Dessert – Audrey's 74

Citrus Salad

Giulia Doyle — Fri, 01 Jan 2016 13:38:42 +0000

Happy New Year and here’s to healthy but yummy resolutions! I don’t usually set a goal to eat only healthful once the New Year sets in, but after weeks of cookies, cakes, stuffing and gravy my body seems to crave something fresh and full of vitamins. Citrus is always a welcome reprieve from all the heavy options we’ve been consuming in the past few weeks.

This salad is simple, colourful and can be made ahead. No real recipe required; just choose a nice selection of citrus fruit (oranges, clementines, mandarins, grapefruit), peel and slice them, arrange on a platter and sprinkle with cinnamon and slivers of mint if you wish. Eat this at a brunch, for breakfast or with some protein, such as ham or chicken for lunch.

Cookie Tasting Party with Minted

Giulia Doyle — Wed, 09 Dec 2015 14:37:27 +0000

Have you kicked off the holiday season with a party yet? It looks like everyone is booked, attending cocktails, dinners or cookie exchanges. Since we like to gather friends, we decided to host something we were calling a ‘cookie tasting’ party. A fun and sweet way to get together, have everyone bring their cookies, allowing us to try a bunch of new treats.

As you know, I’m a big fan of Minted and have used their services even before I started blogging. Over the years, they’ve expanded their offerings and their party supplies are some of my favourites. This time I used the Rose Colored Glass suite – I loved the gold combined with the soft rose colour, with hints of the winter season seen in the evergreen visual. My favourites are banners which make any event a little more special, tent cards to label all the cookies and stickers which I used to upgrade store-bought cups and take-away boxes. Just some little touches to make the party come together.This time I also tried the new Minted online invitations, which they launched a couple of weeks back. I love the variety of the invites designed by independent artists, how much nicer they are than other online invites I’ve seen and how you can manage your guest list in one spot.

I could have ordered the online invite to match my party supplies, but I decided on a more specific cookie theme to illustrate the party – again, the pale pink pulled it all together. Online invites are still free during their beta phase and the one thing to note is that company firewalls could be an issue for the invite. I noticed that people receiving the invite on their private email didn’t have an issue receiving it, but people receiving it at work did have it end up in their spam folders at times. This was a great way for us to kick-off the season, mingle with friends and end up with a serious sugar overload. I’m always happy to put in the effort for people to get together, it really is nice to slow down, chat, have a drink and not think of our long to-do list. Happy holidays to you and enjoy the photo overload!Photo of Online Invite by Minted. Photo of sugar cookies with red sprinkles, macarons and Mexican hot chocolate cookies by Colin Rowe. Party supplies provided by Minted. Opinions are my own.

Vanilla Meringue Bites

Giulia Doyle — Fri, 04 Dec 2015 21:41:09 +0000

I’m hosting a cookie tasting party this weekend and these meringues are part of our contribution. I like to make meringue for several reasons: I find them easy to make and they store in an air-tight container up to two weeks, so you can make them ahead. They are naturally gluten free and they are light as a feather, making them perfect to snack along with all the heavier desserts you might be serving over the holidays.

Adding some food colouring can make these a fun conversation piece and is much easier than it appears. You could also ommit the colour and dip each meringue in some melted chocolate – mhhh!

Vanilla Meringue Bites

Prep Time: 5 minutes

Cook Time: 1 hour

Yield: about 20 depending on size

Ingredients

2 eggs
100 g of sugar
1 teaspoon of vanilla
food colouring (optional)

Instructions

Preheat oven to 220F and line baking sheet with parchment paper.
Separate egg whites and add them to a very clean heat-proof bowl. Add sugar.
Place bowl with egg whites and sugar over a simmering pan of water, making sure the bottom of the bowl doesn't touch the water. Whisk egg whites until sugar dissolves, about 3 minutes.
Take whisked egg whites off heat and beat until glossy and stiff with either a stand or hand mixer. This will take another 3-5 minutes.
Prepare a piping bag with a large tip. On two or three sides add a couple of small drops of food colouring. Add meringue to piping bag and pipe small bites onto a parchment lined baking sheet. Bake 1 hour or until meringue is hard but not golden. Let cool completely.

Notes

Use your egg yolks for other recipes, such as custards, egg wash on breads, mayonnaise or lemon curd.

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Chocolate Mousse

Giulia Doyle — Sun, 22 Nov 2015 16:23:15 +0000

People are often intimidated by chocolate mousse, but I find it one of the easiest desserts to make. Mine has four ingredients, can be made ahead and is a hit every time. I’ve made this recipe for years and the key to it’s success is the best dark chocolate you can afford. If you buy low quality chocolate or use chocolate chips you won’t get the results you are looking for. Try this recipe the next time you want to impress, serve chocolate and only have basic ingredients on hand.

