It's dessert poll time again...

[Crissy]

It's the type of restaurant where the server would be delighted to prepare it according to your wishes. No ice cream it is!

 

In that case, I'll take the warm pear cake! :)

You can mentally change my vote in the poll.

[Red]

I would love the Peanut Butter Chocolate Torte. Is the recipe for that available? However the Cheesecake and Pear cake sounded yummy too.

[bugs]

I wish I lived in (your town) California at this moment.:D

[Julie in CA]

I would love the Peanut Butter Chocolate Torte. Is the recipe for that available?

I'd be glad to tell you how to make that, but I have a problem with the recipe name. Technically, it's not a pie, it's not really a cheesecake, it's not really a torte, but whatever it is, it's really *really* good! Here goes...

 

Prepare a 10" springform pan by lining the bottom with parchment and spraying with cooking spray.

 

 

Melt, stir together till smooth, then set aside:

1/2 cup cream

8 oz. chocolate chips

 

Crush 10 oz. Oreo cookies.

 

Coarsely chop 6 oz. of peanut butter cups. It sometimes helps to put them in the fridge for a little while before chopping.

 

In a med. bowl, mix till crumbly and then press into bottom of prepared pan:

crushed Oreos

1/4 cup butter

 

Spoon in your melted chocolate mixture, and smooth over crust with the back of the spoon. Sprinkle with the chopped peanut butter cups. Chill the crust while you make the filling.

 

In a mixer bowl, beat these ingredients until smooth and without lumps:

12 oz. cream cheese

12 oz. peanut butter (for this recipe I don't use natural style pb)

1 1/2 cups sugar

1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla

 

Whip 1 1/2 cups of cream until it forms peaks, and then fold the whipped cream into the peanut butter mixture, being careful not to deflate your whipped cream and mixing it only enough to incorporate the ingredients uniformly.

 

Layer the filling into your crust, giving the pan a whack on the counter to be sure there are no air pockets in your filling. Smooth out the top, and chill for at least 4 hours.

 

After dessert has chilled, prepare the ganache for the top. Melt together (in the microwave) 1/4 cup cream and 3/8 cup chocolate chips, and stir until smooth. Drizzle the chocolate over the top in a random pattern, keeping away from the pan sides by about 1/8". Run a knife under hot water, then run it around the inside of the pan to free the sides. Remove the dessert from the pan. Peel the parchment from the bottom of the crust and slide the dessert onto a serving platter. The best way to make tidy slices is to use the hot knife, rinsing and wiping between each cut. For the restaurant, I usually cut this into 14 slices, but you could easily feed 18 people, imo.

 

ETA: If you'd like to make this dessert ahead, it freezes really well. If you cut it before you freeze it, and separate the slices a bit, you will be able to pull out just the amount of slices you need to thaw. It will also hold for quite a while in your fridge without any loss of quality.

Edited March 31, 2010 by Julie in CA

[ereks mom]

Oh, how I love creme brulee!!!!

 

...I love chocolate, and would've chosen the flourless chocolate cake any other day. However, if your home is like ours on Easter, there will be SO MUCH chocolate around that a break from the chocolate might be nice...

 

:iagree:

[ereks mom]

:001_smile:

[DarlaS]

 

I chose the pear cake because I liked the idea of ice cream, walnuts & caramel. I like textures.

 

Me too! Throw candied nuts on something, add vanilla ice cream (especially w/caramel :w00t:) and it doesn't even matter much what else is in it.

[Julie in CA]

...but as with most of my restaurant recipes, it's super-duper-unhealthy. If that doesn't phase you, read on!

 

Creme Brulee

 

In a pan, warm 4 cups of heavy cream with 1 tablespoon vanilla extract and a tiny pinch of salt. You don't want this to boil, you just want steam to be rising from the top. Turn off the heat and let the cream sit while you complete the next part.

 

Preheat your oven to 300*F.

 

Separate 8 eggs (you'll only be using the yolks for this recipe).

Into the yolks, whisk 3/4 cup sugar.

 

Take 2 ladles of the hot cream, and drizzle the cream into your egg yolks, whisking continuously so you don't cook your eggs. Then, pour the egg yolk/cream mixture back into your larger pot of cream. This is easier and less complicated than it sounds. Give it all a stir and set it aside.

 

Place ramekins in a large roasting pan, and fill the pan with hot tap water until the water level is halfway up the side on the outside of your ramekins. I use 6 oz. ramekins, I think, and I think you'd need appx. 7 of them (?). {The reason I can't say for sure is that I'm scaling this recipe "on the fly". I usually make much bigger batches}.

 

Put a strainer over the first ramekin, and ladle the cream mixture into the ramekin until it's about 3/4 full. Do this with each ramekin, and you can use any leftover cream in the pan to level them all off so they each have pretty much the same amount.

 

Lift your roasting pan carefully and set it into the preheated oven. Be careful not to slosh water into your ramekins.

 

Bake for 50-60 minutes. The creme brulee will still be very jiggly when you remove it from the oven. Again, be careful not to splash the water into your dessert. Let the whole thing cool for an hour or so, then remove the ramekins from the water and chill in the fridge for at least a couple of hours.

 

When you'd like to serve the creme brulee, sprinkle & spread about a tablespoon of brown sugar over each one, and place under a preheated broiler until the sugar melts and caramelizes. It should be a little bubbly when you take it out. Serve within a couple of hours so your caramelized sugar doesn't soften up. Yes, some people use white sugar, but I like the brown because it's higher moisture content makes it easier to get right, and it adds a bit more complexity of flavor. Also, if you have a torch, feel free to use it, of course, but for most home cooks, the broiler is the easiest, most consistent method for finishing the top.

 

Amazingly enough, creme brulee also freezes really well. Freeze the baked creme brulee (in their ramekins), and thaw in the refrigerator before completing the caramelizing process.

Edited March 31, 2010 by Julie in CA

[Julie in CA]

:001_smile:

I try not to post dessert polls too often, because I don't want people to get sick of it and quit voting when I post them. The results are extremely helpful to me professionally. Now I will know to plan ahead for ingredients and time to make the Warm Pear Cake, for instance.

[Julie in CA]

I'm going to link a recipe that's very close to what I use. The only difference is that I use a potato peeler and peel off 6 large strips of lemon zest, then I add that to the egg mixture as it cooks. After cooking, I make sure and retrieve the lemon zest before continuing with the recipe.

 

http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Lemon-Cream-Puffs/Detail.aspx

 

For the triple berry sauce, I use a regular bag of frozen berry blend, put it into a saucepan along with 1/2 jar of seedless raspberry jam, and cook it just until the berries are thawed. This makes a fairly runny (and chunky) sauce that I puddle on the plate before I set the cream puff on. Then I use a strainer to sprinkle confectioner's sugar over the cream puff. You can also garnish with a twist of a thin lemon slice.