Archive for February, 2009
Dark & Sweet Bread Pudding
In my search for seasonal sweets to celebrate Cupid’s big day, I immediately fell head over heels in love with this recipe the moment I laid eyes on it in my RSS feed. Two of my favorite flavors in the entire world – pumpkin and dark chocolate – combined into a rich and comforting bread pudding. But, to tell the truth, there was an immense foreboding in my mind as I chopped up my very last winter squash for the year. I couldn’t stop myself from wondering, “Am I being greedy? Is this demanding too much of the culinary fates to have both chocolate and pumpkin in one dessert? Will the whole dish become a muddled mess of flavor that doesn’t satisfy either craving for warmly spiced pumpkin or intense 75% cocoa?”
I know that the marriage of chocolate and pumpkin is nothing new, and I’ve actually enjoyed a pie made of both that was indeed quite tasty. Generally speaking though, this combo does seem to always disappoint ever so slightly. But who am I to resist such temptations even in the face of possible folly? To be completely blunt, I am somebody who has one hell of a weakness for both chocolate and pumpkin and thus no ability to resist.
Let me just cut to the chase. This bread pudding is ethereal in its complex balancing act of these two domineering flavors. Neither diva gets to take center stage, but they both get to show off the best of their personalities. I think it’s the thick cubes of sweet challah that we have to thank for that. It cushions both the pumpkin and chocolate like delicate tissue paper keeping antique dishes from uncomfortably banging together. That analogy’s not working for you? Okay, the challah is like the moist layers in a wedding cake separating what would be otherwise overpowering and competing filling flavors like lemon curd and raspberry. Long story short, this dish is utterly amazing.
Now, a word or two of advice on the two main ingredients. First, use good dark chocolate here people. Don’t go skimping by using up the last of the brittle Hersey fun-size bars from the kids’ Halloween party. I have a block of outstanding dark chocolate I got from a gourmet bulk food store that nearly cost what some of us might put towards a monthly car payment. But it was worth every penny because it tastes phenomenal and, as most everything bought in bulk is, it wound up being cheaper than the Hershey bar at the end of the day.
As for the “pumpkin”, you’ll notice I used a butternut squash. It’s a lesser known fact that most any winter squash with a bulging collar at the base of the its stem where it connects to the body can be used for any recipe calling for pumpkin. In fact, some – myself included – might argue that other varieties of winter squash make a better “pumpkin” than pumpkin itself does. I’ll make this dish again sometime in the future with your standard orange seamed orb, but I’m fairly confident that it won’t be quite as good since the butternut squash used this time is more flavorful and just a tad bit sweeter so it stood up to the dark intensity of the chocolate.
All debates and quandaries aside, I really must say this is probably my favorite dessert to date on SFTF. Make yourself a generous bowl of real whipped cream (1 cup heavy cream beat on high with 2 tablespoons of superfine sugar until stiff peaks form) to lather on top, and you’ll have nary a care or a craving in the world…until you hit the bottom of the bowl.
Heart Tarts
Hum-a-na, hum-a-na, hum-a-na! Be still my beating heart! Indeed, Cranberry Heart Tarts garnished with Chocolate Covered Cranberries are worthy of much adoration and attention. This luxurious tart, in the perfect shape and color for serving up to your sweetie on Valentine’s Day, is perhaps the easiest dessert I’ve ever made. Assuming you’ve got some frozen cranberries on hand (they are not in season in February), I have to practically insist you make this tart.
Back in college, I worked at the Allentown Farmers Market, a great under-cover year-round market that brought in lots of farmers and specialty food purveyors. I happened to help out at one of those specialty food stands and distinctly remember the onslaught of customers the weekend before Valentine’s Day desperately seeking boxes of our plump delicious chocolate covered strawberries. Mind you, they cost over a dollar a piece, a price this then poor college student who happened to know how to make her own at home for pennies thought was outrageous! Still, for the three years that I worked there, we sold out every single time.
Chocolate and fruit do epitomize the food that might be served at a lovers’ tryst. Not wanting to ignore that association in my current quest for local seasonal sweet treats but lacking any strawberries, I decided I’d give coating cranberries in chocolate a go. They are wonderful – the sweet rich chocolate coating breaks over a burst of tart juice in your mouth. Like any perfect union, these two flavors compliment each other flawlessly.
Sweet Tenderness
Hello, February, month for loved ones huddled close in your bitter cold nights. While I’m not much of a “girlie-girl” the rest of the year, I am pretty keen on Valentine’s Day, profusion of pink and all (pink being my least favorite color so it’s worth noting that it doesn’t bother me nearly as much when coupled with sweets and handmade cards with hearts drawn in crayon). Granted, I spent many a February single and wasn’t always so chipper about it, but even when I didn’t have a date, I was lucky enough to have a friends and family who were just as special. And of course the past several years with D has made winter days brighter and Valentine’s Day itself all the more fun.
This February I’m on a quest to come up with some truly outstanding and downright indulgent seasonal treats that would make any loved one glow when they find out you took the time to make it for them. The challenge, as you likely know, is finding anything locally grown this time of the year, let alone the typical fruits that go into sweet treats. If only chocolate were a local commodity and strawberries grew in snow!
Needless to say, we’ve got to get creative in order to celebrate a holiday like Valentine’s Day with desserts made from locally grown products. I actually have several smashing successes for you that I’ll be sharing over the next two weeks. To kick off this little “local sweet treats” event, here’s a recipe for Sweet Potato Cupcakes with Honey Ginger Buttercream Frosting.
I had a fairly pathetic harvest of sweet potatoes from my garden this past season thanks to a family of hungry moles that built their home under my raised bed and chewed out all the big flavorful roots on my vines. What they left untouched were only the slender crocked young roots that they no doubt thought weren’t worth their time to hunt out. Fortunately for me (haha), these spindly “leftovers” proved to be extremely sweet and tender, though I still would have enjoyed having those more mature roots resting in my cellar instead of some mole’s belly. As it was, the few that I still had on hand were the perfect base for these darling cupcakes!
Recent Comments