You know that guy that never seems to know when the party is over? Well, in the party known as summertime, I’m that guy.

It’s been a few weeks since the official end of summer and, I’m still not ready to let go. The sun. The outdoor neighborhood cafes. The ease of throwing on my favorite tattered shorts and racing out of the door. With that said, I was beginning to embrace fall. But then came the setback. I was hit with a sight that screamed, “Don’t give up just yet!”

Walking around my neighbor, I saw it… a lone wild tomato plant growing in a patch of dirt.  A wild tomato plant?…growing in downtown Brooklyn?…in October?

It made me think, “If this little guy can struggle and hold on past his seasonal prime then surely I can join him in his one-man fight to save “Fun Under the Sun.’”

Later that night it hits me, “I’ll make ice cream.” I mean, there’s nothing that says summer like ice cream. And because I came up with this Quixotesque plan over a glass of vino, I was inspired to make a red wine ice cream.

A quick web search brought me to a 2004 NY Times recipe for red wine ice cream. I decided to tweak it a bit. It was too one dimensional for my taste. For a bit of sweetness, I decided to incorporate stewed blackberries. Also, I thought blackberries would bring out the berry flavor of the wine grapes.

This ice cream has a beautifully complex flavor profile. It’s sweet, creamy (it uses 9 egg yolks) and has a slight sourness to it (I’m assuming because of the tannins). The frozen blackberries add a pop of fruity flavor as well as a bit of texture. And at the risk of scaring someone of you away, the peppercorns and cinnamon sticks give the ice cream an almost undetectable hint of spice. Served with a drizzle of the blackberry syrup, it makes a deliciously atypical frozen treat.

For a moment, I forgot about the loss of summer. I was feeling good about my seasonal coup. Walking around my neighborhood a day later, I mentally dismiss people in their autumn jackets for giving up so soon.

I approach the spot of the tomato plant that so inspired me to join his seasonal battle. I’m not sure if was the cool autumn nights or the countless dogs who relieved themselves but, I was horrified to see that my tomato plant, my little mighty engine that could, had bitten the dust.

Today, I’m wearing a long-sleeved shirt and light jacket. As Kenny Rogers once sang, “You gotta know when to hold. Know when to fold them.”

NOTE: I used the Spanish red wine, Grenache. If you can’t find it, any full body red will do. Since the recipe calls for 2 standard bottles of wine, I recommend that you buy one large 1.5 litter bottle. It will be cheaper and it’s not hard to find a decent bottle.

NOTE II: You may wind up with a bit too much ice cream batter for your maker. If this happens do not overfill your ice cream maker – it may not churn properly.

BLACKBERRY & RED WINE ICE CREAM (with Blackberry Syrup Topping)

Adapted from the NY Times

1 1/2 cups sugar (plus, 3 TBL)

1 pint blackberries

2 bottles full-bodied red wine

2 cinnamon sticks

1/2 TSP whole black peppercorns

2 cups milk

2 cups heavy cream

9 yolks

1/4 TSP kosher salt

1/8 TSP vanilla extract.

In a medium-sized saucepan over a medium high flame, add ¼ cup of sugar, blackberries and 3 tablespoons of water. Stirring occasionally, cook the blackberries until they have slightly broken down and released a good deal of their juices, about five minutes. Strain to separate juice and berries. Refrigerate the blackberries until they are completely cool. Add juice back to the saucepan and cook over medium heat until it thickens to a rich syrup, about 2 minutes. Refrigerate the syrup until it’s cool.

Pour wine into a large pot and bring to a simmer. Add cinnamon sticks and peppercorns. Simmer until the wine is reduced to 1 cup (it should take about 1 hour).

In a large pan, bring the milk, cream and half of the sugar to a boil and turn off heat. In a bowl, whisk together yolks and remaining sugar. Temper the yolks into the boiling milk by gradually whisking about 1 cup of milk into the yolks and adding this back into the pot with the remaining milk. Stir in the salt and the vanilla. Whisk in the reduced wine. Set pan over a bowl full of ice to cool. Pour the chilled ice cream base through a fine mesh strainer. Process the base in an ice-cream maker according to the manufacturer’s instructions. Add stewed blackberries into the maker five minutes before stopping it. Freeze in the freezer for at least 2 hours before serving.

Serve ice cream with a drizzle of syrup over each serving.

Serves 8

Big News Alert. Our e-family is growing! We just launched our cookbook review site, TatteredCookbook.com. Go check it out and you can enter the contest for a chance to win a free copy of this week’s featured cookbook, Heart of the Artichoke. As a matter of fact, I’ll wait here while you head over to the site…

…Ok, now that you’re back, I also have some bad news too. Normally, you’ll find tons of step-by-step cooking photos at CeramicCanvas.com but you’ll notice that today’s entry is a little light on photos.

