A big thanks to Bel for the recipe for these strawberry daiquiri cupcakes. I took a bit of a break from blogging but am back with a recipe for a cake that I transformed into mini cupcakes. So delicious!

Strawberry Daiquiri Mini Cupcakes

Cake:
• 3 cups all purpose flour
• 1 1/2 cups sugar
• 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/2 cup white rum
• 1/2 cup fresh lime juice
• 1/4 tsp almond extract
• 2/3 cup buttermilk or sour cream
• 1/2 cup shortening
• 2 eggs
• 10 oz package frozen strawberries, thawed, well drained, juice reserved, and chopped

Frosting:
• 1 1/4 cups sugar
• strained reserved strawberry juice
• 1 to 2 tbs strawberry jam or preserves
• 2 egg whites
• 2 tsp light corn syrup
• 1/2 tsp rum
• 3 drops red food coloring

Instructions:
1. Preheat over to 350 degrees. Line mini muffin pan with paper liners.
2. In a large mixing bowl, combine flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Add rum, lime juice, almond extract, buttermilk, shortening and eggs. Beat on low speed until well combined. Fold strawberries gently into the batter.
3. Pour the batter into the prepared cupcake liners. Bake for 10-15 minutes or until done (a toothpick will come out clean). Cool on a wire rack.
4. For frosting, combine sugar, strawberry juice, strawberry jam, egg whites and corn syrup in top of a double broiler, whisking until sugar dissolves (feel for grittiness between your fingers).
5. Remove from heat and beat until soft peaks form. Add rum and food coloring. Beat for 3 more minutes, or until piping consistency is reached (frosting will be light and fluffy).
6. Pipe frosting onto mini cupcakes (I use a #6 tip).

from the cupboard at the end of dinner and measure off one square, and slowly savor it with her last sip of wine. Having eaten the perfect amount, the chocolate bar would be rewrapped and slipped back into the top of my cupboard. My dad, considering chocolate abhorrent — according to him, genetics allows him to taste something awful that the rest of us can’t — would finish his meal with cheese, nougat montelimar or loukoumi. The nougat montelimar was so unusual to me (chewy, white, nut and orange peel laden, with a slight honey flavor) and a mystery how to make. As I got older, and acquired a taste for all those treats my parents loved, I learned how to make quite a few of them in culinary school. As follows is my recipe for nougat montelimar developed over the years and started in culinary school.

Nougat Montelimar

200 g water
600 g sugar
250 g heavy glucose (can be bought a candy supply store, e.g. Sugar n Spice in Daly City or Spun Sugar in Berkeley)
8 pieces of wafer paper (also available at candy store, edible)
350 g honey
120 g egg whites
100 g sugar
300 g pistachios
300 g slivered almonds
200 g chopped candied orange peel

Preheat oven to 350°F. Spread pistachios, almonds and orange peel on a sheet pan. Reserve largest metal bowl you own. Combine water, 600 g sugar and heavy glucose in a medium pan and heat on high, not stirring. When the sugar syrup reaches 240°F (don’t stop heating!), whip egg whites and 100 g sugar until it forms soft peaks. Meanwhile, heat honey on high until it reaches 248°F. Place nuts and orange peel as well as large metal bowl in the oven to heat for about 5 minutes. Continue heating the sugar syrup until it reaches 310°F. Whip egg whites while adding 248°F honey by pouring it against the side of the bowl. Continue whipping and add 310°F sugar syrup. Whip for 3 more minutes. Remove nuts and orange peel from oven and pour into the heated large bowl. Pour nougat into nuts and orange peel and mix with wooden spoon. Lay out two pieces of wafer paper next to each other on half sheet pan using tiny bits of nougat to stick the wafer paper to the pan. Spread 1/4 of nougat on each piece of paper and top with another piece of wafer paper and slowly press down working from the inside out until 1/2 an inch thick. Repeat with second sheet pan. Let cool one hour and then cut into squares with long serrated knife. I recommend frequently washing off the knife with hot water to make cutting easier.

