Honey Lavender Ice Cream

I've seen this flavor combination pop up here and there over the last several years, and being a fan of both, it has always sounded like it would be right up my alley. Recently, while watching Merryl Streep make it for Steve Martin in It's Complicated, I nearly got up from the couch in an effort to attempt it right then and there. The impulse passed and I didn't act on it, but the timing this week was perfect as Dan and I decided to cut out refined sugar for a couple of weeks. I've never sweetened ice cream with honey before and let me just say this: wow. There is something about using a liquid sweetener (honey, maple, agave, etc.) rather than granulated sugar that changes the composition, resulting in the most deliciously creamy and smooth ice cream you've ever tasted. Be warned, though - there is a caveat...this ice cream will not freeze as well as homemade ice cream usually does. For those of you who like your ice cream hard (like ME), you must know that this ice cream will be softer than your typical liking. However, I found the flavor and texture to be so delightful that I really didn't mind, and that's saying a lot. I've happily bent many a spoon on hard ice cream in my day. I did end up freezing the ice cream overnight to make it scoopable, instead of the standard two to three hours after churning I usually go for, and it was delicious. If you like a softer style ice cream, you will think you have died and gone to ice cream heaven and want to eat it right away.

                    1/2 cup honey
                    1/4 cup dried lavender
                    4 egg yolks
                    2 cups milk
                    1 cup heavy cream

Bring the milk, cream, honey, and lavender to a gentle boil in a saucepan over medium-high heat. Remove from the heat and let steep for 10-15 minutes. Strain and let cool a bit.

In a separate medium bowl, beat the egg yolks, then gradually add some of the warm milk mixture, whisking as you pour.  Pour the warmed eggs back into the saucepan. Cook over low heat, stirring constantly until the custard is thick enough to coat the back of a spoon. Strain again into a bowl.

Set the bowl over a large bowl of ice water. Stir the custard until cool, then cover and refrigerate until thoroughly chilled (3 hours or overnight).

Freeze in an ice cream machine according to the manufacturer's instructions.

Makes about 1 quart.

Mexican Chocolate Ice Cream

As much as I like Mexican chocolate, I've always preferred to nibble on a little piece rather than make hot chocolate with it, which is what it's most known for. The combination of dark chocolate, cinnamon, and coarse sugar is unusual and spectacular, but that should come as no surprise, since it was the Aztecs, after all, that gave chocolate to the world. They ought to have known a thing or two about what to do with the stuff. The Aztecs had adopted it from the Mayan Culture, and drinks made of chocolate combined with honey, nuts, seeds, and spices were used in rituals by priests and nobleman. Chocolate was so valued that it was even used as a currency. Naturally, the Spaniards fell in love with it (who wouldn't?), and upon taking it back to Spain, it became the official drink of the King. Europeans began preparing it with milk and sugar, and hot chocolate became all the rage.

This chocolate, with it's rustic and earthy appeal made for some incredible ice cream. If you're not familiar with it, you'll find it in the international aisle of most markets. It's sold under the name Abuelita or Ibarra, and comes packaged in boxes of discs that are made up of small triangles.

                    1 1/2 discs Mexican chocolate
                    2/3 cups sugar
                    4 large egg yolks
                    1 cup heavy cream
                    2 cups milk
           
Put the chocolate and cream in a large, heat-safe bowl. Set it over a saucepan of simmering water and stir occasionally until the chocolate has melted and is smooth. Remove the bowl from the heat and set a mesh strainer across the top.

In a medium saucepan, heat the milk and sugar over medium low heat, stirring to dissolve the sugar.

In a separate medium bowl, beat the egg yolks, then gradually add some of the warm milk-sugar mixture, whisking as you pour. Pour the warmed eggs back into the saucepan. Cook over low heat, stirring constantly until the custard is thick enough to coat the back of a spoon. Strain the custard into into the chocolate mixture and stir until smooth.

Set the bowl over a large bowl of ice water. Stir the custard until cool, then cover and refrigerate until thoroughly chilled (3 hours or overnight).

Freeze in an ice cream machine according to the manufacturer's instructions.

Makes about 1 quart.

