Plum Crumble with Strawberry Ice Cream

School is coming to a close, which means I have tons of work to do. Ah! I have under 3 weeks of school left, but the day after I get out of school I'm leaving to go to the Ashland Shakespeare Festival. It's one of my favorite places and the theater is wonderful. If you've never been, I recommend you go at some time in your life.





Then, just a few days after I get back from that, I'm off to Rhode Island to spend 6 weeks at the Rhode Island School of Design to study graphic design. I've never been more excited about anything in my whole life! I probably won't be baking much during those 6 weeks, so there won't be many/any new recipes. But I will try to update Pâtisserie Natalie with my graphic design work that I do in my classes, and other photography that I do.





I'm working on a baking project that I hope to show everyone at the end of the summer, but for now, enjoy this plum crumble with strawberry ice cream and the beginnings of summer!

For the strawberry ice cream, go to my Neapolitan Ice Cream Cakes.

Plum Crisp

Crumble
200 grams unsalted butter, chilled
200 grams sugar
200 grams flour
100 grams roasted almonds
1 teaspoon salt

In a food processor, combine sugar, flour, and salt. Pulse several times to mix. Add almonds and pulse twice, just to break up the nuts. Add the butter in small cubes and pulse until crumble is sandy with small chunks of butter.

Filling
3 lbs prunes
1/2 cup sugar
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1 teaspoon nutmeg
1 tablespoon lemon juice

Preheat oven to 350 F. Peel prunes, then cut into slices. In a medium bowl, combine sliced prunes, sugar, spices, and lemon juice. Toss until fruit is lightly covered. Let macerate at room temperature for 30 minutes. Pour into a 8" by 8" square glass baking pan.

Pour crumble topping on top and bake for 35 minutes, or until the filling is bubbly and the crumble is golden brown, darker towards the edges of the pan. Remove from oven and let sit at room temperature for at least 1 hour before serving with homemade strawberry ice cream.

Items I used:



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Pumpkin Gingerbread Ice Cream Sandwiches

My school is a little weird in that it divides the year into 5 parts. My first "quint" is ending, which means teachers decide to pile on the work. All at one time. The last week of the quint is always a little insane; everyone's very stressed and a little grouchy. But there is reward to the difficult week. We get a couple days off to recuperate, which means I'll most likely have time for an extra post (woot woot). I've been doing a lot of college searching lately, and I'm completely falling in love with the courses I've been looking up. I'm not exactly sure what I want to, but graphic design has always been a love of mine. I get really excited whenever I start to research it. There's a lot of anxiety involved in picking out what you want to be for the rest of your life. But there's a lot of fun involved, too. Seeing the types of things I'll get to do in a couple of years, eases the pressure, as it looks like so much fun. I know I love my web designing, photography, and baking, so that's what I'll stick to for now!

Pumpkin Ice Cream

1 cup pumpkin purée
2 cups heavy cream
3/4 cup brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
5 egg yolks

Combine pumpkin and vanilla and mix thoroughly. Cover and place in refrigerator for at least 30 minutes.

Whisk egg yolks with 1/2 cup of cream and 1/2 cup brown sugar until thick.

In a medium saucepan, combine 1/4 cup brown sugar and remaining 1 1/2 cups of cream. Heat on low until sugar is dissolved and steam rises, continually mixing.

Add 1/2 cup of hot cream into egg mixture gradually, whisking thoroughly.
Pour egg mixture into saucepan and heat on medium-low until mixture is thickened, but does not boil.

Pour through a strainer and let cool in refrigerator for 30 minutes, then mix in pumpkin. Cover in an airtight container for at least 2 hours, or overnight.

Transfer mixture to ice cream maker and use manufacturer's in structions.



Gingerbread Cake
adapted from martha stewart

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for pan
3/4 cup sugar
2 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 tablespoon ginger
1 teaspoon nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup molasses
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1/2 cup canola oil
1/2 cup buttermilk
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 cup boiling water

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Spray a half sheetpan with cooking spray and line with parchment. Spray parchment and use a paper towel to spread. Flour well and set aside.

In a large bowl, whisk together spices, salt, sugar, and flour.

In another bowl, whisk together molasses, egs, canola oil, and buttermilk.

