Eclair

Chocolate Brownie

Killer Brownies: (makes one 9x13" pan, one serving or as many as you like...)
Ingredients:
4 ounces (squares) unsweetened baking chocolate
1 ounce (square) semi-sweet or bittersweet chocolate
1 cup (8 ounces) unsalted butter
2 cups sugar
4 eggs
1 cup all purpose flour
1 Tbsp vanilla bean paste (well, really, I think you could go with 2 tsp of vanilla, and yes, you can use extract instead of paste, but as I've said, ad nauseum, I'm a vanilla freak and will add extra vanilla wherever I believe it will enhance a recipe)
1 tsp. salt
2 cups mini semi sweet chocolate chips, or half nuts, half chips, or add 2 cups of chips and 1 cup of nuts, or macadamias, or pecans, or whatever you fancy that you think will be nummy in brownies, experiment! Go for it! I am using pecans and chocolate chips for these today.
Directions:
-Preheat oven to 350f, grease a 9x13" pan with pan spray.
-Melt the butter, unsweetened chocolate and semi-sweet chocolate squares together.
-Stir sugar into the melted butter/chocolate mixture, let cool for about 10 minutes.
-Stir in the eggs, one at a time, mixing until well blended after each addition, add the vanilla.

-Mix in the flour and salt until just blended, and then stir in the chocolate chips, or nuts, or blend of both or whatever you are going to stir in. Pour the mixture into the prepared 9x13" pan.
-Bake the brownies for 20 to 30 minutes. You don't want to overbake these. I bake them until the top has formed a crust, and until they spring back a bit (they will not spring back like cake will) when gently pressed in the center of the pan (they will still be a bit moist).
-Allow to cool to room temperature, brew a cup of coffee and enjoy! Or, if you have ice cream on hand, serve them warm with a big scoop of vanilla ice cream. Oh, what I wouldn't give for a pint of vanilla ice cream right now!


Gram's Banana Cake:

2/3 cup unsalted butter at room temperature
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 eggs
3 bananas, mashed
1/2 cup buttermilk
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
2 cups flour
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla
-Preheat oven to 350f. Prepare two 9" cake rounds with a parchment circle on the bottom and pan spray on the sides and bottom.
-Sift together the flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt, set aside.
-Stir the vanilla into the buttermilk, set aside.
-Cream together the butter and sugar. Add the eggs, one at a time, mixing to blend after each addition. Add the mashed bananas and mix to combine.
-Add the flour and buttermilk mixtures alternating between the two, starting with 1/3 flour, mix, add 1/2 of the buttermilk, mix, add another third of the flour, mix, add the remaining buttermilk, and follow with the last of the flour. Mix until the flour has just become blended in.
-Evenly distribute the batter into your prepared baking pans (I used a regular sized ice cream scoop to do this and got about 5 scoops per pan) and bake for 12 minutes, rotate the pans front to back and bake for another 10 to 12 minutes, or until the cakes are a nice golden brown and spring back when the top is touched lightly.
-Cool in the pans for about 5 minutes, then invert out of pans and allow to cool thoroughly on a rack.
-Prepare the cream cheese icing (you could use the recipe from the post listed above, or you could make your own, or even a simple icing of butter, confectioner's sugar and vanilla would work).
-Slice the layers lengthwise giving you four layers. Spread the frosting thinly between each layer, ending with a nice coating on top. You can also do the sides if you wish, I just really like the casual look without the sides coated in icing.
-Cut a big slice and enjoy with coffee, tea, milk, or whatever you like!

Happy Baking!

