Chocolate Hazelnut Panna Cotta

We get a surprising number of emails to sample different products and food services, and generally the answer is a resounding, "no thanks." But when Nocciolata asked if we wanted to sample a jar of their chocolate hazelnut spread... well, this amazing panna cotta is the result.

(Pssst: Don't forget to enter our Yummy Supper cookbook giveaway! Go over to this post and leave a comment to be considered! Then come back and get hungry for panna cotta.)

I have long been a fan of Nutella, but I have never been a fan of their list of ingredients. I have tried to make a suitable hazelnut chocolate spread at home, but it will never have that silky smooth texture which is part of the spread's allure. Nocciolata wooed us with ingredients such as dark chocolate from the Antillean Islands, Italian hazelnuts, brown sugar, and bourbon vanilla extract. Oh, and it is organic! We did a side by side tasting of the two and found Nutella to have a more hazelnut-forward flavor with the Nocciolata being more chocolatey.

This was the first time that I had made a panna cotta, and I had been under the false impression that it was difficult to make. It is so, so easy to make! It is not a last minute dessert because it needs a few hours in the fridge to firm up, but the hands on time is only a matter of minutes.

Chocolate Hazelnut Panna Cotta

adapted from this Food Network recipe

• 1 pint heavy cream
• 7 oz of chocolate hazelnut spread
• 1 pouch Knox gelatin
• chopped hazelnuts for garnish, optional

1.  Combine heavy cream and chocolate hazelnut spread in a sauce pan and heat until just boiling. Remove from the heat and add the gelatin, stirring until dissolved.

2. Pour mixture into small bowls or ramekins, and place in the fridge to firm up overnight, or at least 4 hours. Makes 4 servings.

Pots de Crème with Strawberries

Is there anything that sounds quite so divine as Pots de Crème? Little pots of cream, and I can just go at them with a spoon? Vanilla custard, while still sounding pretty darn tasty, doesn't sound nearly as sophisticated. But vanilla custard is what it is, and it has the little specks of aromatic vanilla bean to prove it. This is basically a crème brûlée without the brûlée -- perfect for those of us unarmed with a propane torch.

Sarah and I had just taken the kids to a strawberry patch - my very first time. As we drove in to the little farmette, we were greeted with a sign that read "All Picked Out!" and we had to explain to the kids that there were no strawberries to be had. There were tears.

Just as we were about to leave, the owner of the farm came out and said that there were still some strawberries, but we had to really look for them. A strawberry scavenger hunt! This made our berry-picking adventure all the more exciting. Each little ripe red strawberry was a special treasure. The kids marched around holding their buckets with pride.

When we brought our berries home, we knew we wanted to resist the urge to inhale them all and instead incorporate them into something. But we wanted a dessert that would highlight their unadulterated perfection. No need to cook or puree. Pots de Crème were the answer, as these berries were simply the crowning glory to this sweet, creamy dessert.

Pot de Crème with Strawberries

adapted from The Art of Simple Food, Alice Waters

• 4 egg yolks
• 3/4 cup heavy cream
• 1/2 of a vanilla bean
• 3/4 cup half-and-half
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1 pint strawberries, sliced

1. Whisk the egg yolks together in a medium bowl and set aside. Place the heavy cream in a different medium bowl and set aside. Preheat oven to 350.

2. Split the vanilla bean lengthwise and scrape the seeds into a small pot, adding the scraped out bean to the pot as well. Add the half-and-half and sugar, and stir over medium heat until it is just steaming and the sugar is dissolved. When it is warm, whisk into the bowl of egg yolks. Immediately strain this mixture through a fine colander into the cold cream, mixing well. Remove the vanilla bean from the colander and squeeze all the seeds back into the custard mix.

3. Pour the custard mixture into 4 ramekins, and place them into a baking dish filled with hot water halfway up the sides of the ramekins. Cover the top of the baking dish with foil, sealing the edges. Bake until the sides of the custards are set, but the center is still jiggly - about 25-30 minutes. Remove from the baking dish and let cool.

4. Before serving, top with freshly sliced strawberries.

Chocolate Covered Vanilla Cream Puffs

Cream puffs, profiteroles, éclairs of a different shape, or choux a la crème are all the same delicious thing.  Darling little pastry puffs that bake up light, airy, and practically hollow in the middle and are filled with vanilla pastry cream. Then drizzled with melted chocolate.  I love vanilla, I love chocolate, but my very favorite things are a combo of the two.

