Apple- and berry-filled desserts abound, but pears never seem to get their due. The honey-sweet fruit is delicious in desserts and also plays well with a host of other flavors. In these bars, we match the delicate, floral notes of pear with the tart but complementary punch of cherry. However, cramming two fruits into our bars weighed down the crust and made it soggy, so instead of using whole cherries we turned to cherry jam, which we spread over the bar base. And to eliminate excess moisture from the pears, we sautéed slices in butter with a little sugar before…
Author: Chef M
Apple crisp is comfort food at its finest. Its traditional topping of oats and nuts makes for a fairly nutritious starting point as far as desserts go, but we wanted to take it a step further while staying true to its “crisp” name. For the topping, we initially tried incorporating quinoa, which becomes crunchy when baked, but found it bitter; tasters preferred a combination of flaxseed meal, whole and ground oats, and nuts, which provided a boost of fiber, protein, and healthy fats and lots of crunch. No flour was necessary, and instead of butter to keep the topping together,…
Simple, sweet, and satisfying, snack cakes will curb just about any cake craving. Instead of a plain vanilla cake which offers little in the way of nutrition, we wanted a moist, rich carrot snack cake that would offer a boost of vitamin A as well as other nutrients. Carrot cakes typically use oil instead of butter for their fat, another plus. To maximize the nutritional punch of the carrots, we incorporated as many as the batter could handle without making it too difficult to spread or overly vegetal tasting. We tried replacing the standard white flour with whole-wheat and found…
Sometimes we lose sight of when a food is in its natural season, and for strawberries it’s spring. The first strawberries of the season, when picked ripe, are so special that just a plate of these with some mascarpone and orange zest is the definition of perfection. However, strawberry growers have the same issue as so many other produce growers and that is, sadly, that if the fruit is picked perfectly ripe it won’t travel to market. I combat this by cutting them in half and drizzling with the smallest amount of vino cotto or balsamic, which significantly heightens the…
You can see that I’m keen on coconut milk and cream and find so many ways to use them as the base for a dessert. This is partly because their inherent sweetness means I don’t need to add much sugar, but mainly I just love their great flavour and seductive richness. When I add honey I always suggest raw honey; I consider it the benchmark in flavour and quality as it hasn’t been heated beyond the minimum required to be able to pour it into a jar, though I know it’s not as readily available as commercial honey.
I prefer to bake these Swiss Gâteau au fromage tarts in small dishes instead of one large one because they are so rich and satiating. Served with a mixed salad, these savory cheese tarts make an excellent appetizer for guests. And of course, you could also bake it all together on a baking sheet.
This specialty is also called Choleri or Chollera and is from the Goms district. Gommer cheese is produced in the nearby mountains and goes best with this rustic potato pie. Unfortunately, the Swiss do not export this cheese, so make sure to take some home on your next vacation!