The balsamic glaze looks like chocolate syrup and the cheese is a bit disguised amongst the fruit and ice cream in this recipe. The disguised ingredients make this dessert feel like a new discovery for the palette!
Grilled Fruit Kabobs with Balsamic Glaze and Manchego Recipe Click to continue »
What you will need for your Cast Iron Dessert Crisp with any fruit combination:
Various Seasonal Fruit Combinations:
Blueberry-Nectarine Crisp Recipe
Recipe from Vegetarian Fresh Food Fast Cookbook
For this dessert, start at least two days before you want to server it! AND, don’t take it to a friend’s home who has a freezer powered by solar. You need a normal to powerful freezer to freeze the dessert properly or should I say thoroughly. So basically, I wouldn’t recommend ice cream cake, where you make the ice cream yourself for the dessert, without a few days to prep it to make sure it’s a “solid” dessert for the party.
This is a whammy of a labor-intensive dessert because you will be making the ice cream, with your ice cream maker, and create the cake part too. However, the flavors in this dessert are worth the work because it is a unique flavor combo! Thanks ReadyMade magazine for your creative Spice Cream Recipes!
Tips for making Ice Cream & Ice Cream Cake:
This cake was moist and delicious. It was sort of a cross between pound cake and angel food cake. We loved it and served it with a Santa Cruz classic Marianne’s Ice Cream (bittersweet chocolate ice cream) for Mother’s Day.
Portuguese Orange-Olive Oil Cake Recipe
by David Leite
from The New Portuguese Table: Exciting Flavors from Europe’s Western Coast Cookbook
(Clarkson Potter, 2009)
Serves 10 to 12
A high-class pop tart from Big Sur Bakery and a local artisanal jam inspired me to try this Bon Appetit Strawberry Pop Tarts recipe! Our uncle was working on a Northern California hand-crafted artisanal food show and picked up some great jam from Blue Chair Fruit up in the East Bay and I decided it was the perfect jam for the job.
You can use any jam for this recipe from homemade marmalade to a farmer’s market local jam favorite. We used Blue Chair Fruit, Aprium-Orange Jam.
Everybody oohhh’d and ahhhh’d over these buttery, sinful desserts. It made sense because they were essentially a flaky, buttery sugar cookie/biscuit recipe with sugary, fruity jam inside.
You can even see the step-by-step instructions on BonAppetit.com “How to Make a Pop Tart!”
These are simply sinful and super easy to make!
Oreo Truffles Recipe
* I have to give credit to Amy for introducing me to this recipe and for making the truffles pictured above.
Zach says their Apricotology (aka Apricot Fritter) is the best doughnut he has had in his life. This is a bold statement coming from Zach. So it must be at least pretty good because he is picky!
So which came first, Voodoo Doughnut in Portland, Oregon with their punk rock concoctions OR Psycho Donut in Campbell, CA? We have tried Voodoo Doughnuts maple bacon doughnut and it was good but Portland is a pretty far drive from SF. So when we came across Psycho Donut in San Jose/Campbell we were pleasantly surprised with their creative and funky doughnut creations. They also have some pretty interesting illustrations and street art decorating their walls.
What we love: Apricotology and the Butter Finger Doughnut (chocolate cake doughnut)
http://www.psycho-donuts.com/
Doctor, please, I need Chocolate intravenously pumped into my blood stream!
• Food & Beverages: The Desserts & Appetizers are the winners on the menu at Chocolate. The desserts are amazing and can be enjoyed with just a beverage later in the evening. Or you can indulge in a romantic dinner by sharing a fondue appetizer or small antipasti plate and then dessert to split.
• Good Date Spot: Romantic Dining Room & Heated Outdoor Patio. Both of these dining areas are dimly lit for a romantic dinner or after dinner desserts with your honey or close friends. FYI: the bathroom is located in the Bookshop Santa Cruz
• After dinner suggestions: Stroll around the Bookshop Santa Cruz afterward to let your food digest because you will be quite full, OR head to 515 for a creative hand-mixed cocktail.
• FINAL BITF: Chocolate is an after-dinner dessert stop for us. We (John & Les) love to share the Gelato Sundae and the large Mate Veza Pale Ale. Stick with the foundation dishes (cheese apps & antipasta plates) and desserts at Chocolate and you will be happy.