Ingredients

• 4 cups (1l) heavy cream or half-and-half
• 1/2 cup (100g) sugar
• 2 teaspoons of vanilla extract, or 1 vanilla bean, split lengthwise
• 2 packets powdered unflavored gelatin (about 4 1/2 teaspoons)
• 6 tablespoons (90ml) cold water

Preparation

1. Heat the heavy cream or half-and-half and sugar in a saucepan . Once the sugar is dissolved, remove from heat and stir in the vanilla extract. If using a vanilla bean, scrape the seeds from the bean into the cream and add the bean pod. Cover, and let infuse for 30 minutes. Remove the bean then rewarm the mixture before continuing.

2. Lightly oil eight custard cups with a neutral-tasting oil.

3. Sprinkle the gelatin over the cold water in a medium-sized bowl and let stand 5 to 10 minutes.

4. Pour the very warm Panna Cotta mixture over the gelatin and stir until the gelatin is completely dissolved.

5. Divide the Panna Cotta mixture into the prepared cups, then chill them until firm, which will take at least two hours but I let them stand at least four hours. If you’re pressed for time, pour the Panna Cotta mixture into wine goblets so you can serve them in the glasses, without unmolding.

6. Run a sharp knife around the edge of each Panna Cotta and unmold each onto a serving plate, and garnish as desired.

David Lebovitz

Ingredients

• Vegetable oil cooking spray
• 1 1/2 pounds Italian plums, pitted and sliced
• 1/3 cup plus 1 teaspoon sugar, divided
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cardamom
• 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 1 refrigerated ready-to-bake pie crust dough (7.5 ounces)
• 1/4 cup marzipan, crumbled into 1/4-inch pieces
• 1 large egg, lightly beaten

Preparation

Heat oven to 375°. Coat a large rimmed baking sheet with cooking spray. In a bowl, toss plums with 1/3 cup sugar and cardamom. Dust flour on work surface; roll out dough to a 14-inch diameter and transfer to baking sheet. Leaving a 2-inch border, sprinkle marzipan on dough. Arrange plums in circular pattern over marzipan. Fold and pleat edges toward center. Brush dough with egg and sprinkle with remaining 1 teaspoon sugar. Bake until crust is golden, 22 to 26 minutes. Cool; serve.

Epicurious

Ingredients

For the crust:

• 2 oz. hazelnuts, toasted, skinned, and cooled
• 3 tbsp. sugar
• 5 oz. animal crackers
• 3 tbsp. melted warm butter

For the filling:

• 1 tbsp. lemon zest
• ¼ c. lemon juice
• 1¼ c. sugar
• 1 lb. cream cheese, cut into rough 1-inch chunks at room temp.
• 4 eggs, room temp.
• 8 oz. mild goat cheese, room temp.
• 2 tsp. vanilla extract
• ½ c. heavy cream

For the lemon curd:

• ⅓ c. lemon juice
• 2 eggs
• 1 egg yolk
• ½ c. sugar
• 2 tbsp. butter, cut into ½-inch cubes and chilled
• 1 tbsp. heavy cream
• ¼ tsp. vanilla extract
• pinch salt

Preparation

1. FOR THE CRUST: Adjust oven rack to lower-middle position and heat oven to 325 degrees. In food processor, process hazelnuts with 3 tablespoons sugar until finely ground and mixture resembles coarse cornmeal, about 30 seconds. Add Nabisco Animal Crackers or Social Tea Biscuits and process until mixture is finely and evenly ground, about 30 seconds. Add warm melted butter in slow, steady stream while pulsing; pulse until mixture is evenly moistened and resembles wet sand, about ten 1-second pulses. Transfer mixture to 9-inch springform pan; using bottom of ramekin or dry measuring cup, press firmly and evenly into pan bottom, keeping sides as clean as possible. Bake until fragrant and golden brown, 15 to 18 minutes. Cool on wire rack to room temperature, about 30 minutes. When cool, wrap outside of pan with two 18-inch square pieces heavy-duty foil; set springform pan in roasting pan.

2. FOR THE FILLING: While crust is cooling, process 1/4 cup sugar and lemon zest in food processor until sugar is yellow and zest is broken down, about 15 seconds, scraping down bowl if necessary. Transfer lemon sugar to small bowl; stir in remaining 1 cup sugar.