I was browsing through the cookbook section at the library and came across a picture of éclairs on the back of one (Dorie Greenspan’s Around My French Table).  Like, the most delicious picture of éclairs you’ve ever seen. Once I saw that picture I could not stop thinking about making éclairs for myself IMMEDIATELY.  After obsessing over cream puffs for about an hour I dropped everything, went to the store to gather my supplies, and got cooking.  I tend to be a little impulsive like that.  But hey! It’s fun! I made cream puffs, I’m not doing anything dangerous!

They’re not difficult to make, but there are quite a few components.  You could easily split this up over a few days if you’d like.  The pastry dough, once plopped into little balls on a baking sheet, can be frozen and then baked (from the frozen state) at any time.  The pastry cream can also be made ahead and then given a quick stir to loosen it prior to spooning it into the cream puffs.  The melted chocolate step is easy – I just melted a nice chocolate bar (but you could just as easily use chocolate chips if you have them on hand) and then drizzled it over the filled cream puffs using a spoon. 

Chocolate Covered Vanilla Cream Puffs

Recipe from Dorie Greenspan’s Around My French Table; a cookbook we highly recommend!

This is a longish recipe and has two steps.  You can make the dough & cream filling separately – the magic doesn’t have to happen all on the same day.  Make the pastry dough, spoon onto a baking sheet, and then freeze for the future.  You can bake these from their frozen state, no need to defrost.  Follow the same directions for baking as un-frozen puffs – they may need an extra minute or so, but that’s it. You can also make the Pastry Cream a day or two in advance – just store it in the fridge until you need it.

Pastry Dough:

• 1/2 cup milk
• 1/2 cup water
• 8 Tablespoons butter, cut into large pieces
• 1 Tablespoon sugar
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 cup flour
• 4 large eggs (room temp)

Preheat the oven to 425. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment or a silpat.

Bring the milk, water, butter, sugar, and salt to a rapid boil.  Add the flour, reduce heat to medium-low, and start stirring like crazy! I used a big whisk, you could also use a wooden spoon.  The dough will come together in a ball, a crust may form on the bottom of the pan – just keep stirring for one to two minutes.  This gives the dough the chance to dry out a bit.

Turn the dough into a large bowl (use a stand mixer if you have one.  I don’t, so I used a hand held mixer), let it cool for a minute, then add the eggs one by one.  Beat and beat until the dough is thick and shiny.

Using about a tablespoon of dough for each cream puff, drop the dough from the spoon onto your baking sheet leaving about 2 inches between each ball.  *Once that’s done you can either bake immediate or freeze the dough balls for use later.*  If you want to bake, slide them into the 425 oven and immediately reduce temp to 375.  Bake for 24-30 minutes.  They’re done when they’re golden, puffed, and firm.

Pastry Cream:

• 2 cups whole milk
• 6 egg yolks
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/3 cup cornstarch
• 1 1/2 tsp vanilla
• 3 1/2 Tbsp butter, cut into small squares

Bring the milk to a boil.  In a separate, larger saucepan, whisk together egg yolks, sugar, and cornstarch.  Whisking without stopping, slowly drizzle the hot milk into the egg yolk mixture.  Go very slowly at first (first 1/4 cup of hot milk) after that it’s OK to speed up a bit.  Keep on whisking, turn up the heat, and bring the mixture to a boil.  Keep it at a boil – and keep up your crazy whisking – for 1-2 minutes. Remove from heat.

Whisk in vanilla.  Let stand for 5 minutes, then whisk in the butter bits.  Scoop into a bowl, cover in plastic, and let cool in the fridge.  Your pastry cream is ready!

To Assemble:

Cut lids off the baked cream puff shells.  They’ll be pretty much hollow inside.  Scoop the pastry cream in to fill them puffs, then put the lids back on.  Melt chocolate and then drizzle over the tops of the filled cream puffs – I did the drizzling with a small spoon.  You’re done!

Meyer Lemon Ice Cream

I have been enjoying a long winter of citrus fruits. Every January, I get a little burst of lemon fever, and it carries me right into the springtime. Here we are, on the very first day of spring, and I have a bit of sweet citrusy heaven to share: Meyer lemon ice cream.

