Thanksgiving is, without a doubt, the most food centric holiday of the year. And, anyone who has ever prepared a Thanksgiving dinner knows how much work – and stress – is involved. We obsess over every little detail as we strive to wow our families and friends with our culinary prowess. But nobody’s perfect, and sometimes even the best-laid plans go awry. That’s when it helps to have a few tricks up your sleeve.

One year, my mother-in-law accidentally turned my oven on to “broil” while I had two beautiful pumpkin pies baking in it. As I sifted through the ashes of my poor, incinerated pies, I just wanted to cry! Actually, I did cry. But then my creative spirit kicked in, and I came up with this super quick and easy alternative using ingredients that I already had in my pantry.  

Pumpkin Pie Parfaits with Gingersnap Crumbles are a riff on a traditional pumpkin pie. They have all the delicious components of the classic, with a fraction of the effort. The parfaits can either be made the day of or prepared in advance. Thus, they won’t take up valuable real estate in your oven.

The base of these parfaits is a cool and creamy custard made with cook and serve vanilla pudding mix and canned pumpkin puree. The custard is layered with freshly whipped cream and spicy, crunchy gingersnap and pecan crumbles. Despite their humble beginnings, they make a lovely and elegant holiday dessert.

Whether served in pretty wine goblets or funky vintage jars, your guests will never suspect that these scrumptious, little Thanksgiving treats didn’t take hours to prepare.

Seriously!  Are these little jars filled with creamy peanut butter and banana lusciousness not the cutest things ever?  I could just eat them up with a spoon.  As a matter of fact, I did just that.  And they were wonderful. I call them Peanut Butter Banana Cream Pies in a Jar, because…well…because that’s pretty much what they are.  They include all of the components of a classic pie, except they’re layered in small, self-contained, single serving jars.  Pretty clever, huh?  Yeah.  I think so too.

I was cleaning out a few things in my prop room, when I came across some Bormioli canning jars that I didn’t even remember I had.  I couldn’t find the rubber rims, so actually canning something in them was pretty much out of the question.  I thought it would be fun to fill them with some kind of scoopable dessert, like a custard or panna cotta.  Then, a bunch of bananas sitting on the counter caught my eye.  “Hmmm,” I thought, “What about banana pudding with vanilla wafers, just like my mother used to make?” That sounded like a plan.  Then, I noticed the jar of peanut butter next to the box of vanilla wafers, and remembered the most amazing peanut butter cream pie that one of our local restaurants is famous for.  I die over that pie!   Honestly, I just couldn’t choose between the two, so I decided to make them both – in the same dessert.  Peanut butter and bananas are already BFFs, so it made perfect sense to pair them up.  It was one of the best decisions I ever made! 

To make the “crust” for my “pies”, I pulverized some vanilla wafers into crumbs and mixed them with a little sugar and melted butter.  Then, I pressed a thin layer of the mixture down into the bottom of each jar.  After that, I added layers of homemade vanilla bean pastry cream, sliced bananas and peanut butter crumblies that I made by blending crunchy peanut butter and powdered sugar together.   After they were assembled, I snapped on the lids and stored them in the fridge until I was ready to serve them.   It was as easy as pie (pun intended)!  And OMG people, they were unbelievably good!   I could have slurped down that whole bowl of pastry cream all by itself.   Mixed with the other ingredients, it was completely off the charts!

I’ve made other desserts like this before.  I love the idea that everybody gets their own individual portion.  It’s a lot easier than slicing up a pie, it’s neater to eat and it’s a lot more fun.  I think I might really be on to something here.  I’m already toying with the idea of pumpkin streusel pie in a jar for Thanksgiving and apple crumb pie in a jar for Christmas.  Think about it.  You could literally do this with any kind of pie ingredients.  The possibilities are endless.  Deliciously and gloriously endless!

My father had the most magnificent fig tree in his yard.  It was about twenty-five feet tall and the breadth of its branches was almost as wide.  Though he would never actually confirm it, the rumor is that he bred the tree using cuttings smuggled here from a bigger and even more magnificent fig tree that sits on the grounds of his ancestral home in Italy.  I have seen that original tree with my own eyes, and eaten its fruit.  It is amazing!

