Grapefruit-Champagne Sorbet

I’m not generally a fan of frozen treats. I have very sensitive teeth and the coldness of ice creams, sorbets, and popsicles is usually rather painful.

There are a few notable exceptions. For some reason frozen custard doesn’t bother me, nor did some of the most amazing pistachio gelato last year in Florence. Perhaps it’s the fat content or the method of churning – I’m unsure.

Then there are frozen treats that are so incredibly delicious that I don’t care if they hurt my teeth, I just eat them slowly and carefully. This sorbet is one of those treats.

It’s like a frozen mimosa exploding in your mouth. Which, to me, sounds like bliss. The recipe is from David Lebovitz’s Perfect Scoop, which is, in my opinion, the definitive recipe book on ice creams and frozen delights.

So far I’ve made a few different things from it. I was pretty “meh” about the Watermelon Sorbetto, but the husband loved it. I adapted the Lemon Sorbet recipe to suit some fresh grapefruits sent lovingly from an aunt in Florida for Christmas, but it was pretty underwhelming – but the husband loved it. In fact, I think he ate the entire batch in about 3 days.

I’ve got a bunch of other recipes on my to-do list: Mojito Granita, Olive Oil Ice Cream, Orange-Szechuan Peppercorn Ice Cream, Rice Ice Cream…

This Grapefruit-Champagne sorbet, however, has rocked my world. The flavor of the wine is prevalent, so be warned. This probably isn’t appropriate for children or non-drinkers. The husband doesn’t drink alcohol, but he found the strong champagne flavor to be “un-offensive,” as he put it. I, on the other hand, want to take the entire container of sorbet, back myself into a corner, and growl at anyone who comes near.

Make this. Then don’t share it with your friends.

Grapefruit-Champagne Sorbet

from The Perfect Scoop

1 1/3 cups Champagne or other sparkling white wine

1 cup sugar

2 ½ cups fresh squeezed grapefruit juice

In a medium, nonreactive saucepan, heat about half the champagne with the sugar, stirring frequently until the sugar is completely dissolved. Remove from heat, stir in the remaining champagne and the grapefruit juice.

Chill the mixture thoroughly and freeze it according to your ice cream maker’s instructions.

*Notes: I didn’t use a saucepan, I microwaved half the champagne and the sugar in a large glass measuring cup a minute at a time until the sugar dissolved, stirring every 30 seconds. Then I chilled the champagne-sugar mixture, as well as the rest of the wine and the grapefruit juice. I combined them all once chilled and then put it in my ice cream maker. This worked perfectly for me and it seemed a lot easier than using the stovetop. It’s up to you.

Vanilla Pistachio Biscotti

A few weeks ago I bought a couple bags of pistachios while they were on sale. While I’m a fan of the salted variety for out of hand eating, I accidentally grabbed an unsalted bag as well. After I’d devoured the salted bag and was searching through my cupboards for a late-night snack, I decided that the unsalted kind had to be better than nothing at all.

While munching I noticed some particularly strong notes of vanilla. I had a few dozen batches of cookies to bake for people on the horizon, so I started thinking of ways to incorporate the unsalted green nuts into some sort of cookie – like vanilla pistachio biscotti.

I’d never made biscotti before, but had been meaning to for quite some time – perfect opportunity. Plus, since I was baking for other people I could experiment to my heart’s content and get the waistline-burgeoning results out of my house (not something I can say for the batch of cinnamon rolls I baked last night and am currently devouring).

Every recipe I came across also incorporated cranberries or chocolate, but I wasn’t interested in distracting from the nutty vanilla flavor I wanted. I eventually settled on altering one of Tyler Florence’s recipes and I think it turned out pretty well.

I wanted to amp up the vanilla flavor as much as possible, so I also used vanilla sugar. Vanilla sugar is one of my favorite baking secrets for sneaking some extra flavor into goodies without too much effort. Many recipes call for scraping the seeds out of a vanilla pod, but there’s still so much flavor left in there – it’d be a shame to discard it, especially considering how expensive they are. Instead, fill up a jar with sugar and stick the “spent” pods in there. Over time it will perfume the sugar with a lovely, subtle vanilla flavor. I just use an old spaghetti sauce jar (that’s been thoroughly cleaned, of course) and refill it with sugar every time I use some.

If you don’t have vanilla sugar then just use regular, I can guarantee the biscotti will still be delicious.

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Flourless Chocolate Cookies

I’m a big fan of King Arthur Flour for a number of reasons, not least of the which is that any recipes they provide are reliable, tested items. It’s kind of like getting a recipe from Cook’s Illustrated – you know that a real, live actual person has tested the recipes and – more likely than not – they’re going to work.

That being said, I’m usually too lazy to make bread anymore because I’ve been so busy with school the last few years (graduate this week!). Their cookies and quick breads, however, are usually pretty easy to whip up.

