Tag: dessert

Pear Butter with White Wine & Fennel

7 September 2010 by local kitchen

A few weeks ago, when the weather was still hot & humid but the leaves were telling us that Fall was on the way, I went pear picking with Julia. She had connected with a lovely man who had three huge, old D’Anjou pear trees in his yard: more pears than any one family, no matter how pear-loving, could possibly go through in a season. He was nice enough to let us pick as many as we liked, hoping that […]

Categories: canning, fall, pears, preserving, spreads, summer, wine, beer & liquor • Tags: canning, condiments, cooking, dessert, food, local, preserving, recipes

Peach Preserves with Forsythia & Chile

24 August 2010 by local kitchen

I know it’s Tuesday morning and all, but I need you to do something for me: run, don’t walk, to your nearest peach orchard or farm stand, grab a bag of peaches (before they disappear), and make this preserve. This, my friends, could very well be the perfect peach preserve: sweet yet tangy, beautiful texture of plump slices of fruit in a just-barely-set jam, just the right floral note from the forsythia and the sweet heat finish of fiery pequin peppers […]

Categories: breakfast, canning, dessert, peaches, preserves, preserving, summer • Tags: canning, cooking, dessert, food, local, preserving, recipes

Pirate Peaches

17 August 2010 by local kitchen

An oldie but a goodie, I’ve made this peach rum sauce for three years running and it always disappears quickly. This is the first year, however, that I’ve used The Kraken rum, yet – how could I resist? Not only does it conjure up images of sandy beaches, swaying palms, and swoon-worthy pirates, it happens to be delicious. Added to peaches and three kinds of unrefined sugar? It’s delectable. Enjoy it on ice cream, over pound cake or cheesecake. Have […]

Categories: canning, dessert, peaches, preserving, sauces, summer, wine, beer & liquor • Tags: canning, cooking, dessert, food, local, preserving, recipes

Procrastinaty Peach Butter

12 August 2010 by local kitchen

I’ve noticed a bizarre phenomenon with peaches this year: although my peaches were quite firm, some rock hard, when I picked them (as I mentioned in the last post), they began to brown and rot very quickly, many of them in less than 24 hours. Wondering if this could be specific to the peaches at Fishkill Farm, I tweeted about it and instantly heard back from several tweeps in the Northeast saying the same exact thing: rock to rot in a […]

Categories: breakfast, canning, dessert, peaches, preserving, spreads, summer • Tags: breakfast, canning, cooking, dessert, food, local, preserving, recipes

Peach Chocolate Dessert Sauce

10 August 2010 by local kitchen

Peach chocolate sauce, the first of many peach preserves to come, rolled out of the canner this morning at far-too-early o’clock. In case you missed the discussion on Twitter, Tai, Alison & I went peach picking at Fishkill Farms on Sunday. It was hot & sunny, then it rained, then it was hot & sunny again. We picked, and picked, and then picked some more: 40 lbs of peaches later (and 2 quarts of nectarines, and 3 quarts of Italian plums, […]

Categories: canning, chocolate, dessert, peaches, preserving, sauces, summer, wine, beer & liquor • Tags: canning, cooking, dessert, food, local, preserving, recipes

Red Raspberry & Dark Chocolate Refrigerator Jam

5 August 2010 by local kitchen

“So what convinced you to sacrifice good chocolate to a jam?” Nadine said. I had to laugh. My friend Nadine is a certifed chocoholic, as am I, and like most chocoholics, tends to like her chocolate in its purest form: chocolate. Whether it be melted into a cake center, heated as a drink, or a sweet square morsel after dinner, good quality chocolate is so purely indulgent, in and of itself, that it seems the ultimate in lily gilding to gussy […]

Categories: berries, chocolate, dessert, jams, preserving, summer, year round • Tags: berries, chocolate, cooking, dessert, food, local, preserving, recipes

Chipotle Bacon Caramels

29 July 2010 by local kitchen

With all these zucchini, eggplant, scallions and cukes to deal with, it seems more than a little ludricrous to be making candy right now. Not to mention that standing over a pot of boiling sugar in the height of summer is not what everyone would choose to do. Then again, I’m known for my less-than-conventional decisions, not to mention my ludicrousness (ludicrosity?). And sometimes a girl just needs bacon. And candy. Or bacon candy. I know what you’re thinking; bacon […]

Categories: candy, dessert, pork, year round • Tags: bacon, caramel, chipotle, cooking, dessert, food, homemade candy, local, pork, recipes

Can Jam: Cantaloupe & Blackberry Preserves with Chardonnay

17 July 2010 by local kitchen

CanJammin’ July: it’s the height of summer and Northeast locavore livin’ is easy, right? Well, yes, it is: the berries are rolling off the bushes and vines, stone fruits are bursting out of the trees, and we’re all just waiting for the King of Summertime, the Almighty Tomato. But Gloria comes along and says “Given that we jammed ‘erries last month, this month I’m thinking… cucurbits.” (Gesundheit). Cucurbits are plants in the family cucurbitaceae, or squashes, cucumbers and melons. Gloria ruled out […]