Drunk with Power Rum Raisin Carrot Cupcakes

Drunken Raisin Carrot Cupcakes

for the cuppy cakes: (yields about 2 dozen cupcakes, or 3 9x2" cake rounds)

2 cups all-purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder
2 tsp baking soda
2 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
3/4 tsp salt
3 cups grated carrots (9 carrots or so....Dorie says she grates them with her food processor shredding blade, I had to resort to risking my knuckles with my box grater)
1 cup chopped pecans
1 cup shredded coconut ( the recipe calls for either sweetened or unsweetened)
3/4 cup rum raisins (you can get yours drunk by soaking them in about 1/3 cup rum overnight)
2 cups sugar
1 cup vegetable oil
1 tsp vanilla extract (add it right into the oil)
4 large eggs
-Preheat the oven to 325f. Prepare muffin tins with paper or foil or silicon cupcake cups.
-Sift or whisk together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt
and cinnamon, set aside.
-In another bowl, mix together the carrots, coconut, nuts and drunken
raisins, set aside.
-In a large bowl, whisk together the oil and sugar until smooth, add
the eggs one at a time, whisking well after each addition. Whisk
until smooth.
-Add the flour mixture and mix in until it just disappears, gently
fold in the carrot mixture.
-Scoop the batter into the prepared muffin tins, filling about 3/4 full.
-Bake for about 25-30 minutes, or until the top springs back when lightly touched.
-Cool on a rack to room temperature.
I must warn you the smell of these as they are baking is gorgeous and will have you salivating...you may want to have a mop handy.

And now for the icing. I swear if I ever meet the person who decided
to put cream cheese into their icing, I will run up to them and give
them a huge hug (I may even go so far as to kiss them on the cheek).

Cream Cheese Icing:

8 ounces cream cheese at room temperature
1 stick (4 ounces, 8 Tbsp) unsalted butter at room temperature
1 pound (3 3/4 cups) powdered sugar, sifted
1 Tbsp fresh lemon juice
1/2 cup shredded coconut (this is optional, and more likely if you are
going to make this as a cake instead of cup cakes, as it would be
added to half the icing and used to fill the cake)
finely chopped toasted nuts or toasted coconut to garnish the top if
you so desire
-Beat together the butter and cream cheese until smooth and creamy.
-Add the powdered sugar and lemon juice and continue to beat until
smooth. If you want to add coconut to the icing, stir it in (or if
making this a cake, stir into half the icing and use to fill it....I'm
repetitive today).
-Ice the cooled cupcakes, sprinkle with the garnish of your choice,
pour yourself a tall cool glass of milk (or some hot tea or whatever
beverage you choose) and savor!

Time to Make the Doughnuts (Donuts?)

Yeasted Donuts:

2 1/4 tsp active dry yeast(1/4 ounce, one packet)
1 1/4 cups milk, warmed to about 100f
1 cup (8 ounces, 2 sticks) unsalted butter at room temperature
1/4 cup sugar
3 eggs
1 tsp salt
5 cups flour (I used 5 1/2 this time, you want a soft dough, but not so soft that you cannot knead it...so you might need a bit more or a bit less flour)
Oil for frying (I used a vegetable oil)

Directions:

-Mix yeast and milk together and let it sit about 5 to 10 minutes until the yeast begins to bubble.
-Cream the butter and sugar together. Add the eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Add the salt.
-Mix in the flour alternating with the yeast mixture, so you are beginning and ending with the flour (1/3 flour, 1/2 yeast mixture, 1/3 flour, 1/2 yeast mixture, remaining 1/3 flour). You may need a little more flour if the dough seems too soft for you to knead.
-Turn the dough out onto a floured surface and knead until smooth and elastic (you may use your mixer with a dough hook attachment if you prefer, but I figure hand kneading is relaxing, and you'll burn calories while doing it thus justifying the need for a doughnut).
-Let rise, covered, in a bowl lightly sprayed with pan spray until doubled in bulk.