Meyer Lemon Petites Madeleines

Yesterday was my neighbor's birthday and I wanted to make her a little treat. I knew I wanted to flavor the goods with the Meyer lemons James and I picked from my girlfriend's tree last week, and I wanted to make something that was feminine and sweet and would make the birthday girl feel special. Being such a sucker for specialty kitchen goods, I had bought a madeleine pan a few months ago and it had just been sitting there. Lonely. Unpurposed. It was time for it's kitchen debut.

I turned to the blogging hemisphere for madeleine recipes and ended up choosing and adapting Heidi Swanson's. Heidi's recipes are always pretty simplified and generally yield fine results. I feel confident and secure when going by her instructions. She's a wonderful partner in any culinary effort. You do need a madeleine pan to make these, of course, but if you don't have one, or the idea of buying one never entered your mind, I encourage you to go get one. If you like madeleines, that is. And make sure it's metal, and not the newer silicone kind. It will make much prettier cookies.

                    1 1/2 sticks unsalted butter (6 ounces)
                    2 tablespoons melted unsalted butter (for greasing pan)
                    3/4 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
                    4 large eggs
                    a pinch fine-grain sea salt
                    2/3 cups sugar
                    zest of one large lemon
                    3 tablespoons lemon juice from the lemon
                    1 teaspoon vanilla extract
                    powdered sugar
                    a little flour for dusting the pan

         Special equipment: A madeleine baking pan, any size

Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.

Melt the 1 1/2 sticks of butter in a small pot over medium heat until it's brown and smells nutty and fragrant. About 15 to 20 minutes. Strain with a mesh strainer and discard the solids. Cool the butter to room temperature.

Melt the remaining 2 tablespoons of butter and use it to brush the madeleine molds. Dust with flour and invert the pan tapping out any excess flour.

Whisk the eggs and salt on high speed with the whisking attachment in an electric mixer until thick, and the eggs have doubled or tripled in volume (about 3 minutes). Continuing to whisk on high speed, and slowly and steadily add the sugar. Whisk for 2 minutes or until the mixture is thick and ribbony. Then, fold in the lemon zest, 3 tablespoons of lemon juice and vanilla with a rubber spatula, just until combined.

Sprinkle the flour on top of the egg batter, and gently fold it in. Next, fold in the butter. Stir gently, only enough to bring everything together.

Spoon the batter into the molds, filling each mold 2/3 -3/4 full. I used a 1/2 teaspoon measuring spoon for the petites madeleines and it worked perfectly.

Bake the madeleines for 12 - 14 minutes (7-10 minutes for smaller cookies), or until the edges of the madeleines are golden brown. Remove from the oven and invert the madeleines onto a cooling rack immediately. Cool on racks and dust with powdered sugar.

Makes 2 -3 dozen regular madeleines.


Adapted from 101 Cookbooks.

Lemon Lime Cookies

After ogling endlessly at these over at lovely Hannah's Honey and Jam, I decided to try them - with a twist. I had a surplus of both lemons and limes, so it made sense to use both, rather than just limes as in the original recipe. As well, I literally lost control while making these, and found myself sprinkling the beyond belief gorgeous zest-infused sugar over the top, instead of just rolling it around the sides. In my opinion, this is the best part of the recipe. The zest gets worked into the sugar for several minutes making it moist, fragrant and beautiful.

There's a bit more to this story. The recipe calls for forming the dough into cylinders, and for the life of me, I could not get a perfectly round tube of dough. The pathetic aesthetic was further accentuated by the fact that when I put the dough on a plate to chill in the fridge, the bottom side took a flat shape and when slicing off the 1/4-inch "rounds", mine weren't, sadly. Round, that is. They were roundish, with one straight edge - if you can imagine that. It was near catastrophic. Soooooooo, Plan B. Okay Life, if this is how it's going to be... I can "fix it" as my childhood art teacher, Mrs. Kinney, used to say when I would ask if I could start over. Ironically, I've thought about her a couple of times lately. For the first time in almost twenty years. So I fixed it. I took small handfuls of the dough and rolled them out to a 1/4"-thick, and then used a cookie cutter. Not bad. Then I joyfully sprinkled the sugar all over the place.

