What does one do with a whole pineapple? The first half is sliced and savored for breakfast for a week. The second half is caramelized in butter and brown sugar and baked into a cake. The first half is refreshing and delightful — a harbinger of summertime. The second half tastes downright sinful.
Ingredients for topping: 1/2 medium pineapple, peeled, quartered lengthwise, and cored 3/4 stick unsalted butter 3/4 cup packed light brown sugar
Ingredients for batter: 3/4 cup all-purpose flour 3/4 cup spelt flour (can substitute whole wheat pastry flour) 2 teaspoons baking powder 1/4 teaspoon salt 3/4 stick unsalted butter, softened 1 cup granulated sugar 2 large eggs 1 teaspoon vanilla 1 tablespoon dark rum or rum cream 1/2 cup unsweetened pineapple juice 2 tablespoons dark rum (or rum cream) for sprinkling over cake
Directions: Preheat oven to 350°F.
Cut pineapple into 1/2-inch pieces. In a cast iron skillet, melt butter over medium-low heat. Add brown sugar and simmer, stirring into a smooth and fragrant caramel, for 4 minutes. Remove from heat. Arrange pineapple on top of caramel in concentric circles, snugging pieces together. Set aside.
Sift together flour, baking powder, and salt. In a large bowl, beat butter with an electric mixer until light and fluffy. Add sugar and incorporate. Add eggs one at a time, beating well. Beat in vanilla and rum. Add half of flour mixture and beat on low until just incorporated. Beat in pineapple juice, and then remaining flour mixture, beating until incorporated. Batter may appear curdled; don’t panic.
(Note: My pineapple didn’t yield as much juice as I anticipated, so I pulverized some fresh pineapple with the immersion blender and substituted about 1/4 cup pulp alongside about 1/4 cup juice.)
Gently pour batter over pineapple topping and spread evenly. Bake cake until golden and a tester comes out clean, about 45 minutes. Let stand in skillet five minutes. Invert a plate over skillet and invert cake onto plate (keeping plate and skillet firmly pressed together). Replace any pineapple stuck to bottom of skillet. Sprinkle rum over cake and cool on plate on a rack. Serve cake just warm or at room temperature.
A perfect cake — not too light, not too heavy — topped with sticky caramel and lusciously sweet pineapple. Stand aside, chocolate. Decadence has a new flavor.
I didn’t grow up with rhubarb. With the exception of that fake rubbery stuff that comes in pre-made strawberry rhubarb pies, I had no experience with it. (Nor did I understand why they kept insisting on cramming it into perfectly good strawberry pies.) Rhubarb doesn’t grow in Miami (at least, not that I’m aware of) — it’s far too hot. Aside from the grocery store renditions playing to the nostalgic heartstrings of northeastern transplants, rhubarb did not exist in my world.
This year I decided to change that. As per usual, rhubarb was nowhere near my radar. And then it started cropping up on the food blogs I read and I decided I needed to try my hand at it too. Eat Make Read’s buttery rhubarb ginger crumb bars were just the ticket.
For the filling: 4 cups rhubarb, sliced into 1/2-inch pieces 2 tablespoons ginger, finely chopped juice of one lemon 1/2 cup sugar 4 teaspoons flour
For the dough: 1 cup sugar 1 teaspoon baking powder 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour 1 1/2 cups whole wheat pastry flour 1/4 teaspoon salt zest of one lemon 1 cup cold unsalted butter (2 sticks), thinly sliced 1 egg
Directions: Preheat the oven to 375F. Grease a 9×13 inch pan.
In a medium bowl, stir together the sugar, flour, and lemon juice. Gently mix in the rhubarb and ginger. Set aside while preparing the dough so rhubarb mixture becomes juicy.
In another bowl, stir together the sugar, flour, and baking powder. Mix in salt and lemon zest. Use a fork or pastry cutter to blend in the cold butter and egg. (I used my hands to help.) The dough will be crumbly.
Pat half of the dough into the prepared pan. Sprinkle the rhubarb mixture evenly over the crust. Crumble remaining dough over the rhubarb layer.
Bake for 45-50 minutes, or until top is golden. Allow to cool completely before cutting into squares.
Sweet, tart, gingery, and addictively buttery, these bars are heavenly. If only rhubarb season lasted a bit longer — they’re the perfect summery dessert (or mid-afternoon snack).
Ever in the mood for chocolate that isn’t over the top? These mocha chip cookies are perfect for exactly that. A chocolate cookie laced with a hint of coffee without being overly rich or heavy. Don’t get me wrong — I like rich, dense, decadence as much as the next person. But sometimes lighter fare is in order. These mocha chip cookies curb that chocolate hankering without knocking you off your feet.
Ingredients: 2 cups + 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour 1/4 cup dark cocoa powder 3 tablespoons instant coffee powder 1/2 teaspoon baking soda 1/4 teaspoon sea salt 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted and cooled 1 cup brown sugar 1/2 cup sugar 1 egg + 1 egg yolk, at room temperature 2 teaspoons vanilla extract 1/3 cup coffee (can substitute coffee liqueur) 1 cup chocolate chunks sea salt for topping
Directions: Preheat the oven to 325°F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
In a bowl, mix together flour, cocoa, coffee powder, salt and baking soda and set aside. In another bowl, mix the melted butter and sugars until they are combined. Add the egg, yolk, coffee (or coffee liqueur), and vanilla and mix well. Gradually incorporate flour mixture, mixing until dough forms. Fold in the chocolate chunks. Refrigerate dough for 30 minutes.