Reason? About two weeks ago our computer crashed and died just after we finished the shoot and entry for today’s Sesame Peanut Chew Candies. Although I was able to save a few of the photos, many were lost before I had the chance to back them up. So, on to the recipe…

Since I come across quite a number of recipes, it’s rare that I go completely nuts over any particular one. But this recipe for Sesame Peanut Chew Candies has become my new food obsession. I love it. It has this brittle meets cookie thing going on. It has that beautiful deep flavor of a great brittle but with its cookie like texture, it doesn’t have the rock hard, “I think I just chipped my tooth” hardness of your standard brittle recipe.  It with only 5 ingredients, it’s super easy to whip up a batch whenever you get the craving.

This recipe comes from the recently release cookbook, Heart of the Artichoke (easily, one the best cookbooks to be released in 2010). Want to see another recipe from the book? Head over to TatteredCookbook.com for a book review and its recipe for Lemon Curd Tart & Candied Kumquats.

Cheers!

SESAME PEANUT CHEW CANDIES

Originally printed in Heart of the Artichoke by David Tanis

2 cups raw peanuts

½ cup sesame seeds

1 cup brown sugar

½ TSP salt

1/4 TSP vanilla extract

2 egg whites

Reheat oven to 350F degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Mix the peanuts, sesame seeds, sugar, salt and vanilla in a mixing bowl. Whisk the egg whites into soft peaks. Stir half the whites into the nut mixture, then gently fold in the remaining whites.

Spread evenly on the baking sheet about 1/2” thick. Bake until the brittle turns a toasty brown, about 25 minutes. Cool on a rack

Peel off the parchment paper while the brittle is still a bit warm.

Allow to cool and harden completely before cutting into small squares.

I almost fainted right there at the table.

Last week, I met a few friends for dinner at one of my favorite restaurants when the unthinkable happened.

Scanning the restaurant’s menu I was stopped cold. It was right there in harsh letters that practically jumped off of the paper…Pumpkin Ravioli.

I had to look again. I clenched my eyes and reopened them as if I was hitting the reset button on my laptop. It was still there, “Pumpkin Ravioli.”

And while I love pumpkin ravioli as much as the next guy, it was way too early in the year for pumpkin anything. I was horrified – was summer over all ready?

It should also be noted that the restaurant was offering an entrée of braised pork (which is what my friend Roderick, ordered – Et tu, Brutus?). I mean, seriously, pumpkin ravioli and stewed meats in September? Had my favorite restaurant gone mad? I mean, technically, it was still summer.

I couldn’t help but think to myself, “Am I alone on this?” Was I the only person that wasn’t ready to give up on summer? Was I on some Quixote-esque mental rant to fight a fight that everyone else knew was over? “No matter,” I thought. I now saw myself as the captain of ship Summertime Fun and like any good captain I would pull out all of the stops to save my ship or I would go down with it.

So, as I thought about what recipe I would post next on this site, I had one mission in mind: find the most summery recipe on planet Earth. That’s when I remembered this little treat. It screams summer. It’s frozen. It’s made with strawberries. It borrows the flavors of the quintessential summertime drink…margarita.

I originally flagged this recipe in The Best of Gourmet about a year ago. I had all intentions of making it but through the course of my exhausting and continuing homelessness (don’t get me started), I never got around to it.

Now, one year later, fueled by seasonal delusion, I knew it was time.

It’s exactly what I expected. Obviously, the strawberries are the star of the dish but the other ingredients give the pie dimension and depth: sweet (strawberries), fruity (peach syrup/triple sec), sour (limes), heat (tequila) and the whipped cream adds an airy texture to what otherwise could be a very dense dish.

And for such a huge payoff, this was a relatively easy dish to make. There was only one hitch. Since I don’t have access to my kitchen equipment, I had to beat the heavy cream to a hard peak by hand (and I have the aching forearms to prove it).

I only made one minor change to the recipe. I didn’t have triple sec on hand – which presented a problem because I felt that the saturated and fruity sweetness of the triple sec was probably key to the success of the dessert. After a quick scan of my host’s kitchen, I came across a can of canned peaches. I substituted the triple sec with an equal amount of the syrup from the can.

On that note, I wouldn’t recommend omitting the tequila AND the triple sec. First, they really add to the flavor of the pie. Secondly, the alcohol helps to prevent the pie from freezing into a block of solid ice.

It truly is an amazing dessert.

Enjoy. Cheers!

Oh yeah…and long live summer!

FROZEN STRAWBERRY MARAGARITA PIE

Originally printed in the Best of Gourmet

NOTE: I wanted to serve the pie on a platter and not in the pie pan. I also didn’t have a spring form pan. So, I lined the pie pan with aluminum foil. It popped right out.

1 1/4 cups graham cracker crumbs from 9 (2 1/4- by 4 3/4-inch) crackers

2 tablespoons sugar

5 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

1 lb strawberries, halved (3 1/2 cups)

1 tablespoon finely grated fresh lime zest (from 3 limes)

1/4 cup fresh lime juice (from 2 limes)

1 (14-oz) can sweetened condensed milk

2 tablespoons tequila

2 tablespoons triple sec, Cointreau (or 2 TBL of juice from canned peaches)

1 1/2 cups chilled heavy cream

MAKE CRUST:
Put oven rack in middle position and preheat oven to 350°F.

