combustication

I remember reading about this recipe quite a while ago from Clothilde’s awesome blog Chocolate and Zucchini (she’s also just come out with a cookbook that looks fabulous) and never quite got it out of my head. Apparently, yogurt cake in France is to chocolate chip cookies over here - a simple childhood recipe. I tweaked the recipe a little bit and added some berries and fresh whipped cream (see below) for a quick and summery dessert. The cake was perfect. Super moist with a lovely crumb and a slightly crisp top makes for good nibbling. It’s pretty much a one bowl affair and takes less than 10 minutes to prep and only 35 minutes to bake. Perfect for summertime!

Yogurt Cake w/Blackberries and Whipped Cream

Ingredients:

For cake:

2 eggs at room temperature
1 cup of lowfat vanilla yogurt
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup walnut oil (or vegetable oil)
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 tablespoons dark rum
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup whole wheat pastry flour (or just use a total of 2 cups AP flour)
1 tablespoon baking powder

For whipping cream:

1 cup heavy whipping cream
2 tablespoons sugar
1 tsp vanilla

blackberries

To Do:

Preheat oven to 350F and grease a large tart pan or 9-10″ cake pan. Mix the flour and baking powder together in a two cup measuring cup and set aside. Whisk the eggs and sugar together in a large bowl and then throw in all of the other wet ingredients (vanilla, oil, rum and yogurt). Once combined, add the flour and baking powder mixture to the wet ingredients, stirring slowly until just incorporated. Do not overbeat. Pour batter into pan and bake for about 35 minutes. The top should become a golden brown (emphasis on golden). Insert a toothpick in the center to make sure the cake is set. Put the cake aside to cool.

In the meantime, if you want whipped cream, chill the bowl and beaters of a mixer for about 10 minutes. Place cream in the chilled bowl and mix on medium-high speed until soft peaks form. Add sugar and vanilla and mix until you get your desired whipped cream consistency.

Serve a slice of cake with a dollop of whipped cream and some berries. Summer on a plate.

More food pics from family Easter time (remember, I broke my camera, so pictures are at a premium)! This one is of a canolli cookie - a new favorite dessert. I got the recipe from Food & Wine and followed it to the letter when I made it for some friends a couple of months ago. This time, I didn’t have some of the ingredients for the cream and winged it, but they were still great. Making the round tubes of cookie can be annoying without a dowel, but I managed with a wine bottle and a wax-paper lined candlestick. I should just get a dowel already. You could also just make a sandwich with the cookies and cream. The results are still delicious. The vanilla and citrus of the cookie play off each other and the cookie is a delicate counterpart to the rich mascarpone cream filling. You could go crazy with add-ins to the cream. It might be fun to put some cocoa in the cookie dough and make a minty cream filling…project for the future!

I’m putting the recipe from Food & Wine pretty much straight. Note: The recipe is by Gina DePalma who is the pastry chef for Babbo.

My sister is very excited.

Cannoli Cookies with Coffee Cream (with Combustication modifications)

Ingredients

For the cookies:

4 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature
2/3 cup sugar
2 large egg whites, at room temperature
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon finely grated orange zest
3/4 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
Pinch of salt

For the cream:
1 cup mascarpone
1 cup heavy cream
1 teaspoon pure coffee extract (I used a tablespoon of extra strength coffee I brewed up)

Confectioners’ sugar, for dusting

To Do
Preheat the oven to 375°. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper. Trace three 4-inch circles (as dark as you can) on each with a pencil; turn the parchment over.

In a medium bowl, using an electric mixer, beat the butter with 1/3 cup of the sugar until fluffy. Add the egg whites and beat until blended. Add the flour, orange zest, 1/4 teaspoon of the vanilla and the salt and beat until smooth.

Using a small offset spatula, evenly spread 1 tablespoon of the batter into each circle (try to make them pretty thin) Bake the cookies, 1 sheet at a time, for 8 to 9 minutes, or until lightly golden and browned around the edges (keep an eye on them and don’t let them get too brown). Immediately roll each cookie around a 1-inch-wide tube or dowel (or other tube-like thing - neck of a wine bottle works) and let cool until crisp. Carefully remove the cannoli from the tubes and transfer to a wire rack. Repeat twice with the remaining batter to make 18 cookies.

In a medium bowl, using an electric mixer, beat the mascarpone at medium speed with the cream, the coffee extract and the remaining 1/3 cup sugar and 1/2 teaspoon of vanilla until firm peaks form.

Fill a pastry bag fitted with a 1/2-inch star tip (or a plastic bag with the tip cut off) with the coffee cream. Carefully pipe the mascarpone cream into both ends of the cookies, finishing with a small rosette at each end. Transfer the cannoli to a platter, dust them with confectioners’ sugar and serve.

The cookies can be stored in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 days (you can also make the cookie tubes and store them before filling them with the cream). Yum!