Strawberry Shortcake

What better way to conjure up memories of the joys of youth than strawberry shortcake? Strawberry shortcake consists of sliced strawberries that have been macerated with whipped cream served over a white cake or biscuit.

I’m from the camp that insists that strawberry shortcake is made with a biscuit, not a cake. Growing up we always made the shortcake biscuits with Bisquick baking mix, which now, thankfully, has a zero-transfat version of their product.

The best of course are biscuits made from scratch, using butter and cream. I’ve included recipes here for excellent homemade biscuits, the Bisquick biscuits, and also wheat and gluten-free biscuits for those who don’t want to give up strawberry shortcake just because they can’t eat wheat.

Strawberry Shortcake Recipe

• Prep time: 15 minutes
• Cook time: 25 minutes

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Ingredients

Strawberries and whipping cream:

• 3 baskets of fresh strawberries (about 6 cups)
• 1/2 cup white granulated sugar for the strawberries
• Whipping cream
• Vanilla
• Powdered sugar

Method

1 Cut the stems away from the strawberries and discard. Cut the strawberries in half, and then either quarters or thick slices. Put the cut strawberries into a large bowl and sprinkle with sugar. Start with 1/4 cup of sugar and then add up to another 1/4 cup depending on how sweet your strawberries are. Gently stir the strawberries until they are all coated with some sugar. Let sit at room temperature for about 20 minutes, until the berries soften and begin to release their juices.

2 After 20 minutes or so, mash about half of the berries in the bowl with a potato masher and stir to mix. You don't want to mash all the berries, just enough of them for their juices. Let sit while you bake the biscuits.

3 Bake the biscuits using one of the recipes below.

4 While the biscuits are baking, whip the cream, adding a drop or two of vanilla and a teaspoon of powdered sugar. Cover with plastic and place in the refrigerator to chill until ready to serve.

To serve, break up one biscuit per person into big pieces into a bowl. Ladle strawberries over the biscuit. Add a dollop of whipped cream.

Biscuits from scratch

• 3 cups all purpose flour
• 3 Tbsp sugar
• 1 1/2 Tbsp baking powder
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 12 Tbsp cold unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
• 1 1/2 cups heavy cream
• 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

In a large bowl, vigorously whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt. Cut the butter into the flour mixture, either using your fingers, a pastry cutter, a fork, or a food processor, until the largest pieces of butter are the size of peas. Mix the vanilla and cream together. Make a well in the center of the flour and pour the cream into it. Mix with a fork until the mixture is just combined. It should look rather shaggy and feel a little dry. Gently knead by hand a few times to form a loose ball of dough.

Place the dough on a lightly floured surface and form it into an 8-inch square, about 3/4-inch to an inch thick. Place it on a parchment or silicone-lined baking sheet, cover with plastic wrap and chill for 20 minutes. Heat the oven to 425ºF. Remove the dough from refrigerator. Cut the dough into 9 even squares and spread them about 2 inches apart from each other on the baking sheet. Bake until the biscuits are medium golden brown, 18 to 20 minutes.

Makes 9 biscuits. (Adapted from Fine Cooking Magazine, July 2003)

Bisquick biscuits:

• 2 1/3 cups Bisquick baking mix
• 3 Tbsp butter, melted
• 1/2 cup milk
• 3 Tbsp sugar

The strawberry shortcake biscuit recipe used to be on the side of the Bisquick box. For some unfathomable reason, the company has started to print the recipe on the inside of the box. Talk about not understanding your customers! If you can't find the recipe, here it is:

Heat oven to 425°F. Stir baking mix, melted butter, milk, and 3 Tbsp of sugar in a mixing bowl until soft dough forms. Drop by 6 spoonfuls on to a greased cookie sheet. Bake 10-12 minutes or until golden brown.

Makes 6 biscuits.

Gluten-free biscuits:

• 1-1/2 cups Gluten Free All Purpose Baking Flour (Bob's Red Mill)
• 1 Tbsp. Sugar
• 2 tsp. Baking Powder
• 1/4 tsp. Baking Soda
• 1 tsp. Xanthan Gum
• 1 tsp. Guar Gum
• 1/2 tsp. Salt

• 1/4 cup Shortening
• 1/2 cup Milk
• 1 large Egg White

Preheat oven to 350ºF. Line baking sheet with parchment paper or grease lightly.

