Summer Blackberry Cobbler with Vanilla-Rum Creme Anglaise--Posted by Joy

Taken from Cuisine at Home

Summer Blackberry Cobbler 
with coconut-pecan topping


Toss Together:
8 C blackberries fresh or frozen (thawed slightly if frozen)
1 C sugar (to taste, in my opinion--much more sugar if using wild blackberries from my experience)
1/4 C instant tapioca
Juice of 1/2 lime
Pinch of salt

Preheat oven to 375; toss berries with sugar, tapioca, lime juice and salt. Spoon into a 2qt baking dish.

Combine; Knead In:
1 C all-purpose flour
1 C sweetened shredded coconut
3/4 C sugar
1/2 C pecans; coarsely chopped
1/2 t. baking power
1/4 t. table salt
1/2 C cold unsalted butter, cubed (1 stick)

Combine flour, coconut, sugar, pecans, b. powder and salt; with fingertips knead in butter until blended; mixture should look like coarse sand.

Blend In; Top Berries With:
1 egg

Blend egg with berries; top berries with topping in clumps. Bake for 45-50 minutes or until topping is golden and crisp and filling is thick and bubbly. Cool on rack for at least 1 hour before serving.

Serve With: 
Vanilla-Rum Creme Anglaise

Vanilla-Rum Creme Anglaise


Warm: 
2 C half and half
2 T. sugar
1 vanilla bean, split and scraped; pod chopped into 1' pieces

Warm in saucepan over medium heat until steaming; about 5 minutes.

Whisk Together; Temper Milk Into and Cook:
5 egg yolks
3 T. sugar
2 T. light or dark rum
1/4 t. kosher salt

Whisk yolks, sugar, rum and salt together in a bowl; when milk mixture is steaming, temper into the eggs whisking constantly. Pour the custard back into the pan and return to burner. Cook over med-low heat, stirring constantly, until custard coats the back of a spoon, 5-8 minutes.

Blend and Strain; Add:
1 t. vanilla extract

Blend custard and vanilla bean pod in a blender for 1 minute. Strain into a bowl, add the extract, cover and chill.

MY NOTES: This recipe felt like a lot of work at the time, though reading it now I'm not sure why other than the tediousness of watching the anglaise carefully. I also picked my own blackberries and they were quite tart so it really needed at least double the amount of sugar the recipe called for. It was late in the season and the blackberries had large seeds in them as well so I didn't enjoy that so much. I had made a much simpler blackberry cobbler some years before that I loved. If I can ever find that recipe I'll post it as well. The Creme Anglaise was AWESOME. I made it a few times for other things--it was just as good with extract and not the hassle of the vanilla beans, but of course the bean made it very rich and pretty to look at as well. The topping was good--I would probably tweak it with a bit more sugar or...something. Not sure what. But worth playing around with if you have the motivation and time :-) 

Chocolate Banana Zucchini Bread

I wanted to find some new zucchini bread recipes to try and found this one from a google search. I already have a good chocolate zucchini bread recipe I like to use, but thought this one sounded good too. I alterred it a bit. The original recipe did not call for an egg I suppose to make it vegan. I added an egg and a half cup of oats and a 1/4 cup sliced almonds. It turned out well, very moist. Next time I would use less oil though. 

Chocolate Banana Zucchini Bread

Ingredients
1 1/2 cups shredded raw zucchini
1 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 cup oats
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground allspice
1 large banana
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 cup canola oil
1 egg
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/2 cup dried cranberries
1/4 cup nuts
Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350° F.
2. Shred zucchini to get 1 1/2 cups. Set aside.
3. Mix the flour, oats, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder, salt, and spices.
4. Mash the banana with the sugar, oil, and vanilla and egg. Fold in the grated zucchini. Stir in the dry ingredients and then mix in the dried cranberries and nuts.
5. Pour the batter into a lightly greased loaf pan and bake for 40 to 50 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.

10 - 12 slices

Chocolate Chip Orange Zucchini Bread

Here's another good way to use up end of summer zucchini. The only thing it needs is more orange flavor; maybe more orange zest or a little orange extract.


Ingredients:

3 cups flour
1/4 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp nutmeg
3 eggs
2 cups sugar
1 cup oil
2 tsp vanilla extract
2 cups grated zucchini
2 cups chopped walnuts
1 cup chocolate chips
1 Tb orange zest

Heat oven to 350.  Grease two 9x5 loaf pans. Sift together flour thru nutmeg. In a large bowl, beat eggs until light and fluffy. Add the sugar and continue to beat until well blended. Stir in oil, vanilla, zucchini, nuts, chocolate and zest. Blend in the flour mixture. Pour batter into prepared pans. Bake 50 min or till done.
Yield: 2 loaves, 12 slices each.

Zucchini Cornbread Casserole

What to do with an over-abundance of zucchini? Try super easy and delicious zucchini cornbread casserole!

4 cups shredded zucchini
1 onion, chopped
2 eggs
1 (8.5 oz) corn muffin mix
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
8 oz cheddar cheese, shredded, divided

Heat oven to 350. Mix all ingredients (half the cheese). Pour into greased 2 qt. casserole dish. Top with rest of cheese. Bake 60 minutes. 7-8 servings

Rice Pudding with Marmalade Sauce

This is a really yummy homemade rice pudding recipe from a Southern Cooking cookbook. The first time I had it was the original recipe. This time I used peach jam in place of the marmalade. It tuned out great! Next time I may try Ameretto with peach jam or raspberry jam. Also, I think it needs more vanilla flavor, maybe add 1/2 to 1 tsp more vanilla extract.

