I can’t stop making and eating caramel this fall. On cupcakes. With pudding. In my morning breakfast yogurt. With my fingers. (What?)

In the last recipe I mentioned that I made cranberry caramel, but I think it got a little outshined by the pumpkin pie pudding. So I decided to feature the caramel on it’s own because, you guys – this stuff is amazing. Life changing. Soul saving. Heavens open up and sing when you taste it. It’s that good.

I know it’s the day before Thanksgiving and you already have a million things to make between today and tomorrow, but if you find yourself with a spare hour or so, make this cranberry caramel. It’s sweet and tart. Flecked with vanilla bean. It has so many layers of flavor and it tastes great on almost anything. If it was legal, I would run off to Vegas and marry it. (Sorry, husband.)

This caramel is extremely versatile because i’s firm, yet soft and spoonable straight out of the fridge, making it a perfect topping for cold desserts (like pumpkin pie pudding). Warmed, it would be fantastic drizzled over pumpkin or pecan pie, or just plain vanilla ice cream.

Or if you come back next week I’ll give you another recipe you can use it for. One with chocolate.

That is, if you don’t eat it all with a spoon first.

Cranberry Vanilla Bean Caramel

Adapted from Annie’s Eats
Makes about 1 1/4 cups

A word of caution: Making caramel is tricky. Have patience and have all of your ingredients ready to go. Caramel also gets very, very hot. Much hotter than boiling water. It will spatter, so be careful. Wear long sleeves, use a deep pan or pot, and do not try to taste the hot caramel no matter how much you want to! David Lebovitz has some great tips for making caramel.

Ingredients

1/2 vanilla bean
1 1/3 cups heavy cream
3/4 cup sugar
3/4 cup fresh cranberries, chopped

Directions

Split vanilla bean, scrape seeds into cream. Chop cranberries. Set aside.

Cook sugar in a deep saucepan over medium heat, stirring occasionally with a spatula until sugar has melted. Once melted, STOP stirring. Continue to cook sugar until it is deep amber in color and smells caramelized. Remove from heat and immediately add cream. (Caution: Sugar will bubble violently, be careful!) Sugar will likely sieze and harden at this point. Place back over med-low heat and stir occasionally until sugar dissolves. Remove from heat and let cool for 5 minutes.

Add chopped fresh cranberries. Return to low heat (do not boil) and cook, stirring frequently, until caramel darkens and tastes slightly tart from cranberries, about 15-20 minutes. Remove from heat, cool 5 minutes. Use as is with cranberries, or strain through a mesh sieve for a smooth caramel. Use immediately or store in a covered, heat-proof container in refrigerator. Keeps for several weeks.

New York was gorgeous. Positively glowing with fall colors.

We spent our days hiking to plunging, splashing, cascading waterfalls and the evenings dining on the culinary gems of the Finger Lakes region. We ate so much good food – wines, cheeses, waffles with peanut butter and banana, brie stuffed French toast, and more. But my favorite meal of them all was at the place I least expected: Moosewood. Don’t get me wrong – I had heard Moosewood has excellent food, but I had also heard that they were all about healthy, natural, vegetarian foods. I’m not opposed to any of those things. They just aren’t really words that get my mouth watering in anticipation, you know? However, the hype intrigued me so I decided we should check it out anyway.

I am so glad we did. I loved everything I ate that night, from the tea to the roasted dumpling squash. In fact, I loved it so much I asked for the recipes right then and there and then bought two of their cookbooks as soon as I got home. Who knew vegetables could taste so fantastic?

The tea. Wow. That chilly night there were several really good sounding drinks on the menu but when my husband noticed the ginger tea, I just had to have it. It was sweet and citrus-y with a warm, slightly spicy finish from the ginger. At the first sip I immediately I knew I would need the recipe to make at home again and again.

Once we got back home to Virginia, I thought I would have a few more weeks before the weather really cooled enough to try making ginger tea. I mean, it was still nearly 70 degrees during the day.

And then it snowed. Wait, what?

Yeah, that happened. Snow. In Virginia. In October. The only way I was going to get through this was with some ginger tea.