Sometimes I’m asked how I know where to look for particular recipes.  First, there is the wall of cookbooks I’ve hoarded, and then there’s the 20 some odd years of experience of knowing who’s good at what.  Ina Garten makes fabulous cupcake recipes so she was my first google search for “pumpkin cupcakes”.  Her cake recipe looked great but her frosting recipe called for maple syrup flavoring.  Hmm, not at Safeway!  So I’ve paired her pumpkin cupcakes with a maple cream cheese frosting with just a hint of maple syrup.

Pumpkin Cupcakes with Maple Frosting
Makes 24 cupcakes

2 cup (10 oz) all-purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp kosher salt
2 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp ground nutmeg
4 eggs
1 can pumpkin purée (15 oz), not pie filling
1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup light brown sugar
1 cup vegetable oil

Maple Cream Cheese Frosting

6 cups (24 oz) powdered sugar
2 8-ounce package cream cheese
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened in microwave or at room temperature
1/4 cup pure maple syrup (preferably Grade B)
Orange food coloring (optional)

candy corn

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line muffin tins with paper liners.  Into a large bowl, whisk flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, ginger, and nutmeg. In a larger bowl, whisk together the eggs, pumpkin purée, granulated sugar, brown sugar, and vegetable oil. Add the flour mixture and stir until combined.

Divide the batter among the prepared tins (I use a 2 1/4-inch ice cream scoop) and bake for 20 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Set aside to cool completely.

Beat ingredients for frosting in a mixer with paddle attachment until combined.  Add orange food coloring (optional).  Pipe Maple Cream Cheese Frosting with an 806 Ateco star tip and sprinkle with the candy corn.

Secondly, stone fruit this season has been inconsistent.  I’ve only had a few good frog hollow peaches and some great apricots that I picked up in Lodi but Safeway and Whole Foods have been offering the most bland peaches and nectarines.  When I’m asked what my favorite thing to make is (which is like choosing between my children) I usually answer peach pie so I’m understandably disappointed this year.  Also, the peach ice cream above was lacking in peachy flavor debatably due to the peaches or maybe the recipe.  I’d love your explanations or feedback regarding this year’s crop!

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Ricotta Tart with Amaretti Crust and Plum & Brandy Compote

Crust
1 cup amaretti cookie crumbs (make in food processor)
1 1/2 tbs butter, melted
1/4 cup slivered almonds, toasted
1/2 cup flour
1 egg yolk

Ricotta Custard
2 1/2 cups ricotta
3 eggs
3 tbs sugar
1/2 tsp cinnamon
pinch of salt

Plum Compote
6 plums
3 tablespoons seedless blackberry jam or jelly
1/4 cup brandy

Preheat oven to 375°F.

In a food processor, blend amaretti cookie crumbs, butter, almonds, flour and egg yolk.  Press amaretti dough into a 9-inch pie pan (preferably non-stick metal) and bake for 8-10 minutes.

Meanwhile, add ricotta eggs, sugar, cinnamon and a pinch of salt to the bowl of a mixer and combine using paddle attachment (you can also do this by hand).  Pour ricotta mixture into pre-baked tart shell, smooth with a spatula and bake for 25 minutes or until center no longer jiggles.

Cook jam and brandy in 10-inch nonstick skillet over medium heat until reduced to thick syrup, 2 to 3 minutes.  Remove skillet from heat and place plums cut-side down in syrup. Return skillet to medium heat and cook until plums shed their juices and thick syrup is again formed, about 5 minutes, shaking pan to prevent plums from sticking.

Serve plums over or to the side of cooled ricotta tart.  Stored in the refrigerator, tart can be eaten for up to two to three days.

I’m going to pre-date a post on how I made the ricotta for this tart – I avoid supermarket ricotta like the plague or fat free mayonnaise.  Regardless, I had a lot of fresh ricotta to use and no presentable way to make my friends and family eat it.  I could take it around in tupperware and whip out some bread, ricotta and honey but I didn’t see that happening.  Giada De Laurentiis had a recipe for a Chocolate-Ricotta Pie that looked pretty spectacular.  Mix, bake and cool and presto!  All in all it turned out perfectly – rich, buttery, chocolatey and slightly nutty.   I didn’t alter the recipe one bit (except for accidentally making it in a 9-inch tart pan instead of 11-inch) but I did change the name to more accurately reflect what it is.

