Summer fruits are finally in full season now and that opens up so many dessert options.  But still, what to make?  I love pie, but don’t actually enjoy making it all the time.  And I also love a fruit crisp with a nice streusel topping, but I prefer that in the fall.  Shortcakes can be good, but too often the biscuit is too clunky and heavy.  What about a cobbler?  You know, that often neglected dessert that bring to mind the unrecognizable mush in one corner of a TV dinner?  I’ll be honest, I have never made one before precisely for that reason.  But when you think about what it is – a fruit mixture topped with biscuit dough – it actually combines the best elements of those previously mentioned desserts.  So for a BBQ at a friend’s house recently I used some super-fresh nectarines and blueberries and my favorite shortcake biscuit recipe to make my first cobbler.  It will not be my last.

Nectarine and Blueberry Cobbler (serves 8-10)

1-3/4 cup flour
1 Tablespoon baking powder
2 Tablespoons sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
5 Tablespoons butter
1/2 cup half & half
5 nectarines, pitted and cut into 1/2-inch cubes
1 cup blueberries
2 Tablespoons sugar
2 Tablespoons flour

Mix the flour, baking powder, sugar, salt and butter together in an electric mixer with the paddle attachment on low speed until the butter is mostly incorporated into the flour.  Pour in the half & half and mix just until a dough forms.  Roll the dough on a well-floured surface to about 1/2-inch thickness.  Cut into 2-inch shapes (I did squares, but anything will do, or even just tear the pieces by hand into random shapes) and set aside.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  Mix the remaining ingredients together in a large bowl, then pour into a baking dish just big enough to comfortably hold all the fruit.  I used a 10-inch round, 1-inch deep ceramic dish, but anything else will do.  Arrange the cut biscuit dough on the top of the fruit, leaving a few small spots uncovered.  Put the dish on a baking sheet (it will most likely bubble over) and bake in the preheated oven for about 45 minutes, or until the biscuits are golden and the fruit is bubbling.  Let cool a bit before serving.

Hard to believe, but I bought my first sour cherries ever from the farmer’s market last week.  There are two main reasons I haven’t bought them before.  First, their season is very short so the chances of finding them are slim.  And second, they are very fragile and do not keep for more than a few days so you need to have time to use them if you don’t want to waste your money (and they can be expensive).  I bought these cherries without any clear plan on what to make, but decided on a pie when I got home.  I soon realized I didn’t have nearly enough for a full size pie, so I made a few mini-pies in a couple of individual tart pans.  The sour cherries had a wonderful flavor (they are the traditional pie-making cherry after all, but most recipes usually use canned cherries) and I don’t think I’ll be so hesitant to buy them again.

A note on making individual pies:  Roll the pie dough as thin as you can or else the filling to crust ratio will be off and it would be too much like eating the crust by itself.  To roll the dough extra-thin, make sure it is cold and try rolling it between two sheets of parchment paper to prevent it from sticking to your rolling pin.

As for the kids, Mia found a way to eat all the cherries first so there was a hollowed out pie shell before eating most of the crust.  And maybe Claudine didn’t like the cherries as much as everyone else because everything else was gone from the plate except for the cherries, which looked like all the juice had been sucked out of them.

Fresh Sour Cherry Pie (makes 4 individual 4-inch pies)

Crust:
2-2/3 cups flour
14 Tablespoons butter
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup cold water

Filling:
2 cups fresh sour cherries, pitted
1/3 cup sugar
1 tablespoon cornstarch

For the crust, mix the butter into the flour and salt with your fingers until mostly incorporated.  (You can use a food processor for this step if you like.)  Mix in enough cold water to make a dough.  Roll the dough as thin as you can (see note above), cut into 8 circles about 2 inches larger than your small tart pans.  If you need more dough you can just re-roll some of the scrap pieces.  Chill the dough until ready to use.

Meanwhile, make the filling.  Toss the pitted cherries with the sugar and let it sit for about 20 minutes.  Drain and reserve the juice.  Put the juice in a small saucepan along with the cornstarch and bring to a boil.  When it has thickened, remove it from the heat and stir in the reserved cherries.

To assemble the mini-pies, press one circle of dough into a 4-inch tart pan.  Fill almost to the top with some pie filling.  Place another circle of dough on the top, pinching at the edges so it is completely sealed.  Trim any excess dough and crimp decoratively as desired.  Cut a short slit in the top of the pie to allow steam to escape.  Repeat with the remaining pies, then bake on a parchment-lined cookie sheet in a  preheated 375-degree oven for about 40 minutes, or until the crust is cooked on the bottom and the filling begins to bubble out of the top.  Allow to cool slightly before eating.

apricot, pineapple buttermilk, grapefruit ginger, lemon olive oil, blueberry yogurt, sorrel, mango basil.

These are all sorbets that Mark made recently. We tried 4 of them (really, really curious about the sorrel!) and yup, they were all good, especially the lemon olive oil and pineapple buttermilk. The acidic sharpness of the pineapple and tart lemon made a really interesting counterpoint and was tempered by the smoothness of the olive oil and buttermilk.

When we talk about a store, what we get excited about is the ice cream and sorbets. There’s a reason why it was our first business idea, but we always got stumped on the fact that it was such a seasonal product. What do you do in the winter? But we wouldn’t have that problem anymore with the cookies. While the business may be running like a machine now (a human Mark machine), he still gets plenty of joy from making ice creams and sorbets.

