You remember, don’t you, when the first cake-mix bundt cakes were just coming out of every hostess’ kitchen? Unless you’re young and weren’t around in the mid 1970’s. At least I think that’s about when they hit the scene. These are the kinds that mixed in some liquor, or some pudding mixes, even Jell-O. They were – and are – easy to make. And they don’t really taste like cake-mix cakes when you’ve doctored them up with all the additions.

A rum version was one of my favorites. And a chocolate one. And a lemon one. But then, these cakes kind of disappeared from the cooking scene. Or at least something else became the rage instead. But I never really stopped making them. I just don’t make them very often.

In this case I was donating a cake to our church, for the Fall Festival. Mostly it’s for the kids, and they needed some cakes that would appeal to them. Some people made cupcakes, I’m sure. Those are certainly all the rage these days. So I turned to the cookbook The Cake Mix Doctor by Anne Byrn. I can’t say that I’ve made all that many cakes from the cookbook, but when I need one, I need one, and this is the book I turn to. No alcohol for this, since children would be eating it. So I chose one called an Apricot Nectar Cake. I had most of the ingredients on my pantry shelf and it whipped up easily enough.

Wanting to taste a little bit of this cake was a problem, though, since I didn’t want to remove a slice just to taste and photograph it. So, instead I poured just a little bit into a cupcake mold (see photo at right) and baked it a shorter time, of course, but treated it the same. After removing the cake (and cupcake) they were cooled slightly, then inverted, holes were poked all over the cake and an apricot nectar, powdered sugar, and lemon juice combination was oozed all over the cake, and hopefully down into the holes.

Oh indeed, this cake is really good. The apricot taste definitely comes through. You can see in the photo of the cupcake above that the apricot nectar did seep into the cake. Not a lot of it reached the bottom, actually. I think I needed to poke the holes a bit deeper. I used one of those baked-potato-nails for this. Using anything thinner just meant the glaze drizzled down the cake sides and pooled on the plate. More definitive action was needed!

What I liked: the taste; the texture; the apricot glaze was really nice.

What I didn’t like: The top part (you can see in the photo) was almost “wet.” So I definitely needed to poke down deeper, but not all the way to the bottom, or the glaze would just ooze out the bottom. But I would make this again, even with that minor issue.

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Yesterday I posted the recipe for the gingerbread cake I used in this dessert. I’d made it a couple of days ahead of time since the recipe indicated it would keep for several days sitting at room temp. I like those kinds of recipes! My friend Cherrie was having a luncheon and I offered to bring something. Since she doesn’t much like making desserts, that’s what she asked for. She gave me an idea about the menu, and even suggested something pumpkin would fit well. Sure thing, I said!

I could have made pumpkin pie, but we’ll have our fill of that in a few weeks, so I wanted to make something a bit more interesting than that. Then I came upon Paula Deen’s recipe for this trifle. It was relatively easy to make and sounded wonderful. But then, I’m a real sucker when it comes to anything pumpkin. Am sure I’ve mentioned here before than pumpkin pie is my very favorite pie anytime.

Soooo, here’s what I did. Paula’s recipe called for two boxes of gingerbread mix. I could have gone that route, but I hoped maybe I’d have some leftover gingerbread if I made my own. But that was the dilemma. My last foray into gingerbread left me disappointed. But I turned to Cook’s Illustrated, and used their recipe. It was/is a real winner.

Paula’s recipe calls for using boxed, cooked vanilla pudding. I’m not much of a fan of those boxes, at least not Jell-O brand, but I had some Bird’s Dessert Powder on my shelf. That’s it there on the right. It’s a British product, but you can find it here in the U.S. in some major grocery stores (in the international section). I always keep it on hand, as I think their powder (mix) makes a very good tasting custard pudding.

So I made up a mixture of the Bird’s (about 2 1/2 cups worth), and mixed in the spice (cardamom) and pumpkin pie filling. That was the pudding layer, although with the pumpkin mixed in, it didn’t really jell-up like a pudding – that was fine since you want it to be loose so it’ll soak into the gingerbread a bit. Then I used Cool-Whip. The recipe called for 12 ounces, but I think they may not make that size anymore, so I used a full 16 ounces in the trifle you see pictured at top.

Paula’s recipe called for added brown sugar, but I thought it was sweet enough without it, so I did alter her recipe some. You layer the gingerbread, pumpkin custard, and the Cool-Whip. Save some of the Cool-Whip for the top, then JUST before serving I sprinkled the top (and each serving if it came from down deep in the bowl) with some crushed-up ginger snaps. They added a really nice crunch to the dessert.

