Come to the Table

Mystery Retro Dessert

Can you guess what this dessert is called and what three ingredients it contains?

We're on an honor system here, so once you've guessed, click this link to find out if you were right.  Let me know how you did!

(Hint: I made this rich dessert with what I had left from the base layer of this recipe.)

Coconut Almond Granola

There are many granola recipes out there that I've viewed and planned on making someday, but somehow the 30-item list of ingredients deterred me from ever getting started.  Until now

In the newspaper recently I found a granola recipe and I had all of the ingredients in the pantry (which seems to be a theme for me lately), so I went for it. 

The granola was a delicious first attempt at making my own breakfast cereal.  The recipe calls for making a yogurt, fruit, and granola parfait, but it's great with milk, too.  Now I'm ready to try some more complicated granola recipes.  But not until every last morsel of these brown-sugar covered oats, almonds, coconut, and wheat germ concoction has been eaten!

Spinach in Puff Pastry

I have a cookbook holder that keeps "the cookbook of the moment" on the top of the bookshelf when the holder is not in active use for making a recipe.  Whenever Ina Garten's Barefoot in Paris is on display, my husband and I laugh about the subtitle: "Easy French Food You Can Make at Home."  It's the emphasis on "can" that gets to us.  What would the alternative be?  "Difficult French Food You Have Absolutely No Chance of Ever Making at Home"? 

Even as I laugh at the subtitle, the message has worked on me. I have tried a fair number of recipes from this book.  I recently attempted "Spinach in Puff Pastry" (p. 66) for the second time.  The recipe isn't difficult, but both times I wanted to cut it in half which is a challenge with the puff pastry.  This time the experiment was more successful.

bakingsheet's Cocoa Fudge Cookies

Don't you love it when you see a recipe you want to make and you happen to have all of the ingredients on hand?  I was inspired by Nic's Cocoa Fudge Cookies on her blog, bakingsheet.  Everything was waiting in the pantry or the refrigerator, even mini-chocolate chips and plain yogurt, so I started baking away. 

These cookies are deliciously fudgey.  It's surprising that they don't call for any eggs.  I guess the yogurt gives the moisture needed to hold everything together.  (But if you have someone in your house who hates yogurt, don't worry, they won't detect it in the cookies!)  I made mine a little bigger than directed, so I ended up with 17 cookies.  For the recipe, please visit bakingsheet.  Even if you aren't looking for this recipe, visit bakingsheet!  Who knows what you'll find to bake!

Tagged with: cookies chocolate

Meme of 4's

Jenny of the lovely blog de Arte Coquinaria tagged me recently for the Meme of 4's.  Here are my lists of personal trivia and introspection!

Four jobs you've had in your life (all in the past!)

1. Running my own housecleaning business when I was in high school.  One of the many "did I sign up for this?" moments was when one family had me wash their two collies as part of my duties.  The dogs didn't particularly like to get water on themselves, but they sure liked getting it on me!
2. Interpreting for Japanese track and field athletes at the Goodwill Games in Seattle.
3. Being a Public Affairs Associate for a forest products company in the Pacific Northwest. 
4. Working at a software company in Tokushima, Japan and having my desk moved to a different location in the office EVERY SINGLE DAY!

Four movies you could watch over and over:

1. The Lord of the Rings Trilogy
2. Ferris Bueller's Day Off
3. The Wizard of Oz
4. The Matrix (the first one only!)

Four places you've lived:

1. Eugene, Oregon
2. St. Paul, Minnesota
3. Riverside, California
4. Kyoto, Japan

Four TV shows you love to watch:

1. Lost
2. The West Wing
3. Alias
4. Barefoot Contessa

Four places you've been on vacation:

1. Aruba
2. Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan
3. Phoenix, Arizona
4. Ogunquit, Maine

SHF #17 Ice Cream Truffle Pie

The theme for Sugar High Friday 17 hosted by Spitton Extra is dairy.  This ice cream truffle pie has got to be one of the easiest ways to get that sugar high.  All you have to do is plan out the timing of this dessert and it practically makes itself.

I stumbled across the recipe for this pie in the fantastic cookbook Quick Vegetarian Pleasures by Jeanne Lemlin.  From the bottom of the pie, the layers include a chocolate cookie crust, chocolate ice cream, a chocolate truffle layer, vanilla ice cream, and raspberry sauce with a splash of Grand Marnier.  You can also top it off with chopped walnuts but I've never tried that.

The combination of dairy items is delicious.  For this time around, I used Lee's Ice Cream made here in Maryland and was pleased with the richness of both the chocolate and vanilla flavors.  The truffle layer is simply heated heavy cream with semi-sweet chocolate chips, although you could upgrade that with higher-quality semi- or bittersweet chocolate.  I recommend increasing the number of chocolate wafers that go into the crust so it will fill the edges of the pie plate more fully.

This ice cream truffle pie is a staple of our entertaining menu.  You can buy the ingredients well ahead of time and work in the ice cream softening, spreading, freezing, truffle-making, and sauce-producing tasks throughout the day while you're getting ready for your guests.  Plus, leftovers keep well in the freezer so you can even make it for a small number of guests and enjoy a slice or two the next day.