Fruit Compotes

A compote is essentially pieces of fruit in a sugar syrup. Fruit compotes are easy to make with a variety of fruit, a little sugar, and perhaps some spice or other flavoring. The they are cooked low and slow, just until tender and thickened. Here are some ideas below. 

Rhubarb Apple Compote
fresh rhubarb stocks, cut into small pieces
cooking apples, peeled, cored, and chopped
brown sugar
almond extract

Strawberry Lime Compote
fresh strawberries, sliced
cooked in a little sugar and water
lime curd
fold together

Strawberry Honey Compote
fresh strawberries, quartered
place in a pot with some honey

Blueberry Rhubarb Cardamom Compote
fresh or frozen blueberries
rhubarb, cut into small pieces
ground cardamom

Classic Strawberry Shortcake

Since it is strawberry season I am running strawberry shortcake on the menu as a dessert special. I've been changing up the components and plating a bit every day, but the main components remain the summer. Featured on this plate is a toasted buttermilk biscuit, chantilly cream, local strawberry and honey compote, lime coulis, a strawberry rose, and a fresh mint garnish. 

Strawberry Chocolate Cheesecake Trifle

Here is a dessert special I did the other day for work just using leftovers we had around. It is basically a miniature trifle in a mason jar. On the bottom I put some small pieces of coconut cake. I topped that with a fresh local strawberry compote, followed by chocolate cheesecake cream, then a lemon cookie crumble and a fresh strawberry. This made for layers of contrasting flavors and textures. 

Chocolate Cheesecake Cream
Beat some cream cheese until smooth. Beat in some cocoa powder and sugar. Then gradually pour in some cream and keep whipping until the mixture is stiff. 
I don't have amounts for this recipe - but I would say it's about equal amounts cream cheese and whipping cream. Then add enough cocoa powder and sugar to flavor.

Strawberry Pastry

It's strawberry season!! That means strawberry muffins, strawberry crisps, strawberry pies, fresh strawberries out of hand, and the classic strawberry shortcake. This is a little dessert I made tonight from my mother's request. It could be considered a type of strawberry shortcake. It consists of my infamous homemade puff pastry - the one I used for vol-au-vent, mini pastries, appetizers, pot pies, mille fueilles, and more. I cut them into thick squares and baked them for this recipe. I then split the squares in half horizontally, and topped with whipped cream and fresh, sweetened strawberry pieces. Add a sprinkle of cinnamon on top and have a delicious strawberry treat!

Birthday Cake #2

Birthday cake number two actually came on the same day as birthday cake number one. Well, kind of. They were close to twenty four hours apart anyway. Number one I ate late at night technically the evening before my birthday where I was but actually my birthday back home. Cake number two I ate in the evening on my actual birthday where I was (but the next day back home). Confused yet? Doesn't matter, they were both delicious! This one isn't technically a cake, but when it's got a candle and a "Happy Birthday" inscription, does it matter?

I got this cake at a restaurant when my brother and his girlfriend sneakily mentioned to the waiter it was my birthday and I love chocolate! This is actually a  CHOCOLATE FEUILLETINE BAR: Chocolate Crumble, Peanut Butter, Salted Caramel, Vanilla Crème Fraiche. As well as fresh strawberries, chocolate piping, and a candle waxed directly onto the plate. Or as I like to call it, delicious!

Tuxedo Strawberries

Strawberries are delicious. Chocolate is delicious. There is something about pairing strawberries and chocolate that not only makes them double delicious but super luxurious as well. Especially when done well. You an charge a great deal of money for a feed of chocolate dipped strawberries. Not only are the great on their own, but they can be used as an elegant decoration for a variety of desserts. Tuxedo strawberries are one of the fancier versions of chocolate covered strawberries and are easier to make than they may look. I made some the other day to decorate a flourless chocolate torte.

