Tag Archives: dessert

  • Meyer Lemon Sorbet

    April 29, 2013

    32 Comments

    Meyer Lemon Sorbet.

    Meyer Lemon Sorbet.

    Life was “in the way” last week, so it has been a long gap between posts. We get a little twitchy if we don’t get to cook, so it is nice to be back. Happily, we still have Meyer lemons on the tree. But time is running short on our favorite citrus, so we made lemon sorbet to get ourselves back on the “blogging track”. After all, if life gives you lemons, make lemon sorbet (umm….or something like that….maybe Lemondrops….whatever).

    lsorbet4lsorbet6And there are few desserts that give you this much flavor for so little effort. Lemons, water, sugar (maybe a touch of booze- we will explain). Heat, then cold. That is really it. You do need an ice cream maker (although granita is another option), but ice cream makers are cheap, most work well, and you get a good return on your investment. We think smiles make for good ROI. And with summer coming, sorbet will please just about anyone.

    lsorbet5lsorbet7But, like all good things, there are a few tips and techniques that will make your sorbet kick serious a$$ the best it can be. Sorbet is basically frozen fruit juice and extra sugar. Pretty simple stuff. But you can control the flavor and texture. For flavor, first pick good fruit. Second, if using citrus add some zest into the mixture. There is a lot of flavor in the zest, so it you want more depth, this is the way to get it. You can put the zest into the final sorbet mixture, and that is OK, but it is best to incorporate the zest into the sugar syrup to extract the most flavor. (If you are hardcore you can make an oleo- saccharum syrup- see here.) Once you get the flavor of the zest you can keep it or strain it, your call. We strain. And we add a touch of Limoncello to the sorbet, this does add flavor, but it is really about texture.

    lsorbet8lsorbet9And texture is where the action is. Good fruit gives your sorbet good flavor. But technique gives your sorbet that magically soft, yet still “icy”, texture. Happily, the techniques are easy. To start, just be sure that your mixture is well-chilled when you put it into the ice cream maker / churn. The colder the mixture, the smaller the ice crystals. The smaller the ice crystals, the smoother the sorbet. You can chill the mixture in the fridge or, if you are in a hurry, use an ice bath. But you need the mixture to be under 45 degrees. The other tip is to add a touch of booze. Alcohol inhibits freezing and ice crystal formation- so a few tablespoons of spirits (maybe of Limoncello, vodka or Sauternes if you have it), will smooth out your sorbet. You can omit this step, but it is a negligible amount of alcohol, and the results will be worth it.

    lsorbet11lsorbet13lsorbet12If you follow these steps, you will have some very tasty sorbet. It doesn’t need anything extra. But in case you want to take things to the next level, you may want to drizzle on some sour cherry syrup. Sour cherry lemonade sorbet? Oh yes. And if you really want to impress, put a scoop of the sorbet in a cocktail class and then fill the glass halfway with champagne. Oh my….

    Add some sour cherry syrup...you won't be sorry...

    Add some sour cherry syrup…you won’t be sorry…

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  • Cupcake Parfaits In A Jar

    February 14, 2013

    21 Comments

    "Jarcake".

    “Jarcake”.

    jarcakeActually, carrot cake cupcake and maple frosting parfaits in a jar, to be precise. But you can use any cupcake and frosting combo you like. This dish is just a fun riff on cupcakes and, truth be told, helps you avoid some of the mess and cleanup associated with cupcakes and crowds. But your guests won’t think about any practical matters, they will just get a kick out of eating cupcakes in a jar and getting cake and frosting in each bite. Good fun.

    jarcake3jarcake6How did we come up with cupcakes in a jar? We didn’t. We first saw this dish at a farmers market in the Hamptons last summer and Carolyn got her “I’m gonna make that” look. So she waited for the Super Bowl and then pulled out some 1/2 pint canning jars, made the cupcakes and frosting and put these out along with the Peanut Butter Pretzel Brownies. And, like the brownies, this dish was a hit and much better than the game…(and we are slowly getting over the loss.)

    jarcake4jarcake7As for the recipe itself, we use a riff on a carrot cake cupcake and maple frosting recipe from Smitten Kitchen. I think we all know Smitten Kitchen rocks, so other than encouraging everyone to buy the cookbook, we won’t drone on too much about the awesome recipes, photos and writing, etc. Carolyn does adapt the recipe somewhat, but this is “Carrot Cake 101″, and most bakers will be very familiar with the recipe.

    jarcake8jarcake9But we will share one important note about carrot cake for a crowd. We do not include walnuts or raisins in our carrot cake. Why? Well, for every person who just loves the raisins and walnuts, there are 2x the people who don’t. If you know every guest likes raisins and nuts, go for it. But we bet many folks will be happy if you just let the sweetness of the carrot and the spices shine through. And when you serve these cupcakes in the jar, your guests (or kids) will just think these are “spice cakes”. So if want to sneak in a few extra veggies, this is the way to go.