Pudding:

6 cups milk
1 cup uncooked medium grain rice
1/8 tsp salt
1 cup sugar
3 eggs
1/4 cup butter
1 tsp vanilla

Sauce:

1 tsp cornstarch
1/3 cup cream sherry
10 oz orange marmalade
1/4 cup chopped pecans
pinch cinnamon (or more!)

Bring milk to boil; add rice and salt. Stir till returns to boil. Cover, reduce heat and simmer 40 minutes. Stir in sugar. Beat eggs till thick. Gradually stir 1/4 hot mixture into eggs. Slowly stir egg mixture into pudding mixture, stirring constantly. Cook on low 5 minutes stirring constantly. Remove from heat. Stir in butter and vanilla. Spoon into greased dish. Chill 8 hours.

For the sauce: Combine cornstarch and sherry until dissolved. Stir in jam, pecans and cinnamon. Cook over low heat till heated. Serve over pudding.

8 to 10 servings

Tiramisu -- Posted by Jessica

So, I had ricotta cheese, egg yolks and whipping cream left over from the Hazelnut Cream Casatta and was looking for recipes to use them in. I came across this tiramisu recipe that if I cut in half would used up the egg yolks, whipping cream and most of the ricotta I had left so I decided to give it a try. I had it on good authority from my sister that it was a good recipe! Traditionally, most recipes of tiramisu seem to use mascarpone cheese so I'll have to try one of those versions sometime as well. But this turned out pretty well. I was short about 4 ladyfingers so it was a little more soft, though it did set up better as it sat overnight than from the intial 2 hour chill time. Also, I didn't have brandy and didn't want to buy some as I was cutting the recipe in half and would only need a few tablespoons so I substituted hazelnut flavor coffee syrup I had on hand and just reduced the sugar called for as the syrup is plenty sweet. I have recently discovered bottled Bolthouse Farms hazelnut latte flavored drinks (found in the produce sections of some grocery stores) that I really like (again courtesy of my sister!) so I figured substituting the hazelnut syrup should be good. And it did turn out good! And I had a little individual packet of instant coffee I had brought back from a hotel in Ireland that was exactly the 1/2 Tb I needed so I didn't have to buy any extra ingredients for this recipe except the ladyfingers, so this recipe worked out really well for me! Here is the full recipe:

Ingredients:

6 egg yolks
1/2 c sugar
1/3 c cognac or brandy
2 c ricotta cheese
1 c whipping cream, whipped
32 ladyfingers, split in half
1 Tb instant coffee disolved in 3/4 cup boiling water
1 Tb unsweetened cocoa powder

In top of double boiler, whisk together egg yolks, sugar and cognac. Place pan over simmering water in bottom of double boiler. Cook, whisking contantly, about 2 to 3 minutes until mixure is thickened. Remove top of double boiler; cook yolk mixure completely. In large bowl of electric mixter, beat yolk mixture and ricotta cheese on medium speed until blended. Fold in whipped cream.

Place half the ladyfingers in bottom of 13x9 inch pan, cut sides up. Brush with half the coffee and top with half the ricotta mixure. Repeat layers. Chill 2 hours. Dust with cocoa powder using fine sieve.
16 servings

Hazelnut Cream Cassata - Posted by Jessica

This is one of the BEST cakes I've ever had! I highly recommend it! It is a little bit of a project as it is 3 layers (but it does use cake mix so that helps in prep time) and whipping cream can take a little while, but it is totally worth it! Thank you Better Homes and Gardens for this amazing recipe!

Ingredients:

1 pkg 2-layer-size white cake mix or lemon-flavor cake mix (I used white)
1 Tb. finely shredded lemon peel (only if using white cake mix)
1/3 cup Nutella
1/3 cup ricotta cheese
1/3 cup red raspberry jam
2 1/2 cups whipping cream
2 Tb sifted pwd sugar (I forgot to sift it and it was fine!)
Toasted chopped hazelnuts (I used 2 Tb)

Grease and flour three 9" round cake pans (I also put parchement paper on the bottoms to make sure the cake wouldn't stick - spray bottom of pan, cut parchement paper or wax paper to fit, put in bottom of pan and spray paper and sides of pan, then dust with flour).
Preheat oven to 350. Prepare cake mix according to pkg directions. (If using white cake mix, stir in lemon peel). Divide batter among prepared pans. Bake about 15 minutes or till done. Cool in pans on wire rack 10 minutes. Remove cake from pans and cool completely.

For filling, stir together the nutella and ricotta. Place one cake layer on serving platter; spread with half of the jam and half of the nutella mixture. Top with 2nd layer and spread with rest of jam and nutella. Top with 3rd layer. In a chilled bowl beat whipping cream and pwd sugar with chilled beaters of electric mixer on medium speed until stiff peaks form. Spread whipped cream over top and sides of cake. Top with hazelnuts. Cover and chill up to 24 hours. Slice and serve.

Makes 12 servings (I cut it into 16 slices and they were perfect size.)