-On a floured surface, roll out about 1/2" thick, cut into rounds or squares, or whatever shape you like, I did the traditional round with the hole in the center for the glazed doughnuts, and just a plain round for the jelly filled (I didn't have a cutter specifically for doughnuts, so I used a drinking glass and a cannolli mold to cut out the centers).
-Cover with plastic wrap or a damp towel and let double in bulk again.
-Heat your oil to 375f in a heavy bottomed saucepan deep enough for the doughnuts to be able to rise to the top and float (you also don't want the oil up to the rim of the pan, you only want your pan filled halfway at most for safety).
-Carefully add the doughnuts to the oil. Brown on one side and turn the doughnuts
over to brown the other side (the best way to turn these is with two chopsticks, but tongs will work. Make sure when you turn your doughnuts over that you turn away from you so any oil that might be cheeky and splash, splashes away from you). Depending on the size of your pan you can do up to 3 doughnuts at a time. Drain the doughnuts on some paper towel. Glaze while still warm. If you fry up the holes (and why wouldn't you fry up the holes?), put some sugar (powdered sugar, cinnamon sugar, coconut, etc...) into a brown paper bag and when the holes come out of the oil, put them in the bag with the sugar and shake it up to coat them. You can also fill your doughnuts with a pastry bag fitted with a small plain tip and filled with jelly or your favorite custard filling (lemon curd is quite good in these, yum).

Alton Brown's Chocolate Doughnut Glaze
1/2 cup unsalted butter
1/4 cup whole milk, warmed (I did not have whole milk so I used half heavy cream half 1% milk)
1 tablespoon light corn syrup
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
4 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped
2 cups confectioners' sugar, sifted

Directions:

-Place the butter, milk, corn syrup and vanilla extract in a saucepan and heat over medium until the butter melts.
-Turn the heat to low, add the chocolate and whisk until smooth.
-With the pan off the heat, whisk in the powdered sugar until smooth. Set glaze over a bowl of warm water to keep it fluid and dip doughnuts immediately.
-Allow the glaze to set up for about half hour (yeah, right....just try to resist the goodness) and eat!

Blueberry Muffins: (makes 24 muffins, which is why I did a half-batch)

8 cups all-purpose flour
1 Tbsp baking powder
2 tsp baking soda
2 teaspoons salt
3 cups white sugar (or half sugar/half artificial sweetener...I think I might try making these all splenda next time)
1 1/4 cups vegetable oil
4 eggs, slightly beaten
1 Tbsp vanilla extract
4 cups buttermilk
6 1/2 cups blueberries
Directions:
-Preheat the oven to 350f. Grease muffin tins, or use paper/foil muffin cups in the tins.
-Mix together all the dry ingredients in a large mixing bowl.
-Mix together all the wet ingredients and add to the dry ingredients. Stir until the mixture just starts to come together and add the blueberries. Mix until the blueberries are incorporated and the mixture has just come together.
-Portion out the batter into each cup filling until they are just above the rim.
-Bake at 350f about 35 minutes or until the muffins are golden brown and spring bake when gently poked. Remove from oven and let cool for half hour in the pan, then remove them and let them finish cooling on a rack.

Serve alone or with butter or with whatever spread you like. These are a lovely moist muffin.

Gram Danning's Fruit Kuchen: (makes one 9x9" square cake pan, or one 9" cake round)

1/4 cup sugar
2 Tbsp unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 egg
1/2 cup milk (or buttermilk, I am using buttermilk in mine)
1 cup flour
1 tsp baking powder
pinch of salt
sliced ripe fruit of your choice to cover the top of the batter (peaches, apricots, plums, strawberries, rhubarb, most fruits work very well with this)
cinnamon and sugar mix to cover the fruit
4 tbsp of butter to dot
Directions:
-Heat oven to 350f.
-Cream together the butter and sugar, add the egg and mix to blend.
-Add the milk, flour, baking powder and salt and mix until just blended.
-Spread the mixture into a greased 9x9 inch cake pan (or cake round or I used a 9" tart pan) and top with the ripe fruit. Sprinkle the cinnamon and sugar over the top (can be generous or light with this, depends on the ripeness of the fruit....I used a bit more today because of the tartness of the rhubarb). Dot the top of everything with the 4 Tbsp of butter.
-Bake the cake for 45 to 50 minutes, or until the cake is done and the fruit is bubbly.
-Cool and enjoy!