In food processor, pulse dry ingredients (flour through salt) with shortening until mixture is consistency of small peas. Add milk and egg white. Blend until dough forms ball, scraping down sides with spatula, if necessary. Dough will be somewhat soft.

Place dough on parchment-lined or greased baking sheet that’s been lightly dusted with rice flour. Gently pat to 3/4-inch thick circle with hands or spatula. Lightly dust dough with rice flour. Cut into ten 2-inch circles with floured biscuit cutter. Shape remaining dough to 3/4-inch thick and cut again. If dough is sticky, lightly dust with more flour. Arrange evenly on baking sheet.

Bake 12-15 minutes or until nicely browned. Best when served warm or gently reheated in microwave oven. Serves 10. (Recipe from Bob's Red Mill)

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Strawberry White Chocolate Mousse

We recently came across an intriguing recipe for strawberry mousse cake in Martha Stewart Living and decided to skip the cake part and just make the strawberry white chocolate mousse. It was fabulously cool and rich, just the dessert for a warm spring evening.

The following recipe is modified slightly. I found we didn’t need as many strawberries as the magazine’s recipe suggested. Also, we served the mousse with some remaining strawberry purée on top. The purée is not sweetened and adds a lovely mildly tart balance to the rich mousse.

Strawberry White Chocolate Mousse Recipe

• Yield: Serves 6-8.

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Ingredients

• 1 ½ pounds of strawberries
• 2 Tbsp fresh lemon juice, divided
• 8 ounces white chocolate, finely chopped
• 1 ¼ teaspoon unflavored gelatin (about half a small envelope)
• 2 cups heavy cream
• 2 Tbsp powdered (confectioner's) sugar

Method

1 Clean and hull the strawberries. Starting with about half of the strawberries (3/4 pound), quarter them and purée them in either a blender or food processor. Then press the purée mixture through a mesh sieve with the back of a spoon into a bowl. You want to end up with 1 cup of purée. Stir in 1 Tbsp of the lemon juice and set aside. With the remaining 3/4 pound or so of berries, slice as many as to fill up 2 cups, and set aside.


2 Melt white chocolate in a double boiler, or a stainless steel bowl set over simmering water (make sure the simmering water doesn't actually touch the bottom of the bowl.) Stir until smooth, set aside.


3 Put 1/4 cup of cold water into a small bowl. Sprinkle the gelatin powder over the water and let sit for 5 minutes.

4 Put 1/4 cup of the cream into a small saucepan on medium heat. Whisk in 2 tablespoons of the powdered sugar and bring to a simmer. Stir in the water gelatin mixture until dissolved. Pour this mixture into the bowl with the melted white chocolate and whisk until smooth. Stir in 3/4 cup of the puréed strawberries, reserving the remaining 1/4 cup.

5 Using an electric mixer with the whisk attachment, beat the remaining 1 3/4 cup of cream on medium-high speed until medium peaks form. (It helps if your cream is very cold.) Stir a  third of the whipped cream into the chocolate mixture. Using a large rubber spatula, gently fold the remaining whipped cream into the mixture. Refrigerate for 1 hour.

6 Stir the remaining 1 Tbsp of lemon juice into the reserved sliced berries. Fold the sliced berries into the mousse. Spoon mousse into serving cups and refrigerate for at least another hour, preferably several hours, or even over night (cover with plastic wrap).

7 When you are read to serve the mousse, pour a dollop of the reserved strawberry purée onto each serving. Add a few slices of strawberries as garnish.

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Rhubarb Crumble

When my father was a kid growing up in Minnesota, in the summer he used to love to chew on rhubarb that grew like a weed around there, RAW. That’s right. Raw. (The stalks, not the leaves which are poisonous.) Have you ever tried biting into a piece of raw rhubarb stalk? I dare you. It’s like a hundred times more sour than a lemon (okay maybe a little exaggeration here). It’s screaming tart. It’s “what was I thinking?” tart. Anyway, rhubarb is not safe around this house. The refrigerator half life for rhubarb is a couple hours at best. This last bunch we put to work into a lovely rhubarb crumble, based on a recipe dad found in Oprah magazine (yes, I had to get over the shock of that too, my dad, reading Oprah? then again she does have good recipes). Taking a tip from The Flavor Bible, I added a touch of cardamom to the vanilla and rhubarb in the filling, rhubarb+cardamom+vanilla being one of those match-made-in-heaven flavor combinations.