To my delight, Moosewood’s Ginger Orange Tea is utterly simple to make and takes only slightly longer than steeping a regular tea bag. This tea is packed with vitamin C and flavor, making it perfect for whenever you’re feeling under the weather. It can be served chilled over ice, which mellows the flavors some, but I prefer to enjoy it piping hot next to a window with a view on a snowy day.

Ginger Orange Tea

Adapted from The Moosewood Restaurant Cooking for Health Cookbook
Serves 4

Fresh ginger can be found in the produce section of most grocery stores. While fresh squeezed orange juice is ideal, I took the lazy way out and used store bought, not from concentrate, 100% orange juice. After some experimenting, I discovered ginger is best grated with the large holes of a box grater, but a microplane zester can be used in a pinch.

Ingredients

2 heaping tablespoons peeled and grated fresh ginger
2 cups water
2 cups fresh orange juice
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1-2 tablespoons honey, to taste

Directions

Place water and grated ginger in a medium saucepan and bring to a boil. Remove from heat. Steep for at least 5 minutes. Strain tea with a fine mesh strainer, pressing on the ginger with the back of a spoon to squeeze out all the liquid. Return tea to pot. Stir in orange juice, lemon juice, and honey. Reheat to serve warm, or chill to serve over ice.

I was thinking about how often apples get overshadowed by pumpkin a few weeks ago when my husband asked me if I wanted to attend a dinner party with some of his coworkers. “Hrmmm. Maybe…”, I said. “They asked us to bring some kind of food to share”, he said. That was all I needed to hear. Not one to pass up an opportunity, I agreed, “I’ll go… but only if I can bring dessert.” I had visions of apples and caramel and cupcakes swirling in my head.

It took me a while to decide on an approach for these cupcakes. Did I want apple cupcakes with caramel frosting? Caramel cupcakes with apple frosting? Would there be enough apple flavor? I was imagining cupcakes that tasted like apple pie (but without the yucky crust) so they really needed to taste like apples.

Ultimately, I decided the best way to pack that punch of apple flavor into a cupcake was to use apple pie filling. Cinnamon cupcakes would compliment the apple filling without overwhelming it, and caramel frosting would be the icing on the cake (ha ha).

I was apprehensive while putting these cupcakes together. I’m not going to lie – they’re pretty labor intensive and not exactly easy. I had doubts about whether they would be worth all the effort, whether they would taste as good as I imagined they would.

In the end, they didn’t.

They tasted approximately a million times better than I had imagined.

I was hoping for good cupcakes, but these were amazing. Fantastic. They got rave reviews at the party, but I thought maybe everyone was just being nice. Until I tasted one myself. I believe I uttered the phrase, “OMG. These are my new favorite cupcakes ever… and they’re not even chocolate!” So yeah. They’re that good. Totally worth every minute they took to create. You won’t find cupcakes like this in a box at the grocery store!

Caramel Apple Pie Cupcakes

Printable Recipe (Includes all sub-recipes)
Makes about 24 cupcakes

There are several steps to complete before assembling the cupcakes, but some can be done a day ahead to speed things up. The caramel and apple filling can both be made 1 day ahead and refrigerated. Let them come to room temperature (or gently warm caramel) before using. You won’t need the whole batch of caramel, so feel free to half it if you don’t want a bunch leftover. Any leftover pie filling or caramel sauce makes a fantastic breakfast/snack mixed with Greek yogurt, or a delicious topping for ice cream!

Ingredients

2 cups Apple Filling (below)
1 cup Vanilla Bean Caramel Sauce (below)
24 Cinnamon Cupcakes (below)
1 batch of Caramel Swiss Buttercream Frosting (below)

Directions

Working with completely cooled, use a small paring knife to cut out a cone shaped wedge from the center of each cupcake. (Like when cutting the lid off of a jack-o-lantern.) Save the “lids”. If needed, scrape out a little bit of cake from each hole to make more room for filling – just don’t go too far or your cupcakes will fall apart. Fill each hole not quite to the top with Apple Filling (about 1/2 tablespoon). Replace “lids”, trimming off the bottoms of the “lids” if necessary.

Pipe frosting on cupcakes. Drizzle with caramel sauce.

Serve same day as assembled, or freeze for long term storage.