What I liked: how easy the dessert is to put together – as long as you have everything ready and at hand. Make the gingerbread ahead. Make the custard/pumpkin mixture ahead, then it’s a snap to layer everything. Delicious. Soft, comforting food. Love the crunch on the top from the gingersnaps.

What I didn’t like: About the only thing I’d change is I might try it with real whipped cream. In that case you’d need to make it and serve it within an hour or so. Whipped cream, the real stuff, doesn’t hold up for days on end.

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Oh, I’m in love with this new recipe. I knew I wasn’t very happy with my last batch of gingerbread. That was probably 3-4 years ago, and I’d not made it since because that last time the cake was just too firm and dry. I think I bought some from Whole Foods a couple of years ago because somebody told me theirs was really delicious. And yes, it was, but I knew I could figure out how to make it better. Indeed!

All I had to do was go to my trusty Cook’s Illustrated site. I have an online membership, so I can look up their recipes anytime. It’s an annual fee, though, so I try to use it frequently, to make it pay for itself! As usual, when the chefs at Cook’s Illustrated put their heads together, they figure out how to make the problems go away. Here’s what they had to say on the header notes about this recipe:

Ground ginger, grated fresh ginger, cinnamon, and ground pepper ensured our gingerbread recipe tasted like ginger. Dark stout, heated to minimize its booziness, added a bittersweet flavor to our gingerbread, and replacing butter with vegetable oil allowed the ginger flavor to shine. To keep our gingerbread recipe from sinking in the middle, we incorporated the baking soda with the wet ingredients and roughed up some of the batter to strengthen the flour, giving our gingerbread a more sturdy texture while maintaining its moistness.

Now, around our house, we don’t even keep beer on hand, let alone Guinness stout! So my DH went to the store for me and ended up buying one honkin’ bottle of stout, about half of which got thrown out. But, oh well. I don’t like the stuff, and neither does he. There isn’t anything all that unusual about the recipe other than the combining of ingredients in a certain order AND the gentle rapping of the batter on the counter (to burst air bubbles in the batter) before baking. All of the steps created a wonderful cake. The pilgrims would be proud!

Actually, I made this cake to use the gingerbread in a trifle – a pumpkin gingerbread trifle. That recipe will be up tomorrow. It was fantastic, I must say.

What I liked: the texture (soft and tender); the taste (spicy with a bit of heat); the height (higher than some); the staying power (kept for about 5 days sitting on the counter, sealed up in a plastic bag). And the fact that there was no sinking in the middle. None!

What I didn’t like: gosh, nothing. I’ll be making this recipe again. And again.

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What you see here is NOT the way a Pavlova is supposed to look. There’s not supposed to be but a hint of brown on the meringue – it should be a swirled cloud of white foam, baked to perfection in the oven and left to sit for hours or overnight, then just when you’re serving it, you add the bed of whipped sweetened cream and fresh fruit.

It was many long years ago that our friends Jean and Jack made a Pavlova for one of our annual book group meetings. I thought I’d died and gone to heaven it was so good. Feathery light, with the whipped cream swirled around the inner-indented center, and it was piled high with cut strawberries, kiwis and blueberries. So colorful. And SO good. I’ve made it several times since then. I should have gone to my file and found their recipe for it. I was just lazy.

In this instance, I was reading someone else’s blog (I won’t embarrass her by saying which one) and reading her recipe for a Pavlova just got me hankering to make one. It would be a great use of some of the peaches I have on hand. I glanced at this particular recipe, didn’t think much about it, followed it and after 20 minutes in the oven I knew there was a problem. The meringue was already brown. I turned the oven off at that point and left the shell to sit overnight. I emailed the other blogger and asked – oh, she apologized –  she’d made a mistake – as written, her recipe said heat oven at 400° instead of 200°. Big difference, and I should have known better. It’s just that it’s been years since I made a Pavlova and my mind went blank, I suppose.

When I removed the shell from the parchment paper it immediately cracked (it was over-baked, of course). But I pieced it back together and made do. You can see one of the cracks in the front center of this photo. I made the shell with Splenda instead of sugar, that way my DH could have a couple of nice wedges of it. He thoroughly enjoyed it. So, this recipe below is the adjusted one – corrected for temperature. The calorie count assumes you use sugar. If you use Splenda the calories go down by half. I can’t say that I could taste the difference using Splenda – the fruit and whipped cream are really the stars of the show; it’s just that it’s done in a different format.

