Tag: dessert

Barefoot Contessa Recipe #34: Banana Rum Trifle

Published on by RJ6 Comments

The recipe is from Modern Comfort Food, page 208.

A number of weeks ago I purchased a quart of heavy cream for a recipe that I wanted to make. However, plans changed and it didn’t happen. Soon, I realized that the expiration date on the cream was nearing and I didn’t want to throw it out. So, I started searching for recipes that would use a decent amount of the cream. Enter Ina Garten’s Banana Rum Trifle.

This is Ina’s take on banana pudding and let me tell you, it’s one of the best desserts I’ve had in a while! I will say, I did omit the rum from the recipe. I also chose not to “decorate it” with the whipped cream. However, this wonderfully light and sweet dessert can easily serve a crowd. In fact, I can see it going over very well at a summer picnic or holiday.

You begin by making a plain pudding….at that moment it is unflavored, just quite sweet. Once that chills for a while, you whip 3 cups of cream with vanilla and vanilla bean seeds. Then you add in the pudding and whip some more. Then the building phase begins.

The layers of cream and Nabisco wafers and bananas blend so well together and make this dessert taste like it came from heaven. A tip: follow the recipe and actually WAIT the time stated in the recipe before digging in. I know it will be hard, but it will be worth it!

The only downside to this dessert? It’s addicting! Be prepared to go for a jog afterward…for like an hour.

This one is going on the Favorites list!

Recipe #26 Chocolate Chunk Blondies

Published on by RJ2 Comments

This recipe can be found in Foolproof, page 233.

Today, I am off from work so I decided to make a couple recipes. One of them is this amazingly yummy dessert. The other is a vegetable dish that will serve as a side for tonight’s dinner.

These Chocolate Chunk Blondies are basically a chocolate chip cookie in bar form. However, they are super dense and chocolately, so they hit that spot a little differently than a cookie would.

Ina recommends baking them in 8.5 inch by 12 inch by 2 inch pan, but I don’t have one of those, so I used one slightly smaller. However, I probably should have used the 13 by 9 inch pan we have. Regardless, they came out great!

I like that this recipe calls for chocolate chunks over chocolate chips since chunks tend to have more of chocolate flavor. I’m not really sure why. Maybe it’s because they are larger? The more surface area? Who knows!

These will make an excellent dessert tonight! I can’t wait to try one.

The cookies before being baked.

Recipe #25 Ultimate Ginger Cookie

Published on by RJ1 Comment

This recipe appears in Barefoot Contessa At Home, page 192.

Last week was a busy cooking week for me. I made a total of three different recipes! Earlier this week I posted about the first two which you can read about here and here.

But, I still haven’t written about the dessert that I made last week — until now. For dessert last week I made the Ultimate Ginger Cookie. This was definitely a new type of dessert for me since I am usually not a fan of gingerbread. But, I have to admit, these cookies were tasty!

Continue reading “Recipe #25 Ultimate Ginger Cookie” →

Recipe #21 – Triple Chocolate Loaf Cakes

Published on by RJLeave a comment

This recipe is from Cook Like a Pro, pg. 224.

Last weekend I made another dessert recipe, the Triple Chocolate Loaf Cakes. While the recipe was very simple, this was not exactly something to write home about. It was basically a very chocolate-y cake in a loaf form. What I did like though, is that it yields 2 loaf cakes. But in reality, I feel like I could have combined the two pans into one and gotten a taller cake.

It was tasty and simple and can definitely be used if you don’t need a full cake for something, but again, I wasn’t overly impressed with it.

The recipe calls for chocolate chips to be coated in flour before adding them to the recipe. I remember Ina saying something in one of the episodes of Barefoot Contessa that this helps the chips not sink to the bottom of the pan. Well, I did coat them in flour — generously — and they still sunk. Oh well!

Snickerdoodle Cake

Published on by RJ1 Comment

This recipe is NOT from Ina Garten, but I wanted to show off what I made because I was really pleased with myself and how it turned out! If interested, this recipe came from Sally’s Baking Addiction. The photos are mine, however. (Hers are much, much better!)

Snickerdoodle Cake is my new love! Three layers of cake with snickerdoodle pieces spread throughout, amazing cinnamon buttercream frosting, and just all around happy dancing!

Since this is not an Ina recipe, I will NOT be going into detail about the baking process. But…I do recommend you try this cake for yourself. It was so worth the effort!

The completed and decorated cake. Please excuse the bit of wax paper hanging out from under it.

Recipe #10 – Apple Pie Bars

Published on by RJ2 Comments

From Barefoot Contessa Cooking for Jeffrey

Last night, I made a three course meal for myself and my family.

This post will discuss the dessert course for that meal. The other two recipes will be featured in a separate post.

Apple Pie Bars were an easy choice since we are in the heart of apple season here in New England. Plus, the salad I made had notes of fall flavors, so I figured this dessert was a great way to carry-over that theme.

These pie bars are completely different than what I was expecting! Instead of a thin crust that is found in a traditional pie, this crust is a little bit thicker and more plump. It also had some hints of flavor, until a regular pie crust. Which makes sense, since the pie crust taste shouldn’t outshine the flavor in the pie.

