Nikki's healthy cookies at 101 Cookbooks
I *sort of* made these cookies once before---I didn't feel like making almond meal, so I subbed whole wheat pastry flour. That's no minor substitution, plus I'm pretty sure I underbaked them. Still, they were promising, so I've been meaning to get back to this recipe and make it as directed. I almost did that today: I omitted the chocolate chunks, to kick off my "heck, if I can go dairy-free and survive, and I can and probably SHOULD go sugar-free" resolution. I threw in 2 Tbsp of cocoa powder instead and was pleased to find that these cookies are delicious, answer a chocolate craving quite well, and remain completely sugar-free.
About that! I'm putting it out there for "accountability," which is more of a psychological trick than a serious plea for my two or three readers to check up on me to see if I've held fast to my resolution. There is little doubt in my mind that whether or not sugar is in fact inherently addictive (and studies with lab rats have suggested so), I am a veteran addict. Seeing as I would prefer to live my life free from any addiction, however innocuous the substance, it's time to tackle this. I thought giving up dairy for the sake of a baby with cow's milk protein intolerance would be hard. It was, for about a week, and for moments here and there. But largely the anticipation was much worse than the reality. As with dairy-free diets, there is no shortage of recipes and ideas for alternatives. Dessert is obviously not necessary to life and health---well, unless you are a sugar addict and we are talking mental health, in which case I strongly suspect the endless craving for more sugar contributes to irritability, among other things, because it is really annoying to have a little voice in your head constantly suggesting that you sneak another cookie/piece of candy/whatever you should only have small amounts of. I'm no chemist or food scientist, so I don't know if there is something fundamentally different about (let's say, refined white) sugar as opposed to the sugars found in fruits and other foods, but I think it would be a great starting point for me to learn to make fruit-sweetened desserts/baked goods (the latter will probably be more of a challenge, as I know my baking experiments with honey haven't gone so well). Fruit seems like nature's way of pleasing a sweet tooth with some actual nutritive content, rather than empty (and non-filling) calories. Once I run out of my nearly-empty bag of sugar, I simply won't buy anymore, which will make it very hard indeed to cheat on this.
Back to the cookies. These are *fantastic* a few minutes out of the oven, when they retain some crispness; after storage for a few hours they become quite soft, but if you've baked them long enough (basically as long as you can without them browning on the bottom), they won't be unpalatably mushy. Enjoy.
Laura's take on Nikki's healthy cookies
3 ripe bananas, mashed well
2 Tbsp. cocoa powder
3/4 tsp. vanilla
1/4 c. olive oil (not extra-virgin)
2 c. old-fashioned oats
2/3 c. almond meal (make your own in a processor with the same amount of whole raw almonds, processed to a sandy texture: this doesn't have to be super precise)
1/3 c. unsweetened coconut flakes/shreds
1/2 tsp. kosher or sea salt
1 tsp. baking powder
1) Preheat oven to 350 with racks in the upper and lower third positions. Line two half-sheet pans with parchment paper.
2) In a large bowl, combine the mashed bananas, cocoa powder, vanilla, and oil. In a separate bowl combine the dry ingredients, then mix in with the wet until you have a loose dough. Drop scant tablespoonfuls onto your prepared baking sheets. Bake, rotating and swapping midway through, about 15 minutes. Let cool on baking sheets and store in an airtight container.
Showing posts with label cookies. Show all posts
Showing posts with label cookies. Show all posts
Tuesday, June 4, 2013
Thursday, September 15, 2011
Macaroni & cheese, and my favorite chocolate cookie
Update on the lighter mac-and-cheese referenced in a previous post: I made it, it did in fact yield 5 servings as promised ("3/8 lb. macaroni" for some reason didn't sound like nearly enough, but it was), and we loved it. Cabot 50% cheddar was about as good as reduced-fat cheddar can be, I think. So I'd give it a 7/10, though on occasions I will still make my "full-fat" stovetop recipe, especially when using it as a side. Leftovers were okay: they held up better than the full-fat recipe. My resistance to buying Best Light Recipe (from which the mac-and-cheese came) is weakening, rapidly.