Dad’s fig tree was the jewel in his garden.  He babied and fussed over it.  He nurtured it through winters that were too cold and summers that were too hot.  That tree was the Goldilocks of fig trees.  Everything about it was just right, including the lush, moist fruit that grew from it.  Dad’s figs were almost the size of small fists!  Ripened by the sun, their flesh was so sweet that droplets of dew-like nectar oozed freely from them.   There was nothing – and, I mean nothing, people – that could rival the taste of my father’s figs.

Almost five years ago, on a grey November day, cancer stole my father away.  Within two weeks, the fig tree dropped all of its leaves, shriveled up and died.  I kid you not.  It was like the tree was in mourning and died of a broken heart. The only sign of life that has come from that tree since is the occasional appearance of a gorgeous, crimson cardinal, who swoops in from time to time and perches itself on a bare, brittle branch.   The bird just sits there, calmly looks around for a minute or two, and then flies off again.

None of us has the heart to chop down the fig tree.  Dad loved that tree, and to do so would almost be like losing him all over again.  So it still stands in its place beside the house as a bittersweet reminder of what once was.

Perhaps it is because of all of those wonderful, homegrown fresh figs I’ve devoured in my life, that I’m in so love with them.    Even now, I have a hard time passing them up when I find them at the market.  Sadly, they’re not quite the same when they come out of a plastic container.   I still buy them however, even though I’m often disappointed.

Another thing I can’t pass up is a good deal.  A few days ago, my market was having a BOGO sale on fresh figs.  They looked really lovely, so I slipped two quarts in my shopping cart, hoping that they would be good.  As I suspected, they were all style and no substance.  Out of the two dozen or so that I had, only about six were worth eating.  The rest were a little hard and dry, and the only thing I could think of that might save them was heat.  I find it intriguing how stewing, baking or roasting lackluster fruits can bring them back to life.  I’ve tried it with  berries, peaches, tomatoes and now, figs.  It works every time.

I thought about making some kind of tart with my figs, but honestly, I wasn’t in the mood to make a crust.  So, I decided that they would be just as delicious in a clafoutis.  For those who don’t know, a clafoutis is a French dessert where fruit is baked in a custard base.  Think of it as a crustless pie.   Traditionally, a clafoutis is made with cherries, but almost any kind of firm fruit will work well.   I love the combination of figs and honey, so I also decided to use that instead of sugar.

Despite its fancy, French name, making a clafoutis is very easy.  The first thing you need to do is cut up your fruit and artfully arrange them in a pie plate or glass baking dish.

Then, whizz up the rest of the ingredients in a blender and pour it over the fruit.

Bake the clafoutis until the custard sets and the top is nicely browned.

Look at how pretty it is!  And it tastes as good as it looks, too.  The custard was rich and creamy, with soft floral notes from the honey and the splash of orange flour water I also added.    Once baked, the figs took on a soft, jammy quality, and their sweetness intensified.   It was a lovely and elegant dessert that took hardly any effort at all.

I wish I had known about things like clafoutis when my father was around.  As delightful as this one was, I can’t help but wonder how spectacular it could have been with his figs.

*Photo of cardinal from iStockphoto.com

Whenever I imagine an intimate, candlelit dinner for two, there are certain foods that are always on the menu, like lobster, oysters, decadent dark chocolate and a fluffy, ethereal soufflé – especially the soufflé.   To me, a soufflé is the ultimate indulgence, reserved for only the most special occasions.  Maybe because it’s French, and I find all things French impossibly romantic and luxurious.  There’s a certain mystique about the soufflé.  It has the reputation  of being temperamental, unpredictable and a tad capricious.  There’s no doubt about it.  The soufflé is a diva. And, divas often get away with their bad behavior because they are brilliant and adored.

Until today, I’d always worshipped the soufflé from afar.  Too fickle for me!  I like a sure thing, and a chocolate cake has never let me down.  But  there comes a time when you have to face your fears and this was my time.  After all, didn’t I overcome my  aversion to dough?  And, what about when I stared my terror of deep frying right in the eye and kicked its butt?  I even survived two Yule Logs and lived to tell about it.  If I could do  all  that, I figured one poufy, phoofy, Valentine’s Day soufflé couldn’t take me down. 

