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mascarpone passionfruit fool
Since today is my birthday, I thought it was only fitting that I should post an incredibly easy, incredibly indulgent recipe. Awhile back, when I saw my favorite grocery store was selling passionfruit, I bought up as many as I could afford. Just so I could have them. They’re usually quite tricky to find, and I didn’t want the opportunity of having some pass me by.
But have you ever bought something wonderful at the store, and then found yourself with stage fright—staring at it, without a clue how to make it shine? The first few fruits, I just cut open, and scooped out the juicy flesh and ate it with a spoon. I dare say, that is truly the best way to enjoy passionfruit. But what about all of you? I couldn’t just post my pictures of the empty, wrinkled skins, and say “Wish you had been here!”
candied orange peel
This is the perfect gift to make for someone when you’re a little short on cash. Since it’s made from sugar, and something you would normally throw away, it’s the ultimate way to recycle. Although they’re delicious plain, I dipped some of them in chocolate, and chopped others to sprinkle on top of chocolate lollipops. I was surprised how much I liked the way the candied peels tasted when paired with white chocolate.
The key to getting these to taste perfect is the number and amount of time you simmer and drain the peels, and the amount of pith you successfully slice off. It’s quite easy, and though I made mine with orange peels, you can also make them with grapefruit peels, lemons, or even Meyer lemons.
caramel filled hi hat cupcakes
Or pure sugar. Just call me Paula Deen. These things are so loaded with sugar that every well-intentioned parent is going to come after me with hate mail in the comments section. In fact, if you’re from Europe, don’t even make these. They’re way too sweet.
Though I had trouble eating these with all their sugar, I must have had at least four of them. There was just something so perfect about the way the warm caramel soaked through the cake, and the way it balanced with the dark chocolate in the crispy outer shell.
white pumpkin pie
When I bought this perfect white pumpkin with this lovely long stem, I had big dreams to carve it into a jack-o-lantern. But somehow, whenever I start to carve pumpkins, I lose interest, along with all desire to be creative. It’s sticky, the knives are difficult to wield, and I can never make them as beautiful as what I see in a Martha Stewart magazine.
After this one had narrowly escaped the carving knife, and was sitting on my counter for a couple of weeks, I decided it was time to do something with it. It seemed like a good idea to make it into a pie. Though the pumpkin puree itself was light—it looked exactly like applesauce—the color of the pie did not turn out as white as I had envisioned, once baked. It did look paler than a traditional pumpkin pie, though. And, since the white pumpkin is milder in flavor, I used slightly different spices than usual, and used cream as opposed to evaporated milk to make this pie a little more sophisticated.
chicken soup with heart-shaped carrots
Once, when I was in high school, my brother’s girlfriend got sick. He made a pot of chicken soup for her and cut the carrots into little butterflies. Later, she made him some soup as well, but cut the carrots into little hearts. I pretty much thought they were geniuses, and have copied their idea here and there over the years.
Today, my kids and I were all sick, and I knew we needed something a little extra special, so I made their chicken soup with the heart shaped carrots. Before you panic, there is a trick to making them. I’m going to blog à la Pioneer Woman for a minute, and show you how to do it, step by step.
pumpkin stuffed french toast
I had some mascarpone in the fridge, and I wanted to make something really special out of it. Something that would say fall. My mind got to work, and I decided something pumpkiny and breakfasty would be the right way to go. So I came up with this. The longer name for this is Almond-Crusted Pumpkin Mascarpone Stuffed French Toast. That’s what I announced when I made it last Saturday morning.
guacamole in 10 seconds
I recently received an email asking if I wanted to try a jar of Hot Cilantro Chutney from Bollywood Chutneys. When it came, I put it on the shelf, promising myself to get it out when I made something Indian. But then, on a Sunday afternoon, we had some avocados to use up, some corn chips, and a lime. I knew I’d be dreaming about guacamole into the night if I didn’t make some right then, but we were out of fresh cilantro. I then remembered the cilantro chutney, and within a couple of minutes, we had a perfect guacamole. Even my daughter liked it.
Jarred cilantro is now my new favorite invention. Whenever I buy cilantro fresh, I only use a sprig or two for one recipe, and then have to throw the rest away after it turns into liquid in my fridge. Then surely, a day later, I need to buy another bunch of it for another recipe. The brilliance of this chutney is that it even has hot chilies added in, so I don’t even need to try to find a wilted jalapeño at the bottom of the vegetable drawer.
homemade almond joy
A year ago, it seems like the internet exploded with homemade versions of all the fun packaged treats, i.e. pop tarts, Hostess cupcakes, peppermint patties, etc. I’m not quite sure why I didn’t do anything similar here on sophistimom. But just because I never rode that wave on my blog, it doesn’t mean my kids and I don’t love that kind of thing.
It’s a pretty regular Sunday afternoon ritual to come home from church, find out one of my kids didn’t get treats from his Sunday school teacher when one of my other kids did, and answer his or her whines with, “Don’t worry. I’ll make you some candy!” (Hm. Maybe that’s the trouble with my parenting: I make candy for them when they whine.)
Usually we end up making homemade Reeses peanut butter cups, which I can post another time (but the general idea is in this ancient post I did on making peanut butter turtles—and you can probably piece together how to do it from there). But a few Sundays ago, I wanted something a little different, so I tried making these homemade Almond Joy cups. I’m so glad I did.
Now if I could just figure out how to make those Almond Joy Pieces . . .
sweet potatoes and brussels sprouts on wilted greens with warm maple vinaigrette
My brother was just on the phone telling me I had hardly any savory recipes. This is for you, Joe.
It rained almost everyday last week. We even got snow on the mountains.
Those are the kinds of days I want to eat a skillet cookie for dinner. Or a big bowl of chili covered in melted cheddar, like this one my friend Shaina made. Those are the kinds of days I want something to warm me to the bone.
I think this salad accomplished just that.
brioche so easy it’s like magic.
One thing I’ve learned about french cooking is this: it almost always delicious, but not always easy. Brioche is one of those things I always wanted to make, but was either too intimidated or too tired to ever try.
But recently, the people at Magimix by Robot-Coupe contacted me to see if I would review their food processor, which they sell exclusively at Williams-Sonoma.
That’s just one of those questions you don’t have to think too long about before you answer, you know?