This was my first time ever buying a bag of Meyer lemons. I was mostly surprised by how orange in color they were. I kept reaching into my little bowl of lemons thinking I was going to grab a tangerine. While Meyer lemons are not quite as sour as regular lemons, you could easily substitute regular lemons into this recipe.

I adapted my favorite ice cream recipe to come up with this. It is a custard-based recipe, so it takes a little extra time but the creaminess is so worth it. This ice cream is lemony, but it isn't too tart. The perfect balance of flavors.

Meyer Lemon Ice Cream

• 3 egg yolks
• 3/4 cup half-and-half
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 3/4 cup heavy cream
• 1/4 cup fresh Meyer lemon juice
• zest from two Meyer lemons
• 2 tbs sugar
• pinch of salt

Whisk the egg yolks briefly in a small bowl. Set a strainer over a heat-proof bowl. Heat the half-and-half and 1/2 cup sugar in a heavy-bottomed pot over medium heat, until sugar dissolves. When hot whisk a little of the hot half-and-half into the egg yolks and then whisk warm yolks into the hot mixture. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until it thickens enough to coat the back of a spoon. Do not let it boil. Remove from the heat and quickly strain. Add the heavy cream. Cover the mixture and chill.
Once chilled, stir in the lemon juice, zest, and the 2 tbs of sugar. Add salt. Freeze according to your ice-cream maker's instructions. 

Peanut Butter-Filled Chocolate Cupcakes

If I were forced to choose, I would say that my very favorite flavor combination is that of chocolate and peanut butter. I have a good friend whom I nearly had to cut ties with when I discovered that while she likes chocolate and peanut butter, she does not like them together. This boggles my mind. Boggles, I tell you! I'm sure there are more of you out there -- probably closing out of your browser tab as you read this -- but for the rest of you, I hope that you love this chocolate cupcake, filled and topped with creamy peanut butter. I sure do!

I made these sweet little lovelies for my husband's birthday, and they were a great success. Perfectly chocolatey cupcakes, not too light and not too dark, with a heavenly core of peanut butter goodness. The icing has great peanut butter flavor and isn't too light and fluffy (I want a little more substance).

I even had to chance to experiment with my icing kit which I am pretty wretched at using. (I did not include my first disastrous attempts, but I probably should have just for the yuks.) But really, all you need is a butter knife and you can just slather that icing right on the top. No need for frills. On that note, don't be intimidated by the lengthy recipe below. There are a few steps, but it really isn't very difficult or time consuming (if it was, I wouldn't bother with it myself.)

Peanut Butter-Filled Chocolate Cupcakes

adapted from Annie's Eats and Ina Garten


Makes 24 cupcakes.

Ingredients:


For the filling:


• 1 cup confectioners’ sugar

• 3/4 cup creamy peanut butter
• 
4 tbsp. unsalted butter, at room temperature

• 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract

For the cake:


• 1 2/3 cups all-purpose flour

• 3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

• 1 tsp. baking soda
• 1/2 tsp. salt

• 1 cup sour cream

• 2 tbsp. milk

• 1 tsp. vanilla extract

• 8 tbsp. unsalted butter, at room temperature

• 1 1/2 cups sugar
• 
2 large eggs

For the peanut butter icing:

• 1 cup confectioners' sugar
• 1 cup creamy peanut butter
• 5 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 3/4 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1/3 cup heavy cream

Preheat oven to 350 F. Line two muffin tins with 12 cupcake liners.


To make the filling: Combine the confectioners’ sugar, peanut butter, butter and vanilla extract in a bowl. Beat with an electric mixer on medium speed until well combined. Roll the mixture into 1-inch balls (at least 24) and set aside on a baking sheet.

To make the cake batter: Combine the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda and salt in a medium bowl; whisk together and set aside. In a liquid measuring cup, stir together the sour cream, milk and vanilla extract. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment (I used a hand mixer), combine the butter and sugar, and beat on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Beat in the eggs one at a time, scraping down the bowl as needed.  With the mixer on low speed, alternately add the dry ingredients and the sour cream mixture, beginning and ending with the dry ingredients.  Mix just until incorporated.

Spoon a tablespoon or two of batter into the bottom of each cupcake liner.  Place a ball of the peanut butter filling in each cupcake well and top with the remaining batter so that all the cups are filled. Bake for 18-22 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Allow to cool in the pan for 5-10 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. When the cupcakes are completely cool, top with peanut butter icing.

