Peach-Apricot Cobbler with Crystallized Ginger

My apology for not keeping up with the blog.  I feel like it's getting a bit challenging to write a post here.  Some weeks I don't even make desserts.  The desire is there but my energy is being channeled somewhere else.  This September is particularly challenging, with a new year of school starting, there's a lot of distractions and happenings at work that when I get home and especially on weekend, I don't feel like making anything.  Hopefully next month things will start to get easier and I can go back to baking on weekends.

This cobbler is one of desserts I made a while ago.  I was fortunate to get some more fresh peaches from Peach Cove Farm in Canby that I went ahead making some canned peach sauce and the leftovers were made into this cobbler.  The fresh apricot is there because I just happened to have it and wouldn't want them to go to waste.

I ate the cobbler unadorned as breakfast, but feel free to add ice cream and make it a dessert if you like.  I love crystallized ginger, that bold flavor and the zing they impart on things, a little goes but this has quite a bit.  I guess you'll have to really like it to be able to enjoy this cobbler.

Peach Cobbler with Crystallized Ginger

Serves 8


10 yellow peaches, peeled, pitted and sliced
2 fresh apricots, pitted and sliced
1 lemon
1 1/2-inch piece fresh ginger, peeled and grated
1/3 cup granulated sugar
2 tablespoons cornstarch
Kosher salt
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 cup crystallized ginger, coarsely chopped
4 tablespoons cold, unsalted butter, cut into pieces
1 1/4 cups heavy cream, plus cream for brushing
1/4 cup demerara sugar
Vanilla ice cream for serving--optional

Preheat the oven to 375 degree F.

Put the peach and apricot slices in a bowl.  Finely grate 2 teaspoons zest from the lemon, then squeeze 2 tablespoons juice.  Add both to the peaches and apricots.  Add the grated ginger, granulated sugar, cornstarch, and a pinch of salt and toss gently.

In a food processor, combine the flour, the baking powder, and 1/2 teaspoon salt.  Add the crystallized ginger and pulse briefly to combine.  Add the butter and pulse until the mixture resembles coarse meal.  Transfer to a large bowl, add the 1 1/4 cups cream, and mix until the dough comes together.  Turn the dough onto a lightly floured work surface and knead 2 or 3 times to bring it together into a ball.  Shape the dough into a round about 1/2 inch thick, then cut the dough into 8 even wedges.

Transfer the peach-apricot mixture to a 9-by-13-inch baking dish and arrange the dough wedges on top in 2 rows of 4 wedges, alternating the points.  Brush the wedges with cream and sprinkle with the demerara sugar.  Bake for 25 minutes.  Loosely cover the dish with foil and continue baking until the topping is deep golden brown and the juices are bubbling, 10-20 minutes.  Let cool, uncovered, for at least 20 minutes.  Serve the cobbler with ice cream, if preferred.


Source:  adapted from Dessert of the Day by Kim Laidlaw

Chocolate-Glazed Ginger-Pumpkin Muffins

People gets excited at the beginning of fall season, because they can now order pumpkin spice latte.  I usually don't do that on purpose; if I was in the vicinity of Starbucks and it's a convenient time for me to buy it then I'll buy it.  Most likely I'll forget to buy it when it's in season.  But don't get me wrong, I love pumpkin in baked goods.  My husband and son aren't crazy for pumpkins though, especially in form of pumpkin pie; but if I made it into muffins, pancakes, or cakes, they'll be happy to eat it.

This week I made these muffins and also pumpkin pancakes.  The muffins were all gone but I had the pancakes in the freezer for the weekend.  I didn't use canned pumpkin since I had pulp from homegrown kabocha and blue kuri that my parents grew.  I had them baked until soft so the flesh can be scraped easily.  I think steaming it works too, I've just never tried it.

These muffins are great for after school snacks or even for after dinner desserts.  I'm very fond of crystallized ginger and to add tiny morsels of those on top of the muffins is a brilliant idea.

