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- What's for Dessert: Simple recipes for dessert people, by Claire Saffitz. Murdoch Books. $55.
Berry crisp with seedy granola topping
As a rule, I never make health claims about recipes. However, I think it's safe to say that this crisp, packed with berries and seeds, probably has a better nutrition profile than most desserts (not necessarily a selling point, just saying). Although I tend not to favour sweet breakfasts, I'd feel great eating this moderately sweet crisp with a little plain yogurt in the morning. At the same time, it doesn't feel excessively wholesome as a dessert, especially if served with vanilla ice cream. The topping is inspired by my mum's granola recipe, which will always be my favourite granola, and the filling combines raspberries, blackberries, and blueberries for a variety of textures. Don't let the lengthy ingredient list put you off - this is quick and easy.
Ingredients
Filling:
340g fresh or frozen blueberries, no need to thaw if frozen
340g fresh or frozen blackberries, no need to thaw if frozen
227g fresh or frozen raspberries, no need to thaw if frozen
75g sugar
2 tbsp cornflour
1 tbsp fresh lemon juice
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 tsp salt
Seedy granola topping:
53g old-fashioned rolled oats
67g plain flour
47g whole wheat flour
110g packed light brown sugar
2 tbsp wheat germ
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp salt
113g unsalted butter, melted and cooled
36g pumpkin seeds
36g sunflower seeds
2 tbsp sesame seeds
1 tbsp flaxseeds
1 tbsp chia seeds
Method
1. Preheat the oven: Arrange an oven rack in the center position and preheat the oven to 180C.
2. Make the filling: In a large bowl, combine the blueberries, blackberries, raspberries, granulated sugar, cornflour, lemon juice, vanilla, and salt. Use a large flexible spatula to gently fold the mixture until the berries are evenly coated, then scrape the filling into a 2-litre shallow baking dish, preferably ceramic, and arrange in an even layer. Set the baking dish aside.
3. Make the seedy granola topping: In a medium bowl, whisk together the oats, plain flour, whole wheat flour, brown sugar, wheat germ, cinnamon, and salt. Drizzle the butter into the bowl, then use a fork to toss the mixture until the butter is incorporated and the mixture is clumpy (there will be some dry spots). Switch to your fingertips and rub the mixture to further work in the butter until no dry spots remain. Add the pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds, sesame seeds, flaxseeds, and chia seeds and toss with your hands to distribute.
4. Assemble and bake: Sprinkle the topping evenly over the fruit (it will seem like a lot of topping, but use it all). Place the baking dish on a sheet pan to catch any drips and bake until the topping is deep golden brown and the juices are bubbling around the sides, 50 to 60 minutes for fresh berries, or 1 hour to 1 hour 10 minutes for frozen. If some of the seeds on the surface look like they're getting a little dark before you see bubbling juices, place a small piece of foil loosely over the surface to prevent burning and continue to bake. Let the crisp cool and serve warm or at room temperature.
Serves 8.
Bananas flambe
When my sisters and I were kids, my dad, a great lover of New Orleans cuisine, would make us bananas Foster, a dish of bananas flambed in rum immortalised at Brennan's restaurant. When developing this recipe, I asked him for tips for making the dish. His response: "Add a lot of booze and stand back!" Although this recipe includes the rum and banana liqueur traditionally used in bananas Foster, it's a saucier version of the classic and uses cream at the end to bring the mixture together into a boozy, butterscotch-y sauce. I serve it over whipped mascarpone, but feel free to use vanilla ice cream instead. It's a quick recipe that takes just 20 minutes from start to finish, though pay close attention to your heat throughout, which will help ensure the bananas caramelise without falling apart. Have both your wits and ingredients about you, because the action happens fast.
Ingredients
175g mascarpone cheese, chilled
300g heavy cream, chilled, divided
1/4 tsp table salt
55g packed light brown sugar
3 tbsp unsalted butter, cut into 1 tbsp pieces
3 tbsp banana liqueur
1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
1/8 tsp ground nutmeg
3 large ripe but firm bananas, peeled, halved crosswise and lengthwise
3 tbsp dark rum
70g salted roasted macadamia nuts, very coarsely chopped
Method
1. Whip the mascarpone: In a large bowl, combine the mascarpone, 240g of the heavy cream, and a pinch of salt and whip with a hand mixer on low speed to start and gradually increase the speed to medium-high as the mixture thickens, until you have stiff peaks. Cover the bowl and refrigerate until serving.
2. Prep the remaining ingredients: Set aside the remaining 60g of cream and let it come to room temperature. Make sure you have all the remaining ingredients and a lighter or match at the ready.
