Authors: Rick Rodgers

Tags: #Cooking, #Seasonal

Winter Gatherings (16 page)

Maple Crèmes Brûlées

Makes 6 servings

Spoonful for spoonful, there are few culinary experiences more sensual than the silken feel of crème brûlée. Maple syrup, which can only be collected during fluctuations in cold winter weather, is a flavor that is associated with the cooler months. It adds its distinctive taste to these luxurious custards. Use Grade B syrup, which is more deeply flavored than Grade A. And while you can broil the custards to give them their caramelized sugar tops, an inexpensive kitchen torch (or even a propane torch from the hardware shop) is so efficient that you will want to make these often.

2½ cups heavy cream

6 large egg yolks

2/3 cup pure maple syrup, preferably Grade B

3 tablespoons bourbon or dark rum

6 teaspoons turbinado sugar

1.
Position a rack in the center of the oven and preheat to 325°F.
2.
Bring the cream to a simmer in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Whisk the egg yolks and syrup together in a large heatproof bowl. Gradually whisk in the hot cream and then the bourbon. Pour equal amounts into six ¾-cup ramekins. Place the ramekins in a roasting pan.
3.
Place the roasting pan in the oven and pour in enough hot water to come a ½ inch up the sides of the ramekins. Bake until the custards are barely set (if you remove a ramekin from the oven and give it a gentle shake, the center will jiggle), about 40 minutes. Remove the ramekins from the water and let cool.
4.
Wrap each custard in plastic wrap and refrigerate until chilled, at least 2 hours. (The custards can be made up to 1 day ahead.)
5.
Sprinkle each custard with 1 teaspoon turbinado sugar. Holding the flame about 1 inch above the sugar, wave a kitchen torch back and forth over the sugar to melt it. Serve immediately to savor the contrasting hot and cold temperatures of the topping and the custard.

Maple Syrup

True maple syrup (as opposed to the artificially flavored glop that has done its best to replace the real thing) is an authentic winter ingredient. The sap from a maple tree can only be collected when the nighttime temperatures dip below freezing, and the daytime temperatures climb above that point. So, there will be snow on the ground when that happens—usually February through April. The temperature fluctuations disturb the moisture content in the tree, and make the sap flow. The collected sap is boiled and cooked down into syrup. To give you an idea of how time-consuming this hands-on process is, it takes about 40 quarts of sap to be boiled down to about 1 quart of syrup. When I learned this, I stopped complaining about maple syrup’s high prices.

American syrup is divided into two categories: Grade A and Grade B. Within Grade A, which has a gentler maple flavor, are three colors: Light, Medium, and Dark Amber. Grade B has a more pronounced maple flavor and is darker than Dark Amber.

The state of Vermont, which supplies the bulk of maple syrup in this country, has a slightly different grading system and adds the word “Fancy” to some designations. Vermont maple syrup’s main distinction is that it is boiled to a slightly heavier viscosity than the syrup from other states and Canada.

Some cooks reserve Grade A for serving with breakfast foods like waffles and pancakes, and use Grade B for baking and cooking. Personally, because I like bold flavors, I prefer Grade B for whenever I use maple syrup. And it is relatively cheaper than Grade A, too.

Grapefruit Cupcakes

Makes 12 cupcakes

Another dessert that celebrates citrus fruit, the original version of this cake made its debut at Hollywood’s famous Brown Derby decades ago. It deserves its celebrity—the sweet-and-sour combination of the cake and frosting with the grapefruit is wonderful. Lately, I’ve been making cupcakes more often than layer cakes, as the former are easier to decorate and lots of fun to eat out of hand, so I adapted my old recipe into these “cake-ettes.”

C
UPCAKES

1 large pink or red grapefruit

1 1/3 cups cake flour

1¼ teaspoons baking powder

¼ teaspoon salt

¾ cup plus 2 tablespoons (1¾ sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature

1 cup granulated sugar

4 large eggs, at room temperature

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

¼ cup whole milk

1 tablespoon confectioners’ sugar

C
REAM
C
HEESE
I
CING

6 ounces cream cheese, at soft room temperature

2 cups confectioners’ sugar, sifted

2 teaspoons fresh grapefruit juice, as needed

Pink or red food coloring (optional)

1.
To make the cupcakes, position a rack in the center of the over and preheat to 350°F. Line a 12-cup muffin pan with paper cupcake liners.
2.
Grate the zest from half of the grapefruit and set aside. Cut off the peel and segment the grapefruit, working over a bowl to collect the juice. Set the 12 nicest segments (eat the rest of the segments as the cook’s treat) and the juice aside.
3.
Sift together the flour, baking powder, and salt. Using an electric mixer set on high speed, beat the butter and granulated sugar in a medium bowl until light in color and texture, about 3 minutes. One at a time, beat in the eggs, beating well after each addition, then beat in the reserved grapefruit zest and the vanilla. With the mixer on low speed, in three additions, alternating with two additions of milk, mix in the flour, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed. Divide evenly among the muffin cups.
4.
Bake until the cupcakes are golden brown and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, about 20 minutes. Cool for 5 minutes. Remove the cupcakes from the pan and transfer to a wire cake rack and cool completely.
5.
Whisk together ¼ cup of the reserved grapefruit juice and the confectioners’ sugar. Brush the cupcakes with the grapefruit juice mixture.
6.
To make the icing, using an electric mixer set on high speed, beat the cream cheese in a medium bowl until smooth. Reduce the heat to low and gradually add the confectioners’ sugar. Add enough grapefruit juice to make a flowing but spreadable icing. Beat in food coloring to tint the icing pink, if desired. Spread each cupcake with the icing and top with a grapefruit section. (The cupcakes can be made up to 1 day ahead, covered loosely with plastic wrap and refrigerated. Remove from the refrigerator 1 hour before serving.)

Pear and Crystallized Ginger Gingerbread

Makes 12 servings

For my money, gingerbread isn’t worth baking unless it is good and spicy. Crystallized ginger is a good way to get intensely spicy flavor into baked goods. As pears are also compatible with warm spices, they are a natural addition to this comforting dessert. The gingerbread is as versatile as it is delicious, and can be eaten out of hand for a quick snack, or gussied up with warm caramel sauce and whipped cream for an impressive dessert.

3 ripe-firm Bartlett or Bosc pears, peeled, cored, and cut lengthwise into ½-inch-thick slices

2½ cups all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons baking soda

2 teaspoons ground ginger

1½ teaspoons ground cinnamon

½ teaspoon ground cloves

½ teaspoon salt

8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature, plus more for the baking pan

1 cup sugar

1 cup unsulfured (light) molasses

2 large eggs, at room temperature

1 cup boiling water

1/3 cup chopped crystallized ginger

1.
Position a rack in the center of the oven and preheat to 350°F. Butter a 13 x 9-inch baking pan. Spread the pears in the pan.
2.
Sift the flour, baking soda, ground ginger, cinnamon, cloves, and salt together. Beat the butter and sugar in a large bowl with a hand-held electric mixer set on high speed until the mixture is pale yellow, about 3 minutes. Beat in the molasses, then the eggs, one at a time.
3.
With the mixer on low speed, beat in the flour mixture in three equal additions, alternating with two equal additions of the boiling water, scraping down the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula as needed. The batter will be thin. Stir in the crystallized ginger. Pour into the pan.
4.
Bake until a toothpick inserted in the center of the gingerbread comes out clean, about 35 minutes. Transfer to a wire cake rack and let cool in the pan until warm, about 30 minutes. Cut and serve warm, turning each slice upside down so the pears are visible.

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