Almond Date Truffles

It is that time of year again! Time for Dessert Fest 2012! 6 chefs, 5 types of ice cream, 17 types of dessert. So much sugar. This is quite possibly my favorite event of the year!

Here are some highlights from this year:

{Dessert Fest Eve, baking away}

{Taste testing ice cream} 

{Assembling pumpkin trifle}

{Paul making some caramelized bacon}

The Dessert Fest team has decided to make this year's fete a fundraiser for Hurricane Sandy relief, given that our community is still being impacted by the storm. We are supporting the Salvation Army with its relief efforts, and if you would like to make a difference, please click on our giving page here.

Caprese Salad

I had basically a whole package of basil left over from my Aubergines & Quinoa dish, and I wanted a quick way to get finish it up. I knew I would be going to the farmer's market on Saturday, and would find some tomatoes, and some kind of artisinal mozzarella cheese or the other. My mind was basically made with what to make - CAPRESE SALAD! Done.

Delicata Squash and Mushrooms

I had about 300 pounds of squash to use (from my CSA). The only squash I've really cooked with is butternut squash, so I wanted to find an easy recipe for my delicata squash.  In doing a quick search on my Epicurious app, I found a recipe that seemed both yummy and easy to whip together.

{Delicata Squash}

Butternut Squash and Apple Soup

Well, I think we all noticed summer ended this week.  While summer is always fun (both in the city and out), fall is definitely my favorite season.  I like having non-frizzy hair and wearing cute suede boots.  I was touring the Union Square Farmer's Market, 10 reusable bags in tow, when I found a sample stand.  It's nearly impossible to maneuver the market when you have 300 pounds of butternut squash hanging off your arm, but where there are samples, I find a way.  The sample stand was handing out tastings of butternut squash soup with apples - and was a perfect way to kick of autumn.

Sidenote: I went to the market at around 9:45am on Saturday. HOW WERE THERE SO MANY PEOPLE AWAKE ALREADY? Apparently I miss out on most of Saturday morning by sleeping in until noon.

Almond Cashew Granola Parfait

I was inspired by Alton Brown's segment on oats.  I remember thinking, "that sounds like a really yummy recipe for granola".  So when it came time to pick my brunch menu, I added this on.  You can't really go wrong with a granola recipe.  Some oats, some accompaniments such as nuts or coconut shreds, and some time toasting in the oven.  And you probably already have most of the ingredients in your pantry.  Not only that - you can make this in advance and it keeps pretty well for at least a week (more if you freeze it).

Warm Scones with Lemon Curd

The first course of Hom Nom's first anniversary brunch was yummy, fresh baked scones.  When I was younger, there was a nearby fair that sold scones, served with jam, and I remembered how much I loved them. I also remember buying the "fair scone" mix at the grocery store and making them with my friends during sleepovers.  Um, oh, and these were also ridiculously easy to make.

I know Sanjay would only approve of these scones if they were made with Icelandic butter...

This is what the scones will look like after you shape them into the 8x8 pan.

Um, doesn't this look similar to what Little Red Riding Hood would have in her basket?

Surgeon's General Warning: lemon curd probably contains 100x your daily required intake of cholesterol. Well, Hom Nom only turns one once...

I borrowed the scones recipe from Smitten Kitchen with only minor adjustments.

Warm Scones 


Makes 8 scones

Ingredients

• 2 cups unbleached all purpose flour (the original recipe calls for a low protein flour, but I just used whole foods brand flour and it worked fine)
• 1 tbsp. baking powder
• 3 tbsp. sugar
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 5 tbsp. chilled, unsalted butter, cut into 1/4" pieces
• 1 cup heavy cream

Smitten Kitchen's original recipe called for currants - I left them out because I prefer plain scones. 

Adjusted the oven rack to the center position and preheat the oven to 425 degrees.  

Place the dry ingredients in a bowl and whisk (or pulse in a food processor) together six times.

If making this by hand, use your fingertips and quickly cut in the butter until it resembles coarse meal (a few lumps of butter are okay).  Transfer the dough to a large bowl.

Stir in the heavy cream with a rubber spatula until the dough begins to form.  

Transfer all the dough to a lightly floured countertop until it forms a round sticky ball.  Take an 8x8 square baking pan and place the dough into it.  Flip it over onto the counter top and cut the dough into triangles.  

