Blood Orange + Berry Shortcakes (or Bloody Sunday Valentines)

I hope everyone had a GREAT weekend! Shaun and I were super duper busy, but had a fantastic weekend. Yesterday, we spent the day dining on brunch (stay tuned for that update tomorrow), seeing The King's Speech (has anyone else seen it?) and eating a candlelit dinner at home topped off with watching the Grammy's in our pj's. Good times.

In addition to cooking dinner together last night (one of our favorite activities), I wanted to make a fun dessert. Since Shaun isn't exactly a dessert fiend, I wanted to come up with something that was not cakey, filled with frosting or overly sweet.

I know, at that point it's like why even bother?

But trust me on this one. Though it's not buttercreamy or Devil's foody (my favorite dessert combination), this dessert is bursting with flavor and just the right amount of sweetness with a bit of dryness from the biscuit. Oh and the homemade whipped cream is just the icing on the...er, cake, if you will. But seriously, the homemade whipped cream is where it's at. Shaun had to practically pry the bowl from my hands. And clearly a normal, human-sized spoon wasn't enough for me. Nope, I went all-out rubber spatula.

Oh and the blood orange thing? It was a last minute add-in when I spotted one at the grocery store on Sunday morning. Though I'm all to familiar with them from my Dexter obsession, I've never actually tried one before. And it spawned 2 names of this dish. You can probably guess which was mine and which was Shaun's.

But I have to tell you that this addition really made the dish. Not only are they absolutely gorgeous, but they added a not-too-tart, citrusy burst of flavor to the strawberries and blueberries. Ready to see how it all went down?

Blood Orange + Berry Shortcakes
or
Sunday Bloody Valentine's
*Adapted from Epicurious & Real Simple
3/4 C sugar
1 lemon peel, grated
2 C flour
2 1/3 C heavy cream, divided
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp nutmeg (or omit if you're opposed to this flavor)
2 C strawberries, hulled & quartered
1 C blueberries
1 blood orange, peeled and sliced into wedges
1/4 C confectioners sugar
1/4 tsp vanilla extract

For the biscuits:
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Mix together the sugar and lemon zest. Set aside. In the bowl of a stand mixer, mix the flour, 1/3 cup of lemon sugar, baking powder, salt and nutmeg. Add 1 1/3 cup of heavy cream and mix until the dough comes together. Drop into 6 mounds onto an ungreased baking sheet. Sprinkle with lemon sugar and bake for 20-23 minutes. Let cool.

For the fruit filling:
Wash and cut the fruit. Toss together in a mixing bowl. Add in the rest of the sugar, mix until all is coated and let sit for 15 minutes (this is macerating!), stirring every so often.

For the whipped cream:
In a stand mixer (or with a hand mixer), mix 1 cup of the heavy cream, confectioners sugar and vanilla on medium high until peaks begin to form. Sample it, just to make sure it's delish :)

Put it together:

Cut the biscuits in half. Spoon on some of the fruit, followed by a dollop of whipped cream. Top with other half of biscuit.

It seems like a lot of steps, but I swear, this was one of the easiest desserts I've ever made. So what do you think? Are you a fan of fruit in your dessert? Or is it just not a dessert if it doesn't include frosting? And bonus question: have you ever worked with blood oranges?

Pumpkin Cheesecake

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It’s Friday and it makes me oh-so-happy for a number of reasons. First, because it’s almost the weekend, which always deserves and automatic hooray! Second, because next week will be a very short week since it’s Thanksgiving. After today, it feels like it’s officially the holiday season, and I love every minute of it!

So today I’m wrapping up our fun Thanksgiving roundup with another very important piece of the puzzle - dessert! Since there was only 4 of us, we decided to skip the table full of desserts thing, and only serve one dish. I have to admit, while I am a sampler at heart, having one dessert to share and enjoy by all was a really nice change. Especially since it was light, airy and pumpkiny to boot.

Hold the phone. You’re probably thinking, Light? Airy? I thought we were talking about cheesecake here. Yup, you heard me right.

Since Lindsey isn’t huge on the traditional pumpkin pie, and I’m always looking to change it up, we decided on pumpkin cheesecake. And after gathering all my ingredients on the morning of the dinner party, I realized that the recipe we planned to use called for a 3 hour baking time (Now I felt like Ross from Friends when someone steals his sandwich, as I ranted 3 hours? 3 HOURS?!). Anyhow, we needed a back up plan and fast. After a quick search, I came across Paula Deen’s version.

And though you can judge all you want for her obsession with butter and generally all things terrible for your body, the lady knows what she’s doing. Her cheesecake seemed simple and quick to boot - 1 hour cook time, no pre-baking the crust, mixing everything together in one giant bowl. So we went with it. And the result? An airy whipped cheesecake set in a graham cracker crust that had just a hint of pumpkin flavor. Can we say perfect dessert for post-huge dinner? Though there were a few flaws (like a giant crack down the middle of mine!), I’d make this recipe again for its ease of use, quick baking time, and delectable outcome, despite its final aesthetics. Plus, what do you think they invented whipped cream for?