3. In standing mixer fitted with paddle attachment, beat cream cheese and goat cheese on low to break up and soften slightly, about 5 seconds. With machine running, add sugar mixture in slow steady stream; increase speed to medium and continue to beat until mixture is creamy and smooth, about 3 minutes, scraping down bowl with rubber spatula as needed. Reduce speed to medium-low and add eggs 2 at a time; beat until incorporated, about 30 seconds, scraping sides and bottom of bowl well after each addition. Add lemon juice and vanilla and mix until just incorporated, about 5 seconds; add heavy cream and mix until just incorporated, about 5 seconds longer. Give batter final scrape, stir with rubber spatula, and pour into prepared springform pan; fill roasting pan with enough hot tap water to come halfway up sides of springform pan. Bake until center jiggles slightly, sides just start to puff, surface is no longer shiny, and instant-read thermometer inserted in center of cake registers 150 degrees, 55 to 60 minutes. Turn off oven and prop open oven door with potholder or wooden spoon handle; allow cake to cool in water bath in oven for 1 hour. Transfer springform pan without foil to wire rack; run small paring knife around inside edge of pan to loosen sides of cake and cool cake to room temperature, about 2 hours.

4. FOR THE LEMON CURD: While cheesecake bakes, heat lemon juice in small nonreactive saucepan over medium heat until hot but not boiling. Whisk eggs and yolk in medium nonreactive bowl; gradually whisk in sugar. Whisking constantly, slowly pour hot lemon juice into eggs, then return mixture to saucepan and cook over medium heat, stirring constantly with wooden spoon, until mixture registers 170 degrees on instant-read thermometer and is thick enough to cling to spoon, about 3 minutes. Immediately remove pan from heat and stir in cold butter until incorporated; stir in cream, vanilla, and salt, then pour curd through fine-mesh strainer into small nonreactive bowl. Cover surface of curd directly with plastic wrap; refrigerate until needed.

5. TO FINISH THE CAKE: When cheesecake is cool, scrape lemon curd onto cheesecake still in springform pan; using offset icing spatula, spread curd evenly over top of cheesecake. Cover tightly with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 4 hours or up to 24 hours. To serve, remove sides of springform pan and cut cake into wedges. (If desired, to remove cheesecake from springform pan bottom, slide thin metal spatula between crust and pan bottom to loosen, then slide cake onto serving plate.)

CI

Ingredients

• 1 c. milk
• ½ c. heavy cream
• 3 tbsp. lemon zest plus ½ cup juice (3 lemons)
• 1 c. sugar
• ¼ c. all-purpose flour
• ½ tsp. baking powder
• ⅛ tsp. salt
• 2 eggs, separated, plus 2 egg whites
• ½ tsp. vanilla extract

Preparation

1. Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 325 degrees. Bring milk and cream to simmer in medium saucepan over medium-high heat. Remove pan from heat, whisk in lemon zest, cover pan, and let stand for 15 minutes. Meanwhile, fold dish towel in half and place in bottom of large roasting pan. Place six 6-ounce ramekins on top of towel and set aside pan.

2. Strain milk mixture through fine-mesh strainer into bowl, pressing on lemon zest to extract liquid; discard lemon zest. Whisk 3/4 cup sugar, flour, baking powder, and salt in second bowl until combined. Add egg yolks, vanilla, lemon juice, and milk mixture and whisk until combined. (Batter will have consistency of milk.)

3. Using stand mixer fitted with whisk, whip egg whites on medium-low speed until foamy, about 1 minute. Increase speed to medium-high and whip whites to soft, billowy mounds, about 1 minute. Gradually add remaining 1/4 cup sugar and whip until glossy, soft peaks form, 1 to 2 minutes.

4. Whisk one-quarter of whites into batter to lighten. With rubber spatula, gently fold in remaining whites until no clumps or streaks remain. Ladle batter into ramekins (ramekins should be nearly full). Pour enough cold water into pan to come one-third of way up sides of ramekins. Bake until cake is set and pale golden brown and pudding layer registers 172 to 175 degrees at center, 50 to 55 minutes.

5. Remove pan from oven and let ramekins stand in water bath for 10 minutes. Transfer ramekins to wire rack and let cool completely. Serve.