Place the scones on an ungreased baking sheet and bake them for about 12-15 minutes.

Note: I prepared these scones in advance of my brunch so I could just pop them into the oven.  If you want to do this, prepare the scones as directed, but leave out the baking step.  Once you cut them into triangles, flash freeze them for about 30 minutes.  Then, individually wrap them.  When you are ready to bake them, remove the wrap and bake at 425, but only for a few minutes more.  I set the time for 15 minutes and checked on them - and baked for another 3-4 minutes after that. 

Lemon Curd, recipe adapted from Saveur

Makes 4 cups

Ingredients

• 1 1/3 cup sugar
• 1/4 cup lemon zest (about 4-5 whole lemons)
• 8 egg yolks
• 6 eggs
• 1 1/2 cup fresh lemon juice (about 5-6 lemons)
• 8 tbsp. unsalted butter, cut into 1 tbsp. pieces (well chilled)

Whisk together the sugar, lemon zest, egg yolks and eggs over medium heat.  Whisk in the lemon juice and cook, stirring over medium heat until the mixture begins to thicken (also - I think the mixture will make an interesting popping-like noise).  Make sure you thicken it enough or else you will end up with too watery of lemon curd (yes this happened in my first batch.  I am now saving that batch for lemon curd ice cream).  

Remove from heat and mix in the butter, one at a time, until incorporated.  

Strain through a sieve into a large bowl.  Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and chill.  

Both recipes were a hit.  I also served the scones with some blackberry jam I found at Wednesday's farmers market.  Later on, Mai's houseguest and friend Mary couldn't get enough of the scones and luckily was able to store some away for a mid-week indulgence.

{Let's Get This Party Started!}

Passion Fruit Ice Cream Pie

Becca and I were hungry on this past rainy Sunday afternoon.  Magically a passion fruit pie appeared in front of us.  We devoured it while discussing menus for our future dinner parties, flipping through my Lonely Planet The Travel Book: A Journey Through Every Country In The World, and brainstorming how to celebrate Becca's upcoming 23rd birthday.

Blood Orange and Limoncello Sorbet

I currently love Italy.  Pasta, Prada, blood oranges and, of course...limoncello.  I had some fondue guests (Becca, Alyx and Nicholas) on Saturday and wanted to make something seasonal for January.  Now that the holidays are over, candy canes, sparkles, and egg nog are out.  I remember the first time I bought a blood orange.  I didn't realize it what it was until I peeled it open and was mildly horrified/intrigued.  WTF kind of fruit was this one? Then I looked at the discarded rind and saw the produce sticker on it.  OH.  Blood orange.  No wonder!

The Best Vanilla Ice Cream Ever

In my spare time, I search for ice cream recipes.  Though I do love vanilla, I usually search for something more exciting.  UNTIL I found a recipe through food and wine - I was intrigued because the recipe didn't use eggs but claimed to be fluffy and yum.  I'm always game for trying something fluffy and yum.

Vanilla Ice Cream, recipe from Food & Wine

Serves Jyoti only and no one else

Ingredients

• 2 cups whole milk
• 1 tbsp. and 1 tsp. cornstarch
• 3 tbsp. softened cream cheese
• 1 1/4 cup heavy cream
• 2/3 cup sugar
• 1 1/2 tbsp. light corn syrup
• 1 vanilla bean, seeded and scraped
• 1/8 tsp. kosher salt 

In a large bowl, prepare an ice bath.  In a separate smaller bowl, mix 2 tbsp. of the whole milk and the cornstarch.

In another large bowl, whisk the cream cheese until smooth.

In a large saucepan, combine the remaining milk, heavy cream, sugar, light corn syrup and vanilla bean and seeds.  Bring the mixture to a boil and cook over moderate heat until the sugar dissolves and the vanilla flavors the milk, about 4 minutes.

Turn off the heat and gradually whisk in the cornstarch mixture.  Return to a boil and cook over moderate heat until the mixture slightly thickens, about 1-2 minutes.

Gradually whisk in the hot milk mixture into your whipped cream cheese, whisking to combine until smooth.  Whisk in the salt.  Set the bowl in the ice water bath for about 20 minutes (I left mine for about 30 minutes).  I then put my mixture in the fridge to chill for about 30 minutes.