To make the peanut butter icing:
Place the confectioners' sugar, peanut butter, butter, vanilla, and salt in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment (again, I used a hand mixer). Mix on medium-low speed until creamy, scraping down the bowl with a rubber spatula as you work. Add the cream and beat on high speed until the mixture is light and smooth.

Gingersnap Key Lime Pie

Every other food blogger is sitting down to write about salads and lentils and oatmeal, but not me. After spending my holidays laid up with various colds and sinus afflictions, I am ready to eat. This gingersnap key lime pie is the perfect January treat - fresh with citrus and spiced up with the surprise of a wintry gingersnap crust.

This recipe is straight out of the pages of the newest Ashley English cookbook, A Year of Pies: A Seasonal Tour of Home Baked Pies. Ashley is a woman after my own heart as she lives the seasonal locavore dream. This book is brimming with both sweet and savory pies (emphasis on the former), and as the title suggests, it is organized by season which I always appreciate. All too often I pick up a cookbook and drool over the recipes only to realize that the author must live in a climate that has an everlasting growing season (hmmm, California?) and only the freshest of all produce will do. So it is nice to turn to a chapter entitled "Winter" and find many seasonal beauties. (Brandy and Spice Apple Hand Pies? Yes, please!)

Ashley English's recipes are also not overly tricky, and this key lime pie is actually one of the easiest pie recipes I have ever made! It does require that one ingredient that might not be so easy to find: key limes. I was happy to find a rather inexpensive bag of them at my grocery store, but I hear that bottled key lime juice works just as well. (I also would go ahead and use just regular old limes.) This recipe is actually lighter on the lime juice than many other key lime pie recipes (and thus, a bit less tart). However, I thought it had an excellent balance of tart, creamy, and sweet.

Gingersnap Key Lime Pie

Gingersnap Crust:

• 10 oz gingersnap cookies (about 2 1/2 cups)
• 6 tbs unsalted butter, melted

Filling:

• 1/4 cup key lime juice
• 3 tbs grated lime zest
• 1 can (14 oz) sweetened condensed milk
• 3 large egg yolks, beaten

1. (Make the crust) Preheat oven to 350 F. Lightly butter a 9-in pie pan and set aside. Crush the gingersnaps by pulsing them in a food processor. Combine the crushed gingersnaps and melted butter in a bowl. Stir until incorporated. Press the mixture into the pan, pressing halfway up the sides. Bake for 10 minutes and let cool.

2. (Make the filling) Add to bowl and whisk together until fully blended the lime juice, zest, sweetened condensed milk, and egg yolks.

3. Pour the filling into the prepared cool crust and bake 15 minutes. Cool completely before serving.

Iced Sugar Cookies

This is the essential Christmas cookie. Simple buttery sugar cookies decorated with colorful icing, and just perfect for those festive cookie cutters that you have waiting patiently in the drawer 364 days out of the year.

I am not really one of those people who gets excited about things like Christmas cookies year after year. I mean, of course I want to eat them. But as far as making them, and cutting out cookie upon cookie into reindeers and trees and santas... well, it took having a kid to really see the fun in that. And now I have that kid, all aglow with the magic of Christmas. Thank goodness. It is wonderful to be able to channel her excitement.

 
 For this kind of classic recipe, I find myself turning to my ol' trustworthy Joy of Cooking. I just want something tried and true, that people turn to year after year. And here it is: the steadfast holiday sugar cookie.

 Iced Sugar Cookies

• 3 1/4 all-purpose flour

• 1 1/2 tsp baking powder

• 1/2 tsp salt

• 2 1/2 sticks (20 tbs) unsalted butter, softened

• 1 cup sugar

• 1 large egg

• 1 tb milk

• 1 tb vanilla

• 1/4 tsp lemon zest

1. Whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt.

2. In a large bowl, beat butter and sugar together until well blended. Add egg, milk, vanilla, and zest and beat until mixed.

3. Add flour mixture to butter mixture, and stir until smooth. Divide the dough in half, and place each half between two large sheets of wax paper. Roll out to a scant 1/4 inch thick. Keeping the wax paper in place layer the dough onto a baking sheet and place in the refrigerator for about 20-30 minutes.