Chocolate-Glazed Ginger-Pumpkin Muffins

Makes 16 muffins

2 cups all-purpose flour
2/3 cup packed brown sugar
1/3 cup granulated sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup canned pumpkin
1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted
1/2 cup buttermilk
2 eggs
Chocolate Glaze--recipe below
1 to 2 tablespoons finely chopped crystallized ginger

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.  Line sixteen muffin cups with paper bake cups; set aside.  In a medium bowl combine flour, brown sugar, granulated sugar, baking powder, cinnamon, ground ginger, and salt.  Make a well in the center of the flour mixture; set aside.

In a small bowl stir together the pumpkin, melted butter, buttermilk, and eggs.  Add egg mixture all at once to flour mixture.  Stir until just moistened (batter should be lumpy).  Spoon batter evenly into prepared muffin cups.

Bake for 18 to 20 minutes or until a wooden toothpick inserted in the centers comes out clean.  Remove muffins from muffin cups; cool completely on a wire rack.

Dip the tops of the muffins into the Chocolate Glaze, allowing excess glaze to drip off.  Place dipped muffins upright on the wire rack.  Sprinkle tops of muffins with chopped crystallized ginger.  Let stand about 30 minutes or until glaze sets.


Chocolate Glaze
In a medium saucepan heat 1/2 cup whipping cream, 1/2 teaspoon vanilla, and, if desired, 1 tablespoon orange-flavor liqueur over medium-high heat just until boiling.  Remove from heat.  Add 6 ounces chopped bittersweet or semisweet chocolate.  Do not stir.  Let stand for 5 minutes; stir until smooth.

To store:  Place muffins in a single layer in an airtight container.  Cover and store in the refrigerator for up to 3 days.


Source:  adapted from Better Homes and Gardens Baking

Lemon and Ginger Shortbread

I've one more day to enjoy my spring break; after that I'll go back to work.  It's quite sad because this break has been very enjoyable.  My in-laws are visiting from California and even though I'm quite busy tending their needs, I enjoy their company.  We all do, especially my son.  My in-laws haven't seen him for almost 2 years and it's a quite a change really.  Earlier this week we went to Leavenworth for a quick visit; that was pretty nice short road trip.  The weather has also been warm and sunny around here, so yeah, no complain from me.

I've been meaning to post this recipe that I tried before the break.  A lot of what I make nowadays has been some simple recipes.  I feel that I need to go back to basic and learn to make some things right.  So here's a shortbread recipe.  I quite enjoy shortbread because of the crumbly and buttery taste it imparts.  The lemon and ginger combo is very nice indeed, add a cup of tea or coffee and I'm set to enjoy my morning.

Lemon and Ginger Shortbread

Serves 12

100 g unsalted butter, softened, plus a little extra for greasing
1/4 teaspoon salt
50 superfine sugar, plus extra for dusting
Zest of 1 large lemon
8 pieces of crystallized ginger, finely copped
175 g unbleached all-purpose flour


Heat oven to 300F and grease an 8-inch loose bottomed fluted tart pan.  Put the butter and salt in a bowl and beat with a wooden spoon until soft.  Beat in the sugar, then stir in the lemon zest and ginger.

Stir in the flour and work with your hands to form a soft dough.  Tip into the pan and press into an even, flat layer with your fingers.  Prick all over with a fork and bake in the oven for 40 minutes or until pale gold.  Cut into wedges and leave to cool completely in the pan.  Remove from pan and dust with sugar to serve.


Source:  adapted from Good Food magazine, October 2014

Soy-Ginger Pot Roast

Leaves are falling fast in my backyard and we basically have two choices, one is to rake them into piles; the other one is to let them sit for a while and pray that somehow they'll turn to compost magically.  The joy of leaving next to a park is that we always have lots of trees to shade us from the heat of summer, but, comes fall, we complain miserably about the leaves those trees dump on the yard.  Sigh.  

