Pineapple Upside Down Cake and an 85th birthday

Tags

ad hoc, birthday cake, cake, dessert, fruit, picnic food, pineapple

My love affair with pineapple upside down cake has been a short one- a whirlwind, if you will. We didn’t meet until later in life. No one has ever made it for me- no fond memories around the dinner table. This is probably due to my mixed background, growing up in Florida but having a family entirely of Northern descent. I made it twice last year on a whim, for another birthday, and suddenly it was one of my specialties. At first I thought I fell hard for all the interesting elements that could be added to the cake, but it was the simplicity that was so charming.

The golden layers of canary yellow fruit offset by the pale yellow sponge bed of cake- the smell of brown sugar and honey enveloping the house- humming a little bossa nova in the kitchen while accidentally eating a little too much batter from the mixing bowl- I am sure this is the very scientific formula to why we stay together- the cake and I.

I even reserved it for birthdays- for my grandfather’s 85th birthday- who I believe is the true Most Interesting Man in the World.

On very little sleep, I woke up the morning of my grandfather’s birthday brunch and slowly pulled out my spatula and scale. I followed the strict formula- sugar aromas, international music, unruly batter eating, and voila- we were reunited on a mild spring day.

Pineapple Upside Down Cake: loosely adapted from Ad Hoc by Thomas Keller

4oz Earth Balance vegan butter

1 1/2 tbsp clover honey

1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract

1 cup brown sugar, packed

sprinkle of sea salt

1 golden pineapple- sliced like this

Cake:

1 1/2 cups self-rising flour

4 oz earth balance

1/2 cup raw sugar

2 tsp pure vanilla extract

2 eggs

4 tsp almond milk

Preheat the oven to 350F. In a pot on the stove over medium heat, melt the earth balance. Whisk in the brown sugar, honey, vanilla, and salt. Let the mixture some to a slight bubble then remove from heat. Pour 1/2 cup into a 9 inch cake pan. Reserve the rest for another day.

In a separate bowl, cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs one at a time, then vanilla. Add the almond milk. Stir to just combined, then add the flour in 3 stages, folding in between.

Bake cake for 15 minutes, then rotate so it bakes evenly for another 20-25 minutes.

Let cool completely before inverting and serving.

Serves 8.

Hope Town, Abaco & Lobster Ceviche.

Tags

Abaco Inn, Abacos, caribbean, ceviche, conch n da bag, Elbow Cay, fruit, island food, lobster, travel

Even though I’m no longer in college, I firmly believe in the practice of taking a little winter vacation. Although we’ve had probably one of the warmest winter seasons since I can remember, I’ll always take somewhere warmer and more tropical. One short plan ride from West Palm Beach, a skip across the water on a ferry, and one golf cart ride later I found myself in Hope Town, Abaco, on Elbow Cay. At less than 5 miles in length and quite narrow, Hope Town has a remote peacefulness evokes feelings are being far from home. At arrival, the hilltop resort was empty due to the low season and we got a surprise upgrade to a private bayside villa (equipped with a kitchen!) named Galardia.

That’s another thing about Hope Town- no street names or addresses- just brightly colored cottages with personalized names. In the island style I know so well at home, we immediately grabbed beach cruisers from the Abaco Inn and explored the winding, cliffside roads to different shorelines before the sun set.

Notice the tiny green coconut caught in my spokes.

While on vacation I’m not really one to indulge in junk food, and we mostly lived off the land. The only temptation I had to give in to is a surprisingly ungreasy yet very fried dish called “Conch n da Bag.” Very simply put it’s fresh conch meat fried with shoestring french fries placed on tin foil, covered in ketchup and hot sauce, then placed in a bag where it gets a nice shake. I’m kicking myself for not taking a picture of this fried beauty. It goes against anything I’d ever eat, and I devoured the whole bag with no reservations. Other than that, we caught a couple snapper, and I picked a heavy cupful of snails and roasted them.