I’ve been craving peach pie and I haven’t had one good peach yet this season.  Maybe I really just wanted fruit flavored pie crust.  Crust + Limited Quantity of Plums = Plum Galette.  This is a beautiful very European free-form pastry that I first saw made in college when my French friend wanted an apple dessert (Side note: she thought Americans were annoying to always add cinnamon to apples in desserts.  Food for thought).  Martha Stewart has an attractive recipe for a Plum Galette that I’ve adapted using my pie crust recipe and some slight alterations.  Her recipe had slightly too little sugar and not enough almond flavor.

Plum Galette

One recipe for a 9 inch double-crust pie shell
6 tbs sugar
2 tbs flour
1/4 cup whole, skin-on almonds, toasted
1/4 tsp almond extract
8 plums, halved, pitted, and sliced 1/4 inch thick (keep slices together)
1 to 2 tbs heavy cream
Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

To food processor, add almonds, 4 tablespoons sugar, and 2 tablespoons flour; pulse until ground to a coarse meal.  Add 1/4 teaspoon of almond extract and pulse to combine.

On a floured surface stack pie crust discs, combining them, roll out dough to 1/4-inch thickness. Transfer to a parchment-lined baking sheet; spread almond mixture over dough. With a spatula, transfer plums to dough; press lightly to fan out, leaving a 2-inch border. Fold edge of dough over fruit. Refrigerate 20 minutes. Brush crust with cream; sprinkle galette with 2 tablespoons sugar. Bake until crust is golden and underside is cooked through, about 60-70 minutes.

Arugula, Prosciutto and Ricotta Calzone

1 large garlic clove, minced
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
5 oz baby arugula (8 cups packed)
6 oz whole-milk ricotta (2/3 cup)
3 oz whole-milk mozzarella, coarsely grated
2 tablespoons of finely grated Parmigiano-Reggiano
1 large egg yolk
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon black pepper
3 oz prosciutto, torn into strips
1/4 cup pinenuts, toasted
1 lb pizza dough (homemade or store-bought)

Put oven rack in lower third of oven and preheat oven to 450°F.

Cook garlic in oil in a 12-inch heavy skillet over moderate heat, stirring frequently, until golden, 1 to 2 minutes. Add arugula and cook, stirring frequently, until wilted, 2 to 3 minutes. Transfer to a sieve and press hard on arugula to squeeze out as much excess liquid as possible, then coarsely chop.

Stir together ricotta, mozzarella, Parmigiano-Reggiano, yolk, salt, and pepper until blended, then stir in arugula and pine nuts.

Halve dough, then roll out each piece into a large round with a rolling pin.  In one half of round, spread half of cheese filling, then top with half of prosciutto strips. Fold dough in half to enclose filling and form a semicircle. Press edges together to seal. Beginning at 1 end and working toward the other, stretch sealed edge outward, pinching and rolling edge to form a rope. Transfer to baking sheet. Make one more calzone in same manner, transferring to baking sheet.

Bake calzones until golden and puffed, 12 to 15 minutes. Cool on baking sheet 5 minutes before serving.

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Tart and flavorless blackberries and bland, squishy peaches.  The cook in me should have been frustrated and I was.  Hence, I put in an order for our first regular CSA box from Farm Fresh to You.  At the same time, I just couldn’t throw away fruit.  It’s wasteful and sad for the fruit (poor fruit).  The San Francisco Chronicle, wisely published an article on what to do with tart blackberries – a Blackberry Crunch Cake.  And Cook’s illustrated published a Peach Cake Recipe.  So it was battle of the fruit cakes (not the ho ho ho kind).  A cake definitely allows you to play up the flavor of the fruit and tinker with it if it’s not right.  If you use bland peaches or blackberries on a pie and you get mediocre results.  The peach cake turned out beautiful but still soggy.  I wouldn’t recommend the recipe.  The peach flavor was definitely elevated but it was nothing special.  However, the blackberry crunch cake was spectacular and I highly recommend that this be a staple in your recipe collection.  It’s really beautiful, has lovely texture and plays up a fruit that’s not always featured.  Click here for the recipe.