Begin with strawberries that are well washed and dried. You can use any size you wish, just choose firm, blemish-free berries. I like it when stems are still attached, which also makes them easier to dip. If they don't have stems you can stick a toothpick in them for dipping. Begin with white chocolate and dip the entire strawberry (save a little bit at the top) in it. Then allow the chocolate to set - you can set them on a sheet tray, but the chocolate will pool around the bottom of the strawberry so keep that in mind. A wire rack is better to allow the excess chocolate to run off. Properly tempered chocolate will set quickly, but the strawberries can be chilled to speed up the process. Once the white chocolate is set, dip the sides of the berries at an angle into dark, milk, or semisweet chocolate to create a suit appearance. Use a toothpick or plastic bag to add three buttons. Allow to set again before using.

Some tips for the chocolate: use the best quality you can find, melt it properly, place it in a narrow, deep bowl for easier dipping and stir in a small amount of oil if needed to thin it out slightly,

Divine Layered Chocolate Beet Cake

Sometimes we make real food.

Here are the stages of an incredible and divine chocolate layered cake being made.

 Chocolate beet cake with dark chocolate ganache between each layer, frosted with chocolate buttercream, combed, piped, and topped with chocolate shavings.

 A chocolate cookie crumb crust is added around the bottom edge.

 Garden fresh strawberries.

 Chantilly cream bottom border, rosettes, fresh raspberries, and mint leaves.

A finished slice.

Strawberry Jam Oatmeal Thumbprint Cookies

This is a really easy cookie recipe that just happens to be vegan and relatively healthy. The rolling and filling of the cookies is a little time-consuming but well worth the effort. These cookies are filled with oats and whole wheat flour, use oil instead of butter, and are naturally sweetened by molasses and maple syrup. They also contain a hint of spice for flavor, but this can be omitted for a plain cookie. They keep well and freeze well.

Strawberry Jam Oatmeal Thumbprint Cookies
4 cups rolled oats
2 cups whole wheat flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1 cup canola oil
1/2 cup molasses
1/2 cup maple syrup
strawberry jam (or your favorite flavor)

Preheat oven to 350◦F. Line baking sheets with parchment paper.
In a large bowl, stir together the oats, flour, salt, and spices.
Stir in the oil, molasses, and syrup; mix well.
Roll dough into walnut-sized balls, using about 1/2 tablespoon dough for each. Alternately, you may make these cookies as large or as small as you wish.
Place cookies slightly apart on prepared baking sheets.
Using your thumb or the opposite end of a mixing spoon, press a small indent into the center of each cookie. 
Fill each cookie with one teaspoon or so of jam - fill it straight to the top but don't overfill. The jam will reduce slightly when baked and doesn't tend to overflow like in some cookies, so be generous.
Bake for 15 minutes until the bottoms are lightly browned. Let cool on the cookie sheet for a couple minutes to firm up.

Makes approximately small 60 cookies.

Cake Breakfast Parfait

Who wouldn't want to eat chocolate cake for breakfast? I know I do, but I just cannot justify eating only a slice of sweet, frosted cake for breakfast. My breakfast have to be filling, nutritious, and incorporate all four food groups in order for me to start my day off right.

This breakfast parfait began with some leftover, healthier chocolate cake I had. This chocolate cake was soft and dense, almost like a brownie, and I had not frosted it. I sprinkled on some ground flaxseed and wheat germ for some added nutrition, then scooped on some thick, creamy plain Greek yogurt. Next I added a layer of fresh, sliced strawberries, and some whole hazelnuts. I repeated all of these layers, then drizzles the top with a little almond hazelnut butter. 

Throw It Together Granola

I love homemade granola. Usually I am more of a hot cereal fan, but I do enjoy bowls of homemade, nutritious granola, catered to my personal tastes. Something slightly odd though, is that I rarely eat my cereal with milk. I occasionally eat it with yogurt, but usually I just add fresh fruit and keep my cereal crunchy instead of soggy in the milk. 