Puffy lemon and creamcheese pancakes

• rind of 1 lemon, minced very fine
• 1 cup white flour
• 1/2 cup cream cheese
• 1 cup milk, plus extra
• 1 egg
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/3 cup golden sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla

Preheat a good nonstick frying pan over medium low heat (I use "4" on my stove)

Whiz the milk, lemon and creamcheese together on high speed in a good blender until smooth. Add the remaining ingredients and whiz until combined. Check the consistency of the batter - it should be just thin enough to pour easily from the jug into the frying pan, but not so thin it's runny. Add a little more milk, small potions at a time until the consistency is right.

Pour little circles of batter into the frying pan. If you do circles the size of an orange or grapefruit, you can probably fit 3 or 4 in your pan at one time, making it easy to do one complete serving at a time. In our house people get to start eating their pancakes straight away and don't have to wait for others so that each person can experience them fresh and fluffy from the pan. Flip the pancakes over gently when the bottoms are nice and (darkish) golden and the uncooked batter on the top has become bubbly and stopped looking glossy. Cook for 30 or 60 seconds more and transfer to a plate.

Top these lightly sweetened with whipped cream and cherries or raspberries.

Goats Cheese & Roasted Vegetable Tart

• 180 grams (6 oz.) flour
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 12 teaspoon cracked black pepper
• 90 grams (3 oz.) butter
• 1 egg
• water

Preheat oven to 200C (400F) Process flour, salt, pepper and butter in a food processor. When it is mealy, blend in one egg and enough water (about 1-2 Tablespoons) to form a nice firm pastry dough. Roll dough out on a floured surface until it is no more than 2 millimetres thick. Use dough to line a 10-inch tart shell and prick the bottom of it with a fork. Set aside.

• 1 medium vidallia onion, quartered and roasted or grilled
• 3 large, thick-walled capsicum roasted or grilled, skin and seeds removed
• 1 pound asparagus roasted or grilled
• 300 grams chevre
• 60 grams semi-hard goats cheese, grated very finely
• 1/4 cup milk
• 2 whole extra-large eggs
• 3 extra-large egg yolks
• 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
• 2 cloves garlic, minced

Drain and pat the vegetables dry. Slice the onions and capsicum into thin strips. Arrange the asparagus, capsicum and onions in the bottom of the prepared tart shell.

In a stand mixer, whip the chevre, goats cheese, eggs, yolks, salt and garlic until smooth. Add enough of the milk to make a pourable liquid about as thick as a syrup or pourable custard.
Pour cheese mixture over vegetables and thump tart shell several times on the countertop to ensure it gets between the vegetables and down to the bottom of the crust.

Bake in the oven for 20 minutes, reduce the heat to 180C (350F) and bake for 20 more minutes. Allow to stand for 15 minutes. You can eat this now, but the custard will be very delicate and will likely fall apart when eaten. It is better left until the next day in the fridge for the custard to firm up and the flavours to blend.

Recipe for chocolate brownies
1 pack of dark chocolate drops
50g dark chocolate (minimum 70% cocoa)
110g butter
2 eggs
50g plain flour
1 tsp baking powder
200g brown sugar
25g demerera sugar
¼ tsp salt

Melt the chocolate and butter in a large glass bowl over a pan of hot water (a bain marie). Make sure the bottom of the bowl stays out of the water, so the chocolate doesn’t burn. Stir it together until it is all blended, then simply add all the other ingredients and stir again until completely mixed. Finally, add the chocolate drops, give a quick stir and then transfer to a square silicon tin and cook at 180 degrees for 25-30 minutes.

To make white chocolate blondies, just replace the 50g of dark chocolate and packet of chocolate drops with white chocolate.

