Crème Brûlée

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And yet another addition to my kitchen………

I got this from Amazon.com the reviews were great for this model and this butane in bulk was a great deal.

To make the best crème brûlée I also bought some vanilla beans.

• Servings: six
• Time: five hours (including chill time)
• Difficulty: moderate
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Ingredients:

• 4 cups of heavy cream
• 1 vanilla bean  (split and scrape the seeds out)
• 3/4 cup of sugar
• 12 egg yolks
• pinch of salt

Directions:

Heat 2 cups of  cream in heavy saucepan with vanilla seeds, sugar and salt till lightly boiling. Take off heat and let steep while you whisk the rest of the ingredients.

Whisk the egg yolks with the remaining cream till uniform.  Temper your egg mixture into the hot cream till you fully combine the two mixtures. The custard should be very smooth. If not strain through a fine mesh strainer before dividing mixture evenly amongst 8 ramekins.

The ramekins will sit inside a baking dish water bath. Prep your baking dish by putting tea towel on the bottom of the dish (prevents your ramekins from slipping around when you go to place in/out of the oven.) Or this is a great set for crème brûlée

Once your ramekins are in the baking dish pour hot water in dish till it reaches 2/3 up the sides of the ramekins. Careful not to get water into the custard.

Place in 300 degree oven for 35-40 min till your custard has set up (should be just a bit jiggly in the middle) it will continue to cook a bit as it cools.  Cool completely at room temperature then place in the fridge to get chilled for 4 hours.

When ready to serve sprinkle 2 tsp of sugar over top the crème brûlée and use a kitchen torch to caramalize the sugar. Let sugar harden for 1 min then serve.

Oatmeal Raisin Cookies

Oatmeal Raisin Cookies

• Servings: 6-8
• Difficulty: easy
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Ingredients:

• 1 cup of butter
• 1 cup of brown sugar
• 1/2 cup of white sugar
• 2 eggs
• 2 tsp of vanilla extract
• 1 1/2 cups of flour
• 1 tsp of baking soda
• 1/2 tsp of salt
• 1/2 tsp of cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp of ground cloves
• 1/2 tsp of freshly grated nutmeg
• 3 cups of old-fashioned oats
• 1 cup of raisins

Directions:

Preheat oven 350 degrees F.

Cream together the butter and sugars till light and fluffy. Add the eggs and vanilla and beat till smooth. In another bowl combine the flour, salt, cinnamon, baking soda, cloves, and nutmeg. Add the dry ingredients to the butter and sugar.

Stir in the oats and raisins just until combined. Drop by tablespoon unto a parchment lined baking sheet. Bake for 10-12 min till golden brown.

Apple-Fig Cookie with Caramel Icing Drizzle

Apple Fig Cookies

• Servings: 6-8
• Time: 1hr
• Difficulty: easy
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Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup of butter
• 1 cup of brown sugar
• 1/2 cup of white sugar
• 1 egg
• 2 tsp of vanilla
• 2 cups of all-purpose flour
• 1 tsp of baking soda
• 1/2 tsp of salt
• 1 tsp of cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp of cloves
• 1/2 tsp of nutmeg (I used freshly grated nutmeg)
• 2 granny smith apples peeled and grated (should equal 1 cup -1 1/4 cups)
• 1 cup of finely chopped dried figs

Directions:

First off,  turn your oven on to 400 degrees F. Beat the butter, sugar, and egg until smooth. Add the vanilla and the grated apples till combined. Stir together the dry ingredients (flour, salt and spices) and add them to the wet ingredients. Lastly add your figs and stir just until the ingredients come together.   Over stirring will = tough cookies. Drop by heaping tablespoons onto a parchment lined cookie sheet. Cook for 10 min. Allow to cool to room temperature on a rack before adding the icing.

 

Caramel Icing

• Servings: 6-8
• Time: 15min
• Difficulty: easy
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Caramel Icing:

• 4 tablespoons of butter
• 1 tsp of vanilla
• 1 tbsp of cream
• 1 cup of icing sugar

Directions:

In a small saucepan brown the butter until a medium golden color. Off heat add the vanilla and cream. Whisk in the icing sugar and stir till smooth. Drizzle over cooled apple cookies.

Fresh Berries with Bourbon Whipped Cream

I made a lime infused simple syrup to toss my berries in! Yum. To add some different texture to this dessert I made crunchy toffee lacy cookies. The whipped cream is freshly made with vanilla and bourbon 🙂

• Servings: 4-6
• Time: 5 min
• Difficulty: easy
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Bourbon Whipped Cream

• 1 cup of heavy whipping cream
• 1 tsp of vanilla
• 1 tbsp of bourbon
• 2 tbsp of icing sugar

Mix all ingredients on high till hard peaks form. Store in fridge till ready to serve. Since there are no stabilizers in this whip cream it will lose some of the air you whipped in over time,  so I tend to make this in my mixer close to the time I want to serve it 🙂

Lime Infused Simple Syrup

• 1 cup of water
• 3/4 cup of sugar
• zest and juice from 1 lime

Place water and the sugar in a saucepan and heat till sugar dissolves. Take off heat add the lime zest and lime juice, give it a quick stir. May keep in fridge for 1 week.

Berry Salad

• 1 cup of chopped strawberries
• 1/2 cup of blueberries
• 1/2 cup of raspberries
• 1/2 cup of blackberries
• 1 tbsp of freshly chopped mint

Add berries to large bowl, drizzle in your simple syrup to coat berries. Toss well. Serve with Bourbon Whipped Cream.  Qu’est-ce que vous manger?

Chocolate Chip Pecan Cookies with a Twist

As promised here is the recipe from my knitting class.  I was inspired by Egos and Buffaloes and her love of Orange/Chocolate combinations.

She has some wonderful baking recipes.

Ok so the twist is I put Orange zest and a squeeze of fresh juice in the batter.  It is wonderful! Hope you enjoy!

• Servings: 8
• Time: 1hr
• Difficulty: easy
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Ingredients:

• 1 cup of butter
• 3/4 cups of sugar
• 3/4 cups of brown sugar
• 2 eggs
• 2 tsp vanilla
• 1 tbsp of fresh orange zest and 1 tbsp of fresh orange juice ( I zested 2 oranges)
• 1 1/4 cups of flour
• 1/2 tsp of salt
• 1 1/4 tsp of baking soda
• 2 cups of bittersweet chocolate chips
• 1 cup of pecans chopped small

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Cream the sugars and butter together untill fluffy, add the eggs, vanilla, orange zest and orange juice. Cream well untill light and fluffy.  Take all the dry ingredients and mix well, then add to your creamy mixture. Mix just until the flour is incorporated. Add your nuts and chocolate chips and give it a few more stirs to incorporate them in the dough. Drop by heaping tbsp onto a parchment lined cookie sheet. Bake for 10 minutes or till the edges start to turn golden brown. Let cool and enjoy 🙂