Apple Filling

Printable Recipe
Makes about 2 cups

Ingredients

2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1.5 pounds (approx.) Honey Crisp apples (about 4 medium), peeled, cored, and finely diced
1 tablespoons granulated sugar
2 tablespoons dark brown sugar
1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
1/8 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 tablespoons cornstarch
1 tablespoon water

Directions

Melt butter in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Add apples, sugars, lemon juice and cinnamon. Cook until apples are tender and release their juices – about 10 minutes. In a small bowl or glass, combine cornstarch and water. Add to apples and stir, cooking until thickened. Remove from heat. Cool to room temperature. (Cover and refrigerate overnight if making ahead.)

Vanilla Bean Caramel Sauce

Printable Recipe
Adapted from Annie’s Eats
Makes 2 1/2 cups

A word of caution: Making caramel is tricky. Have patience and have all of your ingredients ready to go. Caramel also gets very, very hot. Much hotter than boiling water. It will spatter, so be careful. Wear long sleeves, use a deep pan or pot, and do not try to taste the hot caramel no matter how much you want to! David Lebovitz has some great tips for making caramel.

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups sugar
2 1/2 cups heavy cream
1 vanilla bean, split lengthwise

Directions

Measure heavy cream in a measuring cup. Scrape out vanilla bean seeds and add to cream. Set aside.

Spread sugar in an even layer on the bottom of a heavy, tall-sided sauce pan or pot. Cook over medium-low heat, stirring gently with a heat-proof spatula or whisk to promote even browning, until sugar melts. Once the sugar comes to a boil, stop stirring.

Watch carefully. When the caramel turns a rich amber color and smells like caramel, remove from heat and immediately whisk in cream. (Caution: Caramel will bubble violently!) If any sugar has hardened, return to low heat and whisk until smooth.

Cool to room temperature. To store or make ahead, transfer to an air-tight container and keep refrigerated. Caramel can be re-warmed in microwave or in a saucepan over low heat, if needed.

Cinnamon Cupcakes

Printable Recipe
Adapted from Annie’s Eats
Makes about 24 cupcakes

Ingredients

1 cup milk
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
2 cups all purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon salt
4 large eggs
1 3/4 cups sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions

Preheat oven to 350°F. Line two 12-cup muffin tins with cupcake liners.

Heat milk and butter in a small saucepan over medium heat until butter melts. Remove from heat. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, cinnamon and salt.

Using a stand mixer with a whisk attachment, beat eggs and sugar until thick ribbons form, about 5 minutes. Add flour mixture and beat on low just until incorporated. Add milk mixture and vanilla, and beat until blended.

Divide evenly among baking tins. Bake at 350°F for 16-18 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean. Cool in pans for 5 minutes, then transfer to wire racks to cool completely.

Caramel Swiss Buttercream Frosting

Printable Recipe
Adapted from Flour Child
Makes enough to generously frost 24 cupcakes

It’s very important that your caramel be no warmer than room temperature when you add it to the frosting, or your frosting will melt.

Ingredients

6 large egg whites
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
Pinch of coarse salt
3 sticks unsalted butter, cut into cubes
1/2 cup Vanilla Bean Caramel sauce (above), cooled
1 tsp vanilla extract

Directions

Place a saucepan with about 2 inches of water over medium-low heat and bring to a simmer. Combine egg whites, sugar and salt in the metal bowl of a stand mixer. Place bowl over pan of simmering water and whisk constantly until mixture an instant-read thermometer reads 160°F. (Sugar will be dissolved and mixture will start to resemble marshmallow fluff.)

Remove bowl from heat and attach to stand mixer. Beat with the whisk attachment until stiff meringue peaks form and the outside of the bowl no longer feels warm, about 10 minutes. Switch to paddle attachment. On low speed, add one cube of butter at a time, waiting until incorporated before adding the next. Once all butter is added, on low speed slowly pour in caramel. Add vanilla and continue beating until smooth. (If frosting curdles, just keep beating! If frosting is soupy, place mixer bowl in fridge for 10-15 minutes and beat until smooth. Repeat if necessary.)

I got tired of my brain nagging me with thoughts like, “Wouldn’t those fresh peaches be great with some vanilla pasty cream?” and “I bet peaches and gingersnaps taste awesome together”, so to shut it up I made these tarts. Turns out my brain was right.

