Dessert Archives

Fall Flavors

October 13, 2015 by theblogbloom.com Leave a Comment

One of my current favorite internet phenomenon’s is Matt Bellassai’s “Wine About It.”

Matt works for Buzzfeed. Fun, right??

That means he gets to do research for things like this (Boiler up!) and create things as sweet as this.

And, in his newest project, Matt sits at his desk, drinks loads of wine, complains about things like going out, shopping for clothes, and being an adult… you know, everything that you think is the worst too, and he records it for the internet’s viewing pleasure.

You guys. He get’s paid for this.

And, his getting kind of “internet” famous. So basically, he is going to be set for life with appearances, hosting gigs, wine labels, a bar franchise, action figures, etc… Uh, Hello?!… #dreamjob.

He posts his videos every Wednesday and this past week he shared why fall is the worst.

Full disclosure: He cusses ~~quite a bit~~ a lot, so tell the kids to put on their headphones.

But, it’s funny… because it’s true. Everyone is always so stoked for fall. And, everyone can’t ever get over how great fall is even when it’s here. So, I got to thinking, why are we so fall obsessed?

Sure. I love feeling the first chill in the air, throwing on a big cozy sweater and the first fire in my fireplace. But, I also get a little sad when fall comes around because that means that it’s all down hill from here to winter.

… Evidently, I am a little glass half empty about fall… So, maybe I am not the best person to ask why we all fall in love with fall year after year.

Instead, I referenced the past couple weeks of my Facebook and Instagram newsfeed and it hit me.

We all love fall because of the food.

No other season has such quintessential flavors. Pumpkin. Chai Tea. Caramel. Spice. Apples. Butternut squash. Sage.

All classically fall.

Now, I know I may gain a few haters, but I have to side with Matt on his views on pumpkin. It’s just not my favorite. I have tried. I have purchased a PSL. I can appreciate a pumpkin donut. But… Ehh.

Apples on the other hand? We don’t really see eye to eye.

I am a big fan of apples in the fall. I enjoy going to the local orchard. I enjoy trying all the different varieties. And, I love making fun treats with them.

I also think hot apple pie with cool, melty vanilla ice cream is so iconic and so good. But, it’s also kind of predictable.

Instead, this fall, I tried something new but used apple pie with ice cream as inspiration.

And, instead of vanilla I went with another one of my favorite ice cream flavors: Salty caramel. I was introduced to the salty caramel flavor at Jeni’s Ice Cream as a young girl in Columbus, Ohio and the flavor also pairs really well with apples. Not to mention, it’s delicious.

It served as a perfect accompanist to these buttery, gooey, and fall spiced apple bars.

These bars were super simple to make so don’t get intimidated by the ingredient list. It looks like a lot; but, really, most of the items were already in my pantry and there are items that are repeated in the different layers of the bar.

And, it’s a good thing that these bars are so easy to make because they didn’t last long and they have been requested twice since the last one disappeared last week.

… maybe it was a squirrel!

Apple Bars with Salty Caramel

2015-10-13 15:42:09

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Crust

1/2 cup unsalted butter
1/4 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup flour

Filling

2 apples, peeled and thinly sliced
2 tablespoons flour
1 tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg

Topping

1/2 cup old-fashioned oats
1/3 cup packed brown sugar
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 cup all purpose flour
1/4 cup unsalted butter, cold and cubed
Salty Caramel in notes

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 300 degrees.
Line the bottom of an 8x8 baking pan with parchment or aluminum foil leaving enough to hang over the sides.
For the Crust: Combine melted butter, sugar, vanilla and salt in a medium bowl. Add the flour until just combined. Press the mixture evenly into the prepared pan. Bake for 15 minutes while you make the rest.
For the Filling: Combine the sliced apples, flour, sugar, cinnamon and nutmeg in a large bowl. Toss until the apples are well coated.
For the Topping: Combine the oats, sugar, cinnamon and flour in a medium bowl. Add the chilled butter and cut into the mixture with two forks or your fingers until mixture forms coarse crumbs.
Remove the crust from the oven and turn the heat up to 350 degrees.
Layer the apples on the warm crust. Make sure they are tight and even. You may need to press down to make them fit.
Sprinkle the apples with the oat topping and bake for 30-35 minutes.
Let cool for at least 20 minutes once removed from the oven and then chill in refrigerator for a few hours or overnight.
Lift the parchment or foil to remove from the baking pan and cut into even bars.
Drizzle the salty caramel over the top. Enjoy warm or cool!