What I liked: well, I like Pavlova anyway – just the sheer simplicity of it, even though you have to plan ahead one day. Love the whipped cream and fruit too. I think it’s the texture contrast that I like the best – the crispy meringue shell with the luscious whipped cream and then fresh fruit. It’s the same flavors and ingredients as my super-simple Meringue Mixed Berry Parfaits  (also called  Eton Mess) where I use Trader Joe’s ready-made meringue cookies, whipped cream and the berries (or other fruit) and vanilla ice cream. The Pavlova makes a very spectacular presentation – be sure to show guests how pretty it looks!

What I didn’t like: I guess the plan-ahead aspect – you do have to make the meringue many hours ahead, or the day before. The meringue shell is super-fragile too, but that can’t be helped.

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Really, I thought I’d posted this recipe before. I searched all over my own website because I was certain I had. Nope. So, I’m rectifying that right now. I’ve made these several times (usually around Christmastime), maybe not in the last couple of years, though. They’re worth making. Not all that hard, either, although you might think so by looking at them.

First you make a rich pastry crust that is a cinch to press into the bottom of a 9×9 pan. Not the least bit difficult or time consuming. That shortbread layer is baked for 10 minutes and cooled. Then you spread a thin layer of apricot jam (I used blackberry preserves, actually, though really you want some kind of seedless variety or a stone fruit jam). Then you mix up a flourless chocolate mixture with a whole lot of walnuts in it, and spread that on top of the preserves. That gets baked for a short while and is allowed to cool. The chocolate icing is also cinchy-easy to make – some chocolate chips are melted, then you add a jot of corn syrup (for smoothing it out), a tiny jot of rum (or espresso), a tiny sprinkle of hot water and that’s done. Spread it on top of the cooled bars. Then press in 1/2 cup of chopped walnuts and kind of press them into the icing (otherwise they tend to fall off). That’s it. They don’t need refrigeration. If you have them more than a day or two I’d recommend you put them in an airtight container and freeze them. They keep in the freezer for a couple of months.

The recipe came from Maida Heatter’s book, The Book of Great Cookies. It’s out of print, unfortunately, but after looking online, I see that she’s got a new cookie book out – just out, actually, in March, 2011. (Do read the Amazon reviews – it appears there are some editing errors – recipes printed in wrong categories according to two commenters.) All the recipes come from her previous cookbooks. One reader suggested trying to find Heatter’s older books in used book stores instead – I’d recommend that too.  Maida Heatter is just the queen of cookies and desserts, more often chocolate. She’s authored several cookbooks. I’ve never had a failure with Maida Heatter’s recipes. Ever. That says something, although cookies are a little hard to bungle. I only own one of her cookbooks, a chocolate dessert one from 1983. And this recipe isn’t in it – I found it online at a couple of sources.

What I liked: the ease of making them; how pretty they look; and how deliciously chocolatey they are.

What I didn’t like: nothing at all. Just be a bit careful removing them from the pan – the pastry is very tender and will crumble easily – use a big spatula to get them out.

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Every once in awhile we grill pineapple to serve with a dinner outdoors. To go with a pork roast, for instance, or pork chops, or grilled chicken. Or grilled fish. This time as I was flipping through recipes in my to-try pile (actually it’s in a 3-ring binder, 1 of 2 that I have, and recipes are slipped inside clear sleeves, maybe 3-4 to each side) this one sounded like it might be fun for a brunch. Indeed it was.

If you’re not familiar with Nutella, you should be. In writing this I went to Nutella’s website and found out a whole bunch of info about it. It was first developed in Piemonte (the NW region of Italy). It’s pronounced new-tell-uh. What’s available here in the U.S. of A. is manufactured in Canada. It’s gluten-free. And kosher. And peanut free. They’re meticulous about that. And they use non-hydrogenated palm oil to emulsify it. Each 13-ounce jar contains about 50+ hazelnuts, sugar, skim milk and a tiny bit of cocoa. It all got started in the 1940’s because Mr. Ferrero, a pastry maker, couldn’t afford to pay the high (war time) taxes on chocolate – and because hazelnuts grow in abundance in Piemonte, it was a natural for him to devise a new spread. In the 1960’s Ferrero’s son started marketing it to consumers. It’s quite similar to the guianduja (an Italian product that’s 50/50 hazelnuts and chocolate) which you often see as a gelato flavor (it’s my favorite gelato).  Its most popular use is spread on toast (sorry, I don’t care much for Nutella that way – it’s too sweet – but most consumers disagree with me there). One of Nutella’s benefits is that it should not be refrigerated, although you do want to use it up within soon time frame – there is a use-by date on each jar. If you want some other options for using up the Nutella, there’s a website devoted just to World Nutella Day (February 5th).

