rhubarb – sweet d

Rhubarb Snacking Cake

June 5, 2018June 5, 2018sweets8 Comments

HELLO! I bet you thought I was done with the rhubarb recipes, huh? Well, I’m sorry to report that since I have a combination of no self control and no concept of how much rhubarb is too much rhubarb, I bought about 12 stalks too many and they are currently taking up more of the fridge than is convenient. So, until such time as I find recipes for all of it, the winners will undoubtedly find their way here. Today’s recipe is a slightly adapted version of this one from The New York Times. That recipe uses the name “quick bread”, but in my opinion, this turned out with more of a cakey texture, hence my renaming it to a snack cake. In addition to the name change, I switched out lemon zest for the orange zest (I know that might be weird, but I don’t love the rhubarb and orange combo), and sprinkled the top with some turbinado sugar for a nice crispy lid.

The result is a wonderful mix of bright lemon, caramelized sugar, and tart rhubarb, which bakes into little pockets with an almost jam-like texture. It is delicious on its own with a nice cup of tea, served warm with some butter or a light confectioner’s sugar glaze, but could also benefit from a heaping scoop of vanilla ice cream or a quick toasting. ALSO, this recipe can actually serve as a base for any number of other fruits, including blueberries, strawberries, or peaches.

Now I’d like to tell you that by this time next week I’ll be off my rhubarb kick, but I’m afraid to make that promise so I guess we’re just going to have to see. I hope you stick with me while I ride this out. Now let’s get to it!

Ingredients
(adapted from The New York Times “Rhubarb Quick Bread”)

8 tablespoons (1 stick) salted butter, melted and cooled slightly, plus more for greasing the loaf pan
1 cup granulated sugar
1 tbs lemon zest (if you’re really tied to the orange zest, it can be substituted here)
1/3 cup whole-milk yogurt (this makes for SUCH a moist cake)
2 large eggs
1¾ cup all-purpose flour, plus more for coating the loaf pan
1 tsp baking powder
½ tsp baking soda
½ tsp kosher salt
1¾ cups diced rhubarb (about 4 large stalks)
1 tbs turbinado sugar, for topping

Steps

1. Begin by preheating your oven to 350ºF. Generously butter and flour your loaf pan. Set aside.

2. In the larger of two bowls (you don’t even need a mixer for this one!), mix together the melted butter, sugar, lemon zest, and yogurt until smooth. Whisk in the eggs one at a time until combined. In the second bowl, combine your flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.

3. At this point, thoroughly wash your rhubarb and cut into roughly ½-inch pieces. Add the flour mixture and 1½ cups of the diced rhubarb (saving the last ¼ cup for the top) to the butter mixture and mix until just combined.

4. Spread the batter evenly into your loaf pan and artfully top with the remaining rhubarb and a sprinkling of the turbinado sugar.

5. Bake for 50-60 minutes, or until the edges are crisp and golden, and a cake tester comes out clean. Allow to cool for 10 minutes before removing from the pan. And, technically you’re supposed to cool it completely then before slicing, but I was so impatient and it was 10pm and I cut it almost immediately. While I wouldn’t ~really~ recommend doing this because the cake tends to crumble, I have to say nothing really beats the taste of cake still warm from the oven. I’ll leave the choice up to you!

Enjoy!!

xoxoxoxoxoxoD

Strawberry (and Rhubarb) Shortcakes

May 29, 2018May 29, 2018sweetsLeave a Comment

OKAY so I know it’s been ages and I’m terribly sorry. Time once again got away from me and I found myself making some of the same things over again without the motivation to write about them, but we are BACK. I hope everyone’s extended weekends were relaxing and full of guacamole, because mine sure was! I don’t know about you guys, but I love a weekend where I don’t have a single plan lined up. Maybe that’s the grandma in me, but I love waking up on a Saturday and having a leisurely breakfast and taking a stroll around some gardens without worrying about what’s coming next, you know? With the weather being pretty disappointing all weekend, I actually found myself being able to sleep late, spend some time with my sisters, and do some low-maintenance cooking, I truly wish all weekends were like this.