I also try to avoid baking cookies too often, really just out of sympathy for my poor bathroom scale and the seams in my jeans, but around Christmastime calories only count for half – or so I’m inclined to believe. These cookies, as far as cookies go at least, are relatively healthy. There's zero fat and they're not terribly caloric.

Last year I went on an all-out cookie bonanza for my father-in-law’s company Christmas party – sugar and gingerbread cookies painstakingly decorated by hand along with chocolate-peppermint cream whoopee pies.

It was exhausting.

This year I wanted cookies that were at least relatively easy to put together, while still making me look like a culinary badass. These, my fine Internet friends, are it. They take about 60 seconds to put together and about 12 minutes to bake, but they look like they involved all sorts of complicated things like whipping and folding and magical chocolatey fairies. But no, a 5-year old could do it. Literally.

So make like a 5-year old, throw these together, and let your office holiday partygoers revel in your awesomeness.

KAF’s Flourless Fudge Cookies

Yields about 2 dozen 2 inch cookies

(I prefer to bake by weight, click here to go to the original recipe at KAF with weight measurements)

2 1/4 cups confectioners' sugar

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon espresso powder, optional but good

1 cup cocoa powder, Dutch-process

3 large egg whites

2 teaspoons gluten-free vanilla extract

1) Preheat the oven to 350°F. Lightly grease two baking sheets. Or line with parchment, and grease the parchment.

2) Stir together all of the ingredients till smooth. Scrape the bottom and sides of the bowl, and stir again till smooth.

3) Drop the soft, batter-like dough onto the prepared baking sheets in 1/2" circles; a two teaspoon cookie scoop works well here.

4) Bake the cookies for 8-12 minutes; they should spread, become somewhat shiny, and develop faintly crackly tops.

5) Remove the cookies from the oven, and allow them to cool right on the pan.

sour cherry galette

Sour cherries are an elusive fruit. They grow only in a few areas in the country, are impossible to find in a grocery store (fresh, at least), and even at a farmer’s market one would be lucky to find them more than one or two weeks out of the year.

If you do happen to find them, though – buy them. A lot of them. Don’t tell your friends. Don’t tell your family. Don’t even tell your neighbor’s dog. Keep them all for yourself and make this galette.

Galette is just a French word for “we’re too lazy to make two crusts and call it a pie.” It all comes together in about an hour, which is only a little bit longer than it will take you to devour this entire tart.

Sweet-tart cherries, flaky, buttery pastry – it’s a match made in heaven. Add a bit of vanilla ice cream on the side if you’re so inclined.

I prefer to eat mine directly out of hand, eyes closed in bliss, pastry crumbs dropping all around me. It’s the only civilized way.

Sour Cherry Galette

1 ¼ cups unbleached all-purpose flour

2 tablespoons sugar

¼ teaspoon kosher salt

1 stick (8 tablespoons) butter, chilled, cut into cubes

¼ cup cold water

1 quart (about 4 cups) sour cherries, pitted

½ cup sugar

2 tablespoons corn starch

Preheat the oven to 400⁰F

Whisk the flour, sugar, and salt together. Work the cold butter into the flour mixture with a pastry blender, fork, or your fingers, until like small crumbs. Add the ice water and mix until it becomes a soft dough, adding more cold water if needed. Be careful not to overwork the dough. Wrap in plastic wrap and chill for at least 30 minutes.

Meanwhile, toss the pitted cherries in the sugar and cornstarch, let sit for at least 15 minutes. Roll out the pastry dough until about 1/8^th inch thick. Mound the cherries in the center, leaving at least a two inch border. Wrap the pastry edges around the cherries, pleating the dough where needed. Bake for 30-35 minutes, or until pastry is golden brown and cherries are cooked through. Let sit for at least 30 minutes before serving.

 

Root Beer Glazed Ham

My family was never really one for making a big to-do about Easter, but we always had a ham. The rest of my family always slathered theirs with a raisin sauce, the recipe for which had been handed down through a few generations on my dad’s side. It was always far too sweet for me, so I abstained.

I appreciate the interplay of sweet and salt much more now, but that raisin sauce is still too much for my liking. The syrupy root beer for this glaze though, adds complexity and spice to the ham while imparting just enough sweetness to balance the saltiness.

As you can see above, it also works well on a sandwich with whole grain mustard and watercress.

Root Beer Glazed Ham

24 oz root beer

1 cinnamon stick

6 whole cloves

1 Niman Ranch petite ham

Bring  first 3 ingredients to a boil, reduce heat and let simmer until reduced to 2/3 cup. Spoon 1/3 of glaze over ham. Cook ham in 300⁰ oven, uncovered, for 20 minutes per lb. until internal temperature registers 135⁰F, spooning a tablespoon or two of glaze over ham every ½ hour until gone. Let ham rest 10 minutes, slice, serve.