Making granola usually requires baking up a large batch of cereal, which then only has a short shelf life since it has no preservatives, and would need to be refrigerated or frozen, which often causes it to lose its crunch.Another thing about granola is that it usually requires some form of fat or sweetener to make it hold together in chunks, and must be baked for a long time at a low temperature and stirred frequently. I personally prefer looser granolas without the chunks.

Therefore, I have discovered a nifty way to make just enough granola quickly. This only works for loose granola though. You just combine all the ingredients in a bowl, approximately a small spoonful of each, and add fresh fruit, milk, or yogurt. The bowl of granola featured here is a combination if cereal squares of cracker pieces, whole hazelnuts, dates, wheat germ, ground flaxseed, ground cinnamon, ground ginger, and fresh sliced strawberries. 

Chocolate Jam Sandwich Cookies

Here is the recipe from yesterday's cookies. It is incredibly quick and easy, and the dough need not be chilled before rolling (unless your kitchen is really hot), so there is no advance prep work required!

Linzer Cookie Dough
1/2 cup butter or hard margarine, softened
2 Tablespoons granulated (white) sugar
2 Tablespoons packed light brown sugar
1/4 cup golden corn syrup
1 large egg
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups all-purpose (plain) flour
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
jam or jelly of your choice 
icing sugar or chocolate to decorate

Preheat oven to 350◦F. Grease or line a cookie sheet. 
In a large bowl, cream together butter and sugars. beat in syrup, egg, and vanilla. Stir in flour, baking powder, and salt. Roll dough out about 1/4 inch thick on a lightly floured surface and cut with a floured cutter into desired shapes. If you are doing different shapes, ensure there is a top and bottom for each cookie, and cut a small hole somewhere in the top shape for the jam to show through.

Place the bottom cookies, a few centimeters apart on the prepared cookie sheet. Spread with the jam of your choice (I used strawberry), using only about a 1/2 teaspoon for each cookie and being sure not to spread right to the edges of the cookies. Place the top cookie on top. Bake for about 10-12 minutes, until lightly browned (check the bottoms). Transfer cookies to cool. 
Alternatively, cookies could be sandwiched together with jam after baking, however this can be messier and I think they stay together better if the jam is placed on the raw dough and sandwiched together. I also prefer the jam to be baked. 
Once cookies are cooled or nearly cooled, they can be decorated with a dusting of icing sugar, or drizzled with melted chocolate. I melted a handful of semisweet chocolate chips and used a fork to drizzle the chocolate horizontally over the cookies. 

Eiffel Tower Cookies

I suppose you could consider this somewhat of another trip post, although I did make these cookies here at home. While I was away, I went into a beautiful kitchenware store (actually one of many) that sold a vast selection of unique cookie cutters. Among them was the Cologne Cathedral and one of my favorite famous landmarks, the Eiffel Tower. It's funny because this store actually was not in France at all, but in Germany. However, I assure you I did soon after visit the actual site of the Eiffel Tower in Paris. In Paris, you can buy just about anything with the Eiffel Tower on it, or shaped as such - from plates to towels, to snowglobes, clothing, dry pasta, bedding - you name it! The Eiffel tower is surely a beautiful and iconic landmark. Therefore, Eiffel Tower merchandise is available in many places outside of Paris as well. Come to think of it, upon my return home I've begun to notice while shopping here how many Eiffel tower things there are to purchase here as well. An Eiffel Tower shirt definitely does not signify you have been to Paris. I can now say I have, but I must admit, I had Eiffel Tower luggage before my trip.

Getting back to the cookies, this cookie cutter makes a lovely decoration. It stands up by itself or could also be hung from a string and displayed. such as on a Christmas tree. Although it's main purpose is to cut cookies, I wasn't sure the cookies would stay together with the intricate shape, but just had to try. Also on my list of things to try were linzer cookies, which are basically jam-filled butter sandwich cookies in shapes such that the jam appears through a small hole in the cookies. I've had these cookies before but never made them myself. 