I am planning to bake something that uses coffee today, as I've had a sudden change of opinion about the cheap Trader Joe's dark roast coffee I've been buying on and off for three years. Maybe TJ's changed distributors, or maybe I've gradually been spoiled by the Peet's and Starbucks that I buy at the regular grocery stores when on sale, because now the TJ's stuff just tastes, well, tasteless. I couldn't bring myself to finish the tin, so I've been reserving it for a baking project or maybe ice cream. Here's one of my favorite chocolate cookie recipes. For a while I didn't use nuts, but now I think the walnuts are just about necessary.
Chocolate espresso chews
1/2 c. + 2 Tbsp. flour
1/8 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups semisweet chocolate chips, divided
1.5 ounces unsweetened chocolate, chopped
2 ounces (1/2 stick) unsalted butter
2 large eggs, at room temperature
1/2 cup sugar
1 1/2 tsp. finely ground dark-roast coffee beans
1 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/4 c. chopped walnuts
1. Combine the flour, baking soda and salt in a small bowl and set aside. Melt 1 cup of the chocolate chips, the unsweetened chocolate and butter in a double boiler, stirring til smooth. Set aside.
2. In the bowl of a stand mixer on high speed, beat the eggs, sugar, ground coffee and vanilla extract until thick ribbons form and the mixture has doubled in volume (about 5 mins). By hand, stir in the melted chocolate mixture until thoroughly combined, then add the dry ingredients, chopped walnuts and the remaining chocolate chips. Cover and refrigerate for 1 hour or until firm.
3. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Have ready some large baking sheets lined with parchment paper. Make golf ball-size scoops of dough, spacing them about 2 inches apart. Bake, in batches, 10 to 12 minutes; the tops will crack, but the cookies should be gooey inside. Cool on the baking sheets at least 1 minute before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely. Store in an airtight container for 2 to 3 days, or freeze individual cookies wrapped in foil and placed in a large plastic bag.
I am planning to bake something that uses coffee today, as I've had a sudden change of opinion about the cheap Trader Joe's dark roast coffee I've been buying on and off for three years. Maybe TJ's changed distributors, or maybe I've gradually been spoiled by the Peet's and Starbucks that I buy at the regular grocery stores when on sale, because now the TJ's stuff just tastes, well, tasteless. I couldn't bring myself to finish the tin, so I've been reserving it for a baking project or maybe ice cream. Here's one of my favorite chocolate cookie recipes. For a while I didn't use nuts, but now I think the walnuts are just about necessary.
Chocolate espresso chews
1/2 c. + 2 Tbsp. flour
1/8 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups semisweet chocolate chips, divided
1.5 ounces unsweetened chocolate, chopped
2 ounces (1/2 stick) unsalted butter
2 large eggs, at room temperature
1/2 cup sugar
1 1/2 tsp. finely ground dark-roast coffee beans
1 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/4 c. chopped walnuts
1. Combine the flour, baking soda and salt in a small bowl and set aside. Melt 1 cup of the chocolate chips, the unsweetened chocolate and butter in a double boiler, stirring til smooth. Set aside.
2. In the bowl of a stand mixer on high speed, beat the eggs, sugar, ground coffee and vanilla extract until thick ribbons form and the mixture has doubled in volume (about 5 mins). By hand, stir in the melted chocolate mixture until thoroughly combined, then add the dry ingredients, chopped walnuts and the remaining chocolate chips. Cover and refrigerate for 1 hour or until firm.
3. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Have ready some large baking sheets lined with parchment paper. Make golf ball-size scoops of dough, spacing them about 2 inches apart. Bake, in batches, 10 to 12 minutes; the tops will crack, but the cookies should be gooey inside. Cool on the baking sheets at least 1 minute before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely. Store in an airtight container for 2 to 3 days, or freeze individual cookies wrapped in foil and placed in a large plastic bag.