Another favorite combo with rhubarb that I love is ginger and orange zest, which would also work great with this crumble. Feel free to experiment. The only thing you need to really keep an eye on is making sure you have enough sugar to balance out the tartness of the rhubarb. The ratio of rhubarb to sugar in this recipe is perfect for us, but if it ends up being too tart for you, add a little more sugar, or just eat with vanilla ice cream, whipped cream, or even straight cream.

Rhubarb Crumble Recipe

• Yield: Serves 8.

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Ingredients

Filling:

• 2 lbs rhubarb, cut into 1-inch pieces
• 1 1/4 cups white sugar
• 1/4 cup all purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cardamom

Crumble Topping:

• 1 cup all purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup light brown sugar
• 1/2 cup of butter (1 stick or 4 ounces), cut into cubes

Method

1 Preheat oven to 375°F. In a medium sized bowl, mix together the rhubarb, white sugar, 1/4 cup of flour, the vanilla extract, and the ground cardamom. Spoon into a 9 x 13-inch baking dish.

2 In a food processor, pulse together 1 cup of flour, the salt, and the brown sugar. Add the butter and pulse until the pieces of butter are pea-sized. (Alternatively, mix the dry ingredients together and cut the butter in with two knives or a pastry cutter.) Spread topping mixture over rhubarb mixture.

3 Place in oven and cook for 35-45 minutes, until the filling is bubbly and the topping is lightly browned. Let cool for at least a half an hour before serving.

Serve with vanilla ice cream or whipped cream.

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Strawberry Mascarpone Tart

Strawberries are in season now in California (even in my little garden) and the markets are filled with them. One of my favorite desserts on this site is a mascarpone mousse with strawberries in a balsamic syrup. The combination of balsamic vinegar and sweetened strawberries is one of those heaven-made matches that you simply must try if you haven’t already. (Sprinkle a little good quality, aged balsamic over some sugar macerated strawberries and you’ll see what I mean.) Combine that with a sweetened mascarpone base, and it’s just, well, really really good. Like eat the whole batch and forget about dinner good.

This week I experimented with putting these ingredients to work in a strawberry tart, happily for the family (dad had a box of strawberry jello out on the kitchen counter to prepare and when I told him I was making a strawberry tart, he said, “well, if you must,” smiled, and put the box away.) I made a tart crust using my standard pâte brisée recipe in a tart pan and also experimented with some frozen puff pastry.

Both work fine, I loved the taste and flakey texture of the puff pastry though I had a bit of trouble rolling it out to a size large enough to hold a comparable amount of filling and strawberries as the tart pan. My advice is to just use a crust you are most comfortable with. You’ll need to bake the crust first, as this tart is a no-bake tart. I experimented with mascarpone and ricotta combinations, my preference is straight mascarpone for the tart, but experiment and see what you like.

Strawberry Mascarpone Tart Recipe

• Prep time: 1 hour, 30 minutes
• Cook time: 35 minutes
• Yield: Serves 6 to 8

You can bake the tart shell a day ahead of time, keep at room temperature (do not chill). Fill the shell with filling and strawberries just before serving.

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Ingredients

Tart Shell

• 1 recipe pie dough (see Pâte Brisée recipe, increase sugar to 1 1/2 teaspoons)

OR

• 1 sheet of puff pastry, thawed
• 1 egg, whisked

Filling and Glaze

• 2 lbs strawberries, stemmed and quartered
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 1 Tbsp orange zest, divided
• 1 teaspoon lemon juice
• 12 ounces mascarpone cheese (can also use 8 ounces mascarpone mixed in with 4 ounces of ricotta or 4 ounces of whipped cream)
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
• 1/3 cup confectioner's sugar (powdered sugar)
• 1 Tbsp balsamic vinegar (substitute a teaspoon of lemon juice if you don't have balsamic)

Method

1a Using Pie Dough Roll out the pie dough and line a 10-inch tart pan with the dough. Prick the bottom of the shell all over with the tines of a fork. Freeze for 20 minutes. Preheat oven to 375°F. Line the tart shell with aluminum foil or parchment paper. Fill at least two-thirds with pie weights - dried beans, rice, or ceramic or metal pie weights. Bake initially for 15 minutes, then remove from oven, let cool enough to handle, and remove the aluminum foil or parchment paper and pie weights. Return to oven and cook until lightly browned at the edges, about 20 more minutes. Let cool completely.