Originally this recipe came from Giada de Laurentiis way back in 2004. Then, I took liberties with the recipe, but it’s still generally Giada’s design. I think this would make a great dessert with a little scoop of vanilla ice cream in the middle. And if you want to make it Giada’s way (with mascarpone instead of the crème fraîche, and adding vanilla and some whipping cream) then click over to her version. Mine is just a bit simpler.

If you want to serve this as a dessert, you’ll likely use all of the Nutella mixture; but as a brunch side dish I didn’t overwhelm any of the pineapple slices with too much Nutella. So I ended up with leftover Nutella. Not a bad thing, but I don’t eat Nutella in other things. However, I will say when I was craving just a tiny sweet something after dinner the other night I stuck my spoon into the leftover Nutella mixture. Mmmmm, good.

What I liked: this was SO easy to make as long as you have a little tub of crème fraîche on hand and the Nutella, of course. It’s very pretty too.

What I didn’t like: not a thing, really, Just don’t use too much of the (sweet) Nutella mixture; you want to be able to taste the pineapple!

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If you’re my age (I hit a milestone birthday recently and am now officially feeling “old”), then you’ll remember back in the 50’s ice box cakes were all the rage. They were made with the new (then) box cake mixes and new (then) boxed pudding mixes or Jell-O and Cool-Whip. At the time, everyone, just about, was making them. Originally they were somewhat plain, but as months went by some innovative cooks came up with different combinations, but still using all of those boxed products. I have an old community cookbook from the early 60’s, and it’s got a couple dozen variations on the box-mix-box-pudding or Jell-O ice box cake. The one I remember most was one with pineapple in the topping. My mother must have made it because I was mostly too young to do much cooking.

Back then these cakes were known for being easy. And moist. And transportable – you can take them along to a barbecue, the church social, or a picnic. This recipe you’re seeing today, though, is NOT a typical 1950-era ice box cake. I read about it at The Weekly Dish back in 2008, and she credits the recipe to April Fulton, on a 2007 episode of NPR’s Kitchen Window. If you go read the Kitchen Window blog piece you’ll be pulled into her story about inheriting her grandmother’s 3×5 recipe box and the nostalgia that goes along with that. I could identify. Totally.

What’s different about this ice box cake? Several things: (1) the white cake is a homemade one; (2) instead of pudding or Jell-O, she uses freshly made lemon curd, although this version is a looser lemon curd than usual – so it will seep down into the holes you poke all over the cake; and (3) the frosting, instead of Cool-Whip, is a mixture of mascarpone cheese and whipped cream. And if that wasn’t enough, I’ll certainly tell you that it takes a whole lot more time to make than the box mix versions! I was lucky, though, our daughter Sara and our granddaughter Sabrina (and grandson John) all contributed their labors to make this cake. I was swamped with things to do for our birthday brunch, and they were happy to make it.

The cake is sturdy. Maybe sturdier than I’d hoped – I thought it was going to be more like a sponge cake (in fact, if or when I ever make this again, I think I’ll search out a similar batter-size sponge cake recipe). It’s just a plain white cake. Maybe it’s white wedding cake type, to stand up to a goopy filling (the lemon curd) and a frosting. There’s nothing wrong with the cake, it’s just more dense than I’d hoped. The lemon curd, using some of the very last of my 2011 Meyer lemon crop, was easy enough, although Sara and I both thought the curd didn’t thicken as much as we expected. It wasn’t creamy colored, either, but clear. Although it did meet the test of coating the back of a spoon, so we finally decided it must be “done.” Lemon curd always thickens some once its chilled, but it never did get creamy colored. We thought that was odd.

The frosting is easy enough to make (mascarpone and whipping cream with more lemon juice) and it’s spread over the top. It doesn’t have much quantity to it, but it does give it a little tart topping to just add to the sweet lemon curd part. The original recipe suggested you wouldn’t use all of the lemon curd, but we did. In fact the holes we made (probably about 20) weren’t filled up – that’s what I expected. A few were, but most were not. Some of the lemon curd oozed down the sides – which was okay since that gave each cut slice with an outside edge a bit of the extra tart lemon curd.

What I liked: oh, the lemony, tart flavor – from the lemon curd. And the frosting for sure.