For the cookies:

                    3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

                    1 3/4 cups raw cane sugar

                    1/4 teaspoon salt

                    zest of 1 large lime, and 1 lemon

                    12 ounces (3 sticks) unsalted butter, cut into 24 pieces

                    2 large eggs

For the sugar coating:

                    1 1/2 cups raw cane sugar

                    zest of 1/2 a lime and 1/2 a lemon

Mix the flour, 1 3/4 cup sugar, salt, and zests in the bowl of a food processor. Pulse 10 times to reduce the zest to smaller pieces.

Add the butter and pulse until it is completely mixed into the dry ingredients, but the mixture is still powdery. Add the eggs and pulse until the dough forms a ball. Turn out the dough onto a floured work surface and divide into two equal pieces. Form each into a ridiculous wannabe cylinder about 8 inches long.

Clean any flour off the work surface and combine the 1 1/2 cup sugar and lime zest, working together with fingertips for a minute to release the lime flavor into the sugar. Pour the sugar onto the work surface in a wide line about 8 inches long. Roll one of the logs of dough in it to coat the outside completely. Repeat with the other log of dough. Wrap each log of dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate until firm, about 1 hour. 

When you are ready to bake the cookies, set racks in the upper and lower thirds of the oven and preheat to 350˚F. Line cookies sheets with parchment paper.

Cut the logs of dough into 1/4-inch thick slices and arrange them on prepared pans about 1 inch apart on all sides. See how silly they look. Laugh nervously, panic briefly, and then opt for rolling the dough out to a 1/4" thick, working in small batches and being careful to handle it as little as possible. Cut the desired shape out with a cookie cutter.  Repeat with the second log of dough, or wrap, freeze, and save it for another day.

Bake the cookies until they are firm and golden around the edges, 15 to 20 minutes. After the first 10 minutes, place the pan from the lower rack on the upper one and vise versa, turning the pans from back to front at the same time. Slide the papers off the pans to cool the cookies. If you only have one pan of cookies to bake, adjust the racks to the middle of the oven. 

Store cookies at room temperature between sheets of wax paper in an air-tight container.

Makes 40-60 cookies, depending on the size.

Adapted from The Modern Baker.

Brown Sugar Tart Shell with Lemon Curd

Since making lemon curd a couple of weeks ago,  I have not been able to shake the thought of individual lemon tarts. Lo and behold, what do I find on page 108 of this month's Sunset? A no-roll tart shell recipe. That's right. No rolling. Could it really be? Now for you experienced bakers, this may not be as life-changing as it was for me. But since I am not a lifelong fancy goodies maker, I was in disbelief. The thought of no rolling had me smiling from ear to ear. So, I went straight to work. This is a quick, no-fuss way to make tart crust. The dough gets pressed into the tart pan(s) and baked until the edges are golden. I was very happy with the results, as the vanilla and brown sugar were a perfect match for the tart lemon (no pun intended). This recipe is definitely a keeper.

                  1 cup flour
                  2 tablespoons brown sugar
                  1 tablespoon corn starch
                  1/8 teaspoon salt
                  1/2 cup cold unsalted butter, cut into pieces
                  1 teaspoon vanilla extract, divided
                  1 recipe lemon curd
                  freshly whipped cream (optional)
                  thinly sliced strawberries (optional)

Preheat the oven to 350. In a food processor, whirl the flour, sugar, cornstarch, and salt until combined. Add the butter and vanilla and pulse until fine crumbs form and the dough just begins to come together. Press evenly into the bottom and up the sides of a 9" round tart pan, or four individual tart pans. Prick the center(s) with a fork.

Bake until the edges are golden, about 20-22 minutes if using one large pan, or 15-18 minutes if using individual pans. Let cool on a rack before gently removing from the pan(s).

Spoon the lemon curd into the tart(s), and if using, top with freshly whipped cream and thinly sliced strawberries.

Makes one 9" tart, or four individual tarts.


Adapted from Sunset.