1b Using Puff Pastry Roll out puff pastry sheet to 15x5 inches or 12x12 inches. Place on a baking sheet. Fold the edges over to form a border. Prick bottom of pasty with tines of a fork. Chill for 20 minutes. Preheat oven to 400°F. Use a pastry brush to brush on egg wash over exposed surfaces. Place in hot oven and cook until nicely browned all over, about 15 minutes. Remove from oven to a rack, let cool completely.

2 Gently combine strawberries, half of the orange zest, and the granulated sugar in large bowl so that the strawberries are coated with sugar. Let sit to macerate for 30 minutes.

3 Mix together the mascarpone cheese, confectioner's sugar, the remaining orange zest, lemon juice and the vanilla in a medium bowl until well combined. Refrigerate until needed.

4 After the strawberries have macerated for 30 minutes, place a sieve over a bowl and drain the liquid out of the strawberry mixture into the bowl. Take that strawberry liquid and put it in a small saucepan. Add a tablespoon of balsamic vinegar to the saucepan, and bring to a boil on medium high heat. Boil until the liquid has reduced to the consistency of syrup, remove from heat and let cool.

5 Assemble the tart. Spread the mascarpone mixture over the bottom of the tart shell. Arrange the strawberries on top of the mascarpone mixture. Use a pastry brush to brush on the balsamic glaze.

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White Chocolate Macadamia Nut Cookies

White chocolate and macadamia nut cookies are such a classic, aren’t they? We’ve been over here brainstorming about ideas for Christmas cookies and thought we might try our hand at this one. The challenge was with macadamia nuts and white chocolate, both very rich ingredients, how to give this cookie a bit of sparkle.

Our solution?A touch of instant coffee granules added to the dough. The cookie already has macadamia nuts and vanilla, both tropical ingredients. A little coffee flavor added to the mix, coffee also being a tropical ingredient, gives this cookie a splash of pizazz. While any instant coffee granule will do, I use and recommend the VIA packets sold at Starbucks. The granules are finely ground, and dissolve easily in the mixture. If you use decaf granules, you won’t have to worry about getting a coffee buzz from a cookie.

White Chocolate Macadamia Nut Cookies Recipe

• Prep time: 15 minutes
• Cook time: 15 minutes
• Yield: Makes about a dozen cookies

This recipe can be made either with a stand mixer, or by hand with a bowl, a wooden spoon, and strong arms. If you use salted butter, please omit the added salt in this recipe.

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Ingredients

• 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour (160 g)
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 cup unsalted butter (1 stick, or 8 Tbsp, or 112g) at room temperature
• 1/2 cup white sugar (90 g)
• 1/2 cup dark brown sugar, packed (85 g)
• 1 large egg
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/2 teaspoon instant coffee granules or instant espresso powder
• 1/2 cup chopped macadamia nuts (3 1/2 ounces, or 100 g)
• 1/2 cup white chocolate chips

Method

1 Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C). Vigorously whisk together the flour, salt and baking powder in a bowl and set aside.

2 Beat the butter until fluffy. Add the brown and white sugars and beat until smooth. Beat in the egg. Add the vanilla extract and instant coffee and beat until creamy. Add the dry ingredients a third at time, mixing after each addition. When the batter is combined, fold in the nuts and chocolate chips with a wooden spoon.

3 Drop the cookie dough by heaping tablespoon amounts on a greased baking sheet, place 2 inches apart from each other to allow enough room for the cookies to spread as they bake. Bake for 9 to 11 minutes, or until the edges are nicely browned and the center is just barely cooked. Take the cookies from the oven and let rest for 5 minutes, then move them to a rack to cool completely.

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Ricotta-Mascarpone Mousse with Balsamic Strawberries

Ever stumble upon something that everyone else seems to know about or has tried, but for you it’s a brand new oh-my-gosh discovery, and then you feel like an idiot, because, where have you been?

For me, that something was the combination of fresh strawberries, sugar and balsamic vinegar. I’ve certainly heard rumblings about it (check out some of the links at the end of this recipe), but the idea of adding any kind of vinegar to strawberries just didn’t seem right. How wonderful to be oh-so-wrong.

Of course you do need to use balsamic vinegar, an aged, deeply flavored, somewhat sweet vinegar; an ordinary vinegar probably won’t taste that good; if that’s all you have use some grated lemon zest and a little lemon juice instead.

The mousse is extremely easy to make – folded together whipped cream, mascarpone and ricotta cheeses. This recipe is based on one from our local Sacramento food celebrity chef, Biba Caggiano, and is a great mostly make-ahead recipe for summer entertaining.