3. Caramelise the bananas: In a 25cm pan, combine the brown sugar, butter, banana liqueur, cinnamon, nutmeg, and 1/2 teaspoon salt. Stir the mixture over medium heat until the butter is melted and the sugar is dissolved, then let the mixture come to a boil and continue to cook, stirring often, until the mixture is dark brown, thick, and bubbling all over, two to three minutes. Add the bananas cut-sides down, fitting them tightly in the skillet and ensuring they're all lying flat. Increase the heat to high and cook, shaking the skillet occasionally, until the bananas are browned in spots on the cut sides, about three minutes (the sugar mixture pooling around the sides of the skillet might start to look separated and darkened in spots, but that's okay - it will come back together when you add the cream later).
4. Flambe: Reduce the heat to low and turn the bananas carefully so the cut sides are up. Have the lighter or match ready, then add the rum to the skillet all at once and, holding your head back, quickly ignite it - be careful, the flames will reach about 60cm high! Shake the pan with a gloved hand until the flames subside. Turn off the heat and slide the pan to a cool burner.
5. Add the cream: Drizzle the room temperature cream around the bananas, shaking and swirling the skillet until the cream mingles with the brown sugar mixture and forms a smooth sauce. Set the pan aside.
6. Serve: Dividing evenly, dollop the whipped mascarpone onto six plates. Place two pieces of banana on each plate, arranging them cut-sides up. Dividing evenly, drizzle the remaining sauce over the bananas. Top with a sprinkle of macadamia nuts and serve immediately.
Serves 6.
Mango-yogurt mousse
Every time I drink a mango lassi, I am convinced that it's the tastiest, most addictive, and most refreshing thing in the world. This mousse is my attempt to translate all the flavours of lassi - sweet mango, tart yogurt, and floral cardamom - into dessert form. It requires a few steps to make the curd base, but using frozen mango simplifies the process. Not only is it a light and intensely flavoured fruit dessert, but it's also gluten-free.
Ingredients
2 tsp unflavoured gelatin powder
4 large egg yolks
150g sugar
1/2 cup fresh orange juice, from about 1 large orange
3 tbsp fresh lemon juice
1/2 tsp ground cardamom
1/4 tsp table salt
454g frozen mango chunks
1/2 cup plain whole-milk Greek yogurt
2 cups heavy cream, chilled
Method
1. Soften the gelatin: Place 3 tbsp cold tap water in a small shallow bowl and sprinkle the gelatin evenly over the top (do not stir). Set the bowl aside to allow the gelatin to soften, five to 10 minutes.
2. Meanwhile, assemble the curd: In a small saucepan, combine the yolks and sugar and whisk vigorously, making sure no unincorporated sugar is trapped around the sides, until the mixture is pale and thick, about two minutes. Stream in the orange and lemon juices, whisking constantly and scraping around the sides, until the mixture is smooth. Whisk in the cardamom and salt.
3. Cook the curd: Place the saucepan over medium-low heat and cook, whisking constantly, until the foam has subsided and the curd barely holds the marks of the whisk and is thick enough to coat the back of a spoon, about five minutes. Immediately remove the saucepan from the heat and scrape in the softened gelatin, which will have solidified. Whisk briskly for about 30 seconds to dissolve the gelatin.
4. Add the mango and blend: Add the frozen mango directly to the saucepan with the curd and stir to combine. Set the saucepan aside until the mango is mostly thawed and the curd is cold, about five minutes. Use a handheld blender to blend the mixture until it's completely smooth. Measure out 1 cup of the mango curd and set it aside at room temperature.
5. Whisk in the yogurt: Whisk the yogurt into the remaining curd in the saucepan until smooth. Set the saucepan aside.
6. Whip the cream: In a large bowl, with a hand mixer, beat the cream on low speed to start and gradually increase the speed to medium-high as it thickens, until you have a firmly whipped cream that holds a stiff peak.
7. Make the mousse: Scrape the curd/yogurt mixture into the bowl with the whipped cream and fold gently with a flexible spatula until combined and just a few streaks remain.
8. Portion and chill: Dividing evenly, spoon the mixture into eight serving glasses. Tap the glasses gently on the counter to help the mousse settle, then top each with about two tablespoons of the reserved curd. Cover the glasses and refrigerate until the mousse is cold and set, at least four hours.
Serves 8.