Vanilla Petits Pots de Crème

Either you like custard desserts, or you don't. I do. Very much so. Especially when they're in pretty, little bowls and simple to make. Now that I have learned just how easy it is to make pots de crème, I fear I may be in trouble. I mean I can easily see myself whipping these up on a total whim...frequently. In fact, I'll now confess that I've made them three times in the last week (gasp!). The first go was the whole "trial and error, I'm figuring these out" routine. The second time they were pretty damn good, and I served them after dinner to a dear friend who loved them and insisted on bringing two home - one for her daughter and another for her mom. And the third time was for entertaining again a couple of nights later and I nailed them. I'm very excited to branch out of my vanilla comfort zone and try different essences, although truth be told - these are so lovely precisely because of their simplicity. 
               
                    2 eggs and 1 egg white
                    2 cups whole milk
                    1/3 cup sugar
                    1 vanilla bean

Preheat the oven to 320. 

Set four to six ramekins (depending on the size) in a large baking dish.

Bring the milk and vanilla bean to a boil in a heavy saucepan and then remove from the heat. Allow to infuse, covered, for 30 minutes. Strain and set aside.

Beat the eggs, egg yolk, and sugar in a medium bowl. Then add the hot milk slowly while continuing to beat.

Fill the baking dish with hot water so that the ramekins are halfway immersed. Pour the milk mixture into the ramekins and skim any foam from the top. Bake for 35-40 minutes, until a knife inserted in the middle comes out clean and the middle of the creams is still moving a bit. Let cool, and then cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least two hours.

Makes 4-6 petits pots de crème.


From La Tartine Gourmande.

Lemon Curd

Call me old-fashioned, but there are few things that sound better to me around 2:30 in the afternoon than black tea and a little nibble. If I could, everyday near that hour, I would serve myself a nice, warm cup and perhaps enjoy little cucumber sandwiches, or scones with clotted cream and lemon curd, on tiny beautiful plates while gazing at fresh flowers and listening to relaxing classical music. Then I might even go down for a light snooze. However, because I'm not an English countryside castle or palace-dweller in the late 19th century, I am quite content waking up and making lemon curd to enjoy a bit later in the day while James takes his second nap.

The weather warmed up considerably last weekend and the lemons were practically serenading me every time I opened the refrigerator door. So, this week I made fresh, delightfully creamy and smooth lemon curd from organic, unwaxed lemons. Making this very simple spread was easier than I thought, AND gave me an opportunity to use my candy thermometer, which feels special in and of itself. I didn't have time to make the fresh scones I fantasized about for 15 seconds, and opted for a quick fix instead. Strawberries. They were the perfect vehicle - possibly too much tarty fruitiness for some of you, but I loved it and the whole experience felt that much more like summer. Since we live 5 miles from the strawberry capital (Carlsbad, CA), they are readily available...certainly not anywhere near their best, but still good. Other ways to enjoy: spoon over basic Scottish shortbread biscuits, spread over toast, pour into your favorite tart shell (easy recipe here), or enjoy alone with a dollop of fresh unsweetened whipped cream.

                  4 organic, unwaxed lemons
                  1/2 cup lemon juice
                  2 teaspoons finely grated lemon zest
                  1 stick butter cut into four pieces
                  3/4 cup sugar
                  2 eggs

Whisk together juice, zest, sugar, and eggs in a heat-safe bowl and add butter. Place the bowl over a saucepan of simmering water and cook, all the while whisking, until thickened and smooth. When a candy thermometer reads 160°F., (about 5 minutes), remove curd from heat and strain through using a fine sieve strainer into a bowl. Use a spoon or rubber spatula to squeeze out as much as you can. If you plan on using a jar (this recipe makes enough for two small to medium jars), pour immediately and keep in the fridge for up to a week.

Lemon curd also freezes well, so if you don't think you'll use it all, save some for later!

Makes 1-1/2 cups.

Orange and Lemon Olive Oil Cake

Wow. This is my ideal cake. Not too sweet, the perfect texture, infused with citrus flavor, and dusted with powdered sugar. I've never been one for sugary, frosted, over the top cakes with layers and fancy fillings. I'll admit to enjoying a few bites here and there on a special occasion, but I prefer simpler cakes that aren't too sweet and showcase the pure flavors of fruit. Cakes that would be perfect with a cup of tea in the afternoon. And this is exactly that. What's more...as it's name implies, it has no butter, offering instead the comfortably familiar and virtuous flavor of that esteemed oil known as olive.