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  • Peanut Butter Pretzel Brownies

    February 7, 2013

    38 Comments

    Peanut Butter Pretzel Brownies.

    Peanut Butter Pretzel Brownies.

    Now that we have almost recovered from the trauma disappointment of a Super Bowl loss by the Niners, we can reflect on the positives from last Sunday. And there were plenty of positives: friends, family, cocktails and some very good food. Our friends all brought good cheer and some very tasty snacks and drinks (thanks guys!). The Kentucky Royale was the featured cocktail (along with some Scofflaws and cold beer) and we even got some exploding / fermenting probiotic hot sauce that splattered on the ceiling when we opened it (somewhat aptly named “Sunny Bang”, website here). Happily no one was hurt, and good times were had by all (even me, after I finished wiping down the ceiling…seriously).

    Exploding "probiotic" hot sauce. Nothing to do with brownies, but funny, nonetheless...

    Exploding “probiotic” hot sauce. Nothing to do with brownies, but funny, nonetheless…

    pretzelpretzel1One of the highlights of the day came at dessert. We will post a few of the things we served, but will start with these Peanut Butter Pretzel Brownies. Oh boy are these good. And they taste just like you would expect, with deep chocolate, peanut butter and some extra zip from salt. What’s not to like? But then you also get some texture and crunch from the pretzels and pieces of peanuts, and that’s what takes these brownies over the top. And they even taste good with a beer.

    pretzel3pretzel4pretzel5Carolyn made these brownies from a King Arthur Flour recipe. And as you may know, we are big fans of King Arthur Flour recipes. Why? Because they almost always work and they give recipes by volume and weight- a good thing for the home baker. We did adapt the recipe somewhat for our tastes by using bittersweet chocolate chips and double-dutch dark cocoa (mix of dutch process cocoa and dark cocoa) to amp the chocolate flavor and darken the color. But we are sure the recipe will still be just fine with regular chocolate chips and cocoa powder.

    pretzel6pretzel8As far as making the brownies is concerned, there is just a bit of extra work (not much) but it is pretty cool, even fun. The brownie batter follows a basic recipe and making the peanut butter topping is just mixing the peanut butter, melted butter, sugar, pretzel pieces and vanilla. While it takes a few minutes to make the topping, your reward (other than a decadent brownie) is the fun of swirling the topping into the brownie batter. Call us food geeks if you must, but it’s hard not to smile when you mix peanut butter and chocolate. It just seems “right”. Looks cool too.

    pretzel9To finish up the brownies you just add some more chopped peanuts, pretzel pieces and peanut butter chips to the top of the brownies, then bake, cool slice and serve. And the whole thing takes about an hour. And considering the reaction of our guests (and ourselves), making these brownies is an hour well-spent. Not only did we love these brownies, we all went for seconds as a consolation when the Niners were jacked by the refs came up short. ;-)

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  • Our First Anniversary, And Some Gratitude

    February 2, 2013

    69 Comments

    petals13Hard to believe, but it has been one year since our first blog post. We had no idea where this was going when we started, but our family blog is now a labor of love. But it isn’t even “labor”, we simply love this. We are not much on milestones here at the farm. We enjoy every day and hope to do a little better every tomorrow. We don’t look back much, as we are so grateful for the present. Sometimes heaven is a place on earth, and many days we think we’ve found it (or at least something pretty close).

    awards1But we will mark this anniversary because we want to thank all of you for visiting us. We cannot begin to tell you all how grateful we are that you would take time out of your day to visit Putney Farm. We feel like we have dozens of new friends from all over the world. And for that, we are eternally grateful.

    peachWe are also grateful for all the feedback, suggestions, jokes and encouragement. Bloggers, it turns out, are a very fun group of people. We are also grateful for all the corrections and suggestions to improve our recipes. It pains us to make mistakes or poor choices (and we apologize for any and all recipe issues), but the only way to get better is to recognize where you can improve. And we can both say we are much better cooks, photographers, gardeners and bartenders than we were a year ago. And for this we are most grateful. To us, food truly is love, and to constantly make and serve better food to those we love is a dream come true. Thank you. (And a summary of photos from the last year).