4. Preheat oven to 375 and grease your cookie sheets. Peel away the top layer of wax paper. Cut out your cookies using your festive cutter of choice. With a spatula, transfer to the cookie sheets, spacing about 1 1/2 inches apart. Roll up the scraps and continue cutting out shapes until all dough is used. (You can refrigerate the dough if it becomes to soft to handle.)

5. Bake, 1 sheet at a time, just until the cookies are lightly golden on top, 6-9 minutes. Remove the cookie sheet to a rack and let stand until cookies firm slightly. Transfer cookies to racks to cool completely. Makes about 3 dozen cookies depending on cookie cutter size.

Quick Cookie Icing

• 4 cups powdered sugar

• 3-4 tbs water

Stir sugar and water together until smooth, adding more water or sugar as needed for the desired consistency. Add food coloring as you like.  Makes 1 cup.

Tangerine-Almond Tart with Chocolate Drizzle

In the summer, it is so easy to be inspired by fruits and vegetables. In the spring, anything new and green is a promise of all the deliciousness to come. And even in fall, pears and pumpkins feel cozy and fun. But in the winter, it can be hard to muster up that excitement that comes so easily throughout the rest of the year. 

But when I received a handful of juicy tangerines in my Door to Door Organics box, a few still holding onto their vibrant green leaves, I was both inspired and excited. A mad googling ensued, and being the tart-lover that I am, I came up with this delicious creation.

 Tangerines, almonds, and chocolate? I know, it is a trifecta of winter flavor. Better yet, this tart has a fabulous shortbread crust. The recipe that I am working from is from EatingWell. Their recipe called for a rather laborious crust involving whole wheat pastry flour and lots of kneading and rolling. No thanks! This shortbread crust takes fewer ingredients (that we all have), plus you just press it right into the pan.

I loved the way this tart turned out. The citrus and almond flavors were in perfect balance. The chocolate is, well, always a pleasure. If you don't have picture perfect tangerines on hand, oranges will absolutely do the trick.

The chocolate drizzle is something that I haven't done before, and you can see that my work is not so very beautiful. But even my amateurish job impressed my dinner mates. TIP: Spoon your melted chocolate into a sandwich bag, and then cut the tip of a corner off. Squeeze away.

Tangerine-Almond Tart with Chocolate Drizzle

Crust:

• 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/3 cup sugar
• 1 tsp grated tangerine or orange zest
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 8 tbs unsalted butter, cold, cut into cubes
• 1 large egg yolk (save the white for the filling!)

Filling:

• 1/2 cup slivered almonds
• 1/3 cup sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 egg white
• 1/2 cup tangerine juice (about 3 tangerines) or orange juice
• zest of 3 tangerines (about 3 tsp)
• 3 oz semisweet chocolate chips

1. Preheat oven to 400. Butter the bottom of a 9.5-in two piece tart pan. In a food processor, process the flour 1/3 cup sugar, zest, and salt for a few seconds to combine. Add the butter, and process until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Add the egg yolk (don't forget to save the white for the filling) and process just until it comes together in a ball. Pat the dough into the tart pan, prick the bottom all over with a fork, and then bake for 18-20 minutes. Set aside.

2. Turn oven down to 375. Clean out your food processor. Place almonds on a cookie sheet and toast in the oven for 3 to 5 minutes, until golden and fragrant. Let cool for a few minutes.

3. Place the almonds and 1/3 cup sugar into the food processor and process until almonds are ground. Add eggs, egg white, tangerine juice, and zest to the processor, and process until well blended. Scatter half of your chocolate chips over the crust. Pour the tangerine filling into the crust.

4. Bake the tart at 375 for about 25-30 minutes. The filling should be set. Melt your remaining chocolate chips in a double boiler (I used a small metal bowl placed over a pot of boiling water -- the bowl should be above and not touching the water), or you can use a microwave if you have one of those newfangled gadgets. Drizzle the chocolate decoratively over the tart (see my tip in the paragraph preceding the recipe!)

Hazelnut Crescent Cookies

It is that time in Colorado when one day it is blustery and cold with snowflakes in air and then the next day it is 70 degrees and sunny. We have to check the weather channel in the mornings to know whether a coat and mittens are appropriate, because it is possible that a simple long-sleeved tee will do the trick. But whatever you are wearing, you walk into Target and you are greeted with large displays proclaiming that the holidays are coming! Quick, buy something! Gifts! Lights! Wreaths!