What really got me was the apple mixture and the topping!

The recipe called for both Granny Smith and Golden Delicious apples. I think this was the first time I cooked with Golden Delicious. I think this combination worked really well and probably adds some subtle flavor differences had I used only one type of apple. Mixed with sugar, lemon juice, and other common “fall spices,” the mixture simmered on the stove for about 15 minutes and in no my house smelled of pie!

The topping is more like a crumb topping, but it’s the crust dough with the flavor turned up. I added cinnamon and chopped walnuts and boy did it make a difference! I think the topping is the best part of this dish! If I make it again, I’ll probably add some cinnamon to the bottom crust, too.

While this does a little time to make since you have to peel, core, quarter, and thinly slice 6 apples, I think it is worth it and a great option to a traditional apple pie! The apple mixture appears to work well as a base for a regular pie, too.

This recipe is going on the “My Favorites” list!

Recipe #8 – Pumpkin Banana Mousse Tart

Published on by RJ4 Comments

From Barefoot Contessa Family Style! page 151

Nothing says Fall in New England like pumpkin! And what better was to celebrate a very “fall” weekend with a pumpkin tart?

(Not to mention I got to use my new tart pan again — I need to get its monies worth!)

So I found that Ina’s recipe for Pumpkin Banana Mousse Tart only needed a few additional ingredients from the grocery store. Plus I wanted to make a tart to try to redeem myself from the last one…..

Well now that I have made it and tried it, this one did turn out much better than the chocolate mousse tart I tried to make last weekend. However, I think there is still room for improvement.

The empty tart shell….much thicker and more even than the first one I made last week.

In contrast to last week’s tart recipe, this one called for gelatin which did help the mixture firm up quickly and nicely. However, I think the pumpkin mixture had to cook for an additional few minutes over the double boiler.

This ended up being a good recipe for me to learn from. Not only did I have another chance to improve my tart shell making skills, but I also received experience working with a double boiler. I have only a double boiler setup a few times in my life. Once when I made a homemade herbal medicine salve and the other was when I melted orange colored chocolate for Halloween.

While the double boiler worked fine the previous times since I only needed to melt something, I think I need more experience actually using it to cook/heat something well. To be honest, I think the real issue here is the fact that I do not let eggs cook long enough to allow things to thicken.

Overall this week’s tart was tasty. I was able to taste the banana throughout even though there is only one banana in the whole tart. The orange zest also made my tongue jump for joy since it was a nice, unexpected flavor profile that you wouldn’t automatically associate with a pumpkin dessert.

This tart did require A LOT of dishes, but will make a nice substitute for a pumpkin pie at the Thanksgiving table. One of the nice things about the tart over a traditional pumpkin pie is that the mousse tart is creamy and lighter than a pumpkin pie.

Completed Pumpkin Banana Mousse Tart

Since I did not feel like fighting with a piping bag, I decided to just spread the whipped cream on top of the already chilled tart. I then attempted to sprinkle the orange zest over it, but the zest was rather juicy, so it didn’t spread too well. Oh well! Still tasted good!!

Trip to Williams-Sonoma

Published on by RJ1 Comment

If you have been reading this blog since the beginning, you’ll know that I am in the process of making spreadsheets featuring all of Ina’s recipes. As I continue to go through each of the cookbooks, I am noticing some themes.

The first is that there is a lot more lamb recipes than I originally thought. But that topic will be discussed in a future post.

Another commonality I’ve noticed is that Ina loves to make tarts! There seems to be a handful of recipes that end up in a tart pan per cookbook. Most of these are desserts, but some are appetizers (Ina refers to them as “starters”). So, it quickly became clear to me that I needed yet another piece of cookware (bakeware?….).

I needed a tart pan!

And since it will be used quite often it seems, I decided I should just bite the bullet and purchase a good-quality one. So, I made the trip to Williams-Sonoma on Friday morning. It had been at least a year since I’ve walked into one and I’ve never been to the one I went to today before.

I found the staff very helpful and polite and with the global pandemic the store and employees were taking the necessary precautions set forth by my state’s governor. So, I was impressed.

Anyway…I digress.

I soon found the tart pan (11-inch with a false bottom) but then ended up purchasing two other things. One is a paddle for my stand mixer that had the scraper built into it.

I’ve been going back and forth on getting this item for a while and when I made the peanut butter and jelly bars earlier in the week, it suddenly became a necessity to have. Hopefully it’ll prove useful and helpful….or at least allow my batters to be better mixed.

I also purchased a candy thermometer which will probably have very minimal usage in my life, even as I cook my way through the Barefoot Contessa cookbooks. But I still wanted one because I’ve always wanted on and now I have one.

So after spending more than $80, I left Williams-Sonoma ready to tackle what seems like a full 10% of Ina’s recipes. When one will actually be made? Hopefully sometime this weekend.

I’ve noticed that I really like making her dessert recipes for some reason. I’m not sure if it’s because they are sweet and “bad for you” or if it’s just because they are a bit easier than most of her recipes. Perhaps I should institute a rule for myself…maybe every fourth recipe will be a dessert one?

Lots of think about….