Salty Caramel

1 cup sugar
6 tablespoons salted butter, cut into 6 pieces
1/2 cup heavy cream
1 teaspoon salt
Heat sugar in a medium saucepan while constantly stirring with a heat resistant rubber spatula or wooden spoon. Sugar takes on clumps and then melts into a thick brown liquid. Keep stirring so that the sugar does not burn.
When sugar is completely melted, add the butter, but use caution as the mixture will bubble up when the butter is added. Stir until completely melted.
Slowly, drizzle in the heavy cream. The cream is cooler than the caramel and will bubble up.
Allow the mixture to boil and rise for one minute then remove from the heat and stir in the salt.
Let cool a bit before using.
This is great on ice cream or as a gift! It keeps about two weeks.

Bloom. https://www.theblogbloom.com/

Nights In with Rhubarb Soda Floats

May 19, 2015 by theblogbloom.com 3 Comments

Once I was in middle school, my parents thought I was old and mature enough to babysit. My mom signed me up for a Red Cross course and I was so excited.

I am the oldest, so I have always been a bit of a “mom” myself. I have also always been a little motivated by a paycheck (… no shame in my early #girlboss game) and, thanks to The Babysitter’s Club book series, I knew this had potential.

I passed the course with flying colors and started drumming up business with the moms of my younger brother’s friends. However, if I found myself without business, my mom and dad happily found an excuse to go out.

I know that they didn’t mind. And, honestly, I didn’t either.

Despite our seven year age spread, I got along really well with my siblings (still do!), so it didn’t seem like “work.”

We built up a bit of a tradition on those nights when I was in charge: dinner was always frozen DiGiorno pizza, a luxury as a kid in a home where healthy (See also: weird) food was served on the regular, and some kind of float for dessert.

My parents entertained often, so soda was always in the house. But, my mom was also a bargain hunter and you just never knew what kind of soda you would find.

We didn’t care and would venture far from traditional root beer with our creations.

Some nights it was vanilla ice cream in Orange Crush. Or, Mountain Dew. Chocolate ice cream in Diet Coke was surprisingly good… and produced lots of foam. (Fun when entertaining your six year old brother.) Sherbet in seltzer became my favorite and I have been know to recreate this as an adult.

We were weird.

But, we had fun.

And, to this day, I cannot see a root beer float on a menu and not think of my many nights in with Kerry and Danny.

The other weekend, Kerry and I had a night out in Chicago. We met for drinks at 25 Degrees, a burger bar with a little glitz to it.

On the menu were boozy shakes and soda floats.

We both laughed trying to imagine ordering one, but opted for rose instead.

While looking at the blush color of my glass, I remembered the rhubarb we still have growing at our old home. Before we built our current home, Adam and I lived in the pre-Civil War farmhouse that he grew up in. Adam had planted the rhubarb bushes years ago when his parents still lived in the house.

Rhubarb is an annual and you can have over twenty years of production when it’s well maintained and not completely harvested.

Rhubarb is similar to asparagus as it grows from crowns that can be planted in early spring or late fall. It also needs about three years to truly get established. Then, the harvest period can last from eight to ten weeks throughout the spring and early summer.

Early spring rhubarb is tender and is great to add in pies and crisps, one of Adam’s favorite desserts.

But, I decided to have a little fun with it, think out of the box and make one of my favorite desserts.

These rhubarb floats sound just as weird as the floats my siblings and I concocted the nights I babysat, but- surprisingly- they are amazing. There is a freshness in the soda thanks to the tart rhubarb balanced with the sweet sugar and bright orange.

When simmering these flavors together my kitchen filled with it’s warm scent that was reminincent to Christmas.

The simple syrup would also make a good cocktail, mixed with white rum or vodka.

But, with a couple big scoops of vanilla ice cream, it’s the perfect sweet and flirty-pink treat for a spring day… or night in.

Rhubarb Soda Floats

2015-05-19 15:41:15

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Ingredients

1 cup sugar
1 cup water
1 pound rhubarb, thinly sliced
1 orange peeled in strips
Seltzer
Vanilla Ice Cream

Instructions

Combine sugar, water, rhubarb and orange peel in a medium saucepan. Heat over medium heat until boiling. Then reduce to a simmer for 15 minutes.
Place a fine mesh sieve over a bowl and drain the syrup into the bowl. Press to get as much liquid as possible.
Pour syrup in a glass jar and place in the refrigerator to chill until ready for use.
To make float, use a tall glass and pour in 1 1/2 cups of seltzer and 6 tablespoons of syrup. Add two scoops of vanilla ice cream and pour a little more syrup over top.
Enjoy right away!