What I had in mind was a cookie-like crust filled with cool, creamy vanilla bean pastry cream, topped with fresh peach slices… and that’s exactly how these tarts turned out. Instead of using graham crackers for the crust, I decided to use gingersnaps for a little gingery kick. The crust has just the right amount of spice without overpowering the peaches or pastry cream. Each bite of the finished tarts has a delightful balance of crunchiness from the crust and silkiness from the pastry cream. They’re wonderful.

Hurry up and make some of these before peach season ends!

Peach Pastry Cream Tarts

Makes 4 4-inch miniature tarts

For easy entertaining, bake the crust and make the pastry cream the day before. Refrigerate pastry cream and store the crusts in a zip-top plastic bag at room temperature overnight. The day of serving, fill the tarts with pastry cream, top with peach slices and serve.

Ingredients

2 cups milk
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 vanilla bean, split lengthwise, seeds scraped
Pinch of salt
4 large egg yolks
1/4 cup cornstarch
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
2 tablespoons plain non-fat Greek yogurt

2 cups (approx.) gingersnap crumbs
1 cup pecan halves, coarsely chopped
6 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

4 small, fresh peaches

Directions

In a medium saucepan, warm milk, 1/4 cup sugar, vanilla bean and seeds, and salt over medium heat. Bring to just about a simmer (do not boil) and remove from heat.

In a medium bowl, whisk together egg yolks, cornstarch, and remaining 1/4 cup sugar. Whisking constantly, slowly pour about 1/2 cup of the hot milk mixture into egg yolk mixture. Whisk in remaining milk mixture, then pour everything back into saucepan. Cook over medium heat, whisking constantly, until thickened. (Instant read thermometer will read about 160°F.) Remove from heat. Discard vanilla bean pod.

Fill a large bowl with ice and cold water. Set a fine mesh strainer over medium bowl. Strain pastry cream into medium bowl. Whisk in butter and yogurt. Set bowl in ice water bath and whisk until cool, about 5 minutes.

Cover with plastic wrap, pressing it against the surface, and refrigerate at least 4 hours or up to overnight.

Combine gingersnap crumbs and pecans in food processor. Pulse until finely ground. With the food processor running, pour in melted butter. Pulse until mixture resembles wet sand. Divide among 4 non-stick tart pans. Using the back of a measuring cup, press crumb mixture firmly into tart pans. Set filled tart pans on a baking sheet. Bake at 350°F for 10 minutes. Cool completely on a wire wrack. (Do not remove from pans.) Can be stored overnight in an airtight plastic bag.

To assemble, spoon pastry cream into cooled crusts (you may have some left over) and top with sliced fresh peaches.

See?

OK they aren’t really supposed to look like that. I’m just easily amused.

Here’s what you need to know: Fresh cherries. Cream cheese. Sugar. Puff pastry.

These turnovers are yet another product of my summer cherry obsession. I hate pie crust (seriously) but cherry pies are so quintessentially summer that I kind of wanted to make one. I was also craving something kind of like a danish, so I decided to make a cherry turnover with the addition of sweetened cream cheese.

The flaky crust just begs you to bite into it, where you’re rewarded with a hint of creaminess and a burst of fresh cherries like summer sunshine. Best of all, they’re quick and easy to throw together. I love unfussy, casual, eat-them-with-your-hands desserts. The turnovers puff way, way up on the oven, and one might even burst open (see first photo) but don’t sweat it. They’ll taste good no matter what.

Cherry Cream Cheese Turnovers make a great ending to a summer meal or a sweet breakfast treat. (Not that I would know because who eats turnovers for breakfast? *cough*)

Cherry Cream Cheese Turnovers

Adapted from Food and Wine
Makes about 4 turnovers

These are best enjoyed the same day they’re made. If using store bought puff pastry, be sure to only roll it out once.

Ingredients

1 sheet frozen puff pastry, thawed

1 1/2 cups pitted sweet cherries, coarsely chopped
2 tablespoons granulated sugar
2 teaspoons lemon juice
1/2 tablespoon cornstarch
1/2 tablespoon water

3 tablespoons powdered sugar
2.5 ounces (about 1/4 cup) 1/3-less-fat cream cheese, softened
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 large egg yolk
2 Tablespoons milk or cream
raw sugar, for sprinkling

Directions

Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a Silpat.