I know what will cheer up my family after a hard weekend chore is this soy-ginger pot roast.  It's a hearty dish with tons of flavor like ginger, soy sauce, onion, garlic, and mushrooms.  I like to buy a good quality of chuck roast for a dish like this because the beef stays moist and fork-tender.  Now, we don't have a tradition like Sunday roast supper, but this surely qualifies it for when the weather starts to get cooler.

Maybe if I cook something like this every weekend, my family would not be so grumpy of doing yard work for hours :)

Soy-Ginger Pot Roast

Serves 4

3 pounds beef chuck pot roast

½ teaspoon salt

¼ teaspoon ground black pepper

2 tablespoons olive oil
1 ½ cups coarsely chopped onion
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 tablespoons grated fresh ginger
16 ounces button mushrooms
1 (14-½ ounce) can reduced sodium beef broth
¼ cup soy sauce
¼ cup snipped fresh cilantro
2 red sweet peppers, cut into 2-inch pieces
Snipped fresh cilantro
Hot cooked egg noodles

Preheat oven to 325F.  Trim fat from meat; season with salt and pepper.  In a large Dutch oven, brown roast on all sides in hot oil over medium-high heat.  Transfer to a plate.

Add onion, garlic and ginger to Dutch oven.  Cook and stir for 5 minutes, or until onion is softened.  Add mushrooms, broth, soy sauce, and the ¼ cup of cilantro.  Return roast to Dutch oven.  Bring to boil, cover, transfer to oven.  Bake for 2 hours.  Add sweet peppers.  Cover; bake for 30 minutes more or until meat and vegetables are tender.

Transfer meat and vegetables to a platter; cover to keep warm.  Bring liquid in Dutch oven to boiling; reduce heat.  Simmer, uncovered, for 10 to 15 minutes, or until slightly thickened.  Serve sauce with meat and vegetables.  Sprinkle with additional cilantro and cooked noodles.


Source:  Better Homes and Gardens

Summer Ice Pops: Pineapple Ginger Coconut

Okay, so when a grocery store had a sale on pineapples, what do you do?  If you're like me, you'd run to the store and bought more than one pineapple for sure.  Fred Meyer had $1/pineapple this week so I had to have it; in my household, pineapple is a favorite fruit.  I bought one for eating fresh and another one for making pineapple pops.  I have ready a ginger simple syrup in my fridge, something that now I know it's so easy to make, I must have some ready in the fridge for making something sweet.

My flavor combo of this week for the pops is pineapple, ginger, and coconut.  The recipe is a very easy one:  I put one whole pineapple in the blender, then I combined it with ginger simple syrup to make it slightly sweeter than normal.  The sugar will mellow when the pops are stored in the freezer, so you should make your pops always a tad too sweet.  The recipe for the simple syrup here will be most likely used all because it's thicker than a regular simple syrup.  Since I have not bought any popsicle molds, I had to resort using a 3-ounce paper cups again (like I did with this banana blueberry gelato).  I really don't mind using the paper cups though I'm putting popsicle mold in my wish list nevertheless.  I see myself making pops every summer now.

I like to steep the ginger in my syrup for a day or two so the ginger really sings in the pops :)  There's a bit of heat from the ginger that's refreshing yet it's still subtle enough, and with toasted shredded, sweetened coconut in the pops, these add texture and bring more of that tropical island kick to the pops.

And along with these pops, I made strawberry pops that has been mixed with mint simple syrup which was also fabulous.  On some cups I put these two together and they came out very pretty and vibrant.  The recipe for the strawberry pops will be in the next post, don't you worry.  Now, who don't want to have these all summer long?!

Pineapple Ginger Coconut Ice Pops

Makes about 10 3-fluid ounce pops



Ginger Simple Syrup:

1/2 cup water

1 cup sugar

5-6 thin slices, peeled, fresh ginger

Combine water, sugar, and sliced ginger pieces in a small saucepan over medium heat.  Heat until sugar dissolves, stirring occasionally.  Keep syrup in a refrigerator after it cools down.  It is best to make this one or two days ahead because the flavor will be more pronounced.