Easy apple galette
I have a hard time resisting the (flawed) logic that "if some is good, more is better," so it's a mark of my growth as a recipe developer that I can recognise when a recipe is just right and stop myself from adding unnecessary ingredients or steps. Editing oneself is hard, but this dead-simple free-form apple tart is direct evidence of how important it is. Comprising no more than a layer of pastry, a layer of bread crumbs (to absorb some of the appley juices), thinly sliced apples, and cream and sugar, it's incredible.
Ingredients
66g demerara sugar
seeds scraped from 1/2 vanilla bean or 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
pinch of salt
1 round portion All-Purpose Flaky Pastry Dough (see below), chilled
plain flour, for rolling
2 tbsp fine dried bread crumbs or panko
680g firm sweet-tart apples, such as Pink Lady (3 or 4 medium), peeled, cored, and thinly sliced
120g heavy cream
160g apricot jam
Method
1. Preheat the oven and prepare the sheet pan: Arrange an oven rack in the center position and preheat the oven to 180C. Line a sheet pan with a silicone baking mat or parchment paper and set aside.
2. Make the vanilla sugar: In a small bowl, combine the demerara sugar, vanilla seeds, and a pinch of salt and massage the mixture with your fingertips until it's fragrant and the vanilla seeds are evenly distributed (if using vanilla extract, skip to the next step). Set the vanilla sugar aside.
3. Roll out the dough: Let the dough sit at room temperature for a minute or two to soften slightly, then unwrap it and place on a lightly floured surface. Use a rolling pin to beat the dough all across the surface to make it more pliable. Dust more flour on top and underneath the dough, then roll it out, dusting with more flour as needed to prevent sticking, into a 33cm round. Use a paring knife or wheel cutter to cut around the dough and trim away the ragged edge to make a clean 30cm round.
4. Assemble: Transfer the dough round to the prepared sheet pan, then fold a 1.5cm-wide border of dough inward toward the centre to form a raised edge all the way around, pressing firmly so it stays in place. Prick the surface of the dough in several places with the tines of a fork, then spread the bread crumbs in an even layer inside the border. Arrange the apple slices on top, tightly overlapping them in any pattern you like. If using vanilla extract, combine it with the cream in a small bowl. Use a pastry brush to brush a thin layer of cream over the border, then drizzle the remaining cream evenly over the apples. Sprinkle the vanilla sugar (or, if using vanilla extract, just the demerara sugar and salt) across the surface of the galette, covering both the apples and the border. Transfer the pan to the refrigerator and chill until the dough is firm, 10 to 15 minutes.
5. Bake and glaze the galette: Bake the galette until the border is deep golden brown and the edges of the apples are golden, 1 hour to 1 hour 10 minutes. Remove the pan from the oven and set aside to cool. In a small saucepan, warm the jam over low heat, stirring occasionally with a heatproof flexible spatula, until it's fluid. Press the jam through a fine-mesh sieve, catching the liquid in a small bowl (you can scrape the strained solids back into the jam jar, if you wish). While the galette is still warm, brush the strained jam over the apples. Serve the galette warm or at room temperature.
Serves 8.
All-purpose flaky pastry dough
Pastry dough is one of those things that trips people up, so I'm perpetually tweaking and modifying my technique to make it more foolproof. While the proportion of ingredients never changes much, this method is my most forgiving yet. It relies on a bench or bowl scraper to bring the dough together directly on the work surface (if you don't have a bench scraper, get one - they're inexpensive and multipurpose). Using a bench scraper instead of your hands keeps the butter cold and limits gluten development while you distribute the water throughout the flour, producing an evenly hydrated dough that can be rolled out without cracking once it's chilled. This is key, because keeping the dough as cold as possible leads to a more tender and flaky crust. This recipe yields two portions, but even if you only need one, I recommend making the full quantity and freezing the other portion since it's a handy thing to have around.
Ingredients
405g plain flour, plus more for rolling
2 tbsp sugar
1 tsp table salt
283g unsalted butter, thinly sliced crosswise, chilled
Method
1. Combine the dry ingredients: In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, and salt.
2. Add the butter and ice water: Prepare about 1 cup of ice water and set it aside. Add the butter to the bowl with the dry ingredients and toss, separating the pieces and coating them in the flour mixture. Use your fingertips to quickly break and smash the pieces of butter into smaller bits (it's okay if some of the butter is left in large pieces; you'll break it up more in the next step). Make a well in the centre of the bowl and add 2/3 cup of the ice water. Toss with a fork to distribute the water until you have a clumpy mixture with lots of dry spots.