Stir together graham cracker crumbs, sugar, and butter in a bowl with a fork until combined well, then press mixture evenly onto bottom and up side of a buttered 9-inch metal or glass pie plate (4-cup capacity).

Bake 10 minutes, then cool in pie plate on a rack, about 30 minutes.

MAKE FILLING:
Purée strawberries, zest, lime juice, condensed milk, tequila, and liqueur in a blender until just smooth, then transfer to a large bowl.

Beat cream in another bowl with an electric mixer at medium speed until it just holds stiff peaks. Fold one third of cream into strawberry mixture gently but thoroughly to lighten, then fold in remainder in 2 batches.

Pour filling into crust, mounding it slightly, and freeze, uncovered, until firm, about 4 hours. Remove from freezer and let soften in refrigerator, about 40 minutes, before serving (pie should be semisoft).

Gourmet Magazine Notes: Pie can be frozen up to 3 days, covered with plastic wrap after 4 hours and then wrapped in heavy-duty foil. Pie can also be made in a 9-inch (24-cm) springform pan. Press crumb mixture onto bottom and 1 inch up side of pan.

It’s now day 98 (that’s an exaggeration) of The Foodie with No Home….and surprisingly I’ve actually made peace with the whole situation. Actually, I would even say that I am as happy as I have ever been.

I haven’t been able to update these pages on a regular basis because, as I went into in last week’s post, I am between homes right now.

A few months ago I went into contract for a condo in Brooklyn, NY. I vacated my home with the anticipation that I would be closing and moving into my new place within days. At the time there were just a few clearances that we were waiting for from the NYC Department of Buildings. 98 days later…I’m still waiting.

Despite the limbo, I’m pretty excited about my new neighborhood, Williamsburg (if I ever move, that is). A Bon Appetite article dubbed it the new foodie mecca and “culinary hotbed only one subway stop from downtown Manhattan.” Food & Wine magazine talks about the neighborhood’s growing food and design scenes. And a recent New York Times feature story spoke of a ‘new culinary movement’ (to be fair, the NYT story was about Brooklyn as a whole but the lion share of the people and stores featured in the piece were centered in Williamsburg). So, you can only imagine how excited I am to move in and get the show on the road…or in my case take the show off of the road.

But for now, I rent out temporary apartments until my yet to be scheduled closing/move in date is able to be scheduled.

Having no kitchen has put a serious dent in my ability to cook and keep these pages updated. But there is a light at the end of the tunnel. My new temporary rental is right on the outer edges of my beloved Williamsburg. So, I get to walk to my soon to be neighborhood and enjoy all of the restaurants, cheese shop, micro-breweries, local food markets and artisanal coffee houses. The bad news is that I also get to walk by my condo building everyday and be taunted by the completed yet empty structure that someday I may call home. (Ugh. Pardon me for a moment as I recite the Serenity Prayer.)

Being that I have no place to cook I am always on the lookout for easy, kitchen gadget-free recipes. I came across this Honey-Pear Tart recipe thumbing through the latest copy of Donna Hay’s magazine (the Martha Stewart of Australia). I have quite a number of her cookbooks (in storage, ugh). Her food philosophy can be summed up in one word…simple.

Reading the feature in the magazine, this tart looked so easy and so delicious that I had to give it a try. I just made a few tweaks.

First, reading through the recipe it seemed as if it would be a bit heavier than what I was looking for at the moment. I wanted to add a little brightness and zip to counter the creamy ricotta and buttery puff pastry. So, I incorporated a bit of lemon juice and zest.

Also, while testing the filling, I noticed that it needed a bit more sweetness. So, in addition to the honey, I added a teaspoon or two of sugar.

Once again, Donna Hay comes through. If you love the flavor of pears, this is the tart for you.

Because the pears aren’t cook to death, their natural sweetness (and a bit of their texture) really shine through in this dessert – their juices actually collects in little pools throughout the tart. The other ingredients hang out in the background, beautifully playing their parts as supporting actors.

The ricotta filling with a slight accent of cinnamon and lemon is as creamy and soothing as the pears are bright and fresh. And the puff pastry, buttery, flakey offer up the perfect crunchy finish to the soft pears and ricotta.

This tart is definitely a keeper.

Cheers!

HONEY-PEAR TART

1 lemon

1 cup ricotta cheese

¼ TSP ground cinnamon

1 TSP granulated sugar, plus more for dusting

3 TSP honey

2 pears

1 puff pastry sheet

1 TBL butter

Preheat the oven to 400⁰F.

Zest about 1 teaspoon from the lemon and set it aside. Juice about 1 teaspoon of the lemon juice and set it aside separately.

