Dessert, the Sweet Spot

[StephanieL]

We had a terrific anniversary dinner at Kin Khao last week, and amongst the leftovers we took home were both sticky rice and steamed jasmine rice.  N used both to make a baked rice pudding with coconut milk.  I decided that I like the firmness of the baked rice pudding much more than the soupy/creamy versions.

[StephanieL]

I'm attending a potluck this evening where the theme is recreating recipes from the 19th-century cookbook What Mrs. Fisher Knows About Cooking, the first attributed to an African-American author.  The vagueness of 19th-century recipes being what it is, I went with ginger cake (gingerbread), because there are plenty of modern recipes that I could use for reference.  It came out nice and moist, if very large, but it calls for a whole pint of molasses and I accidentally used blackstrap rather than regular molasses.  I hope the attendees like the flavor!

[StephanieL]

Pie shell taking up room in the fridge + a cache of frozen homegrown blackberries from 2022 = pie.  The bottom of the shell wasn't fully baked during the blind baking stage (I thought it was), and the 2 tablespoons of tapioca flour and 1 Granny Smith apple didn't thicken the filling quite like I hoped, but it turned out well enough.  I used a Maida Heatter recipe that uses frozen blackberries, so the filling's soupiness (even after several hours out of the oven) surprised me.

[bloviatrix]

Didn't have time to make my regular cheesecake for the holiday so I made a Basque cheesecake so as not to disappoint the boy.

 

[StephanieL]

N combined ricotta, Meyer lemon peel and juice, a little sugar, and some blueberries for a nice, light hot-weather dessert.

[Wilfrid]

Oh that would work for me, low carb Agave syrup instead of sugar. Thanks.

[Wilfrid]

Took the concept and varied it: I prefer blackberries, I used cottage cheese (because I have lots of uses for it), low carb agave syrup to sweeten; I wish I had Meyer lemons but I had supermarket lemons.

One thing I added, a sprinkle of crumbs from my currently open granola bag. This is indeed simple and good. For me, makes me remember yes, I can eat a healthy dessert.

[StephanieL]

For N's birthday, I made the Buttermilk Tres Leches cake published in the Times Magazine a few weeks ago: https://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1025464-buttermilk-tres-leches-cake. Quite a lot of work, and found out 2 things: Bob's Red Mill coarse cornmeal is maybe a little too coarse for the recipe, and the cake definitely needs longer feeding and soaking times.  It does taste good, especially with the recommended side of roasted stone fruit (nectarines, peaches, and one pluot, roasted with just a little unsalted butter).

[Wilfrid]

I did that dessert again but with a few pieces of Catalina Crunch rather than granola. The photo would not be much different.

[StephanieL]

Trifle-tiramisu-refrigerator cake mashup: homemade whipped cream, ladyfingers, Osborne Cream Sherry, and fresh berries.