Wednesday, September 7, 2011
miscellanies
Well, lacking reliable access to a home computer lately has challenged my rigorous goal of writing something, every now and then, about what I've been doing in the kitchen. I've forgotten how to write with paragraphs and such, so I resort to bullet points.
* Most recently, I tackled pierogis again (Best International Recipe). Armed with relaxing (and appropriately Polish) Chopin in the background and a few deep breaths, I managed to push through frustrating dough problems without losing my cool. I still couldn't get the dough wet enough to make a smooth ball, even after adding more water than was called for---and I use a scale to measure flour to 1/8 of an ounce. I don't have a food processor as the recipe called for, but I don't think that should have materially varied from mixing with a pastry blender and my hands. It was far from "soft and malleable." The final yield was about half what it should have been, and the rolled-out dough a bit thicker than I would have liked it, but not anywhere near as bad as the first time. I also made sure and tasted the filling, seasoning it a bit more than I thought necessary, so blandness wasn't an issue there. I am still on a search for a lighter, easier-to-work-with dough recipe than CI provides (perhaps the problem is with me), and until then, I'll continue to cheat with wonton wrappers. Your babcia would disapprove, but boy, do those work in a pinch.
* I tried a new cookie recipe this weekend courtesy of David Lebovitz: gingersnaps (which are not snappy but soft) that happen to be fat-free. I thought they were not bad. Since I'm not a fan of candied ginger I simply left that out; the spice mixture was spot-on, and they didn't taste like they were dying for butter to help the flavor. The recipe is here.
* I decided it was time to try another chocolate cake recipe (someone has to test all the variations out there, for quality control), so I made CI's sour cream-fudge layer cake into cupcakes. They were quite tasty, but I'm spoiled by their "ultimate" recipe with the ganache in the center and the super light and fluffy texture. I think I would enjoy this recipe more as a layer cake, and I will definitely be making it again.
* I've had an old used bookstore copy of Marcella Hazan's Essentials for over a year now, and tonight I made my third recipe from it. Third. Pathetic. Anyway, it was good, if simple and restrained, and nowhere near as rich as the tomato-butter-onion sauce. It used up some pancetta I had and was quick and easy.
* Tomorrow is going to be Indian adventure day: I'm trying tandoori chicken (a CI recipe I've heard people rave about), with rice pilaf and a mango chutney, somewhat against my better judgment. I've never been tempted by descriptions of chutney. Oddly I remember my sister and I coming across the word "chutney" when we were younger and finding it hilarious for some reason.
* Never mind that it's going to get back into the 80s this weekend: I have my heart set on some kind of applesauce/spice cake. A recipe in Joy of Cooking looked intriguing when I was leafing through that the other night. This cookbook has its fair share of entertainment value as well, particularly in the variety meats section. E.g., a recipe for those who like to indulge in homemade head cheese. They subtitle it, "a well-liked old-fashioned dish." Simply: "Quarter a calf head. Clean teeth with a stiff brush, remove ears, brains, eyes, snout, and most of the fat. Soak the quarters about 6 hours in cold water to extract the blood. wash them. Cover with cold water." Etc. I cannot bring myself to type more. It is a dramatic thing to say, but I would almost certainly rather starve than bring myself to cook a calf's head, after brushing its teeth.
* Most recently, I tackled pierogis again (Best International Recipe). Armed with relaxing (and appropriately Polish) Chopin in the background and a few deep breaths, I managed to push through frustrating dough problems without losing my cool. I still couldn't get the dough wet enough to make a smooth ball, even after adding more water than was called for---and I use a scale to measure flour to 1/8 of an ounce. I don't have a food processor as the recipe called for, but I don't think that should have materially varied from mixing with a pastry blender and my hands. It was far from "soft and malleable." The final yield was about half what it should have been, and the rolled-out dough a bit thicker than I would have liked it, but not anywhere near as bad as the first time. I also made sure and tasted the filling, seasoning it a bit more than I thought necessary, so blandness wasn't an issue there. I am still on a search for a lighter, easier-to-work-with dough recipe than CI provides (perhaps the problem is with me), and until then, I'll continue to cheat with wonton wrappers. Your babcia would disapprove, but boy, do those work in a pinch.