Once I made the decision to go for it, I then had to decide what kind of soufflé to make.  Chocolate was the obvious choice, but If I wanted Mr. SGCC to even taste it,  that wasn’t going to work.   I looked at a lot of different recipes and I finally settled on Daniel Boulud’s version of Passion Fruit Soufflé.  What could be more perfect for Valentine’s Day than a passion fruit dessert?

Boulud pairs his soufflé with a caramelized pear sauce, which honestly, sounds fantastic.  But, I really wanted to find a way to work some chocolate into the dish.  Even though Mr. SGCC doesn’t like chocolate, I still do, and it wouldn’t be a Valentine’s Day dessert to me without it.   So, we struck a happy compromise and I made David Lebovitz’s luscious bittersweet  chocolate sauce to drizzle on top.

Surprisingly, the process of making the soufflé was not nearly as difficult as I expected it to be.  I whipped some egg whites and sugar into oblivion, and then gently folded them into a mix of egg yolks and passion fruit puree.  Then, I plopped the resulting mixture into small soufflé dishes and popped them into the oven.  To help things along, I made the sign of the cross and prayed like hell that they would rise!

Boulud suggests piping the soufflé mixture into the dishes using a pastry bag.  Don’t do it! That stuff is way too thin and fragile.  I lost almost a whole cup of it as it oozed out of my pastry bag and all over my kitchen counter!  I make these mistakes so you don’t have to.  Do yourself a favor and use a spoon.

I’m pleased as punch to report that my little soufflés turned out perfectly.  They were brown and crusty on top and soft and pillowy inside.  And, they rose up like they had wings!   I was so excited that I did a little happy dance all the way to my photo set-up.

I’d read that you have to move quickly when trying to photograph soufflés.  There is a very short window of time before they start to fall.  That’s an understatement!  My soufflés began to sink before I could even get them in front of the camera.  You can see the various height differences in the photos.  Forget food styling!   I was frantically snapping shots like a madwoman!  And, still they fell!

Sinking soufflés aside, I am so glad that I took the plunge and made these.   First, because I proved to myself that I could do it.  I will never fear the diva of desserts again!  And second, because they tasted as divine as they looked!     And, I have to give an extra shout out to David for his fabulous chocolate sauce.  He calls it his little black dress of sauces because it goes with everything and never fails to impress.  He is so right!  That sauce took about five minutes to prepare and was just amazing.  Plus, it didn’t have a drop of butter or cream in it.

Please, please, please don’t be afraid to try these soufflés for yourself.  If I can do it, so can you.  And just think how special your sweethearts will feel when they see what a masterpiece you created just for them!

Happy Valentine’s Day!

When I was a little girl, I hated milk.  H.A.T.E.D. it!  As milk is a pretty big staple in a young child’s everyday diet, this was a problem.  Back then, there weren’t many options for kids like me.  My mother couldn’t run out to the store to pick up soy, rice or almond milk as a substitute, though I probably wouldn’t have liked those any better.  Apparently, my pediatrician told her to just feed me lots of pudding and ice cream to get calcium in me.  Can you imagine prescribing high fat, sugar-laden desserts to boost calcium intake?  I was one lucky kid!  But, I’m reasonably sure that today’s modern baby docs would not approve.

One of the things that my mom used to make for me a lot was tapioca pudding.  I L.O.V.E.D. tapioca pudding!  I used to call it “bubble pudding”, because the tapioca pearls reminded me of tiny bubbles.   Perhaps, this is where the seed for my obsessive adoration for creamy foods was planted.  Mom would serve it in little cups lined with vanilla wafers.  The pudding would soak into the wafers and make them all soft and mushy.  Good stuff! 

Tapioca is basically a root starch derived from the cassava plant.  It’s commonly used as a thickening agent in both sweet and savory foods.  I’ve used it in place of flour or cornstarch to thicken up fruit pies.  Tapioca comes in a few different forms, such as powders, flakes and large or small pearls.  It doesn’t have any flavor of its own to speak of, so it takes on the personality of whatever you add it to.   And, you might have noticed that I also happen to think that tapioca pearls are very photogenic.