There were also reefs right off the north end of the island crawling with lobsters. The second to last day we got three. On our last day we had our hands full with six. Four lobsters went to a great cause- lobster ceviche- and the other two we roasted whole. I made a couple cocktails with the local coconut rum to compliment the meal.

Lobster ceviche with finger peppers and oranges

Bad lighting, amazing dinner.

Between diving, beach adventures, and sunbathing, we enjoyed fresh fruit salads and housemade Bahamian bread compliments of the Inn.

There was a lot of lounging, staring at the crystal aqua water, and comfortable silences while the Caribbean wind gave cool relief from the sun.

Upon leaving, I felt relaxed and ready to start a new chapter in my life. Although I technically moved back to St. Augustine in December, I’ve been out of town several weeks and weekends in a row. I looked back at Hope Town one last time at dawn when we caught the ferry to Marsh Harbour for our flight- I wanted to conceptualize a profound thought that had only been brought to light by this getaway- and instead I laughed to myself and simply thought, “I can’t believe we ate those snails.”

Lobster Ceviche- Could be made with fish or shrimp for traditional ceviche

4 lobster tails- meat cut into bite sized chunks

2 oranges, 2 lemons, 2 limes

4 finger peppers seeded and chopped

1 green pepper, chopped

1 ear corn, kernals cut off the cob

1 avocado, cut into pieces

dash habanero hot sauce (optional)

ground ginger

sea salt & pepper

Combine juice of oranges, lemons, and limes in a bowl. Add lobster and toss to coat.

Add the finger peppers, chopped green pepper, corn and avocado pieces. Toss with the citrus lobster mixture.

Season to taste with habanero hot sauce, ginger, salt and pepper.

Let marinate for 12 hours. The citrus juice will cook the lobster meat.

Serves 4.

Miniature Flourless Tahini Cookies

Tags

Abacos, cookie, dessert, gluten free, sesame, spelt, tahini, travel snack

 

It’s 11:22 and I’m tired. After a long weekend of celebration in Charleston, I had a few days to myself before heading to Orlando for a week at the Surf Expo. And tomorrow? Right to Abaco Island. I can already taste the conch ceviche. That’s a partial lie. I want to pretend like I feel like I’m on vacation, but the day has been spent scrambling to get ready for what will be an effortlessly uncomplicated trip. A couple sun dresses, my grandmother’s oversized straw sun hat, and a bag full of bikinis is an accurate summary of what fills my one carry on bag.

The thing is I like to plan ahead, which means snacks, and lots of them. Luckily I hit Whole Foods on my way back from Orlando and scored everything from raw cocoa granola to a banana date tea bread. While this is a vacation, I’d rather see it as a health getaway. A week of diving, surfing, riding bikes, and swimming all over the island are my activities of choice. Sitting on the beach with a cocktail all week just never did it for me.

And even now I can’t quite relax, mainly because I always feel like I need to be doing something. I should be doing fill-in-the-blank rather than skipping out of town. I should be working on my recipes, narrowing my career goals, starting up some kind of business, saving the world one healthy baked good at a time and so on. There’ll be plenty of time for all that when I get home next Saturday. As soon as I get back, I’ll be in the kitchen remaking a chewy little gem I haven’t been able to get off my mind. It’s a flourless tahini cookie that is rich and nutty with sesame flavor, the size of a quarter and has the ideal crisp exterior and soft interior. One of my favorite elements of this cookie is that it was made with sourwood honey. It yields a pale gray amber color I had never seen prior to opening the jar. I brought the batch with me to the surf expo and they disappeared quickly. Within an hour of posting the photo on Instagram, people were already asking me for the recipe. So at the midnight hour, I’m posting this before I disappear for the week. I’ll be logging off from all technology, remembering what it was like before cell phones and lap tops.