Remove dough from the fridge and roll into small balls, about 1 inch in diameter. Set on baking sheet with 2 inches between each cookie. Sprinkle each cookie with a pinch of sea salt. Bake for 10-12 minutes, until the edges are set and the middles are still soft. Be careful not to over bake. Remove from oven and allow to cool for a few minutes before transferring to a cooling rack.
As much as everyone loves a gooey cookie hot out of the oven, the landlord and I have found that these cookies are actually best the day after. Within the first few minutes or hours of baking they are yummy enough, but not special. They’re a chocolate cookie and lack pop. The next morning, however, the flavors have melded and the coffee flavor really shines. I’ve made them a few times and this has been consistent with each batch, making them the perfect cookie to make a day ahead for a party or bake sale. Or to overnight cross-country for your best friend’s birthday (hi Smaych!).
Chocolate and coffee. Balanced and not over the top. Perfect for simple occasions, or just because.
Bread pudding isn’t something I grew up with. I’m not even sure I knew it existed until I was in college. Even then it was some vague strange thing other people ordered at restaurants. Bread pudding? No thank you.
The landlord and his family love them some bread pudding. Hence I’ve had my fair share of bread pudding tastes over the last couple years. I don’t particularly care for it. It’s almost always eggy, like french toast. The landlord insists he doesn’t detect the eggy-ness, he who abhors eggs, but the boy is also fond of french toast. His palate isn’t exactly neutral.
It wasn’t until very recently that I discovered you can make bread pudding without eggs. In fact, you can make it with or without pretty much anything your heart desires. Bread pudding is the dessert for cooks — no measuring or chemistry required. Sure, the bakers may scoff, and they can certainly follow a recipe and measure quantities as they please. But the beauty of bread pudding is that all that measuring is optional.
This bread pudding was born of a quarter of a loaf of stale french bread, cut into roughly 1-inch cubes. In a bowl, I whisked together about a 1/2 cup sugar, 1/2+ cup milk, a splash of vanilla, a pinch of salt, and two large very ripe bananas, smashed. I then added the bread and about a 1/2 cup dark chocolate chips. I stirred everything together for a good minute or two to ensure the bread was well-coated, and then allowed it to sit and absorb the liquid for 30-40 minutes. None of the above was measured, all was eye-balled.
Once saturated, I gave the mix another stir and transferred it to a loaf pan. I then topped it with a pinch of kosher salt flakes and a generous dusting of turbinado (raw) sugar. It baked at 350F for 45 minutes.
The loaf that emerged was akin to the gooey bread puddings often found at restaurants, steaming beneath a giant scoop of vanilla ice cream. Dense, sticky, packed with flavor, and everything I imagine a childhood memory of bread pudding might be.
It was a snap to whip up, requiring only one bowl and no recipe (or ingredients) to fret over. There are infinite variations: pumpkin spice, cinnamon apple, chocolate, peanut butter — the list goes on and on. The next time we’re struck with a craving for something sweet and the lack of desire to see a recipe through I know exactly what I’m making. For those of you that shy away from the kitchen, this is the dessert for you.
We had a ton of limes left over from our equinox party. If Pun was here it’d be a no-brainer — margaritas by the pool. Alas, she’s not, and something tells me drinking tequila midday by myself would be frowned upon. Baked goods it was.
The bright zesty lime was both refreshing and therapeutic. It made for the perfect springtime dessert.
For the cake: Ingredients: 3 large eggs 3 tablespoons milk 1 tablespoon vanilla 1 1/2 tablespoons lime zest (from 3-4 limes) 1/4 cup freshly squeezed lime juice 3/4 cup all-purpose flour 3/4 cup spelt flour 3/4 cup sugar 1 teaspoon baking powder 1/4 teaspoon salt 1 1/2 sticks butter, softened
Directions: Preheat the oven to 350°F. Butter and flour a loaf pan, or line it with parchment paper.
In a small bowl, whisk together eggs, milk, vanilla, lime zest and juice. In a larger bowl, mix flours, sugar, baking powder, and salt. Add butter and beat until batter starts to come together. Add half the egg mixture and beat for 30 seconds. Add remaining egg mixture and repeat, scraping down the sides of the bowl.
Pour batter into loaf pan and bake until golden, 50-55 minutes. Allow to cool completely before glazing.
For the glaze: Ingredients: 1/4 cup freshly squeezed lime juice 1 tablespoon heavy cream (I used milk) 1 teaspoon vanilla 1 cup powdered sugar 1 teaspoon lime zest
Directions: Whisk all ingredients together to form a glaze. Add more milk or sugar to reach desired consistency. Drizzle over cooled pound cake and serve.
STEVE. SERIOUSLY. I DIDN’T USE YOUR TOOTHPASTE, OKAY? I HAVE MY OWN. IN A FLAVOR I ENJOY. I DON’T CARE WHICH WAY YOU SQUEEZE THE TUBE. THE FACT THAT...