* I tried a new cookie recipe this weekend courtesy of David Lebovitz: gingersnaps (which are not snappy but soft) that happen to be fat-free. I thought they were not bad. Since I'm not a fan of candied ginger I simply left that out; the spice mixture was spot-on, and they didn't taste like they were dying for butter to help the flavor. The recipe is here.
* I decided it was time to try another chocolate cake recipe (someone has to test all the variations out there, for quality control), so I made CI's sour cream-fudge layer cake into cupcakes. They were quite tasty, but I'm spoiled by their "ultimate" recipe with the ganache in the center and the super light and fluffy texture. I think I would enjoy this recipe more as a layer cake, and I will definitely be making it again.
* I've had an old used bookstore copy of Marcella Hazan's Essentials for over a year now, and tonight I made my third recipe from it. Third. Pathetic. Anyway, it was good, if simple and restrained, and nowhere near as rich as the tomato-butter-onion sauce. It used up some pancetta I had and was quick and easy.
* Tomorrow is going to be Indian adventure day: I'm trying tandoori chicken (a CI recipe I've heard people rave about), with rice pilaf and a mango chutney, somewhat against my better judgment. I've never been tempted by descriptions of chutney. Oddly I remember my sister and I coming across the word "chutney" when we were younger and finding it hilarious for some reason.
* Never mind that it's going to get back into the 80s this weekend: I have my heart set on some kind of applesauce/spice cake. A recipe in Joy of Cooking looked intriguing when I was leafing through that the other night. This cookbook has its fair share of entertainment value as well, particularly in the variety meats section. E.g., a recipe for those who like to indulge in homemade head cheese. They subtitle it, "a well-liked old-fashioned dish." Simply: "Quarter a calf head. Clean teeth with a stiff brush, remove ears, brains, eyes, snout, and most of the fat. Soak the quarters about 6 hours in cold water to extract the blood. wash them. Cover with cold water." Etc. I cannot bring myself to type more. It is a dramatic thing to say, but I would almost certainly rather starve than bring myself to cook a calf's head, after brushing its teeth.
Thursday, September 1, 2011
baking anticipation
While I'm at it, here's my list of desserts/baked goods that I will be making as soon as cool weather sets in:
1. Makowiec, per this Fresh Loaf recipe. It calls for the whipping of egg whites (my most dreaded baking-related task) but it seems it's just to lighten the filling, so I won't sweat it if (yet again) I fail to achieve stiff peaks. My husband has fond memories of his Hungarian grandmother making this bread for holidays. I've had bakery versions and am anxious to see if I can make a decent one at home.
2. Chocolate-dipped almond biscotti (recipe below). Besides the extensive oven time, they feel like such a fall/winter snack to me. These were one of the first successful things I ever baked. The recipe comes from a much-referenced copy of Gourmet's Casual Entertaining, Random House: New York, 2001. (Unlike many Gourmet recipes it is not on Epicurious so far as I can tell.)
1 c. all-purpose flour
1/2 c. sugar
1 1/2 tsp. grated orange zest
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. baking soda
1 whole egg + 1 egg white
1/2 tsp. vanilla
3/4 c. whole almonds, toasted then coarsely chopped
6 oz. bitter- or semi-sweet chocolate, for dipping
1. Preheat oven to 300 degrees and adjust a rack to the middle level. In a medium bowl combine the flour, sugar, orange zest, salt, and baking soda. In a large bowl, beat together the egg, egg white, and vanilla to combine. Add the flour mixture and beat just til combined. Stir in chopped almonds.
2. Use floured hands to form the dough into a 12x2" log and place on a parchment-lined baking sheet. Bake until pale golden, about 45 mins. (Do not turn off oven at this point.) Cool the pan on a wire rack for 10 minutes, then transfer the log, peeling off the parchment carefully if it sticks, to a cutting board. Use a sharp serrated knife to cut diagonally into 1/2" thick slices. Place slices back on the baking sheet and return to the oven. Bake for 10 minutes, then turn slices and bake another 10 minutes, until crisp. Transfer biscotti to a rack to cool.