Chocolate Mousse

Yield: 4-6 dessert sized servings

Never melt chocolate directly in a pot. Either use the method I describe below, melt it in the microwave in 10 second bursts or use a double boiler. Combine all components, but don't over-stir, you'll loose the airiness and it will be less mousse and more cream.

Ingredients

2 eggs, yolks and egg whites separated
2 Tablespoons of sugar
100 g of really good quality dark chocolate
200 ml of whipping cream (not quite a cup)

Instructions

Beat egg yolks with sugar until frothy
Carefully melt dark chocolate (I do this by breaking chocolate into pieces, pouring boiling water over it, let it sit a few minutes, pour off water carefully, stir).
Add melted chocolate to egg yolk mixture and stir.
Beat cream until you have nice airy whip cream. Combine with melted chocolate mixture.
Beat egg whites until firm. Carefully combine with chocolate, egg, cream mixture. You want to make sure it's well combined, but you don't want to stir the air out of the egg whites and cream.
Chill in fridge for a bit in a large bowl or single serving bowls.

/2015/11/22/chocolate-mousse/

Aunt Elisa’s Olive Oil Cake

Giulia Doyle — Tue, 17 Nov 2015 13:19:05 +0000

As you know I like to make layered cakes with loads of frosting and other decadent sweets to celebrate special occasions (or just for the fun of it). However, I also like simple cakes that can stand on their own, that aren’t too sweet, versatile enough to be served for dessert, afternoon tea or even breakfast. This olive oil cake my aunt made for us last winter is one of them. It’s so simple to make that you can assemble everything while the oven is pre-heating and you most likely have all the ingredients on hand. It’s also the perfect cake to bring to a work bake sale because it’s portable, can be eaten a day after baking and appeals to people that don’t want the tooth-ache inducing cupcake or yet another rice crispy treat.

Elisa's Olive Oil Cake

Ingredients

3 eggs
300 grams sugar
3/4 cup milk
3/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
300 grams flour
1 teaspoon lemon rind
1 teaspoon orange rind
1 tablespoon baking powder
Icing sugar (optional)

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350F. Butter and flour a 10" round pan.
Combine all ingredients. Pour into pan.
Bake about 40 mins until toothpick comes out clean. Let it cool a few minutes, then tip out of pan to cool completely on a cooling rack.
Once cooled, dust with icing sugar if you wish and serve. Keeps well, wrapped in saran wrap.

Notes

My other favourite thing are cake recipes that use weight measurements. It allows me to put everything into one bowls and weigh as I go, reducing dirty dishes!

/2015/11/17/aunt-elisas-olive-oil-cake/

Devil’s Food Cake with Chocolate Mascarpone Cream

Giulia Doyle — Sat, 24 Oct 2015 19:15:11 +0000

The October issue of Martha Stewart Living had a great looking Devil’s Food Cake. We didn’t have a birthday coming up, but I kept thinking of it for weeks and decided to make a chocolate cake for company, shortly before Halloween. You need a couple of people to put a dent in such a rich and tall cake, right?

I wanted to make the one from the magazine, but last minute opted for this easy recipe, also from Martha Stewart. It gave me three nice layers, which I then covered in a Chococolate Mascarpone Whip Cream Frosting. Because we were so close to Halloween I also added our coloured Skull sprinkles.

I just needed an excuse to make another layered chocolate cake, and Halloween turned out to be a great reason! Enjoy!

Chocolate Mascarpone Frosting

Ingredients

1 large tub of mascarpone
1/3 cup of unsweetened cocoa
1 cup of powdered sugar
2.5 cups of whipping cream

Instructions

Combine mascarpone, cocoa and sugar with a mixer until smooth and creamy.
Add whipping cream and whip at medium-high speed until the cream turns to a whipped cream consistency. Don't over-whip the mixture.

/2015/10/24/devils-food-cake-with-chocolate-mascarpone-cream/

Ginger Vanilla Applesauce

Giulia Doyle — Fri, 16 Oct 2015 13:01:42 +0000

This year we managed to go apple picking again. It was a perfect fall day with mild temperatures and blue skies. We had so much fun and ended up with a huge amount of apples. While I love eating them almost every day, there are just too many of them. The best way to use up a lot of apples? Applesauce! We like to mix the sauce into yogurt or our morning oatmeal and sometimes it will even end up in a cake. This version has a nice little zip of ginger since I’m really into using ginger with fruits these days.