Dissolve the baking soda in the boiling water.

Gently fold in molasses and water mixtures into the dry ingredients until a batter is formed. Pour into prepared sheetpan and bake for 20 minutes, or until the cake springs back with a light touch, depending on your oven.

Let cool for at least 20 minutes before attempting to remove. Once cooled, use a ruler or other straight edge to cut equal size squares. remove the squares and each cut in half, producing two rectangles.

Assembly

Once the ice cream is made, spread it in a sheetpan lined with parchment into one even layer. Let set up in freezer for at least 3 hours. Once hardened, use a ruler to cut ice cream squares the same size as the cake.

Just before serving, stack ice cream on top of one piece of cake, layering another on top of the ice cream. You can make a little powdered sugar+cream glaze to drizzle on top, and pecans go nicely with this.

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Chocolate Coffee Ice Cream Bars

The Seattle weather is finally back. It's overcast and cold. My favorite. This last Friday was the last day of my 5 week art program. I'm said to say goodbye to some of the amazing people I met, and it was overall a great experience. My class' work will be up at the Seattle Art Museum starting in September or October, so you should take a look. There are some really talented young artists in the class. I will get a more specific date soon. Now that I have more time, I will try and make up for the dwindling number of posts that went up this last month. I figured a good place to start would ice cream sandwiches. I wanted to do something less like a sandwich, so I did a layer of brownie on the bottom, coffee ice cream layered on top of that, and covered in a dark chocolate shell. I've made something similar to this in the past, but I changed one big thing: the coffee flavor. So often in coffee ice cream, I feel like I'm only getting a little taste of coffee, with some cream. I wanted this ice cream to scream, "This is coffee ice cream!". I think I got a nice flavor in the end, and these are a great summer treat. The days are getting colder, so make them while you can.

Brownies

2 sticks unsalted butter
5 1/2 oz unsweetened chocolate; chopped
4 eggs
2 cups sugar
1/2 cup AP flour
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease a square cake pan with walls, flour the sides. Line with parchment, leaving a 2" overhang on the long side of the pan. Grease and flour the parchment. Spray sheet-pan with nonstick spray, line with parchment, spray parchment. Melt butter and chocolate in a double broiler. When melted, set aside and let cool to room temp. Meanwhile, beat the eggs and sugar until mixture is thick and lemon-colored. Next, add the vanilla. Fold the cooled chocolate mixture into the eggs and sugar, mixing thoroughly. Sift flour and fold gently into batter, mixing just till blended. Pour into prepared pan, and bake for about 12 minutes, depending on your oven. Allow brownies to cool in pan for 20 minutes before taking out of pan.


Coffee Ice Cream

1 cup whole milk
6 egg yolks
1 cup sugar
Pinch of salt
1 tsp. vanilla extract
2 tablespoons instant espresso powder
2 teaspoons coffee extract
2 cups heavy cream

In a saucepan over medium heat, warm the milk until steam begins to rise from the surface.

In a heatproof bowl, whisk together the egg yolks, sugar and salt until blended. Gradually add 1/2 the hot milk, whisking constantly until fully incorporated. Transfer the mixture back to the saucepan and set over medium-low heat. Cook, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon or spatula, until the custard is thick enough to coat the back of the spoon and leaves a clear trail when a finger is drawn through it, do not allow the custard to boil.

Whisk the instant espresso powder into the cream until dissolved. Pour the custard through a fine-mesh sieve set into cream and stir in the vanilla and the coffee extract. Refrigerate until cold [at least 2 hours]

Transfer the custard to an ice cream maker and freeze according to the manufacturer's instructions.



Chocolate Coating
6.5 oz bittersweet chocolate
2 tablespoons vegetable oil

Melt chocolate in microwave in 30 second bursts, stirring in between until melted. Stir in vegetable oil thoroughly. Let cool

Assembly

Once the brownies are cool, use a knife to loosen the edges from the pan, and remove from cake pan. Place back inside cake pan. Once ice cream has gone through the ice cream maker, spread evenly on top of brownies in cake pan. Freeze overnight.