3. Melt the chocolate in the microwave or in a double boiler, then dip the top (curved) edge of each cookie in the melted chocolate. Transfer them to a sheet of wax paper set on a large plate or baking sheet, then chill in fridge til chocolate is set, about 5 mins.
Yield: 18 cookies. If you don't dip them, you can keep them at room temperature for about a week. Once dipped, they can be held in the fridge for up to a day.
3. Gingerbread. I haven't yet found a perfectly moist, perfectly spiced cake, but I'm sure it's out there. This chocolate-chip variation is certainly a winner in its own right. I've been making it for several years. David Lebovitz's fresh ginger cake is also supposed to be fantastic.
4. Pumpkin "bread" (it's cake, let's be honest). Also a great Williams-Sonoma recipe I found years ago. I like making it into muffins, or just using a regular loaf pan (not their $30 specialty one) and watching the oven time accordingly. Pairing it with rich vanilla bean ice cream (this year I can make my own!) makes for an insanely good fall dessert.
5. Butter Rum Cake (from Lisa Yockelson's Baking by Flavor). I only make the cake and half the amount of glaze, never the rum custard sauce (as tempting as that sounds), and it's still a beautiful dessert with the most amazing texture. It's not greasy like pound cakes can be.
6. Dark chocolate & cherry bread pudding. This is a Pam Anderson recipe I actually have scribbled on a napkin stuffed into my recipe binder, though I'm sure it's online somewhere. I think I was waiting at the doctor's office and reading one of those women's magazines when I found this recipe and, knowing Pam's reputation, thought I should find some way to copy it. That was a while ago and I still haven't made it, but it is a priority this year.
7. Maple-Walnut Pear Cake. Another untried recipe, from David Lebovitz (Ready for Dessert). The flavors sound pretty amazing, so no explanation needed. It's also a smaller cake (one 9" pan), which is how I adjust most recipes for us, so that's a plus.
8. Sea salt caramels, recipe here: lacking true fleur de sel I used 3/4 tsp. coarse ground sea salt, and it worked. You just don't make caramels in the summer. After November they feel right.
9. Big apple pancake. We had this for Sunday "breakfast" (what we do for lunch after church) all the time last winter. It requires the same amount of oven time as a pan of bacon, so you put both in the oven and you have an easy, delicious breakfast 15 minutes later. It doesn't always puff up uniformly, so don't count on it being perfectly picturesque.
10. Biscuits. Cream, buttermilk, herbed, drop--it doesn't matter. To me nothing says a hearty winter meal like a fresh pan of biscuits, and I miss them.
1. Makowiec, per this Fresh Loaf recipe. It calls for the whipping of egg whites (my most dreaded baking-related task) but it seems it's just to lighten the filling, so I won't sweat it if (yet again) I fail to achieve stiff peaks. My husband has fond memories of his Hungarian grandmother making this bread for holidays. I've had bakery versions and am anxious to see if I can make a decent one at home.
2. Chocolate-dipped almond biscotti (recipe below). Besides the extensive oven time, they feel like such a fall/winter snack to me. These were one of the first successful things I ever baked. The recipe comes from a much-referenced copy of Gourmet's Casual Entertaining, Random House: New York, 2001. (Unlike many Gourmet recipes it is not on Epicurious so far as I can tell.)
1 c. all-purpose flour
1/2 c. sugar
1 1/2 tsp. grated orange zest
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. baking soda
1 whole egg + 1 egg white
1/2 tsp. vanilla
3/4 c. whole almonds, toasted then coarsely chopped
6 oz. bitter- or semi-sweet chocolate, for dipping
1. Preheat oven to 300 degrees and adjust a rack to the middle level. In a medium bowl combine the flour, sugar, orange zest, salt, and baking soda. In a large bowl, beat together the egg, egg white, and vanilla to combine. Add the flour mixture and beat just til combined. Stir in chopped almonds.