Ricotta-Mascarpone Mousse with Balsamic Strawberries Recipe

• Yield: Serves 8.

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Ingredients

• 1 cup heavy cream
• 1 pound whole milk ricotta cheese
• 8 ounces mascarpone cheese
• 3/4 cup granulated sugar
• Grated zest of one lemon
• 2 pounds strawberries, hulled and cut into quarters
• 1/4 cup balsamic vinegar, or to taste

Method

1 In a medium bowl, beat the cream until soft peaks form.

 
2 In a large bowl combine the ricotta, mascarpone, 1/2 cup of the sugar, and lemon zest. Using an electric beater, whip the ricotta-mascarpone mixture until thoroughly combined and smooth.

3 Gradually fold the whipped cream into the ricotta until the mixture is smooth. Cover and refrigerate for a couple of hours.

4 Put strawberries in another bowl. Half an hour before serving gently mix in the remaining sugar and balsamic vinegar. Make sure you don't let the strawberries sit in the balsamic vinegar much longer than 30 minutes before serving or the acidity of the vinegar will cook the strawberries.

5 When you are ready to serve, fill glass bowls halfway with the strawberries and their juices. Spoon on the ricotta-mascarpone mousse or use a pastry bag to pipe the mousse.

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Sweet Potato Pie with Pecan Topping

I’ve had so many friends rave about sweet potato pie that when I found a recipe for one in Martha Stewart’s Everyday Food magazine I just had to try it. Given that I completely botched the first pie crust (forgot to chill it before baking it -grrr) and many steps require chilling this or that for an hour, the whole production took a lot longer than I thought it would. Was it worth it? Yes! This is a delicious sweet potato pie and worthy of any Thanksgiving table.

Sweet Potato Pie with Pecan Topping Recipe

• Yield: Serves 8.

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Ingredients

• 1 1/2 lbs sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into 2 inch pieces
• 2 large eggs
• 1/3 cup plus another 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
• 3 Tbsp maple syrup
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 3/4 cup plus 1 Tbsp heavy cream
• 1 pre-baked pie crust (see pie crust recipe for instructions on pre-baking a pie crust)
• 3 Tbsp butter
• 1 cup of pecans, half of them lightly chopped, the other half whole

Method

1 Make the pie crust. (See pie crust recipe for instructions on pre-baking a pie crust.) If you use a store-bought frozen crust, you do not need to pre-bake it, just defrost it 10 minutes and prick the bottom all over with a fork before using.

2 Make the sweet potato purée. In a large saucepan, cover the sweet potato pieces with water and bring to a boil. Simmer for 15 minutes or until the sweet potato pieces are soft when poked with a knife or fork. Drain. Purée in a food processor until smooth. You may need to add back a little liquid (a tablespoon or two of water) to get a smooth consistency. Let cool completely before using.

3 Prepare the pie. Preheat the oven to 375°F. Place rack at bottom of oven. In a large bowl, whisk together the eggs, 1/3 cup brown sugar, and maple syrup until smooth. Add the sweet potato purée, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, and 3/4 cup of cream. Mix until completely smooth. Pour into cooled crust.

4 Bake the pie. Bake on lowest rack for 50 minutes, until filling has set. You may want to tent the edges of the pie with aluminum foil or a pie crust protector to prevent the pie crust edges from burning. Cool on rack for one hour. Then transfer to refrigerator and chill completely.

5 Make the pecan topping. Melt 3 Tbsp butter in a small saucepan over medium heat. Add 1/2 cup of brown sugar and cook, stirring, until smooth, about 3 minutes. Add 1 Tbsp cream, and mix in. Add the pecans, mix to coat the pecans with the sugar mixture. Let cool for 1 minute. Pour mixture over cooled pie. Use a rubber spatula to spread topping over the top of the pie. Cool until topping has hardened, about 30 minutes.

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Strawberry Nectarine Fruit Salad

Every summer gathering should include a fruit salad, don’t you think? Nectarines and peaches are in season right now and when I saw some beautiful white nectarines at the market I couldn’t resist. We used to have a white nectarine tree whose fruit you had to eat leaning over the sink they were so juicy. Grocery store-bought nectarines are much firmer than the ones we used to grow, but that firmness just helps them hold up better in a fruit salad like this.

My favorite way to make any fruit salad, including this nectarine strawberry version, is to toss the fruit with honey, a little lemon juice, and some thinly sliced fresh mint from the garden. The honey helps the fruit macerate and extract some of their juices, the lemon juice contributes a little tang, and the mint? The mint plays well with them all.