I am happy to say that I haven't bought a single thing. I haven't even hung the wreath on the door. But I have done something far more important: I have made some holiday cookies.

 These types of nut cookies have always been favorites of mine. I like that you can easily sub out the nut if you don't happen to have the one called for. (Hazelnuts are so delicious, but pecans would also be perfect.) Their shortbread-y texture means that they practically melt on your tongue. And I don't know what it is about that quick roll in the powdered sugar that they get, but they just look and taste festive.

 

My 3-year-old has been begging me to make cookies lately. I'm sure she would have preferred that I work some chocolate chips into the recipe somehow, but she still had a lot of fun shaping the cookies into little crescent moons. If I didn't watch closely, she would simply ball them up and put them on the cookie sheet. "Full moons," she explained. 

Hazelnut Crescent Cookies

Adapted from Food & Wine

• 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter

• 1 cup confectioners' sugar, divided

• 3 large egg yolks

• 1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

• 1/2 tsp salt

• 1 3/4 cup all-purpose flour

• 3/4 cups hazelnuts

1. Preheat your oven to 350 F.

2. Grind your hazelnuts in a food processor until finely ground. (The original recipe called for blanched hazelnuts, but I didn't have them and unblanched worked just fine.)

3. Place parchment paper on two cookie sheets. In a large bowl, use a mixer to beat the butter with 1/2 cup confectioners' sugar until pale and fluffy. Add the egg yolks, vanilla, and salt, and beat until blended. Beat in flour and ground hazelnuts.) Cover the dough and refrigerate until firm, about 30 minutes.

4. Use about 2 tbs of dough for about each cookie, and roll them and shape them into crescent shapes. As you shape, place each cookie on the trays, about an inch apart from each other. Bake the cookies for about 18 minutes, until lightly browned. Let them cool until ready to handle (5 minutes or so).

5. Spread the remaining 1/2 cup of confectioners' sugar in a shallow bowl. Gently dip each cookie into the sugar and coat evenly. Transfer cookies to wire racks and let them cool completely. Makes about 20 cookies.

Plum Hazelnut Shortbread

Gather up those sweet tart plums that are all over the place right now, and put them to good use in this hazelnut shortbread!  It’s a layer of rich, crumbly shortbread infused with toasted hazelnuts, then topped with orderly slices of plum.  Any fall fruit would be delicious here – and will look pretty as long as you arrange them in some sort of orderly and symmetrical way, but the combo of sweet shortbread with tart plums was pretty tasty. 

The hazelnuts give the buttery shortbread an almost toffee-like flavor.  They also make it a bit more richn and crumbly – in a good way.  The shortbread dough will be sandy and crumbly, but if you squeeze a handful of it it’ll stick together in a clump.  And as you can see, the final product holds together quite nicely.

Orderly lines or arrangements of fruit are always pretty in my book, and the color of the baked plums turned out to be lovely and bright against the rest.  Next time I might even crowd the plum slices even closer together…

Plum Hazelnut Shortbread

• 1/2 cup toasted hazelnuts, ground to sandy stuff in the food processor
• 1 cup flour
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 egg yolk
• pinch salt
• 1/2 cup (one stick) cold butter, cubed
• 4 small plums, evenly sliced

Toast approx 1 cup hazelnuts in the oven at 350 for 8 minutes, or until golden brown.  Let cool, then pulverize to a sandy consistency in the food processor.  This should yield slightly more than 1/2 cup ground hazelnuts.  Measure out 1/2 cup and use that in the recipe; the rest is extra.
Preheat oven to 375
Combine flour, sugar, salt, and egg yolk in a large bowl. Cube the cold butter and add to the mixture.  Combine everything with your hands or a pastry cutter until it’s all crumbly and damp.  It won’t stick together much, but you’ll know it’s ready when you can grab a handful and squeeze and it stays in a clump.
Press shortbread evenly into the bottom of an 8x8 square baking pan.  Line the sliced plums in some sort of orderly and pretty layer over the shortbread. 
Bake at 375 for 25 minutes, or until shortbread is golden brown on the edges.

Grilled Peaches with Bourbon Butter Sauce

This is simple recipe that’s incredibly fast and easy to pull together, but ends up looking beautiful and impressive. If you’ve got summer fresh peaches on your counter and a bottle of bourbon in the liquor cabinet, I’m willing to bet you have everything you need for this delicious dessert.  Whipped cream or ice cream are an added bonus that I’m a fan of, but not a requirement.