The recipe calls for simmering the citrus for thirty minutes, and let me just tell you that this simple act alone resulted in great happiness. The house smelled divine - I was already enjoying the cake and it wasn't even on the plate yet. There's something about cooking the orange and lemon that removes the bitterness from the rind, which is later ground into a fine paste and incorporated into the batter. And I haven't yet mentioned that there are toasted almonds to look forward to as well. Please do yourself a favor and toast raw almonds yourself if you usually buy them. At least for the purposes of this cake. They will taste much fresher, make the house smell even better than it already does, and make the whole shebang that much more rewarding.

And now, in case you aren't already convinced, I can say with confidence that it's not just me who liked this cake. I served it to friends at dinner and EVERYONE had a second slice. In fact, I'm pretty sure Dan had a third. If that doesn't give meaning to "the proof is in the pudding", I don't know what does.

          1 small to medium orange
          1 lemon
          6 ounces raw almonds
          1 cup all-purpose flour
          1 Tbsp. baking powder
          4 large eggs, ideally at room temperature
          ½ tsp. table salt
          1 ½ cups sugar
          2/3 cup olive oil
          Confectioners’ sugar, for dusting

Put the orange and the lemon in a saucepan, and cover with water. (They’ll float - no worries.) Bring to a boil over medium-high heat; then reduce the heat to medium and simmer for 30 minutes. Drain, and cool.

While the citrus is simmering, toast the almonds. Preheat the oven to 325°F, and set a rack in the middle position. Put the almonds on an ungreased sheet pan, and bake until they look golden and smell toasty, 10 to 15 minutes. Set aside to cool completely. When the almonds are cool, pulse them in a food processor until finely ground, the texture of coarse sand. Set aside.

Set the oven to 350°F, and grease a 9-inch round springform pan.

When the citrus is cool, cut the lemon in half, and scoop out and discard the pulp and seeds. Cut the orange in half, and discard the seeds. Put the lemon rind and orange halves in the food processor – there’s no need to wash it after grinding the almonds – and process to chop finely, almost to a coarse paste.

In a small bowl, whisk together the flour and baking powder.

Combine the eggs and salt in a mixing bowl. Beat until foamy. Gradually beat in the sugar. Fold in the flour mixture. Add the citrus, almonds, and olive oil, and beat on low speed to just incorporate. Do not overmix. Pour the batter into the prepared pan, and bake for about 1 hour, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool the cake in its pan on a wire rack. Remove the sides of the pan. Dust the cake with confectioners’ sugar.

Store it at room temperature, covered with plastic wrap.

Makes 8-10 servings.

Recipe from Orangette. (Thank you! I am eternally grateful.)

Chocolate Puddle Cookies

 

What better way to celebrate the end of our refined sugar fast, than by baking something sweet for my honey on Valentine's Day weekend? If you don't live under a rock, surely you've noticed that for the last several weeks you cannot turn around without bumping into a decadent dessert. Because it's February, the recipes for sweet treats have been ubiquitous. I was torn between a couple of persuasive recipes for "mini chocolate desserts" in this month's Sunset, and about 47 other beautiful ideas found on the many fantastic food sites I love to read. In the end, I decided on this recipe for "Chocolate Puddle Cookies" from one of my favorite sites, 101 Cookbooks. What intrigued me about these, was that they are flourless and butterless. That's right - cookies free of flour and butter. How is this possible? Because they have an indecent quantity of confectioner's sugar. The description read that they are somewhere between a fudge brownie and a soft meringue. That did it for me. It took me all of about 3 seconds to think, "Hmmmmmmm, OKAY!" 

These were a complete success, but I have to stress that not under or over baking here is key. If you underbake, they will stick to the parchment paper and fall apart as you try to remove them after they've cooled. If you overbake, the tops will be too crispy. As amazing as they were, I must admit they were just a tad too sweet for my taste. If you love chocolate and really sweet cookies, you won't be disappointed. They'd also make a great dessert for someone who doesn't eat gluten or dairy.