I made this salad a few days ago to cap a lunch I prepared for my friends Lisa and Jenny, who insisted that I put it on the blog. So here you go girls! The recipe is shown to serve four, but you could easily scale it up for a Labor Day gathering crowd.

Strawberry Nectarine Fruit Salad Recipe

• Prep time: 10 minutes
• Yield: Serves 4

The proportions are flexible, depending on the sweetness of your fruit and what you have on hand. We used about a 2:1 ratio of nectarine chunks to strawberries.

The amounts given are for four servings. You can easily scale up this recipe to feed a crowd!

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Ingredients

• 2 to 3 large white nectarines (3/4 pound to a pound), cut into edible sized chunks, pit and stem removed
• About 8 to 10 fresh strawberries, stems removed, quartered
• 1 Tbsp honey
• 1 teaspoon lemon juice
• 4 leaves fresh mint, thinly sliced

Method

Gently toss the chopped nectarines and strawberries together in a medium bowl with the honey and lemon juice. Let sit for 15-20 minutes, so that the fruit has a chance to macerate.

Right before serving, gently toss with thinly sliced fresh mint.

Taste for tartness. If too tart for your taste, sprinkle a little sugar over it. If cloyingly sweet, sprinkle with a little more lemon juice. The level of sweetness or tartness will depend on the specific fruit you are using, so you will need to make adjustments depending on your fruit.

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Plum Galette

We’ve got plums coming out the wazoo at the moment. Every time I mention a potential plum recipe my mother’s eyes light up with what appears to be frantic joy; she can’t give them away fast enough and she’s tired of making plum freezer jam (20 pints and counting). Unfortunately, the plums required for this recipe hardly put a dent in her inventory; little more than a pound is needed. But this rustic plum tart (also called a galette) is bright and delicious, and a great way to put some extra plums to work. With different varieties of plums, some raisins, and pecans all adding to the mix, every bite has a slightly different flavor, all good. We even threw in a few tart pluots for added measure.

Plum Galette Recipe

• Yield: Makes six servings.

The amount of sugar needed depends on the tartness of the plums. If all you have are fairly ripe, and therefore fairly sweet, plums, use a little less sugar and add a little lemon juice.

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Ingredients

• 1 recipe pate brisee pie crust
• 6-8 tart plums, pitted and sliced (about 1 1/4 pounds net)
• 1/4 cup raisins (preferably golden)
• 1/4 cup chopped pecans
• Zest from one lemon
• 2 Tbsp flour
• 1/2 cup sugar

Method

1 In a medium sized bowl, gently toss the plum slices with the raisins, pecans, lemon zest, flour and sugar.

2 Preheat oven to 375°F. If you are using homemade chilled pie dough, remove it from the refrigerator to let stand for 10 minutes before rolling out.

3 Lightly flour a clean surface and roll out the pie dough to a 13-inch round of even thickness.

4 Place rolled-out pie dough in the center of a small-rimmed, lightly buttered baking sheet. Place plum mixture in the center of the pie dough round, leaving a border of 2 inches on all sides. Fold the edges of the pie crust up and over so that circle of the filling is visible.

5 Place in the middle rack of the oven. Bake at 375°F for 40-50 minutes, until the crust is lightly browned and the filling is bubbly. Cool on a rack for an hour before serving.

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Rhubarb Berry Pie

The first time we made this pie we used blueberries instead of blackberries and a whole cup of sugar instead a half. The blueberries were frozen and not completely thawed or drained. The pie ended up being runny (pie soup anyone?), the blueberries dominated the flavor (they were all you could taste), and the pie was way too sweet. Well, my mother liked it, but she likes things super sweet. My father and I love the tartness of rhubarb and want to taste it. So naturally, as soon as that pie was half eaten, we made plans to make another one. This time we used marionberry blackberries, frozen from last season, along with fresh rhubarb and strawberries. We cut the sugar to 1/2 a cup (a little tart, could have used another tablespoon or two) and remembered to defrost and drain the marionberries. Perfect! (Don’t you love fruit pie season?)

Rhubarb Berry Pie Recipe

• Yield: Makes 8 servings.