Pineapple mixture:

1 medium size pineapple, peeled, cored, and cut into 1-inch pieces



About 1 cup toasted, shredded sweetened coconut



Put pineapple pieces in a blender and puree until smooth.  Add syrup to pureed pineapple, 1/2 cup at a time; make sure the mixture is very sweet.  Pour pineapple mixture into cups or ice pop molds, add stick when partly frozen if using paper cups.  Freeze until solid.

For a variation:  add toasted coconut in the cup/mold and after the cup/mold is filled.

Iced-Lemon Ginger Cookies

Christmas is only two days away.  With it comes a joy in my life; I've accomplished my biggest undertaking of the year, helping my parents move to Oregon.  The plan to move was dreamed up years ago but the time has never been right for my parents.  Until at last they decided that this year was the year to move.  Perhaps because of my mom's years of  unwell leg stemmed from having bad back, or it was my dad's sudden twice hospitalization within a year that motivate them to move closer to their only daughter.  I'm doing my finial duty, a very traditional way of honoring my parents, by agreeing to take care of them, and in return, they'll take care of my family too.

I'm so glad to be back home again after a 3-day driving trip from California to Oregon.  The trip was right on schedule, the weather was nice enough for me to drive though California was deluged with rain storm when we left the old house.  These few weeks will be hectic for all of us here, my parents especially since they have to go through many boxes before they could truly settle down.

I think I might not be able to post anything new for a while but before I go I want to share a recipe that I tried for a cookie exchange.  This recipe was from FOODday early in December and it's adapted from Alice Medrich's new book, Chewy Crispy Crunchy Melt-In-Your-Mouth Cookies.  The minute I read the recipe I knew this is a cookie with big and bold flavor given Ms Medrich's reputation, and I wanted to eat this spicy and flavorful cookie.  So I tried, I ate, and I rejoiced because it's what I expected.  I added the lemon icing which was a perfect combination with the ginger.  Perhaps you should try it too, you won't be disappointed!

Merry Christmas to all of you, I hope you have a blessed one with your loved ones.

Iced-Lemon Ginger Cookies

Makes about 50 cookies

2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons baking soda

2 teaspoons ground ginger

1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon ground allspice

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted and still warm (1 stick)

1/4 cup dark molasses (mild or robust)

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1/3 cup packed brown sugar

2 tablespoons peeled and finely minced or grated fresh ginger

1 egg

2/3 cup diced (1/4-inch) crystallized ginger

About 3/4 cup Demerara or turbinado sugar or 1/4 cup granulated sugar, for rolling

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.  Position racks in the upper and lower thirds of the oven.  In a medium bowl, combine the flour, baking soda, ground ginger, cinnamon, allspice, and salt and mix thoroughly with a whisk.

In a large bowl, combine the warm butter, molasses, granulated sugar, brown sugar, fresh ginger, and egg and mix thoroughly.  Add the flour mixture and crystallized ginger and stir until incorporated.  The dough will be soft.

Form the dough into 1-inch balls.  (Refrigerate unrolled dough between batches.)  Roll the balls in the Demerara or turbinado sugar and place them 2 inches apart on lined or ungreased cookie sheets.  Bake for 10 to 12 minutes, or until the cookies puff up and crack on the surface and then began to deflate in the oven.  Rotate the sheets from top to bottom and from back to front halfway through the baking time to ensure even baking.  For chewier cookies, remove them from the oven when at least half or more of the cookies have begun to deflate; for crunchier edges with chewy centers, bake for a minute or so longer.

For lined pans, set the pans or just the liners on racks to cool; for unlined pans, use a metal spatula to transfer the cookies to racks.  Cool the cookies completely before storing.  May be kept in an airtight container for several days.

Lemon icing

Enough to ice about 50 cookies

2 cups confectioners' sugar

2 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature

About 4 tablespoons lemon juice

Combine all ingredients in a bowl, beat with a wooden spoon until the mixture is smooth.  Drizzle the icing on cool cookies.