When it’s cooked it will be springy to the touch, but remember that the skewer test does not apply here, as you want the end result to be sticky and moist, not clean and dry like a cake. They will be crispy on top and gooey inside. Let the brownies cool a bit in the tin, then cut into pieces - as small or big as you like.

There are so many varieties of chocolate brownie recipe around that much as I love this recipe, I have decided to try some of the others I have come across. Keep an eye on my new ‘chocolate brownies’ category for my latest brownie experiment.

Souffle'

For four individual souffles you will need:

• 2 cups milk
• 3 cloves garlic, well bruised, but not minced
• 3 sprigs thyme
• 1/2 cup grated sharp cheddar
• 2/3 cup quick (not instant) grits
• 3/4 teaspoon sea salt
• 1/2 teaspoon pepper
• 3 eggs, separated

Preheat the oven to 375F

Simmer the milk and garlic and thyme together for 10-15 minutes. I just put mine in a 5 litre pyrex casserole in the microwave and zapped it for a few minutes until it started to bubble, let it sit for several minutes and then zapped it again and let it sit for a few more minutes.

Fish out the garlic and thyme and stir in the salt, pepper, grits and cheese. replace lid on casserole (if using the microwave, or on the saucepan (if using the stove) and cook the grits for 5-7 minutes, stirring occasionally, until soft. Remove the grits from the heat source and allow to cool slightly. I transferred mine to a metal bowl and put it in the freezer for 10 minutes.

Whip egg whites until firm, but not dry, peaks form.

Stir egg yolks through the grits until throroughly combined. Fold the egg whites into the grits.

Spray 4 individual (400ml) souffle dishes (I use these) with oil and divide batter evenly between the dishes, filling as close to the top as you can. Place filled dishes in a roasting pan and add enough water into the pan to come half way up the sides of the souffle dishes.

Bake souffles until tops are puffed and brown and centres are set, about 30 minutes.

Either serve them in their dishes, or allow to cool for 5 minutes, run a knife around the egde of the dish, and invert onto a plate, turning them gently right side up. If you serve them this way, they will fall a little, but they are still lovely.

Clearly, Lex Culinaria is on the cutting edge of culinary innovation. ;-) Not only did grits make Bon Appetit's list of the years best foods, but braised short ribs did too! I think in 2006, I'll try to balze a new culinary trail with the Cheese in a Can my sister gave me for Christmas.

Texas Sheet Cake

Texas Sheet Cake (makes one really big jelly roll pan)

1 cup unsalted butter (8 ounces, two sticks)
1 cup water (H2O)
1/2 cup cocoa (I used natural unsweetened for this, and this is twice the amount as stated in our usual recipe)
2 cups flour
2 cups sugar
1 tsp. soda
1/2 tsp. salt
3/4 c sour cream (I upped this amount from 1/2 cup just in case the extra cocoa tried to dry out the cake)
2 eggs
1 1/2 tsp vanilla bean paste (you can also use an equal amount of extract, maybe some that you made a few months ago...maybe like the stuff I made during the Blogathon(why do I almost always type in Blogathong when I type that in? It's a wonder I caught it during the wee hours of the morning during the event)?

Cocoa frosting:
1/2 cup butter (one stick, 4 ounces)
6 Tbsp milk
1/4 cup cocoa
pinch of salt (this is another one of my additions to the recipe, cause a little salt is oh-so-good in icings)
1 lb. confectioners sugar, sifted
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup chopped nuts (pecans are what I am using for this today)
-Prepare one 15 1/2 x 10 1/2inch jelly roll pan by spraying it with pan spray, or you can line it with parchment paper if you want to lift it out of the pan (I did this, cause I'm a freak for parchment paper, you'd think I had stock in a parchment paper company).
-In a bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, salt and baking soda, set aside.
-Combine butter, water and cocoa in 2-qt. saucepan. Bring to a boil.
Remove from heat.
-Stir in combined flour, sugar and salt. Add sour cream and eggs; mix well. Pour into prepared pan.
-Bake at 375, 20-25 minutes. While warm frost with:

Cocoa Frosting:

-Combine milk, butter, cocoa and pinch of salt in saucepan, bring
to a rolling boil, stirring constantly. Remove from heat.
-Add sugar and vanilla; beat until smooth, add the nuts, mix until blended.
-Pour over the warm cake, spread out and let it set up.

