Clementine panna cotta

Guess what? The most delicious dessert in the world is also the super easiest thing to make! How often does that happen?

Phil's boss was coming for dinner (doesn't that sound retro for some reason?) and I was going full-on Italian for the main course so I thought panna cotta sounded really good. It's yet another example of cultural culinary cross-pollination--it's basically vanilla pudding...or flan..or crème brûlée, sans the brûlée. I made my version with zest and juice from clementines because I love winter citrus right now. At the end I drizzled a little honey that had been melted together with orange liqueur right over the top for extra flavor. Start by sprinkling one packet of unflavored gelatin over 3 tablespoons water. Let it stand while you take care of everything else--it should absorb for 5-10 minutes.

Now heat up 1/3 cup of sugar with 3 cups heavy cream. Yes, that sounds insane, just typing it down here. Three cups of cream! You must be out of your damn mind. Substitute in a cup half-and-half to help make up the 3 cups, if it makes you feel better. I'm pretty sure that's what I did.

Heat it up quite hot, almost to a boil, until the sugar has all dissolved. Zest in your clementine and squeeze in some juice too. If, let's say, you wanted to make it cardamom flavored instead, or maybe vanilla-ginger or something, this is where you'd add those flavors. I just stuck with the citrus but it's a really great blank canvas.Remove it from heat and pour over the gelatin mixture.
Stir it all up until completely dissolved...you can see here how it is already getting thickened.
Now! You have probably ordered panna cotta at a restaurant and it came out all cute and molded onto a plate and topped with berries or something. That's a lovely way to do it and if you want to go the molded custard route, go ahead and grease up some ramekins so they will unmold properly after the panna cotta has set. But! If you are lazy and/or afraid of unmolding something and having it break right before the boss comes to dinner, go ahead and pour it into cute cups instead and skip the unmolding part.
Here's my cute cups. My bestie Jocelyn and I accidentally stole them from a roommate when we were very young and lived in a huge dirty old house with a bajillion other people.
I feel kind of bad about it now but it was a really long time ago.
I think it would be weird to track him down on Facebook and return them at this point, right?
I had a bunch leftover so the rest went into espresso cups and came to work with me the next day. Teeny espresso cups are perfect for panna cotta! So cute.
They chill for at least 2 hours. Mine went overnight--this really is the perfect make-ahead dessert!
And for a drizzle on top--I heated up 2 tablespoon honey with 1 tablespoon orange liqueur...
And just spooned it over the top in a puddle.
A little twist of clementine peel on the very top et voila! You are done with dessert.

Bacon brittle

This is crispy, salty, sweet and ultra-easy! It's also an excellent way to get more bacon into your daily diet. I think it would make a great holiday treat to hand out--it's also amazing without the bacon so don't let that deter you...though bacon is so rarely a deterrent.Fry up a couple pieces of bacon and set aside. I used 4 slices of fairly thick cut fancy local bacon so you may need more of thinner bacon. Meanwhile melt together 1/2 cup brown sugar with 2 sticks of butter. After the butter melts down, bring it to a boil and let it simmer for about 2 minutes. By now you should have some crispy bacon...ready to be crumbled/chopped up.
And you'll need a heaping cup of nuts...I chopped up a bunch of pecans but you can also use sliced almonds. Pecans go really well with bacon though.
Now get a sheet of parchment paper and lay it over a rimmed baking sheet. Find your graham crackers and lay them out in a more-or-less single layer to cover the whole pan.
And sprinkle over your pecans...then make an even covering of bacon over the nuts.
Now pour your butter-sugar mixture over the top of that! Like a toffee. This can be hard to do evenly so just keep drizzling until you think you hit every nook and cranny.
Then you bake in a 350 degree oven for 10 minuites, let it cool for about an hour--then break it up into squares! If you didn't use any bacon (and maybe even if you did) a sprinkle of sea salt over the top gives it that addictive sweet-salty crunch. Make them today!

