Peach Cobbler

The topping was too heavy.  That’s all I have to say about that.  1 1/2 cups AP flour, 1 1/2 tsp baking powder, 3 tbsp cold butter, 1/3-1/2 cup milk.  Makes a lot of big clumps of dough.  Maybe if I’d made it more of a crumble top?

Peanut Butter Frosting

I want to marry this frosting.  I was so afraid it would be an overly buttery sickening mess, but it was exactly the light and fluffy peanut butter I wanted.  Yay cream!

1 cup confectioners’ sugar

1 cup creamy peanut butter

5 tbsps unsalted butter, at room temp

3/4 tsp vanilla extract

1/3 cup heavy cream

Combine everything but cream, then beat in cream on high speed until mixture is light and smooth.  I halved this and had plenty for 18 chocolate cupcakes.

Gingersnap-Pear Cheesecake

Not bad for my first attempt at a cheesecake.  Unless you count that 1/2 cheesecake, 1/2 mouse pumpkin chocolate pie I was inspired to make by the beauty that is the Godiva Pumpkin Truffle.

I only made a wee one, and think my textural concerns would be less of an issue in the full-sized version.  Or if I kept the fruit ratio to what’s in the recipe — I tend to believe you can’t have too much fruit, but it might be better to add it as a topping rather than in the actual cheesecake.  The flavor was perfect.

Actual recipe:

6 tbsps butter, melted

1 1/2 cups crushed gingersnaps (about 40 cookies, and yay Trader Joe’s triple ginger snaps!)

2 small ripe pears (any kind) – peeled, cored, and sliced about 1/8 inch thick

1/2 tsp ground ginger

16 oz cream cheese at room temp

1 1/4 cup granulated sugar

2 large eggs at room temp

3 tsp vanilla extract

1 cup sour cream, at room temp

Heat oven to 350, and combine crushed gingersnaps and melted butter in a bowl.  Press the mix to a 9 inch springform pan and bake for 20 minutes.  Toss pears and ginger in a bowl and line the cooled crust with them.  Beat cream cheese, 1 cup sugar, eggs, and 1 tsp vanilla until smooth, then pour over the pears.  Bake about 50 minutes, until the top is barely set.  In small bowl combine sour cream and remaining vanilla and sugar, then pour over the cheesecake and bake for 8 minutes. Cover and refrigerate at least 4 hours before serving.

Polenta Cake with Plums

So, there’s this whole long involved recipe for the polenta cake, where you make the instant polenta with milk and butter and then whisk in an egg yolk and honey and sugar, and then fold in the separately beaten egg white and sugar.  I a) still only had Trader Joe’s ready made polenta (which is ready made with water, not milk and butter and sugar) and b) didn’t really care.  So I took the ready made polenta and mixed it up with a dash of cream and a bit of sugar and a lot of honey and way more vanilla than anyone else probably would, and the whole egg.  And then I popped it in the oven and hoped for the best.  And it turned out pretty damn well.  Some texture issues I’m not sure about, but by the time it was sopping in melty ice cream and diced plums I didn’t really care about that, either.  Yay unrepeatable experiments!

Sticky Toffee Cupcakes with Chocolate Topping

Nigella is on such a winning streak I’m afraid to jinx it.  Or that I’ll get enormously fat.  My house smells so good right now I don’t care.  There’s no toffee at all in these, and they don’t taste like toffee, but the name is delicious all by itself.  Although, maybe I’ll do some experimenting and see what happens when you throw toffee in the mix . . .

 I didn’t follow the recipe exactly (didn’t measure the fruit, and didn’t have any dates and just regular dark raisins).  Wasn’t patient enough to wait for the topping to “blob,” either, so it’s a bit of a mess but it hardly matters.  And the foil cupcake holders are definitely important — half the cake will stick to the paper ones, but all that means is that it takes a bit longer to get in my belly.  Makes a dozen small (not Betty Crocker super-sized) cupcakes, but it will take me about a dozen hours to eat all of them myself (original plan was to have them available to share tomorrow, but that might not happen).

 Actual recipe:

Chocolate Raspberry Pavlova

This is probably the prettiest dessert I’ve ever made, and that’s saying something.  I halved it and could still feed four comfortably, so the halved recipe is below.  And I learned that I can make a meringue, and people who are scared of them are wusses.  And that a piece of plain white paper stolen from the printer can substitute for baking parchment in a pinch with no ill effects.  Surprisingly easy to make on a week night, but not something you want to serve without a crowd.  And need to find some seedless raspberries, if such things exist.

Oh — check out next week’s spaghetti carbonara if you need something to do with the left over egg yolks. 

Actual recipe:

Applesauce Spice Cake

The recipe says to serve it warm with ice cream, which I’m sure would be very nice, but I’d rather just eat more cake.  I might want more fruit in this — maybe some dried apples to go with the raisins, since I didn’t have extra chunky applesauce as suggested.  Maybe more spice while I’m at it, too.   Oh!  Those Triple Gingersnaps sitting in the freezer.  I should just make a fruit cake and be done with it, I suppose.

Actual recipe:

Ricotta Hotcakes

Nigella wouldn’t lie. So maybe it was the use of low-fat ricotta.  Surely a woman who eats pork cracklings on television wouldn’t dither about with low-fat ricotta.  Or maybe I just don’t like ricotta, even though Katherine swears by it.  But instead of some perfect combination of breakfast and dessert, I just wound up with blah.  Anything that involves me going to the trouble of separating eggs should be more impressive.  Nice having the berries, though.

Actual recipe: