Vanilla – Audrey's 74

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.

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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.

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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.

Be My Guest with Cannelle et Vanille – Vanilla Bean and Cardamom Yogurt Pops

Giulia Doyle — Mon, 22 Jul 2013 10:49:37 +0000

photo on left: Aran Goyoaga, photo on right: Giulia Doyle

I am super excited to share my next installment of Be my Guest. Today the lovely Aran, from Cannelle et Vanille is visiting the blog. Aran is not only a super talented food photographer and chef, she is also the author of the successful gluten-free cookbook Small Plates and Sweet Treats. She teaches photography and food styling at different workshops in the US, Canada and Europe, which she documents on her amazing blog. I met Aran last summer and she is one of the kindest people I’ve ever met – so talented and so happy to teach and share. I am so pleased she agreed to share her Yogurt Pops recipe, which you can also find on page 270 of her book.

photo on left: Aran Goyoaga, photo on right: Giulia Doyle

Aran’s style of photography is mostly light, bright and airy, with playful sprigs of ingredients, amazing light and floral patterns. Although I try to go into these posts with as little comparison as possible, I knew her photos would be reflective of her signature style and I also knew that an icy cold treat like this would have me hard pressed not to shoot my own photos in a light and airy fashion.

Aran chose this recipe because it’s July and we all could use a little icy treat. She also likes to make these yogurt pops with her kids, as they are relatively easy to assemble. Every recipe that Aran shares has an elegant twist, something that elevates it from the ordinary to something special and unusual. This recipe calls for Cardamom. Cardamom was available in two varieties at my regular grocery store. Don’t omit it – it takes these yogurt pops to the next level – the added smokiness is amazing – it adds depth and a bit of a surprise to the cool treat.

photo on left: Aran Goyoaga, photo on right: Giulia Doyle

I followed Aran’s recipe and added a couple of stray blackberries I had lying around. I also made mine in basic Popsicle molds because I don’t own shot glasses. I had enough of the berry puree left over at the end, so I decided not to make the berry consommé the recipe calls for. You can see it in the last image that Aran provided – the clear jewel tone is amazing!

This recipe was perfect – a fun cooking activity with the kids that resulted in a great summer treat. Thank you Aran for joining me today!

Vanilla Bean and Cardamom Yogurt Pops - from Small Plates and Sweet Treats Cookbook

Ingredients

3/4 cup ripe strawberries, hulled and sliced
1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons natural cane sugar
2 teaspoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
1 vanilla bean, split lengthwise and seeds scrapped
4 cardamom pods, crushed
1 cup whole-milk Greek-style yogurt

Instructions

Place six shot glasses in the freezer to chill. In a small saucepan, toss together the strawberries, 2 tablespoons of the sugar, and the lemon juice. Let the mixture sit at room temperature for 15 minutes, until the strawberries start to release their juices. Bring the saucepan to the stove and cook over medium heat for 3 minutes. Puree the mixture in a food processor or blender and strain it into a clean bowl. Refrigerate for 15 minutes.
Pour small amounts of the chilled strawberry puree along the insides of the frozen shot glasses. Return to freezer.
In a small saucepan, combine 1/2 cup water, the remaining 1/2 cup sugar, vanilla bean and seeds, and cardamom pods. Cook over medium-high heat until the sugar dissolves. Remove the pan from the heat and let the syrup steep for 15 minutes. Strain the syrup and discard the cardamom and vanilla bean.
Whisk the yogurt into the syrup and refrigerate the mixture for 15 minutes. When chilled, carefully pour the yogurt mixture into the frozen shot glasses. Return the shot glasses to the freezer for 15 minutes, then insert Popsicle sticks and freeze until solid.

Notes

I used strawberries, raspberries and blackberries for my berry puree. I also used popsicle molds instead of shot glasses, but followed the same directions.

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photo: Giulia Doyle