I like to enjoy my tapioca pudding with fresh whipped cream swirled in.  Here, I’ve paired it with some of the Slow Roasted Strawberries I made last week.  You can add whatever you like to it.  Sometimes, I stir chocolate chips or raisins into the pudding while still warm.  I’ll bet a drizzle of dulce de leche would be wonderful too!

Fortunately, I eventually overcame my aversion to milk, and actually enjoy a cold glass under the right circumstances.  But, it sure ain’t the same as a bowl of rich and creamy tapioca pudding!

Enjoy!

I’ve eaten a lot of flan in my day – maybe hundreds of pounds.  I’ve eaten it in Mexico, Puerto Rico and in numerous other Caribbean locales.  I’ve also eaten it Cuban-style, thanks to an old college roommate whose family was from Cuba. I’ve ordered it in every Latin restaurant I’ve ever dined in.  I’ve experienced custardy flans, creamy flans, eggy flans and watery flans.   I think it’s safe to say that I know my flan.  And this flan, my dear readers, is the best I’ve ever had.  It’s the Holy Grail of flan.  It’s flantastic.  It is literally caramel covered crack.

The original recipe for this flan came my way over thirty years ago, when my Aunt Yolanda shared it with my mother.  You remember my Aunt Yolanda, don’t you?  She’s that swingin’ 60’s chick I told you about a while back.  Well, she happens to be a fantastic cook too.  (She’s the one who taught me that you should never eat mashed potatoes without some buttery, golden corn mixed in.)  And once upon a time, she had a neighbor from Puerto Rico who was also a fantastic cook.  I don’t remember the neighbor’s name.  We’ll just call her Maria.  Anyway, Maria gave Aunt Yolanda her family’s recipe for flan and all others have paled in comparison ever since.

Why is this flan so amazing?  I think the secret lies in two ingredients that I’ve rarely seen in other recipes – cream cheese and cornstarch.   Both of these ingredients appear to bind the others for a firmer, smoother product.  While still soft and creamy, Maria’s flan does not have that spongy, waterlogged texture that one often finds with flan.  Oh no, no, no!  This flan is dense (in a good way) and impossibly  rich and velvety.  And, you know how a traditional custard flan can sometimes be cloyingly sweet?  Well, not this one.  The cream cheese adds a little tang that balances perfectly with that sticky, gooey caramel.  I would describe it as a cross between a custard and crustless cheesecake.

Another thing about this flan is that it is so darned easy to make.  Aside from the caramel, which is a necessary evil in any flan recipe, everything is just mixed together and whizzed up in a blender.  And to be honest, even making the caramel isn’t really that challenging.

Maria’s original recipe is for a straightforward, traditionally flavored flan.  However, it lends itself to lots of different interpretations.  Since Thanksgiving is right around the corner, I’ve punched up this flan with some pumpkin puree for the perfect holiday dessert.  The mildly sweet and earthy flavor of pumpkin just goes so well with all the rest of that creamy, caramelized goodness.

If you want to knock your friend’s and family’s socks off this Thanksgiving, Make. This. Flan.  They will think you’re a rock star and shower you with praise and gifts.  (There might even be a little jewelry in it for you.)  And, even if they don’t, the pleasure you derive from eating this luscious, caramel-covered crack on a plate will be reward enough!

Enjoy!

I know that today is Sunday and I’m supposed to post a recipe for La Tavola della mia Famiglia.  But it’s also Halloween, and I couldn’t let the occasion pass without sharing a few spooktacular pumpkin recipes from the SGCC archives.

Enjoy!

Pumpkin Muffins

Pumpkin Mascarpone Pie and Bourbon-Pumpkin Cheesecake

Pumpkin Gingerbread Trifle

Pumpkin Bliss Cupcakes

Have a happy and safe Halloween!

