The only real problem I have with pears is that they bruise easily. They are juicy, have great flavor and go well with a huge variety of sweet and savory dishes. The bruising is a problem, though, because it really has an impact on the appearance of sliced pears and - at the risk of sounding a bit silly - a cheese plate just doesn’t look the same with a bunch of bruised pears on it. Fortunately, there is at least one great use for slightly bruised, but still ripe, pears: pear butter.

Pear butter is basically a very thick, smooth applesauce-type dish that is made with pears. It gets the name “butter” from how silky smooth the finished puree is. I was inspired to make a batch after smelling the wonderful scents of Apple Cider Butter being cooked at the Smuckers factory last week, as well as by the fact that I had a bunch of bruised Bosc pears sitting on my kitchen counter when I returned from the trip. You can use any variety of pears for this.

The butter is easy to make: just cook the pears down with a little spiced cider and puree it. I always put pear butter through a strainer at least once to make sure it is as smooth as possible. I don’t add any extra sugar, but if you prefer yours a little sweeter, feel free to add in 1/4 cup or so of brown sugar. You can taste the spices from the cider - cinnamon, cloves, etc. - in the finished butter, but I add in a little bit extra to keep the flavors strong. This will keep well in the fridge for about a week (maybe two, if stored in an airtight container) and can be used as a spread for English muffins, biscuits, toast, pancakes and even savory things like pork chops (very tasty!).
(more…)

Apple pie is one of my favorite desserts no matter what time of the year it is, but when fall rolls around I start to move it up in the rotation. But, even though I can be quick with a crust, apple pies do take a little bit of time to put together when you start to compare them to other apple desserts, including apple crisp, so I often make crisps as a quicker, homey alternative to apple pie on a cool fall evening.The full disclosure here is that I will take apple crisp any day of the week, just as I would with apple pie. I’m just trying to make it sound as easy as possible - and it is easy to make - so that you’ll be tempted to try making your own batch even on a busy weeknight. Especially on a busy weeknight, actually, since it’s so satisfying.

This apple crisp has a little bit of a healthy edge to it, or perhaps I should say a healthy topping. The crisp topping is made with whole wheat flour, oats and a bit of ground flaxseed, as well as with brown sugar and spices. You could leave out the flaxseed if you don’t have any on hand. The filling is lightly sweetened with sugar and apple cider. It is very similar to an apple pie filling because it contains a little bit of cornstarch to thicken the juices up during baking. This makes the crisp a lot easier to serve since the filling will stick together in nice, neat (well, neat for a crisp) scoops without juices running everywhere. Be sure to serve it warm and, if you’re feeling decadent, ice cream or whipped cream is never a bad match for a dessert like this one.

(more…)

Fresh figs are a very easy fruit to work with because they need very little prep to use them and are naturally very sweet. This natural sweetness makes figs very tasty, but it also makes them pair well with other fruits, as the jammy flavor of the figs can enhance fruits of similar flavors and add sweetness to other fruits that don’t have much of their own. The plums that I paired figs with in this fruit cobbler fall into the former category, as the are nice and sweet on their own, but have a rich flavor that goes very well with the figs.

There are many ways to make a cobbler topping. My usual method is to make a biscuit-like topping similar to scone dough and dot it over the fruit, creating a “cobbled together” look. For this cobbler, I used a thinner batter that has more in common with a cake batter than a biscuit dough. The cobbler rises during baking into a soft, moist, vanilla-scented layer that really soaks up the juices from the fruit well.

You’ll note that I suggest adding some cinnamon to the filling as an option in the recipe. I prefer to leave the cinnamon out most of the time, but the cinnamon gives the cobbler just enough spice to make it taste like fall - which is a great thing to achieve if you live somewhere that it is already starting to get cold this time of year.

(more…)

A clafoutis is somewhere between a cake and a custard. It’s a french dish, a baked dessert (although you can make savory clafoutis as well) that has lots of milk and eggs in it and is held together with a little flour for added stability. In general, clafoutis have a great eggy flavor to them and go well with a variety of different fruits. Pears are one of my favorites, but for a summer fruit, ripe strawberries work very well in the dish.