Miniature Flourless Tahini Cookies loosely adapted from Whole Foods

1/2 cup tahini

4 tbsp sourwood honey

1 egg

splash vanilla extract

1/2 cup sugar

sugar, cocoa powder, and white sesame seeds for dusting

Preheat the oven to 350F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

Mix together sugar, cocoa powder, and white sesame seeds on a plate and set aside.

In a medium bowl, combine tahini, honey and vanilla. Beat with an electric mixer until smooth. Add the egg. Once the egg is incorporated, add the sugar and mix until a dough forms. Roll balls of dough the size of walnuts. Drop the dough ball onto the plate of the sugar mixture and roll it around until it’s completely coated. Place on the baking sheet. Bake for 10 minutes and let the cookies cool completely on the pan.

Yields about 24 miniatures.

 

Huckleberry Crumble Bars

Tags

almond, apricot, coconut milk, cookie, cookie bar, healthy dessert, huckleberry, jam, picnic food, spelt, travel snack, vegan

Could it be love?

It might be lust. I had been lusting over a jar of deep purple huckleberry preserves my grandfather’s good friend sent from a local farm in Montana. The ingredients plainly labeled on the small glass jar put me over the edge with delight- huckleberries, sugar, lemon. Three ingredients! The way I would have treated these little berries in my own kitchen is all ready in a jar to go. I had to do them justice; they deserved to be the star of a dessert. Haphazardly slathering them on toast just didn’t feel right. While racking my brain about the right way to treat the huckleberries, I decided to consult my muse, Jimbo America. If you did not know , that’s my American Bulldog mix.

We had a photo shoot.

After watching him try to bury his new rawhide bone in several unsuccessful attempts, we chased each other around in the mid-winter warmth. It was 72 degrees and sunny today. The weather reminded me of so many leisurely spring picnics of the past. Picnic inspired, huckleberry motivated, the crumble bar came to life.

The secret ingredient in this cookie bar is coconut milk. It yields a moist and rich bottom layer that marries the berry flavor with a hint of apricot preserves and buttery almond crust. For a healthier twist, I used spelt flour instead of white, used organic whole rolled oats and dark brown sugar. This is another vegan “dessert” that can just as easily be labeled a snack or even breakfast on the run. As a model, I ran wild with the original recipe from Smitten Kitchen’s blueberry crumb bars.

Huckleberry Crumble Bars- very loosely adapted from Smitten Kitchen

Crust & Crumble:

1 1/2 cups spelt flour

1 cup dark brown sugar

1 1/4 cups organic whole rolled oats

3/4 tsp salt

3/4 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp cinnamon & ginger

1 tsp clove

1 tbsp vegan butter + 10 oz coconut milk

1/2 cup sliced almonds

Filling:

10 oz huckleberry preserves

2 oz apricot preserves

Preheat the oven to 350F. Line a small rectangle pan with cooking spray and parchment paper that hangs over the edges. Prepare the crust and crumble topping.

In the food processor, combine all the ingredients excluding the butter, coconut milk, and almonds. Pulse a few times until the oats are smaller but not ground into flour. Pour into bowl. Add vegan butter and coconut milk. Mix with a wooden spoon or a hand mixer until a soft dough is formed. Set 1 1/2 cups of the mix aside for the topping. Press the remaining dough into the parchment lined pan and bake for about 20 minutes or lightly brown. Let cool completely. I put mine in the freezer while I made the crumble.

Add the almonds to the reserved crumble portion of the dough and mix until it just comes together. In a separate bowl, fold the apricot preserves into the huckleberry.

Spread the preserve filling onto the cooled crust. By hand, place pieces of the crumble over the filling, making sure there are not too many holes exposed. Bake for 40-45 minutes, until golden brown and the huckleberry jam is bubbling on the sides. Let it cool completely to set up firmness. I let mine sit overnight in the fridge.

Yields about 12 bars.

Bake More Bread.