Why, oh why do these Daring Bakers challenges always sneak up on me? It happens every time!  I woke up at 4:00 this morning in the kind of cold sweat that could only mean that today was the “reveal date”.  And, I had nothing.  Absolutely nothing.  Again.  So, I dragged myself out of bed, put on a pot of coffee and (very quietly) got to work.  Let me tell you, it’s not easy to create a culinary masterpiece in the dead of night with few night lights and a sleeping puppy in the corner of the room! But, I did my best.  Unfortunately, the situation wasn’t conducive to taking photos, so I didn’t get any “process shots”.  But, I did get a few nice ones of the finished product once the sun came up.  C’est la vie!

The May 2010 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Cat of Little Miss Cupcake. Cat challenged everyone to make a piece montée, or croquembouche, based on recipes from Peter Kump’s Baking School in Manhattan and Nick Malgieri. A classic piece montée is a high cone made of profiteroles (cream-puffs) sometimes dipped in chocolate, bound with caramel, and usually decorated with threads of caramel, sugared almonds, chocolate, flowers, or ribbons.  Piece Montée, literally means “mounted piece” in French.  You may know this dessert by its other name – Croquembouche (“crunch in the mouth”).

I had grand plans for this one too. I originally wanted to make it as my birthday cake last week, but since I couldn’t manage to get my whole family together to celebrate, it seemed pointless.  And then, I got busy with other things and forgot about it.

Since I was so pressed for time, I decided not to try to get too creative with my piece montée, and stuck to the recipe provided by Cat.  It was just as well, because plain creampuffs are one of my all time favorite treats.  Fortunately, I had made both pate a choux and crème patissiere  a few times before and kind of knew how what I was doing.  The caramel part kind of scared me a little, but I have made that before too, so I knew the pitfalls I might face.  I guess the angels were smiling on me (or else they just felt sorry for me), because I didn’t run into any significant problems along the way.  (Hmmm. Maybe I should make all of my fancy desserts when I’m half asleep!)

I didn’t use a form for my tower of creampuffs. That was an extra step I didn’t need to deal with.  I just piled my “pieces” on top of each other and “glued” them together with the (extremely hot and treacherous) caramel.  Then, I decorated it with some pink tea roses and a few swirls of leftover caramel.

We haven’t torn into my piece montée yet, but I did sneak one of those creampuffs while I was assembling it.  Tres délicieux!

If you’d like to try your hand at making a piece montée, I have provided the recipe below.  Don’t forget to also check out the rest of the groups creations at the Daring Bakers Blogroll.

Bon appétit!

Piece Montée

Note: This recipe has 3 main components: the pate a choux, the crème patissiere, and the glaze used to mount/decorate it. While you can purchase or make a cardboard conical structure to build your piece montée or use toothpicks as an aid, it is relatively easy to assemble it using just the baked pate a choux as the main building blocks and the glaze as the glue.

While a piece montée may be a bit time-consuming to assemble, the various components are relatively easy to make and don’t require any special ingredients. The best part about them is that once you have mastered them, you will be able to go on and make many beloved French French pastries such as éclairs, profiteroles, Paris-Brest, etc. all of which are made with this pate a choux recipe, a filling and glaze.

Preparation time: You will want to use your puff pastry batter and chocolate glaze or caramel as soon as it has been prepared and as close to serving time as possible. This is not a dessert that stores well and it may be a bit temperamental in humid areas as the glaze needs to harden to hold the choux together. The crème patissiere can be made a couple of days in advance and stored in the fridge until ready to use.

You will need approximately 10 minutes to prepare the puff pastry, 10 minutes to pipe and about 30 minutes to bake each batch. The crème patissiere should take about 10 minutes to cook and then will need to be cooled for at least 6 hours or overnight. The glazes take about 10 minutes to prepare.

Equipment required:
• several baking sheets
• parchment paper
• a whisk
• a pastry brush (for the egg wash)
• a pastry bag and tip (a plain tip or no tip is best for piping the puff pastry; you can use a plain or star tip to fill the puff pastry with the cream)
• a flat surface such as a baking sheet or cake board/stand on which to assemble your piece montée
• some of the items you may want to use to decorate your piece montée include ribbons, Jordan almonds, fresh flowers, sugar cookie cut-outs, chocolates, etc.