Pumpkin Cheesecake
*Adapted from Paula Deen
For the crust:
1 3/4 C graham cracker crumbs
3 tbsp light brown sugar
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1 stick melted salted butter
For the filling:
3 (8 oz) pkgs cream cheese, at room temperature
1 (15 oz) can pumpkin puree
3 eggs plus 1 egg yolk
1/4 cup sour cream
1 1/2 C sugar
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/8 tsp ground nutmeg
1/8 tsp ground cloves
2 tbsp all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Special equipment:
9-inch spring form pan (I got one as a Christmas gift 2 years ago!)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a mixing bowl, combine the graham cracker crumbs, butter, sugar and cinnamon. Press into the pan. (Note: I found pre-crumbed graham crackers in the grocery store, which eliminated the extra step of processing them myself! Though I normally would not have a problem with this, the point is that even if you don’t have a food processor, you can snap these up. Oh and did I mention that they were cheaper than a box of whole graham crackers? Well they were.)

In a stand mixer, or with a hand mixer, beat the cream cheese until smooth (it’s best if you leave it out of the fridge the night before...I didn’t do this and it took longer for mine to come together, not to mention that it still had tiny lumps in it!).  Add in the pumpkin, eggs, egg yolk, sour cream, sugar and spices and mix until combined. Add the flour and vanilla, beating until it’s all combined and smooth. Pour the filling into the crust - mine filled almost up to the top of the pan. Doesn't that look delightful?

Bake for one hour. Remove and let sit for 15 minutes. Then cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 4 hours. (Note: I made this first, before anything else, so that it would have plenty of time to cool!) Serve with lots of whipped cream if ya like! And I do like. 

So there you have it. A light, easy pumpkin cheesecake of which, admittedly, I'm still polishing off the remnants. So what do you think? What is your favorite Thanksgiving dessert?

In case you missed it, check out how we brined a turkey at 3AM, made hearty turkey sausage stuffing and mashed up the perfect potato! And for even more Thanksgiving food ideas, check out our Recipes page, under Thanksgiving!

Maple Syrup Cupcakes

It’s Part III of my Fall dinner party wrap up and though fancy cheeseboards and decadent mac ‘n cheese got us through the first part of the evening, the dessert course is always the most coveted. Especially when there’s an Italian family involved.

While I whipped up some Maple Syrup Cupcakes, our guests brought so many delightful confections that we had a veritable smorgasbord of goodies to feast on.

All the bases were covered, including a decadent Fallen Chocolate Souffle Cake topped with strawberries from Sweet Melissa Patisserie...

My Aunt Janet’s famously best ever chocolate chip cookies (really, I’ve never had a better chocolate chip cookie and it’s my mission to get to the bottom of her secret ingredient)...

My Aunt Janet’s Grandma Mary Apple Pie (see the depth of that thing? I’m taking notes for the next time I attempt one of those bad boys...)...

 

And my own maple syrup cupcakes, a rich cake with cream cheese frosting that I couldn’t help but compare to homemade pancakes. They were full of fall flavor and a fun change up from the traditional chocolate or vanilla cupcake (not that there’s anything wrong with those). And the bonus element? These cupcakes were even better the next day when I tried them for breakfast, after the flavors had a chance to meld together. The one downside? Real maple syrup doesn’t come cheap...especially when you buy it at the specialty food store attached to your apartment building. Oops. Anyhow, aren’t you dying to get down to the details?

 

Maple Syrup Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting
*Adapted from The Kitchn
for the cupcakes:
3 C all-purpose flour
3 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1 stick butter, slightly softened,cut into chunks
2 tbsp vegetable shortening, at room temperature
2 C pure maple syrup (not Mrs. Butterworth’s or any imitation maple syrup of the sort)
3 egg yolks
1 large egg
1 1/2 C whole milk
1 C walnuts, toasted and coarsely chopped (optional, I left them out)
for the frosting:
1 1/2 sticks unsalted butter, softened
12 oz cream cheese, softened
4 C confectioners’ sugar
2+ tbsp maple syrup

Preheat your oven to 325 degrees. Line two muffin tins with paper liners. I got sweet orange and yellow gingham ones (perfect for Fall!) from Bake it Pretty! In a medium bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, and salt. Meanwhile, in your stand mixer (or in large mixing bowl with hand mixer) , beat the butter and shortening until completely combined. Turn the mixer to low and slowly add the maple syrup. Increase the mixer speed to medium-high and beat until the mixture is combined, about 3 minutes. Next, add the egg yolks and egg, one at a time. Beat together until just incorporated, scraping down the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula. Add half of the flour mixture and mix on low speed until incorporated. Slowly pour in the milk. Add the rest of the flour and mix until just combined. If adding walnuts, fold them in.

Fill the prepared cupcake pan about three-quarters full. Bake the cupcakes for 20 to 25 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean. The pans should be rotated midway through the baking time. Cool the cupcakes for 15 minutes in the cupcake pan, then move to a wire rack to cool completely.
To make the frosting: In your stand mixer, beat the softened butter until smooth. Add the cream cheese and beat until combined. Add the sugar and the maple syrup and beat until smooth. Frost the cooled cupcakes - I used a sweet pastry bag and tip set that I snapped up at Party City.
Makes 24 cupcakes

So there you have it. A roundup of desserts from our Fall Dinner Party, each one of them decadent and delicious and absolutely perfect for Fall. In fact, I had to send most of the leftovers to work to keep from eating every last bit of them!

The question of the day is: What's your favorite dessert? A sweet cupcake? A rich chocolate cake? Or do you skip the sweets in favor of more savory goods?