Lightly dust a clean counter top with flour. Using a rolling pin, roll out puff pastry very thin – about 1/8-inch thick. Cut out circles. (I used an upside down bowl to cut out four identical 6-inch circles.) Place puff pastry circles on prepared baking sheet. Refrigerate.

Add cherries, sugar, and lemon juice to medium saucepan. Cook over medium heat until cherries release their juices and have softened, about 5 minutes. In a small bowl stir together water and cornstarch. Add to cherries and stir constantly until thickened. Remove from heat. Cool to room temperature.

In a small bowl, whisk together cream cheese, powdered sugar and vanilla until combined.

To Assemble: Beat yolk and milk together in a small bowl. Working on just half of each chilled puff pastry circle, spread a thin layer of cream cheese mixture and top with cherry mixture. Brush edges with egg wash and fold over to close. Crimp edges with a fork. Chill for 15 minutes. Brush egg wash on top of turnovers and sprinkle with raw sugar. Cut 2 or 3 slits in each turnover with a sharp knife.

Bake at 400°F for 15-20 minutes, or until browned. Cool to room temperature and serve.

Really hot. Like excessive heat warning, face melts when I walk outside, can’t eat anything but frozen foods hot.

So I made popsicles. Did you know making popsicles is pretty fun and pretty easy? I didn’t. I’ve never made them before. I just happened to buy some popsicle molds on a whim when I visited Bake It Pretty (love them!) last year, but I don’t like eating frozen foods when it’s cold outside so I waited and waited to use them. Until now.

All of my waiting paid off. I found some amazing peaches at the farmer’s market and combined them with my favorite yogurt, a vanilla bean and a little bit of cream and bourbon to make these irresistible Peaches & Vanilla Cream Pops. Both my husband and I said, “Whoa. These taste like a Creamsicle!” at first taste. They’re creamy, peachy, vanilla-y and sweet, and they are guaranteed to keep your face from melting off.

Peaches & Vanilla Cream Pops

Printable Recipe
Adapted from Bon Apetit
Makes about 4 popsicles

Ingredients

1/4 cup + 1 tablespoons granulated sugar
1/4 cup water
1/2 vanilla bean, halved lengthwise
2 cups pitted, sliced and peeled peaches (about 2-3 medium peaches)
3 tablespoons heavy cream
3 tablespoons plain greek yogurt (I used Chobani 2%)
1 tablespoon bourbon (optional)

Directions

Place sugar and water in a saucepan over medium high heat. Add vanilla bean seeds scraped from the bean and the bean itself. Bring to a boil, stirring to dissolve sugar. Remove from heat and discard bean. Transfer to a small bowl and chill.

Add peaches and vanilla syrup to a food processor. Puree until smooth. Transfer to a large 2 or 4-cup measuring cup. (You should have about 1 cup of puree.) Whisk in heavy cream, greek yogurt and bourbon.

Pour into popsicle molds, add sticks and freeze until firm. Dip bottoms of molds in hot water to loosen when ready to eat.

Cheri over at Kitchen Simplicity asked me to do a guest post for her, and since I love her site I couldn’t say no. I mean, have you seen her photography? Gorgeous! And she features exactly the kind of recipes I like to eat – simple and delicious.

Check out my guest post on Kitchen Simplicity this week, where I confess my annual summer obsession with cherries and share my first clafouti recipe – Cherry Vanilla Bean Clafouti made with a real vanilla bean and fresh cherries. And while you’re there, take a look around at Cheri’s recipes and fantastic photography too!

These lovely little cupcakes were made to take to a goodbye party for some of my husband’s coworkers. Since I didn’t know the people I was baking for, I tried to come up with something that was both seasonal and would have almost universal appeal. Like vanilla. Pretty much everyone loves vanilla. And the seasonal part? The beautiful farm fresh strawberries I had in my fridge.

This was only my second or third time making swiss meringue buttercream, but I was excited to combine it’s silky smooth texture with the bright strawberry flavor and oh, I’m so glad I did. These cupcakes turned out like pillowy soft bites of summer. Using the vanilla bean gave the cupcakes an almost exotic flavor, while acting as a perfect canvas to highlight the strawberries in the frosting. They were a big hit! Though I have to be honest, I was a little disappointed that out of the 36 I sent to work with my husband, only 4 came back. I could have easily eaten them all myself.