Coconut Devil's Food Cake:
For the Cake:
1 1/3 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
3/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1 1/4 sticks (10 ounces) unsalted butter at room temperature
1/2 cup light brown sugar
1/2 cup sugar
3 large eggs, at room temperature
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp coconut extract (this is my addition, if you don't want coconut, leave it out)
2 ounces bittersweet chocolate, melted and cooled
1/2 cup buttermilk or whole milk, or, I used coconut milk instead
1/2 cup boiling water
4 ounces mini chocolate chips or semisweet chocolate finely chopped (really do chop it finely or use mini chips. I only had regular sized chocolate chips around and it made it very difficult to cut the layers in half)
Directions:
-Preheat oven to 350f. Butter, flour and line two 8x2" cake pans with parchment paper.
-Sift together the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda and salt, set aside.
-In the bowl of a mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, Cream the butter on medium until it is smooth. Add both sugars and beat for about 3 minutes more. Add the eggs , one at a time, beating after each addition. Add the vanilla and coconut extract, then mix in the cooled bittersweet chocolate.
-Add the sifted ingredients and the coconut milk (or buttermilk, or milk) alternating between the two. By this I mean add about 1/3 of the dry ingredients, mix until just blended, add half the coconut milk, mix until just blended, add another 1/3 of the dries, mix, add the rest of the coconut milk, mix and end with the sifted ingredients. The batter will be very thick at this point. With the mixer on low speed, slowly add the boiling water. This will thin the batter.
-Fold in the chopped chocolate with a rubber spatula. Evenly divide the batter between the two cake pans and smooth the tops with the spatula.
-Bake for about 25-30 minutes until the cake springs back when lightly pressed. Let sit five minutes, then run a knife around the edge of the cake (I did not have to do this, my cake had pulled away from the pan enough) and turn the cake out onto a cooling rack. Once the cake is cooled, it can be frozen for a month or so, or used immediately.

The Icing:
1/2 cup egg whites (about 4 large eggs)
1 cup sugar
3/4 tsp cream of tartar
1 cup water
1 Tbsp vanilla extract
Directions:
-Place the egg whites in the bowl of an electric mixer.
-Place the sugar,
water and cream of tartar in a heavy bottomed saucepan with a candy thermometer placed on the side of the pan dipping into the mixture. Bring the mixture to 235f.
-When the sugar syrup is about 10 degrees away from 235f, begin whipping the egg whites to firm shiny peaks. If the whites get to this state before the syrup is at 235, turn your mixer to low speed and just let them keep moving.
-Once the syrup
is at 235 and your egg whites are firm and pretty, Carefully (hot sugar=ouch, I know from past experience) and slowly pour the syrup into the egg whites with the mixer running on high speed. Don't worry about any spatter on the sides of the bowl, it happens and won't effect the final product. Add the vanilla extract and continue whipping the egg whites until they cool to room temperature (I also add about 1/2 tsp salt, as I like my icing a bit salty with the sweet). You will have a wonderful batch of marshmallow yum.

Toast a bit of coconut on a sheet pan at 350f for about 5-10 minutes until it is a desirable golden brown(stir it from time to time, otherwise it may scorch).

Assembly:

-Cut the cake layers in half lengthwise so you have 4 layers.
-Generously spread one layer with the fluffy icing, sprinkle on some toasted coconut, top with the next layer and repeat until all the layers are stacked (I only had three layers, but that was because I used the regular sized chips and one layer was more butchered than sliced and was not useable in the cake).
Ice the top layer, bringing the icing down the sides, smooth the cake. Press the toasted coconut onto the sides of the cake and sprinkle untoasted coconut onto the top of the cake. Refrigerate for about an hour before serving.