So I whipped up a batch of dough and tried the cutter. At first the cookies weren't working, which is why you see one Eiffel Tower placed on top of a circle shape, but I think I had rolled the dough too thin. Next, the top half and the bottom half of the tower would not stay together in all the cookies, so I made these the top cookies in order to expose some of the jam. Finally I got the hang of it, by dipping the cookies cutter in flour between each cut, and cutting out the small diamond in the middle for the jam to show through. So the cutter does work well, though I'm not convinced the Cologne Cathedral cutter would have fared as well. 

Peach Strawberry Oatmeal

Anyone for some fresh summer flavors combined in a bowl of oatmeal? Throw in one fresh peach, diced into small pieces into a bowl with 1/3 cup oats and 2/3 cup water. Add a pinch each of cinnamon and ginger and a little flax if you wish. Cook in the microwave for about four minutes on medium (50%) power - being sure to stir halfway through. Top with some fresh sliced strawberries, and some nuts for a little extra protein and crunch.

Strawberry Cinnamon Oatbran

Take some oat bran
Take some fresh, ripe and juicy local strawberries.
Take a little bit of cinnamon.
Add some water and cook it up for a delicious breakfast.

This is hardly a recipe but simply something I threw together one morning that turned out to be so pretty and tasty I just had to share it. I just diced up some strawberries and mixed them in with my oat bran and water, then cooked it as normally, adding a little cinnamon. Since the cooking time was quick, this gave the strawberries just enough time to become warm and plump and juicy in the cereal. 

Strawberry Yogurt Oatmeal

Strawberry Yogurt Oatmeal
1/3 cup old-fashioned rolled oats
2/3 cup water
1/4 cup plain Greek yogurt
1 handful large, fresh strawberries, sliced or chopped
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

In a small microwave-safe bowl, combine the oats and water. Cook on medium (50%) power for four minutes, stirring after two minutes, until liquid is absorbed. Allow to stand until set. Meanwhile, in a small bowl, stir together the yogurt, strawberries, and cinnamon, and add a dash of honey or vanilla extract, if desired. 
Fold the yogurt mixture into the oats and enjoy!

Now is the time to enjoy some fresh, ripe strawberries. They are delicious eaten just as is, so it is best not to mask their beautiful tasty. Here is a great way to start your day off right with some strawberries, with a hearty, creamy bowl of oatmeal. Greek yogurt is ideal for this, as the thick texture will not thin out the oatmeal, but any flavor could be used. 

Rhubarb Strawberry Crisp

It is rhubarb season once again, and the small patch of rhubarb in our backyard is bearing some ripe, fresh, red rhubarb. There is no better way to enjoy this slightly tangy fruit then to pick it as fresh as possible, wash it, chop it up, and bake it into a sweet treat. My mother made this strawberry rhubarb crisp. Strawberry and rhubarb is a classic flavor pairing because they are both ripe and ready during the same season, they match with their nice ruby red color, and the flavors balance each other out. Rhubarb can stand alone but needs a considerable amount of sugar since it is so tart. Strawberries can also stand alone because they are so sweet. But pair them together and you've got the perfect balance of sweet and tart when used in the right proportion, and an entire new flavor profile. Strawberry and rhubarb are great together in pies, tarts, crisps, cobblers, buckles, muffins, and more.

Pictured here is a simple strawberry rhubarb crisp with basically the same recipe for crisp topping as an apple crisp. It is great enjoyed warm from the oven, with a little ice cream if you wish, or even eaten cold. 

Jam Squares

My mother made these jam squares for the first time the other day. The recipe was given to her by my father's mother, who often used to make these. This is definitely a comforting, old-fashioned recipe. It is one of those classics that could be modernized, but really shouldn't. It has a nice sweet base, jam filling, and crumble topping, but yet they are fairly quick and easy to make. I'm sure any type of jam would do, but the ones pictured here have strawberry jam. 