2. Use floured hands to form the dough into a 12x2" log and place on a parchment-lined baking sheet. Bake until pale golden, about 45 mins. (Do not turn off oven at this point.) Cool the pan on a wire rack for 10 minutes, then transfer the log, peeling off the parchment carefully if it sticks, to a cutting board. Use a sharp serrated knife to cut diagonally into 1/2" thick slices. Place slices back on the baking sheet and return to the oven. Bake for 10 minutes, then turn slices and bake another 10 minutes, until crisp. Transfer biscotti to a rack to cool.
3. Melt the chocolate in the microwave or in a double boiler, then dip the top (curved) edge of each cookie in the melted chocolate. Transfer them to a sheet of wax paper set on a large plate or baking sheet, then chill in fridge til chocolate is set, about 5 mins.
Yield: 18 cookies. If you don't dip them, you can keep them at room temperature for about a week. Once dipped, they can be held in the fridge for up to a day.
3. Gingerbread. I haven't yet found a perfectly moist, perfectly spiced cake, but I'm sure it's out there. This chocolate-chip variation is certainly a winner in its own right. I've been making it for several years. David Lebovitz's fresh ginger cake is also supposed to be fantastic.
4. Pumpkin "bread" (it's cake, let's be honest). Also a great Williams-Sonoma recipe I found years ago. I like making it into muffins, or just using a regular loaf pan (not their $30 specialty one) and watching the oven time accordingly. Pairing it with rich vanilla bean ice cream (this year I can make my own!) makes for an insanely good fall dessert.
5. Butter Rum Cake (from Lisa Yockelson's Baking by Flavor). I only make the cake and half the amount of glaze, never the rum custard sauce (as tempting as that sounds), and it's still a beautiful dessert with the most amazing texture. It's not greasy like pound cakes can be.
6. Dark chocolate & cherry bread pudding. This is a Pam Anderson recipe I actually have scribbled on a napkin stuffed into my recipe binder, though I'm sure it's online somewhere. I think I was waiting at the doctor's office and reading one of those women's magazines when I found this recipe and, knowing Pam's reputation, thought I should find some way to copy it. That was a while ago and I still haven't made it, but it is a priority this year.
7. Maple-Walnut Pear Cake. Another untried recipe, from David Lebovitz (Ready for Dessert). The flavors sound pretty amazing, so no explanation needed. It's also a smaller cake (one 9" pan), which is how I adjust most recipes for us, so that's a plus.
8. Sea salt caramels, recipe here: lacking true fleur de sel I used 3/4 tsp. coarse ground sea salt, and it worked. You just don't make caramels in the summer. After November they feel right.
9. Big apple pancake. We had this for Sunday "breakfast" (what we do for lunch after church) all the time last winter. It requires the same amount of oven time as a pan of bacon, so you put both in the oven and you have an easy, delicious breakfast 15 minutes later. It doesn't always puff up uniformly, so don't count on it being perfectly picturesque.
10. Biscuits. Cream, buttermilk, herbed, drop--it doesn't matter. To me nothing says a hearty winter meal like a fresh pan of biscuits, and I miss them.
Friday, June 3, 2011
Chocolate-mint tuiles; blackberry-lime sorbet
This was technically not my first time making tuiles, but I'd rather not revisit the utter failure that was my previous attempt. Different recipe, different time. This week, since I had a couple of egg whites sitting in the fridge, I decided to try Sherry Yard's chocolate-dipped tuile recipe (from Baking by the Yard). I ended up filling the tuiles instead with a whipped chocolate ganache flavored with the tiniest bit of peppermint extract (I've learned the hard way how potent it is). I daresay it worked, though my whipped ganache recipe was a little guess-y.
