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.

[bloviatrix]

Sweet cheese and sour cherry babka. It's not the prettiest looking thing I've ever made.

[small h]

It's very attractive!

[StephanieL]

I was pleasantly surprised by the lightness of this yeast-based blueberry streusel cake, even though it didn't rise as high as I thought it would.

All the blueberries (2 cups!) came from our garden. 

 

Edited June 2, 2025 by StephanieL

[bloviatrix]

The babka was a little under-proofed, but still wickedly good. Photo of the frozen cheesecake to follow.

[bloviatrix]

Here's a photo of the cheesecake.

 

[small h]

Needs more pistachios. 🤣

[StephanieL]

N got into a mood for strudel after our trip, so she used our homegrown apples and marionberries, plus frozen filo dough, to make some on Friday.  For some reason, the strudel recipe on the filo box calls for a lot of breadcrumbs, more than I expected, so to me it's a little disappointing.

She also used our blueberries (and homemade applesauce--the woman was really busy) to make Maida Heatter's blueberry-applesauce tea cake for a potluck/house party yesterday.  The recipe makes 2 loaves, so we got to keep one for ourselves.

Next up: I get to do some baking--a sour cherry chocolate torte for N's upcoming birthday.

[bloviatrix]

I had some babka dough sitting in my freezer that I made several months ago that I decided to use. Made a chocolate tahina sour cherry babka using sour cherries that I had preserved. It looks ugly and the bottom burned a bit. But it's so buttery and tastes pretty good.

[MitchW]

Not exactly dessert, but:

Scones, with currants, hot out of the oven 10 minutes ago, to go with a second cup of coffee.  Made via the grate the frozen butter method, which is très annoying.

Edited January 27 by MitchW

[small h]

1 hour ago, MitchW said:

Made via the grate the frozen butter method

I use a food processor for the butter when I make pie crust. Could that work for you? (You have to cut it up first, of course.)

[MitchW]

33 minutes ago, small h said:

I use a food processor for the butter when I make pie crust. Could that work for you? (You have to cut it up first, of course.)

It could, but there are any number of scone recipes deriding the use of the processor, claiming it makes for a not as light and airy scone.

[small h]

Oh, interesting. H is the scone-maker in this house.

[StephanieL]

Sourdough discard + frozen bananas (from our garden) = banana bread with chocolate chips.