Culinary Adventures with Camilla

Though bread pudding's roots reach back to Europe as a way to use stale bread, it is its place as a beloved dessert in New Orleans that had me pick it for the dessert at my July demo & tasting at The Quail & Olive this week...and I used fresh bread! Instead of the traditional bourbon sauce, I used the caramel and dark chocolate drizzles by Monin that Anni has in the pantry section of her store. Ingredients makes 12 individual puddings 6 cups bread (I used a soft white), torn into 1-inch pieces 1/3 cup organic dark brown sugar 1/3 cup maple syrup (from Runamok Maple ) 1 cup buttermilk 1 cup heavy cream 4 eggs 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract (from The Casa Market ) 3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon (from Diaspora Co. ) 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger (from  Diaspora Co. ) 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg, freshly grated (from  Diaspora Co. ) 1/4 teaspoon ground allspice 1/4 teaspoons ground cardamom Also needed: muffin baking dish, parchment paper or muffin cups; sauces for drizzling Proced...

Today is R's class holiday celebration. They'll be making evergreen wreaths, creating holiday cards, and sharing some of their favorite cookies. R started off wanting to make my Mint Chocolate Madeleines . He donned his Santa hat and went to work.  But we were out of peppermint extract. So he decided to make Almond Joy Madeleines, using almond extract and shredded coconut. And he wanted to make them gluten-free since one of his best friends can't eat gluten. I still haven't mastered the art of converting gluten recipes to gluten-free; it's not a one to one - or cup for cup - no matter what they say. So, our texture is a little off, but he's happy that his friend can eat it. Ingredients makes 4 dozen madeleines 1-1/2 C organic butter plus some for greasing pan 2 C organic granulated sugar 4 large eggs, at room temperature 4 T dark or semi-sweet chocolate, chips or chunks 1 t organic chocolate extract 1 t pure vanilla extract 1 t organic...

The Enthusiastic Kitchen Elf loves to bake...adores spices and loves mustard. So, this spicy carrot cake was the perfect Easter dessert for him to make. We started with this recipe and made some tweaks. This made one 9" layer and one 11" layer - I don't have matching sized pans. Ingredients For the Cake 3-1/2 C grated organic carrots (some from our High Ground Organics CSA box) 1-1/2 C ground almonds 1-1/3 C white whole wheat flour 2 C organic coconut sugar 1-1/2 C softened butter 8 eggs 2 T prepared yellow mustard 2 T spicy mustard 3-1/2 T baking powder 3 T hazelnuts, raw (I would have chopped them, but D just dumped them in there whole) 2 T pistachios, raw 2 T chopped dark chocolate 1 T pure vanilla extract 1 T ground cinnamon  1/2 t ground nutmeg 1/2 t ground ginger dash of ground coriander seeds from 3 cardamom pods, crushed For the Cream Cheese Frosting 16 ounces of cream cheese 16 T softened butter 2 C organic ...

Ingredients  For the Crust 1-1/2 C flour (I used more of the complimentary  Bob's Red Mill Whole Wheat Pastry Flour I had received from the sponsors of this year's #BrunchWeek) 1/2 C Bob's Red Mill Hazelnut Meal Flour* 1/2 C softened butter 1/2 C organic, coconut sugar 1/4 C olive oil 1 T cold water 2 pinches of fleur de sel *another complimentary product I received with which I am now completely enamored For the Filling 4 organic Meyer lemons 1/2 C organic powdered sugar 2 T honey (I used a local pine honey) 8 T butter 8 large egg yolks dark chocolate Procedure For the Filling Juice the lemons. Combine the juice, powdered sugar, honey and butter. Bring to a boil. Meanwhile beat the yolks. Add 1/3 of the boiling liquid to the beaten yolks then add the mixture back into the boiling liquid. Continue beating over medium heat until it thickens. Be careful not to let the curd boil or it will scramble. Pour the curd into a bowl and press plas...

Deb from Kahakai Kitchen  is hosting this month's  Food'N'Flix . And we are watching, or rewatching as the case may be, Stranger than Fiction .  Click to see Deb's  invitation . from imdb.com This was a surprisingly charming film with a rockstar cast. I was more than a little surprised to see Will Ferrell depart from his usual goofball character and display some dramatic acting chops. Maggie Gyllenhaal was fantastic. And Dustin Hoffman, Emma Thompson, and Queen Latifah all sparkled in their roles - not like disco ball sparkly, but crystal vase sparkly. Elegant and subdued. Impressive. My husband Jake claimed that I have seen the movie before. It didn't seem familiar. However, I am guilty of renting movies, popping them in, and getting distracted with a multitude of projects while he sits and watches it. So, this time, I shut down my laptop, placed my beads out of reach, and didn't stick anything in the oven that needed babysitting. I'm not going...

