Salted Caramel Butterscotch Buddino
The first time I ever had salted-caramel-butterscotch-pudding-buddino-pots de creme-out of this world-amazing-dessert was at Gjelina’s on Abbot Kinney. Buggies was about 3 weeks old and this was Mommy’s 1st night out (yahoooo!) for Kim’s birthday. Molly and I had been celebrating Kim with champagne (as we tend to do) and by the time dessert came, our entire table needed about 8 more of this magical little gems of heaven. After having them at Gjelina’s, I recreated them for a foodie dinner party that I was hosting. Our friend, Karen, took all of the leftovers home with her and enjoyed every last bite.
Apricot and Ricotta Cheese Crepes
As I’ve told you, in my previous life I worked for a pretty fabulous international restaurant chain. I was their Director of Human Resources. It was a job that evolved over the years and I was self taught for. I almost felt like Superman leading a double life though. By day: HR. By Night! Cooking. My fabulous Molly came up with the perfect idea of me and Jessica, one of the 4 partners in crime, to start a catering business. And we did. And we were busy. I would spend my entire day processing payroll, dealing with health benefits, employee complaints and what not. By night, Jessica and I would come up with menus and marketing, recipes and recruits. A few months into the business we catered a baby shower at this gorgeous ocean view mansion in Santa Barbara. I’m going to get off topic for a sec. They had these walls in their house with zero texture to them. Smooth as a baby’s…. And then they acid washed them. These walls made this house look like it was floating in the clouds. If I ever hit those 6 little Super Lotto numbers, my house must have those walls. Back to the crepes. One of the menu items for the shower was these crepes. We seriously could not whip them up fast enough before the platters were empty again. After catering that event, I was talking with my sweet (strawberries!) co-worker Alisha who fell in love with these crepes. This is another recipe she’s been asking for and I’ve slacked on. YIKES!
Here is my thought. It’s Labor Day weekend. Four years ago it was 120 degrees and I was close to going into labor. So let’s celebrate and have brunch Sunday. Make these with my Green Chile Breakfast Casserole, serve up a bottle of champagne and let’s call this a relaxing weekend.
Grilled Nectarines with Vanilla Bean Ice Cream
Grilled fruit is such a light and delicious dessert. It gives you that satisfying sweetness you need at the end of a meal (or at least us girls need it) without going crazy on calories or heaviness. And here’s the bonus! You can give this to kids and they don’t realize they are actually eating something healthy. Shhh…..don’t tell them! It’s our secret. When I made this last, our good friends and my parents were over for Cuban Garlic Chicken. My dad’s nectarine turned out the prettiest for a picture so the poor guy had to wait, staring at it longingly, while I paparazzied his poor dessert.
PS…Serve this with Tobin James Charisma.
PSS….Love ya!
Hubby’s Note: Tobin James is our favorite winery. The Charisma my wife is referring to is a sweet dessert wine they offer. It works really well with the dish. But a nice port or late harvest Zinfandel would go really well too. As for the Grilled Nectarines…mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm. Is there anything better than something hot and succulent served with cold vanilla ice cream? Actually, yes, there is. There’s a lot that’s better. But it’s still REALLY good. BTW honey, PSS? Post Super Script? Post Spaghetti Script? And I hope it was directed at me.
Flourless Nutella Cake
Oh Nutella, how I love thee…. Growing up we would make these amazing crepes by spreading Nutella on them, rolling them up and chowing them down (don’t worry, the French crepe recipe is coming soon). Recently, my mom and Pixie were out running errands together before the three of us went for pedicures. Don’t judge! It was for my mom’s birthday and Pixie is a GIRLY. GIRL! So, my mom calls me and says, “We got too busy and never got her any lunch. She’s been eating her snacks but will you bring her a sandwich too?” And I’m thinking to myself, “well it is kind of a special occasion so I will make her a peanut butter and Nutella sandwich.” I’ve never seen a kid eat a sandwich so fast. She was covered in Nutella and had this goofy cross eyed look on her face like, “where have you been all of my life Nutella!?!?!? I’m only 3 1/2 but where have you been!?!?!” Anyways, back to this cake. This is my husband’s absolute favorite cake. Well, this one and my Guiness Chocolate Cake. Each year for his birthday I can almost guarantee he will ask for this cake. And then his eyes inevitably end up crossing… and I see where Pixie gets it from.
Hubby’s note: There are two things that my wife does that makes my eyes cross. This is the “G” rated one. And this cake is so good, it may possibly be a substitute for the other one. I like it with Port. Or Tobin James’ Late Harvest Zinfandel. This cake actually melts in your mouth. I don’t mean that as a cliche. It physically melts. No chewing required. Eating this cake is like floating on a warm hazelnut cloud. Um…that made much more sense in my head. And for the record, i’m working on butching up the girly girl.
French Macarons
I’m addicted. These little clouds of Parisian cookie sandwich heaven bring joy to my heart. And my tummy. My soon to be sister-in-law had one in a farmer’s market and fell in love. We kept wanting to have a baking day and make these for ourselves but kids and jobs and the holidays got in our way. Then one day we walked into a fabulous restaurant in downtown Los Angeles called Bottega Louie and there. they. were. Lined up in perfect little rows. Dozens of flavors and colors. We stood there in awe. I had no idea which…um…one, to get (um…one of each please!?!). I mean with that many little scrumptious choices which one is the right choice? (And is there a wrong choice?) What if I pick green tea but the passionfruit is amazing? What if I order them all and I melt slowly in my leather seat from the scowls of judgement thrown at me by the Size 2’s that surround me??? So we did what only us girls could do. We ordered four different ones and split them. Evenly. Admittedly, had I been by myself in the bakery after-hours, i would have eaten all of them. But I wasn’t. And they were amazing! Before I knew it, I was obsessed with these little devils. Mark my words – they are the next mini-cupcake. I’m already making them for my Sister & Brother In Law’s wedding in lieu of a cake. So, I’ve tried my hand at them and here is a great recipe for you.
Hubby’s note: Adult supervision is required with these little pillows of yumminess, lest the chef eat the whole batch.
French Kiss in a Peanut Butter Hot Tub (Peanut Butter with Chocolate Kisses)
Peanut butter and chocolate. Whoever came up with Reese’s recipe is a genius because those two flavors really are the perfect pair. Just be sure your dough isn’t too soft when you bake these cookies. Otherwise they come out flat and once you push the chocolate kiss into it…It’s doesn’t really look like, um, a cookie anymore.
Hubby’s note: I’ve got nothing. Nothing tops Peanut Butter and Chocolate.
My Secret
So…..I have a secret. Well, if you know me, it’s not soo secret. But the recipe? I’ll be buried with it. Some of my friends affectionately call them “crack cookies”. I think the name speaks for itself.
On Your Naughty List
This past holiday season I was hired by a production company to make 10 baskets of holidays cookies. Each basket had 50 cookies inside….Let’s do the math…Yep, 500 cookies. Here is the list of some of the recipes I made for the 2010 Holiday Season. You can find the recipes in the archive.