I usually make big clafoutis, using pie plates or quiche dishes, and cutting the clafoutis into slices for serving. This time around, I decided to make my clafoutis in individual dessert cups and produce single-serving sizes. I used whole strawberries - minus the green tops - and placed them in the bottom of each dish. I fit three into each and wrote the recipe that way, but if your strawberries are unusually large or unusually small, you might want to use one less or a few more. You basically want to cover the bottom of the cup with whole berries. I filled each dish with the custard mixture and baked.

The finished clafoutis were amazing when still warm from the oven. The custardy portion of the clafoutis was smooth, soft and had notes of both egg and vanilla. It also picked up a bit of strawberry juice that the berries released during baking. The berries were tender, but not mushy. The whole thing reminded me a bit of strawberry shortcake and a bit of the strawberry bread pudding I made not too long ago. This dish doesn’t take long to make and works well for breakfast, dessert and an afternoon snack.
(more…)

I really like that flavor and the texture of my cream cheese bread pudding, as it’s slightly firmer than many bread puddings and has a hint of cheesecakiness to it. It’s almost like having two desserts in one. I decided to take advantage of the cheesecake angle of the dessert and play with the flavors in the dish a little bit. Strawberries, for instance, are a popular topping for cheesecake, so they seemed like they would be a good match in the dish in terms of flavor. Bread pudding is a dish that can handle a lot of extra moisture, too, so even though fresh strawberries can become slightly watery during baking in some dishes, it didn’t seem like it would present any problem with the bread base of this dish.

In the finished dish, both the strawberries and the bread pudding both held up beautifully in this recipe, resulting in a dessert that tasted like a rich, moist strawberry shortcake with a hint of strawberry cheesecake to it. It definitely showcases the strawberries against the milder vanilla and cream flavors in the background. I used fresh strawberries to make this bread pudding, but frozen strawberries can also be used. If possible, I would let the frozen berries thaw for a little while to allow some of the liquid to drain off of them and to make them easier to slice. Large, whole frozen berries are a bit too large for this recipe and could make the bread pudding a little bit mushy.

Serve this bread pudding with a little bit of whipped cream. It can be served while it is still warm from the oven (it should cool for a little while before serving, however), but it also tastes great when chilled, so it can easily be made in advance. The bread pudding should keep, covered, in the fridge for about 3-4 days.

(more…)

A brown betty is a fruit dessert that is similar in concept to a cobbler. It has fruit baked underneath a sweetened topping, usually made of bread or cake crumbs. There are tons of variations on this dessert, mostly centering on how the fruit and topping ingredients should be combined, whether layered or mixed. I’ve had brown bettys that looked just like cobblers and ones that look just like cakes. This is my “standard” version, made with bread crumbs and fresh fruit. It has just a few ingredients and is even easier to make than a cobbler or crisp.

I start out with some fresh bread, preferably challah, brioche or something else that is a little bit rich (like hawaiian bread) and pulse it in the food processor to make bread crumbs. In a recipe of this size, I use at least two cups of bread crumbs, but this doesn’t need to be exact and the recipe will work just fine if you add in another half cup or so. The bread crumbs are mixed with brown sugar and a little bit of melted butter. The butter adds some flavor and ensures that the bread toasts up nicely in the oven, but there isn’t enough to bind all that bread together, as might happen with a crumble topping. The bread mixture goes on top of sliced, fresh fruit and everything goes into the oven to bake.

The brown betty is slightly crisp on top and a lovely golden brown when it comes out of the oven. The brown sugar in the topping adds just the right amount of sweetness (so you still known you’re eating a dessert and not just fruit and toast!) and goes oh-so-well with the fruit. The fruit really shines in this dish. This one uses nectarines and cherries, but all stone fruits (peaches, plums, etc.) are fantastic, especially when in-season fruits are at their peak. It is light, flavorful and not too heavy or filling, perfect for summer dinners. Serve it as-is, or with vanilla ice cream.

(more…)