!” Although cookbook authors throw around the word “easy” all the time, Phyo’s recipes actually are; often, they’re as simple as combining all of the ingredients in the blender or food processor and then forming the mixture into the appropriate shapes. It’s instantly gratifying to blend nuts, fruit, and spices together and have a ready-to-eat cookie in your hand a couple of minutes later.

The sweet fruit sauces, rich nut creams, and hearty cookies I tried sold me on the merits of incorporating healthy raw treats into my diet. The fact that Phyo’s creations are actually good for you makes for a surprisingly positive, guilt-free dessert-eating experience. However, one of my favorite discoveries about raw food is also a drawback: it’s possible to taste all of the individual ingredients. While it’s exciting to actually know exactly what’s in your food and experience the flavor as a true blend of a few well-chosen fresh ingredients, this also means that if your cookie is made of dates and nuts, it’s going to be dense and taste like dates and nuts rather than resembling what you’d normally think of as a cookie. Therefore, it’s necessary to keep an open mind and appreciate the recipes for what they are rather than comparing them with the dessert forms they are based on.

Given Phyo’s focus on the health benefits of raw foods, I was surprised to see that her recipes do not include any nutritional information. It would be useful to see more concrete information about the nutrients in the desserts, as well as the caloric and fat content of each serving, especially given the fact that some recipes call for several cups of nuts in place of flour or a whole cup of coconut oil.

Overall, Ani's Raw Food Desserts is a surprising and satisfying tour of the possibilities of raw dessert preparation. Raw food connoisseurs and novices alike will find new favorite snacks and treats among Phyo’s imaginative creations.

Written by: Kiri Oliver, August 18th 2009

Organic Maple Syrup

admin — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 23:15:00 +0000

Coombs Family Farms

Perusing vegan cookbooks recently, I've noticed a tendency to recommend maple syrup as a sweetener. Yes, it's sucrose, but perhaps tree juice is ahead of refined cane sugar and the demon corn. And it also has flavor.

I cannot abide most artificial flavorings, and although some faux maple comes from the authentic spice fenugreek, there's nothing like the real thing. Coombs Family Farms' maple syrup is very real. The Coombs have been tapping trees for seven generations, some of the maples now three hundred years old and twenty feet in girth, and the tasty results culminate in a 100% pure organic maple syrup voted #1 by Gourmet magazine.

Of course it's a favored breakfast and dessert flavor, but I heard that some use it on grapefruit. I'll have to try it, perhaps in a salad dressing with grapefruit segments and baby spinach. Okay, and a few pecans, toasted with roughly ground black pepper. (I beg your pardon: I've been restricted to institutional meals recently, and am experiencing detailed fantasies regarding seasonings, fresh produce, and cheese that is not an unnatural glowing orange hue.) Granddaddy Coombs said, “Do right by the forest, and it will do right by you.” Sure does.

Written by: Erika Mikkalo, July 14th 2009

Pure Dessert: True Flavors, Inspiring Ingredients, and Simple Recipes

admin — Fri, 20 Jun 2008 23:29:00 +0000

By Alice Medrich

Artisan

Tart is no longer a four letter word, thanks to bakery chef extraordinaire (and three-time cookbook award winner) Alice Medrich. The most amazing thing about her sublime dessert concoctions is that she has whipped up her pastries using fresh, organic ingredients combined in stunningly elegant and inventive ways. Eschewing the usual lifespan-threatening sugary glazes, frostings, and fillings, Pure Dessert offers sweets created with whole grains, exotic herbs and spices, and a delightful array of handmade cheeses. And she doesn’t stop with just a selection of tangy tarts. This cookbook offers 150 revolutionary recipes, including cookies, cakes, tortes, ice creams, sorbets, soufflés, puddings, and even flan.

The element of surprise is keen. I’ve never seen dessert photographs that looked so simultaneously decadent and refreshingly clean. Tearing my hungry gaze from the gorgeous visuals, I read ingredients such as: saffron, cardamom pods, dark rum, cocoa beans, kefir cheese, buckwheat, fine sea salt, jasmine tea, tahini, and black sesame. (Don’t worry, kids, there’s chocolate involved and it’s good for you, too!) Using these and more ingredients, plus a selection of unsprayed organic fruits, Medrich serves up delights such as flan with a raw sugar sauce, buckwheat strawberry shortcake, ricotta and lace cookies, Guinness ice cream, chestnut-walnut meringues and raspberry-chocolate chunk muffins.

An enchanting cookbook, Pure Dessert shares with us Medrich’s tinkering with flavors and textures like a scientist in her lab. Some of the questions she muses upon as she mixes: “Does cold cream or hot cream do a better job coaxing out the flavor of mint leaves or rose petals? Why is it that dusting a warm brownie with spices gives it an enticing aromatic nose, whereas putting the spice in the batter blurs the chocolate flavor?”

Best of all, Medrich’s recipes are all easy to follow, fanciful yet pure, and deliciously healthy with a commitment to quality ingredients. Pass the dessert tray, please!

Written by: Cheryl Reeves, June 20th 2008