What I didn’t like: well, the cake part wasn’t memorable. Maybe I should have uses a boxed white cake after all. Not exactly what April Fulton had in mind, trying to update an old boxed-mixture that contained all kinds of food additives, but am sure the cake would be lighter, fluffier. I just found the cake to be too dense.

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It’s been years ago that Phillis Carey mentioned this cake in one of her classes. She didn’t make it, she just talked about it. About how it was a family favorite, and that she always makes it for her own birthday every year. She also makes it for her Super Bowl party every year, too. So when she uploaded it to her website, and sent out an email about it, I quickly copied it out and have been meaning to make it ever since.

The recipe isn’t a Phillis original – I found it at multiple places on the internet. Somebody thought it had been printed in some Safeway newsletter a couple of decades ago. Who knows. Doesn’t matter, though. If you’re a Coca-Cola fan, and you love sugar, you’ll swoon over this cake. It’s very sweet. And full of the carmelly flavor that makes Coca-Cola so unique.

Here at left you can see the progression. First you make a cocoa-enhanced cake. Nothing unusual looking, although it’s got a cup of Coca-Cola in the batter. It’s a bit different than some in its composition.

While the cake was baking I pulled together the frosting ingredients. I didn’t mix it up, though, until just before I was ready to take the cake out of the oven. While it’s piping hot,  you pour the frosting mixture over the top (it has mini-marshmallows and nuts in it) and you carefully spread it out to the edges and let it cool. Cut it up into bars and serve. If you eat very small servings (like large brownie-sized) you probably won’t need anything with it. Larger sizes – then make sure you have either some ice cream or a tall glass of cold milk nearby.

What I liked: the frosting/topping with the nuts and marshmallows in it, sweet as it is. This makes a cake rather than the really sweet rocky road candy we’re mostly familiar with. The cake is tender and tasty, and not overwhelming in chocolate flavor. Great for a crowd or a picnic. Take plenty of napkins for a picnic! Our daughter Sara and her two children came to visit and they could hardly keep out of the cake pan, so what does that tell you?

What I didn’t like: well, it’s sweet, that’s for sure. Most people will love it – in small servings. The calorie content is sky high, so beware of that when you cut portions!

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It’s kind of a misnomer to say this is strawberry and buttermilk ice cream, when the quart batch has but 1/4 cup of buttermilk in it. To be strictly fair, it probably should be called “Strawberries and Cream” ice cream. But that’s redundant. So, what the heck, it’ll just have to stay as strawberry and buttermilk, I suppose. However, this recipe isn’t mine, so I can’t rename it anyway.

Everywhere we travel I enjoy reading the food section of the local newspaper. And this recipe was in the Denver Post when we were in Colorado recently. I read the article with interest, because the interview was about cookbook author, Jeni Britton Bauer, who, literally, has spent years trying to figure out a method for home cooks to get an ice cream that is truly creamy and isn’t hard as a rock to scoop once you’ve frozen it. If there’s anything that confounds me it’s that problem with making home made ice cream. And each type of ice cream requires a different amount of time sitting out on a counter to make it soft enough to scoop. I never seem to plan far enough in advance to make that solution work for me. Or I leave it too long and it become soup.

If you go to the article about Bauer’s methods you’ll learn a whole lot about the chemistry of making and freezing ice cream. Which is why Jeni Bauer started her own ice cream company. But nicely, she’s decided to share with all of us her secrets of making smooth, scoop-able ice cream at home. She’s written a cookbook about it, called Jeni’s Splendid Ice Creams at Home. And there are some real secrets involved. I’m sure there’s a long, long chapter at the beginning of her book all about her unusual methods.

What exactly? Well, she insists that in order to avoid making ice crystallized ice cream (the kind that makes you think you’ve made ice rather than something creamy) you have to:

(1) make a custard which is more tedious than just combining milk, cream, sugar and flavorings, although this one does not include eggs;

(2) include a small amount of cream cheese in the mixture [that’s a real innovation – I don’t think I’ve ever read another ice cream recipe with cream cheese in the ingredient list];

(3) add a small amount of corn syrup [which I did know helps to keep the frozen ice cream more pliable];

(4) add buttermilk, even if it’s just a small amount; and

(5) quick-chill the base mixture in a water and ice bath, to get the temp down below what a standard refrigerator would do. And you need to freeze it immediately according to your ice cream machine’s usual directions.