In a medium bowl mix together the lemon juice, ricotta cheese, cinnamon 1 teaspoon of sugar and 2 teaspoon of the honey until the ingredients are fully incorporated.

Cut each pear into about ¼” slices. When needed, use a knife to remove and seeds and stems. To prevent the pears from browning, coat the slices in the remaining lemon juice and set aside.

Meanwhile, cut a standard puff pastry sheet in half lengthwise (you should have two 10”x5” sheets). Being careful not to cut through the pastry, score each half sheet with a ½” border.

Staying within the pastry borders, divide and spread the ricotta mix among the two puff pastry sheets. Layer the pear slices on top of the ricotta mix. Dot the tarts with dabs of butter.

Using your fingers, gently wet the borders of each tart and pour a generous coat the borders with a generous coating of granulated sugar.

Bake tarts for about 20-25 minutes until the pastry is golden and puffed.

Gently heat the remaining honey (about 5 seconds in a microwave) and glaze the pears (Alternatively, you could glaze the tarts with warmed pear preserve).

Finish tarts off with reserved lemon zest.

Makes 2 tarts

Curled up in the fetal position, I was in my own personal nightmare.

If you’ve been to the CeramicCanvas.com in the past two weeks you may have noticed something….there was no CeramicCanvas.com. It seems that we were experiencing some technical difficulties or as our web hosting support tech calls it, “a fatal programming loop.”

I confess, I’m way too IT-challenged to even begin to understand what that means. But luckily for me, all is well again with our little slice of the internets…and I’ve managed to pick myself up off of the floor.  There’s just one little problem. Because of our blackout, most of you never got the chance to see last week’s Blackberry Custard Tart recipe – which is a real shame, cause it is one of my favorite desserts of all time.

I found it back in 2000 while perusing a copy of Saveur magazine – and have loved it ever since. Packed with a one-two punch of berry flavor, it’s one of those fail safe recipes that you make when really need to wow a crowd. If you get a chance, check it out.

And speaking of desserts that I’ve had a long term affair with, the Rosemary-Olive Oil Cake featured in this post is nothing to sneeze at.

When I first came across this recipe in 2002, I was a bit scandalized. At the time I had never heard of using olive oil and rosemary in a dessert before. I was immediately skeptical and thought to myself, “Olive Oil and rosemary in a dessert? This is just crazy talk!”

But it was a Mario Batali recipe (from The Babbo Cookbook) so, I knew I had to try it. I figured it would expand my culinary horizons. With a small amount of trepidation I nervously got down to baking and about an hour later dove my fork into my first slice of Rosemary-Olive Oil Cake.

It’s been eight years now and I have to say I love this cake as much today as I did that first day. It’s super moist and delicate. It’s sweet but not overly sweet.

The rosemary adds a subtle smoky- woodsy twist to what looks to be a very ordinary pound cake. And the olive oil lends it’s unmistakable richness to this classic Italian treat.

It’s a perfect cake to serve with coffee and/or tea.

Cheers!

ROSEMARY & OLIVE OIL CAKE

As printed in The Babbo Cookbook by Mario Batali

4 large eggs

¾ cup sugar

2/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil

2 TBL fresh rosemary, finely chopped

1 ½ cup all-purpose flour

1 TBL baking powder

½ TSP Kosher salt

Preheat oven to 325⁰F. Spray a 10-inch loaf pan (or an 8-inch round cake pan) with non-stick cooking spray and set aside.

In a bowl of an electric mixer, use the paddle attachment to beat the eggs for 30 seconds. Add sugar and continue to beat until the mixture is very foamy and pale in color. With the mixer running, slowly drizzle in the olive oil. Using a spatula, gently stir the rosemary into the batter.

In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt. With the mixer on low speed, gradually add the dry ingredients to the egg mixture. Pour the batter into the prepared pan.

Bake for 45 to 50 minutes, rotating the pan halfway through for even color. The cake is done when it is golden brown, springs back when touched, and a skewer inserted in the center comes out clean.

Allow the cake to cool briefly in the pan, then tip out onto a cake rack to continue cooling.

I doubt that I will survive the experience.

Since as far back as I can remember, I’ve never really been the tough guy. I have pre-school memories of a 5 year old me being mocked by the ‘mean girls’ cause they wouldn’t let me cook with them in the kindergarten’s play kitchen. “Go outside and play with the boys,” they’d taunt.

Considering this, I very seriously doubt that I would survive prison today. I shudder thinking of my first day behind bars and how it would bring back awkward pre and high school memories.

Would I fit into any of the cliques? Which cafeteria table would I sit at (would anybody even let me sit at their table)? Would I be as bad at making a shank as I was in high school wood shop? Ugh!

I think about how when everyone shares their tales of what landed them in prison (i.e. bank robbery, racketeering, money laundering), the awkward silence that will follow as I share my story of what landed me in The Rock…recipe plagiarism.