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Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups sliced rhubarb
• 1/2 to 3/4 cup sugar (1/2 cup will yield a pie slightly on the tart side)
• 3 Tbsp quick-cooking tapioca
• 1 cup sliced strawberries
• 1 1/2 cups blackberries, boysenberries, or mixed berries (if you use frozen berries, first defrost them and then drain them of excess moisture)
• 1 Tbsp lemon juice
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
• Dash of ground mace or nutmeg
• 1 pie dough recipe for top and bottom crust

Method

1 Roll out one ball of pie dough on a lightly floured surface to 12-inch diameter. Line the bottom of a 9-inch pie pan with the dough. Chill in refrigerator while you prepare the fruit.

2 Stir sugar and quick cooking tapioca pearls together in a large bowl. Add the rhubarb, strawberries, and other berries. Add the lemon juice, vanilla, and mace or nutmeg. Stir gently to coat berries with the sugar. Let sit for 15 minutes, stirring once. Preheat oven to 375°F.

3 Roll out second ball of pie dough. If you plan to do a lattice top, as pictured, prepare the dough strips as described in How to Make a Lattice Top for a Pie Crust.

4 Scoop fruit mixture into dough-lined pie dish.

5 If you would like a lattice top, weave strips of pie dough over the top of the fruit-filled pie dish as described in How to Make a Lattice Top for a Pie Crust. (If you would like a solid top for your pie, place the second rolled-out pie dough crust on top of the pie.) Press ends of strips into the rim of the bottom crust. Trim the edges to 1/2-inch. Fold the edges back over themselves and crimp to seal. If you are using a solid top crust, score the top to create air vents.

6 To protect the crust edges from burning, cover the edges of the crust with aluminum foil or an aluminum pie protector. Bake in the middle rack for 25 minutes. Remove the foil. Return to oven and bake for an additional 20-30 minutes, until the top is golden and the juices are bubbling. Cool completely before serving.

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Rose Petal Flan

Have you ever encountered a stubborn teenager who outright refuses to eat something new, in spite of everyone telling her how good it is? At some point you just give up and say, “oh have it your way, all the more for the rest of us.”

I was that stubborn teenager one summer in Mexico City, surrounded by my host family pleading with me to try this weird looking dish that they had translated as “burnt milk”. I’m forever grateful my friend’s mother Señora Argüelles didn’t give up on me that day. After finally submitting to one bite, I ate all that remained in the pot. Ever since that day flan is one dessert that I simply cannot refuse.

This recipe makes a fabulous flan, giving you the scent of roses with every bite. (Perfect for Valentine’s Day, don’t you think?) The recipe is adapted from the cookbook Dona Tomas: Discovering Authentic Mexican Cooking from the Doña Tomas restaurant in Oakland, California.

Rose Petal Flan Recipe

• Yield: Serves 4.

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Ingredients

Topping:

• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 2 Tbsp water

Custard

• 2 cups whole milk
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 2 eggs
• 2 egg yolks
• 1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 tablespoon rose water*

Special items needed

• 4 6-ounce ramekins

*Rose water can be found in Mediterranean markets and also Whole Foods in the baking department. According to the Doña Tomàs book you can also make your own by boiling a cup of rose petals (fresh from a garden, not store-bought, no pesticides, no fungicides) in a cup of water with a tablespoon of honey, for 10 minutes. Let steep overnight and then strain. Refrigerate for up to 2 weeks.

Method

1 Have your ramekins ready, near the stove. When you pour out the caramelized sugar you will want to work fast. Place the sugar and water in a small, thick-bottomed saucepan. Heat on medium heat. As the sugar beings to melt, gently stir with a wooden spoon to break up unmelted lumps. Once the sugar has melted it will begin to turn golden and then darker brown. As soon as it turns a strong shade of reddish brown, remove the pan from the heat, working quickly, evenly divide the sugar between the ramekins, coating the bottom of each ramekin. Place the ramekins in a 2-inch deep baking dish.

2 Preheat oven to 350°F. In a small saucepan, on medium high heat, mix sugar and milk until the milk is warm to the touch and the sugar has completely dissolved (about 120°F). Do not let the milk boil. Remove from heat. In a separate mixing bowl, whisk together eggs, egg yolks, vanilla and rose water. Temper the egg mixture with a little (about 1/4 cup) of the warm milk mixture, whisking as you add the milk. Add the egg mixture back into the pan of milk. Lower the heat to low and whisk the egg mixture in for a minute until the egg mixture is fully incorporated.

3 Pour custard mixture into the ramekins, up to about 1/4-inch from the top edge of the ramekins. Pour enough hot water into baking pan to come halfway up sides of ramekins.