This would be perfect for an outdoor dinner party because the prep is minimal, and once you’ve gotten the grill hot for the main dish it’s easy to throw a couple of peach halves on there for dessert.  You don’t have to peel the peaches (but we thought it make them easier to eat), and you don’t even have to mess around with flipping them on the grill.  Just sear the flat side for 3 minutes and you’re done.  Resist the temptation to poke & peak at the roasting peach halves so that you don’t disturb the pretty grill marks that are in the making.

Melt four ingredients together (bourbon, brown sugar, butter, and cinnamon) on the stovetop, then pass this rich spicy sauce around the table to top the warm sweet peaches.  It doesn’t get any better for summer desserts.

Recipe inspiration by The Church Cook

Grilled Peaches with Bourbon Butter Sauce

• 2 ripe peaches (optionally peeled)
• 2 Tbsp butter
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 1/4 cup bourbon
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• pinch of salt
• optional topping – whipped cream or vanilla ice cream

Peel the peaches if you’d like, then cut each in half and remove the pit.  Put peaches aside on a dish to await grilling.
Combine butter, brown sugar, bourbon, and cinnamon on the stovetop over medium heat.  Heat and stir until the sugar is completely dissolved and the sauce is hot and bubbly.  Pour into a small pitcher to await serving.
Grill peaches on a hot oiled grill for approximately 3-4 minutes.  Remove from grill and serve with warm bourbon butter sauce and whipped cream or ice cream.

Raspberry Rhubarb Crumble

This raspberry rhubarb crumble is so simple.  It’s a pie pan full of ripe fruit topped with a simple three-ingredient streusel like topping.  We sometimes add rolled oats or almonds for extra crunch, but that’s not necessary. In fact, that might transform this from a crumble to a crisp, according to here and here?  We're not sure...seems like an age old argument to us.  Call it what you will - this dessert bakes up crispy and buttery on top with sweet tart fruit on the bottom.

This is my new go-to summer dessert. It isn’t as pretty and orderly as other old standbys. But when it’s hot out and you have a boatload of fresh fruit that you want to whip into a delicious dessert – there is nothing easier.

This crisp is flexible too – just use any ripe fruit you’ve got on hand. Top it with some ice cream or crème fraiche and you are set! 

Rhubarb Raspberry Crumble

Topping:

• 1/2 cup cold butter, cubed
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup white flour
• (optional) 1/2 cup oats
• (optional) 1/4 cup almonds, finely chopped

Combine all ingredients, cutting the cold cubed butter into the other dry ingredients until you have a coarse sand. Pop this in the fridge while you put everything else together. Chilling isn’t necessary, but some (like Nigella Lawson) think it makes for a more crispy crumbly bumpy topping!
Filling:

• 1 1/2 cups raspberries
• 1/2 cup chopped rhubarb
• 2 Tbsp brown sugar

Pour the fresh fruit into a pie pan, sprinkle with the 2 Tbsp brown sugar. Get your bowl of Crumble Topping out of the fridge and sprinkle it evenly over the fruit filling.
Bake at 350 for 45 minutes.

Bourbon Cream Float

Yep. Three indulgences come together to make one adults-only dessert which is still just a kid at heart. 

I recently waxed poetic about bourbon for our cocktail column at Whole Foods. Now I am finding myself looking for new and different ways to use bourbon other than the time-honored Old Fashioned. Pouring it over a scoop or two of ice cream seemed well worth a try. (Better yet was the notion of pouring it over our new favorite bourbon from local distillery Dancing Pines.)

I will confess that I'd meant to pick up root beer at the market when I picked up cream soda instead. At first I was irritated, but then I realized a cream soda float didn't sound half bad. In fact, it is delicious! The cream soda (we used Virgil's) is mellower than root beer and lets the bourbon flavor really shine through.

[Note: Toddler is salivating over the prospect of forthcoming ice cream, not booze.]

Bourbon Cream Float

• 1-2 scoops vanilla ice cream

• 2 oz bourbon

• cream soda

1. Scoop ice cream into a tall glass.
2. Pour bourbon over ice cream.
3. Fill glass to top with cream soda. Enjoy!