So, I made some. And, indeed, it meets ALL of my high expectations. There were two recipes in the newspaper article, but the strawberry was the one I wanted to make. And since strawberries are on the wane here anyway, I did it quickly. In this particular batch she has you roast the strawberries briefly (not enough to brown, just enough to soften them), puree the mixture, and use a mere 1/2 cup (you will have leftover strawberry puree – enough to make another batch). I was skeptical there would be enough strawberry flavor with just 1/2 cup. But I was proven wrong on that one. There’s a perfect amount of flavor. It tastes just like most good-quality store-bought strawberry ice cream.

What I will tell you is that the process is a bit more work than some of the ice creams I’ve made before. So set aside the necessary time to really take care of all the steps. You could do it in stages, but one of her more unusual secrets is the quick-chill of the custard base, and I don’t think that can be done in stages – you need to mix the base, chill it fast, then freeze it in your machine, pronto.

When the 30 minute were up (it took less time to freeze the ice cream because it was colder to start with) the ice cream was SO darned good – kind of like soft serve ice cream [the way most of the ice creams are when they’ve just finished churning]. But you need to freeze it for about 4 hours before it’s completely frozen through. Jeni recommends covering the top of the ice cream with a piece of parchment paper. I usually use plastic wrap instead. The ice cream isn’t soft at that point, but it IS scoop-able. Hooray.

I’ve put her cookbook on my Wish List at Amazon, so am hoping one of my kids will see it and give it to me for my milestone birthday next month. Hint, hint.

What I liked: the flavor is wonderful. The texture is ultra-creamy. Seems more creamy than usual ice creams, to me, although the ice cream base is approximately half cream and half whole milk. And it’s definitely scoop-able right out of the freezer container when you’re all done.

What I didn’t like: well, it is a bit more work than usual. But I think you’ll find – like I did – that it’s worth the effort. Next time I’ll probably make a 1 1/2 recipe batch because I think that much will fit in my ice cream machine. Since I have some of the strawberry puree left, I definitely should use it up in another batch.

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When we were in Denver, I was telling my friend Sue about the great new recipe I’d found for Peach Crisp. You read my blog post about it last month – it was an America’s Test Kitchen recipe. And I was explaining how I just have to have a crispy crust on my peach desserts – nothing else will do. Since you may have forgotten – just like I had – what the differences are between crisps and cobblers, crumbles and grunts, here’s a little primer, taken from my little bitty cookbook called Cobblers, Crumbles & Crisps and Other Old-Fashioned Fruit Desserts:

Cobblers: similar to a deep-dish pie and topped with a sweet pastry of biscuit-type crust.

Pandowdy: similar to a deep-dish pie, but was usually served for breakfast and made of apples. The “dowdying” part comes from the custom of pushing the crust down through the fruit part way through and baking some more

Slumps & Grunts: A stove-top cobbler starting with stewed fruit and feather-light dumplings that absorb some of the fruit’s juices.

Crumbles & Crisps: usually interchangeable, composed of lightly sweetened fruit topped with an easy crumbly shortbread pastry. In Great Britain crisps are called crumbles and the toppings usually contain rolled oats.

Bettys: a cousin to Crisps and Crumbles. Usually, today, the fruit is layered with bread crumbs.

Buckles: similar to a breakfast cake, usually made with berries, and folded or strewn over the batter before baking.

So there’s your cooking vernacular lesson for today. A couple of years ago I also posted a biscuit-topped peach cobbler that was really good too. And last summer I made Pioneer Woman’s version of peach crisp with maple whipped cream. As I recall it was really soupy with juice.  Loved the topping, but wasn’t all that crazy about the peaches part.

Anyway, Sue told me about her family’s favorite peach cobbler and about the crispy crust it has. Yes, indeed. One of her mother’s best friends, Dottie, gave her the recipe, and it’s what Sue and her family think of as the only peach crisp there is out there! Sue made it our last night there. It was a warm night, just the kind when you want to have a soothing fruit dessert with some icy-cold ice cream to go along with it. I enjoyed it a lot! And absolutely it did have a very crispy top. Another recipe for my peach archive! Thanks again, Sue.

What I liked: the crispiest crust I may have ever had on a peach dessert of this type. It’s almost cookie-like, thin and crispy. You can vary the amount of butter added into it (between 4-8 T.) and do note that you can scant the sugar in the topping by a little bit too. We left the next day, so didn’t have a chance to taste it then to see how the crust fared after being refrigerated. Maybe Sue will comment below and tell us.

What I didn’t like: nothing at all. It’s a keeper!

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A year ago: Marinated Tomatoes
Four years ago: Brunch Gratinee Eggs

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