Easy Elegant Dessert: Raspberry Chocolate Cups

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Don’t those look delish? Well, they were and they are a snap to whip up and serve, requiring minimal ingredients. If you are looking for a pretty dessert to serve on the fly, keep the basic ingredients on hand and give this a whirl. Its flexible too, just modify your fruit to what is in season. Or, add some fruit purée to the filling to change up the flavor profile.

To start with, you need some of those cute little chocolate dessert cups. Mine came with pre-made white and dark chocolate curls for garnish. I like to keep these on hand, and they are sold at my local upscale grocery store. (They are also available at Amazon.com, or you can make your own)

Then, in a small bowl, I add fresh Marscapone and powdered sugar to sweeten. Yes, it really is that simple. You can whisk it, so it becomes light and fluffy, or you can just stir it in well. This is the point where you can get your ‘creative on’ by adding some fruit purée or substitute an artisan or homemade jam/jelly for the sugar. A citrus oil would be lovely with candied rinds. The combinations abound, just put on that creative thinking cap.

Then, fill your little cups with the cheese mixture, garnish with fruit and top with the curls.

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SO, SO, SO, easy! Yet impressive too!

(Forgive the ‘less than perfect’ photographs. I took these on the fly, while entertaining. Next time, I’ll be sure to try and make the photo worthy of the dish!)

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Perfect Gluten Free Buttermilk Pancakes

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After many attempts, after many variations. After many mixes, flours and recipes, I succeeded on making gluten free pancakes that are tender, flavorful, perfectly browned and cook evenly. It’s rather ironic that this is the result of my ‘winging it’ one morning. My daughter was home from college resting and taking advantage of a quiet house to study. And as many who have kids in college know, they seem to always be hungry! Especially for home cooked food! So, when I suggested pancakes, she lit up like a christmas star. Pancakes are her favorite. I didn’t have a GF mix, and the only GF flour I had on hand was a bag of Cup4Cup gluten free flour I had purchased to try and make my Monkey Bread more tender. This flour mix is very nice, but it is very spendy. That said, it makes fantastic pancakes. My daughter says even better than our local diner makes, and she raves about theirs! I really did ‘wing it’ on this one. I have the basic pancake ratios in my mind, and so I used those to create this basic recipe.
I have to warn you, it is critical to use the products I use in order to achieve the same wonderful results. You can substitute other flours and buttermilk but I cannot guarantee the same tasty results. (This is NOT an advertisement for these products! I just want you to have the same results that I did – delicious results!)
(*see notes below)

1 cup of Cup4Cup Gluten Free Flour
1/2 tsp Baking Soda
1/2 tsp Baking Powder
2 rounded Tbsp Sugar
1/2 tsp Sea Salt.
1- 1.5 cup Kalona SuperNatural Sweet Cream Buttermilk*
1 whole, Grade A Egg
1 tsp Vanilla (I use Penzey’s single strength)**
2 Tbsp melted, Unsalted Butter. ( I use Hope Creamery )***

Because we are dealing with gluten free flours here, no need to worry about ‘toughness’ and gentle mixing. I put my liquids in my Vitamix first (buttermilk, vanilla, egg) added the combined dry ingredients on the top and gave it a whiz. Then I added the melted butter while the machine was running slowly.
If mixing by hand: whisk the dry ingredients together. Then whisk together the buttermilk, egg, melted butter and vanilla. Add the wet ingredients to the dry, and mix thoroughly. You may need more buttermilk. The batter should be thick but pourable.

Grease your griddle with a good quality salted butter, and cook over a medium heat, flipping when the top looks a little dull.

We serve ours with either Log Cabin Syrup (because it contains no High Fructose Corn Syrup), or grade B maple syrup and whipping cream. They are also delicious with a bit of honey and fresh fruit. My daughter ate the leftovers rolled up with peanut butter!

*Notes:
*If your local store doesn’t carry this brand of buttermilk, try to find something from a dairy local to you. Kalona is 2% fat. I would recommend 2% or full fat. A skim would work in a pinch but the results will be different.
**Penzey’s carries both single strength and double strength vanilla. To be honest, you really don’t use 1/2 the amount in the double strength, so you save no money by buying it that way, so use the single strength. Also, the only other vanilla I can recommend is a Madagascar Bourbon Vanilla. I have taste tested Costco mexican vanilla, imitation, bourbon and penzeys vanillas side by side. Let me save you time and money…TRUST ME on this one. There IS a difference. HUGE. DIFFERENCE. When it comes to vanilla, invest in a good one. It lasts forever.
***Regular unsalted butter is fine. I really like the quality of the butter this dairy produces and I love to support local farmers. Unsalted butter is always higher in quality because the added salt hides off flavors in inferior ones. This is one of the reasons I prefer a high quality, grass fed butter.

Last Note: Cup4Cup. This is a blend that was created by the pastry chef for Thomas Keller. Up until now, I’ve always preferred Pamela’s Artisan Flour. I usually always have it on hand, for when the girls pop in. But, I ran out, and I had this one on hand because at Christmas, I was trying to improve on my Monkey Bread. (see link above). I have since used it a couple of times and been impressed with the quality. However, it’s expensive. So, I would save using this flour for times when the flour is the star of the recipe. Like my pancakes.

I hope you enjoy, and if you have any questions, leave them below in the comments!

Lightening Fast Cucumber Salad

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I have been obsessed with my Salt Blocks. Like, obsessed! I’ve been seasoning my meats on it, playing with veggies on it, and I’ve been waiting to cook on it. (We’ve just been too busy biking on all the nice days, either pedaling or motoring, so my dinners have been all quick meals! As I mentioned in my previous review of Salt Block Cooking, blocks need time to heat up.)

So here a quick dish, and an easy one boot!. Its lightening fast!

Slice your cucumbers and lay them on the block. Let them lay there no longer than a couple minutes on each side. (Not too long, they will get too salty) Pat dry, and then toss with Fage 0% Greek Yogurt, lots of fresh dill, cracked pepper and a splash of cream and/or lemon juice to loosen up.

The salt pulls some of the water out of your veggie, while seasoning at the same time. The result, a cucumber salad that doesn’t get all watery and is nicely seasoned.

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Having 2 blocks on hand makes for quick work.

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Serve as a side dish like shown, or a healthy meal on its own. With the high protein yogurt, you really can count it as a light meal. So source yourself a block and start having fun with it! (See the link embedded above)

Enjoy, and feel free to share your salt cooking ideas in the comments!