Top with candles and give the cake to your Englishman or other Birthday

Vanilla panacotta with rhubarb and raspberry

Ingredients:

• 1 ½ Cups 35% m.f. cream
• ½ Cup milk
• 10 gm gelatine
• 3 -1 cm by 1 cm pieces orange rind, pith completely removed
• 1 tsp good vanilla (or 1 pod)
• 1/3 Cup sugar

• 2 Cups sliced rhubarb
• ½ cup juicy raspberries
• 1/3 Cup sugar
• ¼ cup orange juice

Simmer rhubarb berries, sugar and orange juice, stirring occasionally, in small pot while preparing the rest of the panacotta.

In another, larger pot, heat cream, milk and vanilla until gently bubbling. Add orange peel, sugar and gelatine and whisk until dissolved. Allow to simmer 5 minutes.

Rhubarb and raspberries should be well stewed by this time. If not, continue to simmer until mushy and quite thick. Spoon 1/8 of the rhubarb into the bottom of each of four small glasses. Strain the hot milk mixture (and scrape the vanilla pod into the milk if using) and distribute evenly among the glasses, pouring very gently so as not to disturb the rhubarb. Gently spoon ¼ of the remaining rhubarb into each glass so that it is heaped in the middle. If a little pokes out the top, so much the better. Set in the fridge to chill for a minimum of 5 hours or overnight.

Orange-Ginger Panacotta

Serves 4

Ingredients:

190 ml fresh squeezed orange juice

250 ml 30-35% m.f. cream

125 ml milk

vanilla pod (or excellent quality extract)

1/3 cup sugar

3 x 1 square inch pieces of orange zest, all traces of pith removed

3 Tbsp grated fresh ginger

½ tsp dry ginger

10 ml powdered plain gelatin

Soak gelatin in 125 ml milk, which has been warmed slightly.

Meanwhile, simmer orange juice, vanilla pod, grated ginger and zest in pan over medium heat for 190 minutes, or until the juice reduces to approximately ½ cup.

Stir in dry ginger, 250ml cream, sugar and gelatin/milk mixture to orange juice. Turn heat to low and stir until all gelatin and sugar is dissolved. Remove pan from heat, and, if using vanilla extract, add now. Otherwise scrape pod seeds into mixture as set pod aside. Strain mixture through a fine colander lined with cheesecloth to remove grated ginger fibre and zest,

Pour into 4 125 ml glasses and refrigerate for at least 5 hours, preferably overnight. If you are going to serve them more than 5 hour later, cover glasses with cling film after 5 hours. Do not press cling film to surface of panacotta. Serve with a little mound of fresh orange zest strips on top.

Vanilla sour cream risotto with blueberries and syrup

Serves 4-6

Ingredients:

1 cup arborio rice

1 Tbsp butter

3 cups milk

½ cup sugar

Tiny pinch each of nutmeg and cinnamon

Vanilla pod (or good vanilla extract, or both, I'm always liberal with the vanilla and my cupboard sports at least 4 varieties of vanilla product at any one time - including a bottle of home made vanilla bean alcohol that has been in use for 5 years - I just keep adding more bourbon or rum and vanilla beans as I go- and home made vanilla sugar)

¼ to ⅓ cup sour cream, depending on your taste

1 ½ cups big, plump blueberries, fresh or frozen

¼ cup sugar

2 tsp butter

1 Tbsp water

Vanilla

Directions:

Put rice, butter and 1 cup of milk in a saucepan and bring to a good simmer, stirring occasionally. If you have a vanilla pod, split it down the centre and place that in the pan as well. Stir in the tiny pinches of nutmeg and cinnamon.