                     3 cups walnut halves, toasted & cooled
                     4 cups confectioner's sugar
                     1/2 cup plus 3 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
                     scant 1/2 teaspoon fine grain sea salt
                     4 large egg whites, room temperature
                     1 tablespoon high-quality vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 320F degrees and position racks in the top and bottom third. Line three (preferably rimmed) baking sheets with parchment paper. Or you can bake in batches with fewer pans.

Make sure your walnuts have cooled a bit, then chop coarsely and set aside. Sift together the confectioner's sugar, cocoa powder, and sea salt. Stir in the walnuts, then add the egg whites and vanilla. Stir until well combined.

Spoon the batter onto the prepared sheets in mounds of about 2 tablespoons each, allowing for PLENTY of room between cookies. These cookies really expand. Don't try to get more than 6 cookies on each sheet, and try to avoid placing the batter too close to the edge of the pan.

Bake until they puff up. The tops should get glossy, and then crack a bit - about 12 -15 minutes. Have faith, they look sad at first, then really blossom. You may want to rotate the pans top/bottom/back/front.
Slide the cookies still on parchment onto a cooling rack, and let them cool completely. They will keep in an airtight for a couple days.

Makes 18 large cookies.

From 101 Cookbooks.

Plum Galette

 

I found some plums at Henry's on Saturday. Disclosure: they're from Chile. Of course they're not in season right now. The only fruit besides citrus in season right now is apples. So forgive me, local and seasonal ones, but I needed a plum pick me up since it was a rainy day and these were practically shouting at me from the produce section..."Yooooo hooo. Over here." 

I got them home and decided on a simple, rustic galette. Because we're halfway through our "no refined sugar" abstention, I wanted to use the mascobado sugar I bought a couple of weeks ago. I was really impressed with the taste and quality. It was my first time using it and I highly recommend it. The recipe I modified was Martha's, and it called for very little sugar (which I reduced even further). The only thing I am feeling remorse over is the butter. Now I normally don't have much butter guilt, but this was a little obscene. Maybe it's because I'm not really a baker, so I don't come into contact with recipes that call for 2 sticks of butter often. But I couldn't believe that I had made the pate brisee correctly when it was all said and done. My hands looked like I had taken a stick of butter to every square inch of them. Dan's the turner and roller, and he kept assuring me that it was fine. I insisted it couldn't possibly be, however he was right. It was perfect. And I'm so impressed with what a simple egg wash over the pastry will do...

I made a few other changes based on what I had on hand. I didn't have hazelnuts, so I substituted almonds, and after a bit of research online, I learned that in place of cornstarch, you can double the amount and use flour. This was revolutionary for me. Also, the recipe called for plum or red currant jam. I used one from Trader Joe's (nope - you didn't catch me...it's fruit juice sweetened) called Superfruit. It's a blend of Morello cherry, red grape, blueberry and pomegranate and it worked beautifully. I can't wait to make this again with whatever is in season  - pears, peaches, apricots.

For the pate brisee:

         

          2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

          1 teaspoon salt

          8 ounces chilled unsalted butter (2 sticks)

          1/2 cup ice water

In the bowl of a food processor fitted with the metal blade, pulse the flour and salt. Add the butter and pulse until the mixture resembles coarse meal, about 15 seconds. With the machine running, add the water in a slow, steady stream; process until the dough just holds together. Turn it out onto a piece of plastic wrap, and flatten into a disk; wrap well. Chill for at least 1 hour in the refrigerator.

For the galette:

          1 tablespoon all-purpose flour, plus more for work surface 

          pate brisee

          1/2 cup finely ground toasted almonds

          3 tablespoons mascobado sugar

          2 tablespoons flour (to replace 1 tablespoon cornstarch)

          1/4 teaspoon salt

          1 1/2 pounds (about 5) plums, sliced into 1/2-inch-thick wedges

          1 large egg, lightly beaten

          1/2 cup jam (preferably red)

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees with the rack positioned in the lower third. On a lightly floured work surface, roll out the pate brisee to 1/8 inch thick. Trim the edges to form a rectangle, and transfer to a parchment-lined baking sheet. In a small bowl, combine the flour, almonds, 2 tablespoons of the sugar, flour, and salt; spread to cover the middle of the dough, leaving enough of a border all around (depending on the size of your rectangle) so that you can fold the dough back over on to the plums. 