Ginger maple float

One night we were seriously craving an ice cream special of some kind but didn't have a ton of classic soda fountain stuff around the house. Ginger beer left over from some Dark and Stormys, a teeny bit of vanilla ice cream plus a couple other pantry staples...voila. This float is not super sweet and that's a good thing. First step--find a nice, spicy ginger beer. This one was good. We also made it with a Caribbean brand that kicked ass but I can't remember the name, boo. You need a little less than 1 bottle for each float.Oh Trader Maple Joes. I'm almost out of you. But it's OK because for this recipe we only need a little drizzle of maple syrup per float.You also need 2 pieces of crystallized ginger per float. Cut a little slit in one of the pieces.And mince the other piece up into teeny little sprinkles for on top.One small scoop vanilla ice cream in your pint glass. By the way, Phil felt this was not sufficient ice cream. It is the perfect amount for me though, so I think it varies widely by float-consumer.Pour over ginger beer...And a drizzle of maple syrup, then fill all the way up so it's all foamy. Drizzle a little more maple syrup on top for decoration and extra sweetness.Pop the slice of ginger with the slit over the edge of the glass and sprinkle on the chopped pieces.Lookin' good.It's super creamy and just the right amount of spicy-sweet.

Peach rhubarb compote de maman

I have made something very similar before with strawberries, but Phil's mom had just brought us a whole bagful of gorgeous sweet peaches. Then a couple days later my mother came to visit, bearing two huge bunches of rhubarb. Our moms like to take care of us.Georgia is no place for rhubarb. It's sad but true. It grows like a weed--actually may even be a weed--in Wisconsin though, so here was a metric ton of the good stuff. Chopped it all up into 1" chunks...And put it in my big dutch oven, along with 6 peaches, roughly chopped.Add 1 1/2 cups of water and a heaping 1 cup of sugar, bring it to a boil and then let simmer until it all falls apart, stirring often. If you have less rhubarb and peaches on hand than I did, just proportionately decrease the amount of sugar and water. If it seems too liquidy, keep the lid off the pot so it can reduce down. It probably took about 30 minutes total, but that is very much dependent on how much fruit you end up putting in there. You want it to reach a jammy sauce-like consistency but don't worry too much because it will firm up more when it cools down.Delicious over yogurt, especially topped with some granola. I've had yummy compote and granola every morning this week--isn't that just like mom to make sure you eat a good breakfast?

Lemon thyme pound cake

Just in time for Easter, here's a completely springtime-inspired poundcake. It's classic proportions of sugar-eggs-butter, plus a sweet herbal note with aromatic thyme and lemon. Absolutely perfect for celebratory brunch. Preheat your oven to 350 and set out 2 sticks of butter to soften (two sticks of butter! two sticks of butter!). Get two cups of flour (use cake flour if you have it, but I didn't and it worked fine) and mix with a pinch of salt and 1 teaspoon baking powder (here's a bonus household tip! Last time I ran out of baking powder, I filled up the empty canister with dried beans and now use it as a rattle to ward off the cat when she is trying to stick her paw in my water or step Phil's face while he's sleeping. I call it the "can of shakes" and it strikes terror into her heart. Very useful!). In another big bowl, blend your two sticks of butter until fluffy.Get 1 cup of sugar and mix it into the fluffy butter, incorporating just 1/2 cup at a time. Beautiful.Get four gorgeous, local, farm-fresh eggs.Separate the eggs--adding the yolks one at a time to the butter-sugar mixture. Set the whites aside in a bowl because we'll be beating them and adding them in as well in a minute. Like I said, one yolk at a time, totally incorporate it, then the next yolk.It turns a really pretty bright yellow as you go along.Once all your eggs are added in, zest in the peel from 1 lemon, then squeeze in the juice. Now add your flour mixture in 3 stages, being sure to incorporate all in before adding more. Are you sensing a theme here, with the sloww addition of ingredients? Pound cake is really easy to make, but it's taking the time on these steps that really makes the end product good.Now, where's your thyme? Mince up about 1 tablespoon fresh thyme and add it to the mixture.Back to those egg whites--beat them until they get fluffy and incorporate them into your mixture.Pour the whole mixture into a really well buttered loaf pan and pop it in the oven.Mine took about 1 hour and 20 minutes to bake up, but I think my oven is on the cooler side. Test it with a wooden stick to be sure.With ice cream? Divine.