Categories: berries, Can Jam, canning, citrus, melon, preserves, preserving, summer, wine, beer & liquor • Tags: berries, canning, cooking, dessert, food, local, preserving, recipes

Orange Mousseline Buttercream

12 June 2010 by local kitchen

Because once you have filled your chocolate cake with Valencia Curd, you need something to frost it with – I give you Orange Mousseline Buttercream. Deliciously light and silky, flecked with orange zest and a gorgeous pale apricot color, this buttercream frosting is a show-stopper on any cake. Like many of Rose’s recipes, this particular frosting recipe is finicky: butter temperature is critical, the simple syrup must be added in just the right way, and the whole time you are holding […]

Categories: cake, citrus, dessert, eggs, wine, beer & liquor, year round • Tags: baking, cake, cooking, dessert, food, local, recipes

Valencia Curd

10 June 2010 by local kitchen

Here I am in South Africa and while citrus season is long past back home in the States, it’s just beginning down here south of the equator. So what better way to celebrate the season than with a tangy, brilliantly orange dessert curd? In this curd recipe, you do not strain out the zest, in order to maximize the orange flavor, and while it does not produce the silky smooth texture of other curds, that is more than made up […]

Categories: citrus, dessert, eggs, winter, year round • Tags: cooking, dessert, food, recipes

Can Jam: Strawberry Rhubarb Amaretto Sauce

20 May 2010 by local kitchen

I had all sorts of plans for this month’s Can Jam: rhubarb fig jam, a macerated, jewel-like rhubarb a la Mme. Ferber, rhubarb with local white wine, rhubarb with last summer’s frozen blackberries… the possibilities were nearly endless. And then: I got a huge assignment from a client, my computer promptly exploded and I spent most of a week either 1) on the phone with Dell, 2) at Best Buy purchasing new laptop, 3) on the phone with Best Buy/Geek […]

Categories: berries, Can Jam, canning, condiments, preserving, rhubarb, sauces, spring, wine, beer & liquor • Tags: canning, condiments, cooking, dessert, food, local, preserving, recipes, rhubarb, sauce, strawberries

Quadruple C Cookies

4 May 2010 by local kitchen

Chocolate, cherries, cashews, coconut. Yum. I’ve been tweaking my chocolate chip cookie recipe for a while, trying to achieve the ultimate combination of texture (crispy outside, soft, chewy inside), sweetness (enough to satisfy the sweet craving, but not so much that you actually taste the sugar) and a good balance of flavors for all of the stuff that I can cram into a cookie. In this batch I eliminated granulated sugar altogether and repaced it with brown sugar; I also dialed back on the amount […]

Categories: baking, cherries, chocolate, dessert, quick & easy, snack, whole wheat flour, year round • Tags: baking, cherries, chocolate, cookies, cooking, dessert, food, local, recipes, whole grain

Boozy Baby Chocolate Cake

6 April 2010 by local kitchen

Because sometimes, summer is right around the corner, and you don’t want a whole cake sitting around the house for just the two of you. And because, the slices will be so virtuously small, you are perfectly justified in drowning them in booze. Happy Spring, everyone! Adapted from Whole Wheat Pastry Flour Chocolate Cake ————————————————————— Boozy Baby Chocolate Cake EQUIPMENT one 6-inch X 3-inch high cake pan (for the tall & small cake pictured here) OR one 8 or 9-inch cake pan (for a regular-sized […]

Categories: baking, cake, chocolate, dessert, eggs, spring, whole wheat flour, wine, beer & liquor, year round • Tags: baking, cooking, dessert, food, local, recipes

Vanilla Bean Sugar Cookies

23 February 2010 by local kitchen

I was in the mood for something a little sweet, a little crunchy. We had some orange glaze leftover from Tai’s Valentine cupcakes, so I thought a simple sugar cookie was in order, something that would go nicely with the intensely orange-flavored glaze. Humph, simple she says. Even I, advocate of the “quality ingredients make the simple special” school, sometimes forget. A “simple” cookie of buttter, sugar, flour, eggs and vanilla bean becomes magical when your butter is from Ronnybrook, your […]

Categories: baking, dessert, non-local luxuries, year round • Tags: baking, cooking, dessert, food, local, recipes

Orange-Kissed Chocolate (cup)Cake

14 February 2010 by local kitchen

Of all the dessert flavor combinations, orange and chocolate is by far Tai’s favorite. Anything orangey-chocolate, or chocolaty-orange, is sure to rate high with his tastebuds. Since it is Valentine’s Day (our first as an ‘official’ married couple) I wanted to make him something special and use his two favorite flavors. My first thought was of a Cointreau chocolate cake with Burnt Orange Buttercream. I’ve made the Burnt Orange buttercream before, and he loves it; I figured I could sneak some […]

Categories: baking, cake, dessert, eggs, whole wheat flour, year round • Tags: baking, cooking, dessert, food, recipes