CI

Ingredients

Crust:

• 1 1/2 cups flour
• 1/2 cup powdered sugar
• 6 oz. cold unsalted butter, cut in 1/2-inch pieces

Filling:

• 6 large eggs
• 3 cups sugar
• 1 cup plus 2 tbsp. fresh lemon juice
• 1/2 cup flour

Preparation

Crust: Preheat oven to 325. Mix flour and powdered sugar. Cut in butter until pea-sized. Mixture will be very dry. Gently press in bottom of 13-by-9 inch pan. Bake until golden brown, 20 to 25 minutes. Let cool to room temperature and reduce oven to 300.

Filling: Whisk together eggs and sugar until smooth. Stir in lemon juice and then flour. Pour filling on crust and bake until set, about 40 minutes. Cool completely. Cut into 21/4 inch squares. Dust with powdered sugar. Makes 24.

Ingredients

Crust:

• 1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 6 tbsp. sugar
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 8 tbsp. melted butter

Topping:

• 3/4 c. packed light brown sugar
• 1/2 c. light corn syrup
• 7 tbsp. melted hot butter
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 4 c. (1 lb.) pecan halves, toasted
• 1/2 tsp. sea salt (optional)

Preparation

Adjust oven rack to lowest position and heat oven to 350 degrees. Make foil sling for 13 by 9-inch baking pan by folding 2 long sheets of aluminum foil; first sheet should be 13 inches wide and second sheet should be 9 inches wide. Lay sheets of foil in pan perpendicular to each other, with extra foil hanging over edges of pan. Push foil into corners and up sides of pan, smoothing foil flush to pan. Lightly spray foil with vegetable oil spray.

Whisk flour, sugar, and salt together in medium bowl. Add melted butter and stir with wooden spoon until dough begins to form. Using your hands, continue to combine until no dry flour remains and small portion of dough holds together when squeezed in palm of your hand. Evenly scatter tablespoon-size pieces of dough over surface of pan. Using your fingertips and palm of your hand, press and smooth dough into even thickness in bottom of pan.

Whisk sugar, corn syrup, melted butter, vanilla, and salt together in medium bowl until smooth (mixture will look separated at first but will become homogeneous), about 20 seconds. Fold pecans into sugar mixture until nuts are evenly coated.

Pour topping over crust. Using spatula, spread topping over crust, pushing to edges and into corners (there will be bare patches). Bake until topping is evenly distributed and rapidly bubbling across entire surface, 23 to 25 minutes.

Transfer pan to wire rack and lightly sprinkle with flake sea salt, if using. Let bars cool completely in pan on rack, about 1 1/2 hours. Using foil overhang, lift bars out of pan and transfer to cutting board. Cut into 24 bars. (Bars can be stored at room temperature for up to 5 days.)

Ingredients

• 4 c. milk
• 50 mL (3 1/4 tbsp.) butter
• 1 vanilla bean
• 2 c. pastry flour
• 2 c. sugar
• 1 whole egg
• 9 egg yolks
• 50 mL rum

Preparation

Heat the milk, butter, and vanilla bean (split) to 115F (just warm), and leave to steep. In a bowl, mix the flour and sugar. Add the egg yolks and whole egg. Mix all with the liquid mixture. Chill for 24 hours.

Just before cooking, add the rum and remove the vanilla pod. Pour into canelé moulds. Cook at 280F for 15 minutes, then raise the temperature to 355F and cook for 55 minutes more.

This prepares about 60 mini canelés.

That shop where we got the canelé moulds, Bordeaux

Ingredients

• 2 cups pecan halves
• 1 cup (about 24) caramel candies, such as Kraft, unwrapped
• 1 tablespoon rum, bourbon, or whisky
• 1 1/2 teaspoons heavy cream
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 pound high-quality semisweet chocolate, finely chopped

Preparation

Preheat oven to 350°F. Spread pecans on large shallow baking sheet and toast until golden brown, about 10 minutes. Transfer to plate and let cool. Line baking sheet with parchment or wax paper.

In small bowl, combine caramels, liquor, cream, and salt. Microwave uncovered at medium power for 2 minutes. Stir with fork. Microwave at medium power for 1 additional minute. Stir until smooth and set aside.

In medium bowl set over saucepan of simmering water, melt half chocolate, stirring occasionally. Remove from heat, add remaining chocolate, and stir until smooth. Pour half melted chocolate into small bowl and reserve.