Normally, at the CeramicCanvas.com, when I come across a recipe that inspires me, I tweak it, cook it and share it. But this time is different. This time I am copying someone else’s recipe word for word…with absolutely no shame.

I’ve made and enjoyed this Blackberry Custard Tart for over a decade and I have never veered off the original recipe as it was printed in the October 2000 issue of Saveur Magazine.

I mean, why mess with a good thing.

It’s an explosion of berry flavors. The blackberries are incorporated in the tart in two ways. First, the berries are pureed and mixed into the egg custard – providing a sweet, creamy but distinctive summer-like berry flavor.

The second berry burst is more intense and comes from the blackberries that are left whole and allowed to ‘stew’ in the cooking tart. As they cook they release their juices and you’re left with berries that are full of tarty goodness.

Vibrant in color, this tart has a delicious one, two berry punch!

Considering the plagiaristic mess I’ve now gotten myself into, I can only hope that one day someone bakes and sends this tart to me in my jail cell (and please don’t forget to bake it with a file hidden inside) 

Cheers!

NOTE: The pastry recipe that was printed with the tart used vegetable shortening (which produces a flaky crust) but a good all-butter crust works just as well. The butter pastry recipe below is from How to Cook Everything by Mark Bittman.

BLACKBERRY CUSTARD TART

Originally published in Saveur Magazine

FOR THE PASTRY (Pastry Recipe Adapted from How to Cook Everything by Mark Bittman):

1 ½ cups all-purpose flour

2 TSP sugar

¾ TSP Kosher salt

10 TBL cold unsalted butter, cut into to ½ cubes

4 TBL ice water, plus more if necessary

FOR THE FILLING (Originally published in Saveur magazine):

6 eggs

1 1⁄4 cups superfine sugar

2 1⁄2 cups blackberries (or raspberries)

1 lemon

6 tbsp. heavy cream

For the pastry: Sift together flour, sugar, and salt into a large mixing bowl. Use a pastry cutter (or two knives) to work butter into flour until it resembles coarse meal. Drizzle in up to 4 tablespoons of ice water, stirring dough with a wooden spoon until it begins to hold together. Press dough into a rough ball, transfer to a lightly floured surface, then flatten slightly with your hand to make a round. Wrap dough in plastic wrap, and refrigerate for 2 hours.

Preheat oven to 400°. Roll dough out on a lightly floured surface into a 14″ round, fit into a 12″ fluted false-bottom tart pan, and run rolling pin over rim to remove overhanging dough. Prick bottom with a fork. Line dough with parchment, add pie weights or dried beans, and bake until crust is set and edge begins to color, about 25 minutes. Reduce oven temperature to 350°, remove parchment and weights, brush bottom and sides with egg, and continue baking until crust is golden, 15–20 minutes longer.

For the filling: Whisk together eggs and sugar in a medium mixing bowl until pale yellow. Purée 1 1/2 cups of the blackberries in a blender, and stir into egg mixture. Remove the zest from half the lemon, then squeeze juice from lemon and add both to egg mixture. Add cream; mix well. Arrange remaining 1 cup blackberries evenly on crust, pour in filling, and bake until filling is set, about 40 minutes. Set aside to cool before serving.

Changing your name and moving to an undisclosed location can be a massive disruption in your life but sometimes it’s so worth it. By the time you read this I will have already gone underground, totally untraceable and been made to ‘disappear’ like a KGB ‘person of interest.’ I’ve been enrolled in the Culinary Secret Witness Protection Program.

It’s a program for those who have committed the most egregious culinary gaffes… gaffes that have earned them shame and the scorn of their fellow foodies. I knew the second that I decided to make this easy ‘caramel’ sauce that my name would be mud. I mean, technically it’s not even a caramel (no brunt sugar) but man oh man, it is so delicious and best of all, it’s so so so easy to make.

Here’s the rub. It’s basically warmed, flavored condensed milk. I know what you’re thinking, “Warmed condensed milk? Not even Semi-Homemade’s Sandra Lee would stoop such lows.” And you’re probably right.

But you gotta cut me a little slack here. Making caramel can be a hassle. You have to burn the sugar just so, without scorching it. You have to deal with sugar crystal forming on the sides of your pan. You have to be on the ready as the whole thing bubbles up and splatters as you incorporate the heavy cream.

So, I was more than a little intrigued when I came across this easy, no fuss version in Dana Hay’s cookbook, Off the Shelf: Cooking from the Pantry.

Would it taste anything like caramel? (The answer is, Yes) Would it have the same deep, burnt flavor has the traditional version? (The answer is, pretty much, Yes).

I should also mention that I loved the cookie too. It’s kind of a cross between a sandie/shortbread and a traditional cookie. It has the density of a traditional cookie (not crumbly and dry like a good shortbread) and it has that beautiful light flavor that you expect to have in a shortbread cookie.

It’s a great companion for a good cup of tea or coffee: not to sweet and saturated – just light and buttery.