When the ice cream has hardened, make the chocolate coating. Take the cake pan out of the freezer and remove brownie/ice cream onto a cutting board. Cut into even squares, then return to freezer for 15 minutes. Prepare a pan lined with parchment and a cooling rack resting on top. Place ice cream bars on the cooling rack and ladle chocolate coating on top of bars. Top with crushed almonds if desired.
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Nectarine Cherry Almond Crisp & Maple Butter-Pecan Ice Cream

Hi, from the east coast! I got in yesterday, and I had some free time this morning, so I thought I'd finish up my post. I had recently gotten some nectarines from Whole Foods (yum!) and some Tieton cherries from the farmer's market by my house. I couldn't remember ever trying something that combined those two, and what better way to combine fruits than a crisp? I went with an almond crisp because almonds give great texture, but don't have an overwhelming flavor. The only thing about crisps is that in order to really enjoy it, there must be ice cream along with it. I went with a maple butter-pecan, as it has great subtle flavors, but really lets the fruits from the crisp shine.

Nectarine Cherry Almond Crisp

Almond Crisp

85g flour
85g butter
80g butter
110g whole almonds

Combine ingredients in a food processor until a coarse meal.

Filling

4 medium nectarines
3/4 lb cherries
1/4 cup sugar

Preheat oven to 350F. Cut nectarines into small pieces and pit cherries. Toss in a bowl with sugar and let macerate for 30 minutes. Pour into a 9"x9" glass/ceramic pan. Sprinkle crisp over fruit and bake for 25-30 minutes, depending on your oven.



This was the first time I felt a made a successful ice cream. The other times I'd made ice cream the custard either got over cooked or undercooked, and this time it was just right. Everyone who tried it thought it was rather addicting, so I guess they thought it was a success, too.

Maple Butter-Pecan Ice Cream

3/4 cup whole pecans
2 tablespoons butter; unsalted
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1 cup whole milk
3/4 cup maple syrup
6 egg yolks
1 cup sugar
Pinch of salt
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups heavy cream

For the buttered pecans, chopped the pecans into small pieces. In a small frying pan, melt two tablespoons of butter. Once melted, add chopped pecans and mix, to coat the pecans. Stir frequently so the pecans don't burn. Once you smell the slightly toasted nuts and they have browned a little, immediately remove from pan and put into a bowl to cool.

IN A SAUCEPAN OVER MEDIUM HEAT, WARM THE MILK UNTIL STEAM BEGINS TO RISE FROM THE SURFACE.

IN A HEATPROOF BOWL, WHISK TOGETHER THE EGG YOLKS, maple syrup AND SALT UNTIL BLENDED. GRADUALLY ADD 1/2 THE HOT MILK, WHISKING CONSTANTLY UNTIL FULLY INCORPORATED. TRANSFER THE MIXTURE BACK TO THE SAUCEPAN AND SET OVER MEDIUM-LOW HEAT. COOK, STIRRING CONSTANTLY WITH A WOODEN SPOON OR SPATULA, UNTIL THE CUSTARD IS THICK ENOUGH TO COAT THE BACK OF THE SPOON AND LEAVES A CLEAR TRAIL WHEN A FINGER IS DRAWN THROUGH IT, 8 TO 10 MINUTES; DO NOT ALLOW THE CUSTARD TO BOIL.

POUR THE CUSTARD THROUGH A FINE-MESH SIEVE SET OVER A CLEAN BOWL AND STIR IN VANILLA. NESTLE THE BOWL IN A LARGER ONE FILLED HALFWAY WITH ICE AND WATER AND COOL THE CUSTARD TO ROOM TEMPERATURE, STIRRING OCCASIONALLY. REFRIGERATE UNTIL COLD [AT LEAST 2 HOURS]

TRANSFER THE CUSTARD TO AN ICE CREAM MAKER AND FREEZE ACCORDING TO THE MANUFACTURER'S INSTRUCTIONS. Add the buttered pecans by hand, mixing thoroughly. TRANSFER THE ICE CREAM TO AN AIRTIGHT CONTAINER. CHILL AT LEAST 3 HOURS BEFORE SERVING. MAKES ABOUT 1 QUART.
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Neapolitan Cakes

Phew! It is getting hot here. Hot for me anyways. Being a native Seattle-ite, I despise weather over 65 degrees and overcast is always a plus. But hot weather does create some good inspiration for ice cream treats. When I was really little, I would go to this outdoor pool with friends and I always wanted a neapolitan ice cream sandwich. Such a good combination: the chocolate cake/cookie(?) and the chocolate, vanilla, and strawberry ice creams. I wanted to make this a little differently, as I now despise the milky chocolate ice cream. I also wanted to make a thin flourless chocolate cake. Since the chocolate cake was so chocolatey, I decide to forgo the dark chocolate ice cream, as it seemed like overkill. These started out as cakes, but since their size seemed a little scary on their own, I made some half sized ones as well.