Pour the mixture into your chilled ice cream canister and churn for about 45 minutes.

Ending Notes: Um.  BEST VANILLA ICE CREAM EVER!  We've had my egg nog and sweet potato ice cream in our freezer since Thanksgiving, but this vanilla ice cream hardly lasted a few hours!

Sidenote: Apparently I hit my quota limit for photos and now have to upload through photobucket, which seems to really destroy image quality.  I will find a solution to this, so in the meantime I apologize for the crappy looking pictures.

Mulled Wine Sorbet

Another wintery inspiration from the beverage I served at Thanksgiving.  Another drink turned ice cream that is perfect for drinking/eating in front of the fireplace at your chalet in Chamonix (or your digital fireplace DVD).

I made this for the AIF NYYP holiday party at Rahul's place. It accompanied Meghna's cookies as dessert. 

Mulled Wine Sorbet, recipe adapted from here and here

Makes about 1 quart

Ingredients

• 1/2 of a bottle of red wine - I used Purple Moon Merlot from Trader Joe's.  At $4 bucks a pop, can't go wrong!
• 1 1/4 cup sugar
• 1 cup water
• Juice from 1 fresh squeezed orange
• Juice from 1 fresh squeezed lemon
• Lemon zest from that same lemon
• 2 cloves
• 3 cinnamon sticks
• 1/2 tsp. nutmeg

Combine the sugar, water, wine lemon zest and spices into a medium saucepan and let it simmer over low heat for about 30 minutes stirring occasionally.

Let it cool to room temperature and stir in the orange and lemon juices.  Strain the mixture, cover the mixture and let it chill in the fridge from 4 hours to overnight. 

Churn in your ice cream maker per directions - I churned it for about 20 minutes. 

Ending Notes:  The ice cream was of course very flavorful, and received rave reviews by all taste testers.  I think most testers appreciated the fact that this sorbet wasn't laced with heavy cream and whole milk and just some wine and freshly squeezed citrus fruits.  Try this one before New Years!

Candy Cane Ice Cream, Parte Une

Ah, holiday times!  I had put my ice cream maker away for the season, but after our holiday cookie party, where Marya had picked up some Molly Moons, I was inspired to create some holiday ice cream flavors.  Egg-nog (check), gingerbread, spiced cider sorbet, cranberry sorbet and candy cane were all on my list.  And I needed taste testers.  Becca generously volunteered all of SlamFam (her and her roomates).  So I decided to start experimenting.

Candy Cane Ice Cream Parte Deux

So I wasn't totally enamored with the first batch of candy cane ice cream I made.  I liked it...but I didn't love it.  It wasn't candy-caney enough to remind me of my toddler days when I would take the candy cane ornaments off of our fake tree and eat them "secretly" (let's be honest...my mom knew what I was doing).  

The next step was to use actual peppermint extract as this I figured this would add the best flavor.  First I started with the basic Philadelphia Style Ice Cream.  I know you have all seen this one mentioned tons of times.  If there were an awards ceremony for my blog, this one would receive honorable mention since I have in fact used it to the start of many of my bases.  In any case, I've included the recipe below if you guys forgot.  

Candy Cane Philadelphia Style Goodness!

Makes about 1 quart

Ingredients

• 2 cups heavy cream
• 1 cup whole milk
• 3/4 cup sugar
• Pinch of salt
• 1 tsp. peppermint extract
• Red food coloring (a few drops)
• Red edible glitter

Pour 1 cup of the heavy cream into a medium saucepan and add the sugar and the salt.  Warm over medium heat, stirring, until the sugar is dissolved.

Remove from the heat and add the remaining cream, milk and the peppermint extract.

Chill the mixture thoroughly in the fridge.  When ready to churn, freeze the mixture in your ice cream maker per directions.  In the last 5 minutes, drop in a few drops off the red food coloring and use a pastry brush to tap in the red edible glitter.  I churned it total for about 30 minutes.  

Taste testers voted more in favor of this one when compared to version parte une.  I think it was because the flavor was pronounced, and, let's face it, who doesn't love red glitter? 

Saffron Coconut Ice Cream

Wow - I TOTALLY forgot about this one!  So here we are in November, posting about ice cream made in hot humid August.  Bored with the typical ice cream flavors I had recently experimented with, I wanted to continue trying NEW AND EXCITING things!  