Stir 1 cup nuts into remaining chocolate. Transfer mixture to baking sheet, spreading to 1/4- to 1/2-inch thickness. Spoon caramel over and pat on remaining pecans. Drizzle with reserved chocolate. Let cool at room temperature until set, about 2 hours. Do not chill.

Epicurious

Ingredients

• 1 cup stout (such as Guinness)
• 16 ounces semisweet or bittersweet chocolate, chopped, divided
• 1 cup plus 2 tablespoons (2 1/4 sticks) unsalted butter
• 1 1/2 cups sugar
• 3 large eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt, divided

Preparation

Preheat oven to 350°. Line a 9x9x2" metal baking pan with foil, leaving a 2" overhang. Bring stout to a boil in a medium sauce- pan; cook until reduced to 1/2 cup, about 12 minutes. Let cool. Reserve 1/4 cup stout. Stir 12 oz. chocolate and 1 cup butter in a medium metal bowl set over a saucepan of simmering water until melted and smooth. Whisk sugar, eggs, and vanilla in a large bowl to blend. Gradually whisk in chocolate mixture, then 1/4 cup stout from pan. Fold in flour and 1 1/4 tsp. salt. Pour batter into prepared pan. Bake brownies until surface begins to crack and a tester inserted into center comes out with a few moist crumbs attached, 35–40 minutes. Transfer pan to a wire rack and let cool for at least 20 minutes. Stir remaining 4 oz. chocolate in a medium metal bowl set over a sauce-pan of simmering water until melted and smooth. Add reserved 1/4 cup reduced stout, remaining 2 Tbsp. butter, and 1/4 tsp. salt; whisk until well blended. Pour warm glaze over brownies. Let stand at room temperature until glaze is set, about 40 minutes. DO AHEAD: Can be made 8 hours ahead. Cover and let stand at room temperature. Using foil overhang, lift brownie from pan; cut into squares.

Bon Appetit

Ingredients

for pastry:

• 260 gr flour
• 1 heaping tsp ground cardamom
• 1 Tbsp freshly ground Meyer lemon zest
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 7 Tbsp butter, cold and cut into pieces
• 1 egg yolk
• 1 Tbsp freshly squeezed lemon juice
• 2 Tbsp water, cold

for chocolate ganache filling:

• 10 oz. heavy cream
• 1/4 cup dried lavender buds
• 12 oz. dark chocolate, chopped
• 3 Tbsp honey
• 2 Tbsp butter
• coarse salt
• dried lavender buds

Preparation

Using a food processor or pastry cutter, mix the flour, cardamom, lemon zest, and sugar until combined. Cut the cold butter into the flour mixture until the size of small peas. Add the egg yolk and gradually add the lemon juice and water just until a dough begins to form when you press it between two fingers. Do not overmix. Form the pastry into a ball and refrigerate for at least one hour. (or stick it in the freezer for a shorter amount of time.) Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F. Remove the pastry dough from the fridge and press the dough into the tart pan. Prick the bottom of the dough all over with a fork, cover with parchment paper, and weigh down using dry beans or pie weights. Return to freezer for a few minutes if the dough has softened. Bake for ~13-15 minutes until the edges just begin to turn golden. Remove the beans and parchment paper and continue to bake for 3-5 minutes more, until the crust has completely turned golden brown. Remove from oven and let cool.

In a saucepan with a tight-fitting lid, heat the cream and lavender buds until just barely a simmer. Cover and remove from heat. Let steep for at least ten minutes. Place the chocolate and honey in a heat-proof bowl, place a fine mesh strainer on top, and set aside. Add the butter to the cream and lavender bud mixture and return to a simmer. Once the cream simmers, remove from heat and pour the hot cream through the sieve onto the prepared chocolate, making sure to press all of the liquid from the lavender buds. Discard the lavender buds. Let the chocolate sit for 2-3 minutes. Whisk until the chocolate is completely melted and evenly distributed. Immediately pour into the prepared tart crust. Using your fingers (or a mortar and pestle), rub together an equal but small amount of coarse salt and dried lavender buds. Sprinkle liberally over the top of the chocolate. Let the tart set at room temperature until completely cool, about 1-2 hours. Serve at room temperature.

Desserts for Breakfast