The chocolate cake recipe is from a past daring bakers challenge that I didn't participate in, but the recipe looked so good, I had to try it.

Flourless Chocolate Cake

16 ounces (1 pound) (454 grams) of semisweet chocolate, roughly chopped
½ cup (1 stick) plus 2 tablespoons (146 grams total) of unsalted butter
5 large eggs separated

Put chocolate and butter in a heatproof bowl and set over a pan of simmering water (the bottom of the bowl should not touch the water) and melt, stirring often.

While your chocolate butter mixture is cooling. Butter your sheetpan and line with parchment, then butter the parchment.

Separate the egg yolks from the egg whites and put into two medium/large bowls.
Whip the egg whites in a grease free bowl until stiff peaks are formed, making sure not to overwhip, as this dries out the cake.
Beat the egg yolks together. Add the egg yolks to the cooled chocolate.

Fold in 1/3 of the egg whites into the chocolate mixture and follow with remaining 2/3rds. Fold until no white remains without deflating the batter. {link of folding demonstration}

Pour batter into prepared pan, the batter should fill the pan's bottom, and bake at 375F/190C for 8 minutes.

Remove from oven and let cool for 10 minutes on a rack. Once cool, remove the cake from the pan onto a clean work surface. Let cool for at least 1 hour. After an hour, use a circular cutter and cut as many shapes as possible from your sheet.



Strawberry Ice Cream

1 cup whole milk
6 egg yolks
1 cup sugar
Pinch of salt
2 cups hulled strawberries
1 tsp. vanilla extract
2 cups heavy cream

Wash and hull 2 cups of strawberries. Place in a food processor until you get a smooth puree.

In a saucepan over medium heat, warm the milk until steam begins to rise from the surface.

In a heatproof bowl, whisk together the egg yolks, sugar and salt until blended. Gradually add 1/2 the hot milk, whisking constantly until fully incorporated. Transfer the mixture back to the saucepan and set over medium-low heat. Cook, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon or spatula, until the custard is thick enough to coat the back of the spoon and leaves a clear trail when a finger is drawn through it, 8 to 10 minutes; do not allow the custard to boil.

Pour the custard through a fine-mesh sieve set over a clean bowl and stir in the strawberry puree and vanilla. Nestle the bowl in a larger one filled halfway with ice and water and cool the custard to room temperature, stirring occasionally. Refrigerate until cold [at least 2 hours]

Transfer the custard to an ice cream maker and freeze according to the manufacturer's instructions. Transfer the ice cream to a sheetpan lined with parchment and spread in an even, thin layer. Freeze until firm, at least 3 hours or up to 3 days, before serving. Makes about 1 quart.



Vanilla Ice Cream

Use the same instructions and ingredients above, but omit the strawberry puree. Split and scrape one vanilla bean. Put the seeds and pod into the milk when first heating. Make sure to remove the vanilla bean just before pouring into the ice cream machine. Use 2 teaspoons of vanilla extract.

Assembly

Using the same cutter as you did for the cake, cut circles from the sheets of ice cream. Place on top of each other in alternating order.
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Apple Pear Galette with Vanilla Sides

While apples and pears are considered more fall-like, we get pretty decent apples and pears all year long. I've never met anyone who didn't love something like apple crisp. While this doesn't have the "crisp" part, the dough does bake like a tart and is slightly crunchy, but more flaky. I made the vanilla ice cream because you simply can't have a dessert like this without it. The two are a pair and cannot be separated.
I made the custards for my aunt's friend, whose father is recovering from a surgery. The only thing he can eat is soft food like puddings and custards. They just wanted vanilla for now, but maybe more flavors in the future.