Pedas, Round 2

Clearly I loved pedas enough to give them a second go-round when my first recipe didn't go as planned.  This time, I went straight to the source: Vidya Maushi.  I think the first peda I ever had was hers (probably when I was 13).  What better time to try this out then for DESSERT FEST 2010!

Pedas, Round 1

I haven't come across many indian sweets I haven't loved.  When I go to family friend's parties, I usually stuff my face with srikand and pedas.  So naturally, now that I've mastered ice cream, I want to move forward into the scary realm of disgustingly sweet yet flavorful indian treats.  And, pedas are my favorite (apart from rasamalai) so...off I went in search of a recipe.  

Rasamalai

My mom's signature dessert is rasamalai.  In fact, there may or may not have been an incident involving my younger sister where we fought, leap frog style, for the last piece of her rasamalai.  I probably won. 

Shahi Falooda Cupcakes

And today we have a lovely treat from a guest blogger: my friend Asmi.  Asmi made me some lovely cupcakes for my birthday celebration!  And, because they were pink, they of course had to make an appearance here on Hom Nom.

I've never had falooda, that I'm aware of.  Asmi explains what it is below.  We toyed with the idea of making falooda ice cream, but it didn't materialize since I was so busy making 800 other kinds of ice cream.  These are very delicious rose flavored cupcakes with candied almonds and pistachios.  A really fantastic birthday treat!

Gnocchetti all'Amatriciana

Gnocchi is by far my favorite dish at any Italian restaurant.  I love it when it is paired with a meat like proscuitto, or pancetta.  I also love it with truffle oil or pesto.  I most recently had it at Paprika, and it was pillowy soft melt in your mouth amazing.  Other notable places I've had it at Alta (equally melt in your mouth delish) and Araxi in Whistler (with lamb and black truffles. OHHHH EMMMM GEEEE).

Toffee, Coffee Hom Nom

I really loved how my coffee oreo ice cream turned out, so I wanted to try it again but with a different flavor. What to do what to do? I researched and found out that toffee is a great addition to coffee. Ah-ha!

By now, you should know the drill...

Instant coffee

Skor bars! I thought about getting heath bars, but I haven't had Skor in years so I figured I'd use this one instead.

Break up the pieces into chunks so they are ready to whirl in!

The final result was a total crowd pleaser...this might have been everyone's favorite!

Coffee Toffee Hom, Nom!

• 1 cup whole milk, well chilled
• 2/3 cups granulated sugar
• 2 tbsp. espresso powder
• 2 cups heavy cream, well chilled
• 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
• 1/2 tsp. chocolate extract
• 2 Toffee bars, such as Skor, or Heath. I chose Skor for no particular reason

In a medium bowl, mix the milk, sugar and espresso powder with a hand mixer until the sugar and espresso dissolves.

Stir in the heavy cream and the vanilla and chocolate extract.

Pour into a chilled ice cream maker and churn away (about 30 minutes).

In the meantime, break the toffee bar into small pieces. In the last 5 minutes of the chilling process, slowly drop the toffee pieces in.

I let this one sit in the fridge for a while after I churned it, instead of eating it ASAP.

Dulce De Leche Ice Cream

My widdle baby sister went to Buenos Aires for the summer and came back with all kinds of goodies, such as boots, macha and DULCE DE LECHE!!

Why didn't I think of buying this when I was there? You can technically make your own, but its not as exciting as getting a sweet treat from South America!

Whisking the milk, heavy cream and dulce de leche...

Quick chilling the mixture

I've gotten to be a pro at this ice cream making stuff!

Absolutely delicious! Thanks sis!!

Dulce De Leche Ice Cream, borrowed from Smitten Kitchen:

• 2 cups whole milk
• 1 cup heavy cream
• 1 2/3 cups dulce de leche (so, basically that entire jar plus some)
• 1/8 tsp. vanilla extract

Bring the milk and cream to a boil in a heavy saucepan over medium heat. Remove from heat and whisk in the dulce de leche until it is dissolved. Whisk in the vanilla and transfer to a metal bowl.

Quick chill by putting the bowl in a larger bowl with water and ice cubes, stirring occasionally until cold (probably 20 minutes-ish). Freeze in your ice cream maker. You might want to let it sit for an hour in the freezer.