Mini Vanilla Bean Cupcakes

Adapted From Joy the Baker
Makes 30-36 mini cupcakes

You can see my cupcakes were a tad overfilled so for picture perfect cupcakes, try not to fill the cups more than 3/4 full at most.

Ingredients

1/2 cup milk
1 vanilla bean
1 1/4 cup + 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 stick (1/2 cup) unsalted butter, softened
3/4 cup + 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
fresh mint leaves (optional, for garnish)

Directions

Preheat oven to 350°F. Line two mini cupcake tins with paper liners.

Pour milk into a small saucepan. Split vanilla bean open and scrape out seeds. Add vanilla bean seeds and bean pod to milk and heat over medium heat for just a few minutes, until milk is warm. Do not boil. Remove from heat and set aside to steep.

In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt.

In the bowl of an electric mixer, beat butter and sugar on medium speed until light and fluffy, about 3-5 minutes. Add eggs one at a time, fully incorporating each egg before adding the next.

Remove the vanilla bean pod from the milk. Set the mixer on low speed and add the dry ingredients alternating with the milk mixture in three batches. Stop mixer when batter is just shy of combined and finish the mixing by hand with a spatula.

Measure out 3/4 tablespoon of batter into each cup of the prepared muffin tins. Bake at 350° for 12-15 minutes or until a toothpick in the center comes out clean. Cool in pan for 2 minutes, then remove to wire racks to cool completely.

Strawberry Swiss Meringue Buttercream

Adapted from Tracey’s Culinary Adventure
Makes enough to frost about 36 mini cupcakes

Even though I’ve made swiss meringue buttercream several times now, I still barely contain my panic when I see it start to get soupy or curdle-y. The trick to swiss meringue buttercream? Don’t panic. Just. Keep. Beating. (If you’ve added all the ingredients, beat for more than 10-15 minutes and it’s still too soupy? Your meringue was probably too warm. Just pop the frosting in the fridge for 5-8 minutes and then resume beating.)

Ingredients

4 ounces fresh strawberries, rinsed, hulled and coarsely chopped
2 large egg whites
1/2 cup + 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
12 tablespoons (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, cut into tablespoons, at room temperature
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract

Direction

Puree strawberries in a food processor until smooth. Set aside.

Fill medium saucepan with about an inch of water and bring to a simmer. Add egg whites and sugar to the metal bowl of a stand mixer (or a large heatproof bowl). Set bowl over simmering water and whisk constantly until sugar has dissolved (about 140°F on an instant read thermometer). Remove from heat.

Attach bowl to stand mixer and using the whisk attachment, beat on medium-high speed until egg mixture is a glossy white meringue with stiff peaks and the bowl no longer feels warm (about 10 minutes). Switch to the paddle attachment. Beating on medium-low speed, add butter one piece at a time, letting each piece incorporate before adding the next. Once all butter is incorporated, scrape down sides of the bowl with a spatula. Add strawberry puree and vanilla, and continue beating until frosting is smooth again.

Pipe frosting onto cooled cupcakes (I used a giant star tip) and garnish with fresh mint leaves.

Or not. Maybe that only happens to me? But don’t worry, if it happens to you I’ve got you covered. Just make this Grand Marnier Sabayon.

Wait! Don’t let the term “sabayon” scare you. Sabayon (also spelled zabaglione) is just a fancy Italian (zabaglione) or French (sabayon) way of saying “light custard”. This recipe makes a silky smooth, luscious orange custard that somehow both complements and enhances the flavor of fresh strawberries. It literally takes just a few minutes to whip up, and it sounds and tastes fancy with very minimal effort. Also, I couldn’t stop eating it.

Sliced Strawberries with Grand Marnier Sabayon

Adapted from Bon Appetit
Serves about 4

The original recipe claims to serve 2, but we got more like 4 servings out of it. You could easily use fewer (or more) strawberries to accommodate whatever you’ve got on hand. Double the custard ingredients for each additional quart of strawberries.