Tags

bread, oats, sandwich, spelt, whole wheat

If you’re not much of a “bread person,” keep reading.

I have mixed emotions about bread. It’s hard enough having a health conscious mind, and combined with culinary training I find myself scrutinizing nutrition labels when buying bread, wondering why and how so many ingredients are used to produce a simple loaf. On the rare chance I remember to buy bread at the grocery store, I always reach for Ezekiel bread. It is carbohydrate induced heaven, but it’s actually good for you. If I am near a local baker, I keep walking. It’s a pride thing.

Last week I ran out of bread and it was cold outside (by Floridian standards) so I opted to nix the  five minute jaunt to the supermarket and bake my own. The downside of bread making at home is the wait. Add all your ingredients, let the dough double in size and so on and so forth. This process can take hours, unless you have a proofing box, which is strange- and if you do please invite me over. If you don’t have a standing mixer with a dough hook, get ready to knead that bread-to-be for a solid ten minutes. You could go the Jim Lahey NY Times “No Knead Bread” route, which yields a crusty, drool worthy loaf, but that involves letting the dough rise overnight. The recipe possibilities were leaning toward a custom quick bread. I wanted to create something similar to a multigrain bread with the outer crunch of oats and chewiness when toasted. The results were a little too satisfying, leaving me on the head-over-heels in love side of my love/hate relationship with bread. The loaf that was supposed to last a week only survived three days.

Quick Sandwich Bread - yields one medium loaf

1 cup organic unbleached all purpose flour

1 cup organic whole wheat flour

1 cup spelt flour

3 tsp baking powder

3/4 tsp sea salt

2 1/2 tbsp organic barley malt syrup

1 1/2 tbsp olive oil

1 1/2 cups So Delicious Coconut Milk Beverage, or any milk alternative

1/4 cup flax seeds

1/4 cup raw oats for topping

Preheat the oven to 450F. In a large bowl, add all the flours with the baking powder and salt. Mix to combine. Make a small well in the center of the flour and pour in the malt syrup, olive oil and coconut milk. Use a wooden spoon to mix until completely combined. Add the flax seeds and fold to incorporate. Be careful not to overmix as it will result in a tough or rubbery bread.

Grease a 9 inch loaf pan with cooking spray. Pour the dough into the pan and press the oats on top, pushing down to stick into the top. Bake for about 40-45 minutes, rotating as needed. Let the bread cool completely out of the loaf pan on a wire rack.

Once cool, slice with a serrated bread knife and store in the refrigerator.

 

Buckwheat and Cacao Nib Shortbread

Tags

buckwheat, chocolate, cocoa nibs, cookie, sea salt, shortbread

How do you spend your afternoons?

Up until recently, I had no realization of time other than knowing I only slept a few hours a night between a full time pastry gig and evenings pouring drinks at the wine bar. After nearly a year, I finished my diplome of Patisserie and Baking at LCB in Orlando and moved back to St. Augustine Beach, somewhat begrudgingly, but keeping an open mind nonetheless.

I am on the verge of 24, I have two degrees under my belt, and still feel no closer to my dream career (the one that every food blogger has) of working for a cuisine based publication i.e. Bon Appetit, Saveur, Food & Wine. Somehow I don’t think moving back into a small beach town with a population of less than 13,000 people is going to get me any closer to my goals in life.

While I wait out the grossly common feeling of hopelessness that most people my age face between careers, I will continue to bake, and snap a couple photos along the way… and maybe even take a vacation. When I bake a dessert, it is unnervingly necessary to have at least four elements in that confection. If there’s a sweet element, I want salty or savory plus crunch and tenderness. I like the opposing characteristics that look effortlessly simple. I was originally inspired by this recipe on Heidi Swanson’s 101 Cookbooks. Heidi called them Nibby Buckwheat Butter Cookies. I’m calling them Buckwheat and Cocoa Nib Shortbread….. dipped in dark chocolate and dusted with red Hawaiian sea salt.