Now anyone who knows me knows that I have been obsessing over rhubarb for weeks now, but I’ve been drawing a blank on what to use it for (I’ll gladly take suggestions below, btw). I made a pie, which came out pretty good, but then after that I felt lost as to what should come next. Enter this recipe. I’ve always associated Memorial Day with strawberry shortcake, so when the time came to make dessert for our barbecue it was the first thing that popped into my head. But, since I can never leave anything alone I HAD to change it up, so I reduced down some of my rhubarb and strawberries into a thick, sweet and slightly tart compote and I will probably never make plain strawberry shortcake again.

I used my most trusted biscuit recipe for these shortcakes from the cookbook of the incredible Joanna Gaines because they are truly the flakiest biscuits I’ve ever made, so technically I guess these are more Strawberry Rhubarb Biscuits, but let’s all be real, biscuits and shortcakes are almost identical. Anyway, now that I’ve said biscuits five times in two sentences, let’s just get to it.

Flaky As Heck Biscuit Ingredients
(adapted recipe from Magnolia Table by Joanna Gaines)

4 cups self-rising flour
2 tbs baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 tbs white sugar
3 sticks salted butter, grated (I’m telling you, grating the butter is the KEY)
2 eggs, beaten
1½ cups Buttermilk
*1 egg + 1 tbs buttermilk + turbinado sugar for topping the biscuits

Flaky As Heck Biscuit Steps

1. In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and sugar. Add in the grated butter and mix with your hands or a pastry blender until the butter is about the size of peas and is evenly incorporated throughout the flour mixture.

2. Add the beaten eggs and mix with a wooden spoon until the egg is entirely mixed in.

3. Next, add the buttermilk and carefully mix the entire dough together with your hands until a single large ball can be formed; it should be relatively sticky. If the dough seems too dry, add more buttermilk a tablespoon at a time until the desired consistency is reached. Cover the mixing bowl with plastic wrap and chill for 30 minutes to overnight.

4. To roll out, generously flour your rolling surface (I use a silicone mat), and roll your dough into a wide rectangle about ½ inch thick. Using a large cookie cutter, cut 20-24 biscuits and lay them side-by-side on a parchment paper-lined cookie sheet, it’s okay if they’re touching!

5. Before baking, brush with the beaten egg and buttermilk, and then sprinkle with turbinado sugar.

6. Bake for 12-15 minutes or until the biscuits are golden brown and slightly crisp. Allow to cool full before cutting in half and filling.

Strawberry Rhubarb Compote

Roughly 2 cups (about 6 large stalks) Rhubarb, chopped
¾ cups white sugar
1 tsp lemon zest
2 tsp vanilla bean paste (or vanilla extract)
1 tsp cinnamon (if desired, this is optional)
2 lbs. (about 2 cups) strawberries, chopped if large, halved if small

Strawberry Rhubarb Compote Steps

1. In a large saucepan, add the chopped rhubarb, sugar, lemon zest, vanilla, and cinnamon, and mix to combine. Cook on medium heat until the rhubarb begins to soften and break down into a sauce, about 5-7 minutes.

2. Once the rhubarb is almost cooked, add in half the chopped strawberries (use the rest to garnish the shortcakes with) and cook for 5 more minutes, until the strawberries become slightly soft. Set aside to cool until serving.

Whipped Cream Ingredients

2 cups heavy cream
2 tbs white sugar
2 tsp vanilla extract

Whipped Cream Steps

1. In the bowl of your stand mixer, whip together the heavy cream, sugar, and vanilla extract until thick but still scoop-able, about 1-2 minutes on medium speed.

Serving Suggestion

1. To serve, cut each biscuit in half and top with the compote, fresh strawberries, and a heaping spoonful of whipped cream. Repeat 2 or 7 times. YUM.

xoxoxoxoxoxD

Creme Brûlée with Rhubarb Coulis

May 14, 2018May 13, 2018sweets4 Comments

Hello! Let me start of this post by wishing all the moms a very happy belated Mother’s Day, I hope your days were full of flowers and good food! It was a gloomy day here, I’m talking chilly and on/off rainy all afternoon, so it was a perfect day to stay in and take on some big cooking endeavors. My mom does so much for me and my family that the least I could do was make a fancy dinner, right? That’s how I best express my love, in slow-cooked french stew and desserts. Our menu was Beef Bourguignon, a recipe that can be found here, and these gorgeous creme brûlées. For those of you know have been keeping tabs (I know everyone is SO interested), I finally got some butane for my kitchen torch and this was the first recipe on my list.