I was probably a little crazy to take on tuiles this week, with temperatures keeping around 95: after the tuiles have baked (about 4 at a time) you open the oven door, set the baking sheet on it, and work with them that way so they stay warm and malleable. Then you do the other three batches. After each batch you have to wrap the cookies quickly around the handle of a wooden spoon (they're hot of course) so that they hold their characteristic shape. I have pretty callused/heat resistant fingers, so this wasn't too hard. Shaping is one of the top 5 things in the kitchen that tend to provoke my temper---I'm clumsy and don't follow written directions as well as pictures and/or videos---so I was surprised that these went so smoothly. The one hitch was that I didn't bake them long enough; scared by her warning that overbaking makes them difficult to shape, I didn't let them go longer than the indicated time even though they weren't quite golden brown, so the cookies never really crisped up. I'll remember that next time, and there will be a next time---this is a great way to use up whites left over from custard-based ice creams, and it doesn't involve finicky whipping! I'll take a hot kitchen over egg whites that refuse to whip right any day.
For the ganache filling, which I piped in with a makeshift pastry bag, I used about 2 oz. of Trader Joe's 72% dark chocolate and 1/3 cup of heavy cream, with a tiny splash of mint extract and maybe 1/4 tsp. vanilla. You just chop the chocolate, heat the cream in the microwave at intervals of 30 seconds til hot, then pour it over the chocolate, whisking til smooth. Add the extracts, put it in the fridge for at least a couple of hours, then take it out and whip it with a mixer til light and fluffy. This results in an interesting texture that dissolves in your mouth instantly. Very tasty.
Also this week I tried a David Lebovitz recipe (The Perfect Scoop) I've been eyeing for a while: blackberry lime sorbet. I don't usually get too excited about sorbet---yay, it tastes like fruit with all the nutritional value (painstakingly) strained out---but this combination sounded compelling. It did not disappoint. I'm fairly in love with this sorbet. Unapologetically tart, it has the perfect balance of sweetness, is a gorgeous, appetizing color, and somehow feels more substantial than a mixture of fruit puree, sugar syrup, and lime juice. (Lots of lime juice.)
I couldn't bear throwing out all the seedy pulp strained from the blackberry mixture, so with the blender already out I threw it in with about a cup of plain whole milk yogurt and about 3 Tbsp of fresh mint. It doesn't hold a candle to the sorbet recipe, but it makes a nice texture contrast, as shown below, and was a decent way to use up the pulp. Leftover tuiles, which I (re)crisped in the oven first, were a perfect foil. This photo is bad, because you can barely see the gorgeous dark purple sorbet sneaking through my attempt at granita on top.
This is the mixture before freezing:
For the ganache filling, which I piped in with a makeshift pastry bag, I used about 2 oz. of Trader Joe's 72% dark chocolate and 1/3 cup of heavy cream, with a tiny splash of mint extract and maybe 1/4 tsp. vanilla. You just chop the chocolate, heat the cream in the microwave at intervals of 30 seconds til hot, then pour it over the chocolate, whisking til smooth. Add the extracts, put it in the fridge for at least a couple of hours, then take it out and whip it with a mixer til light and fluffy. This results in an interesting texture that dissolves in your mouth instantly. Very tasty.
Also this week I tried a David Lebovitz recipe (The Perfect Scoop) I've been eyeing for a while: blackberry lime sorbet. I don't usually get too excited about sorbet---yay, it tastes like fruit with all the nutritional value (painstakingly) strained out---but this combination sounded compelling. It did not disappoint. I'm fairly in love with this sorbet. Unapologetically tart, it has the perfect balance of sweetness, is a gorgeous, appetizing color, and somehow feels more substantial than a mixture of fruit puree, sugar syrup, and lime juice. (Lots of lime juice.)
I couldn't bear throwing out all the seedy pulp strained from the blackberry mixture, so with the blender already out I threw it in with about a cup of plain whole milk yogurt and about 3 Tbsp of fresh mint. It doesn't hold a candle to the sorbet recipe, but it makes a nice texture contrast, as shown below, and was a decent way to use up the pulp. Leftover tuiles, which I (re)crisped in the oven first, were a perfect foil. This photo is bad, because you can barely see the gorgeous dark purple sorbet sneaking through my attempt at granita on top.
This is the mixture before freezing:
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