Ginger Vanilla Applesauce

Ingredients

20 -25 apples, cored but not peeled, and cut into large pieces
2 cups of unsweetened applesauce (optional)
2 cups of water
1 heaping tablespoon of ginger
1 tablespoon of vanilla
1/3 cup of sugar (optional if not using apple juice)

Instructions

In a large saucepan, combine all ingredients and simmer at medium/high for 15-20 minutes until fruit is soft. Keep stirring from time to time to keep the foam down. Adjust sweetness to your liking.
Let cool a little and blend with immersion blender or in a vitamix for smooth texture. Keep in storage jars in the fridge or freezer.

/2015/10/16/ginger-vanilla-applesauce/

Slow-cooked Rice Pudding and Ginger Honey Poached Pears

Giulia Doyle — Wed, 07 Oct 2015 11:47:33 +0000

A few weeks back I was contacted by Ricardo to see if I was interested in trying one of his recipes and writing about it on this blog. I love Ricardo’s food magazine for it’s great recipes and beautiful photography and jumped at the opportunity to work on this. Going through all the great options, I discovered the slow-cooker recipes. I’m a fan of using the slow-cooker to help me get a meal on the table on busy days. This time though, I decided on something sweet and comforting and chose the slow-cooked rice pudding. Dessert in a slow-cooker? Perfect!
The rice pudding comes together really easily and has a subtle vanilla flavour with wonderful milky/cream aroma. It’s great to have something cook away while you’re doing other things. When warm the pudding is very creamy, after it cools off it firms up a bit and once cold it’s the firmest. I like it in all it’s variants.

To complement the pudding I served it with gingery honey poached pears, which made this the perfect dessert – a little fancy with the pear, but nice fall flavours and the punch of ginger complemented the creamy pudding beautifully.

You can find the slow-cooked rice pudding recipe on Ricardo’s and the pears below.

Slow-cooked Rice Pudding and Ginger Honey Poached Pears

Prep Time: 5 minutes

Cook Time: 30 minutes

Yield: 8 pear halves

Ingredients

4 pears - peeled, stem left in tact.
2 cups of unsweetened apple juice
2 cups of water
1 heaping tablespoon of grated ginger
1/4 cup of honey
1 teaspoon of vanilla

Instructions

Cut peeled pears in half, carefully remove core with spoon and cut out woody section as needed.
Add juice, water, ginger, vanilla and honey to large pot. Gently place pears into liquid. If not covered completely by liquid, lay a piece of parchment paper directly on pears to avoid exposure to air.
Simmer on medium-high for 15-20 minutes. Pears are done when paring knife can easily cut the flesh.
Remove pears and cool in a bowl. Discard paper.
Bring poaching liquid to a low boil and continue cooking for another 10 minutes, or until it turns syrupy and golden.
Serve pears warm or cold with warm or cold syrup. I served them at room temperature with rice pudding and a generous pour of syrup.

/2015/10/07/ricardo-slow-cooker-rice-pudding-and-ginger-honey-poached-pears/

This post is sponsored. I was paid by Ricardo to write this post and help promote his brand in English Canada. All opinions are my own and I chose the recipe and adapted it to my needs.

Vanilla Ice Cream Float with Cherry Sauce and Dr. Pepper

Giulia Doyle — Sat, 01 Aug 2015 20:39:11 +0000

It’s the height of summer right now and when it’s really hot I often crave a Dr. Pepper…not sure why, but the chilled bubbles just can’t be beat – unless of course you make it into a retro dessert. Today we went for a vanilla float with cherry sauce, dr. pepper and topped it with a maraschino cherry – nothing fancy, just some sweet cool fun on a hot day! What’s your favourite ice cream float? I also like ginger beer floats or a classic coke float. No recipe needed, just some good quality vanilla ice cream, cherry sauce and your beverage of choice. Don’t forget a spoon and straw to get the last bits. Happy summer!

Yogurt with Honey, Pecans and Gingersnap Cookies

Giulia Doyle — Wed, 15 Jul 2015 12:49:08 +0000

This year we expanded our CSA beyond fruits and vegetables to include fresh eggs and something special. We’ve received cheese, maple syrup, jam and this past week some raw honey. I love honey – simply drizzled on buttered toast or over plain Greek yogurt. It’s like this sweet golden magic sticky substance. So that’s what I did here, I drizzled it over yogurt – except that I added some chopped pecans and some crumbled gingersnap cookies. Is it dessert, or breakfast? You decide.

Feel free to add any kind of nuts you like and whatever cookie leftovers you might have lying around. No recipe needed. For a healthier options, swap in some fresh berries or cherries instead of the cookies. Enjoy.