Now I have ALSO been awaiting the arrival of rhubarb at the local farm for ages, and yesterday morning I showed up prepared to fight off anyone who tried to take more than me. As luck would have it, there was a table FULL of it and I confidently grabbed two large bunches, some for this recipe, and some for a pie later this week- I am on rhubarb lockdown here you guys!! So anyway, when brainstorming how to somehow use rhubarb and also make creme brûlée, I came across a recipe that used raspberry coulis on the bottom and custard on top, and I knew immediately that this was it. Substitute the raspberry for rhubarb, and the tartness is a perfect compliment to the richly sweet custard.

In all seriousness, I was crazy proud of how these came out, and they’re surprisingly easy to do. It’s mostly assembling the parts, and the hardest part will be using the kitchen torch. I found that some came out better than others, but it’s a learning process and you’ll soon be able to tell what amounts of sugar feel right and the height of the flames, etc. But I believe in you and this is going to go great! Let’s get to it!

*Recipe adapted from this recipe from Food Network*

Prep Time: 20 minutes
Cook Time: 55 minutes- 1 hour
Total Time: ~1 hour 30 minutes

Rhubarb Coulis Ingredients

Approximately 4 cups (about 6 stalks) rhubarb, chopped
½ cup water
2/3 cup sugar

Rhubarb Coulis Steps

1. In a heavy-bottom saucepan, bring the sugar and water to a boil. Add in the rhubarb and turn the heat down to medium-high.

2. Cook until the rhubarb softens and the sauce thickens, about 10 minutes.

3. Transfer to a glass bowl and allow to cool completely. While this is cooling, let’s make the custard!

Vanilla Bean Custard Ingredients

4 cups heavy cream
2 cups half-and-half
½ tsp kosher salt
1 tbs vanilla bean paste (or 2 vanilla beans, scraped + the pods, or 1 tbs vanilla extract)
16 egg yolks (I know, I’m sorry- make sure to save the egg whites for THESE!)
1 cup granulated sugar

Vanilla Bean Custard Steps

1. In a large saucepan, add the cream, half and half, salt, and vanilla (plus the pods if you’re using whole vanilla beans). Bring this mixture to a boil over medium heat, then remove and cover while you prepare the eggs.

2. In a large glass bowl, whisk together the egg yolks and the sugar until the mixture is pale yellow in color.

3. Slowly drizzle the hot cream into the egg mixture, whisking the whole time to make sure the eggs don’t cook! Strain the mixture through a sieve into another glass bowl.

Creme Brûlée Assembly

1. Begin by preheating your oven to 300ºF, and make sure you position the rack in the center position. Place your ramekins in a large tray or roasting pan with sides.

2. Start by filling each ramekin with 2 tablespoons of the rhubarb coulis (or enough to evenly cover the bottom). Carefully ladle the custard on top, filling almost to the top.

3. Next, create a bain-marie by filling the roasting pan around the ramekins with boiling water, but be careful not to get the custards wet! The water should reach about two-thirds of the way up on each.

4. Bake the custards for 55 minutes to 1 hour, until the custard is set but still slightly jiggly. When finished, remove from the roasting pan and allow to cool completely, at least 3 hours.

5. When the time comes to brûlée them, evenly coat the top of each custard with a scant tablespoon of white sugar- you don’t want too much sugar on top because it will burn more easily, but you do want enough to make that classic crunchy top.

6. Using a kitchen torch, brûlée the sugared top of each custard until it turns an even golden brown. Allow to cool for a minute so that the sugar can harden completely before eating. When the time comes, prepare your spoons and crack those perfect shells.

xoxoxoxoxoxoxD