I’m bringing these beauties to an oyster roast tonight. Dressed in my knee high Minnetonka fringe boots that scream “not-so-cold winter on the island,” it’ll look like I’ve   pulled these crispy rich chocolate cookies out of thin air. The real magic? I made the dough last night and sliced it today. The dipping and salt sprinkling can be done in less than 30 minutes, as long as the cookies are cool.

Buckwheat and Cocoa Nib Shortbread adapted from 101 cookbooks

1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup buckwheat flour
1/2 pound unsalted butter, softened
2/3 cup brown sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
2/3 cup cacao nibs- I used more nibs in mine
1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

To dip: 10 oz dark chocolate chips, melted and red Hawaiian sea salt

1. Cream the butter, salt and sugar until smooth. Fold in the vanilla and cacao nibs.

2. Mix together the flours and add them to the butter mixture until a smooth dough forms. Flour the counter top and roll the dough into a log, wrap tightly in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 2 hours, or overnight. I chilled mine overnight.

3. Set the oven to 350F. Slice dough 1/4 inch thickness and place on greased baking sheet about an inch apart. Bake for 14 minutes or less, rotating halfway through so both sides are baked evenly. Let cool completely on pan.

4. When cool, dip half of the cookie in the melted dark chocolate. Dip every cookie in chocolate and lay on wax paper. Sprinkle the sea salt on top of the cookies and place in the refrigerator or freezer to set.

Another nice variation would be to top the dark chocolate with chopped raw nuts or even homemade candied fruit bits.

The Bomb.

Tags

Booze, brownie, candy, dessert, LCB, plated dessert

This is The Bomb.

The Bomb is not just a simple title given to this dessert, it is the explosive impression on your tastebuds, the 90′s catchphrase that you want to still use and the answer to the plaguing question at the end of dinner- “Dessert, or drinks for dessert?”

What if you could have both? Now you can.

A dense, nearly flourless fudgy Guinness brownie cube demands attention on your plate. Bailey’s Irish Cream ice cream fills the inside of the edible beer brownie, and Jameson’s Whisky Caramel sauce frames geometrical drizzles completing the Irish Car Bomb. Let’s take it up another level- milk chocolate peanut butter pretzel bark.

I had been daydreaming about this dessert since I found it on Chef Jeff McCarthy’s website a few months ago. I crafted mine in a similar way that he designed his car bomb, and added pretzel bark for the crunchy texture and salt to balance out the Bailey’s Ice Cream.

Each component of The Bomb can easily stand alone. But if you have the time, The Bomb won’t disappoint. Serve it to your friends and family, or the new friends you made because they overheard you talking about it.

Guinness Stout Brownie adapted from Jeff McCarthy
1 cup all-purpose flour
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
6 tablespoons unsalted room temperature butter, cut into cubes
8 ounces dark bittersweet chocolate, chopped
3/4 cup white chocolate chips
4 large eggs, at room temperature
1 cup superfine or granulated sugar
10 oz Guinness Extra Stout beer
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Line a 9 x 13-inch baking pan with nonstick foil.
In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, cocoa powder, and salt until evenly combined. Set aside.

Melt butter, bittersweet chocolate, and white chocolate chips in a double-boiler over very low heat, stirring constantly until melted. Remove from heat.

In a large mixing bowl, beat eggs and sugar on high speed until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add melted chocolate mixture, beating until combined.
Beat reserved flour mixture into melted chocolate mixture. Whisk in Guinness stout beer. The batter will seem a bit thin. Drop semisweet chocolate chips evenly on top of batter (some will sink in).

Pour into prepared baking pan. Bake 25 to 30 minutes on center rack in the oven, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out almost clean.
Let brownies cool, uncovered, to room temperature. Dust with confectioners’ sugar before serving.