For the galette dough:

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
2 tablespoons sugar
3/4 teaspoon salt
12 tablespoons (1 1/4 sticks) chilled unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch cubes
2 tablespoons (or more) ice water
[eggwash+sanding sugar]

Mix flour, sugar, and salt in processor. Add butter; pulse until coarse meal forms. Add 2 tablespoons ice water; pulse until moist clumps form, adding more water by teaspoonfuls if dry. Gather dough into ball; flatten into disk and wrap in plastic. Chill 2 hours.
Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Roll out dough on a floured work surface 1/2" thick. Cut into 8" diameter circles and place on a sheet pan lined with parchment paper.
Place 1/3 of a cup of the filling in the center of the circle and fold up edges in one direction. Place a 1/2" cube of butter on the filling. Using a pastry brush, paint the sides of the galette with an eggwash and sprinkle with sanding sugar. Place on the parchment-lined sheet pan and bake for 15 minutes depending on your oven.

For the filling:

3 crisp apples
3 crisp pears
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1 tablesooon sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg

Slice apples and pears thinly. Combine ingredients in a large bowl and let sit at room temperature for 20 minutes.



For the vanilla bean ice cream:

2 cups heavy cream
1 cup whole milk
3/4 cup sugar
1 vanilla bean; halved, seeds removed

Whisk ingredients together until sugar is dissolved. Place in refrigerator to let vanilla seeds infuse into the cream, for 1 hour. Place in ice cream machine and churn for the amount of time given by manufacturer. Remove from machine and place in air-tight container overnight to harden.

For the vanilla bean custard:

2 cups whole milk
1 cup half and half
3/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar
1 1-inch piece vanilla bean, split in half lengthwise
4 large eggs
3 large egg yolks

Combine milk, half and half and sugar in saucepan. Scrape seeds from vanilla bean into milk mixture; add bean. Bring to simmer, stirring until sugar dissolves. Remove from heat. Cover and steep 30 minutes.
Strain mixture into medium bowl; cool to lukewarm. Whisk eggs and yolks in large bowl to blend. Gradually whisk milk mixture into eggs. Chill until cold.
Preheat oven to 350°F. Whisk custard; pour into caramel-coated dish. Place in large baking pan. Fill pan with enough hot water to come halfway up sides of dish. Cover pan completely with foil, sealing at edges. Bake until center 3 inches of custard moves only slightly when dish is shaken, about 1 hour. Remove from oven; let stand covered 10 minutes. Remove from water; chill overnight.
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Brownie Coffee Ice Cream Sandwiches

So basically, I've been sick for about 5 days, which is a record for me. I hardly ever get sick, but I'm not getting better. The good thing about being sick is...TIME TO BAKE! Some people are like, "Ew, you made this when you were sick." But actually, the way colds are transfered from person to person is through the eyes, so no worries. Making ice cream sandwiches is a multi-day project because you have to spread it on a sheet-pan and let it harden before you cut it out. But today is the day I put them all together. This was sort of an experiment because I've never baked brownies in a sheet-pan before. It turned out quite well, I just had to watch the baking time since I was starting from ground zero.



For the brownies:
Adapted from The Silver Palate Cookbook

2 sticks unsalted butter
5 1/2 oz unsweetened chocolate; chopped
4 eggs
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup AP flour
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Spray sheet-pan with nonstick spray, line with parchment, spray parchment. Melt butter and chocolate in a double broiler. When melted, set aside and let cool to room temp. Meanwhile, beat the eggs and sugar until mixture is thick and lemon-colored. Next, add the vanilla. Fold the cooled chocolate mixture into the eggs and sugar, mixing thoroughly. Sift flour and fold gently into batter, mixing just till blended. Pour into prepared pan, and bake for about 12 minutes, depending on your oven. Allow brownies to cool in pan for 15 minutes before taking out of pan. Wait at least an hour before attempting to use cutters to make ice cream sandwich bases.

For the coffee ice cream

2/3 cup sugar

2 cups heavy cream

1 cup whole milk

2 1/2 tablespoons instant espresso powder

Combine chilled cream and milk with whisk. Add sugar and instant espresso powder. Mix together for a few turns, then let sit for 30 seconds (this lets the espresso powder soften). Using whisk, mix together well and pour until ice cream maker. Use manufacturer's instructions.

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