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  • Pioneer Woman Prune Spice Cake

    January 30, 2013

    37 Comments

    Pioneer Prune Spice Cake

    Pioneer Prune Spice Cake

    prune3Don’t let the name fool you, this cake just rocks. Everyone who tries it, loves it. Ignore the prune thing if you must, but we do suggest you try this cake. It’s easy to make, sweet, super-moist and has a touch of spice. Perfect for dessert or breakfast, even the occasional snack. Very good stuff.

    prune5prune7The only reason we feel a bit sheepish about posting this recipe is that we barely adapted it at all. The original recipe (“Iny’s Prune Cake With Buttermilk Icing”) comes from the Pioneer Woman Cooks, Ree Drummond’s bestselling cookbook. I picked this cookbook up a few years ago for Carolyn without knowing much about the Pioneer Woman, but I was perusing some cookbooks (something I may do a bit too often) and I checked a few recipes, and they looked good. Now that we have cookbook, it is one of our regulars, particularly for breakfast dishes. We don’t think Pioneer Woman needs any help from us, but the cookbook and blog are worth a look.

    prune8prune9We call this cake a “breakfast” dish because that’s when we serve it. But you can make and serve this cake any time. It may not look like much, but after the first bite you will be sold. Making the cake is easy, too. The only extra step is rehydrating and mashing the prunes. Then you make the standard wet / dry cake batter with a few spices and boil up a quick icing. Bake the cake, layer the icing on top and serve.

    prune11prune12Now let’s talk about this prune thing. Regardless of “therapeutic” uses and a terrible sounding name, prunes are a very useful cooking ingredient. Prunes add deep, complex sweetness to many dishes. Prunes also play incredibly well with both herbs and spices, so you can use them in sweet and savory dishes. We use prunes with sage in our dressings / stuffings for holiday roasts and they take the flavors over the top. So if you still aren’t onboard with prunes, try this cake, it is a very good introduction. And if you just can’t stand the idea of prunes, make it anyway and just call it a Plum Cake. We won’t tell.

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  • Warm Cinnamon Rolls For A Cold Winter Day

    January 17, 2013

    45 Comments

    Warm Cinnamon Rolls.

    Warm Cinnamon Rolls.

    It’s cold here in Norcal. And I don’t mean “wimpy-Californian” cold. I mean, its cold. Sub-freezing, burlap on the citrus, frost on the windows, see your breath, don’t slip on the driveway cold. The kids get a kick out of it (we don’t). But the house is still toasty and Carolyn knows just what to bake to warm us up, Cinnamon Rolls. You know, the big, puffy, swirling rolls with the thick white glaze….yup, those. Carolyn pulls out treats like this when the weather gets nasty, and they are so good we almost (and we do mean almost) welcome the cold.

    cinna11cinna9And these rolls are a special treat and a good baking project for a cold weekend, where indoor activity and warm kitchens are at a premium. They do take some time, work, and a little gear, but the reward is something almost everyone likes. And who doesn’t like a cinnamon roll? The whole house smells like a bakery, and then you get a big, sweet, warm and yeasty roll with a sugar and cinnamon filling and a sugary vanilla glaze. Hard to beat. Kid’s and adult’s eyes widen when these come to the table.

    cinna10Actually, the one person who may not “love” cinnamon rolls is the baker. These do take some time and effort. But this recipes works. It’s from King Arthur Flour, they thoroughly test their recipes, they know what they are doing. And the recipe is big enough so you can split the rolls into batches before baking and freeze half for future use (and the dough does refrigerate overnight or freeze well). So if you make the effort you do get a proven recipe and a batch in the morning or next weekend, if you like. We think it’s a decent payoff. (Right about now Carolyn will say “what do you mean ‘we’?”) ;-)

    cinna5cinna4The extra work with kind of baking comes from using a yeast-based dough. Yeast is what makes for a soft and puffy roll, but you need to activate the yeast, add it to the dough and then let the dough rise. In most cases, yeast-based doughs requires just a bit more work, but a lot more time (in this recipe, up to a few hours) and some advance planning. And a stand mixer or bread machine really help here. You can make this dough by hand, but it will be a workout and the dough will take longer to rise. Not advised.

    cinna12Oh, and did we tell you about the “second rise”? That happens after you spread out the dough, make and add the cinnamon filling, roll up the whole thing and then cut it into slices. (At this point you can refrigerate for baking the next morning or freeze some for future use). You then put the slices in the pan, cover them and let them rise (puff) for another 2 hours, or so.  After that, you are ready to bake, and making the glaze is a snap. Again, not a ton of work, but a decent slug of time. Happily, you start to see what the finished product will look like, and it’s hard not to get excited.

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