Baileys Ice Cream
2 cups of Baileys Irish Cream liqueur
4 egg yolks
2 cups sugar
1 & 1/2 cups milk
2 cups cream
1 & 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
In one saucepan place the Baileys Irish Cream, in another place the milk. Place both over medium heat and bring to a simmer. The irish cream will be reduced to about 1cup.

In a bowl beat eggs and sugar.
Add milk to eggs and sugar mixture. Place contents back into saucepan, whisking continuously for about 3 minutes. Remove from heat and strain contents, placing newly strained contents into a clean bowl.

Set custard aside to cool for about 10 minutes. Add vanilla, cream and Baileys Irish Cream and stir. Place in a container and set container in freezer for overnight. Freeze in ice cream maker the next day.

Jameson’s Caramel
1 1/2 cups sugar
2/3 cup water
2 oz butter
1/4 cup Irish whiskey
1/4 cup cream
Combine sugar and water in a small heavy saucepan over medium-high heat; cook until
sugar dissolves, stirring constantly. Cook an additional 15 minutes or until golden (do not stir). Remove from heat. Carefully add butter stirring constantly with a whisk (mixture will be hot and bubble vigorously). Cool slightly, and stir in whiskey and cream.

Pretzel Bark
2 oz milk chocolate
2 oz dark chocolate
2 oz creamy peanut butter
1 cups loose chopped pretzel sticks

Melt the first three ingredients over a double boiler.
Stir in the pretzels and pour onto a sheet pan with a silpat or parchment.
Chill the bark for 30 minutes before cutting into desired shapes. Store in an airtight container in the fridge.

Two and a half days in Captiva Island

Tags

Etc., LCB, travel

There are certain things in life that I believe everyone should experience, namely, traveling by oneself. Preferably out of the country, but even a few hours out of town can do the trick.

After graduating from Le Cordon Bleu last week, I had the opportunity to spend a couple days in Captiva Island to do a photoshoot for Southern Living Magazine. My first notion was predictably boring, telling myself I couldn’t possibly leave town for two days to enjoy myself. I have laundry to do, I thought, and who is going to clean the apartment? I live by myself, so both of these things are comical and irrelevant.

I blew caution to the wind, got my shift at work covered, blew off the last day of class, and raced down to Captiva Island last Wednesday alone. No phone calls on the way, just sound barrier breaking beats from my hatchback and a new feeling. I was relaxed. The next two days were spent in my own villa, riding around in a golf cart, taking some photos on the beach, and ending with a cruise on a 50ft sailboat with a lovely gay couple, one whom had to be pretend to be my “husband” in the background during the shoot. After spending the year in culinary school, or worse, landlocked in Orlando, I felt more than justified sleeping in the middle of my hotel bed and cooling off with a pitcher sangria on the last night (free tequila shots with every pitcher purchased, score!).

The last morning I took out the gold cart one last time to tour the island, snap a few photos, and buy one corny souvenir. After much deliberation between several handcrafted crab soap dishes and decorative turtle plates, a beaded fish coin purse caught my eye. I went with the same attitude that got me to Captiva in the first place, and bought the coin purse.  It was shiny and immature. Maybe I felt that way too.

I would like to say I came back with the mindset I adapted the minute I left, but it’s not true. Back to life. Knowing that adventure was mine, the next time I have the chance to leave, or even the feeling I need to get up and go out of town, I’m gone… as if that’s something new for me.

 

And… it’s VEGAN?

Tags

beet, dark chocolate, gluten free, LCB, plated dessert, raspberry, seaweed, vegan

Yes, it is vegan. You might not be vegan, or understand why or how anyone could ever want to eliminate animal products (in this case dairy and eggs) from baking, but one taste of my coconut milk yuzu ice cream and you’ll be too busy on cloud nine to notice.

Coconut yuzu ice cream sits atop seaweed shortbread dipped in dark chocolate and sesame seed with a jagged semicircle of wasabi infused agave nectar. Here she is, my vegan plated dessert at LCB during our week of baking for special dietary needs.