I’m very happy that we didn’t miss the pick-your-own strawberry season this year and I’m equally as happy that I actually had time to make something with them.  The kids were sold on the idea of a strawberry pie while we were still picking the berries, but I realized that I had never made one. I ended up improvising this recipe right down to the pie pan – my glass pie pan broke months ago so I was forced to use a springform pan.  The fresh, whole, uncooked strawberries are bound together inside a graham cracker crust with a mixture of sugar, gelatin and strawberry puree.  The strawberries looked a little rough after I filled the pie so I covered them with a layer of stabilized whipped cream.  If you try this recipe, only use the best berries you can find because the flavor depends entirely on that.

Strawberry and Whipped Cream Pie (makes one 10-inch pie)

Crust:

1-1/3 cups graham cracker crumbs

1/4 cup sugar

1/4 cup flour

6 Tablespoons melted butter

Preheat the oven to 300 degrees.  Mix everything together by hand, and press firmly into a 10-inch springform pan.  The crust should also go up the sides of the pan about three inches.  Bake in the oven for about 12 minutes, until it has firmed up a bit.  Let it cool while you prepare the filling.

Filling:

5 cups strawberries, washed and stems removed.

1/4 cup sugar

1 Tablespoon gelatin powder, soaked in 1/4 cup cold water

Roughly chop one cup of the strawberries and place in a small saucepan with the sugar.  Cook until reduced to a puree.  Remove from the heat, then stir in the soaked gelatin.  Mix with the remaining strawberries, then immediately pour into the cooled crust.  Spread the out so the top is level, then prepare the whipped cream topping.

Topping:

1-1/2 cups heavy cream

1 Tablespoon powdered sugar

1 teaspoon gelatin powder

2 tablespoons milk

Whip the cream and sugar to stiff peaks.  Soak the gelatin in the milk for two minutes, then heat gently until dissolved.  Gradually fold the whipped cream into the gelatin, then spread on top of the strawberries.  Chill for several hours before removing from the pan and slicing.

You’re intrigued, aren’t you?
Mark’s been far too busy to make any desserts at home, but once in awhile, if we’re lucky, a container of ice cream will magically appear in the freezer or a new cookie might appear under the cake dome. We’re not the type of household that always keeps a pint of ice cream in the freezer (hey, why is that?), but Mark’s ice creams, as I’ve mentioned before, might very well be one of my favorite treats and this flavor, malted milk, might be one of my favorite new flavors.

Have I ever told you that when we used to day dream about opening our own business one day, we always thought it would be an ice cream business?

Another Thanksgiving has come and gone. It really is my favorite holiday since it is the most food-centric of them all. Still, I have not yet cooked a real Thanksgiving meal myself in many years and this year was no different. I felt I needed to make some kind of a contribution in the kitchen so I made my pumpkin pie and also some braised red cabbage and roasted mushrooms.

A few days ago I saw these absolutely perfect quince at a farmer’s market. For those of you who don’t know, quince is my favorite Fall fruit which is saying a lot as Fall also brings persimmons, pomegranates and kumquats. The only downside to them is that they need just a bit of help to get their wonderful flavor out (that, and also the bumpy ones can be a serious pain to peel). I usually choose to poach them with just a few spices and lemon. A good quince has an almost tropical aroma and a golden yellow color, complete with the little fuzzy bits on the skin that lets you know that you’ve found a good one. The flavor is a combination of a perfectly ripe apple, pear and pineapple all mixed up in one. When properly cooked, the flesh of the quince will darken and turn into a nice shade of pinkish orangey-brown and you can eat them like you would a poached pear. This year I tried something different and made an upside-down cake. Hope everyone had a happy Thanksgiving!

Quince Upside-down Cake (makes one 9-inch cake)

Poached Quince:
3 medium quinces
4 cups water
1-1/3 cups sugar
1 cinnamon stick
6 pieces of star anise
6 whole cloves
1 lemon, thickly sliced

Topping:
2/3 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup butter

Cake:
2/3 cup flour
1/2 cup plus 1/3 cup sugar, divided
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
3 eggs, separated
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1 Tablespoon cider vinegar
juice of one lemon

First, poach the quince. Peel each quince and cut them into quarters. Cut out the seeds from each piece. Meanwhile, bring the water, sugar, spices and lemon to a boil. Add the quince, cover and reduce heat to a simmer. Simmer the quince until they have darkened several shades to a deep pink or red. Remove from the cooking liquid and set aside.

Now prepare the topping. Butter the sides of a 9-inch cake pan generously. Melt the butter in a small skillet. Whisk in the brown sugar and continue to cook for about 30 seconds. Pour into the bottom of the prepared cake pan and set aside to cool for a few minutes. Now, slice the cooked quince into 1/4-inch slices and arrange decoratively in concentric circles on top of the brown sugar topping. Make sure to cover the entire pan.

Now prepare the cake batter. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Mix the flour, 1/2 cup sugar, baking soda and baking powder together in a bowl. Beat in the egg yolks, oil, lemon juice and vinegar. Beat the egg whites separately with the remaining 1/3 cup sugar until they hold soft peaks. Fold a small amount of the whipped egg whites into the flour mixture to soften it, then fold in the remaining whites. Pour into the cake pan over the quince. Bake in the preheated oven for about 45 minutes, or until the center of the cake has risen and feels noticeably firm to the touch. This is a very soft batter and it is important to cook it completely. Cool the cake for 30 minutes or so, to give the topping a chance to solidify a bit. Run a small knife around the edge of the cake so that it doesn’t stick to the pan. Now, carefully flip it over onto a serving plate big enough to hold it comfortably. Slice and serve whenever you are ready.