NOTE: I’ve made several ‘real’ caramel recipes during my time in the kitchen. If you want to go the more traditional way, try the caramel recipe used in these Pecan Sandies & Caramel Filling. It is BAR NONE the best caramel recipe that I have ever come across).

NOTE 2: While it truly is delicious, this caramel does have its weakness. If you need a caramel that hardens when it cools this may not be the best recipe (I wouldn’t recommend it as a cookie filling. Note how the caramel oozes out the side of these cookies. It’s very fluid.) But if you are looking for more of a caramel sauce (to pour over ice cream, to mix in a cake batter) this no-fuss baby will really shine.

Cheers!

TEA COOKIES WITH CARAMEL FILLING

Adapted from Off the shelf: Cooking from the Pantry by Donna Hay.

I divided the recipe in half when I made it. Which was relatively easy to do and the results were great. To use half an egg, light whisk the egg and pour about half of it in the recipe.

The original caramel recipe called for golden syrup – an ingredient not readily available in American markets. This recipe uses honey as a substitution.

2 stick butter, chopped

1 cup confectioner’s sugar

1 ½ all purpose flour

1 cup cornstarch

1 egg

Caramel filling

14oz can sweetened condense milk

½ stock butter

2 TBL honey

Preheat oven to 350⁰

Place the butter, icing sugar, flour, corn starch and egg in a food processor and process until smooth dough forms. Roll dough one tablespoon at a time into balls and place on a lined baking tray.

Flatten the dough slightly and place the trays in the refrigerator for 10 minutes or until firm. Bake the cookies in preheated oven for 15-20 minutes until lightly golden. Cool on racks.

To make the caramel filling, combine the condense milk, butter and honey in a heatproof bowl. Place bowl over a saucepan of boiling water and stir occasionally for 10-15 minutes or until the caramel is thick.

Cool the caramel for 10-15, then spoon onto the flat side of the cookie halves. Top with the remaining cookies and allow to firm.

It’s the first day of Spring 2010 and it was the night before Christmas!

Let me explain. It was life imitating art. As penned in the famous poem, Twas the Night Before Christmas, “The children were nestled all snug in their beds, while visions of sugar-plums danced in their head,” last Saturday, I was lying in bed half asleep, half awake when I was startled to consciousness by a vision that could only be described as a gift from the heavens… Mini Chocolate Pound cakes soaked in ginger syrup and topped with a white chocolate ganache (Wow! Was that a run-on sentence or what?).

The more I thought about this flavor combo, the more excited I got. And as luck would have it, I remembered that I already had little 3 ½” loaf/cake pans that I had bought over a year ago but never got around to using.

This was coming together. I was wound up. I could barely go back to sleep. I tried counting sheep but they would start turning into chocolate pound cakes jumping over a country wood fence in front of a stream of white chocolate ganache. Ahhh, they were so cute.

The next morning I sprung out of bed, dashed over to the market, grab a knob of fresh ginger and sprinted back home to start my mad science experiment.

I was reasonably confident that I could develop the ginger syrup recipe on my own, but I knew I needed a jumping off point to for the cakes and ganache. I found what I was looking for in my often used cookbook, Martha Stewart’s Baking Handbook. I needed to make adjustments to the recipe.

The original recipe was for a classic standard sized pound cake (I cut the ingredients by half), I would need to add cocoa powder (so I reduced the amount of flour so that the final cake wouldn’t be too dry) and I needed to reduce the cooking time.

I am very happy with these cakes. The flavor profile came together almost exactly how I had imagined. The cakes themselves have a beautiful moist texture with a deep flavor from the cocoa powder. The ginger syrup, with its spicy, almost peppery flavor adds a spike of unexpectedness that really works well with the earthiness of the cocoa.

And then there’s the white chocolate ganache. It’s white chocolate…what else can I say.

One last thing. To give the cakes an added layer of flavor (and visual texture), I topped the cakes with a sprinkle of chopped crystallized ginger. This was my good friend Robert’s idea. And it was a stroke of genius on his part.

NOTE: You’ll have little more of the ginger syrup than you’ll need for the cakes. No worries. Mix a little of the syrup with a glass of club soda and you’ll have a fabulous homemade ginger root soda.

NOTE 2: I first tried spooning ginger syrup over the cakes (see photo). That didn’t work so well. The syrup didn’t absorb into the cakes – it just ran down the side. So, I decided to instead submerge the warm cakes upside down into syrup. That worked like a charm (photo above).

Cheers!

MINI CHOCOLATE POUND CAKE WITH GINGER SYRUP

GINGER SYRUP

Original Ceramic Canvas Recipe

4” piece of ginger

1 ½ cups of water

1 cup granulated sugar

Using the back of a spoon, gently rub the skin off of the ginger piece. Cut the ginger into medium sized dice. Add ginger pieces and 1 ½ cups of water into a small saucepan, and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to the water barely simmers. Continue simmering until water has reduced to about 1 cup in volume, about 15 minutes.