And for those of you with who do without gluten, I’ve got you covered.

This is not completely vegan, but it is gluten-free, dairy-free, and soy-free. The cake is a flourless ancho chile spiced chocolate torte, accompanied with beet whipped “cream” and vegan dulce de leche, with a few granules of red Hawaiian sea salt.

The cake is a twist off something I did a long time time ago. Find the recipe here.

Double Vision: Replication of a plated dessert

Tags

blackberry, dessert, fruit, LCB, mango, plated dessert, torte, white chocolate

Two days. Two plates. One winner.

It was a class competition based on the skill of replication. We chose a dessert and had 2 days to produce it. My partner chose a mousse torte she found on flickr. I walked in to this surprise after having awoken from a Rip Van Winkle-like slumber induced by the flu that’s been going around this fall. At first I instantly felt my headache creating the “to-do” production list… a joconde sponge torte filled with white chocolate mousse, blackberry mousse, chantilly cream topping, chocolate filagree design, not to mention mango coulis drops, raspberry coulis drops.. and it wouldn’t be complete without a shortbread cookie topped with lemon sorbet.. or a spoon shaped tuile cookie coming out of the sorbet? And the fresh fruit/mint garnish. Overwhelmed? I could have been if I didn’t feel like a zombie.

We made the top three out of twenty-five(ish). It was judged by some of the top chefs in school.

I’m not sure if I would remake this at home, but all the separate details came together to create a dish busting with so many different flavors and textures. Every adjective was on the table- sweet, tart, rich, creamy, cold, crunchy, fresh. The simplicity of a few pieces of fresh fruit are highly underrated. If you dare to recreate this at home.. here is the rundown on links/ recipes.

Joconde sponge- A direct tutorial from my girl Martha Stewart

Chantilly cream aka whipped cream from scratch. Make it at home and never buy canned whipped cream again:

1 cup heavy cream + 1 Tbsp confectioner’s sugar. Beat with wisk until stuff peaks form. Done.

Blackberry mousse adapted from Professional Baking

Gelatin or agar agar- 5.5oz

Sugar- 25g

Water 15g

Blackberry puree- 150g

Heavy Cream- 4oz

Soften gelatin or agar agar in cold water to bloom. Meanwhile combine the listed water and sugar in a pot and warm until dissolved. Add the bloomed gelatin to the hot sugar water and stir until combined. Remove pot from heat and add blackberry puree. Stir until combined.

In a separate bowl, whip heavy cream to form soft peaks. When the blackberry mixture is room temperature, fold it gently into the whipped cream. Pour into your desired mold or martini glass in a pinch for a nice presentation. Chill overnight.

White Chocolate Mousse adapted from Professional Baking

White chocolate- 4 oz

Water- 1 oz

Butter- 1oz

Egg yolks- .5oz

Egg whites- 2 oz

Granulated sugar- .5 oz

Heavy cream- 2 oz

Melt the chocolate in a double boiler with the 1 oz of water. Stir until smooth. Add the butter until combined. Add the egg yolks and remove from heat.

In a separate bowl, whip the egg whites and sugar to a meringue. Fold in the white chocolate mixture. Whip heavy cream to form soft peaks, then fold into the chocolate until just combined. Pour into molds and chill overnight.

How to make any fruit coulis: In this example, I’ll use the common raspberry formula. In a pot, combine a pint of raspberries and just enough sugar to coat the berries. Add couple tablespoons of water to the pot. Heat to a soft boil, immediately turn down the heat to simmer and let sit until the berries break down and a “sauce” begins to form. It should coat the back of a spoon. At this point, you can run the mixture through a food processor then strain, or go straight to straining.

Fruit coulis can shake up an vanilla (flavor or boring) dessert, breakfast, even work as a sauce for a sandwich.. Hello mango jalapeno coulis with grilled cobia and arugula on grilled brioche.