4 Bake on the middle rack until centers of flans are gently set, about 45 minutes. Transfer flans to rack and cool. Chill until cold, about 2 hours. (Can be made 2 days ahead.)

5 To serve, run small sharp knife around flan to loosen. Turn over onto plate. Shake gently to release flan. Carefully lift off ramekin allowing caramel syrup to run over flan. Repeat with remaining flans and serve. If you have refrigerated the flan over night and the flan won't easily release, you can heat it in the microwave for a few seconds (10-15) to loosen it.

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Chocolate Peanut Butter Bars

Please welcome guest author, my good friend and neighbor, master baker, and fellow food blogger Evie Lieb, who shares a recipe for a favorite treat—no-bake chocolate peanut butter bars—with easy substitutions to make them kosher for Passover! ~Elise

These chocolate peanut butter bars are a classic treat, and so easy to make—no baking required! They hold a popular place on my holiday cookie platter, and with just a couple of substitutions, they can be easily made kosher for Passover too.

Graham cracker crumbs are mixed in with the peanut butter to give the base structure and crunch. For a Passover substitution for the graham crackers, we use either ground up toasted matzo, or ground Passover crispy cereal. Confectioner’s sugar and a little honey provide the sweetness in the base. When observing Passover we make our own confectioner’s sugar by grinding granulated sugar with potato starch.

This recipe makes a delicious confection (a cookie? candy bar?) whether preparing them the classic way, or Passover-friendly. In any case these goodies are a great choice for dessert after a meal and they make a perfect snack anytime. My husband has given the matzo version the ultimate compliment: they do not taste like a Passover dessert!

Chocolate Peanut Butter Bars Recipe

• Prep time: 30 minutes
• Cook time: 5 minutes
• Yield: Makes 3 dozen bars.

These bars freeze well if you want to make ahead.

Yum

Ingredients

Peanut butter layer:

• 1 1/4 cup of graham cracker crumbs (use toasted matzo crumbs* or ground Passover crispy cereal if following the Passover dietary rules)
• 1 1/4 cup of confectioner's sugar (use Passover-friendly confectioner's sugar** if following Passover dietary rules)
• 3/4 cup plus 2 Tbsp of crunchy, natural peanut butter (no added preservatives or corn syrup)
• 8 Tbsp (4-ounces) unsalted butter, melted
• 2 Tbsp honey

Chocolate topping:

• 9-ounces semi-sweet chocolate chips (1 1/2 cups) (use Kosher chocolate chips if making for Passover)
• 1 Tbsp butter

Equipment needed:

• A 9x9-inch square baking pan with straight sides (can also use an 8x10 or 8x11 baking pan)
• Food processor
• Parchment paper or non-stick aluminum foil

* Take 4 or 5 sheets of matzo, roughly break into chunks, toast in a hot dry skillet on high heat until the crumbs begin to brown and you can smell the matzo toasting. Remove from heat, let cool for a minute, place in a food processor or mini-chopper, and pulse until ground to the consistency of coarse bread crumbs.

**2 cups of granulated sugar in a food processor or blender, and 2 Tbsp of potato starch. Process until very fine. Use 1 1/4 cups for this recipe. You'll have some leftover which can be used for other recipes for Passover.

Method

1 Line the baking pan with parchment paper or non-stick aluminum foil. Line the pan in a way so that you have an overhang on at least 2 opposite sides of the pan to make it easy to lift up the bars once they have set.

2 In the bowl of a food processor place the crumbs and the powdered sugar. Pulse until well mixed. Add the peanut butter, melted butter, and honey. Process until well blended. The mixture should hold together, almost like a dough. If it's too dry, add a little more melted butter. If it's too wet, after you press it into the bottom of the pan in the next step, you can chill it in the fridge for 10 minutes to firm up a bit.

3 Press the peanut butter mixture into the bottom of your lined pan in an even layer. You can use the flat bottom of a measuring cup, small saucepan, or smaller baking pan to press on the mixture to help make the surface more even.

4 Place a metal bowl over a saucepan with simmering water (not boiling, but gently simmering). Place the chocolate chips and butter into the bowl.  Melt the chocolate chips, stirring occasionally, until smooth.

5 Spread the melted chocolate evenly over the peanut butter layer in the pan. (An offset spatula is a good tool for this.) Refrigerate for at least an hour.

6 Lift the contents from the pan onto a cutting board. Cut into 36 bars, 1-inch by 2 1/4 inches.

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