Ingredients:

For the Vanilla Crème Patissiere (Half Batch)
1 cup (225 ml.) whole milk
2 Tbsp. cornstarch
6 Tbsp. (100 g.) sugar
1 large egg
2 large egg yolks
2 Tbsp. (30 g.) unsalted butter
1 Tsp. Vanilla

Dissolve cornstarch in ¼ cup of milk. Combine the remaining milk with the sugar in a saucepan; bring to boil; remove from heat.

Beat the whole egg, then the yolks into the cornstarch mixture. Pour 1/3 of boiling milk into the egg mixture, whisking constantly so that the eggs do not begin to cook.

Return the remaining milk to boil. Pour in the hot egg mixture in a stream, continuing whisking.

Continue whisking (this is important – you do not want the eggs to solidify/cook) until the cream thickens and comes to a boil. Remove from heat and beat in the butter and vanilla.

Pour cream into a stainless steel/ceramic bowl. Press plastic wrap firmly against the surface. Chill immediately and until ready to use.

For the Pate a Choux (Yield: About 28)
¾ cup (175 ml.) water
6 Tbsp. (85 g.) unsalted butter
¼ Tsp. salt
1 Tbsp. sugar
1 cup (125 g.) all-purpose flour
4 large eggs

For the Egg Wash: 1 egg and pinch of salt

Directions:

Pre-heat oven to 425◦F/220◦C degrees. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.

Preparing batter:

Combine water, butter, salt and sugar in a saucepan over medium heat. Bring to a boil and stir occasionally. At boil, remove from heat and sift in the flour, stirring to combine completely.

Return to heat and cook, stirring constantly until the batter dries slightly and begins to pull away from the sides of the pan.

Transfer to a bowl and stir with a wooden spoon 1 minute to cool slightly.

Add 1 egg. The batter will appear loose and shiny. As you stir, the batter will become dry-looking like lightly buttered mashed potatoes.  Add in the next egg. Repeat until you have incorporated all the eggs.

Piping:

Transfer batter to a pastry bag fitted with a large open tip (I piped directly from the bag opening without a tip). Pipe choux about 1 inch-part in the baking sheets. Choux should be about 1 inch high about 1 inch wide.

Using a clean finger dipped in hot water, gently press down on any tips that have formed on the top of choux when piping. You want them to retain their ball shape, but be smoothly curved on top.

Brush tops with egg wash (1 egg lightly beaten with pinch of salt).

Baking:

Bake the choux at 425◦F/220◦C degrees until well-puffed and turning lightly golden in color, about 10 minutes.

Lower the temperature to 350◦F/180◦C degrees and continue baking until well-colored and dry, about 20 minutes more. Remove to a rack and cool.

Can be stored in a airtight box overnight.

Filling:
When you are ready to assemble your piece montée, using a plain pastry tip, pierce the bottom of each choux. Fill the choux with pastry cream using either the same tip or a star tip, and place on a paper-lined sheet. Choux can be refrigerated briefly at this point while you make your glaze.

Use one of these to top your choux and assemble your piece montée.

Chocolate Glaze:
8 ounces/200 g. finely chopped chocolate (use the finest quality you can afford as the taste will be quite pronounced; I recommend semi-sweet)

Melt chocolate in microwave or double boiler. Stir at regular intervals to avoid burning. Use the best quality chocolate you can afford. Use immediately.

Hard Caramel Glaze:

1 cup (225 g.) sugar
½ teaspoon lemon juice

Combine sugar and lemon juice in a saucepan with a metal kitchen spoon stirring until the sugar resembles wet sand. Place on medium heat; heat without stirring until sugar starts to melt around the sides of the pan and the center begins to smoke. Begin to stir sugar. Continue heating, stirring occasionally until the sugar is a clear, amber color. Remove from heat immediately; place bottom of pan in ice water to stop the cooking. Use immediately.

Assembly of your Piece Montée:

You may want to lay out your unfilled, unglazed choux in a practice design to get a feel for how to assemble the final dessert. For example, if making a conical shape, trace a circle (no bigger than 8 inches) on a piece of parchment to use as a pattern. Then take some of the larger choux and assemble them in the circle for the bottom layer. Practice seeing which pieces fit together best.