Jam Squares
2 cups all-purpose (plain) flour
1 cup granulated (white) sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup butter or hard margarine
1 1/3 cups coconut, flaked or shredded
1/2 cup crushed walnuts
1 large egg, beaten
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
jam (strawberry is pictured above)

Preheat oven to 350◦F. Grease or line a 9-inch square pan.
In a large bowl, mix together the flour, sugar, and salt. Mix in the butter, then the coconut and walnuts. Add the egg and vanilla until crumbly.
Press 3/4 of the mixture into prepared pan. Spread with jam and sprinkle remaining crumb mixture over top. Bake for about 40 minutes until lightly golden around the edges.

Berried Treasure Bar Cookies

This is the Valentine's dessert my mother made. It essentially consists of a shortbread base, a strawberry custard-like filling, a strawberry jam glaze, and a chocolate ganache frosting. The recipe came from one of our mystery cookbook novels, which has never failed us with a recipe yet and contains many decadent, often chocolaty delightful desserts. This dessert has several steps, though none of them are very difficult, so the dessert needs to be made in advance to allow for setting time as well. The crust is baked, then the filling is baked. The bars are then glazed with the strawberry jam and chilled, then the chocolate is placed on and chilled again. Actually, the original recipe called for raspberry jam, but we prefer a seedless strawberry jam. I am sure any other jam would work too, but a red jam is nice for Valentine's Day. The bars would also be nice garnished with some fresh strawberries or raspberries. Because these squares are fairly rich, one 9x13 inch pan can go a long way, but it may also be cut into large hunks for a satisfying dessert for your Valentine. 

These bars are pretty tasty. They have a great composition and stay together well. The shortbread crust makes a firm base that holds the entire square up. The filling does not have an overly strong strawberry flavor, so I would have liked to taste some more strawberry. My favorite part is the chocolate topping, which is something like a sweet ganache, and it firms up on top of the squares. Actually, I preferred eating this when it was hot from the pot, but it really does make the squares delicious, as they aren't overly sweet on their own. The book also featured another recipe similar to this one, the basic change being that the base is a brownie base instead of a shortbread base. I bet I would enjoy these even more, since I am definitely a chocoholic! 

Fruit Salad In A Heart

Here is a simple fruit salad I recently made. It's nothing extravagant, or anything a recipe is needed for, but I thought it would make a great, healthy addition to a breakfast or brunch, or even serve as a light dessert. It is a nice light dish to serve in the winter to brighten up a snow-covered world, but it would work well in the summer as well. These days it is not difficult to find just about any type of fruit in the supermarket, no matter what the season, so any fruits could be used. I used oranges, which are considered more of a winter fruit, strawberries since they are readily available and delicious, and local wild blueberries from the freezer. I arranged these three fruits in heart-shaped bowls, and added a small leaf for garnish. 

Easy Berry Sauce

This is a quick and easy recipe to do when you just want a little fruit sauce as a topping or garnish, and need it in a hurry. The berries may easily be varied. I used frozen, though it would probably work with fresh as well. 

Colorful Fruit Sauce
1/2 cup frozen mixed berries (strawberries, raspberries, blueberries)
1 scant Tablespoon corn starch
1 heaping Tablespoon lemon juice
sugar or honey to sweeten
cinnamon, if desired

Place the berries in a small saucepan over medium heat. In a small bowl, mix the cornstarch and juice until smooth, add to berries and increase heat. bring to a boil and boil, stirring occasionally, for a few minutes until thickened. Stir in sugar and cinnamon, if desired. Serve warm or cold. 
The amount of berries can easily be adjusted to make more or less sauce, though you really can't make a batch much smaller than this. The amount of cornstarch and juice should remain relatively the same unless you add more than double the amount of berries, then increase these amounts as well.