3. Work the mixture directly on the surface: Tip the contents of the bowl out onto a clean work surface. Use the straight edge of a bench or bowl scraper to chop up the mixture directly on the surface, breaking up the clumps and pieces of butter and periodically using the scraper to toss and push the mixture back into a pile. Continue to chop and toss the mixture until it's broken down into small, uniform pieces with very few floury spots and the butter pieces are no larger than a pea. This process helps you bring the dough together without working it excessively, increasing tenderness.
4. Bring the dough together: Push the mixture into a pile and squeeze it with your hands all over so it holds together in large pieces. Depending on the butter and flour you're using, the entire mixture might hold together without any dry spots - if that's the case, skip to the next step. If you still have some floury areas, move any large pieces to one side, leaving the dry bits in the pile. Drizzle 1/2 tablespoon of ice water over the floury area, then use the bench scraper in the same chopping motion to evenly distribute the water. Squeeze to bring it together, moving the pieces to the side, then repeat with more ice water as needed until no dry flour remains on the surface.
5. Stack the dough: Use your hands to pat the dough firmly into a square, then use a floured rolling pin to flatten the square until it's 2cm thick. Pat around the four sides with your hands or the scraper to square off and compact the dough, then use the flat edge of the scraper or a knife to cut the dough in half. Lift one half up (again, using the scraper to help) and place it directly on top of the other. Use the scraper to lift the stack of dough and dust underneath with more flour, then roll over it with the pin to flatten it slightly, dusting the top with flour if needed to prevent sticking. Cut the dough in half again, this time crosswise, and stack the halves again. The stacking and flattening increases the flakiness of the dough and further distributes the moisture, making it easier to roll out.
Potential Pitfall: If you're working in a hot kitchen, the butter might soften and make the dough sticky and difficult to handle. If this happens, transfer the dough to the refrigerator or freezer and chill until it's firm, 10 to 15 minutes, before proceeding. Don't skip the stacking process, as it's needed to give the dough structure. Bringing the dough together with the bench scraper is such a gentle method that it might not develop sufficient gluten, so without stacking, the dough could crack during baking.
6. Portion and shape the dough: Working quickly, use the scraper to loosen the dough from the surface and dust underneath and on top with more flour, then flatten it with the rolling pin into a long rectangle measuring 2cm thick. Cut the rectangle in half crosswise to make two equal portions. Whatever form the dough takes when it's chilled is the form it will most easily assume when being rolled out, so if it's destined to be round, as for a pie, use the heel of your hand to round off any corners and press the portion(s) into more of a disk shape. If it's destined to be rectangular, pat around the sides to straighten and square off the corners.
7. Wrap and chill: Wrap each piece in plastic or reusable food wrap, maintaining the round or rectangular shape. Roll over the wrapped pieces with the rolling pin to flatten the dough and force it to fill out the plastic or food wrap (applying this pressure will help prevent cracking later). Transfer the pieces to the refrigerator and chill until they're very cold and firm, at least two hours. If a recipe requires a single portion of dough, freeze the other portion and save it for another use.
NEXT: Rolling out chilled pastry dough
8. Soften the dough slightly: Remove the cold pastry dough from the refrigerator and let it sit at room temperature for a minute or two to soften slightly. Unwrap the dough and place it on a lightly floured surface.
9. Beat the dough to make it pliable: Use a rolling pin to beat the dough evenly across the surface, applying enough force to leave an imprint but not enough to crack or splinter it. If rolling it into a round, lift and rotate the dough every couple of whacks to keep the round shape. If rolling it into a square or rectangle, beat the dough lengthwise across the entire surface, then rotate it 90 degrees and beat crosswise, repeating several times in both directions. Continue to beat the dough, lifting it frequently and adding more flour if needed to prevent sticking, until it's just under 1.5cm thick. This will make the dough pliable and easier to roll out while cold.
10. Roll out the dough: Dust underneath and on top of the dough with more flour, then roll it out, frequently lifting and rotating the dough to work it into a round, or turning it 90 degrees every so often and rolling it lengthwise and crosswise for a square or rectangle. Continue to roll, keeping the dough moving on the work surface and dusting it with more flour as needed to prevent sticking, until you have the size and/or thickness specified in the recipe. If it starts to feel soft or sticky, transfer the dough to a sheet pan and refrigerate until it's cold and firm, about 10 minutes, then proceed.
Potential pitfall: If your dough is slightly under-hydrated, meaning it doesn't have enough moisture to bind the flour (unlikely given the above method, but not impossible), it might crack in places. If this happens, stop rolling and trim off a piece of dough from along the edge large enough to cover the entire cracked area. Press the piece of dough firmly over the area and proceed with rolling.
Makes 2 portions (enough for 2 single-crust pies, 1 double-crust pie, or 2 galettes).