Once you are ready to assemble your piece montée, dip the top of each choux in your glaze (careful it may be still hot!), and start assembling on your cake board/plate/sheet. Continue dipping and adding choux in levels using the glaze to hold them together as you build up. (You may want to use toothpicks to hold them in place – see video #4 below).

When you have finished the design of your piece montée, you may drizzle with remaining glaze or use ribbons, sugar cookie cut-outs, almonds, flowers, etc. to decorate.

After I whined and carried on about the Tiramisu recipe in the February Daring Bakers challenge, I got several requests for my tried and true, old standby tiramisu recipe.  When Easter rolled around, I decided to make it and share it with you.  There was one problem, though.  My tiramisu recipe includes raw egg yolks, espresso and booze, all of which are verboten for my seven year-old nephews.  I certainly didn’t want to serve a luscious dessert for our Easter feast that the little guys couldn’t enjoy, so I had to modify my recipe.  What I came up with was a version that had none of the offending ingredients, but was so fabulous that I may never go back to my old recipe again!

Instead of using the raw egg yolks, I borrowed from the DB recipe and made a zabaglione, which is basically a light custard with egg yolks, sugar and Marsala wine.  Instead of the two yolks called for, I upped the ante and made mine with six. The result was super rich and creamy, and perfect for my tiramisu.

My next hurdle was the espresso.  I knew that if I fed high test, sugar-laden coffee to my already rambunctious nephews, my sister-in-law would probably never speak to me again. What to do, what to do….  I loved the orange flavored tiramisu I had made for the DB challenge and I wanted to reproduce those flavors, which brought me to my next obstacle – that orange syrup was made with Grand Marnier – another no-no for the boys.  So, I killed two birds with one stone and combined Grand Marnier, dark rum, fresh orange juice and sugar to make a different orange syrup.  In this one, however, I boiled and reduced the ingredients so that all of the alcohol was cooked off.   Then, I mixed the syrup with some more fresh orange juice and ended up with a lovely, intensely flavored dipping liquid for my ladyfingers.

Once my orange tiramisu was all chilled and ready to serve, I grated some good bittersweet chocolate on top to make it all pretty (and more delicious).

The verdict?  My newfangled version of tiramisu was a resounding dreamy, creamy success!  I only wish I had a photo of it cut so you could see the inside.  I took these pictures before dinner. But, once I served it, there were forks flying everywhere and it was gone before I could even find my camera!  You’ll just have to trust me when I say it was like Florida sunshine on a plate.

Enjoy!

I’ve thought about them so many times over the years.  Little girls in blue and grey, enveloped in giggles as they played hopscotch and double dutch in an asphalt covered schoolyard.  Little girls racing home after school to watch Barnabas Collins and Angelique face off on Dark Shadows.  Little girls hurrying down to Larry’s Candy Store to score some Double Bubble and sneak a read of the latest issue of Tiger Beat magazine.  And later, bigger little girls, experimenting with neon blue eye shadow, grabbing a “slice” from the Pizza Shack and strutting their (not quite yet developed) stuff down the “Avenue”.   It’s funny.  Most days, I can’t recall what I ate for breakfast or where I stashed my car keys.  But, I remember each one of those bright and shiny faces – my own included – even though it’s been over thirty-five years since I last saw any of them.

I don’t know.  Maybe my own mortality is catching up with me.  But lately, I’ve been feeling so nostalgic for those old days.  It’s like I have this urgent need to remember as much as I can, so that I never forget.  Does that make any sense?  It’s a little hard to explain – even to myself.

Anyway, a few weeks ago I found a group on Facebook dedicated to Morris Park, my old neighborhood in the Bronx.  I clicked on it and the page was filled with posts from people about life in the “good old days” in the “old neighborhood”.  Most were like me – the ones that started out there, and for whatever reason, moved on to a life somewhere else. There were also many who still lived there, some even in the same houses they were born in.  Some of the posters just wanted to reminisce. Some were looking to find old friends they’d lost touch with.  I got kind of a rush when I read the comments about places or neighbors that I remembered.  The group’s air of congeniality and familiarity really struck me.  I felt a sort of kinship with them.