Add the remaining 2 cups of milk, ½ cup at a time, stirring until absorbed. Remove from heat and remove the pod (if there was one) and scrape its seeds out into the risotto. You can rinse and dry to pod and pop it into your vanilla-alcohol bottle if you keep one, or wait for it to dry and pop it in with your vanilla sugar. If you’ve not used a vanilla pod, add a generous teaspoon of the best vanilla you can find. Stir in the sugar. Set the risotto aside.

In a non-stick pan, combine the sugar, butter and water over med-hi heat until it melts, bubbles furiously and starts to colour. Stir in the vanilla and the blueberries. And cook for 2 minutes more (3-5 if using frozen berries). Remove pan from heat.

Stir the sour cream through the risotto and heap risotto portions into dessert bowls. Top with berries and a drizzling of the blueberry syrup.

If there are leftovers, hide them from your husband or he will eat them all while you are at work which is very unfair and unromantic to boot.

ECLAIR

Pate a choux:
1 cup water
1 stick (1/2 cup) butter
1 cup flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
5 eggs
Directions:
-Preheat oven to 375f
-Place the butter, water and salt in a sauce pan. Bring to a boil.
-Add the flour and stir, continuing cooking until the mixture forms a ball. Remove from heat and place the mixture into the bowl of a mixer (you can do this by hand, I prefer to use my mixer for this). Using the paddle attachment add the eggs one at a time, mix until incorporated before adding the next egg.
-Place the dough into a pastry bag fitted with a large plain round tip (I only had a large star tip plain works better, but it had to do)and pipe out "fingers" of dough about 4" long and 1" thick (unless you want mini eclairs or larger ones...depends on what you want, you could also drop the dough by spoonsful for cream puffs) onto a parchment lined sheet pan.
-Bake for about 20 minutes, remove from the oven, poke a tiny hole in the end of each one with a paring knife and return to the oven for another 10 minutes (this allows the steam inside to escape)or until they are a nice golden brown.
-Cool on a rack.
-These can be frozen in an airtight bag at this point if you like.

Pastry Cream:
I'm using the pastry cream recipe I posted when I made the Brioche pastry cream snails. It's a wonderful pastry cream and tastes good to boot.
I lightened the pastry cream by whipping 2 cups of heavy cream with 1/4 cup sugar and folded it in.
(you can sweeten the whipped cream with a little sugar if you like or add some flavoring such as vanilla or kahlua or whatever you like).

Place the cooled pastry cream into a pastry bag fitted with a star tip (I find the star tips work best for stabbing through the shell to get the cream inside, however I didn't have a pastry bag or a star tip, so I used a parchment cone and poked a hole in each shell with the tip of a carrot peeler). Take each eclair shell and jab the star tip into the end and pipe in the pastry cream, if you do not feel that you filled the eclair all the way, repeat on the other end. Alternately you could slice the eclair shells in half,
pipe in the cream and replace the cover. Once you have your shells all filled you will want to make the ganache.

Chocolate Ganache: (sometimes I wonder what the world of pastry, or even the world, would be like without chocolate ganache)
1 cup heavy cream
10 ounces good quality bittersweet chocolate chopped into small bits (semi sweet will also work, if you use milk chocolate, you may want to add just a little extra)
Directions:
-Place the chopped chocolate in a bowl large enough to accomodate the chocolate and cream.
-Heat the cream to boiling, remove from heat and pour over chocolate bits. Let stand for about 5 minutes, then whisk until the mixute forms a smooth shiny deep chocolate lovely mixture.

Finish the eclairs by dipping the top of each one in the ganache, set on a wire cooling rack with a sheet of parchment underneath to catch any excess drips. Let sit until set up.

Eclairs are best the day they are made, but they will keep in the refrigerator for a day or so. If you need to make them ahead the best way to do it is to make the shells, pastry cream and ganache the day before and then assemble the next day (ganache will keep for up to 3 days covered at room temp and up to 2 weeks in the refrigerator, just reheat it gently over a hot water bath).