Adapted from The Beekman 1802 Heirloom Vegetable Cookbook

Bloom. https://www.theblogbloom.com/

Watermelon Lemonade Sorbet

September 16, 2014 by theblogbloom.com 3 Comments

Adam is known to bring home “things” from work… Often.

Fortunately for me these things are often food… With the exception of rocks he collects for our landscaping and there was talk of a stump at a farm that he was interested in recently.

“A stump… Like a tree stump?” I asked.

“A super gnarly tree stump with it’s roots and sides jetting off of it,” he way too excitedly replied.

“Okay… So is it for the yard?” I asked wondering why we would ever need a stump.

“No, I want to make a coffee table with it.”

Blank stare by Claire.

“Oh, just get on Pinterest. You will see what I am talking about.”

First of all, my husband encouraged me to go spend time on Pinterest. #wifewin

Second, HE was inspired by Pinterest for a project. #wifewin

Third, this was a project just for him. Not me. #wifewin

You see… when he brings home food from days working with a farmer client it means a project (AKA work) for the both of us.

A box of freshly butchered pork burgers? Great! Let me get out the vacuum sealer so we can get these in the freezer right now.

One hundred ears of sweet corn? Wonderful. Let’s get those blanched and frozen tonight.

This was a fun night…

Cover crop seeds? Cool! Let’s make time to get those in the ground tomorrow.

Last week, he walked into the house carrying a huge watermelon.

He looked so proud bringing home this treat and I laughed… I laughed because it looked like he was carrying a big watermelon baby.

It was a big watermelon baby. And I had no idea what to do with it.

Watermelon has a reputation for being a summery food. It’s a well deserved reputation because it’s refreshing, slightly sweet and colored in vibrant pinks and greens.

However, most watermelon are not ready until late summer if they are planted after the threat of frost in the Chicagoland/North-Central Indiana area. Large watermelons need about 100 days to grow from a seed to maturity. 100 days is pretty much from mid May to Labor day.

So that watermelon you had on the Fourth of July? It’s a greenhouse melon. Or, it’s from Florida.

Depending on who you ask there’s really nothing wrong with a greenhouse melon or even that Florida melon, but I just try to eat locally and seasonally. This melon that Adam brought home was for sure local. It came from a farm less than three miles away. And fit the seasonality… on paper.

Normally early September is a great time for watermelon in Indiana. Produce stands on street corners are booming with them and watermelon at my work’s produce supplier has it’s best prices this time of year.

But, last week it felt more like late October then early September. Temperatures barely reach seventy making me crave warm comfort foods like chili and homemade breads. Not refreshing, summery watermelon. So the watermelon baby sat on the counter for about 48 hours while I tried to figure out what the heck to do with it.

Finally Adam said, “Let’s just cut it open and see if it’s even ripe.”

A ripe watermelon will have a “thump” sound when you knock on it, but with the cool August we were skeptical. Adam cut it down the center and passed me a small wedge.

It. Was. Perfect.

Super juicy. Great, fresh texture. Amazing flavor.

Screw the chilly fall like temps. I was making on of my favorites: Watermelon Lemonade Sorbet.

If spending my high school years in Columbus, Ohio was good for anything it exposed me to the nations best ice cream shops… ever. (In my *expert* opinion.) Jeni’s, Rita’s, and Graeter’s were frequent summer night hang outs. And when watermelon anything hit any of their menu’s I had to have it.

This sorbet is inspired by those nights at the ice cream shops and uses Jeni’s technique of using corn syrup to give the sorbet the right consistency. The zing of the lemon with the coolness of the watermelon gives this treat super fresh flavor and transports me back to those summer nights… even when it is only 65 degrees.

Watermelon Lemonade Sorbet

2014-09-17 14:52:58

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Ingredients

4 cups watermelon cut in 2 inch cubes
2 lemons, juiced and divided
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 light corn syrup

Instructions

Puree the cut up watermelon in a food processor.
Transfer puree into a large bowl and add one half cup lemon juice.
Combine remaining lemon, sugar and corn syrup in a medium saucepan and bring to a boil, stirring constantly to dissolve the sugar.
Remove from heat and combine with watermelon puree.
Cool mixture in the refrigerator for about thirty minutes.
Pour cool puree into your frozen ice cream maker canister and spin about 15-20 minutes or until it reaches a light sorbet consistency.