Arrange the plums in rows on top, slightly overlapping the slices and alternating the direction of each row. Sprinkle the plums with the remaining tablespoon of sugar. Fold the dough to enclose the edges; then brush it with the egg wash. Chill for 30 minutes in the refrigerator. 

Bake for 10 minutes, then reduce the heat to 400 degrees and bake until the pastry is golden brown and plums are softened, about 30 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack; let cool to room temperature. Heat the jam in a small saucepan over low heat, stirring until melted. Let cool for a few minutes, then brush evenly over the plum slices. Serve. 

Adapted from Martha Stewart.

Arroz con Leche (y Coco, y Canela!)

What does one do when they need to find a use for the leftover coconut milk in the fridge? Substitute 1 cup of it for the milk in arroz con leche, of course! At least that's what occurred to me. And Dan will be one lucky husband/babydaddy when he comes home tonight to find it hanging out on the top shelf. In the exact same place the leftover coconut milk was this morning.

Arroz con leche (or rice pudding in english speaking parts of the world) is incredibly easy and quick to make. I did this in about 45 minutes this afternoon, with very little effort, and it turned out beautifully. The coconut essence is subtle, yet very much there, and the cinnamon imparts a lovely, pale rose color. I don't like it too sweet, so I only used 1/3 cup of sugar. If you find it's not sweet enough for your liking, you can definitely add more.

                         1 cup white rice
                         2 cups water
                         1 cup milk
                         1 cup unsweetened coconut milk
                         1/3 cup sugar
                         1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Bring the water to a boil, add the rice, and cook on low until most of the water is absorbed, about 20 minutes. Add the milk and cook, stirring frequently about ten minutes. Then add the sugar and cinnamon and cook until the rice is very soft and the milk is almost completely absorbed (another 10-15 minutes).

Makes 6 servings.

Adapted from How to Cook Everything, Mark Bittman

Mint Chocolate Chip Ice Cream

Dan and I went through an intensive natural frozen yoghurt phase last summer and consequently our ice cream maker has been on sabbatical. Until this weekend. I had been looking forward to making this delightful treat ever since my dearest Libby told me about it months ago. Every now and then I fantasize about something so often, I inadvertently build castles in the sky, believing that when it finally happens it will be the GREATEST THING EVER. And then it's not. Woolgathering, so to speak. Well, folks, let me just say that this was not the case here. This was the pot at the end of the rainbow. Seriously.

I omitted the food coloring the original recipe called for (soooo much prettier), and used bittersweet chocolate exclusively (as well as a little less) rather than half semisweet and half bittersweet. The mint came off a fresh plant that has been existing peacefully on our window sill for the last couple of weeks. The results were magical.

                       6 egg yolks
                       3/4 cup sugar
                       2 cups whole milk
                       2 cups fresh mint leaves, loosely packed
                       1 cup heavy cream
                       6 ounces bittersweet chocolate, coarsely chopped

In large bowl, whisk together egg yolks and 1/2 cup sugar.

In heavy medium saucepan over moderately low heat, stir together milk, remaining 1/4 cup sugar, and mint. Heat until steaming but not boiling, then remove from heat.

Ladle about 1/2 cup hot milk mixture into egg yolk mixture, whisking constantly to prevent eggs from cooking, then slowly stir the egg mixture back into the hot milk, whisking constantly. Place over low heat, and cook, stirring constantly, until mixture thickens enough to coat back of spoon (finger drawn across spoon will leave clear path), 5 to 6 minutes total (do not let boil or custard will curdle). Strain through fine-mesh sieve into large bowl, pressing on and then discarding solids. Whisk in heavy cream.
Cover and chill until cold, at least 6 hours or overnight.

Process custard in ice cream maker, adding chopped chocolate during last minute of churning. Transfer to airtight container and freeze until hard, about 3 hours.

Makes about 1 1/2 quarts.

Adapted from Isaac Mizrahi's Mint Chocolate Chip Ice Cream, Epicurious, September 2007.