Years ago, I came across  Rook No. 17's Dark Chocolate Truffles . I've made truffles many, many times since. And I am incredibly fortunate to know the über talented Jenn in real life. So, when I saw that she was hosting a truffle-making class this week - in preparation for Valentines' Day - I snagged up two of the spots and invited my other favorite Jenn. Woohoo! Girls night. I knew ours guys wouldn't complain. They would, after all,  get a box of handmade, hand-dipped chocolate magic out of the evening. The Basics... chocolate + cream + butter + [optional add-ins] Jenn pre-made three different ganaches for us: champagne, raspberry, and honey. We chatted, dipped, swirled, dusted, sprinkled, and painted to create some fabulous truffles. The champagne ganache was dipped and affixed with edible gold leaf ... The raspberry ganache was sprinkled with a gorgeous homemade raspberry dust ... And the honey ganache was dipped and dusted ...

When we started talking about what birthday treats Dylan wanted to bring to school for his class celebration, he didn't miss a beat: Crème brûlée!  No. Sorry, darling. I am not making 25 individual crème brûlée. Can you just make one big one, Mommy? Picturing 25 germ-laden spoons digging into a single pan sent shudders up my spine. No! His second choice: biscotti and hot chocolate. That I was willing to do. Here we go... Dylan's Birthday Biscotti Funny story, I had way too much going on last night while I was trying to make the biscotti. We were wrapping presents; Dylan was making cookies for his Secret Santa recipient . I completely missed an ingredient, or two, on the original batch of biscotti I tried to make. Kitchen fail. You can salvage savory flops...usually. Sweet flops just need to go in the trash! I went back to my mixing bowl, adapting a tried and true recipe. 2 C white whole wheat flour 2 T ground cashews 1 t baking powder 2/3 C ex...

We always raid the cherry trees  after Gabe's birthday party. This year was no different! As soon as we got home, Dylan pulled out his cherry pitter and pitted 4 C of cherries for dessert. Then we just needed to decide what to make. Cherry pie was an obvious choice as was Clafoutis . Then I remembered a Croatian Cherry Cake with Maraschino Liqueur . I also considered some Cherry Hand Pies . In the end, I decided to make a Chocolate-Cherry Crisp. I still have more cherries, so I guess I'll get to make something else this week. 4 C fresh, pitted cherries 2 T flour 1/2 C dark chocolate chips Crisp 6 T butter 1 C flour 1/3 C organic, granulated sugar 1/4 C ground almonds 1/2 t ground cardamom Mix the cherries and flour together until the cherries are well-covered. Pour them into a pie dish. Sprinkle the chocolate chips over the cherries. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Mix all of the crisp ingredients together with a pastry cutter u...

I used my Dark Chocolate Truffle ganache and made three variations... Rolled in unsweetened cocoa powder Dipped in dark chocolate and dusted with granulated honey Dipped in dark chocolate and sprinkled with bee pollen

Dark chocolate truffles are my go-to for decadent deliciousness. Inspired by Rook No. 17's version , I whipped up these lovelies - bee pollen-infused truffles, dipped in dark chocolate, and dusted with granulated honey - of my own for our honey-themed picnic lunch. 12 oz high-quality semisweet or bittersweet chocolate, chopped into small pieces 1/2 C heavy whipping cream 1 T bee pollen 1 T honey semisweet chocolate for dipping granulated honey for garnishing In a small, heavy saucepan bring the whipping cream and honey to a simmer. Place the chocolate in a separate bowl with bee pollen. Pour the cream over the chocolate. Let stand for 3 minutes. Whisk till smooth. Allow to cool, then place in the refrigerator for at least two hours. Roll teaspoon-sized balls in your hands as quickly as you can. Place truffles in the fridge for at least 20 minutes. In the meantime, melt chocolate over a double-boiler. Remove truffles from the fridge; using a skewer or for...

I found inspiration in the combination of a lavender ganache and an earl grey cake for Jenn's birthday celebration. But I didn't have several of the ingredients and I didn't want to dillute the flavors with a cream cheese frosting that was, well, the same color as a purple dinosaur who shall remain nameless. Needless to say, I didn't follow the recipe at all. But I had never thought to put those flavors together, so, credit where credit is due; check out my jumping off point. 2 T organic lavender flowers 1 C organic heavy whipping cream 2 C chipped or chopped dark chocolate Place the whipping cream and lavender in a small saucepan. Over medium-low heat, warm the mixture until it begins to steam. Remove from heat. Let stand for 10 minutes to infuse the cream with lavender flavor. Strain the flowers out.  Rewarm the cream until small bubbles begin to form along the edges of the pan. Remove from heat and add the chocolate. Move the chocolate so that it is completel...

This is a dark hot chocolate made in Andorra and the Catalan-region of Spain. Made with melted dark chocolate, milk, flour and cinnamon. It's a delicious, thick treat that requires the presence of xurros ! 2 C shards of dark chocolate 2 C milk 1 T white whole wheat flour (the original recipe called for corn flour) 1 T organic granulated sugar 1 t ground cinnamon (I added this) Heat the milk till it just begins to steam. Add all the other ingredients. Whisk continuously until the chocolate is melted and the drink begins to thicken. Serve in small cups as this is a very rich drink. I used espresso cups.