Remove from heat. Pass liquid through a fine-mesh strainer to remove ginger pieces. Stir in sugar until it dissolves. Set aside.

MINI-CHOCOLATE POUND CAKE

Adapted from Martha Stewart’s Baking Handbook

¾ cup all-purpose flour

1 TSP kosher salt

4 TBL cocoa powder

1 ½ sticks of unsalted butter, room temperature

¾ cup of granulate sugar

1 TSP pure vanilla extract

3 large eggs

Special equipment: 3 ½” nonstick loaf pans

Preheat a convection oven to 325⁰ (or 350⁰ on a traditional oven). Line nonstick mini-loaf pans with parchment paper and set aside (alternatively, you can butter the loaf pans instead of using parchment paper). In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, salt and cocoa powder, set aside.

In a bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat butter, granulated sugar and vanilla on medium-low speed until the light and fluffy, 3-5 minutes, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed. Add eggs, one at a time, beating until combined. With mixture on low speed, add flour mixture, beat until just combined.

Spoon the batter into a prepared pan and smooth out with a spatula. Bake until cakes rise, turn rich brown and a cake tester inserted in the center comes out clean, 30-35 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack and let cool just until they are able to be handled.

Makes 6 mini-loaf cakes

WHITE CHOCOLATE GANACHE CHOPPED GINGER GARNISH

Adapted from Martha Stewart’s Baking Handbook

3 TBL crystallized ginger

½ cup heavy cream

4 oz white chocolate, chips or finely chopped

Finely chop crystallized ginger and set aside.

In a small saucepan over medium-high heat bring cream to a full boil. Turn off heat. Add the white chocolate and swirl pan to completely cover it with the cream. Let stand about 5 minutes. Slowly whisk mixture until it is smooth. Transfer to a clean bowl, Let cool, stirring frequently.

Ganache will thicken as it sits. To cover cake, it should be pourable but still thick enough to coat. If not, place bowl of ganache over a pan of simmering water and stir until it reaches the right consistency.

Set ganache aside.

ASSEMBLING THE CAKES

Pour warm ginger syrup into a medium sized bowl. One by one, place upside-down cakes into the ginger syrup and allow them to absorb a good deal of the liquid, about 3-5 minutes each. Repeat process with all cakes.

Spoon white chocolate ganache over the ginger syrup-soaked cakes. Garnish with finely chopped crystallized ginger. Serve.

Sometimes you just gotta take matters into your own hands.

So far, 2010 is shaping up to be a very good year. Well, with the exception of one very scary close call.

Recently, I went out to dinner with a few good friends at one of my favorite Chinese restaurants. It was a great meal. But to me the best part of going to a Chinese restaurant is the fortune cookie at the end of dinner. Each of my friends took turns reading our fortunes out loud. It’s a contest on who has the silliest and most vague fortune of the group.

It’s usually a fun exercise. As we went around the table reading the fortunes out loud we came across the typical forecasts about future wealth and good times ahead. And then it was my turn. I was puzzled by my message, “You already know what lies ahead. Face it with strength.” I looked up at my friends with shock across my face, “Huh? What the hell is this?” I mean, that didn’t sound good.

A few days had past and I was still a bit annoyed (if not a little spooked) by my fortune. What did it mean? Was it a prediction of bad times on the horizon. I had a decision to make. I could sit by and do nothing or I could take the reins and head off my impending doom. I mean, I’m not a superstitious person but why take the chance, right? I knew actually what I needed to do. I would have to cancel out the last fortune cookie with a new one.

But this time I was leaving nothing to chance. I would make my own fortune cookies and stack the deck in my favor with self serving predictions of good fortunes.

Plus, I thought it would be kind of fun to make my own fortune cookies.

A quick web search gave me a boatload of super easy recipes to work with.

I picked one and almost immediately got to work. I just made a few minor tweaks. I decreased the amount of almond extract and incorporated lemon zest to give the cookies a little zip (I usually taste a bit of citrus in the restaurant cookies).

In the end, these cookies could be one of my favorite recipe discoveries since starting the Ceramic Canvas. They’re fun and super easy to make.

I think they’d be cool for parties – a really fun conversation starter.

Cheers!

NOTE: I have step-by-step photographs of how to fold the fortune cookies. I’ll try and post them soon.

NOTE 2: If after cooking and folding the cookies the centers are still soft and pliable you can pop the folded cookies back into the oven for a minute or two to let them harden. Just be careful not to leave the cookies in the oven for too long or they will turn dark brown and/or burn.

FORTUNE COOKIES

2 large egg whites

½ TSP pure vanilla extract

¼ TSP pure almond extract

1 TSP lemon zest

3 TBL vegetable oil

8 TBL all-purpose flour

1½ TSP cornstarch

¼ TSP kosher salt

8 TBL granulated sugar

3 TSP water

Write fortunes on pieces of paper that are 3 inches long and 1/2 inch wide. Preheat oven to 300 degrees Fahrenheit. Grease 2 9-X-13 inch baking sheets.