Ingredients

1 quart fresh strawberries, washed, hulled and sliced
3 large egg yolks
3 tablespoons Grand Marnier or other orange liqueur
1 tablespoons water
1 1/2 tablespoons sugar
1 tablespoon 2% plain Greek yogurt, such as Chobani
fresh mint sprigs (for garnish)

Directions

Make an ice water bath with a large bowl filled about halfway with ice and cold water. Set aside.

Ine a large saucepan, bring about an inch of water to a simmer (don’t boil). In a metal bowl, whisk together egg yolks, Gran Marnier, water, and sugar. Set bowl over simmering water (don’t allow the bottom to touch water) and whisk constantly until mixture thickens to a loose pudding-like consistency – 3 to 4 minutes. Remove from heat. Whisk in yogurt. Place bowl in ice water bath and whisk for 1 minute to chill slightly.

Divide strawberries among serving bowls. Spoon custard over berries, garnish with fresh mint and serve.

Sabayon can be stored in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 2 days.

No? Me neither.

On a completely unrelated note, it’s strawberry season so I made chocolate chip strawberry shortcake. I most definitely did NOT think this recipe was for an all chocolate shortcake, which had absolutely nothing to do with the fact that the original recipe was called “Chocolate Strawberry Shortcake” and also lacked a photo.

……

You’re not buying this, are you?

Ok, so maybe I thought this would be an all chocolate strawberry shortcake. It wasn’t until I had mixed all the ingredients together that I realized, “Huh. This isn’t chocolate after all.” But it turned out to be a happy accident, I think. In addition to the bourbon chocolate sauce (which is just like WHOA), an all chocolate shortcake would have overwhelmed the delicate flavor of farm fresh strawberries. This shortcake studded with chocolate chips was the perfect balance – a nice hit of chocolate, but you can definitely taste the strawberries.

Oh, and believe me, strawberry shortcake is better with chocolate.

Chocolate Chip Strawberry Shortcake
with Bourbon Chocolate Sauce

Adapted from Bon Appetit
Serves 6-8

This shortcake can be made in a number of shapes and sizes – bake it in a 9-inch cake pan for one large shortcake to feed a crowd, or pat it out and use a biscuit cutter or cut into wedges for individual shortcakes. These shortcakes are best consumed the day they’re made.

Filling Ingredients

2 pounds fresh strawberries, washed, hulled and sliced
3 tablespoons sugar
1 batch Bourbon Chocolate Sauce (can be made ahead)

Shortcake Ingredients

2 cups all purpose flour
3 tablespoons + 2 tablespoons sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup (1 stick) chilled unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
3 ounces (about 2/3 cup) bittersweet or semisweet chocolate chips
2/3 cup + 2 tablespoons buttermilk
1/2 teaspoon vanilla

Whipped Cream Ingredients

1 1/2 cups whipping cream
4 tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla

Directions

In a large bowl, sprinkle sliced strawberries with 3 tablespoons of sugar (more or less, depends on how sweet your berries are). Toss to coat and set aside. (Can be made ahead.)

Preheat oven to 375°F. Butter and flour a 9-inch cake pan or spray with baking spray (if making one big shortcake), or line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a Silpat (for individual shortcakes).

In a large bowl, whisk together flour, 3 tablespoons sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Add butter and smush between fingertips until mixture resembles coarse meal. Add 2/3 cup buttermilk and vanilla extract, stirring to form a dough. Fold in chocolate chips.

If using a cake pan, transfer dough to cake pan a gently press to level top. If using baking sheet, dump dough out onto parchment paper and pat out into a circle about 1-inch thick. Cut into wedges or cut with a biscuit cutter and place on baking sheet about 2 inches apart. Brush top with remaining 2 tablespoons buttermilk and sprinkle with remaining 2 tablespoons sugar. Bake until lightly golden brown on top and a toothpick comes out clean, 15-20 minutes for small shortcakes, 25-30 minutes for one big shortcake.

To make whipped cream, combined whipping cream, sugar and vanilla in the bowl of a mixer. Beat with whisk attachment until soft peaks form. Cover and chill until ready to serve.

To serve, cut shortcake(s) in half. Spoon strawberries and their juices on top. Drizzle with bourbon chocolate sauce, add whipped cream, and top with other half of shortcake.