I browsed through the list of members of the group.  To my delight, I realized that there were several names that I recognized, including a few old friends from elementary school – those little girls in blue and grey.  WOW!  I got so excited!  I immediately “friended” them, not knowing or even caring if they’d remember me.  Within ten minutes, one had already “friended” me back.  Then, I found this rather exuberant note in my inbox:

“WOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Is this or is this not a BLAST FROM THE PAST????? OMG HOW ARE YOU?????”

It was from Marguerite V., one of my good buddies from St. Clare’s Grammar School.

I remember the first time I met Marguerite.  It was the first day of second grade, and my first day at St. Clare’s.  I was “the new kid”, having just moved back to the “neighborhood” from Westchester.  I was pretty shy back then, and I was scared to death!  This cute little blonde pixie with a big grin on her face walked up to me and introduced herself.  It was Marguerite V.  Then, she introduced me to a bunch of the other kids and invited me to play with them at recess.  I was in!

Marguerite and I became pretty good friends after that.  We had a lot in common.  We both loved to sing and act, performing in school plays and recitals. We ran around in a pack with other pre-pubescent, Catholic school girls and thought we were hot stuff. We didn’t get into too much trouble, though.  Back then everybody knew everybody else, and that included everybody’s mothers.  We knew that if we ever pulled anything, someone’s mother would find out and tell ours about it.  We had fun, but we definitely towed the line.

The St. Clare’s Girls and me at my 5th grade Halloween Party

Then, in the summer between 6th and 7th grade, the unthinkable happened.  My father came home from work one day and announced that we were packing up and moving to Florida.  FLORIDA?  HUH!?!?  What about my friends?  What about my life?  What about my one true love – Bennie Buffamante?

For the first few years after we moved, my family used to go back up to New York for visits a few times each year. I lived for those trips!  They meant that I got to see my gal pals again. Then, little by little, the rest of our family moved to Florida too and we had less reason to return.  Eventually, I lost touch with all of the St. Clare’s girls.  And then, more than thirty years went by…..

Marguerite and I have spent some time chatting and catching up with each other’s lives.  Since then, I’ve reconnected with a few more of the the St. Clare’s girls too.  None of us live in the old neighborhood anymore.  But, through the magic of Facebook, I’ve managed to grab back a treasured piece of the past.

The other day, I bought a gallon of some gorgeous full fat cream from a local dairy.  It was too good to use for just anything.  I really wanted to find some recipes that would highlight the simple purity and natural sweetness of the cream.  Naturally, I posed my request for ideas to my peeps on Twitter and Facebook.  One of the responses I received was from Marguerite.  “Panna Cotta!”, she wrote.

Panna cotta.  Perfect!  This silky, creamy, voluptuous dessert was just the thing to showcase my cream.   Panna Cotta is an Italian dessert made by simmering cream, milk and sugar together, mixing it with gelatin, and letting it cool until it sets into a luscious custard-like cloud.

I asked Marguerite is she would share her panna cotta recipe with me, and she was kind enough to agree.  The only additional ingredient I added was an incredibly plump and moist Tahitian vanilla bean from my stash.  Panna cotta is usually prepared in some kind of a pan or bowl and unmolded before serving.  I decided to serve mine in these pretty little glasses instead.  I think they’re the perfect size for such a rich and decadent treat.  I also made three different toppings to go with the panna cotta: a strawberry gelée, a lemon curd and an espresso jello.  I just kind of made up the recipe for the gelée.  I bought the lemon curd at my local farmers market. And, I swiped the espresso jello recipe from my very talented and creative friend Jen from Use Real Butter.  Oh yes, and the peppermint and spearmint leaves came from my garden.

Marguerite calls her recipe Dominator Panna Cotta for personal reasons I won’t go into.  I kind of like that, so I’m keeping it.  If you’re looking for a new panna cotta recipe or you just need to use up some cream, I urge you to give this one a try.  It is a little bite of heaven in a shot glass!  Each of these three versions were to die for!

So, there you have it: a fabulous recipe for panna cotta and the reason why I love Facebook!