In a medium bowl, lightly beat the egg white, vanilla extract, almond extract, lemon zest and vegetable oil until frothy, but not stiff.

Sift the flour, cornstarch, salt and sugar into a separate bowl. Stir the water into the flour mixture.

Add the flour into the egg white mixture and stir until you have a smooth batter. The batter should not be runny, but should drop easily off a wooden spoon.

Place level tablespoons of batter onto the cookie sheet, spacing them at least 3 inches apart. Gently use the back of the back of a spoon to make circular motions on the surface of the batter to form circles with about 3.5” diameters.

Bake until the outer 1/2-inch of each cookie turns golden brown and they are easy to remove from the baking sheet with a spatula (14 – 15 minutes).

Working quickly, remove the cookie with a spatula and flip it over in your hand. Place a fortune in the middle of a cookie. To form the fortune cookie shape, fold the cookie in half, then gently pull the edges downward over the rim of a glass, wooden spoon or the edge of a muffin tin. Place the finished cookie in the cup of the muffin tin so that it keeps its shape. Continue with the rest of the cookies.

Makes about 14 cookies.

I’ve gone completely mad over the TV series Mad Man. The plot. The characters. The costumes.

In my pretend world I’m the lead character, Don Drapper – tall, handsome, cool, always in control.

I my reality world…well, let’s just say I’m no Don Drapper. The character is dripping with that cool 1950’s retro style that doesn’t come natural to me. Not that I haven’t tried.

Drapper wears skinny ties…I went out and got myself some skinny ties. Drapper drinks Scotch. I drink Scotch. Drapper lives in Westchester, NY. I lived there for a number of years. Drapper wears that cool brimmed dress hat…I found a similar one (actually, my hat is from Target. Don’t laugh).

I realized while standing in front of a full length mirror wearing my new treads that I didn’t look like Don Drapper at all. I looked liked I was going to a custom party. That’s when I also realized that some retro trends should just stay in the past. But there are exceptions. Take this dessert for instance: Clementine & Ginger Gelatin.

Excluding any recent hospital stays, can you even remember the last time you’ve eaten a fruit based gelatin dessert?

As best I can recall, I was probably around eleven years old. And quite frankly, I can’t say that I ever planned on eating it again. Plans change.

I recently saw this Clementine & Ginger Gelatin recipe in Jamie Oliver’s magazine, Jamie, and thought to myself, “This doesn’t look like the Jello of my past.” It was fresh – no artificial flavorings just freshly squeezed juice. It was not overly sweet – I had total control over the amount of sugar I used. And it incorporated a more sophisticated blend of flavors – instead of the laboratory-made grape and ‘tropical punch’ flavors of my childhood memories this had a more complex flavor profile of fresh clementine juice infused with a hint of ginger.

Plus, it looked ridiculously easy to make.

I used the Jamie recipe as a jumping off point. While I liked the concept of the dish, in my opinion, the recipe itself was poorly written: it offered no measurement for the sugar, no yield notation, and it called for the not so precise measurement of a ‘tiny bit’ of ginger. Seriously?

With that said, the dessert was pretty cool. And topped with a dollop of Greek yogurt and chocolate shavings it really comes alive. The gelatin is sweet, slightly sharp and acidic. The yogurt is creamy and slightly sour. And the chocolate is rich and deep. The three elements work very well together. (Note: Don’t use too much yogurt. It can easily over power the other elements).

This dessert has thought me a good lesson: sometimes there’s nothing better than a retro oldie but goody. Now, I just need to figure out what to do with all of those damned Mad Men skinny ties that mock me every time I open up my dresser drawer.

Cheers!

CLEMENTINE & GINGER GELATIN

2.5 cups of freshly squeeze Clementine juice (about 25 clementines)

¼ TSP ginger, diced

1- ¼oz pack gelatin

1/8 TSP of vanilla extract

2 TBL granulated sugar

½ cup of Greek yogurt, for garnishing

bitter sweet chocolate shavings, for garnishing

Pour clementine juice through a fine meshed strainer.

In a medium saucepan, heat the ginger and 2 cups of the clementine juice just until it begins to simmer. Remove from heat. Cover. Let juice and ginger steep for 20 minutes.

In a medium-sized bowl, mix together the remaining ½ cup of the clementine juice with the gelatin powder. Let mixture sit until the gelatin dissolves. About 3-5 minutes.

Strain out ginger from heated juice. Discard ginger. To the bowl containing the gingered clementine, add vanilla extract and stir in sugar until it dissolves.

Pour sweetened juiced into the bowl with the gelatin mixture and stir until well blended.

Divide mixture evenly among 4 juice glasses. Chill until set, about 2 hours.

Serve dessert with a dollop of Greek yogurt and chocolate shavings.

Serves 4