Recently I was contacted by a company called Donsuemor who asked me to create a dessert for their Dessert-A-Day feature coming in October.

I used this as an excuse to make another fall recipe before August ended.

Ginger pudding, with chopped pieces of crystallized ginger, gets layered with crushed up Donsuemor lemon zest madeleines for a delicious combination. I don’t think enough people know about how awesome it is and not enough people utilize it so I’m making it my mission to inform you. Try it, if you like them separately, you will love them together.
Read more »

I’ve never candied lemons before in my life. I’ve never candied anything I don’t think. I had recipe inspiration and needed some candied lemons for garnish so I decided I’d give it a shot. You’ll see the other recipe this friday, keeping the details secret for now.

I’ll completely admit that I’m not sure if I did this right. I went through a ton of lemons trying to slice them right, I may not have candied them correctly, they may not be perfect, but they taste good and I learned a couple things. I went through various sources and didn’t find any that fully explained the process so I did a lot of guess work.
Read more »

It’s incredibly hot outside.

I do not like the heat, I do not like the humidity, two things that are abundant in Philadelphia at this time of year. I go outside and I feel like I’m moving in slow motion through really thick, hot air. It’s terrible. To cope with this disastrous weather I made lemon ice cream.

You should too. I would love to show you process shots but it was way too hot and the recipe is easy enough that I know you’ll be able to get by.

Print Recipe
Lemon Ice Cream
Adapted from Tartelette

Finely grated zest of 3 lemons
1/2 cup fresh lemon juice
3/4 cup sugar (or 2/3 cup agave nectar)
4 egg yolks, room temperature
Pinch of salt
1 cup milk
2 cups heavy cream

In a non-reactive bowl (stainless steel is fine), rub together the lemon zest and sugar (or mix with agave nectar) until combined and fragrant, basically creating a lemon sugar. Add the lemon juice and salt and stir to combine. Refrigerate one to two hours to let the flavors blend.

In a large bowl, slightly beat the egg yolks to break them up. Heat milk to a bare boil in a large, heavy saucepan. While whisking the eggs, slowly pour a little milk over the top. Repeat until about a quarter of the milk is mixed in with the eggs. Return eggs and milk to saucepan and gently heat (do not boil), stirring occasionally, until the mixture coats the back of the spoon. Strain through a mesh strainer and refrigerate for at least two hours.

Combine milk mixture with heavy cream and lemon mixture. Spin in your ice cream maker according to manufacturer’s directions.

This toffee looks like a failure. It was actually pretty scary to make. Adding the baking soda made it bubble up to more than five times its size and it overflowed out of my pan. Then it deflated and I didn’t quite get the look like on the blog I found the recipe at. Despite that, it was still really delicious.

I recommend making this but be prepared. Have all your ingredients ready and put paper towels underneath your prepared pan because it will really help because this WILL overflow. It has a caramel-ish taste and a crisp texture and would go really well dipped in chocolate or garnishing puddings or custards.

Print Recipe
Sponge Toffee
Adapted from Canal Vie

3/4 cup light corn syrup
1 1/4 cup sugar
4 teaspoons baking soda (fresher is better)

Prepare everything in advance, speed is crucial to the actual making of this candy.

Line an 8″ square pan with parchment paper and place some paper towels underneath in case overflow occurs. Attach a candy thermometer to a heavy saucepan and measure out all ingredients.

In the saucepan, add sugar and corn syrup and mix until combined and the sugar has soaked into the syrup. Heat over medium heat and bring to a boil. Do not stir, gently swirling the pan is alright but DO NOT STIR. Heat until thermometer registers 300°F (hard candy).

Immediately remove from heat and sift in baking soda (be careful, this will be very hot). As soon as the baking soda is adding, beat quickly with a whisk for 4 to 5 seconds and pour immediately into the prepared pan. Be very careful because the mixture will be rapidly increasing in volume. Scrape the saucepan with the rubber spatula to make sure it is completely empty.

Allow to cool for at least 2 hours at room temperature. Do not touch or move the pan at all. Once completely cooled, unmold toffee, peel the parchment paper away and crack the candy using a large knife or meat mallet. Dip pieces in chocolate if desired. The crumbs can be used to garnish puddings or other desserts.

Store up to 2 weeks in an airtight container at room temperature.

Tip for cleaning the pan, whisk, and spatula: let soak in hot water for 15 minutes and it should all come off easily!

There are some days when your to-do list is piled up too high and you are overwhelmed at the thought of even starting that list.

I give you permission to procrastinate and make pudding.
Read more »

Apparently it isn’t a party in Brazil without the brigadeiros.

I wouldn’t know because I don’t have a drop of latino blood in my body, but I really like sweetened condensed milk combined with chocolate. These have a fudge-like texture, much softer than truffles, almost identical to my foolproof chocolate fudge.

I really like sweetened condensed milk in general. I have this bad habit of licking the lid of the can before I throw it out.

Is that weird? Whatever. You should try it, just be careful not to cut yourself on the edge of the can.
Read more »

In the midst of constant snowstorms, freezing rain, and icy roads, I come to you with a recipe for chocolate fudge. It’s not any normal chocolate fudge, although it is similar to some chocolate fudge I made in the past, this you can melt down in some warm milk to create hot chocolate.
Read more »

It may not be the most appropriate time of the year to make ice cream, considering it was 17 degrees and my kitchen heater is broken, but I felt compelled to do it anyway.

This is my first time making ice cream, I’m not sure why I waited so long. I got this ice cream mixer attachment for my KitchenAid almost a year ago and it’s been tucked in the cabinet ever since. I’m always thinking about making ice cream but it needs to be planned in advance because of freezing so I always chose something more instant instead (like cupcakes or brownies). Not this time though, I was prepared, and it paid off in the form of smooth, creamy ice cream.
Read more »

After my recent caramel failure I was still craving caramel so I thought I’d make some chewy caramels to snack on.

Caramel really isn’t hard to make as long as you keep an eye on it. Also, for this recipe, keep a bowl of ice water near by in case you burn your fingers and wear long sleeves, the caramel will bubble violently when the cream is added. It’s not really a problem as long as your pot is about 4 or 5 inches high but it’s always better to be on the safe side.
Read more »

It’s freezing out, snow is coming down hard, and the heater in my kitchen broke. I wanted to bake today but I don’t want to freeze to death so I decided to make something quick that will warm me up a little bit.

This fudge comes together quick with only four ingredients, but you need to let it sit at room temperature for 4 to 6 hours (or be impatient and cut after 2 and crack the surface of the fudge, eat a couple pieces, then just let the rest of the block finish setting).
Read more »