Notes

Make sure your ice cream maker canister is frozen before you begin. #wifefail

Bloom. https://www.theblogbloom.com/

Taste of Summer in December

December 28, 2013 by theblogbloom.com 1 Comment

Last week, Adam looked out at the very snowy backyard and said, “I wish it was summer. I miss the garden. I wish we could go out there and work in it.”

He has been saying things like this for the last two months just about every other day. He has mentioned that he misses having variety fresh vegetables to eat. He even has been looking into green houses so we could have produce growing throughout the year.

… I think the root of this particular instance was that he didn’t want to go to spinning.

But, we did.

And, thank goodness we did because we had a feast waiting for us.

It was Adam’s Birthday!

Inspired by his desire for summer and fresh garden produce, I dug deep into our freezer and prepared a meal entirely using produce that came from our garden.

… With the exception of steaks. It was his birthday after all.

Our freezer is still pretty well stocked thanks to the time and effort we made to preserve vegetables from this summer’s garden. For Adam’s birthday meal I was able to use snap beans, cherry tomatoes, grated zucchini, sweet corn and poblano peppers. And a couple of the backyard eggs!

Here is what I made:

Balsamic Peas and Tomatoes with Feta

In the summer, I do this as a raw salad. It’s light and has great crunch with the vibrant flavors. But, because the vegetables were frozen, I sautéed them. Warm, this combination of flavors is excellent because the feta melts just a little for a touch of creaminess.

1 Tablespoon of olive oil
1 clove garlic, minced
1 cup snap peas
1 cup cherry tomato
¼ cup balsamic vinegar
Salt and Pepper
Feta Cheese crumbles

Heat olive oil over medium high heat. Add garlic and cook until fragrant and begins to golden.

Add frozen peas and tomatoes, stir to coat with garlic and oil. Lower heat to medium and cook for three minutes. Add balsamic, salt and pepper, and cook for three more minutes, stirring occasionally.

Plate and top with crumbled feta cheese.

Spicy Skillet Corn

In case you are new here… Adam likes spicy food. And, this corn dish packs some heat!

1 Tablespoon Olive Oil
½ red onions
1 ½ cup frozen corn
½ cup frozen poblano pepper, diced
½ tablespoon cayenne pepper
Salt and Pepper to taste

Heat olive oil in a skillet over medium high heat. Add red onion and stir to coat with oil. Add corn, peppers and cayenne pepper, stir to combine with oil and onions. Cook until vegetables are tender.

Serve immediately.

Zucchini Cake

Zucchini Cake is essentially just chocolate cake, but the grated zucchini makes the cake super moist. Plus, you are getting some veggies while eating cake… life doesn’t get much better than that!

I have seen recipes for Zucchini Cake with lots of different seasonings added to the cake batter, such as cinnamon or ground cloves. It gives the cake good flavor, but for this occasion I kept it simple because I made Bourbon Butter cream Frosting. I did this wanting to give it a little “manly” touch (Adam’s a big fan of bourbon, if he is drinking a cocktail) and thought plain old chocolate cake would be best with the flavors of the spririt.

This recipe is based on the recipe Adam grew up with thanks to his mom. (… And, it probably was made for her by her mom!) Her recipe also calls for cinnamon, nuts and chocolate frosting and is fantastic.

Love/Romance Tip: Find out favorites from your man’s childhood and cook them. Often.

3/4 cups oil
2 cups sugar
3 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 cup milk
2 1/2 cup flour
1 tsp baking powder
4 T baking cocoa
1 1/2 teaspoon salt
2 cups grated zucchini (I froze grated garden zucchini’s in ½ cup portions. Made this SUPER easy.)

Combine oil and sugar. Add eggs, vanilla, and milk. Mix well. Mix in dry ingredients. Stir in zucchini.

Bake in a greased pan (I used two cake pans) at 350 for 1 hour.

Once cool top with this:

Bourbon Butter Cream Icing

3 egg whites
2/3 cups sugar
Two sticks of butter, room temperature
1 (… or two) tablespoon bourbon, room temperature

Mix egg whites and sugar in a mixing bowl. Heat mixture to combine, stirring occassionally. (I placed my Kitchenaid bowl over a simmering pot of water. The steam heated the sugary mixture.)

Once combined, remove from heat and hook up to mixer. Mix on medium speed, add butter, one tablespoon at a time until combined and fluffy. Add bourbon, mix throughout.

We also had some champagne from our August trip to Oliver Winery to complete our “Summer” Celebration!